REShow: P.J. Carlesimo - Hour 1

Now, your ideas don't have to wait.

Now, they have everything they need to come to life. Dell Technologies and Intel are creating technology that loves ideas, loves expanding your business, evolving your passions. We push what technology can do, so great ideas can happen right now.

Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. Something similar hasn't happened on the first Monday night in front of the whole country. ESPN is probably going to have a camera isolated on the whole game. Today's guest, ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks, host of Peacock's Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, indeed. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live in Los Angeles, California. Live on the Roku Channel and this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate and Sirius XM and Odyssey and our podcast listeners. We say hello to you whenever you want to listen to this show and catch up with us all three hours, the Cumulus Podcast Network. You can also catch this show when we're off the air, re-airing all the time on Channel 210, the Roku Channel. We're available to see all our clips on our YouTube page, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show, the Rich Eisen Show collection page.

A fancy way of saying there's a video on demand service with our Roku Channel relationship. It's NBA draft day. Happy NBA draft day to you, Christopher Brockman. Hey Rich, happy NBA draft day to you. I'm very happy today.

I'm sure you are. Jason Feller is sitting in for Mike Del Tufo who's doing that thing. Yeah, that one thing.

Well, the pre-soccer. Good to see you, Felly. Always good to see you. TJ Jefferson, like the candle, sir. It's NBA draft day.

Candle's lit. My team has made no progress in getting better from last season and I don't know what to think. Well, which team is that? Well, you know, the Clippers in this sense. Well, we left the facility yesterday thinking you were getting Malcolm Brogdon. And instead, you're not.

So we're not. And Brockman's still getting Kristaps Porzingis. How did they do this, Rich? How do you get Porzingis and two first round draft picks? I don't understand. Because the Wizards are having a for sale sign.

Everything must go. Is there another Wimbenjana coming out next year? I think they should have done this last season. Honestly, like this is this is fascinating to me that Beal and Porzingis go within a week of each other. But Porzingis is done though, right? They're still putting touches on on Bradley Beal. And the Wizards and the Celtics needed a third team in. And it was the Clippers when we left yesterday and then take the Clippers out and Malcolm Brogdon still on the team from Boston and put the Grizzlies in. And instead of Brogdon being shipped out, it's Marcus Smart, who is one of the most prominent Celtics, one would say, of the last decade. Maybe the heart and soul of this team, a defensive player of the year, as we know. But Porzingis is coming to town because the Wizards want all of the big contracts off their ledger. And Bobby Marks, the longtime front office executive who's part of ESPN's draft coverage tonight, he'll be joining us in hour number two. We'll ask him, what's up with this? Because why would the I guess the Wizards thought, let's try it one more time with Wimbenjama out there?

Or do you get rid of all these guys a year in advance and give yourself a little bit better shot to get Wimbenjama? And of course, the pushback from that might be, well, we got three of the four numbers, right? Remember that? It came down to the Spurs of the Wizards.

That's right. Because the first three numbers of ping pong balls of the four number combination came out. Spurs, Wizards, and then the last 11 ping pong balls, the Wizards actually had more of a shot at Wimbenjama and the ping pong ball came out Spurs. And the Wizards don't get Wimbenjama tonight and they don't have Porzingis anymore and they don't have Biel anymore.

And what they're doing is raising it down to the ground and the DC fans will be like, tell me a story I haven't heard about their basketball team in town. And the Celtics adding Porzingis to Brogdon and Time Lord, I imagine will still have a role on this team and you know, Biel, I mean, and Brown and Tatum. But I do want to give you the floor on Marcus Smart. I know you love this guy. I love Marcus Smart. Rich, you love Damon Woodward like a son and I love Marcus Smart like a younger brother. Nine seasons with Boston, nine trips to the playoffs and the list of Celtics who have done that, it's names you know. It's Russell, it's Kuzi, it's the all-time greats. This guy came in and was kind of the start of the rebirth of Boston in the last few seasons.

Defensive Player of the Year. He loved being a Boston Celtic and the fans loved him. Everything he did in the community. His mom passed away from cancer so he was big in the New England Children's Cancer Research and visits to the hospitals.

This guy left everything out on the floor. Was he frustrating at times? Yeah, absolutely. He was the ultimate no, no, no, yes guy. He played through injury, he was tough, but he did a lot of things that were super frustrating. If he was not on your team, you probably hated him, but you loved him when he was on your team. He really deserved to be part of Banner 18, the team that brought another championship to Boston. He deserved it. He played that hard and that well.

I wanted him to be a Celtic for life and get his number retired. Sometimes change is important and it felt like the last couple of seasons coming up short in the NBA Finals and this year against Miami that the team had kind of reached its ceiling with Smart as a key cog and it was kind of time to make a change and get some new blood in there around Tatum and Brown. I'm excited about Porzingis. This is a guy who had a great year last year. Career high in scoring. Only three players in the NBA TJ averaged over 20 points and a block and a half per game. Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Kristaps Porzingis. This is a guy who can defend the rim, rebound and stretch it out and shoot threes. At him with Al Horford and Robert Williams, Grant Williams if he stays and Malcolm Brogdon.

