July 17, 2019 • 41 mins
Doug discusses Browns QB Baker Mayfield and if he will be able handle the raised expectations for next season. He also wonders why fans crush Kevin Durant for leaving the Thunder but they're giving Russell Westbrook a pass for requesting a trade. Plus, College Football on FOX analyst and former Browns QB Brady Quinn joins the show to talk about Mayfield and previewing the 2019 college football season.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:43):
Are Farmers Well? Looks like we're off to football season.
We will talk some college football with Brady Quinn, who
of course moves from the studio to the booth this
year as we get ready for college football, Big twelve
Media Day SEC Media Days soon, Big ten Media Days
(01:03):
to be underway. And uh I, I love what I
heard from TUA to buy loga. Does it feel like
we're gonna see Clemson? Obama and the rest doesn't matter.
We'll ask Brady Quinn up coming, but I do want
to start with this discussion about Baker Mayfield. And it's
interesting where we've, where we were, where we are, and
(01:27):
where we're going in terms of the media and the
people the media covered. When I got into this business,
I remember thinking, Okay, how can I separate myself? Lots
of people, maybe almost every person had a stick. Think
(01:48):
of the people who are successful covering basketball, covering football,
to a lesser extent, baseball. You know Dick vite Oho,
but Schevski and Tomas So and by Williams, they're unbelievable,
(02:09):
Judd Keller, Perry right, everything was great, better than ever, unbelievable.
He's a PTP, He's a prime type performance. There was
no negativity there, and I didn't want to come across
as MR Negative. I just felt like there was a
(02:30):
lack of realness. Two. And this is not a shot
at Dick Vitao or U Bill Raftery, who are longtime
legendary figures in Collin college basketball, even in college football.
If you go back and you watch twenty years ago,
you realize that most eyes were dotted with hearts and
(02:52):
so I tried to find what I thought was a
balance between being relatively positive but also being real and
being honest and being forthcoming, and sometimes maybe the viewer
the listener wasn't hasn't been ready for that, because especially
(03:12):
in college basketball, where on TV I cut my teeth,
it's always been covered in such a positive manner that
the moment you say, hey, this is not good, it's
met with you're a hater. You're a hater. That's where
we are right the when Simon Cow was a hater,
when Simul Cow was just that was terrible. He was honest,
(03:35):
maybe to a fault. So when I read this article
about Baker Mayfield and Mina Kimes paints this picture of
a boy named Gavin whose parents shrug at the mention
of public stumbles from Baker Mayfield. Sure they don't want
their son done everything Mayfield's done, but they're happy that
a tiny kid like Gavin has found a relatively tiny
(03:58):
quarterback to admire and overlooked athlete, one of the world's
most famous walk ons is now in college football history,
who proved doubt he is wrong. His height, his flaws,
his story, it all makes Mayfield seemed more real to
them like a human playing position normally reserved for superheroes.
He is who he is and he doesn't apologize for it.
You know, the amazing part about the realness of Baker Mayfield.
(04:23):
We actually cover Baker Mayfield as if he set the
world on fire last year. We we've actually, for the
most part, the members of the media that I work with,
a lot of them have backed down from the flaws
of Baker Mayfield. We focused too much on yeah, he
was drunk off, you know, and at the University of
Arkansas and got chased down by cops, instead of simple
(04:47):
on field production like we've we We went from as
media members not reporting the flaws, overlooking the flaws two
now because he's a cult figure, saying how great it is,
how real he is, and still not pointing out the flaws.
It's okay for you to fall in love with Baker
(05:09):
Mayfield because people have told him he's too small, he's
not athletic enough. And yet remember he is small, he's
not crazy athletic. And by the way, against the good
teams that he played last year, the Ravens twice, the Chargers,
the Steelers, the Texans, the Broncos, those are the good
teams defensively ten touchdowns, love interception completion percentage. They weren't
(05:31):
two and four in the year, and I believe all
but one was after the coaching change. And if I
point that out, I'm a hater. Like it's amazing that
people fans embrace athletes because they believe that the athletes
(05:51):
that break through and are real and are honest and
our flawed. And yet if we point out that they're
real and they're flawed and they're not perfect, somehow we
become a hater. Right, I mean, this is basically the
the President Trump deal right right now, because I think
(06:12):
that's one of the things that draws some people to Trump. Yeah,
all right, maybe he maybe he shouldn't have tweeted that out,
but at least he's being real, like or maybe he
shouldn't tweeted that out, or maybe he shouldn't have thought that,
let alone tweet it it out. But if you point
that out, you become a hater. Isn't it remarkable? And
(06:34):
the remarkable like it's it's we we so badly want
human beings, but when we point out that they are
in fact human beings, we're the bad guy for pointing
out their human beings. Maybe it's just not honest with
us because you don't really actually want honesty. You want
(06:55):
the assumption of honesty, or you want the honesty from
the actual subject, not from the people covering the subject. Look,
Baker Mayfield is a great story. He is an amazing story,
whatever his decision making, because remember he was offered scholarships.
He just wasn't offered a scholarship initially a Texas Tech
and chose to walk on in Oklahoma. But it's not
(07:16):
like there's no one who wanted it. But he was
a walk on. He did win the Heisman, he was
a finalist three times one at once. He did lead
his team in to the to the national semifinals. And
he has changed the culture for the most part, the
for the better of the Cleveland Browns. But we've got
(07:39):
we've we've reached the point where now you can't say
anything that's anything other than positive, even though one of
the reasons you like him is because the only things
that are mentioned are only totally positive or seen as
totally negative. It's a bit of a catch twenty two. Uh,
there's an immense amount of pressure on the Cleveland Browns.
(08:02):
I do think Baker performs better when there is that
amount of pressure, although in times in the past he's
tried things and when they played in the playoffs and
at Oklahoma he tried to force things early on. He
tried hero ball that didn't work. But as everyone at
Oklahoma told me and people who evaluate him for the NFL,
(08:23):
he's unbelievable at defending his own players and guys love
him just like he He had some terror, some stupid
criticism of Giants fans needed to support Odell Beckham Jr.
More like, what do they was he even talking about?
He's literally talking about somebody has no idea what he's
in Cleveland. He doesn't know that Giants fans felt about
Odell Beckham Junior. But it's it's all part of Baker's deal,
(08:47):
is he you're either all with him or you're completely
against him, and he uses that as his motivation. It's
amazing what he's been able to accomplish being under six
feet tall, not being a great athlete. But he is
under six feet tall. He isn't a great athlete, and
if not surrounded by great players, sometimes those flaws get
(09:09):
made more pronounced, and that's not being a hater that's
like Baker Mayfield himself being real. 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. Who knows more about lofty,
almost ridiculous expectations in college and the NFL than our
(09:32):
own Brady Quinn. You can see hear him every Sunday
on Fox Sport Trade alongside Jonas Knox eight eastern, five
o'clock Pacific, and of course he'll be in studio every
college Saturday on Fox covering college football. Get to college
football in a second, Brady, But give me your sense
of what changes from year one to year two for
(09:56):
a guy like Baker Mayfield in a town like Cleveland
where you've quarterbacked Browns and there's now expectations so that
that are that are raised around this Browns organization. Yeah,
it's funny you phrase it in that way because my
rookie year are really get to play until week seventeen,
But our team went ten and six that year. We
(10:16):
didn't make the playoffs, but very similar situation in the
expectations heading into two thousand and eight. Um, we we
brought in Sean Rogers, we brought in Corey Williams, some
really good defensive lineman. Um, at that point in time,
our offense was kind of clicking on all cylinders. Um,
so you know, things were looking up in Cleveland. You
could sense the optimism in the hype and it reminded
(10:38):
me a lot of I think where the Brown's kind
of all right now. I think the only difference maybe
being all the different moves that they've made now over
the past two years than obviously coming from an entirely
different point with the only won one game in two seasons.
So um, you know, it's very very similar. And I
think that the thing that I always say to Brown's
fans to caution them, and this is coming from a
(10:59):
Brown fans stuff. I grew up rooting for the team
and obviously lived out that dream of plan for him.
