Mike Florio: Not Every Team Is Going To Break The Bank

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at Dell.com. Welcome to now. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Dak Prescott speaking about contracts up in the air.

Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. We're here first week of June and his contract hasn't been touched. CeeDee Lamb's not at agreement with the Jones family and then Micah Parsons like that's okay.

I'll wait. Earlier on the show Rams running back Blake Coram. Coming up ESPN basketball analyst PJ Carlessimo. Host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio.

UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O'Malley. And now. It's Rich Eisen.

That's right. Hour number two the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. It's a what's more likely Friday. I just finished up my week and a half long jaunt of positivity by giving every single fan base in the NFL one by one. Team by team and then a division by division over the last eight days.

Best case scenarios for every team in the National Football League. Just chatted with Blake Coram last hour. Suga Sean O'Malley will be joining us in hour number three right here on the Roku Channel. Fight, Inc. inside the UFC premieres today exclusively on the Roku Channel and of course Sean O'Malley is all over that documentary and that's on Roku Channel, which we're on live right now.

Streaming every single day during the season for sure and then most days of the year on Peacock is one of our favorites. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show the proprietor and creator of Pro Football Talk. Our friend Mike Florio is back here on the program.

Good to see you Mike. Been a while. I thought you put me on the Pay No Minds list.

Do something? If I did I just want to know. I enjoyed a lot more if I know. I don't care if I did something.

I always like to know what it is. Zero point zero. You did nothing other than just you know nothing. I appreciate you being on here. How are you sir?

How have you been? Good. Are you are you terrestrial still? Can can you get fined if I would start dropping F bombs, S bombs, and any other bomb?

I am still terrestrial. We have installed a a dump button. Meet Jason Feller. He's in charge of it. So you can go ahead and and do that sort of thing if you so choose. But you know. I wouldn't do that to Jason. Even though I don't know Jason. I wouldn't do it to Jason. It's okay. I'm ready. It's all good.

No, he's got he's got a quick trigger finger. We don't although we don't we don't start our show every every hour with a disclaimer. So you you know, but you can still do it Mike. Please don't sue us.

Good good to see you. What what is the story of the last month and a half post draft story in your estimation Mike? Well You know, it's funny. I I thought things were supposed to slow down after the draft and they really haven't.

Nope. There's something every day and Rich, I mean we could talk about contracts. Contracts get worked out or they don't.

Usually they do if the team wants the player and the player wants to be there. They eventually get it worked out. But one thing that I think we aren't paying nearly enough attention to collectively Because we we can't envision what it's going to be. I know where you're going.

I know where you're going. Is it the kickoff? You're going kickoff? The kickoff rule change is the most dramatic and significant single rule change in at least 30 years Wow two-point conversion at least 30 maybe 50 50 years ago is when they decided it wasn't a good idea to have the goalpost up at the goal line because who would who would guess that somebody might run into a metal pole after they scored a tough test of the move back and forth. And then they added overtime for the regular season that same year. That was 50 years ago. That was pretty significant. With replay It's been an evolution. Sure. With the passing game.

It's been an evolution. This to take a play that was dead gone nobody kicked off minuscule returns and now they're saying 1,600 plays and there's all these different strategic angles and nobody has any reliable analytics because there's no base of experience for anyone to come up with the formula other than what the XFL did. So I think that we have absolutely no idea what's gonna happen and the teams have no idea what's gonna happen. And my prediction is this Rich.

Yes, sir. By the trade deadline, by the Tuesday after week nine because they moved it back a week this year By then half the team will half the league will have said screw this We're just kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone. You can start on the 30. I'm not pinning my job on essentially Russian roulette with this kickoff. I'll trust my defense with the drive starting at the 30.

No kidding. I think that's what's gonna happen. I thought you're going the other way that at the trade deadline somebody's gonna make an acquisition from somebody else's team to get a specialist that will either a like Justin Reid like the Chiefs are considering doing is having somebody who can actually tackle who's a professional tackler kick the ball off and have that person be the sort of last safety net in case anybody gets through the initial line or a skilled position player could be more valuable because of the kickoff. You're going the other way around saying screw it. We're just gonna start kicking the ball and make sure our defense can can handle a 70 yard field behind it.

Not everyone, not everyone and I think defensive head coaches are gonna be more likely to do this because they're gonna trust their defense and they're more conservative by nature as it relates to the risks they're willing to take and how freewheeling they want it to be. Once one guy loses a game because of you know the kickoff specialist slips a tackle and hits the hole on the 10-man wall and the kicker can't get him and he's loose as Paul Allen would say. You're not gonna pin your job.

What was the line from A Few Good Men? You're pinning these these soldiers hopes to a footlocker and a phone bill. You're not gonna pin your hopes to this roll of the dice.

Who knows what's going on here? My job may depend on this. No, I think not everyone because some teams are gonna figure it out and that's all the more reason for the other teams to say screw this we're just kicking it out of the end zone. I love it. You're right.

We haven't talked about it enough here. I'm already making a mental note that next week's show we should start getting people in here to start figuring this stuff out because there are a lot of you know smart guys and a lot of creative folks in the in the in the coaching halls of this league that are gonna try and crack the code and whoever does first might have a significant advantage in the 2024 playing season for sure. One game can make a difference. We get down to week 18 and we're sifting out tiebreakers and all that. One game that goes your way and not the other team's way could be the thing that gets you into the postseason.

