February 24, 2025 • 37 mins
Doug reacts to Channing Frye's comments that nostalgia is killing the NBA. Doug gives some insight into what happened with the Lakers and Nuggets this weekend. Doug welcomes NBA Insider Ric Bucher on to talk about the Lakers, Jimmy Butler and all of the other major headlines around the NBA. Plus, Dan Beyer takes Doug through a game of "Big Deal, Little Deal or No Deal?".
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to five,
twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
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Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from the
(00:23):
tyreg dot com studios tyreg dot com. Well you get there.
Unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road aster protection, over
ten thousand recommended sellars tirect dot com. It's way tire
buying should be. Hope you had a great weekend. My team,
coming off our first winning I felt like Forever played
(00:45):
two games, one against Robert Morris, who's in first place
in our league, and we lost pretty hard fought game,
and then lost yesterday to Youngstown State, who again one
of the top two or three teams in our league.
We had them down ten with nine and a half
in our place, and then I think five with two
and a half at their place. We had him down
six with five minutes to go and couldn't hold on.
(01:06):
But I'm really actually happy with my group, they continue
to get better and compete, and I just I like
where we're going. Anyway, that's enough of a personal update.
The personal update, right, it feels a little bit like
those Christmas cards right where you give away a Christmas
card to one of your friends, you give an update
(01:27):
on each one of the kids. Jimmy likes playing footsball
and also big in the PS two. He plays on
the soccer team and he does theater. Anyway, there's everybody's
trying to get to why why more people don't watch
the NBA? Why don't we all watch the NBA? And
(01:48):
I'll offer up an opinion upcoming, but I do before
we get to those opinions, I think you need to
start to think to yourself, like why don't you watch
the NBA more? And I don't believe there's any one
reason I don't, as much as I could say, well,
(02:08):
you know, the reason we watch. Gambling is more prevalent.
The NFL is the easiest to gamble on. So if
the NFL is easy to gamble on, and they have
a great system for trying to know who's gonna play
who's not gonna play, that affects gambling lines. Whereas you know,
whether it's daily fantasy or gambling. For the NBA, with
so many guys in now in the lineup, like, how
(02:28):
would anybody ever know who's gonna play? Which makes it
really hard to gamble on a game. Plus it's just
too many games to pay that much attention to, not
for the hardcore degenerate, but for many of the you
know guys. They just like to throw some coin down.
Like everybody throws some coin down in an NFL game. Everybody
has a fantasy football team. The same can't be said
(02:49):
for the NBA. So as much as I would, I
would love to say, hey, the logic behind it, Okay,
logic behind is just simply gambling. There's a lot of
different parts to why the NBA is not viewed in
the same kind of royalty as it used to be.
(03:09):
Channing Prie is a former NBA player obviously now covers
the league. He offered up this opinion on this podcast,
Nostalgia is killing the NBA.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That nineties basketball Michael Jordan and Kobe was not as
clean as y'all think it was. Y'all forget that Jordan
left the league for two years. Y'all forget that Kobe
rest In Beast quit on his team in the playoffs
and did not shoot the basketball. So all this Kobe Jordan, oh,
(03:42):
he's not this, he's not that. That is propaganda. Every
great player, whether that's a wemby Ron, you know, Steph
this this that, you know, they compare them to forty
years ago. The rules weren't even the same. You're not
really watching helpside defense. Who's doing this? What is this rule?
(04:04):
What is that rule? You're not watching. Nobody celebrates these
new people. So why the would anybody want to be
the face of this league or you're gonna get on
on every network for not being somebody from.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Forty years ago.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's ridiculous, It is unfair. Bron is one of the
greatest players ever to play. Stephen Curry is one of
the greatest players ever to play. Jannis is one of
the great Jokic and you know what we do, we
talk about Michael Jordan. All this superstar era is over.
The car cap called a second Apron, it's over. Teams
(04:42):
are gonna take over.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Look, there's a lot of spitfire there. Right he goes
to the players are done and teams are taking over.
He says, everybody's compared to Michael Jordan. They are not.
He said, there's a ton of nostalgia, there is, but
that's with anything, right, you ever heard this? They don't
make them like they used to. No, they don't. They
have air conditioning now, right, they have cruise control, they
(05:08):
have adaptive control where you don't actually have to have
hands free driving, Bluetooth and other things.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So I think what Channing is mostly reacting to is
daytime TV and inside the NBA and maybe a little
bit of social media. The fact is that we do
celebrate guys. Do we pick apart their flaws? Yeah, that's
more how broadcasting is gone, and especially so in basketball.
(05:40):
I actually believe this. I don't want know if it's
narrative or belief that inside the NBA can do some
damage to the current NBA just because it gives off.
You know, they just say, hey, look, basically, guys were
tougher guys, It mattered more, everything was better back when
they played. But that's every old guy. In basket football
(06:02):
they do it as well though, Right, how many time
football guys have you've seen covering football that will say, oh,
football's get soft. Can't hit a guy when he goes
over the middle, can't touch a quarterback. Football is soft.
Has it adjusted football's numbers at all? Nope. Now there's
(06:24):
lots of quarterbacks who cover the game, the Dan Orlovsky's
in the world and others who all they do is
have praise for quarterbacks, even when those quarterbacks aren't as
good as Orlovski sometimes makes them out to be. So
I think that helps kind of the narrative of the game,
if you will. But the reality is we're just as
hard as to football players we are to basketball players.
(06:45):
There is more drama, maybe because it's covered more or
people have their own social media outlets as well. And
I think what it comes down to is, yeah, inside
the NBA can sound like some bitter old guys talk
about in my day it was amazing, and the league's
numbers reflect the fact that it's just very hard to
(07:06):
gamble on. It really are to gamble on. But I
don't think everybody's only one player is compared to Jordan,
that's Lebron, right. No one's ever said, you know, Luca
has to do this to be Jordan, where Giannis has
to do this. We always compare different generations of player
do it In baseball, A Ton. This is where Channing
(07:29):
And again I'm not close to Channing, but I have
friends that are really close with Channing and they all
love him. But this is where, in all honesty, he
grew up a hooper who's doing a podcast, not a
guy who is a sports guy who played hoop and
then did a podcast. By that, I mean he doesn't
have the true perspective. Because if you don't like being
(07:50):
compared to guys in the past, you think it's hurting
the sport. Ask Jason Stewart, who loves baseball. Baseball everything
is about comparing you to the legacy players, and it's
really hard with the steroid era guys, and that's everything football.
Some obviously, the sport has evolved so much, and he's
right that basketball has evolved, but and it's very different.
(08:14):
And I've said that we do look back at eighties
nineties regular season hoop as if it was really good,
and it was not. But the guys did play more often,
the game was more physical, the rules were different, and
the players are more skilled now. And Jay stew Am
I wrong. Like any baseball player, he's acting like it's
(08:37):
basketball and basketball alone that compares players to the players
of the past. Nobody does that more than baseball. Now,
baseball is not crazy popular on the national more in
the regional level, but nobody does that more than baseball.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Correct, And in comparing today's player in baseball to yesterday's
is aggravating for me because and I want I'm going
to get around to what I think Channing was getting
too as well. I think Channing's getting to an effort
thing here. No one ever questions Michael Jordan's effort or
willingness to compete. And much of the conversation that was
(09:13):
had on talk radio last week, and as you said,
the daytime debate shows was about the NBA and effort.
