May 8, 2019 • 39 mins
Doug breaks down the 76ers losing to the Raptors and why Ben Simmons has been bad in the playoffs. He also tells you why the Cowboys would be making a mistake by paying Dak Prescott $30 million a season before they have to. NBA analyst David Thorpe joins the show to tell Doug what the 76ers can do to fix Simmons and break down other NBA playoff games.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
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(00:22):
the Doug Gotli Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What
Up America? Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to
here from the City of Angels getting ready for what
should be an incredible basketball night. In the end be
a Major League Baseball games taking place. Dan Buyer be
(00:42):
alongside half past the hour. All the updates are not
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Welcome in. I hope you're having a great day. Doug
Gotlip Show is always brought to you by Farmers. At
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(01:08):
you a playoff guy? Do you play your kid up.
I am a play my kid up sort of guy.
And what ends up happening when you play up is
it exposes your weaknesses. Last year, when we moved out
here from from Connecticut, I put my son on a
(01:32):
basketball team that was fourth and fifth graders. Now keep
in mind that in Connecticut when he was in second grade,
playing wasn't exactly high level ball, and I was working afternoons,
evenings as well as weekends, and it made it a
little bit more difficult to work with him on his
on his game. And so he was, you know, good
(01:54):
for that area, but we hadn't really expanded, hadn't really
played up in that area. So then we moved out
to California, and he goes from like zero to sixty,
not just playing against kids in this area, but against
older kids, and it wasn't good. It was a walking turnover.
(02:15):
He wanted to be a point guard, but he couldn't dribble, pass,
or shoot. Outside of that, at least, he played a
hard and could defend. And it was to the point
where he would tell anybody who would listen, I don't
really like basketball. He didn't really like basketball. Not because
he didn't like basketball, he didn't like basketball because he
went good at basketball. So this year he still plays up.
(02:39):
Some plays with his own age group. Some he's better,
he's better. I used the playing up analogy, and I
am a big proponent of playing up, playing against older kids,
because when you play against older kids, it exposes your weaknesses. Obviously,
strength and size is going to be a weakness, but
the finer points that you're able to get away with
(03:02):
missing when you're playing against relatively average level of comp
at your age, you just can't get away with when
you play against better older players. That's what's happening to
Ben Simmons. It's not just that NBA guys are older
than him, but the playoffs are essentially like playing up
(03:22):
a level. It's a much it's a almost a different sport.
The attention to detail, the scattering reports, the physicality, the fatigue,
the crowds, the officials, everything is different. Everything is more intense,
(03:43):
and the lazy passes and bad possessions and easy shots
that you're able to get away with when you play
a Wednesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks team that
simply is trying to get through the year and get
their young players experience in comparison to playing against the
Raptors team that has been waiting for years for Lebron
(04:04):
James to leave the Eastern Conference and smells blood in
the water. It's night and day. Ben Simmons has been
awful in this series, non impactful. Last night seven points,
four assists, he had five turnovers, He only took five
field goals. He made his one free throw that he took.
(04:26):
He can't get to the line, he can't get to
the rim, and we know and we know that he's
not gonna take nor make deep jump shots. Ben Simmons
against the Raptors in total, Right, this is five games in.
It's a small sample size, but it's a relatively decent
(04:49):
little chunk of sample size. Right, we're almost at We're
at what was it probably about one tenth of the season.
Nine point four points per game, four point six assist
per game. He's only taking eight and a half field
goals a game. He's taken four total free throws and
last night was the first free throw that he made. Remember,
(05:13):
this is a kid that averages seventeen a game, seventeen
and a half assist a game. He takes on average
twelve field goals a game and attempts five free throws
a game. Now, some of it is matchups, some of
it is Kawhi Leonard. All right, you want to know
what the best look like. This is what it looks like.
(05:36):
And whether it comes down to you exposing kind of
your local wreck team to a U ball or you
playing your AU team up an age group, whatever it is.
If you're a parent, you completely get what I'm talking about.
My son also, he plays baseball and in his Mustang
league he's one of the three or four best players.
(05:58):
And when he played with his track level team, he
was the best player on a bad team. They sprinkled
in some older players and played in an older division,
and on Sunday he had his worst game as a
baseball player. He was all screwed up and crossed up
and swinging to their and watching strikes and it was
a little too fast for him. He went from being
(06:23):
virtually unhittable in his own league to very much hittable.
But it's okay because he's only ten. He's not a professional,
and it's expected when you step up in weight class. Right,
this is not what we expected from Ben Simmons and
(06:45):
the exposure of Simmons, the exposure of Joel embid While
we've seen this in the past from teams, you gotta
feel the pain before you taste the champagne. We get that.
But the idea that this is just a a a
weight class that they are not close to being ready
(07:07):
to compete at is a little bit alarming. Right, It's
a little bit of alarming because the thing I take
the most pride in. For example, my son is we
get in the car and he says he's embarrassed, and
I tell him, all right, dude, we're gonna go back
to work. We're gonna fix it, and eventually we've hit
all those guys. But this is what happened to Simmons
(07:30):
last year when he faced the Celtics, this is what's
happened this year against the Raptors, and there appears to
be regression, not progression, and that's a problem. Look, I'm
not closing the book on Ben simmons ability to be
a superstar. I'm not diminishing the fact that when Joel
(07:51):
Embiide isn't right, they're a completely different team, or the
fact that they went from surrounding Simmons and embied with
great shooters instead when top heavy with Tobias Harris and
Jimmy Butler, two guys who need the ball and it
it depleted their bench and depleted their assets in terms
of volume of shooters. And I'm not gonna diminish this is.
These are not guys that play in a vacuum. Everything
(08:15):
does in fact matter. But doesn't it feel like to
anybody else, like if you turn it on, you're like
that guy was the rookie of the year last year.
Granted not really a rookie, but whatever, that guy was
the rookie of the year, a dominant six ft ten
player the likes of which we hadn't seen since the
lebron or a magic You know, I knew he grew
up idolizing lamar Odom, but god, he just hasn't looked
(08:37):
I'm packed full at all. He's one of those why
do they have him out there? Guys? And to me
it looks very very much like a guy who is
uh play, a guy who's playing in a weight class
that he wasn't in fact ready for. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Doug Dot Leaps Show week
(08:59):
days noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. David Dorpe is a
partner in lead analyst at True Hoop dot com, an
NBA player development specialist, and he's launching a new virtual
training program at the Pro Training Center dot com. David Dorpe,
also a friend of mine, joins us here on the
Doug Gottlieb Show. Let's let's begin with last night's Philadelphia
(09:23):
seventies six years. I like in the playoffs two you
have a son who's a ballplayer. David too, when you
have your kid play up right and you have them
play up because it exposes all of their flaws. Stuff
they can get away with when they play against kids,
their kids their own age, they can't get away with
when they play up a grade or two. That's what
it feels like with Ben Simmons in the playoffs, especially
(09:45):
against the Raptors. Is that a crazy analogy to make? Actually?
That a fantastic and an upset that I never came
up with that one. I've pondered many times and talked
many times about this exact subject with children iving coaching
for decades and the last ten years with kids, you know,
my son and my son's age. Uh, it's terrific. Yeah,
the uh I make. Sometimes it's good to play bullyball
(10:07):
in his sense and learn how to be dominant, but
it's also good to kind of find out and be
the baby and find out what you think at um,
I'm listening. We all see it, right, Ben as as
incredible as Simmons is. And I was a big fan
coming out of l s U as a defender. I
thought he could be a defensive Player of the Year
in the league. I really did think Doug that he'd
eventually learned to shoot. I still think it can happen.
(10:29):
It's not happening now. And when when you have that
kind of phobia, which is what it is, right, I'm
tom told and I haven't gone to one of his
games in recent years, but I'm told he'll make some
threes before games plenty of times. And I've talked to
guys are playing him in the practice and he makes threes.
He's petrified to shoot it. You can game plan forward
and that plays into things a little bit. And then
when you factor in the problems mbiad has with with
(10:52):
guys like Marcus All and maybe some of mbs own issues,
You've you've got a little trouble in your hands. Okay.
So look, I've had the phobia to be totally candid
in MS in terms of shooting, and it is really
hard to shake. Um. I've heard people suggest, hey, you know,
Ben Simmons is actually right handed. You look, everything he
shoots around the basket is right handed. He as a
(11:12):
as a human being, he actually is more right handed
than left handed. Could switching hands shooting the basketball? That
a crazy thing to think about. Oh, it's not crazy
at all. My son is much better with his left
hand around the rim as I was. But we're both
very right handed, although I do meet with my left hand.
