February 12, 2018 • 31 mins
Doug tells you why it's way too soon to know if the Cavaliers' new roster can compete with the Warriors. He discusses the Colts hiring Frank Reich as their new head coach and why the Eagles will probably take a step back next season. Doug talks to NBA Insider for Yahoo Sports Chris Mannix about the Cavaliers and how Isaiah Thomas fits with the Lakers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America? Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Coming to you from the City of Angels,
claudiest city of Angels, only about sixty five outside. We
have hats, we have mitten's, we have scarfs on. But
(00:22):
somehow Jen Ramos, Ryan Music, Cindy Cats, Steve de Sager
and I we will persevere you. That's what we will do.
That's most shows from southern California sixty five degrees, they
just cancel it. Right. That's that's like that's like two
ft of snow on the ground in New England, US,
we are going to somehow push through. Welcome in the
phone numbers eight, seven seventy on Fox. I want to
(00:43):
welcome in our newest affiliate in Waco, Texas. Uh. Here's
what happens right, um uh, one of my previous employers
has a seven sports radio network on in Waco and
Baylor cannot, for the life of them beat cancer US.
They announced Friday that they're gonna flip and become a
(01:04):
seven Fox Sports Radio affiliate, and uh, Rob Mars do
you wear? What happened when the Jayhawks went into Waco
this weekend. I think they want Is that correct? The
Jayhawks did not the Backler Bears, billar Bears sick them.
Just you you think there's a correlation. I I would say, yes,
the there there is a correlation. Gottlie back on the
(01:26):
air waves in Waco, Waco, Texas could be on UH
in Waco. Good place, good people, and good sports to
talk about. All right, let's let's get to what I
think is the topic of the day. It relates to
the weekend. It relates to the last week when many
of you heard Beyond Cowherd on Dan Patrick now back
on my own show. You can download into those podcasts
(01:47):
you want to hear our interviews. We got some great stuff.
I'm coming for you. So Lebron James, they essentially cleaned
house and changed out most of his bench parts and
got the the newer version. I don't know if they
got the better version, but they got the newer version.
And as much as I'd like to say, look at
(02:08):
that one game against the Celtics, this is a snapshot
of what the Calves are going to be. We need
to take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, Okay,
and and first, um, let's not lay all the blame
at the feet of Dwyane Wade at Derrick Rose, at
Jay crowder at Isaiah Thomas or even a Moan Shepherd,
(02:30):
all all former Calves today now currently players for the Jazz,
the Lakers, ones with the Kings, and Dwyane Wades with
the Heat. Right, they're kind of sprinkled throughout the league
ex Patriots, if you will, Some of that blame rests
on the shoulders of Lebron James. Now, um, I have
long considered, I have long considered, uh, the Andre what's
(02:55):
his name? Andre? Um? Ah? Uh? Shoot the Hawk was
Andre was Dawkins? What was? They used to play for
the Cubs. Remember he was the first an l m
v P to come Andre Dawson. WMNA say dog Dawkins
Planre Dawkins played for Duke Andre Dawson. Thank you Andre Dawson.
What happens in sports? As we think, you can only
(03:17):
be an m v P if your team wins. I've
said this about Mike Trout now last year the wins
of puver placement didn't really work because crazy story that
even though Mike Trout was in fact and he isn't
best player in the American League. Somehow the Angels went
on a winning streak without him, so his wins of
pub replacement wasn't wasn't the same as it had been.
(03:37):
But I would contend that one of the hardest things
to do in sports when you're when you're an all
time great is to be an all time great and
to have a positive outlook, a positive attitude when things
aren't going well. It's really really hard. And I know
what you're sitting there thinking, and look something part of
me thinks this as well, which is which is, hey, man,
(03:59):
you're gonna pay of teen twenty million dollars, You've gotta
be an all time great every time you step But
that's fine, that sounds really good. But any of you
who have been at a job and which pays well,
but the overall feeling of the job, momentum of the
job is not great. It makes it hard to go
to work. Doesn't mean that you're you're not still competent
(04:21):
and you're not still really good at what you do,
but you can't necessarily be the best version of yourself.
Andre Dawson was. He was the m v P of
the National League. I've seen Mike Trout be the m
v P the americanly and not beyond the best team
even in his division, not even the second best team
in his division. And to that I hold, I think
they should. They deserve an extra amount of respect. Lebron
(04:44):
struggle with it. Part of it was his friendship with
Dwayne Wade actually create a fracture within the rest of
the team. Part of it was, uh, the kind of
age old philosophy, which was you needed veteran players once
you get to the playoffs because you can count on
vets to step up and make shots and make plays
even if they don't have the juice in their legs
for eight d two games in the regular season. But
(05:07):
they'd also all past that that born out throw out,
throwout date, you know, the throwout date and the refrigerator.
All those guys for a litany of reasons, be it fit,
be it coming off an injury or series of injuries,
Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, or just age Dwyane Wade. They
were shell of the players that used to be and
(05:27):
they weren't quite fitting together. So now he gets new
pieces and they absolutely throttle. They dominate the Boston Celtics,
which of course has so many of my brethren here
at Fox and other places saying, well, now now they're
gonna win the East, they're the best team the East.
They're back, and everybody else thinks, and I just I
(05:51):
want everybody to breathe in and breathe out right, breathe
in and breathe out. You experienced this eight and a
half nine years ago, if you were an anti Obama
guy and you're and I'm just like, look, did breathe
The Republic will be fine. And if you're if you're
an anti Trump guy, it's the same thing, like, breathe in,
(06:13):
breathe out. The Republic has lasted over two years. We're
gonna be okay. There's gonna be some adjustments, there's gonna
be some things you like, some things you don't like,
but the Republic will be just fine. The same is
true with the Eastern Conference. We came in the season
thinking with the Calves were probably the best team. Although
they had these new pieces which made their bench stronger,
(06:35):
even their starting lineup would never be the same without
Kyrie Irving and we're left with much the same feeling.
But to make a determination based upon just one game
is so incredibly dangerous. It just is. You know, you
wouldn't marry a girl after one date. Let's not let's
not determine what they are, who they are, what's gonna
(06:58):
happen in the Eastern Conference. Who it's gonna be the
starting lineup? Like, Look, it adds to intrigue, and it
does feel like again in with a with only one game,
Lebron seemed energized. But but I'll take my kids as
an example here. My kids is the best example. My
daughters are in sixth grade, my son is in third grade.
