REShow: Kurt Helin - Hour 2 (7-3-2023)

This OMG is the Rich Eisen Show. No other way to put it. With guest host Brian Weber.

Oh my gosh. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'm not talking to you. I talk to anybody out there. Haters. Rich Eisen.

I talk to the haters right now. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. It's another hour of the program and always a phenomenal opportunity whenever I have a chance to sit in for Rich. Although a great deal of pressure. An Emmy nominated program with the magnificent simulcast streaming. Most days, not today. I haven't got the call up yet.

I'm still AAA bride. But Rich and the fellows are in studio. I hope you check them out on the Roku channel which is offering more and more sports content by the week.

844-204-7424 is the phone number. Twitter warming up. Still working. I just checked out the Twitterverse a couple seconds ago. B. W. Weber.

Weber with two B's. It was a lot of me in the first hour of the program. We'll expand the conversation. Coming up in 20 minutes, talking more NBA in addition to what I'm going to tackle presently when we say hello to Curt Halen, lead NBA rider for nbcsports.com.

Coming up, last hour of the show, 2.20 eastern time. We'll take you around the NFL, not manufacturing topics. There are significant items to discuss with Jason Cole, longtime football writer, author of Elway, A Relentless Life. You can read his work on outkick.com. Where is DeAndre Hopkins going to land?

How about Dalvin Cook? We'll cover that and the other salient topics once we move deeper into the program. Let's tip things off, talking more NBA, but I did promise that baseball was part of the plan. So, if you're getting a little bit full, although I want to be fully transparent, I'm with you all week, the centerpiece of our time together is going to be NBA moves. Thankfully, I am not forced to do all Kyrie radio all the time. Quick sidebar on Kyrie.

Wasn't it a phenomenal development just from the standpoint of being fully sarcastic? When the news quote unquote broke that Kyrie was planning on taking a meeting with the Suns, which would not have worked on any level, Phoenix has no money. Remember, when they added Beall to the existing nucleus, because people forget DeAndre Ayton, who they're going to keep, Frank Vogel is a skilled coach with big men. Anybody can coach a healthy Anthony Davis. The problem is he's rarely healthy, but go back to what Vogel did with Roy Hibbert when those Pacer teams had deep playoff performances, making it all the way to the conference finals. I think Vogel can jumpstart Ayton's career. But you have Ayton alongside Booker, alongside Durant, alongside Beall. Kyrie was not gonna play for $37. It was the most obtuse on a big word Monday. It was the most obvious, transparent leverage play in NBA history.

And it was clear he wasn't going anywhere. And we'll talk more coming up when we check in with Curt Heelan about from a strictly basketball-fit point of view. Are there any reasons to believe that Kyrie plus Luka is going to lead to a better outcome than the buckle that we saw in Dallas, a team that imploded? Now, if you're a Mav fan, you say, okay, small sample size, give them more time together, things will get better. Call me a cynic because I actually watch a lot of NBA on NBA TV.

It just doesn't seem to work. Luka is so ball dominant. Yes, he wants more help.

I don't know that Kyrie is the right running mate, but until Luka forces his way out, because that's what happens in the NBA, they're stuck together in the near term. But we'll get to the baseball coming up in 10 minutes. Otani, every time I'm flipping around, does something transformative. Shohei, home run number 31 yesterday. He's now tracking on virtually the same pace as Aaron Judge.

You got the 62, you'll recall, of course, setting the American League record a year ago. Otani also with a share of the RBI lead. He's in the top five when it comes to his pitching skills in the category of strikeouts. But I'm going to make the case, and I hope you agree with me, it seems like he's still underrated. And certainly not getting the national acclaim he deserves, that's coming up. But Lillard is dominating the conversation.

I spent a lot of time in the first hour of the program, hopefully not too tediously, going through the potential scenarios with the clear destinations. And there's a gulf between Miami and everybody else, but Philadelphia would be too when I keep throwing out maybe Brooklyn. Utah is intriguing because of what Danny Ainge is able to do as a skilled negotiator and packaging things right.

