January 16, 2018 • 47 mins
Doug analyzes another Cavaliers loss to the Warriors and thinks LeBron James is a great basketball player but an awful general manager. He also explains why he was right about the Steelers and why there will be changes following their loss to the Jaguars. Marcell Dareus from the Jaguars joins the show to talk about their dominating win over the Steelers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug gottlie Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you live from the City
of Angels where. Uh, apparently there's two entrances to every
locker room and Chris Paul knows both of them. We'll
(00:21):
get to the kerfuffle which almost was a Donnie Brook.
Huh got Donnie Brook in the very first part of
this show. Kerfuffle that almost became a Donnie Brook at
Staples last night. Uh, we'll talk to NFL football with
Robert Smith, of course, a two time pro bowler, a
former Viking, a college footbinalist for Fox Sports. Get to
(00:41):
what he saw from the Vikings, get his thoughts in
the matchups this upcoming weekend. Um, we're gonna take you
to Cleveland. I'll get to Cleveland while they're important in
a second, with the Warriors yet again going in and
dominating the Calves. And we'll take it to Pittsburgh where
there's a lot of a lot of smoke is their
fire in terms of coaching changes, either at offensive coordinator,
(01:02):
defensive coordinator, or maybe a head coach that's upcoming. Next
hour Marcel Darius is going to join us from the
Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chris Bruce Shard will join us fresh
off a wild, I mean wild Martin Luther King day
um celebration and slate of games in the NBA. Let's
start there. I think a blind man can settle on
(01:24):
the Warriors are better than the Calves, But it takes
a more intuitive man to say the Warriors might not
actually be better in terms of a lining up guy
after guy after guy. Probably are, but in terms of
depth of talent, the Cats have a lot of guys
that have been really good for a long time in
(01:45):
the NBA. The difference is the Warriors are a perfectly
constructed team. They're not overly leveraged on just one player.
That's why when Kevin Durant was out at the end
of last year and was out of time this year,
they've played well. When Steph Curry has been out this year,
they've played well. Yes, they had a seventy three win
(02:06):
team and they added Kevin Durant to it, but he
fits perfectly. They took out Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut
and some other pieces and added in Kevin Durant kind
of replenished their bench and he fits in perfectly when
he's out there, not as good, but they're still pretty
darn good as opposed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, as we know,
highly leveraged on the success or failure of Lebron James,
(02:29):
and because he's so important, they've allowed him to dictate
terms or whether he's told them or his agent, Rich Paul,
has pushed them into some of these contracts and some
of these acquisitions, or just knowing what suits him best.
They have way too many specialists. You guys know what
a specialist is, right, Kyle Corver is a specialist. Hey,
(02:50):
your bench in the NBA, you gotta have some specialists there.
Kyle Corver, specialist come in, changing fry, specialists, come in
hit threes, spread the floor out. So they build the
team with the idea that Lebron James is best when
there's nobody in the lane. He's got to be able
to get to and finish at the rim. And so
Kevin Love, as Chris Posh told him when he signed there,
(03:12):
when he resigned there, or even when he was traded there,
Hey man, you're gonna have to play center, which he
does You'll be the third option, which he is, and
when things go wrong, you'll be the most blamed, which
is also accurate. Here's how I would look at what's
happened to Lebron. Here what I think is late in
the run in Cleveland. Do you guys remember Ramos You're
(03:35):
my movie guy. Do you remember the movie Unforgiven? Clint Eastwood,
Morgred Freeman, Right, who is the sheriff? The sheriff was Genman.
Sheriff was Gene Hackman. Correct. The sheriff was actually a
really good sheriff, a hard line sheriff. And I don't
want to get into the whole premise of the movie,
but I'm not spoiling anything, right. I mean, it's a
(03:56):
fifteen year old movie that won an Academy Award I
think was Best Picture, Spectacular movie. Some great lines of
it we all got to come into us sometimes. Great
line from Eastwood. The premise of the movie is, there's
a lady of the night who gets cut up by
a cowboy. The women of this cathouse put together a
pool of money to buy guys who are gonna hunt
(04:18):
this guy down and kill him and execute him for
what he did to this woman. The problem is that
the sheriff is a hard line sheriff, and nobody except
for the sheriff carries firearms inside inside town lines. And
therein lies the rub. Right, there's a bunch of other
backstories to it. Super interesting. Clint Eastwood is not the
guy he used to be. Had settled down with his wife,
(04:38):
he'd stopped drinking, he'd stopped killing people. And now, of course,
in order to get him to get the nerve up
to shoot somebody, uh, he's got to get back to
being the old Clint Eastwood. He's gotta get drunk and
get nuts anyway. Uh. There's a point in the movie
in which Gene Hackman's character who's being fall it around
(05:00):
by a writer, and the writer is writing his autobiography
as this famous western sheriff, and they're at his house
and the sheriff had not only been successful the sheriff,
but he had built the house by hand. Do you
remember the scene, Ramos, Do you you remember what what
distinct part of what distinct flaw that the house had
(05:24):
during the scene, Right, it was raining outside and there
are pots and pans all over this house. Because the
sheriff was a very good sheriff. But he was a
terrible carpenter. Okay, he was really a bad human being.
But he had kept law and older in this wild
West town and had decided to build his dream home
(05:46):
by hand. He had done something to which he is
not really equipped for. He's a sheriff, not a carpenter.
Jesus was a carpenter. The sheriff was not a carpenter.
Lebron James also not a carpenter. Here's what I mean.
Like whether or not Lebron handpicked Kyle Korver, the fact
is that Carl Corver was brought in because Lebron would
(06:06):
want him. A great specialist, great shooter. I need space.
I need somebody that the NBA calls it gravity, somebody
where you have to stick to him. The problem is
that cal Corver can't guard anybody. Remember they went out
and traded the number one overall pick, and they probably
do it again if they had that same opportunity to
go and get Kevin Love. And Kevin Love has made
himself into an absolute lights out, open three point shooter.
(06:29):
But with shooting comes a flaw. He can't defend the rim.
He no longer can score inside the post, not a
versaile defender, and really the only thing he creates for
you is space. An occasional mismatch occasionally when he gets
a guard on him Hill Deebo when the post he
can rebound something. But he limits them so much at
the defensive end. Then now Kevin Love is limited. Hey look,
(06:52):
Kyrie Irving said check please, and he left and they
got back Jake Crowder and they got back Isaiah Thomas.
But Isaiah Thomas is lim it defensively has to play
a certain way offensively. Tristan Thompson, who they're trying to
package in a trade, uh to go and get a
rim protector. Tristan Thompson is limited. Well why was Kristin
Thompson and j R. Smith? Why were they overpaid to
(07:16):
stay and play in a place where they had a
more prominent role than they would elsewhere. Why because Lebron
James agent Rich Paul represents them, and the Calves want
to They want Lebron happy. In order to keep the
king happy. You keep the King's men happy, you keep
the King's agent happy. And so the whether or not
Lebron James specifically said pay Tristan or pay j R.
(07:38):
Or trade for for Kyle Korver, or whether or not
he approved this trade of Isaiah Thomas and j crowded
like all of that stuff was done with him in mind.
And let me tell you he's a great player, he's
a bad carpenter. They are leaks all over that roof
Golden State. Did not play all that well at times
(08:00):
last night. And Lebron James, though there were moments to
which he was exhausted, made some vintage Lebron James blocks,
like he's chasing dudes down. This is a Monday game
in January. It's okay for Lebron or others to take
that game off or to mail it in, or you
know what, I get beat. That's fine, we'll get back
(08:21):
and beach. No. No, Lebron played hard. But the more
he plays hard, the more he exhausted himself, and the
more he exposed the fact that his team is just
not good enough. It's it's not built to compete with
the Warriors. And maybe this was a foregone conclusion, maybe
there wasn't a way in which they could construct the
(08:43):
team to properly compete with the Warriors. But I will
tell you that one there's pots and pans all over
the place. You got a coach who was hired because
Lebron respected him, but that coach seems a little bit overwhelmed.
I liked Tyler, and he's made some good adjustments at times,
but he seems a little overwhelmed with how do it?
(09:04):
I mean, like, look, you get forty five games into
an NBA season. Those stats are real, right. It's hard
in a one or two even a ten game stretch
because some stretches you play the Hawks and the Grizzlies,
or you played the Sons. You play non competitive teams
enough and your stats can sway one way or the other.
(09:24):
We're more than halfway through the season. They're one of
the two or three worst teams statistically in the NBA
at the defensive end. You're not gonna win an NBA
championship that way. We saw them against the Warriors, and
the Warriors weren't even clicking on all cylinders because Steph
and and k D haven't been fully healthy together the
entire season, and they were kind of cat toying with mouse.
(09:47):
I saw last night and I thought of that scene
from Unforgiven. I thought, Lebron James is just like Gene
Hackman's character. Man. He's great. Everybody thinks he's great at
what his job is, but when he tries to put
together a team missing some right angles. There be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaps Show
weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I'm cautioning,
(10:11):
I'm really cautioning Adam Silver. See Adam Silver comes in
after UH David Stern and David Stern was loathed in
many cases, right, David Stern was heavy handed. David Stern
was in some ways of tow so he could be
a bully negotiation, you could talk down to people. But
(10:33):
and hey, look the Malice of the Palace took took
place during David Sterns UH time in office. If you will,
this is a little bit like you know, I I remember,
It's like we all remember. Finally Tom Coughlin, such a disciplinarian.
Tom coffins a great His team led the league in
penalties to the last three years he was head coach
(10:54):
of the Giants. Like it was such a disciplinarian. Why
did that play out in the field? But David certain
did institute the UH only drug testing, but he also
had the uh dress code and there's other things in
terms of player de quorum that he was big on.
