July 3, 2017 • 37 mins
Doug argues the East has always been weak and continues to get worse so why is it impressive for LeBron James to make it to the Finals every year? He talks about Paul George getting traded to the Thunder and what that really means for Oklahoma City. Doug talks to NBA Champion and former Celtic Brian Scalabrine about Gordon Hayward possibly choosing Boston in Free Agency.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Dog Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Leap Show, Fox Sports Radio. We
continue to broadcast from the other side of the world,
Tel Aviv, Israel. I've been to the Dead Sea, I've
been to Massada, I've been in the Mediterranean. But more importantly,
I'm here with you. Next three hours you give me call,
(00:22):
I want to talk sports with you. Eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven on Fox. It's
the Dog Got Leap Show on Fox Sports Radio. So
much to get to and most of it very very
interesting stuff. Regarding the association. The NBA's free agency, of course,
kicked off before free agency actually started. That's when Chris
(00:42):
paul Um what I would think, would decimate the Clippers.
Like the Clippers are clearly trying to reform themselves with
Danilo Gallinari, uh, it feels like an eventuality. He'll be
there along with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan's and the plethora
of guard that they now have minus JJ Reddick, who
got twenty three million dollars for just one season with
(01:07):
the Philadelphia seventies six ers. That's a wow. That's a
right place and right time contract. Um. But I think
any normal either, even mouth breather would would tell you
the Clippers go from being you know, I could see
a way in which they could maybe make a run
to the Western Conference finals and possibly you know, win
(01:30):
the thing too. I could see a way in which
they can maybe make the playoffs maybe. And then because
Chris Paul chose to not choose the Spurs, it feels
like the Spurs, it's it's difficult to see them competing
for an NBA championship. And so he goes to Houston
(01:50):
and lo and behold, now it does. Houston makes some
other additions and re up Nana. But they also maybe
maybe getting Carmelo Anthony, who has told the Knicks you know,
and I'll be open to a trade to Houston, where
his boy Chris Paul plays, or to Cleveland. Cleveland, to me,
is the most interesting place on earth right now. Um,
(02:13):
all right, maybe not on earth. It was really interesting
to be on the Dead Sea and to be the Vasada,
but that's not the point. The point is in basketball,
Cleveland's pretty interesting. Short. We're all waiting on Gordon Hayward,
like who would have thought were waiting? Like the whole
NBA's breath is what's Courton? Hey, we're gonna do? Is
he going to Miami? Is he staying in Utah? Is
he staying in Boston? I usually the most logical, sense, sensible,
(02:35):
uh thing is what these guys decide. And as much
as you can go, well, you know, pat Riley has
done it before. He's made these super teams and like
they didn't make the playoffs. They had an incredible second
half of the season, and they had all those injuries
in the first half of the season, but they still
didn't even make the playoffs. To turn down your former
head coach in college who recruited you, who helped lead
(02:58):
you to a national ampst game where you had the
ball not once but twice. People forget the possession before
the mid court shot. He had a baseline, baseline floater
that didn't go in. He gave you the ball twice.
You could have won a national championship with either shot.
Do you have the opportunity to play for him on
a team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference.
I didn't say that the best team in the Eastern Conference.
(03:19):
Nobody thinks they are, but they had the best record
and have all those picks in the chance to make
even more moves, have even more versatility, and they have
all those young players who are going to get better.
And oh yeah, by the way, the Celtics' not like
it's a chump franchise. They've won seventeen NBA titles. The
most logical decision would be you go to Boston. The
(03:41):
most illogical would be to stay in Utah. Right. If
you're gonna stay in Utah, you would have decided to
stay in Utah already, right, Like if your heart was
telling you stay in Utah, Stay in Utah, stay in Utah,
then you know what you do. You don't take meetings,
you don't take meetings. But what's most interesting is the
Cleveland Cavaliers, because, uh, this ratio, the paucity of all
(04:07):
stars east to west right is really really alarming, really
really alarming. When in the NBA, who is left in
the Eastern Conference that that scares you even a little bit.
Who's left John Wall Okay, Brad Beale, sure, sure, but
(04:33):
their team in comparison, their team in comparison to the
Cleveland Cavaliers, Like, look, it's one of those things to
which the arguments we make for Lebron James being the
greatest player ever seem to continue to diminish, but with
with every passing day. Right, Like, the argument is, well,
(04:55):
sure he has he's only three and eight in the
NBA Final, but he's made seven straight NBA finals. Then
you look around the Eastern Conference and the Celtics are
only just now above water. The Knicks have not been
competitive with the exception of one year, and they only
got to the Western Conference semifinals. That was Jason Kidd
in his last year as their starting point guard, and
(05:17):
he sucked once he got to the playoffs. Tell me
who their challenger is. Every time they have a challenger,
that star ends up going to the West. And I'm
not blaming Lebron James for being born in Akron and
wanted to come back to Cleveland or being drafted by
Cleveland going to Miami, like those things just happened. But
if the argument is Lebron James the best player on
(05:39):
earth because he made the seven straight NBA finals even
though he's only won three of the eight finals he's
actually been in, well then you actually have to look
at the context. The fact the East sucks, it's a
big problem. Equally problematic is the fact that the Eastern
Seaboard is when the where the highest density of sports
fans I basque ball or basketball fans are located of
(06:06):
the television viewers that watch sports watching the Eastern time zone,
and all of their teams stank except Cleveland, except Cleveland.
I mean it's it's I guess stunning. I guess it's alarming.
But with Paul George now in Oklahoma City. Now get
to that in a second, because everybody say Oklahoma City
(06:27):
won this deal. They won this deal. Now they didn't.
They expose themselves to be in Oklahoma City. But you
were told forever. Well, it's so impressive, seven in a row.
Then you look around, You're like, well, who are they
actually beating? Right? This year's Celtics team would have lost
to the Bulls at gen Rondo not gotten heard? Could
(06:48):
they actually be Tell me where the good teams are.
I'm searching for them. No one knows them because they
don't actually exist. A couple of years ago, the Celtics
on their lasts pushed him a little bit when he
was in Miami. The Indiana Pacers pushed him a little bit.
But for the most part, there has been no substantial competition.
(07:09):
There's been no rivalry, There's been no team that there
hasn't been. Here, here's the easiest argument of the seven
years in which he's made the NBA Finals. Was there
one team that wouldn't be a prohibitive underdog had they
gotten to the finals? Answers? Now, right, the better franchises
have been the Spurs, The better franchise has been the Warriors.
(07:31):
The better franchise have been you know, pick the Western
Conference franchise that went to the NBA Finals and you
start to go like, oh, yeah, you're kind of right
there before that, the Lakers, the Oklahoma City Thunder. So
the point is that the Dallas Mavericks, all the stars
(07:51):
are in the West except for Lebron James. And this
is not me blaming Lebron James. This is me attacking
Lebron James. The great has meant seven straight NBA Finals. Dude,
everybody would go to seven all of these stars that
Kevin Duran would have gone to seventh straight finals had
his Thunder team been in the East and Lebron been
in the West. In fact, everybody knows that, right, We
all know this, don't we. I mean, the other arguments
(08:14):
about Lebron go out the window. Triple double, okay, but
who was actually better down the stretch against the against
the Warriors, That was Durant. The same people who diminish
like me, his triple doubles, many of them raised up
Russell Westworks triple doubles as reason that he's the greatest ever, Like,
(08:35):
you can't have it both ways. Either triple doubles, a
trouble double or triple double is a at times deceiving
statistic to tell you who really played well. I didn't
say he played poorly, So I'm not anti Lebron. I'm
just realistic Lebron. And with Paul George departing, the Indiana Pacers,
and the Pacers weren't any good anyway. And if Gordon
(08:57):
Hayward doesn't go there and the Miami Heat have had
depressed reset several times over, once when Shaquille O'Neil left,
then when Lebron James left, Like, tell me who the
legit competition is in the East. It doesn't exist, and
it is a problem for the NBA. Now as for
Oklahoma City, everyone is saying, and I heard all my
(09:19):
all my colleagues on Fox Sports Radio throughout the weekend.
