Joe Vardon: Donovan Mitchell Had To Take The Money In Cleveland

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I'm living my best life. Yeah. Yeah. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part. With guest host Brian Weber.

Yeah, big shoes to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television. I have my own show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Final hour of the program, but we'll always carve out time for you to be a part of the show.

844-204-7424 is the phone number. You can also get at me on social media. I'm on the gram, but surreptitiously. Ooh, big word. Mysteriously, on a Tuesday, if you really want my ability to read your thoughts, head over to Twitter.

X me, B.W. Weber. Weber with two B's. If you're a fan like I am of the football analysis of our pal Trevor Sikkema. Pro Football Focus had a little bit of a scheduling issue there. So Trevor is going to join us potentially later in the week.

I can say with certainty, coming up in 40 minutes, we're continuing to track everything going on across the NBA. And we will look forward to our conversation with Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Timely to have Joe on the program. He started his career writing for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Knows the Cavs very well. So I'll ask him now that Joe works for The Athletic. And they wrote a long expose revealing some cultural issues within the Cavalier organization.

Shocking. I know that Dan Gilbert, who just seems like a wonderful guy, would have problems within his franchise. How did the vast majority of the NBA media and I love tracking NBA Twitter.

I believe that's spelled with an A, right? Not Twitter. NBA Twitter is the best. Everybody out there was saying Mitchell is gone and all of the dominoes were being knocked over. All of the dots are being connected. And what happened today? Donovan Mitchell re-upping for three years in Cleveland. We'll talk about that. Paul George.

And coming up in 20 minutes, I want to circle back to the big news yesterday. They capped the program with the end of the Klay Thompson era in Golden State. Who's most responsible for one of the best players in franchise history? The Warriors handle things with grace and elegance with this regime.

When I was there in the 1980s, there was a fellow named Chris Cohem. And I'm convinced cable TV money must have been lying in the streets in the 1970s. Because he made a boatload of cash when cable was exploding. Bought the Warriors, ran them into the ground, got a lot of money to go away. The new regime led by Joe Lacob handles things much more professionally.

And they wrote a very classy statement thanking Klay for his contributions, confirming his number will be retired. But how did we get here? We'll get there in 20 minutes. I mentioned coming in and I try to be upfront with you because, after all, this is the most personal of the mediums out there. And why radio will always be a part of what I hope to do professionally. And I'm lucky to have different roles at different places.

Although as I get older, I'm getting a little more selective. And I truly value the relationship with Rich personally and professionally. Heading into work, I was monitoring the competition. I want to see what other shows are talking about.

As you might imagine, it's a lot of Paul George, it's a lot of Klay Thompson. I heard two shows open, though, with the monologue where you got to grab people like I'm trying to do presently, talking U.S. soccer. Now let me back up for a moment. And I'm not doing this through some exercise of ego because you don't know who I am, the vast majority of you.

I get it. I'm a fill-in host. Maybe you've heard me on other shows because I'm lucky to have some relationships. And I think a lot of it just comes down to location. I'm here in Southern California after working for Tennis Channel for decades, NFL Network, Fox Sports.

I am the luckiest broadcaster in the world. I've also had a career in which I've made myself available for everything because I'm in the sales business. Newsflash, the more you work, the more you make. And I was an enormous soccer fan growing up because I'm 54. I'm from that generation that was supposed to change everything.

And if not what my peers were doing, what their kids were going to do. Because we've been having the same freaking conversation for roughly a half century. Since the NASL exploded, the North American Soccer League, I can close my eyes and I can do it because I'm working alone and we're not simulcast on the Fabulous Roku channel, begging my father to take me to Giants Stadium because I wanted to see Pele before he retired. And it was an event. Better than 70,000 people out there.

And my dad didn't like crowds and my dad didn't like spending money, but to appease his mouthy kid, we went out there and we had a great time. And I'm not comparing what was happening in the 70s to today. I'm trying to give you a frame of reference.

We've been talking about this for 50 years. And I'm also letting you know, as I'm about to be critical of what's going on right now, I like soccer. I'm not a hater. I've made some decent money calling soccer on the college level before Pac-12 Networks went out of business.

