REShow: Sam Amick - Hour 1

And her mind, the writing, deals to the plate.

Ground ball to third, Donaldson has it, goes to first. There it is! Perfection! This is the Rich Eisen Show. He's just so fun to watch at his craft. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Yeah, cause you know I'm on top and there's no doubt in me. Today's guests, Senior NBA writer for the athletic, Sam Amick, Packers linebacker, Rashawn Gary, legendary broadcaster Bob Costas, actor Travis Van Winkle. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, it is. Thanks for joining us here on this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on the Roku channel. Live on this Rich Eisen Show, terrestrial radio, affiliates Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. We say hello to everybody out there on this final Thursday of the month of June in 2023.

844-204 Rich is the number to dial here on this very program. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brocklin. What's going on, brother? Hey Rich, it's Blue Shirt Day. Glad that we both got the memo. We did not plan this. We didn't plan it, but it looks good on you though. It looks good on you.

Exactly. Did you guys get a free bowl of shoes? You're a handsome man. Here's the difference, Mike.

I'm almost sure I can say this with certainty about you, Chris. We paid for these shirts as opposed to whatever you have on. At least you got that going for you. This was paid for.

It was a discount, but it was my own money. It's very good. Yeah. But you got the whole Rain Man top button thing going on right now.

That looks better on me. Okay, good. TJ Jefferson, how are you over there, sir? Good to see you.

Well, I'm wearing a Stone Cold What t-shirt, and I'm pretty sure when I come to work, none of us will ever have the same t-shirt on. So there's that. Okay, very good. Some day, you'll never know.

Okay, very good. So guess what, everybody? Baseball. It's just a... Weird game. Well, it is a weird game. It's a weird game, man.

And by that, I mean this. Is that we saw the 24th perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball last night. We saw that last night. Domingo Herrmann. He's the one who twirls it, fittingly, wearing number zero. Since that was the number in the hits and walks and errors columns for the New York Yankees last night in Oakland, where the night before, they couldn't hit a lick. They lost to the worst team in baseball, scoring only one run on a solo shot by Josh Donaldson, who had only eight hits in his previous 64 at-bats.

A guy everybody's waiting to get cut or released. And he's the only one who provides a home run, and then the Yankees score 11 runs last night in support of Domingo Herrmann, who, again, it's only happened 24 times now. Last time it happened was 11 years ago when Felix Hernandez did it for the Seattle Mariners. And I don't know, my last name is Eisen, not Elias.

I don't have, you know, the research here other than just you guys having the old internet tubes in the Google machine. It's all anybody has. But is this the first perfect game in Major League Baseball history ever thrown by somebody who gave up eight earned runs in the start before and lasted just three and a third innings as Herrmann did against Seattle? Baseball.

Probable. And, you know, I sit here and I think, OK, the previous Yankee perfect games thrown, we all know. Don Larson and David Wells and David Cohen. The Yankees won the World Series in each of those instances. And obviously it was easier to win the World Series when Don Larson hit through his perfect game because he did it in the World Series. So it brought them three wins closer.

I don't know if it was game one or not, just off the top of my head, but. You can't sit here and say, OK, that's it. Yanks are going to win the World Series this year because they have so many other problems. And that's, you know, interesting part about baseball. I'm looking up right now and I see who the are, what our competition is talking about right now. One is talking about Robert Kraft and the Patriots. Nice. You know, and what it means for Belichick. And another guy is talking about how his smack off is taking place tomorrow. Smack offs tomorrow.

Nice. But that's what I mean. Like baseball had a 24th perfect game thrown in its history last night. And national media is like shrugging it off. Now, we're not. We do love baseball. We talk more baseball, I think, than most shows. I would agree with that. Yeah, I think so.

And I don't know what our buddy DP led with today, but I'm sure he talked about this. And that's why I kind of bringing it all together here is in this day and age where we just want to instant gratification. And we want to ruminate about whether a win or a loss means somebody is going to win it all or somebody has no shot to win it. And there's going to be consequences. Again, I see in the national media conversation, everybody talks about what's at stake for something. What's at stake? You see the bottom line on our on our on our television screens. What's at stake with such and such a team? When I see what's at stake, I mean, I think of jobs. I think is a manager going to lose a job, a coach going to lose a job, a general manager going to lose a job, like a quarterback getting cut, a center no longer being resigned, like that when jobs there's what's at stake. That's what's at stake in our worlds, right?

Our jobs, our paychecks, our families, our houses, you know, apartments, whatever. I'm kind of getting to I'm getting deep on you here for a for a for a perfect game. But back in the day, like if there was this twenty four seven three sixty five nonstop, we're talking about sports machine. When even David Wells did it, if a cone did it or back in the day, it would be leading all sports news. And baseball might be like, what gives? Maybe it's because it was against the A's who sometimes looks like field's a triple A team.

West Coast hurts, too. How many Yankees fans stayed up to watch? I get it.

