Brian Windhorst: Lakers Offer To Dan Hurley Didn't Get It Done

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That's dell.com slash deals. This is the Rich Eisen Show. First up for you, Anthony Michael Hall, Celebrity True or False. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. You try to sneak onto the vacation set just to watch Beverly D'Angelo's new scene. Guilty as charged. Miss D'Angelo was topless and I was 14. I was on set somehow.

Just bird-dogging from a corner. Today's guest, ESPN NBA reporter Brian Wintorse, MLB network analyst Kevin Millar, author and actor Michael Richards. And now, it's Rich Eisen. That is correct. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

We are here because it is mandatory. Oh man, I forgot to tell you. Rich, I had a thing. I had a thing. Hold on, I had a thing I told you about months ago.

I had a thing. I want volunteers, not hostages. You're not making us be here.

We come because we want to. To quote one of my favorite coaches of all time. Rich, I had a thing I told you about a month ago. I got to go. I got to go. I'm sorry. He's out.

He's got another celebrity golf tournament to go to. Normally, I'd go through the usual drill of just like, hey everybody, these are the guys. You know everybody. You know everybody. You know everybody. You know where to find us.

Good lord, we've been on the air almost ten years. You know everybody. Everybody's here except Del Tufa, which means Jason Feller's bringing a certain brand to the chair. Jason, you have a brand? You bring a brand. You drive the nicest car of anybody here.

Nicest car, the most ink. All of it. Listen, I've been around this NFL thing a while, all right? I've been around it a while and this time of year, mid-June, you can taste it. You can see it.

You can feel it. We have schedules now. We pretty much know who's on which team and we've known for a month and a half who the draft picks are and potentially what their opportunities might be to start this fall and be significant players in their first year as professionals.

And every single story that crops up right now is all, all of it. The underpinnings of all of it is how does this affect wins and losses when toe meets ball in September. And everything, when there's mandatory minicamps in this day and age where you can't talk to players essentially due to the collective bargaining agreement rules, as soon as confetti drops at the Super Bowl, all the way up until the off-season workout program begins in April, you can talk to them, but you can't have them in a playbook. You have them in a building, you know, as regular practices and things like that. So when there are actual drills on a field in the spring leading into summer and everybody is mandated to be there for a two, three day period of time and somebody doesn't show up, that's news.

The question is, what does it mean when toe meets ball next year? Certainly if it's somebody that's not there due to contractual reasons, that's understandable. CD Lamb wasn't there for Dallas as well, but Jamar Chase did show up today for Cincinnati Bengals or he has been there this week. So there's all of that. So when I walked in the building today and heard that for Jets minicamp, their quarterback wasn't there. It's like, what?

Really? Because Aaron Rodgers has been there throughout this entire voluntary off-season. And, um, he wasn't there today.

Did you think they were talking tie rod at first? I honestly, I don't know what to make of all this stuff because when a quarterback doesn't show at a mandatory minicamp, that means all of the snaps and all of the, you know, dress rehearsals that you can have. It's not the same. Or, you know, you're preparing for, as any Jet fan would point out, the inevitable that the quarterback will get hurt anyway. So you might as well get the first team reps with your second string quarterback. It is to Rod Taylor that you're referring to as a second string quarterback for the Jets. Could you imagine if this was Zach Wilson today? And again, you know, I am having a little bit of fun here because it is bizarre.

There's nothing, there's no other way to put it. It's weird. It is bizarre because Aaron Rodgers did not show up. And as you'll hear from Robert Salah talking about the guys who aren't there, he could have gone full Rich Eisen favorite cliche of substituting the, you can control what you can only control what you can control cliche with this time of year. I'm only talking about the guys that are here, everybody, because Hassan Redick is not there either. The Jets acquired Hassan Redick, one of the top pass rushers in the league, and he wants a new contract and the Eagles were kind of like, sure, you go take him because we're not going to get that new contract done here.

So now that's your problem. And now he's a, he's not a no-show at, he's been a no-show this whole time. He's a no-show at mandatory minicamps. So when you hear Robert Salah referred to multiple people who are not there today, inexcused, he's referring to Hassan Redick as well. This was the head coach of the Jets today.

Hit it. Aaron and I spoke before OTA started. He's been very good in communication.

He's been here the entire time. It's inexcused, but he had an event that was very important to him, which he communicated. Both are inexcused?

You're not? Both inexcused, yes. So are they hitting fine?

They're both subject to the CBA fine schedule. Okay. So. Okay. Very, and you're seeing other reports out of the New York area that the Jets have known for weeks, if not months, that Rodgers would not be here.

Which is interesting why you wouldn't say, hey, everybody. By the way, heads up, I'm, you know, when I'm out there for the first mandatory minicamp, it's because I got something important going on, or he just doesn't care to say it or he doesn't. Listen, I'm after all these years of watching his remarkable hall of fame ability and then frequently come up with something in terms of his actions that's difficult to explain. After all this time, I'm, you know, I'm out of the guessing game business with Aaron Rodgers. Certainly, you know, when he said this, after the end of the playing season, when Zach Wilson had a, a final season there that was also teetering on the border of weirdness, bizarreness and awfulness all at the same time. He had this to say, because there was a lot of conjecture about Wilson not wanting him to play at the end of the season last year. And if he didn't, by the way, I didn't have a problem with that. Certainly since I heard he was told he was going to be sent packing, which he eventually was, why would he want to get hurt?