This is a really good team. Celtics are now the betting favorite to win the NBA title because of this. The NBA title.

I think the East. Certainly the news that Chris Middleton is going to opt out. He might stay. You never know.

Never know. I think they're the best team in the East. You could make that case with all due respect to the Heat and we'll see if they add Lillard then we'll obviously change conversation on that. Maybe.

Doesn't seem like that. But with Tatum Brown and Porzingis that's a heck of a Troika certainly with the Suns using another Washington Wizard to create their own Troika in Phoenix. And I feel for the Wizard fans. I mean we don't even get Marcus Smart who I have to say because you brought out about who Smart is. He's been on this show before. We loved him. He was talking about his mom passing away due to cancer and talking about how everyone needs to get screened for cancer. And he also as you talked about what he did in the community. I'm wondering if his first phone call is to Marantz saying hey let's meet.

Let's talk. And I think that he is a terrific player for them to add. Agree. I think that is a great guy to pair in the backcourt with Marantz and have him do his thing. Do his Marcus Smart thing.

I thought that was a terrific. I mean whatever happened with the Clippers where they're like we're out. Unless they wanted to still be in and the Grizzlies stepped up and added whatever the Wizards wanted to add to the equation. I don't know how the Clippers fell out and the Grizzlies came in but it is to the Grizzlies benefit to get Marcus Smart. I thought that was a great move and I feel for the Wizard fans out there. We give up Porzingis and Beal and we get Landry Shammet and watch the best piece coming out of Boston for this trade go to somebody else. Chris Paul's gone. For sure. I mean pick swaps or whatever.

That ain't going to put fannies in the seats. Just from a Memphis perspective real quick. What did that team need this year? Needed some maturity.

Needed some adults on the floor. And that's what Marcus Smart is. And if he can be a mentor for John Marantz. He's got to be.

Whatever he's going through. That is perfect. A perfect situation. Memphis fans are going to love Marcus Smart. Remember when Tony Allen left Boston and went to Memphis and was a defensive stalwart, hustle guy, heart guy.

You're getting that times ten with Marcus. Fans are going to love him and sad to see him go. It's kind of a bummer of a day but I do think Boston won the trade and I do think they got better today.

And so I'm excited for the new era. No doubt. And I think with the Clippers it was a medical issue that kind of raised some red flags with them. So that's why they kind of... Well and Brogdon I think would have precluded Chris Paul. Who I think is their best move. Getting Chris Paul back. You know how much you love him.

But Rich it's like okay yeah I love him for you know the three and a half months that he's available. So then Trey Mann will play. I mean Terrence Mann will play. Who I think is amazing. He should have played last year. I think he's great. Unless he's got to go for Chris.

I don't know. Let me tell you Clippers fans will revolt. Clippers fans love Terrence Mann.

As well you should. So Bobby Marks is going to join us. PJ Carlessimo is going to join us in about 10 minutes time. He's also part of the worldwide leader coverage of the draft.

Also from Westwood One, Radium, our partners. And one of the reasons why I want to talk to him is I don't think enough time is being spent on who's coaching Victor Wambunyama. I mean I did tweet out that you know Greg Popovich was popping open his finest French red on the night of the lottery. And you know and everyone is talking about how perfect match and it clearly is.

But I just think it's so rare what we're going to see become official tonight. Someone of Greg Popovich's resume and standing at this late stage of his career. Again he's 74 years old if you just want to talk about age. But at this advanced stage of his career with the most wins in the history of the NBA for a coach in the regular season. 1,366 games. 2,127 games as head coach of the Spurs since he took over for Bob Hill in the middle of 1996 season. 96-97 season.

Right? That he took over in the middle of that and then that season was such a disaster in the end. Wondering if Popovich could do it. And the Spurs draft Tim Duncan first overall.

And the rest is history. And he's the one who molds Tim Duncan into a first ballot no brainer. One of the best players in the history of the NBA Hall of Famer. With David Robinson also at the same time. And then moving forward with we all know some of the best championship teams that we've seen in the last 20 some odd years. Certainly with international players like Tony Parker who's I guess signing paychecks for Victor Wembunyama in Paris. And now Vic the 19 year old is coming to the NBA and who is the one who's coaching him. But Greg Popovich at age 74. And the question is does this extend his career as long as he wants to?

How much longer would he do it? And I don't know if this is going to be stuff that PJ talks about but he knows Popovich very well. And I'm just wondering about what Popovich is going to do. How to coach him.

And talk about you know bookends. Tim Duncan is his first draft choice as the full-time head coach of the Spurs. And now his latest will be Victor Wembunyama. It's akin to Bill Belichick this coming season somehow getting Caleb Williams. And I don't even know if Caleb Williams is on par with Victor Wembunyama.

