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This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody! Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere.
Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast, so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part: our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com/slash rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment.
Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. That's like an alarm clock. Yay, yay, with guest host, O'Shea Jackson Jr. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Today's guests, ESPN senior NBA writer Ramona Shelburne, many time Emmy-nominated host, Rich Eisen. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, sitting in Barich, O'Shea Jackson Jr. Ladies and gentlemen, I am that smooth molasses in your eargate film and television and now radios. O'Shea Jackson Jr.
sitting in for Rich Eisen. Over there, we got my brother of the ball brigade, Chris Brockman in the building. What up, baby? What's happening, man? Jay Felly on the ones and twos.
Hey, what up, O'Shea? And over there in the corner, my tag team partner, the big tuna, TJ Jefferson. Stop calling me that, though. Come on, man. You run out tuna.
The big tuna is a hilarious name. With two O's, though, though. Yeah, people be thinking it's fish. You know, bro, big tuna. Altuna.
Al Tuna, Pennsylvania. What's up, y'all? How y'all feeling? What up, man? What's up, man?
How you feeling? What up? I feel great. Great when the Thunderloo. I feel so like.
Man, I walked food tasted better. You know, when I stretched, I didn't pull my back. I'm 35. That's a real danger. Yeah.
That's a real danger. And the Thunder lose. Hooray for me. Tried to tell you that yesterday. It was going seven.
Yeah, man, but I agreed with you. You guys did. You know what it was? It was the hopeless, my man Chris Brockman. Full of no hope.
I guess, honestly, when Hall of Famers come on the show and they tell us things. We need to listen. To that information. Chris Weber was on here earlier this week with Susie and said, Oh, yeah, San Antonio is going to blow them out in game six. Like, we're going to have a game seven.
And we were all like, what? Blow them out? They looked terrible in game five. Yeah, no legs. No legs.
Wemby was terrible. They were, you know, him and Fox were eight for 30. Nope, didn't matter. Yeah. Blowout last night.
Yeah, it was incredible. And wait, hold on, TJ, you know what I like to do. Time out. Chris Weber was here? Wow, stop it.
I'm a Laker fan, man. He was a Sacramento fan. Oh, timeout. But, yeah, timeout. Chris Weber was here?
Terrible. But, yes, the Spurs handled business, 118 to 91. Gotta love that. Uh Victor Wembanyam. There he is.
They said that you couldn't just get 15 shots up. You put up 21, hit 10 of them, but four of those were major threes at great times, really set the gap. where it was needed. Um and they handled they did what they were supposed to do at home. The key to that victory, though, while you got your starters doing your business, how about Dylan Harper?
My man Dylan Harper with 18 points off the bench for San Antonio. Hooping. All right. Six for nine shooting. And remember that, remember that the three-point percentage I said was going to change?
It got up to 37. 37%. Yeah, 29 and 37. That's huge. I think they out.
They made five more threes than Oklahoma City. They doubled their free throw attempts. I mean, everything was going San Antonio's way last night. And again, that's why we're getting a game seven, which we all would have expected. After the epic game one, we were hoping for a game seven in this series.
The games have not been great. Once again, you know, that's now five out of the six games that have just been kind of Yawnfest heading into the fourth quarter. You know, the stars are coming out early in the fourth. It's not what we want. It's not what we were hoping, but we are getting a game seven, so still fingers crossed that that's going to be an epic battle.
And we'll see who makes it to the NBA Finals to play the Knicks. You ever had A sandwich Where the bread kind of made the sandwich. Like the bread was so good that it was just like the key X factor in the sandwich. Maybe that's what we're going to get. Because game one and game seven, if we get two great games right there, that's a pretty good sandwich, man.
And I really don't want Oklahoma City to go any further. But you know, it's usually there might be a chance of 5v8. Yeah, do you think so let's say game seven is you know Let's say it's like a five-point game. Like it comes down to the closing minutes, but free throws makes it a two-possession game or what have you. Do you think that is going to.
We are going to look back and remember this as a great series because this has not been a great series at all. But do you think the great game one and a close game seven will kind of make us forget that this was kind of a Almost like a snoozer. A little bit. It's one of those when you look it up online later on in life, you're like, oh, actually, I don't remember it that way. It's because that game one and game seven were so crazy.
It it might be something like that. But I Where do you guys think in Oklahoma? Do you Do you see the Spurs having a chance? In my heart of hearts, of course, I'm the Lakers fan who just had to see them. I think Oklahoma's going to go in here, and it's going to be the game that I was expecting in game one.
