May 13, 2019 • 37 mins
Doug discusses Kawhi Leonard’s game winning shot and his dominance in the playoffs and tells you why he embodies the perfect NBA Star. He also tells you why the Warriors are making it difficult for Kevin Durant to leave in free agency. Plus, NBA veteran and analyst Jim Jackson joins the show to talk about the Lakers hiring Frank Vogel to be their new head coach and breakdown the playoffs.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
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 fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug got Leave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Hope
you had a great sports weekend. I hope you wish
your mother and the mother of your children a happy
Mother's Day and more than any get ready for a
(00:44):
great week in sports. Western Eastern Conference playoffs about to
get it away and oh yeah, PGA Championship Week like
what yeah? I remember they switched the dates totally forgot
quick aside on that in one second. The Gottlip Show
brought you by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything,
(01:04):
so we know how to cover almost anything. When it's
game time, I have an experienced player help you stay
ahere of the game, put their experience into play at
Farmers dot com. You know what It reminds me of
It reminds me of have you ever done this? Have
you ever done this where you forget which is it
set my clocks ahead or set my clocks back, and
you screw it up and you wake up and you're
(01:25):
doing things and it's completely the wrong hour. I remember
distinctly when I was a kid, we used to have
to go to Sunday school, and my parents took us
an hour early to Sunday school. We just got screwed
up in terms of the time. And I don't know why.
It was fall fall back, and we rushed there and
there was nobody there. Then we went at what would
have been the appropriate time, but even that was an
(01:47):
hour earlier. Then we went at That's what it feels like.
With the PGA Championship. I didn't even I do this
for a living, and I was like, man, why do
they keep talking about Best Page Black and the p
G A. Oh, it's a week they moved it up. Anyway.
We'll get to that a little bit later on in
the week. We got a little bit of football for you.
(02:07):
Interesting news in both college basketball in the NBA, with
John b Line leaving Michigan to head to coach to
Cleveland Cavaliers did not see that one coming. And of
course we have the Friday night game, which apparently took
place too long ago for us to lead with, which
is Warriors upset the Houston Rockets. My parting words for
(02:28):
you on Friday was that the Warriors would advance. I
did not think they would win on Friday. I did
think they would find a win, a way to win
one of the two games. What an incredible win and
the way in which they won will get to, but
let's let's go to what we saw yesterday. Kawhi Leonard
gets the ball. Everyone knows he's getting the ball, everyone
(02:51):
knows he's shooting the ball, and though he left it short,
didn't leave it as short as his free throw. Then
he makes a game winning shot. Now, I've seen a
lot of basketball in my life, a lot. And I've
seen a lot of buzzer beaters in my life a lot.
I can't recall, for the life of me a buzzer
(03:13):
beater where with a leather basketball in college basketball, in
high school basketball, they use the synthetic balls and sometimes
you get some odd bounces. I cannot recall one where
the ball hits the front rim twice, carrams to the
back rim twice, then up and finds a way into
(03:34):
the goal. I've never seen that before in that situation,
but that's exactly what happened. And Kawhi Leonard ends up
putting up. When you put up forty one points on point,
simply amazing. Now he did. He did a little bit
of the tebow thing right where by missing a free
(03:55):
throw he started to fire that he then put out.
But he had been putting out the few had been
extinguishing the fire all afternoon long. And it's just interesting
to me on what appeals to us in the media
and what appeals to fans. And I'm not gonna doubt
or deny the way in which he handled everything in
(04:15):
San Antonio left many people with a bad taste in
their mouth. What was the deal? I mean, basically it
was he felt like he was not cared for properly,
and they thought he was, They thought he was ready.
This was almost like an old Western movie, right what
every old Western movie I've ever watched and gun Smoke,
(04:37):
who apparently a lot of you people do watch. It
always starts, there's always a fight when somebody calls the
other one a liar. You called me a liar, right,
And that's what the San Antonio Spurs said to Kauai Leonard,
we think you're healthy enough to go, and he said,
you called me a liar. And it became a shootout
(04:59):
or a stay end off at the Okay Corral, and
Kauai ended up for at least a year in Toronto.
But I don't know whether you want to compare him
to Trout as I did last week, or to Andrew Luck.
But somehow we've gotten away from the idea of it's
an okay thing to just be about your craft. It's
(05:21):
an okay thing to be like we've made fun of
Andrew Luck for years with having a flip phone when
he was in college and not being a guy who's
on social media. Aaron Rodgers won all the swag points
yesterday because he was on he had a cameo and
Game of Thrones. Andrew Luck hasn't. I don't even know,
like we make fun of Andrew lux Beard because you
(05:43):
got Captain Andrew Luck on Twitter. And I love Aaron
Rodgers and I think to this point he's been the
better quarterback. But I will tell you there's something to
the way and Andrew Luck just goes about his job,
doing his job right. The first couple of years in
late we wonder why he didn't have endorsements. He had
(06:04):
thirty three wins in the first three years with a
terrible aging roster. And now once he gets back healthy
and they get him an offensive line. Look what happened
to the Indianapolis Colts. Kawhi Leonard plays nine games last
year and people say he's all kinds of different things.
They manage his load this year and rest him at
(06:27):
was sometimes inopportune times, and it pays them dividends. With
one fade away jump shot like I don't know if
it's Trout, if it's Luck, if it's Kauai, or if
they're all kind of some similar You know what, they're
good guys, They're good human beings. They have no personal
baggage off the floor. These aren't guys that have been
(06:48):
rumored to be in the club, not guys to be
to have any sort of any sort of issues with women.
And yet when the lights are on the pop ones popping,
you seem to be able to depend them to play
at or above their optimum level. Time and again, I
guess Trott would be the only guy. You can't because
(07:09):
he's only been in three postseason games, and he didn't
hit well in those three postseason games, but such a
small sample size. Kauai does in fact speak. Here's his
voice recorded. Swear to god, he speaks after the game.
I'm a guy to acts like I've been there before,
so probably last time you probably see me scream, it's
(07:30):
like when we won. So whenever it's like a moment
where I haven't really experienced, I probably try to give
some emotion, show some emotion and let it, let it
just come out. So you know, tonight was one of
those nights. I've never been in that situation before. And
like he said, um, it's the first shot somebody hit
(07:50):
a gay winner and then in game seven, so I'll
just showed emotion. I mean, he even has to explain
why he's showing emotion. I know I'm not supposed to.
It's like a robot. I know I'm not supposed to.
Johnny five is alive. I'm not supposed to show emotion,
but I did show him, Like, dude, you don't gotta
explain it. We were I was watching the game on
(08:11):
my couch with my son. My mom was there, my
wife was there. My wife's like looking down at her
phone at the time. We jump up and go, oh
my god, oh my god. And again it wasn't even
that he made the shot. It was that he shot
the ball and then it hits the rim. Be like okay,
miss wait no wait no wait, no, oh my god.
(08:34):
And then my wife looks up, what what happened? I
can't believe you're not watching? Well. One are the things
that we always want our athletes to do. We want
them to get better, all right, work at their craft.
Here's the guy who's the center in high school that
is slowly and progressively become a dynamic perimeter player. We
want them to play both ends, he does. We want
(08:55):
them to play well in championships, he does. We want
them to act like they've been there but war, he does.
When do we get to the point to where you
have to be so, you know, involved in social media
and have a bunch of commercials and and where are
these dumb clothes before the game for thirty seconds that
apparently they don't even pick out themselves, Like, when do
(09:18):
we get to that point where that is worthy of discussion?
