05/09/2021 - FOX Sports Sunday with Bernie Fratto and Ryan Hollins - Fox Sports Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Well, Hi, everybody, in
my best Vince s. Gully voice, welcome in on this
cerulean blue Sky Mother's Day as your Fox Sports Sunday
rolls on. I'm Bernie Fratto, I'm Comedy Alive from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio studios, and we've got a
pack show for you today. And before I go any further,

(00:24):
I want to wish everyone a happy and enjoyous Mother's
Day as we celebrate all the hard working mothers everywhere,
well including my mother Jeanette, who just beat cancer. And
let me also welcome in my broadcast partner and Fox
Sports Radio teammate, as we will take you up to
five o'clock Pacific and we'll chop up all the biggest

(00:46):
stories in sports that are dominating the headlines. Say hello
to Tenure, NBA veteran and u Celli bruined for life.
The inimitable Ryan Hollins. Good afternoon, Ryan, How are you?
What is going on? Bernie is it's been a minute,
Rather glad to sit and work with You've been a
huge fan and uh man, well, let's get going right

(01:07):
back at you. We're gonna go around the world twice
and back and uh delight our twenty two Bayon listeners
in seventeen countries and forty four languages. But you know what, Ryan,
I want to dive right in because we've got so
much and this is right in your wheelhouse a week ago,
you know the NBA, Well, the playing game to me
was wasn't even a nonstarter. I thought it was a gimmick.

(01:28):
But now, all of a sudden, I've done a complete
one eighty just so and just so everybody knows how
this works. The seven eight, the seventh seed will play
the eighth seed and the winners and they'll become the
seventh seed. The nine seed will play the ten seed.
The loser is out. The winner will play the loser
of the seven and eighth seed, and they will advance
as the number eight seed. I've got my spot marked

(01:51):
out on the couch because on May eighteenth, if the
Golden State Warriors are teeing it up against the Los
Angeles Lakers, I am all in. And I think there's actually,
Ryan been some residual effects positive on how this playing
game might actually bring a lot more attention to the NBA.

(02:12):
Not sure where you stand on this, What are your thoughts. Well,
I'll tell you straight up, as a former player, if
I was playing right now, I would be upset. I'd
be up in arms. This means the whole eighty two
games that I played, uh to to lock in a
playoff spot and rest and prepare for the biggest moment
doesn't quite mean what it used to mean. You can

(02:33):
be knocked off within a game or so. As a fan,
though I love it, this makes teams have to compete,
They have to fight to jump into the tips spot
or to avoid a seventh or eight spot. To be
in a playing game. You love it as a fan.
The only drawback I'm to to you'd be and I

(02:53):
don't know if you if you feel the same way
you do Bertie, If somehow the Los Angeles Lakers do
not advance and you know Lebron just didn't have time
to get healthy. As a fan of the game, I'm
gonna be upset, well, and you have a right to be.
And I think you cover a lot of good ground there.
But let's let's unpack this and give it some sembilance
of orders. So we've been in an NBA forever where

(03:15):
eight teams from each conference advance and Now this year,
six will advance automatically. If you want to avoid the
playing game, you simply finish in the top six. Now
that's not always easy, right, It's easier said than done
if you've got injuries and things that you just alluded to.
But should the Lakers find themselves and I think they'll
end up worst case scenario is the number seven seed.

(03:38):
Let's say they lose that first game to Golden State,
then they'll play the loser of it. Looks like if
it started today would be it would be Boston in Memphis.
They win that game, they're back in and they can
take care of business. They hold their fate. If you
can't go one and one in a playing game, if
you go in too, is it fair to presume Ryan

(03:58):
that you weren't in a farewell in the playoffs? Anyway?
Not necessarily Listen, this is a COVID ridden season where
Lebron James is injured. I know he's older, but when
I played against Lebron, this is a guy who didn't
miss time. Now we expected Anthony Davis's injuries, but what happened.
The big curveball that hit the Lakers at the wrong

(04:19):
time is Dennis Schroder being out due to COVID protocol,
I think he's gonna miss what ten to fourteen days
essentially understood the rest of the season. That's what stinks
about this where you don't quite feel like and I know,
you know, a team like Lebron with Lebron with a
D shouldn't go oh in two. But you do get
nervous in the sense that if a guy just has

(04:41):
an amazing game, uh, this out of body experience, anything
can happen. And that's the excitement of it. But the
same frustration because Bernie, let's be honest, if the Lakers
are not competing, you're not gonna see the best team
moving forward. And I don't know where you were. I
had the Lakers, a healthy Lakers peck to the championship
again this year. Oh I, I'm in complete agreement. Their

(05:03):
defensive chemistry when they're healthy, the way they rotate, switch,
communicate help, They don't allow you any catches in free space.
They can test everything to defend the perimeter, They close
out on shooters, they impose their will. So you bring
up an excellent point that this COVID phenomenon here is
really throwing a real monkey wrench when you combine that
with the potential playing But you know what, let's not

(05:25):
create problems that don't exist yet and try to solve them.
Because the Lakers can. They still have an opportunity ryan
to climb up back in the standings. They got a
pair of challenging matchups over the next three days. They
got the Suns tonight, they face the Nix at home Tuesday,
and if they win those games now they start to
set themselves up to finish the season strong. Because then
the Lakers final three games against the Rockets, Pacers, and Pelicans,

(05:48):
each of which is tenth or lower in their conference.
So that presents an opportunity for the Lakers to re
establish momentum and potentially avoid having to participate in the
playoff tournament. So, although here in Las Vegas we've assessed
probability that the Lakers end up in the playing game,
do you not fear the Lakers can rally and take

(06:11):
care of business and maybe find that sixth seed. I
absolutely expect them to to go and figure things out.
And let's let's stop sugarcoating. We're gonna throw this out
Bernie on one breath, we call Anthony Davis a superstar,
do we not yes? With her without Lebron James, Anthony Davis, hurt, rusty,
whatever it may be, should be enough to take care

(06:33):
of business in these situations. He had thirty six and
twelve the other night. Look pretty good to me, pretty
be good. But we're gonna expect that night after night
after night, because that's when we're asking for it, you know.
So you know, it's funny people get they get all
up in arms when I you know, I'll make a
comment to about a guy, but it's like, hey, if
you are a superstar, you take care of business in

(06:54):
this situation. You show if we're gonna say you're a
top ten, top five players. So Anthony Davis, this is time,
with or without Lebron to step up and take that
next level. And I thought he was excellent last year
in the playoffs. I thought that he had he had
risen a step. I know that he's gonna be a
little bit out of his comfort zone because Anthony Davis
is one of the greater finishers that I've played against.

(07:16):
Maybe not is so one on one guy, but a finisher.
He does like to have someone feed in the basketball.
But right now that goes out the window. Superstars find
ways to win. Bernie and am I wrong? We we
We've gotta expect that from him, even if Lebron James
doesn't chime in, Dennis Schroeder doesn't chime in, He's got
to be enough. You just said something a sentence there
that was neatly tucked away. He needs someone to feed

(07:38):
in the ball now. I covered the Pistons in Detroit,
Rob Parker and I for multiple years for CBS Radio,
including their championship team. Isaiah Thomas told me something once
he really stuck in my mind. He said. He said
he thought that point guard was the most important position
in all of sports, because one man with the ball
in his hands can dictate the movements of nine other people.

(07:59):
They do need to get Dennis shrewterback. I like his
game on multiple levels. To what what Caruso has to
do in these next few weeks or a couple of
weeks is channel his inner Isaiah Thomas and distribute the
ball and get the ball to Davis so he can
do his thing, draw contact, get to the line, put
the team on his back defensively. The effort is still there.
They might not have their full talent on the floor.

(08:21):
But I thought I saw a pretty good effort last
night against Portland's or Friday night against Portland, even though
they fell short. Yeah. No, You're absolutely right. And one
of the things that becomes inexcusable if I'm a coach
in that locker room, I'm a player in that locker room.
Maybe we lose, but we can't have the defensive lapses,
you know. And for a guy like Caruso or a

(08:42):
Kuzma or Harold, those guys have to do a little
bit more than asked or expected. You know, when LBJ
is on the floor, I'm telling Caruso, man, sprint the lanes,
play defense, do your job. Now. I'm gonna say, hey, man,
i'm gonna need you knock down to three or two.
I'm gonna gonna expect you to get to the strike
you know about six to eight times tonight. You need
a little bit more production. And they've got to come

(09:05):
together as a team. But I'm gonna lean on man.
I'm gonna leave it on Anthony Davis. I'm gonna stand
and and and we fully agree he's a finisher. But
guess what when you speak about about Anthony Davis, he's
spoken of with the best of the best. Correct, they
talk about it with the right and the Lebrons. Right,
he's got the ceiling, there's no question. And he's a

(09:25):
young man and his best years are probably ahead of him.
He's already accomplished a lot. But I gotta be I
gotta keep it real here for a second, right, Because
here's what I'm I gotta digress. We were talking, we
were talking about the concept of the playing game. I remember,
we've got four hundred affiliates across the country listening to us,
a lot of ore Laker haters. They don't care, right,

(09:46):
so in their mind, in their mind, there arguing that
the planning game is working exactly as intended because now
you've got meaningful games happening around the league with two
weeks to play, and teams like the Pelicans and Kings
and Actors and Bulls, they're continuing to try to win
rather than take not to mention the fact that this
buzz positive and negative, I think is creating one of

(10:09):
the most can't miss season finishes we've seen in a
long time. I'm gonna watch the game tonight, and I'm
not so sure I'd be as glued down the stretch,
I'd be marking my time for the playoffs. But this
planning game, it does have me intrigued. Graham, do you
know why it came back? Though a lot of people
don't understand why it came back. And it's a big
reason of why you've got to love the NBA. So

(10:31):
our good old friend are the crosstown rival of the Lakers.
Mr Kawhi Leonard, what did he become famous for? Bernie
right load management, right right right, and and and and
and One of the biggest complaints if there's a complaint
about NBA basketball, and we hear from the sports enthusiast,
is that what they don't play hard. They don't work hard.

(10:51):
You know, I don't want to see a star set
out and miss games. They're They're getting paid a lot
of money, So what do these playing games? Do? You
alluded to it earlier. You can't rest, you can't rest
their teams coming out and competing. And that's what happens.
And guess what, I understand the bronze frustration. I hear
that he didn't mind it the first time around. But
I bet you everything we have in our wallets put together,

(11:14):
But I bet everything in our wallets he think he'd
be in this situation. No, that's very true, and you
gotta bring it every night. And I think the main
theme I want to get across for Lakers fans is again,
you can't predict the future. And I'm speaking from experience.
Let's go back to Max. I'm an intern at the form.
I was there a courtside for Magic Rooky season Game five.

(11:37):
They lose to Philadelphia on the whole floor. The big
fellow goes down, doesn't even make the flight to Philadelphia.
Magic Johnson sits in I'll one seat one in Cream's
favorite seat. They figured they'll rest Kaream for Game seven,
automatically believing they'll get there'll be a Game seven. Guess
what happens. Magic gets to Philly, jump center, plays all
three positions, scores forty two points, and the rest is history.

(12:00):
This is the time where legends are made. The Lakers
have to reach back and find something, and I believe
they can. Man, Bernie, you are so right, and uh
you know, I'll give you this. Lebron is different, man.
And if we look historically through what Lebron has done,
every time he seems to be counted out, he bounces back.

(12:24):
You know, when I played for the Celtics, we had
him down three two at the house in a closeout
game and he dropped in five on us. He had
one of those magnificencent games. But in all reality, I
like Lebron's back against the wall. I am scared there's
a chance they get knocked out, but he's he's got
a different gear than you know, the fifth or six

(12:47):
guy on the Golden State words. We love Steph Curry,
but we're gonna box it one Steph Curry when it
came on the liar rights. Well, let's go back to
two thousand six when I was covering the Pistons. Joe
Dumars had constructed the lineup that had gone to five
eight Eastern Conference Finals until they run into the Cleveland
Cavaliers and a young buck named Lebron James. He wore

(13:07):
them out. He wore them out, and the and the
Pistons had nothing left for the Miami Heat in the
following series. So Lebron has not only been there, done that,
but he can rally it when he needs to, and
I think mentally he I don't know if he's doing
his yogur right now or having an extra cup of
yogurt or the protein bar, a power bar. But whatever

(13:27):
he does, he's doing it right now. There's not a
dot in my mind. He's regrouping and he'll come out
Tuesday night with avengeance. One last thing, Ryan, you know,
Western Conference GM said they studied the European soccer model
the NBA and they want to expand winning as much
as they can to other markets and other teams. Even
though there's only going to be ultimately one NBA champion.

