Are roll batteries the same? Yeah. That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that?
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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Receiving the living legend I kind of won tonight is none other than Rich Eisen. You'll be freaking kidding me. I can't believe it.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, actor Lionel Voice. Coming up. ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst. Actor Joe Lotrulio.
And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.
So excited to have Brian Windhorst here in the studio.
So much to talk about with him. I'm just going to dispense with the pleasantries. You know how to call us, you know how to follow us. We don't have time for pleasantries.
Well, I say hello. I'm a pleasant hello to you, though. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you for being here.
Here's the way I'm going to try and handle this interview: I want to know what's going on now and then what the hell happened last week.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's start with the now. Um Is it possible there's going to be a big four in Golden State? You started the super team, bro, Draymond Green. Is going to be part of a super team? Is that possible?
I'd love to see that. You're asking if it's possible. It is possible. I'm not there yet on probable or likely. A very the most important thing that happened was that Draymond opted out of his contract today?
Um like If it wasn't last week, it was 10 days ago, Mike Dunleavy, the general manager of the Warriors, did his end of or his draft press conference and he said, Yeah, we think Draymond will pick up his player option. And that's what the operating theory was until like yesterday. And so by Draymond opting out of that, it takes $28 million off the Warriors' books. And in this era, where you are in the aprons matters everything, it drops them down into a level where all of a sudden a lot more becomes available. And look, I'm going to be honest with you.
Draymond could just re-sign for $27 million in 10 days, and nothing could have changed. Like, that is on the board. But One of the things that it opens up is the ability to sign LeBron James for $15 million.
Now, let me just say. Regardless of whatever else, You want to put into this. If you can get LeBron Jan for $15 million, it's an incredible deal. For sure.
So, in addition to that, You know, in discussing the situation It's my understanding, and this I'm trying to choose my words carefully. Indeed, sir. It's my understanding, it may not be the actuality, but it's my understanding that LeBron has not made himself available. to meet with the Lakers about his free agency. I'm choosing those words carefully.
Has not made himself available. That the Lakers, the way it works, when the season ends, the finals end, you are allowed to negotiate with your own players.
So that's why Austin Reeves last week never actually became a free agent. The Lakers were able to negotiate with him. Ramona Shelburne on our staff told this story about how they. Brought him in for a nice meeting, and they had pillows that were embroidered for him and everything. It's touching.
Right. For all I know, there were pillows in the closet that had LJ on them. Because the Lakers reached out. They could have been pillows from years ago, right? They just recycle the pillows.
The Lakers reached out to LeBron to say, hey, we'd love to have you back. And LeBron has not. made himself available for a meeting with the Lakers. He has based on his IG, been playing golf every day. Mm-hmm.
These are just two statements. I am not. I'm not taking anything from these, okay?
So Today is June 29th. Free agency starts tomorrow. Like, decisions are made on June 29th. All the options in the contracts are set to June 29th. This is decision day.
This is really when free agency starts.
So here we have LeBron. At the very least, putting off his decision. And he hasn't said he's playing. I do not want to be accused of making an assumption. I don't know for sure that he's playing.
But the Lakers have not even been able to offer LeBron a contract because he has not had time or he has not made himself available.
So those two things are happening. And so we have now all of a sudden the Warriors opportunity. And and uh we have LeBron.
Sort of not meeting with the Lakers.
Okay, so. Follow-up questions here. We'll take the Lakers' part first. Is it possible Okay. that the Lakers find out which golf course LeBron is going to.
Yes. And they send the Laker executive that he likes the most. to drive the cart. That has the drinks on it. It'd be a very good scene in the movie.
Just to pull up. You know, like in the same way that somebody serves papers on somebody. Yeah. You know, when they're in a suit. Right?
Yeah. That they find out like they serve him with a contract. On a golf course. I think they don't need to serve the contract. They just need to offer enough money to where he would make himself available.
I think this is the only thing that's So they can't reach out to his representative and say, here's the amount of money we're willing to pay you? That has not happened yet, to my understanding. Oh, my word. And there's a day left of that exclusive negotiating window. Correct.
In the meantime, The Warriors have communicated with Draymond Green. Hey, this is possible. Give us the. Again, I'm. I don't know.
I don't know what they've communicated. I know he opted out.
