May 24, 2017 • 45 mins
Doug explains why Kyrie Irving needs more credit and people won’t give it to him because he plays with LeBron James. He talks about the NFL changing the rules on celebrations and why he will be the one to say “it is about the kids”. Also, Doug talks Dunk Champion and NBA Analyst Cedric Ceballos about LeBron James vs Kobe Bryant and if people need to recognize the greatness of Kyrie.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Don got Lead Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boom Doug got Leave Show, Fox
Sports Radio Live and Direct. The greatest city in the
world City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. Don't worry wherever
you are, hey, summer is about to arrive. It hasn't
arrived already. You're in the good part of the year.
You got out of the snow, you got out of
(00:21):
the mess, you got out of the Uh hopefully you're
escaping the allergy season. People in California. I don't know,
like there's a little bit allergies, but when everything comes
into full bloom in places where you have snow, if
you have allergies, I don't, but my wife in one
of my daughters does. It's it's bad. So we'll all commiserate.
This is a great weekend, Memorial Day weekend, the beginning
(00:41):
of summer, getting ready for the NBA Finals, which we've
all been waiting for in d five hundred as well.
Of course, lake and river and beach season has begun,
which means you gotta wax down there. Fellas. Fellas got
a wax. Oh the things we do for beauty for
those ladies. That's uh. That's what we'll get to. Man,
(01:04):
we got a good show for you today, excellent show
for you. Did You'll be interested to hear what Ben
Roethlisberger has to say about his star running back. Not
at o t a s. Colin Cowherd had something interesting
to say about the Boston Celtics, and Believe or Not.
Though I vehemently disagree with many things that Colin says,
I agree with him on the seas and Charles Barkley
(01:24):
has spoken out about about Lebron not being on Kobe's level.
We'll get to all that, plus justin for set former
running back in the National Football League who famously said
he wanted to be out of the friend zone with
the Ravens. He's now in the retirement zone in the
National Football We'll talk to him about running backs, etcetera, etcetera.
Upcoming about ten minutes, said Cebolo is gonna join us
(01:45):
as we'll uh will continue to check on the Calves
as last night they took down the Boston Celtics. They
trailed big in the first half. It was weird, like
Lebron James in foul trouble. There's a couple of things that,
like I've said this before about Steph Curry. When he shoots,
you're more surprised when it doesn't go in than when
(02:08):
it does go in. That that accurate, like it goes up,
you're like, oh that's in. Oh that's in. And I
know everybody wants to be the guy who calls the
shot in before the ball goes in, But I don't know.
With Steph Curry and a little bit with Clay Thompson,
it seems like they make such a high percentage that
you really do like you're more surprised when it doesn't
go in the one does go in. That said, when
(02:29):
when Lebron James got his fourth foul in the first
half and they're a mess, he looks off, the team
looks disengaged. It's only Kyrie Irving who's doing anything, and
the place is dead silent. Did you think at all?
Did did anyone really think that Lebron James was going
to foul out? Like I felt like I felt like
(02:50):
Marcus Smart could have driven to the hoop in the
second half. Lebron James could have picked up a hack
saw at home depot during the halftime break. He could
have chopped off at least one maybe two of the
arms of Marcus Smart if he had his if his
fifth personal foul and not got the call, not gotten
call for a foul. So there was a little bit
(03:12):
of freak out, unnecessarily so that the freak out wasn't
really over Lebron and foul trouble. The freak out was
Lebron still looked off as he did the previous night.
Just to kind of quick point to be made. Do
you know how many fouls Lebron James finished within the game?
That's right for I don't m I didn't mind him
(03:36):
playing with three. I played for coaching college. It would
you guy would get a second foul. He's sa, you
get five, don't you stop fouling? Right? You get he'd
get his third. He played guys with four in the
first half. Oftentimes coaches overthink things. It's fascinating that this
came up yesterday because Nick Wright and I were talking.
There's a place called Mos not like it's like name
(04:00):
after the tavern Mos from Simpsons on the campus at
Fox at the Fox Lot, and so we in between
both of us being on Cowherd Show, we walked over there.
We're talking ball and he's like, you know, what they
should do away with They should do with ay with
fouling out. I was like, no, they shouldn't, Like yess
they should. I was like, well, tell me why He's like,
what they should way of fouling out, because um, isn't
(04:21):
the point to see who's the better team, Like, just
make it extra punitive, penalize somebody with a technical foul
and the ball if they foul out, if they go
over the sixth foul Mark I was like, now there's
a whole strategy to playing with foul trouble. There's a
difference in how you play defensively, Like, I think there's
an art to it. I think that's part of what
makes basketball basketball is there is an actual foul limit.
(04:45):
Do I think there's an adjustment that could be made
for college basketball because so many of these guys getting
early foul trouble because the refs are officiating so tightly
in big games. Absolutely, but some of that's on the officials.
Some of that could be adding a six foul, But
I don't think that you allow guys to remain in
the game when they fouled out. Fouled out means you're out.
(05:07):
It's a very millennial way of thinking. Did you know
that in the web in Webster's Dictionary starting last year,
under the definitions of literally, there is actually a definition
that technically means figuratively Because people have misused literally for
so long in generation whatever you want to call it,
(05:27):
Millennial generation, that generation X y Z, I don't even
know what it is anymore. That the Webster's folks gave
in and they changed the meaning of literally to mean figuratively.
That doesn't make any sense to me. That would be
like changing fouling out too. But you're now you're kind
of out, You're not totally out anyway. I had no
(05:49):
doubt my mind that Lebron James would remain in the game.
I did doubt that he would be able to kind
of recapture and retune in and refine where he was now.
He dominated the game down the stretch. He was a
part of twenty of the last twenty points all in
the fourth quarter, and he looked like locked in Lebron.
But make no mistake about it, last night reaffirmed what
(06:10):
I said last year. And look, if you didn't follow
me from the previous spot, I don't blame me. It's fine.
But I said last year before the playoffs began. The
guy who will become a seen as a star or
a superstar in this league is Kyrie Irving. He's the
best finisher I have seen a finisher. When people say
finishing shots, they think like dunking. Okay, Vince Carter is
(06:33):
the greatest dunker in the history of the NBA. Period,
Stop Jordan's the greatest dunker for a great player in
the history of the NBA. Yes, I'm I'm adding things
to it. Vince Carter is the best dunker, But that's
not finishing shots. Finishing shots is can you go in
there right hand, left hand jumping off the normal You know,
(06:54):
when you're taught basketball at a young age, you jump
off your left foot with your right hand, your right
foot with your left. You can't do that when you
get when you're six ft to six ft three, six
ft four, you can't do that when there's seven ft
skyscrapers in there. You gotta have creative shots. You gotta
use the board, you gotta use english, the spin on
the basketball, you gotta use deception. He's I haven't seen
(07:14):
anyone do what he can do since Rod Strickland, which,
by the way, I have made that parallel for a
couple of years now, and I heard it last night
in the broadcast from both Reggie Miller and Chris Webber.
But it's more than that. It's the ability to, when
need be, take over a game. And though Lebron rightfully
gets credit for retuning and refining and refocusing not just
(07:39):
last night, but last year in the NBA Finals, what
people seem to have forgotten is that Kyrie Irving not
only hit the big shot in Game seven, Kyrie Irvin
also carried them in the NBA Finals last year when
they were down three games to one. It's weird, right,
Like Kyrie had in game sixty one, in Game seven,
(08:03):
twenty three in game excuse me, in game six, in
Game seven, he had over thirty three of the seven games,
and he was the one who had the big shot
to win the NBA Championship. Yes, Lebron had the big block.
Yes Lebron made some free throws kid to captain deal,
but Kyrie Irvan went one on one, made the big shot,
(08:25):
which is I'm not saying he's Jordan's but what Kyrie
Irvin has the ability to do is what the greats
of the NBA you have had a history ability to do.
Here's Brad Stevens on the Calves ability to win without Lebron. Early,
they still have two All Stars on the floor with
the best player in the world. They go to Unreal,
(08:47):
but there's still a pretty darn good team, you know,
when those guys are out there and and uh irving
again end of the second, end of the third, did
some incredible things with the ball. And I think it's
more of a tip your hat kind of thing with
those two guys tonight. Yeah, like, hey, they're they're so good,
there's nothing and and reminder that when when they when
the Calves lost the first two games of the NBA
(09:09):
Finals last year, it was Kyrie who was struggling. Like
people say that the Calves can't win when Lebron is struggling, Well,
that's not totally accurate. Kyrie the first two games last
year in the NBA Finals was twelve of forty six
from the field twelve twelve forty six, and he was
(09:29):
averaging more turnovers six then assists five. Had more turnovers
than assist in those first two games. Here's kind of
the summation to take away. We're at this weird place
to where Lebron James gets all the blame when they lose,
but Lebron James also gets almost all the credit when
(09:50):
they win. So Lebron James defenders are like, hey, it's
not all his fault when they lose. A matter of fact,
it's mostly everybody else his fault. But Lebron James defenders
also give an unreasonable amount of praise to Lebron when
he wins. It's like, you gotta have it. I'm gotta
(10:10):
have it both ways sort of guy. It's a thing
that that infuriates I think most of us about politics
is that politicians, based upon the side of the aisle,
can only see things from one side, based upon whatever
feeds their own narrative, and can't see it both ways.
It's not even I use that exact same logic that
(10:34):
those correlating arguments to tell you that I think Kyrie
Irving might be the best one on one player in
the NBA. I'm not the only one who said thinks that,
here's his coach, very unstoppable. You know, um, he's probably
one of our the best one on one player in
the league. And when you give him room and give
him space, he can get to anywhere he wants to
(10:55):
get on the floor and we know that. And you
know what, I think probably the best own all defended
the League of Avery, Bradley, you know, and to take
that challenge and you know, to score you know, a
few baskets like that, you know against Avery, just shows
you how good and special Kyrie is with the basketball
because you know, not you mean guys are getting around
Avery and you know we've seen that, you know, from
(11:15):
the last four or five six years. So um, that
just shows you a special Yes, offensively, could not possibly
agree with you more. And it's weird like Kyrie Irving
this year in the NBA average twenty five points. He
averaged five point at six assist a game, uh two
and a half turnovers was about what he always averages.
