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Now, on with the show. We're on Aaron Donald watch. This is the Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Seth Rollins. One thing that everybody that's ever played with Aaron Donald has ever said is that he is the best teammate. He's not a Roman Reigns, right?
He just don't want to show up. Earlier on the show, good morning football co-host, Jamie Erdahl. Coming up. WWE superstar Becky Lynch. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Seth Rollins.
We are back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Seth freaking Rollins in Rich's chair. Rich has a very comfy chair, by the way. Is there a nice butt pad here? Foot pad, everything's going on.
That thing is comfortable. It's very nice. It's very nice. You're with Brockman, Del Tufo, Jefferson. I don't know why I just refer to you guys all by your last names.
Just feels like, it feels like kind of like high school. There he is. TJ in the corner there with the Sixers jersey. Because as we learned at the top of the last hour, the Sixers have drafted a young LeBron James into the roster to play his 24th and possibly 25th season. He's there on a two-year deal.
I said two-year deal. For $8 million to go play with Jalen Brown, Joel Embiid. There he is. Courtesy of Shams, he thinks he can win a title there. He says it's not about the money.
I'm very excited now for the upcoming NBA season, which I feel like just ended and is already. Just getting started. Call us if you want to talk about it. We do have some callers on the line. We got to get to some of them.
Colleagues. 44204 Rich, Disney Plus, ESPN App. We are here. ESPN Radio, SiriusXM. Channel 80.
Um Follow us or Rich at the Rich Eisen Show on X and Instagram. Subscribe on YouTube, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. Did I hear that right? Pennsylvania is declaring. Yeah, so here's the deal.
We met Governor Josh Shapiro, the governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Great guy at the draft. He is excited. Obviously, TJ, he's a, you know, he likes the Philly teams. He has declared today LeBron James Day.
Wow. Tweeting out, LeBron is coming to Philly by the power vested in me as the governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a diehard Sixers fan. I hereby proclaim today to be LeBron James Day. Welcome to the city of Brotherly Love. King James.
He did it. It is official. Full-on proclamation by the governor. Put the stamp on it. This is crazy.
Like, whereas, born in Akron, Ohio, and raised by his mother, Gloria, whereas LeBron attended St. Vincent, St. Mary, whereas, throughout his record-breaking career, whereas LeBron, whereas Pennsylvania is honored to welcome LeBron to our Commonwealth. This is crazy. All right.
All right. Well, we've heard, obviously, we know how TG feels. Hey, look, I have the jersey randomly that Seams had in his tweet. Shockingly, there it is: the yellow grand jersey. One of my favorite Sixers jerseys of all time, by the way.
We know how Brockman feels about it as a Boston fan. I'm doing great. Very upset. I'm a neutral party as a Bulls fan. Kind of don't care.
We need to get one more take.
So we got to bring in a guest here joining us on Zoom. The man himself. Oh, yeah. There he is. Rich Eisen.
What's up, Rich? What up, man? What's up, guys? I can't believe I'm tapping out of my personal time off, my PTO here. You know, but uh this this merits it.
This is Merits. What's up, guys? How are you? What's up, Rich? Rich, where are you on your PTL?
Uh, I am in Kingston, New York. Um, I'm in uh the Hudson River Valley where I've been spending the last two days, just unplugging before heading up to Maine for uh visiting. Visiting days, nice. That is amazing. Visiting days, yeah.
So here we are. LeBron James is a sixer, he's a sixer, Rich. How about that? How about that? So, I saw and just heard that you read the proclamation from Governor Shapiro, who is A frequent, from what I'm told, consumer of the Rich Eisen Show.
So I hope he doesn't mind that I'm about to share. What I responded to him in the text that he sent me with the proclamation. Uh and the text that said, this is amazing. Which it is. But my response was: congratulations, Nick's in six parentheses, E-R-S, close parentheses.
Wow. So that is my approach right now. Unless, listen, I'm happy. to dive into the narrative that Yeah. Oh, wait.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. He's just frozen in time. He's frozen in time.
The frozen face though. Wait, I think I'm back. Is he back? I'm back. I'm a back.
You sound a little bit like a robot, but you're oh man, you were about to say something. This is not great. I know it was perfect timing. Are you? No, you're back now, Rich.
I don't know what's going on. Wait, we can hear you. Am I back? You're back. You're back.
You're back. Okay, okay. Start again. Are we good? Start again.
Sorry. No, I'm like, I'm happy to buy into the narrative here that this is over. That Is it Uh um and the next No. Dang. It's just a rib.