And if you've got a great return specialist and you're okay let's say I got a great return specialist and my opponent's in the postseason just gonna kick it out of the end zone fine. I start every drive at the 30 and remember this they initially conceived that rule. If you kick it out of the end zone it's the 35. At the league meetings they moved it from the 35 to the 30. If they had just left to the 35 I don't think that this would be the possibility.

But the 30 it's really not that much different than the 25. If you like your defense you're fine. So that that 35 versus 30 could be the thing that gets some of these teams to say we're out. We're not we're not taking the chance kicking off the tie re-kill or whoever. We're just not gonna do it.

Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. You mentioned contracts. You can talk about them because some won't get done some won't most of them will. The contracts in Dallas which ones don't get done.

Do you think Mike it could be zero? I don't get the You know the Cowboys know how to draft and develop. They constantly get it wrong when they decide who to pay and who not to pay. They gave a big contract a few years ago to Michael Gallup coming off of an ACL tear and that was a mistake. They used the franchise tag on Tony Pollard come off a broken ankle and that was a mistake. But with Dak Prescott they didn't pay him once he was three years in and eligible for a new deal. They dragged their feet for multiple years put themselves in a bad spot did a contract that really needed a restructuring and an extension by now because he's got a 55 million dollar cap charge. They blew that.

They're blowing it with C.D. Lamb who's between 17 and 18 million and hey the longer you wait and this applies to all teams. Once you have a guy that you know you want to keep and he's under his rookie contract still the longer you wait it's only going to go up.

It's never going to go down and deal after deal month after month the C.D. Lamb expectations will go up and now with Michael Parsons whose window was open on a second contract and he said he's willing to be patient. Look if he's willing to carry that injury risk he'll get more later because right now the top non-quarterback new money average is 35 million with Justin Jefferson.

By next year it's going to be what 38 39 it always keeps going up it always goes up. So if they wait a year Parsons is going to get even more. They screwed this up initially after the 2018 season when they didn't sign Dak and all of this is a product of that and look, Parsons showed up from mandatory minicamp but you know who else did five years ago?

Ezekiel Elliott showed up and then when it was time for the training camp he didn't show up. It'll be interesting to see what Michael Parsons does when it's time to report to Oxnard or wherever they get things started. You're absolutely right it always does go up you know and and and Parsons can afford to wait because one of the guys who's going to help that non-quarterback annual value go up in terms of being a new threshold could be C.D.

Lamb. You know so that's one of the conversations to have there. Another one is you know my guy Brockman here is always wondering when's it going to go down? When is it when is a team basically going to say to a quarterback especially you have not won enough yet? And it does appear to be Jerry might be doing that with Dak although I think that's the wrong fight to pick on that front, and I don't know if he's trying to pick it but somebody's going to go and say I am not going to create a 50 million dollar a year value for this quarterback, and I'll just let him walk. I'll let him walk and we'll go back to something else here or I'm going to insist on a 40 million thing and it'll be a stink and we'll have to deal with it during the season my coach will have to deal with it.

Are we going to see that or that'll never happen Mike? I remember arguing five years ago this month that the Rams should do that with Jared Goff but they were determined to sign him to a new contract. They paid him market value and two seasons later they had to tuck an extra first-round pick into the Matthew Stafford trade package to get Goff's contract off the books. Then this year I thought maybe the Lions would do it with Goff and here he is with 53 million dollars per year in new money. I think the Dolphins with Tua Tonga-Bailoa might be considering something along those lines, and it's not necessarily we're going to let you walk.

It's we're going to let you become a free agent. We're going to let you see what else is out there because at the end of the day what's out there might not be as good as what the current team is willing to pay. I think before the season starts the Dolphins will make their last best multi-year offer to Tua and he's going to have to decide do I take it or do I play under my fifth year option at 23.1 million and kick the can for a year and assume the injury risk, assume that I play well enough and hope that I can cash in either franchise tag, long-term deal, or they let me go to the market. That's the question I asked with Goff and all due respect.

Look, Goff has been far better with the Lions than we thought it was going to be. Who are the Lions competing with when they give them 53 million a year? Who are the Cowboys competing with if they give Dak 60? Who are the Dolphins competing with if they give Tua 50? Who's the or else? And there's a point where I think one of these teams is going to say we're just not going to compete with ourselves. We're not going to bid against ourselves.

We want to see what else is out there because we get a better deal that way. He's talking your language, Chris. Thank you, Mike, for being a voice of reason. Like, why is Jacksonville going to give Trevor Lawrence 50 million dollars?

What has he done to deserve that? Yeah, you're right and they've got him under contract for two more years. Now, on one hand you want to treat your franchise quarterback a certain way and it sends the right message, etc, etc. You justify the investment you made, but yeah, is it good business sense? Now, Lawrence after his second year looked like he was on the verge of being a top five quarterback last year.

Things went haywire. The blocking wasn't very good. He's made it clear ideally he'll get a contract before training camp starts. But not every team is going to break the bank for every first round pick that's three years in to a rookie deal and has year four and fifth year option left. The Vikings didn't do it with Justin Jefferson last year.