Yeah. And I I I can't stand that I feel that way. And I'm hoping when you beat a team, you make sure that you have to beat them a certain way. Because in basketball, really in any sport, that you get multiple games in a series. You don't want momentum to go.
You know, either direction and getting your tail whipped in game six, the Spurs are going in there with a level of confidence that might be scary for the Thunder, but You know what the tail is, the calls that they might get in that building. And so it's going to be interesting to see. Would you rather watch a rematch of nineteen ninety nine or the Battle of Blue and Orange, OKC vs. the Knicks? I'm pulling for the Spurs.
I like them more. I like the way they play basketball more. But if I hate to bring this back to officiating guys, it's like you look at the free throw numbers. You look at the free throw numbers. They shoot 12 last night, I believe, in San Antonio.
Game five in Oklahoma City, they shoot 38. Like, come on. You know what I mean? They shoot 18 in game four. It's just what I'm saying, the disparity is so great.
That you can't help but wonder, TJ. Are they going to shoot 30 more free throws? game seven at home and we're just going to be complaining about it. On Monday, that officiating once again decided a game in this series.
Well, it's funny you brought that up because I was literally going through and looking at the amount of foul shots that were taken throughout this series. I realized yesterday.
Okay. I think the rest were letting them play. Because good, the let's see. Oklahoma City was 11 of 12 from the line. The Spurs were 21 of 25.
A little bit of a discrepancy, and yet we're talking there was one game, I think it was game three. Both teams attempted 33 foul shots. And I noticed it yesterday. It looked like they were getting a little physical.
Okay, refs were kind of taking the whistles and putting them in their pocket. Hopefully, we get that. Hopefully, the refs let these guys play. We don't need the ticky-tat fouls, just let them go out there. To get busy for 48 minutes in Truly crown a winner without ref interference.
I know that sounds great and all, but it's gonna happen. In a perfect world, TJ. In a perfect world. But it's kind of what we got yesterday a little bit. Yeah, it would be great.
We're getting a game seven. And afterward, last night, Victor Wemayama was asked what he thinks about when he hears the words game seven. Uh first thing is listening to You know, the experienced people. Whether it's on our team, on our staff or outside. We got the chance to have plenty of those around.
Yeah, man. First of all, I was surprised he was sitting down. I thought he was standing. And then when he zoomed out, I was like, because he was holding the mic. I was like, oh man, they won't let him sit down.
What a giant. Did you see the shirt he was wearing when he walked in? Oh, yeah. What's that, a 7x? I saw it.
My goodness. He came in with a tarp tee. A tarp tee. That was wild, man. The dude is just larger than life.
We saw him at Fanatics Fest, and I couldn't believe it. Yeah, it was just like, I was sitting there like, whoa. Yeah, man. Large. Man.
He's probably grown since then, by the way. Since you saw them, he's probably added an inch or two. That dude we were talking about it in our Um Ebony and Ivory Carpool. Uh that that dude, if he had a Put on the muscle of Giannis. What does that look like?
There's still a chance, Scary. And I'm pulling for them. We're really going to be watching the referees, and I think the league has to know. that we're watching the referees. Adam Silver.
He has this war against tanking. What happened to Floppin'? Didn't they used to get fined $5,000? Technical fouls, too, for flopping. Yeah.
What happened to that? I don't know. It was just out the window. I think that's coming. Man, you know, we're going to have Ramona Shelburne on.
In a few, and I need to ask her because she has much more knowledge about the league than I do. What happened to that $5,000 fine that you used to get for flopping? Also, she can truly break down how this whole... Tanking thing is going to work. I was watching that.
It all got passed. I was really trying to figure out, and I was like, wait a minute, we got Ramona coming in today, so I don't even have to worry. She'll be able to please inform me. What got passed? It's a little bit confusing.
The 3-2-1 on the tanking and the new lottery stuff is it got officially passed.
Well, here we go. Here we go. Yeah, man, because I need to know. I mean, what do you think? We we we gotta go through what we think Shay Gilgis Alexander would be fine by now if we were going to find 275,000 there's a compilation of him flopping on every A shot attempt in one game.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Five grand per flop. And like we said, someone put a mashup together of his Clipper rookie season. Nope.
Not one flop, and he was getting hit way harder. Hey, you know what happened? Remember, my man Chris Paul went to Oklahoma that one year. That one year. You're saying he taught him that?
He Obi-Waned him. Taught him his ways. Is that who it was? Because we try to figure out what flipped. Chris Paul going through that thunder that one year.