But I just think it's because in this day and age, we're all talking about what does it mean writ large. And in baseball, there's one hundred sixty two games. There's another one. The Yankees and the A's first pitch for their next game is in three hours.

Yeah. If this was football, we'd be sitting on this for a week, churning it up. That's a good point. And if it was the NBA, we'd be sitting on it maybe for, you know, forty eight hours, seventy two hours. Obviously, if it's the playoffs, it would be four days from now sometimes. But it's involving a New York Yankee doing it. But it's also a guy that many people have never heard of and is probably available on any fantasy waiver wires right now. I checked.

He was available on mine. But still, it's it's a twenty fourth perfect game. Twenty four. The first two shouldn't even count. They took place in 1880. So just talk about modern baseball.

This is only the twenty second really of all time. What do you got against 1880 baseball players? They still have to play the game. I mean, we would have been the greatest players in 1880. You think so?

I do. Really? You know, it's kind of a thing when people say let's hop with the DeLorean with our mitts. These basketball players were like carpenters and plumbers. The thing is, those guys were the highest skill level at that particular time. Yes.

You know what I mean? So it's like they're ripping heaters between pitchers. No gloves. I'm just saying modern baseball, there's only been a handful. It's the hardest thing to do in all of sports. That's why I'm thinking 1880 had to be hard, too, also, especially since a perfect game isn't just about the pitcher. Ninth inning last night, there was a hot smash to hot to Volpe.

Yes. The rookie shortstop. Well, the one that that Donaldson picked, I thought that was a hit. But both players needed to make the play. You know, the second out was a can of corn to Harrison Bader in center field. The third out, I mean.

And I honestly thought to myself, can this third out be another can of corn, please? And it was a hot smash that Donaldson snagged and kind of snow coned it in his glove a little bit. And then you got to grip it. Make the throw. You got to throw it. Plus it was Ruiz, who is one of the stolen base leaders in Major League Baseball. So the guy's fast. Who hit it. The bases are bigger. And the third baseman's there instead of short right field now.

I don't know if you're like me, Rich. I remember. Do you remember when Mike Musina had eight and two thirds perfect against Boston?

I do. And Crazy Carl Everett got the winning. I said it right to Sarah right before.

I was like, man, I remember eight and two thirds, Musina against Boston. Your heart's thumping. Yeah. She was she was sitting there. We were watching it. And she's like, I'm nervous.

And I don't know why. Like, well, we're about to watch history, possibly. Well, you and Sarah love baseball. And again, I'm still looking at our competition.

They haven't talked about it yet. And I'm just sitting here thinking, because in this day and age where you just need to have a take, you need to have a conversation about something that at stake, baseball doesn't really fit into that. Well, it's June, a game that ultimately doesn't fit into it.

Well, it doesn't fit into that world. And I'm wondering if that's part of the reason why baseball has lost a little bit of its national pastime consciousness. I'll tell you one thing, too.

We see what you folks in the Rich Eisen Show listening and viewing audience like to hear from us. And Ohtani is one of them. And in terms of Ohtani, I know, T.J., you're hoping against hope. I am.

You are. Met Yankee Red Sox fans. Del Tufo, Yankee fan when he wants to wave it in your face. OK, Chris. So we're all hoping Dodger fans who, you know, they can't figure out how many yachts they can water ski behind with Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts.

All right. Young pitching. And then here we go.

They want them. I'm sure giant fans who struck out on everybody this free agency season. Including Carlos Correa, who they had. And then the Mets had.

And then he wound up with the Twins. Just to name a few franchises, I'm sure there'll be more. How many franchises are there in baseball? 32. 30 of them. So I want to bet that all 30. No, not the A's. I'm sure they still want them.

Yeah, no. Unless unless there was like a million dollars beneath every empty seat in that stadium last night. That's just being hidden there, just waiting for fans to find, just to see if they'll show up.

Like Ellen, like stuff like look under your seat. All right. So twenty nine out of them. That's what I'm saying. And by the way, I'm not blaming the A's fans for not showing up. I wouldn't show up either if you. Yeah, it's not on the fans. So that anyway, could you imagine there was an A's fan who's just like, all right, before they go, I want to see him. They go up last night and they get perfect game.

All right. The reason why I bring this up. 12,000 people there last night. And many of them were Yankee fans, I would say. All of them. I mean, it was loud. It was loud.

So anyway, we bring up Otani here because, you know, your New York Metropolitan's might be in that mix. They are how many games out of the wild card right now? Are they eight now?

Nine. Steve Cohen, the owner. This is very Steinbrenner-esque. The owner of the Mets decided to have a press conference yesterday because it's gotten really bad.

Eight and a half out. And this is what he had to say about it. The Mets actually reconfiguring their strategy around the deadline. If things don't change.

Listen to this. I'm preparing my management team for all possibilities. You know, if we don't get better, you know, we have decisions to make at the trade deadline. And that's not my preferred end result.

