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The Best of Stugotz and Company LIVE! · Stugotz and Company

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the best of Stegotson Company Live podcast.
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Speaker 1: Find your local station for Stug Gottson Company Live at
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Speaker 1: Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
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Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
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Speaker 2: This is the best of Stu Gotson Company Live on
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Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio.
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Speaker 3: You made it to the end of the week, you
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Speaker 3: made it to the holiday weekend, and tomorrow we say
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Speaker 3: Happy birthday, America.
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Speaker 4: Happy birthday.
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Speaker 3: How are you? How are you? Are you? How are you?
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Speaker 3: Two hundred and fifty? All right there it is for us, Hey, America.
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Speaker 3: How does it feel on your last day of two
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Speaker 3: hundred and forty nine? How does it feel you ever
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Speaker 3: do that one? How does it feel on your last
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Speaker 3: day of prior to the year. I'm going to be
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Speaker 3: fifty in January, so on that January fifteenth day, it'll
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Speaker 3: be like, how do you feel your last day of
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Speaker 3: your forties?
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Speaker 5: You can say your son is two hundred and forty
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Speaker 5: nine months. I feel like there's parents to still do that.
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Speaker 5: And then you have to do the math.
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Speaker 6: You're like, wait, what is that? So you could definitely
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Speaker 6: use that.
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Speaker 3: I wanted to do the quick math, but I've showed
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Speaker 3: out stupid. I am in Americanapolis two fifty over these
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Speaker 3: last couple of days, so I don't even want to
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Speaker 3: put the math portion of this at risk. We'll just
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Speaker 3: keep it at that. Welcome in. She is Monte Milonios.
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Speaker 3: I'm dan Byer our company today. Chris Burfett, you heard
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Speaker 3: at the news desk who is locked in on Egypt
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Speaker 3: and Australia, as is Jason Stewart for some purchasing some
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Speaker 3: interest as well with the Egyptians.
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Speaker 7: By the way, you know, I'm a big fan of
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Speaker 7: like small talk tactics. I make fun of small talk
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Speaker 7: tactics all the time, and a big one around birthdays.
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Speaker 7: Is this one one of my favorites. I wonder if
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Speaker 7: there's another country in the world right now that's looking
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Speaker 7: at us saying, you know what, you don't look a
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Speaker 7: year over two forty.
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Speaker 3: You looking good? America looking good?
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Speaker 6: Look better.
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Speaker 3: I haven't been captivated by the the tourists who have
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Speaker 3: come to the United States or the soccer fans and
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Speaker 3: how they've loved America. And then I saw one of
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Speaker 3: a guy who went to a Golden Corral buffet, and
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Speaker 3: then then that one got me like that one reeled
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Speaker 3: me in. He was because he was he was, he
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Speaker 3: was so shocked, and he said, and then they give
2:19
Speaker 3: you a drink like a cup to go, so it's
2:22
Speaker 3: it's unlimited refills and a cup to go, which a
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Speaker 3: lot of establishments do, but that's the one that reeled
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Speaker 3: me in. We are hungry, we are hungry for more.
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Speaker 3: And you heard him this morning and you'll hear him
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Speaker 3: this afternoon. Iowa Sam is here on a Friday.
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Speaker 4: Iowa Sam.
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Speaker 3: We made it. Folks. Uh, you say you can only
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Speaker 3: stay here for two hours?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, you're done, and then Alex Teicher comes in and
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Speaker 8: he'll do a dang fine job.
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Speaker 3: Well, we've we've had fun this week Monty and I
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Speaker 3: filling in for a Cavino and Rich and today we
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Speaker 3: are on four hours here on Fox Sports Radio in
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Speaker 3: for Stu Gotson Company, and we'll be in for CNR
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Speaker 3: who were doing there at Dan Patrick. It was earlier
3:01
Speaker 3: in the week, Monci where you and I had a
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Speaker 3: discussion that ended up going on social media. And let's
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Speaker 3: just I'll just say this. When you can't attack the message,
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Speaker 3: you attack the messenger. So I get the tweets, but
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Speaker 3: when we're talking about the lying, that's going on in
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Speaker 3: the NBA. It isn't just Lebron, James Yeah, and Rich
3:22
Speaker 3: Paul and Clutch Sports. It's everywhere. It's the Lakers, it's everywhere.
3:27
Speaker 3: But in another instance of Lebron and his people talking
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Speaker 3: about what is his future, they are now talking so
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Speaker 3: much that they're getting caught in their own lies. I'm
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Speaker 3: not calling them liars. I just let's be real, let's
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Speaker 3: tell the truth. It's not that hard to decipher. And
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Speaker 3: you're about to hear in a little bit another instance
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Speaker 3: where Lebron and Rich Paul get caught in their words.
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Speaker 6: Oh so it's okay to calm liars. It just feels fun.
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Speaker 3: It feels really harsh to sit there and say, because
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Speaker 3: if I were to call you a liar, I would
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Speaker 3: be you're a liar, You're a liar.
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Speaker 8: And I.
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Speaker 3: Would if you were if it was joking, they'd be like,
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Speaker 3: come on, you know, come on. But if I was
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Speaker 3: really in a fight and I really wanted to say
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Speaker 3: something and say, you're a liar, you lie, you lie,
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Speaker 3: that's what you are, And that's not what I'm doing
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Speaker 3: with Lebron. But it's just a lot of it comes
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Speaker 3: with the territory of course, and do I do I
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Speaker 3: need to set up again what I said a year ago.
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Speaker 3: I feel like I'm just taking victory lap after victory lap,
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Speaker 3: and I don't want to do it, but I do
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Speaker 3: want to reset it for the audience, of course. Jason Stewart,
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Speaker 3: you're the I mean, I'll let you know.
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Speaker 7: It's like an old radio mentor once told me, my man,
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Speaker 7: there were new listeners every other minute. There. You know
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Speaker 7: you got never never of Uh would you hesitate to
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Speaker 7: reset your take? So I know that there are new
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Speaker 7: listeners every minute.
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Speaker 3: If if Sam, I know he's sending a text message
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Speaker 3: from his computer right now, but if.
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Speaker 8: You no, I was retweeting you Dan with a picture
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Speaker 8: of fireworks.
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Speaker 3: That's an inside joke. Because Sam's want sold, he has
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Speaker 3: to send the messages from the computer.
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Speaker 8: I'm running out of storage too, so it's like you
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Speaker 8: cannot use this app because you have no more.
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Speaker 3: Storage on your phone phone. I know, there's like a
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Speaker 3: light bar on it. I can barely use. It's an
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Speaker 3: awful phone. Yeah, it's pretty beat up. Do we do
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Speaker 3: you have my comments from a year ago that we
5:18
Speaker 3: played earlier in the week readily available to you. Because
5:21
Speaker 3: I just wanted to set the scene. Moncene again, it's
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Speaker 3: not to take a victory lap.
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Speaker 5: Yes, it is, especially since you've been losing to Isaac
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Speaker 5: kN you need a victory.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. He read all four in a row on me yesterday,
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Speaker 3: Jay Edgar Hoover, I had no chance, no chance whatsoever.
5:36
Speaker 3: But it was again on Fox Sports Sundays a year
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Speaker 3: ago when we found out the news that Lebron James
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Speaker 3: was opting into his contract with the Lakers. This is
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Speaker 3: what I said June twenty ninth, of twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 3: This is what I had to say. I paused for effect,
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Speaker 3: look at first, and then this is what I had
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Speaker 3: to say. He's gonna let everybody know about it. And
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Speaker 3: the point is is Lebron's gonna want a farewell to
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Speaker 3: or as well, Mike, and you know, darn well is
6:12
Speaker 3: gonna let everybody know about it, and it's gonna be
6:14
Speaker 3: a year of celebrating Lebron like this is your last chance.
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Speaker 3: I don't necessarily blame him. I would love that as
6:21
Speaker 3: well if I was, you know, put as much into
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Speaker 3: the league that I could. So if there's anybody that
6:25
Speaker 3: deserves it, it's probably him. But this just didn't sound
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Speaker 3: like a farewell for Lebron, and I think at some
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Speaker 3: point that's what he's gonna want. But this statement sure
6:34
Speaker 3: sounded like it's a farewell to the Lakers after this season.
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Speaker 3: It wasn't even a Lebron is excited for the twenty
6:43
Speaker 3: five twenty six season, running it back with Luca. Yeah,
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Speaker 3: trying to bring a title back to LA and win
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Speaker 3: number eighteen. Now, there was none of that. He knows
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Speaker 3: they're building for the future. He understands that he values
6:56
Speaker 3: a realistic chance thanks to the last eight years, it's
7:00
Speaker 3: been great. That's the statement. So to me, Lebron, Rich Paul,
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Speaker 3: keep it going, keep it going. I'm sorry, that's all right,
7:10
Speaker 3: you know, I just wanted to hear myself talk for
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Speaker 3: a minute. Me and Mike Carmen a year ago. The
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Speaker 3: point that came up, which I later said, is Lebron
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Speaker 3: is likely headed to a couple of different destinations outside
7:21
Speaker 3: of LA and New York is one of them. In
7:25
Speaker 3: Cleveland is another one of them. And Monci, well, I
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Speaker 3: know you're sick of me saying that I was right
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Speaker 3: on this one. When Rich Paul comes out and says
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Speaker 3: what he says to Max Kellerman on a recent podcast.
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Speaker 3: This is the lying that we are talking about. Here's
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Speaker 3: Lebron's agent.
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Speaker 6: If the Knicks hadn't a wand this wouldn't even there
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Speaker 6: would be no Bore.
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Speaker 2: He'd be going to the next He'd be going to the.
