May 22, 2017 • 40 mins
Doug argues LeBron James’ lack of involvement at the end of game 3 against the Celtics was unlike anything we ever saw from Michael Jordan in the playoffs. He talks about NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and why the Warriors and Cavaliers dominance is not bad for the league. Also, 6x NBA Champion and the all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joins the show to talk about his new book and why he doesn’t get enough credit for being one of the greatest players of all time.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up? Doug Gottlieb Show Live
from Sin City Today, rolling on on Fox Sports Radio.
Kind enough to be the uh welcome in by the
Coaches Versus Cancer Group Las Vegas Golf Class. We get
to more of that upcoming in the show. But what
(00:24):
an outstanding sports weekend. We can pretend, not stop pretending
we care about horse racing, although it actually was an
interesting horse race. I'm told the hockey playoffs continue on,
but uh sorry, could not possibly care any less. And
Lebron James, well, it didn't look like Lebron James yesterday.
That's where we'll begin, That's probably where we'll end. It's
(00:45):
really interesting to me, there was a lot of discussions
throughout last week and into the weekend and now coming
out of the weekend about Lebron James and about the
number one seed and about the Boston Celtics. All right,
let's let's start at the big ending of last night,
because the series was over and it's still probably is over.
(01:06):
It's just not completely over. It's like in the Prince's Bride,
where he wasn't all he wasn't all the way dead.
He was mostly dead, which, as we've known, as somewhat alive.
That doesn't mean that the Celtics were blazing or bluffing.
That just means that the Calves are the better team.
Nobody's disputing that. And Isaiah Thomas being out though, that
(01:27):
changes the Celtics and in many ways gives them a
little bit more versatility. Still, you take away the leading
score from a team that had inferior talent and had
a bad matchup in comparison to the Calves. There's a
reason they were down twenty one points last night. But
at last Marcus Smart hit seven threes, Jonas Jerebko hit
two big late threes. Lebron James had one of his
(01:50):
worst playoff performances ever. The Calves could not get a
stop late, and even though Kyrie Irving had twenty nine
and Kevin Love had Love had all seven of his
threes in the first half, the Boston Celtics come storming
back and behind a beautifully drawn up play from the
Maestro himself, Brad Stevens. It's one thing for the shot
to go in. Shots go in, shots don't go in.
(02:11):
You hear the cliche from NBA front office, people, from
coaches and players and of course and now feeds down
to the broadcasters, make our miss league. But the truth
is that most plays in the NBA don't create open shots.
They create mismatches. That one created a wide open jump shot.
That was the fact that it went in and the
way it went in made it look different than it
(02:34):
actually was. Brad Stevens called time out, drew up a
play and it worked for perfection, and they took the
very last shot of the game and it went in
perfect execution, and of course it when it the result
is what we react to. I'm reacting more to the process,
the timing the play, the fact that he was wide
open because of the design of the play was all
perfect and then it happened to go in. And the
(02:56):
more often times you get an open look in the NBA,
guys are gonna make seventy of those shots. But all
anybody wants to talk about Islabreezy is Lebron James and
whether not now we take him off the pedestal that
some people like Nick right Friday on the show put
him on next to Michael Jordan's What I tweeted out
last night was Look, guys are entitled to having a
(03:17):
bad game. They are. Jordan had bad games, Magic had
bad games, Bird had bad games, Kobe had lots of
bad games in the playoffs, Shack would have bad games.
They've all had bad games. Durant's had bad games. What
we get into this better or worse thing? And that's
not the smart argument. It's there different And here's why
(03:39):
they're different. Lebron didn't have it last night, by his
own estimation. I'll play that for you in a second.
Did not have it. But when Lebron doesn't have it,
he's not Kobe Bryant, where he's gonna sheer force of
will still keep shooting. He's not gonna Michael Jordan try
and get to the free throw line. He's gonna defer.
This is Lebron James is a different superstar than we've
(04:01):
ever seen in that he can make the league quiver
because when he's got to go, and there is literally
no one in the world that can stop him, especially
based upon the way in which NBA games are now offishiated.
On the other hand, when he doesn't have it going,
he's okay letting other guys play, and we just haven't
seen that before. Here's Tyron Lieu explaining why his best
(04:27):
player and the best player in the world, had a
bad night. Um, um, he said this about the fact
that he's human. It's human being. He's human, and because
he's human, human beings are tired and have a bad
night and don't play well. He's humans, so he's gonna
(04:50):
have a night like this, And um, he didn't shoot
the ball well. And we still had a you know,
and a game we should have won. But you know, um,
they played hard, they scrapped. They have a scrappy team.
We knew that coming into tonight. Um knew it wouldn't
be easy, but um, you know that some things we
can correct and come back. We're ready to go on tuusy.
(05:12):
You may think this is too many takeaways from one game,
but to me, this makes all of my points all
kind of come together. Doug gotlip show Fox Sports Radio,
so the points are kind of in non sequential order. Look,
Lebron James has a conscience. It's one of the things
that it's one of the things that that I think
(05:32):
intelligence brings. He's a very smart person, a very smart
basketball player, but sometimes he overthinks things and I think
this is something he overthinks his jump shot. When he's
not making it, he can lose confidence in it. We've
seen it in finals in the past, even championships they won,
championships they've lost. There are times in which he will
lose confidence in his jump shot. That didn't happen to Jordan,
(05:55):
that didn't happen to Bird, that didn't happen to Magic,
that didn't happen to Kobe, that didn't happen to other
other grades. They don't lose confidence. He does. I would
also say that to people who say, well, like Lemron James,
look at how he's played, look at how much he
means to that team, how they can't win, and thus
(06:15):
he performs he should be the m v P. Well,
remember the m v P of the regular season. The
smart thing about Lebron was he periodically took days off.
And the one to one thing you can deduce from
his poor performances that he knows his own body. He
knows he's better when he gets rest. And if you
don't believe me, he looked like he didn't have juice
(06:36):
last night, right, I didn't have the juice. He didn't
have the ability to hit that turbo button and just
turn it on. And maybe that's because he's playing with
just one night off in between, and suddenly now he's
a little bit more worn down than he knows that
he has to have more rest at this stage in
his career. But the easy argument for why Lebron James
(06:58):
shouldn't be the m v P is how well he's
played when he's locked in this the dominance of the
Calves in this series, and make no mistake about it,
they were still dominating last night before the Celtics caught
a heater and the Calves started messing around and allowed
the Celtics get back in the game. Look, I love
Marcus Smart. He's an luve of my school. I like
(07:19):
his toughness. I think eventually he'll he'll can, He'll be
a very good player in the NBA. But but he's
not Seven threes in a game is seven out of ten? Like, dude,
that's not who Marcus Smart is. He played out of
his mind now, he's incredibly He's an incredible competitor. And
I thought his competitive toughness and your repco talking a
little trash and not being pushed right, I thought that
(07:40):
was a big part of the Celtics win, but make
no mistake about it, like he in a seventy three
point shooter. Ever, not in college. He struggled with the three,
let alone the pros. So the Calves are still twenty
points better than the Celtics. That hasn't changed, and that
points of anything to how many games off mentally physically
the Cleveland Cavaliers took throughout the regular season. The dominance
(08:04):
of the Calves over the Boston Celtics also tells you
how much the Celtics overachieved. And since it's a regular
season award, though he was periodically dominant, the fact that
he wasn't able to get his team too, and he
wasn't able to dial in at the level of excellence
he's had until last night in the playoffs only shows
you Lebron can't be the regular season m VP. He
(08:25):
didn't play like that for the most part. I have
no problem with him pacing himself. But again, the award
is a regular season award. But Jordan's didn't have nights
that he took off. He had bad nights, bad nights,
(08:47):
but disappearing acts. We didn't see that, losing his confidence,
we didn't see that pacing his play. We didn't see that,
And so I'm okay with admitting that Lebron James is
as dominant in this era as Jordan was, as Bird was,
(09:08):
as Magic was in their eras. But make no mistake
about it when you want to say better or worse, Like, look,
there's no argument I can make because it's a completely
different style of basketball. But he he's different now, he's different.
He's very very different. Here's Lebron on not having it well.
(09:30):
I feel some adversity is all part of postseason. Feel
like you have to have some type of adversity in
order to be successful. And uh so I'm glad it mean,
if it's gonna happen, let's let it happen. Now, let
us let's regroup, you know, Uh, let us regroup and
all the narrative and everything that was going on. Let's regroup,
(09:51):
and let's get back to uh playing desperate basketball, which
they did tonight, you know. And um, you know, so
we gotta we gotta be a lot better, for sure.
