May 1, 2018 • 42 mins
Doug tells you why there is 2 different ways to build an NBA team, and why the Celtics are doing it the right way. He think the Browns are trying too hard to convince people they made the right choice by taking Baker Mayfield number 2 overall. Plus Rockets G Eric Gordon joins the show to talk about their series against the Jazz and what it has been like since Chris Paul joined the team this season.
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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 Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox
Sports Radio. So the Celtics took down the Philadelphia seventies
six Ers last night kind of impressively. So, I mean,
you know, Celtics are without what the two best players?
(00:23):
Is that it? Oh, maybe even Jalen Brown the third
best player, and they still won the game. Is that all?
Like Brad Stevens can beat you with not just one arm,
but two arms tied behind his back. He just headbutted
the Philadelphia seventies sixers. Is that what happened? I guess
that that's what happened. He Look, Um, I'm not gonna
(00:43):
sit here and tell you that the series is over.
It's not one game, nor that the seventies sixers can't
come back and win this series. They can. But this
to me reminds me of um. It reminds me in
many ways of the decisions to buy a house, right,
because there's two different types of of houses to own
(01:08):
or to buy. I guess maybe even three, but one
is a combination of the two. And this is a
little bit of a Southern California thing, a little bit
of a New York thing. It's a little bit of
a Chicago thing. This is kind of what happens in places,
and it's gonna it doesn't already happen in your town,
Trust me, it will. It just will. Um. It's the
(01:31):
tear them down or fix them up? Do you know
the difference thing the two. So let let me kind
of explain what happens in southern California, for example, what
happened in Connecticut where I used to live as well,
where uh, you can either buy a house and fix
it up, or buy a house and what's called scrape it,
(01:51):
which means take a bulldozer and run, run the house
over and then start all over. Right. Now, look, this
isn't I'm not talking about buying a ca already redone home.
You know, we're buying a home that is, you know,
ten years old or whatever. I'm dogging. These are two
options for getting the dream house that you want. Is
(02:14):
redoing or scraping in rebuilding. And the Philadelphia seventy sixers,
they chose to scrape, right, they chose to get a
really crummy house to scrape it and to build a beautiful,
brand new modern house as they did, and that modern
(02:34):
house has all the amenities that you could possibly want.
And then you know once you're there, once you're in it,
Now you can add pieces to make it feel like
a home. The Boston Celtics, they chose to buy a
house and live in it while they redid it. See,
(02:55):
when the Philadelphia seventy sixers started the process, they tanked.
They lost games intentionally in an effort to load up
on draft picks. They wanted to get as many young
players under club control as possible. And the hit rate
is about what six maybe in that top five of
(03:16):
the NBA draft. There was some misses there too. They
didn't hit on every draft pick, but what they were
able to do was end up getting two young, burgeoning stars.
And now now they've tried to add and and put
in the culture. They brought in JJ Reddick, who'd been
(03:38):
a part of playoff teams in the past. Granted it's
just for one year. What does he do. He can
space the floor and really shoot the basketball. He can
be in perpetual motion. Plus he's a pros pro. He's
always in the gym, he's always working, and not a
headache at all. Sure, there's some downside to him that
he can't really guard, can't create his own shot, but
he doesn't need to considering what's around him. They got
(04:00):
the players first, but the hard part of having the
players first is then you have to change the culture
or morph the culture into that of a playoff team,
because when you're playing and look better. This is Ben
simmons first year. Um, it's not Joel Embiad's first year.
(04:24):
But many of these, many of the guys who were
with the seventies six years in the past or some
that have been added, like there was no culture of
winning there. They're simply winning and learning culture as they
go and adding pieces from other places. Of Marco Belinelli
who has been on playoff teams in the past, right
(04:44):
yan Yo Silva who's been on other teams. They're adding
pieces to the culture to try and get some hard
playing guys out there. The Boston Celtics did the opposite.
The Boston Celtics when Brad Stevens first took o of
her if you remember, he had a couple of surprising seasons,
especially considering no one thought they were going to keep
(05:07):
their personnel at the time. They had yet to start
the process of putting in a new kitchen, putting in
new bathrooms, redoing the floors, or paying the outside of
the house. They started with the culture first. A matter
of fact, Brad told me he called a bunch of
former NBA coaches when he first got the job, stuck
out the show Fox Sports Radio, and they said, he said,
(05:32):
you know, you have to be about something. You gotta
be about You gotta have one thing that differentiates you
from other teams in the league when you want to
start build your culture. What is special about our team?
What is different about our team? Because it's not gonna
be that you had the best players. And he told me,
He's like, look, uh, I said defense, And they said, yeah,
everybody says that. Everybody says it. So at the time,
(05:56):
they were playing more back to back games than they
play now, and Brad Stephens said, all right, we're going
to be the best team on back to backs in
the NBA. That was gonna be their calling card that
when other teams retired, other teams would give up, other
teams wouldn't show up because they were on a back
to back. We're gonna do the opposite. We're gonna look
(06:16):
forward to back and backs we're gonna the best record
in back to backs in the league. And if you
look during his first two years of the Boston Celtics,
guess who had the best record in back to backs
in the league, the Celtics. That was the establishment of
the culture first. Then the draft picks came, then the
free agents came. They did culture first, talent second. Sixers
(06:39):
did talent first, culture second. Now it doesn't mean that
both aren't incredible houses to live in. I feel like
watching the seventies sixers, um, I mean, like, look, we
still markul Folks is still not a big part of
this team. He is going to be very good and
they'll have the chance. JJ Reddick's contract expires at the
end of this year. They gave him more money because
(06:59):
it's only a one year deal. They could bring him back,
they could add another star that there's some different things
they could do with their roster. They're not done yet,
but there's a good chance that the Philadelphia seventy Sixers
are going to live deep in the NBA Eastern Conference
playoffs UH for the next five to ten years. And
the same can be said for the Celtics as they're
playing without Jalen Brown and of course without Gordon Hayward
(07:20):
and Kyrie Irving there is no one perfect way. But
I do feel like at this particular time, having established
the culture first and then the talent second, is is
a more likely way to win in the playoffs in
the short term, because you got it. You gotta learn
(07:40):
to win, how to win important games, you gotta learn
how to special attention to detail. I think a huge
portion of it is the culture was established by the Celtics,
whereas the seventy sixers. It's hard to establish culture when
everyone knows you're trying to lose games. And look at
(08:01):
in the in the Celtics defense, so many of their
draft picks were not based upon their own success. They
didn't have to tank games, so they could go this route.
But um, and look, I don't think anybody thought Terry
Rozier would play this well in the stead of Kyrie Irving,
(08:23):
did you? But there's clearly some talent there. There's clearly
a great eye for talent there, not just the bad Stevens,
but with Danny and Austin Ainge and their their crew,
and I think they're playing a little bit above their level.
And I would also tell you that that the seventy
sixers they don't yet know how to win important games.
(08:44):
They don't and you can tell me why we they
just beat the Miami Heat here ain't good. 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. Teric Gordon joins
us on The Doug Gottleub Show on Fox Sports Radio, Erica.
How are you? Oh, everything's good? How are you going?
(09:04):
I'm really really well. Hey. I want to ask you quickly,
this is and I'm sure you weren't prepared for this.
I'll give you a second because I remember when you committed,
uh to playing in college. I remember how big a
thing it was. Did you did you see, uh? Do
you see what happened with Romeo Langford committing to Indiana yesterday?
How it's kind of a circus and a show. You
(09:26):
remember back when you originally committed because you were you
were going to Illinois and then you change your mind
and went to Indiana? Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, mons, Yeah,
my situation was a little different, but yeah, I can hear.
And we're definitely excited to see him Yeah, No, it's
gonna be interesting to see. It seems like a change
in Indiana basketball, trying to get it back to getting
those in state guys. Uh, you know that that's that's
(09:49):
the big thing. Right. If I you can build a
fence and keep everybody in state at home, you got
a chance to beat anybody, isn't it. Oh, no question,
there'll be you know, a championship caliber team to the
talent in state just to go to you and uh,
you know you only see so many kids from me.
He had to leave, and they are very successful elsewhere,
so uh, for sure, they gotta keep you guys in state.
(10:11):
When when you guys acquired Chris Paul, what did you
what did you what did you honestly think when you
guys moved to go get Chris Paul? Well, really it
was really based off our office. When Chris Paul came,
I knew it was gonna work because he's a playmaker.
You know, It's not like you're just bringing in a
guy who's just who's just another score. He's he's a poatmaker.
(10:35):
He's he's uh, you know, he's he's naturally a past
first point guard and he comes here and uh, plays
a little bit more, you know, the shooting guard, but
it involves his game because now he's a mor than
just a passer. Yeah, but he's also a guy that
can dominate the ball. Right, Mike D'Antonio, you're the ball mover,
a ball stopper, and you know everything you guys have
(10:55):
done in the past has been off of James Harden.