And I'm gonna let Dan say his take himself, but
I'm paraphrasing here. Dan says something very interesting on Friday, right, Dan,
All we're asking these guys to do is to try.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
That's correct. Yes, Especially with the All Star Game, everybody's
telling the players on what they want and that's just
to give effort. And it does translate into the regular season.
But it's just a simple message.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah. In fairness, though, Dan, how bad was the Pro
Bowl before they canceled the Pro Bowl? In terms of effort?
Speaker 7 (09:54):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, it was awful, okay, and baseball is still probably
the best, but it's not nearly what it used to
be in terms of its competitiveness. It truly is just
an exhibition game, more so than it's ever been previously.
So I'm not disagreeing with you, Dan, I'm not disagree
(10:14):
with you Jason. I'm not disagreeing with the sports fan
who says we carry around this assumption that the NBA's guys,
maybe because they have guaranteed contracts, because they will opt
out of games in the regular season and not play
on back to backs, that they don't show the consistency
of effort that we believe is required for their gargantuan salaries.
(10:36):
That's fair, but we use the All Star Game and
then we sit there and go like, come on, man,
like all the All Star games are a joke. Or
in Major League Baseball, remember when we had pitchers that
would go seven or eight innings. Yeah, now we have
we have bullpen days, and we have the opener not
even the starter. Right, We're constantly pulling guys. So this
(10:57):
is in all of sports, and maybe it's working smarter,
not harder, but that's not how we like our sports.
The point of it is, I don't think any of
the critique is wrong, but I think it's wrong to
say it's a basketball only the perception is that it's basketball.
The reality is, this is how any of us who
(11:19):
are old enough to have watched the previous generation views
this generation, whether it's like Tom Izzo said, soft or
as Dan Bayer said, not showing the supreme amount of
effort that we believe inherently the previous generation did.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
And my point in this specific instance was the NBA
trying to tell us or trying to do all of
these different things to make the All Star Game work
when everybody is just saying, guys, just try. You don't
have to change up teams. You don't have to draft teams,
you don't have to make a bracket, you don't have
(11:56):
to bring the Rising Stars team into the bracket to
try to make these guys try. Everybody just wants to
see effort. That's as simple as it was. But for
some reason, the league doesn't listen. And I think, like,
as you talk about on back to backs, and I
mean I just did an update about ten minutes ago,
(12:16):
and Kawhi and Norman Powell aren't playing tonight against the Pistons.
They didn't play yesterday either, chat Holmgridn's out tonight for
the thunder against Minnesota. Those are things that may bother
some people and maybe others. It's just today's NBA, you know,
But at what point is it just is it only
(12:37):
a ten week season, you know for the NBA playoffs
and you talk about baseball in the long season that
it is. I would even take your sport, Doug in
college basketball and say, you asked us at the top,
what was why do we watch the NBA? I kind
of wondered. I kind of thought of that, that's actually
a pretty good question on why. And then I thought
(12:58):
to myself, well, why do I watch college basketsketball when
really it's all about the tournament. You know, it's about
the atmosphere, it's about the play, It's about the intensity
and going on the road and conference play and getting
a big win is a huge deal, and there's effort
putting in all of those things. Now, in the grand
scheme of things, what's the difference between a three and
a four seed? Like nobody really knows, but for some
(13:19):
reason you're wrapped up into that. And that's what I
think is missing in the in the NBA is just
of what a win would be, you know, to go
on the road and win in Denver like the Lakers
did this past weekend. I think we actually probably took
more from that than any other game, and I'm not
sure how much people are actually taking from that win
from the Lakers. So I just I think it's a
(13:40):
pretty interesting question that you posed about why do we
watch and I think we just want to be entertained
with high quality, effort filled basketball.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and I want to totally fair. I also think
it's interesting, you know, I've always watched classic games and
thought I don't think they played as hard. They may
have played more consist as hard as our perception of
how they played is. But again, a lot to get
to here.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
What up, WI you Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio.
You're coming to you from the tiraq dot Com studios
the Smooth Jams Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, That's what I'm
talking about. By the way, you can stream this show
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in
(14:38):
the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports
Radio the app. We'll stream us live and one of
the newest features in the app is you can select
Fox Sports Radios as one of your presets, just like
presets in your radio out. Just make sure you preset
Fox Sports Radio on the iHeartRadio app and it will
pop up on your screen. Quick shout out. There were
some people in pit in the what is it Moon
(15:03):
the Moon County that's over by where Rob Morris's. People
came up to me after the game saying they're big
fans of the show you particular Dan Summer, fans of you, Jason,
even your curmudgeon State. And then in Youngstown. We must
be big in Youngstown because everywhere I went, people say
to listen to the show. So shout out to the Youngstown, Ohio.
There's a reason there's so much good Italian food in Youngstown, Ohio.
(15:25):
If you know, you know, forget about it, you get it.
Forget about it. Lakers beat the Nuggets, and here's JJ
Reddick talking about creating a new normal for Luca, the
sort of.
Speaker 8 (15:37):
Return to normalcy, and in some ways a new normal
that we're trying to create for him. There are steps
to all of that for it to become his new normal,
and you need in some ways, like what about Bob,
you need baby steps, and you know tonight was a
baby step.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Quality poll there from a movie, right, What About Bob
was a quality poll from JJ Reddick. Here's Luca talking
about the chemistry that's coming together on the team.
Speaker 9 (16:03):
It's fine, feel like myself a little bit, you know,
you know, playing this game. This is all I love.
So I'm just finally you know, being myself a little bit.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So that's why I was.
Speaker 9 (16:12):
Smiling the whole game. I think We've still got a
lot im booming. You know, I just can't play. This
is my full game. So you know, chemistry takes time.
But you set today, you know after three games, you
saw today that is getting better. So every day is
going to get better.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Every day is going to get better. Chemistry does take time.
Here's Lebron talk about the chemistry with Luca.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
I'm a natural born wide receiver and he's a natural
born quarterback, so it fits perfectly. I've been running the
floor and running lanes like you know, pretty much my
whole life. And he's been throwing great passes pretty much
his whole life, so it's not it's not hard to
get a rhythm when it comes to that. You know,
it's just all about you know, eye contact and you know,
him being a great quarterback like he is, and need
(16:52):
being the recipient of it.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
So stug Ott Leap Show here on Fox Sports Radio
kind of interesting, right, interesting because here's a guy in
Lebron who actually has he wants to say he runs
a lane, but he's very much controlled and dominated the game. Now,
there have been times over the past couple of years
in which he's allowed you know, Austin Reeves and others
(17:16):
to go kind of do their thing and he stays
away from it. And then end of the game he
saves up his energy and he tries to be the closer.
Be a challenge for him not to do that with Luca.
But the big thing with this team is and you know,
they they beat Denver using a mixture of defenses and
really preparing like it's the playoffs, which is great. The
problem is Denver wasn't playing like it was the playoffs.
(17:40):
You know that that's really what's an issue there, you know,
So it's like, hey, yeah, they played awesome, that was cool,
but in reality the game is gonna get a lot
more physical And yeah, I don't know if that look.
I just don't think you can have your three best
players be essentially non defenders and ever hope to win
(18:03):
the playoffs. Maybe maybe that's the change in the NBA.
