Hour 3: Final NFL Power Rankings, plus Basketball Hall of Famer Dwight Howard In-Studio

23:34I threw it in and dunked it. Everybody went crazy. It was like, yo, you really like Superman. This is awesome. You got to do this in the dunk contest. I think it's Thursday night before the dunk contest. I have a conversation with Grant Hill. Then Shaq says you got to show people your personality. so um i was like you know what if i do this dunk i gotta have a costume uh my cousin he went to party city and found the biggest superman costume he could find which was only a large so if you can look go back and look at the pictures of like the top is so tight because it's a onesie looks like a bib yeah it's a onesie we had to cut the bottom off because it was like boots and everything and I had to like tie it around like a onesie and um we got out there and I wanted to let my personality shine through and the dunk it just was look at that just and every time I look at that picture I just look at all the people's faces in the crowd Jason Kidd's son if you see him at the bottom he's like whoa he's going crazy just to see the reactions and And then, like, I was really, for a moment in time, like, doing something that I've watched on Marvel Comics or watched Superman do in real life.

24:57Like, it looked like I was really flying. So, like, that was one of the greatest memories, you know, ever.

25:04Rich Eisen:And who was, like, Dr. J, a judge? Because he sometimes will judge. Do you remember who the judges were? Who were the judges? I know one year I did it, and the judges really didn't understand my dunks. So I got a low score. So I had to come back the next year and put on a real good show. And that's what ended up happening. I thought that that dunk contest was over from the beginning. And the best part about the dunk contest was the dunk contest we had before the dunk contest in the back. What do you mean? Like we had one in the back where everybody was warming up and getting themselves going. I thought that that was better than the actual dunk contest.

25:40No kidding. Why? Who was doing what? Because everybody was just loose. You know, it's no crowd. It's just us back there. So now they're just trying things. And it looks so good. And then everybody already had their set dunks. But us back there in the back practicing and seeing all the guys just high-flying and doing different things, it's amazing to see that art. It's like watching, you know, if you're a sea fighter, you're watching somebody do some jiu-jitsu, and then somebody over here is doing some tai chi. And then another person over here is doing some muay thai. It's just like all different types of art, but they're bringing it into one.

26:17So it was cool to see.

26:19Rich Eisen:Dwight Howard is here on the Rich Eisen Show. That's great stuff, man. That's a great story. Go for it. The judges were Daryl Dawkins, Dominique Wilkins, Carl Malone, Dr. J, and Magic. Come on. Dang. Yeah. Dang. Those were your judges. That's awesome. Rest in peace, Dr. Duncan Stein, Chocolate Thunder. Oh, yes. Oh, my God. Darrell Dawkins. Yes. His dog eye. I used to want to dunk so hard because I used to watch his dunks. Because he broke the rim. Yeah. I mean, broke the backboard. He broke the backboard. I remember that. I broke a couple at my school. Oh, yeah. And had the backboard shatter all on me.

27:02And, like, the fiberglass, actually, once it gets into your skin, it starts to seep in. That's no good. So I was getting cut up, and I was like, yeah! Ah, broke a goal! Did you keep any of that glass in a zip lock? I wish I could. I didn't even think about it back then. But, you know, we were so – I was so young. I don't even know if we – my school was so small. And, you know, I don't even think I was thinking about that. But looking back on it, I should have kept the rim. I should have kept the backboard.

27:33Rich Eisen:Like all that stuff. 2008, what a year. You know, you were on the Olympic team in 2008. 2008? Then finals. Give me your, so what was it like walking into practice for the first time for the Summer Olympics? All right, so 2008, mind you, I graduated from high school in 2004. Right. So I'm the youngest guy on the team. You're 22. 21, 22 years old. Yeah, 22. LeBron's 23, so you're a little bit younger than him on this team. And it's like, wow, I'm playing with Kobe, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh. And I'm like, this is awesome. Like, this is a cold squad.

28:23Darren Williams, like all these guys. I'm actually on the Olympic team. and, you know, I just remember the practices like seeing Kobe, Dwayne, and LeBron go at it, seeing Melo just as smooth as ever. Coach K had us so inspired, you know, to go and win and play hard by just showing us little videos of people singing the national anthem and then making speeches. I'm like, man, I'm ready to go to war. So I just appreciate, you know, having an opportunity to represent my country, represent my family on the largest scale in the Olympics and being able to be a part of watching them build the stuff in Beijing, the different buildings and seeing Michael Phelps win, you know, in the Olympics.

