June 21, 2017 • 47 mins
Doug questions if an aging LeBron James is the one who can bring the Lakers back to glory is a couple seasons. He points out that there is one team right now going into the draft and free agency that everyone needs to be on the lookout for. He talks to potential lottery pick and national champion Justin Jackson to find out where he thinks he will be taken in the draft.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug gottlie Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Booming Up America Doug gottlieb Show Live
from the City of Angels. It's hotter than hades outside.
That's because we're not actually in l A. We're in
Sherman Oaks. Was just over the hill, which means the
valley has three things all of us love. Traffic, smug
(00:23):
heat anyway, welcome in. We got a ton of things
to get to. Metric Ton Mark Hell Folks, likely the
number one overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Tomorrow
night's NBA Draft will join us live in just over
an hour. Bobby Mark's former front office member join us
in twenty minutes. We'll get his sense of what's already happened,
wild wild night. In basketball, We've already had more action
(00:46):
in the postseason in the NBA post the season than
in the postseason in the NBA. Dwight Howard sold off
for a for a plum lee and not even the
good plumb lee. Uh um. D'Angelo Russell sent to basketball
purgatory also known as the Brooklyn Nets for cap space
(01:08):
and the possibility of Jimmy Butler saying thanks but no
thanks to Cleveland, because that lake is on fire, more
figurtively and then literally like it was back in the eighties.
What is going on in Cleveland. We'll get to all
of that, but we're kind of burying a little bit
of the lead there is There is a presumption now
(01:31):
that Lebron James will play for the Lakers and possibly
the or possibly the Clippers a year from now. A
year from now, the Clippers would make sense because, as
we heard from Jerry West yesterday, who accepted a job
with the Clippers, the differences ownership right, he was selling
ownership to the players who are listening. I'm here, I'm
(01:54):
Jerry West. I'm the league's best, not just spokesperson in
terms of being a former player become executive, but he's
the most successful executive in the modern era of the NBA.
He talked about ownership and building their own brand, doing
their own thing, building their own arena. It sounds great,
(02:16):
but it also sounds like an ode to Lebron James,
come back, play with Chris Paul. We'll get Dwayne Wade,
he'll be a free agent, and we can get Carmelo
Anthony he'll be a free agent. To Banana Boat. The
Banana Boat crew will in fact play together. It's Staples only,
not for the Lakers. And then, of course, the Lakers
continue to clear out cap space for next year with
(02:37):
the thought that they get Paul George this year, maybe
get Paul George next year, and then add Lebron James
with What I'm going to say is sacrilegious, but what
I'm gonna say is based solely upon fact. What I'm
gonna say to you will not go over well with
your senses, but that's because you have too many feelings,
you have too many emotions. You believe that because I
(03:01):
think Michael Jordan is better than Lebron. What I'm saying
is somehow defaming towards Lebron James. Why do the Lakers
want Lebron James? Now? Which you can sit there and say,
d G, he just average a triple double in the
NBA Finals, the first ever player to do so, and
that would be a strong case. And whether or not
(03:23):
you think those stats are credible in evaluating how well
he played in comparison to Michael Jordan when he won
all six NBA finals. That that's a great barbershop discussion.
We've had that discussion. I'm not asking you, are telling you,
or wanting to discuss with you whether or not I
think Lebron James is awesome or was awesome this past season,
(03:46):
specifically in the playoffs. He was more efficient, he knows
his game, he plays multiple positions. He's tremendous. But he's
thirty two years old and thirty four years old old
in the NBA is the beginning of the end. Just
go and look at all of the all time grades,
(04:10):
most recently Kobe Bryant. What happened after thirty four years old?
The Achilles, the knee? He was never the same. You
go back to Magic. Obviously, he summarily retired because of
found he had HIV, but at thirty one, he wasn't
the same Magic Johnson, Larry Bird thirty five, retired Allen
Iverson out of the league. Granted Iverson didn't take care
(04:31):
of his body, was false far smaller, reckless on the
on the floor, reckless in his lifestyle off the floor,
probably caused him to to be washed up too soon.
Paul Pierce is retiring this year, but if you look
when his stats fell off, how old was he thirty
four years old? Thirty four years old in the NBA,
(04:53):
especially for a guy who started playing right out of
high school, who has more where off his tires than
any other set of of wheels in the league. He
played in Olympics, he played in preseasons, and he's played
in seven straight NBA finals. So I ask you again,
why would you want Lebron James. The likelihood is, in
(05:18):
order to get him, you have to pay him whatever
the most you can pay a free agent. Branded that's
not Larry Bird writes money. That's not some ridiculous, groundbreaking
fifty million year, which in all honesty he's worth based
upon the draw that he is for the entire league.
That's not the discussion. It's to sign him. You're gonna
(05:38):
have to sign him to thirty thirty five million long
term deal three four years. And what's the likelihood that
Lebron at thirty four is the same at Lebron at
thirty two. At thirty two, he had to take ten
games off in order to prepare himself for the playoffs,
And at thirty two he did have a couple of
games even in the playoffs where he appeared to be
(05:59):
worn down. I'm in my forties. I went for a
physical today. If you're in your forties, you went for
a physical today, you know what happened to be earlier. Today.
I feel great. I think I look pretty good all right,
But I'm not though s felt. I'm not as felt
(06:21):
as I used to be. Though I have decent hair.
I used to have great hair. I still got it,
I just don't got it as regularly. And that's as
a normal human being. Lebron James may be a superhuman.
He may be a freak of nature. He has never
gotten hurt. But the older you get, the more you
(06:42):
get hurt, the harder it is to recover, the harder
it is to bring it every night. And Lebron James
gets paid for bringing it as often as anybody ever has.
So I ask you again, if you're the Lakers and
you're remaking your team, why are you going after a
thirty four year old superstar who's more likely to be
at the tail end of his career. Like at least
(07:04):
when the Angels went after Albert Pools, the first four
years of the deal felt like a good deal. Everybody
knew the last five years of the deal, we're gonna
be a train wreck. He still hits. He can't run,
can't really field. He's fine, he hit over six hundred
home runs, been to the playoffs? What once with him?
How many of these deals for aging superstars do we
(07:25):
need to see? So what I ask you again is,
look if it was today, but take Lebron James lak
you stink. The only time they won last year when
they was when they were supposed to lose at the
end of the year. That's how bad they were. They
didn't have a great culture, their young players, don't have
a great feel for the game. They want to get
rid of everybody on that roster, with the exception of
(07:47):
Brandon Ingram, everybody they're all, hey, it's a fire sale.
You want him, come in, you can come and get him.
But putting all of your eggs in the basket of
Lebron James, not knowing what he'll play like a year
and a half from now, no less two and a half,
three and a half years from now, and thinking that
(08:07):
it's going to be the exact same thing we see
on the floor in the Lesser Eastern Conference at thirty
thirty two years old is a flawed premise Because the
only undefeated guy in the history of sports, his father time.
If I'm running the Lakers in this incredibly competitive landscape. Look,
(08:32):
the Rockets were good last year, and the Rockets are like,
look we're going out add more. We'll free up calve space.
We'll get CP three, We'll get Blake Griffin, We'll get
who's ever available. We always want to compete in Daryl
Mori has shown the ability. Went out and got Dwight
and look at the Dwight Haward thing didn't work, but
at least he went out and did it. Then he
remade the team last year and they exceeded expectations. Like
(08:53):
they're making moves. The Calves are gonna make some kind
of move. The Nick's gotta make a move. The Sixers
and make a move. The Celtics should make a move.
The Raptors got to figure out if they're gonna make
a move as they did at the end of last
season to try and get competitive, and it didn't work. Sirgebaka,
You're in a wildly competitive era with wildly competitive men.
(09:15):
I understand that Lebron James is the biggest name and
l A is the number one market, and the Lakers
are aware. Everyone comes at the end. You know, at
some point in their career. Shot came here, Will came here,
Kareem came here. They didn't start here. Paul Gasol came
here tomorrow to bounced around and became kind of a
(09:36):
bona fide star with the Lakers. Metal World Peace gonna
join us tomorrow on our NBA Draft coverage. He came here,
won a championship Best Player in the Game in Game seven,
Kobe's last championship. So there's plenty of pressing for players,
star players coming to the l A. Lakers playing in
(09:56):
l A, building their brand. It's a great when you
have kids, You've got money. It doesn't get any better.
The weather is always great. You don't have seasons. Yes,
you do the good one. But if I'm the Lakers,
why am I putting all the eggs in the basket
of a guy who, at thirty four years old is
not going to be what he has been at two.
(10:18):
It just doesn't happen that way, especially when you've played
in seven consecutive NBA finals. Don't believe me. I give
you Kobe Bryant, who was never hurt and never tired
and his body broke down. 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
(10:40):
I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome to Bobby Marx writes
for the Vertical, former front office member uh in his
kind of previous professional life, and so what he is,
He's like the front office guru for the vertical. Of
course they'll have their own draft show. Over the vertical.
We'll have ours and Fox Sports Trade. You can listen
to nationwide. Bobby joins us here on the Doug Gottlip Show. Bobby,
give me or sense of Let's start with the kind
(11:02):
of in chronological order Lakers trade D'Angelo Russell and I
knew that he had fallen out of favor, but they
still invested a number two pick in a couple of
years in him. Was was cap space the biggest reason
for that move. It was I think he is more
collateral damage for what you did last summer with Timothy
Moskoff's getting rid of that contract. And but you're right,
(11:26):
you did invest a lot in him, the second overall
pick a couple of years ago. Now what do you
do with that potential room? Uh? Next next summer here,
and that's going to be the big question. You hit
it right on the head. It's always not about the
first move, it's about the it's about the second move here. Yeah,
I guess My question though, is there's this presumption that, Okay,
they're clearing out space for the possibility of getting Lebron James.
(11:49):
It feels like a dangerous path to walk down, not
because you might not just because you might not get him,
because if in fact you get Lebron James, you're getting
thirty four year old Lebron James has been the seventh
straight end A Finals and you know, unless the thing
completely blows up this year, it'll be eight straight NBA finals.
