REShow: Kenny Smith - Hour 2 (6-2-2022)

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I have no problem with Jimbo at all. The Rich Eisen Show. He said he bought the players.

Sabin said some sort of national leveling of the playing field on NIL. Earlier on the show, veteran NBA reporter Mark Stein. Coming up, NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith. From HBO's Barry. Actor Bill Hader.

Plus, your phone calls, latest news and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Alright, hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

We already had a nice chat setting up tonight's NBA Finals. And then the off-season that lurks, that's already underway for 28 of the 30 member clubs of the National Basketball Association. Mark Stein just joined us. Told us all of his reporting on why the Lakers settled on Darvin Ham. Who they might have been kicking the tires on other than Coach Ham. And what are they going to do with their roster? What are the Sixers going to do with Harden?

What are the Nets going to do with Kyrie? All of that plus a preview of tonight's Game 1 and the NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Celtics. Mark Stein, if you missed it, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show.

Kenny the Jet Smith is going to join us in about 20 minutes time. He is in the new flick Hustle that's on Netflix. Co-produced by LeBron and Maverick Carter. Starring none other than Adam Sandler as a Philadelphia 76er scout down in his luck. Who finds a diamond in the rough out in Spain. Played by Utah Jazz player Juancho Hernan Gomez who's on the show tomorrow in studio. And interestingly enough the Sixers don't listen to their scout.

And miss out on the kid. And he probably becomes a Hall of Famer and multi-time NBA. Like Jason Tatum. Sorry.

Who plays tonight in the NBA Finals by the way. Oh yes. So at any rate Kenny the Jet Smith he plays an agent in that film. He's going to be joining us shortly on this program. So it was just right around this point yesterday gents that David Carr my colleague from the NFL media group. And NFL Total Access was going to join our program. The reason why I'm like I got David I have to have you today. Is because he had just made a guarantee in honor of Joe Namath's 79th birthday and the previous night's edition of NFL Total Access. I told Total Access that the Jets were going to make the playoffs in the very stout American Football Conference in the National Football League. I had to have him on.

Plus I had to ask him a couple questions about his bro. Derek Carr the quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders who appear to be set up very well. Now that Devante Adams is on the team. And he said something that I just had assumed he had said this on NFL Network and maybe he did. But we certainly caught my ear and that he said that Devante Adams and Derek Carr who played together in college in Fresno. Have been working together on a reunion to play with one another again in the NFL for at least the last five years.

And it almost happened two years ago. Now clearly Derek wasn't coming to Green Bay. Yeah. Okay. No.

Okay. Good point. Good point. Although it was just a couple years ago that the Packers started trolling around for another quarterback. I mean they did draft a guy so.

Right. So that could have been plan B after they what? We're going to trade Aaron to Vegas for Derek Carr?

Now that would blow the roof off this sucker. So clearly it would have been Adams going to play with Derek Carr. He said that, you know, they've lived next door to each other. They got a house. He got a house in Vegas. And so interesting aspect of that is how could it come as a surprise to Aaron Rodgers that Devante Adams is leaving?

If that's been in the ether, I don't know if they share that together, that information. But, you know, although I do believe without Devante Adams in Green Bay that everybody's kind of counting the Packers out on the offensive side of the football much to their own peril. I believe that Rodgers will miss Adams for sure. But I think the Packers are still going to be all right in that division.

And we will see how it all works out. Aaron Rodgers under pressure yesterday sinking a putt to send Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes out into that Vegas night. Mahomes. He feels no pressure. Mahomes coming down from that buzz driving around with his swing oil yesterday.

He probably kept that going. In Vegas. But that's kind of the Packers are going to be all right offensively. Kind of a new hill for me to die on here.

I've been setting up this hill here quite a bit over the last several weeks. Ever since the crazy NFL offseason, the crazy month of March, the hell going on month of March. Setting up so many different storylines for this coming NFL season. I've said a few over and over again over the last few weeks.

And now that we are 98 days from the very beginning of the NFL season. I came in today and I said to you, hey, should I do a top five list of the top five things that I've talked myself into about the 2022 NFL season over the last several weeks? I snap called you.

You snap called me, absolutely. And here they are. NFL Films music, please, to set it up. Thank you very much.

Here we go. Thank you, Coach, Coach Harbaugh, top five things that I've talked myself into about the upcoming NFL season over the last several weeks. Number five on this list.

You call them. I'm playing all the heads from the last several weeks, man. Number five on this list has to do with the narrative that's out there, that somehow, some way Baker Mayfield is still on the Browns roster as suspension insurance for the guy who they gave two hundred thirty million guaranteed dollars to.

