June 13, 2017 • 39 mins
Doug explains why the Warriors were able to steamroll their way through the NBA this season, finishing the postseason 16-1 and preventing Cavaliers F LeBron James from winning his 4th championship. He wonders what’s next for the NBA and free agency as teams try to close the gap on the Warriors. Plus, former Warrior and NBA Champion Rick Barry joins the show to give his thoughts on the Warriors winning their second championship in 3 years.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Live and direct from the City of Angels. Don't ask.
It's seventy five and Sonny every single day, and last
night we crowned ourselves a champion. But we like to
remake the rules as we go or as we see
(00:22):
fit for the people we like in the decisions they make,
and if we like them and if we don't like them.
We got a ton to talk about. We might know
we are even going to take your phone calls. I know,
mistake as it maybe we're going to take your phone calls.
Eight seven sevente Fox. Eight seven seven on Fox is
the phone number Doug gotlib Show. You can tweet us
(00:44):
at Gottlieb Show. You can also watch us for broadcasting
live right now on our Facebook page. We got so
much to get to. Rick Berry is gonna join us.
We will, in fact get into the verbal kerfuffle that
he had with Rob Parker on Fox Sports Radio over
the weekend, and we'll talk about this Warrior's team and
how sustainable, uh, this championship run can in fact be
(01:08):
I mean it's Vegas has them as a two to
one favor to win next year already, and there are
some unsigned players and some unforeseen pitfalls that of course
fall on championship teams. Let me first get into last
night as I saw the basketball game. I want to
talk about narratives and how they don't actually necessarily fit
the game. You'll hear from KD, You'll hear from Tyler,
(01:30):
who said something very interesting about just how big a
gap there is between the two teams. I think you're
going to learn a lot about the type of people Draymond,
Kevin Durant, Steph Curry really really are. And it fascinates
me how we look at them, how we judge them
(01:51):
based upon maybe if they celebrate or if they leave
your favorite team. Last night was a spectacular basketball game.
There's no other. It was played at an exceptionally high level.
And the adjustments that the Cleveland Cavaliers made, they continue
to try to be physical. Some of that was mitigated
by the officiating, some of it was not. They really
(02:12):
tried to pressure Steph Curry. A lot of that helped
them early on. They tried to pressure and they tried
to expose the lack of rebounding from Golden State, and
that in fact worked. It was one of those games
to which you thought there would be one final great
push from the Calves and it just didn't come. They
never really recovered from the two to four run in
(02:34):
which Tyron lou did not call time out. Kevin Durant
was spectacular, so too was Lebron. James k d ends
up with thirty nine. I would point out Lebron didn't
have some defensive missteps in important parts late in the game,
but Draymond played his role to a t. He scored
just enough points, hit just enough shots, but also cleared
(02:55):
the way for Steph Curry, who found some newfound grit
and toughness to drive to the whole, get to the
foul line, and get layups when his three pointers weren't falling.
But to me, the there's there's an elephant in the
room between the Calves and the Warriors and what the
Calves are actually missing and the likely change that probably
(03:18):
has to be made. We'll we'll get to that in
a moment. First, let's hear from a couple of the players.
This is Kevin Durant who was talking. It's his first championship,
and everybody thinks they know how they'll react, right, Like
you think you'll know how you react when you first
get a scholarship of you think you'll know how to
react when you win a big game in college, win
(03:40):
a big game in high school, or it's senior day
or your prom, or you get married. You know, like
how many guys like I'm gonna cry when I get married.
Then you're stand there and you're down the aisle, you
see your see your bride, and you're like, I can't
hold it in. Right, How would Kevin Durant react to
winning his first NBA title? Here's him taking taking us
(04:01):
through it. Yeah, it was fifty five seconds left and
I went over to half court line. I've been down.
I was like, is this really happening? And Drey was
like keep playing in andredas like keep playing. We got
fifty seconds left, and I'm like, bro, we goot to
win a title. And you know, I just tried to
stay in a moment. What's fascinating to be about Kevin Durant. Look,
(04:22):
I was as surprised as anybody that he left Oklahoma
City for Golden State because I did think they were
this close I do think there is something to having
the sweat equity with Oklahoma City, with taking that entire city, hell,
that entire state, Like, look, that's a state that's always
been divided between Oklahoma Oklahoma State. And because of the
pro sports franchise, they mixed the colors, they mixed the
(04:44):
fan bases, and it was kind of a thing of
beauty and that like it was his team, that was
his town, that it was his state. He ran for governor,
he would have one, and they were this close. He
didn't play well. Games six, they lose game seven, being
up three games one. We hadn't seen that before, but
he had told us the whole time, like, hey, it's
a basketball decision, And I mean, can you really argue
(05:06):
with the basketball decision that he made. There's there's only
two possibilities here. Either Kevin Durant was in fact this
could only he's getting to show us he's that good,
or he's gotten better and the talent that's around him
has allowed him to get better. But either way you
can argue with me that Lebron was the best player
(05:29):
uh in this in the finals, My argument would be, well,
his team didn't win, he wasn't better in the fourth quarter,
and a guy playing at the exact same position at
him at the exact same time on the other team
team one, and was better in the fourth quarter. So
you can argue with me otherwise. But if he was,
even if you thought he was one b you're talking
(05:51):
about Lebron James regarded as the greatest player in the world,
and Kevin Durant was every at least at minimum slightly
less like a fair uh, a fair depiction would be
he was at least his equal, if not better. So
from a basketball perspective, he went to a place to
(06:13):
which he looked or is in fact better, then he
made the right decision, didn't he right? Didn't he? He
also took us kind of inside the fact that it
wasn't always easy this year. There were times in which
they struggled with do you go? Do I go? What
do you do? And he had the knee injury as well.
(06:35):
Here's what pulled him out of it. I had my
you know, lows in the season where I was beating
myself up, where I was struggling throughout the year. But
the great part about it is, you know, I'll get
a top on the hair from staff or Draymond or
you know, I can remember when we were in Sacramento
and we just lost the Memphis we gave up the league.
We were up twenty. Draymond put me to the side.
(06:55):
We were having dinner the next night in Sacramento and
he told me to beat myself, don't worry about anything,
just be you. Keep working. Everything's gonna come around. And
to have teammates that encourage you, that lift you up.
That's what we all need in life, you know what
I mean? And and it was it was amazing. The
lesson here is not anything other than this. Okay, if
(07:20):
you can ever work at a place to which the
best version of yourself is what others try and draw
out of you, and where all your uh workplace colleagues,
all they say is be yourself. They're they're not telling
them to be anything. Just be yourself. That's enough for us.
(07:43):
Like that's all you look for in life. Like if
you want to have a happy marriage, you have to
find somebody who you can be real with, you can
be honest with, you can be yourself with, and they
accept you for it and they help you become the
best possible version of yourself. That's true in any work,
Like if you have to go in and be somebody
you're not, that is exhausting. Yeah, hiring that is. I've
(08:07):
always thought that of people who are phonies, right, Like
there are people who live lives, lived those double lives
like cat's gotta be exhausting. Remember what did I tell
this person? Which person was I to them? Do I
have to be nice? Like you could just whatever you're
raw motion or just be that. That's good enough for us.
That's somewhere I want to work. That's somewhere I want
to play. Can I tell you the elephant in the room. Okay,
(08:31):
So the thing with how Golden State played, the reason
they won the game last night was because Andrea Goodala
had twenty points. He's there six man, but technically he's
really their starter, right, and he came in out the
ben and yeah he threw in a couple of jump shots,
but he was actually playing center. He's like playing around
the rim, or he's setting the pick and roll. He's
playing the four or playing the five. And so their
(08:54):
front line consisted of Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Andrea
Guadala in most porton times, and the way to combat
that is you have to be able to score inside
and red and dominate them on the boards inside, and
the Calves could not do that. In spite of the
fact that we're we were told prior to this series
(09:16):
that they had three stars, right, those stars of Lebron, James,
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. There there's no argument for
Kevin Love. What Kevin Loves noticed, I'm not. I never
saw Kevin Love as a superstar. I always agreed with
Chris Bosh, which is what everything Chris Bosh said, what
happened has happened. When Lebron loses, never Lebron's fault. Now, hey,
(09:39):
you're gonna be the third option. You're gonna have to
play center, and you're gonna have to stay out of
the way, and if you miss shots, it's it's on you.
It's never on Lebron, Like we have changed all the
rules for how people like, well, Lebron lost, but it's
not his fault. Wait, when did that ever happen Historically
before to the victors have always gone the spoils. We've
never made excuse is for teams at loss. We've always
(10:03):
championed teammates who make each other better and root for
one another. With the exception of Kevin Durant, we're so
caught up in he left via free agency, when Lebron
James left via free agency. Lebron je line James left
twice via free agency, both for super teams. And the
(10:23):
answer to the only thing that can change the the
foreseeable outcome of a matchup next year is one injuries
to the Golden State Warriors, but two a change with
Kevin Love. Love has to be able to score and
dominate on the boards against those lineups. He was not.