Playing for a team that basically benched him and he wasn't going to be around there anymore. Rodgers had this to say. Anything in the, in the, this building that we're doing individually or collectively that has nothing to do with real winning needs to be assessed. Everything that we do has to have a purpose too.

When you step in the building, there's intentionality with everything that you do. And it's not a half the time thing. It's not a sometimes thing. It's not a most of the time thing. It's an every time thing. If you want to be a winning organization and to put yourself in position to win championships and be competitive, everything that you do matters.

And the bull**** that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building. Because guess what's coming his way is something I'm sure he considers BS. Because there will be a lot of conversation from the New York media about this until he shows where is he, why isn't he there, all of that sort of stuff. And I have no idea what the event is that he considers so important to him. And if it is, then it is, he knows what he's going to be creating. He absolutely knows that. He knows that he's going to give reps to, to Rod Taylor, which may be important anyway, you know, and helpful. But he knows that having his coach go out there and call his absence inexcused is going to create a major to do in the New York City area.

We're leading the show with it right now. But when it all does come down to it, and I have always subscribed to this in my 21 years now with NFL Network, anything that comes up during the playing season. How will this affect wins and losses this fall?

Will it at all? Because again, his head coach could have said, this is, he told me weeks ago, we talked before the OTAs, which is, you know, technically weeks ago, but he called it inexcused. Could have been, yeah, we knew about it and just leave it at that. The story is, you know, he had something to do. The Jets call it inexcused, and that is going to be potentially cause for tension between him and the coaching staff at some point.

And throw that out there. But I will just subscribe to this, when Aaron Rodgers is suited up for the New York Jets and the ESPN or ABC cameras are zooming in on him as he's getting ready to run out of that tunnel in the field of jeans in Northern California for the final game of the first week of the NFL season that begins with Ravens at the Chiefs and then has the first game ever in Brazil between the Packers and the Eagles. And then we have our first full Sunday of NFL action and all of that, we're chewing on all of that.

And you're seeing the Browns and the Cowboys playing a late window on Fox and then you're seeing the Sunday night debut replaying last year's dynamite wild card game between the Rams and the Lions and everybody is talking about football being back and the Jets and the Niners are the last game of week number one and Aaron Rodgers is standing in that tunnel. Is any of what's going down today going to matter? My answer to that is no.

It will not. But it is stuff that when Aaron Rodgers shows up in New York City, there hasn't been a lot of New York City 24-7, 365, first time callers, long time listener moments for him. There is going to be one today. It's the middle of June. It's just weird. It is bizarre. I have no idea why he's not there. I'm not going to go all in and saying he should be there.

I have no idea what it is that he's missing. But whatever he's missing, the Jets who have essentially bent over completely backwards ever since they acquired him to make sure he's comfortable, he's set, he's got everything around him that he wants, that he is going to win for them. And he knows, he's set it into a microphone that winning and losing in New York this year, the difference between that means so many other people's jobs. He's completely aware of what he means to the organization, what he means to the wins and losses and for everybody in that building affecting lives and everyone else.

And he does shoulder that responsibility extremely well to the point where he was there for every single second of voluntary activities. But for him to not be there today and for the Jets to say we are going to take the stance publicly of this is inexcused, essentially to basically say everybody who was there in that building who knows where Rogers is today, that even for this moment we are going to say Rogers is one of 53 or one of 70 or how many guys that are there in that building right now. And how does that sit with Rogers? And will that just start any fraying of a nerve that might come home to roost week 5, week 10, week 9, week 8, week 12, week 15? That's part of the drama of an NFL season, right?

But in terms of Rogers in pads, getting ready, finally back, his rehab has paid off where he's there and he's ready to go and hopefully for him and all Jets fans play more than five snaps. We were having a little bit of fun with this the other day, what we were talking, was this on our pod or was that here? Our overreaction pod which came out yesterday. They all mesh together, all the content we're turning on here. So much content. So that we were saying, they should just hand it off six straight times.

Yeah, it was on the pod. They just hand it off, hand it off. Maybe even just double it, go eight times, eight straight handoffs.

And by the way, with a revamped offensive line, pushing around the 49ers in their first possession if they can do it, not a bad message to send to start a season. All that said, will it matter when Rogers is stepping on that field with his mates back again, adrenaline flowing? I say no.

No, of course not. Of course this has zero bearing on the fall, but there's always something with this guy, always something and so I'm curious to find out what it is, what was so important. And it just comes back, it doesn't pass the smell test. If it's so important and the Jets knew about it months ago, why was it unexcused? I don't know why Santiago was touched if he was ordered to not be touched. I don't know. I don't know why the Jets decided to mention this as some form of a code red. And why mention it? Yeah, exactly. Why bring it up at all? I don't know and how does that land with Rogers wherever he is right now? Yeah. Why make it a point to say yes?