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Speaker 3: Knicks, simple as that. That's what Rich Paul said to
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Speaker 3: Max Kellerman. So you know what wasn't a part of
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Speaker 3: that equation happiness, which is what we were told earlier
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Speaker 3: this week that Lebron is searching for happiness in twelve
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Speaker 3: to fourteen teams in the NBA. Well, if he would
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Speaker 3: have just gone to the Knicks, because that's if they
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Speaker 3: wouldn't have won, it is that where he's most happy
8:14
Speaker 3: or is that just where he wanted to go? And
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Speaker 3: to me, it's not about happiness because if you're trying
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Speaker 3: to find your happiness through twelve or fourteen teams, you
8:22
Speaker 3: wouldn't have wanted to go to the Knicks if they
8:25
Speaker 3: didn't win at all. And that contradicts what everything that
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Speaker 3: we're hearing. So if we're taking shots at Lebron, it's
8:33
Speaker 3: only because they're talking out of both sides of their mouth,
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Speaker 3: and that's this isn't this isn't rocket science. There's only
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Speaker 3: four or five teams that Lebron could play for, and
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Speaker 3: two and three of those really aren't realistic. So it's
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Speaker 3: really down to like one or two teams that Lebron's
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Speaker 3: likely going to play for. And that has been the
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Speaker 3: case for the entire year in looking ahead the next season.
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Speaker 3: And so that's why anything they say of all these
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Speaker 3: teams that are interested. I'm even looking at a headline
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Speaker 3: right now that says the seventy six ers are interested
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Speaker 3: in the Lebron James. There's no reason for Lebron to
9:03
Speaker 3: go to Philadelphia, absolutely none. Even with the acquisition of
9:06
Speaker 3: Jaylen Brown, it would do nothing for Lebron. That's not
9:09
Speaker 3: realistic news. And that's why when we say just tell
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Speaker 3: us the truth, that's all we're asking for.
9:15
Speaker 5: Okay me, Meana, you were right a year ago in
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Speaker 5: saying that he maybe wasn't gonna be a Laker. I
9:24
Speaker 5: guess I'm trying to meet you halfway because.
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Speaker 6: I think that what happened in between is not what
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Speaker 6: you think.
9:31
Speaker 5: I think we've landed here to make you right, but
9:34
Speaker 5: you weren't actually right a year ago. Like we've landed
9:38
Speaker 5: here and now you're right, But I don't think that's
9:39
Speaker 5: actually what went down.
9:41
Speaker 6: There's a lot of things that you're saying where I
9:43
Speaker 6: agree with you that.
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Speaker 5: No, Lebron cannot go to the seventy six ers, No
9:47
Speaker 5: Lebron cannot go to many places.
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Speaker 6: Is he gonna be a journeyman? Is that what we're
9:51
Speaker 6: gonna label him as? If he doesn't go back to
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Speaker 6: Cleveland or Miami, like anywhere he goes besides those two,
9:58
Speaker 6: he just can't. I will give you credit. I think
10:01
Speaker 6: it was you and I. It was you and I.
10:04
Speaker 5: Right before the postseason of the NBA ended, you did
10:07
Speaker 5: say the loser between the Caves and the Knicks will
10:09
Speaker 5: get Lebron. You did say that not long ago, but
10:12
Speaker 5: a year ago. I don't think you were right at
10:14
Speaker 5: the time. I think you ended up being right. And
10:17
Speaker 5: the reason it feels like they're talking out of both
10:18
Speaker 5: sides of their mouth is because I think the plan
10:20
Speaker 5: was for Lebron to always be a Laker, even after that,
10:23
Speaker 5: even after he opted into his final year, even after
10:27
Speaker 5: they got Luca.
10:27
Speaker 6: The way the final season ended with the Lakers, with
10:31
Speaker 6: him being so available and leading the.
10:33
Speaker 5: Lakers passed their first round series in the playoffs, I
10:36
Speaker 5: think the plan was to be a Laker, and so
10:38
Speaker 5: now everything that they are saying, specifically Rich Paul, it
10:42
Speaker 5: does seem like it's a bunch of lies because they're
10:44
Speaker 5: figuring it out as they go. They didn't think they
10:46
Speaker 5: were going to be in this position because Lebron James
10:48
Speaker 5: thinks that everyone wants him. As you said, it's all
10:51
Speaker 5: about ego and he wants to feel wanted. I don't
10:53
Speaker 5: know when Lebron swallowed the pill that it wasn't gonna be,
10:55
Speaker 5: that he wasn't gonna be a Laker. Whenever that was,
10:58
Speaker 5: there are lies coming, but these.
10:59
Speaker 6: Lies came because they're figuring it out as they go.
11:02
Speaker 3: Why would you think Lebron would want to be a
11:04
Speaker 3: Laker when he only did all of that because Luca
11:07
Speaker 3: didn't play.
11:09
Speaker 5: Because Lebron thinks that he is a Laker.
11:14
Speaker 6: Like Lebron, Lebron wants.
11:16
Speaker 5: To be accepted, as you said, so, I don't think
11:19
Speaker 5: Lebron's plan was to not retire as a Laker.
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Speaker 3: I think that he knew he was never going to
11:24
Speaker 3: be accepted. And if you hear the if you if
11:27
Speaker 3: you hear the comments that people have made now that
11:30
Speaker 3: he has left, that and people that people are are
11:34
Speaker 3: happy that he's gone. It's the reason why he wanted
11:37
Speaker 3: to leave. He knew that winning those people over was
11:40
Speaker 3: was a losing battle. So he's going to go out
11:43
Speaker 3: on his own terms and be a good, good player,
11:48
Speaker 3: good soldier, be in line with the team, and then
11:50
Speaker 3: when he leaves saying, hey, I hope I made a
11:52
Speaker 3: few people proud. Like that's his way of saying, nobody's
11:55
Speaker 3: really fully accepted me, but I hope I made a
11:58
Speaker 3: few of you you happy. He had no intention of
12:01
Speaker 3: playing second fiddle to Luka.
12:02
Speaker 5: Donc You're you're portraying Lebron James to be logical, and
12:05
Speaker 5: I don't think he is.
12:07
Speaker 6: I think Lebron.
12:08
Speaker 5: James has been in this situation where it's like he
12:11
Speaker 5: does not understand what it's like to be told no,
12:14
Speaker 5: or what it's like to be told like you know what,
12:16
Speaker 5: we're okay without you. What you're presenting is a logical person,
12:20
Speaker 5: and I don't think Lebron has ever been logical because
12:23
Speaker 5: of the stardom that he has had for so.
12:25
Speaker 6: Long in this business. And so I'm telling you, like
12:29
Speaker 6: I think like.
12:30
Speaker 5: Maybe maybe people were saying this to him, but to him,
12:32
Speaker 5: he was like, you're crazy. I'm Lebron James. This just happened,
12:36
Speaker 5: and I really do think I'm putting it. When the
12:39
Speaker 5: Lakers officially extended Austin Ravesen gave him that contract, I
12:43
Speaker 5: feel like that was the beginning of Lebron swallowing the pill.
12:46
Speaker 5: And I agree that there's a lot of lies being told.
12:50
Speaker 5: Is it happiness? Is it money? Is it a championship?
12:52
Speaker 5: What is it that you're going for? Because all of
12:54
Speaker 5: those would lead you to different teams. Do you just
12:57
Speaker 5: want to say goodbye to the to the sport in
12:59
Speaker 5: a way where like you are happy, then you probably
13:02
Speaker 5: go back to Cleveland. That makes the most sense. It's
13:04
Speaker 5: competitive and you get to go home. Are you trying
13:06
Speaker 5: to play with Steph Curry? Because you guys, you want
13:08
Speaker 5: to play with another goat and it's your buddy, and
13:10
Speaker 5: you want to go.
13:10
Speaker 6: To the Warriors. That's also different.
13:13
Speaker 5: If you're trying to compete, I don't I don't know
13:15
Speaker 5: what team takes you to compete. I it makes all
13:18
Speaker 5: of this just to me, sounds like they are figuring
13:20
Speaker 5: it out as they go, and Rich Paul doesn't know
13:22
Speaker 5: how to keep his mouth shut because it's not even
13:24
Speaker 5: Lebron that's saying this.
13:25
Speaker 6: It's Rich Paul.
13:26
Speaker 3: I think, I think he's the most logical player in
13:30
Speaker 3: the NBA.
13:30
Speaker 5: I don't.
13:31
Speaker 3: And the reason is is because it's why you could
13:34
Speaker 3: see it from a year ago, this this path of
13:38
Speaker 3: he's not going to just go to a random team.
13:40
Speaker 3: But that's that's that's why the twelve to fourteen teams
13:43
Speaker 3: were out of it. There were three to four, but
13:46
Speaker 3: there's just a lot. Even for Rich Paul to say
13:49
Speaker 3: what he said about the Knicks in a way is
13:53
Speaker 3: also saying, well, see, he was never going to go
13:55
Speaker 3: back to the Lakers, like that was out of the picture.
13:56
Speaker 3: Like once the Knicks won, like that was that was
14:00
Speaker 3: going to be an option.
14:01
Speaker 6: How is that not saving face?
14:02
Speaker 3: Though?
14:03
Speaker 5: As something you've said, like this is all about saving face.
14:05
Speaker 5: So him, what he's saying now about the Lakers.
14:08
Speaker 6: Isn't that him saving face? Like no, no, no, like
14:11
Speaker 6: he would have gone to the Knicks. No, yeah, you
14:12
Speaker 6: don't know that.
14:13
Speaker 8: I know.
14:13
Speaker 5: And I again, I'll give you much credit because you
14:15
Speaker 5: really did say that. Luser readurwing the Cavs and the Kicks.
14:17
Speaker 5: We'll get Lebron because.
14:19
Speaker 3: It fits the story. That's what makes it ill logical, right.
14:22
Speaker 6: But but Lebron being logical, it's not no. He he
14:26
Speaker 6: wants to.