I copied from my dad. These are funny that way.
It'd be silly, Doug not to try it to me.
(11:34):
If you are with Ben Simmons, and I do this
for a living with NBA players and great players all
over the world. Uh. If I have a kids that talented,
that's special about unique, and he just can't seem to
at least make shots with confidence or world take them
because you have to have confidence to miss, as you know,
why wouldn't you try everything possible. I this is where
Brett Brown and me deserves some blame. And I'm a
(11:55):
fan of his and and we have a lot of
mutual friends and clearly he's done a great job and
has been a long period of time there. But he
owns Ben Simmons shooting. He just like he owned folks
to shooting. And you have to own it, which means
you have got to take the blame when it when
it's such a problem. David dorrif joining us on the
Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sport Trade and then you
got embiid who I mean, he wasn't right last night? Right?
(12:18):
And I and I never want to question when or
not a guy's feeling well. And clearly he's not himself
because we see him when he is himself, he's dominant.
Did you put it out how Marcusol can give him
fits older players, bigger players guys, And look, Marcusol is
a former defensive player in the year in the NBA.
It's it's it's not like he's some he's some slug.
(12:39):
What is it about the Gasol matchup which seems to
stymy and beat well? I think you kind of said it.
I think mbiads better against younger, more athletic guys because
he actually he doesn't just overpower you with with physical presence.
He's got a lot of crap to his game, and
young guys just are dumb typically and they go for
everything because saw First of all, he's enormous and he's
(13:01):
so much more nimble than people realize. Watched him defend
the perimeter and then retreat quickly as if he's like
a six ft two guard. Uh, he's not changing directions,
you know, like Tye Lawson used to do one once
in upon a time. But he can change direction, is
good enough and stay balanced, and he's super crafty and smart.
He doesn't go for any of the the kind of
fakes it NB. He doesn't often go for any of
(13:22):
the fakes and NBA shows. And then I think it's
a combination also of something's wrong, whether it's what we know,
it's an issue, maybe he doesn't feel well. But Gasol
has done this for a couple of years, which is
why I wrote on True a couple weeks ago, this
is why they got him before the series started, I thought,
and he was gonna have a with trouble scoring consistently
because Marcusol still is an elite defensive player in effect.
(13:43):
Through mid December, when he was playing with the Grizzlies.
I wrote that I thought he was Defensive Player of
the Year at that point. He didn't. He doesn't deserve
that award. Rudy Gobert probably does. But Gassol can be
an elite defender and typically is. And that combined with
him Beads just not feeling great is in probably why
I think the Raptor is gonna win the series. Okay,
And and then you you, you do get down to
(14:05):
what teams have done. Simon Jury, who made a big
you know, made a big move to change coaches last year, right,
I mean that's a massive mass considering their regular season success,
and they couldn't get pass Lebron James uh and then
the pieces making obviously the huge trade to acquire Kawaid Leonard,
who's an upgrade over to Marta Rosen and and got
Green as Danny Green as well, and then the markets
(14:26):
as opposed to the seventies sixers whomever has made Like
I like Elton Brand and I I'm not trying to
demean him, but I think when he took that job
as an inexperienced general manager, the idea is they have
other people kind of surrounding him in Philadelphia and trying
to make kind of group decisions. But these decisions to
go for it and be kind of a top heavy
(14:46):
team has completely changed them. They used to have great depth,
they used to have great shooting. They have neither now. Fair. Yeah, stay,
Although I will say I was not high on the
James Dennis acquisition. I've not been a fan of his.
I'm wrong. He's been one of the better, well one
of the more consistent players in the postseason. But I
(15:07):
still think you have to judge Elton and and all
of the executives and the coaches in Philadelphia on the
progress of their two superstars. Uh, Jimmy Butler is I
think he's history, but he's not been the problem. Uh.
Tobias Harris has been a net positive for sure. They
They've had one of the best, if not the best,
starting five for a few months now. But Simmons and
(15:30):
Embiid and you make listening made this point when you
started this conversation. This this late in the postseason, all
the riff raff has gone. You're just dealing with elite
players who will understand how to win and also how
to defend you typically, and you can focus on just
one thing and the other opponent. Uh. Where Simmons lacks
some abilities is so problems. Imagine imagine Ben Simmons be
(15:52):
able to make at least a third of his three's
and being willing to shoot it. They'd be a much
harder team to guard and uh and that would take
a lot of pressure ups embiid and he'd be able
to get involved in different ways because ALCO's all got
have to help more on Simmons, because he would be
able to blow by people more, because he'd be a
threat to shooting at the road out and rotate out
to the fast. So I think if Ben Simmons doesn't
get much better than he is now, uh, the process
(16:14):
so to speak, a little bit of failure. Okay, so
what do you what do you do? Like? Is is embiid? Uh?
Is Embiad's health too much of an issue long term
to go like this is our guide to build around?
Or is the shooting and and frankly the stage fright
of shooting with Ben Simmons too much to build around
long term? I don't know. I have a brother who's
(16:36):
a pretty renowned radiologist in this field. He actually works
for a lot of proteins and he works independently. But
he sees a lot of m RIS and I'm not
him and so he and he would not give me
an opinion because he hasn't seen MBS m R I.
So it's unfair to really judge that it doesn't look great. Though, Doug,
knowing that he's he's kind of had these recurring issues. Uh,
the Simmons thing, as somebody's been teaching shooting for for
(16:58):
literally three decades now. Uh, there's no reason why he
can't learn to shoot and get over that phobia to shoot.
I don't Doug. I knew of you when you were
a high school player because of our mutual friend Ron
Stewart recruit you for the for the Gators. Uh. He
was in love with your game and I appreciated what
he said about you. I'd love to have you because
there is there is an art to shooting, just as
(17:18):
much as there is a science. And my guess is
in most players, one of the other kind of gets
messed up, and that's where guys have trouble. Jannice Is
is a willing shooter now thanks to Bud. He was
earlier in his career got away from it and now
it's come back magic. Johnson wasn't a shoot when he
first started, and I can speak to you for hours
by guys that eventually learned how to shoot the ball.
Jason Kidd when he was at when he was a
(17:40):
number two players in his class in high school, UH
scouts would say publicly, like in front of him, I
was there, one of the Cup and one of the clinics.
You'll never make it if you don't learn to shoot. Well.
Eventually he did. Obviously he's one of the all time
leading three point makers in in the NBA. So I
wouldn't quit on that. With Simmons, he needs to. I'm
not trying to work with them. I'm busy with all
the different jobs I have, But so man needs again
(18:00):
with him. It isn't Brett Brown, unless Brett never worked
with him, which would surprise me and change up what
they're doing, because in my opinion, it's not so much
science to him. It is probably more art and his
head getting the way. All right, let me ask you
about Kauai leonard Um. Twitter lost their mind yesterday when
Max Kellerman brought up some stats and said, hey, I
think he's more clutched than Kobe. I don't necessarily know
(18:21):
how we're quantifying clutchedness when we're talking about this round
the playoffs and dominant performances or whatever. But I, you know,
col Hurd's caught up on the fact the only averages
three assists he guards. He's taken Ben Simmons completely out
of the series, and he's thoroughly and completely dominant at
you know, at all three levels, from three, mid range
(18:41):
and at the rim offensively. Like I cannot be more
impressed by Kauai after last year's debuckle in San Antonio?
Is he the best player in the NBA right now? Okay,
so there's two crick answers. One he might be, and
although yeare after the mine, he's incredible and so as Jurant.
(19:02):
But if you looked at everything and I realized the
honest deserves to be in that conversation. And actually Katie's
been playing great defense for the Warrior, especially in the
paint just as a as a helper and shop locker
and so forth. Uh. Kauai, my goodness, I've compared him
to Jordan's. Uh. He doesn't look at all like Jordan's
terms of how he plays. But with with Jordan's in
(19:23):
his prime, he had encounter to anything you wanted to do,
and I think I think so does Kauai. Anything you
want to do, he's got a counter to it. By
the way, he'd be much less effective he couldn't shoot
the three, but he's got that too, So there's nothing
he can't do. And uh, and he's strong enough, quick enough,
skilled enough to deal with whatever you want to throw
at him. But here's the second part, and this is
(19:44):
a super important point. Uh he got twenty two or
so games of rest, but it wasn't because an injury.
Was like he was in rhythm, then got hurt, missed
twenty two games, fell out of rhythm, now came back.
