May 27, 2019 • 37 mins
Jonas Knox and Dan Beyer, in for Doug Gottlieb, wonder if the NBA Finals match-up between the Warriors and Raptors is worth watching. The guys discuss the latest twist in the Kawhi Leonard leg injury story. Raptors play by play announcer Paul Jones joins the show to share his thoughts on the team making it to their first NBA Finals and what Kawhi Leonard means to Toronto and Canada. Plus, the guys debut the brand new game sweeping the nation- “Stamos or Ramos?”
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Episode Transcript
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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.
Now we've got Warriors Raptors. This is a final that
I know the American TV executives, at least the ones
at ABC, we're not hoping for considering them not gonna
get any ratings for what is happening in the Canadian
television So now you only have one American market. But
(00:44):
now you've got a team in the Golden State Warriors
that's making it to its fifth straight final and a
Toronto Raptors team that has been a nice story but
doesn't necessarily carry the momentum of a marquee team as
opposed to maybe a a big market team or a
popular team in the NBAS Eastern Conference like the Celtics
Sword nixt Would you like to hear Twitter on radio
(01:06):
real quick, Dan, Yeah, let's do it. The w NBA
finals said nobody cares about our finals, and the NBA said,
hold my beer, Yeah, hold my beer bags. That what
what a tired, tired joke on Twitter. But look it is, Uh,
(01:27):
You've got the Golden State Warriors and you've got a
guy who doesn't talk. It's I'm sorry, that's what it is.
It's very super Bowl esque to me, where you had
a Super Bowl with the Patriots and Rams that just
did not gather a lot of buzz. The Rams come
onto the scene and you're thinking, Wow, amazing offense going
up against the Patriots team that seems to be in
(01:48):
the Super Bowl every single year and we're making their
third straight appearance, and people are just kind of ye.
And if Kevin Durant was actually in this series, I
think we would be even more blah about it. In fact,
it's his injury that makes this actually intriguing. And if
you want to take the whole the run, the whole
gamut of it, Kawai's decision after the NBA Finals maybe
(02:11):
more intriguing than what we get over the two weeks
of these finals. I totally agree. The best thing if
interest wise is if Kevin Durant doesn't play in the series,
because you still got that sitting on the back burner,
that's still a conversation afterwards. You know, he's going to
be doing whatever he can do to try and get
back in this series because he doesn't want that picture
painted without him, because he knows and he cares about
(02:32):
his legacy. Um, I don't know if you know. That's
not Kevin Durant sensitive kind of here's here's a lot
of things, and so I totally agree without him it
makes a series more interesting. I also think the Warriors,
like it's one thing to be hateable. You know, if
if you're a team and you win a championship or
two championships, you're hateable, people dislike you. I get all that,
(02:53):
But then sometimes you go and you are so good
for so long that even the people who hate you
get tired of hating and they just start to appreciate you.
And I think that's where people are at with the Warriors.
They're starting to appreciate them more. And when you appreciate
something more, you don't really have the I gotta see
him lose mentality, and I just think there's there's a
lack of something going into this final. I think them
(03:15):
losing is as a reason, like when they lost in
twenty because I always just go back to the Bulls
run in the mid nineties of the ratings got better
and better when they just kept on winning and winning.
Like we've seen the Patriots lose, We've seen the Warriors lose.
So the the unbeatable nature is not there. It's like
I don't know wrestling term when Goldberg was unbeaten, Like
(03:36):
you're like, all right, I'm just gonna keep on watching.
And then once that undefeated streak is done, you don't
see it. And since the Warriors have already lost in
a series like that, greatness to me is all right,
we've seen that, just like we've seen Tom Brady loses
a Super Bowl. I also think you know my thoughts
on on recognizing greatness, like I hate I hate it
(03:59):
when people are just like, hey, hats off to you,
Hey Steph Curry, tip of the cap to you, Like
I can't, Like, that's not what being a fan is about.
Don't hate congratulate, don't hate congrat I hated the Bulls
in all of their six NBA titles. At number six,
I didn't stand up in my college apartment saying good
(04:19):
on your Jordan's This one's for you kid, Like, no,
I was like, stupid Bulls one again. You couldn't get
it done, Karl Malone, what is your problem? Like, that's
what looking back at the Bulls like, Wow, the was
one heck of a run. Like that's what the past
is for. That's what the future is for. When you
look back at what happened. You don't do it now
on Twitter and say sometimes you just gotta tip your
cap to Steve Kerr. No, you don't do that. I
(04:41):
remember my your hate on the hating the Bulls in
the nineties. My youth basketball team. Okay, because you you
decide your team name based on what colors you're given.
The league gives you out these colors, we got red
and black. And to the death, I was demanding because
I disliked the Bulls so much, let's be the Celtics,
Like why the Sonics, SuperSonics, any like anybody into that?
(05:05):
And then and then I then I realized it's red
and black. There's just not really a whole lot of
options here. So yeah, I get the Bulls. Had there
was a hateable aspect of the Bulls beat the like
Mike commercial, which to this day is one of the
worst commercials I've ever seen in my life. The songs
nauseating that that got to be a bit much. I
just there's like, is there a bad guy outside of
(05:26):
Draymond Green, who's who's questionable but he's just he's a
hard player. Is there a bad guy in the series? Like,
is there a bad guy in the series? The Bulls
at Rodman towards the end and you can then go, Okay,
what I mean, is there a bad guy in the series.
I don't think that there is outside of San Antonio
in Kauai, like like that city he's cheering, Like like,
(05:47):
if you're at San Antonio, what eight you know what?
You gotta cheer for the Warriors or you gotta cheer
for Kauai, Like how awful is this NBA Finals for them?
But yeah, to your point, I mean, Norman Powell comes
out of nowhere, it ends up becoming a key player.
You got a nice story there, Fred van Fleet's new dad.
You're like, oh, that's so great. I think Kyle Lowry,
(06:09):
all we did is just Tara part Kyle Lowry. That's
all we've really basically done since he signed his long
term deal with the Raptors of being like, all right,
is really worth it? Even Derosen was better than Kyle Lowry.
So there's like that sort of factor Marcusol finally gets
to a final. There's there's not that, there's not that
ankst that Drake's the one that you probably hate the most,
(06:29):
I would say, and he's not even a member of
the of the team. Like, if you're going to dislike
someone in the series, that's probably Drake sitting on the sidelines. Yeah,
it's um, But again, this just goes back to my
whole point in the NBA All Series. All season long,
it's been less about the season and less about this
series and more about the storylines that are attached to
what happens, if what happens, if this like what happens,
(06:52):
and and if if Kevin Durant doesn't come back, we
know what the conversation is going to be, Like if
Golden State wins the series, and then if I Leonard
and the Raptors win this, you know he's gone. He's
not sticking around. He won his title, he did his job.
So I just think there's a lot of this predicated
on on a bunch of ifs with this series, and
because of that, it's hard to really get excited for.
(07:13):
And plus the finals aren't starting for like another three months,
right September. It is three days. Like I think Toronto
has to win game one. But if the Warriors go
into Toronto and win, it will zapp like even the
energy that is there. I think it zaps it even
more so because you think there they go, because they
(07:34):
haven't lost since Durant went out with his injury. But
here's here's the one thing Toronto does really and I
don't know if people know this or not, but Toronto
is known for three things Dan the Blue Jays, Tim
Horton's and losing Game one's of NBA series like that,
that is that is what Toronto is known for. So
if the Golden State wins this, wins Game one, this
(07:57):
is just gonna be familiar feeling because they feel it
all the time. It's a this is a team that
lost to Orlando. Remember when Orlando was in the playoffs.
Unbelievable man. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug Dot Leap Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
So it is the Raptors and Warriors in the NBA Finals.
(08:18):
But news came out within the last twenty four hours
about Kauai Leonard and it's not new news, but it's
maybe just more news than we had about an old story.
And it always it all goes back to the quad
injury that Kauai Leonard had when he was a member
of the San Antonio Spurs, which was the main point
of contention between Kauai's camp and the Spurs organization, which
(08:40):
ended up having Kauai leave the organization when he was
traded to the Toronto Raptors. His uncle Dennis Robertson spoke
with Chris Haines, friend of the network here from the
Yahoo Sports in saying and talking about the experience of
going to the NBA Finals and and being excited. The
issue though, came back to the quad injury that he
had in San Antonio, and Robertson said this to Yahoo's Sports.