(07:22):
All right, and right now we're in February, and you've
already done Christmas break. You know they have I think
they got they got president. They actually have a ski
week in California. Nothing nothing sounds more like white privileged
than ski week. Right, Like, we're gonna, what do you
why are you off this week? We want the kids
(07:43):
to go out and go skiing. It was amazing, Well,
what's next golf week in April? We want them to
go and play the links. That's what we think would
be a good idea. But they have a ski week,
ski week. But outside of that, there's there's not a
lot of breaks upcoming, and they are and they are
(08:04):
in the slop. They don't like it. They are done
with dad. I I just don't like school, dad, I
don't like it. I want out. But if you dial
back to the start of the year, man, I remember,
do you remember your first day of school? First day
of school every year is the best, new backpack, new
trapper keeper, new shoes, new shirt. And I don't know
(08:28):
if you did this, uh Ramos. You know you're we're
kind of same generation, same gen. But you know, like
when you would get that new T shirt, what do
I do do I? Uh do I iron it because
it has that that line down the middle? Is that
what I do? I love it. I agree with you.
I love the first day of school. I love putting
on new clothes and going there and see my friends again.
(08:50):
It was it was great, the best, the absolute best.
And so because of it, like, look, we we kind
of freak out. This was the first day of school, right,
Isaiah Thomas is like I got my powers back. You know,
everybody couldn't be happier with who they are and what
they are and all all kinds of other stuff. But
(09:13):
but the fact is, like, look, relax, it's one game.
Everybody appears to be a little bit happier and kind
of we'll go from there. You know. That's like, I'm
not again, I'm not saying that the they didn't get younger,
they did, did they get better? Let's just chill out
for a little bit and allow ourselves to kind of
(09:33):
figure it out. That's that's that's really to me. Uh,
the the story is not that the not that the
Celtics didn't look terrible. They did, but also that the
it's just one game and only one game does not
tell you, you know, does not tell you anything about
(09:55):
what's gonna happen with the Western Conference with the Eastern Conference.
Here's Lebron f of the game. That's a good start
for the new star for all of us. You know,
what are we vamine so far? We feel like right now,
with the type of caliber players that we have now,
if we can defend at a high level, they can
defend at a high level. Yeah, which, you know, Look,
(10:16):
I don't want to take everything he says as a
shot at the previous um at the previous players, But um,
I mean can't we take it as a shot? Right?
Can we take any Like when you when the first
thing you say is now we can defend at a
high level. Doesn't that mean that the old players could?
(10:38):
And he's not wrong, He's not wrong. Isaiah Thomas couldn't
guard Dwyane Wade kind of past his prime, so passed
his prime as a defender. Derek, but Derek Roels wasn't
with the team. Jake Crowder wasn't as good as he
was supposed to be. But it's not like he can't
play any sort of defense. Can Can We at least
admit for a second that he's taking a shot. And
(11:01):
this is kind of the problem with Lebron. It's sound
that Lebron is not awesome. Lebron is awesome, But that's
that's a needless shot at players who are gone, and
we think we all know because part no, Lebron can't
play defense all himself. He cannot do it all himself.
Um that said, it doesn't make it okay for him
(11:23):
to say, well, now we can play defense, which means
they couldn't previously play defense. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio app. Is Say Thomas average twenty nine
points a game. Last year, he was the second leading
score in the fourth quarter in the NBA. Right, so
(11:44):
he wasn't scoring points in bs time. He was scoring
points when it mattered. Now full disclosure. The Celtics were
one of the few teams that went for it last year.
Remember they had the best record the East and nobody
thought they were the best team in the East. And
one reason was they didn't sit. They didn't sit guys,
they didn't take games off. They tried to win every
game and they won more games than anybody else in
the Eastern Conference. But think about last year when he
(12:06):
was an m VP candidate that he played through a
hip injury ultimately had to uh had to sit down
the last the last series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in
the Eastern Conference Finals because the hip was just too painful.
Hows the surgery gets traded, plays fifteen games with the
calves looks terrible doing so doesn't fit in personality wise,
(12:28):
and now is a member of the Lakers, and his
celebratory moment, his I got my powers back moment, was
a twenty two point performance which he had six turnovers
in a loss to the Mavericks. It's not just that
they lost. I don't know how many people watched this game.
The Mavericks were trying to lose the game, the Mavericks
were tanking, and the Lakers still lost with Isaiah Thomas
(12:51):
playing major minutes. And so while I'm sitting here thinking
I could have made a million, five hundred thousand dollars
a million dollars if I had the cash to buy
the house I wanted to buy, going back six years ago,
and there's plenty of people who are driving to work thinking, yeah,
I know that house. I could have made a hundred
grand on two grand on it if I would have
bought that one house back then. Imagine if you're Heaiah
(13:15):
Thomas and you're thinking I've lost a hundred million dollars
in the last six months. Do you think you're sick
when you see that house or that sign UH for
sales sign on the corner house that you wanted to
buy and it's twice as valuable now as it was
back in two thousand eleven, and you could have bought it,
(13:36):
but you didn't pull the trigger. Think about if you're
Isaiah Thomas, and so we we try and rationalize, how
do this, how this happen? How do this happen? And
the only the only answer is that it's a perfect
storm hip injury team that goes for it. Perfect offense
(14:02):
and makeup of that team. That team had nobody else
who could score. So they gave the ball to Isaiah
Thompson said take us home. A great coach obviously in
Brad Stevens, and he was playing with supreme self confidence.
Is Isaiah Thomas really one of the top five players
in the game? Now? Is he one of the top
ten players in the game? Now? Is he one top
fift team? But now you would say he's probably not
one of the top thirty players in the game. How
(14:24):
could he be an NBA NBP candidate? Last year, is
Matt Ryan one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL?
Your answer right now would be no. Look back at
last year? Okay, look back last year. The Carolina Panthers
defense went through a complete overhaul in the defensive backfield
when Josh Norman left, right, Remember that they're bad Tampa Bay,
(14:46):
they were bad Man Saints, worst defense in football. That's
six of your games against bad defenses. You get Julio
Jones and that year they added Mohammed Sanu. He had
two talented running backs who were mostly healthy. You had
Kyle Shanahan as your play color. You had just the
(15:07):
right schedule, just the right luck, coming off of no
expectations because Matt Ryan had a bad season the year before,
and you're playing against the soft division, soft schedule, and
you light up the world and you become the league's
m v P. Matt Ryan and Isaiah Thomas are kind
of the same guy. Look, I think Matt Ryan has
(15:28):
a longer career. Matt Ryan can be a starter and
he'll be a He's a good player. He's closer to
a top ten quarterback than Isaiah Thomas is to being
a top ten player. But there's a lot of similarities
in the perfect storm, a lot of similarities. So, uh,
how could we how could we have How could we
(15:49):
have fallen that far that quickly? There's your answer. Some
of it is the hip, some of it is being
a bad fit, some of it is losing your offerense.
But some of it is he was playing far above
his level because of confidence and all those other factors.