No his with like almost like a baseball pitcher, where
you're you're pitching just enough to stay irrelevant, to keep
your rhythm going. You're in the flow of things all
the time. And honestly, I feel like he's playing at
(20:07):
a much faster pace, uh, more under control, more poise,
probably less sore than a lot of his uh you know,
guys on the corner, even on his own team, who
sometimes looks like they're exhausted. And so what I think
might happen. In fact, I'm rooting for this is if
the Raptors, and I'm I'm buddies with as I have
been for a long time. I'm not doing it for
this reason. I'm doing it because if if the Raptors
(20:29):
can win this thing, or at least gets to the finals,
we might see more teams doing this more often, and
we'll stop seeing exhausted superstars superstars in May. I'd rather
see them playing out their best like Hawaii is right now. Yeah,
I mean, it's a it's a great point. It's a
great point that you make. Is tonight the last time
we see Kyrie in the Celtics uniform, I think so, Yeah,
(20:51):
I I number what I do. Think they'll lose, and
I don't think he's going back, and I'll just I'm
wrong plenty of times, and and this postseason, last postseason,
but last May, I tweeted something along the lot when
they were doing great, I tweeted something along the lines of, uh,
Danny Age has got to be considering trading Kyrie and
Gordon Hayward because of the way Rogier and especially Brown
(21:13):
and Tatum were playing, because of what I thought would
be happen, which is everyone's upset Kyrie doesn't get enough
Rogier's not get enough playing time. The other night they
lost that game, and the cameras showed Brad Stevens and
the team walking towards the locker room and to look
on Rosier's face. And it's just a guess, but it
looked to me. And I've I've had seventy some NBA
players in my gym. I know a little about this.
(21:33):
It looked like he was saying, man, I can't wait
for this to be over. Coach barely plays me. Brown's
upset is getting up shots, Tatum's always looks upset. Hayward
clearly isn't the player they need him to be was
prior to this series. By the way, I think they
messed up. I think they should have made a move
to stay young around those guys and not get greedy.
With all those stars. You can't do it. You can
(21:56):
do it with a bunch of veterans who are great,
like Golden State. You can't do it guys that haven't
gotten paid yet compared to guys that have. It's a
mismatch that doesn't work. And and I think it's flowing
up in their face. And it's too bad, because I
thought if they made some moves this summer. I got
some draft bits, got some expiring They could go after
a free agent more in line with the age of
the guys they have and build around those young players. Um.
(22:17):
The Golden State Warriors UH failed to. I felt like
Steve Kerr went for it in Game four right, didn't
play his bench like Quinn Cook not playing it like
he is short in the bench like you've never seen.
And Sean Livingston, you know, appears to be. He was
always over the hill and now he's in the valley
below the hill. He threw in Looney there to start
(22:37):
the fourth quarter, then got him him out of there.
I just worry about them running out of gas, like
I do. I think they could win and should win tonight. Yeah,
but I worry about them running out of gas or
or Andre Goodala pulling up lane. We saw that last year.
What are your thoughts on Warriors Rockets Game five tonight
in Oakland. Well, I think you're exactly right to worry
(22:59):
about it. Uh. This has been a five year journey,
or at a five year trek, and we have to
account for that. The UH. In baseball, they keep they
don't just keep track of pitches, They keep track of
stress pitches right, three two counts guys on second base,
that kind of thing. These guys have more minutes that
are stress minutes. And one we've seen, uh, you know
since Kobe and shacks Lakers at the very least. Uh.
(23:21):
And so I think it's a fair concern. I've I've thought,
I've seen you tweet litt bit about Curry. Uh, he's
been bad this series for Steph Curry. He's still got uh,
you know, his postseason averages in his career incredible. He
was great this series before. But I studied the tape.
He and Clay Thompson are wide open a bunch now.
I shouldn't say wide open open. Clay has been more
wide open. Curry never needs to be wide open. He's
(23:44):
made us stop believing you have to be wide open
for every single player. He and Lillard can make shots
when they when they're guarded, but it's not happening. And
this is where I think the Cousins injury. Doug is
the biggest problem. And I wrote this as soon as
they acquired him, and uh, and we started Troop in February.
It was a depth is you It gave them one
more guy that could really play if someone got hurt
or was sick, or just with struggling, or or or
(24:06):
or and I hate to interrupt, or to just and
I thought the Rockets honestly should have done this last
year with Joe Johnson or just to take a little
bit of an emotional mental break in the second quarter,
right like, instead of kept trying to do the same thing. Hey,
let's just go it to de Marcus Cousins about five
times in a row and let him score, let him
kind of do his thing. Does that win us a championship? No,
but it may win us a championship because now we
(24:28):
can we don't have to go through k D and
we don't have to have you know, Clay making every shot.
Like we can just kind of take a They will
play some of our bench players and just let him
let him go do his thing for the second quarter
or the start of the fourth quarter while everybody else
kind of takes takes a breath. Now they don't have
that ability. Of course, you're right to exactly what I'm
running about for Troop our newsletter tomorrow is the Rockets
(24:50):
do that song with Eric Gordon where they throw him
the ball and say, okay, man, do your thing. They
don't care if you bricks it, it doesn't matter. It
means Chris Paul and most importantly Hardened are resting in
the bucks to that song with Chris Middleton, not just Bledsoe.
Middleton has some crazy possessions, but they trust him. He
deserves beyond the court obviously at seven since last game
although Wes I mean was four of nineteen or something
from the field, Uh, you've got to have that. And
(25:11):
don't forget this. Cousins destroyed Cappella last time they played
against each other. He he is. He is a problem
for Clint Capella. And I hope if Going State does win,
the Cousins comes back, because I do think it makes
them invulnerable. Right now, they're very vulnerable. And when you
play a team, and let's face it now, if they
doubt A beat him two of three and and Hardened
(25:31):
for two games can be unbeatable. He's that kind of
offensive talent and the team collectively he's playing better defense
that you said absolutely can win the series. Yeah they can't,
although you know, look they're they got I'd be interesting
to see if tonight they make Austin Rivers beat him
right like they haven't they still haven't figured out this
kind of small ball a lot of yet. The Golden
State Warriors have not. Um, and I'm I'm interested to
(25:55):
see what they're kind of counterpunches. And Houston runs the
risk of if any of their guys in that small
ball lineup go down, everyone else has seen completely incapable
of competing at this high level. Last thing, Um, we've
we've gone so much away from the big guy because
well they can't guard ball screens and he can't play
through a big guy. And then the Devver Nuggets say, right,
(26:18):
let's go through a big guy who everybody thinks he's
going to run out of gas, and somehow he's not
running out of gas. Damian Lillard looks human and and
and Yokich does not. Uh, what's what's your reaction to
watching the Nuggets zag when everybody else is digging. Well,
I just remember they at one point they had him
and use of nurkis the kid for Portland that has
(26:40):
not playing, which would have made this series even better.
It's been a great series as it is. Uh, he's Mozart.
And I used to call Nikolapis Mozart because he's maybe
the most gifted passer I ever saw a high major team.
Yokich is the same, incredibly gifted passer and uh and
built so differently. I do want him to lean out.
I think I was telling Zach Lobis on a pod recently,
(27:00):
I think you'd be better for everyone if he was healthier.
But my goodness, is he fun to watch. And you know,
I thought Denver would I picked his first to win
this series. I thought I'd be a great series, but
but Denver had not been playing well the last few
months of the season and really shooting poorly. But I
also said, if they get by around one, I like
their chances much better round two because they love growing
(27:21):
up something kind of survived the fire, and they have
and we know, you know, Jamal Murray probably better than
I do as a player, but he's capable of getting
hot for a while. Their system looks good, but Yokus
does those. He gives them options to get easy buckets
when they're when their first eighteen seconds of the possession
are terrible, all of a sudden, the guy makes it cut.
He's Tom Brady with the way he passes the ball. Uh,
(27:41):
they know what's coming. It doesn't matter. He's threats and
you know so perfectly, and it buys them easy shots,
and it's hard to get easy shots in the postseason games.
I think Denver gets the easiest ones. That does to him. David,
great stuff. The playoffs have been just amazing. You guys
work over their true hoop is outstanding. And do we
do we I'm up with an answer to Henriette or
(28:02):
to my question, which was which was are you better
off like with the four overtime game? Was that game
two in Portland? Right? Are you better off going with
rested guys who've been sitting for two two and a
half hours or just going with the guys you have,
even though they're clearly gassed. That's it's a real hard
determination to make. Well. You got to do it based
(28:23):
on who you're bringing off the bench, and in this case,
Rodney Hood actually was. He was like he was running
at four a minute mile and I was running eight
minute miles. In the NBA, Doug, we should have enough
depth where all those guys can play. I have a
big problem with NBA coaches who do do who do occurred?