29:11You know, but being 22 is like, wow, this is a whirlwind of things happening. But I'm here with my favorite players that I've watched growing up, playing against guys that I played against at AAU, and now we're on the same team.

29:25Rich Eisen:So your favorite Kobe story is what? Favorite Kobe story. That's so hard. I like our little fight that we had, our little scuffle that we kind of had. Why do you like that? Because, like, we never had no, like, real tight beef before any of that. You know what I'm saying? Like, I remember calling Kobe right after we lost to them in the finals and asking him, how could I get better? and then he started talking about your postgame is good. You get down there and nobody can stop your jump hook. Nobody can bang with you. You're going to dunk on everybody in the paint. You just get that face-up jump shot, free throw line jump shot, and you good.

30:12So I was like, how many should I do? What you do when you shoot? He said, I'll make a thousand shots a day. So I said, yes I can do that I can do that so after that you know I would do a thousand shots every day have to make a thousand shots and that would be like I would go around a hundred shots a spot bank shots on both sides hook shots 100 hook shots 100 left hand hooks like running hooks like all these different things so I started to develop like the shots were so easy because of that You know, imagine making a thousand shots every single day, which means you're going to miss a lot of shots.

30:57But from doing it over time, you develop that. And so I was thankful for that. And then when we got a chance to play with each other, you know, I just thought we were like, he's this old bull and I'm the young bull. And, you know, it seemed like we're not seeing eye to eye, but only because of communication. and after we separated from teams in the little fight, I was like, man, why is Kobe, me and Kobe, getting into it? And if you see in the fight, I'm like, I know you, but I'm saying it to him like, bro, I don't want to fight you. You Kobe, I grew up watching you. You're one of my favorite players.

31:41We was on the same team. you know me you know I ain't got no disrespect towards you uh but then after that whole incident after he retired and I saw him at the game with his daughter and I see him doing the you know um going and coaching his the girls team and stuff like that you know I saw the other side you know of him you know and it wasn't the I'm on the court like I gotta be the mamba I gotta be But I saw the fatherhood, so I couldn't relate to it because I have kids. And I'm like, oh, okay, we going through it. But this man just really trying to, you know, provide for his family and do whatever.

32:23And we over here trying to do the same thing. But, you know, we didn't come together in that moment.

32:28Rich Eisen:Did you eventually hash it out with him or no? I remember before one game, he kind of like I was shooting threes. He came and hit me in the back of the head. It was like, I'm proud of you or whatever. So that was really good. I remember my son had one of the last pictures with him. He was a little bit younger. He took a picture on the side with Kobe. And it'll always be a core memory. Dwight Howard here on the Rich Eisen Show. What do you say to people who think there's an asterisk next to the Lakers championship because it was the bubble and COVID and stuff like that? What do you say to that?

33:04I just think that it's a dumb thing to say. because we actually still had to go play. And if another team would have won, nobody would have ever said, oh, because it was in the bubble, they won. You know what I'm saying? We actually had to go out there during the toughest time in the history of our world. Like this wasn't something that was just in America. This was a pandemic. We're leaving our families, our kids. my son's mom had just passed a couple weeks before we had to go to the bubble and you know for me I couldn't even he wasn't even allowed to come in so I had to you know make that sacrifice and leave him you know at home and you know be there and everybody had to make certain sacrifices but it's like it was tough it was tough being away no crowd no people there in the stands everything that's going on in the world.

34:04We got the political stuff that's going on with who's about to be the next president. The George Floyd situation. So many things were happening. A lot of people was looking at it like, we just got to go play basketball. Before that started, we was the number one team. Before we had to go on any break, we was the number one team and we would have won regardless.

34:25Rich Eisen:I think anybody else is just hating. Were you involved in those conversations about not playing at all? Remember that happened? I remember I remember, and I was. I was, but I'm glad that I still played. You know, obviously on the emotional side and, you know, understand, you know, what America is dealing with. Right. I felt like at that point we needed to focus on, you know, trying to, you know, help our country get better. But at the same time, winning a championship is hard. You know, it's not that just simple. Right. Certainly in a pandemic. At any time. Most people's favorite player in the world, Michael Jordan, played for 14 seasons.