We're just talking about apples to apples being individuals who are identified as surefire successful players. The least risk highest upside type players to be drafted first overall with all due respect to Drake May. Who's going to be a heck of a number two overall draft choice. And that's going to be the conversation next spring.

And I'll just throw this out here too. There will be a point where maybe Drake May is number one overall. There'll be that point as well in the churning of the NFL draft.

For sure. Evaluation season. But I don't think enough time has been just landing on the concept. Greg Popovich at age 74 the winningest coach in the history of the NBA. One of the most successful to do it in any sport is getting Victor Wembunyama tonight. And we'll be the one to when Wembunyama years from now we assume will be as successful as we expect him to be. Years from now when he's talking potentially in Springfield Mass is what we're all obviously projecting. It'll be Pop who was his first coach.

Oh yeah. And the setup, the Spurs can start now. Like who will succeed Popovich for Wembunyama's second half maybe of his career? Or three quarters of his career? Like this is, the Spurs tonight are setting up shop in a manner that I can't recall a team having an opportunity to set up shop. Currently long term, together.

It's really amazing and that's why I wanted to bring PJ on to talk a little bit about it. What other analogy can we give out there right? Like back in the day if Scotty Bowman got Gretzky, you know what I mean? You're trying to think of older coaches but massively successful.

Massively successful. You know all time greats in their sport. Don Shula got Marino right?

But didn't win a Super Bowl. Well this is what we're going to have to discuss about what looks to see what's happening. But you know, these are the similarities that are out there. Coach K at the end of his career getting some of the players he got at the end maybe. I mean obviously college basketball is a little bit different. You're recruiting. Nick Saban, I mean again a recruiting situation.

Correct. I guess you've got to talk professional sports here. It's kind of like you said, Belichick getting Caleb Williams a couple years ago, Trevor Lawrence. You know these guys who we think are just sure fire locks for successful careers. Unicorns coming out of college. Or someone at the end of their career who would have gotten Andrew Luck or something. I don't know.

I don't know if you've ever seen this before. 74, I've got to wonder how much longer he's going to do it. As long as he wants. Five more years, I don't know.

Until he passes it on to somebody else. Maybe Steve Kerr comes back to San Antonio. Oh baby. After Curry retires.

Coach Budd came from there. He's, you know. Yeah, who knows.

It's crazy. I mean I hope everything works out. Well this is the plan. This is the stuff that they're probably talking about.

How much longer do you want to do it, Pop? They're talking about it. He'll talk about it. And then he'll, like Bruce Arians, try and set up his next... Right.

A hundred percent. His successor. Like that's all coming home the roost tonight. Fun night. So let's take a break.

P.J. Carlessimo will join us to give us his two cents on that. We have so much more to talk about. Aaron Rodgers had an interesting evening last night in front of a microphone. We'll hit that. Mike Florio will join us from Pro Football Talk.

George Steinbrenner's son talked about the current state of the Yankees. I want to chime in on all of that. And then there's you at 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. When we come back, P.J.

Carlessimo from the worldwide leader in sports. The average on farm income in the United States was a loss of eleven hundred dollars. Sixty percent of U.S. port comes from one company wholly owned by the Chinese. And farmers are more likely to commit suicide than veterans. Folks, we got a problem. I'm Lucinda, eighth generation farmer and founder of Moink. Moo plus oink. We offer grass fed and grass finished beef and lamb, pastured pork and chicken, and wild caught Alaskan salmon shipped straight from the heart of rural America. Come stand shoulder to shoulder with us by putting the family farm at the center of your supper table. Wasn't it for you?

You mean besides saving the family farm and enjoying the highest quality meat on God's green earth? Jase, want me to hang the moon for you, too? I'd love to. Go to moinkbox.com slash yum right now and get a free gift in your first order. Get to getting while the getting is good. Go to moinkbox.com slash yum.

Moinkbox.com slash yum. I guarantee you're fixing to say, oink, oink, I'm just so happy I got moinked. Get an inside look at Hollywood with Michael Rosenbaum, actress Kristin Ritter. Your parents let you travel by yourself. It was a different time. They just put you on a train. As a 15-year-old girl, you went to New York.

I went on a bus, and I did get picked up at Port Authority. They thought I was a runaway. What would they do?

They'd detain you and get people on the phone, and then they'd finally let you go to your modeling job. How many times did it happen? Once or twice. It just seems like it wouldn't happen.

It happens, yeah. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, our terrestrial radio audience will join in at just a couple minutes time, but let's pop them on since we only have about 10-some-odd minutes with him. He's the great P.J. Carlessimo, longtime coach of Seton Hall, and of course we all know many teams in the National Basketball Association, including my Knicks, P.J.

Carlessimo, part of ESPN's Jazz Coverage. How are you, sir? Excellent, Rich. How are you? Good to be with you.