But instead it's he just made a play in Game
seven Eastern Conference Semifinals and made it in a way
in which I've never seen happen before. So you want
to give me luck, I'll give you. I'll take Luck,
(09:39):
I'll take Trout, I'll take Kauai. I'll take guys that
they don't have to talk the talk, they just walk
the walk. Pretty amazing. I mean even he said after
the game, Hey, you know I left the free throw short.
I tried to not leave that order and he did,
(10:00):
in fact leave it shorp, but he had to shoot
it over Joel embiid. Like, we've gotten to the place
where we're having to explain and sympathize with Joel embiad
for crying, Like why is it okay for Joean Bead
to cry? Like twenty three years old playing playing his guts?
Is he in great shape? No, he needs to be
in better shape. But that doesn't that's not even the
(10:20):
point that dude's unbelievable. He's an unbelievable player, and he's
still learning what he can do and how he can
do it. And he did everything he could defensively to
to guard Kauai Leonard without fouling him. And I just
made a great chot, good defense, better offense, tip your cap. Yeah,
(10:45):
you're led to cry. It's okay. It means it meant
something to you, and you're allowed to show emotion. Kauai.
You don't have to apologize to us. We were all
showing emotions. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug Dot Leap Show week days in noon Eastern for
EP and Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. I'm gonna play for your three consecutive
(11:06):
sound bites. I'll talk a little bit in between them.
But but here's Clay Thompson after the game. Like Steve
Curse said, we don't have the ultimate luxury tonight, a
man who can just go out there and get you
forty on a win. So we had to play a
little more diligent with the ball. We had to be
more Chris with our passes. We couldn't in the room
for air was a lot less compared to when Kevin's
(11:26):
out there. I'm happy we won so we can get
some rest and get him healthy, because if we're gonna
get this three p we desk what. We need him back.
You know, he's our best player, so we dearly miss
him and we'll hold it down while he's out, but
it's not the same without him, far from it. That's
Clay Thompson, Mr. Game six. Mr. Everyone thinks Clay wants respect,
(11:47):
Clay wants to be the man. Clay wants to to
to be paid. Here's Steph Curry. Close games are always
the hardest. And you didn't have your guy Kevin Durant.
And how are you guys able to close him out?
O don't know. We Uh, we stay composed there before,
won big games, stunner on the road. We miss our
guy and know he's gonna be back, but we had
(12:09):
to have us back. We talked about all the time
this whole playoff run. He's been the best, fighting the
lead and he's carried us. So the least we could
do us will have us back tonight. Uh move on
to the next round and give ourselves a chance to
be a full strength the rest of the way. Here's
Draymond Green. Yeah, we're gonna get him back now. In
(12:34):
this world which we operate under this assumption that Steph
Curry and Clay times like, yeah, see we're still awesome.
We don't need him. They said the opposite, and then
it also brought up and I saw Kevin Durant or
the I g F K D celebrating when they won
Game six. At some point, is somebody gonna grab him
(12:57):
and go, hey, dude, I don't know if you really
realize this. Let's assume they win another NBA title. I
don't have you realize this, but Michael Jordan never won
four in a row, and you very well could. Matter
of fact, no one's ever won four in a row
since the Boston Celtics did. And while you'd never catch
(13:17):
the Celtics, why couldn't you catch the bulls? Why couldn't
you pass the bulls? Like? I get it, Sometimes it
gets old and it gets sluggish and it becomes the
same thing. And we'll try and kind of figure that
thing out. But what would be more memorable being the
guy who tried to save the New York Knicks and
(13:38):
maybe accomplishes it, or being the guy who leads the
Golden State Warriors to four, five, six. Remember remember when
Lebron was like not one, not two, not three, not four.
Remember that that could be the Warriors and you have
a bunch of guys who, in the one moment where
(13:58):
they could take a victory lap and go see we're
still awesome. They said that was fun, but we need
thirty five back because he's our best player. Two things
I have never seen before in the n B A
that and then quiet Leonards follow away jump shot, hit
(14:18):
the front rim twice, hit the back round twice, and
then go in. I think it speaks to the Warriors
as men, It speaks to the culture of the program
of the Warriors, and I think it should say it
should be a signal to Kevin Durant. Hey, dude, you're
(14:40):
gonna be the best player wherever you go. But we
already respect you, we already love you. Yeah, we can win,
take your healthy, but we know we can't do this
without you. And if you're the Rockets, you're just sitting
there like the Raptors, right, hopeful that thing implodes. But
there's there's there's this sense like, well, you know you
had to go to a super team. What do you
(15:02):
think the Knicks would be if he goes there with
Kyrie Irving and say they drafted Zion Williamson right, Like
there's a oh, well, Lebron didn't go to a super
team Miami, the hell he didn't. They got Chris bosh
that Dwyane Wade was already there had been in the
finals m v P you Oh yeah, by the way,
a year later they get ray Allen. Now this is
(15:28):
a magnificent team with two magnificent players and kind of
the ultimate gritty glue guy player in a Draymond Green.
And and look there they have issues. I don't know
how much longer ago Dolly can do it. Livingston seems
to be on his last legs. They haven't found that
kind of next generation off the bench. There's still stuff
(15:49):
to work through. But you mean to tell me it's
not fun winning. It's not fun being so well respected
that in the very moment where they should celebrate their
own greatness, they're openly saying, hey, that was fine, but
we need the other fellow back because he actually makes
(16:09):
everything so much better. They basically called Kevin Durant peanut Butter, right,
peanut Butter makes everything better. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Dot Leap Show week days in
noon eastern three pm Pacific. Frank vocals new head coach
the Lakers, And I'm not really sure it matters all
that much, right, I'm not saying that it doesn't matter.
(16:33):
But it doesn't matter that much. Okay, process wasn't us.
This is a lot like U c l A and
their process in finding mccronin. Who I think it's a
damn good coach? Is it a sexy higher like? No,
but mccronickin coach, you win thirty games? Since then you
can win thirty games US C l A. H men.
Had he had it not been for the Lebron James
(16:56):
led Cleveland Cavaliers, Frank Vogel would have coached in the
NBA A Finals of the Indiana Pacers. Like he's good
enough coach. What's not good enough. What's not good enough
is the personnel, and if that doesn't get solved, it
doesn't matter who the coaches. Like, I thought Luke did
a good job, but they didn't have good enough shot
(17:17):
makers and they didn't play good enough defense, and they
couldn't get it done. It's that simple again, not the
end all be all. But do you mean to tell
me that he couldn't he couldn't get them to the
NBA playoffs, that they're in capable of getting to the
NBA It all depends on his personnel. I'm like, look,
(17:40):
I know you're told that Jason Kidd mentored Lonzo Ball
last year. If mentoring him is placing one phone call
to help encourage him is mentoring, and then okay, but
Lonzo Ball hasn't been great because he hasn't had time
in an off season. He has never been healthy for
an off season, not once. Now who have a chance
(18:01):
to refine his game and improve his standing. And it
looks like there's a buy in as of now from Lebron.
They go out, they add another player. If they fixed
the roster, gotta have bet more shooting. You gotta have
more shooting, less clowns, and the young guys gotta get better.
If they do that, they'll make the playoffs. If they don't,
(18:23):
they won't. I mean they'll probably make the playoffs regardless.
But they got a chance to go deep in the playoffs.
And if you think that coaching Lebron is so difficult,
and I don't think it's I don't think it's easy.
But Tyrod Lou had zero years of head coaching experience
and took them the three straight NBA finals. Eric Spoelstra
(18:44):
had never been to it, had even been in the
NBA Finals, like no not before Lebron got there. So
here's the guy who has been there, has seen that,
has done that, and has some level of respect around
the NBA, and everybody thinks, good coach, good guy. Know
that nobody's gonna sit there and go like he stinks.
