You know when you're locked in, focused and fearless. Your vision narrows, you can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond! And the logo.
Every did you see? See that moment? You can! What records are going to be broken this season? All of it.
Right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN, all season long. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody.
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Now, on with the show. And, um You'd be kicked out of our team meeting. This is the Rich Eisen Show. You're lucky I'm not going to throw this freaking podium. With guest host, WWE superstar Seth Rollins.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Today's guests, NFL Network Reporter Stacey Dales. Seth's top five, plus latest news and more. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Seth Rollins. It's so classy, you know?
It's so classy. I love it. Guys, I'm back in the chair. Hey, I'm back. I did it.
And this time we didn't have to wait an entire year, you know? That's right. It's just like a couple of months or something like that. Not even. It feels good.
No, I have no fake injury. I do have a small back ailment that is legitimate. Legitimate.
Well, you were out here stretching. I was. You either saw it happen. You're either hard selling this or, you know, it's legit. No, this is the real deal.
This is legitimate. This is me getting old. This is me hurting myself doing a box jump in the gym. Oh. And now I'm trying to get myself together because I got to get.
Get a title back in a couple weeks. Actually, one week. We're like a week away from SummerSlam. We are here. Rich Eisen Show.
I'm not Rich. I'm Seth Rollins.
So it's the Seth Rollins show. I'm here with the boys. We got Brockman. What up, man? Jefferson.
We got a good crew. We got a really good crew, and I'm excited about it. Strong.
So, yeah, there he is. TJ just hanging out in the corner. That's what I do. You look good over there, though, man. Did you guys plan this green thing?
Like green pants for TJ? Green shirt for Seth? Look at that. Did not. You know, it's funny.
Speaking of wardrobes, though, I was at Bristol Farms the other day, and the kids were selling candy outside. And the first, of course, I said, I don't have any money. And I hang them out. And of course, I was going to buy something because I can't pass them up. And I bought some.
Candy, and he was like, I really like the way you're dressed today. I was like, Man, you already got the money.
Well, that means it's a real compliment, yeah, because he was like 12 and they don't just hand those out. No, no, no, no, no, that's yeah, because if he's trying to get your money, you would have done it ahead of time, buttered you up the whole night. And here's the thing about the kids these days: they don't just take the cash, so you can't even use the yeah, they got Apple Pay, they got Venmo, they got PayPal, they got the whole thing, they got to scan your card. Wait, yeah, they'll do it all. They got the little thing, it's that you know who really gets you in that are the Girl Scouts, of course, they're like organized terrorists.
Oh, man, absolutely, because they know you can't say no to them. No, no, no, you can't say no, but also they have an incredible product. Yeah, yeah, I mean, the Girl Scout cookie is an institution, yeah. Do we have favorite? Do you guys have a favorite tag along?
Well, we got we got a plug named Emma, and uh she supplies us with some thin mints. Oh, yeah, we're a thin mint crew here. That's disgusting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys are disgusting, yeah.
Mint and chocolate don't go to you. Really?
So you're not with the mint and chocolate. Anti. I don't like no mint and chocolate chocolate. Traditionally, I am. I don't like the ice cream, but the thin mint cookie itself, though.
I can't do it. I'm with you. What's your cookie? Mint and chocolate are not. We are simpaticos.
Samoas, right? Samoas. Or the peanut butter patty. Peanut butter patty. What is it about the mint and chocolate, though?
Is it like how it. I don't like mint. In a sweet environment, I don't know. I love a mint gum. I love a mint mouthwash, a mint toothpaste.
I'll do a savory mint, even like a little mint jelly on a lamb chop. I'm fine with that. It's fancy right there. Oh, yeah. But I will, you, a sweet mint situation, I'm out.
I'm totally out. This is, me and my wife get along about. As well as any couple can get along, I would say. This is our one disagreement. Like, we would get in a fist fight if you, if I said, I'm taking all the mint chocolate out of the house, I would be out of the house before the mint chocolate.
100%. 100%. Here's a clue: if your wife is named the man, you probably don't want to get on fast. No, absolutely not. I don't want to say that.
Absolutely not. No, there's no chance. I mean, look, if you're married or you have a girl in the house, you know, you know, who's boss? You know, happy wife, happy life. That's how it goes.
Can I just talk about something? Mint jelly on a lamb chop. Yeah, I wrote that down. That could be some type of fantasy name at some point. The song title, band name, that's like a limb biscuit album.
Mint jelly on a lamb chop, bro. Fred Christ, you're welcome. You only get that on a PJ, fellas. You don't get that on Jet Blue. No, I feel like that's what I'm serving at.
Is that not a common accoutrement to a lamb, to a lamb shank or lamb chop? Is this just the word? I live in I'm out of touch. When they say I'm out of touch, this is what they mean. I eat steaks from scissors.
