December 3, 2020 • 31 mins
Chris and Rob debate if LeBron James is destined to win another title in Los Angeles before his Lakers contract expires, and discuss if the chemistry issues and preferential treatment that plagued the Los Angeles Clippers last season should serve as a cautionary tale for the Brooklyn Nets moving forward, and deliver another award-winning edition of Teichert's Tower of Trivia.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of The Odd Couple with
Chris Brush and Rod Harker. So yesterday, Lebron James signs
a two year contract extension worth eighty five million dollars
that will keep him with the Los Angeles Lakers for
(00:43):
the next three seasons. So he's got this year and
then the extension kicks in, so he'll be a Laker
through the twenty two, twenty three, twenty twenty three season.
And it was met roundly with hype with joy. Lakers
fans are ecstatic, NBA pundits rave about the deal. There's discussion,
(01:13):
there's debate, there's speculation about how many rings Lebron might win,
even talk about him getting a second contract after this
one and playing with Brinie, his son in the NBA.
Wouldn't that be something? And yet, amidst all of the hoopla.
(01:37):
Amidst all of the celebration. Amidst all of the pageantry,
here comes Roy Parker with, nah, you got me wrong.
I changed my mind. I'm all behind this. This is smart.
The Lakers are smart. No, no, no, you're gonna have
to say that if you say, have you really I
(01:58):
don't know if I can believe you're not on this
yell because your take yesterday make yesterday. We didn't do
it yesterday. Yeah, but as we talked off the air,
it's fine if you change it, but I'm just saying
what it was. So really so it go ahead and
explained it because you were saying it was a retirement gift.
Like Kobe K two normally don't turn out to be
(02:22):
a problem at that age because there's always a chance
of injury. You just don't know when it's going to
you know, when when the train ends, you know, like
it just happens. It's just not a graduate could happen overnight.
I mean, so whenever you get into this many years
of a guy playing and you add on years to
a contract, there's a chance that those last couple of
(02:44):
years could be troublesome or problem or you know, wound
up being like a like a retirement package for what
you did for us. Like, I don't know if it
would have been as easy easy for the Lakers to
make that deal if they didn't win, say they didn't
win this year, despite having what they put together. I'm
(03:06):
not so sure you're rushing out to sign a guy
at his age to a couple more years, That's all
I'm saying. So I get it's easy to do it
when you win. You put it together, and you think
you're just gonna keep winning. I get that. But unless
he finishes it out, and we won't know until it's
all over, but there's a chance it could wind up
(03:27):
being a bad deal at the end, just because of
his age, that's all. No, they would have done this
had they not win the championship because Lebron James played great.
If they had, say, met the Clippers, even just lost
to Denver in the conference finals, you don't think they
(03:47):
would have gave this deal to lebren I'm not saying
that they wouldn't have, but I'm saying as far as
when you look at it, it's easy to give to
give out money when you win. All I'm saying is,
as you get older. You just don't know. You could
be sitting on two bad years or a bad year
for a lot of money for a guy's not because
(04:08):
of his age. That it has nothing to do with Lebron.
It's still yeah, but that doesn't mean that he's gonna
play well next year. We don't know that. You could assume, Chris,
And I get why you would assume it, because he
played well this year. So automatically you say he's gonna
play well next year, and then you say, well, he
played well the next year, there's no reason why he
(04:29):
won't play well the next year. And then you say, oh, yeah,
there's no reason why he won't play great the year
after that. We don't know that. And all I'm saying
is you are rolling the dice from the standpoint of
at his age, you don't know. I mean, if you
look back, and I know Kobe got hurt, but his
last couple of years weren't good well, And that's where
it is so much different from Kobe's deal. Kobe was
(04:53):
hurt before they gave him the deal. Yeah, but I
get why they still but I understand why they gave
it to him. I understand. I don't Oh yeah, they
had paid him tons of money already. I had executives
say he wouldn't have got more than twelve million a
year on the market. I maybe a team would have
paid him big money because he was Kobe Bryant, but
(05:14):
he was rehabbing from the Achilles injury when they gave
him the two years, I think it was forty eight
million dollar extension. And unlike this, like to your point,
the Lakers just obviously coming off a championship, just you know,
they're looking at thinking they can win more, not only
(05:35):
because of Lebron, but they got a d who's obviously
just kind of hitting his prime maybe, and they got
good players around those two. The Kobe Lakers when they
gave him the contract extension weren't in that position. They
had just made the playoffs. They were like third in
their division one forty five games, so they were on
the decline. So that was indeed, and everybody knew it.
(06:00):
It was a gift for what a guy had done
for us. But this is because they really believe that
Lebron James at this point is the best player in
the world and that they're gonna have a chance through
these three years to win more. Championships. Now, I'm thinking
they'll get one. If you ask me in these next
(06:21):
three years, how many championships I think they'll get. I
think that I think one, not saying they don't have
a chance for two, but I'm saying one. But I
don't think this was any type of gift at all.
I think this was you know, Lebron is a great
player still, and you tend to lock up great players
(06:43):
when you can, and with him and a D. And
remember he and A D have the same representation too,
so there is some leverage there too, even if they
hadn't won the championship. But if I ask you, Rob,
he's locked up for three years. AD just signed a
(07:03):
five year extension or not extension, but you know, contract extension,
so he's locked up in the next three years of
that deal. How many rings you think they'll get if any? Zero? Really? Yeah,
I think it's really hard to win. Lebron played seventeen
years and won four and now I'm supposed to believe
(07:26):
he's gonna win three in a row or something. I
just I'm not buying it. I'm not there yet. As
you get older, it worked out this was a perfect storm.
