Hour 3: Suzy Shuster’s Top 5, plus Shaquille O’Neal Talks NBA Playoffs & More

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1:59Now, on with the show. But I've never seen the Knicks play this way. It's unbelievable. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen. Oh, that's Suzy Eisen's husband. With guest host Suzy Schuster. Earlier on the show. Sports radio legend, Christopher Mad Dog Russo. Senior NBA writer for The Ringer, Howard Beck Coming up, Basketball Hall of Famer, Shaquille O 'Neal And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Suzy Schuster That is right, Suzy Schuster in for Rich Eyes And Rich is busy flying to New York City, so guess what? I was very happy to come here and take a look for him Happy to be with you, hi Christopher, how are you?

2:47Hi Suzy, what's up? You know, just chilling. Just chilling. Not doing anything. Just hanging out. Just hanging out. Talking to a bunch of my friends out here. How are you guys? Kicking it. Yeah, just kicking it. Mikey G, how are you? Always fun when you're here. You know that. Thank you, Mikey. Thank you for that vote of confidence. We've known each other a long time. I mean, not a long time. Vote of confidence. Yeah, yeah. Vote of confidence. In sports, a vote of confidence usually means you're getting fired in like a week. No. Let me just explain to you the beautiful thing here. I can't get fired.

3:17That's true. What are you going to do? Come home and be like, hey, honey, you did great. That's going to cost him a lot. You did great. You did great. I listened to the show. It was okay. You did great. Hi, TJ. I wore my Jerry West shirt for you today. The logo. I know. Did I tell you this? Like just in the side, you know, when you keep your voicemails, like, you know, like I'm the kind of person, I can't have any open emails, no open texts. I need to have zeros. Right. I don't keep that many voicemails, but I did keep the last voicemail from Jerry. Oh, really? Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't you?

3:52Yeah, special, by the way. So thank you for wearing that T-shirt today. Dr. O 'Neill is in. Shaq, these are all. He'll be joining us very momentarily. Whenever I ask Cynthia for her help to get Shaq on, and I always say like a broil of my own sweat until I see him actually show up, then I wonder how will he show up? In the past, he's shown up in costume, wearing frightening looking masks, flipping pancakes. He has cooked on this show before. Oh, really? So for you, Chris, you betting kind of guy. I love it. Well, I can see the preview monitor and it's just an empty chair at his desk right now.

4:38So I'm waiting to see him slide in Collinsworth style. Or like do a Dr. Evil spin and reveal. Yeah, whatever. like it's the voice. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what he shows up at. I love it. See if he's still wearing a top hat? Yeah, maybe he'll have his cap and gown on still. Could have the cap and gown. He could have a top hat on. And he and Kenny were dancing a little New York New York last night. They broke the robots out last night, which was wild. The robots, I think, freaked out Charles. Charles was out there dancing with the robot. Yeah, but Charles gave that robot a little look-see and he was like, I'm not sure if I like this robot.

5:14I understood. It's kind of I don't understand a dog robot. Why would you want a dog robot? I don't know. You can't pat a robot. I don't know. Like, we've all seen Terminator. We know this is a terrible idea. I don't know why we're welcoming all this stuff. Exactly. Thank you. The Terminator scared the crap out of me. Well, yeah, it should have. Oh, yeah. It also sent me to the gym. Because she had guns. The man just sat down. Well, and two. And number two. Number two. Linda Hamilton was, you know, she was shredded. Shredded. By the way, she dropped and gave you 50. Probably 75. I was doing pull-ups in that movie.

5:47Yeah. Hi there, Dr. O 'Neal. How are you? Can you hear me? I can hear you. How are you? How are you? You want these?

