July 3, 2018 • 47 mins
Doug thinks Kevin Durant is the only super star in the NBA who will actually do whatever it takes to win, even when it means taking a pay cut. He also rips Terrell Owens for hosting his own event on the same day as the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions. Doug talks to Lee Jenkins from Sports Illustrated to find out why LeBron James chose to join the Lakers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio, Boom America. Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio,
Coming to you from the City of angels Man. Do
we have a lot to get to get you caught
up on? Lee Jenkins, who um who wrote the piece
(00:23):
for Sports Illustrated last time um Lebron James decided to
return to Cleveland, also authored a much shorter uh not
a third person not first person piece on Lebron James
his shortstop in Los Angeles, the Decision three point oh.
He'll catch up with us here in fifteen minutes. Tory
Levola will be our guest in the second hour of
(00:44):
the show. That's uh four o'clock on four twenty on
the West coast. On the East coastcuse me one twenty
on the West coast. Michael Porter Jr. Will join us
at five on the East coast. Too. On the West coast,
and Anthony Slater, who worked for the Athletic Bay Area,
will join us. Talk about well, I think everybody's reacting to,
which is DeMarcus Cousins Boogie Cousins, what's the best way
(01:08):
to make a championship team dance? Put a little boogie
in it. Anyway, Um DeMarcus Cousins is now a member
of the Golden State Wars. It's not just that the
Warriors got him. That got him as a free agent
only one year, only five point three million dollars for
a guy who going into last year was searching for
max money. So there's there's a ton to it. Ton
(01:33):
to it, but there is there is this one thing
that I think you should learn to accept. There's this
discussion or maybe a point that's made, has been made
to me many times over in terms of playing, but
it works for you in life as well. Lots of
people say they want to be great. My son is
(01:57):
nine years old. He says, I wants to play Major
League baseball. That's great. It's left handed. He hits right,
although he can hit left. So we're gonna have him
hit left, but more next year. He's a little young
for his league this year. Throws left. Obviously, plays first base.
Great spirit, probably be a little small to play first base.
(02:17):
It's probably the one thing that I would say would
be working against him. Outside of that, you know, he
loves the game, understands the game, and plays at a
pretty high level For a kid his age, and then
you know, can you hit a major league curveball? Can
you can you top ninety with your fastball? You can
do either of those two things. You gotta you got
(02:39):
a legit chance. But but I told him this. I
was like, look, there are lots of kids who put
on a jersey and say I want to be Steph Curry.
There are lots of kids that go out and throw
with their dad and say I want to be Mike
Trout and Clay or Clayton Kershaw. But are you willing
to sacrifice the things on a daily basis which will
(03:01):
allow you to take the steps to becoming the guy
you ultimately want to be? And of course, like any boy,
any person, absolutely, but it's not saying it, it's doing
it right there. There is a there is a certain
amount of doing that that has to take place in
order for you to uh to see it too, to
(03:22):
achieve your potential. And I'm sitting here looking at at
Kevin Durant, who won an m v P, went to
an NBA finals, was up three games to one on
the Warriors. They lost, and all I hear is, hey,
Kevin Durant is soft. Kevin Durand took the easy way out.
(03:47):
Sure he won two finals m v P and two
and finals MVPs and two championships, but he had to
join a seventy three win team to do it. In
order to land de Marcus Cousins, Kevin Durant had to
take slightly less money, about five million dollars less. Now,
that doesn't seem like that biggest sacrifice for somebody who's
(04:10):
already made over a hundred million dollars and it's probably
gonna make over, you know, close to a billion dollars
all told, by the time they're done playing basketball between
Nike his deals obviously not that of Lebron but Nike UM,
all his other tech company stuff, investments, et cetera, and
(04:30):
his various contracts. So in order to get to Marcus Cousins,
he took about five million dollars less you go back
to his previous deal and he took about five million
dollars less um in order to land Andreago Dolla and
Sean Livingstone when their contracts were up. Kevin Durant can
(04:53):
be criticized all you want because he joined a team
that lost in the NBA finals. They won more games
in the regular season than any team in the history
of the sport. But there's two things that that that
strike me about Durant. One is this, all these guys
say they want to win a championship. The most important
thing to me is winning. How many times you heard
(05:14):
that at a press conference or on a radio in
a radio interview. But to Kevin Durant, he puts winning
above money. Right Look at the Houston Rockets. Look at
the Houston Rockets. Between James Harden's extension last year and
(05:35):
Chris Paul's extension this year, both of them took every
penny that they had rightfully earned. Chris Paul hadn't rightfully
necessarily earned it with the Houston Rockets. But throughout his
long and illustrious career as a max contract guy that
many years in the league, nobody bet and I at
the money that he's making, even though we all know
(05:56):
that those last two years are probably gonna be a
little bit dicey. But did he have to if if
winning was the most important thing, couldn't Chris Paul have
taken less money to free up more money for Trevor
Reason to resign? Right? Like all these guys say, one thing,
(06:16):
they also It's like my son saying, hey, I want
to be major League baseball player, Like, okay, or do
you want to get up at six in the morning
and go to the cage and hit forty five minutes?
Are you willing to eat? Right? Are you willing to
do the little things? And then I look at the
Golden State Warriors, and I also realized that only they
are they willing? Is their best player willing to sacrifice,
(06:39):
but their team is They're just smarter. DeMarcus Cousins does
not come without risk. It's coming off in torn achilles tendon.
Nobody knows how will play this year. His attitude has
never been one to which you'd model a basketball player after.
And he might have um a tertiary or even worse,
(07:00):
all on the offensive side of the floor. And while
we say, hey, all DeMarcus Cotton Cousin wants to do
is win, because if he shows he gonna be part
of a winner, then that all night him for his
next team. The likelihood is he's going to be at
best a fourth option offensively, And all guys say, like ball,
(07:20):
do it if it's for winning. Let's see what happens
when you look down at the box score and you see,
you know, five shots, you only make three, you only
play twenty minutes, but your team wins by fifteen. He's
still gonna be happy. Kevin Durant strikes me as one
of the few guys who you know, you know the
uh was it walks it like he talks, It practices
(07:41):
what he preaches and whatever cliche you want. Everybody says
they're willing to sacrifice. Says it's about championships. Kevin Durant
and it's not that much for him, ten million dollars,
ten million hours. But but with that ten million dollars
they were able to get DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Goodala and
(08:03):
Sean Livingston. He was willing to sacrifice a little bit
of money for two titles and maybe now three. Here's
Adrian Wardanowski trying to explain to Marcus cousins situation in
free agency. The injury played a big part in depressing
the market for him. Uh, the fact that there wasn't
solar caps face on a lot of places. But here's
(08:24):
the reality de Marcus Cousins had to deal with and
now has to start directifying Golden State his image. There
were teams with Space who did not want him in
their locker room, didn't want him in their Organization's gonna
be sitting on the bench with Steve Kerr. He's gonna
be sitting there in practice and games. They're gonna get
to know each other. They're gonna get to build a
relationship before he ever steps on the court. And they
think that's really important. Golden State. I tend to agree,
(08:45):
they have a great culture. He's gonna have to buy
into that culture in order to make it work. If
it doesn't work, they still may be able to win
without him. If he does buy in and he's three
quarters of the player used to be, they'll probably they'll
they'll be the best team. And they've they've they've improved some. Um,
there's no guarantees he's he's actually worth that money. You're
(09:06):
always worth what somebody's willing to pay. But it stuns
me han how no one else seems to have pointed out, Hey,
this is the second time Durant has done something that
other stars won't do. Lebron didn't do it in Cleveland.
Meloshers heldev none that even Russell Westbrook took every penny
that he had earned in Oklahoma City everybody says, I
(09:28):
want to win a championship. Are you willing to take
five million dollars less per year and word to win
a championship? Now asking it from somebody else, are you
willing to come out the bench? Would mellow? Would Mellow
say no? Allen iverson? No. So I look at Golden
State and I think they're willing to sacrifice more, and
(09:49):
I think that front office is just smarter. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaps Show
weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Jenkins joins US
rights for Sports Illustrat, also a Southern California Jewish Sports
Hall of Famer. I know I was there for the
induction ceremony. Lee, how are you? I'm good? Thanks. Your
(10:10):
your speech was the best of the day, though I
appreciate I actually enjoyed yours. A great deal. Online car
shopping can be confusing, not even more with true price
from True Car. Now you can know the exact price
you'll pay for your next vehicle, so it's the true
car you enjoy more confident car buying experience. Lee. Of
course you authored uh the piece when when Lebron or
helped right the piece. When Lebron decided to go back
(10:30):
to Cleveland this time around, it was shorter and more concise,
more professional. He flies in on Saturday. Uh, he has,
under the cover of darkness, a three hour meeting with
Magic Johnson. He has breakfast in Brentwood, dignitary, stopped by
everybody wants him to pay attention. At some point time
he comes to a conclusion and he says, called the Lakers.
(10:54):
As he's boarding the plane to go to Europe. Is
that about right? Yeah? That's about written a hundred words
and be done that. So I I think this was
probably I mean, I know this was his lean for
a while. Um and even you know early that weekend,
I actually once thought it would even go faster than that. So,
you know, I think there were a lot of there
were a lot of arrows pointing him to Los Angeles.
(11:16):
And but I do wonder as he sits there on
a boat in Italy or wherever he is, you know,
how much he knew of what would come in the
aftermath here And what does Roster looks like now compared
to the one he might have signed up for? Okay,
that's it's a really good question. How much, say does
he want and who's on this team? I don't know.
I think a lot of that in the past in
Cleveland was overstated, and I know, I know it's a
(11:37):
popular kind of train of thought that he was the
general manager, and clearly there were deals struck and players
brought in who were part of Rich Paul's agency. Uh So,
I mean you can see some of the you know,
some of the influence he might have exerted. But I
also think there were plenty of deals that he wasn't
necessarily involved with it didn't want to be involved with.
So how much of he knew of the Lakers Pacific
(12:00):
direction and specific names, I don't know definitely generally. I'm
sure that was part of the talk he had with
Magic Johnson. But you know, what he was sort of
telling the people close to him is that this is
a longer play and that he sort of believes that
the lure of the Lakers, of Magic having that extra
that cap space, having some of these young players either
(12:20):
to develop or move, the kind of all of that
gave him enough confidence that they would be able to
establish something powerful, if not this coming season, in subsequent season,
what was he most concerned about with the Lakers. I
don't know he was. It was expressed to me that
he he wanted to sit down with Magic, he wanted
to kind of look him in the eye. He wanted to,
(12:42):
I think, talk about direction of the team moving forward.