A shorter season, not a lot of travel. For an
older guy, I wait to see as as the seasons
play out, and a d who's been injury prone his
(07:47):
whole career was relatively safe. This year things worked out.
A lot of things worked out, and they won the championship.
So I'm not there yet. I'm gonna say zero over
the next three years. They won this one and they compete,
they'll compete for fast couple of years and we'll see
you're just on the other side. You're no championships. I'm
(08:09):
just saying that's that's yeah, that's how I look at
I look at a four out of seventeen, and I'm
gonna say that as you get older, you don't get better,
you get worse. So it's just like the Tom Brady Thingum,
I know a lot of people got them going to
the Super Bowl. You're gonna win the championship, Oh yeah,
the bucks. I'm not there. As you get older, I
(08:29):
think it's harder even for a star and a great player.
And so I'm gonna take a you know, not a
wait and see approach. But if if I if I
have to push my chips to the table, I would
say zero. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
(08:50):
Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the iHeart Radio
app search f s R to listen live. A guy
that has been on the show before, Jovian Buja, and
did a great job with it. But Rob g give
us a few of the some of the things that
in a nutshell, the their culture was the little engine
that could my phrase, but you know, this team of overachievers,
(09:15):
hard workers. You know, people didn't expect much from them,
and they go ahead not only make the playoffs a
couple of years ago, but it took two games off
the Golden State Warriors. And their culture was just hard
work every minute of every game. You're giving it your all,
and no prima donnas or anything. And then you bring
(09:36):
in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and those two guys
special treatment, and the feeling was that the culture changed
and now instead of hard work and overachievement and grit
and grind, it was some prima donnas getting all the
you know, calling you know, when they want to practice,
when they want to play, and this and that, and
(09:58):
it rubbed some of the old guard aren't the wrong way.
So there was a lot going on there, But Roger,
you can get to some a few of the specific
things that got under certain players. Crawl if you will. Yeah,
there were a handful of quote unquote perks that were
included in that column. Here are a few, one of
them being that Kawuhi and Paul George had their own
(10:20):
personal security guards and trainers that nobody else had. Kawhi
and Paul George also had power over the team's practice
and travel schedules, which led some teammates to believe that
Kauai actually canceled multiple practices himself. Kauai, we know about
this one. He was allowed to live in San Diego
and commute, so, needless to say, he didn't quite make
(10:40):
it on time to all of their team flights. You know,
traffic in La is pretty rough. Was he taking a helicopter?
Wasn't he? I don't know, but if you're I can't
be that late. Even so, he was still late. I'm
sure there's times he didn't always have the copter. He
didn't have the Kobe copter. And then number four, not
only did they mentioned able to Paul George and Kauai
decide when they were going to practice, They also decided
(11:03):
when they were going to play load management, but even
more specific than that, they decided if and when they
were pulled in and out of games. So if they decided,
you know, I'm not going back into the seven minute mark,
maybe maybe the five minute markets when I'll come back.
So that was another issue. And then last, but not least,
just a complete lack of leadership. It was quoted in
the article saying that if you asked all fifteen players
(11:24):
individually who the leader was, you'd get a different answer
from everybody. Well, there you have it. Rob. I think this,
and I obviously want your opinion. I think this is
a cautionary tale for the Brooklyn Nets. Now. I do
not expect all of that to go on, you know,
I you know, I don't know. It's not like Kevin
(11:47):
Durant's gonna be living in Pennsylvania and he's gonna be
late for flights and all that stuff, right, And I
don't expect even a lot of that other stuff to
go on. But it is not easy. And you and
I talked about it, you know, and we we thought
that you got these role players who know what they are,
(12:07):
they know they're not superstars, and you know they'll play
their role and welcome Kauai and Paul George the stars
and all that and play around them, and it didn't happen.
And that's kind of what I really am getting at
with the cautionary tale in Brooklyn. And we've seen Kyrie
talk about, you know, we don't need a coach. We
(12:30):
you know, we really don't need a head coach. And
you know, Decay D's the one guy I've ever played
with that I can trust he can make the shot.
You know, one time it's gonna be me, one time
it's gonna be him. Well maybe one time it needs
to be Joe Harris, you know, with the shot. But
I'm just saying, like it's hard. Obviously, they're stars on
(12:51):
the top teams, and like Eddie House said, people get that,
they understand these are the guys that are gonna win
us the championship. But it's you gotta be careful with
making that division so pronounced between your superstars and your
role players. I was around that two thousand and eight
(13:13):
Boston team that Eddie House played on when they won
the championship with Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Kevin
Garnett and they were really a team and Kevin Garnett
was a great leader and that team as a team,
like all fifteen guys, they went to Patriot games together,
(13:33):
they went we were in Rome, you know, I went
with him to train the camp in Rome, Italy, and
they were hanging out in Rome, all fifteen together. I mean,
it was they went out of their way to make
sure it wasn't just oh, kg Ray and Paul and
everybody else. I mean, obviously those are the stars, but
(13:53):
they really embraced everybody. And that's what I would recommend
the k D and Kyrie. We know you're the best players,
but make sure you make sure everyone else feels included,
feels like they're a valued part of the team. I mean,
(14:14):
Kyrie talked about, you know, coaches respecting him as a person,
and that's fine, but make sure you do that same
thing for your lesser teammates. And so if you do that,
I think Jared Allen, Caris Laverte, Spencer, Dinwittie, Joe Harris,
De DeAndre Jordan's there boys, so he'll he'll you know,
probably fit in well with him. But these guys will
(14:37):
buy in, I think to being the supporting cast if
you do that. So I would just say, let this
be a cautionary tale to the nets that I think
if they learn from it, they can be, you know,
much better off. Yeah, I totally disagree, and I think
this is typical of when something doesn't happen that was
(14:59):
expected by people, you got to find a reason for it.
