This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report. How do you follow sports? From college football to the NBA, Bleacher Report brings you the latest news, live scores, and epic highlights from your favorite leagues, teams, and athletes all in one app. Dive into exclusive shows hosted by your favorite athletes and original Bleacher Report series with breaking news, rumors, and predictions all season long. Download Bleacher Report to personalize your coverage. A generative AI assistant that can securely understand your business data, summarize results, and streamline tasks. Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for you at aws.com slash learn more. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber.
program 844-204-7424. I realize if you catch the show later on, because I know some affiliates time shift things, and you're thinking, couple things. Who is this guy? Why is he so annoying?
Why is he about the phone number so much? A lot of that is radio familiarity. When you do the job long enough it's just drilled into your head. Now I've stopped doing traffic and weather together.
I no longer give the temperature, but the phone number is always going to be ingrained. Plus, I have it tattooed on my left forearm if I'm ever lucky enough to be a part of the Emmy Award-nominated simulcast on the Outstanding Roku Channel. I'll reveal that like chief saholic. Coming up, we're going to get into some sports documentaries. I made it through an episode and three quarters of the Aaron Rodgers doc on Netflix.
That was enough. I'll give you some takeaways and we'll talk about Aaron's future coming up. But if you're looking for something to watch today in addition to all the sports, would the Spurs lead down to one over the Knicks? It is 47-46 with three minutes to go in the first half at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.
Big start for Victor Wemenyana. Already 19 points and 7 rebounds on the Spurs team very quietly with the veteran leadership provided now by Chris Paul. Spurs are over 500. They're at 15-14 Knicks cruising along with 19 victories as the Karl Anthony Towns trade has been a sensational addition for the Knickerbockers. The Catmen and Jalen Brunson have emerged statistically as one of the top five tandems in all of hoops.
Not working out for the other team involved in that deal. And once this game is over, the Timberwolves and Mavericks take over in Dallas. Timberwolves hovering precisely at 500. I'll give you some more NBA thoughts coming up in 40 minutes when we check in with our first guest. That is Jonathan Von Tobel, senior NBA analyst for Vison. Final hour of the program in addition to the NFL I've already covered.
And we'll do so in much more great detail. Looking forward to checking in with my pal Nick Ferguson. Former NFL safety. Spent a decade in the league.
Played for the Broncos and now does a magnificent job as a radio host in the Mile High City. Coming up in 20 minutes because the NFL now owns Christmas Day. No bowl games today and just won yesterday in Hawaii and go Spartans. I was happy to see San Jose State at least get the national exposure of playing. In fact, the only sporting event of consequence yesterday. We'll look ahead to a handful of games that actually are interesting that are not connected with the college football playoff. Another byproduct of the expansion of the field to 12 teams.
I realize I'm being repetitive but the audience always changes. But I told you this on Labor Day. In fact, I think I told you this this summer because I love college football. And use the start of Big 12 media days in July to look ahead to this season. Eight teams was always the better option for playoff expansion which was inevitable because of the money to be made. The problem with 12 which is going to be 14 as soon as 2026 or 16 or 18 you know where it's going. We saw on prominent display both on Friday night and Saturday there aren't 12 exceptional teams in college football.
And that's all the more prevalent now because of the transfer portal adding free agency and because of NIL. So, yes, you can go off on Indiana not quote unquote deserving to be there, but any 11 win team from the Big 10 is going to get a slot. And it wasn't Indiana's fault that the way the schedule played out in a ridiculously oversized super conference with 18 teams. They didn't play anybody in conference play, and the teams they played, namely Ohio State and then when they played Notre Dame in the playoff expose them.
That's not an Indiana problem. That's a systemic problem we'll talk college football coming up in 15 minutes. I mentioned as I was going through the details of the overview to start the show and we're closing in on kickoff just a couple minutes away now from the Chiefs and the Steelers getting underway first two games on the NFL schedule followed by the Ravens and the Texans all four teams already locking up spots in the playoffs.
If the Chiefs win today, they will be the top seed in the AFC with home field advantage throughout the postseason. A story was reported and the timing I thought was interesting by Adam Schefter who's going to drop a story on Christmas morning, although different feel because of the two NFL games that Pete Carroll wants back in. Apparently, he's 10 he's always 10 he's always ready, and he looks like a million bucks at the age of 73 fact I always beat up on USC I'm going to continue because I'm anti big 10 of the riches of proud Michigan man, I have no problem with the traditional big 10. I just have a huge problem with the death of my beloved PAC 12 conference but I'll skip that I'll leave it for my podcast the way things used to be with be web available on the rich eyes in podcast network.