(10:43):
And take a listen to Tyron Loeu. But I think
the perception is, oh, the two teams could not They're
not close. Golden States way better. That's not true. Cleveland
shot to win last night, they had a shot to
win in Game three. They didn't. Here's Tyron Loup, you
know they beat us tonight. I don't. I don't see
a big gap. I thought we played well and got
better you know, each game, you know, but against good teams,
(11:05):
you can't, you know, give away games like Game three
at home and then expect to come here and win
in the hostile environment. So when you have them beat,
you have to beat them. You know, you can't go
back and forth or t on the fish. You have
to beat them. I thought our mindset was right, you know.
I thought we gave the right amount of fight and
the right amount of physicality, and now might beat us tonight, Yeah,
I would. I tend to agree. Tristan was a no
show the first two games. But the big thing that
(11:27):
killed this team was what the hell were they doing
in game three when they had to lead and they
started going ice so and stopped moving the ball, and
Lebron stopped attacking the rim and they started selling for
jump shots and they end up losing. And Kevin Durant,
by the way, like, if you want to tell me,
the narrative is that Lebron was better in the one
game that decided the series, Game three on the road,
(11:48):
Kevin Rent droopled up the floor and knocked down a
three right in the eye of Lebron James. That decided
the series. And the only thing that you feel like
could change the series outcome would be an adjustment to
Kevin Love moving Kevin Love. I thought it was fascinating.
(12:10):
I thought it was good ball. I end up becoming
more and more of a Kevin Durant. Steph Curry even
a Draymond Green fan. Because if in your life you
can't root for other people to be successful, that's a
you problem. That's an insecurity within use. But when they're
on your team or within your company, or they're your friend,
that's a you problem. And those guys root for each other,
(12:34):
lift each other up, make each other better, and now
our champions some for the second time in three years.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Rick
Barry joins us on The Doug Gottlieb Show. Rick, How
are you hey? Rick? So give me your sense of
(12:57):
last night's game. What to you was the biggest difference.
The Warriors played better basketball than the Cavaliers, and it
really shown in the in the second half when the
Calves made a nice run to get back into the
game and make a competitive where it was still anybody's game.
And what happens the Warriors get too uncontested shots because
why because they actually run plays where the defense has
(13:18):
to make decisions. They're coming off screens. There was a
miscommunication and two guys went to one guy and they
got too easy baskets at a critical time. How many
times did you see that happen with Cleveland? No, it
doesn't have that often. Why because Lebron's going one on one,
Kyrie's going one on one. They rarely play that type
of basketball and it hurts them. It did hurt them.
I would also I would also throw in that I
(13:41):
felt like UM as much as in the first half,
especially in at times in the second half, UM Cleveland
was able to pressure Golden State, they were able to
try and out rebound Golden State. I thought that that
if anybody, Steph Curry showed some more grit than he
had previously, Like there are times in the Blue Season
away he gets in lane and he gets those flip
(14:02):
shots and he gets layups. But he found a way
to get to the free throw line to get some
free shots. Draymond kind of cleared out the lane form
to get some easier drives, like Steph instead of just
settling for contested jump shots, got his nose buddy a
couple of times, and that kind of change some of
the aura around Cleveland's defense, because you know, Rick, like
if somebody have got in Game seven, and they didn't
do that this time. They went to the basket, which
(14:23):
I don't know why they didn't do that. And you
know the end of Game seven last year, they just
were shooting three point shots the whole time and you
live and die with the three. And so they had
a more diversified offense, no question about that. I agree
with you that they got themselves in shouble because they
were giving up offensive rebounds and getting second chance opportunities
for for Cleveland and giving him a chance to get
back in it. But the reality of it is, it's
(14:44):
the words are a better team. If both teams played
their best basketball game at the same time, the Worriers
are gonna win. Uh. If you're the Calves, what's the
one personnel adjustment that you make. They just they have
to get They have to get their players to be
more consistent so that they contribute on a regular basis.
The only game that they want was when the other
(15:05):
guys really contributed well, and the other guys played well,
But would happened in this game. They've got two guys
that we're contributing all that well for the most of
the series, and that was j r. And and Thompson.
They played really well. In fact, if a word for
those two guys, that would have been another blowout because
why because two of the three really great players that
they have didn't have great games. Love has a subpar
(15:27):
game and Kyrie didn't have a great second half, and
so because of that, there was no chance at them
winning that basketball game. Am I wrong? No one saying that. Look,
if they're gonna play andre Iguadala, Kevin Durant and Raymond
Green as their front line, Kevin Love has to be
able to dominate inside and he just but he's not
that kind of player. He's not, or he no longer
(15:49):
is now. He's a face up shooter that occasionally can rebound,
right Like, That's that's who he's become. Make him do
more than occasionally you're bound. He's amazing rebound he's act
of an offensive rebounder as well, and hurt than that.
But yeah, he didn't have a particularly great game, and
you know, and then they got a big game out
of Thompson, who you don't expect to get those kind
of numbers from. So they just have to get players
who are a little bit more consistent offensively and be
(16:11):
able to be a more consistent offensive team. That's the
difference of Warriors are incredible offensively. When they're guys are
all going there, almost they were possible to guard. Everybody
talks about two of the better teams right defensively, and
they let them beat the hell out of one another.
Goes to the way the officials called the game, which
I absolutely hate, but that's a whole another story. But
these great defensive teams. The lowest any team scored in
(16:33):
one game was like ninety something points. They're scoring a
hundred and twenty. I mean, it's crazy what would have happened.
That's why I keep telling people I don't care how
good you are it defensively. If you're on offensively and
an offensive player is on, there's those such things as
the defensive stopper. When I hear that, almost almost laugh.
Nobody stopped me offensively. If I was on my game,
I'm gonna score. Maybe you gotta work harder, but you're
never gonna shut me down. And that's what happened here.
(16:55):
Look at what those teams did it, Look at the
points they scored because they have such incredible offensive talent.
NBA Champion, four, NBA Finals, MVP, and of course, four
time first Team All NBA selection um uh Rick Berry
joining us on the Doug Gottlib Show on Fox Sports Radio. Rick,
if forget about history historically, Lebron has had a better career.
(17:17):
But your basketball I tells you right now, who's the
better current basketball player, Kevin Durant Lebron James. Uh, They're
both great players, but different players. You have a powerful, incredible,
stoppable and movable force in Lebron who does things better
in some areas than KAD does. But k D is
another anomaly. I call them both anomalies. And you have
(17:39):
a more uh, you know, athletics, smooth kind of player,
who can shoot the three, who can get to the
basket and finish strong, who can shoot the mid rain shot,
who's gonna make his free throws. Much better shooter than Lebron.
James is and Lebron is a better rebound They're probably
had a better pastor. So both of them have things
that they do better than the other guy. Either one
as a player that you'd love to have on your
basketball team. And the scary thing is is that you
(18:01):
actually could have both of them, because Lebron could play one,
two or three, and that would be kind of scary
having to two three being Lebron and Kevin Durant. How's that, No,
it's it's it's crazy how skilled, how talented both both players. Yeah,
I believe who's making all this fun about criticizing Lebron?
I feel sorry for this guy's guy's the greatest three
to ever play the game. Kevin the Ranch running right
(18:22):
up there with them as being one of the greats
of all time at the three position, and and and
people are trying to find fault in him. If he
hadn't made the past the Corver in that game over
the head he had made the past, hadn't made the
past the corporate he had didn't score and they didn't
get a basket, they would have all said, hey, you
should have passed at the Corver. Well, I heard you
get into it with Rob Parker over the weekend, and
and my, my, my, you know, my, My pushback to
(18:47):
you would be this, I agree. In terms of the
technical basketball play, Corver is a great shooter. He was open,
But I mean, like, look, you were a great score
You lad the NBA in scoring, and so wouldn't ship
would you find any any kind of grounds for agreement
if I told you that not every bucket you got
with the game on the line was the right basketball play,
(19:08):
But you were such a great score that I would
rather have you take a questionable shot than having somebody
else taken a little bit more open shop. If that's
where I disagree with you, because when you if you
know how to play the game the way it's supposed
to be played, you never take a shot if you
have a teammate in a better position to score than
you do. There was it wasn't like he had a
wide open opening. He was going to get challenged by
(19:29):
a defender. So he had a wide open guy, one
of the great shooters in the history of the NBA
from three point range. Wide open. I mean you just
that's the play that you have to make. That's the
intelligent basket in the smart play to make. Now, it
doesn't mean that he might not have been able to score.
It might have been able to do something, but it
wouldn't be is the correct play to make in that situation.
