June 11, 2018 • 57 mins
Doug gives his final thoughts on the NBA Finals after the Cavaliers were swept by the Warriors and wonders why LeBron decided to wear a cast after game 4. He also tells you why he wouldn't be surprised if Kevin Durant retired from basketball when he's 35. Plus, NBA Champion Caron Butler joins the show in studio to discuss the Warriors winning their 3rd NBA title in 4 years and where LeBron will play next season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Dug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox
Sports Radio. I hope you had a great weekend. Most
of your sports fans had the weekend off, right, Like, ah,
we get off. That's because Friday night, the NBA season
(00:23):
came to a not so thrilling end as the Golden
State Warriors, for the second straight year, for the third
time in four years, called themselves champions. We do a
lot of stupid things in my business. One is some
trying to diminish that they won back to back championships
with three of the last four. This is not a dunity.
(00:45):
Oh I really, I almost um I almost sometimes struggle
to turn on the TV because we so badly want
to discover topics to talk about. We just make things up.
It's like the well stuff hasn't won an m v
P Finals m v P, so does that somehow diminished
(01:06):
from his career? No, not even a little bit, but whatever,
That's who we are, right. You got a dictionary dot com.
You try and look up um uh, you try and
look up the original the meaning of dynasty and under
(01:28):
meaning of dynasty you have a rule of you know,
a sequence of rulers from such families, stock or group,
right the rule of such a sequence. The Golden State
Warriors have won three out of four tiles. They've played
in four straight NBA finals, so by definition they have
(01:51):
ruled the NBA correct. So by definition it's a dynasty.
You don't have to like the way they came upon
or happy in upon this dynasy. And by the way,
many of you who texted me or tweeted me or whatever,
you're welcome for that incredible analogy with pretty Woman on
how the Warriors saved Kevin Durant, but Kevin Durant rescued
(02:11):
them right back. But by definition this is in fact
a dynasty. Then we have Lebron James, who a mailed
in game game four. Don't get me wrong, I'm mailed
in game four. Okay, I'm just as guilty as Lebron is.
(02:32):
I agreed to going out to dinner with my wife
and a couple of our friends, and I also agreed
to not have a say in where we're going. Now. Um,
there is a present day version of She's a Keeper.
You guys, remember that She's a Keeper discussion last week Okay,
he comes from Bronx tail Starr Bronx tail. You know
she's a keeper. You open the door, chivalry not dead.
(02:54):
Open the door. She gets in, you lock your door.
You go around the back of the car to see
if she unlocks the door for you. If she unlocks
the door for you, she's a keeper. This happened in
Great Britain with the Royal wedding? Was that two weekends ago?
Three weekends? I was so early in the morning, I
didn't watch it, but I did see it. Anyway, that's
(03:14):
a she's a keeper. There's a new, maybe married version
if she's a keeper. And that's if there's such a
sporting event like the NBA Finals and she sets up
dinner plans. Did she call ahead and say, hey, their
TV there right? Additionally, and this is a big one,
(03:36):
this is this is the kicker. This is the ultimate
she's at keeper. Going back to it's not just unlocking
the door. If she pushes open the door for you,
and actually then you're like, oh, we're talking unicorn status here.
The better part for women in two thousand eighteen or
maybe married, she's a keeper and not married? Even better
(03:58):
is nowly does she sell to a restaurant, at least
partially based upon whether or not there's television sets. But
then she says, oh wait, let's switch chairs so that
you can see the TV. Right. I mean, that's a
woman forget out of hips, thighs, lips. That's a woman anyway.
(04:23):
Welcome in the Doug Otlie Show, Fox Sports Radio. I
mailed it in, but thanks to the power of of
of cell phones, we watched it on YouTube TV live
and we actually had kind of dueling TVs going at
It was pretty awesome that Puppy was over seemingly at
jump ball, which is what we told you, and by
(04:43):
my estimation based upon points spread and general theme of game,
I nailed all four games. I told you I thought
Golden State could lose Game one, but they would win
in a squeaker. They did. I didn't know that j R.
Smith would have a brain brain flagelens or that they
hold on to only win by ten when the spread
was twelve. Told you what I thought would happen in
game two. Told you Game three was gonna be one
(05:05):
last push uh from the Calves, And while all the
guys took the Calves, I took the Warriors and then
we thought Game four was a blowout, losing in four games.
If you're Lebron James was defensible, defensible. Look you at
fifty one in game one. Fifty one points as magnificent
(05:29):
an offensive effort as you're gonna find. I can't even
the most ardent Lebron hater could support Lebron James when
he was cold as ice to j R. Smith after regulation,
right like, well, you know, his coach didn't call a
time out, his teammate mr free throw, his other teammate
(05:49):
didn't know time and score, and nobody else thought to
call a time out, and so you know what, I'm
not gonna get onto Lebron for that. We're good. Game two,
Braun wasn't great. It wasn't great, But because so much
emotion and energy was expent in game one, that too
(06:10):
is understandable, all right, totally understandable. Um. Game three he
was good. He was good. You know. Game three he
ends up with thirty three points, eleven assists, ten rebounds,
And no, he didn't guard Kevin Durant down the stretch.
(06:32):
But I even I would make the argument, A he's
trying to save as much energy as he can. Okay,
I'll give him a relative pass. Game four, that bad
boy was over right, the thing was over. We all
knew it was over. Lebron was trying to be gracious,
trying to make a proper exit, trying to just let
(06:53):
his guys play. He was kind of done. It was one, two, three, cancoon,
What are you gonna What are you gonna do? Lay
your guts out there all over the floor, try and
go for sixty. Be a pig. I'd like to think, yeah,
but I think he was just done. We were all done.
That's why they had those interviews, to which he's got
really really a lot of perspective started. You know, we
(07:17):
started talking about That's why I started leaking as to
what teams he would look at. I guess the reason
all those things happened before Game four, because we knew
as Puppy was over, I gave him a pass for
all of that. Then he shows up in the postgame
press conference the end of the NBA Finals one, to
(07:40):
which at least he was in the conversation of being
the Finals m v P even if he didn't win it.
After his team got swept and he had a soft
cast on his right shooting hand because he to quote
his own words, basically, played the last three games with
a broken hand. What happened? Self inflicted poles game after
game on very emotional for a lot of different reasons.
(08:03):
Understanding how important a game one is on the road
for our ball club. What was that done for us?
The way we played, the cause that was made throughout
the course of that game. And I had emotions on
you know, the game was taken away from us. I
had emotions of you just don't get an opportunity like
this on the road, verse Golden State to be able
to get a game one, you know, let the emotions
(08:23):
get the best of me. And pretty much played the
last three games with a broken hand. So that's what
That's what it is. Okay. So I broke his hand,
which makes the thirty three he had in game three
more impressive. He didn't play terribly well in game four
twenty three eight assists, six turnovers seven of thirteen, didn't
shoot jump shots. Now of a sudden, the hand is
(08:44):
a problem. All the other stuff is defensible, and it's
understandable to want it to be explained that he had
a broken hand. And I know that he sits there
and wants to wants to go like, hey, look, we
game one on set the tone for this series, and
he wanted to say, I screwed up by punching the blackboard.
(09:06):
I pulled a nucleue luche. You guys have seen Bull
Durham right, punch with don't punch with your pitching hand meat.
But what are you doing? You hadn't been seen in
public wearing a soft cast since game one? Why is
now the moment to wear a soft cast? Why? Why
(09:31):
would you do that? Now? I'm gonna hypothesize this is
not a fact. I'm a hypothesize that. Look, Lebron is
one of these he he doesn't even look like a human, right,
humans aren't that big? Aren't that talented? Aren't that smart?
Aren't that fluid? Despite that size? Like he's he's almost
(09:51):
the perfect creation of every little part. But because of it,
there's a lack of I don't know if I want
to say common sense or just you just like, do
you not have any friends? Do you not have somebody
who says, hey, dude, what are you doing well? The
doctor told me to put on this brace. You couldn't
(10:12):
wait ten minutes. All you have to do is go
out there, answer the questions about the team and as
he was respectful by Kevin durand about the Warriors, give
us his take on what happened with the finals. He
cannot answer the questions about what he's gonna do next,
and give us a little bit of perspective on where
he's staying. And then when he gets out the podium,
(10:32):
if it gets leaked out there through Windhorse to wherever
their sources. Hey, you know Lebron had a broken hand
when game four, no game two, three and four no way,
no way, Then the photos of the swollen hand would
get leaked out the into like you know what, he
did have a broken hand, we're talking hero deity status instead.
(10:54):
Now we're talking about dB status. Really. Oh, by the way,
I broke my hand, but my bad I punched the
blackboard because they made bad calls against us, and my
teammates sucked and my coach didn't call it time out.
That's what it feels like once I heard he bro Yeah,
(11:15):
basically has to play with a broken hand, and only
now are you breaking out the brace when you obviously
didn't need it. He had a chance to win even
though he lost every game, checks out, he subs out
and Hey, why is lebron dapping everybody with his left hand?
(11:36):
Huh huh, We got all these internets lose. They would
have figured it out, somebody would have linked it, and
he would his status would have risen. Instead, You're like, really,
oh yeah, by the way, I broken hand. Really, I'm
(11:58):
not denying that he had broken hand. I'm not denying
that considering he had a broken hand, he's even probably
better than we could have thought possible. I know, there's
hundreds of bones in your hands and feet, and you
can break one and it doesn't affect you. But he's
an incredible athlete. Every little ounce of pain or every
little ounce of energy and preparation that's put forth towards
your hand instead of towards some other part of your
(12:20):
body that can screw you up, Like I can explain,
But why are you wearing a brace? What are you doing?
You're hey, sorry I sent that text last night, but
I was really hammered. Guy, that's who you've become. But
you still sent the text, right, You still sent the
text in an effort to protect his image. He has
(12:47):
hurt his image, and there goes the note to anybody
who signs him. You're gonna get immensely talented player, but
one that brings with him a ton of drama. And
then when drama doesn't need to exist, he seems to
want to stir it up. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
(13:10):
I Heart Radio app. We've had him on before. He's great,
great with us, very good coach. Lost his gig in Charlotte,
had some health issues, returned to the sidelines now with
the Orlando Magic, and he's getting ready for the upcoming
NBA Drafty Steve Clifford, he joins us in The Doug
Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Coach, what do you
(13:31):
think of the Finals? I guess I think kind of
kind of what I what I expected. Actually, Um, I
thought it would be, you know, good for Cleveland to
win one game, which obviously could have in Game one,
but I just, you know, I just think Golden State
the talent discrepancy was enough so it was going to
(13:53):
be difficult for them to do more than that. Yeah,
I do. The game one thing was really interesting because
and I'm sure you know, you know, the former player
the former assistant, the head coach, and you is thinking
about all these millions of things that that go on,
And I just wonder how many how many coaches are
there are nodding their head because JR. Obviously didn't no
(14:14):
time in score and then no one thought to call
a time out. Right, It's like one of those is
there were there some other learning moments to which you
watching are processing and looking at it differently than just Hey,
Lebron's awesome, but Golden States more awesome. Oh no, I
think you hit it right on. You know, I would
agree with that totally. I mean, think about that game,
(14:35):
he has fifty one. Um, and obviously the block charge
play was was was obviously as big or bigger play,
and as as the last one and the tough one
In the last play is it was almost difficult, in
my opinion to see if j I Was trying to
(14:55):
just get some space to shoot turn around jumper or
if he just even know how much time there was
left on the clock. So I think that was that
was a tough one too in terms of calling the
time out. But um, even with that said, I mean,
you know, even if they would have won that game,
I would have been surprised if they would have won
another one. There's, um, there's a sense that Lebron, if
(15:20):
he leaves, he's got to stay in the East because
it's it's an easier path than than the West. Then
I look around and I'm like, hey, wait, busting got
to the Eastern Conference finals without they're two best players.