I completely agree with that. Like, you know that that
looked like an NBA regular season game, right, how many
NBA regular season games have you seen? Where's the twenty
point deficit and you're like, I'll be tied in the
(10:12):
fourth quarter. It looked like they were playing in Milwaukee
tonight and in Minnesota tomorrow night. It did look like
Cleveland kind of shut it down and started going I
so ball and going one on one. Have you heard this?
This was kind of interesting. This was Lebron James asked
a question by a local radio host, Kenny Rhoda. He said,
this was the back and forth for you. You said,
(10:36):
you know, it's just your game couldn't get into a
rhythm tonight. Is that what it was? Based on their
defense or just not not feeling it or what? Oh? No,
I was just pretty poor man. We want to say,
it seems like you only answer if you only ask
questions when we lose. It's a weird thing with you, Kenny.
I always come around when we lose. I swear, Yeah, okay, yeah,
(11:00):
I mean Lebron trying to create an imaginary enemy that's
not there. Sorry, we couldn't ask you questions about Kendrick Lamar.
I mean, I thought it was a very fair question,
and he allowed Lebron to elaborate on what led to
him not playing well. Did they change their defense, which
they did with exception of when they left double teamed
(11:21):
him and left Jr. Smith open late, which made absolutely
no sense to anybody. But look, I'm not selling all
of my Warriors and my my Calves stock not fully
investing in the Warriors. They've had times in which they
haven't been great against inferior competition in San Antonio. But
if we're going to make the Lebron Jordan's conversation a
(11:42):
real one, let's make it a real one. And we
may not have. We didn't see the defensive versatility or
maybe even offensive versatility that Lebron James presents from Michael Jordan,
but we also never saw the type of disappearing act
we saw last night. It's just one game. All they
have to do is win a couple more and they'll
(12:03):
get to the NBA Finals and have beyond that collision
course and we'll forget about this game, as will judge
everything about Lebron James based upon the four to seven
games against the Warriors. But to me, last night proved
at Lebron. This weekend is proved to Lebron should not
be the m v P. That they didn't play at
the level of intensity they have in the playoffs. Lebron
(12:25):
James is different than anything we've ever seen, and we
talked last week about the Celtics. It's not a foregone conclusion.
You have to resign Isaiah Thomas, even though he's your
leading score and he's been your best player all year long.
Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific on
(12:46):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. The
state of Nevada plans to allow mobile sports gambling at
the Raiders New Stadium in Las Vegas, barring an unforeseen
change in the future. David Purdham reported that state gaming sites,
gaming officials, and the stadium authority planned to allow fans
to use mobile apps and a place bets inside the stadium.
(13:08):
The stadium least prohibits any gaming or gambling UM, the
maintaining or operating of the gaming establishment, and or sports
wagering by wagering on racing or other non sports events. UM.
The NFL has not approached me on any policy decisions.
That's Nevada Gaming Commissioner Chairman Tony Alamo, he told ESPN.
(13:34):
The Nevada Gaming Commission is the policymaker the state of
Nevada and gaming, and they have not approached us in
any way, shape or form. So at this point the
NFL is like, hey, look, it's out of our purview.
We're not going to get involved. I'm sure there will
be conversations before the Raiders move to Vegas. My thing
is this the mobile gambling. That's the that to me
is the future. That's how you get people in the
(13:55):
stadium is the fact that they can wager on anything.
Because I asked myself this all the time, why would
I go to these games when I can't watch the
other games? You gotta give me a reason to be
in the stadium. I kind of think Baseball should take
take a look at at this as a way to
get the single mail to a baseball game, Like why
(14:17):
would you? I mean, if you want to go slug
beers and watch a game, you go do so with
Buffalo wild Wings. Right. I like going to baseball games
with my kids because it is probably the most uh
family friendly environment there is. But I'm talking about the
thirty year old, thirty five year old mail. Outside of
going to the Cubs game and sitting in the outfield
where you can pick up on all the women that
(14:39):
go to the games. Like outside of that, why would
you go? If I can go and I can bet?
All right, our pool holes is coming up, or Mike
Trout's coming up for um, Bryce Harper is coming up.
I can bet if he's gonna strike out, if I
can bet, situational betting, like I mean, it's kind of
all that fantasy sports is. And so all Nevada is
(14:59):
saying is, hey, look, you can do the mobile gambling
anyway in the state, Like we're not gonna limit you
when you go to a stadium. Why would we do
that while we do that music? Go ahead? Well, the
thing that I find interesting about this whole mobile gambling
thing is the fact that there it's already out there.
I mean, like Bovada can't technically people already do this
(15:20):
in NFL stadiums like here here in l A, for example,
if you go to a RAMS game, can you not
already do it? I believe you can. You can offshore
sites now you can't. The Vegas gambling gaming sites only
opera only. You only work in your cell phone within
the state of Vegas, within the state of Nevada, excuse me,
within the state of Nevada. But yes, if you have Yes,
(15:41):
it's that's where it's kind of red. Like Vegas is like, hey,
you can do this on an overseas site anywhere else
in the NFL. Why are we going to limit that
and not allow you to do it here and keep
your money here in Nevada or keep it here in
Las Vegas and not have you do that. I would
agree with you, Mark tweets the show at os U. Mark.
My biggest concern with the NFL team in Vegas is
(16:02):
players getting into trouble in Las Vegas. Well, I hate
to be that guy, but you can kind of get
into trouble anywhere, dude, right like name me? I mean,
how many, like do you think of Cincinnati is a
big party town. How many Cincinnati Bengals historically have gotten
in trouble until maybe recently only pack Man Jones recently
(16:24):
tell me the NFL town you can't. You can get
in plenty of trouble in New York. There's two teams
in New York getting plenty of trouble. In Chicago, you
can get in trouble in New Orleans, there is plenty
of There's all the stories of New Orleans waking up
in an ice bath, right, and you're missing your kidneys
in New Orleans hadn't happened to an NFL player, So, uh,
can you get in trouble? Yeah? Yeah? I also remember, Um,
(16:48):
you're not gonna be playing in the NFL for long
if these are the things you're doing, And if you're
a visiting team, what better place to come? You know,
you're only I have a place to stay, You get
to go to a great restaurant the night before the game,
you go play, and then you fly home. There's NonStop
flights everywhere. Like I kind of think this is one
(17:10):
of those things that we we so badly overthink. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves
Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific. I don't
think you step into signing an agreement with an airline
like you just I just go and use all the
Expedia and Travelocity in kayak whenever and like whatever times
(17:31):
makes sense, and have the fewest stops or no stops
and cost the smallest amount of money, even when I'm
booking it for my company. Like That's what I do, right,
That's just kind of normal. I even think for the
most part, when with even with United, when they took
the guy off the plane and he went crazy whatever,
I still think that people will bounce back from that.
(17:51):
They'd still fly United. But this idea that I would
step into fly like when I fly with spirit, like
I know something's up, Like all you gotta do is
fly with spirit. Once you're like, dude, I'm never doing
that again unless I literally have nothing to carry on right,
Like I'm gonna strap a I'm gonna strap my iPad
to my I'm gonna taping around my body so I
don't have to pay for it. Um. Outside of that,
(18:12):
I think of every other airline having about the same policy.
The difference is, Calvin Johnson, when you sign a signing
bonus and it's spread out over time so that it
becomes like a guaranteed part of your contract, you know
that going in That's where I correlate the difference. Uh. Calvin,
of course said I I don't want to talk about
the Lions too much because of the way our relationship ended.
(18:36):
If they see me around here, we'll see. But hey,
I don't know. I don't feel any kind of way.
I just feel like I was treated the way I
I but I didn't feel the way I was treating
the way I should have been treated on the way out.
That's all I mean. It's all good. I'm not tripping.
I don't feel any kind of wayes. Hey that's what
they did. Hey, it is what it is. Like I
(18:57):
kind of think Calvin Johnson looks terrible on this. Don't
get me wrong. I think Twitter and young people be
like that. He should keep his money, Like, dude, you
quit in the middle of your contract when you still
had gas in the tank, and you're allowed to, Like,
he made a ton of money, he's a hell of
a player. He's allowed to He'll go into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame, he is allowed to quit. But
the idea like, oh, that's okay, we know you owe
(19:21):
us three dollars, but we'll just we love you, we
like you so much. Because what sort of preston does
that set for any player? Right then? That makes sense,
Like why would you ever say, why would you ever
agree to that if you're an NFL team, because well, hey,
it's good for Calvin Johnson, it's not good for me.