I never took a shot in my life that if
(19:52):
I had a teammate in a better position that I
wouldn't have taken the shot. Now, it doesn't mean I'm
gonna throw it if I'm going and I got an
eight foot at ten foot jumper, and I got a
teammate open. You know I'm gonna say, eighteen foot jumper.
I got a teammate open to twelve wide open, and
I can get my shot off that I'm gonna throw
to the guy wide open, because if I'm a better
shooter than he is, I'm not throwing to him even
if he's open. That's a play that you don't make.
(20:15):
Well we listen. I don't know if we have the
Brooder film of every shot you ever took. I loved
this one, this one i'd I'd love to challenge Rick
uh Rick Barry joining us on the Doug Gottlieb Show. Um, okay,
so what about Karver? Like to me, I know he
hit a big three in the fourth but of the
stories that don't get discussed, like he was brought in
for one sole purpose and he failed. For the most part,
(20:38):
I agreement he was. He was a disappointment. I thought that,
oh my god, he's going to really help those guys.
But he did not shoot the ball the way that
he had done in the past, and he got a
lot of great wide open looks. And that's why you
see the problem is that he got open looks which
he missed. But the thing is he's a one dimensional player.
That's why that's why I'm saying, you gotta add to
make Cleveland better, you've got to bring a guy who
(20:59):
could shoot the three, but also you can get to
the basket. Yeah, but the problem with that is they're
all they're they're locked up cap wise, right like they
You got to get young players. You have to have
the ability to recognize talent less like the Warriors, they
didn't bring in young people and not get hung up
on the athleticism necessarily of a player. But find a
guy who has a great stroke, who knows how to
play the game and knows and that's the kind of
(21:21):
players you've gotta bring in. You gotta look for those
kinds of players. The problem is these guys get so
hung up on athleticism. They bring all these athletic guys
in there who really don't know how to play the
game the way it should be played. Well, they actually
the Calves actually have all older guys off their bench.
They have plenty of shooting. They don't have They need
kind of the mix of athleticism, right, like they don't.
You're right, they need some younger bodies, but they they're
(21:44):
kind of caught in the well. We trust guys that
are older guys, and they'll take a little bit less money.
I think the money is the bigger fact. Last thing,
let you go, um, what outside of injury? Like, look,
if Kevin Duran gets hurt, God forbid, or Steph Curry
gets hurt or Clay Thompson gets hurt, that's what usually
leads two dynasties ending in their prime. Outside of that, Uh,
(22:04):
what what is your biggest concern that could change what
we think could be a multiple championship run from the
Golden State Warriors. This injury would be the thing. And
if somebody decided that they want to leave to get
more money, but money isn't even affected on it makes
so much even place that he'd rather be on a
team winning championships. And if they all go with that
attitude and keep playing the kind of basketball they do
and have the tweaking being done, wouldn't surprise me if
(22:26):
they look to find something to do something at the
center position. Those eyes are nice and everything, but come on,
you know they could do They could do better there.
They can get somebody that can help them even more there.
So that's what they're gonna do. They're gonna tweak it
and try to go and make themselves a little bit better.
But they've got a nucleus of flares that if they
all stay together and they stay healthy over the next
five six years, they can win multiple championships without question.
(22:46):
At your basketball camp, do you how do you teach
free throw shooting? I don't try to teach. I don't
try to force that on anybody. I just you know,
if somebody wants to learn it, that's great. I mean,
I don't it doesn't matter to me if somebody wants
to shoot or not. I just don't understand why people
want to. Don't want to try anything to get them
else to be better. What they need to do is
get my son Scooter with the solid shots that my
son took DeAndre Jordan in three short sessions and Adam
shooting seventies something to present from the free throw line
(23:08):
changed his form and everything and he stopped working with it.
Using this incredibly sophisticated sleep. My son has said the son,
you need to go hire yourself out as a shooting coach.
He could change guys shooting dramatically and team should get
ahold of him. Which son, all your sons gone shooter, okay,
because you like they can all shoot, Canyon can shoot?
Like they can all shoot? Yeah, they all can shoot.
(23:28):
And the thing is is he has something to help
guys get to be better shooters and it works, and
it's the It's the greatest teaching tool I have ever seen.
The problem is he's got to get some people with
some investment who put some money into to get the
price backed down. But I don't know. I'm trying to
get under armor. If under armor where to do the
Steph Curry shooting sleep and do this with Steff. Kids
could actually learn how to shoot exactly that stuff because
it would be programmed that way. They'll be flying off
(23:48):
the shows. I mean, it's the greatest teaching tool I've
ever seen. I've been around a long time. You can
I can see when you shoot what you're doing. Growing
it can't see everything every time. The sleeve sees everything
every time. Greatest teaching tool history. And it's gonna go
to other sports. They're working on it for other sports,
for various things. In baseball to help pictures so they
don't go and get the Dobby John surgery. They could
do it for football and showed it to some quarterbacks
who are Hall of famers. They said, oh my god,
(24:09):
this would be unbelievable for my camps, for the kids.
It can revolutionize the way people learn to do the
fundamentals in so many different sports. Incredible technology, Rick Berry, Rick,
thanks so much for catching up. Pay Let me get
a quick thing in there. You know to to for
me to go go g y V dot com forward slash,
Rick Berry. If people are trying to go ahead and
get themselves better, I got off a prescription jug for
(24:30):
inflammation and all by taking this stuff. Go g y
V dot com forward slash are Barry, check it out
and improve your life, Rick, great stuff. Thanks so much
for joining all right. Always a pleasure dog. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific. Last night
was a spectacular basketball game. There's no other way. It
was played at an exceptionally high level, and the adjustments
(24:53):
that the Cleveland Cavaliers made they continue to try to
be physical. Some of that was mitigated by the officiating
some of the was not. They really tried to pressure
Steph Curry. A lot of that helped them early on.
They tried to pressure and they tried to expose the
lack of rebounding from Golden State, and that in fact worked.
It was one of those games to which you thought
(25:14):
there would be one final great push from the Calves
and it just didn't come. They never really recovered from
the two to four run in which Tyron lou did
not call time out. Kevin Durant was spectacular, so too
was Lebron. James k d ends up with thirty nine.
I would point out Lebron didn't have some defensive missteps
in important parts late in the game. Thought Draymond played
(25:38):
his role to a t. He scored just enough points,
hit just enough shots, but also cleared the way for
Steph Curry, who who found some new found grit and
toughness to drive to the whole, get to the foul
line and get layups when his three pointers weren't falling.
But to me, the there's there's an elephant in the
room between the Calves and the Warriors and what the
(26:02):
Calves are actually missing and the likely change that probably
has to be made and the answer to the only
thing that can change the The foreseeable outcome of a
matchup next year is one injuries to the Golden State Warriors,
but two a change with Kevin Love. Love has to
(26:23):
be able to score and dominate on the boards against
those lineups he was not. And take a listen to
Tyron LOEU. I think the perception is, oh, the two
teams could not they're not closed. Golden States way better.
That's not true. Cleveland shot to win last night, they
had a shot to win in Game three. They didn't.
Here's Tyron, you know they beat us tonight. I don't.
(26:44):
I don't see a big gap. I thought we played
well and got better, you know each game. You know,
but against good teams, you can't, you know, give away
games like game and three at home and then expect
to come here and win in the hostile environment. So
when you have them beat, you have to beat them.
You know, you can't go back and forth or t
on the fence. You have to beat them. Thought mass
that was right, you know, I thought we gave the
right amount of fight, in the right amount of physicality
(27:05):
and up let meat us tonight. Yeah, I would I
tend to agree. Tristan was a no show the first
two games. But the big thing that killed this team
was what the hell were they doing in Game three
when they had the lead and they started going ice
so and stopped moving the ball, and Lebron stopped attacking
the rim and they started selling for jump shots and
they end up losing. And Kevin Durant, by the way, like,
if you want to tell me, the narrative is that
(27:27):
Lebron was better in the one game that decided the series,
Game three on the road, Kevin Durant droopled up the
floor and knocked down a three right in the eye
of Lebron James. That decided the series. And the only
thing that you feel like could change the series outcome
would be an adjustment to Kevin Love moving Kevin Love.
(27:47):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
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Raymond Green is a really, really good player. I'm not
in any way trying to fame Raymond Green. He's not
one of the top fifteen players in the NBA. If
they'd redrafted the NBA draft, they wouldn't. No one would
(28:07):
draft Raymond Green in the top fifteen. Wouldn't happen. He
wouldn't go ahead of Anthony Davis. He wouldn't go and
he wouldn't go ahead of of DeMarcus Cousins. He wouldn't
go ahead of John Wall. He wouldn't go ahead of
Brad Beale. He just wouldn't. He wouldn't go ahead of
and Anti Dakompo Jonasan Dkompo, he wouldn't. He's really important
(28:29):
to how the Warriors play, but stop it. The reason
he's he's seen as all NBA player because he's playing
on a championship team to have the last three years,
but in the finals the last three years. So if
we use that, then if you're Chris Paul, you're like, look,
Chris Paul thinks to himself like any star player, who,
by the way, is also better than Draymond Green thanks
(28:52):
to himself, like I'm the best point guard on Earth.
