REShow: Marc Stein - Hour 1 (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.

Saban said some sort of national leveling of the playing field on NIL. Today's guests, veteran NBA reporter Mark Stein, 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. Yes, it is.

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Second day of June. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. Rich, I saw Top Gun yesterday and I'm quitting the show because I got to fulfill my dream as a naval aviator. I understand that, sir.

Just be careful when you fly into the danger zone. Good to see you over there. Jay Felley is in the mix today. Good to see Jay Felley. TJ Jeffersons lighting the candle. Light that candle, sir. I didn't see Top Gun yesterday, Rich, but I did see AEW. Oh, you did.

That's right. You went there last night. And I got to tell you, parking at SoFi is 60 bucks, man.

I don't think my ticket costs that much. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Like what? Not since Clay Travis bitched about somebody who umpired and ejected him from his son's Little League game.

Has there been more of an abuse of an airway for a personal issue that nobody else knew about or cared about? Well done. Sixty dollar parking? That's nice.

That's ridiculous. All right. Well, good to see you here, sir. I'm happy to be here.

Glad you're here. Where parking is free. That is true. I didn't have to pay. Parking is free.

At least you got that. I don't charge you for parking for coming over. No, but you did charge me for this water, so that's the weird thing. Oh, that's weird. That's very strange. But it is room temperature as you like it.

It's in your rider. Hey, everybody, the NBA Finals are tonight. NBA Finals are tonight. Basketball tonight.

Game one. Warriors, my Warriors against the Boston Celtics. This is today's the last day, the last day in which me saying my Warriors won't begin to grate horribly on Chris Brockman. Right now, it's kind of fun.

It's kind of funny. You think today's the last day? No, no, until the Warriors start drawing blood from his Celtics. Then it's not going to be funny anymore when I've got my Warriors. Just imagine if I come on the air on Monday and my Warriors are up 2-0 on his Celtics.

How do you think he's going to handle that one? We'll say suddenly like your Warriors. Well, I did choose him to win. Prior to the season, I chose the Warriors over the Nets is what I said. You did.

You actually called that, man. Warriors over Nets was my choice in the NBA Finals that began tonight here on June 2nd in San Francisco in Golden State. Didn't see the Celtics coming. Neither did the Celtics or the Celtics fans.

And certainly not as the calendar turned to Jan. 1 when things were chock full of mediocrity and team meetings. And look at them now. Look at them now bringing a particularly rough and tumble style of defense with some three-point shooting. If they can hit their threes and play defense the way that they have, Celtics can win the series.

Absolutely. Celtics can win the series and certainly since, and this is the thing I love about this matchup. I don't know how many in a row it is, but the Warriors have won at least one road game in a playoff series in the Curry era. I think it goes back a couple of post-seasons, actually, where they've taken at least a piece of their opponent on their court and the Celtics are 7-2 on the road in these playoffs.

So you've got teams that perform better in somebody else's building or can perform well in somebody else's building. I would profit to say the Celtics perform better in somebody else's building than they have in their own building in these playoffs. So, Game 1's tonight. And Celtics have struggled in Game 1 this whole post-season. They have indeed. They started slow and they're like, okay, we'll still take Game 2 or we'll still plant the flag when we go back to the parquet.

So I can't wait to see it tonight. Can the Celtics disrupt the Warriors in the same way or in as efficient a way or significant a way as Memphis did? Because that was a team that really gave Golden State fits.

Obviously, it didn't help Golden State that their coach, Steve Kerr, was out with COVID. But he's back and let's roll. Let's roll.

Let's see how it goes. Very excited about this. We've got two guests to talk about it. We've got Mark Stein, the old gray lady, New York Times, and Hall of Fame writer.

He's got his own sub-stack, the Stein Line, that you should all check out. It was on that Stein Line that I read the report that Darvin Ham, new coach of the Lakers, took the gig with assurances he could choose his staff, unlike Frank Vogel, and that Kurt Rambis of the Ramby here in this town won't have easy access to coaches meetings. So there's that. And then Kenny the Jet Smith of the NBA on TNT, but also in the new Netflix film Hustle that is starring Adam Sandler and co-produced by the stellar team of LeBron and Mav Carter.

You mean newly minted billionaire LeBron? That's correct, right. How about that? He crossed the one billion earnings threshold, correct? Amazing.

How about that? Not bad for a kid from Akron. I've heard he's from Akron.

Yeah. And so Adam Sandler is in this film. He plays a 76er scout who finds the next new great thing over in Spain, played by Utah jazz player Juancho Hernan Gomez, who's on our show tomorrow.