If you have any opinions in the audience out there about mint chocolate or mint jelly on a lamb chop, call us 844-204 Rich. Yeah, we're on Disney Plus, ESPN app. Listen to us, ESPN Radio, SiriusXM Channel 80. Follow Rich Eisen's show. You can follow me as well.
I'm on social media as well. WWE Rollins on Instagram. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. I'm not on YouTube. YouTube.com slash RichEison show.
Let's talk about sports, guys. Yeah. Enough of the mint jelly and cookie chatter. Let's talk about American football. Let's talk about the LA Rams, the odds-on favorite.
To go to the Super Bowl, to win the Super Bowl. We got a lot of football to get through. We're going to talk about some, we're going to have a sleeper draft that we're going to get to. We're going to talk about some sleeper teams or some teams that we think could outperform their expectations. That's going to be a lot of fun.
I'm excited to see. I'm blind right now. I don't know who these guys are going to pick for their teams.
So I'm excited to see who you guys got and what your reasonings are. But let's start with the Rams and let's start with. I mean, we're on Aaron Donald. We are. We're right.
That's it. We're on Aaron Donald watch. We want to know: is he going to come back? Is he going to play beside Miles Garrett? The coach, Sean McVay, one of the great coaches in the NFL, had a little something to say about it.
Let's take a listen. I have cross-passed with Aaron Donald. And, you know, what's special is we have a really special relationship, and it's way bigger than football. I've heard him say it before, and it means the world to me. And I feel the same.
It's family with us. He's done so much for me. I love the man he is. I love the husband, the father, the son. You know, he represents a lot of the things that are right.
And what he's going to do is he is thinking about this. He's going to go through his process. And the one thing about Aaron Donald is, is what he does, he does it full speed ahead. Mm. Yeah, I had this on as an overreaction Monday topic: that it's a matter of when Aaron Donald comes back, not if.
It just feels like. All signs are pointing toward. He's spotted at the facility. He's really going nuts with the Instagram workout videos. And you know, he's not just like, he's not throwing up 50s.
He's throwing up one ten dumbbells. Like, it's not just any old, like. I want to keep my shape work out. This is like. Can I endure the rigors of an NFL season coming up workout?
That's how it just seems. And it's just all the chatter, the fact that it hasn't been completely. Dismissed, like, ah, no, I'm not coming back. Anyway, it's like, I mean, I'm thinking about it. There's too much smoke.
Too much smoke. Right? Like, there's too much smoke. There's gotta be some flames here. It makes no sense.
Now, look, one could argue. Aaron Donald has been in playing shape since he retired. Like, the man is a gamble, never fell out to the gym. Like, he keeps himself ready at all times. Like, it feels like he retired, just kind of.
And then stayed ready, waiting for the perfect opportunity to come back, is almost what it feels like. And when you've got a beast like Miles Garrett just coming in, defensive player of the year, like. It feels like this is the opportunity to come. I mean, what, what? Come on, though.
You know what I mean? Like, come on. It feels like it's not fair. It feels like we have rigged the system. Can you imagine the two of them?
On the same defensive line? Are we getting. Are we uh do we think we're getting like prime Aaron Donald here?
Well TJ, no, we're not going to get primate. We're not going to get three-time defensive player of the year and first-team all-pro Aaron Donald. But. I think just him out there. He's going to make plays and he's going to draw attention.
And even if he doesn't, and it all goes to Miles Garrett, now suddenly. You're going to block Aaron Donald one-on-one? I don't care if he's two years removed from playing.
Some of the other defensive players we were talking about yesterday that the Rams have. This is a team that could go for the all-time single season sack record. You know, Miles Garrett's coming off 23 last season. 25. Why not?
Well, I kind of thought this. I had a, I, you know, came from Good Morning Football just mere hours ago. And earlier in the week, I think last week, we were talking about this. And I said, I think he has a chance to break his own sack record because, look, Cleveland was not good. Last year, right?
So they were playing from behind a lot of the time. And so you're not going to get a lot of those situations where you know the quarterback is going to drop back and pass because they're just going to run the ball or, you know, whatever. They're not, it's not third and long, right? It's not happening because they're playing from behind so much.
So I'm going on the opposite side of that. offense for the LA Rams is elite. Elite MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford, Buka Nakur, Devontae Adams. I mean, It's it's it's it It's good. It's really, really good.
So I imagine if it's anything like it was last season where they were, you know, the first in the league in big plays, like they're going to be playing. With a lead a lot of the time, which means all these teams are going to be trying to catch up, which means Aaron Donald, or 40 and slip there. Miles Donald. Miles Garrett is going to get more opportunities to get after a quarterback. I mean, that is scary.