I listened on the internet. Oh, the Pacers won. The
Paciers lost this trade. Now, look the Pacers did because
they did something that I told you you can't do,
which has chased the market. Right, you can't do it
in real estate. You can't do it with players. Chasing
the market is setting a bar way too high, or
(09:40):
setting your price way too high on your home you're
trying to sell, and then when you get late into
the summer and you gotta move because you gotta get
the kids in the new house that you already bought
on contingency, and everybody's waiting, and then you end up
selling the house for below market value because you started
too high. And then the thing was on the market
for a hundred twenty days and people thought there was
something up with the house, and eventually you just dumped it.
(10:02):
I don't think it's dumped though. Domas Sibonis started sixty games.
He's not great, but he's a legitimate NBA player. And
while you may think that the Boston Celtics should have
come up off of picks, the fact is that even
with their plethora of the picks they've had recently, many
of them haven't had the rookie years that Sabonis has.
(10:24):
They got a Doma Sionis is gonna be in the
NBA for ten twelve years period. Stop. And I've never
been an Oladipo guy. I've always thought he's more rotation
guy than starter and definitely not a go to to guard.
But when you're starting over to get two guys who
are legitimate NBA players who started last year who started
I don't know, it was like a combined hunter and games.
(10:46):
That's better than getting draft picks. It's absolutely better because
you're not as much as Oladipo's contract looks like it's terrible.
Look at the contracts coming out this week whereas Oklahoma
City exposed the truth about Oklahoma City, here's the truth.
(11:08):
Ready for it. They can't get a free agent. You
can't do it. They know they can't do it. They
want to do it. They have great fans. My in
my life, I have three homes in this world. The
three places that I call home Southern California, specifically Orange County.
That's where I was That's where I h was raised,
I grew up. I'd like to tell people in Stillwater, Oklahoma,
(11:31):
and I started in radio in Oklahoma City and we're
on there now. And then of course in Connecticut, where
I've lived twelve of the past fourteen years at two
different networks, now moving to this network. So twelve la
past fourteen years I've lived in Connecticut. My mom's from Connecticut.
We used to visit there at times in the summer
when I was a kid. So that's like, that's like,
that's honestly a third home. So this is not. My
(11:55):
wife's from Oklahoma. My kids love Oklahoma. I mean, we're
the only people on earth that go to Oklahoma to vacation.
One reason is in her hometown, a week does feel
like a month. And so every time I'm back, I
go to a Thunder game. This is not for lack
of This is not I'm not a fanboy, I don't
get I'm telling you what NBA people will tell you,
which is they can't get a legitimate free agent to
(12:17):
sign there, so they have to take a substantial amount
of risk. And that's exactly what they did. There is
more likelihood that Paul George and Russell Westbrook played for
the Lakers next year, next year, not this coming year.
Then they played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they
know that and The only hope they have is that
they have a great season, a dream season, and Paul
George is so taken away by the love affair between
(12:40):
the fans and the team that he somehow finds the
goodwill to stay. Otherwise they're gonna have to sign and
trade and do it again because what was the premise
of the argument, they can't get a free agent. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Lap. This
(13:01):
idea that Mike D'Antoni, who was run out of New
York by Carmelo Anthony, that he's gonna be like, hey,
you know what, carmelos on the market and we need
another guy who scores a lot. Like First of all,
Mike D'Antoni and his system, what do they do? Like? Um,
And I'm not saying Ramos, you're a basketball layman, but
(13:22):
I also wouldn't say like you're an expert abound basketball,
but you watch enough of it? Ryan and music? What
is the the two points of MP sister? Two places
they want to score the Houston Rockets, Uh, they want
to score either layups or three pointers? Correct? Um, Where
does Carmelo Anthony's score the eight ft jumper? He is
(13:47):
the master of the mid range. He doesn't lay any defense.
He only scores in the mid range. He got the
head coach fired in New York? Where do I get
this guy? Like this is the dumbest thing ever. Don't
be stupid people. He just got field Jackson fired. And
they're like, yeah, you know, we still really don't want
you here. And he's like, wow, you know if I
post pictures, I mean running it two in the morning,
(14:10):
Like okay, well are you doing the rest of the day?
Like you couldn't have been running it? Like I don't
know four in the afternoon, I couldn't run it ten
at night. Oh but I was. I was really killing
in two in the morning, Like okay, I just okay,
Like I hope Carmelo Anthony gets the chape look. And
this is somebody who has an immense amount of respect
for Carmelo the score, but he's destroyed every team he's
(14:35):
ever been on, everyone in the pros. He just is
whether he means to do it or doesn't mean to
do it. He can't help himself. He napalms every single team.
The Mike d'antoni's style finally hit when they had Jeremy Lynn.
And look, it wasn't real. It was two It was
(14:57):
two amazing weeks. Right, it was a college relationship. Every
one of those college relationships. It's weird at college relationships,
like the last two weeks you thought it lasted a year. Like, man,
we had two weeks. We went out every night we
got we went back to her place every night. He's like, oh,
is it incredible. That's what Jeremy lynn journalns deal was
a was a college hook up. It was like two incredible,
(15:19):
intense weeks where he dominated the NBA. Now they didn't
have Tyson Chandler, you know, they didn't have Mellow. And
then remember Mello came back and he was like, I
don't really like this the whole the whole deal somebody
else being a star. D'antoni's whole thing is about ball
movement and Carmelos a ball stopper, Like where where do
(15:39):
people think like Melos like, well, I want to play
with Chris Paul, Like yeah, hey, here's the thing. Mike
d'antoni's Coach of the Year. It's his offense. He's still
gonna try and have to figure it out. How you
get Chris Paul and James Harden a short share of basketball.
I'm just like, if you get me fired from a
job and I go to another job, I'm not gonna
sit there and go like, hey, you know what I
really like to get? How do I employ the guy
(16:01):
who caused me to be unemployed? Do you think anybody's
Do you think anybody It's like when Dwight Howard was available,
Like Dwight Howard, we go back to Houston, like he
got Mike D'Antoni fired before, we almost got him fired
in Houston. Crazy people as people is crazy, they're crazy.
(16:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leaves Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific. Rem
When Giselle bunged in Tom Brady's wife, supermodel worth hundreds
of million dollars, She was on CBS this morning couple
months ago and she said this about her Super Bowl
winning husband. I just have to say, as a wife,
I'm a little bit you know, it's as you know,
(16:45):
it's not the most like let's say an aggressive sport,
right football, like he had a concussion last year. I mean,
he has concussions pretty much. I mean we don't talk about,
but he does have concussions, and he's I don't really
think it's a healthy thing for invitedce to go to
like a you know, to that kind of aggression like
all the time. That could not be healthy for you, right,
And I'm planning on having him be healthy and do
(17:05):
a lot of fun things when we're like a hundred,
I hope. Yeah. So she's like, look, I don't want
him to play the sport anymore. We have tons of money,
and I don't know why he does it and he
gets concussed all the time, to which you're to which
was like going like babe, baby, baby, baby baby, what
are you talking about? Like what are you doing? What
are you talking about? Well, tom Brady is finally kind
of answered. I guess some of the questions he was on.
(17:26):
There's an E sixty piece on Tom Brady. Kevin A
Gandhi from ESPN sat down with him. To me, this
is very simple. Giselle continues to put out there that
she put out there the concussion thing because she has
on the play anymore, and you know what, she's probably
right trying right this. This is no different than the
guy who's in his late fifties and he's trying to
(17:47):
hit you know, retirement at sixty three, and she's like,
you don't like your boss, you don't like your job,
Like what are you doing. He's sitting there going like, hey, listen,
I gotta hit sixty three. I'm just gonna keep going,
gonna keep grinds, like what are you doing? Go in.
I want to get through it. Years of the company.
I want to get, you know, make sure I get
my pension. We we were you out enough money, and
that's all that's happening. This is a very very normal
(18:09):
husband wife conversation only being had in public. Just I
was like, dude, your forty you just want a super Bowl?