Did as you talked about? I figure should playing more
guide not less about them, just in case you need them,
they're in the flow, even if they just played a
(28:44):
little bit. I'd rather play the rested NBA player than
than the exhausted starter. Yeah. I wonder if if if
Golden State makes those shots down the stretch. Uh, instead
of missing those those shots down the stretch be because
of fatigue. David Thorpe check out true Who but of
course so you can follow him on social media. He
does an outstanding job. He's a lead analyst True Hoop
(29:05):
dot Com and an NBA player development specialists. Thanks so much, David.
Be sure to catch live editions so the Doug dot
Leap Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm Pacific, and
the Fort Worth Star Telegram. It sounds like the Cowboys.
You're expecting to give Dak Prescott at least thirty million years.
That happens, Prescott would join exclusive cleve of quarterbacks Russell Wilson,
Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Ryan. Uh. Okay, that's
(29:34):
what we're gonna do. Like, look, there's Dania Jeremiah used
the tractor and the trailer analogy, right. Are you a
tractor where you're pulling everybody? Are you a trailer where
you're just kind of along for the ride. All I
can tell you is we have plenty of data that
(29:55):
tells us Dak Prescott is not a superstar quarterback. Now,
if you want to tell me that they're making up
for underpaying him, fine, no one's ever really done that
in the NFL. If it's a leadership potion, okay, But
why doesn't amount to wins and losses? Here's all you
(30:17):
need to know. Okay, two years ago, when they had
Ezeki Elliott, they were a playoff team. They didn't have
Ezeki Elliott. They weren't a playoff team. Were there other
contributing factors? Okay, but the biggest contributing factor was he
didn't have his starting running back. They weren't a playoff team.
This past year, they made the playoffs, but they didn't
(30:41):
become a playoff team until they went and out and
added a star wide receiver. Correct. So if if, if
the quarterback is the same and the other parts are,
what changes? And I'm not dumb. I'm not so dumb
that I don't point out, Hey, everybody needs help everyone,
(31:01):
but you had Amari Cooper and suddenly become a dynamic offense.
Why weren't she had somewhat dynamic offense before at Mark Cooper,
and even that dynamic offense in this we're in a
world of explosive offenses. Right Like four thousand has become
the new three thousand in terms of pass yardage? Is
that fair? And four hundred has become the new three
(31:24):
hundred in terms of passing yards? Right Like it used
to be where I was your kid, if you threw
for over two hundred yards, you had a really good game.
Over three hundred yards, you had a great kid. Now
you spiked those up to over four hundred yards to
over four thousand yards. Dak Prescott was healthy all season
(31:49):
last year. He did only throw interceptions, and maintaining control
of football is paramount and winning games, but he also
finished fifth teen in passing yardage. That's not just behind
Ben big Ben and Pat Mahomes and Matt Ryan and
(32:10):
Jared Goff and Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers who had
I was told a terrible year in Tom Brady who's
forty something years old, and Philip Rivers and Eli Manning
and Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson and Derek Carr who
everybody thinks stinks and Drew Brees who plays indoors and
was bad down the stretch. Yeah, twenty touchdowns is a
(32:32):
new fifteen touchdowns. E threw. We have a big enough
sample size forty eight career starts. How many games over
five do you think Dak Prescott has over three three
hundred yards? How about five under two hundred? And how
(32:57):
about this one career starts twenty six times. That's more
than half of those times he's had one or fewer
touchdown passes. You compare that to Jared Goff, who has
thirty eight starts, and no one thinks Jared Goff is great.
With ten less starts, he has eight more three d
(33:18):
plus yard passing games, and of his ten games of
under two hundred yards passing, five of which were during
his rookie season when it was Jeff Fisher's dreadful offense
that couldn't score on anybody if there wasn't any defense.
How's Marcus Mariota been as a starting quarterback? Fifty six games,
(33:40):
been the playoffs a couple of times, games over five hundred,
games over three hundred yards passing seven, that's two more.
Granted he's had eight more starts, but under two hundred eighteen. Basically,
Marcus Mariotta, who many people think is in a prove
it season and has been injury prone with a less
(34:00):
talented surrounding cast in Nashville, has had a way more
successful career in terms of his passing yardage and passing
acumen games with one touchdown pass far more. How Mitch
(34:20):
Trobinsky in starts has five yard passing games, the same
as Dak Prescott. I'm not all about stats, as you
guys know, I am about wins and losses. But it
feels like the Dallas Cowboys are doing what you should
never do, which is marrying the rebound guy or rebound girl.
(34:45):
They had Tony Romo, who they were infatuated with, They loved,
they thought, and I kind of agree with him. The
Tony Romo was way better than he ever got credit. Now,
Tony Romo is a lot like Kobe Bryant. He becomes
better every year. Doesn't play same thing with Kobe Bryant.
Suddenly now it's like m J Kobe and then everybody
(35:06):
else on on Twitter. Right, and because Thunder almost such
a fun and outstanding broadcaster, we don't even bring up
Joe Montana. It's Tom Brady Aaron Rodgers and then Tony Romo,
winner of like two playoff games in his life, and
I love Romo, but Romo was so good and so
(35:31):
artful with his ability to make a play under duress
and to carry a team that when Romo got hurt
prematurely and they had a fourth round pick who figured
out a way to win thirteen games, they've fallen for
the rebound girl. Like they don't have to redo Dak
(35:54):
Prescott's contract there under no pressure to do so. And
if Dak Prescott doesn't like their terms, they enfranchise attack
him for two years before then transitional tagging him. They
all the balls are in the court of the Dallas Cowboys.
They do not have. There's no pressure they have. Doc
has no real leverage outside of sitting, which what's it
(36:16):
gonna do? How I's gonna sit? Sit out? And everything
that has gone wrong we blamed on somebody else. Well,
Jason Witt retired, well as Bryant's gone well, Zekielly got suspended. Well,
the offensive coordinator is bad, so let's change that. They've
changed everything else out When all you need to know
is when he doesn't have all of his players, he's
(36:37):
not very they're not a playoff team. When he does,
they are, and they're not a super Bowl team. And
yet the Dallas Cowboys are gonna pay him thirty million
dollars a year. Why because they're freaking out over the
idea that Look at how many years we went without
a quarterback. Look at how hard it is to find
(36:59):
a quarterback. We had Tony Romo, he was our dream quarterback,
but then his career was cut short prematurely because of
repeated clavital injuries, the back injury. He was basically Joel
embiid right. Everything hurt. But that doesn't mean you overpaid
Dak Prescott, does it. That doesn't mean you marry the
(37:22):
rebound girl. You don't. You date the rebound girl for
as long as you can date her, and then when
she finally puts her heels in and goes like, are
you gonna marry me or not? You got yes, and
then you have a long engagement or maybe it ends
up in holy matrimony, maybe it doesn't. Instead they ran
(37:45):
off to Vegas, got this thing done in a hurry.
Thirty million dollars is essentially marrying the rebound girl with
no prenup. That's what it is I like Dak Prescott,
especially like Dak Prescott at the money he had been
making and the idea of getting him in a reasonable
summer money, and the easy wisdom behind offering him far
(38:09):
less money than the going rate for the top quarterbacks.
Is Hey, if you were able to carry this thing
on your own, we'd have no problem paying your thirty
million dollars. But you can't. Don't believe me what happened
when Zeke got hurt or got suspended, what happened when
Witton retired and des Bryant was gone, when we had
all of our guys, And we can't keep all of
our guys and keep adding more guys and pay a
(38:31):
Zeke Elliott unless you take less. And if you want
to be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback for the next decade,
the best opportunity you have is to take less, spread around,
win a bunch of games, be a legend. But that's
not what the Jones families decided to do apparently. I mean, look,
(38:53):
if I said Marcus Mariotta and Dak Prescott, you would
go with Marcus Mariota is fighting for his job in Tennessee,
and Dak Prescott seems to be the guy and is
in better standing in Dallas, but they're basically the same. Dude,
is there any discussion over Marcus Mariotta being paid thirty
(39:15):
million dollars a year? And oh yeah, by the way,
they don't have to pay Dak Prescott a single scent
more than his contract. And then even after this year,
he could be franchise tag for two years. Right after
this year, he will have made four million dollars in
his career. Do you think that guy is gonna sit
(39:36):
out games went next year when he could be making
five million dollars a year guaranteed. No, you got him
right where you want him, right where you want them
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching FSR. This is the best of
(00:22):
the Doug Gotli Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What
Up America? Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to
here from the City of Angels getting ready for what
should be an incredible basketball night. In the end be
a Major League Baseball games taking place. Dan Buyer be
(00:42):
alongside half past the hour. All the updates are not
just the scores, but the stories from the world of sports.