Shoots from the free throw line, shoots forty from three,
(11:36):
forty seven from the floor like six and three rebounds
for a point for a star is first team All
NBA sort of numbers. But it's weird like when Steph
numbers go down because he has to share some of
the spotlight and some of the shots with Kevin Durant.
We don't hold it as much against Steph. He was
(11:57):
second Team O NBA, like Kyrie Irving is just as talented,
just as dominant as Russell Westbrook. The only difference is
lebron gets all the blame when they lose, but also
all the credit when they win. Last night is the
perfect example of why that narrative should and I think
(12:18):
potentially will will will change based upon the upcoming NBA Finals.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's
welcome to the guy who I think these are the
types of careers that I admire most in professional sports.
(12:42):
Justin Force, that was the seventh round pick of the
Seattle Seahawks, kind of bounced around. Cut went to the Colts,
back to the Seahawks, the Texans, the Jags, and then
really when he kind of made his best mark in
the NFL, it was with the Baltimore Ravens. He has
recently retired, he's kind of to spend some time with
this members, spend time with the Lions and the Broncos.
(13:03):
Justin Force, did you collect gear from you have the
gear from all the different teams you play for yes,
I have tons of gear everywhere. I have every Imama hoarder. Yeah,
I mean me too. Write like you like anywhere you
any stop you go, you gotta get apparent like what
workout short? To work out short? Which is what's what's
what do you have most most of? Uh? I got
(13:24):
a little bit of everything, you know. When I got released,
I made sure I took everything out of my lopper
so they couldn't have it back justin Forcett joining us
on on the Doug Gottlieb Show. How would you characterize
your career? Oh? Man, um, it was a blessing. It
was a story of an underdog that that you know,
for adversity, it kept persevering and you know that's kind
(13:47):
of been my niche like that I've been released, I've
been cut, I've been demoted, but I was able to
go out on my own terms. What moment hurt the most?
How would probably see the darkest moment of my career
would in Jacksonville. I didn't think that I was gonna
get a chance to play again after injuries and after
you know, uh, you know what happened to me down
(14:08):
there being demoted kind of inactive a lot of the
times and helping out on scout team, and I an't
think I was gonna get a toother chance to play
play the game again. And then Baltimore called. Then you know,
turn everything around. Yeah you hurt your your your foot, right,
didn't you? Did you break your foot when you're at
the end of that run there? Yep, yep. At the
end of the year, I got a chance to opportunity
(14:30):
to actually be on the field again and play. And
when I got right, when I got my chance to
to get the ball, I broke my foot on my
first time getting the ball in that game against Houston,
and that was the end of my time there, all right.
So you like you got a walking boot on, you
break your foot, they release you in March. Um, what's
take me through the emotions like the real because so
(14:53):
often times I think we as fans, we we we
think about emotions in sports on the field, whatever the
emot sations of thinking, like, dude, I might have to
go find a real job. I might have to use
my cow degree, like I might have to get out
there and do something with my life outside of football.
To go from there to the Ravens offering you that
one year deal. What's I'm sure you remember actually the
(15:15):
phone conversation. What do you remember most about it? Oh? Man?
Just that time? It was It was real hectic. You know,
I didn't know I was actually filling out, um, you know,
my my resume when people were still taking don't even
know if people still take resumes anymore. But I was
filling out a job resume, doing some job shadowing, um,
(15:36):
getting ready to transition out. And then as he called
my agent and said they were interested. A couple of
weeks later, they said they wanted to sign me, and
the rest is history. That actually having my my first
Pro Bowl, um, and that that season and a lot
of other great achievements. And of course you put it
out there you want to move from the friends zone
to the relationship zone, and that, like right right, like
(16:00):
that of the things that you're known for, that's probably
the thing you're most known for in the NFL, isn't it? Yeah? Yeah,
So what's one of them? Man? I was in the
friend zone for a long time, but finally somebody made
it commitment to put a ring on it. So what
makes you decide I'm done, I'm washed. I got to
move on with my life, man, it was just, um,
you know, last year was really tough, you know, been
(16:20):
on three teams in one season, picking up traveling with
my family. I remember the time when I was in Detroit,
um and I got released. I got that call and
then never said, man, we want to pick you up.
And I went down there. I had to leave my
family U which we had a place there with a
apartment there, and my wife, who was six months preying
at the time, and with my two boys who were
(16:41):
ages four and too. She had to pack up everything
with them and drive through a snoo snowstorm all the
way back to Baltimore to our house in Baltimore by herself.
And uh, just I mean that's some of the the stuff
you you really never really hear about. But uh, you know,
it's just tough on the family doing that, and I
don't want to have to put them through that again. Uh,
you know, phasically, emotionally, and you know how I was
(17:03):
ready to go okay, but what about the idea of
uh and I thought of this, like I stopped playing basketball.
It's twenty six years old. I got in the media,
but I just the one The only thing is, man,
I want I got a little guy now he's eight.
I wanted him to see me play, and maybe it's
better now because word of mouth, like he thinks I
was a lot better than I really was. But you
got two little boys, obviously your oldest is old enough
(17:25):
to see a little bit of you playing. Was there
any like, Man, I can stretch this out a little bit.
I can have my boys really see me and have
a snapshot of who who I am. Yeah? No, I mean,
you know, thankfully to living a day and age of
you know, great YouTube videos and uh, you know, social media,
so they'll get a glimpse of it. But I wouldn't
have to stretch it out maybe three or four more
(17:45):
years in order to uh to pull it off where
they all can enjoy it. So, uh, it kind of
was a no go for me. I understand, justin for
sett joining us on the Doug Otlip Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Um okay, so what's this shower pill? When
I hear shower pill, I start, I'm like, wait, what's
going on the shower? What is the shower pill? That
you that that that that that that you're behind? Yeah, definitely.
(18:06):
It's a company I started a few years ago with
two teammates and when do you see Berkeley with where
we are as a hygiene company, personal care company for
athletes and active individuals on the goal are. Number one
product right now is the body pipe. It's basically or
essentially a shower in the white, so after workouts, after yoga, uh,
you're able to wipe down and get clean and not
(18:27):
bring those germs and back here into the car or
wherever you're doing. If you running, areans you be, you
wipe down and take a shower basically anywhere until you
can get to a real shower. Who's the most hygienically
challenged guy you ever played with? Who needs this wipe
the most? Oh? Man, I can't. I can't put anybody
how much? Stop stop that? So you everybody has, everybody has,
(18:49):
every team I've ever been on has to be like, yo, man,
you gotta you gotta, you gotta like your shower, your feet,
your your feet stink, your breath stink. You don't shave enough.
You using like, oh no, you gotta. You don't need deodorant, man,
it's natural kind of pheromones. Like who's who stank the
most that you play with? Man, I cannot put my
(19:09):
name on that. You know, there's a lot of people
that need to show our field body white you know
out there, whether your soccer mom or whether you got
that goes camping and hiking, So anybody could use it.
Justin Forcett joining us in the Doug Otlip Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. Did we did? Do we lose him? Okay?
(19:29):
Sorry we I thought we lost you for a second?
Last thing? You know, running back has become really interesting.
It used to be when we were kids, the running
back was the signature player on an NFL team, right
like you you go back, and this is even before
you were born or before you came of agent playing,
like eighties and early nineties, like the team was about
the running back. Now like look, ZEKIELI came in and
(19:51):
wreck shop last year, and you do have some guys
that have gone high, but a lot of it is
running back by committee. What's what? What are your thoughts
on the evolution of the position in the league today.
I like the fact that what good is it get
an opportunity? Hello, yeah, the opportunity uh to uh well,
(20:21):
you know yourself has gone bad? Try one more time.
You're saying you're you like the fact that guys are
get more guys get an opportunity than yourself was kind
of going on us. Okay, yeah, yeah, I like the
fact that guys are getting more opportunity, But I think
the position only gets the valued really in free agency
and in and in the draft. I mean, our position
is still needed. Uh you think about doing playoff a
(20:41):
championship time championship games? Aren't we talking about? You need
a great ground game? So? Uh, those are my thoughts.
Could I can I just ask one other thing? It's that,
it's this, It's that it's interesting. What makes you a
star when you're a kid as a running back is
your ability to get the ball and just you know,
beat everybody and score touchdowns. But and again, you help me,
you lived the life of a guy who just had
(21:02):
to make a roster. Isn't it more about like the
things that we don't talk about or maybe parents don't
understand or fans understand, Like you've gotta be able to
pass protect, you've got to be able to know where
you're supposed to be. Obviously, have to be able to
catch out of the back. Feel like running between the
tackles or outside the tackles is almost secondary in terms
when you get to the highest level if you want
(21:24):
to just get on the field. Is that fair? Yeah?
I think so. I mean you gotta do a lot more, um,
and you're more responsible. You're responsible for more at this level.
And for me, that's the only reason why I was
able to stay for a long time is because you know,
I was able to excel in film study, excel and
those things like pass blocking because at this level you've
(21:45):
got to protect uh, you know, a hundred million dollar
quarterback you know in front of you. So uh, you know,
it's it's high premium on guys that can do at all.
And um, you know, the players and the coaches have
to trust you back there. So definitely I agree with
all Right, the shower pill is out. How do I
get the shower posit available shower pill dot com and
(22:05):
on Amazon? Uh, no one product in our category and
uh doing well. I like that. I like that. I
needed I got a little stank sometimes doing radio, I
start talking to Ranton and I start looking around the
studio going like, what does that smell? And when there's
nobody else in the room, obviously the smell the smell
as smells me. That's right. The smeller is smeller is
the Feller great to catch, help me adjustabile do some
more when we get ready for the upcoming season. Thanks
(22:27):
for being our guest, and enjoy your retirement and your
beautiful family. That's justin for set Cal Berkeley a lum.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leaves Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific.
