July 20, 2018 • 29 mins
Subscribe here to the All Ball with Doug Gottlieb Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-ball-with-doug-gottlieb/id1358843497?mt=2. All Ball with Doug Gottlieb is part of the Colin Cowherd Podcast Network. All Ball is an unfiltered podcast covering the biggest stories in college basketball and the NBA. Join Doug as he brings his unique perspective as a TV analyst and radio host. In this episode, Doug talks a bit of college basketball, and gets into the recent Kawhi Leonard - DeMar DeRozan trade with guest Ethan Strauss from The Athletic. Follow Doug on Twitter at @GottliebShow and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome into All Ball, the All Basketball podcast here on
the Heard Podcast Network. I'm Doug Gottlieb Real quick, Uh,
just a reminders listening to Doug gotlic show daily on
Fox Sports Tradeo from three to six Eastern Time and
twelve to three Pacific. What a story we have in
the NBA. Our long national nightmare is over. It's definitely
(00:28):
over because Kawhi Leonards no longer playing in this nation.
He's playing in Toronto. Um. Look, my initial blush is
deadlines bring deals. And though there was no hard, hard deadline,
there was the meeting that took place in San Diego
to which I've been told and most people believe. Greg
pop Fitch after hearing Kawhi Leonard out said I'll trade you.
(00:54):
I can't tell you been trade you. We're gonna get
the best deal possible. I'll trade you. Now. He wants
Kauai to play with USA Basketball. USA Basketball is getting
together in Vegas, so it had to be. He'd like
it to have have been done because otherwise, is Kauai gonna
put himself out there and play and be healthy If
(01:15):
he's on the trade block and he said to be
trade the answer is probably not. In addition to the
idea of if he was traded somewhere that was not respectable,
would he even suit up, would he play, or would
he pretend to still be hurt. I don't think Kawhi
Leonard ever pretended to be hurt. I don't I don't
ever thought. I don't think he thought he was right.
I'm guessing if he plays now, he does think he's right.
(01:38):
He absolutely does. But I think that actually san Antonio
did right by him and did right by themselves san Antonio.
What what they can only be accused of doing is
UH is overvaluing themselves on the market and potentially chasing
(01:59):
the market. You know, their list price initially was ridiculous,
you know, Kuzma Ingram Heart picks, picks picks, and then
they wanted even more. They wanted um They wanted a
similar sort of bounty from teams like Philadelphia. But the
other reports that we had heard was, hey, if you
can get us the top twenty player in the NBA,
(02:21):
one of kawailin for you, and that's what they got into.
Martin Rosen. I don't love de Rosen's ability to shoot
the three. I don't love the fact that he disappeared
against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But I've seen Martin Rosen take
over an NBA game, absolutely take over. And while Toronto
looks like bad guys because they said initially they weren't
(02:41):
going to trade him, if you had to, Martin rose
and you can trade him for Kawhi Leonard and oh yeah,
by the way, get Danny Green as the ancillary piece
you make that deal. To me, it comes down to timelines.
Toronto's timeline is we gotta win. We gotta win now.
If it doesn't happen this year with no Lebron in
the East, it's never gonna happen with this group, and
we got to rethink things. So you go all in.
(03:03):
You go all in, just like when you're in poker.
When you go all in in poker, it doesn't mean
you've got a great hand. It just means that at
some point in time, we got to go all in
now because everybody else's hand might not be great, and
it might be just good enough hand to win this
thing or to get to an NBA finals, and then
maybe you get quite a comeback, or maybe you don't.
(03:24):
You move all your pieces. As for the Spurs, does
de Rosan fit their their championship mold. Probably not, But
now that it is the Marcus Aldridge aldridg scores in
the post that's not really needed anymore and Martin Rosen
scores in the mid range that's not really desired anymore either.
But San Antonio Spurs will once again find a way
(03:45):
to remain competitive for a longer period of time than
anybody's remained competitive in recent NBA history. As for the Lakers,
I think they're fine. Look at Josh Hart and his
value and how much that skyrocketed winning the Summer League MVP.
And it wasn't like he was the Summer League MVP
because his team won. He was the best player in
Summer League. A. Lonzo will be better, Ingram should be better,
(04:09):
Kuzma should be better, and oh yeah, by the way,
Lebron will help them be even better. I like that
the Lakers are gonna take this year to figure out
what they got and what they want to add. It's
just not quite letter right now. Let me give you
one kind of recruiting college basketball thought. I've been you
go back a year ago, and if you follow me
on Twitter, I've been a huge proponent of Cole Anthony
(04:29):
being the number one player in the class of two.
En doesn't know where he's gonna go to high school
next year. It's Greig Anthony's son Um. And and here's
what's what's fascinating about Cole Anthony. I've talked a lot
of NBA players about this is how do I how
do I give my kid a better life than I've lived,
Teach him all that I know about the sport that
(04:51):
I love, and on the other hand, create kind of
the hunger and toughness that I had in order to
get to this point. And the guy that somehow has
been able to achieve that is Cole Anthony. Cole Anthony
has an astones to him to which h nastiness in
competitive streak to him, which I love and is needed
(05:13):
and is missing. Asking these former NBA players and then
I'll tell you, like my kids too nice, My kid
went to a private school, My kid grew up in
a great neighborhood. My kid is and Cole Anthony has
um you know, growing up in New York City, kind
of has that chip on his shoulder and will just
attack you and try and tear your heart out and
feed it to you for lunch. He's incredible, incredible. He's
(05:36):
bigger than his dad. UM needs to improve his shooting,
but a better shooter than than his dad was. UM.
I don't know if he's as good a defender as
his dad was a great defender, but he can pass,
he can dunk on, you can score, he can lead,
he can win, and he is tougher than a two
dollar steak. I know there are other guys in two
thousand nineteen that competing with him for best in class,
(05:57):
but being a point guard, having that sort of pet
degree and having the toughness that so many with that pedigree,
lack boy. Whoever gets him is absolutely gonna love him alright.