More so than how good he good he was, and
maybe good he is. Fox Sports Radio has the best
(16:09):
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 get to the Indianapolis Colts
who have found their head coach. And as I predicted
last week, it's Frank Wright. And please, whatever you whatever
you do, newspaper pundits, newspaper headline writers, let's avoid any
(16:33):
of the right. You know, let's not call let's just
not you just I understand that you're not necessarily trying
to make a Hitler reference. But since Hitler's group was
the third right, let's let's just let's just not let's
just not do it. Let's just not do it. Okay,
So no right in your headline unless it's he's got
(16:57):
the right stuff. That one you can do. We're okay
with that one, right, Ramos, that's not right. But we
don't want to do the new right. We don't like
let's not do that one. Let's let's stay away from it. Look,
I am Jewish. I didn't have any my grandparents, great grandparents,
um thankfully did not die in the Holocaust. Right, we
(17:18):
have relatives that did. I'm not personally offended by people
using the term. You know, he's a little hitler, or
he's a little not or something. You're acting like a
darn Nazi whatever. I understand that you don't actually mean
what the Nazis did, but it generally immedia. Stay, what's
the win, what's the wind. It's like pro athletes, you
(17:41):
don't need to use slave references, like got it. Slavery
was awful. I mean it is. It was just an
awful time for our country, for any country, I mean,
you know us. But the point is, please don't make
slavery references when you're a professional athlete or a collegiate athlete, like,
just don't do it. Don't do it. Same thing for
(18:02):
headline writers. But Frank Frank's the new head coach the
Philadelphia Eagles. Obvious see Philiphi goes a sorry, that would
have been breaking news right of the Indianapolis Colts and
he comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles. So look, my
first reaction is it might not might actually be better
for the Colts. Like do I think Josh mcdowne's is great?
(18:23):
I actually do. And the thing about McDaniel's failing with
the Broncos I think makes him more attractive to me,
more attractive, not less more more attractive. So, um, because
I like people who have learned from their failures and
(18:45):
then succeed anyway, persevere or anyway. And I love I
love that, I just do. But um, Frank Wright, on
the other hand, you know, fits them old of Doug
Peterson in he's a backup quarterback. Now he's a backup
quarterback that played a lot more than Doug Peterson. He
(19:07):
of course was instrumental in kind of the rehab of
Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers was great on Frank Wright and
did a great job with Carson Wentz. So the first
thing is, I'm not sure the Colts didn't end up
the better because of it. You don't carry any of
the bias against Josh McDaniels because the failure with Denver
(19:27):
or the fact that he was leaving a place he
clearly didn't want to leave in New England. And you're
getting Frank Reich, who, though he's never been a head coach,
he's more experienced at Josh McDaniels because he's actually played
as opposed to McDaniels is only coached in the NFL.
There's a chance that India end up with a better
head coach, even if how they got to that place
(19:51):
was an ideal, what about the Eagles and what they
left behind? Remember they had their victory parade going back
to Thursday, and they talked about being underdogs, underdogs, underdogs, underdogs.
And as I pointed out then and I'll point out
to you now, congrats, it's the last time you'll ever
be an underdog again, because just like Tom Brady got
a pass because of the Super Bowls, right, Tom Brady
(20:13):
wanted Suite win Super Bowls. And the reason they were
underdogs throughout the time in the playoffs was they lost.
They lost Carson Wentz and lost their quarterback. Like, well
you look at the last however many games of the
season they were underdogs. They lost Carson Wentz. You lose
an m v P, and you replace him with um,
(20:35):
you know, los An m v P. And you replace
him with a guy who was nearly out of football
and a guy who had failed miserably during his time
with the St. Louis Rams. And anybody thought, myself included
the Eagles were gonna collapse. You weren't underdogs because people
didn't think the defense was good. People thought you were
the best team in football. Then you lost your quarterback,
(20:58):
but they lose their offensive coordinator, they lose their quarterbacks.
Coach de Felippo's going to the Minnesota Vikings. Carson Wentz
is returning from injury. When do you play him? You know,
do you play fools? Do you play Wentz? And even
though everyone's happy and everyone and so many of their
players are under contract, we know how this thing works.
(21:20):
You win a championship, everybody wants to get paid. Then
you look around the division. Cowboys suffered through a suspension
of Zeke Elliott, a sophomore slump from their quarterback, and
the realization that Dez Bryant might be closer to over
the hill than he is to being a superstar. Cowboy
(21:41):
should be a bit better. Giants would have to be better.
The Redskins, at worst with Alex Smith is their quarterback
would be exactly the same. And the likelihood is because
they have cost certainty, they're gonna be better. The Packers
will get a healthy Aaron Rodgers. The San Francisco forty
Niners appeared to be a real football team. The l
(22:02):
A Rams same thing. I mean, you look at the
rest of the NFC, not just the NFC East, and
it should be better. They'll play against the first place schedule, everybody,
everybody's biggest game, and they have a completely new offensive
staff as their offensive coordinator and their quarterback coach are
both gone. Like this is what happens. And the miracle
(22:25):
of the New England Patriots has been their ability to
be consistent, even though they've lost assistance in coordinators year
after year after year. More so than personnel, the consistency
of message, and that's gonna be hard. In Philadelphia, be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome in
Chris Mannox. He's an NBA insider and a good one
(22:48):
for Yahoo Sports. I saw him earlier this morning on
First Things First on Fox Sports One. Uh, he'll be
filling in for Dan Patrick tomorrow. I believe I'm joining
him tomorrow or maybe the next day. I'm not really sure.
May Let's let's start with the reaction from around the league. Okay,
the league's reaction is different from fans reaction, different from
pundan's reaction. Now you have a couple of days for
(23:09):
to settle. What's the league's reaction to what Cleveland did. Well,
it's uh, you know, it was impressed at first and
in the last twenty four hours, people that watched that
game and people that have relationships some of the players
on that team have been texting me and you know,
just telling me that you know, what your eyes are
(23:29):
seeing in fact, reflects kind of the reality of what
guys think at that locker room that you know, for
for the time being, and granted we're a very short
period of time into this, you know, it does seem
like this has you know, shocked the culture a little bit,
given a team that had just been kind of going
through the motions Shoulton of energy of life there. Um.
You know, look, Doug, I still love some concerns about,
(23:52):
you know, the ability of guys like Jordan Clarkson and
Larry Nance to contribute to a winning team after not
playing for one their entire prokerree Ars, Rodney Hood and
big situations. What does George Hill have left in the tank?
But when when people around the league of watching that
game last night and watching the way the Calves were
playing in the bounce in their step that they had
it clearly was a different look for that Calvs team
(24:15):
and certainly one that they needed in the aftermath of
two thirds of the season that was just it was
just looked miserable they've been playing together. Ah here's the question.
I don't think anybody's asked, but I'm maybe more intrigued
by what's the matter with the Celtics. Well, I mean,
how much time do you have at this point? They're there?
