THE BEST OF THE DOUG GOTTLIEB SHOW

Jason Smith and Mike Harmon in for Doug have all the latest details out of San Antonio as the Spurs are shutting down their Star Center Victor Wembanyama for the season. The guys get you all set for the BIGGEST sporting event on the planet. The Knuckleheads dish out some of their 2nd half NBA predictions. And the latest on Luka and the Lakers!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Box Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello, Welcome inside the Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox
Sports Radio. Jason Smith, Mike Harmon, Yeah, in for Doug today.
As as you know, considering the big baseball fans that
we are, we're kicking off the twenty twenty five season,
the first exhibition game moments away between the Cubs and
the Dodgers. Exciting times, right now, What did you bet
on this, Mike? How much did you bet? What'd you bet? Well?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
I bet you under on every picture in terms of
their out totals. Okay, because it's going to be a
cavalcade of stars sure as we go through. And how
many times we'll have day drinking references to the crowd
assembled therein Well.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I think you know, day baseball and day drinking. It's
kind of you know, that's kind of built in there.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, I was telling you right, you know, for the Cubs.
I grew up on the South Side. I'm a White
Sox fan, and it's a painful forty nine and a
half being the over under for wins this year. A
couple of guys you know, in the top one hundred
prospects though, Jason so, I mean feeling really good about that.
But all of that to say, Wrigley Field is the
best outdoor bar in America, period. So go hang out

(01:24):
in Wrigleyville, go to the eateries, go to the refurbished
areas surrounding the stadium. Plenty of opportunities. You don't have
the old Taco bell and Dingy seven to eleven to
go to anymore. But once you get inside, it's the best,
the best bar you can possibly find.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
So here we are moments away first baseball game of
the season, and if the Dodgers don't get five in
the first inning, we realize that this team they've put
together is overrated and a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Of money for nothing. Spend too much money, no return
for this. Rob Manford's going to start cackling. See I
told you so, doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Look this is and I'm you know, not for hyperbole.
Here is that this is the best lineup. This is
the best roster that I've seen in Major League Baseball,
maybe in the last fifty years. I mean, this is
on paper. Now I obviously have to play things out,
but this is the This is better than any peak
lineup the Yankees had in the nineties, any of the

(02:21):
teams of the eighties. This is this is so star
studded from top to bottom. And it's not just well
the lineup, Yeah, everybody hits, right, you have the lineup,
but yeah, that's great. We see that the Red Sox
are gonna hit this year, Okay, but the rest of it.
You look at the you know you got six or seven,
you're deep and starting pitching where any of these guys
would be top three guys anywhere else. The bullpen is

(02:43):
one of the best bullpens you've seen in baseball. It's
probably a top three bullpen. Like this is the this
is the best roster that I've ever seen in baseball.
And it's gonna again once again. The Dodgers will take
all of the conversation throughout the year. But I mean, really,
I go back and I try to look and say, okay,
this is no this is the best roster that I
have seen from top to bottom.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, and that's the beauty of it. Right, we still
have to go play the one hundred and sixty two.
You know we can. We can crown him now. And
we've seen all the hand ringing across Major League Baseball
for the way contracts have been structured spending. You were
not particularly happy because of the cointax, and then Rob
Man forgot that what are you gonna do? The rules?
The system is what they are, so we still got

(03:24):
to play it out right. Last year they had a
really great looking roster. They win the World Series, but
it didn't come without how many starting pitchers seventeen eighteen
before we were done with things. Who's the next guy up?
I don't know. I think the guy in the third.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Next guy up is Kershaw. Well, he's like their eighth
starter right now.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
But that's it. The vendor up in the three hundred level.
We saw him whip a couple of bags of peanuts.
We think he's got some good velocity and we can
train him really fast. So it's that kind of the
right Kershaw comes back. It's a nice luxury to have.
You'll need him when you need him. You don't have
to rush otani back onto the mound. And so if
things play a form, but as we saw, I mean
we the Dustin May story the other day, right, guy

(04:03):
who has an esophogal tear based on eating a salad. So,
I mean you have weird things that happen over the
course of a tony salad season.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Don't eat salad. Well, that's the lesson that is xalid.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
It really lines up with the whole Al Michael's philosophy.
He's now got another convert in Dustin.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
May sandwiches, pasta, chocolate, don't eat salad.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Well, but on the sandwich. Does this mean you now
order your burgers without lettuce, without the tomato.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
The last time I've ordered my burgers with lettuce where
I've just said yet. But if it's just part of.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
It, I'm not saying that you enumerate it as you're
calling it out at the drive through window. I'm just saying,
take the let on the set. Yeah, you're not adding it,
you're not subtracting. Listen, I want more cheese and less lettuce. Okay,
that's that's what I want you to put on. It's
gonna cost you extra three dollars. I don't care.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, slam another slice of cheese on there and just
take off all that lettuce. It'll taste even better because
of cheese. We'll keep you updated on this game again.
Baseball season just a couple of moments away, getting ready
for first pitch as the Dodgers look to go one
hundred and sixty two and zero and undefeated in the exhibition.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
See how many games in the exhibition season? How many
were you tracking here?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
I think they have to win the all. Well, maybe
I'll give it. Maybe you could lose one.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, no, I'm just saying I don't want Does anybody
really know? Does anybody really care? I mean, just you know?

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Could we will play squid split squad games every day?
So the all over the place play twenty some odd games,
you know, totally. Some teams play a little bit more,
some teams play a little bit.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Would be funny though, if you added it to the
over under total for their wins on the season. We
have to predict the playoffs and and spring training.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, already I can see that the Dodger fans are
not as excited because there is no Mary Hart behind
home plate.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
That is a loss.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, count on the rich. Yeah, there's a you travel
spring training, right if you're a real fan, right, Dodgers fans, Hey, wait,
there's your tweet. Dodger fans already jumping off the bandwagon.
Where is Mary Hart? There we go and send right.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
I mean there's a bunch of empty there's a bunch
of fans. Dis guys, does empty seats behind home plate
right now? As Yamamoto gets the strikeout to get things going.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Now, obviously, look the big story of the day. We've heard.
It's come down. Now, it's a couple of hours old.
No more wemby this season, Victor Webbin Yama has been
shut down by the Spurs for the rest of the season.
It was reported that he has deep vein thrombosis in
his shoulder and it's a blood clot basically, and it's
treated with blood thinner medications, which means when you treated

(06:31):
with blood thinners. Obviously anybody's ever been treated with blood thinners,
it's like, hey, listen, you know you're gonna bleed really easily.
You got to stay away from physical activity. So with
this going on, such you know, pesky things like contact
basketball is not recommended and it's really It's really stunning
because the first quotes from the Spurs on this are, yeah,