Okay, so we know he's opted out. Yeah. But he's got to know him opting out gives optionality to the people that potentially told him he still wants you here and he still wants to be here. Raymond and LeBron have the same agent. Yes, that's a fair.
Suspicion.
Now, also, Anthony Davis has the same agent, Rich Paul. And it is my understanding that. AD's representatives and the Wizards met yesterday about a possible contract extension. He can't sign an extension until August. But this is when you would sort of talk about that.
AD has one year left on his contract plus a player option, but one guaranteed year. Yes. And would that be a sign and trade?
Well, this is the thing. Is it possible that the That the warriors could call the wizards and make an offer. And say we'd love to trade for Anthony Davis, and that Anthony Davis could be traded, and LeBron could come in free agency, and those things could happen. Yes, it's possible.
Now it is because of the move that Draymond made. And that's, and then Draymond could then re-sign for a lower number and then add years onto the back to make himself whole. All of those things are possible. I will also tell you that. The Warriors routinely, every transaction window, what I mean by transaction windows, there's two basically per year: there's the summer, and there's the trade deadline.
Every transaction window, basically, the Warriors try some gigantic home run swing.
Okay.
Most of the time they fail. There are times when they've hit. Like they hit on Kevin Durant. Yes, sir. They hit on getting Jimmy Butler.
Okay.
But there are they have swung and missed more than they've hit. But they're in the batter's box. Absolutely, which is probably where you want your owner and your general manager to be.
So I just want to be clear, this is all possible, but I but just 'cause it's possible doesn't mean it's happening.
Now let me just say all this one other thing. The people in the league that I'm talking to today are giving me the side eye.
Okay.
And they're going. This is going to end up with Vermont Green getting a new contract in Golden State, LeBron getting a new contract. In Los Angeles, and Kevin Aaron Anthony Davis getting a new contract in Washington. And again I will just say that's all possible. But we just saw last week, okay, as you know, Rich, I am in enormous actions over words.
I don't care about words, I only really care about actions. Last week, the Lakers were offering Austin Reeves this amount of money. He wasn't happy. Thought he might have to go elsewhere. The Lakers were concerned that the Pistons were going to offer over the top.
And they. Dradically increased their offer. Austin Reeds couldn't even believe it. Passes out on the golf course, right?
So we just saw last week the actions of the Lakers seeing another offer out there for one of their players and then increasing their offer.
Okay? Yes. We just saw last week. The wizards Giving Trey Young $200 million in a contract extension. And if I'm Anthony Davis, I'm saying, Well, if they're going to give Trey Young a contract extension, why wouldn't they give me a contract extension?
Okay? So. I'm not saying I know, but part of this could be. Creating leverage. For AD and LeBron in both Washington and LA, and then everybody gets paid.
On a contract, or they could all end up in Golden State. I'm not sure which is going to be. Brian Winhorst here on The Rich Eisen Show. The sports talk radio question coming your way, sir. Yeah.
Jalen Brown. Kawhi Leonard Which one is more likely to be on another team? You could also say both. I I never ever say never.
So I guess it's not impossible that Jalen Brown and the Celtics could Get back together, but I think that's highly unlikely. Is it because he was offered for Giannis? They're offering them everywhere, Rich. He's I mean, I'm not in the Celtics offices, so I can't say for sure. But I've heard the Celtics attach to I'm not even going to put a number on it because then I'd have to defend that number.
But many. Many teams. And not only that, but as you know, again, a week ago, let's focus on actions. The actions were that the Celtics were trying to get Yiannis. If you're trying to trade Jalen Brown for Giannis Tenakumpo, you are intending to try to win the championship this year, which is not a surprise.
The Celtics have been trying to win the championship every year for most of the last decade.
Now The deals that I'm hearing them discuss secondhand to me. are draft, at least in many cases, draft pick centric. I have been told they've been asking for three, four, five first-round picks for Jalen Brown. Which Leads me to believe that they're examining a short-term future where they're not. Trying to win a championship because you don't take an all-NBA player and trade him for primarily draft picks.
And say we're going to be the same team.
Now, maybe you have a middle term plan where you're going to take those draft picks and then go try to get another star player, and that could happen. But They're seeking, at least with some teams they're talking to, draft pick heavy trades a week after trying to get Giannis. And so that tells me, number one, they're very motivated to trade him, and number two, that they're a little bit outside their plan. Because again, their plan seems to have changed. That doesn't mean that they're not going to trade him for solid players that can help them win the championship this year.