Welcome in. I hope you're having a great day. Doug
Gotlip Show is always brought to you by Farmers. At
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Put their experience in the plant Farmers dot Com. Are
(01:08):
you a playoff guy? Do you play your kid up.
I am a play my kid up sort of guy.
And what ends up happening when you play up is
it exposes your weaknesses. Last year, when we moved out
here from from Connecticut, I put my son on a
(01:32):
basketball team that was fourth and fifth graders. Now keep
in mind that in Connecticut when he was in second grade,
playing wasn't exactly high level ball, and I was working afternoons,
evenings as well as weekends, and it made it a
little bit more difficult to work with him on his
on his game. And so he was, you know, good
(01:54):
for that area, but we hadn't really expanded, hadn't really
played up in that area. So then we moved out
to California, and he goes from like zero to sixty,
not just playing against kids in this area, but against
older kids, and it wasn't good. It was a walking turnover.
(02:15):
He wanted to be a point guard, but he couldn't dribble, pass,
or shoot. Outside of that, at least, he played a
hard and could defend. And it was to the point
where he would tell anybody who would listen, I don't
really like basketball. He didn't really like basketball. Not because
he didn't like basketball, he didn't like basketball because he
went good at basketball. So this year he still plays up.
(02:39):
Some plays with his own age group. Some he's better,
he's better. I used the playing up analogy, and I
am a big proponent of playing up, playing against older kids,
because when you play against older kids, it exposes your weaknesses. Obviously,
strength and size is going to be a weakness, but
the finer points that you're able to get away with
(03:02):
missing when you're playing against relatively average level of comp
at your age, you just can't get away with when
you play against better older players. That's what's happening to
Ben Simmons. It's not just that NBA guys are older
than him, but the playoffs are essentially like playing up
(03:22):
a level. It's a much it's a almost a different sport.
The attention to detail, the scattering reports, the physicality, the fatigue,
the crowds, the officials, everything is different. Everything is more intense,
(03:43):
and the lazy passes and bad possessions and easy shots
that you're able to get away with when you play
a Wednesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks team that
simply is trying to get through the year and get
their young players experience in comparison to playing against the
Raptors team that has been waiting for years for Lebron
(04:04):
James to leave the Eastern Conference and smells blood in
the water. It's night and day. Ben Simmons has been
awful in this series, non impactful. Last night seven points,
four assists, he had five turnovers, He only took five
field goals. He made his one free throw that he took.
(04:26):
He can't get to the line, he can't get to
the rim, and we know and we know that he's
not gonna take nor make deep jump shots. Ben Simmons
against the Raptors in total, Right, this is five games in.
It's a small sample size, but it's a relatively decent
(04:49):
little chunk of sample size. Right, we're almost at We're
at what was it probably about one tenth of the season.
Nine point four points per game, four point six assist
per game. He's only taking eight and a half field
goals a game. He's taken four total free throws and
last night was the first free throw that he made. Remember,
(05:13):
this is a kid that averages seventeen a game, seventeen
and a half assist a game. He takes on average
twelve field goals a game and attempts five free throws
a game. Now, some of it is matchups, some of
it is Kawhi Leonard. All right, you want to know
what the best look like. This is what it looks like.
(05:36):
And whether it comes down to you exposing kind of
your local wreck team to a U ball or you
playing your AU team up an age group, whatever it is.
If you're a parent, you completely get what I'm talking about.
My son also, he plays baseball and in his Mustang
league he's one of the three or four best players.
(05:58):
And when he played with his track level team, he
was the best player on a bad team. They sprinkled
in some older players and played in an older division,
and on Sunday he had his worst game as a
baseball player. He was all screwed up and crossed up
and swinging to their and watching strikes and it was
a little too fast for him. He went from being
(06:23):
virtually unhittable in his own league to very much hittable.
But it's okay because he's only ten. He's not a professional,
and it's expected when you step up in weight class. Right,
this is not what we expected from Ben Simmons and
(06:45):
the exposure of Simmons, the exposure of Joel embid While
we've seen this in the past from teams, you gotta
feel the pain before you taste the champagne. We get that.
But the idea that this is just a a a
weight class that they are not close to being ready
(07:07):
to compete at is a little bit alarming. Right, It's
a little bit of alarming because the thing I take
the most pride in. For example, my son is we
get in the car and he says he's embarrassed, and
I tell him, all right, dude, we're gonna go back
to work. We're gonna fix it, and eventually we've hit
all those guys. But this is what happened to Simmons
(07:30):
last year when he faced the Celtics, this is what's
happened this year against the Raptors, and there appears to
be regression, not progression, and that's a problem. Look, I'm
not closing the book on Ben simmons ability to be
a superstar. I'm not diminishing the fact that when Joel
(07:51):
Embiide isn't right, they're a completely different team, or the
fact that they went from surrounding Simmons and embied with
great shooters instead when top heavy with Tobias Harris and
Jimmy Butler, two guys who need the ball and it
it depleted their bench and depleted their assets in terms
of volume of shooters. And I'm not gonna diminish this is.
These are not guys that play in a vacuum. Everything
(08:15):
does in fact matter. But doesn't it feel like to
anybody else, like if you turn it on, you're like
that guy was the rookie of the year last year.
Granted not really a rookie, but whatever, that guy was
the rookie of the year, a dominant six ft ten
player the likes of which we hadn't seen since the
lebron or a magic You know, I knew he grew
up idolizing lamar Odom, but god, he just hasn't looked
(08:37):
I'm packed full at all. He's one of those why
do they have him out there? Guys? And to me
it looks very very much like a guy who is
uh play, a guy who's playing in a weight class
that he wasn't in fact ready for. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Doug Dot Leaps Show week
(08:59):
days noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. David Dorpe is a
partner in lead analyst at True Hoop dot com, an
NBA player development specialist, and he's launching a new virtual
training program at the Pro Training Center dot com. David Dorpe,
also a friend of mine, joins us here on the
Doug Gottlieb Show. Let's let's begin with last night's Philadelphia
(09:23):
seventies six years. I like in the playoffs two you
have a son who's a ballplayer. David too, when you
have your kid play up right and you have them
play up because it exposes all of their flaws. Stuff
they can get away with when they play against kids,
their kids their own age, they can't get away with
when they play up a grade or two. That's what
it feels like with Ben Simmons in the playoffs, especially
(09:45):
against the Raptors. Is that a crazy analogy to make? Actually?
That a fantastic and an upset that I never came
up with that one. I've pondered many times and talked
many times about this exact subject with children iving coaching
for decades and the last ten years with kids, you know,
my son and my son's age. Uh, it's terrific. Yeah,
the uh I make. Sometimes it's good to play bullyball
(10:07):
in his sense and learn how to be dominant, but
it's also good to kind of find out and be
the baby and find out what you think at um,
I'm listening. We all see it, right, Ben as as
incredible as Simmons is. And I was a big fan
coming out of l s U as a defender. I
thought he could be a defensive Player of the Year
in the league. I really did think Doug that he'd
eventually learned to shoot. I still think it can happen.
(10:29):
It's not happening now. And when when you have that
kind of phobia, which is what it is, right, I'm
tom told and I haven't gone to one of his
games in recent years, but I'm told he'll make some
threes before games plenty of times. And I've talked to
guys are playing him in the practice and he makes threes.
He's petrified to shoot it. You can game plan forward
and that plays into things a little bit. And then
when you factor in the problems mbiad has with with
(10:52):
guys like Marcus All and maybe some of mbs own issues,
You've you've got a little trouble in your hands. Okay.
So look, I've had the phobia to be totally candid
in MS in terms of shooting, and it is really
hard to shake. Um. I've heard people suggest, hey, you know,
Ben Simmons is actually right handed. You look, everything he
shoots around the basket is right handed. He as a
(11:12):
as a human being, he actually is more right handed
than left handed. Could switching hands shooting the basketball? That
a crazy thing to think about. Oh, it's not crazy
at all. My son is much better with his left
hand around the rim as I was. But we're both
very right handed, although I do meet with my left hand.
I copied from my dad. These are funny that way.
