April 18, 2024 • 48 mins
On a Thursday edition of The Best Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Coming off of the Hawks play-in game loss, Doug talks about their star Trae Young and what his future with the team is.
NBA Insider Mark Medina joins Doug to talk about all of the major headlines going into the NBA playoffs.
Doug talks about why he is so annoyed with WNBA fans and WNBA commentators as the league is experiencing a bump due to Caitlin Clark.
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 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug Gottlieb Show at
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America Doug Gottlieb Show FIE Sports Radio. You know, I
(00:33):
think there's something interesting going on in the NBA and
the next three to five months will be really really telling.
We'll get to that upcoming in the show. Welcome It's
Doug Gottlieb Show, broadcast from the tirect dot com studios
tirect dot com. But we get there on match select
some fast free shipping, free road as protection, over ten
(00:55):
thousand recommended dollars tyrat dot com Sway tire buying should
be Hey, what I'll welcome in. So here's what Here's
what happened last night. The Heat lost to the Sixers.
They had a big lead, Sixers come storm back and
get the win. They also lost Jimmy Butler potential mcl injury.
And of course this is important because the Heat have
(01:18):
to play another game now if they want to win
their way in, and they'll play against Chicago Bulls. The
Sixers will face the Knicks, and the Sixers get healthy.
The Knicks, of course, aren't as healthy because they don't
have Julius Randall for the rest of the season out
with that shoulder surgery. But there's a couple things here,
a couple things here, and all these stories then ultimately
(01:40):
become related. But last night was the last game of
the season for the Atlanta Hawks, and if you watch
the game in the first half, you're like, man, do
the Hawks? He want to be here? Down eighteen at
the end of the first quarter, and then you know
they were down nearly twenty at the end of the
third quarter. Of the game was essentially over. And Trey Young,
(02:03):
who of course has missed a substantial amount of time
with injury late in the season. He didn't shoot the
ball particularly well. He's four of twelve from field, three
of eight from three. He ends up with twenty two points.
He did have six turnovers to go along with ten assists.
But the big number is plus minus. He was a
minus twenty seven, And if you don't know what plus
(02:24):
minus is, that's the difference in the score when you're
in the game for your team versus the other team.
And if you look at you know, DeAndre Hunter was
terrible last night, and he was just a minus sixteen.
Clint Capella minus five, bog Don Bogdanovitch was a plus one.
De Jontay Murray was a minus six. Meanwhile, Trey Young
(02:46):
was a minus twenty seven. And Atlanta's left with a
really really interesting decision. And you'll hear people, I heard
Skip Bayless talk about how the fact he turns the
ball over a lot and he hasn't shout, Well, that's
not really the problem. Okay, not really the problem. How
many of you remember the name Kobe White. Kobe White's
(03:10):
been the NBA for four years, all right, So COVID
year was his When COVID year, when COVID came around
two thousand, we didn't get a chance to see him
in the tournament. He averaged almost twenty a game this year.
He had forty two last night. And I don't need
(03:31):
to draw matchups for you to understand that when one
guy has forty two and the other guys, when we're
talking about maybe that's the guy he guarded, and it
was he didn't guard him every time. He didn't have
all forty two entree Young. But you get the point.
So here's where we here's where you are. And this
is a fascinating discussion because I want to get into
(03:55):
Twitter and how people have lost their mind over who
has a shoe and who doesn't have a shoe and
women basketball. It's just comical. But this is a really,
really hard business decision. You're the Atlanta Hawks. You're not
gonna win big with Trey Young. You're just not. Can
(04:16):
you reform the team like they went out and got
to Jean Tay Murray because they're like, man, here's a
two way guard who can really hide Trey's weaknesses and
you give him another weapon to work with. And it's
been a bit of a disaster by the language wasn't
great last night between the two hasn't been good for
a while. And you're at this point, Now here's the
(04:36):
upside of Trey Young. Like as a person, there's no flaws, right,
He's very much a in Atlanta, a superstar. And the
Hawks for all of our lifetime never drew anybody to
their games and now they're a hot ticket. Why People
love Trey Young, and he is talented and he puts
(04:58):
up numbers, but you're not gonna win the playoffs because
he's little end in guarding buddy and you'd have to
completely reconstruct your team around him to hide that, and
even then not really sure you'd be good enough. They've
tried several different coach they've tried different coaches, they've tried
different rosters. It's all been the same. They did have
(05:19):
the one Eastern Conference Finals run, but that seems like
so far in the past, and there's a lot of
other factors who went along with it. But here's the thing,
is it actually smart business practice to trade Trey Young?
I mean, look, they they've had talented teams in the past,
didn't they have the one seed with Mike Budenholzer, and
(05:43):
yet weren't really a thing now they are. People love
Trey Young, but is your designs to win or to
make money? And as much as you can make a
lot more money if you win a championship, in order
to win a championship, you gotta part ways to Tray Young.
(06:04):
You gotta completely rework your roster, and doesn't just happen overnight,
and then you still have to have a little luck,
like the Trey Young thing is on some levels the
Dak Prescott thing, where what you have is really good
and you know you're gonna be really good and you
know you're gonna sell tickets. So do you want to
go for the brass ring or are you just okay
(06:25):
going like, you know what, we just make the playoffs.
When we sell a bunch of seats, and you know,
maybe we have a crazy year and we keep trying
to reconfigure it, that's the best action. It's a very
hard decision, is it not, Because you just say, hey,
like we're gonna trade tray other like you're not gonna
get back what he brings you. Your whole team plays
(06:46):
off of everything he does. And while it may feel
better for everybody else to touch the basketball, you're not
gonna have anybody passes like him or shoots like him,
or as the dynamic of Trey Young. On the other hand,
you have enough years now to say this is what
we're tapping out on. This is where we are sell
(07:07):
a lot of seats out in the first round or
out in the play in, And the only reason you're
in the play in is because he got hurt byro
Where are you on that? If you were Atlanta and
you're trying to figure out what do we do. Do
you keep selling seats and hold on to Trey Young
or do you say the hell with that, We're here
(07:27):
to win championships and you move off.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Of I don't want to be pigeon holeding to those
two avenues because I do think that you need to
move off of him. And this is someone who's not
been a Tray Young fan, basically dating back to the
second half of his freshman year at Oklahoma, when I
felt the Tray Young craze just overtook everything. I think
(07:49):
that you have to trade him because if you just
settle for the short term, at some point, it is
all going to wear thin, which I think that it
already has. And when you then end up trading him,
say I don't know, a year or two down the line,
or keep him around at some point whenever you actually
(08:10):
do move on from him, which your team won't be
better in the period that he's there. His value at
that point would not be as much as it is
right now. And to your point of saying that it's
probably not enormously high right now, I absolutely agree with that,
but I actually think it could be even more diminished
later on down the line if they stick around. I
(08:31):
think it is time to move on for Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
What do you think there, Jason Stewart.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I'll let you guys are Atlanta Hawks insider Jason Stewart.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, definitely, I'll let the basketball people talk about this stuff.
But you do bring up something that I'm going to
make a complete left hand turn on Trey Young's game, Doug.
I heard you tell I Guess yesterday that you think
that Caitlin Clark's game is kind of in between Trey
(09:06):
Young and Steph Curry. You just kind of said it
in passing and I'm like, WHOA, that's that's actually a
quite a statement. Explain that, because if Trey Young is
is what he is in the NBA, and we kind
of know what he is and what you're getting if
you trade for him, is that the kind of impact
that it's gonna that's going to be this superstardom in
(09:29):
the WNBA or is it just gonna kind of be
a nice scorer and a good story and we'll lose interest.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I don't know. Again, I can't, I am not I'm
just not qualified to you know what I mean, Like,
I have no idea the level of athleticism that she
faces at Iowa, that she's faced. You know, she didn't
seem to have any problem scoring at times against LSU
(10:00):
worrying being yourself and usually usually when you get to
pro basketball, you have more space because at least in
the men's game, the rules are such where there's nobody
in the lane and it creates, you know, more opportunities
if you can, if you can get a step. But
I don't know. I would guess that she can score.
(10:21):
I can guess that she can pass, and that the
top end players for the most part in the w
NBA are not so athletically gifted that there's a distinct,
you know, a distinct advantage between some and others. It's
usually skill based. So I'm led to believe that she
can be really good. I have no idea what she
(10:42):
looks like against the top end I have I can't,
you know what I mean, Like, I'm not gonna sit
here and lie to you and go like yeah, but
when I say that, I mean, okay, how does Here's
where it's like Steph And this is where when you
say Steph's the greatest point guard, one of the great
point guards of all time, being disingenuous because he doesn't
really play point guard, but he also isn't really a two.
(11:05):
He's a combo. He's the classic combo. He can play
with the ball in his hands, he can play without
the ball in his hands, and he's probably more dangerous
without the ball in his hands. You know, the problem
when you don't have the ball in your hands is
people can keep you from getting it. And that's what
he ran into the other night against the Kings. But
(11:25):
when I said, you know Trey Young, it's Trey Young's
a little bit more of a creative passer like Caitlin
Clark is and incredible off a ball screen, whereas Steph
Curry is a lot more off of the basketball and
a good passer. But I don't think nearly the creative
passer of Trey Young. That's where the combination of the
(11:48):
two come in.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
How about this, I'll throw this at yet, because this
is actually where I feel Trey Young's not his game,
but really of who he is and where he fits
in the NBA. He's more James Harden for me. Where
you look at the numbers, they're magnificent twenty five points,
twenty six points, double digit assists.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
But doesn't help you win. Yeah yeah, but James Harden
in regular season one more than he did. Sure, yeah, so,
I I mean, like, look, here's the thing. In physical stature,
it's really hard to be that size and guard anybody. Okay,
but there's a give up to how he get like
he won't try and play any defense. That's where it's
(12:33):
like hard, Like James Harden, would you know recently his
last probably five years in the playoffs, he'll make at
least some form of an effort. Sure, you know, but
there's some way he wouldn't try at all. And Trey
Jung is in the not try like they go. He
wants no part of contact, He wants no part of
guys going into bigger guys running into him. He literally
(12:54):
plays defense just so he can play offense.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I got.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It's it's like marsh Lynch, Yeah, I'm just so here
so I don't get fined. That's place to go. It.
