Chris Mannix: I Can Understand Adam Silver Feeling Burned

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Again, that's Dell.com slash deals. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I got something to say. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Golden State trying to acquire LeBron James and how far did this go?

It didn't go far at all. I actually heard about it when everybody else heard about it. The Rich Eisen Show. I don't know if we watch basketball tonight. The East wins it.

211 to 186. Today's guest, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix. Steelers Radio Network host, Jerry Dulak. Host of NBC's Dealer No Deal Island, Joe Manganiello. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That is right. Hey everybody. Welcome back. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. I am Rich Eisen and I'm gonna keep it together today. Here over the next three hours of this program.

I forgot you worked here. Oh yeah. I want to thank Suze for being here.

When they say for better or worse. I had no idea those vows would say you got a fill-in for me when I'm puking into a bucket behind my set. That actually happened last Tuesday. Oh yeah. This just in and I'm back.

And then Suze did Wednesday's show and thanks to Andrew Siciliano for doing Thursday and Friday. I'm feeling good. Feeling kind of groovy. I'm back. You got color back in your face, which is great.

I can feel it. Thank you. I'm back. You were Casper White last Tuesday.

Let me tell you something. It's all good. So, I want to thank Suze obviously for her outstanding being there for me and for all of you. And I appreciate everybody who tweeted me for well wishes.

And by that, I mean everybody who wasn't paying attention. So, I want to thank everybody out there for being here today. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the program. We've got a fun three-hour show in store for you. Chris Maddox is here. And he showed up today on this very rainy day here in Los Angeles. We got not one but two in-studio guests.

And when they show up for you on a rainy day in Los Angeles, that means they're besties. Joe Manganiello will be here in hour number three. He is the host of Deal or No Deal Island. And so, it'll be a great conversation with him in hour number three because he's got a lot on his mind from his Pittsburgh Steelers. Jerry Dulak, who's been covering the team for many a year, will be in studio.

Not a studio. He'll be on the show in hour number two to help set up that conversation because I saw over the weekend that the Steelers have no interest in bringing in anybody from outside the organization to be their starting quarterback of the coming year. No interest in Justin Fields or Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins or anybody. And that there's an internal debate over Kenny Pickett versus Mason Rudolph, which is interesting in that there'd be a debate even on that front.

Do they have no interest in winning? So, I know that would be a way for you to take a look at it. We'll see how Joe takes a look at it. And then in terms of Deal or No Deal, I believe when it comes to wearing Air Force Ones after a certain age. Jordans.

Jordans after a certain age, as Sebastian Maniscalco posited during our Super Bowl shows, leading to one of the most viral videos that we had coming off of our Super Bowl. Apparently, there's a No Deal on that front from Joe Manganiello. He's only tweeted me a text to me a handful of times saying, I'm coming in hot. Joe's gonna bring the heat today, TJ. I can't wait. I know I did.

Did you? Good to see you guys. Jason Feller, Chris Brockman, Jason Feller, and TJ Jefferson here on the program. Hello, folks. So, I've set the table. Now, let's talk.

I'll shoot you straight. As I always like to say before I shoot you straight, there are few topics in sports that are tedious than complaining about All-Star games. That's why the NFL just basically removed the conversation from the table and say, we're not playing. We're just not gonna play the Pro Bowl anymore.

If you're not gonna play defense and you're not gonna go all-out or at least go all-out when the game's on the line to make it of interest, if you're not going to even feign that it means something to you to win this game, we're just not gonna play it. And what we're gonna do is we'll play flag. We'll put flags on you. If you don't want to hit each other, we'll just put flags on you and then we'll spend the rest of the weekend playing games, kids games.

Or we're just gonna have you do accuracy contests and just specialties and things of that nature and bring your kids, bring your family. We'll bring ESPN and we'll bring the Mannings. They'll bring the Mannings and we'll put it together. That's what the NFL just basically waved the white flag and said, we're just done with that conversation. And the NBA, bless them, keeps on doubling down on their All-Star game. The ancillary, the All-Star Saturday, has been part of a conversation because how many different ways can you dunk a basketball?

Well, Mac McClung has shown in back-to-back years his ways, his ways to do it. Jumping over Shaq. And then there's Jaylen Brown jumping over somebody half of Shaq size, sitting down. And then getting an alley-oop, we saw the latest, I think, Celtic turnover between Tatum and Jaylen Brown. I'm saying this, Chris, after seeing the NBA slam dunk contest, Celtics got to still work on their turnover problem. Yeah.

Okay. Nice to see Jaylen use his left hand. And they're lighting up the floor. They turned the floor into an LED. That was cool. Yeah, it looked like, you know, anybody who goes to a kid's bowling party, that's what it looked like to me.