Isn't there any thought, hey, Lebron is he may not
(12:10):
be completely over the hill yet, but he's crept up
on that peak and maybe on the other side of
the peak. Well, you're right, and that's why I'm not
in the camp of trading the number two overall pick
or trading Julius Randall some of these other assets for
for Paul George. If if Paul George really wants to
be a Laker, then you waited out and he'll find
with you as a as a free agent. And uh,
(12:33):
if you if you get him now and you give up.
We saw what New York went through, and I was
part of that next team when we got in that
bidding war back in two thousand and ten eleven with
with Carl mel Anthony. And you've got some of these
younger players to a poet. Who else are you gonna?
Who else is gonna? Is he gonna play with? And
I even if you got a Lebron James, who else
is coming with with that group? Are you much closer
(12:54):
to where uh you are in Golden States? And maybe
Lebron is in right now in Cleveland. And that's gonna
be the interesting question that the Lakers going to be in. Hey,
I was in New Jersey. We had a ton of
cap space. When you're Doug and we and you think
it's great, it's like, you know, it's like your wife's
the credit card to go shopping and then you can't
find anything you want to buy with it. And it's
(13:15):
fun to have it, and you it keeps your flexibility going.
But what it happened is is when you when you
miss out and your target your panic and then you
go out and sign guys that you know, certainly know
for three years thirty million guys that maybe don't fit,
but because you have the room, you think you need something.
Right now, you know you're in You're in Jersey. You
were with the Nets. Uh. And it reminds me that
(13:38):
there was a time in which people thought that the
Nets were going to get Darren Williams and Dwight Howard
and that was going to be the beginnings of the
Nets having a super tub and Joe Johnson as well.
Dwight Howard never never came into fruition, but he was
that well regarded the Lakers, son, the Rockets, son, even
(13:58):
his hometown Atlanta Atlanta Hawks signed him. And now he
was dealt away in a one for two deal, but
not huge names, a little bit of switching of draft picks.
What happened to Dwight Howard, Well, and that's more. I
think that's more of a financial move if you're looking
at it from in a perspective that you get rid
of that money now you're right in Uh, it's amazing.
(14:21):
And I look back on the amount that we were
ready to give give Orlando at the time to acquired
Dwight Howard, and that was, Yeah, that's four or five
years ago. It's not that long ago. But now you
have Howard, and Charlotte got Miles Plumbly and um Atlanta.
I think Howard will be fine in Charlotte. I think
that Steve Clifford, but hopefully the Steve Clifford relationship they're
(14:41):
having worked with Howard in Orlando will will be beneficial.
But yeah, I mean, he's basically run out of a
lot of different options here. He's known more of just
being a serviceable center. It's not that Dwight Howard, who
was an author or a franchise level player that you
can build your your your team around. I don't see
it as a big risk for Charlotte, Doug, I really don't.
I thought that Plumbly contract was deadweight. I understand why
(15:04):
rich Troe went out and did that last February because
you didn't have much room and Charlotte this summer next
summer weren't. It's going to be a team that was
gonna go out in free agency. So gives you a
little bit of depths getting rid of that Plumbly third
year there, all right, help me out with Jimmy Butler. UM.
Jimmy Butler reportedly has said as of now wants to
stay in Chicago, not psyched about the idea of Cleveland.
(15:28):
What are your thoughts on why Jimmy Butler, who is
kind of toiling there with a coach he didn't totally
jive with a team that doesn't appear to be close
at all to competing for the top of the East,
wouldn't be running to Cleveland for a chance to compete
for everything. Well, it's interesting because it's Jimmy Butler again.
I mean, we've talked about this two years in a
row at the draft, and I have a feeling if
(15:50):
if nothing changes in Chicago, we're gonna be talking about
I'll be talking to you next June right now. But
Jimmy Butler again. But the only difference is that, um,
it would be going into the last year of his contract.
I don't understand that the mindset for footballer, and I
don't think teams should be scared away from that. As
far as him saying that he wouldn't commit long term, Hey,
(16:11):
this is not Paul George right now. This is not
getting a guy on a short term rentally. You've got
him for for from for multiple for multiple years, all right,
So help me out with Cleveland. Um, Cleveland fires, David Griffin,
and now they're looking at at Chauncey Billips, and look,
Chauncey has is was incredibly well respected as a player
(16:32):
as a businessman, but he's uh, oh, you've never done
it before, and so I'm I would guess they try
and surround him with people cap specialists, other guys who
have who have been in and he would kind of
be the figurehead. Like it makes a little bit of
sense to me. What I don't understand is where they're going,
what they're doing. What is your sense of what actually
(16:53):
is going on in Cleveland's front office in trying to
refine this team in the short and long term. I
don't think the owner has the has respect for the
general manager's position. I really don't. And and I've said
it before, I think he's gonna learn a hard lesson
possibly next next summer and when Lebron becomes a free agent,
and and he won't get a third reprieve here like
(17:14):
he did, uh you know in two thousands fourteen when
when Lebron came back. And and I've I've said all
along that job is probably one of the toughest in
the n b A. And I give Griff a lot
of credit. I understand Lebron signed there and you were
able to do a lot of good deals with Kevin Love,
But half of that is managing the owner, managing your
your coaches. The half of Lebron fact in there. And
(17:34):
if if Chauncey is the guy and the right, he's
got to surround himself. So it's some high quality experience.
It's very different than what Magic and Rob Clink inherited
with Los Angeles because that was a team that had
not been in the playoffs. Whore you inherited a lot
of young players and you didn't kind of, you know,
start from some scratch there, and and that's a win
now team in Cleveland. Bobby Marks joining us on the
(17:55):
Doug Outlub Show. Give me somebody who you think could
be on the move that we're not talking about. It's
like we have a tendency in the national media to
focus on a couple of teams, like the Dwight Howard
thing got everybody by surprise, But I got everybody by
surprise because we're so hyper focused on Paul George, on
Jimmy Butler, on the Calves, on the Celtics, on the Lakers,
(18:17):
tell me somebody who you believe could be moved here
in these next twenty four hours. Well, I think the
name that we've heard lately, I think Patrick Beverley is
an interesting name, you know, especially where his contract is.
And I'm a I'm a huge Patrick Beverley fan, I
really am. I think he's a pit bowl and he's
on one of these low market contracts, and I think
if you see him possibly moved, I think that sets
(18:38):
the wheels emotion as far as as I said before,
what's the next move for them starting to create uh
some cap space. So we've we've seen him, I guess
linked to maybe Utah. As Utah get involved, they've got
two picks in the in the twenties. I think that
would if if that's in play, then you would think that,
you know, certainly the George Hill price tag could be
a little bit high. So I think I think he's
a type of player, you know, maybe not a high
(18:59):
you know name all star level player, but certainly a
quality guard. Uh, Bobby, there's uh, there's this this sense
in l A that it's going to be Alonzo ball.
I've talked to people in their front office and there's
a couple of saying, you know, Alonzo Ball wasn't from
l A and didn't have really like LaVar's kind of
helped him in creating this this it factor to him. Uh,
(19:23):
they might take Dearon Fox or might take Dennis Smith instead.
What are your thoughts about Alonzo and the challenges Hill
face once he gets to the NBA. Well, that's you're right,
You're right. I mean I always had hesitation of acquiring
or drafting players who are from the you know, your home,
the hometown. And I I think I'm a little bit
(19:44):
ballast scorn just because I went through with Stephon Marbor
when we acquired him, and you know, he was right
here in the backyard. So I think you're gonna have
to put some um, you know people around uh Alonzo
fool more protect him. The interesting kind of who comes
out of the woodwork if it's if it is l A,
and and you know what the role of the dad. Certainly,
I'm not nervous about the dad. I'm just nervous about
(20:07):
putting him in l A with a lot of different distractions,
you know, tickets, people may be coming for money. I've
seen that happen a lot of times, and and the
priority who certainly does shift a little bit, but I
think magic and with Rob there, I think they can
certainly protect him to an extent um. But as you know,
it's not just about you know, what goes on the court.
I think what goes on off the court certainly impacts
(20:27):
what when when you get on the court. Bob great,
Bobby great stuff man. Listen, you need to follow him
on Twitter, read his work in the Vertical, and of
course they have their own NBA Draft shows. Adrian Woreznowski
will have the pics for everybody else has the pics
and then they'll tell you kind of what all that means.
And Bid Marks is a former front office member, has
an unbelievable amount of insight for how this stuff all
(20:51):
actually works, because the rest is like, wait, what what happened?
Who's going where? Bobby, thanks so much for joining us.
Enjoy draft, I really enjoy what you do. Thanks. Talked
to you all right. It's Bobby Mark's front office insider.
The Vertical. 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
(21:11):
Radio app. Dwight Howard is officially a jag just uh guy, right,
just a guy. Now there's a lot to what makes
him just a guy. Has the NBA changed, Yeah, Like
(21:32):
we don't focus around centers. It's not like in the
NFL when we were kids. And if you're not old
enough to remember it, here's the way it was. Almost
every team, their best player or their most known player
was there running back. The Bills were the first team
to really spread it out and go for wide receivers
right the fun and gun. But they had the determinator.
They had Thurman Thomas. Barry Sanders was the iconic presence
(21:56):
on the Detroit Lions, Walter Payton, the Chicago Bears. You
go to whether it was Tony Dorsett or then Emmett
Smith on the Dallas Cowboys, Eric Dickerson with the l
A Ramps. Roger Craig. Everybody talks about Jerry Rice, Joe Montana.
They were great, but they had Roger Craig in the backfield.
(22:19):
The point was in the eighties and a lot of
the nineties, who you were in the NFL, the signature
player in your team was the running back. But that's
changed in the NBA was much the same. You go
back to the eighties and Kareem Abdul. What what did
all these championship teams have in common? I mean, really,
(22:39):
the Pistons were the first team to win without a
dominant center, and John Sally, James Donaldson, I mean Dennis
Rodin played some power for and he was undersized. Mark
Aguire really kind of a three four, right, They were
like the first team weren't playing small ball, but they
definitely weren't as digitus inside. Whereas the Houston Rockets at
(23:03):
one point had the Twin Towers, right, they had Ralph
Sampson and when they have Ralph Sampson and Moses Malone
and then eventually that a Chimali Jahan. He won two titles.