14:26
Speaker 5: Be loved and liked and accepted like he If he
14:30
Speaker 5: would have been logical, I feel like he would have
14:32
Speaker 5: handled the last season, which I said sitting here two
14:34
Speaker 5: days ago with you, that if he knew he was
14:36
Speaker 5: not going to be a Laker, we would have heard
14:38
Speaker 5: about that throughout the season because he would have wanted
14:40
Speaker 5: people to know, this is the last time I'm wearing
14:42
Speaker 5: the purple and gold.
14:43
Speaker 6: So he's so about himself.
14:45
Speaker 5: He would have wanted people to know, this is the
14:46
Speaker 5: last time you're gonna see.
14:48
Speaker 6: Me wearing purple and cold. Come watch me play one
14:49
Speaker 6: more time.
14:50
Speaker 3: Do you remember when how he went out in Miami?
14:53
Speaker 3: Like do you remember like how that ended, like after
14:55
Speaker 3: the four years when they lost to the Spurs in
14:57
Speaker 3: the finals. Basically basically it was Lebron James and everybody
15:03
Speaker 3: else like it was Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and
15:06
Speaker 3: the heatles that they were. Lebron was carrying that team.
15:09
Speaker 3: And so he leaves Miami on a high note because
15:12
Speaker 3: it's truly when he was at the top of his
15:15
Speaker 3: game throughout his career. But just he couldn't meet the
15:18
Speaker 3: San Antonio Spurs, he couldn't do it by himself. He
15:21
Speaker 3: gets the cramps, and it was Lebron I felt was
15:24
Speaker 3: peak Lebron at the end of that heat run, and
15:26
Speaker 3: then early on with the Cavaliers when he left the
15:30
Speaker 3: Cavaliers to go to the Lakers again. The announcement was
15:33
Speaker 3: made for him to go to the Lakers on just
15:37
Speaker 3: a statement, but when he left in that NBA Finals,
15:39
Speaker 3: I think both he and Cleveland were ready to leave
15:41
Speaker 3: each other, and so that was kind of on good terms.
15:46
Speaker 3: I think that he the backlash that he got from
15:50
Speaker 3: the decision, I think still plays into the part. I
15:53
Speaker 3: don't think he wanted to be hate. I didn't think
15:55
Speaker 3: he wanted to be reckless. I think that if he
15:57
Speaker 3: would have tried to stir everything up with the Lakers,
15:59
Speaker 3: with it being Luca's team, that would have looked poorly
16:02
Speaker 3: on him. And he just wants to be loved and
16:05
Speaker 3: him stirring up the pot, which is something we talked
16:07
Speaker 3: about earlier behind the scenes, saying I want out or
16:10
Speaker 3: I want a different team. It's just not doesn't fit him.
16:13
Speaker 3: And I think Luca's injury allowed Lebron to be like, Okay, good, Now,
16:16
Speaker 3: maybe I can get some love from the Lakers if
16:18
Speaker 3: I turn it on at this stretch run without their
16:20
Speaker 3: star player, and I can leave on a high note.
16:23
Speaker 3: That's what I think happened, and I think that's what
16:25
Speaker 3: worked out for him. But I don't think it would
16:27
Speaker 3: be in his best interest to try to change things
16:31
Speaker 3: or to become a nuisance to the Lakers. I mean,
16:33
Speaker 3: he was at some point in making comments earlier in
16:37
Speaker 3: the season, but to want to leave on a good note,
16:40
Speaker 3: I think that's what he likes. He doesn't want to
16:42
Speaker 3: leave a bad taste in people's mouth because he wants
16:45
Speaker 3: to be liked. And that's why I think that he'd
16:47
Speaker 3: never wanted to go back to the Lakers. And now,
16:49
Speaker 3: like if you were to go to the Sixers, if
16:51
Speaker 3: you were to go to the Knicks when they want it,
16:52
Speaker 3: it's Boston that would work out. That's why there's only
16:56
Speaker 3: like two places that he can I think now three
16:58
Speaker 3: places he can now really go Cleveland, Miami, and Golden State.
17:01
Speaker 3: And Cleveland's the best option. I don't think that Golden
17:03
Speaker 3: State gives you as much. Many miles and the heat
17:06
Speaker 3: are still a ways away. Even with Lebron and Jannison Bam.
17:10
Speaker 5: I think the decision once the decision happened with Lebron
17:14
Speaker 5: and how much he's moved.
17:15
Speaker 6: I feel like everywhere he goes.
17:16
Speaker 5: He leaves a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.
17:21
Speaker 6: I just think it just happens with him. He's just
17:23
Speaker 6: been around for so long.
17:24
Speaker 5: But if you truly felt, if you truly feel like
17:26
Speaker 5: Lebron wanted to leave on a high note with the Lakers,
17:28
Speaker 5: and after helping the Lakers in a situation where their
17:31
Speaker 5: star went down and their other players there are other
17:34
Speaker 5: star also.
17:34
Speaker 6: Went down, eventually came back. Austin Reeves, You.
17:36
Speaker 5: Don't think when it was all said and done, at
17:39
Speaker 5: that point, Lebron would have said something like, I'm just
17:42
Speaker 5: I'm glad that I was able to give the Lakers
17:45
Speaker 5: a series when you know it's it's good to leave
17:48
Speaker 5: like this. You don't think something like that he would
17:51
Speaker 5: have said, because then at that point everybody would have
17:55
Speaker 5: been like, Lebron's eaving.
17:56
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, he's leaving the Lakers, and he likes that.
17:59
Speaker 6: That's his stuff.
18:00
Speaker 5: He wants us, as we said, he wants a farewell tour.
18:03
Speaker 5: He wants people to talk about him. I think he
18:05
Speaker 5: would have said something at that moment. If you're saying
18:09
Speaker 5: he wanted to leave on a high note with the Lakers,
18:11
Speaker 5: and he did that by winning the series when their
18:13
Speaker 5: stars went down, Like, I think he would have leaned
18:16
Speaker 5: into that, and he didn't.
18:17
Speaker 6: He was any of that.
18:18
Speaker 3: Jason Stewart's our executive producer.
18:21
Speaker 7: No, I was just shaking my head during that.
18:23
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I saw you shaking your hand.
18:24
Speaker 7: I don't think he could do that, and I respect
18:27
Speaker 7: the take, but I don't think he could have done that,
18:30
Speaker 7: Because he would it would have just taken all the
18:32
Speaker 7: oxygen out of the room. Everyone would have kept asking
18:35
Speaker 7: him about the next step in the middle of the season,
18:37
Speaker 7: and he would have been the disruptor. I think him
18:40
Speaker 7: pointed the way he did him winning that first series
18:43
Speaker 7: got him a lot of like great faith, people started
18:46
Speaker 7: loving Lebron again after winning that first series before he
18:49
Speaker 7: threw Luca under the bus the next day. But like,
18:53
Speaker 7: I don't know if he says that anything like that
18:55
Speaker 7: in the middle of the season, referring to this is
18:57
Speaker 7: my last season, I think he would have been looked
18:59
Speaker 7: at as a disrupt and I think to Dan's point,
19:01
Speaker 7: that's the last thing he wants to be.
19:04
Speaker 6: Though everything no.
19:06
Speaker 3: Blood on accounts' zero blood Genie Buss the article that
19:11
Speaker 3: came out, I don't know if it was in the
19:12
Speaker 3: winter about how they had a falling out, maybe it
19:14
Speaker 3: was in the spring. And then Lebron announces that Rich
19:18
Speaker 3: Paul says he's not going back to the Lakers. All
19:20
Speaker 3: of a sudden, there's a Genie Bus statement. Lebron is
19:23
Speaker 3: quote tweeting that statement like playing all good when by
19:28
Speaker 3: the accounts that we entered previously is that they weren't
19:31
Speaker 3: on good terms with each other. That's all window dressing.
19:34
Speaker 3: That's all to make everything look fancy, and that's again
19:37
Speaker 3: goes along with the with the lying portion of it,
19:40
Speaker 3: the cover up. But this is just playing out and
19:44
Speaker 3: that's why we It's why I felt like you could
19:46
Speaker 3: see it from a mile away or a year ago.
19:48
Speaker 3: This is all the steps and it's leading us to
19:50
Speaker 3: the same point, which I think again will ultimately be Cleveland.
19:53
Speaker 3: But there aren't twelve to fourteen teams, and it's not
19:56
Speaker 3: about happiness because rich Paul says if Lebron he would
20:01
Speaker 3: have gone to the next if they didn't win an
20:02
Speaker 3: NBA title. Well then he had his mind made up.
20:05
Speaker 3: Or is he saying that his happiness would have been
20:07
Speaker 3: in New York. I don't buy that for a second.
20:09
Speaker 3: It's all it's all what does it call it, it's all
20:12
Speaker 3: a ruse. It's all a ruse? Is that the phrase? Well,
20:16
Speaker 3: we'll see, I said, Manzi yesterday when you were dealing
20:20
Speaker 3: with the crazy nutty people at Dodger Stadium, that I
20:24
Speaker 3: picked Wednesday of next week. July eighth is the day
20:27
Speaker 3: he makes the announcement because that's the day that there
20:32
Speaker 3: are no World Cup matches. You can't do it on
20:35
Speaker 3: the weekend. Jason thought maybe yesterday was going to be
20:37
Speaker 3: the day to try to beat the fourth of July
20:39
Speaker 3: and to beat America's birthday. But I think just just
20:42
Speaker 3: wait till mid next week after the US has played
20:45
Speaker 3: against Belgium. There's no World Cup matches on Wednesday. That
20:48
Speaker 3: if something goes down on Wednesday. This is all going to.
20:51
Speaker 5: Be part of the plan for having a plan a
20:54
Speaker 5: year ago. This plan's not going very well. I feel
20:56
Speaker 5: like we would have already know going I.
20:58
Speaker 3: Think it's going right according it's a plan.