It has nothing to do with all those things. I've
been covering sports for thirty five years. This preferential treatment
for a lot of players and stars over the years,
and teams won team's loss whether or not. They built
the practice facility next to Lebron James's house in Cleveland
(15:21):
that to make him feel like, you know, we're doing
this for you. We want you to be the most accommodated,
which is fine. I have no issue with that, and
I'm not blaming Lebron or blaming the Calves for doing it.
But my point is that's not why they lost. I
think it's all bogus and all bs. They lost because
(15:43):
those guys didn't play well. And if they played just
not bad, just played the way that they're capable of playing,
they would have been to the Western Conference finals. And
all of his chatter and all this stuff about waiting
for flight. And that's not why they lost. They lost
because Kawhi Leonard and Paul George choked. That's why they lost.
(16:07):
And and Doc Rivers didn't make the unnecessary adjustments when
he needed to. That that's the only reason and the
only reason that the Brooklyn Nets are gonna lose. Has
nothing to do with going to ball games with their
teammates or making a twelve man feel like the number
one man or whatever all that other stuff is. Is
if those guys make shots, and those guys come and perform,
(16:29):
If those guys do what they're supposed to do and
what they're capable of doing, the Nets have a great
shot to get to the finals and maybe even win one.
But if they don't, they're not gonna win. It's about talent.
Sports is not about all that other stuff, all that
window dressing and and and being nice to everybody, and
(16:50):
and choir boys, let's put together, choir. We gotta all
get together, we gotta all eat together, we gotta all
wear the same clothes. No, none of that stuff matters.
It's about who can make those baskets to make those
stops When it matters. In NBA playoff games, the Clippers
can sell all of this, and guys can write these
(17:11):
stories and you're always I was a beat writer for years, Chris.
You were too. When somebody loses, there's plenty of people
to talk and point to the reasons that they lost.
The reason that the Clippers did not get to where
they were supposed to is because they choked. Their best
players weren't good when it mattered. They were up three
(17:32):
to one. If this was if this was a chemistry issue,
they would have never been in that position. To be
up three to one and even have a chance. It
would have derailed way longer than that. They were right
where they were supposed to be and they didn't get
it done. Let's just call it what it is. It
was a choke job. It wasn't a chemistry job. I'm
(17:55):
not buying the chemistry because that stuff just doesn't always matter. Yes,
I get I get chemistry, Chris, And in the best
possible world, you want the team to feel good about
each other and everybody. Yo, this is great, but the
bottom line is about performing, and they didn't perform. If
they performed the lost, Chris, then maybe I could buy
(18:15):
into that chemistry issue. But you can replay those last
three games ten times, and there's no way Kawhi Le
Paul George will play as poorly as they played in
those games ever. Again, well, definitely maybe. But here's the thing, right, chemistry,
and I hear you look you and I as you said,
(18:37):
we both were beat writers for a long time. We
saw teams where guys didn't get along, where guys have fights. Yeah,
whin right, the magic magic Johnson told me at times,
I mean Kareem I Jul Jabbard didn't really talk to
those guys that much, you know about he was about
(18:57):
to met boy, he was to himself, you know how
about Chris all the time. But but here's where it would,
I'll say to you, right and those you're right, okay, However,
everybody's different. Sure, some teams that's fine, and some leaders
(19:18):
that's fine. Like Jordans we know all to know all
this story about him punching out Steve Kerran and all
that stuff, and Dennis Rodman was wild and doing his
own and he's in vacation during the yeah, right, then
they let him go. But Jordan was a strong enough
leader to not only keep the team together in the
(19:38):
midst of that, but he was strong enough to not
let that impact this game, and he was, but just
said I'm glad you said that because it was still
about his ability and that Mike was that player when
the game mattered, and and that's a big part of
keeping so needed. As we know the role player. Steve
Kerr hit the big shot. Jim Paxson hit the big shot.
(20:00):
If Kerr was the type of guy to fold because
Michael punched him out, maybe he doesn't hit that shot.
So my point is, I agree there are teams with
the good you mentioned the bad boys. You're not gonna
find any leaders better than Isaiah Thomas, right, Joe Dumars
as well good leaders. This team does not have a leader. Kawhi,
(20:25):
as great as he is, is not a leader. Wasn't
the leader of San Antonio even though he's the best player.
Wasn't the leader in Toronto even though he was the
best player. Was not a leader last year And with
the Clippers, they didn't have leadership to handle that situation.
But because every different, everything chemistry, someone don't well, I
(20:47):
think what was the leadership Kawi played poorland. You asked
me the question, when adversity strikes, that's when you really
need the chemistry. You don't need it as much when
you're rolling there over everybody and everything's going well. But
when times get tough, if if there's no chemistry or
(21:07):
there's resentment, that's when it begins to show with some teams.
Again I said, everybody's different. Some can play through it.
And again, leadership is a key. Clippers didn't have a leadership.
No Kawhi gonna step up and say, Yo, whatever issues
we got with each other off the court, that that's
(21:27):
out the window right now, let's get it, get down
in our stances and slock these boys up. We'll deal
with that other stuff later. Is either type of dude
to say that, no, And so they didn't have leadership,
And that's where I think I think that stuff did
come into play. I don't. I still think it's about
(21:49):
how poorly they played when they needed them, they needed
they went and got Kauhi for that exact moment to
be able to close out a series, to have a
guy who we saw made the big shot against UH
Philadelphia in the Game seven, like he was supposed to
deliver if they didn't have any of that for the
one guy you could count on, it was just him,
(22:10):
but he was a no shows. Didn't play with and
who I was a no show in a game seven
he was a no show. I mean, but in game
five and six he was fine. But he's still but
you got him a player of that. I'm just saying
from shouldn't have even guy was a no show. He
was a no show, you know. And like I said,
none of them. Paul George had ten points, four or
sixteen shooting in Game seven. Fox Sports Radio has the
(22:33):
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 SR to listen live
and no No Ladies and Gentelmen, Vegans and Meati theres
kale hip lovers, Ruffle hip lovers. It's time. This game
(22:55):
is self easy for tight shirts, tower up trivia. You
should sound disgusted. Alex gets hearing ruffles and chicken meters.