Every time he starts to get into it, it freezes. By the way, I've been in Kingston, New York, up in the Hudson. You're in the sticks. Oh, what is the narrative? He's happy to buy into it.
I'm just going to take a guess knowing Rich the way I know him. And I think he was going to say the narrative is I'm very happy for TJ because he deserves this. He has a lot of teams. They've all let him down year after year. And now he finally has a time to, a chance to have some glory.
And I love that for him. I'm pretty sure that's all Rich was going to say. Guys, am I wrong? You think that's the narrative? I'm pretty sure.
Do we have another guess on what that's he might go pro-New York and be like, look, it's all, you know, the Knicks have caused everyone to behave crazy like this, like the Heat going to get Giannis and Philly going to get Brown. And. And LeBron and, you know, I don't know, maybe this is a nick-centric way of seeing things. I mean, chances are it's probably leaning more towards what you said than I said. I feel super frozen.
This is such a bummer. I know. It's a bummer. We got to take one of these callers, I feel like. Callers.
I feel like we should take one of them. Let's see. We have. Come to come correct. Who's ever called?
Well, we wanted a Cavs fan because we wanted to get that take, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to hear from Cavs. There's a gentleman, Jay, from Ohio. Cavs fan, played against LeBron in high school.
Uh-oh. Doesn't think he would have tipped the scales to win a championship.
So is Jay on the line? Can we get Jay on the line? What's up, dude? Yes. Jay.
Sir, how are you doing today, Mr. Seth freaking Rollins? I am doing fantastic because we got this LeBron to the Sixers news that is taking us through the show, and I want to know how you feel about it. Tell us. All right, man.
So I'm a huge CAS fan. I'm forty three years old. Like you said, I did play against LeBron James in high school in a state semifinal game. I played for Ottawa Glandorf High School in Ohio. He was a tropical.
Anyway, I've met him, claimed to know him. Huge cats fan added. I don't think he really tipped the scales for us this year, a 42-year-old LeBron. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't want him because I don't think any team in the league didn't want LeBron. But He needs a ball a lot.
We have Hardin, who obviously needs to involve a lot. I'm not real happy with that either, but that's a whole nother stuff about. I just don't care where I'm going next year. I just don't know. Jay, we're losing you a little bit.
I did take he does not care. He did not seem to care. He doesn't think O'Brien is a he didn't think he was going to be a factor in Cleveland. He's trying to waffle a little bit. Like I said, I wanted him, but he wasn't going to make a difference, right?
He's biting Brockman style. Word for word, bar for bar. That's what you said. That's all he was doing. Yeah, I mean, I typically was talking about Miami.
All right. Should we get... I honestly can't believe this. Do we want to try somebody else here? There's an Iowan on the line.
Terzo. Terzo from Iowa. Terzo, what up? We got some LeBron talk. Terzo, you in?
So Yeah, I'm here, guys. Hopefully, my phone doesn't cut out like Rich is in the past caller, Jay. Third time's a charm, Terzo.
So, where in Iowa are you, first of all? Hey, so Seth, we've talked a couple times. I'm the Niner fan that lives in Des Moines, Iowa. There you go. Last year.
Shout out to Carls. All right. So talk us through the LeBron. What's going on in your head, man? How are you feeling about it?
Well, so I've been a LeBron fan since high school. You know, I'm a couple of years younger than him, kind of like everybody else. TJ, you got to just be excited. Like, my man, I heard you screaming whenever I called in, man.
So that's got to feel good, don't it? Oh, it feels amazing in terms of. And so I was in court this morning. I was talking to Judge Guider, and he's a basketball fan. He's also a Celtics fan, Brockman.
And he did not want to see LeBron go to Uh To Philly. And I kind of had a feeling just looking at the rosters, it was the best fit for him. I did not think that it fit well with Miami. I did not think he fit well Um In Cleveland as well, too, as the past caller said.
So I saw Philly as the perfect landing spot for him. And I did I did think that he was going to do a two-year deal because I don't think you can just run it one time and then just hang it up. I think you got to give yourself some runway here. I think that this is going to be fun. Like the East Coast basketball scene is going to be fun this year.
all of the headlines with Jalen Brown going back to the Celtics, LeBron playing the Lakers. You know, it's it's going to be great. You know, Philly Philliat, Madison Square Garden, you know, opening night, Banner Night. Like, heck, this is going to be fun. There's going to be a lot of storylines that come out of this.
Okay. I agree, Terzo. I appreciate your take. Thank you for calling in, my friend. Enjoy the lovely Iowa summers.
LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er. I don't know if I'm a Cavs fan, I gotta be a little bummed, guys. I think so too. I mean, I know Jay, who we lost previously in the call, said, I don't care, but I feel like that's because he backed it up with, I'm not going to pretend like I didn't want him, but I don't really care. You know what I mean?
It's like, it's like you're hitting on the girl and you're like, she says no and breaks it. You're like, I didn't really want it. Yeah, go out with her anyway. She's ugly anyway. Yeah, yeah.
No, no, no. Come on now. You were hoping he came back to Cleveland, right? If you're, I mean, let's put ourselves in a Cleveland Cavalier fan's shoes. I know it's difficult for you guys, but for me, I can do it.
And I say, I would have, I thought. Yes, bring him back, finish your career in Cleveland, close the loop. We got a squad that, you know, they're not one of the favorites, but certainly a contending squad in the East. And anything could happen as we see in the East. It's been a bit of a shuffle the last few years.
So I don't know. Why not? Bring it home. Maybe LeBron's a missing piece. You know, he came back to Cleveland once and won a title.
Yeah. Maybe he can do it again. Yeah, I heard, TJ, I'm sure you did too. I heard from lots of Cavs fans who thought we were LeBron away from, you know, they made it to the Eastern Conference finals, got swept by the Knicks, as seemingly everyone did in the playoffs. I think a lot of Cavs fans thought they were kind of what LeBron does and his skill set at this point at the end of his career and what he can bring, leadership, that they were like him away with the way they're constructed with, you know, Spider and Harden and Mobley and the pieces that they had, that LeBron would have been the perfect.
piece to add and then put them over the top to maybe you know take out New York and Boston and Philly with Brown in the East. And they thought maybe, you know, you heard a report kind of yesterday that LeBron was waiting on a possible Kyrie trade or maybe an AD trade or something like that, or Draymond's, you know, coming to Cleveland. I think they were kind of, I don't know if it was hopium, kind of will, they were kind of wish casting, you know, some other pieces to come with LeBron to construct this perfect roster. And now I don't really know where this leaves them with him not coming now. Where are they in the east?
They're clearly behind. Yeah. You know, New York, Philly. Maybe, maybe Boston, maybe Detroit. Forget Detroit was for one seed last year.
Detroit was a very good team last year. We were sleeping on that. As I said last week, Indiana is getting Halliburton back, and they were in the finals two years ago.
So, Toronto, you know, the Wizards, if they keep their piece, they're not going to be a contender, but they could win 30, 35 games, and suddenly those wins come off of other people's win totals. The East is now so interesting. There's so many stars. Does Kawhi, does that deal go through now? And he goes to Toronto.
Giannis is in Miami. They got to look to probably add another piece now that they don't get him. This East now is just, wow. Yeah, there's a lot of wheel-in-deal. There's one call on this screen that I feel like I really want to get to.
Just because the description is 13-year-old Sixers fan who is very excited. And that sounds awesome. That sounds amazing.
So I would love to bring in Connor from Atlanta. Connor, are you on the line? Yes, I am. Hello. Connor, welcome to the Richard.
Connor, what's up, dude? Good to see you. Seth Rollins here. Hey, happy LeBron James Day. Yeah, buddy.
Are you excited, Connor? Yeah, super happy to be on the the Brock and Bun show. The Brock and Bunch.
Well, we're excited to have you. You a big LeBron James fan, or is that just now that he's a 76er? Um I wasn't a huge fan of his, but now that he's on the Sixers, yeah, it's it's it's awesome. My dad's been a huge LeBron James fan since. since day one and and he's psyched to have Do you think this is the piece that puts the Sixers over the top?
Are they going to win the championship this year? Are you on the TJ Jefferson bandwagon over here? Yes, this is the best starting five in the league right now. Wow, the best starting five in the league for the five. From Connor himself, that's incredible.
Have you pushed your father yet to order? The LeBron James jersey in the Philadelphia 76. He definitely wants one. He definitely wants one. And he's been saying if he comes, he'll get one.
What number do we think LeBron's wearing? Do you have a guess on what number he's got in Philly's? I don't know. 23? Did anyone wear?
Keep the 23, right? Yeah, is there a famous 23 for Philly? THJ? I don't really think there is. Hired Sixer jerseys.
That's only not the sixth for Dr. J.
Well, that's obvious. Call me. What if he asks Dr. J and the doctor gets his blessing? It's possible because LeBron is a, you know, he's a basketball historian.
He is a Dr. J fan. But because of that, I think he won't be for him. Yeah. Yeah.
But Connor, at you at 13, brother, let me explain something to you. You are a Sixers fan, right? Yes, very much so. At the end of the season, we lost by 30 points to the Knicks in the playoffs. And it was at that moment I looked at the Sixers team.