They made Barry Sanders pay back his his signing bonus
(19:45):
and It's one of those deals where it's like Calvin
Johnson is really mad for the way it ended, Like
you quit. I mean, you quit, and you told everybody
you were gonna quit long before you actually did quit.
So maybe I'm the only guy. But I don't. I
(20:06):
don't feel I don't feel terrible. I don't don't feel
terrible for Calvin Johnson. I think he's he's mad that.
I mean, like, look, they're still gonna welcome you back,
They're gonna retire your number, put you in the Ring
of Honor, They'll find you some pr job. Like just
this is one of those grand to pay back. Sounds
like a huge sum of money, but if you just
(20:27):
kind of keep your mouth shut, you're gonna get paid
as some sort of liaison for the Lions for years
and years to come if you choose to do so.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
and now say earlier today, Skip Bayliss on Undisputed, which,
(20:49):
of course the TV show you can hear on Sirius
XM satellite radio. Along with Shannon Sharp and Joy Taylor,
had this to say about the comparison between m j
and Lebron. I would guess that Michael Jordan's sat back
at the end of this game and said, really, that
guy him, he's better than me, the guy who just disappeared.
(21:14):
Because I think we witnessed last night, I'm gonna make
a case for this. I think it was the biggest
single game upset in NBA Playoff history given the circumstance
of what happened Friday night. You and I went back
and forth texting about Friday night because it was an
absolute annihilation humiliation at Boston in game two when silly
(21:35):
me I thought the Celtics would show the kind of
pride and fight that they showed last night at home
in game two, Uh, look, he's and and Skip smartly
does this where he combines a couple of things which
are true and then makes it into a narrative of Lebron.
You know, his Lebron choking argument um, which has some
(21:58):
validity if you think that that's it happened last night. Um.
Skip tweeted this out, which I think is very interesting
to me. ESPNS Tom Hablestrow said that Lebron has changed
his routine at the free from line eighteen times this
past season. That's why he's only made sixty seven percent.
I think that. Look, I don't think that Lebron is
(22:20):
as good as Mike, and I think last night was
slightly telling as to why I've said before that he's
not kind of that go to end of game score
the way that so many other of the all time grades.
Even Magic Johnson, who was a better passer than Lebron
but not the scorer of Lebron or the shooter of Lebron.
Magic wanted the ball more to score more with the
(22:41):
game on the line than even Lebron did. But between
the free throws and the fact that he'll lose confidence
in his jump shot, he I don't. I think he
only made one jump shot the other three where layups
are dunks last night. I made four shots last night.
He has this, he has his ability as a great
player to over think things, to lose his confidence to
(23:02):
try and change things. Case in point is free throw percentage,
and some of that is a badge of courage. It's
still I always say this, Peyton Manning is the greatest
quarterback ever with a bad arm. Right, Lebron James is
the greatest player ever to not have to have utter
the utmost confidence in his jump shot. And I do
think that that that Jordan's probably sat there last night
(23:24):
and goes, are you kidding me? But I also think
that if you've watched Michael Jordan, listen to Michael Jordan
for the through the years, even when Lebron's had is peaked,
he probably said, comparing it to me, are you kidding me?
So skips not wrong, but I think he's a little
over the top because we should point out that one
of the reasons it was such an upset was how
good Lebron had been up until last night. Speaking of Lebron,
(23:46):
here's what Calling Cowherd had to say about what last
night's performance for him meant to the Calves. Michael left.
The Bulls were still viable. They didn't win titles without Michael,
but they were viable without Michael. They wont not fifty
evan and if not for one Hugh Hollands call, they
could have gone to another finals. This Calvs team, which
(24:06):
is sweeping and blowing out teams by fifty, can't beat
a Celtics team without Isaiah Thomas unless Lebron's great. I
mean I always knew Lebron was valuable, but you went
on Friday when he's great, by fifty on Sunday when
he's lousy for a half. You can't beat this team
(24:26):
without Isaiah Thomas. This speaks to his value. The Bulls
were still really really good without Michael. Uh they were
really really good without Michael. But here's what you have
to remember, Okay, this is this is a lot like
the discussion of Matt cat Remember Matt Castle won uh
(24:50):
ten games with the or eleven games with the New
England Patriots. The Patriots won sixteen games, sixteen games the
year before sixteen games, and actually won eighteen and one
the year before, So the drop off was from sixteen
to eleven. That's actually a massive drop off. The same
(25:10):
can be said for the Chicago Bulls, who, yes, it's
true when Jordan's left, they won fifty five games, but
they were actually two games back of the Atlanta Hawks.
What people forget about that year was the Pistons were
a mess. There wasn't a ton of competition and the guests.
The Bulls won a lot of games, but they weren't
the one seed. They were actually the three seat. They
(25:31):
moved from the outright one best team in the NBA
to the three seats, and Jordan's first season of his
full return, that's when they won seventy two games. So
do I think that Michael Jordan's that that Lebron super valuable? Yeah?
Of course, yeah, of course. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm
(25:53):
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. Here's Adam Silver, who's the commissioner of
the NBA, on whether or not the dominance of the
Warriors and the Cavs is good to the league. I
think that we should be celebrating excellence. I mean, people
are already annointing these teams as as as dominant and
(26:16):
and and franchise teams. But on the other hand, I
look at the Golden State Warriors that hadn't won a
championship in forty years, the Cavaliers of course one last
year and had never won a championship before in this league.
I mean, as you know, you look back at the
historic franchise in this league, Celtics with seventeen championships, Lakers
with sixteen. I think they have a long way to
go before I would put them in that category. Yeah, okay,
(26:39):
I kind of feel like he's combining two different stories,
don't you Like, Adam Silver is not wrong like people
don't people forget like the Warriors were the Clippers. The
only difference is that the Warriors want a title, you know,
going back to the seventies with Rick Berry, Like that's
outside of that. They were and they had one or
(26:59):
two little little blips rambers. Don Nelson led them and
Baron Davis led them to an upset of the one
seed Mavericks, and they had run TMC. But for the
most part they were a disaster for forty years, and
the same can be said. The same can honestly be
said for Cleveland, Like Cleveland wasn't a disaster, but Cleveland was.
(27:20):
They're kind of like what the Bulls are now, where
like competitive team. They had some really good players. They
had Mark Price and Brad Doherty and Larry Nance and
Gerald Wilkins. They had Craig Elo. They had really good players,
but they never had the superstar that Chicago had. They
could never get over the Chicago hump. So he's not
wrong in giving us perspective. Hey, look, these aren't two
(27:40):
great franchises, So we should just enjoy the fact that
right now they're in the great This is the greatest
moment ever for the Cleveland Cavaliers, this is the greatest
moment ever for the Golden State Warriors. But that's still
not that that still has nothing to do with the
discussion that we're having and the fact that he has
to when when somebody has to change the argument. Anytime
(28:02):
somebody changes the argument on you, that's because they don't
really have a good argument, right. You're like, well, Commissioner,
what do you think about the fact that these are
really not competitive series and nobody's really competing with these
two teams, and it's the regular season doesn't matter that much,
and guys are taking games off. Was like, well, what
you guys don't understand is the perspective. I'm like, no, no, no,
that's changing the argument. This happens in debates. This, you know,
(28:25):
presidential debates, This happens in sports discussion. You watch a
TV show. Anytime you get into argument with a buddy,
anytime they change the argument, it's because it's in the
Their argument on the actual topic isn't a good one.
Adam Silver knows this is bad for basketball. It's good
for the finals, it's bad for basketball. It's no different.
(28:47):
Lon Krueger was our guest. Let me look at my
time here. Lan Greuer was, I guess fifty minutes ago.
He's the head coach of Oklahoma, former head coach essentially everywhere.
And he said, he kind of like, like lawn is
one of those everybody loves long. He never wants to
say the wrong thing or a bad thing. But he said, like, look,
March Madness is awesome, but games in December and January,
(29:08):
a little bit in February, we could do a little
bit better job, I think, is what he said, A
little bit better job of getting some following. In other words,
nobody cares about anything in college basketball, with the exception
of the n c A Tournament. Right. I love college basketball.