In the intro. He just like shakes his head. It's funny.
Probably threw up in his mouth. I gotta say this
before we start because I'm tired of it, all right.
I put up with it for two. Here we go.
(23:16):
Rob Parker has cheated. I have not each of the
first two weeks he had you have what was the
one uh twilight blank? Come on, man, no you get
one word. You don't get a paragraph to explain it.
You get one word. No blanks, none of that one
(23:38):
word period. I thought the presidential election was already uh
figured out. No, we're still going back at this. I
don't let that. Yeah, I've already I won those games.
I want that. That's the Alex got it, Alex. They're
making junk up? You actually cheated? Are you guys know
(24:00):
this game works? I got well it was gonna be ten,
but now we've seen that Alice can never get to
the top, so we cut the tower down. Questions and
hope he'll actually get to three. These are all let's
just move it along fast. Chris is stalling all the time.
Very simple sports question. Gee you got my point though,
right now? I did. I got taken away and I
(24:20):
did flip the coin in the commercial. Break your up
first this time, Chris, you get the first crack at
it for ten points level number one. If Tish's Tower
of Trivia. In golf, if a player sinks his shot
on his first swing, it's called a blank. In one
one word, Chris, uh ditch ditch. Well, CB, I'm gonna
(24:50):
tell you that's a terrible clue. But I do already
know this one. So you get lucky. That's a whole
for you right there. Alex say, oh gosh, I'm glad.
I'm glad you got that one, because my guest, my
my clue, wouldn't have probably gotten me, would have had
a gun. See level two Rob Parker up first in
(25:11):
the NBA, the colored area racist around the hoop is
sometimes simply referred to as the blank racist you got
for me? Rob? Come on, you know we're on saying
let's do this, um the uh uh, let's see uh
(25:35):
what you got Burg? No, don't blank, No, it's just Pittsburgh.
That's your that's your clue. Oh gosh, you guys do Rob.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna go paint. Yeah what Pittsburg? I
(25:57):
didn't have you heard it of that one too? No,
I didn't know that. Nobody heard a PI. You guys
are lucky that I was that we thought he did. Yeah.
I've been brushing up because you guys just be lipping
off over here. So let's go alright, we're all tied
ten apiece Level three, Chris, you're up gets a little
(26:18):
tougher here in level three. In baseball, if a batter
hits a ball that lands in the outfield and bounces
over the fence, it's called the ground ruled double, which
means the batter goes to which bass first? I see,
you see, Let's do second? Then okay, terrible clues, terrible
(26:39):
clot clues. Four. Rob Parker, you're up. David Ortiz Mannie
Romers were the big bombers for the Red Sox back
in the day, who famously play their home games in
this city, Bean Town, Boston. Then everybody knows Beantown is
(27:07):
really not know these Alex, Dude, the first couple I did,
I don't know that one. All right, all right, we
move on level five. You guys are all perfect through four.
As if Kobe Bryant's first name was not unique enough,
he has a middle name that is just as unusual. Alex.
(27:28):
His name is Kobe Blank Bryant's oh boy, Chris. One word,
all right, Alex, listen, all baked baked, Kobe baked, baked, baked, baked, baked, baked. Um.
(27:50):
I don't want to mess up this perfect streak either.
Come on, I'm trying all right bad Uh buzz the buzzer,
damn go ahead, Rob, all right too? What you got
for me? Point for you? Rob? Nine points? Cue? Clue
(28:12):
is baked? Okay, here we go something Brandy. Yeah, Vanilla,
Oh boy, no way, no way, Bank about your clues, Vanilla,
I got one after this and man three seconds, oh gosh, two,
(28:39):
I got one. I get it for eight point eight point?
All right? What you got lima lime lima, lima? Oh gosh,
you should notice, Bro, I wish I did Lima. Uh
(29:00):
what you can't say to get stopping? Mamma, dude, No, no,
all right, this is the last one for seven points.
Then we go to the next level seven point Robi.
So what were the three clues so far? Oh? No,
what you got? What you guy? You can't play off
my clues? Now wait a minute, all right, ready, I'm ready.
(29:21):
Is this one word? One word? Porking, porkin. No, that's two.
That is two words. You did you forfeited the portal?
Two words? Y? Pinto? Was it pinto? No? That that's
(29:43):
a hint pinto. Oh I have no idea bean enelo
beank beards. You shang vegans all over the world. Bro,
how did you not get lima lima bumba about vanelo bean.
If you said plant, maybe I would have know. Scream line.
It's something you should be eating every Bob. You get
(30:03):
a chance now to get the lead here, Well, I
got the lead right because I got I got his
seven points. You didn't get all right, end, Here we
go level number six again, he gets harder. Todd jazz
Legend come alone, had one of the greatest nick names
in sports history. He was known as the Blank because
(30:24):
he always delivers. Mm hmmm, Rob, this is Rob is Rob?
Put your phone away, Alex. All right, uh, let's see, jeez,
think about this here. What you say always delivers. Okay,
I'm still stuck on them. Right. Here we go. Whre
we go, Bill, we go, Here we go, parcel parcel
(30:49):
delivering anything? All right, here we go nine point post okay,
um mails the pole bringing the poo. Yes, it ain't no.