That is terrifying. Yeah, you asked earlier: Do I feel like he can be prime Aaron Donald? I'm not going to sit here and say he can't. Like, every professional athlete is special, right? And then you always have the 1% who were like that much better.
But, like, Shaq would say, Aaron Donald has G14 classification. I'm not going to sit here and go, I, yeah, he can't be what he was because we've all seen him working else. You know, the strength is there.
So that's a big part of that position, right? And The fact that he doesn't have to be the man every single play because, oh, he's got this other genetic freak next to him.
Well, that's what I'm wondering. Yeah, I'm not going to say he can't. And it's just when he comes back, is he going to be right there day one in training camp or is he going to be, is he going to come in at the end of August? That's my next question. Is he going to float in week seven, week eight?
Is it going to be a Thanksgiving situation and he's just there for the, you know, get his win back at the end of the season and then he's there for the playoff run? Yeah, what's the holdup? That's that's the thing. Yeah, that's the thing. What are we going to do?
Yeah. Catching me a little, I'm like, okay, yeah, there's a lot of smoke, but what are we waiting for? Right. Like, what's the, I mean, has he really just not decided? He has decided.
You think that's it? Maybe you think he really just hasn't made up his mind whether he wants to come back and play or not. Did we hear something the other day about someone said that if he does it, he doesn't want to come into the middle of the season, right? He wants to grind with the team from the start.
So that would lend itself to being we should hear, you know, an answer sooner than later. But yeah, I mean, training camps right around the corner. We're almost almost a live football. Yeah, I mean, the Rams report on Saturday.
So we'll see if he's there. I don't know. I haven't heard any indication on either side, but. You know, he's two years removed. It kind of takes a little bit to get your wind back and get your stamina and realize getting hit, Seth, you know, is getting hit is a different beast when you haven't been hit for two seasons.
I guess it's kind of like it's kind of like when you have kids, right? And you're through the toddler stage, and then. You all of a sudden have another kid, and you're like, man, I gotta go back into the Toddler stage. We were already through this already. Yeah, I think that's the thing of it is: I can imagine myself stepping away from wrestling.
for say a year or two. And then I would imagine the the mental Mm-hmm. Fortitude that you have to have to go, okay, I'm now going to step back in and I'm going to fully commit, not just for myself, but for my teammates. You know, you can't just like, oh, jump in, jump out. Like, one thing that everybody that's ever played with Aaron Donald has ever said is that he is the best teammate.
He is, and you know, you mentioned he wants to be in the trenches. He wants to be grinding TJ from start to finish. Like, he's not a guy, he's not, he's not a Roman Reigns, right? He just doesn't want to show up from time to time, you know, toss the title around. Look at my rings.
You know, he wants, he's, he's a man's man, right? He's a fighter. He's a Seth Rollins. He wants to be in there in the mix with his boys all the time.
So, so I feel like you got to mentally. Kind of steal yourself and get ready for that. Like, that's like, okay, to me, that's the commitment more than anything. I think physically. Dude, he could go in and do the thing.
I think mentally, it's like, am I going to commit to what this takes for the entire season, all the travel, put the family stuff off to the side again after I've already done everything that I wanted to do in the league? I, I, you know, I'm a Hall of Famer as it is.
So it's like, what is the reward at the end of this for him? And maybe he just misses the game. I don't know. It's quite fascinating. But you know, like, you know, Big Daddy Kane said, there ain't going to be no half-stepping when it comes to Aaron Donald.
He's in this, he's going to be doing it to the highest level again because anything less is beneath him, I would assume. Yes, I mean, yeah, that is mentally, he's got to prepare himself to go to combat with another. Man, yeah, so that takes that takes time to think that out and really ask yourself, do I want this? Do I want this again? Yeah, all the hanging with the boys and the Sundays.
Yeah, that's great. But it's the work the other six days. It's getting yourself ready. Yeah, it's Tuesday to Saturday. Like, man, do I want to go through that grind after I've been away from it for two years?
Yeah. And, you know, TJ, like, you're right. There's no half stepping. Like, he's not in there going to be like, all right, I'll just be half the player I was. And Miles will pick up the slack.
Like, that's not the mindset that this guy has. Like, he's going to come in and compete. With Miles for the share of those sacks. Like, he wants to get after it. You know, he's not like, oh, yeah, Miles, you have the glory.
No, no, no. That's not how these alpha elite athletes, he's a team player, but I mean, he wants to have the most impact he can. Absolutely. Like, you know, Charles Montgomery Punk didn't come back to main event vengeance. He came back because he was going to main event mania.
That's what Aaron Donald's doing right now. Let's not compare those. That's disgusting. That's. That hurts me.
You've broken the bad. That hurts me badly. I don't know. I don't know. It's a very interesting situation.