But I don't really think. I think it would have
been very unlikely, even when he came back to l A,
even though he met with the representation, met with the Sixers,
for him to go another way. It seemed like that
was just so much of where he was leaning. Um,
but I do, you know, I do sort of wonder.
(13:03):
I mean, he's thirty three years old, going on thirty four,
and even though he can profess to patients now, I
do sort of wonder what it looks like for him
if this team is what when you look at this
team right now, do what do you see? Do you
see six in the west? Nick? And where do you
kind of put them? Because I don't know, you know,
he could say all the things he wants to say now,
(13:24):
but in February March, he's not really accustomed to being,
you know, on the bottom end of a conference. Yeah.
I mean again, it does, though, depend on what he
what he thought, like, what are you leaving behind in Cleveland?
Do we think were they weren't the best team or
the second best team in the East this year. And remember,
(13:45):
yes they beat Boston in Boston Game seven, but Boston
have the top two players. Like I do think, I
do think he understood that run was probably coming to
an end. And I and I understand that some of
this move was not just about basketball. Um. But yeah,
I think middle of the of the playoff pack is
is reasonable, uh to middle to lower end of the
(14:06):
playoff pack. I mean it depends upon like everything else, injuries, cohesion,
I you know, it still feels like there's one more
move that they have not made yet, and obviously that's
the Kauai move, and that would change everything. But as
of now, it looks like it could be a playoff team. Yeah,
I just you know, his expectations and maybe maybe he
can tamper temper them, and maybe Lakers fans can too.
(14:28):
But I do wonder what that experience would be like
for him if it does, if it does start off
the way it looks like it may. You know, even
in Miami year one, I know they weren't they didn't
win the championship. It didn't go perfectly Cleveland. Certainly there
were issues along the way that first regular season, but
in general, those were teams very much a contention. Those
were teams that made the finals. So yeah, and I
(14:52):
know they're also so much made of this outside interests
in the Hollywood and all of apidated. This is still
someone who when you're around him and the team is losing,
you feel it. There's a real shadow around, you know,
the hill cast over the organization. If if it's not
going well and you're talking about a team where they're
trying to develop young players and create a positive culture.
(15:13):
That's where I wonder is their impetus to get the
cow Id deal done now that you don't want to
start his tenure off in l A as a sixth
seed or whatever it might be. Um, And that's because
I know that logically you'd say, well, wait, right, you
don't need to give up anything for him in a year,
but you might be sacrificing kind of his start. UM.
(15:35):
I offered up to start the show Lee Jenkinson Sports
Illustrated as an incredible job covering the NBA, joining US
Doug Gotlip Show Fox Sports Radio. I offered up that
maybe the missing part of the Warriors adding DeMarcus Cousins
discussion is this is the second time Kevin Durant. Though
it's not huge about some money to him, he's taken
(15:57):
less money in order to make it work. Um, here's Durant,
a guy. Here's here's Durant who who won m v
P in Oklahoma City, obviously left a really good team,
had been to the finals once, and all he's done
is take less money. Two different contracts, win two finals MVPs,
win two championships. It kind of feels like that part
(16:17):
is getting undersold as part of the steel. Yeah, I'd
undersell it too. I understand that that's been the net
result of this deal. Uh, and it's a it's a
great storyline. I do think he really wants the flexibility,
and if I think he will, it's hard for me
to believe that he won't at least take a look
around next year if it even if they win the
(16:39):
championship again, even if he has one big finals game
or wins finals m v P, at some point I
think that he may want to go somewhere and front
of franchise again. I mean, there were there were some
moments this season. There that there were people around Golden
State and even within that team who wondered if he
would be back. So I also think he wanted to
(17:00):
leave himself a little bit of flexibility. No I I
I get that, Um, but tell me the other guy
who's taken less money. But we would have preferred if
he signed longer. I'm sure, and even if they didn't
have the money for DeMarcus Cousins Lee Jenkins joining us.
But you're right, and the end result is he has
given them. It's kind of a It's worked both ways
(17:21):
for him. Right, He's been a service flexibility and help
the team. So right they got I mean they I
don't know if they would have gotten Igodala deal done,
or the living Stone deal done, or or this deal
is done. Um, what about the Boogie Cousins thing? I know, Twitter,
NBA Twitter when crazy. But the fact is he has
been a problem wherever he's been. He is coming off
(17:41):
an achilles tendon injury, and this is one of the
few places to which they don't need him for most
of the regular season. They need him for the playoffs. Um,
it feels like this was this, This was the only
choice for a bunch of reasons. What's how are NBA
people really reacting to the news today? Why did players
are players are probably reacting with more doom and terror
(18:05):
because it's Boogie Cousins. There's still a ton of respect
for him as far as the overall talent. And you
just think about five all stars on the floor. You know,
probably people who are more behind the scenes, more analytically based. Yeah,
they'll they'll wonder about fit and overlap and if he
is given these coming off and achilles, we all know
(18:25):
how damaging that injury can be. Will it prohibit him
from playing their style? Uh, the way that they like
to play it? So all of those are the truth
probably lies somewhere in the middle, but it's still it's
still a tremendous talent, and it's the one position where
they're always vulnerable. And now you're adding a guy who
on i mean, think of their second unit. Even if
(18:47):
they just kind of play through him, when Curries sitting
or Durant sitting, it just it allows there's never a break.
I mean, there's never a break against them anyway, but
on the offensive end, it just gives them an another
another toy to play with. What do you think happens
with Kauai. You know, I think that that situation is
(19:07):
so tricky because of his his reluctance to communicate just
in general, and so we're going to have to figure
out Spurs have to figure out how he really feels
about Philly and Boston because if it is if he
is adamant that he will not resign there, or if
he says sends that message and he rarely and this
has kind of kind of the issue with him is
(19:27):
he rarely sends verbal messages, so rarely sort of speak
up about what his actual desires are. A lot of
it's sort of hard to interpret or it comes from
behind the scenes with him. But to me, that's that's
the huge question. If he's willing to at least give
those teams a shot, well then this becomes you know,
the Spurs can drag this out, they can look for leverage,
(19:48):
They'll have leverage with the Lakers. If he won't, then
I feel like you have to go ahead and just
make the deal with the Lakers now. And but I'm
what I'm curious with the Lakers is is it only
going to take one of those core guys like Ingram
or Kuzma or will it take two? And that's a
question I haven't really been able to get a straight
answer on. I don't I don't think they'll give up
(20:10):
to I think I think they would give up to players.
I don't think they would give up too core guys. Yeah,
like Josh Hart was Josh Hard would be one that
they wouldn't want to give up, but they might would
Ingram They probably would. Remember Ingram's was drafted by a
different regime. And as much as they like him, I'm
not sure they love him. They love Kuzma, especially for
(20:30):
what they're going to need with Lebron and if they
have Kauai. So I think the whole that that part
is uh is fascinating. Well, that's right, they need shooting
and those two guys at least can shoot, you know,
and Lebron right, I mean, you know a better than
I do. It seems like the teams, the units Lebron's
on that really succeeded are the ones with a lot
(20:51):
of shooting, their ones with guys just like Ingram and Kuzma,
really right, more veteran guys though, But yes, he he
wants shooting so that he has the space because as
you know, one guy can't keep him out of the
lane or keep him from the rim, right, So that's
a that that's but which is interesting because they went
out and got JaVale McGee and Rondo who probably aren't starters,
but aren't also aren't guys that stretched the floor in anyway.
(21:12):
What do you think of that? Like? Is that just
as far as the team dynamics. I mean, they gave
those young guys a lot of leash, a lot of confidence,
and now it seems like they're squeezing them. They're getting
guys who may squeeze them, who at least will they
will push them in practice in a way that you know,
maybe uncomfortable at times, like where do you fall on
what the right thing to do is developing kind of
(21:33):
young potential stars. I don't mind it because I think
what I've been told is, Hey, they want, Yes, they
want guys that are high basketball i Q, really good
BASKETBA players, can do everything, guard both positions, play multiple positions.
But they also know that they want to have guys
that are just dogs, competitors, and I think that's I
think all three of them. Javail probably not as competitive
(21:56):
as the other two, but Land Stevenson Rondo. If there's
if they're is a flaw, it's probably that they're too competitive.
Neither is a great shooter, but seriously competitive at both
ends of the floor, and I think Lebron will be
drawn to that. Do they need more shooting, Yeah, they
do need more shooting. They drafted two shooters, but they're
just rookies. Um. But I would say that's kind of
the working philosophy, is that they want to use this
(22:19):
first year to find out who's got that kind of
inner self tough inner toughness, so that by year two,
when they add another piece or two pieces, that they
already know who's who and what's what and they get
rid of the guys that don't have it. That seems
to be working through. I mean it's kind of an
old fashioned approaches to bring in Rondo. I don't know
the Rondo is going to be, and maybe he will,
(22:40):
maybe he'll mentor him. I mean, obviously true Holiday thrives
alongside Rondo, but it seems like they're bringing him into pushball, right, yes, yes, yeah,
I mean listen ball ball. Whatever they say publicly, I mean,
he only played fifty two games. He heard his knee
then he heard his knee. Now uh um, he didn't
shoot it. Well, he works hard. They like him to
(23:03):
work harder. What better way to get him going than
a guy who could start and a pinch Truth be told,
Rondo should be a really good bench guard who can
play and who can start in a big spot. And
I don't think Lonzo Ball plays every game next year.
But fifty two games is not enough? Not enough? Yeah,
all right? What what about Houston? They were so close
(23:23):
and I know they resigned Chris Paul, but losing Areza
and I think they'll keep Capella, but they might not.
It sure feels like they've lost a little momentum. I
would think they would keep Capella. I know they have
lost momentum a reason. I think it's easier. People will
kind of look at the shooting stats in that last
game and the gods, that's okay, but there's a there's
a pretty big drop off. I mean, as far as
a three and D wing, the kind of player that
(23:45):
really made Houston what it was, which was better than
a very credible defensive team, A guy who could shoot, um,
a guy who kind of helped that locker room. I
think had great history with Chris Paul. Yeah, it's a
it's a big loss, and I'm surprised that they let
it happen. I don't think they'll let Capella get away,
But clearly the Warriors have only solidified their standing between
(24:08):
and and Boogie's part of it. But I think I'd
argue that the reason loss may in some ways to
be bigger, bigger boon to the Warriors than the Cousins game.