When you hurt your back, when you start having multiple
back or next surgery, like you can't do anything in
(22:47):
golf with the torque that you have to you have
to use if you hurt your back in golf. But
I still so. This is the latest story which I
know you've seen deb which is Tiger Woods is re abbing.
He's he says, he's shocker here committed to playing pro
golf again. He said this on his website. I want
to say unequivocally, I want to play professional golf again. Presently,
(23:09):
I'm not looking ahead. I can't twist for another two
and a half or three months right now. MY sole
focus is rehab, doing what doctors tell me. I'm concentrating
on short term goals. Um that he was asked whether
he'll attempt to play the Masters next April. I did
everything I could I could do to play at Augusta
and was ready to go. Unfortunately, it was kind of
(23:31):
like the two thousand eight U S Open, which he
wanted to spite a fraction's leg and a toward a
c L. The pain was was post impact when I
swung the club, I figure, can I handle it this time?
The answer is probably not. That shows the effect of
the nerve pain. So it was a huge disappointment for him.
He had this fusion surgery, and other guys who have
had fusions or disc replacements, like Davis Love, Retief Goose,
(23:54):
and Lee Trevino, Landi Watkins Deadly Heart, they have all
come back. More than anything, it made their lives better.
The most important thing I to have life again with
my kids. So anyway, in summation, I'm still a Tiger
Woods stockholder. I know that stock isn't worth much, But
if you've ever had a stock that at one point
was worth and now is worth five bucks, You're like,
you know, what, what the hell? It's not what it's
(24:14):
not worth selling, you might as well believe that at
some point you can get back up to seventy. 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. Yesterday,
most of the world rejoiced because the group celebrations and
using a football as a prop and the fun bunch
(24:35):
type of stuff is back in the NFL. Not all
of the world. So Marvin Lewis came out and said
this when he was asked about the touchdown celebrations being
allowed kind of to be pre planned and to evolve
teams and to evolve the football as as part of
(24:58):
the celebrations. He said this. Also, they passed the rules
basically reversing all of the celebration rules, so now players
can celebrate groups again and basically do everything that I've
been on. I think that's we had a good standard.
And the whole standard has always been you wanted to
teach people how to play the game the correct way
and go about it the correct way, and that's not
(25:20):
a very good example for young people. Again, it's this
is a team game, and why we want to give
it I don't understand. I want to give in the
individual celebration. The hardest thing to do when you're a
coach is give unpopular opinion, right because now Marvin Lewis like, well, look,
(25:44):
you drafted Joe Mixon. Like, I actually saw that in
three of the stories that I read that Joe Mixon
being in the draft. Marvin Lewis is a hypocrite, Like
what how does how does one have to do at all? Like, look,
let me explain to you, Joe Mixon is the perfect Bengal,
(26:05):
not because of pac Man Jones in the off season
or some of the previous Bengals. The The Bengals are
bargain hunters. They always have been. And the reason that
you get bargains in the NFL draft is they got
something working against them. It is a cheap organization. The
Bengals are famous in the NFL for having the worst towels.
(26:30):
You're like what, yeah, Like they replaced their towels less
than any other team. Why because it's expensive. They were
the last team in the NFL to have their team
spend the night at the hotel for home games in
the NFL. Nobody they didn't do that. Everybody else does it.
You know, you spend the night, you have meetings, you
(26:51):
keep guys around, you make sure nobody goes out. It's
kind of a college thing. That's become a pro thing
or pro thing to become a college thing. I mean,
it's kind of aimed to be totally honest, like where
you Where are you more likely to get a better
night's sleep at home or at a hotel? Oh? Well,
there's not the camaraderie like so, but that's what NFL
(27:11):
teams do, and the Bengals, in all of their cheapness,
their frugalness, we're the last team to give into that. Anyway.
There is no correlation between drafting Joe Mixon and a
coach saying, hey, we had a standard, we had rules,
and now of a sudden the rules become a little
(27:33):
bit confusing, right because Antonio Brown was actually celebrating on Twitter,
celebrating the change in the celebration rule. Here's the problem.
Antonio Brown got in trouble and find several times last
year for twerking. Twerking is still against the NFL's policy
anything that's secially suggested, anything that that mimes uh, shooting
(27:57):
off guns. So there's lots of things that you should
And by the way, like a high five is still
good enough, a chess pump is still cool. That was
always legal under NFL guidelines. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
(28:19):
the I Heart Radio app. I thought, this is the
most fascinating thing that will be the least discussing of
of the off season. In football. Rob Gronkowski has has
gotten a newly reworked, restructured deal with the New England Patriots.
He was badly underpaid and he is in fact the
best tight end in football when healthy. But here's the problem.
(28:42):
When has he actually been healthy? When's the actually been healthy?
So Gronks new deal which was which was done by
Drew Rosenhaus, could be worth ten point seven five million dollars.
Now he'd have to play the snaps um or have
eighty eighty catches. Excuse me, he'd have to play of
(29:05):
the time, have eighty catches receiving yards or be an
all Pro. And by the way, it's really hard to
be an All Pro unless you play the snaps. Now,
if he doesn't reach those markers and he only plays
eighty percent of the time and he has seventy catches
a thousand yards, he'll get eight point seven five million
dollars If he plays seventy percent of the times, sixty
(29:26):
catches eight hundred yards and has only ten tds, he
gets six point seven five million dollars. Here's what you
need to know. He only played seventy percent of the
snaps in two thousand fourteen. He played eighty four point
two in two thousand fifteen. Of course, did not play
a snap in the postseason in sixteen and played only
thirty one point five percent of the snaps in sixteen.
(29:49):
This is Gronk signing a contract extension or a rework
restructured contract that is betting on himself to stay healthy.
And he's never stayed healthy. He hasn't played a full
sixteen game season since two thousand eleven. He's twenty eight
years old, which would be your prime for anybody else.
But he's had two back surgeries, he's had two a
c L surgeries, Like that's not his prime. So he's
(30:12):
missed thirty of the team's last nine games over the
past five seasons. And Rob Gronkowski is signing a deal
that's based upon player performance and how many games he plays.
That's ludicrous. That's a terrible negotiation by Drew Rosenhaus. And
if You want to tell me, well, it's because you
know they won the Super Bowl without him. Fine, you
(30:34):
want to tell me it's because he's under contract. Fine,
Like all Rob Gronkowski has to do is be willing
to sit out any amount of time with the Pats.
What are they going to do? Like you think Tom
Brady doesn't want the best heighten in football to be
well compensated. This will be champion as Gronk finally getting
(30:54):
his pay. But to me, it should be champion as
the Patriots owning absolutely owning Drew Rosenhaus in this negotiation.
It looks good, but the likelihood is that Gronk ain't
gonna play the Stamps, and if he does, the numbers
will be so obscene. He'll be worth all that money.
And isn't it interesting that everybody can will concede that
(31:17):
he is arguably the hardest matchup in football. But instead
of and this was the old Jimmy Graham argument when
he wanted his new deal, instead of being evaluated against
wide receivers, he's being evaluated against tight ends. Remember this money,
ten point seven five million would only make him the
highest paid tight end in the history of football, not
the highest paid wide receiver, and yet Rob Gronkowski is
(31:41):
a harder matchup than virtually any wide receiver in the
National Football League. Oh yeah, and he helps you in
pass pro and he helps you in run blocking as well.
I think he's still underpaid, and I think this contract
is wildly in favor of the paths. Be sure to
live editions of the Doug gott Leaves Show weekdays at
(32:02):
three p m. Eastern noon Pacific. Let's welcome in our guy,
Cedric Sabalis levin your NBA VET Dunk Champion NBA Analysts
force here. Uh said, um, what did you know? Let
me give you a little bit of my take on
game three. I know Game four was just put Yeah right, dude,
yeah good? What are you doing? Uh? You're getting your
(32:26):
words together? You like cooking something like in the microa
you put in some popcorn. You're like going through the drawers,
Like what was going on? Man? I'm always on fire,
you know that. I'm just waiting for you to pass
me the black Alright, So, like, look, game three did
you think do you think it was just he wasn't
making shots? Or were you with me? Where Lebron showed
that kind of weird confidence drain right where he he
(32:49):
suddenly didn't want it, and it's it's just different than
any superstar we've ever seen. What do you see from
Game three? Well, I just saw a guy who just
just did not prepare for a team that was going
to be that aggressive. I thought he thought the team
was just gonna give it in, just just throwing it.
Al Isaiah was out. Uh, he got blown out the
first two games, and he just was like, I don't
(33:12):
really need to prepare. Maybe he slept a little longer.
You know, how will we sleep longer? We we seem
a little drugs and we didn't prepare what we did.
I think that's the situation with Lebron James and what
happened to him. But I also and I do this
out earlier this week after they lost that game. You know,
time loot is as as a student of Phil Jackson,
(33:32):
maybe he's thinking, get me wrong here. If we do
sweep to Boston Celtics, we have a long time before
June first, we have a long time before game one.
Let them have that long layoff when we might go
in to go to State and still that game one,
we lose Game three, no problem, we take four. We
(33:55):
go to Boston when win game five. Now we're only
looking at three to four days off when when Golden
State's been off for a while, and that may you know,
that may be damaged in that first quarter, uh at
that first quarter which san Antonio took full advantage of
when Kawaid Lennon was there. So it may be some
strategy to that losing that game. But you know you
(34:17):
saw a little bit of it uh in in game
four to as well with the foules. That may have
got him a little tentative. But luckily he got a
superstar named Kyrie Irving to take over with his days
when when when his days, when his games are down
like that, Um, I think I know something was up
with Lebron because now even Richard Jefferson is like, well,
it might have been the flu right and anytime. And
(34:39):
then you had the most telling one to me was
j R. Smith talking about confidence, like, hey, he's got
to play and he the first half last night. I
know he was in foul trouble, but he was still
tentative with that jump shot and it wasn't until he
got a couple of dunks and they started to get
back to the lead that he started to regain that confidence.