(19:06):
But to everybody freaking out about the problem, the process
was a mess. Doesn't mean they got a bad doesn't
mean they got a bad coach. And even if they
did get a better coach, or a bigger name coach
or a sexier name coach, it wouldn't matter if they
don't fix the personnel. Yes, John Ramas, I agree the
person needs to be fixed. But does Tyler make it
better to get that personnel than maybe Frank Vogel does.
(19:28):
I don't think so. I don't because the the operate,
the the m O of Lebron is he wants Lebron's guys,
and Vogel is not a Lebron guys, not an anti
Lebron guy. He's just a guy. And this helps the
Lakers in their establish of establishment of hey man, we
just we just want a good coach, which want good
(19:50):
players to go around who we think is the best
players still in the game, and Lebron James to make
a playoff run. I actually think it helps. I think
it hurts in person, option hurts in the fact that
they wanted Tylo. I'd also say this about Tyler. How
much money is Tyron Lou making today? How much is
he making? I mean, I'm sure he's getting something from
(20:12):
Cleveland or whatever, but how much is he actually making
his salary? Not a penny? So did he want Jason
Kidd as his assistant? Probably not. Did he want Kurt
Rambis's assistant, probably not. Did he want five years instead
of three? Probably did. But this is like when you
when you walk into a car dealership and you're like,
(20:33):
I'm not paying a penny over twenty dollars to that card, Like, sir,
the least we can give it to you for is
twenty five. I'm not paying a penny over twenty. I
know how this works. You gotta hold back. You got this,
you got that dollars, like sir, the price that we're
(20:54):
willing to pay you get offer you is twenty two
five dollars. You say no, all right, you walk out
that door, thinking they're gonna chase you down. And he
walked out and the Lakers said, Okay, we'll find somebody
will coach Lebron who will take a three year deal.
(21:14):
Frank Vogelmate went from making zero to six million, Tyron
lew went for making zero to zero. It's okay if
you think you have leverage, but everyone is replaceable. And
I don't know how many wins they lost, how much
respect they lost, if there's any players they lost, credibility
they lost. We'll just have to wait and see. And
(21:37):
I'm not somebody I'm do. I think the Lakers handled
it well. No, but they also hold the cards because
it was their job to hire and they chose to pass.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. Jim Jackson joins
(21:58):
us on the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I'm all four analytics, but but I also like kind
of a hybrid approach where you use it some and
you still value. Hey, get a guy a ball in
his spot where he feels super comfortable and the rest
of the team can relax. Isn't that kind of what
the playoffs have told us, well, I mean yeah, because
(22:18):
if you think about with the Portland's game, it was
c J McCallum. Down the stretch of the game, they
weren't three point shots, Doug, as you as you know,
he got to a spot on the court where those
to the free throw line extended to the free throw
line where he got to the basket. And while the
other team missed by gold, stay you miss. Okay, we
may not get it three, but we'll get six eight
(22:40):
points of two point baskets and and that's the difference.
And that's how you win basketball games in the Cup.
You know, fourth quarter when the defense is tight and
you know the offense needs to figure out ways and
manufacture some easy baskets. Doug Gottlive Show with Jim Jackson
(23:01):
Jim Jackson's young son in the background, also adding his
own commentary to this. Is he agreeing with you or
disagree with you? He's not. He's in the back right now,
like he's on his own thing right now on the
he's on the I nanny um. Okay. Have you ever
seen a ball hit the front rim twice, back room
twice and then go in Yeah, I have, but not
(23:23):
in that situation and that degree of difficulty. Um, think
about that shot. Now, as a right handed player, going
to your right, you have to basically turn and square
your whole body and shoulders to get it, especially at
that angle in the corner. It's much easier going to
his left to shoot that. So the degree of difficulty
(23:44):
was just and and at the angle. When we were
watching the game, I said, there's no way there's going in,
you know, and and it and it went in. But
I mean this, it capped off. I think, what what
was a great series for for Toronto, tough one for Philly,
but never see the like that in the cut situation.
What do you think happens in Philadelphia? Or what should
happen in Philadelphia? They gotta well, they gotta valuate a
(24:08):
couple of things. One, I think you need to demand
with Joel Embi that he comes in better shape from
the beginning of the season. I think he's carrying a
little bit too much weight. Hint it asked to some injuries.
His eating habits have to change because he's he's so
dominant when he's in there. I don't think he's completely
committed to being in the best shape when he can
do that I think he's just it takes his game
(24:29):
to another level. You gotta figure out what you want
to do with Ben Simmons and what I mean by
that in late game situations he clugged up the lane
because they put him on the post a lot. You know,
they took the ball out of his hands, which partly
was due to the fact that he wasn't producing from
the outside. And dog, you what I tell people all
the time is, you know they're comparing to Magic Johnson.
(24:49):
But Magic Johnson played point guard in high school, he
played it in college, so he was natural at that position.
Then it's not a natural point guard and that comes
out into play, especially in playoff situation. You gotta figure
out what you'd do if you run play pay Jimmy Butler.
But also you can't afford I don't think the Louis
Tobias Harris or j J ready can't pay j J
(25:11):
like that. But so they have some critical decisions they
gotta make this off season Doug Goli Show on Fox
Sports Trader, that's Jimmy Jackson who's joining us. All right,
let's get to the west. Um. I mean, we saw
an absolute virtuoso by staff down the stretch. Of course,
game six, Clay showed up. What took me was afterwards,
to a man, they were all like, that was great,
(25:33):
but we need k D back. Was this recruiting or
do you think that's just the makeup of those guys
that they truly in fact respect Kevin Durant and want
him back because so many other people like, well, this
just shows how much better, how good they are without
Kevin Durant. Why do you think they reacted the way
they did because it's a genuine respect for what Katie
(25:53):
brings to the table. And keep in mind, dark this
is one game. There's a lot different when you got
to play a seven game series without Kevin Durant. So
they put basically played the game and a half because
when Katie went out, now you come back. But that
stresses the bench out a lot more on what you
can and can't do your rotations if you don't have
(26:13):
Kevin Durant. He's an excellent rebounder, his defense has improved,
he can make plays to his teammates, and of course
he can score. So I mean, let's be honest. I
mean you're gonna need Kevin Durant. I think maybe not
so much against Portland's. But if you end up playing
against Milwaukee, well, I think could could beat Toronto. You're
(26:34):
definitely gonna need Kevin Durant because Milwaukee has home court events, okay,
and you need somebody that can go get baskets just
like that in tough situation. Uh, what do you do
with your Houston bro? I mean, I think they gotta
find the balance, man of you talked about it, Doug
about the analytics part of it. They built their teams
(26:56):
so much to go out and defeat Golden State from
the fifth a co perspective, But what they didn't improve
was the mental part. I mean, I played for Mike D'Antoni.
I love him to death, but how do you not
make the adjustments during it? I always say that I
thought that even with Kevin duran out, that Golden State
will win in seven back at home, and the X
factor was that Clay and step would figure it out
(27:17):
that you have to guard them differently. But key is
who was on the bench, who was in the pilot team,
and that's Steve Kurt. Steve Kerr made the adjustment with
that one four pick and roll with Steph and Draymond.
They cleared out the strong side corner and they allowed
Draymond and make plays. You had a you know, three
on two on the backside Mike D'Antoni, and Houston never
(27:40):
made the adjustment. Okay after the first time, Okay, second time,
third time, you gotta make an adjustment, free, rotate, do something.
That's the difference in with Houston. Now, you tried everything
in regards to building the team. You gotta figure out
how you want to play. Chris Paul's could be a
year older. Okay, can you win with James hard and
(28:01):
dominating the board works in the regular season, but not
in the postseason to ultimately get to a championship game.