Yeah, but Chris Paul wasn't, if I'm not mistaken, I don't ever remember Chris Paul being known as a flopper. Bro, we used to call him Fish Paul. Yes, he flops. Maybe he has a Clipper fan that's a Clipper fan. I can't remember this.
Bro, you just try to put propaganda on the show. This is all. It is wild. Oh, I can't wait to bring up that Clipper team with Ramona. You know, she's my president.
Chris Paul, 1920. was with Oklahoma City Was Shea on that team in 1920? 1920.
Well he I mean, he had to be on that Clipper team. They had to be on the same team. Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, he was. That was his first year with the Thunder.
Come on, baby. I'm telling you. Chris Paul taught Shay how to flop. Yeah, and he mastered it. He is his Anakin.
Come on. Yes, sir. Star Wars always finds a way back to my life. By the way, Chris Paul was awesome that year. He was second team ONBA.
Bro. Yeah, it was one of those that was like, oh, they sent him there to kind of fizzle out and he refused. Shout out to Chris Paul, man. The Laker that should have been. Should have been.
I was robbed, TJ. With a sliding door. Am I tripping? Are we sure Chris Paul was on this team? I mean, he's looking on Beyonce's internet right now.
Okay. I guess that just escapes my memory as well. The 2019-20 season, Chris Ball was on the thunder with Shea.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. See, that's that. You see that?
You see how they just try to make me seem like I was crazy. I got paperwork to say I'm not crazy. I mean, you're wearing an Austin 316 shirt today. I was going to make him crazy. I'm just saying.
He has a painting of himself next to the desk. Hold on, hold on. Let's not forget. Come on, y'all. Thanks, Felly.
All the ones and twos. Don't worry, the chaos will be over at twelve and Rich will be back here Monday. We're going to talk about this all day, but What do we think is going to happen in game? Like, who is ultimately going to win this game? The bench.
The bench. Whichever bench steps up. I I mean, they don't I don't think this game is this way without Dylan Harper. The due was six for nine for the night, Two for three from three, 18 points off the bench. Highest.
Yeah, the highest scoring player on the bench, uh, a plus 19. That's huge. It's got Kawhi's number. That bothers me. But I mean, you play like that.
Go ahead. You got whatever number you want. It's got Kawhi's number. The bench is what killed us, the Lakers versus the Thunder. Their bench was destroying ours.
And if. Those guys can step up. They're an X factor that just cannot be stopped. And the Thunder got them. You know, the Thunder got them over there.
'Cause I Alex Caruso, former Laker. Former Laker Alex Caruso, back when the league told me that he wasn't a good player, we were the ones preaching Alex Caruso, that beautiful bald man. Yeah, you preached so much that you didn't want to pay him. What are you talking about? Like, I didn't want to pay him.
You were in charge. You got management's ear. Please. They know not to pick up my phone call no more. I'm so aggressive.
Yeah, man. It bothers me as a Laker fan. It bothers me when any of Our former players are doing really well. I don't want to hear about that, man. I got to watch Jarek McCain.
You got to hear about that. I got to watch Jarek McCain make TikToks and drop, you know, 16, 17. Top locking and dropping it all the way for the Western Conference. We gave that man away. You know what I'm saying?
So, yeah, but I do feel you on that. It is kind of as a fan, it does like Bruckman when Luke Cornette, every time he gets a dunk, does that just like giving him up. Anytime one of these are your boy, yeah, anytime your team gives up a player and then they continue. But McCain is really every game. I'm just like, why?
Like, what was, I was like, Cardi B. It was like, what was the reason? What was the reason? Yes, man. And especially when it's a player that you had arguments for.
Yeah, you you got it to a couple of water cooler beefs for You know how many people told us we were crazy? To praise Alex Caruso the way that we did, yeah, that was Brockman that said that. I mean, he's a Celtic. We expect it from the Celtics. I kind of like Caruso, man.
He's holding it down for the bet now that he's not in purple and gold. The BB, true, but he's holding it down for the bald whites. You know what I mean? Yes! Yeah.
The ball brigade. Let's go. But yeah, this is exciting, man. This is what we wanted, right? Like, game seven, I know I was all for it.
I, as a basketball fan and fans, you've got to appreciate this. You always want more balls. I mean, I was rooting for, I mean, I wanted Cleveland to win a game so we could just have more games to watch.
So, yeah. Yeah, this is going to be exciting, man. And I do have a feeling this is going to be a game for the ages. I think both of these teams, they know what's at stake. Obviously, the Thunder have more experience than the Spurs do with this team.
But, you know, the other day I was saying the Spurs kind of need that grizzled vet. You know, they do have the Harrison Barnes who doesn't get a lot of minutes, but his knowledge. of being there and done that like he can talk to this team in a way like, yeah, we can follow this guy because he knows the route. Those those um those Warrior teams, you know, going to a college like North Carolina, You know? Harrison Barnes Now that I think about it.
I couldn't pick out his voice if you played it for me right now. I don't know what the man sounds like, but he handles his business. That's somebody that you like over there. Rashard Lewis, the big threes, Rashard Lewis, over there as well on that Spurs bench, coaching, obviously not in a jersey. But uh yeah, but I still feel your point.
I still feel your point of like that Andre Igudala, you know, that that that type of Basketball mind over there on the court would be great. It's great for any team, but. We got a great show today. Ramona Shelburne. Who I love, you know, near and dear to my heart, because when I First, I started on radio with Mason in Ireland.
Me and Momo used to do work over there.
So I had to bring her to my other house. Let's go. No, the other place where I moved to. You know, let her talk to my new friends. You know, she was here two weeks.
She was here. Yeah, I know, but like now we meet. It's a full circle moment, man. It doesn't count if Shay's not here. You guys gotta know that.
And we get Rich Eisen. Yeah, how about that?
Okay. How about that? We'll be right back with more of The Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Rich Eisen here.
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We are sitting here with Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, my favorite Mamo in the building doing work on The Rich Eisen Show. And we're talking about these Knicks, man. And You know me, all I need is a lie. Little bit of Lakerdom to get attached to something.
So, Josh Hart, Jordan Clarkson, you know, the last one. I got one better for you, Jay. I got one better. You know, Jalen Brunson is a Kobe guy. He just wears Kobe's shoes when he says job's not done.
You know where he got that from? Kobe. Come on now.
Okay. Like, this is, there's a lot of Lakers in this team, and there's a lot of Kobe and Jalen Brunson. Like, you know, I'm always working on stories, so I'm trying to figure out how the heck. Of all the people who wanted to be the Knicks savior, of all of them, like Phil Jackson came to New York saying, I'm going to do this. I'm going to bring this back.
Like, we haven't won a championship since I was here as a player. Mello, Jeremy Lynn, Mike D'Antoni tried to coach. Everybody has come to New York trying to win. And the one guy who's brought them back is this six-foot-two-point guard who was a second-round pick out of Villanova. Like, how did that happen?
And I think the answer is that he never sought out to be the savior of the Knicks. Like, he just shows up and he works and he plays and he's solid. And he's got that jeter kind of thing where you don't get too high, too low. He's super poised and have all these big moments. That's why he's clutch player of the year.
That's why he's, you know, look at, I mean, that's about the most emotion you're going to see from him right there. Yeah. And it was after the game. And even after you know what they were listening to after the game? I think they all I think a few of them went to see the Michael Jackson movie when we were on the road.
So Jalen had control of the Oxbox and they were just playing Michael Jackson songs in the in the locker room afterwards. Like, come on, man. Do you remember the time? That's what I heard when I walked in. That I was like.
Okay, you guys are in a good place mentally. And it's a lot of pressure on them. You know, a city like New York, I keep bringing up the Knicks fans and the Knicks fans, how they're just insane. People have to realize the Knicks. Have not won a championship since four years after Martin Luther King was assassinated and four years before the last guillotine execution.
That's a long time. Long time. That is insane. Where did you pull that from, Che? Shay knows stuff about things.
I got a random. I got a random thing. I don't know if that's actually true, though. You just like make things up, too. No, I promise you.
You can look it up. I'm waiting for people to fact-check me. The last guillotine was in 77, and then Martin Luther King was in 69.
Okay. It's just how things are. I'm sorry, Knicks fans, but like, you know, you got your two or when the garden was eaten and all that. But I am rooting for them. Because it can't be my rivals, the Spurs, or the annoying referees' favorites, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But look, I think also with the Knicks, you know, you said there's a lot of pressure on them. I actually don't feel that. Like, when I'm for every other superstar who plays in New York, there is pressure. But Jalen Brunson is literally playing for his dad and for his godfather. Like, the one place that he could go where there isn't pressure is where there's family there.
He's, these guys believe in him. They've known him since he was a baby. Like, Leon Rose was Rick Brunson's, Rick Brunson was Leon Rose's first client. First client, Rick Brunson had like not really any options coming out of Temple. He played in Australia.
Leon Rose was this like law student at Temple who was like a super fan. John Cheney was like, Rick, why don't you go with this guy? You know, I mean, they've been together for 40 years as agent and coach and player. And now his son is on the team. Like, there's not a lot of pressure on Jalen Brunson there, he's super comfortable.
Oh, I love it for him. You you know what I've I brought up the Oklahoma City Thunder, and I know you hear the chirps.
Well, mostly for them. But, yeah, the chirps about the flopping and things like that. I have a question I want to ask you that we spoke about just a minute ago. Of course. Whatever happened to those $5,000 fines?
We're flopping. Yeah, they did used to have those. You're right. I mean, he should have owed like $2.5 million.
Okay, but listen, have we not watched James Harden during those Houston years? Like, like every player, like James Harden was a foul merchant back in those days and he won MVPs. Like, this is what great players do. Like, they learn how to get those calls. The only ones that I think, like, I mean, you know, this you're a Laker fan.
Like, Shaq never gets calls, right? Because he's so big, people just bounce off him.
So people just foul him like crazy all the time, and figuring like if we foul him a hundred times, they can only call like 80 of them.
Well, at least there's 20 that we can still foul him, okay? Shay's good at being fouled and then selling the call and also knowing how to get, you know, how to make sure that they do foul him. I think there's an art form to it. But I also think, and this is what I'm watching the Thunder, they don't have J-Dub. This, I know people are talking about this as like some referendum on Shay, and is he truly a great player or whatever?
No, they don't have their second best player. Like, he doesn't have help right now. And Chet Holmgren is not offensively that kind of a force. We have to respect him, I thought, in the way that you would with a J-Dub, or even an AJ Mitchell, who's a great drive and kick point guard. When you don't have two of your best, like, outlet valves, like, it's all on you.
And so I think he's looking a lot like. Anthony Edwards looked against the Thunder when they would just send everybody at him and they would try to get the ball out of his hand. And then it's like, how good is your team to hit shots around you? I know you must be conflicted because the Thunder have Caruso on their team. I know.
I don't like that. We already got two. You know, Josh, look at Josh Hart and Jordan Clarkson get some love around here.
Okay, okay. You know, what if it's Alex Caruso against Josh Hart in the next round? What if the Thunder went? How are you going to sort through their emotions there, Jay? Oh, I do not want the Thunder to win anything else.
I have gone full on, just completely against them. And, you know, they accept the role. It's. I don't want to be a hater, but you make me. You do want to be a hater.
Come on, I got a call. It makes great T V. It makes great TV. You like being a hater. You like, I see you on Twitter.
Hey, you want to see you want to see a real hater comment? The only people that get all the calls are Shea Gildis Alexander or Bam Adebaya when he's up thirty on the Washington Post. That's the only people that could get calls around here to get every call they want. Unbelievable. But my co-hosts, they have questions about actual NBA topics, not just me being a hater.
You guys, Ramona Shelby. I like that everyone has forgotten that Bam's. I don't even remember what the actual number was. It was 83. I've forgotten about it already.
Because I've never seen it before.
So, yeah, I'll always remember that. It happens. Clipper fan TJ Jefferson, by the way. 85. There it is.
Yeah. Ramona, what is going on with Giannis and the latest there? Because. I know there are some cities with teams that are very interested in his potential future basketball playing home. I gotta say something.
I think as much grief as the Milwaukee Bucks took for not trading Giannis the last year and a half, like we all were like, they probably waited too long. The best offers are already at because he's gonna, he only has one more year guaranteed under contract. This postseason, I think, has completely reframed the trade discussions for Giannis because of how good Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs are. Every single person watching these playoffs says, Oh, maybe we better get Giannis. Like, oh, maybe we need that guy.
Like, I don't know how we're going to compete with the Spurs for the next five to 10 years if we don't have another star like Giannis. And so I think. They might have looked into some better offers because there's a lot more teams that have motivation to go trade for a Giannis Sansa Takumpo to try to compete with the San Antonio Spurs and this looming giant who is going to dominate the league for the next 10 years. Who's got the most motivation? Yeah.
I think the Miami Heat were very motivated at the deadline. I think Milwaukee liked their offer at the time. They just weren't ready to trade Giannis.
So I'm sure they'll get back involved. I would look at a team like Orlando. They're close. They made a move already. They're going to get a new coach.
They have some good young pieces. But also, I'm wondering out west. Like, I mean, I know that you know the Warriors are going to be there, right? They're going to try again on Giannis. Their offer is what their offer is.
I don't know that they can necessarily sweeten it. And then their first round pick didn't end up being very good this year. I mean, it's still a lottery pick, but it's in the upper lottery. But I think there'll be some teams that come out of the woodwork that now have seen what's going on out west. Like, I think the Cleveland Cavaliers, let's look at them.
You know, if you saw what you saw this postseason, you know how far away they are. I don't know that just a year together and letting these guys grow together is enough. That feels like a team that could get more involved. I know they'll kick the tires a little bit before. What is Philadelphia going to do?
We don't know who's running Philadelphia yet. But that's a team that has good young players that Milwaukee be interested.
So I think this market for Giannis is going to take shape probably before the draft or around the draft. And when people have their picks, they have more that they can offer Milwaukee. And I think. Having talked to Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam myself a couple months ago, and then hearing Jimmy Haslam go on the record with all the reporters after they hire Taylor Jenkins and say, you know, we need some resolution by the job. I think they're more in a place to wrap their head around trading their franchise guy.
This guy's led them to a title. I think they're more in that place because you don't trade a star unless everybody in your organization is on board. You have to be ready for that. You have to know exactly what you want out of that trade. You have to have organizational direction.
And I think. The way this season played out, the way their ownership situation is evolving, I think they're finally getting to that place where they can wrap their head around trading him. What is the package? Uh is it Players total picks. Is it like eight combined picks and players?
It might be. I mean, look, the Warriors offered four unprotected firsts. Four. That's a lot. And they said no.
Like they said no to four. I know we're always going to talk about Mikhail Bridges and how they got five first. Sure. I don't think that's happening in this day and age, especially not with the way the lottery's been performed. That's going to be interesting to see how that affects how many picks teams are going to put in, what kind of protections they're going to put in.
That's going to change some things. But I think it's going to be a combination of picks, Of good young players, and then you're going to have to have a salary that matches it so. There's only a few teams that can get there, but. I feel like there are a lot more motivated teams now with how this postseason has gone. Ramona, I I I've got uh two things for you as well.
One of them was, you know, Shaq came on the show earlier this week with Susan. And I without getting into this, I am a Philadelphia 76er Los Angeles Clipper fan. I heard you uh mention the Sixers and Maybe as a honest destination, I'm not even a combination. How are you a Sixers and a Clippers?
Okay, well, go ahead.
Well, I'll give it to you. Grew up in Pennsylvania. Dr. J, who's on this poster right behind me, my favorite. He's my goat.
Moved to LA in 99. Didn't want to hop on a Laker bandwagon because I was like, eh, people won't like that. Yeah, that's right. And they played the Lakers all the time.
So I'm like, all right, I'll take the Clippers. That has not worked out for me. I asked Shaq, I said, Do you foresee a future where I might have a chance to have the same feelings that these New York Knicks fans are feeling with either of these franchises? Shaq, he nodded his head yes, and he said, You see what I'm doing? He goes, No, it's not like this.
No, you have no chance. Give it up.
So I'm going to ask you, since you're here, you know about the Clippers. Yeah. Do as a 26-year, 27-year Clipper fan, do I have any chance of feeling what the guys are feeling in the bodegas in New York right now about my team? What's your time frame? Uh, before I die, you know, before you die, so it could be this could be next year, it could be an hour after the show, Molo.
I don't know. I hope I get another next year. I don't think it's gonna be next year. I mean, look, they're in the process of a rebuild. Like, this is they got one more year, Kawhi Leonard.
Let's see if he's still on the team starting next season. I know there's teams that have called on him, but they they've they will stay competitive. I don't think they're going to completely bottom out in terms of trying to tank and draft picks, etc. Because they still owe some to Oklahoma City, right? But also, I think they don't want to necessarily be terrible.
And they've gotten some good young players, but I think that window, they got cap space, but who are they getting? Nobody signs as free agents anymore. You got to trade for somebody.
So I think there are a ways away. And last time you had Cap Space and you got Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Yeah. Yeah. No one conference finals out of it.
I don't know. We all saw what happened from you getting Paul George. You made the Thunder. There you go. Yeah.
So maybe I truly should be a Thunder fan if you think about it. Gross. And lastly, Ramona, I was starting to, I'm very confused. I'm not a dummy, but like, I don't understand this whole anti-tanking thing. And I started reading up on it.
And I was like, you know what? I knew you were coming on today. I figured maybe I just asked you to break it down for me because obviously you know way more than I do. Yeah. Look, essentially, what they're trying to do is incentivize teams to actually compete during the season because the last Third of this season kind of sucked.
There was like you literally could predict who was going to win each night based on who was tanking. Like, there's so many teams that were incentivized to tank. And so it's now a little, the odds are flattened for all the lottery teams. And then also, there's not a huge incentive to be one of the worst teams. And something Adam Silver said: this is the best thing, this is the easiest way to describe it.
Because everyone was tanking. You're not sure that the worst team actually gets the worst record. Because they might just be the best hankers, right? They might just be the best at getting dudes out of the G-League or Bosnia or the Philippines to come play on a 10-day and call it an NBA team for a night. Like some of the rosters that we saw the last month of the season were, like, I've never heard of some of these guys.
I'm like, where did he play in college? I don't remember. Like, I mean, where did that guy come from? And, and, There's just too much of that. It's not good for the game.
It's not good for teams that are trying to win. They're playing these teams. Or, like, it's a sketch.
Well, if you had a game against the Grizzlies in March, that's a different as a game against the Grizzlies in November, right? That's not really fair. um to competitive balance, but it's also not fair to the fans who are watching these teams, the te television partners, et cetera. And so they're just incentivizing teams to not completely make a mockery of the last third of the season. That works for you?
Because the teams that have like the worst records, we don't know that they're the worst teams. That's what the lottery was supposed to do. It's supposed to give the worst team the best chance, but we're just giving the best tankers the best chance.
Okay. That works. Pretty solid. She knows her stuff. Yeah, she does.
And and that's One of the reasons why I love Momo She went to slash Cal, though. I have a funny, I have a funny Ramona story. I have a funny Ramona story. She will have no idea. She won't remember.
I think it was like 2019. You were here on the Eisen show. You came in studio. About a week later, I'm in New York for something. I think the show went to New York.
It's dark. I'm on some street corner. It's dark out. And I see her walking towards me.
So here's my big 6'3, 260-pound self. I go running up to her, like, hey, Ramona, I'm Tangi from Rich Eyes Show. You were just on. And she was like, oh.
Okay, and then I realized, oh, yeah, I just ran up into this woman in the dark street in Daniel.
So I was promoting the podcast. I think that's what I was doing. I was caught watching the podcast. Yeah, so I like you, I don't think I doubt you wouldn't remember, but I do. I was like, oh, okay, maybe I should have just walked up.
But I was very excited. Was I with my niece? I brought my niece to New York. You were with someone. It was another.
Yeah, yeah. I brought my 13-year-old niece to New York with me on that, on that, on that junket. We were like all over town doing all the promotion for the podcast that we were doing.
So, yeah, I don't, that whole trip is kind of a blur. Yeah, you wouldn't remember, but I did run up on you, and it was like at least hopefully I was nice. You were very nice. You're like, oh, okay. One of my, well, I got two favorite.
Ramona's stories. No, no, no, this would be dangerous. Me and Momo and Steve Mason. Shout out to Steve Mason. Yeah.
We. You know, the the Genie Buss episode of the show, that was amazing. That was uh uh when Mason and Nile Genie came in and sat in, and I just I never thought I'd have an opportunity like that. But my favorite Momo story. I was court side back when it was Colby's last season.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were on the thunder. I'm giving, by the way, I'm giving Kevin Durant the business like most of the game. You weren't like the Lakers spikely. You kind of. Yeah, I was on the floor just like grilling, grilling them.
And uh it was half time. And I think I was either talking to you, I was talking to you or my agent, and I felt a hand hit me on the shoulder, and it was Kobe. And he said, 'Oh, you finally made it down here.' And I dapped up, Kobe. and when I dapped em up and hugged him, I closed my eyes. You're like John Hammee and you're like, oh man, I've been waiting for this for a long time.
Ramona comes up behind me. You know, I saw that. But you know what? You did so much better.
Okay, I had my moment. We all get these celebrity moments at Laker games, right? Yeah. So mine was with Jack Nicholson. And I was like, it's Ja, I've always wanted to be Jack Nicholson.
It was Shaq's Jersey retirement. He was like a presenter for this, right? And so I'm on the court, and we all kind of walk out through the tunnel after the presentation on the court. And somehow I find myself shoulder to shoulder with Jack Nichols. And I'm like, okay, this is your moment.
Like, we're going to have a connection here, and I'm going to remember it forever. He's probably going to forget it in five minutes, but let me just say something good so that I'm not weird. And the only thing that popped into my head was So Is Jack your favorite Laker? Wow. And Jack looks at me in the way Jack looks at you, and he goes.
No. And I was like, great, little follow-up. We just kept going. Like, I just kept walking. I was like, that was it.
That was not good. That was not good for my one. But yours is so much better. Like, you didn't do anything embarrassing except the thing I saw told a national TV audience.
Okay. But like. How are you? What? Yeah.
