Hour 3: Josh Alper, Pro Football Talk

0:01Rich Eisen:This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. Right now, get up to 15 % off Select Storage Solutions. Put heavy-duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you.

0:34Rich Eisen:The solid, impact-resistant design prevents cracking. And the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15 % off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home, from your garage to your attic. Visit homedepot.com. How doers get more done. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part.

1:15Rich Eisen:Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Oh my God, you guys are my favorites. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The one and only. Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about. That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Brian Weber. I mean, honestly, he's brilliant. Brian Weber. I've got a long resume. Google me, it saves time. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Brian Weber.

1:54We have arrived at the final hour of the program and the last 60 minutes of content before Rich is back. I am a fan of low, as Barry once said. Look like we made it. Rich and the team return on Monday. I'll do my best not to destroy his impeccable brand in our last hour together. Coming up in 20 minutes because this is the football show of record. Mr. Eisen, employee number one and still the face of NFL Network. We'll get you set for the start of NFL training camps. Now just 11 days away. We'll move across the league when we're joined by Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. We're going to jump right in talking NBA.

2:38I've done my best to be comprehensive as we're now just 60 minutes away. 59 precisely because as I mentioned, soccer always starts on time. the second quarterfinal in Englewood, California, between the Spanish powerhouse and Belgium, who exposed the United States on Monday, coming off the greatness of Mbappe and France's victory yesterday 2-0, as we say, on the pitch in Morocco. We've talked some UFC. We've talked a lot of baseball. If you missed any of that, you're covered. Just stick and stay and look for the podcast. It'll drop just over an hour and change from now. And it's something you subscribe to, I hope, by now.

3:25If not, just throw the subscribe button down, and you will be fully covered every day moving forward. Let's get back to the NBA. I don't want to spend much more time on Kawhi Leonard, and I am not myopic enough to presume that you'd give me three hours of your time, especially as a fill-in host, given all the options that are out there now, and especially because I hope most of you are still enjoying summer vacation. And if you are, I appreciate you hanging with me for a bit. The quick summation of the Kawhi story really comes down to this. Ten months into the allegations of what you can really boil down to a no-show endorsement deal that allegedly gave Kawhi money that wouldn't obviously count against the salary cap because it came from a third-party company that Clipper owner Steve Ballmer invested in.

4:17So it was a way to funnel money to Kawhi without having any cap consequences. We're now 10 months into this, and a quick moment to pause and celebrate the journalism of Pablo Torre, who, of course, is a valued member here at ESPN. In fact, I caught him on part of the interruption again yesterday. I love the dynamic between Pablo and Tony Kornheiser. As I get older, I feel like I'm getting much more Tony and a lot less Pablo. But Pablo is doing real journalism, sports journalism. Doesn't have to be a paradox and oxymoron. Doesn't have to be jumbo shrimp or military intelligence. It requires legwork, determination, and being aware you might offend some people that are your media partners.

5:02And Pablo is doing such great work, he won a Pulitzer Prize. So he's been all over this. and I'm here in Southern California, so I've tracked it fairly closely because I was wondering all year long, when is the league going to do anything? Are they going to drop a hammer on the Clippers? Well, I knew they weren't going to do it in and around the All-Star game because the Clippers hosted it at Intuit Dome. Then I figured they're not going to do it during the playoffs because they don't want to distract from that. Then I figured I was with you on the 3rd of July. Wouldn't have that been the greatest news dump of them all?

5:36But too obvious, I guess. So I'm thinking we'll finally get clarity once Summer League is done. That is July 19th as it got underway last night in Vegas after the minor tune-up events in San Francisco and Salt Lake City. And we saw the future of the NBA on display last night in Nevada with a lot of current stars courtside. After all, Summer League really is just a giant NBA convention, much like the NFL scouting combine brings the football world together. If you didn't catch the highlights, you'll have plenty of opportunities to see number one pick, A.J. DeBonson, number two pick, Darren Peterson, moving forward.

6:18The biggest takeaway was you got a sense of how bright the futures of both of these players are. I know it's summer league. I am not trying to sell you a bill of goods that's not grounded in reality. They're playing against guys who'll be lucky to be the 12th man, or they're going to the G League. And we saw what they did at a high level against better competition many nights in college. But it does speak to the fact that the NBA has never had more depth and a better distribution of talent than they do currently. And maybe, just maybe, one of these years, the Wizards will be watchable. I'll be watching just because I love the athleticism of the Bonsa.