Was there any thought in your mind, like, man, and
I don't know if this is gonna work two guys
that like the ball in their hands in our offense. No,
not necessarily, because the Antoni system is you have to
you have to make uh plays a little quicker than
normal because we have we played the half to floorsal space.
So if you just don't make, if you don't make
(11:17):
the quick opportunity happened and uh, then uh are you
gonna do is just hurt yourself and hurt the team.
So it's I think it's naturally fitted for for them
to really make good playmaking skills really quickly. Uh. There's
been a lot of talk about your team's defense. Obviously
numbers are are are pretty good. Um, how how has
this team evolved defensively from when you first got there
(11:40):
to now the unit that we've seen so far in
the playoffs. I like our defense. I think our defen
has been really feeling the offense. I really feel like
we have any really hit all cylinders on office, uh
throughout this playoffs like we did during the season. And uh,
but you know we switch a lot, everybody thinking we
(12:01):
take away a lot of things that other teams do.
And uh, I really have been like, I really like
how because has been this whole this whole playoff. You
mentioned your your offense hasn't gotten to going one big
reason why you weren't hitting shots. And you know, I'm like, look,
you shoot you in the regular season only one percent
so far in the playoffs you couldn't make it, couldn't
make a bucket. What's is there something you're gonna change
(12:22):
that you're gonna do? I mean, what what's going on
with your jump shot? Well, it's not really what's going
on with my jump shot? Is that just Uh, teams
are just trying to take away a lot you know. Um,
the only way I I'll be able to get that
chance that was half the ballow my hands willing to
be able to create a little bit more because when
(12:44):
when I'm in the game. These guys are just not
leaving me from three points, so there's just more like
denying me and uh and too, you know. Uh so
I just kind of figure out ways. But as long
as we're winning, that's the main thing, because you can't
let a lot of stuff get to you. You you
you mentioned that they're hugging up on three point shooters, right,
Making you guys try and take tok too is kind
(13:04):
of making James Harden, you know, try and you beat
him by himself. It's a little bit of what the
Pacers have tried to do to Lebron right, which is,
you know, take away those threes, take away all the
what you do best, and make one guy carry you
so that he gets tired in the fourth quarters. That
a little bit of the game plan. Is there any
similarity there between how they're playing the broad and how
people are trying to guard Harden, Well, every team is different,
(13:29):
but in this series, that's what it seems, that's what
Keith was doing. You know, they're not letting the trying
to not force uh, letting this play a lot of
you know, take a lot of threes, and everything they
want is inside to compare. So it's you know, you know,
he's serious. Is going to be different for everybody. But
as long as we you know, he continue to win
(13:51):
and went at a good you know, we went at
a good Uh, you know, have a good lead on teams,
then I'll take that. I'll take that chance. And yeah,
obviously guys dominated. They didn't have Rubio, they didn't feel
like they were really competitive in that game. You mentioned Golbert,
um is it? I think most people talk about how
good he is defending at the rim, but I would
(14:13):
say it's also that for a guy that big and
that long, it's that he can actually cover some out
in the perimeter. What makes him such an effective defender.
It's hard, it's hard for us eric to see when
we're watching on TV, other than in blocking shots at
the rim, you're trying to go at him, he gets
the switch on you. What makes Rudy Gobert such such
a great defender. Uh, he's tough when you're going into
(14:33):
the basket because he's always alternating shots and he also
blocked shots too. But what we want to we want
to get him out there for all the perimeter so
we could, you know, you know, get it better, get
a better shot at him as far as you know,
maybe should take it three, maybe driving to the basket
where someone else can help him as we're driving to
the basket. So we always want to create a mismatch.
Eric Gordon joining us on the Doug Gotlip Show here
(14:55):
on Fox Sports Radio. How much do you pay attention
to what the Warriors are doing? Not as much? But
you know the Warriors they played the same way all
the time, so you know they I don't really see
them do any anything different. I just mean, do you
do you watch two that steps coming back tonight? Do
you watch how they're playing? Do you watch those games?
Or you're two locked in what you're doing. Oh no,
(15:17):
I'm saying of the game. So I'm gonna watch other
teams and uh, but for sure I'm focusing on what
we're doing. No, I'm not saying you're not. I'm not
saying you're going home and you're like, I'm not paying
any attention to this? How much? I was? How much
do game plans vary from game one to get like,
because Huge Utah's got to make some sort of adjustment,
right If their plan was to make hard and beat him, well,
(15:38):
that plan didn't work. He had eight and seven, and
he did so pretty efficiently, seven or twelve from three
point range. How much do game plans vary from game
to game in the playoffs? Yeah, based on what they
what we see them doing the first quarter. You know,
it's it's either you know, our point guards or our
playmakers are are either going to score a lot of
points and create a lot of assists or uh or
(16:01):
um or we're gonna get a lot of threes of
where they're gonna be helping a lot. So it's uh,
but every game that we played them so far agains
I guess Utah, they've always try to take away our three,
so you know, they're pretty I'm pretty sure they might
stick to what they're doing. Yeah, so do you take
a step back even further to space it out even
you know, even more so, like if they're gonna hug
(16:22):
up on you, don't you just continue to to space
and almost get higher out in the floor and it
becomes even more open inside the lane. Well sometimes well
some yeah, we're gonna keep the sports floor space, that's
no question. But you know it doesn't even if I
take a step back there, they're still gonna stay with
stick with me. So they're just creating one on one
situations where go there at the rim, where where our
(16:43):
guards are going down. Here Eric Gordon joining us in
the dougoutlip show. And it fascinating how much basketball has
changed since like you were coming up, right, remember like
you're coming out of high school Indianapolis, and even back then,
people like, man, you gotta go on one on one
mid range game. Mid range game, right, you have to
move without the Basketballyeah. You guys do move out the basketball,
but a lot of it's just pace in space, you know,
(17:04):
find your spots, you know, relocate based upon penetration and everything.
You're at the at the rim. Like it's it's kind
of crazy that when you were a kid, I'm sure
people like, don't get outside the three point line, get
in there and show a mid range pull up. And
now that's considered the worst shot in basketball. Yeah, for sure,
because everybody's getting taller and longer, so that two point
(17:24):
shot is, uh, it's it's easier, it's an easier contested shot. Now,
it seems like so the best way to go is uh,
you know, be able to knock down threes and be
able to take it to the basket. And and as
you can see, everybody's gonna have to have the complete package.
Uh here here soon where I mean one through five
you got this year in the sea centers that are
(17:46):
tall and lanky and that are that will bring the
ball maybe down the floor. You know, guys like Jonice
or Durant. You're gonna just see a whole bunch more
guys best size handling the ball and eating garden guards sometimes.
So you gotta have a complete package. Now, who's a
tougher cover, Lebron or Kevin Durant for you personally? M
(18:07):
both of them are different, but um, how so because Durant,
Because Durant is tall and he can shoot too, So
I it's it's tough. And Lebron is stronger, he's gonna
use his power and he has size on a lot
of people too. So I don't know, it's tough. But
if you if I had it, Durant is very tough. Yeah,
(18:32):
he's got, he's got. He's got a greater kind of
arsenal of scoring scoring options whereas Lebron. Lebron can score,
but also a little bit more of a more of
a passer, right, I mean, and and Lebron also settled.
Sometimes I'll just get tired and settled for a jump shot,
which you kind of feel like you won, even what
it goes in. You feel like you kind of won,
as opposed to when Durant shoots, you feel like you
(18:53):
didn't win. And sometimes you could be there with Durant.
He just jumps up and shoots over you because he's
so tall exactly, that's he's almost he's like seven feet
tall and he just shoots at will. So it's tough.
Eric Gordon joining us, Do you guys want to be
you want to be considered the favorite or the underdog
in the series against the Warriors. Well, um, I don't.
(19:16):
I don't see really see how we can be the
favorites because you know, the Warriors, they have been to
the Final Spring four times in a row. And uh,
but I would like to, you know, have our chance
out of the next series, and it's you know, if
we could just continue to play, well, I would love it.