But this is the NFL. It's really really hard to
take that next step and then to stay there and
be there consistently and then take that next step where
you're like New England and you dominate your division and
you dominate in the A S c um and so
seven wins last year, that was great. Um, it's a
(11:21):
good you know starting point and obviously the everything they
did in the second half of season one, Sprettie Kitchens
took over full time. On the offense, you continue to
see Baker developed, what's huge, But now it's can they
continue that? How do they handle all the expectations with
all the additional big egos and personalities in that locker
room and also the change I think, look, they're changing
(11:41):
scheme defensively, how Sprettie Kitchen is gonna handle a lot
of things that come up as a first time head coach.
I think the one thing they have going for him
is they have one hell of a staff with Todd
Munk and as the row c MI pre first, their
special teams coach and all that. So they've got a
lot of the right pieces from a coaching standpoint to
help temper some of those personalities and all that up.
But at the end of the day, it's not like
(12:01):
Pittsburgh and Baltimore are rolling over in that division and
just gonna let him win it. So it's gonna be
a fun season to watch. I can't wait to see.
I love watching Baker play. I think it's the hell
of a player him. I'm glad Clinton was able to
get him. They they he only had ten touchdowns live
interceptions against the five good defenses he faced in six games.
What what does he have to improve upon? Obviously they
(12:24):
getting Overell Beckham Jr. Improves their personnel, uh with the
number one wide receiver to go along with you know
Jervis Landry in year two. But when when you watch
him play, what's the thing that can help him take
that next step? Well, I think it's it's a it's
a mistake that a lot of young quarterbacks made, really
any quarterbacks eight points on their career. There was times
(12:45):
when he got over zealous, he pressed a little bit,
made some decisions and he didn't need American turning the
football over. And look with snaps in time, that goes away.
You know that that goes away. And I think look
at their defense improves, that also goes away. You know
he's not gonna be put in the position where he
has to do that. So those two things I think
are gonna, in my mind, be the difference for him
this year where he takes that next step. And and
(13:07):
look at you could you can stay at twenty seven
touchdown passes as long as they can see and run
the football effectively and he cuts down some of those
interceptions and their defensive proves that might be enough to
get it done and make them a playoff game. Brady
Queen joining us on The Doug Out Lip Show on
Fox support Trader R. Let's delve into college Uh something
you're gonna you guys, got a great new studio team
that you're a part of on Big Fox. And of
(13:29):
course Big ten Media Days about to get in a way,
Big twelve already on the way SEC Media Days runderway.
And because you have two of back, because you have
the two star quarterbacks back, and because there's so much,
so many person so much personnel back for both teams,
there's the assumptions Clemson and Alabama and everybody else. Do
you agree with that assumption? Yeah, I think it's hard
(13:50):
not to think that way, only because of the one
the talent too. They've been able to recruit over the years.
I mean every single year they're in the top five
recruiting ASTs a lot of times top four, top three,
and so that's part of it. The fact that they've
probably got the best two quarterbacks in college football coming
back this year, that's a huge piece of it. Um
coaching you know, head coaches as well. So all those
(14:13):
things kind of point to these two teams meeting head
on at some point in time. Uh, and you kind
of ask yourself, Okay, what could get in the way. Well,
for Clemson, look, the the SEC is the worst in
the Power five right now. And people may take exception
that because Clemson just won a national championship, but that's it.
That's all they got right now. There's not a lot
of parody in that in that conference, and outside of Clemston,
(14:36):
it's kind of everyone else. Um. You can look at
the preseason rankings if you want to get some sort
of indication of that. But I mean, just just go
back and look through the years and so forward to
stay in Miami and some of these other schools in
the a SEC really come around. Cleston is not gonna
have a hard path at getting to the College Football Playoff.
For Alabama, it's obviously different because they play and arguably
the tough division, the SEC West. The difference in my
(14:57):
opinion with Alabama as their schedule, I mean, the starters
they got to bis um, they have an FCS opponent before.
I think they have a buy before LSU and asked
FCS appointed before Auburn and Iron Bowl um which you know,
again you never know what open is gonna be this year,
but it's a robbery game, you never know. But the
way their schedules, you know, stacks up to you kind
of look at and say, not that they have a
(15:17):
free pass, but it sets up for them to succeed
when the West and probably a showdown with George and
the SEC championship game, and that's the one team that
could spoil, you know, the matchup of seeing uh, you know,
Alabama versus Clempson again at some point time in the
College football playoff. My biggest question would be if Alabama
runs the table, uh you know, as far as the
regular season goes, once they get to the SEC Championship game,
(15:40):
if Georgia beats them and they're undefeated too, do you
leave out one loss Alabama team that just lost an
SEC championship game. We haven't really seen anything like that.
Usually when teams make it, they didn't win their division,
they didn't even have to play in that thirteen game
in the conference championship game. Alabama was that team. Ohio
State was that team. In the past, we haven't seen
a seen the loss in a conference championship game get in.
(16:02):
That would be an interesting scenario if that did play out.
It is is this the year from Michigan? Everything would
point in that direction. But I love everything Ryan Day
has done. Just from that they're coaching hires, I think
into placing some pieces that have moved on, whether it's
you know Greg Madison, who dates back to some of
(16:23):
my time with that a Notre Dame UM, or even
just you know the way he's kind of handled some
of the pressure and keeping I think a lot of
the things that are reminded Bill, but kind of also
tweaking in and doing it his way to I just
I think the biggest question is is Justin Field is
gonna be at the five star recruit that Georgia thought
he was going to be in that Ohio State hopes
he's gonna be uh, and then how much better can
(16:43):
the OI State defense get? But Michigan has every opportunity
this year, right when you look at their schedule, even nonconference,
right Notre Dame comes into their house. Um, but they
should have every opportunity this year to be able to
win the Big Ken and kind of turn the tide
and maybe take over a little it was Shave Patterson
coming back. Josh Gaddis is now changing the offense to
really fit more for his style, more than up tempo,
(17:06):
more got spread that. I think we saw Shade Patterson's
show promise with during his time with Old Miss. Yeah. No,
it's gonna be fascinating considering how how sluggish they look, granted,
missing several players in the bowl game and of course
beaten by Notre Dame early in the season. We'll we'll
see if they can eliminate that, and then the the
Ohio State game. Brady can't wait to see in studio.
Appreciate catching up. We'll listen to your Sunday on Fox
(17:27):
Sports Radio. Appreciate me. Do have a great day. Alright's
Brady Quinn of course, one of our lead analysts college football.
You can hear him on Fox Sports Radio every Sunday
with Jonas Knox as as they cover everything, and of
course we're leading into football season. Who better than a
guy who starred at Notre Dame, was a starter in
the National Football League. Be sure to catch live editions
so the Doug dot Leaps Show weekdays at noon eastern
(17:49):
three pm Pacific. The Russell Us Brick and Chris Paul
trade was made official yesterday, and this from Sam Presty,
of course, is the longtime general manager of the Oakland
Say Thunder. He selected Russell in the NBA draft. He said,
Russell Westbrook is the most important player in the brief
history of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has left an
indelible mark on this team, the city and state. Now,
(18:16):
I mean, look, it's impossible to not see that as
a slight towards Kevin Durant, Right, It's it's impossible not
to um and I think on some level it is.
But I also think and and you know, there's there's
(18:41):
gotta be some bitter feelings, not in that the relationship
between k D and the Thunder ended, but where he
went and how he went there. Remember that the Thunder
were left with the type of feeling. Hey, he told
us he's coming back. He didn't and I'm not sure
what he's supposed to say at his last at his
(19:02):
exit meeting press conference, but at his exhibiting press conference
he said he expected to be back the next season.
I don't believe uh. As was reported that he told
Russell Westbrook he was absolutely coming back before he took
the meetings. I believe he said what he his company
line had been, which is he believed he was coming.