Maybe the Spurs, that seems like a long shot. But since things leak for a reason, and it wasn't even your typical NBA insider dropping an obvious hit, all you have to do is go back to Damian Lillard on a podcast when he was asked about potential destinations, and he raved about Miami for reasons that you can quickly deduce. Because he has wasted years, in my view, due to loyalty. He should have forced his way out of Portland a long time ago. Blazers did nothing to help him.

Now, they don't have any obligation. They can run the franchise any way they want to, but Lillard does not owe Portland a thing anymore. I can understand if you're a Blazer fan, you're agitated. I get it.

Fan is short for fanatic. But he served his time. A lot of NBA stars would have demanded the trade a long time ago. The dilemma now becomes, because it's so clear that he wants to go to Miami, back to the leverage play. Well, Miami has no incentive to give Portland anything more than the bare minimum. And if we're just going through, and this gets more deep, deep, deep in the weeds that I want to for a platform like this, but if you're going to go find a podcast or throw it in the old trade machine, Miami's collection of assets, with Tyler Herro leading the way, will be the least attractive, potentially, of any team that Portland is looking to do business with. So it comes back to the notion of, does Portland owe Dame anything? Well, you can make the argument, not anymore, because he's not going to play for them anymore. Now, that sounds crass.

And that seems like a latest example of a tough way to do business. And I don't know if Portland wants to be viewed that way, especially in a league in which superstars run the show, because then who is going to accept, unless they're drafted, like Scoot-Anderson, who I think is going to be a terrific player. And I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. The phone number is 844-204-7424.

You can hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, will keep this opening monologue a bit more concise, because coming up in 15 minutes, we'll say hello to Curt Heelan, lead NBA writer for nbcsports.com. But Portland is under the obligation to maximize what they can get for Lillard in return. And Miami right now does not have to step up.

They can sit there. And Pat Riley has played this poker game for a long time. He knows what he's doing. And I think that's why this situation is going to take longer than it should, because Portland then only has a response of putting the phone back on the hook and waiting and trying to come up with other potential destinations, because that's the only leverage they're going to have. Because at this point, we know Lillard wants out and we know he wants to go to Miami. And it was fascinating to see how things radically and quickly change, because just over a week ago, you had the statement from the Blazers, we met with Damon as agent, we all have the same mindset, we're going to work together. And then suddenly on Saturday, you had the report from the athletic, Dave wants out, and he wants out now.

I want to Oompa Loompa and I want it now. What changed? I think Lillard looked around and saw the deals that were developing and the free agent signings that were making rosters more set than the mixing and matching that could have occurred once the free agent window opened and looked around and said, okay, well, my situation is not changing. We know that Portland is not going to be competing for anything for a long time. They're tearing it down to the studs to rebuild after years of being stuck in the middle.

I do recall they made a conference final, but that feels like ancient history. So with Portland now moving into obscurity in the near term, that was the incentive for Damon to say goodbye to the Northwest. And then, as you think about how he made it clear he was going to be made it clear he was going to Miami, I think he is signaling to the Blazers, you got to take care of me because I gave you better than a decade's worth of service.

You gave me very little help. CJ McCollum was his most trusted running mate and a complementary talent. They shipped him out. And after that, it was all game all the time on a team that had moved into the ranks of basketball Siberia.

So he played the PR card to the best of his advantage, making it clear that I would appreciate giving everything I've done for this franchise if you took care of me. Well, Portland doesn't have to do that. They should in my estimation, but they also have a franchise to run. So I think as we move forward, and I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen, conversation never stops on Twitter, that's B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. As the days move along, and we might be on Damian Lillard, watch, watch, watch, for weeks, will another team jump in? Will the Clippers, for example, get involved? Because if the Clippers have interest in James Harden, wouldn't you have more interest in Damian Lillard? Especially because the other key pillars on that roster, namely Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, always get hurt.