I might be. I don't know, Maybe that's too much. No, no, I,
I kind of I agree with you. He did a
great job on They're gonna have to They're gonna have
to beat Kevin Durant in order to in order to
win a championship, and the reason was it was one
(24:30):
of the few guys that seemed to do a great
job on Kevin Durant. And he's won NBA championship before,
so he's been there. He just had one terrible shooting
game when they couldn't afford to have him have that
terrible shooting. You think if he makes shots in that
game and they hold onto him, do you think it's
it's that. I don't think so. I just I just
(24:51):
don't know. I don't know where they are with I
guess I'm touring, right if you're gonna pay two and
a half billion dollars for a team who cares about
paying some money in luxury tax, right, But it does
feel like that they they may have thought that missing
shots was a sign that he was getting closer to
over the hill. But I don't know, like, yeah, I mean, look,
if you win that game, it's really hard to not
bring everybody back, right right, Well, yeah, because you're right,
(25:12):
you're into the finals. No, I know. I'm just I
just wonder if it and it looked it's a new owner.
You never know. I think probably people can think one
way about an owner, and he might have it seems
like all the money in the world, and then he
gets in there and doesn't necessarily operate the basketball team
the same way. I mean, it's hard to jump to
conclusions on that. We'll see with Capella. I just I
just cannot imagine them letting Capella go. I mean, he's
(25:35):
he's everything for D'Antoni in terms of the screening and
the rolling, and that guy plays. He plays as hard
as anything in the NBA. I just can't imagine them
letting him, letting him slide as of today. Am I
crazy to think if you gave me Celtics and Warriors
and I and or the field, I would take Celtics
and Warriors or the field. Wow. Um yeah, I guess
(25:59):
the only other team that would be a threat there
would be silly. Uh No, I think you're right. I
think that sounds right. I do think it will be
interesting in Boston. I mean this will be a different Obviously,
it's a challenge everybody wants. But just when you have
this many good players having to sort it out, this
many guys who were able to assert themselves last year
when Hayward Irving were out, and now we're going to
(26:21):
have to take more diminished roles, Like finding a way
to keep all of those guys happy and like Brad
Stevens is not a way to do pretty much everything there.
So I'm sure clearly it's a luxury, but I do
think they have. Yes, you hear some NBA teams say
sometimes you know too and too many good players. You know,
when you don't have those kind of elite ones, but
you have a lot of good players that can kind
(26:42):
of present its own string of challenges. Le great stuff,
excellent work on the on the Lebron piece yet again.
Can't wait to read what you got for us next
to Sports Illustrated the rate le Jenkins linked Lee, thanks
so much for joining us. Thanks for sing. 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. Tara Owens
(27:06):
is going to speak during the day in which he's
gonna be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wow,
this is this is well, not exactly, not exactly. Uh.
Tara Owens is gonna give a Hall of Fame speech
at u t CHAT that's the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
(27:29):
on August four. He announced that earlier today, quote, after
giving a much thought, I have realized how much I
want to celebrate what will inevitably be the best weekend
of my life at a place that means so much
to me. He will not attend the Hall of Faming
in UH in trimond in Canon, Ohio. UH. It also
(27:52):
should be pointing out this event is free, it's open
to the public. It starts at three sev pm. In
other words, Tara Owens is going to be doing exactly
what he would have been doing in can'ton Ohio at
exactly the same time as others are in can't Ohio,
which proves the exact reason that Tarall Owens is mad
(28:15):
is the reason that he should be mad, because they
should do exactly what they've done. They should have done
it longer to wasn't in the Hall of Fame, And
all anybody could say is, well, look at the numbers.
But when did football ever become about numbers? When was
it ever about numbers? A great football player was about
(28:40):
championships and also about like the definition of pornography. Right, Uh,
you know what, when you see it, that's the definition
of a great football player. There are any numbers that
you can point to, they just aren't. Is Jerry Rice
the goat because the numbers? Yeah, but also because of
(29:00):
the Super Bowls, the big catches and the way in
which he played, Tarrell Owens big defense was look at
the numbers. But remember he was the first of his kind.
He was the first of the new generation of wide
receivers catching way more balls, being the focal port and
catching you know, being thrown to ten to twenty times
a game. When the rules change, he benefited directly, but
(29:26):
he is the Dwight Howard of the NFL. Dwight Howard's
the same spot. Based upon the numbers, Dwight Howard is
a Hall of Famer. But when Dwight Howard's time to
be in the Hall of Fame comes up, somebody's gonna
sit there and go like, wait a second. He blew
up the Magic, He blew up the Lakers, blew the Rockets,
(29:49):
he blew the Hawks, and blew the Hornets. All were
better teams before he arrived, and the only one that
was different was Orlando, to which he saw their rye.
And there fall eight time All Star, five time first
team on B, A, one time second team on B,
a second, two time third team on B. And I
(30:10):
know l NBA team sometimes comes down to position, but
he was the best center in the Eastern Conference for
almost a decade. He's currently out of work, but he's
absolutely based upon five time rebounding leader, two time blocks leader,
he's absolutely a a Hall of Famer in comparison to
(30:31):
Reggie Miller and Dominique Wilkins and even Tracey McGrady. But
how many teams does he have to blow up before
you go like, hey, maybe it's not just the team.
Maybe it's him. What about t L the Niners. The
Niners thing went up in smoke, The Eagles thing went
up in smoke. He was doing, you know, sit ups
(30:53):
and curls in the driveway, the Cowboys thing, the Bills thing.
Even now as he shows he can run a sub
four or five a man his age, it only proves
why he's not in the league is the same reason
he shouldn't be in. The Pro Football Hall of Fame
has nothing new with numbers. Any guy who thinks, you
(31:18):
know what, I'm gonna do a speech the same day
as a Pro Football Hall of Fame at the same
time that somebody else is going to be doing a
speech and thinks that's in any way acceptable, it doesn't
belong in the Hall of Fame. I'm belonging. It's the
most t o move ever. I'm gonna speak at the
(31:40):
same time I would be speaking up there. Only I'm
gonna do it. I got a closed circuit thing at
my college and a look at me and the wide
receivers play. Look at me when they get the ball.
Look at me when I need a penalty, Look at
me that I got both two feed in. Look at
me when I celebrate scoring a touch down. Football is
(32:01):
a team game, and it wasn't like he wanted to
a celebration of all of his teammates. He wanted to do
do a celebration of himself, but he wanted to do
it to cast shadow over that of the NFL who
all they would have done was promote Terrell Owens as
a Hall of Famer. The ceremonies about the class of
players who who emote class themselves, and this by trying
(32:27):
to overshadow or operate his own kind of ceremony, he's
showing a lack of class and respect for the guys
that are in his class. I'd have no problem they
replaced him, say he's not a Hall of Famer, moved on,
like what you're not? You're mad about not getting in? Okay,
you can count on unless than you know, you don't
(32:48):
need many fingers to count wide receivers that got in
their first possible opportunity. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at three pm
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Hearts of Your app toy Levol Who's the manager of
the first place in the n L West Arizona Diamondbacks.
Did you notice care before he became skipper of the Braves?
(33:10):
I did? I sure did, and he um I managed
against him when he was a manager, and Richmond probably
in two thousand eight nine is and oh oh, we
gotta we gotta make an adjustment here. We we've been
waiting on toy Laveolo. We don't want to let his
cell phone let us down. You want to uh music.
You want to make an adjustment there and ask him
to make sure we get to a place where he
(33:31):
has as many bars as possible. Alright, alright, good, that's
that's what he's doing to LEVELO is too good. The
annil manager the year can't be on a bad cell phone.
That's just can't do that. That that can't happen. All right,
will effort for him. We'll find out. Zach Rinky coming
in trying to stabilize the Diamonbacks are in a four
game losing streak. All right, he's in the car. You
got us on bluetooth though, right, all right, no, no, absolutely, Um.
(34:00):
There's a bunch of what was what was the conversation
like between you and Yadi or Molina last time you
met up with the Cardinals. I know there's a shouting match.
How do you how do you? How do you? How
do you? How do you handle that? At batting practice? Yeah,
you know the contest in which were discussed. I just
rather keep between Yaddie and I. But, um, you know, look,
(34:20):
he I made a mistake. I I, you know, used
some forceful language. Um wasn't necessarily directly to him, but
I referred to him and in a way that was
a little too a little too aggressive, and I felt
like I needed to I needed to just make sure
that I let him know that I made that mistake. So, um,
you know, he's the best catcher, one of the best
(34:41):
catchers in and the National League, and I just felt
like it it was a more happenstance. I saw him there.
I thought it was the right thing to do. Oh right,
So you didn't go to MYTHENI and clear with him, like, hey,
I'm gonna talk because you know, some some guys don't
talk to my guy, don't talk. He didn't. You didn't
have to clear with ATHENI did you? No? No, No,
I did not. Um, I you know, I took it
(35:01):
upon myself. I shouldn't want to miss that opportunity, and
it's been some time and I felt like the emotions
were removed from it and it kind of gone away.
But it was something that I felt like I needed
to take care of. And you know, it's Mike Ever
wanted to talk to one of my players, and in
the same situation, I would not. I would not get
in the way. But uh um, like I said, I
just thought it was the right thing to do. What
(35:23):
would you, well, how would you characterize the state I know,
you guys lost four in a row. You got swept
by the Giants who are sitting there two and a
half back. We talked with Dave Roberts yesterday about their resurgence. Course,
they're getting healthy. But look, look this, it's not like
you guys have been playing bad. You know, you go
back before the losing streak and I think he'd won
seven out of eight. How would you characterize the state
of your team today? Well, I feel like we're we're
(35:46):
the same team that we were. We were turned from
a really good road trip and things have not changed whatsoever.