I've covered it for fifteen years, I played in it
for four years. I followed it my entire life. My
brother is a coach, my dad was a coach, and
(29:30):
I'm I'm a junkie. I'll watch I'll watch a game
on a Wednesday night, no matter where it is, if
it's a good ball. Again, I like watching ball. But
most of America knows that the only thing that really
matters is the tournament. Right. People don't care who wins
a preseason tournament or your league or you know, they
don't care, And I will try and make you care.
(29:52):
Like Kansas winning thirteen straight Big twelve titles is amazing,
but you only have one n c A title during
that run. It's not good enough for people because the
only the matter is March. You don't want to create
that with the NBA. You don't want to create the
regular seasons too long and nobody cares. And now the
playoffs are too long and nobody cares. We already know
who the two teams. That's not the that's not what
(30:14):
you want to create. Be sure to catch live editions
of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific. His book is uh Coach Wood and Me,
Our fifty year friendship On and Off the Court, The
Cap Sky Hook, Creamy Abdul Jabbar joins us on Fox
Sports Radio. Cap. How are you. I'm doing pretty good.
Everything everything, everything is exceptionally well. Uh. You you've written
(30:38):
so many books. You've written books about history. UM, obviously
you have a great passion for sports. And for your
former coach, why write this book? So I wanted to
let people know what coach was all about. A lot
of what people relate to him has to do with
the coaching, and he gave about lessons in life that
(30:59):
really we're meaningful and help us to live better live
and I thought i'd let people know what that was about.
When you arrived in southern California from Power Memorial, I
think people have forgotten that you weren't allowed to play
your freshman year. How do he help you through that?
But we're not just not playing, but the transition from
(31:21):
being a New York City legend to being a player
who could not play varsity basketball U C l A.
But you know, I went to facility to get an
education though. That was the most important thing for me.
So you know, I intended to be there for four years.
It wasn't like I had to like being a rush
(31:42):
and it was okay, you know, it was a different time.
Then things took more time. Yeah, But but I'm I'm
just wondering, in the transition from being around your family
to being you know, so far from everybody else, what
was he like on a daily basis? How did he
treat you. How did he how did he build this
relationship which, if you have written, has lasted fifty years. Well,
(32:05):
you know, my first year I had a different coach.
I had a personman coach. Gary Cunningham was our personal coach.
So my relationship withold coach wouldn't really didn't get into
any high gear until I started playing for him, and
that that change. That's when things started to increase and
(32:27):
I got to know him and understand his ways and uh,
you know, we started to win games and all those
great things. But it took time. It wasn't something that
happened all at once. There are times in which you
buy in or you you become fully invested in your
(32:47):
coach because you understand his level of investment in you.
Was was there a moment? Was there a seminal moment, uh,
to which the that that bond changed to where it
was everlasting on or off the floor. You know? For me,
I think I noticed the way his teams played and
it kind of reminded me of the Boston Celtics Bill
(33:08):
Russell Celtics. You know, the teams they played the smothering
defense and then ran quickly down the court to to
take opportunities, easy opportunities that talk coach wouldn't teams played,
and it was like something I thought I could do.
And the teamwork and the coordinations and everybody being on
(33:30):
the same page really was what I wanted to be about.
To me, great basketball teams, all teams to have the
same DNA Creemi ab Dul Jabbar, the NBA's all time
scoring leader, six time m v P, six time NBA champion,
of course, the national champion three times over in college
joints US and like, look, you were so dominant they
(33:52):
took they took dunking out of college basketball. I like,
that's how much you were dominating the sport. And you
developed this incredible repertoire are of of skills. I mean,
I know that the sky hook was your signature move,
but you had so many more skills and that's what
allowed you scored points for so long in the NBA.
What is it in your mind that keeps the low
(34:13):
post from being part of NBA offense? Like, what's the
Some of it is the defenses are more physical and
the way the games officiated, But sometimes it is the
development or lack thereof of the big guy as somebody
who's probably the best to ever score down there. What
do you think holds back the center from being part
of bigger part of NBA offenses. Well, I don't. It's
(34:37):
hard to find someone that is consistent enough in the
paint for me get the ball all the time. I
was lucky that my coaches felt that I could handle
the ball in there, I could score with it or
pass it out when I was double team and you
know I was, I could be relied upon to do that.
Some guys when they get the ball, they're not getting enough.
(34:58):
You know. I've never been that type of player, So
I think that's that enabled me to remain a top
priority on for our offense where I was because uh,
you know, they like the way I believe and I
was never the type of person that had to have
the ball all the time. What is it like for
(35:20):
you when players mentioned the greatest players of all time
and oftentimes you kind of get glossed over. I mean,
like you know from from Sometimes they'll even skip you.
They'll go, well, Bill Russell won this many titles, and
then they go to Magic and Bird and then to Jordans.
Sometimes they for you, like you don't have the biggest
ego in the world. But you do have an ego?
(35:41):
What is it like for you to not get mentioned?
People say Jordan Lebron or Jordan Lebron and magic. Oftentimes
they don't say Kareem. How does that make you feel? Well,
they do say kan sometimes, So you know, I'm just
said after that, except where I is. Do you think
it's so because of the center is not? It's like,
(36:03):
I don't know. I'm just I just try and figure
it out. Um, all right, So from your perspective, Kareem,
do you think that basketball the way it's played now
is this? What do you like watching all the three
point shots and the lack of low post scoring or
would you like it to go back to a little
bit closer to where where it was? Well, I think
that if you have a balance, you have opportunity to
(36:27):
win the game in various types of of ways. And
the more versatil of your team is, the more chances
you have to win a game. I've always thought that
I tried to, uh, you know, conveyed that as a
sound way to to structure a team. So you know,
if you've got guys that can score in the paint
(36:48):
and who can shoot it from the outside. You have
more weapons than the other guys. Kareem a Jewels bar,
six time NBA champion, the all time leading score in
NBA history. His new book, Coach Wooden and Me Our
fifty year friendship on and off the court. You're somebody
who I don't think anybody who listens to you read
your books that doesn't understand you're exceedingly bright. I was
(37:10):
just talking about the fact that I almost think that
sometimes Lebron is too smart. They thinks too much about
the results and the ramifications, and when he missed his shots,
sometimes he'll stop shooting because of because the ramifications of
missing shots. How did you deal with that? How did
you deal with kind of the I almost feel like
sometimes you could be too smart and yet you were
able to still compete and win at the highest level.
(37:33):
How do you tune out the conscience that you had
and just play basketball. Well, I think you have to
dedicate yourself to the to the goals of the group.
So you know, everybody on the team wants to win
the championship, and if you can give them consistent talent
to use to that end, they're gonna keep you in mind.
(37:56):
So I think that's what teamwork is all about. You
try to find the easiest and most efficiently to beat
the other guy. And uh, you know that that's what
makes it interesting. You. You were recently quoted saying you
don't like the one and done role. So there there
will be there will be people that follow up and say, okay,
so do you prefer players going straight out of high school?
(38:18):
Would you? What would your if if cream was in
charge of college basketball, what would the rule be? Well,
it's really not the college basketball that that determines all
of this, it's the NBA Players Association. They determined how
someone can be to come in the league, so they
set the age at nineteen. So that's kind of like
(38:42):
ruined a number of things. I think the age should
probably be twenty one, you know, an age where most
young people have developed some type of maturity and a
work ethic. I think that would be better. Um, but
you know, there are different opinions on this. The reason
that they have the Daily goes for people who aren't
(39:03):
academically inclined or qualified. They can go to the Daily.
I think college should be for for people who are
academically qualified. And you know, that makes sense to me.
I tend to agree with the cream. I wish they would,
they would listen to you and your voice of reason.
Last thing, because I do think this is a book
that that people should should, should should buy, or should
(39:26):
download and should read. However, they travel too because the
relationship between players and their coaches, the father figure they become,
and the lasting legacy and relationship they build. As somebody
who played for a legendary coach, I can I can
speak to it. Is there is there one of his?
He had so many of these phrases? Is there one
that rings in your head, John Wooden, who you played
for that you think of more often than others? Yes,
(39:49):
there's one, and coach wouldn't stole it from Ben Franklin.
But it really applies. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Um absolutely correct. And if you don't understand what you
need to do and how you need to prepare to
get your job done, you're not gonna get it done.