It's like, hey, I'm just here because in order to
play what I really want to do, they had to
tell me how to come down to this end.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I'm curious and I'm curious if Jason and Sam understand
what I'm saying. And Doug, obviously I respect your opinion
about this. But when I see Caitlin Clark make an assist,
I feel like she did it for Iowa. When I
see Trey Young get an assist, I feel like he
did it for Trey Y.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
No, it's listen, it's a it's a real thing. Okay,
there are NBA people. The reason I'd make the All
Star Game for the most part is because other players
aren't into him because they feel like he'll do that,
like he'll take one extra dribble where you're gonna have
to and Lebron does the same thing, by the way,
where you're gonna have to shoot the ball when he
gives it to you, whereas if he gave it to
you early, you might shoot or you might drive it.
(13:47):
And then he gets the hockey assist. So there's a
there's a real belief there that. And I've told people before,
I've told you this story. Stepan Marbury was famous in
the NBA where where I had a buddy it's on
his team when he's with the Suns and be like, dude,
Steph will give us twenty and eight tonight you watch,
but the twenty won't help us win in the eight
won't make anybody better. And that's what you get a
(14:09):
lot with Trey. You allow with Tray, Now, could that
part be? Could you help that some if you're with
a really strong personality older players, like, look, dude, just
go play it if we win. Yes, but I don't
think the defense can be managed, Like you don't guard
anybody your whole life. Now, all of a sudden, you're
(14:30):
like six seven years in the NBA and you're a
perennial All Star, and they're like, you got, all of
a sudden, you got to start guarding somebody you never
have before, and you're really slightly built, Like I don't know, man,
I don't know. But what's interesting, though, is that all
of these answers are the exact answers we think, like,
(14:51):
why don't people in the NBA respect Tra Young? He
doesn't guard anybody? Why doesn't Jai Wilson have a shoe
and Nike he doesn't believe it'll say right or sell enough?
Like the answers aren't that hard to come by? Sometimes
the most obvious answer is in fact the answer. But
I'm with you, Dan, I don't think you in with him.
(15:15):
But if you're Atlanta, just sit there and go like,
I don't know, we're selling a lot of tickets. Does
it really matter that much? I'm gonna guess because you
have Landry Fields is your first time GM, and he's young,
he wants to win, and then Quinn wants to win.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
How much do you think the Luca trade plays into it?
Like plays into how we look at Trey young is.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Those there's an example of people who don't understand the
sport is to go like, hey, look, Luca doesn't guard
anybody and he dominates the ball, and he's like, well,
first of all, Luca is massively bigger, can put his
body and does does give some effort at times. And
Luca also has won and you don't have to count
(16:06):
winning in Europe if you don't want. But at nineteen
years old to win a European championship is you know,
in the in the FEBA final four is pretty big.
And then he's won internationally as well with far inferior talent.
And I think, you know, outside of last year's disaster,
with all the injuries in the trade, that was too
late to build a team around him. They've been way
better in the NBA than their talent says they should be.
(16:30):
But how much does that play in. I don't think
a lot, because none of the play none of the players,
the front office for the Hawks, none of them were
there when that happened. I think it's a bigger issue
that that you have a new GM, you have new
coaches then coached him, so they don't have a tie
an emotional tie to Trey ng.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I get that portion, and whether the fact is the
Atlanta Hawks at one point did have that pick and
could have just taken Luca and kept him instead of
trading him to Dallas. And when guys are you know,
just like Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf because you know
they're one two, like this is a trade, like that's
gonna stick with you as well, and to see how
(17:13):
that has, you know, worked out. Maybe not as great
as something for Dallas, but we think that Luca is
going to be, you know, the guy in the NBA
for the next decade and maybe plus. And here Trey
Young is already honest, maybe way out of Atlanta. Yeah,
I think it's quite the quite the conversation.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I think it's I think It's a great point, right,
and you know, you get people that say what comparison
is the thief of joy, like, yeah, but they were
actually traded for one another. You know's what's interesting is
in that same draft, remember the the the Sons head
coach was Luca's, a Slovenian team coach. They didn't draft
him and said they drafted DeAndre Aiden. And so the
(17:54):
Hawks aren't the only one that have made mistakes. But
that's it seems like a glaring one.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Is the best of the Don dot Leap Show on
Fox Sports Radio, Doug.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Gottleep Show, Fox Sports Radio, Mark Medino join us in
mere moments Doug Gotleep Show broadcast live from the Tyreck
dot Com studios. Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio,
and let's let's welcome him in. He's Mark Medein, He's
our Fox Sports Radio NBA inside, longtime NBA scribe. Let's
(18:32):
start with Tree Young. You know he was okay last night.
Six turnovers is like twenty two points, but Kobe White
has forty two against him, and and they don't get
to the playoffs. What's your sense of what the Hawks
do this offseason?
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Yeah, Doug, I think it's going to be very active,
and you know, I think the Lakers will tear the
tickets stubs to try to get in line first for him.
I thought it was very talent during the end of
the season, and when you heard Quinn Snager talk about
de Jontay Murray as a guy that knows how to
fit in well with a lot of teammates, and he's
about winning, he's about defense, he's about making the right plays,
(19:11):
and those are things that Trey Young doesn't always have.
And I think there is a clear signal that they
had to choose one or the other sprizingly, after always
siding with Trey Young, I think that they are leaning
into siding with the Johntay Murray. Now, does that mean
that they're going to pull a trigger with the Lakers deal?
Obviously its hinges on what the Lakers give up, But
(19:34):
unlike the trading deadline last season, the Lakers are going
to have draft picks to work with. I think that
they're going to be more willing to be aggressive. But
you know, again that depends on also how their first
round matchup against the Denver Nuggets goes, and you know,
presuming it's a loss, but if it's respectable. Maybe they think,
you know, things differently than if they get blown out.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's it's going to be fast. Okay,
let's go to the Warriors who lost the night before.
H Clay's up. Draymond doesn't make crazy money, but there's
lots of talk would you package him, would you move on?
Would you start over? The Warriors have this massive luxury
tax bill and they have you know, they didn't get
(20:15):
into the playoffs, and they were in tenth place and
lost to the Kings who didn't have a starter and
a rotation player either, and the game wasn't particularly close.
So what do you think the Warriors do?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, the Warriors are having to make a lot of
tough decisions here, and it's something that they never really
had to think about, you know, prior years of Is
this the end of the Big Three with Steph Curry,
Draymond Green, Clay Thompson. Steph Curry is not going anywhere,
But as it pertains to Clay specifically, when you hear
Mike Dunley Vy Junior the Warriors GM earlier today, he
hasn't waivered about there being mutual interest with Clay even
(20:50):
at this point he said that he hasn't gotten directive
so that they have to be below a certain number
with the luxury tax. I know talk with Joe lakeup
over the years, he's willing to spend over the luxury
tax if those moves mean that they're going to put
them in championship contention. Unlike past seasons, that's not always
a foregone conclusion with Clay. So what is that mean
(21:13):
moving forward? While everything's fluid. I do think that they
do keep Clay Thompson. It does mean a lot that
Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and Draymond Green not only gave
ringing endorsements for him to come back, but that they're
very strong. So I think what will happen is because
of the struggles and ups and downs with him this season,
he'll be open towards taking a relative pay cut and
(21:35):
then seeing that they can model what this FURS did
in yesteryear, where they still keep their core but they
use those cost savings to improve the roster around them.
But it's no easy decisions. I remember talking with Joe
again the Joe lakeup a few years ago, and he
was adamant that they're always going to be devoted to
those core players, and they until they stop winning. So
(21:56):
if they do something, it's always going to be for practical,
pragmatically than any sentimental reasons.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
No question. But everybody says that until you get to
the actual moment of are we really gonna let Clay
Thompson play somewhere else? Like that's a that's a so
that's a that's an interesting, interesting one. Okay, Zion won't
play tomorrow, won't play tomorrow, But wasn't that game in
a nutshell the whole Zion Williams like finally in shape, dominating,
(22:27):
looks great, has forty then when you need it most hurts,
hurts a hamstring Like it's just it's really really hard
even now with him being in shape to go all
in on Zion, considering in that moment which should have
been his coronation, he ends up tweaking a hamstring.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
The ultimate tease, Doug because they're just so in love
with what they show when what he shows on the floor,
and they were convinced this season that he made better
inter roads with his conditioning, his regimen, the fact that
he was able to get more on court time with
Brandon Ingram and CJ. McCollum. They felt that that chemistry
was really good. But what's really disconcerting here is this
(23:09):
injury doesn't just ensure that he's out for tomorrow's game
against Sacramento. If New Orleans pulls this off, you can
essentially right off Zion Williamson out for the entire first
round against the Oklahoma City Thunder. And look, I wouldn't
think that the Pelicans, if they do advance, is to
pass the Kings in the plane against the playoffs, that
they would have any shot against the Thunder. But they
(23:30):
have no Zion. They have zero percent chance with doing this.
And so it's just one of the one of many
endless examples of the Pelicans thinking they finally have Zion
and the special version of him until he takes more
steps back.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, the Lakers did advance, Now they get the Nuggets.