You really want to know, Well, they're they're getting physically
(24:39):
overwhelmed again. And you know, this has been a problem
for Boston over the last couple of years. Um. One
of their big weakness has been that they get punched
in the mouth a lot, and and when they do,
they don't always respond in the best possible way. Now
the roster is a little bit better equipped, you know,
on paper to handle that. Aaron Bains the physical guy. Uh,
(24:59):
Daniel Tys a physical guy, and now Greg Monroe being
that makes us he works himself in. He's a physical guy.
But you know, they've really, uh, you know, they really
haven't responded well to Toronto beating them up. Indiana to
some degree beat them up. And you know that the
Cavaliers from the second quarter on on Sunday, they came
out and beat them up. I had one, you know,
advance guy that they watched the Celtics the last couple
(25:19):
of games recently tell me that a lot of what
they're they're going through it can be attributed to the
loss of Marcus Smart. I mean, offensively, they're missing shots
and Smart may not help with that, but you know, defensively,
Smart to stopper out there on the floor. And some
of the guys that have gotten rolling against the Celtics,
whether it's Kyle Lowry, Victor Oldipot or some of the
guards with UH with the Cavaliers, you know, Marcus Smart
(25:40):
would have had an impact there. And when he comes
back after the All Star break, that defense should look
a lot better. What's the sense on Gordon Hayward, whether
or not he'll play this year? You know, I had
Brad Stevens on on I filled him for Dan this
morning and he was on the show and and Brad
was pretty you know, unequivocal that that Gordon Hayward's not
coming back, and looked at that and some of that
may you know, just not want to put any pressure
(26:02):
on Gordon Hayward. I'm obviously around that team a lot, Doug,
and I see Gordon walking around and he's walking without
a limp, and he started to do more and more.
But the concern in the organization isn't getting him Gordon
Hayward getting physically cleared. It's how long did it take
him to get mentally cleared? How long before he could do,
you know, on the court, all the things that made
him great. I mean, Gordon hay would you remember that
(26:22):
play got hurt on? He must have run that play
a hundred plus times during his time at with the
Utah Jazz, I mean thousands of times. Maybe with the Jazz.
Can he step right back onto the court and run
that same backdoor cut without fear of coming down and
hurting that ankle once again? So they really have no
idea how long it's going to take from to mentally,
uh you know, check to mentally get over that hurdle.
(26:45):
But you know, Brad again, was I gonna take him
at his word? And he said he's not coming back,
And he said he and Gordon have never had a
conversation about him coming back the same. Okay, let's get
to the other one of the other sides of the trade,
which is isai at Thomas in l A. He said
he has his powers back. On the other hand, they
lost to a team in Dallas that was trying to
(27:06):
lose the game. Dallas was trying to lose that game.
They were tanking in that game, and the Mavericks still
one that that's that's not a good sign. And then
the desire to start to shoot knowing Alonzo ball is
coming back. Um, what's your thoughts on how Isaiah fits
in with the Lakers to the remainder of this season. Well,
he'll probably put up numbers, but that's meaningless on a
(27:27):
team like that. I mean, he's gonna get minutes, whether
it's off the bench alongside a Lonzo or whatever it is.
He'll he'll play and he'll put up some numbers. But
I gotta tell you, I don't know what the market
is Forrisia Thomas this summer. I mean I talked to uh,
you know, I have a dozen executives from teams, if
not more, about this the same subject, either on the
phone or or via tax and nobody can tell me
with any sort of definitive answer. Who who's out there?
(27:49):
Who is going to sign Isaiah Thomas. I mean the
teams with cap space, and it's so very few of them.
But the teams with cap space don't have a place
Forrisaiah Thomas. I mean, Atlanta is not gonna go give
him real money. Cogo is not going to give him
real money. Um, you know, you go the Dallas Mavericks,
who could have some cash bas next summer, they're not
gonna give him real money. They have a point guard
of their own there. Honestly, the the Isaiah Thomas's best
(28:10):
chance of getting a large annual salary is going to
be with the Lakers, and that's only if the Lakers
strike out in free agency and they can give somebody
kind of a placeholder contract like they gave Contavia's called
Will Pope, like the seventy Sixers gave JJ Reddick for
a one year deal. It's it's a stunning, really fall
from grace because best case scenario for Isaiah is at
the Lakers step forward with a one year, fifteen million
(28:33):
plus deal just so they can make the salary floor,
so they could be players in free agency in twenty nineteen,
Chris Mannicks joining us on the dug allip shop. Yeah,
but they're not gonna do that because they don't want
to upset the development of Alonzo Ball, and they can't.
Really do you think it does though? I mean, do
you think it really does? I mean, like i've I
know that that LaVar stuff and Isaiah saying he wants
to start. I look at the Lakers and it's only
(28:55):
on paper, but I think it can play alongside Lonzo Ball.
I mean, Alonzo is big enough that he can mix
and match some defensive assignments of the two, and Isaiah's
fine not being the de facto point guard as long
as getting the ball in his hands to make shots.
I don't look at that as being necessarily a deal
breaker for the Lakers or Thomas. Yeah, I just I
don't think he's their type of player. I could be wrong,
(29:16):
but I don't think he's uh you know. And and
the Cantavia the placeholder contract sounds good in practice, but
it hasn't worked out with Contavia's Cowell Pope, so I'd
be intrigued to see that they got to find just
the right guy. Now for for Isaiah Thomas, You're right,
this is he should be on his absolute best behavior
and he shouldn't be saying anything. Let alone. I got
(29:36):
my powers back. So let's let's see. Let's see how
that goes over. I know it's from a Lithuanian reporter
and I probably shouldn't do it, but I'm gonna ask
you anyway. Um, LaVar apparently told this one guy in
Lithuania who's the last guy kind of covering him and
spreading the gospel on Twitter, that if they don't draft
Lie Angelo, then he's gonna not re sign with the
(30:00):
Akers because he wants the three brothers to ultimately play together.
What what's your reaction? Well, I mean, the Lakers are
not going to draft me Angelo. They may not even
consider Lamello. We don't know how far. I mean, he's
a couple of years away from from real eligibility. Uh,
but we'll see. But they're not gonna draft me Angelo.
I mean, the best case scenario for them is to
(30:23):
for for Lo Angelo is to wind up with the
Lakers G League team with an opportunity to earn his
way onto a roster. But I don't know about you.
You you follow the college game more than I do.
I just and look, they're they're every NBA scout that
criticized Langelo hasn't seen him play. I mean I think
that has to be taken into account. But the ones
that have and the ones that have been you know,
(30:44):
in the high school gym's in California and watched this
kid play, they say he's not an NBA player. So
I don't think the Lakers are going to appease LaVar,
who has been nothing but a pain in the backside
for them for the better part of the last three
plus months. I don't see any way, shape or form
they appease this guy, with Lonzo having three years left
on his deal and total control over him by drafting
(31:07):
his brother to a contract and give him a contract
that that nobody in that organization wants to give. I
think that's that's a pipe tree. I completely agree with you.
