Are you all feeling good out there? This is the Rich Eisen Show. What's next? I'm ready to fire everyone. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. As the Eastern Conference Championship belongs to the Heat.
103-84 the final. The Rich Eisen Show, today's guests. NBA on ESPN analyst Doris Burke, host of Peacock's Pro Football Talk. Mike Florio, Rolling Stones Chief Television Critic, Alan Sepimow. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Yes, it is. Hope everybody had a safe three-day weekend. We're back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Live on the Roku Channel, this Rich Eisen Show. Terrestrial Radio Affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more.
We're thrilled that you're here with us. 844-204 Rich is the number to dial. NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final.
One's plural, one's not. Is all set. Baseball season entering its third month.
Coming up, so much to discuss again. 844-204 Rich is the number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Doris Burke, who called Game 7 on ESPN Radio in Boston last night, will be first up. Mike Florio, who broke the news about Jimmy Garoppolo's broken foot.
Still not ready to roll after having foot surgery that delayed the game. The press conference to the point where they put in writing that Jimmy Garoppolo might not make a single cent or play it down for the Raiders if his foot's not ready this year. Mike Florio will join us at top of our number two.
It's overreaction Tuesday since we were one of the many shows off yesterday. Alan Sepinwall, the Chief Television Critic of Rolling Stone will be joining us on this program to talk about the finale of Succession that went down over the weekend. The finale tonight, he will be joining us in our number three. Spoiler alerts are already out there from all of us right here at the Rich Eisen Show and he joins us in about two and a half hours from now.
Chris Brockman, good to see you here on this Tuesday, sir. Hey, Rich. How are you, DJ Mikey? I'm good, Rich. Good to see you. How are you, TJ Jefferson? Is the candle lit? Did you light the candle?
I will get to that. Good morning, though. Good to see you.
You look like we're all here. My condolences and apologies to you, sir. Chris Brockman. What happened? You know what? I'll tell you.
I'm ready for game seven tonight, guys. No, no, no. It went down. You missed it. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, bud. I'm sorry. You missed it like it was a three-point shot.
My apologies. They needed me last night. They sure did. Let me tell you something.
Let's start with this, because again, we haven't spoken since Friday. Game six was an all-timer. That was an incredible basketball game.
It was so intense in that spot in South Florida. And the way it ended with Jimmy Butler getting three shots, three shots from the free throw line after it looked like he was fouled on a two-point shot. After further review, actually, you know what? He was fouled, and you know what? It was a three-point shot, so he gets three shots.
But guess what? We're going to put just a little bit less than a second back on the clock. And when that happens, you usually think, that doesn't mean very much until Derek White comes in off of an inbounds pass to Marcus Smart, who damn near made the three to win it on the spot, in and out. And the guy who inbounded it, Derek White, unfettered, hits the ball back up and in with no time left. And normally, that is so tough to come back from if you've lost the game. It is so tough, one would think, to come back from that if you've lost the game and the two previous games after you went up 3-0. And the whole world is thinking, the Celtics are going to win this thing because they were down 3-0. Now it's tied at three apiece, and they're going back to Boston at home. And sure enough, who was delivering the pregame video speech to hype up the crowd?
But Kevin Millar himself, because that's all Boston fans were talking about. Shades of 2004, Chris was all over that when it was three games to one. You said it was smelling like 2004.
The whiff was in the air. But the heat opened the window and let the crosswinds come in and not only did it blow 2004 out the door, it was the side of the barn that the Celtics couldn't hit. Now, Jason Tatum turning his ankle damn near off of the jump was huge. I mean, talk about all the bad luck. For him to come down on Gabe Vincent's foot, what was that, 40 seconds into the game?
Pretty much. I mean, right off the bat? And you could see it on his face. The look on Jason Tatum's face was, I can't believe this just happened.
Because he knows on the spot what this means, how it feels. And he was, as he said after the game, a shell of himself. A shell of himself. And what the Celtics needed was the 51-piece Game 7 Jason Tatum to show up. And unfortunately for the Celtics, he turns his ankle right off the jump. And unfortunately for the Celtics, nobody else except Derek White, with any significance, stepped into the fray. 0 for 10 from 3 in the first quarter.
