Radio Host, and basketball head-coach, Doug Gottlieb, joins The Greg Hill Show! Why isn't Jaylen on Team U.S.A.?
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00:00And last segment, we played audio of Doug Gottlieb discussing the Jalen Brown story
00:09that he has, that Jalen Brown, the rumor is, is done playing for white coaches.
00:14Doug Gottlieb is the host of the Doug Gottlieb Show and the head coach of Green Bay Wisconsin
00:21Men's Basketball.
00:22Doug, very short notice, greatly appreciate you joining us.
00:25How are you?
00:26I'm good.
00:27I'm really good.
00:28So I just have so many questions.
00:31I'll begin with this.
00:33Why does Jalen Brown want to be on Team USA if Steve Kerr is the coach?
00:37I mean, who doesn't want to be on Team USA?
00:43You know, I mean, why wouldn't you, I mean, you want to go on the back of being a finals
00:50MVP.
00:51I mean, it's an incredible brand building deal and a chance to be a part of a gold medal
00:54team.
00:55So I think that goes without saying.
00:58And again, there has to be full context of it.
01:00You know, like when the coaching, when, when Brad kind of kicked himself upstairs and obviously
01:05Danny left, it was during the time of all the protests and all of those stuff, right?
01:12It was around kind of that same time.
01:15And there was just that feeling that Brad's message was, was coming up short, you know,
01:20that no matter how brilliant Brad Stevens is, and I think he's as brilliant a basketball
01:24coach as we've ever had in the college and pro game, just, they kind of started tuning
01:29them out.
01:31And what I was told from some people was like, I don't think he wants to play for a white
01:34coach.
01:35And that's a real thing, you know, between not wanting to play for a white coach and
01:38not wanting to play for a guy who was not an NBA player.
01:42Obviously that's since changed since the next coaching change, but that's kind of where
01:47that comes from.
01:48And like, again, a lot of it comes down to context and time and all the other stuff that
01:54was going on in the, in the world.
01:56But I just think he's not on the team because Kawhi was never going to play, right?
02:03The Kawhi thing has been going on for like six months where Kawhi wanted to be a part
02:07of the team, but he was never going to play.
02:10Like he knew his body was never going to do it.
02:12And so that was the position that they just wanted a guy who could not be cool with the
02:18being 12th man and not playing.
02:20Cause you just can't like, look, I'm coaching division one team.
02:22I can't have, I have 13 scholarship players.
02:25I can't have all 13 expecting to play.
02:29And you know guys just, it's a very hard mentality for people like, like dude, Jalen Brown.
02:36When you think the last time he played five minutes in a game was in his life.
02:41Probably JV somewhere, you know, eighth grade.
02:44But Doug, I guess you would have to, Doug, I guess you would have to believe that Jalen
02:49Brown would only be playing five minutes for team USA.
02:52I don't believe that.
02:53I think he would be a big part of that team when you start to look at his skillset and
02:59you know where he would.
03:01No, no.
03:02No.
03:03First two, two things.
03:04First again, you're looking at it in two different ways.
03:06One you're thinking it's all about how you play in the NBA.
03:10It's a completely different sport playing a few basketball.
03:13That's why like we line up, but we think Canada is our biggest competition because
03:16they have the best NBA caliber players.
03:20Right.
03:21But that's not how it works.
03:22So you have to be able to obviously guard with physicality, but then play without dribbling
03:27the ball.
03:28Like it is a limited, that's really why Kyrie is not playing in this thing because you can't,
03:33you can't do all that, all the extra ball handling stuff.
03:36And you got to be able to guard multiple positions.
03:39And I'm guessing that what they saw was, Hey, here's Derek White, he'll be happy playing
03:42five minutes.
03:43I know.
03:44Yeah.
03:45By the way, he doesn't need the ball and he can guard a lot better than Steph can guard.
03:47But, but, okay.
03:48So who are you going to sit?
03:49Remember, like LeBron's going to play.
03:52You can't have LeBron on the team and go like, Hey man, you're just going to wave the towel.
