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Grainger, for the ones who get it done. This is The Rich Eisen Show, live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Wow, this place is great.
When can we move in? The Rich Eisen Show. In front of God Country and Chalamet, the New York Knicks have to do it, and that means Brunson's got to do Brunson things. Right wing three Brunson off the dribble, he got it and won.
Four-point play opportunity for Brunson. Today's guests, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, actor Scott Porter, and now it's Rich Eisen. Ah yes, welcome everybody to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show.
We're live here on the Roku Sports Channel, this infinity sports network. Terrestrial radio affiliate smart enough to have a Sirius XM Channel 375 in the Odyssey app, and we say hello to our podcast listeners, we say hello everybody out there in the studio as well, and also to the LA Superior Court System that called me to jury duty yesterday. Say hello to those folks. They've got stories to tell, but I'm here. I'm here on the program.
The red-blooded American trying to do my civic duty. I appreciate Sue sitting in here and talking about such serious subjects as dogs on the bed and whatever she was giggling with TJ Jefferson about. I realized for a solid 90 seconds, you can't put her and I together.
It's just like serious, man, which is fun. That was great. Rich, at one point, she just giggled and said, I'm not even supposed to be here today. I was trying to do a hard hitting a lead in for a soundbite of Patrick Mahomes. Hard hitting, huh? Chris, the only way you know how to do it, you're a hard hitter. I'm a hard hitter. Chris, I rewatched yesterday. The funniest thing was you said to her, are you just repeating what I just said? And she literally said exactly what I said. But I love that as you know, I'm very happy when, when Sue sits here and you guys have fun frequently at my expense.
Sometimes seep into a jury assembly room at any rate. 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich is the number to dial today. Chris Mannix about to make his way here into our studio from the good folks at Sports Illustrated. Going to be joining us also on this program. Tom Pelosero, what's going on at the quarterback situations across some of these training camps, what's going on as June hits, as you know, there's June one situations with salary caps and cuts and rosters and things of that nature is always football to talk about. And our quarterback from the Dylan Panthers from back in the day. Yeah. Scott Porter is going to be here.
Ginny in Georgia is the show he's currently in on Netflix, which is available right here on Roku. He will be joining us in hour number three. It's a what's more likely Friday. I've got a top five list that should engender a phone call or two. Corbin, call back.
Top five toughest divisions in the National Football League. Honestly, Rich, it's all about Corbin. Yesterday was his birthday. We want to know how he celebrates.
All right. Happy birthday, Corbin. We're hoping it was a great one. I'm sure it was great.
844-204 Rich is the number to dial today. Chris, good to see you. It's great to see you. Jay Felley is in his spot wearing his Raiders gear, his LA Dodgers gear. I'm going tonight to watch Harvard Westlake's finest, Max Fried, try and win yet another one for the New York Yankees. Yeah, Cooper and I are going back. We're going to exercise the Freddie Freeman ghost unless he homers in his first at bat. Then we're going to leave. Will you leave immediately if he homers in his first at bat?
That's what happens when I go to Dodger Stadium against the Yankees. When he homers, I leave. All right. You're our good luck charm. What's up, TJ Jefferson? Good to see you. What's up, bro?
Good to see you. We may have to bet Freddie Freeman a homer tonight, boys. Why? Because Cooper and I are there. Yes, exactly. It feels like, you know.
The mushers are back. I'll tell you right there, you ain't there. Nestor Cortez isn't there. That's true. That's true.
That's the night. You know who's still around? The Knicks. The New York Knickerbockers are still around. Still alive. Still alive.
Still alive. Like pros here. You know, it's kind of funny. It was a simple equation last night.
So simple even my buddy Doug, who takes in this program quite a bit, sitting around a poker table watching this game. He's like, man, must win for the Knicks. Gotta have it. Thanks, Doug. Like, okay. He's like, you know, if they win, they have a chance. Like, that's what he said. If they win, they got a chance. We were all like, of course, the whole poker table just heaped abuse on him. Like, so, uh, if they lose, they have no chance, right?
It's all right. Like, yeah. When you're eliminated from contention, you have no chance. So Doug, if they score more points. But what my buddy Doug was saying, what happened was, what he was saying, even though he says he could call in any time to give us such great advice, Doug, you know how to, you know, the number, uh, take Murph's spot. 844-204-rich.
844-204-rich number. Still alive. That's right. They hit him with five shots and he's still alive. Well, I mean, you know, more than five shots.
Um, well, I mean, Halliburton only took seven. That's true. In all honesty here, what Doug was saying was if the Knicks win this game, then they go to game six in Indiana. And the pressure is all on Indiana, even though they could still lose and have a game seven, but the pressure is like, you don't want to go back there for game seven. Even Charles Barkley said last night in, um, in the post game show on TNT is they need to win game six.
Cause if they come back, they're going to get their asses beat again, essentially is what he said. And, um, you know, I never know, never know, but what the Knicks did was hold Indiana to less than a hundred points, which is a massive feat. Um, certainly since, you know, the number of times the Knicks make a big shot in this series and then Indiana instantly inbounds the ball and within five seconds have already gotten the ball down the court and in the hoop to retort and respond. I've lost track, but last night it was Jalen Brunson after 48 hours of hearing how great Tyrese Halliburton is, including on this program here. I mean, I handed Halliburton all his flowers and the coaches saying, Rick Carlisle saying, they're going to name a new stat after him one day about the number of points and rebounds and assists one has in a turnoverless game.