It's 844-204-7424 or send me something on the X platform that is kind and cordial because there's a lot of that in social media that's beat up you Weber Weber with two B's Adam Schefter with a story this morning that Pete Carroll, who is a guest lecturer now at USC where with the grad school and wasted a lot of money on a meaningless graduate degree. Pete is teaching a leadership course well apparently that's not keeping him busy enough because Adam Schefter reported at the age of 73. Pete wants back in and wants to be considered for the Bears opening, and I said in passing, just because it's my nature, and I'm a bit snarky.
I'm trying to be less cynical but the sarcasm will never go away. Somebody leaked at the Schefter because the timing was obvious. Somebody else had that line of thought, a good friend of the program, Mike Florio was the headline of pro football talk, roughly an hour ago.
Pete Carroll wants another NFL head coaching job, and his agent is wisely pulling the strings of a prominent media member to fuel the effort. That's called a directed leak in our industry. Now, Mike is so hands on, I don't know this to be true, but I would not be surprised, he might have written that tweet himself.
Remember, this is a labor of love. This started as a passion project when Mike was still a full time attorney. So he does not delegate that much, he's got other writers like our pal Josh Alper, but Mike is in thorough control of what happens on his site. And you can see the bylines, I didn't click through the story, I'm guessing Mike wrote the story. And it elicited this instant response from Adam Schefter, quoting Schefter, replying to the pro football's observation I just articulated.
Schefter posting on the X platform, everything you say here is 100% wrong, keep up the guesswork and Merry Christmas. Schefter, off the top rope, it's like hell in the cell between a pair of media insiders, media moguls for that matter, nobody's more highly compensated than Adam Schefter and he earns every dime with his work ethic. Felt like Mick Foley being thrown off the cage by the Undertaker. Unfortunately, Florio land on the Spanish broadcast table. Adam Schefter has been on one. You go back to last week, he had a story. Now I understand why Doug Gottlieb came at him the way he did.
But again, you have to be prepared for the blowback. Schefter, I will say in my opinion, was fed an item because college football is not his forte. Remember, he also had the story about a month ago that Ray Lewis was interested in getting into the college coaching ranks, and was never a serious candidate for the job in Florida that Schefter mentioned. Schefter had an item saying that Sacramento State had $50 million in NIL commitments as part of their push to join the new Zombie Pac-12 and part of their conversations with Michael Vick about their coaching opening. Michael Vick took the job, of course, at Norfolk State. In that instance, Doug Gottlieb, who not only is doing his job as a sports talk radio host for another network, he is the head basketball coach at Wisconsin Green Bay, came back with, and I'm paraphrasing, hey Shefty, whoever fed you this didn't have their facts right, and Schefter came back with a blowtorch saying, hey Doug, get off social media, focus on your basketball team that's something like has lost six games in a row and are in last place in the horizon. So, it may be a holiday, but Schefter is working the sledgehammer. And that's a long simmering rivalry and there's been elements of a few between Mike Flory and I'm Schefter so ho ho ho, nothing says the holidays like NFL insiders going back and forth on Twitter. I'm Webber, in for Rich Eisen, 8442047424 is the number to call in 30 minutes. We talk NBA, not the details of the game so much, what's going on across the association when we are joined by Jonathan Von Tobel, he's a senior NBA analyst for V-Sim.
The game between the Steelers and Chiefs underway, no score with four minutes gone by in Pittsburgh, I'll keep you updated. I mentioned that I gave myself a homework assignment last night, I wouldn't watch games had there been any available. Instead, I sat down with the intent of watching the entire Aaron Rodgers documentary. It was a good goal and I liked the first five minutes and I thought the general description that was suggested by the title, using the word enigma, was spot on. A lot of it is devoted to his rehab coming back from the achilles tear, you'll recall he suffered four snaps in the last season, and then a lot of flashbacks telling us how we got to where Aaron was at that stage of his life a year ago. The archival footage of Aaron growing up, very interesting, and he mocks himself for bad haircuts and what his childhood was like growing up in the central valley here in California, having to fight his way through a junior college to earn a scholarship at Cal Berkeley, that nightmare experience of waiting for his name to be called at the NFL draft when he sat in the green room for what felt like a lifetime. So that was all, I thought, well documented, good storytelling, but where they lost me was, and this is also a byproduct of who the subject of the doc was, just all of the ethereal, it's a big word, all the wacky views that Aaron is embracing, and I have no problem with people thinking whatever they want to think.