6:58Got to work on his outside game. That was glaring again last night going 0-5 from three-point land. But we know Wes Unselt ain't walking through that door in our nation's capital. Finally, some hope for the Wizards. As for the Clippers, they got through this entire year, finally decided to part ways with Kawhi, got a lot in return for him. Brandon Ingram, plus another player, two firsts and two seconds. That is objectively more than Brad Stevens got for Jalen Brown, who we had to trade. He says, let me say this word slowly, due to optionality. In English, he wanted more roster flexibility that he couldn't have with two Supermax players, namely Brown and Tatum.

7:41So the Clippers do a good deal. That's breaking news. Kawhi is gone, we think. He's been to Toronto, back to where he's a hero after winning the title there. Really interesting, it's the Raptors who made this trade because remember, they were in the hunt for Kawhi originally when he made his LeBron-esque decision. And Pablo Torres reported that Uncle Dennis, who runs the show at least financially for Team Kawhi, had reportedly approached the Raptors asking for a similar arrangement that allegedly the Clippers gave to him. Namely, he wanted to get paid through corporations as a side hustle to make more money.

8:23Nothing wrong with that except it's against the NBA rules. So what does it all mean? The league stepped in yesterday and just said, we're going to pause things until there is the final release of the findings. And along the way, the Raptors have to decide, say, and I don't think this is going to happen, if Kawhi has to sit 20 games, pick a number. If there's any kind of suspension, do they still want to pull the trigger on the deal? Or do they want to go back to the Clippers and say, okay, guy's not going to play for a quarter of the year. Give us back one of the picks. That's all this means, and I probably could have done it in two minutes less time, but I try to be exhaustive and make sure that we're covering all the bases.

9:05So we'll find out. Once the hammer comes down, my thoughts would be there's no smoking gun to connect Kawhi to any of this. I don't think anything happens to him in terms of an on-the-court suspension. Bomber's going to have to go for a while. Write a big check, but that's not a big deal, and the Clippers are going to be docked massively in terms of their trade abilities in the future and draft capital. There's going to be onerous, on a big word, Friday restrictions because the NBA cannot allow this kind of Joe Smith situation to happen again after that precedent years ago. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich.

9:44Hit me up on the X platform, B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs. In 15 minutes, we make the move to the NFL when we're joined by Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. In terms of LeBron, and I think we have all gotten to a point of wake me when it's over, and I think it's clearly by design. The man loves attention, and you can't blame him. If you have more money than six, seven, eight, nine future generations of your relatives can spend, if you're statistically the greatest player of all time as the NBA's leading scorer. What else can you get? How about adulation and attention? So he is slow playing this, I think, completely from a standpoint of generating more content for his documentary.

10:32And he just loves that we're talking about, among the people talking about the king, ESPN senior NBA insider, Sham Sharania, detailing this great item on NBA Today, how teams are having to use technology to communicate with LeBron. Some of the leading suitors for LeBron James, whether that's a Golden State, Cleveland, Miami, Minnesota, Philadelphia, some of them have been able to send a voice note to LeBron James via Rich Paul. So whether it's an owner, a president, or a general manager, being able to record a voice note, I'm told, send it to Rich Paul, and that makes its way to LeBron James. This is just a part of LeBron James' process of studying as he makes the decision.

11:19And it's unclear whether Cleveland or Miami have been among the teams that have sent a voice note to LeBron via Rich Paul. Again, they kind of don't need to. They already had him in their buildings in the recent past. Is this like leaving messages back in the day? Is LeBron walking around with a handful of quarters, pumping them into pay phones, trying to update what's going on? Hey, this is LeBron at the tone. Leave your name and number. I keep going back to the word unseemly. It just feels too complicated, too layered, too cute by half. But when LeBron has total control, as he does, and I know the CBA talk is boring, but it is important because it's the rules of the road.

12:08because now free agency has effectively been killed. Other than LeBron, thank goodness the content gods smiled upon us with the king making this long, tedious, drawn-out free agent decision. These teams don't have any urgency to lean on him to fill out their rosters because they're primarily set. The moves have been made. And, in fact, right now all we're waiting for are marginal developments like, say, Jonathan Kaminga, who clearly Steve Kerr and the Hawks both agree is not nearly as good as I have thought. Now, Kaminga truly is a unicorn. On some nights, he looks like the best player in the league with all of that raw athletic ability.