(19:24):
There's a difference in the semantics of it. And look,
Russell Westbrook only stayed what three more seasons, so it's
he played two seasons more in totality than KD. They
both won m vps. Russell of course average of triple
double the last three games um and in truth, like
(19:44):
Russell Westbrook asked out, he wanted out. Now, some of
it may come from the fact that his name was
linked into that Toronto trade, potentially with Paul George. I
felt like once that was in there, once that got
out and it was made public, it was over between
the two. But I'm guessing that he knew once Paul
George went in and asked out, and Paul George apparently
(20:05):
was open about that. With Russell Westbrook, he knew it
was over. So KD, I guess looks worse because he
was a free agent left on his own volition. But
I don't understand how Russell Westbrook asking to be traded
and not want to ride it ride it out through
a rebuild isn't just as bad. But this is Sam
Presty picking sides, and I'm not sure I see the
(20:31):
win in it. Maybe it's because they had turned the fans,
and the fans had turned on their own against Kevin Durant.
But shouldn't he have simply said he represents one of
the two indelible superstars in the history of our franchise,
(20:52):
and we couldn't cannot have been more honored to whatever
you want to say. He has left it in Delba mark,
on the team, on the city, and on the State.
I think it's it's really impressive. But it's also interesting
that Russell asked out, you know, Paul, when Paul George,
(21:17):
I am sure, went to Russell and said like, hey, man,
I don't think this thing is this this dog is
gonna hunt. I don't think so. Either. They wanted off
the ship even though they had signed long term deals,
and maybe ultimately Oklahoma City ends up benefiting from having
them under contract and getting so much back in return
(21:38):
as opposed to getting nothing for Kevin Durant. But they
were under contract and asked out, as opposed to KB
who is not under contract and left. I failed to
see how Russell Westbrook, in reality his actions were better
than k D's like because he signed a contract that
(22:01):
was bigger than he can get anywhere else and then
wanted to be traded two years after signing that contract.
Somehow he's a hero. I you want to talk about, uh,
the misuse of the word loyalty, Like what Paul George did,
was he worse? Like you signed a four year contract,
(22:24):
and one year into the four year contract you want
out to go back to and look again. I think
what Presty has done is brilliant, brilliant if the guys
don't want to play there and you can get top
dollar if you're not, you know, if if you're not
unloading something and getting nothing back in return. I do.
(22:48):
I think it's brilliant. On the other hand, and I
don't think it's sinister what Paul George did. But I
don't think it's great business just because you don't want
you don't think you can win, Like you still had
Russell Westbrook, you still had Paul George, you still had
Dennis Shrewder, you had Steven Adams. Why can't you win
(23:09):
unless you're not good enough? You know, like the Warriors
aren't nearly as good as what's what they once were,
and I don't see anybody they're jumping ship, do you.
I just I don't. I don't see this one. I
feel like this is this feels petty to me. It's
(23:31):
not the level of pettiness we saw in Cleveland from
Dan Gilbert when Lebron left, but it feels petty to me.
Katie obviously is a dude who who struggles with his
own decisions, struggles to find happiness. You know, I just
(23:53):
I don't this. This feels petty, This feels like that,
it feels as embarrassing and most of you know, I
consider Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, my second home, and I spent
more time there and in Connecticut and in California, like
those are the places that I live. Oklahoma's is a
place I call home. But I don't. I don't get
(24:15):
this between getting dressed up as cupcakes, you know, and
taunting Kevin Durant as he goes and wins, you know,
two finals MVPs. Like that's fan pettiness. That's gonna happen
when you're Sam Presty. This even if it's not what
you how how you thought it would come out. I look,
(24:35):
I just want to say great things about Russell Westbrook.
You've been a great dude. Russell Westbrooks really hard to coach.
Russell Westbrook got worse as a shooter than he did.
That's about his work ethic and about his mental focus.
I get it. He struggles in terms of how many
hours he can put it in the off season because
he's had, you know, multiple knee surgeries. You don't have
(24:57):
to come out and slam Russell Westbrook like a, well,
he was great, but he was hard to coach, and
he couldn't shoot, and he wanted to do things and
dominate the basketball and he's a high volume shooter and
a high volume And she's like, now, you don't have
to say those things. But you also don't have to
take a shot at Kevin Durant when he's been out
the door for three years. All right, this is your
(25:21):
second your second wife leaving you, and you're still bitter
that your first wife left. 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. This just in from agent Originowski uh NBA
Insider story filled story has just been filed Oklahoma City's
(25:45):
discussions to move nine time All Star Chris Paul onto
a new distant destination are parked, and increasing expectations exist
that he will start the season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With that, let's welcome in Rick Buker, he too, an
NBA insider, writes for Bleacher Report, and see him on
Fox worts one. All the TV shows speak for yourself,
especially as well as Undisputed, And I'm with Colin cowherd.
(26:07):
Uh is this just a case of that's a terrible
contract and they can't find a destination for it, or
is there something more at play? Well? No, I can
tell you that they made the deal not having a
stet place to move him on. Too, I can also
tell you that it's their intention to move him on
(26:27):
that that Chris Paul uh and what the Oklahoma City
Thunder are are trying to do right now are not
a match. So uh saying that it's parked, Okay, it's parked.
Did they take the keys and that they throw them
in the river? No? Uh, They're they're searching for a partner.
(26:48):
And I believe that as much this is Chris Paul
not wanting to look like he's some sort of vagabond
at this point, and just I know that he's going
to have his druthers in terms of where he goes.
Miami would be a place that he would be open to.
Minnesota is another place that I've heard. Uh if if
(27:09):
they're desperately wanting to get off of Andrew Wiggins, so, um,
would they would they consider that? Would Oklahoma City consider that?
The bottom line is Chris Paul's very much is going
to be in play and is not part of Oklahoma
City's future. Uh, if they are unable to move him
(27:30):
before the season, it won't be from a lack of crying,
you know, it's it's can I give you my read
on it real quick? I feel like, um, I feel
like the story that was yesterday was, um, there's a
deal to be had there, but the Heat want both
their draft picks back right now, the story today, and
so they're not motivated to make the move. So now,
(27:50):
Oklahoma City, you know, through Woads, Hey, we're just gonna
maybe you'll just open the season. This just feels like
negotiating through the media, right Yeah, no, no, no, there's
there's no question that this is posturing. I mean, whoever
whoever is reporting it that if you if you take
a step back and you look at what Oklahoma City
wants to do. Uh, they want to move Chris Paul
(28:12):
Are What is it going to cost them at this
point to move him? That's the sticking point. So unless
we're talking about that, anything else is just posturing. Rick
Bucker Johning us. Do you think the Westbrook marriage with
James Harden ultimately works? When you say works, what do
(28:35):
you what are we trying to accomplish that they will
kill each other? Yes? They will? I will it work.
It's not. It's not going to bring them a championship.
So no, it's not gonna work. Is it gonna make
them any better or worse than last season? I believe
that Russ Westbrook actually might be better. People might look
(28:58):
at him in a different light playing with Mike D'Antoni
and potentially playing with more shooters around him, or playing
for Mike D'Antonio. I should say, is it going to
make the Houston Rockets anymore of a threat to win
a championship in the Western Conference? I have no reason
to believe that because it's still going to be taking
number your turn my term, Uh, let's don't see a
(29:21):
way in which this pair combines not only to to
work efficiently together, but to get everybody else working efficiently
as well. Yeah, and then and then you have the
status of Mike D'Antoni kind of lame duck status to
be a new staff. And I don't think Russell Westbrook
is completely uncoachable, but he's not easy to coach. And
(29:42):
it's a lot harder to coach a guy when you
don't have a long term contract and you don't have
a staff that's been with you the whole time well,
and and that you're not one really for confrontation. And
it's I mean that if you look at the array
of coaches that Russ has had, none of them have
been willing to, by all appearances, stand up to Russ
(30:07):
and say this is the way we need you to
play for us to be effective. And I believe that
he could be better for Mike simply because Mike, uh if,
if I'm gonna rate Scotty Brooks, Billy Donovan, Mike D'Antoni
from an offensive sex is an old standpoint, Mike. Mike
has a gift for making guys look good and putting
(30:29):
them in a sweet spot, particularly guards, particularly ball dominant guards.
