REShow: Jim Jackson - Hour 2

Check this out. This is the Rich Eisen Show. No, man. You already took one mic from me, baby.

Ain't gonna take another. I got something to say. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. Today I can't give the game everything on the floor. Today I'll be dumb. Lucky for you guys, that day is not today. The Rich Eisen Show. I'm excited.

I think they should just look forward to it and embrace it. Today's guests. Fox Sports NBA analyst, Jim Jackson. Chargers running back, Austin Eckler.

Plus, your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Ah, yes. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Jim Jackson's gonna join us in about 20 minutes time. The longtime NBA player from The Ohio State University. And now with Turner Sports, he's gonna be joining us in about 20 minutes time to discuss what we all know is good times with the association. And we're waiting on what's going on with Damian Lillard. We're waiting to see what's going on with the association in general. One thing that I was not waiting on with the NBA at all, as we're waiting on what's going on with Lillard, we're waiting on what's going on with Harden. One thing that I was not waiting on at all was whether LeBron James was gonna announce he was coming back for 21st season. I'm straight up.

I'm straight up with you. I know he left it open-ended at the end of last season. But I didn't think- He did that to take away from the fact that the Nuggets had just swept him.

I don't know about that. So many aspects of LeBron's world- Calculating and- They are calculated. And I think last night was scripted and put together for sure. Now I think that, but for you to sit there and think that I'm gonna go into this game and if we get swept, I'm gonna make it seem like it's open-ended. You know, we can't give LeBron the same 20th to 21st season leeway as you would give anybody else that maybe he is done.

Maybe it is something that he has done. And so I will give it a benefit of the doubt that it's just end of the season. He's hurt again. He's not 100% again. We don't know how much is in fact something that he can put into his day and night to get ready for a game. I mean, I will give him that leeway. But you really think he's going into that postgame press conference saying, I'm gonna leave it open-ended as to whether I'm retiring because I want people to talk about that. Now, not how the Nuggets curb stomped the team.

Yes. But they weren't supposed to be in that position. Rich, the next day after that happened- The Lakers overperformed! We came in here and talked- No, well, they made all these changes at the break and they were a really good team.

Chris Mannix had them in the NBA Finals, remember? He was one of the only ones. You didn't say it. I didn't say it. We didn't say it. We came on here the next day and didn't talk at all about the Nuggets. We talked about, come on, nobody bought that for a second.

I didn't. So he goes on an ESPN produced event last night. Yes. ESPN has been talking for months about how the Lakers have gotten better around him to play next year. Yes.

Not once mentoring the R-word. And then he comes on last night and says, I'm back. And then does this thing that I think you should do after every take this year.

Should I do that? Just do this, whatever this is. And this is supposedly breaking news and red banner on the bottom line and leading first take. Like, come on. This happened last night on the ESPYs.

We could play the moment, I guess. He won the ESPY for best record-breaking performance. He passed Kareem, as we all know, as the all-time leading scorer this year in his 20th season, which he was as good as ever.

And his beautiful family was up there and they were the ones who presented him with that award. So roll it. When the season ended, I said I wasn't sure if I was going to keep playing.

And I know a lot of experts told you guys what I said, but I'm here now speaking for myself. In that moment, I'm asking myself if I can still play without cheating the game. Can I give everything to the game still? Truth is, I've been asking myself this question at the end of the season for a couple of years now. I just never openly talked about it. I don't care how many more points I score or what I can or cannot do on the floor. The real question for me is, can I play without cheating this game?

The day I can't give the game everything on the floor is the day I'll be done. Lucky for you guys, that day is not today. And guess who didn't get mentioned again last night? Who? The team that won the NBA title.

Oh, stop it. The Denver Nuggets, once again, get overshadowed by LeBron James' drama. Then they're going to come back next year. I mean, Jamal Murray was there last night. They didn't win. I didn't see the whole thing. I didn't see the whole... They didn't win anything?

Nuggets got bageled last night? Didn't get mentioned. You got to turn on... Can you turn on his microphone? Jamal Murray won an award. He's answering. He did?

Yeah. He won... I missed all the tweets and Instagram posts. Well, he was there, which means he won something. He won something like comeback. I don't remember.

Let me tell you something. John Jones was up to the award. And again, this is not... So they did not win anything. So look, I didn't think he was going to retire. Nobody did. Honestly, and I know that this will come across as contrived, especially since that was completely scripted last night.

Trust me, LeBron's not showing up for this award if his family isn't presenting it and he's not winning it. And I know that. That's what happened back in the day when we... And I'll include myself in this. We're building the ESPYs. The ESPYs started before I got there. And then I worked myself into the Sports Center rotation enough with Stewart that they asked Stewart and I to take over. I think Dan and Keith were the first ones to do an ESPY pregame show. So Stu and I did it in the balcony of Radio City Music Hall for years like we were the old Muppets. You know, and it was tough getting athletes to come to these things.