(06:52):
we're hopeful he's back to start the season, Like whoa, whoa,
this is February. That season's no end of October, and
and that that underlies how big a deal this is. Not.
I want to sit here and and and and say,
oh my goodness, the sky is falling. But for Wemby,
this is this is not an injury. This is not Hey,
Wenby's got a you know, uh uh a scapular fracture

(07:14):
and he's going to be out or he's got an
adductor strain and and likely he's not gonna be able
to get up and down the floor. Like if injuries
are one thing, that this is. This is a condition
and and and blood clots is as anybody knows, right
because now I'm old enough to, you know, for my
wife to say, when we fly, you gotta wear those
socks so you don't get blood clots in your legs. Right,
So I wear the saw I wear like the the

(07:34):
compression ones. Oh yeah yeah, I wear the the ken
landro socks, like all the way up to my knee.
I'm like, you're not calling a strike on me below
the knees. You know, So I'm wearing that now because okay,
obviously do I want to wear them? No, But my
wife says something like that. I'm like, okay, you make
a lot of sense.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Did you buy did you buy him in Syracuse colors?
So they look like stirrups or something?

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Just gonna well, I can if I could get him
in stirrups, I would wear them, like without pants. Look
at that guy walking through the airport. He's got Syracuse
or Mets styrups on. Oh, or your knicks or those
are great compression sock. Hey dude, where'd you get those?

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (08:06):
I know, I look pretty good.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
I say, they don't have that deal in place. We
should work on that.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Man. So're you have to wear pants too, sir? On
the plane you can't just wear but the socks look
so good. Now you have to wear pants, so you
can't just wear boxers. I'm sorry, we need to talk
to you over here. So look, so that's a thing,
and and it's a condition that gets exacerbated and you
think I'm making it up, but you know, deep vein
thrombosis like this is exacerbated depending how tall you are

(08:34):
and if you fly a lot, right like this is
the this is the injury that basically ended Chris Bosh's career,
you know, and Brandon Ingram had it too. He's been
able to bounce back. So it's not like this is
something that is, oh, this is doom and gloom. He's
not going to play again. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
I mean he just got a three for one twenty
so you know he rallied nicely from his twenty nineteen bount.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, this is this is a I mean, this is
a thing that you have to look and say, how
do you manage this for his career When you're in
your early twenties and you're worried about deep vein thrombosas
and blood clots. It's travel is part of the gig,
right like that that when you're an NBA, when you're
you're an athlete, travels part of the gig. And especially
if you're someone who jets back and forth, you know,

(09:16):
cross country for the long flights or any flight longer
than four hours, they recommend that you know, you do
you do enough to avoid that. That's the danger part
for h for blood clots like this is now something
he's got to manage for his career, and you wonder
are they gonna cut down with travel on it? Will
he cut back on, you know, traveling for road trips
depending how far things are if the Spurs play international games,

(09:39):
like this has become a thing, and like I said,
I don't want to be you know, doom and glooma
but but this is not just an injury. This is
something where hey, this is something medically he's got to
deal with the rest of his career. And and as
you're gonna hear more about Chris Bosh's situation in Brandon
Ingram situation, you're gonna get the lady and the tiger,
You're gonna get, Hey, you can come back from it.
Look at the career that Brandon Ingram's having, everything is great,

(10:00):
and then you get Chris Bosh, who was I was
never the same after so that this is this is
really shocking and more eye opening than your into your
news of Hey, so and so is injured and he's
not gonna play the rest of the year.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, I mean you go back to the battles that
Kawhi Leonard had with the Spurs training staff back in
the day, right, not about obviously the same issue, but
you're gonna need a lot of medical opinions. You're gonna
have to go outside of your normal bit of trainers.
And I bring them up obviously because you know, there
there was a lot of back and forth about treatment

(10:33):
and plans and everything there. So for when min Yama
he's there, he's got to get to figure out what's
the best course of care. Talk about travel, you know
how many look, they've litigated out a lot of the
back to back, so some of that will will be
assisted there. But you know, I only half jokingly bring up,
you know, like a Madden Kruzer kind of situation where

(10:54):
you have things within range, Harry, you're just gonna sleep
on a bus instead of getting on a play. You know,
we've seen athletes that have had different medical issues that
have kept them from playing in Denver, and you know,
high altitude and everything else, so you start getting into
those kind of situations. You talked about it being exacerbated
by height. Obviously, we're all hitting the web MD and

(11:17):
trying to get a little deeper diagnosis because this is
this is seismic, right. We talked about the Anthony Edwards
quote the other day of hey, you could be one
of the fas. No, that's why you guys brought Wenby
over right. He's the guy. So immediately you know this
is one of your stars that you were pinning the
future on. And because you know I'm a big nerd.
Over the course of the weekend doing the Sunday show

(11:38):
I did with Mark Medina, we're talking about different things.
He had done a big piece on Jaron Jackson, so
I immediately, you know, again disease guy that I am
at times, went and looked up the defensive player of
the ear odds because Jackson was a guy that you
would have had a long shot. He's not the co
leader with Evan Mobley for the award, followed by guy
Lou Dort by the way at nineteen to one.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
But are you gonna stop mentioning you? You know you
trying to find certain people, try to got a while
man all the time. Here's lou Dort. Okay, I'm dare
you Are you happy you got lou Dort? In?

Speaker 1 (12:09):
No?

Speaker 3 (12:10):
You want me to get chet home grinned while talking? Okay,
see let's go. No, you don't even need to do that.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
You just say Chet for random just a random references
on the show at night. You just say, chet, dude,
we're talking about the NFL. Yeah, Chet, what what do you?
What are you doing? Let you do it all the time.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Maybe maybe I'm planting messages. Have you not seen everything
going around where folks are trying to plant subliminal messages.
I behold the power of chet. But you know, to
this back to the seriousness of this, so like, look,
I hope your your legs are good and you're getting it.
But it's a reminder of the folks right as they
read about this, to make sure one you're getting your

(12:46):
exercise in, making sure you're getting your checkups, and recognizing
that even in highly skilled and athletic beings that stuff
like this does transpire, and wish them the best. Like
I saw the headline and just went on man right
when we were getting excited to see what was going
to happen not only for him but Spurs after adding

(13:07):
Deer and Fox that and keeping their base right. Stefan
Castle showing out as well as he did, should have
won the dunk contest, but didn't that you have all
those guys like, all right, I'm waiting for the second half,
so I have to change some of my second half
predictions that will make later man.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
I'll tell you. And Wemby was on his way. We've
talked about this. By the end of the season, it
was it would have been widely accepted going into next year.
He's the best player in the NBA. He's the best
all around player in the NBA. He does things that
nobody else. As great as Jokic is, as great as
Giannis is, it would be accepted nobody can do what
Wemby can because nobody can't. No one's made for this

