REShow: Chris Mannix - Hour 1

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Jimmy the three off the front of the rim. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. With all due respect to Heat fans, Celtics Warriors would be a much more enjoyable and competitive finals. The Rich Eisen Show.

What's not likable about the Celtics? Get over this hump. It's special. Today's guests, Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Chris Mannix, Warriors Radio Analyst Tom Tolbert, Columnist for the MMQB Andrew Brant. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Yes it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Hopefully everybody had a safe Memorial Day weekend and that you're back at your your gigs or you're back at your radio or your television sets or your phones or your tablets. However you consume the Rich Eisen Show we say hello to you here on this Tuesday the final day of May of 2022. Hello to our Peacock viewers and our Sirius XM Channel 85 NBC Sports audio listeners our Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio friends coast to coast our Odyssey friends on the app and our friends on our podcast where all podcasts can be acquired. We have a lot of friends. Basically what I'm saying.

Including the guys here in studio. Good to see you Chris Brockman. How are you sir?

Hey Rich I'm just exhausted. Okay good to see you DJ Mikey Diaz and Deez Nuts back at his post. How are you sir?

Good how you doing? Good to see you Mike. Good to see you TJ Jefferson lighting the candle. What's going on over there?

You know it's always a pleasure to be seen Rich and heard. Is this a low energy situation over here? What's going on?

Well you know Brockman he exhausted a lot of energy rooting his team on to the finals that's why he's exhausted. All right and Mike's all flown out but I'm glad that you're here. Good to see you and congratulations to you Christopher and the rest of the Boston Celtics fans out there.

Good to see I know. I'm just it was tough to even feel joy. I was just exhausted and relieved. Well I mean but you're also a New England sports fan so it's very tough to feel joy.

You could just stop your sentence right there. I don't understand that. How are they not happier?

Unless they're unhappy. Officiating, disrespect, whatever what have you. It makes no sense to me. It's all bad. It's all bad. It makes no sense you have that much success in your like I haven't won a title since 95 and look how happy I am.

I know that. You know like come on Chris. And the Celtics and the Warriors that's going to be a hell of a matchup and and we we pour one out for Miami Heat fans despite Jimmy Butler's best efforts in games six and seven. One of the greatest games six and seven an individual has ever posted on you know we might learn one leg right and how incredible he was in game six to force a game seven. We were basically you know having fun that you know LeBron James is not walking through that door for game number six and that Jimmy Butler walked in the door and played the role of LeBron James damn near coming up with a 50 piece in Boston to force a game seven and a game seven in which the Celtics were dominant until the Heat popped a run on them to make it a three-point game only to have the Celtics take control of game seven only to have the Heat take control back and actually have the ball and Jimmy Butler's hands down two with mere seconds to go forcing it one you know chip by chip possession by possession to make it a four possession game then a three possession game then a two possession game then finally it was a one possession game and the Celtics had the ball couldn't put it in the basket and now had a transition opportunity with Jimmy Butler leading it and he pulled up for three for the yolo shot the shot that if it had gone through the net and again this is the stuff we talk about you know with the the Buckner play and the and and the Bartman grab and the miracle on ice is that we we assumed like that would have been the end of it but it wouldn't have been the end of it there still would have been time left on the clock it's not like there was no time left everyone's like well we've been talking about this shot for 50 years unless you know the Celtics got the ball back and scored right and they were going to get the ball back 17 seconds there were and they had a timeout and there's you know the the Heat were out of timeouts and looked like they were out of chances until they had a chance and here comes Jimmy Butler and we're showing a shot of it right here I mean Al Horford's backing up and Butler could have gone potentially right by him for an and one or gotten to the line instead he pulls up for three with 17 and a half to go and from my position on the couch as somebody who wanted you know my son to be happy but for you and everyone else who's a Celtic fan to be miserable Chris sorry to say I understand I honestly thought what's he doing I I thought it in real time this is not a second yes no I didn't when he pulled up he didn't know because I saw it looked it looked like he he pulled up and didn't have his legs under him you know his jump shot it looked I know he'd been making everything but I just saw the way he went up and then when it wound up short it just looked like he didn't have his feet completely under him which is totally understandable with him as I said maybe playing on one leg and every played every second of game seven yeah as valiant and effort as diehard and effort as remarkable an effort you know for you heat fans I'd wish he'd taken it to the