That's a, we'll call that, I guess, pulling a Halliburton. Um, Bronson responded 32 points, five rebounds, five assists, big first quarter. Once again, watched the bench perform well while he sat and some of the big moments he had at the end of the game were, were the stuff of, of New York Knicks playoff legend. Honestly, I don't throw those words around cavalierly, but if I had to name my top five Knicks, I've done this multiple times. I've been a New York Knicks fan since I can remember.
The Michael Ray Richardson, Rory Sparrow days, you know, Red Holtzman was still the coach at the end of his tenure there in Madison Square Garden, grew up listening to Marv Albert on the radio. I mean, I, I, I have bona fides here on this, um, subject matter, top five Knicks of all time, Bernard King's number one, Patrick Ewing's number two. Number three is Walt Clyde Frazier just because I've, I've grown up hearing about him and watching him. And he's just one of my favorite players and personalities. Number four is Jalen Brunson. Number five, as you know, um, him being thrown out of Madison Square Garden was it for me. And he is Jim Jackson's latest guest on the Jim Jackson show podcast, Charles Oakley, but Brunson's number four on the list.
And the reason why I'm mentioning all of this is not because Brunson's play and his energy and his essence is everything about him pulled me back in from my Dolan wormhole. Um, but last night, Jalen Brunson became the fourth Nick in the organization's lush history to have a 30 point game on 65% or better shooting in an elimination playoff contest. Fourth Nick, 30 plus points on 65% or better shooting from the floor in an elimination game. The other three Knicks are the ones above him on my top five list.
Walt Clyde Frazier, Bernard King, Patrick Ewing. That's a good list. He has entered the pantheon. Now one way to go and ensconce himself in the pantheon. And by the way, pantheon ensconcement is a great Pink Floyd album. Yeah.
I love the solo riff on that one. That's nice. Yeah. You gotta be, you know, it helps to be on other things, you know, and if you're, if you need to know about that, just read today's New York times responsibly, but long story short, the way to ensconce is to go to Indianapolis, win game six, come back, do this again in game seven, go to the NBA finals. First time since 1999, but tall order. It does help to have Karl Anthony Towns. It does help to have Karl Anthony Towns who scored another 20 point game again. Do you see that stat that was on Turner last night?
Yeah. Him and Brunson. Him and Brunson, yeah, 20 plus points.
First team mates to do that since Shaq Kobe in the early aughts. So can I ask, let's just, I don't want to get ahead of this, but is there a chance if things go the way you want them to the Knicks that Cat could take that number five spot? It's possible. You know how I feel about him. Well, I was going to bring up, do you think Cat is a better player than Patrick Ewing? Oh, come on now. I think it's without question. Okay. That's hot.
I'll give you the floor to keep on burning. He's the best shooting big man ever, Cat is. His outside shooting I think differentiates and he's, if you look at the stats. What about Ewing's defense though? See, that's the thing. Ewing's defense, Cat has a foul problem, obviously.
Oh my God. Did you see Berkeley after the game last night? He basically said, why did he commit so many dumb fouls? He also said during the broadcast too. And he got, he picked up his fourth foul in the middle of the third quarter last night.
For no reason. The Pacers were in the bonus and Mitchell Robinson allowed them to hack a Mitch and then the Knicks watched their 20 point lead go down to 10. They came up with a 12-0 run in response towards the end of the quarter thanks to, and I can say these things based on who I am, Landry Shammet and his five head.
Okay. And he's balling out. Yeah, we said that yesterday.
And some of his defense was important. And still with even all of that, I'm sweating out a 16 point lead with five minutes to go and four minutes to go. I'm counting it down like it's the ball drop in Times Square. It was 14 with two and a half and you're like, is it really over? And that's it.
The difference between the Knicks needing to go to Indianapolis to win a force a game seven, or they would be going to Indianapolis to close this thing out. And there was even that shot at the end of the first half where Halliburton heaved it up from three quarters court, it hit the iron, popped up in the air and I'm like, is that going to fall straight through again? I thought the same thing. Did you think the same thing? Because Cooper and I were sitting there as soon as we're watching it, we're like, is this guy? He kind of held your breath for a moment. And I'm like, why didn't that happen in game one?
Had to go straight up in the air and straight down the chimney. So I've got PTSD, all Nick fans do. And I know Chalamet does too.
Chalamet. And so back to Indianapolis, this series goes, Karl-Anthony Towns had this to say afterwards. He was cooking.
That's what I saw. I saw him cooking just, you know, when he's playing like that and he's hitting shots, obviously energizes everyone. But you understand, you know, especially when you're getting points at that kind of rate, you got to stop, you got to get some stops.
And, you know, you know, everyone can be trading twos and twos, threes and threes, you know, you want to be able to get some stops while, you know, cap is on that kind of burner, you know, burner. So we did a great job of just executing, holding them to 23 points in the first quarter, something that we did not do well the last game. And again, it's a testament to these guys, you know, after a tough last game, you know, coming back to the drawing board and understanding the situation and playing with that desperation.
Yeah. I mean, and Brunson on defense stepped that up as well on the eight points, six rebounds. I mean, six assists and two rebounds for Tyrese Halliburton. Still no turnovers. God doesn't turn the ball over.