You know, without the duck pins or the railings on the gutter lanes. So, you know, they're trying. They're trying. And we'll talk about Sabrina Ionescu versus Steph Curry later on. Because I want to spend a significant amount of time on that.

But the game itself. Adam Silver, who I adore. I love this man. I absolutely love this guy. I've known him for years.

Susie's known him for longer. Couldn't have been happier he took over this league. I just adore him. And he wants this thing to work. He wants it to be old school, right? He wants it to mean something to the players and then thus it means something to you. Kobe Bryant said before his passing and then before the league named the MVP of this game after him. He said that this game should be like a pickup game between the greatest players on planet earth. What happens when the greatest players on planet earth suddenly wind up in the same court? Wherever it is.

In a park, in a city, in a school, wherever. Or an NBA arena. What's it look like when you say, who wants to win?

Who wants it more? Between the best players in the league. That's what the All-Star game should be.

And once upon a time it did. I mean, Kobe, I will never forget the NBA All-Star game that was part of the, I believe, last dance, right? Wasn't it part of the last dance? Where he waved off Karl Malone from the blocks in Madison Square Garden saying I want it myself. That was one of his first ones. That was right in the late 90s. And it was one of Jordan in the Bulls final last dance All-Star games. And Karl was pissed like who the hell are you to wave me off the block? And by the way, how about an All-Star on the block with playing on his back to the basket? You know, posting somebody up. Somebody, yeah, kids. Players used to post each other up in the All-Star game, right?

It wasn't all just fast breaks and 70 footers when you're playing two for one like Luca did yesterday at the end of the first half when it was already over. And I don't want to turn on the All-Star game with my kids and hear my 13-year-old have a conversation with his BFF. And I heard from the other room, Cooper's friend Jackson, saying I don't think these guys are trying very hard.

It's literally a 13-year-old said it. I don't think they're trying. Yeah, well if they can see it, imagine what everyone else sees. And then the winning team scores, let me get this right, 200 million points. It's like a pinball machine. The score, you look up, go how much is that worth? They were talking about it in the first, it was 100 points in the first half. Like what are we doing?

211 to 186 the final score. You know, it doesn't matter. And these guys are so prideful.

Why doesn't it matter? They don't want to get hurt, which is part and parcel of this day and age of the NBA and what have you. Adam Silver saying over the weekend, Joe Dumars, who's in the league office, they respect him and he's been talking to him. Old school bad boy. Guy came up with the Jordan rules.

Well I guess they didn't listen to Joe at all. And after the game, you gotta laugh here, Adam Silver gave out the trophy and could not have sounded any less excited to do so. And to the Eastern Conference All-Stars, you scored the most points. Well, congratulations.

Giannis, to your team, this trophy is yours. Well, congratulations to us. We've got a new drop. Hit it. Well, congratulations. There it is. I think we're gonna get used to that job. What do you think?

Well, congratulations. Just a well. And what was he really thinking? We know what he really was thinking. What were they really thinking?

Guys, really? Is that really what you did? You really did that? That's what you did?

Hoisting up 70-footers? Really? Is that what we're doing here? I mean, honestly, I'm here for you.

I'm here for you. This is the Players League. I'm happy to hand off so many decisions and so many sponsors and so much to the players in this league. It is a Players League more than maybe every other league combined. And I want this thing to be something competitive and that everybody's talking about, did you see that?

Boy, those guys really went at it. And instead, that's what you do. Help me out here. I don't know what you do. How do you run this back?

What do you do? How do you not cancel the All-Star game? Well, the reason why they're never gonna cancel it, we'll see what the ratings are. They'll never cancel a weekend. They shouldn't do that.

This is a celebration of a sport that so many of us love. I don't know. You're never gonna put the genie back in the bottle here. This thing's over. Outrageous.

Honestly, do you have Darko just show up? This is completely BS. This is shame. I watched that. By the way, I thought of this drop when I watched Scotty Barnes dribble the ball off his leg in the Skills Challenge.

Face of the NBA. Outrageous. These guys try and they shouldn't be subject to ridicule, but they open the door to themselves. 13 year old boys sitting there going, I don't think they're trying very hard. That is not what the NBA All-Star weekend should be.

It's fantastic. Now then, after I said it's a tedious subject matter, I went off on it for 10 minutes, but it's just it's the subject conversation today and it's hand-wringing. What are you gonna do? Just stop. Play pig. Play horse. Do something with these guys. Something. I don't know. Like what? One-on-one versus each other?

Yeah, a lot of good ideas. The one-on-one competition. Whatever it is, just whatever you can do to just stop the competition. We want to see it. I mean, I said it last week, a two-on-two competition.