How would you handle Lebron if he is your teammate
(35:00):
and suddenly he would have one of those dips in confidence. Well,
he has to know, uh that Boston is gonna be
you know, they're gonna show up. And and they have
taken away the opportunity for him to get to the
whole and say, hey mate, we can't stop you going
to the bucket. Obviously nobody can't. You prove that raw
right in the finals last year with the last four
(35:21):
games of the series, once you figured out if I
go downhill, nobody can stop me. I can open up
somebody so much for everybody else. I think game one,
game two, they tried to do that. Stop that. I
make the challenge, and then coach Stevens like, look at
we got to back off this guy. If you want
to shoot a hundred times out on the perimeter, great.
He doesn't distribute the ball, he doesn't um get everybody
(35:45):
else in ball, he doesn't get us in foul trouble.
Let's let him do that. And I think he tried
to do that to Game three and also last night,
and it's just not falling for him and and Lebron
is not a jump shooter, and I mean he it's
some days that he can get it going when he
has the threat going downhill at people and they start
to really back off and he can. You know, he's
got a good ladder, he's got a couple of buckets going,
(36:07):
he's making free throws and he can start knocking down threes.
But he's not a jump shooter. And when he relies
on that, I think that's why jar said his confidence, Uh,
you know, don't don't you know I'm not Jr. Says
I don't like confidence. I got confidence all the time,
So Lebron shouldn't be the same way. Richard Jefferson saying,
maybe it maybe some flu symptoms. Maybe you never No,
we're not on the inside and we're not Lebron James
(36:28):
on how he feels. But I think that's what it
was a combination Boston self disfiguring out Let this guy
shoot as many jumpers as he wants. He's he doesn't
hurt us like he would hurt us if he's going downhill,
ducking the ball, get into the basket, putting us in
foul trouble, and distribute into guys for three point shots.
Said Tibolo John Gatip Show, Fox Sports Radio. Um, you
(36:49):
mentioned Kyrie Irving and what a big star he is.
It's it's weird because I do think that Lebron that
they're just the presence, the name, the Jordan comparisons, like
all this stuff over shadows Kyrie Irving. What are your
thoughts on Kyrie's game? Not just obviously last night was
the best of Kyrie, but overall, what are your thoughts? Oh, man,
he's one of the best players in the league at
(37:10):
this point, especially in the point card position. It's just
Lebron has the ball all the time. You know, he
did this damage. Maybe he didn't lead a team uh
to the finals or even the playoffs when he was
by himself, but you know, when you play with Lebron James,
you used take the back seat to a lot of things.
Asked Dwayne Wade, asked Chris bosh you know, asked Shaquille
(37:30):
O'Neal when he played with him in Cleveland. Carlos Blueser.
It's just the guy is so dominant and so good
that he draws so much attention that the best game
plan is to be your robbin instead of trying to
be batman. Uh, you you, you just have to go
with it because it's ball. Helen skills the unbelievable. Obviously,
he's shown that over the years. Uh, he's very clutch.
(37:51):
Uh he finishes a lot of buckets. And that practice
has come from when he wasn't with a terrible Cleveland
Cavalier's team where he had to carry that team by
himself and he was to shooting the game winners because
they had nobody else to go to. So he's prepared
for himself for he's ready for it. It's just Lebron
is that much. He draw so much star power, he
draw so much attention, and he's that effective when he's
(38:12):
on the court. All Right. I want to get to
the the upcome, the likely upcoming final series in a second,
but I want to put kind to rest the San
Antonio spurs Um. What would your advice be to Mona Janobli,
He said, he's got two really good options. I can
come back and play where I could spend more time
in my family's thirty nine years old. First series against Memphis,
he didn't look like he had it. Second series, he
(38:33):
was really good against Golden State, especially for thirty nine
years old. Uh, what would your advice be too Tomano, Well,
if it's if his body allows him to do it,
I want him to play. Um, you know, he could
always there's always time to spend with family even when
he's playing. I know Papovich is a family orientated coach.
He wants your family around. So please don't let family
(38:56):
be the excuse of him not coming back or one
or two more years. And I'm not sure what he's
planning on, but uh, you know, once I got done
out the league and your body feels great, and you go, man,
I should have never stopped playing. And and uh, he's
in the he's in the mix of things right now.
Maybe he needs to take a seat. Figure it out.
Do I take a seat and playing Argentina? Do I
(39:18):
take a seat playing overseas? Uh? Do I? Do? I
sit back a little bit with the spurs, you know,
so check his body. If his body temperature is good
and good to go, I say go for it and
play some more. You can always find time during the
season during training, uh, to hang around and be with
your family. Um. Look, obviously everybody knows quiet Letter is
(39:39):
an elite player, and the thought is, if you look
at he continues to improve, like he's getting better. So LaMarcus,
if they're all healthy, would have to be their second
best player. And then you know, then they got to
figure out the point card position with Parker at his age,
Murray being probably not being ready. Um, but the LaMarcus
seems to be a weird fit, like he's more power
(40:01):
forward than center, and yet in this day and age
of the NBA, he's got to play center, but he's
not really a defender or rim protector. And then he
showed signs of at times being soft, which is the
opposite of what Gregg Popovich wants. What do you think
long term they think of of LaMarcus, whether or not
that will actually work well. First, I think the question
(40:22):
is if we do let LaMarcus go or move him,
who in the league is better than him at that position?
Not too many at that size that heightened that scoring ability.
He shows flashes of greatness back in Portland's a bunch
of times, but that's the Portland's system that he that
he ran, the ball came through him, it was it
(40:42):
was his team. You know, he touched it every play.
It's a different system here, and and maybe we want
him to be thirty guy, you know each and every night. Uh.
And that's just not the system that Pop has and
and that's not what they brought him in to do. Uh.
This they brought him in obviously learned from Tim Duncan
(41:02):
them to to make that transition from Tim him on.
But Kauai was was given this team two or three
years ago knowing that he was going to be moving
on to be the best player on the team. So
it's got to go through Kauai. Obviously, Kauai is not
a shoot first, uh basketball player, so you know, obviously
the markets will get his touches. But it's the offense
just does not It's not designed to pump it into
(41:24):
the post. Even after Tim Duncan and David Robinson went
through the same offense, it wasn't even that let's go
on to Tim first and then figure things out. It
was let's move the ball around and look for the
great shot. Obviously, great shots come when you got David
Robinson and Tim Duncan down there. But it also goes
off percentages. I know, popovitches in his air. Let's start.
You know, we're gonna we're gonna plump it down to
(41:45):
your big fellow, your percenters have to be pretty high
and a better chance. I know the system that he runs, Uh,
everybody gets involved. So it gets to la Marcus again,
even when he's missing shots, it gets to him because
he you know, maybe I'm breaking this system down. I'm
changing the way they played because in Portland, even if
he missed ship, they're still going to him the next play,
(42:06):
in the next playing the next place. So he has
to adjust his game. I think it's gonna be allowing.
So searching this summer, he's gonna have to really figure
out where um uh he he wants to be condition wise,
so he can come in and and have a spurt
where he doesn't touch the ball five six times and
then all of a sudden go to work for four
for five times and then go back to not touching
the ball a game, all right, last thing you got
(42:27):
against that phone, You got people at the door, You're
going through your drawers, like there's a lot of stuff
going on in Somala's household. We're a week away from
the finals, okay, and I totally like, I'm not one
of these guys that gets into the well. You picked
a week ago this team and like, you know, crazy
things canna happen within the context of a series, or
even in a game with foul trouble or a guy
(42:47):
not shooting well, or somebody gets suspended, somebody gets hurt.
But what what's your what are your expectations for the
NBA f as a guy who studied this thing, played
in it for over a decade, played at a very
high level, What are your thoughts heading into what we
think is going to be the NBA Finals A week
away from that? Yeah, I wanted I wanted both teams
to come into the finals undefeated. I thought it's been
(43:09):
a clash of those two, you know, Golden State winning,
Kyrie goes down, Uh, the Cavaliers winning. Uh. Draymond possibly
was the reason because of the suspension and also Bob's
going down. UM, I wanted. I wanted them both to
go in this series twelve zero and then let's see
let's row, let's let's get a good rest, everybody has
(43:31):
the same rest, and let's go to battle. Uh. This
is gonna be interesting, Katie's and uh a one time
familiar place with the finals. UH, excitement, A lot of expectations.
I don't think he was the favorite last time he
was in the finals. This is the opportunity where he's
the favorite. Uh. He's coming into a team that has
won a championship. He's supposed to be the added piece,
(43:53):
uh to the puzzle. Lebron James wouldn't reapped his team
putting put him some great shooters out there to a
command um the defense to pay attention to Golden States
defense to pay attention to the more. And I apologize
to all Boston fans if I'm already put Cleveland in.
But that's the that's the way I saw it, that's
the way I wanted to be. I love Game seven
(44:15):
last year. I would love to see it again, even
you know, the fans and everybody saying, oh this is boring.
These guys are backing and again, Hey, let's go back
and go back to it. It's not like Golden State
one two and and and Cleveland one zero or Cleveland
one two and Golden State one zero. They won one.
They want one to here's the type record. That's why
we call it a series. This is just the final series.
(44:36):
If these two teams match again, this is the game
three of the finals, so to speak, game three series.
And and let's see who wins this series, and then
you'll see who's the dominant team because one team would
be up to one on the other. Ye should be awesome,
said listen. We'll let you get back your day. Always
appreciate you spending time with this. Your breakdowns are beyond good.