(11:15):
And Adam Silver has come in and he's been the
player's commissioner. Right, he got rid of Donald sterling Um.
He has taken some at least I don't know, politically.
He's allowed players to make political statements and allowed coaches
(11:36):
the leeway of I did see a Greg Papavit say
something yesterday which like, again, if I'm Adam Silver, I
probably reeled this one in lot of you guys heard this.
He said after the game yesterday. This is I'm quoting
Gregg Popovitch that every time I hear somebody say I'm
not a racist, I think they're a racist, which again
(11:57):
I think it's super super dangerous, right because I can
say I'm not a racist, and I know I'm not
a racist. But because I said I'm not a racist,
but you know what I mean, you understand I'm saying,
I understand what he means. It's somebody defending something that
was said that is racially insensitive and then leading with
the hey I'm not a racist, but or it's it's
like the whole uh no, offense, but then something offensive
(12:20):
always comes out. But I think it's dangerous to say.
Anytimes I hear somebody say I'm not a racist, I
think you're a racist. Like, well, that that's not really
fair at all. Right, So, so no one's ever so
Pop has never said I'm not a racist, And I
think what Pop means is like, hey, my actions, my
actions prove I'm not a racist, which would be a
(12:43):
how I've lived my life for now forty two years
for me would be I'm not a racist, no matter
what you kind of if you want to decipher what
I'm saying, but I'm I'm warning the commissioner, who is
a great guy. I know him a little bit personally.
I have friends that know him. I've had him on
the radio. He's a great interview. He's fairly open with
his feelings, his thoughts, and he's very progressive, not just
(13:06):
politically but also in terms of how he runs his company,
the NBA. You are a multi billion dollar, multi national corporation,
and right now the stock is going up. Everybody's making
more money. Okay, the TV numbers are better. You've done
a good job of spacing out the season so that
(13:26):
the product is in fact better and even though we
all know at least one of the team's injury, unless
there's injury we that will be in the finals, maybe
both the teams that are being in the NBA finals.
People are still drinking up the NBA like it's a
really good cup of soup. But dude, you start having
I don't know if you guys saw what happened in
Oklahoma City. Do we have the sound of what Carmelo
(13:49):
Anthony said. Uh? Dearon Fox swiped down at the basketball
as Russell Westbrook elevated for a layup. Westbrook went that
back down the ball, holding his face. He fell to
the floor as referee Met Bowling whistled Westbrook for traveling
his tenth turnover of the game. Westbrook popped off the
floor and was assessed back to back technical fouls to
(14:12):
earn an immediate ejection. He finished with nineteen points, sixteen rebounds,
nine assists, and ten turnovers. That's a busy day. That's
a busy day. Karmalo Anthony scored fifteen of his twenty
points in the third quarter. Thunder came back from fifteen
down and he said quote after the game, the game
has changed a lot since I came in fifteen years ago,
(14:34):
the players and the officials had a dialogue, whether it
was good or whether it was bad. There was always
some point where they would let you get a little
steam off, and then they would come to you and
say that's enough, let's move on. And now the trigger
is too quick. You look at somebody wrong, you get
a technical You say one wrong thing, you get a
technical foul. So I think there's a difference from when
I came in, the dialogue, the communication relationship with the
(14:56):
players and the officials when I had come in, and
now it's a little bit different. Uh. Billy Donovan said
that the officials said the official made a terrible mistake
and he acknowledged it. I was yelling to the other
official across the floor to get his attention, and that
guy just teed me up like it was a comedy
of errors from the officials where they got mad. They
(15:18):
quick triggered Russell Westbrook. But after the game, after the game,
Karmlo Anthony said, I'm done with them. I'm done with
the refs. No disrespect, but I'm done with those guys
by the way, no disrespect. Something disrespectful comes out afterwards.
Then of course you got the Clippers and the Rockets,
who already don't like each other. Right Areza and Harden
(15:41):
from l A. Chris Paul comes over from l A.
He got half the Clippers bench that was traded for
Chris Paul. Chris Paul thought he had topped out with
the Clippers. There's obviously some bitter feelings there. Some chirping
goes on. Blake Griffin intention looks like he intentionally bumped
into Mike D'Antoni. He was chirping with him at the
same time. Clippers be the Rockets, and after the game
some of the Clippers, some of the Rockets tried to
(16:03):
storm the Clippers locker room to get into a fight.
They actually end up going in some backdoor, secret entrance
that only Chris Paul knew about. Look, here's a note
to Adam Silver. Okay, your league is doing great, but
you can't be a multibillion dollar multinational corporation and have
the players constantly constantly getting into it with the officials.
(16:28):
You can't have the players. You can't have the players
telling each other like it's some like street ball game. Hey,
I'll meet you outside afterwards. This isn't an adult league.
This is the NBA. There's a certain amount of quorum.
Decorum in class. It's the same reason that they put
in the dress code. Like, look, dude, we're not saying
you gotta wear a three piece suit, but don't look
(16:50):
like a schmuck down at theater at the end of
the bench. Dress with some class, carry yourself with some dignity.
You don't like it, go out and kick the guy's
ask the next time around. Look, I'm all for like,
I get that, this is basketball, and then sometimes there's
a case for vigilante justice. You fould my guy, I
foul your guy. That happens, but sneaking into team's locker room,
cops being called like this is c B a USB L.
(17:12):
I played in those leagues. That's the type of stuff
that occurs there. Adam Silver's got at some point put
the hammer down. Hey, fellas, everybody's all good, right, we're
all making good money. This stuff ends to say the
day that one of our star players gets into a
fight in the locker room and punches somebody and breaks
his hand, or punches somebody and breaks an ice socket.
(17:32):
Showing the Rudy tom Janovich and Kermit at Washington play
where it crushed Rudy Tom Jonavan's face. You guys are
too big and too strong for us, and God forbid.
Somebody goes and pulls up, Uh, what was the guy
who was the cast name? Well, it's the Gilbert Arenas
and was the kill played in Georgia Tech for years
now in jail for attempted murder or maybe murder. That
(17:58):
was his name, and I was yeah, Javars Crittenden. God forbid.
Somebody goes like, oh, no, no, hey, you wait, like
Marcus Johnson, Remember the character Marcus Johnson played in Uh,
White Man can't Jump. I'm gonna go back to my car,
get my other gun, shoot everybody's ass. Remember that. Like
that stuff happens in adult leagues. That stuff happens at
(18:18):
park and wreck. Guys get mad, they go back to
their car and get their gun. That stuff used to
happen in the NBA, where guys would get threatened with
guns in the nineties. That's part of the port and
jail Blazer's type of deal. Like I'm just telling you,
we're on the path the progression of player versus player
or player versus ref and it doesn't end well unless
the commissioner says enough, and we haven't heard that from him.
(18:42):
Part of being the commissioner is not just being liked,
but being respected, and sometimes you respected because you do things,
you say the things that need to be said that
people don't like to hear. 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. Roth Asberger said he isn't
allowed to check out of the plays that offensivecording to
(19:04):
Todd Hailey calls and go to a quarterback steak sneak instead.
If he can see by the way the defense lines up,
then I'll get the first down. Here's big Ben. I
truly have never said I don't want to run it,
and I don't have the freedom to check the quarterback
sneak because we don't have that call if we're not
in the huddle. I've actually asked coach Tomlin when we
(19:26):
get to like the two yard line two point play,
to spread the defense out, go empty and run quarterback draw.
He laughs at me and says, then maybe in your
younger day is not now. So they're like, look, we're
just trying to protect Ben from Ben Ben's like, we
got to have it at least in the playbook. Here's
Mike Tomlin on the play calling. I'm gathered information on
all relationships and things of that nature. Um, that's what
(19:47):
this assessment is about. So I'm not ready to stay
opinions about the nature of any of our relationships, whether
I'm assessed it in terms of what transpired or what's
going to transpire moving forward. I'm not willing to talk
about anybody being in line for anything. I've yet to
visit with Richard Mann, you know. So that's where it
starts for me. So I haven't you know, I haven't
(20:10):
voted for I haven't met with anybody. I don't know anything.
I gotta stop, and I gotta look at it. And
I mean, you can just see the you can just
see what's gonna happen here when the limited partners start
to go. You gotta think about Tomlin. Tomlin does what
any leader seems to do these days. The buck stops here.
So I'm gonna fire an assistant coach, right, and Big
(20:33):
Ben like, look, big Ben wants his hands free of blood.
That's basically what When Big Ben says that I don't
want any changes what you know is not realistic, right,
I think everybody knows is not realistic. When you say
I don't want any changes, then you know exactly that
he does want changes, or that he's all he all
(20:57):
you have to do. If you're Ben Roethlisberger and you
don't want Todd Haley fired. Is the Jimmy Chitwood gets
familiar with the Jimmy Chitwood ramas you're looking at me
like you're confused. Oh, that's the The Hoosier is a movie, right,
do you remember the scene at the town hall Jimmy
Chitwood if like he stays you stay, yes, Yes, here's
(21:24):
the here's the story, Okay. Jimmy Chitwood is the legion
legendary best player on the height on the UH the
Hickory High School team. He does not go out. He
does not go out for the team. When this is
like two movies with Gene Hackman to Gene Hackman references.
So Gene Hackman is a tough, hard driven head coach,
(21:44):
comes in. He actually plays a finishes the game with
four guys on the floor because he only had six.
One fouled out, but he didn't want to play one
because of his attitude. Right, my team is on the floor.
So they have a town hall meeting to vote whether
or not they want to dismiss the head coach. They
a vote. Before the votes are counted, Jimmy Chitwood walks
in with his basketball, flips it to somebody, and uh
(22:07):
gets up and says, I got something to say. I
think it's starting time to start playing ball. Everybody goes crazy.