03:56Right.
03:57KD, KD was their best player, bailed them out in the last Olympics.
03:59He not, he's going to play.
04:02And now you got Embiid there.
04:03Okay.
04:04And Embiid's got, you've got to have a five because they play with legit centers who can
04:08score their basketball.
04:09So again, who, who is going to sit in order for, it doesn't mean that Jalen is not an
04:15awesome player.
04:16He's not coming off his best basketball of his life, but one, it's a different sport.
04:21And then two, like the real way it works is promises are made.
04:25And LeBron James is not going to be embarrassed by playing 10 minutes.
04:28Even if Jalen at this point in his career may do a lot of things better than LeBron,
04:32that ain't happening.
04:33That's just not the way USA basketball works.
04:36He's playing over Tyrese Halliburton.
04:38He's playing over Devin Booker and he's playing over Anthony Edwards.
04:42He's playing over Drew Holliday.
04:43There are a number of guys that I would play Jalen.
04:45I probably won't play over Drew Holliday.
04:47Like Drew has to be there for when, cause Steph can't guard.
04:50Right.
04:51Like I'm just telling you, it's a very different sport, but you're not, he's not playing him
04:55over a guard.
04:56Right.
04:57He, on that team, he's a three or maybe a four.
05:00And so the guys he's competing with minutes, you're, you're comparing him, you know, maybe
05:04Devin Booker.
05:05Okay.
05:06And Devin doesn't, doesn't guard as well as Jalen does, but he's a far more proficient
05:10jump shooter and can play without the basketball more.
05:13And this is not like, this is, this is just, look, this is the reality.
05:16Okay.
05:17You have, you have 40 minutes and five positions.
05:22That's 200 minutes.
05:23You start cutting out the pie.
05:26And then again, like listen to, he's not playing over Jason Tatum based upon their estimation.
05:31And oh yeah.
05:32By the way, there, there, there's gotta be a little bit something there when he didn't
05:35get on the team.
05:36Tatum was like, yeah, there's a lot of guys who want to be on the team.
05:38Like that was a weird response.
05:40I think you guys would have met that.
05:41It was definitely a weird response, but Doug, I know that you're not buying into the conspiracy
05:45theory about Nike.
05:47And that's why I think Jason Tatum had the response that he did.
05:50He's obviously making a hell of a lot of money off of Nike with this threes being released.
05:55What now?
05:56So you think it's simply because of a fit and Nike had no say in this one, so ever?
06:02None.
06:03None.
06:04How?
06:05Do I?
06:06I guess I listen.
06:07Are there politics at play?
06:08Yes.
06:09Are there shoe company politics at play?
06:10No.
06:11No.
06:12So, so, so you may, you may think that there's politics at play because Jalen Brown has spoken
06:16out about things going on in the world right now.
06:18No, no, no, no.
06:19When I say politics, I don't mean politics politics.
06:22I mean like, like USA basketball has all been about.
06:27It's when I say it's political, it's, have you been in the USA basketball system growing
06:30up?
06:31Right.
06:32Did you go, remember they finished in seventh place in that last world cup disaster.
06:35Those guys.
06:36And, and, uh, and Derek was one of those guys that he handled himself so well that they,
06:42they have a, they have a greater feeling about him.
06:44Okay.
06:45So when it's politics, it's, it's not like Washington DC politics.
06:49It's just more USA basketball politics.
06:51And it used to be, and it still is this way, right?
06:54Dukies always get first choice.
06:56Okay.
06:57Coach K was the coach, USA basketball, all those Dukies, man.
07:00That's a real thing.
07:01It's a real thing.
07:02That's why you go to Duke.
07:03They tell you, you want to come to Duke.
07:05This is a lifetime decision.
07:06We're going to take care of you.
07:07The commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver is a Dukie.
07:10There's Dukies all over.
07:11The rules for them are different than the rules for everybody else.
07:13That's that's unknown.
07:14It used to be when the late great John Thompson was alive, you know, he was a coach at Georgetown.