(13:45):
era of the NBA better than Wemby is, right, I mean,
as great as great as Jokich is, he doesn't do
what Wemby does, right, And that's that's a big thing.
And now you just got to hope, you know, prayers
up for him that everything turns out. Okay, he's back
to playing o K in the fall. But like I said,
the deep vein thrombosa is not just Hey, here's a
you know, a broken pinky is gonna be out for
six weeks. It's a really really big thing. Jason Smith

(14:08):
Mike Harman in for Doug Gottlieb. Hey, be sure to
check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search
Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a whole bunch
of video highlights from our shows. Be sure to subscribe
so you never miss our very best Fox Sports Radio
videos on YouTube. Well, coming up next tonight is the
biggest event in sports this week. People that know nothing

(14:29):
about it are gonna tune in and they're gonna say,
what is going on. We're gonna get your primed for
the biggest sporting event of the week by taking you
back to nineteen eighty. That's next right here. Jason Smith,
Mike Carman in for Doug Gottlieb. This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday twelve two Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for the
Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsportsradio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching past.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Five Sports Radio, The Doug Gottlieb Show, Jason Smith, Mike
Harmon and for Doug. Today. Right after the show the
podcast goes up. You missed any of today's show, be
sure to listen to the podcast. Just search Doug Gottlieb
wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to follow
review the podcast rated five stars. Again. Just search Doug
Gottlieb wherever you get your podcasts, you'll find today's show
and a best of version posted right after we get

(15:27):
off the air. Well, the Dodgers don't score in the
bottom of the first inning. They are overrated. This lineup
should never been put together. The season's over, They're already
a disappointment for seven nine on Fox.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Dave Roberts should be fired. He couldn't manufacture a run
in the first about tellent nothing.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Just wait till he goes to the bullpen next inning,
right and they're playing the Cubs. So again, happy beginning
of things ball season. We got John Paul Morosi coming
up next hour on the show to talk about big
stuff with us. But tonight is the biggest sporting event
of the week and gonna be one of the biggest
sporting events of the year, the Four Nations Championship between

(16:09):
Canada and the United States. And you know it's this
is the biggest hockey game that we've had in this
country since the Miracle on Ice of nineteen eighty.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
I was gonna go to the Big Kinger. Yeah, for sure,
I'm trying. I want to make it about me, but
you're looking.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
At the you're looking at the at the backdrop of this,
of anytime hockey is US against the world. It cuts
through the clutter and people who aren't even hockey fans
stop what they're doing. I want to see. We have
to win. Because nineteen eighty Miracle on Ice is still
the defining strictly sports topic of my lifetime. This is
forty five years later, still miracle on ice, Miracle on ice.

(16:54):
And with the game being against Canada, with it being
in our window, it's not a it's not an Olympic
game that hey, you have to get up and watch
it four in the morning because it's being held you know,
halfway across the globe. It's United States Canada. Look, the
World Cup games have been big, They've been big Olympic games.
You know, still why the referee doesn't jump up and

(17:14):
let the puck go by and again was able to
get it. But anyway, look, because of that, and then
the backdrop politically that has played into this, with President
Trump talking about getting Canada be our fifty first state,
Canada responding by saying, well, maybe well, annex California like
this is what played into the emotions from Saturday, and
three fights in the first nine seconds and bone jarring

(17:38):
hits in the United States dictating play like There's been
no game that has been looked forward to in hockey
more than this. This is a It is a huge,
huge event, and honestly, I have a way to make
it even bigger.

Speaker 3 (17:50):
Well, we already had the mayor like proposal, right, I mean,
that's what we want to have. Trades and Justin's trying
to give Drake away as throw in.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Well, that's that's the thing, and that that's the idea,
is that the winner, okay gets the other team gets
the other team's property. If we win, we get Canada.
If Canada wins, they get California, and and the loser
gets Drake. Moving to get Drake. Yes, Serena Williams comes
out and drops the drops the buck off beginning and
Sedgy walks off. That's how it goes. You tell me

(18:22):
you wouldn't watch us. We'd be bet we're betting property,
we're betting land, we're betting states and countries. This would
be the most watched sporting event in the history of
the globe. I don't know what hockey is. But boy,
I really hope we win because I want Canada. I'm
okay being a pawn in this. You and I live
in California. I'm okay with this. To make this bet
even better, why not man winner gets If the United
States wins, we get Canada. They win, they get californiayah.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
I mean you got a lot of folks that have
the daily debate of whether they should leave California anyway
for me reason. So so you got that going on.
I need both leaders miked up, right, both Trump and Trudeau.
We need a cavalcade of stars, you know, kind of
showcasing the whares, goods and services and everything else that
would be part of the trade. I mean, that's all
your interstitials. I don't need baby races or folks shooting

(19:08):
the puck trying to win a car or anything not.
And no, we got all sorts of stuff. We need
to educate and inform you of everything that's at stake
with every bone jarring hit, with every shot on, with
every dump and chase scenario as we go. Yeah, I
was thinking from a you know, global impact. It's still
trying to think of all those little kids that watched
the Dream Team come in and beat up their squads,

(19:31):
and then now the globe has taken over basketball, which
is why we're talking about us versus the world for
the NBA. But staying here, No, I like the stakes
of this. Really it's must see viewing. And and every
It's like, whenever we do one of these giant concerts
or a presidential address, every network has to carry it
except one or two that have old Judge Judy, you know,

(19:53):
reruns or something.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Boy, I get this game everywhere except some crazy college
basketball game on True TV.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Practu Shoker.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Just keep going. Now. I saw that Trump said he's
not coming tonight because he gives a speech, a speech
to the governors. But he did fan the flames by saying, yeah,
hopefully soon Canada's gonna be our fifty first state. So
it's on, man, it's and I was hoping he would
go tonight so you could have Trump and Trudeau like
in in in separate suites, and like when the United