Totally get it. But I think with Aaron, the issue has become, he's been consumed by these thoughts, and now he feels like he's got to be an evangelist for all of them. So for example, if you're having problems in your life, I wouldn't recommend a darkness retreat because you probably get fired. Now Aaron can pull it off because he's got over a hundred million dollars in career earnings, also not married, all fine and good, I don't have the money but I'm not married so I could go on a darkness retreat, and I'm not bashing holistic healing and alternative medicine. It just feels like somewhere along the way, something changed about Aaron Rodgers, and especially now, given all of our access to what's floating around the internet, you can fall in these rabbit holes and be fundamentally changed as a person. And in my opinion, not being Dr. Phil or any other weirdo on the radio, and I think Dr. Phil is a weirdo in my opinion, I'll leave it there, not trying to diagnose Aaron Rodgers from afar, I'm not putting him on the couch, but over the course of the last half decade, something has fundamentally changed about him.
Not saying how he's wired necessarily, but how he thinks and how he views the world, I'm not going to re-litigate the I'm immunized nonsense, but to me, that reflected Aaron believing he could outwit all of us because he's got to be the smartest guy in every room. Now that's acceptable when you're still a top 3 quarterback. The problem for Aaron is, his skill set has eroded as we saw at the end of his run in Green Bay, and he is now a typical 41 year old quarterback who's also coming back from a torn achilles.
So everything else is just bluster and rhetoric and empty words, and he is intelligent, I'm not diminishing his IQ or mental capabilities, I think he's just always trying to be too shrewd. Because now it seems like he's going through the stages of grief with his inevitable parting from the Jets, and remember, as the documentary that is, depicts, if you've forgotten I did it, it's my job, the Jets won 7 games without him because of the strength of their defense. And they had Baris Hall coming back, so theoretically, you have a formidable defense and a defensive minded head coach, you have a ground game, this is before they placated Aaron and went out and got his buddy Devontae Adams, all of the elements were there for the Jets at least to compete for the playoffs, and they had an absolutely horrendous season. Well Aaron's got to wear a lot of that, because if you look statistically, Zach Wilson was a better quarterback last year, Mike White was a better quarterback last year, Aaron Rodgers has been a disaster, so I'm not even going to talk about UFOs or Jeffrey Epstein or all the weird thoughts that he espouses on those paid appearances on the Pat McAfee show, I'm just talking about from a football standpoint, even the Jets with absolutely no self esteem have no choice but to move on, because you have a new head coach and a new GM coming in, don't you have to turn the page and try to blow the thing up again? And I'm going to tread lightly, because I know Rich grew up as a Jets fan in Long Island, I was agnostic, I'll be honest, I didn't love the NFL that much as a kid because I was all in with baseball, I followed it obviously, I went to Jets games at Shea Stadium because my old man was cheap, and it was much more affordable to get in to watch the Jets when they were terrible, plus we lived 25 minutes away, just outside of the Bronx, so I understand Rich's background, and I'm not kicking a team that's been down since Broadway Joe Namath, but at some point they just have to find a more sane path forward, the problem with the Jets is the constant trauma, and if you're a Jets fan, here's your real problem, when Aaron leaves, here's one thing that's not going to change, your wacky owner, and if you didn't read the expose by The Athletic, I'd definitely recommend that you do it today if you have the time, or maybe interact with your family, up to you, you can find out just how dysfunctional the Jets have been, and it starts from the top with Woody Johnson reportedly allowing his kids free run of the organization, teenagers in the locker room, with their girlfriends, mocking the players, getting involved with player personnel, telling Ambassador Woody, as he likes to be called, not to be interested in Jerry Jeudy because of his Madden rating, so you had Aaron going on McAfee saying, hey I've never been cut by a teenager before, that would be interesting, well that was earlier in the week, and then with his last media availability yesterday, the tone went from sarcasm to blunt, and concise, and a little bit defiant, when asked if Aaron wants to play for the Jets next year, his quote was, you should ask Woody, for telling words, the follow up was spot on, asked if he had any conversations with the Jets owner about his future, one word answer from Rogers, no, because at this point he knows, it's over. Now here's one thing I did take away, because I got to about three quarters of episode two before I was gone, and I'll skip all the nonsense about RFK Jr. and everything else, Mike McCarthy spoke glowingly of Aaron Rogers, now some of that may be that they actually had a decent relationship, Mike obviously will go along to get along with anybody, even though Rogers clearly pushed him out of Green Bay, but he's a human punching