And interestingly enough, TJ, the Sixers don't listen to him and make the wrong move. Gee, imagine that. That's the most shocking thing I've heard.

Six foot front office, making a mistake. Yeah. So there's that.

Man. And Kenny the Jet Smith plays an agent in this film. And so he will be joining us in hour number two to talk about it. Bill Hader, the brilliant Bill Hader, who knows, by the way, about acting with LeBron James back in the day in Trainwreck.

Trainwreck. Season three of Battery is dark, dark, dark. We had Steven Root on the show the other day to talk about it. And Bill Hader will be on this program in hour number three as Barry is in season three and things are not going well for Barry at all.

Not going great. And it's a great show. Henry Winkler is on this program, is on the show in studio next week.

So it'll be all over. We got Steven Root, Hader today, and Henry Winkler next week. And Bill Hader will be joining us in hour number three of this program. Love it.

Love it. So before you went to go see Top Gun Maverick, Chris, you popped on, I'm sure, the Turner family of networks. I was.

I was. And watched four of the best quarterbacks in the NFL commit golf on occasion. But once again, once again, once again, the man who saved the bacon and won the day, Aaron Rogers. He plays well in these matches, man. He's a very good golfer, man.

I mean. But he well, he not just made the winning putt yesterday, he made the winning putt from the spot where he put his own tee shot off of the par three twelfth with the waterfall and the green, you know, and the tee tucked in the back left corner of the green. It's a pretty hole. And he just threw a dart to the left of the hole in the very small landing area. And, you know, bless Brady. Brady, Brady didn't put it there and then used his mulligan and got what got wet on his mulligan. And so Rogers will just use his. And then Brady showed him the line and then Rogers walked it off.

Although Josh Allen nearly drained one from about 60 feet away, which would have forced Rogers to have to make it to force a closest to the pin playoff on twelve. And that also would have caused Barkley to take off his shirt and dive into the waterfall, because that's what J.J. Watt, who is terrific on the action, told Barkley. He's like, if he makes this, you got to dive into the box.

I'll dive in the waterfall. I mean, that close to seeing that. And it's just a lot of fun. Patrick Mahomes just pounding the Coors Lights, the swing oil was just wonderful to watch him. And it was just, again, just great.

He had some terrific stretch of golf yesterday, a nice stretch of golf yesterday. And it's just the thing I love about this, the match and this endeavor, and certainly if you get the right mix of players in it, you're just hanging in the day with these four guys. You're just watching them hang out together. You're eavesdropping in on a round of golf with four guys whose game you recognize from the NFL and you respect from the NFL and then watching them be mortal and also bust each other's stones and have a good time and drink in the cart like Mahomes did. It was great.

I really enjoyed spending three and a half, four hours with them, although the pace was grinding. Certainly when you're not hitting your own ball half the time. If I was playing behind them, I'd have gotten a little upset. And on the very first ball, Tom Brady's driving up and down the fairway, he's icing his own teammate, dropping F bombs.

And it's just fun to hang out. And then just the latest example, again, of why Brady will be successful, calling the only questions you have about him calling the action for Fox one day is can he be critical of others? Will he be critical?

It's not can he? Will he be critical of others? Because it's very difficult when you've played a sport and you've played with all these teammates and you feel that criticism can be taken as disrespect. You have to do that. You have to be critical. You've got to be critical in the moment. You've got to be critical in advance. If it is something that has been done before by a coach or a player, and you've got to put it in the mind's eye of the viewer that this has happened before and you've got to point out what's happened in the past as potentially prelude or prologue to what you're talking about in a game. And some players just won't do it because they feel like they'll be unpopular or they'll hear from that guy and they don't want the text.

They don't want to be viewed as stepping on the backs of the player to uplift their broadcasting career when they should know better from their playing days. It's difficult to strike that note and that chord. And there is a question, will Brady do it? I mean, he can.

The question is, will he? Then the other one is obviously the nuts and bolts of talking quickly and saliently in between snaps. That ain't easy.

That takes reps. But I think he'll be fine doing that because he knows more football in the tip of his pinky than most people do in their entire body. And there's not a scenario or a situation or a troublesome moment that he hasn't seen or conquered. Except, you know, like the eight game losing streak.

But I don't know how many Fox games will he be calling against one in eight team or something like that. So long story short is yesterday, just his personality. I mean, it's there. And you also liked hanging with him because every time that he was mortal and self-effacing and then cursing and then busting on Barkley and Barkley saying, you know, I like your watch, he's like, I'll just give it to you. I'll give you this one, Chuck. I'll give you this one, Chuck. You know, saying he hits it chunky or as he calls it, a little Josh Allen-y is what he said.