Milwaukee seems to not be crazy far away. Philadelphia is
really young, and they're gonna have some money to add
(15:41):
another piece. Obviously Toronto can't seem to get over Lebron,
but they still are able to beat almost everybody else
in the East. How far behind the West you think
the East actually is, especially at the not yeah, not
not nearly as much as it has been. Um, yeah,
like you said, Toronto won games. Uh, you know, Philadelphia
(16:02):
has two superstars in the room for another All Star
caliber player and again, like you said, in Boston is terrific.
And then you know, Milwaukee has to me a superstar
in the honest and then you know an all Star
caliber player in Chris Middleton. And if Jabari Parker is
healthy and returns another guy you know who can score
(16:26):
twenty and night. So I think the top of these
has become better and better over the last two years.
Steve Clifford, head coach of the Orlando Magic Joint, just
in the Doug Gotlif Show on Fox Sports Radio, you
were in Orlando the last time Orlando was Kings of
the East. How big a rebuild project is this? Um, well,
(16:48):
you know what, I'm actually in the process for our steps,
in the process of really doing a total study. Now,
as you know, the first month is about getting up
to speed on your roster. And you know, we only
won twenty five games last year, but you know, really
took two significant uh injuries with Terrence Ross and Jonathan
(17:09):
Isaac only plent we both played less than thirty games, um,
and then had some other health issues where you know,
very good players Evan Fournier and the Grucivic you know,
miss significance periods of time there in Gordon this sometimes.
So it was a team that started twelve and six. Uh.
(17:30):
I think that, uh, you know, we have the sixth
pick and hopefully we can you know, help our our
depth there. But um, you know, there are definitely some
things that you can look at, uh and feel good about.
So I feel more comfortable answering that question in about
three weeks but you know, I do feel good about
(17:50):
a lot of the things that I'm seeing on So
it's interesting because it's really hard to tell, you know,
once you got past I mean, frankly, you're like your
team in Charlote it a lot of those other teams
were trying to be bad, right it was, you know,
so it's like, are they really bad or they trying
to be bad? Where where is you know? I mean
like that that's a that's a hard one to answer.
(18:11):
But were you guys? You know what it was the
magic that bad or they trying to be a little
bit worse than their actual talent would would determine. And uh,
I guess the quote is play younger players, right, That's
that's what it's called, playing younger players, no question. And
the one thing I know is they started this season
at twelve and six, and my point is that's eighteen games,
(18:35):
so it's a little bit under a quarter of your schedule.
That's not like being four and two or five and three. Uh.
They beat Cleveland twice, they beat Saying Antonio, they beat
some good teams, and that's when they started to take
some injuries, um, which hurts any team. So uh, that's
obviously class half full. But again, if you can play
(18:57):
eighteen games in this league at twelve and six, then
you know there's some good things that were happening. You. Um,
your your peak with with Charlotte was the playoff season,
the second playoff run, right when you guys won forty
eight games and you guys added some pieces. Um, why
weren't she able to sustain it to a level to
which they were happy with? Well? The you know, the
(19:21):
the biggest thing that hurt us two years ago coming
off to win season was you know, and on that team,
we had six free agents and they all played well. Um,
so you know we were able to keep Nick Bituman,
Marvin Williams. We lost Jeremy Lynn, Alt, Jefferson, Uh, Troy Daniels,
(19:47):
all guys you know who were you know, contributor to
important players, rotation guys for that team. I'm sorry in
courtney league, Um, and if you look at it years ago,
our biggest problem was bench play. Our starters were I
think tenter leventh and differential point differential that year and
(20:10):
usually that would allow you to again be a playoff team.
But um, you know, losing those guys, you know, we
just really struggled and we went to the bench this year,
which was, you know, really to me that this is,
you know, the most disappointing year that we had. There
was I thought that Doug, I thought this was our
(20:31):
best team. Uh, we had more depth, you know, we
brought in Dwight. Um. We had always been a very
good defensive team. Uh. The year we won forty eight
where ninth and offense ninth and defense. We're much more balanced.
And I thought this year we could be a top
five defensive team. And I thought we had enough offense
(20:53):
so that if we could be ten, eleven, twelve, we'd
have the balance necessary to win. We actually ended up
thirteenth and no offense, but we were six or sevent defensively.
So the thing that had been our calling card for
four years, um, you know was what what led us down?
And Uh, that's the biggest disappointment for me. You know,
(21:15):
it's fascinating. I had a conversation with another Eastern Conference
coach just last week and I said, will it ever,
Willever come back to the days of which you'll you'll
play through a big guy, And He's like, no, No.
Everybody loved fans like the way they're playing now, it's
it's impossible and inefficient to score in the low post.
(21:36):
And so you know the Frankly, the Dwight Howard's or
you know, you look around kind of the east and
there's some of these guys that are their players from
a foregone era in that throwing the ball inside just
does not make sense analytically, especially to a big guy
and trying to score in the in the low post.
Do you see that changing anytime soon? No? And I
(21:58):
think that you know, actually, one of the things that
I've seen so far on film here is you know,
we have you know, Nikolai Russavic who started shooting threes
last year. And when you talk about playing through a
five man now offensively, I think the best teams can
do one of two things are both. One is having
(22:21):
the ability to play five our uh you know Al
Horford in Boston, UM where you can play him at
five and you can be terrific on offense and create
space for everybody else to play. And then defensively you're
not getting dominated down law. You know, he can do both.
(22:42):
I think that's the first way you want to play
or you need to have. Yeah, look a roll guy
a roll guy who can defend, defend the rim and
just catching finish and otherwise and and reasonably well switch
on to a guard exactly right. So it's to me,
it's one of those two things five out or four
(23:05):
out one end where you have the chance to play
well at both ends on this floor. Um, and that's it.
I mean, I think that that's it's the way to go.
I mean a lot of it if you want to know, truthfully,
when you look at the post up game now, and
it's one of the places where I think Golden States
not quite is good. Is you know, they had great
success when they had Bogan and then actually with Petulia
(23:30):
is posting five minute just to set up cutting options.
And you know that's the other part of it. Like
here with Nick, I feel we can do some of
that too. Okay, So as we look forward, and obviously
you can't tell us who you have number one on
your board, but how much does that change? You know,
there's a lot of talented big guys. How much does
(23:51):
that change how you look at big players? Hey, can
they play out in the printer? Can they shoot, can
they handle? Can they pass? As opposed to how downant
they are scoring? The low post in college. Oh, I
think it's a. I think it's a. It's a. It's
a huge deal. I mean, unless again, you're confident that
they can be versatile defensively, so like you're saying they
(24:12):
can be involved in switching, and you know they can
be that dynamic roller. Um, but you know, just to
me a post up player again, unless he's terrific defensively.
I mean, if you look at the best teams in
Boston being a great example, you need two way players. Uh,
(24:32):
you need positional five and you need guys that can
play well at both ends of the floor. And I
would make this argument again watching playoff playoff basketball especially,
but even to be balanced in the regular season, much
is said about perimeter players who can't shoot threes. Right.
(24:53):
The guys that hurt you just as much now are
the guys that are pretty good offensive players but are
really bad defense Sly, like to me, with all the
five out in the four out one in where there's
so much space to play the poor defender, Like, if
you're a poor defender, you better be four at night,
all right, So so so okay, so listen again, I'm
(25:14):
giving you hypothetical. There's a guard. There's a guard in
the draft that puts up crazy numbers offensively, but based
upon what we've seen, not particularly engaged defensively and might
not have, uh, the athletic gifts of some people defensively.
How cautious of you as a head coach are you
(25:34):
even though those type of numbers and those type of
shots may put more people in the stands. Yeah, well,
I think the determination that you have to make on
a guy like that would be it's it's again. I
think your question is two part in a little bit
is because it's a question A lot of times I think,
is you know, can he you know, is he capable
(25:57):
and not doing it? You know? Or is he capable? Right?
That's the first thing, and then the second one is
it's how good offensively is he? Again? I mean, if
you're twenty four a night, or you're you know, any
incredible playmaker or bowl, you know, you have to find
ways to win with that guy. I just think that
(26:19):
the guy that scores fourteen a night and doesn't defend,
those guys are hard to win with, now, no question
about it, no question about it. Uh, coach, we wish
you nothing but success in Orlando. Will hope to catch
up with the after this NBA draft, get back to
watching all that film and trying to figure out what
you have and how to fix it. We appreciate you
join us on Fox Sports Radio. Thank you dog any time.
(26:40):
I appreciate it. Pleasures all mine. 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 A bunch of stuff
to talk about with Kevin Durant. That's because Kevin Durant,
let's doing a lot of talking. Let's start with right
after winning the NBA Finals, he was asked about Steph
(27:01):
Curry not winning finals. MVP deep was unbelievable in this
series as well as you were nine threes for a
finals record, he closes out with thirty seven and he's
still never won the finals. M v P. It doesn't matter,
does it? We want two chat. We just went back
to back. I don't I don't think nobody even worried
about that type of stuff. I'm glad that we came
(27:23):
out and played a great game tonight, was able to
finish the series off. That's the only thing that matters
to us, does it? In fact matter. Remember Steph only
played fifteen of the twenty one playoff games for the
Golden State Warriors. He averaged twenty five and a half
points a game. He averaged five assists, six rebounds, and
(27:44):
he had a couple of incredible games the fourth quarter
in Game two and all of Game four. He struggled
in Game three, pretty good in Game one, although not
not spectacular. Um now, if you remember game one he
was eleven of twenty three five eleven from three, you know,
twenty nine points, nine assists. The stats look better because
(28:07):
he hit a bunch. He hit some shots in overtime
as well. You know game two he was only six
of twenty before going on that stretch at the end
of the game six of twenty, hit his last uh,
his last five shots. I believe struggling Game three great,
in Game four average TWENTI seven a half points a game,
(28:29):
six and a half rebounds a game seven half assisted game.
And wasn't the finals MVP. And it was probably the rights,
probably about the right selection about had he given it
to Stephen been fine? Have you given it to Kevin Duranty? Fine?
This could have said the exact same thing. When you
go back to and Andrea Goodalo in the m v P.
(28:49):
But um, but does it actually matter? These are the
type of things that they don't I don't think anybody
goes back and really discusses all that often in trying
to compare somebody's historical greatness. Do they that one feels
like a very much a media discussion Finals m v P.
(29:14):
Don't get me wrong, we've made the regular season m
VP into something bigger than it actually is. Regular season
m VP is I think, I actually think it is
exactly what it is, which is, hey, who had the
best regular season of the best players? Because it doesn't
mean that Lebron is not the best player in the
league or Kevin Rand's not the best player in the league.
(29:37):
And they do have NBA Post Season's Awards, to which
they ultimately have that award. But does it actually matter
who was the finals MVP? I don't think so. Um.
Durand said some other stuff which is interesting. He said,
I feel like it's easy to be the best player
(29:57):
when you don't have good players around you. I feel
like it's hard to stand out when you have great
players around you. I pride myself on standing out wherever
I am. I pride myself. I'm working hard wherever I go,
and I feel like these guys embraced me. I feel
like I'm a warrior. And what happens is we get
caught in a sentence or two and we try to
(30:20):
dispute it. Right. I feel like it's easy to be
the best player when you don't have good players around you.
What does that actually mean? My guess is I goo
Lebron is so much better, so much more important than
his teammates, that they build the whole thing around him,
and that statistically, it just jumps at you. That's that's
not that's not a false statement. It's it's it's harder
(30:42):
to average twenty nine with the Warriors or twenty eight
with the Warriors than it is thirty or thirty two
with the Calves. Correct now, the difference would be that
Lebron has stood out and won games without Clay or
Steph around him. That's probably the add the missed part
(31:02):
of the discussion. I pride myself on standing out wherever
I go. I pride myself. I'm working hard wherever I go.
