 But it feels to me like he's going through some, a bit of a mid-career, not mid-life, but a mid-career crisis. I don't think he ever stood a chance. Number one, the superstar LeBron never bought in. James Harden, Yannis, Paul George, who you got for MVP right now. I'm gonna go with James. Chris Broussard here, and welcome to the brand new Hoops on Fox podcast. This podcast will give you your daily dose of all things NBA from Fox Sports, including the best content from Skip and Shannon, Nick Wright, plus special guest, fresh NBA content from myself, post-game interviews from NBA stars around the league, and much, much more. Up first, Chris Broussard sits down with Colin Coward to explain who is the blame in Lakerland. Chris Broussard, all right, I talked about 20 minutes ago about the blame pie. When things go bad, everybody's gonna blame people. If we sliced it up, Magic Polinka, injury, you know, clutch sports, Luke Walton, if I ask you, where does the majority of the blame go for this Laker mess? How do you answer that, Chris? Well, I thought the pie was good. You had a lot of specifics, but I would focus on two main things. One, LeBron's injury, and to a lesser extent, the other injuries. Rondo missed 34 games. Lando's been out for 17 or 18 games. The injuries have crushed them. People forget they were the fourth seed in the West before LeBron got hurt. And even with the horrible coach, Luke Walton, right, they were tithing the league defensively. So let's remember that a sign of a good coach is a coach that has his team playing defense. So there's that. The second thing I would focus on was the Anthony Davis trade fiasco. And that does fall mostly at the feet of Magic and Rob Polinka. You can throw in clutch sports for a little bit. You can throw in LeBron for a little bit because he never should have been talking publicly about Anthony Davis. When he's asked about it, just, hey, no comment. I'm not talking about other players. Don't go in and interview with Rachel Nichols and talk about how much you're gonna recruit guys because that makes your other players in your locker room feel like, wow, he doesn't think we're good enough. So there's that. But the front office should not have let the Anthony Davis saga become what it did. They had to get out in front of it and say, look, I don't know where these trade rumors are coming from, but we like our team. We like our young guys. We feel like they're growing. They're getting better. We were just the fourth seed before LeBron got hurt. And of course, like every other team, we're trying to improve, but we like Kyle. We like Brandon. We feel like we can go to war with these guys. I don't care if you're lying. You might be lying through your teeth, but magic came out, basically confirmed everything. And then after it says, hey, you gotta be big boys about it. Yeah, of course you do, but still, they're human beings too. So the front office needs to get out in front of it. And Colin, you can look at, that is huge because defensively is where they've fallen off since the trade rumors. You look at Brandon Ingram's offense. You look at Kyle Kuzma's offense. And we say, hey, the young guys are still playing well. Of course, offensively, you always wanna play well on offense. Everybody wants to score and put up numbers. But where you see the lack of morale, where you see the lack of chemistry, where you see the lack of trust among teammates is on the defensive end. In the first part of the season, they were willing to cover up for LeBron. They understood he was older. He's carrying the offense. You're gonna have to carry him on defense and cover for him. Once the AD trade saga happened, they're no longer willing to cover for LeBron defensively. And that's why they've sunk the way they have. There's a story this morning that LeBron would sit out games, last 15, 18 games. I don't think it looks great. He hasn't squashed an aunt yet in Los Angeles. What do you make of that story? I'm with you. I think that, look, if they, when they're eliminated mathematically, which believe it or not, it'll be a while from now, then you can sit him if you want. It might be six, seven, eight games left in the season, whatever. But until then, no way. Look, I don't think they're gonna make the playoffs. I think they're done. But it's not over. I mean, you still have the best player in the world or one of the top players in the world. Go for it. Here's another thing, Collin. We all think this team's gonna look a lot different next year. And obviously a lot of the one year veterans, they'll be gone. But what if you can't trade for Anthony Davis this summer? That would mean likely that Kuzma and Ingram are still a part of your team going forward. Maybe they try to trade one of them for a Bradley bill or something like that. But the bottom line is these two guys, plus Lanzo could be a part of your team next year. So for the future, they need these games. These are their playoffs. You're not out of it. You need to go and talk about, look, they need to learn what playoff pressure-filled basketball is about. And they can get that if LeBron's still playing. If he sits, then you're just coasting through the rest of the season and everybody's going for their individual numbers. And to your point, you're right. LeBron has had some bad optical moments this season. Sitting apart from the teammates in Indiana on the bench, you know, all the stuff he's got going on in Hollywood, the TV shows, the albums with two chains. And a lot of fans, Laker fans, are thinking, starting to think, did he come