But, you know, I'm preparing all contingencies. And we'll see where it goes. It's on the players. Right? I mean, they're veterans. They've been there before. You know, I think they're, you know, these are players that have done it. And we'll see if they can get their act together and string together some wits. You know, I can't pitch and I can't hit. Okay? So that's the way it goes. And, you know, we're hoping for the best. First of all, I hope it wasn't a Mets employee who was the one who laughed at I can't hit, I can't pitch.

Because that person's ass is on the street. Number two, even you, diehard Mets fan, would you want a Mets table like that? Or is that too garish? No, I'd take that.

Okay. Number three, he's wearing a hat like he's a member of the team. Well, it's his team. But number four, way to go to actually sit there and show like, what's up? Hal Steinbrenner called in a Michael K show.

This guy's like, I'll take your questions, everybody. Yeah, and it was totally unnecessary for him to have that. Again, he's got the Steinbrenner in him, which is like he's living and dying this thing. And it's not his main source of income. It's his main source of pride. And you do wonder that about a lot of owners in this world, like bomber Clippers aren't the main source of his income. No, but you bring them joy. It's probably the main source of pride for him and joy.

Yeah, he's so I kind of so congrats on having that owner of your team, especially when you consider what we had previous. Oh, my God. I mean, come on.

No question. But hearing that makes me wonder, are they are they going to sit here over the next three weeks and say, let's at least sell some of these guys off? I'll take the hit in terms of, you know, box office fannies in the seats to use a Steinbrenner phrase, back page, front page headlines. But I'm going to I'm not made completely of money. Maybe half of my body is made of money.

Maybe 98 percent of it is made of money. But I'm going to pull back a little bit and make a run for Shohei Ohtani. And by make a run like make make it ready, like get my plans ready for the minute that this guy becomes a free agent or.

Go ahead and spend the next three weeks telling my guys, what is the plan to go get Ohtani? Because that's the answer. You know what the answer is? Not apparently is having two future first ballot Hall of Famers on the same staff together like it's the what? 2009 Detroit Tigers. You know, we're a little behind on you know what I mean? Like you're you're you're a little bit behind putting Scherzer and Verlander in the same the same rotation.

And and the minute you know it, I know it. The world baseball classic viewers know it. The minute Edwin Diaz heard himself this season just went right down the tubes.

He lost their back end stopper. It messed with the entire bullpen, the entire plan. And then, of course, the fact that Scherzer and Verlander have been either suspended for a bit slash injured and then the the the. The hitting on top of it, but the reason why I bring it up now is. Everything, as far as I'm concerned about this sport, baseball is Ohtani related right now, which that's it.

Which teams are going to go get him? What does it mean for the the the Angels this year and and in a couple of weeks? How about us starting 16 minutes with baseball? Nobody else has talked about it yet. I love it on it and just reiterate that table.

I would love that table. You want to talk? We've got we've got we went straight up the flowchart to talk Ohtani.

Also, because it's a twenty second anniversary of a film he once appeared in as a cameo as himself, starred, starred. Yeah, sure. Bob Costas will be joining us to talk about show Ohtani, as well as the twenty second anniversary of Pootie Tag. Speaking of things, I'm talking about. Yes, there we go. We're still on it. We're still on it.

Baseball and Pootie Tag. Travis Van Winkle, who is starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in FUBAR on Netflix. He's in studio in hour number three on this program. But coming up is also we've got Rashan Gary of the Green Bay Packers, who finished getting his degree from the institution of higher learning that I love so much, University of Michigan. He's in hour number two. But let's take a break, because when we come back, as I see phone lines lit, which I love, eight, four, four, two or four, it's join a couple of phone lines that we have open. When we come back, Sam Amick of The Athletic will be joining us to talk about everything that's going on in the free agency world in the NBA that will break out writ large starting tomorrow.

Sam Amick coming up. 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 detain you and get people on the phone and then they 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.

Use a pencil to create a piece of art. Rolling Stone music now, wherever you listen. We are back here on the Rich Eisen Show. By the way, the Don Larson perfect game.

I should I should know this. October, Rich. It was in October. The Don Larson perfect game was in a game five of a World Series pivotal game five. The Dodgers took the Brooklyn Dodgers took the first two. Yankees took the next two. And then you threw a perfect game in game five.

That's pretty wild. And then the Dodgers. Won the next game, won nothing in Ebbets Field in 10 innings. Dude. And then the Yankees won Game seven in Brooklyn, nine nothing to win the World Series. Nine nothing.

Wow. And here's the difference. You want to talk about the difference between stadiums. Brooklyn Dodgers. Well, I mean, my mom and dad, my mom and dad would tell me all about Ebbets Field.

They grew up in Brooklyn, obviously, in the shadow. Right. And the the attendance in Ebbets Field. The max attendance of the World Series was thirty six thousand.

Nice. The max attendance in the Yankee Stadium for the World Series Game three was seventy three thousand. And you talk about a different atmosphere. It was big. Seventy three thousand. That's like that's like so far. Yeah, that's probably more than so far. I know the difference. Well, and interestingly enough, game four and game five was less attendance.