What's it like that this series is more competitive than
last year series.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Well, let me be clear, Doug, I don't think that
they're going to beat the Nuggets, but I think that
if we're going to compare to last season, there is
relatively better health. You know, they have the time between
now and before the NBA playoffs start for them Saturday
to get ready, you know, the Western Conference Finals. By
that point there was the war of attrition and Lebron
(24:15):
James and Anthony Davis basically wearing down. I think that
they're relatively has been more consistency as of late that
D'Angel Russell and til a lesser Austin Reeves have shown
than they did toward the latter part of that playoff
series against Denver. But even when you add all those
things up, barring any injury to Jamal Murray or really
(24:37):
anyone else on the roster, the Nuggets just have too
much depth continuity. Nikolea. Jokis is unstoppable, and even though
they may have taken a relative step back because of
the fact that they lost guys like Bruce Brown and
Is Schmith, their championship's course still together with Jokich, Murray,
Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Junior, and there's a reason why
(24:57):
they're still at the top of the West because of
the how locked in that chemistry is.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
What are you hearing about Jimmy Butler's knee, Well.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
It's considered a serious injury, and so I would be
very surprised if he winds up playing tomorrow and I
think that this inevitably creates a lot of angst about,
you know, what Miami could do because they're always that
overachieving team. Maybe there's some criticism about the play in tournament.
Why you have this, you know, before the playoffs, this
(25:27):
is what happened, This was what could happen of sidelining
potential stars. But I think the good of the playing
tournament vastly outweighs the bad. I'm with you earlier in
your segments this week that playing tournament games aren't like
the playoff games. But I would take those appetizer type
games than what we saw in previous years with the
(25:47):
regular season, where you know, guys were just shutting down
and the games were unwatchable. But yeah, as far as
Jimmy Butler's concerned, Yeah, he's going to be serious nursing
serious injury here.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Kawhi Leonard, what's his knee status?
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Well, the Lake the Clippers are cagey as ever about
his availability. Tyler was saying that he's planning as if
Kawhi Leonard is going to play in Game one Sunday
against Dallas. But does that mean he's actually going to play?
He says, we don't know yet. Now he has had
limited practice time so far this week. I guess that's
a good sign because it's better than nothing, but none
(26:22):
of it's five on five. I think that we have
to keep our eye on does he actually get a
full practice in between now and Sunday's game, because remember
Doug Win, he had his meniscous injury last season. One
of the things that the Clippers were lamenting was that
before the playoffs he didn't have enough of a ramp up,
didn't have enough time to really get full practice. And
(26:44):
so if he doesn't get a full practice before Game
one Sunday, that's a gigantic right flag on top of
the other possible red flags we'll see throughout this first
round series against Dallas.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Okay, Jannison Tenakumpo, the CAFs strain. When do we expect
to see him in the playoffs?
Speaker 5 (27:01):
That's up in the air. You know, it's just fascinating.
Maybe I shouldn't believe them anymore. They had optimism last
season when he had injuries at the end of the season,
same thing here wound up affecting him for the postseason.
I don't think it's the same kind of savery that
we're talking about with Jimmy Butler. But you know, I
win if he's surprised. That's day to day and maybe
his status for Game one is in question. You know,
(27:25):
there is an expectation that Damian Lillard's going to play
in Game one, but he's not fully one hundred percent either.
So on top of all the all the issues that
we've talked about with the Bucks, with their inconsistent defense,
their chemistry, it's not a good look here that they're
already having injury concerns. We had in the fact that
they're playing the Pacers. They've lost four of their past
(27:45):
five matchups with him, including the nd season tournament game,
and the fact that Indiana fast paced offense they really
tapped into the Bucks weakness and transition defense. There's just
a lot of things that leave a lot of question
marks that make me think that the Bucks are already vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
They are definitely definitely vulnerable. All right, man, Well, we
got one more night of the play in and then
we got the then we got the real thing. We
got the real thing, And I'm with you on the
Nuggets thing. I think that's gonna be a competitive series.
I don't think the Lakers win, but I think they
win some games. I think they push them. I'm not
convinced the Lakers aren't better, and they don't have a
beat on them, and they match up pretty well with them.
(28:24):
And I don't know if the nugget the Nuggets bench
isn't as good as it was last year. No, Bruce Brown,
I'm interested to see what they look like in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
Yeah. Well, your reason is well reasoned, because even though
the Nuggets have won all the regular season games against
the Lakers so far, they've always been closed. The Lakers
have been pretty respectable, but I think that that also
illustrates in crunch time. The Nuggets just have more depth, talent,
continuity across the board, and I think that that'll play
itself out in the first round series. I would still
(28:52):
give the Lakers one or two games, but I think
it's going to be clear, even if it's a six
game series, that the Nuggets are the much better team.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Awesome stuff. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll talk
to you very very soon. Great job. As always, I
appreciate you, Doug.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Looking forward to hoop all right?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Who I mean, who doesn't love? Who doesn't love? Some
more hoop after we get done with college hoop. Now
we got the pro hoop. That's Mark Medina, He's our
he's our Fox Sports Radio NBA insider Meyer. What about you?
What what are where's your where's your head at? With
the Bucks? You watch? You know this this team? Where's
your head at with the Bucks heading into postseason?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Well, it's not in a good place with Giannis's injury
and and honestly with the the Pacers draw.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
You can look at it.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
You can look at it one or two ways. The
uh sorry, something that may year. You can look at it.
This team had troubles with the Pacers throughout the year.
Maybe this is an opportunity. If they win the series,
it gets momentum, or it could be like crap, this
is the team they've been in trouble with throughout the year.
So I'll look at it as maybe it'll be a
(29:57):
stepping stone for them, because Doug, as you and I
have conversations throughout the year, whether it be when Adrian
Griffin was fired or Doc Rivers was hired, or when
they were struggling. I only cared about the postseason because
that is what it is about, especially after flaming out
in five games in the first round last year to
the heat. It is all about the playoffs, So this
is where you want to you know, have it, put
(30:18):
your money where your mouth is if you will. Without
a healthy honest, it's difficult. But if they could get
past this series and if Jannis gets healthy, who knows
what could happen.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Awesome stuff. I'm fascinated to see. The Bucks are probably
they're one of like the three most fascinating teams.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah on the play and they're also the team that
everybody picks to lose, like in terms of you had
a first round upset, they'll be the team, and rightfully
so because it has been a bit of a mess
throughout the entire season. But again, as I said, I've
only cared about the playoffs, and now that the playoffs
are hear, let's see what we've got.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
What Up Butcha Doug Godly show, Fox Sports Ready How
Live from the tyrt dot com studios tyrat dot com.
Well we get there. Unmatched selection fast ree shipping free
road has protection over ten thousand recommended stallars tyrat Dot
comments the way tire buying should be. Hope you are great,
(31:27):
I truly do. I want to get into some Kaitlin
Clark stuff in a second, but I saw this from
Brian Winhurst. NBA scouts don't think Brownie James was able
to put his best foot forward this year because USC
didn't playhim in his position. They say he should play
somewhere where he can be the point guard. Like what
(31:49):
are we doing? They say he should play somewhere where
he can be the point guard and build up his skills.
So all of these stories are the same, okay, and
we can do this more in the podcast. But again,
(32:10):
a buyer, you're a really good guy. If I'm not
making sense, if it doesn't all equal out the end,
please feel free you can call me. I'm not because
things that work out my brain sometimes don't come out
of my mouth. I don't know if anybody else is
like that. But if you go back, like a year
and a half ago, there was a lot of discussion
about the NFL and Eric Enemy not being hired, and
(32:32):
there was as well the NFL owners are inherently racist,
because otherwise why wouldn't you hire Eric be enemy? Right?
You even had people that would say, you know, owners
want to hire somebody that can take around to their buddies.
Like that's somebody who says that has no idea how
the NFL works. Like there's no boosters, there's no donors,
there's no handshaking. It's I give you a job. Do
(32:55):
I want to be able to be around you?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Like?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Sure, but that's not really what's important. Get along with
the front office. Can you get along with your coaches?
Can you guys win football games? That's all that matters.
And I've talked to plenty of gms and presidents and
their whole thing is, like Will adding, said coach Will adding,
will any of this help us win games more? And
(33:18):
so the job of a GM or a president or
an owner when they're trying to find the right coaches,
what is going to help us win the most football games,
the longest, the most with the most, the quickest and
for the longest period of time. We want to sustain excellence.
It's pretty simple. The more games you win, the more
(33:40):
everybody is happy. Why Because you know, players get bonuses, Okay,
players get bonuses. General managers and coaches get extensions, and
when they get extensions, they get to stay living where
they live or maybe buy a better house, and they
don't have to move because families hate that. People hate moving,
hate leaving their job. An assistant coaches in addition to
(34:02):
making more money and being able to say they also
get opportunities to go get other jobs. It's the same
thing as front office. So the only thing that's important
in professional sports is winning. And so what we have
a group of people. We have a group of people
who are in the media, and many of them are
on social media as well that aren't in the media.
But we have a group of people within media who
(34:25):
believe that there's such nefarious intentions from people in power
that despite the fact that the number one and really
only objective is to win football games, that they go like, yeah,
we could win with Eric b Enemy, but you know
he's black, so let's find a white guy who can
do almost as good. It doesn't make any sense, right,
(34:47):
if your job is to win, then you get whoever
the best man, woman, non binary, I don't really care,
you just win football games? Makes sense? Sure? Okay, So
then we have this there's this argument that has popped up,
(35:07):
and it really was. I think Jamel Hill probably triggered
it the most because she has the biggest social media following,
where she put out a picture of three w NBA
players or somebody else put a picture that somebody else
put a picture, but then she retweeted.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Or whatever she quote tweeted a Sporting News tweet that
had the three players that have signature shoe deals with
the shoe.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Companies right, and those three are Brianna Stewart, Sabrina and
Sq and now Caitlin Clark, who signed a reportedly eight
figure deal to be with Nike, which of course caused
Jamel Hill to do the which I find super disingenuous.