There's just one thing. One catch. Coach goes, I go
coach days I play. They immediately count the votes and
decide they want to revote. Shocker here, the coach stays,
(22:30):
My point is that saying I don't want any changes
in the same interview, whence you say like, hey, I
want to run quarterback sneak, but they won't let me.
I look at this and I I'm we all know
that there are going to be massive changes made in Pittsburgh.
And look, we've had people come on here, experts come
on here and say Steelers aren't as talented as you
(22:51):
think they are. But the Steelers Steelers think they're very,
very talented. Levian is coming back. They're gonna franchise tag him.
That's the that's the easy one. Antonio Brown is already
under contract. Ben Rothberger said he's coming back those guys
that when the players are coming back and the team
believes it had a disappointing end to uh SO a
(23:12):
record wise good season, but they didn't play up to
their building in terms of level of dominance, level of competency,
they'll be coaching changes and Big Bend clearly wants no
blood on his hands. When if you really wanted no
changes to be made, he would say, hey, look, you
guys want me to come back. We want everything to
say you start changing stuff. That's when I think about retiring.
(23:35):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Marcel
Darius joins us from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He joins us
in The Doug Gottlap Show, Marcel, how are you? I'm
doing great? Um, I know there were a ton of
emotions the week, you know, um, you know, prior with
(23:57):
the whole Buffalo thing. But give me your sense leading
into the Pittsburgh game. How you were able to maintain
your emotions and your focus and you guys played so well,
it was. It was it was just driving fol point
of this stanging playoffs, doing the best you can. And
(24:18):
I mean for me, it wasn't just me. The guys
around me kind of helped me focus as well. So
it was a collective vesle from everyone to keep everybody's
head until the next game. Marcel Darius joining us on
the Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Um, but ever,
I think everybody's been through one of those events where
you want to prove somebody wrong, right, even like prompt,
(24:40):
you know, going to prom where the chick you used
to date is going with some other dude, and and
so then and so you know how and then after
the problem, like all that emotion comes out of you
take me through, after you beat Buffalo, you get back home,
were you more were you more exhausted than you would
be normally? No, it wasn't. I wasn't I was. I
(25:01):
was just so in the moment and because any mess up,
any slip up, this this opportunity can be taken away
from me. And I know and understand the weapons they
have and just trying to stay in the moment and
trying to be all my best game and just not
let this opportunity slip away from us. So I was
(25:23):
just living, just being in the moment, not trying to
get at or not trying to get at anymore. Um,
not let my emotions get the best of me. Just
really living in the moment and being critical about every
situation so that it doesn't feel away. I just need
to win. We just need to win. But it felt
so much. But it felt so much, so so great afterwards,
(25:45):
knowing that we're moving on, and it felt like the
breakup was smooth. It was a mutual closure we all had.
I got my closure, they have good closure. Was all
done and said, good friends over there, and we just
moved and pass it. And I don't, I don't. I'm
just looking forward the future and to continue to move forward.
You know, you've said that the Jaguars organization has changed
(26:09):
your life and that they've done so many the right things.
What what have they done that has changed you? That
has made you you know who you are as a
football player, as a person in this short period time
you've been there. So it's just the opportunity of this
a new start, being able to see things in a
different perspective. Um, It's just it's just It's like being
(26:31):
a relationship with girl you know you're from from they
you feel like the good you're kindly with, things are
going so smoothing, and all of a sudden things doesn't
go as playing, and then the next opportunity comes up,
and then it just kind of feels like, Dan, everything
I learned from my last relationship, I know now how
to handle myself and product myself in the problem manner
(26:54):
that I know where the police hurt, please myself, moving forward,
moving forward, just thinking it's it's a great point. Plus
it helps to be back in the South. Right, just
kind of feels right right, like people people get you,
you get there, you got you don't have to now
you have to order. Now if you order iced tea,
people say like, do you want to unsweetened? Like you're
like right, sweet please sweet see palm trees, beach, Oh
(27:20):
my god, Vitamin D. I love it. I love it. Man.
And this opportunity then, I mean, just I'm back in
the South, sweet see, Oh my god, man, lemonade. It
feels good man, I'm happy. All right, good, Well, here's
the here, here's the problem. Though. We're gonna have to
go back to your buffalo days. Because now you gotta
(27:41):
go back to New England and nobody can figure out
this New England thing. In New England in the playoffs,
the headsets might go out, the balls might have a
different level of inflation. The weather, the weather's gonna be bad.
Uh do you know you know you're not gonna get
a replay? Help? Like? All right, so how do you
how do you how do you prepare for the beast
that is New England a f C championship game. Um hmm,
(28:07):
that's a good question. I get that question quite awesome.
I've seen him twice a year for the past six
and a half years. Um, there's been a roller coaster,
but all those opportunities and just kind of season to
the mature beast. You gotta go out there and play
(28:28):
sound football. They capitalize on your mistakes. Play tight, play fast,
play physical, and be mistakeless out there on the field.
Isn't the isn't the key though, Like, like, here's the
here's the layman, here's the non NFL player. Like all
we're told is, hey, if you can force Brady off
his spot, right, and they have a timing offense, so
(28:48):
you gotta be physical with their wide receivers and the
defensive line without without blitzing, has got to get to
enforce him off the spot. That seems like just such
an easy thing. Okay, we'll do it. Is that is that?
It is that all you have to do. He doesn't
have to be effect and sound INSI I mean, And
the thing is, you don't want to play their game.
You want to play your game. And the way we
(29:11):
play our game is just the way we kind of
focus in. We're gonna be ourselves and go out there
and give our best effort, just like I'm pretty sure
they're gonna do the same. And two, the best team
is gonna win. All right, you gotta be honest with me,
you guys. The defense. Defense had to be surprised, like
Blake was out there bawling, right, So it's it's one thing.
(29:31):
You know last week he he wasn't comparing himself to Lebron,
but his point was right, like, hey, there's haters and
Lebron James. They're not going away. Obviously give me haters,
I mean, but when you say Lebron in the same
sense as Blake borders, people are going to clown you.
That defense, you had to what were your feelings to
watch Blake play as well as he played. I mean,
the guy, he has talent, the guy he can. When
(29:53):
the guy's gonna fire, he's gonna fire. He was rolling,
he found he found his nche and he's just doing
his thing. He's living in the moment. I mean, anything else,
stuff happened, he would make mistakes. It is what it is.
But he's rolling, he's in the moment, he's enjoining the
game and he's playing. He played, He played his butt off.
(30:15):
You know what, what can we say? I mean, I
didn't I didn't see the autobo him compress, compare himself
with Lavro James. But everybody got damn heter. Hey dude,
I haven't done nothing that nobody's really when people people
hate me, People hate you just because with issue in
People hate you just because I like this TV channel
(30:37):
over this TV channel? Is it? That doesn't really matter?
He played his butt off and we're moving forward and too,
he's he's in the moment right now. He's still good.
Do you think the Steelers took you guys lately? No? Um,
I know they didn't. How do you know because the
(30:58):
way the game was on Um, the things that they
were saying, um, the way they went about it and
how they played the game, the strategy, it was just
you can't say it us lightly because we beat you
the first time, and they say, okay, whatever, back and forth.
(31:21):
But of course they came with the A game and
we came with alls. We were prepared, they were prepared,
and the game still ended as a close game. So
they gave us everything they had. We gave him other
things we had. Yeah, they gave you everything they had.
They scored one second left, the game is over. When
you looked up and you saw double zeros in the clock.
You guys got forty five, they had forty two. What's
(31:42):
that feeling like for you considering all you've been through
this season? Man? Wait, just weight lifted off the shoulder.
Ka Um, I just can't believe they can't believe the
position they're winning, whateverything I've been through. I was saying,
(32:04):
just this year, the last couple of years a long
and just thank God. You guys always are You always
tell people God is the biggest comedian because you may
not understand what where the punch line is gonna come,
but when it comes, you can't do number five back
and low and just expect, be in the moment and
experience the opportunity and be thankful for it. So I
(32:29):
really words can express how I felt when I saw
Zo Zo and I'm just looking up and just thanking
God for the opportunity, for the moment, and just continue
the smiler law because I have none to not smile
to laugh about. Well, listen, I can't imagine the feeling
of the moment. If there's double zeros this weekend in
Foxbro the meantime, stay stay in that moment, stay in
this place where you are. Wish you nothing but safe
(32:51):
travelers and the most success possible. Thanks for joining us
on Fox Sports Tradio. Thank you for having men all right.
That's uh. That's Marcel Darius of the Jacksonville Aguars joining
us on the Doug Gottlieb Show. 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. Let's bring in Chris Brussard,
(33:13):
who set to join us Fox Sports one all Things Sports.
Of course you hear, I'm on Fox Sports Radio on
the weekends as well. He joins us on the Doug
Gotlieb show. Uh look, I'm okay, I don't. I don't
correlate MLK Day to a non violent protest. You had
to be non violent in the NBA. But there is
something Chris about this league where players versus officials, players
(33:37):
versus players. I want to meet you outside and beat
you up, Like, Look, the league is doing so well
in pr and the games are have been so much
more competitive this year because of the gaps in time
off with the new schedule. I almost feel like it's
time for Adam Silver to step up and do something
that the players might not immediately like, but they will
(33:58):
respect because he's got to take charge that easy. No, no,
I agree, And obviously you're right. I mean when you
mentioned Marlins the King Dave. But here, here's the thing.
