Sam Amick: What Matters Is What Nuggets Do In Game 7

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No. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. If the Jets go 2-0 to start the season, I will show up on that Monday show with a bottle of Opus One in between my legs like I'm LeBron James.

In white pants. Today's guests. Senior NBA writer for The Athletic, Sam Emmett.

Four-time WNBA Champion, Sue Bird. Senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We're live in Los Angeles on a Friday getting set for a wild sports weekend that wasn't so darn wild when we left here yesterday. Good to have everybody here on the Roku channel, this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate, Sirius XM Odyssey. Tune in and more. We're all over the spot.

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All our social media feeds at Rich Eisen Show except for TikTok at The Rich Eisen Show. And we thank all the kids out there for sending us over the 200,000 follower threshold. Maybe just maybe what Suzy and I talked about yesterday for a little bit.

Put us over the top. Suze, we've had quite a 24 hours. Good to see you over there. Glad to be back. I'm glad they let me in the building. Good to see you. Suzy Schuster sitting in for Chris Brockman, who's in Jacksonville, Florida, taking on the Sawgrass on behalf of a charity golf tournament. With his smug shot.

With his smug shot. Good to see you over there, Jay Felley. How are you? I'm great. How are you, Rich?

Where's Mike? I don't know. Okay.

TJ Jefferson, good to see you. Candles already lit. Candles let the brothers in the corner. Let's go. And guess what?

Felley and I both stopped at Randy's. We've got donuts galore. So, I mean, I'm just saying Monday, Monday we may have leftover donuts with our Bloody Marys or with our champagne. Ain't nobody eating three-day-old donuts though, Suze. You have to get some more donuts. Take them home to your mom.

No! We've got three hours to get through first as we're looking over the steering wheel. When we left this show yesterday, did not think two things were possible. One, the Denver Nuggets would be down by at least 50 points in Game 6 in Minnesota at one point and wind up losing by 45 as the worst loss in the postseason ever suffered by any defending team.

No defending champ had ever lost a playoff game by 36 points or more in their title defense and the Nuggets lost by 45 last night. Did not think that was possible. Nor did I think that the guy who won the latest green jacket would be wearing an orange jumpsuit by morning.

Didn't think that either about Scottie Scheffler and I'll be straight up. When I woke up this morning and Suze was still asleep. That's okay. Why'd you have to mention that? What do I have to do with that? Nothing to do with that. I don't know. I'm just painting the word picture because, you know, the person who normally sits in that chair is not sharing a bed with me. You know what I'm saying?

I hope not. I woke up because I made an audible like, oh, like that. And I'm glad that he did not wake her up because it was, you know, in the 5 a.m. hour. And honestly, when I opened up the the hellscape known as X and I just to see what's going on and I saw a mug shot of Scottie Scheffler, I thought this had to be a joke. It had to be some form of a meme.

Somebody put this together. Not even old. I mean, I mean, this guy's clean as a whistle, right?

I mean, he's never run afoul of the law. I didn't think. And it also looked recent.

Like that looks like Scottie Scheffler. And I thought to myself, what happened? And I started unpacking what happened. And, you know, first of all, it's all born out of somebody losing their life on a street outside of Valhalla this morning in the 5 a.m. hour there in Kentucky. I don't know what happened, but apparently one of the shuttle buses struck a pedestrian and this individual is lost his or her life. I don't know what happened, but it's raining out. It's dark out and there's a lot of there's a lot of sirens and a lot of flashing lights and into this traffic fray shows up. Scotty Scheffler shows up and apparently in a marked PGA car with his credentials on the on the dashboard, according to his lawyer.

And I don't know what happened. Jeff Darlington is the only one in our business who witnessed it. He has been all over ESPN this morning and the video he took of Scheffler being let off in handcuffs after what he and his lawyer are terming a traffic misunderstanding. As Jeff Darlington says, a police officer who was attempting to stop Scheffler from going around the bottleneck of the traffic jam to get into Valhalla told him to stop. His car wasn't stopped. And as Darlington said, a police officer attached himself to the car. And then 10, 20 yards later is when Scheffler stopped the car. That is when Scheffler rolled down the window and was removed from the car, placed in handcuffs. And anybody who sees the video on Darlington's Twitter account can hear an officer. Screaming him back up and and Scheffler, according to Darlington, said, please help me. And the officer said he's going to jail. There's nothing anybody's going to do about it. So back up and off to jail.

Scotty Scheffler goes. I have the right in front of me right here, the police report, because he was charged with four charges. The assault, second degree of a police officer charges a felony.

There's three other misdemeanors he's been charged with. The officer in charge here was directing traffic at gate one of the Valhalla golf course due to the road being closed in both directions from an earlier fatal collision. Listed subject was driving eastbound to gain access to the course. Subject pulled in the westbound lanes where outbound traffic was flowing avoided back to avoid backed up traffic. Detective Gillis was in the middle of the westbound lanes in full LMPD uniform and a high visibility yellow reflective rain jacket stopped subject and attempted to give instruction. Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground. Detective Gillis suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee. He was transported to the hospital for further medical treatment by emergency medical personnel. And this last line, boy, Twitter's having a field day with it. Detective Gillis's uniform pants, valued at approximately $80, were damaged beyond repair. Don't see that too often in a police report.