here to play basketball or just to be a mogul? A lot of fans are also looking at Kobe and they're saying, Kobe brought it every night. I'm telling you, Kobe's image is actually improved with LeBron here. Because people are comparing him to LeBron and saying, Kobe brought it. We didn't have to worry about Kobe's intensity. And all that from night to night, even if he missed shots or whatever, he brought it. And so this would just be another bad optic for LeBron if he sits out. Three minutes left. I have three, four different executives, sources, people in the league saying, Luke's done, Ty Lue is next. Can you confirm, deny what are you hearing? I'm hearing the same thing and I'm hearing that Ty Lue is gonna want big money to put up with LeBron and magic. And he's smart because look, those are two powerful guys. Those are two guys that are gonna speak their minds. So you better get some security. Ty Lue knows, even though he and LeBron have a great relationship, it's tough to coach LeBron. And so he wants to be compensated very well. And I think he will, Doc Rivers, I don't think Doc will leave the Clippers. He shouldn't if he's gonna get Kawhi and who knows who else they might get, a KD or somebody like that. So I think Ty Lue is definitely what I'm hearing and I'm hearing he's gonna want big money and it looks like the Lakers will pony it up. All right, you got a radio show to do later with Rob Parker, you're doing a great job. First things first, Chris Broussard in New York, good seeing you, bud. Chris Broussard joins Nick and Cece to explain why it's time for the Lakers to fire Luke Walton. I'm glad he got the full year. I know, so I think you even thought Nick that he should get fired at the All-Star break. I didn't think that would have been fair. I think he should have got one full season. I also think Luke is a good young coach and I don't think there will be any problem with him getting another NBA job in the future and he'll get NCAA offers too, I believe. So I think he's got a bright future. That said, I don't think he ever had a chance this year. I don't think he ever stood a chance. Number one, the superstar LeBron never bought in. Yeah, I mean, it was how long before LeBron, once he signed before he even acknowledged Luke before they had a conversation or anything like that, when your superstar doesn't buy in, it's tough. All right, number two, the front office, Magic Johnson and Rob Polinke, you weren't their guy. So they didn't have your back. LeBron didn't buy an air exposure initially. And when they went to the stars with the Pat Riley, it was like, look, if you're gonna win, it's gonna be with this guy. If they had a conversation about Luke and Magic and Robert like, look, he's gonna be here the rest of your contract. Then you just have to get in line and try to win with him. But he's not their guy. Typically front offices want their own guy. Yes. So that was a strike against him as well. Third, the roster construction. We've talked about it. No shooters. You brought in LeBron James and no shooters. So he had a tough roster to deal with. And four, the injuries. Like, you can talk about it. I know, Nick, you've been critical of Luke's rotation, which has had its ups and downs. But that's hard when LeBron misses 18, Rondo misses 34, you know, Ingram misses 11, Lanzo misses 17. And on top of that, you know this, you really don't need, when you got 11 guys and maybe nine of them are at the same level and deserve minutes, that's tough. You know, you really want eight or nine that are above the other four or five on your roster so you can easily set your rotation. So that's been a challenge for him. So look, I'll throw this out finally as a sign where I think he's a good coach. I believe defense, when a team is good defensively, that's a big sign of a good coach because everybody wants to play offense. But defensively is when you gotta get guys, you have to teach them technique, they have to understand rotations and they have to buy in and hustle. The Lakers were 10th in the league defensively before LeBron got hurt. They were seventh during the eight, 17 games he was out. And then they went to 28th when LeBron came back. It all fell apart. They are third worst, second worst or worst in every defensive metric since Lanzo's injury. Since, so that was, and that was right before LeBron came back. Yeah, and I don't want to, people are making Lanzo out to be Dennis Rodgers. No, he's not. I'm gonna say not that, but he is a good, solid defender. But I think just that LeBron coming back and not hustling on defense all the time and the Anthony Davis traits. All of it. That just sapped the guys so defensively they didn't have it. Every point you makes a fair one, this would be a difficult job for any coach. The level of injuries, the Lakers have been dealt with as much injuries as any team in basketball and it's from their star player to their second best player. Every one of their four best players has either missed time, significant time with injury or suspension this season. So that's real. I think the front office did an abysmal job of all the places we're gonna lay blame, the one that was the most obvious from the beginning and the one that was the most glaring up to it including last night. David Griffin said on the broadcast, last night must win game at halftime. LeBron with 15 potential assists, three converted. You know why? Cause clang, clang, clang, it was open threes missed. So, and of course the Anthony Davis stuff and LeBron has not been a good leader as the best player on the team. It