Frank Isola: SGA as the "Free Throw Merchant" Isn't the Most Pleasing Basketball to Watch

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Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guests, Sirius XM NBA radio host, Frank Isola, radio host and comedian, Ricky Smiley, NBC Sports Bay Area 49ers insider, Matt Mayoko, and now it's Rich Eisen. Hey, everybody. What is up, everybody? Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

We are live in Los Angeles, California, on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Hope everybody had a very safe and long weekend. We did. And we're back here on this program. Thrilled to be here on the Roku Sports Channel, this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate, smart enough to have us on the Infinity Sports Network, Sirius XM Channel 375. Good to see everybody here in studio as well. Good to see you, Chris Brockman. How are you? It's good to be seen, man. How are you?

DJ Mikey D is in D's nuts. What's going on, sir? How are you, Mike Del Tufo, TJ Jefferson?

The candle is lit. Good to see you, sir. How are you? It's great. And it's good to be seen. We are all here and convened on this day. The Overreaction Monday podcast, we popped one out there. Hopefully you took it in on Memorial Day.

And the YouTube channel for the Rich Eisen Show is also home for that YouTube dot com slash Rich Eisen Show on all of that. And I also enjoyed watching the the Knicks resurrect themselves in game three in Indianapolis, coming up with the third 20 point comeback of their postseason campaign. I didn't see that one coming, to be honest with you.

I thought that thing was toast. The Oklahoma City Thunder up three games to one after losing by 40 or more. They come back in game four and and quiet the crowd in Minnesota. Frank Isolde is going to be first up talking about all of that. Ricky Smiley is in studio. We have a lot in common. We watched the Alabama machine game with interest last last calendar year. He's an Alabama fan. You and he have something in common, too. Apparently, he's a big cowboy fan, TJ Jefferson. Yes. And then and then we all have something in common with him.

The Marconi. So, you know, there's that there is an eye and Marconi and Rich eyes and Ricky and Smiley and Michael. There you go. There you go. Very good. We found it all.

We found it all. And then there's you. Eight four four two oh four. Remember to give us a call. I know a lot of folks like playing the win loss game where we're open for business here.

It is an overreaction Monday and a Tuesday. We've set everything up. OK, OK, OK. Listen, we are all we are all big time fans of the National Football League. And I know there's lots to talk about in the NBA and we will do so on this program, including Luca getting slimmer. So there's that. But we're all waiting on Aaron Rodgers.

It's the biggest shoe that is yet to drop. The Pittsburgh Steelers fan base is waiting and no doubt wondering why he's not in yet here, coach, not here. And basically what we're hearing from him are on podcasts of people that he likes. And as you know, that is his that's his M.O. If he likes you, he'll go on your show. If he doesn't like you, you know, go ahead and pound sand. He is like many people who are getting advanced in years out of F's to give.

And I feel like I'm one of them every single day. We're here and wondering what's going on with him here, coach. And I, I can understand the frustration of Pittsburgh Steelers fans waiting for him.

Wondering if he's going to leave them in the lurch, wondering if he will essentially say not interested, not common. Enjoy Mason Rudolph, cough up whatever prospects you need to in future drafts with draft choices to the Atlanta Falcons and go get Kirk Cousins. And I know a lot of Steelers fans right now would say, let's do that. Why are we waiting on somebody who is a shadow of himself from what we saw on a consistent basis with the New York Jets? And somebody whose campaign last year looked like a guy coming off of an Achilles injury. Same thing with Kirk Cousins, by the way.

But he's a few years younger than Aaron Rodgers. And honestly, I don't. As you know, we try to stay out of the what's Aaron Rodgers thinking lane quite a bit. Because nobody knows. Absolutely nobody knows.

And until he shows up on a show of somebody who he likes. We don't know what he's thinking. So the reason why I'm mentioning this today is we heard from Rodgers over the weekend. A former Duke baseball player turned rapper Mike Studd. Apparently, I guess, Rodgers is a fan of him. No relation to Big John. No relation. Are we sure there's no big relation? Not positive. I mean, well, I mean, it's possible we rename this the Rich Studd show.

I am down for that. Are you really? Yeah. I'm feeling myself. You know, Luke is not the only guy in Los Angeles who's looking slimmer these days, you know? If I may.

And my Roku purple today. But he appeared, I guess, at a concert of his and there was a podcast to come out of it. I believe I'm getting all of the particulars correct. Was it in Austin, Texas, as well?

I think I read that. So it makes sense with whose other show he appeared on last week. OK, that's right. So Rogan is out of Austin, Texas.

Right. So I guess he was making some rounds while he was down there. And there was questions from from the audience, including one asking him if he would ever play for the Chicago Bears. Now, that's either poking the bear, if you will, or patently misinformed. Because, you know, that ain't happening, but it was asked of him and it led to the answer that everyone's been talking about over the weekend.

Will Aaron Rodgers ever go to the Bears? Oh, boy. And it's security. Go get her out of here.