Tough. And Ken Griffey Jr., he was front row, front center 25 years ago, because I saw the video. It was Norm last night who infuriated a lot of the athletes. And the insults came from Will Ferrell doing Harry Caray. And I remember a lot of the athletes were not laughing.

It was an uncomfortable night, made more uncomfortable when Larry Walker won baseball player of the year. And Junior was pissed. He got up.

I remember Stewart ran after him and Howard Katz, who's now currently with the NFL and NFL films, ran after Stewart. And went up. Screw it, I'll tell the whole story.

What do I care? It's 25 years later. And they went into the half of it's been lost in the mail for 21 years. And they went into the men's room and Stu told me that that Junior was pissed. Like he flew all, like he came to the ESPYs to lose baseball player of the year. And then I can't confirm it, but all I know is magically player of the year, the big award at the end, was split.

It was a tie. Unbelievable how it's the same amount of votes for Tiger Woods and his fellow, I believe at the time, neighbor in the community in South Florida that they were living in, Ken Griffey Jr. So if an athlete is there, more likely than not, they're picking up an award. And they know that in advance. Because the ESPYs want these moments.

By the way, beautiful moment with Damar Hamlin last night, awarding the Bills training staff with their award for saving his life. So these are beautiful moments that are viral because they're beautiful. And it does spotlight the athletes. That was the whole idea.

They want stars and they want to spotlight the athletes and the moments that we talk about and why we watch sports. It is beautiful and Maura Mante, may she rest in peace, was so awesome at finding the right combinations that would, you know, push our buttons to get us to cry and remember. And like like Jimmy V. Those moments where Jimmy V, you laugh, you cry.

It's a great day. 30 years, Jimmy V. Right. And Dickie V, who announced he's got cancer on his throat, on his vocal cords, that we send our best to Dickie V. But I went down this road to say, there's no question LeBron wanted to say what he said last night. I wouldn't be surprised if he was reading off a prompter that this thing was written, you know. Hopefully by him. Even if it's not, who cares?

But the whole idea, honestly, who cares? He definitely, I'm sure, read it through. I'm sure that nobody's talking for him. This is what he wanted to say. His beautiful family out there sharing in the moment for him. It is a crowning achievement.

He is King James. He did, he's now the all-time scoring king, you know. And I know that it bothers some people that he likes to be scripted like that. He's not the only one.

Remember Peyton Manning got lit up for having his celebration of his 50th touchdown all scripted? I know. And so people do that. But honestly. It's okay to call these guys out for it being awkward and weird. Or, you know what?

It's just, this is the way they want to conduct their business. And I will, I'm glad he's coming back for 21st season. I just didn't think he was in doubt. He's so damn good.

The team is coming back. They were, that's the thing too, is I don't, I know last night was planned, scripted, however. I don't know how many ESPYs LeBron has been to lately. I think the last one is when he, they spoke. No, I think it's when, remember that he and a bunch of NBA stars spoke about social justice. That was a very moving beginning of that ESPYs.

I don't know. But all I know is that at the end of the season, he might've actually been thinking it. And maybe he will be thinking it next year. I won't believe it because his son's coming.

That's why nobody believes it. Nobody thinks he's going to retire. Unless he doesn't perform well. We take for granted his greatness now. And again, that Laker team at this point last year, let's just go right back to last year at this time, right?

We know what we were thinking. He's toast, the team's toast. The new coach coming in can't get Russell Westbrook to do what he wants. He's going to have a very difficult time selling what he wants the team to buy. Certainly since it's LeBron's team anyway, right? It's LeBron's front office, it's LeBron's team. And what's Darvin Ham going to do anyway with this awful roster that is unfixable?

Am I telling any tales out of school? We had Darvin Ham on this program one year ago. And now here they are. Austin Reeves has been paid. He's now a star in this town. And the rest, you know, D'Angelo Russell is here and see it to Dennis Schroeder. And by the way, how great was the Gabe Vincent signing?

Right? Sneaky really good. Dude played really well in the playoffs. Gabe Vincent is going to be on this team. They're improved.

I think they actually improved themselves tremendously. I know, which is why I don't believe. So you know what are we doing last night? This is just who he is. This is what makes him tick. He wants his family. He wants to share this moment with his family. He's probably insanely proud of beating Kareem or passing Kareem.

He should be. The SPs are the SPs are in his mind sitting here in Los Angeles. They probably reached out to him. Who knows? He might have a deal with Disney for his production company. And they asked him, how about this? Your family comes, they present you with an award and you speak. And he decided to say, I'll make it.

You know, I'll make an announcement that I'm coming back. We all didn't think was necessary. And that's what makes him tick.

And that's why he's going to be great for his 21st season. And that's why we can all laugh at this. In the same way, you're like wondering, Rich, why do you always have to pace when you're on the phone, right? I did it again today. I do it every day. You watch me on the phone. I pace. You also understand I'm not, I'm sure I have some idiosyncrasies that we all do.