didn't, it's not just that he didn't buy into the coach. He didn't put his arm around the young players the way they needed him to. Maybe he thought they needed the whip rather than the sugar cube. But these guys that would appear at least earlier on needed the sugar cube more than the whip. So all that's fair. But what's also fair is this. Luke Walton has not done a single thing this year that I'm like, oh, that's a high level NBA coach. He's won 40% of the games in his career last night in a must win game in back to back timeouts. You know what he drew up? Javeil McGee post-ups. Back to back timeouts. Critical game. One was a running hook shot. The other he tried to dirk one leg and fade away. Spoiler alert, zero points on those two possessions. In the game against Milwaukee and Luke took accountability for this. They call timeout when the Bucks have stormed back taking the three point lead. Contavious Caldwell Pope can't get the ball inbounds. Why is Contavious Caldwell Pope even on the court? He's been towards the last five minutes. They're running rotations out there before Ingram got hurt. Where you have LeBron and Ingram on the bench and the offense goes to die. You said he's gonna get an NBA job. Maybe he's an assistant. I wouldn't know. He'll definitely get an NBA job. I'm not saying as a day after he's fired he has got a lot of people think he's a good coach in the league. He'll definitely get a job, no question. I think his next job's the head coach at Arizona Wildcats, but go ahead. Yeah, and I don't know if he'll want to go to college but yeah, he could get off of that. Well, the Lakers have many problems and it starts from the top. When you have Jenny Buss, her guy is Luke Walton and Magic Johnson, Rob Lincoln. They haven't been able to hire their coach. So there's always a feeling that as far as a general manager front office they want to have their guy and their Luke was never their guy. And I believe it's big when you have LeBron James not buy in. So where do you go to LA for? Did he go there for Magic? Did he go there to make movies? Because he should have bought in the first year on the coach because you own the shot clock LeBron. Like you can't forget how old you are. You can't forget, you can't just give away a year. In Miami, he didn't have to buy in the Sprows. Man, he was early in his career. Man, it was a lot of things going to happen. But the only thing that saved Miami was the owner and Pat Riley because they would not go behind the coach's back and listen to LeBron and his complainants. Next, LeBron and the Lakers talk about their loss to the Clippers and Luke Walton explains the magnitude of LeBron passing MJ on the all-time scoring list. So, not only for the ball club but for the individual himself. Not much work was put into, you know, taking care of his body and just trying to be available to his teammates and seeing him road his ankle on a non-contact play was definitely tough. Every road ain't cold, but, you know, I don't want to, I'm still on the play, so we'll figure it out. Just haven't been a part of the season with this ton of injuries to all our key guys, to, you know, big, big key guys, you know, and it's just the way the season has been. And I mean, we've had guys step up, you know, Josh stepped up in his absence and it was great to see Josh play well again. We got to be the best team we can be, you know, we want to make the playoffs. And that's a goal, you know, we don't need motivation. You know, if you're not motivated, you know, we are backs against the wall. Everyone's counting us out. We're probably the most criticize from the NBA. If that doesn't motivate you, that doesn't get you up in the morning. Get you ready to go out there and compete. Nothing will. We shouldn't even, everyone's been talking about the pole season. We need to worry about each and every game and how we can continue to get better with our process and get better with our team. So, you know, obviously, you know, at the end of the year, you know, the chips will fall where they may. Give us a little bit of credit. I think we contested a couple more shots, but at the end of the day, we didn't get stopped in the fourth quarter when it mattered the most. I think due to the lack of communication, it wasn't there in a couple of possessions, you know, they rolled down the lane for a dunk, a couple wide open three. So it's a good team, you know, giving them credit, they play well, they move well without the ball, they pass, play with each other. So, I don't want to take it right away from those guys, but we came up short again today. I remember we got the one of the best teams in the league coming in our building, you know, and dealing with ourselves. I have to mention, if it's a league, bring myself. The accomplishment itself would be incredible. I mean, it's just to even have the possibility of doing that speaks to who he's been and who he's been for a long, long time. I mean, we came into the league the same year and now I'm coaching, you know, and he's still, he's still doing it at that high of a level. I hope he passes it because selfishly, that gives us a really good chance of winning the game. So, it's an incredible accomplishment, even to be where he's at to do the things he's done. But selfishly, I'm just hoping he gets there so our team gets a win tonight. Now, two chains join Skip and Shane to give his 2019 NBA MVP. James Harden, Giannis, Paul George, who you got for MVP, right now. I'm gonna go with James. I like Giannis too, but I gotta give, people ain't giving Coach Budd no