So it must have been so far. People sold their tickets. You see how I bring things around from show to show. Mike, Mike, that's my way to give you props. You said yesterday about Brockman not going to Disneyland. And you did the Fred Flintstone, the Abba Dabba. Slide off the dinosaur. Yo, I want to call you last night.

Props on that. But I need an answer. But I was talking about that was funny. You're the one who doesn't answer phones. Chris, who's more likely to answer telephone when you call it me or him? You. Thank you. You're always on the phone.

Oh, wow. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Granger with supplies and solutions. We're going to put a pin in that for every industry. Granger is the right product for you. Probably even pins to put into snarky things, Chris says.

Call click Granger dot com or just stop by. Edit those words to the read. Joining us here now from the athletic on the the outset of a very big weekend in the NBA is Sam Amick back here on the program. How are you doing, Sam? Doing great, guys. Thanks for having me, Rich. You bet.

Absolutely. What happened in the meeting with Blazers general manager Joe Cronin, Damian Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin? Best you can tell, that led to a three sentence statement from the general manager 48 hours ago.

What do you got? Yeah, I mean, best I can tell, it was more of the same, to be honest with you. I think it was Damian's way of, you know, reminding the organization, reminding Joe, like he had said publicly in the weeks heading into the draft that that he's looking for elite, high level veteran talent to play with as opposed to youngsters. Now, the nuance there is that there's not any acrimony on Damian's part toward like he's excited about Scoot Henderson. You know, he's excited about the other two guys they got as well to a degree.

But it just it's just that's not the equation that will kind of compel him to stop thinking about a possible trade request. So that meeting to me, it's an interesting one, because what jumped out of me is that Cronin's statement says, we remain committed to building a winner around Damian. And I thought was to me was interesting because you didn't say title contender. It said winner.

And, you know, they've had winners there for a long time, winning teams. So it is still a to be determined situation where I think once we get into early July, it's going to be on Damian again to decide what he wants to do here. So the question I have for you here, Sam, and if you can help us with this. So many folks cannot compute in this day and age, this 21st century NBA, where players of Damian Lillard's stature, when they want out, they'll just flat out say it.

They'll make a statement, they'll put it on Twitter, they'll have somebody like yourself maybe even report it. You know, but why is it why is Damian like threatening to get to that point? You know, why is he tick this way?

Best you can tell, Sam. To me, I think he's trying to kind of exercise his influence and his power on the franchise. And to it's to be honest, it's a little bit LeBron ask, probably not as passive aggressive, but like the thing LeBron has done for eons of, you know, he doesn't need to come out and say, I'm not in love with this roster. He has other ways to get that message across and then to make it clear to the powers that be that if you don't do some of the stuff that I want, then we probably have a problem.

I think that's why he does it. And, you know, Damian tries to walk that line, it seems like anyway, because he has so much love for the fan base in the city and that stuff is very, very real. And also, let's not forget, not to go too macro, but, you know, when they had, you know, kind of the ill-fated exit of Neil O'Shea, their previous GM, and Joe Cronin was elevated during that controversy a couple of years ago, you know, Joe was a guy that Damian kind of endorsed and that, you know, seemed to rock with and feel like, you know, this would be a better pathway forward than it was headed towards with Neil.

And so to a degree, he's built at least parts of this environment and this ecosystem. And I think to your question about why he's handling it the way he is, I think he's holding out hope that they swing a trade that makes it easier for him to say, you know what, I'm fine, let's stay here in Portland. So heart of hearts, and I do believe you've done some reporting on this, Sam Amick, of the athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show. What is the scenario by which Lillard is sitting back going, attaboy, Joe Cronin, I'm here, you got me, this is it, well done.

You executed the vision that I knew you could. Give me that scenario that's in his brain right now. Well, the three that I wrote on this week that was definitely, you know, like you said from reporting, the three players were Draymond Green, Oji Adanobi, Pascal Siakam. So the first one, the idea of, and Jeremy Grant would be the fourth because he's on that roster for now, but in a couple of days is not. And it's very important for them to resign Jeremy. Now they have his bird rights so they can cut that check and hold on to him. But the first scenario was Jeremy comes back and they somehow find a way to swing what would likely have to be a Simon trade for Draymond.

Well, a couple of problems with that. All indications are that Draymond wants to stay with the Warriors. All indications are that he's going to stay with the Warriors. So I don't see that one happening.

But to your question, like that is one where he would say, all right, I'm good. The Raptors guys are in that same vein. But, you know, again, the obstacle is Masai Ujiri who runs the Raptors.

He has been testing the market on guys like OG and Siakam for literally almost two years now. But he has not shown, you know, he's been very, very patient, very stubborn in trade talks with everybody. So I have no reason to think they can pull either of those scenarios off. So that to me is where, you know, whenever I get asked right now this week about where I think it's headed, I think it's at least headed toward Damian having to decide.