Will it be fun? Yeah, there'll be some games where
they dominate, they score one hundred and fifty points, but
how many will they give up in that process? It's
the Doug Gotlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. And uh,
now that it is basketball season, who better to catch
up with than Rick Buker. Okay, you can see Rick
Buker on Fox Sports One. You can read him stuff
(18:25):
at Fox sports dot Com. Of course, he joins us
weekly here on the Doug Gottlieb Show. The Lakers, Luca
Luca and the Lakers. Okay, we are I don't know
a couple of games in what's your takeaway?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Uh that they're gonna be a dynamic team. Uh?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
He is.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Obviously. You know, I think we've forgotten in all the
tumult of him not playing for the better part of
the season and then all of the talk coming out
of Dallas as a result of the trade, that kind
of lost side of just how special he can be.
That said, you see some of the same things that
(19:08):
you've always questioned about, just can you build your team
around him and can you take you all the way
if you don't have the exact right pieces around it.
He's had to miss a couple of games because they're
monitoring the calf issue. He's still in my mind for
who he is and how he shoots way too reliant
(19:32):
or too free to take threes, and defensively he can
get after it, but on a consistent basis is he
capable of that? So look, it's it has it has
worked really well. And I and I don't want to
make too much of the win over the Nuggets, because
(19:53):
quite clearly JJ Reddick approached that almost like a playoff game.
I mean, he really prepared them specifically to play the Nuggets,
and they took some things away. And the Nuggets conversely
played like they beat the Lakers every time going out,
regardless of whether they let them take a lead in
the fourth quarter or not, or whether they prepare however
they play. They did nothing special. So the good thing
(20:16):
is that the Lakers now should have a certain amount
of confidence that we play a certain way. Hey, we
can be competitive with these guys. The flip side is
that the Nuggets and Mike Malone saw exactly what JJ
wants to do if they should meet each other in
the postseason, and now they have the opportunity to prepare
(20:38):
for that.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Impressed with the Denver Nuggets at all in that game.
And I don't want to take away from the Lakers,
but they didn't look like they were ready to play.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
No, they did not. It's the Denver thing. Is is
a weird thing. Okay, Jimmy Butler and the Warriors, so far,
so good. What's the ceiling for that group?
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Well one getting to the playoffs and winning around maybe two,
but I think that's on the outside. But I like
their chances now of moving into a position of making
the playoffs, even even if it is through the play
and play in at this point. But and then you know,
(21:24):
depending on who they get matched up. But I think
that's the thing that I'm seeing across the board is
matchups are going They always play a big role, but
I feel as if this year, more than ever, they're
going to play a monstrous role. And who ends up
being in the finals, and and so it really depends
(21:45):
on just who they get. But Jimmy has given them
everything that we hope that Andrew Wiggins would evolve into.
He's just he's given them a consistency, and he's given
them things that they collectively weren't very good at doing,
like getting to the free throw line, finishing inside around
the basket. Defensively, there's a confidence that he's going to
(22:08):
be where he needs to be at all times. And
then there's just there's just the contagious atmosphere of getting
a guy like Jimmy who has a completely different personality
than Andrew Wiggins does. You can look at what Wiggins
did and you know, just on the floor and say,
man like, he could be really good defensively, he could score,
(22:30):
he could do all those things. But then there's the
dynamic of we know what that guy's gonna do and
he's gonna lift everybody up as a result. And with
Draymond Green's falling off his game, his bravado doesn't quite
resonate the same way. Jimmy's still in a place where
it does. So the collective between those two, I think
(22:52):
he just makes the Warriors collectively feel different about themselves,
and as a coach, you well know how your team
feels about itself can have such a huge impact on
how they play that you just it's an intangible that
you can't quite like put your arms around, but you
(23:12):
know it when you see it.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Stuck Ott Lieb Show here on Fox Sports Trader that's
the voice of the one and only Rick Buker Hey
Channing Fry said that people are being critical of the NBA.
They're just stuck in NBA nostalgia and they're not going
and they're not going back. What's your reaction here?
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Look, I like the sentiment and I think, you know,
maybe there's a little small, you know, couple sand granules
of truth to it. But the bigger issue for me
because I was there for the Jordan nineties and the
Kobe two thousands, and those guys got ripped on the regular,
(23:52):
So it's not as if like they didn't go through
any of this. Now, social media in twenty four hour
you know, sports coverage and debate and all that has
certainly raised the temperature and the volume. But I believe
that the bigger issue isn't that we don't appreciate today's players.
(24:14):
It's that we crown them way way too soon. I mean,
I took issue with this last year. Everybody's suddenly making
Anthony Edwards comparisons to Michael Jordan, Like, can we just
hold on Physically he looks kind of the same. He
has the same dynamic physical ability. The rest of his game,
(24:37):
the IQ level, the accomplishments are not there. And I
don't say any of this to bag on ant, but
it's more like what we do is we put these
guys up on a pedestal way too soon, and then
when they don't match it, now everybody jumps on them.
And so I'm just like, can we just stop like
(25:00):
trying to anoint everybody before their time. Nobody hates Steph
Curry because Steph Curry's gone out and done it right, Yep, nobody,
you know. I mean, you can go back and forth
on Lebron, but for the most part, met people who
stand for him as they do that they are going
to be critical. The only time they're critical is when
somebody says, well, he's better than Jordan, and it's like,
(25:21):
well wait, and we were doing that like years ago.
We've been doing that almost his entire career. That's the
issue to.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Me, Stug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Are
the Calves anywhere years go? As their record?
Speaker 8 (25:40):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
That's what I mean. That is we could say the
same thing about Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Couldn't we sure I was getting I was getting to
them Buke?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, I mean I look at it with both of them.
I do think that the Calves. What it really what
it really comes down to is can name maintain this
approach when they get to the postseason because and which
is which is a more equal share the wealth type
(26:11):
of approach or does it become the Donovan Mitchell show,
which is what I've seen so many times. And I
don't think Donovan Mitchell is good enough to be that guy.
And we can have a long conversation about whether you
just need to have that dominant guy to be able
to go as far as their record says they should go.
I mean, the records say we should be seeing the
(26:31):
Calves Oklahoma City of finals. But like the question is
going to be, can can what they're doing now where
there is very little game planning, can they carry that?
And can they adjust on the fly and play more
than one way? I actually like the calves ability to
(26:54):
do that more than I do Oklahoma City right now,
because I think that they have those those differentiating parts
and they can play different ways. They can They've they've
got enough thighs to play big, but they can play
play fast. The really interesting part for me is going
to be if Darius Garland has it going, can Donovan
(27:18):
Mitchell step back and particularly in the postseason, can he
step back and can he still be effective? Like those
are the little things that have to happen within a
game and within a team for it to maximize its ability.
Right now, you don't have that because a lot of
their games, like it's fifteen to twenty points, you don't
have to make that decision. But now we're in a
(27:40):
situation where it's a one or two possession game for
the fourth quarter. How are they going to operate? Is
it going to be like, Okay, Donovan takeover or is
it going to be We're going to go with whoever
whoever's got the hot hand. And I don't know how
they're going to approach that, but to me, that's going
to be the tell, and we really we just we're
not going to know. Which is you don't as much
(28:02):
as we want a forecast, and we all forecast. The
reality is until you get into the postseason and you
see who they're playing and you see the adjustments that
they're forced to make, that you find out whether a
team is capable of making those adjustments. There's just no
way to be able to read that during the regular
(28:22):
season because they don't face that challenge.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Rick Berker joining us here on the Doug Gottlieb Show
on Fox Sports Radio, buke, what's the state of the
New York Dicks.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
They're I mean they are thirty seven and twenty so
some of this is like, you go out and get
Michal Bridges, You're going dead, Carol Anthony Towns. This is
supposed to be their year, They're supposed to get it done.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Well.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
When I look at their team, I think they're very talented.