Last thing before we get to some of the interviews
here on the All Ball Podcast is the potential for
a rules change in college basketball high school basketball in
(06:19):
terms of recruiting and whether or not the n c
A will have the NBA and NBA G League runs
some of these camps for them. The PGM took place
last week, Team Takeover one it they'd be Team why
Not and it was a great celebration of basketball. Victor
Oladipo with Team why Not, and of course Russell Westbrook
excuse me, Russell Westbrook with Team why Not, and Victor
(06:40):
Oladipo with Team Takeover. The idea that so many of
these and I know they're Nike guys and Nike legends,
but Nike guys will show up and we'll give some
of their money and some of their time to these
kids who you know, want to look and believe that
one day and somebody that Jim will be the next
Kevin Garnett, will be that Kevin Durant was there will
be the next Russell west Brook, will be the next
(07:00):
victory of the depot. I think speaks well for where
basketball is, uh, the part I would be really cautious
of if I was the n c A and I'm
not as sensitive to peach GM because look, when when
I played, we didn't have Peach JAM. We had AU
tournaments or there was the AU National Championship, which nobody
went to on the West coast. The West Coast, we
(07:22):
always did Vegas and Phoenix, and there would be Riverside
Church would come out from New York, the Gauchos to
come out from from New York. You get teams from Utah,
Nebraska and all over the country. And then that was
after ABC D camp, and there was a b c
D which was Princeton abc D, which became Converse ABCD,
(07:43):
and Nike had their own camp and then it was
Adidas abc D. We've done the camp thing, We've done
the tournament thing. I do think the one thing that
the E Y b L has is they have a
competitive spring structure. They have pretty darn good coaching and
at the end of the day, you have to win
something in order to achieve the right amount of acclaim,
(08:04):
whereas some of these other events now are no longer
true tournament forms. They have to guarantee you games or
your teams won't play in their event, and they're just
kind of made for TV. You lose, you don't care
as much as we cared. I remember losing in Vegas.
Every time we lost in Vegas, I remember I we
never never won the championship. We lost to be ABC.
(08:25):
I think in the finals my senior year. Um, we
lost to a Nebraska team. My junior year, you know,
I think we lost to a team from Pennsylvania with
Pete less Sicky my sophomore freshman or sophomore year. Like,
I remember those losses more than any of the wins
(08:46):
and I do think that the one thing you got
to be cautious of with true camps, And I think,
what what old school people whatever that came that commission
came up with, is this kind of idealistic Hey, we'll
have the old five star, we'll have staytions and this
is needed. Truly, teaching is needed. But some of that
exists with the Nike Skills Academy, some of that exists
(09:07):
with some of these other events and other camps. It's
it's not it's not perfect in any way, UM, but
in completely tearing apart the system that's taking place, especially
the good, like take some of the good out of it.
True shoe companies UH can push guys in the direction
(09:29):
of their representative schools, and that's not supposed to be
what Showcase Basketball is about. AU basketball is about teaching
kids the game while getting them opportunities to play in college.
There are some events which are really good. There are
some events that are bad, and you have to be
judicious with striking things down with one rule. Now, the
caution to people who believe peach GM is the end
(09:51):
all be all, and if it goes away, all is
good that goes away in the summer, my point is
only that PM has not been forever. There will be
some other event that will be some other way to
do it. And while uh basketball coaches wouldn't be able
to at college basketball coaches wouldn't be able to attend
events during a live period. I mean, can't you just
(10:15):
be virtually there? I mean, wouldn't it just be about
things being televised or is there is there a loophole
to which college basketball coaches could be like in a
viewing room next door. They've always found a way to
go around the rules. They've always found a way to
see the kids. The kids, for the most part, the
good ones have been seen. One or two follow through
the cracks. And so I don't think it's an arm Again,
(10:37):
if these rules which were suggested are enacted again, that
doesn't mean I think it's a good idea. UM. I
just think there has to be things within reason. There
should be more coaching, more teaching. It should be more
about winning games than it is about showcasing players. On
the other hand, you want to showcase guys. You want
to give guys as many opportunities to be seen as
(10:58):
humanly possible so that fewer slipped through the cracks. And
you want to see the East versus the West, and
the North versus of the South. You want to see
competitive basketball. So did you get a sense, you know,
instead of watching film, we're watching a kid compete against
his high school team, ers AU team. What he looks
like against the other kids you. Let's welcome in from
(11:18):
the athletic Ethan Strouss. He joins us here in the
All Ball podcast, And Ethan, let me ask you your
reaction to the quiet Leonard de mar de Rosen trade. Yeah. Well,
the first action, like much of the basketball intelligentia, is
that it seems like a good deal for the Raptors,
and uh, let's have a great deal for the Spurs.
(11:39):
And then that gives me pause, because sometimes we're just
wrong about things, you know, especially when we when we
all agree, that can tend to happen. Remember when the
Paul George trade was one of the patriots got flattered
in if memory serves, I mean that was the contentist
and now now look at it, look at Oladipo, so um,
I don't love it for the Spurs. In a back him,
(12:00):
I don't, But I also didn't think that LaMarcus Aldrin
was really good for them, and he had quite a
good season last season, So I just wonder if they
look at the martyr Rods and they see that he
does something that's falling out of fever in the midrange
jumper as LaMarcus didn't feel as though they can leverage
that in the better shots and that they know what
they're doing. So if I had to guess a great
deal for the Wraps, but I I have go a
(12:21):
little little, little little suspicious that maybe the Spurs pulled
off something there. I um, look, I let's start with
the Spurs side. I do think they were asking for
too much and they chased the market away a little bit,
right they You just you just start asking for like listen,
we'll we'll think about Ingram or Kuzma, but Ingram and
(12:41):
Kuzma and uh, you know, and then you start going
through and you're like, well, we want Josh Hard of course,
and obviously the Lakers had to know something about I
don't know if they knew he would perform as well
at some league as he performed, but they really really
like Josh Hard for as much of their culture as
much as anything else. And then you start talking about picks.
I just I feel like they were asking for the moon,
the stars in the sun, and most of the league
(13:03):
sitting there going, hey, you kind of got a depreciating
asset there. Whereas the Raptors did want to get out
of that deal, there are some limitations to do, Rosan.
I actually think San Antonio did well with all things considered.
It's just are you closer that much closer to winning
a championship when you have two players who are kind
of players from a foregone era, right, like a post
(13:25):
up a post up big in Aldrich and a mid
range pull up guy in Damar de Rosen. If this
was you'd be great, but it's not. It's two thousand
nineteen and you know, you save face. But it's not
like we're gonna pencil the Spurs in as a championship contender.
Is that fair? Yeah? And as the side, doesn't it
(13:45):
feel as though they never really respected Danny Green for
all he did for them? Yes, I don't know what's
up with that. It seems that that was always the
guy that popped with yell at and scream at, and
I know that last season wasn't a great season for him.
I mean to be maybe he's fallen off and that
he seems like somebody who could provide good value for
a team, and so that's that's not a bad that's
(14:08):
not a bad piece at all for for the Raptors.