Is Shaq your favorite leaker? That's all I could come up with? Terrible. Real quick, before we let you go. You know, um Is anything going to happen about this Steve Ballmer?
What's going on? You know, I really feel like this is getting swept under the rug. And Ramona is my go-to for clipper trouble.
So, like, what's happening? You love that. What's happening?
Okay, so they're just investigating forever and ever and ever. And I think, actually, quite frankly, I think the bar is quite high now because Pablo Torre won himself a Pulitzer. Or his nice.
So I think they gotta really make sure. They really gotta get this right. And I also think, I mean, you show you how these things go. The NBA, there's an investigation going on, but nobody's gonna They're not going to drop the results of this in the middle of the NBA playoffs. Like, that's such a huge distraction for the rest of the league.
I think when they didn't, when nothing came out before. The end of the season, I was like, okay, we'll talk to you in August, you know, July, August, whatever it is. And who knows, maybe they'll take even longer, but. I don't think we see anything, it just wouldn't make sense from a health of the league standpoint. Plus, there's a whole process that you have to go through.
Like, I know that they've done interviews with most of the principals by now. you know, my question and from what I can gather, I I think it started with aspiration, but I think the questions have expanded into a lot of other things. Um That'll be interesting to see how far back they go. I know they did one investigation back in 2019. They closed that, but they said if any new evidence comes up.
So I think they're just. Digging and digging and digging and digging and then re-interviewing people and trying to find more people. The only thing I could tell you, which I think is important, is that It's about who cooperates. With the investigation, they don't have subpoena power. They can't get your phone records unless you work for the team.
I mean, if you work for the team, you have to turn things over. But my sense is they started getting a lot more cooperation about January.
So the first three, four months that they were getting some level of cooperation. Then in January, February, they started getting more. And then when you find one thing out and you start asking other questions, it opens other doors.
So I think this is a fairly comprehensive investigation that's going on. You know, I think the Clippers, from what I understand, like from what it feels like, they still maintain every time they're asked about it, you know, we don't think we did anything wrong here. We don't think they're going to find what is being alleged here.
So we'll see where this comes out. But I would expect this will. This will I don't I don't expect this to drop during the NBA finals, Jays. I know it's been a long time. We're all waiting to hear.
But if you if you remember, this really was like a September story.
So we're not even a year. And when you have lawyers, yeah. Investigating, it takes a long time. They got billable hours, you know. Mona Shoburn, everybody, the greats.
A great remarks. Thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate you so much. As our Friday segments go, that was actually fairly tame. Neither of us are going to get fired.
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I've got one that I've got an all-time Jack story that we got to animate that. Not here for Disney, not a Disney story. But it is when TJ's True Hollywood stories finally come out. I will put that on there, and it's a great one. I hear we got some footage of that Wimbanyama fit.
Yeah, you were talking about Wimby's fit. I didn't see this. Like Shaolin Monk style. Yeah, man. Let me see it.
Man, boy, he swagged out still. That looks so comfortable. 100%. My goodness. That could probably fit across my entire king-size bed.
A hundred percent. I could and my man Dylan Harper, who I think is the star of the game, he was asked about it. Let's take a look at that. You see him come in with the I don't know if you saw with the Shaolin Mungrove and he's at he's animated like that, you know, before the game. Did you kinda have a feeling he was gonna, you know, come out that hot of a start?
Yeah, I mean I we all had a bad taste in our mouth at the last game. We felt like we left a lot on the table and That's just what Vic do, I think that's the ci type of guy he is. No. man in his word.
So when he came in he kinda came with that outfit, I think everyone knew. I knew what was gonna happen. The man meant business. It's a statement. Yeah.
Yeah. 100%. I mean, we've seen the NBA guys come in with some wild stuff. This is a man that was about his business last night. He looked comfortable.
I hope I don't get to the point where I'm mad at him, too. You know, oh, you will be. What do you mean? Because he's going to eliminate the Lakers from the playoffs multiple times. I'm not listening to the Clipper and Celtic tell me about that.
That's what's going to happen. I'm just not. There's a level of respect that I have for certain guys that I'm like, even when we lose to them, it's like. I still like to tip my cap to him. Yeah, but you're Petty Guerrero, so you won't like it.
Thank you, man. Radio. We'll be right back. The Ridge Eisen Show Podcast. This is what everyone's talking about.
Everything is on the table. This is what champions come to take. This is what everyone came to see. No do-overs. No second chance.
No more Mr. Nice Guy. This is winner take all. And it's all happening now on the home of the NBA Finals. Don't miss it, June 3rd on ABC and the ESPN app.
Yeah.