He's the one and only Chris Mannix. Check him out
tomorrow guest hosting for The Dan Patrick Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. Of course, follow him on Twitter, read
his working Yahoo Sports as well. Manicually do a great job. Man,
Thanks for joining us. You gotta tug anytime.
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America? Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Coming to you from the City of Angels,
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(00:22):
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That's most shows from southern California sixty five degrees, they
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Baylor cannot, for the life of them beat cancer US.
They announced Friday that they're gonna flip and become a
(01:04):
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Jayhawks did not the Backler Bears, billar Bears sick them.
Just you you think there's a correlation. I I would say, yes,
the there there is a correlation. Gottlie back on the
(01:26):
air waves in Waco, Waco, Texas could be on UH
in Waco. Good place, good people, and good sports to
talk about. All right, let's let's get to what I
think is the topic of the day. It relates to
the weekend. It relates to the last week when many
of you heard Beyond Cowherd on Dan Patrick now back
on my own show. You can download into those podcasts
(01:47):
you want to hear our interviews. We got some great stuff.
I'm coming for you. So Lebron James, they essentially cleaned
house and changed out most of his bench parts and
got the the newer version. I don't know if they
got the better version, but they got the newer version.
And as much as I'd like to say, look at
(02:08):
that one game against the Celtics, this is a snapshot
of what the Calves are going to be. We need
to take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, Okay,
and and first, um, let's not lay all the blame
at the feet of Dwyane Wade at Derrick Rose, at
Jay crowder at Isaiah Thomas or even a Moan Shepherd,
(02:30):
all all former Calves today now currently players for the Jazz,
the Lakers, ones with the Kings, and Dwyane Wades with
the Heat. Right, they're kind of sprinkled throughout the league
ex Patriots, if you will, Some of that blame rests
on the shoulders of Lebron James. Now, um, I have
long considered, I have long considered, uh, the Andre what's
(02:55):
his name? Andre? Um? Ah? Uh? Shoot the Hawk was
Andre was Dawkins? What was? They used to play for
the Cubs. Remember he was the first an l m
v P to come Andre Dawson. WMNA say dog Dawkins
Planre Dawkins played for Duke Andre Dawson. Thank you Andre Dawson.
What happens in sports? As we think, you can only
(03:17):
be an m v P if your team wins. I've
said this about Mike Trout now last year the wins
of puver placement didn't really work because crazy story that
even though Mike Trout was in fact and he isn't
best player in the American League. Somehow the Angels went
on a winning streak without him, so his wins of
pub replacement wasn't wasn't the same as it had been.
(03:37):
But I would contend that one of the hardest things
to do in sports when you're when you're an all
time great is to be an all time great and
to have a positive outlook, a positive attitude when things
aren't going well. It's really really hard. And I know
what you're sitting there thinking, and look something part of
me thinks this as well, which is which is, hey, man,
(03:59):
you're gonna pay of teen twenty million dollars, You've gotta
be an all time great every time you step But
that's fine, that sounds really good. But any of you
who have been at a job and which pays well,
but the overall feeling of the job, momentum of the
job is not great. It makes it hard to go
to work. Doesn't mean that you're you're not still competent
(04:21):
and you're not still really good at what you do,
but you can't necessarily be the best version of yourself.
Andre Dawson was. He was the m v P of
the National League. I've seen Mike Trout be the m
v P the americanly and not beyond the best team
even in his division, not even the second best team
in his division. And to that I hold, I think
they should. They deserve an extra amount of respect. Lebron
(04:44):
struggle with it. Part of it was his friendship with
Dwayne Wade actually create a fracture within the rest of
the team. Part of it was, uh, the kind of
age old philosophy, which was you needed veteran players once
you get to the playoffs because you can count on
vets to step up and make shots and make plays
even if they don't have the juice in their legs
for eight d two games in the regular season. But
(05:07):
they'd also all past that that born out throw out,
throwout date, you know, the throwout date and the refrigerator.
All those guys for a litany of reasons, be it fit,
be it coming off an injury or series of injuries,
Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, or just age Dwyane Wade. They
were shell of the players that used to be and
(05:27):
they weren't quite fitting together. So now he gets new
pieces and they absolutely throttle. They dominate the Boston Celtics,
which of course has so many of my brethren here
at Fox and other places saying, well, now now they're
gonna win the East, they're the best team the East.
They're back, and everybody else thinks, and I just I
(05:51):
want everybody to breathe in and breathe out right, breathe
in and breathe out. You experienced this eight and a
half nine years ago, if you were an anti Obama
guy and you're and I'm just like, look, did breathe
The Republic will be fine. And if you're if you're
an anti Trump guy, it's the same thing, like, breathe in,
(06:13):
breathe out. The Republic has lasted over two years. We're
gonna be okay. There's gonna be some adjustments, there's gonna
be some things you like, some things you don't like,
but the Republic will be just fine. The same is
true with the Eastern Conference. We came in the season
thinking with the Calves were probably the best team. Although
they had these new pieces which made their bench stronger,
(06:35):
even their starting lineup would never be the same without
Kyrie Irving and we're left with much the same feeling.
But to make a determination based upon just one game
is so incredibly dangerous. It just is. You know, you
wouldn't marry a girl after one date. Let's not let's
not determine what they are, who they are, what's gonna
(06:58):
happen in the Eastern Conference. Who it's gonna be the
starting lineup? Like, Look, it adds to intrigue, and it
does feel like again in with a with only one game,
Lebron seemed energized. But but I'll take my kids as
an example here. My kids is the best example. My
daughters are in sixth grade, my son is in third grade.
(07:22):
All right, and right now we're in February, and you've
already done Christmas break. You know they have I think
they got they got president. They actually have a ski
week in California. Nothing nothing sounds more like white privileged
than ski week. Right, Like, we're gonna, what do you
why are you off this week? We want the kids
(07:43):
to go out and go skiing. It was amazing, Well,
what's next golf week in April? We want them to
go and play the links. That's what we think would
be a good idea. But they have a ski week,
ski week. But outside of that, there's there's not a
lot of breaks upcoming, and they are and they are
(08:04):
in the slop. They don't like it. They are done
with dad. I I just don't like school, dad, I
don't like it. I want out. But if you dial
back to the start of the year, man, I remember,
do you remember your first day of school? First day
of school every year is the best, new backpack, new
trapper keeper, new shoes, new shirt. And I don't know
(08:28):
if you did this, uh Ramos. You know you're we're
kind of same generation, same gen. But you know, like
when you would get that new T shirt, what do
I do do I? Uh do I iron it because
it has that that line down the middle? Is that
what I do? I love it. I agree with you.