And uh, you know, I mean there's just no way
that you can have us as the favorites. But um,
(19:39):
we'll see what happens. Uh. You tall the toughest place
to play in the league, it's one of them. That's
I definitely would say that's always been one of the
toughest places all watch out for guys with their cell
phones trying to capture all the different images and seve
them in your face. We know Russ is not a fan,
not a fan at all that j Thanks so much
for joining us. We appreciate you be our guest on
(20:00):
Fox Sports Radio. Best of luck against the Jazz. Thanks
appreciate it alright, Eric Gordon joining us in the Doug
Gottli 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. I am built to be a contrarian. I'm
built to find the counter argument. I think that personally,
I think that's a sign of intelligence, right, picking holes
(20:21):
in an argument and trying to find the other side
to it. But I I don't think that's necessarily how
you live your life, right. I think sometimes the most
obvious decision is in fact the decision you make. I
have three different, three different people trying to convince me
(20:42):
that the Browns at other interest that the Browns wanted
Baker Mayfield because they thought he was the best quarterback
out there. And I got I got three different, three
different quotes, and they're all telling me one thing, and
(21:02):
I take it to mean the complete opposite. All right, First,
this is Jack Mills. Jack Mills is the agent for
Baker Mayfield. On what he heard, what he says he
heard from other teams for the draft. We had another
team which gonna surprise you. Another team had said you
may get a big surprise on draft day at number
(21:24):
two and he's available. It was the Patriots. They had
twenty three and they had thirty one, and they had
two seconds. We thought, boy, that's gonna be a heck
of a move to get up that high from where
they are, And of course he wasn't available, so we
never knew if that was a reality or not. We
don't know if it was reality or not, but that's
(21:44):
what we said, and so I just went with it
on radio that it was going to happen, even though
we don't know how high he thought he would climb up.
And a lot of people who thought the Patriots gonna
make a move, and you know what, they did nothing.
You know I because you can't believe anything any of
these guys say before the draft anything, Um, did you
(22:07):
guys see what Alonso high Smith said about Baker Mayfield.
He's the VP of player personnel, and he said, here's
the gods here, here's the honest to God's truth. From
the start of the college football season until the end
of the season, I had Donald number one, Baker number two,
Josh Rosen three, Lamar four, Josh Allen five. On our
(22:30):
way through everything you can't tell You couldn't tell me.
Donald wasn't the best. I did all my evaluations of
the season. Then comes apart when I met them off
the field, watch their workouts, you watch everything, and Baker
blew me away. Highly, highly intelligent, highly competitive. He's got
this one track that the good ones have I called
effantasy effacy. It includes the power to affect people. I
(22:55):
thought with all the quarterbacks I watched, he stood out
fart above the other guys. When he walked in the room,
he knew he was there. Baker Mayfield lost two receivers
and he was the same quarterback Josh Allen, big arm
could throw the ball from here to the moon. When
they have to make excuses why they're not completing passes,
that's a problem. So you got Jack Mills telling us, hey, man, hey,
(23:23):
Patriots are gonna go get him. Yeah, we also heard
the Patriots we're gonna go and get Lamar Jackson. They
didn't do that either. We have a Lonzo Heisman saying, look,
I agreed him out and I had donar One. So
why did he take well, you know, he he affected
people more. He just a dude. All right, it's got character. Okay,
(23:45):
by the way, I mean, USC season, USC was going
to fire their coach, Claire was going to be fired.
Last season done oh and three on the year. What changed?
That's that's last season. That that's not the past season,
in the previous season, but he was done. Put Sam
Donald in the best team in the West Coast, win
(24:06):
the Rose Bowl. That was the change. They'd literally changed
nothing nothing. And yes, technically Baker Mayfield did lose his
running backs and wide receivers, but he had Mark Andrews
back and they still had better talent than the competition.
(24:29):
The same camp be said for but whatever, like we
can make all excuse. The crazy thing is he watched
the tape. Hees like Donald. Then he met him, was like,
oh man Mayfield. Then he got Dorsey, John Dorsey who's
their general manager. And he said, hey, there's four other
teams interested in trading up for Baker Mayfield. Four others,
(24:50):
four others. When you keep telling me all these people
are interested, I'm sorry, I see the opposite. I see
it as you're trying to convince me. Is something that
maybe even you don't believe. Right, it's not if you
have to explain the joke, it ain't funny. No see,
let me tell you why it's funny. No, no, I
(25:11):
just didn't have anything. It was funny, all right, Baker.
If it's the best, like I don't really think so,
let me tell you why he's the best. Four other
teams want to trade up. The Patriots wanted him, huh,
and we met him. He affects people more. It feels
like the Browns just, you know, bought on a bluff,
didn't they. You know? Uh. He makes that look when
(25:33):
he has nothing and he's bluffing me. He makes this
other look when he's got king as high. Sorry, you
keep trying to convince me. Now, listen, she's got a
great personality. When I say personality, she's really funny, wouldn't Yes, Yes,
she's good looking, she's yes, she's good looking, but but
she's her personality. But her like, yeah, okay, you keep
(25:57):
trying tell me one thing, and I believe it's probably
the opposite it. I think. Look the Cleveland Browns. All
they need to say is we think he's the best.
We think he's the best fit for us where we are,
what we want to do. We think he's the best.
You don't have to tell us other people. You don't
have to tell us about We met him, and you
gotta meet him. Tell me, I have to meet Baker
(26:19):
Mayfield to get it. Is telling me when I asked
her how she looks, and you say, she's got a
great personality, Right, So she didn't looked big good. That's
what you're telling me. Get the he's got a great personality.
Get to Dan Buyer in a second, kidding Dan, Dan's
actually sultry voice. Be sure to catch live editions of
(26:40):
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Let's talk to some NBA who Chris Brusarry
joined us. He's an NBA inside of for Fox Sports One.
You can hear him on Fox Sports Rading the Weekends
is a great show six to nine pm Eastern Time
with Rob Parker. Chris. Here's what I said about the
South Ticks and the seventy sixers, and and you can
(27:02):
feel free, as you always are, free to disagree with
me if you if you'd like um. They both have reloaded, rebuilt,
remade themselves, but in different ways. Much like one has
um has read one a house, the other one straped
it and started all over. And what happens when you
rebuild a house is you still have the character of
(27:23):
the house. And I bring that up because what the
Celtics did was they tried to establish a winning culture
first and then slowly acquired players through the draft and
then eventually via free agency in trades uh to have
you know, NBA All Star level talent. Whereas the seventies
sixers they were they were trying to lose games, so
(27:44):
you couldn't really establish any sort of culture. And they
got the players first, and now we're trying to establish
culture on the fly. And that's why this though the
Celtics don't currently have their top three players, they're still
probably a better team because they they have a better
culture that's ingrained in them over several years. Fair. Wow,
(28:05):
you said a lot, But yeah, I think a lot
of it makes sense. That's why, you know, when you
talk to executives around the league about tanking, what the
word that you hear is just what you use culture
And a lot of teams just don't want to bring
that quote unquote culture into their building. They don't want
a losing culture where we everybody knows we're trying to lose,
(28:29):
and to be honest, players don't even want to. Like
when Philly was doing that, free agents didn't want to
go there. You know Jelil Okaford. Now granted he didn't
turn out to be a very good player, but he
didn't want to be drafted by the Sixers because of
that losing culture. So what you say is definitely correct
on on many levels. I still think Philadelphia can get
(28:52):
out of it. Um. I think the players that they
have not granted Ebid was there for it. Um Simmons
really wasn't. Uh, Dario sarch was there for some of it,
but he was. You know, both of those guys Mbaten
sarg or Nba was hurt Um. You know, Bell and
Nellie Ilya, Silva, Rednick, They weren't there for it. Brett
(29:14):
Brown was, but I think he's proven to be a good,
solid coach. I don't think this is gonna hold them back.
I just think Boston has Brad Stevens is phenomenal, and look,
I think they'd be certainly better with Kyrie Irving, no question,
but I'm not sure how much better. Like I think
(29:34):
it's almost that like that guy can just put in
whoever he has and they're incredibly productive. I'm picking Philadelphia
to win the series, but I would not be shocked
or surprised in the least bit if Boston wins it,
because they just played so hard. They execute well, they
play smart, and they do have some talented athletes. They
(29:56):
don't really have stars um yet, but they have enough
talent to make it work in a week Eastern conference. Okay,
help me out here. Uh, I actually believe Lebron James
when he said he was tired, did you I think
he was speaking in the moment like he was tired
that moment, he was tired, you know, he wanted to
(30:17):
go home and get some rest. I don't believe he
was saying, uh that he's you know, he's really not
gonna be at his best in this Raptors series. Look,
I think Lebron sometimes does like to ratchet up the
degree of difficulty, you know, and make it seem like
he's going over an even bigger obstacle than he is.
(30:38):
So I expect him to be fine. I don't really
think fatigued has gone really be a factor in this series.
That's interesting because I do, um, Look, I think that
there's no good matchup that the Raptors have to guard him.
They just don't, and ultimately that becomes their undoing. But
if you look at the Pacers, like, the game plan
is pretty pretty simple. They want a single cover in,
(31:00):
make Lebron's score as much as he could buy himself,
make him really work to get his own shot, and
not let him facilitate, hoping that in the fourth quarter
he'd running the gas. And many times that worked. They
just didn't have enough offense on their end. Yeah, I
mean that's the thing. The Pacers couldn't produce a lot
of offense. Um, they did do a good job. You know.
(31:21):
Stephen Jackson's up here this week at Fix that We've
been on some shows together, and he he did not
like the Pacers strategy. He thought that they should have doubled.
Lebron got the ball out of his hands and made
everybody else beat you, And obviously those guys didn't produce.