But the fact that they're doing that gives me that impression.
Okay, what about Kawhi? What's going on with him?
So I don't think Kawhi wants to leave the Clippers. And I wouldn't even say that that's a guarantee.
However, When you're going into the last year of your contract and you're 35, which he is. Today. Happy birthday to Kauai. I'm sure he's celebrating. With apples.
He's eating apples. Yes. Rebound boards and apples. Great. That was actually not a true story.
I know that. But it's a great vision. It's a great vision. But it's a great vision. I don't know.
I just try to be accurate. No, no, I didn't mean to interrupt you with my idiocy. Please go on.
Sorry. I feel like I'm filler bustering. Anyway, they want, I think Kawhi would like to stay in L.A. He's coming off of a season and a half of very healthy basketball, very healthy, high-level basketball. He made second team all NBA this year.
Averaged 25. Shot fif shot fifty one percent. I think he shot 90% from the line, shot the high 30s from 3%. An excellent season. And so.
If you're him and you know, the investigation is there, and I don't have answers for what's going on there. I don't, I just don't know what's going to happen, right? Um, but you would want an extension if you were 35 years old, you're coming off of he's been healthy for a year and a half, and he's played like a hundred out of like 103 out of like 120-ish games, like he's been healthy. You want to be taken care of. And I think the Clippers.
Are not ready to extend him. I don't think the Clippers came in and said, We got to trade you. And so you're like, Look, if you don't. If you don't want to extend me, then I think I'd like to go, and I'd like to go to a certain place. Sham Strani and my colleague at ESPN has reported that um The place he wants to go to extend is Toronto.
Go back to where he came from.
Now, if that trade happens, I think you will hear: oh my gosh, I loved it there. They treated me well. Yeah, remember like they were like Kauai-friendly restaurants, right? I want to know if the Kawai, they called it the Kauai and Dine. That was their whole I remember that, right?
And I was there for the finals. They posted on the door all the restaurants that were participating, you know, like his logo was the KL2 or whatever. They posted that on the door and said Kawaiian dine. Are those stickers still on the door? And is that standard?
Is that standard? I've run it back. Remember at the parade, the guy gave him a plant? Yeah. All those things.
I remember all that. And that's all very wonderful and nice. And there's a banner up there that he delivered and all that stuff. But I suspect the reason he wants to go there is for money. Because the raptors would be willing to extend him.
I think there's other places might be too, but I think he likes that possibility.
So I think there's. A stronger possibility of that happening than, at least right now, of AD than going to Golden State. Have I hit on all the rumors? Am I missing something right now that involves a big player? A big player?
I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of small rumors out there.
Okay.
But yeah, I think those are the headlines. Are you ready for this to be over? I mean, this is every year. This is what we do. That's it, right?
One year it's LeBron going somewhere. One year it's You know. Whoever, like, this is what we do. This, you know, this, then in late June, I come to LA. Yes, sir.
And everybody at the airport's going on vacation. Every year I fight the BET traffic because the BET awards every year are on Sunday night before free agents.
Well, now you got the World Cup, too. The World Cup too, but last night was the B.E T. Awards.
Okay.
And every year I deal with the anime convention. Hey. I had no idea. What do you mean you deal with the anime convention?
Well, in downtown LA, the first week of last week of June, first week of July, they have the anime convention. I had no idea. And I'm always. I'm always there. You know, on the weekend, the BET awards are there.
And on Tuesday or Wednesday, the anime convention comes in, and it's two very different crowds. And every year, you know. Where are you more famous at? Neither. No one's.
Come on now. Come on, now. There's no way the anime crowd doesn't show you the Wendy stop. Let's just put it this way: In one, there's a lot of flesh, and the other, there's a lot of fur and spandex. You can determine which is which.
Fantastic. Brian, we're in order to hear the rich hypothesis show. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back and we'll talk about what's happened. And as to what in the world is going on on all of these fronts.
And I'll just give you a little hint of what I'm looking for. You may have the information or not.
Okay.
How did Dusty May wind up in Dallas and not on the bench of the University of Michigan anymore? I need facts and information.
Okay.
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I had a down moment. I had to check the text that just came in. He's on it. We've got one more segment with Brian before we send him back to the. rest of the ESPN universe.