Were they all have in common? I've sely all three
(35:58):
are white? So what Jamel Hill would lead you to
believe is, for example, Nike and Nike, who has they
gave Colin Kaepernick a bunch of money? I'm not really sure,
and they had that cool commercial, but I'm not really
sure there was was there any product Colin Kaepernick that
he sold? And they have been at the forefront for
(36:19):
women's sports for a long time. These aren't the first
shoes they've ever put out in a woman's name, and
by the way, Sabrina and SQ shoes are the number
one seller. Now, some of that is a little bit
disingenuous because they use it as their team shoe, which
means college teams get them automatically, like those are the
shoes that everybody gets, and then high school teams when
they order shoes from Nike, those are the ones they get.
(36:41):
It's a great shoe. And really it's the Kyrie Irving
shoe that when Kyrie, when they had to get rid
of Kyrie, these were the next shoes down the pipe,
and they just slapped Sabrina's logo on it. And Sabrina,
who was a great college player as a good professional player,
I don't know if she's great, like I legit, have
no idea, don't actually care. No, obviously she did a
(37:02):
three point shooting shootout with Staph. She has a relationship there.
But the fact she went to Oregon and I'm sure
Steph would wanted to put her in his shoe at
under armour help get her own shoe, and they've killed it.
But but the the the wondering aloud, which is again disingenuous,
like if you think people are racist, then go ahead
say it, because then you'll be made to look as
(37:24):
foolish as you really look. But that Nike would Nike
could make a bunch of money on Dan Byr. How
do you say her name? Is it a Ji Wilson?
How do you how do you know it's Wilson Wilson?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, Sabrina Escu.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
You don't even have to.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Bring appreciate it Asia Wilson, who's apparently a two time
league MVP. I know she's the best player in Vegas, right,
and they won the championship, and you know be like, well,
why doesn't she have her own shoe? So again, you're
sitting on your phone or on your computer or in
front of a microphone, and you're actually saying that Nike,
(38:04):
as a publicly traded Fortune five hundred company that has
been well ahead of everything in terms of all of
the different social justice or injustice issues and women in sports,
they would sacrifice all that equity because in their heart
(38:25):
of hearts, they're racist. They don't want black women to
sell their sneakers. That's the presumption that's made. Again, this
is a company that they get rid of anything that
doesn't have I believe, twelve percent growth year to year
or more so, you're saying that Nike like, yeah, listen,
we could sell a lot of shoes, but let's not
do it because she's black. Asia Wilson's black. We don't
(38:47):
want to do that. That's what her tweet said without
saying it, which is I think even weaker. And here's
the now. Now you have Brownie James and well they
didn't use him the right way. They didn't develop him
as a point guard. Well they had first of all,
they had that Isaiah Collier, who is the number one
(39:13):
rated prospect in the country, who is a point guard.
And oh yeah, by the way, so what you're saying
is Andie Enfeld Annie Enfeld. Rather than trying to win games,
he wanted to keep Bronnie down because he didn't see
him as a starting point guard. And so that's why
he didn't play point Like that's what we're actually saying.
(39:35):
How does this make sense to anybody? Anybody? Are those
things parallel each other? Did do do I make any
sense to you?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Buy?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Or am my two foot all over the place?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I I think Bronnie's situation is just so unique considering
who he is, what his last name is, hequ his
first name is and even just considering his health situation
in tying into the story that you're just talking about
for what the career was at USC or what we
expected it to be at USC, I think that also
(40:05):
played a big part of it. So I just think
that Bronnie situation is just very very unique.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
It is it is, and I think all these situations
un fact are unique. But I think the one parallel is,
like we do know that that, yeah, people play who
they think is going to help them win the most, right,
he plays somebody who's going to help you win. That's
coaching one on one Like why would Amy Enfeld not
(40:34):
play him at point guard if he thought he was
the best point guard or gave the best chance to win.
And by the way, Bronnie did start at point guard
several games when Isaiah Hollieer was out. They didn't win
a lot of those games. So I just it doesn't
mean the coaches are always right. It doesn't mean that
businesses are always right. It doesn't mean it doesn't mean
(40:59):
that that coaching decisions and who we pick are always right.
It's just where did this decision come from? And generally,
I think in business, you make the decision that where
you're going to be able to make the most money.
And when you're a coach, your only goal is to
win the most games. Who gives me the best opportunity
(41:20):
to win? Jase?
Speaker 6 (41:24):
Do?
Speaker 1 (41:24):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (41:26):
I think we should play the what don Sta always
said about Kaitlin This is good.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I like people who get it. I like people who
get it, and there's lots of people in our business
that don't get it. You know, I saw a cut
and I sent it to you. I believe, Jase do.
I don't know if I sent to everybody. I saw
a clip yesterday Pablo Torre was on with who is
he on with? When he was on What's the Same?
(41:55):
Levatardy show? Right? Yeah, So take a listen to public
talking with LeBatard about the WNBA.
Speaker 7 (42:05):
Just Marvel and just Marvel truly, Like when you say WNBA,
the first thing you think of is wow, that ratings monster,
Like we have not seen this dad, Like. I had
Morgan Murphy on my show on Friday to talk about
what it's like actually when you've been rooting and watching
and consuming and trying to evangelize people on your favorite sport.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
She's one of the She's the biggest.
Speaker 7 (42:26):
Women's basketball fan I know in my life, and she's
been trying to convince people for twenty years this is
worth it, and it's finally happening. And there's comedy, right,
and not merely you being proven right, but also the
dynamic of what happens when everybody starts like gentrifying the
thing you love. And so I was a bit of
(42:47):
this with Lucy and Iowa, but the way it's happening
at scale here with Caitlin Clark women's basketball is funny
because you have to handle this unprecedented problem, A deeply
unpopular thing seemingly overnight is now pop and now you
are both vindicated and infuriated that everybody has takes delivered
with the confidence of people who've been there for as
(43:09):
long as you have, and that is both a sign
that you've made it and is also your personal hell,
like a genie cursed to you with the wish that
they granted with the footnote of And by the way,
now stephen A is gonna have takes about Caitlin Clark
that are going to make you infuriated, like that's it's
an amazing thing we've just never seen before in an
American sports.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Okay, I would correct him on several levels. Probably the
biggest one, though, is I don't believe that there's any
metrics that says the sport is suddenly now popular or
that it was. I like that he admits it was unpopular.
I probably actually think that's true. I don't like the
term unpopular, whereas it just kind of existed and we
(43:51):
didn't care about it. But it was, on on some
levels unpopular. I mean, I think that's but I think
it was unpopular on some you know, I think it
was unpopular for reasons not having to deal with, not
having to do with with the actual play. It's the
constant need for affirmation that you're somehow good. But that's
(44:16):
honestly how WNBA people think. It's like this thing has
been awesome all along, and now all of a sudden,
people are saying we're awesome when you're supposed to say
we're sorry. Here's the truth to it. Here's what Don Staley,
who is now the head coach of the back to
back defending national champions South Carolina game Cocks, said about
(44:38):
the Kaitlin Clark effect.
Speaker 8 (44:40):
I want basketball, women's basketball to grow, and I'm not
too shy about saying why it grows. She's made it
grow over the past two years. We need to make
sure that we're telling the stories of our entire game.
So sometimes you have to go against the masses to
really cut down and say what's happening. You know, in
(45:00):
real time, Kaylen Clark is the sole reason why viewer
shit has shot through the roofs for our game?
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Yes, why is that so hard to admit? Now? Can you,
as down proposed, can you tell other stories like once
you now have a bigger audience, Course, of course you can.
I don't know if people stay tuned. My guess is
that they won't. My guess is that this is a
bit of a passing phase. And now she moves on
(45:32):
to the pro ranks, it kind of gets lost up.
It's a summer sport. It's cut up by the Olympics.
There's no built in rivalries. You don't have the brand
names of the team, like people can't name the names
of the teams. That's actually a big thing. But I'm
we're all going to see it kind of play out
in real time. But at least she's admitting that there's
(45:53):
not any other reasons. There's only one reason people are
paying attention it's Caitlin Clark, and instead you will get
people like Jamel Hill who are like, well, you know,
they're only paying it. Basically, they're only paying attention to
her because she's white and that sucks. Do I think
the color of her skin plays a factor, sure, church
(46:16):
part of the story. I've told you. I think her
sexual orientation plays a part of the story because the
league was seen as a league for lesbians, Okay, And
you could say, like there'll be people listening like, oh
my god, like where everybody's sitting there nod in their
head thinking, okay, again, it's not a thing to me.
(46:39):
I don't care. But it's a definitely a different environment,
different subculture. It's just different, and some people aren't comfortable
with that, whereas they're super comfortable with Caitlin Clark. She's
got straight brown hair, looks like she has her hair
is just like my daughter's hair. But I will tell
(47:00):
you the WNBA fan out there is more obnoxious than
Eagle fans, right because Eagle fans know we don't like them,
but they don't care. And the Eagles have at least
won two Super Bowls here in the last six seven years,
whereas WNBA fans are acting like we're all idiots for
(47:22):
not celebrating the sport that nobody really can pay attention
to and nobody really cared about for a long time,
and we're supposed to apologize for it, like we don't
like you and you care anyway. Stut Gottlieb Show here
on Fox Sports Radio, I honestly would tell you I
(47:45):
never would have thought in my life we would still
be talking about women's basketball at this point in time,
but we are. That is the power. That is the
power of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 6 (47:56):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Sam. You're obviously a big Iowa guy. That's why you
were trying to get tickets. You're gonna go on, Can
you can you name how many w NBA team names?
Can you name?
Speaker 6 (48:13):
Well, there's only twelve, Probably could name eight. Go Las
Vegas Aces, Okay, La Sparks. Yeah, let's go Seattle Storm nice, Okay,
Let's go Chicago Sky, Yeah, let's go Connecticut Sun.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Let's go New York Liberty.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yes, that's six.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Let's go Indiana Fever Yep.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Let's that's it. I think hold on now, hold on now,
I think that's about it.
Speaker 6 (48:44):
Hold up, now hold up, I'm missing something.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
I'm missing something.