But I think that's easier said than done. I mean,
(31:42):
Lebron has always gotten his throughout his fifteen year career,
so he's gonna put thirty something on you regardless of
how you defend him. Um. But to your point, even
if you don't like didn't like the defensive strategy, that
wasn't the problem for the Pacers. The problem was that
they couldn't score. Now, Toronto is a team that can score,
(32:04):
and they are a better defensive team than Indiana. So
on paper, there are a lot of reasons to like
the Raptors, But I just don't think that their stars
are close enough to Lebron James where they're going to
be able to beat him. I think I think the
cas are gonna winning in six. I think they will
(32:25):
have a little less trouble with the Raptors than they
had with the Pacers. Christoper sorry joining us on the
Doug Gotlip Show Fox Sports Radio. That's interesting. I think
there it's a bad matchup for the Raptors. I just
think Ultimately Lebron gets worn down. Um, so you you
you're picking picking the Raptors. No, I think I think
(32:46):
there's a chance he loses, maybe to the Sixers in
the next series, even though I think if if, if,
if all things were equal, they would beat the Sixers more.
You know, they beat the Sixers four times in seven.
I just think ultimately he even though the Sixers aren't
as good, um, and they don't have the experience. Yeah,
(33:07):
he went seven games, then you're gonna go you're gonna
go six in this thing, Like the Raptors are gonna
beat him once or twice. And you know, I feel
like the Sixers will beat him a couple of times.
And look, if you watch Games seven, fourth quarter, he
didn't have much use in the tank. No. Look, you
make a good point, and they're gonna be times where
he has to defend the best player you know, Um,
(33:28):
and that's gonna wear him down. Not I don't think
it'll bite them this series, but I do agree with
you that over the course of these playoffs it could
become a factor. Like maybe it happens in the conference finals. Um,
you know, when he had to carry this load when
it's first in Cleveland. You know, he was a lot younger,
(33:51):
and he had a lot more energy, and for him
to do this at this stage in his career, even
though he plays smarter and probably and salvage some energy
a lot better than he used to, Yeah, I could
see it taken a toll. That's why it is imperative
that first Kevin Love, I mean, he's got to step
up and play much better. Uh. And then I know
(34:15):
their hope is just that some of these young kids,
and none of them have done it, Clason could. They
have looked far worse in the playoffs than they did
in the regular season, and they're gonna they're gonna have
to have those guys step up and play better if
they want to get to the conference to the finals.
It's interesting because when that trade was made, the first
(34:36):
couple of games, everybody said how much better they are
and was like, look, these guys haven't played in real
basketball games. It's completely differently, completely different. And some of
that's been exposed that they haven't played in real important
basketball games, and everything they do gets micromanaged. The minutes
get tighter, and people, have you scouted better? The game
is more physical and and they've been exposed as being
(34:56):
immature in the in the landscape of playoff basketball. Yeah,
that's the thing. I mean, they were fined in the
regular season even though they had their their poor moments
as a team with the new guys. But let's look
at it. Larry Nance Jr. Who he has, He's been
okay for what he does. Clarkson, they're coming off the
bench for a bad Western Conference team. You know, Rodney
(35:19):
Hood there the reason you saw let him go because
he's so up and down and you know, those are
the guys that we're gonna supposed to ride in with
the Calvary and saved the Cavs. Um. I thought theoretically
it could work because they had a lot more energy
and youth and athleticism, so they were they should have
been able to be better defended. But to your point
(35:41):
is telling. I mean, look at what t Lou wit
with in Game seven. He went with the guys that
had been there, even though Jr. Is I mean, he's
the biggest seesaw in the league in terms of consistency,
But that's who tyl wit with and it got it
done for him. Uh. You know, I expected to work
this series as well, but the next one to your
(36:02):
point is where it could hunt him. But look, I
think Boston. It could be Boston that they're facing in
the conference finals. They play Boston, I couldn't. I mean,
that would be an all time upset at Boston beat them. Yeah,
and that's an interest. That's a great like. They to me,
they just don't have enough talent without Kyrie Um and
(36:24):
maybe even without Hayward too to beat Lebron because he's
not only talented but smart. Him is an MBAT or smart,
but maybe not smart enough at this stage of their career.
A couple of quick ones. Steph is gonna play tonight.
They say no minutes restriction. They're gonna start him. I
think they'll start him. You know, you bring out a
(36:45):
player like that, you usually start him. Um. I think
it's good if the doctors have said that. Look, he's
just ready in game two. Is he's gonna be from
game three? I play him because you know this. Look,
I know he's gonna fit in wimmen e uh seamlessly.
It's not don't really be a problem, but there still
is an adjustment period. I don't care who the player
(37:07):
is and what the system is and if I'm going
to say, I don't want to be adjusted against Houston.
I want to get through those adjustments, that that assimilation
again for the next three or four games, whatever it
takes to get rid of New Orleans, and then we're
rolling on all cylinders when we face Houston in the
conference finals. Yep, I tend to agree with you on
(37:28):
that one. Um. Any have you heard anything early on
what the what the Thunder are gonna try and do? Well?
I mean, I think George is out of there. I
think if I'm the Thunder, I think Carmelo Anthony's comments
were blessing in disguise, and I would have met with
him last night and been like, look, we want you
(37:50):
to come off the bench and just hope that he says, well,
I'm gonna opt out, because I mean, Melo first ballot
Hall of Famer mind opinion. But at this stage of
his career, he's got to realize what he is and
what he is not. And there's no way he's getting
that type of money on the market open market, um.
(38:11):
And there's nowhere he's going to go to play the
old role that he used to play as the old mellow.
So where's he going? So I don't think he's gonna
opt out. I think he put his foot in his
mouth and he's gonna look bad because he's gonna opt
into that deal. And I will try to get a
buy out, maybe get that. But you know, look, okay,
see is in a different place now, and they're not
(38:33):
going to win a championship. They're not gonna compete for
a championship for the foreseeable future. They've got one superb
player who is a you know, a great spectacular show,
and they're gonna sell out the arenas because people are
gonna want to see him. They feel he's been loyal
to that city and they can hope to make the
(38:54):
playoffs every year. But that's really where they're at now.
Like the building around him, I think there's two ways
to build around western. One you just get a super
duper star like Kevin Durant and maybe you've got enough
talent to win a championship. They came close even though
they didn't do it. Or you built around him like
Alan Iverson, like they didn't Philly with the grinders three
(39:18):
in d guys for today's game. But you need a
superior coach to do that. Uh, And I don't know
that that could win in today's NBA anyway, But I
don't think Billy Donovan is the coach for that. And
you know that's a lot of rebuilding, So I think
that's I think they'll go that ladder route. Um when
when George leaves and if Mellow is bought out or whatever, Uh,
(39:42):
they'll put grinders and three D guys around him. But
unless they get rid of Donovan, I don't think Donovan
will be to maximize that type of Yeah, the only
only other thing to do is to be the double
down on Donovan and let him coach coach because I
feel like he's not coaching Westbrook. Whether it's out of
fear or whatever, but like you know, you feel like
if the fresh see I agree with you, he's not.
(40:02):
Now Scotty Brooke didn't either. Um, I don't know who will.
I don't think. I don't think it's that the front
office or somebody is saying Donovan Kent like, you don't
touch Westbrook. I just don't know that he has the
I don't want to question his heart, but I just
don't think he's gonna say anything in Westbrook. There's a
(40:24):
quite letard story out there. ESPN has it um. I
read into it, and it doesn't feel like the Spurs
have any problem with Kauai. It's more the people around Kauai.
What's it like that he returns to San Antonio if
they offered their their best shot is offering him that
super Max right away? Because I'm cold, He's not like
(40:45):
he's dying to get out of San Antonio. Kauai is
baffled and bothered by the fact that the Spurs have,
you know, he They're like, we've never seen them go
at a player like this. You know, the comments about
his group. Uh Tony Parker, um, you know if some
(41:05):
people think my new um, you know, the anonymous sources
and stories talking about tension because Kauai is camp. Like,
wait a minute, We've been fully transparent with the Spurs.
They knew we were getting the second opinion. They were
on board with it. They knew Kauai was gonna be
in New York working it out. They were on board
with it. They sent trainers to New York to work
(41:28):
out with them. They were on board with that. When
we're with them, their firing. But when we you know,
then we see these stories or we see these comments,
and we're saying what's going on. There's a bit of
like disingenuous this there that Calaia's can't feel like they
see and there will have to be some smoothing over. Uh,
(41:48):
it can be done, but it better be done with
the super Max offer. If it's not done with a
Supermax offer, and I think it's gonna be tough, but
san Antonio to make it. But I believe and from
this from talking to people close to this situation, that
Kauai will give them a chance, um, if they come
with the right money and you know, if if they
(42:11):
say the right things. But he's a bit bothered by
the way things have happened because he feels like they've
taken shots at him when he's hurt and he never
saw them do that with any other players. Great Stu
from Christophers. Sorry, check him out this Sunday sixty nine
Eastern Time with Rob Parker, and of course check out
all his work on Fox Sports one. CEB thanks for
joining us man all right,
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox
Sports Radio. So the Celtics took down the Philadelphia seventies
six Ers last night kind of impressively. So, I mean,
you know, Celtics are without what the two best players?