Walk away. He's like, yeah, I just want a super Bowl.
Let's go win another one. It's it's addicting. It's it's
got to be as addicting as hell. Yeah, I want
(18:33):
to Sup Bowl. And I'm fine. She's like, you were concussed.
Like I wasn't concussed. I was woozy, honey. Concussion A
football players saying he doesn't have a concussion because he
wasn't diagnosed is like an alcoholic, saying he's not an
alcoholic because he doesn't go to the meetings. So there's
(18:54):
does she know that he has concussions? Have they been
technically defined as concussions. I'm sure he's found ways to
duck and dodge around them. And he says everybody says
they know the risk, but that's like I don't wear
a helmet on a motorcycle. Guy, Oh, I know the risks, okay,
but you know I want to wear I want to
not wear a helmet so I feel the wind in
(19:15):
my hair. Yeah, well, listen, we want you to wear
a helmet so that if and when you crash your motorcycle,
your head is not rolling down the street because that's
a little tough to pick up for the police officer. Right.
We prefer you to not have um massive brain trauma
(19:37):
from rolling your bike because you didn't have a helmet on.
So hey, chot, you put the helmet on. Like I
know the risk. Guy is trying to explain his own stupidity. Guy.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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If you want to think Lebron James is staying like
(19:57):
that's cool. But every sign, just like the sign seemed
to be pointed Gordon, here, we're going to Boston. Aren't
the sign to Lebron James going elsewhere? Chauncey Billips doesn't
agree to terms on becoming the president of basketball operations,
Lebron James isn't recruiting players to come and play for
the Cleveland Cavaliers. And yes, they'll probably get to the
(20:19):
NBA Finals again, and maybe the Golden State Warriors will
be worn down by the by the attrition of the
Western Conference. That's very, very possible. But boy, it sure
seems like a divorce is imminent between Lebron and the Calves.
And wouldn't it just be interesting if Lebron once again
(20:39):
gets away with stuff that other stars happen't, you know,
bouncing from team to team. Shack has done it. Shack
was somehow lovable and never seemed, never wanted to be,
never demanded that we considered him the best ever. But
I think that teams show who they are based upon
(21:00):
the hires that they make, right, I mean, that's not
any different in business. It's not any different than then
with who you marry. A lot of times people marry
somebody who resembles like women marry guys that either resemble
their father or the exact opposite of their father. Is
(21:22):
not like a mixed bag of it, right, they have
daddy issues, then they a lot of times mary guy
who's the exact opposite of their daddy. Men the same way.
You know, there's a certain psychology to it that you
either marry somebody is exactly like your mom or exactly
opposite of your mom. There's not any kind of gray
(21:42):
area in between. You tell people who you are and
what your issues are or how you like to manage
your life based upon who your spouse is. Is it.
My spouse is quite different than me, quite different than me. Like, look,
we do have she has short hair and I and
she's um and we're both fairly were about slender. We
(22:04):
both um, you know, eat eat well. But we're from
completely different backgrounds. Like I was raised like a very
very very reformed jew Ish back background. She's from a
very very conservative Southern Baptist background. You know, her dad
was salt of the earth, could live off the land,
(22:27):
started working when he was fifteen. They started a young
family everything with his hands. Union pipeline. Well, my dad's
dad was an accountant and then became a card dealer,
and my dad was a basketball coach. Like you couldn't
have been any They live in the same place, and
the day she was born, we moved all over, so
(22:47):
our backgrounds are very different. My my both my parents
went to college, and my my grandpa, my grandpa went
to college, and my grandpa and grandma on the other
side went to college. She's the first one in her
parent family to graduate from college. And so my guess
is like one of the reasons that she was attracted
to me, then you know, once he gets sixteen and
a half seventeen years you really attracted the other person?
(23:09):
Who knows. I'm sure I drive her absolutely crazy. So um,
the point is that I'm I would guess in the
psychology of it, there were parts of her that were
the opposite of my mom and the parts of me
that were the opposite of her dad, And that's how
we chose to kind of roll right. Everybody knows there's
(23:30):
certain psychology to your mom your dad issues, and that
plays at least some some form or some factor in
who you and why you marry them fair, Okay. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaps
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's Broke
(23:51):
In Brian Scalabrini, decade long NBA pro who joins us
here on FSR and uh Let's I want to to
begin with Chris paul Um. I like him to this
to a radio show where two guys have their role.
You know how this works when guys are used to
playing with the ball in their hands and suddenly they
don't have the ball in their hands. They don't know
(24:13):
what to do with themselves. Do you think ultimately this works?
It makes them actually better than they were this this year.
You know, I think I'm gonna be wrong on this one,
but I don't think that it's going to work. I
don't think that Houston will be a better team. I
don't think that James Harden will have a better season.
But maybe the indication of them doing this was the
(24:33):
playoff run and just James Harden running out of gas
against the Spurs. I mean, there was no reason he
played that bad in that elimination game, and they and
he probably thinks I need more than just me being
a guy who can do this. But I will say this,
D'Antoni is the man when it comes to offensive creativity.
I'm sure he'll figure it out to a certain extent,
(24:54):
but I don't. I don't see how Houston got better
during this trade. I feel like there's status quo. Um
all right, So my my thought was, boy, it really
hurts the Spurs, Boy it really hurts the Clippers. Those
are two teams competitive in the West, and that the
the If anything, the NBA got more condensed in terms
(25:15):
of teams to challenge the Golden State Warriors. I want
to talk about the thunder in a moment, but is
that a fair assessment that, like, look, the Jan Murray
is not there yet, and the likelihood that Tony Parker
returns from a torn quad not great, and they need
all those pistols fired in order to compete at the
top level. And then while the Clippers might be different
and more interesting, they're not gonna be as good. I
(25:38):
kind of feel like that that move condensed the West
a little bit more. And my way off, well, when
you think INDNSE the West, do you think that Houston
is a threat I don't see Houston as a threat. No,
I think there I I'm with you. I don't think
they got much better, but I think that the Clippers
got worse. And I don't think the Spurs are going
to be better than they were last year. Like, so,
(25:59):
who's who's a real threat out West? And you know,
and like, I don't know if san Antonio is you're saying,
like if Chris Paul would have went to San Antonio,
then we could be having this conversation right now. But
I just don't feel like this year anybody is in
that classification. It is one all by themselves and in
(26:20):
a couple of teams, like who's gonna be the best
team to challenge them? Who's going to go to the
Western Conference finals? That's what we're sort of having, you know,
everyone sort of playing for second. When you're talking about
the Warriors, Okay, what about Paul George going to the
Thunder do you does that move change them in a
way in which they're more competitive? Yeah, definitely more competitive,
(26:42):
you know, not on that level, but I mean I
probably can you know, say this second best team in
the West, you know, they have the inside presence with Adams,
You're adding some scoring to go along with Russell. Who
can you know, Mr do everything? So I mean I
was never huge, huge band of Oladipo. You know, I
think Sabonis is fine. I don't think they gave up
(27:05):
much to get them. The upgrade was what like the
whole Eastern Conference and everyone that was into Paul George
sap stakes shaking their head saying like, really this is
what you wanted, Like you asked for draft picks moving forward,
you asked for some current starters, and you set along
guys like Oladipo and Sabonis. It was clearly a move
(27:26):
to shift him out west and get Paul George out
of the East. My only beef with the move, well,
you could have made that move in two weeks. You
could have waited to after free agency to make that move.
But I sort of thought they jumped the gun a
little bit on that one. But with that being said,
talking Western Conference, yeah, I would say, okay, see the
second best team in the Western Conference. Here's the problem though,
(27:48):
they just don't have a shooting. You know, Russ is
a great player, but he does but not not so
much like look, um, Oladiebo is not a good enough shooter.
I think he's okay, I think he's a fifth best starter,
right or fourth fifth best starter. I think Sibonis Actually
think Sibona has got a chance to be pretty good.
(28:09):
But and he started sixty games for him. But okay,
they they're both very young, and they're both under contract.
