Hour 3: NFL Schedule Release Morsels, plus NBC Sports’ Jamal Crawford Talks NBA Playoffs

0:00Rich Eisen: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. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. I know you're going to dig this. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here we go again. Don with a three ball. That was perfect. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Dunks. Thunder by one. Ted Harvitt.

0:44Rich Eisen:Don't be so mean. Earlier on the show. Panthers GM Dan Morgan. Senior NBA writer for The Athletic Sam Amick. Coming up. NBC Sports NBA analyst Jamal Crawford. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on this very busy Tuesday edition of the show. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program. It's Lakers exit interview day, which is the day where all the players who are still available, the head coach and the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers, sit there and hold a handheld mic like it's really weird sitting in chairs, you know like it's a fireside chat yeah season's over back to you um as soon as uh we find out what rob palenka and or jj reddick are saying we'll flip that sound around you will turn it around it's a television or radio term we already had sam amick of the athletic on the program says that he thinks uh lebron um might wind up choosing Golden State or going back home to Cleveland, staying put.

1:59Rich Eisen:Like, nobody really knows anything right now. Giannis is 100 % up for grabs, as he said. He also said he lost his wallet at the combine. If you see it, return it, please. They're in the city of Chicago. We'd greatly appreciate it. It's the biggest mystery since what happened to RDU 90. Switch to samples. Somebody switch to a wallet on Sam. Okay. We had Dan Morgan, the general manager of the Carolina Panthers, overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. If you missed any of it, there's our Disney Plus feed. Wherever you get Disney Plus, just watch us back whenever you want. There's our podcast all three hours.

2:40Rich Eisen:And also, there's our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. Let's turn to a fellow Michigan man who's getting set to call with Mike Tirico and Reggie Miller tonight's pivotal game five between the Spurs and the two wolves on NBC, a 20-year veteran of the NBA and a Michigan man, Jamal Crawford on the program. How you doing, Jamal? I'm great. Thanks for having me. I've been watching the clips and seeing the different people on the show. It's an honor to be here. Thank you. Jamal, appreciate you saying that. I mentioned you. I name-checked you the other day when I'm talking about, because some fans are like, where do I find games now?

3:20Rich Eisen:Now, I'm not, you know, viewing habits over decades since you were in the league, before you were in the league or whatever, are being changed. And some people lament that. And I said that it just means different voices in different places are home to big time moments. And I mentioned you. I really have enjoyed what you're doing. And I'm wondering how you've enjoyed it so far, doing it. Well, first off, you saying that means, like I said, everything. Like you're Rich Eisen. I mean, I know you see yourself as just, you know, doing your work, doing your thing, but you're a legend. I appreciate it.

3:54I've enjoyed it, though, because it's like I'm truly a fan and I hope to give a different perspective. I didn't go to school for it. So, you know, some of it's like you said that on TV. You know what I mean? Like, it's like I'm just a fan up there watching the barbershop and I'm really, really, really enjoying it. Working with the great Mike Tirico and Reggie Miller. So it's been like a blast working with other guys as well. but those two are like you know next level have been around for a long long time well i mean in

4:21Rich Eisen:tonight's game couldn't be huger couldn't be bigger yes um and it's gonna be just uh i imagine uh a color-coded cauldron you know what i mean like where everybody in their their shirts and based on wemby getting the gate in game four and whether he you know meant to throw the elbow and the way that they are handling him, literally and figuratively putting hands on him. How do you feel tonight is going to go whistle-wise involving Wembanyama, Jamal? Yeah, whistle-wise, I think if the refs and everybody else is paying attention to everything else in the world, hearing Coach Mitch Johnson's press conference after last game and saying, you know what, I don't condone what he did, but he has to take matters in his own hand.