That's a wrap. Well, it was just a 7-point lead for the Heat. And I was turning to Coop because we were listening to it on the way home from where we were on Monday, listening to Doris Burke, who's joining us in about 14 minutes time, my 12-year-old, who's the diehard Celtics fan that Suzy indoctrinated in our family, if I may use those words.
And I turn to him, I'm like, you're lucky to be down, Seth. So that's the good news here. The bad news is that's as close as the Celtics ever came. 7 points.
That's it. They were never closer than 7 the rest of the night. Jalen Brown, it's going to be a fascinating off-season here, as there's a supermax contract that was on the table, and Jalen Brown had 19 points on 23 shots. He made eight field goals as many as he had as turnovers. Eight field goals, eight turnovers.
I mean, that's the bugaboo from the Celtics. If they can't make threes and they can't hold on to the basketball, they lose. If they make threes and they don't turn it over, they win.
That's the formula for the Celtics the last couple years. Pretty simple. That's it. And I know you can say that's as simple as everybody else in the league. But it's more so.
More so them. Yeah. Did you hear what Shaq said after the game last night? No, I didn't watch him.
He said after the game last night. Now, did you see this? You're laughing already?
You saw this? I'm laughing at him and I'm laughing at what you were about to say. Because he said, you know, when he played, if the team went 0 for 10 from the 3-point line after the first quarter, he's calling him into the huddle and saying, anybody who takes a 3-point shot from here on out gets punched in the face. I'm punching you in the face. I'm punching you in the face. Let's make easier shots.
Let's get into a rhythm. Yeah, that's not what our team does. Because that ain't there tonight. That's not what this team does.
I can't believe it. I looked this up after the game last night and I looked it up again today to make sure I saw this correct. They shot 9 of 42. And I thought, you know, is that for the last couple games? The last three games of the series? That was just yesterday.
Last night. 9 of 42 from 3. They hoisted 42 3-point shots last night. And it's just like... You're only surprised because you didn't watch 70 of their games this year. 42 shots from 3-point line in game 7. And then I know we're falling into the trap that Nuggets fans got upset about, which is we're talking about the team that lost. Because the team that lost is one of the more famous franchises world round, with all due respect to the Heat. And they had the second best record in the NBA this year.
Exactly. And a guy who came into the season as a preseason favorite to win the MVP award, and Jason Tatum. And obviously everything that happened with the coaching staff and Joe Missoula is going to have an offseason now, like he didn't have last year. Oh, and he'll be back.
He'll be a coach. Oh, I think so. I think he's earned his stripes.
I think so. And the players after the game last night were singing his praises. And I know we're falling into the trap, but let's talk about the Miami Heat here. An eight seed that bounced the one seed. An eight seed that bounced the one seed and then bounced the Knicks team that had home court advantage and played a bruising style of basketball still with a kid in Jalen Brunson who was having a special season, bounced them, and then bounced the two seed Celtics. This, by the way, after losing the first play-in game and being down by three in the second play-in game to the Bulls with less than four minutes to go. And a roster full of undrafted players and Hymie Butler and Kyle Lowry. Bam Adebayo and a very special head coach and Eric Spolstra, who's taking this team to an NBA finals again. For the sixth time. Caleb Martin from NC State via Nevada and then drafted into the NBA, making his moment cash.
11 of 16, 26 points, as you said, Chris, prior to the show. Tatum getting hurt, missing all those threes, turning the ball over. That's one thing. Caleb Martin playing like Dwyane Wade. That's another.
What the hell? 26 points. He had 22 threes in the series, which is four more than Tatum and Brown combined. They had 18. And of course, Butler in the center of it all, but Gabe Vinson and this kid, Duncan Robinson, when he makes shots, Max Struce.
Good Lord. That team went from the eighth seed now to the NBA finals again. Gotta give it up. And they play defense and they are resilient. I mean, to lose two in a row by double digits to come back home, play good enough defense to watch the Celtics go, by the way, seven of 35 from three in game six and lose the game in the manner in which they lost it.
Because that thing looked wrapped, by the way, with two minutes to go. I was watching that game six with noted NBA expert Evelyn Eisen, my mom. 85 years old. Has she been to a game?
Del Tuvo's been to one game. She's now an expert. She's now. Well, she looks at me with 80, you know, with 80 something seconds left. Seriously.