And you know this. This has been a constant thing
(40:11):
for me to understand and UH use to be successful
in my life. And it works well. Kareem. It's a
fabulous book, and we really appreciate you join us and
sharing your thoughts with us. Thanks so much for being
our guest on Fox Sports Radio. Great talking with you, Doug,
Thank you and good luck. Pleasures mind Kareem Abdul Jabbar,
(40:33):
who is, without any question, one of the all time
great
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up? Doug Gottlieb Show Live
from Sin City Today, rolling on on Fox Sports Radio.
Kind enough to be the uh welcome in by the
Coaches Versus Cancer Group Las Vegas Golf Class. We get
to more of that upcoming in the show. But what
(00:24):
an outstanding sports weekend. We can pretend, not stop pretending
we care about horse racing, although it actually was an
interesting horse race. I'm told the hockey playoffs continue on,
but uh sorry, could not possibly care any less. And
Lebron James, well, it didn't look like Lebron James yesterday.
That's where we'll begin, That's probably where we'll end. It's
(00:45):
really interesting to me, there was a lot of discussions
throughout last week and into the weekend and now coming
out of the weekend about Lebron James and about the
number one seed and about the Boston Celtics. All right,
let's let's start at the big ending of last night,
because the series was over and it's still probably is over.
(01:06):
It's just not completely over. It's like in the Prince's Bride,
where he wasn't all he wasn't all the way dead.
He was mostly dead, which, as we've known, as somewhat alive.
That doesn't mean that the Celtics were blazing or bluffing.
That just means that the Calves are the better team.
Nobody's disputing that. And Isaiah Thomas being out though, that
(01:27):
changes the Celtics and in many ways gives them a
little bit more versatility. Still, you take away the leading
score from a team that had inferior talent and had
a bad matchup in comparison to the Calves. There's a
reason they were down twenty one points last night. But
at last Marcus Smart hit seven threes, Jonas Jerebko hit
two big late threes. Lebron James had one of his
(01:50):
worst playoff performances ever. The Calves could not get a
stop late, and even though Kyrie Irving had twenty nine
and Kevin Love had Love had all seven of his
threes in the first half, the Boston Celtics come storming
back and behind a beautifully drawn up play from the
Maestro himself, Brad Stevens. It's one thing for the shot
to go in. Shots go in, shots don't go in.
(02:11):
You hear the cliche from NBA front office, people, from
coaches and players and of course and now feeds down
to the broadcasters, make our miss league. But the truth
is that most plays in the NBA don't create open shots.
They create mismatches. That one created a wide open jump shot.
That was the fact that it went in and the
way it went in made it look different than it
(02:34):
actually was. Brad Stevens called time out, drew up a
play and it worked for perfection, and they took the
very last shot of the game and it went in
perfect execution, and of course it when it the result
is what we react to. I'm reacting more to the process,
the timing the play, the fact that he was wide
open because of the design of the play was all
perfect and then it happened to go in. And the
(02:56):
more often times you get an open look in the NBA,
guys are gonna make seventy of those shots. But all
anybody wants to talk about Islabreezy is Lebron James and
whether not now we take him off the pedestal that
some people like Nick right Friday on the show put
him on next to Michael Jordan's What I tweeted out
last night was Look, guys are entitled to having a
(03:17):
bad game. They are. Jordan had bad games, Magic had
bad games, Bird had bad games, Kobe had lots of
bad games in the playoffs, Shack would have bad games.
They've all had bad games. Durant's had bad games. What
we get into this better or worse thing? And that's
not the smart argument. It's there different And here's why
(03:39):
they're different. Lebron didn't have it last night, by his
own estimation. I'll play that for you in a second.
Did not have it. But when Lebron doesn't have it,
he's not Kobe Bryant, where he's gonna sheer force of
will still keep shooting. He's not gonna Michael Jordan try
and get to the free throw line. He's gonna defer.
This is Lebron James is a different superstar than we've
(04:01):
ever seen in that he can make the league quiver
because when he's got to go, and there is literally
no one in the world that can stop him, especially
based upon the way in which NBA games are now offishiated.
On the other hand, when he doesn't have it going,
he's okay letting other guys play, and we just haven't
seen that before. Here's Tyron Lieu explaining why his best
(04:27):
player and the best player in the world, had a
bad night. Um, um, he said this about the fact
that he's human. It's human being. He's human, and because
he's human, human beings are tired and have a bad
night and don't play well. He's humans, so he's gonna
(04:50):
have a night like this, And um, he didn't shoot
the ball well. And we still had a you know,
and a game we should have won. But you know, um,
they played hard, they scrapped. They have a scrappy team.
We knew that coming into tonight. Um knew it wouldn't
be easy, but um, you know that some things we
can correct and come back. We're ready to go on tuusy.
(05:12):
You may think this is too many takeaways from one game,
but to me, this makes all of my points all
kind of come together. Doug gotlip show Fox Sports Radio,
so the points are kind of in non sequential order. Look,
Lebron James has a conscience. It's one of the things
that it's one of the things that that I think
(05:32):
intelligence brings. He's a very smart person, a very smart
basketball player, but sometimes he overthinks things and I think
this is something he overthinks his jump shot. When he's
not making it, he can lose confidence in it. We've
seen it in finals in the past, even championships they won,
championships they've lost. There are times in which he will
lose confidence in his jump shot. That didn't happen to Jordan,
(05:55):
that didn't happen to Bird, that didn't happen to Magic,
that didn't happen to Kobe, that didn't happen to other
other grades. They don't lose confidence. He does. I would
also say that to people who say, well, like Lemron James,
look at how he's played, look at how much he
means to that team, how they can't win, and thus
(06:15):
he performs he should be the m v P. Well,
remember the m v P of the regular season. The
smart thing about Lebron was he periodically took days off.
And the one to one thing you can deduce from
his poor performances that he knows his own body. He
knows he's better when he gets rest. And if you
don't believe me, he looked like he didn't have juice
(06:36):
last night, right, I didn't have the juice. He didn't
have the ability to hit that turbo button and just
turn it on. And maybe that's because he's playing with
just one night off in between, and suddenly now he's
a little bit more worn down than he knows that
he has to have more rest at this stage in
his career. But the easy argument for why Lebron James
(06:58):
shouldn't be the m v P is how well he's
played when he's locked in this the dominance of the
Calves in this series, and make no mistake about it,
they were still dominating last night before the Celtics caught
a heater and the Calves started messing around and allowed
the Celtics get back in the game. Look, I love
Marcus Smart. He's an luve of my school. I like
(07:19):
his toughness. I think eventually he'll he'll can, He'll be
a very good player in the NBA. But but he's
not Seven threes in a game is seven out of ten? Like, dude,
that's not who Marcus Smart is. He played out of
his mind now, he's incredibly He's an incredible competitor. And
I thought his competitive toughness and your repco talking a
little trash and not being pushed right, I thought that
(07:40):
was a big part of the Celtics win, but make
no mistake about it, like he in a seventy three
point shooter. Ever, not in college. He struggled with the three,
let alone the pros. So the Calves are still twenty
points better than the Celtics. That hasn't changed, and that
points of anything to how many games off mentally physically
the Cleveland Cavaliers took throughout the regular season. The dominance
(08:04):
of the Calves over the Boston Celtics also tells you
how much the Celtics overachieved. And since it's a regular
season award, though he was periodically dominant, the fact that
he wasn't able to get his team too, and he
wasn't able to dial in at the level of excellence
he's had until last night in the playoffs only shows
you Lebron can't be the regular season m VP. He
(08:25):
didn't play like that for the most part. I have
no problem with him pacing himself. But again, the award
is a regular season award. But Jordan's didn't have nights
that he took off. He had bad nights, bad nights,
(08:47):
but disappearing acts. We didn't see that, losing his confidence,
we didn't see that pacing his play. We didn't see that,
And so I'm okay with admitting that Lebron James is
as dominant in this era as Jordan was, as Bird was,
(09:08):
as Magic was in their eras. But make no mistake
about it when you want to say better or worse, Like, look,
there's no argument I can make because it's a completely
different style of basketball. But he he's different now, he's different.
He's very very different. Here's Lebron on not having it well.
(09:30):
I feel some adversity is all part of postseason. Feel
like you have to have some type of adversity in
order to be successful. And uh so I'm glad it mean,
if it's gonna happen, let's let it happen. Now, let
us let's regroup, you know, Uh, let us regroup and
all the narrative and everything that was going on. Let's regroup,
(09:51):
and let's get back to uh playing desperate basketball, which
they did tonight, you know. And um, you know, so
we gotta we gotta be a lot better, for sure.