I think they have a lot of good peace. But
do they have it all? Do they have like can
they play multiple ways? And are they or are they
relatively easy to figure out? And this is where again,
(29:16):
when we anoint guys early, but we don't give him
the opportunity to really like prove that they can evolve
and change. Is Jalen Brunson Jalen Brunson has been really good.
He's been a nice surprise, but he has to go
to another level for the Knicks to be able to
(29:40):
make good on what the expectations are. And the reality is,
I'm not sure that he has the physical gifts. I'm
what I question is is he maximizing who he is?
And has he maximized who he is up to this point?
And if you ask him to take another step, is
(30:01):
that just within the realm of being the size that
he is and the game that he has. And I
just that's that's what I need to see, and I
I have my doubts.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
That No, No, I'm with you. Like he's an he's
an amazing basketball player.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
You love him, love love everything about him. I love
guys who maxim food they can be.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
No, No, he's amazing. And if he's your second best scorer, right,
if you're second best scorer, I think you could probably
win a title with him if he's your go to score.
Don't think you can't.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Think that's I think that's because you can make the
game really hard on him and force somebody else to
beat you.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And now, look, I like the makeup of their team.
I like the idea of Karl Anthony Towns at like
their best shooters, their center, and their best post players
at point guard. Like I like that. But the other
part is, like, you know, forgive me, but I haven't
seen Karl Anthony Towns look like anything close to an
NBA Finals level player in the playoffs as of yet.
(31:08):
So we'll just you know, we'll just have to reserve
judgment on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Well, and the other tricky part is in my wife
pointed this out. Who's like watching Karl Anthony Towns run
down the floor like he's he's I mean, we've seen
it with Joel Embiid, but Karl Anthony Towns does not
have an athletic gate. He's kind of flat footed. And
when you have to play as fast as you have
to play in today's game, and you have to play
(31:33):
as hard as you have to play for a Tom
Thibodeaux team that can run in like if he looks
like he's a key and ailing and all that, there's
there's a reason for it. That's with all bigs in
the league today. You have to have a requisite amount
of athleticism or the seven footers two sixty two and
(31:56):
up unless you're just a three athlete with that kind
of a body in today's NBA. That's that's a gamble
that the guy is going to be able to stay healthy. Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Speaking of Embiid, Uh, what's the what? What's everybody saying
about the knee?
Speaker 4 (32:14):
I mean, look, it's it's I don't know how you
get better? You know, a short of I'm wondering when
we get the announcement that he's going to try the
Lonzo ball, they're going to start looking for a seven
foot cadaver to find a new knee form. Because again
with what the with the game demands, Embiid's difficulty in
(32:34):
uh in staying in shape and and this is like
with Zion Williamson or any any guy who comes in.
If you're not in shape and you start suffering injuries
as a result of that, Like now, your ability to
get in shape and not have reoccurring injuries, You've just
it's get around that. Like you you flawed. You your
(32:59):
body is flawed now, and I don't know that there's
a way to get around it.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Sure, Bukeer, you're the best man. I love the little basketball,
little basketball talk for you on a on a Monday
and in the meantime, appreciate you bear our guest and
we'll talk to you soon. Thanks, thanks so much, pleasure.
You got it. H It's Rick Buker joining us here
in the tyrack dot Com studio.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. You're listening to us now,
but you know you can see us. Check out our
YouTube channel, Fox Sports Tradiers YouTube channel to search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see whole bunch of
video highlights. You can subscribe and you can always get
into access to Fox Sports Radios videos on YouTube. Let's
get to a game.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
What do you got there, Dan?
Speaker 6 (33:55):
But the game today is.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Big deal, little deal, no deal?
Speaker 6 (33:59):
Big a little deal or no deal that the Green
Bay Packers are the team that wanted the Tush Push band.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Uh. I think it's a big deal. I think it's
a big deal. It's like Mark Murphy's parting shot, you know,
on the Right Way to play football. Plus they lost
the Eagles twice this year.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
It was an unknown team for a while, and then
Diana Rossini of The Athletic got the report that it
was Green Bay who made that request. Doug, big deal,
little deal or no deal that preseason number one Kansas
has now dropped out of the top twenty five entirely.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
It's amazing because then they went out and just molly
want my own mater by thirty on Saturday at the
far Was it that Saturday at the Fall, Yes, Saturday
at the fock. It's a big deal. You know. You
have Hunter Dickinson has played college basketball forever, right, They
have a four year starter at the point guard as well,
(34:56):
who won a national championship, and Bill self is as
good a coach as there has ever been in the
history of the sport, and yet they haven't been able
to figure it out.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
That is a big deal, Doug sting in the Big twelve,
and my apologies if you were focusing on your own
game the next day. But big deal, little deal and
no deal in the late foul call against Arizona's tray
Townsend and they're lost to BYU on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Oh okay, I'm glad you brought this up. I'd actually love
to do like a video breakdown of it, because there
was a similar call at the other end on BYU
that was not called continuation. And look, I disagree with
both of the calls, but here's what I like about
the calls. They were actually consistent. They were the primary defender,
that's the guy who's guarding the basketball, that's a primary defender,
(35:43):
essentially sticking out his left leg and bumping into the
legs of the driver. And it was called a foul
at both ends. So I don't like the call. I
wouldn't call it, but at least they were consistent, which
when you're coaching, that's all you can ask for. All
you can ask for. I got a technical foul on
from my third technical vowel. Yeah, And again my whole
(36:04):
thing was like, what is a foul? There is a
foul there? What's a foul? There is a fowl there.
They didn't like it very much. I may have been
a little bit more colorful, what's a vowl?
Speaker 6 (36:16):
And by the way, when we were talking about NBA
and college basketball earlier, that scene in Tucson on Saturday
night was amazing. And you had a nineteen ranked team
against an unranked team. Both good teams and should farewell
in the tournament. But yeah, it was great, great action.
All right, big deal, a little deal and no deal, Doug.
Something that you just talked with Rick Bucker a little
(36:38):
bit about that Joel Embiid likely needs another procedure on
his knee.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Ah, that's a big deal. There's no way you cannot
say that's a big deal with the guy who's had
so many different little procedures on their body, especially a
big guy like that on his knee. That's a huge deal, Jake.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
Nick, big deal, little deal or no deal. That the
Knicks are zero to five against the celt and Calves,
the teams that are looking up at in the Eastern
Conference this season.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Hmmmm the little deal. I mean, yeah, you're gonna have
to be one of them or both of them to
get to an NBA finals. But there's not a ton
of parallel regular season in the postseason.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
Finally, big deal, little deal, a no deal. That the
PAC twelve says they could add up to four new
members after their TV deal is finalized this spring, the
new look back twelve.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Who is in the Who is in the new look
PAC twelve?
Speaker 6 (37:23):
So you've got Oregon State and Washington State. Then you
also have Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah
State is joining. Gonzaga is going to be a basketball
only member, so they need to add a couple.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
But that's like the Mountain West kind of yes.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
Yes, basically with a sprinkling of the PAC twelve in
the West Coast Conference and that's game of time.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Little deal. Stut Gottlieb Show. Here on Fox Sports Trading,
We'll be love for the weekend. We'll be eight from
the weekend. Love It eight is next on The Dog
Gotlieb Show.