Speaker 6 (48:48):
I'm missing I mean seven and I got five more.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
Man, how about this. We listened to it, if you
think about it over the break and gotta go.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
I got close.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug Gottlieb Show at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. I'm mort up
America Doug Gottlieb Show FIE Sports Radio. You know, I
(00:33):
think there's something interesting going on in the NBA and
the next three to five months will be really really telling.
We'll get to that upcoming in the show. Welcome It's
Doug Gottlieb Show, broadcast from the tirect dot com studios
tirect dot com. But we get there on match select
some fast free shipping, free road as protection, over ten
(00:55):
thousand recommended dollars tyrat dot com Sway tire buying should
be Hey, what I'll welcome in. So here's what Here's
what happened last night. The Heat lost to the Sixers.
They had a big lead, Sixers come storm back and
get the win. They also lost Jimmy Butler potential mcl injury.
And of course this is important because the Heat have
(01:18):
to play another game now if they want to win
their way in, and they'll play against Chicago Bulls. The
Sixers will face the Knicks, and the Sixers get healthy.
The Knicks, of course, aren't as healthy because they don't
have Julius Randall for the rest of the season out
with that shoulder surgery. But there's a couple things here,
a couple things here, and all these stories then ultimately
(01:40):
become related. But last night was the last game of
the season for the Atlanta Hawks, and if you watch
the game in the first half, you're like, man, do
the Hawks? He want to be here? Down eighteen at
the end of the first quarter, and then you know
they were down nearly twenty at the end of the
third quarter. Of the game was essentially over. And Trey Young,
(02:03):
who of course has missed a substantial amount of time
with injury late in the season. He didn't shoot the
ball particularly well. He's four of twelve from field, three
of eight from three. He ends up with twenty two points.
He did have six turnovers to go along with ten assists.
But the big number is plus minus. He was a
minus twenty seven, And if you don't know what plus
(02:24):
minus is, that's the difference in the score when you're
in the game for your team versus the other team.
And if you look at you know, DeAndre Hunter was
terrible last night, and he was just a minus sixteen.
Clint Capella minus five, bog Don Bogdanovitch was a plus one.
De Jontay Murray was a minus six. Meanwhile, Trey Young
(02:46):
was a minus twenty seven. And Atlanta's left with a
really really interesting decision. And you'll hear people, I heard
Skip Bayless talk about how the fact he turns the
ball over a lot and he hasn't shout, Well, that's
not really the problem. Okay, not really the problem. How
many of you remember the name Kobe White. Kobe White's
(03:10):
been the NBA for four years, all right, So COVID
year was his When COVID year, when COVID came around
two thousand, we didn't get a chance to see him
in the tournament. He averaged almost twenty a game this year.
He had forty two last night. And I don't need
(03:31):
to draw matchups for you to understand that when one
guy has forty two and the other guys, when we're
talking about maybe that's the guy he guarded, and it
was he didn't guard him every time. He didn't have
all forty two entree Young. But you get the point.
So here's where we here's where you are. And this
is a fascinating discussion because I want to get into
(03:55):
Twitter and how people have lost their mind over who
has a shoe and who doesn't have a shoe and
women basketball. It's just comical. But this is a really,
really hard business decision. You're the Atlanta Hawks. You're not
gonna win big with Trey Young. You're just not. Can
(04:16):
you reform the team like they went out and got
to Jean Tay Murray because they're like, man, here's a
two way guard who can really hide Trey's weaknesses and
you give him another weapon to work with. And it's
been a bit of a disaster by the language wasn't
great last night between the two hasn't been good for
a while. And you're at this point, Now here's the
(04:36):
upside of Trey Young. Like as a person, there's no flaws, right,
He's very much a in Atlanta, a superstar. And the
Hawks for all of our lifetime never drew anybody to
their games and now they're a hot ticket. Why People
love Trey Young, and he is talented and he puts
(04:58):
up numbers, but you're not gonna win the playoffs because
he's little end in guarding buddy and you'd have to
completely reconstruct your team around him to hide that, and
even then not really sure you'd be good enough. They've
tried several different coach they've tried different coaches, they've tried
different rosters. It's all been the same. They did have
(05:19):
the one Eastern Conference Finals run, but that seems like
so far in the past, and there's a lot of
other factors who went along with it. But here's the thing,
is it actually smart business practice to trade Trey Young?
I mean, look, they they've had talented teams in the past,
didn't they have the one seed with Mike Budenholzer, and
(05:43):
yet weren't really a thing now they are. People love
Trey Young, but is your designs to win or to
make money? And as much as you can make a
lot more money if you win a championship, in order
to win a championship, you gotta part ways to Tray Young.
(06:04):
You gotta completely rework your roster, and doesn't just happen overnight,
and then you still have to have a little luck,
like the Trey Young thing is on some levels the
Dak Prescott thing, where what you have is really good
and you know you're gonna be really good and you
know you're gonna sell tickets. So do you want to
go for the brass ring or are you just okay
(06:25):
going like, you know what, we just make the playoffs.
When we sell a bunch of seats, and you know,
maybe we have a crazy year and we keep trying
to reconfigure it, that's the best action. It's a very
hard decision, is it not, Because you just say, hey,
like we're gonna trade tray other like you're not gonna
get back what he brings you. Your whole team plays
(06:46):
off of everything he does. And while it may feel
better for everybody else to touch the basketball, you're not
gonna have anybody passes like him or shoots like him,
or as the dynamic of Trey Young. On the other hand,
you have enough years now to say this is what
we're tapping out on. This is where we are sell
(07:07):
a lot of seats out in the first round or
out in the play in, And the only reason you're
in the play in is because he got hurt byro
Where are you on that? If you were Atlanta and
you're trying to figure out what do we do. Do
you keep selling seats and hold on to Trey Young
or do you say the hell with that, We're here
(07:27):
to win championships and you move off.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Of I don't want to be pigeon holeding to those
two avenues because I do think that you need to
move off of him. And this is someone who's not
been a Tray Young fan, basically dating back to the
second half of his freshman year at Oklahoma, when I
felt the Tray Young craze just overtook everything. I think
(07:49):
that you have to trade him because if you just
settle for the short term, at some point, it is
all going to wear thin, which I think that it
already has. And when you then end up trading him,
say I don't know, a year or two down the line,
or keep him around at some point whenever you actually
(08:10):
do move on from him, which your team won't be
better in the period that he's there. His value at
that point would not be as much as it is
right now. And to your point of saying that it's
probably not enormously high right now, I absolutely agree with that,
but I actually think it could be even more diminished
later on down the line if they stick around. I
(08:31):
think it is time to move on for Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
What do you think there, Jason Stewart.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I'll let you guys are Atlanta Hawks insider Jason Stewart.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, definitely, I'll let the basketball people talk about this stuff.
But you do bring up something that I'm going to
make a complete left hand turn on Trey Young's game, Doug.
I heard you tell I Guess yesterday that you think
that Caitlin Clark's game is kind of in between Trey
(09:06):
Young and Steph Curry. You just kind of said it
in passing and I'm like, WHOA, that's that's actually a
quite a statement. Explain that, because if Trey Young is
is what he is in the NBA, and we kind
of know what he is and what you're getting if
you trade for him, is that the kind of impact
that it's gonna that's going to be this superstardom in
(09:29):
the WNBA or is it just gonna kind of be
a nice scorer and a good story and we'll lose interest.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I don't know. Again, I can't, I am not I'm
just not qualified to you know what I mean, Like,
I have no idea the level of athleticism that she
faces at Iowa, that she's faced. You know, she didn't
seem to have any problem scoring at times against LSU
(10:00):
worrying being yourself and usually usually when you get to
pro basketball, you have more space because at least in
the men's game, the rules are such where there's nobody
in the lane and it creates, you know, more opportunities
if you can, if you can get a step. But
I don't know. I would guess that she can score.
(10:21):
I can guess that she can pass, and that the
top end players for the most part in the w
NBA are not so athletically gifted that there's a distinct,
you know, a distinct advantage between some and others. It's
usually skill based. So I'm led to believe that she
can be really good. I have no idea what she
(10:42):
looks like against the top end I have I can't,
you know what I mean, Like, I'm not gonna sit
here and lie to you and go like yeah, but
when I say that, I mean, okay, how does Here's
where it's like Steph And this is where when you
say Steph's the greatest point guard, one of the great
point guards of all time, being disingenuous because he doesn't
really play point guard, but he also isn't really a two.
(11:05):
He's a combo. He's the classic combo. He can play
with the ball in his hands, he can play without
the ball in his hands, and he's probably more dangerous
without the ball in his hands. You know, the problem
when you don't have the ball in your hands is
people can keep you from getting it. And that's what
he ran into the other night against the Kings. But
(11:25):
when I said, you know Trey Young, it's Trey Young's
a little bit more of a creative passer like Caitlin
Clark is and incredible off a ball screen, whereas Steph
Curry is a lot more off of the basketball and
a good passer. But I don't think nearly the creative
passer of Trey Young. That's where the combination of the
(11:48):
two come in.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
How about this, I'll throw this at yet, because this
is actually where I feel Trey Young's not his game,
but really of who he is and where he fits
in the NBA. He's more James Harden for me. Where
you look at the numbers, they're magnificent twenty five points,
twenty six points, double digit assists.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
But doesn't help you win. Yeah yeah, but James Harden
in regular season one more than he did. Sure, yeah, so,
I I mean, like, look, here's the thing. In physical stature,
it's really hard to be that size and guard anybody. Okay,
but there's a give up to how he get like
he won't try and play any defense. That's where it's
(12:33):
like hard, Like James Harden, would you know recently his
last probably five years in the playoffs, he'll make at
least some form of an effort. Sure, you know, but
there's some way he wouldn't try at all. And Trey
Jung is in the not try like they go. He
wants no part of contact, He wants no part of
guys going into bigger guys running into him. He literally
(12:54):
plays defense just so he can play offense.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I got.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It's it's like marsh Lynch, Yeah, I'm just so here
so I don't get fined. That's place to go. It.