Scotty Scheffler took to, I guess, is this Instagram? Okay. This morning I was preceded as directed by police officers. It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so, considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier. And there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do.

I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I'm hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today. Of course, all of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the accident earlier this morning.

It truly puts everything in perspective. As we know, Scheffler's first child was born just a few days ago. I don't know if we have his statement from his lawyer because that was released just moments ago. Good job, everybody.

Okay. Pat Forti tweeted it out from Yahoo. In the early hours of the morning, in advance of his tee time, Scotty was going to the course to begin his pre-round preparation. Due to the combination of event traffic and a traffic fatality in the area, it was a very chaotic situation. He was proceeding as directed by another traffic officer and driving a marked player's vehicle with credentials visible. In the confusion, Scotty is alleged to have disregarded a different officer's traffic signals resulting in these charges. Multiple eyewitnesses have confirmed that he did not do anything wrong but was simply proceeding as directed. He stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle.

We will litigate this matter as needed and he will be completely exonerated. Number one player in golf. Woke up this morning headed to the course in the rain in Kentucky, in Louisville, Kentucky, and had no clue what was going on in front of the Valhalla Golf Club. And this was the number one player in golf who showed up to work today, I believe five shots off the lead, trying to win his second consecutive major. The only guy out there with a chance at a grand slam.

This is his morning. He was detained by police less than an hour after that awful accident outside of Valhalla Golf Club at 6.01 am, booked by the Louisville Department of Corrections in an orange jumpsuit shirt at 7.28 am. Sheffler was released an hour and 12 minutes later at 8.40 am and then 32 minutes later he arrived at the golf club and then 50 minutes later teed off for the second round. Easily the most scrutinized second round of any player in the history, I would think, of a major golf championship. He was the number one player in the world and Sheffler birdied the first hole. The tenth hole he teed off the back on a rainy day. He bogeyed the next and then rolled in a 26 footer for birdie. The next after that. He is currently through six holes at five under par. The leader, Xander Sheffley, will be teeing off in about two and a half hours. What the what?

Listen, I'm not going to sit here and opinionate on a darn thing. You know, the people who are adjudicating their job outside of the golf club, I have no earthly idea what the conditions were. I have no earthly idea what was going on there at all when Scottie Sheffler showed up. I have no idea. We don't have any idea if the officer saw the marked car, saw what was on the dashboard, if Sheffler saw what was going on, if Sheffler thought the guy who was hanging on was a fan.

Honestly, no idea. I'm not making excuses for a single person. I was not there.

Jeff Darlington is the only one that was there. All I'm saying is this is the wildest set of circumstances I have ever heard involving anything to do with any sport like this and involving anybody who's at the top of their game like this on the day of an actual event that he is teeing off in. This is crazy. I have no earthly idea, but certainly his legendary focus is going to be front and center today. And he is now through the first seven holes of his morning. And after that birdie, bogey, birdie start, he has pared the next four holes and it is raining out there at Valhalla. And Suze, I will ask you to keep an eye on his round throughout the day and keep us updated as conditions warrant.

I will. Meanwhile, the other story that I had mentioned, Denver Nuggets. Crazy thing happened on the way to sweeping the final four games of the series against the Timberwolves who started with the first two wins of the series in Denver.

Crazy thing happened. The Timberwolves showed up and won their first home game of this series. And Mike Conley comes back after missing game five with a sore Achilles and he was distributing, he was scoring, he was doing everything.

And the legendary Timberwolves defense showed up holding Denver to just 30 percent from the floor, 19 percent from three, out rebounding Denver 62 to 43, holding the Nuggets to a season low 70. I've been telling everybody over the last week and a half, including the guy who's in Jacksonville on Sawgrass, we have to stop treating this series or any series or any playoff series in the NBA. And you could say the same thing about the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, too. You've got to stop treating it like it's the NFL, like the latest result is exactly the narrative it's going to be.

And we're going to stick with it and we're going to talk about it until the next game, because the next game comes right out right up. And Anthony Edwards scored 27 last night in handing the Nuggets the worst ever defeat in the history of the NBA postseason for a defending champion. The largest deficit, largest margin of defeat by any defending champion in the following postseason was 36. This is 45.

And it was even worse at one point. It's the largest margin of victory in the postseason since 2015, second largest in the history of the NBA of any team facing elimination. So I don't know what this means for Game 7. Do you? Is anybody out there? No. You, Lieutenant Weinberg?

I have no idea. I think Anthony Edwards knew he was coming back to Denver, though. Yeah, he was pretty certain. Apparently there was a rumor going around. He told the clubhouse attendant in Denver, see you this weekend. And he was asked about it and gave a classic Anthony Edwards response to the query. Did you really tell the locker room staffer in Denver you were going to be back?

Hell yeah. They know. I was in there.