When the league is kicking out, and understandably so, but
when they're kicking out, all these promos about what Martin
Luther King Dave means to all these players and what
(34:20):
he what he meant to them. You know what I'm saying,
and they're literally promoting it like it means so much
to have violence on that day. Look, it's anything to
happen on any day. But I just think you gotta
have more self control. And my thing is, I'm not
so upset. I mean, ideally it wouldn't be on the
(34:41):
court either, But I understand on the court because you're
caught up in emotion, you're playing the game, it's the
heat of the moment, and you know, things happen. But
they had time to go to the locker room, cool off,
think about it, and they still made the decision to go,
(35:03):
you know, try to get to the Clippers players. So
that's what what bothers me. So I agree. I think
what should happen is that there should be two games
suspensions for all four of the Rockets players that attempted
to get into the Clippers locker room. What about Blake
bumping purposely bumping into Mike D'Antoni, Well, I think they
(35:27):
the league, you know, the angle I saw, I could
not tell if it was purposeful or not. If the
league can determine that that was the case, I would
say a one game suspension for that. Um, I mean,
that's something obviously you never want to see happen. But
D'Antoni was he on the court as well, you know,
(35:48):
like obviously a lot of times coaches are kind of
you know, they're they're stepping on the court, So I
think that would have to come into play too. Um.
But I think there needs to be a message sent,
uh that's going to deter the players from doing things
like this again. You know, you think back to the
Carmelo Anthony situation where he went to the bus, remember
(36:11):
at Madison Square Garden, and he was trying to get
to Kevin Garnett. Um, they gave him a one game suspension,
So I think two games is appropriate. Two games would
hurt a little bit, two games might affect you're seeding,
you know, as close as the Western Conferences. But that's
the type of message that I think would tell players, Look,
(36:33):
we just can't do stuff like this anymore. What what
what was the what was the impetus of the beef? Like?
Why why was there such was? Was Austin Rivers over
there talking trash? Why are they going to the locker
room looking for rost Rivers? Yeah? Well, when I'm told
you they were looking for Austin and Blake. Obviously both
of them were talking a lot of stuff. Austin was
definitely talking a lot of trash. Um. I think it
(36:55):
was the combination of that the trash talk and the
act that Chris Paul was so frustrated and embarrassed by,
you know, the way the game was going, I mean
going back to his home, you know, to the franchise
he demanded to be traded from and getting beaten like that.
So I I you know, Chris, as you know, it's
(37:19):
one of the most competitive people in the NBA. And
so I think and I'm told he was just absolutely
beside himself when he you know, got into the locker room,
and so I think that was a big part of it,
combined with the trash talks. Did you know about the
secret entrance that he knew? Then? I did not know
about that. I mean I've been in both locker rooms obviously, Um,
(37:42):
and I can picture it because I'm told, you know,
it goes into the Clippers training room. Um, but I
did not know about it. But my guess is that players.
I don't think he would have been the only player
to know about it. My guess is that, you know, Viz,
some visiting players know about it too. Christoper, sorry joining
(38:03):
us in the doug Outliers show Fox Sports Trading, Like, look,
I think this is you know, if it's a rivalry
it's good. The Clippers have always kind of had a
thing with Golden State, kind of the back and forth
those teams didn't like each other. If now with the Rockets,
that's cool as well. Far more interesting is the mess
that is Cleveland. I know the score looked like it
was close, but it didn't feel that close, right. It's
(38:24):
just I've heard the competitive you know, for what two
and a half three quarters? You know, um, I mean
competitive is competitive is one thing, but I didn't feel
it felt like one team was just better. And look
like Draymond didn't even hit any shots, right, jamon Zo
of five, Like he didn't even hit any shots. They
were time in the fourth quarter when it got tied, Like,
(38:46):
it wasn't like Golden State rushed to put Steph back
in the game, and they still separated themselves. I'm not
saying it wasn't competitive, but it wasn't as if you
thought Cleveland was on the same level as the Warriors. Yeah,
I mean I remember feeling that way in Game four.
Remember Game four in the finals in Cleveland one, they
shot the lights out. I just kept waiting for Golden
(39:09):
State to come back and win. You know, it was
like Cleveland was hanging on for dear life and the
fact that the Golden States just that much better. I mean,
correct me if I'm wrong. But like all the shows
I'm on, and when we talk about the cast, we
are not really discussing whether or not they can beat
Golden State. We really are discussing will they still win
(39:32):
the East? You know what I mean. It's just that
bad that essentially we've conceded that they're not winning the finals.
Here's my main concern about Cleveland, and it's not strategic.
It's more mental and emotional. Um. As far as winning
the East, Um, there's really very little they can do
with this squad, in my opinion, to beat Golden State.
(39:54):
But I see, I believe some reports came out today
about Calves players not thinking their situation it's fixable. I've
talked to some people around this situation in Cleveland that
are saying the same things from players, and I believe
(40:14):
Cleveland no longer thinks it can beat Golden State, and
so I'm sure they are not looking forward to getting
to the finals and getting swept or beaten again in
five So I wonder if when they get to the playoffs,
will their motivation be at a peak level, not consciously
(40:37):
but subconsciously. They'll of course try to win and all that.
But if they're not motivated to the extreme like they
have been in the past three years. The past three years,
they followed mediocre, underachieving regular seasons and they got to
the playoffs and they really thought they could win the
title and they were motivated to the ultimate and they
(41:00):
ended up winning the West East and One championship. Now,
if they get there after a bad or mediocre regular
season and in their mind is at the end of
the day, we're gonna get beat by Golden State, I
think they may not play well enough or they may
not be motivated enough to even beat a Boston or Toronto.
(41:23):
And so i think that's my biggest concern because I'm
told players are they don't think help is on the way. Um,
because they understand the Calves are saying they're not gonna
trade that Brooklyn pick, and they understand even if a
move is made, if it doesn't include that Brooklyn pick,
(41:45):
it's gonna be a lateral move. It's not going to
be something that gets them on par with Golden State.
And so if that's the case, and I'll be honest.
I mean, I guess you can just say they're being
honest and real, but there's also a part of me
that's disappointed in that. I mean, you're you're a championship team.
I know you lost a great player in Kyrie, but
(42:08):
you know, I just think they need to be a
little more confident and believe they can improve and and
and to be honest too, even if they if it's saying, look,
we haven't been buying in as much as we should
to what tylu is co teaching us to our deepest
and principles, and if we really we really want to
(42:30):
win it, so we're gonna start working harder and buying in.
I mean, I'd rather see that than Man, we can't
be golden say we can't fix this with what we have,
because they got more than any other team in the league,
and in my opinion, as far as just sheer talent,
I don't I don't know if they have sheer talent
like people think, right, because I think the snapshot is
(42:52):
we think of Dwayne Wade as a transcendent All Star
caliber player, which the truth is he's not. He's not.
He's a he's a I loved of his former self, right,
like Jose Calderon wasn't good in the next two years
ago as their starting point guard, Like he's not um,
you know, even the like I would agree. I mean,
(43:13):
maybe I should say they've got as much, maybe as
much or close to as much as anybody else other
than Golden State. You know, you got the best player
in the world. And I don't, you know, like him
or not. Kevin Love is a perennial All Star. He's
got his flaws, but he's twenty points, ten rebounds. Isaiah Thomas.
(43:35):
Now here's the thing, which what is Isaiah Thomas? And
I'm not even talking about the first five games because
we know he's rusty and it should get better. But really,
what is he? You know, before he went to Brad Stevens,
he was just he was Jamal Crawford or Lou Williams.
(43:55):
You know, he was a good player, a good score
off the bench, a wonder mentional player off the bench.
When and Brian Stephens system, he became a star darn
near superstar for for a year and a half. Is
that really what he is? Though? That it was? It was,
it was It was a couple of things they didn't
(44:17):
have anybody. It was like. It was a lot like
when the year that Alan Iverson took the Sixers to
the finals, right, and that the team was comprised where
you had four other really good defensive players to hide
the fact that A I didn't guard anybody. Same thing
with the Celtics, and A I got to take every
shot at the end of every shot clock, so he
played with supreme confidence and kind of gotta gotta got
(44:38):
to be the best version of himself. Same thing with
Isaiah Thomas. They worked the ball around and then get
a ball screen to where he'd have a center on him,
and he had completely had a total green light and
there were no there's no real second option on last
year's team, but everybody else picked up for him defensively.
That's not how this team is constructed. There's too many
other defensive weaknesses to hide Isaiah Thomas. And he's a
(44:59):
guy that has to have the ball in his hands,
and that's hard with Lebron James, who also has to
have the ball in his hands. Yeah, I agree, I mean,
I you know, I feel like, um, you know, Lebron
has been an ice so heavy player most of his career. Um,
I do think this year they have had more at times,
and I would say most of the time, they have
(45:21):
had better ball movement than many of you know in
previous years. I think Lebron has gotten a lot of
his points more in the system, you know, getting it
at the at the elbow, getting it on the block,
getting it off back cuts and things like that where
he gets easy buckets. So I like that, But I
(45:42):
just think overall, I don't think with the way they play,
if it's gonna be a lot of ton of isolation
and you know, Lebron creating everything, that's not gonna be
Golden State. I mean, I don't. I don't care who
you are, right, No, not knock, not gonna be. And
because the line up they need on offense hurts them
(46:02):
on defense in order to play that way. Great stuff.
Christ let me you got a minute or we gotta go?
I got a minute go because I was gonna ask you,
would you because this is what it's coming down for
a lot of the players would like them to give
up the Brooklyn pick so they might be able to
get like a Paul George type player. If you can
get Paul George, then you have to go to Lebron
(46:22):
and go hey man, we're gonna go get We're gonna
go at Paul George, are you gonna stay if he
won't commit, because he's probably I probably would, I probably do.
I'd probably do it because one of the Brooklyn pick
is gonna be like eight to ten. We remember when
they got Kyrie number one. It was the eighth pick
until the lottery. And if I totally understand, but I'm saying,
(46:46):
how many opportunities do you have to compete for a championship? Right?