I will say this, if I'm I'm trying to Devil's advocate,
the position of maybe the Raptors aren't going to be
as impressed, aren't going to be as happy as how
this all goes. They've invited a lot of drama into
their team and it's all based on this this this
kind of that, you know, in a funny way, this
isn't even basketball analysis. This is more of a look
(14:29):
at how the culture of the city and how it
changes in it self assessment. Canada has always had a
little bit of that little Brother syndrome, and they've had
that insecurity that Vince Carter is so so pressed on
when he when he actually did out of there in
the way that he did it. But now they're riding high.
Now Toronto is cool. Now Drake has given it a
little bit of verb and now they think they're the
(14:50):
city that have you come here. You might not know
it's great, but my you know, my god, you're going
to be so impressed and you're not going to leave.
I don't know if that's going to happen, as somebody
and you can also have this perspective as well as
somebody who also grew up in southern California. You can
show me the low city of Atlantic and you told
me that it gets the thirty below. I'm not going
back under my own politia. I do NBA book. NBA
(15:13):
players love Toronto though, right, I mean, like I'm not
speaking out of turns. They love Toronto. And guy might
be a different kind of guy. Correct, That's that's the
part that people are missing there, Like NBA guys love Toronto.
They do, but he's not your normal NBA guy. And
I would also say that there is well, everyone's hitching
their wagon to the Hey, you know Paul George. Paul
(15:36):
George said he was coming. Um. The one thing that's
interesting about the Paul George thing is, you know, Russell
Westbrook was his best friend. They were so close man
leading up. Then he signs a new deal and I
follow Russell Westbrook on Instagram and I've noticed that he
continues to travel the world. I've also knows is not
travel with him. They're like, you are best friends to
(15:56):
a point so uh, you know, look, I think Kauai
ends up likely in Los Angeles, and I think Toronto
knows this, and they're willing to roll the dice because
on their kind of timeline, they gotta win and win now,
otherwise they gotta blow that thing up and start over. Anyway. Yeah,
that's I don't want to burst anybody's bubbles listening, but
(16:17):
most NBA players are not actually friends with going another.
It's very similar to when you go into the office
and you see Gary in the cubicle, and you you know,
Gary's the Packers fans, so maybe you go, oh, the
Packers one, and then you know that's that's about it,
and that's the arrangement. It's not you know, most of
these guys aren't friends, and most of them aren't enemies.
It's somewhere in between, just looking any working en firement.
(16:38):
But with Paul George, I mean, I wonder if that
was just teamed by his agent not having a great
relationship with the Lakers after what happened Dangel Russell. That
was the stubble bud coming out of the the summer League,
So that might have been a special situation that isn't
necessarily applicable to the Kawhi Leonard situation where it looks
like you would saw his left left arm in order.
(16:58):
The Los Angeles Ethan Strouss Joining Us House of Strauss
is his podcast. It's a really really good when a
smart way at looking at the game, uh that that
we all love. I encourage you to download it. He's
kind of to join us here on the All Ball Podcast.
I'm Doug gottlieb Okay, so ah, what about Summer League?
I know you spend time there. I don't want to
(17:19):
go too crazy about it. Most people know Miles Simon
is my best friend in basketball. He did a great job.
He's done an incredible job helping these young players develop.
And I really think that people are starting to see
what the Lakers are building around Lebron James slowly kind
of morphin come together, and my overvaluing what I saw
(17:40):
from Josh Hart and the assumption that others in the
Purple and Gold are going to improve, maybe not at
the exact same level, but at a similar level around him.
I don't know if you're overrated because they love Josh
Harden Turtley and have loved Josh Harden. Maybe the thing
to um, maybe the negative, maybe the down side is
more the organizational chaos. Is chaos too strong word? I'm
(18:05):
not sure that this odd situation where Lebron effectively is
an agent as well as a superstar basketball player, where
the Lakers love Josh Hart. Okay, so they love Josh Hart,
then why would you give Contagos twelve million dollars consideringly?
Everything going to happen last year? I think we all
know why. I think we know it doesn't have a
lot to do with how well, because he's the PP
played last year, right, because he's wrapped by Rich Paul, Right,
(18:28):
And you want to say that I didn't like it either,
and I know he was. They didn't love him, But
I think that's what that's about, right, Yeah, that's what
that's about it. And so I guess the question is
is that can you can you have things happen like
that on the margins and still be successful? You certainly
could in the past with Lebron and his full prime.
(18:49):
And it's why it's very difficult they think it's Lebron
anything because you can tell him that a lot of
the things you do with the teammate aren't the best.
A lot of things you knew might be a little
destabilized into an organization. And he can point to absolutely
just a ruinous situation in Cleveland that he turned into
a championship. So I think it's difficult to tell him anything.
(19:09):
But I do wonder if at this phase in his career,
um if it's if you can have things like that
continue to happen on the margin and have the level
of success that you want to have and the conference that,
let's face it is almost like an entirely different lead
than the East. It's almost like the East is triple
A and this is the Major's. I don't know if
you can do that, and maybe you can, but I
(19:31):
have my suspicions. I have my reservation. I do I
do as well. What do you make of the Jimmy
Butler situation? I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't know.
I mean, is it scare just to not have a
good take on that one? Let's hear what? Okay? This
is now, this is not what you want from a
guest at all, But I'm going to ask you for
your take and maybe I'll rip on it. What is
your take on the Jimmy Butler situation? If I'm honest.
(19:52):
If I'm honest, all I really wanted to talk about
when I came on here was the war that you're
having on Twitter over this whole soccer you soccer player situation.
That conversation. Well, we'll get to that one We'll get
to that one second. I know it's all the bull,
but but I real real quickly. And Jimmy Butler, I
think he knows those dudes, those aren't his kind of dudes. Um,
(20:14):
it's just not he's not buying into it. I think
he wants to be frankly in l a uh. If not,
he would find some other big market. But I think
he's tired of messing around with it. I think, like
that guy's we talked about guys being wired differently. I
think Jimmy Butler is wired to where he wants a
chance to compete for the whole thing, and I just
don't think they he thinks they have it. Yeah, I
(20:34):
wonder if it's a bit of a referendum on cat
um and if that's the guy who is so talented,
so much buzz we hyped him up. We instantly for
a second, forgot about Anthony Davison, made him the next guy,
and I just don't know defensively he's ever going to
be an impact player. And that's a big problem for
a big it is the responsibilities aren't evenly divided. More
(20:58):
of your responsibility is to defense of the bigger you
are or the bigger position that you play. And I
I just wonder that's the bit of a referendum, because
if he was somebody who fit the potential, I'm not
sure that you see that. And I I just that situation.