So I can see where he might make Russ look
more effective than than he ever has. But I still
don't see how that's going to make this team better
than it's been with Chris Paul or anybody else. Sean
Marks went on a New York City station and and
(30:52):
and said basically like, look, they didn't even have to
recruit Kevin Durant. He committed to them before they are
talked to him. And and then he take a listen, this,
this is this is Sean Marks, take a listen. I
think everything has to change slightly. You know, we haven't
had that type of talent, you know. Un let's across
the board. I'll put all our three I in that,
(31:13):
not just the two of those guys that you mentioned,
all of them, and things are gonna change, Things are
gonna adapt. They have to. They have to start driving
the culture. That's that's what it's all about. We have
to learn from them. These guys have been in the league,
they're elite level players, and we have to see what
we can learn from them as well. It's fascinating, right,
um going to like it top if you have been
(31:33):
spo but Kyrie Irving is going to a place that
has a great culture and has played and allowed a
point guard to exceed any expectations, and he's gonna come
in and they're gonna change some things that he's going
to teach them, Like, doesn't this feel like both Boston
and Golden State all over again? Well again, Doug, we're
(31:55):
looking at reports or media or interview that really looks
past what's really going on, which is Kyrie Irving. And
he was being truthful when he said we didn't have
to recruit. It wasn't the brooklyn Nets making the decision
that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving we're going to become
(32:16):
brooklyn Nets. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant decided we'd like
to be brooklyn Nets, and the brooklyn Nets said, well,
how can we say no to two guys like this?
I love I I really like, respect and admire what
Sean Marks has done uh as in his first turn
(32:39):
as a GM. I I love what he's done with
the brooklyn Nets. But this, this is really unfair to
him to put him out there and try to explain
what they're what they're doing, because it wasn't in his hands.
It was it was k D and Kyrie deciding to
(32:59):
be come brooklyn Nets, and and now he has to
explain how or why they're going to make this work.
And so what else can you say except we got
two guys that are going to be the biggest personalities
and stars that we've ever had. It's completely anathema to
what I've done with this this franchise up until now.
(33:21):
And so we're gonna have to make room for him
because you know what, we don't have any other choice.
So none of that would suggest that it's going to
work or that it's even the healthiest thing to do.
I mean, if this was, if there was conversation between
Sean and these guys, and there's any kind of negotiation,
there was any part that the brooklyn Nets had in
(33:43):
this marriage becoming, so it would have been, hey, how
do you look like? This is what we've been to
this point, Um, how do we make this work? There's
there's been none of that conversation. It's it's Sean trying
to figure out, Okay, I've been given these two very
talented but troubled stars. How am I gonna make it work? Well,
(34:04):
I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to listen to
them and figure it out. And then you have the
Boston Celtics who today welcome in Kemba Walker and and
his cantor to their franchise officially. UM take a listen.
This is what Danny Ainge had to say earlier today
about about the plans for this offseason and how they
(34:28):
ultimately landed Kemba. I'm sorry, I thought we thought we
had He said, like, this is plan A. Now I
don't know if he's if he's full of it or
if it's Plan A after, but I I thought Kembo,
I mean, Kyrie was plan AM. I like all the
things that Kemba said, like, look look at how the
point Guards have succeeded. I've never won. I want to
(34:49):
win consistently. What do you think of Boston because it
feels like they may have lesser talent but maybe a
better fit with their new pieces. Yeah, they may here.
This is what we're gonna find out with this group.
We're gonna find out how much no one's seeing them
coming and with after Kyrie and Gordon Hayward got hurt,
(35:12):
and how much that was a motivating factor for them
being the underdogs. How much of an impact that really
had two years ago when they went to the conference finals,
because yes, they have lesser talent than they had with
with Kyrie. I don't think anybody's gonna put Kemba and
(35:33):
Kyrie in the same category. I think they're gonna but
Kemba as a leader certainly gets higher marks than he does.
But I look, Danny Ainge is really dodging a major
bullet here because no one but no one, And I'm
a little surprised by the Boston media on this. He
(35:54):
lost Al Horford and Kyrie Irving for Kemba Walker. On
what planet do you lose that kind of talent and
then turn around and say this is what I intended
to do and get away with it. I I get
the sense that you're looking at that with uh, with
(36:15):
a bit of a squint. I would hope that everybody would,
because however you look at it, Danny ains put together
a team last year that underachieved mightily, and then two
of the pieces walked out the door. And if you
want to say Kyrie Irving, you know is addition by subtraction.
That's fine, um, And you can say that Al Hartford
(36:36):
would have was was asking for too much. But the
bottom line is you lost those guys. Yeah. I think
that's fair. Um, but I also think it's fair to like, look, well,
we'll find out how good Jayson Tatum is. We'll find
out how good Jalen Brown is because now they'll have
the ability. They won't have the the built an excuse
of Kyrie was holding his back and and I agree.
(36:57):
I I thought I thought the the this his plan
a thing was uh it was bs. I mean, that's
really like right, that was not their planning. I do
think that landing Kemba landing at a high quality free
agent third out the last four years, uh, kind of
disproves the theory that free just don't want to go there.
But there were some other factors kind of working in there.
(37:19):
Um Andre Gadala, where does he end up? Boy, that's
a good question. I at this point, I don't know,
because a lot of it has to do with you know,
the Memphis. Memphis did this with Mike Connolly. That's why
Mike Connolly wasn't moved at the trade deadline is that
they wanted to uh, they wanted a king's ransom for him.
And then they sobered up and and took what they
(37:40):
could get. Andrea Guadala is sort of in the same camp.
I'm sure that there. What I've heard is, you know,
they're looking for a first round pick in in making
this move. They ultimately may get one, but it's going
to be heavily protected, and so that that's really going
to determine where he ends up. I don't get the sense.
(38:04):
This is what's interesting with both Chris Paul and Andrea
Guadala and I and I need to do a little
more homework on this, But teams are usually very conscious
of we we don't want to just move a guy.
We want to move a guy, and we want him
to be happy where we move him, because that sends
a signal to any other player that comes joins us,
that says, hey, if it doesn't work out here, we'll
(38:25):
take care of you on the way out. But Memphis
is in a little bit different Andre is not their guy,
and Oklahoma City, to a certain extent, Chris Paul is
not their guy. So I don't know how hard they're
gonna work at putting them someplace that they want to be. Um.
The bottom line is the Golden State Warriors were not
(38:48):
happy with Andrea Gudala and the things that he said
about the medical staff, and they've they've put him in
a very difficult position with the Memphis Grizzlies and not
being able to decide ultimately where he plays as he
closes out his career. Yeah, they send a basketball purgatory, right,
they sent him to Memphis. Um kind of weird. Two
days of stories the rich Paul so Clutch Sports yesterday
(39:10):
they lost Marcus Morris fired him and new lands Well
fired him. And listen, this does happen in basketball's you know,
it happens more with draft picks or guys that go undrafted.
They fire their first age and they hire the second age.
But Marcus Morris course committed to the San Antonio Spurs,
then renegged on it and signs a one year deal
worth five million more per yearfully one year with the Knicks.
Then he fires Clutched Sports new orlands Noel, who bet
(39:33):
on himself a couple of times over and has not
repped reaped any of the benefits. He fired Clutch Sports
but then Clutched Sports today apparently was was bought up
for three million dollars for by by utc Um. What's
the rep of Clutch Sports today in the NBA with
players I don't I don't know that the Marcus Morris
(39:55):
or the new Lands Noel decisions move the needle as
far as you. It's you are hiring Rich Paul and
Clutch Agency for a particular goal, which is, I I
don't care about my relationship here. I have a certain destination.
(40:20):
I have a certain thing that I want to get
done here, and I'm willing to burn bridges in order
to do it. Rich Paul has looked at that guy
who is is willing to do whatever is necessary uh
for his client, uh and to get him where he
wants to be. Now, obviously things went a little sideways
(40:42):
with Marcus in terms of how that worked out and
what Rich was trying to accomplish. But uh, it's it's
a little bit a little bit like the late Dan Fagan,
which is, I'm not worried about being the bad guy.