I miss talking to you. I forgot to mention Wagner College, obviously, in the great crime cell section of Staten Island. Come on. Come on now. You've had dinner in Dinino's many times, I'm sure, right, in Staten Island? Absolutely. The King of Staten Island.

That's the Roadhouse. I live there for a few years, for sure. That's great. Fantastic. So one of the many reasons why I wanted to have you on tonight, P.J., is your relationship with Greg Popovich. You know, did you speak with him the night, or just connect with him after the night he got Wembunyama that they won the lottery?

Any sense of his reality? Yeah, I talked to him a couple times. He called me, he was over, went over to Europe, and then he actually was in Italy with his grandchildren. And he called me to give me a hard time.

I think he sent me, he started with a text like, I'm in Italy and you're not. That was the way it started. Nice. But, no, we haven't talked a ton about Victor. Obviously, we talked about the fact that they got him and all that, but we didn't talk about, you know, how it would be. And I got a chance to spend a week with them this year. This was the 50th anniversary of the Spurs franchise.

So they brought back all the old heads like myself, and I did three of their games at Chicago, at Toronto, and at Detroit. So I got to spend a week with he and the staff and the team, and it was great. And, obviously, well before the Victor thing became, I knew it was a possibility, but he liked this young team. He likes the young guys he's got.

Oh, there's no doubt about it, P.J. He'll be out there next year with Sohan and Devin Visell and Kelvin Johnson and Victor probably at four and Zach Collins at five. I mean, you know, he really has got a lot of good pieces. The problem is they're young. It's hard to win with young guys. And they were banged up. They missed a ton of time this year.

But they will be dramatically improved, but very, very young. But the key is he really enjoys, like he wouldn't stay in if he didn't like it. He really liked that team last year, despite the fact that they weren't very competitive in terms of winning games. But, obviously, when you get Victor, that kind of maybe sparked your interest a little bit again. He did okay. The other two number ones he had were David Robbins and Tim Duncan. He did okay with those two.

So I'm going to go out in a limb and say he's going to do okay with Victor also. That's why you're part of the draft coverage, P.J. Carlessimo, is because you have such great insight like that. P.J.

Carlessimo here on the Rich Eisen show. But what sense did he give you about Victor Wambunyama when you just texted with Pop? Unbelievable to hear, not just Pop, but the people that could see him a number of times during the year. And ironically, I mean, let's start with, as a coincidence, he plays last year in Asvel in Lyon. A team there owned by Tony Parker. So, I mean, there's a former Spur with, I think, four or five championships. And, obviously, he came here, a young French player, and played for Pop. So, I mean, who better to tell him, hey, this is what it's going to be like, A, playing in the NBA, B, playing for San Antonio, C, playing for Greg Popovich. And then this year, he's playing for the Mets, owned by Boris Diao, who also won a championship.

Another French player who won a championship playing for Pop. So, I think he comes in, he was really excited. You could tell that on the day of the lottery when the Spurs got the number one pick, how excited Victor was himself. And the thing that keeps coming back to me from the people in San Antonio who have seen him and talked to him, and, obviously, watched him play a bunch this year primarily over in France, they say he's a really grounded young guy. Like, he's not, you know, like an airhead. He's not somebody full of himself or anything.

He knows he's got a lot to learn. He's very, very comfortable with himself. His family has done a good job. His parents did a really good job raising him. And he's going to fit in like a glove.

You know what San Antonio is like in terms of the kind of people Pop wants. I mean, they used to use the expression all the time. We sat in that video room or the meeting room with the team more times at the end of the year when we'd be talking about a draft. And it was R.C.

Buford in the front office people that were making the decision along with Pop that the coaches would be there. And somewhere in the discussion that someone would always say, can he be a spur? Which meant, is he going to put up with being pushed, being demanding, being unselfish, playing defense, and check your ego at the door?

That always came up. And with Victor, they said right from the beginning, this guy's a delightful young guy. He's going to fit in. He's perfect. He is a spur. He's the kind of guy that they want there. So before you even talked about what a great shot blocker he was and how well he shot the ball and, you know, the things he does at seven, four and a half, seven, five, which are breathtaking, was the person himself.

And they just said, we love him. He's just really a nice, easygoing guy. He doesn't think he's got all the answers. He wants to be pushed. He wants to be, you know, be a good player.

I can't imagine he's not going to take advantage of it and no knowledge of this whatsoever. But T.D. still lives there. Timmy still lives right there.

He's in the gym working out all the time. I mean, you know, I mean, what a resource to have guys like that. You sit down and talk to like, you know, what's it like to be one of the best players in the history of the game? You know, what's it like playing for Pop? What's San Antonio like? It's amazing. And, you know, when everybody said, wow, how lucky Pop was, isn't this great? For sure. And as is San Antonio. But I got news for you, which I really believe how lucky Victor is. He couldn't have had, in my opinion, a better situation to come into playing with these other young guys, a little bit off the beaten track. They're not going to be able to minimize the expectations and all the hoopla. But believe me, it's a lot easier to deal with in San Antonio than it would be in a number of other cities in the league.

