REShow: Matt Barnes - Hour 3

It's Rich Eisen.

Yes indeed. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. 844-204 Rich, number to dial. We'll take some of your phone calls before we close up shop today. We just spoke to Tyree Wilson, one of the top defensive players available in this year's NFL Draft.

That's eight days from now. I'll be there on the set for NFL Network at that time. And Bucky Brooks, my colleague from the NFL Network, broke down his thoughts on the draft again eight days prior to Kansas City, being home to the latest NFL Draft. But I turn to my right, welcome back here on the Rich Eisen Show, along with Stephen Jackson, the co-host of a tremendous show and podcast, highly successful, All the Smokes, Matt Barnes here on the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing Matt? It's good to be back. I like your name tag, it's dope. Yep, I appreciate it. I need to give myself one. It says best dad ever.

Yes, I love it. How many years in a row has this been? I think six years in a row. Six father's days ago I got this. There you go. Well, you know, Mother's Day, they, you know. They get everything.

Everything. And I get, I got, I think the price tag's still on the back here. Kids didn't even take the price tag off. Well, jeez, would you want to guess how much this has cost? $9.99.

No, sir. Twenty-five bucks. What do you think? Twenty-seven dollars. What did you get? TJ Jefferson's the one who's been on the prices, right?

Go for it, close without going over. I'm going to say $25, Drew. Oh, it's $24.95. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Well, if I was back on Price is Right, I would have dropped it down.

It's ridiculous. You didn't actually win the showcase when you were on the Price is Right. Well, you gotta bring up old stuff in front of Matt Barnes. I'm giving you all the smoke.

Thank you very much. Matt Barnes is here. Boy, there's a ton of, I guess, connective tissue between your playing career and what we're seeing going playing out right now. I mean, you know, I mean.

First hand. Pretty much. I mean, you were on the last Warriors team to be down 0-2 in the playoffs. Yes, 0-7.

You were on the Kings teams that used to make the playoffs prior to this one. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. And Mike Brown was the coach of the Lakers team. And Golden State. Remember, because Steve Kerr had some back issues. That's right. So he coached a little bit during that 17 championship run.

And obviously you were on the, your last championship ring was with the Warriors. So there's lots. Yeah. There's lots of people to connect. Lots going on. But let's just jump into Draymond Green, who's been suspended for game three. What can you help us compute?

A lot of NFL fans, NBA fans can help us compute here. I think this is a reputation suspension. And I was some guy who had a reputation. And, you know, I remember why I would push someone and get a two game suspension. I'm like, I pushed them. And they're like, well, you have a bad reputation. It's like, OK, that's how that kind of works. So, you know, obviously I was there.

I was calling the game that night. First and foremost, I think it's no mystery. Sabona shouldn't have grabbed his foot.

Right. How you react when someone grabs your foot, only, you know, in that moment, I don't know if there's anything else he could have did. He chose to do what he did. And I knew that would obviously raise a lot of eyebrows because it's him. And then I think maybe some of the antics while they were looking at the tape and him running over and clapping and getting into it with the crowd.

And if I'm understanding too, Mr. Silver was in the crowd that night, too. So I think the flagrant two should have been enough. I don't think he should have been suspended for this game.

But again, I think this is a reputation suspension. Well, I mean, my thought again is, as you just pointed out, too, Matt, is, you know, you never know what you're going to do until your your your your ankle is grabbed. Right.

And so but to me, Draymond's been around enough to know, as a matter of fact, just if I'm not mistaken, two possessions before he got a reputational foul called on him that Kerr challenged and got overturned. Yeah. And so he knows that that kind of put should have put him on notice. And if he had played the victim in the moment. Right. And I know victim is a very it's an infused word. But if he had just went down like a ton of bricks because Sabonis had grabbed him, Sabonis would have gotten the flagrant. Yeah. The Warriors would have kept the possession they had just earned in a one possession game.

Instead, he he stomped on him. And my thing, I mean, obviously, Draymond is a friend of mine, a brother of mine. And so help us help, help, help, help. It's hard. It's kind of hard to navigate this from a standpoint of, again, he's great at kind of mucking stuff up, you know what I mean? And that doesn't take away from his talent, but he's just always been able to live on that edge and sometimes cross it. And that's been his biggest gift and to me, sometimes his biggest curse, because he is so instrumental to that team. And it's again, it's not always the numbers that are going to jump off the page to you.

I mean, I think he had 11 assists in game one, which is huge for a center or a power forward, but it's the little things he does and the glue guy and be able to switch on anybody and keep him in front. And obviously, it could have possibly been a different outcome if he didn't get kicked out of that game. So in the moment, we want to look at the big picture like, come on, Draymond, you should have known better.

But in the moment, in a rowdy environment, his emotions got the best of them. And again, it's unfortunate. And I think it should have only been for that game. Yes, the NBA chose otherwise.