I love the first day of school. I love putting
on new clothes and going there and see my friends again.
(08:50):
It was it was great, the best, the absolute best.
And so because of it, like, look, we we kind
of freak out. This was the first day of school, right,
Isaiah Thomas is like I got my powers back. You know,
everybody couldn't be happier with who they are and what
they are and all all kinds of other stuff. But
(09:13):
but the fact is, like, look, relax, it's one game.
Everybody appears to be a little bit happier and kind
of we'll go from there. You know. That's like, I'm
not again, I'm not saying that the they didn't get younger,
they did, did they get better? Let's just chill out
for a little bit and allow ourselves to kind of
(09:33):
figure it out. That's that's that's really to me. Uh,
the the story is not that the not that the
Celtics didn't look terrible. They did, but also that the
it's just one game and only one game does not
tell you, you know, does not tell you anything about
(09:55):
what's gonna happen with the Western Conference with the Eastern Conference.
Here's Lebron f of the game. That's a good start
for the new star for all of us. You know,
what are we vamine so far? We feel like right now,
with the type of caliber players that we have now,
if we can defend at a high level, they can
defend at a high level. Yeah, which, you know, Look,
(10:16):
I don't want to take everything he says as a
shot at the previous um at the previous players, But um,
I mean can't we take it as a shot? Right?
Can we take any Like when you when the first
thing you say is now we can defend at a
high level. Doesn't that mean that the old players could?
(10:38):
And he's not wrong, He's not wrong. Isaiah Thomas couldn't
guard Dwyane Wade kind of past his prime, so passed
his prime as a defender. Derek, but Derek Roels wasn't
with the team. Jake Crowder wasn't as good as he
was supposed to be. But it's not like he can't
play any sort of defense. Can Can We at least
admit for a second that he's taking a shot. And
(11:01):
this is kind of the problem with Lebron. It's sound
that Lebron is not awesome. Lebron is awesome, But that's
that's a needless shot at players who are gone, and
we think we all know because part no, Lebron can't
play defense all himself. He cannot do it all himself.
Um that said, it doesn't make it okay for him
(11:23):
to say, well, now we can play defense, which means
they couldn't previously play defense. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio app. Is Say Thomas average twenty nine
points a game. Last year, he was the second leading
score in the fourth quarter in the NBA. Right, so
(11:44):
he wasn't scoring points in bs time. He was scoring
points when it mattered. Now full disclosure. The Celtics were
one of the few teams that went for it last year.
Remember they had the best record the East and nobody
thought they were the best team in the East. And
one reason was they didn't sit. They didn't sit guys,
they didn't take games off. They tried to win every
game and they won more games than anybody else in
the Eastern Conference. But think about last year when he
(12:06):
was an m VP candidate that he played through a
hip injury ultimately had to uh had to sit down
the last the last series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in
the Eastern Conference Finals because the hip was just too painful.
Hows the surgery gets traded, plays fifteen games with the
calves looks terrible doing so doesn't fit in personality wise,
(12:28):
and now is a member of the Lakers, and his
celebratory moment, his I got my powers back moment, was
a twenty two point performance which he had six turnovers
in a loss to the Mavericks. It's not just that
they lost. I don't know how many people watched this game.
The Mavericks were trying to lose the game, the Mavericks
were tanking, and the Lakers still lost with Isaiah Thomas
(12:51):
playing major minutes. And so while I'm sitting here thinking
I could have made a million, five hundred thousand dollars
a million dollars if I had the cash to buy
the house I wanted to buy, going back six years ago,
and there's plenty of people who are driving to work thinking, yeah,
I know that house. I could have made a hundred
grand on two grand on it if I would have
bought that one house back then. Imagine if you're Heaiah
(13:15):
Thomas and you're thinking I've lost a hundred million dollars
in the last six months. Do you think you're sick
when you see that house or that sign UH for
sales sign on the corner house that you wanted to
buy and it's twice as valuable now as it was
back in two thousand eleven, and you could have bought it,
(13:36):
but you didn't pull the trigger. Think about if you're
Isaiah Thomas, and so we we try and rationalize, how
do this, how this happen? How do this happen? And
the only the only answer is that it's a perfect
storm hip injury team that goes for it. Perfect offense
(14:02):
and makeup of that team. That team had nobody else
who could score. So they gave the ball to Isaiah
Thompson said take us home. A great coach obviously in
Brad Stevens, and he was playing with supreme self confidence.
Is Isaiah Thomas really one of the top five players
in the game? Now? Is he one of the top
ten players in the game? Now? Is he one top
fift team? But now you would say he's probably not
one of the top thirty players in the game. How
(14:24):
could he be an NBA NBP candidate? Last year, is
Matt Ryan one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL?
Your answer right now would be no. Look back at
last year? Okay, look back last year. The Carolina Panthers
defense went through a complete overhaul in the defensive backfield
when Josh Norman left, right, Remember that they're bad Tampa Bay,
(14:46):
they were bad Man Saints, worst defense in football. That's
six of your games against bad defenses. You get Julio
Jones and that year they added Mohammed Sanu. He had
two talented running backs who were mostly healthy. You had
Kyle Shanahan as your play color. You had just the
(15:07):
right schedule, just the right luck, coming off of no
expectations because Matt Ryan had a bad season the year before,
and you're playing against the soft division, soft schedule, and
you light up the world and you become the league's
m v P. Matt Ryan and Isaiah Thomas are kind
of the same guy. Look, I think Matt Ryan has
(15:28):
a longer career. Matt Ryan can be a starter and
he'll be a He's a good player. He's closer to
a top ten quarterback than Isaiah Thomas is to being
a top ten player. But there's a lot of similarities
in the perfect storm, a lot of similarities. So, uh,
how could we how could we have How could we
(15:49):
have fallen that far that quickly? There's your answer. Some
of it is the hip, some of it is being
a bad fit, some of it is losing your offerense.
But some of it is he was playing far above
his level because of confidence and all those other factors.