You can't rely on them at all. Well, however you view Lillard, and I don't find a lot of people bashing Lillard other than angry Blazer fans now, the dude plays. There's no load management when it comes to Dame. And you have an owner in Steve Ballmer who can spend whatever it takes, and this again will get us on the cusp of getting bogged down in minutia, but the new collective bargaining agreement, you're hearing terms like the second apron, the biggest takeaway is the league wants it to be more punitive for teams to exceed the luxury tax. Well, who can write a check of any size? Who has the deepest pockets in the NBA, and arguably in all of sports? Steve Ballmer. And he's got to be tired of his franchise being virtually irrelevant in Southern California and making no impact nationally because of the consistent injuries to Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. So that's, to me, the most interesting part of this entire process and why I think it's going to take longer than a lot of NBA observers are forecasting. Because if Portland wants the best package in return, they need more bidders to drive up the price. Why wouldn't Boston kick the tires on Dame Lillard? And yeah, you run the risk of alienating Jalen Brown, who clearly never got over the fact that his name was connected to potential Kevin Durant trade talk. But if the interest is to assemble the best roster, it's got to be more than just Miami, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Utah, San Antonio involved. If Portland wants to do the best they can to maximize this deal, they need to cast a very wide net. I'm Brian Weber, Monday edition, kicking off a long holiday week of the Rich Eisen Show.

You can hop aboard at 844-204-7424. More NBA coming up in less than 10 minutes when we check in with Curt Hedlund, lead NBA writer for mbcsports.com. Let's just do a little bit of baseball here, in addition to the latest acknowledgement of the brilliance of Otani. And I get paid, theoretically, to be a wordsmith and to come up with different ways of saying relatively the same thing, because I'll take you behind the curtain. In the audio industry, many of you do not spend the entire three hours with me.

Now, I find that jarring. It's a huge blow to my ego, but especially on a day like today, a lot of you are in and out of the car. So part of my job is to quote-unquote play the hits, stick with the biggest stories. So the repetition comes down to, a la what we just did with Damian Lillard, stick with the biggest topic and have a different slant. Otani, though, as much as I want to be a wordsmith, leads me to run out of superlatives.

And it's trite, but there's a degree of truth. What more can we say about him? Other than the people, and I love freezing cold takes and old takes exposed, who said, and I may or may not have been part of this crowd.

I burned the tapes, but I'll be straight up with you. Of course, I had doubts when he arrived from Japan about his ability to be a two-way star. Why? Because we haven't seen it since Babe freaking Ruth.

There is no comp. We have the adjective of Ruthian for a reason. And this just in, Otani is exceeding what Ruth did, both as a pitcher and to a degree, he's matching him as a hitter in a wildly different baseball landscape. So, and I will do my best. I want to talk more Otani later this week as it'll be on the mound coming up tomorrow. Where does Otani rank, and I don't do lists, I don't do Mount Rushmore, but I'll throw it out there. Hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's.

Where does Otani rank on the most underrated athletes of our collective lifetime? And I'll take you again behind the scenes. While I hope it's clear, I pride myself on a enthusiastic delivery. I'm old and I sound.

I'm in my early 50s. I've been watching baseball a long time, and my monkey trick, my dog and pony show that got me on the air when I was 21 was I was an amateur historian, especially at baseball. I knew a lot about a lot. I can't give you anything that is reminiscent of what Otani is doing in any sport other than Ruth, and I don't have to go into all the reasons why. That's not even a direct comparison because there's no way you can align modern baseball with what was going on in the 1920s.

So help me out, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. Give me somebody more underrated than Otani and more overlooked, because all this guy does is create history, and he's cranking out home runs that are gargantuan shots at a Ruthian pace, and he's still top five on the mountain strikeouts, and I don't know how many people care. Now, some of that speaks to we don't love baseball the way we used to.

I get it. Audience is never wrong, but if you have tuned out, if you're a lapsed fan and I am part of that crowd in general, I would suggest, especially on a week like this week, just flip around and see if you enjoy the product more than you think that you might or more than you did when you walked away. And the analytics development crushed so much of what made baseball special because it became all or nothing at all. All about exit velo, swing for the fences, don't put the ball in play on the ground because you're wasting it out, and it changed everything along with the shift. The pitch clock has been an amazing addition. If you've gone to a game in person, it actually moves a bit too quickly.

