James Worthy 5/1/24

Lakers Hall of Famer joins the guys to talk about the teams first round exit in the playoffs and what the off-season could look like with LeBron James having a player option in his contract.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Joining us right now, the oneand only Hall of Famer that we all
love and appreciate. He knows theattention of detail it takes to win a
championship. He knows the sacrifice andthe fight and the grit it takes.
And he was fabulous detailing these thingsall season long. Emmy winning broadcaster on

(00:22):
Spectrum, but of course really greatin this Lakers and Denver series. Joining
us like he always does is thegreat James Worthy on the Petrosen Money Show,
one of the greatest Lakers of alltime and a great North Carolinian.
What's cracking, James? How areyou well? I'm over here feeling out

(00:43):
my uber applications, gonna get meror. I got a nice I got a
nice for the aviator, that's all. And I need a job. Make
sure you get those little water bottlesfor the back. Yea. I still
a lot of that from from fromSpectrum already from the They have a massive

(01:04):
you know, I kind of coverup the camera and a you know,
tissue paper towel. Yeah, Ihave a lot of that in the car.
No good idea because you know,you know what, we're great.
It's always a surprise. James Worthypicks you up on your uber and that
he's got the little water bottles.I mean, you know that's attention to
detail, and uh is that whatwas lacking? You know in the in
the final game, it felt like, you know, the Lakers could have

(01:26):
could have taken that game. Theycertainly played, they came to play.
Uh, there's no doubt about that. What were your impressions of how that
that slipped away? Well, unfortunatelyit was. It was a trait that
we saw quite a bit this season. You know, It's unfortunately we had

(01:49):
this a lot of that at leasttwelve or fourteen games where you know,
the same thing they should have won, the should needn been in that play
in position again, because there weretimes during the regular season where they had
leads against really poor teams sometimes orteams that were without players, and they

(02:15):
just lost. And you know,I know they had injuries like everybody else,
but when it gets to the playoffs, it seems like it was the
same. You know, the lackof understanding value of possessions when you have
a twelve point lead, when youhave a twenty point lead, you know,

(02:35):
players that sometimes are supposed to huddletogether and take care of that craft
themselves, you know, and say, look, as you can't be turning
the ball, we you know,look, this is what we need to
do. And they just didn't havethat they had, you know, I
kind of call it like the pacecar at the Indianapolis five hundred, where
it just you know, the pacecar. It sets the pace, it

(02:59):
goes round and round and round,and then it gets out of the way
and then the cars come and theyrace, and I just don't understand what
this type of you know, veteranplayer like lebron A d you know,
enough experience. I think Reese hashad enough experience to not be able to

(03:20):
handle that, you know, Sothat was a that was a problem.
And then when you when you playa team that has that, and they
just kind of you know, filetheir nails, you know, until the
last five minutes of the fourth courtthey said, oh okay, let's go,
let's go get this one. Andthey're very good at it, and

(03:40):
the Lakers just seem to not beable to you know, equal that.
You know, they're not as theirtheir cohesiveness is not as good as Denver.
So you got to control certain things, can't turn the ball over,
You got to get a good shots, you know, just so, but
they just time after time, turnover after turnover, and now you know

(04:03):
they had they had their chance.James, I don't know if I'm tell
me if you think I'm being unfair. I thought the final sequence of that
game, I had a real youknow, I had a real issue with
it. You got Lebron on theline. He's been to countless finals,
what nine of them or something likethat, or seven of them. I
know they don't have timeouts, buthe's on the line. He can direct

(04:26):
traffic. The idea that that finalshot is Jamal Murray, who's made huge
shots in his career, huge shotin Game two to win the game,
and you got Austin Reeves scrambling totry to stay in front of him instead
of Lebron picking him up at halfcourt like superstars do, like guys on
your five title winning Laker teams inthe eighties would do in those sort of

(04:48):
moments. I just thought that wasan indicative of what kind of the the
whole series was, is just thebest players not doing the things they needed
to do in the game's most importantmoments, just almost being invisible. Well,
you know, I think you knowthere's there's a lot of ways to
unpack that. Uh. You know, I think like like it with a

(05:12):
d injured and not being able tolet that arm, I would have I
would have put Hayes in. Ineeded I needed activity, I need bodies.
Maybe maybe he could have been aroundwhen Gordon got that extra rebound.
I don't know, he could havebeen down there. He's active. Uh.
I think that when a guy likeMurray has beaten you over and over,