More so than how good he good he was, and
maybe good he is. Fox Sports Radio has the best
(16:09):
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 get to the Indianapolis Colts
who have found their head coach. And as I predicted
last week, it's Frank Wright. And please, whatever you whatever
you do, newspaper pundits, newspaper headline writers, let's avoid any
(16:33):
of the right. You know, let's not call let's just
not you just I understand that you're not necessarily trying
to make a Hitler reference. But since Hitler's group was
the third right, let's let's just let's just not let's
just not do it. Let's just not do it. Okay,
So no right in your headline unless it's he's got
(16:57):
the right stuff. That one you can do. We're okay
with that one, right, Ramos, that's not right. But we
don't want to do the new right. We don't like
let's not do that one. Let's let's stay away from it. Look,
I am Jewish. I didn't have any my grandparents, great grandparents,
um thankfully did not die in the Holocaust. Right, we
(17:18):
have relatives that did. I'm not personally offended by people
using the term. You know, he's a little hitler, or
he's a little not or something. You're acting like a
darn Nazi whatever. I understand that you don't actually mean
what the Nazis did, but it generally immedia. Stay, what's
the win, what's the wind. It's like pro athletes, you
(17:41):
don't need to use slave references, like got it. Slavery
was awful. I mean it is. It was just an
awful time for our country, for any country, I mean,
you know us. But the point is, please don't make
slavery references when you're a professional athlete or a collegiate athlete, like,
just don't do it. Don't do it. Same thing for
(18:02):
headline writers. But Frank Frank's the new head coach the
Philadelphia Eagles. Obvious see Philiphi goes a sorry, that would
have been breaking news right of the Indianapolis Colts and
he comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles. So look, my
first reaction is it might not might actually be better
for the Colts. Like do I think Josh mcdowne's is great?
(18:23):
I actually do. And the thing about McDaniel's failing with
the Broncos I think makes him more attractive to me,
more attractive, not less more more attractive. So, um, because
I like people who have learned from their failures and
(18:45):
then succeed anyway, persevere or anyway. And I love I
love that, I just do. But um, Frank Wright, on
the other hand, you know, fits them old of Doug
Peterson in he's a backup quarterback. Now he's a backup
quarterback that played a lot more than Doug Peterson. He
(19:07):
of course was instrumental in kind of the rehab of
Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers was great on Frank Wright and
did a great job with Carson Wentz. So the first
thing is, I'm not sure the Colts didn't end up
the better because of it. You don't carry any of
the bias against Josh McDaniels because the failure with Denver
(19:27):
or the fact that he was leaving a place he
clearly didn't want to leave in New England. And you're
getting Frank Reich, who, though he's never been a head coach,
he's more experienced at Josh McDaniels because he's actually played
as opposed to McDaniels is only coached in the NFL.
There's a chance that India end up with a better
head coach, even if how they got to that place
(19:51):
was an ideal, what about the Eagles and what they
left behind? Remember they had their victory parade going back
to Thursday, and they talked about being underdogs, underdogs, underdogs, underdogs.
And as I pointed out then and I'll point out
to you now, congrats, it's the last time you'll ever
be an underdog again, because just like Tom Brady got
a pass because of the Super Bowls, right, Tom Brady
(20:13):
wanted Suite win Super Bowls. And the reason they were
underdogs throughout the time in the playoffs was they lost.
They lost Carson Wentz and lost their quarterback. Like, well
you look at the last however many games of the
season they were underdogs. They lost Carson Wentz. You lose
an m v P, and you replace him with um,
(20:35):
you know, los An m v P. And you replace
him with a guy who was nearly out of football
and a guy who had failed miserably during his time
with the St. Louis Rams. And anybody thought, myself included
the Eagles were gonna collapse. You weren't underdogs because people
didn't think the defense was good. People thought you were
the best team in football. Then you lost your quarterback,
(20:58):
but they lose their offensive coordinator, they lose their quarterbacks.
Coach de Felippo's going to the Minnesota Vikings. Carson Wentz
is returning from injury. When do you play him? You know,
do you play fools? Do you play Wentz? And even
though everyone's happy and everyone and so many of their
players are under contract, we know how this thing works.
(21:20):
You win a championship, everybody wants to get paid. Then
you look around the division. Cowboys suffered through a suspension
of Zeke Elliott, a sophomore slump from their quarterback, and
the realization that Dez Bryant might be closer to over
the hill than he is to being a superstar. Cowboy
(21:41):
should be a bit better. Giants would have to be better.
The Redskins, at worst with Alex Smith is their quarterback
would be exactly the same. And the likelihood is because
they have cost certainty, they're gonna be better. The Packers
will get a healthy Aaron Rodgers. The San Francisco forty
Niners appeared to be a real football team. The l
(22:02):
A Rams same thing. I mean, you look at the
rest of the NFC, not just the NFC East, and
it should be better. They'll play against the first place schedule, everybody,
everybody's biggest game, and they have a completely new offensive
staff as their offensive coordinator and their quarterback coach are
both gone. Like this is what happens. And the miracle
(22:25):
of the New England Patriots has been their ability to
be consistent, even though they've lost assistance in coordinators year
after year after year. More so than personnel, the consistency
of message, and that's gonna be hard. In Philadelphia, be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome in
Chris Mannox. He's an NBA insider and a good one
(22:48):
for Yahoo Sports. I saw him earlier this morning on
First Things First on Fox Sports One. Uh, he'll be
filling in for Dan Patrick tomorrow. I believe I'm joining
him tomorrow or maybe the next day. I'm not really sure.
May Let's let's start with the reaction from around the league. Okay,
the league's reaction is different from fans reaction, different from
pundan's reaction. Now you have a couple of days for
(23:09):
to settle. What's the league's reaction to what Cleveland did. Well,
it's uh, you know, it was impressed at first and
in the last twenty four hours, people that watched that
game and people that have relationships some of the players
on that team have been texting me and you know,
just telling me that you know, what your eyes are
(23:29):
seeing in fact, reflects kind of the reality of what
guys think at that locker room that you know, for
for the time being, and granted we're a very short
period of time into this, you know, it does seem
like this has you know, shocked the culture a little bit,
given a team that had just been kind of going
through the motions Shoulton of energy of life there. Um.
You know, look, Doug, I still love some concerns about,
(23:52):
you know, the ability of guys like Jordan Clarkson and
Larry Nance to contribute to a winning team after not
playing for one their entire prokerree Ars, Rodney Hood and
big situations. What does George Hill have left in the tank?
But when when people around the league of watching that
game last night and watching the way the Calves were
playing in the bounce in their step that they had
it clearly was a different look for that Calvs team
(24:15):
and certainly one that they needed in the aftermath of
two thirds of the season that was just it was
just looked miserable they've been playing together. Ah here's the question.
I don't think anybody's asked, but I'm maybe more intrigued
by what's the matter with the Celtics. Well, I mean,
how much time do you have at this point? They're there?
You really want to know, Well, they're they're getting physically
(24:39):
overwhelmed again. And you know, this has been a problem
for Boston over the last couple of years. Um. One
of their big weakness has been that they get punched
in the mouth a lot, and and when they do,
they don't always respond in the best possible way. Now
the roster is a little bit better equipped, you know,
on paper to handle that. Aaron Bains the physical guy. Uh,
(24:59):
Daniel Tys a physical guy, and now Greg Monroe being
that makes us he works himself in. He's a physical guy.