So you know, wait, you worry about tomorrow, tomorrow, you
were about today. I would I would, in fact do it,
especially because it's a lottery. You could end up with
the tenth pick, which isn't a great pick even in
any year, even even this year. Chris great stuff Man,
Chris Bruce are joining us.
This is the best of the Doug gottlie Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you live from the City
of Angels where. Uh, apparently there's two entrances to every
locker room and Chris Paul knows both of them. We'll
(00:21):
get to the kerfuffle which almost was a Donnie Brook.
Huh got Donnie Brook in the very first part of
this show. Kerfuffle that almost became a Donnie Brook at
Staples last night. Uh, we'll talk to NFL football with
Robert Smith, of course, a two time pro bowler, a
former Viking, a college footbinalist for Fox Sports. Get to
(00:41):
what he saw from the Vikings, get his thoughts in
the matchups this upcoming weekend. Um, we're gonna take you
to Cleveland. I'll get to Cleveland while they're important in
a second, with the Warriors yet again going in and
dominating the Calves. And we'll take it to Pittsburgh where
there's a lot of a lot of smoke is their
fire in terms of coaching changes, either at offensive coordinator,
(01:02):
defensive coordinator, or maybe a head coach that's upcoming. Next
hour Marcel Darius is going to join us from the
Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chris Bruce Shard will join us fresh
off a wild, I mean wild Martin Luther King day
um celebration and slate of games in the NBA. Let's
start there. I think a blind man can settle on
(01:24):
the Warriors are better than the Calves, But it takes
a more intuitive man to say the Warriors might not
actually be better in terms of a lining up guy
after guy after guy. Probably are, but in terms of
depth of talent, the Cats have a lot of guys
that have been really good for a long time in
(01:45):
the NBA. The difference is the Warriors are a perfectly
constructed team. They're not overly leveraged on just one player.
That's why when Kevin Durant was out at the end
of last year and was out of time this year,
they've played well. When Steph Curry has been out this year,
they've played well. Yes, they had a seventy three win
(02:06):
team and they added Kevin Durant to it, but he
fits perfectly. They took out Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut
and some other pieces and added in Kevin Durant kind
of replenished their bench and he fits in perfectly when
he's out there, not as good, but they're still pretty
darn good as opposed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, as we know,
highly leveraged on the success or failure of Lebron James,
(02:29):
and because he's so important, they've allowed him to dictate
terms or whether he's told them or his agent, Rich Paul,
has pushed them into some of these contracts and some
of these acquisitions, or just knowing what suits him best.
They have way too many specialists. You guys know what
a specialist is, right, Kyle Corver is a specialist. Hey,
(02:50):
your bench in the NBA, you gotta have some specialists there.
Kyle Corver, specialist come in, changing fry, specialists, come in
hit threes, spread the floor out. So they build the
team with the idea that Lebron James is best when
there's nobody in the lane. He's got to be able
to get to and finish at the rim. And so
Kevin Love, as Chris Posh told him when he signed there,
(03:12):
when he resigned there, or even when he was traded there,
Hey man, you're gonna have to play center, which he
does You'll be the third option, which he is, and
when things go wrong, you'll be the most blamed, which
is also accurate. Here's how I would look at what's
happened to Lebron. Here what I think is late in
the run in Cleveland. Do you guys remember Ramos You're
(03:35):
my movie guy. Do you remember the movie Unforgiven? Clint Eastwood,
Morgred Freeman, Right, who is the sheriff? The sheriff was Genman.
Sheriff was Gene Hackman. Correct. The sheriff was actually a
really good sheriff, a hard line sheriff. And I don't
want to get into the whole premise of the movie,
but I'm not spoiling anything, right. I mean, it's a
(03:56):
fifteen year old movie that won an Academy Award I
think was Best Picture, Spectacular movie. Some great lines of
it we all got to come into us sometimes. Great
line from Eastwood. The premise of the movie is, there's
a lady of the night who gets cut up by
a cowboy. The women of this cathouse put together a
pool of money to buy guys who are gonna hunt
(04:18):
this guy down and kill him and execute him for
what he did to this woman. The problem is that
the sheriff is a hard line sheriff, and nobody except
for the sheriff carries firearms inside inside town lines. And
therein lies the rub. Right, there's a bunch of other
backstories to it. Super interesting. Clint Eastwood is not the
guy he used to be. Had settled down with his wife,
(04:38):
he'd stopped drinking, he'd stopped killing people. And now, of course,
in order to get him to get the nerve up
to shoot somebody, uh, he's got to get back to
being the old Clint Eastwood. He's gotta get drunk and
get nuts anyway. Uh. There's a point in the movie
in which Gene Hackman's character who's being fall it around
(05:00):
by a writer, and the writer is writing his autobiography
as this famous western sheriff, and they're at his house
and the sheriff had not only been successful the sheriff,
but he had built the house by hand. Do you
remember the scene, Ramos, Do you you remember what what
distinct part of what distinct flaw that the house had
(05:24):
during the scene, Right, it was raining outside and there
are pots and pans all over this house. Because the
sheriff was a very good sheriff. But he was a
terrible carpenter. Okay, he was really a bad human being.
But he had kept law and older in this wild
West town and had decided to build his dream home
(05:46):
by hand. He had done something to which he is
not really equipped for. He's a sheriff, not a carpenter.
Jesus was a carpenter. The sheriff was not a carpenter.
Lebron James also not a carpenter. Here's what I mean.
Like whether or not Lebron handpicked Kyle Korver, the fact
is that Carl Corver was brought in because Lebron would
(06:06):
want him. A great specialist, great shooter. I need space.
I need somebody that the NBA calls it gravity, somebody
where you have to stick to him. The problem is
that cal Corver can't guard anybody. Remember they went out
and traded the number one overall pick, and they probably
do it again if they had that same opportunity to
go and get Kevin Love. And Kevin Love has made
himself into an absolute lights out, open three point shooter.
(06:29):
But with shooting comes a flaw. He can't defend the rim.
He no longer can score inside the post, not a
versaile defender, and really the only thing he creates for
you is space. An occasional mismatch occasionally when he gets
a guard on him Hill Deebo when the post he
can rebound something. But he limits them so much at
the defensive end. Then now Kevin Love is limited. Hey look,
(06:52):
Kyrie Irving said check please, and he left and they
got back Jake Crowder and they got back Isaiah Thomas.
But Isaiah Thomas is lim it defensively has to play
a certain way offensively. Tristan Thompson, who they're trying to
package in a trade, uh to go and get a
rim protector. Tristan Thompson is limited. Well why was Kristin
Thompson and j R. Smith? Why were they overpaid to
(07:16):
stay and play in a place where they had a
more prominent role than they would elsewhere. Why because Lebron
James agent Rich Paul represents them, and the Calves want
to They want Lebron happy. In order to keep the
king happy. You keep the King's men happy, you keep
the King's agent happy. And so the whether or not
Lebron James specifically said pay Tristan or pay j R.
(07:38):
Or trade for for Kyle Korver, or whether or not
he approved this trade of Isaiah Thomas and j crowded
like all of that stuff was done with him in mind.
And let me tell you he's a great player, he's
a bad carpenter. They are leaks all over that roof
Golden State. Did not play all that well at times
(08:00):
last night. And Lebron James, though there were moments to
which he was exhausted, made some vintage Lebron James blocks,
like he's chasing dudes down. This is a Monday game
in January. It's okay for Lebron or others to take
that game off or to mail it in, or you
know what, I get beat. That's fine, we'll get back
(08:21):
and beach. No. No, Lebron played hard. But the more
he plays hard, the more he exhausted himself, and the
more he exposed the fact that his team is just
not good enough. It's it's not built to compete with
the Warriors. And maybe this was a foregone conclusion, maybe
there wasn't a way in which they could construct the
(08:43):
team to properly compete with the Warriors. But I will
tell you that one there's pots and pans all over
the place. You got a coach who was hired because
Lebron respected him, but that coach seems a little bit overwhelmed.
I liked Tyler, and he's made some good adjustments at times,
but he seems a little overwhelmed with how do it?
(09:04):
I mean, like, look, you get forty five games into
an NBA season. Those stats are real, right. It's hard
in a one or two even a ten game stretch
because some stretches you play the Hawks and the Grizzlies,
or you played the Sons. You play non competitive teams
enough and your stats can sway one way or the other.
(09:24):
We're more than halfway through the season. They're one of
the two or three worst teams statistically in the NBA
at the defensive end. You're not gonna win an NBA
championship that way. We saw them against the Warriors, and
the Warriors weren't even clicking on all cylinders because Steph
and and k D haven't been fully healthy together the
entire season, and they were kind of cat toying with mouse.
(09:47):
I saw last night and I thought of that scene
from Unforgiven. I thought, Lebron James is just like Gene
Hackman's character. Man. He's great. Everybody thinks he's great at
what his job is, but when he tries to put
together a team missing some right angles. There be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaps Show
weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I'm cautioning,
(10:11):
I'm really cautioning Adam Silver. See Adam Silver comes in
after UH David Stern and David Stern was loathed in
many cases, right, David Stern was heavy handed. David Stern
was in some ways of tow so he could be
a bully negotiation, you could talk down to people. But
(10:33):
and hey, look the Malice of the Palace took took
place during David Sterns UH time in office. If you will,
this is a little bit like you know, I I remember,
It's like we all remember. Finally Tom Coughlin, such a disciplinarian.
Tom coffins a great His team led the league in
penalties to the last three years he was head coach
(10:54):
of the Giants. Like it was such a disciplinarian. Why
did that play out in the field? But David certain
did institute the UH only drug testing, but he also
had the uh dress code and there's other things in
terms of player de quorum that he was big on.
(11:15):
And Adam Silver has come in and he's been the
player's commissioner. Right, he got rid of Donald sterling Um.
He has taken some at least I don't know, politically.