There's no possible way that that in his heart of hearts,
and I'm sure it's probably come out to his friends
like that. Chris Paul doesn't sit there and go like
I'm the best point guard on Earth. But as he's
been able to show it. No, because you're not viewed
(29:14):
as such if you don't win for at least compete
for a championship. And so the question becomes, how does
Chris Paul react? And there's only one possible human reaction
that today. The reason free agency should be today is
when you're caused to make a knee jerk reaction, you
make one, and it's usually through emotion, and the emotion
(29:35):
has to be I'm looking at Kadi and Katie's the
same guy he was last year. The only difference is
the supporting cast, the culture of the ownership, the coach,
the championship pedigree. Now, I guess I'm fascinated by the
idea that Chris Paul could look at this and go, Look,
I could go from a guy who probably goes to
(29:57):
the Hall of Fame goes down as one of the
better guards UH in my era. Or I could go
to San Antonio, have a shot to win a title,
and if I win a title with the San Antonio Spurs,
I'm one of the greatest players to ever played the game.
Gordon Hayward. I can go to Boston play for a
(30:19):
guy who I know what he's like. Uh, they need
my style of play, they need my scoring. We compete
for a title. The calves are not that much better.
If get me add one more trade away Isaiah Thomas
as well, continue to get more players like those are
legit possibilities. How does the NBA by NBA, I mean
the players themselves? How do they react to how Kevin
(30:41):
Durant is now being viewed in comparison to how he
was viewed last year? That's the most fascinating post mortem
part about the NBA Finals won four games and won
by the Golden State Warriors. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio the
I Heart Radio app. All we want our athletes to
(31:03):
be is humble superstar. Right do you want the Richard
Sherman's Do you want to look at me? Like when
a guy doesn't look at me? We don't like it
when a guy says, hey, I'll welcome in another superstar
to be a better player on my team if it
helps us as one win. How can you not love that?
(31:25):
I love when Tim Duncan welcome to LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan.
Welcome to LaMarcus Aldridge to take his spot. Hey man,
come on in here, play with me for a year,
then him retire, then you take my spot. It's your team.
That's exactly what you want from a human being, not
just an athlete. Take a listen to this. This is
(31:45):
this is uh, this is Draymond Green talking about a
conversation he had with Steph Curry around Christmas time. Step
definitely took a back seat to start the season until
he realized we didn't need him to take a back seat.
We need you to aggressive as you're going to be.
And you know when when step turned that corner, I
think it was after Christmas Day. Um, when he turned
(32:07):
that corner, we became almost unbeatable, and you know, that's
what we needed. And so you know, that was this
whole thing. Who's gonna take less shots. It's gonna be Steph,
Katie Clay, none of them. You know, the ball is
gonna find who we need to find at the end
of the day, and that's those three guys, and we
need them guys to shoot the ball and score for us.
And they did that. Here's uh, here's Steph Curry on
(32:29):
the same conversation. You know, honestly, after that Christmas Day game,
I kind of understood that, you know, we have such
high i Q players that if I could be aggressive
and do what I do and they need to do
every single night, everything will will kind of float from that.
And I think the proof is obviously what we were
able to accomplish from that point on the regular season,
being sixteen wanted the playoffs, everybody being the best version
(32:50):
of themselves and you know, putting all the puzzle pieces together.
So just happy to be, you know, a leader on
this team that can understand the goals that we we
set out for and trying to get it done best
could I love buzzwords right and the buzzwords I hear?
Is we a leader, not the leader? A leader on
this team, accomplished goals right, best version of self? These
(33:14):
are parallels to the rest of life, Like these are
the types of people you want to emulate. You want
to emulate people that the first thing they tweet out
after the win a championship is that they don't accept
all the glory, like I'm not. I'm not. I'm I'm
more of a spiritual person than a religious person, But
I can respect people that like Steph Curry. I've I've
(33:34):
talked to people from USA Basketball, like, look, we've had
a lot of great people, We've never seen anything like
Steph Curry in terms of the type of person he is,
and that's on display last night. He was a two
time MVP. Was clearly his team success or failure was
based upon how he played, and he welcomed in another
(33:55):
guy and learned to be the better version of himself
with that guy. And last night a big reason they
won was he was constantly attacking, and Durant gave him
credit for that after the game. He was a bulldog
driving in there into contact, getting to the free through line,
making plays. So I look, I hear who was It
(34:18):
was his named from Vegas who called us Larry and Vegas,
Like I hear. Don't get me wrong, I hear it.
I I don't necessarily understand it. I know. I look,
I have I'm white, I have a white son. He
loves Steph Curry, but he also loves Odell Beckham Jr.
And J. J. Watt and Cam Newton like they just
love bigger than life superstars. But I I've heard it
(34:39):
well because he grew up, Like why is it. I
don't understand why it's his fault that he his dad
played in the NBA and they grew up with some money.
He doesn't flaun it right, like he's not coming out
with diamonds everywhere and bling everywhere. He's just the dad
cooking with his wife and cooking up NBA defenses. I
(35:01):
just I think the whole narrative so screwed up. I
think it's a real real it's a terrible snapshot of
who we are. Our hater society finds things to hate
about people that we should have only admiration for. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific and
now say get it? What does the Fox say? Uh? Uh, yeah,
(35:27):
you got it? Clay Travis had this like the reason
the NBA the NBA teams are not as deep as
they used to be is because so many of them
are top heavy with salary issues because of the salary cap.
Clay Travis has this idea for fixing that problem. The
NBA should have a salary cap, but they should have
(35:48):
at least one player on every team who isn't maxed out.
In the salary cap. In other words, a team should
be able to pay as much money as they possibly
want for one player. If that happen, then I believe
the era of super teams would basically end because in
my plan, in the NBA keeps tweaking the the the
(36:09):
the salary cap. They've got the luxury tax and everything else.
But Lebron James this year was probably worth a hundred
million dollars. He made around thirty million. That means that
effectively he's paying a seventy million dollar tax on his
earnings because he's artificially capped as to what he can make.
Look that all that sounds good? Okay, that's that's Clay
(36:32):
Travis the what does he consider himself? He's obviously capitalist, right,
And Clay tri was thinking, like, this is a tax situation,
this is a union negotiated deal, and that will never
happen because the NBA owners will be like, fine, but
they would hammer the players somewhere else. They have to
make money, and many of them don't make a ton
(36:54):
of money on the on the day to day because
their their expenses continue to uh to explode. Now they're
making more money with the TV deals than they did previously.
But the most money you make is on the value
of the franchise, not in the day to day operations.
And if there's no sound and oh yeah, by the way,
there's always going to be some sort of loophole, right,
(37:19):
And as much as you like, that would shut cut
down on on team on on teams, yeah yeah, but
it would also in some ways prohibit player movement. And
by the way, what happens the teams that have two
superstar players? All right, so who do you pay with
you your few of the Warriors? You pay Kevin Ran,
(37:40):
you you pay Steph Curry? Why can't you split up
the unlimited thing? What happens when you're unlimited guy gets hurt?
Or what happens you're unlimited guy isn't as good as
he thought he'd be, Or what if what happens when
you pay your unlimited guy and unlimited some of money
and he turns out to be a total turd and
you want to get rid of him, And and look,
(38:01):
salary caps are there not for the richest players, but
for the everyday wage earners. Look all you have to
do is look. Historically, the NFL had a season without
a salary cap do you remember it? Do you remember
what happened during the season, and be like, oh, costs,
contracts are going to explode. It's gonna be crazy. NFL
(38:24):
team spent less because with no ceiling, there's no floor,
so they can pay minimum earners as little as they want,
you know, salary cap fine. So with with any salary cap,
there's give and take. And the reason that and like, look,
(38:46):
the max contract thing is is cute, is clever even now,
even now, like there's guys that get max contract money,
Like what he's worth, what this whole thing could be
avoid the way of the on makes it up as
an endorsement deals, the way all the guys make it up.
He's the second highest paid athlete in the entire world too,
(39:07):
next to Christiano Ronaldo, who makes more because of endorsement
and and his his contract. He plays a lot more
games as well, or actually, no, I don't think he
plays a many games, plays in front of bigger crowds.
Um The way in which Lebron could have had a
better team was take less money instead of taking more.