I looked at the franchise. I looked at poor moves that were made decades before you were born, brother. And I literally thought, like, I don't know how long I can keep supporting this. We owe Joel and Beed almost $200 million. I was like, we're not going to be able.
To compete with this contract. And then somehow the basketball gods smiled upon us. It got us Jalen Brown. And now it got us LeBron James. I just wanna say at 13 years old.
The entire trajectory of your sports fandom just changed today, my man. And I want you to know that because it was going to a dark path. It was lifting the curse for sure. Yeah, and now it's different. I'm not saying we're going to win a championship, but we're going to be a factor.
And so, yeah, your sports fandom has changed today.
So. When you're 40 years old, you can look back on this day and say this was the day that changed everything for you.
So I'm excited for you. I'm excited for you as well, Connor. Thank you for coming on the show and sharing your excitement with us. You, the man, dude. We are gonna come back with a guest who's gonna walk us through this whole thing.
Vincent Goodwill will be with us next on the Rich Eisen Show. With Seth. Freaking Rollins. Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an Audible with a SoFi personal loan.
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Well, we are back. Look, both of you know about being misquoted. Both of you know about being misquoted and having the internet get on you. Yeah, we need to bond over this. We were both taken out of context to the nth degree by social media and the aggregators.
You and I now have something in common. Wait, I need to know about this. I need to know about this, Vincent. Because I know Brockman, you saw yesterday the crying emojis from LeBron. What's your story, Vincent?
What's your. How did you get to that? Vince had he had everybody mad at him. Why'd you get people mad? It was one of those things that got clipped in social media, and somehow Knick fans thought that I called their championship a participation trophy, which I didn't.
And they have clearly forgiven me. uh considering When we're talking about LeBron, I'm not going to say that the Philadelphia 76s are above the Knicks right now, even with LeBron.
So that should put me in better graces with Knicks fans. All right. All right. All right. So now your graces in my book are a little down, but that's fine.
I get it. I get it. We had Rich on momentarily from his car. We lost signal, but he said Knicks and six still.
So you're on that wagon. Yeah, he actually texted that to the governor of Pennsylvania, by the way. Not just like, that's what he sent back. Ha ha, Josh Shapiro, Nixon six still. Troll, Rich Eisen.
So you're on that wagon as well. Talk us through this. What are you thinking about LeBron James to Philadelphia situation? Where does that put the Sixers in the East or in the championship hunt? You know what, Seth?
I'm going to put it in my old wrestling terms. Remember when the NWO first came out and it was just the three guys and then all of a sudden everybody joined the NWO, like Kurt Henning joining and Macho Man joined? That's what the 76ers look like now. They just look like the overbloated NWO. But seriously, it is a talent from a talent standpoint.
Overwhelming. The question becomes basketball fit. The question becomes who's going to take the back seat. When you acquired Jalen Brown a month ago, the question was going to be, can Jalen Brown sort of take a back seat and fit in with Joelle and Bede and Tyrese Maxi? And now you add in LeBron James for the final tour of his career.
The good news is LeBron is one of the best facilitators this league has ever seen. He played the third option behind Luca Dantic and Austin Rees for a stretch in Los Angeles last year. The question is just going to be who's going to do the little things. But from a talent perspective, They're overwhelming. I'm just not sure that the New York Knicks are shaking in their boots going down I-95 or down the Acelo, however, we wound up getting the Philly from New York.
Man, I feel like you just compared LeBron James, the greatest of all time, arguably. Jordan's my goat. But anyway, arguably the greatest of all time to like Lex Luger joining the NWO.
Well, Lex Luger was the total package. Yeah, but kind of like past his prime, Lex Luger. Yeah, I mean, we could go down the road. You know what I'm saying? There was a lot of NWO people.
I will be the NWO Wolf Pack then. Don't turn your back on the Wolfpack. Might wind up in the buddy bag. I do respect your professional wrestling reference. Are you a wrestling fan, Vincent?
I mean, you know, back in my day, the attitude era and everything else, like that's when I was, you know, back, you know, I was, I was, I was in it. Everybody was in it. Who's your favorite? You have a, you have a, your number one guy or girl? That big guzzling dude who was always giving the middle finger to people and everything else, like, you know, Stone Cold was my guy, anti-hero.
Nah. Stone Cold was. Is there anybody in the NBA that you would liken to Stone Cold Steve Austin? Is there any personalities that you're like, oh, that's my anti-hero now? Oh, that's Jimmy Butler.
Jimmy Butler, when Jimmy, maybe not now, because Jimmy's hurting, he's got to come back from the ACL. But as far as anti-hero, it's probably Jimmy Butler that definitely gives you attitude era. If not attitude era, maybe gives you some early DX vibes. You know, when DX really first came on the scene and Shawn Michaels was not yet bad back Shawn Michaels and was delivering the super kicks in the jeans and they were giving the obscene gestures in the center of the ring. That's probably Jimmy Butler.
Oh, okay. That's fair. That's fair. So let's go back to the LeBron thing. You know, you kind of gave it from an analyst perspective.
Let's put yourself in the GOAT's shoes. Put yourself in LeBron's shoes. What do you think was going on in his thought process that got him to Philadelphia? Because I imagine there were a bunch of other suitors out there that were interested in bringing him in, and he could have had the pick, the litter, really.
So in your mind, if you're LeBron James, what took you to Philadelphia for two years and $8 million? Then you know what you know what it is. He told us it's about being happy, it's about playing with joy, all that stuff. You know, it's about winning another championship. Because if you wanted to play with joy and all this other type of stuff, he could have gone to San Francisco and played with Steph Curry and Draymond Green.
It wouldn't have been a chance of winning there, but he could have played with some Gray Beards, played with Steph Curry, replicated some of those Olympic things that they had a few years ago, and it could have been fun, right? Going back to Miami would have presented some level of nostalgia. That's where the best of LeBron James. Ever was. Cleveland, a lot of people felt like was a way for him to close the book.
I didn't see it that way. I felt like he closed the book a few years ago. He won the championship in 2016. He took him to four straight finals. His obligations to them were finished.
And picking Philadelphia, you're saying this is the best chance for me to win a championship. Whether we believe that is something completely different, but it looks like from Philly's talent perspective, with Joelle Embiid there and Tyrese Maxi there and Jalen Brown, once they acquired Jalen Brown, we heard from Sean Servania earlier that that. Perked his ears up a little bit more.
So, that to me says not just Philly, because I want to live in Philadelphia, but it says I want to win another championship to try to get to number five, to put myself in a conversation, further conversation with Kobe Bryant, with Michael Jordan, for the, you know, whoever your GOAT is and everything else. I don't think it changes my opinion on those things, but to some people, maybe him winning the championship for a fourth franchise may tilt some things. Oh, man. All right, White.
Now you kind of led me down a couple paths there. You know, he thinks. he being LeBron James, that this is the best fit for him. You didn't seem to lean that way on that answer.
So let me prod you a little bit. Do you think this was the best basketball fit for him? when it comes to winning a championship this or next season. I mean, LeBron's a basketball savant, so far be it for me to disagree with him. I thought Miami.
Was the better basketball option from the standpoint of having Giannis, having Bam, like having that organizational know-how of a franchise that knows how to coach, how to build, how to find players on the edges, and how to probably maximize where LeBron is at this point in his career and in this life where he won't have to do all the heavy lifting. Maybe that's the case in Philly because there's so much talent where he only has to do so much heavy lifting, but there's so many questions about how the talent fits with Joe L. Embiid. How healthy is he going to be? How is Jalen Brown going to go from being and wanting to be the first option in Boston to maybe being number three, number four, like whatever it's going to be?
And Philly, there's a lot of questions, but maybe he's looking at this Seth and saying, I'm signing a two-year deal with them. This is a two-year process. Maybe we work the kingside for a championship in my 25th. season to complete my this as a complete storybook ending Who's to say, but the man clearly feels like he has great basketball left in him and that he can help lead that talented team to a championship. Yeah, 25 years at that level, that is unprecedented.
If that is in fact, I mean, 24 years is bonkers.
So 25 years is an extra one, like a little cherry on top. Another little hint you dropped there was that you think him winning another championship here with Philadelphia with this fourth squad doesn't change the GOAT debate for you.
So let me ask you, is LeBron already your GOAT and that's why it doesn't change anything? Or do you have somebody else in your head who's the greatest of all time?
Well, full disclosure, I am a child of Detroit and the Bad Boys.
So I say this. with a closed heart. Michael Jordan is the GOAT, even though I hate him. I don't think there's anything that's going to change my mind about Michael Jordan being the GOAT. The fact that LeBron even puts himself in the conversation, I only think there's maybe three guys that you can have in the GOAT conversation.
I think it's Michael, LeBron, Kareem Abdul, Jabbar, and whatever you have is what you have. For me, it comes down to how great are you at your absolute best? And I don't think there's been a player more complete, more any adjective that you can point out than that black cat, Michael Jordan. Like, there's nobody that's been better, that played at a higher level for a sustained period of time. LeBron's.