No, no, no, no. Are you going to give us your mom's weight? 80 something seconds left. She looks at me when it's a nine point deficit or 10 point deficit. She's like, they can't make all these points back, can they? And I'm like, yeah, they can. Oh, yeah. And they did.
Of course. And they did. And so to get all those points back and then take the lead only to lose it like that. And then go to Boston and do that to the Celtics in front of Sully and Fitz and sad Bill Simmons and all of them. Holy cow.
That is cold blooded, cold blooded material. Yeah, not surprising whatsoever. And it's all about what people say, the heat culture, which is Riley to Spolstra to that roster and Hemi Butler, who had this to say about his teammates. I just think, you know, the guys that Coach Spoe and Coach Pat put together, when a guy goes down, the next guy could fill in that gap and do exactly what that guy that went down did and do it at a high level. And then, you know, be humble enough to know that when that guy comes back, you got to take a step back and get back in your role.
And nobody ever complains. They always do exactly what you ask of them to do, which is why you want to play with guys like that, which is why they're the reason that we win so many games. I don't call them role players.
I call them teammates because your role can change any given day, especially with how many games I've missed and, you know, in and out of lineup, off nights, whatever you call it. But we got some Hoovers. We got some real deal basketball players that can score, can defend, can pass and can win games for us. You know, it's not lost on me the irony, one would say, that the team that just bounced to Celtics is a team that has the Patriot way mentality of just do your job and everybody just does their job. And some nights you're going to need to do this and some nights you need to do that. And quarter to quarter, we're going to change what we need to do because that's what the situation calls for. And we're situationally smart. We're not going to make these mistakes. We're going to let you make the mistakes. We're going to be on it.
That's what this looks like to me. And gives them a heck of a chance against a Nuggets team that is a low dead, low dead. And if the Heat thinks Robert Williams was a conundrum, well guess what they got, right? That's for another day, Thursday night, Jokic is coming or they're going to see him. So congratulations to the Heat.
Celtics another great run, but back to the drawing board and the question is, what about Jalen Brown and what else do they do? But I think they have their coach. I think they've got their coach. Which is funny, a week ago they didn't have their coach.
I know. But the whole talk was, you know, hey, he's getting out coached by Spolstra and whatever. And I saw his press conferences and things that he was saying about pressure and what pressure it is. And I just, you know, how is he handling the pressure? And he's like, well, I just came, sat with three girls under 21 who have cancer. He's pretty stoic. And you know, and his pregame speech last night is, I want to see you smile. I want you to have fun. You know, I kind of dig the guy.
I like what he's selling and I think it was bought. But they just need to load up the bench around him. But if you're going to live by the three, you better not die by it and hold on to the basketball.
It's just sometimes you just wonder, how does that happen? It's two years in a row. 844-204 Rich, number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show, Doris Burke, who was in the chair courtside for ESPN radio last night will be joining us. She voted for Jimmy Butler over Caleb Martin for Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Interestingly enough, nine voters. Martin got four votes. And Jimmy Butler got five. Unfortunately, it's possible Doris Burke was the Shiv Roy of this vote.
Nice. Could have been 4-4 and she, you know. So the succession finale, Alan Sepinwall will join us in hour number three for that. We promise no spoilers until that conversation.
So you can be safe until Sepinwall comes if you have not seen the succession finale just yet. Also on this program, Mike Florio in the middle of the show. We also have our NBA Finals predictions and overreaction Tuesday, 844-204 Rich, number to dial the great Doris Burke when we return. Hiring for your business can feel harder than hitting a half court shot with a seven footer in your face. But thanks to Indeed, hiring top talent just got top tier easy. Indeed is the hiring platform where you can attract, interview and hire all in one place. Don't spend hours on multiple job sites looking for candidates with the right skills when you can do it all with Indeed. Find top talent fast with Indeed's suite of powerful hiring tools like matching, assessments and virtual interviews.
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Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Love her work no matter if she's in the radio booth or the television booth. For the worldwide leader in sports, one of the best talking about hoops is Doris Burke and she's back here on the Rich Eisen Show fresh off of calling game seven with Dave Pash on ESPN Radio on Monday night. How are you doing Doris?