Take less. Nobody's disputing that he's worth being the highest
(39:29):
Page's by the ways, highest player in the NBA. He's
worth it, fine, But had he taken less, and had
he demanded that other players who play with him, you
guys all take less and we're gonna win more, he
would have a better team around him. He didn't, and
so is goose is cooked. If you will
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Live and direct from the City of Angels. Don't ask.
It's seventy five and Sonny every single day, and last
night we crowned ourselves a champion. But we like to
remake the rules as we go or as we see
(00:22):
fit for the people we like in the decisions they make,
and if we like them and if we don't like them.
We got a ton to talk about. We might know
we are even going to take your phone calls. I know,
mistake as it maybe we're going to take your phone calls.
Eight seven sevente Fox. Eight seven seven on Fox is
the phone number Doug gotlib Show. You can tweet us
(00:44):
at Gottlieb Show. You can also watch us for broadcasting
live right now on our Facebook page. We got so
much to get to. Rick Berry is gonna join us.
We will, in fact get into the verbal kerfuffle that
he had with Rob Parker on Fox Sports Radio over
the weekend, and we'll talk about this Warrior's team and
how sustainable, uh, this championship run can in fact be
(01:08):
I mean it's Vegas has them as a two to
one favor to win next year already, and there are
some unsigned players and some unforeseen pitfalls that of course
fall on championship teams. Let me first get into last
night as I saw the basketball game. I want to
talk about narratives and how they don't actually necessarily fit
the game. You'll hear from KD, You'll hear from Tyler,
(01:30):
who said something very interesting about just how big a
gap there is between the two teams. I think you're
going to learn a lot about the type of people Draymond,
Kevin Durant, Steph Curry really really are. And it fascinates
me how we look at them, how we judge them
(01:51):
based upon maybe if they celebrate or if they leave
your favorite team. Last night was a spectacular basketball game.
There's no other. It was played at an exceptionally high level.
And the adjustments that the Cleveland Cavaliers made, they continue
to try to be physical. Some of that was mitigated
by the officiating, some of it was not. They really
(02:12):
tried to pressure Steph Curry. A lot of that helped
them early on. They tried to pressure and they tried
to expose the lack of rebounding from Golden State, and
that in fact worked. It was one of those games
to which you thought there would be one final great
push from the Calves and it just didn't come. They
never really recovered from the two to four run in
(02:34):
which Tyron lou did not call time out. Kevin Durant
was spectacular, so too was Lebron. James k d ends
up with thirty nine. I would point out Lebron didn't
have some defensive missteps in important parts late in the game,
but Draymond played his role to a t. He scored
just enough points, hit just enough shots, but also cleared
(02:55):
the way for Steph Curry, who found some newfound grit
and toughness to drive to the whole, get to the
foul line, and get layups when his three pointers weren't falling.
But to me, the there's there's an elephant in the
room between the Calves and the Warriors and what the
Calves are actually missing and the likely change that probably
(03:18):
has to be made. We'll we'll get to that in
a moment. First, let's hear from a couple of the players.
This is Kevin Durant who was talking. It's his first championship,
and everybody thinks they know how they'll react, right, Like
you think you'll know how you react when you first
get a scholarship of you think you'll know how to
react when you win a big game in college, win
(03:40):
a big game in high school, or it's senior day
or your prom, or you get married. You know, like
how many guys like I'm gonna cry when I get married.
Then you're stand there and you're down the aisle, you
see your see your bride, and you're like, I can't
hold it in. Right, How would Kevin Durant react to
winning his first NBA title? Here's him taking taking us
(04:01):
through it. Yeah, it was fifty five seconds left and
I went over to half court line. I've been down.
I was like, is this really happening? And Drey was
like keep playing in andredas like keep playing. We got
fifty seconds left, and I'm like, bro, we goot to
win a title. And you know, I just tried to
stay in a moment. What's fascinating to be about Kevin Durant. Look,
(04:22):
I was as surprised as anybody that he left Oklahoma
City for Golden State because I did think they were
this close I do think there is something to having
the sweat equity with Oklahoma City, with taking that entire city, hell,
that entire state, Like, look, that's a state that's always
been divided between Oklahoma Oklahoma State. And because of the
pro sports franchise, they mixed the colors, they mixed the
(04:44):
fan bases, and it was kind of a thing of
beauty and that like it was his team, that was
his town, that it was his state. He ran for governor,
he would have one, and they were this close. He
didn't play well. Games six, they lose game seven, being
up three games one. We hadn't seen that before, but
he had told us the whole time, like, hey, it's
a basketball decision, And I mean, can you really argue
(05:06):
with the basketball decision that he made. There's there's only
two possibilities here. Either Kevin Durant was in fact this
could only he's getting to show us he's that good,
or he's gotten better and the talent that's around him
has allowed him to get better. But either way you
can argue with me that Lebron was the best player
(05:29):
uh in this in the finals, My argument would be, well,
his team didn't win, he wasn't better in the fourth quarter,
and a guy playing at the exact same position at
him at the exact same time on the other team
team one, and was better in the fourth quarter. So
you can argue with me otherwise. But if he was,
even if you thought he was one b you're talking
(05:51):
about Lebron James regarded as the greatest player in the world,
and Kevin Durant was every at least at minimum slightly
less like a fair uh, a fair depiction would be
he was at least his equal, if not better. So
from a basketball perspective, he went to a place to
(06:13):
which he looked or is in fact better, then he
made the right decision, didn't he right? Didn't he? He
also took us kind of inside the fact that it
wasn't always easy this year. There were times in which
they struggled with do you go? Do I go? What
do you do? And he had the knee injury as well.
(06:35):
Here's what pulled him out of it. I had my
you know, lows in the season where I was beating
myself up, where I was struggling throughout the year. But
the great part about it is, you know, I'll get
a top on the hair from staff or Draymond or
you know, I can remember when we were in Sacramento
and we just lost the Memphis we gave up the league.
We were up twenty. Draymond put me to the side.
(06:55):
We were having dinner the next night in Sacramento and
he told me to beat myself, don't worry about anything,
just be you. Keep working. Everything's gonna come around. And
to have teammates that encourage you, that lift you up.
That's what we all need in life, you know what
I mean? And and it was it was amazing. The
lesson here is not anything other than this. Okay, if
(07:20):
you can ever work at a place to which the
best version of yourself is what others try and draw
out of you, and where all your uh workplace colleagues,
all they say is be yourself. They're they're not telling
them to be anything. Just be yourself. That's enough for us.
(07:43):
Like that's all you look for in life. Like if
you want to have a happy marriage, you have to
find somebody who you can be real with, you can
be honest with, you can be yourself with, and they
accept you for it and they help you become the
best possible version of yourself. That's true in any work,
Like if you have to go in and be somebody
you're not, that is exhausting. Yeah, hiring that is. I've
(08:07):
always thought that of people who are phonies, right, Like
there are people who live lives, lived those double lives
like cat's gotta be exhausting. Remember what did I tell
this person? Which person was I to them? Do I
have to be nice? Like you could just whatever you're
raw motion or just be that. That's good enough for us.
That's somewhere I want to work. That's somewhere I want
to play. Can I tell you the elephant in the room. Okay,
(08:31):
So the thing with how Golden State played, the reason
they won the game last night was because Andrea Goodala
had twenty points. He's there six man, but technically he's
really their starter, right, and he came in out the
ben and yeah he threw in a couple of jump shots,
but he was actually playing center. He's like playing around
the rim, or he's setting the pick and roll. He's
playing the four or playing the five. And so their
(08:54):
front line consisted of Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Andrea
Guadala in most porton times, and the way to combat
that is you have to be able to score inside
and red and dominate them on the boards inside, and
the Calves could not do that. In spite of the
fact that we're we were told prior to this series
(09:16):
that they had three stars, right, those stars of Lebron, James,
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. There there's no argument for
Kevin Love. What Kevin Loves noticed, I'm not. I never
saw Kevin Love as a superstar. I always agreed with
Chris Bosh, which is what everything Chris Bosh said, what
happened has happened. When Lebron loses, never Lebron's fault. Now, hey,
(09:39):
you're gonna be the third option. You're gonna have to
play center, and you're gonna have to stay out of
the way, and if you miss shots, it's it's on you.
It's never on Lebron, Like we have changed all the
rules for how people like, well, Lebron lost, but it's
not his fault. Wait, when did that ever happen Historically
before to the victors have always gone the spoils. We've
never made excuse is for teams at loss. We've always
(10:03):
championed teammates who make each other better and root for
one another. With the exception of Kevin Durant, we're so
caught up in he left via free agency, when Lebron
James left via free agency. Lebron je line James left
twice via free agency, both for super teams. And the
(10:23):
answer to the only thing that can change the the
foreseeable outcome of a matchup next year is one injuries
to the Golden State Warriors, but two a change with
Kevin Love. Love has to be able to score and
dominate on the boards against those lineups. He was not.