But like and so they got better and he's a
better player than anybody else they could have gotten out
there to wing. But he also he's kind of a
three four. And how they play in the NBA, and
they just they don't have enough guards. And they can
bring back Andre Robertson, he still can't shoot. They still
(28:29):
got the same problems. Okay, so then you tell me
who do you guys the second best team are you?
Are you saying Minnesota? They're gonna say they make the jump, Like, like,
I'm I'm unclear what you got for the second best
team in the Western Conference. I'm not sure there is one.
I'm I agree with you there, which is kind of depressing.
It's kind of depressing. They were like, all right, thunder
(28:51):
calves again and everything else doesn't matter. I'm just kind
of thinking, I'm thinking of Oklahoma City. It's one, it's
a potential one year rental and you could lose them
both to l A and then what like, is it
worth rolling the dice when you know you don't you're
not really good enough? I don't know. That's a That's
a tough that's a tough call. Let's talk. Let's let's
talk about Hayward. Um, if it feels like he should
(29:15):
be a Celtic, you've been a Celtic, but it's Brad
coached him in college. I think that's big. Um. I
think the fact that they already have, like Miami's telling
him we're gonna win, Boston's like we are winning. Boston
has the resources to continue to add pieces. It's a
it's also a team of franchise. It's one seventeen NBA
(29:36):
titles Like I kind of feel like you're over He's
overthinking this thing to go anywhere else outside of the cold.
What could possibly be keeping Gordon Hayward from signing with
the Celtic. People love Miami. Just keeping it real, pat
Riley is persuasive. People love Miami. They go on the tour.
(29:57):
The tour has worked before, it could work again. Um.
What I will say this though, with Paul George going west,
Jimmy Butler going west. Doesn't it seem like Paul George
has to go east, like he has to, like he
can be a perennial Eastern Conference All Star. You know.
Gordon Hayward. Yeah, Gordon Hayward should definitely come out east,
(30:21):
now that you know. I mean, it's a it's gonna
be a hard make for him to make the All
Star team out west. And I mean not, I'm not.
I don't think he'll start over Lebron or Janice. But
there's a good chance that he gets to nod at
a guard position in the in the Eastern Conference. So
I think he should go east. I would love to
(30:42):
tell you. And you're right, the winning Brad Stephens, you know, tradition,
but it's hard. It's always hard to bet against pat
Riley and the heat and the no state income tax
and all that stuff really comes into play. I just
you go somewhere. Who you trust, the coach, you know,
the coach. It's a good team, I get it. Warm
(31:04):
Weather is awesome, I mean, and and Boston cold is real, real, real, real,
real cold. Um Chauncey doesn't take the President of the
Cavalier's job. Um, And like, look, I know Chauncey has
been up for other jobs, for the Atlanta job for one, um,
maybe for Milwaukee as another. But this is a chance
(31:25):
to take over a franchise that's been the last three
NBA finals, and he seemed to have been the one
guy who could look Lebron James in the eye and
and Gardner's Gardner respect from him as opposed to somebody
else who's you know, more of a number guy or
or a non former player guy. Uh, this does not
paint a pretty picture. But what are your thoughts on
(31:45):
Chauncey just turning down the job. Yeah, it has to
be that Lebron is leaving, right, what else could it mean?
I mean, why if you go in there and have
this conversation obviously you're gonna talk to Lebron before you
take the job, and you say, you know a on, Uh,
you know, what's the deal? I want to take this job.
Are we gonna do this? Are we gonna, you know,
try to win another championship? Get over the hump? Can
(32:07):
you know? Can we get Paul George? Like all these
things they have to be in the conversation. If Paul
George goes to Okay, see and Chaunty doesn't take the job.
I don't know. To me, like the writings on the wall,
this is it for the Catholic They got one more
year to try to beat the Warriors and name Lebron
goes west. Does it take away from Lebron's seven consecutive
NBA Finals runs that's been in the East. No, nothing,
(32:31):
nothing will ever take away from everything that Lebron has
done at this point. I think he can continue to
lose to the Warriors until that team is broken up,
and it won't take away from what he's done, like
all the championships. Uh not this past season, but the
season before the championship. So no, I'm talking to message
his legacy. He can only go up from here, and
so you know, I just I just don't and I
(32:52):
don't know how Cleveland will deal with it when he
finally does leave. He promised him a championship, he got
him a championship. It just all like, all right, all right,
I did what I'm supposed to do. Now let me
retire and past my prime, let me go do this.
But I don't know that that's that's how the fans
will react towards it. But I do know that with
Chauncy not to. I really thought that if he took
(33:14):
the job, they were gonna get Paul George and then
Lebron would stay. I don't think that that's happening now.
I I agree with you. I think it's a sign
of a sign of what's to come in Cleveland and
it's really, really, really not good. Hey, turns out we
all should have been six ft three shooters, right j
J Reddick one year twenty three million uh for for
(33:36):
j J. What was your reaction when you saw that deal?
I mean it makes complete sense. Like you don't. You
don't want go up moving forward, you don't want to
be a tax team, you don't want to do anything
long term, and you want to get guys in like
I don't. I don't look at money as dollars. I
look at it this cap situations, right, I don't. That's
(33:56):
the difference. I think normal people out there saying wow,
twenty three million dollars. I think of it as they
were gonna use their cap space on somebody, why not
use it on a guy for one year? And they
also did the same thing with Leer Johnson, who's an
unbelievable you know, I covered them this year. Great veteran guy,
good leader, would be great, uh for the team, you
(34:18):
know around the locker room. But one year commitment not
not moving forward. Not that's the problem with the last
year and when the cap jumped. I have no problem
with the guys making big money last year. It made
perfect sense, you know, like use your cap space up,
you have it. But signing guys to four year deals
(34:38):
and doing that and then now you're you're cap strong
moving forward and looking at the Lakers having to ship
off a number two pick just for ca cap relief
moving forward, that made no sense all across the board
the NBA, we're making a mistake after mistake. So don't
get caught up in the twenty three million. Look at
the one year where the where the Sixers are using
(34:59):
their cap space to improve, like the young guys in
their mental attitude and how they approached the game. J
J is a worker no matter what, and he's professional,
so he's gonna help that locker room out and you know,
provide some shooting for that team. Last thing, there's a
report out. You're you're talking about guys taking less instead
of worrying about you know, getting every last dollar. There's
(35:19):
there's talk now from Marcus Thompson the Bay Area Newsgroup
that Kevin Durant could take as little as twenty eight
million dollars year, maybe twenty five million dollars a year
as opposed to he's he's able to take as much
as thirty four point six five million. Other words, Uh,
take maybe nine and a half million dollars less than
he could so that the team can be more pliable.
(35:43):
They get Andrea Goodalla and pay less against the cap. Uh.
Pretty stellar stuff from k d H considering you know,
other people on the team haven't taken less to stay. Well,
let's let's put it in perspective though, because he's after
his first year, he doesn't have full bird rights. So
(36:03):
if he cooked the full money, those guys can't not not,
they can't, you know, they cannot be on the team.
So it's not like Steph Curry getting as much as
he can doesn't affect Iguodala. Is the only guy that
affects Iguodala and living Ston is Kevin Durant. So yeah,
respect a lot of He's gonna get his pay day,
(36:24):
and that payday is gonna come and the Warriors are
gonna be you know so far into the tax but
this year for him to do that is at the
one year deal, k D will not be taking pay
cuts moving forward for guys after this. But it was
you know, you know, I give him a lot of
credit for doing that, and Iguodala was huge in recruiting
(36:44):
of Kevin Durant. So it's it's I'd like to see
him do that, and you know, the rest of those
guys should get paid. I mean that they have a
super team, and the price of having a super team
is gonna go up. Brian scalibrating, scal great stuff. Let's
see what happens with Gordon Hayward's best. Guess you think
he does the Celtics. I don't. I'm worried, but yeah,
(37:04):
I guess I think he does the Celtics, but I'm
worried about Miami. I do think he's believe in Utah though. Yeah,
I think if he would have stayed, if he was
gonna stay in Utah, he would have said's stayed in
Utah already. I mean, that's right, Like, why would you?