I don't think it's gone. It hasn't gone as well,
it's not going as well given the talent level. And
(21:21):
I wonder, I just wonder if Thibodeaux in his role
has has done everything you need to do, I would agree,
and I agree with you. All right, let's get to
the let's get to the soccer thing. My assertion is
my my assertion is really really simple, and that I
understand there are other issues with US soccer, completely understand um.
(21:41):
But we also look, we live in a country with
incredible resources, not just financially but in terms of the
the volume of quality athletes. And because of football and
because of basketball, I think that the best players, the
best athletes, all around athletes and people think of athleticism
(22:02):
may simply think of speed and jumping ability. There's a
lot more to it than that. Um, you know, by
and large, they all go away from soccer, whether they
have access to it when they're five or six or not,
or many of them do not. They don't pick up
a soccer ball. And if they were to, if we
were to create a way in which it was cool
(22:22):
to play soccer growing up, then I think we would
dominate because we have just go look at I mean,
take a look at your favorite incredible athlete in basketball.
You mean to tell me that Russell Westbrook wouldn't be
a great soccer player had he played it from a
young age. Um, if if the size, if the size
of Lebron James, Like, well, there's no not that kind
(22:43):
of athlete. Not that there's no six seven guys playing soccer. Okay,
that's fine. Like if you want to keep this to
a six ft four or below, just look at the
guards and the Patrick Beverley's and the Nate Robinson's of
the world. These freak athletes that choose to play basketball
or football above soccer. Until we change that, we're always
going to be dealing with you mentioned j V versus varsity.
(23:06):
That's really what it is. Whereas the best athletes in
these other countries, they grew up playing soccer and then
maybe they grow too big and they have to become
basketball players. It works the opposite way. So so I
agree with you in the macro. But I think one
of the reasons why you're getting the push factor getting
despite you know, regular soccer snobbery, which can be obnoxious, um,
is that it's not necessarily always completely translatable and all
(23:29):
about athleticism. And you know this idea that we take
a really athletic guy, I mean, we have them in
a soccer contest, he might not have the foot coordination
because that's specific skill set um, that would be necessary
to dominato as a soccer player. So I think that
you are right. I think of the country of our size,
with our resources, if we were actually devoted to it,
(23:52):
if we're actually committed to it, and we have the
pipeline that you're talking about, then yes we would dominate, um,
But we would also need guys to be in that
specific fill set. You know. It reminds me a little
bit of how football snobs are getting angry when people
would say that Lebron could have dominated as a tight
end and it would say, oh, you don't understand the
intricatees of blah blah blah. You would have dominated. That's
(24:13):
the or they say, like, you know, he's a basketball guy.
He doesn't want to take contact. Like here's the thing.
What wide receiver goes like? You know, I can't wait,
I can't wait to get ear hold. You know that
doesn't doesn't exist. He's six ft seven two d sixty
pounds two sixty pounds, Like I think it's a tight
end wide receiver, he'd be Okay, do I think he
(24:34):
wants to get your hold? No, I don't think anybody
wants to get at your hold quite quite frankly, so
and and you're right, right, and and you're and you're right.
There are things about soccer that you have to play
to learn. But I also think that we're under selling
the level of intelligence, spatial recognition, how to you know
(24:56):
also how you move your hips, how you move your feet.
The great basketball players, great football cornerbacks, wide receivers have
incredible feet, incredible feat a matter of fact, if you
ask and b I guess, like one of the reasons
that the Lakers weren't high on Julius Randall, even after
having his best statistical career as a pro. Is like
(25:19):
he just has he just has really bad footwork that
they've they're trying. They tried all season desperately to kind
of fix, but you can only clean up so much.
And so the idea isn't just like, hey, we got
more speeds, look and bop a. I understand he has
a lot of skill, but a lot of what he
was able to do is just pure raw speed quickness
that so few have. And I do think that we
(25:41):
have hundreds, if not thousands of those caliber athletes that
are being developed in other sports and they're not being
developed in soccer. I would generally agree with that. I would,
And I reminded how much Jerry West, when he was
at the Warriors, was frustrated with Harrison Barnes, whose footwork
and that was really pomps him. Meant it is, and
that is an aspect that can take you from a
(26:03):
pretty good NBA player maybe something a little bit better.
So I agree. I think people, for whatever reason, blanche
at the idea that a lot of what what what's
good in sports is translatable. I don't know why. We
could come up with various series as to why, but
I think they want to feel as though their sport
is very, very special, and maybe that's what you're bumping
(26:23):
up against. And then you're also bumping up against the
idea that, oh, you know, ugly American, arrogant American blah
blah blah blah blah. But I'm mostly with you. It's
very uh. For whatever reason, I was just so amused
to see it become such a fight in people to
be so so passionate about this, this hypothetical, and I
enjoy it. I love conversations like last last thing and
then we gotta run. Um okay, So now the East.
(26:48):
Let's say assume Kauai plays, because I don't think you
can sit for two straight years rank the East as
quickly as you can. These are such tough questions. I
think I would go that's top. I mean, I just
flipped Boston and Philly in my mind. You know, I
struggle a struggle with both of those. I guess I'm
(27:09):
gonna go Philly based on talent, I'll go Boston, and
I'll go Toronto. And after that it gets a little bit,
it gets a little bit Murky for me. But that's
my top three? What is your top three? I go
Boston far and away number one. Oh, I go, you
know what, I might bump up Indiana, but Tolada I might.
(27:30):
I might just do it. I like what the Wizards
have done. I kind of like what the Bucks have done.
I think the East is pretty good. Do I think
it's as deep as the West? I don't. I do
think we're forgetting how good If healthy Kyrie is and
Gordon Hayward is, and assuming Jason P. M improves in
his second year, which you should, Jalen Brown continue has improved,
I still put Boston one. I put put with markets,
(27:52):
with the markets smart. Coming back to uh, you know,
maybe I slipped that. Maybe I go okay, now I'm
all over the place. I like the Piecers, I like
what the if he did a lot. I'm into that
UM and I think Miles Turner is very underrated and
still on the upswing. So I gotta say this idea
that the Rappers are automatically the best in the East
(28:13):
is not something I'm on board, but especially because we
just don't know what we're getting from Kauai and with
what motivation and and they have brand new and they
have brand new coach, and I like Nick I played
for him, but I'll be interested to see House of
Strauss is the podcast etan great stuff, awesome conversation. Really
appreciate you joining us, Thanks for having me. So that's
(28:35):
it for this episode of All Ball. Make sure you subscribe,
you download, you rate us. Listen to The Dug Gottlieb
Show live on Fox Sports Radio daily three to six
Eastern time, twelve to three Pacific in Stay tuned. Next
week we'll have a great recap of the first couple
of weeks of the open recruiting period, and we think,
now that the dust is settled, will begin to take
(28:57):
a look at all that has changed NBA rosters. Keep listening,
We appreciate it. I'm Doug Gotlin. This is All Ball.