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to five,
twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching app ask Coming Up America, Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from the
(00:23):
tyreg dot com studios tyreg dot com. Well you get there.
Unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road aster protection, over
ten thousand recommended sellars tirect dot com. It's way tire
buying should be. Hope you had a great weekend. My team,
coming off our first winning I felt like Forever played
(00:45):
two games, one against Robert Morris, who's in first place
in our league, and we lost pretty hard fought game,
and then lost yesterday to Youngstown State, who again one
of the top two or three teams in our league.
We had them down ten with nine and a half
in our place, and then I think five with two
and a half at their place. We had him down
six with five minutes to go and couldn't hold on.
(01:06):
But I'm really actually happy with my group, they continue
to get better and compete, and I just I like
where we're going. Anyway, that's enough of a personal update.
The personal update, right, it feels a little bit like
those Christmas cards right where you give away a Christmas
card to one of your friends, you give an update
(01:27):
on each one of the kids. Jimmy likes playing footsball
and also big in the PS two. He plays on
the soccer team and he does theater. Anyway, there's everybody's
trying to get to why why more people don't watch
the NBA? Why don't we all watch the NBA? And
(01:48):
I'll offer up an opinion upcoming, but I do before
we get to those opinions, I think you need to
start to think to yourself, like why don't you watch
the NBA more? And I don't believe there's any one
reason I don't, as much as I could say, well,
(02:08):
you know, the reason we watch. Gambling is more prevalent.
The NFL is the easiest to gamble on. So if
the NFL is easy to gamble on, and they have
a great system for trying to know who's gonna play
who's not gonna play, that affects gambling lines. Whereas you know,
whether it's daily fantasy or gambling. For the NBA, with
so many guys in now in the lineup, like, how
(02:28):
would anybody ever know who's gonna play? Which makes it
really hard to gamble on a game. Plus it's just
too many games to pay that much attention to, not
for the hardcore degenerate, but for many of the you
know guys. They just like to throw some coin down.
Like everybody throws some coin down in an NFL game. Everybody
has a fantasy football team. The same can't be said
(02:49):
for the NBA. So as much as I would, I
would love to say, hey, the logic behind it, Okay,
logic behind is just simply gambling. There's a lot of
different parts to why the NBA is not viewed in
the same kind of royalty as it used to be.
(03:09):
Channing Prie is a former NBA player obviously now covers
the league. He offered up this opinion on this podcast,
Nostalgia is killing the NBA.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That nineties basketball Michael Jordan and Kobe was not as
clean as y'all think it was. Y'all forget that Jordan
left the league for two years. Y'all forget that Kobe
rest In Beast quit on his team in the playoffs
and did not shoot the basketball. So all this Kobe Jordan, oh,
(03:42):
he's not this, he's not that. That is propaganda. Every
great player, whether that's a wemby Ron, you know, Steph
this this that, you know, they compare them to forty
years ago. The rules weren't even the same. You're not
really watching helpside defense. Who's doing this? What is this rule?
(04:04):
What is that rule? You're not watching. Nobody celebrates these
new people. So why the would anybody want to be
the face of this league or you're gonna get on
on every network for not being somebody from.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Forty years ago.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's ridiculous, It is unfair. Bron is one of the
greatest players ever to play. Stephen Curry is one of
the greatest players ever to play. Jannis is one of
the great Jokic and you know what we do, we
talk about Michael Jordan. All this superstar era is over.
The car cap called a second Apron, it's over. Teams
(04:42):
are gonna take over.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Look, there's a lot of spitfire there. Right he goes
to the players are done and teams are taking over.
He says, everybody's compared to Michael Jordan. They are not.
He said, there's a ton of nostalgia, there is, but
that's with anything, right, you ever heard this? They don't
make them like they used to. No, they don't. They
have air conditioning now, right, they have cruise control, they
(05:08):
have adaptive control where you don't actually have to have
hands free driving, Bluetooth and other things.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So I think what Channing is mostly reacting to is
daytime TV and inside the NBA and maybe a little
bit of social media. The fact is that we do
celebrate guys. Do we pick apart their flaws? Yeah, that's
more how broadcasting is gone, and especially so in basketball.
(05:40):
I actually believe this. I don't want know if it's
narrative or belief that inside the NBA can do some
damage to the current NBA just because it gives off.
You know, they just say, hey, look, basically, guys were
tougher guys, It mattered more, everything was better back when
they played. But that's every old guy. In basket football
(06:02):
they do it as well though, Right, how many time
football guys have you've seen covering football that will say, oh,
football's get soft. Can't hit a guy when he goes
over the middle, can't touch a quarterback. Football is soft.
Has it adjusted football's numbers at all? Nope. Now there's
(06:24):
lots of quarterbacks who cover the game, the Dan Orlovsky's
in the world and others who all they do is
have praise for quarterbacks, even when those quarterbacks aren't as
good as Orlovski sometimes makes them out to be. So
I think that helps kind of the narrative of the game,
if you will. But the reality is we're just as
hard as to football players we are to basketball players.
(06:45):
There is more drama, maybe because it's covered more or
people have their own social media outlets as well. And
I think what it comes down to is, yeah, inside
the NBA can sound like some bitter old guys talk
about in my day it was amazing, and the league's
numbers reflect the fact that it's just very hard to
(07:06):
gamble on. It really are to gamble on. But I
don't think everybody's only one player is compared to Jordan,
that's Lebron, right. No one's ever said, you know, Luca
has to do this to be Jordan, where Giannis has
to do this. We always compare different generations of player
do it In baseball, A Ton. This is where Channing
(07:29):
And again I'm not close to Channing, but I have
friends that are really close with Channing and they all
love him. But this is where, in all honesty, he
grew up a hooper who's doing a podcast, not a
guy who is a sports guy who played hoop and
then did a podcast. By that, I mean he doesn't
have the true perspective. Because if you don't like being
(07:50):
compared to guys in the past, you think it's hurting
the sport. Ask Jason Stewart, who loves baseball. Baseball everything
is about comparing you to the legacy players, and it's
really hard with the steroid era guys, and that's everything football.
Some obviously, the sport has evolved so much, and he's
right that basketball has evolved, but and it's very different.
(08:14):
And I've said that we do look back at eighties
nineties regular season hoop as if it was really good,
and it was not. But the guys did play more often,
the game was more physical, the rules were different, and
the players are more skilled now. And Jay stew Am
I wrong. Like any baseball player, he's acting like it's
(08:37):
basketball and basketball alone that compares players to the players
of the past. Nobody does that more than baseball. Now,
baseball is not crazy popular on the national more in
the regional level, but nobody does that more than baseball.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Correct, And in comparing today's player in baseball to yesterday's
is aggravating for me because and I want I'm going
to get around to what I think Channing was getting
too as well. I think Channing's getting to an effort
thing here. No one ever questions Michael Jordan's effort or
willingness to compete. And much of the conversation that was
(09:13):
had on talk radio last week, and as you said,
the daytime debate shows was about the NBA and effort.
And I'm gonna let Dan say his take himself, but
I'm paraphrasing here. Dan says something very interesting on Friday, right, Dan,
All we're asking these guys to do is to try.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
That's correct. Yes, Especially with the All Star Game, everybody's
telling the players on what they want and that's just
to give effort. And it does translate into the regular season.