You know, I mean, like that's the red ass, that's the funny, that's the personality. And I'll tell you what, we've seen that more from Brady as the post 40 year old Brady than ever before. He was buttoned up from the minute he left Michigan all the way to the moment that he left New England.

Or towards the end of his New England tenure when he was starting to get out there. Remember when he first started getting out there with like his TB12 system and it was all like, what's he hawking? Like, what's going on? Now it's everything. Now he's got everything. Now he's got his own, you know, NFT. He's got this, he's got that, his clothing brand. He is now a brand in himself, which he never was for the first 15, maybe, you know, 17 years of his career.

It kind of started with the Tom versus Time thing. He kind of got a glimpse. Yeah, he's sledding you in behind the curtain.

Okay, this is kind of a cool guy, he's not a robot. He's gonna, I mean. He's gonna crush it. He's gonna crush it.

It was so much fun spending time with all four of those guys. And you know, they played 12 holes. Which is smart. Smart to not play 18. Well, I mean, they couldn't. Well, they started.

It's getting dark. Yeah, I know. But just smart not to play the full 18.

Or grind it too. Come on, you're hitting someone else's ball. I think Josh Allen was playing fast. He was hitting when ready. Josh Allen.

Which is by the way, he plays football. And sometimes you'd be like, hey Josh, don't run it again. Don't jam it down someone's throat again. You know, slide Josh, slide. He only knows one speed that Josh. And sometimes you're on defense, you're trying to take on the bills. It's just like, you know, you can't catch your breath. That's the way he plays golf.

He had a break. That was fun. How about him having his ball had Brady's combine photo on it?

Yeah, combine photo on it. Like, that was awesome. And he's like, yeah, there's a ball that Brady doesn't have, right?

Right? And then I think Brady said, I've got one that Josh Allen doesn't have. There's a Lombardi on it. That's a Lombardi. Come on.

He's like, Josh, have you ever seen one of these? Just great. It was great.

It was a lot of fun watching the broadcast and and and damn it. Am I going to have to like J.J. Watt now? Like, you should. You should always should.

You always should. He's funny. Well, you know, Chris, he probably had. I know. He always thinks that J.J. Does stuff that's preplanned and fake and whatever.

A little extra. But he was awesome on the broadcast. He was just great. Just great.

So well done. And, you know, we'll do what we've done the last several matches is come up with, like, who should be the next four. But I got to take on on on that. Bill Hader is joining us on the program and Mike Trout, Commissioner Trout, pardon me, spoke about his role as the commissioner of the league. That's as famous as any fantasy league has ever been in Jock Peterson and Tommy Pham. Did you see how we found out how much the buy in was? Oh, I know what the buy in is now. There's a report on the buy in and who else was in the league. And Trout spoke yesterday in Yankee Stadium.

And this was not because of the it was already pre preordained that he was speaking because he's going to Philly next, which is his hometown, right, his home area. And so long story short. We'll be all over this again. I have a hot take about that.

OK, that'll be great. And then the top five NFL. Storylines that I have absolutely talked myself into believing, I can't wait, OK, because there's definitely because it's the top of June and we've got ninety eight days now until the NFL season begins in the top five NFL storylines that I've talked myself into believing over the last several months of this show. OK, so let's take a break when we come back. The great Mark Stein to set things up on tonight's NBA Finals Game one. Do not go anywhere.

That's how we're rolling on this Thursday show. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers forty eight hours sweat and odor protection. Let me repeat that. Forty eight hours of sweat and odor protection. Use it and don't even think about it. Also, Dove Men Dry Spray contains Dove's unique one quarter moisturizing cream that helps protect your skin.

Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry, clean feel all day. Back here in the Rich Eisen Show, Terrestrial Radio Network, along with NBC Sports on Peacock and Sirius XM Channel 85, our Odyssey listeners as well enjoyed this man's work for so many years with ESPN and the Dallas Morning News and The New York Times. Right now, you can catch all of his work on his must read sub stack page, markstein.substack.com at the Steinlein himself on Twitter.

The NBA Hall of Famer Mark Stein here on the Rich Eisen Show, the day the NBA Finals tips off in San Francisco. How are you, Mark? Now that I got my phone on, I'm good. OK, good. That's good. We need to talk.

It's all good. I'm glad that your phone is on. So what is the overarching storyline you think of this NBA Finals? What what is your what is your bag on this one, Mark?

What do you think? I think a lot of people are going to have their eye on Stephen Curry and the whole thing about is he finally going to win his first finals MVP? And if the Warriors win, it's hard for me to imagine a scenario that he doesn't. But really, my curiosity getting started is is it's all on the Boston side because they have no finals experience. And I do think it matters this stage. It just is different.