(10:43):
And take a listen to Tyron Loeu. But I think
the perception is, oh, the two teams could not They're
not close. Golden States way better. That's not true. Cleveland
shot to win last night, they had a shot to
win in Game three. They didn't. Here's Tyron Loup, you
know they beat us tonight. I don't. I don't see
a big gap. I thought we played well and got
better you know, each game, you know, but against good teams,
(11:05):
you can't, you know, give away games like Game three
at home and then expect to come here and win
in the hostile environment. So when you have them beat,
you have to beat them. You know, you can't go
back and forth or t on the fish. You have
to beat them. I thought our mindset was right, you know.
I thought we gave the right amount of fight and
the right amount of physicality, and now might beat us tonight, Yeah,
I would. I tend to agree. Tristan was a no
show the first two games. But the big thing that
(11:27):
killed this team was what the hell were they doing
in game three when they had to lead and they
started going ice so and stopped moving the ball, and
Lebron stopped attacking the rim and they started selling for
jump shots and they end up losing. And Kevin Durant,
by the way, like, if you want to tell me,
the narrative is that Lebron was better in the one
game that decided the series, Game three on the road,
(11:48):
Kevin Rent droopled up the floor and knocked down a
three right in the eye of Lebron James. That decided
the series. And the only thing that you feel like
could change the series outcome would be an adjustment to
Kevin Love moving Kevin Love. I thought it was fascinating.
(12:10):
I thought it was good ball. I end up becoming
more and more of a Kevin Durant. Steph Curry even
a Draymond Green fan. Because if in your life you
can't root for other people to be successful, that's a
you problem. That's an insecurity within use. But when they're
on your team or within your company, or they're your friend,
that's a you problem. And those guys root for each other,
(12:34):
lift each other up, make each other better, and now
our champions some for the second time in three years.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Rick
Barry joins us on The Doug Gottlieb Show. Rick, How
are you hey? Rick? So give me your sense of
(12:57):
last night's game. What to you was the biggest difference.
The Warriors played better basketball than the Cavaliers, and it
really shown in the in the second half when the
Calves made a nice run to get back into the
game and make a competitive where it was still anybody's game.
And what happens the Warriors get too uncontested shots because
why because they actually run plays where the defense has
(13:18):
to make decisions. They're coming off screens. There was a
miscommunication and two guys went to one guy and they
got too easy baskets at a critical time. How many
times did you see that happen with Cleveland? No, it
doesn't have that often. Why because Lebron's going one on one,
Kyrie's going one on one. They rarely play that type
of basketball and it hurts them. It did hurt them.
I would also I would also throw in that I
(13:41):
felt like UM as much as in the first half,
especially in at times in the second half, UM Cleveland
was able to pressure Golden State, they were able to
try and out rebound Golden State. I thought that that
if anybody, Steph Curry showed some more grit than he
had previously, Like there are times in the Blue Season
away he gets in lane and he gets those flip
(14:02):
shots and he gets layups. But he found a way
to get to the free throw line to get some
free shots. Draymond kind of cleared out the lane form
to get some easier drives, like Steph instead of just
settling for contested jump shots, got his nose buddy a
couple of times, and that kind of change some of
the aura around Cleveland's defense, because you know, Rick, like
if somebody have got in Game seven, and they didn't
do that this time. They went to the basket, which
(14:23):
I don't know why they didn't do that. And you
know the end of Game seven last year, they just
were shooting three point shots the whole time and you
live and die with the three. And so they had
a more diversified offense, no question about that. I agree
with you that they got themselves in shouble because they
were giving up offensive rebounds and getting second chance opportunities
for for Cleveland and giving him a chance to get
back in it. But the reality of it is, it's
(14:44):
the words are a better team. If both teams played
their best basketball game at the same time, the Worriers
are gonna win. Uh. If you're the Calves, what's the
one personnel adjustment that you make. They just they have
to get They have to get their players to be
more consistent so that they contribute on a regular basis.
The only game that they want was when the other
(15:05):
guys really contributed well, and the other guys played well,
But would happened in this game. They've got two guys
that we're contributing all that well for the most of
the series, and that was j r. And and Thompson.
They played really well. In fact, if a word for
those two guys, that would have been another blowout because
why because two of the three really great players that
they have didn't have great games. Love has a subpar
(15:27):
game and Kyrie didn't have a great second half, and
so because of that, there was no chance at them
winning that basketball game. Am I wrong? No one saying that. Look,
if they're gonna play andre Iguadala, Kevin Durant and Raymond
Green as their front line, Kevin Love has to be
able to dominate inside and he just but he's not
that kind of player. He's not, or he no longer
(15:49):
is now. He's a face up shooter that occasionally can rebound,
right Like, That's that's who he's become. Make him do
more than occasionally you're bound. He's amazing rebound he's act
of an offensive rebounder as well, and hurt than that.
But yeah, he didn't have a particularly great game, and
you know, and then they got a big game out
of Thompson, who you don't expect to get those kind
of numbers from. So they just have to get players
who are a little bit more consistent offensively and be
(16:11):
able to be a more consistent offensive team. That's the
difference of Warriors are incredible offensively. When they're guys are
all going there, almost they were possible to guard. Everybody
talks about two of the better teams right defensively, and
they let them beat the hell out of one another.
Goes to the way the officials called the game, which
I absolutely hate, but that's a whole another story. But
these great defensive teams. The lowest any team scored in
(16:33):
one game was like ninety something points. They're scoring a
hundred and twenty. I mean, it's crazy what would have happened.
That's why I keep telling people I don't care how
good you are it defensively. If you're on offensively and
an offensive player is on, there's those such things as
the defensive stopper. When I hear that, almost almost laugh.
Nobody stopped me offensively. If I was on my game,
I'm gonna score. Maybe you gotta work harder, but you're
never gonna shut me down. And that's what happened here.
(16:55):
Look at what those teams did it, Look at the
points they scored because they have such incredible offensive talent.
NBA Champion, four, NBA Finals, MVP, and of course, four
time first Team All NBA selection um uh Rick Berry
joining us on the Doug Gottlib Show on Fox Sports Radio. Rick,
if forget about history historically, Lebron has had a better career.
(17:17):
But your basketball I tells you right now, who's the
better current basketball player, Kevin Durant Lebron James. Uh, They're
both great players, but different players. You have a powerful, incredible,
stoppable and movable force in Lebron who does things better
in some areas than KAD does. But k D is
another anomaly. I call them both anomalies. And you have
(17:39):
a more uh, you know, athletics, smooth kind of player,
who can shoot the three, who can get to the
basket and finish strong, who can shoot the mid rain shot,
who's gonna make his free throws. Much better shooter than Lebron.
James is and Lebron is a better rebound They're probably
had a better pastor. So both of them have things
that they do better than the other guy. Either one
as a player that you'd love to have on your
basketball team. And the scary thing is is that you
(18:01):
actually could have both of them, because Lebron could play one,
two or three, and that would be kind of scary
having to two three being Lebron and Kevin Durant. How's that, No,
it's it's it's crazy how skilled, how talented both both players. Yeah,
I believe who's making all this fun about criticizing Lebron?
I feel sorry for this guy's guy's the greatest three
to ever play the game. Kevin the Ranch running right
(18:22):
up there with them as being one of the greats
of all time at the three position, and and and
people are trying to find fault in him. If he
hadn't made the past the Corver in that game over
the head he had made the past, hadn't made the
past the corporate he had didn't score and they didn't
get a basket, they would have all said, hey, you
should have passed at the Corver. Well, I heard you
get into it with Rob Parker over the weekend, and
and my, my, my, you know, my, My pushback to
(18:47):
you would be this, I agree. In terms of the
technical basketball play, Corver is a great shooter. He was open,
But I mean, like, look, you were a great score
You lad the NBA in scoring, and so wouldn't ship
would you find any any kind of grounds for agreement
if I told you that not every bucket you got
with the game on the line was the right basketball play,
(19:08):
But you were such a great score that I would
rather have you take a questionable shot than having somebody
else taken a little bit more open shop. If that's
where I disagree with you, because when you if you
know how to play the game the way it's supposed
to be played, you never take a shot if you
have a teammate in a better position to score than
you do. There was it wasn't like he had a
wide open opening. He was going to get challenged by
(19:29):
a defender. So he had a wide open guy, one
of the great shooters in the history of the NBA
from three point range. Wide open. I mean you just
that's the play that you have to make. That's the
intelligent basket in the smart play to make. Now, it
doesn't mean that he might not have been able to score.
It might have been able to do something, but it
wouldn't be is the correct play to make in that situation.
I never took a shot in my life that if
(19:52):
I had a teammate in a better position that I
wouldn't have taken the shot. Now, it doesn't mean I'm
gonna throw it if I'm going and I got an
eight foot at ten foot jumper, and I got a
teammate open. You know I'm gonna say, eighteen foot jumper.