5:08he's been getting beat up on and it's funny rich i was just like giving wimby props in the game like man you know all the holding and grabbing he's not you know going forward he's just gets up bounce back no no expression no nothing and then that happens so i put the announcer's jinx on him but other than that i expect it to be called a lot tighter i know it's game five and you want to let the players decide but you can't have another situation not just with wimby with anybody you know where it takes players away or gets them out the game because you know it just gets a little bit

5:38Rich Eisen:too physical or a little bit too much at times yeah i mean and if we my crew could put that photograph up one more time my favorite part of this is i believe it's dylan harper in the background there his reaction like oh man like you know what was your reaction when you saw it well you know what reg and i were kind of grabbing each other's arms like what like oh my gosh and leaning into mike like wow because we had just seen wimby's always so cool calm and collected He just is, right? And so for that moment, you know, he had had one too many Jersey tugs. He was like, all right, enough's enough.

6:11So it's going to be very interesting the rest of the way to see how this plays out if it goes his last three games.

6:18Rich Eisen:Well, what would your advice be to this young? He's still so young, right? And you could see he's putting more muscle mass on his body year after year. But he still is at such a physically freakish dimensions, right? that there's no other way i think even with uh rudy gobert who fellow michigan man chris weber keeps calling the stifle tower even with the stifle tower you know guarding him there's no way to guard him other than to mug him most of the time how do you think when bunyama like what what would be the advice to him on how to handle game five and the rest of his playoffs and then beyond jamal i think the same thing i think and as this goes forward right like not just this season beyond you might see that one or two guys who's who comes off the bench and is like no no no we're not we're not going for that you know almost like the protector the buffer uh to kind of make sure things like this don't happen uh jordan had it with charles oakley you know the bad boy pistons had everybody that was there for isaiah so you know it's just what it is but for him i tell him to keep his cool because that's what they want you to do they want to get you frustrated they want to get you off the court because to your point rich there's no other way to deal with him.

7:33He can literally do everything on the court. When he went off the court, you've seen how easy it was for the Timberwolves just to drive to the bat. They were like, oh my gosh. Layup after layup, we're going to attack every single time. He knows that. He knows that his team needs him out there. They're going to do this on purpose to try to get this reaction. You just can't do it.

7:51Rich Eisen:Speaking of reactions, again, I'm just looking at the montages. The photograph that we just used, the one of Wemby on the floor. That one, yeah. There's Dylan harper again i think i think he's the he's in the background he's got you thought you had a front row seat to all this he's the one with the front row seat going oh man he has the best seat he has the very best seat right there absolutely his mouth's like oh i can't believe this right like i see this dude every day and he doesn't react like that but yeah i think i think when you know whenby winton he was with i had him for some time he was with the monks he was with uh akeem i think right there he may have tapped into his KG ticket where his KG badge was like nah we ain't going no more no more of this Jamal Crawford here on the Rich Eisen show okay so last night's uh Oklahoma City Thunder sweep of the Lakers there's a couple ways to go with it let's go with the obvious do you think LeBron James um is done in Los Angeles done period or is gonna stay put what do you think Jamal you know what I don't think he's done period I'll say that because he's such a big icon that I think he'll he'll say it early enough where he can really enjoy going into every city knowing this his last time he can let that city enjoy knowing it's his last time you know he's been around forever he's dominated for so long I think for sure this isn't his last year now if he's if he's last year in LA that's a little bit different because obviously part of the last part of fun even though it was frustrating, was that he was back being the number one option.

9:24Like he said last night, I've been accustomed to that. I've been that my whole life. So for him, being a quote-unquote third option the whole year and maybe not sliding down even further than that, if they're going to get even better to try to compete for a championship, I'm not sure he's on board with that. And that's just me saying that from the eye test of knowing, you know, what he's been this whole time and still producing at the highest level. Rich, we've never seen something like this for somebody to dominate this. Have you seen something like this at this point? Never, right?

9:54Rich Eisen:Tom Brady would be the only comparison in terms of age, in terms of excellence, in terms of championship play. Unfortunately, though, for LeBron, the road's part in the fact that Brady won rings as a 40-year-old. And here is LeBron in a spot where, I don't know. I just see Luka in street clothes over the last two weeks, and I'm just shaking my head, you know, thinking of what March looked like for the Lakers, where Luka was the player of the month in the Western Conference in March. And yeah, LeBron was occasionally a third option, but he was still an important piece of what looked like a championship run for that team.