I don't know that. That's why I look at things. Scott,
We'll we'll catch up soon. Thanks so much. For joining us.
You gotta dougs here
This is the best of the Dog Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Leap Show, Fox Sports Radio. We
continue to broadcast from the other side of the world,
Tel Aviv, Israel. I've been to the Dead Sea, I've
been to Massada, I've been in the Mediterranean. But more importantly,
I'm here with you. Next three hours you give me call,
(00:22):
I want to talk sports with you. Eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven on Fox. It's
the Dog Got Leap Show on Fox Sports Radio. So
much to get to and most of it very very
interesting stuff. Regarding the association. The NBA's free agency, of course,
kicked off before free agency actually started. That's when Chris
(00:42):
paul Um what I would think, would decimate the Clippers.
Like the Clippers are clearly trying to reform themselves with
Danilo Gallinari, uh, it feels like an eventuality. He'll be
there along with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan's and the plethora
of guard that they now have minus JJ Reddick, who
got twenty three million dollars for just one season with
(01:07):
the Philadelphia seventies six ers. That's a wow. That's a
right place and right time contract. Um. But I think
any normal either, even mouth breather would would tell you
the Clippers go from being you know, I could see
a way in which they could maybe make a run
to the Western Conference finals and possibly you know, win
(01:30):
the thing too. I could see a way in which
they can maybe make the playoffs maybe. And then because
Chris Paul chose to not choose the Spurs, it feels
like the Spurs, it's it's difficult to see them competing
for an NBA championship. And so he goes to Houston
(01:50):
and lo and behold, now it does. Houston makes some
other additions and re up Nana. But they also maybe
maybe getting Carmelo Anthony, who has told the Knicks you know,
and I'll be open to a trade to Houston, where
his boy Chris Paul plays, or to Cleveland. Cleveland, to me,
is the most interesting place on earth right now. Um,
(02:13):
all right, maybe not on earth. It was really interesting
to be on the Dead Sea and to be the Vasada,
but that's not the point. The point is in basketball,
Cleveland's pretty interesting. Short. We're all waiting on Gordon Hayward,
like who would have thought were waiting? Like the whole
NBA's breath is what's Courton? Hey, we're gonna do? Is
he going to Miami? Is he staying in Utah? Is
he staying in Boston? I usually the most logical, sense, sensible,
(02:35):
uh thing is what these guys decide. And as much
as you can go, well, you know, pat Riley has
done it before. He's made these super teams and like
they didn't make the playoffs. They had an incredible second
half of the season, and they had all those injuries
in the first half of the season, but they still
didn't even make the playoffs. To turn down your former
head coach in college who recruited you, who helped lead
(02:58):
you to a national ampst game where you had the
ball not once but twice. People forget the possession before
the mid court shot. He had a baseline, baseline floater
that didn't go in. He gave you the ball twice.
You could have won a national championship with either shot.
Do you have the opportunity to play for him on
a team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference.
I didn't say that the best team in the Eastern Conference.
(03:19):
Nobody thinks they are, but they had the best record
and have all those picks in the chance to make
even more moves, have even more versatility, and they have
all those young players who are going to get better.
And oh yeah, by the way, the Celtics' not like
it's a chump franchise. They've won seventeen NBA titles. The
most logical decision would be you go to Boston. The
(03:41):
most illogical would be to stay in Utah. Right. If
you're gonna stay in Utah, you would have decided to
stay in Utah already, right, Like if your heart was
telling you stay in Utah, Stay in Utah, stay in Utah,
then you know what you do. You don't take meetings,
you don't take meetings. But what's most interesting is the
Cleveland Cavaliers, because, uh, this ratio, the paucity of all
(04:07):
stars east to west right is really really alarming, really
really alarming. When in the NBA, who is left in
the Eastern Conference that that scares you even a little bit.
Who's left John Wall Okay, Brad Beale, sure, sure, but
(04:33):
their team in comparison, their team in comparison to the
Cleveland Cavaliers, Like, look, it's one of those things to
which the arguments we make for Lebron James being the
greatest player ever seem to continue to diminish, but with
with every passing day. Right, Like, the argument is, well,
(04:55):
sure he has he's only three and eight in the
NBA Final, but he's made seven straight NBA finals. Then
you look around the Eastern Conference and the Celtics are
only just now above water. The Knicks have not been
competitive with the exception of one year, and they only
got to the Western Conference semifinals. That was Jason Kidd
in his last year as their starting point guard, and
(05:17):
he sucked once he got to the playoffs. Tell me
who their challenger is. Every time they have a challenger,
that star ends up going to the West. And I'm
not blaming Lebron James for being born in Akron and
wanted to come back to Cleveland or being drafted by
Cleveland going to Miami, like those things just happened. But
if the argument is Lebron James the best player on
(05:39):
earth because he made the seven straight NBA finals even
though he's only won three of the eight finals he's
actually been in, well then you actually have to look
at the context. The fact the East sucks, it's a
big problem. Equally problematic is the fact that the Eastern
Seaboard is when the where the highest density of sports
fans I basque ball or basketball fans are located of
(06:06):
the television viewers that watch sports watching the Eastern time zone,
and all of their teams stank except Cleveland, except Cleveland.
I mean it's it's I guess stunning. I guess it's alarming.
But with Paul George now in Oklahoma City. Now get
to that in a second, because everybody say Oklahoma City
(06:27):
won this deal. They won this deal. Now they didn't.
They expose themselves to be in Oklahoma City. But you
were told forever. Well, it's so impressive, seven in a row.
Then you look around, You're like, well, who are they
actually beating? Right? This year's Celtics team would have lost
to the Bulls at gen Rondo not gotten heard? Could
(06:48):
they actually be Tell me where the good teams are.
I'm searching for them. No one knows them because they
don't actually exist. A couple of years ago, the Celtics
on their lasts pushed him a little bit when he
was in Miami. The Indiana Pacers pushed him a little bit.
But for the most part, there has been no substantial competition.
(07:09):
There's been no rivalry, There's been no team that there
hasn't been. Here, here's the easiest argument of the seven
years in which he's made the NBA Finals. Was there
one team that wouldn't be a prohibitive underdog had they
gotten to the finals? Answers? Now, right, the better franchises
have been the Spurs, The better franchise has been the Warriors.
(07:31):
The better franchise have been you know, pick the Western
Conference franchise that went to the NBA Finals and you
start to go like, oh, yeah, you're kind of right
there before that, the Lakers, the Oklahoma City Thunder. So
the point is that the Dallas Mavericks, all the stars
(07:51):
are in the West except for Lebron James. And this
is not me blaming Lebron James. This is me attacking
Lebron James. The great has meant seven straight NBA Finals. Dude,
everybody would go to seven all of these stars that
Kevin Duran would have gone to seventh straight finals had
his Thunder team been in the East and Lebron been
in the West. In fact, everybody knows that, right, We
all know this, don't we. I mean, the other arguments
(08:14):
about Lebron go out the window. Triple double, okay, but
who was actually better down the stretch against the against
the Warriors, That was Durant. The same people who diminish
like me, his triple doubles, many of them raised up
Russell Westworks triple doubles as reason that he's the greatest ever, Like,
(08:35):
you can't have it both ways. Either triple doubles, a
trouble double or triple double is a at times deceiving
statistic to tell you who really played well. I didn't
say he played poorly, So I'm not anti Lebron. I'm
just realistic Lebron. And with Paul George departing, the Indiana Pacers,
and the Pacers weren't any good anyway. And if Gordon
(08:57):
Hayward doesn't go there and the Miami Heat have had
depressed reset several times over, once when Shaquille O'Neil left,
then when Lebron James left, Like, tell me who the
legit competition is in the East. It doesn't exist, and
it is a problem for the NBA. Now as for
Oklahoma City, everyone is saying, and I heard all my
(09:19):
all my colleagues on Fox Sports Radio throughout the weekend.