Okay. So LeBron's idiosyncrasy is everything is about me all the time. I don't know.

I can't imagine what it's like to walk around like him. I don't think it's everything's about me. They gave him the award, which is, and they told him your wife and your kids can present it to you on ABC about the award and the greatness and what it meant to you. And then to make this like, I'm coming back, nobody thought you were leaving. I don't know. I think this is just what comes with it.

It's what comes with the meal. And Jimmy Petaro say, Hey, LeBron, look, it's slow time. We need some headlines for some content. No, no, no. Like announce you're coming back. No. What do you think?

Come on, Chris. Like the guys doesn't need to be, you know how this works. But not, not that you need Bob Iger to tell you what to do. It's, it's him and Mav Carter running the world.

He doesn't need to hear from executives about what to do that. No one thought was ever a thing. They're just going to fabricate this up. Maybe they have been talking about it. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it is for, for a 24 hour period, it might've been real.

Like, I don't know if I want to do this anymore. And I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes, but I know for sure, like Bob Iger is probably in and, uh, Jimmy Pataro, you're referring to the president of ESPN. They were probably like sites that LeBron wants to do this. Are you kidding me? LeBron, they had, if you had told me back in 19, 25 years ago on that night, I was telling you about being there with Norm McDonald and Ken Griffey Jr. And John Elway was sitting there feeling offended about some of the stuff that was being said by Will Ferrell, right?

Charles Woodson. All that stuff, right? If you had told me we would have the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA and the MVP of the NFL, the hottest player on planet earth in both of those sports showing up at the SBS and accepting awards and being psyched to be there with their families, we would have been like, really?

That's what this thing's going to become. Cause we were just like, again, I don't mean to bring up the Will Ferrell joke. We were pulling teeth, you know, trying to get some people there. And that's why they moved it from February to the middle of July is you might get football players now in February, they had just finished the season. You know, you definitely get some NBA players because the season's done, not in the middle of their all-star break. You'll get some baseball players maybe because it's the middle of their all-star break.

Not as they're about to go off to spring training hockey players. I mean, they moved it. So I'm sure they were psyched that LeBron was there last night. I just was like, okay, I didn't think you were leaving.

I think I wasn't on the edge of my seat. And I understand why you and those who feel that LeBron is too manicured and too planned and too, you know, not, um, as, uh, spontaneous, right. As, as one would think a human being should be, gets upset about it. And I'm sure he's like, I don't care. Once again, this is the biggest story is going to be people like Chris, who are going to take umbrage with anything this man does.

That's not true. I think you still respect the people who like LeBron, like all the LeBron stands do this. But what about the people who just incessantly hate on the man? It's just like the guys in the no win situation, no matter what he does, the biggest story out of something is him instead of the teams that actually won the championships this last year and the great, and the great stories that's been mentioned, we haven't even mentioned Liam Hendrix today, the White Sox reliever who got those beautiful courage award last night. Like nobody's talking about any of those things. We could talk about this guy who is doing something and announced something that we already know we could have sat here and spent this whole time talking about that's our choice. That's a, that's a, that's a, that's a conscious decision.

That's an OP in our problem. You know, it could have been, but it was chosen to spend all this time talking about LeBron doing something that no one thought he was going to do anyway. He could have left it at that, but instead we've been going on and on about LeBron and then people get mad about it. By the way, we can go home now.

Thank you. Oh, that's our nuggets coverage right there. There you go. See, we talked about the nuggets. It's just, he's very polarizing that guy. Let's talk like to just sit back and just watch the division that he creates.

It's funny to me. Let's talk to Jim Jackson. That's next. This is 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.

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Apple Spotify, or wherever you listen. For instance, for instance, I saw Justin Jefferson out a couple of nights ago when I was out in with Susan. I had dinner with friends. Yeah. Catch. Uh, no, Chris, no, uh, neither spot. Uh, he was here in town and I congratulated him in advance of the SB award.

I'm sure he was knowing now, no doubt in town to pick up. Did he win one last night? He won. I'm telling you that there's before best, uh, if you're an athlete and you're coming to the SBS, you've been essentially told in advance, you're going to win.

I think, I don't know. Others might show up and not win. NFL honors is different.

I mean, some of these, some of the, some of the guys at NFL honors are sitting there and they're, they're not, they're not going up to the stage. I wish they would do that with the, uh, Emmys. That way we could know three hours in advance for us. That would save us a lot of time.

We would get to dinner before 11 o'clock. TJ, I do know. Cause when I get nominated, I win. That's how I get you. Here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to do.

Point though. He does hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute.

That's how I get you this guy. I'm going to do it. Please do. You are an asshole. Thank you. When it comes to this, I'm sorry to the local people.

It's not on terrestrial radio, but I mean, when it comes to this, I mean, seriously, you're part of a team here that wants to win all together. All right. You guys give me a lot of crap. I got to come back a little about things in general. I'm allowed to please.