Welcome into All Ball, the All Basketball podcast here on
the Heard Podcast Network. I'm Doug Gottlieb Real quick, Uh,
just a reminders listening to Doug gotlic show daily on
Fox Sports Tradeo from three to six Eastern Time and
twelve to three Pacific. What a story we have in
the NBA. Our long national nightmare is over. It's definitely
(00:28):
over because Kawhi Leonards no longer playing in this nation.
He's playing in Toronto. Um. Look, my initial blush is
deadlines bring deals. And though there was no hard, hard deadline,
there was the meeting that took place in San Diego
to which I've been told and most people believe. Greg
pop Fitch after hearing Kawhi Leonard out said I'll trade you.
(00:54):
I can't tell you been trade you. We're gonna get
the best deal possible. I'll trade you. Now. He wants
Kauai to play with USA Basketball. USA Basketball is getting
together in Vegas, so it had to be. He'd like
it to have have been done because otherwise, is Kauai gonna
put himself out there and play and be healthy If
(01:15):
he's on the trade block and he said to be
trade the answer is probably not. In addition to the
idea of if he was traded somewhere that was not respectable,
would he even suit up, would he play, or would
he pretend to still be hurt. I don't think Kawhi
Leonard ever pretended to be hurt. I don't I don't
ever thought. I don't think he thought he was right.
I'm guessing if he plays now, he does think he's right.
(01:38):
He absolutely does. But I think that actually san Antonio
did right by him and did right by themselves san Antonio.
What what they can only be accused of doing is
UH is overvaluing themselves on the market and potentially chasing
(01:59):
the market. You know, their list price initially was ridiculous,
you know, Kuzma Ingram Heart picks, picks picks, and then
they wanted even more. They wanted um They wanted a
similar sort of bounty from teams like Philadelphia. But the
other reports that we had heard was, hey, if you
can get us the top twenty player in the NBA,
(02:21):
one of kawailin for you, and that's what they got into.
Martin Rosen. I don't love de Rosen's ability to shoot
the three. I don't love the fact that he disappeared
against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But I've seen Martin Rosen take
over an NBA game, absolutely take over. And while Toronto
looks like bad guys because they said initially they weren't
(02:41):
going to trade him, if you had to, Martin rose
and you can trade him for Kawhi Leonard and oh yeah,
by the way, get Danny Green as the ancillary piece
you make that deal. To me, it comes down to timelines.
Toronto's timeline is we gotta win. We gotta win now.
If it doesn't happen this year with no Lebron in
the East, it's never gonna happen with this group, and
we got to rethink things. So you go all in.
(03:03):
You go all in, just like when you're in poker.
When you go all in in poker, it doesn't mean
you've got a great hand. It just means that at
some point in time, we got to go all in
now because everybody else's hand might not be great, and
it might be just good enough hand to win this
thing or to get to an NBA finals, and then
maybe you get quite a comeback, or maybe you don't.
(03:24):
You move all your pieces. As for the Spurs, does
de Rosan fit their their championship mold. Probably not, But
now that it is the Marcus Aldridge aldridg scores in
the post that's not really needed anymore and Martin Rosen
scores in the mid range that's not really desired anymore either.
But San Antonio Spurs will once again find a way
(03:45):
to remain competitive for a longer period of time than
anybody's remained competitive in recent NBA history. As for the Lakers,
I think they're fine. Look at Josh Hart and his
value and how much that skyrocketed winning the Summer League MVP.
And it wasn't like he was the Summer League MVP
because his team won. He was the best player in
Summer League. A. Lonzo will be better, Ingram should be better,
(04:09):
Kuzma should be better, and oh yeah, by the way,
Lebron will help them be even better. I like that
the Lakers are gonna take this year to figure out
what they got and what they want to add. It's
just not quite letter right now. Let me give you
one kind of recruiting college basketball thought. I've been you
go back a year ago, and if you follow me
on Twitter, I've been a huge proponent of Cole Anthony
(04:29):
being the number one player in the class of two.
En doesn't know where he's gonna go to high school
next year. It's Greig Anthony's son Um. And and here's
what's what's fascinating about Cole Anthony. I've talked a lot
of NBA players about this is how do I how
do I give my kid a better life than I've lived,
Teach him all that I know about the sport that
(04:51):
I love, and on the other hand, create kind of
the hunger and toughness that I had in order to
get to this point. And the guy that somehow has
been able to achieve that is Cole Anthony. Cole Anthony
has an astones to him to which h nastiness in
competitive streak to him, which I love and is needed
(05:13):
and is missing. Asking these former NBA players and then
I'll tell you, like my kids too nice, My kid
went to a private school, My kid grew up in
a great neighborhood. My kid is and Cole Anthony has
um you know, growing up in New York City, kind
of has that chip on his shoulder and will just
attack you and try and tear your heart out and
feed it to you for lunch. He's incredible, incredible. He's
(05:36):
bigger than his dad. UM needs to improve his shooting,
but a better shooter than than his dad was. UM.
I don't know if he's as good a defender as
his dad was a great defender, but he can pass,
he can dunk on, you can score, he can lead,
he can win, and he is tougher than a two
dollar steak. I know there are other guys in two
thousand nineteen that competing with him for best in class,
(05:57):
but being a point guard, having that sort of pet
degree and having the toughness that so many with that pedigree,
lack boy. Whoever gets him is absolutely gonna love him alright.