Yeah, I told them. I said, I'll see y'all for Game 7. And that's a walk off. Matt Leinart will be next. If we talk to pound the table. Thanks, Ant. I love that kid.

He's very likable. How did Jokic take it? The three time MVP being handed his lunch. A 45 point loss? Here's what Jokic had to say. Nicole, you said this was a great loss.

Can you just elaborate on what that means? What do you mean by it being a great loss? It's a great, you know, they beat our ass.

They were better than us in every segment of the game. And we need to accept it, you know. Take it and just try to be better next time.

You know, when you lose by 45, it's not like something happens every day. So, just accept it, you know. I'm cool with it. I'm cool with it. Go ahead. You have the drop. I'm sure you did. I'm cool with it. No, no.

You have that now. Oh, I thought the other Jokic shot that we've been playing. Because they're going to go home now. We can go home now.

They're going to go back for game seven. There was a point in time where everyone was sitting on the bench. He was standing up and he was just looking at what was going on. And you could see the wheels turning and he was kind of like, okay, all right.

That's it? What else could he do? They can go home now. Yeah, they can go home now for game seven. Isn't that amazing?

A team that just was on its heels, hadn't won a game since game two, comes out and boat races the defending champs. So I guess Aaron Gordon can go back to dinner with the team. I don't know if you heard that story. No.

Okay. He's been banned from the team dinner. And I learned about it by reading this man's work. Sam Amick of The Athletic is going to be joining us next.

He was at game six. And it's time to check it out. So here we go. Sue Bird will join us at the top of hour number two. As Kaitlin Clark, you want to talk about losses. The Indiana Fever followed up their 21-point loss in Connecticut with a 36-point loss last night in Indiana. And so I figured who better to talk about Kaitlin Clark's first two games than a four-time WNBA champ and a former first overall pick in her own right. The great Sue Bird will join us in hour number two and Albert Breer in hour number three.

The phone lines are already lit. Folks want to play the win-loss game. I love it. Sue, you've got the What's More Likely?

I do. Very good. What's More Likely Friday.

That's the way we're rolling. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. Your phone calls.

But the senior NBA writer of The Athletic, Sam Amick, coming up. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. Or as you might know from their jingle, O-O-O O'Reilly Auto Parts.

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That's OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. Seeking the truth never gets old. Introducing June's Journey, the free-to-play mobile game that will immerse you in a thrilling murder mystery. Join June Parker as she uncovers hidden objects and clues to solve her sister's death in a beautifully illustrated world set in the Roaring Twenties. With new chapters added every week, the excitement never ends.

Download June's Journey now on your Android or iOS device or play on PC through Facebook games. So I know why Suze brought donuts, but why did you bring donuts, Jay? I mean, Suzy always brings donuts or something.

Because he's super nice. No, I know that. I know that. I know that.

I'm not criticizing. It'll be a random Tuesday. I could be in a different country, and Brockman will be like, hey, bring donuts.

I was like, all right, I'll finally make him happy, and he's not here. See, it's always about Brockman. That's it.

What do you mean? I mean, it's like he tells him to bring donuts. Chris could stop and get donuts, but he tells Feli to bring donuts? I mean, come on. Listen, it's not the job of a co-host to get donuts, right?

The job of the audio engineer. Since I'm asking the other co-hosts. I wouldn't know because I'm not the co-host, so I don't know. Sports host, sports host, Chris Brockman. Chris gave himself that title. You can give yourself whatever title you want. Chris just gave himself that title. I will give you a title. What is that title? No, I hate that. That's absurd. I don't like that either.

I like the grand meister because it's very Game of Thrones. I just have to change the way I just, you know, think now. Yeah, you do.

I'm going to give you like a real sports psychology pep talk. By the way, I don't mind if you call yourself co-host. Well, I won't anymore ever, even though I didn't look it up. What do you mean you looked it up? Well, I said looked up.

What is the role of a co-host if we have time? Where? On Google. On what?

Google. All things are accurate. Of course. OK, sure. The primary role of the co-host is that of a color commentator. Yeah.

They react with commentary and comedy. OK. Ask questions and tell stories.

All these things I do. Did Brockman write that to you? Yes, and technique is critical to an engaging co-host.

Say yes to the topic and help move the conversation forward. It's totally you. OK. He also gave himself the title of senior producer. Who's the junior producer around here? Isn't Hoskins the senior producer? No, he's a coordinating producer.

How about with Don? By the way, I consider you the senior coordinating producer, Mike. You're senior.

Even though there's no junior. 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 clickrainger.com or just stop by. Sam Amick, the senior NBA writer of The Athletic, kind enough to stick around in Minneapolis to Zoom with us the day after a blowout in game six right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Sam. How are you, sir? Good, Rich. Thanks for having me. Appreciate you.

All right. So what in the world happened last night? What happened? It was wild. I mean, you know, obviously the Wolves, you thought at some point we're going to wake up.

I thought it might be a competitive game. I didn't see a 45-point drubbing. And also, Rich, early on, you know, the Nuggets go up nine to two. The locals, it's funny, I haven't been to Minneapolis in quite a few years, to be honest.