bag, that's why he survived in Dallas, and he's going to get the opportunity to come back, because somehow, someway, well here's how, and here's the way, once it was clear the Cowboys weren't going anywhere, and mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday, magically even with the greatness of Cooper Rush filling in for Dak and all the other injured players, they're at seven and eight, they've won four of the last five, but McCarthy had nothing but praise for Aaron Rogers, and even a twinkle in his eye, is there a chance there's some sort of McCarthy Rogers reunion? Now it's not going to be in Dallas certainly, Dak's not going anywhere, I'm just wondering if Rogers wants to play, and part of me believes he has to play because you can't go out this way, unless he knows, and he knows better than anybody, it's over. Unless he has come to some sort of mental peace, and remember he's all about deep thoughts and being in touch with the universe, it's just sad to see him where he is on the field now, because as recently as five years ago I was of the opinion he was the most skilled quarterback I'd seen in my lifetime, right there with John Elway, talking just raw ability, if he wants to play next year, who would take him? Now we can go through the whole list of teams with glaring QB needs, but it just feels like this is the typical ending for all quarterbacks other than Tom Brady who faded in his last year in Tampa, you get to your late 30s, early 40s, it's over, and here's the real dichotomy, Rogers for being the smartest guy in every room, couldn't figure out the most basic fact and cliche we always throw out in sports, even if you're on a darkness retreat and taking ayahuasca, father time remains undefeated. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, as I glance at the scoreboard, Patrick Holmes is throwing a touchdown pass, hooking up with Xavier Worthy, either they went for two of the extra points no good, because my computer says it is Kansas City in front of Pittsburgh 6-0, remember, Kansas City's had a ton of kicking issues, even with the return of Harrison Butler. So, midway through the first quarter, it is Kansas City in front of Pittsburgh 6-0, I'll keep you updated, and we'll get you set for Game 2 of the Doubleheader coming up on Netflix, you probably figured that out by now, thankfully my relatives are not interested in football, it would be chaos looking for this game, and trying to figure out, where do I go, the App Store, how do I get the game, honey?
We'll get you fully lined up for Game 2, between the Ravens and the Texans, in 20 minutes we talk basketball, with 5 NBA games on the schedule today, looking forward to our conversation with Jonathan von Tobel, coming up, I mentioned the Bulls are back tomorrow, and unfortunately, another byproduct of the expansion of the college football playoff, in addition to diluting the importance of the regular season, they've made the non-CFP games even better, even more unwatchable in the postseason, but there is a compelling game coming up Saturday, it is, Colorado taking on BYU, our CU stars, Shanore Sanders and Travis Hunter, making a major mistake, by being willing to play in the Alamo Bowl, that is coming up as we roll on, live on this Christmas day, I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts people, you love their jingle, you're going to love their friendly, helpful service even better, because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road, and the parts knowledge they have, it's all you need for your maintenance and repairs, they've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in-store or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam, 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, at a cost-performance. they'll find you just the right battery for your vehicle.
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Perhaps because I was talking about Mike McCarthy. I super-sized that monologue. We'll keep things concise here. 844204, 7424 coming up in 15 minutes. We talk NBA with Jonathan Von Tobel of VSIN. If you're interested in what's going on in the game between the Spurs and the Knicks, it remains one point game early stages third quarter. San Antonio on top, 58-57. Wemenyana already the double-double. 24 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks.
Monster game of far more importance to the vast majority of you. The Chiefs with a chance to build on their six-nothing advantage with five minutes to go in the first quarter on the road in Pittsburgh. They're in the red zone at the 11-yard line. The touchdown came earlier in the opening quarter. Patrick Mahomes hooking up with Xavier Worthy. Extra point, no good by Harrison Butker. Another flaw the Chiefs have to overcome this year, a wobbly kicking game, although they just seem bulletproof. Nothing applies to this team that typically are the guidelines and the conventional wisdom we have followed for decades in the NFL, and maybe that's just a byproduct of having the absolute one of one at QB in Patrick Mahomes, or it tells you at some point it's gonna catch up with them, and we're getting closer to the playoffs, so the probability would say it's gonna catch up to them at the wrong time. But so far, everything I've said about the Chiefs has been wrong, and on cue, another touchdown thrown by Mahomes. Hooking up with Watson 11-yarder, 12-nothing.