That's one of the characteristics that we walk around with
every day. I think that we're we're tough, we're resilient
and times, uh, and times like this. We walked through
a really tough May and I think we learned a
little bit. We learned a lot about ourselves, and um
we got stronger and kept together and and um became
(36:08):
even a more cohesive unit. So times like this, I
feel like we have something that we can reference and
and go to and know that these guys are ready
to go today and nothing changes. That's the beauty of
this team. They accept winning and losing. They know what
they have to do. On days where um, things have
knocked on, well, they had just and get ready for
the next day and much of the same when we
win and getting to get on a nice streak, they
(36:30):
don't let it go to their heads. So we're somewhere
in the middle between really good or really bad. And
that's that's the beauty of this team. They're very consistent
every single day. And you get a J back, that's
gotta you get your center fielder back. I mean that's
just kind of in the NiCoT a J back grinky
on the hill, Uh, seems seems like that's that's a
J Being back is a huge thing for this team
in this to end this losing streak. I agree, um
(36:53):
and he was. He was the April Player of the
Month in the National League. So that should tell you
what what type of caliber player we're getting back. Last
night was his first night back, but just feeling him
in the clubhouse, his presence in the clubhouse, being able
to pencil in his name to the starting lineup, it
was very refreshing. And uh, you know, you hit on
another guy, and Zach Greggy. He's been so consistent and
so good for us, and he takes them out. He
(37:13):
gives us a great chance to win every fifth day.
And that's what you want your ace to do. He's
a guy that we we build our staff around. He
accepts our responsibility and uh, he execuse a great game fan.
So you know we're gonna we're gonna digest what happened
yesterday and let that go and come out today and
give it our best effort. Um. Look, Nick has been
good at at shortstop, but there's there's there's a potential
(37:35):
shortstop that's out there available. Can't mention any names? What
what what like? What's what's it like to know that
there's a possibility of making a big addition? How do
you how do you handle that on the daily. But
you have to manage the egos of men. You have
to encourage them. You know, the chatter about the potential
to bring somebody in, how do you manage that tory? Well,
(37:57):
you know, I think these guys understand that this is
this is what the game is all about. And in
one day you can be sitting next to somebody in
the club house and it's cut out and the cutouts
and the next day they're they're they're gone in another organization.
That's just that's accepted in the norm in in the
sports world, and it's very very unfortunate. But the one
part of that whole equation is our front office. Every
single day, whether we make a trade at the trade
(38:19):
deadline or whether we do it now or at the
beginning of the season or in the off season, our
front office is always searching for ways to make us better. So, yes,
we're aware of potential trades. We hear things just like
everybody else, and um, it's it's great. It's great that
you know everybody has to say and what's going on.
But I have the total faith in what our front
(38:39):
office does every single day because I get a chance
to watch them work and I know how hard they
do their just um, how hard they work at their
job and never let down. So if something is there
to make us look better, make better, I know they're
not gonna hesitate to make make that move. The the
two thousand and seventeen n L Manager of the Year
toward the Volo joins us on the Doug Gottlib Show
here on Fox Board. Trader, your native is so cal
(39:02):
Uh Santa Monica to u c l A. But you
when you grew up, didn't you go to John Wooden's
camp as basketball camp? I sure did. I'm a proud
of Southern California boy. And um I went to u
c l A. And and I'm so proud of my
association and to that school and John Wooden. You know,
he built such a great legacy there. So obviously there's
(39:22):
a huge attachment to me, the school and John Wooden. Okay, so,
but but you did you did you go to his
camp when he was a kid. Was that at cal Lutheran?
Was that U c l A. I went to this
campus at cal Lutheran. I'm wondering which one you went to.
Oh my gosh, it's so funny. No, Um, I went
to the one of Pepperdine. I think I went for
two knsecutive summers, and uh, yes, I'm gonna stand firm
that it was Pepperdine University both times. All right. So
(39:45):
the story I heard was story he made an example
of you in front of the whole camp. Is that accurate?
He did? But he had such a general way about him.
He he uh, he called me over. I had actually
been tying my shoes probably a couple of times, as
young kids do that. Um. He called me over after
the second time. And obviously I must have been just
(40:06):
like running the court because I stood out right. I mean,
I was the guy and he said to me, uh,
he called me over and said, you know, I just
want to give your heads up and every time you
stopped to tie your shoes that your opposition is getting
an edge and getting rest, and your teammate is playing
your team is playing one man down. He goes, double
not your shoes, and don't ever let that happen again.
(40:29):
So to this day, I double not my shoes. It's
just a habit that I developed from that day forward.
That's pretty cool. Tory Lovelo joining us on the doug
Otlip Show do you use the be quick but don't hurry.
I used that with my son. To you use that?
Is that a woodenism? Or is there any other woodenisms
you use? You know what you hit? You hit the
big one right on the head. Um, and my father
threw up my my tug tire upbringing Um used that
(40:52):
exact saying. And I didn't know where it came from,
but I used to hear it, probably heard of a
thousand times. Be quick, don't hurry, Tory, be quick, don't hurry.
And and you know, fast forward until you know. I
go to college and I start really getting into the
John Wooden you can see this quote, his famous quote,
be quick, don't hurry. So I realized that I was
at U c l A. And I felt that presence.
(41:13):
But I knew that my dad had been using this
line on me, my my entire life. So it's a
great line. It saysn't perfectly. Um, Okay, I gotta figure out.
I gotta figure out what happened with with Goldie right
he was? I mean, what seven home runs through the
first three months of the season. I know, you barely
play March, but then just exploded in June. I mean
exploded and it's continued on here in July. Did he
(41:36):
change something after? I mean one forty four in the
month of May. Here's a perennial All Star. Based on
the numbers. This guy should be in Cooperstown when he's finished.
If he continues at this pace. What do he what
did he do to get things right? Well, I really
I appreciate you saying that I'm a huge Paul Goldschmith fan,
and you're right, I think, but when this is all
said and done, he's gonna have some huge numbers at
(41:59):
the end of his career, and I feel that strongly
about him as well. But I feel like, you know,
every every player can go through UH slumps and and
superstars are not exempt from that. They they have the
same emotions, the same feelings, and the same um UH
swing mechanical breakdowns as as a young player in the
minor league. So I think he just was probably showing
(42:23):
a lot of hustle, a lot of a lot of
hurry to his swing in the month of May, where
he was making some some mistakes and when he would
get a good pitch to hit, unfortunately he would follo
it off or he wouldn't put it in play and then, um,
you know, as you turned the calendar from one month
to the next, even though it's still the same game
and it's still the next day, it's like being on
the front nine and turned the page and being on
(42:43):
the starting your your second second halfier round on the
back night. He just kind of refreshed, turned the calendar,
turned the month over, and on June the one scene,
things seemed to really really turn over for him. And
he's been a great hitter ever since. You know, there
was one thing I was looking at Goldie and trying
to figure things out. Um, he hits over a five
three one counts Now he's only seen nine of them
(43:05):
all all year, but he had two home runs and
I know it like look and and and he look
he walked eleven times as well. So but so do
you green light him? Does he green light everything? How
does it work with a guy of of of his
skill set and his success level three one count who
makes the call? Well, no he does. I mean that's
a hitter's count. Everybody lives for the three one count.
(43:28):
And UH, to be honest with you, when when guys
get a three oh count, I I turn them loose
and let them make the decision. I basically know the
guys who who I'm gonna pull back from or the
guys that are going to automatically take three and oh
but three one you work so hard to get to
that count. Goldie's gonna Goldie's gonna fire away and and
and probably not miss on a three one count. But
(43:48):
that's good information right there. You're right. All good hitters
should be driving the ball. All good hitters should be
um not missing and swearing up a ball with a
three one count. That's the one that you're working hard
to get to. And I think during that month of
May he probably got into some good hitters counts two
oh one, oh uh three oh. And he wasn't necessarily
firing and putting the barrel on the ball, but now
(44:10):
he is. And that's been the big difference. Well, let's
see if you can get things turned around tonight. Obviously
helps When he got grinky on the hill at home
at Chase Field, I know you're driving to I know
you're you're you're driving to work. A couple of nights ago,
um uh Aton DeAndre Eaton threw out the first pitch
and when he when he walked up there. You're like,
the last dude that tall to be thrown on that
(44:32):
hill was left handed with a mustache and a mullet.
There had to be a curiosity, like, I just I
want to see what this guy does. Did you know
he'd never thrown a baseball before that? I was aware
of that. That that, Uh, that was pretty impressive. And
he threw a ball that was pretty pretty close to
the strike zone, So yeah, I saw that. And he
was a very imposing figure. When you stood next to him,
(44:52):
you just you cannot imagine how big this man is.
It's pretty impressive. Knowing that he's as agile as he
is and he can pick up a baseball for the
first time and throw a strike, that should tell you
some about his ability. You know. I had this deep
conversation with UH, with a couple of people about why
there's so much more power pitching in baseball now as
opposed with the steroids out of the game or mostly
(45:14):
out of the game, and UH and and the the
consensus from baseball guy was, Hey, nowadays, look look at
the Yankees starting pitchers, and they're all, you know, six
three to six ft seven, six ft eight, Whereas back
in the day, those guys were a first baseman or
a catcher. There was the thought that they were they
were they were too big to be pitchers. Pitchers were smaller.
(45:36):
Is that the reason that power pitching? What? What's the
logic behind why there's so much more power pitching in baseball? Well,
i'sk you a question. You know, Um, you know, obviously
twenty years ago, when I can reference it and remember
playing guys you know through and now, that seemed to
be about the average and then all of a sudden
jumped up to and not. Now that's pretty consistent. You
(45:58):
see really good arms coming to the bullpen. You see
good starting pitching. I think that baseball has become very
specific and um, these athletes when they're younger, they get
very points specific muscles that they need to train, get
the proper range of motion, and and there's a science
to it now. Back uh, you know, several years ago,
I'm sure somebody just picked up a baseball in their
(46:20):
backyards started throwing. If they had good arm strength, they
continued to improve that as they got more innings. But
these kids now today can really start to generate some
arms and some good power fourteen or fifteen years old,
and then they begin to work on that fine tune
that and get very specific. So by the time they're
in high school or maybe college, they're throwing ninety miles
(46:40):
an hour. And they get into pro ball and they
get on a program and it continues to upgrade. So
it's amazing. The velocity that you see now is is
something that I never would have predicted. It's a pretty
impressive feat when you see an entire bullpen throwing well.
Zach was Zach was dialed in last time around. I
think seventy three out of a hundred and three were strikes.