They almost did. There's no guarantee. There's no requirement that a team does it. I'd like to think that teams are going to be inclined to try, but it's one thing to say we'd like to give you a new contract. It's another thing to come up with a number that both sides can agree on. And I think that's been the issue with Dak because his leverage in part comes from the necessity to get that cap number down.

That gives him even more basis to say, I want 60 or more. But you've got to find an agreement. You've got to get a middle ground and the Jaguars are going to try to do it with Lawrence. The Dolphins have been trying to do it with Tua and the Lions surprisingly did it a few weeks back with Jared Goff. So you think the Dolphins might stick to the it's got to start with a four for Tua and that might that might grind a gear or something like that? I mean, is that what you're you're saying like that? I think that I think that whatever their last best offer is, it's going to be short of what he wants. He said this week the market is the market.

Yes, he did. But why? And this is something Chris Simms rails about from time to time on PFT Live, and I agree with him completely. We've gone through phases where next young quarterback who is due to get a second contract instantly becomes the highest paid player in the history of the sport.

And it's a little bit more here, a little bit more there, a little bit more there. Why? Why is that? Why should Tua get fifty five just because he's eligible for a new contract? Why? Why?

Like there needs to be tears. And that's the problem. The teams, as evidenced by what we saw with the Lions and Jared Goff, they're not willing to draw that line. They're not willing to say, we'll play this out and we'll run the risk of you possibly leaving like Kirk Cousins left the Vikings, the Vikings. The Vikings did exactly what you're saying, you know, and and I have to remind myself of that. We asked when is a team finally going to do it and specifically with the young quarterback. But the Vikings did it with an old and injured quarterback.

They had a number they budgeted and go see what's out there. And oh, here come the Falcons at forty five million a year. And that probably surprised the Vikings and surprised Kirk Cousins. And that's why he left. So I just think regardless of whether or not you lose the guy, you got to be willing to lose the guy and then start over again with somebody else.

If you think this is a guy that isn't going to consistently get you in the hunt for championship. Well, I mean, it used to be in the prior collective bargaining agreement. Mike, as you know, the highest paid player in the history of the game used to be a kid who had never played it down in the NFL. And you had to pay whoever you were drafting at the quarterback spot first or second or third overall. The most generationally enriching contract in the history of the NFL and the owners rightfully didn't want to do that.

I mean, name me another business in the country like the top law firm in the United States is not paying the top law student in the United States. The highest paid salary in the history of the firm that's been around since 1920. You know, so so now it's just a situation where at least you get three, four years to see something before the market might dictate terms that that ownership is is is finding difficult to swallow. So I guess at least that's an improvement.

The slotting is an interesting idea. I just don't know who's going to do that for a young player that they drafted first, second, third overall. That said, you know, the draft from three years ago is Trevor Lawrence is the only guy still left with his original team and everybody else is backing up right now. And I think teams are more willing to roll the dice on quarterbacks now because that dynamic has changed. Where, you know, the Jamarcus Russell damage to the Raiders wasn't just we don't have a quarterback. It's we have havoc wreaked on our salary cap because of the financial investment that was made in that quarterback. And it got so bad that I remember in 2008, there was speculation that Bill Parcells, in his first year running the show in Miami, was just going to pass with the first pick and pass again and keep passing until he got to a slot where he was comfortable paying that money to whoever they took in that slot. It didn't happen, but there was at least talk that they might do that.

That's how bad it was. But the other side of that now, Rich, and this is why I get a little antsy when teams decide to wait four years or longer to give a guy his contract, because if you never got the big payday, you would have gotten under the old system, but you've played well enough that you would have justified it. Why are you making this guy wait? And some guys will do it. Remember the Kyler Murray manifesto that his agent put on X where you needed a magnifying glass to read it single space? Hey, he wasn't going to play in the fourth year of his contract for four or five million dollars or whatever it was. And they did it.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I think that every player who ends up playing great under a rookie contract, whatever round, after three years when that window opens on a second contract, you should say, I am not showing up until I get my contract. That's what Ezekiel Elliott did. That's what Kyler Murray did. That's what these guys need to do.

Get paid as soon as you can. Mike, you're the man. Thanks for the time.

Greatly appreciate it. Yeah, we're good. You and I are always good. I'm good. I was just starting to wonder. I was just starting to wonder. I haven't heard from Rich in a while. I hope everything's okay.

You never know. Everything's great. I tend to say some dumb things sometimes and piss people off or do it on purpose.

It's more fun when you do it on purpose. Trust me. I'm glad it's all good. Mike, I'm still here. The two of you speak the same language. Thanks, Mike.

You be well. All right, Steve. Everybody check out Mike Florio, obviously this fall, Football Night in America and on Peacock, NBC Sports on Peacock.

Fast channel, as they say. I always love chatting with Mike. He's not wrong.

I think we should start our post-show meeting today. Let's talk about who we can start identifying and talk about these kickoffs next week. He is not wrong about that. He thinks teams are just punt. I mean, it's not punt, literally. I mean, just like after a while, it's like screw it.

In the same way, like when they say we're going to start reviewing pass interference calls and that didn't go well for the first four to six weeks, they said we just won't do it. Just let it go. Just let it go. We'll just use it in case we have to break glass on, say, an egregious non-call that costs us a chance at the Super Bowl. Right.