Despite now twenty three civil lawsuits active against him, so it's ten million dollars for every active civil lawsuit against this guy and Deshaun Watson. That somehow, some way the Browns have not traded Baker Mayfield because at some point they're going to turn to him and say, hey, Baker, we need you. We need you for six games. We need you for eight games. We need you for 12 games. We still need you. And you need us still. You need us because your career, look where it is right now. You're on a podcast couch with a dog looking for belly scratch. That's where you are.

You need to restart your career and you've got to show everybody that you can still do it and you can show everybody that you're a lead pipe wielding professional by putting all this personal stuff aside and doing it for us. But when Deshaun's back from suspension, you got to you got to leave or you got to sit or we'll quiche on you. That's the narrative that's out there.

Number five on this list is GTFOH with that. Baker Mayfield has played his last down for the Cleveland Browns. Period.

End of story. The Browns are eventually going to trade him or cut him or hold on to him and tell him, like the Texans told Deshaun Watson last year, you're paid, but just, you know, you're not here. And it's Jacoby Brissett's gig to keep things afloat while Watson is out with suspension on suspension. Baker Mayfield's done with the Browns people. He's done with them. He already sent out a Dear Cleveland letter before Watson turned around and told the Browns, I'll take your guaranteed money.

He already told them we're out. There was a 24 hour period where Watson had told the Browns they were out and the Browns were already saying we'll mend fences with Baker Mayfield in time for the season. And Baker Mayfield told them to get out of here. Might have added the F. So number five on the list of things that I've talked myself into about the 2022 season is Baker's done with the Browns. Number four on this list has to do with Davante Adams is no longer on the Packers. And again, David Carr told us yesterday that's been coming for a long time. And so Aaron Rodgers deep down, even though he said that he was kind of surprised by it, kind of had to have an inkling that Davante Adams might not be there this year when he is now suddenly putting everything to bed between him and the Packers. Also, he's back there when he's thinking, you know what, without Davante Adams, we're going to see Aaron Rodgers show some diminishing returns. And that puts the pressure on him.

You're about that all the time. Pressure quarterback with the most pressure. So many people put Aaron Rodgers top of the list. I turn around, I say this.

What? Zero pressure on Aaron Rodgers this year. Zero point zero pressure. This guy is putting zero point zero pressure on himself and has zero point zero pressure on him to do anything other than what we've seen from him over the last several years, which will be to be very successful. And Matt Leflore and everybody's going to be sleeping on this offense this year and that they're going to have the running game to do it.

And yeah, they're going to have the passing game to do it, too. Minorly a little rough going the first couple of weeks, maybe, but Arielle X, zero point zero percent pressure on this guy this year. He's at the bottom of the list, as far as I'm concerned. Thank you.

Number three on the list that I've talked myself into. Yes, sir. I said it.

I said it. We had Mike McCarthy on this show talking about how he's talked to Jerry Jones about his statement going all the way back to the Senior Bowl. And of course, Dan Quinn is going to stick around because everybody knows in the league that if you're a coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys and you stick with the program, you're going to have a shot at the head coaching position. And somebody pointed out to Jerry Jones, you already have a head coach.

And he goes, no, I know that to paraphrase. And by the way, this was the Cowboys own website interviewing him. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com stuff.

Said it then. McCarthy came on, said he and Quinn have hashed it out. We had Dak here in studio for the Super Bowl.

He was all, you know, hunky dory about everything. That was before Amari Cooper was sent away. And then Michael Gallup gets paid. But who knows when he's coming back and Cedric Wilson walks in free agency. And Zeke's now a year older and the offensive line lost Lyle Collins. And Randy Gregory says, I'm coming back.

No, I'm not. Now, they did get Tank Lawrence back in the mix and they do have a very talented roster otherwise. I didn't make a person, but number three on this list, the Cowboys have taken a step back.

They have absolutely taken a step back. The draft wasn't spectacular. The free agency period wasn't spectacular.

I know you don't win games in the spring and the summer. And I'll tell you what, this fall, it's going to be less of a full cupboard for the Dallas Cowboys. C.D. Lamb better step it up. And we'll talk about players with pressure on. There's one right there.

So that's number three on my list. So C.D. Lamb has pressure. Aaron Rodgers has zero point zero point. Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers.

What's C.D. Lamb's got to be the number one guy right now, doesn't he? He's got to show up like Justin Jefferson and Stefan Diggs and Jamar Chase. That's who he has to be. He can't be out for a month. He'll be all right.

Good to know. And you got to have an offensive coordinator who puts it in Tony Pollard's hands. You have to have a head coach who doesn't have somebody looking over his shoulder.

Like that head coach clearly is. Step back. Number two on this list. I was all in on it.

Yesterday is the latest time I've been on this. OK. Jimmy G still with the Niners. I get it. He's got a bum shoulder. He's just convalescing. He has no trade value. OK. That's why he's there.