Shaquille O'Neill. And if you look historically in the NBA,
outside of Jordan's and Lebron and the Warriors, it's like
whoever had the best big men Celtics, it wasn't just
(23:24):
Larry Bird, had Kevin McHale, Robert Parish. So part of
it is times have change. Part of it is he
was never the same after his back injury. Part of
it is his reputation precedes him, and a lot of
it is in my opinion, the biggest flaw in players
(23:45):
who come straight out of high school. When Dwight Howard
came to the NBA Draft, I was on that draft
covers and um J. Billis was on the TV side
and he was staying is for not liking the Dwight
Howard pick number one overall. He liked Oka for from Yukon.
(24:05):
I didn't I like Dwight Howard. This is the two
thousand and let's say two thousand and four NBA Draft.
I believe right for two five and as much as
he gets credit, this is one of those things that
it's weird. We give credit to Lebron for getting his
Calves team to the NBA fund Mber oh seven. He
(24:28):
got his Calves team in the NBA Finals. The proof
positive that the Eastern Conference was crummy is Dwight Howard
also got the there's all these bizarre teams that got
to the NBA Finals. Dwight Howard, Richard Lewis. They got
the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals against the Lakers,
and I want to run that competitive missy missing free throws.
They miss free throws at the end of Game one,
(24:49):
they had a chance to steal it or is the
game one of game too miss free had a chance
to steal a game. Miss free throws never recovered, which
is kind of the m O for the Orlando Magic.
Only other time they were in the NBA Finals, they
had act and Penny Hardaway and Nick Anderson and uh uh,
Nick Anderson missed four free throws in a row. They
lost Game one of the Rockets and they never recovered.
(25:12):
But but he went from a guy who consistently led
the NBA in rebounding in shoplock to just being a guy,
just a guy. And he had some good games last year,
but he ever's like ten and eight for the entire season.
What now? Did he get hurt by the fact that
(25:34):
Atlanta hired a new general manager, sure that the team
under ad overachieved previously and probably rightfully achieved this year. Okay,
is he an easy target? He is, But the fact
that his game never developed. You don't really develop your
(25:55):
game in the NBA. That doesn't happen very often. You
developed the you have to. I'm a big believer in this.
I want guys to be able to dominate in high school,
then dominating college, then dominating the pros. And one of
the things that. If you look at the NBA playoffs,
every starting big man was a foreign big was foreign
(26:17):
born everyone. Do we not have big players in the
United States? Like we stopped producing six ten seven footers,
Like that's not true. What happens in the United States
is though they get to college and then boom them,
they gotta go to the pros as soon as they
get drafted, and they don't really develop. They kind of
refine and hone some of what they already have, but
they don't develop dominant post moves. Part of it is
(26:39):
the physicality in the game, but part of it is
the lack of time in which to teach them how
to really play. But Dwight Howard went from Superman and
a Cape, winning dunk contests, being on commercials to being
the punchline for every joke of a has Been And
he's like thirty one years old. He's not old, but
(27:02):
he's closer to washed up than he has to be
an all star Dwight Howard's to Jack Wow. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific. I love
what Scott Boris does in Major League baseball. He has
this genius, brilliant way of doing two things that seemed
(27:24):
always get his players paid. The first thing is he
throws out some ridiculous number so that when his player
signs to what is really in reality is a ridiculous
number in comparison, you're like, oh, we saved a bunch
of money. Like Bryce Harper, he said, like they can
sign for five hund million dollars. Bryce Harper is not
going to sign for five hundred million dollars. It's not
(27:45):
going to happen. It's not gonna happen. Like, I don't
really think the Yankees are going to bid or need
Bryce Harper. They may bid, but not five dollars because
if you pay Bryce Harper, that what are you gonna
pay when Aaron Judge or Gary Sanchez or those guys
UH need their first or their second second contract, their
(28:06):
first big contract right like screws up their entire economic
plan and they're good enough. Like the Yankees, ability to
win is not gonna be based upon their hitting. They
gotta add pitching, depth of starting pitching as their bullpen
is when when there, when their bullpen is right, will
be great. The point is boris will Hey, Bryce Harper
is gonna sign for five billion dollars. And so when
(28:30):
the Gnats re signed him, or when the Dodgers signed him,
or when the Cubs signed him, or I mean there's
only a couple when the Red Sox signed or whatever.
Like that's the kind of the only team's Angels signed
him to a four million dollar contract. The sale to
Angel fans like, hey, we saved a hundred million dollars,
Like night, didn't you paid for you spent? But that's
(28:52):
the brilliance two boars. The other thing that Boris does
is he always like there's a secret team, right, there's
a team out there. I'm not gonna say who they are,
but they want they want this guy at our going, right.
And remember this happened with Robbie Cano. When Robbie Cano
signed with the Seattle Mariners and the Mariners signed him
(29:12):
to a two seventy five million dollar deal, and the
Yankees had offered him like in the one eight range.
What happened was the Mariners offered them to two million dollars,
and they found out somebody else offered him like two
hundred ten million dollars, and so they up the offer.
Do you know the other team that offered Robbie Cano
about the same money was it was, in fact the Mariners,
(29:32):
Like the secret team was not really a secret, Like
you're the secret team, h fit on themselves. Yeah, the
secret sauce is Thousand Island and the secret team is
actually not a secret. Okay, the secret is you already
(29:52):
know what the secret You already know what the secret is.
I bring that up because, um, every uh every year,
we we we we we do pay attention to a
to a lot of other teams. And the Rockets seem
to be the secret team, the not so secret team.
(30:15):
And and look, I don't know if they're trolling the
Clippers saying like, hey, look we're clearing out space. Well
it's at Millsap, Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Like,
I don't do I think Chris Paul and James Harden
could co function? Sure? Why not? Like Chris Paul only
pounds the basketball and dominates the ball because would you
(30:36):
rather him go one on one or him come off
a ball screen or JJ Reddick or Lucre charonbar Motte. Right,
some of it is personnel based because when Jamal Crawford
comes in and plays with Chris Paul. Chris Paul doesn't
dominate the ball. He lets Jamal Crawford do his thing,
doesn't he? So do I think they could co function?
I do? Do I think that Blake Griffin would be interesting?
I do. On the other hand, don't they like to
(30:57):
spread you out shoot a lot of threes? How does
Blake Griffin fit in with that style once they get
into the half court. Kyle Lowry, Paul Millsap. I guess
Millsap is an upgrade over Ryan Anderson defensively rebounding, but
that much I don't know. The secret team is always
(31:17):
the Rockets. Like the Rockets have been really really interesting
the past couple of years in taking chances. They got
outbid for Chandler Parsons, which ended up being a blessing
more than a curse. After Parsons had his best season
as a pro playing with them. They did that I
was with Remember they had to Dwight Howard thing. They
remade themselves this year. But um, they are kind of
(31:41):
always in that discussion. And they are the one secret
team that's not a secret that I could absolutely see
taking on a taking on a contract, taking on a player,
taking a chance. They're just that's how that organization is wired.
That organization is wire like, hey, you know, we gotta
take some chances that other people aren't willing to take.
(32:09):
And for the most part, it's they have stayed relevant,
they have stayed above water. They've had some they had
some bad playoff runs too. Don't get me wrong, the
Dwight Howard thing did not work, but this year they
overachieved based upon their talent. They took a big step
in understanding how to make James Harden play at his
(32:31):
absolute peak, and then once he got to the top
of the profession, I think it showed that he didn't
have enough help. And so Darryl Morris sitting there going like,
you know what, big boy, uncle, get you some mount.
We'll go get you a big name guy who can
go make a play. And so, while, uh, while, while
some of this is the Boris aspect of it with
(32:52):
the Rockets, like hey, we're gonna clear out a bunch
of cast phase, We're gona go get it, and maybe
they strike out, but it's a team that I'm just like,
I always leave Boris's guys are eventually going to get paid.
I think the Rockets are eventually going to get another guy,
yes music. Out of the ones that were listed by
Mark Stein, Paul Millsap, Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul, or Blake Griffin,
(33:13):
any one of those guys in particular jump out to
you as the one that could really take them to
that next level or would it just be adding more
pieces to the rockets in general is what they need? Well?
I mean, like, look, I think any of them would
would make them significantly better. I don't know what exactly
they would part with, what and how? You know, it's
it's it's never just a it's a lot like that.
(33:34):
When they when the Warriors went out and got Kevin Durant,
it wasn't just put Kevin Durant in, take Harrison Barnes
and sem to the Mavericks. They had remake their bench,
they had to change their center. They got to get
rid of Andrew Bogat because the contract. You know, all
those things had to happen. So if you just say, hey,
I'm gonna take Ryan Anderson out and put Blake Griffin
in their better team, if I put take Chris Paul out,
if I if I take Patrick Beverley out and put
(33:56):
Chris Paul in they're a better team. It's it's it's
how they formulate the rest of them. I think Millsap
is probably the most realistic. Millsap led the n c
A and rebounding three consecutive years, has stretched his his
his game out to three point range. I think he
can play some center for them, play some power forward
and like, look what they've What they they lack with
(34:18):
with their stretch forwards and stretch fives is toughness and
rebounding and long arms, and he provides that form. So
I think Millsap is realistic, and I think Millsap makes
a bunch of sense. I also think they'll overpay for Millsap,
whereas the Hawks will not. And I think the Clippers
will for Blake and the Clippers will for Chris Paul Millsap,
(34:43):
but to me appears to be the most likely. 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. I equate
the Terrible twos to being like a rookie quarterback, right like, Oh,
rookie quarterbacks, they don't know what they're doing. You can't
(35:05):
give him the whole playbook. They're not used to even calling,
they're not even used to being in the huddle right,
or they're not used to taking snaps in your center.