Um I, I agree with you in terms of Now
in fairness, they did something different every time down like right.
One time they came off and faked the screen. He
lays it in, one time, he throws it back, hits
a handoff, hits the three. One time he comes off
and goes back the other way and hits the crazy three.
(28:24):
Another time he hits Draymond, and he passed the Tigo
dollar to Clay time like it wasn't like it was
was the same. It was the same set, but they
used every different option from it. Well, but here's the
thing though, because they jumped Draymond, I mean they dumped
Clay each time. Okay, that one time when Chris Paul
turned his head, it's because he jumped out. Okay, Steph
(28:46):
went away from it. But also because the post player
kind of stepped out, it gave enough room. So yeah,
there were different options off of it. But how Houston
chose to guard it is what I'm talking about. You
have to change that look up a little bit, even
if you come back to it, you have to change
it up to make the offense. I'm comfortable if not,
(29:07):
Steph and Draymond knew exactly what and what they want
to do. You played enough to know with a teammate
you can give a little signal, little eye contact. Okay,
instead of me coming off, I'm gonna go to I'm
gonna say to the corner this time since the stream
and now you slip early. You know, if you can
communicate without really saying it. And that's what I'm saying.
They were so comfortable that they can pretty much do
(29:28):
what they wanted on that side of the cord. On
that play. Katie's not gonna play Game one does Portland.
Does Portland have enough to win this series? I don't
know if they have enough shot makers? Um, I mean,
I love I mean c J. Mcconum and Damon are
just bro I mean and and I love their business
approach to the playoffs this year that you know their demeanor.
(29:51):
After what happened last year, I've grown to really respect
more and more those guys. You can Evan Turner step up,
can heartless be a guy you can against Golden State?
You can count on for six games? Seven games? Um,
that's the question with this Portland's team. And plus actually
it works better for Golden State because Portland wants to
get up and down the court more so than less
(30:13):
than what Denver want to do have court wise, So
I think it plays into the mindset in the game
of what um Golden State wants to do. But it
could be easily I mean a four two series, depending
on what happens with Katie Milwaukee and Toronto. Obviously everyone's
gonna point out KAUAI versus k D versus versus Janice.
(30:33):
But as we've seen, you know, usually stars end up
crossing each other out who then becomes the X factors?
Well for both teams. You know Keith Middleton, Well, Middleton
has always been you know, it's the second best player
there production wise for Milwaukee. And then you know Pascal Siakam,
he he hasn't He didn't play well the last series.
(30:55):
Can he kind of go back to what we saw
that first season, I mean the first playoff UH series
and also what we saw during the course of the year.
Because you're right, Doug, I mean, your honest is gonna
get hit, Kauai is gonna get hit. Who else is
gonna be able? I think Eric Bletsoe is going to
be a key factor. I mean, does it is it
now for Kyle Lawry and the champion in the in
(31:16):
the Eastern Conference finals to be more consistent and what
he does, it's always those role players. I think Malcolm
brog been coming back defensively, offensively, leadership, what he does.
Those are the guys I think that are gonna play
a key role. And as you know, Duck in Toronto
muster up enough of the savvy to go into Milwaukee
(31:38):
and get a game. It's gonna be the key. Ye
what do you think of what the Lakers have done
with Frank Vogel. Here here's my thing, Doug. I didn't
like what they did to ty Loo. I offered him
a three year deal, which is the last three years
of le Bronze tenure, of course, unless he choose to
do something else. I didn't like how they tried to
dictate who was going to be on the coaching staff. Okay,
(32:01):
but you have said you come back and you give
vogue of this now. I just I'm trying to get
my arms wrapped around what direction the Lakers want to go.
And it's been off kilter ever since, you know, Dr
Jerry Buss passed away. Everything they've done it seemed to
go opposite of what he put in place for that franchise.
(32:22):
It's almost like, you know, the rich kid, the father.
I want to do something totally different, and that's what
we see. And as a result, the Lakers have not been,
you know, formidable powerhouse that we saw in the past. Man,
I'm a little confused with the power struggle, but a
lot of it with Plinka is it's the power struggle
(32:43):
within it, man. You know, and Pelinka has his own
issues from being a former agent that a lot of
people didn't really have a good feel for. Now he's
the general manager, which plays a role as well. Does
it ultimately work anyway? Doug, I would love to say it.
You know, your Laker Land. It's a lot easier to
turn the Lakers around than it is UM. You know,
(33:06):
some other teams that are may have a little discomfort
going on. UM, but its leadership, as you know, is
in consistent leadership, the consistent word, the consistent message when
you don't have that talent is one thing, but the
trickle down effect of your management upstairs is not as
(33:26):
joined in and not as concise and consistent, is gonna
end up affecting your product. And that's what we're saying
with the Lakers are okay? Uh? John bee Line leaves
Michigan to coach in the NBA. He nearly left Michigan
last year. Now he does it. You obviously played in
the Big Ten, cover b Line a bunch covering the
Big Ten. Everybody raised about him as a human being
(33:49):
and as a basketball coach. But how does it work
in the NBA. Well, and you know, in college, you're
the parental figure. You can basically run and control what
you want with these young men in college. Okay, you're
the first and last word. If something happens. College coaches
can get rid of you, they can do That's not
(34:10):
what happens in the league. And I'm just trying to
figure out the direction. And you know, the whole thing
about Cleveland Cavs is like you want to estavage the culture,
a new culture. Okay. I tend to think that could
be done with a younger coach that understands the culture
of the guys there, not that be Line doesn't. I
think it's a tough ask at sixty six years old
as your first NBA job to come in. But what
(34:34):
they love about bee Line was his discipline, his ability
to communicate with young men, his ability to um, I think,
improve upon the mental aspects of the game. But again,
these are eight ar olds. When you come into college,
it's a lot different when you come into the pro.
So it's interesting to me. I love John Biline. I
(34:55):
just don't know if that was the right move for
the future. Is that you know? I just don't. Yeah,
it's a it's a weird one. It's a really really
weird one. What did you when you first saw what
did you think? I didn't the I I thought, honestly,
I thought the Lakers would consider Chowski is oh self
(35:16):
be line right. The only part, the part about the
bee line thing that I do like, uh, play wise,
he's always he's always been a guy that's that's opened
up the floor and that's obviously the way of the
future in the NBA. His from Kevin Pittsnogle on down.
He's you know, Moe Wagner letting his big guy shoot
and creating mismatches with his offense. And and he has
(35:37):
changed some recently as well. He hasn't he's gone away
from his his old structure. But the other part is, yes,
he's a disciplined guy, but he also he he doesn't
brow beat you, right, Like the reason the classic college
coach wouldn't work was they would m f you up
and down and they would, you know, knock you down
then build you back up. That's not He's discipline oriented,
but he's not the classic disc venerian that has to
(36:01):
curse you and make you feel lower than a human being.
And it is a young team, but it's definitely an
odd high. It's not one that I thought I saw
coming with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Well, what just goes back
to relationships too, right, I mean, I mean his relationships
with the front office allowed him to be able to
take a look at it. You can't be mad at
John being I looked sixty six years old. He's pretty
(36:22):
much done everything at Michigan except win a championship. This
is a chance for him the backside of his career
to maybe do something he always wanted to do, which
is so has having to range curiously about, you know,
coaching in the NBA and what what does he have
to loose if they approached him about it, What does
John had to loose get a bigger payday? Okay, we
(36:45):
all know the NBA things in turn, you know, next year,
but he said he could always go back to college
if he wants to. So, I mean, for him, it's
a great lateral move. I'm just thinking for the calves
and what they're trying to do doesn't make sense. No, yeah,
well yeah, we will definitely definitely see great stuff. Man.
Really appreciate it. Enjoy the playoffs and your little man,
(37:07):
thanks for joining us. Thanks Doug, you appreciate your brother
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
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 fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug got Leave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Hope
you had a great sports weekend. I hope you wish
your mother and the mother of your children a happy
Mother's Day and more than any get ready for a
(00:44):
great week in sports. Western Eastern Conference playoffs about to
get it away and oh yeah, PGA Championship Week like
what yeah? I remember they switched the dates totally forgot
quick aside on that in one second. The Gottlip Show
brought you by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything,
(01:04):
so we know how to cover almost anything. When it's
game time, I have an experienced player help you stay
ahere of the game, put their experience into play at
Farmers dot com. You know what It reminds me of
It reminds me of have you ever done this? Have
you ever done this where you forget which is it
set my clocks ahead or set my clocks back, and
you screw it up and you wake up and you're
(01:25):
doing things and it's completely the wrong hour. I remember
distinctly when I was a kid, we used to have
to go to Sunday school, and my parents took us
an hour early to Sunday school. We just got screwed
up in terms of the time. And I don't know why.
It was fall fall back, and we rushed there and
there was nobody there. Then we went at what would
have been the appropriate time, but even that was an
(01:47):
hour earlier. Then we went at That's what it feels like.
With the PGA Championship. I didn't even I do this
for a living, and I was like, man, why do
they keep talking about Best Page Black and the p
G A. Oh, it's a week they moved it up. Anyway.
We'll get to that a little bit later on in
the week. We got a little bit of football for you.
(02:07):
Interesting news in both college basketball in the NBA, with
John b Line leaving Michigan to head to coach to
Cleveland Cavaliers did not see that one coming. And of
course we have the Friday night game, which apparently took
place too long ago for us to lead with, which
is Warriors upset the Houston Rockets. My parting words for
(02:28):
you on Friday was that the Warriors would advance. I
did not think they would win on Friday. I did
think they would find a win, a way to win
one of the two games. What an incredible win and
the way in which they won will get to, but
let's let's go to what we saw yesterday. Kawhi Leonard
gets the ball. Everyone knows he's getting the ball, everyone
(02:51):
knows he's shooting the ball, and though he left it short,
didn't leave it as short as his free throw. Then
he makes a game winning shot. Now, I've seen a
lot of basketball in my life, a lot. And I've
seen a lot of buzzer beaters in my life a lot.
I can't recall, for the life of me a buzzer
(03:13):
beater where with a leather basketball in college basketball, in
high school basketball, they use the synthetic balls and sometimes
you get some odd bounces. I cannot recall one where
the ball hits the front rim twice, carrams to the
back rim twice, then up and finds a way into
(03:34):
the goal. I've never seen that before in that situation,
but that's exactly what happened. And Kawhi Leonard ends up
putting up. When you put up forty one points on point,
simply amazing. Now he did. He did a little bit
of the tebow thing right where by missing a free
(03:55):
throw he started to fire that he then put out.
But he had been putting out the few had been
extinguishing the fire all afternoon long. And it's just interesting
to me on what appeals to us in the media
and what appeals to fans. And I'm not gonna doubt
or deny the way in which he handled everything in
(04:15):
San Antonio left many people with a bad taste in
their mouth. What was the deal? I mean, basically it
was he felt like he was not cared for properly,
and they thought he was, They thought he was ready.
This was almost like an old Western movie, right what
every old Western movie I've ever watched and gun Smoke,
(04:37):
who apparently a lot of you people do watch. It
always starts, there's always a fight when somebody calls the
other one a liar. You called me a liar, right,
And that's what the San Antonio Spurs said to Kauai Leonard,
we think you're healthy enough to go, and he said,
you called me a liar. And it became a shootout
(04:59):
or a stay end off at the Okay Corral, and
Kauai ended up for at least a year in Toronto.
But I don't know whether you want to compare him
to Trout as I did last week, or to Andrew Luck.
But somehow we've gotten away from the idea of it's
an okay thing to just be about your craft. It's
(05:21):
an okay thing to be like we've made fun of
Andrew Luck for years with having a flip phone when
he was in college and not being a guy who's
on social media. Aaron Rodgers won all the swag points
yesterday because he was on he had a cameo and
Game of Thrones. Andrew Luck hasn't. I don't even know,
like we make fun of Andrew lux Beard because you
(05:43):
got Captain Andrew Luck on Twitter. And I love Aaron
Rodgers and I think to this point he's been the
better quarterback. But I will tell you there's something to
the way and Andrew Luck just goes about his job,
doing his job right. The first couple of years in
late we wonder why he didn't have endorsements. He had
(06:04):
thirty three wins in the first three years with a
terrible aging roster. And now once he gets back healthy
and they get him an offensive line. Look what happened
to the Indianapolis Colts. Kawhi Leonard plays nine games last
year and people say he's all kinds of different things.
They manage his load this year and rest him at
(06:27):
was sometimes inopportune times, and it pays them dividends. With
one fade away jump shot like I don't know if
it's Trout, if it's Luck, if it's Kauai, or if
they're all kind of some similar You know what, they're
good guys, They're good human beings. They have no personal
baggage off the floor. These aren't guys that have been
(06:48):
rumored to be in the club, not guys to be
to have any sort of any sort of issues with women.
And yet when the lights are on the pop ones popping,
you seem to be able to depend them to play
at or above their optimum level. Time and again, I
guess Trott would be the only guy. You can't because
(07:09):
he's only been in three postseason games, and he didn't
hit well in those three postseason games, but such a
small sample size. Kauai does in fact speak. Here's his
voice recorded. Swear to god, he speaks after the game.
I'm a guy to acts like I've been there before,
so probably last time you probably see me scream, it's
(07:30):
like when we won. So whenever it's like a moment
where I haven't really experienced, I probably try to give
some emotion, show some emotion and let it, let it
just come out. So you know, tonight was one of
those nights. I've never been in that situation before. And
like he said, um, it's the first shot somebody hit
(07:50):
a gay winner and then in game seven, so I'll
just showed emotion. I mean, he even has to explain
why he's showing emotion. I know I'm not supposed to.
It's like a robot. I know I'm not supposed to.
Johnny five is alive. I'm not supposed to show emotion,
but I did show him, Like, dude, you don't gotta
explain it. We were I was watching the game on
(08:11):
my couch with my son. My mom was there, my
wife was there. My wife's like looking down at her
phone at the time. We jump up and go, oh
my god, oh my god. And again it wasn't even
that he made the shot. It was that he shot
the ball and then it hits the rim. Be like okay,
miss wait no wait no wait, no, oh my god.
(08:34):
And then my wife looks up, what what happened? I
can't believe you're not watching? Well. One are the things
that we always want our athletes to do. We want
them to get better, all right, work at their craft.
Here's the guy who's the center in high school that
is slowly and progressively become a dynamic perimeter player. We
want them to play both ends, he does. We want
(08:55):
them to play well in championships, he does. We want
them to act like they've been there but war, he does.
When do we get to the point to where you
have to be so, you know, involved in social media
and have a bunch of commercials and and where are
these dumb clothes before the game for thirty seconds that
apparently they don't even pick out themselves, Like, when do
(09:18):
we get to that point where that is worthy of discussion?
But instead it's he just made a play in Game
seven Eastern Conference Semifinals and made it in a way
in which I've never seen happen before. So you want
to give me luck, I'll give you. I'll take Luck,
(09:39):
I'll take Trout, I'll take Kauai. I'll take guys that
they don't have to talk the talk, they just walk
the walk. Pretty amazing. I mean even he said after
the game, Hey, you know I left the free throw short.
I tried to not leave that order and he did,
(10:00):
in fact leave it shorp, but he had to shoot
it over Joel embiid. Like, we've gotten to the place
where we're having to explain and sympathize with Joel embiad
for crying, Like why is it okay for Joean Bead
to cry? Like twenty three years old playing playing his guts?
Is he in great shape? No, he needs to be
in better shape. But that doesn't that's not even the
(10:20):
point that dude's unbelievable. He's an unbelievable player, and he's
still learning what he can do and how he can
do it. And he did everything he could defensively to
to guard Kauai Leonard without fouling him. And I just
made a great chot, good defense, better offense, tip your cap. Yeah,
(10:45):
you're led to cry. It's okay. It means it meant
something to you, and you're allowed to show emotion. Kauai.
You don't have to apologize to us. We were all
showing emotions. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug Dot Leap Show week days in noon Eastern for
EP and Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. I'm gonna play for your three consecutive
(11:06):
sound bites. I'll talk a little bit in between them.
But but here's Clay Thompson after the game. Like Steve
Curse said, we don't have the ultimate luxury tonight, a
man who can just go out there and get you
forty on a win. So we had to play a
little more diligent with the ball. We had to be
more Chris with our passes. We couldn't in the room
for air was a lot less compared to when Kevin's
(11:26):
out there. I'm happy we won so we can get
some rest and get him healthy, because if we're gonna
get this three p we desk what. We need him back.
You know, he's our best player, so we dearly miss
him and we'll hold it down while he's out, but
it's not the same without him, far from it. That's
Clay Thompson, Mr. Game six. Mr. Everyone thinks Clay wants respect,
(11:47):
Clay wants to be the man. Clay wants to to
to be paid. Here's Steph Curry. Close games are always
the hardest. And you didn't have your guy Kevin Durant.
And how are you guys able to close him out?
O don't know. We Uh, we stay composed there before,
won big games, stunner on the road. We miss our
guy and know he's gonna be back, but we had
(12:09):
to have us back. We talked about all the time
this whole playoff run. He's been the best, fighting the
lead and he's carried us. So the least we could
do us will have us back tonight. Uh move on
to the next round and give ourselves a chance to
be a full strength the rest of the way. Here's
Draymond Green. Yeah, we're gonna get him back now. In
(12:34):
this world which we operate under this assumption that Steph
Curry and Clay times like, yeah, see we're still awesome.
We don't need him. They said the opposite, and then
it also brought up and I saw Kevin Durant or
the I g F K D celebrating when they won
Game six. At some point, is somebody gonna grab him
(12:57):
and go, hey, dude, I don't know if you really
realize this. Let's assume they win another NBA title. I
don't have you realize this, but Michael Jordan never won
four in a row, and you very well could. Matter
of fact, no one's ever won four in a row
since the Boston Celtics did. And while you'd never catch
(13:17):
the Celtics, why couldn't you catch the bulls? Why couldn't
you pass the bulls? Like? I get it, Sometimes it
gets old and it gets sluggish and it becomes the
same thing. And we'll try and kind of figure that
thing out. But what would be more memorable being the
guy who tried to save the New York Knicks and
(13:38):
maybe accomplishes it, or being the guy who leads the
Golden State Warriors to four, five, six. Remember remember when
Lebron was like not one, not two, not three, not four.
Remember that that could be the Warriors and you have
a bunch of guys who, in the one moment where
(13:58):
they could take a victory lap and go see we're
still awesome. They said that was fun, but we need
thirty five back because he's our best player. Two things
I have never seen before in the n B A
that and then quiet Leonards follow away jump shot, hit
(14:18):
the front rim twice, hit the back round twice, and
then go in. I think it speaks to the Warriors
as men, It speaks to the culture of the program
of the Warriors, and I think it should say it
should be a signal to Kevin Durant. Hey, dude, you're
(14:40):
gonna be the best player wherever you go. But we
already respect you, we already love you. Yeah, we can win,
take your healthy, but we know we can't do this
without you. And if you're the Rockets, you're just sitting
there like the Raptors, right, hopeful that thing implodes. But
there's there's there's this sense like, well, you know you
had to go to a super team. What do you
(15:02):
think the Knicks would be if he goes there with
Kyrie Irving and say they drafted Zion Williamson right, Like
there's a oh, well, Lebron didn't go to a super
team Miami, the hell he didn't. They got Chris bosh
that Dwyane Wade was already there had been in the
finals m v P you Oh yeah, by the way,
a year later they get ray Allen. Now this is
(15:28):
a magnificent team with two magnificent players and kind of
the ultimate gritty glue guy player in a Draymond Green.
And and look there they have issues. I don't know
how much longer ago Dolly can do it. Livingston seems
to be on his last legs. They haven't found that
kind of next generation off the bench. There's still stuff
(15:49):
to work through. But you mean to tell me it's
not fun winning. It's not fun being so well respected
that in the very moment where they should celebrate their
own greatness, they're openly saying, hey, that was fine, but
we need the other fellow back because he actually makes
(16:09):
everything so much better. They basically called Kevin Durant peanut Butter, right,
peanut Butter makes everything better. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Dot Leap Show week days in
noon eastern three pm Pacific. Frank vocals new head coach
the Lakers, And I'm not really sure it matters all
that much, right, I'm not saying that it doesn't matter.
(16:33):
But it doesn't matter that much. Okay, process wasn't us.
This is a lot like U c l A and
their process in finding mccronin. Who I think it's a
damn good coach? Is it a sexy higher like? No,
but mccronickin coach, you win thirty games? Since then you
can win thirty games US C l A. H men.
Had he had it not been for the Lebron James
(16:56):
led Cleveland Cavaliers, Frank Vogel would have coached in the
NBA A Finals of the Indiana Pacers. Like he's good
enough coach. What's not good enough. What's not good enough
is the personnel, and if that doesn't get solved, it
doesn't matter who the coaches. Like, I thought Luke did
a good job, but they didn't have good enough shot
(17:17):
makers and they didn't play good enough defense, and they
couldn't get it done. It's that simple again, not the
end all be all. But do you mean to tell
me that he couldn't he couldn't get them to the
NBA playoffs, that they're in capable of getting to the
NBA It all depends on his personnel. I'm like, look,
(17:40):
I know you're told that Jason Kidd mentored Lonzo Ball
last year. If mentoring him is placing one phone call
to help encourage him is mentoring, and then okay, but
Lonzo Ball hasn't been great because he hasn't had time
in an off season. He has never been healthy for
an off season, not once. Now who have a chance
(18:01):
to refine his game and improve his standing. And it
looks like there's a buy in as of now from Lebron.
They go out, they add another player. If they fixed
the roster, gotta have bet more shooting. You gotta have
more shooting, less clowns, and the young guys gotta get better.
If they do that, they'll make the playoffs. If they don't,
(18:23):
they won't. I mean they'll probably make the playoffs regardless.
But they got a chance to go deep in the playoffs.
And if you think that coaching Lebron is so difficult,
and I don't think it's I don't think it's easy.
But Tyrod Lou had zero years of head coaching experience
and took them the three straight NBA finals. Eric Spoelstra
(18:44):
had never been to it, had even been in the
NBA Finals, like no not before Lebron got there. So
here's the guy who has been there, has seen that,
has done that, and has some level of respect around
the NBA, and everybody thinks, good coach, good guy. Know
that nobody's gonna sit there and go like he stinks.
(19:06):
But to everybody freaking out about the problem, the process
was a mess. Doesn't mean they got a bad doesn't
mean they got a bad coach. And even if they
did get a better coach, or a bigger name coach
or a sexier name coach, it wouldn't matter if they
don't fix the personnel. Yes, John Ramas, I agree the
person needs to be fixed. But does Tyler make it
better to get that personnel than maybe Frank Vogel does.
(19:28):
I don't think so. I don't because the the operate,
the the m O of Lebron is he wants Lebron's guys,
and Vogel is not a Lebron guys, not an anti
Lebron guy. He's just a guy. And this helps the
Lakers in their establish of establishment of hey man, we
just we just want a good coach, which want good
(19:50):
players to go around who we think is the best
players still in the game, and Lebron James to make
a playoff run. I actually think it helps. I think
it hurts in person, option hurts in the fact that
they wanted Tylo. I'd also say this about Tyler. How
much money is Tyron Lou making today? How much is
he making? I mean, I'm sure he's getting something from
(20:12):
Cleveland or whatever, but how much is he actually making
his salary? Not a penny? So did he want Jason
Kidd as his assistant? Probably not. Did he want Kurt
Rambis's assistant, probably not. Did he want five years instead
of three? Probably did. But this is like when you
when you walk into a car dealership and you're like,
(20:33):
I'm not paying a penny over twenty dollars to that card, Like, sir,
the least we can give it to you for is
twenty five. I'm not paying a penny over twenty. I
know how this works. You gotta hold back. You got this,
you got that dollars, like sir, the price that we're
(20:54):
willing to pay you get offer you is twenty two
five dollars. You say no, all right, you walk out
that door, thinking they're gonna chase you down. And he
walked out and the Lakers said, Okay, we'll find somebody
will coach Lebron who will take a three year deal.
(21:14):
Frank Vogelmate went from making zero to six million, Tyron
lew went for making zero to zero. It's okay if
you think you have leverage, but everyone is replaceable. And
I don't know how many wins they lost, how much
respect they lost, if there's any players they lost, credibility
they lost. We'll just have to wait and see. And
(21:37):
I'm not somebody I'm do. I think the Lakers handled
it well. No, but they also hold the cards because
it was their job to hire and they chose to pass.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. Jim Jackson joins
(21:58):
us on the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I'm all four analytics, but but I also like kind
of a hybrid approach where you use it some and
you still value. Hey, get a guy a ball in
his spot where he feels super comfortable and the rest
of the team can relax. Isn't that kind of what
the playoffs have told us, well, I mean yeah, because
(22:18):
if you think about with the Portland's game, it was
c J McCallum. Down the stretch of the game, they
weren't three point shots, Doug, as you as you know,
he got to a spot on the court where those
to the free throw line extended to the free throw
line where he got to the basket. And while the
other team missed by gold, stay you miss. Okay, we
may not get it three, but we'll get six eight
(22:40):
points of two point baskets and and that's the difference.
And that's how you win basketball games in the Cup.
You know, fourth quarter when the defense is tight and
you know the offense needs to figure out ways and
manufacture some easy baskets. Doug Gottlive Show with Jim Jackson
(23:01):
Jim Jackson's young son in the background, also adding his
own commentary to this. Is he agreeing with you or
disagree with you? He's not. He's in the back right now,
like he's on his own thing right now on the
he's on the I nanny um. Okay. Have you ever
seen a ball hit the front rim twice, back room
twice and then go in Yeah, I have, but not
(23:23):
in that situation and that degree of difficulty. Um, think
about that shot. Now, as a right handed player, going
to your right, you have to basically turn and square
your whole body and shoulders to get it, especially at
that angle in the corner. It's much easier going to
his left to shoot that. So the degree of difficulty
(23:44):
was just and and at the angle. When we were
watching the game, I said, there's no way there's going in,
you know, and and it and it went in. But
I mean this, it capped off. I think, what what
was a great series for for Toronto, tough one for Philly,
but never see the like that in the cut situation.
What do you think happens in Philadelphia? Or what should
happen in Philadelphia? They gotta well, they gotta valuate a
(24:08):
couple of things. One, I think you need to demand
with Joel Embi that he comes in better shape from
the beginning of the season. I think he's carrying a
little bit too much weight. Hint it asked to some injuries.
His eating habits have to change because he's he's so
dominant when he's in there. I don't think he's completely
committed to being in the best shape when he can
do that I think he's just it takes his game
(24:29):
to another level. You gotta figure out what you want
to do with Ben Simmons and what I mean by
that in late game situations he clugged up the lane
because they put him on the post a lot. You know,
they took the ball out of his hands, which partly
was due to the fact that he wasn't producing from
the outside. And dog, you what I tell people all
the time is, you know they're comparing to Magic Johnson.
(24:49):
But Magic Johnson played point guard in high school, he
played it in college, so he was natural at that position.
Then it's not a natural point guard and that comes
out into play, especially in playoff situation. You gotta figure
out what you'd do if you run play pay Jimmy Butler.
But also you can't afford I don't think the Louis
Tobias Harris or j J ready can't pay j J
(25:11):
like that. But so they have some critical decisions they
gotta make this off season Doug Goli Show on Fox
Sports Trader, that's Jimmy Jackson who's joining us. All right,
let's get to the west. Um. I mean, we saw
an absolute virtuoso by staff down the stretch. Of course,
game six, Clay showed up. What took me was afterwards,
to a man, they were all like, that was great,
(25:33):
but we need k D back. Was this recruiting or
do you think that's just the makeup of those guys
that they truly in fact respect Kevin Durant and want
him back because so many other people like, well, this
just shows how much better, how good they are without
Kevin Durant. Why do you think they reacted the way
they did because it's a genuine respect for what Katie
(25:53):
brings to the table. And keep in mind, dark this
is one game. There's a lot different when you got
to play a seven game series without Kevin Durant. So
they put basically played the game and a half because
when Katie went out, now you come back. But that
stresses the bench out a lot more on what you
can and can't do your rotations if you don't have
(26:13):
Kevin Durant. He's an excellent rebounder, his defense has improved,
he can make plays to his teammates, and of course
he can score. So I mean, let's be honest. I
mean you're gonna need Kevin Durant. I think maybe not
so much against Portland's. But if you end up playing
against Milwaukee, well, I think could could beat Toronto. You're
(26:34):
definitely gonna need Kevin Durant because Milwaukee has home court events, okay,
and you need somebody that can go get baskets just
like that in tough situation. Uh, what do you do
with your Houston bro? I mean, I think they gotta
find the balance, man of you talked about it, Doug
about the analytics part of it. They built their teams
(26:56):
so much to go out and defeat Golden State from
the fifth a co perspective, But what they didn't improve
was the mental part. I mean, I played for Mike D'Antoni.
I love him to death, but how do you not
make the adjustments during it? I always say that I
thought that even with Kevin duran out, that Golden State
will win in seven back at home, and the X
factor was that Clay and step would figure it out
(27:17):
that you have to guard them differently. But key is
who was on the bench, who was in the pilot team,
and that's Steve Kurt. Steve Kerr made the adjustment with
that one four pick and roll with Steph and Draymond.
They cleared out the strong side corner and they allowed
Draymond and make plays. You had a you know, three
on two on the backside Mike D'Antoni, and Houston never
(27:40):
made the adjustment. Okay after the first time, Okay, second time,
third time, you gotta make an adjustment, free, rotate, do something.
That's the difference in with Houston. Now, you tried everything
in regards to building the team. You gotta figure out
how you want to play. Chris Paul's could be a
year older. Okay, can you win with James hard and
(28:01):
dominating the board works in the regular season, but not
in the postseason to ultimately get to a championship game.
Um I, I agree with you in terms of Now
in fairness, they did something different every time down like right.
One time they came off and faked the screen. He
lays it in, one time, he throws it back, hits
a handoff, hits the three. One time he comes off
and goes back the other way and hits the crazy three.
