May 31, 2018 • 48 mins
Doug thinks LeBron revealing he called the Cavalier front office to try and stop the Kyrie Irving trade only shows he could have done more to get Irving to stay. He also wants Eagles players to stop criticizing the "Patriot way" after only winning one Super Bowl. NBA Analyst Lamar Hurd joins the show to preview Warriors vs Cavaliers Part 4 in the NBA Finals!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Dog got Lee Show
on Fox Sports Radio, Boom Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, hours away from Game one of the
NBA Finals, six hours. In fact, we only have a
three hour show. I could do all six I could
(00:23):
take your phone calls. I think I will take some
of your predictions, what you think is gonna happen, what
you're looking forward to, and maybe most importantly, this conversation
which seems to have popped up, which is, uh if
if if Golden State wins and Cleveland loses, could it
(00:44):
in any way be Lebron James's fault? Will it change
how you look at Lebron James because I feel like
Lebron has already won without playing. They are prohibitive underdogs.
I don't know what the what the difference between a
dog and prohibitive underdog is, but I do know when
you're a bigger underdog than any heading into the NBA
(01:07):
Finals in sixteen years, that would be a prohibitive underdog
by most definitions. And so I've heard this, Hey, Lebron's
got nothing to lose, nothing to lose, cool, and with
all of that equity he is using some of it.
(01:28):
He is spending some of it. He had an interview
with Rachel Nichols, and it's not necessarily what he said
or what he did, but it's what he didn't say
and didn't do. Look, Lebron's gonna get a pass because
we've created this false narrative. Here's the false narrative. The
(01:52):
false narrative was last year the Golden State Warriors were
the greatest team ever and they added Kevin Durant. They
were not the greatest team ever. They won seventy three
regular season games, which was the most wins ever. They
did not win an NBA championship, and they had to
(02:13):
shed a good portion of that roster in order to
acquire Kevin Durant. That's not winning seventy three games and
adding Kevin Durant. That's winning seventy three games, not winning
a championship, reformulating yourselves while adding Kevin Durant. That that's different.
Last year's team didn't win seventy three games and sweep
(02:36):
you know the other way through. Everybody almost did. Lost
two playoff games, won the finals, one in the during
the course of the playoffs. But because of that, Lebron
got a pass last year, Hey, Golden State just better,
are just better? They're just better. And then you take
(02:56):
Kyrie off the team and the first trade doesn't work,
and now it's night and Day better, which which may
well be accurate. My biggest issue with Lebron is not
over his talent, which is Immen's. It's not over his
evolution as a player from a guy who was a
facilitator to one who's become more comfortable being in alpha
(03:20):
at the end of games. My biggest issue is with
all this acclaim comes to zero accountability. The only thing
we hold Lebron response before is the collapse in Dallas, which, oh,
by the way, I don't hold him as response before
as most everybody else does. Remember when they lost a
(03:43):
Dallas six games. Do you know their starting point guard
was first five games Mike Bibbie. You know, I mean
minutes he played in game six zero, never took off
his sweats. You know why he was so bad in
games one through five. I would say, true, Lebron James
failed during that moment. Then Lebron James, especially later on
(04:09):
the series, put too much pressure on himself and did
not come through in the clutch. But if you remember
early on in that series, they they gave up two
different times lay ups to Dirk Navitsky, layups on game
winning baskets, like, look, if you if a guy hits
a game winning three with a hand in his face,
what are you gonna do? But a layup to a
(04:31):
seven footer's not exactly fleet of foot, Come on now,
So I don't hold him as responsible. I thought there
were errors by Eric Spoelstra. I thought their errors by Lebron,
but I thought there were also the fact that Mike
Bibby was washed at that point in his career, and
you can't play four on five, especially from the when
(04:53):
you're going against a Hall of Famer and Jason Kidd
and you have a guy that you can't play in
game six. Additionally, yeah, they dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder
when he finally won a championship, But that was a
Thunder team that frankly shouldn't have been there yet and
was way ahead of its time, way ahead of we
(05:15):
have had of their normal growth chart. And what happens
when you have an upset the next round Oftentimes that
gets exposed. We've seen that this year in the plasts
and then a tournament all the time, and then they
split with the with the San Antonio's first that's the
reality of it. His first loss to the Golden State Warriors.
It wasn't a fair fight. I actually thought that was
(05:38):
his greatest series ever. Lebron James without Kevin Love, without
Kyrie Irving forcing six games, that was incredible and of
course coming down for from three games to one in
year two. Did they get a little help when Draymond
got suspended? Yep? Did Andrew Bogan getting hurt helped, yep.
(06:02):
But he carried the team along with Kyrie Irving two
man offensive punch, which was phenomenal. He had the big block,
Kyrie had the big bucket, and they wanted to get
in Game seven, I think I feel like I'm the
only totally reasonable person out here, including Lebron James, because
(06:24):
we did get new information that he did call the
Calves front office when they decided to make the Kyrie
Irving trade. Take a listen, the ODZ has not been
with us all season, you know, even if you start
back to the summertime, when I felt like it was
just bad for our franchise to be able to just
to trade away our our superstar point guard. Obviously I
(06:46):
wasn't part of the communications and know what exactly went
on between the two sides, but I just felt like
it was just it was bad time and for and
for our team to just get rid of our our
our point guard, you know, and Kyrie Irving. So you know,
I feel like the odds was against us, you know,
from from the summer. Okay, wait, wait, so you called
the front office. You said you didn't want this trade
(07:08):
to happen. You were unaware of the conversations that took
place between Kyrie's camp and the front office. Okay, it's
not what was said there. Nothing he said was wrong.
It was a bad idea and bad timing to trade
away Kyrie Irving, especially at that time in the trade
they got was suboptimal. Why didn't you call Kyrie? Right?
(07:36):
There's there's never any There's never a moment to which Lebron,
who knowingly, will willingly has signed these short term contracts
to put pressure on whoever he's playing for, in this case,
the Cleveland Cavaliers, to continue to work tirelessly to win
and win now because you don't. Tomorrow is never promised,
(07:56):
not just in reality but also in the alternate reality.
Of Lebron James world. I'm not promising you anything. Show
me you want to put a championship team around me.
The problem with that is that even when Kyrie decides
they want out, and he knows they're going to trade Kyrie,
he did not recommit to Cleveland and oh yeah, by
(08:20):
the way, why didn't you call Kyrie? Irvy. It doesn't
mean it would have changed the course of history, but
it would have gone a long way if if if
I heard from Lebron James. I called Kyrie. I wanted
to work it out. I went to his house. We
(08:41):
tried to talk it out and it just couldn't be done.
And they decided to make a trade. And I said, please,
don't make this trade. We can work it out. And
they did it. Anyway, that's different the I don't know
what's going on. They decided to make this trade, and
I called him and said, don't do it. What you
or Lebron James, you are the chosen one, you are
(09:06):
the king. So this idea that it's never it's never
his fault except for Dallas, which I don't think was
that much his fault. It's never his fault that was fault.
(09:27):
This is imagine this. Imagine you've been together a couple
of years with your wife and you guys get separated
and you're gonna get a divorce, and the papers are
gonna get signed, right and you call at the last second,
you call your lawyer and say, you know, I just
(09:47):
don't feel it. I just don't want to sign the papers.
I just don't think we should go through with it.
Do you know who else you should call your wife? Right?
Because and if you say, look, we talked it out
and we decided we're gonna give it one more go.
We're gonna try one more time. And when we've exhausted
(10:08):
all possible situation, with all possible scenarios, we've gone to therapy.
If then you go, like, you know what, it's not
gonna work, split up the stuff, let's move on. Lebron
essentially said, man, I really don't want to get a divorce,
but you're gonna get a divorce, okay, And then six
(10:31):
months later like that wasn't my idea. I don't know
why I signed those papers. I told the lawyer it
wasn't a good time to do it. I didn't want
to do it. I didn't think it put us in
the best situation with the kids at getting ready to
start to school year. It just it would give us
a tough year. It's it's totally fair to blame Kyrie Irving, right,
(10:56):
it's fair to blame Dan Gilbert, but you also have
to blame at least a portion of it on Lebron James.
Even when he talks about his relationship with Dan Gilbert,
take a listen. Our relationship has always been a working
relationship for me personally. I've always tried to do um
(11:16):
you know, since I come back to this franchise, to
try to put this franchise at a level that is
always seen a positive light. When you see the Calvs logo,
I want you to think as a very prestiged and
you know, a great organization. Okay, it's a business relationship.
And of course Lebron James uh loves the credo of
(11:37):
The Godfather. That's his favorite movie. It's not personal, it's
just business. It's not personal. It's just business. It's not personal.
It's strictly business. Right, That's what he lives by. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app Bill Belichick.
(11:58):
Hey's just a regular guy, goes to check fil But
then here are more shots, more shots being taken at
the Patriots and their style of coaching, of winning, of competing.
Brandon Brooks plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Eagles
are doing a lot of talking. They win one Super Bowl.
(12:20):
You know, they survive Atlanta at home, could have lost
Atlanta at home. You know you you get, you get
Minnesota at home. You beat the Patriots who didn't have
Brandon Cooks and sat Malcolm Butler. So to the victor's
go the spoils. But like, look, they had some things
go their favor. Brandon Brooks, who also used to play
(12:42):
in Houston, said, quote, all these guys talking about I'll
take the rings. Okay, you can have your rings. You
can have your effing You're effing fifteen miserable years. That's
from Lane Johnson Lyneman of the Eagles. Brandon Brooks added
in it's not fun there. I was under the same
regime in Houston with O'Brien. I almost retired that s
(13:06):
was miserable every day every day. How much better his
life with the Eagles night and day. Brooks said, happy
workers make more productive workers. When you're not having fun. Man,
uh those grinding those hard, hardass, hard nosed days. Brooks
was cut off by Lane Johnson. All the media wants
to talk about. Lane Johnson said his rings. I'm gonna
(13:27):
put my mind in the box. Get this ring, never
wear it one day. I'm gonna put it away in
a box. The only thing they're gonna remember from your
playing the only thing you're gonna remember from your playing days.