(09:04):
I think it just became a lack of trust. They
didn't believe Kauai couldn't play, and that caused a lack
of trust in us, and then us not believing in them.
Anytime a player says he's not capable of playing, you
should believe him. Why would Kauai just stop playing all
of a sudden, He's a competitor. Went on and on
and saying that the because the Spurs didn't believe him,
the relationship couldn't recover, and the Kauai camp just decided
(09:27):
to move on. So this story is now popped up again,
which was a little surprising. We talked with Ricambla earlier,
Jonas because I had kind of thought, for as much
of the load management that he had during the season,
because this run has been so good, and because Kauai
has been so good, and because he seemingly also playing
through a leg injury, that maybe this stuff was in
the past. I was surprised that this was brought up
(09:49):
now by his uncle on the eve of the NBA Finals.
We only got the Spurs side of it while it
was happening. We heard from his uncle a little bit,
but Kaui never really spoke on it because he doesn't
really speak on anything, and so we only got the
Spurs side of it at the time, and all we
got was Popovitch. All we got was Tony Parker taking
shots at him former teammates. But look, I can remember
(10:10):
Stephen Jackson, who was a teammate and and knows all
those guys who was on Fox Sports Radio saying, look,
don't doubt Kauai, like this isn't just you know, the
Spurs have done him wrong. The Spurs have done him wrong.
And you and I were on the same page to
where I thought, hold on a second, everybody's siding with people.
They're siding with Kawahi Leonard. When of the Spurs ever
(10:30):
just blatantly screwed something up. It's a well run organization,
class personified. Why would they all of a sudden do this.
And now the more you you find out about it,
and the more that stuff starts to come out after
the fact, you realize, look, this was this was heavy
on the side of the San Antonio Spurs, and it
now starts to make a little more sense as to
why Kauai and his family felt like the bridge was burned.
Earlier on the show, we were joined by Rick Campbell
(10:51):
of NBA TV. He told us this bit of information
that may be intriguing to those who haven't heard it before.
That's always like with the with the San Antonio camp
with this with the great Popovitch camp until I got
some into a couple of months ago from a Hall
of famer who and so he said, the san Antonio
Spurs misdiagnosed to the injury to Kauai Leonard. And I said,
(11:15):
you're wrong. There's no way that happened. There's just no
possible way of first class organization like san Antonio would
do that. He grabbed me by the shoulders, not violently,
but just to it looked right in the eye. He said,
I'm not lying. I got it straight from the from
the Leonard camp. I believe it. And and this this
Hall of Famer was so convinced him, like damn, maybe
(11:37):
they did misdiagnoses like that. That was surprising to me
because to your point of everything that the Spurs seemed
to do always seemed to be the right way, and
I just thought it was Kauai was was angry about
something and then just ended up being stubborn. Now you
hear his uncle say what he did say, and it
(11:57):
seemed to just break the trust immediately. And so once
you once you've crossed that bridge, there was no way
of going back. And then it was mentioned in the
Chris Haynes article as well that the only leaks that
seem to be coming out were from the Spurs side.
You mentioned that the players also speaking out as well. Yeah,
it's hearing this side of things now and having Kauai
(12:19):
tell the story. I agree with Rick who went on
to say it's the perfect time for them to tell
the story because right now all is good with Kauai
and really the Spurs don't have any platform to say anything.
So I whatever happened is in the past. I was
surprised that it has come up, but I'm now even
more surprised that this seemed to be more of a
San Antonio Spurs thing uh than we had originally. It's
(12:39):
gotta be a helpless feeling. Um. You you tend to
go towards the things that you're good at in life. Um.
If you're good at something, you tend to do it more.
You're good with your words, Thus you're in radio, Dan,
you're good at broadcasting. Thus you're still working at Fox
Sports Radio. Kawhi. Leonard doesn't talk because he's probably not
the best communicator. Maybe he's not the best of his words.
Maybe he feels uncomfortable. Imagine how helpless he must feel
(13:02):
when the only way he can defend himself publicly is
by using his words, and he can't because he's not
good at it, and he's got his team that he
thinks drafted or traded form on draft day loves him,
is spinning a different narrative about him that's not true,
and he can't defend it because it's just not his
thing to go back and forth verbally. So the only
thing he can do is say, I guess I just
(13:24):
got to get out of here, like this just isn't
working for me. I feel I feel bad for the
guy in this regard. He's not a communicator, not a
guy who likes to communicate a lot. He doesn't like
going to the media with certain things. He does bust
his ask. There was zero drama with him off the
court or anything in San Antonio. The only drama that
was ever brought up about him was whether or not
(13:45):
he was dogging an injury. And if you're an athlete
and someone tells you that you're being fake about an injury,
that's gotta be frustrating. Man. I I get I now
sort of have a different perspective on it, and I
get why they feel the way that they do. He
was also put in a tough spot for a couple
of reasons. We talked about it earlier, but I just
remember the ankle injury in Game one of the Western
(14:05):
Conference Finals. He goes out after landing on Zaz, opportunity
in the series is over with, and you're saying, wow,
what could have been? Because they were up twenty five
points in that game. When you look at the injury,
I was like, Okay, when did the quad injury happen?
But the other points that were against him were not
only were Tony Parker Tony Parker dealing with a similar
injury that now you had one to compare to, you
(14:27):
have Tony Parker and Monta Genoble in the sunset of
their careers. So that season that he misses is a
big deal to them because that's it, Like it ended
up being Parker's last season in San Antonio, Genobley's last
season period. So when you see that happening and you
see a guy who is like Monta genob Blue has
been with the organization, and it's like, all right, I'm
(14:48):
gonna give it one more go, and this is gonna
be my season and all of a sudden, the star
player that you think is going to be there is
looking out for himself. Yeah, as a player, you can relate,
but you're also was saying I just went all in.
So like those circumstances were against Kauai Letard as well,
because there are very few teams that have veteran leadership
(15:10):
that is more powerful than the star player. San Antonio
is one of the only few places where because Genoble
and Parker had the hardware they I mean, they want
titles before Kauai was there. So you look at that
situation as well as now those guys are coming over
the top because usually the star players the one who
gets the words. In that situation, for Kauai, it wasn't
beneficial in San Antonio. That made the situation even more difficult.
(15:32):
And I think a lot of people look at what
happened with Isaiah Thomas and Boston and they go, there's
a guy who did play through an injury that they
probably shouldn't have, and look what happened to his career.
I mean, so, so maybe Kauai and his people were like, listen,
we don't why why run the risk? We know something's wrong,
And and you're telling us that we can come back
and play, and then you're going publicly and speaking about it.
(15:52):
I'd love to know, and and and when it happened.
I thought maybe a little bit of it. But I'd
love to know if them deciding to move on from
Tony Parker was their last ditch effort to tell Kauai, Hey,
no more drama here anymore. Uh, look, you know he's gone.
What do you say you want to try this again?
I'd I'd love to know how the final days in
(16:12):
San Antonio went. Was it just no communication whatsoever? Was
there no effort to keep him around? I thought that
they had me. Didn't he and Popovitch meet? I thought
at some point where then he also reiterated his desire
to to end up leaving after the season ended. I
thought that there there was a meeting I could be
or they tried to meet up or something like that.
I thought there was San Diego or something like that.
(16:33):
I thought there was at least some communication that that
said as much. But but then once you're once you're burned,
or once you feel that way, Yeah, it's tough to
it's tough to trust again. But I think that the
the situation was awkward, and I find it interesting now
because I know that they want to get out their
story and and maybe it's working because you and I
(16:54):
were on the Spur side of things, and now we
hear a little bit more and more, and we're hearing
from different sources. But I have forgotten about all of that.
