Taylor Lewan: 32 Teams made a mistake passing on Mike Vrabel

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I'm fired up for this game. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Patrick Mahomes?

I cannot say he's in his MJ era and then pick him to lose the next game. The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show, quarterback consultant Jordan Palmer, co-host of Good Morning Football. Jason McCourty coming up, co-host of Bussin' with the Boys podcast.

Taylor Lujan, Fox Sports, NBA analyst Jim Jackson. And now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. He came on the air and Dan Quinn was the new head coach of the Washington Commanders. That's kind of wild with Belichick and Vrabel sitting out there. And we kick off hour number three with a guy when he was last on this program here on the Rich Eisen Show. We learned together that Mike Vrabel was being fired as the Tennessee Titans head coach. And unbelievably, here we are two Thursdays before the Super Bowl.

And Mike Vrabel has gone through the entire coach hiring season without being hired by another team. Totally wild. Joining us once again, a longtime friend of the program of the Michigan Wolverines and us right here on the Rich Eisen Show from Bussin' with the Boys.

None other than Taylor Lujan back on the program. How are you doing, sir? Good to see you. Outstanding Rich Eisen, national champion, alumni. Good to see you, brother.

Good to be around you. Look at us. Just nasty. Hey, how about how about Mike Vrabel, dude? How about Mike Vrabel not being a head coach right now?

Why? What do you think is going on here, man? What do you think? You know, I think we a lot of times people think billion dollar companies make no mistakes. And 32 of them made a mistake in the last couple of weeks. Mike Vrabel should be a head coach of a team. I don't know if he just does an interview well or what the deal is, but I'm bummed out for him. I don't know what he's going to do this year.

He might be on Fox with Tom Brady. Who knows? Well, maybe he can, you know, does could he be a boy, can be a third guy on the bus? Is there enough room? Because, again, as you know, I haven't really been on the bus yet.

So is there is there room for a third? Taylor, what do you think? You know, we could physically fit Mike on the bus, but the size of the ego, I don't think we could keep consistently at our shop the whole time. Turmoil would happen. Will and him would get into it. Eventually, him and I would get into it. And but there would be nothing in this life. I probably want more right now other than having a son as my third child than Mike Vrabel working for me. That would be just would that not be special? Just tell Mike, what do we pay?

Like, just be pulled film of him not doing his work. Mike, what are we doing here? What am I paying you for? What are we doing, buddy? Stuck in on a jewel, man.

You are better than this kind of editing is this amazing. Is that is that was that one of his go to is like, what are we doing here? Is that is that one of his go to is I told so 2018 18.

Yeah, we had flex signed a pretty decent contract with the Titans, and it was Mike Rivel's first season, and we practice against Tampa Bay and JPP. I told the story, I believe, on the show before, but he puts me in a move where, you know, he hits me with a club. I go to overcorrect, slash me out of the way, puts me in an absolute blender.

It's a one on one pass situation just absolutely crushes me and did it with four fingers, by the way, too. Like he was handicapped and he still got me. So we're in the team meeting room and he shows clips, good clips, bad clips and the stuff that gets you beat. He doesn't use the word stuff, but he's showing that clip and the room is quiet and he's just replaying it over and over and over again. It takes deep breath. He goes, what are we paying you millions of dollars for for this? Like, we just pay you that much money so you can go and get dusted by a guy with eight fingers. Like what's going on?

And it just goes in for the next 15, 20 seconds square. I haven't been the same sense, Rich. I have not been.

I still have not recovered. I clearly it'll leave a mark, you know, and I guess if he's even hints at that same sort of style of communicating with, say, somebody in charge above him on the flow chart that might grind a gear and then get around the league. And thus, he doesn't get hired somewhere else. Is that entirely possible if we can sleuth it? I think it's possible. You know, you've been in the game longer than anybody at this point. You know how it is with egos flying around, especially in the NFL, higher ups, people, you know, their piss gets a little hot and they want to all of a sudden make big moves. And I think with Vrabel, Vrabel can come off a certain way sometimes. It doesn't change how much I love Vrabel, how much of a player coach he is, but he can come off a certain way sometimes. But you also can see the product of what he did with less talent, not this year, but in 2021, when we were the one seed going into the playoffs, we did it with like, you know, 95 guys that played snaps for an NFL team. We set a record like he implements and gets guys to understand the rules and gets guys to play higher than their ability and able as a team. So to me, it's like he should absolutely be one of the 32 head coaches of the NFL.

Unfortunately, he's not. And I think there's I think there's been a mistake made. And, you know, when again, last time you were on, it was wild. You know, you and I both learned at the same time that Vrabel was getting fired and you were ready to welcome Derrick Henry on the bus.

And, you know, that pod came out about a week later. And, you know, I saw your guys conversation with him and you were all just kind of head scratching. Now, Derrick's going to be moving on elsewhere, I'm assuming. And I was saying yesterday, if Jerry Jones says, let's we're going all in this year and we're going to go all in with players that we don't normally go all in with.

That's the guy that would be the guy, right? I mean, do you have any idea what Derrick Henry's plans are at all? Taylor, do you get any sense of that around? Well, first, first I want to say thank you for watching the show.