Appreciate our guest on Fox Sports Radio. Thank you, guys.
(44:58):
All Right, that's a said Saballos,
This is the best of the Don got Lead Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boom Doug got Leave Show, Fox
Sports Radio Live and Direct. The greatest city in the
world City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. Don't worry wherever
you are, hey, summer is about to arrive. It hasn't
arrived already. You're in the good part of the year.
You got out of the snow, you got out of
(00:21):
the mess, you got out of the Uh hopefully you're
escaping the allergy season. People in California. I don't know,
like there's a little bit allergies, but when everything comes
into full bloom in places where you have snow, if
you have allergies, I don't, but my wife in one
of my daughters does. It's it's bad. So we'll all commiserate.
This is a great weekend, Memorial Day weekend, the beginning
(00:41):
of summer, getting ready for the NBA Finals, which we've
all been waiting for in d five hundred as well.
Of course, lake and river and beach season has begun,
which means you gotta wax down there. Fellas. Fellas got
a wax. Oh the things we do for beauty for
those ladies. That's uh. That's what we'll get to. Man,
(01:04):
we got a good show for you today, excellent show
for you. Did You'll be interested to hear what Ben
Roethlisberger has to say about his star running back. Not
at o t a s. Colin Cowherd had something interesting
to say about the Boston Celtics, and Believe or Not.
Though I vehemently disagree with many things that Colin says,
I agree with him on the seas and Charles Barkley
(01:24):
has spoken out about about Lebron not being on Kobe's level.
We'll get to all that, plus justin for set former
running back in the National Football League who famously said
he wanted to be out of the friend zone with
the Ravens. He's now in the retirement zone in the
National Football We'll talk to him about running backs, etcetera, etcetera.
Upcoming about ten minutes, said Cebolo is gonna join us
(01:45):
as we'll uh will continue to check on the Calves
as last night they took down the Boston Celtics. They
trailed big in the first half. It was weird, like
Lebron James in foul trouble. There's a couple of things that,
like I've said this before about Steph Curry. When he shoots,
you're more surprised when it doesn't go in than when
(02:08):
it does go in. That that accurate, like it goes up,
you're like, oh that's in. Oh that's in. And I
know everybody wants to be the guy who calls the
shot in before the ball goes in, But I don't know.
With Steph Curry and a little bit with Clay Thompson,
it seems like they make such a high percentage that
you really do like you're more surprised when it doesn't
go in the one does go in. That said, when
(02:29):
when Lebron James got his fourth foul in the first
half and they're a mess, he looks off, the team
looks disengaged. It's only Kyrie Irving who's doing anything, and
the place is dead silent. Did you think at all?
Did did anyone really think that Lebron James was going
to foul out? Like I felt like I felt like
(02:50):
Marcus Smart could have driven to the hoop in the
second half. Lebron James could have picked up a hack
saw at home depot during the halftime break. He could
have chopped off at least one maybe two of the
arms of Marcus Smart if he had his if his
fifth personal foul and not got the call, not gotten
call for a foul. So there was a little bit
(03:12):
of freak out, unnecessarily so that the freak out wasn't
really over Lebron and foul trouble. The freak out was
Lebron still looked off as he did the previous night.
Just to kind of quick point to be made. Do
you know how many fouls Lebron James finished within the game?
That's right for I don't m I didn't mind him
(03:36):
playing with three. I played for coaching college. It would
you guy would get a second foul. He's sa, you
get five, don't you stop fouling? Right? You get he'd
get his third. He played guys with four in the
first half. Oftentimes coaches overthink things. It's fascinating that this
came up yesterday because Nick Wright and I were talking.
There's a place called Mos not like it's like name
(04:00):
after the tavern Mos from Simpsons on the campus at
Fox at the Fox Lot, and so we in between
both of us being on Cowherd Show, we walked over there.
We're talking ball and he's like, you know, what they
should do away with They should do with ay with
fouling out. I was like, no, they shouldn't, Like yess
they should. I was like, well, tell me why He's like,
what they should way of fouling out, because um, isn't
(04:21):
the point to see who's the better team, Like, just
make it extra punitive, penalize somebody with a technical foul
and the ball if they foul out, if they go
over the sixth foul Mark I was like, now there's
a whole strategy to playing with foul trouble. There's a
difference in how you play defensively, Like, I think there's
an art to it. I think that's part of what
makes basketball basketball is there is an actual foul limit.
(04:45):
Do I think there's an adjustment that could be made
for college basketball because so many of these guys getting
early foul trouble because the refs are officiating so tightly
in big games. Absolutely, but some of that's on the officials.
Some of that could be adding a six foul, But
I don't think that you allow guys to remain in
the game when they fouled out. Fouled out means you're out.
(05:07):
It's a very millennial way of thinking. Did you know
that in the web in Webster's Dictionary starting last year,
under the definitions of literally, there is actually a definition
that technically means figuratively Because people have misused literally for
so long in generation whatever you want to call it,
(05:27):
Millennial generation, that generation X y Z, I don't even
know what it is anymore. That the Webster's folks gave
in and they changed the meaning of literally to mean figuratively.
That doesn't make any sense to me. That would be
like changing fouling out too. But you're now you're kind
of out, You're not totally out anyway. I had no
(05:49):
doubt my mind that Lebron James would remain in the game.
I did doubt that he would be able to kind
of recapture and retune in and refine where he was now.
He dominated the game down the stretch. He was a
part of twenty of the last twenty points all in
the fourth quarter, and he looked like locked in Lebron.
But make no mistake about it, last night reaffirmed what
(06:10):
I said last year. And look, if you didn't follow
me from the previous spot, I don't blame me. It's fine.
But I said last year before the playoffs began. The
guy who will become a seen as a star or
a superstar in this league is Kyrie Irving. He's the
best finisher I have seen a finisher. When people say
finishing shots, they think like dunking. Okay, Vince Carter is
(06:33):
the greatest dunker in the history of the NBA. Period,
Stop Jordan's the greatest dunker for a great player in
the history of the NBA. Yes, I'm I'm adding things
to it. Vince Carter is the best dunker, But that's
not finishing shots. Finishing shots is can you go in
there right hand, left hand jumping off the normal You know,
(06:54):
when you're taught basketball at a young age, you jump
off your left foot with your right hand, your right
foot with your left. You can't do that when you
get when you're six ft to six ft three, six
ft four, you can't do that when there's seven ft
skyscrapers in there. You gotta have creative shots. You gotta
use the board, you gotta use english, the spin on
the basketball, you gotta use deception. He's I haven't seen
(07:14):
anyone do what he can do since Rod Strickland, which,
by the way, I have made that parallel for a
couple of years now, and I heard it last night
in the broadcast from both Reggie Miller and Chris Webber.
But it's more than that. It's the ability to, when
need be, take over a game. And though Lebron rightfully
gets credit for retuning and refining and refocusing not just
(07:39):
last night, but last year in the NBA Finals, what
people seem to have forgotten is that Kyrie Irving not
only hit the big shot in Game seven, Kyrie Irvin
also carried them in the NBA Finals last year when
they were down three games to one. It's weird, right,
Like Kyrie had in game sixty one, in Game seven,
(08:03):
twenty three in game excuse me, in game six, in
Game seven, he had over thirty three of the seven games,
and he was the one who had the big shot
to win the NBA Championship. Yes, Lebron had the big block.
Yes Lebron made some free throws kid to captain deal,
but Kyrie Irvan went one on one, made the big shot,
(08:25):
which is I'm not saying he's Jordan's but what Kyrie
Irvin has the ability to do is what the greats
of the NBA you have had a history ability to do.
Here's Brad Stevens on the Calves ability to win without Lebron. Early,
they still have two All Stars on the floor with
the best player in the world. They go to Unreal,
(08:47):
but there's still a pretty darn good team, you know,
when those guys are out there and and uh irving
again end of the second, end of the third, did
some incredible things with the ball. And I think it's
more of a tip your hat kind of thing with
those two guys tonight. Yeah, like, hey, they're they're so good,
there's nothing and and reminder that when when they when
the Calves lost the first two games of the NBA
(09:09):
Finals last year, it was Kyrie who was struggling. Like
people say that the Calves can't win when Lebron is struggling, Well,
that's not totally accurate. Kyrie the first two games last
year in the NBA Finals was twelve of forty six
from the field twelve twelve forty six, and he was
(09:29):
averaging more turnovers six then assists five. Had more turnovers
than assist in those first two games. Here's kind of
the summation to take away. We're at this weird place
to where Lebron James gets all the blame when they lose,
but Lebron James also gets almost all the credit when
(09:50):
they win. So Lebron James defenders are like, hey, it's
not all his fault when they lose. A matter of fact,
it's mostly everybody else his fault. But Lebron James defenders
also give an unreasonable amount of praise to Lebron when
he wins. It's like, you gotta have it. I'm gotta
(10:10):
have it both ways sort of guy. It's a thing
that that infuriates I think most of us about politics
is that politicians, based upon the side of the aisle,
can only see things from one side, based upon whatever
feeds their own narrative, and can't see it both ways.
It's not even I use that exact same logic that
(10:34):
those correlating arguments to tell you that I think Kyrie
Irving might be the best one on one player in
the NBA. I'm not the only one who said thinks that,
here's his coach, very unstoppable. You know, um, he's probably
one of our the best one on one player in
the league. And when you give him room and give
him space, he can get to anywhere he wants to
(10:55):
get on the floor and we know that. And you
know what, I think probably the best own all defended
the League of Avery, Bradley, you know, and to take
that challenge and you know, to score you know, a
few baskets like that, you know against Avery, just shows
you how good and special Kyrie is with the basketball
because you know, not you mean guys are getting around
Avery and you know we've seen that, you know, from
(11:15):
the last four or five six years. So um, that
just shows you a special Yes, offensively, could not possibly
agree with you more. And it's weird like Kyrie Irving
this year in the NBA average twenty five points. He
averaged five point at six assist a game, uh two
and a half turnovers was about what he always averages.