There is nothing like it. Even doing media day yesterday is it's just a different world that they've stepped into. And when you combine the uncertainty about how they're going to react to the stage, the uncertainty about the health of both Robert Williams and Marcus Smart. And then there's the stylistic adjustment of, you know, Golden State just plays like nobody else with all the motion, with all the offensive randomness. So there's a lot to adjust to. And I really want to see how Boston handles all that, because their their defense is the best that Golden State will see this season.

But again, there's a learning curve here and we're going to see how fast they cope with it. So, you know, it's interesting you mentioned Curry first off because of the fact that, you know, Iguodala was an MVP one year, Durant another, and he has yet to win one. And that leads to the legacy conversation for Curry. What is his legacy now?

And what would it be? How would it be affected, do you think, by a championship and an MVP in these NBA finals? Well, I'm in the camp that actually says that it's a lot of nonsense and it's a lot of talk show fodder and it doesn't really matter to his legacy. I don't think his legacy is dependent on a finals MVP trophy. And I was one of the voters the year that Iguodala won in 2015.

I have zero remorse about being one of the seven people who voted for Iguodala in that final. He absolutely changed the tenor of that theory at 2-1 down to a Cleveland team that at that point had lost Kevin Love and lost Kyrie Irving. The Warriors were teetering and Iguodala moved in the starting lineup, changed the series, and in my mind fully deserved that finals MVP. And the reason people are so hung up on 2015 is because we didn't know in 2015 that Kevin Durant was going to show up two years later and win the next two finals MVPs and now Steph doesn't have them.

But he is such a revolutionary as a shooter. This would be championship four if the Warriors win. They are dynastic to go to the finals five times in a row and six times in eight years. He's got all the numbers. He's got two regular season MVPs. And I consider myself a pretty devoted NBA historian. I am not going to sit there and circle, oh my God, no finals MVP.

And here's everything. He legit is so selfless and his attitude, his leadership, the joy that the guy brings to the job is such a big reason Golden State has had the success they've had. I am convinced he would sign a document right now. He would give the finals MVP to Clay or whoever else it is if it meant another championship. He wants to win it, yes. He doesn't like this conversation.

I'm sure it bothers him on some level. But he'd rather have ring number four than finals MVP number one. And then you talk about Hall of Famers on this team and Clay and Steph and Draymond.

What about Kerr? Is he a Hall of Fame coach right now? No question.

No question. And I mean, he's already there. Three championships in five years as a coach. The way the basketball Hall of Fame works, you either get in as a player or a coach or Bill Russell is in as both. All the rings that Kerr won as one of the best role players we've ever seen, that's not going to help him on the coaching front. But three championships is an automatic. He is a Hall of Fame layup as a coach.

And what does he do to make this all work, do you think, Mark? When you listen to Draymond Green and you hear the buy-in that Kerr has from Draymond Green, that tells you everything you need to know. I mean, I always say this, I stole this from a former GM, this formula, but I love to claim it as my own. When you're coaching in the NBA, the most important thing is your talent. But the second most important thing is buy-in. And if you are a coach and can get buy-in, your X and O acumen doesn't even, you know, that is a distant third.

You can always find assistants who are X's and O's mavens to help you fill in those gaps. But buy-in is so crucial and just Kerr's, the way he relates to players, from stars to the eighth, ninth man and the rotation, which is what, you know, Kerr was at various stages of career, you know, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth man, Kerr's ability to relate to all different kinds of players and get that buy-in, there's nothing better. And you know, on the same, by the same token, that's what made Eme Udonka's first season in Boston such a success. He came in there with a very hard edge and very demanding approach for a first year coach and look at the buy-in he has from this Celtics team. I mean, they are responding to him better than they did Brad Stevens and Brad Stevens was a very accomplished coach and it's made all the difference. So you know, nothing trumps talent, you have to have, you know, in the NBA you need great players more than any other sport because it's only five on five and one guy can change the equation so much, but the buy-in piece, you just can't overstate it. Mark Stein, the Stein line on Twitter, check out his most-freed stub sub stack to catch on, not just his thoughts on the finals, but everything going on in the NBA every single day right here on the Rich Eisen Show. You mentioned, you know, Udonka and what he's been able to do as a first year head coach and Brad Stevens going into the front office and seeding the stage for Udonka and then making some maneuvers to put this team in position, but there was no position at all once the calendar turned, you know, they looked terrible.

We weren't thinking finals, you were thinking playing a tournament game maybe for this team. When did it all click? You got a good story about when it started to click and why for the Celtics?