Got to put on nominated. I win. I guess then it's us dragging you down. Is that what it is?

Basically, that's what he says. I want to win with the show. I know you do. I don't, I don't believe you. You're like LeBron. I never thought he was retiring. And I don't believe you want to win, but I am here to stay. I'm planning it.

He's also a fair weather fan. He's off the Sabalenka already. Yeah, what do you mean? I can't say, but I'm not going to say. Is that the back here in the Rich Eisen show? I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen show desk on the Rich Eisen show radio network, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by 844-204. Rich is the number to dial on this program. We're locating Jim Jackson as we speak.

Rich, that comment about Del Tufo play well at 69 times. I know I worked a little bit blue on our Roku channel. I'm sorry.

I figure on the Roku channel audience, there may be there may be some children out there on a summer break and your muffin, you know, they've heard worse on the playground. Trust me. Yeah.

All right. We've located Jim. That's wonderful.

That's great. Is he on the phone line? He is fantastic. 14 year NBA veteran. One of our favorites from Turner Sports and the Ohio State University. Jim Jackson, back here on the Rich Eisen show. How you doing, Jim? Awesome, brother. Enjoying a little time off, traveling a bunch. Okay.

Keeping track of free agency, you know. What about you, man? How's things with you? I'm just, you know, working. I'm just working, working for a living. Did a little bit of traveling. My kids are all in camp right now. So my house is very quiet.

It's very, very quiet. So things are, things are going all right. Thank you for asking. Not many guests asked that of me, by the way.

I got to be honest with you, Jim. You're a very caring man. I greatly appreciate that. I have. Thank you.

You got good parenting, brother. It's the Ohio women in the Midwest, the Midwest. Okay. Did Michigan ever come to knock on your door to play? Oh yeah.

Bill Frieder was the coach at the time. Okay. And I actually have to go unofficial. Not, you know, Toledo is right there. I'm actually closer to Ann Arbor, 45 minutes. Were you born in the same hospital as Harbaugh from Toledo?

Ann, Ann Trussell. That's right. Right there. Okay. Yeah, Mercy Hospital. Okay. Right downtown.

Okay. So you don't, you know, what's funny, Rich, is that a big bulk of my high school, I would spend a lot of time playing, actually pick up ball in Detroit in the summertime. Now I couldn't play the famous St. Cecilia because at the time in high school in Ohio, if you played in that league, you'll be ineligible to play high school basketball. So, but there was some other leagues like Belmont and Sandy Sanders and other places, River Rouge that I played through high school a bunch because it was just an easier track and get a higher level of competition to there in Detroit area. So you, if you went to Michigan, would you have won a championship with Glenn Rice?

And if you had chosen Michigan? No, I came in that next year. Okay. I came in the next year. Okay.

Yeah, I'm always like a year. Come on now. No, no, no.

So, so wait a minute. So were you on like a recruiting visit the year that Frieder was in his last year and left for Arizona State and then Steve Fisher came in? Did you, were you on, was that when you were walking, coming through? Actually just, you know, I've never taken an official visit. Okay. This unofficial visit, I would go. Never took an official.

Okay. My only two official visits really were Ohio State and then Kenny Anderson and I were going to go to Syracuse together. We took our visit together.

And my host at the time was DC Derek because I knew him, you know, from, from Detroit. But I got Syracuse, listen a minute, it's way too cold up here. They brought us there at the wrong time, bro.

Bad recruiting strategy there in like November. Well, by the way, Chris Brockman, my colleague here is a Syracuse guy and you are freaking him out right now. I'm not going to lie.

But the dome, Jim, we had the dome. Yeah. Well, you see what's funny. So back then, you know, we had the rotary phone.

Okay. So Kenny, Kenny called me Anderson. He was number one player in the country. I was like around number two. He, he hit me and said, you know, I was going to let you know I'm going to Georgia Tech.

I was like, what? I mean, Georgia Tech never came up in the conversation about, we were talking about Georgetown, North Carolina, Syracuse. Syracuse being the first one. Yeah.

And Georgia Tech never was in the conversation. Then he hit me with that. He said, my mom's wants me to go.

She loves Kremlin. I'm like, man, all right, man, whatever, man. Okay. So that's how it went down. And that's how it went down. I remember Bobby Crimmins with that bowl cut, that gray haired bowl cut. I remember that. Got a lot of guys out in New York because of his connection. Well, I mean, that's, he's a New Yorker, right?

He had that thick accent, Bobby Crimmins back in the day. Oh man. I love this conversation. Jim Jackson here on a lot of what ifs right here on the Rich Eisen show. Let's hit it. We're okay.

Last night at the Espys, LeBron's like, I'm coming back. I was, I was like, okay. I didn't think you were leaving. Did you? Was like, was that an announcement that you thought was necessary to announce or anything like that? I don't know.

Jim, right? You know, it's hard for me to dig into. I've learned, here's how old are you? I'm 54.