I don't need the chart in front of me to say you go for two here. Quick start for the reigning champs dictating the terms in Pittsburgh. No ball games today, understandably, because no one wants to mess around with the NFL.
Now, years ago, again, since I am Hakey Magoo, if I was gonna explain to you why Die Hard is a Christmas movie, there used to be ball games on Christmas Eve, and there was one yesterday, and Christmas Day, the greatness of the Aloha Bowl. So, when you have the reference to Notre Dame playing USC, it works now. You could say it'd be a college football playoff matchup, although that would say somehow Laken Riley found his way into the CFP. Laken's gotta realize he's not in Norman, Oklahoma anymore.
The world has changed. But in the 80s, when Die Hard was set, could've been Notre Dame and the Trojans at the Aloha Bowl. I want a long way to tell ya, no college football today, and then it ramps up.
We got five games on Friday. Not going through all of the meaningless matchups, but when we're looking at games that aren't included under the umbrella of the college football playoff, one that jumps off the page to me is BYU versus Colorado. Now, that seems like a funky matchup Saturday at the Alamo Bowl. Now, remember, some of that comes down to being a byproduct of how things have changed, with conference realignment. So you have the old tie-ins of that traditionally would've been Big 12 versus Pac-12.
Now it's two Big 12 teams. I have no issue, theoretically, with Stars wanting to play. In fact, I'd be a hypocrite for me to say Chidora Sanders and Travis Hunter don't have the right intention wanting to be on the field, because as a veteran of filling in during the holidays, going back to the first example that comes to mind is Lender-4-Net.
And at the time, I understood what the Stars were doing. Why risk injury, especially when we got to the era of the college football playoff, in which these exhibitions got even more meaningless? Why on the field, for who, for what, when you could run into a career-threatening physical problem, or just a sizable issue that's gonna hurt you at the combine?
Why would you even think of doing that? At the same time, balanced by this thought, I want games that are at least interesting to watch. So my feelings has evolved as a talk show host, and there's nothing wrong. It doesn't make you a flip-flopper. Just means you have an open mind, and you're willing to consider new information. Initially, I was very old school, saying, you gotta get these kids, and look, I'm 55.
Anybody under 40's a kid to me. You have to get these student athletes on the field. You have to come up with incentive, and my solution was pay them, this was before NIL, but give them a financial reason to be on the field. However, if you are Travis Hunter, and you've played an ungodly amount of football this year, that's why he won the Heisman, because of the novelty of being one of the best defensive backs in all of football, and a top flight wideout, and all of the snaps that he accumulated over the year. Why is he playing this game?
It makes no sense. Now, I know he's a phenomenal athlete, and competitive, and young, and you're gonna say to me, what's one more game? Well, one more game is putting yourself in potential jeopardy, and I know Coach Prime, when he's not changing his playlist, has already come out this week saying, both his son and Travis are gonna have, in his words, the biggest insurance policy we've ever seen in college football history, okay, but it cannot match. And I have a little bit of understanding of how this works, based on my love of professional wrestling, because guys used to rip off Lloyd's of London back in the day.
It was a great scam. But even when you get the big check, it doesn't match all of your future potential earnings, and this isn't about Rick Rudin's back, this is about somebody, in the case of Chidora Sanders, who has a shot at being the number one overall pick. If it's not him, it's Cam Ward.
He's a lock to go top five. Well, that's a huge chunk of change, and then contract number two is generational wealth. So I don't wanna be sanctimonious. I don't wanna talk out of both sides of my mouth. I appreciate competitors. That's why we revere these guys, because they're wired differently. But at some point, you have to make a business decision. And look, some of this I think comes down to the dynamic of Chidora playing for his father.
And I think Deion is trying to carve out his own niche in addition to everything else that he has done that is certainly unorthodox. But I disagree wholeheartedly with putting these guys on the field. Why? What's the upside? I know they wanna bomb with their teammates. They can be there, high five, and take selfies. Why would you put yourself in a position to get hurt in a sport in which we see freakish injuries all the time? It just makes no sense to me.
Understanding that their rationale is clear and their logic is firm, I just go the other way for all the reasons I laid out. My scoreboard says the Chiefs lead the Steelers 13 to nothing. There are two minutes to go in the first quarter.
I will verify that. I can say with certainty, Patrick Mahomes has thrown a pair of touchdown passes off to a robust start. All the more impressive when you consider the Steelers are built to be carried by their defense. So TJ Watt and company not generating enough pressure and things are looking good for Kansas City on the road.