It's almost like, you know, is he going to call his own bluff or is he going to, you know, just kind of back off? But Damian's going to have to decide because I do not think the type of move that will make the decision for him is on the horizon here. So how much time do you think he gave Joe Cronin? I know you mentioned early July a few minutes ago. But even early July, there might be some moves made by other teams that could take away assets that the Blazers would accept.

Or for Lillard or maneuvers that would obviously teams would move heaven and earth to get Damian Lillard if he in fact made it known he wanted out of Portland. But how much time did he give him, do you think? So I'm trying to make sure my memory is accurate here and I think it is. So on Friday, I had indicated to somebody who would know the answer to that question that, you know, that my sense was that we would know what direction this was going to go in a matter of two weeks. So that's on Friday. You know, it's now obviously been a week since then.

I said two weeks and got pushed back saying, no, it'll be sooner. So to me, yeah. And that's, you know, again, people stuff is fluid.

Who knows how Damian wakes up every morning feeling. But at that time, the indication was that essentially like by July, you know, second, third, fourth, that you're either going to see a bunch of Blazers action that looks exciting and makes him feel like this is what I was talking about. Whether trade or somehow free agency wise, even though they're restricted on the cap side of things. But I do think it's coming to a head. But to me, again, you kind of this point, like the unique part is it's I mean, do I think there's a scenario where Dame tries to push this thing and then still doesn't have it in them to actually make the request? Like, of course, I don't know what percentage odds I give it, but I do think that scenario is still on the table, too. All right. So which teams are sitting there, knife and fork and hand and napkin tucked into their shirt, ready for the news?

What do you got for me on that front? I mean, it's the usual suspects. I mean, in Miami and Brooklyn mainly. But, you know, like in this column I wrote on Monday, you know, it was a deliberate choice to not include Brooklyn because to me, you know, it's Brooklyn is there.

Not saying, you know, never say never. But it's like Brooklyn is probably largely there for just the sake of like, like it's leverage or just call it a negotiation. The Blazers don't want to be backed into a corner. But I do think in terms of what Damian would like, if he did choose to raise his hand and say, I'm done with the Portland chapter, I think it's, you know, Miami is out ahead by a long shot. Now, that being said, you know, friend and colleague Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated had written today that the Blazers are very lukewarm on the prospect of taking Tyler Heroback in that kind of a trade. And it's like, yet again, that's all these obstacles all over the place because that is pretty hard to envision a heat deal that makes Damian and the Heat happy that does not involve Tyler coming back to Portland.

Sam Amick, the athletic senior NBA writer here on the Rich Eisen show. So Harden and Kyrie are the other big fish here or are we missing anybody right now going into this weekend? Well, I mean, Chris Middleton is an interesting one because A, you know, he didn't play up to his standards last season. And then B, just you kind of assume he's going back to the Bucks.

It's just a matter of what number. But Middleton is a big name, you know, but yeah, those two guys. I mean, James and is it going to be Philly? Is it going to be Houston?

You know, it's funny, though. Maybe I have recency bias, but I feel like this particular free agency period, a lot of the reporting all over the place is kind of unofficially already indicating where guys are going to go. Like right now, there's a lot of loud noise about about James being back in Philly, about Kyrie staying in Dallas. You know, I mean, you've got the not as many star player names, but the Houston stuff is, to me, very interesting. A boatload of money and guys like Fred Van Vliet is on that free agency shortlist and he very well might wind up in a Rockets jersey. Dylan Brooks has just kind of created his own lane and NBA culture, if you will. And Dylan has been tied to the Rockets. So, you know, this is not the most star-studded free agency crop, but there's a lot of names out there.

Sure, I hear you. And I'm just wondering if the Nuggets winning it all and obviously you got to have a unicorn like Jokic and then somebody like Murray perform as well as he's performed coming back from surgery. But the fact that they were a team, right, that they were a team built.

Is that a copycat situation? Because I understand that the Suns just went ahead and did the whole super team move with Bradley Beal. But I'm wondering if we're seeing a changing of the way that front offices look at things because of what the Nuggets have just done. Sam?

I think, Rich, you're going to have a mixed bag on that front. Like when the Suns move happened, one of my immediate takeaways like a lot of people was like, man, like nobody learned from the Nuggets. Like, what are we doing here? You know, this is the same old kind of recreate the Heat Big Three type of approach. But I for sure think the Nuggets blueprint is going to have an impact. And on top of that, the new CBA is, you know, far more, you know, Nuggets-esque, if that makes sense, than it is the Phoenix approach. Meaning that it is so punitive to get into the luxury tax that you simply like the idea of having three stars on 30-plus million dollar contracts is extremely untenable. And these days when you have the numbers being even higher, like we've been talking about Dame at the end of Dame's contract, he's going to make 63 million dollars.

And so these kinds of numbers, when you're talking about, you know, a cap that is, you know, in the low 100s, are not tenable. So, yeah, the Nuggets takeaways are, you know, find a core, hopefully through the draft, and then build around them with economical contracts. And, you know, they're going to try to hold onto Bruce Brown in this offseason.