I can't even remember the last time. But the people here were telling me, kind of educating me, that Wolves fans, because of the history, are very, very pessimistic. And the mood going into the game because of the three losses was fairly dour. I even had some of the front office guys on the Minnesota side talking about the fact that it was so much different than the way it felt coming into Game 3. And then when they go down nine to two, you know, everybody's heads are kind of going down even more. But then that 27-2 run that Minnesota put together was pretty wild. And a combination of them getting back to the defense they played in the first two games, but also the Nuggets just missing shots.

And next thing you know, this thing was out of hand. Is it true Chris Finch and the staff put together sort of a defensive hype tape to show the team before Game 6? Sam? Yeah. I mean, I'm a sucker for trying to learn about the behind-the-scenes stuff, and we'll get into the Nuggets side of that later, I think. But on the Wolves side, about 25 minutes before tip-off, they show them a – you described it well – it's a hype video. It's not a film session.

It's not a conventional, let's break down tape, look at the offensive side of the ball, the defensive side of the ball. This was a, you know, let's get you excited for the game and remind you how good you were in the first two games. And it had, you know, it was produced with music, you know, some rap that the guys enjoyed, and just was very different, very strange in a good way. And Anthony Edwards was the one who called this out after the game, giving the coaching staff credit, and actually thought that it changed the mood. He said that after the three games that there had been some finger-pointing and, you know, again, you know, the attitude of the guys wasn't great.

It seems like that video helped. And also made him a man of his word, telling the Denver staff in the visitors' locker room, we'll see it for game seven, right? He did indeed. This young guy, you know, he's going to break a new unofficial record in league history for dropping just somewhat endearing F-bombs and not getting fined by the NBA, because typically they frown upon that, and I'm sure they still do. But yeah, in that quote that you're referencing, he confirmed the story about telling the locker room attendant, you know, we'll see y'all MF-ers in game seven with a big old smile on his face, and obviously he's right. Are you saying Anthony Edwards is so endearing that even Adam Silver is willing to just put on earmuffs? Is that what you're saying, Sam? All I know is that that's what the Timberwolves are hoping, because when he dropped not one but two F-bombs in that press conference, it ended in pretty comical form, because after the second one, one of their PR folks who does a great job was on the side of the press conference, and he immediately just said, okay, thanks everybody, we're done. Tip your waitress?

My gosh, try the wine? Sam Amick here on the Rich Eisen Show. Does this mean now that the Nuggets lost this game that Aaron Gordon's allowed back into the team dinner, Sam? Does that mean that now?

I think so. First of all, they better win a game on Sunday in order to earn the chance to have a team dinner on the road, the way it looked last night that they might have had their last team dinner this season. Again, fun backstory that I wrote about after game five was that I had asked a bunch of the Nuggets players, between game two and three, when you had three days in between games, a lot of time to think about the way you got your backside handed to you in the first two games, what did you all do to get your heads right? I had asked Aaron this question, and he shared a quick personal story about some stuff that he bought, and then eventually he looks at DeAndre Jordan in the locker room after game five, and he says, hey, DJ, y'all going to dinner tomorrow night? I'll be honest, Rich, at first I was just confused, and I didn't even ask Aaron. In my head, I was like, why is he saying, are y'all going to dinner, not are we going to dinner? What I would later learn is that because Aaron missed the team dinner heading into game three in Minneapolis when they went to a steakhouse here in town, and he essentially had other plans and just didn't make it, because he missed it and then they won the game, this was a classic case of good old-fashioned sports superstition, where his teammates, and mainly DeAndre Jordan, decided, bro, we just won game three, so you are definitely not coming to dinner heading into game four. So they had dinner again, everybody on the team, except for Aaron Gordon, they win game four, and so then when they were heading back to Minneapolis heading into game six, the trend continued. I don't know what Aaron did on his own, if he maybe ate with the coaches, a little bit of Uber Eats.

Room service, room service, probably. But he was on the outside looking in. Oh my gosh. And so I'm sure, Suze, when you were covering the Lakers going back in the day, you heard about that sort of stuff all the time, of these team superstition and things of that nature. Yeah, Sam, I was laughing, because that's what happened all the time when we'd be on the road and somebody would be sitting in the wrong seat and then they couldn't sit in the same seat. That happened in Sacramento a lot.

God, we were in Sacramento a lot. Yeah, well, that was the cowbell error quite a bit. Oh yeah, that was it.

There were so many times that that's the best part about traveling with the team and getting to know all the players, because you're like, you just see some of that stuff. And so-and-so carried the bag the wrong way, took the wrong elevator. Right. Right.

Absolutely. I was a little surprised. They basically picked on Aaron here, because they did end up changing the location of the dinner. So I was a little off in the first report.

Steakhouse the first night, and then back at the hotel. So the superstition had limits, but Aaron's involvement, Aaron's attendance was the part they were stubborn on. Plus, his performance on the court was a major reason why they're back in Game 6. Game 6 existed. That's pretty harsh, Sam. I'd be a little sad if I was AG. Like, come on, guys.

I'm out here. I mean, he's been drawing Kobe Bryant references, those couple games he had in between. I think he was 10 of 11 from the field in Game 5, I believe. So, no, I'm with you, but I mean, Aaron is nothing if not selfless. That's what his teammates say all the time. That's his role on this team.

So apparently, he was willing to eat solo if that's what it took. But at least they didn't give him the check. I know. That's another one. Because that would have been even worse.

They could have really stuck him with it. That's fair. Although, listen, I hear you. As he shared with me, then I'll share this. This was in the piece.

But the side story, I don't know if you guys caught this. Aaron Gordon's way of handling the frustration of the first two games was he bought some three-wheel cars for his family members. So I think he could probably handle his dinner check, considering I looked up the car that he told me that he was buying. It sounded like he bought multiple, to be honest with you.

I mean, they're 30 to 50K. But the way he talked about them was as if he bought his family dinner and not something to take on the road. Man, well, now he definitely needs to advance to get a bigger playoff share if that happens for the Denver Nuggets. And just before we move on to the rest of the series, why don't I just...

I don't know. My spidey sense about our business is that Jokic is going to get slightly lit up for saying he's cool with it. This was a good loss. But I guess when you're down by that many, you've got to just shrug it off, bury the tape, as they would do in football.

What's your two cents on that one, Sam? Yeah, to be honest, I hadn't even seen that quote. Sorry, guys. Hopefully you can hear me okay. No worries.

Go for it. I hadn't seen that quote until now. I was on the wolves' side last night.

And I'm sure the public and the internet being what it is, he's going to get lit up. It doesn't matter, though. I mean, what matters is what the Nuggets do in Game 7. And there have been some of those types of moments in these playoffs. For one, even me, after Game 5 or late in Game 5, I was actually making a point to watch Anthony Edwards' demeanor after the third quarter heading into the fourth when they were getting beat pretty bad. And you never know what to make of certain things. And Ant was sitting on the bench with some teammates smiling and laughing in the kind of way that you wouldn't expect to see. And I remember thinking, that's a little strange.

And then sure enough, what do I know? He played great in Game 6. And they responded. LeBron in the Nuggets series, if you guys remember, had a line that was taken out of context everywhere where he said, it's just basketball. And Joker, you've got to remember, too, he does every single press conference as a matter of obligation. He's gotten actually better at them. But in terms of his words and thoughts and feelings coming out in a meaningful way that indicates his state of mind, I don't always think that's the case. You know, after Game 2, it was a good quote, but he had that line about how he needed to call himself. It almost sounded defeatist, like he didn't have any way of doing what he does against Karl-Anthony Towns and Gobert and Naz Reed.

So, personally, I don't think it means much, but I'm sure folks are going to talk about it. Sam Amick of the Athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show. So, what is the other major story of these playoffs as we head to, I think it was the third or fourth weekend of these NBA playoffs right now?

Sam? Well, I mean, admittedly, Rich, I've been pretty West heavy. So, I mean, in the East, Celtics trying to live up to their expectations in this title or bust. You know, we'll see if the Knicks can finish the job tonight and if that's going to be the series on the other side. I do think that, man, this OKC-Dallas matchup is so interesting because you have this fun combination of young and old. And Luca's not old, but he's not nearly as young as those guys on the Thunder side.

And at times he looks a whole lot older because he's pretty banged up and he's got kind of an old man game to begin with. So, you know, that next game to me is going to be fun to watch because, you know, another guy who's got years on Luca being Kyrie Irving. I'm so fascinated by Kyrie's ability to have such a redemptive playoff run right now. And it's been somewhat under the radar when you talk about the way he's carried himself, the way he's played, and obviously the narrative shift from how disastrous of a, you know, kind of a profile he had just a couple of years ago. He's now the adult in the room who is finding guys offensively figuring out when he has to score.

He's had some bad moments in this series, but mostly been really good. And he's the only guy on the court in that series with the championship ring. And, you know, so, you know, the idea of is that going to bear out? And is Dallas going to move on and be in the conference finals? Or are these young Thunder with a bunch of guys that were still learning their games and their names, you know, are they going to shock the world and keep going here? A few minutes left with Sam Amick of the Athletic Senior NBA Riders. Since you're out west, as you mentioned, you're west focused following the Timberwolves and the Nuggets. And you just mentioned what was going on with the Mavericks and the Thunder. What are people saying your ear to the ground or, you know, hanging out in the hotel lobby or in a locker room about LeBron's Opus one night sitting courtside of game four of the Celtics and the Cavs sitting there in Cleveland, white pants with the red wine, which is again very, you know, that's that's very risky. But that's what he's all about. But what did you make of this? What are people making of all of this?

Is there anything any there there, Sam? I mean, it's LeBron when know how calculated he is. You know, I'll never forget summer league the summer that he went to in Vegas before he went to the Lakers. I was sitting baseline at the game. He actually sat right in front of me at his courtside seat. And he was you guys remember he was wearing an outfit that had all kinds of purple and gold. And, you know, and of course, people started taking that as a sign that he was going to Lakers.