And now they're at a huge disadvantage going home. Oh, two without him. So then, again, one last attempt at having you speak for another human being, who you care about. And I'm, you know, flat out gonna, you know, start this question with that admission. Do you think there's part of him that is regretting that he's not going to play absolutely 1000% 1000% because he knows how important he is to the team. And he knows how important this game is. I mean, look, the Kings had a great season this year, but everyone wanted to know if it was real, everyone like, Okay, we want to play that three seed, you know, everyone's talking about we want to play them.

Yes. And now, you know, the Warriors are in a series with the team that doesn't have very much experience, but it's hungry. You know, I mean, I, you know, I'm calling all their games and, you know, game two, to me, the warrior or the excuse me, the kings came out like they were the team that lost game one, they were faster to the punch, they were more aggressive, they were getting downhill, they were playing harder.

And then again, obviously, the words have a ton of experience. So this this series is far from over. You know, if Golden State handles business at home, you know, Sacramento just has to win at home to finish the series out. So it's going to be really interesting. But you never want to put yourself in a situation where you're going to be at a disadvantage. And it has doesn't have to do with injury.

Now, you know, you're at a disadvantage now because you made a bad decision. So that's definitely gonna hurt their team. But you know, again, you know, Golden State has a ton of championship experience and pedigree. They've been down in the past, and we're gonna have to see what this team is about. So knowing them as well as you do and calling the games, what are they thinking right now?

Do you think? I think they need to find a way to get Jordan Poole playing better. He's a liability out there. He scored defensively. Is he a liability? Every time on the defensive end, Sacramento sets enough screens that he's guarding the person with the ball.

So that's first and foremost. But then I just think two shot selections sometimes and then being really too loose with the ball. I think the Warriors turnovers are kind of their Achilles heel and they have been the entire season.

And you'll accept it from Steph because Steph is Steph. But you can't have Jordan Poole coming out there and just throwing the ball around the court, understanding the importance of every single possession. You know, he got a huge contract and a lot of responsibility comes with that. You know, he had 17 in the first game, but only four in the second game. And they need him to step up and be that 20 point. And he doesn't have to play above what he's been doing. He just has to play what he's been doing. I think he needs to be in that 18 to 22 range, you know, for them to have a chance because Sacramento is hungry and they see blood in the water and they want to prove everyone wrong because everyone thought, you know, they were the three seed, but they were the underdogs coming into the series.

So, you know, they got a little chip on the shoulder. Well, it's why I started yesterday's show, obviously, when Draymond Green is ever involved in anything in a game as significant as the one that he was playing in. You know, we in the media will just talk about Draymond Green non-stop, certainly when he's, you know, on the defending champions as well. But that's why I want to start, I started yesterday's show talking about the Sacramento Kings. Yeah, it overshadows. I think Charles, not to cut you off, Charles said that too. It's overshadowing, you know, how good the Kings have been playing.

Yeah, I mean, so because I was saying this and you can help us out on the subject matter. Matt Barnes here on the Rich Eisen Show, is name me another player in the NBA who's faster with his first step, faster to the rim, with a deadly outside shot, and is also as brash and not know what he doesn't know right now as De'Aaron Fox. This clutch player of the year, you know, the first recipient of the award. And, you know, to start, I started doing stuff with Sacramento last year and always saw his talent. He's been able to score with the best of them since, you know, since we've known him about him in Kentucky. But I think this year is where he took the jump from a standpoint of leadership, understanding if you're that fast with the ball, you could be that fast on defense. So, he stepped up on the defensive end. And then also the ability to have the ball in your hands so much, set players up, set your players up, understanding that if I get hurt or going, if I get monk going, if I get Keegan Murray open, the court's going to wide, it's going to be wide open for me.

Now I have one of the best duos with Sabonis and they've just really found their chemistry. So, as an individual, his game has took tremendous strides and it's not necessarily on the scoring side. He's always been able to score with the best of them. But I think he's become a complete player.

Now, you see he competes on the defensive end. He gets his teammates involved and he's that vocal leader I feel like this team has lacked in the last handful of years. What has Mike Brown brought to the equation, do you think? Everything.

Belief. I think he set a foundation for this team. This team was directionless, leaderless organization.

With all due respect, I can say the same thing about the organization. And you've got to give credit to Vivek and then hiring the right management and trusting in Monty McNair and his crew. And then hiring Mike Brown. We had Mike Brown my second year with the Lakers after Philly retired. And it was just a night and day and it was a train wreck.