We'll see if he has the same efficiency tonight. Best
(47:02):
of luck against the Cardinals, and thanks so much for
your time. Okay, Doun, I'll talk to you. To him
by ally, it's Terry Lavola, who of course Toy Lavola,
who's tor is the manager of the year last year
in the National League. They're in first place, a little
bit of a losing streak. Joining us on the way
to the yard here on the Doug Gotlip Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio, Boom America. Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio,
Coming to you from the City of angels Man. Do
we have a lot to get to get you caught
up on? Lee Jenkins, who um who wrote the piece
(00:23):
for Sports Illustrated last time um Lebron James decided to
return to Cleveland, also authored a much shorter uh not
a third person not first person piece on Lebron James
his shortstop in Los Angeles, the Decision three point oh.
He'll catch up with us here in fifteen minutes. Tory
Levola will be our guest in the second hour of
(00:44):
the show. That's uh four o'clock on four twenty on
the West coast. On the East coastcuse me one twenty
on the West coast. Michael Porter Jr. Will join us
at five on the East coast. Too. On the West coast,
and Anthony Slater, who worked for the Athletic Bay Area,
will join us. Talk about well, I think everybody's reacting to,
which is DeMarcus Cousins Boogie Cousins, what's the best way
(01:08):
to make a championship team dance? Put a little boogie
in it. Anyway, Um DeMarcus Cousins is now a member
of the Golden State Wars. It's not just that the
Warriors got him. That got him as a free agent
only one year, only five point three million dollars for
a guy who going into last year was searching for
max money. So there's there's a ton to it. Ton
(01:33):
to it, but there is there is this one thing
that I think you should learn to accept. There's this
discussion or maybe a point that's made, has been made
to me many times over in terms of playing, but
it works for you in life as well. Lots of
people say they want to be great. My son is
(01:57):
nine years old. He says, I wants to play Major
League baseball. That's great. It's left handed. He hits right,
although he can hit left. So we're gonna have him
hit left, but more next year. He's a little young
for his league this year. Throws left. Obviously, plays first base.
Great spirit, probably be a little small to play first base.
(02:17):
It's probably the one thing that I would say would
be working against him. Outside of that, you know, he
loves the game, understands the game, and plays at a
pretty high level For a kid his age, and then
you know, can you hit a major league curveball? Can
you can you top ninety with your fastball? You can
do either of those two things. You gotta you got
(02:39):
a legit chance. But but I told him this. I
was like, look, there are lots of kids who put
on a jersey and say I want to be Steph Curry.
There are lots of kids that go out and throw
with their dad and say I want to be Mike
Trout and Clay or Clayton Kershaw. But are you willing
to sacrifice the things on a daily basis which will
(03:01):
allow you to take the steps to becoming the guy
you ultimately want to be? And of course, like any boy,
any person, absolutely, but it's not saying it, it's doing
it right there. There is a there is a certain
amount of doing that that has to take place in
order for you to uh to see it too, to
(03:22):
achieve your potential. And I'm sitting here looking at at
Kevin Durant, who won an m v P, went to
an NBA finals, was up three games to one on
the Warriors. They lost, and all I hear is, hey,
Kevin Durant is soft. Kevin Durand took the easy way out.
(03:47):
Sure he won two finals m v P and two
and finals MVPs and two championships, but he had to
join a seventy three win team to do it. In
order to land de Marcus Cousins, Kevin Durant had to
take slightly less money, about five million dollars less. Now,
that doesn't seem like that biggest sacrifice for somebody who's
(04:10):
already made over a hundred million dollars and it's probably
gonna make over, you know, close to a billion dollars
all told, by the time they're done playing basketball between
Nike his deals obviously not that of Lebron but Nike UM,
all his other tech company stuff, investments, et cetera, and
(04:30):
his various contracts. So in order to get to Marcus Cousins,
he took about five million dollars less you go back
to his previous deal and he took about five million
dollars less um in order to land Andreago Dolla and
Sean Livingstone when their contracts were up. Kevin Durant can
(04:53):
be criticized all you want because he joined a team
that lost in the NBA finals. They won more games
in the regular season than any team in the history
of the sport. But there's two things that that that
strike me about Durant. One is this, all these guys
say they want to win a championship. The most important
thing to me is winning. How many times you heard
(05:14):
that at a press conference or on a radio in
a radio interview. But to Kevin Durant, he puts winning
above money. Right Look at the Houston Rockets. Look at
the Houston Rockets. Between James Harden's extension last year and
(05:35):
Chris Paul's extension this year, both of them took every
penny that they had rightfully earned. Chris Paul hadn't rightfully
necessarily earned it with the Houston Rockets. But throughout his
long and illustrious career as a max contract guy that
many years in the league, nobody bet and I at
the money that he's making, even though we all know
(05:56):
that those last two years are probably gonna be a
little bit dicey. But did he have to if if
winning was the most important thing, couldn't Chris Paul have
taken less money to free up more money for Trevor
Reason to resign? Right? Like all these guys say, one thing,
(06:16):
they also It's like my son saying, hey, I want
to be major League baseball player, Like, okay, or do
you want to get up at six in the morning
and go to the cage and hit forty five minutes?
Are you willing to eat? Right? Are you willing to
do the little things? And then I look at the
Golden State Warriors, and I also realized that only they
are they willing? Is their best player willing to sacrifice,
(06:39):
but their team is They're just smarter. DeMarcus Cousins does
not come without risk. It's coming off in torn achilles tendon.
Nobody knows how will play this year. His attitude has
never been one to which you'd model a basketball player after.
And he might have um a tertiary or even worse,
(07:00):
all on the offensive side of the floor. And while
we say, hey, all DeMarcus Cotton Cousin wants to do
is win, because if he shows he gonna be part
of a winner, then that all night him for his
next team. The likelihood is he's going to be at
best a fourth option offensively, And all guys say, like ball,
(07:20):
do it if it's for winning. Let's see what happens
when you look down at the box score and you see,
you know, five shots, you only make three, you only
play twenty minutes, but your team wins by fifteen. He's
still gonna be happy. Kevin Durant strikes me as one
of the few guys who you know, you know the
uh was it walks it like he talks, It practices
(07:41):
what he preaches and whatever cliche you want. Everybody says
they're willing to sacrifice. Says it's about championships. Kevin Durant
and it's not that much for him, ten million dollars,
ten million hours. But but with that ten million dollars
they were able to get DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Goodala and
(08:03):
Sean Livingston. He was willing to sacrifice a little bit
of money for two titles and maybe now three. Here's
Adrian Wardanowski trying to explain to Marcus cousins situation in
free agency. The injury played a big part in depressing
the market for him. Uh, the fact that there wasn't
solar caps face on a lot of places. But here's
(08:24):
the reality de Marcus Cousins had to deal with and
now has to start directifying Golden State his image. There
were teams with Space who did not want him in
their locker room, didn't want him in their Organization's gonna
be sitting on the bench with Steve Kerr. He's gonna
be sitting there in practice and games. They're gonna get
to know each other. They're gonna get to build a
relationship before he ever steps on the court. And they
think that's really important. Golden State. I tend to agree,
(08:45):
they have a great culture. He's gonna have to buy
into that culture in order to make it work. If
it doesn't work, they still may be able to win
without him. If he does buy in and he's three
quarters of the player used to be, they'll probably they'll
they'll be the best team. And they've they've they've improved some. Um,
there's no guarantees he's he's actually worth that money. You're
(09:06):
always worth what somebody's willing to pay. But it stuns
me han how no one else seems to have pointed out, Hey,
this is the second time Durant has done something that
other stars won't do. Lebron didn't do it in Cleveland.
Meloshers heldev none that even Russell Westbrook took every penny
that he had earned in Oklahoma City everybody says, I
(09:28):
want to win a championship. Are you willing to take
five million dollars less per year and word to win
a championship? Now asking it from somebody else, are you
willing to come out the bench? Would mellow? Would Mellow
say no? Allen iverson? No. So I look at Golden
State and I think they're willing to sacrifice more, and
(09:49):
I think that front office is just smarter. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leaps Show
weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Jenkins joins US
rights for Sports Illustrat, also a Southern California Jewish Sports
Hall of Famer. I know I was there for the
induction ceremony. Lee, how are you? I'm good? Thanks. Your
(10:10):
your speech was the best of the day, though I
appreciate I actually enjoyed yours. A great deal. Online car
shopping can be confusing, not even more with true price
from True Car. Now you can know the exact price
you'll pay for your next vehicle, so it's the true
car you enjoy more confident car buying experience. Lee. Of
course you authored uh the piece when when Lebron or
helped right the piece. When Lebron decided to go back
(10:30):
to Cleveland this time around, it was shorter and more concise,
more professional. He flies in on Saturday. Uh, he has,
under the cover of darkness, a three hour meeting with
Magic Johnson. He has breakfast in Brentwood, dignitary, stopped by
everybody wants him to pay attention. At some point time
he comes to a conclusion and he says, called the Lakers.
(10:54):
As he's boarding the plane to go to Europe. Is
that about right? Yeah? That's about written a hundred words
and be done that. So I I think this was
probably I mean, I know this was his lean for
a while. Um and even you know early that weekend,
I actually once thought it would even go faster than that. So,
you know, I think there were a lot of there
were a lot of arrows pointing him to Los Angeles.
(11:16):
And but I do wonder as he sits there on
a boat in Italy or wherever he is, you know,
how much he knew of what would come in the
aftermath here And what does Roster looks like now compared
to the one he might have signed up for? Okay,
that's it's a really good question. How much, say does
he want and who's on this team? I don't know.
I think a lot of that in the past in
Cleveland was overstated, and I know, I know it's a
(11:37):
popular kind of train of thought that he was the
general manager, and clearly there were deals struck and players
brought in who were part of Rich Paul's agency. Uh So,
I mean you can see some of the you know,
some of the influence he might have exerted. But I
also think there were plenty of deals that he wasn't
necessarily involved with it didn't want to be involved with.
So how much of he knew of the Lakers Pacific
(12:00):
direction and specific names, I don't know definitely generally. I'm
sure that was part of the talk he had with
Magic Johnson. But you know, what he was sort of
telling the people close to him is that this is
a longer play and that he sort of believes that
the lure of the Lakers, of Magic having that extra
that cap space, having some of these young players either
(12:20):
to develop or move, the kind of all of that
gave him enough confidence that they would be able to
establish something powerful, if not this coming season, in subsequent season,
what was he most concerned about with the Lakers. I
don't know he was. It was expressed to me that
he he wanted to sit down with Magic, he wanted
to kind of look him in the eye. He wanted to,
(12:42):
I think, talk about direction of the team moving forward.