I completely agree with that. Like, you know that that
looked like an NBA regular season game, right, how many
NBA regular season games have you seen? Where's the twenty
point deficit and you're like, I'll be tied in the
(10:12):
fourth quarter. It looked like they were playing in Milwaukee
tonight and in Minnesota tomorrow night. It did look like
Cleveland kind of shut it down and started going I
so ball and going one on one. Have you heard this?
This was kind of interesting. This was Lebron James asked
a question by a local radio host, Kenny Rhoda. He said,
this was the back and forth for you. You said,
(10:36):
you know, it's just your game couldn't get into a
rhythm tonight. Is that what it was? Based on their
defense or just not not feeling it or what? Oh? No,
I was just pretty poor man. We want to say,
it seems like you only answer if you only ask
questions when we lose. It's a weird thing with you, Kenny.
I always come around when we lose. I swear, Yeah, okay, yeah,
(11:00):
I mean Lebron trying to create an imaginary enemy that's
not there. Sorry, we couldn't ask you questions about Kendrick Lamar.
I mean, I thought it was a very fair question,
and he allowed Lebron to elaborate on what led to
him not playing well. Did they change their defense, which
they did with exception of when they left double teamed
(11:21):
him and left Jr. Smith open late, which made absolutely
no sense to anybody. But look, I'm not selling all
of my Warriors and my my Calves stock not fully
investing in the Warriors. They've had times in which they
haven't been great against inferior competition in San Antonio. But
if we're going to make the Lebron Jordan's conversation a
(11:42):
real one, let's make it a real one. And we
may not have. We didn't see the defensive versatility or
maybe even offensive versatility that Lebron James presents from Michael Jordan,
but we also never saw the type of disappearing act
we saw last night. It's just one game. All they
have to do is win a couple more and they'll
(12:03):
get to the NBA Finals and have beyond that collision
course and we'll forget about this game, as will judge
everything about Lebron James based upon the four to seven
games against the Warriors. But to me, last night proved
at Lebron. This weekend is proved to Lebron should not
be the m v P. That they didn't play at
the level of intensity they have in the playoffs. Lebron
(12:25):
James is different than anything we've ever seen, and we
talked last week about the Celtics. It's not a foregone conclusion.
You have to resign Isaiah Thomas, even though he's your
leading score and he's been your best player all year long.
Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific on
(12:46):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. The
state of Nevada plans to allow mobile sports gambling at
the Raiders New Stadium in Las Vegas, barring an unforeseen
change in the future. David Purdham reported that state gaming sites,
gaming officials, and the stadium authority planned to allow fans
to use mobile apps and a place bets inside the stadium.
(13:08):
The stadium least prohibits any gaming or gambling UM, the
maintaining or operating of the gaming establishment, and or sports
wagering by wagering on racing or other non sports events. UM.
The NFL has not approached me on any policy decisions.
That's Nevada Gaming Commissioner Chairman Tony Alamo, he told ESPN.
(13:34):
The Nevada Gaming Commission is the policymaker the state of
Nevada and gaming, and they have not approached us in
any way, shape or form. So at this point the
NFL is like, hey, look, it's out of our purview.
We're not going to get involved. I'm sure there will
be conversations before the Raiders move to Vegas. My thing
is this the mobile gambling. That's the that to me
is the future. That's how you get people in the
(13:55):
stadium is the fact that they can wager on anything.
Because I asked myself this all the time, why would
I go to these games when I can't watch the
other games? You gotta give me a reason to be
in the stadium. I kind of think Baseball should take
take a look at at this as a way to
get the single mail to a baseball game, Like why
(14:17):
would you? I mean, if you want to go slug
beers and watch a game, you go do so with
Buffalo wild Wings. Right. I like going to baseball games
with my kids because it is probably the most uh
family friendly environment there is. But I'm talking about the
thirty year old, thirty five year old mail. Outside of
going to the Cubs game and sitting in the outfield
where you can pick up on all the women that
(14:39):
go to the games. Like outside of that, why would
you go? If I can go and I can bet?
All right, our pool holes is coming up, or Mike
Trout's coming up for um, Bryce Harper is coming up.
I can bet if he's gonna strike out, if I
can bet, situational betting, like I mean, it's kind of
all that fantasy sports is. And so all Nevada is
(14:59):
saying is, hey, look, you can do the mobile gambling
anyway in the state, Like we're not gonna limit you
when you go to a stadium. Why would we do
that while we do that music? Go ahead? Well, the
thing that I find interesting about this whole mobile gambling
thing is the fact that there it's already out there.
I mean, like Bovada can't technically people already do this
(15:20):
in NFL stadiums like here here in l A, for example,
if you go to a RAMS game, can you not
already do it? I believe you can. You can offshore
sites now you can't. The Vegas gambling gaming sites only
opera only. You only work in your cell phone within
the state of Vegas, within the state of Nevada, excuse me,
within the state of Nevada. But yes, if you have Yes,
(15:41):
it's that's where it's kind of red. Like Vegas is like, hey,
you can do this on an overseas site anywhere else
in the NFL. Why are we going to limit that
and not allow you to do it here and keep
your money here in Nevada or keep it here in
Las Vegas and not have you do that. I would
agree with you, Mark tweets the show at os U. Mark.
My biggest concern with the NFL team in Vegas is
(16:02):
players getting into trouble in Las Vegas. Well, I hate
to be that guy, but you can kind of get
into trouble anywhere, dude, right like name me? I mean,
how many, like do you think of Cincinnati is a
big party town. How many Cincinnati Bengals historically have gotten
in trouble until maybe recently only pack Man Jones recently
(16:24):
tell me the NFL town you can't. You can get
in plenty of trouble in New York. There's two teams
in New York getting plenty of trouble. In Chicago, you
can get in trouble in New Orleans, there is plenty
of There's all the stories of New Orleans waking up
in an ice bath, right, and you're missing your kidneys
in New Orleans hadn't happened to an NFL player, So, uh,
can you get in trouble? Yeah? Yeah? I also remember, Um,
(16:48):
you're not gonna be playing in the NFL for long
if these are the things you're doing, And if you're
a visiting team, what better place to come? You know,
you're only I have a place to stay, You get
to go to a great restaurant the night before the game,
you go play, and then you fly home. There's NonStop
flights everywhere. Like I kind of think this is one
(17:10):
of those things that we we so badly overthink. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves
Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific. I don't
think you step into signing an agreement with an airline
like you just I just go and use all the
Expedia and Travelocity in kayak whenever and like whatever times
(17:31):
makes sense, and have the fewest stops or no stops
and cost the smallest amount of money, even when I'm
booking it for my company. Like That's what I do, right,
That's just kind of normal. I even think for the
most part, when with even with United, when they took
the guy off the plane and he went crazy whatever,
I still think that people will bounce back from that.
(17:51):
They'd still fly United. But this idea that I would
step into fly like when I fly with spirit, like
I know something's up, Like all you gotta do is
fly with spirit. Once you're like, dude, I'm never doing
that again unless I literally have nothing to carry on right,
Like I'm gonna strap a I'm gonna strap my iPad
to my I'm gonna taping around my body so I
don't have to pay for it. Um. Outside of that,
(18:12):
I think of every other airline having about the same policy.
The difference is, Calvin Johnson, when you sign a signing
bonus and it's spread out over time so that it
becomes like a guaranteed part of your contract, you know
that going in That's where I correlate the difference. Uh. Calvin,
of course said I I don't want to talk about
the Lions too much because of the way our relationship ended.
(18:36):
If they see me around here, we'll see. But hey,
I don't know. I don't feel any kind of way.
I just feel like I was treated the way I
I but I didn't feel the way I was treating
the way I should have been treated on the way out.
That's all I mean. It's all good. I'm not tripping.
I don't feel any kind of wayes. Hey that's what
they did. Hey, it is what it is. Like I
(18:57):
kind of think Calvin Johnson looks terrible on this. Don't
get me wrong. I think Twitter and young people be
like that. He should keep his money, Like, dude, you
quit in the middle of your contract when you still
had gas in the tank, and you're allowed to, Like,
he made a ton of money, he's a hell of
a player. He's allowed to He'll go into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame, he is allowed to quit. But
the idea like, oh, that's okay, we know you owe
(19:21):
us three dollars, but we'll just we love you, we
like you so much. Because what sort of preston does
that set for any player? Right then? That makes sense,
Like why would you ever say, why would you ever
agree to that if you're an NFL team, because well, hey,
it's good for Calvin Johnson, it's not good for me.