(13:47):
This playing game is away from more teams to make
it to the playoffs and for them to have a
broader market appeal, the NBA has gotta make up for
that revenue loss. They've got to continue to grow the game. Ryan,
you are absolutely right, and the business basketball is in
question at hand now. On one end, you know, you
want to see l b J in it, and if
he does not make it past the playing game, for

(14:08):
some act of God, we're not gonna watch the playoffs.
The numbers are gonna be down. It's it's gonna be
you know, We're just gonna be praying that the Nets
make it through the finals so that we have something
to cheer for or some level of excitement. But you're right.
You said it earlier. It's a musty These games right
now are musty TV. These guys are getting because they
can't afford to lose. They We saw Russell Westbrook go

(14:30):
for a triple double the other night and fifty points
from Bradley Bill. And you know who's gonna make it
in Who's gonna make this is must see TV. And
these guys can't rest. And this is the time of year, Bernie,
you know this better than night that I have than
I do. This is where teams rest. These guys can't rest,
no doubt about it. And at this point I am

(14:51):
going to say that the Lakers will end up in
the playoffs, even if they have to go through the
playing around coming up well, the Lakers still have how
to earn it. They're having some struggles with injuries and
multiple other issues in Ryan and I are going to
break that down in a minute. He's Ryan Hollands. I'm
Bernie Fratto. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to Fox Sports
Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. We are back on Fox

(15:15):
Sports Sunday. Happy Mother's Day to all. He's Ryan Holland.
Signed Bernie Fratto Company Alive from the Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios, Ryan, one thing I want to get
off my chest. Uh, Folks thought the Lakers should have
gotten an asterisk from last year. I don't agree. Everybody
had the same shot. And the analogy I've used is
Roger Merris had sixty one home runs in one because

(15:37):
he played a hundred and sixty two games, there was
an asterisk. Baby Ruth had a hundred and fifty four games.
That doesn't diminish the accomplishment. It merely highlights the distinction.
But for the Lakers to repeat this year, and let's
assuming they get back healthy fingers crossed, They've got to
overcome a couple of things observations I've made over the

(15:58):
last ninety days, and I like your observation. First of all,
I think at times, Ryan, to me, the Lakers have
looked a little tired. It was discussed before the season
that they would have issues with the lack of rest
between campaigns, with only two months to rest between last
season and the current one. There have been periods where
I've seen a visible lack of energy on the floor,
particularly lately, and it shows at the beginning of the

(16:21):
game and at the end of the game your thoughts. No,
you're absolutely right, you know, And and it starts with Lebron.
You know what impressed me about last season before the pause,
Lebron James was defending at a level I hadn't seen
for Frank Vogel. Vogel he he had taken charges, you know.
And when you see a guy like Lebron James and
storied as he is, you know, are gonna be the

(16:42):
greatest player that we've ever seen play the game, take
a charge, dive on the floor. It is infectious through
the organization, through the coaches, to the players, through the
coaching step. Coming back with the short offseason, I agree,
he could not have that same energy that you would
have expected. And not to mention the one big that
I'm gonna have from the Lakers that they missed out

(17:02):
on and they kind of made right a little right
with it and going out and getting Andre Drummond. You
lost your two anchors. Develop McGhee and Dwight were excellent
protector Oh no, no, no, great rim protectors, great energy.
They got limited minutes, but with those minutes they really contributed. Yeah,
and you know what happens is where you look at

(17:23):
the floor and you see the Lakers play and you
see these little lapses and you go, what happened? What
are they doing here? With those same things happened last year.
The difference was you had Dwight Howard behind you talking,
communicating and erasing the mistakes. And Javill McGhee also mantres
herrel harrold Is. You know, he's gonna struggle to defend

(17:44):
the paint. At times, he can score and he's got
soft hands. He's a monster rim running, but as far
as being a five, he's not a true shot blocker.
It's something he can do, but it's not natural. And
Mark Gussol just a former teammate of mine, he just
doesn't have the same legs that he had prior. You know,
he was always more of a position defender, but you
had true, true rim protectors that took care of business.

(18:06):
And you know, Drummond is not great. He's the athlete, right,
but it's still a position he's got to learn as
far as rim protecting. If I'm gonna, you know, be analytical, no,
it's a good point. And I've always liked JaVale McGee
even when he was with Goal of State. You notice him.
He's like a cockroach to play the spaghetti. He's gonna
mess it up in the paint. You gotta know, Ryan,
you were a little post player. When you see him

(18:26):
on the floor, you gotta keep your head on a
swivel because he's everywhere. Yeah, No, javel was excellent. And uh,
you know a lot of people just don't like to
forgive Javelle for his his his days in in d C.
You know, the Wizards days. You know there there was
a lot of cookie things going on over there. We
won't talk about them, but you forget. He's an NBA champ,
you know. And I felt like if we even rewind

(18:48):
back to talk some Javelle McGhee, he changed that series
against Tristan Thompson and kept him off the glass, and
then the Warrior just kind of ran away with things.
You know, Kerr made the call to going and start him.
You know, if a guy is this important to the
Warriors to go out and start them in the NBA Finals.
You see the value he had with the Lakers, and
somehow he was undervalued and they trade him away to Cleveland.

(19:09):
Now ends up with the Nuggets. But he just really
was a shining star, and like you said, in limited minutes.
And I think that's what confuses people's Oh, if we
had more offense, we would be more dynamic. Oh if
you know, he only played six or ten minutes a game.
But there's a lot of value between he and Dwight Howard,
even though you would finish games small in certain situations.

(19:30):
Bernnie spoken like a true in Shadder who's been there
on the floor in the battle. Now, speaking of offense,
this is the second issue I've got with the Lakers.
They're slow paced. You don't really notice it at first glance,
but the Lakers this year have played at a really
slow pace that's in very stark contrast to how many
of their opponents play against them. Sometimes they look up.

(19:50):
I think I'm looking at Mike for Tello in the
Cleveland Cavaliers of the nineties. The Lakers they take their
time getting into their offense, and I think they're giving
defenses a break in doing that. Your thoughts. I sat
down and talk with Danny Green last year, and he
one thing that he really expressed about Frank Vogel's offenses.

(20:12):
They're there are hundreds of plays encounters for every counter,
and it's it's a high cerebral system where guys are
kind of around and sitting and thinking rather than playing basketball.
You know, they haven't had a full grass. And let's
be honest, that wasn't the sexiest team last year. On
the offensive end of the floor, I thought for a
Lakers squad that was one of the better Lakers defensive
teams in Laker history. Right, you go Lebron, Anthony Davis,

(20:38):
Dwight Howard and McGee at the four and five, and
then you can get after you know, guys on the
perimeter because you've got to help on the backside. All
that being said is offensively, they're not gonna look great.
That's kind of Vogels deal. And I tell you one thing,
every training camp I've ever stepped into the first thing
the coach says is what are we gonna do different

(20:58):
this year? Guys, We're gonna run. We're gonn to get
some easy baskets. Guess what. All the teams I've been on,
I couldn't. We couldn't run without great point guards. Jason Kidd,
we were able to run. Okay, well, I played with
j Kid, I played with Region Rondo. We were able
to run. So a lot of that is the identity
of the guard that's playing in lb J can play
up to guard and play making abilities when he's in

(21:20):
the lineup, But you know he's he's not a spring
chicken trying to sprint up and down the floor when
he is on the floor. Even when he gets back,
we can't expect to track me. Yeah, true, I you listen,
You're right, You've got to play the hand you're delt.
But I see teams get to get out on the
break and get their lanes filled after made baskets and
frustrate other teams by do getting those. So you gotta

(21:40):
mix it up, but your points taken. The final thing
I wanted to point out is the Lakers still have
their three point shooting woes. They're currently making ten three
pointers a game that averages twenty seven in the league.
They only take thirty attempts, that's twenty in the league,
and percentage wise, you're only making thirty, that's twenty in
the league. The three that listen, like it or not,
the end b as a three point league. Now, can

(22:02):
the Lakers clean that up in the postseason? They can? Uh,
And the reason I'd say I can for the same
reason we just criticize them. They have bought into a
Frank Vogel that their defense is their offense. Now, if
we're gonna point at someone to blame, we're gonna say,
k c p you gotta be better. You've got to
be consistent. Kyle Kuzma, who are who are you? Each

(22:22):
and every night? Uh? Those are the guys who should
be feeling those wings and knocking things down. Markis Morris
is gonna play sparingly. Caruso, you know you're gonna always
gonna get any energy and effort from them. But this
isn't the most dynamic three point shooting team that we
can you know, we've seen from the Lakers, so they
definitely have their work to cut out. It was a
big sticking point in question Mark last year, but uh,

(22:43):
you know, their defense was just strong enough. But you
know this is something that could come into play. I'm
gonna be honest. I never felt like the Lakers were
really pressed last year, and this year they're poised to
see even though Jamal Murray a Denver team a little older,
your poison to see a Clippers team that was humbled correct,
and lord knows what we could see. But we can't

(23:04):
see a disappointment necessarily out of Phoenix and Utah. You
know they're gonna compete. Bertie, Oh my goodness. I love
that Phoenix team and the way they've been playing the
last six weeks. And if the plass were to start
today and the Lakers in it and in the number
seven seed, they would play Phoenix in the first round.
Coming up. Zion has been hit more than a Rocky
Balboa this year. That's a problem. Ryan and I are

(23:27):
gonna chop it up. But first let's go to David
Gascon with the update. Guys, Derek Rose. So far, he's
ten of twelve from the field in twenty three minutes.
He's got twenty two points and a plus six nicks
right now, lead at Staples over the Clippers eight six,
eight one nine O nine to play in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile,
the Miami Heat took care of the Boston Celtics earlier today,

(23:49):
winning it one. Major League Baseball Trevor Bauer got into
some trouble in the third inning, walk the bases loaded
and just give up an RBI double. Angels have played
it two so far. In the bottom half of that
inning to one. Angels with the lead in that contest,
Yankees walk off and nine gen Carlos Stanton delivers for
the Yankees. They beat the Nationals three two met sport

(24:10):
two winners over Arizona. Jacob de Graham went five, got
the w but left because the tightness in his side.
He will be reevaluated. We won the National Football League.
Carolina Panthers have hired Dan Morgan as an assistant general
manager Arizona Coyotes that parted ways with head coach Rick Tockett.
He goes guys back to you. Thanks a lot, David. Now,

(24:31):
David Griffin had some thoughts about Zion Wimson the other day,
and listen closely because he's got his man's back and
I think he's taking his personal and he got up
in his fields just a little bit. Let's give it
a listen. He's injured now because of the open season
that there's been on Zion Williamson in the paint um.
He has been absolutely mauled in the paint on a

(24:54):
regular basis, to the point that other players have said
to him, I'm going to keep doing this to you
because they don't call it. You know, I would just
say this officiating. Zion Willimpson is is fairly effectively impossible
because I don't think I've ever seen a player in
NBA history that's had his physical dimensions. Ryan, you're down low.

(25:18):
You're a very good defender. How do you defend someone
of the paint that manages to weigh almost two ninety
he's all muscle and he's only six seven If he
was an insure to be a perfect circle. The answer
teams have come up with foul him. And trust me,
if the officials won't whistle anything, so far it's working. Yeah.
I was gonna say that sounds like the pretty good

(25:39):
defense right there. I mean shooting shooting sixties plus percent
from the field. But I got two reasons why, uh
we we gotta have some accountability. For one, if Zion
was playing a game of horse Man, all these shots
of being in the paint, okay, there'd be no dude. Dude,
he Bertie doesn't even shoot a mid range so you know, yeah,

(26:00):
teams are going to put their hands on you. That's
the truth of the matter. And secondly, stand is asking
them to do this. You know, stand is asking him
to do this. But with Zion, when you're you know,
I don't know if the Zion is reluctant to shoot
the three or the jay or or want to grow,
you have to know this is going to be something

(26:21):
that's going to affect him going forward. And and Bernie,
I want to ask you this. I think he's doing
the right thing, David Griffin, because the biggest fear is
what Zion Williams says, as dynamic as he is, and
you just brought it out eloquently, We've never seen anything
like this. Barkley couldn't jump like that, Blake Griffin one

(26:42):
that big Okay, we've never seen anything like this. The
biggest fear we have is that he's hurt and he
is on pace to be hurt and not reach his potential.
Let's just be honest. Well, he gets the ball at
the top of the keys, just get the hell out
of the way. I'm going to the rent. There's nothing
you're gonna do about it. And we I've never seen
his combination of speed, RNG, skill mass even if there

(27:02):
were that. You know, look, most teams right now in
this man's NBA, which is a smaller league, they don't
have the personnelity execute defense against him properly. So the
way they follow him. Is particularly egregious because there's no
other defense against him near the basket. So he's a
Mark Matt and almost reminds me of the Jordan rules
under Chuck Daily. He goes into the pain, he's going

(27:23):
to the floor. That's what Bill Lambier said, That's what
Dennis Rodman said, That's what John Sally said, That's that
Ricky Mcharne said. It's like we've turned back the clock.
The problem is this is becoming hack a shack. I
don't think it's good for the NBA shack average, you know, fourteen,
and for his career in terms of getting to the
free throw line. Do you want to really keep stopping
the game sending out to the free throw line? At

(27:44):
the same time, you have to because I don't want
to see Zion's career in because he gets in ten
car accidents every night. Here's here's the reality right now.
Bernie helped me. If I'm missing anybody, We've only got
one post player in the NBA currently that we can
and dropped the ball down to on the block and
he can go get you a bucket, and I would
say that's Joel Embiid. Maybe we can argue your kitchen

(28:07):
there because he plays a bit of a hybrid. But
I'm really searching to think about another big that you
would feature on the block. We do have a problem
on our hands that we've got to address. As the
NBA gets smaller and smaller, teams have gotten just smarter
and said, hey, we'll play our small forward against your
center and your power forward, and they're not gonna let

(28:31):
the freedom of movement exists on the block, or you
don't have a guy skilled enough to beat us, So
we'll take our our spot up three's and our transition
break over your post ups. Because you got a guy
like Zion who's getting absolutely mall. So now you have
to play like that, and it's hurt the Pelicans. And
right now, Zion and the most important stretch for the

(28:51):
Pelicans is out. You brought up a good point. Uh,
he's just beginning his career. He's a young man. He
had one game in college or one year in college,
excuse me, and you would think now he's not ever
going to be a guy to play with his back
to the basket. But maybe he develops a bit of
a mid range game. Maybe he starts to work around
the three point shot. I remember when Magic was a rookie.