It just didn't work. Different philosophies, different styles, different approaches. But I think Mike went to Golden State and honed his skills and learned a lot and couldn't have been a better hire for this team. I mean, obviously he's a defensive minded guy, but he took that offense and took it to the next level in Sacramento. But the one thing I knew early in this season, when the Kings started doing well and you'd hear the players talk, they would always say something about Mike. And as a player, I knew, OK, they bought into Mike and they believe in Mike and they're going to go wherever Michael take them. And Mike understands that. And he's done a great job with this young group. Matt Barnes here on The Rich Eisen Show. Everybody should check out all the smoke, obviously through Showtime. And we're all podcasts can be acquired. He and Stephen Jackson with a hugely popular show right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

And we'll get to some of the stories that you and Stephen have gotten out of your tremendous guests shortly here on the program. Which team, though, do you think is the best right now in the whole playoffs, the whole playoffs, the whole shooting match? That's tough. I think the West is wide open. I think because of Morant's injury, because the Nuggets can be had the way the Lakers are playing. When I come into this, I thought that the top three teams were top three seeds were susceptible. Denver hasn't proven it to me personally. Memphis is young and they have a lot of outside noise. And during that, you can slide with that during the regular season. During the playoffs, you got to be locked in.

And then Sacramento is inexperienced. So I even thought before the Morant injury that they were going to have their hands full with the Lakers because of the lack of depth on that front line. They lose Berliner Clark. They lose Steven Adams. Triple J defensive player of the year, shout out to him, but he gets in foul trouble sometimes. So if AD gets him in foul trouble, who's going to be down on that front line?

So I thought they were going to have their hands full in the first place. So Clippers, if they had Paul George, who's to say with this, this, they could be up to nothing right now. I love the way the rest book has been playing. Kawhi is showing people why he rests during the regular season. He's a monster in the playoffs. I mean, arguably I heard back here, TJ say that there's no question he's a top five player and he's not five. When he's on the court, there's not too many people better than him.

Both sides, the way he affects the game. This Kings team, you know, you just got to get hot at the right time in the playoffs and they have a lot of belief in themselves right now. So the West, who knows? And then the East is interesting from a standpoint of, I don't, I think Giannis, whether you play us tonight or not, they're going to get through this series, but a lingering back issue going forward throughout these playoffs, as we all know, it's only going to get tougher. So then you turn, you turn your head to Boston and Boston is, is tough. And they've been there last year and they felt like they should have won last year. They go through a bunch of crazy stuff with their coach in the off season.

New coach comes in, does his thing. I think Robert Williams is going to be a big part of their success moving forward. They're going to need him to be healthy. They're going to need him to get minutes.

And lean on Embiid. I say all that to say, I don't know. And I think that's what makes it great. You know, normally we're, you know, we know who is going to be there, who's going to win. And, and, and I think the Eastern conference might be a little bit easier to guess with all due respect to, I think there's three teams there. I think it's Milwaukee, Boston, and Philly in that order. But to me, Boston can leapfrog if Giannis is not a hundred percent. And then the West is wide open. It's whoever stays healthy, whoever gets hot.

Whoever stays healthy and whoever gets hot. At the end of last night's Suns Clippers game, did you see Paul and Kawhi sort of bump shoulders without making eye contact? I like it. Would you want to, can you, can you decipher that? Can you interpret that moment for me?

It's playoff basketball. You know what I mean? And Rich, I came in in the early 2000 where it wasn't about buddy, buddy being friends.

You know what I mean? If we would have seen this back in the late nineties or eighties, like we wouldn't even care. It could have been, you know, some punches thrown after that. But I think that everyone is so buddy, buddy now that when people are about their business, like both of those, those, those men are, it's a big deal. Like, no, they bump each other. They don't have to say hi.

They don't have to acknowledge each other. Like they're going to war right now and, and may the best team win. And then you also see someone like Russ and Katie kind of somewhat get into it after, during the game.

And then after the game, they dap each other up. So you just never really know what guys minds are. Um, but if we're, if, if my homeboy's on that other team and we're going to war against each other, I'm fine with not talking to him the entire series.

Did you do that when you played? Yeah. It's like I said, I'm, I'm, we can be very cool after the game, after the series, but you know, we want to win right now.

And I think that's all it was. I don't, I don't think those guys hate each other. I'm talking about Kawhi and Chris, but I know they both want to win. Was Kobe that way with his teammates? Absolutely.

You said with his teammates too. Yeah. You don't, yeah, you don't bring it. And he won't even say he'll just stare at you or not say nothing to see you. If you're not bringing it, you know, about the Mamba stare, you know what I mean? And just that, that he, you know, he'll burn a hole through you with his eyes.

You know what I mean? He never really had to burn the holes to me because I was always with it, but there were some other teammates that, you know, that wouldn't play up to their abilities or, or, or he felt were scared or, or had bad games and he would give you that look, but that look was enough to snap you out of whatever BS you were in and be ready to go the next game. But you were never on the business end of the Mamba stare.

No, no, no, no. We were, we were, we were, we were on the same page. I mean, Kobe was my guy and he knew I was ready to run through a wall. So.

My gosh. And again, you were on his final playoff team, by the way, never made it back to the playoffs after that 2011, 2012 team. And you got to respect that too in a day and age where, you know, one thing when Kobe used to talk was I want to sit at the table with MJ, meaning he wanted that sixth ring.