It's a security security. Can you take it easy on her? No, but I believe there's a team that might play in Chicago this year. Let's go on a road trip. I don't know. I'm not sure. Go check it out. Are you speaking in code?

I love Chicago, though, way more than they love me. It's been a great relationship all one way. Ah, so it was a child who asked that question. I did not see that part of the the chit chat over the weekend.

Nice. OK, so out of the mouths of babes come questions that give you the answer, because you check on the schedule of a specific team. There is a week 12 game at Chicago for the Pittsburgh Steelers. How about that? So there's that and and and that led to the whole conversation over the weekend of a bunch of Steelers fans were like, OK, what's with the footsie here? Like, what's with the footsie? And again, we try to stay out of the the Rogers lane of what he's thinking. If you're in your early 40s and you don't want to spend part of your May and June.

You know, throw in to teammates or things like that. Which, by the way, he may be doing in his spare time anyway. That's one of those things where all of a sudden video will come out like, hey, I've actually been thrown with these guys and I just didn't tell you. But he's able to hang out in in Austin, Texas, go on some podcasts and. When's he coming in? He did tell Rogan that there are some people in his life who are still ill. Mm hmm. And that's part of what he's been.

Spending his time with. So Steelers fans, one thing here, at least you can take out of this while you're waiting. While the great franchise in Pittsburgh is waiting and places their 2025 season in many ways in the hands of Aaron Rogers. At least the only other seemingly viable option right now for him at present, where there is a quarterback situation into which a. Quarterback like Rogers in his early 40s, without that much time left, apparently, possibly in his career, father time, tapping tic tock his football wrist. That could utilize somebody because the rest of their quarterback situation is too green, too young.

At least this is what he had to say about not going to the New Orleans Saints. Mm hmm. Hit it.

Did you ever consider playing for the Saints and making us great again? Because, you know, no. That's the answer. That's the answer. Well, I guess it's no, no, I, I played there a couple of times, but no.

That's what it's called. I'm too old. I don't want to live in Louisiana. OK. All right. And then there's Ross, the Saints off the list and that city. I might add. Oh, the whole state. Yeah. Yeah. You did say Louisiana. All right.

And another thing, Vodica. So so there's that. So it's either Steelers or retirement or wait around and what and see if there's another. Yeah.

If there's another situation that could suit him, I, I, I don't know. A great follow up by the kid, though, because the Saints do go to Chicago this year, so, you know, you had to rule it out. Oh, I didn't I didn't know. Yeah. So, you know. Well, the Saints go to Chicago and he said he's there's a team that's going to be in Chicago.

That's why the Saints were still there, still on the board until the process of elimination. You know what I mean? This is reporting that. I mean, there's a lot of things going on.

You know what I mean? This is reporting that all. I mean, there's do we have the Bears schedule? We could put up put up the rest of the Bears schedule to see what he's. Which team needs a quarterback still?

Like we could just process of elimination. As we're just assuming it's Pittsburgh. And again, Minnesota, you know, with Rogers, we don't know. You know, if we have the Bears here, it is OK. So Minnesota, there you go.

I think they're good. He won. Well, you know, I wanted to go there. Not on that door, I think. Dallas, Dallas. Hey, T.J., come on. Come on.

Stop it. The Giants, I mean, the Giants, you know. Well, there's Pittsburgh, Cleveland. Well, they don't have a Green Bay.

I mean, that door, I think, is closed because that's sealed shut. Again, the number of Packers fans I ran into at the draft that were all like, love the guy. Can't wait to have him back here when he's retired. We'll have a night for him. It'll be awesome.

We will cheer for him then. But right now we are loving love. I lost love. And there's Detroit.

Love is all you need. OK, there's Detroit. Now, it doesn't mean it kind of looks like there's only Pittsburgh and New Orleans. And New Orleans just left town.

There's slim and none and and down slim left town. All right. So. So there's that. Take a talk, take a talk. But in all seriousness, we're not being serious. Well, we are. Does he really need to be in right now? No.

You know what I mean? Does he really need to be in right now, other than the fact that you're a leader, you're a quarterback, you're a face of a franchise? You have one of the most dynamic franchises in the history of the sport sitting there waiting on you, which doesn't really look good for them. But does it matter again when the Pittsburgh Steelers show up in MetLife to take on the team radio audience for showing a photograph of him as a jet quarterback? Will we be talking about, well, that throw wasn't completed because he didn't have enough time in with them in May and June, is that what we're talking about?

Or we're going to be talking about, well, the protection broke down. This guy dropped a ball. I heard once that anything that's not about football should be left out, right? Didn't didn't he famously say that? So he's just all about everything other than football right now. Well, he's all about living his life as he can. The football season isn't very long.

Every other time to do that. Every other starting quarterback for the team that they're on. Or every other quarterback that they're on. Or every other starting quarterback that could be the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers are all in buildings when it's time to be in a building right now. And again, very unstealers like to just be as unsettled as it possibly can be, unless he's been he's literally told these guys, I'm coming.