I got a teammate open to twelve wide open, and
I can get my shot off that I'm gonna throw
to the guy wide open, because if I'm a better
shooter than he is, I'm not throwing to him even
if he's open. That's a play that you don't make.
(20:15):
Well we listen. I don't know if we have the
Brooder film of every shot you ever took. I loved
this one, this one i'd I'd love to challenge Rick
uh Rick Barry joining us on the Doug Gottlieb Show. Um, okay,
so what about Karver? Like to me, I know he
hit a big three in the fourth but of the
stories that don't get discussed, like he was brought in
for one sole purpose and he failed. For the most part,
(20:38):
I agreement he was. He was a disappointment. I thought that,
oh my god, he's going to really help those guys.
But he did not shoot the ball the way that
he had done in the past, and he got a
lot of great wide open looks. And that's why you
see the problem is that he got open looks which
he missed. But the thing is he's a one dimensional player.
That's why that's why I'm saying, you gotta add to
make Cleveland better, you've got to bring a guy who
(20:59):
could shoot the three, but also you can get to
the basket. Yeah, but the problem with that is they're
all they're they're locked up cap wise, right like they
You got to get young players. You have to have
the ability to recognize talent less like the Warriors, they
didn't bring in young people and not get hung up
on the athleticism necessarily of a player. But find a
guy who has a great stroke, who knows how to
play the game and knows and that's the kind of
(21:21):
players you've gotta bring in. You gotta look for those
kinds of players. The problem is these guys get so
hung up on athleticism. They bring all these athletic guys
in there who really don't know how to play the
game the way it should be played. Well, they actually
the Calves actually have all older guys off their bench.
They have plenty of shooting. They don't have They need
kind of the mix of athleticism, right, like they don't.
You're right, they need some younger bodies, but they they're
(21:44):
kind of caught in the well. We trust guys that
are older guys, and they'll take a little bit less money.
I think the money is the bigger fact. Last thing,
let you go, um, what outside of injury? Like, look,
if Kevin Duran gets hurt, God forbid, or Steph Curry
gets hurt or Clay Thompson gets hurt, that's what usually
leads two dynasties ending in their prime. Outside of that, Uh,
(22:04):
what what is your biggest concern that could change what
we think could be a multiple championship run from the
Golden State Warriors. This injury would be the thing. And
if somebody decided that they want to leave to get
more money, but money isn't even affected on it makes
so much even place that he'd rather be on a
team winning championships. And if they all go with that
attitude and keep playing the kind of basketball they do
and have the tweaking being done, wouldn't surprise me if
(22:26):
they look to find something to do something at the
center position. Those eyes are nice and everything, but come on,
you know they could do They could do better there.
They can get somebody that can help them even more there.
So that's what they're gonna do. They're gonna tweak it
and try to go and make themselves a little bit better.
But they've got a nucleus of flares that if they
all stay together and they stay healthy over the next
five six years, they can win multiple championships without question.
(22:46):
At your basketball camp, do you how do you teach
free throw shooting? I don't try to teach. I don't
try to force that on anybody. I just you know,
if somebody wants to learn it, that's great. I mean,
I don't it doesn't matter to me if somebody wants
to shoot or not. I just don't understand why people
want to. Don't want to try anything to get them
else to be better. What they need to do is
get my son Scooter with the solid shots that my
son took DeAndre Jordan in three short sessions and Adam
shooting seventies something to present from the free throw line
(23:08):
changed his form and everything and he stopped working with it.
Using this incredibly sophisticated sleep. My son has said the son,
you need to go hire yourself out as a shooting coach.
He could change guys shooting dramatically and team should get
ahold of him. Which son, all your sons gone shooter, okay,
because you like they can all shoot, Canyon can shoot?
Like they can all shoot? Yeah, they all can shoot.
(23:28):
And the thing is is he has something to help
guys get to be better shooters and it works, and
it's the It's the greatest teaching tool I have ever seen.
The problem is he's got to get some people with
some investment who put some money into to get the
price backed down. But I don't know. I'm trying to
get under armor. If under armor where to do the
Steph Curry shooting sleep and do this with Steff. Kids
could actually learn how to shoot exactly that stuff because
it would be programmed that way. They'll be flying off
(23:48):
the shows. I mean, it's the greatest teaching tool I've
ever seen. I've been around a long time. You can
I can see when you shoot what you're doing. Growing
it can't see everything every time. The sleeve sees everything
every time. Greatest teaching tool history. And it's gonna go
to other sports. They're working on it for other sports,
for various things. In baseball to help pictures so they
don't go and get the Dobby John surgery. They could
do it for football and showed it to some quarterbacks
who are Hall of famers. They said, oh my god,
(24:09):
this would be unbelievable for my camps, for the kids.
It can revolutionize the way people learn to do the
fundamentals in so many different sports. Incredible technology, Rick Berry, Rick,
thanks so much for catching up. Pay Let me get
a quick thing in there. You know to to for
me to go go g y V dot com forward slash,
Rick Berry. If people are trying to go ahead and
get themselves better, I got off a prescription jug for
(24:30):
inflammation and all by taking this stuff. Go g y
V dot com forward slash are Barry, check it out
and improve your life, Rick, great stuff. Thanks so much
for joining all right. Always a pleasure dog. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific. Last night
was a spectacular basketball game. There's no other way. It
was played at an exceptionally high level, and the adjustments
(24:53):
that the Cleveland Cavaliers made they continue to try to
be physical. Some of that was mitigated by the officiating
some of the was not. They really tried to pressure
Steph Curry. A lot of that helped them early on.
They tried to pressure and they tried to expose the
lack of rebounding from Golden State, and that in fact worked.
It was one of those games to which you thought
(25:14):
there would be one final great push from the Calves
and it just didn't come. They never really recovered from
the two to four run in which Tyron lou did
not call time out. Kevin Durant was spectacular, so too
was Lebron. James k d ends up with thirty nine.
I would point out Lebron didn't have some defensive missteps
in important parts late in the game. Thought Draymond played
(25:38):
his role to a t. He scored just enough points,
hit just enough shots, but also cleared the way for
Steph Curry, who who found some new found grit and
toughness to drive to the whole, get to the foul
line and get layups when his three pointers weren't falling.
But to me, the there's there's an elephant in the
room between the Calves and the Warriors and what the
(26:02):
Calves are actually missing and the likely change that probably
has to be made and the answer to the only
thing that can change the The foreseeable outcome of a
matchup next year is one injuries to the Golden State Warriors,
but two a change with Kevin Love. Love has to
(26:23):
be able to score and dominate on the boards against
those lineups he was not. And take a listen to
Tyron LOEU. I think the perception is, oh, the two
teams could not they're not closed. Golden States way better.
That's not true. Cleveland shot to win last night, they
had a shot to win in Game three. They didn't.
Here's Tyron, you know they beat us tonight. I don't.
(26:44):
I don't see a big gap. I thought we played
well and got better, you know each game. You know,
but against good teams, you can't, you know, give away
games like game and three at home and then expect
to come here and win in the hostile environment. So
when you have them beat, you have to beat them.
You know, you can't go back and forth or t
on the fence. You have to beat them. Thought mass
that was right, you know, I thought we gave the
right amount of fight, in the right amount of physicality
(27:05):
and up let meat us tonight. Yeah, I would I
tend to agree. Tristan was a no show the first
two games. But the big thing that killed this team
was what the hell were they doing in Game three
when they had the lead and they started going ice
so and stopped moving the ball, and Lebron stopped attacking
the rim and they started selling for jump shots and
they end up losing. And Kevin Durant, by the way, like,
if you want to tell me, the narrative is that
(27:27):
Lebron was better in the one game that decided the series,
Game three on the road, Kevin Durant droopled up the
floor and knocked down a three right in the eye
of Lebron James. That decided the series. And the only
thing that you feel like could change the series outcome
would be an adjustment to Kevin Love moving Kevin Love.
(27:47):
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.
Raymond Green is a really, really good player. I'm not
in any way trying to fame Raymond Green. He's not
one of the top fifteen players in the NBA. If
they'd redrafted the NBA draft, they wouldn't. No one would
(28:07):
draft Raymond Green in the top fifteen. Wouldn't happen. He
wouldn't go ahead of Anthony Davis. He wouldn't go and
he wouldn't go ahead of of DeMarcus Cousins. He wouldn't
go ahead of John Wall. He wouldn't go ahead of
Brad Beale. He just wouldn't. He wouldn't go ahead of
and Anti Dakompo Jonasan Dkompo, he wouldn't. He's really important
(28:29):
to how the Warriors play, but stop it. The reason
he's he's seen as all NBA player because he's playing
on a championship team to have the last three years,
but in the finals the last three years. So if
we use that, then if you're Chris Paul, you're like, look,
Chris Paul thinks to himself like any star player, who,
by the way, is also better than Draymond Green thanks
(28:52):
to himself, like I'm the best point guard on Earth.