Although Russell Wilson now has a red zone shot inside the KC-18. With two minutes to go in the first quarter, we'll keep you updated. Coming up, just a little bit of basketball. I'm not gonna overlook a association that used to dominate this holiday with five games on the schedule today. Among them, Sixers and Celtics. How open should Philadelphia be to trading? Joel Embiid before the deadline in February and what would the market look like for his services?
Looking forward to finding out when we check in with Jonathan Von Tobel, senior NBA betting analyst for Beeson, we continue on a very business Christmas day, business busy with business on my mind. Mind on my money and my money's on my mind. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen.
This is the Rich Eisen Show. This year, Santa's bringing the power of Energizer into his workshop. Whoa, the Energizer Bunny's got so much power. Wait, he's powered up all the toys.
I think that means we're done for the year. I love this bunny. He's the hardest working helper the North Pole has ever seen. And he wants all your gifts to have the power of the number one longest lasting AA battery.
So this holiday season, stock up on Santa's and the elves favorite battery, Energizer Ultimate Lithium. This episode is brought to you by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Catch every moment of your team's playoff push with NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. You'll get amazing features like multi-view and right now it's only $49 for the rest of the NFL regular season.
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NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games. Brian Weber back with you. We appreciate the company on this Christmas day here on the Rich Eisen Show and left you hanging as we stepped aside. The Steelers had a red zone opportunity. It ended badly. An interception thrown by Russell Wilson. Chiefs have the ball back with a chance to build on their 13 nothing lead. Closing seconds of the first quarter.
We'll keep you posted. But as we turn our attention to the NBA. Knicks now on top of the Spurs. 78-77 three minutes ago in the third quarter.
Monster stat line. I've been updating for Victor Wemenyana 31 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks heading to the fourth. A reminder, as we're talking hoops, for a limited time you can get Vson's holiday special with access to Vson Pro from now through May 1st for only 79 bucks.
That's a tremendous value. It includes the 24-7 channel. Special betting guides, pro betting tips, best bets and more. Visit Vson.com slash subscribe for details. And with that, a man you'll hear when you listen to Vson. You can watch their content as well and become an insider with the holiday special.
And there's Jonathan Von Tobel, senior NBA betting analyst for Vson. Jonathan, thanks so much for taking the time. Happy holidays. How you doing? I'm good. Very good. Like you mentioned, very big holiday card, football in between.
Much better than yesterday, man. There was, look, I'm a big college football nerd, so I enjoyed San Jose State and South Florida. But we need more than just one event.
So very happy now that we have a full card. I'm with you, Jonathan. I'm older than you. I revealed to the audience the second TV game I ever called was at Spartan Stadium in San Jose State. So I have affection for San Jose State, but it was a sports desert yesterday.
There was not much going on. Let's hit on your specialty, the NBA. And I want to go back to what happened between Joel Embiid and Wembanyana the other night in Philadelphia. Now, clearly Embiid should have had more composure, especially with the optics of yelling at a female official, but you tracked the league very closely. Is Wembanyana doing more in year two to get under the skin of opposing players than he did in his rookie year?
You know, I don't really think so. I thought really what that was about was more about the officiating than anything else. Like you said, the optics weren't great, but that official earlier had ejected Andre Drummond when Wembanyana had tripped backwards after standing behind Andre Drummond. So the official ejects Drummond there, and then of course, he then calls a pretty bad call. I thought it was a foul on Wembanyana. Regardless, calls that, I think tempers kind of flew over, but maybe, maybe it had something to do with Wembi, but I think he was more at the center of both of those plays, and it was just kind of bad place, bad timing, because I thought that was more about some irritation with the officiating than it was about Victor Wembanyana doing anything.
But he did act, maybe he embellished it a little bit when he got pushed over by the Andre Drummond. I'm putting in air quotes you can't see, but I think it was more about that official and what he was doing than anything else. And by the way, I don't know if you saw the clip. I mean, later in the game, she tells the nurse.
I believe Tom- And use the word we can't use on the radio, right? Yep. Yeah, right. And the best part of the clip is nurse looks at her and goes, yeah, thanks. That's how it goes.
You checked in both of my centers. So I thought it was more about the- I'm with you, and I'm looking for talking points and you know how it works in our business. People now want to somehow cast Wembi as a heel. And I think that's all garbage because again, from a distance, he seems like an amazingly likable young guy and he's a unicorn. Oh yeah, I mean, look at him today. He's already, I think you could quibble with like some of the shot selection stuff with him, right? Because today he's already chucked up about 14 three pointers.