Then we'll use it. All right, we'll take a break. P.J. Carlessimo is in Boston. He's zooming in. He's calling the finals on ESPN radio.

What in the world happened last night to the Mavericks? That and his old player in Seton Hall named Danny Hurley is up for the Lakers job. That's right. We're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com.

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Give it a try at mintmobile.com. Where did Stefan come from? Did that?

That came from two things. John Mulaney wrote that with me and John deserves a lot of credit for Stefan because he wrote so much of the rhythm of that and the specifics of it. And clearly I found it funny because I laughed every time we did it. I don't think we ever did it where I didn't laugh. John will put in different things or he'll tell me as I'm walking out. I'll tell you, I know you're not supposed to laugh at this stuff and break in the middle of a scene, but that's just amazing.

I broke every time. Yeah, the first time was we had a club promoter named Amnesia Bernstein and it didn't really get anything. And then he goes, Amnesia Bernstein didn't really get anything. And he goes, I'll change it to something else. And then as I was walking out, he goes, I changed Amnesia Bernstein to Gay Leota. And I started laughing.

So the minute I roll out, I'm like, Gay Leota. The other one was, sorry, the other one that made me laugh was he said, he'll change the little things. We had written, also at the club was a two year old ultimate fighter, Julie Lips Jackson. He's got fists like empanadas and he's addicted to ecstasy.

That's what we wrote. And then he wrote, so it was like, two year old, two year old, two year old ultimate fighter, Julie Lips Jackson. He's got fists like empanadas and they turned the cue card and he said, he's my best friend.

But I lost it. I was like, John. And behind the cue card is Paz and I can see him and Sandberg up against the wall just watching me laughing like, dude.

Happy birthday to the great, hilarious individual that we just saw on the screen right there. OK, back on the Rich Eisen Show. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. He was part of the NBA radio broadcast of Game One last night. The longtime coach in the NBA in college basketball. Back here on the show, our friend PJ Carlos. How you doing, PJ?

Rich, excellent. It's always good to be with you. Enjoyable. Do it wasn't quite as good a game as we were hoping for Game One, but you never know what you're going to get. And then teams will adjust from that point going forward. I still think potentially it's going to be a very good series.

Well, I'm glad to hear that. In Game One, it just seemed like, you know, the Mavericks were weren't aware that there was a first half to be played. You know, they definitely played better in the second half and that the NBA final started for them kind of then.

And Porzingis, I mean, that's exactly what the Celtics wanted to see out of him in Game One, I would imagine. I'll tell you what, we were amazed. You know, they said he was going to play, but you never knew it. They were always, if he feels good how he was.

He said himself, thought he felt good. I can't believe they even dreamed he would be half as good as he was. He was just the impact player in the game. And right from when he first came in, Joe Mazzullo made a good move. I think he surprised a lot of us by not starting him. I think it was the second game in Chris Stapp's career that he came off the bench. And we just assumed, hey, if he's going to play, they'll start him. That's what they always do.

They did not. It turned out to be a great move. He came in and first half in particular, he looked as good as he's ever played. He's been a real impact player for the Celtics, but he changed things on both ends of the floor.

I thought he would really make a big difference on the defensive end. It would be a lot more difficult for the Mavs to score inside with him and Horford, who played together a little bit. But, you know, he's such a good shot blocker. And right from when he came on the floor, he was blocking shots. He wasn't even hitting a rim. You figure somebody that doesn't play for 37 days is not going to have a good shooting touch. And he had a great shooting touch.

So, you know, hats off to Chris Stapp for the way he played, Joe Mazzulla for the foresight to bring him off the bench. Because for whatever reason, it's hard to imagine he could play any better than he did. And he just turned the game around. The crowd was obviously jacked up to begin with. But when he came on the floor, they were nuts. Even during pregame war, two hours before the game, when he was out on the floor warming up, he was getting like mini standing ovations before the game. And I said, oh man, they expect this poor guy to come back and play great. That's just asking too much. And he exceeded that.

So, hats off to him. As you said, the Mavs just weren't right. You've seen these every year, Rich. The Finals, it's funny. People don't realize, first of all, you've got two different conferences here. The teams in the East don't know the teams in the West as well. You play the whole year with your side and you don't see it as much in the first three rounds of the playoffs. There's familiarity. Everybody kind of knows everybody.

This one was strange. There were so many days off between games for both teams. And oftentimes that first game is like a boxing fight. Like you have the first round and you say, okay, now we know how it's going to go.

People didn't really know what this was going to be like. And right from the beginning, the Celtics were ready. Mavs made their – I think both teams started out two for two. I said, wow, we're going to have a shootout here.

It's really going to get going. And it didn't. Celtics played really well. They played like they've been playing, practicing every day. Dallas played like a team that hadn't played in seven days.

And really, other than Luka, virtually all their players in the first half until about the last six minutes of the second quarter were kind of in a funk. They couldn't make shots. They were really impacted by the Celtics' defense. They didn't dominate on the glass.

They really didn't do anything that J. Kidd could have been pleased with. They finally settled down last four or five minutes of the second quarter. And they started out the third quarter kind of impressively. They cut a 29-point lead down to eight. And then the Celtics responded and that was the end of the game. The game didn't go the way a lot of us hoped it would go. But I still think the series potentially – Dallas has played so well. I still think that hopefully, selfishly for us, we think it's going to be a heck of a series. P.J.