Don't pay any attention to any of this stuff. Then why hasn't that leaked yet? Because nothing leaks in Rogers's life. And the Steelers stay pretty trapped.

But the Steelers end, that could get out. But you don't want to antagonize the guy whose basket you've allowed all the eggs to be placed. You do if you want him to show up.

If you give all the ingredients to the hot dog, you might not like. At some point, if you want him to arrive. Well, that's a good way to make sure he doesn't arrive.

At some point, you need a quarterback. That's what's up right now. That's that's the current state of affairs, the Tuesday after Memorial Day for the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback room. But Rogers basically said, I'm coming and told everybody in New Orleans, I'm not going there and told everyone in Pittsburgh.

If you're afraid of me going to New Orleans, that ain't happening. And we appreciate Mike Studd for giving him the forum. Big Mike Studd. The rest of the team, Mike Studd, the Rich Studd show is going to be rolling on right now with Frank Isola is going to be joining us next.

He's got the the great Sirius XM NBA radio step and repeat behind him. And you know what we should do? Should we give him points for us, for what he says? Yeah, for sure.

Since around the horn is not there anymore. And I'm from Staten Island like Tony Reali. I mean, we should just give him points for good, for good answers and freeze him at some point. We could freeze him at some point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Frank Isola, everybody joining us next. The Knicks are alive.

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Go to your happy price, Priceline. We're back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Congratulations to John Halliburton. I believe Charles Barkley's table pounding and Tyrese Halliburton's play.

Combined together. Have caused the NBA to let him back in the building, but he's going to be in his suite. He will be in his suite, a suite, which means he's not allowed on the floor. And that has been I believe Shams confirmed this right. That he's he's going to be back.

So he can have his his flag is his his Tyrese Halliburton flags all he wants. It's sweet. Life is nice.

He can wait. By the way, you know, that is is that like a minimum security prison? Is that what it is? It's like the one of Goodfellas where they get the steaks and cheese and bread.

They slice the onions. Really? Yeah. Right. Is that what it's like? Yeah. Yeah. Nice. And then that's what it's like.

It's a minute. It's one of those club feds. Like, is that the NBA's version of club fed?

You're still you're still and you're still penned in. But man, enjoy the the dessert cart. I was about to say dessert carts, anything like like staples, a crypto, crypto, whatever you want to call it. You know what? Whenever those come by, I think whoever gets like a candy apple. Oh, yeah.

What are you doing? That's that's you know what I mean? It's low on the power and you think, yeah, it's low on a dessert cart. Yeah. I mean, literally, that dessert cart might be like the 12th wonder of the world. It is.

It is. It goes Andre the Giant, then China and then a couple other things. The Great Wall of China. You're talking about the wrestler China. Oh, OK. The wrestler China.

And that's the wonder of the world is I believe a great wall is an actual wonder of the world. I think that's before Andre. Oh, it's like seven. OK, very good. Yeah.

Andre is eight. You know. So, hey, John Halliburton, you're back. Good on you. You can't go down to the floor. But enjoy the chicken tenders. Yeah. Tender.

You might have steak up in there. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

All right. So that's the latest on on John Halliburton. He is back on the Rich Eisen show right now from Sirius XM NBA radio, longtime NBA chronicler of the sport. Frank, I sold it back here on the program with you, Frank. How are you? Rich, what's up? How are you? I just wanted to see.

I just wanted the most New York I can get, Frank. That's all I wanted. So here we are. Good to chat with you. How are you?

Good to see you. Good. Good.

I like I like the story about John Halliburton. I feel, you know, he can't be on the court only in the suite. To quote Tony Soprano's mom. Oh, poor you. Sweet. Oh, I'll tell you what, if I'm him. Yeah. If he wants to confront somebody.

Yeah. Go after like Tyler Colic after the game. Leave like guys like Giannis into the kumpo along.

Go after like the smaller guys. But I guess he's he served his time right now. His son is two wins away from the NBA finals. And it looked like he was going to be three. But the Knicks just did it again, which has come back from 20 down. What do you think the Knicks did in Game three? That is something they can replicate to try and make it to the NBA finals.

After all, Frank. Yeah, well, you know, Carl Anthony Towns is making 50 million a year. So it's not like you're expecting him to score 20 points in a fourth quarter. But he's certainly more than capable of scoring four points in the first three quarters.

So I think that'll be a big part of it. I think, you know, with Jalen Brunson being in foul trouble, the Knicks defensively were a lot better in that fourth quarter. And then when Jalen came in, he did what he does, what he usually does. And he hit a big shot with the score tied at 98. I would expect a lot more out of Indiana.

We saw it twice with Boston. They go up by 20 at home. Look at how they perform. Once they got that lead, they let their foot off the gas. I felt that was true of Indiana. I thought their offense was terrible in that fourth quarter. They scored 20. They scored as many as Carl Anthony Towns did. So the Knicks are still in a pretty good position because if anything that they've shown us during this playoff run that they're on is that they could be physically and mentally tough on the road and win games.