With the way people play in college football, Yeah, rookie
quarterbacks the worst. But the truth is that you're prepared
for a rookie quarterback when you start Dak Prescott. You
don't have him look at the whole field to start
the season. You don't have him called check with me,
(35:26):
is to the line of scrimmage? You don't you you
give him, hey, listen, you run the play and here's
your one audible right, and if you don't have it,
then you tuck it and you run it. You make
it very very streamlined, very very simple, which is a
lot like your preparation for the terrible twos when you
have a two year old and they throw a fit
and they you're trying to cross the street and they're
laying on the ground, kicking their feet, screaming. You're you're
(35:48):
even though it's still agitating, it's not as bad. He's like, well,
because then you people are looking at you like he's two, Like, oh,
terrible twos, terrible twos, but three years old or so
than four. Actually found four is a pretty good age.
Three years old is what you're talking about. Dan, three
years old. You give him a little bit more of
the playbook. Right, they're kind of they can be like
(36:09):
potty trained, but there's still a chance that they may
not know when when Uncle Duke he is coming. Right. Um,
they still may go in their pants, which embarrassed it,
but they don't, you know, they don't need they're big
boys now, they're big girls. Now they sleep in big
boy in big girl beds like they have sort of independence,
but they're still just three years old. The same thing
(36:30):
was second year quarterbacks like Dak Prescott now has had
a complete season of being a starter. He started in
the playoffs, and even though that didn't go well for them,
the fact is he does have some experience under his belt.
So now he's like he's the guy Romos calling games.
He's got no pressure, but their schedule is prohibitively more difficult.
They've given him the entire playbook and at the end
(36:52):
of the day, he's still only played in what fifteen
sixteen games in the NFL. He's really not that experienced.
He's just far more experienced than a rookie quarterback. Three
year olds are harder raised than two year olds, just
like second year quarterbacks are much more in predictable and
much more likely to some than rookies are. And in
(37:13):
addition to that, if you know the way the NFL
works was scheduling, and if you look at the Dallas
Cowboys schedule, it's way more difficult than it was last year.
I think, so you kind of nailed it, But four
was a little bit old. Three was more what I
was looking for, or actually two was what I was
looking for, And I wanted to make the point that
a three or a four year old is is tougher. Um.
(37:34):
Here there's the the other part about Dak Prescott winning
an m v P, why it's very unlikely happened, is like,
in order for him to win the m v P,
Ezekiel it has to have a big year, and if
Zekiel has, they're gonna split the votes. I would never
bet on Roethlisberger because I can't remember the last time
Ben Roethlisberger played every game in the season or close
to every game in the season. He is always banged up, always, always, always,
(37:58):
even though he is Mark Tavis Bryant is back with
the team this year. He and Tom Brady have have
I mean really, Roethlisberger has way better as incredible talent
around him incredible and Brady has better talent around him.
The problem with Roethlisberger is unlikely to play the whole year.
(38:19):
He never does, He's always hurt. And he's got Levian Bell,
who like Ezeki Elliott. If Ben Roethlisberger has a big year,
levy On Bell has to have a big year, they'll
split the votes. Wilson's interesting to me. The guy you would,
I mean Cam Newton coming off of a of a
shoulder surgery, No chance I would. I would lay a
penny on that. The guy to put your money on,
(38:42):
which seems smart, is Derek Carr. Derek Carr, they play
a wide open offense, their defense isn't very good. They're
gonna put up a bunch of points. He's playing the
league long enough to know something. You make make better decisions.
(39:04):
Derek Carr would be the guy. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at
three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. He's a national champion,
He's getting ready to be a first round draft pick.
He's justin Jackson, he joins us, Like, why are you
so nice? Um, I don't know. Uh, just the way
(39:24):
all parents brought me. For me, it's a blessing of
being any of these situations up and then, um, and
you know what, I accept the Player of the Year award.
I think he's uh, like I said before, he's fully
deserving of it. Uh, I guess not. I'm not gonna
take anything away from myself though, yeah I wouldn't either.
(39:46):
You had a spectacular season. You could have gone pro
last year. You decided, of course, after losing and devastating
fashion the last second buzzer beater, to come back and
not only a c C Player of the Year, but
you're a national champion, like you're you're now the poster
boy for why you come back to school, right. Yeah,
(40:07):
you know I knew it wasn't ready. Um, And I
got feedback saying based I wasn't ready and why I
needed to get better at to play at this level.
And um, you know that's why I went back and
worked on and uh. You know, hopefully a lot of
people you know I didn't do it trying to be
an example or anything like that. But hopefully a lot
of guys that maybe aren't ready to leave college, Hopefully
(40:27):
a lot of them can look at kind of my
story and say, hey, I can't come back and I
could still go um in a decent spot of the
jaff So Um, it all worked out for me. Hopefully
it works out for a lot of other people as well.
Justin Jackson, North Carolina getting ready for the NBA Draft,
a CC Player of the Year, national champion joining us
on Fox Sports Tradio on the Doug Gottlieb Show. You're homeschooled.
You're a homeschool national champion, but you're homeschooled in high school?
(40:50):
How important was the off the court stuff being a
student at North Carolina for your personal maturation? Like, look,
I know you've always been around the fellas playing basket ball,
but uh, it's different when you haven't gone to a
high school. You haven't gone through that dynamic. How important
was that social aspect for you to mature and get
ready for the challenges of being a professional. Um? Yeah,
(41:13):
I mean I think first and foremost. Um, you know,
whether you're private, public, homeschool, or whatever. Um, there's nothing
to really prepare you for college. Um, whenever it comes
to social aspect. Let alone go into a college like
North Carolina where being a basketball player in the time,
you're not looked at as a normal student. Um. And
(41:35):
so I mean going going there and the whole social
aspect and everything like that. It was an adjustment and um,
you know, I think that was a big thing that
I grew over this past year as well, was maturing
just in my if you want to call it social life, um,
just kind of in my decision making and everything like that.
So that was definitely big. And I think now going
(41:57):
into this process, I'm definitely a whole lot more mature,
ready um to deal with whatever is going to be
thrown at me at this level. Is there something you
cut out of your life? It's something you change that
that was dramatic, I mean that you can share. Um. Uh,
you know, there's a bunch of things. I mean I
said a whole lot of you know, I'm engaged now
(42:18):
and so, um, you know, there were a lot of
things that I had to keep me away from, you know,
all of the temptations and everything like that. There were
things that I had to do. I mean, I got
off of a whole bunch of different things. I blocked
a whole bunch of numbers. I did a whole bunch
of um, a whole bunch of things to try to
(42:39):
keep myself away from, you know, things that might make
me fall so UM. You know, I'll keep I'll kind
of keep all of that just kind of vague, But
there were things that I had to cut out, um
and put in place for myself to try to live
the way that I want to live. Justin Jackson joining
us the average eight in the game, five rebounds, three
assist uh up to three point percentage and UH and
(43:02):
and one A national championship as the a CEC Player
of the Year for North Carolina. They did so an
incredible fashion against against Gonzaga in in Arizona. All right,
let's let me go through a couple of a CEC guys,
and you just gave me kind of Donovan Mitchell. Uh.
The in playing against Donovan Mitchell, your one thought is what,
(43:24):
um explosive. He's very explosive, very quick. Uh. And I
think this year he showed he can he can put
the ball in the bucket extremely easy. I'm fascinated fascinated
by Jonathan isa like he just he looks like a
twenty one century player. What's what's the what's the part
(43:46):
of his game though that he needs to take the
next step. Ah See, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
try to sique all of these guys there in the draft.
You know, I think he's a guy that whenever it
comes to potential and you know, his ability to combined
with his size, he can do a whole lot of things. Um,
And so you know he knows and he's definitely working
(44:10):
on every single day. He's gonna go extremely behind the
draft and be able to make an impact right away. So, um,
I think just his size and everything combined. Um, you know,
he's kind of he's he's a freak going into his draft.
It's crazy how many guys you've played against, right, Like
Malik Monkey, he gave it to you guys, right, you
got Zack Collins is gonna go uh you obviously played
(44:31):
against him in the National Championship, like we could go
through obviously you know Tatum, uh Giles and Kinnard who
you played against all these guys in high school and
a U and All Star games, but also you played
against this year like you would actually be a great
resource for all these gms as to as to what
type of players they are. Yeah, I mean for me though,
(44:51):
I don't. I'm not gonna talk about about anybody. So
I don't know. If the GM's want to come to me, Um,
I'll tell them, I'll tell them, uh straight up. I
think there it'll be a little nicer than what they
would get from maybe other outside sources. For for you.
And I can't think has there been another hy um
homeschool kid drafted in the first round of the draft.
(45:12):
I'm trying to think if that's if that's happened. Um,
I don't. I mean, I know, like Blake Griffin was
apparently homeschool, but he was home school for like a year,
and yeah, he went he went to he went to
a smaller school, but he went to he went to
an actual school in Oklahoma City. Yeah, so I don't.
I don't know if any like I can look, you
come from super home beginnings. I know your parents are
(45:34):
really influential in your life. And like to go from
that to being drafted tomorrow night, what what's that? What's
that journey gonna be? Like we to culminate for you
in your mind um, a whole lot of hard work. Um.
You know I started out playing basketball and I wasn't
good at all, and uh, you know, my parents said
they would support me, but I had to put in
the time. Um, and so I did it and things
(45:58):
started to come and cant need that. I can see
that and now in the air. And if you a
dream come true for sure, where do you think you're going?
I have no idea, you have no I have no idea,
or you like I have an idea, but I don't
want to say I'll go with that second. Um. And
for me, it's you know, I'm just enjoying the ride.
(46:18):
I mean, it's can you tell me what kind of
can you tell me what kind of climate? Like? Is
it a hot climate? Is it a is it a
rainy climate like like like in the Pacific Northeast? Is it?
Is it? We just we just went through, uh through
media training today and I'm gonna go ahead and uh,
you know, like I said, I'm enjoying the process. Um,
(46:41):
and we'll see. Wait, wait are you did you just
say you're trusting the process? That what you said justin
You're you're trusting You're trusting the prices, he said, he's oh,
he said, enjoying the process. I've I've enjoying yeah, and
joining so so we'll see what happens tomorrow. Well, listen, man,
I can't tell you how much fun it's been to
cover you and watch you grow and mature, play for
one and then win a national championship and do it
(47:03):
the right way. We should the best of luck tomorrow
night and onto the NBA. Thanks so much for joining
us on Fox Sports Radio. Thank you for having me
This is the best of the Doug gottlie Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Booming Up America Doug gottlieb Show Live
from the City of Angels. It's hotter than hades outside.