I appreciate that. The second thing is during that episode, during that episode, Derrick did say like he's like, you know, he's he believes he's got some some great ball left in him. He has no no thought process of, you know, retiring and walking away from the game. To me, I mean, he's going to he needs to go to a team that he believes in his heart of hearts, that has an opportunity to win the Super Bowl. And so I don't see him going to like a Chiefs or a Niners as Niners got McCaffrey and the Chiefs don't really run the ball like that. I think the Dallas Cowboys, he works out in Dallas in the off season. Like that's where he goes. That's where he trains from right now until OTA start. That's where he will be at. That's an easy landing spot for Derrick with offensive line with guys like Zach Martin on there. I know they get a little banged up here and there, but he would have I mean, could you imagine a star on the side of Derrick Henry's head? How awesome that would be.

That would be electric. And other teams you think about, too, is I mean, I don't know how Chubb's injury is. I know it's a pretty severe injury.

He's not ready in the game of the year. Why not a one year deal for Derrick and Cleveland? They run the ball. They run a similar outside zone scheme.

They do a great job out there. I mean, there's there's places he could go. But I think if you're looking at opportunities to improve a team contenders, I'm thinking Cowboys and I think the Ravens would be good, too.

I think I think those are the two teams that would be something. But in terms of going to Dallas, like you want to take any pressure off a deck and not have to have him make the throws 30, 40 times in a playoff game, maybe because again, you're talking about playoffs. You stick Derrick Henry back there. Now, that's a different that, you know, and I even just threw DeAndre Hopkins in for good measure. You know, while we're going for, you know, while we're going full on fantasy football, like just do that, too.

You know what I mean? Like, go for it. If you want to go all in, that's one way to go all in.

Period. Well, if you're going all in, why don't we just trade for Justin Jefferson, too, dude? Yeah, well, that's trading. Miami. I'm just saying, you know, I'm just saying just all just takes us some, you know, creative capology and just go and it's just your money. Just go and get these guys. You know what I mean?

Like, just do it. If there's a, if there's a team that can do the capology, it's Jerry Jones. He's, I mean, you saw him with, with Tyrone Smith. He signed him to a 47 year deal and he played through that whole damn contract the way it was leveled out. By the time, by the time Tyrone Smith's deal was up, he was playing for pennies compared to his talent. And it's just, they do a great job.

They do long-term contracts that help the team out and make the player feel like they're getting a whole bunch of money. What are Steelers fans getting with Arthur Smith as the OC, Taylor? What do you think?

I love, I love that question. Arthur Smith, listen, I know it didn't go the way we want it. And Atlanta Falcon fans are saying that he didn't utilize the talent. Arthur Smith in 2019 is the reason why we made it to the AFC championship. A guy like him, he's going to walk in there. He's going to take pressure off of whoever the quarterback happens to be, right?

Because they kind of, there's a couple of question marks there. Pickett's probably going to end up beating the guy. But Najee is going to be the guy that's probably going to smile the most when the season ends about how he's utilized throughout that offense. And I think you're going to see a lot more points on the board for Pittsburgh along with that defense. They're going to be a deadly team this year, I believe. So just the addition of Arthur Smith.

Yeah, and I kind of dig that. And just while we're just going totally crazy here, who the quarterback's going to be, I don't know. They do love Pickett there.

I know they really do. I'm just thinking, is there another quarterback out there? Maybe they raise their hands for Justin Fields if that happens. I don't know. I'm really, that's kind of out of character for him. I'm just throwing stuff against the wall, obviously. And I'm not here to throw shade, but I just, I'm not 100% sold on Fields yet. I don't, and I'm not a quarterback. He can do things I could never have done at the quarterback position.

But I think, I don't know. I think you get Pickett, you take Tannehill, you put him, you play get placement beside him because you know they got good chemistry. And then you just hope for the best, boys.

Hope everything pans out that way. Give the boy one more shot at the Steelers. Taylor Lewan here on the Rich Eisen Show from Bussing with the Boys. How do you think Super Bowl 58's going? Taylor, what do you got for me? Man, all the stars are saying Chiefs right now. All the, I mean, you go down the wormhole of Taylor Swift, brother.

I, we shot, our gambling show, Slips and Picks earlier and I said that. Do you know what Taylor Swift's favorite number is? Mmm, what, 87? 13? It's 13. And it's Super Bowl, it's Super Bowl 58. What's 5 plus 8? 13. If Taylor Swift goes to this game, the Chiefs, you see, it'll be your 13th Chiefs game this year.

Oh, wow. Niners are the one seed. Chiefs are the three seed.

It's a lot to think about. What's the date of the Super Bowl? February 11th. 2 plus 11, 13. And if you took 13 away from 100, what number are you guys getting? 87.

87. A lot of things, dude. A lot of conspiracy theories out there that is just written for the Chiefs. But I'll tell you this. Last time a Shanahan won a Super Bowl, there was a McCaffrey on that roster. I got the 49ers, baby.

I got the 49ers. Look at you zigging. Look at you zigging and then zagging. Did you like that, dude? I saw it. I almost pulled the groin. Oh, my God. It is.

All right. I love that pick. So you like the Niners? I got the Niners, dude. I played this over and over, is this clip of George Kittle standing on the sidelines, staring out as he knows he's losing the Super Bowl to the Chiefs, saying, I will be back here.