He's allowed players to make political statements and allowed coaches
(11:36):
the leeway of I did see a Greg Papavit say
something yesterday which like, again, if I'm Adam Silver, I
probably reeled this one in lot of you guys heard this.
He said after the game yesterday. This is I'm quoting
Gregg Popovitch that every time I hear somebody say I'm
not a racist, I think they're a racist, which again
(11:57):
I think it's super super dangerous, right because I can
say I'm not a racist, and I know I'm not
a racist. But because I said I'm not a racist,
but you know what I mean, you understand I'm saying,
I understand what he means. It's somebody defending something that
was said that is racially insensitive and then leading with
the hey I'm not a racist, but or it's it's
like the whole uh no, offense, but then something offensive
(12:20):
always comes out. But I think it's dangerous to say.
Anytimes I hear somebody say I'm not a racist, I
think you're a racist. Like, well, that that's not really
fair at all. Right, So, so no one's ever so
Pop has never said I'm not a racist, And I
think what Pop means is like, hey, my actions, my
actions prove I'm not a racist, which would be a
(12:43):
how I've lived my life for now forty two years
for me would be I'm not a racist, no matter
what you kind of if you want to decipher what
I'm saying, but I'm I'm warning the commissioner, who is
a great guy. I know him a little bit personally.
I have friends that know him. I've had him on
the radio. He's a great interview. He's fairly open with
his feelings, his thoughts, and he's very progressive, not just
(13:06):
politically but also in terms of how he runs his company,
the NBA. You are a multi billion dollar, multi national corporation,
and right now the stock is going up. Everybody's making
more money. Okay, the TV numbers are better. You've done
a good job of spacing out the season so that
(13:26):
the product is in fact better and even though we
all know at least one of the team's injury, unless
there's injury we that will be in the finals, maybe
both the teams that are being in the NBA finals.
People are still drinking up the NBA like it's a
really good cup of soup. But dude, you start having
I don't know if you guys saw what happened in
Oklahoma City. Do we have the sound of what Carmelo
(13:49):
Anthony said. Uh? Dearon Fox swiped down at the basketball
as Russell Westbrook elevated for a layup. Westbrook went that
back down the ball, holding his face. He fell to
the floor as referee Met Bowling whistled Westbrook for traveling
his tenth turnover of the game. Westbrook popped off the
floor and was assessed back to back technical fouls to
(14:12):
earn an immediate ejection. He finished with nineteen points, sixteen rebounds,
nine assists, and ten turnovers. That's a busy day. That's
a busy day. Karmalo Anthony scored fifteen of his twenty
points in the third quarter. Thunder came back from fifteen
down and he said quote after the game, the game
has changed a lot since I came in fifteen years ago,
(14:34):
the players and the officials had a dialogue, whether it
was good or whether it was bad. There was always
some point where they would let you get a little
steam off, and then they would come to you and
say that's enough, let's move on. And now the trigger
is too quick. You look at somebody wrong, you get
a technical You say one wrong thing, you get a
technical foul. So I think there's a difference from when
I came in, the dialogue, the communication relationship with the
(14:56):
players and the officials when I had come in, and
now it's a little bit different. Uh. Billy Donovan said
that the officials said the official made a terrible mistake
and he acknowledged it. I was yelling to the other
official across the floor to get his attention, and that
guy just teed me up like it was a comedy
of errors from the officials where they got mad. They
(15:18):
quick triggered Russell Westbrook. But after the game, after the game,
Karmlo Anthony said, I'm done with them. I'm done with
the refs. No disrespect, but I'm done with those guys
by the way, no disrespect. Something disrespectful comes out afterwards.
Then of course you got the Clippers and the Rockets,
who already don't like each other. Right Areza and Harden
(15:41):
from l A. Chris Paul comes over from l A.
He got half the Clippers bench that was traded for
Chris Paul. Chris Paul thought he had topped out with
the Clippers. There's obviously some bitter feelings there. Some chirping
goes on. Blake Griffin intention looks like he intentionally bumped
into Mike D'Antoni. He was chirping with him at the
same time. Clippers be the Rockets, and after the game
some of the Clippers, some of the Rockets tried to
(16:03):
storm the Clippers locker room to get into a fight.
They actually end up going in some backdoor, secret entrance
that only Chris Paul knew about. Look, here's a note
to Adam Silver. Okay, your league is doing great, but
you can't be a multibillion dollar multinational corporation and have
the players constantly constantly getting into it with the officials.
(16:28):
You can't have the players. You can't have the players
telling each other like it's some like street ball game. Hey,
I'll meet you outside afterwards. This isn't an adult league.
This is the NBA. There's a certain amount of quorum.
Decorum in class. It's the same reason that they put
in the dress code. Like, look, dude, we're not saying
you gotta wear a three piece suit, but don't look
(16:50):
like a schmuck down at theater at the end of
the bench. Dress with some class, carry yourself with some dignity.
You don't like it, go out and kick the guy's
ask the next time around. Look, I'm all for like,
I get that, this is basketball, and then sometimes there's
a case for vigilante justice. You fould my guy, I
foul your guy. That happens, but sneaking into team's locker room,
cops being called like this is c B a USB L.
(17:12):
I played in those leagues. That's the type of stuff
that occurs there. Adam Silver's got at some point put
the hammer down. Hey, fellas, everybody's all good, right, we're
all making good money. This stuff ends to say the
day that one of our star players gets into a
fight in the locker room and punches somebody and breaks
his hand, or punches somebody and breaks an ice socket.
(17:32):
Showing the Rudy tom Janovich and Kermit at Washington play
where it crushed Rudy Tom Jonavan's face. You guys are
too big and too strong for us, and God forbid.
Somebody goes and pulls up, Uh, what was the guy
who was the cast name? Well, it's the Gilbert Arenas
and was the kill played in Georgia Tech for years
now in jail for attempted murder or maybe murder. That
(17:58):
was his name, and I was yeah, Javars Crittenden. God forbid.
Somebody goes like, oh, no, no, hey, you wait, like
Marcus Johnson, Remember the character Marcus Johnson played in Uh,
White Man can't Jump. I'm gonna go back to my car,
get my other gun, shoot everybody's ass. Remember that. Like
that stuff happens in adult leagues. That stuff happens at
(18:18):
park and wreck. Guys get mad, they go back to
their car and get their gun. That stuff used to
happen in the NBA, where guys would get threatened with
guns in the nineties. That's part of the port and
jail Blazer's type of deal. Like I'm just telling you,
we're on the path the progression of player versus player
or player versus ref and it doesn't end well unless
the commissioner says enough, and we haven't heard that from him.
(18:42):
Part of being the commissioner is not just being liked,
but being respected, and sometimes you respected because you do things,
you say the things that need to be said that
people don't like to hear. 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. Roth Asberger said he isn't
allowed to check out of the plays that offensivecording to
(19:04):
Todd Hailey calls and go to a quarterback steak sneak instead.
If he can see by the way the defense lines up,
then I'll get the first down. Here's big Ben. I
truly have never said I don't want to run it,
and I don't have the freedom to check the quarterback
sneak because we don't have that call if we're not
in the huddle. I've actually asked coach Tomlin when we
(19:26):
get to like the two yard line two point play,
to spread the defense out, go empty and run quarterback draw.
He laughs at me and says, then maybe in your
younger day is not now. So they're like, look, we're
just trying to protect Ben from Ben Ben's like, we
got to have it at least in the playbook. Here's
Mike Tomlin on the play calling. I'm gathered information on
all relationships and things of that nature. Um, that's what
(19:47):
this assessment is about. So I'm not ready to stay
opinions about the nature of any of our relationships, whether
I'm assessed it in terms of what transpired or what's
going to transpire moving forward. I'm not willing to talk
about anybody being in line for anything. I've yet to
visit with Richard Mann, you know. So that's where it
starts for me. So I haven't you know, I haven't
(20:10):
voted for I haven't met with anybody. I don't know anything.
I gotta stop, and I gotta look at it. And
I mean, you can just see the you can just
see what's gonna happen here when the limited partners start
to go. You gotta think about Tomlin. Tomlin does what
any leader seems to do these days. The buck stops here.
So I'm gonna fire an assistant coach, right, and Big
(20:33):
Ben like, look, big Ben wants his hands free of blood.
That's basically what When Big Ben says that I don't
want any changes what you know is not realistic, right,
I think everybody knows is not realistic. When you say
I don't want any changes, then you know exactly that
he does want changes, or that he's all he all
(20:57):
you have to do. If you're Ben Roethlisberger and you
don't want Todd Haley fired. Is the Jimmy Chitwood gets
familiar with the Jimmy Chitwood ramas you're looking at me
like you're confused. Oh, that's the The Hoosier is a movie, right,
do you remember the scene at the town hall Jimmy
Chitwood if like he stays you stay, yes, Yes, here's
(21:24):
the here's the story, Okay. Jimmy Chitwood is the legion
legendary best player on the height on the UH the
Hickory High School team. He does not go out. He
does not go out for the team. When this is
like two movies with Gene Hackman to Gene Hackman references.
So Gene Hackman is a tough, hard driven head coach,
(21:44):
comes in. He actually plays a finishes the game with
four guys on the floor because he only had six.
One fouled out, but he didn't want to play one
because of his attitude. Right, my team is on the floor.
So they have a town hall meeting to vote whether
or not they want to dismiss the head coach. They
a vote. Before the votes are counted, Jimmy Chitwood walks
in with his basketball, flips it to somebody, and uh
(22:07):
gets up and says, I got something to say. I
think it's starting time to start playing ball. Everybody goes crazy.
There's just one thing. One catch. Coach goes, I go
coach days I play. They immediately count the votes and
decide they want to revote. Shocker here, the coach stays,
(22:30):
My point is that saying I don't want any changes
in the same interview, whence you say like, hey, I
want to run quarterback sneak, but they won't let me.