(31:09):
When this ain't no. If we want to stay our
time with the clockts, that's right, bring it in the
champions here. I've been here, I've never gotten past level six.
Still you knows the kid being
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 on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of The Odd Couple with
Chris Brush and Rod Harker. So yesterday, Lebron James signs
a two year contract extension worth eighty five million dollars
that will keep him with the Los Angeles Lakers for
(00:43):
the next three seasons. So he's got this year and
then the extension kicks in, so he'll be a Laker
through the twenty two, twenty three, twenty twenty three season.
And it was met roundly with hype with joy. Lakers
fans are ecstatic, NBA pundits rave about the deal. There's discussion,
(01:13):
there's debate, there's speculation about how many rings Lebron might win,
even talk about him getting a second contract after this
one and playing with Brinie, his son in the NBA.
Wouldn't that be something? And yet, amidst all of the hoopla.
(01:37):
Amidst all of the celebration. Amidst all of the pageantry,
here comes Roy Parker with, nah, you got me wrong.
I changed my mind. I'm all behind this. This is smart.
The Lakers are smart. No, no, no, you're gonna have
to say that if you say, have you really I
(01:58):
don't know if I can believe you're not on this
yell because your take yesterday make yesterday. We didn't do
it yesterday. Yeah, but as we talked off the air,
it's fine if you change it, but I'm just saying
what it was. So really so it go ahead and
explained it because you were saying it was a retirement gift.
Like Kobe K two normally don't turn out to be
(02:22):
a problem at that age because there's always a chance
of injury. You just don't know when it's going to
you know, when when the train ends, you know, like
it just happens. It's just not a graduate could happen overnight.
I mean, so whenever you get into this many years
of a guy playing and you add on years to
a contract, there's a chance that those last couple of
(02:44):
years could be troublesome or problem or you know, wound
up being like a like a retirement package for what
you did for us. Like, I don't know if it
would have been as easy easy for the Lakers to
make that deal if they didn't win, say they didn't
win this year, despite having what they put together. I'm
(03:06):
not so sure you're rushing out to sign a guy
at his age to a couple more years, That's all
I'm saying. So I get it's easy to do it
when you win. You put it together, and you think
you're just gonna keep winning. I get that. But unless
he finishes it out, and we won't know until it's
all over, but there's a chance it could wind up
(03:27):
being a bad deal at the end, just because of
his age, that's all. No, they would have done this
had they not win the championship because Lebron James played great.
If they had, say, met the Clippers, even just lost
to Denver in the conference finals, you don't think they
(03:47):
would have gave this deal to lebren I'm not saying
that they wouldn't have, but I'm saying as far as
when you look at it, it's easy to give to
give out money when you win. All I'm saying is,
as you get older. You just don't know. You could
be sitting on two bad years or a bad year
for a lot of money for a guy's not because
(04:08):
of his age. That it has nothing to do with Lebron.
It's still yeah, but that doesn't mean that he's gonna
play well next year. We don't know that. You could assume, Chris,
And I get why you would assume it, because he
played well this year. So automatically you say he's gonna
play well next year, and then you say, well, he
played well the next year, there's no reason why he
(04:29):
won't play well the next year. And then you say, oh, yeah,
there's no reason why he won't play great the year
after that. We don't know that. And all I'm saying
is you are rolling the dice from the standpoint of
at his age, you don't know. I mean, if you
look back, and I know Kobe got hurt, but his
last couple of years weren't good well, And that's where
it is so much different from Kobe's deal. Kobe was
(04:53):
hurt before they gave him the deal. Yeah, but I
get why they still but I understand why they gave
it to him. I understand. I don't Oh yeah, they
had paid him tons of money already. I had executives
say he wouldn't have got more than twelve million a
year on the market. I maybe a team would have
paid him big money because he was Kobe Bryant, but
(05:14):
he was rehabbing from the Achilles injury when they gave
him the two years, I think it was forty eight
million dollar extension. And unlike this, like to your point,
the Lakers just obviously coming off a championship, just you know,
they're looking at thinking they can win more, not only
(05:35):
because of Lebron, but they got a d who's obviously
just kind of hitting his prime maybe, and they got
good players around those two. The Kobe Lakers when they
gave him the contract extension weren't in that position. They
had just made the playoffs. They were like third in
their division one forty five games, so they were on
the decline. So that was indeed, and everybody knew it.
(06:00):
It was a gift for what a guy had done
for us. But this is because they really believe that
Lebron James at this point is the best player in
the world and that they're gonna have a chance through
these three years to win more. Championships. Now, I'm thinking
they'll get one. If you ask me in these next
(06:21):
three years, how many championships I think they'll get. I
think that I think one, not saying they don't have
a chance for two, but I'm saying one. But I
don't think this was any type of gift at all.
I think this was you know, Lebron is a great
player still, and you tend to lock up great players
(06:43):
when you can, and with him and a D. And
remember he and A D have the same representation too,
so there is some leverage there too, even if they
hadn't won the championship. But if I ask you, Rob,
he's locked up for three years. AD just signed a
(07:03):
five year extension or not extension, but you know, contract extension,
so he's locked up in the next three years of
that deal. How many rings you think they'll get if any? Zero? Really? Yeah,
I think it's really hard to win. Lebron played seventeen
years and won four and now I'm supposed to believe
(07:26):
he's gonna win three in a row or something. I
just I'm not buying it. I'm not there yet. As
you get older, it worked out this was a perfect storm.
A shorter season, not a lot of travel. For an
older guy, I wait to see as as the seasons
play out, and a d who's been injury prone his
(07:47):
whole career was relatively safe. This year things worked out.
A lot of things worked out, and they won the championship.