I think, surprisingly, they might be able to. But depth matters. Continuity matters.

Chemistry matters. And that's why, like, going into next year, who knows? The Suns could be the odds-maker's favorite for the title. And for me, in kind of my two cents, I certainly would not agree with that. And we saw last year how much continuity mattered in that part of the play today card. Okay, so you would not agree with the Nuggets being the odds-on favorite, is what you're saying?

No, I'm sorry. I'm saying the Suns. I'm saying if it's just Vegas like the Suns, that's what I would disagree with. That, you know, having just covered the Finals and having just seen, even beyond the Nuggets, Rich, you're talking about, you know, the Lakers, for example, to their credit, in a very short time span, they found a way to really kind of click with that new group that they had with, you know, Murray Hachimura and Angela Russell before the playoffs playing well and all those things. They got momentum. And then the West Finals showed you that you run into a buzzsaw that not only has talent that's on par with you, but has years of kind of slow growth and, you know, the pain that came with playoff failures. And you saw the contrast.

You saw the difference in the void, not the void, the vast kind of space between them. So, yeah, the Nuggets approach, and this is why, to me, yeah, going into next year, they for sure would be the front runners. So then give me a team that's being, would the Lakers be that team that's following that approach?

Because you already, you know, you already heard Rob Palenka say we're not planning on adding a third, if you will, major star. We just want to keep the core together, which is amazing that the Lakers have a core, right? And want to keep it, which you flash back to one year ago where we're watching Russ Westbrook standing in the corner of the gym and just down the street here in El Segundo, California, listening to Darvin Ham talk about how he's going to have to buy into coming off the bench. You know what I mean? Like it's wild where the Lakers currently are and what appears to be the Bronx last year.

I did not agree with you more. Yeah, 100 percent. It's funny because I thought about that this morning. I might write some on the Lakers soon, but like, I feel like they, and mainly perhaps even LeBron, have lost sight of where they were last summer and early this season and starting 2 and 10. And so the idea of, you know, resigning Reeves, resigning Hachimura, resigning Russell perhaps, and growing, you know, what they had in the second half of last season does make a lot of sense to me. But it's like, oh, by the way, LeBron is not technically publicly told the world that he's for sure coming back. He is widely expected to be coming back, that he's not retiring, but that whole retirement subplot I always felt was kind of his way of saying, I'm not sure what I think of this roster. And, you know, I understand that it might not be the number one roster in the NBA, but it's wildly better than it was, like you said, early last season. And I do think it has potential if you give it a little bit of time. You know, he's not at a place in his career where time is on his side, and I get that.

But I do for sure think that it's their best option right now, and I think they're probably handling it the right way. Yeah, I mean, I would have loved to have had a camera on LeBron. I don't know, who was the one who told him Chris Paul was going to the Warriors?

Who was the one who broke that news to him? You know what I mean? Like, that would be an interesting moment in the world. No question.

And I think that that is, you know, if you could have given him something like that, that might have calmed the waters. And who knows if they have something else in the cards? One tree agency hits or trade lines. But, you know, and I get that.

But again, objectively and not emotionally, you look at that. And Chris, I actually think could be good for the Warriors. But, you know, you're talking about a 38-year-old Chris Paul. You know, the Lakers have a good thing going, and I think if LeBron gets behind it, I think they're going to have a good year.

All right, Sam, last one for you as we go into this very busy weekend. Give me the off-the-radar, and I know you don't traffic in rumor, you traffic in facts, but you got something for me that we keep an eye on that could go totally haywire this weekend that we're not thinking about right now? I mean, this is probably a little more macro than you're looking for, but I think it's still compelling, is I'm just looking at the New Orleans situation and how do they play it. You know, they didn't, they were not successful moving up in the draft. And then trying, you know, who knows to what degree they shopped Zion or, you know, and all the indications were that Brandon Ingram was actually more untouchable than Zion was. But they just, anytime you have a situation like that where if you think about it, Rich, man, like two months into last regular season, this was a team that was on top of the West and was, you know, unofficially getting crowned as like a West contender from henceforth.

And next thing you know, the wheels are falling off. The roster is not what you thought it was going to be, mainly because of health. They have since had some turmoil. Their head of training was kind of showing the exits. Teresa Weatherspoon, you know, one of Zion's confidants and an assistant coach, surprisingly, was not there anymore. Just a lot of upheaval, and I think a divide between ownership management and Zion. And so that that always is a recipe for something. I don't know what it leads to, but I don't think that Dave Graff and that Pelicans group are going to want to go into next season with that same exact group together.

Interesting. What about a smart, targeted veteran that wants to play with Victor Wembunyama and Pop in San Antonio? Not like a game changer, right? But it just seems to be such a smart Spurs move to find a savvy veteran that wants to join this young team just at the outset of a huge moment for the Spurs. That just sounds like a Spurs move to me, Sam.

It does. And I'm trying to think of who that might be. I mean, you know, one guy, not quite probably the level that you're talking about, but, you know, like I could see a Harrison Barnes out there, except that, you know, again, all signs are that Harrison's probably staying in Sacramento.

You know, I don't know who that guy is, but I agree. And it's also interesting, like I think the Spurs, they want to start winning games and they want Victor to have momentum in the early part of his career. But I don't think that they are trying to go out and get the kind of game changing free agent that it takes them completely out of the lottery balls, if you know what I mean.

No, I do. It's going to be a slow growth. Yeah, but it just strikes me, just go find that one guy who can fill it up and be smart and maybe whisper in the kid's ear a little bit, you know, and get off to a decent start.

That's the sort of thing I'm looking at, you know, never know. Yes, I agree. Although, man, if they don't find that guy, it doesn't get much better than having guys like Tim Duncan around and Dave Robinson around. And he's not going to be lacking for wisdom in that environment. And I think it's so cool. I mean, he said the other day in one of his interviews, I think this was actually on the J.J. Redick podcast, that if he and I don't think he's just blowing smoke. He said, if you could have told me going in to just pick a team that I wanted to be on, that I would have picked San Antonio. And I thought that was so neat because, yeah, it makes sense. But you know how it is a lot of times, you know, the young players are just looking at the big cities. And so to hear him say that, no, it was small market San Antonio with all that history and that he had such an awareness of what they had accomplished and why that would be a good environment for him. I thought that was pretty cool.

It helps to have Tony Parker and Boris Dio sign your checks. You know what I mean? That gives you an idea. Thanks for the call, Sam. Greatly appreciate it. Thanks for the time.

Let's talk soon. You got it. Thanks, Rich.

You bet. Let's follow at Sam underscore Amick on Twitter at S.R. Amick on Instagram.

And of course, the athletic for all of Sam's latest. Draymond, Jeremy Grant. He's cool. Siakam, Jeremy Grant. He's cool. Oji Ananobi.

He's cool. Does that really I mean, that's why you're saying screw it. Walk in there. Boris, burn it down and say, I'm out.

I'm out. Send me to Miami. One hundred percent.

Are we serious about winning? And I don't blame if the Blazers tell them, yeah, we don't we don't need Tyler Herro. How about that guy who thinks he's defensive player of the year? And that's the guy that, you know, yeah, he wants to play with. Right. The friends.

I'm not talking about Jimmy Butler either. All right, let's take a break here on the Rich Eisen Show, eight four four two oh four rich number to dial Rashaan Gary and Bob Costas and Pootie Tang. Yes, I said those words.

We'll talk, you know, Jordan Love with Rashaan Gary and Pootie Tang with Bob Costas. That's how we're rolling here on this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. Are you currently enjoying the show on the Stitcher app? Then you need to know Stitcher is going away on August twenty ninth.

Yep. Going away as in Kaput gone dead. Rest in peace, Stitcher. And thanks for 15 years of service to the podcast community. So switch to another podcast app and follow this show there.

Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Here is the connection just between me and JB Smoove. It involves the cult classic Pootie Tang. JB Smoove, JB Smoove is in Pootie Tang. Yes. And it goes without saying that without me, Pootie Tang is nothing.

There's not. You put the Tang in Pootie Tang. I did. I bet. I did.

Just like the astronauts. Hey, what's going on? JB!

JB Smoove! I'm back there. No, I'm back there. He was trash talking to me. I mean, I wasn't trash talking to you. Up to you, man. I was talking you up. No. When you came up I wasn't looking down on you. Any of you.

Anyone who looks up to me is a person I admire. Do you have any good from the set stories of Pootie Tang? No, we're never on the set together. Yeah. There's some great stories of Pootie Tang. Any man who can fight with a belt, right? How do you not have great stories?

There's a man when he had a ponytail and a belt, and had his own language. How did he not build a movie on that platform and have success? You know, it's a cult classic. People sit in their basement smoking the funny stuff while they watch it. Yeah, and you don't even need the funny stuff, although it helps.

It does help. It's a great movie. To be reunited with J.D. Smoove, my man. You're a bad brother. By the way, Bob said Pootie Tang five times during that interview.

And that's, so that's 22 fewer times than Marshawn Lynch said he was there to be fined. I'm gonna sign your pity on a runny kind, brother. And if you wanna try to stop me, I got, I got to say the name of him. Oh, you got to say the name of him. What is happening right now? Hi, S. Bob.

We'll be joining us with yet more tales from the set of Pootie Tang 22 years ago, debuting in a theater near you. That's coming up in hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show. Back here on our radio program with our stream on the Roku channel. Eric in New York, first in, first up. What's up, Eric? Hey, guys, how's everybody doing? We're in New York, you call it in from, Eric. What do you got?

We're, we're exactly. Manhattan. Manhattan.

Manhattan. Very good, how are you, Eric? What's going on? I'm great, thanks. But I wanna pose something to you.

Okay. Talking about Hal and the Yankees, you know, I thought, boy, you know, they're not making the World Series for years. It's Cashman, it's Boone, yada, yada. That interview on the Michael K Show told me it was Hal. He's a Steinbrenner, not exactly a George, but may I propose that who cares what people are doing on the field?

The advertising money's coming in, the Yes App ratings are coming in, Amazon's coming in, concession sales are coming in. Tell me, does it seem to you, as it does to some of us fans here, is this guy just in for the money and saying, well, we had a record year, but who cares about the team? No, I think, I don't know, I've never met him. And I just brought up the fact earlier on in the show, you know, Steve Cohen did a press conference and Hal called into a radio show. And there's a difference right there.

George would have called into a radio show, he would have called into multiple radio shows, he would have had his guy, Harold Rubenstein, send out a press release to the Daily News and the New York Post and Newsday, and then he would have held a press conference. And that would have been too much in a way, maybe? I don't know. It is a different way of going about it where he will just let it play out. And I don't know what makes him tick. All in all, he's kept the team, you know? I mean, it is still a family operation, technically.

So I don't know. I do wish he had a little bit more of Steve Cohen in him where a loss affects him personally, that it means that much to him, or at least express that. And I guess maybe as I pointed out at the top of the show that you're marathoning, you're not sprinting in baseball, one night you have one hit that goes over the wall and that's your only run of the game. Next night, you score 11. One start, you give up eight runs.

Next one, you throw a perfect game. But that shows inconsistency. I need to see a little bit better consistency from the Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Rays are certainly consistent. Orioles are more consistent than the Yanks. The Rangers are more consistent than the Yanks. The Braves are more consistent than the Yanks. The Arizona Diamondbacks are right now more consistent than the New York Yankees. So that's a problem.

How does that sound for a very long-winded answer to you? No, you're absolutely right. I think that these other owners, especially Steve Cohen, I mean, the guy's saying, take, you know, here's a blank check, write a number. But with Hal, you know, oh, Cashman's a member of the family.

I think Boone is doing great. There was a time when every year, I mean, even when I was a kid, are the Yankees supposed to be in the World Series every year? They're supposed to be winning every year? And listen, a few years, okay, I understand that, but a decade where the Yankees didn't win or were even in the World Series? Yeah, it's definitely not our lifetime, Eric.

Thank you very much. There's Eric in Manhattan, right here on the program, filling up Chris Brockman's mug with Yankee tears. Same thing with you over there. But the Yanks are in the mix. Yanks are in the mix. They just need Aaron Judge to get back and see what happens there. But, and Giancarlo Stanton, overall, he has had some great October nights, but overall, since he's been a Yankee, totally disappointing. The whole Yankee team has been disappointing. Don't you remember you thought Derek Jeter gave him away for nothing to the Yankees, right?

You were so upset. I don't think that he did. Or he got $300 million off his payroll.

He got him gone. And look at how the Marlins are faring right now. And I'm not saying that's Jeter. I'm not giving Jeter credit for that. But Jeter cleared the runway for the rebuild.

I'm not giving Jeter credit for this rebuild and choosing the players that are on the field right now. But Stanton got cleared off that payroll. I mean, Stanton's hitting 197 right now. If he keeps on doing this, his average might mimic his exit velocity. I mean, the number of times it's a, well, that ground ball was hit 115 miles an hour.

Who cares? More strikeouts and hits for Stanton. He's having a rough year right now. Again. Just have him play the Mets every game. There you go. I know, right.

844, 204, Rich, number to dial. Rashawn Gary, the Packers, coming up. Yeah, he's in his sixth season with the Yankees. Only has 118 home runs. He certainly didn't expect a 20 home run a year average when you trade for that guy.

Yeah. And you are so upset. You're like, Yankees got him for nothing, Jeter gave the way. But if you have a monster-sized contract on your ledger and the guy does not, he underperforms. He doesn't even perform the same way as he was performing.

Just can't say healthy. I mean, 18 games in 2019, he played, I mean, everyone only played a shortened season in 2020, but he only played 23 games and only 32 games this year. I mean, that's not what you're signing up for. When he's been healthy, he's performed 38 home runs in 18, 35 and 21, 31 and 22. That's what you're expecting. But the problem is, it's homer or nothing. Like that's baseball now. Nah, not what I'm seeing. Some of the, that doesn't look like that way for me with the Rays. Doesn't look like that way for me. I guess, well, the Rays lead the league in home runs.

Doesn't look that way for me for the, but they also produce runs with just moving people around. They don't just sit back and wait for the home run. That's what the Yankees do. It's infuriating. It's like every year. Somebody gets on, we need a two run homer.

Somebody gets on, then another person walks. The other day when Harrison Bader hit a double to put them up in the eighth inning, it's just like, wow, I don't notice what that is. Didn't leave the yard and the Yankees actually got two runs for it.

What is that? 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 probably just ran home. Theories of the Third Kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.