I feel like these guys embraced me. I feel like
I'm a warrior. He's telling you all you need to
know about all the things kind of going on inside
of his head, which is like, look, I like to
get the ball and go and be the guy, but
I'm dealing. I'm playing with really good players and they
(31:24):
need a ball and they need to be the guy
in their own sort of way. And that's been an
interesting learning experience. Then there's this from Chris Haynes, Uh,
the Golden State Warriors have all star. Kevin Durant has
(31:44):
said he might walk away when he's thirty five. Quote,
this is your game, this game your craft. You have
to continue studying it, no matter how much you enjoy it.
No one wants to be in school that long. I
know I don't. At some point, you have to be
ready to go Radut. That's just a number in my mind. Um.
(32:06):
One of his his business partner, Rich Kleman said, I've
heard him say that, but I'll believe it when it happens.
Golden State Warriors all Star. This again from Chris Haynes column,
who scored almost twenty one thousand points alongside Lebron James,
who scored over thirty one thousand points, are two in
(32:27):
discussion to overtake Kareem Abduel's bar. Durant said he's not
chasing that mark because it's not about the record. I
can leave the game knowing I did everything I want
to do my way, on my terms. That's how I
want to leave the game. If I happen to have
all those accolades and those accomplishments, and that's cool. If not,
I'm still cool. So I don't think that's gonna define
(32:50):
me as a player. It's cool accomplishment. It uh to
be up there with the greats and to be considered
someone who can potentially chase that or beat that. But
I'm not playing for that. Mhm. I just think Katie's
wired a little different. I think we we we actually
(33:10):
we don't want players to have perspective. I think that
Kevin Durant knows he's in a spot to where he's
thirty years old, or about thirty years old, we'll have
a chance to win, you know, two to four more championships.
The idea that he win five more. I don't think
that's happening. I think anybody thinks it's realistic of happening.
How do I know? Because it doesn't last for long
(33:32):
when you're in Chicago with Jordan's, whether you're in l
A with Kobe and Shack, it just doesn't. But you know,
if you win one more championship, you got three, you
win two, you got four, you win three, you got five,
and you're up there with Kobe, you win four, you
get six. Like all right now, we're talking ridiculous numbers
up there with Jordan's. The light good is he doesn't
(33:54):
get there and what he's saying is I'm good. And
we don't necessarily want to hear that as sports fans.
We want to hear what Kobe said to Lebron and
Bleacher Report, which is get as many rings you can.
That's the discussion. That's why Kobe kept playing. That's why
(34:14):
Kobe tried to play through a torn Achilles tendon. That's
where he came back after the Achilles tendon like he wants,
like he thinks the whole thing that at the end
of the day, it's the six rings. Whereas Katie's like, look,
I'm just not wired like that. I'm gonna win everyone.
I'm trying to win everyone. I get a chance to
win if I don't win enough, Like if you didn't
think I was good, what is one more ring, or
two more rings or three more rings gonna prove to
(34:36):
you about how good a player I was. And then
you have lebron Who I do. I do think it
matters to him how many finals in a row he
gets to because he can. He knows he'll never take
down Jordan's record of six finals and six finals wins.
The idea that he's gonna win six championships being stuck
(34:59):
on three that's hard to believe because at some point
his body will decline doesn't mean he won't get one,
maybe even two more. Three's a lot. That's a lot
of wear and tear. It feels like le Bronze like, Look,
I'm gonna have every record outside of the six titles,
and that's gonna be how I can claim status to
(35:20):
being the goat. If I'm the all time scoring leader,
if I've been in more NBA finals than anybody, if
I've led more franchises to finals than everybody, if I
have won a championship in three different cities, then I
can lay claim to being the best all around player
with the best all around records, even if I don't
even if the one record of most NBA finals or
(35:43):
NBA finals championships. UH. NBA championships without a loss. That
one's lost on me. All dudes are wired differently. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Rate and the I Heart Radio app. Every time
I've had him on, I've said it because it really
(36:04):
is true. There are just some guys who play in
the NBA who everybody the league is about. It's about
respect more than anything else. About relationships and respect he
has anybody's playing the NBA. It's about you gotta you
gotta be good enough and handle yourself in a way
to which people respect you. And then it's about those relationships,
which lasts far beyond when you're actually playing. If you
listen to his show on Sundays, Chris and Karen Karan
(36:26):
Butler join us in studio every week. He's got somebody
had Kobe a couple of weeks ago, UH had Dwayne Wade.
UH going back to yesterday, that come on because they
all respect tough choose not just what it took for
him to get to the league, but how he played
and purported himself. Once he's in the league and how
he handles his business now as he covers the league
for us at Fox, and for for ESPN, and for
(36:47):
the folks at Turner. He worked for everybody. Everybody wants
a piece of tough joice and he joins us in studio.
All right, let's let's we'll work our way towards the
Dwayne Wade conversation UM NBA Finals, like, what's your what's
your two? When you see it, you see it from
a different lens, having played, having won it before. What's
your takeaway from the NBA Finals? My takeaway was, you know,
(37:10):
thanks for the introduction like that too, brother, That was
that was deep. Uh. I saw, you know, a team
that was deflated, you know that that was running on
fumes that got there in the Cleveland Cavaliers. And I
saw a team on the opposing side and the Golden
State Warriors who was just fresh and poised for a repeat.
(37:30):
And Kevin Durant is the weapon. You know, the system
is in place with the Golden State Warriors, with the
Splash Brothers and Draymond Green and the supporting cast, but
he is the weapon. And I said it, and people
got like just went off the grid on me when
I said, Kevin Durant is the only guy in the
association that's a wash at that position with Lebron James,
(37:50):
it was like, what's the wash? I'm like, if you
look at the Eastern Conference and you look at the
run that Lebron's had in the Eastern Conference, he played
in the first round, he plays against any end Pacers,
Indiana Pacers with Victor Oladipo and those guys, he offset
three of the star players. He did it again in
the Toronto series, and he did it again in the
Boston series. He can outplay literally the best three players
(38:11):
on the opposing team. But when you go to the finals,
it's one guy on that team that can be literally
a wash with him. And ask Kevin Durant, He's the weapon.
And that's why they had no shot whatsoever. Well, they
listen game game one. Now they did have a shot.
Of course, we all know all the things to win
a game, but not the series. No prop no. I thought.
(38:33):
I I thought it would go five or six because
I thought they could get one and I thought maybe
they could get one at home and the whole series
probably changed if they get one. Remember, Iguadala wasn't healthy.
Didn't play. I think they're a different team with him
as opposed to without him. You need that fifth guy
they were attacking. Whoever that fifth guy was on the floor.
Those guys didn't. We're always in the wrong place the
(38:53):
wrong time. And and you know, using Javel McGee, I
thought was was smart something they didn't do in the
Houston series. So I think they kind of changed as well.
But I want your reaction to the footage, which I
think all everyone's seen now Game one, end of regulation.
Lebrons sitting over there, and obviously he's hot, right, he
just he he had fifty one you could cook. He
(39:17):
was hot. Okay, he's hot, and they are, you know,
like they are clearly wanted to apologize. I wanted to
go my mo bad and and like no one, no
one did anything except for like Cliver comes over and
he's trying to like console like all it's okay. But look,
he could have gone one of three ways. He could
have turned around and goes and did what he did
in the court, like what are you doing? What is
(39:38):
the matter with you? But instead he's just seething, and
maybe instead of saying the wrong thing, he said nothing.
But he also didn't go like, hey, next play, let's
go get it back. Um, you've been in all those
huddles when all those big moments. What was your reaction.
I was a shot, because like you just talked about it,
and you talked about your your child at you know,
(39:58):
goes attendance to school. It you know, Mamba's kid and everything,
and the one thing that you know as a parent.
And I hate to make this comparison, but you don't
want to show too much emotion to the people that
looked to you for the leadership in the guidance, you know,
so like it can be the worst moment ever and
(40:18):
my kids can attest this. I'm just like, I'm straight faced,
poker face. And in that moment, Lebron displayed all that
emotion and it just like it was deflating not only
to JR. But to the team. And then that was
a moment, and then you go to the huddle and
then it's like he's revisiting the moment even in depth,
and just like there's no way from an emotional standpoint
(40:40):
that they can come out that huddle and still be
consistent on the court to give their best effort. And
I told R J me and Richard Jefferson watching the game,
He's like, no, Lebron is great, He's going to figure
it out. I'm like, bro, he can. He can turn
it on and off like that. But you gotta think
about the other guys that's looking and evaluating this situation
from a ootional standpoint. They're hot, they checked out, You
(41:02):
lost them like it's it's a rap, the cancel Christmas,
Like the series is over. Like any chance that you
had at winning a game, it's over. Do guys in
the league think of Kevin Durant at the level of
he's playing, at the level of Lebron I think so, like, look,
this is what people see what Kevin Durant and you know,
(41:24):
you know, truth sounds like hate to those who not
used to hearing the truth. So this is truth talk
right here. They may feel like indifferent for him leaving
the Oklahoma City Thunder for whatever reason, and he had
his reasons and the reason why it's justified because he's winning,
and he's winning MVPs, he's winning titles, and you know
he has it all, you know, on and off the court,
(41:45):
he's winning, uh, financially, Um, he's in a good place
mentally and that's all about. That's that's all you can
ask for. But you may have your mixed feelings because
of that. But if you take that out of the
equation and take that personal stuff out and just be like,
as a basketball player, how can you not say that
he's not on the same level now with two Final
(42:08):
m vps, two championships, and he's taken two away from Lebron?
You know what I mean? Like Lebron is still the
best player on the planet right now today, he's the
best player. But it's a photo it's a it's a
photo finish when you look at him and Kevin Durant
as you know, going forward, because Kevin Durant is special. Um,
he's ready for the moment and he understands that. Look.
(42:31):
In order for me to continue to be special, I
had to continue to you know, go through him. Stut
show Fox Sports Trader, that's a voice of tough justice,
Corn Butler checking out Chris and Karen every Sunday here
on Fox Sports Radio. Uh, Steph has not one of
finals m v P. I've never thought of that as
the calling card of whether or not, like you're an
(42:51):
all time grade. But he's unique, right, he won two
m vps. But I don't know if he was actually
the best player in the league. I don't think he was.
Anybody thought he was the best player in the league
either those years. Harden probably should have won it. One
year Lebron said, you know, hey, look he had he
had the incredible year in the seventy three win year.
But didn't make him the best players, just made him
have the best season. Again, how do guys in the league,
(43:12):
guys who play, guys like yourself, how do they look
at Steph in comparison to the other great players? Best
shooter all the time? Uh, off the dribble, also not
just a catching shoot shooter, but off the dribble redefined
the game from a perimeter standpoint. And um, I can't
tell the story of basketball without talking about Steph Curry
and the Golden State Warrior. He's here, Here's here's here's
(43:36):
how I would look at when you say best shooting
off the drill. For people don't understand. Some guys are
great off the catch, like his dad was great off
the catch. Unbelievable catching shoot, jump shot ray. Okay, some
dudes are great going right, some dudes are great going left.
Now does are there certain shots that he has the left,
he always go step back right on the right, he
likes to shoot off the crossover or whatever. But this
(43:57):
is a guy that literally shoots and way you want
right left from almost any range. And when you said
he's redefined, he's redefined what you consider a good shot
because usually some of these shots, they were considered bad shots,
not because somebody couldn't make them, because they would make
such a low percentage your coach would take you out
even if you did make it, that's a bad shot.
Now we have to kind of read weight. Maybe it's
(44:18):
not a bad shot. He makes a high enough percentage
of it to which you give him more freedom. Yeah,
that's that's That's exactly what I meant. And he sells
out his warm ups, like like when he's warming up
to get prepared for the game, it's a standing room only.