And that's what they're going to need tonight in Indianapolis. So is it a fair criticism? We hear all the time about Tom Thibodeau, that he basically hates his bench and he overplays his starters. And and the first two games of this series was an exact example of that. And Brunson sitting in game three for as long as he did basically showed that if if the Knicks actually get some help from the bench, they can win this thing. Is this a fair criticism of Thibodeau?

Frank? I don't think it is from this standpoint. You know, number one, every game takes on a life of its own.

So everything's going to be different. And, you know, they were up nine with 58 seconds to go in game one. At that point, I don't think anybody's saying, you know what? They probably could have used their bench a lot more in this game. That was a freak show. Indiana needed 20 things to go right in the final five minutes of that game to even have a chance to tie and 20 things went right. So game one is a freak show, just like game two was for the Knicks against Boston, just like game two was for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Indiana Pacers. And I think if you look at the last game, you went to the bench because guys were in foul trouble.

But, you know, Deuce McBride is going to play a lot in this game with Mitchell Robinson starting or game three, I should say. Josh Hart, you know, still played over 30 minutes. And even last night, you look at, you know, Oklahoma City. They essentially played seven, eight guys. Same same thing with Minnesota.

So everyone likes to get to a point where they want to play their best players all the time. And, you know, the one thing about the Knicks, and this is really true, I understand Aaron Neesmith is hurt. But the one thing about these final four teams is that they've all been able that they've all been able to stay relatively healthy. And it just goes to show you, Rich, that there's no one way of doing it.

Not one way is right and another way is wrong. Cleveland spent the entire season managing minutes, developing their bench. What happened in the playoffs? Their guys got hurt their bench when they needed them.

They weren't good enough. So there's no right way to do it. The teams that are doing it the right way are the four teams that are left right now in the playoffs. Frank Isola here on the Rich Eisen show, the free throw merchant. I didn't think I would be hearing that phrase associated with the MVP of the NBA. But we are seeing that right now with SGA in Oklahoma City, which is now up three games to one. Is that a fair criticism of what's going on with the MVP of the NBA? I think as a viewer and from an entertainment standpoint, I'm not sure it's the most, you know, pleasing basketball to watch. It was very similar to James Harden.

But if you're getting away with it, and I think that's why I think it's become a much bigger deal. And I give Chris Finch a lot of credit for this. He addressed it after games one in game two. Really, what he's doing, you know, this going back to the Phil Jackson, Pat Riley days of the Knicks Bull Series.

Well, it's gamesmanship. He's just trying to plant a seed in the referee's head not to call it every time Shay Gilders Alexander draws contact. Now, he was second in the league this year in free throw attempts.

Giannis was first with over 700, believe it or not. My biggest issue, though, the way that this the way the game is played today, it's not just Shay Gilders Alexander, Jason Tatum, Carl Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, all the top players in the league. If ever there's contact at the rim and they miss a shot, they all have their arms extended looking at the ref saying, where's the foul? It seems like it not only happens with the superstars, happens with the next tier of players, the next all the way down to just the role players and the bench players. But Shay can get away with it. I think in the long run, it could hurt Oklahoma City because I think it's been so much talk about it that I think the referees are only human.

And I think after a while, they're thinking, I can't call it every time. But he's good at drawing contact, just like Jalen Brunson is good with drawing contact and playing through the contact. Yeah, I mean, I saw a video. I think it was shared in our text group, gents, right? Was it a high school kid driving the lane? And as the kid was driving, you saw this, Frank, right? As the kids driving lane in high school, he's making the body movements that you see so many pros make, that he's being fouled as he's driving and he wasn't really touched. We're seeing it at the lowest or the lower rungs, if you will, of of the sport right now. And I don't I don't know if it's fair to associate that with SGA, but sometimes you're just seeing fouls get called and he's not even being touched.

You're seeing that right now. And that's why, you know, if you came up with some kind of penalty for something like that, where the referees feel like you're a flop, I know you can get a technical. I don't want the guy to get a technical and then get kicked out of the game. But it's almost something as egregious as that. And you're really trying to deceive the officials. Maybe you give the other team a free throw. Now, I understand we could get into the whole thing of too many replay reviews. And there's far too many right now.

But I do think like something's got to be done. But if I'm shaking this Alexander right now, I feel like I'm winning because I won the MVP. My team won sixty eight games during the regular season. I'm up three one in the playoffs.

I'm one win away from getting to a final. So I think for him, he probably wants everyone to talk about it. And if they make it to the finals, whether or not it's Rick Carlisle or or Tom Thibodeau coaching in the finals, you know, at some point it's going to come up, it'll come up in the lead up to it. And after one game, if they feel like he's getting away with a lot of calls, that'll become something that they'll want to.

You know, we've seen it before with Larry Brown, Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, where they start working the league, the officials through the media. Yeah, I mean, let's be fair and balanced, though, Frank. Right. Forty nine and ten was Shay Gilges. Alexander's line in game four, 40 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists.

And then if he and Jalen Williams combined for seventy four. Good night. Right. Like, who's going to beat him? Nobody. That's the end of that.