I was more concerned about Kauai's free agency than of
him leaving San Antonio. That was in the past. This
is kind of bringing up the old relationship again. Um
is there? Here's And I was thinking about this over
the weekend. When you just think about Kawhi Leonard and
(17:15):
what he is, He's a perfect San Antonio Spur like perfect,
Like they're gonna look back on this and at some point,
whether they want to do it publicly or whether local
shows are doing it in San Antonio or fans are
doing it, they're gonna look back on this and go,
how do we screw that up? Like? Like, he's a
perfect Like when you see a wide receiver in the
draft who's five eight and white, what do you say
(17:36):
that guy is gonna be a patriot? You know, when
you when you see a European uh be drafted in
the NBA, what are you assuming, all right, well, he's
probably gonna be a member of the Utah Jazz within
the next three years. Like there's certain things that just
sort of match and and make sense. Kawhi Leonard is
a Spur. He's a perfect Spur. He doesn't talk, he's
not about it. It's not it's not his thing. He
(17:57):
doesn't like the communicating all the other stuff to go
along with it. And somehow the San Antonio Spurs, who
have who are as well run of an organization as
you can find in sports, butchered this allegedly according to
a Quai side. And now they're they're sitting back and
they're watching him in the finals, and the Spurs getting
getting zero credit, near zero credit for the development of
(18:19):
him as a player to become the type of player
that now some are considering the best in the NBA.
But who do you think feels worse right now, DeMar
de Rosen or George Hill. It's it's Derosian, Like, I
I have no idea who in the world DeMar Derosen
wants to win this NBA finals because George Hill was
traded for Kawhi Leonard. And then I was thinking about
(18:40):
that when the Bucks were playing the Rafters, like, man,
this is gonna be the George Hill Revenge series and
then after two games it was showed up. He did
he at least been in the finals, so so he
had finals appearances with with the Calves, Like DeMar derosen is,
you can't win, like you can't shake that anymore. Like
a guy you know, you broke up with his girlfriend
(19:03):
and all of a sudden, now she's dating Prince Harry. Well,
I guess married the prince and they always say that
Megan Markle's ax like, yeah, good luck doing better than me.
Uh well, look, Prince Harry. That's where DeMar de Rosen
is right now. Why why doesn't Larry Bird get any
heat for trading Kawahi Leonard on draft Day? What the
eighth I will say this, if you traded Kawai to
(19:27):
any of the other twenty eight teams in the league,
or if he stayed in Indiana, I don't think he's
the player that he is now. Like so I know,
I'm not answering your question. What's George Joe was somewhat decent,
but at the time, at the time, like I remember
kawaiet San Diego State, they played in the regional down
in Anaheim in Tleven. And in that series you had
(19:47):
you had Kyrie Irving played for Duke. You had Kemba
Walker played for Yukon. You had Derrick Williams who ended
up being the number two of her all pick playing
in Arizona. You also had Jeremy Lamb was a freshman
at Yukon. Kyrie was good for San Diego State. But
like those were the names that you were talking about there,
so even the thought of him, even though he was
a mid first round pick, how did think anybody thought?
(20:10):
You know, you would get this? And and I tipped
the spurs, tip of the cap to the Spurs for
developing Kauai. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug dot Leap Show week days at noon Eastern three
pm Pacific. The Raptors have been getting stuff done in
the Eastern Conference playoffs and now they find themselves in
the NBA Finals. Joining us now He's the Raptors. Radio
play by play man Paul Jones joins us here on
(20:32):
Fox Sports Radio. Hey Paul, thanks so much for coming on.
I know it's a busy time, but we appreciate it.
Uh and and I can tell you guys are skilled
right away. Because if I had a dollar for every
time somebody missed up, Paul Jones joins, us I did.
Actually I could know you didn't. You didn't. I was listening.
I was listening. I always listened to that in Let's see,
(20:52):
Let's see this is you know, is this one gonna
be Is this one going to be ruined or is it?
Is it going to be a clean in? And it's
pretty clean in it as a play by play guy,
is there a name that just is tough for you?
I mean, we know Antenna Kumpo is not easy for anyone,
but was there like a like a simple name that
had like double consonant said that has been difficult for
(21:14):
you in your history? Um no, because I mean, like
having played a little bit myself and and with a
brother that's on the other network. He says, you've got
to nail the names like it's it's like a figure
skater man when you come to that triple axle, like you,
if you're wavering at all, the judges are going to
take points off. So um but like Antenna Kumpo, um uh,
(21:39):
you know, we get a lot of international players and
and and the one that the one that I kind
of take pride in when everybody was called or calling
him Verision. We had a Brazilian guy on our team,
Hafe Arugo, and Halfa said they're saying his name wrong.
I said, well, how do you say his name? He said,
it's not Verisian, it's Bargeo. I'm like, are you sure.
(22:00):
He's like yeah. I said, okay, Well, so when we
play Cleveland, I'm gonna say Barragelle and I won't get
laughed at he goes, not by the people in Brazil.
But no, you won't very very good. Paul joins radio.
Voice of the Toronto Raptors joins us here on Fox
Sports Radio. Paul, who'd you think about former Raptor that
you thought about first when the clock was winding down
and you finally got to the finals? I thought about
(22:23):
two of them. I thought about DeMar Derozen because he
had he he wanted to be in Toronto. He had
given everything to this city, and when other free agents
took the money once and then left, he took the
money twice. In the second time, he took less money
than he could have. He took less than a max
(22:43):
deal to stay here and when the Colangelo regime drafted
him here, they said, oh, you know, we got this
great kid from usc and you know, we're going to
make him an All Star and you kind of you
kind of roll your eyes and go, yeah, everybody says
that about their first round pick. And every summer a
guy comes back fifty pounds heavier, stronger, with a better
jump shot, like yeah, yeah, yeah, right right right, And
(23:05):
they did well. I mean, we watched the kid grow
up here in nine years and become an All Star.
And he said, I was here for twenty two and sixty.
I was here for the losing. I want to be
here for the winning. And he had under Dwayne Casey
had you know, five winning seasons and he was one
of the guys. And you know, Dwayne Casey was another guy.
And Jonas Valanciunas was probably the third um big Lithuanian
(23:29):
community here in Toronto, and u j V was He
was great in the community. I mean he's he's the
kind of kid that the the training staff, the strength
and conditioning coaches would say before the game, Okay, can
you stop shaking everybody's hand and playing like the freaking
mayor of Toronto and kept warming up. So those were
(23:51):
the three that probably came to mind. Um. But at
the same time, all the people that that really were
disheartened by the trade and didn't really know Kauai Leonard
as a basketball player. Uh, and we're complaining about load management.
And I was saying, so, how's that game working against
you know, the Atlanta Hawks on a Wednesday night in
(24:12):
February that Kauai mrs in Europe set like, do you
see why they're doing that? Now? Do you get it now?
And for all those people that that really didn't like
the trade, and and for for all the right personal reasons, guys,
all the right personal reasons. A guy that love Toronto,
wanted to be here, was trumpeting the cause, took less money. Um,
(24:32):
you know, had was great in the community tomorrow with
with with the kids, and he ran he ran a camp,
um you know, at an area that was one of
the most impoverished areas in North America. Like that, Like
that kind of stuff pulls it heartstrings and people were
sad to see him go. But now they're in the finals.
I think they're they're okay with that. Paul Jones joins
(24:55):
us here on Fox Sports Radio. He's Jonas knocks. I'm
Dan Buyer sitting in for Doug Gotlieb. How did the
Raptors carve out their place in the Toronto sports landscape?
Here are the states. We we obviously know about the
blue Jay success, but that was twenty five years ago.
We remember the couple of World Series. It was a
long time ago. And I think there's a there's just
the thought of it's just a maple leafs town and
(25:16):
that's what it is. How do how do the Raptors
make their place in that landscape? It is? It is,
It is still a maple leafs town. But basketball is
on the rise. And people laughed at me in two
thousand when I said that one day might not be
in my lifetime, basketball is gonna be bigger than hockey.
They thought that they were gonna they were gonna string
me up and stone me like that sacrilege. And I
(25:38):
mean that the multicultural nature of Toronto, um, and all
the different you know, the different nationalities and ethnic groups here. Um.
You know, Toronto's world class and they love their basketball.
And what's happened is the team playing well combined with um,
that that demographic that that you know, that that urban
(26:01):
representation that that you know, national different nationalities and their
representation throughout the Raptors fan base has helped people say, wow,
this is pretty good. And here's my analogy. Guys, if
you weren't a golf fan in like nine seven or
but you were kind of a sports fan or just
following the world in general, you'd probably say, who is
(26:24):
this guy Tiger Woods. He's turning the place on its ear.
Maybe I should pay attention. And that's what's happening in
Toronto now. The casual fan and you guys said it
the same way that Blue Jays did back in you know,
from seven to about ninety three, the same way the
Blue Jays did. By winning, people are starting to get
on board and say, hey, you know what everybody's talking
(26:45):
about this at the water cooler at work. I might
want to know what's going on here. I better watch
a game. And then you watch a game and you
get hooked, and you know, the the hook gets in
your mouth and you're you're never leaving the NBA. He
is Paul Jones, the voice of the Toronto Actors with
us here on Fox Sports Radio. Damn Buyer Jonas Knox
in for Doug Gottlieb, what's the feeling there in Toronto
(27:06):
about the likelihood of Kauai sticking around after this season.
It's it's just getting stronger and stronger, and and uh,
you know, Kauai is a he comes across and he
and he is a kind of a an old school
The guy just wants to hoop. He wants the ball.
He doesn't he doesn't necessarily want or crave the spotlight.
(27:29):
He just and and I'll tell you this, as Canadians,
people leave him alone. I mean, you know, it's not
like they're not going to see him out in the
street and ask for an autograph or a picture or whatever.
But he's not going to be constantly accosted. And I
think he can, you know, in a relative sense, have
his privacy up here. And he's got a whole country
(27:50):
behind him. There are people in the far reaches of
this country that now have become basketball fans and are
watching Kawhi Leonard and when and when he was traded
here and those of us in the know from the
basketball world kind of fainted with our jaws open, saying,
oh my god, they got a top three player in
the league. People some people have no idea and as
I said before, now they get it. And and everybody.
(28:13):
I mean there's guys they have promotions on up here
in Canada, things called kaw wine and Dine, where he's
he's being offered three food to to any restaurant. They
there's one guy that's ready to give him like a
penthouse apartment. Like it's it's it's gone crazy now that
people have seen how good he is and what he
(28:33):
means to a team. Um, you know, everybody's I mean,
I had one guy on Twitter say, we've got a
local department store here at the Bay. It's akin to
a you know, a J. C. Penny or you know
Neiman Markert, some you know, big department store in the US.
Some guy went in and said, I saw Kauai. He
was buying something at the Bay and he got a
rewards card. You know, like they're just looking for anything
(28:56):
that says that says he's gonna stay. And the one
I replied on Twitter, We'll tell him it takes a
long time to get points, but I'll give him all
my points. Uh sticking around for that fent discounts or
that free gift on your birthday first of all, or
I should wrap up with this. I think of the
first guest Paul, is that a double underscore in the
Twitter handle? When you have a name like Paul Jones,
(29:19):
you got it. Yeah, you can't be Paul Jones one two,
So this makes it a lot easier. Paul double underscore Jones,
Raptors play by play voice, Thanks so much of the time. Okay,
congratulations to you. It should be fun on Thursday and
through the NBA Finals. I know it's broadcasters. It's always
(29:39):
neat when you get this opportunity. So I know you
weren't on the court, but congratulations and have the call
of your life these next couple of weeks. I'm going
to tell you I called the very first game when
the Raptor busted out of the egg November Eddie Paintney
Jump Center for Toronto against New Jersey Nets. So I've
(30:00):
been here a long time. I've been here a long time.
It's it's nice to be it's nice to still be dancing.
In June. I forgot the Raptor came out of the egg.
I forgot about that. Oh that's awesome. I forgot about
right and Ed Pinckney. I remember Ed Pinkney. Yes, good
times and those those those throwbacks. Some point, at some point, guys,
we're gonna get together and we're going to trade stories
(30:22):
in Amanda things I can tell you. I appreciate it.
We'll do it again soon. Thanks so much, and again
I have great calls during the finals. Be sure to
catch live editions so the Doug dot Leap Show weekdays
in noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. All Right, are you
ready for for something that? The more I'm thinking about it,
(30:44):
the more I realize it's probably not the greatest idea.
I know. We're We're ready, is Isaac Lowing? Karen, Isaac?
Are you ready for this? I'm actually not ready because
I've continued to watch more of the Raptors inaugural game
video against the New Jersey Nets, and before they tip off,
they do the usual panning of celebrities in the front
row at the sky Dome, and instead of being Drake
(31:07):
in the front row, celebrities Cathy Ireland and David Hasselhof
alright from Lover Boy for a lot of more set
or come on, man, they couldn't do better than that.
By the way, John Tobak, the starting center for the Raptors,
and center was spelled c E N t R E
(31:30):
on the TV graphics. Nice. At least they didn't put
left wing Elvin robertson. Can we get Tobak to the
segment here? Let's do it all right? Here? It is
Stamos are Ramos. Basically, you're just throwing up things to
Isaac and he's got to determine if it's John Stamos
(31:50):
or John Ramos or Ramos for the sake of this. Thankfully,
Ramos posts so much about his life on Facebook that
I think I have a fighting chance here. All right,
all right, you ready for this, Isaac, We'll find out,
go for it. His middle name is Philip John Ramos Ramos.
(32:10):
Mercy is John Stamos, John Stamos. John Ramos middle name
is Miles, named after Miles Turner the Indiana Pacers, m
R J m R. Remember that there. It is. When
John signs the co account that he has with Suzanne,
(32:30):
when it's his post, he'll write jams like we can't
tell who's posting one. I mean, I don't know who's
post Wait a minute. He also signs his work emails
sometimes JMR. I really should have known that. Yeah, he's
a blowhard have mercy who recently put up there Beverly
Hills mansion for sale at the price TAGA six point
seven five million dollars. Well, because it's a Beverly Hills
(32:53):
mansion and not a South Pasadena mansion, I'm gonna go
with John Stamos. Yes, that is corrects. Whatever happened to predictability? Well,
it's good to see. We've got a lot of a
lot of drops tied to John Stamos. Everything's happening is
that like three have mercies in a row, Ye in row?
There we go, all right, Isaac. Next up on Stamos
(33:15):
Ramos met his wife at a corn dog stand? Is
that Stamos Ramos? Not to get personal, but which wife?
There are three wives here? Actually, well, I don't think
we need to shame the guy's marriage. I didn't say that.
I was just trying to clarify. I'm gonna guess, you know,
(33:36):
I'm gonna guess John Ramos Ramos, that is correct? Good
at this, Isaac? Corn dogs so fast? But I couldn't
picture of Rebecca Romains strolling around at the l A
County fair at the corn dogs? All right, Ramos or
Stamos had an affair with this woman that his wife
(33:57):
still doesn't know about. No, I'm just kidding, kidding, Suzanne,
I am kidding. I am joking. I am joking. Delete
that from the podcast. The hotline ringing in thirty five seconds,
it will be uh okay Stamos or Ramos who worked
(34:17):
for his father's restaurant growing up. You know what, Oh man,
I'm actually gonna guess before he became an actor. I'm
actually gonna guess John Stamos before a general hospital. There
is a lot, a lot of thought went into the
(34:40):
dropt tied together with John Stamos here, I think it
was one twelve Pacific time. We're like, doesn't he say
have mercy? All right? We had to do it after
John's lunch it Stamos a Ramos last one for me?
Isaaci Ready, here we go. Left a co worker's funeral early. Jeez,
(35:03):
I'm gonna say I actually think I know which coworker
it was. I'm gonna say John Ramos. But he probably
had a good reason. Correct. Oh yeah, great, you had
a good reason. Softball game. That's not a good reason.
Never mind, I've got five more. No, I'm just kidding.
Who coached their soccer team to a winless season one year. Well,
(35:29):
like I said, just because he posts about it on Facebook,
I'm gonna guess John Ramos. Yes, it was Ramos. And
actually I have one more, dame Stamos Stamos or Ramos,
Isaac here we go doesn't produce his own work, Stamos
or Ramos. Uh, I'm gonna say John Ramos Ramos because
(35:55):
Stamos is like a co producer in Fuller House, isn't it. Yeah?
That is that is correct. And the John on Ramo show,
the actual John Ramos does none of it. Ramos there,
it is. Good job, Isaac. All right, thank you, and
I'll just duck in. Since the report. A few moments ago,
(36:16):
Steve Kerr went on to confirm that Kevin Durant is
out for Game one of the NBA Finals. Not not
a shock, but he just did confirm that. There it is.
That's the final word. I wouldn't even travels with your
customs and all that social media to go to Canada.
It's just a headache. Gives him more time to post
angry uh comments on social media. Oh my god, Isaac,
(36:39):
Well coming out with the ball bats today Jesus all right.
Uh Dan Buyer Jonas stock in for Doug Gottliepire on
Fox Sports Radio. We're trying to get out earlier. But
I doesn't care about the clock at all. We can
about the Fox, Isaac doesn't. 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 eye Arte Radio app search f s R to
(37:02):
listen live.
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.
Now we've got Warriors Raptors. This is a final that
I know the American TV executives, at least the ones
at ABC, we're not hoping for considering them not gonna
get any ratings for what is happening in the Canadian
television So now you only have one American market. But
(00:44):
now you've got a team in the Golden State Warriors
that's making it to its fifth straight final and a
Toronto Raptors team that has been a nice story but
doesn't necessarily carry the momentum of a marquee team as
opposed to maybe a a big market team or a
popular team in the NBAS Eastern Conference like the Celtics
Sword nixt Would you like to hear Twitter on radio
(01:06):
real quick, Dan, Yeah, let's do it. The w NBA
finals said nobody cares about our finals, and the NBA said,
hold my beer, Yeah, hold my beer bags. That what
what a tired, tired joke on Twitter. But look it is, Uh,
(01:27):
You've got the Golden State Warriors and you've got a
guy who doesn't talk. It's I'm sorry, that's what it is.
It's very super Bowl esque to me, where you had
a Super Bowl with the Patriots and Rams that just
did not gather a lot of buzz. The Rams come
onto the scene and you're thinking, Wow, amazing offense going
up against the Patriots team that seems to be in
(01:48):
the Super Bowl every single year and we're making their
third straight appearance, and people are just kind of ye.
And if Kevin Durant was actually in this series, I
think we would be even more blah about it. In fact,
it's his injury that makes this actually intriguing. And if
you want to take the whole the run, the whole
gamut of it, Kawai's decision after the NBA Finals maybe
(02:11):
more intriguing than what we get over the two weeks
of these finals. I totally agree. The best thing if
interest wise is if Kevin Durant doesn't play in the series,
because you still got that sitting on the back burner,
that's still a conversation afterwards. You know, he's going to
be doing whatever he can do to try and get
back in this series because he doesn't want that picture
painted without him, because he knows and he cares about
(02:32):
his legacy. Um, I don't know if you know. That's
not Kevin Durant sensitive kind of here's here's a lot
of things, and so I totally agree without him it
makes a series more interesting. I also think the Warriors,
like it's one thing to be hateable. You know, if
if you're a team and you win a championship or
two championships, you're hateable, people dislike you. I get all that,
(02:53):
But then sometimes you go and you are so good
for so long that even the people who hate you
get tired of hating and they just start to appreciate you.
And I think that's where people are at with the Warriors.
They're starting to appreciate them more. And when you appreciate
something more, you don't really have the I gotta see
him lose mentality, and I just think there's there's a
lack of something going into this final. I think them
(03:15):
losing is as a reason, like when they lost in
twenty because I always just go back to the Bulls
run in the mid nineties of the ratings got better
and better when they just kept on winning and winning.
Like we've seen the Patriots lose, We've seen the Warriors lose.
So the the unbeatable nature is not there. It's like
I don't know wrestling term when Goldberg was unbeaten, Like
(03:36):
you're like, all right, I'm just gonna keep on watching.
And then once that undefeated streak is done, you don't
see it. And since the Warriors have already lost in
a series like that, greatness to me is all right,
we've seen that, just like we've seen Tom Brady loses
a Super Bowl. I also think you know my thoughts
on on recognizing greatness, like I hate I hate it
(03:59):
when people are just like, hey, hats off to you,
Hey Steph Curry, tip of the cap to you, Like
I can't, Like, that's not what being a fan is about.
Don't hate congratulate, don't hate congrat I hated the Bulls
in all of their six NBA titles. At number six,
I didn't stand up in my college apartment saying good
(04:19):
on your Jordan's This one's for you kid, Like, no,
I was like, stupid Bulls one again. You couldn't get
it done, Karl Malone, what is your problem? Like, that's
what looking back at the Bulls like, Wow, the was
one heck of a run. Like that's what the past
is for. That's what the future is for. When you
look back at what happened. You don't do it now
on Twitter and say sometimes you just gotta tip your
cap to Steve Kerr. No, you don't do that. I
(04:41):
remember my your hate on the hating the Bulls in
the nineties. My youth basketball team. Okay, because you you
decide your team name based on what colors you're given.
The league gives you out these colors, we got red
and black. And to the death, I was demanding because
I disliked the Bulls so much, let's be the Celtics,
Like why the Sonics, SuperSonics, any like anybody into that?
(05:05):
And then and then I then I realized it's red
and black. There's just not really a whole lot of
options here. So yeah, I get the Bulls. Had there
was a hateable aspect of the Bulls beat the like
Mike commercial, which to this day is one of the
worst commercials I've ever seen in my life. The songs
nauseating that that got to be a bit much. I
just there's like, is there a bad guy outside of
(05:26):
Draymond Green, who's who's questionable but he's just he's a
hard player. Is there a bad guy in the series? Like,
is there a bad guy in the series? The Bulls
at Rodman towards the end and you can then go, Okay,
what I mean, is there a bad guy in the series.
I don't think that there is outside of San Antonio
in Kauai, like like that city he's cheering, Like like,
(05:47):
if you're at San Antonio, what eight you know what?
You gotta cheer for the Warriors or you gotta cheer
for Kauai, Like how awful is this NBA Finals for them?
But yeah, to your point, I mean, Norman Powell comes
out of nowhere, it ends up becoming a key player.
You got a nice story there, Fred van Fleet's new dad.
You're like, oh, that's so great. I think Kyle Lowry,
(06:09):
all we did is just Tara part Kyle Lowry. That's
all we've really basically done since he signed his long
term deal with the Raptors of being like, all right,
is really worth it? Even Derosen was better than Kyle Lowry.
So there's like that sort of factor Marcusol finally gets
to a final. There's there's not that, there's not that
ankst that Drake's the one that you probably hate the most,
(06:29):
I would say, and he's not even a member of
the of the team. Like, if you're going to dislike
someone in the series, that's probably Drake sitting on the sidelines. Yeah,
it's um, But again, this just goes back to my
whole point in the NBA All Series. All season long,
it's been less about the season and less about this
series and more about the storylines that are attached to
what happens, if what happens, if this like what happens,
(06:52):
and and if if Kevin Durant doesn't come back, we
know what the conversation is going to be, Like if
Golden State wins the series, and then if I Leonard
and the Raptors win this, you know he's gone. He's
not sticking around. He won his title, he did his job.
So I just think there's a lot of this predicated
on on a bunch of ifs with this series, and
because of that, it's hard to really get excited for.
(07:13):
And plus the finals aren't starting for like another three months,
right September. It is three days. Like I think Toronto
has to win game one. But if the Warriors go
into Toronto and win, it will zapp like even the
energy that is there. I think it zaps it even
more so because you think there they go, because they
(07:34):
haven't lost since Durant went out with his injury. But
here's here's the one thing Toronto does really and I
don't know if people know this or not, but Toronto
is known for three things Dan the Blue Jays, Tim
Horton's and losing Game one's of NBA series like that,
that is that is what Toronto is known for. So
if the Golden State wins this, wins Game one, this
(07:57):
is just gonna be familiar feeling because they feel it
all the time. It's a this is a team that
lost to Orlando. Remember when Orlando was in the playoffs.
Unbelievable man. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug Dot Leap Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
So it is the Raptors and Warriors in the NBA Finals.
(08:18):
But news came out within the last twenty four hours
about Kauai Leonard and it's not new news, but it's
maybe just more news than we had about an old story.
And it always it all goes back to the quad
injury that Kauai Leonard had when he was a member
of the San Antonio Spurs, which was the main point
of contention between Kauai's camp and the Spurs organization, which
(08:40):
ended up having Kauai leave the organization when he was
traded to the Toronto Raptors. His uncle Dennis Robertson spoke
with Chris Haines, friend of the network here from the
Yahoo Sports in saying and talking about the experience of
going to the NBA Finals and and being excited. The
issue though, came back to the quad injury that he
had in San Antonio, and Robertson said this to Yahoo's Sports.
(09:04):
I think it just became a lack of trust. They
didn't believe Kauai couldn't play, and that caused a lack
of trust in us, and then us not believing in them.
Anytime a player says he's not capable of playing, you
should believe him. Why would Kauai just stop playing all
of a sudden, He's a competitor. Went on and on
and saying that the because the Spurs didn't believe him,
the relationship couldn't recover, and the Kauai camp just decided
(09:27):
to move on. So this story is now popped up again,
which was a little surprising. We talked with Ricambla earlier,
Jonas because I had kind of thought, for as much
of the load management that he had during the season,
because this run has been so good, and because Kauai
has been so good, and because he seemingly also playing
through a leg injury, that maybe this stuff was in
the past. I was surprised that this was brought up
(09:49):
now by his uncle on the eve of the NBA Finals.
We only got the Spurs side of it while it
was happening. We heard from his uncle a little bit,
but Kaui never really spoke on it because he doesn't
really speak on anything, and so we only got the
Spurs side of it at the time, and all we
got was Popovitch. All we got was Tony Parker taking
shots at him former teammates. But look, I can remember
(10:10):
Stephen Jackson, who was a teammate and and knows all
those guys who was on Fox Sports Radio saying, look,
don't doubt Kauai, like this isn't just you know, the
Spurs have done him wrong. The Spurs have done him wrong.
And you and I were on the same page to
where I thought, hold on a second, everybody's siding with people.
They're siding with Kawahi Leonard. When of the Spurs ever
(10:30):
just blatantly screwed something up. It's a well run organization,
class personified. Why would they all of a sudden do this.
And now the more you you find out about it,
and the more that stuff starts to come out after
the fact, you realize, look, this was this was heavy
on the side of the San Antonio Spurs, and it
now starts to make a little more sense as to
why Kauai and his family felt like the bridge was burned.
Earlier on the show, we were joined by Rick Campbell
(10:51):
of NBA TV. He told us this bit of information
that may be intriguing to those who haven't heard it before.
That's always like with the with the San Antonio camp
with this with the great Popovitch camp until I got
some into a couple of months ago from a Hall
of famer who and so he said, the san Antonio
Spurs misdiagnosed to the injury to Kauai Leonard. And I said,
(11:15):
you're wrong. There's no way that happened. There's just no
possible way of first class organization like san Antonio would
do that. He grabbed me by the shoulders, not violently,
but just to it looked right in the eye. He said,
I'm not lying. I got it straight from the from
the Leonard camp. I believe it. And and this this
Hall of Famer was so convinced him, like damn, maybe
(11:37):
they did misdiagnoses like that. That was surprising to me
because to your point of everything that the Spurs seemed
to do always seemed to be the right way, and
I just thought it was Kauai was was angry about
something and then just ended up being stubborn. Now you
hear his uncle say what he did say, and it
(11:57):
seemed to just break the trust immediately. And so once
you once you've crossed that bridge, there was no way
of going back. And then it was mentioned in the
Chris Haynes article as well that the only leaks that
seem to be coming out were from the Spurs side.
You mentioned that the players also speaking out as well. Yeah,
it's hearing this side of things now and having Kauai
(12:19):
tell the story. I agree with Rick who went on
to say it's the perfect time for them to tell
the story because right now all is good with Kauai
and really the Spurs don't have any platform to say anything.
So I whatever happened is in the past. I was
surprised that it has come up, but I'm now even
more surprised that this seemed to be more of a
San Antonio Spurs thing uh than we had originally. It's
(12:39):
gotta be a helpless feeling. Um. You you tend to
go towards the things that you're good at in life. Um.
If you're good at something, you tend to do it more.
You're good with your words, Thus you're in radio, Dan,
you're good at broadcasting. Thus you're still working at Fox
Sports Radio. Kawhi. Leonard doesn't talk because he's probably not
the best communicator. Maybe he's not the best of his words.
Maybe he feels uncomfortable. Imagine how helpless he must feel
(13:02):
when the only way he can defend himself publicly is
by using his words, and he can't because he's not
good at it, and he's got his team that he
thinks drafted or traded form on draft day loves him,
is spinning a different narrative about him that's not true,
and he can't defend it because it's just not his
thing to go back and forth verbally. So the only
thing he can do is say, I guess I just
(13:24):
got to get out of here, like this just isn't
working for me. I feel I feel bad for the
guy in this regard. He's not a communicator, not a
guy who likes to communicate a lot. He doesn't like
going to the media with certain things. He does bust
his ask. There was zero drama with him off the
court or anything in San Antonio. The only drama that
was ever brought up about him was whether or not
(13:45):
he was dogging an injury. And if you're an athlete
and someone tells you that you're being fake about an injury,
that's gotta be frustrating. Man. I I get I now
sort of have a different perspective on it, and I
get why they feel the way that they do. He
was also put in a tough spot for a couple
of reasons. We talked about it earlier, but I just
remember the ankle injury in Game one of the Western
(14:05):
Conference Finals. He goes out after landing on Zaz, opportunity
in the series is over with, and you're saying, wow,
what could have been? Because they were up twenty five
points in that game. When you look at the injury,
I was like, Okay, when did the quad injury happen?
But the other points that were against him were not
only were Tony Parker Tony Parker dealing with a similar
injury that now you had one to compare to, you
(14:27):
have Tony Parker and Monta Genoble in the sunset of
their careers. So that season that he misses is a
big deal to them because that's it, Like it ended
up being Parker's last season in San Antonio, Genobley's last
season period. So when you see that happening and you
see a guy who is like Monta genob Blue has
been with the organization, and it's like, all right, I'm
(14:48):
gonna give it one more go, and this is gonna
be my season and all of a sudden, the star
player that you think is going to be there is
looking out for himself. Yeah, as a player, you can relate,
but you're also was saying I just went all in.
So like those circumstances were against Kauai Letard as well,
because there are very few teams that have veteran leadership
(15:10):
that is more powerful than the star player. San Antonio
is one of the only few places where because Genoble
and Parker had the hardware they I mean, they want
titles before Kauai was there. So you look at that
situation as well as now those guys are coming over
the top because usually the star players the one who
gets the words. In that situation, for Kauai, it wasn't
beneficial in San Antonio. That made the situation even more difficult.
(15:32):
And I think a lot of people look at what
happened with Isaiah Thomas and Boston and they go, there's
a guy who did play through an injury that they
probably shouldn't have, and look what happened to his career.
I mean, so, so maybe Kauai and his people were like, listen,
we don't why why run the risk? We know something's wrong,
And and you're telling us that we can come back
and play, and then you're going publicly and speaking about it.
(15:52):
I'd love to know, and and and when it happened.
I thought maybe a little bit of it. But I'd
love to know if them deciding to move on from
Tony Parker was their last ditch effort to tell Kauai, Hey,
no more drama here anymore. Uh, look, you know he's gone.
What do you say you want to try this again?
I'd I'd love to know how the final days in
(16:12):
San Antonio went. Was it just no communication whatsoever? Was
there no effort to keep him around? I thought that
they had me. Didn't he and Popovitch meet? I thought
at some point where then he also reiterated his desire
to to end up leaving after the season ended. I
thought that there there was a meeting I could be
or they tried to meet up or something like that.
I thought there was San Diego or something like that.
(16:33):
I thought there was at least some communication that that
said as much. But but then once you're once you're burned,
or once you feel that way, Yeah, it's tough to
it's tough to trust again. But I think that the
the situation was awkward, and I find it interesting now
because I know that they want to get out their
story and and maybe it's working because you and I
(16:54):
were on the Spur side of things, and now we
hear a little bit more and more, and we're hearing
from different sources. But I have forgotten about all of that.
I was more concerned about Kauai's free agency than of
him leaving San Antonio. That was in the past. This
is kind of bringing up the old relationship again. Um
is there? Here's And I was thinking about this over
the weekend. When you just think about Kawhi Leonard and
(17:15):
what he is, He's a perfect San Antonio Spur like perfect,
Like they're gonna look back on this and at some point,
whether they want to do it publicly or whether local
shows are doing it in San Antonio or fans are
doing it, they're gonna look back on this and go,
how do we screw that up? Like? Like, he's a
perfect Like when you see a wide receiver in the
draft who's five eight and white, what do you say
(17:36):
that guy is gonna be a patriot? You know, when
you when you see a European uh be drafted in
the NBA, what are you assuming, all right, well, he's
probably gonna be a member of the Utah Jazz within
the next three years. Like there's certain things that just
sort of match and and make sense. Kawhi Leonard is
a Spur. He's a perfect Spur. He doesn't talk, he's
not about it. It's not it's not his thing. He
(17:57):
doesn't like the communicating all the other stuff to go
along with it. And somehow the San Antonio Spurs, who
have who are as well run of an organization as
you can find in sports, butchered this allegedly according to
a Quai side. And now they're they're sitting back and
they're watching him in the finals, and the Spurs getting
getting zero credit, near zero credit for the development of
(18:19):
him as a player to become the type of player
that now some are considering the best in the NBA.
But who do you think feels worse right now, DeMar
de Rosen or George Hill. It's it's Derosian, Like, I
I have no idea who in the world DeMar Derosen
wants to win this NBA finals because George Hill was
traded for Kawhi Leonard. And then I was thinking about
(18:40):
that when the Bucks were playing the Rafters, like, man,
this is gonna be the George Hill Revenge series and
then after two games it was showed up. He did
he at least been in the finals, so so he
had finals appearances with with the Calves, Like DeMar derosen is,
you can't win, like you can't shake that anymore. Like
a guy you know, you broke up with his girlfriend
(19:03):
and all of a sudden, now she's dating Prince Harry. Well,
I guess married the prince and they always say that
Megan Markle's ax like, yeah, good luck doing better than me.
Uh well, look, Prince Harry. That's where DeMar de Rosen
is right now. Why why doesn't Larry Bird get any
heat for trading Kawahi Leonard on draft Day? What the
eighth I will say this, if you traded Kawai to
(19:27):
any of the other twenty eight teams in the league,
or if he stayed in Indiana, I don't think he's
the player that he is now. Like so I know,
I'm not answering your question. What's George Joe was somewhat decent,
but at the time, at the time, like I remember
kawaiet San Diego State, they played in the regional down
in Anaheim in Tleven. And in that series you had
(19:47):
you had Kyrie Irving played for Duke. You had Kemba
Walker played for Yukon. You had Derrick Williams who ended
up being the number two of her all pick playing
in Arizona. You also had Jeremy Lamb was a freshman
at Yukon. Kyrie was good for San Diego State. But
like those were the names that you were talking about there,
so even the thought of him, even though he was
a mid first round pick, how did think anybody thought?
(20:10):
You know, you would get this? And and I tipped
the spurs, tip of the cap to the Spurs for
developing Kauai. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug dot Leap Show week days at noon Eastern three
pm Pacific. The Raptors have been getting stuff done in
the Eastern Conference playoffs and now they find themselves in
the NBA Finals. Joining us now He's the Raptors. Radio
play by play man Paul Jones joins us here on
(20:32):
Fox Sports Radio. Hey Paul, thanks so much for coming on.
I know it's a busy time, but we appreciate it.
Uh and and I can tell you guys are skilled
right away. Because if I had a dollar for every
time somebody missed up, Paul Jones joins, us I did.
Actually I could know you didn't. You didn't. I was listening.
I was listening. I always listened to that in Let's see,
(20:52):
Let's see this is you know, is this one gonna
be Is this one going to be ruined or is it?
Is it going to be a clean in? And it's
pretty clean in it as a play by play guy,
is there a name that just is tough for you?
I mean, we know Antenna Kumpo is not easy for anyone,
but was there like a like a simple name that
had like double consonant said that has been difficult for
(21:14):
you in your history? Um no, because I mean, like
having played a little bit myself and and with a
brother that's on the other network. He says, you've got
to nail the names like it's it's like a figure
skater man when you come to that triple axle, like you,
if you're wavering at all, the judges are going to
take points off. So um but like Antenna Kumpo, um uh,
(21:39):
you know, we get a lot of international players and
and and the one that the one that I kind
of take pride in when everybody was called or calling
him Verision. We had a Brazilian guy on our team,
Hafe Arugo, and Halfa said they're saying his name wrong.
I said, well, how do you say his name? He said,
it's not Verisian, it's Bargeo. I'm like, are you sure.
(22:00):
He's like yeah. I said, okay, Well, so when we
play Cleveland, I'm gonna say Barragelle and I won't get
laughed at he goes, not by the people in Brazil.
But no, you won't very very good. Paul joins radio.
Voice of the Toronto Raptors joins us here on Fox
Sports Radio. Paul, who'd you think about former Raptor that
you thought about first when the clock was winding down
and you finally got to the finals? I thought about
(22:23):
two of them. I thought about DeMar Derozen because he
had he he wanted to be in Toronto. He had
given everything to this city, and when other free agents
took the money once and then left, he took the
money twice. In the second time, he took less money
than he could have. He took less than a max
(22:43):
deal to stay here and when the Colangelo regime drafted
him here, they said, oh, you know, we got this
great kid from usc and you know, we're going to
make him an All Star and you kind of you
kind of roll your eyes and go, yeah, everybody says
that about their first round pick. And every summer a
guy comes back fifty pounds heavier, stronger, with a better
jump shot, like yeah, yeah, yeah, right right right, And
(23:05):
they did well. I mean, we watched the kid grow
up here in nine years and become an All Star.
And he said, I was here for twenty two and sixty.
I was here for the losing. I want to be
here for the winning. And he had under Dwayne Casey
had you know, five winning seasons and he was one
of the guys. And you know, Dwayne Casey was another guy.
And Jonas Valanciunas was probably the third um big Lithuanian
(23:29):
community here in Toronto, and u j V was He
was great in the community. I mean he's he's the
kind of kid that the the training staff, the strength
and conditioning coaches would say before the game, Okay, can
you stop shaking everybody's hand and playing like the freaking
mayor of Toronto and kept warming up. So those were
(23:51):
the three that probably came to mind. Um. But at
the same time, all the people that that really were
disheartened by the trade and didn't really know Kauai Leonard
as a basketball player. Uh, and we're complaining about load management.
And I was saying, so, how's that game working against
you know, the Atlanta Hawks on a Wednesday night in
(24:12):
February that Kauai mrs in Europe set like, do you
see why they're doing that? Now? Do you get it now?
And for all those people that that really didn't like
the trade, and and for for all the right personal reasons, guys,
all the right personal reasons. A guy that love Toronto,
wanted to be here, was trumpeting the cause, took less money. Um,
(24:32):
you know, had was great in the community tomorrow with
with with the kids, and he ran he ran a camp,
um you know, at an area that was one of
the most impoverished areas in North America. Like that, Like
that kind of stuff pulls it heartstrings and people were
sad to see him go. But now they're in the finals.
I think they're they're okay with that. Paul Jones joins
(24:55):
us here on Fox Sports Radio. He's Jonas knocks. I'm
Dan Buyer sitting in for Doug Gotlieb. How did the
Raptors carve out their place in the Toronto sports landscape?
Here are the states. We we obviously know about the
blue Jay success, but that was twenty five years ago.
We remember the couple of World Series. It was a
long time ago. And I think there's a there's just
the thought of it's just a maple leafs town and
(25:16):
that's what it is. How do how do the Raptors
make their place in that landscape? It is? It is,
It is still a maple leafs town. But basketball is
on the rise. And people laughed at me in two
thousand when I said that one day might not be
in my lifetime, basketball is gonna be bigger than hockey.
They thought that they were gonna they were gonna string
me up and stone me like that sacrilege. And I
(25:38):
mean that the multicultural nature of Toronto, um, and all
the different you know, the different nationalities and ethnic groups here. Um.
You know, Toronto's world class and they love their basketball.
And what's happened is the team playing well combined with um,
that that demographic that that you know, that that urban
(26:01):
representation that that you know, national different nationalities and their
representation throughout the Raptors fan base has helped people say, wow,
this is pretty good. And here's my analogy. Guys, if
you weren't a golf fan in like nine seven or
but you were kind of a sports fan or just
following the world in general, you'd probably say, who is
(26:24):
this guy Tiger Woods. He's turning the place on its ear.
Maybe I should pay attention. And that's what's happening in
Toronto now. The casual fan and you guys said it
the same way that Blue Jays did back in you know,
from seven to about ninety three, the same way the
Blue Jays did. By winning, people are starting to get
on board and say, hey, you know what everybody's talking
(26:45):
about this at the water cooler at work. I might
want to know what's going on here. I better watch
a game. And then you watch a game and you
get hooked, and you know, the the hook gets in
your mouth and you're you're never leaving the NBA. He
is Paul Jones, the voice of the Toronto Actors with
us here on Fox Sports Radio. Damn Buyer Jonas Knox
in for Doug Gottlieb, what's the feeling there in Toronto
(27:06):
about the likelihood of Kauai sticking around after this season.