They made Barry Sanders pay back his his signing bonus
(19:45):
and It's one of those deals where it's like Calvin
Johnson is really mad for the way it ended, Like
you quit. I mean, you quit, and you told everybody
you were gonna quit long before you actually did quit.
So maybe I'm the only guy. But I don't. I
(20:06):
don't feel I don't feel terrible. I don't don't feel
terrible for Calvin Johnson. I think he's he's mad that.
I mean, like, look, they're still gonna welcome you back,
They're gonna retire your number, put you in the Ring
of Honor, They'll find you some pr job. Like just
this is one of those grand to pay back. Sounds
like a huge sum of money, but if you just
(20:27):
kind of keep your mouth shut, you're gonna get paid
as some sort of liaison for the Lions for years
and years to come if you choose to do so.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
and now say earlier today, Skip Bayliss on Undisputed, which,
(20:49):
of course the TV show you can hear on Sirius
XM satellite radio. Along with Shannon Sharp and Joy Taylor,
had this to say about the comparison between m j
and Lebron. I would guess that Michael Jordan's sat back
at the end of this game and said, really, that
guy him, he's better than me, the guy who just disappeared.
(21:14):
Because I think we witnessed last night, I'm gonna make
a case for this. I think it was the biggest
single game upset in NBA Playoff history given the circumstance
of what happened Friday night. You and I went back
and forth texting about Friday night because it was an
absolute annihilation humiliation at Boston in game two when silly
(21:35):
me I thought the Celtics would show the kind of
pride and fight that they showed last night at home
in game two, Uh, look, he's and and Skip smartly
does this where he combines a couple of things which
are true and then makes it into a narrative of Lebron.
You know, his Lebron choking argument um, which has some
(21:58):
validity if you think that that's it happened last night. Um.
Skip tweeted this out, which I think is very interesting
to me. ESPNS Tom Hablestrow said that Lebron has changed
his routine at the free from line eighteen times this
past season. That's why he's only made sixty seven percent.
I think that. Look, I don't think that Lebron is
(22:20):
as good as Mike, and I think last night was
slightly telling as to why I've said before that he's
not kind of that go to end of game score
the way that so many other of the all time grades.
Even Magic Johnson, who was a better passer than Lebron
but not the scorer of Lebron or the shooter of Lebron.
Magic wanted the ball more to score more with the
(22:41):
game on the line than even Lebron did. But between
the free throws and the fact that he'll lose confidence
in his jump shot, he I don't. I think he
only made one jump shot the other three where layups
are dunks last night. I made four shots last night.
He has this, he has his ability as a great
player to over think things, to lose his confidence to
(23:02):
try and change things. Case in point is free throw percentage,
and some of that is a badge of courage. It's
still I always say this, Peyton Manning is the greatest
quarterback ever with a bad arm. Right, Lebron James is
the greatest player ever to not have to have utter
the utmost confidence in his jump shot. And I do
think that that that Jordan's probably sat there last night
(23:24):
and goes, are you kidding me? But I also think
that if you've watched Michael Jordan, listen to Michael Jordan
for the through the years, even when Lebron's had is peaked,
he probably said, comparing it to me, are you kidding me?
So skips not wrong, but I think he's a little
over the top because we should point out that one
of the reasons it was such an upset was how
good Lebron had been up until last night. Speaking of Lebron,
(23:46):
here's what Calling Cowherd had to say about what last
night's performance for him meant to the Calves. Michael left.
The Bulls were still viable. They didn't win titles without Michael,
but they were viable without Michael. They wont not fifty
evan and if not for one Hugh Hollands call, they
could have gone to another finals. This Calvs team, which
(24:06):
is sweeping and blowing out teams by fifty, can't beat
a Celtics team without Isaiah Thomas unless Lebron's great. I
mean I always knew Lebron was valuable, but you went
on Friday when he's great, by fifty on Sunday when
he's lousy for a half. You can't beat this team
(24:26):
without Isaiah Thomas. This speaks to his value. The Bulls
were still really really good without Michael. Uh they were
really really good without Michael. But here's what you have
to remember, Okay, this is this is a lot like
the discussion of Matt cat Remember Matt Castle won uh
(24:50):
ten games with the or eleven games with the New
England Patriots. The Patriots won sixteen games, sixteen games the
year before sixteen games, and actually won eighteen and one
the year before, So the drop off was from sixteen
to eleven. That's actually a massive drop off. The same
(25:10):
can be said for the Chicago Bulls, who, yes, it's
true when Jordan's left, they won fifty five games, but
they were actually two games back of the Atlanta Hawks.
What people forget about that year was the Pistons were
a mess. There wasn't a ton of competition and the guests.
The Bulls won a lot of games, but they weren't
the one seed. They were actually the three seat. They
(25:31):
moved from the outright one best team in the NBA
to the three seats, and Jordan's first season of his
full return, that's when they won seventy two games. So
do I think that Michael Jordan's that that Lebron super valuable? Yeah?
Of course, yeah, of course. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm
(25:53):
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. Here's Adam Silver, who's the commissioner of
the NBA, on whether or not the dominance of the
Warriors and the Cavs is good to the league. I
think that we should be celebrating excellence. I mean, people
are already annointing these teams as as as dominant and
(26:16):
and and franchise teams. But on the other hand, I
look at the Golden State Warriors that hadn't won a
championship in forty years, the Cavaliers of course one last
year and had never won a championship before in this league.
I mean, as you know, you look back at the
historic franchise in this league, Celtics with seventeen championships, Lakers
with sixteen. I think they have a long way to
go before I would put them in that category. Yeah, okay,
(26:39):
I kind of feel like he's combining two different stories,
don't you Like, Adam Silver is not wrong like people
don't people forget like the Warriors were the Clippers. The
only difference is that the Warriors want a title, you know,
going back to the seventies with Rick Berry, Like that's
outside of that. They were and they had one or
(26:59):
two little little blips rambers. Don Nelson led them and
Baron Davis led them to an upset of the one
seed Mavericks, and they had run TMC. But for the
most part they were a disaster for forty years, and
the same can be said. The same can honestly be
said for Cleveland, Like Cleveland wasn't a disaster, but Cleveland was.
(27:20):
They're kind of like what the Bulls are now, where
like competitive team. They had some really good players. They
had Mark Price and Brad Doherty and Larry Nance and
Gerald Wilkins. They had Craig Elo. They had really good players,
but they never had the superstar that Chicago had. They
could never get over the Chicago hump. So he's not
wrong in giving us perspective. Hey, look, these aren't two
(27:40):
great franchises, So we should just enjoy the fact that
right now they're in the great This is the greatest
moment ever for the Cleveland Cavaliers, this is the greatest
moment ever for the Golden State Warriors. But that's still
not that that still has nothing to do with the
discussion that we're having and the fact that he has
to when when somebody has to change the argument. Anytime
(28:02):
somebody changes the argument on you, that's because they don't
really have a good argument, right. You're like, well, Commissioner,
what do you think about the fact that these are
really not competitive series and nobody's really competing with these
two teams, and it's the regular season doesn't matter that much,
and guys are taking games off. Was like, well, what
you guys don't understand is the perspective. I'm like, no, no, no,
that's changing the argument. This happens in debates. This, you know,
(28:25):
presidential debates, This happens in sports discussion. You watch a
TV show. Anytime you get into argument with a buddy,
anytime they change the argument, it's because it's in the
Their argument on the actual topic isn't a good one.
Adam Silver knows this is bad for basketball. It's good
for the finals, it's bad for basketball. It's no different.
(28:47):
Lon Krueger was our guest. Let me look at my
time here. Lan Greuer was, I guess fifty minutes ago.
He's the head coach of Oklahoma, former head coach essentially everywhere.
And he said, he kind of like, like lawn is
one of those everybody loves long. He never wants to
say the wrong thing or a bad thing. But he said, like, look,
March Madness is awesome, but games in December and January,
(29:08):
a little bit in February, we could do a little
bit better job, I think, is what he said, A
little bit better job of getting some following. In other words,
nobody cares about anything in college basketball, with the exception
of the n c A Tournament. Right. I love college basketball.
I've covered it for fifteen years, I played in it
for four years. I followed it my entire life. My
brother is a coach, my dad was a coach, and
(29:30):
I'm I'm a junkie. I'll watch I'll watch a game
on a Wednesday night, no matter where it is, if
it's a good ball. Again, I like watching ball. But
most of America knows that the only thing that really
matters is the tournament. Right. People don't care who wins
a preseason tournament or your league or you know, they
don't care, And I will try and make you care.