It'd be silly, Doug not to try it to me.
(11:34):
If you are with Ben Simmons, and I do this
for a living with NBA players and great players all
over the world. Uh. If I have a kids that talented,
that's special about unique, and he just can't seem to
at least make shots with confidence or world take them
because you have to have confidence to miss, as you know,
why wouldn't you try everything possible. I this is where
Brett Brown and me deserves some blame. And I'm a
(11:55):
fan of his and and we have a lot of
mutual friends and clearly he's done a great job and
has been a long period of time there. But he
owns Ben Simmons shooting. He just like he owned folks
to shooting. And you have to own it, which means
you have got to take the blame when it when
it's such a problem. David dorrif joining us on the
Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sport Trade and then you
got embiid who I mean, he wasn't right last night? Right?
(12:18):
And I and I never want to question when or
not a guy's feeling well. And clearly he's not himself
because we see him when he is himself, he's dominant.
Did you put it out how Marcusol can give him
fits older players, bigger players guys, And look, Marcusol is
a former defensive player in the year in the NBA.
It's it's it's not like he's some he's some slug.
(12:39):
What is it about the Gasol matchup which seems to
stymy and beat well? I think you kind of said it.
I think mbiads better against younger, more athletic guys because
he actually he doesn't just overpower you with with physical presence.
He's got a lot of crap to his game, and
young guys just are dumb typically and they go for
everything because saw First of all, he's enormous and he's
(13:01):
so much more nimble than people realize. Watched him defend
the perimeter and then retreat quickly as if he's like
a six ft two guard. Uh, he's not changing directions,
you know, like Tye Lawson used to do one once
in upon a time. But he can change direction, is
good enough and stay balanced, and he's super crafty and smart.
He doesn't go for any of the the kind of
fakes it NB. He doesn't often go for any of
(13:22):
the fakes and NBA shows. And then I think it's
a combination also of something's wrong, whether it's what we know,
it's an issue, maybe he doesn't feel well. But Gasol
has done this for a couple of years, which is
why I wrote on True a couple weeks ago, this
is why they got him before the series started, I thought,
and he was gonna have a with trouble scoring consistently
because Marcusol still is an elite defensive player in effect.
(13:43):
Through mid December, when he was playing with the Grizzlies.
I wrote that I thought he was Defensive Player of
the Year at that point. He didn't. He doesn't deserve
that award. Rudy Gobert probably does. But Gassol can be
an elite defender and typically is. And that combined with
him Beads just not feeling great is in probably why
I think the Raptor is gonna win the series. Okay,
And and then you you, you do get down to
(14:05):
what teams have done. Simon Jury, who made a big
you know, made a big move to change coaches last year, right,
I mean that's a massive mass considering their regular season success,
and they couldn't get pass Lebron James uh and then
the pieces making obviously the huge trade to acquire Kawaid Leonard,
who's an upgrade over to Marta Rosen and and got
Green as Danny Green as well, and then the markets
(14:26):
as opposed to the seventies sixers whomever has made Like
I like Elton Brand and I I'm not trying to
demean him, but I think when he took that job
as an inexperienced general manager, the idea is they have
other people kind of surrounding him in Philadelphia and trying
to make kind of group decisions. But these decisions to
go for it and be kind of a top heavy
(14:46):
team has completely changed them. They used to have great depth,
they used to have great shooting. They have neither now. Fair. Yeah, stay,
Although I will say I was not high on the
James Dennis acquisition. I've not been a fan of his.
I'm wrong. He's been one of the better, well one
of the more consistent players in the postseason. But I
(15:07):
still think you have to judge Elton and and all
of the executives and the coaches in Philadelphia on the
progress of their two superstars. Uh, Jimmy Butler is I
think he's history, but he's not been the problem. Uh.
Tobias Harris has been a net positive for sure. They
They've had one of the best, if not the best,
starting five for a few months now. But Simmons and
(15:30):
Embiid and you make listening made this point when you
started this conversation. This this late in the postseason, all
the riff raff has gone. You're just dealing with elite
players who will understand how to win and also how
to defend you typically, and you can focus on just
one thing and the other opponent. Uh. Where Simmons lacks
some abilities is so problems. Imagine imagine Ben Simmons be
(15:52):
able to make at least a third of his three's
and being willing to shoot it. They'd be a much
harder team to guard and uh and that would take
a lot of pressure ups embiid and he'd be able
to get involved in different ways because ALCO's all got
have to help more on Simmons, because he would be
able to blow by people more, because he'd be a
threat to shooting at the road out and rotate out
to the fast. So I think if Ben Simmons doesn't
get much better than he is now, uh, the process
(16:14):
so to speak, a little bit of failure. Okay, so
what do you what do you do? Like? Is is embiid? Uh?
Is Embiad's health too much of an issue long term
to go like this is our guide to build around?
Or is the shooting and and frankly the stage fright
of shooting with Ben Simmons too much to build around
long term? I don't know. I have a brother who's
(16:36):
a pretty renowned radiologist in this field. He actually works
for a lot of proteins and he works independently. But
he sees a lot of m RIS and I'm not
him and so he and he would not give me
an opinion because he hasn't seen MBS m R I.
So it's unfair to really judge that it doesn't look great. Though, Doug,
knowing that he's he's kind of had these recurring issues. Uh,
the Simmons thing, as somebody's been teaching shooting for for
(16:58):
literally three decades now. Uh, there's no reason why he
can't learn to shoot and get over that phobia to shoot.
I don't Doug. I knew of you when you were
a high school player because of our mutual friend Ron
Stewart recruit you for the for the Gators. Uh. He
was in love with your game and I appreciated what
he said about you. I'd love to have you because
there is there is an art to shooting, just as
(17:18):
much as there is a science. And my guess is
in most players, one of the other kind of gets
messed up, and that's where guys have trouble. Jannice Is
is a willing shooter now thanks to Bud. He was
earlier in his career got away from it and now
it's come back magic. Johnson wasn't a shoot when he
first started, and I can speak to you for hours
by guys that eventually learned how to shoot the ball.
Jason Kidd when he was at when he was a
(17:40):
number two players in his class in high school, UH
scouts would say publicly, like in front of him, I
was there, one of the Cup and one of the clinics.
You'll never make it if you don't learn to shoot. Well.
Eventually he did. Obviously he's one of the all time
leading three point makers in in the NBA. So I
wouldn't quit on that. With Simmons, he needs to. I'm
not trying to work with them. I'm busy with all
the different jobs I have, But so man needs again
(18:00):
with him. It isn't Brett Brown, unless Brett never worked
with him, which would surprise me and change up what
they're doing, because in my opinion, it's not so much
science to him. It is probably more art and his
head getting the way. All right, let me ask you
about Kauai leonard Um. Twitter lost their mind yesterday when
Max Kellerman brought up some stats and said, hey, I
think he's more clutched than Kobe. I don't necessarily know
(18:21):
how we're quantifying clutchedness when we're talking about this round
the playoffs and dominant performances or whatever. But I, you know,
col Hurd's caught up on the fact the only averages
three assists he guards. He's taken Ben Simmons completely out
of the series, and he's thoroughly and completely dominant at
you know, at all three levels, from three, mid range
(18:41):
and at the rim offensively. Like I cannot be more
impressed by Kauai after last year's debuckle in San Antonio?
Is he the best player in the NBA right now? Okay,
so there's two crick answers. One he might be, and
although yeare after the mine, he's incredible and so as Jurant.
(19:02):
But if you looked at everything and I realized the
honest deserves to be in that conversation. And actually Katie's
been playing great defense for the Warrior, especially in the
paint just as a as a helper and shop locker
and so forth. Uh. Kauai, my goodness, I've compared him
to Jordan's. Uh. He doesn't look at all like Jordan's
terms of how he plays. But with with Jordan's in
(19:23):
his prime, he had encounter to anything you wanted to do,
and I think I think so does Kauai. Anything you
want to do, he's got a counter to it. By
the way, he'd be much less effective he couldn't shoot
the three, but he's got that too, So there's nothing
he can't do. And uh, and he's strong enough, quick enough,
skilled enough to deal with whatever you want to throw
at him. But here's the second part, and this is
(19:44):
a super important point. Uh he got twenty two or
so games of rest, but it wasn't because an injury.
Was like he was in rhythm, then got hurt, missed
twenty two games, fell out of rhythm, now came back.
No his with like almost like a baseball pitcher, where
you're you're pitching just enough to stay irrelevant, to keep
your rhythm going. You're in the flow of things all
the time. And honestly, I feel like he's playing at
(20:07):
a much faster pace, uh, more under control, more poise,
probably less sore than a lot of his uh you know,
guys on the corner, even on his own team, who
sometimes looks like they're exhausted. And so what I think
might happen. In fact, I'm rooting for this is if
the Raptors, and I'm I'm buddies with as I have
been for a long time. I'm not doing it for
this reason. I'm doing it because if if the Raptors
(20:29):
can win this thing, or at least gets to the finals,
we might see more teams doing this more often, and
we'll stop seeing exhausted superstars superstars in May. I'd rather
see them playing out their best like Hawaii is right now. Yeah,
I mean, it's a it's a great point. It's a
great point that you make. Is tonight the last time
we see Kyrie in the Celtics uniform, I think so, Yeah,
(20:51):
I I number what I do. Think they'll lose, and
I don't think he's going back, and I'll just I'm
wrong plenty of times, and and this postseason, last postseason,
but last May, I tweeted something along the lot when
they were doing great, I tweeted something along the lines of, uh,
Danny Age has got to be considering trading Kyrie and
Gordon Hayward because of the way Rogier and especially Brown
(21:13):
and Tatum were playing, because of what I thought would
be happen, which is everyone's upset Kyrie doesn't get enough
Rogier's not get enough playing time. The other night they
lost that game, and the cameras showed Brad Stevens and
the team walking towards the locker room and to look
on Rosier's face. And it's just a guess, but it
looked to me. And I've I've had seventy some NBA
players in my gym. I know a little about this.
(21:33):
It looked like he was saying, man, I can't wait
for this to be over. Coach barely plays me. Brown's
upset is getting up shots, Tatum's always looks upset. Hayward
clearly isn't the player they need him to be was
prior to this series. By the way, I think they
messed up. I think they should have made a move
to stay young around those guys and not get greedy.
With all those stars. You can't do it. You can
(21:56):
do it with a bunch of veterans who are great,
like Golden State. You can't do it guys that haven't
gotten paid yet compared to guys that have. It's a
mismatch that doesn't work. And and I think it's flowing
up in their face. And it's too bad, because I
thought if they made some moves this summer. I got
some draft bits, got some expiring They could go after
a free agent more in line with the age of
the guys they have and build around those young players. Um.
(22:17):
The Golden State Warriors UH failed to. I felt like
Steve Kerr went for it in Game four right, didn't
play his bench like Quinn Cook not playing it like
he is short in the bench like you've never seen.
And Sean Livingston, you know, appears to be. He was
always over the hill and now he's in the valley
below the hill. He threw in Looney there to start
(22:37):
the fourth quarter, then got him him out of there.
I just worry about them running out of gas, like
I do. I think they could win and should win tonight. Yeah,
but I worry about them running out of gas or
or Andre Goodala pulling up lane. We saw that last year.
What are your thoughts on Warriors Rockets Game five tonight
in Oakland. Well, I think you're exactly right to worry
(22:59):
about it. Uh. This has been a five year journey,
or at a five year trek, and we have to
account for that. The UH. In baseball, they keep they
don't just keep track of pitches, They keep track of
stress pitches right, three two counts guys on second base,
that kind of thing. These guys have more minutes that
are stress minutes. And one we've seen, uh, you know
since Kobe and shacks Lakers at the very least. Uh.
(23:21):
And so I think it's a fair concern. I've I've thought,
I've seen you tweet litt bit about Curry. Uh, he's
been bad this series for Steph Curry. He's still got uh,
you know, his postseason averages in his career incredible. He
was great this series before. But I studied the tape.
He and Clay Thompson are wide open a bunch now.
I shouldn't say wide open open. Clay has been more
wide open. Curry never needs to be wide open. He's
(23:44):
made us stop believing you have to be wide open
for every single player. He and Lillard can make shots
when they when they're guarded, but it's not happening. And
this is where I think the Cousins injury. Doug is
the biggest problem. And I wrote this as soon as
they acquired him, and uh, and we started Troop in February.
It was a depth is you It gave them one
more guy that could really play if someone got hurt
or was sick, or just with struggling, or or or
(24:06):
or and I hate to interrupt, or to just and
I thought the Rockets honestly should have done this last
year with Joe Johnson or just to take a little
bit of an emotional mental break in the second quarter,
right like, instead of kept trying to do the same thing. Hey,
let's just go it to de Marcus Cousins about five
times in a row and let him score, let him
kind of do his thing. Does that win us a championship? No,
but it may win us a championship because now we
(24:28):
can we don't have to go through k D and
we don't have to have you know, Clay making every shot.
Like we can just kind of take a They will
play some of our bench players and just let him
let him go do his thing for the second quarter
or the start of the fourth quarter while everybody else
kind of takes takes a breath. Now they don't have
that ability. Of course, you're right to exactly what I'm
running about for Troop our newsletter tomorrow is the Rockets
(24:50):
do that song with Eric Gordon where they throw him
the ball and say, okay, man, do your thing. They
don't care if you bricks it, it doesn't matter. It
means Chris Paul and most importantly Hardened are resting in
the bucks to that song with Chris Middleton, not just Bledsoe.
Middleton has some crazy possessions, but they trust him. He
deserves beyond the court obviously at seven since last game
although Wes I mean was four of nineteen or something
from the field, Uh, you've got to have that. And
(25:11):
don't forget this. Cousins destroyed Cappella last time they played
against each other. He he is. He is a problem
for Clint Capella. And I hope if Going State does win,
the Cousins comes back, because I do think it makes
them invulnerable. Right now, they're very vulnerable. And when you
play a team, and let's face it now, if they
doubt A beat him two of three and and Hardened
(25:31):
for two games can be unbeatable. He's that kind of
offensive talent and the team collectively he's playing better defense
that you said absolutely can win the series. Yeah they can't,
although you know, look they're they got I'd be interesting
to see if tonight they make Austin Rivers beat him
right like they haven't they still haven't figured out this
kind of small ball a lot of yet. The Golden
State Warriors have not. Um, and I'm I'm interested to
(25:55):
see what they're kind of counterpunches. And Houston runs the
risk of if any of their guys in that small
ball lineup go down, everyone else has seen completely incapable
of competing at this high level. Last thing, Um, we've
we've gone so much away from the big guy because
well they can't guard ball screens and he can't play
through a big guy. And then the Devver Nuggets say, right,
(26:18):
let's go through a big guy who everybody thinks he's
going to run out of gas, and somehow he's not
running out of gas. Damian Lillard looks human and and
and Yokich does not. Uh, what's what's your reaction to
watching the Nuggets zag when everybody else is digging. Well,
I just remember they at one point they had him
and use of nurkis the kid for Portland that has
(26:40):
not playing, which would have made this series even better.
It's been a great series as it is. Uh, he's Mozart.
And I used to call Nikolapis Mozart because he's maybe
the most gifted passer I ever saw a high major team.
Yokich is the same, incredibly gifted passer and uh and
built so differently. I do want him to lean out.
I think I was telling Zach Lobis on a pod recently,
(27:00):
I think you'd be better for everyone if he was healthier.
But my goodness, is he fun to watch. And you know,
I thought Denver would I picked his first to win
this series. I thought I'd be a great series, but
but Denver had not been playing well the last few
months of the season and really shooting poorly. But I
also said, if they get by around one, I like
their chances much better round two because they love growing
(27:21):
up something kind of survived the fire, and they have
and we know, you know, Jamal Murray probably better than
I do as a player, but he's capable of getting
hot for a while. Their system looks good, but Yokus
does those. He gives them options to get easy buckets
when they're when their first eighteen seconds of the possession
are terrible, all of a sudden, the guy makes it cut.
He's Tom Brady with the way he passes the ball. Uh,
(27:41):
they know what's coming. It doesn't matter. He's threats and
you know so perfectly, and it buys them easy shots,
and it's hard to get easy shots in the postseason games.
I think Denver gets the easiest ones. That does to him. David,
great stuff. The playoffs have been just amazing. You guys
work over their true hoop is outstanding. And do we
do we I'm up with an answer to Henriette or
(28:02):
to my question, which was which was are you better
off like with the four overtime game? Was that game
two in Portland? Right? Are you better off going with
rested guys who've been sitting for two two and a
half hours or just going with the guys you have,
even though they're clearly gassed. That's it's a real hard
determination to make. Well. You got to do it based
(28:23):
on who you're bringing off the bench, and in this case,
Rodney Hood actually was. He was like he was running
at four a minute mile and I was running eight
minute miles. In the NBA, Doug, we should have enough
depth where all those guys can play. I have a
big problem with NBA coaches who do do who do occurred?