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Save money on your next oil change with O'Reilly Auto Parts. Get a $15 O'Reilly gift card after rebate when you buy five quarts of Mobile One Full Synthetic Motor Oil for just $35.95. Stop by your local O'Reilly Auto Parts. Rich Eisen here.
And summer's here too. And that means it's travel season. My favorite summer trip last year was to Sao Paulo, Brazil. With so many fans traveling for the Los Angeles against Kansas City game, they got to see how lively the city is. I love the culture and the amazing food that I'm still craving.
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One last draft question before we get there. Does the deputy commissioner of the NBA ever have a bad day? Is he the smiliest guy ever? I liked at the end of the second round, and if you were watching at the end, I'd like to congratulate you. He went into the crowd that was there.
There was a small crowd there. It was a Wednesday in Brooklyn. Yeah. You know, why not? What else are we doing?
And he embraced the crowd. He just shorted a body surf. Like, he went in there and embraced the crowd. I fived everybody. I saw that part.
Brian Winhorse here on the Rich Issa Show. What are the Timberwolves up to? What's going on here? Did they just decide, all right, we're this group that we have We got the coach. We got Ant-Man.
Yeah. And. We have a Be what? a couple of players that we're don't want to part with as well. But the rest of it, So let's take the last time we saw the Timberwolves on the court.
With eight, seven, eight minutes to go, Anthony Edwards was walking down to the Spurs bench and congratulating them on their winning the series. And maybe that's one of the reasons why the Spurs were not ready for the last eight minutes of these Knicks games. Get you. Because when the Knicks got to eight minutes and they were behind, that's when they went for the kill. And Ant brought down the white flag.
Okay.
So if you're seeing that, and also remember, they traded Carl Towns. From the minute Carl Towns got traded, Anton Edwards has been relentlessly double-teamed. Maybe Lick Luka gets comparable level of double teams, but Ants the double teams that Ant is getting are heavy and it bothers him and he complains about it. And the guy that prevented those double teams, he's watching holding the trophy.
So those things had happened.
So I think Minnesota realized Maybe let's Try to see if we can fix this. And they tried to go for Giannis. They couldn't get him. They looked into some other players. They couldn't get him.
The guy that they could get was Lamello. And Lamello is a mystery. He has not had almost any playoff history whatsoever. And he's had an injury history that is worrisome. But.
My gosh, is he a double-team buster and like a great guy to put alongside Ant. I mean, you double-team Ant now. You do so at your own peril. They can share. They can play off the ball with each other.
They're going to be highly entertaining to watch. They still have an all, you know, want an all-time great defensive center back there to sort of help them out. Jaden McDaniels, who had this big, big remember he told everybody on the Nuggets is a bad defender and ran his mouth and then went out and scored like 38. He stepped it up. It increases his role.
Like, you know, that's the fallout of it, is that it increases his role.
So, like. Like climbing the mountain of the spurs and thunder is going to be hard. But I think doing nothing would have been a risk, and they obviously didn't want to be in that boat. Giannis wound up on the heat because the heat gave up the most? Or Giannis said, That's where I want to go.
Do we know that?
So he did. He wanted to go to Boston or Miami.
Okay.
I think, I don't know for sure, but I suspect what Milwaukee saw was if we trade for Jalen Brown. We're going to be in the same spot a year from now because we don't have enough of a team anyway. And we're going to, instead of having Giannis unhappy and we have to trade him, we're going to have Jalen unhappy. We're going to have to trade him.
So even though Jalen was the better talent. I think they went with who could help them build or build a team. And they had two lottery picks. They drafted Braden Burrys out of Arizona and they drafted Nate Ament, Ahment Ament, out of Tennessee. Ament has a big potential.
Like He's a guy. Remember, they drafted Giannis at 15th. You know, this guy at 13th is a high-potential guy. Maybe he pans out, maybe he doesn't. And they're.
Their core going forward is those two guys. And I would not be surprised if they tried to flip some of these other guys they got for other prospects and things.
So they're going to try to build from scratch after basically not having a high draft pick in 10 years. What is the plan for Miami to build around Giannis now? It's going to be hard. It's going to be hard. I think it's going to take them a year.