Like, let's get Kaitlyn Clark and Dame against Sabrina and Steph. Just don't have Kenny Smith on the mic for that. That's all I ask. We'll discuss that later.

Another guy who I adore, I'm like, what was that? But we'll discuss that later on. Yeah, I think Reggie Miller made that worse. Well, the two of them together. Kenny Smith had bad intentions. This is me personally.

I don't think he had bad intentions. We'll discuss that later. We'll discuss that later.

We'll have, we'll have, I promise you we'll have real estate for that. As a girl dad, I sat there going, what the hell are these two guys talking about? So, LeBron spoke yesterday as well. And we're gonna talk about all of that with Chris Mannix, who's in our green room. And he showed up looking like, what were you, he looked like that Robert Redford gif of him nodding his head on the horse. I thought he looked like Brian Dennehy in First Blood. Yeah, he looked very manly in this sort of, you know, like it looks like a Colorado type coat, you know what I mean?

I don't think he's wearing the jacket. So, Chris Mannix is here on the program, our friend from Sports Illustrated in studio. He's also going to Orlando to call a huge fight on the zone this upcoming weekend. We'll discuss all of that with Chris Mannix right here on this edition of the Rich Eyes and Show. Overreaction Monday still to come as well. Don't go anywhere.

Chris coming out in person in a moment. Looking for an assist with your credit card but can't get a hold of anyone? Luckily with 24-7 US-based live customer service from Discover, everyone has the option to talk to a real person anytime, day or night. Yep, you heard that right. You can talk to a real human in customer service anytime.

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Last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Back here on the Roku Channel. Chris Mannix is here. We'll reintroduce when the radio audience returns.

We're just comparing new drops. You got the the one from Dumb and Dumber. So you got that one fella?

You got that one on? Hey guys. Oh big golf son. All right. Well see you later. Okay now play now play our new drop.

You got that one? Well congratulations. There you go. I mean they're comparable. It's very close. Very close.

Hey they're both awkward. 200 you scored the most points huh? Cool. Well see you later. That would have made it even better. You scored the most points.

Well see you later. It's an all-timer. He's such a I love that man.

I love Silver. He's a sweetheart. And he very rarely says something or he always toes the line right? He never wants to embarrass anybody.

Of course not. But he felt embarrassed in that moment. In part because look there were conversations with the players about this. He felt there was an agreement amongst gentlemen that they would try and then they go out and do the exact opposite. Put up the most points in NBA All-Star history. So I can understand Adam feeling a little bit burned.

Certainly since I mean the the thing that I think the NBA touts so well is the partnership between management and the players. And that's what they're like hey you know we're kind of asking you for this one. And 218 points later. And you heard Anthony Edwards after the game saying yeah I was never going to try. Like there's some guys just saying. Did you hear that too? Yeah I'm going to play left-handed and just not care. Like wow.

He made it clear from jump that he like Saturday when he played in the skills competition. We got our radio audience back here together with our Roku audience on the Rich Eisen show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen show desk furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grange is the right product for you.

Call clickgrange.com or just stop by. Chris Mannix from Sports Illustrated into Zone is here. So what what does the NBA do today? Like what do you think is happening in the league offices as they get back to New York City? I think there's just a lot of venting going on right now. There may be some calls placed between league officials and players association officials about what happened because beyond Adam Silver wanting this to be a competitive game he felt there was a mutual understanding with the players that they were not going to just turn it into you know a glorified pickup game.

That they were going to attempt to play competitively and that didn't happen. So I think there's probably some phone calls being made as far as fixing it goes I don't think there is a fix Rich. There isn't. There isn't because the NBA's tried everything over the last decade or so. They have tried mixing rosters up so it's not east versus west. They have tried naming captains and having kind of a snake draft. They have tried financially incentivizing things for win for the winners. They've tried everything in the book. The fixed score at the end of the game to make it competitive.

All the things all the tricks they could possibly pull and nothing has worked. They go back to the traditional format this year and it's worse than ever before. Now I've seen some suggestions that because of the proliferation of talent globally you could do USA versus the world which on paper makes some sense. But if you watch back that all-star game the two most indifferent guys to the outcome were Luka Doncic and Nicole Jokic.

Luka Doncic who went for two for one by shooting a 75 footer in the first half and Nicole Jokic who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there for every minute he was in that game. So while I get the theory that USA versus the world could be competitive I don't believe when you put guys like that out there on the floor it would be. So then also the issue with that would be you'd have to have an equal number of such players voted in. I mean there's such a conversation about who's snubbed and who isn't and who is a starter and who is not. You'd have to make sure that there is an all-star roster for domestic and then international.