(00:23):
Is that it? Oh, maybe even Jalen Brown the third
best player, and they still won the game. Is that all?
Like Brad Stevens can beat you with not just one arm,
but two arms tied behind his back. He just headbutted
the Philadelphia seventies sixers. Is that what happened? I guess
that that's what happened. He Look, Um, I'm not gonna
(00:43):
sit here and tell you that the series is over.
It's not one game, nor that the seventies sixers can't
come back and win this series. They can. But this
to me reminds me of um. It reminds me in
many ways of the decisions to buy a house, right,
because there's two different types of of houses to own
(01:08):
or to buy. I guess maybe even three, but one
is a combination of the two. And this is a
little bit of a Southern California thing, a little bit
of a New York thing. It's a little bit of
a Chicago thing. This is kind of what happens in places,
and it's gonna it doesn't already happen in your town,
Trust me, it will. It just will. Um. It's the
(01:31):
tear them down or fix them up? Do you know
the difference thing the two. So let let me kind
of explain what happens in southern California, for example, what
happened in Connecticut where I used to live as well,
where uh, you can either buy a house and fix
it up, or buy a house and what's called scrape it,
(01:51):
which means take a bulldozer and run, run the house
over and then start all over. Right. Now, look, this
isn't I'm not talking about buying a ca already redone home.
You know, we're buying a home that is, you know,
ten years old or whatever. I'm dogging. These are two
options for getting the dream house that you want. Is
(02:14):
redoing or scraping in rebuilding. And the Philadelphia seventy sixers,
they chose to scrape, right, they chose to get a
really crummy house to scrape it and to build a beautiful,
brand new modern house as they did, and that modern
(02:34):
house has all the amenities that you could possibly want.
And then you know once you're there, once you're in it,
Now you can add pieces to make it feel like
a home. The Boston Celtics, they chose to buy a
house and live in it while they redid it. See,
(02:55):
when the Philadelphia seventy sixers started the process, they tanked.
They lost games intentionally in an effort to load up
on draft picks. They wanted to get as many young
players under club control as possible. And the hit rate
is about what six maybe in that top five of
(03:16):
the NBA draft. There was some misses there too. They
didn't hit on every draft pick, but what they were
able to do was end up getting two young, burgeoning stars.
And now now they've tried to add and and put
in the culture. They brought in JJ Reddick, who'd been
(03:38):
a part of playoff teams in the past. Granted it's
just for one year. What does he do. He can
space the floor and really shoot the basketball. He can
be in perpetual motion. Plus he's a pros pro. He's
always in the gym, he's always working, and not a
headache at all. Sure, there's some downside to him that
he can't really guard, can't create his own shot, but
he doesn't need to considering what's around him. They got
(04:00):
the players first, but the hard part of having the
players first is then you have to change the culture
or morph the culture into that of a playoff team,
because when you're playing and look better. This is Ben
simmons first year. Um, it's not Joel Embiad's first year.
(04:24):
But many of these, many of the guys who were
with the seventies six years in the past or some
that have been added, like there was no culture of
winning there. They're simply winning and learning culture as they
go and adding pieces from other places. Of Marco Belinelli
who has been on playoff teams in the past, right
(04:44):
yan Yo Silva who's been on other teams. They're adding
pieces to the culture to try and get some hard
playing guys out there. The Boston Celtics did the opposite.
The Boston Celtics when Brad Stevens first took o of
her if you remember, he had a couple of surprising seasons,
especially considering no one thought they were going to keep
(05:07):
their personnel at the time. They had yet to start
the process of putting in a new kitchen, putting in
new bathrooms, redoing the floors, or paying the outside of
the house. They started with the culture first. A matter
of fact, Brad told me he called a bunch of
former NBA coaches when he first got the job, stuck
out the show Fox Sports Radio, and they said, he said,
(05:32):
you know, you have to be about something. You gotta
be about You gotta have one thing that differentiates you
from other teams in the league when you want to
start build your culture. What is special about our team?
What is different about our team? Because it's not gonna
be that you had the best players. And he told me,
He's like, look, uh, I said defense, And they said, yeah,
everybody says that. Everybody says it. So at the time,
(05:56):
they were playing more back to back games than they
play now, and Brad Stephens said, all right, we're going
to be the best team on back to backs in
the NBA. That was gonna be their calling card that
when other teams retired, other teams would give up, other
teams wouldn't show up because they were on a back
to back. We're gonna do the opposite. We're gonna look
(06:16):
forward to back and backs we're gonna the best record
in back to backs in the league. And if you
look during his first two years of the Boston Celtics,
guess who had the best record in back to backs
in the league, the Celtics. That was the establishment of
the culture first. Then the draft picks came, then the
free agents came. They did culture first, talent second. Sixers
(06:39):
did talent first, culture second. Now it doesn't mean that
both aren't incredible houses to live in. I feel like
watching the seventies sixers, um, I mean, like, look, we
still markul Folks is still not a big part of
this team. He is going to be very good and
they'll have the chance. JJ Reddick's contract expires at the
end of this year. They gave him more money because
(06:59):
it's only a one year deal. They could bring him back,
they could add another star that there's some different things
they could do with their roster. They're not done yet,
but there's a good chance that the Philadelphia seventy Sixers
are going to live deep in the NBA Eastern Conference
playoffs UH for the next five to ten years. And
the same can be said for the Celtics as they're
playing without Jalen Brown and of course without Gordon Hayward
(07:20):
and Kyrie Irving there is no one perfect way. But
I do feel like at this particular time, having established
the culture first and then the talent second, is is
a more likely way to win in the playoffs in
the short term, because you got it. You gotta learn
(07:40):
to win, how to win important games, you gotta learn
how to special attention to detail. I think a huge
portion of it is the culture was established by the Celtics,
whereas the seventy sixers. It's hard to establish culture when
everyone knows you're trying to lose games. And look at
(08:01):
in the in the Celtics defense, so many of their
draft picks were not based upon their own success. They
didn't have to tank games, so they could go this route.
But um, and look, I don't think anybody thought Terry
Rozier would play this well in the stead of Kyrie Irving,
(08:23):
did you? But there's clearly some talent there. There's clearly
a great eye for talent there, not just the bad Stevens,
but with Danny and Austin Ainge and their their crew,
and I think they're playing a little bit above their level.
And I would also tell you that that the seventy
sixers they don't yet know how to win important games.
(08:44):
They don't and you can tell me why we they
just beat the Miami Heat here ain't good. 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. Teric Gordon joins
us on The Doug Gottleub Show on Fox Sports Radio, Erica.
How are you? Oh, everything's good? How are you going?
(09:04):
I'm really really well. Hey. I want to ask you quickly,
this is and I'm sure you weren't prepared for this.
I'll give you a second because I remember when you committed,
uh to playing in college. I remember how big a
thing it was. Did you did you see, uh? Do
you see what happened with Romeo Langford committing to Indiana yesterday?
How it's kind of a circus and a show. You
(09:26):
remember back when you originally committed because you were you
were going to Illinois and then you change your mind
and went to Indiana? Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, mons, Yeah,
my situation was a little different, but yeah, I can hear.
And we're definitely excited to see him Yeah, No, it's
gonna be interesting to see. It seems like a change
in Indiana basketball, trying to get it back to getting
those in state guys. Uh, you know that that's that's
(09:49):
the big thing. Right. If I you can build a
fence and keep everybody in state at home, you got
a chance to beat anybody, isn't it. Oh, no question,
there'll be you know, a championship caliber team to the
talent in state just to go to you and uh,
you know you only see so many kids from me.
He had to leave, and they are very successful elsewhere,
so uh, for sure, they gotta keep you guys in state.
(10:11):
When when you guys acquired Chris Paul, what did you
what did you what did you honestly think when you
guys moved to go get Chris Paul? Well, really it
was really based off our office. When Chris Paul came,
I knew it was gonna work because he's a playmaker.
You know, It's not like you're just bringing in a
guy who's just who's just another score. He's he's a poatmaker.
(10:35):
He's he's uh, you know, he's he's naturally a past
first point guard and he comes here and uh, plays
a little bit more, you know, the shooting guard, but
it involves his game because now he's a mor than
just a passer. Yeah, but he's also a guy that
can dominate the ball. Right, Mike D'Antonio, you're the ball mover,
a ball stopper, and you know everything you guys have
(10:55):
done in the past has been off of James Harden.
Was there any thought in your mind, like, man, and
I don't know if this is gonna work two guys
that like the ball in their hands in our offense. No,
not necessarily, because the Antoni system is you have to
you have to make uh plays a little quicker than
normal because we have we played the half to floorsal space.