They gave up so much. I think they're going to be formidable, especially defensively. They've got, you know, obviously Bam Ed Abio and Giannis, like that's a hell of a front line to have to deal with, but neither one of them are. Dynamic shooters. I mean, Bam has become a better shooter, but they need some shooting.
They need some ball handling. And I think it's going to take them like this summer and maybe next trade deadline and next summer. I would watch for them more in 27, 28 than 26, 27. But I don't want to disrespect them. I think they have routinely showed they know how to build a championship team.
And Wiggins just signed a three-year deal. Am I informing you? That is you're breaking news to me. Look at this. Look at this.
Okay, how much is it for? It's $3 or $64 million to stay.
Okay, so the key on that is he was supposed to get. $30 million this year.
So, this agreement will take that $30 million down because he's obviously going to average $21.3 million.
So, my guess is it'll take that down under $20 million.
So, by in this year, it'll be under $20 million. You're getting my real-time. I love this. This is great.
So, the heat 10 minutes ago, before I saw this, the Heat had $18 million to fill out five roster spots. I suspect with that deal that they will have reduced Wiggins' salary this year by $10 million. And so, they'll have roughly $28, $29 million to fill out the five roster spots, giving them a lot more flexibility.
Okay.
See? By the way. It's an honor for me to actually deliver something to you as opposed to the other way around. And as far as the Knicks, too, like I it's so as a Knick fan, it's it's so wild. to hear them referred to as the champs, to see what they just did.
And and then for them to have a front office. That is so on it and competent, beyond competence sounds like a. Even uh a disrespectful word. To refer to what they're doing, what they did in the second round is what they did in the draft was essentially like, whoever we draft's not cracking this lineup, and we want to keep this lineup.
So let's do everything to get under the apron and keep everybody happy. Is towns going to take a A sort of discount? That's a huge question. What are the Knicks going to do here to keep this thing? I can't answer for Carl, but I mean, maybe, I mean, that's the thing.
And, you know, here's something else the Knicks have done: they're breaking some teams. Boston. Don't think they're better than them. Like, that's essentially what this is doing. Let's keep talking.
Charlotte, Charlotte had, you know, Charlotte was sort of an ascendant team. They don't think they're going to be good enough. They trade Lamello and Miles Bridges. Cleveland. Is trying to hold their team together.
You know, Detroit, I think, can improve. I think one of the reasons why Toronto is going for Kawhi is they're like, wait a minute, because who in the East are we seeing get I mean, Miami. I think has good potential to get better, but they're not They're not right now ready to beat the Knicks four out of seven with this roster.
So the Knicks.
Now, I will say this: Jim Dolan came out after the finals and said, I'm not going to second eight.
Well, who wants to? It's so it's not that he doesn't want to spend the money. It's so onerous in terms of what you can do. I agree. But.
But if there was a moment to go into the second apron, it's when you've got the reason you don't go into the second apron, yes, it's for money, but also because you can't really change your roster. Because you get these mechanisms to change your roster, like locked away.
So, if you're not changing your roster, what does it matter? Right. So, if there was a strong case to be made for the Knicks to go into the Sacon Apron, at least for this year. which would mean you keep Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shaman. And so I think that the next, I shouldn't, I'll step me step back.
There was, I believe, hope that Jim Dolan would revisit that edict. And I'm not sure that he has revisited that either.
Well, but again, didn't they based on what everything that I've read and trying to figure out, because I'm no capologist at all, that they what they did in the draft was essentially give themselves the optionality and flexibility. A little bit. They're not quite there. Listen, uh I I'm I'm I'm all for Shabbat. And the threes that he delivered.
Is he the only guy that can do that to be all with all the front offices? Mitchell Robinson is obviously a more emotional because he. Is he the original Nick in this whole situation that's left, right? Yeah. Yeah.
And so, and he does provide. Such a presence officer.
So, their job at this point would be to, if they lose those guys, to figure out how to replace them.
Well, Alvarado's stay input, so we know that. I mean, what a grip. That that guy, local kid, doing well. And again, we had we had Sean Elliott on before the uh finals. Yeah.
Got so much connective tissue to the last time they played in the finals of the Knicks, as well as what he's done professionally. And he was like, look out for this Alvarado guy. Because he's given us fits when he was in New Orleans and l Look what he did. Yeah, the Knicks have married the ultimate. Star with the ultimate leader, with the ultimate supporting cast because they've got this history with them with the ultimate Front office with a coach that empowers them, which normally you would say, You gotta be real careful letting the inmates run the asylum, but what if the team What if the leader of the team is like hold everybody accountable and has a 10-year history with them, and it's the right coach for the right team?
And you also have this incredible fan base that love. I mean, it's sort of like a little bit of a merry-go-round. You know, you try to keep try to keep the positive vibes going. But it's a real special group. And then on the flip side, the Spurs come out of it.
What is the now two-week period of? The first thing you have to do is, and this is a formality, but until it happens, it hasn't happened. You get Victor Wimbanyama into a contract extension, which will happen. A lot of Euros. Yes, a lot of Euros.
And then you. May want to look at upgrading your big men around Victor because they were a little bit, there come times where, like, they put Cornette out there and he got victimized a little bit. And then when they were, there were times where they felt small out there. The Knicks actually had more size on the court. Crazy.
I can't. Fathom what happened. Again, but that's just me as a Nick fan for all these years. And so getting bigger, I mean, I've. I would not be surprised.
They were so good perimeter defense. They picked up Brunson 94 feet. Right. You know, there's a reason why they were ahead in all those games. Like during the season, they played Harrison Barnes as a power forward a lot.
And then Keldon Johnson, they played him a lot, who's a little bit undersized. I see what you're saying. Getting a little bit. They drafted two big men in the draft.
So you can tell they're already thinking about getting bigger. I'm not sure those two guys are going to be ready to play right away.
So I think they want to look for a little bit more size to protect. Because when Victor came off the court, Things went very poorly for them. And they had to play Victor way more minutes than he wanted to, and he started running down at the end of the games. And then they were trying some hocus pocus to rest him in the first half to sort of save more energy for later. Ideally, you would not have that kind of crash when you took him off the court.
So that's one of the things. You haven't asked me about Dusty. I'm about to. Mm-hmm. And I'm going to ask you about Dusty May this way.
Why is he not On the bench at my alma mater anymore. Why is Jay Wright, why did Jay Wright retire? Why did Shyshevsky say I've had enough? You know, why did Jim Boeheim say I have enough? Why is Bill Self like going year to year?
Because the NIL is hell. It's hell. And The thing the thing is um He agreed to a contract extension to Michigan, but he didn't sign it, from what I understand.
Okay.
Because I think he was eyeing.
So there was the Mavericks. As an opportunity. Just the coach the co coach in the NBA.
So had Steve it was, it's it's my understanding: had Steve Kerr retired, he would have been on the short list for the Warriors. And I think he was on the list of several other teams that had openings, and then obviously the Mavericks as well.
So, I think he had, however, one makes it known that they may be interested, and also over the years, as these. Teams, you know, the the the The executives heavily recruit the players. They come and watch these games and like, boy, this guy can really coach.
So I think, you know, he gets in a position where he's able to draft one of his players coming out of the gate. That was truly a very unique situation where. He is representing himself as the coach at University of Michigan. Congratulations. He had three guys draft him in 15 minutes.
It was great. And but by the way, can welcome congratulations and also welcome to my team. Like he stood up. As the Congratulated him as the coach of Michigan and then welcomed him to the Mavericks in the same. That's never happened before.
It's so cool, again, for me. And by the way, he had his choice of all of them. And he chose Mores Johnson. Yes. Which people didn't expect.
Well, I think. For me, it was not taking a Daimara. Because if you got Cooper flag, as much as I love Yakuza, like they're both 6'9, like. I You take the job also, NIL. That's Cooper flag that you're coaching as well.
Correct. And again, I understand this is not your particular lane. It was an NIL sick and tired of having a return.
Well, I don't want to speak for him. I just know that in college. No, I understand.
So you didn't hear that there's something between a Dusty and the school? I did not hear that.
Okay.
He agreed to the contract extension. And I think if the coach all the coaching that was filled up, he would have signed it. But also, you know, the the owner of the Mavericks is the second wealthiest owner after Steve Ballmer. and they wanted a championship coach. And they went out and they tried to hire And DA championship coaches, but none of their teams will let him out because a lot of them are all employed.
Well, so I haven't heard his numbers. But I'm sure he's being paid like he won an NBA championship. I mean, he deserves it. Did they? Reach out to John Shire first?
They did. They did. From what I understand, Shires said no, that he wants to win. He wants to win a championship at Duke before he would ever consider anything. He wants to continue the legacy.