He is subject to the fines. Why any of that? But that said, when it's time for football on that first Monday night and if the Jets win and they start doing what they're supposed to be doing, whatever we're talking about to lead the show today, I don't think matters. But it is weird. It's bizarre. I don't know what to make of it. And I'm just not going to, I have no idea what he's considered is so important that he knows is going to bring a lot of this about unless he didn't know the Jets were going to say we're going to call it an excuse. I imagine they just put all their ducks in a row with him to start.

But, you know, and it could wind up, you know, but I'll tell you what, people are digging all over the place right now. Where in the world is Aaron Rodgers? Hey, Aaron, where are you? That's it.

That's the story of the day. All right, we're going to take a break. Our first guest, by the way, let's just walk you through since we started the show in a somewhat unconventional manner.

I liked it. OK, great. So our first guest, Brian Winhorst, can't wait to chat with him. Talking about the NBA finals in the break between switching from Boston to Dallas, the Celtics two wins away from winning another one, putting a trophy in the case. What in the world happened down the road when Dan Hurley was at the Lakers facility just down the road from us?

I'm assuming he was here meeting with the Lakers. And I can't believe I'm going to ask another individual is seven years. Eighty million dollars, six years, 70 million dollars, a little too light.

Is that light? Look, I would take it personally. I know that. But to leave the leave the job that you love.

Oh, yeah, I love this job. I wouldn't take it. I take that back.

So I don't know. Kevin Millar will join us. We'll talk a little baseball. He's going to be playing in the American Century Championship tournament, which is that celebrity tournament Lake Tahoe. Rogers is slated to join that. Maybe he knows where Aaron Rodgers is.

Yeah, Rogers plays in that every year. He does indeed. And then in studio hour number three, the man who played Cosmo Kramer. His new book, Entrances and Exits. Michael Richards will be here. And yes, just like when we had Mr. Seinfeld here himself, we will go down a wormhole on that front. He's very well aware when he comes in here, we will have a lot of conversations. Maybe we will. And it's interesting. We've got the old Merv Griffin set we're going to set up behind us.

Yeah, I found it in the dumpster in the back. Really weird, really weird. But or do we get the rolling roaster? We're going to serve him some chicken. Oh, my God.

It's not good for it's not good for anyone. I got a rickshaw outside. There's a hot tub getting delivered soon. Just no Kevorka.

All right. We'll take a break right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Bob Sacramento on line one. It's going to be fantastic. Actually, no, it's just going to be a lot of fun when we get to who's on line one right here, actually. Brian Windhorst next. This is The Rich Eisen Show.

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Just go to LinkedIn dot com slash direct and get started back here in the Rich Eisen show. Brian Winhorse is going to join us in a couple of minutes time when the radio audience returns. We're sitting here on the Roku channel. And I mean, the guesses of where Aaron Rodgers is right now is all over the map. And the Jets again saying that he is in excused in this absence means that even they could not countenance.

Whatever Rogers says is important to him to not be in mandatory minicam. I honestly it's been 21 years. This one's a new one for me. This is new. Usually it's, you know, contact related or it's contract related. You know, right. But especially just, you know, the reports that he notified the Jets, he notified the Jets, which means it's something he's planned or he's something that he's known been there.

And he knew he was doing this and how do they not fell on this day. And why would the Jets just be like, cool. Because apparently it's not excusable. It doesn't. But it doesn't fall under what?

Is there a league bargained upon that something that qualifies is eligible for excuse something? I don't know. Like I said, the speculation of it is wild because, you know, in our world, when we are wondering about something, we just fill it in with some crazy stuff. Right, right, right, right. You know, and the Jets in a weird way, maybe calling him out for this. Well, there's no question that they feel like they have to draw a line. This is the quarterback.

And if anybody else in the team asks for it, they're not going to say you're excused to. But especially when he's been at every other. Whatever it is. He has been at every other.

He's been at everything. I know. So.

None of it makes sense. Now what? It is just really weird, wild stuff.

Wild, wild stuff. Back in the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrange.com or just stop by. Kind enough to join us once again, our favorite from the NBA finals in between games two and three. It's Brian Windhorst back here in the Rich Eisen Show from ESPN. Good to see you, Brian.

Good morning, Rich. So let's just jump right into the story that's certainly lighting up Los Angeles right here. What is your reporting on what happened between Dan Hurley and the Lakers, Brian? I mean, I don't I mean, he just preferred to stay at UConn. I mean, I'm not going to I don't know how else to say it. My thing is, I don't think that the Lakers when you talk to people that know Dan Hurley, they will say this wasn't about money.

And all I don't know, Dan Hurley. So I'll I'll just say that the Lakers needed it to be about money. They needed money to enter the equation. And the Lakers offer, in my opinion, and other people who I've talked to his opinion, didn't didn't get it done. And, you know, even if they'd offered him, you know, a lot more, he might not have taken it because it's a really hard job. It's a really hard time to take the job. The timing of where the Lakers are right now. It's not ideal when you're in an ideal job that you're in, you know, that has a factor in it.