basket well no matter what even if he had he would have got a whistle he would have got a whistle onto the line for two getting every call that entire game I I have no problem with Butler pulling up for that because Jimmy Butler like you said he played all 48 and said he played 46 minutes and he made everything they're not there without Jimmy Butler so and also I think one thing you didn't mention is all those minutes that might have been Jimmy going I don't have the energy for overtime like I don't want five more minutes I don't have five more minutes in me and but I don't think anyone can look that's name any team superstar that carried you and if they pull up and take the shot that's when you go okay let me just try to end this so I personally but I'm not a heat fan so I don't know how they feel but it's just as a basketball fan I was like okay like well heat fans wouldn't have saw it because half of them left the arena already well I mean that game was that game was almost over I mean when Streuss made that three to make it a one possession game I I audibly you know I I screamed and got off the couch you know that's when it became really real the rest of the times oh this is a nice nice try by the heat here but when Streuss made the three to make it that two-point game and the celtics didn't score down on the other end that's when it got real real wide open shot real fast got real real smart took like your last four or five shots Tatum was getting doubled and he made the smart pass to the open man and the open man needs to make the shot but I feel like that would have been the story had the celtics not one it was like why is Marcus smart taking the last four or five shots of the game had the celtics not long we've been talking about one of the worst had been a different narrative of all time oh man up 13 with three minutes to go like how do you not close that out but it happened congratulations Al Horford is no longer the oldest or the most tenured player in the history of the NBA to not make the finals that person is now whoever's the oldest person on the Knicks and and the the Warriors and Celtics are going to be a great matchup I can't wait for it where's this out of Philly that's my question I thought the man's career was over when he played for the Sixers and now look at him looks like he'd go five more years terrific geez he looks terrific and we'll be talking about this with Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated and Tom Tolbert who calls the action locally for the Warriors and has a radio presence up there in the Bay Area he'll be joining us those are the first two guests of our program today and then there's this story you may have missed you may have missed this story because it it happened on late Friday of Memorial Day weekend and anytime anything comes out late Friday on a Memorial Day weekend it's done because a sports team doesn't want people to know about it or sports leagues doesn't want people to know about it that's why Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk who starts this this this um Peacock Palooza every single day on NBC Sports on Peacock he kept on saying hey if there's going to be any news about the league and Deshaun Watson it's going to come out Friday late Friday even though in this day and age you know with social media and Twitter and everything else you see everything on your phones it's very difficult it's very difficult for people to miss anything but you know we all go on with our lives best we can and so um this was announced on Friday and uh the this is the Lakers have a new head coach and this is a franchise that makes announcements they make everything big everything's big with this team but for some reason on Friday uh the whoa bomb comes out and uh the Lakers hire a new head coach and his name is Darvin Ham now fans of the NBA um certainly from uh back in the day recognize the name certainly fans of the Detroit Pistons recognize that name he won a championship as a player with those Detroit Pistons and um so Darvin Ham is now the head coach of the Lakers he's spent nine years with Mike Budenholzer the um current head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks the as uh for 10 more days or two more weeks defending champion Milwaukee Bucks their reign will come to an end either in Boston or or Golden State and um he came with Budenholzer from Atlanta to Milwaukee won a championship there and you could you know make a case that the Lakers are are spinning their wheels because this is not a name head coach and the Lakers are a name franchise name franchise and you could make this case that he is somebody that took the job because others aren't interested in where's Nick Nurse he's not walking through that door Doc Rivers Quinn Snyder somebody else's coach who's under contract I understand they're not walking through that door so why Darvin Ham now on the flip side of it all you have to do about well he's not a name head coach and this is not going to work out and you know how's it going to possibly work out certainly when LeBron James is their best player and their healthiest player and he's pushing 40 right yeah and and Westbrook is Westbrook and this is not going to work out Darvin Ham's going to be the guy to figure this thing out really well he comes highly recommended from Giannis himself Giannis himself loves the guy Giannis himself was talking about how he takes no BS and this is going to be a terrific hire congratulations LeBron James tweeting out I believe from France where he went to the Liverpool Real Madrid Champions