12:51Other nights, he looks like he's never played basketball before. And Steve Kerr obviously did not want to deal with that inconsistency. Plus, he prefers veterans that he can count on. But there are reports out there, and especially it's percolating because all the basketball journalists and executives and agents are gathering in Vegas, that the Lakers could be trying to work out a sign-and-trade to get Atlanta to send them Kaminga. That's what we've been reduced to. So it's all LeBron all the time for a reason. But let's say you're Bob Myers. with all of those rings, one of the brightest guys in all of sports, the architect of the Warriors dynasty to a degree, now consulting with the Sixers, wasn't it beneath him to have to go on the Rich Paul show and make his sales pitch for LeBron like it's a bad ripoff of Shark Tank?

13:46And I understand, especially because LeBron is the producer, everything is content now. It just feels too wonky. and at some point just make up your mind, but he's doing it because he can. And he's doing it because he has sucked all of the oxygen out of the league and he is front and center for the final time other than when his farewell tour winds down. So from a basketball standpoint and a hoops perspective only, sounds like the Nuggets are out as much as I would have really liked the scene. Just talking about fit and situation, LeBron, Joker, and then Murray becoming the third option for a team that was the three seed in the West this season.

14:33Golden States, it's feeling like Shams reporting indicates that the Warriors feel like they are more of a long shot than was originally thought to be the case. You get the motivation for LeBron there. Remember, he keeps talking about maximizing happiness. He would be happy with Steph because they're tight, and we saw their chemistry on the floor in the Olympics. I'm not going to waste time in Minnesota because I don't think he wants to babysit Lonzo Ball and the Ant-Man. Miami, if he's truly a storyteller, this isn't a great story. We have seen this saga before. I guess maybe there'd be plenty of room for Bronny because they need a lot of help after everything they gave up to get Giannis.

15:14And I think it's important for LeBron to be the second option. He was not at all pleased. It was obvious with being the third wheel here in L.A. behind Luka and Reeves and the third wheel financially in offseason when they made Austin Reeves the first player ever to be undrafted to get a max deal. Cleveland is the obvious. Homecoming and maximize what's available on the floor. Lost in the shuffle of them getting embarrassed by the Knicks and swept away in the conference finals. Cleveland finally got back to the conference finals. and James Harden disappears in the postseason, but he's a facilitator and would defer to LeBron with Spider Mitchell being the lead alpha on that team.

15:55And then finally, Sixers make the most basketball sense. And if you want to tell a story, the Sixers haven't won a title since 1983. Back to the if proposition. If Jalone Bede could finally stay healthy and if my aunt dot, dot, dot, she'd be my uncle. But let's just take Embiid off the floor because he's always off the floor. LeBron plus Jalen Brown plus an all-NBA talent now in Maxie and Edgecombe coming off a solid rookie year. They are right there with the Knicks in terms of the top teams in the East. But it's up to LeBron to make his decision whenever he wants because he has total control whether you, I, or anybody else likes it.

16:38I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. Enough NBA. This show is all about football with Mr. Eisen as the face that runs the place at NFL Network coming up for less than 11 days away from the starting training camp. How much separation is there now between the Rams with the addition of Miles Garrett and potentially Aaron Donald coming back? And everybody else will find out when we're joined by Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. Get into the Hyundai getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong. Right now, you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid.

17:20Plus, there's our bold and stylish Elantra loaded with the latest tech or go all-electric with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. This is The Rich Eisen Show.

18:08Rich Eisen:with ultra-fast charging capability. Because the future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Rich Eisen here for gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job, but they still have to be handled right.

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19:57Rich Eisen:the rich isa show podcast home stretch on a friday Brian Weber back with you. We are winding down. That means Mr. Eisen is warming up, getting ready for his triumphant return on Monday. We still have a lot to get to. We are efforting, my favorite media word. Words we only use in our business, like ensuing, right? On the ensuing kickoff. I got another one that comes to mind. Do you stave off elimination or do you prevent elimination? I don't know why we do these old-timey things anymore, but I got it in the broadcasting handbook. We are attempting to overcome some cell phone issues with my pal, Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, and I spoke it into existence.

20:44My voice is so loud, I just shook the tech. Josh, I appreciate you taking the time with your great work at Pro Football Talk. How are you? I'm doing great, Brian. Do you have soccer fever? Are you just running wild on the pitch?

20:59Rich Eisen:I have a fair amount of it I have nothing that's ICU necessary at this point But yeah, I have a 12-year-old daughter who's played soccer for about five years So it has been fun to watch And I think especially because the best players have all shown up in such a big way And to see that happen, it's like, you know, it's the Olympics, the World Cup These things that happen so rarely, you don't want someone to have a disappointing one Right, unless you're in the United States. But you said it well because I keep going back to the term of star power with Conor McGregor getting back into the octagon tomorrow to see the great Messi, to see Mbappe score again.