People want to see this guy get into a flow,
into a rhythm, and he makes it fun um From
(44:38):
a technical standpoint, it's just, you know, amazing to watch,
and you know he's he's having fun doing it, and
he's a Hall of famer. He's gonna be a future
Hall of Famer. M v P two times three three
three championships. What else do you? I mean, what like,
it's just like we're picking. We're picking at the bear,
like we're poking at the beer. Like he was like
(45:00):
he could have easily had the finals MVP when Andrey
Godala wont it? You know, I mean, but it was
the right thing to do because this is what they
they're controlling the narrative. This is what we're doing. We're
rewarding uh, excellent basketball and people that sacrifice and Andre
Godalla sacrifice something. All of them are all in about
the team. And you heard Kevin Durant quotes when he said,
look we won, Like why are you even talking about that?
(45:24):
Who cares? Like if he wanted, I want to, like,
look we won a championship. You know, it's interesting they
got away with the fact that their bench, this is
the weakest bench of the three. And they got away
with the fact that Draymond can't make a shot. Like
Draymond he can, he lost confidence in it and he
just he couldn't. Like it's really amazing because he was
a kind of stretch five. He could make some shots,
(45:45):
and he lost his jump shot sometime this season. And
I had a little bit of shoulder thing, but a
lot of it is just mentally not having confidence. Kind
of amazing that I think people somehow conflate the seventy
three win team, which had a completely different makeup and
didn't win a champions with this team when this team
kind of limped in without Iguadala for the first two games,
(46:05):
with Draymond being a guy who did not even guard,
and with you know, and look, Steph had a couple
of bad nights. But also the bench was just not
very good in comparison to benches in the past. People
people made a lot of you know, fuss about Kevin
Durant going there too. Uh, and you see, if he
had not went there these two championships, I don't feel
(46:27):
like they would have won. Agreed. This is what I said,
um again, And I don't know if you have you
ever seen the movie Pretty Woman, absolutely okay, you know
the part where she said she she tells she has
this vision of being rescued on the balcony and and
he asked, yes, so what happened after, uh, he rescues her,
and she says she rescued him right back. I used
(46:48):
it Friday. I was like, look, Kevin Durant rescued them
right back because they saved Kevin Durant from a career
of possibly not winning championships in Oklahoma City. But these
two wouldn't have been possible. Who if they keep Harrison
Barnes do, what do they do with the rest of
the bench? Like that was it was a team that
others would catch up to, like the Rockets, whereas this team,
it gave them a completely different look and and put
(47:12):
them to this point heading head and tails above. Um, Okay,
let's do this. I want to find out what's going
on with Steve de Seger. Karen Butler is gonna continue
to join us, and then we'll get to your conversation
with Dwayne Wade and what next for Lebron. Karan Butler
continues to join us here on the Doug Gotlie Show.
Let's take a listen. So the show is every Sunday,
Every Sunday, Chris and Karen on Fox Sport. Chriss Chris
(47:34):
Mannix from Yahoo Sports. Karan is my guest. Karen Butler,
of course, an NBA champion with the Dallas Mavericks UH
several times, an All Star. You see him on Turner Sports.
You see him on ESPN, CEM on Fox. He works
for everybody, actually everybody works for him. Um and uh.
If you missed the interview in its entirety, go to
iTunes you can download it. Also download the Kobe Bryant interview,
(47:57):
which they sat down for about twenty five minutes with
with of Me three weeks ago. Here's Dwyane Wade talking
about Lebron James future. I don't think it's a basketball thing.
I think at this point in his life is more
of a lifestyle thing of you know, where my family
is gonna be the most comfortable, where I'm gonna be
the happiest that What do you make of that count?
I think it's spot on. You know, look, there's so
(48:18):
many layers and there's so many seasons too, NBA UH career. Right,
So when we come into this game as professional athletes,
you want to be uh, you want everybody to know
your name. You want to hit the ground running, You
wanna you know, tackle all these uh invisible goals that
you said. So he's done that, and then you you
(48:41):
you you go through the championship journey where you're just
trying to you know, stack up on as many rings
as possible. And then you think about the seamless transition
in life after basketball. This is the winner of your career.
And you know he shows no signs of declining to
slowing down, but look, everything has to come to the
end at some point, and you have to think about
you know, your family, and and and where would you
(49:03):
reside and how can you make that transition as smooth
as possible? And I look at I look at that,
and I and and and I think Houston. Obviously you
can win there. Chris Paul's buddy, his buddy for many years,
a great friend on and off the court. And I
also think about the Los Angeles Lakers, where he always
already has an existing um you know, network of business
(49:26):
already going on off the court. So it just makes
a ton of sense to be here in this market,
um and and in excel. Do you think there's a
way in which he gets Chris Paul to come here? Okay,
anybody I unders well, but Chris Paul has he could
be a free agent, don't want to take a pay cut.
He's also you know, head of the NBA p A,
(49:48):
so for that, he doesn't Chris Paul can't go like, hey,
I'll work for five million dollars because that doesn't that
that's that's not great for everybody else in the union, right, Um,
And and there's always been the dream for the Lakers
or for the Lakers always. You know, if not for
the David Stern trade, Kobe would have even more rings,
not none of that would have happened. Like I guess
my question is, is there a plan that's already in
(50:09):
place that will know about in a week or two
or do you think he's gonna sit down and try
and figure out what that plan is? Man, Listen, you know,
I think it's a process because you know, if he
leaves Cleveland, if and win, it's gonna be, uh, it's
gonna be a long break up. So you know, you
gotta be respectful in that space. But I do feel
(50:31):
like and and he's a calculated guy. His team is calculated.
I do feel like that decision has already been made
amongst each other, amongst them, and they're just waiting to
move forward with that. Here's my hypothesis. And you tell
me if it's it's way off. My hypothesis is the
reason you're hearing all these teams which like m like
(50:52):
the Golden State thing. I think that could actually do
damage to Golden State if they meet with him, right,
which is like, wait, it's so many ways if they
meet with him. It's like Clay sitting there going like,
hey wait, I said, I take less to stay. Now
you think about getting rid of me? Hampton five, Huh
the deaf line up? Hampton five. You're gonna meet with Lebron? Like,
what are y'all? What are y'all doing? Like we want
to stay together, we're the dynasty. Like I think that
(51:16):
destroys chemistry. Chemistry is everything, right, you know, you passed
the ball, you under you got familiarity with the guys
that you're with, and then all of a sudden, you
you have a meeting with the best player on the
planet and Lebron James. Now everybody's like, the player is
not gonna um you know? Support that mean? I don't think,
because that means that two of the guys has to go,
(51:38):
and that's just that that would be crazy, right, And
then you have you have Boston, which feels like a
tweak towards Kyrie, right, I mean it. And I don't
think San Antonio is not happening because as much as
it's about winning championships. It's also about supporting those guys
who he's brought with him everywhere he's gone, and that
doesn't fly in San Antonio. Um. I just I feel
(52:01):
like these other teams are being put in play for
a reason. And the other reason is like the Lakers
want him, and the Lakers want to make it work.
But I think they wanted Fitzdale to be the coach.
I think they wanted some of the things to go
be their way. And to that point, the Lakers and
said like, look, we're gonna build a great team around you.
You picked the other superstar, you help recruiting, We'll get
you there. But we're not gonna let it be what
(52:23):
it was in Cleveland. It's gonna be closer to what
it was in Miami. Yeah. I could see that also.
But at the end of the day, when when when
Lebron goes wherever he goes, he's gonna, you know, not
only be a client, He's going to be the president. Okay,
So here's the here's the big question though that I
haven't heard anybody talk about. You and I were discussing
before we went on air. Look, he's in his thirties
(52:47):
and we can go fifteenth years a lot of where
on those tires. He was as good defensively this year.
He's super smart and how he picks his spots. He
doesn't practice anymore. He just does his individual workout. He
gets his body right, and he plays in games to
play showtime. But at some point Father Time wins every
one of these battles. So you're gonna sign Lebron to
a four year deal? What is year three and four? Actually?
(53:08):
Look like? What is? How is what's the next step
in evolution of le Bron? Looked like? Look, look and
this is the crazy me and Chris is talking about
this even a bad year for Lebron, right, this is
a bad season, so some other guys career season, Uh,
he's gonna average what two, seven and six? Like like
this this thing about that seven and six, like you
(53:31):
can't even get your probably your your star franchise cornerstone
of the franchise guy to do that right now. And
he's gonna do that on the back end on this
end of his career. So with that being said, and
if he has the talent around him, like he understands
his his i Q is higher than others, like he
remember plays like on the spot that happened in two
thousand and eight, Like it's it's a rare handful of
(53:54):
guys that can do that and think the game of
basketball like that to take care of their temple, which
is their body, investing over a million and a half
two million dollars in their body every year. So look,
he's serious about his craft. He understands that, and the
thing that drives him is that we're having this conversation.
He can't do that fifteen sixteen seventy. He has to
(54:15):
slow down. He's like, you know what, I'm going to
prove all the doubters wrong. I'm gonna go out there
and have a remarkable three four year run. Okay, So
why did he wear the brace on his hand? Everybody
need a little sympathy, come on, man, Yeah he was,
but he was already getting the sympathy. We're already We're
already like, look, Lebron just didn't have the horses he got.
(54:36):
J R. Tyler doesn't call it time out, George Hill came,
Jordan Clarksons thinks he can't put him in the game, right, Like,
everyone was already sympathetic in his plight against the Warriors.
Every superhero just want a little hut. So he like,
why not just why not just wait until today and
let it leak? Hey, you know what, Lebron had a
broken hand? No way, Yeah, you had a broken hand.
(54:58):
Check the video. He's got a swollen got a swollen hand.
But and then let him and then he comes out
now he's got a full cast on today, and then
he could come with it. Look, I don't make any excuses.
We lost because they were the better team. That's it.
And he takes instead it looked like an excuse. I
got a broken hand. Oh you know, I punched. I
lost my cool. I shouldn't have done it. What are
you doing? But if you wait, then who controls the narrative?
(55:23):
Because he did it. When he did it, he still
controls the narrative, like, oh my god, like what happened
to his hand? I'll tell you later. He gets to
control that. He didn't have to say anything, you have.
The story could be that Lebron James punched the blackboard.
The exactly what the story is. He punched the black board,
he broke his hand. But it could be like he
didn't he had he played three games of the broken
hand and didn't say nothing to it about anybody. Instead,
(55:46):
it's oh, Lebron gets feat now he's got a broken hand.
Of course he does. What was the headline after after
that post conference? The headline was to Golden State Warriors win,
but the story was what happened to Lebron hand perfectly played?
I disagree. I wanted to give the guy every everything,
like you're gonna come up with it. That's that's the
(56:07):
that's you said. Somebody a text in the next day like, oh,
sorry about the text. I was drunk, Like you still
said the text. You still said the text. Look, look
we were compared hive to the goat, right, the greatest
of all time, Michael George one years ago today he
played the flu game. So look, I would have been better,
but my hand was broke. I like it. I like
(56:28):
it better when somebody else says it. Remember Mike Tyson
said my back was broken. They said you're back. You
broke your back? Your back, he said, my back was broken.
That's why I couldn't fight. My back was broken. That's
that's part of you know what. You know what Bill Simmons,
I believe coined the Tyson zone. You what the Tyson
zone is? You're in the Tyson There's no story about
Mike Tyson that you don't believe to be right. That's
(56:52):
that's called the Tyson Zone. So Mike Tyson says I
had broken back, Like, yeah, I believe that, Mike. Mike
Tyson said I had my foot. I had a foot
bit off by an alligator. He'd like, yeah, I believe
that's Mike Tyson. Tyson. H But Lebron Ja I don't know,
like Lebron James. I mean Paul Pierce still catching grief
for getting wheeled off. That wasn't his choice in the
in the wheelchair, in the wheelchair. Check out his show
(57:14):
It's UM on Sundays. I always get confused with the
with the East coast West coast because I listened to
a West Coast time. Alright, so it's it's but it's
twelve to three Eastern time, nine to twelve Pacific Coast time.