Shoots from the free throw line, shoots forty from three,
(11:36):
forty seven from the floor like six and three rebounds
for a point for a star is first team All
NBA sort of numbers. But it's weird like when Steph
numbers go down because he has to share some of
the spotlight and some of the shots with Kevin Durant.
We don't hold it as much against Steph. He was
(11:57):
second Team O NBA, like Kyrie Irving is just as talented,
just as dominant as Russell Westbrook. The only difference is
lebron gets all the blame when they lose, but also
all the credit when they win. Last night is the
perfect example of why that narrative should and I think
(12:18):
potentially will will will change based upon the upcoming NBA Finals.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's
welcome to the guy who I think these are the
types of careers that I admire most in professional sports.
(12:42):
Justin Force, that was the seventh round pick of the
Seattle Seahawks, kind of bounced around. Cut went to the Colts,
back to the Seahawks, the Texans, the Jags, and then
really when he kind of made his best mark in
the NFL, it was with the Baltimore Ravens. He has
recently retired, he's kind of to spend some time with
this members, spend time with the Lions and the Broncos.
(13:03):
Justin Force, did you collect gear from you have the
gear from all the different teams you play for yes,
I have tons of gear everywhere. I have every Imama hoarder. Yeah,
I mean me too. Write like you like anywhere you
any stop you go, you gotta get apparent like what
workout short? To work out short? Which is what's what's
what do you have most most of? Uh? I got
(13:24):
a little bit of everything, you know. When I got released,
I made sure I took everything out of my lopper
so they couldn't have it back justin Forcett joining us
on on the Doug Gottlieb Show. How would you characterize
your career? Oh? Man, um, it was a blessing. It
was a story of an underdog that that you know,
for adversity, it kept persevering and you know that's kind
(13:47):
of been my niche like that I've been released, I've
been cut, I've been demoted, but I was able to
go out on my own terms. What moment hurt the most?
How would probably see the darkest moment of my career
would in Jacksonville. I didn't think that I was gonna
get a chance to play again after injuries and after
you know, uh, you know what happened to me down
(14:08):
there being demoted kind of inactive a lot of the
times and helping out on scout team, and I an't
think I was gonna get a toother chance to play
play the game again. And then Baltimore called. Then you know,
turn everything around. Yeah you hurt your your your foot, right,
didn't you? Did you break your foot when you're at
the end of that run there? Yep, yep. At the
end of the year, I got a chance to opportunity
(14:30):
to actually be on the field again and play. And
when I got right, when I got my chance to
to get the ball, I broke my foot on my
first time getting the ball in that game against Houston,
and that was the end of my time there, all right.
So you like you got a walking boot on, you
break your foot, they release you in March. Um, what's
take me through the emotions like the real because so
(14:53):
often times I think we as fans, we we we
think about emotions in sports on the field, whatever the
emot sations of thinking, like, dude, I might have to
go find a real job. I might have to use
my cow degree, like I might have to get out
there and do something with my life outside of football.
To go from there to the Ravens offering you that
one year deal. What's I'm sure you remember actually the
(15:15):
phone conversation. What do you remember most about it? Oh? Man?
Just that time? It was It was real hectic. You know,
I didn't know I was actually filling out, um, you know,
my my resume when people were still taking don't even
know if people still take resumes anymore. But I was
filling out a job resume, doing some job shadowing, um,
(15:36):
getting ready to transition out. And then as he called
my agent and said they were interested. A couple of
weeks later, they said they wanted to sign me, and
the rest is history. That actually having my my first
Pro Bowl, um, and that that season and a lot
of other great achievements. And of course you put it
out there you want to move from the friends zone
to the relationship zone, and that, like right right, like
(16:00):
that of the things that you're known for, that's probably
the thing you're most known for in the NFL, isn't it? Yeah? Yeah,
So what's one of them? Man? I was in the
friend zone for a long time, but finally somebody made
it commitment to put a ring on it. So what
makes you decide I'm done, I'm washed. I got to
move on with my life, man, it was just, um,
you know, last year was really tough, you know, been
(16:20):
on three teams in one season, picking up traveling with
my family. I remember the time when I was in Detroit,
um and I got released. I got that call and
then never said, man, we want to pick you up.
And I went down there. I had to leave my
family U which we had a place there with a
apartment there, and my wife, who was six months preying
at the time, and with my two boys who were
(16:41):
ages four and too. She had to pack up everything
with them and drive through a snoo snowstorm all the
way back to Baltimore to our house in Baltimore by herself.
And uh, just I mean that's some of the the stuff
you you really never really hear about. But uh, you know,
it's just tough on the family doing that, and I
don't want to have to put them through that again. Uh,
you know, phasically, emotionally, and you know how I was
(17:03):
ready to go okay, but what about the idea of
uh and I thought of this, like I stopped playing basketball.
It's twenty six years old. I got in the media,
but I just the one The only thing is, man,
I want I got a little guy now he's eight.
I wanted him to see me play, and maybe it's
better now because word of mouth, like he thinks I
was a lot better than I really was. But you
got two little boys, obviously your oldest is old enough
(17:25):
to see a little bit of you playing. Was there
any like, Man, I can stretch this out a little bit.
I can have my boys really see me and have
a snapshot of who who I am. Yeah? No, I mean,
you know, thankfully to living a day and age of
you know, great YouTube videos and uh, you know, social media,
so they'll get a glimpse of it. But I wouldn't
have to stretch it out maybe three or four more
(17:45):
years in order to uh to pull it off where
they all can enjoy it. So, uh, it kind of
was a no go for me. I understand, justin for
sett joining us on the Doug Otlip Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Um okay, so what's this shower pill? When
I hear shower pill, I start, I'm like, wait, what's
going on the shower? What is the shower pill? That
you that that that that that that you're behind? Yeah, definitely.
(18:06):
It's a company I started a few years ago with
two teammates and when do you see Berkeley with where
we are as a hygiene company, personal care company for
athletes and active individuals on the goal are. Number one
product right now is the body pipe. It's basically or
essentially a shower in the white, so after workouts, after yoga, uh,
you're able to wipe down and get clean and not
(18:27):
bring those germs and back here into the car or
wherever you're doing. If you running, areans you be, you
wipe down and take a shower basically anywhere until you
can get to a real shower. Who's the most hygienically
challenged guy you ever played with? Who needs this wipe
the most? Oh? Man, I can't. I can't put anybody
how much? Stop stop that? So you everybody has, everybody has,
(18:49):
every team I've ever been on has to be like, yo, man,
you gotta you gotta, you gotta like your shower, your feet,
your your feet stink, your breath stink. You don't shave enough.
You using like, oh no, you gotta. You don't need deodorant, man,
it's natural kind of pheromones. Like who's who stank the
most that you play with? Man, I cannot put my
(19:09):
name on that. You know, there's a lot of people
that need to show our field body white you know
out there, whether your soccer mom or whether you got
that goes camping and hiking, So anybody could use it.
Justin Forcett joining us in the Doug Otlip Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. Did we did? Do we lose him? Okay?
(19:29):
Sorry we I thought we lost you for a second?
Last thing? You know, running back has become really interesting.
It used to be when we were kids, the running
back was the signature player on an NFL team, right
like you you go back, and this is even before
you were born or before you came of agent playing,
like eighties and early nineties, like the team was about
the running back. Now like look, ZEKIELI came in and
(19:51):
wreck shop last year, and you do have some guys
that have gone high, but a lot of it is
running back by committee. What's what? What are your thoughts
on the evolution of the position in the league today.
I like the fact that what good is it get
an opportunity? Hello, yeah, the opportunity uh to uh well,
(20:21):
you know yourself has gone bad? Try one more time.
You're saying you're you like the fact that guys are
get more guys get an opportunity than yourself was kind
of going on us. Okay, yeah, yeah, I like the
fact that guys are getting more opportunity, But I think
the position only gets the valued really in free agency
and in and in the draft. I mean, our position
is still needed. Uh you think about doing playoff a
(20:41):
championship time championship games? Aren't we talking about? You need
a great ground game? So? Uh, those are my thoughts.
Could I can I just ask one other thing? It's that,
it's this, It's that it's interesting. What makes you a
star when you're a kid as a running back is
your ability to get the ball and just you know,
beat everybody and score touchdowns. But and again, you help me,
you lived the life of a guy who just had
(21:02):
to make a roster. Isn't it more about like the
things that we don't talk about or maybe parents don't
understand or fans understand, Like you've gotta be able to
pass protect, you've got to be able to know where
you're supposed to be. Obviously, have to be able to
catch out of the back. Feel like running between the
tackles or outside the tackles is almost secondary in terms
when you get to the highest level if you want
(21:24):
to just get on the field. Is that fair? Yeah?
I think so. I mean you gotta do a lot more, um,
and you're more responsible. You're responsible for more at this level.
And for me, that's the only reason why I was
able to stay for a long time is because you know,
I was able to excel in film study, excel and
those things like pass blocking because at this level you've
(21:45):
got to protect uh, you know, a hundred million dollar
quarterback you know in front of you. So uh, you know,
it's it's high premium on guys that can do at all.
And um, you know, the players and the coaches have
to trust you back there. So definitely I agree with
all Right, the shower pill is out. How do I
get the shower posit available shower pill dot com and
(22:05):
on Amazon? Uh, no one product in our category and
uh doing well. I like that. I like that. I
needed I got a little stank sometimes doing radio, I
start talking to Ranton and I start looking around the
studio going like, what does that smell? And when there's
nobody else in the room, obviously the smell the smell
as smells me. That's right. The smeller is smeller is
the Feller great to catch, help me adjustabile do some
more when we get ready for the upcoming season. Thanks
(22:27):
for being our guest, and enjoy your retirement and your
beautiful family. That's justin for set Cal Berkeley a lum.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leaves Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific.