One last question. They're obviously Super Bowl favorites now. Honestly, the crazy question that I have here is: if he comes back. Do we are we talking about like A proper undefeated season here? Is that out of the way?
Well, I think, you know, that's hard to do. You know, we were here the day that. Teron Armstead was here the day Miles Carrick got traded, and he immediately was like, oh, they're going undefeated. And that was without the idea of Aaron Donald coming back.
So now it's like, okay, well.
Well, that was his first blush. And then he actually did the one loss game and he gave him a lot. Oh, okay.
Well, he said they would lose. It was the last game of the year. Yeah, he thought they would be 16 and 30. Yeah, we're going to rest everyone. You're not going to be that close and not.
No, you gotta, you gotta go. An undefeated season, though, guys, like it's been, what, 54 years now? Like, I. I don't know, man. I just don't know if that's ever going to happen.
That's what they said until the Patriots were this close. But I don't know. They didn't do it. Didn't do it. Didn't do it.
Couldn't get the job done when it mattered most. That's true. It hurts. Eli got him. Thanks.
Again. Thanks for that.
Some people. Remember, I'm on your side. Yeah, we'll be right back. I'm on your side. We'll be back.
We'll give Brockman some more help out the Patriots. Mike Borkinoff coming up next. Great last name. Can't wait to get into him. Um Rich Eisen here.
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And we are back with a guest. Let's do it. And maybe he knows. He might. Because he's got more NBA information than we do.
We've got very little. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only Mike Vorkhanov in the house. Mike, how are you? Seth Rollins, it's good to meet you. Uh where you at right now, my friend?
Seth, good to meet you too. I'm in lovely Jersey City. As you can tell from that thing behind my shoulder. There it is. Yeah, they widened out and we got the new jersey back there.
Fantastic. That's lovely.
So, don't we? We always had things, Seth, have to ask: what's the exit, right? Del Tufo? That's exactly what exit? Jersey City is a little off of the turnpike and the parkway.
But what exit is that? Mike, you're going to take 14 off the turnpike. There you go. And then 14C. Yes, 14C.
14C. Is that one of those exits where there's like up to Q or something like that? Like, I'm so lost.
Well, Mike, we are talking about LeBron James in here, and we're on LeBron watch. And, you know, Brockman filled me in on him saying LeBron was a non-factor if he goes to Miami.
So we kind of just want to get your take, get your feel. Like, what are we thinking? How are we feeling about LeBron? Where might he go? What are all the whispers saying?
And is he really going to be a non-factor in Miami? Is that crazy talk from Brockman? Mm-hmm. I listen, I was a little confused. I was at a Fanatics Fest last week and I was sitting through the LeBron live pod taping.
At some point, he was like, Somebody on social media said I was going to make it a play-in team. And I was like, There's no way somebody actually said that. I thought he was just creating haters out of thin air, just you know, for talking points. But now, now I know where it goes. Yeah, Mike, he did misquote me though, Mike.
I didn't say wherever he went, I said specifically Miami.
Okay. But still, I think it might be a like a stretch too far to say that'd be a play-in team. The East is. Definitely going to be interesting wherever he goes. It's super competitive.
You're right. Like, there's like 10 teams that are all thinking they might be top six seeds and avoid the play-in tournament. But Miami has that problem of we don't know who will be doing the guard stuff for them. That's like my big basketball analysis. But I think if you have Giannis and you have Bam and you have LeBron, they'll be able to figure it out.
And I think they probably avoid the play-in tournament. It's my guess. Do you feel like Miami is the spot? Is that where we're leaning? Like, what are the odds makers saying?
What does your gut tell you? Like, I need to know. I need to know where, where is he going to go?
So it's really interesting. I'm going to give you, this is my analysis: the fact that. I was actually watching something the other day. It was one of those Netflix shows that was like behind the scenes of WWE. And it was a, it was your storyline about how you planned out your fake knee injury.
And there was like a thing where Triple H is like, only eight guys know. And that's it. And I think with LeBron, I think there's like three guys who know. And I think anyone else is probably lying too. Um, they've done a great job of just like keeping it under wraps, and I don't know, I have no information.
I think pretty much everyone out there has no information. And I don't know how long this is going to go. I mean, Philly, Cleveland, Miami, maybe the Warriors, maybe Minnesota, like all of those seem like plausible shots. And he'll be doing it on a minimum, near minimum contract, which means he'll be one of the best values in the NBA no matter where he chooses. It's just that if he goes to Philly or if he goes to Cleveland, he kind of like picks those teams up into title contender status, Minnesota II.
If he goes to the Warriors, if he goes to Miami, it's probably still a little bit more complicated of a path for those teams to get to the NBA finals.