I listened on the internet. Oh, the Pacers won. The
Paciers lost this trade. Now, look the Pacers did because
they did something that I told you you can't do,
which has chased the market. Right, you can't do it
in real estate. You can't do it with players. Chasing
the market is setting a bar way too high, or
(09:40):
setting your price way too high on your home you're
trying to sell, and then when you get late into
the summer and you gotta move because you gotta get
the kids in the new house that you already bought
on contingency, and everybody's waiting, and then you end up
selling the house for below market value because you started
too high. And then the thing was on the market
for a hundred twenty days and people thought there was
something up with the house, and eventually you just dumped it.
(10:02):
I don't think it's dumped though. Domas Sibonis started sixty games.
He's not great, but he's a legitimate NBA player. And
while you may think that the Boston Celtics should have
come up off of picks, the fact is that even
with their plethora of the picks they've had recently, many
of them haven't had the rookie years that Sabonis has.
(10:24):
They got a Doma Sionis is gonna be in the
NBA for ten twelve years period. Stop. And I've never
been an Oladipo guy. I've always thought he's more rotation
guy than starter and definitely not a go to to guard.
But when you're starting over to get two guys who
are legitimate NBA players who started last year who started
I don't know, it was like a combined hunter and games.
(10:46):
That's better than getting draft picks. It's absolutely better because
you're not as much as Oladipo's contract looks like it's terrible.
Look at the contracts coming out this week whereas Oklahoma
City exposed the truth about Oklahoma City, here's the truth.
(11:08):
Ready for it. They can't get a free agent. You
can't do it. They know they can't do it. They
want to do it. They have great fans. My in
my life, I have three homes in this world. The
three places that I call home Southern California, specifically Orange County.
That's where I was That's where I h was raised,
I grew up. I'd like to tell people in Stillwater, Oklahoma,
(11:31):
and I started in radio in Oklahoma City and we're
on there now. And then of course in Connecticut, where
I've lived twelve of the past fourteen years at two
different networks, now moving to this network. So twelve la
past fourteen years I've lived in Connecticut. My mom's from Connecticut.
We used to visit there at times in the summer
when I was a kid. So that's like, that's like,
that's honestly a third home. So this is not. My
(11:55):
wife's from Oklahoma. My kids love Oklahoma. I mean, we're
the only people on earth that go to Oklahoma to vacation.
One reason is in her hometown, a week does feel
like a month. And so every time I'm back, I
go to a Thunder game. This is not for lack
of This is not I'm not a fanboy, I don't
get I'm telling you what NBA people will tell you,
which is they can't get a legitimate free agent to
(12:17):
sign there, so they have to take a substantial amount
of risk. And that's exactly what they did. There is
more likelihood that Paul George and Russell Westbrook played for
the Lakers next year, next year, not this coming year.
Then they played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they
know that and The only hope they have is that
they have a great season, a dream season, and Paul
George is so taken away by the love affair between
(12:40):
the fans and the team that he somehow finds the
goodwill to stay. Otherwise they're gonna have to sign and
trade and do it again because what was the premise
of the argument, they can't get a free agent. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Lap. This
(13:01):
idea that Mike D'Antoni, who was run out of New
York by Carmelo Anthony, that he's gonna be like, hey,
you know what, carmelos on the market and we need
another guy who scores a lot. Like First of all,
Mike D'Antoni and his system, what do they do? Like? Um,
And I'm not saying Ramos, you're a basketball layman, but
(13:22):
I also wouldn't say like you're an expert abound basketball,
but you watch enough of it? Ryan and music? What
is the the two points of MP sister? Two places
they want to score the Houston Rockets, Uh, they want
to score either layups or three pointers? Correct? Um, Where
does Carmelo Anthony's score the eight ft jumper? He is
(13:47):
the master of the mid range. He doesn't lay any defense.
He only scores in the mid range. He got the
head coach fired in New York? Where do I get
this guy? Like this is the dumbest thing ever. Don't
be stupid people. He just got field Jackson fired. And
they're like, yeah, you know, we still really don't want
you here. And he's like, wow, you know if I
post pictures, I mean running it two in the morning,
(14:10):
Like okay, well are you doing the rest of the day?
Like you couldn't have been running it? Like I don't
know four in the afternoon, I couldn't run it ten
at night. Oh but I was. I was really killing
in two in the morning, Like okay, I just okay,
Like I hope Carmelo Anthony gets the chape look. And
this is somebody who has an immense amount of respect
for Carmelo the score, but he's destroyed every team he's
(14:35):
ever been on, everyone in the pros. He just is
whether he means to do it or doesn't mean to
do it. He can't help himself. He napalms every single team.
The Mike d'antoni's style finally hit when they had Jeremy Lynn.
And look, it wasn't real. It was two It was
(14:57):
two amazing weeks. Right, it was a college relationship. Every
one of those college relationships. It's weird at college relationships,
like the last two weeks you thought it lasted a year. Like, man,
we had two weeks. We went out every night we
got we went back to her place every night. He's like, oh,
is it incredible. That's what Jeremy lynn journalns deal was
a was a college hook up. It was like two incredible,
(15:19):
intense weeks where he dominated the NBA. Now they didn't
have Tyson Chandler, you know, they didn't have Mellow. And
then remember Mello came back and he was like, I
don't really like this the whole the whole deal somebody
else being a star. D'antoni's whole thing is about ball
movement and Carmelos a ball stopper, Like where where do
(15:39):
people think like Melos like, well, I want to play
with Chris Paul, Like yeah, hey, here's the thing. Mike
d'antoni's Coach of the Year. It's his offense. He's still
gonna try and have to figure it out. How you
get Chris Paul and James Harden a short share of basketball.
I'm just like, if you get me fired from a
job and I go to another job, I'm not gonna
sit there and go like, hey, you know what I
really like to get? How do I employ the guy
(16:01):
who caused me to be unemployed? Do you think anybody's
Do you think anybody It's like when Dwight Howard was available,
Like Dwight Howard, we go back to Houston, like he
got Mike D'Antoni fired before, we almost got him fired
in Houston. Crazy people as people is crazy, they're crazy.
(16:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leaves Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific. Rem
When Giselle bunged in Tom Brady's wife, supermodel worth hundreds
of million dollars, She was on CBS this morning couple
months ago and she said this about her Super Bowl
winning husband. I just have to say, as a wife,
I'm a little bit you know, it's as you know,
(16:45):
it's not the most like let's say an aggressive sport,
right football, like he had a concussion last year. I mean,
he has concussions pretty much. I mean we don't talk about,
but he does have concussions, and he's I don't really
think it's a healthy thing for invitedce to go to
like a you know, to that kind of aggression like
all the time. That could not be healthy for you, right,
And I'm planning on having him be healthy and do
(17:05):
a lot of fun things when we're like a hundred,
I hope. Yeah. So she's like, look, I don't want
him to play the sport anymore. We have tons of money,
and I don't know why he does it and he
gets concussed all the time, to which you're to which
was like going like babe, baby, baby, baby baby, what
are you talking about? Like what are you doing? What
are you talking about? Well, tom Brady is finally kind
of answered. I guess some of the questions he was on.
(17:26):
There's an E sixty piece on Tom Brady. Kevin A
Gandhi from ESPN sat down with him. To me, this
is very simple. Giselle continues to put out there that
she put out there the concussion thing because she has
on the play anymore, and you know what, she's probably
right trying right this. This is no different than the
guy who's in his late fifties and he's trying to
(17:47):
hit you know, retirement at sixty three, and she's like,
you don't like your boss, you don't like your job,
Like what are you doing. He's sitting there going like, hey, listen,
I gotta hit sixty three. I'm just gonna keep going,
gonna keep grinds, like what are you doing? Go in.
I want to get through it. Years of the company.
I want to get, you know, make sure I get
my pension. We we were you out enough money, and
that's all that's happening. This is a very very normal
(18:09):
husband wife conversation only being had in public. Just I
was like, dude, your forty you just want a super Bowl?
Walk away. He's like, yeah, I just want a super Bowl.
Let's go win another one. It's it's addicting. It's it's
got to be as addicting as hell. Yeah, I want
(18:33):
to Sup Bowl. And I'm fine. She's like, you were concussed.