So we live in a league now where guys are jumping around. But the one thing I respected about Kobe was, you know, he literally rode that ship until it sunk and he rode his body until it nearly fell apart. And then gave us, you know, one last 60 piece on his way out. That's right.

Instead. What a night that was. Right. And then, yeah, that Laker team, I wrote it down here. You lost in four games.

I mean, pardon me, you lost in in that series to Oklahoma City, which was Russ Durant and Harden is the sixth man. Yeah. Perk. I think they had big Perk. They had Sergi Baca.

They had a good team. Man. Oh, man. Yep. Back in that day. Lost in five in round two to that team.

And Durant's now playing Russ and Harden's in Philadelphia. Unbelievable. I would like to take a break. I want to come back and talk about your show and stuff that you're you're doing right now.

Yeah. And go down a little bit more memory lane with you. Let's do it. Let's do it. Matt Barnes is here bringing all the smoke or at least half of it right here on this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

Don't you dare move back with Matt and more in a moment. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarm sweating, itching or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts? New and improved Dove Men Plus Care antiperspirant with 72 hours sweat and odor protection and one quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarm so you can be present for the moments that matter. Don't let underarm insecurities keep you at arm's distance from the ones you care about.

Buy new and improved Dove Men Plus Care antiperspirant wherever personal care products are sold. Noble is a training brand for people who work hard and don't believe in excuses. Noble's performance footwear apparel and accessories are worn by some of the fittest athletes on earth and is now the official combine training partner of the NFL and the official on-field supplier of apparel and headwear for the NFL scouting combine. Head to www.nobleproject.com slash nfl to see how Noble forever changed the NFL combine and to shop football training essentials and more gear for your day-to-day workouts. Stay tuned to the Rich Eisen Show and keep your eyes on our Twitter feed and YouTube channel as I'm hosting a new segment sponsored by Noble called From the Combine to the Draft. I'll profile a few players journeys from the physical and mental tests of the NFL combine as we head towards the thrilling moment when the picks are announced in Kansas City during the draft. That's twitter.com slash rich eisen show and youtube.com slash rich eisen show from the combine of the draft sponsored by Noble.

Matt Barnes is here all the smoke with you and Stephen Jackson. Now you're in year four of it right? Yeah season four. Year four and Showtime's putting your stuff on tv.

Yes and um you're enjoying it having a blast. Man Rich it's been amazing um just the opportunity to have this platform um has has been a blessing but then I think the caliber of guests you know I was telling you before we started we had a six-week run where we had Magic Johnson Charles Barkley and finished off with Isaiah Thomas and then right for Magic we had Will Smith so it's you know the ability to you know have a chance to sit down with people you grew up idolizing or or former teammates and my goal with that show is always creating an environment where they feel comfortable and humanizing these guys like we know why Steph is a great shooter but what is he like off the court or KD or Magic or any of these people Charles I always want to show the fan base the other side of the people they love and we've been pretty successful at doing that man so yeah shout out Jack and and Showtime and everyone else behind the scenes that makes it go. So who do you want on?

Who do you and Steven want on that you haven't had on? You could wave a wand and they're they're they're amongst the smoke with you. I would say like a Jay-Z, a Dr. Dre. My whole goal with with with this stuff is I want to transition into mainstream media like I love sports to death but I want to see you on ESPN all the time so but I'm talking about like outside of sports I got you just media in general um you know Michael Strahan kind of path so I just like talking to all different kinds of people from different walks of life different genres different ethnicities and just really talking about life so but if I had to choose one or two guys it would probably be Jay-Z and and Dr. Dre or maybe a Jimmy Iovine I saw Jimmy last night. Can't yeah can't Snoop help you with that too? Yeah but those guys are busy like it's it's it's a thing where I kind of have to grab them um so yeah maybe one day.