So, based on that analysis, it sounds to me like you think he already knows where he's going, but we've had like. Recent reports are saying like he's kind of waiting to see where some of these chips fall. Like there's, you know, is Anthony Davis going to get moved? Kyrie Irving going to get moved. Do you think he already has somewhere in mind and it's like kind of lock and key until the time is right?
Or are there some chess moves at play here that he's waiting on? I thought it was interesting last week. He's like, I'm not going to hold you guys up too much longer. Um, which I took to mean as like he'd announce something pretty soon. Maybe that was more like in the larger picture, you know, like if, you know, if it's three more weeks in the larger scale of things in 52 week year, that's not too much longer.
But here we are. It's been a week. We're still waiting to find out. I don't doubt that he's trying to see if he can get Anthony Davis or Kyrie Irving to join him. Or I think those are the reports.
But I think he probably has a good idea. Like, it's hard to make those trades. And I don't know why those teams would be motivated to trade those two good players. And I mean, I don't know how many chips there are to fall, basically. We're in late July in the NBA offseason.
A lot of the stuff's happened already. Yeah, that's the other thing. It's like, how long are these teams? waiting for him. to make a decision, you know?
Like I saw the other day the commissioner comes out and he's like, We're waiting on LeBron to get this scheduling done, which, you know, that's that's pretty wild, but I get it. I get it. You want your your best players and your best games in the right times and stuff like that. I understand that.
So that's wild. But like, I mean, how long are we waiting here before we start to, you know, try to rush this thing? Or is it just completely on LeBron's timeline? I think it's on this timeline because if he's willing to take minimum or fit into one of the exceptions, there's nothing that those teams have to do, right? really have to you know make any trades to clear up cap space or clear roster spot is pretty easy.
Funny enough, I think the NBA might be the one that's the most sweating this the most is that like usually the schedule comes out mid-August. And they run all these algorithms and iterations in the schedule to make sure that they have the teams they want on Christmas Day, opening week. And I bet, you know, like some things get moved around depending on LeBron goes. Like, is Minnesota necessarily going to play on? Christmas Day, if LeBron's not on that team, maybe not.
Like, same thing for, you know, Philly or, you know. Cleveland, like things change automatically. And so they definitely. Would want to know where he's going to be so they can line up all those games, and all their TV partners are happy. You know, you can't change the schedule after it's been sent out.
Yeah, you know, I think this is a bit of a... Maybe a bit of a ruse on the NBA's part, because at this point for schedule making, they just got an AI. Like they just they just press a button and it just it just makes the schedule, right? I mean they're just numbers at this point. It's just It's just a grid system, you know?
Yeah, and Rich brought this up too. It's not like the teams that he's deciding wouldn't be on Christmas Day or possibly opening night anyway.
So just plug them into those dates. Yeah. They got to have. They've already looked at the teams. They probably plugged them in.
Okay, here's the schedule if he goes to Minnesota. Here's the schedule. Yeah, that's that's that's that's chaos. I don't buy that for Mike. Where do you think is the best basketball fit?
Because I guess ultimately for LeBron, it's about. Winning championships and trying to, you know, kind of just add to his legacy in the next year or two, or however many years he's going to keep playing. Yeah, I mean, I think there's a really good argument that the best basketball fit might be in Minnesota. Um, and Edwards is there, Rudy Gobert, Jay, uh, Jalen McDaniels, and uh, and you know, Lil Melo Ball. Problem is, if you go to Minnesota, the Spurs and OKC are still out west, right?
And so that comp that complicates your path to getting to the finals, letting alone winning a title. And it's just a little bit easier in the east. You know, the Knicks definitely are a great team, they just won the title, but. Um, you know, there's just not as many top-end teams.
So if you go to Philly, all of a sudden, uh, that's pretty interesting. Cleveland, like, They will, you know, they got to the Eastern Conference finals last year, so you throw LeBron in there. Um, that's pretty interesting, and so. You know, to your point, Miami, we were disagreeing about this earlier, but like that gets you closer to being, I think, a finals contender with those three. And Yeah.
So, I like to maximize the best team, he'd probably go out west, but to maximize his title chances, it's probably east somewhere. Does the fact that James Harden and Draymond Green, they're still technically free agents, is that factoring into any of this? I think that's just more so for cap and like roster management purposes, right? If you know you're getting LeBron or you're not getting LeBron, then that can dictate what kind of contract you give those guys and how much money they're able to make next season, more so than it does of like, no, like. You know, there's nowhere Draymond Green can go at this point, right?
Like James Harden, there's nowhere he's going to go at this point. It's really just if I'm coming back to those two teams, it's like for how much and how long, and what's that contract going to look like? Yeah, you know, you mentioned like there's no elite teams that like, but what I took out of that is the parody in the league right now. It's so Even. It makes for such exciting basketball.
This is not like Kevin Durant going to the Warriors when they were perennial championship drivers. Favorites again. This is totally different.
So you can slide LeBron into any one of these contenders, whether it be East or West. I know TJ would love to see LeBron in a Sixers. Oh, man, I can't wait because it's going to happen. What's up, Mike? TJ here.
Just got a question for you. First of all, I love your name. It sounds like you'd be part of an 80s tag team with Nikolai Volkov back in the day. But I know you've done a deep dive into my guy. Kawhi Leonard.
Seriously. Tell me, man, what's happening? What's going on with Kawhi? I'm also a Clippers fan. We don't have time to get into that.
But is it still going to go through? Is it going to get held up? Like, what's happening? T-Dear, that would be great. I'd love to be part of an 80s tag team.
I would have to play the bad guy with a Russian name. There's no other output. Yeah, we actually worked in those days. Yeah. I mean, I don't listen.
It's another waiting game. Like, I wish I had better things to say other than just, we're all going to wait for eternity, but that's where it stands. You know, the investigation I think is over.
Now the NBA is kind of like sifting through what the law firm they hired has found, deciding whether there's a punishment or not that it then wants to levy. And the process forward is like a little bit complicated. You know, they can maybe reach a settlement if they feel like there's a punishment and something to do there with the Clippers and Steve Ballmer and the MVPA will get involved. And obviously Kawhi if there's something there for him too. But the CBA says the process is you almost go to like a trial, right?
You present your case, so to speak, to a system arbitrator who then rules if the charges that are the punishment that you want to levy, if there's punishment to levy, will stick and if it makes sense. And so that can make things go longer. And then there's an appeals process that's also written into the CBA.
So that can make the process go even longer, right?
So there's a bit of a known unknown here coming up. You know, I reported, I think it was last week. Time has kind of lost all meaning for me, but last week that, you know, now the investigation, part of the reason might have stretched on is that they were looking into, you know, if there's a potential second contract out there with the Clippers and involving Kawhi Leonard. And so that's something that the investigation looked into. And I thought it was interesting.
The thing that really slowed down this Raptors Clippers trade is that Adam Silver said, You know, like they made the raptors, they put it in front of them and said, Hey, if you guys. Sign this paperwork saying you're willing to live with the risk of trading for Kawhi. And if there's punishment, living and incurring that risk, and the raptors said, Okay, we'll slow it down, we'll hold off on the trade for now. And so they're saying that's not them thinking that there's any punishment to come, but that's also them saying, We want to see how this all plays out before we do anything officially. I wish I had a timeline where, you know, Adam Silver said he's hoping for the end of summer.
That's not Adam Silver saying he believes it will go and end by the end of the summer. That's his hope. Interesting. Yeah, that's interesting. Where is he playing ball this season then?
Where where where is Kawhi going to be playing ball?
Okay. DVD? You got a gut instinct on it at all? You got any vibes on it? I think the trade with the Raptors will still happen.
Like, just trying to think through the things that would make them cancel that deal is. You know, if they void the contract and they literally cannot trade him, the Clippers literally cannot trade him anymore. But, you know, if there's like a suspension, let's say that's, that's what the, you know, um, investigation finds, you can kind of like tweak the terms of the trade a little bit to make up for that. Um, you know, or it's possible maybe the league just lands that there's no wrongdoing at all. And then you just, then you're on, you're on a glide path to making this deal happen.
Wow, this is a real, it's a real wait and see situation. Yeah, I know. Oh, wait, Mike, let's end on something fun. Summer league, coming into the end of the draft this year, it was like, all right, you can't go wrong with any of these four guys. And a lot of times when you have those expectations, one or two ultimately disappoint.
Well, that was not the case. The four rookies that were as advertised in Summer League. What were your thoughts and observations from watching these guys? It feels like the rookie of the year race is just a toss-up now, which is so exciting. Yeah, the rookie of the year race is going to be awesome.
I think you have four legit candidates. And then, like, with how deep everyone says this draft class is, maybe there's someone else who comes out of the top four too. AJ DeBonsa seems to be like, as advertised, a big playmaking wing. You know, maybe he won't have the best stats immediately because he's on a team with Trey Young and Anthony Davis, right?
So the numbers won't come as easy as they would for Cam Boozer or for Caleb Wilson, which are on teams without as much talent. Darren Peterson seems like he's going to be. You know, a pretty good guard in the NBA, and Utah really needs him as a playmaker and all that. I'm kind of interested to see what Boozer looks like in Memphis. Like that team, to me, he's the favorite for rookie of the year because he's going to have the opportunity to put up big numbers, and that team doesn't have the same level of talent.
Also, he just seems like really good and ready for the NBA. Caleb Wilson is dynamic. Like, that's going to be a really fun rookie of the year race. And I would not want to predict it right now. Yeah, I mean, if you're a Bulls fan, you have to be just backflips in your driveway at watching Caleb Wilson play basketball.
And just the way he was able to shoot the three ball over the summer win, that really wasn't a huge part of his game at UNC. Yeah, I mean, he's probably the most exciting prospect to get to Chicago since like Derek Rose, I would think. But, I mean, That's how f how long it's been for them. Man. Mike, real quick, I want you to look into your crystal ball.
You probably don't have one there, but let's just say that you do. Look into your crystal ball and give us a team that can pull off what the Knicks did last year in terms of a team. We're sitting here in July, July 23rd. I know that because it's our birthday, me and Brockman. But a team like last year, we're not thinking about the Knicks.
You know, being the guys who are holding up the Larry OB, just give us a team that you feel that could maybe do what the Knicks did and come out of nowhere and win the championship. I'm going to stall for a second as I think that through. Are you guys sharing a cake or are there two birthday cakes in the studio? We'll probably end up getting donuts at some point, but we've got nothing.
So we got nothing. Nothing. Both of your birthdays are right now. Today, yeah. Today.
Yeah. July 23rd, first day of the Leo. Nobody smartened me up to this at all. I would have absolutely brought you guys donuts. This is, I am ashamed.
I am disappointed. I am heartbroken that I do not have gifts for both of you. You'll be here tomorrow. I'm here tomorrow. They'll be here tomorrow.
That's right. That's right. We're going to get this done. We're going to make amends here. This is absolutely.
I've got a feeling Susie's going to bring us donuts today. Tragedy. She's not. Oh, Susie's not here. That's right.
Okay. We're not getting anything, Mike. All right, Mike. We bought enough time for you to come up with a team.
Somebody's got to jump on the delivery app and make that happen. I'm going to say. I think it can be silly. Oh, TJ, Mike. I like Mike Borkenhoff.
Look, I'll move you up to the IC title, Mike. The thing that I took from the Knicks is that a certain level of continuity and talent can take you a long way. And that's what happened with the Knicks. They were able to play together, get to know one another. This is going to be year two of VJ Edgecombe and Tyrus Maxey playing together.
You know, there's a good case scenario that Joel and Beat stays healthy. Jalen Brown gets thrown into the mix.
So maybe that goes against my continuity argument. But like, I think that can work. And like, maybe that's a team that takes the leap. I have some questions about Cleveland and James Harden. Like he was really exposed in the Eastern Conference finals.
And so if they don't get LeBron and James Harden still has to do so much, like I have questions about, you know, what that can look like as the East gets tougher. I'd want to say Minnesota, but the West is just so tough. And it's so tough to predict them getting out past San Antonio and OKC. And Denver, like you could, you could see that. case but they're just Peyton Watson's still unsigned.
Are they going to lose talent to keep him? It's just complicated there. And I think the one team that we're all sleeping on. That could be the NYX. Of next year is the team that was almost the mix of the previous year, the Pacers.
If Hal Burton's back and he's healthy, Um, like we shouldn't, we shouldn't forget about him, right? My guy, my guy, Tyrese Halliburton, absolutely, Mike Vorkhanov, the villain himself. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, Mike. That's all the speculation on the LeBron watch. You're the man, dude.
Enjoy Jersey, uh, exit 14C or whatever. My guy, all right, Mike. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, bro. Thanks, guys.
Bye, Mike. Woo! Whoa. I don't know, guys. TJ's feeling himself.
Oh, yeah. LeBron James. You got LeBron. You got a prediction that the Sixers could. Take it all the way, they could be the n the next you know what they need They need Danhausen on their side.
That's what they need. The Knicks got uncursed. I don't know. I don't think we'll switch allegiance. We're going to find our own Danhausen.
We'll see. Middle of the season, you never know. You know, Danhausen, he's a vampire. Anything could happen with that guy. Very nice.
That's a good NBA chat. We'll be back here on the Rich Eisen Show with Seth freaking Rollins. 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.
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The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Radio audience, we just played an archive clip from what, I don't know, seven, eight years ago, Jeff Ross. Like 18, 19. Yeah, he did karate growing up, and he said that he could offhand break a 2x4 or what is it, 2x8 or something? A 1x8 that we had laying around here.
I think he's Jim Duggan. And didn't even come close. No. And Seth, you say that you can break that board. I believe I can break that board.
Yeah, yeah. With a full clip. With your hand or your foot? No, no, no. I mean, with the pumps?
Just like just like Jeff. Do we need to get this cleared from Triple H or something to allow you to do this? Because we can't be held responsible. That's what I just said. I know.