He's tough shoes. Follow him on Instagram on Twitter as well.
Maybe he'll fight Kobe Bryant's fights on Twitter Forum. Thanks
so much for joining us from a Burner account.
This is the best of the Dug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox
Sports Radio. I hope you had a great weekend. Most
of your sports fans had the weekend off, right, Like, ah,
we get off. That's because Friday night, the NBA season
(00:23):
came to a not so thrilling end as the Golden
State Warriors, for the second straight year, for the third
time in four years, called themselves champions. We do a
lot of stupid things in my business. One is some
trying to diminish that they won back to back championships
with three of the last four. This is not a dunity.
(00:45):
Oh I really, I almost um I almost sometimes struggle
to turn on the TV because we so badly want
to discover topics to talk about. We just make things up.
It's like the well stuff hasn't won an m v
P Finals m v P, so does that somehow diminished
(01:06):
from his career? No, not even a little bit, but whatever,
That's who we are, right. You got a dictionary dot com.
You try and look up um uh, you try and
look up the original the meaning of dynasty and under
(01:28):
meaning of dynasty you have a rule of you know,
a sequence of rulers from such families, stock or group,
right the rule of such a sequence. The Golden State
Warriors have won three out of four tiles. They've played
in four straight NBA finals, so by definition they have
(01:51):
ruled the NBA correct. So by definition it's a dynasty.
You don't have to like the way they came upon
or happy in upon this dynasy. And by the way,
many of you who texted me or tweeted me or whatever,
you're welcome for that incredible analogy with pretty Woman on
how the Warriors saved Kevin Durant, but Kevin Durant rescued
(02:11):
them right back. But by definition this is in fact
a dynasty. Then we have Lebron James, who a mailed
in game game four. Don't get me wrong, I'm mailed
in game four. Okay, I'm just as guilty as Lebron is.
(02:32):
I agreed to going out to dinner with my wife
and a couple of our friends, and I also agreed
to not have a say in where we're going. Now. Um,
there is a present day version of She's a Keeper.
You guys, remember that She's a Keeper discussion last week Okay,
he comes from Bronx tail Starr Bronx tail. You know
she's a keeper. You open the door, chivalry not dead.
(02:54):
Open the door. She gets in, you lock your door.
You go around the back of the car to see
if she unlocks the door for you. If she unlocks
the door for you, she's a keeper. This happened in
Great Britain with the Royal wedding? Was that two weekends ago?
Three weekends? I was so early in the morning, I
didn't watch it, but I did see it. Anyway, that's
(03:14):
a she's a keeper. There's a new, maybe married version
if she's a keeper. And that's if there's such a
sporting event like the NBA Finals and she sets up
dinner plans. Did she call ahead and say, hey, their
TV there right? Additionally, and this is a big one,
(03:36):
this is this is the kicker. This is the ultimate
she's at keeper. Going back to it's not just unlocking
the door. If she pushes open the door for you,
and actually then you're like, oh, we're talking unicorn status here.
The better part for women in two thousand eighteen or
maybe married, she's a keeper and not married? Even better
(03:58):
is nowly does she sell to a restaurant, at least
partially based upon whether or not there's television sets. But
then she says, oh wait, let's switch chairs so that
you can see the TV. Right. I mean, that's a
woman forget out of hips, thighs, lips. That's a woman anyway.
(04:23):
Welcome in the Doug Otlie Show, Fox Sports Radio. I
mailed it in, but thanks to the power of of
of cell phones, we watched it on YouTube TV live
and we actually had kind of dueling TVs going at
It was pretty awesome that Puppy was over seemingly at
jump ball, which is what we told you, and by
(04:43):
my estimation based upon points spread and general theme of game,
I nailed all four games. I told you I thought
Golden State could lose Game one, but they would win
in a squeaker. They did. I didn't know that j R.
Smith would have a brain brain flagelens or that they
hold on to only win by ten when the spread
was twelve. Told you what I thought would happen in
game two. Told you Game three was gonna be one
(05:05):
last push uh from the Calves, And while all the
guys took the Calves, I took the Warriors and then
we thought Game four was a blowout, losing in four games.
If you're Lebron James was defensible, defensible. Look you at
fifty one in game one. Fifty one points as magnificent
(05:29):
an offensive effort as you're gonna find. I can't even
the most ardent Lebron hater could support Lebron James when
he was cold as ice to j R. Smith after regulation,
right like, well, you know, his coach didn't call a
time out, his teammate mr free throw, his other teammate
(05:49):
didn't know time and score, and nobody else thought to
call a time out, and so you know what, I'm
not gonna get onto Lebron for that. We're good. Game two,
Braun wasn't great. It wasn't great, But because so much
emotion and energy was expent in game one, that too
(06:10):
is understandable, all right, totally understandable. Um. Game three he
was good. He was good. You know. Game three he
ends up with thirty three points, eleven assists, ten rebounds,
And no, he didn't guard Kevin Durant down the stretch.
(06:32):
But I even I would make the argument, A he's
trying to save as much energy as he can. Okay,
I'll give him a relative pass. Game four, that bad
boy was over right, the thing was over. We all
knew it was over. Lebron was trying to be gracious,
trying to make a proper exit, trying to just let
(06:53):
his guys play. He was kind of done. It was one, two, three, cancoon,
What are you gonna What are you gonna do? Lay
your guts out there all over the floor, try and
go for sixty. Be a pig. I'd like to think, yeah,
but I think he was just done. We were all done.
That's why they had those interviews, to which he's got
really really a lot of perspective started. You know, we
(07:17):
started talking about That's why I started leaking as to
what teams he would look at. I guess the reason
all those things happened before Game four, because we knew
as Puppy was over, I gave him a pass for
all of that. Then he shows up in the postgame
press conference the end of the NBA Finals one, to
(07:40):
which at least he was in the conversation of being
the Finals m v P even if he didn't win it.
After his team got swept and he had a soft
cast on his right shooting hand because he to quote
his own words, basically, played the last three games with
a broken hand. What happened? Self inflicted poles game after
game on very emotional for a lot of different reasons.
(08:03):
Understanding how important a game one is on the road
for our ball club. What was that done for us?
The way we played, the cause that was made throughout
the course of that game. And I had emotions on
you know, the game was taken away from us. I
had emotions of you just don't get an opportunity like
this on the road, verse Golden State to be able
to get a game one, you know, let the emotions
(08:23):
get the best of me. And pretty much played the
last three games with a broken hand. So that's what
That's what it is. Okay. So I broke his hand,
which makes the thirty three he had in game three
more impressive. He didn't play terribly well in game four
twenty three eight assists, six turnovers seven of thirteen, didn't
shoot jump shots. Now of a sudden, the hand is
(08:44):
a problem. All the other stuff is defensible, and it's
understandable to want it to be explained that he had
a broken hand. And I know that he sits there
and wants to wants to go like, hey, look, we
game one on set the tone for this series, and
he wanted to say, I screwed up by punching the blackboard.
(09:06):
I pulled a nucleue luche. You guys have seen Bull
Durham right, punch with don't punch with your pitching hand meat.
But what are you doing? You hadn't been seen in
public wearing a soft cast since game one? Why is
now the moment to wear a soft cast? Why? Why
(09:31):
would you do that? Now? I'm gonna hypothesize this is
not a fact. I'm a hypothesize that. Look, Lebron is
one of these he he doesn't even look like a human, right,
humans aren't that big? Aren't that talented? Aren't that smart?
Aren't that fluid? Despite that size? Like he's he's almost
(09:51):
the perfect creation of every little part. But because of it,
there's a lack of I don't know if I want
to say common sense or just you just like, do
you not have any friends? Do you not have somebody
who says, hey, dude, what are you doing well? The
doctor told me to put on this brace. You couldn't
(10:12):
wait ten minutes. All you have to do is go
out there, answer the questions about the team and as
he was respectful by Kevin durand about the Warriors, give
us his take on what happened with the finals. He
cannot answer the questions about what he's gonna do next,
and give us a little bit of perspective on where
he's staying. And then when he gets out the podium,
(10:32):
if it gets leaked out there through Windhorse to wherever
their sources. Hey, you know Lebron had a broken hand
when game four, no game two, three and four no way,
no way, Then the photos of the swollen hand would
get leaked out the into like you know what, he
did have a broken hand, we're talking hero deity status instead.
(10:54):
Now we're talking about dB status. Really. Oh, by the way,
I broke my hand, but my bad I punched the
blackboard because they made bad calls against us, and my
teammates sucked and my coach didn't call it time out.
That's what it feels like once I heard he bro Yeah,
(11:15):
basically has to play with a broken hand, and only
now are you breaking out the brace when you obviously
didn't need it. He had a chance to win even
though he lost every game, checks out, he subs out
and Hey, why is lebron dapping everybody with his left hand?
(11:36):
Huh huh, We got all these internets lose. They would
have figured it out, somebody would have linked it, and
he would his status would have risen. Instead, You're like, really,
oh yeah, by the way, I broken hand. Really, I'm
(11:58):
not denying that he had broken hand. I'm not denying
that considering he had a broken hand, he's even probably
better than we could have thought possible. I know, there's
hundreds of bones in your hands and feet, and you
can break one and it doesn't affect you. But he's
an incredible athlete. Every little ounce of pain or every
little ounce of energy and preparation that's put forth towards
your hand instead of towards some other part of your
(12:20):
body that can screw you up, Like I can explain,
But why are you wearing a brace? What are you doing?
You're hey, sorry I sent that text last night, but
I was really hammered. Guy, that's who you've become. But
you still sent the text, right, You still sent the
text in an effort to protect his image. He has
(12:47):
hurt his image, and there goes the note to anybody
who signs him. You're gonna get immensely talented player, but
one that brings with him a ton of drama. And
then when drama doesn't need to exist, he seems to
want to stir it up. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
(13:10):
I Heart Radio app. We've had him on before. He's great,
great with us, very good coach. Lost his gig in Charlotte,
had some health issues, returned to the sidelines now with
the Orlando Magic, and he's getting ready for the upcoming
NBA Drafty Steve Clifford, he joins us in The Doug
Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Coach, what do you
(13:31):
think of the Finals? I guess I think kind of
kind of what I what I expected. Actually, Um, I
thought it would be, you know, good for Cleveland to
win one game, which obviously could have in Game one,
but I just, you know, I just think Golden State
the talent discrepancy was enough so it was going to
(13:53):
be difficult for them to do more than that. Yeah,
I do. The game one thing was really interesting because
and I'm sure you know, you know, the former player
the former assistant, the head coach, and you is thinking
about all these millions of things that that go on,
And I just wonder how many how many coaches are
there are nodding their head because JR. Obviously didn't no
(14:14):
time in score and then no one thought to call
a time out. Right, It's like one of those is
there were there some other learning moments to which you
watching are processing and looking at it differently than just Hey,
Lebron's awesome, but Golden States more awesome. Oh no, I
think you hit it right on. You know, I would
agree with that totally. I mean, think about that game,
(14:35):
he has fifty one. Um, and obviously the block charge
play was was was obviously as big or bigger play,
and as as the last one and the tough one
In the last play is it was almost difficult, in
my opinion to see if j I Was trying to
(14:55):
just get some space to shoot turn around jumper or
if he just even know how much time there was
left on the clock. So I think that was that
was a tough one too in terms of calling the
time out. But um, even with that said, I mean,
you know, even if they would have won that game,
I would have been surprised if they would have won
another one. There's, um, there's a sense that Lebron, if
(15:20):
he leaves, he's got to stay in the East because
it's it's an easier path than than the West. Then
I look around and I'm like, hey, wait, busting got
to the Eastern Conference finals without they're two best players.