Carlissimo here on the Rich Eisen Show. Easily Kyrie's worst game of the playoffs. It doesn't even reflect anything that we've seen out of Kyrie so far in the win or go home phase of the season. What did the Celtics do that you saw that you think is repeatable even? Well, they did a great job with the switch. They virtually switched every pick and roll, every dribble handoff.

So they had different people on them. I don't think that as much bothered him. I really expected him, Rich. You knew the crowd was going to be on him. They're booing him every time he touches the ball. And he struggled against Boston, frankly, since he left here. I think that's the 11th loss in a row to the Celtics by a Kyrie team.

But I thought it would be the opposite. He's played so well, particularly in the Western Conference Finals. And he's a veteran player.

He's heard that kind of stuff before. I thought he would thrive. And you see a block right there. That kind of typified the night. Jalen Brown did a great job when it happened to be him on him. But Celtics are unique. They have a backcourt. The two guards, Derek White and Drew Holliday, both made all defense second team. They're two of the best defensive guards in the entire league.

And when you switch either Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum on them, you've got great length and you've got two players who are underrated or a little better defensively than people give them credit for. And Kyrie just missed. He got off to a decent start. He might have been three for five or something like that to start. Then after that, he missed some good looks. He had some open threes. Twice in the third quarter when they made a run and had it down to eight, he missed big shots. Shots that he's normally going to make.

And I said, wow, Kyrie makes that. We actually have a really good game. And you say cutting it to eight was significant, but they needed to get a little closer. They needed to maybe take the lead and get right back in. And they had some opportunities. It didn't happen. But I thought it was a combination of excellent defensive play. And it was different people. I can't say one guy really did a good job shutting him down.

It was not that. Kyrie clearly missed some shots he's been making and I think will make again. Would not surprise me to see him come in Sunday and put 25, 30 points on the board and kind of quiet the crowd. Last night, he was never able to do that. They were never able to get their pick and roll game going, which has really been a huge key for Dallas between whether it's Kyrie or Luka Doncic with the ball. When they come off that pick and roll, Gafford, they're too big. Gafford and Derek Lively have caught so many alley-oop doncs going to the basket. And again, Porzingis and Horford took that away. They didn't double team, which I think I don't think it surprised Jason Kidd. They've seen a lot of different ways of playing.

Luka or Kyrie all year, particularly this last third of the year when Dallas was really thriving. But they've hardly ever doubled so that they didn't need to rotate. They were able to stay. Wasn't always big on big. Sometimes they'd switch it. And it was a small guy going with Gafford or Lively to the basket.

But the point was, there was somebody with him. There was somebody to put a body on him so he couldn't just throw those lobs up at the rim that Kyrie and Luka are so good on delivering. They ended up with single-digit assists. I'm trying to make sure I got nine assists.

The low they've had. Luka almost averages nine assists a game himself. I mean, late in the game, they were on seven assists. Their bench players, the last four or five minutes when we had bench players on both teams, got it up to nine. I mean, nine assists for an NBA game for one of the better passing teams in the league is shocking. But that was attributed to the defense, the switching, the fact they did not double team very much. And frankly, Dallas missed a whole bunch of shots that they normally made. So that just enabled Boston to keep doing what they were doing.

And the frustration kind of mounted as the game went on with the Mavericks. PJ Carlissimo here on the Rich Eisen Show. In the time I have left with you, you are the perfect guy to ask about the top story that came out of Adrian Wojnarowski on game day on Thursday since you left the Big East for the NBA, leaving Seton Hall for Portland. And one of the players that was on Seton Hall when you did that was in fact Dan Hurley. And how about them apples that Dan Hurley is apparently just down the street from the studio today meeting with the Lakers?

PJ, what's your two cents on this subject matter? Well, I think, first of all, for the Lakers, it would be an excellent choice. The Lakers are, you know, Richards, you grow up in basketball and we've known each other for an awful long time. You say basketball jobs, the Lakers or the Celtics would be two of the best basketball jobs in the world, not in the United States, not in college or in the world. There's no better job, more prestigious job than coaching the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers. Danny's had two years that are incredible. The job he's done at UConn the last two years, winning back-to-back national championships, particularly this year because they had the bullseye on their back from day one.

So much was expected. They got everybody's best shot every time they played. You can't do a better coaching job than Danny and his staff did this year. I think he established himself just how special a coach he was. And I think for the Lakers right now, they're kind of at a crossroads.

You know, in the one sense, LeBron's not getting any younger. AD's certainly going to be there, Anthony Davis, for a long time, but they need to make a splashy hire. They need to get kind of a special guy in there.

They need to get somebody that maybe can turn things around. The Western Conference is so good. It was extremely deep again this year. It's going to be even better next year, other than Golden State, who maybe you're at a little bit of a crossroads themselves with Steph and Draymond and Klay getting on. Every team's getting better. Every team is improving. It's going to be even tougher next year for the Lakers. So I think if they're able to bring somebody like Danny in, I think, A, it's a great impact hire. B, they've got a young coach still relatively in coaching age who could do a great job with that team and can maybe get them back up where they can compete.

I mean, they were, you know, six teams ahead of them or seven teams ahead of them in the regular season. And it's not going to get any easier next year. The challenge, of course, you've got the great thing. You've got tradition unlike almost any other in basketball. You've got, arguably, I try and be impartial, the best or the second best player in the history of the game in LeBron James and in Anthony Davis.

You've got a first team all NBA player. So they have a fantastic starting point to go with. But they've got their work cut out for them. It's not going to be an easy job. I don't know what's going to happen. Obviously, it's going to be very flattering to Danny. Obviously, it's going to be a contract offer that's going to be very, very attractive. But I don't know whether this is the time for him to leave. Only he knows the answer to that. He's leaving one of the best.

I'm prejudiced or biased. I've always loved the Big East Conference and particularly their emphasis on basketball. He's got the best job in the Big East Conference at UConn.

He's just won a couple national championships. I don't know whether that makes it the ideal time to leave or the last time you would ever want to leave a situation. And I think Danny's going to have to sort that out.

My understanding from Roach is that he's going out there sometime this weekend. And we're probably looking at it at a quick decision from both sides. I don't think it's a definite yet in terms of I do believe when they sit down, the Lakers may make the offer if they haven't already. But I don't know what Danny's response is going to be. It's a decision I think a lot of people would love to have.

But whether now is the right time or not, I'm just not sure. The Laker job is not going to come open very many times. So it's something I'm sure Danny's going to give it a real serious consideration and make a decision.

And knowing Danny, I think he's going to make a decision relatively quickly, Rich. I don't think this is going to linger on. I was a little surprised it got out, not surprised that Wojnarowicz knew it. But there really wasn't much said about it. Now all of a sudden, it's a huge story along with the finals. But I don't think it's going to linger very long. Yeah, I mean, it's huge when a two-time defending national champion head coach in college gets an opportunity with the Los Angeles Lakers at the end of LeBron's career with his son available in the draft and Anthony Davis being as good as he is. And the Lakers needing to make a splash, as you pointed out. So I guess my last question for you is what would you counsel him about going from college to the pros?

Even though obviously college is a totally different beast now with NIL and transfer portals and things of that nature. What would you say to him and your thoughts on his abilities to be translatable at the next level? Well, you know, I think we will get a chance to talk. I think, you know, hopefully someone like Brad Stevens would be a tremendous resource because he's made the move. He and Billy Dunham would have made the move relatively recently. Brad's a unique perspective because he's been in the front office too. He can give Danny better insight than a lot of us can give him in terms of, you know, just what's available, how much flexibility there is in the Laker roster, what kind of moves they can make going forward right now. The one thing is you've got to be on the same page with your front office and that's, you know, Jeannie Buss and Rob Palenka, Kurt Rand was the people that are running the Lakers.

They absolutely have to be on the same page with Danny. The biggest difference in college and the NBA is in college, once you've been there for a few years and you're established, which Danny certainly is, you are the front office. You're the general manager. You control the program. You go out, you identify the players you want, you get them to come.

They come to, in this case, Connecticut to play for you. It's not that way in the NBA because of the, you know, salary cap because of free agency. You're not going to be able to control the roster. That's what the front office people do and very often the teams that are successful for a long time. And I'm talking like a team like San Antonio where I was lucky enough to be an assistant for five years, the Lakers with Pat Riley in charge, Golden State when Bob Myers was there and Steve Kerr for so long and that roster stayed pretty much the same. They're on the same page. Believe it or not, and I'm sure you know, Rich, there are some teams in the 30 teams in the NBA where the coach and the front office are not necessarily on the same page. And that's the biggest adjustment. You don't control your roster.

It's a players league. Danny understands that. He's not going to be surprised. He knows coaching LeBron James and coaching Anthony Davis is going to be different than coaching anybody he's ever coached in college.

But at the same time, the timing is such. It's the Los Angeles Lakers. What they've done at UConn, I hate to say it, but if for whatever reason Danny doesn't like it, they don't like him, it doesn't work out. He can certainly go back to almost any college job he wants, but is Connecticut going to be open? I mean, he's leaving one of the ideal college jobs you could ever have, and he's got one of the ideal potentially NBA jobs you'd ever have.

So which one do you want to do? I always felt that if it didn't work out in the NBA, I could have gone back to college. I never had to do it. I enjoyed the NBA an awful lot. There's one thing I'm sure of. There's more NIL money in Los Angeles than there is in Connecticut. I love that line, P.J.

The NIL money is important. This just in. This just in. Isn't it life amazing, P.J.?

Like, what if I told you when you're heading off to Portland? Oh, by the way, the next head coach of the Lakers is on that kid. That hot-headed kid. That's it right there. That hot-headed kid, son of a coach in New Jersey, right?

That's the kid. He's going to have two national championships, and he's going to have a generational contractual offer from the L.A. Lakers. He's special. He deserves it, Rich.

I'll tell you what. He's not a good coach. We were lucky enough to, when Westwood won, I had eight of their NCAA games in the past two years. He's not a good coach.

He's an exceptional coach, and it certainly shouldn't be surprising growing up in that household. No doubt. P.J., you're the man. Thanks for the time. Enjoy the rest of the finals. Look for more of my calls. You're the best. Rich, great. I appreciate it. Thank you. Great. Happy to be with you, as always.

Right back at you. The great P.J. Curlissimo here on The Rich Eisen Show. Everybody, turn on your radios if you're driving around needing to hear the NBA Finals.

He and Mark Kestisher have got you covered. All right. Let's take a break. Phone calls. 844-204-Rich. Number to dial. It's a What's More Likely Friday. And Sean O'Malley, suga Sean O'Malley, will be joining us in hour number three.

That's how we're rolling into this weekend in June. Are you struggling to close deals? Business to business selling is tougher than ever. And that's why I want to tell you about LinkedIn Sales Navigator. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sales intelligence platform that helps professionals effectively prospect and engage high value customers, drive higher revenue and increase sales performance.

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Just go to LinkedIn.com slash direct and get started. Man, the hoops finals are right around the corner. How cool would it be to go to one of those games? You might even be thinking that right now.

And if you are, I've got the solution for you. Game time makes getting finals tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the game time app actually go down. The closer it gets to tip off, you get killer last minute deals all in prices, meaning no surprises on the final cost views from your seat, which means no surprises on your view of the court. The lowest price guarantees also there from game time, which takes the guesswork completely out of buying basketball tickets, certainly when it's the biggest event around for hoops. The finals take the guesswork straight out, download the game time app, create an account and use my code rich and you get $20 off your first purchase terms apply. Visit gametime.co for restrictions. Again, create an account and redeem my code R I C H and you get $20 off your first purchase. Download game time today.

Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right. We haven't done this in a while, but, uh, these residual checks don't open themselves. So hit it, hit it, hit it, please. Pay that to me and his money.

All right. These latest missives from SAG-AFTRA paying me who knows what for who the hell knows what I've done over the last 25 years playing myself. I've got three of them. Uh, envelope one, two or three, TJ, you choose. Let's go with envelope two. By the way, stunned.

Took the middle envelope. All right, here we go. Here we go.

All right. This check is for CSI Miami. This is it. This is the original.

This is the original caged and deep freeze together. Two episodes. You are host and announcer. Oh my gosh. Two episodes. Here we go. Two episodes is two dollars and five cents.

Two dollars and five cents. Oh, you were going to guess. All right.

Sorry. Uh, envelope one or three, envelope one or three. One. One. You'll guess this one. You'll guess this one.

So I need, I need, I need a Price is Right music. Here we go. Envelope number one.

The oh boy. Wow. Oh, here we go.

All right. It's for three episodes of the Odd Couple. I was in three episodes. Nice.

They were called Eyes in Trouble, Make Room for Danny and Secret Agent Man. Three episodes. OK. He had a huge game last night, so I'm going to go with eight dollars and we're looking for banner 18. Eight dollars. Eighteen cents.

TJ, we have three checks. I'm going to go with seven dollars and twelve cents. I think it's gonna be a lot. I'm gonna go with sixty three. Sixty eight dollars and thirteen cents. Well done, sir.

Jay Felley is a winner. Residual Rich, everybody. Well done. OK. Back on the Rich Eyes and Show game time tickets is ready for you to take this app, put it on a mobile device near you and start buying tickets for any event in your area. Concerts. It's concert, summer concert series, everybody. You want to go see Bruno Mars? Open up game time.

You want to go see anybody? Go open up game time in your area. Certainly if you're in the Boston area for this weekend's game two, hopefully we'll see a better game in game one, more competitive and making basketball finals tickets appear in your future. It's so easy to do using game time. You take the guesswork completely out with last minute deals, all in prices. Views from your seat.

Ability to check out the view from your seat before you purchase all the guesswork out of buying basketball. Final tickets removed with game time. Download the game time app. Create an account and use my code rich and you get twenty dollars off your first purchase.

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All right. You get twenty dollars off your first purchase. Download game time today. Last minute tickets.

Lowest price guaranteed. Thank you. Celtics are up three. Oh, let's just throw this out there. Hypothetically. Do I hit the game time and go to Dallas next Friday?

The possible broom. Yes. Well, I mean, you do that if you want to go to a game five. I'm the cooler. I mean, honestly, you are. You are recording the game.

I would never, by the way, in a million years, what I have thought the Larry David rule applied to you assume tape would never have thought that. But I had a million years. Nobody spoiled anything for me. No, I get it. But yeah, I never would have imagined that in a million years. They're like, I'm going to go play golf. Well, here's the problem.

I would have also watched on the course for the last like three or four holes, but battery was rapidly dying and I didn't want to just lose out on like the 17th green or something. All right. I've now lost interest. I thought you're my friend.

I am your friend. Never would assume that you are the cooler. The minute that you actually started watching live is when the Celtics went down. Yeah.

Yeah. And the last time I was at a Celtics playoff game, they lost. Game seven. Game seven. Eighteen. Eighteen. Easter conference finals. LeBron. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that.

Terros here still hasn't made a shot yet. All right. Let's go to Martin in Colorado. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Martin? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my calls. Always a pleasure. What's on your mind, Martin?

When it's not when I don't have to talk about inconsiderate travelers checking bags. Are you picking the Raiders because of a free agent signing? Martin coming in hot here. OK, we lost. Win loss for who?

Denver Broncos. OK, let's go. I don't have one of these yet. Did you do one with Susie when I was when I was gone? On Walkabout? All right. Let's go. We had a guy, Nick in Portland.

All right. This is Martin in Colorado. Denver's starting at Seattle. What happens? Lost. Home for Pittsburgh.

No way. Russ beat us at home. Win. At Tampa. Lost. At the Jets. Lost.

One and three. Home for the Raiders. Win. Find you.

Two and three. Home for the Chargers. We don't own the Chargers. Win. Back to 500 at the Saints on a Thursday night.

Sean Payton's return there. Emotional loss. Emotional loss.

Interesting adjective, Ed, right there. OK, three and four off of that emotional loss. Win.

All right. Carolina. Now we're back. Four and four at the Ravens. A loss. Four and five at the Chiefs. Lost. Four and six. Home for the Falcons. Win.

Five and six at the Raiders. Heartbreaking loss. Heartbreaking loss. All right.

The adjective threw me off. So you got one, two, three, four, five and seven. Home for the Browns. Win.

Six and seven off the buy. Home for Indianapolis. Win. Seven and seven at the Chargers. Lost. Seven and eight at the Bengals. Lost. Seven and nine. Home for the Chiefs.

I say we win. All right. So eight and nine.

OK, so that's exactly what Nick in Portland had. All right. Martin in Colorado. Thank you for the call, sir.

The Broncos fans are lockstep on it. Eight and nine here. All right. We got time for one more here. Ed and North Carolina. You're on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Ed? What's up, Ed? Hello.

Nice to talk to all y'all. OK, what's up, Ned? I wanted to be win loss for the Pats.

For the Patriots. Oh, geez. All right. This is the third one. Yeah. I have Jacob.

By the way, I guess this is the first, if you will, civilian to do it. We had Jacob Batalone, the actor here. And Cooper, my son. Oh, OK. Two notables. I'm not saying you're not a notable, Ed.

My bad. Here we go. Let's give Ed some music. All right, Ed. In North Carolina at the Bengals. That's a lot.

All right. Home for the Seahawks. Bouncing back with the win. At the Jets on a Thursday night. The loss.

At the Niners. Another loss. One and three home for the Miami Dolphins. Another loss. One and four home for the Texans. A lot. One and five having lost four in a row at Jack in London against the Jaguars. I'm going to make it five in a row.

A lot. One and six home for the Jets. I'm thinking Aaron Rodgers is hurt by then at the win.

Wow. Two and six at the Titans. Another win. Three and six at the Bears.

A loss. Three and seven home for the Rams. Three and eight at the Dolphins. Three and nine home for the Colts.

And a win. Four and nine off the bye at the Cardinals. Four and ten at the Bills. Four and eleven home for the Chargers. Four and twelve home for the Bills.

And then we lose again. Four and thirteen, says Ed. Oh, there was one thing I wanted to bring up about your airline seating with the reclines. I think the issues you guys have, I'd build the airline seating for a commercial plane.

OK. The standard passenger is supposed to be like 5'5", like 155. What? So that might be where our recline issue is. Well, I think, listen, sir, if you're in charge of making seats for an airplane and you say the average height is 5'5", I don't know what to say. Was this the 1800s, Ed?

Too short. My gosh. Listen, these are humans, not Russian nest dolls, Ed. Come on now. Let's focus. Thanks for the call, Ed. Ed, I'm 63. How am I supposed to get this seat?

I thought he said airline at first. The four of us are average 6'1", 210. What? And I bumped those numbers up personally. I'd say the average of the four of us. Right?

6'1", 210. Listen, listen, I was sitting on a plane coming back from, I'll tell this in a story in a minute. All I know is I'm reclining.

Somebody reclined into me, I'm reclining into you. Sorry. No doubt. My bad. Larry, David and I are very disappointed in use.

I understand. Hour number three. What's more likely? Coming up, Sean O'Malley.

Still here on Naroku Channel. So, I was on my flight back from Canada, right? And the person in front of me, it was one of those seats that was stuck and it just flew right in my lap.

Like it just hit me. Did you have your tray down at all? The tray was down, the whole thing just hit me right in the stomach. Honestly, it could have been one of those things where... You had a drink on there? I know, it could have been all over the place. I understand that. Now, did I have an issue with that?

I'm sure you did. No, it's all fair. It's the way it works.

Kind of the break, yeah. Now, I had a problem with the person behind me yanking the back of my chair so they can get up. Bad idea. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. That's not your, it's in your area, but it's not yours to touch.

There are these things to the side, on either side of you, called an armrest. Let's all work together. Let's work on our traps, you know? It's a little bit of a trade.

You've got the tries, you've got the tries, you know what I mean? What if the person in the middle has both of the armrests and they can't get the one? Then you say to the person in the middle, the person in the right or the left, I have to get up. And then you use the armrests to get up. The seat in front of you is for the person in front of you to use as a chair. Are there rules written down for this?

There are no rules written down for this. That's why we're having a conversation about it. It's very crucial and we're doing the Lord's work, having these conversations every day. If you're reclining, I'm grabbing the back of your chair. It's not just, we're productive members of society trying to keep things on the rails. That's it. On the rails. Hour three coming up. Find one and two of In the Red Clay now, wherever you listen.