But it's just a simple message.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah. In fairness, though, Dan, how bad was the Pro
Bowl before they canceled the Pro Bowl? In terms of effort?
Speaker 7 (09:54):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, it was awful, okay, and baseball is still probably
the best, but it's not nearly what it used to
be in terms of its competitiveness. It truly is just
an exhibition game, more so than it's ever been previously.
So I'm not disagreeing with you, Dan, I'm not disagree
(10:14):
with you Jason. I'm not disagreeing with the sports fan
who says we carry around this assumption that the NBA's guys,
maybe because they have guaranteed contracts, because they will opt
out of games in the regular season and not play
on back to backs, that they don't show the consistency
of effort that we believe is required for their gargantuan salaries.
(10:36):
That's fair, but we use the All Star Game and
then we sit there and go like, come on, man,
like all the All Star games are a joke. Or
in Major League Baseball, remember when we had pitchers that
would go seven or eight innings. Yeah, now we have
we have bullpen days, and we have the opener not
even the starter. Right, We're constantly pulling guys. So this
(10:57):
is in all of sports, and maybe it's working smarter,
not harder, but that's not how we like our sports.
The point of it is, I don't think any of
the critique is wrong, but I think it's wrong to
say it's a basketball only the perception is that it's basketball.
The reality is, this is how any of us who
(11:19):
are old enough to have watched the previous generation views
this generation, whether it's like Tom Izzo said, soft or
as Dan Bayer said, not showing the supreme amount of
effort that we believe inherently the previous generation did.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
And my point in this specific instance was the NBA
trying to tell us or trying to do all of
these different things to make the All Star Game work
when everybody is just saying, guys, just try. You don't
have to change up teams. You don't have to draft teams,
you don't have to make a bracket, you don't have
(11:56):
to bring the Rising Stars team into the bracket to
try to make these guys try. Everybody just wants to
see effort. That's as simple as it was. But for
some reason, the league doesn't listen. And I think, like,
as you talk about on back to backs, and I
mean I just did an update about ten minutes ago,
(12:16):
and Kawhi and Norman Powell aren't playing tonight against the Pistons.
They didn't play yesterday either, chat Holmgridn's out tonight for
the thunder against Minnesota. Those are things that may bother
some people and maybe others. It's just today's NBA, you know,
But at what point is it just is it only
(12:37):
a ten week season, you know for the NBA playoffs
and you talk about baseball in the long season that
it is. I would even take your sport, Doug in
college basketball and say, you asked us at the top,
what was why do we watch the NBA? I kind
of wondered. I kind of thought of that, that's actually
a pretty good question on why. And then I thought
(12:58):
to myself, well, why do I watch college basketsketball when
really it's all about the tournament. You know, it's about
the atmosphere, it's about the play, It's about the intensity
and going on the road and conference play and getting
a big win is a huge deal, and there's effort
putting in all of those things. Now, in the grand
scheme of things, what's the difference between a three and
a four seed? Like nobody really knows, but for some
(13:19):
reason you're wrapped up into that. And that's what I
think is missing in the in the NBA is just
of what a win would be, you know, to go
on the road and win in Denver like the Lakers
did this past weekend. I think we actually probably took
more from that than any other game, and I'm not
sure how much people are actually taking from that win
from the Lakers. So I just I think it's a
(13:40):
pretty interesting question that you posed about why do we
watch and I think we just want to be entertained
with high quality, effort filled basketball.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and I want to totally fair. I also think
it's interesting, you know, I've always watched classic games and
thought I don't think they played as hard. They may
have played more consist as hard as our perception of
how they played is. But again, a lot to get
to here.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
What up, WI you Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio.
You're coming to you from the tiraq dot Com studios
the Smooth Jams Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, That's what I'm
talking about. By the way, you can stream this show
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in
(14:38):
the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports
Radio the app. We'll stream us live and one of
the newest features in the app is you can select
Fox Sports Radios as one of your presets, just like
presets in your radio out. Just make sure you preset
Fox Sports Radio on the iHeartRadio app and it will
pop up on your screen. Quick shout out. There were
some people in pit in the what is it Moon
(15:03):
the Moon County that's over by where Rob Morris's. People
came up to me after the game saying they're big
fans of the show you particular Dan Summer, fans of you, Jason,
even your curmudgeon State. And then in Youngstown. We must
be big in Youngstown because everywhere I went, people say
to listen to the show. So shout out to the Youngstown, Ohio.
There's a reason there's so much good Italian food in Youngstown, Ohio.
(15:25):
If you know, you know, forget about it, you get it.
Forget about it. Lakers beat the Nuggets, and here's JJ
Reddick talking about creating a new normal for Luca, the
sort of.
Speaker 8 (15:37):
Return to normalcy, and in some ways a new normal
that we're trying to create for him. There are steps
to all of that for it to become his new normal,
and you need in some ways, like what about Bob,
you need baby steps, and you know tonight was a
baby step.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Quality poll there from a movie, right, What About Bob
was a quality poll from JJ Reddick. Here's Luca talking
about the chemistry that's coming together on the team.
Speaker 9 (16:03):
It's fine, feel like myself a little bit, you know,
you know, playing this game. This is all I love.
So I'm just finally you know, being myself a little bit.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So that's why I was.
Speaker 9 (16:12):
Smiling the whole game. I think We've still got a
lot im booming. You know, I just can't play. This
is my full game. So you know, chemistry takes time.
But you set today, you know after three games, you
saw today that is getting better. So every day is
going to get better.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Every day is going to get better. Chemistry does take time.
Here's Lebron talk about the chemistry with Luca.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
I'm a natural born wide receiver and he's a natural
born quarterback, so it fits perfectly. I've been running the
floor and running lanes like you know, pretty much my
whole life. And he's been throwing great passes pretty much
his whole life, so it's not it's not hard to
get a rhythm when it comes to that. You know,
it's just all about you know, eye contact and you know,
him being a great quarterback like he is, and need
(16:52):
being the recipient of it.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
So stug Ott Leap Show here on Fox Sports Radio
kind of interesting, right, interesting because here's a guy in
Lebron who actually has he wants to say he runs
a lane, but he's very much controlled and dominated the game. Now,
there have been times over the past couple of years
in which he's allowed you know, Austin Reeves and others
(17:16):
to go kind of do their thing and he stays
away from it. And then end of the game he
saves up his energy and he tries to be the closer.
Be a challenge for him not to do that with Luca.
But the big thing with this team is and you know,
they they beat Denver using a mixture of defenses and
really preparing like it's the playoffs, which is great. The
problem is Denver wasn't playing like it was the playoffs.
(17:40):
You know that that's really what's an issue there, you know,
So it's like, hey, yeah, they played awesome, that was cool,
but in reality the game is gonna get a lot
more physical And yeah, I don't know if that look.
I just don't think you can have your three best
players be essentially non defenders and ever hope to win
(18:03):
the playoffs. Maybe maybe that's the change in the NBA.