Milwaukee seems to not be crazy far away. Philadelphia is
really young, and they're gonna have some money to add
(15:41):
another piece. Obviously Toronto can't seem to get over Lebron,
but they still are able to beat almost everybody else
in the East. How far behind the West you think
the East actually is, especially at the not yeah, not
not nearly as much as it has been. Um, yeah,
like you said, Toronto won games. Uh, you know, Philadelphia
(16:02):
has two superstars in the room for another All Star
caliber player and again, like you said, in Boston is terrific.
And then you know, Milwaukee has to me a superstar
in the honest and then you know an all Star
caliber player in Chris Middleton. And if Jabari Parker is
healthy and returns another guy you know who can score
(16:26):
twenty and night. So I think the top of these
has become better and better over the last two years.
Steve Clifford, head coach of the Orlando Magic Joint, just
in the Doug Gotlif Show on Fox Sports Radio, you
were in Orlando the last time Orlando was Kings of
the East. How big a rebuild project is this? Um, well,
(16:48):
you know what, I'm actually in the process for our steps,
in the process of really doing a total study. Now,
as you know, the first month is about getting up
to speed on your roster. And you know, we only
won twenty five games last year, but you know, really
took two significant uh injuries with Terrence Ross and Jonathan
(17:09):
Isaac only plent we both played less than thirty games, um,
and then had some other health issues where you know,
very good players Evan Fournier and the Grucivic you know,
miss significance periods of time there in Gordon this sometimes.
So it was a team that started twelve and six. Uh.
(17:30):
I think that, uh, you know, we have the sixth
pick and hopefully we can you know, help our our
depth there. But um, you know, there are definitely some
things that you can look at, uh and feel good about.
So I feel more comfortable answering that question in about
three weeks but you know, I do feel good about
(17:50):
a lot of the things that I'm seeing on So
it's interesting because it's really hard to tell, you know,
once you got past I mean, frankly, you're like your
team in Charlote it a lot of those other teams
were trying to be bad, right it was, you know,
so it's like, are they really bad or they trying
to be bad? Where where is you know? I mean
like that that's a that's a hard one to answer.
(18:11):
But were you guys? You know what it was the
magic that bad or they trying to be a little
bit worse than their actual talent would would determine. And uh,
I guess the quote is play younger players, right, That's
that's what it's called, playing younger players, no question. And
the one thing I know is they started this season
at twelve and six, and my point is that's eighteen games,
(18:35):
so it's a little bit under a quarter of your schedule.
That's not like being four and two or five and three. Uh.
They beat Cleveland twice, they beat Saying Antonio, they beat
some good teams, and that's when they started to take
some injuries, um, which hurts any team. So uh, that's
obviously class half full. But again, if you can play
(18:57):
eighteen games in this league at twelve and six, then
you know there's some good things that were happening. You. Um,
your your peak with with Charlotte was the playoff season,
the second playoff run, right when you guys won forty
eight games and you guys added some pieces. Um, why
weren't she able to sustain it to a level to
which they were happy with? Well? The you know, the
(19:21):
the biggest thing that hurt us two years ago coming
off to win season was you know, and on that team,
we had six free agents and they all played well. Um,
so you know we were able to keep Nick Bituman,
Marvin Williams. We lost Jeremy Lynn, Alt, Jefferson, Uh, Troy Daniels,
(19:47):
all guys you know who were you know, contributor to
important players, rotation guys for that team. I'm sorry in
courtney league, Um, and if you look at it years ago,
our biggest problem was bench play. Our starters were I
think tenter leventh and differential point differential that year and
(20:10):
usually that would allow you to again be a playoff team.
But um, you know, losing those guys, you know, we
just really struggled and we went to the bench this year,
which was, you know, really to me that this is,
you know, the most disappointing year that we had. There
was I thought that Doug, I thought this was our
(20:31):
best team. Uh, we had more depth, you know, we
brought in Dwight. Um. We had always been a very
good defensive team. Uh. The year we won forty eight
where ninth and offense ninth and defense. We're much more balanced.
And I thought this year we could be a top
five defensive team. And I thought we had enough offense
(20:53):
so that if we could be ten, eleven, twelve, we'd
have the balance necessary to win. We actually ended up
thirteenth and no offense, but we were six or sevent defensively.
So the thing that had been our calling card for
four years, um, you know was what what led us down?
And Uh, that's the biggest disappointment for me. You know,
(21:15):
it's fascinating. I had a conversation with another Eastern Conference
coach just last week and I said, will it ever,
Willever come back to the days of which you'll you'll
play through a big guy, And He's like, no, No.
Everybody loved fans like the way they're playing now, it's
it's impossible and inefficient to score in the low post.
(21:36):
And so you know the Frankly, the Dwight Howard's or
you know, you look around kind of the east and
there's some of these guys that are their players from
a foregone era in that throwing the ball inside just
does not make sense analytically, especially to a big guy
and trying to score in the in the low post.
Do you see that changing anytime soon? No? And I
(21:58):
think that you know, actually, one of the things that
I've seen so far on film here is you know,
we have you know, Nikolai Russavic who started shooting threes
last year. And when you talk about playing through a
five man now offensively, I think the best teams can
do one of two things are both. One is having
(22:21):
the ability to play five our uh you know Al
Horford in Boston, UM where you can play him at
five and you can be terrific on offense and create
space for everybody else to play. And then defensively you're
not getting dominated down law. You know, he can do both.
(22:42):
I think that's the first way you want to play
or you need to have. Yeah, look a roll guy
a roll guy who can defend, defend the rim and
just catching finish and otherwise and and reasonably well switch
on to a guard exactly right. So it's to me,
it's one of those two things five out or four
(23:05):
out one end where you have the chance to play
well at both ends on this floor. Um, and that's it.
I mean, I think that that's it's the way to go.
I mean a lot of it if you want to know, truthfully,
when you look at the post up game now, and
it's one of the places where I think Golden States
not quite is good. Is you know, they had great
success when they had Bogan and then actually with Petulia
(23:30):
is posting five minute just to set up cutting options.
And you know that's the other part of it. Like
here with Nick, I feel we can do some of
that too. Okay, So as we look forward, and obviously
you can't tell us who you have number one on
your board, but how much does that change? You know,
there's a lot of talented big guys. How much does
(23:51):
that change how you look at big players? Hey, can
they play out in the printer? Can they shoot, can
they handle? Can they pass? As opposed to how downant
they are scoring? The low post in college. Oh, I
think it's a. I think it's a. It's a. It's
a huge deal. I mean, unless again, you're confident that
they can be versatile defensively, so like you're saying they
(24:12):
can be involved in switching, and you know they can
be that dynamic roller. Um, but you know, just to
me a post up player again, unless he's terrific defensively.
I mean, if you look at the best teams in
Boston being a great example, you need two way players. Uh,
(24:32):
you need positional five and you need guys that can
play well at both ends of the floor. And I
would make this argument again watching playoff playoff basketball especially,
but even to be balanced in the regular season, much
is said about perimeter players who can't shoot threes. Right.
(24:53):
The guys that hurt you just as much now are
the guys that are pretty good offensive players but are
really bad defense Sly, like to me, with all the
five out in the four out one in where there's
so much space to play the poor defender, Like, if
you're a poor defender, you better be four at night,
all right, So so so okay, so listen again, I'm
(25:14):
giving you hypothetical. There's a guard. There's a guard in
the draft that puts up crazy numbers offensively, but based
upon what we've seen, not particularly engaged defensively and might
not have, uh, the athletic gifts of some people defensively.
How cautious of you as a head coach are you
(25:34):
even though those type of numbers and those type of
shots may put more people in the stands. Yeah, well,
I think the determination that you have to make on
a guy like that would be it's it's again. I
think your question is two part in a little bit
is because it's a question A lot of times I think,
is you know, can he you know, is he capable
(25:57):
and not doing it? You know? Or is he capable? Right?
That's the first thing, and then the second one is
it's how good offensively is he? Again? I mean, if
you're twenty four a night, or you're you know, any
incredible playmaker or bowl, you know, you have to find
ways to win with that guy. I just think that
(26:19):
the guy that scores fourteen a night and doesn't defend,
those guys are hard to win with, now, no question
about it, no question about it. Uh, coach, we wish
you nothing but success in Orlando. Will hope to catch
up with the after this NBA draft, get back to
watching all that film and trying to figure out what
you have and how to fix it. We appreciate you
join us on Fox Sports Radio. Thank you dog any time.
(26:40):
I appreciate it. Pleasures all mine. 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 A bunch of stuff
to talk about with Kevin Durant. That's because Kevin Durant,
let's doing a lot of talking. Let's start with right
after winning the NBA Finals, he was asked about Steph
(27:01):
Curry not winning finals. MVP deep was unbelievable in this
series as well as you were nine threes for a
finals record, he closes out with thirty seven and he's
still never won the finals. M v P. It doesn't matter,
does it? We want two chat. We just went back
to back. I don't I don't think nobody even worried
about that type of stuff. I'm glad that we came
(27:23):
out and played a great game tonight, was able to
finish the series off. That's the only thing that matters
to us, does it? In fact matter. Remember Steph only
played fifteen of the twenty one playoff games for the
Golden State Warriors. He averaged twenty five and a half
points a game. He averaged five assists, six rebounds, and
(27:44):
he had a couple of incredible games the fourth quarter
in Game two and all of Game four. He struggled
in Game three, pretty good in Game one, although not
not spectacular. Um now, if you remember game one he
was eleven of twenty three five eleven from three, you know,
twenty nine points, nine assists. The stats look better because
(28:07):
he hit a bunch. He hit some shots in overtime
as well. You know game two he was only six
of twenty before going on that stretch at the end
of the game six of twenty, hit his last uh,
his last five shots. I believe struggling Game three great,
in Game four average TWENTI seven a half points a game,
(28:29):
six and a half rebounds a game seven half assisted game.
And wasn't the finals MVP. And it was probably the rights,
probably about the right selection about had he given it
to Stephen been fine? Have you given it to Kevin Duranty? Fine?
This could have said the exact same thing. When you
go back to and Andrea Goodalo in the m v P.
(28:49):
But um, but does it actually matter? These are the
type of things that they don't I don't think anybody
goes back and really discusses all that often in trying
to compare somebody's historical greatness. Do they that one feels
like a very much a media discussion Finals m v P.
(29:14):
Don't get me wrong, we've made the regular season m
VP into something bigger than it actually is. Regular season
m VP is I think, I actually think it is
exactly what it is, which is, hey, who had the
best regular season of the best players? Because it doesn't
mean that Lebron is not the best player in the
league or Kevin Rand's not the best player in the league.
(29:37):
And they do have NBA Post Season's Awards, to which
they ultimately have that award. But does it actually matter
who was the finals MVP? I don't think so. Um.
Durand said some other stuff which is interesting. He said,
I feel like it's easy to be the best player
(29:57):
when you don't have good players around you. I feel
like it's hard to stand out when you have great
players around you. I pride myself on standing out wherever
I am. I pride myself. I'm working hard wherever I go,
and I feel like these guys embraced me. I feel
like I'm a warrior. And what happens is we get
caught in a sentence or two and we try to
(30:20):
dispute it. Right. I feel like it's easy to be
the best player when you don't have good players around you.
What does that actually mean? My guess is I goo
Lebron is so much better, so much more important than
his teammates, that they build the whole thing around him,
and that statistically, it just jumps at you. That's that's
not that's not a false statement. It's it's it's harder
(30:42):
to average twenty nine with the Warriors or twenty eight
with the Warriors than it is thirty or thirty two
with the Calves. Correct now, the difference would be that
Lebron has stood out and won games without Clay or
Steph around him. That's probably the add the missed part
(31:02):
of the discussion. I pride myself on standing out wherever
I go. I pride myself. I'm working hard wherever I go.