21:00
Speaker 5: This is all all the lives This is all the
21:02
Speaker 5: what they wanted, say all the wrong things, and that
21:06
Speaker 5: can show them.
21:07
Speaker 6: We had a plan a year ago.
21:08
Speaker 3: Hey, Rich Paul has already contradicted himself.
21:11
Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Godson Company
21:14
Speaker 2: Live weekdays at three pm Eastern twelve pm Pacific on
21:18
Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
21:23
Speaker 3: All right, we are in the mix with Mark Medina
21:26
Speaker 3: for the next hour here on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in, Yeah,
21:30
Speaker 3: turn that micro on, Mark Medina, I got you. This
21:34
Speaker 3: is something new that we're doing here on this day
21:38
Speaker 3: before America's birthday. By the way, is there any date
21:41
Speaker 3: on the calendar that gets more short change than July third? Right? Like,
21:45
Speaker 3: it's I mean cause it's July fourth, It's coming up tomorrow,
21:48
Speaker 3: it's America's birthday. But Mark Medeena's here. You can call
21:52
Speaker 3: in eight seven, seven nine nine on Fox eight seven
21:54
Speaker 3: seven nine six six three sixty nine if you have
21:56
Speaker 3: any questions about the NBA anything you want to ask Mark.
22:00
Speaker 3: But I figured over the next hour, considering what's happened
22:02
Speaker 3: in free agency, that Mancy, we would get to pick
22:05
Speaker 3: the brains of someone who is locked in and can
22:09
Speaker 3: really put into perspective of what's going on so far
22:11
Speaker 3: in free agency, and then.
22:12
Speaker 6: Some I think he needs a gabble because he's going
22:15
Speaker 6: to be judgment.
22:17
Speaker 3: We get it out of the way.
22:18
Speaker 6: Of course, we get it out of the way. You
22:20
Speaker 6: said I was whack.
22:21
Speaker 3: Mark first of all, welcome happy early fourth.
22:25
Speaker 9: Yes, mons, So I have to pay judge and jury
22:28
Speaker 9: referee yellow cards.
22:31
Speaker 6: You can, you can.
22:33
Speaker 3: I almost don't want him to hear our opinions from
22:37
Speaker 3: each other, because I think that leads a bias into it.
22:41
Speaker 3: Nothing towards you, but everybody sides with Manzi like like,
22:45
Speaker 3: that's so I am already at a disadvantage.
22:48
Speaker 4: You don't want to lead the witness.
22:49
Speaker 3: I almost want like an impartial party like Jason Stewart
22:54
Speaker 3: to give you the two sides of the argument. Are
22:58
Speaker 3: you good with that? Monster?
22:59
Speaker 10: Sure?
23:00
Speaker 6: He better explain it right.
23:01
Speaker 7: Well, I don't know if I want to articulate both sides.
23:04
Speaker 7: I do have a suggestion, though, how about we just
23:06
Speaker 7: kind of leave it open ended. Now. You don't have
23:08
Speaker 7: to give away your opinion by setting it up, so
23:12
Speaker 7: to just say.
23:13
Speaker 6: Like one of us thinks this and the other one
23:15
Speaker 6: thinks this.
23:16
Speaker 7: Like Mark a year ago when Lebron put out that statement.
23:20
Speaker 7: Take it from here was what did Mark think at
23:22
Speaker 7: that point about Lebron's future in.
23:24
Speaker 3: LA when Lebron announced he was going to opt into
23:27
Speaker 3: his contract, What did you think was happening a year
23:30
Speaker 3: ago at that time?
23:31
Speaker 9: At that time, I thought it's the final year with
23:34
Speaker 9: the Lakers. It may or may not be the final
23:36
Speaker 9: year of his NBA career. But with that huge caveat,
23:40
Speaker 9: I've also taught myself that everything can always change because
23:44
Speaker 9: of circumstances. But at that point, it seemed clear by
23:49
Speaker 9: to handicap this, I put money on it. Lebron's time
23:53
Speaker 9: with the Lakers is only this season.
23:55
Speaker 3: I think that that is a great caveat because he
23:58
Speaker 3: brought up the point of change. Did you think things
24:01
Speaker 3: changed throughout the season.
24:03
Speaker 9: Yes, and so even as of last week my opinion
24:07
Speaker 9: and some folks around the league that I've talked to, executives,
24:11
Speaker 9: different scouts, there wasn't a unanimous thought, but most thought that,
24:15
Speaker 9: you know what, I think he will come back to
24:18
Speaker 9: the Lakers because even though it's not Max money, it's
24:23
Speaker 9: still more money than most teams can are willing to offer.
24:27
Speaker 9: And the Luka Doncic fit wasn't perfect, but they saw
24:31
Speaker 9: a lot of growth and there wasn't any personality tensions
24:36
Speaker 9: with Lucas specifically.
24:37
Speaker 4: They got along fine.
24:39
Speaker 9: There's a lot of respect for each other. The tension
24:41
Speaker 9: is more about for an office dynamics, what's the priority
24:45
Speaker 9: with roster moves around Lebron and his contract. So with
24:49
Speaker 9: all those variables, there was a feeling I could see
24:52
Speaker 9: Lebron come back, but I want to be surprised if
24:54
Speaker 9: he also leaves.
24:56
Speaker 3: Manci has got a look on her face, but up
25:00
Speaker 3: until that last line, I thought the the the look changed. Well,
25:05
Speaker 3: I think there was a bit of a there was
25:06
Speaker 3: a bit of a I told you so.
25:08
Speaker 5: Well, no, because it starts off with him stating what
25:13
Speaker 5: you thought a year ago and I I did not
25:16
Speaker 5: think that a year ago.
25:17
Speaker 6: I let's just put it out there and we'll keep
25:19
Speaker 6: it simple.
25:20
Speaker 5: We've been kind of arguing as to what Lebron and
25:24
Speaker 5: his camp, everything that's been said, as Dan said, seems
25:27
Speaker 5: to be full of lies. And the reason I think
25:29
Speaker 5: it sounds like it's full of lies is because I
25:31
Speaker 5: think the plan for Lebron was to be a Laker,
25:33
Speaker 5: and then up until they signed Austin Reeves I think
25:37
Speaker 5: is when that became the reality was at that point,
25:40
Speaker 5: you don't want to pay me what I what I
25:42
Speaker 5: would want as a Laker. Now I'm gonna move on.
25:44
Speaker 5: But I think this entire time, especially because how he
25:47
Speaker 5: helped the Lakers win a series in the playoffs without
25:49
Speaker 5: Luca and Austin Reeves being you know, half injured, because
25:52
Speaker 5: he did come back that I think he he thought
25:54
Speaker 5: I'm gonna I'm gonna be a Laker again. I'm gonna
25:56
Speaker 5: come back, and it just now it's reality and he's not.
25:59
Speaker 6: And that that's why these are, oh, twenty sevent teams.
26:02
Speaker 6: There's not twenty seven teams who have asked about Lebron.
26:05
Speaker 3: There's not.
26:05
Speaker 5: But the reason it sounds like everything is kind of
26:08
Speaker 5: like you're just throwing things to the wall and seeing
26:09
Speaker 5: what sticks is because I thought the plan was he
26:11
Speaker 5: wanted to.
26:12
Speaker 6: Be a Laker.
26:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
26:13
Speaker 9: I think the challenging thing with the Lakers and Lebron
26:16
Speaker 9: is that everything can always evolve change and both parties,
26:21
Speaker 9: whether you agree with one side or the other, or
26:24
Speaker 9: you look at it circumstance by circumstance, they all embrace
26:28
Speaker 9: and are used to the soap opera dynamics that there
26:32
Speaker 9: can always be a pivot point that can be that
26:36
Speaker 9: turning point toward a decision, but there can also be
26:38
Speaker 9: a detour. So, for example, when there were the ESPN
26:43
Speaker 9: story earlier in the season that laid out the latest
26:46
Speaker 9: dynamics with the front office and Lebron, and just the
26:50
Speaker 9: feeling that Genie bust didn't think Lebron was appreciative enough
26:53
Speaker 9: that they drafted Browny, you could have thought, you know what,
26:55
Speaker 9: this is the end of the road here. Lebron the
26:58
Speaker 9: next day was clear irritated with it. When I asked him,
27:02
Speaker 9: what's the diet, what's the collaboration partnership Like with Genie,
27:07
Speaker 9: he said, well, I thought it used to be good.
27:10
Speaker 9: Pat past tense and you think, you know what, like
27:13
Speaker 9: this isn't gonna be good. But then from a on
27:15
Speaker 9: court chemistry standpoint, things were getting better, like Luka Dodge
27:19
Speaker 9: ch Austin reeves, the health was improving, the trade deadline
27:23
Speaker 9: moves and the continuity is improving.
27:25
Speaker 4: The bottom line results were.
27:26
Speaker 9: Improving in March where he thought, okay, like this can
27:30
Speaker 9: be salvageable. But then the injuries happened, the contract negotiations happened,
27:35
Speaker 9: so everything is always subject to change, and there's so
27:39
Speaker 9: many a million potential pivot points. It makes for one
27:42
Speaker 9: great soap opera to file.
27:44
Speaker 3: I'll I'll just say this, he held a grudge with
27:46
Speaker 3: pat Riley over chocolate chip cookies, so that grudge of
27:50
Speaker 3: them not doing a one in one with him a
27:52
Speaker 3: year ago, which is why I think. I think the
27:54
Speaker 3: decision was made at that point, and I don't think
27:56
Speaker 3: anything happened. I think the Lakers wanted to move on,
27:59
Speaker 3: and Lebron said, fine, I'm going to opt in, pay
28:01
Speaker 3: me fifty million dollars for what was this past season,
28:04
Speaker 3: and then I am going to go elsewhere, And no
28:07
Speaker 3: matter what would have happened over this past year, I
28:09
Speaker 3: felt that then teams would know that he would be available,
28:12
Speaker 3: Like if he would have just opted out of his
28:14
Speaker 3: contract last year, there weren't teams available for him to
28:17
Speaker 3: go to at that time because it was so late
28:20
Speaker 3: in the game. And I think that this was all orchestrated.
28:23
Speaker 3: So I think his decision again is fifty to fifty
28:28
Speaker 3: in signing with you and me, and I don't believe
28:32
Speaker 3: all of those executives who thought he would go back
28:35
Speaker 3: to the Lakers. That's why you have bad gms. They
28:37
Speaker 3: can't read the they can't read the room at all.
28:41
Speaker 5: Do you think that if Lebron really a year ago,
28:43
Speaker 5: because this is the other part of my argument with
28:46
Speaker 5: this with Dan, if a year ago when he opted
28:49
Speaker 5: into that contract he knew this is my final year
28:51
Speaker 5: as a Laker, wouldn't he have leaned into that so
28:54
Speaker 5: that the fans knew was going to be his last
28:56
Speaker 5: time were in.
28:56
Speaker 6: Purple and gold.
28:58
Speaker 9: Yeah, here's the thing that we have to keep in mind.
29:01
Speaker 9: No doubt Lebron has calculated. He thinks big picture, but
29:05
Speaker 9: there have been a I think play by play details
29:08
Speaker 9: because he's human and just life itself, that's made it unpredictable.
29:11
Speaker 9: So I think that he did opt in so he'd
29:16
Speaker 9: get his money. It's fifty two million dollars. If he
29:19
Speaker 9: opted out, he won't get the same. I think at
29:21
Speaker 9: that point in time, he didn't truly know if he
29:24
Speaker 9: was still capable of prolonging his career without relegating his
29:29
Speaker 9: role to be like Vince Carter where he's prolonging it.
29:32
Speaker 9: But now he's a six man, he's a reserve. He
29:34
Speaker 9: doesn't want to do that, and so I think part
29:38
Speaker 9: of the reason why some of this change is that
29:41
Speaker 9: he wasn't a perfect player, certainly defensively, but from an
29:45
Speaker 9: offensive standpoint, role standpoint, he still could make the case
29:48
Speaker 9: that he can prolong his career and still be not
29:51
Speaker 9: the number one option, but a focal point for a team.
29:56
Speaker 9: So I think that's the other thing. As I was
29:58
Speaker 9: thinking about this whole dynamic with the Lakers and Lebron,
30:03
Speaker 9: three t words come to mind with how to sum
30:06
Speaker 9: it up. It's always been transactional from both sides. It's
30:11
Speaker 9: there's occasionally been tension, but there's it's there's never been toxic,
30:17
Speaker 9: any toxic environment. And so with that always transactional. There's
30:23
Speaker 9: some tension, but it's never toxic. It's made it for
30:27
Speaker 9: this really gray relationship where there was never a lot
30:31
Speaker 9: of warmth. There's been disagreements, but when there's been disagreements,
30:35
Speaker 9: there's been respectful parting of ways here and that's it's been.
30:40
Speaker 3: Fascinating, which is honestly different than any of the other
30:44
Speaker 3: Lakers stars have been treated in the past. I mean,
30:47
Speaker 3: because it felt like Magic and Kobe they were all
30:49
Speaker 3: family to the bus family, and this was feels different.
30:52
Speaker 9: Yeah, and three years ago this was the Lakers are
30:57
Speaker 9: at the Western Conference Finals, Lebron is justing after they
31:01
Speaker 9: lose the Nuggets. You know, I'm not sure if I'm
31:02
Speaker 9: going to keep playing, you know, my body, et cetera.
31:05
Speaker 4: So there was.
31:06
Speaker 9: Technically this period of uncertainty, and he then announced that
31:10
Speaker 9: the S piece is coming back. I connected with Genie
31:12
Speaker 9: Buss a few weeks after that about state of the
31:15
Speaker 9: team things, and I was asking Genie for her perspective,
31:19
Speaker 9: what would it mean if Lebron retires as a Laker,
31:23
Speaker 9: and her answer, I think forecasted what happens.
31:27
Speaker 4: She said, it would mean a lot. We value Lebron,
31:29
Speaker 4: but we're.
31:30
Speaker 9: Also aware that, you know, there's been other players that
31:34
Speaker 9: haven't retired as a Laker, like Shaquille O'Neal, but that
31:37
Speaker 9: didn't change our appreciation for what he provided the franchise
31:41
Speaker 9: at the time, and with Lebron, it was the twenty
31:44
Speaker 9: twenty NBA Championship ending that six year playoff drought or
31:48
Speaker 9: worst stretch of franchise history, and obviously the revenue that
31:53
Speaker 9: he helped produce with the Lakers. And then she mentioned,
31:57
Speaker 9: you know, we still retired Chaquis O'Neil's number, and so
32:01
Speaker 9: I said, well, given that, will Lebron's jersey beer retired?
32:05
Speaker 4: And she said yeah.
32:07
Speaker 9: Our criteria is when you're in the Hall of Fame,
32:09
Speaker 9: you're deserving of having a retire jersey. And there's no
32:13
Speaker 9: doubt he's going to be there, so we will retire
32:16
Speaker 9: his jersey once that happens.
32:18
Speaker 4: Now here's the other thing. Lebron's going to get his
32:21
Speaker 4: jersey retired. But what I asked, is it both numbers?
32:23
Speaker 4: One are the numbers.
32:26
Speaker 9: That's a subject for another time. So it's very well
32:29
Speaker 9: possible they will retire one of his jersey numbers, just
32:32
Speaker 9: not both sure and the statue. I would be surprised.
32:36
Speaker 9: I almost think of it like Welt Chamberlain. He is,
32:39
Speaker 9: obviously this iconic player stillhood holds the best scoring record.
32:44
Speaker 9: He got his jersey retired, but he wasn't seen as
32:47
Speaker 9: a Laker. I mean he was with the Lakers, but
32:49
Speaker 9: he was more associated with Philadelphia. I don't think he's
32:51
Speaker 9: getting a statue, and he obviously hasn't had one yet.
32:54
Speaker 3: James is in Virginia wants to join into the conversation
32:58
Speaker 3: and ask Mark Medina our NBA in chatter, it's an
33:00
Speaker 3: hour in the of in the Mix with Mark Medina
33:04
Speaker 3: here on Stu Gotzy Company Live on Fox Sports Radio. James,
33:07
Speaker 3: welcome to Stugatzi Company. What's going on?
33:09
Speaker 10: Oh, thanks for taking my call, Happy Friday, Happy fourth
33:12
Speaker 10: of July. Man, big time, all the time, every time,
33:15
Speaker 10: sult the commanders for me.
33:17
Speaker 2: Man.
33:17
Speaker 10: My question is if Lebron is about trying to win
33:20
Speaker 10: a fifth title and he's willing to take a vet minimum,
33:23
Speaker 10: and I'm looking at the league, like, where could he go?
33:25
Speaker 10: What are the odds that he could end up to me?
33:28
Speaker 10: In Okac or Denver? And Denver certainly close, like a
33:31
Speaker 10: two hour flight from la and around Arizona where his
33:34
Speaker 10: little boy's playing. So I'm curious to see that. I
33:37
Speaker 10: think in Denver would be a great with Yo Kitsch.
33:39
Speaker 10: They can play off each other nicely. I'll take it
33:42
Speaker 10: off the air. Thank you again, Joning y'all and the
33:45
Speaker 10: Firecracker Bilanos break fourth of July.
33:49
Speaker 4: You too, James, appreciate it, Happy fourth.
33:51
Speaker 3: What do you think about Denver Okac for Lebron?
33:54
Speaker 9: So I checked in technically the twenty seven teams, you know,
33:58
Speaker 9: unless it's not that, But are you sure?
34:02
Speaker 3: I am sure? Yes?
34:04
Speaker 9: I asked for what's the criteria, and it's very open
34:08
Speaker 9: ended because I don't I think Lebron's criteria is now
34:11
Speaker 9: shifted because he's not making max money and he is
34:15
Speaker 9: about winning, but at the same time, it comes with
34:19
Speaker 9: preconditions of he doesn't want to take a vet minimum
34:22
Speaker 9: and join a team that's already catered made to win
34:25
Speaker 9: a championship. So I think you can eliminate teams like
34:27
Speaker 9: the Knicks, the Spurs, the Thunder, the Nuggets, maybe because.
34:33
Speaker 3: He's not going to Denver.
34:34
Speaker 9: They want a championship, but there are more roster questions
34:39
Speaker 9: in OKC, the Knicks and the Spurs. The Spurs right now,
34:44
Speaker 9: the Thunder and the Knicks as constructed can win a championship.
34:47
Speaker 9: It's not like they're a piece like Lebron missing the Nuggets.
34:51
Speaker 9: They have an outside chance, but it's not the same
34:52
Speaker 9: as it was in twenty twenty three. So I would
34:55
Speaker 9: rule those three teams out definitively. I wouldn't rule out Denver,
34:58
Speaker 9: but I would also be surprised. I think it's coming
35:01
Speaker 9: down to the likely candidates Golden State, Cleveland, Miami.
35:07
Speaker 4: There is a feeling that even though the Warriors isn't
35:10
Speaker 4: the best basketball decision because.
35:13
Speaker 9: Steph Draymond are old, Jimmy Butler's coming off a cl injury.
35:19
Speaker 9: This isn't a team in twenty sixteen, but there's still
35:21
Speaker 9: is a feeling that they're in their driver's seat because
35:25
Speaker 9: of even if they're not a favorite to win, they
35:29
Speaker 9: could still be in the mix. The respect for Steph
35:32
Speaker 9: and Draymond, the proximity to the Bay Area where theoretically
35:38
Speaker 9: he wouldn't have to move like he could do the
35:40
Speaker 9: whole flying back and forth where you know he comes
35:44
Speaker 9: for home games. They are going to practice, but because
35:47
Speaker 9: this team is AAR eligible, yeah they're ARP eligible, there's
35:53
Speaker 9: not gonna be a lot of practices. So there's times
35:55
Speaker 9: that he can be in LA while in a Warrior's
35:59
Speaker 9: uniform because they're notctice to go to.
36:00
Speaker 3: But I liked Olden State. I heard that one on
36:05
Speaker 3: social media.
36:06
Speaker 4: Shaken credit for that is a good one.
36:09
Speaker 9: Old Levey also plant some things here. It's it's uncertain,
36:13
Speaker 9: but one thing I am certain about is you are
36:16
Speaker 9: making Fourth of July plans. We are not going to
36:19
Speaker 9: hear Lebron James news this weekend. You are not going
36:22
Speaker 9: to be a.
36:22
Speaker 4: Barbecue where you get the Texas.
36:26
Speaker 9: You are not going to have fireworks, and all of
36:29
Speaker 9: a sudden you see fireworks on Twitter. I asked for timelines,
36:33
Speaker 9: and it's like, look like Lebron's going to be patient
36:36
Speaker 9: all this stuff. But I said, people should be prepared
36:40
Speaker 9: that this is a week's thing, not a day's thing,
36:43
Speaker 9: and they affirm that's likely.
36:46
Speaker 3: I told Manti, I think it's going to be on Wednesday,
36:49
Speaker 3: July eighth, because there's no World Cup match that day,
36:53
Speaker 3: very well, and that could be his opportunity to then
36:57
Speaker 3: grab some of the spotlight. Because also if Lebron doesn't
36:59
Speaker 3: go to your team, and again it's not twenty seven,
37:03
Speaker 3: and I don't think it's twelve to fourteen. I think
37:04
Speaker 3: it's the three that Mark said. Those teams also then
37:08
Speaker 3: have to figure out, Okay, we don't have Lebron, Now,
37:11
Speaker 3: how do we run the rest of this off season?
37:15
Speaker 3: How do we fill these certain spots. I don't think Philadelphia.
37:18
Speaker 3: I think I think for Today for a headline heading
37:20
Speaker 3: into the fourth of July weekend saying, the seventy six
37:22
Speaker 3: ers are eyeing Lebron, but there is no way that
37:24
Speaker 3: that is happening. There's zero chance he goes to Philadelphia.
37:28
Speaker 3: I think so I think that when it comes down
37:30
Speaker 3: to it, it is going to be those three teams.
37:34
Speaker 3: But it's just a matter of when. At least we're
37:36
Speaker 3: in lockstep on the timing of it as well, that
37:39
Speaker 3: it's not going to be up against America's two hundred
37:41
Speaker 3: and fiftieth. If it was America's two forty nine and
37:44
Speaker 3: it was on a Tuesday, then maybe, but not on
37:47
Speaker 3: an extended weekend.
37:48
Speaker 9: Yes, if he does go to the Warriors, he is
37:51
Speaker 9: not going to replicate Kevin Durant's path In twenty sixteen
37:54
Speaker 9: July fourth, that is when the players tributing article dropped
37:58
Speaker 9: that he is leaving OKAC to go get a Golden State.
38:00
Speaker 3: All right, so who won? Who do you think? Side
38:04
Speaker 3: ad Jason Sam I would love to.
38:07
Speaker 7: Hear from the listeners on Twitter and phoning in.
38:11
Speaker 3: I don't no, I'm not putting it in their hands.
38:14
Speaker 3: I'm just.
38:16
Speaker 7: Which Mark choose, because I think it's like a there
38:20
Speaker 7: was so much gray area. I think in our pre
38:23
Speaker 7: show meeting, I was asked how I thought Medina would
38:26
Speaker 7: come out on this, and he was going to be
38:28
Speaker 7: right in the middle, and he was going to offer
38:30
Speaker 7: up all this gray area, and he wouldn't choose one
38:33
Speaker 7: or the other. He actually chose both of your answers
38:36
Speaker 7: as I predicted. Don't don't get me wrong, there's a
38:40
Speaker 7: lot of nuanced facts in here. But what Mark doesn't
38:43
Speaker 7: quite understand is that sports talk radio is not about nuance.
38:46
Speaker 7: You need to be black or white, there is no gray.
38:49
Speaker 7: He never chose a side. So I guess maybe I
38:52
Speaker 7: want to Pinmark down who was more right. Was it
38:56
Speaker 7: Dan Bayer who predicted a year ago that he was
38:58
Speaker 7: never coming back to the Lakers, or was it Moncey
39:01
Speaker 7: Wright who he didn't really make up his mind until recently.
39:05
Speaker 2: Wow.
39:07
Speaker 9: To be clear, Jay stew I hope I was not
39:09
Speaker 9: coming across as playing both sides of the fence, being
39:12
Speaker 9: this conventional politician. It was more about giving all the
39:15
Speaker 9: information that makes this complicated but down bite sports talk
39:19
Speaker 9: radio form. I think that at that point he made
39:24
Speaker 9: up his mind, but all the things that happened in
39:28
Speaker 9: between crystallized the decision.
39:30
Speaker 4: So it's not absolute.
39:32
Speaker 9: He's never going back, but he thought, you know what,
39:35
Speaker 9: I'm likely leaving, and everything that's happened the year ago,
39:38
Speaker 9: good bad somewhere in between crystallized wise on.
39:42
Speaker 3: So the line was drawn in the sand a year ago.
39:44
Speaker 6: Not right, That's that's the question. A year ago, he wasn't.
39:48
Speaker 6: He knew he wasn't going to be a Laker.
39:50
Speaker 9: He drew a line in the sand, but it wasn't
39:52
Speaker 9: a red line, so you know, in the sand, you
39:55
Speaker 9: can get.
39:57
Speaker 3: Over it, like seriously, like we've got some commercials to like,
40:00
Speaker 3: I just need to But that's that's the whole crux
40:05
Speaker 3: of my argument is it was on June twenty ninth
40:08
Speaker 3: that he said, you're dead to me no matter what. Yeah,
40:11
Speaker 3: that he made up his mind when they said we're
40:13
Speaker 3: not going to do another one plus one. That all right, fine,
40:17
Speaker 3: tell him he's whack.
40:18
Speaker 9: I don't think there was ever no going back. It
40:20
Speaker 9: was more, yeah, I'm leaning toward this. Everything that happened
40:23
Speaker 9: crystallized it. But there would have been a way to
40:25
Speaker 9: salvage it. So if I have to choose, I guess
40:29
Speaker 9: he wanted.
40:29
Speaker 6: To be a Laker. He wanted to be a Laker.
40:32
Speaker 4: Under certain conditions.
40:33
Speaker 6: Right, Like I don't think his was to not retire
40:35
Speaker 6: as not a Laker.
40:36
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean it was under certain conditions. Clearly, Hence
40:39
Speaker 9: he's not here, he's not taking this huge discount. He
40:42
Speaker 9: didn't want to repeat the same role. And also, I
40:45
Speaker 9: think the other thing that was a huge source of
40:47
Speaker 9: discontent is how the front office moved that. They'll both
40:52
Speaker 9: say they want to win championships, but from Lebron's perspective,
40:56
Speaker 9: they were thinking more long term future than these win
40:58
Speaker 9: now moves during trade line offices.
41:00
Speaker 3: I would also argue that it's actually the day the
41:03
Speaker 3: Lakers got Luka Doncic that signified the end of the
41:07
Speaker 3: Lebron era with the Lakers because he was no longer
41:10
Speaker 3: going to have the power over the organization that he
41:13
Speaker 3: had when he was the top dog.
41:14
Speaker 6: How convenient.
41:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's who are you were?
41:17
Speaker 6: Your argument?
41:18
Speaker 3: I think it's But I think it's true. I think
41:20
Speaker 3: that changed everything. And here and that happened five months
41:24
Speaker 3: prior to Lebron's decision, Like when the Lakers were given Luca,
41:28
Speaker 3: everything changed.
41:30
Speaker 9: Without a doubt. And here's the thing with this. Both
41:34
Speaker 9: sides were interested in a reunion, but only under certain preconditions.
41:40
Speaker 4: So that's where that.
41:41
Speaker 3: Were I think impossible to mention, that were impossible to meet.
41:46
Speaker 3: And that's why I just don't Yeah, and was it just.
41:49
Speaker 6: The money because of his ego?
41:52
Speaker 9: It wasn't just the money. The money is a factor,
41:54
Speaker 9: but it was also the front office. I think that
41:58
Speaker 9: even though Lebron isn't blameable, from his perspective, he's talking
42:03
Speaker 9: to the front office like some other stars are of Hey,
42:06
Speaker 9: here's what I'm hearing. Here are some suggestions, but you're
42:08
Speaker 9: the decision makers, and when decisions were made. It was
42:11
Speaker 9: put on him that he had the overt influence, But
42:14
Speaker 9: I think the bigger thing was more of when he
42:16
Speaker 9: looked at these pre tried deadlines and off seasons. Russell
42:22
Speaker 9: Westbrook aside, the Lakers clearly always valued draft capital, financial flexibility,
42:29
Speaker 9: so they weren't mortgaging the future. Or from Lebron's end,
42:32
Speaker 9: he's thinking, well, I don't know how many years I
42:34
Speaker 9: have left. I want win now moves. As long as
42:36
Speaker 9: I'm here, there's still a chance to win a championship.
42:38
Speaker 9: So if I had a handicap, it's more that than
42:41
Speaker 9: the money. But the money is always a factor.
42:44
Speaker 3: And now it's all about happiness.
42:45
Speaker 9: So who on the bet? Or was I too evasive
42:48
Speaker 9: and long window with this?
42:50
Speaker 3: I don't even know. I'm even sick of talking about
42:51
Speaker 3: Lebron though, Like I'm like I'm sick of hearing me
42:54
Speaker 3: talk about Lebron Like I guess what good news lister
42:57
Speaker 3: thirty seven minutes of Lebron free radio coming up here
43:00
Speaker 3: on Fox Sports Radio. Gat you got Jalb Brown talk,
43:04
Speaker 3: we got Kawhi Leonard, I you know, want some Janni's
43:06
Speaker 3: talk and just the state of the NBA. Are the
43:10
Speaker 3: Sixers the favorite? We'll get into all of that. You
43:12
Speaker 3: can ask Mark as well on X hit Mancy up
43:15
Speaker 3: at Monte Bolognos. You can find me at Dan Byron
43:17
Speaker 3: Fox or Mark at Mark g Underscore Madina.
43:20
Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of Stu gottson Company
43:24
Speaker 2: Live weekdays at three pm Eastern twelve pm Pacific.
43:29
Speaker 3: Stu Gotson Company Live here on Fox Sports Radio. You'll
43:32
Speaker 3: get a World Cup update in no matter of seconds.
43:34
Speaker 3: As Chris Purfett is at the news desk. I'm not
43:37
Speaker 3: Stu gottson now there's Monte Bologno. So I'm Dan Byer.
43:39
Speaker 3: We are in for Stu Gotts and Company. And our
43:41
Speaker 3: company is Chris Jason Stewart and I was Sam hanging
43:44
Speaker 3: out for the next ninety minutes or so, and in fact,
43:46
Speaker 3: in thirty minutes we're gonna have a guest full hour
43:49
Speaker 3: recapping the NBA off season with our good buddy Mark Medina,
43:53
Speaker 3: talking about this, that and everything.
43:55
Speaker 5: When it comes to we're gonna ask him about Lebron
43:57
Speaker 5: and he's going to tell you that I'm right and
43:59
Speaker 5: you're wrong, and this is going to be lost number
44:01
Speaker 5: three after Isaac Blohencron, I had a rough.
44:04
Speaker 3: Day in trivia the last couple of days, and so
44:08
Speaker 3: it is a difficult bounce back to me. But I
44:11
Speaker 3: do believe that I am correct, and I feel that
44:13
Speaker 3: the steps that we have seen from Clutch Sports and
44:15
Speaker 3: Lebron James have proved that my spidy senses have been
44:19
Speaker 3: on point.
44:20
Speaker 6: I wait to talk to mar Vidin about it.
44:21
Speaker 3: Well, I'm sure he's going to be the judge, because
44:23
Speaker 3: when Monty and I get together, everyone sides with me,
44:26
Speaker 3: or that that never happens again. When we send out
44:30
Speaker 3: a pre show tweet, can't wait to listen Moncey, it's
44:34
Speaker 3: Friy love Moncey.
44:37
Speaker 6: Yeah.
44:38
Speaker 3: Hey, I don't need to be first, trust me. I
44:42
Speaker 3: just want to be recognized. I feel like I'm ignored
44:45
Speaker 3: by these people except the one who said the not
44:48
Speaker 3: at all.
44:48
Speaker 6: Can't do this without you?
44:49
Speaker 5: Dave mcminnimon did tweet sixteen minutes ago who Covers the
44:53
Speaker 5: Lakers that after examining ten potential spots for Lebron on
44:56
Speaker 5: a whiteboard on his podcast Friday, Rich Paul told ESPN
44:59
Speaker 5: that twenty seven teams have inquired.
45:01
Speaker 6: Every day things change. This is the first time that
45:04
Speaker 6: Lebron James is making a decision pressure free.
45:07
Speaker 3: Oh jeez, twenty seven teams. Well, the Lakers would be
45:11
Speaker 3: twenty eight because he told them he's not going back
45:13
Speaker 3: to them. So the two other teams would be probably
45:18
Speaker 3: the Bucks because there and who else.
45:21
Speaker 5: Does this not tell you that the plan was not
45:24
Speaker 5: to be a Laker and they're figuring it out as
45:26
Speaker 5: they go.
45:27
Speaker 3: I think your theory is so whack that it just
45:31
Speaker 3: it doesn't make sense if you followed Lebron throughout his career.
45:36
Speaker 3: Lebron has never played second fiddle to anybody, right, Yes,
45:40
Speaker 3: so he's gonna do it. So he's gonna do it
45:42
Speaker 3: with Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves.
45:44
Speaker 5: I I mean, I would hope he realizes that he
45:47
Speaker 5: doesn't have a peppen his step the way a guy
45:50
Speaker 5: that's ten years old.
45:51
Speaker 3: He can be the hero that comes back home to Cleveland,
45:54
Speaker 3: or the guy who was gonna bring the Knicks their
45:56
Speaker 3: first NBA championship in fifty four years if they didn't
45:59
Speaker 3: win it this year.
46:00
Speaker 5: We all know Lebron is not the number one on
46:02
Speaker 5: any team anymore, Like that was never going to be
46:05
Speaker 5: any team.
46:06
Speaker 6: You're not. Lebron's not the number one on any team anymore.
46:08
Speaker 3: All Right, Mark Madeena's going to have the last word
46:10
Speaker 3: on this, which I'm sure he will side with you.
46:12
Speaker 3: I am. I am given, and it has nothing to
46:15
Speaker 3: do with Mark Medina's journalistic integrity, but it's just how
46:18
Speaker 3: the way things go with me.
46:24
Speaker 6: You're wow.
46:24
Speaker 3: That didn't mean to be an awkward pause. I was
46:26
Speaker 3: just trying to figure out a way to transition to
46:27
Speaker 3: Caitlyn Clark. Let's just hear it from hers since the
46:29
Speaker 3: first time she talked in a while.
46:31
Speaker 11: I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions, and
46:32
Speaker 11: obviously I haven't been available for like a week or so,
46:34
Speaker 11: so the league just got to do better protecting our
46:37
Speaker 11: players in that regard. I don't really think that it
46:40
Speaker 11: was up for debate. Obviously, it wasn't called in real time.
46:43
Speaker 11: To go back and watch the clip, I think it's
46:44
Speaker 11: pretty straightforward. It's kind of been a discussion for like
46:48
Speaker 11: three years now, and I think we really need to
46:49
Speaker 11: do a better job protecting the people in this league.
46:52
Speaker 11: It frustrates me that it takes away so much from
46:55
Speaker 11: the product that's being put on the floor. And we've
46:58
Speaker 11: done so much to grow the game over the course
46:59
Speaker 11: of the last three years, and it's just like we
47:01
Speaker 11: keep kicking ourselves, kicking ourselves when we're down, and that's
47:04
Speaker 11: that's that stinks. Like we've done so much work. This
47:06
Speaker 11: is the thirtieth year of the WNBA. We're in a
47:08
Speaker 11: great spot. You know, the talent level is as high
47:11
Speaker 11: as it's ever been. Viewership is as high as it's
47:14
Speaker 11: ever been. Every arena is selling out. That's not just
47:16
Speaker 11: for us, that's for teams across the league. And we can't,
47:21
Speaker 11: you know, just beat on each other, beat on each
47:22
Speaker 11: other and put each other down. And you know, we
47:25
Speaker 11: just have to continue to fid and find ways to
47:27
Speaker 11: uplift and then everybody just get better. At the same time,
47:30
Speaker 11: Like I said my points about the refs in the
47:32
Speaker 11: league overall, like we have to improve, like league office,
47:34
Speaker 11: you got to do better, have to find ways to
47:36
Speaker 11: do better.
47:39
Speaker 3: You have a look at in your face. I'm just
47:40
Speaker 3: going to say, you can't say everybody needs to do
47:42
Speaker 3: better and then specifically say league office needs to do better.
47:46
Speaker 3: They named the league about three times, and I just
47:48
Speaker 3: don't think it's a league problem. I think I'm getting
47:53
Speaker 3: so tired of talking about this because it's the same
47:55
Speaker 3: argument over and over. I'm not saying that the league
47:58
Speaker 3: has got it right. They don't at some point, like
48:04
Speaker 3: the players also have to take some sort of change.
48:08
Speaker 3: And Caitlin Clark saying it's a league problem is also
48:12
Speaker 3: saying that this isn't in Alyssa Thomas or any other
48:16
Speaker 3: WNBA player problem. And I think that everybody bears responsibility,
48:21
Speaker 3: including Caitlin Clark in a little bit of this, and
48:23
Speaker 3: I know people are shocked to hear that, but like
48:26
Speaker 3: everybody's got to be better.
48:27
Speaker 5: I'm with you, I'm so tired of this and my
48:30
Speaker 5: look is just kind of like I I'm really disappointed
48:38
Speaker 5: in the entire WNBA in the last couple of years.
48:42
Speaker 5: And I feel like what you're saying is like even
48:44
Speaker 5: though the office, the league, whatever, the officials, whoever's running
48:48
Speaker 5: at they are one hundred percent I think deserve most
48:52
Speaker 5: of the blame in the pie chart, if I'm being
48:54
Speaker 5: completely honest, But I agree that it also goes to
48:56
Speaker 5: the players. And I think the big difference here that
48:58
Speaker 5: I see with the WA or the NBA or other
49:02
Speaker 5: like baseball whatever is I feel like the players at
49:05
Speaker 5: least respect the sport, and it seems like the WNBA players.
49:08
Speaker 6: Don't respect the game.
49:10
Speaker 5: That's that's where I'm at now, because it seems like
49:14
Speaker 5: all of the WNBA is holding onto grudges, and listen,
49:18
Speaker 5: I hold on to grudges.
49:19
Speaker 6: I'm petty. Women, we are petty. I feel like with.
49:22
Speaker 5: Dudes, it's like if you piss each other off, you
49:25
Speaker 5: guys are gonna fight. But once that fight's over, you're
49:27
Speaker 5: moving on. You're moving on to the next thing, and
49:29
Speaker 5: you're gonna play the game because you respect the game.
49:31
Speaker 5: Like very often, very often in the WNBA, I feel
49:34
Speaker 5: like moments so it's like you're not respecting the game.
49:36
Speaker 5: You just want to go attack of chick because you're mad,
49:39
Speaker 5: Like you're not playing basketball as a Thomas. That's not
49:42
Speaker 5: a basketball play. You don't respect the game. And that's
49:45
Speaker 5: that's where I'm at now. Like the WNBA players very
49:47
Speaker 5: few of them seem to respect the game and now
49:49
Speaker 5: the product, Like, I just don't even know why you
49:51
Speaker 5: would watch the WNBA honestly, because it's not basketball. You're
49:55
Speaker 5: watching it for the wrong reasons. Gossip, drama, cat fights.
50:00
Speaker 5: What is Sylvie Cunningham gonna do? Because she's funny like
50:02
Speaker 5: it's it's just y'all don't respect the game. And I
50:05
Speaker 5: think that's where I'm at.
50:06
Speaker 3: I think that there's I think that the cop out
50:09
Speaker 3: is what she's saying, and that the league has to
50:11
Speaker 3: do better. You Dan, right, Well, yeah, but it's just
50:17
Speaker 3: such a broad statement because such a such a it's
50:20
Speaker 3: such a broad statement, like if we need to say,
50:23
Speaker 3: like you know, and I think she said more, did
50:25
Speaker 3: she say more about the officials in in what they need?
50:28
Speaker 3: Do we have that cut, Jason, I'm not sure if
50:31
Speaker 3: we've got that, but she did say that, you know,
50:34
Speaker 3: they need full time officials. Here's more of Caitlin Clark.
50:39
Speaker 11: I think a lot of people sometimes think I'm a robot.
50:41
Speaker 11: I'm not a robot. I have emotions, I have feelings,
50:45
Speaker 11: and it can be really difficult to go through a
50:47
Speaker 11: lot of that. And you know, I'm twenty four years old.
50:50
Speaker 11: Trying to navigate a lot, and I think at times,
50:52
Speaker 11: I you know, I've I've been in this world for
50:55
Speaker 11: four years now, and you've never change any of it.
50:57
Speaker 11: But there are times that it is hard, and there
50:58
Speaker 11: are times that you know, it probably affects me a
51:00
Speaker 11: little bit more than I do put on and you know,
51:02
Speaker 11: I would never change any of that for the world,
51:04
Speaker 11: but I think it's important that people do remember that
51:07
Speaker 11: part of it too. Even I turned the TV on
51:09
Speaker 11: on Sunday and that game was on Wednesday, and that's
51:13
Speaker 11: all people are still talking about. And I feel like
51:15
Speaker 11: that's just a real disservice to our league.
51:18
Speaker 2: Like it, and I get it.
51:19
Speaker 11: You talk about it, you talk about whether it's flavoring,
51:21
Speaker 11: you talk about whatever it is. But to continue to
51:24
Speaker 11: be down, be down, and then for the narrative to
51:25
Speaker 11: be taken other places that is really just not accept
51:28
Speaker 11: It's just really not acceptable. I think it's just it's
51:31
Speaker 11: hard to see, you know, and it's a disservice to
51:35
Speaker 11: my team, but it's also a disservice to the other
51:37
Speaker 11: teams in this league and other players in this league.
51:40
Speaker 3: I think that says a lot. And that's the point
51:43
Speaker 3: that I'm saying, is what was the league going to
51:47
Speaker 3: do to stop Alyssa Thomas from using a closed fist
51:51
Speaker 3: in that scenario.
51:52
Speaker 5: To me, that comment has to do with what's been
51:55
Speaker 5: going on the last couple of years, like the league
51:57
Speaker 5: has allowed it to keep progress scene and keep pushing,
52:01
Speaker 5: which is something you said, you know, in our pre
52:03
Speaker 5: show where it's like, well you no one's.
52:05
Speaker 6: Going to eye for an eye. You said that you're
52:06
Speaker 6: gonna push the next level. Yeah, and that's what's happening.
52:09
Speaker 5: And I think that's why she's putting it on the
52:11
Speaker 5: league officials because it's like you have continued to allow
52:15
Speaker 5: this to happen from from day one of this, and
52:19
Speaker 5: the League, in my opinion, hasn't done a lot to
52:21
Speaker 5: come in and help the situation. And Kaitlyn Clark, I
52:24
Speaker 5: would hate to be her because I don't think she
52:27
Speaker 5: can say anything right. Whatever she says, some people are
52:30
Speaker 5: gonna hate it, some people are gonna love it. She's
52:32
Speaker 5: in such a tough position, and like we want to
52:34
Speaker 5: talk about hatred and people being absolutely awful. I'm sure
52:39
Speaker 5: Alyssa Thomas got a lot of hate. I'm sure she has,
52:42
Speaker 5: and that sucks. Nobody should ever have to experience that.
52:44
Speaker 5: Caitlyn Clark's been getting.
52:45
Speaker 6: That for years. I bet you she's still getting it.
52:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's the same thing over and over again.
52:53
Speaker 3: And I think your point is, if it's the same
52:55
Speaker 3: thing over and over again, shouldn't the league step in
52:57
Speaker 3: and do something? But I think that this is bier
53:00
Speaker 3: than the league. I think that her point is like,
53:03
Speaker 3: if people like us are still talking about it four
53:05
Speaker 3: days after the fact, it's because it's run like wildfire,
53:09
Speaker 3: and we'll put it just look at Fox Sports Radio,
53:12
Speaker 3: look at Fox Sports Radio's Instagram page, look at the
53:14
Speaker 3: views on the Caitlin Clark stories and the non Caitlin
53:17
Speaker 3: Clark stories, and it just ends up going back to
53:20
Speaker 3: the same thing every single time. So when I say,
53:23
Speaker 3: like the league, when I am critical of Caitlin Clark
53:27
Speaker 3: saying the league has to get better, I don't know
53:29
Speaker 3: what the league could do. Like if they call the
53:32
Speaker 3: foul and ejected Alyssa Thomas in that game, at that point,
53:36
Speaker 3: the same discourse is happening because somebody put a fist
53:41
Speaker 3: to her throat. They're not saying good job and ejecting her.
53:44
Speaker 3: I think that added on to it. But I think
53:47
Speaker 3: the same visual image and the same replay would have
53:50
Speaker 3: gone on to the two polarizing sides that always seem
53:53
Speaker 3: to this ends up coming to three and four days
53:56
Speaker 3: after the fact, and it's why you and I are
53:58
Speaker 3: sick of it, because that's just where it ends up going.
54:02
Speaker 3: One side feels they're right, the other side feels their right,
54:05
Speaker 3: and the matter at hand doesn't even matter anymore. So
54:09
Speaker 3: if they would have teed up Alssa Thomas, if they
54:11
Speaker 3: would have ejected Alyssa Thomas, yeah we could have said
54:14
Speaker 3: that the league was doing better, but it wouldn't stop
54:16
Speaker 3: this side from saying what they're saying about the closed fist,
54:19
Speaker 3: and it wouldn't stop that side from saying what they
54:21
Speaker 3: were saying about Alysa Thomas. And that's like to the
54:24
Speaker 3: point that we're at and I don't know how to
54:26
Speaker 3: change that.
54:27
Speaker 6: I was just going to say, so there's nothing that
54:28
Speaker 6: can be done correct, Like, we're just stuck here.
54:31
Speaker 3: I have a feeling we are for who knows how long,
54:34
Speaker 3: you know why, because.
54:35
Speaker 6: When the players don't respect the game, well.
54:36
Speaker 3: Because she didn't play last year and we weren't having
54:40
Speaker 3: these discussions, we just didn't pay any mind.
54:42
Speaker 6: To it, right, We just exactly. We weren't even paying attention.
54:44
Speaker 3: To it, right, so now it kind of and that's
54:47
Speaker 3: the issue. I think that the league does have issues,
54:50
Speaker 3: and officiating has been one for a couple of years.
54:53
Speaker 3: But I just don't know when you're saying this is
54:55
Speaker 3: like the league needs to get better. If that's her
54:58
Speaker 3: coded language of saying the players as well, then I'm
55:02
Speaker 3: then I'm down with it. But I think ultimately, no
55:04
Speaker 3: matter what happens, we are just to the point that
55:08
Speaker 3: when when dramatics happen, it's going to somehow filter into
55:12
Speaker 3: those two polar opposites.
55:14
Speaker 5: I hear what you're saying, Yeah, about the about the
55:16
Speaker 5: league and what they're doing.
55:17
Speaker 6: You're right, You're right about that.
55:18
Speaker 5: I just I think what she's saying is like this
55:20
Speaker 5: has continued on because of you. But if I go
55:23
Speaker 5: back to the point of the players themselves aren't respecting
55:26
Speaker 5: the game, then nothing's going to change.
55:28
Speaker 4: Like when they have to change.
55:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think that's a really good point.
55:31
Speaker 3: And when Stephanie White says what she has to say
55:35
Speaker 3: and saying like it needs to be called, that the
55:37
Speaker 3: foul needs to be called at the time, she's also
55:39
Speaker 3: talking about a head coach that would want to listen
55:41
Speaker 3: Thomas out of the game, or would want free throws
55:43
Speaker 3: like a delayed flagrant foul does them no good. The
55:46
Speaker 3: game's over, right, so I think her message as a
55:49
Speaker 3: coach is saying that. But ultimately the two sides will
55:53
Speaker 3: take Stephanie White's comments and use it to their at
55:56
Speaker 3: their advantage, even if it was had nothing to do
55:59
Speaker 3: with what she was talking about. Bob