I'm in line with everybody else who is struggling to figure it out. Now the East opened up to some degree because Brooklyn and Philly never reached their massive potential and, you know, Milwaukee in the end didn't have Chris Middleton and that was a factor, but I don't want to take too much away from the Celtics team because, you know what, I also, you know, as much as I said at the top how much I believe in playoff experience, I do believe in basketball karma too and the Celtics went all out for number two and the Bucks kind of settled into the three seed and, you know, going for number two meant you were going to have to play Brooklyn in the first round and the Celtics faced that challenge, groomed the Nets into the offseason really impressively and, you know, they were rewarded. They had game seven at home against Milwaukee. That paid off and, you know, look, you know, it is one of the remarkable stories because we just, we never see teams do, I mean, they were 25 and 25 and, you know, to be 550 games or the last time a final team was able to do that was way back in 1981 when the, the, the Dell Harris and Moses Malone rockets were only 40 and 42 and made it all the way to the final. I mean, it's been a long time since we've seen a team do this, but the reality is their defense is that good and the reason people like me said, don't even think about breaking up Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, just don't even think it, even though we talked about it ad nauseum, they are the prototypical wings in today's NBA.

They're both super long. They play at both ends. They're the kind that, you know, that's the six, eight to six, 10 guy who can play at both ends. Everybody in the NBA wants to play the two, the three, and the four.

You can play multiple, you know, it's positionless NBA. Do not break those guys up. Give, you know, give them every chance to succeed that you can and Boston has been rewarded for that. Mark Stein here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about what's going on with the other 28 clubs right now. The Lakers, you on your sub stack, terrific reporting about what Darvin Ham was able to extract from the Lakers front office and in a way that Frank Vogel was not and assurances of what he can do to set up shop and make it his own shop. What's your reporting on that, Mark?

Yeah, it's assurance. You know, the buzz in coaching circles that I've heard is that he's been promised a lot of autonomy to pick his coaching staff, which Frank Vogel was not, and that he was promised that Kurt Rambis, the Lakers senior advisor, is not going to be a regular presence in coaching meetings. And that caused, it caused a lot of surprise around the league when it emerged that Kurt Rambis, basically as a member of the front office, either in person or virtually, was a constant presence in Frank Vogel's coaching meetings. That's just not the way it's done in the NBA. So what I've been told is that Ham has been assured that that's not going to be the case now. But look, the Lakers haven't even announced this hiring. We haven't seen a Darvin Ham press conference yet, and there's going to be skepticism until this actually comes to fruition, and we see that Darvin Ham has really secured these things. But it's how it should be. There shouldn't be a regular front office presence in coaching meetings. That's just, that's not common NBA practice. So look, Darvin Ham is a highly rated, you know, he has a lot of fans in a lot of different cities around this league, and I think he's a pretty confident guy, and I think he's going to go in there, you know, coaching those guys.

And you know, that's easier said than done. That is not an easy team to deal with. But you know, by, you know, it looks like LeBron is on board, and you know, that's the point, he's going to have to, Darvin Ham is going to have to coach LeBron and AD and you know, Russell Westbrook if they're adamant about not moving, you know, that's another topic that is greeted with a lot of skepticism. The Lakers are telling anyone who will listen, we are not going to attach first round picks to trade Russell Westbrook, we're not going to make a bad trade just to move him. Me personally, I don't see how you bring Russell Westbrook back, I don't see how you can gather the group on the first day of training camp and try to preach a fresh start if Russ is still there. But you know, we've still got three plus months to go, so let's see if Russell Westbrook really is still a Laker come the end of September. Well, LeBron, who you said was on board with Darvin Ham, tweeting out a welcome to the team, so you know, the announcement will come at some point. But LeBron has basically said, you heard him say at the end of the season, we just didn't have enough time on the court together, healthy, the three of them, Russ and AD and him, so maybe LeBron thinks they should run it back, or what, I mean what happened at the trade deadline with nothing happening might have rankled him as well, and that needed some ironing out apparently.