So if you just don't make, if you don't make
(11:17):
the quick opportunity happened and uh, then uh are you
gonna do is just hurt yourself and hurt the team.
So it's I think it's naturally fitted for for them
to really make good playmaking skills really quickly. Uh. There's
been a lot of talk about your team's defense. Obviously
numbers are are are pretty good. Um, how how has
this team evolved defensively from when you first got there
(11:40):
to now the unit that we've seen so far in
the playoffs. I like our defense. I think our defen
has been really feeling the offense. I really feel like
we have any really hit all cylinders on office, uh
throughout this playoffs like we did during the season. And uh,
but you know we switch a lot, everybody thinking we
(12:01):
take away a lot of things that other teams do.
And uh, I really have been like, I really like
how because has been this whole this whole playoff. You
mentioned your your offense hasn't gotten to going one big
reason why you weren't hitting shots. And you know, I'm like, look,
you shoot you in the regular season only one percent
so far in the playoffs you couldn't make it, couldn't
make a bucket. What's is there something you're gonna change
(12:22):
that you're gonna do? I mean, what what's going on
with your jump shot? Well, it's not really what's going
on with my jump shot? Is that just Uh, teams
are just trying to take away a lot you know. Um,
the only way I I'll be able to get that
chance that was half the ballow my hands willing to
be able to create a little bit more because when
(12:44):
when I'm in the game. These guys are just not
leaving me from three points, so there's just more like
denying me and uh and too, you know. Uh so
I just kind of figure out ways. But as long
as we're winning, that's the main thing, because you can't
let a lot of stuff get to you. You you
you mentioned that they're hugging up on three point shooters, right,
Making you guys try and take tok too is kind
(13:04):
of making James Harden, you know, try and you beat
him by himself. It's a little bit of what the
Pacers have tried to do to Lebron right, which is,
you know, take away those threes, take away all the
what you do best, and make one guy carry you
so that he gets tired in the fourth quarters. That
a little bit of the game plan. Is there any
similarity there between how they're playing the broad and how
people are trying to guard Harden, Well, every team is different,
(13:29):
but in this series, that's what it seems, that's what
Keith was doing. You know, they're not letting the trying
to not force uh, letting this play a lot of
you know, take a lot of threes, and everything they
want is inside to compare. So it's you know, you know,
he's serious. Is going to be different for everybody. But
as long as we you know, he continue to win
(13:51):
and went at a good you know, we went at
a good Uh, you know, have a good lead on teams,
then I'll take that. I'll take that chance. And yeah,
obviously guys dominated. They didn't have Rubio, they didn't feel
like they were really competitive in that game. You mentioned Golbert,
um is it? I think most people talk about how
good he is defending at the rim, but I would
(14:13):
say it's also that for a guy that big and
that long, it's that he can actually cover some out
in the perimeter. What makes him such an effective defender.
It's hard, it's hard for us eric to see when
we're watching on TV, other than in blocking shots at
the rim, you're trying to go at him, he gets
the switch on you. What makes Rudy Gobert such such
a great defender. Uh, he's tough when you're going into
(14:33):
the basket because he's always alternating shots and he also
blocked shots too. But what we want to we want
to get him out there for all the perimeter so
we could, you know, you know, get it better, get
a better shot at him as far as you know,
maybe should take it three, maybe driving to the basket
where someone else can help him as we're driving to
the basket. So we always want to create a mismatch.
Eric Gordon joining us on the Doug Gotlip Show here
(14:55):
on Fox Sports Radio. How much do you pay attention
to what the Warriors are doing? Not as much? But
you know the Warriors they played the same way all
the time, so you know they I don't really see
them do any anything different. I just mean, do you
do you watch two that steps coming back tonight? Do
you watch how they're playing? Do you watch those games?
Or you're two locked in what you're doing. Oh no,
(15:17):
I'm saying of the game. So I'm gonna watch other
teams and uh, but for sure I'm focusing on what
we're doing. No, I'm not saying you're not. I'm not
saying you're going home and you're like, I'm not paying
any attention to this? How much? I was? How much
do game plans vary from game one to get like,
because Huge Utah's got to make some sort of adjustment,
right If their plan was to make hard and beat him, well,
(15:38):
that plan didn't work. He had eight and seven, and
he did so pretty efficiently, seven or twelve from three
point range. How much do game plans vary from game
to game in the playoffs? Yeah, based on what they
what we see them doing the first quarter. You know,
it's it's either you know, our point guards or our
playmakers are are either going to score a lot of
points and create a lot of assists or uh or
(16:01):
um or we're gonna get a lot of threes of
where they're gonna be helping a lot. So it's uh,
but every game that we played them so far agains
I guess Utah, they've always try to take away our three,
so you know, they're pretty I'm pretty sure they might
stick to what they're doing. Yeah, so do you take
a step back even further to space it out even
you know, even more so, like if they're gonna hug
(16:22):
up on you, don't you just continue to to space
and almost get higher out in the floor and it
becomes even more open inside the lane. Well sometimes well
some yeah, we're gonna keep the sports floor space, that's
no question. But you know it doesn't even if I
take a step back there, they're still gonna stay with
stick with me. So they're just creating one on one
situations where go there at the rim, where where our
(16:43):
guards are going down. Here Eric Gordon joining us in
the dougoutlip show. And it fascinating how much basketball has
changed since like you were coming up, right, remember like
you're coming out of high school Indianapolis, and even back then,
people like, man, you gotta go on one on one
mid range game. Mid range game, right, you have to
move without the Basketballyeah. You guys do move out the basketball,
but a lot of it's just pace in space, you know,
(17:04):
find your spots, you know, relocate based upon penetration and everything.
You're at the at the rim. Like it's it's kind
of crazy that when you were a kid, I'm sure
people like, don't get outside the three point line, get
in there and show a mid range pull up. And
now that's considered the worst shot in basketball. Yeah, for sure,
because everybody's getting taller and longer, so that two point
(17:24):
shot is, uh, it's it's easier, it's an easier contested shot. Now,
it seems like so the best way to go is uh,
you know, be able to knock down threes and be
able to take it to the basket. And and as
you can see, everybody's gonna have to have the complete package.
Uh here here soon where I mean one through five
you got this year in the sea centers that are
(17:46):
tall and lanky and that are that will bring the
ball maybe down the floor. You know, guys like Jonice
or Durant. You're gonna just see a whole bunch more
guys best size handling the ball and eating garden guards sometimes.
So you gotta have a complete package. Now, who's a
tougher cover, Lebron or Kevin Durant for you personally? M
(18:07):
both of them are different, but um, how so because Durant,
Because Durant is tall and he can shoot too, So
I it's it's tough. And Lebron is stronger, he's gonna
use his power and he has size on a lot
of people too. So I don't know, it's tough. But
if you if I had it, Durant is very tough. Yeah,
(18:32):
he's got, he's got. He's got a greater kind of
arsenal of scoring scoring options whereas Lebron. Lebron can score,
but also a little bit more of a more of
a passer, right, I mean, and and Lebron also settled.
Sometimes I'll just get tired and settled for a jump shot,
which you kind of feel like you won, even what
it goes in. You feel like you kind of won,
as opposed to when Durant shoots, you feel like you
(18:53):
didn't win. And sometimes you could be there with Durant.
He just jumps up and shoots over you because he's
so tall exactly, that's he's almost he's like seven feet
tall and he just shoots at will. So it's tough.
Eric Gordon joining us, Do you guys want to be
you want to be considered the favorite or the underdog
in the series against the Warriors. Well, um, I don't.
(19:16):
I don't see really see how we can be the
favorites because you know, the Warriors, they have been to
the Final Spring four times in a row. And uh,
but I would like to, you know, have our chance
out of the next series, and it's you know, if
we could just continue to play, well, I would love it.
And uh, you know, I mean there's just no way
that you can have us as the favorites. But um,
(19:39):
we'll see what happens. Uh. You tall the toughest place
to play in the league, it's one of them. That's
I definitely would say that's always been one of the
toughest places all watch out for guys with their cell
phones trying to capture all the different images and seve
them in your face. We know Russ is not a fan,
not a fan at all that j Thanks so much
for joining us. We appreciate you be our guest on
(20:00):
Fox Sports Radio. Best of luck against the Jazz. Thanks
appreciate it alright, Eric Gordon joining us in the Doug
Gottli 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. I am built to be a contrarian. I'm
built to find the counter argument. I think that personally,
I think that's a sign of intelligence, right, picking holes
(20:21):
in an argument and trying to find the other side
to it. But I I don't think that's necessarily how
you live your life, right. I think sometimes the most
obvious decision is in fact the decision you make. I
have three different, three different people trying to convince me
(20:42):
that the Browns at other interest that the Browns wanted
Baker Mayfield because they thought he was the best quarterback
out there. And I got I got three different, three
different quotes, and they're all telling me one thing, and
(21:02):
I take it to mean the complete opposite. All right, First,
this is Jack Mills. Jack Mills is the agent for
Baker Mayfield. On what he heard, what he says he
heard from other teams for the draft. We had another
team which gonna surprise you. Another team had said you
may get a big surprise on draft day at number
(21:24):
two and he's available. It was the Patriots. They had
twenty three and they had thirty one, and they had
two seconds. We thought, boy, that's gonna be a heck
of a move to get up that high from where
they are, And of course he wasn't available, so we
never knew if that was a reality or not. We
don't know if it was reality or not, but that's
(21:44):
what we said, and so I just went with it
on radio that it was going to happen, even though
we don't know how high he thought he would climb up.