And I had to do those games alone because they were broken and so cheap. So I've learned a great deal about modern soccer just to make sure I didn't embarrass myself, call it a UCLA match, which sends players to the pros, both women's and men's soccer. I was trying to do my job competently. What a novel concept. So I do not have any issues with the sport.

I appreciate it. I like watching soccer because we see the best in the world. Now you can watch every league you want.

In the old days, it was the EPL on tape delay on Sports Channel America at midnight on a Sunday, which I would record. I love soccer that much. Having said all of that, why is the United States not better in men's soccer?

Because that's the distinction. And I know the institutional reasons why we're always going to lag behind, say, Great Britain in terms of player development, because it comes down to money. And if you have a 12-year-old soccer prodigy, man, you can pay him millions, life-changing money for the family, put them in their training academy. I understand the infrastructure.

I'm not saying the United States should be winning World Cups, although it would be nice to compete, especially with a cup coming back to North America in two years. I covered it in 1994, got very lucky early on in my TV career in the San Francisco Bay Area. There were games of my alma mater at Stanford. Brazil showed up and they took over the town of Los Gatos. It felt like we were in Sao Paulo. Everybody was on, 84,000 folks jam-packing at Old Football Stadium.

The atmosphere was electric. The Mystic Knights of Cameroon, as now I'm losing the show major audience here. My point is I appreciate soccer. I'm just wondering what's wrong currently, because for all the millions of dollars invested throughout the U.S. national team setup, we've seen the women advance in a major way to be a dominant power, and I understand the differences in terms of the federations and the infrastructure of men's and women's soccer.

I get it. I also understand that, quote-unquote, our best athletes don't play soccer, and the best athletes from around the world do for the respective nations internationally and across the world in the premier leagues, whether it's the EPL, Serie A, Real Madrid, go down the list. But everyone, if you watched that hideous broadcast last night, playing for the United States now plays internationally at a high level. This is not a soccer equivalent of a beer league.

These dudes have very good resumes. So it's not for a lack of talent, in my estimation, and let's have a quick thought on that broadcast. So I put it on, it is my job again, and I wanted to see, knowing the stakes, if you don't know what I'm talking about, the United States lost last night to Uruguay, 1-0, and if you really want to be patriotic, you can say, we got screwed, because the goal was clearly offsides, and then they went to their version of video replay, and they refused to overrule what looked to me on my monitor, I don't get a vote, unfortunately, that it was direct confirmation of being offsides. But the United States loses to Uruguay, they are out of the Copa America because they had a hideous loss to Panama last week. Basically, they knew what was in front of them last night. They had to win the match to assure themselves of moving out to the quarterfinals. A tie might have gotten it done, but they had it all right in front of them. Beat Uruguay and you're moving on, which was the bare minimum for this event, considering it's here on American soil. So if you're thinking about what happened last night, if you couldn't understand what was developing on the field, I don't blame you because this is not an exaggeration.

The way the game camera, the match camera, was set up, atop Arrowhead Stadium, was the exact same location that they used for the All 22 for the NFL video component. It looked like a series of insects going back and forth. You couldn't figure out what was going on. It got so bad that the Fox broadcasters kept apologizing and saying, don't blame us, we were given this perspective and we're working on it, and then finally, about 20 minutes in, they cut to a low camera. But you didn't miss anything because the United States only came up with three shots on goal for the entire match, a total of six shots overall.

So that's one obvious takeaway. We can't find anybody to score goals, and I know I'm being simplistic here. And if you're a soccer fan, I'm probably annoying you. But this is a mass audience on a show that's typically dominated by NFL conversation. I'm Brian Weber, and for Rich Eyes and 844-204-7424, you can tweet at me, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's, in 30 minutes we talk NBA with Joe Vardon of The Athletic. But just as a high-end novice, someone who observes the sport, when you watch the United States tactically versus you pick the opponent, and Ergway's good, top 15 opponent, that's another problem the United States continually has. I'm not going to say us or we, unlike that Fox broadcast, which you could hear them waving the stars and stripes as they were speaking. Now, I can understand what they had invested in it because the ratings are going to tank to a degree without the American element.

Still, you have to have a degree of objectivity in my mind. I told you I thought it was a terrible call when the offsides wasn't made, and yes, that ref did not know what he was doing. That's not the reason why the United States lost. Now, let's just take a step back.

They should never have been in that situation. You beat Panama last week. Your business is handled, and we're talking about moving on to the quarterfinals. But just from a perspective of watching the game and seeing the flow of the match, the other nations just look like they have a better handle on what they're doing. And to me, not being an expert but having covered and called a lot of sports, that speaks to coaching. Greg Berhalter seems like a nice man. I felt very badly he went through that unbelievable soap opera at the World Cup a couple of years ago, and Qatar being blackmailed by his best friends who were Giorana's parents. If you had pitched that as a reality show, no one would have produced it. It was that ludicrous.

It was that insane. Greg gets another shot, and again, I'll get back to the point that he seems like a good person. Obviously, has the soccer credentials, but there's something missing here, and they're not going to swap out the players because it's not like we have the – and here's a stretch for casual fans – the Michael Jordan of soccer waiting.

Remember it was going to be Freddie Adoo? And Pulisic is a generational talent. It's not like the U.S. is overlooking skilled players because there's a personality conflict. This roster is assembled with the best we have to offer in large measure. So if that's not changing – and remember, this is the golden generation of American soccer, because we've been talking about this for 50 freaking years.

If the players aren't going to change, you've got to make a coaching change. If for no other reason than to signal, the U.S. Soccer Federation is serious about competing. And you better be competitive with the world coming up in two years. And I understand it's a tri-hosting situation, unifying North America, Mexico, United States, and Canada, but I will be jingoistic for a moment.

It's coming here to the U.S. These venues are going to be filled, the energy is going to be electric, and I just don't want to see the United States get embarrassed again. Because what happened in this tournament was embarrassing. The broadcast was terrible. Postgame, Alexis Lalles is going to do his thing, and he's polarizing, but at least he takes a stand.

You don't have to agree with everything he says, but he's not someone who's going to carve out a path in the middle, and he was extremely critical, as was everybody else in that studio, because they couldn't lie to the viewing public. As much as they wanted to use officiating as an alibi, if you watch that match, we were outclassed. And a lot of that, to me, speaks to coaching. I'm not going to throw out names because I'm not qualified in that area. But there have to be sharper soccer minds across the world available to jumpstart this setup.

And now's the time to do it. That was a referendum on the state of American soccer, and I'm not overreacting to one event. Did you also notice the 20,000 empty seats?

I did. Once they finally went to that more manageable low camera, that's a lot of real estate at a great venue that was unoccupied. Now, doing some research, not surprisingly, because soccer is broken in many ways. I guess the ticket prices were outrageous, and you're going to spend $150 to sit atop Arrowhead Stadium, as we all did at home, given that vantage point, to watch a mediocre at best product? Heck no.

Who would do that? So, I don't pretend to have the answers. And I'm not just a screamer filling in for rich, telling you, USA, USA. I'm just trying to come up with a coherent analysis as to why things do not improve. Because we know in sports, nothing stays the same. You're either getting better or getting worse, and we're clearly getting worse. I mentioned Berhalter and his second stint since he came back to the U.S. Men's National Team.

Four team matches with a record of 7-6-1. This is not acceptable, especially given all the money that is flowing through that sport. Now, it's not like we have a capital disparity. USA Soccer is well-funded. The resources are there. The players, I don't think you're going to change.

If change is coming, it's got to come at the top. And for the last time this week, probably the last time ever on the Rich Eisen Show, unless I'm back prior to the World Cup in 2026, soccer is a focal point from the fill-in host. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, 844-204-7424. Or you can X me, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. Didn't talk any baseball today by design. We'll get there coming up when I'm back with you tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. But if you're a baseball fan and you're looking to take in a game this week and take advantage of having some time off from work, you got to head over to Game Time. It is the authorized ticket marketplace which makes getting baseball tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to the first pitch delivered, which is a great value proposition. You got killer last-minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat, and their lowest price guarantee. Game Time always takes the guesswork out of buying tickets for sports. I have used the app in the past, had a tremendous experience.

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Did the Warriors botch the Klay Thompson situation? That's coming up, all part of a jam-packed Tuesday edition of the program. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich.

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Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. Brian Weber with you, and I'm proudly sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by 844-204-7424, the phone number, or you can tweet at me, ex at me, post at me, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. With the soccer portion of our week together behind us, and hopefully that was not too painful, we've reached the business end of this program and be able to take us the rest of the way back with you tomorrow. Much more NFL on the docket. I'll be checking out the premiere of the extension of the Hard Knocks brand, the off-season edition, featuring the New York football giants. Now remember, this is edited by NFL Films, and they never want to embarrass the teams. Plus, we live in an era in which we're all aware cameras are ubiquitous.

They're everywhere. Now it's not hard to miss the dudes walking around with the NFL Films equipment, but you rarely see conversations that you're not meant to see. So for example, I do not think anybody invested in the big blue will be having a candid dialogue about, Man, we wet the bed by giving Daniel Jones that kind of contract. Now they can move on from it in this off-season, and I'm surprised they didn't address their glaring need at that position more strenuously.

Drew Locke ain't going to do much as a backup. Remember the Tommy DeVito sensation? Was that just last year?

My goodness, that feels like ancient history. But we'll get more football into the mix moving forward, and we'll talk about everything happening across the NBA currently coming up in 15 minutes when we wrap up the program with gusto. Looking forward to checking in with Joe Vardon of The Athletic. It's been the free agent cycle dominated by Paul George.

I feel comprehensive with the analysis. I think I've gone through just about every single consequence of PG. Now, is it going to be pandemic P? Is it going to be playoff P going to Philadelphia? I think the key is just stay healthy, Paul George, because as he's gotten older and maybe it's the curse of the Clippers, or maybe by extension when you're a teammate of Kawhi Leonard, you run into injury issues, and that is the major impediment for the Sixers because the face of the franchise, and Joel Embiid, unfortunately, has had a series of injuries coming up specifically at the wrong time. But George is the key piece in everything that's happened so far.

After that, Klay tops it, and the news broke roughly 24 hours ago, and we were lucky to be on the air when Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Klay was heading to Dallas. And there is a degree, and I'm not going to get emotional about it, but there is a degree of sadness when you think about how much things change now in sports, like any business, and I'm not justifying the old system because it was illegal, and that's how we got free agency. The reserve clause, for example, in baseball said that you were going to be part of that franchise until they didn't want you to be part of the team because they could renew you on an annual basis. So I'm not saying I want to go back to highlights in black and white. I'm not saying I want players to travel on trains, and I don't want gentlemen to wear hats to games anymore.

But there is so little continuity because it feels like the change is more radical and more accelerated than ever before, and maybe that's just a byproduct of having more information in the era in which we live. It would have been nice, just as a basketball fan, if Klay Thompson was a forever Warrior, and he will be. Just think about the Bay Area. Joe Montana ended his career with the Chiefs. Unless you're walking around wearing a Joe Delaney jersey, does anybody talk about Montana playing for the Chiefs, even though he led them to the FC Championship game?

Of course not. He'll always be a 49er, and Klay will always be a member of the Warriors, it just seems like this could have been handled better, unless once it became clear from Klay's standpoint, the Warriors simply did not want him around anymore, given his declining skill set, and a lot of that is beyond his control. Now, we all get older, he's 34 years old, and his body has been the issue with a pair of significant injuries, and it became so apparent that he's not the same player that he is, currently as he was in the past, that for the first time in his career in February, he was sent to the bench.

And that also felt like a, okay, this is the Willie Mays stumbling around in the outfield playing for the Mets comp, although Klay in a very different portion of his career. I think he's got good seasons in front of him. Dallas gave him enough runway with the 3-year contract and the player option that he could be there for the foreseeable future. And remember, because everything leaks by design in the NBA, Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that Klay had offers of a 4-year deal from other teams and turned them down, because he wanted to go to Dallas because he realized that's an ideal fit for many reasons. And if you're Dallas, you're ahead of schedule, you make an unforeseen trip to the NBA Finals, think about where this team was before their GM, Nico Harrison, made the substantial moves that did not seem that significant at the deadline because they were a pair of individual trades, and I follow this stuff closely, it's my job, but when I saw, for example, P.J. Washington going to Dallas and Daniel Gafford winding up on the Mavs, I didn't say, okay, if I'm going to make my unofficial power rankings in my one-bedroom apartment, I'm going to vault Dallas to the top of the West.

I didn't see that coming. So if you're the Mavs, you've got to feel terrific about your situation, and we never talk about centers anymore because it's a wing-dominated league that's all about the 3-point shot. Derek Lively had a very productive season as a rookie big man. So Dallas defies the odds, comes out of the West as a 4-seat, and now they've added what they obviously were missing in the NBA Finals, in addition to Kyrie Irving disappearing, especially in Boston. You can't tell me that the Celtics fans weren't in his head. I think it had a lot more to do with the Celtics smothering defense, but that combination led to Kyrie not showing up in those games at the guard. But if that's an established fact, it made Dallas' need that was filled by Klay even more noticeable, they need another reliable scorer, and that's all he's got to do on this team, show up and knock down 3s. So he goes to a title contender, he gets to feel like he's wanted, and we all do, and look, the money is so outrageous, I think it distorts our perspective. Remember, we're still talking about people here, and if you're Klay Thompson and there are kids across the Bay Area wearing Splash Brothers t-shirts, well, you're 50% of that partnership. If you're the Beatles, you don't want to be Ringo, and I think it's a stretch there. We'll go with the terrific 3s of the Fab 4s.

I'm doing this on the fly. I think Klay felt slighted. Now, according to reports, the Warriors made a decent offer, two years for a substantial amount of money, but it was the years that also said, we don't believe you have that much longer in front of you. So it's not just the total amount of dough, it's the sense of, am I getting a vote of confidence?

Am I wanted? Does this franchise truly value me? And when they gave Draymond a deal which would ensure he'll be a Forever Warrior, unless he implodes again and sabotages his career, which he's on the brink of doing, I think Draymond has finally realized that while he always is going to play on the edge, and remember, here's a second-round pick who's maximized his ability, and that team, on the way to the four championships, fed off his intensity, but he has crossed the line now way too often.

If he does it again, we're looking at, I think, at a minimum of a year-long suspension, and then we're potentially talking about banishment for life. It's become that over-the-top. But when the Warriors made that public pronouncement after he had punched Jordan Poole in the face and everything else had happened, Clay had to feel like, okay, well, what about me?

If we have a big three, don't I deserve a third, at least, of the credit and the recognition and the love and respect and a feeling like I'm wanted? So that's how I think things transpired. And the Warriors clearly know that Steph is the catalyst, and they feel like they can find complementary talent. And remember, Andrew Wiggins had a wonderful run in the NBA Finals a couple years ago.

He has not done anything since. They look at a big man at Kaminga. I think they feel like organizations led by Steph Curry win championships, and Clay, while he'll always be a part of the quote-unquote Warrior family, was expendable, especially at the price he wanted. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. You want to talk hoops with me on X, hit me up.

It's B.W. Weber, Weber with 2B. Straight ahead, we will keep the basketball conversation going as we wrap up the program with style points. So Paul George is heading east. What precisely does that mean for the Sixers? We'll find out when we check in with Joe Farden of the Athletic.

I'm Brian Weber guest hosting for Rich as we continue here on the Rich Eisen Show. The team at O'Reilly Auto Parts can test your battery for free in or out of your car. If it needs to be replaced, they'll find you just the right battery for your vehicle. Need your windshield wipers replaced?

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Shopify.com slash WestwoodOne. Ryan Weber back with you, in for Rich Eisen and the guys this week here on the Rich Eisen Show. Final segment, but we have a lot more business to attend to. Let's talk more NBA, always a pleasure to check in with one of the most insightful hoops riders in the nation. It is Joe Vardin of the NBA. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. It is Joe Vardin' partner of all the athletic amber Alex Sanators here in the nation. It is Joe Vardin on the Athletic Joe thanks for taking the time?

How you doing? I'm your closer today. You are Mariano.

I like that one pitch. It is opportune that you're joining us today because it is opportune that you're joining us today because of your background in Cleveland. So I'm aware that you survive for the Cleveland resonance because of your background in Cleveland.

So I'm aware that I'm aware you survive for the Cleveland I'm going through and I'm going to give attribution. A series of posts from NBA insiders saying quote-unquote It's the worst-kept secret in the NBA in October that Donovan Mitchell is going to be leaving the Cavaliers So, how do we get to spider signing the extension today? Well, it makes way too much financial sense for any player to To just to sign I mean, I don't know if I said that right like what I mean is like when you're in Donovan's situation Whether it's him or anybody else you have to sign you have to take the money.

You cannot make more money In the near term doing any other thing than this So in the age of player empowerment You take the money up front and then if and when you decide you want to leave if it's before the end of your contract You just ask for a trade. It happens all the time now and and for the most part the organization's acquiesced in Donovan's case This three years this three years and there's a you know There's an option at the end of the contract of players option which gets him to his tenth year at that point He becomes eligible roughly for what you can make on a supermax contract with somebody who's been in the league for ten years He's not eligible for a supermax right now Because he was traded over from Utah, so Those are the financials when you start talking about whether or not Donovan Mitchell is going to leave the Cavs I'm not Necessarily sure that that is true yet. I will tell you that one of the factors That went into his signing now just beyond the the dollars and cents Is that the market for him now and where he could go now and what trade might be available? For the Cavs to move him now if he wanted to leave now They're not great for Donovan right like he he wants to go he wants to play at home eventually He wants he's from New York. He said that he wanted to play for his hometown team Meaning the Knicks he you know, he said that a couple years ago and the Nets Of course are in that same neighborhood But if you look at those two franchises right now like the Knicks have made their commitment to his position You know, they went out and they got bridges. They have og Of course, they have Jaylen Brunson who's a very similar player to Donovan So right now the Knicks just there's no room for him there And then when you look at Brooklyn, they're beginning a long rebuild That is not attractive to anyone certainly in Donovan's case Being his age that he's 27 like he's in his prime now. He wants to win I don't know if he can do that in Cleveland, but he can't do that in Brooklyn. So, you know The otherwise like where we talk about we're talking about the Lakers like there's there's pretty much no way The Cavs are going to trade Donovan Mitchell to the team that LeBron James is on like that's just something that's not going to happen so, you know, that's a long way of saying that Cleveland was the place where Donovan could make the most money now. It's the it's a place where he's got a good team around them I don't know if they can be great, but they're good and it's a good place to be certainly while he sees what the market looks like within the next couple years and if the Cavs Make the right move or two or if Evan Mobley gets a little bit better Then all of a sudden they become that legitimate contender So there's all kinds of reasons why you do this and I understand the sentiment about him Maybe leaving one day, but I'm not quite sure I'm there yet. Appreciate the logical overview We're talking NBA with Joe Varden of the athletic Joe.

I'm here in Southern California. You mentioned the Lakers Clay Thompson deciding to go to Dallas. So where does that leave the Lakers looking for another complimentary player alongside LeBron and Anthony Davis? Yeah, especially because when you think about Trey Young and the Hawks, you know, they already traded Murray That tells you that maybe Trey stays now you you wonder about that. I thought that one was a possibility You know the Mar DeRozan is still out there LeBron had had interest in playing with the Mar before He's not much of a three-point shooter, he's an excellent clutch player he plays in the regular season That would be good for the Lakers As an option for guys who can play when LeBron needs to take time off So so, you know the Mar is still out there but yeah, I mean there certainly can be a Scenario where the where the Lakers but largely run it back and I mean, I you know That's not what they they want to hear You know, they wanted clay they wanted some kind of shooter like that But they you know, I feel like there is a little bit of optimism if you're a Laker fan regardless just because like The Lakers were really good two years ago when they made all those trades and changed the team at the deadline They got all the way to conference finals and then last year they had largely the same players But for most of the season they didn't play the right lineups that you need with an aging LeBron And I think that if JJ Reddick just does that The Lakers have a chance to be better during the regular season get a better playoff seating and just otherwise Avoid Denver in the first round like I don't it's hard to say the Lakers are a title contender right now And I don't know that a move is out there that exists to change that But they have an opportunity Regardless if they change their roster between now and October to be better than last year You know plenty of reasons to watch this team still Joe Varden of the athletic is our guest. I'm Brian Weber in for rich on the Rich Eisen show Finally now that we've had another full day to process the news What was your reaction to Paul George going to the Sixers and how do you think that shakes up the balance of power at? the top of the Eastern Conference Um I have some feelings on this and when I was I was sharing them with family Last night and was actually like I pounded my fist on the table when I was saying this The the Sixers I don't care who they bring in the Sixers are They have a chance to win if Joelle is healthy in April May and June Joelle has never been healthy in April May and June Bringing Paul George in doesn't change that You know like you know PG when he's healthy. He's great like people love him You know he's he's done a lot of great things in his career. You know I think they have like 600 million dollars or something tied up in between these three players with with PG and Joelle and and maxi but PG and and maxi are not enough to beat Boston And I'm not even sure that it's enough to beat the Nova Knicks now without Joelle So they need to find a way to get Joelle through December and January in February so that when the spring comes around he's ready to go and I mean he's put up MVP type numbers for years he won the MVP not this past season But the season before he's as good of a player as we have in the league I mean, I was just looking at his stuff today because of the Team USA stuff I'm writing getting that ready to go which starts Saturday by the way He's he's literally a seven-footer that shoots almost 40% from three And he blocks almost two shots a game like that's that's absurd. He's an absurdly talented player but you're only effective you're you're only valuable if you're available and You know I mean Joelle missed all that time with the surgery last year And then he gets into the playoffs, and he just doesn't look right He's he's limping you know I know he had a 50-pointer in that series But there were so many other games He just he wasn't the Joelle that he needs to be so it begins and ends there man it Joelle's got to be Himself the best version of himself for the Sixers to really contend Joe I enjoy reading your work on the athletic greatly appreciate you taking the time. Thank you for being because I'm in my 50s goose Gossage coming out of the pen today I like that now my first closer my first two closers growing up were Dave Righetti and Doug Jones Oh, so that that age is me. Well. Let me give you Dave Righetti throwing a no-hitter July 4th, 1984 Pre pre bullpen yeah, well pre Google Joe when I memorize this stuff That's how I became a sports caster appreciate you taking the time enjoy the rest of the holiday week Thanks for having me Joe Varden check out his outstanding work at the athletic I did not think we'd have a Dave Righetti conversation rags now Here's the best part about this job quick sidebar if you want to be around sports You get to meet these people and Dave Righetti wound up being the pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants I mentioned probably a hundred times because I'm very proud of my years in the Bay Area If we're on in the Bay Area you want me to come back.

I'm available. I'm a hired gun I think I'm ready for the triumphant return. I've only been gone for 20 years Exiled like Napoleon, I'll come back for a second act, but Dave Righetti was one of my childhood heroes I mentioned that no hitter in fact the reason I recall that so vividly is July 4th also was the birthday of George Steinbrenner, so he did it on the boss's birthday, but Everything's bigger when you're younger and not to be too facetious We did have I think more vivid memories because there were fewer options So when somebody threw a no-hitter that was a major News item across the country now. It's I I Gotta get on tik-tok. I will not be on tik-tok I think now I guess Bill Belichick's probably on there as Canoodling continues with his younger girlfriend and clearly I am jealous want to thank Joe for taking the time want to thank Jesse Luketka who gave us I thought a really interesting and Thoughtful conversation in the first hour of the program Jesse if you're not familiar with his background Cardinals linebacker they came to him and said hey you like hitting people you want to be a fullback so he's been used in spot situations on offense he's from Canada as he detailed when he was Targeting schools in the United States to play college ball at he was knocking on doors metaphorically sent out by his own words hundreds of emails every day Got some attention in Pennsylvania one coach introduced him to somebody on the Penn State staff and now he's in the NFL So any time we have the opportunity to talk to an active player? Obviously, that's the foundation of the Rich Eisen show when Rich is in the chair, but as the fill-in hack Very happy to talk to someone of his caliber Personally and professionally if you're looking for things to watch tonight I don't get any sort of compensation but as football fans there is a debut of The new offseason edition of the Giants on HBO My only question is how interesting can it be? Have you watched the Giants you think anyone's gonna go? You know Danny dimes can't play and we're screwed Probably would not be a good series But I'll be talking a lot more football tomorrow and any other movement across the NBA as we get set for July 4th with verbal pyrotechnics another big word before the program is done want to thank Rich Eisen Bruce Gilbert all the great people at Westwood one my friend and our terrific technical producer art Martinez, enjoy the rest of your day and we'll do it again tomorrow right here on the Rich Eisen show