credit. Coach Budd, I think. I mean, Giannis is already like on the ride, but I think when Coach Budd got in there and kinda like, I don't know what he did as far as team chemistry and put people in position to win, but he's always been a great coach since before he got to the Hawks. So that's, I'm not taking away credit from Giannis. I'm just giving credit to Coach Budd. Now, as far as James Harden, I don't know nobody that can stop him, period. Like, he just, I don't know. And he makes it look so effortless that it's just crazy. He steps back four feet, shoots from, right in front of the half court. It's just like, so I like what he's doing. I like his energy. I like Houston too. Do you? Yeah. Threat to Golden State? Yeah, no doubt about it. Yeah. They shoot as much. Mm-hmm. Little by the three, that by it. Mm-hmm. Would you pick them to win the West? I think it's hard, you know, Golden State, we know what they do every year. It's hard. They got, now they got the markets. But then, you know, I've seen, I know Draymond, you know, he's been lagging a little bit, but I feel like when it comes time to play off, we know what Draymond ranks at the table. He the nucleus of that. So I'm interested in seeing this. I want to see this personally. Chris Paul looks very healthy and that's what I want to see. East is like, you know, I'm looking at like the Bucks or not the Cells or... Toronto? Uh-uh. Billy? Uh-uh. He said, uh-uh. You don't like Toronto? He said, uh-uh-uh. I know they just, I know, I know what... What you ain't got before, team? You got Philly, Toronto, Celtics. Who you... Milwaukee. Yeah, and I like, out of those four, of those four I like Milwaukee and I'm not gonna count and beat out. I trust the process. Yeah. No, I hear you. It sounds like you miss Coach Budd in Atlanta, right? I ain't gonna say that because we got another good coach in. But I just, I don't know if people notice how good like Milwaukee look right now. They've had. They've had the same team for the most part. I noticed you ain't mentioned the Celtics. Mm-mm, y'all done made Kyrie mad up there. What do you mean y'all? Y'all better stop asking them crazy questions and folk messing with Kyrie, man. Y'all can't do that, man. It's still like one of the best point, if not in the whole world. Point guards, man. This is Kyrie, man. Y'all stop playing. They want to know why that you got to the Eastern Conference Finals or Game 7 minus you. They play so much better without you. They play so much better without you. What's going on with you? Y'all won't leave them alone. When we ever left superstars alone. We y'all need to start. Every superstar. Now you gotta think now, we didn't hear from, we never heard Kyrie even talk until Brian went back to Cleveland. You gotta think. I almost remember the first time he said something. Like it was like, I didn't even know how his voice sounded. You know, this is fairly new for Kyrie. Like to be getting asked these questions. He wanted this though. He wanted his own team change. Yeah, everybody wants their own team, but it's the scrutiny that comes along with it. What do you thought? Are you going to be pitching to Kyrie? Yeah, well. Without what LeBron do? And then you can't put them in the trade. Talks are the same thing with the young boys. Now you can't be talking about, you can't be bringing up his name and he dropped everything he was doing and came up there. You know, Dan Ainge, he called. We know what Dan Ainge. Dan Ainge called, man. Dan Ainge called, man. We saw he did, did, did, did. Isaiah. Come on, man. He's called, man. Well, he was about to get, well, Kyrie about to show him he needed a jacket. So Kyrie about to be cold. But you talking about. Kyrie about to be cold. Yeah, I see the same thing. You have to be careful, man. I'm playing, and then, you know, players are starting to like mature and start to realize they're a worm too. There's plenty more teams we can go to. And then look, all the basketball players, we all got Instagram and each other's phone number. We, man, say, let's go over here and play. Like, let's do what we want to do. So do you, just your educated guess, gut feeling. Kyrie, KD, do they team up and go somewhere else? I think, I think Kyrie's leaving. KD can kind of do what he wants to do, man. I like where he is in his career, you know. If they match up, that'd be cool too. They should come to the Lakers. Ah-ha, ah-ha. Now that's a novel idea, isn't it? That ain't none of my business. I think they should come to the Lakers. I mean, Kyrie called him and apologized. I mean, why don't we just fix, let's finish what we started, man. What you think? They won't even be fair. Oh, Shannon, what you think, Shannon? I'm scared, I'm about to miss a couple. That's what Showtime is about now. Is that championship? Is that? We might win 80 games with Kyrie, LeBron, and KD. Mm-hmm. Come on, Skip. LeBron's a third wheel. Don't do that for me. You see, I ain't trying to sort this out. You see what he's trying to do with Chase? Yeah, I don't know what LeBron did to him. What? LeBron didn't do his out. Wait, wait, wait a second. LeBron didn't listen to his out. Yeah, do anything to me. He'd be in his 17th year. I can't tell. He wouldn't need that. 27, 8, 8. What happens is he gets to rest some night and still after several goals. I just feel like he can take, he can almost take the point guard position. He would play point guard. And then Kyrie played the 2, and KD. Oh, man. Okay, so what, LeBron average 22, 14, and 6. So think what you'd have. The best player on the planet, KD. You'd