(20:20):
States scores, like Trump has a big map out and
he's like coloring in Canada, like to be part of
the United States. And then you know, Canada scores and
and Trudeau is like cutting California off of the United
States map and pasting it to the top like right
below Alaska, Like I could I could have gone for.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Something like that to move He gets up and does
the dance and then on on the screen it's like, hey, look,
we're a minute closer to adding Tom Green.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I gonna go oh yeah, oh yeah, oh because then
that moose, Yeah, that moose is ours. Then we would
just start adding stuff like Craig. Look if we're betting that,
like yeah, we would bet hey, if we win, we
get Tom Green. Uh you know that. That's that's kind
of how I mean.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
He comes with Canada.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, yeah, we already have Ryan Reynolds, so because he's Canada,
but he's really United States. So I mean, I mean,
if you start betting celebrities, like you'd have to really
get yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
But then Miles Yeah, but then he owns a soccer
club by Internationally.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
He's he's kind of everywhere. It's like, I mean, maybe
maybe maybe loser gets Drake, winner gets Ryan Reynolds. Oh
maybe that should be how it should go.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, he does generate a lot of money, sure, so
that that's that's good for business, all right, A little
bit of controversy follows him, but as you have it.
Quote from Bill Garon when asked about what President Trump
said to Team USA spoke to them for quite a while.
All Garan would say is, quote, just wanted to wish
us luck.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, man, if you were he talked to you for
a while.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
What did he say, Come on, what are you gonna give?
You give me the juicy stuff? Yeah, he said good luck.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Just he just basically said good luck.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
It's gonna be great, though. I mean, we talked about
the hitting, the fights right, the over under for this
game five and a half goals three to one last
Saturday for Canada. Can they get can they free folks
up right? The international stage? We always talk about skaters
and trying to just get guys out in space. Can
they find that that edge? And will the goaltending be

(22:19):
up to the task. I mean he's he is, in fact,
the MVP favored Smith, so you know all of that
rests on his big shoulders.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Now we'll get to the game itself to everything, because
people are gonna watch and they're gonna say, I really
don't get what should I watch for? Who do I
need to know? We'll tell you what to know. The
big stuff, because it's gonna be the event that you're
gonna want to know what's going on. We'll get to
that coming up in ninety seconds, but first, Dan Byer's
got what's trending in the wide world of sports dB.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
Big news from the NBA is Victor wembin Yama on
the seven.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
Victor wembin Yama of the San Antonio Spurs will miss
the rest of the season. Spurs said wembin Yama has
deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder and the condition
was discovered when he returned from All Star weekend. Wimbyama
reportedly felt some symptoms hope it would be okay after
the All Star break.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
That is not the case.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
Victor Wembinyama done for the year for the San Antonio Spurs.
Mavericks forward Anthony Davis is going to miss another two
weeks of action because of his adductor strain. Team says
Davis is progressing well from the injury. The agent for
Hornet center Mark Williams released to statement saying multiple doctors
have told them that they believe Williams should have passed
his physical with the LA Lakers. Jeff Schwartz from Excel

(23:28):
Sports Management said Williams was ready to play for the
Lakers and should have been given the opportunity, but instead
the trade was canceled on the failed physical Bucks forward
Bobby Portis haspended twenty five games for testing positive for
a band at substance. He'll be able to return with
four games remaining of the regular season. Golf Channel says
a deal could be in place quote by the end

(23:48):
of the day end quote between the PGA Tour and
Public Investment Fund, which runs Live Golf. The report says
that there's a possibility live players could be back in
PGA Tour events, possibly as soon as the Player Championship
in March, if this agreement is made. President Trump in
on the meetings today, as was Tiger Woods. Yankees gave
manager Aaron Boone an extension through twenty twenty seven in Texas,

(24:10):
and USC have announced they will not be holding spring
games in college football this year.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Guys, back to you, thanks bunch TV. All right, So
for tonight's game, there's three big things to know, right.
Three bit thing Number one, You're gonna love the hitting
because Team USA is physical and it's how they're able
to control the game. They don't. They play kind of
a counter attack style because Canada has the best players
in the world and still roster is better than the
United States. But you are going to see the United

(24:36):
States hit and hit often. I'm sure there's going to
be a fight in the first ten minutes of the game,
because ten minutes the tension and the excitement level is
going to be is going to be ratchet up, Like
I think. I think both sides have probably been talked
to about dropping the gloves the beginning of the game.
Oh no, they've both been talked to about it.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
As soon as bream finishes, that's it. Drop the gloves.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
It'll be like in slap Shot when they they're all
fighting while they're all bleeding while the national anthem's going on.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Meanwhile, someone's gotta stop watching there because they bet the
over under on the anthem in such an important space.
I mean, look, you want to talk about auditioning, here's
an opportunity for you singing the anthem tonight.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
It is gonna be a physical game and the hitting
is gonna rile up the crowd. It's gonna rile up Canada. Uh,
and it's gonna be an entire game thing. I mean,
good luck to Crosby and McKennon and McDavid because these
are the guys that Canada needs to carry them. And
good bleeping luck because these guys, it's gonna be elbows
and hips and your face matched into the boards every

(25:38):
moment possible. It's going to be a thing. And they're
gonna set the tempo right away, and and that's gonna
be something. The energy level that takes you through the game,
it's gonna be hitting and hitting and hitting the entire game.
That's the big, biggest first thing you're gonna see. And
the excitement level. There's gonna be a big hit in
the first twenty five seconds of the game. As soon
as as soon as the puck goes to somebody forget

(25:59):
whoever touches the putt first. That's it. You're getting drilled.
That's how it's gonna go. And it's gonna kick off.
It's not gonna be we're gonna we're gonna wean our
way into the game and kind of see how things
are going. No, No, it's gonna be big hitting right away.
They're gonna take advantage of this and you're gonna see,
you're gonna see that physicality right from the jump.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Head on a swivel on every shift. Uh, trying to
seize tempo momentum, get the crowd fired up, UH and
keep that engagement right. You need to need to bust
that initial energy because there's gonna be a lot of
a lot of nervous and energy and excitement as this
bubbles up. As we we've waited on this since Saturday,

(26:35):
where it's starting to get some run. Like I did
a radio spot on the drive into the studio today
h with my buddies in Baltimore, and one of the
guys actually asked me, goes, what is there any buzz
for it in l A. I'm like, I don't know,
but Smith and I are fired up as hell. The
other guys just started laughing. You know, it's like it's
the past. It's like, I don't know that we're fired up.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's the perfect time. Look, we're coming off
a really bad NBA All Star Game there. You know,
base ball is just getting started now. College basketball is
college basketball. I mean, it's a it's a great spot
in the calendar to be able to to figure something
like this out, and looks it shows you that if
you keep trying for All Star Games, you'll eventually find something. Right.