It's like, hey, I'm just here because in order to
play what I really want to do, they had to
tell me how to come down to this end.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I'm curious and I'm curious if Jason and Sam understand
what I'm saying. And Doug, obviously I respect your opinion
about this. But when I see Caitlin Clark make an assist,
I feel like she did it for Iowa. When I
see Trey Young get an assist, I feel like he
did it for Trey Y.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
No, it's listen, it's a it's a real thing. Okay,
there are NBA people. The reason I'd make the All
Star Game for the most part is because other players
aren't into him because they feel like he'll do that,
like he'll take one extra dribble where you're gonna have
to and Lebron does the same thing, by the way,
where you're gonna have to shoot the ball when he
gives it to you, whereas if he gave it to
you early, you might shoot or you might drive it.
(13:47):
And then he gets the hockey assist. So there's a
there's a real belief there that. And I've told people before,
I've told you this story. Stepan Marbury was famous in
the NBA where where I had a buddy it's on
his team when he's with the Suns and be like, dude,
Steph will give us twenty and eight tonight you watch,
but the twenty won't help us win in the eight
won't make anybody better. And that's what you get a
(14:09):
lot with Trey. You allow with Tray, Now, could that
part be? Could you help that some if you're with
a really strong personality older players, like, look, dude, just
go play it if we win. Yes, but I don't
think the defense can be managed, Like you don't guard
anybody your whole life. Now, all of a sudden, you're
(14:30):
like six seven years in the NBA and you're a
perennial All Star, and they're like, you got, all of
a sudden, you got to start guarding somebody you never
have before, and you're really slightly built, Like I don't know, man,
I don't know. But what's interesting, though, is that all
of these answers are the exact answers we think, like,
(14:51):
why don't people in the NBA respect Tra Young? He
doesn't guard anybody? Why doesn't Jai Wilson have a shoe
and Nike he doesn't believe it'll say right or sell enough?
Like the answers aren't that hard to come by? Sometimes
the most obvious answer is in fact the answer. But
I'm with you, Dan, I don't think you in with him.
(15:15):
But if you're Atlanta, just sit there and go like,
I don't know, we're selling a lot of tickets. Does
it really matter that much? I'm gonna guess because you
have Landry Fields is your first time GM, and he's young,
he wants to win, and then Quinn wants to win.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
How much do you think the Luca trade plays into it?
Like plays into how we look at Trey young is.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Those there's an example of people who don't understand the
sport is to go like, hey, look, Luca doesn't guard
anybody and he dominates the ball, and he's like, well,
first of all, Luca is massively bigger, can put his
body and does does give some effort at times. And
Luca also has won and you don't have to count
(16:06):
winning in Europe if you don't want. But at nineteen
years old to win a European championship is you know,
in the in the FEBA final four is pretty big.
And then he's won internationally as well with far inferior talent.
And I think, you know, outside of last year's disaster,
with all the injuries in the trade, that was too
late to build a team around him. They've been way
better in the NBA than their talent says they should be.
(16:30):
But how much does that play in. I don't think
a lot, because none of the play none of the players,
the front office for the Hawks, none of them were
there when that happened. I think it's a bigger issue
that that you have a new GM, you have new
coaches then coached him, so they don't have a tie
an emotional tie to Trey ng.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I get that portion, and whether the fact is the
Atlanta Hawks at one point did have that pick and
could have just taken Luca and kept him instead of
trading him to Dallas. And when guys are you know,
just like Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf because you know
they're one two, like this is a trade, like that's
gonna stick with you as well, and to see how
(17:13):
that has, you know, worked out. Maybe not as great
as something for Dallas, but we think that Luca is
going to be, you know, the guy in the NBA
for the next decade and maybe plus. And here Trey
Young is already honest, maybe way out of Atlanta. Yeah,
I think it's quite the quite the conversation.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I think it's I think It's a great point, right,
and you know, you get people that say what comparison
is the thief of joy, like, yeah, but they were
actually traded for one another. You know's what's interesting is
in that same draft, remember the the the Sons head
coach was Luca's, a Slovenian team coach. They didn't draft
him and said they drafted DeAndre Aiden. And so the
(17:54):
Hawks aren't the only one that have made mistakes. But
that's it seems like a glaring one.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Is the best of the Don dot Leap Show on
Fox Sports Radio, Doug.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Gottleep Show, Fox Sports Radio, Mark Medino join us in
mere moments Doug Gotleep Show broadcast live from the Tyreck
dot Com studios. Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio,
and let's let's welcome him in. He's Mark Medein, He's
our Fox Sports Radio NBA inside, longtime NBA scribe. Let's
(18:32):
start with Tree Young. You know he was okay last night.
Six turnovers is like twenty two points, but Kobe White
has forty two against him, and and they don't get
to the playoffs. What's your sense of what the Hawks
do this offseason?
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Yeah, Doug, I think it's going to be very active,
and you know, I think the Lakers will tear the
tickets stubs to try to get in line first for him.
I thought it was very talent during the end of
the season, and when you heard Quinn Snager talk about
de Jontay Murray as a guy that knows how to
fit in well with a lot of teammates, and he's
about winning, he's about defense, he's about making the right plays,
(19:11):
and those are things that Trey Young doesn't always have.
And I think there is a clear signal that they
had to choose one or the other sprizingly, after always
siding with Trey Young, I think that they are leaning
into siding with the Johntay Murray. Now, does that mean
that they're going to pull a trigger with the Lakers deal?
Obviously its hinges on what the Lakers give up, But
(19:34):
unlike the trading deadline last season, the Lakers are going
to have draft picks to work with. I think that
they're going to be more willing to be aggressive. But
you know, again that depends on also how their first
round matchup against the Denver Nuggets goes, and you know,
presuming it's a loss, but if it's respectable. Maybe they think,
you know, things differently than if they get blown out.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's it's going to be fast. Okay,
let's go to the Warriors who lost the night before.
H Clay's up. Draymond doesn't make crazy money, but there's
lots of talk would you package him, would you move on?
Would you start over? The Warriors have this massive luxury
tax bill and they have you know, they didn't get
(20:15):
into the playoffs, and they were in tenth place and
lost to the Kings who didn't have a starter and
a rotation player either, and the game wasn't particularly close.
So what do you think the Warriors do?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, the Warriors are having to make a lot of
tough decisions here, and it's something that they never really
had to think about, you know, prior years of Is
this the end of the Big Three with Steph Curry,
Draymond Green, Clay Thompson. Steph Curry is not going anywhere,
But as it pertains to Clay specifically, when you hear
Mike Dunley Vy Junior the Warriors GM earlier today, he
hasn't waivered about there being mutual interest with Clay even
(20:50):
at this point he said that he hasn't gotten directive
so that they have to be below a certain number
with the luxury tax. I know talk with Joe lakeup
over the years, he's willing to spend over the luxury
tax if those moves mean that they're going to put
them in championship contention. Unlike past seasons, that's not always
a foregone conclusion with Clay. So what is that mean
(21:13):
moving forward? While everything's fluid. I do think that they
do keep Clay Thompson. It does mean a lot that
Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and Draymond Green not only gave
ringing endorsements for him to come back, but that they're
very strong. So I think what will happen is because
of the struggles and ups and downs with him this season,
he'll be open towards taking a relative pay cut and
(21:35):
then seeing that they can model what this FURS did
in yesteryear, where they still keep their core but they
use those cost savings to improve the roster around them.
But it's no easy decisions. I remember talking with Joe
again the Joe lakeup a few years ago, and he
was adamant that they're always going to be devoted to
those core players, and they until they stop winning. So
(21:56):
if they do something, it's always going to be for practical,
pragmatically than any sentimental reasons.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
No question. But everybody says that until you get to
the actual moment of are we really gonna let Clay
Thompson play somewhere else? Like that's a that's a so
that's a that's an interesting, interesting one. Okay, Zion won't
play tomorrow, won't play tomorrow, But wasn't that game in
a nutshell the whole Zion Williams like finally in shape, dominating,
(22:27):
looks great, has forty then when you need it most hurts,
hurts a hamstring Like it's just it's really really hard
even now with him being in shape to go all
in on Zion, considering in that moment which should have
been his coronation, he ends up tweaking a hamstring.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
The ultimate tease, Doug because they're just so in love
with what they show when what he shows on the floor,
and they were convinced this season that he made better
inter roads with his conditioning, his regimen, the fact that
he was able to get more on court time with
Brandon Ingram and CJ. McCollum. They felt that that chemistry
was really good. But what's really disconcerting here is this
(23:09):
injury doesn't just ensure that he's out for tomorrow's game
against Sacramento. If New Orleans pulls this off, you can
essentially right off Zion Williamson out for the entire first
round against the Oklahoma City Thunder. And look, I wouldn't
think that the Pelicans, if they do advance, is to
pass the Kings in the plane against the playoffs, that
they would have any shot against the Thunder. But they
(23:30):
have no Zion. They have zero percent chance with doing this.
And so it's just one of the one of many
endless examples of the Pelicans thinking they finally have Zion
and the special version of him until he takes more
steps back.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, the Lakers did advance, Now they get the Nuggets.