And a lot of people who thought the Patriots gonna
make a move, and you know what, they did nothing.
You know I because you can't believe anything any of
these guys say before the draft anything, Um, did you
(22:07):
guys see what Alonso high Smith said about Baker Mayfield.
He's the VP of player personnel, and he said, here's
the gods here, here's the honest to God's truth. From
the start of the college football season until the end
of the season, I had Donald number one, Baker number two,
Josh Rosen three, Lamar four, Josh Allen five. On our
(22:30):
way through everything you can't tell You couldn't tell me.
Donald wasn't the best. I did all my evaluations of
the season. Then comes apart when I met them off
the field, watch their workouts, you watch everything, and Baker
blew me away. Highly, highly intelligent, highly competitive. He's got
this one track that the good ones have I called
effantasy effacy. It includes the power to affect people. I
(22:55):
thought with all the quarterbacks I watched, he stood out
fart above the other guys. When he walked in the room,
he knew he was there. Baker Mayfield lost two receivers
and he was the same quarterback Josh Allen, big arm
could throw the ball from here to the moon. When
they have to make excuses why they're not completing passes,
that's a problem. So you got Jack Mills telling us, hey, man, hey,
(23:23):
Patriots are gonna go get him. Yeah, we also heard
the Patriots we're gonna go and get Lamar Jackson. They
didn't do that either. We have a Lonzo Heisman saying, look,
I agreed him out and I had donar One. So
why did he take well, you know, he he affected
people more. He just a dude. All right, it's got character. Okay,
(23:45):
by the way, I mean, USC season, USC was going
to fire their coach, Claire was going to be fired.
Last season done oh and three on the year. What changed?
That's that's last season. That that's not the past season,
in the previous season, but he was done. Put Sam
Donald in the best team in the West Coast, win
(24:06):
the Rose Bowl. That was the change. They'd literally changed
nothing nothing. And yes, technically Baker Mayfield did lose his
running backs and wide receivers, but he had Mark Andrews
back and they still had better talent than the competition.
(24:29):
The same camp be said for but whatever, like we
can make all excuse. The crazy thing is he watched
the tape. Hees like Donald. Then he met him, was like,
oh man Mayfield. Then he got Dorsey, John Dorsey who's
their general manager. And he said, hey, there's four other
teams interested in trading up for Baker Mayfield. Four others,
(24:50):
four others. When you keep telling me all these people
are interested, I'm sorry, I see the opposite. I see
it as you're trying to convince me. Is something that
maybe even you don't believe. Right, it's not if you
have to explain the joke, it ain't funny. No see,
let me tell you why it's funny. No, no, I
(25:11):
just didn't have anything. It was funny, all right, Baker.
If it's the best, like I don't really think so,
let me tell you why he's the best. Four other
teams want to trade up. The Patriots wanted him, huh,
and we met him. He affects people more. It feels
like the Browns just, you know, bought on a bluff,
didn't they. You know? Uh. He makes that look when
(25:33):
he has nothing and he's bluffing me. He makes this
other look when he's got king as high. Sorry, you
keep trying to convince me. Now, listen, she's got a
great personality. When I say personality, she's really funny, wouldn't Yes, Yes,
she's good looking, she's yes, she's good looking, but but
she's her personality. But her like, yeah, okay, you keep
(25:57):
trying tell me one thing, and I believe it's probably
the opposite it. I think. Look the Cleveland Browns. All
they need to say is we think he's the best.
We think he's the best fit for us where we are,
what we want to do. We think he's the best.
You don't have to tell us other people. You don't
have to tell us about We met him, and you
gotta meet him. Tell me, I have to meet Baker
(26:19):
Mayfield to get it. Is telling me when I asked
her how she looks, and you say, she's got a
great personality, Right, So she didn't looked big good. That's
what you're telling me. Get the he's got a great personality.
Get to Dan Buyer in a second, kidding Dan, Dan's
actually sultry voice. Be sure to catch live editions of
(26:40):
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Let's talk to some NBA who Chris Brusarry
joined us. He's an NBA inside of for Fox Sports One.
You can hear him on Fox Sports Rading the Weekends
is a great show six to nine pm Eastern Time
with Rob Parker. Chris. Here's what I said about the
South Ticks and the seventy sixers, and and you can
(27:02):
feel free, as you always are, free to disagree with
me if you if you'd like um. They both have reloaded, rebuilt,
remade themselves, but in different ways. Much like one has
um has read one a house, the other one straped
it and started all over. And what happens when you
rebuild a house is you still have the character of
(27:23):
the house. And I bring that up because what the
Celtics did was they tried to establish a winning culture
first and then slowly acquired players through the draft and
then eventually via free agency in trades uh to have
you know, NBA All Star level talent. Whereas the seventies
sixers they were they were trying to lose games, so
(27:44):
you couldn't really establish any sort of culture. And they
got the players first, and now we're trying to establish
culture on the fly. And that's why this though the
Celtics don't currently have their top three players, they're still
probably a better team because they they have a better
culture that's ingrained in them over several years. Fair. Wow,
(28:05):
you said a lot, But yeah, I think a lot
of it makes sense. That's why, you know, when you
talk to executives around the league about tanking, what the
word that you hear is just what you use culture
And a lot of teams just don't want to bring
that quote unquote culture into their building. They don't want
a losing culture where we everybody knows we're trying to lose,
(28:29):
and to be honest, players don't even want to. Like
when Philly was doing that, free agents didn't want to
go there. You know Jelil Okaford. Now granted he didn't
turn out to be a very good player, but he
didn't want to be drafted by the Sixers because of
that losing culture. So what you say is definitely correct
on on many levels. I still think Philadelphia can get
(28:52):
out of it. Um. I think the players that they
have not granted Ebid was there for it. Um Simmons
really wasn't. Uh, Dario sarch was there for some of it,
but he was. You know, both of those guys Mbaten
sarg or Nba was hurt Um. You know, Bell and
Nellie Ilya, Silva, Rednick, They weren't there for it. Brett
(29:14):
Brown was, but I think he's proven to be a good,
solid coach. I don't think this is gonna hold them back.
I just think Boston has Brad Stevens is phenomenal, and look,
I think they'd be certainly better with Kyrie Irving, no question,
but I'm not sure how much better. Like I think
(29:34):
it's almost that like that guy can just put in
whoever he has and they're incredibly productive. I'm picking Philadelphia
to win the series, but I would not be shocked
or surprised in the least bit if Boston wins it,
because they just played so hard. They execute well, they
play smart, and they do have some talented athletes. They
(29:56):
don't really have stars um yet, but they have enough
talent to make it work in a week Eastern conference. Okay,
help me out here. Uh, I actually believe Lebron James
when he said he was tired, did you I think
he was speaking in the moment like he was tired
that moment, he was tired, you know, he wanted to
(30:17):
go home and get some rest. I don't believe he
was saying, uh that he's you know, he's really not
gonna be at his best in this Raptors series. Look,
I think Lebron sometimes does like to ratchet up the
degree of difficulty, you know, and make it seem like
he's going over an even bigger obstacle than he is.
(30:38):
So I expect him to be fine. I don't really
think fatigued has gone really be a factor in this series.
That's interesting because I do, um, Look, I think that
there's no good matchup that the Raptors have to guard him.
They just don't, and ultimately that becomes their undoing. But
if you look at the Pacers, like, the game plan
is pretty pretty simple. They want a single cover in,
(31:00):
make Lebron's score as much as he could buy himself,
make him really work to get his own shot, and
not let him facilitate, hoping that in the fourth quarter
he'd running the gas. And many times that worked. They
just didn't have enough offense on their end. Yeah, I
mean that's the thing. The Pacers couldn't produce a lot
of offense. Um, they did do a good job. You know.
(31:21):
Stephen Jackson's up here this week at Fix that We've
been on some shows together, and he he did not
like the Pacers strategy. He thought that they should have doubled.
Lebron got the ball out of his hands and made
everybody else beat you, And obviously those guys didn't produce.