So where does the roster stand, do you think? They're never going to say it, but I think the commonly held suspicion around the league is that, you know, the Lakers top stars would prefer if there was a Westbrook trade and they were able to move him and they can really try something else, but the reality is Westbrook, when he opts into his player option for next season, he's going to be making $47 million. And even though that's an expiring contract, that's just a mammoth number, and you can't trade him without taking back long term salary. You're not going to get back, you know, 40 plus million of expirings for Russell Westbrook. So there are reasons, there are legit reasons for the Lakers to be hesitant to just trade him any way they can, because they don't want to have to put first round picks into the deal to move him, and they don't want to take back bad contracts that hurt their long term flexibility further, but my question is going to be, is the best play for them to really just run it back and see if Garvin Ham can reach Russell Westbrook in a way that Frank Bogle couldn't, or is it better to just waive him and take the huge financial hit in the name of starting over fresh? Again, the messaging, the whispers coming out of Lakerland at this point is that, no, the Lakers don't want to waive him either. They're going to bring him back, but that's what you say on June 1st or June 2nd. That's not necessarily how it plays out when we get to the end of September. Did the Lakers knock on the doors of any coaches who are currently under contract elsewhere to try and get them?

The indications are not really because you couldn't get them without compensation. I mean, first of all, we've all heard about Doc Rivers and Quinn Snyder. I mean, I've been reporting about Laker interest in Quinn Snyder since March, but Quinn Snyder is still under contract with Utah and that situation hasn't been resolved. There have been some pretty strong rumblings that one of the options that Quinn Snyder is considering is a year off to recharge. I don't think, even if we see Quinn Snyder leave Utah this offseason, I don't know that diving into the Laker chaos is the move he wanted to make right away. With Doc Rivers, from the moment Daryl Morey said, Doc's going to be back, some people were interpreting that as Lakers, if you want Doc Rivers, it's going to cost you draft compensation to get him.

And the Lakers, they have so much work to do on the roster. They can't trade a first round pick until 2027 or 2029. They don't really want to be spending first round picks to get a coach. That's just not a good play. I think the interest in Juwan Howard was very serious, but Juwan was pretty adamant that he does not want to leave Michigan and does not want to walk away from the opportunity to coach two of his sons who are on the Michigan roster.

So really, no. And that's why they actually ended up settling on Darvin Ham faster, I think, than people expected. Mark Stein, a couple minutes left with Mark here on the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody check out his sub stack for all of these nuggets and information that we're going to try and pry out in the next couple of minutes. We just mentioned Maury and the Sixers, what's his plan for Harden and then the Nets with Kyrie and Simmons sitting out there and what their future with Durant looks like, please? Well with Philly, I mean, you know, I don't know how you could sign James Harden to a long-term extension anywhere close to the max he's eligible for given where his game is right now. And you know, I've been saying this since February, you know, Daryl Maury got his guy in the end and he made a lot of people who do what I do look stupid because so many of us were saying, you're not going to be able to trade Ben Simmons, there's not a market for Ben Simmons, we haven't seen this guy play for him. Okay, well, he did pull off the Ben Simmons trade and he handled that whole thing. It was really a GM clinic, but the issue is he got his guy, did he want the wrong guy?

And by all indications, it looks like he did. There was some sentiment within the Sixers organization that they should be trying to get a player like Bradley Beal, who as a shooter, I think you could argue is a better complimentary fit next to Joel Embiid than the state of Harden's game. A lot of basketball people would tell you that James Harden really needs a rim-rolling center the way he plays now, where he's more of a playmaker than he is an outright elite scorer. And that's not Joel Embiid, you know, Joel Embiid, he needs the ball in his hands too and he's not a rim-rolling, you know, finish at the, you know, finish alley-oops at the rim center.

That's not his game. So, you know, there were questions about the fit as soon as Harden got there, but then the performance level from Harden is such that, you know, I don't know what Billy's going to do because I don't see any trade market for Harden coming off the playoffs that he just had. They're going to have to try to convince him to sign an extension at a number that doesn't rob them of long-term flexibility, but I mean, Billy's got roster challenges that are almost as steep as the Lakers in terms of how to make that team better in an East that, at least at the top, is much more competitive than it's been. I mean, there is a lot of firepower now at the top of the East. And then the Nets, they're going to do what with Kyrae long-term?

I think you have to bring him back. I mean, they're, you know, it's not clear at this point if Kyrae Irving is going to be back. There's been enough kind of hesitancy that's emanated from the Nets to make people around the league wonder, like, are they really not going to bring him back? But I, you know, again, Kyrae Irving hasn't played enough to justify a multi-year max deal.

And I totally understand the sentiment of, try to find a deal that, you know, still max level dollars, but maybe isn't as long-term as Kyrae would like. I mean, he just hasn't been in the lineup enough to justify that. But my instinct is that, you know, I would expect him to be back. And then, you know, the Simmons question, we haven't seen this guy play. We're coming up on a full calendar year, we have not seen this guy play. And so theoretically, he should help them tremendously with his defensive skills, his playmaking skills. You know, he should be a perfect fit, again, alongside scores of the Durant-Kyrae Irving level.

But, you know, how ready is he going to be to play basketball in the fall? I wish I was that smart to be able to tell you. Do you do the predicting business? Do I ask you? Oh, yeah. What do you got for me?

What do you got for me? I went Warriors in six. Again, I just, they're 21-2 in 23 playoff series under Steve Kerr. They're 21-2 in Game 1s under Steve Kerr. I mean, the guts of this team is still the same, and they just, they have too much winning know-how for me to discount it.

The Celtics have the capability of winning this series, and they have the defense to give Golden State a lot of problems, but I just, I can't pick against guys who have delivered on the big stage as often as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr. I just can't do it. Mark, you're fantastic. You always make me smarter. I love our chats. Look for my call over the next couple weeks as well. Congrats to Substack. Great stuff. Must read.

Markstein.substack.com. Let's do this again soon. Enjoy the finals. I'm good, guys. Be good, everybody. Same to you, Mark. Enjoy the finals. That's Markstein.

Thanks, Mark. Brother, you hear what the Lakers' roster is? You hear what's going on with your Sixers' roster?

You hear what's going on with the Nets' roster, okay? You look at the Heat, and you know Riley's going to have to make a move. You know Riley's got to do something. You know Riley wants to do something. You know he's going to figure out on doing something. That is for sure, okay? You've got to be just loving where you're sitting right now. Game one of the NBA finals.

Game one of the finals. You don't have all of this crazy-ass roster problems and cap issues and this and that. How are you going to work this?

How are you going to have to get that guy off? You don't have a first round draft choice to trade until 2027 because you've already traded a whole bunch of them away, and the Celtics are just laughing. Five months ago, it was like, what is this team going to look like next year? No, no.

I guess that's why you've got to preach patience with any of these situations, but man, catbird seed. Still playing four wins away from the Larry O.B. potentially, but what a stout opponent. And Rich, you had a thing about the Warriors-Road situation a few minutes ago. They've won at least one road game in 24 consecutive playoffs here. How about them out?

Wow. Most ever. And 21-2 in game one. 21-2 in game one.

That's a good combination. We get up to a one-nothing start, and then we get one in your spot, too. That's how you win series, right?

Yeah. That's how you win series. And championships.

21-2 in playoff series with Steve Kerr. 844-204 Rich, number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. Our number two has got Kenny the Jet Smith on these very subject matters as well.

Back here, 844-204 Rich is the number to dial on this program. Man, oh man, oh man. What are the Lakers gonna do? What are they gonna do? They have so much work to do on that roster. But first things first, how about Darvin Ham saying, I've never done this before, but guess what? I'm choosing my staff.

Yeah. Ran by. And Kurt Rambis, I like hearing, but you're hearing that he won't be a regular presence. What is that?

Once every three, four, five days? That's the thing, Jeannie Buss does not like the whole idea that the Rambises have way too much power because that means that she doesn't know really what she's doing and she's leaning on two people who should not have much of a say in this whole thing. That's a big narrative around town is that the Rambises are kind of running things.

And she pushed back against that in the LA Times interview that she had for a few weeks ago. But now you're hearing Darvin Ham basically saying, yeah, this is what I've heard and that ain't happening. And Lebron is into him and how about, you know, so Lebron's not getting treated. How about Juwan? Juwan says he didn't want to leave Michigan. He wants to coach his kids there. Yeah, I get that. Lebron's got to understand that. Yeah, of course.

He wants to play with his kid. Of course. That's got to help Juwan in recruiting too, right?

Like I come into young Rich Eisen's house and go, listen, I passed up coaching Lebron to get you come to Michigan. That's not bad. Pretty good pitch. I'm glad he's staying.

Yeah, of course you are. Very glad that he's staying. He'll be an NBA coach at some point, I'm guessing.

I hope not. Well, wouldn't you want the best for him, Rich? Of course I want the best for him, which is winning national championships at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. But after he does that a few times.

After he does that, he needs to do it more. Let's say he gets like four or five. Coach K didn't take one. Remember, Izzo was thinking of coaching Lebron in Cleveland and then Lebron went to South Beach and Tom's like, I'm staying in East Lansing. What's his team going to be again?

Yeah, I don't know. Thanks. And that's that's that one. Coach K almost coached the Lakers, right? Yeah, almost coached the Lakers coach. Almost went to the Celtics, I think, at one point. Is that right? Did you see how much he made in his final year, apparently, in Duke? Like $15 million or something like that? Worth every penny. Don't you think?

It'd be nice when he's coming back next year because he went out on a sour note. Did you see? Now, here's a good one.