You know, this is not a vacuum. He's dealing with a whole set of circumstances about staying. But I was surprised that the Lakers offer, especially considering they've lost top quality head coaches with with, you know, sort of getting outbid in the past. And so I was surprised. And I you know, only Dan can answer how much of an issue that was. But I think as the Lakers walk away from this, they may need to wonder whether they needed to go more go further. Yeah, it's rare for me to ask another person without with a straight face is six years, 70 million, a little light.

But it was actually. That's sort of felt like if you're if you're looking at the reports of what curves paid and what pop is paid and Spolstra's paid. And you know that Dan Hurley loves where he is, has an opportunity to three Pete, become the first since John Wooden. You you you've heard him talk publicly and, you know, honestly about what is what we're living. You know, they live in Connecticut, right? Yeah.

When you moved to Los Angeles. Did you see receive a significant increase compensation wise from from your current employer? So what you're saying? Well, whatever. Absolutely.

OK, I did. And I also liked seeing the ocean and I liked seeing the sun. And I like the ocean not too far from Connecticut.

That's true. I can take you. OK, let me just break this down, because I got people telling me this wasn't about money. And so here's what I'm going to say. Sure. So he makes five million dollars a year. OK. Yeah. He got offered eight million dollars a year.

Her words said this. And I've also heard this from people that he got offered a eight was on the table before this Lakers offer. He didn't like eight.

You know how I know he didn't like eight? Because he didn't take the contract. He didn't sign it. OK. And so now we've got the governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, I believe is his name. And I know that the governor doesn't decide what people get paid at at the university.

I understand that. But the governor of Connecticut comes out there and says he will be the highest basketball. We're going to get him to be the highest paid basketball coach in the country.

OK. He said that the highest paid basketball coach is Bill Self. He makes about ten and a half. So, OK, maybe they don't get him to ten point five five or whatever. But let's say they get him to ten. That's ten in Connecticut. He now knows he's probably going to you know, I'm sure that that wasn't relayed after the decision was made on the Lakers.

I'm sure he had a pretty good idea. So the Lakers are offering eleven and change and he can get ten in Connecticut. So it's not a it's you're right. It isn't about money because the money's equal. You know, a tenant could tenant.

In fact, I would say ten in Connecticut is that is higher than eleven and a half in L.A. Sure. And so I just didn't think the Lakers made it. He made it an offer that was financially, at least because I can tell you the basketball part is tough. There's no doubt that the better basketball job is UConn. He's got two he's got two titles. He's got a top five roster coming back.

Yes. Going forward, there's NIL and all that stuff. But he's in a supreme position. You know, in L.A., it was going to be really hard. You know, I you know, it's impossible to handicap next NBA season. This season is not over yet. The Lakers have a summer of transactions. But looking at the lay of the land, if the Lakers get avoid the play in next year, sitting where we are now, they will have done a good job.

They will have done a good job if they get into the top six. And you're talking about a guy who would come in potentially with enormous expectations in that in that landscape. So the basketball decision was was tough, really tough. And you can say, well, you know, you may want to think about a pass LeBron, you know, into the next iteration where you would be, you know, he would have a chance to build the culture and build the program. Yeah, of course.

For sure. That's what every coach brings in. But the short term basketball is not comparable. The short term basketball is UConn unquestioned.

Then you bring in the money. The money is sounds like UConn. Sounds like UConn's there.

So where are we at? The the the being able to see the ocean, being able to see your coach, the Lakers, well, being able to see your coach at UConn is pretty good, especially if you're born and raised in the Northeast. So in all honesty, when you look at it like that and there's probably a bunch of other factors that I don't know or will never know. But like just on the surface, it's it's not hard to see why he said no, frankly.

So then, you know, certainly if the money wound up, as you said, being equal and cost of living and taxes and anything like that, you know, obviously could even tip it into the direction of UConn. And, you know, the Lakers are not rubes. They also have to understand that this is an East Coast guy. His wife, he said he turned down Kentucky because Rhode Island was too far from New Jersey for he and his family and his wife. Where they have tons of folks.

Rich, they needed to offer a hundred million. That's what I'm saying. So why not?

Why don't the Lakers do that? It's not like what's the sense? I don't know. You tell me.

I don't know. You know, look, and here's the thing. The Lakers are almost never desperate. OK, we should never lay in the bed at night and go, oh, man, I'm going to say a prayer for the poor Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are not desperate. You know, in 2019, they wanted to hire Tyloo. They lowballed him.

Let me tell you something about that. Tyloo remained an assistant coach as opposed to taking the Laker job in 2019. OK, this wasn't 2001. He was like, I would rather remain as an assistant than be the Laker head coach. By the way, the Lakers won the championship the next year.

Monty Williams was being offered a job by Robert Sarver and Jeannie Buss. There is probably not a bigger spread that exists in the terms of Q rating in the NBA of an owner, a Robert Sarver and Jeannie Buss. And Monty Williams took the took the Suns job because it was because they paid him a ton more.

OK, and it was it was a different set of circumstances. They they hired at least their third choice and Frank Vogel. But they got Anthony Davis and they won the championship. So because by the way, because Anthony Davis said, I only want to be a Laker because that's the thing the Lakers have. Lakers have this incredible brand in one of the greatest cities in the world. And they're they're going to have that brand and they're going to still be playing one of the greatest cities in the world for the rest of our lives. So, you know, they're not desperate.

This is a setback. They they they didn't get the two coaches they wanted a couple of years ago. They won the title. So, you know, maybe they think, why should we pay one hundred million dollars when a couple of years ago, we hired our third choice, we fixed our roster and we won the title. So let's focus on fixing our roster and we'll hire our third choice. If that's what it takes. Seriously, the Lakers have a little bit egg on their face today because, you know, their number one choice very publicly said no. All right.

So it was a bad day, a bad week. They'll be fine. Bronwyn Horst here on the Rich Eisen Show. Where do the Lakers go from here now? Don't know. Don't know. So, you know, the guy that they've had the most conversation with, as far as I'm aware, is James Borrego. And I'm not I don't have Rob Polinka's datebook. I don't know who he's talked to.

Someday maybe I'll figure I'll find out. But Borrego is in Cleveland right now. He may have the Cavs. He may have an offer to coach the Cavs within the next 48, 72 hours.

I don't know. Maybe they'll hire maybe they'll offer Kenny Atkinson, who's also coming in this week. But if you're the Lakers, you're sort of the guy that you spent the most time with is is Borrego.

And he's in another city potentially about to get another job. So if you really wanted James Borrego, you better frankly, you better have made the offer before midnight last night. And as far as I know, Borrego's at that interview.

So you can deduce whatever you want from there. I know everybody's talked about J.J. Reddick, who's my colleague, who I have immense amount of respect for. On a personal level, I hope J.J. gets what he wants. And if he wants the Lakers job, go get it, buddy.

Best of luck to you. But I don't think J.J.'s done a formal interview like Borrego and Dan Hurley have. So we'll see. The other candidate that they've talked to, that I know about. There could be 35 candidates I don't know about.

I'm never going to sit here and pretend like I know it all. Is Sam Cassell. Cassell is coaching the Celtics right now.

He's helping, you know, Joe Mazzulla run practice today to try to win another ring. So, you know, Lakers have some guys who are busy, who are on their list. And the draft is two weeks from tomorrow. And before we get to the finals, Brian, last question on this is what is going to be the first order or orders of business for the new Lakers head coach?

Well, I think you have to have a vision about how you want to play. But the big challenges for this Lakers organization are the two guys with player options. One obviously being LeBron James. The belief slash expectation is that he is going to opt out of that player contract or that player option and become a free agent. More to renegotiate and give himself a better terms, which is totally fine. But when, you know, when you've got an unrestricted free agent, you can never 100% say everything's going to be fine. It would be a mistake for the Lakers not to want to re-recruit LeBron. So that new coach is going to have to have some discussions about LeBron, about what he wants the team to look like.

That's going to be at the top of the list. And then D'Angelo Russell. D'Angelo Russell has a player option for 18 million. This is a real conundrum. You know, I could probably spend an hour talking about D'Angelo Russell's conundrum.

I know that your audience probably wouldn't enjoy that. But if he opts into his contract, he's almost, he's very likely to be traded. If he opts out of his contract, the Lakers have suddenly cleared 18 million dollars off their books, which would give them the opportunity to potentially spend some money, their mid-level exception, which is 12 million bucks, and they could go out into the marketplace and find another player. But they're also having a player who averaged 17 points and shot 40% from three-point range, become a free agent on them, and they may need to seriously consider re-signing him if they can't replace him. And so those are big, important front office decisions. And you have a draft pick at 17, and you have tradable pieces on your roster that you're still going to look to upgrade. So I would say that the Lakers have 99 problems, and the head coach isn't number one. And by the way, their roster is in a much better place than it was in 2019 when they hired Frank Vogel. They've got a lot going for them. It's just that Rob Palink has got some big, tough decisions to make to try to make this team better this summer.

Brian Windhorst here on the Rich Eisen Show. The general sense of the state of the NBA Finals is what through two games? Boston is really, really good. Now that we have ESPN Bet, we're getting some great data, because they're our partner, about where the money is coming in. Maybe this data was always available and I just wasn't getting it as I am now, but I'm getting incredible data about how the betting markets go, and I am mystified.

I will never bet on any of these games, because the way I see the league and the way the betters see the league is so different. For example, I believe about 90% of the money at ESPN Bet came in on the Mavericks in this series. And I know that you're getting a good number on it, because the Mavericks were an underdog, and there hasn't been a Western Conference underdog since 2013.

I'm sorry, I think the Celtics were far and away the best team in the league since October. I was just stunned that 90% of the money came in on the Mavericks. The other night, I think like 84% of the money came in on the over for ESPN Bet. And again, there's a lot of other sports out there. I have ESPN Bet numbers.

And I'm like, really? You guys watched Game 1 and thought this was going to be a scorefest? So, I'm not surprised at all that Boston's up 2-0. I am surprised slash disappointed that Dallas isn't playing better. Boston is causing Dallas a lot of problems, some of which are going to be hard to solve, but Dallas is playing very poorly.

They are not putting their best foot forward. So, what I'd like to see as somebody who enjoys high quality basketball and competitive series is I'd love to see Dallas at least play to their level. I covered the Western Conference Finals. I thought they played brilliantly in most of those games against the Wolves. And I'd like to see that team play at least once, starting tomorrow night, to get a better series. Well, it's just tough to envision how the Mavs win four out of the last five games of this series, Brian, when Porzingis is coming off the bench. And Drew Holliday may be the MVP of the team right now. And you've got Tatum and Brown and White and the rest of this team doing what the Celtics can do best.

And so I guess my question for you is, what are the problems that they are causing the Mavericks to make them look this way that you think might be the easiest to solve? One of the classic mistakes that gets made when looking at playoff series is to assume that things that are happening will continue to happen. By the way, a lot of times they do. But that's the thing. Veteran coaches will tell you that assuming that game to game there's going to be continuity. It just ain't true.

It does happen, of course, but not reliably. So, number one, I can't reliably say that the Celtics are going to have the type of play that they've gotten from all of their players consistently. The other thing, the big thing that we're going to find out today, I'm sure the Celtics will try to obfuscate as much as they can, is the health of Porzingis. He came up lame in Game 2. He had to be pulled out of the game. They called timeout to get him off the floor. They were blowing their lead partially because he couldn't walk. So let's see where he is.

Let's see what he looks like. That's a factor. But one of the big giant things, if I can be really basic, is that the Mavericks cannot generate open shots. And I'll just use a couple of very basic stats that you don't have to be an X's and O's genius to follow. Because I say that not because of you, Rich.

I say that because of me. So in the playoffs, coming into the series, the Mavericks were making five corner threes a game. Making.

Okay? That's a huge weapon on their offense. That's the release valve for Luca and Kyrie. Sometimes it's Kyrie making those threes, but it's a release valve.

It's their curveball to the fastball. They have attempted eight in two games. Okay?

I'm going to say that again. They average five a game. They've attempted eight. The Celtics are just like, yeah, we're cutting that off.

We're not even going to let you shoot them. Coming into the series, Mavericks, 57 lob dunks in the playoffs. First two games, two. And that 57 is a misleading number because there's a whole bunch of lobs that resulted in fouls. Where they got a lob and the guy got fouled and the guy got to the line.

Doesn't cause a lob dunk, but it's functionally the same thing. So what's happening is that the Celtics are like, we feel good enough about our defense that we're going to play Luca and Kyrie straight up. They did defend Luca a little bit more aggressively in the second half when he was cooking them in the first half in game two. They brought a little bit more double teams than they did.

So maybe that's an indication of things to come. But basically they're playing the two of those guys straight up. They're willing to accept the way they're playing. They love the matchup with Kyrie. They're doing a great job making life tough on Kyrie and they're sticking to their players.

They're like, we're not going to let you open in the corner for a three. We're not going to sink all these guys to protect the rim. We're going to rely on our defense straight up. That's why they're an awesome team because they can put five guys out there that they all trust.

And I'll trust who they can defend. So that's a big problem for Dallas and Dallas has got to solve that. Dallas has got to reopen the other options in their offense starting tomorrow night. And it could start, by the way, with Kyrie just making some shots.

Kyrie has gotten good looks. These just flat out missed and two games doesn't make a series, doesn't make a season. It was just four years ago, what, three years ago that we saw Phoenix go up 2-0 against the Bucks and the Bucks win four straight. Now, I think Boston is extremely strong.

I do not foresee that happening. But one of the things that happened in that series was Giannis just got stronger and stronger and started to dominate. He was the best player in the series. Dallas has the best player in the series. So I'm not, I mean, I would favor Boston heavily at this point, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's over. I've seen too much to be able to say that.

Yep, I'm with you. And I'm wondering what the Nuggets are thinking right now, watching this, right? You know, just sitting here thinking if they had only taken care of Game 7, I know there's a lot of ifs and buts and candies and nuts, you know. Well, they were a team, they were maybe the only team all year that solved Boston. They were 2-0 against them. Now, two games, again, doesn't make anything.

But I think the Nuggets felt good about how they matched up with them. I bet. Brian, thanks for the time. Honestly, I truly love our chats and I greatly appreciate you giving your time to this program. Have a good day.

So you're right back at you. That's Brian Windhorst, everybody, joining us at Windhorst ESPN. That's a must follow. And then, of course, his podcast, The Hoop Collective, and so much more with Brian Windhorst right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Love it. Six years, $70 million, too light. Six years, $100 million, you'd have to sit there and go, OK, Billy Joel comes to crypto, right? We can get a suite.

Sure. The Lakers will give us a suite for when Billy Joel comes to crypto. What's funny is Shams is saying today that he's working on a new six-year, $50 million deal to stay at UConn. So it's $20 million less to just stay where he's at in Connecticut and keep building the dynasty. I mean, they've been the best college basketball program in the last 25 years. That's undeniable. Can I give you just a quick scenario here?

Then we'll take a break. What if he, because he and his wife like living on the East Coast, they're East Coast people. They are East Coast people and he likes where he is. They like where they are. They like seeing their family wherever they are. We're assuming they're all in New Jersey, right?

They like it. He has a shot to go for a three-peat, something, he could put his name next to John Wooden if he stays put. He is going to get whatever the hell he wants to get that done, right? And set himself up for the immediate future and be, you know, become, for the lack of a better analogy, but I'll say it, like the Nick Saban of his sport, right? OK. And he wants to be in the NBA.

He said it. When Tom Thibodeau is done with that next job. Who would he rather stick around and coach? Bide your time, win your championships in the Yukon, that next job opens up. He says no to that.

Probably not. And Dolan can slice off a little bit of the Vegas fear and give it to him. Just throwing it out there, if that's what he wants. Not like, I love Thibodeau and I love what's going on. And hopefully he's got a nice long run there. Great.

Same deal. Boston job comes open. He's 51, right? I prefer the Knicks job rather than the Celtics job. In about seven days, Chris, that Celtics job will not be open anytime soon. That's correct. Seven days? Four? Could be.

I'm thinking the Mads aren't quite dead. Take a break. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. That's Bluenile.com for 30% off lab-grown diamonds. Bluenile.com. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify is there to help you grow. Shopify helps you sell everywhere, from their all-in-one e-commerce platform to their in-person POS system. Shopify's got you covered. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout.

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Shopify.com slash Westwood1. Ladies, we'll be all right. I know you guys, I know, I know, especially you. I know y'all waiting for us to fall and y'all are just- By the way, waiting? Waiting? Where have you been the last six years? I mean, what have y'all been doing over there in the East without LeBron? Nothing.

That's cool. I mean- We'll be all right. As long as y'all don't win and we win, I'm good. As long as the Celtics don't win the championship. You're not doing any winning though.

That's a successful season for a Laker fan. You're not doing any winning either. Look, man. All right. Well, stay at the house with me then.

Chill out. You know what the best part about Godzilla King of the Monsters? What is it? We destroy Boston in the movie. We level it.

Just level it. I love it. It's so many references. It's a Laker fan's dream, Godzilla King of the Monsters.

Oh my gosh. Dodger fans too? Because obviously the Celtics stand it in the way. And the Rams.

And the Patriots and Rams. Lakers, a golden dragon. Delusional Laker fan is my favorite Laker fan. Delusional Laker fan?

Is my favorite. That's cool. What are you guys called? The Celtics. Look, O'Shea, I'm here for your Boston eight.

I'm here for it. Oh, thank you. Speaking of somebody who's from New York City and a diehard Yankee fan, I would take it in liquid form and inject it into my veins, but you really don't have much of a position right now to carp on a Celtic fan as a Laker fan.

I mean, are they one of the championships? No, no, I know that, but you don't have, like you're out of position under the boards right now. You're reaching in. You're going over the top. I'm kind of calling the foul right now. Look, that's fine.

You don't have much of a position. Listen, I am a Los Angelino. I'm a Los Angeles Laker. A non-Laker fan will never see me sweat. I will die with the Golden Army. They will bury me at center court, and I will not let a Bostonian get under my skin. I think we might have to invite him back next week. I can't wait to bombard his Twitter in two days.

Oh, my God. Fill the grill and fire up the party. Get the Weber Sear Wood Pellet Grill. Smoke, roast, and sear on the same grill, folks. Go from low and slow on smoke boost mode at 180 degrees all the way to high heat sear at 600 degrees. It's got a full great sear zone, so you could put more food on the flame. Food's going to look as good as it tastes. This grill is hot in 15 minutes, and cleanup is easy. It'll cook on two levels at the same time, so you can make enough for everyone. You can add a heavy-duty rotisserie or rust-resistant griddle insert, too. Get fired up for your new Weber Sear Wood Pellet Grill. Oh, Rich, I got Jordan Love to Romeo Dobbs' video.

Speaking of fired up. Oh, my gosh almighty. Any video of Tarod Taylor to Garrett Wilson?

Love many camps. Nope, haven't seen any of that yet. Where in the world is Aaron Rodgers? Speculation, maybe. Hey, Ron. Maybe he's showing up for Tom Brady tomorrow.

What do you mean? Tom Brady's getting his number retired, probably his statue. I believe it's in Gillette.

It's in Gillette, yeah. I don't think that's where he is. I don't think that's why he's skipping Jets mini-camp. There's a lot of secret guests, I'm just saying.

Maybe Rodgers is one of them. Well, I mean, you could still go through 11 on 11s in New Jersey and make your way to New England in time for tomorrow night. I don't know. I'm just throwing out ideas.

Okay. Sorry, folks. This man is a viral superstar for us on our Rich Eisen Show Instagram page right now after saying the Jets were going to go 14-3 this year back on the Rich Eisen Show after his stellar performance in the win-loss game. Anthony in Pennsylvania is back here. How are you, Anthony? Rich, how you doing? How you doing, guys? Hey, Anthony. What's up, man?

Bayonne's finest, sitting there in Pennsylvania. First, I got to say this. I feel like I'm mushing the Jets already.

To add on, and with the Riddick and Rodgers thing, I want to change my one loss. Nah. He said, nah, nah. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. Wait, wait.

Wait, is your finger still on the chest piece? Nah, nah. I would leave it the same. Okay.

No, he said he was joking. I asked myself this question yesterday. With the Jets, you know, draft picks, signings, everything, substitute Wilson for Rodgers. And you know what? I would leave it the same. I would. Okay. Okay. Good. Anywho.

Yes, sir. You can't be terribly pleased with today's developments, right? I mean, this is what we call a distraction. The Jets trying to tamp it down, I bet, but I don't know what Rodgers is, so.

I just hope Rodgers don't come out and say he's running for Vice President and then we're really in trouble. Well, I mean, that's when Terrod Taylor really needs to work with the ones. You know?

You there? Yeah, no. I like, yeah, I like Taylor. Do you hear what I said? Maybe they won't let me say that. Okay. Go on.

Hey, Anthony, hang in there, man. No, I'm, yeah. Oh, really? You know what? Quickly.

I'm more of a Yankee fan than a Jets fan. Okay. Look at us. One night I thought I was watching the 60s, three sacrifice buns. And who was that closing? Stan Botts? And I thought, nah.

It was all convenience. Stan Botts. Wow. What a, what a, what a, what a, what a name you mentioned.

Yeah. That was a nice win for the Yankees going to Kansas City, which is playing some terrific baseball. Bobby Witt.

Bobby Witt Jr. is a terrific baseball player who's blossoming there in the middle of the country. Thanks for the call, Anthony in Pennsylvania. Keep calling back. We really enjoy hearing. One more thing.

One more thing. I got my man Judge. That's a standup thing he did. And if I was Grisham, I wouldn't run around the bases and get everybody to number one side. Well, Grisham's, he, he, thanks for the call.

He's referring to Judge Caping for, for Trent Grisham. Fans chanting, we want Soto as Grisham's at bat and then hits a bomb. Three run shot to, off of potentially the NL Cy Young Award winner or front runner, you know, to win that game over the Dodgers.

Judge did not, he did not play last night. Soto did. Soto came up with an RBI single in the first. Yankees score four for Redon and he made it stand up. The Orioles keep winning, gents. That's the American League. Tonight the Braves are in Baltimore. Nice.

So that's a good one on the DACA tonight. One series. There's lots to talk about with Kevin Millar. He joins us next hour. Former Ori.

Kevin Millar. It's an interesting choice of his former team to mention right here. Just saying, you mentioned them and he played for them.

Okay. Yeah, we didn't talk about the Red Sox. We're just a 500 baseball team, man. Which means, but that means you're in the mix for that seventh and final playoff spot. Who cares?

We got, we got no shot to win the World Series. So what does it matter? Oh, okay.

You're 500. What's that like? Do you have that new drop?

You have that new drop or the drop that we have? That's a shame. There you go. Hour two coming up.

Michael Richards still to come. If you're not first, you're last. Oh my gosh. That, that. And we told that to Jerry when we asked him his favorite line and he said, he thought it was, that's a shame.

That's a shame. And I told him that I send that to all of my, that's a highly used, I go GIF. People say GIF? Okay. Whatever. I mean, send it to people all the time.

All the time. I know. I know that now. Okay. Michael Richards joining us. I can't even imagine, like what would be his favorite Kramer moment? What would it possibly be?

We could probably come up with our own top 10 and it'd be completely different than his. Oh my gosh. You know, the moment where in the contest where he's the first one out within like two minutes. And they had a neighbor who was kind of getting naked by the window.

I'm out. Yeah. I'd be surprised, you know, just from having a lot of friends who act like a lot of these guys in the women, when they do these sitcoms, they don't remember. Well, I mean, if you've done over 200 episodes, if you're fortunate enough to do over 200 episodes and we, as fans hold this a lot closer to the chest than they do, sounds like he's talking to Ashton again because he's the only person I know. Oh, I'm sorry.

Homer. My bad. Just those two. Okay. Maybe it's just those two. Let's say combined together, they've probably done about 600 episodes of comedy.

I was in a few. Just throwing that in. Oh yeah, of course. Every story eventually comes to an end this June. Hear the final episode of season two of the hit podcast series In the Red Clay, Durham. In the Red Clay tells the unbelievable true story of Billy Sunday Burt, the most dangerous man in Georgia history. In the podcast that people are calling riveting, incredibly moving, captivating, and addicting. Binge seasons one and two of In the Red Clay now, wherever you listen.