But I don't really think. I think it would have
been very unlikely, even when he came back to l A,
even though he met with the representation, met with the Sixers,
for him to go another way. It seemed like that
was just so much of where he was leaning. Um,
but I do, you know, I do sort of wonder.
(13:03):
I mean, he's thirty three years old, going on thirty four,
and even though he can profess to patients now, I
do sort of wonder what it looks like for him
if this team is what when you look at this
team right now, do what do you see? Do you
see six in the west? Nick? And where do you
kind of put them? Because I don't know, you know,
he could say all the things he wants to say now,
(13:24):
but in February March, he's not really accustomed to being,
you know, on the bottom end of a conference. Yeah.
I mean again, it does, though, depend on what he
what he thought, like, what are you leaving behind in Cleveland?
Do we think were they weren't the best team or
the second best team in the East this year. And remember,
(13:45):
yes they beat Boston in Boston Game seven, but Boston
have the top two players. Like I do think, I
do think he understood that run was probably coming to
an end. And I and I understand that some of
this move was not just about basketball. Um. But yeah,
I think middle of the of the playoff pack is
is reasonable, uh to middle to lower end of the
(14:06):
playoff pack. I mean it depends upon like everything else, injuries, cohesion,
I you know, it still feels like there's one more
move that they have not made yet, and obviously that's
the Kauai move, and that would change everything. But as
of now, it looks like it could be a playoff team. Yeah,
I just you know, his expectations and maybe maybe he
can tamper temper them, and maybe Lakers fans can too.
(14:28):
But I do wonder what that experience would be like
for him if it does, if it does start off
the way it looks like it may. You know, even
in Miami year one, I know they weren't they didn't
win the championship. It didn't go perfectly Cleveland. Certainly there
were issues along the way that first regular season, but
in general, those were teams very much a contention. Those
were teams that made the finals. So yeah, and I
(14:52):
know they're also so much made of this outside interests
in the Hollywood and all of apidated. This is still
someone who when you're around him and the team is losing,
you feel it. There's a real shadow around, you know,
the hill cast over the organization. If if it's not
going well and you're talking about a team where they're
trying to develop young players and create a positive culture.
(15:13):
That's where I wonder is their impetus to get the
cow Id deal done now that you don't want to
start his tenure off in l A as a sixth
seed or whatever it might be. Um, And that's because
I know that logically you'd say, well, wait, right, you
don't need to give up anything for him in a year,
but you might be sacrificing kind of his start. UM.
(15:35):
I offered up to start the show Lee Jenkinson Sports
Illustrated as an incredible job covering the NBA, joining US
Doug Gotlip Show Fox Sports Radio. I offered up that
maybe the missing part of the Warriors adding DeMarcus Cousins
discussion is this is the second time Kevin Durant. Though
it's not huge about some money to him, he's taken
(15:57):
less money in order to make it work. Um, here's Durant,
a guy. Here's here's Durant who who won m v
P in Oklahoma City, obviously left a really good team,
had been to the finals once, and all he's done
is take less money. Two different contracts, win two finals MVPs,
win two championships. It kind of feels like that part
(16:17):
is getting undersold as part of the steel. Yeah, I'd
undersell it too. I understand that that's been the net
result of this deal. Uh, and it's a it's a
great storyline. I do think he really wants the flexibility,
and if I think he will, it's hard for me
to believe that he won't at least take a look
around next year if it even if they win the
(16:39):
championship again, even if he has one big finals game
or wins finals m v P, at some point I
think that he may want to go somewhere and front
of franchise again. I mean, there were there were some
moments this season. There that there were people around Golden
State and even within that team who wondered if he
would be back. So I also think he wanted to
(17:00):
leave himself a little bit of flexibility. No I I
I get that, Um, but tell me the other guy
who's taken less money. But we would have preferred if
he signed longer. I'm sure, and even if they didn't
have the money for DeMarcus Cousins Lee Jenkins joining us.
But you're right, and the end result is he has
given them. It's kind of a It's worked both ways
(17:21):
for him. Right, He's been a service flexibility and help
the team. So right they got I mean they I
don't know if they would have gotten Igodala deal done,
or the living Stone deal done, or or this deal
is done. Um, what about the Boogie Cousins thing? I know, Twitter,
NBA Twitter when crazy. But the fact is he has
been a problem wherever he's been. He is coming off
(17:41):
an achilles tendon injury, and this is one of the
few places to which they don't need him for most
of the regular season. They need him for the playoffs. Um,
it feels like this was this, This was the only
choice for a bunch of reasons. What's how are NBA
people really reacting to the news today? Why did players
are players are probably reacting with more doom and terror
(18:05):
because it's Boogie Cousins. There's still a ton of respect
for him as far as the overall talent. And you
just think about five all stars on the floor. You know,
probably people who are more behind the scenes, more analytically based. Yeah,
they'll they'll wonder about fit and overlap and if he
is given these coming off and achilles, we all know
(18:25):
how damaging that injury can be. Will it prohibit him
from playing their style? Uh, the way that they like
to play it? So all of those are the truth
probably lies somewhere in the middle, but it's still it's
still a tremendous talent, and it's the one position where
they're always vulnerable. And now you're adding a guy who
on i mean, think of their second unit. Even if
(18:47):
they just kind of play through him, when Curries sitting
or Durant sitting, it just it allows there's never a break.
I mean, there's never a break against them anyway, but
on the offensive end, it just gives them an another
another toy to play with. What do you think happens
with Kauai. You know, I think that that situation is
(19:07):
so tricky because of his his reluctance to communicate just
in general, and so we're going to have to figure
out Spurs have to figure out how he really feels
about Philly and Boston because if it is if he
is adamant that he will not resign there, or if
he says sends that message and he rarely and this
has kind of kind of the issue with him is
(19:27):
he rarely sends verbal messages, so rarely sort of speak
up about what his actual desires are. A lot of
it's sort of hard to interpret or it comes from
behind the scenes with him. But to me, that's that's
the huge question. If he's willing to at least give
those teams a shot, well then this becomes you know,
the Spurs can drag this out, they can look for leverage,
(19:48):
They'll have leverage with the Lakers. If he won't, then
I feel like you have to go ahead and just
make the deal with the Lakers now. And but I'm
what I'm curious with the Lakers is is it only
going to take one of those core guys like Ingram
or Kuzma or will it take two? And that's a
question I haven't really been able to get a straight
answer on. I don't I don't think they'll give up
(20:10):
to I think I think they would give up to players.
I don't think they would give up too core guys. Yeah,
like Josh Hart was Josh Hard would be one that
they wouldn't want to give up, but they might would
Ingram They probably would. Remember Ingram's was drafted by a
different regime. And as much as they like him, I'm
not sure they love him. They love Kuzma, especially for
(20:30):
what they're going to need with Lebron and if they
have Kauai. So I think the whole that that part
is uh is fascinating. Well, that's right, they need shooting
and those two guys at least can shoot, you know,
and Lebron right, I mean, you know a better than
I do. It seems like the teams, the units Lebron's
on that really succeeded are the ones with a lot
(20:51):
of shooting, their ones with guys just like Ingram and Kuzma,
really right, more veteran guys though, But yes, he he
wants shooting so that he has the space because as
you know, one guy can't keep him out of the
lane or keep him from the rim, right, So that's
a that that's but which is interesting because they went
out and got JaVale McGee and Rondo who probably aren't starters,
but aren't also aren't guys that stretched the floor in anyway.
(21:12):
What do you think of that? Like? Is that just
as far as the team dynamics. I mean, they gave
those young guys a lot of leash, a lot of confidence,
and now it seems like they're squeezing them. They're getting
guys who may squeeze them, who at least will they
will push them in practice in a way that you know,
maybe uncomfortable at times, like where do you fall on
what the right thing to do is developing kind of
(21:33):
young potential stars. I don't mind it because I think
what I've been told is, Hey, they want, Yes, they
want guys that are high basketball i Q, really good
BASKETBA players, can do everything, guard both positions, play multiple positions.
But they also know that they want to have guys
that are just dogs, competitors, and I think that's I
think all three of them. Javail probably not as competitive
(21:56):
as the other two, but Land Stevenson Rondo. If there's
if they're is a flaw, it's probably that they're too competitive.
Neither is a great shooter, but seriously competitive at both
ends of the floor, and I think Lebron will be
drawn to that. Do they need more shooting, Yeah, they
do need more shooting. They drafted two shooters, but they're
just rookies. Um. But I would say that's kind of
the working philosophy, is that they want to use this
(22:19):
first year to find out who's got that kind of
inner self tough inner toughness, so that by year two,
when they add another piece or two pieces, that they
already know who's who and what's what and they get
rid of the guys that don't have it. That seems
to be working through. I mean it's kind of an
old fashioned approaches to bring in Rondo. I don't know
the Rondo is going to be, and maybe he will,
(22:40):
maybe he'll mentor him. I mean, obviously true Holiday thrives
alongside Rondo, but it seems like they're bringing him into pushball, right, yes, yes, yeah,
I mean listen ball ball. Whatever they say publicly, I mean,
he only played fifty two games. He heard his knee
then he heard his knee. Now uh um, he didn't
shoot it. Well, he works hard. They like him to
(23:03):
work harder. What better way to get him going than
a guy who could start and a pinch Truth be told,
Rondo should be a really good bench guard who can
play and who can start in a big spot. And
I don't think Lonzo Ball plays every game next year.
But fifty two games is not enough? Not enough? Yeah,
all right? What what about Houston? They were so close
(23:23):
and I know they resigned Chris Paul, but losing Areza
and I think they'll keep Capella, but they might not.
It sure feels like they've lost a little momentum. I
would think they would keep Capella. I know they have
lost momentum a reason. I think it's easier. People will
kind of look at the shooting stats in that last
game and the gods, that's okay, but there's a there's
a pretty big drop off. I mean, as far as
a three and D wing, the kind of player that
(23:45):
really made Houston what it was, which was better than
a very credible defensive team, A guy who could shoot, um,
a guy who kind of helped that locker room. I
think had great history with Chris Paul. Yeah, it's a
it's a big loss, and I'm surprised that they let
it happen. I don't think they'll let Capella get away,
But clearly the Warriors have only solidified their standing between
(24:08):
and and Boogie's part of it. But I think I'd
argue that the reason loss may in some ways to
be bigger, bigger boon to the Warriors than the Cousins game.