Will it be fun? Yeah, there'll be some games where
they dominate, they score one hundred and fifty points, but
how many will they give up in that process? It's
the Doug Gotlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. And uh,
now that it is basketball season, who better to catch
up with than Rick Buker. Okay, you can see Rick
Buker on Fox Sports One. You can read him stuff
(18:25):
at Fox sports dot Com. Of course, he joins us
weekly here on the Doug Gottlieb Show. The Lakers, Luca
Luca and the Lakers. Okay, we are I don't know
a couple of games in what's your takeaway?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Uh that they're gonna be a dynamic team. Uh?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
He is.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Obviously. You know, I think we've forgotten in all the
tumult of him not playing for the better part of
the season and then all of the talk coming out
of Dallas as a result of the trade, that kind
of lost side of just how special he can be.
That said, you see some of the same things that
(19:08):
you've always questioned about, just can you build your team
around him and can you take you all the way
if you don't have the exact right pieces around it.
He's had to miss a couple of games because they're
monitoring the calf issue. He's still in my mind for
who he is and how he shoots way too reliant
(19:32):
or too free to take threes, and defensively he can
get after it, but on a consistent basis is he
capable of that? So look, it's it has it has
worked really well. And I and I don't want to
make too much of the win over the Nuggets, because
(19:53):
quite clearly JJ Reddick approached that almost like a playoff game.
I mean, he really prepared them specifically to play the Nuggets,
and they took some things away. And the Nuggets conversely
played like they beat the Lakers every time going out,
regardless of whether they let them take a lead in
the fourth quarter or not, or whether they prepare however
they play. They did nothing special. So the good thing
(20:16):
is that the Lakers now should have a certain amount
of confidence that we play a certain way. Hey, we
can be competitive with these guys. The flip side is
that the Nuggets and Mike Malone saw exactly what JJ
wants to do if they should meet each other in
the postseason, and now they have the opportunity to prepare
(20:38):
for that.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Impressed with the Denver Nuggets at all in that game.
And I don't want to take away from the Lakers,
but they didn't look like they were ready to play.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
No, they did not. It's the Denver thing. Is is
a weird thing. Okay, Jimmy Butler and the Warriors, so far,
so good. What's the ceiling for that group?
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Well one getting to the playoffs and winning around maybe two,
but I think that's on the outside. But I like
their chances now of moving into a position of making
the playoffs, even even if it is through the play
and play in at this point. But and then you know,
(21:24):
depending on who they get matched up. But I think
that's the thing that I'm seeing across the board is
matchups are going They always play a big role, but
I feel as if this year, more than ever, they're
going to play a monstrous role. And who ends up
being in the finals, and and so it really depends
(21:45):
on just who they get. But Jimmy has given them
everything that we hope that Andrew Wiggins would evolve into.
He's just he's given them a consistency, and he's given
them things that they collectively weren't very good at doing,
like getting to the free throw line, finishing inside around
the basket. Defensively, there's a confidence that he's going to
(22:08):
be where he needs to be at all times. And
then there's just there's just the contagious atmosphere of getting
a guy like Jimmy who has a completely different personality
than Andrew Wiggins does. You can look at what Wiggins
did and you know, just on the floor and say,
man like, he could be really good defensively, he could score,
(22:30):
he could do all those things. But then there's the
dynamic of we know what that guy's gonna do and
he's gonna lift everybody up as a result. And with
Draymond Green's falling off his game, his bravado doesn't quite
resonate the same way. Jimmy's still in a place where
it does. So the collective between those two, I think
(22:52):
he just makes the Warriors collectively feel different about themselves,
and as a coach, you well know how your team
feels about itself can have such a huge impact on
how they play that you just it's an intangible that
you can't quite like put your arms around, but you
(23:12):
know it when you see it.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Stuck Ott Lieb Show here on Fox Sports Trader that's
the voice of the one and only Rick Buker Hey
Channing Fry said that people are being critical of the NBA.
They're just stuck in NBA nostalgia and they're not going
and they're not going back. What's your reaction here?
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Look, I like the sentiment and I think, you know,
maybe there's a little small, you know, couple sand granules
of truth to it. But the bigger issue for me
because I was there for the Jordan nineties and the
Kobe two thousands, and those guys got ripped on the regular,
(23:52):
So it's not as if like they didn't go through
any of this. Now, social media in twenty four hour
you know, sports coverage and debate and all that has
certainly raised the temperature and the volume. But I believe
that the bigger issue isn't that we don't appreciate today's players.
(24:14):
It's that we crown them way way too soon. I mean,
I took issue with this last year. Everybody's suddenly making
Anthony Edwards comparisons to Michael Jordan, Like, can we just
hold on Physically he looks kind of the same. He
has the same dynamic physical ability. The rest of his game,
(24:37):
the IQ level, the accomplishments are not there. And I
don't say any of this to bag on ant, but
it's more like what we do is we put these
guys up on a pedestal way too soon, and then
when they don't match it, now everybody jumps on them.
And so I'm just like, can we just stop like
(25:00):
trying to anoint everybody before their time. Nobody hates Steph
Curry because Steph Curry's gone out and done it right, Yep, nobody,
you know. I mean, you can go back and forth
on Lebron, but for the most part, met people who
stand for him as they do that they are going
to be critical. The only time they're critical is when
somebody says, well, he's better than Jordan, and it's like,
(25:21):
well wait, and we were doing that like years ago.
We've been doing that almost his entire career. That's the
issue to.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Me, Stug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Are
the Calves anywhere years go? As their record?
Speaker 8 (25:40):
Ah?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
That's what I mean. That is we could say the
same thing about Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Couldn't we sure I was getting I was getting to
them Buke?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, I mean I look at it with both of them.
I do think that the Calves. What it really what
it really comes down to is can name maintain this
approach when they get to the postseason because and which
is which is a more equal share the wealth type
(26:11):
of approach or does it become the Donovan Mitchell show,
which is what I've seen so many times. And I
don't think Donovan Mitchell is good enough to be that guy.
And we can have a long conversation about whether you
just need to have that dominant guy to be able
to go as far as their record says they should go.
I mean, the records say we should be seeing the
(26:31):
Calves Oklahoma City of finals. But like the question is
going to be, can can what they're doing now where
there is very little game planning, can they carry that?
And can they adjust on the fly and play more
than one way? I actually like the calves ability to
(26:54):
do that more than I do Oklahoma City right now,
because I think that they have those those differentiating parts
and they can play different ways. They can They've they've
got enough thighs to play big, but they can play
play fast. The really interesting part for me is going
to be if Darius Garland has it going, can Donovan
(27:18):
Mitchell step back and particularly in the postseason, can he
step back and can he still be effective? Like those
are the little things that have to happen within a
game and within a team for it to maximize its ability.
Right now, you don't have that because a lot of
their games, like it's fifteen to twenty points, you don't
have to make that decision. But now we're in a
(27:40):
situation where it's a one or two possession game for
the fourth quarter. How are they going to operate? Is
it going to be like, Okay, Donovan takeover or is
it going to be We're going to go with whoever
whoever's got the hot hand. And I don't know how
they're going to approach that, but to me, that's going
to be the tell, and we really we just we're
not going to know. Which is you don't as much
(28:02):
as we want a forecast, and we all forecast. The
reality is until you get into the postseason and you
see who they're playing and you see the adjustments that
they're forced to make, that you find out whether a
team is capable of making those adjustments. There's just no
way to be able to read that during the regular
(28:22):
season because they don't face that challenge.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Rick Berker joining us here on the Doug Gottlieb Show
on Fox Sports Radio, buke, what's the state of the
New York Dicks.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
They're I mean they are thirty seven and twenty so
some of this is like, you go out and get
Michal Bridges, You're going dead, Carol Anthony Towns. This is
supposed to be their year, They're supposed to get it done.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Well.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
When I look at their team, I think they're very talented.
