August 10, 2020 • 38 mins
Doug gives the latest on the potential of a college football season and why universities are worried about having a season during the pandemic. He discusses the trash talk between Damian Lillard and the Clippers and which teams are succeeding down in the NBA bubble. Plus NBA insider Ric Bucher joins the show to tell Doug if the Lakers can live up to their championship contender hype.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gottlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to six
Eastern twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
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(00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What a Doug Gottlieb Show.
Fox Sports Radio. We have a ton to get to.
I think the place to begin is college football, don't
you guys think so? So as of right now, okay, uh,
(00:42):
there is no vote in from the Big ten, but
the pac twelve is gonna meet on Tuesday and vote
on their season. The assumption is the Big ten will
vote at some time in the near future. What has
changed is now you have Trevor Lawrence being joined by
James Franklin, co cha Penn State, Scott Frost coach Nebraska. Oh,
and uh Donald Trump President the United States. Indeed, we
(01:06):
want to play like this. This is it's become political.
It's become um. It's it's really interesting, fascinating in fact,
because because if you get down to it, like one
of the things that we've been told is, hey, athletes
need their voices to be heard. But apparently many of
(01:27):
the people who want athletes voices to be heard only
want them to speak on certain issues, name ivagn't likeness right,
not on whether or not they want to play during
the COVID nineteen pandemic crisis, that part, they're just kids.
They don't know any better, right, I've I've seen Dennis
(01:50):
Dodd wrote an article were like, hey, the adults have
to step in here. But wait a second, when the
adults stepped in on other stuff. You don't like what
the adults have to say, which is it? Make make
up your mind? And I thought, and does it agree
with my point? Sure? That makes it easier for me
to echo it. But I do think that it's a
(02:11):
smart statement to paint the picture accurately. Which is no
one saying that it's not dangerous. No one's saying that
that you want to get it, but the idea that
you're more likely to get it in a controlled environment
like a college football program as a prose to an
uncontrolled environment like being at home. In addition to all
(02:34):
the other unintended consequences like look, if they play, they
will still lose money. They're still gonna lose a lot
of money. Now they may lose slightly less. I'm not sure,
you know, they just might. I think you'll see elimination
of a lot of other programs if they don't if
they don't play, and a lot of jobs as well. Look,
(02:58):
if they don't play college football, I've been told that
ESPN will have to either fire or furlough there behind
scenes people. That's howly on college football they are. Then
you go through college campuses and you start to get like, look,
they have these bloated athletic departments because all they do
is support all these kids and they try and get
(03:19):
you know, as many different people with hands on them
as they possibly can to make their lives better, make
their careers easier to be to obtain. But it's really
hard to employ those people. And you're not having a
season academic advisors, uh, the chef for the for the
(03:41):
training table, all of the trainers, all of the coaches,
all the administrators, all the game day staff, the marketing people.
There's nothing to market, there's no there's no job to
be had. Like, do people actually have any understanding of
all the things affect did you're already if you don't
(04:02):
have fans, they're affecting all the restaurants and businesses potentially
in terms of people at hotels, people coming in and
out of town. Now you can affect all the other
people on campus. Do you understand the potential damage that
you're doing? And for what our college wallplayers weren't protecting? Yes?
Are you actually protecting them more if you send them home? No?
(04:29):
But but the difference is nobody wants to be liable, right,
I mean, the University of Oklahoma had nineteen kids with
COVID when they first arrived on campus. They have zero.
Now why they have COVID before they got to campus
because their homes are uncontrolled environment because they're not on quarantine.
(04:51):
They're not isolated that you Dan, did you want to
hop in here? What is that? You're right? Okay, so
you know you know what Clemson had with like kids,
two kids that had COVID when they got there, Like
you're you are. In fact, it's really hard. It's you're safer,
(05:15):
but the liability falls and who's ever home you're in, right,
That's what happens that the liability falls in the lap
of whomever, whomever there your house there. It's like the
old like this is honestly the problem with with the
tortue reform that's needed in uh in our legal system.
(05:38):
If somebody breaks into your house and trips and falls
and breaks their ankle right there, laying there wreathing in pain,
even though they broke into their house, and they get
up and they hobble away, and they get to their
getaway car and maybe they drive left footed because they
broke their right ankle, and instead of making off of
your TV, they just grab some jewelry went out the door.
(06:01):
They can sue you because they broke their ankle in
your house. It's one of the things. It's like the
I don't know if you have a pool at your house.
We've never We've had a pool at a couple of
house that we rented, the houses that we've owned. We
desperately want a house with a pool. Well, the only problem.
(06:23):
The good thing about a pool is you want kids,
when they especially become teenagers, to come to your house
because then again controlled environment. Actually, this is the best
analogy I can give you for why college football should
be played played. You ready, all right, Elijah rolling on
this music? You got this? This is the perfect analogy. Okay,
(06:48):
if you have a pool at your house, the good
news is that's where kids are gonna go. Right, you
got a pink punk table, we got a basketball hoop,
you got a little corn hole, you got a trampoline,
you've got a pool. So the good news is that
all the kids come to your house and it's a
controlled environment. Like the fear is they become high school
(07:09):
kids and somebody's gonna bring booze. Somebody's gonna bring one
of two kinds of cigarettes. Right, and if you're not there,
you can't adjust to who the crowd is that's there.
You can't adjust how your kids is their alcohol present,
you know what the girls are wearing, how the boys
are talking, what everybody's doing. You're just setting them off
(07:30):
into a free environment. Your neighbor, who you may know
really well, lives three doors down, has a pool, has
a hoop. You don't have a pool. Okay, Now, the
only downside to having a pool is somebody's drownds. It's
on you. Same thing with a trampoline, Like, why don't
people have trampolines? And the reason I was totally down
on having a try you wanta have a trampoline forever
(07:53):
was did everybody anytime I've ever been a trampoline, somebody
gets hurt. And if somebody gets hurt who doesn't have
my last name, I'm gonna have to pay for it.
Right's my liability. And that's what's keeping colleges from from
committing to football. It's not because you're any more likely
to get hurt. It's because you're any more likely to
drown in the pool. It's just because it's on their
(08:14):
watch and the last thing that they want, especially when
they're making less money than they've ever made on college football.
They can't generate nearly the income on students on campus
because so many have stayed home or decided to take
a year off or want to take online classes. What
they can't do is take on all of that liability.
(08:36):
So it's a fascinating time. The Big Ten is not
had an official vote among presidents and chancellors. Even though
that was it was reported that it was twelve to
two by one website. President Trump tweeted the student athletes
have been working too hard for their season be canceled.
Hashtag we want to play? Which we want to play? Is? That?
Is a hashtag that was started by Trevor Lawrence, and
many of the top players and coach in the country
(08:57):
have supported playing a season this fall. Ryan Day from
Ohio State, their head coach, swinging as hard as we
possibly can right now for these players, this isn't over.
Hashtag fight and Jim um Jim Harbaugh had a lengthy
statement today about why they should play football this fall
as well. So Ohio State and Michigan can argue about
(09:18):
anything get along with zero except for this topic. This
is Scott Frost, head coach, former player in Nebraska, head
coach in Nebraska with his thoughts on playing We want
to play a big tent schedule. I hope that's what happens.
Our university is committed to playing no matter what, no
matter what that looks like and how how that looks.
We want to play no matter who it is or
(09:39):
where it is. So we'll see how those chips fall.
We certainly hope it's in the Big ten. If it isn't,
I think we're prepared to look for other options. Yeah, well,
we'll play anywhere, anywhere, anytime, any place. And it's important
to him. Huh. It is fascinating fastand so where are
we which still at the same place. Nothing has been canceled.