I look at this and I I'm we all know
that there are going to be massive changes made in Pittsburgh.
And look, we've had people come on here, experts come
on here and say Steelers aren't as talented as you
(22:51):
think they are. But the Steelers Steelers think they're very,
very talented. Levian is coming back. They're gonna franchise tag him.
That's the that's the easy one. Antonio Brown is already
under contract. Ben Rothberger said he's coming back those guys
that when the players are coming back and the team
believes it had a disappointing end to uh SO a
(23:12):
record wise good season, but they didn't play up to
their building in terms of level of dominance, level of competency,
they'll be coaching changes and Big Bend clearly wants no
blood on his hands. When if you really wanted no
changes to be made, he would say, hey, look, you
guys want me to come back. We want everything to
say you start changing stuff. That's when I think about retiring.
(23:35):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Marcel
Darius joins us from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He joins us
in The Doug Gottlap Show, Marcel, how are you? I'm
doing great? Um, I know there were a ton of
emotions the week, you know, um, you know, prior with
(23:57):
the whole Buffalo thing. But give me your sense leading
into the Pittsburgh game. How you were able to maintain
your emotions and your focus and you guys played so well,
it was. It was it was just driving fol point
of this stanging playoffs, doing the best you can. And
(24:18):
I mean for me, it wasn't just me. The guys
around me kind of helped me focus as well. So
it was a collective vesle from everyone to keep everybody's
head until the next game. Marcel Darius joining us on
the Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Um, but ever,
I think everybody's been through one of those events where
you want to prove somebody wrong, right, even like prompt,
(24:40):
you know, going to prom where the chick you used
to date is going with some other dude, and and
so then and so you know how and then after
the problem, like all that emotion comes out of you
take me through, after you beat Buffalo, you get back home,
were you more were you more exhausted than you would
be normally? No, it wasn't. I wasn't I was. I
(25:01):
was just so in the moment and because any mess up,
any slip up, this this opportunity can be taken away
from me. And I know and understand the weapons they
have and just trying to stay in the moment and
trying to be all my best game and just not
let this opportunity slip away from us. So I was
(25:23):
just living, just being in the moment, not trying to
get at or not trying to get at anymore. Um,
not let my emotions get the best of me. Just
really living in the moment and being critical about every
situation so that it doesn't feel away. I just need
to win. We just need to win. But it felt
so much. But it felt so much, so so great afterwards,
(25:45):
knowing that we're moving on, and it felt like the
breakup was smooth. It was a mutual closure we all had.
I got my closure, they have good closure. Was all
done and said, good friends over there, and we just
moved and pass it. And I don't, I don't. I'm
just looking forward the future and to continue to move forward.
You know, you've said that the Jaguars organization has changed
(26:09):
your life and that they've done so many the right things.
What what have they done that has changed you? That
has made you you know who you are as a
football player, as a person in this short period time
you've been there. So it's just the opportunity of this
a new start, being able to see things in a
different perspective. Um, It's just it's just It's like being
(26:31):
a relationship with girl you know you're from from they
you feel like the good you're kindly with, things are
going so smoothing, and all of a sudden things doesn't
go as playing, and then the next opportunity comes up,
and then it just kind of feels like, Dan, everything
I learned from my last relationship, I know now how
to handle myself and product myself in the problem manner
(26:54):
that I know where the police hurt, please myself, moving forward,
moving forward, just thinking it's it's a great point. Plus
it helps to be back in the South. Right, just
kind of feels right right, like people people get you,
you get there, you got you don't have to now
you have to order. Now if you order iced tea,
people say like, do you want to unsweetened? Like you're
like right, sweet please sweet see palm trees, beach, Oh
(27:20):
my god, Vitamin D. I love it. I love it. Man.
And this opportunity then, I mean, just I'm back in
the South, sweet see, Oh my god, man, lemonade. It
feels good man, I'm happy. All right, good, Well, here's
the here, here's the problem. Though. We're gonna have to
go back to your buffalo days. Because now you gotta
(27:41):
go back to New England and nobody can figure out
this New England thing. In New England in the playoffs,
the headsets might go out, the balls might have a
different level of inflation. The weather, the weather's gonna be bad.
Uh do you know you know you're not gonna get
a replay? Help? Like? All right, so how do you
how do you how do you prepare for the beast
that is New England a f C championship game. Um hmm,
(28:07):
that's a good question. I get that question quite awesome.
I've seen him twice a year for the past six
and a half years. Um, there's been a roller coaster,
but all those opportunities and just kind of season to
the mature beast. You gotta go out there and play
(28:28):
sound football. They capitalize on your mistakes. Play tight, play fast,
play physical, and be mistakeless out there on the field.
Isn't the isn't the key though, Like, like, here's the
here's the layman, here's the non NFL player. Like all
we're told is, hey, if you can force Brady off
his spot, right, and they have a timing offense, so
(28:48):
you gotta be physical with their wide receivers and the
defensive line without without blitzing, has got to get to
enforce him off the spot. That seems like just such
an easy thing. Okay, we'll do it. Is that is that?
It is that all you have to do. He doesn't
have to be effect and sound INSI I mean, And
the thing is, you don't want to play their game.
You want to play your game. And the way we
(29:11):
play our game is just the way we kind of
focus in. We're gonna be ourselves and go out there
and give our best effort, just like I'm pretty sure
they're gonna do the same. And two, the best team
is gonna win. All right, you gotta be honest with me,
you guys. The defense. Defense had to be surprised, like
Blake was out there bawling, right, So it's it's one thing.
(29:31):
You know last week he he wasn't comparing himself to Lebron,
but his point was right, like, hey, there's haters and
Lebron James. They're not going away. Obviously give me haters,
I mean, but when you say Lebron in the same
sense as Blake borders, people are going to clown you.
That defense, you had to what were your feelings to
watch Blake play as well as he played. I mean,
the guy, he has talent, the guy he can. When
(29:53):
the guy's gonna fire, he's gonna fire. He was rolling,
he found he found his nche and he's just doing
his thing. He's living in the moment. I mean, anything else,
stuff happened, he would make mistakes. It is what it is.
But he's rolling, he's in the moment, he's enjoining the
game and he's playing. He played, He played his butt off.
(30:15):
You know what, what can we say? I mean, I
didn't I didn't see the autobo him compress, compare himself
with Lavro James. But everybody got damn heter. Hey dude,
I haven't done nothing that nobody's really when people people
hate me, People hate you just because with issue in
People hate you just because I like this TV channel
(30:37):
over this TV channel? Is it? That doesn't really matter?
He played his butt off and we're moving forward and too,
he's he's in the moment right now. He's still good.
Do you think the Steelers took you guys lately? No? Um,
I know they didn't. How do you know because the
(30:58):
way the game was on Um, the things that they
were saying, um, the way they went about it and
how they played the game, the strategy, it was just
you can't say it us lightly because we beat you
the first time, and they say, okay, whatever, back and forth.
(31:21):
But of course they came with the A game and
we came with alls. We were prepared, they were prepared,
and the game still ended as a close game. So
they gave us everything they had. We gave him other
things we had. Yeah, they gave you everything they had.
They scored one second left, the game is over. When
you looked up and you saw double zeros in the clock.
You guys got forty five, they had forty two. What's
(31:42):
that feeling like for you considering all you've been through
this season? Man? Wait, just weight lifted off the shoulder.
Ka Um, I just can't believe they can't believe the
position they're winning, whateverything I've been through. I was saying,
(32:04):
just this year, the last couple of years a long
and just thank God. You guys always are You always
tell people God is the biggest comedian because you may
not understand what where the punch line is gonna come,
but when it comes, you can't do number five back
and low and just expect, be in the moment and
experience the opportunity and be thankful for it. So I
(32:29):
really words can express how I felt when I saw
Zo Zo and I'm just looking up and just thanking
God for the opportunity, for the moment, and just continue
the smiler law because I have none to not smile
to laugh about. Well, listen, I can't imagine the feeling
of the moment. If there's double zeros this weekend in
Foxbro the meantime, stay stay in that moment, stay in
this place where you are. Wish you nothing but safe
(32:51):
travelers and the most success possible. Thanks for joining us
on Fox Sports Tradio. Thank you for having men all right.
That's uh. That's Marcel Darius of the Jacksonville Aguars joining
us on the Doug Gottlieb Show. 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. Let's bring in Chris Brussard,
(33:13):
who set to join us Fox Sports one all Things Sports.
Of course you hear, I'm on Fox Sports Radio on
the weekends as well. He joins us on the Doug
Gotlieb show. Uh look, I'm okay, I don't. I don't
correlate MLK Day to a non violent protest. You had
to be non violent in the NBA. But there is
something Chris about this league where players versus officials, players
(33:37):
versus players. I want to meet you outside and beat
you up, Like, Look, the league is doing so well
in pr and the games are have been so much
more competitive this year because of the gaps in time
off with the new schedule. I almost feel like it's
time for Adam Silver to step up and do something
that the players might not immediately like, but they will
(33:58):
respect because he's got to take charge that easy. No, no,
I agree, And obviously you're right. I mean when you
mentioned Marlins the King Dave. But here, here's the thing.