League final and um so damn excited congrats and welcome coach d ham hashtag lake show LeBron likes it and then I guess here's another aspect of it on the the positive side of things is take a look at the celtics head coach anybody ever hear him who had heard of Eme Odoka who thought that guy was in over his head on January 1st of this year a lot of people a lot of people a ton of people look who's there now 500 look who's there now no longer known as mr neil long right that's how although some of her videos went viral celebrating the celtics eastern conference championship so you know just take a look at people saying that joe torrey when he got hired he's a he's a retread who the hell is he and then of course he went on a an incredible stretch the one thing that I'm hearing about and reading about that gives me some positive thoughts about this for you laker fans out there is it appears darvin ham got a four-year deal one more than frank Vogel got okay and apparently he got according to mark stein on his substack great mark stein he got assurances that kurt rambus is not allowed to be in any planning meetings oh yes so one of the ram by he's got a butt out interesting that's very interesting in I told you a conversation I had this weekend rich yeah that is that well I want to talk about that on there but that was very interesting that that there is apparently some meddling that took place you don't say according to mark stein buzz in the coaching circles over the weekend ham has been promised the autonomy to pick his coaching staff and is said to have received assurances that lakers senior advisor kurt rambus will not be a regular presence in coaching meetings like he was with Vogel so he's going to get to do it his way with his guys his people and to me that's an indication of the lakers understanding what may have not worked with Vogel and handing it over and or they're admitting they're kind of over a barrel roster wise franchise wise and here's a guy that they like and they are going to give the opportunity to now then what is his plan for westbrook because westbrook's not going anywhere I don't think based on his contract he's going to be there for one year and and what's he going to do is can he can he have a seance with whatever injury ghost hangs over anthony davis that's the plan for one year but how did ham get to this gig and what challenges does he face chris manix will have that and also the uh the voice uh one of the voices of the warriors tom tolbert and then in studio uh our number three uh longtime friend now from sports illustrated longtime executive in the nfl andrew brant's going to be here a longtime front office exec and capologist the rams have an interesting choice apparently aaron donald is waiting for more cash to be on the table even though he told our friend brandon marshall on the i am athlete podcast it's not about money so there's that oh yes and one player slapped another over fantasy football and major league baseball that happened over the weekend oh god are we just into this story and we're going to be way into the jock peterson as chris rock and tommy fam as will smith at a batting practice that took place in uh in cincinnati just to clarify you said a baseball player slapped another baseball player over fantasy football in the nfl correct right yeah nfl nfl fantasy amazing that happened all of this and i cannot wait to just dive into it it's an overreaction monday even though it's on a tuesday so that means there's some extra stuff from over the weekend it's celtics and warriors people will talk about that and the darvin ham hiring here in los angeles by the lakers on a friday of memorial day weekend i i i'm gonna throw this up again real quick who's on the lakers longer darvin ham or lebron james i don't know maybe they go out together like thelma louise like thelma and louise going over the cliff hold hands to wherever brawny starts playing basketball i don't know we'll see put it up go for it at rich eisen show 844-204-rich number dial here on the tuesday final day of may we're back with chris manix right here on the rich eisen show back here on the rich eisen show one big happy family uh terrestrial radio radio and peacock and serious xm our friend from sports illustrated senior writer who covers uh the celtics as well for nbc sports boston chris manix on the mercedes benz vans phone line now that the celtics have made yet another nba finals and this one perhaps most improbable of all back here on the rich eisen show how are you doing chris manix what's happening rich well i mean uh i a remarkable run right by the celtics how did this how did this happen how did this happen best you can tell well i mean i looked it was it's been kind of a four month five month evolution i mean i i was part of the local broadcast in november and december where they were just awful like there's no two ways about it um and i distinctly recall you know every night kind of saying the same thing after a game where it's they don't play with passion they don't play with focus they look disorganized they don't seem to like each other all that much i thought rock bottom for this team was this late december loss in minnesota where they played the timberwolves who without i think their top four guys and they still lost to basically a minor league version of that team um that we're here now talking about the celtics in the finals is one of the most improbable turnarounds i can remember i mean if you want to boil down kind of what it um you know what what it is that got them here it's defense um you know