That's because we're not actually in l A. We're in
Sherman Oaks. Was just over the hill, which means the
valley has three things all of us love. Traffic, smug
(00:23):
heat anyway, welcome in. We got a ton of things
to get to. Metric Ton Mark Hell Folks, likely the
number one overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Tomorrow
night's NBA Draft will join us live in just over
an hour. Bobby Mark's former front office member join us
in twenty minutes. We'll get his sense of what's already happened,
wild wild night. In basketball, We've already had more action
(00:46):
in the postseason in the NBA post the season than
in the postseason in the NBA. Dwight Howard sold off
for a for a plum lee and not even the
good plumb lee. Uh um. D'Angelo Russell sent to basketball
purgatory also known as the Brooklyn Nets for cap space
(01:08):
and the possibility of Jimmy Butler saying thanks but no
thanks to Cleveland, because that lake is on fire, more
figurtively and then literally like it was back in the eighties.
What is going on in Cleveland. We'll get to all
of that, but we're kind of burying a little bit
of the lead there is There is a presumption now
(01:31):
that Lebron James will play for the Lakers and possibly
the or possibly the Clippers a year from now. A
year from now, the Clippers would make sense because, as
we heard from Jerry West yesterday, who accepted a job
with the Clippers, the differences ownership right, he was selling
ownership to the players who are listening. I'm here, I'm
(01:54):
Jerry West. I'm the league's best, not just spokesperson in
terms of being a former player become executive, but he's
the most successful executive in the modern era of the NBA.
He talked about ownership and building their own brand, doing
their own thing, building their own arena. It sounds great,
(02:16):
but it also sounds like an ode to Lebron James,
come back, play with Chris Paul. We'll get Dwayne Wade,
he'll be a free agent, and we can get Carmelo
Anthony he'll be a free agent. To Banana Boat. The
Banana Boat crew will in fact play together. It's Staples only,
not for the Lakers. And then, of course, the Lakers
continue to clear out cap space for next year with
(02:37):
the thought that they get Paul George this year, maybe
get Paul George next year, and then add Lebron James
with What I'm going to say is sacrilegious, but what
I'm gonna say is based solely upon fact. What I'm
gonna say to you will not go over well with
your senses, but that's because you have too many feelings,
you have too many emotions. You believe that because I
(03:01):
think Michael Jordan is better than Lebron. What I'm saying
is somehow defaming towards Lebron James. Why do the Lakers
want Lebron James? Now? Which you can sit there and say,
d G, he just average a triple double in the
NBA Finals, the first ever player to do so, and
that would be a strong case. And whether or not
(03:23):
you think those stats are credible in evaluating how well
he played in comparison to Michael Jordan when he won
all six NBA finals. That that's a great barbershop discussion.
We've had that discussion. I'm not asking you, are telling you,
or wanting to discuss with you whether or not I
think Lebron James is awesome or was awesome this past season,
(03:46):
specifically in the playoffs. He was more efficient, he knows
his game, he plays multiple positions. He's tremendous. But he's
thirty two years old and thirty four years old old
in the NBA is the beginning of the end. Just
go and look at all of the all time grades,
(04:10):
most recently Kobe Bryant. What happened after thirty four years old?
The Achilles, the knee? He was never the same. You
go back to Magic. Obviously, he summarily retired because of
found he had HIV, but at thirty one, he wasn't
the same Magic Johnson, Larry Bird thirty five, retired Allen
Iverson out of the league. Granted Iverson didn't take care
(04:31):
of his body, was false far smaller, reckless on the
on the floor, reckless in his lifestyle off the floor,
probably caused him to to be washed up too soon.
Paul Pierce is retiring this year, but if you look
when his stats fell off, how old was he thirty
four years old? Thirty four years old in the NBA,
(04:53):
especially for a guy who started playing right out of
high school, who has more where off his tires than
any other set of of wheels in the league. He
played in Olympics, he played in preseasons, and he's played
in seven straight NBA finals. So I ask you again,
why would you want Lebron James. The likelihood is, in
(05:18):
order to get him, you have to pay him whatever
the most you can pay a free agent. Branded that's
not Larry Bird writes money. That's not some ridiculous, groundbreaking
fifty million year, which in all honesty he's worth based
upon the draw that he is for the entire league.
That's not the discussion. It's to sign him. You're gonna
(05:38):
have to sign him to thirty thirty five million long
term deal three four years. And what's the likelihood that
Lebron at thirty four is the same at Lebron at
thirty two. At thirty two, he had to take ten
games off in order to prepare himself for the playoffs,
And at thirty two he did have a couple of
games even in the playoffs where he appeared to be
(05:59):
worn down. I'm in my forties. I went for a
physical today. If you're in your forties, you went for
a physical today, you know what happened to be earlier. Today.
I feel great. I think I look pretty good all right,
But I'm not though s felt. I'm not as felt
(06:21):
as I used to be. Though I have decent hair.
I used to have great hair. I still got it,
I just don't got it as regularly. And that's as
a normal human being. Lebron James may be a superhuman.
He may be a freak of nature. He has never
gotten hurt. But the older you get, the more you
(06:42):
get hurt, the harder it is to recover, the harder
it is to bring it every night. And Lebron James
gets paid for bringing it as often as anybody ever has.
So I ask you again, if you're the Lakers and
you're remaking your team, why are you going after a
thirty four year old superstar who's more likely to be
at the tail end of his career. Like at least
(07:04):
when the Angels went after Albert Pools, the first four
years of the deal felt like a good deal. Everybody
knew the last five years of the deal, we're gonna
be a train wreck. He still hits. He can't run,
can't really field. He's fine, he hit over six hundred
home runs, been to the playoffs? What once with him?
How many of these deals for aging superstars do we
(07:25):
need to see? So what I ask you again is,
look if it was today, but take Lebron James lak
you stink. The only time they won last year when
they was when they were supposed to lose at the
end of the year. That's how bad they were. They
didn't have a great culture, their young players, don't have
a great feel for the game. They want to get
rid of everybody on that roster, with the exception of
(07:47):
Brandon Ingram, everybody they're all, hey, it's a fire sale.
You want him, come in, you can come and get him.
But putting all of your eggs in the basket of
Lebron James, not knowing what he'll play like a year
and a half from now, no less two and a half,
three and a half years from now, and thinking that
(08:07):
it's going to be the exact same thing we see
on the floor in the Lesser Eastern Conference at thirty
thirty two years old is a flawed premise Because the
only undefeated guy in the history of sports, his father time.
If I'm running the Lakers in this incredibly competitive landscape. Look,
(08:32):
the Rockets were good last year, and the Rockets are like,
look we're going out add more. We'll free up calve space.
We'll get CP three, We'll get Blake Griffin, We'll get
who's ever available. We always want to compete in Daryl
Mori has shown the ability. Went out and got Dwight
and look at the Dwight Haward thing didn't work, but
at least he went out and did it. Then he
remade the team last year and they exceeded expectations. Like
(08:53):
they're making moves. The Calves are gonna make some kind
of move. The Nick's gotta make a move. The Sixers
and make a move. The Celtics should make a move.
The Raptors got to figure out if they're gonna make
a move as they did at the end of last
season to try and get competitive, and it didn't work. Sirgebaka,
You're in a wildly competitive era with wildly competitive men.
(09:15):
I understand that Lebron James is the biggest name and
l A is the number one market, and the Lakers
are aware. Everyone comes at the end. You know, at
some point in their career. Shot came here, Will came here,
Kareem came here. They didn't start here. Paul Gasol came
here tomorrow to bounced around and became kind of a
(09:36):
bona fide star with the Lakers. Metal World Peace gonna
join us tomorrow on our NBA Draft coverage. He came here,
won a championship Best Player in the Game in Game seven,
Kobe's last championship. So there's plenty of pressing for players,
star players coming to the l A. Lakers playing in
(09:56):
l A, building their brand. It's a great when you
have kids, You've got money. It doesn't get any better.
The weather is always great. You don't have seasons. Yes,
you do the good one. But if I'm the Lakers,
why am I putting all the eggs in the basket
of a guy who, at thirty four years old is
not going to be what he has been at two.
(10:18):
It just doesn't happen that way, especially when you've played
in seven consecutive NBA finals. Don't believe me. I give
you Kobe Bryant, who was never hurt and never tired
and his body broke down. 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
(10:40):
I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome to Bobby Marx writes
for the Vertical, former front office member uh in his
kind of previous professional life, and so what he is,
He's like the front office guru for the vertical. Of
course they'll have their own draft show. Over the vertical.
We'll have ours and Fox Sports Trade. You can listen
to nationwide. Bobby joins us here on the Doug Gottlip Show. Bobby,
give me or sense of Let's start with the kind
(11:02):
of in chronological order Lakers trade D'Angelo Russell and I
knew that he had fallen out of favor, but they
still invested a number two pick in a couple of
years in him. Was was cap space the biggest reason
for that move. It was I think he is more
collateral damage for what you did last summer with Timothy
Moskoff's getting rid of that contract. And but you're right,
(11:26):
you did invest a lot in him, the second overall
pick a couple of years ago. Now what do you
do with that potential room? Uh? Next next summer here,
and that's going to be the big question. You hit
it right on the head. It's always not about the
first move, it's about the it's about the second move here. Yeah,
I guess My question though, is there's this presumption that, Okay,
they're clearing out space for the possibility of getting Lebron James.
(11:49):
It feels like a dangerous path to walk down, not
because you might not just because you might not get him,
because if in fact you get Lebron James, you're getting
thirty four year old Lebron James has been the seventh
straight end A Finals and you know, unless the thing
completely blows up this year, it'll be eight straight NBA finals.