have. You'd have Chase. Wait, wait, wait a second. Then you'd have the best closer on the planet in Kyrie. Okay, what's LeBron? And then you'd have LeBron. Wow. Chase, Chase, you hear that, Chase? I'll be drinking like y'all don't know. I'll be drinking that. You never know around here. Huh? Oh, hopefully we had more time for that one. He got a real earner this morning, Chase, that's what it is. Every single thing. You know what? If you took KD away from Golden State and bring him to LA, now you've damaged them and you've got, whoof. He's not the only person in Golden State I feel like a lead. Ooh, really? Huh? Oh, Claude. Claude needs his own, I think, you know. Okay, we're gonna leave it on that note. You never know, to Chase, thank you. Lee, Clay Lee. So much. Come to the Lakers, Clay. Oh, Clay to the Lakers. Clay to the Lakers, save this footage. Clay to the Lakers. Okay, we're gonna cut it and save it. Good luck in the new album. Appreciate your time. Following, making CC detail how the Celtics and Kyrie Irving have hit a new low. See, we've talked on this show a lot about what Kyrie must be going through or how much of it should be placed on Kyrie Irving as the supposed leader and star of the team. What do you make of what's going on with Kyrie Irving? Well, Kyrie Irving got what he asked. He said he wanted his own team. All right, he said, oh man, I got traded. Well, you demanded me trade. Like, this is all part of doing business. Now, I just don't know where you can make contract wise, $20 to $30 million, shoe deal, $10 to $20 million and not be criticized. There are no jobs out there that you can make that kind of money and not be criticized. Now, are the guys in the league, are athletes now? Are they ready for the type of era that we're in? Obviously not, but why would he be caring what people are saying about KD? Why would he be caring about what people are saying about LeBron? Like me and what's going on in my personal life in the Celtics, that should be the only thing Kyrie should be thinking about. So all these guys, they shred up and down. Man, you know, I ain't listening to that stuff, but it's obviously they listening, they watching and it's affecting them in a negative way. Now, I heard what Adam Silver said and just being from a clinical background standpoint, yes, we do have more young people taking medication, anxiety, other things more than any other error, any other span that we've ever been in. That's true. So we shouldn't think that our star players wouldn't struggle with some type of anxiety because they're not built for the criticism. This is the AAU generation where everyone has patted them on the back, all along the way, everything. So now people making viable critiques of their basketball. Oh, now they're getting all ruffled and everything. This is part of the NBA, bro. Athletes been getting criticized all along the way. Now athletes more now because there's more people covering the game. But also look at the kind of money you make it. Athletes have never been able to make the kind of money they're making. So now they wanna make all the money, but they don't want any criticism or scrutiny. It's not going to happen, all right? You have a tremendous skill that creates a tremendous amount of attention to the NBA. And you should be thankful for that. You should be thankful that there are people covering because you know the other sports, hockey, they don't get criticized that much. They don't get paid as much either, all right? Nobody makes the money the NBA superstar does. Nobody, I know there's, I understand what Bryce Harper just signed for. There's a couple guys in baseball, but there's a couple of quarterbacks, but nobody makes the money the NBA superstar makes. And they're the most visible. If for no other reason than the fewest people on the court, fans sit closer to the court. No helmets, all of it. Kyrie, Kyrie's in, it's in, a hard way to put it because he's 26 years old. But it feels to me like he's going through some, a bit of a mid-career, not midlife, but a mid-career crisis. Like, because he doesn't know what he wants. Because a couple of years ago, he courted all the attention in the world by going on a nine month tour and talking about the earth being flat. He followed that up with this summer. He starred in a major motion picture based on a character he played in a sneaker commercial. Uncle Drew's a movie. You don't do that if you're trying to be the guy who now says, man, I just wish we could, you know, just fall, he wanted the spotlight. And he said at one point in that interview, yeah, I wanted the fame when I was younger. Okay, but we're not talking about when you were 17. We're talking about nine months ago. And so I understand the toxicity of social media. And I understand that Adam Silver talked about it. Athletes have always been criticized by media, but now every fan can get to him. And it's hard to turn this off. I'm older than Kyrie, and I'm not that much older than Kyrie. We both came up with this. It is very hard. I asked you this morning about something unrelated about checking your mentions. And what'd I say? You don't do it. But you're a different generation than me and a different generation than Kyrie. It has nothing to do with the generation because there's some other things that your generation is doing that I am doing. I know it's not gonna be any good. It's not no separation from an age standpoint. I know it's not good for me. I think it's, the point I'm making is I think it is very difficult for people who came up in this era of social