You're gonna remember the scores. You're going to remember the
people you played with and how you felt. That's the truth.
That is not true. Are you gonna remember the people? Yeah,
you can be super close. Those are your brothers in arms,
(13:51):
but you remember the scores. Here's Bill Belichick when asked
about these comments, Kobe mentioned them the toe. You're not
the easiest guy to play for. Is it important too
to come up with ways for players to feel like
they're enjoying themselves as they're putting in the work that
you asked them to put in the Yeah, we feel
(14:11):
it's important us is to win. That's really what we're
trying to do. People's attackle Rayne Johnson of you is
in your methodology, just said, uh yeah, we're really we're
focused on what we're doing, trying to get better and
taking each day we can try to improve our football team.
I really focused on what everybody else is doing. Look,
(14:32):
I this is what Lane Johnson is doing. Just see
your where Lane Johnson's twice been a steroid guy. Lane
John's actually has a really interesting career. Went to Oklahoma
as a quarterback. Quarterback, became an unbelievable alignment, unbelievableligman, super talent.
He has had two p D suspensions. That's noted. I'm
not gonna sit here and tell you that that he's
(14:54):
a He's still a royd guy or whatever he had to.
I believe that what he's doing is calculu He wants
to have a post career career. That's why he's being
outspoken to the media and calling out Bill Belichick. Do
I think it's more fun to play in Philly? Probably?
Do I think you can win and have fun? You
probably can. Here's the thing that the Patriots, it's not
(15:17):
that they've won, it's that they have not had a
bad season. And if if what Lane Johnson was was
saying was, Look, they are all different kinds of ways
to win. You can win their way or you can
win our way. Are always more fun, more enjoyable. I
enjoy working here more. But you shouldn't do, especially when
(15:40):
you had one, you had one championship season one one.
What you probably shouldn't do is call out a team
that since the year two thousand hasn't had a bad year.
It is nothing short of remarkable. It doesn't mean that
(16:01):
the Patriots it's the only way to win. It doesn't
mean that you have to. First of all, we don't
know if they don't have fun. We're hearing somebody from
Lane Johnson, who has never played for the New England
Patriots tell us how it's not fun to play for
the Newingland Patriots. But you've you've been to one super
Bowl in the last fifteen years, all right, they've been
(16:25):
to eight two since two thousand, they've been to eight.
They've never had a bad year. And Brandon Brooks don't
tell me Houston is like New England, Like oh, Bill
O'Brien is, I don't know. It was miserable because you
(16:46):
guys didn't have a quarterback. It was miserable because hack
your middle linebacker keeps being tested testing positive for p
E d S and oh yeah, by the way, J J. Watt,
who was a superhero, keeps getting hurt like those things
are miserable. Just because you were miserable playing for Bill
O'Brien doesn't mean you've been a miserable playing in New England.
(17:08):
And even if you were, The New England Patriots have
been in the playoffs every year except one since two
thousand and one, and that was two thousand two. I mean,
it's crazy how consistently successful they've been. So look, I
(17:34):
got the Lane Johnson thing. He's smart, he's funny, uh
you know, he's good with equip and he's he's he's
picking out the big bully that everybody thinks is the
big bully and he's puffing out his chest because they
just beat him on a championship. But hey, dude, you
have more steroid suspensions than you have Super Bowl appearances.
(17:57):
Until that ratio changes a bit, I would I would
change the statement of hey, the only thing people are
gonna remember, or hey, the this is this is more
fun and more productive. The better way to say it
is do you win their way, which doesn't seem like
(18:20):
a lot of fun. Are you going our way? And
we're trying to disprove the theory that you have to
be miserable to win. 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. R J Bell is the founder
pregame dot com, the official odds provider for the Associated Pressed.
He's also a host here on Friday nights and Saturday nights.
(18:42):
It's a show called Straight out of Vegas. R J.
We're gonna get to the Vegas lines in a second.
Here's the need from UK. You grew up in Pittsburgh,
so I'm sure most of these have a Pittsburgh slant.
I'm sure you've seen this on social media. Favorite NBA
player all time, my favorite. I'm gonna go with Larry
Bird cood Um. Favorite NFL player all time. Oh, that's
(19:03):
intrist Steeler fans. So it's gonna have to be either,
let me think out loud, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Green, or
Mel Blint. I'm going with Mel Blunt. Good. Uh college
college basketball, college basketball, best player of all time? Favorite? Wow,
that's intristing. I don't even know I was Jerome Lane
(19:23):
from pitt There you go, send it in Jerome favorite
college football player of all time. You go in Tony Dorset.
You know I wasn't a pit I'm in Ohio State grad.
So I'm gonna go with Archie Griffin. Archie Griffin, two
time Highsman Trophy Award winner, Major League Baseball favorite all time. Oh,
that one's easy. Dave the Cobra Parker. We are family.
(19:44):
Remember those hats they had, the sideways pinstripes or whatever. Yes,
I remember his arm from right is what I remember. Okay, NHL,
I object on ethical grounds. What you mean? I don't
I hate hockey. I don't like hockey either. But who's
your favorite? Oh? I'll go with Lemieux. Okay, Mario Lemieux boxing,
(20:05):
oh Ali p Ga Nicholas the Ohio State University tennis,
oh absolutely Vegas. His own Andre Aggis Love Andrea plus
his book. Have you ever read opened his book? It's
I have I have accept the Matthews I don't love,
but okay, I don't like the honesty. But theon I mean,
the the utter in sheer honesty and the pain, agony
(20:26):
and all the different stuff is his dad's putting in
front of that that ball machine when he's like three
years old wrestling pro wrestling. Oh Rick Flair. Okay, now
let's get to um. I have I have read where
I Know Chicken too, Doc, you do know chicken? Oh Lord,
guss is Chicken in Memphis. Gus is Chicken in Memphis
(20:49):
is amazing, man. It's also I spoke a south By
Southwest a few years ago. Uh stumbled on Gusses down
in Austin. And my wife checks the credit card every
day right the business car RD. She calls me up
after three days. This is a true story and says,
she says, hey, someone must got your card. We're getting
the same charge again and again from this place called Gossis.
(21:10):
I'm like, I'm eating there every day. Yeah, that's like
coach on Butcher in New Orleans. Every time in New Orleans,
I got a coach on Butcher like breakfast, lunch, lunch,
and dinner. My wife said. The said the exact same
thing I've read where the Warriors are the biggest favorite
in sixteen years the NBA Finals? Is that right? Yes?
Since Lakers in two thousand one over sixers and over
(21:31):
the sixers okay. Uh, it strikes me as weird that
the Spurs weren't bigger favorites when they took on Lebron
in two thousand seven. No, you know it's they were
big favorites, but not this big. And I think which
is is fascinating And if you're a Calves fan, it
really tells you the hill you have to climb here.
So right now, Gold State minus Cleveland plus eight Hunters,
(21:56):
So a dollar wins you eight dollars if you like
the Calves to spring the opposite. If we go back
to two thousand eight, there's been twenty five NBA playoff
series with a favorite or an under dog bigger than
plus seven fifty. So obviously Cleveland eight to one is
bigger than plus seven fifty those twenty five teams. Oh,
(22:17):
in twenty five during the last eleven years, the line.
Did the line change at all? When Kevin Love was
was ruled to be playing, No, Because the anytime there's
a line out in which there's uncertainty, they have an
opinion built into it, and the odds were in the
Vegas opinion about he would play, Thus him playing uh
(22:38):
Matt expectations, So no change, okay, So let's start with
tonight twelve and a half point line. When I checked
before the show, that's that where we are now, Yes,
and what's the over under? Okay, so uh it means
and remember this is a this is a team in
Golden State that did not allow Houston score over a
hundred points um in in that series, which is kind
of remarkable considering the pace by which what's your assumption
(23:00):
of how the pace will be. I think if you're
the Calves, you're gonna try to slow this game down,
in every game down for one main reason beyond the
fact Going State plays best fast, but the fact that
Lebron's uh physicality, his his his energy. I guess it's
the best way to say it. Can't play seven games
(23:23):
where he's playing a bunch of minutes if it's a
fast paced or can't play a whole series. I mean,
the only chance to cass have is Lebron just has
Monster game after Monster game, and if he's doing that
at a fast pace, I think there's a big problem.
Give me, give me a prop that you like, the
prop that that jumps out to you that you like.
I'm gonna go under Lebron's points in game one, and
(23:46):
you can get that all the way up to thirty
four points. I think this is a situation where he's
only gonna be able to have a handful of monster games.
And I just don't see game one as a game
that Lebron puts up a man stir. Now, if Golden
State wins and wins easily, especially game one, I'd be
looking at the Calves not only Lebron having a monster
(24:09):
and game too, but potentially the Calves winning the game
out right. There will still be a huge underdog in
game two. But I think that's the kind of game
gold State might get a little flat, because even in
the finals, we've seen gold State and the playoffs where
if they feel a little fat and happy, they tend
to lay an egg. I think Game four was an
(24:29):
example that against Houston. No, there's they have. They haven't
won four games in Rosin's February right, They've had an
inability And I believe playing without Iguodala is a bigger
thing than others and people at all eight points a game,
you don't understand not just how important he is, but
also how big a drop off there is with their
personnel once when he comes out that means Jordan Bells
(24:50):
playing more means Cavon Loney's playing more. That means playing
Cook play more, and those guys that those guys will
struggle in this series. On the other hand, you know,
Cleveland not very good defensively, even if they have helped
off of Draymond Green, off of Jordan's Bell. So I
struggle with how Cleveland's gonna stop Golden State, Oh, no doubt.
And again we've got a huge favorite because of that.
Check out this Doug twelve and a half point favorite.
(25:12):
As you mentioned gold State in Game one. Gold States
play fifty home games this season, thirty eight times they've
been less of a favorite than they are in this game.
Only twelve times have they been this big of a favorite.
And it's against the lebron and the Calves in the finals.