You will not get the best of me. Guys like Nick Bosa crying during his rookie year. Christian McCaffrey's first time being in a Super Bowl. Trent Williams' first time playing in a Super Bowl.

Was it the first time or second time? Trent Williams' first time having an opportunity for a Super Bowl. This is first.

Fred Warner. This is first, yes. I just, dude, at the end of the day, I don't know. I have no idea who's going to win.

Of course. Who I want to win, I want the 49ers to win. I want them. I want those boys to host that Lombardi over their heads and get upset. Could you imagine George Kittle hosting SNL, being on Jimmy Fallon? Just the parade would be nuts, dude. The 49ers had the best locker room in the entire NFL.

The chemistry, the camaraderie, the boys, they wouldn't sleep for four days. It'd be amazing. OK, so I believe you're the first. Come on and say 49ers. Everybody else is like, I can't go against Mahomes at the end of the day. I'm hearing that a lot. But you're going to.

He's so good. OK. Here's a question, Rich. I know it's your show, but I'm going to take over for a second.

Go for it. If Mahomes wins this thing, people are talking about him being the new goat over Brady. That's crazy. It's crazy talk, right?

Of course it is. Because because here's the deal, Taylor, because, yes, through age 28, he's ahead of Brady. He's like the greatest of all 28, which doesn't really you know, I mean, you I guess that would make him go with an E at the end. The greatest of all 28. OK, so yes, he then have to catch Brady.

All right. Tom did one three out of four and he'd match Tom winning three out of four to start a career and stuff like that. I get it. And then he'd match Tom in terms of going back to back and all of that. But Tom didn't just stop playing when he was 28.

As a matter of fact, he's the greatest 40 year old of all time. So come on, let's let's pump some breaks here. It's a million percent. We're not even it's it's not there yet. We're not there yet. And no, we're not.

But I was I'll say this about about that. If Pat Mahomes goes and wins this game with a roster that he has, he's entered the chat. He's entered the room. Yeah. He's looking at Tom Brady going, hey, I'm coming for your brother. Exactly. He really is him.

A million percent. And he's as close as anybody's going to get to Brady, one would think, because he's going to prevent all the youngins from starting out like the way he started out. So he's probably going to be the only I said it's kind of like, you know, those movies where they launch somebody to try on a mission to, you know, Saturn. And, you know, it's 10, 15 years later and he's finally approaching the planet. Like that's that's what we're we're in the launch position. And he's passed a couple of planets getting to the spot. And one 10, 15 years from now, is he going to approach and land? We'll find out.

But that's what's going to have to be, you know, it's a good point. I love it. I love using outer space in this conversation.

That's awesome. Listen, that's just two Michigan men talking. That's just two Michigan men talking a couple of years. What was your degree at Michigan? I was communication. You know, general studies, brother. I took a hula class.

Got to be plus. So I don't want to brag about that. No, I mean, these hips really big stuff. Hutchinson used a word on Kittle that that even I had to look up. I was very impressed. You know, I saw that.

I saw that that footage from NFL films reception. Yeah, I did. Is that a word that's taught there? I didn't know. I've been away a while. Yeah. Okay. Didn't know. Proprioception is the brain understanding where the body parts are, essentially.

When you tear an ACL like your boy has, it takes two years for proprioception to truly reset back with the brain. Now you scientists back there, you nerds watching this show, you guys could definitely fact check that. Okay. Oh, look at us. I like it.

So you guys are actually taught something. This is great. I love it. Oh, my God. Hey, listen, I think Vrabel would be a nice value add to the show just to wrap it all up, because it's not because at least he knows where Edelman lives and can help out Will when he comes at me thinking that I'm disrespecting you by going on Edelman's podcast, traveling all around the country.

And it was just 10 exits on the 405 for me to go there. Will wouldn't make those mistakes if Vrabel was on the program. No offense is what I'm saying. That is probably correct.

You know what I mean? He would help clean up the game. He would help clean up the game is basically what I'm saying. It's 2024 and the year is getting rich eyes and on Busting with the Boys. It has to happen this year.

There's well, there's day 590. By the way, I appreciate Jack's work. We do have to get him his Chevy Silverado. I appreciate him going into the Seth Meyers.

Seth Meyers archives for photographs this week. I agree with you. As you know, I'm this is going to happen. You know that I've said it and I'm saying it again. Let's do it this summer. I want to do it this summer. Can we do it this summer? If you're not going to the Hampton Hamptons or wherever five star resorts you go to, brother, like, hey, Rich, for those of you watching now, Rich, he's he's a salt of the earth cat.

But you're showing that you like the nice stuff too. What was it? August. Is that where we went? Yeah, the Hamptons. It was for it was for a friend's party. Yeah, I did that. That was right.

I did that. Was it like the all white party? No, I didn't do the all white party.

No, I didn't get that one. I didn't get invited, though. Let me see.

Let me check my phone on that one. But we're going to get this done, Taylor. We're going to get this done and I'll see you in Vegas. I'll see you in Vegas. All right, brother. We'll talk to you soon. I can't wait. You got it.

Same to you. Bussing with the boys. It's a must listen, a must watch. However, you consume your podcast. Taylor Lewan back here on The Rich Eisen Show. I love chatting with him. Let's be fair and balanced. We got a Buckeye in our green room. Let's bring him out. Let's talk ball with Jim Jackson. He's only been on Zoom and on the phone. Now he's in person. That's next on The Rich Eisen Show.