But you know, they've really, uh, you know, they really
haven't responded well to Toronto beating them up. Indiana to
some degree beat them up. And you know that the
Cavaliers from the second quarter on on Sunday, they came
out and beat them up. I had one, you know,
advance guy that they watched the Celtics the last couple
(25:19):
of games recently tell me that a lot of what
they're they're going through it can be attributed to the
loss of Marcus Smart. I mean, offensively, they're missing shots
and Smart may not help with that, but you know, defensively,
Smart to stopper out there on the floor. And some
of the guys that have gotten rolling against the Celtics,
whether it's Kyle Lowry, Victor Oldipot or some of the
guards with UH with the Cavaliers, you know, Marcus Smart
(25:40):
would have had an impact there. And when he comes
back after the All Star break, that defense should look
a lot better. What's the sense on Gordon Hayward, whether
or not he'll play this year? You know, I had
Brad Stevens on on I filled him for Dan this
morning and he was on the show and and Brad
was pretty you know, unequivocal that that Gordon Hayward's not
coming back, and looked at that and some of that
may you know, just not want to put any pressure
(26:02):
on Gordon Hayward. I'm obviously around that team a lot, Doug,
and I see Gordon walking around and he's walking without
a limp, and he started to do more and more.
But the concern in the organization isn't getting him Gordon
Hayward getting physically cleared. It's how long did it take
him to get mentally cleared? How long before he could do,
you know, on the court, all the things that made
him great. I mean, Gordon hay would you remember that
(26:22):
play got hurt on? He must have run that play
a hundred plus times during his time at with the
Utah Jazz, I mean thousands of times. Maybe with the Jazz.
Can he step right back onto the court and run
that same backdoor cut without fear of coming down and
hurting that ankle once again? So they really have no
idea how long it's going to take from to mentally,
uh you know, check to mentally get over that hurdle.
(26:45):
But you know, Brad again, was I gonna take him
at his word? And he said he's not coming back,
And he said he and Gordon have never had a
conversation about him coming back the same. Okay, let's get
to the other one of the other sides of the trade,
which is isai at Thomas in l A. He said
he has his powers back. On the other hand, they
lost to a team in Dallas that was trying to
(27:06):
lose the game. Dallas was trying to lose that game.
They were tanking in that game, and the Mavericks still
one that that's that's not a good sign. And then
the desire to start to shoot knowing Alonzo ball is
coming back. Um, what's your thoughts on how Isaiah fits
in with the Lakers to the remainder of this season. Well,
he'll probably put up numbers, but that's meaningless on a
(27:27):
team like that. I mean, he's gonna get minutes, whether
it's off the bench alongside a Lonzo or whatever it is.
He'll he'll play and he'll put up some numbers. But
I gotta tell you, I don't know what the market
is Forrisia Thomas this summer. I mean I talked to uh,
you know, I have a dozen executives from teams, if
not more, about this the same subject, either on the
phone or or via tax and nobody can tell me
with any sort of definitive answer. Who who's out there?
(27:49):
Who is going to sign Isaiah Thomas. I mean the
teams with cap space, and it's so very few of them.
But the teams with cap space don't have a place
Forrisaiah Thomas. I mean, Atlanta is not gonna go give
him real money. Cogo is not going to give him
real money. Um, you know, you go the Dallas Mavericks,
who could have some cash bas next summer, they're not
gonna give him real money. They have a point guard
of their own there. Honestly, the the Isaiah Thomas's best
(28:10):
chance of getting a large annual salary is going to
be with the Lakers, and that's only if the Lakers
strike out in free agency and they can give somebody
kind of a placeholder contract like they gave Contavia's called
Will Pope, like the seventy Sixers gave JJ Reddick for
a one year deal. It's it's a stunning, really fall
from grace because best case scenario for Isaiah is at
the Lakers step forward with a one year, fifteen million
(28:33):
plus deal just so they can make the salary floor,
so they could be players in free agency in twenty nineteen,
Chris Mannicks joining us on the dug allip shop. Yeah,
but they're not gonna do that because they don't want
to upset the development of Alonzo Ball, and they can't.
Really do you think it does though? I mean, do
you think it really does? I mean, like i've I
know that that LaVar stuff and Isaiah saying he wants
to start. I look at the Lakers and it's only
(28:55):
on paper, but I think it can play alongside Lonzo Ball.
I mean, Alonzo is big enough that he can mix
and match some defensive assignments of the two, and Isaiah's
fine not being the de facto point guard as long
as getting the ball in his hands to make shots.
I don't look at that as being necessarily a deal
breaker for the Lakers or Thomas. Yeah, I just I
don't think he's their type of player. I could be wrong,
(29:16):
but I don't think he's uh you know. And and
the Cantavia the placeholder contract sounds good in practice, but
it hasn't worked out with Contavia's Cowell Pope, so I'd
be intrigued to see that they got to find just
the right guy. Now for for Isaiah Thomas, You're right,
this is he should be on his absolute best behavior
and he shouldn't be saying anything. Let alone. I got
(29:36):
my powers back. So let's let's see. Let's see how
that goes over. I know it's from a Lithuanian reporter
and I probably shouldn't do it, but I'm gonna ask
you anyway. Um, LaVar apparently told this one guy in
Lithuania who's the last guy kind of covering him and
spreading the gospel on Twitter, that if they don't draft
Lie Angelo, then he's gonna not re sign with the
(30:00):
Akers because he wants the three brothers to ultimately play together.
What what's your reaction? Well, I mean, the Lakers are
not going to draft me Angelo. They may not even
consider Lamello. We don't know how far. I mean, he's
a couple of years away from from real eligibility. Uh,
but we'll see. But they're not gonna draft me Angelo.
I mean, the best case scenario for them is to
(30:23):
for for Lo Angelo is to wind up with the
Lakers G League team with an opportunity to earn his
way onto a roster. But I don't know about you.
You you follow the college game more than I do.
I just and look, they're they're every NBA scout that
criticized Langelo hasn't seen him play. I mean I think
that has to be taken into account. But the ones
that have and the ones that have been you know,
(30:44):
in the high school gym's in California and watched this
kid play, they say he's not an NBA player. So
I don't think the Lakers are going to appease LaVar,
who has been nothing but a pain in the backside
for them for the better part of the last three
plus months. I don't see any way, shape or form
they appease this guy, with Lonzo having three years left
on his deal and total control over him by drafting
(31:07):
his brother to a contract and give him a contract
that that nobody in that organization wants to give. I
think that's that's a pipe tree. I completely agree with you.
He's the one and only Chris Mannix. Check him out
tomorrow guest hosting for The Dan Patrick Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. Of course, follow him on Twitter, read
his working Yahoo Sports as well. Manicually do a great job. Man,
Thanks for joining us. You gotta tug anytime.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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