What's it like that this series is more competitive than
last year series.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Well, let me be clear, Doug, I don't think that
they're going to beat the Nuggets, but I think that
if we're going to compare to last season, there is
relatively better health. You know, they have the time between
now and before the NBA playoffs start for them Saturday
to get ready, you know, the Western Conference Finals. By
that point there was the war of attrition and Lebron
(24:15):
James and Anthony Davis basically wearing down. I think that
they're relatively has been more consistency as of late that
D'Angel Russell and til a lesser Austin Reeves have shown
than they did toward the latter part of that playoff
series against Denver. But even when you add all those
things up, barring any injury to Jamal Murray or really
(24:37):
anyone else on the roster, the Nuggets just have too
much depth continuity. Nikolea. Jokis is unstoppable, and even though
they may have taken a relative step back because of
the fact that they lost guys like Bruce Brown and
Is Schmith, their championship's course still together with Jokich, Murray,
Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Junior, and there's a reason why
(24:57):
they're still at the top of the West because of
the how locked in that chemistry is.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
What are you hearing about Jimmy Butler's knee, Well.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
It's considered a serious injury, and so I would be
very surprised if he winds up playing tomorrow and I
think that this inevitably creates a lot of angst about,
you know, what Miami could do because they're always that
overachieving team. Maybe there's some criticism about the play in tournament.
Why you have this, you know, before the playoffs, this
(25:27):
is what happened, This was what could happen of sidelining
potential stars. But I think the good of the playing
tournament vastly outweighs the bad. I'm with you earlier in
your segments this week that playing tournament games aren't like
the playoff games. But I would take those appetizer type
games than what we saw in previous years with the
(25:47):
regular season, where you know, guys were just shutting down
and the games were unwatchable. But yeah, as far as
Jimmy Butler's concerned, Yeah, he's going to be serious nursing
serious injury here.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Kawhi Leonard, what's his knee status?
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Well, the Lake the Clippers are cagey as ever about
his availability. Tyler was saying that he's planning as if
Kawhi Leonard is going to play in Game one Sunday
against Dallas. But does that mean he's actually going to play?
He says, we don't know yet. Now he has had
limited practice time so far this week. I guess that's
a good sign because it's better than nothing, but none
(26:22):
of it's five on five. I think that we have
to keep our eye on does he actually get a
full practice in between now and Sunday's game, because remember
Doug Win, he had his meniscous injury last season. One
of the things that the Clippers were lamenting was that
before the playoffs he didn't have enough of a ramp up,
didn't have enough time to really get full practice. And
(26:44):
so if he doesn't get a full practice before Game
one Sunday, that's a gigantic right flag on top of
the other possible red flags we'll see throughout this first
round series against Dallas.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Okay, Jannison Tenakumpo, the CAFs strain. When do we expect
to see him in the playoffs?
Speaker 5 (27:01):
That's up in the air. You know, it's just fascinating.
Maybe I shouldn't believe them anymore. They had optimism last
season when he had injuries at the end of the season,
same thing here wound up affecting him for the postseason.
I don't think it's the same kind of savery that
we're talking about with Jimmy Butler. But you know, I
win if he's surprised. That's day to day and maybe
his status for Game one is in question. You know,
(27:25):
there is an expectation that Damian Lillard's going to play
in Game one, but he's not fully one hundred percent either.
So on top of all the all the issues that
we've talked about with the Bucks, with their inconsistent defense,
their chemistry, it's not a good look here that they're
already having injury concerns. We had in the fact that
they're playing the Pacers. They've lost four of their past
(27:45):
five matchups with him, including the nd season tournament game,
and the fact that Indiana fast paced offense they really
tapped into the Bucks weakness and transition defense. There's just
a lot of things that leave a lot of question
marks that make me think that the Bucks are already vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
They are definitely definitely vulnerable. All right, man, Well, we
got one more night of the play in and then
we got the then we got the real thing. We
got the real thing, And I'm with you on the
Nuggets thing. I think that's gonna be a competitive series.
I don't think the Lakers win, but I think they
win some games. I think they push them. I'm not
convinced the Lakers aren't better, and they don't have a
beat on them, and they match up pretty well with them.
(28:24):
And I don't know if the nugget the Nuggets bench
isn't as good as it was last year. No, Bruce Brown,
I'm interested to see what they look like in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
Yeah. Well, your reason is well reasoned, because even though
the Nuggets have won all the regular season games against
the Lakers so far, they've always been closed. The Lakers
have been pretty respectable, but I think that that also
illustrates in crunch time. The Nuggets just have more depth, talent,
continuity across the board, and I think that that'll play
itself out in the first round series. I would still
(28:52):
give the Lakers one or two games, but I think
it's going to be clear, even if it's a six
game series, that the Nuggets are the much better team.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Awesome stuff. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll talk
to you very very soon. Great job. As always, I
appreciate you, Doug.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Looking forward to hoop all right?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Who I mean, who doesn't love? Who doesn't love? Some
more hoop after we get done with college hoop. Now
we got the pro hoop. That's Mark Medina, He's our
he's our Fox Sports Radio NBA insider Meyer. What about you?
What what are where's your where's your head at? With
the Bucks? You watch? You know this this team? Where's
your head at with the Bucks heading into postseason?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Well, it's not in a good place with Giannis's injury
and and honestly with the the Pacers draw.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
You can look at it.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
You can look at it one or two ways. The
uh sorry, something that may year. You can look at it.
This team had troubles with the Pacers throughout the year.
Maybe this is an opportunity. If they win the series,
it gets momentum, or it could be like crap, this
is the team they've been in trouble with throughout the year.
So I'll look at it as maybe it'll be a
(29:57):
stepping stone for them, because Doug, as you and I
have conversations throughout the year, whether it be when Adrian
Griffin was fired or Doc Rivers was hired, or when
they were struggling. I only cared about the postseason because
that is what it is about, especially after flaming out
in five games in the first round last year to
the heat. It is all about the playoffs, So this
is where you want to you know, have it, put
(30:18):
your money where your mouth is if you will. Without
a healthy honest, it's difficult. But if they could get
past this series and if Jannis gets healthy, who knows
what could happen.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Awesome stuff. I'm fascinated to see. The Bucks are probably
they're one of like the three most fascinating teams.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah on the play and they're also the team that
everybody picks to lose, like in terms of you had
a first round upset, they'll be the team, and rightfully
so because it has been a bit of a mess
throughout the entire season. But again, as I said, I've
only cared about the playoffs, and now that the playoffs
are hear, let's see what we've got.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
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Speaker 1 (31:06):
What Up Butcha Doug Godly show, Fox Sports Ready How
Live from the tyrt dot com studios tyrat dot com.
Well we get there. Unmatched selection fast ree shipping free
road has protection over ten thousand recommended stallars tyrat Dot
comments the way tire buying should be. Hope you are great,
(31:27):
I truly do. I want to get into some Kaitlin
Clark stuff in a second, but I saw this from
Brian Winhurst. NBA scouts don't think Brownie James was able
to put his best foot forward this year because USC
didn't playhim in his position. They say he should play
somewhere where he can be the point guard. Like what
(31:49):
are we doing? They say he should play somewhere where
he can be the point guard and build up his skills.
So all of these stories are the same, okay, and
we can do this more in the podcast. But again,
(32:10):
a buyer, you're a really good guy. If I'm not
making sense, if it doesn't all equal out the end,
please feel free you can call me. I'm not because
things that work out my brain sometimes don't come out
of my mouth. I don't know if anybody else is
like that. But if you go back, like a year
and a half ago, there was a lot of discussion
about the NFL and Eric Enemy not being hired, and
(32:32):
there was as well the NFL owners are inherently racist,
because otherwise why wouldn't you hire Eric be enemy? Right?
You even had people that would say, you know, owners
want to hire somebody that can take around to their buddies.
Like that's somebody who says that has no idea how
the NFL works. Like there's no boosters, there's no donors,
there's no handshaking. It's I give you a job. Do
(32:55):
I want to be able to be around you?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Like?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Sure, but that's not really what's important. Get along with
the front office. Can you get along with your coaches?
Can you guys win football games? That's all that matters.
And I've talked to plenty of gms and presidents and
their whole thing is, like Will adding, said coach Will adding,
will any of this help us win games more? And
(33:18):
so the job of a GM or a president or
an owner when they're trying to find the right coaches,
what is going to help us win the most football games,
the longest, the most with the most, the quickest and
for the longest period of time. We want to sustain excellence.
It's pretty simple. The more games you win, the more
(33:40):
everybody is happy. Why Because you know, players get bonuses, Okay,
players get bonuses. General managers and coaches get extensions, and
when they get extensions, they get to stay living where
they live or maybe buy a better house, and they
don't have to move because families hate that. People hate moving,
hate leaving their job. An assistant coaches in addition to
(34:02):
making more money and being able to say they also
get opportunities to go get other jobs. It's the same
thing as front office. So the only thing that's important
in professional sports is winning. And so what we have
a group of people. We have a group of people
who are in the media, and many of them are
on social media as well that aren't in the media.
But we have a group of people within media who
(34:25):
believe that there's such nefarious intentions from people in power
that despite the fact that the number one and really
only objective is to win football games, that they go like, yeah,
we could win with Eric b Enemy, but you know
he's black, so let's find a white guy who can
do almost as good. It doesn't make any sense, right,
(34:47):
if your job is to win, then you get whoever
the best man, woman, non binary, I don't really care,
you just win football games? Makes sense? Sure? Okay, So
then we have this there's this argument that has popped up,
(35:07):
and it really was. I think Jamel Hill probably triggered
it the most because she has the biggest social media following,
where she put out a picture of three w NBA
players or somebody else put a picture that somebody else
put a picture, but then she retweeted.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Or whatever she quote tweeted a Sporting News tweet that
had the three players that have signature shoe deals with
the shoe.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Companies right, and those three are Brianna Stewart, Sabrina and
Sq and now Caitlin Clark, who signed a reportedly eight
figure deal to be with Nike, which of course caused
Jamel Hill to do the which I find super disingenuous.
Were they all have in common? I've sely all three
(35:58):
are white? So what Jamel Hill would lead you to
believe is, for example, Nike and Nike, who has they
gave Colin Kaepernick a bunch of money? I'm not really sure,
and they had that cool commercial, but I'm not really
sure there was was there any product Colin Kaepernick that
he sold? And they have been at the forefront for
(36:19):
women's sports for a long time. These aren't the first
shoes they've ever put out in a woman's name, and
by the way, Sabrina and SQ shoes are the number
one seller. Now, some of that is a little bit
disingenuous because they use it as their team shoe, which
means college teams get them automatically, like those are the
shoes that everybody gets, and then high school teams when
they order shoes from Nike, those are the ones they get.