On the Bigger Pockets real estate podcast, co-host David Green and Rob Abasolo interview real estate investors and entrepreneurs about successes, failures and hard earned lessons. Joined by author Dave Meyer, who wrote a book. I did write a book. It seems like you're coming out with a book every four minutes. You are one to talk. You've released two books this year.

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The podcast available wherever you listen. What is going on with you, Jim Brockmire and Brett Musburger? This is my Musburger face. You know, you can't put that to bed, Rich.

You know why you can't put it to bed? Okay. Because he's a punk. That's why Brett Musburger is a P-U-N-K punk. The man is a thief. Okay. Brett Musburger is a thief.

How so? Stole my line. What line was that? This is for all the Tostitos. Remember that?

These are all the Tostitos. Remember when he said that? Everybody in the business. No, it's not funny. Everybody in the business knows that was my line, but he went ahead and used. That's what I always yell when I climax inside of a woman. Or when I'm just, when I climax all by myself. And ever since then, now I have to yell out, the Ruffles have ridges.

And it's not, it's not the same thing. Here is Brett Musburger. How are you, Brent? Hey, Rich.

Rich, I'm great. Listen, I'm so proud of you guys for trying to help resurrect little Jimmy Brickmeyer's career, we all know the problems that he had in the past. He says that you stole all the Tostitos from him, Brent, from back in the day? No, I got paid. I got paid by a company to drop the name.

I got three Tostitos for a week. What are you talking about? Okay. You know, Rich, it's really interesting because as we started these sin here in Las Vegas and Brickmeyer was having trouble getting a job. So, so he, he called our executives and our general manager, he interviewed Brickmeyer and asked him about a three team parlay. And, and our, and our boy, Jimmy, he thought that that was two hookers with him in a Morristown hotel room, you know, Jesus, we would have loved to help him out, but I wish him the best.

He's so delusional and listen, let him go at it. We're all at Tostitos, baby. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Thrilled that he is here because I love everything that you do, sir. For Turner, for calling Clippers games here locally. A 14 year NBA veteran, Jim Jackson, back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Jim. Good to see you too. Can I say when we started off, congrats on national championship.

Thank you, sir. And I was, and actually a lot of my house say people got mad at me because I was pulling for Michigan to win. Well, it's because you're a smart guy. Well, no, well, no.

Well, I am. Why were you pulling for Michigan? Because it was big 10. For me, it's all about the big 10. So what about the big 10? Wow. Cause you know, so many Buckeye fans that I know leave that at the doorstep when it comes to Michigan.

When it comes to that, they don't care. But me, I'm like, it's great for the conference. This is like, yes, of course it is.

For basketball, we haven't won it since Michigan said to go to. So you need it. But funny story.

Yes. Did you know that in the 1800s, University of Michigan, when they were downtown, Detroit, they were out scouting for land. And at that time, the line of Ohio and Michigan wasn't yet kind of determined. They bought land in Toledo to put University of Michigan.

And? That's where I'm from, from Toledo. Were you born in the same hospital as Harbaugh? And Jim urban urban Meyer Mercy Hospital. Really? University of Michigan actually thought about relocating there.

But once they found out where the line was at, they're like, we can't do that. They went to Ann Arbor. Wow. So just a little fun fact on the Rich Eisen show. And this is also way back in the day where the Western part of the United States was.

Indiana. Right. Which is why Michigan's the champions of the West.

It was the Western division before the big 10 was created. Look at us doing history together. Kind of cute. I think so, too.

Portland, Oregon. Let's talk about that. Not just because of last night, because if I'm not mistaken, that's the city in which you were drafted, correct? Yeah. That's where the 92 draft was?

I should have known. And I know nothing against Portland, but you know, at that time you watch the draft and everything was in New York. And for whatever reason, that year they moved it to Portland. They moved it right back to New York the following year.

I was like, are you are you kidding me? And don't get me wrong. I ended up playing for the Blazers and I had a great time in Portland.

Yes. But when you see it now, you know, now they moved it around a little bit. But at the time it was always. Why was it in Portland? I have no idea why they moved to Portland.

I mean, you go as far northwest as you can other than Seattle. And that's where the draft was at. Were all the draftees there, too? Well, everybody was there.

OK, so you're in a room with Shaq. Alonzo. And Christian Laitner. And who else was in that room? Alfonso Ellis. It was Latrell Sprewell. It was Harold Miner. It was Clarence Weatherspoon. Tracy Murray, who's a good friend of mine, Don. I mean, it was Tom Gugliotta who was in that class. How was what was it like in that in that room? Well, you know, it's funny because I've been knowing Alonzo since high school because of Nike camp.

Harold Miner was in my class. Tracy Murray was there. So we all knew each other. Yeah, but it was all still kind of weird because we were all expecting to be in New York.

But we're in. But I think when you're going through the process at the time, when you're just you're happy and you're and you're proud and your family is there and you're kind of enjoying the moments and but it's still something missing, like, damn, which was still in New York at the end of the day, you're getting drafted at the pinnacle where you want to be after your college career. But then it's just like but to see everybody together, you know, because we started from a different role. But yet here we are in the same place at the same time about to get drafted into the NBA. Yeah, man. And and Shaq left first and then Alonzo and then Christian, then you.