So I'm two years older than you. Yeah. Yeah. So we've learned a long time ago and lived long enough that you can't dive into people's minds, try to understand what they're thinking and why they do stuff. Right. What you do is kind of react to the message they send or, you know, what, what they're, what they're doing.

So I, I try to, I tend to stay away because I don't know emotionally what a person is going through into the season or family-wise or this or that, and try to implement an input my thought process into what they're doing and how I would think it just doesn't work because it's just too, too many different factors. But, you know, LeBron is like that in regards to making statements. You know, it's the Esby's, everybody's tuning in. So the statement comes when it's the Esby's.

You shouldn't be surprised at that. I mean, that's LeBron, right, wrong, or indifferent. He's always chosen specific times to drop the bomb or whatever it may be, or a message when the ears and eyes are on not just basketball, but sports in general. So, yeah, I mean, and I'm with you too.

It's kind of like, it just comes with the meal, right? Like that sort of moment with LeBron, because the way that he played and the way that the team over-performed, you know, based on expectations and the way that the team was brought back and during free agency and also enhanced. I love the Gabe Vinson signing. I was like, LeBron's definitely coming back the way that the free agency went down. So when he said last night, you know, I'm not going anywhere.

I ain't leaving. You pulled a little wolf of Wall Street. You know, I didn't bat an eye. I was like, oh, really?

I didn't know that was a necessary announcement. That's the way I took it. You know what, though?

You know, it was interesting. If you listen to that conversation, he said, you know, for the last couple of years, he's been thinking about this. Could he give, he didn't want to cheat the game, basically what he was saying. Well, he hasn't. I mean, he's cheated Father Time more than anything else in regards to him still being a performer at a high level. Now, it's not the LeBron James, of course, of the Detroit series back in 2003 or four, whatever it was, or five. You know, when he scored 25 points in the fourth quarter, all of that. But he's matured enough and the game has evolved enough that still allows him to be effective when he's not as athletic. But because what he has in between his ears and how the team is built, he's still, you know, a dominant player, may not be every night, but when you need him to be to impact the game, he's there. So it was interesting when he talked about the last couple of years about him and how much is that to not being as successful post the bubble of not winning? How does that strain on a highly successful, probably one of the greatest players ever played a game, mine?

But I couldn't see him not coming back and vying for another opportunity with the changes they made and additions they made to, you know, run for championship. Jim Jackson here on the Rich Eisen Show. What do you think is going through Lillard's mind right now?

Jim? Listen, I've been around the game enough to know that they were playing dodgeball a little bit. Portland didn't want to seem like they wanted to trade him and push him out. Dane didn't want to ask for a trade, but it got to a point where somebody had to make a move because neither one, I don't think neither one wanted to be the bad guy in the situation that they're the ones that forced the breakup.

But at some point in itself, too, because, you know, think about it. Dane talked about it before, and sometimes you got to be careful what you say. And I'm not saying that it's wrong, but, you know, about joining another superstar, about joining a team, you don't know what's going to happen in the future. I know that's probably not what he wanted to do, but ultimately, Portland is kind of stuck in this rut where they're good, but they're not great. They're not going to compete. You're not going to be able to get that big time free agent to go there to aid Dane. You know, when they were in the West Conference Finals, that was their best shot.

So they're at the point now where both sides have to feel they have to win. Now, how that is accomplished is going to be the interesting part, because as much as you love them, if you're Portland, I'm thinking about it from a management perspective. You just can't give them away. It just doesn't happen like that in this league. Yes, we're committed to helping you to reach your ultimate goal with a championship, but we're not going to be naive and stupid to just give you away for nothing. And Dane has to understand that as well, is that at the end of the day as a business, we know where you want to go, preferably, preferably. But it has to be a deal that makes sense for us, not just today, but as we head into the future and our rebuild with our young guy.

So do you think Adebayo's name has to be thrown in this mix here? Because you know that there's no way there's no way they're trading. Because then that defeats the purpose, because now your championship aspirations for Miami go out the window without ban. Now, in the interesting part, you hear Tyler's name being tossed around. I think it has to be another team involved. I don't know if Tyler, because of the depth that the wing position Portland has, makes sense for them. You know, now you have to bring a third team in to make this whole thing, I think, maybe work. Can you get off of Kyle Lowry's number and move that as well? So it's not as simple as, you know, just move this part, move this part. It's a little bit more complicated, but we see more, I mean, tougher deals get done in this league.

Right. And because that, you know, Bam is a guy who I think Lillard has identified as someone he wants to play with, you know, that's part of the mix of him wanting to go to Miami and the way that I guess that their program is run and the way that, you know, South Beach is a nice place to live and, you know, there's no state tax and whatever. I bet that I think that's that's part of the equation here. And then, of course, when you got a third or fourth team in, they're like, you know, what do I, you know, why do I need to help out Portland get out of their problem? Because it just seems to me, do you think it's possible, and I know that we're talking in the middle of July, that Dame is still in Portland when training camp hits and he's going to have to be the good citizen. Well, it could be, you could still trade him at the deadline, you know what I mean, once the season starts. Because I don't think Portland is going to just give in and give up without getting something that's going to benefit them. Now, is it always an even trade?