10:41Rich Eisen:And then the, you know, hamstring gives way, and now they're swept up. that's why I'm like, I got to wonder, like LeBron's got to sit there, Jamal, and go, if I stay put here, I'm assuming he also gets to still play with his son, which is a major impetus. He might like living in his house all year long, right? In Southern California. There's the thing called life that he likes out here potentially. But if he looks over the steering wheel and he sees a better spot, where do you think that might be? What's your best dart throw i always give i always give guests here you give one dark throw well i do and the fact and here's what i say for you is if you get it right we'll keep replaying it like hey jamal oh if you get it wrong this never happened don't worry about some personal gain with this all right let me think yes okay let me think man on state golden state golden state why do you say that what what's the fit there i think for him he staggers what they do well And I think that's what Jimmy Butler made, would make them dangerous with Jimmy Butler in the playoffs, because he had all this shooting.

11:50He had, you know, all these people that can move around and give space to let him do his one on one thing that he needed to do in the playoffs when the game slowed down. I think LeBron can kind of feel that role of playing that style and still, you know, his IQ. I've always said for years, especially when they were in their championship run, you can't play in Golden State if you don't have a high basketball IQ. because it's such read and reacts and making the right reads and the ball not sticking. I think in the playoffs, Jimmy was going to definitely help Steph. Even the first year, Steph was so excited.

12:20I remember talking to him in person, and I was in New York after the trade happened, and he was like, oh, my gosh. He loved the addition of Jimmy Butler. I think LeBron can give a version of that. So I would say Golden State. If I'm right, you got to play it all the time, Rich, like all the time.

12:35Rich Eisen:This is maybe going to be on a loop first or second week of July. Okay, there you go. I like it. Because that might be the timing for it. That might be the timing for it. I like it. I'll give you that shot. Hold on. What's your shot? What's your shot, though? My shot is he stays put here. I think he stays. I thought we were talking if he left L.A. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no. Okay, so I think he stays. But if he leaves L.A., Cleveland, I think maybe he's full circle, going home again, joining a team that, as we saw last night, once again, obviously Donovan Mitchell going off for 39 in the second half.

13:19Rich Eisen:Harden, the rest of that team, the way it is constructed, if he goes home, he's not the guy. He can be the guy if necessary, and it's a full circle moment. you know and the eastern conference the eastern conference although far from a southern california home base um is i think a little bit more open for a championship run your dart may be as uh closer to the bullseye than mine that that sounds really good i want to change but i'm gonna stay solid i'm gonna stay solid right now how about that i'll take the eastern conference you took the west thing covered but at the end of the day i don't know uh he just sits there maybe i'll stay with Luca.

13:57Rich Eisen:I'll stay with Bronny. I'll stay in my house. I'll stay with Austin Reeves. We'll see what they can do otherwise. But then again, you're staying in the same conference as Oklahoma City. And I do want to give you the floor on what's the most impressive aspect of their team right now? Wow. I think the most impressive thing of their team for me is that they're winning the present, they're winning the middle, and they're winning the future and what i mean by that is that it's unbelievable it is it's because the present we see what the present is right they haven't lost the game in the playoffs they have everything set up for like right now to continue to compete they have defenders they have uh chet they have they're not they're doing this without their second best player sga hasn't even went off and aj mitchell's went off last night sga said aj mitchell could have been MVP of this series.

14:53And then what a lot of people don't talk about is I feel like they have a true superstar on the sidelines. Coach Dagnard is unbelievable. He's one of the only coaches that puts himself in the game that I've seen that we've talked to. He is so impressive. What do you mean by that?