If you're used to the old rhythms of how you'd have a conversation or take a bite of your hot dog or shovel some ice cream in your face, if you don't look up, you're going to miss something. So baseball finally, after being stubborn and archaic, got with the times. Beyond Otani, they've also been very fortunate with a confluence of brilliant young players. Have you been watching what Corbin Carroll's been doing in Arizona? Guy's just 22 years old, already this year, better than 20 home runs and 20 steals. How about LA De La Cruz and Cincinnati? Six foot five as an infielder, and the comp to Mickey Mantle is not outrageous. And when was the last time I mentioned Cincinnati or someone of my ilk mentioned Cincinnati baseball? Eric Davis matching up against the A's in the World Series? Big Red Machine? The Reds have been so poorly run with absolutely horrendous ownership for so long that other than in the old days when they would have opening day in Cincinnati, the Reds have been completely irrelevant for years. But finally, they've drafted well, and they have a transformational talent.

And De La Cruz, you got Luis Arias flirting with 400. Nobody cares. So I'm not telling you how to spend your leisure time. But if you've drifted away from baseball, owe yourself the opportunity to have an open mind.

And I think if you flip around, it's a better watch than you think a specially if you land on an angel game because Otani continues to amaze. I'm Ryan Webber in for Rich Eisen. Tell me I'm wrong.

I typically am. 844-204-7424. Hit me up on Twitter. B.W. Webber, Webber with two B's.

Straight ahead, we'll meander back to the NBA. In addition to the Damian Lillard conversation, which team helped themselves out the most over the weekend and for agency looking forward to checking in with Curt Heelan, lead NBA writer for NBC Sports.com. All part of a jam packed edition on a Monday of the Rich Eisen Show.

Brian Webber in for Rich. It's the Rich Eisen Show. The average on farm income in the United States was a loss of $1,100. 60% of U.S. pork comes from one company wholly owned by the Chinese, and farmers are more likely to commit suicide than veterans.

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That's definitely not a problem. Reese's, you did it. You stumped this charming devil. Welcome back to the rich eyes and show radio network. Brian Weber with you. I'm sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by ranger with supplies and solutions for every industry ranger has the right product for you.

Call click ranger.com or just stop by let's continue the hoops talk with one of the best in the business and old friend Kurt Hill and lead MBA rider for nbcsports.com. Kurt, I appreciate you taking the time during a holiday week and I know how busy you are. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm trying to, yeah, it's been fun trying to fit all this in while also moving my daughter back up to Santa Barbara in college for the weekend. So it's been a lot of fun.

Father of the year honoree. I'm putting you on the top of the list right now. Okay, well, we'll value your time before you have to throw your back out once more moving a couch. You and I have been talking about Damian Lillard potentially leaving Portland for a long time. In some ways, I think Dame has been too patient.

So how do we get to the tipping point of this trade demand occurring now? I think he realized, I mean, he has been really patient. He really didn't want to leave. He, I mean, he just built a new home there. I imagine he retires there. This is not a city and frankly, a franchise he's going to abandon. He is not looking for a deal that leaves them high and dry. I think it just finally reached a point where I think where all of us kind of realized it was going, which is this team forget contending.

I know everybody tries to use that word. This team wasn't really going to be competitive. I mean, they just, Scoot Henderson, I think is going to be special, but he's, I mean, he's a rookie. He's going to take some time, right? I think that they've got some potential with their young core, but it was, it just finally got to the point where he's like, I'm in my thirties.

I'm still playing at my peak. I am still an all NBA, incredible, you know, 30 point a game player, but if I'm going to win, I've got to do it in the next couple of years and I need to go somewhere I can. And so he's trying to get to Miami where he rightfully believes he can.

Does Portland O name anything? Namely, do they have a mindset of, okay, we're going to do the right thing and send you to Miami like you want things to play out? I wouldn't go with O, but I would say that this is, this is an amicable divorce. This isn't two sides trying to look to screw each other over in the, you know, this isn't the war of the roses, right? Like they're not, they're not trying to message for, that's a dated movie reference lost on most of your audience, but like it's like, they're not going at each other that way. So I think that they want to try to help him, but they also need to get the best deal possible. And part of the problem is that Miami doesn't have that. And Brooklyn can walk in the door tomorrow with, you know, four or five picks first round picks on the table and Miami's got to find a way to make a three team deal that works for everybody and gets Lillard there while getting Portland what it wants.