He does not. Seven shots in a game when you can close out, like, come on. Well, I mean, Benedict Matherin was the one who was leading the way with 23 off the bench. They can't have that. So, I mean, the Knicks did what they had to do defensively. They did it all. Tyrese Halliburton says no reason to panic.
Hit it. We're a resilient group, you know. We always want to respond when things don't go well. You know, after a game like that, we understand what the stakes are and we understand the conversation, what will be around our group. But, you know, we're fine. We're fine.
There's no need to panic or anything. You know, it's a tough loss. You know, we really, you know, we got it to 10 a couple times.
We cut it down and we just weren't able to, you know, get over that hump to get, you know, enough stops to get back in the game. So, yeah, there's definitely room for us to improve. And I think the great, great part about this group is, you know, and our staff is everybody's, you know, addicted to film study and figuring out where we can get better.
Coach Carlisle is a savant at that stuff. So, you know, after a game like that, I know it's going to be all over the film. I'm going to be all over the film. We'll be talking a lot tomorrow. You know, as a group, we'll all be talking, seeing where we can get better. And, you know, we'll look at it all as a group and see where we can get better and, you know, improve for game six.
No reason to panic. There you go. I'll tell you this, with all due respect to Indiana and its fans, a game seven in this series is exactly the way TNT should be sent out in its lush history of broadcasting NBA games on a Monday night.
Yeah. That's the way it should go. But I'm sure Pacers fans would say, screw that we're going to, or we're going to go to Oklahoma city. That's where we're going to go in the game where it was like, wow, this could be the end of TNT. And that could be Saturday night, which is what game six is or Monday night game seven, where we go into it, knowing this is the end, my only friend and a game seven of a series that man, I think would be wonderful and deserving of a game seven.
So you're telling me there's a chance. Hey man, that's the way that's the way it felt in, in Indianapolis after, you know, game four, but there is more than the dumb and dumber to man, go to Andy, play like you did in game three, come back to New York, play like you did in game five, move to Oklahoma city and say hello to your old buddy. Hartenstein and send your regards and bring the free throw merchant to Madison square. That would be great. Don't know. We'll see tall order. I love it.
Nordberg. Let's take a break here on the program as a police squad reference. Um, when we come back, Chris Maddox, his two cents on what we're seeing and, uh, I'm just glad, uh, Chris, you didn't wear Spike Lee suit today. That would have been very, very awkward, awkward. That's how we're rolling a break right here.
Chris Maddox joining us on the rich eyes and show. Welcome to auto zone. What are you working on today? My car is making this noise. Sometimes it's like, and sometimes it's like, do you have a dash light on? Oh yeah. And we don't have to listen for clues with the free fix finder service.
We can read a check engine, abs or maintenance light to find the likely fix and even recommend a local shop if you need one. So you don't need to hear the, not with fix binder, everything you need, nothing you don't get in the zone auto zone restrictions apply. All right. Top story in the NBA has nothing to do with Oklahoma city making it to the finals. It has nothing to do with the patients in the next going to a sixth game or Yannis is impending summer of whatever it is. Not at all.
It's that Chris Maddox, who's back here on the rich eyes and show has some personal news to impart. And that is what? Don't do juice cleanses, ladies and gentlemen. All right.
I'm on the backend of a week long juice cleanse. All right. So first of all, follow up question. Why? Well, I've been on the road for a while. Okay. And when you're on the road, it's no good.
A lot of pizza, bad, a lot of Chinese, bad choices, a lot of things that are bad for. So I get back in LA earlier in the week and I'm like, I got to do something to reset before I go off to the finals. Juice cleanse, I've tampered with, tamper, that's, I don't know the word, but I've, I've messed around with a little bit in the past. This is the longest I've done it. This is the last day of it. Tomorrow.
I'm having so much meat. It's probably going to make it all. Yeah. Go right back to it. Is this what Luca did? I don't know. He's looking slimmer though.
You got the white t-shirt thing going too. Are you on the Luca plan? That's the only thing Luca Dodge and I have in college is that. Luca's weird though. Like he has, maybe it's the youth of him, but he has the ability to go up and down in weight very quickly.
Sure. Like he can be 20 pounds overweight one month and the next month he's looking incredibly slim. Maybe he's a method actor.
That's what it sounds like. Didn't like De Niro put all that weight on for, for Raging Bull? Then he took all the weight off. I think it's more he's 26 years old and it's easy to do things like that and anything else. So maybe he is on a juice cleanse.
He's done something. Unless the Lakers, as I said the other day, acquired two rim protectors named Ozempic and Munjaro. Hey.
Those could be that, that could be it too. Ozempic Luca? I don't know. Luca Zempic?
I don't know. I never know with camera angles. Remember like when James Harden was at the end in Houston and his last game there it looked like he was wearing a fat suit?
Yeah. And then he shows up in Brooklyn and he's looking like he's 20 pounds lighter. Like sometimes the camera does lie.
That's true. James Harden, remember, by the way, Chris Mannix here on The Rich Eyes and Show, our radio audience just returned. Harden used to be able to seemingly put weight on out of spite and then take it off out of trying to spite the team that just got rid of him. He seemed to have that ability. You start to think too that maybe he was wearing a fat suit at times or was intentionally misleading the public about his weight.
Because as long as I've covered James Harden, his weight and his conditioning has been part of his narrative every single year. Seems like that's what Luca is now, right? Pretty much. Same thing. Yeah.