That's how it went. Yeah, it was it was in Shaq. It's funny because we're in the same year in school, 1989.

Yes. But when we were coming out of high school, it was Kenny Anderson that was number one in our class. And that was number two. The reason why Shaq wasn't that highly rated is because he was playing basketball in Texas at the time. Texas, you really couldn't go play in outside basketball camps like Nike five star Blue Chip Metro. So Shaq never really got the publicity until we started playing into postseason All-Star games. That's when it just all blew up and everybody was like, yeah, OK, we get it. Well, you got a good Shaq story from back in the day. We almost got kicked out of the McDonald's All-American game.

What do you mean? We're 18 years old, man. We're in Kansas City. So we're hanging out.

Some things we're not supposed to be doing. We're just messing around. And some people got wind to it.

It was real close. So I always blame it on Shaq. That was your fault. You was a bad influence. And he blames it on me.

Of course. But now you're grown men. And we're still blaming on each other. So that you are not representing the Golden Arches very well is what you're saying. No, actually, it wasn't too bad.

It was not bad enough for us not to participate in the game. Put it that way. It's just 18 year olds just doing some dumb stuff. OK, now look at you guys now working for Turner together. Yeah, we might be 50 something doing some dumb stuff.

Yeah, Jim Jackson here on the Rich Eisen Show. So then let's talk about what's down in Portland last night. Lillard goes back. It's Doc Rivers' second game.

They lose for the second straight time. Obviously, Lillard wants to win there, I'm sure, real bad. Are you concerned about the Bucks or in danger of going from second place to about fifth or sixth in the East right now? I was concerned before that just because the chemistry at the beginning of the season.

Adrian Griffin was a really good friend of mine. Actually, we played together with the Rockets and I knew it was going to be a tough ask because of the expectations of what the Bucks organization in that city, you know, wanted to see from that team. And when you make those strategical changes like you did. And it doesn't seem like a lot, but when you bring a dame in and you lose a Drew Holliday, the dynamics are so different in how they operate, how the team operates. And it takes time for that to kind of, you know, sprout some of its flowers a little bit because you're asking the guy like dame to come in to understand how to play with a player like Giannis. He's never had that and vice versa. And how that works and how how does Bobby Porter's fit over that? How does Lopez fit off of that? Conix and all of that with a new coach, new system.

So that's tough. And then you make the change. Doc Rivers already has in his mind kind of what he wants to do, but he's still trying to fill things out. It's never easy to make a move mid-season, especially with a philosophy when you haven't been there during training camp. So I'm concerned from the perspective of continuity.

I'm not from a talent perspective. It's can they get enough continuity with Doc heading into the end of the year into the playoffs and games and momentum? That's that's the thing. We've got two months, right? Pretty much.

Pretty much. And that's you know how fast two months goes by and you got to keep in mind that you're not practicing. So it's different if you could practice and really dig into some things. But at this point of the season and moving forward, little or none time, no time is going to be spent hard on the practice course.

There'll be a lot of walkthroughs, individual workouts. So you're not going to be able to really gel and kind of get that philosophy down outside of just being on the court playing in games. Why just for those who might be hearing the same, why no practicing? I know the way the NBA season usually goes, but I mean, what about changing up here?

Like you've got to know most teams won't. I mean, when I was first coming in the league, Pat Riley, we practice all the time, two to three hours. But generally, most coaches, as you kind of bled into the NBA season because you're playing so many games, you pull back on practice. You might have one or two hard ones during the week, maybe depending on your travel schedule.

If you have a long, you know, homestand at home, then you can put in a little bit more work of practice to do it. But it's not going to be enough to where I believe it makes a strategical difference to really hone in what you got to do. It's going to be it's going to be cause and effect, cause and error, learning on the fly and a lot of film work of what they want to do with Doc Rivers. So what does Doc want to do?

What do you think he can do to affect something in the next two plus months to get this thing in where obviously, listen, Giannis, you mentioned, you know, holiday gone, but Giannis basically told the Bucks over the summer, like, hey, you can do something. Yeah. Like basically, you're going to make your move here.

And then they went ahead and got to coach him wise. Right. Because he really because you think about it. If he wanted, but I can't dig into his mindset because I don't know.

And I try to stay away from that. Yes. But I'm I'm sure that if he wanted to push to keep Bud there, he'd be there. Yeah.

If he wanted to push to keep Adrian Griffin there, he probably would be there. Yes. So you do have an onus as you can't have it one way and not the other. When you're the franchise guy, you want to have a voice and you want to be heard and you want your opinions to be heard. Can't just have it on one end and say, well, no, I didn't have anything to do with it. Or was it my decision?

Well, you may not have said yes or no, but you may not have given a definitive answer to which probably caused the ownership to do some different things as well. So I guess what what can Doc affect? Because again, the defense is what we're talking about here. Yeah.

And you're like, you know, hey, holiday out. Obviously, he's one of the best, if not the best at the position in terms of defense and changes things around. And but Lillard is in and he's as great as they come on the offensive.

And what is Doc going to do with these pieces that you think he can actually make it work? Well, first of all, defense is all about if you really want to do it as a player. Forget about the coach. Defensive schemes, you're switching a lot of things anyway. OK, so schematically, there's only so much you can do now. You can head, you can push down to the baseline. You can switch out.

You can do some things like that. But individually, you got to you got to really want to play defense. Drew Holliday wanted to play D. OK, he wanted to guard the best player, especially when it came to a guard position.

And a lot of times, because he did that, you didn't have to help as much. So it didn't break down the back line of your defense, because once you get a team in rotation, that's when you got it. OK, so it first starts with the players individually wanting to be a better defensive team. Second, Doc has to understand, like anything else, OK, if we have a flaw in our defensive schemes or a person, how can we best cover it up? And that's how you do it. I mean, and now how he does that in the game with Giannis being able to cover so much space and Brooke having the size and Bobby Porter's coming in because they're going to have to cover up for Dane in the pick and roll because they're going to run a lot of pick and rolls. You can get broken down. Now you're going to be in rotation.

And that's when you can start spraying it out, especially against the really good teams that can shoot the ball. Jim Jackson here on the Rich Eisen Show. I want to take a break and finish up the show with you. And we got a lot of Los Angeles basketball to talk about, especially since there's some news about the Lakers, about tonight's game against the Celtics. I got Jim Jackson right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Don't go anywhere. Lots more association talk in a sec.

Back here on the Roku channel, radio will join in less than two minutes time. Do you want to take a shot at switching sports real quick? And you want to give me a Super Bowl 58 prediction? Well, I'm a Steeler fan by heart, die hard, die hard Steeler fan. All right. So I have no dog in the fight.

OK. It's hard to beat. It's hard to beat Mahomes in a situation where the game is close because he makes so many plays with his feet. He keeps like the pass he had to Kelsey. That was ridiculous. It was a nine second scramble.

But he kept it a lot. And defensive backs, you can't hold covers that long. You know, you just can't. So it's hard to go against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. It just schematically what they were able to do in their last game.

It's just like you sit back and you're watching the masterpiece at work. And it's as much as I love San Francisco and the defense and what they're doing, I just think it's like Belichick used to take plays or things away from what teams did well defensively. Right. Andy Reid can do that, you know, and I just I think it's gonna be a closer game, but I just I can't discount.

I can't discount Kansas City. It's just an air of of Mahomes taking the Brady mantle right now in in the NFL. And it's just the general sense again. You know, obviously you played in the Jordan era, too, where you got the sense, well, for Ewing and Malone and a bunch of Drexler. There's like wrong time, wrong time, wrong time for you to play is his supporting cast in regards to his receivers as talented as they really are. As talented as they were before.

Yeah. People say, well, no, but because of the way the system is built and the way Patrick Mahomes is and the offensive line and Kelsey down the middle opening up opportunities now, those receivers don't have to be great. They just have to be good and catch the ball when it's thrown to them and make plays when they have it.

And that's what makes them so tough. Those guys don't have to be great for them to win. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, Jim Jackson is here, check him out nationally Turner. And obviously, are you doing the NCAA tournament again?

NCAA tournament. Fantastic. You're great at it, man.

You really you really, really are. And I and I do enjoy watching Clipper games when you're at the microphone here locally as well. And, you know, we just talked about how there's not much practice time and there's not much time to, you know, get acquainted with a new coach or, you know, certainly in the middle of a season.

How about adding somebody like Harden in the middle of, I guess, at the start of a season? And man, has this worked out. It's it's really it's seamless. It feels like he's been playing with with Paul George and Kawhi and the rest of this team for years. It feels like that.

Right. Honestly, you watching the game and you're you're he fits perfectly into this whole thing. And I'll speak on behalf of a lot of Clipper fans, like, where's the trap door on this thing?

Like, what's happening here? Like this looks and the perfect coach for two like there. Ty Lue is pushing every right button. The rotations look great, even when even when, you know, like Zubac is out right now. Amir Kofi is suddenly like dominating when he's out there on the floor every now and then.

So what do you think? It's first of all, management in all franchises understand this when we're going through the trade deadline and management, I think, has a keen understanding of what they have and what they don't have and what they need. I felt that management with the Clippers felt that they needed another a more dynamic person in the pick and roll, someone that can also spread the court.

And that was James Hart. And that's no disrespect to Russ, who's on the second unit doing a heck of a job. And it's no disrespect to, you know, Nick Petune, the guy trading Robert Covington and Marcus Morris, but they needed something else. Now, within that, too, they also knew that there was a redundancy at the power forward and small forward position with those three I just mentioned.

Then you just now you have Terrence Mann, but you also have coffee. You also have Paul George and Kawhi, Norm Powell to Norm Powell. So what happens is when you make that trade, not only do you bring in a dynamic pick and roll player, passer finisher at the basket can throw lobs and can spread the floor. You thin out that roster. And now you have players who understand what their role is, how many minutes are going to play, when they're going in before you didn't have that.

So it was disjointed. Now, as good as management was at identifying what they needed, James Harden had to be on board to play the right way or it never will work. So at the beginning, you know, when when Tyloo tried to start all four, I think he did it out of respect more than anything else.

But it showed that, OK, this is probably not going to work the way it is. But once James got in the lineup and I said it take about 15 games to figure it out. But the thing that James Harden did, he came in and he wanted to facilitate. He wanted to play and pass. He worked with Zubac and Mason Plumlee after shoot around after practice on the pick and roll. Yeah, he's still doing it today.

He is OK. And Daniel Tice, because he wanted to make sure that they knew where the passes were coming from and set it up. So a lot of it had to do with the I think the maturity of James Harden to play a certain way that allowed everybody else to feel comfortable. And once Paul and Kawhi figured out how to play with James and now the rotations begin to be set eight or nine players. Now you saw them take off and it goes back to management identifying what they want.

They thinned out the roster, but then the individual players kind of took a step back a little bit and said, for the betterment of what we really need to do, let's give a little piece to get more. They look great. They really do. And Harden doesn't have to score 35, 38, but Kawhi is now. But Kawhi suddenly is on occasion, too. He's unreal, which this just in, but it really is working.

It's working particularly well on every possible front game. I think they can threaten Denver, don't you? No question. But here's a challenge, too. Rich, you've been around this. I tell people this all the time. It's as challenging having no talent as it is having a plethora of talent.

Sure. Because when you have no talent, you've got to figure out how to manipulate the situation to be competitive. When you have all this talent, now you've got to figure out minutes, egos and injuries. OK, that's what coaches do during the regular season. Minutes, how to manage minutes, egos and injuries. Once you get to the playoffs, that's when you dig into the X's and O's. Yeah, that's when Riley tightens that rotation.

So think about it. Ty Lue, this is what makes him so great. One, his communication. He'll communicate with the star players and they understand it. He did it with LeBron. LeBron at times probably didn't like it, but he respected it. OK, that's how Ty is. Ty put you in a situation where now you can be successful.

OK, but it's always a challenge. OK, how do I get Kawhi shots when he hasn't tested in a while? How do I get Paul shots? How do I keep Norm here? How do I make sure James is effective in the pick and roll?

All these things that the normal fan doesn't think about, all that has to go into why the continuity has finally kind of leveled out. If you go back to the bench and how they want to communicate one with these players to allow them to be who they are, but also understand to put them in a position where they could be successful. I love it. Jim Jackson here on the Rich Eisen Show. And in terms of thinning out a roster while making a trade, I kind of feel like that that's what the Knicks did with the trade with R.J. Barrett and IQ to Toronto and bringing in O.G.

Ann and nobody like taking away some sort of a redundancy that they may have. And certainly, I guess when you can have some kids come off the bench and fill in and then just let Brunson do his thing. Oh, my God. Here's when I knew that Jaylen Brunson was going to be the guy. I mean, just really a solid pro.

When he came in as a freshman of Illinois, I got a chance to cover him. He's the number one point guard in the country. He could have went anywhere and started.

You know what? He chose to go to Villanova to learn behind Ryan Archidiacono about playing at that level. He didn't have to do that. How many point guards would do that? The humbleness, but the understanding that if he wanted to be the best, this situation at Villanova was best for me, but it was behind one of the best point guards in the country. Now, that didn't translate maybe to the NBA, but on that college level, that showed you the level of maturity that Jaylen Brunson had. That comes from his father, Rick, and his mom. OK, and now you watch what he's doing in the league. Not surprised whatsoever.

And now they thinned it out. But I do think they do need New York a backup point guard. And I hate to see Julius Randall go down with the shoulder injury. Hopefully he comes back in time.

I mean, in regards to being in shape and being able to play. But I do think they've got to figure out that backup point guard position. No, Brunson is one of my favorite Knicks ever.

Love like top 10. I just love watching him play. He just he electrifies the garden.

He electrifies him when he comes off the bench back into a game after. And when he when he's everything he does shooting, distributing all of it in the few minutes I have left with you here, one week from our conversations, the trade deadline. Yeah. And here we are one week before it. And the Lakers are in Boston in deep trouble. And about 10 minutes ago is the end of our Thursday program. A.D. and LeBron were announced that they're out national TV game on Turner tonight.

I know, man. And which is exactly what you were saying off air. This is exactly what Adam Silver said he doesn't want to do with two superstar players not playing on a national TV game. But what are the Lakers do?

What would be your counsel? Well, they don't have a lot of leverage because when they started the season with Jared Vanderbilt being out kind of that kind of derailed a lot of what they wanted to do. Torian Prince is great, but I don't think they envisioned him to be the starting three because Vando at the beginning of the season would be able to guard multiple positions.

He didn't need, you know, to have an offense run for him. It's an interesting dynamic when you look at the way the Lakers flipped it in the second half of the season with basically the same kind of roster. Yes. To where they're at now. And it just shows you how hard it is to one really win in this league and be back on top year in and year out just because you have the same people.

You're a year older. Some things happen. Injuries take place.

You have a different dynamic philosophy wise, maybe a little bit. I don't know how much moving because as well as the Angelo Russell was playing, you know, Ohio State guy, love him to death. How much value does he have to get an asset back to make sense?

Who wants to take on whatever the contract terms are right now? Is this the D'Angelo we've already known? Yeah, he's playing well for a streak. Last couple of games, not that good. Does it revert back into who we thought he was?

Yeah. See, these are the questions you have when you're trying to negotiate some kind of trade deal, especially because he's and they don't want to give up Austin Reeves. So what other value and assets do you have to give up that makes sense?