6:02Are you going skiing? What's happening here? Which ones you want? I like the white ones. You want these? What else do you have? Let's see. Oh, but those feel way too normal. I can't interview you while you look that normal. I'm so used to being thrown for a loop a little bit more than that. At least the 3D ones. How many links do you have at your desk? Those are sick. A lot. I mean, what else? What is that football helmet? Is that a Buffalo Bills helmet? Like, what's behind you? Look over your left shoulder. What are those? Oh, no, that's Reebok. Oh, sick. I'm trying to pump up your Reebok so you just don't stop mine are so dirty I can barely see you hey did you have fun last night how's your top hat it was good that was crazy was it that crazy though not really because we know the feeling because you was there every time I got swept yep I remember we had Howard Beck on earlier and in 2001 when you guys kept sweeping and everybody kept, remember all the local guys would show up with their brooms and like, hey Shaquille, here's a broom for all your sweeps.

7:25You're like, yeah, I've heard that joke before. But that's what I felt like watching last night. And everyone was talking about, oh, what are the teams going to do in between? I'm like, yeah, we've played that song before, like you and I have. Are we starting now? Yeah, we're already on. Okay, I'm sorry. Hey, brother, is this on? What if you'd said something inappropriate, or that would have been fantastic. That would have been really fun. First of all, I would never say anything appropriate to the lovely, beautiful wife of the great Hall of Fame, Rich Eisen. It's not my stuff.

8:00No comment. No, it was fun last night watching you and Charles dancing around on, or it was you and Kenny dancing on ESPN. I also thought Charles looked really freaked out by the robots, by the way, but that's a whole nother conversation. He was. Charles is a afraid cat. Like he's afraid of everything. I mean, one time we had a we had a fake rabbit and we came to fake rabbit. He thought the rabbit was was real. I was last night. It brought me back. I understand how James and how Donovan is feeling. I think I don't know if I'm tied with LeBron but I think I'm one of the biggest names with the most sweeps you can correct me I know how many times have I got swept Susie?

8:49you did, let me look it up I know we had the 3 in 2001, right? ok, so it was 3 in LA and then you had 1 in Orlando 2 in Orlando is that when you had the parade? yeah, so that was the finals and then next year after that when Mike came back in 96. So I have five. I don't think LeBron has four or so. But, you know, my teams, we never quit. We didn't have what it took to win, but, you know, it looked to me like they gave up really, really early. And then New York just, I hate to say it, but New York just put their foot on their neck and they just crushed them. How good is this team? Is it about? They are so good.

9:39I already want you to answer. They are so good. I owe the whole state and all five boroughs of New York an apology. Wow. Oh. Yeah, so I want to apologize. Spike Lee, Tracy Moore, Al Palinonia, all the superstars that were sitting there. They are really good. They have it. It reminds me of that Detroit team that beat us my last year there. With Rashid? Yeah, with Rashid. They just got a bunch of guys that are just together. Because if you look at that Detroit team, no disrespect to all the guys, but they didn't really have any really big-name players that you talked about all the time. Big Shot, Choncy was there, Rasheed was there, the whole family, Ben Mops was there.

10:21But they were a collective group, and they just played together, and they fought hard, and they never gave up. When I look at this Knick team, it reminded me so much of that team. you know, led by Jalen Brunson. But, you know, true definition of a player, as you know, is they make his players around and around them better. So, you know, game one where he mounted the comeback, where he went crazy, Cleveland and Justin said, okay, we're going to double him. And then he kicked it to his guy and Josh Hart started going off. You know, Shannett started playing well. You know, Cat's not really dominating like I want him to dominate, but he's really playing nice, smooth basketball right now, getting everybody involved, initiating the offense from the top of the key.

11:08And they look good. OG Ananobili, you know, my guy Alvarado is coming in, you know, giving them a spark. And they're just playing very well. You know, Landry said last night, he said, Knicks fans are a unique species of human beings who should be studied. What's your favorite memory of either playing in New York or interactions that you had with Knicks fans? Well, Knicks fans think they're going to win every year. And they're loyal. They never switch up. Ever since I've been going up against the great Patrick Neon and Larry Johnson and the great Charles Oakley, they always say, we're going to win, we're going to win, we're going to win.

11:46And then when they lose, they go, okay, don't worry about it. But we'll get them next year. And we'll get them next year. We'll get them next year. We'll get them next year. This is their year. I'm happy for New York. I'm happy we are going to be covering the finals. It's going to be great. You know, Charles Barkley said this the other day. When the Knicks are playing great basketball, it's fun for everybody. So now that the Knicks are in the final, I can't wait to see who they play. It's going to be great. It is going to be great. I was getting ready to say that I don't know if they can beat either team in the West, but now I don't know if I can say that.

12:19Why? Because, listen, they're playing excellent ball, and they have everything covered. You know, they defend. They shoot the ball. They never panic. The bounce back game is impressive. Only thing I fear, but not really, because I always enjoy when we got five to six days off because I could just rest my body and not think about anything. They got nine, ten days off. And being in New York and everybody, hopefully they don't get too happy because, you know, the mission is not accomplished. But, you know, me, if I was playing, I would definitely enjoy these nine days off. The first three days, I wouldn't even do nothing.

12:58I wouldn't even look at basketball. Four, five, and six, we'll probably know who our opponent's in. And then seven, eight, nine, I'm starting to get that face. And then I'm going to have so much energy in that game one. So I can't wait till the final start. I know it starts next Wednesday. I will definitely be there. I remember when you had those days off because you were banged up and you get your treatment. and you'd chill out, and Phil would raise his eyebrows every time. Somebody would ask him what to do with that time frame, but then you came back and you lost game one before you went on to take care of Philadelphia.

13:29So what's the adjustment like from your own experience? Yeah, but we, being that that was our second championship, we had the blueprint, so I knew with all those days off, not to go crazy. So I just rested. I got my massages. I did the ice. I was up in the Harlem states. You know, first couple days, I was just focusing on being a daddy. You know, just playing with the kids. Not really going out in the city too much, but I had great energy and I was feeling good. We just went up against a guy that was not remarkable. He was super remarkable. Because remember, our thing was, we're not doubling this guy.

14:15AI, you're going to beat us. You have to beat us. And I think he had, what, 48, 50 points up there? Mm-hmm. What do you make of the game that we're going to see tonight? What are you expecting? You think OKC bounces back? Well, they are known to bounce back. They got smacked pretty good. But they don't seem to have any panic in their system. You know, from a big man standpoint, I would like to see Victor Wimbenyana dominate. You know, it's nice to see a big guy dominate and put up the numbers that he put in. Game one, he had 40. They won. And then game two, I think he was in the 20s. They lost this last game, game four.

14:59I think it was he had 22 points in the first half, ended up with 33. I think if he can put up the big numbers and play inside and get the Thunder defense to to kind of react a little bit and then get his guys involved, they have a shot. And defensively for the Spurs, I don't think they need to panic every time SGA gets the ball. You know, the games that they lost, they were doubling him at, you know, half court damn near, and he was able to, you know, the great player that he is, he was able to, you know, pick the Spurs apart and then get everybody else involved. If I was a Spurs, I'd say, okay, SGA, get 50.

15:33Hmm. You and I have talked about this many times, Shaquille. Shaquille O 'Neal here on the Rich Eisen Show on Disney+. We've talked about the resurgence of the big man, and you for years bemoaned that you didn't like how a lot of the big men were playing. So let's talk about Wemby in particular before we go back to SGA. What is your advice to him on how he's been playing and how he should play going into these next few games? my advice is to him he has to be super aggressive because you know at his size with his skill set to be super aggressive the world has to panic and when they panic they're going to do what they always do send guys out of now when they send guys at you you can get council involved you can get all your let me tell you something about that young hopper oh my god this kid's fabulous he's so fabulous so you know you can get him involved and you and that's the system i've always called the Spurs organization, the system.

16:31The system is well in effect, but if he's dominating, if he's super aggressive, if he's close to the paint, taking high-precision shots. Look, I don't mind him shooting threes because he's a fabulous shooter, but I would like the majority of his shots closer to the basket. If he can do that, cause OKC to panic a little bit because he's having his way with shit. And then, listen, every time they put Caruso on him, that should be a sign of disrespect, and he should be looking to score. So if he dominates, if he's all over the place, and if he stays out of foul trouble, they definitely have a shot.

17:03But I wouldn't tell him much because he has two mentors over there that were all in the same office. You got the great David Robson and you got the great Tim Duncan there. So you don't really need my advice because I wasn't really that type of player. I'm more of a power player. So, you know, Tim was definitely inside and out. And so was David Robson. So I'm sure he gets, you know, great, great advice from the guys. And, you know, you still got Popovich coming in and out every now and then. So I wouldn't tell him much. As a fan, I just enjoy watching him play. But I would love him to be dominant, not some of the time, but all the time.

17:37Did you have much interaction with Popovich? No, but I've always loved and respected Popovich. I told this story one time. I didn't have any shoes. Couldn't afford them. Couldn't even find them. So I think the Spurs had a player that was seven foot. So, you know, my father used to go at the local gym. And, you know, every night a couple of Spurs would come in. And my father asked the Spurs, hey, man, you know where I can get some shoes? And he said, yeah. And so he gave us a number. And when we got to the organization, it was Pop. And Pop knew who I was in high school. He was a, hey, man, you're a fabulous player.

18:15And Pop gave me three pair of shoes. And I was a high love and respect for Pop. when we played against him, I didn't like him because it's my job not to like anybody. But ever since that day, I've always had love and respect for Popovich. Never have anything negative to say about him. Definitely a great coach, Hall of Fame. I wish he was still around, and I wish him nothing but the best. And I wish him that, you know, I don't know how he's doing health-wise, but I wish him nothing but the best. That's a beautiful story, and you always have those for me. You know, you mentioned SGA, and I would just let him go up to 50.

18:51How does that affect the game plan around that then? What's your thought there? Because OKC is dangerous when everybody's involved. When everybody's involved and they're playing well, they're very, very difficult to beat. The other night, you know, he wasn't playing great. And then, you know, Caruso didn't get no threes. And, you know, all the others really didn't get a lot of opportunities to score points. I think in the game where they won in San Antonio, their bench points, they had a lot of bench points. In the game they lost the other day, I don't even think they got double figures in bench points.

19:26I'm not sure. But if you keep them less involved, you have a high probability of winning. So who do you think it's going to be then? I don't know, but I would like it to be I would like it to be the Spurs versus the Knicks, because I would like to see Wimby in person when you sit here and watch him on TV, it's magnificent but I would like to see him in person I remember in high school watching Jordan on just, you know, watching him on TV and then I went to the game and I was like, oh, he's real so I know Wimby's real, but I would just like to see that in person Susie Schuster in for Rich Eisen on the Rich Eisen Show on Disney Plus Shaquille O 'Neal is with me now how would you have played Wemby?

20:16you gotta make them play defense so you know I'm a power player I only gave them two or three dribbles try to get them under the rim and do the same thing I did to Dikembe Matumbo if you don't know what I did to Dikembe Matumbo here it is right here that's where you added a Susie in Rich and that's where you're rolling the B-roll Shaq is that what you're trying to say? I remember I was there Street food, by the way I think I'd rather have San Antonio The Riverwalk, when we would go there Really good guacamole there So I think I would take street food in San Antonio over OKC I'm never going to disrespect San Antonio That's where I'm from That's where the character you all know The shack was created at Robert G.

21:01Cole High School So I went to the Riverwalk all the time on weekends. Fiesta, me and my boy Joe Campolero, me and Ramos' brother, shut up, Mingo. So I love San Antonio. I hope that wins so I can get back home and reminisce on the stuff I used to do when I was in high school. Yeah, but Chuck wants street meat. Chuck wants a little street meat. That sounds dangerous. That sounds like a one-way ticket to the men's room. I like how he describes it. I want the street meat with that white sauce. sounds so gross I can't do it I can't do it I mean you guys are going to definitely be showing Chuck with a lot of street meat right yes we are can we talk about Louisiana State University for a second I was really proud of you watching your speech was really spectacular and beautiful and yet another doctor's degree what was it like for you there to be there and to just the hard work that you've put in, I know how much work you've put into bettering yourself.

22:05I am upset with you. You just broke the streak. What? You just made a mistake. What? What did I say? LSU. You said doctorate. Masters? Oh my god. You broke. Oh, you were perfect for 30 years. Oh my god. You know how much pressure it is to be perfect, Shaquille? Oh, you just broke the streak. You were the only one that would come in with information that would make me go you would make me go like this I can't lie to you because you already know what you're talking about but you know what you have a masters, you have a doctorate you have a lot of it, you got a sheriff's badge what else do you have?

22:44I mean okay take two I wanted to get a masters of psychology but I said to myself I don't want to disrespect D psychology industry. You know, I'm sort of a crazy thinker. My process was in the mindset of how can you be a sports psychologist if you never play sports at a high level, right? So I wanted to do psychology, but then, you know, if you do psychology, you got to get all these board certifications and this and this and blah, blah. So I said to myself, I'm going to focus on being a mentor. I got a Masters of Liberal Arts. I wanted to understand where the term mentor came from. So I did a lot of research on the book, The Odyssey.

23:42That's what my dissertation is about. The interdisciplinary approach to mentorship as seen in the book, the novel, The Odyssey. so I'm going to be a professional mentor I'm going to open up my offices and soon we're here hopefully I can get hired by a lot of colleges because you know when I'm talking to people I want to know what they're talking about I remember one time I went to see a sports psychologist in LA after missing all those fritos are you still there? I remember I actually remember when you did this yes I remember when I went to a sports psychologist after missing all these free throws and he tells me to breathe Susie and I was like what did you say to me I said brother we're going to Sacramento tomorrow for game 7 breathe that ain't going to work breathe is not going to work I've already gotten swept three times we've already lost every time I'm here if I lose this right now I am done in this city I am done I will be the last in stock of LA superstars in this city if I don't get this done.

24:56So that always kind of rubbed me the wrong way. But again, I didn't want to beat me against the psychology industry because, you know, I respect what they know on the academia side. But if you never really played or played at a high level, I don't think I could respect your work. For example, if I'm going to do a show, if I'm going to be an analyst, if I'm going to be a journalist, I would definitely talk to you. I'm not going to talk to one of these kids that just got on and has a million followers and he's a superstar overnight. No, I'm not going to talk to him about the rigors of this business.

25:31But I will definitely talk to you because you still are from the bottom and you're very successful where you are now. But me and you, we kind of grew up together. So I know who you are. I know what you've done. I know what your husband has done. So I respect people that have experience. And you've got a doctorate, so you're clearly really smart because you want to talk to me. Yes, you are correct. I remember that so well. I think there was an Australian free throw. Remember there was an Australian free throw specialist who came in to try to work with you and wanted to change where your hands were on the ball.

26:10At some point, you just had to figure it out on your own. I'm just curious before we go about how you will work with kids. Like, are you going to be available to kids at LSU? Are you going to start going on the road and starting to talk to kids across the country? Can you imagine the amount of kids that can learn from you and what the attention will be for you on that? I mean, it's going to be a full-time job. You know, one of the roles of being a mentor is you have to listen. So hopefully while I'm listening, I have a story to tell them. You know, rather than saying, do this, do this, do this.

26:47I can give them my experiences of what I've been through or other people's experiences. Because, you know, I've been around the block, came in with Penny, was there with Kobe, helped Shade D. Wade, seen the King do what he do, seen Steve do what he do. I have a lot of stories that, you know, hopefully I could, you know, help these kids, you know, relate to the problems. But they know and understand that I know exactly what they're going through. Big game at LSU. You know, we got to win. And, you know, the pressure's on you. I know what to say to a kid. I know exactly what to say to a kid to say, hey, this is what you got to do.

27:25This is what you got to prepare. And this is how you have to think. It all has to do with positivity. Shaquille O 'Neal right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Suzy Schuster in for Rich Eisen. You were our very first guest on Women's Sports Now last year. Now we're on ESPN, wherever you want to find us on the app, etc. Disney Plus, you name it. and you have been a mentor to Angel Reese and now also to Lauren Betts as you brought her under the Reebok umbrella. So I'd love to get your thoughts on, first of all, how Angel's fitting in there in Atlanta and then also what you're seeing out of Lauren Betts in Washington.