(27:16):
The NBA, we don't know what do we keep trying
some every year. NHL's try to do that and look
where they have now. Now they have a big event
that should be on the calendar every year. They figured
out the mid season tournament thing, which, oh my goodness,
this must make Adam Silver just be really just go
crazy going they figured out the mid season tournament. They
don't get get made fun of for this. Yeah, okay, then.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
He likes tournaments. He just wants to be madding tournaments.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
It's the perfect moment in time for a game like
this to happen.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Well, but also, I mean like they framed it as
the asking me in La. I'm like, well, we got
the Dodgers Cubs to start spring training and everybody's burning
it down after Luca and Lebron lost to Charlotte. So
here in La might not be the best barometer of
how excited they are about US Canada. Although I think
as the time ticks down and maybe they're in their socials, yeah,

(28:00):
maybe they start getting a bit more of the fever.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
The second thing is this, right, is that Connor hellibook
is the best goalie the United States has had ever.
He is the best goalie that has ever the best
American born goalie that we have ever seen. And nobody
really knows about him because he plays in Winnipeg right
playing peg Jet. Hey look at me. I love to

(28:25):
find any excuse to talk about how good the Jets are,
even if it's not the football Jets, just by saying Jets, Hey,
the Jet Look how good the Jets are. The Jets
have the best player Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets. But Connor
Hellibook is that good and he had an incredible game Saturday.
And what I mean this is he's the best American
born goalie we have ever had. The guy's got two
ve Trophies. He's gonna have a third this year. You

(28:46):
talked about how he's the odds on favorite for MVP.
Not many guys have three Veseno Trophies. You're talking about
the best guys in the history of the sport, like
wah and Hasseck and Brodeor and these guys that have
been absolute legends. And here's hell Book's gonna be thirty
one years old and already have three. Like it's a
fada complete this is happening, and really, you know, to

(29:06):
think about this and why, Okay, if you know, if
Canada's got the better roster, we're able to win Saturday.
We're not gonna surprise them again a hot goalie. There
is no position in sports that can negate an attire
team like a goalie and hockey ken And I remember,
and it was funny because I was watching Jay n Right,
formerly a Fox Sports one. You know, they're talking about
this game the other night in studio and the best

(29:28):
way to describe it as this, this is how good
Hella Book is is that he's Jim Craig, Right, He's
Jim Craig nineteen eighty. You're looking for the cop there
it is Jim Craig nineteen eighty. Is that the only
way for Canada to win is if Hella Book has
a bad night and he doesn't have many bad nights
like that was the perfect way to succinctly describe this.
This is what to expect. Yes, Canada's got the forwards,

(29:50):
they have this, they have the depth, they have everything.
But unless Hellibook has a bad night, Canada's not gonna win.
And the guy doesn't have bad nights. Now, I just
said this time he's gonna have a horror night, give
up three goals in the first three minutes of take
them out of the game. But that would fit with
you here where you're at, right, that's where you're at
with this game.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Thirty four seven and two two point oh seven goals
against ninety three percent save effort with six shutouts on
the air.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
This is this is hype unlike any game since eighty
and this is a big chance for hockey to get
a springboard and get back to coming off the fringes
of being a big national sport. Right Like we saw
the big jump in nineteen eighty after the miracle nights,
we haven't really seen that jump, right. Gary Bettman has
driven the driven the NHL straight to the middle and

(30:36):
down right like where now that you know they're on
the periphery, the MLS is more popular, the MLS has
more growth, and you know the WNBA has more growth. Right,
We're seeing you need to see something, and this is
that night that could do it, right, This is the
night that could do it. I mean, I really it's
I mean, it's it's stunning and it's fun that we're
going to have a big hockey event being the sporting

(30:56):
event of the week, maybe the sporting event of the
rest of this month and on, because everybody's going to
be wrapped up in it tonight, just like we do
for the Olympics, except more so, just like we do
for the World Cup of Hockey, except more so. The
average fan is going to flock to this tonight and
it's going to be some kind of event.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Gonna get some great ratings, no question about it. Whether
you get long term viability out of it, we'll see,
you'll get some converts that'll come in for a bit.
A part of it is just got to keep promoting
this sport as you get back into regular player, right,
because it's going to be dwarfed in a lot of
promotional stuff because well, a lot of your games are

(31:31):
residing on ABC, ESPN, which also has the NBA, so
you're gonna have those at least for another year then
we get to NBC. About the other thing is this
helps build up more drama and anticipation of the Olympics
next year in Italy, So if nothing else, we do
get the long look ahead of what that team could
be after tonight. But yeah, with all those heavy stakes

(31:54):
and if you peep in the back of your mind
that the winner gets to claim a lot of land, property,
hits and services, then yeah, it really takes on a
gravity unknown demand.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Look and and and button this a bit with is that.
You know, we always whenever something happens in the NFL,
whenever there's a big story, like, we always make a
joke going. The second question is always what's the fantasy
fallout of this? Right, we always say that, But whenever
a story like this comes up, we always say, yeah,
what's the gambling fall out of this? Yeah, and so
far it's a huge deal there. You know, the casinos

(32:25):
are taking like seven times more money on these games
than anything else in hockey this year. It's a huge
success for them too. Like this has been a win win,
win win across the board. And Baby, we win tonight,
we get Canada. Maybe that happens.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
We see buddy follow that money.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. Jason Smith
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com studios
coming up next. Yes, tonight is also the big kickoff
of the second half of the NBA season. Yeah, we
had the Lakers lose a horrendously embarrassing game last night.
But why are we looking forward to the rest of
this NBA season even more so than we were a
few days ago. I'll tell you next right here, Jason Smith,

(33:03):
My Cartman and for Doug Gottlieb. This is Fox Sports Radio,
and thank you Missioner Gary Batman.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to twelve
two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching as Talk.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
I am so excited, more excited than I was the
last few days, because now we don't have to hear
about how bad the bleep and All Star Games are,
don't have to hear experts and insiders and players complaining
about how the NBA All Star Game was the decline
and fall of Western civilization. I don't get all of
a sudden the hate that's pile up. Was it just

(33:52):
a slow news week and it was the week after
the Super Bowl, and hey, we don't like this all start.
The All Star Game is stunk for years right, the
All Star games in many sports have stunk for years.
The heyday of the All Star Game is over, right,
It's not going back to where it was. We're just
going to continue to keep trying things every year to
see if this works. Now. Was this something that everybody loved? No,

(34:14):
players didn't like it, But I mean, I mean we don't.
You know. We talked to Rick Buker on our show
last night and we brought up, how does how is
the All Star Game any reflection of the health or
how good a sport is? Right, you're telling me you're
judging the overall INBA, the downratings blah blah blah blah
because of the All Star Game. I mean, come on,
the All Star Game is irrelevant. It's something that happens

(34:34):
on Sunday and we forget about it Sunday night, one
minute after the game is over because it is irrelevant.
It's a fun weekend. You can watch it or not
watch it. But people want the All Star Game to
be something it's not, and no one has solutions they
I don't like this. Well, it's like a little kid,
what do you want not this? What do you want
to eat? Well? I don't want this. I don't want this.
What do you tell me what you want? I don't know,
but I don't want this, Like I really I fail