It's a great chance to do his stuff. Their perimeter defense, Alex Caruso, Hartenstein. My goodness. Like they are the best team in in the NBA. When it comes to those three players you mentioned, they combined for ninety five points, I think it was. And I think Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall are happy.

They'd rather have you talk about SGA and being a foul merchant as opposed to the two of them. They had I think it was six field goals and ten turnovers. They combined for twenty one points. How are you going to win a game in the playoffs where the two best players on the other team combined for seventy four points and the two best players on your team combined for only twenty one?

And that's why it's crazy. If you look at the statistics from that game, Minnesota basically led in every statistical category, except the only one that matters is point. So good job by the bench players and kill Alexander Walker, Dante DiVincenzo for what they did.

But, you know, Anthony Edwards and I understand it in force things, but it needs to be better. And for Julius Randall, that's a really bad game in a in a huge spot where your team has a chance to tie the series at two two. So the two the two big players on Minnesota did not come through. And I think they got to score twenty five to six in the fourth quarter. You know, Anthony, I'm sorry, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall compared to Jalen Williams in SGA.

Yeah, man. I mean, you know, if you're the Timberwolves and you were told SGA was going to have a line of forty nine and ten. Right. And he was only plus five.

You'd be like, OK, right. OK, so let's talk about Anthony Edwards a little bit here, because we're all you know, the anointing oil is out for a lot mentioning Michael Jordan, which is quite an anointing here. He does have he does have some remarkable similarities on occasion.

Yes. But you and I both know back in the day, if we're going to again, he's not the one saying I am the next Michael Jordan. So let's find out what I'm about to say with that. If this was Michael Jordan, Oklahoma City would not have won that game last night.

I mean, it's just the end of story. And it's easy for me to say. I just want to get your two cents on what Anthony Edwards had to say after the game last night about his his stat line and performance. So much of you guys play up front to this point was big nights from you and Randall and just how to kind of hit you for the fact that you guys both struggled at the same time tonight. I don't look at it like I struggled or he struggled.

They just. They had a good game plan, making us get off the ball, especially for me, man, it was super in the gaps. I made the right play all night, so I don't really look at it like I struggled. I didn't get enough shots to say I struggled. So that's my that might be how you guys look at it.

But yeah, I didn't struggle at all. They just I made the right play. The I didn't get enough shots, get enough shots. Right.

But that that means what that it wasn't schemed right or or or or am I am I reading too much into that one? Yeah, I will say this about him for a young player. I do appreciate the fact and this happened a couple of times in the playoffs. He feels like, oh, well, I'm the big star in the team. I'm going to take 40 shots. I don't even care if it's a fadeaway step back three with a guy in my face.

I'm taking the I'm taking all the shots. So last night, you know, there were a couple of times where they're trying to get the ball out of his hands. He'll split the double team.

He'll kick the ball out to the corner, to DiVincenzo or Nikhil Alexander Walker, and they make the shot. So I think he has a mentality. Well, if they're going to keep doing this to me and they're making these shots, I'm going to do that. I'm going to put this one a little more on Julius Schramm. But I also think you're right.

It's you know, you have to figure something out. You know, that game was tight toward the end of the game, whether it's doing something defensively, whether it's, you know, getting, you know, drawing contact at the rim and scoring, getting to the free throw line. I think that's the one thing, the next big step for Anthony Edwards, because he is a great player. And I do think when you talk about the Michael Jordan comparison, when you do look at the body type and the movement on the court, it certainly reminds me of Michael Jordan. But we know this and I was at a lot of those playoff games for Michael Jordan. It was all up here and another area of his body, which he was a lot better than everyone else.

Well, he just had a toughness about him where you had to destroy that guy. And that's why the Knicks, I go back to ninety seven with the Knicks, where they won fifty seven games. They beat the Bulls twice during the regular season, ended up not playing them in the playoffs because the fight Miami, all the players were always coming. Oh, we we we could have beaten the Bulls.

I always thought, you know what? You're really going to beat that guy four times. I just never saw it happening those last three years. And that's that's going to be a big step for Anthony Edwards. It's not just about the points and the dunks and the body type that you have. It's the mentality. It's that, you know, no matter what happens, he's going to give everything that he has. And when when the dust settles after forty eight minutes, he's going to be the winning player.

And that was always Michael Jordan. Let's crystal ball something, Frank, before I let you go. The Giannis's situation crystal ball it for me.

What are we going to be talking about once this season is over? What do you think? I do find it interesting that with all this stuff out there, everything that's swirling around, that he really hasn't shot it down. I don't. I love the guy.

I love the fact that he's been in Milwaukee, that he won there. But, you know, you look at the situation, the bucks are in right now. They need players. They need assets. I think if he goes anywhere, I think the team that makes the most sense is the Houston Rockets. They have the assets. You know, Houston historically has gone out and gotten these type of players, whether it's Clyde, whether it was Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, even James Harden. You know, you think about some of the connection there, Imea Doka with Nigerian roots. You have Akima Lajuan who played there for Giannis and his family. That's a big thing. Akima Lajuan picks up the phone and says to Giannis, why don't you try to maneuver your way to the Houston Rockets? I just, plus you get them out of the conference, getting them out of the conference and getting the most assets back is a big thing.