He's not there as Trey Lance might not be ready insurance. The 49ers are right now knowing this. Everybody with the Niners, I believe, knows this, too. But that fact is staring everybody in the face.

And you may not want to believe it. The 49ers are Trey Lance team right now, right now. It's Trey Lance's team right now and will be in minicamp mandatory or otherwise will be in training camp. Will be week one through week 18, no matter what. It's time to sink or swim. And the Niners are ready to swim with this guy. And Debo is going to be back and it's going to all work out.

That is the number two thing that I have talked myself into for the 2022 season as we're sitting here in the beginning of June. And the number one on this list is something I, I, I, I, I threw out there at the end of March and I keep backing my play on it. And every time I think about it, I believe it more. Every time I talk about it, I'm going to speak it into existence.

It's not a lie if you believe it. Number one on this list is despite Russell Wilson coming to Denver. Despite Randy Gregory going to Denver. Despite Khalil Mack going to the Chargers. Despite J.C. Jackson going to the Chargers. Despite the Chiefs drafting a kid who's the height weight comp of Tyreek Hill and getting Marquez Valdez-Scantling.

And getting Juju Smith-Shuster at the wide receiver position. And having Andy Reid still there. And all of that, despite this AFC West being the deepest end of the NFL pool that we have seen in quite some time.

Number one story that I have talked myself into and belief that I've talked myself into for 2022 is the Las Vegas Raiders are winning the AFC West people. It's the Raiders division. It's the Devante Adams division. It's Chandler Jones' division. It's Josh McDaniels coming in there and saying, I got not just Devante Adams and Derek Carr going back to school like my boy Blue. Actually, that was old school. Back to school like the Triple Lindy. There you go.

Okay. Like Thornton Mellon. I got Thornton Mellon here. I got the Triple Lindy. I got Devante Adams. I got Chandler Jones and I got Josh McDaniels putting it all together with Darren Waller and Hunter Renfro and Josh Jacobs. That's what's up.

That's what's up. I've got the Raiders. The Oakland Raiders. The Raiders who overcame so much last year to make the playoffs and put the scare in the Cincinnati Bengals last year.

In the jungle. That's the team that's going to win the AFC West. Those are my top five things that I have talked myself into for the 2022 NFL season. Well done, doctor. Nice. Outside of number three, great list.

I was particularly proud of you. No, no, no. That's okay because I chime in on your top five. So tell me how the Cowboys have not taken a step back. Let's put it that way. I think we've got to get a commercial soon. No, we don't. So I don't know if we have time. I hear Hoskins in my ear. No, we don't.

He's saying ramp it up. We need the Jetsmith can wait to hear this answer. Oh, we can't keep the jet waiting, Rich.

Yes, we can. You know, that's wrong. Tell me how the Cowboys have not gotten a year older rather than a year better. I don't know that I can. Put your damn act together. Tell me.

Tell me. We lost some key players. I don't know.

I honestly don't know. I don't know if we're going to be better than last year. But I have to trust the football minds who obviously know these players who they drafted that we've never seen. Dan Quinn staying was a plus. Dan Quinn staying was a huge plus and absolutely huge plus until, you know, the owner said the reason why he's sticking around here is these guys all know that they have a shot at the head coaching job.

Well, regardless of why he stayed, he's there like, OK, he is there still coaching the defense, still getting those young young bucks doing their thing. We still got Micah. We still got Diggs, you know, so that tank. So you can't. Actually, well, you what you got Brian Anger now punting.

That's a that's a that's a plus. No more. No, no.

The legs on the Jets who cost us three games last year. So, yeah, but you're probably right. And I'm not going to get into it because it's way too early to be like, oh, they're going to be better. I don't know that I predicted that they win one fewer game than we did last year.

So. You're awful quiet over there. Well, because he's already he's already thrown his own quarterback under the bus, saying he would take Tom Brady back for him.

You take Tom Brady back for him. You'd say, great job, Mac. We've got you going. You got you going.

You're in the upright direction. You were on the Mac Jones bus last year, but he wasn't at first. But I know he called him the minivan. Yeah, he called him the minivan. He called him the minivan of quarterback prospects. Yes. And then started watching him run like a Ferrari.

Well, a Ferrari. Yes, he did. Last year. Absolutely. He played great. He wasn't Justin. He wasn't Justin Herbert. Rookie great. But he was the best rookie quarterback by far. By far. Here's the deal.

How many teams would rather have Tom Brady this season? All but like five. So I'm not alone. No, but again, no, hold on a minute. But I'm not alone. Hold on a minute.

I'm not alone. Hold on a minute. That you can't. You've got to also know that you're stopping your current situation for a year. He's 23 years old. It's fine. For what?