Like I wasn't concussed. I was woozy, honey. Concussion A
football players saying he doesn't have a concussion because he
wasn't diagnosed is like an alcoholic, saying he's not an
alcoholic because he doesn't go to the meetings. So there's
(18:54):
does she know that he has concussions? Have they been
technically defined as concussions. I'm sure he's found ways to
duck and dodge around them. And he says everybody says
they know the risk, but that's like I don't wear
a helmet on a motorcycle. Guy, Oh, I know the risks, okay,
but you know I want to wear I want to
not wear a helmet so I feel the wind in
(19:15):
my hair. Yeah, well, listen, we want you to wear
a helmet so that if and when you crash your motorcycle,
your head is not rolling down the street because that's
a little tough to pick up for the police officer. Right.
We prefer you to not have um massive brain trauma
(19:37):
from rolling your bike because you didn't have a helmet on.
So hey, chot, you put the helmet on. Like I
know the risk. Guy is trying to explain his own stupidity. Guy.
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.
If you want to think Lebron James is staying like
(19:57):
that's cool. But every sign, just like the sign seemed
to be pointed Gordon, here, we're going to Boston. Aren't
the sign to Lebron James going elsewhere? Chauncey Billips doesn't
agree to terms on becoming the president of basketball operations,
Lebron James isn't recruiting players to come and play for
the Cleveland Cavaliers. And yes, they'll probably get to the
(20:19):
NBA Finals again, and maybe the Golden State Warriors will
be worn down by the by the attrition of the
Western Conference. That's very, very possible. But boy, it sure
seems like a divorce is imminent between Lebron and the Calves.
And wouldn't it just be interesting if Lebron once again
(20:39):
gets away with stuff that other stars happen't, you know,
bouncing from team to team. Shack has done it. Shack
was somehow lovable and never seemed, never wanted to be,
never demanded that we considered him the best ever. But
I think that teams show who they are based upon
(21:00):
the hires that they make, right, I mean, that's not
any different in business. It's not any different than then
with who you marry. A lot of times people marry
somebody who resembles like women marry guys that either resemble
their father or the exact opposite of their father. Is
(21:22):
not like a mixed bag of it, right, they have
daddy issues, then they a lot of times mary guy
who's the exact opposite of their daddy. Men the same way.
You know, there's a certain psychology to it that you
either marry somebody is exactly like your mom or exactly
opposite of your mom. There's not any kind of gray
(21:42):
area in between. You tell people who you are and
what your issues are or how you like to manage
your life based upon who your spouse is. Is it.
My spouse is quite different than me, quite different than me. Like, look,
we do have she has short hair and I and
she's um and we're both fairly were about slender. We
(22:04):
both um, you know, eat eat well. But we're from
completely different backgrounds. Like I was raised like a very
very very reformed jew Ish back background. She's from a
very very conservative Southern Baptist background. You know, her dad
was salt of the earth, could live off the land,
(22:27):
started working when he was fifteen. They started a young
family everything with his hands. Union pipeline. Well, my dad's
dad was an accountant and then became a card dealer,
and my dad was a basketball coach. Like you couldn't
have been any They live in the same place, and
the day she was born, we moved all over, so
(22:47):
our backgrounds are very different. My my both my parents
went to college, and my my grandpa, my grandpa went
to college, and my grandpa and grandma on the other
side went to college. She's the first one in her
parent family to graduate from college. And so my guess
is like one of the reasons that she was attracted
to me, then you know, once he gets sixteen and
a half seventeen years you really attracted the other person?
(23:09):
Who knows. I'm sure I drive her absolutely crazy. So um,
the point is that I'm I would guess in the
psychology of it, there were parts of her that were
the opposite of my mom and the parts of me
that were the opposite of her dad, And that's how
we chose to kind of roll right. Everybody knows there's
(23:30):
certain psychology to your mom your dad issues, and that
plays at least some some form or some factor in
who you and why you marry them fair, Okay. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaps
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's Broke
(23:51):
In Brian Scalabrini, decade long NBA pro who joins us
here on FSR and uh Let's I want to to
begin with Chris paul Um. I like him to this
to a radio show where two guys have their role.
You know how this works when guys are used to
playing with the ball in their hands and suddenly they
don't have the ball in their hands. They don't know
(24:13):
what to do with themselves. Do you think ultimately this works?
It makes them actually better than they were this this year.
You know, I think I'm gonna be wrong on this one,
but I don't think that it's going to work. I
don't think that Houston will be a better team. I
don't think that James Harden will have a better season.
But maybe the indication of them doing this was the
(24:33):
playoff run and just James Harden running out of gas
against the Spurs. I mean, there was no reason he
played that bad in that elimination game, and they and
he probably thinks I need more than just me being
a guy who can do this. But I will say this,
D'Antoni is the man when it comes to offensive creativity.
I'm sure he'll figure it out to a certain extent,
(24:54):
but I don't. I don't see how Houston got better
during this trade. I feel like there's status quo. Um
all right, So my my thought was, boy, it really
hurts the Spurs, Boy it really hurts the Clippers. Those
are two teams competitive in the West, and that the
the If anything, the NBA got more condensed in terms
(25:15):
of teams to challenge the Golden State Warriors. I want
to talk about the thunder in a moment, but is
that a fair assessment that, like, look, the Jan Murray
is not there yet, and the likelihood that Tony Parker
returns from a torn quad not great, and they need
all those pistols fired in order to compete at the
top level. And then while the Clippers might be different
and more interesting, they're not gonna be as good. I
(25:38):
kind of feel like that that move condensed the West
a little bit more. And my way off, well, when
you think INDNSE the West, do you think that Houston
is a threat I don't see Houston as a threat. No,
I think there I I'm with you. I don't think
they got much better, but I think that the Clippers
got worse. And I don't think the Spurs are going
to be better than they were last year. Like, so,
(25:59):
who's who's a real threat out West? And you know,
and like, I don't know if san Antonio is you're saying,
like if Chris Paul would have went to San Antonio,
then we could be having this conversation right now. But
I just don't feel like this year anybody is in
that classification. It is one all by themselves and in
(26:20):
a couple of teams, like who's gonna be the best
team to challenge them? Who's going to go to the
Western Conference finals? That's what we're sort of having, you know,
everyone sort of playing for second. When you're talking about
the Warriors, Okay, what about Paul George going to the
Thunder do you does that move change them in a
way in which they're more competitive? Yeah, definitely more competitive,
(26:42):
you know, not on that level, but I mean I
probably can you know, say this second best team in
the West, you know, they have the inside presence with Adams,
You're adding some scoring to go along with Russell. Who
can you know, Mr do everything? So I mean I
was never huge, huge band of Oladipo. You know, I
think Sabonis is fine. I don't think they gave up
(27:05):
much to get them. The upgrade was what like the
whole Eastern Conference and everyone that was into Paul George
sap stakes shaking their head saying like, really this is
what you wanted, Like you asked for draft picks moving forward,
you asked for some current starters, and you set along
guys like Oladipo and Sabonis. It was clearly a move
(27:26):
to shift him out west and get Paul George out
of the East. My only beef with the move, well,
you could have made that move in two weeks. You
could have waited to after free agency to make that move.
But I sort of thought they jumped the gun a
little bit on that one. But with that being said,
talking Western Conference, yeah, I would say, okay, see the
second best team in the Western Conference. Here's the problem though,
(27:48):
they just don't have a shooting. You know, Russ is
a great player, but he does but not not so
much like look, um, Oladiebo is not a good enough shooter.
I think he's okay, I think he's a fifth best starter,
right or fourth fifth best starter. I think Sibonis Actually
think Sibona has got a chance to be pretty good.
(28:09):
But and he started sixty games for him. But okay,
they they're both very young, and they're both under contract.
But like and so they got better and he's a
better player than anybody else they could have gotten out
there to wing. But he also he's kind of a
three four. And how they play in the NBA, and
they just they don't have enough guards. And they can
bring back Andre Robertson, he still can't shoot. They still
(28:29):
got the same problems. Okay, so then you tell me
who do you guys the second best team are you?