Last thing before we get to some of the interviews
here on the All Ball Podcast is the potential for
a rules change in college basketball high school basketball in
(06:19):
terms of recruiting and whether or not the n c
A will have the NBA and NBA G League runs
some of these camps for them. The PGM took place
last week, Team Takeover one it they'd be Team why
Not and it was a great celebration of basketball. Victor
Oladipo with Team why Not, and of course Russell Westbrook
excuse me, Russell Westbrook with Team why Not, and Victor
(06:40):
Oladipo with Team Takeover. The idea that so many of
these and I know they're Nike guys and Nike legends,
but Nike guys will show up and we'll give some
of their money and some of their time to these
kids who you know, want to look and believe that
one day and somebody that Jim will be the next
Kevin Garnett, will be that Kevin Durant was there will
be the next Russell west Brook, will be the next
(07:00):
victory of the depot. I think speaks well for where
basketball is, uh, the part I would be really cautious
of if I was the n c A and I'm
not as sensitive to peach GM because look, when when
I played, we didn't have Peach JAM. We had AU
tournaments or there was the AU National Championship, which nobody
went to on the West coast. The West Coast, we
(07:22):
always did Vegas and Phoenix, and there would be Riverside
Church would come out from New York, the Gauchos to
come out from from New York. You get teams from Utah,
Nebraska and all over the country. And then that was
after ABC D camp, and there was a b c
D which was Princeton abc D, which became Converse ABCD,
(07:43):
and Nike had their own camp and then it was
Adidas abc D. We've done the camp thing, We've done
the tournament thing. I do think the one thing that
the E Y b L has is they have a
competitive spring structure. They have pretty darn good coaching and
at the end of the day, you have to win
something in order to achieve the right amount of acclaim,
(08:04):
whereas some of these other events now are no longer
true tournament forms. They have to guarantee you games or
your teams won't play in their event, and they're just
kind of made for TV. You lose, you don't care
as much as we cared. I remember losing in Vegas.
Every time we lost in Vegas, I remember I we
never never won the championship. We lost to be ABC.
(08:25):
I think in the finals my senior year. Um, we
lost to a Nebraska team. My junior year, you know,
I think we lost to a team from Pennsylvania with
Pete less Sicky my sophomore freshman or sophomore year. Like,
I remember those losses more than any of the wins
(08:46):
and I do think that the one thing you got
to be cautious of with true camps, And I think,
what what old school people whatever that came that commission
came up with, is this kind of idealistic Hey, we'll
have the old five star, we'll have staytions and this
is needed. Truly, teaching is needed. But some of that
exists with the Nike Skills Academy, some of that exists
(09:07):
with some of these other events and other camps. It's
it's not it's not perfect in any way, UM, but
in completely tearing apart the system that's taking place, especially
the good, like take some of the good out of it.
True shoe companies UH can push guys in the direction
(09:29):
of their representative schools, and that's not supposed to be
what Showcase Basketball is about. AU basketball is about teaching
kids the game while getting them opportunities to play in college.
There are some events which are really good. There are
some events that are bad, and you have to be
judicious with striking things down with one rule. Now, the
caution to people who believe peach GM is the end
(09:51):
all be all, and if it goes away, all is
good that goes away in the summer, my point is
only that PM has not been forever. There will be
some other event that will be some other way to
do it. And while uh basketball coaches wouldn't be able
to at college basketball coaches wouldn't be able to attend
events during a live period. I mean, can't you just
(10:15):
be virtually there? I mean, wouldn't it just be about
things being televised or is there is there a loophole
to which college basketball coaches could be like in a
viewing room next door. They've always found a way to
go around the rules. They've always found a way to
see the kids. The kids, for the most part, the
good ones have been seen. One or two follow through
the cracks. And so I don't think it's an arm Again,
(10:37):
if these rules which were suggested are enacted again, that
doesn't mean I think it's a good idea. UM. I
just think there has to be things within reason. There
should be more coaching, more teaching. It should be more
about winning games than it is about showcasing players. On
the other hand, you want to showcase guys. You want
to give guys as many opportunities to be seen as
(10:58):
humanly possible so that fewer slipped through the cracks. And
you want to see the East versus the West, and
the North versus of the South. You want to see
competitive basketball. So did you get a sense, you know,
instead of watching film, we're watching a kid compete against
his high school team, ers AU team. What he looks
like against the other kids you. Let's welcome in from
(11:18):
the athletic Ethan Strouss. He joins us here in the
All Ball podcast, And Ethan, let me ask you your
reaction to the quiet Leonard de mar de Rosen trade. Yeah. Well,
the first action, like much of the basketball intelligentia, is
that it seems like a good deal for the Raptors,
and uh, let's have a great deal for the Spurs.
(11:39):
And then that gives me pause, because sometimes we're just
wrong about things, you know, especially when we when we
all agree, that can tend to happen. Remember when the
Paul George trade was one of the patriots got flattered
in if memory serves, I mean that was the contentist
and now now look at it, look at Oladipo, so um,
I don't love it for the Spurs. In a back him,
(12:00):
I don't, But I also didn't think that LaMarcus Aldrin
was really good for them, and he had quite a
good season last season, So I just wonder if they
look at the martyr Rods and they see that he
does something that's falling out of fever in the midrange
jumper as LaMarcus didn't feel as though they can leverage
that in the better shots and that they know what
they're doing. So if I had to guess a great
deal for the Wraps, but I I have go a
(12:21):
little little, little little suspicious that maybe the Spurs pulled
off something there. I um, look, I let's start with
the Spurs side. I do think they were asking for
too much and they chased the market away a little bit,
right they You just you just start asking for like listen,
we'll we'll think about Ingram or Kuzma, but Ingram and
(12:41):
Kuzma and uh, you know, and then you start going
through and you're like, well, we want Josh Hard of course,
and obviously the Lakers had to know something about I
don't know if they knew he would perform as well
at some league as he performed, but they really really
like Josh Hard for as much of their culture as
much as anything else. And then you start talking about picks.
I just I feel like they were asking for the moon,
the stars in the sun, and most of the league
(13:03):
sitting there going, hey, you kind of got a depreciating
asset there. Whereas the Raptors did want to get out
of that deal, there are some limitations to do, Rosan.
I actually think San Antonio did well with all things considered.
It's just are you closer that much closer to winning
a championship when you have two players who are kind
of players from a foregone era, right, like a post
(13:25):
up a post up big in Aldrich and a mid
range pull up guy in Damar de Rosen. If this
was you'd be great, but it's not. It's two thousand
nineteen and you know, you save face. But it's not
like we're gonna pencil the Spurs in as a championship contender.
Is that fair? Yeah? And as the side, doesn't it
(13:45):
feel as though they never really respected Danny Green for
all he did for them? Yes, I don't know what's
up with that. It seems that that was always the
guy that popped with yell at and scream at, and
I know that last season wasn't a great season for him.
I mean to be maybe he's fallen off and that
he seems like somebody who could provide good value for
a team, and so that's that's not a bad that's
(14:08):
not a bad piece at all for for the Raptors.
I will say this, if I'm I'm trying to Devil's advocate,
the position of maybe the Raptors aren't going to be
as impressed, aren't going to be as happy as how
this all goes. They've invited a lot of drama into
their team and it's all based on this this this
kind of that, you know, in a funny way, this
isn't even basketball analysis. This is more of a look
(14:29):
at how the culture of the city and how it
changes in it self assessment. Canada has always had a
little bit of that little Brother syndrome, and they've had
that insecurity that Vince Carter is so so pressed on
when he when he actually did out of there in
the way that he did it. But now they're riding high.