So I'm not there yet. I'm gonna say zero over
the next three years. They won this one and they compete,
they'll compete for fast couple of years and we'll see
you're just on the other side. You're no championships. I'm
(08:09):
just saying that's that's yeah, that's how I look at
I look at a four out of seventeen, and I'm
gonna say that as you get older, you don't get better,
you get worse. So it's just like the Tom Brady Thingum,
I know a lot of people got them going to
the Super Bowl. You're gonna win the championship, Oh yeah,
the bucks. I'm not there. As you get older, I
(08:29):
think it's harder even for a star and a great player.
And so I'm gonna take a you know, not a
wait and see approach. But if if I if I
have to push my chips to the table, I would
say zero. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
(08:50):
Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the iHeart Radio
app search f s R to listen live. A guy
that has been on the show before, Jovian Buja, and
did a great job with it. But Rob g give
us a few of the some of the things that
in a nutshell, the their culture was the little engine
that could my phrase, but you know, this team of overachievers,
(09:15):
hard workers. You know, people didn't expect much from them,
and they go ahead not only make the playoffs a
couple of years ago, but it took two games off
the Golden State Warriors. And their culture was just hard
work every minute of every game. You're giving it your all,
and no prima donnas or anything. And then you bring
(09:36):
in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and those two guys
special treatment, and the feeling was that the culture changed
and now instead of hard work and overachievement and grit
and grind, it was some prima donnas getting all the
you know, calling you know, when they want to practice,
when they want to play, and this and that, and
(09:58):
it rubbed some of the old guard aren't the wrong way.
So there was a lot going on there, But Roger,
you can get to some a few of the specific
things that got under certain players. Crawl if you will. Yeah,
there were a handful of quote unquote perks that were
included in that column. Here are a few, one of
them being that Kawuhi and Paul George had their own
(10:20):
personal security guards and trainers that nobody else had. Kawhi
and Paul George also had power over the team's practice
and travel schedules, which led some teammates to believe that
Kauai actually canceled multiple practices himself. Kauai, we know about
this one. He was allowed to live in San Diego
and commute, so, needless to say, he didn't quite make
(10:40):
it on time to all of their team flights. You know,
traffic in La is pretty rough. Was he taking a helicopter?
Wasn't he? I don't know, but if you're I can't
be that late. Even so, he was still late. I'm
sure there's times he didn't always have the copter. He
didn't have the Kobe copter. And then number four, not
only did they mentioned able to Paul George and Kauai
decide when they were going to practice, They also decided
(11:03):
when they were going to play load management, but even
more specific than that, they decided if and when they
were pulled in and out of games. So if they decided,
you know, I'm not going back into the seven minute mark,
maybe maybe the five minute markets when I'll come back.
So that was another issue. And then last, but not least,
just a complete lack of leadership. It was quoted in
the article saying that if you asked all fifteen players
(11:24):
individually who the leader was, you'd get a different answer
from everybody. Well, there you have it. Rob. I think this,
and I obviously want your opinion. I think this is
a cautionary tale for the Brooklyn Nets. Now. I do
not expect all of that to go on, you know,
I you know, I don't know. It's not like Kevin
(11:47):
Durant's gonna be living in Pennsylvania and he's gonna be
late for flights and all that stuff, right, And I
don't expect even a lot of that other stuff to
go on. But it is not easy. And you and
I talked about it, you know, and we we thought
that you got these role players who know what they are,
(12:07):
they know they're not superstars, and you know they'll play
their role and welcome Kauai and Paul George the stars
and all that and play around them, and it didn't happen.
And that's kind of what I really am getting at
with the cautionary tale in Brooklyn. And we've seen Kyrie
talk about, you know, we don't need a coach. We
(12:30):
you know, we really don't need a head coach. And
you know, Decay D's the one guy I've ever played
with that I can trust he can make the shot.
You know, one time it's gonna be me, one time
it's gonna be him. Well maybe one time it needs
to be Joe Harris, you know, with the shot. But
I'm just saying, like it's hard. Obviously, they're stars on
(12:51):
the top teams, and like Eddie House said, people get that,
they understand these are the guys that are gonna win
us the championship. But it's you gotta be careful with
making that division so pronounced between your superstars and your
role players. I was around that two thousand and eight
(13:13):
Boston team that Eddie House played on when they won
the championship with Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Kevin
Garnett and they were really a team and Kevin Garnett
was a great leader and that team as a team,
like all fifteen guys, they went to Patriot games together,
(13:33):
they went we were in Rome, you know, I went
with him to train the camp in Rome, Italy, and
they were hanging out in Rome, all fifteen together. I mean,
it was they went out of their way to make
sure it wasn't just oh, kg Ray and Paul and
everybody else. I mean, obviously those are the stars, but
(13:53):
they really embraced everybody. And that's what I would recommend
the k D and Kyrie. We know you're the best players,
but make sure you make sure everyone else feels included,
feels like they're a valued part of the team. I mean,
(14:14):
Kyrie talked about, you know, coaches respecting him as a person,
and that's fine, but make sure you do that same
thing for your lesser teammates. And so if you do that,
I think Jared Allen, Caris Laverte, Spencer, Dinwittie, Joe Harris,
De DeAndre Jordan's there boys, so he'll he'll you know,
probably fit in well with him. But these guys will
(14:37):
buy in, I think to being the supporting cast if
you do that. So I would just say, let this
be a cautionary tale to the nets that I think
if they learn from it, they can be, you know,
much better off. Yeah, I totally disagree, and I think
this is typical of when something doesn't happen that was
(14:59):
expected by people, you got to find a reason for it.