21:39Holland, that man is just Thor. I hate to be that obvious, but that dude would just knock you over in any sport. The stars have been trying to – hey, quick thoughts since you're a soccer dad. What do you make of now the debate about soccer being too expensive for kids and then Alexi Lalas trying to clap back saying, while anybody with a ball and sneakers could play it. What has your personal experience been?

22:02Rich Eisen:I would love for it to be less expensive. I think that there are people that are closed out to it. My daughter plays for a club that we do some scholarship stuff and try and get as many people were in the New York City area. So there's a lot of people that don't have the means to play and would want to and would be, you know, and are increasingly from cultures that are, you know, very entwined with soccer. So I think it's a natural thing for the United States to develop those ties to try and find ways, I would think, through the MLS and U.S. soccer to get more of those people involved in the game so that this next generation of Americans are going to be ready to go.

22:48Rich Eisen:So, you know, I feel like we always keep waiting for the U.S. soccer breakthrough. But even if that doesn't happen, that the MLS would be a league that can make a lot of money selling players to other bigger teams. And, you know, there are leagues all around the world that do that. And Norway is a perfect example that they don't have a top flight league, but it hasn't stopped them, even though they have a fraction of the people in the United States. Well said, Josh showing his versatility. I figured you would be up to speed for a couple reasons. You're bright. And anybody who's been going to, friend of the program, Mike Florios, profootballtalk.com, knows that Mike has been posting a lot about the beautiful game.

23:28Hey, Josh, I saw Pele play in 1977, so we've been waiting for the United States to be good in the World Cup for a minute. But let us get to the NFL because training camps officially open in 11 days when the rookies for the Panthers and the Cardinals show up. Let's start with the reigning champs. Chiefs won back-to-back titles a few years ago, but before that, it had been two decades since the Patriots won consecutive Super Bowls. How do you see the positives and negatives of an argument that the Seahawks have a real chance to run it back and win another Super Bowl?

24:03Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, the negatives are the same ones they are for every team. It's, you know, injury luck. It's the amount of time they had to spend playing and, you know, the shorter offseason. the the kinds of bounces you know you they they squeaked by the rams in the nfc championship game in a game that could have flipped on any number of plays over the course of the afternoon um you know the negatives are are there the positives are you know sam darnold's confidence and and belief in himself and and his team's belief in him should be absolutely you know enormous at this point the belief in in mike mcdonald as a leader two years into his head coaching career to be doing this is tremendous.

24:48Rich Eisen:And, you know, you lost Kenneth Walker. You lost some other, a few other guys here and there. Rick Woolen, obviously. But the core, the guys that you would say were the main reasons that for the entire season, forget about the Super Bowl itself, were the playoffs. And I think you have all those pieces still in place, but they're playing in the toughest division in football, in my opinion. and I think that and the injury stuff makes it very hard to do anything other than take the field. And I agree with that assessment beyond whatever the metrics would say. Clearly, I think the NFC West is the toughest division heading into this year with the addition of Miles Garrett to the Rams in all of football.

25:29I'm Brian Weber filling in for Rich. It's the Rich Eisen Show here on ESPN Radio taking across the NFL with Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. Josh, since I alluded to the Chiefs, what's your outlook for KC with Patrick Mahomes coming back from the knee injury after they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014?

25:48Rich Eisen:I think it's going to look similar to most of the last few seasons. You know, the 23 and 24 regular seasons felt like, you know, how exactly are they going to get this done with this mishmash of players on offense? And I feel the same way about that. And, you know, you have confidence in Reed and Mahomes, but, you know, it really feels like increasingly they're doing it with, you know, tricks and manipulation. And I don't know how much that flies. My big question and the thing that I would hang my hat on if I wanted to believe in the Chiefs is that Steve Spagnuolo has rebuilt this defense two or three times in this run.

26:32Rich Eisen:And you bring in new blood on that side of the ball and, you know, they lost a couple of corners. they they've really changed the look of that defense a great deal that that there could be growth there that can allow the offense time to find itself and and you know I think that's kind of the same place they've been in for the last few years it didn't go well last year but again to go back to the luck idea you know they were so good in one score games before that flipped last year if that flips back you know I think you're looking at a team that could make the playoffs I I wouldn't put them ahead of Denver or the Chargers in the West at this point, though.