So you might say, wow, it's Cleveland really in the
(25:34):
bottom third of the league. I mean, if you think
about it with the idea, or even the bottom fourth
out of fifty games, only twelve times. No, the analogy,
and we talked about this during the NFL playoffs. When
you have a big double digit favor in the NFL
or in the NBA, the big question is how hard
is that favor gonna play? And often times they're gonna
(25:55):
be flat in those big favorite spots, they're likely not
flat there talk don't say. Sometimes is in the playoffs,
so the in the NFL, those big favorites tend to
cover more because there's not an uncertainty about their effort.
So I think it is noteworthy to think this line
isn't just big, it's like huge. I think it's I
(26:17):
think it's way way way too big, way way too
big for for that, especially considering they're coming off of
Game seven in which they had to extend to expend
a ton of energy and UH and and frankly play
more minutes than I think even they're comfortable. UH. A
couple of things I wanted to get to with r J. Bell,
who's founder of pregame dot com. You can hear a
(26:38):
show straight out of Vegas, which of course plays UH
plays every Friday and Saturday night right here on Fox
Sports Radio. Did the line the futures bet on Lebron's
home next year change after that? Rachel Nichols interview the
UH and you're talking after game seven, Yeah, well like
(26:58):
for for next season? Right? Yeah? But you're saying after
the interview after game seven, yes, yes, and and there
was a couple of moves off of that Game seven
number one, the Calves odds got worse. They were the
clear favorite at plus one ten, which means just about
fifty fifty. He was going back a little bit less.
(27:18):
It went up to plus one seventy five, so away
from the Calves. You would think winning to make it
to the finals would help the Calves. But no, Now,
what else happened was the Rockets got much much better
after their Game seven loss. They were six to one.
Now they're plus two fifty, so two and a half
to one. The theory being if a team is has
(27:42):
a disappointment, they have a better chance to do something
fairly drastic. Last thing I find interesting in the second
UH team tied for the favorite right now with the
Calves the seventies sixers plus one seventy with the Calves
to plus one seventy five. But you might say, what
about all the drama went about the arange after the
burner phones. I tell you this, it got it got
(28:03):
a little worse, from plus one fifty to plus one
seventy five. I think it might improve the chances because
what do we know about Lebron? He loves control of
the front office. Imagine if the Sixers said, listen, we're
gonna clean house because of all this, you can put
your guy in there. Doesn't that increase the chance of
Lebron going to Filly. That's exactly what I thought when
(28:23):
when we were talking earlier, was Zach Harper from fan
Rag Sports about how he likes control, and that was
the exact thing that that popped into my head. Apparently, Uh,
you you you are thinking, you're thinking like Vegas now, Doug.
I mean, that's a cop poin. Well, I'm also just
thinking logically he wants That's why I've never believed he
would ever consider san Antonio. San Antonio can't bring your
boys with you on your plane. You have no control
(28:45):
and you know like you're you're not gonna, You're gonna.
The first thing they say is you need to check
your ego at the door, right, And that's just not
something Lebron. James is going to do. The really dug
and real quick, if you don't mind, I think the
biggest indictment you could of Lebron this year because on
the court it's hard to give any real indictment is
that this is his team and the fact he has
(29:08):
all of these inferior players, at least at the championship
level on the team with them is really his doing.
So maybe letting go of that a little bit and
with the Spurs could be a type of redemption for him.
But there is no there is no admittance of fault
outside of look here's what. Here's here. I started the
show saying, is R J. Bell, jois Doug Gatlip show,
(29:28):
Fox Sports Radio. Everybody blames Dallas on him. I don't
think it was all on him, but I do think
that since then he has been absolved of all blame,
and I don't think that's fair. That's fair either. Last thing, Uh,
m v P, H give me the what are the
futures on m v P for this oh, for the
for the playoffs, for the for the finals. You've got
(29:48):
a situation and this is fascinating where Lebron's odds to
win the m v P are better than the calves
of odds to win the title. So we talked about
cas are to one or so to win this title,
win this series. Lebron's in the six to one range,
So the market is saying clearly there's a less than
(30:09):
zero chance, there's a material chance Calves lose the series,
Lebron wins the m v P. Uh. Really it's Durant
and Curry and all the usual suspects are favored. But
that is the first time I've seen a real major
difference between eight to one to six to one saying
guy might lose and still win it. Uh. One, last,
(30:29):
we're Straymond on that just because if you remember when
Iguadala won it, it was because of his defense and
he made shots, but he was left wide open. They're
gonna leave Draymond Green wide open and he might hit
some What what's what's Draymond's odds on m v P.
You know I didn't go that deep. He's not amongst
the favorites. I can send Ryan an email right after
if you want it, but I can get that right
to you, all right, no problem, Sorry about putting you
(30:50):
on the spot on Hey, I love it because I'm
usually gonna have hundred. I'm gonna have it, and then
the one time I don't, they're gonna say, boy, r
J's honest to r J Bell joining us last thing,
give me if you were betting tonight. What would you
be betting if I were betting tonight. I I can't
play gold State in any spot because I think this
is inflated. But I don't want to bet the Calves
(31:13):
on the spread because I do think if they are competitive,
they have a chance to win these games. So I
would actually force the bat take about eight to one
on the Calves winning Game one. Great stuff r J
Bell pregame dot Com, follow them on Twitter, or listen
to the show Straight at Vegas, which is Friday and
Saturday night right here on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks so
much for joining us. Thank you, Duck pleasure is always
(31:35):
our Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug
gott Leaps Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Let's get the thoughts of Lamar Heard, who's a talented
NBA analyst covers the Portland Trailblazers for a living fall
on Twitter at l underscore Heard, that's h you are
d no relation to college. There's just no no relation
(31:56):
to college. Lamar. First, on first glance, What do you think?
What do you think of the series. I think the
series Doug is gonna be what the Warriors wanted to be.
And what I mean by that, and that's assuming health.
If they remained healthy throughout the series. Um, with the
exception of the Igadala, when Golden State is locked in
(32:18):
and they're not, they're not being flimsy with the ball. Uh,
they're not being careless with some of the passes, with
the shot selection. Uh, they can be unbeatable. And when
four games in a row. But if it's the Golden
State that we're custom the scene from time to time,
that's a little close. And Lebron continues on the trend
of playing a superhuman brand of basketball he's been playing
(32:39):
and and and here's what is the main thing that
I'm going to be looking for from Cleveland is all
the switches. Ken Tristan Thompson guard, Ken Kevin Love guard
Because when goad Win Golden State lost to Cleveland a
couple of years ago, one of the big factors that,
as you know, is all the switches. They did a
good job containing uh Steph Curry not KD wasn't with
(32:59):
the team, We know that, but they did a get
out the same stuff and so much so that a
lot of people said, well, Steph wasn't healthy in the series,
and you know, so then they look at last step
was able to be staff as we go at the
MPP level stuff, and so you think that, okay, if
they can play like that, then it might be a sweep.
So I'm gonna be looking to see how does Cleveland
defend on the switches right away? And it really just
(33:21):
how locked in Golden State is, because I think Golden
State is locked in. It's a four or five game series. Um,
there is something that helps Cleveland on those switches is
that right now, you don't have to guard Draymond Green
and you don't have to guard whoever else they're throwing
out there, you know, with exception maybe of Swaggy, and
Swaggy is so there's so many other things he doesn't
(33:42):
do that they don't trust him out there. I mean,
there's sow as much as like we want to point out, hey,
George Hill can't guard anybody, like, yeah, you can't. But
if you just follow out around Clay and then you
know they put j R. On staff, like, it doesn't
mean they can guard him. There's help everywhere, and so
it becomes there becomes a lot less space on the floor. Yeah, no,
without a doubt. And I think we saw with the
(34:04):
way Houston started to blame a little bit with their
switches and the guys that they were helping off of.
I still think they could have helped off of guys
a little bit more. Um, but yeah, no, there there there,
There is still a chance there. And so when I
say the Warriors in four or five, I'm not saying
it's gonna be all blowout. I'm you know the deal a.
You gotta do the them by one. And so I
(34:25):
think even with helping off of nonsootors and uh guys
to Cleveland playing out of their minds as they have to,
I still, honestly, I just think if go to Thtats
locked in, it's not gonna be good enough to beat
them by one point. I just I just those guys,
you know, just watching them all throughout the season, Uh,
when they want to make up, you know that stuff.
(34:47):
Coaches always trying to teach players, all right, don't try
to relax and then turn it on and then flip
the switch later on in the game. You can't just
slip the switch. Will go to stake can flip the
switch when when they want to and they're there. They
can flip the switch. Now it looks like they're and
times where it's gonna come back to buy them. We
thought maybe that would happen in here series. Um they didn't.
And I just I think maybe they see the bullet
(35:08):
they does and go come out with a different level
of focus. Look I I I look at at at Cleveland.
I'm like, man, they put a bunch of shooters around
Lebron and they're they're gonna be able to score against
Golden States some because you're gonna help. But if you help,
he'll find your guy. If you don't, he's gonna score
a bunch, especially at Agodala. And on the other hand,
(35:29):
I also realized that they played the Celtics, who don't
have nearly the number the volume of shooters, and they
just they give up wide open shots. Right. They're just
at times Cleveland is so bad defensively, and this is
a team that makes you if you're gonna make a mistake,
they're gonna make you pay. And that's the thing for me,
Like Cleveland all throughout the year. You know, good offensive team,
(35:51):
one of the top five teams offensively, one of the
worst five teams, defensively and just the types of looks
that they constantly give you throughout a game. Him, you
just nobody can be Golden State giving up those kind
of looks. So that's so that's what I'm saying. One
of the main factors for me is gonna be on
the defensive end with them is on the switchers, how
they contain and then what they do off of the
(36:12):
ball with the switching. Are they locked in? Are they
switching and making contact right away not letting step and
um k D and and Clay shake ferea for some
of those shots, Like if if they are super attentive, um,
then I do think that they have a shot at
making this thing interesting. But the thing is they got
to be that for the possessions throughout the game. And
(36:34):
I just don't know. Based on what I've seen defensively
from Cleveland against a really good offensive teams throughout the season,
I just don't think he'll be announce Lamar heard joining
us a talented analyst for or was it Comcast Sports
Net Northwest. A lot covers the Portland Trailblazers for living.