15:08Rich Eisen:What is he doing? Because again, I just marvel at his rotations and when he puts them in. In all honesty, I'm biased. Dusty may has that ability to where he does you know where it does it's just a different organism every every time you make a a substitution and and and you're daring the other team to be as deep and be as smart to match up at the right moment i i you know but he is incredible rich like most people coach and now i watch coaches even when i watch the players so i'm studying and he he coaches and he puts himself literally in the game it's almost like he's playing with the remote control on the sideline invisible one he's like subbing how he wants to sub and he's putting people in position and he's doing it without missing a beat and the culture he's helped set so i would say that's for the present the middle is all these guys are in the age where they can have this run right they have a clear-cut runway nobody's too old they all like each other they all want to play together i thought it was corny at first when they were all doing interviews years ago it's just one guy that's truly the closeness of their team so that's special and then the the future they look at all the picks they still have like it's it's like incredible and i give sam prestey so much credit because he's done this more than once when he had durant westbrook harden a blocker you know i'm saying he blocker not ibaka he had all those guys like he's done this before so they're winning on every level and for me they're going to be a tough out it's going to be tough to beat them four times.

16:47It's going to be so tough to beat them four times in any series in any future. They're going to be tough.

16:53Rich Eisen:Yeah, A.J. Mitchell. Second round pick out of Santa Barbara. It's torching the Los Angeles Lakers. Torching. And then McCain. I mean, he comes off of the Sixers bench and he doesn't do a damn thing in the first round. And in the second round, he is like the sixth player of the sixth man of the year. And I'm talking to a three-time version of that on this in in this zoom right now um and then Degno decides with two minutes to go you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna put Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren in the game together and see how that one works see how that one flies um and and sure enough it was that two-man high-low game that gave them the the go-ahead the go-ahead bucket for good and I sit at home I'm like how do you beat that especially when their best player who is going to be most likely back to back MVP of the league gets a whistle 90 % of the time too and maybe half of them he doesn't deserve to be honest how do you beat this team and who can't?

17:59I'm not sure you can and the crazy part about them is I used to say this about the Spurs back in the day when they had Tim Duncan and Manu and Tony is in Papa, of course. They're not going to beat themselves either. If they were a fighter, they can fight left hand, right hand, unorthodox. They can pressure you. They have the jab of skill work. They are heavyweight knockout artists. They have everything. They're doing this without an all... What other team can do this without an all-NBA guy? They're missing an all-NBA guy. Their second best player, and they haven't missed a beat. Shea goes out, and at times, they get better.

18:36How?

18:37Rich Eisen:yeah i know and that may be digno's uh superpower also for sure although i don't know i mean the spurs with all due respect to the timberwolves who have you know the superstar and ant-man who feels he could do whatever he wants to do whenever he wants i don't know but maybe the spurs will be able to take oklahoma city deep um i don't know like there is a possibility there so so rich before even, I promise you, before the season started, or not, probably before they played, I'll say before they played, I said I thought the Spurs could beat OKC. And then they went four out of five times. And it wasn't, what I saw was was the OKC has four top-notch defenders.

19:20Most teams that gets deep, they have two to three primary playmakers, guys that can, okay, so those four guys, shut those guys out. And now your offense is in disarray, shots are hard to come by, they're aggressive the difference with the spurs was when i thought i saw was the spurs have as many playmakers as they have defenders so that counters that and then it comes down to the alien or the mvp and i just had the alien you know kind of leaving his imprint a little bit more so that's what i saw uh so if the spurs make it if minnesota makes it i think the spurs probably give them a

19:54Rich Eisen:better challenge what about the wagon version of the new york knicks that we've seen over their last seven wins like we haven't seen this version right we haven't seen the 140 points a game no we have not 25 threes carl anthony towns point center not needing to have brunson do hero ball to bail themselves out out of gas because the coach only plays seven guys version of the next we haven't we haven't seen that what about that version of the knicks that we're seeing moving on. It would be interesting, but I think you need not just multi-playmakers, I think you need four. I think you need four players, because you have to match their defensive players.

20:38Because if they say, okay, Brunson, we're taking you out, who's the next best playmaker for the New York Knicks?