But I think that's easier said than done. I mean,
(31:42):
Lebron has always gotten his throughout his fifteen year career,
so he's gonna put thirty something on you regardless of
how you defend him. Um. But to your point, even
if you don't like didn't like the defensive strategy, that
wasn't the problem for the Pacers. The problem was that
they couldn't score. Now, Toronto is a team that can score,
(32:04):
and they are a better defensive team than Indiana. So
on paper, there are a lot of reasons to like
the Raptors, But I just don't think that their stars
are close enough to Lebron James where they're going to
be able to beat him. I think I think the
cas are gonna winning in six. I think they will
(32:25):
have a little less trouble with the Raptors than they
had with the Pacers. Christoper sorry joining us on the
Doug Gotlip Show Fox Sports Radio. That's interesting. I think
there it's a bad matchup for the Raptors. I just
think Ultimately Lebron gets worn down. Um, so you you
you're picking picking the Raptors. No, I think I think
(32:46):
there's a chance he loses, maybe to the Sixers in
the next series, even though I think if if, if,
if all things were equal, they would beat the Sixers more.
You know, they beat the Sixers four times in seven.
I just think ultimately he even though the Sixers aren't
as good, um, and they don't have the experience. Yeah,
(33:07):
he went seven games, then you're gonna go you're gonna
go six in this thing, Like the Raptors are gonna
beat him once or twice. And you know, I feel
like the Sixers will beat him a couple of times.
And look, if you watch Games seven, fourth quarter, he
didn't have much use in the tank. No. Look, you
make a good point, and they're gonna be times where
he has to defend the best player you know, Um,
(33:28):
and that's gonna wear him down. Not I don't think
it'll bite them this series, but I do agree with
you that over the course of these playoffs it could
become a factor. Like maybe it happens in the conference finals. Um,
you know, when he had to carry this load when
it's first in Cleveland. You know, he was a lot younger,
(33:51):
and he had a lot more energy, and for him
to do this at this stage in his career, even
though he plays smarter and probably and salvage some energy
a lot better than he used to, Yeah, I could
see it taken a toll. That's why it is imperative
that first Kevin Love, I mean, he's got to step
up and play much better. Uh. And then I know
(34:15):
their hope is just that some of these young kids,
and none of them have done it, Clason could. They
have looked far worse in the playoffs than they did
in the regular season, and they're gonna they're gonna have
to have those guys step up and play better if
they want to get to the conference to the finals.
It's interesting because when that trade was made, the first
(34:36):
couple of games, everybody said how much better they are
and was like, look, these guys haven't played in real
basketball games. It's completely differently, completely different. And some of
that's been exposed that they haven't played in real important
basketball games, and everything they do gets micromanaged. The minutes
get tighter, and people, have you scouted better? The game
is more physical and and they've been exposed as being
(34:56):
immature in the in the landscape of playoff basketball. Yeah,
that's the thing. I mean, they were fined in the
regular season even though they had their their poor moments
as a team with the new guys. But let's look
at it. Larry Nance Jr. Who he has, He's been
okay for what he does. Clarkson, they're coming off the
bench for a bad Western Conference team. You know, Rodney
(35:19):
Hood there the reason you saw let him go because
he's so up and down and you know, those are
the guys that we're gonna supposed to ride in with
the Calvary and saved the Cavs. Um. I thought theoretically
it could work because they had a lot more energy
and youth and athleticism, so they were they should have
been able to be better defended. But to your point
(35:41):
is telling. I mean, look at what t Lou wit
with in Game seven. He went with the guys that
had been there, even though Jr. Is I mean, he's
the biggest seesaw in the league in terms of consistency,
But that's who tyl wit with and it got it
done for him. Uh. You know, I expected to work
this series as well, but the next one to your
(36:02):
point is where it could hunt him. But look, I
think Boston. It could be Boston that they're facing in
the conference finals. They play Boston, I couldn't. I mean,
that would be an all time upset at Boston beat them. Yeah,
and that's an interest. That's a great like. They to me,
they just don't have enough talent without Kyrie Um and
(36:24):
maybe even without Hayward too to beat Lebron because he's
not only talented but smart. Him is an MBAT or smart,
but maybe not smart enough at this stage of their career.
A couple of quick ones. Steph is gonna play tonight.
They say no minutes restriction. They're gonna start him. I
think they'll start him. You know, you bring out a
(36:45):
player like that, you usually start him. Um. I think
it's good if the doctors have said that. Look, he's
just ready in game two. Is he's gonna be from
game three? I play him because you know this. Look,
I know he's gonna fit in wimmen e uh seamlessly.
It's not don't really be a problem, but there still
is an adjustment period. I don't care who the player
(37:07):
is and what the system is and if I'm going
to say, I don't want to be adjusted against Houston.
I want to get through those adjustments, that that assimilation
again for the next three or four games, whatever it
takes to get rid of New Orleans, and then we're
rolling on all cylinders when we face Houston in the
conference finals. Yep, I tend to agree with you on
(37:28):
that one. Um. Any have you heard anything early on
what the what the Thunder are gonna try and do? Well?
I mean, I think George is out of there. I
think if I'm the Thunder, I think Carmelo Anthony's comments
were blessing in disguise, and I would have met with
him last night and been like, look, we want you
(37:50):
to come off the bench and just hope that he says, well,
I'm gonna opt out, because I mean, Melo first ballot
Hall of Famer mind opinion. But at this stage of
his career, he's got to realize what he is and
what he is not. And there's no way he's getting
that type of money on the market open market, um.
(38:11):
And there's nowhere he's going to go to play the
old role that he used to play as the old mellow.
So where's he going? So I don't think he's gonna
opt out. I think he put his foot in his
mouth and he's gonna look bad because he's gonna opt
into that deal. And I will try to get a
buy out, maybe get that. But you know, look, okay,
see is in a different place now, and they're not
(38:33):
going to win a championship. They're not gonna compete for
a championship for the foreseeable future. They've got one superb
player who is a you know, a great spectacular show,
and they're gonna sell out the arenas because people are
gonna want to see him. They feel he's been loyal
to that city and they can hope to make the
(38:54):
playoffs every year. But that's really where they're at now.
Like the building around him, I think there's two ways
to build around western. One you just get a super
duper star like Kevin Durant and maybe you've got enough
talent to win a championship. They came close even though
they didn't do it. Or you built around him like
Alan Iverson, like they didn't Philly with the grinders three
(39:18):
in d guys for today's game. But you need a
superior coach to do that. Uh, And I don't know
that that could win in today's NBA anyway, But I
don't think Billy Donovan is the coach for that. And
you know that's a lot of rebuilding, So I think
that's I think they'll go that ladder route. Um when
when George leaves and if Mellow is bought out or whatever, Uh,
(39:42):
they'll put grinders and three D guys around him. But
unless they get rid of Donovan, I don't think Donovan
will be to maximize that type of Yeah, the only
only other thing to do is to be the double
down on Donovan and let him coach coach because I
feel like he's not coaching Westbrook. Whether it's out of
fear or whatever, but like you know, you feel like
if the fresh see I agree with you, he's not.
(40:02):
Now Scotty Brooke didn't either. Um, I don't know who will.
I don't think. I don't think it's that the front
office or somebody is saying Donovan Kent like, you don't
touch Westbrook. I just don't know that he has the
I don't want to question his heart, but I just
don't think he's gonna say anything in Westbrook. There's a
(40:24):
quite letard story out there. ESPN has it um. I
read into it, and it doesn't feel like the Spurs
have any problem with Kauai. It's more the people around Kauai.
What's it like that he returns to San Antonio if
they offered their their best shot is offering him that
super Max right away? Because I'm cold, He's not like
(40:45):
he's dying to get out of San Antonio. Kauai is
baffled and bothered by the fact that the Spurs have,
you know, he They're like, we've never seen them go
at a player like this. You know, the comments about
his group. Uh Tony Parker, um, you know if some
(41:05):
people think my new um, you know, the anonymous sources
and stories talking about tension because Kauai is camp. Like,
wait a minute, We've been fully transparent with the Spurs.
They knew we were getting the second opinion. They were
on board with it. They knew Kauai was gonna be
in New York working it out. They were on board
with it. They sent trainers to New York to work
(41:28):
out with them. They were on board with that. When
we're with them, their firing. But when we you know,
then we see these stories or we see these comments,
and we're saying what's going on. There's a bit of
like disingenuous this there that Calaia's can't feel like they
see and there will have to be some smoothing over. Uh,
(41:48):
it can be done, but it better be done with
the super Max offer. If it's not done with a
Supermax offer, and I think it's gonna be tough, but
san Antonio to make it. But I believe and from
this from talking to people close to this situation, that
Kauai will give them a chance, um, if they come
with the right money and you know, if if they
(42:11):
say the right things. But he's a bit bothered by
the way things have happened because he feels like they've
taken shots at him when he's hurt and he never
saw them do that with any other players. Great Stu
from Christophers. Sorry, check him out this Sunday sixty nine
Eastern Time with Rob Parker, and of course check out
all his work on Fox Sports one. CEB thanks for
joining us man all right,
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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