You may have seen him used to do games for
Fox Paxtel Network ESPN as well covers The Trailblazer for
(36:55):
Living joins us in the Doug Gotlips Show on Fox
Sports Radio. I wanted your take on what Lebron said
to Rachel Nichols. He he said that, um, he didn't
like the trade and that he called management to tell
him that he didn't like the trade. The odds has
not been with us all season, you know, even if
(37:16):
you start back to the summertime, when I felt like
it was just bad for our franchise to be able
to just to trade away our our superstar point guard.
Obviously I wasn't part of the communications and know what
exactly went on between the two sides, but I just
felt like it was just it was bad time and
for for our team to just get rid of our
our our point guard, you know, and Kyrie Irving. So
you know, I feel like the odds was against us,
(37:36):
you know, from from the summer. It's interesting he says
like he calls Kyrie superstar, which I agree he is.
He's his our point guard. And he says like, look,
I don't, But then he acts like why I was
in privy to those conversations, Why wasn't he It's it's
difficult to believe that in any organization that Lebron James
(37:57):
is the part of does not bring came in on
certain conversation smello. He's not the owner of the team technically,
but he kind of is, and he's the guy. He
he runs the franchise. He has made the franchise revalentce
uh so relevant and so I I don't know if
Lebron maybe isn't letting us all the way behind the
curtain here. Um. One thing I will say is this,
(38:20):
And I had this conversation a lot of times since
Cleveland did win that championship. Um, you know, I know
a lot of people. Uh. The overwhelming sentiment with people
that I talked to it at the time was that,
you know, Lebron carried that team, put him on his back,
brought him back from the three one deficit, and and
I would always just kind of bank up to people, Hey,
I don't know if you were watching or not in
(38:40):
Game three when things started to shift. Uh, Lebron wasn't
the one who broke the seal. Lebron wasn't the one
that started off in that game and was able to
shake a pre get some shots offen the defense a
little bit, take away some of the help on the
weak side and and just really open up the court.
You know, that was Kyrie. Um, I'm one that felt
(39:02):
like after the end of that series, it's just been
co uh finals MVPs. I thought Kyrie was that good.
And UM, you know, I watched body language a lot
during games, and I remember laughing when those two guys
played together, Like you kind of watch some of the
conversations and and it's tense on the championship type team,
the types of things they go through, the types of
(39:23):
hard conversations you have to have. Um, But just in
watching the interaction in just the two games that the
Trail Blazers played against him, he just didn't get that
sense that Lebron was a guy that that truly felt
that Kyrie was the superstar that I think Kyrie is.
(39:43):
And that's not to say that Lebron doesn't indeed feel
that way. It just it just didn't up here that
way observing those two guys. So, UM, it was a
little strange. Um, hearing him say what he said is
surprising that he wanted to be involved in that kind
of decision. But of course, as you know, that's gonna
lead to more talking speculation as to what he's going
(40:03):
to do in free agency, because if he's not in
that that type of conversation, UM, I really don't know
how the guy feels comfortable there because I know the
star I cover in Damian Lillard. Um, he's privy to
a whole lot of information. And if somebody of a
Kyrie caliber um is going to get traded, um, Damian
will most likely know about guys. Yeah. My other issue
(40:26):
is why not just pick up the phone if you
hear Kyrie's got an issue with you, pick up the
phone and column. Yeah, I mean, you know what, that's
what That's what I'm talking about. You know, like if
if if you really feel like a guy is a
superstar and and there's something up, you know you're gonna
do that. You're going to ask like what's the deal?
And just like I referenced the guy covering Damian Lillard,
(40:47):
we had a situation like that with the Blazers early
in the season where Mo Hartle was who's the starting
small forward, wasn't very happy with how he was being
utilizing games, and he made a comment post game after
game in Philadelphia and we went on bus from Philadelphia
to New York that night. And once you got into
the hostel of that night at like two am or
(41:08):
whatever time it was, Damian Little it went to mot
Heartless his room to go and talk to him and say,
I heard about the comments you made. I want to
know how we can address it and make it better.
And really it was at that point that the season
started to turn around for the guys. And so if
you really feel a certain way about a guy, you
would do exactly what you just said. You pick up
the phone or you're gonna meet him. Man a man,
(41:28):
you have to talk. But uh, you address it and
you deal with it. By the way. Um, in those
last three wins, in the last three wins of the series,
the NBA Finals that you were talking about, Um, he
was a plus t, Kyrie was a plus twenty, a
plus twenty five, and a plus ten. He had forty
one three and of course had had twenty six and
(41:49):
hit the game winning shot in in Game seven. So
it's and I love the fact that you bought up
the numbers because the numbers is validate what what was
being displayed. And and the main thing for me, like
I said, is not even just the number his numbers
were great, but it was the fact that he's the
one that broke the seal. He's the one that was
(42:11):
able to score the ball one on one. They were
guarding Lebron one on one for a lot of that series.
In Game three, they weren't filling the need to send
a lot of the extra health because they they had
him contained. But Kyrie is the one who opened it up.
So I just I just never really felt like Kyrie
ever got the credit that that he truly deserved. I
agree with you, Lamar heard joining us in the Dug
(42:31):
Outlets show on Fox Sports Radio. Knowing as much control
as he wants. Where can he get that? Oh man, Well,
there are a lot of teams that would give him
that control. Now, the question is is that a good team?
Is that the team is gonna compete for a championship.
That's that's really the questioning. Um, you know, I I
(42:52):
don't know. I won't claim to know what the inner
workings of a lot of fun offices. Um. My assumption though,
would be that most places where there's no prior beef
as there is with Lebron where he is now, I think, uh,
they will find a way to work with him. Now.
Of course in Miami might be a little different because
pat Roley wants a different ship out there and San
(43:15):
Antonio won't work. I don't. I don't think the Lakers
would work. Um. That's the one thing I think holding
him back to why don't think the Lakers are working? Look,
do I think that that Magic would say all the
right things? Yeah? I think Rob Polinka would say all
the right things. I think you have. I think the
Alonzo thing and the LaVar thing, I don't think that's
(43:37):
something that he He probably loves. I think he thinks
he doesn't doesn't care. He worked through it. But I
also think that Magic and Rob Blinka thought the exact
same thing, and it it can be annoying. Um. But
I also I think they wanted Fitzdale to be the
coach there. You know, that was that was floated as
you know in NBA circles when the Lakers weren't playing well.
(43:57):
And now Fizdale is the coach in in in New
York and so, uh, you know, does he like Luke?
Does does he like that style? A young a coach?
That's I think Luke's younger than he is or about
the same age as he is. I don't don't know.
I don't know how that works. But I don't know,
Like he's not gonna have more control than Magic and Polinka.
I don't see that happening. I don't know, man, I
(44:21):
mean things are a little different with Lebron Luke five
years old, bad yeah, yeah, Luke Lucas, Oh yeah, Luke
finished up at Airs on a brown still in high school.
UM yeah, I don't know, man, It's gonna be something
to watch. It's going to be a circus over the
next couple of weeks. If you were, if you were
a betting man, where'd you bet he plays next year?
Cleveland kind of think so too. I think Cleveland. I
(44:44):
think UM and I don't know how it all works out.
I don't know if he goes and have a certain
beauty but Dan Gilbert and UM, I don't even know
if that is what takes place. I just think with him,
UM is family foundation, what he does there in the area,
what he means to the area. I think he really
grasped all of that. UM. I think he understands the significance.
(45:07):
I think part of him UM has kind of, I
don't know, slowed down as the right word, but the
whole pursuit of of Jordan's and being the best. I
think he's kind of gotten to a point just just
based on the way he talks, what he says, and uh,
I feel like he just kind of knows it like
it is what it is. I'm not going to be
able to convince everybody or maybe even the largest population that, um,
(45:31):
I was better than Mike and and so I think
he's looking at just the whole big picture of what
he wants his legacy to be as to who he is.
Because le Bon has always been a phenomenal guy off
the court in terms of the things that he does
and the care that he has for people. So I
just think he's gonna stay home. Great stuff. Lamar. By
the way, I need to get your list here. All
time favorite NBA player, Uh, Penny Hardaway NFL. UM. You
(45:56):
know I I just by default because I'm not a
huge NFL guy, Warren Moon because I grew up in
youth in Texas college football, so they do I have
to go. Am I allowed to go college football and
want to you can go college football? Um? And I
want to say, if the favorite guy is maybe the
most exciting for me, to watch Reggie Buss. I was
that Organ State when Reggie Busses at USC and I
haven't seen anything like the guy college basketball. Your favorite
(46:16):
college basketball player. Man, that's so really all done. It
gets harder by the question. Um, you know a guy
that was impressionable on me for for some reason when
I was younger, when I was in high school watching
him play was Schooney Pan that Ohio State. Yeah, I played.
He played again, you're younger than me in in it
used to be in a U basketball. The two big
(46:39):
tournaments were Vegas and Phoenix, and they're back to back.
He played on a team that's the only team I
know of that one Vegas and Phoenix back to back
to beat us in Vegas in the Yeah. Yeah, another
point guard with him, Eggie McCray. And then they're big guy.
I would say Jackson, like Randall Jackson or something. He
went to Florida State. But yeah, Scoon. Scoon is a
bad boys back into Ohio State now, Um, yeah, just
(47:04):
I think just just just getting back there. He's doing
development coaching last year. Now he's on staff Major League Baseball.
Fair player. Uh, Jeff back, Well, you don't like all
Houston that I could do. I keep doing. Listen. I
didn't have cable going up. You didn't have the local stuff.
My wife didn't. My wife was a young kid. I
mean things of shade since them, but it was all right.
(47:25):
So there's no NHL. Don't fake boxing boxing favorite boxer
all time. I love watching Mike and if p g
A don't have one, just say, Tiger, come on, well,
don't have one. You don't, you don't, you don't have
You didn't have cable? Did you watch fake wrestling as
(47:46):
a kid? Oh, all the time that it was USA
Ultimate Warrior, Ultimate Warrior? We have not an Ultimate Warrior?