Well, that's right. He didn't win this year, Michigan did. That's right. And from what I understand, after they couldn't get those championship-level coaches, they came back to him and said, Are you sure you don't want to coach Cooper Flag? And he said, No, I'm sure I want to win a championship at Duke.
So I I I think they tried multiple times to get him. And so, after striking out on that, I think it just made it more lucrative that the offer that came to Dusty is my understanding.
Okay.
Which is why he's no longer on the bench at my office. I think a lot of things fell into place. To go to. Coach Cooper flag. to draft one of his players.
To get that pay package. To work in Dallas. That's never going to come along again either. No matter how many banners you're going to hang in Chrysler. And if he fails at Dallas, let's hope he doesn't, but if he fails, he can always go back.
I mean, it's kind of a no-brainer.
Okay.
It I that's why I don't blame him. I don't. Because he's going to have an offseason. You know, he doesn't have to re-recruit Cooper Flag every year. Exactly.
You know, I mean, it's crazy. Thank you for doing this. Thank you. I know you're a busy man. Your phone's blowing up.
You got a lot going on. I send you back to downtown Los Angeles. Yes, thank you very much. For everything else you're always happy to come out here. Hey, man, I love your Hoop Collective.
I love everything that you do. Appreciate it. Enjoy your summer. Thank you. That's Brian Winhorst right here on The Rich Eisen Show.
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Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. Let's go to Brett in Kentucky. 5.
Mikey D. What's going on, Brett? Hey, Rich, thanks for taking my call. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
What's going on? Hey, I just wanted to pay you a compliment, sir. I have enjoyed, thoroughly enjoyed your Sports Center look back at a little You know, as somebody who watched Sports Center from the very beginning, I really enjoyed the look back and all the people you've talked to so far. Thank you. Great show.
Well done, sir. Really appreciate it. I appreciate you saying that. And again, Mike Hoskins, who is the coordinating producer of this program right now, and he's in our control room, he is the highly talented, spectacular individual in whose trust I placed This show for his producing and editing acumen and the ESPN archivists. Those who are in charge of the The footage?
From back in the day, we have been spectacular. We're constantly pinging them to find out: do you have this, do you have that? And I appreciate that, Brett. It's a team effort. Um but it's a labor of love for me.
And what it's turned into as well, Brad, is it's kind of like a scrapbook for all of us. Uh just to remember what it was like for us. to host it and to live it. But also for folks like you, Brett, to remember where you were in your life, where you were living, what you were doing at the time when you were watching the show. That's the idea, the connection.
Well, I was in high school at the time, and I remember getting up every morning at 6 o'clock.
So I could watch Sports Center before I went to school. And then I stayed up late at night to watch the late night segments as well. And I, like I said, thoroughly enjoyed the walk down memory lane and can't wait to see who you're going to have on the neck. I've got two more segments to watch, and then I can't wait till you do another season, another segment of it. Yeah, it's great.
I really love it. We're finishing season one this Friday. Craig Kilbourne's the big finale. Dan Patrick launched it back earlier this month. Chris Berman, Mike Greenberg, Linda Cohn, who, by the way, I had no idea when we were hosting it, was about to announce her retirement from Sports Center.
She was on. Uh on the set in Bristol on Friday night. And then the Chris Fowler episode. Thanks for the call, Brett, and thank you for the kudos on behalf of Mike and the rest of the crew. Presented by Gusto.
Um had no idea that Linda was Timing was a mayhap. He One of my favorite comments that I saw, because I do read these comments. You shouldn't have to comment.
Well, because, again, you shouldn't. The phrase I like to say is: if it's positive, it's feedback. If it's negative, we call it engagement.
So I'm reading the feedback. And one said that I had, you know, I was you know, I'm 30 years I was born in 1986. I had no idea Chris Fowler was on Sports Center. Wow. Because he did it from 90, from like 89, 89 through 90.
Kind of the early days of the hate. Yeah. So, and then he took over College Game Day. And that's what I like to do with this show as well. We basically turned it into this was College Game Day for about 10 minutes, talking about the first time he did it.
Uh first time you hosted it was when Bob Carpenter, you remember the, he was on ESPN. He did a lot of baseball for them, which he's done, I believe, for the Nationals for many years. Um he was the host and his His wife was going into labor, so Chris did it for the first time. Wadino Cook was giving him crap. He told that story.