eme yudoka even during the dark days was teaching them a brand of defense that they weren't used to a switch everything everything type of defense that was predicated on the skill set of marcus smart and his ability to be a defender in the ways that previous celtic point guards whether it's isaiah thomas kyrie irving uh kimball walker couldn't be um they stuck with that they finally got it and from early january to now they have been the best defensive team in the nba by a country mile and when you can play that type of defense everything else is kind of just gravy because you can beat a lot of teams by being a great defensive team well i mean and then you could go even further back a few months just to you know yudoka's hiring um and brad stevens being kicked upstairs we were wondering what the hell was that all about and um and so is this what they had envisioned or uh i mean just to put in a plan that we're gonna come in with this defense and turn marcus smart into the defensive player of the year and that will open things up on the other end for brown and tatum and everyone else like is this truly the manifestation of the vision when they made that surprising maneuver with stevens and and yudoka in some ways um i don't think they could have accurately predicted how well marcus smart would adapt to the point guard position look there was interest within boston lonzo ball when he was a free agent in july they you know ball just got an overwhelming offer from chicago and never advanced past you know the thought stage but um there was definitely questions about whether smart could do it he had been an elite defensive player for years most of his career but he had never been a primary playmaker uh but nobody really knew if he was going to be able to do that he turned out to be great at it you know had one of his finest seasons and adapted incredibly well to the point guard position but you mentioned brad stevens i was critical of his decision to move to the front office more critical really of the celtics decision to allow it i've got a tremendous amount of respect for brad stevens the coach i thought even despite the last couple of years being so so that he was still a top five top 10 whatever you want to call it coach in the nba it befuddled me why the celtics would allow that coach to lead to take a role he had never done before but there's no two ways about it rich the celtics wouldn't be here if brad stevens wasn't the gm danny ainge does not make the trade that brought al horford to boston with oklahoma city he doesn't do it because danny ainge does not give up an unprotected first round pick the thunder in that deal he just doesn't do it that's not his thing danny ainge and this is not a criticism age because this entire roster was created largely by him most of the top guys were brought in because of deals or draft picks that he made but danny ainge doesn't make the deal that brought derek white to boston at the trade deadline because you have to give up a first round pick and a future swap right danny doesn't do deals like that brad has a different approach looks at draft capital differently and he made those two deals where without them the celtics would be dead in the water i mean where would they have been all season without al horford where they would have been in these playoffs without al horford where would they have been without derek white who turned it on really after just the the second or third game in the first round and became a huge part of what this team did brad stevens is as responsible for the success of this team as anyone that organization you know media doesn't vote for nba executive of the year but he would have had my vote for executive of the year and then on top of it chris manix the you know the the team they just vanquished pat riley being at the top of that flow chart his his phrase that he always sticks with me is his teams that successful teams need to avoid the avoid the disease of more right when obviously if when you win a championship you know everyone wants more or you're successful everyone wants more and and not focusing on on the team um and in that respect how to how does tatum and brown avoid the disease of more because sometimes tatum's the the batman and and brown's the robin and then they switch roles and it's sometimes possession by possession how how do they avoid that how does that work that relationship i think i mean it's a commitment to winning first and foremost that both these guys have and look they're not flawless in this regard kind of a joke in recent years within members of the organization that when you get into like late december and january with these two guys you kind of see a lot of your turn my turn stuff as both these guys try to get on the all-star team there's definitely a competitiveness uh for individual accolades that exist within these two guys but they're both extremely comfortable in their own skin they're both extremely comfortable with their roles and that's more of a credit jaylen brown who on a different team could probably be a tatum type he's never going to be the scorer that tatum uh is and will be but jaylen brown could you know on lesser teams could certainly be the alpha but jaylen brown understands what his job is within his team he's more of a ball handler he's still getting his shots as we've seen all postseason he's had you know he rarely has he had a game where he shot less than you know 15 times uh in one uh but he understands he's a playmaker a defender and when the self has been a bucket more often than not the ball