(10:02):
The gloom and doomers say that cancelations are coming tomorrow,
but it hasn't occurred as of yet, not yet, now yet,
And when Nebraska go back to the Big twelve for
a year, And what would the Big ten? Do you know,
Jim Delaney just retired their longtime commissioner is a Big ten,
just a brilliant, brilliant man. He retires, you got a
(10:23):
brand new commissioner. There's some serious NBA beef going down
to Orlando. I'll dive into that next. Be sure to
catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays
at three pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio. Ah app beef it is
What's for dinner? Kids? Do you guys watch this weekend?
(10:44):
I think it was Friday? Was a Friday Clippers to
Saturday Clippers. The days we run into each other, we
we'd all agree on that Saturday Clippers took on the
trail Blazers, trouble Blazers trying for the eight seat. Remember
the nine and the eight are gonna play I think
to potentially two games. Um and the Clippers actually pulled
their starters and Landry Shammant and the backups end up
taking down Portland. And you know, part of the beef
(11:07):
was started between the Trailblazers and the the Clippers was
started because Patrick Beverley was doing his Patrick Beverlely thing right,
he was doing his game dame time, mocking Dame time
Damian Lillard. So this was Damian Lillard discussing the trash
talk he received from Pat Beverley and Paul George asking
(11:28):
me about Patrick Beverley, who I sent him home before
at the end of a game. Paul George has got
sent home by me last year in the playoffs, So
they know that the reason they reacted like that is
because of what they expect from me, which is a
sign of respect. And it just shows what I've done,
had a high clip more times than not, so I'm
not offended by it. If anything, it should just tell
(11:48):
you how how much it hurt them to go through
what I put them through in those situations previously. I
love it right that it's the old. It's it's the
it's the old. If you're asked if if you don't
do steroids and somebody goes are you doing you're on steroids.
It's actually respect, right, like damn, you look so big
where you've gotten so big that you must be on
something like no, I'm not right if you didn't cheat
(12:10):
on a test and you get an A and just
repressed like did you cheat on that? Like nah, wow,
that's actually instead of taking it at as you call
you saying I cheated, that's how Damian Lillard takes it,
and he does. There's the backhanded compliment to it, like yeah,
that's they can't expect because I sent their ass home
(12:30):
so um so of course. Uh. Paul George takes to
social media and says, and you're getting sent home this
year hashtag and then he did respect with the black fist,
Damian Lillard. Keep switching teams, keep running from the grind.
Your boys is chumps, Your boys is chumps. It went on,
(12:54):
It got a little uguliar. Women got involved, people talking
about other people's women. That that goes to a place
that you you shouldn't go to. But I love it.
The only problem is the Clippers aren't gonna play the
Trailblazers unless the Trailblazers take care of the Lakers, which
is highly unlikely to happens as much as we're down
in the Lakers. The fact is that there's no good
(13:15):
match up for the Trailblazers to guard Lebron. You know,
Zach Collins, Carmelo Anthony that they can't do it. I
don't think you put Nurkics on him? Then who guards
Anthony Davis? Like? There's just no good matchup there. There's
not a great matchup obviously for Damian Lillard, and he
could go crazy, but we've seen Damian Lillard, though he
makes a ton of big shots, can be marginalized some
(13:37):
in the NBA playoffs, especially when you can crown. Now
that's harder now because Collins is back, you know, because
Nurkics is back. But it doesn't make them in beatable.
Case in point, that Clipper game should should have been
effectively over when the Clippers pulled their starters, but it
was not. Be sure to catch the live edition of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter
(13:58):
noon Pacific. By I'm I'm interested. Where are you in
the college football thing? You know, it's a big topic
yesterday on our show, and I just I don't think
that the COVID situation is what is you know, the
the whole issue of the health of players is the
entire reason that presidents don't want to play. I think
(14:20):
it's the factor of so many things. And if it
wasn't the students or the U student athletes trying to
get together, trying to do their things, having their demands
with all of those, I think that has become a factor.
Um yeah, I just think that there's a lot more involved.
I don't think it's just the actual COVID nineteen numbers. Um.
(14:41):
I think you've got guys that you know, it's interesting.
I do think that presence. I don't like the idea
that people say, well, you know, these people they don't
care anything about the kids like they do. There's you know,
it's like if they really cared about the kids, they
wouldn't have them playing football. Like you know, football is
(15:04):
inherently dangerous. Is at least a kid a here who's
paralyzed playing football? Right? We've seen enough of these? Yes, yes, Um,
it's not like the death rate in life, it's right. Um, So,
I I think that there's a lot of one c
I A we just we the possible liability. Two there
(15:29):
is this. And I had heard it going back to
last week, like, hey, got a little heads up for
you heard there's report out of Big ten that there's
some sort of heart issue that can in limited cases
occur after you have COVID and they're concerned about some
of the bigger kids on a team, i e. Lineman
and you know, some of the big, big giants whatever.
(15:51):
I thought that was interesting. Um So I think there's
some liability. I think there's some optics questions, you know,
with having kids play. I don't think it actually matters
you amateur, pro whatever. Like we're getting we're getting away
from how college football. College football is not really part
of the university with exception of classes. You know, they
(16:13):
represent the university and there's some integration at parties and
hanging out on campus, but they can kind of separate themselves.
But as long as you're in class and you're getting
you're eligible. You're eligible. Right. So if you're in class
and you're taking online classes, so is everybody else, why
can't you play football? But I just think they're battling optics.
(16:34):
I think the COVID thing is real in terms of
the heart issue. I think they don't want the liability.
I think there's a bunch of and and they also
nobody wants to look a fool, and so you know,
they're to the point where you don't want to say
where to go and then three or four weeks in
you can't. You don't want to be be the team the
sport that cancels their season four weeks I agree with
(16:57):
It's yeah, all of that is included. That's why I just,
you know, we we try to place blame on people
so much of saying but I just it's not just
one thing. It's it's not and I don't know, it's
never just one that you're you're so right, It's never
just we always want to make it so easy, and
these decisions are not easy. They're just not. That's probably
(17:17):
why they didn't do a vote today because last night,
and this is where the report of the vote, and
I know Dan Patrick's come out and said, hey, look
I've heard they're going to cancel tomorrow. That might be.
That might have been true at the time in which
Dan Patrick did The Dan Patrick Show, and he's got
really good sources. On the other hand, that was before
James Franklin the president, and uh, you know the head kick,
Scott Frost, the coach of Nebraska. They all come out like, hey,
(17:38):
we want to play. That was before that and now
you now, okay, let's have another discussion about it. Things evolve.
These are really interesting times. Good job Dan, will hear
from him in the press. Let's welcome in Rick Buker,
Fox Sports One Bleacher Report. UM any idea what really
happened with DeAndre Ayton and that he missed a test yesterday?
I do not, but keep in mind, this isn't the
(18:01):
first time that there's been some questions about what what
DeAndre is doing and what his what his habits are.
But I do not know, specifically in uh, in this case,
exactly what it is I did. I do know, you know,
I don't know, and I'm you can connect the dots
if you want to. UM. I'm not necessarily suggesting that
(18:22):
you should, but you know you can that. UM. I
was told the other day that the league is not
testing whatever tests that they're doing, they're not testing for
the use of marijuana in the bubble um and so, uh,
the happiest place on Earth has truly become the happiest
place on Earth for for certain NBA players. That's amazing.
(18:44):
That's not to throw and not to say anybody specifically,
but just to say, hey, here's a little here's a
little factoid. Is and we we've isn't legal in Florida?
Is it? Like? You can't in California? Just down to Colorado, California, Oregon?
Am I missing one? Those are the three that I
know of. There's more than that, but Nevada is definitely legal. Okay,
(19:06):
all right, Yeah, I think you're right. So anyway I've
been keeping it's it's not you know, I don't. I
don't make my travel plans based on where are weed
is legal, so it's not something that it's for for
most in my mind. Draymond comes out that sons are
underfeed in the bubble. Draymond comes out and says, hey,
we need got to get Devin Booker out of Phoenix.