There's no possible way that that in his heart of hearts,
and I'm sure it's probably come out to his friends
like that. Chris Paul doesn't sit there and go like
I'm the best point guard on Earth. But as he's
been able to show it. No, because you're not viewed
(29:14):
as such if you don't win for at least compete
for a championship. And so the question becomes, how does
Chris Paul react? And there's only one possible human reaction
that today. The reason free agency should be today is
when you're caused to make a knee jerk reaction, you
make one, and it's usually through emotion, and the emotion
(29:35):
has to be I'm looking at Kadi and Katie's the
same guy he was last year. The only difference is
the supporting cast, the culture of the ownership, the coach,
the championship pedigree. Now, I guess I'm fascinated by the
idea that Chris Paul could look at this and go, Look,
I could go from a guy who probably goes to
(29:57):
the Hall of Fame goes down as one of the
better guards UH in my era. Or I could go
to San Antonio, have a shot to win a title,
and if I win a title with the San Antonio Spurs,
I'm one of the greatest players to ever played the game.
Gordon Hayward. I can go to Boston play for a
(30:19):
guy who I know what he's like. Uh, they need
my style of play, they need my scoring. We compete
for a title. The calves are not that much better.
If get me add one more trade away Isaiah Thomas
as well, continue to get more players like those are
legit possibilities. How does the NBA by NBA, I mean
the players themselves? How do they react to how Kevin
(30:41):
Durant is now being viewed in comparison to how he
was viewed last year? That's the most fascinating post mortem
part about the NBA Finals won four games and won
by the Golden State Warriors. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio the
I Heart Radio app. All we want our athletes to
(31:03):
be is humble superstar. Right do you want the Richard
Sherman's Do you want to look at me? Like when
a guy doesn't look at me? We don't like it
when a guy says, hey, I'll welcome in another superstar
to be a better player on my team if it
helps us as one win. How can you not love that?
(31:25):
I love when Tim Duncan welcome to LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan.
Welcome to LaMarcus Aldridge to take his spot. Hey man,
come on in here, play with me for a year,
then him retire, then you take my spot. It's your team.
That's exactly what you want from a human being, not
just an athlete. Take a listen to this. This is
(31:45):
this is uh, this is Draymond Green talking about a
conversation he had with Steph Curry around Christmas time. Step
definitely took a back seat to start the season until
he realized we didn't need him to take a back seat.
We need you to aggressive as you're going to be.
And you know when when step turned that corner, I
think it was after Christmas Day. Um, when he turned
(32:07):
that corner, we became almost unbeatable, and you know, that's
what we needed. And so you know, that was this
whole thing. Who's gonna take less shots. It's gonna be Steph,
Katie Clay, none of them. You know, the ball is
gonna find who we need to find at the end
of the day, and that's those three guys, and we
need them guys to shoot the ball and score for us.
And they did that. Here's uh, here's Steph Curry on
(32:29):
the same conversation. You know, honestly, after that Christmas Day game,
I kind of understood that, you know, we have such
high i Q players that if I could be aggressive
and do what I do and they need to do
every single night, everything will will kind of float from that.
And I think the proof is obviously what we were
able to accomplish from that point on the regular season,
being sixteen wanted the playoffs, everybody being the best version
(32:50):
of themselves and you know, putting all the puzzle pieces together.
So just happy to be, you know, a leader on
this team that can understand the goals that we we
set out for and trying to get it done best
could I love buzzwords right and the buzzwords I hear?
Is we a leader, not the leader? A leader on
this team, accomplished goals right, best version of self? These
(33:14):
are parallels to the rest of life, Like these are
the types of people you want to emulate. You want
to emulate people that the first thing they tweet out
after the win a championship is that they don't accept
all the glory, like I'm not. I'm not. I'm I'm
more of a spiritual person than a religious person, But
I can respect people that like Steph Curry. I've I've
(33:34):
talked to people from USA Basketball, like, look, we've had
a lot of great people, We've never seen anything like
Steph Curry in terms of the type of person he is,
and that's on display last night. He was a two
time MVP. Was clearly his team success or failure was
based upon how he played, and he welcomed in another
(33:55):
guy and learned to be the better version of himself
with that guy. And last night a big reason they
won was he was constantly attacking, and Durant gave him
credit for that after the game. He was a bulldog
driving in there into contact, getting to the free through line,
making plays. So I look, I hear who was It
(34:18):
was his named from Vegas who called us Larry and Vegas,
Like I hear. Don't get me wrong, I hear it.
I I don't necessarily understand it. I know. I look,
I have I'm white, I have a white son. He
loves Steph Curry, but he also loves Odell Beckham Jr.
And J. J. Watt and Cam Newton like they just
love bigger than life superstars. But I I've heard it
(34:39):
well because he grew up, Like why is it. I
don't understand why it's his fault that he his dad
played in the NBA and they grew up with some money.
He doesn't flaun it right, like he's not coming out
with diamonds everywhere and bling everywhere. He's just the dad
cooking with his wife and cooking up NBA defenses. I
(35:01):
just I think the whole narrative so screwed up. I
think it's a real real it's a terrible snapshot of
who we are. Our hater society finds things to hate
about people that we should have only admiration for. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific and
now say get it? What does the Fox say? Uh? Uh, yeah,
(35:27):
you got it? Clay Travis had this like the reason
the NBA the NBA teams are not as deep as
they used to be is because so many of them
are top heavy with salary issues because of the salary cap.
Clay Travis has this idea for fixing that problem. The
NBA should have a salary cap, but they should have
(35:48):
at least one player on every team who isn't maxed out.
In the salary cap. In other words, a team should
be able to pay as much money as they possibly
want for one player. If that happen, then I believe
the era of super teams would basically end because in
my plan, in the NBA keeps tweaking the the the
(36:09):
the salary cap. They've got the luxury tax and everything else.
But Lebron James this year was probably worth a hundred
million dollars. He made around thirty million. That means that
effectively he's paying a seventy million dollar tax on his
earnings because he's artificially capped as to what he can make.
Look that all that sounds good? Okay, that's that's Clay
(36:32):
Travis the what does he consider himself? He's obviously capitalist, right,
And Clay tri was thinking, like, this is a tax situation,
this is a union negotiated deal, and that will never
happen because the NBA owners will be like, fine, but
they would hammer the players somewhere else. They have to
make money, and many of them don't make a ton
(36:54):
of money on the on the day to day because
their their expenses continue to uh to explode. Now they're
making more money with the TV deals than they did previously.
But the most money you make is on the value
of the franchise, not in the day to day operations.
And if there's no sound and oh yeah, by the way,
there's always going to be some sort of loophole, right,
(37:19):
And as much as you like, that would shut cut
down on on team on on teams, yeah yeah, but
it would also in some ways prohibit player movement. And
by the way, what happens the teams that have two
superstar players? All right, so who do you pay with
you your few of the Warriors? You pay Kevin Ran,
(37:40):
you you pay Steph Curry? Why can't you split up
the unlimited thing? What happens when you're unlimited guy gets hurt?
Or what happens you're unlimited guy isn't as good as
he thought he'd be, Or what if what happens when
you pay your unlimited guy and unlimited some of money
and he turns out to be a total turd and
you want to get rid of him, And and look,
(38:01):
salary caps are there not for the richest players, but
for the everyday wage earners. Look all you have to
do is look. Historically, the NFL had a season without
a salary cap do you remember it? Do you remember
what happened during the season, and be like, oh, costs,
contracts are going to explode. It's gonna be crazy. NFL
(38:24):
team spent less because with no ceiling, there's no floor,
so they can pay minimum earners as little as they want,
you know, salary cap fine. So with with any salary cap,
there's give and take. And the reason that and like, look,
(38:46):
the max contract thing is is cute, is clever even now,
even now, like there's guys that get max contract money,
Like what he's worth, what this whole thing could be
avoid the way of the on makes it up as
an endorsement deals, the way all the guys make it up.
He's the second highest paid athlete in the entire world too,
(39:07):
next to Christiano Ronaldo, who makes more because of endorsement
and and his his contract. He plays a lot more
games as well, or actually, no, I don't think he
plays a many games, plays in front of bigger crowds.
Um The way in which Lebron could have had a
better team was take less money instead of taking more.
Take less. Nobody's disputing that he's worth being the highest
(39:29):
Page's by the ways, highest player in the NBA. He's
worth it, fine, But had he taken less, and had
he demanded that other players who play with him, you
guys all take less and we're gonna win more, he
would have a better team around him. He didn't, and
so is goose is cooked. If you will
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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