35:08He has six championships. So for the other years, the greatest player in the world didn't win. So you can't win every year. But to get there, to win, it is extremely difficult. It doesn't matter if it's a million fans or no fans playing. You're still playing against professional athletes who are trying to win too. What do you think of the state of the game today? Dwight Howard. I love it. You do? I love it. All these kids watched all of us play.

35:37Rich Eisen:Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? I feel like our era was kind of like the golden age of basketball. People might say the birds and magic era, but, you know, just the bronze, the D-Ways, the dirt and the whiskeys, the Shacks. Duncan. Tim Duncan. Yao Ming. Amari. you got all these players that played in this era these young guys watched us Shea, who did he watch? He watched Kobe he emulates him you look at Anthony Edwards you know what I'm saying? he watched all these players come before him you watch Jokic you know, he's dominant but he's not dunking on people he's shooting, he's getting assists he's doing all that they watched us so why would I, you know hate or pull them down as players.

36:30We want to build them up because they're carrying on the name of basketball.

36:34Rich Eisen:What do you think of when you see Wembenyama? Man, I love him. He's a real alien. He's 7 '5". He's like he went to go see the monks. So that's fire. Like, just for him to even have that mindset at the age of, I don't know, how old is Wimby? What, 20? I think he's just turned 20. 22? Is he 21, 22? To have that mindset at 22 to make sure he dedicate himself to this sport with so much stuff going on around him. Yeah. It's amazing to see him going to work out with Jamal Crawford for his handles, him going to see KG for his mentality on the court and the monks. You know what I'm saying? That's awesome.

37:22Like he might, like he's like Kareem. He's like Kareem with a jump shot. Well, not saying Kareem didn't have one. Right. Kareem was the hook. This guy's doing the jump shot. With some magic mixed in too. With some magic Johnson. Man, and some KG. He got it. So I'm loving what he's doing on the court. I just want him to stay healthy and continue success. He's going to carry our league with the rest of these young guys.

37:49Rich Eisen:How do you like doing your pod? I love it, you know. For me, I like talking about a lot of things outside of basketball, which is weird. Because people say you played basketball for so long. But, you know, I just love having high-level conversations. That's why we called it Above the Rim. Right. To talk about, you know, things that have happened outside of basketball. But, you know, basketball was a part of my life for a very long time. So it's not like we're trying to make it obsolete. But, you know, we do want to have conversation and get people to know me and to know the different guests that come on.

38:23Rich Eisen:And your charitable works. I know you were you were all about dog rescue for the wheel. Is that a rescue dog? Well, I rescue her from. Angel is her name? Well, her mama. OK. But Angel is her name. You just got to. I rescued her from her mama. Understood. OK. Angel is a year and four months. I've had her since she was about this big. She was the only witness at my wedding for me and my wife. Okay. So she's been there since the beginning. When I first signed with Big Three and went to the draft, Angel was there. She went to go see my dad, get his deacons, get initiated and be a deacon. She's everywhere.

39:10Rich Eisen:So she's in the green room right now. If you called her from here, would she come? She might come, but she can't hear me. Angel! Let's see. Let's release the hound. Angel! Come on. Come on now, Angel. Just get her on out here. Is she coming around the corner? She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes. We're a very, very, very dog-friendly program. Dogs are so... Hold on a second. Come here, Angel. Here we go, baby. I'm right here, baby. Hey, come here, girl. Good job. Hey, girl. I love you so much. What's up, baby? How you doing? Yeah, I love you so much. Yeah, Angel is so amazing. I'll tell you, I did a flag football game the other day.

40:02Okay. And as I was on the field running, everybody said that Angel, she sat and just looked at you. Making eye contact with me the whole game. She's just really a great dog.

40:15Rich Eisen:I could see when I came out, when I went back to say hi in the green room, she just popped out and so sweet. She is a very sweet girl. What mix do we know? She is a Belgian Malinois. She's on the tiny side, so I call her my mini Mal. Okay. She's a mini Malinois. And what's the name of your charity again? My charity. For your dog rescue? For the dog rescue. I'm sorry. No, you got so many of them. I just slipped my mind. I just started looking at her eyes. Well, how about this? Everybody help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed and neutered and adopt. You know, don't shop. Adopt and don't shop.

40:53You like that? and spray and neuter the dogs. That's not fair to the dogs. They got to get some love, too, man. That's not fair.

41:00Rich Eisen:At some point. Dogs need love, too, at least one time. Okay. There they go. Hey, Dwight, thanks for coming on here. Thanks for having me. Anytime. Let me know whenever you're in Los Angeles. Yes. Would you guys consider Dwight Howard a villain guest host for here on the program? Want to hang with Dwight for a day here? Sure. Yeah, let me do that. You want this chair, you know? Well, that's your chair. I don't want to take your chair. I'd take it back. I don't want to take your chair. I'll just sit somewhere else and look good. No, you could host the program for you. I could host the show. Would you like to do that?

41:36Rich Eisen:I would love to do that. All your friends, you know? But only if you sign the... Well, no, this is mine. You got one. You didn't keep yours? But I want yours. No, this is mine. You sign this one. I want some of Craig's money. how about you sign this and then i keep it here but that defeat the purpose but that was good that was good okay i can do that all right this is my i mean this is you can have it i just i just i just feel bad for getting whooped so bad that's a real good man thank you for coming here that's dwight howard on the rich eyes and show above the rim with d12 podcast wherever you get your podcasts uh we're back to wrap this up but telling you what's going on in the seahawks victory parade See, I'm not even smiling there.

42:21Rich Eisen:I know what's going on in my skull. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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44:42Rich Eisen:I don't know if you saw we had a Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawk Ernest Jones the fourth on yesterday. Oh gross. Not for him. I know for a Rams fan. Yeah. He's the one who basically told everybody after the Rams beat the Seahawks in a four interception game for Sam Darnold that you know anybody that's carping on his quarterback. What do you say quite frankly F you. Yes. And you know because we always love following up on stories that we unearth here on the program. He said that for the parade, he was hoping to get a T-shirt made that he got back. He hoped he was going to get it in time for the parade and that it did involve that famous soundbite about what people should do to themselves.

45:24Rich Eisen:Right. Is that it? So he did get the T-shirt. He did get the T-shirt made. To the point where we show it, we have to blur things out. I mean, are we going to show it? What do we have? Let's see it. Yeah. What do we got? so it's sam darnold smoking a heater uh flipping off the camera okay yeah all right so ernest jones got it done yeah and he's he was like kind of sheepish about it saying that his grandfather didn't like him using this language right yeah hopefully grandpa had earmuffs when ernest jones addressed the fans in seattle at the parade do we have that sound bite all queued up No, we don't.

46:03Rich Eisen:So what happened? Oh, he gets up there and he's like, anyone who talks about our defense, our offensive line, the city of Seattle, my quarterback, and then he's like. F you. He basically had two words for him. Yeah, I got two words for you. Hopefully Grandpa had earmuffs. Yeah, yeah. We'll cue that one up for tomorrow's program. It's pretty good. You got to respect that. Absolutely, 100%. Have your teammates back. And also, you won the Super Bowl. Do what you want. Talk it. Yeah, bro. Let it out. Don't you think? It's hating your heart. Let it out. Where were you watching the game? Well, I was watching a Bad Bunny concert, and then strangely they were playing football.

46:42Nice. I like it. But yeah, my buddy Marlins. You know, we got it. We all got together. Hate watched the whole thing. I was hoping the power went out in the stadium, honestly. Until Bad Bunny. Then you weren't here. Yeah, Bad Bunny. Yeah, bro. It was hot. Loved it. Me too. Had a great time. And also, people talking about not being able to understand it. I still, to this day, don't understand a word Sean Paul says. I still play them songs. I couldn't tell you what he's talking about at all. What were they saying? You know? You know what I mean? I don't know. Hey, the beat is nice. I'm good. That's the rhythm, y 'all.

47:16Rich Eisen:It's going to get you. Yeah. Woo. Nice. I just went a little Miami Sound Machine on you. Didn't I do that? Yes. Like I said, the music's universal. Conga. Who's on No Contest Wrestling? Oh. The ruler. and officially the record holder for most appearances on the No Contest Wrestling Podcast, Obafemi will be joining us. He is taking the wrestling world by storm. Those who didn't know, now they know. We tried to put him on like last year and I got told that I didn't know what I was talking about and now everybody. That's right, TJ. The bottom on it, I got him and it'll be great and he'll be recording it and that'll be in your RSS feeds by the end of the day, which is always great.

47:55Rich Eisen:We're at the end of this show. 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.

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