(05:33):
you cannot let him come off ofthat pick. You know, if
Lebron wants to pick him up.If Lebron wants to pick him up,
that's fine. I got no problemwith that too. But then somebody's gonna
have to be on Gordon with whowho's Who's Who's gotten so many offensive rebounds
and thrown them back out to theporter or Murray. But I think for

(05:55):
me, and you know from mydays with pat Riley, you know he's
like when he comes off picking Rose, you can't allow him to explore.
Okay, I know you don't wantto trap or pick up because Jokis is
rolling, but you got you know, for me, you got Rui right
there because they carried out that otherside for yo kics. So everything was

(06:18):
on that on that strong side.When Murray came off, I gotta run
somebody at him and force the extrapass. And the distance, the distance
between you know, Pope and Portthere was only like three or four feet.
I think my chances on that whenhe comes off and he starts to
he gets that extra bounce and andI think I just said, I said,

(06:42):
oh lord, even a d couldn'tget to the shot. So yeah,
I think you live and learn.You always go back. I know
I have in my career, andyou look back. But I don't know
if it was you know, Lebronshould have taken it, because then you
gotta now if they if they putHayes in again, even take Reeves out,
yeah then yeah Lebron. But Gordon'sback there, just eating up glass.

(07:05):
Just different ways to look at it. I think a these armed down
out. I just would have ratherhad a active body. I didn't know
how severe it was until you knowlater on, but not getting any shots
up that was, you know,unfortunate. I think, you know,
so many people are focusing on howtight the contests were, and I get

(07:27):
it. You know, they havethe twenty point lead, they have double
digit leads in almost each of thefive games, but they still lose four
games to one. That Denver isnow eight and one against them the last
two postseasons. But like, whatdo you what do you look forward to
next year? If you know OklahomaCity and what Minnesota are doing with these
incredibly young rosters, you know,twenty five year old Shay Gilgis, twenty

(07:50):
two year old Anthony, Like,what do you think the future of this
team is from a competitive standpoint?That still, by the way, finished
seventh in the Western offerends. Butthose young teams ahead of them, can
they just afford to run it back? Or does do they need to do
something major? You look at what'syou look at the playoffs right now,

(08:11):
like no Steph Curry, no kdYeah, Lebron, Lebron getting you know
he's out. There's probably another guythat you know that's that's Draymond Green,
those guys. You know, it'sit's a change another guard right now.
Man, it's it's it's it's it'sdifferent, and it's not like it's like

(08:35):
you know, it's not like it'slike Okay, Celtics and Lakers for sure,
you know San Antonio they're going tobe back in action pretty soon.
You know, Denver has emerged.It's just, you know, I think
that for me, the inability toto grow who who are coached beforehand in

(08:56):
Phoenix Nowel Yeah, you know,and and it's just it's it's it's hard.
You know, every two years yougot, you got different coach.
You know, you're trying to stackup. I look at you know,
I look at Beasley in Milwaukee whenwe had and he couldn't he couldn't hit

(09:16):
the ocean. Sometimes that's the system, you know what I mean. And
and so I don't think the Lakershave allowed it to grow. I think
we wanted a bubble. We weregood that year, decent, but I
think you know, we we lostPope, we lost Monk. You know,
we traded our players to get player. That's fine, but we haven't

(09:37):
gotten what Denver has or what youknow, the teams that that that are
stick like glue, you know.And that's why I think we have and
consistencies we made. We made movesafter the trade line, you know,
last year, and we got youknow, the Russell Westbrook. Then we
bought some guys in they had halfa season last year it looked pretty good

(09:58):
what they what they're able to do. Then you transfer that to this year,
you know, it just it.You know, they still they had
like forty five fifty games. Andthat's the only way I can explain it.
Like Denver's lost together, they wontogether. They've been injured together.
Boston when they they took their time, spent four or five years losing and

(10:20):
they finally So I don't know whatthe answer is. You know, they're
they're talented enough to run it back. Does that mean that gives them more
time to to get better cohesiveness orget to know each other better? I
don't know, because they showed greatsigns, you know, so I was

(10:41):
I was just you know a littleconfused from you know, from game to
game sometimes. So I really don'tknow. I think I think teams that
stay together and grow together, theyalways have, you know, incentive to
do better. It's just depending onwhat the front office wants to do.
Would that be what what you wantto do? Probably prefer to see is
these guys continue to try to growtogether and create a culture or or is