I feel like these guys embraced me. I feel like
I'm a warrior. He's telling you all you need to
know about all the things kind of going on inside
of his head, which is like, look, I like to
get the ball and go and be the guy, but
I'm dealing. I'm playing with really good players and they
(31:24):
need a ball and they need to be the guy
in their own sort of way. And that's been an
interesting learning experience. Then there's this from Chris Haynes, Uh,
the Golden State Warriors have all star. Kevin Durant has
(31:44):
said he might walk away when he's thirty five. Quote,
this is your game, this game your craft. You have
to continue studying it, no matter how much you enjoy it.
No one wants to be in school that long. I
know I don't. At some point, you have to be
ready to go Radut. That's just a number in my mind. Um.
(32:06):
One of his his business partner, Rich Kleman said, I've
heard him say that, but I'll believe it when it happens.
Golden State Warriors all Star. This again from Chris Haynes column,
who scored almost twenty one thousand points alongside Lebron James,
who scored over thirty one thousand points, are two in
(32:27):
discussion to overtake Kareem Abduel's bar. Durant said he's not
chasing that mark because it's not about the record. I
can leave the game knowing I did everything I want
to do my way, on my terms. That's how I
want to leave the game. If I happen to have
all those accolades and those accomplishments, and that's cool. If not,
I'm still cool. So I don't think that's gonna define
(32:50):
me as a player. It's cool accomplishment. It uh to
be up there with the greats and to be considered
someone who can potentially chase that or beat that. But
I'm not playing for that. Mhm. I just think Katie's
wired a little different. I think we we we actually
(33:10):
we don't want players to have perspective. I think that
Kevin Durant knows he's in a spot to where he's
thirty years old, or about thirty years old, we'll have
a chance to win, you know, two to four more championships.
The idea that he win five more. I don't think
that's happening. I think anybody thinks it's realistic of happening.
How do I know? Because it doesn't last for long
(33:32):
when you're in Chicago with Jordan's, whether you're in l
A with Kobe and Shack, it just doesn't. But you know,
if you win one more championship, you got three, you
win two, you got four, you win three, you got five,
and you're up there with Kobe, you win four, you
get six. Like all right now, we're talking ridiculous numbers
up there with Jordan's. The light good is he doesn't
(33:54):
get there and what he's saying is I'm good. And
we don't necessarily want to hear that as sports fans.
We want to hear what Kobe said to Lebron and
Bleacher Report, which is get as many rings you can.
That's the discussion. That's why Kobe kept playing. That's why
(34:14):
Kobe tried to play through a torn Achilles tendon. That's
where he came back after the Achilles tendon like he wants,
like he thinks the whole thing that at the end
of the day, it's the six rings. Whereas Katie's like, look,
I'm just not wired like that. I'm gonna win everyone.
I'm trying to win everyone. I get a chance to
win if I don't win enough, Like if you didn't
think I was good, what is one more ring, or
two more rings or three more rings gonna prove to
(34:36):
you about how good a player I was. And then
you have lebron Who I do. I do think it
matters to him how many finals in a row he
gets to because he can. He knows he'll never take
down Jordan's record of six finals and six finals wins.
The idea that he's gonna win six championships being stuck
(34:59):
on three that's hard to believe because at some point
his body will decline doesn't mean he won't get one,
maybe even two more. Three's a lot. That's a lot
of wear and tear. It feels like le Bronze like, Look,
I'm gonna have every record outside of the six titles,
and that's gonna be how I can claim status to
(35:20):
being the goat. If I'm the all time scoring leader,
if I've been in more NBA finals than anybody, if
I've led more franchises to finals than everybody, if I
have won a championship in three different cities, then I
can lay claim to being the best all around player
with the best all around records, even if I don't
even if the one record of most NBA finals or
(35:43):
NBA finals championships. UH. NBA championships without a loss. That
one's lost on me. All dudes are wired differently. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Rate and the I Heart Radio app. Every time
I've had him on, I've said it because it really
(36:04):
is true. There are just some guys who play in
the NBA who everybody the league is about. It's about
respect more than anything else. About relationships and respect he
has anybody's playing the NBA. It's about you gotta you
gotta be good enough and handle yourself in a way
to which people respect you. And then it's about those relationships,
which lasts far beyond when you're actually playing. If you
listen to his show on Sundays, Chris and Karen Karan
(36:26):
Butler join us in studio every week. He's got somebody
had Kobe a couple of weeks ago, UH had Dwayne Wade.
UH going back to yesterday, that come on because they
all respect tough choose not just what it took for
him to get to the league, but how he played
and purported himself. Once he's in the league and how
he handles his business now as he covers the league
for us at Fox, and for for ESPN, and for
(36:47):
the folks at Turner. He worked for everybody. Everybody wants
a piece of tough joice and he joins us in studio.
All right, let's let's we'll work our way towards the
Dwayne Wade conversation UM NBA Finals, like, what's your what's
your two? When you see it, you see it from
a different lens, having played, having won it before. What's
your takeaway from the NBA Finals? My takeaway was, you know,
(37:10):
thanks for the introduction like that too, brother, That was
that was deep. Uh. I saw, you know, a team
that was deflated, you know that that was running on
fumes that got there in the Cleveland Cavaliers. And I
saw a team on the opposing side and the Golden
State Warriors who was just fresh and poised for a repeat.
(37:30):
And Kevin Durant is the weapon. You know, the system
is in place with the Golden State Warriors, with the
Splash Brothers and Draymond Green and the supporting cast, but
he is the weapon. And I said it, and people
got like just went off the grid on me when
I said, Kevin Durant is the only guy in the
association that's a wash at that position with Lebron James,
(37:50):
it was like, what's the wash? I'm like, if you
look at the Eastern Conference and you look at the
run that Lebron's had in the Eastern Conference, he played
in the first round, he plays against any end Pacers,
Indiana Pacers with Victor Oladipo and those guys, he offset
three of the star players. He did it again in
the Toronto series, and he did it again in the
Boston series. He can outplay literally the best three players
(38:11):
on the opposing team. But when you go to the finals,
it's one guy on that team that can be literally
a wash with him. And ask Kevin Durant, He's the weapon.
And that's why they had no shot whatsoever. Well, they
listen game game one. Now they did have a shot.
Of course, we all know all the things to win
a game, but not the series. No prop no. I thought.
(38:33):
I I thought it would go five or six because
I thought they could get one and I thought maybe
they could get one at home and the whole series
probably changed if they get one. Remember, Iguadala wasn't healthy.
Didn't play. I think they're a different team with him
as opposed to without him. You need that fifth guy
they were attacking. Whoever that fifth guy was on the floor.
Those guys didn't. We're always in the wrong place the
(38:53):
wrong time. And and you know, using Javel McGee, I
thought was was smart something they didn't do in the
Houston series. So I think they kind of changed as well.
But I want your reaction to the footage, which I
think all everyone's seen now Game one, end of regulation.
Lebrons sitting over there, and obviously he's hot, right, he
just he he had fifty one you could cook. He
(39:17):
was hot. Okay, he's hot, and they are, you know,
like they are clearly wanted to apologize. I wanted to
go my mo bad and and like no one, no
one did anything except for like Cliver comes over and
he's trying to like console like all it's okay. But look,
he could have gone one of three ways. He could
have turned around and goes and did what he did
in the court, like what are you doing? What is
(39:38):
the matter with you? But instead he's just seething, and
maybe instead of saying the wrong thing, he said nothing.
But he also didn't go like, hey, next play, let's
go get it back. Um, you've been in all those
huddles when all those big moments. What was your reaction.
I was a shot, because like you just talked about it,
and you talked about your your child at you know,
(39:58):
goes attendance to school. It you know, Mamba's kid and everything,
and the one thing that you know as a parent.
And I hate to make this comparison, but you don't
want to show too much emotion to the people that
looked to you for the leadership in the guidance, you know,
so like it can be the worst moment ever and
(40:18):
my kids can attest this. I'm just like, I'm straight faced,
poker face. And in that moment, Lebron displayed all that
emotion and it just like it was deflating not only
to JR. But to the team. And then that was
a moment, and then you go to the huddle and
then it's like he's revisiting the moment even in depth,
and just like there's no way from an emotional standpoint
(40:40):
that they can come out that huddle and still be
consistent on the court to give their best effort. And
I told R J me and Richard Jefferson watching the game,
He's like, no, Lebron is great, He's going to figure
it out. I'm like, bro, he can. He can turn
it on and off like that. But you gotta think
about the other guys that's looking and evaluating this situation
from a ootional standpoint. They're hot, they checked out, You
(41:02):
lost them like it's it's a rap, the cancel Christmas,
Like the series is over. Like any chance that you
had at winning a game, it's over. Do guys in
the league think of Kevin Durant at the level of
he's playing, at the level of Lebron I think so, like, look,
this is what people see what Kevin Durant and you know,
(41:24):
you know, truth sounds like hate to those who not
used to hearing the truth. So this is truth talk
right here. They may feel like indifferent for him leaving
the Oklahoma City Thunder for whatever reason, and he had
his reasons and the reason why it's justified because he's winning,
and he's winning MVPs, he's winning titles, and you know
he has it all, you know, on and off the court,
(41:45):
he's winning, uh, financially, Um, he's in a good place
mentally and that's all about. That's that's all you can
ask for. But you may have your mixed feelings because
of that. But if you take that out of the
equation and take that personal stuff out and just be like,
as a basketball player, how can you not say that
he's not on the same level now with two Final
(42:08):
m vps, two championships, and he's taken two away from Lebron?
You know what I mean? Like Lebron is still the
best player on the planet right now today, he's the
best player. But it's a photo it's a it's a
photo finish when you look at him and Kevin Durant
as you know, going forward, because Kevin Durant is special. Um,
he's ready for the moment and he understands that. Look.
(42:31):
In order for me to continue to be special, I
had to continue to you know, go through him. Stut
show Fox Sports Trader, that's a voice of tough justice,
Corn Butler checking out Chris and Karen every Sunday here
on Fox Sports Radio. Uh, Steph has not one of
finals m v P. I've never thought of that as
the calling card of whether or not, like you're an
(42:51):
all time grade. But he's unique, right, he won two
m vps. But I don't know if he was actually
the best player in the league. I don't think he was.
Anybody thought he was the best player in the league
either those years. Harden probably should have won it. One
year Lebron said, you know, hey, look he had he
had the incredible year in the seventy three win year.
But didn't make him the best players, just made him
have the best season. Again, how do guys in the league,
(43:12):
guys who play, guys like yourself, how do they look
at Steph in comparison to the other great players? Best
shooter all the time? Uh, off the dribble, also not
just a catching shoot shooter, but off the dribble redefined
the game from a perimeter standpoint. And um, I can't
tell the story of basketball without talking about Steph Curry
and the Golden State Warrior. He's here, Here's here's here's
(43:36):
how I would look at when you say best shooting
off the drill. For people don't understand. Some guys are
great off the catch, like his dad was great off
the catch. Unbelievable catching shoot, jump shot ray. Okay, some
dudes are great going right, some dudes are great going left.
Now does are there certain shots that he has the left,
he always go step back right on the right, he
likes to shoot off the crossover or whatever. But this
(43:57):
is a guy that literally shoots and way you want
right left from almost any range. And when you said
he's redefined, he's redefined what you consider a good shot
because usually some of these shots, they were considered bad shots,
not because somebody couldn't make them, because they would make
such a low percentage your coach would take you out
even if you did make it, that's a bad shot.
Now we have to kind of read weight. Maybe it's
(44:18):
not a bad shot. He makes a high enough percentage
of it to which you give him more freedom. Yeah,
that's that's That's exactly what I meant. And he sells
out his warm ups, like like when he's warming up
to get prepared for the game, it's a standing room only.