So it's a it appears from the outside to be a really nice two way street. Well, in terms of obviously great for the Spurs, but I think very good for Victor. Well, then in terms of just a couple more questions for you, PJ, because I know your time is your time is limited. So how do you think Greg Popovich will coach this kid? Like, what's his plan, knowing him and knowing the organization and what he's done with top talent, find out what Victor's like. What what is he ready for?

What is he not ready for? You know, how many minutes is he going to be able to play? You know, is he going to be a focal point of the offense or is he going to be, you know, one or two or three options? For sure, he's going to take advantage of the shot blocking. I mean, that's one of the many skills he has that are just way above average. I mean, I've always felt can't really teach shot blocking.

You know, you obviously need the skills to begin with. And he's got that, you know, in spades. I mean, you can't be longer, more athletic, you know, have better time than Victor has. But he's a really gifted shot blocker.

He sees the floor, he sees it from the weak side. I mean, it's, you know, that alone, that skill alone is going to allow him to be a major contributor this year. Before you even start talking about he's a way above average shooter, he's got a really good stroke. He needs to improve his shot selection.

There's no question. You know, he takes off balance shots. He takes tough shots with, you know, for the Mets. I mean, he led the league in scoring and rebounding and blocked shots.

So he had to kind of do everything for that team. He won't have to do everything for the Spurs. You know, he'll be, he's going to be with some other very talented young players also. So, but I think it's going to be, it'll be a learning curve for Pop and the team too. Because they're not sure what he's going to be like.

How much can we put on his plate? Is he just going to thrive the way Duncan did when he came in? You know, again, give me four years at Wake Forest, best player in college basketball. Victor has an edge because he's played for three years in a professional league.

You know, French league outside the United States is probably one of the top three. So he's been playing against men. He's been playing against professionals for a while. He's not coming in like a 19-year-old college kid in the States wouldn't be coming in. I wouldn't quite equate it to the four years that Timmy was older and the schedule that he had played in the ACC and been the best player in college basketball and getting a chance to play with David Robinson and some of the guys that were already there.

That was a tremendous advantage. But Victor's not coming in. Don't think he's like a 19-year-old American kid who hasn't played against men the last three years. Hasn't been in a professional league. So he's bringing some things to the table that your average 19-year-old is not going to.

And I think that'll be the learning curve for Pop. Like how much do we want him to shoot a bunch of threes? Are we going to post him up at all? Are we going to let him, when he gets a rebound, bring the ball up the court? Because he did that for the Mets and he did it well. You've got a rebound and he dribbles the ball up the court. And he's making bounce passes and throwing the ball ahead to the wing. So all of that I think will be learned.

I think they don't know. And again, watching him play for the Mets is not going to be the same as what it's going to be like in San Antonio. He'll be a totally different player mid-season, late-season than he is in October and November. They'll still be learning in October and November what he can do. He'll be learning what he can do.

How many minutes can they play him? All those things will just be the normal rookie learning curve that Pop has with any of them. But I think that this guy, the expectations, they will be pushing a little bit. The strength thing is going to take time.

There's no question. I was lucky enough to coach Kevin Durant when he was a rookie in Seattle in 07-08. And when you look at him the first time, you go, my God, he's so thin. How's he going to be able to play?

Well, guess what? He's obviously thriving and he had a frame that just never put it on. Victor is going to be significantly stronger and will put weight on in the next couple of years. He's a young guy, but that strength is going to be a problem. And in a strange way, when you're 7'5", like the angles, it's hard to get the leverage.

And can you imagine smaller guys trying to box them out where they're going to be hitting them and stuff? Victor knows that already. He knows his body. But clearly getting him stronger and getting him used to the kind of guys, the strong physical players that he is going to play against. The good news is he doesn't have to play center. Zach Collins will play center or Bassey. They have other good, young, big 6'10", 6'11", more physical than him.

They're smaller. But is he going to be down inside sometimes? Yes. But he can go away from the basket. He can switch on a pick and roll. He can trap. He can do some things that you just don't think somebody 7'5'' can do. This isn't a big plotting dig to know when they get him out away from the basket, it's going to be a nightmare.

No, it's not going to be. He's just a spectacular athlete. And again, it's going to take time to learn NBA defense and learn to play with his teammates and all the different things that San Antonio will do defensively.

But when you're starting where he's starting with these unbelievable gifts that he has, it's going to really be fun to watch. Me too. I'm with you, PJ. So, last one for you. And I know I'm putting you in a position of talking for Greg Popovich, which nobody should do or does.

And he'd probably tell you I'm the last one he wants. I hear you, you know, but I want to put two things together here of what you said at the outset of our conversation. One is that, you know, he wouldn't be doing it, meaning coaching, if he didn't already like a lot of the young players that he did have already before when Boniyama dropped in his lap. So that's one thing. And then two, normally somebody who is 74 years old texts a friend saying, I'm in Italy and you're not because they're retired, you know, because they're in Italy.