(11:07):
that I mean, I know it'spossible in places like Denver, and is
that possible in l A. Imean, gosh, you remember that the
public, the public bullied him intopicking Lonzo Ball. For God's sake,
It's way harder. It's way harderin this city. But you gotta,
you know, you gotta you gottastand firm, you know, you gotta
you gotta stand and know what youwhat you want and what needed. And

(11:31):
so you look at this team thisyear with Van der Belt, with a
healthy Gabe, with reddish you know, uh wood, or maybe an opportunity
to to get some another big Idon't know, is there's somebody out there
that that might be like a DwightHoward type. Then you you know,

(11:52):
you you kind of have an injuryfree you know season kind of sort of
you see how that see how thatworks out. I mean, I wasn't
disappointed with last year. You know, it was tough to play in I
wouldn't. I wouldn't used to that. But they got past Memphis and they
got past Golden State, So Isaid, okay, build, you know,

(12:13):
there's something we can build on.But it just didn't materialize. Seemed
like, you know, a fewsteps forward and a lot of steps back
at times. So like having twelvepoint leads in the second quarter and then
having twenty point leads. I mean, yeah, that teams are capable of
coming back with the three ball,but it's how it happens, like turning

(12:35):
the ball over and not totally beingorganized all the time and going from pace.
You know, starting the game,you're killing them, you pace you
up and down, You're get tonothing to walk it. So it's like,
you know, that's you got tofigure that out, and I don't
think they have yet. Last Thing, James, we certainly appreciated a quick

(12:58):
end to the postseason, and that'salways a bummer, especially with how competitive
the games were and how talented webelieve this team to be on paper.
James Worthy driven by the Ford FSeries, America's best selling truck for forty
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on a Ford F Series truck builtfor tough. Last Thing. There's these
videos that are circulating. I don'tknow if you've seen them, but they

(13:20):
are juxtaposing Kobe getting bounced from thepostseason with Lebron getting bounced from the postseason,
and it's Kobe talking to Jim Grayand saying, you know, We
obviously didn't execute, we didn't playwell enough. They're a really good team.
They outplayed us, and this offseasonwe got to figure out why they
out played us. And we're gonnaget better, we're gonna work harder,
and we're gonna be ready next year. That's basically what he says. And

(13:41):
then you go to Lebron and Knitz, Well, this guy was injured and
we didn't have a full team hereand we really only played with our guys
for sixteen games, and you know, the no time, and it just
I'm not asking, I'm not tryingto take all these shots, but it
just certainly seems like excuse making isa regular appearance in post game pressers,
and it's I don't know if that'sjust the Lakers and that's just how this

(14:01):
is nowadays, but it is funnywhen you watch it next to how Kobe
was when he would get bounced fromthe playoffs. Yeah, I mean,
look, Lebron's great. You knowtoday's you know the players, they they're
their press conference or they're different,so they say what they what they say

(14:22):
and what they feel. I'll justsay this, Kobe, you know,
I get upset, like like Iget really disappointed when the Lakers lose because
it is the only team I everplayed for. I never never played for
anybody else. So it's a differentkind of blood, different kind of So

(14:43):
I don't know, if you know, Kobe's answer is based on damn it,
I'm you know, I'm a Laker. You know, I'm trying to
win here, and and so that'swhat he is. So I don't I
don't know what lebronn you know.I think he's just says what he says.
Maybe that's how he feels at thatmoment. I take him at his

(15:05):
word when he says something, soyou know, it's it's it's hard to
compare the two. Kobe was,Kobe was THO. He was an assassin.
Man. I remember, I remember, I remember, I remember the
one interview where they were up toand they reported it was like, oh,
you guys, you should be happyyou're up to and Kobe said it's

(15:26):
the job finished and you guys saidno, but you're up too. He
said job not finished, and hisface was like he was mad that the
guy he would add to audacity toask him that question. So different breed
bro, Yeah, no doubt thattime gone by Uh, we'll see what
happens this offseason. But we surelyappreciate the great James Worthy. We are

(15:50):
absolutely blessed to have him join inthe show once a week during the basketball
season. And uh it is ah. It is a great boon for our
show and our listeners, and wereally really appreciate it. James, thank
you so much. And yeah,we'll talk next week. But good luck
with that uber job. Maybe youcan drive that uber all the way back
to Hawaii. Man, I can't. If I can get on the water

(16:14):
put you know one of some ofthese cars you can drive on water Now,
I don't want to say that allthe way to Hawaii. Thank you,
James, James, go for