When you hurt your back, when you start having multiple
back or next surgery, like you can't do anything in
(22:47):
golf with the torque that you have to you have
to use if you hurt your back in golf. But
I still so. This is the latest story which I
know you've seen deb which is Tiger Woods is re abbing.
He's he says, he's shocker here committed to playing pro
golf again. He said this on his website. I want
to say unequivocally, I want to play professional golf again. Presently,
(23:09):
I'm not looking ahead. I can't twist for another two
and a half or three months right now. MY sole
focus is rehab, doing what doctors tell me. I'm concentrating
on short term goals. Um that he was asked whether
he'll attempt to play the Masters next April. I did
everything I could I could do to play at Augusta
and was ready to go. Unfortunately, it was kind of
(23:31):
like the two thousand eight U S Open, which he
wanted to spite a fraction's leg and a toward a
c L. The pain was was post impact when I
swung the club, I figure, can I handle it this time?
The answer is probably not. That shows the effect of
the nerve pain. So it was a huge disappointment for him.
He had this fusion surgery, and other guys who have
had fusions or disc replacements, like Davis Love, Retief Goose,
(23:54):
and Lee Trevino, Landi Watkins Deadly Heart, they have all
come back. More than anything, it made their lives better.
The most important thing I to have life again with
my kids. So anyway, in summation, I'm still a Tiger
Woods stockholder. I know that stock isn't worth much, But
if you've ever had a stock that at one point
was worth and now is worth five bucks, You're like,
you know, what, what the hell? It's not what it's
(24:14):
not worth selling, you might as well believe that at
some point you can get back up to seventy. 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. Yesterday,
most of the world rejoiced because the group celebrations and
using a football as a prop and the fun bunch
(24:35):
type of stuff is back in the NFL. Not all
of the world. So Marvin Lewis came out and said
this when he was asked about the touchdown celebrations being
allowed kind of to be pre planned and to evolve
teams and to evolve the football as as part of
(24:58):
the celebrations. He said this. Also, they passed the rules
basically reversing all of the celebration rules, so now players
can celebrate groups again and basically do everything that I've
been on. I think that's we had a good standard.
And the whole standard has always been you wanted to
teach people how to play the game the correct way
and go about it the correct way, and that's not
(25:20):
a very good example for young people. Again, it's this
is a team game, and why we want to give
it I don't understand. I want to give in the
individual celebration. The hardest thing to do when you're a
coach is give unpopular opinion, right because now Marvin Lewis like, well, look,
(25:44):
you drafted Joe Mixon. Like, I actually saw that in
three of the stories that I read that Joe Mixon
being in the draft. Marvin Lewis is a hypocrite, Like
what how does how does one have to do at all? Like, look,
let me explain to you, Joe Mixon is the perfect Bengal,
(26:05):
not because of pac Man Jones in the off season
or some of the previous Bengals. The The Bengals are
bargain hunters. They always have been. And the reason that
you get bargains in the NFL draft is they got
something working against them. It is a cheap organization. The
Bengals are famous in the NFL for having the worst towels.
(26:30):
You're like what, yeah, Like they replaced their towels less
than any other team. Why because it's expensive. They were
the last team in the NFL to have their team
spend the night at the hotel for home games in
the NFL. Nobody they didn't do that. Everybody else does it.
You know, you spend the night, you have meetings, you
(26:51):
keep guys around, you make sure nobody goes out. It's
kind of a college thing. That's become a pro thing
or pro thing to become a college thing. I mean,
it's kind of aimed to be totally honest, like where
you Where are you more likely to get a better
night's sleep at home or at a hotel? Oh? Well,
there's not the camaraderie like so, but that's what NFL
(27:11):
teams do, and the Bengals, in all of their cheapness,
their frugalness, we're the last team to give into that. Anyway.
There is no correlation between drafting Joe Mixon and a
coach saying, hey, we had a standard, we had rules,
and now of a sudden the rules become a little
(27:33):
bit confusing, right because Antonio Brown was actually celebrating on Twitter,
celebrating the change in the celebration rule. Here's the problem.
Antonio Brown got in trouble and find several times last
year for twerking. Twerking is still against the NFL's policy
anything that's secially suggested, anything that that mimes uh, shooting
(27:57):
off guns. So there's lots of things that you should
And by the way, like a high five is still
good enough, a chess pump is still cool. That was
always legal under NFL guidelines. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
(28:19):
the I Heart Radio app. I thought, this is the
most fascinating thing that will be the least discussing of
of the off season. In football. Rob Gronkowski has has
gotten a newly reworked, restructured deal with the New England Patriots.
He was badly underpaid and he is in fact the
best tight end in football when healthy. But here's the problem.
(28:42):
When has he actually been healthy? When's the actually been healthy?
So Gronks new deal which was which was done by
Drew Rosenhaus, could be worth ten point seven five million dollars.
Now he'd have to play the snaps um or have
eighty eighty catches. Excuse me, he'd have to play of
(29:05):
the time, have eighty catches receiving yards or be an
all Pro. And by the way, it's really hard to
be an All Pro unless you play the snaps. Now,
if he doesn't reach those markers and he only plays
eighty percent of the time and he has seventy catches
a thousand yards, he'll get eight point seven five million
dollars If he plays seventy percent of the times, sixty
(29:26):
catches eight hundred yards and has only ten tds, he
gets six point seven five million dollars. Here's what you
need to know. He only played seventy percent of the
snaps in two thousand fourteen. He played eighty four point
two in two thousand fifteen. Of course, did not play
a snap in the postseason in sixteen and played only
thirty one point five percent of the snaps in sixteen.
(29:49):
This is Gronk signing a contract extension or a rework
restructured contract that is betting on himself to stay healthy.
And he's never stayed healthy. He hasn't played a full
sixteen game season since two thousand eleven. He's twenty eight
years old, which would be your prime for anybody else.
But he's had two back surgeries, he's had two a
c L surgeries, Like that's not his prime. So he's
(30:12):
missed thirty of the team's last nine games over the
past five seasons. And Rob Gronkowski is signing a deal
that's based upon player performance and how many games he plays.
That's ludicrous. That's a terrible negotiation by Drew Rosenhaus. And
if You want to tell me, well, it's because you
know they won the Super Bowl without him. Fine, you
(30:34):
want to tell me it's because he's under contract. Fine,
Like all Rob Gronkowski has to do is be willing
to sit out any amount of time with the Pats.
What are they going to do? Like you think Tom
Brady doesn't want the best heighten in football to be
well compensated. This will be champion as Gronk finally getting
(30:54):
his pay. But to me, it should be champion as
the Patriots owning absolutely owning Drew Rosenhaus in this negotiation.
It looks good, but the likelihood is that Gronk ain't
gonna play the Stamps, and if he does, the numbers
will be so obscene. He'll be worth all that money.
And isn't it interesting that everybody can will concede that
(31:17):
he is arguably the hardest matchup in football. But instead
of and this was the old Jimmy Graham argument when
he wanted his new deal, instead of being evaluated against
wide receivers, he's being evaluated against tight ends. Remember this money,
ten point seven five million would only make him the
highest paid tight end in the history of football, not
the highest paid wide receiver, and yet Rob Gronkowski is
(31:41):
a harder matchup than virtually any wide receiver in the
National Football League. Oh yeah, and he helps you in
pass pro and he helps you in run blocking as well.
I think he's still underpaid, and I think this contract
is wildly in favor of the paths. Be sure to
live editions of the Doug gott Leaves Show weekdays at
(32:02):
three p m. Eastern noon Pacific. Let's welcome in our guy,
Cedric Sabalis levin your NBA VET Dunk Champion NBA Analysts
force here. Uh said, um, what did you know? Let
me give you a little bit of my take on
game three. I know Game four was just put Yeah right, dude,
yeah good? What are you doing? Uh? You're getting your
(32:26):
words together? You like cooking something like in the microa
you put in some popcorn. You're like going through the drawers,
Like what was going on? Man? I'm always on fire,
you know that. I'm just waiting for you to pass
me the black Alright, So, like, look, game three did
you think do you think it was just he wasn't
making shots? Or were you with me? Where Lebron showed
that kind of weird confidence drain right where he he
(32:49):
suddenly didn't want it, and it's it's just different than
any superstar we've ever seen. What do you see from
Game three? Well, I just saw a guy who just
just did not prepare for a team that was going
to be that aggressive. I thought he thought the team
was just gonna give it in, just just throwing it.
Al Isaiah was out. Uh, he got blown out the
first two games, and he just was like, I don't
(33:12):
really need to prepare. Maybe he slept a little longer.
You know, how will we sleep longer? We we seem
a little drugs and we didn't prepare what we did.
I think that's the situation with Lebron James and what
happened to him. But I also and I do this
out earlier this week after they lost that game. You know,
time loot is as as a student of Phil Jackson,
(33:32):
maybe he's thinking, get me wrong here. If we do
sweep to Boston Celtics, we have a long time before
June first, we have a long time before game one.
Let them have that long layoff when we might go
in to go to State and still that game one,
we lose Game three, no problem, we take four. We
(33:55):
go to Boston when win game five. Now we're only
looking at three to four days off when when Golden
State's been off for a while, and that may you know,
that may be damaged in that first quarter, uh at
that first quarter which san Antonio took full advantage of
when Kawaid Lennon was there. So it may be some
strategy to that losing that game. But you know you
(34:17):
saw a little bit of it uh in in game
four to as well with the foules. That may have
got him a little tentative. But luckily he got a
superstar named Kyrie Irving to take over with his days
when when when his days, when his games are down
like that, Um, I think I know something was up
with Lebron because now even Richard Jefferson is like, well,
it might have been the flu right and anytime. And
(34:39):
then you had the most telling one to me was
j R. Smith talking about confidence, like, hey, he's got
to play and he the first half last night. I
know he was in foul trouble, but he was still
tentative with that jump shot and it wasn't until he
got a couple of dunks and they started to get
back to the lead that he started to regain that confidence.