And sure enough, he did. So, you know, there are times when there is a lot of there there with this one. I don't know how to unpack it other than, you know, applying pressure to the Lakers when it comes to reminding them that, yes, our relationship is in a good place. Yes, it looks very likely that I'm returning to play for the purple and gold. But they and we have a coach's decision to make here.

We have trades to pursue. And so his free agency and the fact that he has not indicated publicly or privately what he's going to do, you know, showing up at the Cavs game is the easiest way to offer that reminder. You know, we all know that when the All-Star game was there, you know, he had done an interview with our Jason Lloyd at the athletic telling him that he thought about coming home again.

So the Cleveland thing is an easy way to apply that pressure again. All that being said, it was Mother's Day weekend. I believe he was there to spend some time with his mom and to go back to his, you know, to his school. That's an incredible, you know, just endeavor that he has.

And he did some stuff out there as well. So he checked a lot of boxes, but I'm sure the Lakers noticed. So what does he want, Sam? What would he want if we could wave a wand about those trades and about the coaching decision? What would he want?

I don't have total clarity on the trade front. I think he wants aggressiveness because that's always his default. Now, ever since the Russell Westbrook trade didn't work, LeBron has lost juice in Laker land. He just has. They have not listened to him as much. And it's funny because the narrative and the idea that clutch sports runs the Lakers just couldn't be farther from the truth.

A lot of times, most times they are told no. This is different because he has the leverage right now. He has, you know, they really, really, really want him back. They are all still all in on the LeBron business. So I don't know if that's, you know, I mean, Trey Young is a guy that honestly has been tied to them a lot. And I think there's a divided room within the Lakers on whether or not Trey would help them. It does seem like there is some favor coming from the clutch side for a possible trade pairing.

And he is also a clutch client. You know, Donovan Mitchell is another guy that we're gonna be talking about all summer . You know, I'm curious how LeBron sees him. The other thing, though, that we should highlight, I know we focus on LeBron so much, is that the fellow clutch client on the Lakers, Anthony Davis, you know, A.D. is the future of the Lakers. And I think we are guilty sometimes of the again, because LeBron is the free agent this summer of focusing too much on LeBron and not enough on A.D. like when they chose to fire Darvin Ham, I was told that one of the many, many considerations was it was pretty evident that that A.D. was not on board anymore with Darvin. And they know, like everybody else, that A.D. has a history of having asked for trades in the past.

That's how he got to the Lakers from New Orleans. Last thing they wanted was for A.D. to be frustrated with the situation and maybe have those types of thoughts crossing his mind. So that's to me, what's unique about this offseason for the Lakers is that even within clutch, you might have some different opinions about coach and players when it comes to LeBron and A.D. because one guy represents the future and the other guy, LeBron, is obviously near the end. So that mandates the follow-up. Are you saying the Lakers might be more deferential to Anthony Davis's thoughts on the coach than LeBron's?

I think they'll have to find a way to, I think they'll have to find a way to strike that balance because again, they can't lose the LeBron piece of the puzzle and I don't think they will, but they certainly, they do care a great deal about A.D. feeling comfortable going forward. Sam, thanks for the time. Really appreciate it. Your insights are great to read.

They make me smarter and give me the background that I need and this conversation prior to the game seven with you on your travels and your movements, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Rich. Appreciate it. You got it. At Sam underscore Amick on X Twitter.

Follow him. That's how I saw initially that article about Aaron Gordon being told you're not allowed at the team dinners. That's pretty funny. That's the one that led to a three game win streak. You are not allowed at the next and just shows you the silliness of superstition, right?

Not at the dinner and they lose by 45. So you had nothing to do with the three game win streak except for what he did on the court. Yeah.

You know, what do you have that game? You're not superstitious, right, Suze? You're not. I mean, for some things, not like I sit in the same seat all the time.

Like what? I have OCD. That's not superstitious. That's correct. No, different. Right.

But wait, can we just go back to one thing? I think it's so interesting is that he led into this whole idea of the Lakers coaching and you know, we've heard rumors about JJ Redick. We've heard rumors that Coach K is consulting with the Lakers.

This will be really crazy if it's a two clutch clients, right? When obviously LeBron is an owner, but where will they go with this? The Lakers haven't had turnover in the coaching like this. I mean, this is unprecedented.

And will they go with AD and look at the future? I mean, LeBron's used to getting his way and that's really what it sounded like in El Segundo for so long. Well, putting all the pieces together of all of our guests we've had this conversation with since Darvin Ham got fired, it's just, they got to pony up. They got to pay if they want somebody with trophies already in the case, or if they want to go tell Taran Lou, hey, don't listen to Ballmer anymore.

It doesn't matter how much he's going to give you. We prefer you here. So does LeBron. We would like you to stay in crypto while they move into a dome and here's the money to show you. And that's not been their MO. That has not been their MO to pay coaches since, I guess, Phil. No, because it's been a privilege to be the Lakers coach in so many ways.

And I don't think Ballmer would ever let Lou go. They've got that new building opening up. I'm actually going to walk through it in two weeks. Is that right? With a hard hat and steel toed boots and the whole bit. You are? Yeah. I'm excited. Can you take your boy? I mean, are you sure the boots are going to have steel toes in them?

Yes. In fact, we got a, my friend Sarah Hardin and I got a notice that we have to wear steel toed boots or we can't come in. And it will provide us with steel toed boots. You know who loves to wear a hard hat? Steve Ballmer loves to wear that hard hat. He walks around with the, you know, with the Dayglo slicker and everything like that. He might show up to the first game even with no construction around dressed like that. It's part of his brand now, right? No, Steve Ballmer walks, loves walking around the Intuit Dome looking like he's part of the Village People. He does. With a, with a little vest on.

Remember his favorite part? Gillian Zugger, the president of the Clippers invited us to come down and walk around and I can't wait. Do you get a plus one from a real Clipper fan to take? Only if you're a co-host. No, no, no. I'll never make it then. No, no, no. Dang it. Sorry.

The prerequisite is, do you have any boots with steel toes? Of course. Okay. Then you're allowed. But I don't think, so back to, sorry guys.

I know you guys want to talk about fashion, but I want to talk about the NVA and I just feel like, I feel like this is going to be fascinating to watch. Ballmer's not going to let somebody go to the Lakers. I agree. The hubris. Like he finally, this is his dome, his year, his build.

I get it. But Terron Lew also could coach LeBron and Anthony Davis and be the coach of the Lakers and make just as much money as opposed to wondering if Kawhi is going to get hurt again or Paul George and Kawhi can, you know, are going to be the right mix and what's going on with Harden and all of that stuff. But is he really the coach?

I don't know. That's a tough one because going with those two guys there, I mean, is that a Butch Hobson situation? Look at you dropping Butch Hobson. Wow. That's the first. That's right. I remember, you know what? Is that a Butch Hobson situation? He had, he had, I think a steel toe glove. All right, we'll take a break here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844204, Rich, phone lines are lit. Toilets. There's the man, Steve Ballmer.

He might show up to the first game looking like that. I want that vest. Afford Anything talks about how to avoid common pitfalls, how to refine your mental models and how to think about how to think. Paula, while certainly you can mess up on a million dollars a year, it is far less likely than it is on $30,000 a year. I would meet wonderful people that were struggling with a budget that was super tight. It was a hundred percent you need to make more money, make smarter choices and build a better life.

Afford anything wherever you listen. What's up everyone. It's reality Steve, your number one source for all things bachelor nation and reality TV. Every day I'm giving you the behind the scenes juice and your info on all your bachelor nation stories and also interviewing some of your favorite reality stars. My name has been synonymous with spoilers, but I'm so much more than that. Give me a listen. The reality Steve podcast, part of the believe network.

Just search B L E A V on YouTube or wherever you listen. Well, I mean, and that's why I'm wondering why you would go by the name of Matty I smacked. That's why I'm, I mean, that's a beer infused nickname and it doesn't fit. Did you agree it doesn't fit anymore, Matt?

Are you just the natural coming back or are we making a push for the natural here? No, I'm, I'm, I'm, well, I'm pointing out that certain nickname that you've had for a long time. Just, just, I like beer growing up there. I do like beer, right? So when it comes to it though, you just, you're not, you're not slamming them back.

Right is what you're saying. No, I guess I'm, I'm drinking responsibly. Okay. I mean, that would be a natural, if some sort matter, what are you drinking?

What are you drinking? It's been a long time. You keep making my point. Why won't you take the natural from me, man? Just why won't you do it? I mean, how many times do I have to ask?

How many times do I have to ask? There's just, nobody else wants it. Are you aware? I offered it to Stafford, your buddy. Is that right? Yes. He didn't take it either. I mean, he. That's a no, Matt. Excuse me.

Hold on. He, I gave him full disclosure that it was a retread and that you had rejected it because I know you guys talk. I know you guys, you guys are tight, right? He forgot to mention it to me the last time I saw him.

I can't believe that wasn't top of mind for him. Okay. So just, just on behalf of all my loved ones who are cringing right now, just tell me to move on, Matt. And I'll move on. Just tell me to move on. Rich, you gotta move on. You gotta move on. I love you, but you got to move on. Thank you, Matt. Thank you so much.

Even if I gave you a t-shirt or anything, all right, Matt, I can take a hint after nine years or so too bad, 39th birthday to the natural back here on the rich eyes and show. Check out the game time app, put it on a mobile device near you and start getting tickets certainly to the basketball playoffs. There's a big game in Denver this weekend. If you're in the area, take the game time app, download it on your phone and you can check out the tickets that are available views from the seat. You can check that out. You get the all in pricing as well. So you before checkout, get to see how much everything costs all in one fell swoop. And if you want to wait and hold Braveheart style, you can check out the prices on the game time app.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Sue birds, our next guest top of the next hour, the four time WNBA champion talking about the first couple of games of the WNBA season. This just in the WNBA is filled with great players. Yeah. In case you didn't know. Yeah. Yeah. One of them's name is a Brianna Stewart.

Two time MVP last night, dropped 31 in Indiana. She and Sabrina UNESCO, another, by the way, both of them are number one overall draft picks of their own. Right.

They combined for 45, 20 and eight as just nine points on eight shots for Kaitlin Clark. Diana Taurasi said something along the lines of a, it will take a long time for Clark to adjust. Right. That basically was saying what she was saying prior to the WNBA season, winter is coming and it has arrived and people thought she was being a hater.

No, it's just reality. It makes it, it's, it's kind of just, it's just like any major professional sports league when a rookie comes in, very few of them look like CJ Stroud, right? So that happened last night. And the minus 57 for the Indiana favor through the first two games of the season is the worst two games start for any team in the 28 year history of the WNBA. Didn't see that on the Kaitlin Clark bingo card coming in. I mean, you know, we knew, right, TJ, that they're not a good team for a reason. In basketball, as we discussed, is a chemistry sport.

I talked about that with Don Bowie earlier too, and there's not a whole lot of time to develop chemistry yet. I am not one of the people that thinks that the WNBA started when Kaitlin Clark came. There's a lot of incredible women before, but I also am not willing to, you know what on her right now because she's not off to an MJ start. Well that's, that's what the haters will do. Look, she'll be fine. It's just going to take a little bit of time.

You've got to acclimate. It's more physical. You're playing against the top one percent of female basketball players in the world are in this league. And I look forward to asking Sue about this. This was Clark's quote last night. By the way, they didn't send it to the podium. I was a little shocked by that.

They didn't. Well, I mean, it's just at some point, you know, plus so many of the members of our profession are getting like weird around her and showing her videos and saying, you know, hey, my kids love this or my, you know, way to say hi or you know what I mean? And it's just, but also, well, she became the face of the sport.

Just give her, just give her, give her a breather, you know, but, and it's kind of crazy for me to say that just two games into her career, but all that said, this quote, the physicality is definitely up there. I'm easily pushed off screens. The game seems a little fast for me right now. The more I play, the more comfortable I get, it's going to slow down a little bit.

It'll be easier for me to make reads, see things develop. You know what that says? It sounds like a rookie. That's it. So Sue Bird's going to join us to have this conversation coming up. And the crazy thing is the Liberty team that she's just got boat raced by, she's going to Madison Square Garden next.

It's on Saturday. So it's kind of crazy. If the Pacers tonight force a game seven, it'll be, it'll go Liberty fever, Knicks Pacers in Indiana, and then Fever Liberty Pacers Knicks in New York City over a four day stretch.

Sick. Right? And the Liberty were the runner up last year. Like you said, two of the best players. Returning five starters. Yeah.

Two of the best players in the world, two former number one picks, you know. So that's our... Get her now though Rich. That's right.

That's Dion right? Get her now. Get her now.

Get her now. So Sue Bird will join us top of hour number two here on this What's More Likely Friday with all of us and you. And if you're on hold, stay on hold. We will take your calls.

And I'm saying that now here on the Roku channel as well. If you're on hold, stay on hold. Two things. One, we'll get to you all because I know a lot of you have called back from yesterday. And two, Susie does not like leaving phone callers on the table when we're done with the show. You were so nice about calling in and leaving. You got on the phone.

I did. You told them, you white glove treated all of our callers holding on at the end of the show yesterday. Because I'm always appreciative when people sit there and wait. And I don't want them to feel like we don't appreciate them.

We really appreciate them. So I will pick up the phone because I think it's fun. Okay.

And then say like, hey, hold on. And by the way, if you don't get on today, guess who's sitting over there on Monday? The best mom ever be sitting right here. Oh, I just know she had your sign up. Oh yeah. I put it over there. That was nice, honey.

Thank you. I put it over there. I set her up yesterday. We're seeing Kaitlyn Clark a week from Friday. Yes. She's coming here.

With Taylor and her buddies. Yeah. The LA Sparks were going to have their first six games this season, I think, down in Long Beach. Yeah, that's where they're at. And they moved it back to crypto when it was Kaitlyn Clark officially became an Indiana receiver, because we wouldn't go down to Long Beach, but now that it's in crypto. No, we wouldn't.

I'll tell you though, I don't know if we would have been able to get into Long Beach. It's a much smaller venue. It's going to be lit next Friday. And that's what's great. It's excitement. It's people paying attention. And obviously we're part of it.

We're part of it here. Sue Bird coming up in hour number two right here on The Rich Eisen Show on a What's More Likely Friday as well. John brings his skewed sense of humor. Jeff brings tips to cut strokes off your next round. Together, it's those weekend golf guys.

They'll pay a lot of money to PXG and Tylus and Callaway and on and on and on. How many yards do you think you're going to pick up with that extra driver? I think I can get an extra five to 10.

What if I give you a 15 to 20? You can pay me more. Jeff Smith teaches on a sliding scale. Those weekend golf guys. The podcast. Part of the Believe Network. Just search BLEAV on YouTube or wherever you listen.