Because that's what they want to do with their lives, because they can, because they love wine and they love food and they love life. So my question for you is, does Victor when Boniyama extend Greg Popovich's career more than he probably was thinking about at this point last year? PJ, my opinion, yes, but it will clearly be a function of how much he enjoys it. Is he going to enjoy it as much as it would seem, you know, wow, this is going to be great coaching him, or is he, you know, going to want to spend more time with his grandchildren?

You know, and say, you know what, let somebody else do it. Let, you know, let one of our young guys. My opinion is yes, just because all I'm hearing about is everything I'm hearing about Victor is true. Pop is going to love coaching him and he still likes to coach. I mean, he still enjoys coaching. He wouldn't be coaching now. I used to say he's going to quit. He was going to quit. People used to ask me as if I knew when he was going to retire. I said, he's either going to quit when Timmy quits, Timmy walks out, he's going to walk out, win a championship and that's it, or he'll coach till he's 90. Now, I don't think he's actually going to coach till he's 90, but he likes it. He's still enjoying it.

So as long as he continues to enjoy it, yes, I do think it'll extend his career a little bit. I do think it's going to be great to watch. And, uh, you know, it's like, I mean, how about like having, like you said, falls in your lap.

How about a chance to, wow. Um, instead of rebuilding with all these young guys, how about if we just maybe jumpstart it a little bit, like giving you, you know, maybe the, the best guy to come into the league in 10 or 15 years, uh, once you try it with him. So, uh, I hope it's going to be as great as experience as, as it would appear to be for Bob.

Okay. And, uh, last one for you, PJ, um, tonight when the Blazers are on the clock, third overall, it's either Brandon Miller or Scoot Henderson. A lot of people think it is going to be Scoot. What do you think Damian Lillard, how he, how this choice or the Blazers choice tonight, uh, is going to land with him and reverberate into the free agency? I don't think, I don't know, no knowledge of it whatsoever, but it would seem to me that, uh, Dame wants to compete. He wants to compete for titles. He wants to win. He wants to be back in the playoffs. He wants to be doing that. A young guy other than Victor is not going to, uh, accelerate that process. Uh, I love Scoot. I like Brandon, whichever guy does fall to them, particularly if they don't make any kind of trade or anything like that. But no, I think that's going to be concerning for, uh, for Damian, uh, another young guy.

Like that's not, that's not going to get them significantly closer to where he wants to be. PJ, you're the best. Thanks for taking my call.

Uh, let's do this more often. You be well. You be well. Thanks again. You too, Rich. Thank you. Great being with you.

I'll be right back at you. PJ Carlissimo, perfect guest on a day like today with Victor Wembanyama going to San Antonio where he was an assistant under Pop for so many years. We have now heard how many we've lost track right on the number of reporters, observers, longtime coaches in the league, in the association talking about Victor Wembanyama and how transformational he appears to be right. We've lost track on that, correct?

So many. What PJ Carlissimo just said, I think when anybody else asks you if they need this information, how good is this kid? What he just said, I've never heard before.

We'll never hear again. He's 7'5". And PJ Carlissimo said about a 7'5 guy, he doesn't even have to play center.

What? They've got a 6'10 guy. They've got a 6'11 guy who's a little bit more suited for that position. He said that about a 7'5 human. As a matter of fact, you'd be doing him a disservice if you just peg him as a center and stick him down low. Can he go down there?

Sure he can. He just said that. Did you, Kat? Did that hit you?

It did not. He said that and I almost followed up on the spot. I'm like, just think about what you just said, PJ. That's a way homer. 7'5 and he doesn't even have to play center.

Okay. Goes back to the Ralph Sampson thing. He played the 4 and Kane played the 5.

Come on! Also, I've heard that he lies about his age because he doesn't want to be seen as his height, so he doesn't want to be seen as that tall. No, I'm really 7'1".

Are you sure? You're 7'5". You can lie about your weight. You can lie about your age. One thing you can't lie about is your height.

Because we could see it. Kevin Durant does it. Kevin Durant's like, I'm 6'10". Kevin Durant has to be 7'1", first of all. A lot of guys, we were talking about Bill Walton earlier, he would never admit that he was 7'. He'd always be like, I'm 6'11". But everyone's like, Bill, you're like 7'1". Well, because I guess guys in that position don't want to be pegged. But this guy, he's 7'5", and the beautiful thing, he doesn't even have to play center.

Okay. Right? And how many times did P.J. catch you when he said he played for the Mets, T.J.?

I was like, what? I mean, we saw him throw that at him. For the Yankees! Yankees! Hey, the way the Mets are playing, might as well eat him.

Well, there's a lot of Mets fans speaking French these days. It's well done. That's nice. You know, it's what I do.