Sort of case, if there's a case, is going to be longevity, 20 plus years, winning the all-time scoring championship over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and doing it where he's still playing like a reasonable version of himself going into year 24, 25. That's not my criteria, but some people have that criteria, and I respect it. I would just say that they're wrong. Yeah. All right.
All right. That's fair. I'm with you, by the way. I'm with you. I'm a Jordan guy through and through, Midwest dude.
Grew up in the 90s.
So, I mean, you know, you watch Jordan win six titles in a decade. I mean, what? You know what I mean? Boys. You know what I mean?
But I also respect, like, at a certain point, like, if. Your answer is LeBron James of this question meant as the years went on, your argument only got stronger. You know, we have a different era, look at it differently than someone in LeBron's era, you know. It's okay. We can say we're smarter.
Everybody's entitled to be wrong. I'm glad you threw Kareem's name out there because he's someone who definitely, as the years go, doesn't get the recognition and the props that he truly deserves.
So, yeah, he won at every level. They changed rules because of the man. He had the most unstoppable weapon in the history of sports, maybe, is that Skyhoke.
So, you know, Kareem definitely belongs in any GOAT conversation. It comes preference at a certain point. Like, what do you value the most when you have these mythical arguments? Like, some people will say Hulk Hogan, because what Hulk Hogan did to bring wrestling to where it was, to where it is, you know what I mean? He's the GOAT.
And then some people will be like, man, look at The Rock. You know what I mean? Like, some people will say, look at Ric Flair and what Ric Flair did. And then some people will say The Undertaker, because The Undertaker did it for like 30 years, which could be LeBron's case. Like, everybody has their criteria.
Don't forget about Austin, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Some people would say Seth Rollins. Others will say Seth Rollins. There is a generation of kids who will say that.
Nobody's saying that. Hey, Vinny, let's. I got to look at this from the Boston perspective and how much worse the Jalen Brown trade looks right now. But what happens if they get Giannis and how different the East looks now? Like, does LeBron go to Boston if that's the case?
Because clearly, it seems like he made this decision solely on the best spot to win a title. That is a great, great question. I'll tell you this. He wouldn't be in Boston right now. He would not be in Boston.
I mean, he does not like Boston by all accounts. But if the Celtics had Giannis, seemingly that's the best spot to win. Yeah, but I don't think he necessarily heads the relationships there. Like his agent, Rich Paul, is Tyrese Maxie's agent. Like, clearly, he has a relationship with Bob Myers, who heads up the entire operations for the 76ers.
There were other tentacles and relationships. And at this point, When you're making these type of decisions, it's relationships more than it is just looking down the checklist of pros and cons of can I win a championship here. But you raise a valid point. What happens if the Celtics don't send Jalen Brown to Philly? Is Philly the choice?
Is Miami the choice? Does Miami have more tentacles there to go make another move, to go grab another superstar to make it more palatable? It's an interesting what if for which we don't have the answer and we have like another what. Two and a half months before we even see these guys reconvene again, before I even have to start thinking about going up and down I-95 to go see the 76ers every other night. The point is moot because he didn't do none of that.
Okay, no, it's true. He's with us. And the other thing, too, Vinny, you know, Adam Silver was like, hey, can you hurry up and make a decision? Because we need to finish the schedule.
So if you're the league, where do you put Celtics? Sixers or Celtics Knicks? Do you put it on opening night? Do you put it on Christmas? Like, how does this now affect things in terms of the broadcast?
Four times you can play them on national TV no matter where it is. You can do it on Christmas Day. You could do it on Valentine's Day. You could do it on Groundhog Day. You can put them wherever you want.
I don't know if it's going to be opening week. You like to let things simmer and build a bit, especially while the NFL has center stage in October, November. We know the NBA starts to gather traction around Christmas, give LeBron a little chance to get some lather with that team, some equity. And then on Christmas Day, Maybe you put Philly and New York. Maybe you send LeBron to Cleveland.
Oh, the Spurned Cavaliers on Christmas Day. There's a bunch of different ways that you can say this. I will say this: the Knicks will probably be hosting somebody on Christmas Day.
So somebody will be traveling to Madison Square Garden. It's just a matter of who. Yeah. Well, a lot of hypotheticals, a lot of questions out there, but the thing we know for sure, gentlemen. LeBron James will be playing basketball in a Philadelphia 76.
Are you stunned? We're kind of stunned here. It's a bit jarring. I still can't imagine it visually, Vinny. Like, I can't, it's in my brain.
I can't get there. I've already seen it. Come on. I can, well, clearly TJ can see. TJ didn't already bought this.
The jerseys are already purchased. He had an Elton brand jersey here. Ready to go. It's not a game, Vinny. I don't do this for fun.
You know what I'm saying? Standby. This is the place upside down. I don't even know what I'm doing here. You know?
Not only that. Take another shot. What else? What are you doing now? What else do you got back to?
I was saying, I also got, you know, an Iverson Nats jersey. You know, this is before we became, I was prepared for that. Oh, my goodness. How long have you had this? I will say this.
Years, decades. Decades Philly won a championship. I wasn't born. Maybe you guys are due. You're the one team in the Eastern Conference, or one of the, maybe I think the Charlotte Hornets being the other, that has not made an Eastern Conference final since 2001.
So maybe y'all are just due. Very due. But I'll tell you guys about that. 2001, game one. The Sixers beat the Lakers.
It was the Iverson stepover game. That was a Wednesday night, if I'm not mistaken. I went to a club called LAX in Hollywood. I had a full Sixers sweatsuit on, and the club was packed with Lakers fans. And I saw a guy with a Sixers hat across the dance floor.
We saw each other and made our way like we were running through a field of wheat to get to each other. We dapped each other up. We told each other we loved it. Let's go, Sixers. And I've never seen that dude again.
And this was 2001. But we had that moment, two Sixers fans in the club, man. It was great.
So hold on. In the middle of June. In LA, you wore a full sweatsuit? It was light. Did you lose in sweat?
It was a light. It was thin. It wasn't like a heavy sweatsuit, but it was a sixer top, sixer pants. I was decked out. Iverson stepped over, Lou.
You couldn't tell me nothing then.
Okay, that was y'all's championship. That was it because then we didn't win another game the rest of the series. And that was the last time you saw the finals. That was it, man. But it was glorious.
It was glorious. I tell you, it was glorious. It was fun while I was a man in Hollywood that night, let me tell you. All right, everybody.
Well, Vincent Goodwill, thank you so much for joining us, my man. Appreciate your takes on LeBron. Hope to talk to you soon and all your wrestling knowledge, too. That was pretty awesome. Hey, appreciate you guys, man.
Thanks again, man. Big thrill. All right, Vicky. Don't let them hold you down, bro. We'll chat soon.
The Iverson stepover game. Yeah, that was that night. That was the last. I was a big Allen Iverson fan. Yeah, Iverson loved Alan.
Everybody was. I had the shoes, the Reeboks. Did you have an arm sleeve? Yep, rocking arms. No, I never had a sleeve.
I did not have a sleeve. I think. He made that popular. He did. You know what?
I think it was one of those things where he had the sleeve. And at the time, as a youth, it was hard to. Access the sleeve. Like, I didn't know how to get the sleeve. You should have taken a tube sock.
Like a sock. That's what I, yeah. Yes. You know what? You're jarring memories now.
I did do that. I did do that. I did do a fake sock. Yes. Fake sleeve with a sock.
Absolutely. 100%. Cut the end off your sock and then pull it over. Whoa. Oh, yeah.
You just unlocked a memory of mine that I totally spaced on. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Wow. Oh, man.
Iverson was for the culture, man. He was great. He. And I said this earlier, I think this week. If Allen Iverson had been six foot four inches tall instead of 5'11, like and kept this skill set.
Also, if you didn't like AI, that said a lot about you. What's that? If you didn't like AI as a hooper, that said a lot about you. You didn't know. Yeah.
You didn't know ball. Yeah, you didn't know ball. Iverson was awesome. Gosh, so much, LeBron. Let's sign him to a 10-day so he can get a ring.
Get back, put him on the roster. There we go. Loaded up. I bet he could. Charles Barkley, let's bring him back.
Come on, I mean, you think he's still got the cross? You think Iverson could still hit somebody? I wouldn't bet even at 51, he could put up 12, 13, 14 a game. Why not? Wow.
He was that nice. He was nice. All right. Well, you heard it here first. Like Vinnie said, it's NWO.
Everyone's joining. Everyone's joining. NWO 76. The Wolf Pack were amazing. Oh, man.
Well, more LeBron, I'm sure. We'll be back on the Rich Isen Show with Seth Rollins right after this. While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup this summer, Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent, future stars who are already turning heads at age 14. Because Next doesn't wait for an invitation, and neither do we. Hyundai has always moved the future within reach.
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We're here, Rich Eisen Show, presented by LinkedIn Hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Get started by posting a free job at linkedin.com/slash. Eisenhower. And, guys, I think we're going to give it another go. We got the man.
Hopefully, he's got some better signal this time. Rich, are you there? I am. Yeah. All right.