That's not great. So you probably want to see that get a little bit better but the dude could do everything. Get a put back over Carl Anthony towns earlier. He shoots from distance, from the logo, obviously rebounds. He had the regularly get you seven, eight block shots the game. Now the guy's awesome. And I'm sure maybe in some other instances there's probably some indications for other players that they're a little sick of it, right?
Yeah, or maybe they're Britney Spears fans. Remember that made up story at summer league last year as I go deep into the bag of content. Yeah, well, I fill in a lot Jonathan. So I need to have this material at my fingertips.
Check out Jonathan Von Tobel's great work at V-Sin. Let's turn our attention to the game that starts in about 45 minutes. And it coalesces nicely with the success of the Knicks because Carl Anthony towns is playing so well for his new team.
We know the cat is gone for Minnesota. What else has been slowing down the T wolves 500 heading into this matchup with the maps? It's their offense.
It's been really bad. And you can see some clear changes both when you watch them and in the numbers that you've seen from them but coming into today, they're 23rd and non garbage time offensive efficiency over the last 12 games. They got an offensive rating of 106, which is bad. But when you really dive into it what's happened is they've become an ISO heavy team or at least they're doing it more frequently.
And the bad thing about that is that they're becoming less efficient at it. Last year, 7.4% of their possessions were in isolation possession. This year it's up to 8.6. Last year, they were averaging 0.93 points per possession on isolation possessions.
This year it's down to 0.76. So they're ISOing more, they're much less efficient and they're shooting more threes. You can look at it, their frequency of three point attempts last year, 35% of attempts came from beyond the arc. This year, 43% are coming from beyond the arc. Anthony Edwards is at the center of it too. Less than 30% of his shot attempts are coming at the rim. He was a guy that was regularly trying to get to the basket.
They can see in our mind's eye, right? Plenty of Anthony Edwards dunks that can recall some pretty good feelings but he hasn't done that as much. And I don't know if this is because Julius Randle's there. They did want to shoot more threes this year but you've got to deal with the flow of an offense not just jacking them up. And that's kind of what's happened. And now the problem in a matchup like this is you're taking on a team that's one and covered five out of six going back to the Western Conference Finals against you. And they beat you in the one regular season meeting you've had so far this year. So they've been really ISO heavy and it hasn't worked out for them.
And you do wonder if at some point they start to change up what they're going to start to do because it's been pretty bad. Getting strong NBA analysis from Jonathan von Tobel. You can check out his great work. vSin, vSin.com. With a reminder, the holiday special is underway. You get access to vSin Pro now through May 1st for only 79 bucks.
Head over to vSin.com slash subscribe for details. Later on, we'll see the Celtics and Sixers. And I think part of the reason MB getting tossed was so jarring was he actually played.
When he gets on the floor, you want him to have a chance to finish the game. We know about all of Philly's issues. Let's flip it over to Boston. I realize Cleveland has the best record in the East. How much are you buying the Cavs? Are they a legitimate threat to Boston as the Celtics now look to go back to back? Yeah, I want to believe. How about that? I want to believe that Cleveland is going to be a threat to them.
I do think though that there is a problem. And actually we'll go back to last year's NBA finals, where Boston absolutely dismantled the Dallas Mavericks. One of the things that they did so well was take advantage of a team that was playing a true center. And they were forcing their center to come out along the perimeter and defend one of the two fives that they had, either Al Horford or Christos Porzingis. And it opened the floor completely for Boston.
And you're going to face that same issue if you're talking about Cleveland. You have a true big that you play with in Jarrett Allen, and that is going to slow you down from that standpoint when it comes to defending this team. Boston still has its weaknesses right there, a team that is reliant on their three-point shooting, but they're so freaking good that it doesn't really matter. But you see it in the wins this year, the losses this year. They're shooting 37% on about 50 three-point attempts per game.
It wins. They're shooting 31% in losses. So maybe in the best of seven series, they just got a bad shooting theory. It's the variance that gets them, and they end up losing to Cleveland. But I think just the matchups itself, I think that's a little bit more of a problem than, say, a New York Knicks team that has a center that'd be willing to go on the perimeter, defend, and also can match that perimeter-oriented five they're going to face as opposed to what Cleveland has to offer. Talking hoops with Jonathan Von Tobel of Vison. And then in prime time, we got the Lakers and the Warriors.