When the league is kicking out, and understandably so, but
when they're kicking out, all these promos about what Martin
Luther King Dave means to all these players and what
(34:20):
he what he meant to them. You know what I'm saying,
and they're literally promoting it like it means so much
to have violence on that day. Look, it's anything to
happen on any day. But I just think you gotta
have more self control. And my thing is, I'm not
so upset. I mean, ideally it wouldn't be on the
(34:41):
court either, But I understand on the court because you're
caught up in emotion, you're playing the game, it's the
heat of the moment, and you know, things happen. But
they had time to go to the locker room, cool off,
think about it, and they still made the decision to go,
(35:03):
you know, try to get to the Clippers players. So
that's what what bothers me. So I agree. I think
what should happen is that there should be two games
suspensions for all four of the Rockets players that attempted
to get into the Clippers locker room. What about Blake
bumping purposely bumping into Mike D'Antoni, Well, I think they
(35:27):
the league, you know, the angle I saw, I could
not tell if it was purposeful or not. If the
league can determine that that was the case, I would
say a one game suspension for that. Um, I mean,
that's something obviously you never want to see happen. But
D'Antoni was he on the court as well, you know,
(35:48):
like obviously a lot of times coaches are kind of
you know, they're they're stepping on the court, So I
think that would have to come into play too. Um.
But I think there needs to be a message sent,
uh that's going to deter the players from doing things
like this again. You know, you think back to the
Carmelo Anthony situation where he went to the bus, remember
(36:11):
at Madison Square Garden, and he was trying to get
to Kevin Garnett. Um, they gave him a one game suspension,
So I think two games is appropriate. Two games would
hurt a little bit, two games might affect you're seeding,
you know, as close as the Western Conferences. But that's
the type of message that I think would tell players, Look,
(36:33):
we just can't do stuff like this anymore. What what
what was the what was the impetus of the beef? Like?
Why why was there such was? Was Austin Rivers over
there talking trash? Why are they going to the locker
room looking for rost Rivers? Yeah? Well, when I'm told
you they were looking for Austin and Blake. Obviously both
of them were talking a lot of stuff. Austin was
definitely talking a lot of trash. Um. I think it
(36:55):
was the combination of that the trash talk and the
act that Chris Paul was so frustrated and embarrassed by,
you know, the way the game was going, I mean
going back to his home, you know, to the franchise
he demanded to be traded from and getting beaten like that.
So I I you know, Chris, as you know, it's
(37:19):
one of the most competitive people in the NBA. And
so I think and I'm told he was just absolutely
beside himself when he you know, got into the locker room,
and so I think that was a big part of it,
combined with the trash talks. Did you know about the
secret entrance that he knew? Then? I did not know
about that. I mean I've been in both locker rooms obviously, Um,
(37:42):
and I can picture it because I'm told, you know,
it goes into the Clippers training room. Um, but I
did not know about it. But my guess is that players.
I don't think he would have been the only player
to know about it. My guess is that, you know, Viz,
some visiting players know about it too. Christoper, sorry joining
(38:03):
us in the doug Outliers show Fox Sports Trading, Like, look,
I think this is you know, if it's a rivalry
it's good. The Clippers have always kind of had a
thing with Golden State, kind of the back and forth
those teams didn't like each other. If now with the Rockets,
that's cool as well. Far more interesting is the mess
that is Cleveland. I know the score looked like it
was close, but it didn't feel that close, right. It's
(38:24):
just I've heard the competitive you know, for what two
and a half three quarters? You know, um, I mean
competitive is competitive is one thing, but I didn't feel
it felt like one team was just better. And look
like Draymond didn't even hit any shots, right, jamon Zo
of five, Like he didn't even hit any shots. They
were time in the fourth quarter when it got tied, Like,
(38:46):
it wasn't like Golden State rushed to put Steph back
in the game, and they still separated themselves. I'm not
saying it wasn't competitive, but it wasn't as if you
thought Cleveland was on the same level as the Warriors. Yeah,
I mean I remember feeling that way in Game four.
Remember Game four in the finals in Cleveland one, they
shot the lights out. I just kept waiting for Golden
(39:09):
State to come back and win. You know, it was
like Cleveland was hanging on for dear life and the
fact that the Golden States just that much better. I mean,
correct me if I'm wrong. But like all the shows
I'm on, and when we talk about the cast, we
are not really discussing whether or not they can beat
Golden State. We really are discussing will they still win
(39:32):
the East? You know what I mean. It's just that
bad that essentially we've conceded that they're not winning the finals.
Here's my main concern about Cleveland, and it's not strategic.
It's more mental and emotional. Um. As far as winning
the East, Um, there's really very little they can do
with this squad, in my opinion, to beat Golden State.
(39:54):
But I see, I believe some reports came out today
about Calves players not thinking their situation it's fixable. I've
talked to some people around this situation in Cleveland that
are saying the same things from players, and I believe
(40:14):
Cleveland no longer thinks it can beat Golden State, and
so I'm sure they are not looking forward to getting
to the finals and getting swept or beaten again in
five So I wonder if when they get to the playoffs,
will their motivation be at a peak level, not consciously
(40:37):
but subconsciously. They'll of course try to win and all that.
But if they're not motivated to the extreme like they
have been in the past three years. The past three years,
they followed mediocre, underachieving regular seasons and they got to
the playoffs and they really thought they could win the
title and they were motivated to the ultimate and they
(41:00):
ended up winning the West East and One championship. Now,
if they get there after a bad or mediocre regular
season and in their mind is at the end of
the day, we're gonna get beat by Golden State, I
think they may not play well enough or they may
not be motivated enough to even beat a Boston or Toronto.
(41:23):
And so i think that's my biggest concern because I'm
told players are they don't think help is on the way. Um,
because they understand the Calves are saying they're not gonna
trade that Brooklyn pick, and they understand even if a
move is made, if it doesn't include that Brooklyn pick,
(41:45):
it's gonna be a lateral move. It's not going to
be something that gets them on par with Golden State.
And so if that's the case, and I'll be honest.
I mean, I guess you can just say they're being
honest and real, but there's also a part of me
that's disappointed in that. I mean, you're you're a championship team.
I know you lost a great player in Kyrie, but
(42:08):
you know, I just think they need to be a
little more confident and believe they can improve and and
and to be honest too, even if they if it's saying, look,
we haven't been buying in as much as we should
to what tylu is co teaching us to our deepest
and principles, and if we really we really want to
(42:30):
win it, so we're gonna start working harder and buying in.
I mean, I'd rather see that than Man, we can't
be golden say we can't fix this with what we have,
because they got more than any other team in the league,
and in my opinion, as far as just sheer talent,
I don't I don't know if they have sheer talent
like people think, right, because I think the snapshot is
(42:52):
we think of Dwayne Wade as a transcendent All Star
caliber player, which the truth is he's not. He's not.
He's a he's a I loved of his former self, right,
like Jose Calderon wasn't good in the next two years
ago as their starting point guard, Like he's not um,
you know, even the like I would agree. I mean,
(43:13):
maybe I should say they've got as much, maybe as
much or close to as much as anybody else other
than Golden State. You know, you got the best player
in the world. And I don't, you know, like him
or not. Kevin Love is a perennial All Star. He's
got his flaws, but he's twenty points, ten rebounds. Isaiah Thomas.
(43:35):
Now here's the thing, which what is Isaiah Thomas? And
I'm not even talking about the first five games because
we know he's rusty and it should get better. But really,
what is he? You know, before he went to Brad Stevens,
he was just he was Jamal Crawford or Lou Williams.
(43:55):
You know, he was a good player, a good score
off the bench, a wonder mentional player off the bench.
When and Brian Stephens system, he became a star darn
near superstar for for a year and a half. Is
that really what he is? Though? That it was? It was,
it was It was a couple of things they didn't
(44:17):
have anybody. It was like. It was a lot like
when the year that Alan Iverson took the Sixers to
the finals, right, and that the team was comprised where
you had four other really good defensive players to hide
the fact that A I didn't guard anybody. Same thing
with the Celtics, and A I got to take every
shot at the end of every shot clock, so he
played with supreme confidence and kind of gotta gotta got
(44:38):
to be the best version of himself. Same thing with
Isaiah Thomas. They worked the ball around and then get
a ball screen to where he'd have a center on him,
and he had completely had a total green light and
there were no there's no real second option on last
year's team, but everybody else picked up for him defensively.
That's not how this team is constructed. There's too many
other defensive weaknesses to hide Isaiah Thomas. And he's a
(44:59):
guy that has to have the ball in his hands,
and that's hard with Lebron James, who also has to
have the ball in his hands. Yeah, I agree, I mean,
I you know, I feel like, um, you know, Lebron
has been an ice so heavy player most of his career. Um,
I do think this year they have had more at times,
and I would say most of the time, they have
(45:21):
had better ball movement than many of you know in
previous years. I think Lebron has gotten a lot of
his points more in the system, you know, getting it
at the at the elbow, getting it on the block,
getting it off back cuts and things like that where
he gets easy buckets. So I like that, But I
(45:42):
just think overall, I don't think with the way they play,
if it's gonna be a lot of ton of isolation
and you know, Lebron creating everything, that's not gonna be
Golden State. I mean, I don't. I don't care who
you are, right, No, not knock, not gonna be. And
because the line up they need on offense hurts them
(46:02):
on defense in order to play that way. Great stuff.
Christ let me you got a minute or we gotta go?
I got a minute go because I was gonna ask you,
would you because this is what it's coming down for
a lot of the players would like them to give
up the Brooklyn pick so they might be able to
get like a Paul George type player. If you can
get Paul George, then you have to go to Lebron
(46:22):
and go hey man, we're gonna go get We're gonna
go at Paul George, are you gonna stay if he
won't commit, because he's probably I probably would, I probably do.
I'd probably do it because one of the Brooklyn pick
is gonna be like eight to ten. We remember when
they got Kyrie number one. It was the eighth pick
until the lottery. And if I totally understand, but I'm saying,
(46:46):
how many opportunities do you have to compete for a championship? Right?
So you know, wait, you worry about tomorrow, tomorrow, you
were about today. I would I would, in fact do it,
especially because it's a lottery. You could end up with
the tenth pick, which isn't a great pick even in
any year, even even this year. Chris great stuff Man,
Chris Bruce are joining us.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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