media, whatever it is, to disconnect from it. I think we saw it with Kevin Durant. We're seeing it with Kyrie. We've seen it not arguing with people in the mentions, but from LeBron. LeBron says, hey, we need the guys to shut off social media. Meanwhile, he's posting every day. But Kyrie doesn't know what will make him feel fulfilled. He said recently, basketball will never fulfill me. Did we not see that kid in the fifth grade? Ever since I was in the fifth grade, I was playing basketball. My brother was the best player in the state of Ohio. I've always had optics on me no matter what. When I was in the ninth grade, my brother was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. Everyone in my town said, don't worry, his brother is better than him. So from the ninth grade on, not only from a local spotlight, I was under the national spotlight. So I got criticized for everything that I did. So yeah, there might been some years that I might be separated from you, but I've been criticized since I was a kid. I've been under the microscope since I was a kid. So thinking the reason why I don't check my mentions, not because I'm 53, it's because I'm smart. It's because I know it's not going to help me. I know people's words. If you take them inside of you, they can't hurt you. That's why I watch what I say. That's why I don't say players are losers. I say there's no test that you can have. What I can say is guys are committed at all costs to winning, all right? That's a different thing. So thinking that just because people weren't born in a certain era and having common sense, I know it's not good for me. I tell Jen all the time, don't read that mess. Don't look into that mess. See, that is so, you are one of the very few people that can do that. Life is about disciplines. Life's about decisions, all right? So every decision that you decide to make, you have to realize that there is a repercussion from that. If you fall in love with that, when people say, oh, man, you look nice, man, get out of my face. I march to the beat of my own drum. I'm not going to listen to other people, because you know what? People don't know what I need. People don't know where I'm going. So why would I be going to them for advice? So being lost, this generation is lost and looking for the applaud of other people, trying to get clicks, trying to be a five star compared to working on being a star, working on being a good teammate, working on the skills that got you to that level. That's what we should be talking about because all this attention, that's what's generating you that money. That's what generated that character, Uncle Drew. So it was okay when people clapped for it. And the other part of it that you said at the beginning, which is totally true. You know a guy who doesn't get scrutinized a lot? Clay Thompson. He makes, by the way, doesn't have the same shoe deal with Kairi-ez, but he's on a max contract. He is cool chilling the way he is. Clay Thompson, we've never heard one time him say, you know what I want? I want to go have my own team and strike out all my own. Just like Clay, who grew up with his dad, Michael Thompson, big 10 star at university for the Gopher's NBA star, he's been under the spotlight. All right, so he has known how to carry himself. Kairi has always been on this track to be a star. And then once you get to the mountaintop, you know when people hike up Mount Everest, you know where most of the injuries happen? On the way down, after you relax, oh, I'm here now. They happen on the way down. They don't happen on your way of sending to try to get there. Kairi was okay when he was hitting that buzzer beater. I mean, hitting the big shot to meet Golden State. But now, how am I going to proceed as a superstar in this league? What's going to be my legacy? Oh, I care more about what people are saying. Like you can't criticize Kairi Irvin's basketball game. You have to go off the court. You have to do other things because he is a dynamic. He's the best dribbler of the basketball ever. He's one of the best finishers at the rim that we've ever seen. And then of course, all of this magnified with the way the Celtics are playing. And if they weren't playing as poorly as they are playing right now, I don't think the spotlight would be as bright on him. Of course, and some of it is he's shooting himself in the foot. Some of it is he didn't have to, before the season, say, I'm going to be here forever. And then a week ago say, man, ask me July 1st. I don't know anyone bleep. Like for a guy who doesn't want people talking about him, he gives us a lot of reason to talk about. And LeBron has grown. KD has grown. Let them fight their own battles. All right, you're a lightweight. Shut up and do your job. Finally, Steve and Jackson joined Skip and Shannon to discuss what went wrong for the Lakers this season. Hey, what was your takeaway from that game last night? Seasonal, everybody, they started, they went in the huddle before the game. One, two, three, Cancun. Oh, that's what they said? That's what it looked like. That's what they're thinking. That's what they're thinking. That's what it looked like. Okay. It looked like the seasonal already. I mean, I was telling him at the end of the game, you know, I'm always praising LeBron, but it's been a lot of me, me, me. For example, being the leader of the team, everybody know LeBron's a professional. Everybody know he's gonna finish the season the right way. He's gonna go down as one of the best ever. But at the end of the season, when you're dealing with a young team, regardless