Or don't take the snake just because just to see
the snake come out? Um tennis, um tennis. I don't
have one either, but I did start watching a little
more closely when the Volumes sisters hit the same great
(48:08):
stuff Avalance catch ups in person real so I like it. Man,
that's the voice of Lamar heard. You can check them
out on on Comcast sports Net Northwest
This is the best of the Dog got Lee Show
on Fox Sports Radio, Boom Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, hours away from Game one of the
NBA Finals, six hours. In fact, we only have a
three hour show. I could do all six I could
(00:23):
take your phone calls. I think I will take some
of your predictions, what you think is gonna happen, what
you're looking forward to, and maybe most importantly, this conversation
which seems to have popped up, which is, uh if
if if Golden State wins and Cleveland loses, could it
(00:44):
in any way be Lebron James's fault? Will it change
how you look at Lebron James because I feel like
Lebron has already won without playing. They are prohibitive underdogs.
I don't know what the what the difference between a
dog and prohibitive underdog is, but I do know when
you're a bigger underdog than any heading into the NBA
(01:07):
Finals in sixteen years, that would be a prohibitive underdog
by most definitions. And so I've heard this, Hey, Lebron's
got nothing to lose, nothing to lose, cool, and with
all of that equity he is using some of it.
(01:28):
He is spending some of it. He had an interview
with Rachel Nichols, and it's not necessarily what he said
or what he did, but it's what he didn't say
and didn't do. Look, Lebron's gonna get a pass because
we've created this false narrative. Here's the false narrative. The
(01:52):
false narrative was last year the Golden State Warriors were
the greatest team ever and they added Kevin Durant. They
were not the greatest team ever. They won seventy three
regular season games, which was the most wins ever. They
did not win an NBA championship, and they had to
(02:13):
shed a good portion of that roster in order to
acquire Kevin Durant. That's not winning seventy three games and
adding Kevin Durant. That's winning seventy three games, not winning
a championship, reformulating yourselves while adding Kevin Durant. That that's different.
Last year's team didn't win seventy three games and sweep
(02:36):
you know the other way through. Everybody almost did. Lost
two playoff games, won the finals, one in the during
the course of the playoffs. But because of that, Lebron
got a pass last year, Hey, Golden State just better,
are just better? They're just better. And then you take
(02:56):
Kyrie off the team and the first trade doesn't work,
and now it's night and Day better, which which may
well be accurate. My biggest issue with Lebron is not
over his talent, which is Immen's. It's not over his
evolution as a player from a guy who was a
facilitator to one who's become more comfortable being in alpha
(03:20):
at the end of games. My biggest issue is with
all this acclaim comes to zero accountability. The only thing
we hold Lebron response before is the collapse in Dallas, which, oh,
by the way, I don't hold him as response before
as most everybody else does. Remember when they lost a
(03:43):
Dallas six games. Do you know their starting point guard
was first five games Mike Bibbie. You know, I mean
minutes he played in game six zero, never took off
his sweats. You know why he was so bad in
games one through five. I would say, true, Lebron James
failed during that moment. Then Lebron James, especially later on
(04:09):
the series, put too much pressure on himself and did
not come through in the clutch. But if you remember
early on in that series, they they gave up two
different times lay ups to Dirk Navitsky, layups on game
winning baskets, like, look, if you if a guy hits
a game winning three with a hand in his face,
what are you gonna do? But a layup to a
(04:31):
seven footer's not exactly fleet of foot, Come on now,
So I don't hold him as responsible. I thought there
were errors by Eric Spoelstra. I thought their errors by Lebron,
but I thought there were also the fact that Mike
Bibby was washed at that point in his career, and
you can't play four on five, especially from the when
(04:53):
you're going against a Hall of Famer and Jason Kidd
and you have a guy that you can't play in
game six. Additionally, yeah, they dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder
when he finally won a championship, But that was a
Thunder team that frankly shouldn't have been there yet and
was way ahead of its time, way ahead of we
(05:15):
have had of their normal growth chart. And what happens
when you have an upset the next round Oftentimes that
gets exposed. We've seen that this year in the plasts
and then a tournament all the time, and then they
split with the with the San Antonio's first that's the
reality of it. His first loss to the Golden State Warriors.
It wasn't a fair fight. I actually thought that was
(05:38):
his greatest series ever. Lebron James without Kevin Love, without
Kyrie Irving forcing six games, that was incredible and of
course coming down for from three games to one in
year two. Did they get a little help when Draymond
got suspended? Yep? Did Andrew Bogan getting hurt helped, yep.
(06:02):
But he carried the team along with Kyrie Irving two
man offensive punch, which was phenomenal. He had the big block,
Kyrie had the big bucket, and they wanted to get
in Game seven, I think I feel like I'm the
only totally reasonable person out here, including Lebron James, because
(06:24):
we did get new information that he did call the
Calves front office when they decided to make the Kyrie
Irving trade. Take a listen, the ODZ has not been
with us all season, you know, even if you start
back to the summertime, when I felt like it was
just bad for our franchise to be able to just
to trade away our our superstar point guard. Obviously I
(06:46):
wasn't part of the communications and know what exactly went
on between the two sides, but I just felt like
it was just it was bad time and for and
for our team to just get rid of our our
our point guard, you know, and Kyrie Irving. So you know,
I feel like the odds was against us, you know,
from from the summer. Okay, wait, wait, so you called
the front office. You said you didn't want this trade
(07:08):
to happen. You were unaware of the conversations that took
place between Kyrie's camp and the front office. Okay, it's
not what was said there. Nothing he said was wrong.
It was a bad idea and bad timing to trade
away Kyrie Irving, especially at that time in the trade
they got was suboptimal. Why didn't you call Kyrie? Right?
(07:36):
There's there's never any There's never a moment to which Lebron,
who knowingly, will willingly has signed these short term contracts
to put pressure on whoever he's playing for, in this case,
the Cleveland Cavaliers, to continue to work tirelessly to win
and win now because you don't. Tomorrow is never promised,
(07:56):
not just in reality but also in the alternate reality.
Of Lebron James world. I'm not promising you anything. Show
me you want to put a championship team around me.
The problem with that is that even when Kyrie decides
they want out, and he knows they're going to trade Kyrie,
he did not recommit to Cleveland and oh yeah, by
(08:20):
the way, why didn't you call Kyrie? Irvy. It doesn't
mean it would have changed the course of history, but
it would have gone a long way if if if
I heard from Lebron James. I called Kyrie. I wanted
to work it out. I went to his house. We
(08:41):
tried to talk it out and it just couldn't be done.
And they decided to make a trade. And I said, please,
don't make this trade. We can work it out. And
they did it. Anyway, that's different the I don't know
what's going on. They decided to make this trade, and
I called him and said, don't do it. What you
or Lebron James, you are the chosen one, you are
(09:06):
the king. So this idea that it's never it's never
his fault except for Dallas, which I don't think was
that much his fault. It's never his fault that was fault.
(09:27):
This is imagine this. Imagine you've been together a couple
of years with your wife and you guys get separated
and you're gonna get a divorce, and the papers are
gonna get signed, right and you call at the last second,
you call your lawyer and say, you know, I just
(09:47):
don't feel it. I just don't want to sign the papers.
I just don't think we should go through with it.
Do you know who else you should call your wife? Right?
Because and if you say, look, we talked it out
and we decided we're gonna give it one more go.
We're gonna try one more time. And when we've exhausted
(10:08):
all possible situation, with all possible scenarios, we've gone to therapy.
If then you go, like, you know what, it's not
gonna work, split up the stuff, let's move on. Lebron
essentially said, man, I really don't want to get a divorce,
but you're gonna get a divorce, okay, And then six
(10:31):
months later like that wasn't my idea. I don't know
why I signed those papers. I told the lawyer it
wasn't a good time to do it. I didn't want
to do it. I didn't think it put us in
the best situation with the kids at getting ready to
start to school year. It just it would give us
a tough year. It's it's totally fair to blame Kyrie Irving, right,
(10:56):
it's fair to blame Dan Gilbert, but you also have
to blame at least a portion of it on Lebron James.
Even when he talks about his relationship with Dan Gilbert,
take a listen. Our relationship has always been a working
relationship for me personally. I've always tried to do um
(11:16):
you know, since I come back to this franchise, to
try to put this franchise at a level that is
always seen a positive light. When you see the Calvs logo,
I want you to think as a very prestiged and
you know, a great organization. Okay, it's a business relationship.
And of course Lebron James uh loves the credo of
(11:37):
The Godfather. That's his favorite movie. It's not personal, it's
just business. It's not personal. It's just business. It's not personal.
It's strictly business. Right, That's what he lives by. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app Bill Belichick.
(11:58):
Hey's just a regular guy, goes to check fil But
then here are more shots, more shots being taken at
the Patriots and their style of coaching, of winning, of competing.
Brandon Brooks plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Eagles
are doing a lot of talking. They win one Super Bowl.
(12:20):
You know, they survive Atlanta at home, could have lost
Atlanta at home. You know you you get, you get
Minnesota at home. You beat the Patriots who didn't have
Brandon Cooks and sat Malcolm Butler. So to the victor's
go the spoils. But like, look, they had some things
go their favor. Brandon Brooks, who also used to play
(12:42):
in Houston, said, quote, all these guys talking about I'll
take the rings. Okay, you can have your rings. You
can have your effing You're effing fifteen miserable years. That's
from Lane Johnson Lyneman of the Eagles. Brandon Brooks added
in it's not fun there. I was under the same
regime in Houston with O'Brien. I almost retired that s
(13:06):
was miserable every day every day. How much better his
life with the Eagles night and day. Brooks said, happy
workers make more productive workers. When you're not having fun. Man,
uh those grinding those hard, hardass, hard nosed days. Brooks
was cut off by Lane Johnson. All the media wants
to talk about. Lane Johnson said his rings. I'm gonna
(13:27):
put my mind in the box. Get this ring, never
wear it one day. I'm gonna put it away in
a box. The only thing they're gonna remember from your
playing the only thing you're gonna remember from your playing days.
You're gonna remember the scores. You're going to remember the
people you played with and how you felt. That's the truth.