It has nothing to do with all those things. I've
been covering sports for thirty five years. This preferential treatment
for a lot of players and stars over the years,
and teams won team's loss whether or not. They built
the practice facility next to Lebron James's house in Cleveland
(15:21):
that to make him feel like, you know, we're doing
this for you. We want you to be the most accommodated,
which is fine. I have no issue with that, and
I'm not blaming Lebron or blaming the Calves for doing it.
But my point is that's not why they lost. I
think it's all bogus and all bs. They lost because
(15:43):
those guys didn't play well. And if they played just
not bad, just played the way that they're capable of playing,
they would have been to the Western Conference finals. And
all of his chatter and all this stuff about waiting
for flight. And that's not why they lost. They lost
because Kawhi Leonard and Paul George choked. That's why they lost.
(16:07):
And and Doc Rivers didn't make the unnecessary adjustments when
he needed to. That that's the only reason and the
only reason that the Brooklyn Nets are gonna lose. Has
nothing to do with going to ball games with their
teammates or making a twelve man feel like the number
one man or whatever all that other stuff is. Is
if those guys make shots, and those guys come and perform,
(16:29):
If those guys do what they're supposed to do and
what they're capable of doing, the Nets have a great
shot to get to the finals and maybe even win one.
But if they don't, they're not gonna win. It's about talent.
Sports is not about all that other stuff, all that
window dressing and and and being nice to everybody, and
(16:50):
and choir boys, let's put together, choir. We gotta all
get together, we gotta all eat together, we gotta all
wear the same clothes. No, none of that stuff matters.
It's about who can make those baskets to make those
stops When it matters. In NBA playoff games, the Clippers
can sell all of this, and guys can write these
(17:11):
stories and you're always I was a beat writer for years, Chris.
You were too. When somebody loses, there's plenty of people
to talk and point to the reasons that they lost.
The reason that the Clippers did not get to where
they were supposed to is because they choked. Their best
players weren't good when it mattered. They were up three
(17:32):
to one. If this was if this was a chemistry issue,
they would have never been in that position. To be
up three to one and even have a chance. It
would have derailed way longer than that. They were right
where they were supposed to be and they didn't get
it done. Let's just call it what it is. It
was a choke job. It wasn't a chemistry job. I'm
(17:55):
not buying the chemistry because that stuff just doesn't always matter. Yes,
I get I get chemistry, Chris, And in the best
possible world, you want the team to feel good about
each other and everybody. Yo, this is great, but the
bottom line is about performing, and they didn't perform. If
they performed the lost, Chris, then maybe I could buy
(18:15):
into that chemistry issue. But you can replay those last
three games ten times, and there's no way Kawhi Le
Paul George will play as poorly as they played in
those games ever. Again, well, definitely maybe. But here's the thing, right, chemistry,
and I hear you look you and I as you said,
(18:37):
we both were beat writers for a long time. We
saw teams where guys didn't get along, where guys have fights. Yeah,
whin right, the magic magic Johnson told me at times,
I mean Kareem I Jul Jabbard didn't really talk to
those guys that much, you know about he was about
(18:57):
to met boy, he was to himself, you know how
about Chris all the time. But but here's where it would,
I'll say to you, right and those you're right, okay, However,
everybody's different. Sure, some teams that's fine, and some leaders
(19:18):
that's fine. Like Jordans we know all to know all
this story about him punching out Steve Kerran and all
that stuff, and Dennis Rodman was wild and doing his
own and he's in vacation during the yeah, right, then
they let him go. But Jordan was a strong enough
leader to not only keep the team together in the
(19:38):
midst of that, but he was strong enough to not
let that impact this game, and he was, but just
said I'm glad you said that because it was still
about his ability and that Mike was that player when
the game mattered, and and that's a big part of
keeping so needed. As we know the role player. Steve
Kerr hit the big shot. Jim Paxson hit the big shot.
(20:00):
If Kerr was the type of guy to fold because
Michael punched him out, maybe he doesn't hit that shot.
So my point is, I agree there are teams with
the good you mentioned the bad boys. You're not gonna
find any leaders better than Isaiah Thomas, right, Joe Dumars
as well good leaders. This team does not have a leader. Kawhi,
(20:25):
as great as he is, is not a leader. Wasn't
the leader of San Antonio even though he's the best player.
Wasn't the leader in Toronto even though he was the
best player. Was not a leader last year And with
the Clippers, they didn't have leadership to handle that situation.
But because every different, everything chemistry, someone don't well, I
(20:47):
think what was the leadership Kawi played poorland. You asked
me the question, when adversity strikes, that's when you really
need the chemistry. You don't need it as much when
you're rolling there over everybody and everything's going well. But
when times get tough, if if there's no chemistry or
(21:07):
there's resentment, that's when it begins to show with some teams.
Again I said, everybody's different. Some can play through it.
And again, leadership is a key. Clippers didn't have a leadership.
No Kawhi gonna step up and say, Yo, whatever issues
we got with each other off the court, that that's
(21:27):
out the window right now, let's get it, get down
in our stances and slock these boys up. We'll deal
with that other stuff later. Is either type of dude
to say that, no, And so they didn't have leadership,
And that's where I think I think that stuff did
come into play. I don't. I still think it's about
(21:49):
how poorly they played when they needed them, they needed
they went and got Kauhi for that exact moment to
be able to close out a series, to have a
guy who we saw made the big shot against UH
Philadelphia in the Game seven, like he was supposed to
deliver if they didn't have any of that for the
one guy you could count on, it was just him,
(22:10):
but he was a no shows. Didn't play with and
who I was a no show in a game seven
he was a no show. I mean, but in game
five and six he was fine. But he's still but
you got him a player of that. I'm just saying
from shouldn't have even guy was a no show. He
was a no show, you know. And like I said,
none of them. Paul George had ten points, four or
sixteen shooting in Game seven. Fox Sports Radio has the
(22:33):
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 SR to listen live
and no No Ladies and Gentelmen, Vegans and Meati theres
kale hip lovers, Ruffle hip lovers. It's time. This game
(22:55):
is self easy for tight shirts, tower up trivia. You
should sound disgusted. Alex gets hearing ruffles and chicken meters.