is going to find its way into jason tatum's hands and jaylen brown's fine with that so when you have a a star a second star that accepts that it makes everything easier for everybody else chris maxx here on the rich isin show nbc sport at boston also senior writer from sports illustrated right here on the program now that it's warriors and celtics break down the matchup for me what are what is the uh the advantages disadvantages of this series best you can tell i wonder rich if we look back in a couple weeks and think about what could have been if the self is closed out miami and six because they're banged up i mean robert williams is just dragging that leg up and down the floor to his credit i mean the guy came back from significant knee surgery in like a month i mean that's that's not nothing i give him a lot of credit for doing what he's doing out there marcus smart you know alluded to this after game seven where like the entire left side of his body is aching whether it's his foot his ankle his quad the cost of the game early in the playoffs i mean he's in tough shape and you know i know internally you know they wish they had those two extra days uh in between uh these uh the conference finals ending and these finals beginning because they could have used saturday thunders to rest and not fly back to boston late at night and fly to san francisco uh today so so the health is is paramount i think in the series but you know look if all things are equal the celtics match up incredibly well with with golden state you go back to that game in in march and it's only one game but that was when the celtics were peaking um the defense was clicking paydom and brown were playing well they just destroyed golden state out in san francisco i mean they beat him up and you know the warriors their offense you know it tries to create mismatches with all this movement and all these screens there are no mismatches with the celtics the eight guys they play can all defend on some level you know one through five it's just it's remarkable teams i've talked to many assistant coaches about this that you know the celtics are aspirational you want your team to be built defensively the way the celtics are so boston's going to give golden state a lot of problems i think golden state defense is better than people think and they'll you know whether it's wiggins or green they're going to get the celtics perimeter player problems the other variable in all this that can't be kind of accounted for right away is the fact that nobody on this celtics roster has been to a finals and seems like everybody on that warriors roster has been to at least one the key guys being you know three or four and we saw 10 years ago with oklahoma city that that matters from the thunder went to the finals they might have been the better team with durant westbrook hardin all abaca but they were steamrolled in part because they weren't quite ready for that moment and i'm curious to see early on if the celtics are ready for that moment because these games one and two um you know they're going to be hugely important in terms of setting the tone for the rest of the series chris manix here on the rich eisen show okay so uh where did the decision to hire darvin ham come from from the lakers what's the timeline and what's the decision process best you can tell for this big decision yeah the lakers but they were sitting out for a while waiting to see if some of the more experienced coaches were going to shake loose i don't know if that meant they were targeting doc rivers or quinn snyder but they were certainly willing to wait to see how it all played out with those two coaches doc of course you know established guy great relationship with lebron quinn snyder has a relationship with the lakers front office from his time coaching in south bay with the g league team there so there was there was that's kind of what slowed the process down uh but once it became clear that those two guys weren't going anywhere at least doesn't seem like they're going anywhere right now um you know they turn their attention to some of the uh different names are out there and darvin ham has been at the top of many coaching lists when it comes to the next hire for a long time now he's he's kind of cutting away out of the e-mail udoka cloth right like he's a former kind of role player who you know didn't have a splashy career but certainly had a better than expected one he learned under one of the better coaches in the nba in udoka's case it was pop in ham's case it's mike budenholzer he's paid his dues and now he's kind of at that point where he's ready for the opportunity um yeah i think the lakers made it unbelievable hired i mean i think he is has the potential to be a coach not only for the team in the short term where you're trying to win a championship with lebron ad over the next few years but if you go into a rebuild darvin ham can be that guy too like he can be that coach that develops young players to try to get you back to that level so we can be critical and i have been critical of a lot of things lakers have done the last couple of years the westburg trade scapegoating frank Vogel but darvin ham as a coach is a total home run i mean that was the right guy for them to hire well and it seemed you know our colleague mark stein saying that he got assurances that he gets to choose his staff and that um a regular presence in his any coaches meetings will not be kurt rambis what you're reporting on all of that stuff i don't know i don't know that but look i know that the lakers with frank Vogel effectively assembled his staff and that did not sit well early on with frank vogel he took the job um and he was successful at the job and jason kitt turned out to be a terrific assistant coach but that was a front office decision um the presence of kurt rambis continues to be bizarre i i don't i don't understand it um i don't understand how much heft he has within that organization i don't understand why under any circumstances he would be sitting in on a coach's meeting so um if that's the case and i have no reason to believe it isn't with marks out there saying it um it's the right decision because you can't have an ex-coach with the ear of ownership sitting in on your coaching meetings because it will feel like there's a spy in your midst it just will um and so i think that's the right decision to let darvin ham assemble his own staff and to let the coach coach without having any influence from anyone anywhere else and does ham's hiring give you uh any sense um or any breadcrumbs as to how the roster is going to be massaged with what's going on with this team and and the seeming um difficulty it is to figure it out with the contracts of westbrook and the injury history of davis and the advancing age despite his incredible play of lebron james and the decision to be made on that what what does the hiring tell you on the contract front well it doesn't tell me much because unless the lakers are willing to attach a draft pick to russell westbrook he will be a laker you know to start the season it's kind of as simple as that the teams that have discussed westbrook trades with the lakers uh what i'm told have been clear about that they're not just going to trade other distressed contracts back they want draft capital in return so you know unless something changes and things crazy things have happened because you know teams you know reach reach uh shape their priorities after the draft and into free agency but unless something changes westbrook's going to be there now the rest of the roster uh it could look completely different and i think the lakers i mean half the roster is going to be a free agent you know they find all these minimum guys last year who are now going to be a free agent uh but i would expect rob palenka to try to look for more modern players i mean they they didn't have a lot of great length last year they didn't have a lot of perimeter shooting last year they need that you know you look at the teams playing in the finals what do they have defensive versatility and shooting like that's what you need if you're the lakers it doesn't grow on trees i mean you're gonna have trouble finding these guys but um i expect the lakers to go out and look for those types of players and just hope that something happens with russell westbrook and darvin ham and chemistry you know whatever that that makes it work i'm not counting on it but i don't think the lakers have any viable alternative in a couple minutes i have left here chris manix what what is general mori thinking today in the front office of philadelphia 76ers what is he thinking today do you think i mean i i would assume he's still kind of consumed by how to get hardened under a reasonable contract that doesn't kill the Sixers um you know it's got to be frustrating for for mori for philadelphia to see that season end the way it did but now he's facing a decision that will i mean it will define the Sixers during his era like how he handles hardened moving forward and the kind of contract that he gives him uh will be everything i mean if he can find a way to get hardened on board with a chris paul type of contract that guarantees him a little bit more money but protects them on the back end um he'll have done his job he'll put the Sixers in position to succeed during this hardened era and if it has to end soon they want uh to maybe continue to build around mb but mb is 28 years old these next four years are everything how this contract with hardened shakes out um you know i don't mean to be hyperbolic but it absolutely will determine whether uh mb wins a championship in philadelphia or if he doesn't and then sean marks what's he thinking today in brooklyn well yeah do i do i still have kevin durant's phone number i mean i don't know if they're what the communication has been like between you know sean and kevin and he's in a comparable situation with kyrie i thought his his postseason comments about kyrie were incredibly telling um you know sean has been nothing but supportive of kyrie throughout this process but him saying we need guys that are available sends a pretty strong message up to kyrie about what kind of stand that the nets will take on his next contract the problem they have is the same problem that philadelphia has if you let kyrie walk you can't just go sign a kyrie like player and you can't waste the last good years of kevin durant just counting on ben simmons to be a star you just can't do it so uh he's between a rock and a hard place as well he's got to get kyrie back but he's also going to get him on board with playing full-time and he's got to get him at a reasonable number and then you know simmons is it uh is this the first ever instance of back surgery uh and an injury that supposedly was also mentally caused uh you know i i don't what a conundrum about it with him i mean look his back was clearly a problem i mean you don't you don't just voluntarily have back surgery so it did it was obviously something but for putting aside the mental part of it i just find it bizarre that the nets were you know they weren't saying he was going to play but they weren't pushing back too hard all the reporting that he was and like how he went from being potentially available for game four to having back surgery is is wild is wild to me like i i really need kind of a tick-tock on the moment ben simmons was traded to brooklyn to where we are right now like was his back hurt when he got there did the nets know it was hurt did they know he was likely headed towards back surgery i mean were they that desperate to make a move off of james harden to to do a deal like that it you know there's a lot of unknowns that i can't you know whenever i talk to people internally you hear a lot of different answers up to to those questions so i don't know what the truth is when it comes to the help of ben simmons but they're counting on him too like he's got to come back and got to be something close to the ben simmons of old for that team to have a chance in this conference the celtics aren't going anywhere the bucks aren't going anywhere the heat are going to reload i mean it's not going to be easy for brooklyn next year unless they're at full strength and even then i don't know if you'd pick them to win it all so as i let you go chris manix once the confetti drops and either the celtics or the warriors hoist the the larry ob i mean i kind of just hit uh the the nets and sixers and lakers with you is there a story an off-season story that i'm missing that you're that you're focused on that you're targeting to look at i mean you hit the big hit the broad strokes there i mean i'm constantly watching to see what happens with danny lillard up in portland um you know joe kronin does he give lillard a contract extension this summer that would be almost hardness where it would guarantee lillis a whole lot of money when he's in his late 30s he's been the face of that franchise the greatest player in franchise history i still think he has some great years left in him but they're at a crossroads as well i mean do they sign lillis that type of deal and in a way accept that making the playoffs and maybe winning a first round series is your ceiling or do you be bold and start to look around at potential deals that might bring back the kind of draft capital that has put boston this position i mean remember the celtics are here right now because they traded away kevin garnett and paul pierce and got the picks that eventually led to jason tatum and jaylen brown it took a long time 10 years but they got there and i'm curious to see if portland um has that kind of mindset or evolves into that kind of mindset at some point this option chris thanks for the call man love our chats uh and uh love your reporting and uh just uh the conversations we have really appreciate it anytime rich take care look for my call that's chris manix at si chris manix right here on the rich isaac show i follow him you should too you know that scene in star wars a new hope the first one episode four episode four where uh the stormtroopers stop obi-wan and and the droids and uh luke and he tells the stormtroopers these are not the droids you're looking for let us you know let us go and he pulls the mind trick right he's on the jedi mind trick in in in hindsight because again you just heard chris manix say how without that garnett and pierce trade they don't have the picks to take tatum and and brown but what mind trick did danny ang make to have the sixers take the first pick from them and take faults and then careful you guys and then mind trick and then mind trick magic and the lakers say it's lonzo baller or bust you have no and let tatum drop to three to have the first overall pick and say i know who i want but i'm gonna get more picks and go down to three and get the guy who could be the mvp of the upcoming nba finals be careful i'm sorry be careful i i i this is like i mean these are not these are not the draft choices you're looking for it's literally not now it's hindsight i know it's total hindsight it's not hindsight man it was foresight it was at the time it was i mean how obvious was it it wasn't obvious what do you mean this is the thing chris like always gets mad when i say this the sixers had the third pick tatum was the third pick we should have stayed at three instead of moving up for faults but what chris manic said rich about this being important for the sixers it's very true the sixers have a history of horrible horrible front office decisions like as he was talking i just start making a list here of like horrible trades players that we gave up like tatum mchale bridges like obviously we didn't have tatum but we were in position to draft him i don't know i don't i don't know if i trust this team to do the right thing man down more is it down more is a different executive i hope rich i hope so because the the the list the laundry list of horrible horrible decisions that this franchise has made since 1985 it's unbelievable let me help you that's not the list you're looking for no i mean did it help and i told chris like tatum's rookie year i'm like that's a mistake that's gonna haunt sixers fans for the next 15 years and it's i'm right as we as we go to break though i i think angel would have still taken tatum first overall i still think he would have taken him first yeah probably probably but the sixers never should have given him the chance give him the chance to take more for marcel folks and get the guy he wants anyway and they're going to the finals and if they win most likely he's the one who's going to win mvp let's take a break eight four four two oh four rich number to dial antonio brown's in the