People want to see this guy get into a flow,
into a rhythm, and he makes it fun um From
(44:38):
a technical standpoint, it's just, you know, amazing to watch,
and you know he's he's having fun doing it, and
he's a Hall of famer. He's gonna be a future
Hall of Famer. M v P two times three three
three championships. What else do you? I mean, what like,
it's just like we're picking. We're picking at the bear,
like we're poking at the beer. Like he was like
(45:00):
he could have easily had the finals MVP when Andrey
Godala wont it? You know, I mean, but it was
the right thing to do because this is what they
they're controlling the narrative. This is what we're doing. We're
rewarding uh, excellent basketball and people that sacrifice and Andre
Godalla sacrifice something. All of them are all in about
the team. And you heard Kevin Durant quotes when he said,
look we won, Like why are you even talking about that?
(45:24):
Who cares? Like if he wanted, I want to, like,
look we won a championship. You know, it's interesting they
got away with the fact that their bench, this is
the weakest bench of the three. And they got away
with the fact that Draymond can't make a shot. Like
Draymond he can, he lost confidence in it and he
just he couldn't. Like it's really amazing because he was
a kind of stretch five. He could make some shots,
(45:45):
and he lost his jump shot sometime this season. And
I had a little bit of shoulder thing, but a
lot of it is just mentally not having confidence. Kind
of amazing that I think people somehow conflate the seventy
three win team, which had a completely different makeup and
didn't win a champions with this team when this team
kind of limped in without Iguadala for the first two games,
(46:05):
with Draymond being a guy who did not even guard,
and with you know, and look, Steph had a couple
of bad nights. But also the bench was just not
very good in comparison to benches in the past. People
people made a lot of you know, fuss about Kevin
Durant going there too. Uh, and you see, if he
had not went there these two championships, I don't feel
(46:27):
like they would have won. Agreed. This is what I said,
um again, And I don't know if you have you
ever seen the movie Pretty Woman, absolutely okay, you know
the part where she said she she tells she has
this vision of being rescued on the balcony and and
he asked, yes, so what happened after, uh, he rescues her,
and she says she rescued him right back. I used
(46:48):
it Friday. I was like, look, Kevin Durant rescued them
right back because they saved Kevin Durant from a career
of possibly not winning championships in Oklahoma City. But these
two wouldn't have been possible. Who if they keep Harrison
Barnes do, what do they do with the rest of
the bench? Like that was it was a team that
others would catch up to, like the Rockets, whereas this team,
it gave them a completely different look and and put
(47:12):
them to this point heading head and tails above. Um, Okay,
let's do this. I want to find out what's going
on with Steve de Seger. Karen Butler is gonna continue
to join us, and then we'll get to your conversation
with Dwayne Wade and what next for Lebron. Karan Butler
continues to join us here on the Doug Gotlie Show.
Let's take a listen. So the show is every Sunday,
Every Sunday, Chris and Karen on Fox Sport. Chriss Chris
(47:34):
Mannix from Yahoo Sports. Karan is my guest. Karen Butler,
of course, an NBA champion with the Dallas Mavericks UH
several times, an All Star. You see him on Turner Sports.
You see him on ESPN, CEM on Fox. He works
for everybody, actually everybody works for him. Um and uh.
If you missed the interview in its entirety, go to
iTunes you can download it. Also download the Kobe Bryant interview,
(47:57):
which they sat down for about twenty five minutes with
with of Me three weeks ago. Here's Dwyane Wade talking
about Lebron James future. I don't think it's a basketball thing.
I think at this point in his life is more
of a lifestyle thing of you know, where my family
is gonna be the most comfortable, where I'm gonna be
the happiest that What do you make of that count?
I think it's spot on. You know, look, there's so
(48:18):
many layers and there's so many seasons too, NBA UH career. Right,
So when we come into this game as professional athletes,
you want to be uh, you want everybody to know
your name. You want to hit the ground running, You
wanna you know, tackle all these uh invisible goals that
you said. So he's done that, and then you you
(48:41):
you you go through the championship journey where you're just
trying to you know, stack up on as many rings
as possible. And then you think about the seamless transition
in life after basketball. This is the winner of your career.
And you know he shows no signs of declining to
slowing down, but look, everything has to come to the
end at some point, and you have to think about
you know, your family, and and and where would you
(49:03):
reside and how can you make that transition as smooth
as possible? And I look at I look at that,
and I and and and I think Houston. Obviously you
can win there. Chris Paul's buddy, his buddy for many years,
a great friend on and off the court. And I
also think about the Los Angeles Lakers, where he always
already has an existing um you know, network of business
(49:26):
already going on off the court. So it just makes
a ton of sense to be here in this market,
um and and in excel. Do you think there's a
way in which he gets Chris Paul to come here? Okay,
anybody I unders well, but Chris Paul has he could
be a free agent, don't want to take a pay cut.
He's also you know, head of the NBA p A,
(49:48):
so for that, he doesn't Chris Paul can't go like, hey,
I'll work for five million dollars because that doesn't that
that's that's not great for everybody else in the union, right, Um,
And and there's always been the dream for the Lakers
or for the Lakers always. You know, if not for
the David Stern trade, Kobe would have even more rings,
not none of that would have happened. Like I guess
my question is, is there a plan that's already in
(50:09):
place that will know about in a week or two
or do you think he's gonna sit down and try
and figure out what that plan is? Man, Listen, you know,
I think it's a process because you know, if he
leaves Cleveland, if and win, it's gonna be, uh, it's
gonna be a long break up. So you know, you
gotta be respectful in that space. But I do feel
(50:31):
like and and he's a calculated guy. His team is calculated.
I do feel like that decision has already been made
amongst each other, amongst them, and they're just waiting to
move forward with that. Here's my hypothesis. And you tell
me if it's it's way off. My hypothesis is the
reason you're hearing all these teams which like m like
(50:52):
the Golden State thing. I think that could actually do
damage to Golden State if they meet with him, right,
which is like, wait, it's so many ways if they
meet with him. It's like Clay sitting there going like,
hey wait, I said, I take less to stay. Now
you think about getting rid of me? Hampton five, Huh
the deaf line up? Hampton five. You're gonna meet with Lebron? Like,
what are y'all? What are y'all doing? Like we want
to stay together, we're the dynasty. Like I think that
(51:16):
destroys chemistry. Chemistry is everything, right, you know, you passed
the ball, you under you got familiarity with the guys
that you're with, and then all of a sudden, you
you have a meeting with the best player on the
planet and Lebron James. Now everybody's like, the player is
not gonna um you know? Support that mean? I don't think,
because that means that two of the guys has to go,
(51:38):
and that's just that that would be crazy, right, And
then you have you have Boston, which feels like a
tweak towards Kyrie, right, I mean it. And I don't
think San Antonio is not happening because as much as
it's about winning championships. It's also about supporting those guys
who he's brought with him everywhere he's gone, and that
doesn't fly in San Antonio. Um. I just I feel
(52:01):
like these other teams are being put in play for
a reason. And the other reason is like the Lakers
want him, and the Lakers want to make it work.
But I think they wanted Fitzdale to be the coach.
I think they wanted some of the things to go
be their way. And to that point, the Lakers and
said like, look, we're gonna build a great team around you.
You picked the other superstar, you help recruiting, We'll get
you there. But we're not gonna let it be what
(52:23):
it was in Cleveland. It's gonna be closer to what
it was in Miami. Yeah. I could see that also.
But at the end of the day, when when when
Lebron goes wherever he goes, he's gonna, you know, not
only be a client, He's going to be the president. Okay,
So here's the here's the big question though that I
haven't heard anybody talk about. You and I were discussing
before we went on air. Look, he's in his thirties
(52:47):
and we can go fifteenth years a lot of where
on those tires. He was as good defensively this year.
He's super smart and how he picks his spots. He
doesn't practice anymore. He just does his individual workout. He
gets his body right, and he plays in games to
play showtime. But at some point Father Time wins every
one of these battles. So you're gonna sign Lebron to
a four year deal? What is year three and four? Actually?
(53:08):
Look like? What is? How is what's the next step
in evolution of le Bron? Looked like? Look, look and
this is the crazy me and Chris is talking about
this even a bad year for Lebron, right, this is
a bad season, so some other guys career season, Uh,
he's gonna average what two, seven and six? Like like
this this thing about that seven and six, like you
(53:31):
can't even get your probably your your star franchise cornerstone
of the franchise guy to do that right now. And
he's gonna do that on the back end on this
end of his career. So with that being said, and
if he has the talent around him, like he understands
his his i Q is higher than others, like he
remember plays like on the spot that happened in two
thousand and eight, Like it's it's a rare handful of
(53:54):
guys that can do that and think the game of
basketball like that to take care of their temple, which
is their body, investing over a million and a half
two million dollars in their body every year. So look,
he's serious about his craft. He understands that, and the
thing that drives him is that we're having this conversation.
He can't do that fifteen sixteen seventy. He has to
(54:15):
slow down. He's like, you know what, I'm going to
prove all the doubters wrong. I'm gonna go out there
and have a remarkable three four year run. Okay, So
why did he wear the brace on his hand? Everybody
need a little sympathy, come on, man, Yeah he was,
but he was already getting the sympathy. We're already We're
already like, look, Lebron just didn't have the horses he got.
(54:36):
J R. Tyler doesn't call it time out, George Hill came,
Jordan Clarksons thinks he can't put him in the game, right, Like,
everyone was already sympathetic in his plight against the Warriors.
Every superhero just want a little hut. So he like,
why not just why not just wait until today and
let it leak? Hey, you know what, Lebron had a
broken hand? No way, Yeah, you had a broken hand.
(54:58):
Check the video. He's got a swollen got a swollen hand.
But and then let him and then he comes out
now he's got a full cast on today, and then
he could come with it. Look, I don't make any excuses.
We lost because they were the better team. That's it.
And he takes instead it looked like an excuse. I
got a broken hand. Oh you know, I punched. I
lost my cool. I shouldn't have done it. What are
you doing? But if you wait, then who controls the narrative?
(55:23):
Because he did it. When he did it, he still
controls the narrative, like, oh my god, like what happened
to his hand? I'll tell you later. He gets to
control that. He didn't have to say anything, you have.
The story could be that Lebron James punched the blackboard.
The exactly what the story is. He punched the black board,
he broke his hand. But it could be like he
didn't he had he played three games of the broken
hand and didn't say nothing to it about anybody. Instead,
(55:46):
it's oh, Lebron gets feat now he's got a broken hand.
Of course he does. What was the headline after after
that post conference? The headline was to Golden State Warriors win,
but the story was what happened to Lebron hand perfectly played?
I disagree. I wanted to give the guy every everything,
like you're gonna come up with it. That's that's the
(56:07):
that's you said. Somebody a text in the next day like, oh,
sorry about the text. I was drunk, Like you still
said the text. You still said the text. Look, look
we were compared hive to the goat, right, the greatest
of all time, Michael George one years ago today he
played the flu game. So look, I would have been better,
but my hand was broke. I like it. I like
(56:28):
it better when somebody else says it. Remember Mike Tyson
said my back was broken. They said you're back. You
broke your back? Your back, he said, my back was broken.
That's why I couldn't fight. My back was broken. That's
that's part of you know what. You know what Bill Simmons,
I believe coined the Tyson zone. You what the Tyson
zone is? You're in the Tyson There's no story about
Mike Tyson that you don't believe to be right. That's
(56:52):
that's called the Tyson Zone. So Mike Tyson says I
had broken back, Like, yeah, I believe that, Mike. Mike
Tyson said I had my foot. I had a foot
bit off by an alligator. He'd like, yeah, I believe
that's Mike Tyson. Tyson. H But Lebron Ja I don't know,
like Lebron James. I mean Paul Pierce still catching grief
for getting wheeled off. That wasn't his choice in the
in the wheelchair, in the wheelchair. Check out his show
(57:14):
It's UM on Sundays. I always get confused with the
with the East coast West coast because I listened to
a West Coast time. Alright, so it's it's but it's
twelve to three Eastern time, nine to twelve Pacific Coast time.
He's tough shoes. Follow him on Instagram on Twitter as well.
Maybe he'll fight Kobe Bryant's fights on Twitter Forum. Thanks
so much for joining us from a Burner account.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.