Doing superb. Rich, a little bit surprised at the outcome yesterday. It feels like the Celtics climbed way out of a hole only to really just not be able to make shots yesterday and I wonder how much Rich, you know, the Tatum injury early, obviously first play, sort of weighed on the team. I thought, and I don't know what you guys thought, but one of the things I thought immediately was Jalen Brown started to press a little bit. I think he knew his teammate wasn't right. I think he knew he sort of couldn't push off, make his normal moves, and in pressing a little bit he had just a horrible night, turnovers kind of reared their heads. It's been a weakness of his.
You know, I can't get in their heads, but did you have any inkling that that sort of maybe had any impact on the group? Well, the first inkling I had was when you were pointing out, because again I was listening to you on Monday night, when Tatum came out with four minutes to go in the first quarter and you're like, okay, well like, what's up with that? Like this is game seven. Now that means he's, there's something significant here.
Like he's not just going to walk it off or if you will rub dirt on it, you know, this is significant and, and you know, you and Dave Pash caught wind of that right away and I thought this is, this has all the makings. Tatum hurt, bad three point shooting and, and, and turnover problems. That's the, that's the bugaboo for the Boston Celtics.
And that's exactly right. And he has played throughout the course of the last couple series, the first 12 minutes. It's very rare that they lift him earlier and Dave to his credit was all over it. You know, he kept hitting us throughout the course of the broadcast and you know, it's the Miami Heat fascinate me and I had asked Eric's bolster prior to the game, I said, we as an announced team, we're not playing, but we're, you know, following you guys around on planes, trains and automobiles and this feels long and can you give me a sense of what you're thinking? And he told us Rich that before the game yesterday, there was a downtime and the coaching staff is all together, just sort of relaxing. Now they've dropped three straight, right? You've had heartbreak after heartbreak and you've just lost game six in that fashion and he said, I guess he posed the question to his staff.
If you weren't in sports, what would you be doing? And not one of the staff could come up with a place they'd rather be despite what they had experienced and watching Eric after game six you know, seething at that press conference like we want to tip it up right now. And I thought he was magnificent yesterday as coach, I really did.
There's a reason that guy was named top 15 in the 75 now 76 year history of the league. His switching defenses alternating between that 3-2 zone that gave Boston fits and the man-to-man and just really, listen, they gave up threes, they gave up some open threes. I know Boston was two for 11 on open threes and as you guys were noting when you were just in break and just doing your TV show, those shots don't fall, they feel totally different and it's been a problem all year. I do wonder, and I do think Joe Mazula is a hell of a young coach and he took a lot of criticism, at times appropriate, but I think he's a hell of a coach. I wonder does he now maybe take a hard look at we need to be more diverse offensively. Malcolm Brodvin in January had an interview where they were in a rough stretch and he said, we can't be exclusively three-point based, sometimes we require more diversity to our offense.
So I'll be curious about that next year. Doris Burke here on the Rich Eisen Show, let's linger on Spolstra a little bit because you just mentioned some of his tactical in-game decisions as well as his preparatory conversations after three losses that got the team on the brink and everybody thinking this is just a formality, the Celtics were going to pull off the first ever, you know, 0-3 hole digout in the history of the NBA. But the thing that fascinates me, Doris, is all of these undrafted players playing not only well individually, but cohesively as a unit, how does he pull that off? Because this doesn't just happen magically, no matter how, you know, of an eye Pat Riley may have and the rest of the evaluators for the Heat, how does Spolstra do this? Well, I think they have an exceptional scouting staff, that's number one. And then I think their player development staff is excellent. And one of the things, and see, this reminds me a little bit of Denver in that winning, I don't care what level you're talking about or what sport, it's not just an accumulation of talent. That's important. You're not winning without stars, I get it. But there's also something to roster construction and identifying guys who fit in your culture and have the kind of character you're looking for, and the first thing they want, Rich, they want, and excuse the way I'm going to phrase this, they want some badass competitors.
They want guys who are comfortable being uncomfortable, who don't mind taking the fight to their opponent. The development of Duncan Robinson, he made a play, I can't remember what game it was, but the feel he has with Bam Adebayo and their little two-man game, and you could hear it in my call when I was like, Duncan Robinson, the playmaker, he comes off the screen, gets into the teeth of the paint, and throws a lob pass to Bam Adebayo, I was stunned. And Eric was almost annoyed with me the next day when I was sort of expressing shock. He was like to us, he goes, he's done that a thousand times in practice. Like this is part of who the kid is.