(36:41):
It's a great shoe. And really it's the Kyrie Irving
shoe that when Kyrie, when they had to get rid
of Kyrie, these were the next shoes down the pipe,
and they just slapped Sabrina's logo on it. And Sabrina,
who was a great college player as a good professional player,
I don't know if she's great, like I legit, have
no idea, don't actually care. No, obviously she did a
(37:02):
three point shooting shootout with Staph. She has a relationship there.
But the fact she went to Oregon and I'm sure
Steph would wanted to put her in his shoe at
under armour help get her own shoe, and they've killed it.
But but the the the wondering aloud, which is again disingenuous,
like if you think people are racist, then go ahead
say it, because then you'll be made to look as
(37:24):
foolish as you really look. But that Nike would Nike
could make a bunch of money on Dan Byr. How
do you say her name? Is it a Ji Wilson?
How do you how do you know it's Wilson Wilson?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, Sabrina Escu.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
You don't even have to.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Bring appreciate it Asia Wilson, who's apparently a two time
league MVP. I know she's the best player in Vegas, right,
and they won the championship, and you know be like, well,
why doesn't she have her own shoe? So again, you're
sitting on your phone or on your computer or in
front of a microphone, and you're actually saying that Nike,
(38:04):
as a publicly traded Fortune five hundred company that has
been well ahead of everything in terms of all of
the different social justice or injustice issues and women in sports,
they would sacrifice all that equity because in their heart
(38:25):
of hearts, they're racist. They don't want black women to
sell their sneakers. That's the presumption that's made. Again, this
is a company that they get rid of anything that
doesn't have I believe, twelve percent growth year to year
or more so, you're saying that Nike like, yeah, listen,
we could sell a lot of shoes, but let's not
do it because she's black. Asia Wilson's black. We don't
(38:47):
want to do that. That's what her tweet said without
saying it, which is I think even weaker. And here's
the now. Now you have Brownie James and well they
didn't use him the right way. They didn't develop him
as a point guard. Well they had first of all,
they had that Isaiah Collier, who is the number one
(39:13):
rated prospect in the country, who is a point guard.
And oh yeah, by the way, so what you're saying
is Andie Enfeld Annie Enfeld. Rather than trying to win games,
he wanted to keep Bronnie down because he didn't see
him as a starting point guard. And so that's why
he didn't play point Like that's what we're actually saying.
(39:35):
How does this make sense to anybody? Anybody? Are those
things parallel each other? Did do do I make any
sense to you?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Buy?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Or am my two foot all over the place?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I I think Bronnie's situation is just so unique considering
who he is, what his last name is, hequ his
first name is and even just considering his health situation
in tying into the story that you're just talking about
for what the career was at USC or what we
expected it to be at USC, I think that also
(40:05):
played a big part of it. So I just think
that Bronnie situation is just very very unique.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
It is it is, and I think all these situations
un fact are unique. But I think the one parallel is,
like we do know that that, yeah, people play who
they think is going to help them win the most, right,
he plays somebody who's going to help you win. That's
coaching one on one Like why would Amy Enfeld not
(40:34):
play him at point guard if he thought he was
the best point guard or gave the best chance to win.
And by the way, Bronnie did start at point guard
several games when Isaiah Hollieer was out. They didn't win
a lot of those games. So I just it doesn't
mean the coaches are always right. It doesn't mean that
businesses are always right. It doesn't mean it doesn't mean
(40:59):
that that coaching decisions and who we pick are always right.
It's just where did this decision come from? And generally,
I think in business, you make the decision that where
you're going to be able to make the most money.
And when you're a coach, your only goal is to
win the most games. Who gives me the best opportunity
(41:20):
to win? Jase?
Speaker 6 (41:24):
Do?
Speaker 1 (41:24):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (41:26):
I think we should play the what don Sta always
said about Kaitlin This is good.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I like people who get it. I like people who
get it, and there's lots of people in our business
that don't get it. You know, I saw a cut
and I sent it to you. I believe, Jase do.
I don't know if I sent to everybody. I saw
a clip yesterday Pablo Torre was on with who is
he on with? When he was on What's the Same?
(41:55):
Levatardy show? Right? Yeah, So take a listen to public
talking with LeBatard about the WNBA.
Speaker 7 (42:05):
Just Marvel and just Marvel truly, Like when you say WNBA,
the first thing you think of is wow, that ratings monster,
Like we have not seen this dad, Like. I had
Morgan Murphy on my show on Friday to talk about
what it's like actually when you've been rooting and watching
and consuming and trying to evangelize people on your favorite sport.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
She's one of the She's the biggest.
Speaker 7 (42:26):
Women's basketball fan I know in my life, and she's
been trying to convince people for twenty years this is
worth it, and it's finally happening. And there's comedy, right,
and not merely you being proven right, but also the
dynamic of what happens when everybody starts like gentrifying the
thing you love. And so I was a bit of
(42:47):
this with Lucy and Iowa, but the way it's happening
at scale here with Caitlin Clark women's basketball is funny
because you have to handle this unprecedented problem, A deeply
unpopular thing seemingly overnight is now pop and now you
are both vindicated and infuriated that everybody has takes delivered
with the confidence of people who've been there for as
(43:09):
long as you have, and that is both a sign
that you've made it and is also your personal hell,
like a genie cursed to you with the wish that
they granted with the footnote of And by the way,
now stephen A is gonna have takes about Caitlin Clark
that are going to make you infuriated, like that's it's
an amazing thing we've just never seen before in an
American sports.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Okay, I would correct him on several levels. Probably the
biggest one, though, is I don't believe that there's any
metrics that says the sport is suddenly now popular or
that it was. I like that he admits it was unpopular.
I probably actually think that's true. I don't like the
term unpopular, whereas it just kind of existed and we
(43:51):
didn't care about it. But it was, on on some
levels unpopular. I mean, I think that's but I think
it was unpopular on some you know, I think it
was unpopular for reasons not having to deal with, not
having to do with with the actual play. It's the
constant need for affirmation that you're somehow good. But that's
(44:16):
honestly how WNBA people think. It's like this thing has
been awesome all along, and now all of a sudden,
people are saying we're awesome when you're supposed to say
we're sorry. Here's the truth to it. Here's what Don Staley,
who is now the head coach of the back to
back defending national champions South Carolina game Cocks, said about
(44:38):
the Kaitlin Clark effect.
Speaker 8 (44:40):
I want basketball, women's basketball to grow, and I'm not
too shy about saying why it grows. She's made it
grow over the past two years. We need to make
sure that we're telling the stories of our entire game.
So sometimes you have to go against the masses to
really cut down and say what's happening. You know, in
(45:00):
real time, Kaylen Clark is the sole reason why viewer
shit has shot through the roofs for our game?
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Yes, why is that so hard to admit? Now? Can you,
as down proposed, can you tell other stories like once
you now have a bigger audience, Course, of course you can.
I don't know if people stay tuned. My guess is
that they won't. My guess is that this is a
bit of a passing phase. And now she moves on
(45:32):
to the pro ranks, it kind of gets lost up.
It's a summer sport. It's cut up by the Olympics.
There's no built in rivalries. You don't have the brand
names of the team, like people can't name the names
of the teams. That's actually a big thing. But I'm
we're all going to see it kind of play out
in real time. But at least she's admitting that there's
(45:53):
not any other reasons. There's only one reason people are
paying attention it's Caitlin Clark, and instead you will get
people like Jamel Hill who are like, well, you know,
they're only paying it. Basically, they're only paying attention to
her because she's white and that sucks. Do I think
the color of her skin plays a factor, sure, church
(46:16):
part of the story. I've told you. I think her
sexual orientation plays a part of the story because the
league was seen as a league for lesbians, Okay, And
you could say, like there'll be people listening like, oh
my god, like where everybody's sitting there nod in their
head thinking, okay, again, it's not a thing to me.
(46:39):
I don't care. But it's a definitely a different environment,
different subculture. It's just different, and some people aren't comfortable
with that, whereas they're super comfortable with Caitlin Clark. She's
got straight brown hair, looks like she has her hair
is just like my daughter's hair. But I will tell
(47:00):
you the WNBA fan out there is more obnoxious than
Eagle fans, right because Eagle fans know we don't like them,
but they don't care. And the Eagles have at least
won two Super Bowls here in the last six seven years,
whereas WNBA fans are acting like we're all idiots for
(47:22):
not celebrating the sport that nobody really can pay attention
to and nobody really cared about for a long time,
and we're supposed to apologize for it, like we don't
like you and you care anyway. Stut Gottlieb Show here
on Fox Sports Radio, I honestly would tell you I
(47:45):
never would have thought in my life we would still
be talking about women's basketball at this point in time,
but we are. That is the power. That is the
power of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 6 (47:56):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Sam. You're obviously a big Iowa guy. That's why you
were trying to get tickets. You're gonna go on, Can
you can you name how many w NBA team names?
Can you name?
Speaker 6 (48:13):
Well, there's only twelve, Probably could name eight. Go Las
Vegas Aces, Okay, La Sparks. Yeah, let's go Seattle Storm nice, Okay,
Let's go Chicago Sky, Yeah, let's go Connecticut Sun.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Let's go New York Liberty.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yes, that's six.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Let's go Indiana Fever Yep.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Let's that's it. I think hold on now, hold on now,
I think that's about it.
Speaker 6 (48:44):
Hold up, now hold up, I'm missing something.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
I'm missing something.
Speaker 6 (48:48):
I'm missing I mean seven and I got five more.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
Man, how about this. We listened to it, if you
think about it over the break and gotta go.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
I got close.
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