Now Toronto is cool. Now Drake has given it a
little bit of verb and now they think they're the
(14:50):
city that have you come here. You might not know
it's great, but my you know, my god, you're going
to be so impressed and you're not going to leave.
I don't know if that's going to happen, as somebody
and you can also have this perspective as well as
somebody who also grew up in southern California. You can
show me the low city of Atlantic and you told
me that it gets the thirty below. I'm not going
back under my own politia. I do NBA book. NBA
(15:13):
players love Toronto though, right, I mean, like I'm not
speaking out of turns. They love Toronto. And guy might
be a different kind of guy. Correct, That's that's the
part that people are missing there, Like NBA guys love Toronto.
They do, but he's not your normal NBA guy. And
I would also say that there is well, everyone's hitching
their wagon to the Hey, you know Paul George. Paul
(15:36):
George said he was coming. Um. The one thing that's
interesting about the Paul George thing is, you know, Russell
Westbrook was his best friend. They were so close man
leading up. Then he signs a new deal and I
follow Russell Westbrook on Instagram and I've noticed that he
continues to travel the world. I've also knows is not
travel with him. They're like, you are best friends to
(15:56):
a point so uh, you know, look, I think Kauai
ends up likely in Los Angeles, and I think Toronto
knows this, and they're willing to roll the dice because
on their kind of timeline, they gotta win and win now,
otherwise they gotta blow that thing up and start over. Anyway. Yeah,
that's I don't want to burst anybody's bubbles listening, but
(16:17):
most NBA players are not actually friends with going another.
It's very similar to when you go into the office
and you see Gary in the cubicle, and you you know,
Gary's the Packers fans, so maybe you go, oh, the
Packers one, and then you know that's that's about it,
and that's the arrangement. It's not you know, most of
these guys aren't friends, and most of them aren't enemies.
It's somewhere in between, just looking any working en firement.
(16:38):
But with Paul George, I mean, I wonder if that
was just teamed by his agent not having a great
relationship with the Lakers after what happened Dangel Russell. That
was the stubble bud coming out of the the summer League,
So that might have been a special situation that isn't
necessarily applicable to the Kawhi Leonard situation where it looks
like you would saw his left left arm in order.
(16:58):
The Los Angeles Ethan Strouss Joining Us House of Strauss
is his podcast. It's a really really good when a
smart way at looking at the game, uh that that
we all love. I encourage you to download it. He's
kind of to join us here on the All Ball Podcast.
I'm Doug gottlieb Okay, so ah, what about Summer League?
I know you spend time there. I don't want to
(17:19):
go too crazy about it. Most people know Miles Simon
is my best friend in basketball. He did a great job.
He's done an incredible job helping these young players develop.
And I really think that people are starting to see
what the Lakers are building around Lebron James slowly kind
of morphin come together, and my overvaluing what I saw
(17:40):
from Josh Hart and the assumption that others in the
Purple and Gold are going to improve, maybe not at
the exact same level, but at a similar level around him.
I don't know if you're overrated because they love Josh
Harden Turtley and have loved Josh Harden. Maybe the thing
to um, maybe the negative, maybe the down side is
more the organizational chaos. Is chaos too strong word? I'm
(18:05):
not sure that this odd situation where Lebron effectively is
an agent as well as a superstar basketball player, where
the Lakers love Josh Hart. Okay, so they love Josh Hart,
then why would you give Contagos twelve million dollars consideringly?
Everything going to happen last year? I think we all
know why. I think we know it doesn't have a
lot to do with how well, because he's the PP
played last year, right, because he's wrapped by Rich Paul, Right,
(18:28):
And you want to say that I didn't like it either,
and I know he was. They didn't love him, But
I think that's what that's about, right, Yeah, that's what
that's about it. And so I guess the question is
is that can you can you have things happen like
that on the margins and still be successful? You certainly
could in the past with Lebron and his full prime.
(18:49):
And it's why it's very difficult they think it's Lebron
anything because you can tell him that a lot of
the things you do with the teammate aren't the best.
A lot of things you knew might be a little
destabilized into an organization. And he can point to absolutely
just a ruinous situation in Cleveland that he turned into
a championship. So I think it's difficult to tell him anything.
(19:09):
But I do wonder if at this phase in his career,
um if it's if you can have things like that
continue to happen on the margin and have the level
of success that you want to have and the conference that,
let's face it is almost like an entirely different lead
than the East. It's almost like the East is triple
A and this is the Major's. I don't know if
you can do that, and maybe you can, but I
(19:31):
have my suspicions. I have my reservation. I do I
do as well. What do you make of the Jimmy
Butler situation? I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't know.
I mean, is it scare just to not have a
good take on that one? Let's hear what? Okay? This
is now, this is not what you want from a
guest at all, But I'm going to ask you for
your take and maybe I'll rip on it. What is
your take on the Jimmy Butler situation? If I'm honest.
(19:52):
If I'm honest, all I really wanted to talk about
when I came on here was the war that you're
having on Twitter over this whole soccer you soccer player situation.
That conversation. Well, we'll get to that one We'll get
to that one second. I know it's all the bull,
but but I real real quickly. And Jimmy Butler, I
think he knows those dudes, those aren't his kind of dudes. Um,
(20:14):
it's just not he's not buying into it. I think
he wants to be frankly in l a uh. If not,
he would find some other big market. But I think
he's tired of messing around with it. I think, like
that guy's we talked about guys being wired differently. I
think Jimmy Butler is wired to where he wants a
chance to compete for the whole thing, and I just
don't think they he thinks they have it. Yeah, I
(20:34):
wonder if it's a bit of a referendum on cat
um and if that's the guy who is so talented,
so much buzz we hyped him up. We instantly for
a second, forgot about Anthony Davison, made him the next guy,
and I just don't know defensively he's ever going to
be an impact player. And that's a big problem for
a big it is the responsibilities aren't evenly divided. More
(20:58):
of your responsibility is to defense of the bigger you
are or the bigger position that you play. And I
I just wonder that's the bit of a referendum, because
if he was somebody who fit the potential, I'm not
sure that you see that. And I I just that situation.
I don't think it's gone. It hasn't gone as well,
it's not going as well given the talent level. And
(21:21):
I wonder, I just wonder if Thibodeaux in his role
has has done everything you need to do, I would agree,
and I agree with you. All right, let's get to
the let's get to the soccer thing. My assertion is
my my assertion is really really simple, and that I
understand there are other issues with US soccer, completely understand um.