What's your Matt Barnes? Yeah they're they're they're I'm I'm trying to climb I'm down there. Come on now I mean you can get these guys I'm sure. We got to get you. Well so we got to get you yes I would be now you said that the last time you were here uh Jack might have said that I don't said that Jack might have said that but when I really get you there don't put that one on me that might have been Jack that said that. I don't know I mean that was when you guys were on here to promote season one that was before that was you know in season four you're you know you're not and you're not even far from us now you're on pay cable and you know now you're on my old haunt on ESPN and now I'm glad that you're back thank you're here happy to be here yeah yeah likewise you just had uh white chocolate on yeah Jason we did a live show up to Jay is man he's traveling the world and and and and people are still loving him and it was weird because he was so surprised by that you know what I mean I think he was such a he was so incredibly cultural icon and and and a true crossover when you talk about a crossover you know with the name white chocolate he was accepted everywhere he went he was accepted uh right but we were able to get him out to sack uh because I went for all the smoke I knew how although he played three years I knew how much the king span still loved him and and you know they when I tell you he was there for game one you would have thought that the Beatles walked in the arena like they went crazy when they saw jay will and he was kind of surprised and it was it's funny we talked about it and I said why like why are you so surprised um but he's traveling the world you know he just got back from the Philippines and he's doing fantasy camps and and and still just you know getting getting paid good money to do basketball things what the hell was that like in that arena and then outside unbelievable after after they won game one unbelievable I've been fortunate enough you know I caught Oracle arena with the western finals with the Lakers kings as a fan and that was insane I was at Oracle in 07 we beat Dallas and and Steve Kerr was commentating the game and he said to this day when I had him on my show I had never heard a louder crowd than when you guys beat Dallas and then you know fast forward lucky enough to be in golden one for game one with the Warriors and the kings and rich that might have been the loudest environment I've ever been in from seriously I did I did some morning media like at night I did morning me like 8 45 get done by nine and I'm staying at the hotel that's connected to the arena so I'm walking back through yeah nine o'clock in the morning Kings fan painted in purple paint not body paint purple paint drinking at nine in the morning I'm like oh they're gonna go it's gonna be a nut nuthouse tonight Brad Miller hits me up earlier that day hey we're gonna be pre-partying at one o'clock at the punch bowl like Brad the game's not till 5 30 I gotta work oh your loss you know people are just out there going that it's been 16 years yeah and I know how important winning basketball is to that that town the economy goes with you know with the Kings so you know I'm really happy for the city that they're back in the mix and and and have a good showing thus far yeah and so um I know we were talking Kobe before um about you know the the mamba stare to his teammates what was the first time you met Kobe I got a chance to meet Kobe when I went to UCLA okay so Kobe came to the Lakers in 96 if I'm not mistaken I got to the UCLA in 98 and from everything I've heard you know there wasn't very much synergy early on with him with his teammates because he was so young so he was always on campus at UCLA always eating walking around he would work out in poly um maybe he was missing the college experience he was passing it was like in UCLA in UCLA is no slouch you know so he was on our campus uh kind of enjoying uh somewhat of the college life and I remember I would sneak back into poly and watch him train I'm just like god this dude is incredible I remember one time I don't remember what season was but he broke his right hand um and he was in there with the cast doing everything remember the season he came back and he was shooting a lot of left-handed stuff like how was he making this I literally seen Kobe go through an entire workout with his right hand casted up with him shooting and dribbling and playing like he was a left-handed player and it was just like what the hell so I got a chance to meet him early on I was just a fan I wouldn't even say it was a friendship we every time we saw each other it was it was up and got a chance to obviously make the NBA and just knew that I wanted to guard him so it was just a mutual respect back and forth that it kind of culminated with the ball fake in Orlando in 2009 the 2009-10 season yeah they end up winning a championship that year we lose to the Celtics in the eastern finals um and I am a free agent and I get a phone call from him and don't know how he got my number didn't believe it was him when he first called and you know started talking about what I'm gonna do and you know told me any anyone crazy enough to f with me it's crazy enough to play with me if you want to be a Laker I'm like hell yeah and like four days later I was a Laker Kobe Bryant cold called you cold called like I didn't even have his number saved I don't even answer my phone when I see the name I for some reason I answered this California California number when I was in Orlando and it happened to be him and he said you unbeknownst to you kind of sold yourself because you were crazy with him enough crazy enough to f with me it's crazy enough to play with me well I mean I can assume how did you f with Kobe well just it was just always a battle and then you know that was the ball fake in Orlando that year but it was just a back and forth game where you know Kobe was I always tell people obviously the physical display was on every single night and but the mental side was the side I got to know and love and he was a sicko and he would do everything he could to get that advantage and him being Kobe they weren't going to call much of it so he would elbow you grab you pretty much do whatever you want to you and I was just fed up and I was ready to fight it's funny we talked so we had it we did his last interview as well it was supposed to be a two-part interview because we only got like 40 minutes with them but we talked about that time where I was ready to fight you that night you know what I mean and the ball fake happened but I guess he just liked that fire because you I think the year before him and Ron and Tess got into it so he went and got Ron and then the following year he got into it with me so he went and got me so there was a times where me Kobe and Ron would be on the floor at the same time so we obviously wanted him to save his energy for offense and let me and Ryan handle all the dirt but if someone would