That is not true. Are you gonna remember the people? Yeah,
you can be super close. Those are your brothers in arms,
(13:51):
but you remember the scores. Here's Bill Belichick when asked
about these comments, Kobe mentioned them the toe. You're not
the easiest guy to play for. Is it important too
to come up with ways for players to feel like
they're enjoying themselves as they're putting in the work that
you asked them to put in the Yeah, we feel
(14:11):
it's important us is to win. That's really what we're
trying to do. People's attackle Rayne Johnson of you is
in your methodology, just said, uh yeah, we're really we're
focused on what we're doing, trying to get better and
taking each day we can try to improve our football team.
I really focused on what everybody else is doing. Look,
(14:32):
I this is what Lane Johnson is doing. Just see
your where Lane Johnson's twice been a steroid guy. Lane
John's actually has a really interesting career. Went to Oklahoma
as a quarterback. Quarterback, became an unbelievable alignment, unbelievableligman, super talent.
He has had two p D suspensions. That's noted. I'm
not gonna sit here and tell you that that he's
(14:54):
a He's still a royd guy or whatever he had to.
I believe that what he's doing is calculu He wants
to have a post career career. That's why he's being
outspoken to the media and calling out Bill Belichick. Do
I think it's more fun to play in Philly? Probably?
Do I think you can win and have fun? You
probably can. Here's the thing that the Patriots, it's not
(15:17):
that they've won, it's that they have not had a
bad season. And if if what Lane Johnson was was
saying was, Look, they are all different kinds of ways
to win. You can win their way or you can
win our way. Are always more fun, more enjoyable. I
enjoy working here more. But you shouldn't do, especially when
(15:40):
you had one, you had one championship season one one.
What you probably shouldn't do is call out a team
that since the year two thousand hasn't had a bad year.
It is nothing short of remarkable. It doesn't mean that
(16:01):
the Patriots it's the only way to win. It doesn't
mean that you have to. First of all, we don't
know if they don't have fun. We're hearing somebody from
Lane Johnson, who has never played for the New England
Patriots tell us how it's not fun to play for
the Newingland Patriots. But you've you've been to one super
Bowl in the last fifteen years, all right, they've been
(16:25):
to eight two since two thousand, they've been to eight.
They've never had a bad year. And Brandon Brooks don't
tell me Houston is like New England, Like oh, Bill
O'Brien is, I don't know. It was miserable because you
(16:46):
guys didn't have a quarterback. It was miserable because hack
your middle linebacker keeps being tested testing positive for p
E d S and oh yeah, by the way, J J. Watt,
who was a superhero, keeps getting hurt like those things
are miserable. Just because you were miserable playing for Bill
O'Brien doesn't mean you've been a miserable playing in New England.
(17:08):
And even if you were, The New England Patriots have
been in the playoffs every year except one since two
thousand and one, and that was two thousand two. I mean,
it's crazy how consistently successful they've been. So look, I
(17:34):
got the Lane Johnson thing. He's smart, he's funny, uh
you know, he's good with equip and he's he's he's
picking out the big bully that everybody thinks is the
big bully and he's puffing out his chest because they
just beat him on a championship. But hey, dude, you
have more steroid suspensions than you have Super Bowl appearances.
(17:57):
Until that ratio changes a bit, I would I would
change the statement of hey, the only thing people are
gonna remember, or hey, the this is this is more
fun and more productive. The better way to say it
is do you win their way, which doesn't seem like
(18:20):
a lot of fun. Are you going our way? And
we're trying to disprove the theory that you have to
be miserable to win. 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. R J Bell is the founder
pregame dot com, the official odds provider for the Associated Pressed.
He's also a host here on Friday nights and Saturday nights.
(18:42):
It's a show called Straight out of Vegas. R J.
We're gonna get to the Vegas lines in a second.
Here's the need from UK. You grew up in Pittsburgh,
so I'm sure most of these have a Pittsburgh slant.
I'm sure you've seen this on social media. Favorite NBA
player all time, my favorite. I'm gonna go with Larry
Bird cood Um. Favorite NFL player all time. Oh, that's
(19:03):
intrist Steeler fans. So it's gonna have to be either,
let me think out loud, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Green, or
Mel Blint. I'm going with Mel Blunt. Good. Uh college
college basketball, college basketball, best player of all time? Favorite? Wow,
that's intristing. I don't even know I was Jerome Lane
(19:23):
from pitt There you go, send it in Jerome favorite
college football player of all time. You go in Tony Dorset.
You know I wasn't a pit I'm in Ohio State grad.
So I'm gonna go with Archie Griffin. Archie Griffin, two
time Highsman Trophy Award winner, Major League Baseball favorite all time. Oh,
that one's easy. Dave the Cobra Parker. We are family.
(19:44):
Remember those hats they had, the sideways pinstripes or whatever. Yes,
I remember his arm from right is what I remember. Okay, NHL,
I object on ethical grounds. What you mean? I don't
I hate hockey. I don't like hockey either. But who's
your favorite? Oh? I'll go with Lemieux. Okay, Mario Lemieux boxing,
(20:05):
oh Ali p Ga Nicholas the Ohio State University tennis,
oh absolutely Vegas. His own Andre Aggis Love Andrea plus
his book. Have you ever read opened his book? It's
I have I have accept the Matthews I don't love,
but okay, I don't like the honesty. But theon I mean,
the the utter in sheer honesty and the pain, agony
(20:26):
and all the different stuff is his dad's putting in
front of that that ball machine when he's like three
years old wrestling pro wrestling. Oh Rick Flair. Okay, now
let's get to um. I have I have read where
I Know Chicken too, Doc, you do know chicken? Oh Lord,
guss is Chicken in Memphis. Gus is Chicken in Memphis
(20:49):
is amazing, man. It's also I spoke a south By
Southwest a few years ago. Uh stumbled on Gusses down
in Austin. And my wife checks the credit card every
day right the business car RD. She calls me up
after three days. This is a true story and says,
she says, hey, someone must got your card. We're getting
the same charge again and again from this place called Gossis.
(21:10):
I'm like, I'm eating there every day. Yeah, that's like
coach on Butcher in New Orleans. Every time in New Orleans,
I got a coach on Butcher like breakfast, lunch, lunch,
and dinner. My wife said. The said the exact same
thing I've read where the Warriors are the biggest favorite
in sixteen years the NBA Finals? Is that right? Yes?
Since Lakers in two thousand one over sixers and over
(21:31):
the sixers okay. Uh, it strikes me as weird that
the Spurs weren't bigger favorites when they took on Lebron
in two thousand seven. No, you know it's they were
big favorites, but not this big. And I think which
is is fascinating And if you're a Calves fan, it
really tells you the hill you have to climb here.
So right now, Gold State minus Cleveland plus eight Hunters,
(21:56):
So a dollar wins you eight dollars if you like
the Calves to spring the opposite. If we go back
to two thousand eight, there's been twenty five NBA playoff
series with a favorite or an under dog bigger than
plus seven fifty. So obviously Cleveland eight to one is
bigger than plus seven fifty those twenty five teams. Oh,
(22:17):
in twenty five during the last eleven years, the line.
Did the line change at all? When Kevin Love was
was ruled to be playing, No, Because the anytime there's
a line out in which there's uncertainty, they have an
opinion built into it, and the odds were in the
Vegas opinion about he would play, Thus him playing uh
(22:38):
Matt expectations, So no change, okay, So let's start with
tonight twelve and a half point line. When I checked
before the show, that's that where we are now, Yes,
and what's the over under? Okay, so uh it means
and remember this is a this is a team in
Golden State that did not allow Houston score over a
hundred points um in in that series, which is kind
of remarkable considering the pace by which what's your assumption
(23:00):
of how the pace will be. I think if you're
the Calves, you're gonna try to slow this game down,
in every game down for one main reason beyond the
fact Going State plays best fast, but the fact that
Lebron's uh physicality, his his his energy. I guess it's
the best way to say it. Can't play seven games
(23:23):
where he's playing a bunch of minutes if it's a
fast paced or can't play a whole series. I mean,
the only chance to cass have is Lebron just has
Monster game after Monster game, and if he's doing that
at a fast pace, I think there's a big problem.
Give me, give me a prop that you like, the
prop that that jumps out to you that you like.
I'm gonna go under Lebron's points in game one, and
(23:46):
you can get that all the way up to thirty
four points. I think this is a situation where he's
only gonna be able to have a handful of monster games.
And I just don't see game one as a game
that Lebron puts up a man stir. Now, if Golden
State wins and wins easily, especially game one, I'd be
looking at the Calves not only Lebron having a monster
(24:09):
and game too, but potentially the Calves winning the game
out right. There will still be a huge underdog in
game two. But I think that's the kind of game
gold State might get a little flat, because even in
the finals, we've seen gold State and the playoffs where
if they feel a little fat and happy, they tend
to lay an egg. I think Game four was an
(24:29):
example that against Houston. No, there's they have. They haven't
won four games in Rosin's February right, They've had an
inability And I believe playing without Iguodala is a bigger
thing than others and people at all eight points a game,
you don't understand not just how important he is, but
also how big a drop off there is with their
personnel once when he comes out that means Jordan Bells
(24:50):
playing more means Cavon Loney's playing more. That means playing
Cook play more, and those guys that those guys will
struggle in this series. On the other hand, you know,
Cleveland not very good defensively, even if they have helped
off of Draymond Green, off of Jordan's Bell. So I
struggle with how Cleveland's gonna stop Golden State, Oh, no doubt.
And again we've got a huge favorite because of that.
Check out this Doug twelve and a half point favorite.
(25:12):
As you mentioned gold State in Game one. Gold States
play fifty home games this season, thirty eight times they've
been less of a favorite than they are in this game.
Only twelve times have they been this big of a favorite.
And it's against the lebron and the Calves in the finals.
So you might say, wow, it's Cleveland really in the
(25:34):
bottom third of the league. I mean, if you think
about it with the idea, or even the bottom fourth
out of fifty games, only twelve times. No, the analogy,
and we talked about this during the NFL playoffs. When
you have a big double digit favor in the NFL
or in the NBA, the big question is how hard
is that favor gonna play? And often times they're gonna
(25:55):
be flat in those big favorite spots, they're likely not
flat there talk don't say. Sometimes is in the playoffs,
so the in the NFL, those big favorites tend to
cover more because there's not an uncertainty about their effort.