I wouldn't rule out New York, maybe more Brooklyn than the Knicks, just because Brooklyn has the assets. And as you know, Rich, you know, we do have a story of Queens. I remember talking to Giannis, interviewing him when he first came into the league at NBA All-Star weekend.

He was there for that rookie sophomore game, so maybe he was 18 or 19. And I said, have you ever heard of a story of Queens? And he and he like looked at me like, of course, I'm from Greece.

Everyone's heard of a story of Queens for people who don't know. I mean, that's one of the largest Greek communities in the U.S. So I think that would be a big deal to him. But if I'm betting right now, I put 51 percent. He stays with Milwaukee. I'll put 45 percent that he ends up with Houston or whatever the rest would be.

I'll put that on one of the New York teams. Before I let you go, Frank, I do want to ask you about a long time run for Around the Horn on ESPN that came to an end last week. How many of those shows did you do? Do you have a number? I ended up doing 905, but that does not include filling in as a host.

So I would think I might have made it to like 930. It used to be funny. Everyone would ask me about winning.

Yeah. You know, you didn't get paid extra if you won. I never cared.

I said, I want to be like the lefty middle reliever out of the bullpen. I only care about appearances. Well, I care for him. I care if I would most of the time. And if I have anything good to say at the end, if I did have something that there were times when I wanted to win. But the wins weren't the big thing for me.

It was the appearances. And when I first started, it was funny in 2012, I'm at the Olympics in London. I'm sitting next to Bob Ryan.

It's his last full time assignment for the Boston Globe was covering the gold medal game between the U.S. and Spain in basketball. I got to sit next to him a year later. I'm doing the show with them. So that was really cool. It was it was a lot of fun to do that show. You know, when everyone's busting chops, it was it was it was great.

Now I got to look for a new gig. Maybe maybe I'll join you. You know, you and I grew up as you and I grew up as jet fans. So maybe we got a connection. You're Staten Island.

Tony, reality was Staten Island. It's really natural. Absolutely. You got a good moment, your favorite moment in the history of the show for involving you. Frank, you got a good moment. I mean, they did let me bring my my dog on once, which I think was pretty cool. I kind of like the time when I went off on all the people that ride bikes in New York City, the electronic bikes and the scooters, and they ride on the sidewalk, they ride the wrong way. In fact, somebody just got hit the other day.

It's crazy. But I kind of was calling out all the people on bikes. New York, when we're not Amsterdam, you know, over in Holland, we're not Portland, Oregon. Like I get it's a great thing.

You can't ride a bike in New York City. It's too it's too dangerous for everybody involved. It's rough and tumble. I agree. But nothing like a line that was said or, you know, did you ever, you know, was it what he page related?

Well, he was he he was he was definitely a piece of work. You know, the old it's what I found funny about the show. And I talked about this on the last one I did. I think that they brought me on like to be the obnoxious New Yorker, which, as you know, Rich, I'm not.

I know. And and it was funny that I was kind of like everyone thought I would be busting chops and I did it a lot. But most of it, I got most of the abuse on the show. And a lot of it came from the host. But a lot of it came from the women on the show, whether it was Jackie McMullen, Mina Kimes, all these like women were the ones crushing me nonstop. And everyone would always say, man, so and so doesn't like you. And for the most part, I guess in some ways they did. But I really enjoyed that part of it, that they felt like you do. And the last time I was on here, you were destroying me.

I think it was about flying first class. You know, I think that to me, that's I took that from them as a little love tap. That's all. That's all of course.

That's all it is, Frank. Thanks for the time. We'll have you back on when when the NBA finals hits. If you're if you're up for it.

Yeah, I'll be around. Thanks a lot. And congrats. Thanks, Paul.

That's Frank. I sold everybody right here. Starting lineup, Sirius XM, NBA radio. All right. I don't know, man, if the Knicks don't make the finals. Right.

Would they blow it up for Giannis? They should. OK. I don't know who those pieces are. What's the matter? Figure it out.

My only concern. Is what Frank just said about a story of Queens, because there's a big difference between one part of New York City and Queens. You know what I mean? Like it's like it's like a whole new situation when you go to Queens.

Where if you've been acquired by a team, you know, on that part of of the city in the borough. That's your man's right there. You know what I mean?

Like it's it's like that's what I heard the other day. You know, from the manager of the Mets making excuses for the seven hundred sixty five million dollar guy who's playing. You know, like a 250 hitter, 33 and 21. Right. So this is a team game, right? I understand.

I understand 33 game for him to say, you know, hey, you're 21. If you're thinking Manhattan. Right. Or Brooklyn.

Right. Brooklyn. If it's so great move back, you're thinking about Queens. You know, like, wow, it's like a different country.

It's going to be such an out of body experience. Like to say you've been working in the Bronx. And then you start working in Queens.

Oh, my God. Like you need you need an interpreter, a passport. Don't forget that. Well, that's the yeah. I mean, you get to stand up.

I need a passport. Like it's it'll it'll discombobulate you. It's totally a different experience. So I'd be concerned about that. Yeah. Oh, if I was Giannis. Yeah.

And and the Brooklyn Nets. I mean, if you're. Get your heart set on one part of the city or you've got your heart set then you go to Queens. My God. First of all, you act like these birds aren't different.

Go see Coming to America. Right. That happened in Queens.

And I mean, that's like a shadow water. And I got friends in the Bronx and they don't like each other. It's time to understand that.

I mean, it'll totally mess up your career. I mean, look, you love me. That's what I'm taking away.

I don't know. I didn't I never leave. No, no, you never left. You live here. You're you're like, Oh, I am. I am 100 percent living in this state.

The rest of my life, as far as I as far as I can see right here, the sweater. Oh, you are no longer New York affiliate. Oh, no.

So let's move on. No, I'm New York affiliated. Are you know? Yeah. They like you. Nice try.

They'll claim you. Nice try. Nice try. It's still an eyes in town.

It is an eyes in town. I agree. It's not a thank you, Mike. Got a Mets down. And I appreciate a guy from Jersey saying that. Thank you.

No, I feel differently about Queens. Let's take a break here, guys. Let's take a break. There is an NBA story that is out there.

And then what's not out there is apparently Luca's gut. Oh, oh. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, Prime helps you get more out of your passions. So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time with services like Prime Video, Amazon Music and Fast Free Delivery, Prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into.

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Mulch offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii selection varies by location while supplies last see Lowe's dot com for more details. Real quick, do you want to ask a method man before he goes your question that you ask everybody about my hometown? No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I give you I give you grief. OK, look, now, when people say, hey, I'm going to visit New York City, they don't mean visit Staten Island. But do you think Staten Island is really part of New York City? You know what?

I just went through this with somebody. I definitely went through this with somebody on Twitter and they were like, you know, that's not even really New York, one of the five boroughs. OK, see, you know, it's not a vacation destination of New York City going to Staten Island, you know what I'm saying? But if you check for one, Staten Island is the highest point on the eastern seaboard, first of all. And second, we have the most. Well, let's put it this way.

Date night Staten Island is tops to go for date night because we have the most restaurants in New York City. That's right. Holler at your boy. Yeah, yes. It's about food and love. Oh, and football because Curtis Warriors won the whole thing last year. OK, 12 and 0 went to the big one. That's right. Won that game at Yankee Stadium, brought the title home to New York City. Yes, I stand corrected. And I won my fantasy football yesterday. Oh, really? A lot of congratulations.

What's the name of your fantasy football team? Supreme clientele. OK, yes, pretty is pretty. Supreme clientele took it down. By the way, that whole Staten Island chat could not have gone any better. Of course, there's no pushback, but Method Man is being so, I guess, deliberate. Yes. Not going to argue.

I know, I understand you're not going to argue with Method Man, by the way. He hasn't come back since. So I don't know what happened. I don't know. Maybe that's why I want him to holler at at your boy. Yeah.

I understand the pushback of like, hey, we've got the highest point on the eastern seaboard, which is true. Tote Hill is that spot. Paul Castellano used to live atop Tote Hill. What happened to him? He went to he got a steak one night. Yeah, he went out for a steak. Yep. You know, come back. Yeah. And hey, and then date night because you take the ferry ride. Right. Right. You know, my I had one of the worst date nights of my life. Didn't go well.

No, you're so sorry. I mean, there's some pushback. I understand there's some pushback.

Sure. You know, I mean, but it's not like like another world like Queens is, you know what I mean? I mean, it's literally its own island.

It is its own island. That's like another world, you know, four bridges connected for the rest of the world. Yeah. Three to New Jersey, one to Brooklyn. Do we need all those bridges?

We do. Yeah. Trust me.

It seems like one each would work. No, no. Come on, man. No, I mean, Staten Island, I think, is now over four hundred thousand residents. Well, I mean, that's why if you just removed it from the city, it would be one of the largest cities in the United States. Four hundred ninety two thousand. Almost a half million people.

Yeah, we need we probably need a fifth bridge, pal. You know, a lot of people. So you ever been to Staten Island, TJ? Once or twice.

Is he really? Yeah. OK, I spent most of my time in actual New York.

Queens, Manhattan, Queens, Queens, New York, Queens. Yeah. Yeah.

In actual New York, the Queens to be specific. Oh, is that right? Yeah.

Yeah. You don't want them cats here and you talk this mess. Queens cats don't play mess. It's not any mess. Queens is its own world. It's the same. It's its own world. He's from Queens, from Jamaica.

Oh, by the way, speaking of 50, it's an anniversary today. It is. I haven't spoken about the Lakers in a while. Why would you? Well, I mean, they went out.

No, I mean, in a blaze of free zone and a blaze of non-glory are our neighbors from down the street. A lot of folks are wondering what what they can do to improve matters. We had Rich Paul on here before, and he was basically noncommittal and saying that he and LeBron have yet to talk about his future. We're assuming LeBron stays right to be teamed up with Luca for the rest of his Laker days, potentially playing days. We assume Luca stays. And the question of of what we're, you know, wondering is how do the Lakers fix the issue down under neath the basket in the paint? How do they fix matters? Once somebody potentially gets by Luca or LeBron on the perimeter, there's no rim protectors, there's nobody down low. And the Lakers apparently have acquired two new individuals or entities to help. And it appears from what we saw over the weekend, they have acquired Ozempic and Monjaro. They can inject.

They can inject an instant energy. Unless Luca is just doing it the old fashioned way, diet, diet, I'm working out all these baby because I don't know. Or is is the Laker jersey just baggy? You know what, the T-shirt that's underneath his jersey?

I don't know. You can see his face. His face is a lot thinner. Yeah, that's kind of the first indication that someone's dropping a few LBS. OK, so he has he has appeared at a Real Madrid contest, apparently. Is that what I'm told?

Something like that? I don't know when he appeared somewhere over the weekend. And and he looks great. Looks different.

A lot of people were saying 15 LBS, whoa, different. So there he is. Luca Doncic doing the L.A. thing.

I don't like that. Is he going to wear like a like a a Whole Foods logo? Is that going to show up to Air One? Is it an Air One? Yeah, it might be an Air One situation. Because, you know, you flip that the other way around and you know, that's nowhere, which is, you know, where the Lakers wound up, you know. But Air One could potentially this moment is definitely gone.

You know what I mean? Like Michael Finley taking the beer out of his hands with his dad standing right there like, I'll be pops. And the dad just watching it happen, and there it goes. I can't believe that happened. And what a what a symbol that was for the end of his relationship with the Mavericks.

Apparently, you know, they're not we're not super. You know, he became supermax. You think he stays here?

Here in town? Oh, yeah. Really, dude.

He doesn't have to. I understand that. But you're the face of the Lakers living in Southern California.

Yeah, come on now. I mean, we all read social media. Apparently, a lot of people, not everybody loves California. I'm just saying I'm aware of a whole lot of people who apparently and they've never been here. Most of them hate it here. So, you know, I guess there's a lot of scribe to our way of living out here that is untrue. I love it.

So same. I don't know. But he definitely has lost industry in what, three weeks, a month, like a month, a month. There's no question about it, man. Maybe he's juicing juice diet. I understand what you're saying. Clearly, he's gotten smaller, which is which is the it's going to help the Lakers defend the rim.

Ladies and gentlemen, Luca, looking great. That's the headline. Man, they're just going to end up getting Yanis somehow, right?

And how is that where this is headed? I don't think that's the only way the Lakers wind up with the honest with him. Listen, the only way the Lakers wind up with the honest. They didn't give up anything to him. The Knicks wind up with the honest is if Yanis says, I want to go there.

You heard what Frank Isolde said earlier this hour. Houston is then is the spot because they have the assets. They've got players they can send back now. They've got capital that can be sent back now. And when that's why Oklahoma City was discussed as a viable option. But not now.

Not now. If they wind up shy. I don't know how they wind up shy right now, looking at the way that they're playing right now. I don't either. But even if you win, why wouldn't you try to add him? Because it would change what they're doing right now.

Why would you mess with anything? But it would. Any time you add anybody, it doesn't matter how incredible they are. It takes time. It takes. You know, I don't care, even if they sweep the finals, they should still try to add him. Are you serious?

Yeah. How many times am I going to go back to this same well? How many times am I right? What don't trade for Yanis? It'll be like 20, 40, but.

I don't know, pal. If you win the championship, you're going to be like, well, that's not good enough. Yeah, we're going to go ahead and get somebody who we think is going to make us what champions for longer. Yeah, well, dude, if you go SGA and Jalen Williams combining for 74 and you add Yanis and the three of you combined for 120. Yeah, but think about all you'd have to lose.

You'd have to give one of them up. Come on now. You think you think they trade Chet.

Chet Sia. Thanks, man. All right.

So on Jalen Williams is probably going for number ones, one of the Jalen Williams is. And that gets it done. Mm hmm. Chemistry, though, man, that team, the pH balance on that team is very high. It is great chemistry. Add a little Greek yogurt and I think you're fine.

The pool looks nice. Just saying they they got it. You can't mess with chemistry sometimes, bro. And you're talking about if they had Yanis, they're potentially 75 win team. They could go 16 and 0 in the playoffs. I'm not saying don't do it, but they're going to lose a lot of members from this team that made them. Oh, they it's all assets.

They have like 12 first round picks in the next five years. All of those by thanks and thanks in part to your team part. We're not the only ones, though. I know you're not alone. You're not alone. I think no matter what happens, you explore this 100 percent.

Oh, yeah, you have to. Everyone should be on the phone. Ricky Smiley in our number two and you and overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. The mayor's office with Sean Casey from Belize. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.