score two or three points on us or you know a couple buckets on us get out the way I got him like he would be fighting with me and Ron because he wanted to guard the best player but we wanted to guard the best player so he could save all his energy for offense so just the ultimate competitor you know went from a mutual respect to teammates to a brotherhood where we would you know Kobe used to come to you know my kids were two years younger than Gianna we would both be coaching AAU and you know we would talk the night before tournament hey what time you play we'd play sometimes two hours before they would play and he would come watch my twins play and they're only like eight or nine years old so it's not like you're seeing any kind of breathtaking basketball but the fact that he would come to a tournament two hours before to watch my kids just really meant a lot he would always send them the newest shoes their team would always get the newest shoes and we just really grew from you know an altercation that happened in the game unbelievable what a story matt barnes and any we we on this show interviewed him I think about a month before you got to sit down his final interview and um this is after Lebron had had arrived here in LA and there was rumor that maybe he's going to come back and play with Lebron right and he said there was zero yeah chance he would do that and kind of was offended that so okay I only know how to play basketball huh and he'd already gotten his Oscar in the case you know and he was like trying for the EGOT he was he wanted to get an Emmy he wanted to get a Tony in the same way that you're talking about you want to do more than just sports I I you know did he was he were you able ever to receive the praise from him about what you've become and what oh he loved it he gave it I'd imagine he gave it to us on the show he just I would have never thought you two I thought you two would have been doing what you're doing but you know it's funny what you said about the basketball thing because he was so adamant I remember we so we before we got the interview we went in his office and he was finishing this novel he was writing it she was writing these children novels down in orange county right and he was telling us he's just like you know forget basketball he's like you're Kobe no one's ever forget basketball he's like no he's like I want to be known like these next 20 years I want to be known for what I do these next 20 years throughout the last 20 years so he was adamant about basketball was yes I am who I am and I did what I did but wait till you see what I'm about to do on this business side and I wholeheartedly believed it I mean he was you know he had a fund and he was writing books and he was winning rewards for content and and I have no doubt with the mindset because you know as athletes we're we're disciplined to handle our business and and you know I've been blessed to now instead of getting up at 6 a.m to go hit the track of the weight room I get up at 6 a.m and and get on an email you know I mean so I just think our natural discipline to be great in something if you apply yourself is there and you know that was something that I learned from him it's just like you know just take that same discipline that you had in sports and apply it to the business world and you'll be fine yeah he doesn't flinch right no he didn't one of the very few pretty much what did you think when he didn't flinch that he's crazy just like me did you ever ask him why didn't flinch or no I just it was understood doesn't have to be explained I just knew he was wired different just like kind of like I was wired different matt barnes here on the rich eisen show again all the smoke every thursday correct um and how do you like in um you know the world of punditry on espn where you're just chopping it up it's fun I mean I just you know my goal right now is to be in on as many quality platforms as possible that's one until I find one that just will wipe the rest of them out you know with my ultimate plan of you know doing daytime talk or or or mainstream media so in the meantime I'm having a blast doing espn thankful to be there nbc bay area with the kings yeah show time with um all the smoke right in espn so it's it's been fun man to ever think that you know I was a role player there was no kwanzaa I wasn't trying to be a star wasn't star as a role player but the the ability that I've had to move post career you would think that I was a eight-time all-star and and one of those guys and I just think because I've been authentic I've been myself I've been real and I and I and I try to speak the truth for the most part and uh that's gotten me a long way post career it'll be six years in june since I've been done damn unbelievable so before I let you go just a couple of more paparazzi questions I guess who's your mvp mb mb mb you did not stutter oh you by the way tj who uh he's the uh clipper sixer fan of this organization okay um yeah I know I feel the same way too I don't disagree with what jana said I think about two weeks ago that he felt like he should be the mvp the last five years I don't disagree because I think there's a handful of guys every year I think mb could have won and this is all do respect with joker could have won either one of the last two mvps I think there's a handful of guys that can always be in that mix uh but they're all european or or foreign players now that are kind of dominating uh these big awards but I just think in beads ability not only on the offensive end but his ability to change shots and rebound and and block shots on the defensive end um he's incredible I wish I would have loved to see him play when it was a center league when I first came to league in the early 2000s the rule was it had to go inside out like we could never just come down the floor and shoot a three-point shot right that wasn't the game it had to go inside out I would have loved to see how he faced up night in night out against shacks and david robinson and tim duncans and you know elijah wands and those kind of guys because I feel like his skill set is up there yeah and I just would like to see night to night bump against those those kind of guys that would have been great yeah that would have been great he is kind of like that throwback when you think about that and I guess when by yama is going to come very soon and add his name from the foreigner mix coming in he's going to have to gain some weight but yeah I love that the sky I mean this guy shooting one leg at three-point shots and he's seven foot and following that video of him following up is three incredible I just love that it's really it's the growth of the game has been tremendous and I think that the purists hate that there's no defense but I think the game has grown because it's so offensive oriented now and that's fun to see you don't want to see Detroit lock someone up and did the final score 92 89 you want to see fireworks my my my 12 year old we for his