So I think it is noteworthy to think this line
isn't just big, it's like huge. I think it's I
(26:17):
think it's way way way too big, way way too
big for for that, especially considering they're coming off of
Game seven in which they had to extend to expend
a ton of energy and UH and and frankly play
more minutes than I think even they're comfortable. UH. A
couple of things I wanted to get to with r J. Bell,
who's founder of pregame dot com. You can hear a
(26:38):
show straight out of Vegas, which of course plays UH
plays every Friday and Saturday night right here on Fox
Sports Radio. Did the line the futures bet on Lebron's
home next year change after that? Rachel Nichols interview the
UH and you're talking after game seven, Yeah, well like
(26:58):
for for next season? Right? Yeah? But you're saying after
the interview after game seven, yes, yes, and and there
was a couple of moves off of that Game seven
number one, the Calves odds got worse. They were the
clear favorite at plus one ten, which means just about
fifty fifty. He was going back a little bit less.
(27:18):
It went up to plus one seventy five, so away
from the Calves. You would think winning to make it
to the finals would help the Calves. But no, Now,
what else happened was the Rockets got much much better
after their Game seven loss. They were six to one.
Now they're plus two fifty, so two and a half
to one. The theory being if a team is has
(27:42):
a disappointment, they have a better chance to do something
fairly drastic. Last thing I find interesting in the second
UH team tied for the favorite right now with the
Calves the seventies sixers plus one seventy with the Calves
to plus one seventy five. But you might say, what
about all the drama went about the arange after the
burner phones. I tell you this, it got it got
(28:03):
a little worse, from plus one fifty to plus one
seventy five. I think it might improve the chances because
what do we know about Lebron? He loves control of
the front office. Imagine if the Sixers said, listen, we're
gonna clean house because of all this, you can put
your guy in there. Doesn't that increase the chance of
Lebron going to Filly. That's exactly what I thought when
(28:23):
when we were talking earlier, was Zach Harper from fan
Rag Sports about how he likes control, and that was
the exact thing that that popped into my head. Apparently, Uh,
you you you are thinking, you're thinking like Vegas now, Doug.
I mean, that's a cop poin. Well, I'm also just
thinking logically he wants That's why I've never believed he
would ever consider san Antonio. San Antonio can't bring your
boys with you on your plane. You have no control
(28:45):
and you know like you're you're not gonna, You're gonna.
The first thing they say is you need to check
your ego at the door, right, And that's just not
something Lebron. James is going to do. The really dug
and real quick, if you don't mind, I think the
biggest indictment you could of Lebron this year because on
the court it's hard to give any real indictment is
that this is his team and the fact he has
(29:08):
all of these inferior players, at least at the championship
level on the team with them is really his doing.
So maybe letting go of that a little bit and
with the Spurs could be a type of redemption for him.
But there is no there is no admittance of fault
outside of look here's what. Here's here. I started the
show saying, is R J. Bell, jois Doug Gatlip show,
(29:28):
Fox Sports Radio. Everybody blames Dallas on him. I don't
think it was all on him, but I do think
that since then he has been absolved of all blame,
and I don't think that's fair. That's fair either. Last thing, Uh,
m v P, H give me the what are the
futures on m v P for this oh, for the
for the playoffs, for the for the finals. You've got
(29:48):
a situation and this is fascinating where Lebron's odds to
win the m v P are better than the calves
of odds to win the title. So we talked about
cas are to one or so to win this title,
win this series. Lebron's in the six to one range,
So the market is saying clearly there's a less than
(30:09):
zero chance, there's a material chance Calves lose the series,
Lebron wins the m v P. Uh. Really it's Durant
and Curry and all the usual suspects are favored. But
that is the first time I've seen a real major
difference between eight to one to six to one saying
guy might lose and still win it. Uh. One, last,
(30:29):
we're Straymond on that just because if you remember when
Iguadala won it, it was because of his defense and
he made shots, but he was left wide open. They're
gonna leave Draymond Green wide open and he might hit
some What what's what's Draymond's odds on m v P.
You know I didn't go that deep. He's not amongst
the favorites. I can send Ryan an email right after
if you want it, but I can get that right
to you, all right, no problem, Sorry about putting you
(30:50):
on the spot on Hey, I love it because I'm
usually gonna have hundred. I'm gonna have it, and then
the one time I don't, they're gonna say, boy, r
J's honest to r J Bell joining us last thing,
give me if you were betting tonight. What would you
be betting if I were betting tonight. I I can't
play gold State in any spot because I think this
is inflated. But I don't want to bet the Calves
(31:13):
on the spread because I do think if they are competitive,
they have a chance to win these games. So I
would actually force the bat take about eight to one
on the Calves winning Game one. Great stuff r J
Bell pregame dot Com, follow them on Twitter, or listen
to the show Straight at Vegas, which is Friday and
Saturday night right here on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks so
much for joining us. Thank you, Duck pleasure is always
(31:35):
our Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug
gott Leaps Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Let's get the thoughts of Lamar Heard, who's a talented
NBA analyst covers the Portland Trailblazers for a living fall
on Twitter at l underscore Heard, that's h you are
d no relation to college. There's just no no relation
(31:56):
to college. Lamar. First, on first glance, What do you think?
What do you think of the series. I think the
series Doug is gonna be what the Warriors wanted to be.
And what I mean by that, and that's assuming health.
If they remained healthy throughout the series. Um, with the
exception of the Igadala, when Golden State is locked in
(32:18):
and they're not, they're not being flimsy with the ball. Uh,
they're not being careless with some of the passes, with
the shot selection. Uh, they can be unbeatable. And when
four games in a row. But if it's the Golden
State that we're custom the scene from time to time,
that's a little close. And Lebron continues on the trend
of playing a superhuman brand of basketball he's been playing
(32:39):
and and and here's what is the main thing that
I'm going to be looking for from Cleveland is all
the switches. Ken Tristan Thompson guard, Ken Kevin Love guard
Because when goad Win Golden State lost to Cleveland a
couple of years ago, one of the big factors that,
as you know, is all the switches. They did a
good job containing uh Steph Curry not KD wasn't with
(32:59):
the team, We know that, but they did a get
out the same stuff and so much so that a
lot of people said, well, Steph wasn't healthy in the series,
and you know, so then they look at last step
was able to be staff as we go at the
MPP level stuff, and so you think that, okay, if
they can play like that, then it might be a sweep.
So I'm gonna be looking to see how does Cleveland
defend on the switches right away? And it really just
(33:21):
how locked in Golden State is, because I think Golden
State is locked in. It's a four or five game series. Um,
there is something that helps Cleveland on those switches is
that right now, you don't have to guard Draymond Green
and you don't have to guard whoever else they're throwing
out there, you know, with exception maybe of Swaggy, and
Swaggy is so there's so many other things he doesn't
(33:42):
do that they don't trust him out there. I mean,
there's sow as much as like we want to point out, hey,
George Hill can't guard anybody, like, yeah, you can't. But
if you just follow out around Clay and then you
know they put j R. On staff, like, it doesn't
mean they can guard him. There's help everywhere, and so
it becomes there becomes a lot less space on the floor. Yeah, no,
without a doubt. And I think we saw with the
(34:04):
way Houston started to blame a little bit with their
switches and the guys that they were helping off of.
I still think they could have helped off of guys
a little bit more. Um, but yeah, no, there there there,
There is still a chance there. And so when I
say the Warriors in four or five, I'm not saying
it's gonna be all blowout. I'm you know the deal a.
You gotta do the them by one. And so I
(34:25):
think even with helping off of nonsootors and uh guys
to Cleveland playing out of their minds as they have to,
I still, honestly, I just think if go to Thtats
locked in, it's not gonna be good enough to beat
them by one point. I just I just those guys,
you know, just watching them all throughout the season, Uh,
when they want to make up, you know that stuff.
(34:47):
Coaches always trying to teach players, all right, don't try
to relax and then turn it on and then flip
the switch later on in the game. You can't just
slip the switch. Will go to stake can flip the
switch when when they want to and they're there. They
can flip the switch. Now it looks like they're and
times where it's gonna come back to buy them. We
thought maybe that would happen in here series. Um they didn't.
And I just I think maybe they see the bullet
(35:08):
they does and go come out with a different level
of focus. Look I I I look at at at Cleveland.
I'm like, man, they put a bunch of shooters around
Lebron and they're they're gonna be able to score against
Golden States some because you're gonna help. But if you help,
he'll find your guy. If you don't, he's gonna score
a bunch, especially at Agodala. And on the other hand,
(35:29):
I also realized that they played the Celtics, who don't
have nearly the number the volume of shooters, and they
just they give up wide open shots. Right. They're just
at times Cleveland is so bad defensively, and this is
a team that makes you if you're gonna make a mistake,
they're gonna make you pay. And that's the thing for me,
Like Cleveland all throughout the year. You know, good offensive team,
(35:51):
one of the top five teams offensively, one of the
worst five teams, defensively and just the types of looks
that they constantly give you throughout a game. Him, you
just nobody can be Golden State giving up those kind
of looks. So that's so that's what I'm saying. One
of the main factors for me is gonna be on
the defensive end with them is on the switchers, how
they contain and then what they do off of the
(36:12):
ball with the switching. Are they locked in? Are they
switching and making contact right away not letting step and
um k D and and Clay shake ferea for some
of those shots, Like if if they are super attentive, um,
then I do think that they have a shot at
making this thing interesting. But the thing is they got
to be that for the possessions throughout the game. And
(36:34):
I just don't know. Based on what I've seen defensively
from Cleveland against a really good offensive teams throughout the season,
I just don't think he'll be announce Lamar heard joining
us a talented analyst for or was it Comcast Sports
Net Northwest. A lot covers the Portland Trailblazers for living.