I'm based in Southern California, so I get every nuance of the Laker being dissected in minute detail. Bad loss to the Pistons the other night. What would you say from a more objective national perspective as to an assessment of the start of the J.J. Redick era? I mean, I just keep going back to, look, they're running back a playing team, right? I don't know what's so surprising about this, where you take a team that barely got into the dance and you go, all right, J.J., please fix this. It would take a masterful coaching effort. And for a first-time coach to be asked, hey, take this playing team and make them better, we're not really going to give you anything outside of a Christian Coloco type that we're going to have in the offseason.
I just don't know how you're expecting much better. And look, they're usual teams. They get to the free-throw line. They've been a top three team in terms of free-throw rate each the last three years. They're number one again this year.
They've been doing pretty well there. But outside of J.J. Redick just asking them, like, hey, guys, let's shoot some more threes. Which, by the way, yeah, they're shooting more threes, but in today's NBA, they're still 27 in terms of 3.4.
In terms of three-point frequency, I just don't know if you're really going to get that much. And to me, that's frankly what it is. They have two good players. We know what LeBron is.
We know what AD is. You've got some pretty solid players along the perimeter, but I don't really see anything that was going to happen this year that was going to make them some championship contender. And I don't frankly think we should be surprised when they finish, you know, seven to 10 again. And you're spot on because Rob Palenka did absolutely nothing in the offseason other than drafting well with Dalton Connect and signing Bronny. Other than that, the roster is exactly the same, right? Yeah, exactly. So that's why, frankly, you know, it's funny, I do enjoy the jokes.
Look, I'm a Clippers fan, so I do enjoy- You're the one! Hey, is Kawhi ever going to play again once he's scheduled to come back? Oh, trust me, we're reading reports. It's getting there. Is Uncle Dennis leaking that again?
There's dozens of them. Yeah, right? But I will say, like, one of the things I've been surprised about through this entirety since the bubble championship has been like, Palenka's been skating by, kind of just running back a similar crew almost every single year, and yet it's the head coach that always gets the blame. But you know what's happening there, Jonathan, because Jeannie Buss, I'll just be polite, is involved in political games within her own organization. Sure. Yep, it's all about relationships when it comes to Lakers because it's a family business.
Yep, every coach has gotten railroaded and you see it now here, JJ Reddick, dealing with a roster that's not particularly great, and he is just in a similar spot that his predecessors were, and I just don't know what else is supposed to happen with this team if you're JJ Reddick. Well said. Jonathan, I always appreciate the insights and your availability.
I fill in a lot. The next time we chat, I need your origin stories. Were you a Benoit Benjamin fan? How did you wind up rooting for the Clippers?
Not today, I'm going to forward promote next time we speak in the new year, okay? Yeah, you got it. I'll tell you that. I'm an Angels fan too. Oh, okay. It's been a great existence. Oh, I feel your pain, pal. Donnie Moore's not walking through that door.
No. Thank you, Jonathan. Appreciate the insights and happy holidays. Happy holidays, guys.
Thank you very much. Jonathan Montable, obviously a Southern California native. Didn't mean to go dark with the Donnie Moore reference, but if you think about 1986, the greatest postseason of all time, inarguably in baseball history, because we get wrapped up with the Buckner play in game six of the World Series, we forget about the epic NLCS between the Astros and the Mets, the 16 inning game at the Astronome and the Dave Henderson home run. Although Jonathan at least has Scott Spezio kind of memories the Rally Monkey World Series in 2002.
That is a tough combo. Clippers and Angels, at least he's loyal. You can't say that he has become a bandwagon fan. There are a lot of folks out there who do not want to see the Chiefs maintain their momentum.
So I have good news for you. Touchdown Pittsburgh. They just ran it in to get on the board.
Point after pending. Kansas City on top of Pittsburgh, 13 to six, 10 minutes to go in the first half on the strength of a pair of Patrick Mahomes touchdown passes. As we ease into the final hour of the program, more thoughts on the Steelers and the Chiefs. I'll keep you constantly updated. And does Baltimore have enough defense to win it all this year?
We're talking Lamar Jackson in the final hour of the Christmas Day edition of the Rich Eisen Show. My World with Jeff Jarrett takes wrestling fans behind the scenes along with King of the Mountain, Conrad Thompson. I wanted to ask you about what you know, if anything, on the new WWE ID program, where they're apparently going to be working with some independent wrestlers. My encouragement to any independent wrestler out there, build your value and then understand your value. And then you create your own leverage. There's no substitute for hard work and getting over. My World with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.