Are you saying Minnesota? They're gonna say they make the jump, Like, like,
I'm I'm unclear what you got for the second best
team in the Western Conference. I'm not sure there is one.
I'm I agree with you there, which is kind of depressing.
It's kind of depressing. They were like, all right, thunder
(28:51):
calves again and everything else doesn't matter. I'm just kind
of thinking, I'm thinking of Oklahoma City. It's one, it's
a potential one year rental and you could lose them
both to l A and then what like, is it
worth rolling the dice when you know you don't you're
not really good enough? I don't know. That's a That's
a tough that's a tough call. Let's talk. Let's let's
talk about Hayward. Um, if it feels like he should
(29:15):
be a Celtic, you've been a Celtic, but it's Brad
coached him in college. I think that's big. Um. I
think the fact that they already have, like Miami's telling
him we're gonna win, Boston's like we are winning. Boston
has the resources to continue to add pieces. It's a
it's also a team of franchise. It's one seventeen NBA
(29:36):
titles Like I kind of feel like you're over He's
overthinking this thing to go anywhere else outside of the cold.
What could possibly be keeping Gordon Hayward from signing with
the Celtic. People love Miami. Just keeping it real, pat
Riley is persuasive. People love Miami. They go on the tour.
(29:57):
The tour has worked before, it could work again. Um.
What I will say this though, with Paul George going west,
Jimmy Butler going west. Doesn't it seem like Paul George
has to go east, like he has to, like he
can be a perennial Eastern Conference All Star. You know.
Gordon Hayward. Yeah, Gordon Hayward should definitely come out east,
(30:21):
now that you know. I mean, it's a it's gonna
be a hard make for him to make the All
Star team out west. And I mean not, I'm not.
I don't think he'll start over Lebron or Janice. But
there's a good chance that he gets to nod at
a guard position in the in the Eastern Conference. So
I think he should go east. I would love to
(30:42):
tell you. And you're right, the winning Brad Stephens, you know, tradition,
but it's hard. It's always hard to bet against pat
Riley and the heat and the no state income tax
and all that stuff really comes into play. I just
you go somewhere. Who you trust, the coach, you know,
the coach. It's a good team, I get it. Warm
(31:04):
Weather is awesome, I mean, and and Boston cold is real, real, real, real,
real cold. Um Chauncey doesn't take the President of the
Cavalier's job. Um, And like, look, I know Chauncey has
been up for other jobs, for the Atlanta job for one, um,
maybe for Milwaukee as another. But this is a chance
(31:25):
to take over a franchise that's been the last three
NBA finals, and he seemed to have been the one
guy who could look Lebron James in the eye and
and Gardner's Gardner respect from him as opposed to somebody
else who's you know, more of a number guy or
or a non former player guy. Uh, this does not
paint a pretty picture. But what are your thoughts on
(31:45):
Chauncey just turning down the job. Yeah, it has to
be that Lebron is leaving, right, what else could it mean?
I mean, why if you go in there and have
this conversation obviously you're gonna talk to Lebron before you
take the job, and you say, you know a on, Uh,
you know, what's the deal? I want to take this job.
Are we gonna do this? Are we gonna, you know,
try to win another championship? Get over the hump? Can
(32:07):
you know? Can we get Paul George? Like all these
things they have to be in the conversation. If Paul
George goes to Okay, see and Chaunty doesn't take the job.
I don't know. To me, like the writings on the wall,
this is it for the Catholic They got one more
year to try to beat the Warriors and name Lebron
goes west. Does it take away from Lebron's seven consecutive
NBA Finals runs that's been in the East. No, nothing,
(32:31):
nothing will ever take away from everything that Lebron has
done at this point. I think he can continue to
lose to the Warriors until that team is broken up,
and it won't take away from what he's done, like
all the championships. Uh not this past season, but the
season before the championship. So no, I'm talking to message
his legacy. He can only go up from here, and
so you know, I just I just don't and I
(32:52):
don't know how Cleveland will deal with it when he
finally does leave. He promised him a championship, he got
him a championship. It just all like, all right, all right,
I did what I'm supposed to do. Now let me
retire and past my prime, let me go do this.
But I don't know that that's that's how the fans
will react towards it. But I do know that with
Chauncy not to. I really thought that if he took
(33:14):
the job, they were gonna get Paul George and then
Lebron would stay. I don't think that that's happening now.
I I agree with you. I think it's a sign
of a sign of what's to come in Cleveland and
it's really, really, really not good. Hey, turns out we
all should have been six ft three shooters, right j
J Reddick one year twenty three million uh for for
(33:36):
j J. What was your reaction when you saw that deal?
I mean it makes complete sense. Like you don't. You
don't want go up moving forward, you don't want to
be a tax team, you don't want to do anything
long term, and you want to get guys in like
I don't. I don't look at money as dollars. I
look at it this cap situations, right, I don't. That's
(33:56):
the difference. I think normal people out there saying wow,
twenty three million dollars. I think of it as they
were gonna use their cap space on somebody, why not
use it on a guy for one year? And they
also did the same thing with Leer Johnson, who's an
unbelievable you know, I covered them this year. Great veteran guy,
good leader, would be great, uh for the team, you
(34:18):
know around the locker room. But one year commitment not
not moving forward. Not that's the problem with the last
year and when the cap jumped. I have no problem
with the guys making big money last year. It made
perfect sense, you know, like use your cap space up,
you have it. But signing guys to four year deals
(34:38):
and doing that and then now you're you're cap strong
moving forward and looking at the Lakers having to ship
off a number two pick just for ca cap relief
moving forward, that made no sense all across the board
the NBA, we're making a mistake after mistake. So don't
get caught up in the twenty three million. Look at
the one year where the where the Sixers are using
(34:59):
their cap space to improve, like the young guys in
their mental attitude and how they approached the game. J
J is a worker no matter what, and he's professional,
so he's gonna help that locker room out and you know,
provide some shooting for that team. Last thing, there's a
report out. You're you're talking about guys taking less instead
of worrying about you know, getting every last dollar. There's
(35:19):
there's talk now from Marcus Thompson the Bay Area Newsgroup
that Kevin Durant could take as little as twenty eight
million dollars year, maybe twenty five million dollars a year
as opposed to he's he's able to take as much
as thirty four point six five million. Other words, Uh,
take maybe nine and a half million dollars less than
he could so that the team can be more pliable.
(35:43):
They get Andrea Goodalla and pay less against the cap. Uh.
Pretty stellar stuff from k d H considering you know,
other people on the team haven't taken less to stay. Well,
let's let's put it in perspective though, because he's after
his first year, he doesn't have full bird rights. So
(36:03):
if he cooked the full money, those guys can't not not,
they can't, you know, they cannot be on the team.
So it's not like Steph Curry getting as much as
he can doesn't affect Iguodala. Is the only guy that
affects Iguodala and living Ston is Kevin Durant. So yeah,
respect a lot of He's gonna get his pay day,
(36:24):
and that payday is gonna come and the Warriors are
gonna be you know so far into the tax but
this year for him to do that is at the
one year deal, k D will not be taking pay
cuts moving forward for guys after this. But it was
you know, you know, I give him a lot of
credit for doing that, and Iguodala was huge in recruiting
(36:44):
of Kevin Durant. So it's it's I'd like to see
him do that, and you know, the rest of those
guys should get paid. I mean that they have a
super team, and the price of having a super team
is gonna go up. Brian scalibrating, scal great stuff. Let's
see what happens with Gordon Hayward's best. Guess you think
he does the Celtics. I don't. I'm worried, but yeah,
(37:04):
I guess I think he does the Celtics, but I'm
worried about Miami. I do think he's believe in Utah though. Yeah,
I think if he would have stayed, if he was
gonna stay in Utah, he would have said's stayed in
Utah already. I mean, that's right, Like, why would you?
I don't know that. That's why I look at things. Scott,
We'll we'll catch up soon. Thanks so much. For joining us.
You gotta dougs here
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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