No. One side may feel a little bit better than the other. But do you feel good about what you got is the question. You know, did you give up the house now to get to go from a house to maybe a little smaller house instead of going to a condo or to a one bedroom? I mean, that's a big difference there. You know, you can go from a five bedroom to a four bedroom and still feel comfortable. All right, that's the difference.

Going from a five to one, that's a whole different story. And I think teams evaluated that way, it's like, if we can't get our, now, if we can't get our best offers and deal done now, are we going to be able to leverage that and get a better one later on? Maybe you don't have the leverage as much knowing that the trade has to happen come trade day, trade deadline in February. You know what I mean? So these are the questions that management poses when you put that on the whiteboard on short term, long term.

How do we attack this? When do we have our best leverage opportunity, which is probably now compared to during the season, unless something drastically changes with some other teams that have to move some parts. Now, obviously, Jim Jackson here on the Rich Adzins show, Lillard hasn't popped yet and nor is Harden. We're assuming he's going to maybe wind up here in Los Angeles.

So let's do this. Let's put Lillard in Miami. We don't know how different Miami looks with that. And let's put Harden in Los Angeles with the Clippers and we don't know how different Los Angeles or Philadelphia would look on that point of view. Have we appreciably changed anything of the pecking order in this league coming off of last season?

Has anybody in your mind? Maybe it's the Celtics with what they did with Porzingis, Beal with the Suns. Have we rearranged anything significantly enough that the Nuggets aren't still the best team?

What do you got for me on that front? No, I think they're still the best team, but you know, it's a battle of attrition, too. And the moves are going to be made during the season, as you saw with the Lakers, that improve their situation tremendously. Injuries play a key role, but I think it's going to take a little bit of time for Phoenix to figure some things out because they're top heavy at their top four, five guys at the beginning. But then again, their depth was an issue last year. And Aiten's mindset is going to be very important to what Phoenix ultimately does, because you're down the pecking order a little bit more now with a scoring guard like Bradley Beal. I think in the East, Boston was always, I mean, they had some things to match up was against Miami that didn't go right.

But to me, they were always still my favorite just because of the makeup of the team. And it was a tough situation on Joe Mazzullo and everybody with the change in coaching and all of that last year that they had to deal with. But Philly, you think about it, they don't have James.

And if they do, they take a step back, depending on what they get back in return, because they were already in a situation, Rich, when you watch Philadelphia play, they needed things to actually go right for them in regards to they needed James to play. Well, they needed Maxie to play. Well, they need it.

And B, they need it. Tobias said they needed these guys. They didn't have a lot of reprieve because the depth wise of guys that can really have an impact just wasn't there. And you lose a James Harden despite him maybe not being the Harden of Houston. He still had an impact on the game. So I don't think it changes the pecking order outside of Philly, depending on what they get back. That drops him back.

He drops him back, huh? So what is your take on Harden? Just, you know, all what I'm asking.

You're all in one. Like, what's your take on him? Like, is he a value add? The question is, is he a value minus when push comes to shove?

What do you got for me on that, Jim? My my my thing is that I don't think he affects the winning aspect as the other dominant players do. Can he can he put? But I will say this about James Harden. I will give him a lot of credit from this respect. You know what you're getting with James Harden, especially when he came to Brooklyn. He was a scoring machine. How much is that going to relate to winning basketball games when it counts?

He hadn't been able to prove it. But the mindset for him to go into Brooklyn and say, you know what, I'm going to play point guard and not worry about the other things I do want to win. That told me a lot about him as a person to be able to make that shame when you're at the top of your game. Accept the criticism that came with it by maybe not playing the way that we're accustomed to seeing him play.

Carry that to Philly as well. Now, again, he's not the same as far as quickness. He can't get by guys, but as effective to set play players up, it showed me a little insight into his maturity as a player that I don't think he can be your top guy. But if his mindset is right, he can still give you enough where he's a threat on the court with two other players that give you a viable option to win.

He can't be the main guy. Of course, we know that. But I will say that I've learned a lot over the last two or three years about him as a individual by taking the stance that he took in regards to his new role as more of a playmaker than a scorer. Last one for you, Jim Jackson, is what did you learn about Victor Wembanyama over two summer league games? Now, it was kind of like the NFL in a way that just an overreaction based on one game and maybe an overreaction based on another and an overreaction based on, you know, Britney Spears approaching him, you know, honestly, it was it was a wild, like, five day stint for him in his first dipping of a toe in the NBA waters. Anything that comes out of that, though, that you think can inform us about Wembanyama at all?

Well, two things. What an outstanding job over the last seven, eight, nine years the NBA has done with the summer league to make it relevant, OK, to make it this interesting in the summertime. We know it's a dead period. Football is about to start, but the NBA owns that part. So give them a lot of credit because we're talking about NBA basketball right now. Yeah. The season starts in October.

In regards to Wembanyama, this is what I say. Summer league, his trajectory is going to be determined by what happens in San Antonio because he did sign Pop five more years. So he's going to learn how to play the game. I think Scoot Henderson in Portland maybe will have more opportunities to go out and get numbers early because the ball is going to be in his hand and he's going to be, you know, the expectations are not as heavy on him as it in San Antonio. I think there's a step by step process as Wembanyama and what he has to do, unlike Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan had David Robinson, so he had a buffer there to kind of learn it, whatever it is in regards to maturity of the game and how to play.

He's a mature young man. Pop and RC Buford will figure out ways to teach him how to play in the NBA, build up his body enough, his mind, the mental aspect that he can be effective. He may have some highs and lows during the course of the season early on. Remember Luca? I'm not going to say struggle, but had to figure some things out the first half of the season. And then that second half, once the light clicked, it was like, oh, okay, now we see Luca and I can see that with Wembiana is that he has to figure out what his game and how that translates not only to NBA, but within the San Antonio system with his players.

And once that light turns over, whenever that is, we're going to see something special, but it's going to be a learning process, I think, for him along with San Antonio. Jim Jackson, greatly appreciate the time. Enjoy your summer. Look for more of my calls and I'd love to get you in here in person next time you're in town. Let me know. Please do. Got it, brother. Appreciate it. Thanks again. Have a great rest of the week. Right back at you. That's Jim Jackson. Always great chatting with him.

14-year NBA veteran doing a great job on Turner Sports. All right, we'll take a break. Last show, I gave you my top five things I wanted to see the most on the Jets hard knocks. One of them has already come true.

I'm speaking stuff into existence. No cap that is the most, in my mind, rewatchable movie. There is a fugitive. It does it hold up or what? It does that train wreck. The train wreck at the top, for sure. It's a remote drop for me all the time.

Does not matter where it is. Yeah. But, you know, and we are such huge fans of the film. Huge. We wanted, you know, on behalf of the fans of the film, thank you for catching the switching of the samples.

Oh, the liver samples? Without you. You are welcome. Our D90, you know? Wow. You found it. You know that? I'm so glad you remember that detail because that's I would say to people that you don't remember from it. I'm the one who did the liver sample. I solved the mystery of the liver. Well, you and Bones, you know?

Bones, of course. God, you remember everything. I'm telling you, I've seen this movie a million times. And wasn't the relationship between Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones quite wonderful? Amazing. Yeah. I love it.

Tommy Lee Jones' character, obviously they did another movie out of it, but Harrison Ford, perhaps the most beat up movie star of all time. Yeah. He gets his- Oh, yeah. Well, he does his own stunts, too. I mean, that's his own damn fault. Did you do your own stunts?

I did all my own stunts. I actually handled the liver samples with these fingers. It's ungloved. See?

That's not Santa Claus. You know, that's why you're as successful as you are, Jane. You don't leave any stone unturned. And thank you so much.

I go the extra mile. Thank you for your hard work, without which Devlin McGregor could perhaps be in business still today with Dr. Nichols doing his nefarious deeds, you know? And Dr. Kimball would be in jail still. Oh, I know.

Wouldn't that be terrible? He'd be rotting in jail if it weren't for me. And I forget my character's name. Kathy Wallin. If it weren't for Kathy Wallin. See, it comes back to you.

It does. I think I scared Jane Lynch with my knowledge of her character in The Fugitive. I think I frightened her. Oh, Rich, it's one of our favorite movies. It's Harrison Ford's birthday.

My top five Harrison Ford movies coming up shortly. Back here on the Rich Eisen show. Okay. This might be the happiest you've been all summer. Oh, come on. Look, I gave you yesterday the top. I need to amend my top five Jets things I want to see. Here. My top five things I wanted to see in the Jets. Hard knocks.

I gave it to you yesterday. And number five on my list was Quinnen Williams in uniform. Why did I say that? Because he was unsigned or he wants a new deal.

How about that? He wanted a new deal. It's time for him to get his new deal. And he did not have the Jets part of his bio on his Twitter page anymore. And, you know, in the 21st century, that's the way kids communicate. I saw two blue hats from Saquon yesterday. I had to learn what the blue caps meant.

And so you look to the Twitter feeds. And in the middle of my conversation with Jim Jackson, at the very start, about 20 minutes ago, Quinnen Williams put defensive tackle for the New York Jets back on his Twitter bio. And New York Jets, by the way, all caps. One guy's putting blue caps in New York. And both mean something. Apparently, all caps over blue caps. Sure enough, all caps minutes after the all caps. Here comes.

I heard that for years. 96 million dollars. Large largest second contract ever for a defensive tackle.

66 million. Congratulations to Nicole Lynn. Nice percentage there for her, hopefully.

I'm going to send Nicole Lynn a DM, see if she'll rep me. I hope not, because I want to talk to Nicole about that. I hope not. I hope so. Let me tell you something. Hey, Rich, congratulations. Let me tell you something.

Let me tell you something. If that leads to a star insurance patch on the Jets jersey, I don't care. I don't care.

What other insurance companies are out there? I don't care. I don't care. This needed to be done. It has to be done. And this is exactly what the Jets are doing right. Not messing around by going, we'll get Rogers, we'll get Lazard, we'll get all this good stuff. And then just screw it up by not keeping our most important players happy.

And Quinnen Williams being kept happy is just as important as keeping Aaron Rodgers happy for the Jets. Opportunity here, putting eggs in baskets in 2023 with a green and white Jets logo on it. Have to do it hard knocks. Now bring in the hard knocks, hard knocks cameras. Bring them in.

They start on the 19th. Bring them in. Bring them in.

Turn the sprinklers off. Because one more thing that you don't have to worry about what the camera's coming in. It's a holdout.

Quinnen Williams is going to come in with a big smile. And why not? Well done. Don't screw around. Get it done. Love it.

You got it all set up. And I don't want to hear it, Mike. I don't need to hear the John Isaac drop.

I could already see a wheels turning. I don't want to hear it because today's a good day. You got a general manager who gets it. What's up? We are ready to roll. I love it.

Great idea. Because, you know, and you can sit here and say, oh, it's meant to be. It has to happen.

Do you got it? No, because so many times the Jets will just step on their Johnson. And I don't mean Woody. OK, for all the Johnson's, all the Johnson's and Johnson Johnson. They got it. It's great. I'm I'm loving it.

What a great piece of news this is. So now I need to upgrade. I need to upgrade my one more. I don't know if you have that. Mike Hoskins, my one more.

It's now in my top five. Yeah. You think we need one more? Like we did. Now we do need one more because number five on the things I wanted to see most in the Jets hard knocks was Quinnen Williams in uniform, because I was worried there would be a holdout.

Not a problem. He's going to be in uniform. So now my one more is now upgraded to my top five. Number five on the list. Hold on. Now here it is. Zach Wilson's DMS. I need to see it. I can take it. I mean, I should have been number one. I need to see the DMS. Honestly should have been number one.

No, number one is soft guard. Come on. I'm going to take this somewhat seriously.

We need a full Zach episode. So now the last thing for Joe Douglas to do the last thing for Joe Douglas to do is just to make sure he FaceTimes Aaron Rogers when he wants to reach out to him. I don't want any communication problems.

Rogers is in Tahoe right now. So you better leave him alone. Leave him alone. He's got to get him straight. He's trying to win. He's trying to win a tournament. He's trying to get those winning feelings going. Aaron Rogers, by the way, is a three handicap. Dude, Wolf.

You think Modell's will sponsor the Jets? You are you are feeling say you are feeling say that he's the best putter he's ever seen. Ever seen. WB Mason.

Crazy Eddie. No, I don't care. Whatever it is.

Put the patch on. We got our team. Everyone's happy. Let's go. Yeah, buddy. Yeah, buddy. Same intensity. I won't lose this intensity.

Same intensity out of you. Page it fan. You know, we got a stacked roster. This is real.

This is real and spectacular. And I know I might be setting myself up, but I am going all in. I don't care. I don't care. I'm not going to be old.

What's what could go wrong? Stop it, Rich. No, no. That's what it's about.

It's quitting. Williams played offensive tackle. Let's see how they all come back. Dwayne Brown here.

Mccon Becton looks like he's nice and slim and trim, Elijah Veritakas coming back. This is amazing. This is fantastic. Well done, Joe Douglas. Well done.

Hour three coming up. Yeah, sure. Why not?

I just didn't know if Quinnen was playing both ways. All that big contract. It's fine. You want your roster? Heart of Hearts. Honest answer. Swear to God.

Hair on your child's head. Do you want the Patriots roster or the Jets roster? He's thinking you have to choose a roster. That's defense is better.

I'm not cherry picking a roster. 53 man, 53 men. Let me hold on.

How much time left in this? 53 man, 53 guys. I plead the fifth. There you go. Thanks, Tom.

53 man, not answering that. It's joy. Mine. Yeah, baby. The roster is not full yet. Okay.

Yeah, you guys still fill it up. You don't know what plucky small school guy is going to make the Patriots, right? Hopkins and Davin Cook still might come and give me a second. All right. Although Davin Cook, the odds have changed. For what? Davin Cook now big favorite to join the text.

I mean, DeAndre Hopkins, big favorite to join the Texans. Oh, that's what little gambling site told you that. All of them. That's a little that should be your website. Chris, little gambling, little gambling, dot net, small bats. Jets not screwing around. You know what? Have been a typical Jets thing. It's like we got it all set up, but our most important defensive players not here to piss everything off.

No, a table set. 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 and 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.