I'll be the bad guy in order to get you
what you want. The markets thing, the Marcus Morris thing,
(41:04):
I still honestly feel like it's more the exception than
the rule for the way guys look at Rich Paul
right now. Interesting, Uh, Rick, great stuff, Thanks so much,
for your perspective and all the insight you give us
in the NBA. Look forward to seeing you more on
Fox Sports One, read your stuff and Bleach Report. Appreciate
joining us. You got it.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
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(00:21):
of the Doug Gotlive Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom
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(00:43):
Are Farmers Well? Looks like we're off to football season.
We will talk some college football with Brady Quinn, who
of course moves from the studio to the booth this
year as we get ready for college football, Big twelve
Media Day SEC Media Days soon, Big ten Media Days
(01:03):
to be underway. And uh I, I love what I
heard from TUA to buy loga. Does it feel like
we're gonna see Clemson? Obama and the rest doesn't matter.
We'll ask Brady Quinn up coming, but I do want
to start with this discussion about Baker Mayfield. And it's
interesting where we've, where we were, where we are, and
(01:27):
where we're going in terms of the media and the
people the media covered. When I got into this business,
I remember thinking, Okay, how can I separate myself? Lots
of people, maybe almost every person had a stick. Think
(01:48):
of the people who are successful covering basketball, covering football,
to a lesser extent, baseball. You know Dick vite Oho,
but Schevski and Tomas So and by Williams, they're unbelievable,
(02:09):
Judd Keller, Perry right, everything was great, better than ever, unbelievable.
He's a PTP, He's a prime type performance. There was
no negativity there, and I didn't want to come across
as MR Negative. I just felt like there was a
(02:30):
lack of realness. Two. And this is not a shot
at Dick Vitao or U Bill Raftery, who are longtime
legendary figures in Collin college basketball, even in college football.
If you go back and you watch twenty years ago,
you realize that most eyes were dotted with hearts and
(02:52):
so I tried to find what I thought was a
balance between being relatively positive but also being real and
being honest and being forthcoming, and sometimes maybe the viewer
the listener wasn't hasn't been ready for that, because especially
(03:12):
in college basketball, where on TV I cut my teeth,
it's always been covered in such a positive manner that
the moment you say, hey, this is not good, it's
met with you're a hater. You're a hater. That's where
we are right the when Simon Cow was a hater,
when Simul Cow was just that was terrible. He was honest,
(03:35):
maybe to a fault. So when I read this article
about Baker Mayfield and Mina Kimes paints this picture of
a boy named Gavin whose parents shrug at the mention
of public stumbles from Baker Mayfield. Sure they don't want
their son done everything Mayfield's done, but they're happy that
a tiny kid like Gavin has found a relatively tiny
(03:58):
quarterback to admire and overlooked athlete, one of the world's
most famous walk ons is now in college football history,
who proved doubt he is wrong. His height, his flaws,
his story, it all makes Mayfield seemed more real to
them like a human playing position normally reserved for superheroes.
He is who he is and he doesn't apologize for it.
You know, the amazing part about the realness of Baker Mayfield.
(04:23):
We actually cover Baker Mayfield as if he set the
world on fire last year. We we've actually, for the
most part, the members of the media that I work with,
a lot of them have backed down from the flaws
of Baker Mayfield. We focused too much on yeah, he
was drunk off, you know, and at the University of
Arkansas and got chased down by cops, instead of simple
(04:47):
on field production like we've we We went from as
media members not reporting the flaws, overlooking the flaws two
now because he's a cult figure, saying how great it is,
how real he is, and still not pointing out the flaws.
It's okay for you to fall in love with Baker
(05:09):
Mayfield because people have told him he's too small, he's
not athletic enough. And yet remember he is small, he's
not crazy athletic. And by the way, against the good
teams that he played last year, the Ravens twice, the Chargers,
the Steelers, the Texans, the Broncos, those are the good
teams defensively ten touchdowns, love interception completion percentage. They weren't
(05:31):
two and four in the year, and I believe all
but one was after the coaching change. And if I
point that out, I'm a hater. Like it's amazing that
people fans embrace athletes because they believe that the athletes
(05:51):
that break through and are real and are honest and
our flawed. And yet if we point out that they're
real and they're flawed and they're not perfect, somehow we
become a hater. Right, I mean, this is basically the
the President Trump deal right right now, because I think
(06:12):
that's one of the things that draws some people to Trump. Yeah,
all right, maybe he maybe he shouldn't have tweeted that out,
but at least he's being real, like or maybe he
shouldn't tweeted that out, or maybe he shouldn't have thought that,
let alone tweet it it out. But if you point
that out, you become a hater. Isn't it remarkable? And
(06:34):
the remarkable like it's it's we we so badly want
human beings, but when we point out that they are
in fact human beings, we're the bad guy for pointing
out their human beings. Maybe it's just not honest with
us because you don't really actually want honesty. You want
(06:55):
the assumption of honesty, or you want the honesty from
the actual subject, not from the people covering the subject. Look,
Baker Mayfield is a great story. He is an amazing story,
whatever his decision making, because remember he was offered scholarships.
He just wasn't offered a scholarship initially a Texas Tech
and chose to walk on in Oklahoma. But it's not
(07:16):
like there's no one who wanted it. But he was
a walk on. He did win the Heisman, he was
a finalist three times one at once. He did lead
his team in to the to the national semifinals. And
he has changed the culture for the most part, the
for the better of the Cleveland Browns. But we've got
(07:39):
we've we've reached the point where now you can't say
anything that's anything other than positive, even though one of
the reasons you like him is because the only things
that are mentioned are only totally positive or seen as
totally negative. It's a bit of a catch twenty two. Uh,
there's an immense amount of pressure on the Cleveland Browns.
(08:02):
I do think Baker performs better when there is that
amount of pressure, although in times in the past he's
tried things and when they played in the playoffs and
at Oklahoma he tried to force things early on. He
tried hero ball that didn't work. But as everyone at
Oklahoma told me and people who evaluate him for the NFL,
(08:23):
he's unbelievable at defending his own players and guys love
him just like he He had some terror, some stupid
criticism of Giants fans needed to support Odell Beckham Jr.
More like, what do they was he even talking about?
He's literally talking about somebody has no idea what he's
in Cleveland. He doesn't know that Giants fans felt about
Odell Beckham Junior. But it's it's all part of Baker's deal,
(08:47):
is he you're either all with him or you're completely
against him, and he uses that as his motivation. It's
amazing what he's been able to accomplish being under six
feet tall, not being a great athlete. But he is
under six feet tall. He isn't a great athlete, and
if not surrounded by great players, sometimes those flaws get
(09:09):
made more pronounced, and that's not being a hater that's
like Baker Mayfield himself being real. 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. Who knows more about lofty,
almost ridiculous expectations in college and the NFL than our
(09:32):
own Brady Quinn. You can see hear him every Sunday
on Fox Sport Trade alongside Jonas Knox eight eastern, five
o'clock Pacific, and of course he'll be in studio every
college Saturday on Fox covering college football. Get to college
football in a second, Brady, But give me your sense
of what changes from year one to year two for
(09:56):
a guy like Baker Mayfield in a town like Cleveland
where you've quarterbacked Browns and there's now expectations so that
that are that are raised around this Browns organization. Yeah,
it's funny you phrase it in that way because my
rookie year are really get to play until week seventeen,
But our team went ten and six that year. We
(10:16):
didn't make the playoffs, but very similar situation in the
expectations heading into two thousand and eight. Um, we we
brought in Sean Rogers, we brought in Corey Williams, some
really good defensive lineman. Um, at that point in time,
our offense was kind of clicking on all cylinders. Um,
so you know, things were looking up in Cleveland. You
could sense the optimism in the hype and it reminded
(10:38):
me a lot of I think where the Brown's kind
of all right now. I think the only difference maybe
being all the different moves that they've made now over
the past two years than obviously coming from an entirely
different point with the only won one game in two seasons.
So um, you know, it's very very similar. And I
think that the thing that I always say to Brown's
fans to caution them, and this is coming from a
(10:59):
Brown fans stuff. I grew up rooting for the team
and obviously lived out that dream of plan for him.