(34:57):
to see how this was a huge problem and how
the NBA is now going to wind up going bankrupt
because I had a bad All Star Game and suddenly
Adam Silver is a bad commissioner. It's I think people
are just going over the top. They wanted to hate
stuff so much, and yeah, okay, the All Star Game
has been bad for a while, but all of a sudden,
this is the worst thing in that the NBA stars come.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
On, I want a hot dog, I want a milkshake,
I want him. It really does come down to that.
Look to the point of the All Star Game. It's
the Kevin Durant. You don't like it, don't watch, right,
find something else to do. There were plenty of other
things to do. I know, a lot of the country

(35:37):
dealing with weather issues so and bitter cold uh and
frigid tempts. So maybe you were stuck indoors, but certainly
so opportunity uh to you know, find something else, but
you know, find a Harry Potter marathon or whatever floats
you about. Go watch what's that what is a paradise
that you've now got me hooked into? I told him

(35:58):
Season two just announced, which received a foregone conclusion, but
not either way, the point being that it's a blip
on the radar and you get back like people didn't
like the product. We got away from hating the NBA
for a week, and you know what, it had nothing
to do with games that were actually being played. It
was all theoretical conclusions about guys getting traded. That's the
only positivity there's been outside of beat riders in each

(36:21):
individual market and maybe talking about how great Wenby was
or Shay Gildess Alexander, here's Jokich with this twenty five
triple doubles, and look, Lebron is forty, but he's still
playing really young. All those things like he had a
couple of positive things sprinkled in. As for the rest
of the league, it was like, ah, this all sucks.

(36:42):
And then we had a week about the trades, like, wow,
this is great. What's gonna happen for Golden State. People
started doing their simulators. Jimmy Butler got over on pat Riley, Hey,
this is wonderful. There's Luca, there's this, there's the failed
trade with Mark Williams, So yeah, you know we can
talk about that. So yeah, the trade deadline gave us
all and it was during Super Bowl week. So look
the NBA, it's great. And then as soon as they

(37:03):
get back on a court in any way, shape or form,
I don't like it now.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Because I want to have solutions to give you. I'm
not just gonna be the I'm not gonna be Draymond Green,
who doesn't even try. Those players don't even try, and
then complain about the All Star Game. No, you want
something like this is what you do? You borrow from
the NHL. Right, who's doing the US ver? You know,
the United States, Canada, the Four Nations tournament? It works, right,

(37:30):
it works. It probably works a little bit more for hockey,
because that's when we really get up for hockey. As
we talked about it a few minutes ago, when it's
US against the world, US against Russia, US against Canada.
The players seem to want USA versus the world, right,
they talked about it following the game. A USA versus
the World would be a lot of fun. There's not
enough for a big four nation because it's not enough players,
But you could have a USA versus the world. Great,

(37:53):
why not let's try it. If I'm Adam Silver, I'm
doing cartwheels because I'm saying to myself, well, at least
they come when I did for last year, because at
least people aren't gonna complain, right, because that's the one
thing the players want this, The fans would seem to
be excited about it. So yeah, let's try this next year.
At least we're gonna We're not gonna get people saying
this is a horrible idea. Actually, that's your idea. It's

(38:14):
what you want. So if the players are excited, do it.
Because one of the big rules of sports is a
happy player is a good player, and so if they're
happy playing this game, there'll be more positivity around the
event itself, and at least for a year, the NBA
and Adam Silver can avoid the oh my goodness, the
All Star Game sucks. We're gonna have to cancel the
NBA season. We can't play anymore. Weill have that.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
In the moment, right, You got guys that at least
for now are excited, and maybe coming back to the
three point contest or the dunk contest, and then you've
got this one on one thing that's been floated, which
everybody's all excited about until they actually have to sign up,
or wait, if I lose, what happens. Everybody was all, Lebron,
this all is terrible and I'm not gonna watch it.

(38:54):
And then Lebron didn't play, and it was the worst
thing in the world that Lebron didn't play. So yeah,
us versus the world. Although a lot of players like
the format that they played on Sunday, they just stopped
liking the fact that add a bunch of all these
improv sets that we're taking up. Can I play basketball plays?
Can I put this back in play? Kevin Hart, sit
down and shut up. I want to put the ball

(39:16):
in play.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Kevin Hart's going to be part of the All Star
Game whether you like it or not. Man, you just
got to accept that and go forward. I don't like fun.
I don't like that there was fun during the All
Star Game. I'm a fun hater. Well, I think it
was more than it was.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
Three and a half hours of content in thirty minutes
of basketball.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Exit out about a Fresco swollen dome coming up next.
Big feelish predictions for the second half of the season. Fox.
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gottlieb Show podcast.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Be sure to catch us live every weekday three to five,
twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsportsradio.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Dot com, or stream us live every.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Day on the iHeartRadio app by searching pass Talk.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Hello, Welcome inside the Doug Gottlieb Show. Jason Smith Mike
Harmon live from the Tirack dot Com studios. Tirec dot com.
I'll help you get there. An unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hatch protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers.
Tyraq dot com is the way tire buying should be. Well,

(40:18):
we'll get to some big NBA preview. Second half of
the season starts tonight. Got a plethora of big games
tonight going on, and of course was kicked off last
night with the unofficial beginning of the second half the
Lakers and the Hornets. But before you get to that,
just a little bit off this game after watching Luca
last night and look, last night was an incredibly embarrassing

(40:40):
night for the Lakers. These last two games they've had
against Utah to close the first half and then last
night against Charlotte. These are two teams, their combined record
is twenty seven to eighty, and the Lakers find a
way to lose both of these games like that is inexcusable.
It's in I mean, to lose games like this with

(41:00):
Luca playing and it's absolutely an excuse. But these teams
are winning like four games away from home, and and
Charlotte comes in and does it last night. Like for
all the great things I think that are headed forward
for the Lakers and how great this offense can be. Look,
I'll tell you right now, I'll look. I think the
Lakers can finish second in the West the rest of
the season. They can win enough games. This offense is

(41:21):
gonna get humming along where they can score one hundred
and thirty points a night. And it looked pretty easy
in it.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Hey, as long as they don't look like Sandy out
of a long game POLLI like last night, I mean,
my goodness.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Well that can while that can happen, I mean clear
that this is what it is. Because you're gonna see
the guys like Austin Reeves, who got ejected from the
game last night for arguing a foul call Hey, don't
crush the refid uh, don't brush them on your way back. Yeah,
so they missed him last night, but it's gonna be
guys like Reeves and ruiy Hat Chimoor that see the
floor opened up for them. These are the shooters that
Lebron wants. I say nothing but great things for this offense.