All right. Let's hit, let's hit the main story right now. The Knicks extend the series to a sixth game. I'd love to get your perspective on what you've seen so far out of the Eastern Conference Finals.
What do you think, brother? Wild series. I was at the first four games. Game one was one of, if not the wildest finish that I've ever seen with Neesmith going off. And, and there really hasn't been much of a, much of a, much of an ebb and flow to the series.
It's been unpredictable really from start to finish. Tyrese Halliburton has had some great games. He's had some truly awful games. Carl Anthony Towns has been up and he's been down. But when I watched game five last night, I'm thinking to myself, watch like, why can't the Knicks play like this every game? Offensively, we know they're good. They were a top five offensive team in terms of rating. Brunson, Towns, elite offensive players for their position. But watching them defend in that way, holding the Pacers to 41% from the floor, 33% from three, forcing 20 turnovers in this game. The Knicks have the bodies to do something close to this on a regular basis.
You think about it. Mikayla Bridges, elite defender. Oji Ananobi, elite defender. Mitchell Robinson, elite rim protector. They should be able to be better defensively than they've been throughout the course of this year. They were at a middle of the pack team defensively in the regular season. They've been a middle of the pack team defensively in the playoffs.
Last night, they put it together on both ends of the floor. I don't know if they can do it for two more games, but I watched that game and I'm like, this is the best version of the Knicks. I don't know why we don't get this more often. Well, I think the reason why, if I could just give one in the series is because the Pacers get up and down the floor so damn fast that if your defensive strength is half court defense, you're not set up. Sometimes maybe last night's transition defense was better or the Knicks made more shots and the Pacers, they usually do just get the ball up the floor and retort anyway. Some of their shots just didn't fall. I mean, Neesmith didn't make every shot. Siakam didn't make every shot. Usually when the ball is up off of a wide open three for the Pacers in the first four games of the series, it's going straight through the net. And that didn't happen last night. Maybe it was part of the Knicks defensive effort that can be repeated in the next two games.
Maybe, I just don't know. I think it was part of their defensive effort. I think the defensive effort against Tyrese Halliburton was the difference maker in this game. I mean, what Halliburton did in game four, putting up the kind of numbers that we've literally never seen in a playoff game before. The Knicks going into game five made some subtle changes. They blitzed more when Halliburton was coming off screens.
They put more pressure on him coming up the floor. I think overall, Bridges has done a pretty solid job on him in this series. And taking him out of the game like this, where not only does he have eight points, he only takes seven shots in this game.
If you're Tyrese Halliburton, you've got to be well above 15. I would say at least probably 20, if not more, for this team to win some of these games. I know he's first and foremost trying to be a playmaker out there, trying to get the ball up the floor, trying to make the right play. But you cannot take seven shots if you are the star player on this team and expect to win games in the series. To use the Indianapolis sort of phrase here, he kind of had his hands on 10 and 2 and a foot on the break last night. He's done that a couple of times. I don't think that will happen in game six. Well, he did it in game three. In game three, he didn't have as few shots, but he was taken out of that game early and never really got back into it. He actually apologized after game three for his performance and said, put this on me, responded well, played great in game four. But he did it again here in game five. I think the question going into game six is, which version of Tyrese Halliburton is going to show up? If it's the version we saw in game four that we saw for most of game one, Paige is going to close this thing out at home.
If it's a lesser version of that series coming back to New York, Matt, in game seven at MSG. Oh boy. I was saying that that is the way for TNT to be sent off, you know? Yeah. But again, Pacers fans do not care.
I'm not sure what I can't really go into. The TNT being sent off stuff is bizarre to me since the entire Inside the NBA show with its staff is going over to another network. And basketball, I don't know if you know this, basketball will still be played.
I know that. I do like Turner's game presentation just quite a bit, you know? And I do hope Harlan goes and gets a kick somewhere. He's going somewhere. Stan's going to Amazon. They're all going somewhere. Reggie's going, I think, to NBC. God, I love Harlan.
All right. So Chris Maddox here on The Rich Eisen Show. Heart of Hearts, sodium pentothal. They're on Truth Serum. The Thunder wants who? Who do they want? I think they'd probably say the Knicks are a better matchup. You know, the Pacers are kind of thunder light.
They play 10, 11 guys. They've got a star point guard. I think the Knicks are an easier matchup because the Knicks, you know, Jalen Brunson's the head of the snake. But as the Thunder have shown this postseason, they have so many weapons defensively. They can put Dort on Brunson, Caruso on Brunson, Kason Wallace on Brunson. They can win in the half court.
They can win push. Like the Knicks to me are just a better matchup for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But I don't think either one of them is that tough a matchup for Oklahoma City. I said this earlier in the week, like Oklahoma City in the Western Conference playoffs passed every test that was put in front of it.
Real test. Down 2-1 against Denver in Denver. They win Game 4 in a low scoring game. Game 7 against a former champion. They blow them out at home. Then you go into this Conference Finals Game 3.
They get tattooed in Minnesota. Timberwolves got some momentum. Game 4, they go out and they win that game. Then they blow them out in Game 5. Like they have just consistently shown that they are not afraid of the spotlight.
That they are ready for the moment. So even though for I think all of these guys, it'll be their first time in the NBA Finals. I don't expect them to shrink and be concerned with playing at a Madison Square Garden or playing in an NBA Finals. Yeah, I mean when I asked that question Brockman got in my ear.