We have to know. We have to know. We've been living in suspense, Rich. You got to tell us. All right.
What narrative are you buying into here?
Okay. I don't know if you could tell the role I'm playing right now. I'm playing the role of husband waiting for wife to be done shopping. That's your greatest role. Of some remade school here in Kingston, New York, where there are some.
Very nice boutique shops.
So, me snagging this internet connection. I think I'm going to have to buy a vintage belt now. But at any rate, where were we? Oh, yeah. Okay.
So you are reading the proclamation from the governor, Josh Sapiro, who I've been told is a frequent consumer of the Rich Island Show.
So the proclamation right there on the screen. He sent it to me. He texted it to me, all fired up, saying this is amazing. And I responded by saying, congratulations, Nick's in six parentheses, E-R-S. uh to spell out sixers and So, there's two ways to look at it: that they still have to come at the champs, or the other narrative that I think I might be buying into is nothing's more powerful in team sports than a team that has just won the championship.
Uh, given license, legitimate license to enter the next season as Nobody Believes in Us. They have the Nobody Believes in Us card in their back pocket now. Um, and uh, I think that's potent. I'm actually looking forward to it. Um, so I think that's the way I might look at it.
There's another way to look at it, like the obnoxious New York sports fan. Way of looking at it too, the Nixon Sixers thing. Um that it's just going to only now Uh, LeBron being in Philadelphia, make it more expensive for Knicks fans to get the tickets to these playoff games. Uh, the cost of a ticket and pitch frame. Ticket might be still a little bit cheaper than getting into Madison Square Garden for a home playoff game.
I don't know. That might be something Knicks fans are going to have to deal with, maybe save up a few pennies now. Between now and um And next playoff season, but it is exciting, TJ. I am excited for you. Thank you.
Because LeBron now adding his name to the lore of Philadelphia sports. Um, icons, which is what he would be, I think, if he strolls in and taps out of his career by leaving a trophy in Philadelphia, or at least being part of it. Um you know, it depends on if you believe and Broughton, but he will have no true significant impact on the upcoming NBA season.
So I don't know. I don't know, but it is better. It is better for Eastern Conference basketball. It is better for what used to be what we call the Atlantic division, right? Oh, yeah.
And or it might still be called that, but nobody really even pays attention to divisions anymore. LeBron having multiple appearances in Madison Square Garden now. LeBron going up to Boston, Boston going to LeBron, New York going to LeBron, and the Sixers. It is going to be fun. And I do look forward to it.
Yeah, Rich, it still is the Atlantic Division, by the way. And it's Boston, New York, Toronto, and Philly all made the playoffs last year and are all going to be battling it out to win that division crown. It's kind of amazing. Seanis with the heat now, and LeBron with your Sixers, and Halliburton coming back. Also, Rick.
I'm not sure coming back. I definitely did. You know, I'm excited, but I'm not going to get too far ahead of my speech, as you say. Why? Because the Knicks have something, the Sixers don't.
You guys, you have that chemistry. The Sixers are going to have to build to get to that Knicks level.
So, as excited as I am, I was caught up in that Knicks. You know, that Knicks drive to the title.
So I see how good you are. And I know just getting LeBron is not going to be the only thing that's going to put us over. This team is going to have to gel. And that's something the Knicks have already done.
So we're chasing a very reasonable approach, TJ. That's very reasonable. You know, I think that's really reasonable. I'm proud of you. That's the position that he's always.
I don't believe this for one second. I think this is what you're putting outward to the universe. You are spike. Get himself. And you are just, you are ready to explode and you want to proclaim greatness in championships right now.
These guys know I take a laid-back approach to this. Like, I'll wipe up the Cowboys, but in reality. You're old age now. That's new. And you're now being one year older.
That's true. What a late birthday gift it is for you, TJ. I'd like to late birthday gift for you too, Brock, because now you get to be the Celtic fan hating on LeBron.
Now you have like a legitimate reason to not like him, as opposed to just having just something weirdly personal. With the guy, I think it's great for you too. You know, like my one-sided brief with The Miz, he has that with LeBron. Yeah, yeah, that's me with Aaron Rodge. I have that with Arrow.
Yeah, I get you a 23rd laughing emoji from him, uh, Chris.
Well, we'll see who gets the last laughing emoji this year, and I'm guessing it's going to be me. Why wouldn't it be me as the Nick fan with the defending champions?
Well, we know, we know defending champs do not repeat, so we know there's going to be data tells us that there will be a new champion that take that for data.
Okay. Wow. I love this for your guys' show. I love this for the Rich Rodgers. Basketball.
I feel like next summer, you guys are going to be at each other. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