(28:24):
Another time he hits Draymond, and he passed the Tigo
dollar to Clay time like it wasn't like it was
was the same. It was the same set, but they
used every different option from it. Well, but here's the
thing though, because they jumped Draymond, I mean they dumped
Clay each time. Okay, that one time when Chris Paul
turned his head, it's because he jumped out. Okay, Steph
(28:46):
went away from it. But also because the post player
kind of stepped out, it gave enough room. So yeah,
there were different options off of it. But how Houston
chose to guard it is what I'm talking about. You
have to change that look up a little bit, even
if you come back to it, you have to change
it up to make the offense. I'm comfortable if not,
(29:07):
Steph and Draymond knew exactly what and what they want
to do. You played enough to know with a teammate
you can give a little signal, little eye contact. Okay,
instead of me coming off, I'm gonna go to I'm
gonna say to the corner this time since the stream
and now you slip early. You know, if you can
communicate without really saying it. And that's what I'm saying.
They were so comfortable that they can pretty much do
(29:28):
what they wanted on that side of the cord. On
that play. Katie's not gonna play Game one does Portland.
Does Portland have enough to win this series? I don't
know if they have enough shot makers? Um, I mean,
I love I mean c J. Mcconum and Damon are
just bro I mean and and I love their business
approach to the playoffs this year that you know their demeanor.
(29:51):
After what happened last year, I've grown to really respect
more and more those guys. You can Evan Turner step up,
can heartless be a guy you can against Golden State?
You can count on for six games? Seven games? Um,
that's the question with this Portland's team. And plus actually
it works better for Golden State because Portland wants to
get up and down the court more so than less
(30:13):
than what Denver want to do have court wise, So
I think it plays into the mindset in the game
of what um Golden State wants to do. But it
could be easily I mean a four two series, depending
on what happens with Katie Milwaukee and Toronto. Obviously everyone's
gonna point out KAUAI versus k D versus versus Janice.
(30:33):
But as we've seen, you know, usually stars end up
crossing each other out who then becomes the X factors?
Well for both teams. You know Keith Middleton, Well, Middleton
has always been you know, it's the second best player
there production wise for Milwaukee. And then you know Pascal Siakam,
he he hasn't He didn't play well the last series.
(30:55):
Can he kind of go back to what we saw
that first season, I mean the first playoff UH series
and also what we saw during the course of the year.
Because you're right, Doug, I mean, your honest is gonna
get hit, Kauai is gonna get hit. Who else is
gonna be able? I think Eric Bletsoe is going to
be a key factor. I mean, does it is it
now for Kyle Lawry and the champion in the in
(31:16):
the Eastern Conference finals to be more consistent and what
he does, it's always those role players. I think Malcolm
brog been coming back defensively, offensively, leadership, what he does.
Those are the guys I think that are gonna play
a key role. And as you know, Duck in Toronto
muster up enough of the savvy to go into Milwaukee
(31:38):
and get a game. It's gonna be the key. Ye
what do you think of what the Lakers have done
with Frank Vogel. Here here's my thing, Doug. I didn't
like what they did to ty Loo. I offered him
a three year deal, which is the last three years
of le Bronze tenure, of course, unless he choose to
do something else. I didn't like how they tried to
dictate who was going to be on the coaching staff. Okay,
(32:01):
but you have said you come back and you give
vogue of this now. I just I'm trying to get
my arms wrapped around what direction the Lakers want to go.
And it's been off kilter ever since, you know, Dr
Jerry Buss passed away. Everything they've done it seemed to
go opposite of what he put in place for that franchise.
(32:22):
It's almost like, you know, the rich kid, the father.
I want to do something totally different, and that's what
we see. And as a result, the Lakers have not been,
you know, formidable powerhouse that we saw in the past. Man,
I'm a little confused with the power struggle, but a
lot of it with Plinka is it's the power struggle
(32:43):
within it, man. You know, and Pelinka has his own
issues from being a former agent that a lot of
people didn't really have a good feel for. Now he's
the general manager, which plays a role as well. Does
it ultimately work anyway? Doug, I would love to say it.
You know, your Laker Land. It's a lot easier to
turn the Lakers around than it is UM. You know,
(33:06):
some other teams that are may have a little discomfort
going on. UM, but its leadership, as you know, is
in consistent leadership, the consistent word, the consistent message when
you don't have that talent is one thing, but the
trickle down effect of your management upstairs is not as
(33:26):
joined in and not as concise and consistent, is gonna
end up affecting your product. And that's what we're saying
with the Lakers are okay? Uh? John bee Line leaves
Michigan to coach in the NBA. He nearly left Michigan
last year. Now he does it. You obviously played in
the Big Ten, cover b Line a bunch covering the
Big Ten. Everybody raised about him as a human being
(33:49):
and as a basketball coach. But how does it work
in the NBA. Well, and you know, in college, you're
the parental figure. You can basically run and control what
you want with these young men in college. Okay, you're
the first and last word. If something happens. College coaches
can get rid of you, they can do That's not
(34:10):
what happens in the league. And I'm just trying to
figure out the direction. And you know, the whole thing
about Cleveland Cavs is like you want to estavage the culture,
a new culture. Okay. I tend to think that could
be done with a younger coach that understands the culture
of the guys there, not that be Line doesn't. I
think it's a tough ask at sixty six years old
as your first NBA job to come in. But what
(34:34):
they love about bee Line was his discipline, his ability
to communicate with young men, his ability to um, I think,
improve upon the mental aspects of the game. But again,
these are eight ar olds. When you come into college,
it's a lot different when you come into the pro.
So it's interesting to me. I love John Biline. I
(34:55):
just don't know if that was the right move for
the future. Is that you know? I just don't. Yeah,
it's a it's a weird one. It's a really really
weird one. What did you when you first saw what
did you think? I didn't the I I thought, honestly,
I thought the Lakers would consider Chowski is oh self
(35:16):
be line right. The only part, the part about the
bee line thing that I do like, uh, play wise,
he's always he's always been a guy that's that's opened
up the floor and that's obviously the way of the
future in the NBA. His from Kevin Pittsnogle on down.
He's you know, Moe Wagner letting his big guy shoot
and creating mismatches with his offense. And and he has
(35:37):
changed some recently as well. He hasn't he's gone away
from his his old structure. But the other part is, yes,
he's a disciplined guy, but he also he he doesn't
brow beat you, right, Like the reason the classic college
coach wouldn't work was they would m f you up
and down and they would, you know, knock you down
then build you back up. That's not He's discipline oriented,
but he's not the classic disc venerian that has to
(36:01):
curse you and make you feel lower than a human being.
And it is a young team, but it's definitely an
odd high. It's not one that I thought I saw
coming with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Well, what just goes back
to relationships too, right, I mean, I mean his relationships
with the front office allowed him to be able to
take a look at it. You can't be mad at
John being I looked sixty six years old. He's pretty
(36:22):
much done everything at Michigan except win a championship. This
is a chance for him the backside of his career
to maybe do something he always wanted to do, which
is so has having to range curiously about, you know,
coaching in the NBA and what what does he have
to loose if they approached him about it, What does
John had to loose get a bigger payday? Okay, we
(36:45):
all know the NBA things in turn, you know, next year,
but he said he could always go back to college
if he wants to. So, I mean, for him, it's
a great lateral move. I'm just thinking for the calves
and what they're trying to do doesn't make sense. No, yeah,
well yeah, we will definitely definitely see great stuff. Man.
Really appreciate it. Enjoy the playoffs and your little man,
(37:07):
thanks for joining us. Thanks Doug, you appreciate your brother
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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