And humble, too. Well, there's an eye in Rich and Eisen, sir. We'll take a break, and I want to talk about what's going on in the city of New York a little bit here. The Mets? No, Yankees.

That's next. This is The Rich Eisen Show. I don't know if you're aware, but you going to Yale was brought up on Game 2 of the NBA Finals. No way. Was it the part where the Cavs were really losing at the end? No, it's not that.

It's not that, no. It's that Jeff Van Gundy, who was on the broadcast, said he went to school with you in class. Sorry, Jeff. Don't remember you. You weren't that memorable. You don't remember Jeff Van Gundy in class? I'm afraid I don't. I'm afraid I don't.

Because the reverse is true. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Yeah.

Your phone wasn't lighting up from friends saying that? No, I wish I'd seen it. I wish I'd seen him. I would have been able to see his face, and maybe, you know.

Well, I mean, I think we could. Can we bring up a picture of Jeff Van Gundy? I don't know, so just stroll down memory lane here.

The one in the middle is Jeff Van Gundy. Does that ring a bell to you? That rings no bell whatsoever. I'm so sorry, Jeff.

No class reunions at all with Dean Jodie Foster and Jeff Van Gundy. Okay. We noticed you mentioned on the air that you were classmates with Jodie Foster at Yale. Yeah, and then you cheap-shotted me afterwards. No, I don't know.

I don't like cheap. You brought her on and just saying total indifference to my existence in the world. It was a setup. Our freshman year, there was 12 guys on the floor. We all threw in $100 and said, hey, the first guy that gets a date with Jodie Foster, you win the money.

I'm coming back from the gym in the early fall, and there's a candy shop right outside the big quad for freshmen. The popcorn is popping. It smells great. And from behind me, someone goes, man, that popcorn smells good. And I turn around and it's her. And I totally choke. And I say, yeah, yeah. And I run to my dorm. I was scared.

I was intimidated by it. Cheap shot at Jeff Van Gundy, got it? Back here on The Rich Eisen Show. I'm sitting at The Rich Eisen Show desk on The Rich Eisen Show radio network. All furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just simply stop by. Shams has a tweet. So what's going on? Shams has a tweet, Rich.

Shams Sharanya has a tweet, Rich. Up in Adam's fam? Up in Adam's fam.

Yeah, you may have seen him there. According to his sources, Scoot Henderson is now gaining serious momentum at number two to the Charlotte Hornets. Hornets have been torn over the last week between Scoot and Brandon Miller.

Final team meetings today to settle on the decision. So that begs the question, Rich. We all know, Chris, the answer to your question. Did they see the Brandon Miller goat quote yesterday?

Of course they did. Come on. Brandon Miller today is just as good a prospect as he was yesterday. When Brandon Miller woke up today, he was just as good at the basketball as he was when he woke up yesterday. What's the difference between yesterday and today? Do we have that soundbite perhaps from yesterday?

Because that might inform the information and the news of today. Just saying. Grinding tape and pounding tables on a draft day is nothing new. Remember, remember when Jim Mora Sr. told us that the Colts were pounding tables and grinding tape on Rich Eisen's show? Friend of the program, Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning.

Well, I would also say is a friend of the show. Remember they were grinding tape all the way to the end? I remember that quote. Yeah. So no, it makes sense that they're actually grinding tape and they're having conversations about this or that.

But what could be a decisive factor? Do we have that soundbite from yesterday? Yes, go roll it. No, we don't. OK. I don't know where our guy Hoskins is right now, but we got it. From yesterday when Brandon Miller said that the goat of the NBA was not LeBron James. And the interesting thing is, again, he's supposed to be wearing red and black tonight. Right.

Michael Jordan, who still has a say in this. He hasn't sold the Charlotte completely yet. Yeah. Here we go.

Here's him. You said you were in black and red at the draft, right? Jordan wore black and red as a member of the Bulls.

Here's my question unrelated to that. You're young. Older people, young people often have this LeBron and Michael conversation. I'm not going to ask you who's the greatest because that's old. But because you've been in Michael's presence and because you grew up liking LeBron as a young person, do you feel like that conversation is just overdone? No, because I actually don't think LeBron is, you know, the go to fast rock. Michael about Paul George.

I always grew up watching him. So it's never just LeBron. Now hearing this, T.J. Jefferson, I turn to you. OK.

Shouldn't the Clippers go and try and acquire this kid? Right. You know, one thing I didn't pick up on yesterday. Right. Just to try to look at the other side is he said, my goat.

Right. So did we give him some? Because for me, my favorite player of all time overlooks me every single day is Dr. J. Like that to me, like Dr. J is my goat. Like, but I don't know that I would say he is the goat.

So I don't know, maybe we were too hard on branding yesterday. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. Now, T.J., what you just said was not only respectful and respectable, but very nuanced and intelligent. Well, he's also 19. And exactly.

And he's 19 and he's from a different era and he's contemporary and absolutely you're 100 percent right for saying that. Except this is sports talk radio. Yeah, what are we doing? We don't have time for that. What is your malfunction? Come on.