For a little old Langs on? You think the Patriots would win the Super Bowl in a way that Mac Jones would not lead them to if Tom Brady was there? I think every team that has Tom Brady playing quarterback has a chance to win the Super Bowl. The Jets.

Absolutely. Should stop Zach Wilson's development to bring in Brady for you. If you have Tom Brady on your team, you have a chance to win the Super Bowl.

I would legitimately, as a Jet fan and somebody who loves Tom Brady more than most, certainly in the media, you know, I've got that Michigan thing, I would look you in the face and on the hair of my children say I would not take Tom Brady over Zach Wilson. You're lying. That's not. You're absolutely lying. I'm not lying. You're absolutely lying. I'm not lying.

Let's get the detector test in here. Please. And hook you up. Hook me up. And let's do it. No, because I do not want to stop Zach Wilson's development for a possibility of what?

He's 22 years old. Of what? Of Brady taking us to the... The AFC Championship game? I've done that twice. I've done that twice. You're not getting there with Zach Wilson.

I've done it twice. And that was the last, actually the Jets losing to the, was it the Colts or the Steelers? The Steelers. That was the last playoff game the Jets were in. That was the last playoff game the Jets were in.

Great. You're not getting there this year. If you have Brady, oh my God, you can win the Super Bowl. The Jets could win the Super Bowl with Tom Brady.

No, sir. Any team can win the Super Bowl with Tom Brady. Any team. Put them on Jacksonville.

Boom. Watch their odds go through the roof. I know what their odds would be. And they're a contender. Who's a terrible team? Seattle. Boom. They're a Super Bowl contender.

Lions. At least this gets you off the Cowboys hot seat. I would not. I would not take it. By the way, Brady on the Cowboys winning the Super Bowl. Well, now that's a different story. Would you take Tom Brady on the Cowboys for this year?

What's that hot skin? We definitely have to go to the break, guys. No, no, no.

This is great. Kenny Smith is on the phone, Rich. This is a round delay. Come on.

He's a two-time champion. Everybody's been put on the clock. We'll get to, we'll get to Kenny Smith in just one second. That's all I'm saying.

Hey, hey, hey, hey. I was here. Focus.

Focus. I was here. Would you take Tom Brady for this one year with the Dallas Cowboys, yes or no, TJ Jefferson?

I was as honest as I possibly could be. No. No. No.

Now that. So, Jay, you know what we learned in the last two minutes? We work with liars.

It's not a lie if you believe it. Come on, guys. You take Tom Brady. Not with the Jets. There's no, the Jets are not winning the Super Bowl this year. They're not ready.

You have Tom Brady. So what? Everyone, boom, is elevated.

Understood. It's like flying with Maverick, Rich. Everything gets better. You fly better. You maneuver better. You avoid the enemy better. Yes, but right now you're flying underneath the hard deck that you're not supposed to.

For the mission, though, the hard deck is 100 feet. TJ Jefferson, you say no, huh? You take Dak over Tom Brady in a year that the Cowboys are built to win it now. I think they've taken a step back. How can we be built to win if we've taken these steps back? You have taken a step back because you got the pieces in the same way that the Jets don't. You would take the Cowboys roster over the Jets roster, would you not? I'd have to look at it, but yeah, I believe so. You have to look at it.

I believe so. Oh, my goodness. I would disrespect the Jets. They ain't done nothing to me. All right. Let's take a break. We're waiting any longer. But I think we've run its course. How about them Cowboys?

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Try Dove Men PlusCare Dry Spray, goes on dry, clean feel all day. Back here on Rich Eisen Show, One Big Happy Family, normally we'll just have him on because he's an Emmy Award nominated analyst for the NBA on TNT, which is a perennial award winner and a two-time NBA champion. Of course, we will have him on anytime, certainly talk about basketball. But he'd be hiring him on as an actor, as a thespian, because he is in the new Netflix film Hustle as an NBA agent. And Adam Sandler is an NBA scout.

It's a terrific movie that's available on Netflix next week in a theater near you this very weekend. Joining me on the Mercedes-Benz fans phone line is none other than Kenny the Jetsmith. How you doing, Kenny?

My main man. How are you today? I'm hanging in there.

I'm hanging in there. Look at you being an actor, Kenny. Look at you. Look at me. I was like, it was such a, one, the process was great. A lot of fun.

Adam is the best of the best just to be around. Forget like being in a film, just being around. I didn't even know I was going to like have a role in the movie when he first called me. I thought I was making a cameo. I was like, yeah, send me the script and he sent me the script, but I read it. I'm reading it.

I'm looking through it, like thumbing through it. I'm like, I don't see my name. He's like, no, you're Leon.

I'm like, Leon has like 30 pages of dialogue. I'm like, wait a minute. So it went from thinking I was going to be a, a, a cameo shot to this is it.