That's my failure to recognize that growth and development. Gabe Vinson, one thing you know about Gabe Vinson, that guy's a fearless shot taker. If that ball finds him on rotation because they're loading up to Jimmy and Bam and making those two guys play in the crowd, I don't care the situation. I promise you, Gabe Vinson's going to be a confident shooter and let that thing fly. I think people tire of the Miami Heat culture word.
I do believe it is a real thing. Doris Burke here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's turn the page to the NBA Finals. How do you see this matchup, Doris? Yeah, I haven't dug into the numbers. I had an interesting conversation with my colleague Tim Bontemps last night, we were just talking, thinking either way, how's it going, and he said, you know, he said, if you look at the numbers, Bam versus Jokic, I said, I haven't yet, but I assume Bam's done well. He's, you know, quick twitch, he's got lateral speed, he can get up and underneath Jokic, he goes, that's what I thought, he goes, but the numbers don't bear that out. Now listen, you know, Jokic is brilliant.
People have underestimated this guy his entire career. The thing I admire most about him, Rich, is the incredible steps he's taken from a physical conditioning standpoint. He doesn't tire. That series against the Lakers, he did not tire.
He was up and down the floor. I had a four-overtime game with him once against the Portland Trail Blazers. They lost that series, but I knew at that moment this guy had taken a step. And give that organization a ton of credit about the roster construction. Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Bruce Brown elevated what was a major weakness. Now are they a great defensive team?
No, by no stretch of the imagination. They give up far too many points on the interior, but they have raised their level when it's required particularly in winning time in fourth quarters. Those guys are exceptional cutters, and that two-man game between Jamal and Jokic is really difficult to handle. He's a savant and just such a likable man, Nikola Jokic. I mean, I love this guy personally because he's irreverent. He's not at all involved in the NBA lifestyle and being the star. Just such a likable superstar. And he's unstoppable.
So that's my question. Are we going to see a lot of Cody Zeller that we didn't see? There was a lot of DNP CDs for Kevin Love in the Eastern Conference Finals. Will that be a different rotation for Spolstra, do you think?
This is a great question, because Zeller's minutes obviously in the last couple of games against Boston went way down, and Jokic is an entirely different animal. Do they go small? Do they try to crowd him?
What kind of effect does this zone have on him? And you can't deploy it consistently. It's just impossible. Great players, if you give them a steady diet or anything, they're going to figure it out. I think Denver wins the series, and I think they win the series based on the strength of their offense, to be perfectly honest with you.
Because I am not sure. Think about Miami and the points scored. Now, I can't remember the score last night, but the three games leading up, it was 97-99 and 103 points. And I don't think last night they got to 110. Forgive me. It was just last night. But I can't remember.
Yeah, it was 103. Yeah, that's not enough to win, Rich. I just don't think it is. And they have a very diverse offense, and Jokic figures out every coverage. So I think it's a monumental challenge. I am curious to see Eric Falstra operate against Nikola Jokic. I'm just not sure they have the personnel to contend with this guy. And I love how you said that Jokic dissects the defense that's in front of him. He really is a point.
Is he a point center? I mean, what the hell is this guy? He's an animal. He's an animal. Seriously. He was seeing the line where Michael Malone was sort of talking to him one day, and he's like, how the hell do you have this kind of vision, this touch, this imagination on passes?
How are you two and three steps ahead? And Nikola, in true Nikola fashion, says, well, Coach, I was a very fat point guard as a kid. Yeah, I mean, that's why I'm wondering, can the Heat just run people at Jokic with six fouls to give and just pound him, or that's not the way the Nuggets play. They don't post him up, right? And he's bringing the ball up.
He's a unicorn. Teams try to get really physical with him. I think what they do, and what they're trying to do most is try, because Denver is a rhythm offensive team, right? So you have the two-man action with Jamal and Jokic, and it's weird, right, because Jamal will actually screen sometimes.
So you say one, five, pick and roll, but it's the one setting the screen. So it's just, their two-man game is unusual, and then you've got opportunistic cutters getting behind the defense, and there's movement and there's action. And the way teams try to deal with Denver is they try to be really physical, right, disrupt that rhythm.