Look, I keeps it real. Throw some flames over there. Why?

Not everybody wants flames. That's like you're saying he's a 19. I believe he might be older. You know, he's a young pup who is just saying, I love Paul George.

He's my favorite. He's 20. He's 20. And you're saying he's a 20 year old kid who's supremely talented and loves Paul George. And he's like this whole Jordan Lebron thing. Yeah, it means nothing to me because Paul George is my guy.

Yeah, totally understand that. But this is sports talk radio. And we are just going to take that and throw it away and say this kid is undrafted. And if Sean is saying, if he's saying the Charlotte Hornets are having second thoughts today, that they had only today. There's only one reason.

The second thoughts are happening today. It's not as if the seeds were planted on second thoughts or there are people in the organization who have liked Scoot Henderson all along, which is another appropriate, nuanced, informed way of talking about this. Because, again, I know from my NFL. Two decades of covering the NFL for the draft experience, there are scouts who probably in that organization who have known Scoot Henderson since he was like eight. Right.

Or 10 or 12 or whatever. They loved him and can't believe they have an opportunity to go get him tonight. And they have been pounding the table and twisting arms and telling everybody in the organization, this is the guy. Listen to me. And they've got one last shot, one last meeting to do it. And that meeting is happening maybe as we converse on this subject matter. So that said, this is sports talk radio. I just saw this tweet, I'm putting it in a box as if there's no history to it at all. And just going to say there are minds being changed right now based on something last minute and that last minute is this kid thinking Paul George is the greatest of all time. That's it.

And I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to hang my hat on that. Because because isn't that what I'm supposed to do? We can't. It's not supposed to do it.

And if they don't and if they do take Brandon Miller, people should be fired. Right. Yeah. Should I do that?

Yeah, I think so. Should I be should I be yelling at you about it? Should we be split?

If we have the ability to split screen and screen, we should be talking about these typical rules of sports topics. That's the exact reason that Brockman had to come up with overreaction Monday to get you to have this type of so that you say I'm dragged kicking and screaming. It's a hot ticket.

You travel in those those you'll travel those roads. I don't. I'm not traversing those words for this right now. For this right now.

Got to turn my back on just like I turn my back on Brandon Miller yesterday. We need a lower scroll. We need to then another chunky. And then we need a top topic bar.

What do you mean a chunky? We need a we need a we have a guy, by the way, a lower guy that never has to be. I will never do that. So we're not like I'm not Jim Cramer. You know what I mean? All right.

We don't need that stuff where it's a topic bar on top of a bottom line beneath another two box. That's what I'm saying. Oh, my God. I can't stand that. That's not us. That's not us.

I typically like sports talk radio because of wild takes. That's why I like you. You just let me.

Yes. That's why I love Brandon Miller. That's why people like you, Rich.

George is the greatest. You take them. I'm going to take Scoot and I'm going to be great for the next decade. Well, I'll tell you what, in all seriousness, if Brandon Miller drops to the Blazers, Blazers, does that again? This is all about what's going on in Damian Lillard's skull and what has he communicated to the front office of the Blazers tonight? That's either working the phones to say, who can we get that is incredibly talented and a veteran in this league for the third overall pick?

Who can you send us that we can look at Damian Lillard and say, see? We are trying to win right now. We are going to try and tread in the waters with the Suns and their three headed monster and the Warriors and their three headed monster and oh yeah, the Denver Nuggets. We're going to try and compete with them right now so you can stay here and win your trophy right now. And if they take a kid tonight third overall, how can they look at Damian Lillard and say that?

That's what this is about. And is Brandon Miller dropping to them? Somebody that Lillard, does he have a preference over one of these kids? Because it looks like he's going to get one of them as a teammate tonight. As the Hornets are currently constructed, I think Brandon fits better on their team than Scoot. Right, I agree with that.

But Scoot and LaMelo are both, you know, ball dominant point guards. What does Lavar say? That's all that matters. What's he thinking? Great question. How?

Even when I lose, I win. Bobby Marks, let's talk to him. Longtime executive and part of ESPN's draft coverage. He's next on this show. Thanks for reminding me I have a responsibility in this chair, TJ. That's where you're, you know what? You're the angel. There's the devil over there on my shoulder. I've got an angel on my shoulder here looking at you, TJ.

You're the angel. And the devil is right there. The devils get clicks, baby. Devils get clicks.

I think you're working on the wrong network. But do the devils get the respect that the angels get? Respect can be bought.

Like Del Tufo's Instagram followers? He's not watching. See, this is what happens when you leave the chair, you leave the chair, you leave the room and people start talking. You're a free feller and rich for a minute. Yeah. Trust me. So you're a free clear. Don't worry. It's a combo that's been had. I know you're recycling maternal meat.

I had no idea that was dating. Conspiracy theories, paranormal, UFOs. This 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 probably just ran home. Race of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.