While you're playing, you're playing an agent in the film, Leon rich, which sounds like maybe you're based on the guy that's now running the Knicks. Kenny. Is that it?

Do we get that? Well, you know what? It feels more like a combination of Leon rose and rich Paul.

Okay. So that's it. Rich Paul and Leon rose. So that's Leon rich.

There you go. That's what it feels like. It does feel like that, you know, I have the, I have the swag in the, in the up to date of rich Paul. And I also had the clients of Leon rose. Yeah.

And I've got a one show or earn on Gomez coming on the show on tomorrow to come in here. And he's apparently a revelation in this movie. Kenny. He was unbelievable. Like, you know, he was, he did an unbelievable job. Like this was like, I, I, I have, I have haters in my house, but like they're hard to please so to speak, but two sons and my 14 year old came after the movie and watched it and he said, this might be the best basketball. Has he seen do the right? Has he seen, uh, as he seen the Spike Lee joint, uh, from back in the day, starring Ray Allen. Yeah. Yeah. He has, he's seen, he got game. He's seen, we, we go through them.

Okay. I think the one thing that it's, it's a different story, you know, where that never really people don't know, you know, what, what, what, what an agent, what a scout, what do they go through to get people in combines and all that. So it's kind of like the heart of it and it's the hustle, it's the hustle to really make it. Uh, it's not the, you know, the number one draft pick in the world. You know, it's not, it's not the LeBron James story. It's the guy who, you know, played overseas or trying to play overseas, trying to make it, try to be there all the heart aches and all the pain and the passion that you have to have to continue on.

So that's what makes this to me a little bit different than anything I even had seen. And uh, and who, did you meet somebody for the first time on the, on this set in any way, shape or form? Um, there's tons of cameos, but I'm wondering if you cross paths with anybody for the first time in your illustrious walk of life. If it's in basketball, I know you, you know what I mean? Like there's no way you could be a basketball to beat, I know you.

But I think the most, the most fun was in between takes that time because we were in a gym at a lot of times, a lot of things are in gym at times. And so you have all of these NBA players in a gym and then a pickup game might break out. It might be a shooting contest, a dunk contest. It'll be old heads versus new heads. Like some improv, do stuff that will just pop up.

That was probably the most fun for me, you know, it'd be Adam and myself shooting against Trey Young. You know what I mean? Something crazy would have happened.

Uh, it just, those type of moments were always inviolable. Sandler's got a handle though. He's got a shot and he's got a handle.

That we know. Right, Tim? He's got an awkward looking shot that goes in. He's like the Jamal Wilkes of actors, if you remember Jamal Wilkes. I was literally about to say that name, Kenny. I literally was about to say that name. It's a merian of actors, like it's a weird looking shot when it goes in. Kenny the Jetsmith here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Hustle is in theaters starting Friday, tomorrow, June 3rd, available for streaming on Netflix next Wednesday, June 8th. A story about a scout down on his luck for the Sixers played by Sandler and some wildness ensues that involves the role of Kenny Smith as a current NBA agent, Leon Rich, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay, as we know tonight is game one of the NBA finals. Do you think we've got the best two teams in the NBA from start to finish playing in this game? Tonight, Kenny?

Yes, we do. You know what's interesting, Rich, like at the beginning of the playoffs when I looked at the matchup, you know, very rarely do I get it right. I was like Boston and Golden State. I was like these are the two teams that are going to make it. I just felt that the matchup that they have posed so many problems for everybody leading up, especially when Milwaukee didn't have Middleton. I was like this is really the matchup that they're going to have a difficult time winning a series against these guys. Emad Duncan is a first-year coach, he's done an unbelievable job, and it'll be a first-year coach versus a veteran of championship experience, an experienced team versus an up-and-coming team. I really believe these are the best two teams.

Interestingly enough, someone asked me, hey, I just love the fact that there's a parody now, and I was like, no, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown are possibly saying there's no more parodies. Like, we are the best two guys here, and so that's going to be interesting to see how they continue this even after that. And then of course, you know, the Celtics fingerprint is their defense and what they're able to do to get you out of your game, and Marcus Smart being the Defensive Player of the Year, how do you see this defense confounding the Warriors, or I guess the Warriors were confounded by Memphis earlier on in this playoffs, but how do you think the Celtics can do that even better in the finals? The one thing that the Celtics are able to do is when you go small, they can stay big because they're versatile. So Williams and Al Alford are bigger players who can play on the perimeter. That's what separates them from 95% of the teams in the NBA. When they go big, if anyone goes big, they're just big, and then you can put a small lineup, they might not be able to defend the three or even shoot the three. But the Celtics are the only team in the NBA, one of the only teams that when they go big, they actually still play fast and can play fast. So I think that separates them when they're guarding Golden State.