You break a board, then something breaks, and then we don't get SummerSlam. If we can find the board, let me examine the board. We'll take a look at it and we'll uh we'll make an estimation on whether or not I can give this thing RJ is on it. We're gonna find the board because it is around here definitely awesome in the meantime. And I also have a still chain over here if you need that for any reason.
Why would I need it? I'm not gonna break the chain. I'm just saying, in case it comes in case Roman jumps in here and you gotta fight him off. We gotta endo stick in this. What do you think Roman don't even want to show up for work on Monday?
You think you're gonna want to hang out with you? Come on now. Wow. That's ridiculous. Oh man.
All right. All right, let's get to some real business. Let's do it. Okay, let's dig in to this sleeper team NFL draft that we are going to get after. Yeah.
All right, and we're going to do this three rounds. Yeah. And the first round is going to start. Right. Now.
Seth, your number one overall pick, sleeper team. Wait, Mikey, we got some music? Yeah, Mike, let's get some films music for 2026. The number one pick sleeper team.
So I'm looking at the Super Bowl odds, right? And I'm starting at the bottom. I'm just going low here.
Okay. And the first team that jumps out to me is the Miami Dolphins. Whoa. And I think they're going to, everybody's saying they're going to win three games, four games. They're in a tough division.
Yada, yada, yada. I get all that. I've got a friend of mine who's a lifelong Dolphins fan, and he thinks they're going to go winless. And I'm saying, listen to me, all right? As a Chicago Bears fan, I had to watch the Bears play Malik Willis multiple times last season on multiple occasions.
Malik Willis is a competent quarterback. He is the real deal. He is a legitimate athlete. He is a dual-threat quarterback. He's got a good deep ball, and he's got Jalen Waddell to throw the football to.
All right. There is a weapon there for him. But the biggest reason I think Miami is going to outperform where people think they are. Are the defense. They bring in Jeff Hafley from Green Bay, and Jeff Hafley is a defensive guru.
He is legitimate. He will get these guys no matter who they are. And there's not a lot of sexy names in Miami on the side of the ball. He will whip them into shape and they will buy into his scheme. And I'm telling you, this team is going to finish better than people think.
Now, do I think they're going to win the AFC East? Absolutely not. But I do not think they are going to be bottom of the barrel. They're going to finish ahead of the Jets. That's guaranteed right now.
They're going to be at least third in this division, and they are not going to be like one of the worst five teams in football. I think they'll be better than that. Brockman? Ow. I did not see the Dolphins coming.
I didn't think we'd even mention them. Yeah, sleeper team. I'm going bottom up.
Okay. You know what? I'm kind of with you looking at the odds. They have some really long Super Bowl odds, the Dolphins. Oh, my God.
Yeah, they're bad. I'm going here because for many reasons, but I really like their quarterback and I love what they're doing with the head coach and the OC. I'm going the Tennessee Titans as a sleeper team. I really think they could. I'm not saying they're going to win the AFC South, but I think they're going to be in the mix.
I think Cam Ward is an absolute dog. And if you want to talk about guys, second-year quarterbacks, we saw Caleb and Drake May make that huge leap last year. I think Cam Ward could kind of do something similar this season. Carnell Tate. Get ready.
Calvin Ridley, another year in that offense. They signed Wandell Robinson. You know when they got Jeffrey Simmons on defense. I think Tennessee, not to mention all the coaching staff, are beautiful bald men. I think that Tennessee is a team to look out for.
They're my number one sleeper this year. I like that. I like that. I gotta be honest, man. You stole Tennessee from me.
I had a whole argument ready.
So, in that moment, I had to. Oh, we're pivoting. John Cena told me about pivoting. You got to be ready.
So, you know, the team I'm going to go, I switch off the Titans. I don't know why, but I got a feeling about the New Orleans Saints. I love that one. I checked this out the other day for some reason. I don't know why I was looking at this.
They have the second easiest strength of schedule in the league right now. And by the way, like we said, every team's schedule is kind of tough, right? We can sit here and debate who's tougher and who's not, but playing an NFL schedule, it's tough. Favorable schedule. Tyler Schoff, look, I'm not an all-22 guy.
But all the all 22 guys that I follow and know, they're very high on him. They know more than me. And I'm never gonna sit here and try to pretend that I know more than I do, but the guys that do know. They got it. They say this kid's got something.
And then Chris Olave, he's awesome. Yep. You got Alvin Kamara, he just re-signed with him in Travis H-N, because you know he changed the pronunciation of his name. Our buddy Cam's down there. I don't know, guys.
I just have a feeling that the days of the brown paper bags are over. I think the New Orleans Saints are going to surprise some people. I like it. I like these picks. I like the Saints.
They play in a very winnable division as well. The Panthers won that last year with a. Sub. five hundred record.
So just saying, that's That's not bad. There's some good picks. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