20:47Rich Eisen:I don't know. It's probably Carl Anthony Towns. I think it would be Cat, and then if If OG is healthy, I don't know. He can have a quarter here and there where he's dominant. But I get your point. I see your point. Because then you still can put, like, let's say, you could put Dort on Cat. He's strong enough. It's crazy. It's like, so now what? Who's the next best playmaker? Like, they can just chop you down that way. It's crazy. It sure is. Last one for you. Giannis apparently on the market officially. It's finally happening. it looks like from Shams, my colleague here at ESPN. Who do you think should go for broke?

21:29Rich Eisen:What do you think, Jamal? Who should just go for it here? Who should just go for it? Yeah. Who has enough to go for it? Hmm. Good question. Yeah, like who has enough to just go for it? Well, we always mention the heat when it comes down to it, but I don't know if they have enough. I don't know if they have enough, though. He would fit there perfectly, but I don't know if they have enough to get him. Like, it's going to be somebody you're going to need. Let's just assume you're going to need a star player. You're going to need a young star on the rise, and you're going to need a ton of picks. So who has that kind of package to put together to say, all right, we'll put our chips on the table for Giannis?

22:07And then Milwaukee's saying, you know what, we may not get even exchange, but if he's not happy, we're not getting a happy Giannis either. If that's the case, I don't know. Then we have to take a deal.

22:19Rich Eisen:Yeah, we'll find that out. Listen, I appreciate the time. Oh, and by the way, just to wrap this up with the whole Michigan-Oklahoma City comparison here, I'm seeing a ton of mock drafts where somehow, someway, at 12, Oklahoma City gets Yaxel to drop to them. If Yaxel Lendeborg goes to that team... See what I'm saying? I don't know. Listen, I understand he didn't have 25 a night, you know, And in a way, because of the way Dusty plays and the way that the roster was constructed, it kind of did remind me of the back in the day that Dean Smith was the only guy who could hold Jordan under 20. Under 20.

22:58Rich Eisen:You know what I mean? But if Yaxa Lendenborg drops to Oklahoma City 12th overall, like I warn the rest of the association not to let that happen. Then I'm telling you, if that happens, it's going to take an alien to beat these guys because they literally have everything. Yeah. Did you see at the combine he measured without shoes 6 '8 and change? And some change. He had 6 '8 and a half, I believe, without shoes. Right? He's walking on the cross 6 '10". Yeah, DiMaro was the second tallest without shoes, the only one ever. Taco Fall was the only one apparently bigger than him because I guess Wemby wasn't at the combine.

23:37Rich Eisen:I don't know. But if this kid on the screen goes to Oklahoma City, and I'm also seeing a Di Mara could somehow drop to them too because Hartenstein is making a ton of money next year look out man that's all I'm saying um you know just look out you are so right and that that that almost be unfair in some ways right like you love the competition but the fact like the rich keep getting richer literally well uh I'll say the same thing about NBC Sports man uh because you got Tirico there tonight Mr. Ann Arbor himself and yes and it's great to see you I would say hi to Reggie Miller, but the 90s version of the Nick Phantom me says to heck with him.

24:15Rich Eisen:But he probably appreciates that even more than me saying hello. Thanks for the time, Jamal. Keep crushing it, and I'd love to have you back here whenever you're willing. Thank you. Anytime. Just let me know. I will do that. Thanks so much. You bet. That's Jamal Crawford. Enjoy him with Mike Tirico, Reggie Miller, and the rest of the NBC crew on tonight's Big Game 5 in San Antonio. Before we throw the break, just want to let you know about our friends at Pella Windows and Doors. just like the folks in the football world with the draft and the books and teams there focused on developing future franchise players fresh starts and fine-tuning their final rosters when it comes to your home Pella Windows and Doors is a choice you can trust with experts who find the right products for your needs and install them with care discover why Pella Windows and Doors is a trusted choice for homeowners everywhere visit Pella.com slash eisen today that's Pella.com slash Eisen.

25:05Rich Eisen:Make life brighter with Pella windows and doors. When we come back, your phone calls and yeah, more NFL schedule getting released. We'll hit on that coming up. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

25:26Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly.