Hour 1: Knicks-Sixers and Spurs-Timberwolves Reactions, plus Club 520's Jeff Teague

23:37Rich Eisen:Oh, why, why don't you have somebody? What do you mean? Cause I played in Minnesota. Okay. Now three is one of my guys. Okay. De 'Aaron Fox is one of my favorite players. I got ties all over. That's what I was about to say, Jeff. I mean, five teams, five teams, you know. I got ties. Well, you play for 22 teams in your NBA career. You start. That's right. That's what I was about to say. It seems like a common denominator through all of these things. Six degrees of separation. Six degrees of T. Literally. So at the end of the day, though, you're going to have to take a stand against somebody that you like or played with or is your guy.

24:15Rich Eisen:You know what I mean? Game one never really counts to me. It's a filler game. You know what I mean? Filler? Yeah, you got to test the teams out. It's not really, you know, game two, I'll see how they play. And that'll give me a little more of a gauge on who I want to go with. Okay. So we'll put a pin in that, Jeff Teague. That's what we'll do. So at the end of the day, who's got the best chance of beating Oklahoma City? Ah, man. Well, out the east, the Knicks, just because I think Jalen Brunson is that special. I think he scores the ball just as well as SGA. Defensively, they have the wings. They have the size.

24:55If Mitchell Robinson could make a free throw, oh, my God. If he could just make a free throw. Right. The Knicks would be really, really good if he could make a free throw. Because when he's on the floor, man, he's a dominant player, man. Offensively, rebounding, protecting the rim. really good defender, but you just can't keep him on the floor because of the free throws. But I think the Knicks really got a really good chance to make it a competitive series against OKC.

25:20Rich Eisen:OK. Seems like I feel like it's pulling teeth for you to say something nice about the Knicks right now. It is. I'm not going to lie. Because I got a lot of friends in New York. Yes. Oh, they're so geeked right now because last year, obviously, being from Indiana, we beat them. I got to talk a bunch of junk. Yeah. Tyron, there's no shots. Aaron Neesmith went crazy. And I'm not even a Pacers fan. I did play for the Pacers. That's one of the other 19 teams I played for. But you just don't like the Knicks. Do you not like New York? Is it the food? Is it the people? No, I love New York. Okay, so why would you want New York to be happy then?

25:55Just the rivalry, like Reggie, Spike, Chokesaw, like all that growing up in Indiana, you just kind of got a little, little hate for the Knicks just because of Reggie Miller. But they're really good this year.

26:09Rich Eisen:So why don't you hate the Bulls as much? I mean, because they're the ones. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, if we want to talk about an impediment to anybody in the East. But who doesn't love Michael Jordan, though? I know. I know. I mean, I was rooting for Mike against the Pacers, so I ain't going to lie. So what is a New York thing? It's just Mike. It's different, man. It's just Michael Jordan. Everybody rooting for Michael Jordan. I didn't even know basketball without Michael Jordan. Like, he just might. But when I seen Reggie Miller go against Spike and all the hate we got when we went up to New York and then when they came here, we was going against them.

26:51The rivalry was just unbelievable. And every time I see a highlight and Reggie hitting those, what did he score? Eight points in what? 18 seconds. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. I wanted to remind y 'all, you know what I mean?

27:03Rich Eisen:I don't know. That was, you know, I'm a New Yorker, Jeff. I know. I know you know that, but I'm just pointing it out. That was one of the worst days of my sports life that day. You've brought it up no fewer than 10 times in the last three minutes. Okay. What was the worst? Was it when Aaron Neesmith hit those five threes? Or was it that Reggie? No, Reggie. I mean, because Reggie, that shouldn't have happened. You know, Neesmith, by the way, where's he been? You know what I mean? They're resting up. They're getting ready for next year. Don't worry about him. Can you explain the new lottery system to me?

27:42I can't, actually. I can't. I was going to ask you to explain it to me. It's going to take away a little bit from tanking. Is it?

27:50Rich Eisen:I don't know. Me and Mark Cuban was talking about this on the show, and he was just like, this is one of the dumbest things I ever heard. And shout out to Mark Cuban. But he was trying to explain it to me, and I was like, well, hopefully the Hawks just get the number one pick this year, and we get A.J. DeBanta, and I wouldn't care about the tanking next year. Well, you know, the Pacers are in that mix too. Yeah, I really can go to the Hawks. I'm a Hawks fan at the core. I spent most of my time in the NBA with the Hawks. Okay, I got you. Okay, so did Cuban like it? He likes the new anti-tanking?

28:22He didn't. Nah, he wasn't really for it. I got to ask him again, though.

28:27Rich Eisen:Yeah, it's so difficult for a fan to understand. You know what I mean? It's just tough to figure out if you're in a relegation zone or you're in the next seven and you get so many ping pong balls here or there. I don't get it. How would you like it to go? I would like it to go where you finish in last and there's no lottery. The NFL does it with no lottery. Why does there need to be a lottery in the NBA? Why can't teams and players or front offices or whoever it is be trusted? Why don't they care about winning? Yeah. Why don't they care? I wouldn't be mad at that. As long as you couldn't get the number one pick like three years in a row.

29:13Like, you only can get it like, what, every three years or something like that? That would be cool.

29:17Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, they did come up with that part of this anti-tanking. But it's as simple as if you're terrible, you should get the best player to try and get back in the mix. and you know if you now create a system where there's a bunch of people that have a shot at getting the best player and all you got to be is somewhat terrible or terrible terrible I mean why not just leave it up to I don't know maybe that's naive trusting everybody to try and win you know that's what I'm saying man I'm not gonna lie I agree with you but boy it's been some bad teams and I hate to get drafted to some of those.

30:00Like I know Cooper flag was so excited. He got drafted to Dallas. Like I get to go to a cool city. I know he's seen that draft lottery, no shade to any other teams in the league, but I'm pretty happy. I'm pretty sure he was happy to go to Dallas.

30:14Rich Eisen:Yeah. But what did they do this year? Nothing. You know, nothing in Dallas and nothing in some of these other cities, Jeff Teague, everybody right here on the Rich Eisen show. All right. Good to chat with you, Jeff. Jeff, I appreciate the time. Let's do this again more often. Please. I would love to come on the show way more. Rich, I got one more question. Please. So, what up, Teague? We spent a lot of time walking by each other at WrestleMania this past two weekends ago. You didn't tell me you ran into Jeff Teague. I mean. Or you walked past. What do you mean by walk past? Well, we acknowledge each other like Roman Reigns was in the building a few times, you know.

30:49Rich Eisen:But, Teague, you were in the midst of Carl Anthony Towns, Joe L. Embiid a little scrap a few years ago. It's like I said, you're like that Marvel character that connects all these different dimensions and things. What do you remember about this? If you remember this, Brockman, Kat and Embiid get into it. Ben Simmons throws Kat into a headlock. Teague's right there in the middle of it all, bro. What do you remember about this? I remember before the game, we always kind of hyped Kat up against Joel Embiid. You know, that's a big man matchup, both really talented players. And Cat just kept saying, like, I'm not going today.

31:25I'm not going today. I didn't know he meant, like, he was going to fight him that day. On the day. And they got to, you know, playing hard against each other, talking trash back and forth. I think they were beating our butts. They were probably killing us. And I just see Cat, like, everybody made a little ruckus or whatever, and Cat had him in a headlock for a second. And then I ran down there trying to get Joel Embiid. I don't know what I was thinking. He's 300 pounds. I'm 190. I thought I was doing something I wasn't doing anything. But it was actually, it was good to see because, you know, Cat get a lot of slack.

31:58You know, people talk about he's not that tough or whatever. And for him to protect himself and, you know, get a little rumble a little bit, get active a little bit, I liked it.

32:09Rich Eisen:Yeah, I just was re-watching that the other day, and I was like, oh, yeah, there's T and they're trying to break that up. Yeah, you know, Carl Anthony Towns plays in New York now. And you know what I mean? That's my good guy. He's your guy. So he's your guy. He's your guy. And Jalen Brunson. Yeah, Brunson's your guy. He's your guy. I consider myself now your guy, Jeff. That's right. You know, I mean. Rick is my guy. Rick Brunson, that's really my guy. Okay. So what's going on? I got the Knicks one in the finals, man. There we go. Could you imagine if they get a parade going downtown Manhattan because of what they do, it would be lit.

32:48I've just seen what they did to J.R. Smith. I do not. Oh, man. It's going to be crazy. Yeah.

32:54Rich Eisen:Chris, you got something for Jeff? Yeah, look. The Celtics jersey is hanging. I'm a Celtics guy. And I've already seen this, and I feel like this is going to be a conversation this summer. Should the Celtics try to go after Giannis? Wow. And let who go? Feels like JB is a one-for-one with the salaries matchup. hmm so i i okay i played in milwaukee

33:25Rich Eisen:so yeah this is my guy i am not proposing to do this i do not want to break up the jays but i there is a faction in the media that has been wanting to break up the jays for quite some time and i feel like this is going to be a conversation because clearly janice wants out of milwaukee yeah i i don't want to break up the jays either i think they play well together. I think they need to switch up the way they play offensively. I think they have so much talent with those two to drive the ball to the basket. I think Jalen Brown is probably one of the best drivers of the ball that I've ever seen in practice or been around.

33:58I know Jason Tatum, he's coming back from injury, but he can get to the basket too. I think they need to move on from Derek White and try to get a big. If they can make that happen, I think they still have a really good team.

34:13Rich Eisen:Are you saying don't trade for Giannis? No, I don't think so. I think Giannis, I mean, obviously Giannis is a great talent, but I just think JB and JT, it worked. They won a championship, but the surrounding pieces around them were really good. Like Al Horford made shots, Porzingis made shots. He was hurt during that run. Drew Holiday was special for them. And Derek White played well too, but I think they needed to get some more complimentary pieces just around them. You agree? Obviously, I agree. Can we add Giannis and keep the Jays together? Oh, my gosh. I don't know if there's an apron large enough.

34:47Rich Eisen:What? That's, you know, that's what, you know, I don't know how they could work that on the cap. We're back under. I got a question. Who would you like, though, since you can't get Giannis? Obviously, you don't want to break the Jays up. Who would you like to see in the Celtics? I don't know. You're right with needing a big, clearly, if Embiid is healthy, the Celtics have no answer, no one to guard him. I don't know. I don't know what's out there. I don't know what the fix is. But I agree with you that a change in offensive philosophy is needed. I don't want to fire Joe. I think he's done a great job and he's a great motivator.

35:19Rich Eisen:And I think he's kind of perfect for this group. Can't shoot 53 is a game. We just, we can't go on like this. Let's take it down to 35, just 35 threes. That's totally fine. Just get a big, totally fine. Let's just find a big somewhere. You need a big, you can't have, you can't have the defensive. No, can't do it. You're not in front like you had against Embiid. Kata played great this year, but he's just not thick enough to defend these guys. They had Jalen Brown guard him down the stretch in game seven. Yeah. That was great. I know. I loved it. That's when all that flopping took place, apparently.

35:54Rich Eisen:You got a front row seat to the flopping. There's video evidence. He's the one pulling the chair. I don't even think he's flopping, Teague. I just think Embiid's just kind of awkward. You know, like when you're like 13 and you hit a growth spurt and you're kind of all over the place? I think that just carried over into his early 30s. He's just kind of a gangly, awkward 7 '1", 300-pound man. Yeah, he's like, as we kept saying, he's like that windsock outside of the Ford dealership. He's like a Bailey floating. Outside the car he used to use, remember? Definitely. Yeah, he's got no appendix, no ligaments left.

36:24We call that sloppy where I'm from.

36:29Rich Eisen:Jeff, great chatting with you. We'll chat again soon. Thanks again. I appreciate it. You got it. Check out the Club 520 podcast. There goes Jeff Teague, everybody. Love it. That's a lot of fun. He played for every team, and he knows everybody. He's like you. Kind of. You know everybody. He knows everybody. He's like, I played for them. It's a perfect match for us. Me and T, you know we get along. You get a team. It's a perfect match for this program. You get a team. Absolutely. You know? He only played for five. I got to go seek out that cat, Embiid. Oh, it was like 2016 or something? Yeah, I don't recall it off the top of my head, obviously, like you, a Sixer fan would.

37:02Rich Eisen:Yeah, it was great. It was great. Carl Anthony Towns. My favorite. point center. We got to get him back. Do we? Yeah, we do. Do we? We need to get him beat. Because he's making the Eagles fans, who he loves, very upset. I don't think he cares, though. He could knock out the Sixers and root for the Eagles just like anybody else. Prioritize. He's three games away from that. All right. Windhorse making his way to the studio. 844-204-RICH. Oh, he's here. Hey! Wendy's here. All right, so he's going to join us top of the next hour. Play the song, Mike. No, I can't. I can't do that. Can't play. Can't play that song.

37:40Rich Eisen:Play the song. What's the matter with you? It's just a couple bucks. Just play the music to break. Mickey's got money. There's that song. I'll play it. Here we go. Rich Eisen Show. Back in a moment. Wow.

37:51The Rich Eisen Show. The podcast.

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38:42Rich Eisen:More energy, more fans, and a whole lot more people looking for a place to stay. So here's something to think about. If your city has that kind of buzz, if big events are on the way, listing your space on Airbnb could be a great opportunity. If you're already planning to be out of town or you've got a trip coming up, why not make your place work for you while you're gone? You've got the space and you're not using it. It could be earning you some extra cash. I know when I travel for these big events, I'm not just looking for a place to crash. I want something comfortable and safe. A place that allows me to experience the city like a local.

39:17Rich Eisen:And that's exactly what you can do by offering to list your space. No big lifestyle change. No long-term commitment. Just making smart use of the space you already have. So the next time your city draws a crowd, think about listing your space on Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host. 844-204-RICH, number to dial here on the program. Great sports night for, say, a Nick Yankee fan. although the Yankees 12 to 1 win with a cloud over it if you will the first game the Yankees have played in 87 years without John Sterling on planet earth and as we know John Sterling passed away and his longtime radio and broadcast partners Susan Waldman and Michael Kay laid flowers on home plate as a remarkable, you know, seek it out.

40:23Rich Eisen:I know not everyone's a Yankee fan or a John Sterling fan with that, but it was about a six-minute long tribute video to him, which was just remarkable. The Yankees nailed it. And then the game starts. Aaron Judge steps to the plate with a man on bottom of the first inning, and this happened. And the pitch. High drive. Right center field. Going back to Paris. It is high. It is four. It is gone. Aaron Judge. A Judgeian blast. Here comes the judge. Everything but all rise from Michael Kay giving a John Sterling salute with his call. that's what he would it's what he'd done with a judge pretty much pretty neat stuff right there and it's just it's you know it's sad just did you see the other radio calls that happened yesterday though yeah around the league too man yeah like Mets win Mets win Mariners like all the radio guys were adopting his calls and that was really awesome that's cool it was great it was around around Major League Baseball.

41:43Rich Eisen:I saw that. Hold on a second. The Mets won? That is surprising. On the Met Gala night. Wow. Yeah. Everything was coming up Mets. Stunning. The Mets actually won a baseball game. I mean, your team's got 14 wins. One yesterday. Okay, but one more than us, so you probably shouldn't have that. Guys, this segment's not about you. If you want to make it about you. No, not this one. I mean, if you really do want to make it about you, put it up. All rise. Yanks are now 24-11. Not in last. And the Metropolitan's just nine games under right now. Just nine. That's it. It's a long season. Red Sox seven under.

42:25Rich Eisen:Peyton Toll was dealing yesterday. The Yankees have the Texas Rangers. Rangers. Rangers. For three. 127 games left, boys. A lot of time to turn this ship. I'm with you. I hear you. Turn the ship around. I hear you. Let's go to Nick in San Pedro, California, just a little bit south of here of the Rich Eisen Show. What's going on, Nick? Hey there. Good morning, Rich. Good morning, guys. What up, Nick? How you guys doing? I tell you, Rich, just want to give you your flowers on Michigan real quick. You know, I've been following you for a while now, and I like the show and everything, and I figured this was the one way to get my thoughts or my message across.

43:06Rich Eisen:You know, I love baseball. Baseball is my favorite sport. And I'm sorry about Sterling passing away. And I think the Yankees are a great organization. They play nothing but above 500 baseball. And I'm sick of baseball now because of my team. I boycotted a year. I put a bag over my head for the year. I've asked Artie Moreno to sell the team. And you already know how that's gone. It's breaking my heart in pieces. and now I lost one of my favorite baseball players in GA. And it's just been devastating. This whole year, it's been a disaster. And we got an intern coach, I feel like, at Kurt Suzuki at best.

43:50And it just breaks my heart because I see this good kid out of Millville,

43:55Rich Eisen:and I want him to have it so bad. I want him to have it so bad, but I don't see it happening anytime soon, anytime soon unless there's a drastic change with the organization. I mean, for crying out loud, we even have rats at our stadium. Rats. I mean, that's the breaking news that we get out of SoCal, Anaheim. And it's just breaking my heart. And I don't even go to the games no more. I walk by, I'd rather go to the A &PM on the corner, get me a Dodger dog and a beer, and know we're going to lose. I haven't had only two wins in the last three weeks. And you know what? It's going to be a good year for sport people in New York.

44:36I got the Knickerboppers going to the finals against the Thunder, and then I also have the Yankees going up against the Dodgers

44:44Rich Eisen:in the World Series this year. And all I'm asking for is if they're not going to do nothing for my Angels, then give Mike Trout a chance. Send them off to New York or send them off to the Dodgers. We all know if he ever decides to make that decision where we all assume he would want to go, Nick. And I feel like I should give you one of those fame Rich Eisen show bro hugs. Nick's feeling everything, man. Here comes, I'm going to go, you know, my arms out. Now, hold on a minute. We tap, tap, and then we separate. And just I gave you a little light hug there. But I appreciate the call, Nick. And thank you for saying what you said about the show callback.

45:21Rich Eisen:And, you know, hopefully better times ahead for your halos. I felt that, man. He was very emotional right there. Yeah. but I feel like Angels fans are broken. They were off for a decent start this year. They've only won one of the last 10 games. When they came into New York, they were world beaters. They beat the crap out of the Yankees. And then ever since then, they've gone right off a cliff. And Trout is back. He's having a great season. Well, Trout, being from South Jersey, I think Phillies fans will raise their hands and say, we'll take him. But it feels like he would have asked out by now.

45:57Rich Eisen:I don't know. at this point in time, the Angels are 10 under. 10 under. Worst record in the American League, so I'd understand it. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show. The podcast.

46:28The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.