birthday we we took him and a bunch of his friends to a game it was the clippers king's game the highest scoring game in history that went into double overtime and if you've never seen a 12 year old happy not like it wait till they go into double overtime for a game that's going to end like 178 174 I mean yeah and that was that was wild that was an unbelievable night so I guess last one for you is what would you do Matt Barnes to to fix the back-to-back sit downs and the load management and anything like that because again some some kids you know Cleveland Cavalier fans for instance uh Luca staff Kawhi all got load managed in their one trips you know so I'm just throwing it out there is there a fix to this the only thing I could think is shorten the season but then that would shorten money and that would shorten tv like just saying that sounds logical but there's a lot that goes into play but it's unfortunate you know it's a different game and people get mad at it um you can get mad at it I mean I remember playing in the league it was a product it was a badge of honor to play 82 plus the playoffs well then I guess that my question for you would be because right now it does seem like the players are begging out hey you got to manage my load but isn't it just somebody in August and you know September coming up with looking at the schedule saying these are the days that they're going to sit come heck or high water they're going to sit isn't that oh that I mean that I never thought of that that could that's what I'm saying heads up cities that we're coming to we're not going to that would be that's fair that's what I'm hearing that they're these decisions are not made like it's not like clay or kawaii is coming to saying you know what uh you know you know you need to manage my load most of the time yeah most of the time it's it's out of their hands with all the load technology that they're doing what I'm saying I think you you thank pop for this you know I mean he started doing this with san antonio he's the he's the father of load management yeah he started doing with san antonio when it was getting I mean he had his teen newest team was coming to an end of a run so he wanted to make sure that they were as fresh as they could be for the playoffs and but then on the flip side you look at it as much as we wanted to see kawaii this year kawaii has been the best player in the playoffs this year in my opinion that's right teach he's averaging like 35 a game he's making katie's life hell every single night like the payoff for the organization I understand now you know what I mean if you're going to be able to come out and give me that kind of effort every single night you're playing over 40 minutes a game every single night you're over 40 minutes a night I guess we just gotta wait to the playoffs to see our guys play I guess their answer because I have been complaining about that for much of the season the answer would be well you know even the load managing might have cost us being a top four seed yeah but guess who's got home court advantage now right now in in in that actual series for the rest that's right I was trying to tell you that in november rich but you didn't want to listen to me but you know I got matt barnes on the side I hear you it's tough because like you said you weren't listening because obviously you know the price of a ticket has gone up and you're in some of these smaller cities where to see steph play to see lebron play to see kd play luca play will make your year and they come and you find out the day of after you paid 700 for three people to go the game that your favorite player's not playing so I completely get that side and not to bring up kobe again but that was kobe's thing he's just like I never know this could be this kid's only chance to see me play I remember him clear as day saying that so it's just a different game unfortunately uh from a fan standpoint but then on the flip side you see the business side and these guys are making a ton of money and the most important thing in this the year is the playoffs so well I appreciate you coming in uh matt I was thrilled to hear that you were in town and coming in because I know you're all over the place it's been too long yeah I'm coming out whenever you need me I'm serious and I want to get a memory I want to get out there and putt with you guys one day if you're doing a golf segment let me know I'm I'm I got my golf okay together now okay we got it absolutely we're I'm willing to have you as much as you're willing to be had and then you know um again I don't know if it was steven jackson who said you should come on well you're hearing it from me now and I want to say I think we're shooting in la again in in may happy to do it so we'll connect numbers and uh maybe let's do it if you had white chocolate you might as well have a white marshmallow on they go hand in hand what's wrong with you I don't like to think so it's all one big fun dessert uh congrats on everything going on thank you matt barnes is here on the rich isin show again to atongo vailoa has spoken we will hit that play button for you on that soundbite it's fascinating that's next this is the rich isin show april is national financial literacy month what is financial literacy it's applying different skills effectively including managing your finances budgeting and saving it just so happens the cumulus podcast network has three great podcasts to help raise your financial IQ stacking benjamins with joe saul sehigh bankrate's 2023 best personal finance podcast what's one of life's biggest expenses that we can maybe talk about reducing housing is housing on the list buying a house is the number two expense of all these expenses what's a way that we can reduce our housing expense we're from seattle to florida wow it's fucking like somebody with a little knowledge of that situation afford anything with financial journalist paula pant you have many financial goals you want to buy or pay off your house you need to replace your car you want to pay for a wedding send your kids to college travel the world and one day retire but how and webby award-winning brown ambition with tiffany the budget nista eliche and personal finance expert mandy woodruff when i was crafting my resume in my career i wasn't thinking about the job i had i was always thinking like what's going to impress the person who has my next opportunity and make them want to have a conversation with me and yeah i think people are not thinking that far ahead that's why we'd be leaning into you career coach so as you look to improve your financial literacy follow stacking benjamins afford anything and brown ambition wherever you listen great conversation right there with matt barnes he's so good yeah he's so good and did did has he told that story before where the the ball fake messing with kobe is what got kobe interested in i had having him come over to the lakers as a free agent well i was telling matt after the interview back in last