Go ahead and say what you said in my ear. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who they play, right?
Not really. I mean, I think the Pacers might push them to 6. I think they'd beat the Knicks in 5. How about that?
Yeah. Have you ever, like give me a comparison to a team entering the NBA Finals with everything set up for the future on top of the present. 68 wins. What you just said, they've passed every test in the Western Conference Finals and prior. I understand that they're still young and really haven't done it yet. They haven't been there and they haven't done it yet.
But the way that they're set up for the future as well. Is there anything you could compare these Oklahoma City Thunder to previous conference champion winners going into the NBA with everything that Oklahoma City has going for it in draft choices for the future? They got four this year, don't they?
Yeah. First rounders? I don't know what the number is exactly, but not in the modern era have we seen a team under these new rules set up to succeed the way Oklahoma City is. I mean, look, Boston last year, we thought that was going to be the beginning of a Boston mini dynasty. Tatum Brown in their mid-twenties, White holiday under contract, Porzingis under contract. So the caveat is things can change very quickly. One injury, one bad series.
All of a sudden you're looking at your books and saying, maybe we have to shake this thing up. But the Thunder are as equipped as any team over the last, since the end of the Warriors dynasty or 10 years ago with the Warriors, to replace some of the more expensive parts. So for example, like Lou Dort, great player for this team. If he gets too expensive for them in the next year or two, they can trade him away and they've got Kason Wallace kind of waiting in the wings. You look at some of the guys deep on their bench, you know, they're scrubs, they're mop up guys. Could probably beat like the Wizards, Hornets, and a bunch of other teams in the NBA. They've got guys that are waiting in the wings.
They've got the draft capital to your point. They've got this kid, I might write about him in the finals. Nikola Topic, who was their lottery pick last year. Nikola Topic was a star over in Europe.
He slipped to the middle part of the first round in part because he had a knee injury that was going to sideline him for all this season. This kid's had a year to learn the NBA, to get stronger physically, to get better skills wise. The Thunder are very excited about what Nikola Topic is going to do for this team next year.
So that's a player that they can just insert into their rotation next year. So yeah, I mean that's a long way of saying I don't, I can't think of a team that's as equipped as Oklahoma City is to survive these new capitals and succeed in the future. Deep into the future as they're getting, they're sitting back waiting to host the NBA Finals once it starts.
I mean we'll have a conversation game one, you know, if they're rusty, ready, all that sort of business, but that's in the future. They could use a rest though. I mean they went seven games with Denver. That was a grueling series. Right.
Maybe eight days is a little bit too long, but I can tell you from talking to people out there, they appreciate the time off. So does this run take them off the board for Giannis? Yeah, I mean I don't know if they were ever really on the board for Giannis.
And the only reason why it's being mentioned is because of all the capital that they have. It's a match for a team that might be, you know, hamstrung enough because their superstar says, I want out, you know. So I mean, look, Shay Gildas-Alexander is a supermax player. In the next couple of years, Oklahoma City is going to have a couple of members of their core, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams. These are going to be max level guys.
Correct. Similar to Tatum and Brown. Yeah, I've never gotten the sense that Oklahoma City was all that interested in adding a player like Giannis, who is going to gobble up like 35 percent of their salary cap.
Like their strength is their ability to add pieces like an Alex Caruso, like an Isaiah Hartenstein. I just never got the sense Oklahoma City was in play. As much as people like to talk about it, I was talking about it too for months. But when I talk to people out there, I never got the sense that they were in play for Giannis as much as possible.
As much as people maybe wanted them to be. All right, so your colleagues at ESPN this week, Shams on Pat's show and Windhorse came here a couple days ago. They both think this summer is going to be off the rails.
Do you feel the same way right now? I think it has the potential to be really active because there's a perfect storm kind of brewing now in the NBA. Giannis is the head of it, the eye of the storm. He's going to meet with the Bucks, I've been told, sometime in the next couple of weeks.
And what comes out of that discussion, I don't know. Can the Bucks sell him on this idea of a gap year? And hey, we'll be good to go in 26-27 when we can trade some pieces, get some draft picks that we can deal back.
I don't know if he's going to buy that, so we'll see what comes out of that. But if Giannis becomes in play, all of a sudden everything stops until Giannis can be acquired. But then you have the situation with the Celtics, where we don't know how deep the cuts that Boston is going to make are going to go. The anticipation from other executives is that one or two members of that rotation are going to be traded. Is that Drew Holiday?
Is that Derek White? Sam Houser, I would expect to be gone because they can replace him with a cheaper alternative. But everybody's kind of wondering, like with Tatum being gone for next year, will Boston get serious about trading Jalen Brown? There's no indications yet the Celtics are looking at that, but there are questions about whether Jalen Brown will become available.
And there are buyers out there for a Jalen Brown, for Giannis. Oklahoma City may be off the table, but San Antonio is not. The Houston Rockets are not.
These are two teams that are going to be very aggressive. And because Boston is out of play in the Eastern Conference next year, at least in terms of winning a championship, there are a lot of teams this summer, Rich, that are going to be looking around going, we're one piece away from at least winning the Eastern Conference. I mean, think about it, like Cleveland, which just had a disappointing second round exit. They got to be saying like, well, maybe we trade Jarren Allen, we put Mobley at center, we get another wing, and we can make a run. Go down to the bottom of the playoff bracket. Orlando, which gave Boston some hell in that first round series. Great defense, good young players, maybe one score away from being a top four team in the Eastern Conference. They're going to be wondering if they can make a run. So I think there are a lot of teams, because of the short-term demise of the Celtics, that are going to be trying to position themselves as a team that can win the East next year. What about Durant? Where does he sit in all this here? He's the one guy I'm most certain will be traded.
Okay. The team that I'm still watching the closest is going to be Houston. Can Houston make a play for Giannis?
I'm sure they would love to. Can Houston make a play for Jalen Brown? Imea Yudoka and Jalen Brown go way back. Imea loves Jalen. That would probably be next on their list, but if those two guys are not available and Kevin Durant is still on the board, I think they'd explore it.
I've reported in the past there has been mutual interest between Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets. Kevin played for Imea Yudoka when Imea was an assistant in Brooklyn. Every player in the league loves Imea Yudoka.
Every player wants to play for Imea Yudoka. That's a real asset that the Rockets have. And Kevin, I'm sure, not to speak for him, but I'm sure he's looking at that situation going, hey, they just need to score. You know, they can defend that he's somebody to supplement Alperin Sangoon.
That would be a good situation. It's not ideal for Houston because of the age of Kevin Durant. He'll probably want a new contract when he gets traded. It doesn't really fit their timeline, but if you can add Kevin Durant to a team of Amen Thompson, Fred Van Vliet, you know, Alperin Sangoon, you got a team that can compete in the West. What about the Lakers?
What do you got for me there? You know, they're still looking for a big. Is it true Derek Lively grew two inches? Did I read that somewhere?
I haven't talked to anybody in Dallas about it. That's what I heard. He's now 7'3". Whenby is 7'7", now, apparently. What? Is he growing, too? I didn't see that. I heard that, too. Beth Lanouche I'm not quite into yet, given that we're not into the offseason at this point.
Isn't this amazing? These players are still so young. They can still have a growth spurt after seven feet. You know, if I'm the Lakers, though, I'd be real interested in Daniel Gafford in Dallas. You know we can play opposite Luca.
He's had success doing that short term. They went to the finals with him. If you're Dallas, you don't really need Daniel Gafford right now because you've got a three-man front court that can be multi-positional. AD can move up to five. Cooper Flag can play three or four. Daniel Gafford right now to them is a luxury, and I don't think you can get like an Austin Reeves for a Daniel Gafford.
Certainly not. But if you can find a way, if you're the Lakers, to get your hands on Daniel Gafford for a relatively low price, that would, to me, make the most sense for them. Well, I mean, he's only got to be offered to the Lakers. Only, yes.
Only, yes. That's the only way they acquire a Maverick. It might actually be being discussed right now. If Gafford's on the market for others, it's never going to happen. That's the only way that the Lakers and Mavericks make a trade.
Only one team of the 29 can be dealt with. But LeBron stays, right? He ops in.
What do we do here? When I talk to people about the LeBron's contract deal, it's just, logistically, it makes more sense for him to opt in and then you could extend off that opt-in. So if he wants to extend that contract, and we don't know, he might just want to play out the rest of this deal.
He can do that. It's a big number for next year. It's for LeBron James.
Massive. Well, I mean, listen, he's due it. He should get it.
I had Rich Paul here. He said they haven't discussed it yet about his long-term future. You don't really have to. It's really like, what do you want to do with LeBron? Right. And we'll do it. Well, I mean, and the Lakers are clearly one of those people that will say, what do you want? We'll do it. But why wouldn't he basically say, I've got all the money in the world.
I need to win one more. Is this like the NFL, where if he takes less, that would be more for others? Or there's aprons or rules that would prevent that from actually... It increases the Lakers flexibility. And he did that last year with a little bit small haircut on his last contract, where it kept them under that second apron. The truth is though, LeBron correctly believes that his value massively exceeds his contract. Look, NBA star players make a lot of money. We're trending towards the million dollar per game player, the $82 million per year player.
I would argue for a lot of those guys, it's still underpaid, undervalued because of the value they bring to these games. More so than the NFL. People go to watch players in basketball. Which is why the whole load management thing pisses people off. Irritates the hell out of them. Because they do, in fact, go to games to see a specific player. Certainly when they only come through a certain town once a year.
So that's why the load management question is so infused. Listen, we're spending so much time, certainly in the Western Conference months, the face of the NBA. Who's the face of the NBA?
Is it now SGA more than Anthony Edwards? It's still LeBron James and Steph Curry. Those are the faces of the National Basketball Association in 2025, period. And so, yeah, of course, LeBron outperforms whatever amount of money he's being given. You could pay him $200 million per year. He would probably still be a bargain for his team and for the NBA. He generates that type of revenue. And look, you see him in the WNBA too, not to veer too far off course.
No, please, you're not far off course at all. Kaitlyn Clark, what are the ratings go down? 40% from what the fever we're drawing before her recent injury.
Attendance, like paid attendance versus actual attendance at these games. People in basketball more than any other sport, I think, they go to watch certain players more than they go to watch certain teams. That's why the value of these superstars far outsees the contract, which brings us back to the point where I just don't see LeBron taking a haircut off whatever top dollar figure he can get. Maybe it's a small one like he did last time to stay under the second apron, give the team some flexibility, but he's not going to be, you know, a mid-level exception guy for the Lakers going forward. Well, listen, man, so I guess the next time we talk, you think we're, you know, we'll be talking about the Thunder up maybe in the finals.
And that's what you're basically saying right now, right? I just have a hard time seeing anybody beat Oklahoma City, either one of these teams coming out of the East. I mean, I think the Pacers can get creative with what they do, exceptionally well coached as well.
The Knicks just don't have the horses to me. I mean, I love like that Tom Thibodeau has discovered his bench in the last, you know, few games. Like he went all season long, basically playing seven or eight guys coming under fire constantly for not going deep into his bench. All of a sudden, like, do you think like Delen Wright like knew, did Delen Wright have to like check with an assistant like after he heard his name?
Like did he call me in the first quarter? I'm sure Shamit felt the same way. Shamit at least has played, right? Like Shamit's been in and out of it.
I mean, campaign was getting more minutes. You're right. No, no, but, but like Delen Wright, I think was the, was a first quarter of game three. Delen Wright is checking in. He's checking in, first quarter. He must have been like, wait a minute. He's talking about right. Is he saying towns?
What did he say? Presatua is getting minutes now. I mean, it's, it's, it's remarkable to see how this team is winning. I got to tell you, Chris, if you don't mind me saying your, your commentary, your approach, your delivery has been spot on today. And I think the reason why is you've been juicing.
I have. You know what I mean? I think, you know, you might be the end of this juice cleanse, but I think you're, you're, you're performing better. If you would like to stop by downtown LA for a barbecue tomorrow, Rich, there will be plenty of meat available. Plenty of meat.
The carnivore to be. Chris Mannix here on the Rich Eisen Show. Thanks for coming in brother. We'll see you soon.
Bobby, how would that moment compared to watching Charles Oakley get dragged out of Madison Square Garden? I was there. You were there. Oh, you were? Please walk, walk me through.
Walk me through. So you were there with Chris and Aziz and two funny guys. Yeah.
Yeah. And and you know, it happened over under the basket there where Dolan normally sits. And we were in the middle there across from the bench. And it was surreal. I know that word's overused, but it was surreal to see Charles Oakley get carried out like that. It was weird.
Did you know something like when did it took a while for us to figure out what was happening? And then I remember the Knicks were bringing the ball down and then they stopped. I don't remember who had the ball, but he just stopped. And the whole team, the teams on the court placed off, stopped to look at, see what was going on.
I think everybody realized at the same time that it was Oak. And then, and then it was, and then it was just the audience that the crowd was every shot, like it escalated. It was like, Oh, Oh, Oh, it was like being in a wrestling match. It was wild.
And then they carried him out and the place went nuts. Couldn't believe it. I cannot believe you. You watched Charles Oakley get dragged out of Madison Square Garden with your own two eyes, Bob. I mean, I could not like Lee was there.
You couldn't believe it. Everyone just like it during the time was there. That's that next thing you're gonna tell me Jack Nicholson was at the Lakers. McEnroe McEnroe was there. I know he was right there. Was Woody Allen there? It was not. I don't know why that's funny. What about, uh, Bob Costas?
Costas now. Oh yeah. Can you tell this story? You gotta tell the cost. Tell the story. When I was like 21 years old, I went to the, um, I went to the, uh, what was it? The Heisman trophy, um, at the downtown athletic club. I managed to get invited. Like I had an extra ticket or somebody gave me a ticket and I went through the thing and I went to the bathroom and, uh, Bob Costas was in the next urinal and I was like 21.
So this was 1990, 91. And I said, and I was peeing. And I went, I'm a big fan of yours. And he told anyone, don't you know the rule? You're not supposed to talk when you're in the urinal. And I was like, Oh God, I didn't. That's how I learned the rule. Anyway, I saw him at the Knicks game and I was, I never met him before, but since then, and I said to him, Hey, Bobby kind of Ali, I just wanted to introduce myself and say, uh, when I was 21, I told him the story and he went, it doesn't sound like something I'd say shot me down. Just please shoot down twice. Well, he was also sitting on the toilet when you told him the second time he was, he was, he was, he was, he was, yeah. So what did you shut the door? I don't care that you have two Emmys.
Shut the door chip. I miss that studio, man. Can you believe that we had a studio in New York city to go to whenever we wanted. It was great.
Everything about him was direct TV and the great Chris, Christopher J. Long. Yeah, sure. Why not? Oh man, kind of Ali.
Carnival. And it's amazing. Cause I heard from a New York sports talk radio that, uh, uh, Nick, the Knicks couldn't perform well in front of all the celebrities there and they had their best game in the playoffs in front of all the celebrities.
Well, that's weird. That was, they didn't want to let shallow me down. I can't let shallow me down and miles teller. Come on. Did you see TJ McConnell? Like after he shot a three, he was clowning them right in front of their face. It's fun.
Fun for everybody. Look at this eight, four, four, two Oh four. Rich is the number to dial.
Uh, let's go to the phone lines. Is this, is this really from the great beautiful country of Italy? Fetti from Italy is here on the rich eyes and show. Are you calling from Italy?
Fetti V Italy. Yes, sir. Okay.
Yes. We're in Italy. I am.
First time, long time, by the way. Okay, great. Uh, we're in Italy.
Fetti. Um, Bologna would be the biggest town. Okay. Most known town.
Closest. Okay. But where?
Give me the name of the town. It's all good. We're good.
We're not geo-town. S A N O. Final. Okay. Awesome. God, I miss going to Italy. One of the greatest places on planet earth.
Amazing. You said you miss going like you can't go back. No, I know. I just, I don't know. I sit here a lot. I got called in for jury duty.
How am I going to go to Italy? Uh, all right, Fetti, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to talk about?
Uh, well, I have a question for you. Are you coming to the Denver Broncos and New York jets in London? Cause I got my tickets and I think you're going to be there. I do not know, uh, yet, uh, Fetti.
Um, but as soon as I know, I will let the folks here on this program. And thus, you know, um, if I'm going to be there, um, if I'm calling any of these games on NFL network internationally, um, so are you a Bronco fan sitting, sitting in Italy? I am. I am. Yeah. Okay. Do you, do you want to do an international version of exactly.
I wanted to do the win loss game. Let's go. This guy's the win loss game has gone around the world. You know, it's amazing.
It's like the Magellan of sports television, radio bits. There's a McDonald's in Fano. Okay. Um, listen, I will say this. I will, I will say this.
Anybody who goes to McDonald's in Italy should not be allowed to return to the country. All right, here we go. Denver Broncos win loss game all the way from Italy.
Fetti, what happens when they open against the Titans? That's a win. All right. Then at the Colts, two and O at the chargers. Um, that's going to be a loss. All right. Two and one home for the Bengals on a Monday night.
I really like borough. I think we lose that one too. Two and two at the Eagles. That's a loss. All right. So now they're two and three in front of you at Tottenham against the jets in London. I, I, I think that's going to be a loss. Really?
Okay. Two and four home for the giants. We pick it up right here. We win three and four home for the Cowboys. We win this one. Four and four at the Texas loss four and five home for the Raiders on a Thursday night. When this one five and five home for the chiefs and when this one six and five off the buy at the commanders lose this one six and six at the Raiders sweep them seven and six home for the Packers. That's a win eight and six home for the Jaguars when nine and six at the chiefs on a Thursday night loss nine and seven home for the chargers. And we close out with a win.
Hopefully a playoff spot. Fetty in Italy, a very fascinating international edition of the win loss game. Arrivederci, Fetty. Thank you for the call.
Thank you. Grazie mille. Grazie mille. And after that, I'm hooked completely on phonics. Cause when I go to Italy, I'd like Susie to do the talking. She's quite fluent in it. She could have hosted this show in Italian yesterday. That would have been off the rails.
You would have still been laughing about it. More than likely. More than likely.
It's a what's more likely Friday, right? Yeah. Fano, Italy on the North coast of Italy. Yeah. On the Adriatic sea. Yeah. Oh, North Northeast part of Italy on the Adriatic.
Okay. Next to San Marino. Next to San Marino.
You know, every single time I hear about the Adriatic, I think of the Albania song from cheers. You remember that? No.
If I'm not mistaken, this was the way that cliff studied for going on jeopardy. Okay. Just look it up.
I don't want to sing it. Okay. Win loss game 10 and seven for the Broncos. Your thoughts. It seems about right. Okay. What were they last year?
Same. I think that's what they were last year. Were they not? Hmm. She got this right. Cause we're going to hear from Bo Nix later on.
Cause he spoke Broncos 20, 24. I'll look it up. Don't worry. I got it. I mean, you have a computer in front of you and a microphone and I'm hosting and I'm talking, you know, you know, it's bad. You can only do one thing at once. I got it. You know, it's bad on a television radio broadcast is when the host says nothing and nobody else says anything.
Long pauses. Well, we're on TV only right now. Okay. You know, it's bad on TV only.
They can see us. So it's not, but you know, it's bad. Terrible. Long pauses.
Terrible. You're listening to the rich eyes. I was thinking about this the, the literally this morning that we haven't, we don't play these enough. We've got ready to roll. We also had the, uh, that was listening to the rich eyes. Okay.
There's a Dennis Haysbert. We just heard him back to the rich. Okay.
You're listening to the rich eyes. I mean having Frazier crane do that. It's just as crazy as it comes. The thing about the AFC West is right. The chiefs aren't going to win 15 again, right? I don't think so.
Okay. And so the Raiders probably aren't going to win four games. That's correct. So chargers at 11 and six and Broncos at 10 and seven seem about right. If you kind of just going by division total wins. So total wins, the, the Raiders will have more, the chiefs will have less and the others stay like a before 40 last year. That seems about right for that division.
We should ask Fetty if the state, if the rent stays like before. Well, that'd be the division with the most wins. Well, Christopher, I've got a top five list coming up. Top five toughest divisions in football.
Cause the North had 45 NFC North. I'm just telling you what I have coming up. I was just telling you how many wins they had. Okay.
Okay. Good bit. Our number one in the books, TJ just said nothing. Now we're to Tom Palacios coming up. Actor, Michael Rosenbaum. You know, some of the most talented people in the business. Let's get inside of Jack Osborne.
Bands would say black Sabbath was a huge influence and thank God you liked it boy. Yeah. Elijah would Peter gets on the phone with Elijah. Would you like to play the role of Frodo? Did you cry? Probably screamed at the top of my lungs. You play iconic characters, black canary and black siren. Who would you choose? Probably black siren. She's like, I got this. And that's how Katie Cassidy feels. She's got this. The inside of you podcast follow and listen on your favorite platform.