I might be. I don't know, Maybe that's too much. No, no, I,
I kind of I agree with you. He did a
great job on They're gonna have to They're gonna have
to beat Kevin Durant in order to in order to
win a championship, and the reason was it was one
(24:30):
of the few guys that seemed to do a great
job on Kevin Durant. And he's won NBA championship before,
so he's been there. He just had one terrible shooting
game when they couldn't afford to have him have that
terrible shooting. You think if he makes shots in that
game and they hold onto him, do you think it's
it's that. I don't think so. I just I just
(24:51):
don't know. I don't know where they are with I
guess I'm touring, right if you're gonna pay two and
a half billion dollars for a team who cares about
paying some money in luxury tax, right, But it does
feel like that they they may have thought that missing
shots was a sign that he was getting closer to
over the hill. But I don't know, like, yeah, I mean, look,
if you win that game, it's really hard to not
bring everybody back, right right, Well, yeah, because you're right,
(25:12):
you're into the finals. No, I know. I'm just I
just wonder if it and it looked it's a new owner.
You never know. I think probably people can think one
way about an owner, and he might have it seems
like all the money in the world, and then he
gets in there and doesn't necessarily operate the basketball team
the same way. I mean, it's hard to jump to
conclusions on that. We'll see with Capella. I just I
just cannot imagine them letting Capella go. I mean, he's
(25:35):
he's everything for D'Antoni in terms of the screening and
the rolling, and that guy plays. He plays as hard
as anything in the NBA. I just can't imagine them
letting him, letting him slide as of today. Am I
crazy to think if you gave me Celtics and Warriors
and I and or the field, I would take Celtics
and Warriors or the field. Wow. Um yeah, I guess
(25:59):
the only other team that would be a threat there
would be silly. Uh No, I think you're right. I
think that sounds right. I do think it will be
interesting in Boston. I mean this will be a different Obviously,
it's a challenge everybody wants. But just when you have
this many good players having to sort it out, this
many guys who were able to assert themselves last year
when Hayward Irving were out, and now we're going to
(26:21):
have to take more diminished roles, Like finding a way
to keep all of those guys happy and like Brad
Stevens is not a way to do pretty much everything there.
So I'm sure clearly it's a luxury, but I do
think they have. Yes, you hear some NBA teams say
sometimes you know too and too many good players. You know,
when you don't have those kind of elite ones, but
you have a lot of good players that can kind
(26:42):
of present its own string of challenges. Le great stuff,
excellent work on the on the Lebron piece yet again.
Can't wait to read what you got for us next
to Sports Illustrated the rate le Jenkins linked Lee, thanks
so much for joining us. Thanks for sing. 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. Tara Owens
(27:06):
is going to speak during the day in which he's
gonna be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wow,
this is this is well, not exactly, not exactly. Uh.
Tara Owens is gonna give a Hall of Fame speech
at u t CHAT that's the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
(27:29):
on August four. He announced that earlier today, quote, after
giving a much thought, I have realized how much I
want to celebrate what will inevitably be the best weekend
of my life at a place that means so much
to me. He will not attend the Hall of Faming
in UH in trimond in Canon, Ohio. UH. It also
(27:52):
should be pointing out this event is free, it's open
to the public. It starts at three sev pm. In
other words, Tara Owens is going to be doing exactly
what he would have been doing in can'ton Ohio at
exactly the same time as others are in can't Ohio,
which proves the exact reason that Tarall Owens is mad
(28:15):
is the reason that he should be mad, because they
should do exactly what they've done. They should have done
it longer to wasn't in the Hall of Fame, And
all anybody could say is, well, look at the numbers.
But when did football ever become about numbers? When was
it ever about numbers? A great football player was about
(28:40):
championships and also about like the definition of pornography. Right, Uh,
you know what, when you see it, that's the definition
of a great football player. There are any numbers that
you can point to, they just aren't. Is Jerry Rice
the goat because the numbers? Yeah, but also because of
(29:00):
the Super Bowls, the big catches and the way in
which he played, Tarrell Owens big defense was look at
the numbers. But remember he was the first of his kind.
He was the first of the new generation of wide
receivers catching way more balls, being the focal port and
catching you know, being thrown to ten to twenty times
a game. When the rules change, he benefited directly, but
(29:26):
he is the Dwight Howard of the NFL. Dwight Howard's
the same spot. Based upon the numbers, Dwight Howard is
a Hall of Famer. But when Dwight Howard's time to
be in the Hall of Fame comes up, somebody's gonna
sit there and go like, wait a second. He blew
up the Magic, He blew up the Lakers, blew the Rockets,
(29:49):
he blew the Hawks, and blew the Hornets. All were
better teams before he arrived, and the only one that
was different was Orlando, to which he saw their rye.
And there fall eight time All Star, five time first
team on B, A, one time second team on B,
a second, two time third team on B. And I
(30:10):
know l NBA team sometimes comes down to position, but
he was the best center in the Eastern Conference for
almost a decade. He's currently out of work, but he's
absolutely based upon five time rebounding leader, two time blocks leader,
he's absolutely a a Hall of Famer in comparison to
(30:31):
Reggie Miller and Dominique Wilkins and even Tracey McGrady. But
how many teams does he have to blow up before
you go like, hey, maybe it's not just the team.
Maybe it's him. What about t L the Niners. The
Niners thing went up in smoke, The Eagles thing went
up in smoke. He was doing, you know, sit ups
(30:53):
and curls in the driveway, the Cowboys thing, the Bills thing.
Even now as he shows he can run a sub
four or five a man his age, it only proves
why he's not in the league is the same reason
he shouldn't be in. The Pro Football Hall of Fame
has nothing new with numbers. Any guy who thinks, you
(31:18):
know what, I'm gonna do a speech the same day
as a Pro Football Hall of Fame at the same
time that somebody else is going to be doing a
speech and thinks that's in any way acceptable, it doesn't
belong in the Hall of Fame. I'm belonging. It's the
most t o move ever. I'm gonna speak at the
(31:40):
same time I would be speaking up there. Only I'm
gonna do it. I got a closed circuit thing at
my college and a look at me and the wide
receivers play. Look at me when they get the ball.
Look at me when I need a penalty, Look at
me that I got both two feed in. Look at
me when I celebrate scoring a touch down. Football is
(32:01):
a team game, and it wasn't like he wanted to
a celebration of all of his teammates. He wanted to do
do a celebration of himself, but he wanted to do
it to cast shadow over that of the NFL who
all they would have done was promote Terrell Owens as
a Hall of Famer. The ceremonies about the class of
players who who emote class themselves, and this by trying
(32:27):
to overshadow or operate his own kind of ceremony, he's
showing a lack of class and respect for the guys
that are in his class. I'd have no problem they
replaced him, say he's not a Hall of Famer, moved on,
like what you're not? You're mad about not getting in? Okay,
you can count on unless than you know, you don't
(32:48):
need many fingers to count wide receivers that got in
their first possible opportunity. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at three pm
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Hearts of Your app toy Levol Who's the manager of
the first place in the n L West Arizona Diamondbacks.
Did you notice care before he became skipper of the Braves?
(33:10):
I did? I sure did, and he um I managed
against him when he was a manager, and Richmond probably
in two thousand eight nine is and oh oh, we
gotta we gotta make an adjustment here. We we've been
waiting on toy Laveolo. We don't want to let his
cell phone let us down. You want to uh music.
You want to make an adjustment there and ask him
to make sure we get to a place where he
(33:31):
has as many bars as possible. Alright, alright, good, that's
that's what he's doing to LEVELO is too good. The
annil manager the year can't be on a bad cell phone.
That's just can't do that. That that can't happen. All right,
will effort for him. We'll find out. Zach Rinky coming
in trying to stabilize the Diamonbacks are in a four
game losing streak. All right, he's in the car. You
got us on bluetooth though, right, all right, no, no, absolutely, Um.
(34:00):
There's a bunch of what was what was the conversation
like between you and Yadi or Molina last time you
met up with the Cardinals. I know there's a shouting match.
How do you how do you? How do you? How
do you? How do you handle that? At batting practice? Yeah,
you know the contest in which were discussed. I just
rather keep between Yaddie and I. But, um, you know, look,
(34:20):
he I made a mistake. I I, you know, used
some forceful language. Um wasn't necessarily directly to him, but
I referred to him and in a way that was
a little too a little too aggressive, and I felt
like I needed to I needed to just make sure
that I let him know that I made that mistake. So, um,
you know, he's the best catcher, one of the best
(34:41):
catchers in and the National League, and I just felt
like it it was a more happenstance. I saw him there.
I thought it was the right thing to do. Oh right,
So you didn't go to MYTHENI and clear with him, like, hey,
I'm gonna talk because you know, some some guys don't
talk to my guy, don't talk. He didn't. You didn't
have to clear with ATHENI did you? No? No, No,
I did not. Um, I you know, I took it
(35:01):
upon myself. I shouldn't want to miss that opportunity, and
it's been some time and I felt like the emotions
were removed from it and it kind of gone away.
But it was something that I felt like I needed
to take care of. And you know, it's Mike Ever
wanted to talk to one of my players, and in
the same situation, I would not. I would not get
in the way. But uh um, like I said, I
just thought it was the right thing to do. What
(35:23):
would you, well, how would you characterize the state I know,
you guys lost four in a row. You got swept
by the Giants who are sitting there two and a
half back. We talked with Dave Roberts yesterday about their resurgence. Course,
they're getting healthy. But look, look this, it's not like
you guys have been playing bad. You know, you go
back before the losing streak and I think he'd won
seven out of eight. How would you characterize the state
of your team today? Well, I feel like we're we're
(35:46):
the same team that we were. We were turned from
a really good road trip and things have not changed whatsoever.