Kenny, the Jet Smith from TNT, and again, the new movie Hustle on Netflix here on the Rich Eisen Show. So the conversation in any championship round or game in any sport, certainly the Super Bowl, we always talk about legacies when it's a player who's already won or can add to the case or needs to win for the first time. So Steph Curry is on that legacy hot seat right now for everyone to talk about. Where do you stand on how his legacy would be affected by getting another ring with this team in this circumstance?

Kenny Smith. I just think getting to the finals would have been another stratosphere because you think about it, you go, well, when people go, well, the first two, they get there, you know, the league at the time, blah, blah, blah, whatever that might be. Oh, now they got Kevin Durant, like, oh, now they go back without him.

Like, that's all him. Like, he's the major card in that, you know, there's only four players that are consistent on that. But between Heathcliff and Draymond, I think all of their basketball legacies are cemented by them reaching the finals again this year, all three of them. And especially Klay, as I was like, what, I wasn't a top 75 player, but the last six years I played, I've been in the finals.

Like when I was there, I played. We were in the finals every year that I played. And so these guys have done something that, you know, LeBron James liked, you know, being, you know, putting themselves in the finals, like we're doing in life, Chicago Bulls liked being in the finals that many times, that many years, and different errors in the sense, you know, different errors of the way the game was played. The super team era now, maybe, you know, I don't know if you could say it's post super team era, because everybody thinks that you need to be hooking up one star to another. I mean, even Embiid is tweeting out, watching the Heat Celtic series that Miami needs another star. So what is Curry's legacy then, do you think?

Like how would you lay that out? I know you just mentioned Bulls light. Does that make him Jordan light, specifically? That makes the team Bulls light, Laker light. Doesn't make him, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player probably we've ever seen. It's without question, you know, that, you know, there's only few that would debate that. However, it puts his teams in those categories because, you know, being able to bring that many consistently and six out of the last eight years, and really the only reason you want to see that because the guy who stands next to you is the second greatest shooter possibly in the NBA history isn't there.

That says a lot. And there's really no looking at it and go, well, they won't play as well next year. They probably play better next year when they have Weisman and all those guys coming back and a healthy, you know, Peyton and, you know, a healthy Draymond all year.

Like they could play better next year. Kenny Smith here on the Rich Eisen Show, what did you make of Darvin Ham being hired by the Lakers? Kenny? I'm happy for Darvin. You know, he was a short time teammate of mine when we were in Denver together, you know, being from Texas, you know, I used to see him in pickup games, he used to stay in Houston a lot.

So I'm so happy for him. I think, you know, he's got a great opportunity, but a tall path, you know, getting your first opportunity as a coach, you know, sometimes you don't care where it is, but I think having obviously Lebron James, the tall path is there's a team that has Lebron and A.D. that didn't even make the playoffs last year. And anything other than, you know, being the Golden State in Boston is now is considered a failure. You know, Frank Vogel got fired. He won a championship. He got fired and didn't have Anthony Davis this year. Like, how did he, he didn't have A.D. Like how can you even judge his coaching ability when he doesn't have the player who arguably should have been the best player on his team this year? So the expectation sometimes in Centraltown is a little unrealistic.

So that's the tall path of being here and coaching here. Do you think Westbrook and Lebron and Anthony Davis can actually succeed as a triumvirate if all healthy or they're just, they're just missing, they're just miss, he's miscast Westbrook on this team or he's no longer castable in the role of MVP player anymore, Kenny? Well, he was miscast because Anthony Davis wasn't there.

So his role would have been dramatically changed. And the things that he would have had to do as a basketball player, you know, you're asking him to do, like it's his third, fourth year in the league, you know, Lebron was an aberration and he still can't even get his team to the, to the playoff, you know, playing the way he plays this year. You know, obviously almost 30 points a game, so three points a game, and he still couldn't even get to the playoff.

So like asking those guys to be who they were, I just dealt with unfair in general. And those are Westbrook as they taste better and he's a really damn good one. He might not be a great scorer today as he was once was, but he's definitely a taste setter who can set the pace for your team and still create opportunities that no one else can do. But they were asking him to, no, set the pace, rebound the basketball, and we need you to score this year.

That wasn't the role that, that would, we wouldn't have, we wouldn't have cast him and hustled a movie for that. Well, I mean, your co-producer Lebron of Hustle said basically, you know, we were hardly together this year. We were hardly all healthy together this year. So we're going to run it back and, and look out. Although they were a 500 team when they were all healthy. But so you're of that mindset, just let's get everyone healthy, run it back.

Darvin Ham might have his own, his own say and his own stamp and is allowed to have as such, and it will work out. You think so? If guys are healthy, you know, the Boston Celtics at one time this year, where I think 32 and 29 or something ridiculous, no number, like everyone can figure it out. They were 500 together, but those games were so spaced apart that you still couldn't tell if they were a good team, you know, or good teammates.

Because when they were together, again, it's like I said, it was spaced out of space apart. You know, Lebron James is still top three in his position in basketball, Anthony Davis would help the top three in his position in basketball, Russell Westbrook went healthy and the way he could play, it's still top 10 in his position in basketball. So if you put those three guys together, you would say, yeah, of course they could make a real run. It's healthy, that's why I was surprised that Frank Vogel was fired when you don't even have the team.

It's like they didn't even have the team together for enough games to say this guy didn't do a good job coaching. Do you see winning time? Do you watch winning time, Kenny? Did you see it at all?

I have not, but I've lived it, but I have not seen it. Which one of your teams would make for a good show, do you think, Kenny? No, our second championship team with Madback, when Clyde Drexler comes to the team and all may have, we're a sixth seed and we got to win an NBA championship and all the drama that went behind the fights, the arguments, that would be definitely a cable show. What fight? What fight are you talking about, Kenny? We have a very good match with a lot of our teams, it was a fight every day in our practice and I was about to rule. His nickname is not Mad Match for, because he's such a non-hostile guy. I love it, I love it. All right, Kenny, before I let you go, your prediction for the NBA finals, who takes it and how many games?

What do you got for me? Well, I had these two making it, but I had the Warriors winning it based on experience. Because experience for me, what it really does is it decreases your anxiety in big moments because you've been there before. So these guys will not have anxiety in big moments. We've seen it against Memphis, even though they were short-handed at one time, but even in those moments, they never, they have a 55-point loss and they're down 55 in one game and still come back and win the series pretty heavily. They don't waver in moments.

That's why I was always the golden plate warrior. In five, six, seven? What do you got? How many?

What do you think? I really believe that Boston will win two games minimum. So it's a minimum six-game series because they do pose problems.

The weakness of the Warriors are the strength of Boston. So minimum two, possibly seven. Kenny, congrats on the Emmy nom this year and on Hustle. That's a huge buzz already and it streams on Netflix starting next week on June 8th, next Wednesday, and it's in theaters near you starting this very weekend. Thanks for the call. Enjoy it. Thanks for having me, brother. Always.

You know that. Anytime. This is at The Jet on TNT, on Twitter at Kenny Smith on Instagram, Kenny Smith here on The Rich Eisen Show. Let's take a quick break, so we're relatively on time for the rest of our radio affiliates.

Let's get back on track. 844-204-rich number to dial. We'll take your calls when we get right back here on The Rich Eisen Show. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, talking about the bussing with the boys, folks. Keeping on tweeting out photo recipes. So I just did Rich Eisen, just type in your name, go to images. Oh God, you Googled it? Thousands. Go to images. Millions.

It's got to be millions. There's a great one like, why can't they use you with Usain Bolt? Like that's cool. Because that's cool, Chris.

Yeah, I think that if there's one running through line of these photographs, many of them are... There's you with Joe Namath. That'd be great. From the Hall of Fame. I'd love to tweet that. Now see, here's what I would do if I was in their position.

Me being barely off the ground running the 40-yard dash is a specific choice. Yeah. And I think Compton even zoomed in on me just looking like, you know, my face is all... Here's what I would do in their position, because you know, I used to work on hidden camera prank shows and things of that nature. With Ashton?

With Ashton, yeah. I would call up your mom and ask her for some old pictures of you as a kid. That's what I would do. And then I would post those. That's how deep I would... And even though I do believe Busting with the Boys is good old wholesome entertainment, I don't think I'm connecting Taylor or Will with Aveline Ozen. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think we need to put bar mitzvah photos in front of the Busting with the Boys crowd.

I'm just saying that's what I would do. Although the photograph of me in the KRCR Reading, California TV newsroom on the Action News team in my Anchorman days, that's as pretty close to a bar mitzvah photo as you're going to get. Well, I posted that on Instagram. Look at that hair. Look at the hair. Look at the long phone cord. Look at that. And look at the plants.

I don't even know what those plants are. Are you at the studio? Where are you? I don't know where I am specifically on the phone, but I'm on the phone gathering some news. We're getting some news. And I'm taking it all in my head.

I wasn't writing down any notes. I don't know who took that photograph or where or where they would find that. I don't know how they would... I posted that on their Instagram. You got to do a deep dive. Somebody probably went to like page 25 of the Google Images. Rich, I'm still scrolling. You can't find it, right? It's deep. Yeah, it's deep.