(21:41):
But we also look, we live in a country with
incredible resources, not just financially but in terms of the
the volume of quality athletes. And because of football and
because of basketball, I think that the best players, the
best athletes, all around athletes and people think of athleticism
(22:02):
may simply think of speed and jumping ability. There's a
lot more to it than that. Um, you know, by
and large, they all go away from soccer, whether they
have access to it when they're five or six or not,
or many of them do not. They don't pick up
a soccer ball. And if they were to, if we
were to create a way in which it was cool
(22:22):
to play soccer growing up, then I think we would
dominate because we have just go look at I mean,
take a look at your favorite incredible athlete in basketball.
You mean to tell me that Russell Westbrook wouldn't be
a great soccer player had he played it from a
young age. Um, if if the size, if the size
of Lebron James, Like, well, there's no not that kind
(22:43):
of athlete. Not that there's no six seven guys playing soccer. Okay,
that's fine. Like if you want to keep this to
a six ft four or below, just look at the
guards and the Patrick Beverley's and the Nate Robinson's of
the world. These freak athletes that choose to play basketball
or football above soccer. Until we change that, we're always
going to be dealing with you mentioned j V versus varsity.
(23:06):
That's really what it is. Whereas the best athletes in
these other countries, they grew up playing soccer and then
maybe they grow too big and they have to become
basketball players. It works the opposite way. So so I
agree with you in the macro. But I think one
of the reasons why you're getting the push factor getting
despite you know, regular soccer snobbery, which can be obnoxious, um,
is that it's not necessarily always completely translatable and all
(23:29):
about athleticism. And you know this idea that we take
a really athletic guy, I mean, we have them in
a soccer contest, he might not have the foot coordination
because that's specific skill set um, that would be necessary
to dominato as a soccer player. So I think that
you are right. I think of the country of our size,
with our resources, if we were actually devoted to it,
(23:52):
if we're actually committed to it, and we have the
pipeline that you're talking about, then yes we would dominate, um,
But we would also need guys to be in that
specific fill set. You know. It reminds me a little
bit of how football snobs are getting angry when people
would say that Lebron could have dominated as a tight
end and it would say, oh, you don't understand the
intricatees of blah blah blah. You would have dominated. That's
(24:13):
the or they say, like, you know, he's a basketball guy.
He doesn't want to take contact. Like here's the thing.
What wide receiver goes like? You know, I can't wait,
I can't wait to get ear hold. You know that
doesn't doesn't exist. He's six ft seven two d sixty
pounds two sixty pounds, Like I think it's a tight
end wide receiver, he'd be Okay, do I think he
(24:34):
wants to get your hold? No, I don't think anybody
wants to get at your hold quite quite frankly, so
and and you're right, right, and and you're and you're right.
There are things about soccer that you have to play
to learn. But I also think that we're under selling
the level of intelligence, spatial recognition, how to you know
(24:56):
also how you move your hips, how you move your feet.
The great basketball players, great football cornerbacks, wide receivers have
incredible feet, incredible feat a matter of fact, if you
ask and b I guess, like one of the reasons
that the Lakers weren't high on Julius Randall, even after
having his best statistical career as a pro. Is like
(25:19):
he just has he just has really bad footwork that
they've they're trying. They tried all season desperately to kind
of fix, but you can only clean up so much.
And so the idea isn't just like, hey, we got
more speeds, look and bop a. I understand he has
a lot of skill, but a lot of what he
was able to do is just pure raw speed quickness
that so few have. And I do think that we
(25:41):
have hundreds, if not thousands of those caliber athletes that
are being developed in other sports and they're not being
developed in soccer. I would generally agree with that. I would,
And I reminded how much Jerry West, when he was
at the Warriors, was frustrated with Harrison Barnes, whose footwork
and that was really pomps him. Meant it is, and
that is an aspect that can take you from a
(26:03):
pretty good NBA player maybe something a little bit better.
So I agree. I think people, for whatever reason, blanche
at the idea that a lot of what what what's
good in sports is translatable. I don't know why. We
could come up with various series as to why, but
I think they want to feel as though their sport
is very, very special, and maybe that's what you're bumping
(26:23):
up against. And then you're also bumping up against the
idea that, oh, you know, ugly American, arrogant American blah
blah blah blah blah. But I'm mostly with you. It's
very uh. For whatever reason, I was just so amused
to see it become such a fight in people to
be so so passionate about this, this hypothetical, and I
enjoy it. I love conversations like last last thing and
then we gotta run. Um okay, So now the East.
(26:48):
Let's say assume Kauai plays, because I don't think you
can sit for two straight years rank the East as
quickly as you can. These are such tough questions. I
think I would go that's top. I mean, I just
flipped Boston and Philly in my mind. You know, I
struggle a struggle with both of those. I guess I'm
(27:09):
gonna go Philly based on talent, I'll go Boston, and
I'll go Toronto. And after that it gets a little bit,
it gets a little bit Murky for me. But that's
my top three? What is your top three? I go
Boston far and away number one. Oh, I go, you
know what, I might bump up Indiana, but Tolada I might.
(27:30):
I might just do it. I like what the Wizards
have done. I kind of like what the Bucks have done.
I think the East is pretty good. Do I think
it's as deep as the West? I don't. I do
think we're forgetting how good If healthy Kyrie is and
Gordon Hayward is, and assuming Jason P. M improves in
his second year, which you should, Jalen Brown continue has improved,
I still put Boston one. I put put with markets,
(27:52):
with the markets smart. Coming back to uh, you know,
maybe I slipped that. Maybe I go okay, now I'm
all over the place. I like the Piecers, I like
what the if he did a lot. I'm into that
UM and I think Miles Turner is very underrated and
still on the upswing. So I gotta say this idea
that the Rappers are automatically the best in the East
(28:13):
is not something I'm on board, but especially because we
just don't know what we're getting from Kauai and with
what motivation and and they have brand new and they
have brand new coach, and I like Nick I played
for him, but I'll be interested to see House of
Strauss is the podcast etan great stuff, awesome conversation. Really
appreciate you joining us, Thanks for having me. So that's
(28:35):
it for this episode of All Ball. Make sure you subscribe,
you download, you rate us. Listen to The Dug Gottlieb
Show live on Fox Sports Radio daily three to six
Eastern time, twelve to three Pacific in Stay tuned. Next
week we'll have a great recap of the first couple
of weeks of the open recruiting period, and we think,
now that the dust is settled, will begin to take
(28:57):
a look at all that has changed NBA rosters. Keep listening,
We appreciate it. I'm Doug Gotlin. This is All Ball.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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