Here's a good one for you. Do you see the commercial yesterday during the the match? Which one? Brady with Giselle. And he's calling a bunch of people about his, you know, his crypto stuff, right? And he's calling people up, including some guy in Boston. Oh, yeah.

And he has him in his phone as a trader. He looks down. He goes, he goes, even if you're he's what do you say you're coming back even if not, I wouldn't take it. He goes, yes, you would. He goes, all right, I would.

Real life. Would you take Brady back right now? Yeah, of course. Over Mac Jones?

Yeah, of course. Mac Jones? You take Brady one more year and you'd say to Mac Jones, sorry. Hey, just wait. Just wait one more year.

Just you take Tom Brady back one more time. Yeah, of course. And anyone who says no, they're lying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Exactly.

Good use. Thank you, Mike Williams. Mike Williams job. Yeah, for sure. Thank you, Mike Williams.

Give me something to use it with. Right? Yeah, of course. But Mac Jones, hey, great first year. I know you're on the you're on the MJ 10 system.

You're looking great. Thomas, you know, we got it. We got it. We've turned the page.

Right. But you've got to stay there for a year. You're going to Brady. You're going to back up Tom Brady for a year. I know you had a great first rookie year, but we're going to stunt your growth. We're going to stop it.

Thanks for taking a seat warm. You would do that. Yeah.

You legitimately would do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. For sure. Absolutely.

You should do that. Bill in Fitch said, no, man, they're lying, they're lying. I literally thought that, like, what if the Patriots could get him back for one more year right now? We'd do it in a second. You think?

Yeah. Bill wouldn't. Bill probably wouldn't. No, he wouldn't, because he's got to, you know. Bill probably wouldn't. It's too big a ego. He's got to do it the aftermath. But I found that commercial very funny.

Kenny the Jet Smith coming up next hour. That made me want to think, like, would you really do that? Because that's a very funny line. He's like, we wouldn't take you back even if you wanted to come back. And he says, yeah, you would.

The guy goes, yeah, we would. But what do you want? I hate you anyway.

Obviously, that's not happening. But don't you just love this Tom Brady? I do. I absolutely love this Tom Brady. It's great.

It is great. And it's just like... That Tom Brady's been there all along. And that's what I'm telling you again. Maybe he hasn't, though. Maybe he hasn't.

He has been there all along. I don't know. Maybe in the early years. I don't think so. It took a while. It took a while. Maybe he's become secure and comfortable with himself and his own legacy and his place in the game.

And maybe with his family. Maybe Giselle is probably like, show a little bit of that personality, Tommy. It's great. I mean, I love Tom more every day. I know. Right?

Every day. Tom Brady, Tom Cruise. I love more. Look at you with Tom. Who's the third one in? Hanks?

Right? I always loved him. He was always at no point. Gordon? Tom Gordon, the pitcher? Just trying to come up with the Toms that you would never think of. Your favorite Toms? Chris Brockman's top five favorite Toms? Top five Toms? I'll do that.

Zellick? Great stash. First team, I'll stash. You like this, Brady. I could do that.

That's why I was wanting to ask you, like, would you take him back for the 2022 season, these Patriots who might not be ready to win it all right now, you would stunt Matt Jones's growth. Yeah, of course. You would stunt it all. You'd stop it cold.

You got it. They got a good run game. The line has been retooled a little bit, but the running game is really good.

Okay? Two really good tight ends. John who Smith would make the Pro Bowl.

And Hunter Henry. Both of them. Both of them would. They would both have 10 touchdowns.

Right. Now they have Devontae Parker, Jacoby Myers coming into his zone. Now you got a fast guy.

Never had a fast guy. Who, Tyquan Thornton? Tyquan Thornton. Yeah, he wouldn't throw the ball to him. First time he messed up on a route, it would be all over. See you later. If he's open though, Tom throws to the open.

No, I know he does, but if the guy stops the route when he was open. Devontae Parker, like 20 touchdowns. Just setting all kinds of records. 20 touchdowns. Get out of here. You Patriot fans, man. Take Brady back at a step. Who's calling the plays?

Joe Judge? Who cares? No, let Tom. Let Tom call the plays. Let Tom call the plays.

Forget about it. Tom calls his own plays. What? Mini Cam plays. Mini Cam plays? Mini Cam plays? What plays? What plays? Yeah, Mini Cam plays. Yeah, Mini Cam plays. Yeah. Brady's his own offensive forward.

Who cares? And Joe Judge could just, you know, sit there. Go back to special teams. Go have lunch, Joe. Have yourself a sandwich.

Go to Shawmut's. 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. Going back before, you know, Hulk Hogan was a babyface, 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.