That's one of the characteristics that we walk around with
every day. I think that we're we're tough, we're resilient
and times, uh, and times like this. We walked through
a really tough May and I think we learned a
little bit. We learned a lot about ourselves, and um
we got stronger and kept together and and um became
(36:08):
even a more cohesive unit. So times like this, I
feel like we have something that we can reference and
and go to and know that these guys are ready
to go today and nothing changes. That's the beauty of
this team. They accept winning and losing. They know what
they have to do. On days where um, things have
knocked on, well, they had just and get ready for
the next day and much of the same when we
win and getting to get on a nice streak, they
(36:30):
don't let it go to their heads. So we're somewhere
in the middle between really good or really bad. And
that's that's the beauty of this team. They're very consistent
every single day. And you get a J back, that's
gotta you get your center fielder back. I mean that's
just kind of in the NiCoT a J back grinky
on the hill, Uh, seems seems like that's that's a
J Being back is a huge thing for this team
in this to end this losing streak. I agree, um
(36:53):
and he was. He was the April Player of the
Month in the National League. So that should tell you
what what type of caliber player we're getting back. Last
night was his first night back, but just feeling him
in the clubhouse, his presence in the clubhouse, being able
to pencil in his name to the starting lineup, it
was very refreshing. And uh, you know, you hit on
another guy, and Zach Greggy. He's been so consistent and
so good for us, and he takes them out. He
(37:13):
gives us a great chance to win every fifth day.
And that's what you want your ace to do. He's
a guy that we we build our staff around. He
accepts our responsibility and uh, he execuse a great game fan.
So you know we're gonna we're gonna digest what happened
yesterday and let that go and come out today and
give it our best effort. Um. Look, Nick has been
good at at shortstop, but there's there's there's a potential
(37:35):
shortstop that's out there available. Can't mention any names? What
what what like? What's what's it like to know that
there's a possibility of making a big addition? How do
you how do you handle that on the daily. But
you have to manage the egos of men. You have
to encourage them. You know, the chatter about the potential
to bring somebody in, how do you manage that tory? Well,
(37:57):
you know, I think these guys understand that this is
this is what the game is all about. And in
one day you can be sitting next to somebody in
the club house and it's cut out and the cutouts
and the next day they're they're they're gone in another organization.
That's just that's accepted in the norm in in the
sports world, and it's very very unfortunate. But the one
part of that whole equation is our front office. Every
single day, whether we make a trade at the trade
(38:19):
deadline or whether we do it now or at the
beginning of the season or in the off season, our
front office is always searching for ways to make us better. So, yes,
we're aware of potential trades. We hear things just like
everybody else, and um, it's it's great. It's great that
you know everybody has to say and what's going on.
But I have the total faith in what our front
(38:39):
office does every single day because I get a chance
to watch them work and I know how hard they
do their just um, how hard they work at their
job and never let down. So if something is there
to make us look better, make better, I know they're
not gonna hesitate to make make that move. The the
two thousand and seventeen n L Manager of the Year
toward the Volo joins us on the Doug Gottlib Show
here on Fox Board. Trader, your native is so cal
(39:02):
Uh Santa Monica to u c l A. But you
when you grew up, didn't you go to John Wooden's
camp as basketball camp? I sure did. I'm a proud
of Southern California boy. And um I went to u
c l A. And and I'm so proud of my
association and to that school and John Wooden. You know,
he built such a great legacy there. So obviously there's
(39:22):
a huge attachment to me, the school and John Wooden. Okay, so,
but but you did you did you go to his
camp when he was a kid. Was that at cal Lutheran?
Was that U c l A. I went to this
campus at cal Lutheran. I'm wondering which one you went to.
Oh my gosh, it's so funny. No, Um, I went
to the one of Pepperdine. I think I went for
two knsecutive summers, and uh, yes, I'm gonna stand firm
that it was Pepperdine University both times. All right. So
(39:45):
the story I heard was story he made an example
of you in front of the whole camp. Is that accurate?
He did? But he had such a general way about him.
He he uh, he called me over. I had actually
been tying my shoes probably a couple of times, as
young kids do that. Um. He called me over after
the second time. And obviously I must have been just
(40:06):
like running the court because I stood out right. I mean,
I was the guy and he said to me, uh,
he called me over and said, you know, I just
want to give your heads up and every time you
stopped to tie your shoes that your opposition is getting
an edge and getting rest, and your teammate is playing
your team is playing one man down. He goes, double
not your shoes, and don't ever let that happen again.
(40:29):
So to this day, I double not my shoes. It's
just a habit that I developed from that day forward.
That's pretty cool. Tory Lovelo joining us on the doug
Otlip Show do you use the be quick but don't hurry.
I used that with my son. To you use that?
Is that a woodenism? Or is there any other woodenisms
you use? You know what you hit? You hit the
big one right on the head. Um, and my father
threw up my my tug tire upbringing Um used that
(40:52):
exact saying. And I didn't know where it came from,
but I used to hear it, probably heard of a
thousand times. Be quick, don't hurry, Tory, be quick, don't hurry.
And and you know, fast forward until you know. I
go to college and I start really getting into the
John Wooden you can see this quote, his famous quote,
be quick, don't hurry. So I realized that I was
at U c l A. And I felt that presence.
(41:13):
But I knew that my dad had been using this
line on me, my my entire life. So it's a
great line. It saysn't perfectly. Um, Okay, I gotta figure out.
I gotta figure out what happened with with Goldie right
he was? I mean, what seven home runs through the
first three months of the season. I know, you barely
play March, but then just exploded in June. I mean
exploded and it's continued on here in July. Did he
(41:36):
change something after? I mean one forty four in the
month of May. Here's a perennial All Star. Based on
the numbers. This guy should be in Cooperstown when he's finished.
If he continues at this pace. What do he what
did he do to get things right? Well, I really
I appreciate you saying that I'm a huge Paul Goldschmith fan,
and you're right, I think, but when this is all
said and done, he's gonna have some huge numbers at
(41:59):
the end of his career, and I feel that strongly
about him as well. But I feel like, you know,
every every player can go through UH slumps and and
superstars are not exempt from that. They they have the
same emotions, the same feelings, and the same um UH
swing mechanical breakdowns as as a young player in the
minor league. So I think he just was probably showing
(42:23):
a lot of hustle, a lot of a lot of
hurry to his swing in the month of May, where
he was making some some mistakes and when he would
get a good pitch to hit, unfortunately he would follo
it off or he wouldn't put it in play and then, um,
you know, as you turned the calendar from one month
to the next, even though it's still the same game
and it's still the next day, it's like being on
the front nine and turned the page and being on
(42:43):
the starting your your second second halfier round on the
back night. He just kind of refreshed, turned the calendar,
turned the month over, and on June the one scene,
things seemed to really really turn over for him. And
he's been a great hitter ever since. You know, there
was one thing I was looking at Goldie and trying
to figure things out. Um, he hits over a five
three one counts Now he's only seen nine of them
(43:05):
all all year, but he had two home runs and
I know it like look and and and he look
he walked eleven times as well. So but so do
you green light him? Does he green light everything? How
does it work with a guy of of of his
skill set and his success level three one count who
makes the call? Well, no he does. I mean that's
a hitter's count. Everybody lives for the three one count.
(43:28):
And UH, to be honest with you, when when guys
get a three oh count, I I turn them loose
and let them make the decision. I basically know the
guys who who I'm gonna pull back from or the
guys that are going to automatically take three and oh
but three one you work so hard to get to
that count. Goldie's gonna Goldie's gonna fire away and and
and probably not miss on a three one count. But
(43:48):
that's good information right there. You're right. All good hitters
should be driving the ball. All good hitters should be
um not missing and swearing up a ball with a
three one count. That's the one that you're working hard
to get to. And I think during that month of
May he probably got into some good hitters counts two
oh one, oh uh three oh. And he wasn't necessarily
firing and putting the barrel on the ball, but now
(44:10):
he is. And that's been the big difference. Well, let's
see if you can get things turned around tonight. Obviously
helps When he got grinky on the hill at home
at Chase Field, I know you're driving to I know
you're you're you're driving to work. A couple of nights ago,
um uh Aton DeAndre Eaton threw out the first pitch
and when he when he walked up there. You're like,
the last dude that tall to be thrown on that
(44:32):
hill was left handed with a mustache and a mullet.
There had to be a curiosity, like, I just I
want to see what this guy does. Did you know
he'd never thrown a baseball before that? I was aware
of that. That that, Uh, that was pretty impressive. And
he threw a ball that was pretty pretty close to
the strike zone, So yeah, I saw that. And he
was a very imposing figure. When you stood next to him,
(44:52):
you just you cannot imagine how big this man is.
It's pretty impressive. Knowing that he's as agile as he
is and he can pick up a baseball for the
first time and throw a strike, that should tell you
some about his ability. You know. I had this deep
conversation with UH, with a couple of people about why
there's so much more power pitching in baseball now as
opposed with the steroids out of the game or mostly
(45:14):
out of the game, and UH and and the the
consensus from baseball guy was, Hey, nowadays, look look at
the Yankees starting pitchers, and they're all, you know, six
three to six ft seven, six ft eight, Whereas back
in the day, those guys were a first baseman or
a catcher. There was the thought that they were they
were they were too big to be pitchers. Pitchers were smaller.
(45:36):
Is that the reason that power pitching? What? What's the
logic behind why there's so much more power pitching in baseball? Well,
i'sk you a question. You know, Um, you know, obviously
twenty years ago, when I can reference it and remember
playing guys you know through and now, that seemed to
be about the average and then all of a sudden
jumped up to and not. Now that's pretty consistent. You
(45:58):
see really good arms coming to the bullpen. You see
good starting pitching. I think that baseball has become very
specific and um, these athletes when they're younger, they get
very points specific muscles that they need to train, get
the proper range of motion, and and there's a science
to it now. Back uh, you know, several years ago,
I'm sure somebody just picked up a baseball in their
(46:20):
backyards started throwing. If they had good arm strength, they
continued to improve that as they got more innings. But
these kids now today can really start to generate some
arms and some good power fourteen or fifteen years old,
and then they begin to work on that fine tune
that and get very specific. So by the time they're
in high school or maybe college, they're throwing ninety miles
(46:40):
an hour. And they get into pro ball and they
get on a program and it continues to upgrade. So
it's amazing. The velocity that you see now is is
something that I never would have predicted. It's a pretty
impressive feat when you see an entire bullpen throwing well.
Zach was Zach was dialed in last time around. I
think seventy three out of a hundred and three were strikes.
We'll see if he has the same efficiency tonight. Best
(47:02):
of luck against the Cardinals, and thanks so much for
your time. Okay, Doun, I'll talk to you. To him
by ally, it's Terry Lavola, who of course Toy Lavola,
who's tor is the manager of the year last year
in the National League. They're in first place, a little
bit of a losing streak. Joining us on the way
to the yard here on the Doug Gotlip Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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