(29:52):
Like Kansas winning thirteen straight Big twelve titles is amazing,
but you only have one n c A title during
that run. It's not good enough for people because the
only the matter is March. You don't want to create
that with the NBA. You don't want to create the
regular seasons too long and nobody cares. And now the
playoffs are too long and nobody cares. We already know
who the two teams. That's not the that's not what
(30:14):
you want to create. Be sure to catch live editions
of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific. His book is uh Coach Wood and Me,
Our fifty year friendship On and Off the Court, The
Cap Sky Hook, Creamy Abdul Jabbar joins us on Fox
Sports Radio. Cap. How are you. I'm doing pretty good.
Everything everything, everything is exceptionally well. Uh. You you've written
(30:38):
so many books. You've written books about history. UM, obviously
you have a great passion for sports. And for your
former coach, why write this book? So I wanted to
let people know what coach was all about. A lot
of what people relate to him has to do with
the coaching, and he gave about lessons in life that
(30:59):
really we're meaningful and help us to live better live
and I thought i'd let people know what that was about.
When you arrived in southern California from Power Memorial, I
think people have forgotten that you weren't allowed to play
your freshman year. How do he help you through that?
But we're not just not playing, but the transition from
(31:21):
being a New York City legend to being a player
who could not play varsity basketball U C l A.
But you know, I went to facility to get an
education though. That was the most important thing for me.
So you know, I intended to be there for four years.
It wasn't like I had to like being a rush
(31:42):
and it was okay, you know, it was a different time.
Then things took more time. Yeah, But but I'm I'm
just wondering, in the transition from being around your family
to being you know, so far from everybody else, what
was he like on a daily basis? How did he
treat you. How did he how did he build this
relationship which, if you have written, has lasted fifty years. Well,
(32:05):
you know, my first year I had a different coach.
I had a personman coach. Gary Cunningham was our personal coach.
So my relationship withold coach wouldn't really didn't get into
any high gear until I started playing for him, and
that that change. That's when things started to increase and
(32:27):
I got to know him and understand his ways and uh,
you know, we started to win games and all those
great things. But it took time. It wasn't something that
happened all at once. There are times in which you
buy in or you you become fully invested in your
(32:47):
coach because you understand his level of investment in you.
Was was there a moment? Was there a seminal moment, uh,
to which the that that bond changed to where it
was everlasting on or off the floor. You know? For me,
I think I noticed the way his teams played and
it kind of reminded me of the Boston Celtics Bill
(33:08):
Russell Celtics. You know, the teams they played the smothering
defense and then ran quickly down the court to to
take opportunities, easy opportunities that talk coach wouldn't teams played,
and it was like something I thought I could do.
And the teamwork and the coordinations and everybody being on
(33:30):
the same page really was what I wanted to be about.
To me, great basketball teams, all teams to have the
same DNA Creemi ab Dul Jabbar, the NBA's all time
scoring leader, six time m v P, six time NBA champion,
of course, the national champion three times over in college
joints US and like, look, you were so dominant they
(33:52):
took they took dunking out of college basketball. I like,
that's how much you were dominating the sport. And you
developed this incredible repertoire are of of skills. I mean,
I know that the sky hook was your signature move,
but you had so many more skills and that's what
allowed you scored points for so long in the NBA.
What is it in your mind that keeps the low
(34:13):
post from being part of NBA offense? Like, what's the
Some of it is the defenses are more physical and
the way the games officiated, But sometimes it is the
development or lack thereof of the big guy as somebody
who's probably the best to ever score down there. What
do you think holds back the center from being part
of bigger part of NBA offenses. Well, I don't. It's
(34:37):
hard to find someone that is consistent enough in the
paint for me get the ball all the time. I
was lucky that my coaches felt that I could handle
the ball in there, I could score with it or
pass it out when I was double team and you
know I was, I could be relied upon to do that.
Some guys when they get the ball, they're not getting enough.
(34:58):
You know. I've never been that type of player, So
I think that's that enabled me to remain a top
priority on for our offense where I was because uh,
you know, they like the way I believe and I
was never the type of person that had to have
the ball all the time. What is it like for
(35:20):
you when players mentioned the greatest players of all time
and oftentimes you kind of get glossed over. I mean,
like you know from from Sometimes they'll even skip you.
They'll go, well, Bill Russell won this many titles, and
then they go to Magic and Bird and then to Jordans.
Sometimes they for you, like you don't have the biggest
ego in the world. But you do have an ego?
(35:41):
What is it like for you to not get mentioned?
People say Jordan Lebron or Jordan Lebron and magic. Oftentimes
they don't say Kareem. How does that make you feel? Well,
they do say kan sometimes, So you know, I'm just
said after that, except where I is. Do you think
it's so because of the center is not? It's like,
(36:03):
I don't know. I'm just I just try and figure
it out. Um, all right, So from your perspective, Kareem,
do you think that basketball the way it's played now
is this? What do you like watching all the three
point shots and the lack of low post scoring or
would you like it to go back to a little
bit closer to where where it was? Well, I think
that if you have a balance, you have opportunity to
(36:27):
win the game in various types of of ways. And
the more versatil of your team is, the more chances
you have to win a game. I've always thought that
I tried to, uh, you know, conveyed that as a
sound way to to structure a team. So you know,
if you've got guys that can score in the paint
(36:48):
and who can shoot it from the outside. You have
more weapons than the other guys. Kareem a Jewels bar,
six time NBA champion, the all time leading score in
NBA history. His new book, Coach Wooden and Me Our
fifty year friendship on and off the court. You're somebody
who I don't think anybody who listens to you read
your books that doesn't understand you're exceedingly bright. I was
(37:10):
just talking about the fact that I almost think that
sometimes Lebron is too smart. They thinks too much about
the results and the ramifications, and when he missed his shots,
sometimes he'll stop shooting because of because the ramifications of
missing shots. How did you deal with that? How did
you deal with kind of the I almost feel like
sometimes you could be too smart and yet you were
able to still compete and win at the highest level.
(37:33):
How do you tune out the conscience that you had
and just play basketball. Well, I think you have to
dedicate yourself to the to the goals of the group.
So you know, everybody on the team wants to win
the championship, and if you can give them consistent talent
to use to that end, they're gonna keep you in mind.
(37:56):
So I think that's what teamwork is all about. You
try to find the easiest and most efficiently to beat
the other guy. And uh, you know that that's what
makes it interesting. You. You were recently quoted saying you
don't like the one and done role. So there there
will be there will be people that follow up and say, okay,
so do you prefer players going straight out of high school?
(38:18):
Would you? What would your if if cream was in
charge of college basketball, what would the rule be? Well,
it's really not the college basketball that that determines all
of this, it's the NBA Players Association. They determined how
someone can be to come in the league, so they
set the age at nineteen. So that's kind of like
(38:42):
ruined a number of things. I think the age should
probably be twenty one, you know, an age where most
young people have developed some type of maturity and a
work ethic. I think that would be better. Um, but
you know, there are different opinions on this. The reason
that they have the Daily goes for people who aren't
(39:03):
academically inclined or qualified. They can go to the Daily.
I think college should be for for people who are
academically qualified. And you know, that makes sense to me.
I tend to agree with the cream. I wish they would,
they would listen to you and your voice of reason.
Last thing, because I do think this is a book
that that people should should, should should buy, or should
(39:26):
download and should read. However, they travel too because the
relationship between players and their coaches, the father figure they become,
and the lasting legacy and relationship they build. As somebody
who played for a legendary coach, I can I can
speak to it. Is there is there one of his?
He had so many of these phrases? Is there one
that rings in your head, John Wooden, who you played
for that you think of more often than others? Yes,
(39:49):
there's one, and coach wouldn't stole it from Ben Franklin.
But it really applies. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Um absolutely correct. And if you don't understand what you
need to do and how you need to prepare to
get your job done, you're not gonna get it done.
And you know this. This has been a constant thing
(40:11):
for me to understand and UH use to be successful
in my life. And it works well. Kareem. It's a
fabulous book, and we really appreciate you join us and
sharing your thoughts with us. Thanks so much for being
our guest on Fox Sports Radio. Great talking with you, Doug,
Thank you and good luck. Pleasures mind Kareem Abdul Jabbar,
(40:33):
who is, without any question, one of the all time
great
Host
Doug Gottlieb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!