I posted that on their Instagram like three years ago. But playable. So again, look, I don't know. Okay, now I might have to just call Taylor and say, do I have to go to Nashville for this? I already planned... I think that you need... They don't Zoom? They don't Zoom? They don't Zoom? We need plus two.

They don't Zoom? I just did a trip. Plus 11, Chris. I'm not doing a plus two. I understand. But 11 is more than two.

Like two's less. So it's not going to cost you as much. You wouldn't pay for your own ticket? I got to pay for you to fly with me to go hang out with Taylor Lewan and pound beers with Compton. Well, you think he's going to pay for himself? All right, I would pay for my own for that.

Yeah, I would pay for my own. He still hasn't paid you on the Kenny Pickett debt, has he? I've already pretty much given that up. How have you not paid him yet? This is the bet from the NFL draft that Pickett wasn't top five. I know. I'm bummed. By the way, it's a bet that you, the second you heard it, you were like, no, we're running through this throughout the draft. So you kept this bet alive when I was just like, all right, I'm not going to win. I'm not going to get paid. And I won and I didn't.

Are you a Snoop Dogg? That's good. I'd like that to be tweeted out. But why? That's going to make you look cool.

That's not the point of this. I don't believe. I don't believe they want to have pictures where you look like a G. Oh, here are some paparazzi type photos. Do I look like a Z in some of these photographs then?

A G. I love these paparazzi ones they've got of you. There's a few down here. Okay. Again, I'm way down on the list.

But you still haven't found some of the ones that they found either? No. Well done. All of us with Bret Michaels. I'm not messing with the boys' staff. Do they have a staff? I don't know. I think everybody but us.

They don't have a mechanic. We know that. Yes. True knocking.

That's the same. Bring the bus here. Could you imagine if they put a motor in the bus and went around the country?

What on a road trip? Huge. Huge. Big numbers.

Huge. Just tow it. Yeah, put it on the back of the semi. Yeah, but they probably have lights and wiring and stuff now. That's probably a problem. Yeah. Actually putting that. That's not roadworthy.

They could buy a new bus. They got Scratch. I'm sure. That's a very successful podcast. Yeah, very successful NFL players.

Yeah. Beyond the podcast. Speaking of which, two big retirements in the NFL. We'll hit on that. And Bill Hader of Barry, coming up. Here's you at NFL Honors.

I mean, it was just like... Oh, that's got to be me and my suited and bootedness right there. I'm still scrolling down. Okay. Susie definitely has some pictures of you.

I contact her for some. Oh, wow. That was a long pause. No, it's just again, I don't know if I want to connect Taylor and Will with loved ones in my life.

Well, I'm not saying that you wouldn't have to, I'm just saying that that's what I would do. Seriously, you on the set of Matthew Perry's old show? Oh, Go On. That's me on the set of Go On. What was that about?

Matthew played a sportscaster and then we had a rivalry together. Yes, yes. Yes.

That's right. I did that. I saved a residual for that for quite some time.

I was just about to ask you that. Yeah. I haven't had a Go On residual check in a bit. Oh, you know, that's coming then. I will have a residual rich. I got five checks yesterday, a bunch from Puppy Dog Pals came in yesterday. Oh, that's big money.

That's at least three, four bucks. Actually, I don't want to tell you what it is because it could come up with the next edition of Residual Rich. We do have a spare Residual Rich clanking around we haven't used yet.

Award-winning editions. We do? Yeah, we do. I think so. I don't even have to do it now.

Okay. I wonder what's the, what's the, what's the, what, what residual check does Hader get? All the SNLs must kill it for sure. I wonder what those train wreck. I wonder if Hader still gets residuals for Punk'd. He probably gets them. What's his first, what's his first credit? Let's look at that. I think it's Punk'd.

Are you serious? I'm pretty sure Punk'd is one of his very first ones. His first credit on his IMDB page, we're going, I'm going, I'm going all the way down, is almost Punk'd.

It sounds good to be me reat, remastering the sting. Okay. I don't know what that is, but he was a field agent in Punk'd. Yeah. Who did he, who did he Punk'd?

I want to say maybe 50. It was definitely, I would just remember that Bill was a limo driver and he was driving these rappers and they were getting pulled over by the cops. And then he was like, you know, the, the deal was he had to pull over because the cops were the field agents. I mean, Stone Cold Steve Austin's reputation was he as defender of the common man is tested when his parking valet Jordan is fired for allegedly losing the cell phone in Stone's car. There you go. That's the log line. And Ashley Simpson is another one in one of his episodes.

All right. Well, I don't know if haters knows we're going in that direction, we're coming up. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson too. All time Hogan opponents, Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Wow. Because even going back before, you know, Hulk Hogan was a baby face, Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome, at Shea Stadium in Japan, wherever they went, that was an attraction. Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, listen wherever you get your podcasts.