07:19All the Georgetown guys got a chance to play on the USA basketball teams ahead of everybody
07:23else.
07:24You're you, when you were getting ready to pick a college, if you want to play USA basketball,
07:28your coach had to be involved in USA basketball.
07:31Otherwise you had to be really, really, really good.
07:34The team is made up of like half an hour.
07:36Okay.
07:37So now a lot of these guys, you know, LeBron didn't go to college, but he's the bronze.
07:41So it doesn't matter.
07:42KD was there for a year.
07:43Doesn't, he's so good.
07:44It doesn't matter.
07:45But some of these other guys, it's not necessarily about their college coach.
07:48Some of it is right.
07:49If you're a Dukie, you're in good, you're in good shape.
07:52But the other part to it is, have you been in the USA basketball system?
07:56Have you given up summers in the past to play USA basketball?
07:59And this is going back to when they're 17 years old.
08:02So there's a lot more to it than just, Hey, let's go roll out and get the, you know, get
08:07the 12 best players.
08:08You got to get guys that fit together, people that everybody wants to play with.
08:12You're spending a month away from your family with these people.
08:15You have to fit into whatever role they want.
08:17Have you been in USA basketball?
08:19Who's calling on your behalf?
08:21You know, all of those things, you know, go, go into play.
08:25They knew why wasn't going to be able to play a long time ago.
08:29And it just got to the point to where he couldn't, he didn't want to do the work.
08:32He couldn't even do the workouts.
08:33Like he's just not there physically.
08:35And so they made this display.
08:36So when I say politics, please don't think it's what's going on in DC or, or that type.
08:42And I don't believe Nike has any sort of say in this thing.
08:46They just don't.
08:47Doug, I greatly appreciate your time this morning.
08:49Next one for me, just quickly from, from your perspective, Jalen Brown acquiescing.
08:56So if I'm team USA, I offer Jalen Brown the spot that went to Derek White and put the
09:02onus on him to be a citizen instead of picking Derek White, omitting him from the roster
09:08because they're making his position stronger as, I mean, not a martyr, but as someone that
09:14has been, uh, unfairly judged by this committee.
09:18Wait, I don't understand the question.
09:22So Doug, why wouldn't they have just picked Jalen Brown, given him this spot, forced him
09:26to acquiesce and be a good teammate instead of Derek White?
09:29I don't think Jalen Brown's presence on this team would preclude them from winning gold.
09:34Do you?
09:35No, no.
09:36I mean, look, do I think they need another shot making guard?
09:40I do.
09:41Who can really defend?
09:43Um, I do.
09:44It is weird that, you know, listen, there's, there's some other guys that, um, I'm surprised,
09:50you know, just much more drillers, catch and shoot guys that, that aren't playing.
09:54But again, I, I think this was kind of determined a long time ago and I'm sure Jalen probably
10:00knew it a long time ago, right?
10:02Like he wasn't working out against them, you know, he wasn't on the traveling squad.
10:06Um, this is not new information that this all went down, but why wouldn't they?
10:11Because he probably would have taken it.
10:13They knew who they wanted.
10:14They made this selection.
10:15They moved on.
10:16Yeah.
10:17And sorry, sorry.
10:18I missed the last one.
10:19Really last one.
10:20So because for our purposes in Boston, your comments have been, you know, picked up and
10:22taken everywhere during the riots of 2020 when Brad Stevens was replaced with Ime Udoka,
10:30you had heard then that Jalen was done playing for white coaches, or is that something that
10:35you still hear to this day?
10:37That was just something I heard then.
10:39Okay.
10:40Thank you, Doug, for your time on short notice, the host of the Doug Gottlieb show and the
10:43head coach of Green Bay, Wisconsin men's basketball.
10:45Thanks Doug.
10:46Okie dokie.
10:47There he goes.
10:48Well, we can react to that.
10:51Um, he did not give that context when he was discussing it on his radio show and then he
10:55blamed us for taking it out of context.
10:57However, like 20, so he's bringing it back to like 2020, right?
11:01So Brad's what my guess is Brad Stevens is as respected a college coach as there is for
11:08what he did with Butler, taking them to two final fours.
11:12And my guess is Doug was bothered by that.
11:14I don't know if I have no idea if they know each other well, I'm sure they're acquainted.
11:18And at that time, it was odd that the whole restructuring with Danny leaving, but I don't,
11:26if you're going to saying that at the peak of the racial unrest following the death of
11:31George Floyd, that Jalen preferred to play for an African American coach is very different
11:39than saying he doesn't want to blanket statement, correct?
11:42Yeah.
11:43In those moments, it was a very, at that time, it's hard to reflect accurately, but the,
11:50the tenor and the mood of America was very different than it is right now.
11:56Well, if he would have said, this is what I was hearing back in 2020, that's not necessarily
12:02the reason why Jalen Brown doesn't want to play now, which he kind of alluded to.
12:08I just, I'm, I get the basketball politics, that part, I get, I got it.
12:12I understand that part of, you know, because they're in all types of sports.
12:17I just don't get like, I, when people try to sell me on, well, they went with this guy
12:24because this guy can play defense.
12:25He can get like Jalen Brown can cover guards.
12:28So I mean, he could do the same thing Devin Booker could do.
12:31He can cover guards that Steph Curry can't cover.
12:33Right.
12:34And his nonsense is that he's really good at the running after the catch because he's
12:39a radio host.
12:40So he can really sort of take the ball and go for two minutes.
12:42So we couldn't really go rapid fire.
12:44But was Derek White a chosen one?
12:49If they knew Kawhi wasn't going to play and they knew inevitably he was going to be left
12:53off the team.
12:54Did they always think Derek White?
12:55Did they always know that Derek White, he didn't go to Duke.
12:57He's not friends with coach K. He didn't play for George, John Thompson at Georgetown or
13:01whatever old analogy he wanted to use.
13:03I would look at it like this.
13:05Before even you went to Derek White and there were guys like Damian Lillard, Drew Holliday.
13:10I mean, Dame Lillard, Devin Mitchell, Jalen Brunson, like that are playing, that are playing
13:16and guys like, you know, we love Drew Holliday and we love Derek White and some of these,
13:20you know, Tyrese Halliburton.
13:23There are guys that are better.
13:24And then if he goes, OK, well, the game is different.
13:27It's not about dribbling.
13:28So Jalen Brown is one of the best transition basketball players out there when.
13:33So if it's not about dribbling, it's about getting up and down the court when you want
13:37somebody that can play that type of style of basketball where just, you know, not a
13:42rim runner, but a transition runner, a guy that can run the lane and has unbelievable
13:47athleticism.
13:48Like, I mean, that's what Jalen Brown does well.
13:51So if you're saying, well, you know, you don't want Kyrie Irving there because this game's
13:55not about dribbling.
13:56All right.
13:57There are guys who can make plays in transition.
13:59That's what Jalen Brown does.
14:00Like, so I don't buy the whole it was on court basketball decision.
14:05I think I'm telling you, it's the powers that be, which I believe the basketball politics,
14:11the Nike, the board of directors who bring these players on.
14:17I think they're just afraid of Jalen Brown in the sense of.
14:22He's not afraid to speak what's on his mind.
14:25And he's might've said that and maybe rub some people the wrong way.
14:29So when they come down to this and go, well, you know what?
14:32Like Kevin Durant, for example, dealing with a calf injury might not be able to play for
14:37team USA.
14:39They might be like, well, do we want Jalen Brown?
14:43And I think that you might see them maybe go in a different direction again, just because
14:47they, you know, maybe Jalen Brown left a bad taste in their mouth.
14:52It's odd the things that Doug knows very well.
14:54And then when you ask him about it, he has no foundation to stand on.
14:57But we also not thinking Nike has anything to do with this entire thing is somehow I
15:01think University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee basketball may be a Nike affiliate.