He gets fine fifty Like, Look, I thought Draymond was good.
(19:31):
He's totally likable, and he's not saying anything that dudes aren't.
That's what dudes say all the time out of respect,
you know, for guys to say it on TV is
not And how does he only get a fifty down? Like,
and I get Maggie Johnson was running a franchise at
the time. But dude, what do you can't do that
with Draymond did. Yeah, no, you can't. And I think that,
uh one, I believe that that is the minimum. A
(19:54):
player can't appeal if it's fifty. If it goes above that,
they can appeal and it becomes an issue, and I
think of the league wanted to slap his wrist and
then and then keep it moving and not not make
too much of what he said and drag it out.
That said. Look, that's where guys go on TV. I mean,
we see it all the time. Guys go on TV
(20:15):
or they suddenly are in the public eye and they
just kind of get comfortable and let it rip and
then they find out that, you know, sometimes you have
to make conscious decisions about what you are going to
say or not say on on TV or radio. Kind
of like I did with your question about DeAndrea. Yeah,
(20:38):
I get it, I get it, very get very artfully done,
artfully done. Doug Gollip Show, you're on Fox Sports Radio.
That's the voice of Rick Buker. Um. New Orleans is
out of the playoffs. They're shutting all their guys down
for the last game. I just wonder, like, what now
for that organization. Yeah, well, you know, I'm gonna go
back to something that I was told going into this,
(21:00):
which was while the league and fans and everybody was
excited about the Pelicans possibly making the playoffs and extending
the season and more of Zion, but that was never
really a heartfelt desire by the New Orleans Pelicans as
a whole. I'm not gonna say that some of the players,
(21:22):
you know, Al Gentry, I'm not. I don't. I don't
know definitively that it was a a conscious, collective, concerted effort.
But I do know that there were mixed feelings about
the value of uh just going to the wall to
try to gain a playoff spot and UH and how
to use Zion because the reality is, and you talked
(21:44):
about it, I know you see it, Doug Um. I
don't know how many people mainstream fans uh grasp it.
But Zion isn't ready to play uh extensive minutes in
an NBA game. And and once again, you know, we
took Instagram posts and photos and Zion and everybody got
(22:06):
all excited. Looks he's in shape, like he took a
photo and he looks good, and uh, and then you
get a guy on the court and you find out
that how you look at a picture is not necessarily
how you look running up and down going a hundred
miles an hour, and so I just I look at
it and this the result kind of reminds me of
what I was told from the very beginning, which was
(22:28):
the Pelicans would be perfectly okay with going down there,
getting some time and getting some work in, but that
that that advancing or making the playoffs or grabbing that
a spot really wasn't of uh was It wasn't top
of mind, wasn't an absolute priority for the franchise. So um,
I believe that this was planned, and the idea is, Okay,
(22:51):
let's let's look at what we've got, and the number
one thing is how do we how do we develop Zion?
How do we get him in physically better shape? Everything
everything trickles down from there. You have to make a
decision on one how you're going to do that, and
then how he fits into the rest of your team.
And that's that, for me, is the first and last
(23:13):
and only thing that the Pelicans really need to concentrate
on this offseason. Rick Buker from Bleach Report, joining us
Doug Otlib Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, there
is some beef between the Clippers and the Blazers. Let
me start with the Blazers. I know Barcley was was
he was he was told to make a Bowl prediction.
(23:33):
He said that the Blazers are going to beat the Lakers.
Now he's doubled down. Now he's now he's winning the championship. Yes,
now he's he's doubled down. Uh. I look, I like
the Blazer story, but they were beaten by the Clipper
backups and they have no good matchup for Lebron James none.
They have nobody that I just I feel like it's
everybody's missing. How bad a matchup that is? Yeah, no, no, no,
(23:56):
for sure that that's that's going to have a huge
influence on on that series. I also think it's gonna
That's why I think the Lakers should win the series.
But it is going to require a lot of effort
and energy from Lebron James to do that, and more
effort and energy than he's used to giving in first
(24:16):
round series if you go and look at his history. Uh,
the only the Pacers took him to seven games. Otherwise
it's been four games sweep, five games sweep, and it
was it wasn't a whole lot of heavy lifting for him.
So I don't see the Blazers necessarily knocking them off,
although the way the Lakers are playing collectively, I also
(24:37):
I don't. I can't completely discount it because I do
think there are some matchups that the Blazers can exploit.
I think their biggs overall are better. I'll be interested
to see, you know, how they approach Anthony Davis. And
if you're asking Anthony Davis to go win you a
series or just a game or two in a series,
(24:58):
how that's going to happen? And so I'm there there
are reasons for me to think that that would be
a very competitive series. But even if it's even if
the Lakers do end up winning and it's merely competitive
and not fatal, I still think it's going to take
something out of Lebron James that the Lakers would prefer him.
No question. What is wrong with the Lakers? Uh One,
(25:25):
it's taking them a while to get restarted. I think
some of that is because of their age, UH and
the actually you know, honestly, I gotta come down. It
all comes back to Lebron James, and I think you
said it, and I think you rightly said it. We
give him all the credit in the world. He was
the top of my MPT ballot because for the regular
(25:47):
season I thought he had the most to do with
the Lakers winning the West, which no one ever would
have thought they could. And if you take him away,
I don't think they come close to doing that. So um,
there is that, but ultimate at least the way that
he has approach this where he's being very judicious and
(26:08):
how much energy he's exerting. He's not shooting the three
ball well, he's settling at times for shots. And there's
been this effort to like get Anthony Davis going and
some other guys going, or to have them carry the load.
And so they're they're they're fractured right now because those
(26:29):
guys are not there. Danny Green isn't ready to play.
I mean, I look, he's I think thirty two. He's
an old thirty two. It takes a while to get
that engine started up again. Anthony Davis goes as the
team goes. If the team plays well, he will play well.
And that's not just for this year. That's been every
(26:51):
year that Anthony Davis has played. When the team is
going well, he is going to amplify and supplement that.
When it's not, you don't looked to him to pick
up a team that's dragging and get them somewhere. It's
just simply not what he has been. So now Lebron
is looking is not really on his game, his a game,
(27:14):
and he's looking for other guys to step up, and
they're simply not there. And keep in mind, this is
also you take out Rajon Rondo, you take out Avery Bradley.
I know those aren't big names, but you could always
look to somebody somewhere who was going to give you something,
and you could you could spin the roulette wheel and
it was gonna come up on somebody. Well, now the
(27:34):
guys that are there are not coming through, and you
have less choices to pick from to say, okay, well
this guy doesn't have it going, maybe I can go
to this guy. And the last time we saw them,
Avery Bradley had it going pretty well, and it I
think covered up a lot of other issues that they had.
No I I I agree with you on on all
parts all parts of that and I just I wonder
(27:56):
with this flawed team, what it looks like when you
get to the playoffs. Even I love that Portland matchup,
it's like, at some point in time he gets worn down,
and the stats will show you when he doesn't play
at a high level, they're not very good, and and
and and vice versa high efficient level, and at both
ends of the floor, they're just simply they're they're not
the same player and the same team. And by the way,
(28:18):
for anybody you know, the Lakers fans out there saying, hey,
we clinched the number one seed, it's the bubble. These
don't count. When we turn the lights on, that's when
we'll get going. This is not that because I would
give you that if we were playing continuously. But you're
coming off of a three month layoff, and you need
(28:38):
to get back to playing the way you did before.
You don't just I don't know that you ever can
just flip that switch. But you certainly can't flip that
switch after three months. What you did during the regular
season means nothing at this point. There is no, absolutely
no guarantee that when we get to to the first
(28:58):
round that the Lakers are suddenly going to going to
start playing again the same way we saw them playing
in February and March. There is the idea that all
they have to do is like, you know, buckle down
and focus. There's a lot more to it than that. Yeah,
they're not good enough to hit the hit the you know,
flip the switch, right, That's not they are not not
(29:19):
good enough to to flip the switch at all. Um,
Ben Simmons is hurt again, and so I like for
the longest time it was Hey, I like embiid as
a breakthrough, unique, breakthrough player. But I'm I'm I'm afraid
he's going to be hurt and that The argument with
Simmons is attitude. Do guys like him? How hard does
(29:40):
he work? And now it feels to be the opposite, right,
and Beads sometimes doesn't bring it, and it's Ben Simmons
was always hurt. Yeah, yeah, look, here's here's the heart
of the issue. And um, Terry Stotts said it about
Damian Lillard. Your best player has to be your heart worker,
(30:01):
and you are who your best player is. By the
way that there's another way of expressing it. If your
best players are hard worker, your team will work hard.
If your best player is soft, your team is going
to be soft. And if your best player accepts criticism
and steps up, if you can, if you can coach
your best player, then you're going to go somewhere as well.
(30:23):
And you need no more. You don't need to know
anymore about the flaw in the Philadelphia seventy sixers, and
that Ben Simmons has had all this time to develop
a jump shot, and that his coach has asked him
to develop a jump shot and has protected him from
criticism of not having a jump shot, and still Ben
(30:45):
Simmons has acted as if it is not a requisite
for him as a point guard or a floor leader,
or simply to make the seventies Sixers as good as
they can be, to get a jump shot. Who else?
How does Brett Brown or anybody in the Sixers organization
go to anybody else on that team and say, you
know what, you need to do this better, You need
(31:06):
to develop this in your game when you're leader, your
best player arguably has not done that. And then if
you go to the next guy, and I've always said,
you know, I would move Simmons and I would build
around them Beat because I think he's the talent wise,
he's the best player at his position. But m Beat
is this is as you's noted. He's the same way.
(31:27):
He's not necessarily hardest worker. He's another guy we saw
photos of during the during the break about how you
know how conditioned he was, and I watched him play
and I'm I'm not I'm not seeing that. I'm not
seeing a guy who's ultra conditioned. And so that's where
it starts. I mean, whether it's em Beat or whether
it's Simmons. Philadelphia fans don't want to hear this, and
(31:49):
I hate saying it for the because they lost for
four years to get this, this this. If you think
this is going to get you a championship, you're saddling
mistake it. You might as well blow it up and
start over again, because you're not winning a championship with
Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons is the best player on
your team. I tend to agree with you. If there's
(32:11):
one team that can come out of these not named
the Bucks, it's who I'm still gonna say, the Toronto Raptors,
even though how I really didn't like the way they
look in the matchups with the with the Boston Celtics.
I do think a lot of these playoffs are going
to be determined by who sees who when that matchups
(32:31):
are going to play a big role. But I just
I look at the versatility of the Raptors, and I
look at their mindset for the most part, uh, and
in their experience, their collective experience in the playoffs, UH,
they seem to be healthy. I just it's it's there's
a resolve there that I like. The Miami Heat, I
(32:54):
don't think they have enough dribble penetration. I don't think
they have that one guy who sets everything else up.
And they're relying on a lot of young guys who
never played a playoff game before. So I really can't
go there. So I'm gonna stick with the Toronto Raptors
as as my my dark horse pick. If the defending
champion can do that awesome stuff, Toronto Raptors would be fascinating.
(33:18):
I just I don't know how much what it looks
like in the postseason, what it looks like in those
specific matchups. It's because it's such a different sport. Great stuff,
as always, Thanks so much for joining us. All right.
That's Rick Buker from Bleacher Report. Uh it's a Doug
Gotlieb show here on Fox Sports Radio. Come up next,
we'll get to the press and uh man, we got
(33:41):
a lot of stories that Dan Buyer is gonna gonna
get to. We'll cover them on the Doug Gotlip Show.
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 Doug Gottlieb Show
Fox Sports Radio every single day at this time when
(34:03):
we get you up to in the stories today, we
do stuff by getting to the press, the press. D
G here. I don't know about you, but I'm ready
to leave the house rediscover the road. The first ever
Moths to ce X thirty is made for people who
love to drive. If that's you think, go to mas
usa dot com learn more about the entire Maths to
SUV lineup and available finance options. Dan by, what do
(34:23):
you got? Dog News? Just in from College Football Stadium
reporting that the Mountain West Conference will postpone their fall
football season with hopes of playing in the spring. You
want to climb that mountain. I'll wait till the spring
Ohio Statedard coach Ryan Day told the ESPN he thinks
the league should postpone the start of the season if needed,
to not cancel it, calling the cancelation possibility quote abrupt
(34:48):
end quote. I definitely think it would be the P word,
not the C word, in terms of postponed, not canceled.
But the issue is supposedly later in the year you
get to that gets the cold and clue season right,
and then you get the act up and how that
all looks going to be interesting. I just don't know
how you could play big ten games in certain places
prior to March first. It just you never know what
(35:10):
the weather with the weather wise, like I mean, Doug,
I remember days February six, February below zero, you know,
like it's they can play football then, I mean, I
I just don't think. I just don't well, I mean
the question is do you put it on the other
side of basketball, which you know they're thought is a
lot of players won't play, but you know, you play
(35:32):
spring football. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe play
it inside the workout facilities if you can good, yeah,
you know, I mean like if you don't have you're
not gonna have fans. They have fans playing side of
the facilities. Yahoo Sports say, is the A C C
A D S met today? The eight will continue to
move forward with their college football seasons. We finally got
Notre Dame on the hook. Do you think we're canceling
(35:53):
the stamp season right out here? All right, let's get
this in NBA stuff. Have two seasons. We're gonna play
back to back seasons. We got noted him of the
Son six and ol Devin Booker at in the bubble.
The Phoenix today top the Thunder one on one. Phoenix
just a half game back of Portland for the nine
seed in the game back in Memphis for the eight seed.
Oh man, can you imagine like everybody's been like, oh,
(36:14):
watch out for Portland, watch out for Portland, like Phoenix. Yeah,
you know what they've done. They've risen from the ashes.
A very good. I like that, uh little mythology reference
to you there. The Bucks are without Janice tonight against
the Raptors. There is a note here oral surgery for
(36:34):
Jannice that was conducted with inside the NBA bubble, so
you will not have to go through any quarantine procedures
to return to the team oral surgery. Yeah, it was
performed by Dr J that's who. Uh just kidding us. Yes, Portland.
(36:55):
Portland has Dallas remaining right and they have then they
have Brooke and who Brooklyn is playing like no namers,
but they're playing super hard. This is gonna be interesting. Dallas,
by the way, beat Utah today without Luca or Chris
stops porzingis playing Dallas play. Does Dallas play their guys tomorrow?
(37:17):
That's the big question, right they was that final quick
other note, Let's go Warriors dot Com saying that Warriors
guard Steph Curry gonna get his own brand under the
under Armour umbrella with his future merchandise showcasing his personal
logo Doug not. The under Armour logo moved kind of
similar to the Jumpman Jordan brand that Jordan had with Nike.
(37:40):
Now Steph Curry's gonna get it with under Armour. Yeah,
it's kind of kind of gonna be fascinating to see
what they've done. You know that the one shoes everybody clowned,
but the recent shoes are much better. He is incredibly
intensely popular. This is their way of you know, he
potentially could have opted out because their stock had dropped
way down and Kevin Plank had to resigned. Um, but
he's now he's got his own brand, which is the
(38:02):
problem is still it's under Armoor brand. It's get you
throw it sc logo on it. So I don't know
if they sell any better. That was the press. Alright,
good show today. If you missed any of a download
the podcast got hour by hour and of course got
full show podcast as well. Thought Dan was great. Look
we'll find out tomorrow on we think the Pack twelve
(38:24):
and the Big ten and then of course do the
Big ten schools have a wandering eye? We still want
to play football like Nebraska. It's evolving, which is why
they hadn't made decisions up until now. This's the Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gottlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to six
Eastern twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for the Doug got Leaves Show at
Fox Sports Radio dot Com, or stream us live every
day on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What a Doug Gottlieb Show.
Fox Sports Radio. We have a ton to get to.
I think the place to begin is college football, don't
you guys think so? So as of right now, okay, uh,
(00:42):
there is no vote in from the Big ten, but
the pac twelve is gonna meet on Tuesday and vote
on their season. The assumption is the Big ten will
vote at some time in the near future. What has
changed is now you have Trevor Lawrence being joined by
James Franklin, co cha Penn State, Scott Frost coach Nebraska. Oh,
and uh Donald Trump President the United States. Indeed, we
(01:06):
want to play like this. This is it's become political.
It's become um. It's it's really interesting, fascinating in fact,
because because if you get down to it, like one
of the things that we've been told is, hey, athletes
need their voices to be heard. But apparently many of
(01:27):
the people who want athletes voices to be heard only
want them to speak on certain issues, name ivagn't likeness right,
not on whether or not they want to play during
the COVID nineteen pandemic crisis, that part, they're just kids.
They don't know any better, right, I've I've seen Dennis
(01:50):
Dodd wrote an article were like, hey, the adults have
to step in here. But wait a second, when the
adults stepped in on other stuff. You don't like what
the adults have to say, which is it? Make make
up your mind? And I thought, and does it agree
with my point? Sure? That makes it easier for me
to echo it. But I do think that it's a
(02:11):
smart statement to paint the picture accurately. Which is no
one saying that it's not dangerous. No one's saying that
that you want to get it, but the idea that
you're more likely to get it in a controlled environment
like a college football program as a prose to an
uncontrolled environment like being at home. In addition to all
(02:34):
the other unintended consequences like look, if they play, they
will still lose money. They're still gonna lose a lot
of money. Now they may lose slightly less. I'm not sure,
you know, they just might. I think you'll see elimination
of a lot of other programs if they don't if
they don't play, and a lot of jobs as well. Look,
(02:58):
if they don't play college football, I've been told that
ESPN will have to either fire or furlough there behind
scenes people. That's howly on college football they are. Then
you go through college campuses and you start to get like, look,
they have these bloated athletic departments because all they do
is support all these kids and they try and get
(03:19):
you know, as many different people with hands on them
as they possibly can to make their lives better, make
their careers easier to be to obtain. But it's really
hard to employ those people. And you're not having a
season academic advisors, uh, the chef for the for the
(03:41):
training table, all of the trainers, all of the coaches,
all the administrators, all the game day staff, the marketing people.
There's nothing to market, there's no there's no job to
be had. Like, do people actually have any understanding of
all the things affect did you're already if you don't
(04:02):
have fans, they're affecting all the restaurants and businesses potentially
in terms of people at hotels, people coming in and
out of town. Now you can affect all the other
people on campus. Do you understand the potential damage that
you're doing? And for what our college wallplayers weren't protecting? Yes?
Are you actually protecting them more if you send them home? No?
(04:29):
But but the difference is nobody wants to be liable, right,
I mean, the University of Oklahoma had nineteen kids with
COVID when they first arrived on campus. They have zero.
Now why they have COVID before they got to campus
because their homes are uncontrolled environment because they're not on quarantine.
(04:51):
They're not isolated that you Dan, did you want to
hop in here? What is that? You're right? Okay, so
you know you know what Clemson had with like kids,
two kids that had COVID when they got there, Like
you're you are. In fact, it's really hard. It's you're safer,
(05:15):
but the liability falls and who's ever home you're in, right,
That's what happens that the liability falls in the lap
of whomever, whomever there your house there. It's like the
old like this is honestly the problem with with the
tortue reform that's needed in uh in our legal system.
(05:38):
If somebody breaks into your house and trips and falls
and breaks their ankle right there, laying there wreathing in pain,
even though they broke into their house, and they get
up and they hobble away, and they get to their
getaway car and maybe they drive left footed because they
broke their right ankle, and instead of making off of
your TV, they just grab some jewelry went out the door.
(06:01):
They can sue you because they broke their ankle in
your house. It's one of the things. It's like the
I don't know if you have a pool at your house.
We've never We've had a pool at a couple of
house that we rented, the houses that we've owned. We
desperately want a house with a pool. Well, the only problem.
(06:23):
The good thing about a pool is you want kids,
when they especially become teenagers, to come to your house
because then again controlled environment. Actually, this is the best
analogy I can give you for why college football should
be played played. You ready, all right, Elijah rolling on
this music? You got this? This is the perfect analogy. Okay,
(06:48):
if you have a pool at your house, the good
news is that's where kids are gonna go. Right, you
got a pink punk table, we got a basketball hoop,
you got a little corn hole, you got a trampoline,
you've got a pool. So the good news is that
all the kids come to your house and it's a
controlled environment. Like the fear is they become high school
(07:09):
kids and somebody's gonna bring booze. Somebody's gonna bring one
of two kinds of cigarettes. Right, and if you're not there,
you can't adjust to who the crowd is that's there.
You can't adjust how your kids is their alcohol present,
you know what the girls are wearing, how the boys
are talking, what everybody's doing. You're just setting them off
(07:30):
into a free environment. Your neighbor, who you may know
really well, lives three doors down, has a pool, has
a hoop. You don't have a pool. Okay, Now, the
only downside to having a pool is somebody's drownds. It's
on you. Same thing with a trampoline, Like, why don't
people have trampolines? And the reason I was totally down
on having a try you wanta have a trampoline forever
(07:53):
was did everybody anytime I've ever been a trampoline, somebody
gets hurt. And if somebody gets hurt who doesn't have
my last name, I'm gonna have to pay for it.
Right's my liability. And that's what's keeping colleges from from
committing to football. It's not because you're any more likely
to get hurt. It's because you're any more likely to
drown in the pool. It's just because it's on their
(08:14):
watch and the last thing that they want, especially when
they're making less money than they've ever made on college football.
They can't generate nearly the income on students on campus
because so many have stayed home or decided to take
a year off or want to take online classes. What
they can't do is take on all of that liability.
(08:36):
So it's a fascinating time. The Big Ten is not
had an official vote among presidents and chancellors. Even though
that was it was reported that it was twelve to
two by one website. President Trump tweeted the student athletes
have been working too hard for their season be canceled.
Hashtag we want to play? Which we want to play? Is? That?
Is a hashtag that was started by Trevor Lawrence, and
many of the top players and coach in the country
(08:57):
have supported playing a season this fall. Ryan Day from
Ohio State, their head coach, swinging as hard as we
possibly can right now for these players, this isn't over.
Hashtag fight and Jim um Jim Harbaugh had a lengthy
statement today about why they should play football this fall
as well. So Ohio State and Michigan can argue about
(09:18):
anything get along with zero except for this topic. This
is Scott Frost, head coach, former player in Nebraska, head
coach in Nebraska with his thoughts on playing We want
to play a big tent schedule. I hope that's what happens.
Our university is committed to playing no matter what, no
matter what that looks like and how how that looks.
We want to play no matter who it is or
(09:39):
where it is. So we'll see how those chips fall.
We certainly hope it's in the Big ten. If it isn't,
I think we're prepared to look for other options. Yeah, well,
we'll play anywhere, anywhere, anytime, any place. And it's important
to him. Huh. It is fascinating fastand so where are
we which still at the same place. Nothing has been canceled.
(10:02):
The gloom and doomers say that cancelations are coming tomorrow,
but it hasn't occurred as of yet, not yet, now yet,
And when Nebraska go back to the Big twelve for
a year, And what would the Big ten? Do you know,
Jim Delaney just retired their longtime commissioner is a Big ten,
just a brilliant, brilliant man. He retires, you got a
(10:23):
brand new commissioner. There's some serious NBA beef going down
to Orlando. I'll dive into that next. Be sure to
catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays
at three pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio. Ah app beef it is
What's for dinner? Kids? Do you guys watch this weekend?
(10:44):
I think it was Friday? Was a Friday Clippers to
Saturday Clippers. The days we run into each other, we
we'd all agree on that Saturday Clippers took on the
trail Blazers, trouble Blazers trying for the eight seat. Remember
the nine and the eight are gonna play I think
to potentially two games. Um and the Clippers actually pulled
their starters and Landry Shammant and the backups end up
taking down Portland. And you know, part of the beef
(11:07):
was started between the Trailblazers and the the Clippers was
started because Patrick Beverley was doing his Patrick Beverlely thing right,
he was doing his game dame time, mocking Dame time
Damian Lillard. So this was Damian Lillard discussing the trash
talk he received from Pat Beverley and Paul George asking
(11:28):
me about Patrick Beverley, who I sent him home before
at the end of a game. Paul George has got
sent home by me last year in the playoffs, So
they know that the reason they reacted like that is
because of what they expect from me, which is a
sign of respect. And it just shows what I've done,
had a high clip more times than not, so I'm
not offended by it. If anything, it should just tell
(11:48):
you how how much it hurt them to go through
what I put them through in those situations previously. I
love it right that it's the old. It's it's the
it's the old. If you're asked if if you don't
do steroids and somebody goes are you doing you're on steroids.
It's actually respect, right, like damn, you look so big
where you've gotten so big that you must be on
something like no, I'm not right if you didn't cheat
(12:10):
on a test and you get an A and just
repressed like did you cheat on that? Like nah, wow,
that's actually instead of taking it at as you call
you saying I cheated, that's how Damian Lillard takes it,
and he does. There's the backhanded compliment to it, like yeah,
that's they can't expect because I sent their ass home
(12:30):
so um so of course. Uh. Paul George takes to
social media and says, and you're getting sent home this
year hashtag and then he did respect with the black fist,
Damian Lillard. Keep switching teams, keep running from the grind.
Your boys is chumps, Your boys is chumps. It went on,
(12:54):
It got a little uguliar. Women got involved, people talking
about other people's women. That that goes to a place
that you you shouldn't go to. But I love it.
The only problem is the Clippers aren't gonna play the
Trailblazers unless the Trailblazers take care of the Lakers, which
is highly unlikely to happens as much as we're down
in the Lakers. The fact is that there's no good
(13:15):
match up for the Trailblazers to guard Lebron. You know,
Zach Collins, Carmelo Anthony that they can't do it. I
don't think you put Nurkics on him? Then who guards
Anthony Davis? Like? There's just no good matchup there. There's
not a great matchup obviously for Damian Lillard, and he
could go crazy, but we've seen Damian Lillard, though he
makes a ton of big shots, can be marginalized some
(13:37):
in the NBA playoffs, especially when you can crown. Now
that's harder now because Collins is back, you know, because
Nurkics is back. But it doesn't make them in beatable.
Case in point, that Clipper game should should have been
effectively over when the Clippers pulled their starters, but it
was not. Be sure to catch the live edition of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter
(13:58):
noon Pacific. By I'm I'm interested. Where are you in
the college football thing? You know, it's a big topic
yesterday on our show, and I just I don't think
that the COVID situation is what is you know, the
the whole issue of the health of players is the
entire reason that presidents don't want to play. I think
(14:20):
it's the factor of so many things. And if it
wasn't the students or the U student athletes trying to
get together, trying to do their things, having their demands
with all of those, I think that has become a factor.
Um yeah, I just think that there's a lot more involved.
I don't think it's just the actual COVID nineteen numbers. Um.
(14:41):
I think you've got guys that you know, it's interesting.
I do think that presence. I don't like the idea
that people say, well, you know, these people they don't
care anything about the kids like they do. There's you know,
it's like if they really cared about the kids, they
wouldn't have them playing football. Like you know, football is
(15:04):
inherently dangerous. Is at least a kid a here who's
paralyzed playing football? Right? We've seen enough of these? Yes, yes, Um,
it's not like the death rate in life, it's right. Um, So,
I I think that there's a lot of one c
I A we just we the possible liability. Two there
(15:29):
is this. And I had heard it going back to
last week, like, hey, got a little heads up for
you heard there's report out of Big ten that there's
some sort of heart issue that can in limited cases
occur after you have COVID and they're concerned about some
of the bigger kids on a team, i e. Lineman
and you know, some of the big, big giants whatever.
(15:51):
I thought that was interesting. Um So I think there's
some liability. I think there's some optics questions, you know,
with having kids play. I don't think it actually matters
you amateur, pro whatever. Like we're getting we're getting away
from how college football. College football is not really part
of the university with exception of classes. You know, they
(16:13):
represent the university and there's some integration at parties and
hanging out on campus, but they can kind of separate themselves.
But as long as you're in class and you're getting
you're eligible. You're eligible. Right. So if you're in class
and you're taking online classes, so is everybody else, why
can't you play football? But I just think they're battling optics.
(16:34):
I think the COVID thing is real in terms of
the heart issue. I think they don't want the liability.
I think there's a bunch of and and they also
nobody wants to look a fool, and so you know,
they're to the point where you don't want to say
where to go and then three or four weeks in
you can't. You don't want to be be the team the
sport that cancels their season four weeks I agree with
(16:57):
It's yeah, all of that is included. That's why I just,
you know, we we try to place blame on people
so much of saying but I just it's not just
one thing. It's it's not and I don't know, it's
never just one that you're you're so right, It's never
just we always want to make it so easy, and
these decisions are not easy. They're just not. That's probably
(17:17):
why they didn't do a vote today because last night,
and this is where the report of the vote, and
I know Dan Patrick's come out and said, hey, look
I've heard they're going to cancel tomorrow. That might be.
That might have been true at the time in which
Dan Patrick did The Dan Patrick Show, and he's got
really good sources. On the other hand, that was before
James Franklin the president, and uh, you know the head kick,
Scott Frost, the coach of Nebraska. They all come out like, hey,
(17:38):
we want to play. That was before that and now
you now, okay, let's have another discussion about it. Things evolve.
These are really interesting times. Good job Dan, will hear
from him in the press. Let's welcome in Rick Buker,
Fox Sports One Bleacher Report. UM any idea what really
happened with DeAndre Ayton and that he missed a test yesterday?
I do not, but keep in mind, this isn't the
(18:01):
first time that there's been some questions about what what
DeAndre is doing and what his what his habits are.
But I do not know, specifically in uh, in this case,
exactly what it is I did. I do know, you know,
I don't know, and I'm you can connect the dots
if you want to. UM. I'm not necessarily suggesting that
(18:22):
you should, but you know you can that. UM. I
was told the other day that the league is not
testing whatever tests that they're doing, they're not testing for
the use of marijuana in the bubble um and so, uh,
the happiest place on Earth has truly become the happiest
place on Earth for for certain NBA players. That's amazing.
(18:44):
That's not to throw and not to say anybody specifically,
but just to say, hey, here's a little here's a
little factoid. Is and we we've isn't legal in Florida?
Is it? Like? You can't in California? Just down to Colorado, California, Oregon?
Am I missing one? Those are the three that I
know of. There's more than that, but Nevada is definitely legal. Okay,
(19:06):
all right, Yeah, I think you're right. So anyway I've
been keeping it's it's not you know, I don't. I
don't make my travel plans based on where are weed
is legal, so it's not something that it's for for
most in my mind. Draymond comes out that sons are
underfeed in the bubble. Draymond comes out and says, hey,
we need got to get Devin Booker out of Phoenix.
He gets fine fifty Like, Look, I thought Draymond was good.
(19:31):
He's totally likable, and he's not saying anything that dudes aren't.
That's what dudes say all the time out of respect,
you know, for guys to say it on TV is
not And how does he only get a fifty down? Like,
and I get Maggie Johnson was running a franchise at
the time. But dude, what do you can't do that
with Draymond did. Yeah, no, you can't. And I think that,
uh one, I believe that that is the minimum. A
(19:54):
player can't appeal if it's fifty. If it goes above that,
they can appeal and it becomes an issue, and I
think of the league wanted to slap his wrist and
then and then keep it moving and not not make
too much of what he said and drag it out.
That said. Look, that's where guys go on TV. I mean,
we see it all the time. Guys go on TV
(20:15):
or they suddenly are in the public eye and they
just kind of get comfortable and let it rip and
then they find out that, you know, sometimes you have
to make conscious decisions about what you are going to
say or not say on on TV or radio. Kind
of like I did with your question about DeAndrea. Yeah,
(20:38):
I get it, I get it, very get very artfully done,
artfully done. Doug Gollip Show, you're on Fox Sports Radio.
That's the voice of Rick Buker. Um. New Orleans is
out of the playoffs. They're shutting all their guys down
for the last game. I just wonder, like, what now
for that organization. Yeah, well, you know, I'm gonna go
back to something that I was told going into this,
(21:00):
which was while the league and fans and everybody was
excited about the Pelicans possibly making the playoffs and extending
the season and more of Zion, but that was never
really a heartfelt desire by the New Orleans Pelicans as
a whole. I'm not gonna say that some of the players,
(21:22):
you know, Al Gentry, I'm not. I don't. I don't
know definitively that it was a a conscious, collective, concerted effort.
But I do know that there were mixed feelings about
the value of uh just going to the wall to
try to gain a playoff spot and UH and how
to use Zion because the reality is, and you talked
(21:44):
about it, I know you see it, Doug Um. I
don't know how many people mainstream fans uh grasp it.
But Zion isn't ready to play uh extensive minutes in
an NBA game. And and once again, you know, we
took Instagram posts and photos and Zion and everybody got
(22:06):
all excited. Looks he's in shape, like he took a
photo and he looks good, and uh, and then you
get a guy on the court and you find out
that how you look at a picture is not necessarily
how you look running up and down going a hundred
miles an hour, and so I just I look at
it and this the result kind of reminds me of
what I was told from the very beginning, which was
(22:28):
the Pelicans would be perfectly okay with going down there,
getting some time and getting some work in, but that
that that advancing or making the playoffs or grabbing that
a spot really wasn't of uh was It wasn't top
of mind, wasn't an absolute priority for the franchise. So um,
I believe that this was planned, and the idea is, Okay,
(22:51):
let's let's look at what we've got, and the number
one thing is how do we how do we develop Zion?
How do we get him in physically better shape? Everything
everything trickles down from there. You have to make a
decision on one how you're going to do that, and
then how he fits into the rest of your team.
And that's that, for me, is the first and last
(23:13):
and only thing that the Pelicans really need to concentrate
on this offseason. Rick Buker from Bleach Report, joining us
Doug Otlib Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, there
is some beef between the Clippers and the Blazers. Let
me start with the Blazers. I know Barcley was was
he was he was told to make a Bowl prediction.
(23:33):
He said that the Blazers are going to beat the Lakers.
Now he's doubled down. Now he's now he's winning the championship. Yes,
now he's he's doubled down. Uh. I look, I like
the Blazer story, but they were beaten by the Clipper
backups and they have no good matchup for Lebron James none.
They have nobody that I just I feel like it's
everybody's missing. How bad a matchup that is? Yeah, no, no, no,
(23:56):
for sure that that's that's going to have a huge
influence on on that series. I also think it's gonna
That's why I think the Lakers should win the series.
But it is going to require a lot of effort
and energy from Lebron James to do that, and more
effort and energy than he's used to giving in first
(24:16):
round series if you go and look at his history. Uh,
the only the Pacers took him to seven games. Otherwise
it's been four games sweep, five games sweep, and it
was it wasn't a whole lot of heavy lifting for him.
So I don't see the Blazers necessarily knocking them off,
although the way the Lakers are playing collectively, I also
(24:37):
I don't. I can't completely discount it because I do
think there are some matchups that the Blazers can exploit.
I think their biggs overall are better. I'll be interested
to see, you know, how they approach Anthony Davis. And
if you're asking Anthony Davis to go win you a
series or just a game or two in a series,
(24:58):
how that's going to happen? And so I'm there there
are reasons for me to think that that would be
a very competitive series. But even if it's even if
the Lakers do end up winning and it's merely competitive
and not fatal, I still think it's going to take
something out of Lebron James that the Lakers would prefer him.
No question. What is wrong with the Lakers? Uh One,
(25:25):
it's taking them a while to get restarted. I think
some of that is because of their age, UH and
the actually you know, honestly, I gotta come down. It
all comes back to Lebron James, and I think you
said it, and I think you rightly said it. We
give him all the credit in the world. He was
the top of my MPT ballot because for the regular
(25:47):
season I thought he had the most to do with
the Lakers winning the West, which no one ever would
have thought they could. And if you take him away,
I don't think they come close to doing that. So um,
there is that, but ultimate at least the way that
he has approach this where he's being very judicious and
(26:08):
how much energy he's exerting. He's not shooting the three
ball well, he's settling at times for shots. And there's
been this effort to like get Anthony Davis going and
some other guys going, or to have them carry the load.
And so they're they're they're fractured right now because those
(26:29):
guys are not there. Danny Green isn't ready to play.
I mean, I look, he's I think thirty two. He's
an old thirty two. It takes a while to get
that engine started up again. Anthony Davis goes as the
team goes. If the team plays well, he will play well.
And that's not just for this year. That's been every
(26:51):
year that Anthony Davis has played. When the team is
going well, he is going to amplify and supplement that.
When it's not, you don't looked to him to pick
up a team that's dragging and get them somewhere. It's
just simply not what he has been. So now Lebron
is looking is not really on his game, his a game,
(27:14):
and he's looking for other guys to step up, and
they're simply not there. And keep in mind, this is
also you take out Rajon Rondo, you take out Avery Bradley.
I know those aren't big names, but you could always
look to somebody somewhere who was going to give you something,
and you could you could spin the roulette wheel and
it was gonna come up on somebody. Well, now the
(27:34):
guys that are there are not coming through, and you
have less choices to pick from to say, okay, well
this guy doesn't have it going, maybe I can go
to this guy. And the last time we saw them,
Avery Bradley had it going pretty well, and it I
think covered up a lot of other issues that they had.
No I I I agree with you on on all
parts all parts of that and I just I wonder
(27:56):
with this flawed team, what it looks like when you
get to the playoffs. Even I love that Portland matchup,
it's like, at some point in time he gets worn down,
and the stats will show you when he doesn't play
at a high level, they're not very good, and and
and and vice versa high efficient level, and at both
ends of the floor, they're just simply they're they're not
the same player and the same team. And by the way,
(28:18):
for anybody you know, the Lakers fans out there saying, hey,
we clinched the number one seed, it's the bubble. These
don't count. When we turn the lights on, that's when
we'll get going. This is not that because I would
give you that if we were playing continuously. But you're
coming off of a three month layoff, and you need
(28:38):
to get back to playing the way you did before.
You don't just I don't know that you ever can
just flip that switch. But you certainly can't flip that
switch after three months. What you did during the regular
season means nothing at this point. There is no, absolutely
no guarantee that when we get to to the first
(28:58):
round that the Lakers are suddenly going to going to
start playing again the same way we saw them playing
in February and March. There is the idea that all
they have to do is like, you know, buckle down
and focus. There's a lot more to it than that. Yeah,
they're not good enough to hit the hit the you know,
flip the switch, right, That's not they are not not
(29:19):
good enough to to flip the switch at all. Um,
Ben Simmons is hurt again, and so I like for
the longest time it was Hey, I like embiid as
a breakthrough, unique, breakthrough player. But I'm I'm I'm afraid
he's going to be hurt and that The argument with
Simmons is attitude. Do guys like him? How hard does
(29:40):
he work? And now it feels to be the opposite, right,
and Beads sometimes doesn't bring it, and it's Ben Simmons
was always hurt. Yeah, yeah, look, here's here's the heart
of the issue. And um, Terry Stotts said it about
Damian Lillard. Your best player has to be your heart worker,
(30:01):
and you are who your best player is. By the
way that there's another way of expressing it. If your
best players are hard worker, your team will work hard.
If your best player is soft, your team is going
to be soft. And if your best player accepts criticism
and steps up, if you can, if you can coach
your best player, then you're going to go somewhere as well.
(30:23):
And you need no more. You don't need to know
anymore about the flaw in the Philadelphia seventy sixers, and
that Ben Simmons has had all this time to develop
a jump shot, and that his coach has asked him
to develop a jump shot and has protected him from
criticism of not having a jump shot, and still Ben
(30:45):
Simmons has acted as if it is not a requisite
for him as a point guard or a floor leader,
or simply to make the seventies Sixers as good as
they can be, to get a jump shot. Who else?
How does Brett Brown or anybody in the Sixers organization
go to anybody else on that team and say, you
know what, you need to do this better, You need
(31:06):
to develop this in your game when you're leader, your
best player arguably has not done that. And then if
you go to the next guy, and I've always said,
you know, I would move Simmons and I would build
around them Beat because I think he's the talent wise,
he's the best player at his position. But m Beat
is this is as you's noted. He's the same way.
(31:27):
He's not necessarily hardest worker. He's another guy we saw
photos of during the during the break about how you
know how conditioned he was, and I watched him play
and I'm I'm not I'm not seeing that. I'm not
seeing a guy who's ultra conditioned. And so that's where
it starts. I mean, whether it's em Beat or whether
it's Simmons. Philadelphia fans don't want to hear this, and
(31:49):
I hate saying it for the because they lost for
four years to get this, this this. If you think
this is going to get you a championship, you're saddling
mistake it. You might as well blow it up and
start over again, because you're not winning a championship with
Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons is the best player on
your team. I tend to agree with you. If there's
(32:11):
one team that can come out of these not named
the Bucks, it's who I'm still gonna say, the Toronto Raptors,
even though how I really didn't like the way they
look in the matchups with the with the Boston Celtics.
I do think a lot of these playoffs are going
to be determined by who sees who when that matchups
(32:31):
are going to play a big role. But I just
I look at the versatility of the Raptors, and I
look at their mindset for the most part, uh, and
in their experience, their collective experience in the playoffs, UH,
they seem to be healthy. I just it's it's there's
a resolve there that I like. The Miami Heat, I
(32:54):
don't think they have enough dribble penetration. I don't think
they have that one guy who sets everything else up.
And they're relying on a lot of young guys who
never played a playoff game before. So I really can't
go there. So I'm gonna stick with the Toronto Raptors
as as my my dark horse pick. If the defending
champion can do that awesome stuff, Toronto Raptors would be fascinating.
(33:18):
I just I don't know how much what it looks
like in the postseason, what it looks like in those
specific matchups. It's because it's such a different sport. Great stuff,
as always, Thanks so much for joining us. All right.
That's Rick Buker from Bleacher Report. Uh it's a Doug
Gotlieb show here on Fox Sports Radio. Come up next,
we'll get to the press and uh man, we got
(33:41):
a lot of stories that Dan Buyer is gonna gonna
get to. We'll cover them on the Doug Gotlip Show.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
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search f s R to listen live Doug Gottlieb Show
Fox Sports Radio every single day at this time when
(34:03):
we get you up to in the stories today, we
do stuff by getting to the press, the press. D
G here. I don't know about you, but I'm ready
to leave the house rediscover the road. The first ever
Moths to ce X thirty is made for people who
love to drive. If that's you think, go to mas
usa dot com learn more about the entire Maths to
SUV lineup and available finance options. Dan by, what do
(34:23):
you got? Dog News? Just in from College Football Stadium
reporting that the Mountain West Conference will postpone their fall
football season with hopes of playing in the spring. You
want to climb that mountain. I'll wait till the spring
Ohio Statedard coach Ryan Day told the ESPN he thinks
the league should postpone the start of the season if needed,
to not cancel it, calling the cancelation possibility quote abrupt
(34:48):
end quote. I definitely think it would be the P word,
not the C word, in terms of postponed, not canceled.
But the issue is supposedly later in the year you
get to that gets the cold and clue season right,
and then you get the act up and how that
all looks going to be interesting. I just don't know
how you could play big ten games in certain places
prior to March first. It just you never know what
(35:10):
the weather with the weather wise, like I mean, Doug,
I remember days February six, February below zero, you know,
like it's they can play football then, I mean, I
I just don't think. I just don't well, I mean
the question is do you put it on the other
side of basketball, which you know they're thought is a
lot of players won't play, but you know, you play
(35:32):
spring football. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe play
it inside the workout facilities if you can good, yeah,
you know, I mean like if you don't have you're
not gonna have fans. They have fans playing side of
the facilities. Yahoo Sports say, is the A C C
A D S met today? The eight will continue to
move forward with their college football seasons. We finally got
Notre Dame on the hook. Do you think we're canceling
(35:53):
the stamp season right out here? All right, let's get
this in NBA stuff. Have two seasons. We're gonna play
back to back seasons. We got noted him of the
Son six and ol Devin Booker at in the bubble.
The Phoenix today top the Thunder one on one. Phoenix
just a half game back of Portland for the nine
seed in the game back in Memphis for the eight seed.
Oh man, can you imagine like everybody's been like, oh,
(36:14):
watch out for Portland, watch out for Portland, like Phoenix. Yeah,
you know what they've done. They've risen from the ashes.
A very good. I like that, uh little mythology reference
to you there. The Bucks are without Janice tonight against
the Raptors. There is a note here oral surgery for
(36:34):
Jannice that was conducted with inside the NBA bubble, so
you will not have to go through any quarantine procedures
to return to the team oral surgery. Yeah, it was
performed by Dr J that's who. Uh just kidding us. Yes, Portland.
(36:55):
Portland has Dallas remaining right and they have then they
have Brooke and who Brooklyn is playing like no namers,
but they're playing super hard. This is gonna be interesting. Dallas,
by the way, beat Utah today without Luca or Chris
stops porzingis playing Dallas play. Does Dallas play their guys tomorrow?
(37:17):
That's the big question, right they was that final quick
other note, Let's go Warriors dot Com saying that Warriors
guard Steph Curry gonna get his own brand under the
under Armour umbrella with his future merchandise showcasing his personal
logo Doug not. The under Armour logo moved kind of
similar to the Jumpman Jordan brand that Jordan had with Nike.
(37:40):
Now Steph Curry's gonna get it with under Armour. Yeah,
it's kind of kind of gonna be fascinating to see
what they've done. You know that the one shoes everybody clowned,
but the recent shoes are much better. He is incredibly
intensely popular. This is their way of you know, he
potentially could have opted out because their stock had dropped
way down and Kevin Plank had to resigned. Um, but
he's now he's got his own brand, which is the
(38:02):
problem is still it's under Armoor brand. It's get you
throw it sc logo on it. So I don't know
if they sell any better. That was the press. Alright,
good show today. If you missed any of a download
the podcast got hour by hour and of course got
full show podcast as well. Thought Dan was great. Look
we'll find out tomorrow on we think the Pack twelve
(38:24):
and the Big ten and then of course do the
Big ten schools have a wandering eye? We still want
to play football like Nebraska. It's evolving, which is why
they hadn't made decisions up until now. This's the Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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