Yeah, and I was going to follow up with that. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, talking hoops with Curt Heelan, lead NBA writer for nbcsports.com. So given how negotiations work and you throw in a possible third team, how long is this going to take?

Ah, there's the question. And plus this drags out the Harden saga because like the Clippers won't get involved until they know they're completely out of the, any shot at Lillard as they should because Lillard's just a superior player at this point. Days, I would not be surprised, frankly, at this point, if this certainly after the fourth is my and I'm wrong on this stuff all the time, probably certainly after the fourth.

And if you told me that it breaks on the seventh or eighth, like while everybody's at summer league, that seems really reasonable to me that it's going to take that kind of time for everybody to kind of find. I mean, this could end up being a very tricky 14 deal that includes trades we've already discussed that get folded into it, it's going to be massive by the time it's done. Let's go through some of the free agent moves. And I never believed for a minute that Kyrie was going anywhere. And I love the fact that he was gonna have this alleged meeting with the Suns. And then what he re up with Dallas 20 minutes into the window.

So now that we know he's going to be on the Mavs for the foreseeable future. Kurt, are there any reasons to believe that he and Luca as a tandem are going to be a better fit than they were during this disaster of a season? There's a little in that a they're going to put hopefully more shooting around them, they get a good center combo to kind of work. You know, they drafted lively out of Duke. They're still looking at centers that they might be able to bring in. And beyond that, I think just time, I think that they really didn't because of injuries and everything else. They just did not get a lot of time together on the court. And what happens when they get a training camp and plenty of time to kind of work this out? I think it can be better. How good is a different question? I don't know that their ceiling is where they want it to be.

But I think it can be smoother than it was. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Isom. We're taking you across the NBA with Curt Hale and lead NBA writer for nbcsports.com. You mentioned the informed speculation that James Harden could wind up on the Clippers. So if the big three on the clips is Harden, Paul George, who unfortunately now like Kyrie Irving is injury prone, where would you put the clips in the balance of power in the West if they add Harden?

Okay, so every day on his way to the practice facility, Tyloo is going to pull into a church and light a candle and pray for help. If they're healthy, there is I mean, we've been saying this about the Clippers for a while, but it remains true. If they're fully healthy and functioning, they are as dangerous as anybody in the West. And if you want evidence of that, go watch the games between the Clippers, the playoff games between the Clippers and Suns before Kawhi gets hurt. He's the best player on the floor. He is absolutely a force of nature.

When he's right. He's very good. Paul George is a great fit off of him. James Harden can work in there.

That is a powerful trio. You just got to get them to the playoffs healthy. And I I've reached the point, Brian, where I've tapped out. I just think what are the odds on all three of them getting physically to it to the playoffs physically in the state, they need to be in 25%. Like I've just kind of tapped out on it. But their ceiling is ridiculously high.

Feels like a Haley's comment situation. We do everything to align if you have those three all on the court at the same time. So we're now in the business of declaring winners and losers and folks in your profession handing out grades, summing up how teams have done it for agency. A lot of people are raving about the Lakers, and I'm not bashing what Rob Palink has done, keeping the core group intact, namely Reeves and Hajimora. But if I'm just looking at, say, bringing back DeAngelo Russell and they got him in a discount, but losing Schroeder.

And since you mentioned UC Santa Barbara, we're all big fans of Gabe Vincent. I don't think the Lakers did that great. What would be your evaluation? Actually, I think they did really well, just because they the Lakers inclination and we saw it with the Russell Westbrook trade is just they do need somebody to get them through the more to get them through the regular season. They can't ask LeBron James and Anthony Davis at their age at LeBron's age with Anthony Davis's injury history to play for 82 games like they did in the playoffs when they were absolute force. You've got to find a way. And that's where kind of DeAngelo Russell comes in.