It's it's just getting stronger and stronger, and and uh,
you know, Kauai is a he comes across and he
and he is a kind of a an old school
The guy just wants to hoop. He wants the ball.
He doesn't he doesn't necessarily want or crave the spotlight.
(27:29):
He just and and I'll tell you this, as Canadians,
people leave him alone. I mean, you know, it's not
like they're not going to see him out in the
street and ask for an autograph or a picture or whatever.
But he's not going to be constantly accosted. And I
think he can, you know, in a relative sense, have
his privacy up here. And he's got a whole country
(27:50):
behind him. There are people in the far reaches of
this country that now have become basketball fans and are
watching Kawhi Leonard and when and when he was traded
here and those of us in the know from the
basketball world kind of fainted with our jaws open, saying,
oh my god, they got a top three player in
the league. People some people have no idea and as
I said before, now they get it. And and everybody.
(28:13):
I mean there's guys they have promotions on up here
in Canada, things called kaw wine and Dine, where he's
he's being offered three food to to any restaurant. They
there's one guy that's ready to give him like a
penthouse apartment. Like it's it's it's gone crazy now that
people have seen how good he is and what he
(28:33):
means to a team. Um, you know, everybody's I mean,
I had one guy on Twitter say, we've got a
local department store here at the Bay. It's akin to
a you know, a J. C. Penny or you know
Neiman Markert, some you know, big department store in the US.
Some guy went in and said, I saw Kauai. He
was buying something at the Bay and he got a
rewards card. You know, like they're just looking for anything
(28:56):
that says that says he's gonna stay. And the one
I replied on Twitter, We'll tell him it takes a
long time to get points, but I'll give him all
my points. Uh sticking around for that fent discounts or
that free gift on your birthday first of all, or
I should wrap up with this. I think of the
first guest Paul, is that a double underscore in the
Twitter handle? When you have a name like Paul Jones,
(29:19):
you got it. Yeah, you can't be Paul Jones one two,
So this makes it a lot easier. Paul double underscore Jones,
Raptors play by play voice, Thanks so much of the time. Okay,
congratulations to you. It should be fun on Thursday and
through the NBA Finals. I know it's broadcasters. It's always
(29:39):
neat when you get this opportunity. So I know you
weren't on the court, but congratulations and have the call
of your life these next couple of weeks. I'm going
to tell you I called the very first game when
the Raptor busted out of the egg November Eddie Paintney
Jump Center for Toronto against New Jersey Nets. So I've
(30:00):
been here a long time. I've been here a long time.
It's it's nice to be it's nice to still be dancing.
In June. I forgot the Raptor came out of the egg.
I forgot about that. Oh that's awesome. I forgot about
right and Ed Pinckney. I remember Ed Pinkney. Yes, good
times and those those those throwbacks. Some point, at some point, guys,
we're gonna get together and we're going to trade stories
(30:22):
in Amanda things I can tell you. I appreciate it.
We'll do it again soon. Thanks so much, and again
I have great calls during the finals. Be sure to
catch live editions so the Doug dot Leap Show weekdays
in noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. All Right, are you
ready for for something that? The more I'm thinking about it,
(30:44):
the more I realize it's probably not the greatest idea.
I know. We're We're ready, is Isaac Lowing? Karen, Isaac?
Are you ready for this? I'm actually not ready because
I've continued to watch more of the Raptors inaugural game
video against the New Jersey Nets, and before they tip off,
they do the usual panning of celebrities in the front
row at the sky Dome, and instead of being Drake
(31:07):
in the front row, celebrities Cathy Ireland and David Hasselhof
alright from Lover Boy for a lot of more set
or come on, man, they couldn't do better than that.
By the way, John Tobak, the starting center for the Raptors,
and center was spelled c E N t R E
(31:30):
on the TV graphics. Nice. At least they didn't put
left wing Elvin robertson. Can we get Tobak to the
segment here? Let's do it all right? Here? It is
Stamos are Ramos. Basically, you're just throwing up things to
Isaac and he's got to determine if it's John Stamos
(31:50):
or John Ramos or Ramos for the sake of this. Thankfully,
Ramos posts so much about his life on Facebook that
I think I have a fighting chance here. All right,
all right, you ready for this, Isaac, We'll find out,
go for it. His middle name is Philip John Ramos Ramos.
(32:10):
Mercy is John Stamos, John Stamos. John Ramos middle name
is Miles, named after Miles Turner the Indiana Pacers, m
R J m R. Remember that there. It is. When
John signs the co account that he has with Suzanne,
(32:30):
when it's his post, he'll write jams like we can't
tell who's posting one. I mean, I don't know who's
post Wait a minute. He also signs his work emails
sometimes JMR. I really should have known that. Yeah, he's
a blowhard have mercy who recently put up there Beverly
Hills mansion for sale at the price TAGA six point
seven five million dollars. Well, because it's a Beverly Hills
(32:53):
mansion and not a South Pasadena mansion, I'm gonna go
with John Stamos. Yes, that is corrects. Whatever happened to predictability? Well,
it's good to see. We've got a lot of a
lot of drops tied to John Stamos. Everything's happening is
that like three have mercies in a row, Ye in row?
There we go, all right, Isaac. Next up on Stamos
(33:15):
Ramos met his wife at a corn dog stand? Is
that Stamos Ramos? Not to get personal, but which wife?
There are three wives here? Actually, well, I don't think
we need to shame the guy's marriage. I didn't say that.
I was just trying to clarify. I'm gonna guess, you know,
(33:36):
I'm gonna guess John Ramos Ramos, that is correct? Good
at this, Isaac? Corn dogs so fast? But I couldn't
picture of Rebecca Romains strolling around at the l A
County fair at the corn dogs? All right, Ramos or
Stamos had an affair with this woman that his wife
(33:57):
still doesn't know about. No, I'm just kidding, kidding, Suzanne,
I am kidding. I am joking. I am joking. Delete
that from the podcast. The hotline ringing in thirty five seconds,
it will be uh okay Stamos or Ramos who worked
(34:17):
for his father's restaurant growing up. You know what, Oh man,
I'm actually gonna guess before he became an actor. I'm
actually gonna guess John Stamos before a general hospital. There
is a lot, a lot of thought went into the
(34:40):
dropt tied together with John Stamos here, I think it
was one twelve Pacific time. We're like, doesn't he say
have mercy? All right? We had to do it after
John's lunch it Stamos a Ramos last one for me?
Isaaci Ready, here we go. Left a co worker's funeral early. Jeez,
(35:03):
I'm gonna say I actually think I know which coworker
it was. I'm gonna say John Ramos. But he probably
had a good reason. Correct. Oh yeah, great, you had
a good reason. Softball game. That's not a good reason.
Never mind, I've got five more. No, I'm just kidding.
Who coached their soccer team to a winless season one year. Well,
(35:29):
like I said, just because he posts about it on Facebook,
I'm gonna guess John Ramos. Yes, it was Ramos. And
actually I have one more, dame Stamos Stamos or Ramos,
Isaac here we go doesn't produce his own work, Stamos
or Ramos. Uh, I'm gonna say John Ramos Ramos because
(35:55):
Stamos is like a co producer in Fuller House, isn't it. Yeah?
That is that is correct. And the John on Ramo show,
the actual John Ramos does none of it. Ramos there,
it is. Good job, Isaac. All right, thank you, and
I'll just duck in. Since the report. A few moments ago,
(36:16):
Steve Kerr went on to confirm that Kevin Durant is
out for Game one of the NBA Finals. Not not
a shock, but he just did confirm that. There it is.
That's the final word. I wouldn't even travels with your
customs and all that social media to go to Canada.
It's just a headache. Gives him more time to post
angry uh comments on social media. Oh my god, Isaac,
(36:39):
Well coming out with the ball bats today Jesus all right.
Uh Dan Buyer Jonas stock in for Doug Gottliepire on
Fox Sports Radio. We're trying to get out earlier. But
I doesn't care about the clock at all. We can
about the Fox, Isaac doesn't. 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 eye Arte Radio app search f s R to
(37:02):
listen live.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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