Did as you talked about? I figure should playing more
guide not less about them, just in case you need them,
they're in the flow, even if they just played a
(28:44):
little bit. I'd rather play the rested NBA player than
than the exhausted starter. Yeah. I wonder if if if
Golden State makes those shots down the stretch. Uh, instead
of missing those those shots down the stretch be because
of fatigue. David Thorpe check out true Who but of
course so you can follow him on social media. He
does an outstanding job. He's a lead analyst True Hoop
(29:05):
dot Com and an NBA player development specialists. Thanks so much, David.
Be sure to catch live editions so the Doug dot
Leap Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm Pacific, and
the Fort Worth Star Telegram. It sounds like the Cowboys.
You're expecting to give Dak Prescott at least thirty million years.
That happens, Prescott would join exclusive cleve of quarterbacks Russell Wilson,
Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Ryan. Uh. Okay, that's
(29:34):
what we're gonna do. Like, look, there's Dania Jeremiah used
the tractor and the trailer analogy, right. Are you a
tractor where you're pulling everybody? Are you a trailer where
you're just kind of along for the ride. All I
can tell you is we have plenty of data that
(29:55):
tells us Dak Prescott is not a superstar quarterback. Now,
if you want to tell me that they're making up
for underpaying him, fine, no one's ever really done that
in the NFL. If it's a leadership potion, okay, But
why doesn't amount to wins and losses? Here's all you
(30:17):
need to know. Okay, two years ago, when they had
Ezeki Elliott, they were a playoff team. They didn't have
Ezeki Elliott. They weren't a playoff team. Were there other
contributing factors? Okay, but the biggest contributing factor was he
didn't have his starting running back. They weren't a playoff team.
This past year, they made the playoffs, but they didn't
(30:41):
become a playoff team until they went and out and
added a star wide receiver. Correct. So if if, if
the quarterback is the same and the other parts are,
what changes? And I'm not dumb. I'm not so dumb
that I don't point out, Hey, everybody needs help everyone,
(31:01):
but you had Amari Cooper and suddenly become a dynamic offense.
Why weren't she had somewhat dynamic offense before at Mark Cooper,
and even that dynamic offense in this we're in a
world of explosive offenses. Right Like four thousand has become
the new three thousand in terms of pass yardage? Is
that fair? And four hundred has become the new three
(31:24):
hundred in terms of passing yards? Right Like it used
to be where I was your kid, if you threw
for over two hundred yards, you had a really good game.
Over three hundred yards, you had a great kid. Now
you spiked those up to over four hundred yards to
over four thousand yards. Dak Prescott was healthy all season
(31:49):
last year. He did only throw interceptions, and maintaining control
of football is paramount and winning games, but he also
finished fifth teen in passing yardage. That's not just behind
Ben big Ben and Pat Mahomes and Matt Ryan and
(32:10):
Jared Goff and Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers who had
I was told a terrible year in Tom Brady who's
forty something years old, and Philip Rivers and Eli Manning
and Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson and Derek Carr who
everybody thinks stinks and Drew Brees who plays indoors and
was bad down the stretch. Yeah, twenty touchdowns is a
(32:32):
new fifteen touchdowns. E threw. We have a big enough
sample size forty eight career starts. How many games over
five do you think Dak Prescott has over three three
hundred yards? How about five under two hundred? And how
(32:57):
about this one career starts twenty six times. That's more
than half of those times he's had one or fewer
touchdown passes. You compare that to Jared Goff, who has
thirty eight starts, and no one thinks Jared Goff is great.
With ten less starts, he has eight more three d
(33:18):
plus yard passing games, and of his ten games of
under two hundred yards passing, five of which were during
his rookie season when it was Jeff Fisher's dreadful offense
that couldn't score on anybody if there wasn't any defense.
How's Marcus Mariota been as a starting quarterback? Fifty six games,
(33:40):
been the playoffs a couple of times, games over five hundred,
games over three hundred yards passing seven, that's two more.
Granted he's had eight more starts, but under two hundred eighteen. Basically,
Marcus Mariotta, who many people think is in a prove
it season and has been injury prone with a less
(34:00):
talented surrounding cast in Nashville, has had a way more
successful career in terms of his passing yardage and passing
acumen games with one touchdown pass far more. How Mitch
(34:20):
Trobinsky in starts has five yard passing games, the same
as Dak Prescott. I'm not all about stats, as you
guys know, I am about wins and losses. But it
feels like the Dallas Cowboys are doing what you should
never do, which is marrying the rebound guy or rebound girl.
(34:45):
They had Tony Romo, who they were infatuated with, They loved,
they thought, and I kind of agree with him. The
Tony Romo was way better than he ever got credit. Now,
Tony Romo is a lot like Kobe Bryant. He becomes
better every year. Doesn't play same thing with Kobe Bryant.
Suddenly now it's like m J Kobe and then everybody
(35:06):
else on on Twitter. Right, and because Thunder almost such
a fun and outstanding broadcaster, we don't even bring up
Joe Montana. It's Tom Brady Aaron Rodgers and then Tony Romo,
winner of like two playoff games in his life, and
I love Romo, but Romo was so good and so
(35:31):
artful with his ability to make a play under duress
and to carry a team that when Romo got hurt
prematurely and they had a fourth round pick who figured
out a way to win thirteen games, they've fallen for
the rebound girl. Like they don't have to redo Dak
(35:54):
Prescott's contract there under no pressure to do so. And
if Dak Prescott doesn't like their terms, they enfranchise attack
him for two years before then transitional tagging him. They
all the balls are in the court of the Dallas Cowboys.
They do not have. There's no pressure they have. Doc
has no real leverage outside of sitting, which what's it
(36:16):
gonna do? How I's gonna sit? Sit out? And everything
that has gone wrong we blamed on somebody else. Well,
Jason Witt retired, well as Bryant's gone well, Zekielly got suspended. Well,
the offensive coordinator is bad, so let's change that. They've
changed everything else out When all you need to know
is when he doesn't have all of his players, he's
(36:37):
not very they're not a playoff team. When he does,
they are, and they're not a super Bowl team. And
yet the Dallas Cowboys are gonna pay him thirty million
dollars a year. Why because they're freaking out over the
idea that Look at how many years we went without
a quarterback. Look at how hard it is to find
(36:59):
a quarterback. We had Tony Romo, he was our dream quarterback,
but then his career was cut short prematurely because of
repeated clavital injuries, the back injury. He was basically Joel
embiid right. Everything hurt. But that doesn't mean you overpaid
Dak Prescott, does it. That doesn't mean you marry the
(37:22):
rebound girl. You don't. You date the rebound girl for
as long as you can date her, and then when
she finally puts her heels in and goes like, are
you gonna marry me or not? You got yes, and
then you have a long engagement or maybe it ends
up in holy matrimony, maybe it doesn't. Instead they ran
(37:45):
off to Vegas, got this thing done in a hurry.
Thirty million dollars is essentially marrying the rebound girl with
no prenup. That's what it is I like Dak Prescott,
especially like Dak Prescott at the money he had been
making and the idea of getting him in a reasonable
summer money, and the easy wisdom behind offering him far
(38:09):
less money than the going rate for the top quarterbacks.
Is Hey, if you were able to carry this thing
on your own, we'd have no problem paying your thirty
million dollars. But you can't. Don't believe me what happened
when Zeke got hurt or got suspended, what happened when
Witton retired and des Bryant was gone, when we had
all of our guys, And we can't keep all of
our guys and keep adding more guys and pay a
(38:31):
Zeke Elliott unless you take less. And if you want
to be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback for the next decade,
the best opportunity you have is to take less, spread around,
win a bunch of games, be a legend. But that's
not what the Jones families decided to do apparently. I mean, look,
(38:53):
if I said Marcus Mariotta and Dak Prescott, you would
go with Marcus Mariota is fighting for his job in Tennessee,
and Dak Prescott seems to be the guy and is
in better standing in Dallas, but they're basically the same. Dude,
is there any discussion over Marcus Mariotta being paid thirty
(39:15):
million dollars a year? And oh yeah, by the way,
they don't have to pay Dak Prescott a single scent
more than his contract. And then even after this year,
he could be franchise tag for two years. Right after
this year, he will have made four million dollars in
his career. Do you think that guy is gonna sit
(39:36):
out games went next year when he could be making
five million dollars a year guaranteed. No, you got him
right where you want him, right where you want them
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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