time he was here i think was 18 in the green room when i used to do the interviews back there and i chopped this up and posted he gave me the whole story about how he was like as he said kobe was on his kobe s that day and he goes i was just getting frustrated so i jammed the ball at him and he didn't flinch and he was just like i'd never seen anybody not flinch like that before and that that kind of brought them together good stuff if you missed it stay tuned we're re-airing right away here on the on the roku channel and then there's the uh youtube page um as well as our rich eyes and show collection page our video on demand service sorry what matt said about kobe and matt's kids you know matt was very active on social media and like his twin sons he'd always have videos kobe would literally send them send the teams boxes and these kids would just of course lose their mind and it was just so cool to see like him looking out for these kids and man just just such a shame he's gone no question the miami dolphins spoke to the media today um the general manager of the dolphins chris greer spoke um in prior to the draft and um had this to say about tua tungo vailoa being the quarterback of the miami dolphins because again you know we're talking about burrow needing a new deal we're talking about herbert getting a new deal well tua was in the same draft class hertz has already gotten his the question is though is is to his health and and whether the dolphins are concerned about how healthy he can be and whether they want to put a lot of financial eggs in that basket here's what chris greer had to say about tua yeah we had a lot of uh internal discussions um between you know mike marvin brandon marvin brandon um steve tom garfin goes well so um all options are on the table like i said then but you know for us um we decided that for us and uh we always hope tua will be here uh successful long term with us um and at the end of the day we made this decision and decided to move forward in the off season to get going so they made that decision we're going to go forward with tua and maybe the options on the table by the way steven is uh ross the owner and mike head coach who was the one as soon as he was hired called remember the facetime to us said let's go to work and then they went to work and we saw how toa looked when healthy this year just spectacular with tyreek hill and jaylen waddle and the rest of that offense that we're assumed just only going to get better so as long as he's healthy and i'll tell you what at the combine that's all i heard was what i told you the number one rumor i heard at the combine is that brady is not going to sign a contract with the bucks or the patriots as a one-day-er or whatever because he does want to keep his options open because that's what he does professionally he's a professional option keeper opener whatever and um and and even though he says he's retired and you know he's retired and you could see his his interests that he has that out there on his uh instagram feed you know he's got his new t-shirt right that is out and he's good he's he's tweeting he's he's talking about his businesses and he's hanging with his kids and he's now a cat person who knew maybe he's always been one i don't know but him and keith and then but the question he right the the question is is what i was always hearing is that the team to keep an eye on is miami he's he's right there and that's if tua can't answer the call and and perhaps part of the reason why i was hearing all this stuff keep an eye on miami isn't like the belief in tua being the guy clearly it's that maybe tool was thinking of stepping away which he confirmed today when he showed up to the podium himself yeah i think i i considered it um you know for for a time um having sat down with my family um having sat down with my wife and having those kind of kind of conversations but uh really it it would be hard for me to to walk away from from this game with with how old i am with i mean with my my son i i always dreamed of growing you know playing as long as i could to where my son knew exactly what you know he was watching his his dad do and um yeah i mean it it's it's my health it's my body you know and i i feel like this is what's best for me and and and my family so i mean i i love the game of football you know if i didn't i would have quit a long time god i love that guy and i'll just tell you you know he also talked about how he did in fact you you read about it you heard about it take jujitsu lesson lessons talking about it take jujitsu lesson lessons to learn how to fall better um and i know folks will probably make fun of that but that's serious business and i i totally get this he's probably walking around right now feeling fine feeling great and him sitting there going out of love of the game teammates and his dream always thinking you know what i'll play for a long time when i get to the NFL have a family and they'll watch me be dad the football player and you know obviously there's more to being a dad being around for your kids and being healthy that's most important as well but he also i totally get it he feels fine he doesn't want to give up on that dream he doesn't want to give up his love of football at his age so he's gonna try and i will just say boy am i hoping that the lessons on how better to fall or his decision-making process can help him avoid hits and he'll be more cognizant in the moment of taking the hits i hope it works out he is good people and man he's good when he's healthy and with this coach and this team we saw what that offense could do last year when he was healthy 30 plus points a game explosive high-powered and as you know i love the salty too show up salty but come out healthy and that'll be great that'll be great if um rogers joins this division as we all expect on and cracking let's go because against the green bay packers as you know that was to his last game of the year and his first half looked great and then he got hurt and then that second half not so much and that was the end of his year and um that if i'm not mistaken could turn out to be aaron rogers last win as a packer how about that so wishing you all the best to him yeah definitely that'll wrap up this edition of the rich eisen show fun with matt barnes fun with tyree wilson and bucky brooks joel klatt who will be with me on the set in kansas city a week from thursday will be on this next edition of the rich eisen show in studio this coming thursday we'll chat then wrestling fans feel the podcast heat join hall of fame wrestlers every week sharing their stories from the past click this with kevin nash i'm in the ring in my mind saying that's hulk hogan like hogan's with us and insights on what's happening now strictly business with eric bischoff we love breaking down the business of the wrestling business rick flair mike moly jake snake roberts good old jr and more get into the wrestlemania spirit just search podcast heat wherever you listen