How would you handle Lebron if he is your teammate
(35:00):
and suddenly he would have one of those dips in confidence. Well,
he has to know, uh that Boston is gonna be
you know, they're gonna show up. And and they have
taken away the opportunity for him to get to the
whole and say, hey mate, we can't stop you going
to the bucket. Obviously nobody can't. You prove that raw
right in the finals last year with the last four
(35:21):
games of the series, once you figured out if I
go downhill, nobody can stop me. I can open up
somebody so much for everybody else. I think game one,
game two, they tried to do that. Stop that. I
make the challenge, and then coach Stevens like, look at
we got to back off this guy. If you want
to shoot a hundred times out on the perimeter, great.
He doesn't distribute the ball, he doesn't um get everybody
(35:45):
else in ball, he doesn't get us in foul trouble.
Let's let him do that. And I think he tried
to do that to Game three and also last night,
and it's just not falling for him and and Lebron
is not a jump shooter, and I mean he it's
some days that he can get it going when he
has the threat going downhill at people and they start
to really back off and he can. You know, he's
got a good ladder, he's got a couple of buckets going,
(36:07):
he's making free throws and he can start knocking down threes.
But he's not a jump shooter. And when he relies
on that, I think that's why jar said his confidence, Uh,
you know, don't don't you know I'm not Jr. Says
I don't like confidence. I got confidence all the time,
So Lebron shouldn't be the same way. Richard Jefferson saying,
maybe it maybe some flu symptoms. Maybe you never No,
we're not on the inside and we're not Lebron James
(36:28):
on how he feels. But I think that's what it
was a combination Boston self disfiguring out Let this guy
shoot as many jumpers as he wants. He's he doesn't
hurt us like he would hurt us if he's going downhill,
ducking the ball, get into the basket, putting us in
foul trouble, and distribute into guys for three point shots.
Said Tibolo John Gatip Show, Fox Sports Radio. Um, you
(36:49):
mentioned Kyrie Irving and what a big star he is.
It's it's weird because I do think that Lebron that
they're just the presence, the name, the Jordan comparisons, like
all this stuff over shadows Kyrie Irving. What are your
thoughts on Kyrie's game? Not just obviously last night was
the best of Kyrie, but overall, what are your thoughts? Oh, man,
he's one of the best players in the league at
(37:10):
this point, especially in the point card position. It's just
Lebron has the ball all the time. You know, he
did this damage. Maybe he didn't lead a team uh
to the finals or even the playoffs when he was
by himself, but you know, when you play with Lebron James,
you used take the back seat to a lot of things.
Asked Dwayne Wade, asked Chris bosh you know, asked Shaquille
(37:30):
O'Neal when he played with him in Cleveland. Carlos Blueser.
It's just the guy is so dominant and so good
that he draws so much attention that the best game
plan is to be your robbin instead of trying to
be batman. Uh, you you, you just have to go
with it because it's ball. Helen skills the unbelievable. Obviously,
he's shown that over the years. Uh, he's very clutch.
(37:51):
Uh he finishes a lot of buckets. And that practice
has come from when he wasn't with a terrible Cleveland
Cavalier's team where he had to carry that team by
himself and he was to shooting the game winners because
they had nobody else to go to. So he's prepared
for himself for he's ready for it. It's just Lebron
is that much. He draw so much star power, he
draw so much attention, and he's that effective when he's
(38:12):
on the court. All Right. I want to get to
the the upcome, the likely upcoming final series in a second,
but I want to put kind to rest the San
Antonio spurs Um. What would your advice be to Mona Janobli,
He said, he's got two really good options. I can
come back and play where I could spend more time
in my family's thirty nine years old. First series against Memphis,
he didn't look like he had it. Second series, he
(38:33):
was really good against Golden State, especially for thirty nine
years old. Uh, what would your advice be too Tomano, Well,
if it's if his body allows him to do it,
I want him to play. Um, you know, he could
always there's always time to spend with family even when
he's playing. I know Papovich is a family orientated coach.
He wants your family around. So please don't let family
(38:56):
be the excuse of him not coming back or one
or two more years. And I'm not sure what he's
planning on, but uh, you know, once I got done
out the league and your body feels great, and you go, man,
I should have never stopped playing. And and uh, he's
in the he's in the mix of things right now.
Maybe he needs to take a seat. Figure it out.
Do I take a seat and playing Argentina? Do I
(39:18):
take a seat playing overseas? Uh? Do I? Do? I
sit back a little bit with the spurs, you know,
so check his body. If his body temperature is good
and good to go, I say go for it and
play some more. You can always find time during the
season during training, uh, to hang around and be with
your family. Um. Look, obviously everybody knows quiet Letter is
(39:39):
an elite player, and the thought is, if you look
at he continues to improve, like he's getting better. So LaMarcus,
if they're all healthy, would have to be their second
best player. And then you know, then they got to
figure out the point card position with Parker at his age,
Murray being probably not being ready. Um, but the LaMarcus
seems to be a weird fit, like he's more power
(40:01):
forward than center, and yet in this day and age
of the NBA, he's got to play center, but he's
not really a defender or rim protector. And then he
showed signs of at times being soft, which is the
opposite of what Gregg Popovich wants. What do you think
long term they think of of LaMarcus, whether or not
that will actually work well. First, I think the question
(40:22):
is if we do let LaMarcus go or move him,
who in the league is better than him at that position?
Not too many at that size that heightened that scoring ability.
He shows flashes of greatness back in Portland's a bunch
of times, but that's the Portland's system that he that
he ran, the ball came through him, it was it
(40:42):
was his team. You know, he touched it every play.
It's a different system here, and and maybe we want
him to be thirty guy, you know each and every night. Uh.
And that's just not the system that Pop has and
and that's not what they brought him in to do. Uh.
This they brought him in obviously learned from Tim Duncan
(41:02):
them to to make that transition from Tim him on.
But Kauai was was given this team two or three
years ago knowing that he was going to be moving
on to be the best player on the team. So
it's got to go through Kauai. Obviously, Kauai is not
a shoot first, uh basketball player, so you know, obviously
the markets will get his touches. But it's the offense
just does not It's not designed to pump it into
(41:24):
the post. Even after Tim Duncan and David Robinson went
through the same offense, it wasn't even that let's go
on to Tim first and then figure things out. It
was let's move the ball around and look for the
great shot. Obviously, great shots come when you got David
Robinson and Tim Duncan down there. But it also goes
off percentages. I know, popovitches in his air. Let's start.
You know, we're gonna we're gonna plump it down to
(41:45):
your big fellow, your percenters have to be pretty high
and a better chance. I know the system that he runs, Uh,
everybody gets involved. So it gets to la Marcus again,
even when he's missing shots, it gets to him because
he you know, maybe I'm breaking this system down. I'm
changing the way they played because in Portland, even if
he missed ship, they're still going to him the next play,
(42:06):
in the next playing the next place. So he has
to adjust his game. I think it's gonna be allowing.
So searching this summer, he's gonna have to really figure
out where um uh he he wants to be condition wise,
so he can come in and and have a spurt
where he doesn't touch the ball five six times and
then all of a sudden go to work for four
for five times and then go back to not touching
the ball a game, all right, last thing you got
(42:27):
against that phone, You got people at the door, You're
going through your drawers, like there's a lot of stuff
going on in Somala's household. We're a week away from
the finals, okay, and I totally like, I'm not one
of these guys that gets into the well. You picked
a week ago this team and like, you know, crazy
things canna happen within the context of a series, or
even in a game with foul trouble or a guy
(42:47):
not shooting well, or somebody gets suspended, somebody gets hurt.
But what what's your what are your expectations for the
NBA f as a guy who studied this thing, played
in it for over a decade, played at a very
high level, What are your thoughts heading into what we
think is going to be the NBA Finals A week
away from that? Yeah, I wanted I wanted both teams
to come into the finals undefeated. I thought it's been
(43:09):
a clash of those two, you know, Golden State winning,
Kyrie goes down, Uh, the Cavaliers winning. Uh. Draymond possibly
was the reason because of the suspension and also Bob's
going down. UM, I wanted. I wanted them both to
go in this series twelve zero and then let's see
let's row, let's let's get a good rest, everybody has
(43:31):
the same rest, and let's go to battle. Uh. This
is gonna be interesting, Katie's and uh a one time
familiar place with the finals. UH, excitement, A lot of expectations.
I don't think he was the favorite last time he
was in the finals. This is the opportunity where he's
the favorite. Uh. He's coming into a team that has
won a championship. He's supposed to be the added piece,
(43:53):
uh to the puzzle. Lebron James wouldn't reapped his team
putting put him some great shooters out there to a
command um the defense to pay attention to Golden States
defense to pay attention to the more. And I apologize
to all Boston fans if I'm already put Cleveland in.
But that's the that's the way I saw it, that's
the way I wanted to be. I love Game seven
(44:15):
last year. I would love to see it again, even
you know, the fans and everybody saying, oh this is boring.
These guys are backing and again, Hey, let's go back
and go back to it. It's not like Golden State
one two and and and Cleveland one zero or Cleveland
one two and Golden State one zero. They won one.
They want one to here's the type record. That's why
we call it a series. This is just the final series.
(44:36):
If these two teams match again, this is the game
three of the finals, so to speak, game three series.
And and let's see who wins this series, and then
you'll see who's the dominant team because one team would
be up to one on the other. Ye should be awesome,
said listen. We'll let you get back your day. Always
appreciate you spending time with this. Your breakdowns are beyond good.
Appreciate our guest on Fox Sports Radio. Thank you, guys.
(44:58):
All Right, that's a said Saballos,
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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