The problem is, on the catch, you're not going to move Jokic. This guy is so physically strong, and I go back to the conditioning. You look at him, and he doesn't have the frame of a bam out of bio. You look at their frames and go, well, this guy is just going to tear up this guy.
That's not the case. His mind works so fast, and there's a strength and an endurance to Jokic. He's not going to tire.
He will not tire. So I don't know that they have an answer. I think they could play small. They could try to get underneath him. I know the numbers aren't good, but has Bam figured anything out on the defensive end? Eric likes to say how voracious Bam is in terms of his work habits and film consumption and desire for greatness, and you've seen that guy make extraordinary strides. But what Spoh does is there's something, and here's the fascinating part about the NBA now. I go back to 2019 and the Toronto Raptors championship, and Nick Nurse was throwing triangle and twos and boxing ones, and you didn't see that a ton in the NBA. Well, these players have gotten so good now that coaches are employing jump defenses. They're going to that funky 3-2 zone where they actually put their best defenders at the top of the zone and try to hide their worst defenders at the bottom and pressure you outside. So does Eric come up with something creative defensively? I have no idea. I can't wait to watch. But it is fascinating that you just now have to have more in your toolbox defensively because that's how good these guys are. Yeah.
Maybe Spolstra is so good he can come up with a defense for the one-legged, off-legged, fall-away three-point jump shot by a seven-footer. I don't know. The sombre shuffle. They call that the sombre shuffle. What does it call it? The sombre shuffle.
I believe that's the area from the country, from where he's from. They call it the sombre shuffle. I've had more players say to me, it is so maddening to play great defense and then to be put in the position where that one-legged jump shot is at the buzzer of the shot clock and you just put your head down and start shaking it going to the other direction. It almost took one of the Lakers banners down, too. That's how high it was.
Or Taylor Swift's banner there in crypto. I mean, I've got Torres Burke here on The Rich Eisen Show. A couple other questions for you. I saw you had a vote for Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Why did you choose Jimmy Butler over Caleb Martin? What was your thought process there? I'm going to be honest with you, and this is in the interest of total honesty, my first text was Caleb Martin.
I obviously include my partner, Dave, because I think he's got a great eye, and we go back and forth. He goes, I think that's right. He goes, wait, I think Jimmy Butler. We're going back and forth. It was hard.
I could make the case either way. Caleb Martin is a guy who last year, if you remember, in the Eastern Conference Finals, they refused to guard him. He averaged, and I don't remember off the top of my head, was it seven or eight points? It might have been eight points, seven points, and his efficiency nowhere near what it was. He basically had an unbelievable quote where he said, listen, I deserve that. I wasn't good enough. But he goes, shame on me if I come back next year and I'm in the exact same position. He talked about not having any fear about making shots.
That kid pays a price. One of those undrafted guys who has a competitive will that is unbelievable, that's as hard a vote as I've had. I'm being honest with you. I texted Caleb Martin, then there was a couple of plays late where I'm like, okay, Jimmy makes a baseline drive, and Boston's so adamant about taking him away that they're sending multiple and they lose Caleb and Jimmy finds him. The way Jimmy damn near won game six, won game one, game three has a tremendous game, but because everybody else is shooting lights out, his willingness to empower his guys to make sure they listen to Jimmy Butler in leadership ways, it's us, it's we, it's the confidence.
I've seen NBA players sort of like, I don't want to say tear down, but shake up their teammates in the wrong way because maybe there's some jealousy or whatever. It was hard and it was neck and neck and I just thought, Jimmy is the guy who they take their cues from and he had another great game and what he did down the stretch and damn near winning game six, but I'm not lying. You saw the vote, it was split and I did send Caleb first and then I reversed course and went Jimmy. It was hard, very hard. Doris Burke here on the Rich Eisen Show. Last one for you, Doris.
This is live TV, radio, first blush reaction during our conversation. Another colleague at the worldwide leader, our colleague in media, Adrian Wojnarowski saying Bob Meyers is in fact stepping down as the president and GM of the Warriors. He told it to Woj quoting him, quote unquote, it's just time.
Your reaction to that is? My reaction to that is what does Steve Kerr do now? Because believe me, his departure is going to weigh into Steve Kerr's decision. I'm not telling you he's leaving, but that partnership is real. That trust built is real.