You may have seen him used to do games for
Fox Paxtel Network ESPN as well covers The Trailblazer for
(36:55):
Living joins us in the Doug Gotlips Show on Fox
Sports Radio. I wanted your take on what Lebron said
to Rachel Nichols. He he said that, um, he didn't
like the trade and that he called management to tell
him that he didn't like the trade. The odds has
not been with us all season, you know, even if
(37:16):
you start back to the summertime, when I felt like
it was just bad for our franchise to be able
to just to trade away our our superstar point guard.
Obviously I wasn't part of the communications and know what
exactly went on between the two sides, but I just
felt like it was just it was bad time and
for for our team to just get rid of our
our our point guard, you know, and Kyrie Irving. So
you know, I feel like the odds was against us,
(37:36):
you know, from from the summer. It's interesting he says
like he calls Kyrie superstar, which I agree he is.
He's his our point guard. And he says like, look,
I don't, But then he acts like why I was
in privy to those conversations, Why wasn't he It's it's
difficult to believe that in any organization that Lebron James
(37:57):
is the part of does not bring came in on
certain conversation smello. He's not the owner of the team technically,
but he kind of is, and he's the guy. He
he runs the franchise. He has made the franchise revalentce
uh so relevant and so I I don't know if
Lebron maybe isn't letting us all the way behind the
curtain here. Um. One thing I will say is this,
(38:20):
And I had this conversation a lot of times since
Cleveland did win that championship. Um, you know, I know
a lot of people. Uh. The overwhelming sentiment with people
that I talked to it at the time was that,
you know, Lebron carried that team, put him on his back,
brought him back from the three one deficit, and and
I would always just kind of bank up to people, Hey,
I don't know if you were watching or not in
(38:40):
Game three when things started to shift. Uh, Lebron wasn't
the one who broke the seal. Lebron wasn't the one
that started off in that game and was able to
shake a pre get some shots offen the defense a
little bit, take away some of the help on the
weak side and and just really open up the court.
You know, that was Kyrie. Um, I'm one that felt
(39:02):
like after the end of that series, it's just been
co uh finals MVPs. I thought Kyrie was that good.
And UM, you know, I watched body language a lot
during games, and I remember laughing when those two guys
played together, Like you kind of watch some of the
conversations and and it's tense on the championship type team,
the types of things they go through, the types of
(39:23):
hard conversations you have to have. Um, But just in
watching the interaction in just the two games that the
Trail Blazers played against him, he just didn't get that
sense that Lebron was a guy that that truly felt
that Kyrie was the superstar that I think Kyrie is.
(39:43):
And that's not to say that Lebron doesn't indeed feel
that way. It just it just didn't up here that
way observing those two guys. So, UM, it was a
little strange. Um, hearing him say what he said is
surprising that he wanted to be involved in that kind
of decision. But of course, as you know, that's gonna
lead to more talking speculation as to what he's going
(40:03):
to do in free agency, because if he's not in
that that type of conversation, UM, I really don't know
how the guy feels comfortable there because I know the
star I cover in Damian Lillard. Um, he's privy to
a whole lot of information. And if somebody of a
Kyrie caliber um is going to get traded, um, Damian
will most likely know about guys. Yeah. My other issue
(40:26):
is why not just pick up the phone if you
hear Kyrie's got an issue with you, pick up the
phone and column. Yeah, I mean, you know what, that's
what That's what I'm talking about. You know, like if
if if you really feel like a guy is a
superstar and and there's something up, you know you're gonna
do that. You're going to ask like what's the deal?
And just like I referenced the guy covering Damian Lillard,
(40:47):
we had a situation like that with the Blazers early
in the season where Mo Hartle was who's the starting
small forward, wasn't very happy with how he was being
utilizing games, and he made a comment post game after
game in Philadelphia and we went on bus from Philadelphia
to New York that night. And once you got into
the hostel of that night at like two am or
(41:08):
whatever time it was, Damian Little it went to mot
Heartless his room to go and talk to him and say,
I heard about the comments you made. I want to
know how we can address it and make it better.
And really it was at that point that the season
started to turn around for the guys. And so if
you really feel a certain way about a guy, you
would do exactly what you just said. You pick up
the phone or you're gonna meet him. Man a man,
(41:28):
you have to talk. But uh, you address it and
you deal with it. By the way. Um, in those
last three wins, in the last three wins of the series,
the NBA Finals that you were talking about, Um, he
was a plus t, Kyrie was a plus twenty, a
plus twenty five, and a plus ten. He had forty
one three and of course had had twenty six and
(41:49):
hit the game winning shot in in Game seven. So
it's and I love the fact that you bought up
the numbers because the numbers is validate what what was
being displayed. And and the main thing for me, like
I said, is not even just the number his numbers
were great, but it was the fact that he's the
one that broke the seal. He's the one that was
(42:11):
able to score the ball one on one. They were
guarding Lebron one on one for a lot of that series.
In Game three, they weren't filling the need to send
a lot of the extra health because they they had
him contained. But Kyrie is the one who opened it up.
So I just I just never really felt like Kyrie
ever got the credit that that he truly deserved. I
agree with you, Lamar heard joining us in the Dug
(42:31):
Outlets show on Fox Sports Radio. Knowing as much control
as he wants. Where can he get that? Oh man, Well,
there are a lot of teams that would give him
that control. Now, the question is is that a good team?
Is that the team is gonna compete for a championship.
That's that's really the questioning. Um, you know, I I
(42:52):
don't know. I won't claim to know what the inner
workings of a lot of fun offices. Um. My assumption though,
would be that most places where there's no prior beef
as there is with Lebron where he is now, I think, uh,
they will find a way to work with him. Now.
Of course in Miami might be a little different because
pat Roley wants a different ship out there and San
(43:15):
Antonio won't work. I don't. I don't think the Lakers
would work. Um. That's the one thing I think holding
him back to why don't think the Lakers are working? Look,
do I think that that Magic would say all the
right things? Yeah? I think Rob Polinka would say all
the right things. I think you have. I think the
Alonzo thing and the LaVar thing, I don't think that's
(43:37):
something that he He probably loves. I think he thinks
he doesn't doesn't care. He worked through it. But I
also think that Magic and Rob Blinka thought the exact
same thing, and it it can be annoying. Um. But
I also I think they wanted Fitzdale to be the
coach there. You know, that was that was floated as
you know in NBA circles when the Lakers weren't playing well.
(43:57):
And now Fizdale is the coach in in in New
York and so, uh, you know, does he like Luke?
Does does he like that style? A young a coach?
That's I think Luke's younger than he is or about
the same age as he is. I don't don't know.
I don't know how that works. But I don't know,
Like he's not gonna have more control than Magic and Polinka.
I don't see that happening. I don't know, man, I
(44:21):
mean things are a little different with Lebron Luke five
years old, bad yeah, yeah, Luke Lucas, Oh yeah, Luke
finished up at Airs on a brown still in high school.
UM yeah, I don't know, man, It's gonna be something
to watch. It's going to be a circus over the
next couple of weeks. If you were, if you were
a betting man, where'd you bet he plays next year?
Cleveland kind of think so too. I think Cleveland. I
(44:44):
think UM and I don't know how it all works out.
I don't know if he goes and have a certain
beauty but Dan Gilbert and UM, I don't even know
if that is what takes place. I just think with him,
UM is family foundation, what he does there in the area,
what he means to the area. I think he really
grasped all of that. UM. I think he understands the significance.
(45:07):
I think part of him UM has kind of, I
don't know, slowed down as the right word, but the
whole pursuit of of Jordan's and being the best. I
think he's kind of gotten to a point just just
based on the way he talks, what he says, and uh,
I feel like he just kind of knows it like
it is what it is. I'm not going to be
able to convince everybody or maybe even the largest population that, um,
(45:31):
I was better than Mike and and so I think
he's looking at just the whole big picture of what
he wants his legacy to be as to who he is.
Because le Bon has always been a phenomenal guy off
the court in terms of the things that he does
and the care that he has for people. So I
just think he's gonna stay home. Great stuff. Lamar. By
the way, I need to get your list here. All
time favorite NBA player, Uh, Penny Hardaway NFL. UM. You
(45:56):
know I I just by default because I'm not a
huge NFL guy, Warren Moon because I grew up in
youth in Texas college football, so they do I have
to go. Am I allowed to go college football and
want to you can go college football? Um? And I
want to say, if the favorite guy is maybe the
most exciting for me, to watch Reggie Buss. I was
that Organ State when Reggie Busses at USC and I
haven't seen anything like the guy college basketball. Your favorite
(46:16):
college basketball player. Man, that's so really all done. It
gets harder by the question. Um, you know a guy
that was impressionable on me for for some reason when
I was younger, when I was in high school watching
him play was Schooney Pan that Ohio State. Yeah, I played.
He played again, you're younger than me in in it
used to be in a U basketball. The two big
(46:39):
tournaments were Vegas and Phoenix, and they're back to back.
He played on a team that's the only team I
know of that one Vegas and Phoenix back to back
to beat us in Vegas in the Yeah. Yeah, another
point guard with him, Eggie McCray. And then they're big guy.
I would say Jackson, like Randall Jackson or something. He
went to Florida State. But yeah, Scoon. Scoon is a
bad boys back into Ohio State now, Um, yeah, just
(47:04):
I think just just just getting back there. He's doing
development coaching last year. Now he's on staff Major League Baseball.
Fair player. Uh, Jeff back, Well, you don't like all
Houston that I could do. I keep doing. Listen. I
didn't have cable going up. You didn't have the local stuff.
My wife didn't. My wife was a young kid. I
mean things of shade since them, but it was all right.
(47:25):
So there's no NHL. Don't fake boxing boxing favorite boxer
all time. I love watching Mike and if p g
A don't have one, just say, Tiger, come on, well,
don't have one. You don't, you don't, you don't have
You didn't have cable? Did you watch fake wrestling as
(47:46):
a kid? Oh, all the time that it was USA
Ultimate Warrior, Ultimate Warrior? We have not an Ultimate Warrior?
Or don't take the snake just because just to see
the snake come out? Um tennis, um tennis. I don't
have one either, but I did start watching a little
more closely when the Volumes sisters hit the same great
(48:08):
stuff Avalance catch ups in person real so I like it. Man,
that's the voice of Lamar heard. You can check them
out on on Comcast sports Net Northwest
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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