news too don't go anywhere back with more in a moment back here on the rich eisen show eight four four two oh four rich number to dial uh another story that you may have missed uh over the weekend uh although i i i it it hit my my twitter feed um is antonio brown was on a broadcast for fan-controlled football and seems like he is admitting he's not going to be uh playing football this fall and hinted that his career may be over this is what antonio brown had to say is football still important to you would you say obviously you know we live the game but you can't play forever i think i'm a great player i've done everything in the game we're gonna see you playing next season nah don't play yourself looking at me to play so i i don't know what that means don't play yourself looking at me to play it seems like the one who's played himself in all of this the last few years please please this is so sad i i gotta tell you how sad this is it is i i saw that soundbite and i just thought this is the saddest i remember interviewing antonio brown again on a thursday night football he balled out i believe he was against the browns years ago may have been year one potentially year two for him the the the memory fades because it's been 12 years since the kid came off the campus of central michigan where he had to go to get a shot from south florida and this was a time when mike uh when uh mike wallace remember him he wanted his money oh yeah and the Steelers were like no go to miami and they paid him instead because he was a kid who was not only terrific but reliable and wanted to win and wanted to work his ass off to win and it was obvious to everyone 12 seasons he's played and the first nine in pittsburgh were hall of fame worthy that's the stuff that puts you in the hall of fame you do it for the pittsburgh steelers as well seven one thousand yard seasons in 12 years his nine years in pittsburgh are some of the best nine years fresh out of the box of any receiver ever on track to be in the hall of fame but this track to be in the hall of fame but this conversation don't play yourself to see me play it's just like what are you talking about i i want to see him play just because he's incredible but none of the other stuff like the helmet and the feet in in in in vegas and then the the stuff with the patriots and you know finally getting a shot i mean all you need to know is he he could have played with tom brady more and took his uniform off and shirtless skipped out of new jersey against the jets with his team needing him in the worst way and that's the way he exits the stage it couldn't be sadder could not be more sad when i hear that i'm not going to sit here and say who the hell does he think he is because i don't know what's going on with him this could be this guy could have been in canton and you're sitting there he still should be in canton and corn bolden's not in canton yet tory holt's not in canton yet hinds ward deserves to get a spot in front of him i don't think he's ever going to get a shot in canton and that is absolutely as sad as it comes to end hour one and somebody can please send this to him because he blocked me on twitter a long time ago when i started wondering what is his malfunction yeah i mean he got i mean facebook lived his way out of mike tomlin's care got to vegas where gruden wanted him in the worst way and was ready to have him and look past everything over and over again until he couldn't and then the guy celebrated his release that was the first that was the first shirtless time we ever saw him in a viral manner and he couldn't have been happier and he wound up with the patriots and i'm sitting here thinking some consequence he's learned of his actions that he winds up he winds up with brady in in the gold standard franchise and then we learned about what was going on with them off the field and then they got rid of him and he criticizes bob craft and then brady gives him another shot they went to super bowl together and he winds up criticizing brady going out the door and now he's saying don't play yourself to see me play i want to i'm not playing myself i want to see him i want to see him play but not with everything else going on and that might just be another instance of him not accepting his role in everything don't play yourself one thing you forgot to mention rich before the trade to oakland or to the raiders rather they were in oakland at the time yeah he was supposed to get traded to buffalo before they signed digs and he nixed that so he could have been a part of the josh allen buffalo they're lucky they're lucky they dodged it yeah they dodged it and they got digs instead but he was originally that's where the stills somewhere else yeah that's where the stills were trying to send them re-upped and stayed in minnesota yeah they're lucky they dodged that yeah but it gave you an indication and still does it maybe will another team give him a shot i mean why i saw again i saw that video this weekend and my first thought was that is so sad god could be in the hall of fame could have been in the hall of fame i don't think he's ever he's gonna have to buy a ticket to get in there well numbers-wise is a guy who should be i get it but so why why invite him why invite him that's got to be the question 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 oatman was a baby face hulk and andre were able to go in and headline at the new orleans super dome at shay stadium in japan wherever they went that was an attraction something to wrestle with bruce prichard listen wherever you get your podcasts