I think there is though. I think you can like look they would undoubtedly be one or two guys on either side that would ordinarily get in if it was a normal competition. But look I don't think the players would have a leg to stand on here because the NBA wouldn't be doing this if they put forth more of an effort when the game is actually being played. The NBA wants to see a competitive game and this might be their last the last lever that they could pull. But people out there that are that believe the NBA should just do away with it. It's just it's not going to happen because when the ratings come out and these ratings are probably going to be conflated a little bit because they are inflate I should say a little bit because on Saturday they said there were 10 million unique viewers that watched all-star Saturday night. We're probably gonna see a comparable number that watched the all-star game but it's still gonna be a big number. Bigger than most if not every regular season game the NBA has ever played. As long as that many people are watching it the NBA is never going to do away with it.

But what if the conversation is as you know you know negative as it is today. I mean that you don't want to have your show listen you don't want to have your showcase all-star game have an in-arena feel to it like it's a 40-point blowout. You know what I mean like you don't need to hear just the the the the I guess drum beat of the music that's being played in the arena over you know a disinterested group of young fans who are trying to see something.

You know like that you feel it through the television set. Look I agree now look I think there should be you know they should spend the next 11 months figuring out a way to restructure the entire weekend. I mean one of the things the NBA one of things that made Sunday a lot worse was that in most all-star games it's goofy for three and a half quarters. But most of them you get a competitive like two or three minute stretch at the end where these guys decide they want to win.

You didn't get that on Sunday because it was a 20-point game in the fourth quarter. So they missed out on that but the entire all-star weekend in my opinion needs to be completely mothballed and changed entirely. The dunk contest needs to go.

I mean due respect to Mac McClung he's won two dunk contests and played four NBA games. That should not be who is winning the dunk contest year after year and if you can't get all-stars to compete which you can't I think need to do away with it and do something else. The skills competition while a good idea at the beginning has become goofy. Anthony Edwards playing with his left hand entirely made a mockery of it.

There's no need to continue on with that. They need to find new new features for this and I think the Sabrina versus Steph was amazing and is something that can not only be duplicated but they can build on in the future. Like look let's do Sabrina Steph 2 at the WNBA all-star game and then next year let's say Kaitlyn Cooper is in the WNBA next year which I guess is possible. You put Kaitlyn Cooper and Sabrina against Steph and Damian Lillard in the Bay Area for all-star weekend. Everybody's going to want to watch that because of how Sabrina performed and how great we know Kaitlyn Cooper is. The NBA found something there they need to find more things like that to make Saturday matter. Well I mean you know Kaitlyn Clark being as dynamite as she is and is a figure that everybody is so fascinated with and by and the ascension of the women's college world I think now adds more of an interest level and as a girl dad and I'll say this my 10 year old made her all-star team. She's a she's got some handle.

I've never really said this about you know my daughter before but it's true. Let me tell you man but no but my household is all into this right now and that was the one event of the weekend entire weekend that we were in the house saying when is it on was Sabrina versus Steph and so I'm with you on that. In terms of the game look the NFL just said we're done with this we're not playing the game anymore because they did you know the the Pro Bowl used to be one of those games where and you talked to all the all the guys who played in those Pro Bowls in Hawaii they did the math in their head about how expensive it was for their family to be over in Hawaii. They did the math between winning and losing the game and the fourth quarter they're like we're not walking out of here without that winner's check and the game actually broke out in the fourth quarter.

I mean most famous I think guys we can all agree Pro Bowl moment was Sean Taylor blowing somebody up right. I mean and that's the thing that people talk about but obviously they would never have played the Pro Bowl in the middle of an NFL season. We're playing this yeah physical game or it's saying get more physical with each other in an era of of you know load management and figuring this out and figuring that out. LeBron only played a portion of the game because he's nursing an injury he's saying so I don't know what the answer is other than maybe let me just throw this one at you and then we can move on to the rest of the NBA world here. That what about polling players the league gets together with the players association who is all-star quality that would that would be willing to play a competitive basketball game. You know there's a ton of players in that you know what level of 20 to 40 in the league who are popular really really good would give their left you know what to be an all-star and say if you make this game you're playing and you speak to the teams you speak to the coaching staffs they're playing 20 30 minutes like they're like they're gonna but this is gonna be a real NBA game with a rotation and everything and you make this commitment that you're gonna go all out and they're they're let's put it this way more willing to listen to somebody like Joe Dumars than the guys who got voted in.

What do you think about that idea? I don't think it would work I just I don't know I'm grasping here guy most because I don't think the players association would ever go for it. I mean guys all want to be all-stars in some cases there are financial incentives to being all-stars in their contracts they're not going to go for a scenario that sees I'm trying to think of like a sixth or seventh man that would love or or you know a third or fourth best guy on the roster that you know an Austin Reeves being in the all-star game like they these guys want to be all-stars they just don't want to compete in an all-star game and getting that to change is a herculean task I think is impossible for the NBA to do. One of the problems that that they have is that in the last let's say 15 years the three-point shots undergone evolution right it went from team shooting 10 to 15 three-point shots per game to 40 50 sometimes 60 or more three-point shots per game that bleeds into the all-star game I mean getting guys to defend post-ups is one thing getting to defend beyond the three-point line in a regular game is hard to do getting to do it an all-star game is impossible so if you're going to have Steph Curry and Damian Lillard and all these great shooters pulling up from 25 feet away it's impossible to get NBA all-stars to go out there and defend that at a high level. Which is why I think the three-point contest is the most enduring aspect of the weekend. Three-point contest is great the new step for Sabrina uh contest is great my recommendation for the NBA for you know skills competition dunk contest put it on the shelf for a while maybe forever how about a one-on-one tournament like one thing players love is being known as the best one-on-one player in the league the NBA is an isolation game right they all love to go one-on-one against each other it is a it's a badge of honor if you're a great one-on-one player I think you could lure top-tier guys into a one-on-one tournament not all of them but you could get Kevin Durant in a one-on-one tournament you can get probably Lillard in a one-on-one tournament Giannis in a one-on-one tournament find a format that works and have these guys play one-on-one and have them cry you remember the game king of the court that was always a game I love playing growing up have the winner crowned the king of the court I think that would be a nice addition to next year's game I mean didn't Luca hit one off of the the scoreboard hanging over the arena in sort of a I guess a pig moment in a horse moment didn't he didn't he bounce when it went into yeah I mean I don't know but I want to see guys compete and I think going one-on-one will make them compete or at least some of them that get into that they're not they're not going to want to get embarrassed in a game of one-on-one let's get into Lebron here I've got Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated here on the Rich Eisen show so Lebron I believe flew in day of game right and then and then held a press conference he just basically got it all out of the way in one day is what it sounds like star day all-star day for for Lebron he had this to say about his Laker future or his end of career path in his press conference very happy being a Laker the last six years and hopefully it stays that way but I don't have the I don't have the answer to how long it is or you know which uniform I'll be in hopefully it is with the Lakers it's a great organization and so many greats but but we'll see I don't know how it's going to end but it's coming so you want to interpret that for me what do you have uh I want to be a Laker if the Lakers do the things that make me happy what are those make the right deals that upgrade the roster around me and Anthony Davis that put us in championship contention every single year there's no doubt he was disappointed by the Lakers decision to stand pat at the deadline this is not a championship not a championship team it might not even be a team that escapes the plane I know they're playing good basketball right now but a lot of that good basketball is predicated on the play of D'Angelo Russell who has been outstanding for the last couple of months can that continue over the next two months and into the playoffs we've seen a mixed bag of results from D'Angelo Russell in the past what Lebron is looking for if you want to fast forward to this off season is for the Lakers to go big the Lakers can trade as many as three first round picks this summer they've got some contracts they could move particularly Russell Rui Hashimora movable contracts they can go out there and get another star they swung and missed at a guy like De'Jaunte Murray they'd like to take a swing at Trae Young I know this summer that to me is going to be what Lebron wants to see happen right around draft night he doesn't have he's got an opt-in for that 50 plus million contract for next year I think Lebron wants to see results before draft night before making any decisions as to how to opt in why wouldn't that be something the Lakers would be into as well I mean don't you think Lebron finishing with the Lakers and having even though he says he's 50-50 on a on a farewell tour you know I can probably see a farewell tour there's gonna be a farewell tour before the farewell tour it's not Kobe had a farewell tour I mean a lot of guys have farewell so what I'm saying is that this dovetails into what the Lakers normally love which is we are the franchise with all the trophies and the most famous players and the best players of all time certainly they they they love a ceremony okay they're great at ceremonies and so why wouldn't they go ahead and do all of what Lebron would want to have it kind of dovetails in what their their brand is it does and look they made a commitment to Anthony Davis early in the season giving him a three-year contract extension so they are pretty locked in on this group the problem with making a deal in February because they were limited to one first-round pick they could deal yeah if they were going to make a big swing at say someone like Dejounte Murray they would have had to include Austin Reeves and they didn't want to do that now with three first-round picks to deal this off season they don't have to include an Austin Reeves so you can have Lebron Reeves Anthony Davis and maybe a Trae Young in that mix which not only solves the problem of satisfying Lebron now but it also transitions beyond him Trae Young's in his 20s Anthony Davis in his early 30s like whenever Lebron is done you can still build around build a championship level team around Anthony Davis who's having an outstanding season and Trae Young who has been an outstanding player for the last few seasons so that type of deal makes a lot of sense for LA and then so again so I guess my question is is why why does Lebron need to be cryptic with with side of you that is cryptic I mean he's been more cryptic right no I know what with the hourglass and everything like that I guess cryptic is the wrong word then but him saying I don't know I mean well look if the Lakers decide why wouldn't that that's the point with the Clippers opening their new arena why wouldn't they want to just put their marker down say this is a Laker town everybody let's forget forget that and I think I think that's what they're going to do I think that's what they're going to do I look Lebron's not going to sit there all star weekend say I'm a Laker for life like I'm I'm opting into my contract I'm got it somebody already asked him a couple of weeks back if he had any idea what in New York if he knew what he was going to do next summer he said no look he's trying to keep his options open and he's trying to exert maximum effort on the Lakers if you follow Lebron's career this is what he has done every step of the way Cleveland Miami Cleveland again and now in Los Angeles used his contract status to exert as much leverage as possible it's it's a smart move if you want to make sure your team is investing and reinvesting every single year I'll say one more thing about Lebron though like that farewell tour I don't see it happening anytime soon like this guy is still an all NBA level talent and he still really seems to enjoy the game he's got two young sons that have NBA potential you know his his eldest is at USC right now Bryce is in high school wouldn't surprise me one bit that's just me speculating for Lebron to kind of sit back and say you know what let's see if Bryce can make the NBA and let's you know wait that out as long as he's healthy playing at this level and enjoying himself which he seems to be doing there's no reason for him to walk away so I think we're talking early 40s maybe even mid 40s before Lebron hangs like a Tom Brady situation why not if you're still playing at that level and you're still competitive and you're in a city and an organization that you enjoy why walk away especially if you can put even more insane distance between you and the rest of anybody else that would come for his records that he's going to have every record and then in his in his all-star day he also stopped by the inside the NBA set and and had this to say about the trade that the Warriors reportedly tried to exact for him at the trade deadline it didn't go far at all you know I actually heard about it when everybody else heard about it you know obviously you know Charles been in the league Kenny been in league Shaq been in the league and this sometimes there's conversations happen behind closed doors that you don't even know about and until I guess if it's real or not then they'll bring it to you but it never even got to me so you know I heard it when the reports dropped as well so what do you make of that that I can't imagine he learned of it just I can't either I don't know when rich like rich paul calls him like hey guess what guess who I just got a call from look joe lakob you know I mean like you know of the one I saw this 4-1-5 number so I picked it up you know like really is that the way it went you know Lebron has been through his intermediaries he's made it pretty clear he wants to be a Laker like didn't want to get traded anywhere before the trade deadline rich paul came out and said that publicly but when this deal was first report of the prospect of this deal my first reaction was it makes a lot of sense right because if you're the Lakers you would probably be able to get your hands on Jonathan Kaminga and Jonathan Kaminga to me looks like a star like in the next couple of years I think we'll be talking about Jonathan Kaminga as an all-star so if you're the Lakers you get an expiring contract maybe it's Chris Paul and you get a young player and possibly another draft pick to start to build your team again around Anthony Davis and for Lebron I don't know if Lebron is the penicillin to cure what's wrong with Golden State but if you have a team with Lebron, Steph, Draymond Green and Clay Thompson super six man now if you have that type of team that's pretty no matter where you finish in the playoff standings you're gonna be a tough team to beat in the playoffs so when that trade was first floated it made some sense but it's pretty clear Lebron doesn't want to leave Los Angeles at least not right now does your reporting all confirm or or that that this was Draymond's idea like Draymond's like hey let's let's lob in a call I think Draymond from from what I've been able to gather Draymond had like the starter pistol right like it was he was the one that kind of sort of first floated this into the universe and it kind of you know filtered that down through everybody else from there look there were serious discussions from the Golden State side because look where they are right now they're sitting there in that play-in mix and nothing we've seen over the first two-thirds of the season suggests that their defensive problems are going to be resolved that they're going to be able to find quality scoring when Steph Curry is off the floor I loved what I saw from Klay Thompson coming off the bench can you continue that I don't know let's let's see it over more than just a couple of games but they need an injection of something and the only player I could see them surrendering Jonathan Kaminga for because the Warriors do have to start thinking about life beyond Steph life beyond Draymond life beyond their big three the only guy I could see them surrendering Kaminga for is LeBron because that would keep that window open two maybe three more years of potentially winning a championship yeah so that makes sense for the Warriors then then why did LeBron say no why would he shoot that down unless he wants to go through his farewell tour or stick with the Lakers that's what it makes sense there's but it makes sense for a couple of it makes sense lifestyle wise for starters right like he likes showing up at USC to watch his son play basketball he likes doing that his youngest son in high school in the LA area his family pretty well entrenched in Los Angeles and going to Los Angeles back in 2018 was as much a personal decision for LeBron as a professional decision he was doing it in part because he wanted that that lifestyle he wanted to do things in Hollywood with his entertainment company and all those things the basketball side of it though goes back to what we just said the Lakers this summer can make a big move they can build a Warriors type team or better if they make the right deal if they get Trae Young and you're talking Trae Young AD and LeBron James along with Austin Reeves and some other guys they have filling out that rotation probably better than what the Warriors have with Steph and Draymond probably and who knows what happens with Klay at the end of the year so I can see it from a personal level why he'd say no and fast forwarding to next year I can see from a professional level why it made sense. Chris Mannix here on the Rich Isaac show let's take a break you spent some time with the Bucks this past week okay and then we'll talk about this fight that you're going to be calling in Orlando on Dazon next later this week right? Later this week. Fantastic I got Chris Mannix here on the Rich Isaac show don't you dare move that is next this is the Monday post all-star edition of the Rich Isaac show. 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wellness shots per box while your subscription is active trust me you'll love Factor do it now 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're one to talk you've released two books this year i've done half as many as you it is more about strategy than it is about just finding whatever the new buzzword happens to be bigger pockets real estate podcast on youtube or wherever you listen back here on the show radio returns in less than two minutes chris maddox now we're having to chat gents while you were in commercial break about moving the nba trade deadline as well yeah i just thought it was uh poor planning to have the trade deadline on the thursday before the super bowl because every sports talk show is talking about the super bowl yeah and unless you have a seismic event like we were talking about a kevin durant trade while the super bowl is in phoenix the super bowl is always going to consume the news cycles my suggestion is to have the trade deadline the thursday before all-star because not only do you give it its own news cycle but by having it on a day where there are no games for a week you eliminate kind of the goofiness that happens after a big trade where some teams are so undermanned they're playing seven or eight guys right you've got guys hurrying to take physicals so they can get uh back into the rotation give your your players a full week to get set get a couple of practices i think that will include improve the quality of the play which i know is something that's on the nba's radar yeah and and um all the the shows are already setting up shop in the all-star town they can do all their reaction shows as a pre as a sort of a promotion for here we are in the nba city yeah interesting i mean the nba is always the all-star city they're always beholden to the nfl in this sense like the fact that the all-star game takes place two-thirds of the way through the season is already ridiculous you might as well well wait till the end the nfl one day um adds one more game and the super bowl is actually nba all-star weekend they're already well i don't think that next year is different because yeah but not christmas is in the middle of the week right so the year after that and the year after that it's not a great yeah christmas triple header this year oh at least it wasn't my home's playing well wait a minute what were the ravens versus niners wait a minute back here back on the rich house show chris manix is here meanwhile like you know you've got great you know you've got great players playing on christmas day in the nfl and i think the story of the nba christmas was how many guys were sitting out with injuries so it's i know it's not great so you spent time with the bucks this week what is your impression of the doc rivers coached i guess retooled for the lack of better phrase bucks what do you got for me yeah i think of the storylines over this unofficial second half of the season i think milwaukee ranks right up there as the most interesting because this is a team with championship talent right you've got yanas you've got lillard you've got some good guys chris milton when he gets back healthy you've got a big three in milwaukee but for whatever reason it has not worked up until this point they were 30 and 13 under adrian griffin but they fired him because they thought their defense was just not going to get much better doc rivers comes in and the defense did improve over those 10 games that he coached they're about 12th in the nba in defensive efficiency but there were three and seven so the results just weren't there it's going to be fascinating to see if yanis and lillard and middleton and this group of players can get on the same page because this team has a very tight championship window what's funny about the all-star game yanis and damian lillard were the two oldest players on the eastern conference roster they're older guys in their in the case of dame in his early 30s yanis in his late 20s chris middleton in his 30s as well there is a very tight window for this team to win a championship and if they can't get it together this year who knows what happens in the off season so what is doc bringing the equation do you think i think doc is what he's trying to do and i had a long conversation with him earlier in the week is he's trying to simplify things what he saw from afar was a team that was presenting its players offensively and defensively with too many options too many options defensively too many schemes defensively offensively not going to their bread and butter enough one thing doc said to me was we need to run a lot of pick and roll for damian yanis we've got one of the best shooters in nba history we've got one of the most dynamic players in nba history we've got to run pick and roll for them all day long their very first practice all they did was run pick and roll for damian lillard and docs we've got to get back to that defensively they've got to get back to their defensive identity which is yanis and brooke lopez protecting the rim and their guards on the perimeter showing more effort fighting over screens just being an aggressive team one thing he said was look when you play denver and you play miami they don't try anything special they're just really good at what they do and they dare you to be better he said we've got to get back to being really good at what we do and daring the teams that we played that beat us you get the sense that they were buying it what he's selling i think they're buying it because i do think there was some confusion within the locker room about how they were playing some disagreement between players and the coaching staff about how they were playing i mean you know for a couple of examples malik beasley who's one of the best shooters in the nba part of the three-point contest there were times he was handling the ball a little bit too much doc rivers said to him so you know what you're not a ball handler anymore you just be you you be a shooter damian lillard would say he was confused uh at least according to doc rivers would say he was confused about when he was bringing the ball up he said look you're damian lillard you bring the ball up all the time you're our point guard you're our star so it's it's a word that i heard a lot during my week in milwaukee simplify simplify simplify just making everything as basic as they can and being the very best at it is it as simple as this is the nuggets world anyway though i don't know it might be boston's world frankly i mean like look the nuggets beat the celtics in boston they're the team to beat until someone knocks them off right um i'm just really impressed with boston's big six like their their top six guys are elite the biggest question the celtics have in the second half is can they keep chris das porzingis healthy like he's had he's been relatively healthy most of the season but he's had a variety of different bumps and bruises he has been a real key to what they've done on both ends of the floor he's a perfect floor spacer offensively defensively he's become a real shot contestor at the rim if he can stay healthy my prediction is they roll through the eastern conference and then we see what happens whoever they play in the west the west is going to be a street fight from start to finish so tell me about your fight that you're calling on orlando florida which is the new home of boxing for at least for puerto rican fighters edgar berlanga uh super middleweight undefeated uh he's fighting uh patrick mcgrawy this is a fight the broader picture of this fight is that if edgar berlanga looks great he's got a shot to fight canelo alvarez and everybody in boxing from 160 pounds 175 pounds wants to fight canelo alvarez edgar berlanga has been disappointing over the last couple of years in his fights he was a guy that had 16 straight first round knockouts he hasn't had a knockout since then he's facing a guy that's gonna be right in front of him if he looks great he's gonna put himself right in the mix to fight canelo alvarez as early as may of this year so so what are you what's your your i think he's gonna look great i think he's gonna have a big night he's fighting a a northern ireland fighter who's tough who's gonna be there in front of him but if edgar berlanga is on his a-game if he's throwing combinations if he's letting his hands go i think he has the he had the ability to have an explosive knockout and that's gonna be big for his career that's on disown uh this coming weekend saturday night live on disown yeah okay and you're there i'll be there fantastic uh in the minute i have left here um so who can surprise cleveland nicks um would you call the clippers a surprise since they've had the best record since december 1st um clippers are really good they are like i like the names of teams you mentioned cleveland i have to see it in the playoffs i haven't you know last year was such a disappointment the nicks so banged up right now and and there are still questions about can jaylen brunston and julius randall as your top two beat an elite team with yanis and lillard as their top two with jaylen brown jason tatum as their top don't forget precious now come on i look everybody loved like look i love the deals the nicks made like they got great depth they did make some okay but tom tibbato plays like six guys so like what does it matter who 789 are on the back of your bench so to me it always comes down to whether brunston and randall can be as good in the playoffs as they've been the regular season the clippers though man they are going to be really tough um like i said it's denver's world until somebody knocks them off but paul kawhi leonard's playing like an mvp paul george is an all-star zubach when he's in there is a terrific big man russell westbrook has bought in james harden has bought in they are playing with the kind of chemistry we haven't seen the clippers play with in a long time they're playing with the kind of health that we haven't seen the clippers play with in a long time if they are healthy going into the playoffs your best bet is probably a nuggets clippers final uh in the postseason there you go there tj there's your clipper update for you yeah from your lips the gods there you go great conference finals matchup and the minute i have left doc said that a couple other teams reached out to him he said that i don't he said that at the press conference too when he got i don't know if that was i don't know what that was reaching out to him in the second why don't you drop the mic and uh he said the bucks are the only way to say this one of the like i saw all the like the outrage over doc rivers that how you know how we left espn espn was shocked that doc rivers left he was interviewing for other jobs before he took the espn job doc rivers went from the celtics where he was traded remember to the clippers this like a minute and a half after you got fired by the clipper he's on a plane to philadelphia the idea that doc rivers was not going to be back in coaching in two years if you believe that in the espn upper ranks i got a bridge in brooklyn to sell you because doc rivers is a coach first and foremost and was always going to get back into coaching i i wasn't surprised to hear at all that he was taking this buck's job but some people apparently were i mean do you want to coach lillard and yana stock and get back coaching yes if it wasn't he he probably only would have jumped now for that job but if like the detroit pistons job came open next summer i think he probably would have taken that too like he's a coach he loves to coach chris thanks for coming on you got it check him out at the 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