(41:55):
But then you watch a game like we did last night,
and you watch Luca and you go, wow, it's really
gonna take a little bit of time. Because the thing
for Luca is that now seeing him three times with
the Lakers, and the Lakers look like they're doing the
right thing and holding him accountable for his weight and
staying in shape right, Like, he can't avoid that anymore.
You can't avoid it because it's such a front burner topic.

(42:16):
You have to be in shape, You got to be
able to play minutes, JJ Reddick said before the game
last night. No minutes restrictions for Luca. He's got to
be able to play.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
And then you and I sat in the studio as
we watch it, we're tragging. It's like, come on, he's
got to get past thirty thirty and like four, oh.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, yeah, come on, come on. He can't play more
than thirty minutes. Suddenly it's hey, JJ, why is uh?
Why is the only playing half the game? I thought
there was no minutes restrictions.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
You were really hoping for the blowout, so that wasn't
going to be an argument for him.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah, well what also? I was hoping for more because
now I'm feuding with JJ Reddick.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
So I show this, Yes, I met Stan. What do
we got? We got Charles Woodson, Charles Wood reasons unknown, Yeah, Charles.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Wood reasons unknown.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
All just shut your hand and said he didn't know
you and kept staring you in the eyes. Is like
you approached him in a dark alley somewhere you oral
Hrschheizer as.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
You meanizer, which we've talked about that.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
And that is well, but that's new to the show
and the conversation even I have, yeah that you just
missed starting pitching as a necessary tool to spend money
on it while he was on hold coming on as
a guest. And now JJ Reddick, who gave you the
Twitter handle in response to a question from Dan Woiki
of the LA.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Time and the shout out in the press conference right
before the All Star Game. Yeah, so so now I'm
feeling with JJ. I'm living rent free and JJ Reddick
so great. But while they're doing the right thing, because
no matter what went on in Dallas, right, Luca wasn't
going to ever get in shape. Was never going to listen.
It's one thing when you're drafted by a team. You

(43:44):
come up and you're given everything that they gave to him.
You call the shots. Yeah, you can tell me I
need to get in shape, I need to be able
to mess that. Yeah, I'm not going to listen to you.
So no matter what that probably wasn't gonna happen. Well,
and I'm playing MVP ball and we're in the vitals, Like,
what do I need to change?

Speaker 3 (43:59):
It's like Kyler Murray conversation we had for years when
everybody started making fun of video games. Oh, he was
a top ten baseball draft pick. He's the number one
overall pick in football. He's a winner at every level.
Why do I need to change?

Speaker 2 (44:14):
It's it's a it's a it's a case of whatever
was gonna happen with the Lakers, it wasn't gonna happen
in Dallas. Now there's a change of scenery. They got
his attention, you got traded from a team you didn't
know you're gonna get traded from That big payday you
thought you were gonna get is now out the window.
The three hundred something million, you've lost a one hundred
million dollars if you want to sign a long term
deal this summer. So all of that, you've gotten his attention.

(44:36):
So okay, I like that, right, And the Lakers don't
seem like they're gonna make excuses for him. They don't
want him to sort of slip his way into the
lineup and see when you're comfortable. No, it's like, okay,
let's get going here, because you're going to be the
future of this team for the next ten years. But
it's good. It's gonna be longer than I thought before.
The Lakers really get rolling because watching Luca last night,
this is the big takeaway from last night's game, is

(44:58):
that it's not that he's not playing hard, because he
is playing hard, but yes, he does get winded, he
does get tied. His first basket of the game was
because he didn't get back on defense and Lebron throws
a length of the court pass because Luca missed a layup,
stayed under the basket while while the hornet's fast break,
and then Lebron got the rebound threw it down to
him for a layup. Like okay, so there's your Luca

(45:19):
basket right right.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
That was his decreem.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Yeah, so while there there is that, it's he's playing hard,
but it looks like he's playing at three quarter speed.
And that's the thing. And that's where he had trouble
last night. He shot horribly. He clearly doesn't have the
rhythm on his jumper. They were leaving him alone for
threes where there was nobody even within ten feet of him.

(45:44):
It was the old like the Caitlin Clark video from
Iowa a couple of years ago where one of the
players on the other team had the ball the three
point line and she just dismissed her with her hand,
going you're not gonna shoot it, and you're not gonna
make it. We're not gonna guard you there, So like,
what do I do? Like there was a couple of
times they did that to Luca, like yeah, you have
the yeah, whatever you want to do, man, go ahead
shoot it. And he couldn't make it. He said, trouble,

(46:04):
you know, being able to create space to get his fallaway,
and that's something that you're gonna need more time for
that because it looks like he's just playing at three
quarter speed. The final shot of the game last night
went to Lebron twice, and and JJ Reddick talked about it,
and I have no problem with Lebron getting the final
shot because he had a great fourth quarter. He had
a better game. Luca had not had a great game

(46:26):
shooting the ball. But I don't know if Luca was
even a possibility at that point, because could he really
create his own shot if he needed to. At that point,
he having trouble. Like I said, he's playing it looks
like he's at three quarter speed. So if that's the case, yeah,
you got to go to Lebron for the shot at
the end of the game. So that to me, that's
the biggest takeaway from Luca since he came to the Lakers.
Going forward as that boy, it's gonna be a little

(46:48):
bit of time, because really he's got it's going to
be a bit before he gets back to being the
Luca that we were used to over the course of
the last few years.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Yeah, coming down the wire, our buddy mark Stein that
joins us at the steinline, Doncic will not play tonight
on medical advice as they play Portland later on to
the larger picture they have, they're tied for the hardest
schedule remaining. Take that with a grain of salt. But
as we sit here getting ready for the second half
in earnest, that is something that plays in right schedule

(47:18):
will not be kind to them overall. We know the
defensive liability that he is and you watch LaMelo ball
lick his chops and just take him to the rack.
Time and again, we watched it right off the jump
a couple of times, trying to get that explosure right,
little rock step and then trying to get into the lane.
Well he didn't. He didn't have the explosiveness getting to

(47:39):
the rim, left it short a couple of times. The
jump shot obviously off. Lebron disappeared in the third quarter
but came back. He was six of eight in the
fourth before taking those two final shots, and that's going
to take some time, some rhythm. But Luca learning to
operate without the ball in his hands was kind of sad.
It's like the kid that shows up at the dance

(48:00):
and everybody's kind of mingling a little bit like the
boys and the girls always went to the walls on
opposite sides of the room, and we're hanging out and
just having conversations with each other. Luca looked like the
kid standing in the middle that wanted to get a
party started, but nobody wanted to join him. So like
he's standing off with the sides, like the ball is
supposed to come back to him through me, right right, No, now,
I'm just kind of standing here and looking wistfully as

(48:22):
Lebron gets the shot and then gets the other shot again,
not that he should have taken it in this scenario,
and eventually, you know, you'll see some balance there as
he gets his sea legs and has better games. But yeah,
there were just times yesterday as we were watching it,
and it's one game, it's a blip. The opponent certainly
hurts coming out of the break right after that loss
to Utah to have all the energy around it, have

(48:46):
a home game, and then the fall so flat late
like they played terribly, and then an eleven point lead
at halftime and Luca for the night was still plus thirteen.
There's the number that makes no sense. Having watched that
game start to finish, as we did well.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
He almost still he almost had he almost had a quadry.
He almost had a five by five by five by
five by five by five games, points, assists, rebounds, fouls, turnovers.
I mean, you don't get five by five by five
by five by five by five by five games all
that often.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
And he almost had one, Like we had those five
turnovers early, So you can take the positivity and well
he cleaned it up as the game war on. How
about that.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
I'll tell you, man, uh so that that's where that's
where the the immediate future is going to be for
Luca because he just isn't He's just not ready. He's
just not ready to be to be that guy yet.
And it's going to be a little time. As you said,
he's sitting out tonight's game, which clearly shows you that
maybe he's not he's not nearly at the conditioning they
need him to be at. So, yeah, the Lakers are

(49:46):
still going to be great. I said, they still could
finish second in the Western Conference, but it's gonna be
a little bit more time until he's back being the Lucavo.
But when that hits, I'm telling you, man, watch out,
you're gonna see games where Luca and Lebron and Reeves
are are are or totally ninety points just between the
three of them, like it's gonna it's gonna be that
kind of night. Because if if Luca can get back,

(50:06):
when he gets back to being that guy, can't say
if it's when he gets back to being that guy,
they that opens up the floor. The Lakers suddenly are
even are are five times more dangerous than they were
with Anthony Davis because because of the way floor spacing
is now with the positionless NBA, where're gonna go. You're
gonna have Lebron on one side, you got Luca on
the other side. You have shooters you need to close

(50:28):
in on to canmit big shots like this is this
this Laker roster construction now really is gonna be a
big piston and they're all coming together. But it just
needs Luca to get to the point where, hey, dude,
you know you need to do some running. You know
you need to uh need need to do some cardio. Man,
you're ready to play, you know more than thirty two
minutes a night.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Gotta have those sprints at least between the three point lines.
But if it does come to fruition. Right, your bold
proclamation about there, you know, one hundred and thirty a night,
and you said that the day of the trade was
going down. Uh, and that and that's where you're staying.
They don't play a lot of defense, So I can't
wait to see how ratcheted up the over unders get these. Hey,
would you win one thirst of the way.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
When you win one thirty twenty eight, that's just just
as much winning one thirty to ninety five.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
No, that's it right, Fine, Look all you care about
is the ws and we can get into the per
ratings and everything else when guys are fighting for contracts.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
And then we we have the giant notebooks like Scott
Morris would bring to the table. But yeah, it's gonna
be a fun watch, right, It's a fascinating kind of
twist and turn, particularly as you still have people in
Dallas behind the scenes trying to poison the well. Oh,
by the way, we forgot about this story. It's like
all the books I tell you about every year that
come out about the eighty five Bears. Oh yeah, hey,

(51:42):
we haven't we need some some other revenue. It's like
we'll do another card show. But yeah, yeah, yeah, we
haven't put out an update to the book in three
or four years about the eighty five bears. Let's do that.
And you guys got any stories, any stories while I
was returning these pants and no, so like it's that
kind of thing saying the same thing here. We got
everybody in Dallas, like anything else we could use to

(52:03):
mis merch his work, ethic and the kind of guy
he was around here. Anybody, anybody Joe in the back?
What do you got? That's kind of where we're at
in this Dallas thing, right. The latest of well, it
wasn't really a risk injury said he wasn't in shape.
He's like, all right, so you willingly lied about the
injury report. You know when we're talking about the billions

(52:24):
upon buildings. Did you see that number about betting in
the month of January. Man, we're talking billions of dollars
out there, and now you got teams saying, yeah, no,
we lied about it. He just wasn't in shapes, Like,
so he really wasn't hurt or what are we talking here?
So Mavericks have some other explaining to do?

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Well, look, what did I say from the beginning, right,
is that the Mavericks didn't just wake up one day
and decide to trade Luca right Like when the trade
went down on that Saturday night, it was oh, what
are they doing? They did not think this through. What
is Nico Harrison doing? Who is Nico Harrison. They didn't
just wake up and say we're gonna trade Luca today.

(53:01):
He's been with the team for now six years. Obviously
they want certain things from him if they're going to
give him three hundred million dollars in the off season,
and the fact that they couldn't get him to stay
in shape, take care of his body, they thought he
would break down. What did they do? They got out
from under Luca a few months before they had to,
and they wound up getting an All NBA player and

(53:23):
Anthony Davis around him. Now, yes, he comes with his
own injury situations obviously, but that's the best you're gonna get, right,
That's the best you're gonna get. The Mavericks they know
Luca better than anybody else, and they were still okay
trading him. So this wasn't something that just came out
of nowhere. We don't know what we're doing. They didn't
think that he and we didn't know that he was
even going to stay, because he wasn't someone that they remember.

(53:46):
There was the reports that he might not even stay,
would want to go someplace else. So if they're not
going to give him money and they don't think he
wants to stay, and he's not gonna listen to them
when it comes to taking care of his body, what
do you expect him to do?

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Hey, dude, those trade calories and they still took the
beer out of his hand.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
Come on, good, they're gonna make a move. They're gonna
do this. They didn't just wake up and trade Luca
for no reason. And now slowly you're starting to see
these reasons leak out. Oh, Luca really isn't in shape. Oh,
you know, the injury thing maybe was an injury. Now
all of a sudden, he can't play back to backs. Luca's
having trouble with this. He's got to find his rhythm again.
There's all we're starting to see. Slowly. Oh, the Mavericks

(54:26):
just had to get past the initial what are you doing?
We have no confidence in you too. Oh, now I
sort of see the method to the madness. It was
a shocking trade. It's still shocking. Three weeks later, but
now you're seeing, Hey, okay, I think they had their
reasons to do it, and you're gonna see more of
that going on exit. How about a Fresca exit swollen dome?
Jason Smith Mike carbon In for Doug Gottlieb Today