But this is the NFL. It's really really hard to
take that next step and then to stay there and
be there consistently and then take that next step where
you're like New England and you dominate your division and
you dominate in the A S c um and so
seven wins last year, that was great. Um, it's a
(11:21):
good you know starting point and obviously the everything they
did in the second half of season one, Sprettie Kitchens
took over full time. On the offense, you continue to
see Baker developed, what's huge, But now it's can they
continue that? How do they handle all the expectations with
all the additional big egos and personalities in that locker
room and also the change I think, look, they're changing
(11:41):
scheme defensively, how Sprettie Kitchen is gonna handle a lot
of things that come up as a first time head coach.
I think the one thing they have going for him
is they have one hell of a staff with Todd
Munk and as the row c MI pre first, their
special teams coach and all that. So they've got a
lot of the right pieces from a coaching standpoint to
help temper some of those personalities and all that up.
But at the end of the day, it's not like
(12:01):
Pittsburgh and Baltimore are rolling over in that division and
just gonna let him win it. So it's gonna be
a fun season to watch. I can't wait to see.
I love watching Baker play. I think it's the hell
of a player him. I'm glad Clinton was able to
get him. They they he only had ten touchdowns live
interceptions against the five good defenses he faced in six games.
What what does he have to improve upon? Obviously they
(12:24):
getting Overell Beckham Jr. Improves their personnel, uh with the
number one wide receiver to go along with you know
Jervis Landry in year two. But when when you watch
him play, what's the thing that can help him take
that next step? Well, I think it's it's a it's
a mistake that a lot of young quarterbacks made, really
any quarterbacks eight points on their career. There was times
(12:45):
when he got over zealous, he pressed a little bit,
made some decisions and he didn't need American turning the
football over. And look with snaps in time, that goes away.
You know that that goes away. And I think look
at their defense improves, that also goes away. You know
he's not gonna be put in the position where he
has to do that. So those two things I think
are gonna, in my mind, be the difference for him
this year where he takes that next step. And and
(13:07):
look at you could you can stay at twenty seven
touchdown passes as long as they can see and run
the football effectively and he cuts down some of those
interceptions and their defensive proves that might be enough to
get it done and make them a playoff game. Brady
Queen joining us on The Doug Out Lip Show on
Fox support Trader R. Let's delve into college Uh something
you're gonna you guys, got a great new studio team
that you're a part of on Big Fox. And of
(13:29):
course Big ten Media Days about to get in a way,
Big twelve already on the way SEC Media Days runderway.
And because you have two of back, because you have
the two star quarterbacks back, and because there's so much,
so many person so much personnel back for both teams,
there's the assumptions Clemson and Alabama and everybody else. Do
you agree with that assumption? Yeah, I think it's hard
(13:50):
not to think that way, only because of the one
the talent too. They've been able to recruit over the years.
I mean every single year they're in the top five
recruiting ASTs a lot of times top four, top three,
and so that's part of it. The fact that they've
probably got the best two quarterbacks in college football coming
back this year, that's a huge piece of it. Um
coaching you know, head coaches as well. So all those
(14:13):
things kind of point to these two teams meeting head
on at some point in time. Uh, and you kind
of ask yourself, Okay, what could get in the way. Well,
for Clemson, look, the the SEC is the worst in
the Power five right now. And people may take exception
that because Clemson just won a national championship, but that's it.
That's all they got right now. There's not a lot
of parody in that in that conference, and outside of Clemston,
(14:36):
it's kind of everyone else. Um. You can look at
the preseason rankings if you want to get some sort
of indication of that. But I mean, just just go
back and look through the years and so forward to
stay in Miami and some of these other schools in
the a SEC really come around. Cleston is not gonna
have a hard path at getting to the College Football Playoff.
For Alabama, it's obviously different because they play and arguably
the tough division, the SEC West. The difference in my
(14:57):
opinion with Alabama as their schedule, I mean, the starters
they got to bis um, they have an FCS opponent before.
I think they have a buy before LSU and asked
FCS appointed before Auburn and Iron Bowl um which you know,
again you never know what open is gonna be this year,
but it's a robbery game, you never know. But the
way their schedules, you know, stacks up to you kind
of look at and say, not that they have a
(15:17):
free pass, but it sets up for them to succeed
when the West and probably a showdown with George and
the SEC championship game, and that's the one team that
could spoil, you know, the matchup of seeing uh, you know,
Alabama versus Clempson again at some point time in the
College football playoff. My biggest question would be if Alabama
runs the table, uh you know, as far as the
regular season goes, once they get to the SEC Championship game,
(15:40):
if Georgia beats them and they're undefeated too, do you
leave out one loss Alabama team that just lost an
SEC championship game. We haven't really seen anything like that.
Usually when teams make it, they didn't win their division,
they didn't even have to play in that thirteen game
in the conference championship game. Alabama was that team. Ohio
State was that team. In the past, we haven't seen
a seen the loss in a conference championship game get in.
(16:02):
That would be an interesting scenario if that did play out.
It is is this the year from Michigan? Everything would
point in that direction. But I love everything Ryan Day
has done. Just from that they're coaching hires, I think
into placing some pieces that have moved on, whether it's
you know Greg Madison, who dates back to some of
(16:23):
my time with that a Notre Dame UM, or even
just you know the way he's kind of handled some
of the pressure and keeping I think a lot of
the things that are reminded Bill, but kind of also
tweaking in and doing it his way to I just
I think the biggest question is is Justin Field is
gonna be at the five star recruit that Georgia thought
he was going to be in that Ohio State hopes
he's gonna be uh, and then how much better can
(16:43):
the OI State defense get? But Michigan has every opportunity
this year, right when you look at their schedule, even nonconference,
right Notre Dame comes into their house. Um, but they
should have every opportunity this year to be able to
win the Big Ken and kind of turn the tide
and maybe take over a little it was Shave Patterson
coming back. Josh Gaddis is now changing the offense to
really fit more for his style, more than up tempo,
(17:06):
more got spread that. I think we saw Shade Patterson's
show promise with during his time with Old Miss. Yeah. No,
it's gonna be fascinating considering how how sluggish they look, granted,
missing several players in the bowl game and of course
beaten by Notre Dame early in the season. We'll we'll
see if they can eliminate that, and then the the
Ohio State game. Brady can't wait to see in studio.
Appreciate catching up. We'll listen to your Sunday on Fox
(17:27):
Sports Radio. Appreciate me. Do have a great day. Alright's
Brady Quinn of course, one of our lead analysts college football.
You can hear him on Fox Sports Radio every Sunday
with Jonas Knox as as they cover everything, and of
course we're leading into football season. Who better than a
guy who starred at Notre Dame, was a starter in
the National Football League. Be sure to catch live editions
so the Doug dot Leaps Show weekdays at noon eastern
(17:49):
three pm Pacific. The Russell Us Brick and Chris Paul
trade was made official yesterday, and this from Sam Presty,
of course, is the longtime general manager of the Oakland
Say Thunder. He selected Russell in the NBA draft. He said,
Russell Westbrook is the most important player in the brief
history of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has left an
indelible mark on this team, the city and state. Now,
(18:16):
I mean, look, it's impossible to not see that as
a slight towards Kevin Durant, Right, It's it's impossible not
to um and I think on some level it is.
But I also think and and you know, there's there's
(18:41):
gotta be some bitter feelings, not in that the relationship
between k D and the Thunder ended, but where he
went and how he went there. Remember that the Thunder
were left with the type of feeling. Hey, he told
us he's coming back. He didn't and I'm not sure
what he's supposed to say at his last at his
(19:02):
exit meeting press conference, but at his exhibiting press conference
he said he expected to be back the next season.
I don't believe uh. As was reported that he told
Russell Westbrook he was absolutely coming back before he took
the meetings. I believe he said what he his company
line had been, which is he believed he was coming.
(19:24):
There's a difference in the semantics of it. And look,
Russell Westbrook only stayed what three more seasons, so it's
he played two seasons more in totality than KD. They
both won m vps. Russell of course average of triple
double the last three games um and in truth, like
(19:44):
Russell Westbrook asked out, he wanted out. Now, some of
it may come from the fact that his name was
linked into that Toronto trade, potentially with Paul George. I
felt like once that was in there, once that got
out and it was made public, it was over between
the two. But I'm guessing that he knew once Paul
George went in and asked out, and Paul George apparently
(20:05):
was open about that. With Russell Westbrook, he knew it
was over. So KD, I guess looks worse because he
was a free agent left on his own volition. But
I don't understand how Russell Westbrook asking to be traded
and not want to ride it ride it out through
a rebuild isn't just as bad. But this is Sam
Presty picking sides, and I'm not sure I see the
(20:31):
win in it. Maybe it's because they had turned the fans,
and the fans had turned on their own against Kevin Durant.
But shouldn't he have simply said he represents one of
the two indelible superstars in the history of our franchise,
(20:52):
and we couldn't cannot have been more honored to whatever
you want to say. He has left it in Delba mark,
on the team, on the city, and on the State.
I think it's it's really impressive. But it's also interesting
that Russell asked out, you know, Paul, when Paul George,
(21:17):
I am sure, went to Russell and said like, hey, man,
I don't think this thing is this this dog is
gonna hunt. I don't think so. Either. They wanted off
the ship even though they had signed long term deals,
and maybe ultimately Oklahoma City ends up benefiting from having
them under contract and getting so much back in return
(21:38):
as opposed to getting nothing for Kevin Durant. But they
were under contract and asked out, as opposed to KB
who is not under contract and left. I failed to
see how Russell Westbrook, in reality his actions were better
than k D's like because he signed a contract that
(22:01):
was bigger than he can get anywhere else and then
wanted to be traded two years after signing that contract.
Somehow he's a hero. I you want to talk about, uh,
the misuse of the word loyalty, Like what Paul George did,
was he worse? Like you signed a four year contract,
(22:24):
and one year into the four year contract you want
out to go back to and look again. I think
what Presty has done is brilliant, brilliant if the guys
don't want to play there and you can get top
dollar if you're not, you know, if if you're not
unloading something and getting nothing back in return. I do.
(22:48):
I think it's brilliant. On the other hand, and I
don't think it's sinister what Paul George did. But I
don't think it's great business just because you don't want
you don't think you can win, Like you still had
Russell Westbrook, you still had Paul George, you still had
Dennis Shrewder, you had Steven Adams. Why can't you win
(23:09):
unless you're not good enough? You know, like the Warriors
aren't nearly as good as what's what they once were,
and I don't see anybody they're jumping ship, do you.
I just I don't. I don't see this one. I
feel like this is this feels petty to me. It's
(23:31):
not the level of pettiness we saw in Cleveland from
Dan Gilbert when Lebron left, but it feels petty to me.
Katie obviously is a dude who who struggles with his
own decisions, struggles to find happiness. You know, I just
(23:53):
I don't this. This feels petty, This feels like that,
it feels as embarrassing and most of you know, I
consider Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, my second home, and I spent
more time there and in Connecticut and in California, like
those are the places that I live. Oklahoma's is a
place I call home. But I don't. I don't get
(24:15):
this between getting dressed up as cupcakes, you know, and
taunting Kevin Durant as he goes and wins, you know,
two finals MVPs. Like that's fan pettiness. That's gonna happen
when you're Sam Presty. This even if it's not what
you how how you thought it would come out. I look,
(24:35):
I just want to say great things about Russell Westbrook.
You've been a great dude. Russell Westbrooks really hard to coach.
Russell Westbrook got worse as a shooter than he did.
That's about his work ethic and about his mental focus.
I get it. He struggles in terms of how many
hours he can put it in the off season because
he's had, you know, multiple knee surgeries. You don't have
(24:57):
to come out and slam Russell Westbrook like a, well,
he was great, but he was hard to coach, and
he couldn't shoot, and he wanted to do things and
dominate the basketball and he's a high volume shooter and
a high volume And she's like, now, you don't have
to say those things. But you also don't have to
take a shot at Kevin Durant when he's been out
the door for three years. All right, this is your
(25:21):
second your second wife leaving you, and you're still bitter
that your first wife left. 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. This just in from agent Originowski uh NBA
Insider story filled story has just been filed Oklahoma City's
(25:45):
discussions to move nine time All Star Chris Paul onto
a new distant destination are parked, and increasing expectations exist
that he will start the season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With that, let's welcome in Rick Buker, he too, an
NBA insider, writes for Bleacher Report, and see him on
Fox worts one. All the TV shows speak for yourself,
especially as well as Undisputed, And I'm with Colin cowherd.
(26:07):
Uh is this just a case of that's a terrible
contract and they can't find a destination for it, or
is there something more at play? Well? No, I can
tell you that they made the deal not having a
stet place to move him on. Too, I can also
tell you that it's their intention to move him on
(26:27):
that that Chris Paul uh and what the Oklahoma City
Thunder are are trying to do right now are not
a match. So uh saying that it's parked, Okay, it's parked.
Did they take the keys and that they throw them
in the river? No? Uh, They're they're searching for a partner.
(26:48):
And I believe that as much this is Chris Paul
not wanting to look like he's some sort of vagabond
at this point, and just I know that he's going
to have his druthers in terms of where he goes.
Miami would be a place that he would be open to.
Minnesota is another place that I've heard. Uh if if
(27:09):
they're desperately wanting to get off of Andrew Wiggins, so, um,
would they would they consider that? Would Oklahoma City consider that?
The bottom line is Chris Paul's very much is going
to be in play and is not part of Oklahoma
City's future. Uh, if they are unable to move him
(27:30):
before the season, it won't be from a lack of crying,
you know, it's it's can I give you my read
on it real quick? I feel like, um, I feel
like the story that was yesterday was, um, there's a
deal to be had there, but the Heat want both
their draft picks back right now, the story today, and
so they're not motivated to make the move. So now,
(27:50):
Oklahoma City, you know, through Woads, Hey, we're just gonna
maybe you'll just open the season. This just feels like
negotiating through the media, right Yeah, no, no, no, there's
there's no question that this is posturing. I mean, whoever
whoever is reporting it that if you if you take
a step back and you look at what Oklahoma City
wants to do. Uh, they want to move Chris Paul
(28:12):
Are What is it going to cost them at this
point to move him? That's the sticking point. So unless
we're talking about that, anything else is just posturing. Rick
Bucker Johning us. Do you think the Westbrook marriage with
James Harden ultimately works? When you say works, what do
(28:35):
you what are we trying to accomplish that they will
kill each other? Yes? They will? I will it work.
It's not. It's not going to bring them a championship.
So no, it's not gonna work. Is it gonna make
them any better or worse than last season? I believe
that Russ Westbrook actually might be better. People might look
(28:58):
at him in a different light playing with Mike D'Antoni
and potentially playing with more shooters around him, or playing
for Mike D'Antonio. I should say, is it going to
make the Houston Rockets anymore of a threat to win
a championship in the Western Conference? I have no reason
to believe that because it's still going to be taking
number your turn my term, Uh, let's don't see a
(29:21):
way in which this pair combines not only to to
work efficiently together, but to get everybody else working efficiently
as well. Yeah, and then and then you have the
status of Mike D'Antoni kind of lame duck status to
be a new staff. And I don't think Russell Westbrook
is completely uncoachable, but he's not easy to coach. And
(29:42):
it's a lot harder to coach a guy when you
don't have a long term contract and you don't have
a staff that's been with you the whole time well,
and and that you're not one really for confrontation. And
it's I mean that if you look at the array
of coaches that Russ has had, none of them have
been willing to, by all appearances, stand up to Russ
(30:07):
and say this is the way we need you to
play for us to be effective. And I believe that
he could be better for Mike simply because Mike, uh if,
if I'm gonna rate Scotty Brooks, Billy Donovan, Mike D'Antoni
from an offensive sex is an old standpoint, Mike. Mike
has a gift for making guys look good and putting
(30:29):
them in a sweet spot, particularly guards, particularly ball dominant guards.
So I can see where he might make Russ look
more effective than than he ever has. But I still
don't see how that's going to make this team better
than it's been with Chris Paul or anybody else. Sean
Marks went on a New York City station and and
(30:52):
and said basically like, look, they didn't even have to
recruit Kevin Durant. He committed to them before they are
talked to him. And and then he take a listen, this,
this is this is Sean Marks, take a listen. I
think everything has to change slightly. You know, we haven't
had that type of talent, you know. Un let's across
the board. I'll put all our three I in that,
(31:13):
not just the two of those guys that you mentioned,
all of them, and things are gonna change, Things are
gonna adapt. They have to. They have to start driving
the culture. That's that's what it's all about. We have
to learn from them. These guys have been in the league,
they're elite level players, and we have to see what
we can learn from them as well. It's fascinating, right,
um going to like it top if you have been
(31:33):
spo but Kyrie Irving is going to a place that
has a great culture and has played and allowed a
point guard to exceed any expectations, and he's gonna come
in and they're gonna change some things that he's going
to teach them, Like, doesn't this feel like both Boston
and Golden State all over again? Well again, Doug, we're
(31:55):
looking at reports or media or interview that really looks
past what's really going on, which is Kyrie Irving. And
he was being truthful when he said we didn't have
to recruit. It wasn't the brooklyn Nets making the decision
that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving we're going to become
(32:16):
brooklyn Nets. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant decided we'd like
to be brooklyn Nets, and the brooklyn Nets said, well,
how can we say no to two guys like this?
I love I I really like, respect and admire what
Sean Marks has done uh as in his first turn
(32:39):
as a GM. I I love what he's done with
the brooklyn Nets. But this, this is really unfair to
him to put him out there and try to explain
what they're what they're doing, because it wasn't in his hands.
It was it was k D and Kyrie deciding to
(32:59):
be come brooklyn Nets, and and now he has to
explain how or why they're going to make this work.
And so what else can you say except we got
two guys that are going to be the biggest personalities
and stars that we've ever had. It's completely anathema to
what I've done with this this franchise up until now.
(33:21):
And so we're gonna have to make room for him
because you know what, we don't have any other choice.
So none of that would suggest that it's going to
work or that it's even the healthiest thing to do.
I mean, if this was, if there was conversation between
Sean and these guys, and there's any kind of negotiation,
there was any part that the brooklyn Nets had in
(33:43):
this marriage becoming, so it would have been, hey, how
do you look like? This is what we've been to
this point, Um, how do we make this work? There's
there's been none of that conversation. It's it's Sean trying
to figure out, Okay, I've been given these two very
talented but troubled stars. How am I gonna make it work? Well,
(34:04):
I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to listen to
them and figure it out. And then you have the
Boston Celtics who today welcome in Kemba Walker and and
his cantor to their franchise officially. UM take a listen.
This is what Danny Ainge had to say earlier today
about about the plans for this offseason and how they
(34:28):
ultimately landed Kemba. I'm sorry, I thought we thought we
had He said, like, this is plan A. Now I
don't know if he's if he's full of it or
if it's Plan A after, but I I thought Kembo,
I mean, Kyrie was plan AM. I like all the
things that Kemba said, like, look look at how the
point Guards have succeeded. I've never won. I want to
(34:49):
win consistently. What do you think of Boston because it
feels like they may have lesser talent but maybe a
better fit with their new pieces. Yeah, they may here.
This is what we're gonna find out with this group.
We're gonna find out how much no one's seeing them
coming and with after Kyrie and Gordon Hayward got hurt,
(35:12):
and how much that was a motivating factor for them
being the underdogs. How much of an impact that really
had two years ago when they went to the conference finals,
because yes, they have lesser talent than they had with
with Kyrie. I don't think anybody's gonna put Kemba and
(35:33):
Kyrie in the same category. I think they're gonna but
Kemba as a leader certainly gets higher marks than he does.
But I look, Danny Ainge is really dodging a major
bullet here because no one but no one, And I'm
a little surprised by the Boston media on this. He
(35:54):
lost Al Horford and Kyrie Irving for Kemba Walker. On
what planet do you lose that kind of talent and
then turn around and say this is what I intended
to do and get away with it. I I get
the sense that you're looking at that with uh, with
(36:15):
a bit of a squint. I would hope that everybody would,
because however you look at it, Danny ains put together
a team last year that underachieved mightily, and then two
of the pieces walked out the door. And if you
want to say Kyrie Irving, you know is addition by subtraction.
That's fine, um, And you can say that Al Hartford
(36:36):
would have was was asking for too much. But the
bottom line is you lost those guys. Yeah. I think
that's fair. Um, but I also think it's fair to like, look, well,
we'll find out how good Jayson Tatum is. We'll find
out how good Jalen Brown is because now they'll have
the ability. They won't have the the built an excuse
of Kyrie was holding his back and and I agree.
(36:57):
I I thought I thought the the this his plan
a thing was uh it was bs. I mean, that's
really like right, that was not their planning. I do
think that landing Kemba landing at a high quality free
agent third out the last four years, uh, kind of
disproves the theory that free just don't want to go there.
But there were some other factors kind of working in there.
(37:19):
Um Andre Gadala, where does he end up? Boy, that's
a good question. I at this point, I don't know,
because a lot of it has to do with you know,
the Memphis. Memphis did this with Mike Connolly. That's why
Mike Connolly wasn't moved at the trade deadline is that
they wanted to uh, they wanted a king's ransom for him.
And then they sobered up and and took what they
(37:40):
could get. Andrea Guadala is sort of in the same camp.
I'm sure that there. What I've heard is, you know,
they're looking for a first round pick in in making
this move. They ultimately may get one, but it's going
to be heavily protected, and so that that's really going
to determine where he ends up. I don't get the sense.
(38:04):
This is what's interesting with both Chris Paul and Andrea
Guadala and I and I need to do a little
more homework on this, But teams are usually very conscious
of we we don't want to just move a guy.
We want to move a guy, and we want him
to be happy where we move him, because that sends
a signal to any other player that comes joins us,
that says, hey, if it doesn't work out here, we'll
(38:25):
take care of you on the way out. But Memphis
is in a little bit different Andre is not their guy,
and Oklahoma City, to a certain extent, Chris Paul is
not their guy. So I don't know how hard they're
gonna work at putting them someplace that they want to be. Um.
The bottom line is the Golden State Warriors were not
(38:48):
happy with Andrea Gudala and the things that he said
about the medical staff, and they've they've put him in
a very difficult position with the Memphis Grizzlies and not
being able to decide ultimately where he plays as he
closes out his career. Yeah, they send a basketball purgatory, right,
they sent him to Memphis. Um kind of weird. Two
days of stories the rich Paul so Clutch Sports yesterday
(39:10):
they lost Marcus Morris fired him and new lands Well
fired him. And listen, this does happen in basketball's you know,
it happens more with draft picks or guys that go undrafted.
They fire their first age and they hire the second age.
But Marcus Morris course committed to the San Antonio Spurs,
then renegged on it and signs a one year deal
worth five million more per yearfully one year with the Knicks.
Then he fires Clutched Sports new orlands Noel, who bet
(39:33):
on himself a couple of times over and has not
repped reaped any of the benefits. He fired Clutch Sports
but then Clutched Sports today apparently was was bought up
for three million dollars for by by utc Um. What's
the rep of Clutch Sports today in the NBA with
players I don't I don't know that the Marcus Morris
(39:55):
or the new Lands Noel decisions move the needle as
far as you. It's you are hiring Rich Paul and
Clutch Agency for a particular goal, which is, I I
don't care about my relationship here. I have a certain destination.
(40:20):
I have a certain thing that I want to get
done here, and I'm willing to burn bridges in order
to do it. Rich Paul has looked at that guy
who is is willing to do whatever is necessary uh
for his client, uh and to get him where he
wants to be. Now, obviously things went a little sideways
(40:42):
with Marcus in terms of how that worked out and
what Rich was trying to accomplish. But uh, it's it's
a little bit a little bit like the late Dan Fagan,
which is, I'm not worried about being the bad guy.
I'll be the bad guy in order to get you
what you want. The markets thing, the Marcus Morris thing,
(41:04):
I still honestly feel like it's more the exception than
the rule for the way guys look at Rich Paul
right now. Interesting, Uh, Rick, great stuff, Thanks so much,
for your perspective and all the insight you give us
in the NBA. Look forward to seeing you more on
Fox Sports One, read your stuff and Bleach Report. Appreciate
joining us. You got it.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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