And then the first time that they did College Game Day. Um, on the road in front of an audience, was Notre Dame versus Florida State, one versus two. And they did it inside a building in a Hall of Fame on campus. And then he talked about doing it outside of Nebraska for the first time. He looked over his shoulder and had a holy S moment.
where everybody showed up. And then Uh coaches Realized the power of bringing game day to their campus to show off the fandom, the campus, the program. A lot of coaches were like, Really? We're going to have this show on campus and it's going to be a disruption of our schedule. You want me to show up there now?
Like the. Before a game, you want some of our players to sit down? Really? And he said Frank Beamer was the first coach to utilize game day as. A commercial for the program where they had a whole bunch of fans inside their stadium.
Setting a new record. And then off they go. And now you see, you know, with now you see with Reese hosting it and, you know, Herb Street, Pat. Uh Desmond and Sabin.
Now you see the coaches show up before the game, and you take it for granted. They love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it's just. Great memory lane stuff and check it out. It's available on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, the Rich Eisen Show YouTube channel. If you want to listen to it, you can listen to it as a podcast, but you're kind of missing all the visual bells and whistles that Hoskins is putting in there. It's a labor of love for all of us here.
So I appreciate the call, Brett, in Kentucky. Allowing myself to talk about myself, which is why I do this show coming. Allowing myself to introduce myself.
So, you know, I was in the Boston area. I heard that. We didn't know it. Kids dropped off at camp. You know?
Zan's uh in a summer college in the area.
So uh we spent some time there just in time for The Yankees to show up and get swept by your Red Sox in four games. Oh, is that what happened? I missed it. It did. I didn't see any of these things.
It did. So put up the standings with the Red Sox gaining four games on the Yankees. You're now with a nine. Ooh. and the loss column.
The Metropolitan still bringing up the rear. Um and have since Fired. Wait a minute. Hold on a minute. Let me get this right.
They departed their coach. Yeah, departed. Speaking of Boston, the departed.
Okay.
It's Carlos Mendoza. The departure. They announced the departure. It's like a plane taking off at LaGuardia. There goes the Mendoza departure.
Flying over the stadium. What's the number on that departure? Yeah. What's the destination? 3649.
The departure. Announcing the departure of Carlos Mendoza. That was the next. And as if that's not absurd enough. One of the most professional jobs I've seen.
Is Steve Gelbs, the reporter for the Mets on their. uh SportsNet New York. He's delivering a report on what happened with the Mets and the roster being a problem. It's like, read the room here.
Well, and then Mr. Met shows up behind him and is dancing behind him as he's delivering this to Cameron. And what is more absurd? This still does not do it justice. You have to watch the.
My man is back there just full-on, like, oh, and this has no, like, has no clue. Like, the cameraman's not like, dude, chill. Can the individual inside the baseball head not hear what Steve is delivering? No, they're probably not. The most sober information possible.
Look, Carlos Mendoza fired as Mets' manager is the lower Kairos. Yeah, like, hey, that's the banner at the bottom of the screen here. Hey. And the and and the sheet. Oh, really?
I'm done. Everybody's just, I'm done. By the way, having Greg in the Mets. Everybody. Having the Mascot outfit.
You can hear. 100%. Have you been in Mr. Met? I wasn't Mr.
Mett. I was Mr. Metta. I was a kitty cat for my friend's DJ company back in the 80s. Mikey.
And by the way. Full disclosure. By the way. You're on the Rich Hodgson. You can hear that you have ears.
Okay.
You might not be able to see well, but you definitely can.
Well, he certainly wasn't here with what Steve Gelbs was delivering that information. I knew when I watched this, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to have to hear about this. Oh, yeah. And here we are. I'm hearing about it.
I tried to scrub it off the internet, to be honest with you. Hey, man, at least Mr. Mett wasn't flipping the middle finger this day. Oh, yeah. All right.
He only had four fingers. And you thought that was the lowest Mr. Mett moment. Yeah, like this is all he's got. He only has four fingers.
But what's the middle? Yeah. So baseball. Only one finger being held up, and it wasn't because the Mets were number one. It's kind of interesting this happens in a Mets town.
It's not a microphone. Anything could happen. You saw the parade? People might hire the announce the arrival of your The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