Isn't there any thought, hey, Lebron is he may not
(12:10):
be completely over the hill yet, but he's crept up
on that peak and maybe on the other side of
the peak. Well, you're right, and that's why I'm not
in the camp of trading the number two overall pick
or trading Julius Randall some of these other assets for
for Paul George. If if Paul George really wants to
be a Laker, then you waited out and he'll find
with you as a as a free agent. And uh,
(12:33):
if you if you get him now and you give up.
We saw what New York went through, and I was
part of that next team when we got in that
bidding war back in two thousand and ten eleven with
with Carl mel Anthony. And you've got some of these
younger players to a poet. Who else are you gonna?
Who else is gonna? Is he gonna play with? And
I even if you got a Lebron James, who else
is coming with with that group? Are you much closer
(12:54):
to where uh you are in Golden States? And maybe
Lebron is in right now in Cleveland. And that's gonna
be the interesting question that the Lakers going to be in. Hey,
I was in New Jersey. We had a ton of
cap space. When you're Doug and we and you think
it's great, it's like, you know, it's like your wife's
the credit card to go shopping and then you can't
find anything you want to buy with it. And it's
(13:15):
fun to have it, and you it keeps your flexibility going.
But what it happened is is when you when you
miss out and your target your panic and then you
go out and sign guys that you know, certainly know
for three years thirty million guys that maybe don't fit,
but because you have the room, you think you need something.
Right now, you know you're in You're in Jersey. You
were with the Nets. Uh. And it reminds me that
(13:38):
there was a time in which people thought that the
Nets were going to get Darren Williams and Dwight Howard
and that was going to be the beginnings of the
Nets having a super tub and Joe Johnson as well.
Dwight Howard never never came into fruition, but he was
that well regarded the Lakers, son, the Rockets, son, even
(13:58):
his hometown Atlanta Atlanta Hawks signed him. And now he
was dealt away in a one for two deal, but
not huge names, a little bit of switching of draft picks.
What happened to Dwight Howard, Well, and that's more. I
think that's more of a financial move if you're looking
at it from in a perspective that you get rid
of that money now you're right in Uh, it's amazing.
(14:21):
And I look back on the amount that we were
ready to give give Orlando at the time to acquired
Dwight Howard, and that was, Yeah, that's four or five
years ago. It's not that long ago. But now you
have Howard, and Charlotte got Miles Plumbly and um Atlanta.
I think Howard will be fine in Charlotte. I think
that Steve Clifford, but hopefully the Steve Clifford relationship they're
(14:41):
having worked with Howard in Orlando will will be beneficial.
But yeah, I mean, he's basically run out of a
lot of different options here. He's known more of just
being a serviceable center. It's not that Dwight Howard, who
was an author or a franchise level player that you
can build your your your team around. I don't see
it as a big risk for Charlotte, Doug, I really don't.
I thought that Plumbly contract was deadweight. I understand why
(15:04):
rich Troe went out and did that last February because
you didn't have much room and Charlotte this summer next
summer weren't. It's going to be a team that was
gonna go out in free agency. So gives you a
little bit of depths getting rid of that Plumbly third
year there, all right, help me out with Jimmy Butler. UM.
Jimmy Butler reportedly has said as of now wants to
stay in Chicago, not psyched about the idea of Cleveland.
(15:28):
What are your thoughts on why Jimmy Butler, who is
kind of toiling there with a coach he didn't totally
jive with a team that doesn't appear to be close
at all to competing for the top of the East,
wouldn't be running to Cleveland for a chance to compete
for everything. Well, it's interesting because it's Jimmy Butler again.
I mean, we've talked about this two years in a
row at the draft, and I have a feeling if
(15:50):
if nothing changes in Chicago, we're gonna be talking about
I'll be talking to you next June right now. But
Jimmy Butler again. But the only difference is that, um,
it would be going into the last year of his contract.
I don't understand that the mindset for footballer, and I
don't think teams should be scared away from that. As
far as him saying that he wouldn't commit long term, Hey,
(16:11):
this is not Paul George right now. This is not
getting a guy on a short term rentally. You've got
him for for from for multiple for multiple years, all right,
So help me out with Cleveland. Um, Cleveland fires, David Griffin,
and now they're looking at at Chauncey Billips, and look,
Chauncey has is was incredibly well respected as a player
(16:32):
as a businessman, but he's uh, oh, you've never done
it before, and so I'm I would guess they try
and surround him with people cap specialists, other guys who
have who have been in and he would kind of
be the figurehead. Like it makes a little bit of
sense to me. What I don't understand is where they're going,
what they're doing. What is your sense of what actually
(16:53):
is going on in Cleveland's front office in trying to
refine this team in the short and long term. I
don't think the owner has the has respect for the
general manager's position. I really don't. And and I've said
it before, I think he's gonna learn a hard lesson
possibly next next summer and when Lebron becomes a free agent,
and and he won't get a third reprieve here like
(17:14):
he did, uh you know in two thousands fourteen when
when Lebron came back. And and I've I've said all
along that job is probably one of the toughest in
the n b A. And I give Griff a lot
of credit. I understand Lebron signed there and you were
able to do a lot of good deals with Kevin Love,
But half of that is managing the owner, managing your
your coaches. The half of Lebron fact in there. And
(17:34):
if if Chauncey is the guy and the right, he's
got to surround himself. So it's some high quality experience.
It's very different than what Magic and Rob Clink inherited
with Los Angeles because that was a team that had
not been in the playoffs. Whore you inherited a lot
of young players and you didn't kind of, you know,
start from some scratch there, and and that's a win
now team in Cleveland. Bobby Marks joining us on the
(17:55):
Doug Outlub Show. Give me somebody who you think could
be on the move that we're not talking about. It's
like we have a tendency in the national media to
focus on a couple of teams, like the Dwight Howard
thing got everybody by surprise, But I got everybody by
surprise because we're so hyper focused on Paul George, on
Jimmy Butler, on the Calves, on the Celtics, on the Lakers,
(18:17):
tell me somebody who you believe could be moved here
in these next twenty four hours. Well, I think the
name that we've heard lately, I think Patrick Beverley is
an interesting name, you know, especially where his contract is.
And I'm a I'm a huge Patrick Beverley fan, I
really am. I think he's a pit bowl and he's
on one of these low market contracts, and I think
if you see him possibly moved, I think that sets
(18:38):
the wheels emotion as far as as I said before,
what's the next move for them starting to create uh
some cap space. So we've we've seen him, I guess
linked to maybe Utah. As Utah get involved, they've got
two picks in the in the twenties. I think that
would if if that's in play, then you would think that,
you know, certainly the George Hill price tag could be
a little bit high. So I think I think he's
a type of player, you know, maybe not a high
(18:59):
you know name all star level player, but certainly a
quality guard. Uh, Bobby, there's uh, there's this this sense
in l A that it's going to be Alonzo ball.
I've talked to people in their front office and there's
a couple of saying, you know, Alonzo Ball wasn't from
l A and didn't have really like LaVar's kind of
helped him in creating this this it factor to him. Uh,
(19:23):
they might take Dearon Fox or might take Dennis Smith instead.
What are your thoughts about Alonzo and the challenges Hill
face once he gets to the NBA. Well, that's you're right,
You're right. I mean I always had hesitation of acquiring
or drafting players who are from the you know, your home,
the hometown. And I I think I'm a little bit
(19:44):
ballast scorn just because I went through with Stephon Marbor
when we acquired him, and you know, he was right
here in the backyard. So I think you're gonna have
to put some um, you know people around uh Alonzo
fool more protect him. The interesting kind of who comes
out of the woodwork if it's if it is l A,
and and you know what the role of the dad. Certainly,
I'm not nervous about the dad. I'm just nervous about
(20:07):
putting him in l A with a lot of different distractions,
you know, tickets, people may be coming for money. I've
seen that happen a lot of times, and and the
priority who certainly does shift a little bit, but I
think magic and with Rob there, I think they can
certainly protect him to an extent um. But as you know,
it's not just about you know, what goes on the court.
I think what goes on off the court certainly impacts
(20:27):
what when when you get on the court. Bob great,
Bobby great stuff man. Listen, you need to follow him
on Twitter, read his work in the Vertical, and of
course they have their own NBA Draft shows. Adrian Woreznowski
will have the pics for everybody else has the pics
and then they'll tell you kind of what all that means.
And Bid Marks is a former front office member, has
an unbelievable amount of insight for how this stuff all
(20:51):
actually works, because the rest is like, wait, what what happened?
Who's going where? Bobby, thanks so much for joining us.
Enjoy draft, I really enjoy what you do. Thanks. Talked
to you all right. It's Bobby Mark's front office insider.
The Vertical. 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
(21:11):
Radio app. Dwight Howard is officially a jag just uh guy, right,
just a guy. Now there's a lot to what makes
him just a guy. Has the NBA changed, Yeah, Like
(21:32):
we don't focus around centers. It's not like in the
NFL when we were kids. And if you're not old
enough to remember it, here's the way it was. Almost
every team, their best player or their most known player
was there running back. The Bills were the first team
to really spread it out and go for wide receivers
right the fun and gun. But they had the determinator.
They had Thurman Thomas. Barry Sanders was the iconic presence
(21:56):
on the Detroit Lions, Walter Payton, the Chicago Bears. You
go to whether it was Tony Dorsett or then Emmett
Smith on the Dallas Cowboys, Eric Dickerson with the l
A Ramps. Roger Craig. Everybody talks about Jerry Rice, Joe Montana.
They were great, but they had Roger Craig in the backfield.
(22:19):
The point was in the eighties and a lot of
the nineties, who you were in the NFL, the signature
player in your team was the running back. But that's
changed in the NBA was much the same. You go
back to the eighties and Kareem Abdul. What what did
all these championship teams have in common? I mean, really,
(22:39):
the Pistons were the first team to win without a
dominant center, and John Sally, James Donaldson, I mean Dennis
Rodin played some power for and he was undersized. Mark
Aguire really kind of a three four, right, They were
like the first team weren't playing small ball, but they
definitely weren't as digitus inside. Whereas the Houston Rockets at
(23:03):
one point had the Twin Towers, right, they had Ralph
Sampson and when they have Ralph Sampson and Moses Malone
and then eventually that a Chimali Jahan. He won two titles.