I got a feeling this is one of those. DeAngelo, we really need you to ball out for 82 games. And then we're going to basically give your minutes to Gabe Vincent because we know what he can do in the playoffs. I think that they have put all the right pieces around LeBron and Anthony Davis. I think they're going to be a little better than they were next year. They get more time together under Darvin Ham in the system.

They're not going to be a great rate. This is a team more built for the postseason. They're going to be a good regular season team that four seed, five seed kind of depends on how healthy Golden State and all these other teams are. But we get to the playoffs.

I think they are. If LeBron and AD are right, that's a team that's incredibly dangerous because now they have depth and versatility around them. So they're not a team built for the first 82, but those last 16 could be very, very good.

A couple more and they'll let you go back to the U-Haul. I thought it was very important that Milwaukee kept that core intact. So if we're talking about significant developments, where do you slot Middleton Stang and Lopez? I think that's a key signee to make sure that Giannis has that same support group around him because as much as we love what Miami did in the postseason, I think so many people forget that Giannis was hurt and a lot of those games were flaky.

Yes, and it's funny, I was just writing this up before having to run to get somebody wi-fi. I was just writing this up. I think they've had a really good offseason, not just because they inked those guys back, but they did a much shorter term deal. It's three years for Middleton. It's two for Brook Lopez. Look, Lopez is 35. The regression is coming.

We just don't know how steep and when, but it's coming. They insulated themselves from that. This was, like you said, best record in the NBA last year. And if Giannis, I think they took Miami lightly and they just can't do that with Miami, but also you throw in the Giannis injury and they just don't get past them. But I still think that they are absolute title contenders and they had to keep it together, but be ready to set themselves up to pivot in a couple years because the roster is getting old and expensive and I think they did a really good job of setting themselves up for two years from now pivoting to whatever is going to be next around Giannis who still will only be, I think, 30. Final thought on Lillard since we started there. So I agree with your assessment and thank you for getting into the actual elements of how the trade could come together, maybe a third team, so it could take a while. Let's presume Dame winds up in Miami. How much does that change the overall landscape? If Damian Lillard were on the Heat, matching up against the Nuggets, and I realize they lost Bruce Brown and Green, but if Miami had Lillard last year, are we talking about a seven-game series or is Denver still a better team?

That's a really good question. If they've had Lillard, as they will in this case, for a year to make it all work out, like they didn't just land him at the deadline to try to throw this together. I think that, yeah, seven-game series, I think that that's a very, like the thing that Lillard brings on top of all his skills is he might be the most clutch player in the NBA, or one of them, right? Like he's at or near the top of that list.

So yeah, him in the playoffs, that's just fantastic for them. I appreciate the time as always. Where does one go to get Wi-Fi?

You mentioned that you had to step away from your next assignment. Is there a Wi-Fi store? I missed that, Kurt. There's not a Wi-Fi store.

You're going to the local cable provider, and that's what the landlord suggested, so we're going that route. Father of the year, and while you're there, get War of the Roses on demand. When's the last time you saw Kathleen Turner sharing the screen with Michael Douglas? It's been a minute. You know the best part about that movie is that they just never are nice to each other.

Every time you're like, it can't get worse, it absolutely gets worse. I'm not married, but my friends who are would tell you that's a documentary, not a comedy, Kurt. Appreciate the time, my friend. We'll chat soon. Thanks so much. Take care, man. Kurt Healy, lead NBA writer, nbcsports.com, multitasking, not only taking care of his daughter, but passing along NBA thoughts, and I'll throw that out to you.

Hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, and I'll disagree a little bit with Kurt, and this will be the focal point of how we jump into the final hour of the program. So put Lillard on Miami, and Kurt raises a good distinction, because in my scenario, it would have been Lillard joining the Heat at the trade deadline, so not a full year for the roster to come together, but Lillard plus Butler plus Bam Adebayo. Now, losing pieces like Gabe Vinson, but I mentioned that Denver's lost some of the supporting cast like Brown and Green. Even with Lillard on Miami, I still think Denver's a team to beat, because you have to tell me at 8442047424, how are you slowing down Jokic, and if you concede he's getting his, what's your answer for Murray?