And I said it during the playoffs when I had Golden State. If Bob Meyers does depart, does that have any impact on Steve Kerr and his thinking moving forward? I don't know the answer to that. I'm not telling you I have any information.
I do not. I just know having covered Steve and Bob for as long as I have that that relationship and partnership is real and this, you know, this is hard, right? Like success is not individual. It's never individual. And I know that Steve believes in Bob Meyers and his ability to put the right pieces in place for a championship.
So that's a very, very big deal. So writ large though, Doris, let's just say there is somebody in the organization that Steve trusts just as much and is comfortable sticking around. Is this the end? Have we finally reached the end of the cycle for the Warriors or you think it can be just supplemented with a new set of eyes and run back with these three greats that will wind up in Springfield one day? Yeah, I'm not there yet.
I'm not there yet because I know Steph and I don't, you know, we didn't see any slowing down from Steph Curry. They do need, you know, listen, here's what I think happened to the season. Draymond Green's punch, they never recovered. I know they never recovered from that, but that's a big deal. You spent your entire six or seven months after that punch trying to get what had been one of your greatest strengths as an organization, that all for one or strength in numbers, whatever that slogan was, they never recovered. Jordan Poole was never the same. The young guys were unhappy with the changing nature of their roles.
Now they never met expectations throughout the course of the year and gained the trust of Steve, but the Warriors' season was dictated by Draymond Green and that punch thrown, and they just never got back to where they were. Doris, thanks for the time. Look for my call during the finals. Are you heading to Denver and Miami or are you just studioing or just commenting?
What's your scope here? I'm heading to Denver to join Mark Kestisher and PJ Carlessimo, which means PJ is going to have me put on about 10 pounds. Brunello? Brunello with each pasta? Is that what it is? Is that what we got?
A parent? It's an absolute mandate that you drink a bottle of wine and that you eat pasta at whatever time the game happens to end. So I will have a ton of fun. I'm privileged to be there, but yeah, it's not going to be pretty at 57 years old. I can't be doing that. Well, it's a marathon, right?
Not a sprint, and even when you think it's a sprint, it turns out to be a marathon, as we just saw with the Celtics and the Heat. Have a great series. Look for more of my calls and always appreciate you taking mine. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Rich. Take care. You got it.
The great Doris Burke right here on The Rich Isaac Show. Love it. That's so funny. Steve Kerr, watch. I don't know. I mean, you step away from coaching Steph Curry. Really? Is that what you do?
I don't know. I'm telling you, man, there's an iceberg in every sports franchise, and we see just the tip. That's it. And underneath, there is a huge iceberg, and either you navigate around it or you run right into it, like Jordan Poole ran right into the fist, or the fist of Draymond Green ran right into the jaw of Jordan Poole, and that, as we saw it, was never put to bed. I think we're seeing it in all the deep dives. Even Steve Kerr admitted it after the final loss of the season for the Warriors, and you just heard what Doris Burke had to say, and she is going from town to NBA town and hearing from everybody. That is no doubt. The question is, is how do they put that all back together?
The sport will go on. Or do you? Nice. Or, you know, honestly, everybody's got an iceberg. Perfect example. Raiders. That iceberg underneath, I mean, coach says, get out, Derek Carr. In comes Jimmy Garoppolo with a bad foot.
We'll talk about that. Mike Florio, top of hour number two, overreaction Tuesday, and so much more right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, 844-204 Rich, number to dial. Bob Myers, the general manager and president of the Golden State Warriors, telling Adrian Wojnarowski he's stepping down.
He is having a press conference at 1 p.m. San Francisco time today. Six of conversations for Bob, who at age 48 is stepping away from easily one of the best gigs in professional sports, which is to be the president and general manager of a highly successful franchise that has Steph Curry at the top of his game leading it and an owner in Joe Lacob, who's made of money and doesn't seem to be shy about spending it, and apparently had a contract offer on the table for Bob that would have made him the highest paid, if not one of the highest paid executives in the entire sport, and he's stepping away. And I'm just imagining after 12 years, he's just, it's a grind.