Shaquille O'Neill. And if you look historically in the NBA,
outside of Jordan's and Lebron and the Warriors, it's like
whoever had the best big men Celtics, it wasn't just
(23:24):
Larry Bird, had Kevin McHale, Robert Parish. So part of
it is times have change. Part of it is he
was never the same after his back injury. Part of
it is his reputation precedes him, and a lot of
it is in my opinion, the biggest flaw in players
(23:45):
who come straight out of high school. When Dwight Howard
came to the NBA Draft, I was on that draft
covers and um J. Billis was on the TV side
and he was staying is for not liking the Dwight
Howard pick number one overall. He liked Oka for from Yukon.
(24:05):
I didn't I like Dwight Howard. This is the two
thousand and let's say two thousand and four NBA Draft.
I believe right for two five and as much as
he gets credit, this is one of those things that
it's weird. We give credit to Lebron for getting his
Calves team to the NBA fund Mber oh seven. He
(24:28):
got his Calves team in the NBA Finals. The proof
positive that the Eastern Conference was crummy is Dwight Howard
also got the there's all these bizarre teams that got
to the NBA Finals. Dwight Howard, Richard Lewis. They got
the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals against the Lakers,
and I want to run that competitive missy missing free throws.
They miss free throws at the end of Game one,
(24:49):
they had a chance to steal it or is the
game one of game too miss free had a chance
to steal a game. Miss free throws never recovered, which
is kind of the m O for the Orlando Magic.
Only other time they were in the NBA Finals, they
had act and Penny Hardaway and Nick Anderson and uh uh,
Nick Anderson missed four free throws in a row. They
lost Game one of the Rockets and they never recovered.
(25:12):
But but he went from a guy who consistently led
the NBA in rebounding in shoplock to just being a guy,
just a guy. And he had some good games last year,
but he ever's like ten and eight for the entire season.
What now? Did he get hurt by the fact that
(25:34):
Atlanta hired a new general manager, sure that the team
under ad overachieved previously and probably rightfully achieved this year. Okay,
is he an easy target? He is, But the fact
that his game never developed. You don't really develop your
(25:55):
game in the NBA. That doesn't happen very often. You
developed the you have to. I'm a big believer in this.
I want guys to be able to dominate in high school,
then dominating college, then dominating the pros. And one of
the things that. If you look at the NBA playoffs,
every starting big man was a foreign big was foreign
(26:17):
born everyone. Do we not have big players in the
United States? Like we stopped producing six ten seven footers,
Like that's not true. What happens in the United States
is though they get to college and then boom them,
they gotta go to the pros as soon as they
get drafted, and they don't really develop. They kind of
refine and hone some of what they already have, but
they don't develop dominant post moves. Part of it is
(26:39):
the physicality in the game, but part of it is
the lack of time in which to teach them how
to really play. But Dwight Howard went from Superman and
a Cape, winning dunk contests, being on commercials to being
the punchline for every joke of a has Been And
he's like thirty one years old. He's not old, but
(27:02):
he's closer to washed up than he has to be
an all star Dwight Howard's to Jack Wow. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaves Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific. I love
what Scott Boris does in Major League baseball. He has
this genius, brilliant way of doing two things that seemed
(27:24):
always get his players paid. The first thing is he
throws out some ridiculous number so that when his player
signs to what is really in reality is a ridiculous
number in comparison, you're like, oh, we saved a bunch
of money. Like Bryce Harper, he said, like they can
sign for five hund million dollars. Bryce Harper is not
going to sign for five hundred million dollars. It's not
(27:45):
going to happen. It's not gonna happen. Like, I don't
really think the Yankees are going to bid or need
Bryce Harper. They may bid, but not five dollars because
if you pay Bryce Harper, that what are you gonna
pay when Aaron Judge or Gary Sanchez or those guys
UH need their first or their second second contract, their
(28:06):
first big contract right like screws up their entire economic
plan and they're good enough. Like the Yankees, ability to
win is not gonna be based upon their hitting. They
gotta add pitching, depth of starting pitching as their bullpen
is when when there, when their bullpen is right, will
be great. The point is boris will Hey, Bryce Harper
is gonna sign for five billion dollars. And so when
(28:30):
the Gnats re signed him, or when the Dodgers signed him,
or when the Cubs signed him, or I mean there's
only a couple when the Red Sox signed or whatever.
Like that's the kind of the only team's Angels signed
him to a four million dollar contract. The sale to
Angel fans like, hey, we saved a hundred million dollars,
Like night, didn't you paid for you spent? But that's
(28:52):
the brilliance two boars. The other thing that Boris does
is he always like there's a secret team, right, there's
a team out there. I'm not gonna say who they are,
but they want they want this guy at our going, right.
And remember this happened with Robbie Cano. When Robbie Cano
signed with the Seattle Mariners and the Mariners signed him
(29:12):
to a two seventy five million dollar deal, and the
Yankees had offered him like in the one eight range.
What happened was the Mariners offered them to two million dollars,
and they found out somebody else offered him like two
hundred ten million dollars, and so they up the offer.
Do you know the other team that offered Robbie Cano
about the same money was it was, in fact the Mariners,
(29:32):
Like the secret team was not really a secret, Like
you're the secret team, h fit on themselves. Yeah, the
secret sauce is Thousand Island and the secret team is
actually not a secret. Okay, the secret is you already
(29:52):
know what the secret You already know what the secret is.
I bring that up because, um, every uh every year,
we we we we we do pay attention to a
to a lot of other teams. And the Rockets seem
to be the secret team, the not so secret team.
(30:15):
And and look, I don't know if they're trolling the
Clippers saying like, hey, look we're clearing out space. Well
it's at Millsap, Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Like,
I don't do I think Chris Paul and James Harden
could co function? Sure? Why not? Like Chris Paul only
pounds the basketball and dominates the ball because would you
(30:36):
rather him go one on one or him come off
a ball screen or JJ Reddick or Lucre charonbar Motte. Right,
some of it is personnel based because when Jamal Crawford
comes in and plays with Chris Paul. Chris Paul doesn't
dominate the ball. He lets Jamal Crawford do his thing,
doesn't he? So do I think they could co function?
I do? Do I think that Blake Griffin would be interesting?
I do. On the other hand, don't they like to
(30:57):
spread you out shoot a lot of threes? How does
Blake Griffin fit in with that style once they get
into the half court. Kyle Lowry, Paul Millsap. I guess
Millsap is an upgrade over Ryan Anderson defensively rebounding, but
that much I don't know. The secret team is always
(31:17):
the Rockets. Like the Rockets have been really really interesting
the past couple of years in taking chances. They got
outbid for Chandler Parsons, which ended up being a blessing
more than a curse. After Parsons had his best season
as a pro playing with them. They did that I
was with Remember they had to Dwight Howard thing. They
remade themselves this year. But um, they are kind of
(31:41):
always in that discussion. And they are the one secret
team that's not a secret that I could absolutely see
taking on a taking on a contract, taking on a player,
taking a chance. They're just that's how that organization is wired.
That organization is wire like, hey, you know, we gotta
take some chances that other people aren't willing to take.
(32:09):
And for the most part, it's they have stayed relevant,
they have stayed above water. They've had some they had
some bad playoff runs too. Don't get me wrong, the
Dwight Howard thing did not work, but this year they
overachieved based upon their talent. They took a big step
in understanding how to make James Harden play at his
(32:31):
absolute peak, and then once he got to the top
of the profession, I think it showed that he didn't
have enough help. And so Darryl Morris sitting there going like,
you know what, big boy, uncle, get you some mount.
We'll go get you a big name guy who can
go make a play. And so, while, uh, while, while
some of this is the Boris aspect of it with
(32:52):
the Rockets, like hey, we're gonna clear out a bunch
of cast phase, We're gona go get it, and maybe
they strike out, but it's a team that I'm just like,
I always leave Boris's guys are eventually going to get paid.
I think the Rockets are eventually going to get another guy,
yes music. Out of the ones that were listed by
Mark Stein, Paul Millsap, Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul, or Blake Griffin,
(33:13):
any one of those guys in particular jump out to
you as the one that could really take them to
that next level or would it just be adding more
pieces to the rockets in general is what they need? Well?
I mean, like, look, I think any of them would
would make them significantly better. I don't know what exactly
they would part with, what and how? You know, it's
it's it's never just a it's a lot like that.
(33:34):
When they when the Warriors went out and got Kevin Durant,
it wasn't just put Kevin Durant in, take Harrison Barnes
and sem to the Mavericks. They had remake their bench,
they had to change their center. They got to get
rid of Andrew Bogat because the contract. You know, all
those things had to happen. So if you just say, hey,
I'm gonna take Ryan Anderson out and put Blake Griffin
in their better team, if I put take Chris Paul out,
if I if I take Patrick Beverley out and put
(33:56):
Chris Paul in they're a better team. It's it's it's
how they formulate the rest of them. I think Millsap
is probably the most realistic. Millsap led the n c
A and rebounding three consecutive years, has stretched his his
his game out to three point range. I think he
can play some center for them, play some power forward
and like, look what they've What they they lack with
(34:18):
with their stretch forwards and stretch fives is toughness and
rebounding and long arms, and he provides that form. So
I think Millsap is realistic, and I think Millsap makes
a bunch of sense. I also think they'll overpay for Millsap,
whereas the Hawks will not. And I think the Clippers
will for Blake and the Clippers will for Chris Paul Millsap,
(34:43):
but to me appears to be the most likely. 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. I equate
the Terrible twos to being like a rookie quarterback, right like, Oh,
rookie quarterbacks, they don't know what they're doing. You can't
(35:05):
give him the whole playbook. They're not used to even calling,
they're not even used to being in the huddle right,
or they're not used to taking snaps in your center.