Because that effectively was Miami's game plan, and we know how that worked out, it was a gentleman's sweep. Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, looking for your tweets. I'm the tweet hunter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. One more guest coming up next hour on the program, we'll talk a little bit more NFL with Jason Cole, author of Elway, A Relentless Life. Straight ahead, I'm going to follow the overall philosophy of this program, because nobody blends sports and entertainment better than Mr. Eisen.

I haven't seen it yet, it's on the agenda, but the latest Indiana Jones sequel, the finale, did not do Bothell box office, as we say here in La La Land, but that franchise has had a lot of high points along the way, so using that word franchise, it got me thinking, what's the best run franchise in all of sports right now? Details coming up. I'm Brian Weber, I appreciate you spending time with us as we're live on this July 3rd edition of the program. We roll on, on 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 29th.

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. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen and the fellas. Always an honor to keep the chair warm, and I'm hoping to have a conversation with you at 844-204-7424. Good news if you enjoy some of what I'm putting out there. I'm here all week.

I guess that also could be a challenge for you on a holiday week, but we keep it moving. BW Weber, Weber with two B's. I try not to overwhelm you with too much repetition, so I'm doing my best to have a balanced show, understanding that Damon Lillard's going to be the focal point as we move into the final hour of the program, but it's not going to be all NBA all the time. Fact coming up at 2-20 Eastern Time. We'll integrate our second and final guest taking you across the NFL, trying to figure out where DeAndre Hopkins is going.

How about Dalvin Cook? We'll cover it all when we say hello to an old friend, Jason Cole, author of Elway A Relentless Life. Nobody merges sports and entertainment better than Mr. Eisen. That's why this show was so unique, and I'm always fired up when I get the call to come out of the bullpen. So as I was thinking about things I wanted to get into today, and we do have some rules, but if you come in and talk about the greatest sports movies of all time, I don't think that warrants a call back. Just how I handle my business, but Rich talks more about the connection and the connective tissue, if you will, of sports and entertainment than anybody, and he does it so skillfully.

I think Rich will appreciate my thought process here. I have yet to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I will check it out. In fact, if I just wanted to make this at the movies with B-web, and you should check out my podcast available on Odyssey, wherever you get your podcast, I could spend the rest of the show giving you vivid memories of when I saw the original Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981.

How do I know? I was there. I remember when I got the Raiders of the Lost Ark video game, which now looks like it was made in a cave with people drawing on the walls based on the evolution of CGI and everything else. So I'm a huge Indiana Jones guy other than Shia LaBeouf. They lost me there. So I'm glad that the franchise, the series of flicks, is not going to end on that lousy film.

I have yet to see the new one, Dial of Destiny, although I am a bit surprised and I didn't update this, but as of my last checking, which was last night, and they'll give you more information tomorrow, probably Wednesday, because nobody's working tomorrow. It's July 4th, after all. Only 60 million at the box office so far for this Indiana Jones sequel. To give you a little bit of perspective, it cost 295 million before marketing. So the expectation was this thing was going to generate maverick kind of dollars because, candidly, as we've all gotten used to watching whatever we want on our couch and a lot of people, I get it, don't have the flexibility when it comes to disposable income to go to movies anymore. Movies are expensive.

I used to go to a ton of them. I was trying to lay off the popcorn to be fully open with you. The idea was that Tom Cruise could open a movie, as he's going to do again with the latest installment of Mission Impossible, but Harrison Ford is part of that generation of actual movie stars. Do we have to go through the body of work? Not a stat compiler, but you put together Han Solo, Indy, Jack Ryan, and a lot of other terrific flicks.

Ford is going to get butts in seats, but apparently not too much. So it got me thinking. Oh, more movie trivia, as I was scanning your tweets. B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs, we're less than 11 minutes away from the final hour of the program, back to Damian Lillard takeaways.

If it's not Miami, what's the best potential landing spot and how much can Portland get in return? That's coming up. Back to the Future, the original film released 38 years ago today. If I was Haki Magoo, I would just do, what's the best franchise in film history?

And I'll self-report, I've never seen one minute of any of the Fast and Furious movies. And I'm not trying to be contrarian. It just did nothing for me. Now, from what I've heard, it makes no sense.

They're just putting people from the Marvel universe. But again, I'll save that for my podcast. So as I took the meandering road to get there, I'm thinking franchises as to what's going to drive people into the cinema palaces. What is the best run franchise in all of sports right now? And you certainly can no longer say the New England Patriots. And let's stop with the Patriot way.

Know what the Patriot way was? Tom Brady at the end of his career. At the beginning it was transcendent defense, Tom Brady as a game manager, and bending the rules.

Spygate and everything else. But the Patriots undeniably have become just another franchise. Eight games won last year. I was looking at the Vegas projections, have them sitting on eight games coming up this season in a division that's gotten much better clearly with the addition of Aaron Rodgers. So you're looking at Buffalo right there with Kansas City and Philadelphia amongst Super Bowl favorites. Although Buffalo's got to show me more than that lackluster performance at home, very flat emotionally losing to Cincinnati in the playoffs. I realize a lot of that probably connected to DeMar Hamlin, which is a miracle.

He is back on the practice field. But if you're slotting the teams in the AFC East, clearly Patriots are rock bottom, rock bottom, behind Miami, behind the Jets, and behind Buffalo. So we have to divorce ourselves of the notion that New England is some special magical place now.

They're just another team. Belichick's going to hang on, speaking of stat compilers, because he's got one goal left. That's to have one more win at least in Don Chula, walk away with the all-time coaching victory record. Although if you're Robert Kraft at 82 years old, I'm not saying he's going to fire Bill Belichick, but don't you have higher expectations? And if you've been listening carefully, Kraft has been putting out messages like that.

I asked at a recent public appearance as to what would make this year special, and he said, how about a seventh ring? That ain't happening. I don't think New England's even going to sniff the playoffs, but if I'm going to answer my question, and that usually is the goal, what is the best run franchise in all of sports? Can't be the Yankees anymore. Yankees really scuffling without Aaron Judge, and still not clear when he's coming back from that toe injury that he suffered after he fell into the fence at Dodger Stadium. When's the last time the Yankees even played in the World Series? Ponder that. The best run franchise in all of sports, not the Spurs anymore, but magically they got another transcendent, big men and big men, to join their past heritage of big men with the Admiral and Tim Duncan, and when he's going to change everything.

But if I have to come up with the single best, best run franchise in sports right now, it is the Chiefs. And that's what makes Travis Kelce's comments in the latest profile as he's now making the media circuit, promoting his podcast, dabbling in some acting. He's in Vanity Fair.

I read the article. It was very interesting when he talked about, quote unquote, being underpaid, but he made it clear that he didn't want to sound like he was not appreciative of the ability to play with Patrick Mahomes because if we're just talking about deserves, who deserves more money at the tight end position than Kelce? If you haven't looked at the updated rankings, Giants overpaid Darren Waller in a big way, 17 mil to leave Vegas. George Kittle right there with Kelce, but Kelce's numbers are video game-esque. He's making a little bit more than Kelce. Kelce's at 14-3, Kittle at 15. Kelce making my point for me saying that, yeah, he saw Tyreek Hill leave Kansas City for the massive payday, but what did that get him? And what did it get Kelce for staying another year in Kansas City? Another ring because of the stability of the Hunt family, because of the coaching acumen of Andy Reid, and because of the best quarterback in all of football in Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs.

Clearly the best-run franchise in all of sports. Closing in on the final hour of the program, hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs.

We'll tip things off with more Damian Lillard conversation as we continue on a busy 3rd of July. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich, it's the Rich Eisen Show. How wrestling really works and how you get the ratings. Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson explain on 83 weeks. Collision has been struggling a little bit out of the gate with these ticket sales. A little bit out of the gate. This was a major show announced on a major network with what everybody thought was this huge star, CM Punk. I said he was going to be the biggest financial flop in wrestling history and I think I'm being proven right every minute of the day. 83 weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen.