We Talking Playoffs Or What

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Again, create an account, redeem my code, E-I-S-E-N. Boom, $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it? Game time. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Lamar takes a snap, lift pressure coming, Jackson fires, ends on touchdown. Mark Andrews live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Justice Hill goes 51 yards. The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show, Prime Video's TNF analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick from Prime Video's It's in the Game Madden NFL, Mike Madden. Coming up, author of the Basketball 100, David Aldridge. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We're going to talk some hoops with DA David Aldridge, whose new book, The Basketball 100 is out right now, wherever you get your books.

And this is a very substantial one. You can call us at 844-204-rich number to dial. We've already done overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. The overreaction Monday pod is up there for everybody to check out on our YouTube channel, as well as everywhere else that you can hang out and check out your podcasts. I'll be doing What the Football with Susie and Amy. Nice little Thanksgiving roll-in for me into their pod. Nice. Tomorrow, Bianca Belair is the guest of No Contest Wrestling, correct?

EJ Jefferson? The EST. This makes you very excited, I imagine. This should make everybody excited.

Fantastic. That'll be on Wednesday. That'll be on Wednesday. Jim Jackson's show is also coming out this week with the part two of his conversation with Dee Knights. That's in all spots where you can get your podcasts.

844-204-rich number to dial on the program. So, hey, everybody, the Dallas Cowboys won a football game this weekend. And I will say this about your Dallas Cowboys. I was ready to pack it in on them on behalf of everybody else in the United States of America who likes to troll on your Cowboys. I just didn't see any there there. And I saw them going into Washington and I saw them being short-handed and I saw them being beaten. You have got to be smoking something over there this morning.

Well, appreciate that. And they came out with the win. They came out with the win. And so how is Jerry Jones feeling today? As we all know, he's looking for a storybook ending to the all-in season that does appear to be all out. Not yet. And not yet. Not yet. Right? Not yet.

It's kind of like that. Which one was it? Was it Holy Grail or Meaning of Life?

You're looking at Chris. No, no, no. That Holy Grail was not quite dead. I'm not dead yet. Bring out your dead.

And then somebody would throw somebody on the cart. I'm not dead yet. Cowboys are the not dead yet guys.

Yes. Chris, he was looking at you. He had no idea. I'm just speaking truth over here. Well, you know, I'm just saying to him, I'm listening to you last segment going on about how you're just emotionally unattached and you're numb. And then when I tried a few weeks ago, it was just like, no, you're not really. Because you weren't.

I'm being honest. I'm numb. I'm numb too. I can be numb and watch this team. I got a little hyped on Sunday.

You should because Cooper Rush can throw the football. But here's the deal. Honestly, I feel like we should beat Washington.

No, if we go to, if we win two games, let me tell you, if we win two games every year, I think that those two games should be against Washington. That's just how it's a deep rooted. You know, it's like, that's, that's, I do respect that. You know what I mean?

I think TJ Jefferson wants balloons and flowers from Kevin Durant. You know, you want to, you're, you're just trying to get, you want them from, you know, different, you want them from different. I had it now. I had it now. I had a contract that I tore up.

I just taped it back together just because it got it hanging. What does it say? What does it say? Oh, it just says, TJ, if you leave the Dallas Cowboys, you can't come back until the 2030 season.

And, uh, five year out. That was dictated, not read. And it's not an, and Jay Felley did not know. He's an official notary.

I tore it up and then I taped it back together. Not really. Well, let's see, let's see what you make with this information.

After I hear this, I might want to take, well, cause we just had this, my, my official signing quill quill ready. Cause after what I hear in this, I don't, Jerry's going to say something to make me mad. Jerry appeared on his weekly Tuesday spot on one Oh five, three, the fan, I guess his, when he, when he ripped up the contracts of these two gents who interview him, like they taped it back together. Cause he's still, they're all still there.

They're all still there. He was asked if it's crazy to think about giving Mike McCarthy a new contract and here's his answer. Well, I don't think that's crazy at all.

That's not crazy. And, uh, uh, listen, Mike McCarthy is one, uh, an outstanding coach. I was listening to the, uh, game last night watching it and Aikman was talking about it and he's reiterated that several times publicly, this Super Bowl winning coach and, um, uh, uh, Mike McCarty, Mike McCarthy is, uh, been there, done that.

Uh, he's got, uh, uh, great ideas. Uh, so bottom line is that, uh, uh, but there's no place in my body language or anything else. Have you, uh, seen indications about what we're going to be doing, uh, relative to this staff at the end of this year? And we shouldn't.

So, uh, good news if Jerry's listening to Troy Aikman, um, sing some praises of Mike McCarthy, bad news is, you know, Troy Aikman, if he's listening to Troy, uh, was very critical of the route concepts, um, a couple of weeks ago. Let me ask you this question though. Um, the finger of blame, the dreaded finger of blame, we're, we're, we're, we're popping it out.

Okay. The very finger of blame that frequently gets brought out every year in the Metroplex. You pointed at who for this year's four and seven, uh, pointed at who? I mean, you got to start at the top, right?

Yes, you do. That's my point. This is my point. Can't pass up a chance to stop and talk into one of these and say something all the time, which brings all this negative press onto the franchise. Well, the lack of reinforcements from March through training camp, the dangling of contracts that did not the, or not the dangling of contracts, the drawn out process of having somebody put a quill pen in the hands of two of the most important employees that we all knew needed to be extended and would all of that stuff. Do you think McCarthy would have liked those guys signed sooner? Do you think he would like Derek Henry in the backfield?

Do you think he would like? Or Saquon Barkley in the backfield or Joe Mixon in the backfield. We did nothing to get better. All of our rivals, they did something. They added a piece here, a piece there to get better.

How do the Eagles constantly get better? And we just kind of stand pad. It seems like it doesn't make sense to me. The, the, the question is, is Jerry's going to have to the finger of blame. He's going to have to put it, well, he's going to have to put, uh, a similar digit in, into the figurative Metroplex air and test the temperature of folks like yourself. Well, we're going to start putting digits in the air and you know, not the index or the thumb.

It's the one you put up when you do it. I can't say the rest of them because that's Eminem, but you do have to also give it up. If you're the owner of the Dallas Cowboys and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, and this man is what you saw from your suite inside FedEx field or whatever they're calling it now, you got to like what you see there. I mean, in all seriousness, that, that if, if, if he didn't have the respect and he didn't have the belief, they won the football game on the road that nobody thought they could.

They, they, man, they got it done. First three quarters, they were all over Jayden Daniels. I mean, well, Micah played, he came. So what I'm saying to you is you would be, you would be upset if they re-signed Mike McCarthy, you would want him to go out and get somebody completely new or Vrabel. You'd want somebody Vrabel, you want a Vrabel guy.

Not necessarily. If we upgrade our roster and we got, went and got some of these players, you know, you know, my constant argument is I don't know how Derrick Henry would have ran behind this line. You know why I keep saying that? Cause I have no other line of defense, Rich. I don't have anything else to say. So I got to point at that and go, I don't know if this would work. So if we, if we upgraded the roster, if we added some pieces, McCarthy does have a tremendous record as a coach of the Cowboys.

I wouldn't put it out of the realm. Obviously McCarthy's coaching for his job over the next few weeks. For sure.

But it's hard when your quarterback tears the hamstring off the bone and we weren't playing well with him. And now we have a career backup in there. Correct.

The pros and the cons, you write them down. The pros is yes, he does. He has won before. Yes. He is a guy who's got, um, a, uh, certain style about him that when the, when you win, it's great.

The, he also is good with the press. He's a professional, he's a play caller as well. Yeah.

Um, the cons are, his concepts aren't very, um, newfangled. Yeah. Um, the other thing that you bring up. Time management is always.

Right. The other thing you can bring up as well is that if you let him go, would somebody pick him up? Like you have your Mike Tomlin there. Well, Mike Tomlin gets fired at 1110.

He'd be hired by 1120. He's coaching for his job. He's coaching for his job. Would Mike McCarthy get another gig next year?

That's interesting. As a head coach? I don't think so. No, that would, yeah. But you want to bring him on for your offensive staff?

Absolutely. I think, well, it would probably behoove him to take a year off and see what next year shakes out. I don't know. Why would he have to do that, buddy? Is he going to go in the media? Not like he can't. He's not like Belichick. No, but.

But he's coaching for his job. Okay. Um, let's do this thing before David Aldridge joins us here on the Rich Eisen Show. So I have some interesting statistics here. In the National Football League, every NFL team, only one team with 10 or more wins has not made the playoffs since expansion to seven teams per conference in 2020.

How about that? And there has been a wildcard team with nine or fewer wins in six of the eight playoff pools between the two conferences since expansion in 2020. There's that information for you. And the reason why I'm setting all this up for you right now is if, um, since the playoffs expanded to seven teams in each conference this decade, 76.8% of teams that were in playoff positions entering Thanksgiving made the playoffs.

I'll repeat that. Since we expanded to seven playoff teams per conference at the start of this decade, 76.8% of teams that were in a playoff position entering Thanksgiving made it. So one quarter of the teams currently in their position don't don't or will not.

Wow. Which leads us to ask the question in the National Football Conference. We talk in playoffs or what? Oh yeah. For certain teams.

Mike Del Tufo, do you have it? No, we got it. We talk in playoffs or what? We'll talk about playoffs. Talk in playoffs or what? You kidding me?

Playoffs. Wow. What a drop.

What an everything. That's well done. By the way, that guy was one and done. He never called back. He's some dude from Long Island, right? Who called about the Giants one year when the Giants, no one who was talking about playoffs and we're saying we're or what?

Never called back. So you're going to give us, you're going to give me seven NFC teams? Yes.

We're going to run down the NFC rich and we're doing playoffs or what? Are you ready? I am. Where do you want to start, Mike Hoskins? You want to go at the top or you want to do at the bottom?

What do you think? Let's go. Let's go. Let's go at the top.

Let's go with your current three seed. Yes. Seattle Seahawks.

Okay. And again, we believe the Eagles and the Lions are making it. Yes. And we believe the Vikings at nine wins and the Packers at eight wins are making it.

Yes. So it's whoever makes it out of the West and the South. And then that's that seventh current seated playoff spot held by the commander.

Correct. So we're looking at seven teams. We're going to talk about for three spots.

All right. So let's, you're starting with the Seahawks. Seahawks.

I think I looked at, and again, I've, I, I knew all these seven teams in advance. I think the Seahawks go three and three to finish and finish up nine and eight. And that will not be good enough to make the playoffs. So in terms of the Seattle Seahawks, I say, or what they've been a little too inconsistent for my liking. And I know they just came up with two big time. W's in division one in San Francisco, one at home against Arizona, which came in as the division leader.

And they are no longer. They're just too damn inconsistent. So I'm going to go out.

Okay. I'm going or what I think they finished three and three the rest of the way. All right, let's go to the other division leader here. We're talking about your current four seed, Atlanta Falcons. The Atlanta Falcons, I believe will lose their next two games. I believe they will lose at home to the Los Angeles chargers. And I think Kirk Cousins is going to lose his homecoming in Minnesota.

And that's when they're going to start winning in a row. I say they win at Vegas. I say they beat the Giants at home. I think Kirk Cousins wins his reunion game in Washington.

He's going to be the, you like that guy. And I think he finishes with a win at home against Carolina. I think they're 10 and seven and I think they win their division and I think they make the playoffs. The Falcons are a playoffs, not an or what. So a four game losing streak and then a four game winning streak. I do believe that's what's going to happen.

Wow, that's awesome. That's my prediction for the Atlanta Falcons. Okay.

All right, let's keep it moving. Your current seven seed. Runners up currently in the NFC East. Your Washington commanders.

Okay. The Washington commanders, I do believe, bounce back with a win against Tennessee and then off their bye week. I think Jayden Daniels goes back into Louisiana and beats new Orleans. But then I think they lose two in a row against Philadelphia and Atlanta. And then even a win against Dallas that they need, they will be 10 and seven. And I will hold in abeyance whether they are in or out. And I will leave that up to when you finish a couple of other matters. I will leave you dangling right here on the Washington commanders about whether they make the playoffs or what.

Chris Brockman. All right, first team on the outside looking in. But I say they finish 10 and seven. They're currently seven and five. I think they finish four and one. They finish the Washington commanders finish three and two. Yeah, they have a week 14 bye. And they finish 10 and seven.

Okay, let's go next. The Arizona Cardinals. I think the Cardinals have a very tough game at Minnesota this week. And then they win their next three. I think they beat Seattle at home. I think they beat New England at home. And I think they do, in fact, go on the road and beat Carolina. And I think, though, they will lose their final two if I had to guess.

I might be wrong on the way that it goes, but I think they finished three and three to go nine and eight. And they are. Or what? Chris. Okay. All right. Okay.

Again, I'm not rooting for anybody. I'm just right now. All right. So we've done four so far. You have one in and one we're waiting on.

I got TBD in Washington. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Let's go right now. Winners from last week. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Aha. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They're currently, what's their record right now? Five and six. They're five and six. Okay. I think they go five and one down the stretch with their only loss.

Yes. Their only loss coming out here against the Los Angeles Chargers. I think they beat Carolina and Carolina Vegas at home. I think they come out here and lose a tough one and then finish out the rest with W's. I think they're 10 and seven and they take their week one win over the Washington commanders out of their back pocket.

Throw it on the table. They are playoffs and the commanders are or what? Oh, wow. And two make it out of the South. Meaning only one makes it out of the West.

Chris Brockman. Wow. All right. We have two West teams remaining. Go San Francisco next, please. Oh, I will go San Francisco next because you asked.

Yes, sir. Your current 11 seed in the NFC. I love the San Francisco 49ers. You know how I feel about their coach and their general manager and their quarterback and their tight end. I think the San Francisco 49ers go three and three down the stretch. Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to be able to be healthy enough to make a run. I think they wind up losing against Detroit at home. I think they lose at Buffalo this week, and I think they wind up losing to the Rams on a Thursday night. And I think they go three and three. They're eight and nine, and they are one of only four teams in the last 11 years to not make the playoffs after losing the Super Bowl the year before.

They are or what? Meaning the Los Angeles Rams. I'm going to do it. I think the Rams win this week. I think the Rams win this week at New Orleans. I think they lose at home against Buffalo, and I think they win out.

Win out. I think they win out. Starting with a big win in San Francisco, they take care of the Jets in New York, and they win both games against divisional rivals at home.

They are 10 and seven. They win the West, and they're the team that you don't want to face in the playoffs. They make the playoffs.

I think they win the West. And I can't believe I'm saying that coming off of what I just saw. I know. But you know how I feel. I'm concerned about their O-line. Yep. They could put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, and if they do that, the back of the box and it's totally against the Eagles. I know.

But you know how I feel. I just I'm concerned about their O-line. Yep.

They got they could put pressure on the quarterback, and if they do that the The back end can survive. So the Rams win the West and two teams make it out of the South. Those are the playoffs and the rest are, or what?

So the Bucks are your seven seed. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. With the Falcons winning the division and the Rams winning the West. Baker visiting the Eagles to start the playoffs.

You wanna sign for it or what? Cause you know, Baker eliminated the Eagles last year. Or what if it flips and we get Baker in Detroit? I remember last year they almost beat them. That's correct.

And did beat them this year. I think Baker and the Bucks are gonna make it. We can go home now. We'll see if I'm right or wrong.

I'm leaving my finger on the chess piece on every last damn thing I just called. We'll do the AFC tomorrow. Game time tickets, as you know, we love going to football games live.

I was there last night for Westwood One. What an incredible scene it was the last two nights in Los Angeles football. And college football around the corner.

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It's also time to throw it a break. I see David Aldridge is zooming in. We've got his new book right here, The Basketball 100.

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Get the parts you need when you need them at AutoZone or AutoZone.com. Get in zone, AutoZone. Restrictions apply. All right, back here on the program, David Aldridge will join us as soon as the radio audience returns in less than two minutes time. Just reading some other quotes from Rogers on Pat's show. Quote, I will not willingly go on IR without an injury.

He said. When it comes to scans, first of all, I played 20 years. I know my body better than anybody. Second of all, I got a great relationship with the training staff, great conversations, where they diagnosed what I was dealing with. I told them how I was feeling.

We talked about the possibilities of playing and rehabbing, what it would take. There was no mandate ever of you got to get this scan. And I was like, I ain't effing getting the scan. It was, how do you feel? I told him, I know my body well, what do you see in your diagnosis?

What are the risks of playing? And that was that. There wasn't any weirdness around that. MRIs are used a lot of times to figure out what's going on.

If you're not quite sure when it comes to, especially the hamstring, I don't know what else they were talking about. I met with the guys that let them do an examination. I told them what I was feeling and we had great communication about the whole organization. Calls his relationship with Woody Johnson, good. I have a lot of gratitude for all the Johnsons for bringing me in.

That sounds like Blazing Saddles, right? All the Johnsons? All the Johnsons. Remember that? Howard Johnson is right? Yes.

Remember that from Blazing Saddles? All the Johnsons. Howard Johnson is right.

Also Die Hard. All right. Johnson and Johnson. No relation.

Yeah. Some good conversations over the last two years. Johnson.

No relation. He called Joe Douglas an effing man. He's a damn good general manager. I really enjoyed our conversations. I'm disappointed because I had a hand in it.

I also feel bad about that. He's a great human. He's a great dude. All right. So that's the, there's your update right there. Okay. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, television show. You're on Roku. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grangewood Supplies and Solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Look who stopped by. Pardon me for being a little late, but he's joining us right now. The Basketball 100, the story of the greatest players in NBA history is available today wherever you get your books. And it is David Aldridge, the author of the Basketball 100, hall of famer and a longtime colleague back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing, DA? Rich, I am doing good.

Thank you for having me. What's this book about that you'd like people to know, David? Well, it's co-written. I'm a co-author with John Hollinger who invented per, you know, you know John. And the staff, the NBA staff at The Athletic and our great editor, Rob Peterson. I mean, everybody had a hand in this.

Our names are on the front of it, but it was a group project to be sure. It's about who we think the best 100 players who ever played in the NBA are, which is designed by its definition to be, you know, what's the word, not- Argument driven, just saying. I know people will disagree.

Yes. I know people will disagree. I know David, you're from that era of like, let's not scream at each other. Let's not yell at each other.

We can have conversations, but this is definitely an argument starter. Do you list it from one to a hundred or it's just 100 once you're in, you're in, you're not? No, it's listed from a hundred to one. We wanted to have a little bit of suspense in it when you buy the book.

So you start with 100, you work your way down to one or work your way up to one, I guess it would be. Yeah, I mean, we know people are gonna disagree and that's okay, because, you know, nobody has a font on wisdom and everybody has their right to their opinion. We happen to think our opinion is the correct one. No, I mean, naming Michael- Our years of experience.

Naming Michael Oluwakandi, number one overall is really provocative. I know, and we had a lot of debate about that, really. I mean, it was tough. Oh, wait a minute. It's a different- At the end of the day, you gotta go with your gut. Different Michael, my bad. Do you wanna get into that?

Do you want people to buy it to get into that? I mean, okay. No, I mean, there's no secrets. I mean, I don't think we're not, we're not being coy about who number one is. I mean, it's Michael Jordan. Well, go ahead and deliver why. You know, obviously there's LeBron too, and that's been the conversation. I mean, that is, you know, in shows like this one, certainly during basketball season, when there's a lull, that's an easy way to light up a phone line.

But I give you the phone line, if you will, conversation. I give you the floor here on why Jordan over LeBron, David. Right, well, I always say this. When people have asked me about this over the years, LeBron's got a case, right? Like, it's not like he doesn't have a case. He's got a case. It's a good case.

It's a really good case. With his longevity, being great in year 22 is insane. That just doesn't make any sense. Still being this good. The championships, the MVPs, all of that. But, and the, you know, the scoring record, all of that.

It's a legitimate, real case. Kareem's got a real legitimate case, right? With his history of winning, nobody's won more MVPs in the NBA than Kareem, won six titles, six MVPs. He scored 38,000 points, a record that stood for almost 40 years with essentially one move. And that's what is amazing to me about Kareem, is that, yeah, I know he had some putbacks and dunks and he made one three pointer in his career, but basically, Rich, he had one move.

And everybody knew what the move was and nobody could stop. So that, to me, that's an amazing case to make for greatness and affecting winning. The case, the reason why I think Jordan's number one, you know, in having seen all of these guys play, you know, Michael Jordan's got the greatest will of any professional athlete I've ever seen. Never seen anybody who was as driven as he was, not to just win, but to dominate. He sent everybody home, you know, Isaiah and the Pistons got him early, but after the Bulls broke through, nobody beat him, ever. You know, so didn't need a seventh game for an NBA final, in an NBA finals, won all six titles in six games or less. You know, dominated at every level, was a great, you know, a great defensive player earlier in his career, was still a really good defensive player late in his career. And is the greatest scorer that I've ever seen, you know, could score from anywhere against anybody at any time. And, you know, I just think the totality of his impact on the game, his impact socially, his impact globally, all of it, just leads to the same conclusion. He's the best, he's the best ever. You know, Bill Russell's got an argument. He's got 11 of them, Michael only had six. So that's an argument, right?

That's a legitimate argument. And Bill Russell's in our top five, but he's not, somebody's gotta be one. We had to pick one, and it was Michael.

That's who I would choose too, David. And I am watching LeBron now, and I am marveling. And there's reason to marvel. There's reason to marvel, and there's reason to talk about him as the greatest of all time. There's numbers to support it. There is a cultural impact as well, if you wanna use that as a metric, as you did for Jordan.

And, you know, Jordan kind of paved the way for LeBron's success in that regard as well. But I've never seen anybody rip their hearts out and show it to them pumping, and be glad to do it, and to brag about it to anybody, and then woof at anybody that would have an issue with any of it. I've never seen anything like it.

We will never see it. Actually, Kobe's the only one that approached that. Close, yes. That regard, right? Yeah, yeah.

I've never seen it. It was Tiger-esque in a certain way that if you were born at the wrong time, you were not winning, because Michael Jordan was born at the same time. That's basically it, David. Yeah, Rich, I've said this all over the years many times, if Michael Jordan were 5'6", instead of 6'6", he'd be the greatest serial killer in the history of serial killers, because he's an insane person. Oh my God.

Wow. He's crazy. Like, he's crazy, and thank God he's tall. You know, because he just, to your point, like, he didn't want to just beat you. He wanted to destroy you. He wanted you to be, and sometimes that's not a good thing.

I get it. Like, I understand that, you know, we're in a different era maybe than we were 30 years ago, but 30 years ago, that's what you had to do to be a champion. You couldn't win an NBA championship being a nice guy.

Like, you couldn't. Larry Burt wasn't a nice guy. Magic wasn't a nice guy.

Isaiah wasn't a nice guy. You know, to beat those guys, you had to be ruthless, right? Like, that's an incredible gantlet to run, to have to run to win an NBA title. Those are all-time Alzheimer's, and Michael had to become that guy and became that guy to not only win, but then to dominate in a way that none of them dominated for that long, right? There was almost a decade of dominance. So that to me is why, again, I just think Jordan's will was unlike any that I've ever seen. The Basketball 100 again.

David Aldridge, one of the co-authors. Everybody should check it out right now and get it, certainly for the basketball lover and fan in your life and time for the holidays. And let's use the list a little bit to open up to the current day. Again, LeBron being number two on your list, and we just talked about how back in the day, Jordan, you know, you had to be a real SOB in that time of the bad boy Pistons, and obviously the Ewing, Pat Riley coached, Anthony Mason, right? You know, sharp elbow, Knicks, so on and so forth. And a little bit of that, if not a lot of that is lost today in the current NBA. That said, LeBron's saying he wants to play every game.

To me, you know, is awesome. At his late age stage, for him to say, I do not want to be load managed. My intention is to play every game. Certainly when you're seeing, and again, we're in a fantasy league here, when there's 21 year olds that suddenly are a game time decision due to an illness, and there's 23 year olds that are suddenly, you know, doubtful because of a sprained ankle that they're resting on a back to back, suffered five games ago. You really do have to give it up to what LeBron is doing and how he is playing at this stage right now. How sustainable do you think these Lakers, what JJ Redick and him and Anthony Davis are, David? I think they're, is it sustainable?

I mean, maybe, you know, we've always, you know, worried about health, right? At the end of the regular season and into the playoffs with these guys. And that's been the problem the last couple of years for them is that they haven't been healthy in May and June when they needed to be healthy or healthy enough, let's put it that way. So that's always gonna be an issue, but do they have enough around them? I mean, look, Connect's really helping them, you know, I think Austin Reed is still a really good player. I think Hotchum Moore is still a really good player. So they, I think they have enough, but it's all about their health. And I think JJ's playing through Davis makes a lot of sense and getting LeBron to kind of see that and be okay with that is part of, you know, the same thing that Phil did with Michael back in the day, right, you know, understanding that you gotta pass the ball, you gotta trust your teammates.

And that's a hard thing. Not to, I'm not saying LeBron didn't trust AD, but they played through LeBron until this year, right? And so now they play through AD and that makes a lot more sense. And I think it keeps LeBron fresher and maybe it preserves him longer into the season.

So, but none of it matters if AD's not available in May and June. And that's where, you know, I just don't know yet. And I don't think any of us will know until we get there if he can be at his best when his best is required.

Number 41 on your list, let's talk about him. His name is Joel Embiid. And I guess my question for you is what is up with him? How about that?

You can go in any way you want with that very open-ended question. What is up with Joel Embiid, David? I mean, it's a mess, Rich, it's a mess. You know, Joel has always been, you know, for all of his kind of playfulness, you know, he always was kind of sober about the game, right? He wanted to be great, you know, and I don't know where his head space is right now. He just, I was up there a couple weeks ago when he came back and he just doesn't seem like the same guy. There's just, there's no joy. There was no joy in him when I saw him. And there's always been a little bit of joy in him.

He's always been kind of, you know, friendly and not towards me, I don't mean towards me, but I just mean, just generally. And I know he was just coming back from the injury and he had the whole thing with the columnist, the suspension, that was bothering him too. But he's, for them to win, he's got to play with joy and a sense of dominance. And I did not see that from him.

That doesn't mean it won't be there in a month, but I didn't see it when I was there. And that would concern me if I'm the 76ers because they can't win without him. They need him to be MVP level Joel Embiid, the guy that looks forward to going up against Jokic in the regular season and dominating, as he's done many times. So that is the guy they need to have any chance to get out of the East.

Well, what meat can you put on the bones of like what's in his head space that he's joyless? I mean, Paul George is there. Maxie is obviously somebody that is dynamic as a young talent. You know, I mean, the general manager obviously loves him. I mean, is it the coach? Is it the situation?

Like what, what, what possibly would be joyless, David? Yeah, I don't think it's, I don't think it's Nick Nurse. I mean, I don't think it's Nick Nurse. Is he, are there things that, there ways he wants to play that he's expressed to them?

I'm sure that's true, yes. But I don't think that's why he's not happy. I think it's a combination of the injuries, you know, continuing to keep him from playing at his best, but him trying to get out there and play and not being at his best and fans getting on him. And, you know, again, I think the, I think the thing with his, with his brother and his son being mentioned in the column really, really, really bothered him, okay? Like, I don't, you know, like, I just think that really touched a nerve with him that I'm not sure is still healed and that may take some time to heal. But I think overall, it's more that his knee is not where he needs it to be. And he's dragging himself out there and he's not playing anywhere near his capabilities. So to me, I'm, you know, I'm not privy to his x-rays, but it seems to me we're going down a path toward, look, to get this thing right, you may have to get this thing fixed.

You know, if it's not responding, then maybe there's something more there that needs to be fixed. And so that may be a conversation three months from now, six months from now, a year from now. But, you know, until I see Joel and be playing physically the way he's capable of, I would be concerned about his physical standing and what his knee is like, because he doesn't look like himself at all right now.

Last one for you. Normally, I would say a team that started 17 and one in their conference would be the biggest threat to the Celtics, but the one for the Cavaliers was a loss to the Celtics in a cup battle, or pardon me, an Emirates NBA cup battle. Oh, it's NBA cup. I get very upset.

I'm sorry, okay, I'll be very careful here. The biggest threat to the Celtics repeating is what, or who? Injuries, because, you know. That's it?

Rich, I just don't see it. I mean, tell me how you beat them four times. Who beats them four times in seven games? Now with Porzingis back. You tell me, who's the team?

Because I don't see one. Because of their ability to play through so many different guys. The other night it was Jalen Brown just against Minnesota. I'm just gonna hit five threes now, because I can do that.

And so every night it's a different guy. Now look, it was the Wizards, I get it. The Wizards are a JV team, I get that.

But Tatum was terrible against the Wizards. It didn't matter. Like, it doesn't matter. They have so many more other guys, it doesn't matter. So they just can beat you in so many different ways. Missoula seems to have a real good handle on how to kind of push his team's buttons during the regular season to kind of keep them on edge, which is what a team needs. After you've won a championship, the regular season is kind of boring and you don't really care about it. You want to just get to the playoffs. And he's kind of poking them a little bit and keeping them on edge. So yeah, I just don't see it, man.

I don't see the formula. I mean, right now, there's some really good teams out west, don't get me wrong. But like, again, beat that team four times in seven games.

Good luck, good luck with that. And I don't think Cleveland is like out of that discussion just because they lost one game to Boston. Because I think they do have some things that are interesting. Playing through Mobley is interesting. Like that gives them a different look. They are a little more harder. They're much harder to kind of defend and prepare for if Mobley is doing a lot of the initiating and a lot of the offense goes through him.

But I still think Boston is the best team in the league. And there's a gap to me between them and everybody else right now. Good luck with the book, David. Great to chat with you. Well, thank you, Rich. Always good to see you, man. Right back at you. Look for more of my calls and texts and all that good stuff, DA.

Thanks again for the time. Appreciate it. The Basketball 100, check it out.

The story of the greatest players in NBA history available today wherever you get your books. Are you clapping for him because it was a great segment or he thinks your Celtics are unbeatable? All of the above. Okay. All of the above. Okay.

It's a great segment and your Celtics look humble. I can... Yeah. Okay. I don't know how to argue with them. I don't know.

Let's get Karl-Anthony Towns making some hoops instead of sending flowers and balloons to troll this man. Right. I don't know.

OG Ananobi with a 40 piece. Cool. Okay.

I don't know. Get it going. Why is NBA... Is NBA just like my knee sucks and now the life sucks? Is that what's going on? I mean Shaq, he said he's got to have a different mindset or otherwise he's never gonna win a championship.

I've never heard anyone say what David just said. Maybe this... I mean, guys, we've got to be a little sensitive.

There could be something a little deeper, messy going on like... Yeah, maybe. You know, because he is, he had the nickname Troll MB. He used to love going on social media and trolling, but maybe he's at a point now where, you know, it's not so sweet anymore, but, or maybe it's something deeper than that. Tatum made the list. Tatum's 91.

Ooh, interesting. Already. You know, he's 92. My favorite player of all time. Bernard King. That's correct.

It's not a bad guy to be thrown in there with. I know Bernard didn't have the championships, but he had some game, man. Thank you. Bernard was a bucket. Fill it up.

I don't give a damn about the process. That's 91, Jason Tatum. What number is the good doctor?

Dr. Julius Erving. I'm going to guess like 15. Exactly. Oh, really? In between number 14, Durant and number 16, Jerry West. Okay, I'll accept that.

I thought he was going to be like 22 or something. 15? Jordan, LeBron, Kareem, Bill Russell is four and Magic rounds out his top five.

Okay. Wilt, Shaquille O'Neal, eight, Tim Duncan, nine, Larry Legend, 10, Kobe Bryant rounds out the top 10. It's a pretty good top 10. And on the first one on the outside looking in at 11. Steph. He's 12.

Where's Dream at? 11. Okay. There you go. Good stuff, guys. Let's take a break. Back to wrap up this Tuesday show in a sec. As many of you clearly know, I love going to watch football live.

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With guests like Swerve Strickland. Why do you use staples like Senzu beans, man? It was just something, the concept I came up with, it's an instrument used to punish. There's just finally those common items. If you see them, you automatically think back to me in that moment.

So it's one of those things I wanted to just implement in like my whole character, being the most dangerous man in A.W. The No Contest Wrestling Podcast, part of the Rich Eisen Podcast Network, wherever you listen. When was the first time you met Jordan? When was the first time you met him, shook his hand, covered him or something like that? The first time I met him was at that Midsummer Night's Dream game out there in L.A. And we just had, you know, that was the time where guys would play in these All-Star games during the summer and it was a real game. You know, it wasn't like they were out there like Globetrotters or something. They actually really were playing with egos involved. So that was the first time I had met him then and we just sort of met after the game, talked and exchanged phone numbers and saw the rest in terms of how our relationship developed.

It developed from that. Well, I mean, if there's one thing that anybody learned from this documentary is that anything that Jordan ever played in wasn't just a regular game, right? I mean, there was a real, you know, that's one thing that I'm sure if anybody needed to be introduced to Jordan and there's a whole, there's a whole generation that did, they just learned that. Did you learn anything from the last dance Ahmad Rashad? No, I didn't. I didn't because I think, you know, just like you said when you introduced me, I had a catbird speak to all of it. And it was one of those different sort of, I've never sort of been in a situation where I had sort of free access to the locker room, you know, to the training room, to their buses, to, I was just there.

So I got a chance to see a lot of those things. I was glad that people got a chance to see the human side of Michael and you see how much, how competitive he was and how demanding he was. And I think what I take from that is, if you think Larry Bird wasn't like that, and if you think Magic Johnson wasn't like that, then you're not really thinking the right way. So it wasn't just Michael that was just, you know, win at all costs, put your foot on the guy's neck kind of thing.

All these guys were able to do that, but Michael, what separated him was, his athletic ability was way above anybody's at that point. Remember that was back in COVID when we were covering the last dance, like it was a live event every single Monday. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, make sure you stop by a sleep number store near you. Certainly if you are currently in the market for a new bed, definitely stop by a sleep number store. We love sleep number beds. You can assess your body's pressure points when you go to a sleep number store, recommend a bed at every price point that's just right for you is exactly what the hardworking staff at a sleep number store will do the minute you walk in.

So again, if you're in the market for a new bed, go but stop by a sleep number store and tell them the Rich Eisen Show sent you. And use it exactly like that, say it exactly like that. Yeah, in that tone too, yeah.

Jim Brockman. So listen, you know, I know my name's on the mug and the door and the show name, which is why I'm the one who sits here and I'm like, these are the seven teams and these are the three seats and I'm whittling it down. Earlier in the program, mentioned the NFC teams that are gonna make the playoffs in a rousing edition of, we're talking playoffs or what? And I said, the teams currently, where are they right now? The teams currently ninth and 10th in the standings will make the playoffs. Bucks and Rams will come from five and six and make it, even though I gave you the numbers that 76% of the teams that are in a playoff spot Thanksgiving week make the final seven this decade when they started expanding it to seven playoff teams. And I said, the Falcons will win the South.

Two South, one West. Do you agree? Do you agree?

Yay or nay? I think Seattle wins the West. You think Seattle wins the West, not the Rams?

And then? I do think the Bucks make it. The Bucks make it, which means they make it as the division winner or they make it as the wildcard?

The wildcard. I think Washington is out. So you think Atlanta and the Bucks, but it's Seattle who wins it, not the Rams? Yes. All right. Even though the Rams have already won in Seattle, right?

Yes. I just like a little bit more what I'm seeing out of Seattle right now. All right. Okay. Cause the Rams have Seattle in their house week 17.

That could be for all the marbles. Seattle a little bit better on defense. Do you agree TJ Jeffers? I picked the Rams, I think when you asked this yesterday. I just feel the Rams can put up points, right? By the way, that sounded very a walk-in-esque right there.

It sounded like Christopher Walken right there. The Rams. Don't get me started.

Cause then you'll know I'll start doing it and I'll go on waiting too long. You just did it anyway. So you think the Rams make it? So the Rams, does another team from the West make it? I don't know if I believe in the Cardinals. And I think part of this stems from my fantasy football picking of, I had two quarterbacks I wanted this year, either Kyler or Josh Allen.

I took Kyler, been kind of regretting it. So I don't know if I believe in the Cardinals. Okay. I feel like the Rams can put up 30.

So who makes it? I'll go Rams. Okay. I'm not so sure about the Seahawks. And I feel like it's either gonna be the Falcons or the Bucks. I'm gonna go- Not both. Not both.

I think I picked the Bucks. So you're gonna take the commanders to stay put? I think they're going through a little bump in the road right now.

Okay, very good. But we were so high on them at the beginning of the season, right? So we saw that there's some promise there. They're fun, they're fun. They got sunned by the big brother Cowboys.

Like I said, it's just something we usually- Bucks have that tiebreaker over them. I think the time for dilly-dallying is over and an answer must be delivered. Who are your three, TJ? Who are your three? All right. Seattle, Arizona. Nice. Tampa Bay.

Okay. The Buccaneers. Ladies and gentlemen, TJ Jefferson. TJ Walken. Puts his pant legs on one leg at a time, right? One leg at a time.

Ma'am, your husband has the back of a coal miner. Say you did. We didn't need one more.

I know, right? We didn't need one more. No, it's too much. We didn't need one more. Now I gotta turn my back on. Say, don't get me started is all I'm saying. You had it, you were great. Just let me lie. Very good.

That's how I lost my voice as well. We're gonna have a great day today. That's right. Tomorrow, we do the playoffs or what for the AFC. AFC? Tomorrow, since it's our final day of the Thanksgiving week, it's a what's more likely Wednesday. Hey. I will still deliver my power rankings.

What's more likely? Oh my God. Oh my God. Make it stop.

Make it stop. Oh my God. Tomorrow's show.

I will say hello to you. Bruce Thelman. Bruce. That's Bruce.

Yeah. Tom Pellicero. Tommy P. Oh my God. Jonas.

And Garret Wilson and the Jets. Two little mice fell. Oh my God. In the bucket of pain. Oh, your break. Hey, it's Rich Eisen here. Join me and my compadre, Chris Brockman, every Monday on the Overreaction Monday podcast. Rich, Jamis has taken the browse to the playoffs.

Dude. Why can't they win seven, eight games to finish the year? Why not? I'm not saying it's no why not, but this is a definitive statement that's clearly an overreaction and is perfect fodder for a show like this one.

I appreciate you coming out of the gate hot. Come react or overreact with us. Overreaction Monday, wherever you listen. It's game over. It's over, man.