(29:13):
First of all, chicker and one said he later retracted
it he lumbers gracefully. But Magic rounded out his game,
started to learn to shoot threes, developed a baby hook.
It's a matter of maybe creating a shot off the
dribble and finding other ways to Like you just said
it best, if he played Horse and Zion played Horse,

(29:33):
every shot would be in the paint, right under the rim.
Perhaps he needs to round out his offensive game. I
believe he is good enough handles, good enough hand eye coordination,
and certainly good enough aptitude and desire and effort to
be coached up to round out his offensive game. No,
and and he can. And I understand from stan Van
Gundy's perspective, excellent guy. Uh you know, played against them

(29:57):
as he as he coached in the league, worked with
them over that ESPN and Turner wanted the real good guys.
But he just stepped in with the mindset that, hey, Zion,
let me make you great at what you're great at.
I'm not gonna ask you to be, you know, a
wing player or a small forward. Get in the paint,
jump and use that incredible touch that you have. Now

(30:20):
hopefully Unlet's give Zion some credit here. This is not
a Zion jump shooting bashing session. They had a short offseason,
so within this short offset, he didn't have time with
Covid to kind of work on his three pointer in
his touch, and neither did Janice. So those two guys
that we want to say, stretch your game out to perimeter,
work on the mid range shot, do that, they didn't

(30:40):
have the same chances to do so. So I'm not
too mad at stand Van Gundy for saying kids just
gonna be great. And one of the things David Griffin said,
and this is a little bothers him. He's telling us
that opposing players know that officials aren't going to call
the borderline fouls, and that is enabling this behavior. I
think the referees are culpable here too, somewhat Ryan. They are.

(31:04):
They are because it is tough and it's frustrating. And
I've been in situations with guy that said, hey man,
you're coming at home, I'm just gonna grab you. You know,
I'm just gonna value and you and and the rule is,
and I want you guys to buy into this at
home when you watch the TV and you watch the games.
If you don't make a play on the basketball, it
is an intentional foul. So let's say Zion beats his defender,

(31:25):
which happens a lot, and the defender just grabs him
from behind without reaching for the ball. That should be
two shots in the ball every single time. That that
is not a a a a playable foul. You can't
you can't do that in all reality. You know, Zion
can probably be found every single time down the floor
because he has one of the quickest first steps, probably

(31:46):
not even for a big man, just it's for players
in the league. But you know, Bernie, I'm gonna throw
a name out. I'm watching them on on the TV
right now. You may have the tube on, but I
would love to see if Zion could come somewhat close
to the path that Julia Randall had right, Julius early
on didn't have the three points when he came out
of Kentucky. I covered the NBA Summer League here the

(32:07):
last eight years, even have it last year, but when
he was a Laker. His offensive game is Ronald up
tremendously in the last three or four years, and I
think Jan could take a look at film and look
at that footwork and the way Randalls be able to
create space and finish. You're right, that could stove his problem. Yeah, no,
and that's what you want to see because in terms
of Zion, and I think the expectations have been tempered,

(32:29):
but we do see the greatness. I don't. I just
don't think we know what it is. You know, early
on we heard names like Lebron James, you know, Kobe Bryant, Uh,
you know obviously Charles Barkley, Blake Griffin. So he's been
given so many different expectations and I feel like for
the pressure, he's exceeded my expectations. I'm never gonna look

(32:51):
at him and say that he's Lebron, but I'm intrigued
where he could go because of his skill set. And
I will credit David Griffin whether it's popular, popular or not.
Zion needs to know that you have his support. Next
time that one of those referees do not blow the
whistle for Zion, they will run the risk of being
national news and media. And David Griffin, even though he

(33:11):
got a nice little fifty k fine uh today, if
I'm not mistaken, he is. He's done his job and
now you're gonna talk about Zion extending his contract and
wanted to stay with the Pelicans. Keep in mind, Zion's
gotta be healthy. Why because you traded away Anthony Davis
who just went and gotta ring with Lebron. So we
gotta make good with our fan base. We need this

(33:32):
guy to succeed spot On. It's a league built on stars.
The NBA needs of stars. He's an upcoming star and
they need him on the floor coming up. Poorman want
to be rich, Richmond want to be king, but they
might not want to be Green Bay Packers anymore. We'll
chop it up. He's Ryan Hollans. I'm Bernie Fratta. Don't
go anywhere. You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday on Fox

(33:53):
Sports Radio. Hey, it's Ben hosting The Fifth Hour with
Ben Mally along with my trusty shidekick David Gone. Would
meet a lot to have you join us on our
weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is
the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin off
of that Ben Maller show, Cold Hit Overnights on fs ARE.
Why should you listen? Picture if you will the world?

(34:14):
Will we chat with captains of industry in media, sports
and more. Every week Explorer, some amazing facts about human
nature and more. Let'sten to the fifth Hour with Ben
Mallow on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast. We're back on Fox Sports
Radio Sunday. Happy Mother's Day to all. He's Ryan Hollins
on Bernie Freddo Company Alive from the Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios. You know, Aaron Rodgers has made two

(34:38):
hundred and forty two million dollars in his career, but
he's not happy. And by the way, since drafting Jordan's
Love two years ago, Green Bays twenty six and six,
they've been due two NFC Championship games. But there's a
real air of vindictiveness about what's going on with Aaron
Rodgers now. And I will tell you if for any

(34:59):
reason he's not Green Bay next year, there are no winners.
If he scratches this itch, it'll be a hell of
a price to pay. You don't believe me, Just look
at two thousand seventeen. The Packers started four and one,
Rogers breaks his collar bone. They lose five of the
next six. They finished seven and nine. Now, I know
Rogers loves playing football, and I know he likes being
in Green Bay. He has other issues, but still he

(35:22):
likes being in Titletown. He's got I think two good
years left in his career and that's it. Ryan, Where
do you see this going? I hope he's moved, you know,
you really they've pushed Aaron Rodgers to the point where
there's so much water under the bridge. And and as
a former athlete, I was never a star franchise historical player.

(35:45):
I'm not gonna pretend to be that. But when you
have a guy that means what he means your organization.
What what Aaron Rodgers means to the Packers, what Tom
Brady meant to the Pretreat's what what Joe My Tannis,
Steve Young meant to the Niners. And then you treat
him as such, You go out and draft a quarterback

(36:07):
but behind him, like there's no other way for that
to be taken. And my real credit comes, Bernie to
Aaron Rodgers wife, because he shut his mouth last year.
And as much as from our side in the national media,
we poked and prodded, Aaron Rodgers said all the right things,
didn't he And he just went out and played football
and he had an m VP style year, and he

(36:29):
came into this all season and said, enough is enough,
trade me, moved me, or get rid of this kid.
And the reason I've got no problem with it, and
Bernie correct me anytime I'm wrong. I believe Aaron Rodgers,
like I said earlier, is to Green Babe what Tom
Brady was to the Patriots. And when Tom Brady asked
for Jimmy Garoppolo to get the heck out of town

(36:51):
right because he was a real threat, what they do
They moved him. So I'm sure if the same talks
were there for Jordan's Love behind the scenes, it didn't happen.
And now you're disrespecting Aaron Rodgers. You put him in
a situation where he has to be vocal, and I
think it's too much water under the bridge. And the
only way you solve it, Bernie, although this see I'm sorry,

(37:12):
get a little. I'm fired up over here, Bernie. The
only way that you fix it is you trade Jordan Love,
you get him out of there. Well, I I agree
that that is the ultimate solution. And I think in retrospect,
Brian goodakunst if he's not having a Byrus remorse about
drafting a quarterback there in that spot. So instead of

(37:32):
putting another piece on the field that would help him
win a Super Bowl, you've got a guy holding a clipboard.
They've got no value out of that. He's going to
hell on a scholarship. That's one of the dumbest decisions
I've ever seen. But then there's reality. So we know
they're not going to trade him before June one because
they take a thirty two million dollar cap hit. If
they trade him after June one, it's a fourteen million

(37:52):
dollar capit. Meanwhile, if Aaron Rodgers retires, which I just
don't see, he'll have to pay twenty three million dollars
back signing bonuses. That's where this conundrum comes in. And
if you were to treade him, what are you going
to get back for him? I mean, if a kid
on the North Dakota State who's got all the talent
in the world but hasn't taken a snap yet in

(38:13):
the NFL commanded three first round picks on a third
and they moved up in the draft to get him,
what do you get for Aaron Rodgers? Here's the tricky part.
Are you ready for the real tricky part? Go ahead.
Tom Brady just messed things up. That's why I keep
I keep talking about Tom Brady. You've got an eight,
you've got a thirty seven year old Aaron Rodgers. And

(38:34):
and before Tom Brady, if you ask me how effective
can he we'd be looking at Aaron, right, he's done,
he's old. You know we slew at five, give you
some moments later in his age. We saw Drew Breed
just just slowly wither away, right, But Aaron would say
he's done. But yet he had an m v P
season last year. We look at Tom Brady at what

(38:56):
two years of age, and we see how excellent that
he's playing is. As soon as we want to say
he falls off the clip, my man, Max Hellaman, he
comes out and keeps playing and playing and played a
Super Bowl and Super Bowl Super right. So it's it's
hard to quantify what you're bringing out Aaron Rodgers value.
But I'm gonna give you a bit of a taste
of Aaron Rodgers value because Aaron's an intriguing spot that

(39:18):
we see commonly happened with the NBA stars. And the
spot that he's in is he can say I don't
want to play in Chicago. I don't. I don't want
to play for the Broncos. I don't want to play
for forty. He can pick out a destination and deter
a team from trying to trade or go after him.
He can kind of select pick his value right now,
depends how fair he wants to play in the sandbox. Bernie, Well,

(39:40):
you bring up a lot of good points, and I
would just say this, I'll never bet against Brady. He
turns forty three forty four on August three. I covered
Tom Brady University of Michigan. When he wasn't starting. He
picked apart the number one defense. He went into Lloyd
Carr's offense and said, coach, why am I starting? Coach
told him, worry about yourself. Well, he put his head
down and he did, and the rest is history. I

(40:01):
think the solution is to move Jordan's love. They'll get
nothing for him. But you also they talked about the
Packers talked about giving Rogers a deal with forty five
man a year, which you make it the highest paid player.
But as you know, it's all about structure. You've got
a structure, this deal that gives him a guaranteed on
this guaranteed spot on the roster for at least two
or three years, and that potentially forces the Packers to

(40:23):
trade love. Yeah, and and and and it would And
let's not also mentioned Matt la Florida coach higher. How
much was Aaron Rodgers involved in that? We saw James
Harden got out of Houston because he wasn't on part
with that coaching Higher and a number of other reasons
that I would say, But you're star. Our player has
to be treated like one. And all I felt is

(40:44):
that the Packers had tried to become less Aaron Rodgers centric,
obviously the older he had got. But now it looks
like this bit of a war because they're they're lesser
Aaron Rodgers centric. But now they want to keep on
keep him and hold on to Which way is it going? Right? Yeah? Yeah,
to be determined. There are a lot of self inflicted
wounds here and none of it looks good. There are

(41:05):
no winners right now, But I'm anna agreement with you.
Rogers holds the cards. Jimmy g versus Trey Lance, Mac
Jones versus Cam Newton. Hey, we chop it up. On
the other side, he's Ryan Hollands. I'm Bernie Fritto. Don't
go anywhere. You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at

(41:25):
Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Radio app. Search f s R to listen live. We're
back on Fox Sports Sunday. Happy Mother's Day to all.
He's Ryan Hollands, I'm Bernie Fratto, and I'm coming to
you live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
And Ryan, let's go to San Francisco because I can't
wait for this upcoming NFL season to start. Soon. There'll

(41:47):
be O T A S and minicamp and then training camp,
and the story is gonna revolve around two quarterbacks that
will decide the fate of the forty Niners future. A
team that I believe is a win now, ready to
get to the Puper Bowl. Now here's the situation. Jimmy
g is their starter. He's twenty four and eight. He's
been highly effective. The problem is he's missed twenty six

(42:10):
games in the last three years. He's seven or nineteen
in the games he's missed. Check that the forty Niners
or seven and nineteen in the games he's missed. He's
also missed games in each of the last three Septembers.
So if past his prologue, there's a possibility that Jimmy G,
while I'm not wishing it out and I'm not predicting it,

(42:32):
may find himself not able to play at some point,
maybe even in September, and the Niners may find themselves
handing the car keys to a young man who's throwing
fewer passes than any other Division one quarterback as a
first round pick. Your thoughts, you're absolutely right, you know,
And I'm a forty Niner fan. I will I will
put that out there, so if there's a little bias
in my voice, you're gonna hear it. Jimmy G did

(42:54):
an excellent job, you know. And when he sits in
the pocket, he can run the offense. We're not asking
in the in things spectacular of him, but two of
the three years that we've had him, he's been injured.
So he absolutely crippled the forty Niners as an organization.
We know the offensive line is there, We've you know,
drafted weapons, uh Deebo Samuel and you can those boys
on the out on the perimeter but ultimately, if Jimmy

(43:17):
G isn't healthy, we put ourselves in a bad spot. Now. Ultimately,
if we're able to move on from Jimmy G and
we go younger, and Tray Lance is the guy trade
Lunch can get up and go when called upon. He's
an absolute athlete, he's a stud, and if he can
make the throws that are asked inside the pocket, the

(43:38):
it's already set for the forty Niners to be good.
We don't need too much from the quarterback. And you've
got another level with Trey Lance's ability to run. And
might I add, if we're gonna make another Super Bowl push,
the timing is to do it when you have a
young stud at quarterback that you're not paying a lot
of money too. And Jimmy G has a nice little

(43:58):
paycheck that we're gonna be on him. So if you
can move on from Jimmy G because Trey Lance is
good enough, you unfortunately have to make that move. And
I'm thankful for Jimmy what Jimmy G has done, but
he just hasn't stayed healthy well. Trey Lance, according to Oyles,
is going to be their future and because of his
physical ability and it's incredibly high ceiling. Uh. If he

(44:18):
can learn the quicker, he can learn Kyle Shanahan's offense,
which is the best I've ever seen in using the
run to compliment the past and vice versa. That is
going to be an incredibly dynamic team that plays complimentary football.
They run the ball well, they get after the quarterback,
They've got a better than average offensive line. Tough division,
but here's the kicker. And by the way, I do

(44:39):
understand why Jimmy g and John Lynch ended up drafting
Trey Lance. Everybody forgets back in the Niners. They figured
they were set a quarterback. They had Blaine Gabbert and
at that point they stead Colin Kaepernick. And so what
they did for insurance they went out and grab C. J.
Bethard out of Iowa in the third round, neatly ignoring
a couple of guys by the name of Deshaun Watson

(45:01):
and Patrick Mahomes. They don't want to make that mistake
again in this man's NFL. If you can keep plays
alive with your feet, you are going to create havoc
on defenses because now you've got to prepare to game plans.
The defensive game plan for the scheme you run and
the one when it breaks down in the quarterback begins
to improvise. The problem is Kyle Shanahan does not want

(45:23):
his quarterbacks to get off schedule. He wants him to
stay in and be a maestro and run that offense.
Here's when Trey Lance will be able to step in.
Assuming Jimmy G doesn't get hurt or they're winning games.
Perfect scenario, they'd win the Super Bowl with Jimmy G
and Trey Lance can learn for a full year, just
like Patrick Mahomes dude under Alex Smith, we don't know

(45:45):
yet about his ability to process. Recognition is the number
one attribute and being a solid NFL quarterback, anticipation timing
covered the Lions for ten years, saw it come and go.
Talk to a lot of scouts quarterbacks, the position you
play with your eyes. You see the ball, You take
snapshots with your eyes, You make your read progressions, distribute
the ball based on what your quick reads are. Once

(46:06):
Trey Lance proves he can do that, he's probably their starter.
The question, Ryan is how long does that take? Look?
That's the million dollar question. But I will say in
regards of the path to go, you'd rather trade come
off the bench. You want to know why, because you
take all the pressure off of them. You start the
kid opening day and there and and we're on the

(46:27):
same page. We're we're on par with that. You know,
you just set you you set a young quarterback up
for failure because the expectations are there. But if Jimmy
gres struggling or he's playing good or whatever, Trey Lance
is a hero and and and and mentally he's gonna
be strong. He'll be there. There aren't too many Russell
Wilson's out there. There aren't too many Dak Prescott's out there,

(46:48):
just ready to get out and rip. And you're hoping
that you can see similar. Now I'm gonna take you
back and remember the one thing that the forty Niners did.
You brought up Colin Kaepernick when Colin Kaepernick took over
for Alex Smith. That was a very unpo popular move.
But now this the tables have turned and you see
the popularity growing towards a guy like Trey Lance. But
you're absolutely right. If he can't make the reads, it's

(47:09):
gonna be tough to play and he'll be a one
trick pony. But the way that the league. The NFL
is starting to trend. You've got to have a quarterback
that can move. You cannot have a sitting duck there.
And you fear with Jimmy Garoppolo is as good and
as I'll say, as solid as Jimmy is because he
got us to a super Bowl. Let's not disregard that
if he's injured it ruins everything. Now to your point,

(47:33):
you want a multidimensional quarterback at their core. Who are
they You've got to be able to operate from the
pocket in the NFL. But if you can force defenses
to play eleven on eleven or that makes them much
more difficult to be. Flipping to Mac Jones and Cam
Newton over in New England, I'll find this fascinating as
to how long before Mac Jones gets you understander. And

(47:53):
I'm i admire Cam Newton. The man was born with
a competitive gene. He's the number one pick overall and
he became Rookie of the Year. That's only happened three
times in thirty nine years. Got his team to fifteen
and one. They were terrible in Carolina, he got there,
got them to a super Bowl. Now he's been banged
up his body's taken a lot of punishment, still has
the competitive gene. Will see if he can operate from

(48:16):
the pocket one of the things. And I don't want
to bury the lead here. This is such a crapshoot.
As you will know, drafting in any sport, particularly the NFL,
he's not only an in exact science, it's very much
an in exact art. And we've seen three quarterbacks go
one to three and in the last forty four check that,
the last fifty years, there have been forty four quarterbacks

(48:36):
that have been drafted in either the one, two or
three slot. Yet only two of them got the team
that drafted them to the Super Bowl, Troy Aikman and
now the second one for uh oh, Peyton Manning. Troy
and Peyton Manning the only two and fifty years. So
just by virtue of that, the odds are against either

(48:56):
Mac Jones well he was drafted fifteen, or Trey Lance
or Trevor Lawrence for that matter, or Zack Wilson. The
odds are going to be against him. But as I
looked to New England, Matt Jones to me might be
that quarterback that Bill Belichick really loves. His His calling
card is timing. Jones thrives when he's in the temple

(49:16):
of an offense, and they keep tracking these things metrically. Statistically,
his in rhythm throws at Alabama, he had a ninety
eight passing grade, fourteen yards per attempt, and a hundred
and fifty one passer rating. These are huge numbers. Secondly,
I think Matt Jones got a bit of a bad rap.
He was incredible against the blitz. MATC. Jones led college
football in every single statistical category when he was blitz

(49:39):
last season and sixty five yards, sixteen touchdown, eleven yards
per at tempt, completion percentage of seventy. Matt Jones was
blitz a hundred and twenty four times last year, only
sacked three times. He was incredibly impressive. That's recognition. You're
seeing what's taking place in front of you, and Bill
Belichi wants his quarterback to be a maestro. Be that

(50:02):
as it may. I definitely expect Cam Newton to start
Week one, you know, start as long as he's healthy
and as long as the Patriots are winning. I'll tell
you one thing, there's there's a much bigger shot of
of of Cam Newton being replaced than Jimmy Garoppolo. Let's
just be honest. When Cam Newton went to New England,
none of us really believed it in it who We

(50:23):
applauded the move, we were excited to see it, but
none of us really believed in it. Mac Jones is
what Belichick wants at the end of the day. That's
who is. He's gonna be comfortable with running his system.
And the thing about Cam Newton is, I don't know
if it's the injuries. I don't know if it is
just it is who Cam is. But Cam Newton can't
put him down and run the same way that he

(50:43):
used to in the past. And I if I don't
know anything about Bill Belichick, he cannot stand mistakes, he
cannot stand misreads. It can't stand overthrows and every and
and it's it's like a nails on a chalkboard, Hey,
Bertie nails on the chalkboard every time Cam overthrows the ball.
So there's no mistake that Jones is there. And right
now he's a polar opposite of Cam Newton. And unfortunately,

(51:04):
at this stage in Cam Newton's career, you would like
to see him be more accurate. See him be more
comfortable than the pocket. And I know he's a workhorse
and he's doing all the right things, but those injuries
may just be a little bit too much. Even though
Cam is a guy Bertie, guys like man you were
pulling for for for him, we want to see Cam
Newton succeed. This is just may not be the right organization. Well,

(51:25):
I listen, I was rude for people to succeed. I
would like to see new will and do well again.
It's better for football when the Patriots do well, just
like the Yankees in baseball the Lakers in basketball. The
opposite of hate is not love, it's in difference. And
so when people pay attention and the pat if you know,
by the way, Ryan, as you know, there are six
guys who opted out last year that are back. They'll

(51:46):
add to their defense quite a bit. And they went
out and did something New England typically doesn't do on
the free agent market. They got themselves some targets and
offensive weapons. And one of the things Mac Jones has,
he's very patient in the pocket. He buys time for
his receivers. He has a real sense in the pocket
of what's happening on the field. And again he goes
through his progressions, there was a very catchable ball. He

(52:08):
just plays an incredible sense of timing. I would say
this that again, it's mac checked that it's Cam Newton's
job to lose, but he'll still have to improve from
the pocket, be able to move the chains on third downs,
that's the money down, get into the red zone. Put
points on the board, particularly touchdowns, not field goals. They

(52:30):
don't pay it a punt. When you're at quarterback, You've
got to move the chains right now, I think it's
Cam's job because he's had the experience and the resume
and the drive and has proven he can do it
the NFL, while Matt Jones has all the ceiling in
the world. I believe he hasn't done it yet. No,
and and I trust me. I believe in in in
playing the right way, and Cam Newton's deserved that he's

(52:52):
a former m VP at the league. There's no no
question he's going to get the first crack at it.
But keep in mind he was benched by Belichick last year.
That that kind of threw me for a little. You
don't often see that, and that lets me know sometimes
there may he maybe not be Belichick's guy. You know,
he as as much as Brady might have stuck it
up or any of those other guys, they weren't gonna
go out and get bitched. But in two Cam's credit,

(53:14):
as you brought out, Bill Belichick has always been excellent
on the defensive side, okay, and he could not do things.
He didn't have the same versatility missing five starters. That's
an excellent point with COVID. There's a lot of guys
who stepped in and opted out. And then on top
of Covid, let's be honest, in Cam's defense, who's he
Who do he have to throw the ball to? They

(53:35):
there's no one getting separation. Now, he had his mistakes,
but at the same time, there was no one to
get the football too. So, uh, Cam is gonna be
set up even more so for success. Right now, COVID
has just been wacky for everybody. So you know, let's
not just count Cam completely out. That's a great point, Bernie. Yeah,
I'm certainly not counting him out. I would say this.

(53:56):
I think his second year in that offense, he is
Belichick's guy. From the standpoint, he's the first guy in
the building, he's the last to leave the leader. The
man puts in the work, there's no doubt about it.
And uh he it's he's genuine about it. He's got
that competitive gene. He does not want to go out
in a way that so many others have gone out
and you know, played to a level where they somewhat

(54:18):
started to embarrass themselves because they were either too old,
too banged up, or the you know, Father time had
just defeated them. So I think Cam right now will
certainly be improved over last year. You know'll have another
year in that offense. But regardless of who starts, a
quarterback with Bill Bilchick, wats is going to be the
same thing. Be a precision surgeon and taking apart defenses,

(54:41):
understand how to get the ball out of your hand
where it's going, and run within the framework of his offense.
And and think about this in the division, you know,
it's still a light division. The Bills or who you
gotta worry about. Let's say you go ahead and you
split with the Bills. You know you're gonna take care
of the Dolphins as you should, and you're gonna go
ahead and take care of the Jets. I don't see
any any major moves that makes me feel less confident

(55:04):
in New England and potentially go out and win the
division and be a lock into the playoffs again. So
you know, everything is still set in New England. I
wouldn't cut him out. And you know, intriguingly enough, you
know everyone was like, well, you know that Brady is
Is it Brady or is it Belichick? Well it must
be Brady. I think Belichick is gonna have something to
say about that. This here, Bernie, I think he's gonna

(55:25):
have something. And I do think New England is poised
to sneak up on some people. I could see Buffalo
regressing back to the mean. Same with Miami and their
quarterback situation is in particularly settled. Coming up, we're gonna
be joined by a gentleman, one of the hardest working
men in the NFL, a true NFL insider. You hear
him on the network all the time. Gentlemen by the

(55:47):
name of Adam Kaplan. So stick and stay. He's Ryan Hollins.
I'm Bernie Fratto. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to Fox
Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. We're back on Fox
Sports Sunday. Happy mother, Stay to all he's Ryan holl
Ensign Bernie Fratto. Let's welcome in a gentleman who is
a true NFL insider, one of the busiest men on

(56:07):
the network. You hear him all the time, Adam Kaplan.
Follow him on Twitter at Kaplan NFL. That's Kaplan with
the See Adam, thanks so much for making time for
us on Mother's Day. Guy's good afternoon or even independent
where you are in this United States, and happy Mother's
Day all those mothers out there. Absolutely, I want to
start with Aaron Rodgers situation. But here's where I want

(56:30):
to go at him. It's been reported that they've offered
making him the highest paid player, but it's all about structure.
So how is Here's my question. Do you know the
details of that deal? Is it the deal that would
keep Rogers through two or yeah. The way it's gonna
work is Rogers wants long term security. He what he's

(56:51):
gonna want is a fully guaranteed contract. He's as you said, Bernie,
contract structure. This is different from the NBA, where everything's
fully guaranteed. We've really not seen the type of contract
of Rodgers deserves. We've seen three years of fully guaranteed
Kirk Cousins had an historic deal. We're seeing other deals
like that, but he has not gotten as I understand

(57:11):
fully guarantee that that would do it. I think you
would think that that would help him. UM feel the
way that he would want is that they want him
to be the quarterback. That the belief was when they
did that contract, right when they did this last extension
based on contract structure, and then when you throw on
Jordan's Love being drafted that this would be his last
year based on structure, it's very easy and it's not easy.

(57:33):
But if they wanted to, they can move on the cap.
They would have a cap hit after the season, but
would be nothing like it would be UM at the
time that they signed the deal. Uh. Well, hopefully I
would just say this, Rodgers, given the Packers three months
to give in. I don't know what they're waiting for.
Say hello to Ryan Hollands and here he's got some
questions for you. You're doing? Uh? Speaking of Aaron Rodgers,

(57:55):
I am so conflicted and confused as a former player
when I see the situation as a help me make sense.
It is you draft Jordan's Love. You know, you invest
into the defense, You don't you don't make the calls
when when when hiring a head coach in Matt Lafleur
with Aaron Rodgers and then you say no, you can't
go anywhere. Yeah. I feel like they told him everything

(58:17):
that you're out the door, and Rodgers prepared, prepared to
move on, and then at the last second they pulled
a run from under him and say, you know, don't
talk to Aaron Rodgers. He's our guy. Stay here. What
how does this conflict happen? This is this is you know, Ryan.
The the untold story about this whole situation is, if
you go back to two thousand and five, when the
Packers drafted Rogers four, their plan was never to draft quarterback.

(58:40):
They actually try to trade out of that spot. Nobody
wanted it. And what they did is they just went
with the highest player on their board happened to be
a quarterback. Now you flip the script sixteen years after
that and they draft Jordan Love. That was their plan.
They went in thinking they were gonna draft Jordan Love,
and that's what they didn't. As a matter of fact,
the Packers took him way earlier than people thought he
should go heat. I know some teams had a third

(59:02):
round grade on Jordan Love. Um, he's a pure developmental
quarterback that the thought and process would be that he
would sit for two years. Well, if it goes like
the Packers want it, that's the way it's going to be. Um,
what they did not try, what they did not do here, Ryan,
answer your question is they did not treat Aaron Rodgers
is a star quarterback. For whatever reason, this front office,
particularly general manager Brian Guncus, who's very good by the way,

(59:25):
but Um, the communication with him has been terrible to
Rogers and Rodgers is not backed down. And I've talked
to people from the Packers before about Rogers, and I've
talked to players have played with him. He's super stubborn.
Once he decides to do something, he really changes his mind.
I mean, we're not there's Look, we're only in May now,
So this is it's it's you'll see reports and opinions,

(59:48):
but nothing's going to happen until the Packers are are
against the wall. When would they be against the wall
in training camp when he when the fines are in
the millions for missing training camp, that's when you know
he'll be serious. Now if he's not there mandatory camp
in June. He'll be fine. But that's nothing like the
the fine thing you would have for not trying up
to training camp. Talking with Adam Kaplan NFL Insider, Adam,

(01:00:11):
obviously you bring up a great point. It's only a maze,
so we can all pump the brakes a little bit.
They're not going to trade him and take a thirty
two million dollar cap hit. But here's not right now.
They're not not right now, they're not. But I'm telling
you this, this is I'm not rolling anything out with
a situation. What we're saying, they'll never trade him. Well,
I've I've learned my lessons saying never seen never with
these things. Oh I'm dude. I I covered the Detroit
Alliance for ten years. My last year was Barry Sanders

(01:00:33):
last year. My final year was Rod Marinelli going to
in sixteen. So I've seen it all. I'm right with you.
Here's the question I want out to you. Go ahead.
I actually loved every minute of it. But yeah, thank you. Uh,
let's say uh that somewhere along the line, Goodagoots does
try to negotiate a treat Exactly what do you get
back for a three time m v P First Pallet

(01:00:54):
Hall of Famer and you take a thirteen win team
down to a seven win team, what do they get back.
Here's the oallenging thing. As one general manager told me,
this team would not be in the race for a
quarterback because they have This team has one. It said,
first of all, you have to ask his agent, in
this case it's David Dunn. You have to talk to
Aaron Rodgers about it. How much longer are you going
to play? Because that it's the one position in football

(01:01:15):
other than punter or a kicker, where in long snapper
that in terms of a real position, a skill position
where these guys could play in their lay thirties or
in the case of Tom Brady, it's your your mid forties.
So you have to know, are you gonna play least
three years? If you're gonna play least three years, we'll
give up three first round picks. If you're only can
play two years. We're not giving up anywhere close to
to uh to that now, other than Denver, who who

(01:01:37):
did not draft quarterback at number nine, which is shocking.
If if the Packers would make him available. Remember now
we've had the draft. This is this is different from
when the Raiders traded Kleil mac That's a position where
you could you could you can't have enough pass rushers,
and the Bears did a good job there. This is
it's it's it's hard because you have to decide if

(01:01:59):
the guy you have is your future quarterback. It's not
as easy as oh, twenty teams will be interested. It's not.
It's it's different than that. Hey, Adam, I got a
question for you, and you may not have an answer,
but I'm hoping you can make some sense bad. I
hoping you can make them. Deshaun Watson, will we see
him playing football? Will he not be playing? What? Where?

(01:02:21):
Do you what? What can we see happening there? Yeah?
I mean, look, the the NFL is doing their own investigation.
Um see that. The first of all, there were so
many teams involved in trying to trade for him back
in the middle of March, before the off the field
allegations came about. Now that list is dwindle, but there's
still teams I've spoken with are still it's just monitoring

(01:02:43):
what's gonna happen. They want to know from the league,
They want to know from their own security sources, what's
going to happen. It's hard to imagine him not going
to Commission's example list because the stuff not going away.
Now there's a lot of back and forth between both sides,
attorneys for the accusers. There's attorney for Watson, Will the
Rusty Harden in particular, Watson's lead attorney. So we'll see

(01:03:06):
how this works out. But that's where we're at here.
Where we're still at the early stages here. But you know,
at some point, once we get to the mandatory practice,
that mandatory practices in mid June, we're gonna have to
have some kind of resolution here because what if he
shows up? Remember now he wanted to be traded. Well,
that leverage is gone. Now his situation is does he

(01:03:26):
show up because he he wants to get paid and
b he has to show that he does things the
right way. It's really amazing how this the situation is
completely changed, Adam, I wish we had so much more time.
I only got about thirty seconds. But gun to your head,
will Aaron Rodgers be the starting quarterback opening day in
Title Town if he does not show up by the
midute August, No, he'll be traded. Okay, that you know what?

(01:03:48):
I like the way you put that. It sort of
gives you, sort of gives us a point of demarcation.
He's Adam Kaplan. Follow him at Kaplan NFL Caplan with
the CEE. Adams always thanks so much for your time,
fan of your work, appreciate it. Thanks all right. That
is Adam Kaplan. You'll hear him throughout the network and
as you can see, he answers questions directly, very well prepared,

(01:04:11):
and he has his finger on the pulse. Coming up.
Justin Fields hasn't even taken a staff yet. Could there
possibly be a quarterback controversy in Chicago. We'll chop it up,
but first let's go to David Gascott who put the
Star and Mary Star of the Sea with the updated guys.
New York Nicks beat the Clippers today at Staples Center.

(01:04:32):
One was six. Derrick Rose was fantastic. He was eleven
of seventeen from the field twenty five points eight as says,
six rebounds in thirty two minutes. It was a difference
maker this one a six point victory for them. Miami
also want today at Boston get the Cavaliers and Mavericks
will tip off in about thirty minutes from now Lakers
and Sons from Staple. Tip Off time is at ten o'clock.

(01:04:53):
Eastern Major League Baseball Angels to one lead over the
Dodgers right now, it's in the home half of the
sixth thing. Trevor bout are still throwing the Dodgers and
that one padres all over San Francisco five nothing. It's
in the bottom of the seventh inning from the Bay Area.
Giants do have chew on but two men out in
that frame. Arizona lost in New York today the Mets,
that is for to Jacob de Graham went five, got

(01:05:15):
the victory, left the affair though with tightness and society.
He is scheduled to have an m R I tomorrow.
Lucas Giolito with the W today, White Sox nine three
winners at Kansas City and the Rockies fall at and St.
Louis to nothing. The Cardinals Adam Wainewright gets the w
in this one to nothing was the final guys back
to Thanks so much. It's David Gascon and uh, you know,

(01:05:37):
one of the other quarterbacks I'm very much looking forward
to see play is justin Fields. I covered a lot
of ohiuse state Michigan games. I'm a big fan of
Justin Fields. I think the world of him. Uh, and
he checks every box. I would just say this, Ryan,
I don't know when he's gonna start. It's not a
race to get there the quick, it's it's a quest
to stay there the longest with lasting success. Now, wisdom

(01:06:00):
behind drafting Justin Fields was undeniable. The Bears have been
without a true franchise quarterback for seven years, although Lincoln
and died that Jim McMahon now a b y U
who won a Super Bowl. But be that as it may,
they've not had that anchor. Like you know, Rogers has
been in Green Bay, or Brady was in New England,
so on and so forth. Even Matt Stafford in Detroit,

(01:06:22):
even though he never won a playoff game. The sticky
part is when to play a quarterback, if at all,
during their rookie season. I'm curious to see, uh. One
of the only issues that Justin Fields has to overcome
because he's already embraced by the city and the man
was born with the winning gene. Just look at his

(01:06:42):
performance against Clemson. He's a dog and he's an athlete.
They didn't really have to play a very sophisticated offense,
pretty simplistic offense. At Ohio State, they went eleven on eleven,
so a lot of times if his hot read wasn't open,
he was not only he only had the autonomy to
use his fee and keep a play alive and run.
He was encouraged to do so. They don't want him

(01:07:03):
doing that in the NFL. Justin fields, what are your thoughts.
I mean, I'm intrigued by it. I'm not two feet in.
I'm not a hundred percent sold. You know, we we've
seen Ohio State quarterbacks really really struggle at the next level.
But what's intrigued me My brother in law, he's a
defensive line coach over at Stanford. He's spending time with

(01:07:24):
you know, he was one of the coordinators with Peyton
Manning and those great defenses up there with Freeny and
those guys, and spend his time in the leagues and
up there with the Vikings. Is that what's a lot
of these young quarterbacks. Instead of forcing them into a
pro style system, they will take a step back, and
we've seen it with Kyler Murray and let these guys
run a college style offense to kind of situate what

(01:07:45):
they do well. Now, justin fields, we're not gonna lie
to each other. This isn't just a clear cut favorite.
He's a guy who really came on in college playoff
and played well. So it's his job to have No
one's denying that. And we saw a lot of the
you know, can we quantified say the it factor? That
fair to say, we saw the it factor from him.
He stepped up in a huge way and had amazing

(01:08:05):
performances under pressure and under injury that kind of set
the you know, set everybody on fire. But can he
do that at the next level. I am not completely sold,
but I am intrigued. One of the things that I
do like about him, he's got tremendous huddle presence. I
love what Ryan Davis coach said him about him in
Ohio State. Phenomenal work, ethic character, based in spirituality. He's

(01:08:28):
gonna win a locker room in much the same way
Teddy Bridgewater did those five games he stepped in when
Drew Brees was out in New Orleans and one all
five games. Now, let's not bury the lead here too,
because right now the quarterback starter in Chicago is Andy Dalton.
And although his tenure is likely to be brief. He
signed a one year, ten lan dollar contract. I don't
really see why people dog Andy Dalton. He's older, he's

(01:08:50):
been banged up. He can still provide a valuable service. Now,
the Bears, and of course their coach Mattnege, in a
perfect world, they would really like to follow the blueprint
from Kansas City, where former m v P Super Bowl
champion Patrick Maholmes he sat almost entire his first season
behind Alex Smith. The belief is Dalton can be Smith,

(01:09:11):
but he just got red hair. Now the Bears are
cautious when it pertains two fields readiness. And by the way,
a little known fact about Andy Dalton and Ryan you
were in the league ten years. You know what it's
like to play with the veteran who's been there. They
go about their business, their professional they step on the floor.
It's almost like there's a chemistry between you because they've

(01:09:33):
been there, done that, and have they've been in the league.
They're not overwhelmed by the speed of the game. Since
two thousand eleven, Andy Dalton is just one of six
quarterbacks in the NFL to accomplish the following thirty thousand
passing yards, two other touchdowns and seventy wins. The only
six other quarterbacks in history to have done that Drew Brees,

(01:09:53):
Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, and Ben Roethlisberger. So
Andy Dalton is not a ham sandwich. He's gonna step
in and do some things. And I think he'll also
work with Justin Fields. I'm looking forward as a fan
to watching Justin Fields play because I think he can
bring it to Mansion. To the Bears they've never had
at the quarterback position. The key to that, she said

(01:10:17):
is work with Justin Fields. You know, Andy Dalton is
a guy who's who's a pros pro. He's gonna be
able to get along with him. And you got the
pros pros pro behind him and Nick Foles you talk
about Mr. Believe Mr. You know, right place, right time. Uh.
It doesn't get any greater than Nick Foles in that
Super Bowl run, Uh that that he had shooting. They
they scoffed at me when I said it, But a

(01:10:38):
couple of my guys when I said, hey, man, I'd
go with Nick Foles and get rid of uh Carson
wins and they end up getting rid of him. Anyways, Okay,
neither here nor there. I'm not gonna chime back to that.
But the beautiful part is when you have a veteran
like Andy Dalton that's gonna be willing to mentor justin fields.
This is not a situation where you're gonna see a
lot of friction there. Andy Dalton knows what it is

(01:10:59):
and he's and he's brought in for a reason. You know,
I can't tell you about the countless veterans uh in
my career that helped me get to ten years. You know,
but when you don't conflict with the guy. I remember,
he may not be the biggest name, but you know
I played behind Eric Dampier earlier in my per in Dallas.
But Eric Dampierre was at a point in his career
where yeah, he'd compete with me, he throw me around

(01:11:21):
and practice a little bit, but he wanted to see
me do well. He'd mentor me. So that helped me
became to become the player that I I You know,
I wasn't get ten years in the league and because
of it. But I see a similar situation here with
Fields where he is going to take some developing. You
know that the pro game is different he's gonna be
in a different style offense, uh than than he was in.

(01:11:43):
But at the same time, I can see the coaching
staff bending a little bit to making him feel comfortable. Well,
when you consider the Bears have had a tough quarterback history,
perhaps you could make a case that their most successful
quarterback was Mike Tomsa. I guess exactly uh what I'm getting.
Of course, Jim McMahon had the Super Bowl year. I

(01:12:04):
don't know why people always leave that out, But if
you look at the situation in Chicago, if you've ever
been to that state, we've ever been in that city.
It's windy, it's cold, and they've never really the Bears
as an identity, The Monsters of the Midway have never
really been predicated as a quarterback based team. They run
a ball control field position offense, don't make mistakes, don't

(01:12:26):
blow assignments, don't have penalties, be physical, and it's a
game of attrition. Now you've got this dimension. Justin Fields
is going to sell tickets and he's going to move
the chains on third down. What he's got to be
able to do is understand which decisions to make so
he doesn't endanger his health. But I do think if
Justin Fields reaches the ceiling and gets enough reps in

(01:12:47):
the right situation, he's not joining a bad situation there
in Chicago. Remember they went to the playoffs last year,
even almost one a playoff game. So it's a situation
where he's not like going to Jacksonville where they're link
from the ground up. The Bears have some support there
and better than average defense. Well here's the reality here.
When we talk about the Bears, we thought it would
they were good enough to where you thought Tom Brady

(01:13:09):
was gonna pick them as a landing spot. You know,
Deshaun Watson, you know Russell Wilson when he when he
even you know throughout that he'd like to get traded
her move talked about the Bears. So right, the defense
is there, you know, and you brought out earlier, they
are missing the quarterbacks. So if if we're not asking
Fields to be to be Brady, okay, we're not asking

(01:13:30):
him to be something in his story. If he's just
a solid quarterback, they're gonna be a really good football team. Defensively,
there's enough, Bernie, And sometime when you go into situations
and I've been there in the locker room. You just
want to say we have enough to compete. I don't
want to be disappointed. And if I'm a fan base
just shooting as the New York Knicks, they're they're happier
than right now. They there there, They're New York Nick

(01:13:52):
fans are excited. So hopefully the Chicago Bears can can
have a similar turnaround. Good point, by the way, the
Knicks win today is a seven point underdog and beat
the Clippers. The Knicks the best team against the spread
in the NBA this year. Huge props to Tom Thipodeau
in that organization. Love seeing with the Knicks do well.
But I digress one of the things about the Bears

(01:14:13):
and to the quarterback position. To your point, he doesn't
have to put the team on the shoulders. Football is
played in three phases, and as long as the Bears
take care of business, they can play complimentary football. Justin
Fields can be a good game manager and they can
win games. Somewhere along the line, the term game manager
became a swear word. Not true. I'll tell you know
who a great game manager was, Joe Montana. You know

(01:14:34):
a great game manager was Tom Brady. You've still got
to run within the framework of an offense, even though
you are capable of making those transcended plays. It's not
about being on the highlight reel. It's about getting w's
at the end of the day coming up. It's been
a little bit of a tough April in May for
Southern California baseball. My man Ryan Burr Singer, he's not panicking,

(01:14:56):
but some people are about the Dodgers. And oh, by
the way, I'll Albert Poohol's future Hall of Famer. The
clock has struck midnight and it's somewhat unceremonious fashion. We'll
chop it up next. He's Ryan Hollans. I'm Bernie Fratto.
Keep it locked. You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday on
Fox Sports Radio. Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth

(01:15:18):
Hour with Ben Mallery along with my trustees sidekick David Gascon.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name
is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin
off of the Ben Maller Show, Cold Hit Overnights on FSR.
Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world
will we chat with captains of industry in media, sports

(01:15:38):
and more. Every week Explorer some amazing facts about human
nature and more. Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben
Mallow on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast back on Fox Sports Sunday.
Happy Mother's Day to you all. He's Ryan Hollands, I'm
Bernie Fratto and I'm coming to you alive from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio studios and I'm glad you

(01:15:59):
have I've joined us today. You know, Ryan uh A
bar Giamatti once said, the games you're designed to break
your heart. You're never gonna length the way your athletic
career ins. I played minor league baseball. It was rough
for me, but then again I had trouble hitting and
slatter and add a bone chips in my elbow. On
the other hand, you played ten years in the league.
What was it like with an inn it for you?

(01:16:21):
I wasn't satisfied, right answer, That's an honest answer, you know, honest, honestly,
I I got. I came to a place where my
goal was to walk away from the NBA on my
own merit, and they just told me, man, we're going younger,
We're going because you know, the irony is I was
playing my best basketball in my mind efficient why efficiency

(01:16:44):
wise and knowing where I needed to be uh in
my tenth year, and I didn't get an invite back
to camp or anything. And you know, I could have
probably done the G League route uh and then made
it onto a Rocks. I'm sure I've made it onto
a Rosher, but I just couldn't see myself doing it.
But you're right, I I am very unsatisfied for a
guy who got ten years that wasn't even supposed to

(01:17:05):
get ten years. Well, you did very well. And the
good thing is you're a radio start. Now we don't
have to worry about first step explosion or any of
that kind of stuff. Right now, Let's let's talk about
Albert pool Holes because I have an indelible image of him.
I covered the two thousand and six World Series in
Detroit again with Rob Parker CBS Radio. The Tigers played

(01:17:28):
the Cardinals. The Cardinals won a five game serious and
Albert pool Holes was they couldn't get him out. He
was phenomenal. He had a ball uh in Game one
about let's just put it this way. I think they
showed two movies on that flight, the ball landed somewhere
in another state, and you could tell that the Tigers
just might be overmatched in pool Holes. He wasn't the

(01:17:48):
mvp A too serious, but he was an absolute presence.
So this last week when he got released, it turned
out to be one of the most awkward, uncomfortable, ugly
goodbyes when it comes to releasing a future Hall of
Fame and not sad. Reality is Albert Poolholes only hit
two fifty six cumulatively his ten years were the Angels,
and when you compare that to his career average of

(01:18:09):
the St. Louis Cardinals, it shows that his game had diminished, right,
He'd lost bat speed, he lost everything. That's what happens.
Father time has a way of getting all of us.
Not a single playoff win for the Angels in his tenure,
and that hurts as well. And yet his former team,
the Cardinals, actually won the World Series without him shortly
after he departed. What advice would you give to Albert

(01:18:31):
Poolholes and what was your interpretation of how that whole
thing went down. It's just really tough when you watch
an all time great diminished and what happens is, you
know the front office is gonna look at it his
play and say, hey man, we're paying this guy to
help a whole lot of money to not get the
production back. Um, but it is ugly whenever you see

(01:18:51):
his star a retire Uh, slowdown. We're not all spoiled
by the Kobe Bryant like performances where he scores sixty
and his last last last game he walks away like
it's a movie. But you know, you look at that
entire season and it really kind of disappointed. It wasn't
the greatest thing that saved Kobe Bryant's last year is
that he said as a farewell tour. So as they

(01:19:13):
kind of stunk it up around the league, nobody was
making a fuss about it. You say, well, it's his
last heralds. Let's appreciate Kobe Bryant. You know, Paul Pierce
tried the same thing, but he couldn't quite get out
the blocks. You don't you brought it out. You don't
get that storybook ending. It is extremely rare. Even Michael
Jordan's kind of mold his way uh through those last
two years with the Wizards and the lasting memory we

(01:19:34):
have a Mike is shooting that outreach shot over Sean
maryon that the high high hierarcher. And I believe he
was an All star game. I'm not a but I
know he definitely gave us those moments there. So in
terms of pooh hoos, it's always ugly when it happens.
You don't like to see it, especially with the great
And I don't know about you, I just never really
felt like he was an angel. I don't really identify

(01:19:56):
like that. I think that's a tougher part that we're
seeing here. But he never spot on. He never really
caught on. Uh. For whatever reason, Artie Burano did his best,
and they were paying him thirty million this year. And
you know, if I was a general manager, who knows
I might be in my next lifetime, Uh, I would
look at it this way. When I'm ready to part
with a player, I asked myself one question, do I

(01:20:18):
want to have to play against him? Okay, think about
that at any sport now and Opera pool Holes not
so much. The Angels believed that Pools, who who will
be a first ballot Hall of Famer, simply was no
longer an everyday player. And now you know why he
was batting a Buck SIPs. He was a liability in
the lineup. It's just the way it is. Six hundred

(01:20:41):
and sixty seven home runs. I believe in his career
he will be a first ballot Hall of Fame. Now
let's flip to the Dodgers. Dodgers started out thirteen in two.
Look slumps here a part of baseball. Take a deeper
at Dodger fans, think good thoughts. Remember how Thateen Dodgers
season started. They were ten games under five hundred sixte
they still got to the World Series. I think the

(01:21:01):
Dodgers are gonna be just fine. Ryan, You yeah, I agree.
You know, Bellinger and Bets having to share injuries is
gonna be a factor. This is still a group that
is gonna swing for the fences and play the stats
that you may love it or hate it, but that's
the way that the Dodgers play. And ultimately they're they're
losing some of these games that are close. So if
you can share up, you know, the finishes to the games,

(01:21:23):
take care of business, They're gonna be just fine. But
you know, it really is ugly when you hit slumps.
But the beautiful part about baseball is you want to
be hot at the right time. You don't want to
be hot and peeking at this time of year. You
want to be hot at the right time and put
yourself in chance to go out and get another World Series.
So I'm not gonna panic if I'm a Dodger fan.

(01:21:43):
I'm not panicking Jesse yet. I'm not losing my mind.
These are close, winnable games that we're seeing. They're just
not finishing down the stretch. Yeah, and add to that,
they've had the injury bug pretty significantly this year. So
they did start out thirteen and two, then they went
four and thirteen. So which Dodger team are they look
even timely the sort of one set at best. The
Major League Baseball season is a marathon, not a springt

(01:22:05):
You play a hundred and sixty two games. The last
place team is still gonna win a third of their games.
The best team in baseball is still gonna lose a
third of their games. They're coming off a World Series championship.
You had to figure they would regress slightly, but they're
gonna be there. It'll be interesting if they lock horns
against the Padres and the pullseason. I will be watching
that coming up. The ultimate question for the NBA Playoffs,

(01:22:29):
will the Brooklyn Nets win it all with the Three Musketeers.
I'll give you what I think. He's Ryan Hollins. I'm
Bernie Fratto. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Sunday. 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

(01:22:50):
Heart Radio apps search f s R to listen live.
It is a Mother's Day version of Fox Sports Sunday.
He's Ryan Allins. I'm Bernie Fratto. I'm coming to you
alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio studios and
again which all the mothers, all the hard work they do.

(01:23:10):
Thanks so much for everything, and this is your day,
and really every day should be your day, but at
least you have Mother's Day as well. Ryan. I will
say this that the one thing I'm looking forward to
most in the NBA Playoffs is we are going to
get our answer as to whether or not the Brooklyn
Nets will finish the job and get the Lawrence of

(01:23:33):
Brian Trophy. Now I have three reasons why I don't
think they are going to and I certainly want you
to weigh in on this, but I want to start
with this. And forty years, the last thirty six champions
have been a top ten defense. Twenty two of them
have been a top five defense. In Faction's two thousand one,

(01:23:54):
every single NBA champion has ranked at least tenth in
defensive rating. It's good win to matter. You said it
best at the top of the show. Why they were
the Lakers so prolific last year. Defensive chemistry. Man, they rotate,
they switch, they communicate, they help each other out. There's
no catches in free space. They contest everything. They really

(01:24:14):
defend the perimeter, they close out on the shooter, They
impose their will. Their commitment to team defense is why
the Lakers were a champion. You've got the floor. If
anybody was gonna sway me on the offensive end, I
got you. If I was gonna, I'm with you, Bernie,

(01:24:35):
when we talked defense when champions, I'm I'm with you. Listen.
It got me ten years. Getting in the stands and
and diving on balls and getting it worked for me.
But Man, if there was a team that you told
me on the offense wins championships, this is the team.
I mean if they're healthy, James Harden, Kyrie Kevin Durant, like, like, seriously,

(01:24:59):
like and James Harden, e's not clutch, We'll shoot. Just
make the clutch pass. You got a guy on either
wing that has hit two of the most prolific shots
in NBA Finals history, the dagger from Kyrie Irving over
all first team defender Clay Thompson right in his mouth,
and then and then Kevin Durant right over Lebron James

(01:25:21):
for a game. Guys, Seriously, if we're gonna say offense
when berdie, we're gonna go against everything that you believe
in that we preach, this is the time to do it.
And then if the injuries, injuries are the biggest play here,
I hate to say that it comes out of injury.
Back just see injuries is such a big thing here, Lakers,
NAT's injuris. Well, yeah, you stole my thunder and I'm

(01:25:44):
glad you did. And by the way, I I'm not
ruling anything out. I'm not gonna bet a finger on
it that they don't win it. I would just say this,
I mean, we are in the world of sports, and
when you get world class athletes to take the floor
against each other. Hey, Bob, you can want you to
home run off Sandy Kofak, so anything can happened. Let's
talk about injuries and health, particularly Kevin Durant, and this

(01:26:04):
is one of the things that would concern me greatly. Look,
Kevin Durant, this is the season that featured his comeback
from that achilles injury that he suffered in the NBA
Finals against Toronto. Right now, we boy, I'll tell you, uh,
this is not an injury to be taken lightly. It's
derailed the careers and really kind of sapped the life
in the athleticism. Out of a lot of stars in

(01:26:27):
the league. DeMarcus Cousins, Kobe Bryant, Rudy Gay, Wesley Matthews,
none of them were really the same. Now, Kevin Durant
has looked apart, but he's only played in twenty nine
games this year. And in addition to Kevin Durant's injury,
he had major surgery on his foot in And while
Durant is not a traditional big man in the big

(01:26:47):
man since players of his tall stature, well, they're none
for their propensity to injure their lower bodies. It's absolutely
crucial that Durant is on the floor for them to
win a champ and Chip, I'm not confident he's going
to be able to answer the bill every game. You've
got the floor. I'm in between. Uh you know, I'm

(01:27:08):
torn between and I have to talk to uh medical
specialists or someone in that next organization. And you know, Bernie,
We're probably never gonna get a straight answer. We're just
already predetermined that, you know, Kevin, if you walk into
the facility, Kevin, if you walk into the facility the
wrong way, we're shutting it down. You know, Kevin, we're
gonna be uber cautious. Or was this you know, a
deal where Kevin Durant, who was actually playing consistently early

(01:27:31):
in the season to start, you know, got into a
situation where they're just like, it's not worth it, Kevin.
And obviously the luxury is there, You've got a big
three over there where James Harden himself, Kyrie could go,
Kyrie could go on a meditation tour, and James Harden
could get you through the Eastern Conference, you know, so

(01:27:52):
that the reality is, Hey, Berdy, you're cracking me up.
Bernie Cole, Come on, Bernie, were trying to get a job.
But in all seriousness, you know they had that star power,
and like, you know what, let's not just talk Nets,
Let's talk East. Let's talk East Philadelphia seventy six ers.
Do you believe in Ben Simmons, I do. I don't
know that to see the Sixers can beat them four

(01:28:14):
times in two weeks, right, And the same with the
Boston Celtics, the same with the Milwaukee Bucks. I actually
think Brooklyn I can't really see a scenario where they
don't get out of the East barring something odd. Go
I got I got a confession though, Go ahead, you
know we we always talk, Bernie, and I've heard you
say this before. And when I'm a big preacher of this,

(01:28:36):
everything is matchups and it comes to playoff time's matchups, right,
And if I am the Brooklyn Nets, I don't want
any parts of not only the Miami Heat, but I
don't want to see yantis Ata to Kupo. I do not.
I don't want to look his way. I don't want
I think that Janice onto the Coupo in an early

(01:28:59):
match up with the Brooklyn Nets is a problem. It
could be in and just the last week Milwaukee beat
them twice in those statement games. The question will be
whether they be able to repeat that. There's an aspect
of sports I call quantum physics. And when he gets
hot and it's hard to breathe and you're on the
floor and you're in an elimination game, for instance, one

(01:29:20):
of the things I can't get past Ryan, Uh, you're
in the league. Remember when that really good, very good
Oklahoma City thunder team had the Golden State Warriors down
three to one and they couldn't close the deal. I
just have this sneaking suspicion, not predicting it, not wishing
it out him, that the Brooklyn Nets might find themselves

(01:29:41):
in that same position. What are they gonna look like
if they get to a game seven, if they get
pushed to the brink, or they find themselves down two
games to one, how will they react from there? They
have proven that when they're clicking on offense, they look
like the Harlem blow trotters. I mean it, they win
and they look good doing it. But everything shortens up
in the playoffs, as you well know, and they'll have

(01:30:03):
to adapt in a way that they haven't had to.
And I'm pretty sure the Big Three they only played
together like seven games all year. I lie to you
if I told you they didn't concern me either. You know,
just just go lost the last Los Angeles Clippers. Ask
him if you're telling me that chemistry doesn't matter in
big moments where you know, we saw the Golden State Warriors.

(01:30:24):
You know, Steph curk and drives the whole close his
eyes and throw it to a corner and I'm sure
he's closed his eyes a few times due it's the
corner and Clay Thompson was right there for the catch
and shoot three. You know that that those guys just
had chemistry, and at the highest level, the championship level,
chemistry is what matters. Lebron James couldn't get it done
his first year in l A. He had to make moves,
bringing Anthony Davis. Then these guys are coming back around

(01:30:46):
a second time. You know, if healthy, I still favor
of Lakers. And maybe this is not the greatest time
to be saying that you favor the Lakers as they're injured,
hurt and beat up, But the Brooklyn Nets just still
have so much firepower that sometimes firepower are when you're
that much more talented, it can outweigh chemistry when you
know when you got a guy and you hand the
ball too and he can make a shot by the

(01:31:08):
name of Kevin Durant. The question comes, is Kevin Durant
And I think you're coming here, Bernie. I think that's
what you're saying. Is he gonna trust the guys that say,
hey man, Steve Nash, Steve Nash, James Harden, Okay, Kyrie.
Are we gonna run offense in the last two minutes
of a ball game? Or is it gonna be the
Kevin Durant Show. And we saw the Kevin Durant Show
against the Houston Rockets a couple of years ago when

(01:31:28):
he was on the Warriors, and they almost lost that
series until Kevin Durant decided that he was going to
share the basketball and start to move it around because
it was looking really ugly for a moment. All right,
to your point, I gotta get give it up to you,
because look, even though I sit a minute ago I
talked about the NBA champions ranking at least tenth in
defensive rating and and the Nets should they get to

(01:31:52):
the championship and win it, they would be a huge
hot liar because they currently ranked in the NBA and
defensive rating, and I mean statistically, I can't tell you
what an outlier that is to win an NBA championship,
to win sixteen games in the postseason against other playoff teams. However,
there's the big butt pewee. There's never been a team

(01:32:12):
with three players just like you said, as individually talented
and accomplished this hardened Irving and Durant are collectively. That's
what makes him so scary. To the point to two
thousand one Los Angeles Lakers. They won the NBA Finals
despite ranking twenty one in the NBA in defensive rating,

(01:32:32):
and they were able to accomplish it because they had
two players who were arguably the best at their respective
positions in the league at the time, Kobe Bryant and
Shaquille O'Neal. They were enough to put the rest of
the team on their back, which included a subpart defensive cast,
and they won the championship. The Nets that trio has

(01:32:54):
a tremendous fighting chance. That being the case. I'm in Vegas.
It's hard to bet against this, but if anybody can
buck this trend, it's the Brooklyn Nets. Even though I
don't think the odds are in their favorite to do it,
even though they are the odds on favorite to do
it plus four fifty favorites to win it all. Yeah,
my and and my big questions here are if you

(01:33:18):
run into Jani Sansakupo, how do you guys stop him
in the paint? You know? And I know how great
that team is on the perimeter and playmaking, but like,
how do you how do you are you gonna trade
threes for twos? And if that's not working, where are
you going from there? You know? And I think that
Brooklyn's in an excellent job of moving the basketball. And
then I brought up the Miami heat if they climb

(01:33:39):
into you and they get physical or you know, Jimmy
Butler gets to John with with Kevin Durant, is Kevin
Durant gonna take himself out of the game? Because now
right right right, man, Bernie, what are we asking what
we did not? Okay, we go back to the Warriors
Kevin Durant. We asked Kevin Durant to just go score
the basketball and play some weak side defense, right. That

(01:34:01):
was kind of his deal, the leadership that we didn't
need his leadership with with with the Golden State Lawyers.
It was not needed. This team means Kevin Durant's leadership.
Is Kevin Durant that leader if healthy and things get
tight with Jimmy Butler, Bernie, is he well in Miami?
You know, defied the odds last year in the Bubble,
got all the way to the finals, and they've not

(01:34:21):
been depleted and heard they might have made that series
against the Lakers more interesting at the end of the day. Look,
I have to stick to my gut field and what
my eyes tell me. I trust my eyes. That tell
me a lot that the the the Nets are going
to get to a point where they're gonna have a
day of reckoning. And I say that because from defense
to what I consider insufficient depth two questions about the

(01:34:43):
health of their star players. I think they've got an
lphill climb to get to the ultimate Prize. They possessed,
the talent, they have, the experience, they've got all those
individual stars that would be necessary to bring a championship
to Brooklyn, and only time will tell if they can
overcome their fundamental issues. I don't think they're gonna do it.
Wow well, And and like I said, I can't say

(01:35:05):
that they're not because when healthy, I think it's just health.
I'd be lying any other way. I do. Like Miami,
they scared me, and like I said, Janice scares me.
But Janice would have to have uh surmounting you know,
fifteen the twenty point lead. You don't want to have
your honest with the basketball in a one possession game.

(01:35:27):
I just don't think he's there yet in his career.
No matter how bad the Brooklyn Nets are on the
defensive end of the floor, I understand they didn't get drumming.
They haven't brought in the big man. LaMarcus All just
unfortunately retires. We hadn't even spoken about that. You know,
you've got Blake Gripp, you got Lobster, you got my
former teammates Blake Griffin, DeAndre there and and I just
don't think defensively that's enough. But on the offensive end, man,

(01:35:49):
that is just intrigued because like I said, you look
at Philly, Okay, Philadelphia, Ben Simmons, you know he's cool
now as a defender assist guy, but when he's starting
to get exposed as far as his lack of shooting.
And in Milwaukee, can they finish down the stretch New York.
We like you, but we don't love you. You know,
there's no one just really jumping out as star of
star power. And the one thing I've learned from my

(01:36:11):
ten years, you need stars. Brooklyn's got stars, Bernie, no
doubt about it. But there's an old saying a star
might whin you won game, a team might win them all.
Now tell you what. On the other side, I want
to talk about one of the teams other than the Lakers,
that I think can get it done and put a
hell of a scare into the nets, if not beat them.

(01:36:33):
And Ryan, now, you had a very noteworthy college career
at u c. L A. And I'm gonna draw a
parallel between your four years at U c l A
and this team I'm going to talk about coming up
on the other side. He's Ryan Hollands, I'm Bernie Fratto.
Keep it locked right here. You're listening to Fox Sports
Sunday at Fox Sports Radio. We keep it rolling on

(01:36:54):
a Fox Sports Mother's Day Sunday. Happy Mother's Day to all.
He Ryan Hollands, I'm Bernie Fratto, and I'm coming to
you alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio studios.
And Ryan let me start by saying this, I I
really think you had a very noteworthy college career at
U c l A. And I'll tell you why. Uh

(01:37:15):
you started if you look at the four years and
the evolution. You started with Steve Lavin your freshman year,
and then Ben Holland was ushered in for the remainder
of your tenure there at U c l A. And
so the first two years you guys scuffled a bit,
but then you made the Turney your junior year, and
then your senior year you got all the way to
the finals against Billy Donovan and that sick Florida team

(01:37:38):
in two thousand six. They were six Joacom Noah, al Horford,
Torrey and green Corey Brewer. Uh, you had a great
game that night, ken rebounds. The threes just weren't dropping
for the Bruins, and you know they went three for seventeen,
And that's what happened. That's what's that's what's what. But
here's the deal. The parallel I draw is that there

(01:37:59):
was an ev ilution in your four years that got
you from being a ten win team too almost swinging championship.
Talk for just a minute on what you think the
biggest catalyst was in elevating the Bruins to that plateau.
And then I'm going to draw the parallel for the
team I think can sneak up on Brooklyn and win

(01:38:20):
it all. Well, we had a mix of of young
and old. We had you know McDonald's all Americans in
farmer and to follow that, we're huge that needed another
year to develop. And then you had guys who could
really play the holdovers from you know, the the laven era. Myself,
uh and Cedric Boseman really paid play the key part.

(01:38:42):
And you know, when you have a mix of the
youth and some veterans and guys who kind of like,
we're like you know me and said we're fed up
with losing, We're like, you know, enough of that, it's
not happening anymore. You know, you you start to get
something that's really special. And we had a deep team.
We'd go ten deep in you know, elimination games, you know,

(01:39:03):
and that's that's pretty rare. And then you know, you
get a Darren Collison off the bench playing with house money.
So I think that was just a mixed man. We
we you had guys that were veteran and fed up
and then you had some young talent, and you had
a group of guys that just bought in and knew
it was bigger than themselves, and I would say that,
oh six run to the championship game, you know what

(01:39:24):
was a huge part of it. So much like your
U C l A team, the l A Clippers have evolved.
I believe under new coach, new chemistry, chip on their shoulders,
something to prove. They've got great leaders who know their
position as role players. This is a team who has
playoff experience from seasons ago. They'll use it to their

(01:39:45):
advantage against their opponents. I think their bench production will
be huge. They're going to make a deep playoff run.
I believe. Look, we all saw it last year in
the playoffs. I don't know what the hell happened. You
can blame it on the ball, but you can blame
it on covid uh. You can be blame it on
the Clippers. They're embarrassingly eliminated from the playoffs because they
had a commanding three to one series lead over the

(01:40:07):
Denver Nuggets. They lost the last three games, got blown
out in Game seven by fifteen. So in the offseason
they parted ways with Doc Rivers. They promoted Tyron Lou
as their new coach and in his first year in
his new position, coach Lou, who has won a championship Cleveland.
I think he has done a great job in utilizing

(01:40:27):
his players to succeed in their rules. And one of
the biggest moves at the NBA trade deadline or the
Clippers acquiring a Ray John Rondo from the Atlanta Hawks.
And look, Rondo is coming off his second championship last
season with the Lakers. I still think he's a leadership
or he's a leader at point guard. He's got enough
in the tank he'll take pressure off Kawhi Leonard, Paul

(01:40:50):
George and the rest of the Clippers roster. The Clippers,
I think they've got an excellent supporting cast. I like
Reggie Jackson, Sergebaka, Patrick Beverley. I like their physical lattitude,
whether they're knocking down perimeter shots or making a big
defensive play. I think this is going to make a
difference this year through a totally different team. What do
you think? What is your minds? I tell you about

(01:41:12):
the Clippers and where they can finish in the playoffs.
Did a famous right now Lebron is hurt. He's gonna
have to play one extra game in the playing game.
Anthony Davis is right. I mean they are the famous
right now, and and there's nothing like a taste of
humble pie. I've been there before. Keep in mind everyone's
so hard on my guy, uh, Paul George. But keeping mind,

(01:41:34):
Paul George stepped in to a season where Kauai was
already not only gonna be missing games, but probably slim
the nun chances that you see him in practice, So
there's no chemistry there. But he also had double shoulder surgery.
People don't talk about that, and I get it. He
wants to call himself playoff p and that, and he
had a battle with Dave and then every everybody just
lit him up. But Paul George is not a bad

(01:41:56):
basketball player. Their problem was there was a lot of
one on one in Bernie. You brought up the gold
point ray, Jean Rondo. I play with Rondo if anything.
You know, the Clippers are gonna get a good shot
down the floor, and they're so offensively talented that you
didn't need a shoot first guard. You just needed someone

(01:42:17):
to make sure it look like you knew what you're doing.
Because I'm gonna be honest, the guy with you, you know,
Kawhi Leonard coming down playing point guards was a recipe
for disaster. You know, you needed a buffer between he
and Paul George, and Paul George ends up being the
guy who suffered through that. Well, they call him playoff
Rondo for a reason. We saw it in Boston, we
saw it in l a last year. He elevates his

(01:42:37):
game and it matters most. And you know, the Clippers,
they underachieved last year, and you're right, they've got something
to prove. They've got a chip on their shoulder. And
they did sweep the Lakers this year and Lebron played
in most of those games. So let's say Lebron has
a vehicle cure, he comes back healthy, he pulls the
Willis Reed walks on the court. Who wins that series

(01:42:58):
with a healthy Lakers a healthy Clippers. It's it's all
about the Lakers at the end of the day. You know,
there's there's only one Lebron. James and Kauai is as
talented as they come, uh as far as scoring the ball,
creating space. But Lebron showed us something last year that
you know, I didn't think we would see. He cards

(01:43:18):
Kauai very well. You know, he guys quite extremely well.
Because everything Kauai does off the bounce, it's it's he's
very physical. Lebron does not allow him with his size,
uh to create space. And then you gotta wonder, you know,
how how is this team gonna mold? How are they
gonna trust each other? You know, everything. If it's the
Lakers healthy, as you brought out, everything's going through lb

(01:43:39):
j Okay, they got more scoring. Dennis Schroder is a
bit of a pest on the other side, so they
really they kind of have enough there. And then if
Drummond can just be formidable on the glass, you know,
that's advantage Lakers Now. Like I said, with the Clippers,
when it's all said and done, the chemistry still is
a question. I think that they are much improved. I

(01:44:01):
Baka's injury also, they have a level of injury concerns
because he's gonna be a big piece. You know, he's
a bit of an upgrade from a shot blocking perspective
from Montrez r Rail. But you know, the Lakers Healthy
have a different level of depth. And then you say, well,
who guards Anthony Davis. If he's rolling, you know, if
he's looking like himself, right, Bernie, he brought up a
good point. And if if Lebron does neutralize Kauai, which

(01:44:24):
he did last year, this is a Clipper team. I
think it's not just Kauai. But I am a little
concerned about Sergebaka. But a healthy Ibaka, I believe can
be to the Clippers what Andrea Guadala was to the
Golden State Warriors when they won those two years. I
think the Clippers are deep enough, angry enough. It's very
hard to repeat in the NBA. There's reasons teams don't repeat. Now,

(01:44:44):
I am really hoping that Lebron is healthy because when
you get to the playoff, which you want to see
is your best, you want to see their best. And
when a team huddles and gets ready to take the floor,
you want to say to yourself, if we bring our
best and they bring their best, our best is better
than their best. Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth
Hour with Ben Mallery along with my trustees sidekick David Gascon.

(01:45:08):
Would meet a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name
is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin
off of the Ben Maller Show, a cold hit overnights
on fs ARE. Why should you listen? Picture If you
will the world will we chat with captains of industry
in media, sports and more every week Explorer some amazing
facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten to the

(01:45:30):
Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. We're back
on Fox Sports Radio Sunday again. Happy Mother's Day to all,
Thanks so much for listening tonight. He's Ryan Hollands. I'm
Bernie Fratto. A couple of things first, I don't want
to thank my broadcast team back in Los Angeles for
all their hard work turning all the dials, keeping us

(01:45:51):
glue together. They'll be Ryan Burr, Singer Iowa, Sam Kinsley,
Bobbo and of course David Gascon with the updates in
about ten minutes. Keep it locked. Top of the hour,
Brady Quinn and Jonas Knox will take you up to
eight o'clock frolicking fund for the whole family. I gotta

(01:46:11):
tell you, uh, Ryan, as I said, a true sign
of greatness is when people seem to make the remarkable routine.
And every time Russell Westbrook steps on an NBA corps
the expectation now is that a triple double is coming.
This guy is fun to watch, whether you know, people
bash on him and such, But you don't do what

(01:46:31):
he did without some junk in your trunk. The other night. Uh,
he finished with thirty three points, nineteen rebounds, fifteen assists,
but he willed the Wizards to a one two overtime
win against the Pacers. But the lead for the story
was Russell Westbrook when he found Bradley Beale, who had
a jumper with the free throw line, giving Westbrook the
tenth assists of the game. It was his first career

(01:46:55):
triple double. Watching him and reminds me of the scene
in the movie Coming to a America with Eddie Murphy
when he's up on stage singing that band Sexual Chocolate
and then there's Eddie Murphy. The boy can sing, The
boy can sing. When I look at Russell Westbrook, the
boy can sing, Bernie. Uh, you could not have said

(01:47:18):
it any better. You know what I'm mis stacked about.
Russ is always like a little brother to me. Man.
I watched him coming to his own since he stayed
at U C. L A. And he was he And
I'll tell you one thing, Bernie, he was the only
one in the gym with us every day. All the
teammates were out other places. He was in the gym
with us every single day, working and getting better into
the weight room, and his work ethic had had shown

(01:47:40):
off as we've seen. Keeping mind, Washington is seven and
three over their last ten games. They're playing winning basketball.
But what I'm more ecstatic about is that the national
narratives about Russell Westbrook are finally coming with respect rights.
Look if anybody has ever seen so Westbrook play in person,

(01:48:02):
and again, I I've been around the NBA a long time.
I interned at the Forum and Magic was a rookie
covered the pittions for many years. When you're near an
NBA floor, people don't understand the speed, grace, athletics, m
of the game. Tell me if I'm wrong, Ryan, I
have never seen a faster guy on the hardwood ninety
four ft with the ball in his hand than Russell Westbrook.

(01:48:22):
And Rust is the hey. I would say one thing,
Rust is different. He when we were playing the summertimes
and then you know it's intriguing. It is, like I said,
younger Russell to the Russell we see now just kept
getting better. He's one of the listen. I pride myself. Look, Bernie,
I wore fifteen because I got the one through five.
I got in every position a right, that's what I do.
And Russ is the only one of the only guards

(01:48:45):
that came at me downhill. And I was like, oh, snap,
oh snap, what is he? What Like I am on
my heels right now the way he attacks and comes
at you. So he look, man, he's just he has
different gears. And I guess therustration comes that you would
want to see that be, you know, translate into an
NBA championship or real playoff success. And you know he's

(01:49:07):
had some uneventful losses a couple of years ago to Utah.
But you know, when I I look at this also,
there's only one Curry, There's only one Kauai, there's only
one Lebron, There's only one k d The rest of
the guys are losers well. And and when you look
along the lexicon of sports, whether it's already Banks, Ted Williams,

(01:49:27):
there's been a lot of great players who didn't win,
and so I I think it's unfair. You've got to
be able to hold two thoughts concurrently. Might with his greatness,
he should have found a way to win one championship. Okay,
but it doesn't always work that way. You can't always
control that. Uh, there are factors sometimes, And I like
the way he gives an effort every night, And this
is one of the reasons why again we've come full circle.

(01:49:50):
Now I'm actually looking forward to the playing games because
Washington's got a chance to get into the dance for real.
But let's not bury the lead. When he caught Oscar
robertson the other night, and and you know Rob Now
they both have for their careers on one triple doubles.
Let's give that some perspective. Right behind them is Magic

(01:50:11):
Johnson with a hundred and thirty eight. I got you
mentioned earlier, Jason Kidd with a hundred and seven. Lebron
has ninety nine. But guys like Larry Bird fifty nine,
James Harden, Fat Lever forty three, Will Chamberlain seventy eight,
that is some pretty darn good company. So well, I
think there are some people that, for whatever reason, have

(01:50:33):
a personal dislike for Russell whist Brooke, your opinion is
based on subjectivity, not objectivity, because you can't get on
the floor night after night sometimes in meaningless games and
put forward this kind of consistent effort over a decade
and not get my respect. Now you're right about that.
And and and I'm gonna throw out a challenge to anybody,
because all the real Hoopers understand how hard it is

(01:50:55):
to get a triple up. Anybody who just thinks that
a triple go to a fifty and over league and
I don't care if you're in your thirties, and go
get a triple double. Go step out any anywhere in
a in a forty minute game, okay, forty minute, forty eight,
whatever you want to play in, and go get a triple.
And then you tell me how your body feels, and
tell me how easy it was to rack up those

(01:51:17):
ten assists where you relying with your teammates, or get
your ten rebounds. Go get in there with the trees.
I don't care if they are trees. If everybody's five eleven,
you go get a triple double. And then talk to
me about the difficulty of maintaining a triple double. Because
guess with Bernie there's a lot of guys. Okay, the
rebounds work. I'm a big guy. Okay, the points will
fall with the assists work, but I can't shoot. It

(01:51:38):
is tough to go out and get a triple double
on any level. And now Washington's coming around. This is
the team. I know they were injured earlier. They couldn't
guard the chairs, Bernie that me and you are sitting
in right now, But that was a team that is
finally playing too par and really exciting what we what
we expected. And I think I'll throw this out because
you right in the play What kind of sucks is

(01:52:01):
that Washington turns it on at the end of the
season there in the ninth seed, and they're likely gonna
upset somebody in the playing game because they got two
absolute studs in Russell Westbrook and Bradley Bill. And you
still got to play the game. And when they roll
the balls out of the floor, you're gonna have to
stop him. So too that people can't have it both ways.
They can't say Russell Westbrook is not a winner, then

(01:52:21):
lose to him in the playoffs. And I'll tell you
something else, Ryan, What's so fascinating because rust Brook's been
in the league fifteen years. Okay, his first seven years.
He only checked that his first six seasons he only
had eight triple doubles total, And his first six seasons combined,

(01:52:41):
I've checked that. He's been in the league thirteen years,
But in the last seven seasons he's tallied a hundred
and seventy three triple doubles. That's incredible. Every night he
takes the floor, he is almost expected to get a
triple double. And now he's doing it within the framework
of his team marching toward a playoff run. And I'm

(01:53:01):
enjoying watching it. Bernie, I got guess, and I want
to throw your way. You're you're season enough where you
can take this out ahead. Who had the better career?
We may have to dive into this next time, Okay,
Russell Westbrook or Chris Paul to be determined, because Chris
Paul hasn't one yet either, But I really like what
he's doing in Phoenix. Gun to my head, I'd have

(01:53:22):
to probably go with Russell Westbrook because he's been more
of a highlight field. We're in the entertainment business, right
and and and you said, Dad, I want to go
I want to see Russell Westberg play no disrespect to
Chris Paul whatsoever. I don't know. I think I think
Russell Westbrook might be with the price of admission. Why,
Chris Paul is a brilliant player, and you'll probably end

(01:53:42):
up in the Hall of Fame. I would give the
slight nod to Russell Westbrook. Yeah, and and in both
Hall of famers in their own regard and disrespect. I
think at first glance, you jump all over Chris Paul
and Chris Paul. I looked up the numbers Chris as
the consistency of former teammate of mine. But the big
Trump card is the Trump Trump card is Russell Westbrook

(01:54:03):
has m v P. Russell Westbrook has also been in
an NBA finals. Okay, so those are the cards that
Chris Paul camp pull. But I mean that that's a
tough one, but both. I couldn't be happier for two
seemingly declining guards who were traded for each other that
are playing amazing basketball right now. So there's no no
losers either way. You look at it, Ryan my man, Unfortunately,

(01:54:25):
our time is up. I can't tell you what a
pleasure it has been to work with you. Today, I
wish you the best and uh I hopeful our path
across down the road. Ladies and gentlemen. He is Ryan
Holland's tenure NBA veteran U c L, a Brewin for life,
and a man now on his way to radio stardom.
Stick and stay for Jonas Knox and Brady Quinn coming up.
That's gonna do it for Fox Sports Sunday. I'm Bernie

(01:54:47):
Frattle

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