In the intro. He just like shakes his head. It's funny.
Probably threw up in his mouth. I gotta say this
before we start because I'm tired of it, all right.
I put up with it for two. Here we go.
(23:16):
Rob Parker has cheated. I have not each of the
first two weeks he had you have what was the
one uh twilight blank? Come on, man, no you get
one word. You don't get a paragraph to explain it.
You get one word. No blanks, none of that one
(23:38):
word period. I thought the presidential election was already uh
figured out. No, we're still going back at this. I
don't let that. Yeah, I've already I won those games.
I want that. That's the Alex got it, Alex. They're
making junk up? You actually cheated? Are you guys know
(24:00):
this game works? I got well it was gonna be ten,
but now we've seen that Alice can never get to
the top, so we cut the tower down. Questions and
hope he'll actually get to three. These are all let's
just move it along fast. Chris is stalling all the time.
Very simple sports question. Gee you got my point though,
right now? I did. I got taken away and I
(24:20):
did flip the coin in the commercial. Break your up
first this time, Chris, you get the first crack at
it for ten points level number one. If Tish's Tower
of Trivia. In golf, if a player sinks his shot
on his first swing, it's called a blank. In one
one word, Chris, uh ditch ditch. Well, CB, I'm gonna
(24:50):
tell you that's a terrible clue. But I do already
know this one. So you get lucky. That's a whole
for you right there. Alex say, oh gosh, I'm glad.
I'm glad you got that one, because my guest, my
my clue, wouldn't have probably gotten me, would have had
a gun. See level two Rob Parker up first in
(25:11):
the NBA, the colored area racist around the hoop is
sometimes simply referred to as the blank racist you got
for me? Rob? Come on, you know we're on saying
let's do this, um the uh uh, let's see uh
(25:35):
what you got Burg? No, don't blank, No, it's just Pittsburgh.
That's your that's your clue. Oh gosh, you guys do Rob.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna go paint. Yeah what Pittsburg? I
(25:57):
didn't have you heard it of that one too? No,
I didn't know that. Nobody heard a PI. You guys
are lucky that I was that we thought he did. Yeah.
I've been brushing up because you guys just be lipping
off over here. So let's go alright, we're all tied
ten apiece Level three, Chris, you're up gets a little
(26:18):
tougher here in level three. In baseball, if a batter
hits a ball that lands in the outfield and bounces
over the fence, it's called the ground ruled double, which
means the batter goes to which bass first? I see,
you see, Let's do second? Then okay, terrible clues, terrible
(26:39):
clot clues. Four. Rob Parker, you're up. David Ortiz Mannie
Romers were the big bombers for the Red Sox back
in the day, who famously play their home games in
this city, Bean Town, Boston. Then everybody knows Beantown is
(27:07):
really not know these Alex, Dude, the first couple I did,
I don't know that one. All right, all right, we
move on level five. You guys are all perfect through four.
As if Kobe Bryant's first name was not unique enough,
he has a middle name that is just as unusual. Alex.
(27:28):
His name is Kobe Blank Bryant's oh boy, Chris. One word,
all right, Alex, listen, all baked baked, Kobe baked, baked, baked, baked, baked, baked. Um.
(27:50):
I don't want to mess up this perfect streak either.
Come on, I'm trying all right bad Uh buzz the buzzer,
damn go ahead, Rob, all right too? What you got
for me? Point for you? Rob? Nine points? Cue? Clue
(28:12):
is baked? Okay, here we go something Brandy. Yeah, Vanilla,
Oh boy, no way, no way, Bank about your clues, Vanilla,
I got one after this and man three seconds, oh gosh, two,
(28:39):
I got one. I get it for eight point eight point?
All right? What you got lima lime lima, lima? Oh gosh,
you should notice, Bro, I wish I did Lima. Uh
(29:00):
what you can't say to get stopping? Mamma, dude, No, no,
all right, this is the last one for seven points.
Then we go to the next level seven point Robi.
So what were the three clues so far? Oh? No,
what you got? What you guy? You can't play off
my clues? Now wait a minute, all right, ready, I'm ready.
(29:21):
Is this one word? One word? Porking, porkin. No, that's two.
That is two words. You did you forfeited the portal?
Two words? Y? Pinto? Was it pinto? No? That that's
(29:43):
a hint pinto. Oh I have no idea bean enelo
beank beards. You shang vegans all over the world. Bro,
how did you not get lima lima bumba about vanelo bean.
If you said plant, maybe I would have know. Scream line.
It's something you should be eating every Bob. You get
(30:03):
a chance now to get the lead here, Well, I
got the lead right because I got I got his
seven points. You didn't get all right, end, Here we
go level number six again, he gets harder. Todd jazz
Legend come alone, had one of the greatest nick names
in sports history. He was known as the Blank because
(30:24):
he always delivers. Mm hmmm, Rob, this is Rob is Rob?
Put your phone away, Alex. All right, uh, let's see, jeez,
think about this here. What you say always delivers. Okay,
I'm still stuck on them. Right. Here we go. Whre
we go, Bill, we go, Here we go, parcel parcel
(30:49):
delivering anything? All right, here we go nine point post okay,
um mails the pole bringing the poo. Yes, it ain't no.
(31:09):
When this ain't no. If we want to stay our
time with the clockts, that's right, bring it in the
champions here. I've been here, I've never gotten past level six.
Still you knows the kid being
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.