I think they have a lot of good peace. But
do they have it all? Do they have like can
they play multiple ways? And are they or are they
relatively easy to figure out? And this is where again,
(29:16):
when we anoint guys early, but we don't give him
the opportunity to really like prove that they can evolve
and change. Is Jalen Brunson Jalen Brunson has been really good.
He's been a nice surprise, but he has to go
to another level for the Knicks to be able to
(29:40):
make good on what the expectations are. And the reality is,
I'm not sure that he has the physical gifts. I'm
what I question is is he maximizing who he is?
And has he maximized who he is up to this point?
And if you ask him to take another step, is
(30:01):
that just within the realm of being the size that
he is and the game that he has. And I
just that's that's what I need to see, and I
I have my doubts.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
That No, No, I'm with you. Like he's an he's
an amazing basketball player.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
You love him, love love everything about him. I love
guys who maxim food they can be.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
No, No, he's amazing. And if he's your second best scorer, right,
if you're second best scorer, I think you could probably
win a title with him if he's your go to score.
Don't think you can't.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Think that's I think that's because you can make the
game really hard on him and force somebody else to
beat you.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And now, look, I like the makeup of their team.
I like the idea of Karl Anthony Towns at like
their best shooters, their center, and their best post players
at point guard. Like I like that. But the other
part is, like, you know, forgive me, but I haven't
seen Karl Anthony Towns look like anything close to an
NBA Finals level player in the playoffs as of yet.
(31:08):
So we'll just you know, we'll just have to reserve
judgment on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Well, and the other tricky part is in my wife
pointed this out. Who's like watching Karl Anthony Towns run
down the floor like he's he's I mean, we've seen
it with Joel Embiid, but Karl Anthony Towns does not
have an athletic gate. He's kind of flat footed. And
when you have to play as fast as you have
to play in today's game, and you have to play
(31:33):
as hard as you have to play for a Tom
Thibodeaux team that can run in like if he looks
like he's a key and ailing and all that, there's
there's a reason for it. That's with all bigs in
the league today. You have to have a requisite amount
of athleticism or the seven footers two sixty two and
(31:56):
up unless you're just a three athlete with that kind
of a body in today's NBA. That's that's a gamble
that the guy is going to be able to stay healthy. Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Speaking of Embiid, Uh, what's the what? What's everybody saying
about the knee?
Speaker 4 (32:14):
I mean, look, it's it's I don't know how you
get better? You know, a short of I'm wondering when
we get the announcement that he's going to try the
Lonzo ball, they're going to start looking for a seven
foot cadaver to find a new knee form. Because again
with what the with the game demands, Embiid's difficulty in
(32:34):
uh in staying in shape and and this is like
with Zion Williamson or any any guy who comes in.
If you're not in shape and you start suffering injuries
as a result of that, Like now, your ability to
get in shape and not have reoccurring injuries, You've just
it's get around that. Like you you flawed. You your
(32:59):
body is flawed now, and I don't know that there's
a way to get around it.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Sure, Bukeer, you're the best man. I love the little basketball,
little basketball talk for you on a on a Monday
and in the meantime, appreciate you bear our guest and
we'll talk to you soon. Thanks, thanks so much, pleasure.
You got it. H It's Rick Buker joining us here
in the tyrack dot Com studio.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. You're listening to us now,
but you know you can see us. Check out our
YouTube channel, Fox Sports Tradiers YouTube channel to search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see whole bunch of
video highlights. You can subscribe and you can always get
into access to Fox Sports Radios videos on YouTube. Let's
get to a game.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
What do you got there, Dan?
Speaker 6 (33:55):
But the game today is.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Big deal, little deal, no deal?
Speaker 6 (33:59):
Big a little deal or no deal that the Green
Bay Packers are the team that wanted the Tush Push band.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Uh. I think it's a big deal. I think it's
a big deal. It's like Mark Murphy's parting shot, you know,
on the Right Way to play football. Plus they lost
the Eagles twice this year.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
It was an unknown team for a while, and then
Diana Rossini of The Athletic got the report that it
was Green Bay who made that request. Doug, big deal,
little deal or no deal that preseason number one Kansas
has now dropped out of the top twenty five entirely.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
It's amazing because then they went out and just molly
want my own mater by thirty on Saturday at the
far Was it that Saturday at the Fall, Yes, Saturday
at the fock. It's a big deal. You know. You
have Hunter Dickinson has played college basketball forever, right, They
have a four year starter at the point guard as well,
(34:56):
who won a national championship, and Bill self is as
good a coach as there has ever been in the
history of the sport, and yet they haven't been able
to figure it out.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
That is a big deal, Doug sting in the Big twelve,
and my apologies if you were focusing on your own
game the next day. But big deal, little deal and
no deal in the late foul call against Arizona's tray
Townsend and they're lost to BYU on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Oh okay, I'm glad you brought this up. I'd actually love
to do like a video breakdown of it, because there
was a similar call at the other end on BYU
that was not called continuation. And look, I disagree with
both of the calls, but here's what I like about
the calls. They were actually consistent. They were the primary defender,
that's the guy who's guarding the basketball, that's a primary defender,
(35:43):
essentially sticking out his left leg and bumping into the
legs of the driver. And it was called a foul
at both ends. So I don't like the call. I
wouldn't call it, but at least they were consistent, which
when you're coaching, that's all you can ask for. All
you can ask for. I got a technical foul on
from my third technical vowel. Yeah, And again my whole
(36:04):
thing was like, what is a foul? There is a
foul there? What's a foul? There is a fowl there.
They didn't like it very much. I may have been
a little bit more colorful, what's a vowl?
Speaker 6 (36:16):
And by the way, when we were talking about NBA
and college basketball earlier, that scene in Tucson on Saturday
night was amazing. And you had a nineteen ranked team
against an unranked team. Both good teams and should farewell
in the tournament. But yeah, it was great, great action.
All right, big deal, a little deal and no deal, Doug.
Something that you just talked with Rick Bucker a little
(36:38):
bit about that Joel Embiid likely needs another procedure on
his knee.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Ah, that's a big deal. There's no way you cannot
say that's a big deal with the guy who's had
so many different little procedures on their body, especially a
big guy like that on his knee. That's a huge deal, Jake.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
Nick, big deal, little deal or no deal. That the
Knicks are zero to five against the celt and Calves,
the teams that are looking up at in the Eastern
Conference this season.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Hmmmm the little deal. I mean, yeah, you're gonna have
to be one of them or both of them to
get to an NBA finals. But there's not a ton
of parallel regular season in the postseason.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
Finally, big deal, little deal, a no deal. That the
PAC twelve says they could add up to four new
members after their TV deal is finalized this spring, the
new look back twelve.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Who is in the Who is in the new look
PAC twelve?
Speaker 6 (37:23):
So you've got Oregon State and Washington State. Then you
also have Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah
State is joining. Gonzaga is going to be a basketball
only member, so they need to add a couple.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
But that's like the Mountain West kind of yes.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
Yes, basically with a sprinkling of the PAC twelve in
the West Coast Conference and that's game of time.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Little deal. Stut Gottlieb Show. Here on Fox Sports Trading,
We'll be love for the weekend. We'll be eight from
the weekend. Love It eight is next on The Dog
Gotlieb Show.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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