It's gotta be a grind. If you're stepping away from a Golden State Warriors front office job of president of this franchise and general manager of this franchise, it's gotta be a grind. And the question that I'm sure Bob is gonna get about the punch, when that punch happened and we saw Draymond Green haul off and hit Jordan Poole, we thought there's no way to put this thing back together.
And we're not talking about his jaw, we're talking about the team and it's chemistry. And sure enough, you know, they keep it in house, they don't talk about it out loud other than the fact that it's terrible and he shouldn't have done it. Draymond afterwards says that he couldn't have the same voice in the room and understood why he couldn't have the same voice in the room all year long, and maybe that's why they couldn't play a lick of defense on the road all season long. Steph Curry didn't say much about it, I haven't heard him say much. Steve Kerr responded how it really never got fixed. Morris Burke saying it never really got fixed as she just said. And I'm wondering if Bob Meyers is stepping down just saying, you know what, that took so much damn air out of the room.
That was part of the grind here, I don't know. There's so many decisions that go into this, personal, I don't know what that might have to do with it. But the question is, do you keep Draymond Green? The next voice, does the next voice keep Draymond Green? Who's the next voice going to be? And sure enough, Adrian Wojnarowski saying, with Meyers's departure, Warriors owner Joe Lakob is expected to seek more prominent roles for Vice President of Basketball Operations Mike Dunleavy Jr. Oh, interesting.
Remember him playing the Dookie, right? And then again, I hate to say this, because I don't know the dynamic at all. But you read these words, and you're like, uh-oh, his son Kirk, and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. I hope the kid knows what, you know, is really good at his gig, and he just doesn't have, I hate to say that stuff, because I would never want anybody to say that stuff about my son or daughter if they ever get in the position that seems like I got them the job.
Kendall Roy situation? I don't know. More succession. More succession. Well, I'm just going to get off that, because again, hopefully, Kirk Lakob is somebody who knows exactly how this works. Could be a savant, and it could work out. I think it's really fair to wonder about Steve Kerr's future. And then what?
I mean, that's what- Is it total breakup time? Are we firing up the Steph Curry to the Lakers rumors? No way. Steph Curry's going nowhere. One place that Steph Curry is not going is anywhere but back into the starting lineup for the Golden State Warriors. What if LeBron calls? He calls. Okay, great.
Come on. I mean, of course, Steph could wake up and say, I want to go, and then create the situation that seems totally out of his character. And I'm not saying that that would call his character into question. I mean, players constantly say they want out, but that doesn't seem like the road that Steph Curry goes. I told you the issue with this team is whether Klay can make three-point shots with regularity, be the splash brother that put him into the Hall of Fame conversation.
That's what that's about. I mean, Draymond can still rile things up and be the guy who can disseminate, be the point forward sometimes, and bring the ball up and make the three when you least expect it and stomp on people's guts, figuratively and literally. But what he did in the locker room, how can you repair that? Do you send Jordan Poole out and keep him?
Because I think you're going to have to do one of the two. That's for the new general manager to figure out. But that's the way I'm reading this situation is they suddenly stopped playing defense on the road in the regular season. I mean, they couldn't win. They couldn't stop a cold sometimes in the regular season on the defensive end. And Draymond Green said on his podcast after the season, hey, I just couldn't have the same voice in the room about these sorts of things. And he said it's because of that. But the ultimate issue on the court, from what I saw, you know, Klay just wasn't consistent shooting threes in the same manner in which he was.
And if you're living by that, you are dying by that. And then, of course, the next generation of stars that you would hope that they were cultivating, Gary Payton, the second, was the only one that was a significant, consistent, huge, big time level play from the last year to this year. And as you know, they sent him packing and got him back. Jordan Poole wasn't the same this year and it might have been the punch. So that's the next order of business is who is going to come off the bench? Who are you going to cultivate behind this big three?
And do you keep the big three? And then there's Doris Burke saying Steve Kerr might sit around and think, am I leaving? Mike Florio coming up. Conspiracy theories, paranormal UFOs, science teacher Andrew Greenwood stated that a child ran into his classroom and was hysterically screaming and talking about the flying saucer outside. Hundreds of children ran out of their classrooms to go outside and see this unidentified flying object that was just above the school. Just imagine a bunch of kids running out of school. Most of them just ran home. Police of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-30 16:24:51 / 2023-05-30 16:44:16 / 19