It's going to really change and impact his roster. So you're saying calling up other teams and saying, you don't want to let Lebron finish his career this way, do you? And they're like, yeah, that's like, we love him to death, but no, no, we're not going to help you out. Well, I mean, it's the Lakers, too.

Now you got to think about it for a while. The Lakers probably had the assumption that, well, we're L.A. and people just want to come to L.A. They just want to come to L.A. and play. Yeah. And that's not guys now. I mean, when they're younger, they're like, I can play anywhere.

I love L.A., but, you know, we're not going to do teams are not going to do him any favorites. I don't know what they do. What can you do? Unfortunately, the only move would be to switch out the coach straight up. What is I mean, I don't know what that does.

I don't know what that does. This is the same coach that got you to wear last year. I know, right. This is the conference finals.

Yes. And that's why everyone thought running it back was a smart move here. And then it looked great in the the two games in Vegas for the in-season tournament. They did for that period of time and game.

Vincent, I mean, he hasn't played because of the injuries. And I thought that was such a great offseason. Well, listen, think about it. The what they envision. And we always do this in sports. What you envision your roster to be and your starting lineups and how your rotations are going to happen in those offseason meetings.

How many times they get derailed because of injuries. So now you're trying to figure out the best combinations on how they work. And as much as you want to X and O and tweak it, sometimes those combinations just don't fit. I don't care what you how smart you are, greater players are.

Sometimes it don't fit. And I think that's what we're seeing a little bit with the Lakers this year is that they were great in the in the, you know, in-season tournament. Yeah. But now it's something missing defensively. Defensively, they're not as good, you know, it's it's I'm a clipper.

So so is T.J. I had the national game with the Lakers and the Clippers. Yes, I watched that. This is that other than that, you know, from the Clippers are phenomenal. I mean, on the scale of one to bat guano, how crazy is Steve Ballmer? Yeah, there you go back one from from Detroit, Michigan. Midwest guy. He's he's crazy passionate.

Oh, yeah. I mean, but he allows what I love about it. He allows management to do their job because he doesn't he's not over the top. He's demanding because he understand what he what he wants.

But he trusts the people that he put in a specific place of power to make decisions. And that's why you see it coming out. And and he's been patient. Think about it with the injuries with Kawhi and Paul and things and disappointments, getting to the Western Conference finals, but not really achieving a lot.

Then you're going into a new arena. Yeah, he's been patient in regards to that. He didn't make any big time moves in regards to management, where a lot of owners.

Maybe a little overzealous would have done it and put in push to panic, but he didn't do it. And that says a lot about him. Do you have any would you have much interaction with him? Oh, yeah. I talk to him talk to him a lot just about the new stadium, the philosophy, kind of the outlook of the team, the growth part of it. And we chop it up like that. Again, it's a Midwest thing. He's from Detroit.

I'm from Toledo. So we talk a little bit about that and just talk about the future of the Clippers, the arena, which is on. I took a tour of it, man. It's down the street from NFL Network.

I pass by it every week. It is two things he wanted before we get off. He wants fans to enjoy to be in a seat. So he's always going to promote the most bathrooms ever. By the way, we have that we have that drop. Don't we have that job?

Get find out for it. Keep going. The most bad things and the ease of which you can go get concessions. The reason why he wants butts in seats, he doesn't want people to spend a lot of time out in the concession area or waiting to use the restroom. So he overemphasized that part of it. They're going to have technology in there when you walk in, facial recognition, to be able to go and pull your items so you can get back to your seat.

But that's how he wants the fan experience to be like it is with him. And I love it. Do you have it?

Mike, you're still looking for it? Play. Oh, my God. Toilets. There it is. There it is. Toilets.

Toilets! There it is. It wouldn't play because he kept on talking over and over again about what the new stadium is going to have. And then he screamed out that word and we're like, we just got to have that.

We play that every now and then when when when a team doesn't do very well. Well, I'm going to tell you this, though. When when that arena is done, the measuring stick of other arenas. Yeah. It's going to look at that. Can't wait.

Because what they've done not only for them, but for the visiting team and just for the community and the visiting team may be better than some practice facilities. It's unreal, man. And what do you know about the wall?

A lot of people don't know about that. Yeah. So the wall is all Clipper fans. You got you can't wear jersey.

Can't cheer for the other team. What do you mean? It's a wall. So it's a wall. That's a section. OK. That is at the end zone of the basket.

But it leads up and it's up a little bit higher. But it's all for Clipper fans. So when you purchase tickets there, you're going to be vetted and you have to be a Clipper. You can't be any other fan.

What if somebody just wears like a kawaii jersey and then they take it off and underneath there's like a Lebrunger. They come to get you. Are you serious? They'll come see you.

Yeah, he is not. When when it's your arena, you can do what you want. OK, your arena is your team. Do what you want. Well, actually, I think there's a place that they're going to put somebody with the wrong with the wrong jersey.

Where is it? I can't wait to the first person that tries it. Yeah, because somebody you know, some somebody somebody's going to do it right. Lakers fan will do it all day long.

Somebody will get in there and try it. Jim Jackson here on The Rich Eyes and show you're awesome. I appreciate you. Check him out on Fox Sports. Turner locally here in Los Angeles. We'll be back to wrap up on Roku in a sec. No one respects me. Rolling Stone music now, wherever you listen.