how you're gonna finish out, you have to speak as a group. So even if you know that you're gonna only can control what you, what you can control as yourself and you're gonna finish the right way, you still have to say as a team, we're gonna finish the right way. Regardless what they doing, you have to say that to lead these guys as a young team. I don't like how he's been me, me, me, but for what I do understand is, it's difficult being that great and having such a high basketball IQ and loving the game so much to give so much to the game and your team is not going with you. So I understand that about LeBron. We all know he gives his all. We all know that he wish he had a better team. But at the same time, he has to speak like to these young guys. Even if the season's over, being a professional is more than just worrying about yourself and being a leader. You have to bring your whole team into that. Skip, I knew it was gonna be a long night. You know how I knew that? Open until Patrick Beverly get to Paulie and go lead the ball up. I say it's gonna be a long night. Patrick Beverly. How you doing, Skip? That's called, I want this ball more than you do. He's a dog. I love Patrick Beverly. I love Patrick Beverly. So I knew that was happening. This was very disappointing. Although the first quarter turned out pretty well, right? Stack, you can see like LeBron, okay, they had Patrick Beverly on him. And a lot of times, they weren't able to swing the ball fast enough to get it to him in a position where he could score or he could beat the double team. So when the double team would come, he would pass out of it for a wide open shot and they miss and they miss. It's like a quarterback skip. I'm only gonna throw you the ball so many times that you keep dropping it that I'm gonna like, you know what, I need to find somebody else. But you said it, nobody should have to tell LeBron to go into Kobe mode. You know y'all need all these games to win a playoffs. You're supposed to be in Kobe mode automatically. There's no way he and Rondo should have the same amount of shot attempts. No, Rondo shouldn't have 10 free, three-pointer. I told Skip, they glad, they was like, oh, let him, hey, he see a couple of them go in? He think you still, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, bro, don't do that. But look, at the end of the day, the team has not put together well, but I'm gonna have, LeBron's gonna have to wear this one. This one fits, this is an extra large. This one fits LeBron here because I needed you to take 30 shot attempts and whether you are efficient, like he always, because LeBron likes to be efficient. He likes to play, look, I don't wanna take all these shots and shoot, you know, five or 25. James Harden said, I don't care what my shooting percentage is, as long as we win the game, I'm good. James Harden had 18 three-pointer attempts. LeBron James in a game that they absolutely had to have, took 18 total shots. James Harden took 18 threes. In one game? 18 on Sunday. He did. Wow. But that's the approach, he's like, I don't like doing this, I don't know if he don't like doing it, but I need to in order for us to win. LeBron, whatever it needs, because 27, eight and six, 27, I mean you had 27, 16 and nine, you had, that's not it. You gotta get to that 40. Those are roll out of bed numbers for LeBron James. Seriously, last night just tore me up watching LeBron. The league needs him in the post season. The networks need him in the post season. We need him in the post season. Everybody wants him to be in the post season. And even if they got swept by Golden State, we need LeBron James when it matters, when it starts to really count. And last night was the night, because it's the team you're chasing. It's your in-city rival. You want to keep them under thumb. You want to show like a nation. And they've been talking smack. We got this, talking smack. Six foot one inch Patrick Beverly is screaming in the post game locker room Sunday after they beat the Knicks. I want LeBron. I want LeBron. You know where he came from. Nowhere. He was undrafted. He spent six years overseas in Ukraine and Greece and Russia. And that guy screaming, I want him. That's the goat says LeShannon Sharp. That's the best player on the planet. I want him. And I had to sit and watch Saturday night, seven foot one inch DeAndre Ait and a rookie center guard LeBron the whole game at the top of the circle. Just standing flat footed. I got you, I got you. I'm saying LeBron, just blow by him. He can't guard you. Put him on a string. What would LeBron and his heyday have done to DeAndre Ait and it would be destruction. Line him up. Yeah, come on. Here we go. Straight to the back. You imagine, Skip, let me find out a journeyman DB. They won a ball game. Oh, I got Shannon Sharp next week. All over the field, me and him. I wish he... You'd say John, please today, please. You might say that going into the game, but I definitely, I promise you, you won't be saying that coming out of the game. No. I guarantee you next time LeBron see Patrick Beverly, it's gonna be a different story. Well, I hope so. It has to be because Beverly showed him a different side level. From jump last night, Patrick Beverly actually took LeBron, he's six one to six nine. You know Patrick Beverly, that dog. He threw that to everybody. You already know. I thought LeBron would go into activation, right? Yes. Every time. Throw me the ball in the post. Throw me the ball. What would you have done to Patrick Beverly? What would you, right now, what would you do to Patrick Beverly? Oh, I definitely go at him, post him up, take him on the block every time. I wish he was in a big three. How tall are you? I'm six seven and a half. Okay. I wish he was in a big three. I will post him up every time. Okay, okay. And I'm gonna move one off from the file because I'm gonna shoot him that bow in the chair. You got to. Like back up. No, you gotta run over in the first half. Yes. You gotta run over. You're gonna foul him out? Yep. You're gonna foul him out. Come on. You're gonna march to the free. The only language that Patrick Beverly understand is that you gotta meet his intensity with the intensity that he's showing you. If you don't, yeah. Because like me, some nights I'm not gonna, I'm not better than some guys, but I'm gonna play harder than you every night. And that's the advantage Patrick Beverly have over guys. Yes. So fourth quarter starts and you're down six. I'm thinking, okay, activate LeBron. You still got this. They got Lou Williams. I got that. But you're LeBron James. Here we go. And what happens right away? 10-22 left in the fourth quarter, that pass. Could we see this pass? It's just careless, lackadaisical cross court. I'll just fling it over here. And there goes Lou Williams. And there did not go LeBron James to chase him down. Come on, LeBron, you're late. You're late. You gotta chase. In the Phoenix game, no. Kelly Ubre. Well. LeBron normally run those things down. He just casually ran by. Skip, it's kinda like if the ball comes off my hand in an interception and I don't chase it. No, you gotta chase. Remember, you had that problem with dance. No, I had it with Zeke. We're dead, we're dead. I remember Zeke, everybody was on, again, the Denver game. Denver game, yeah. 648 left last night. It came to this for LeBron James. A second-year player named Kyle Kuzma, if we could see this, had to shove him into closing out. This is a shove closeout by Kyle Kuzma. LeBron, go get him! And he actually, he pushed him good, man. He pushed him right into it. Yeah, but if LeBron was engaged, you wouldn't have to do that. You wouldn't engage, LeBron. Kyle Kuzma had to push LeBron into closing out, really? Hey, hey, hey, you know, that's when you go in the locker room and say, bro, I don't, don't do that again. Right, right. No, no, no, seriously. Really? Seriously. That conversation should have happened last night. Some type of either Kuzma went to LeBron like, look, bro, I shouldn't have to push you on. Then, LeBron was like, bro, don't push me. That conversation, but you can tell that. No way, he didn't move. But you can tell both of them on their way out. They both went their way out. And then 427 left the Cancun play of the night on LeBron. It was. Cancun. The backs are back. We see this, it's a left-handed layup. And he just, he just says, I don't really care that much. I'll leave it short. That's just a left hand. He don't miss though. Come on. If you're into it. That's the one he hit against game one against Paul George in Indiana. Yeah, that's the same. He won the game. That was it. Same left hand. Well, I don't know. I just kept saying. It's losing. He is frustrated, man. Okay. It gets tough. Do you realize the Lakers lost the fourth quarter 22 to 20. So LeBron James, often guarded by Patrick Beverly, could muster up with this team only 20 points in the fourth quarter. Right. The hood had 21 on Sunday against Charlotte. I want to help that. If they, if the guys knew spacing and they was knocking down shots. That would have killed all that. They don't understand the game either. But here's the thing. Look at the guys that they put around him. I said, we skipping out. We was talking about like, I'm looking at this team. This is what LeBron is not used to playing with this. He need Mike Miller's and Ray Allen's and Kevin Love's and JR Smith. The guys that can knock down shots. These guys aren't shooters. Yeah. They think Reggie Bullock is. Man, Reggie Bullock just got off the plane. He playing 35, 36 minutes and he was over. What do you owe? He's three for 10, over seven, three. Come on. He playing 35 minutes and give you seven points. A lot of people can shoot. But a lot of people can't shoot with the lights on. You know what? And I was telling someone this. I said, you notice how all these guys when they start playing with LeBron, all of a sudden they can't shoot like that because the pressure of being somewhere else where the expectation is not there. You go with LeBron, you know you're gonna get the ball. Ooh. You're gonna get everything, the lime light, the playoffs, everything. But I've seen many nights when Kuzma and Ingram got going and they couldn't miss. But all of a sudden now it became like playoff time. This felt like a playoff push game. Well, it looks like two, they're not together. You know, the season looks over for them. Yep. And then why didn't Brandon Ingram play last night? I don't know. Andries, Andries. Right, I mean, and that was random because we hadn't heard anything about that leading up to the game. My shoulder aches that shoot around. What? Let me say this for you, though. Everybody who's killing the Lakers now keep that same energy coming this time. We got something brewing. It's possible. I ain't gonna say that. We got something brewing. Is that what? It's brewing something, baby. And guess what? I can smell it all. No, it wouldn't. Club Shay Shay, I'm gonna get my liquor license back. Club Shay Shay will be open again. Good. Okay. Thank you for listening to the Hoops on Fox podcast. 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