With the way people play in college football, Yeah, rookie
quarterbacks the worst. But the truth is that you're prepared
for a rookie quarterback when you start Dak Prescott. You
don't have him look at the whole field to start
the season. You don't have him called check with me,
(35:26):
is to the line of scrimmage? You don't you you
give him, hey, listen, you run the play and here's
your one audible right, and if you don't have it,
then you tuck it and you run it. You make
it very very streamlined, very very simple, which is a
lot like your preparation for the terrible twos when you
have a two year old and they throw a fit
and they you're trying to cross the street and they're
laying on the ground, kicking their feet, screaming. You're you're
(35:48):
even though it's still agitating, it's not as bad. He's like, well,
because then you people are looking at you like he's two, Like, oh,
terrible twos, terrible twos, but three years old or so
than four. Actually found four is a pretty good age.
Three years old is what you're talking about. Dan, three
years old. You give him a little bit more of
the playbook. Right, they're kind of they can be like
(36:09):
potty trained, but there's still a chance that they may
not know when when Uncle Duke he is coming. Right. Um,
they still may go in their pants, which embarrassed it,
but they don't, you know, they don't need they're big
boys now, they're big girls. Now they sleep in big
boy in big girl beds like they have sort of independence,
but they're still just three years old. The same thing
(36:30):
was second year quarterbacks like Dak Prescott now has had
a complete season of being a starter. He started in
the playoffs, and even though that didn't go well for them,
the fact is he does have some experience under his belt.
So now he's like he's the guy Romos calling games.
He's got no pressure, but their schedule is prohibitively more difficult.
They've given him the entire playbook and at the end
(36:52):
of the day, he's still only played in what fifteen
sixteen games in the NFL. He's really not that experienced.
He's just far more experienced than a rookie quarterback. Three
year olds are harder raised than two year olds, just
like second year quarterbacks are much more in predictable and
much more likely to some than rookies are. And in
(37:13):
addition to that, if you know the way the NFL
works was scheduling, and if you look at the Dallas
Cowboys schedule, it's way more difficult than it was last year.
I think, so you kind of nailed it, But four
was a little bit old. Three was more what I
was looking for, or actually two was what I was
looking for, And I wanted to make the point that
a three or a four year old is is tougher. Um.
(37:34):
Here there's the the other part about Dak Prescott winning
an m v P, why it's very unlikely happened, is like,
in order for him to win the m v P,
Ezekiel it has to have a big year, and if
Zekiel has, they're gonna split the votes. I would never
bet on Roethlisberger because I can't remember the last time
Ben Roethlisberger played every game in the season or close
to every game in the season. He is always banged up, always, always, always,
(37:58):
even though he is Mark Tavis Bryant is back with
the team this year. He and Tom Brady have have
I mean really, Roethlisberger has way better as incredible talent
around him incredible and Brady has better talent around him.
The problem with Roethlisberger is unlikely to play the whole year.
(38:19):
He never does, He's always hurt. And he's got Levian Bell,
who like Ezeki Elliott. If Ben Roethlisberger has a big year,
levy On Bell has to have a big year, they'll
split the votes. Wilson's interesting to me. The guy you would,
I mean Cam Newton coming off of a of a
shoulder surgery, No chance I would. I would lay a
penny on that. The guy to put your money on,
(38:42):
which seems smart, is Derek Carr. Derek Carr, they play
a wide open offense, their defense isn't very good. They're
gonna put up a bunch of points. He's playing the
league long enough to know something. You make make better decisions.
(39:04):
Derek Carr would be the guy. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at
three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. He's a national champion,
He's getting ready to be a first round draft pick.
He's justin Jackson, he joins us, Like, why are you
so nice? Um, I don't know. Uh, just the way
(39:24):
all parents brought me. For me, it's a blessing of
being any of these situations up and then, um, and
you know what, I accept the Player of the Year award.
I think he's uh, like I said before, he's fully
deserving of it. Uh, I guess not. I'm not gonna
take anything away from myself though, yeah I wouldn't either.
(39:46):
You had a spectacular season. You could have gone pro
last year. You decided, of course, after losing and devastating
fashion the last second buzzer beater, to come back and
not only a c C Player of the Year, but
you're a national champion, like you're you're now the poster
boy for why you come back to school, right. Yeah,
(40:07):
you know I knew it wasn't ready. Um, And I
got feedback saying based I wasn't ready and why I
needed to get better at to play at this level.
And um, you know that's why I went back and
worked on and uh. You know, hopefully a lot of
people you know I didn't do it trying to be
an example or anything like that. But hopefully a lot
of guys that maybe aren't ready to leave college, Hopefully
(40:27):
a lot of them can look at kind of my
story and say, hey, I can't come back and I
could still go um in a decent spot of the
jaff So Um, it all worked out for me. Hopefully
it works out for a lot of other people as well.
Justin Jackson, North Carolina getting ready for the NBA Draft,
a CC Player of the Year, national champion joining us
on Fox Sports Tradio on the Doug Gottlieb Show. You're homeschooled.
You're a homeschool national champion, but you're homeschooled in high school?
(40:50):
How important was the off the court stuff being a
student at North Carolina for your personal maturation? Like, look,
I know you've always been around the fellas playing basket ball,
but uh, it's different when you haven't gone to a
high school. You haven't gone through that dynamic. How important
was that social aspect for you to mature and get
ready for the challenges of being a professional. Um? Yeah,
(41:13):
I mean I think first and foremost. Um, you know,
whether you're private, public, homeschool, or whatever. Um, there's nothing
to really prepare you for college. Um, whenever it comes
to social aspect. Let alone go into a college like
North Carolina where being a basketball player in the time,
you're not looked at as a normal student. Um. And
(41:35):
so I mean going going there and the whole social
aspect and everything like that. It was an adjustment and um,
you know, I think that was a big thing that
I grew over this past year as well, was maturing
just in my if you want to call it social life, um,
just kind of in my decision making and everything like that.
So that was definitely big. And I think now going
(41:57):
into this process, I'm definitely a whole lot more mature,
ready um to deal with whatever is going to be
thrown at me at this level. Is there something you
cut out of your life? It's something you change that
that was dramatic, I mean that you can share. Um. Uh,
you know, there's a bunch of things. I mean I
said a whole lot of you know, I'm engaged now
(42:18):
and so, um, you know, there were a lot of
things that I had to keep me away from, you know,
all of the temptations and everything like that. There were
things that I had to do. I mean, I got
off of a whole bunch of different things. I blocked
a whole bunch of numbers. I did a whole bunch
of um, a whole bunch of things to try to
(42:39):
keep myself away from, you know, things that might make
me fall so UM. You know, I'll keep I'll kind
of keep all of that just kind of vague, But
there were things that I had to cut out, um
and put in place for myself to try to live
the way that I want to live. Justin Jackson joining
us the average eight in the game, five rebounds, three
assist uh up to three point percentage and UH and
(43:02):
and one A national championship as the a CEC Player
of the Year for North Carolina. They did so an
incredible fashion against against Gonzaga in in Arizona. All right,
let's let me go through a couple of a CEC guys,
and you just gave me kind of Donovan Mitchell. Uh.
The in playing against Donovan Mitchell, your one thought is what,
(43:24):
um explosive. He's very explosive, very quick. Uh. And I
think this year he showed he can he can put
the ball in the bucket extremely easy. I'm fascinated fascinated
by Jonathan isa like he just he looks like a
twenty one century player. What's what's the what's the part
(43:46):
of his game though that he needs to take the
next step. Ah See, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
try to sique all of these guys there in the draft.
You know, I think he's a guy that whenever it
comes to potential and you know, his ability to combined
with his size, he can do a whole lot of things. Um,
And so you know he knows and he's definitely working
(44:10):
on every single day. He's gonna go extremely behind the
draft and be able to make an impact right away. So, um,
I think just his size and everything combined. Um, you know,
he's kind of he's he's a freak going into his draft.
It's crazy how many guys you've played against, right, Like
Malik Monkey, he gave it to you guys, right, you
got Zack Collins is gonna go uh you obviously played
(44:31):
against him in the National Championship, like we could go
through obviously you know Tatum, uh Giles and Kinnard who
you played against all these guys in high school and
a U and All Star games, but also you played
against this year like you would actually be a great
resource for all these gms as to as to what
type of players they are. Yeah, I mean for me though,
(44:51):
I don't. I'm not gonna talk about about anybody. So
I don't know. If the GM's want to come to me, Um,
I'll tell them, I'll tell them, uh straight up. I
think there it'll be a little nicer than what they
would get from maybe other outside sources. For for you.
And I can't think has there been another hy um
homeschool kid drafted in the first round of the draft.
(45:12):
I'm trying to think if that's if that's happened. Um,
I don't. I mean, I know, like Blake Griffin was
apparently homeschool, but he was home school for like a year,
and yeah, he went he went to he went to
a smaller school, but he went to he went to
an actual school in Oklahoma City. Yeah, so I don't.
I don't know if any like I can look, you
come from super home beginnings. I know your parents are
(45:34):
really influential in your life. And like to go from
that to being drafted tomorrow night, what what's that? What's
that journey gonna be? Like we to culminate for you
in your mind um, a whole lot of hard work. Um.
You know I started out playing basketball and I wasn't
good at all, and uh, you know, my parents said
they would support me, but I had to put in
the time. Um, and so I did it and things
(45:58):
started to come and cant need that. I can see
that and now in the air. And if you a
dream come true for sure, where do you think you're going?
I have no idea, you have no I have no idea,
or you like I have an idea, but I don't
want to say I'll go with that second. Um. And
for me, it's you know, I'm just enjoying the ride.
(46:18):
I mean, it's can you tell me what kind of
can you tell me what kind of climate? Like? Is
it a hot climate? Is it a is it a
rainy climate like like like in the Pacific Northeast? Is it?
Is it? We just we just went through, uh through
media training today and I'm gonna go ahead and uh,
you know, like I said, I'm enjoying the process. Um,
(46:41):
and we'll see. Wait, wait are you did you just
say you're trusting the process? That what you said justin
You're you're trusting You're trusting the prices, he said, he's oh,
he said, enjoying the process. I've I've enjoying yeah, and
joining so so we'll see what happens tomorrow. Well, listen, man,
I can't tell you how much fun it's been to
cover you and watch you grow and mature, play for
one and then win a national championship and do it
(47:03):
the right way. We should the best of luck tomorrow
night and onto the NBA. Thanks so much for joining
us on Fox Sports Radio. Thank you for having me
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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