TNF’s Michael Smith Talks Durant, Westbrook, Trey Lance & More with Rich Eisen | Full Interview

it's been a while since we've spoken to this man i miss him we used to speak to him once a week um and uh he's on brother from another on peacock on nbc sports on peacock but now also on amazon prime's coverage of thursday night football our friend on the mercedes-benz vans phone line back here on the rich eyes and show michael smith how you been michael new phone who it is hey congrats on the gig on amazon thank you you got it so much good to talk to y'all man i miss you guys so man do you get free prime delivery with the gig oh what do you got it's a great question i don't think that was part of my deal come on mike we need to work on that we do need to work on that you got to get that deal have you met bezos yet is he there no i have not you haven't been on the yacht you've been on the other side i have not are you going to spawn you know it's compensation so maybe a meeting might come with that gonzalez is the guy to talk to for that by the way so i've heard oh yes tg can get that pass for everybody we should do that i mean bashani once got us all hammered this is a thursday night football tradition he got he took the entire crew it was a thanksgiving night he invited the entire crew onto his boat that was docked just off the um the harbor there in baltimore that was the night before the john versus jim harbaugh oh uh and then he he he was so generous he gave us all food and drink and then made a few of us stay and then uh and then i almost didn't answer the bell the next day for thursday night football's coverage of that game on thanksgiving but shoddy one of the coolest owners around very interesting let me try one of his like snazzy sports coats one time and you know offered to give it to him like i can't take your coat um coat off his back off the rack i'll raise your shotty boat flex yes well no not really write that down it was the whole bishop like it was the whole crew michael it wasn't just me it was the entire crew that he invited i just went to nobu for the first time in malibu courtesy of in the annual jerry jones media team party yeah yeah how come i didn't get to do that okay pretty i was pretty fine did you did you have the line here is it appropriate isn't that ethical is this okay no it's fine it's absolutely fine did you did you get the uh the tyrant hamstring roll did you get that was that on the menu was that too soon that's unnecessary definitely too soon where did you come up with that i don't know it just came in my head inappropriate guys i don't know what my problem is i don't know all right let's go big time honestly i was like damn where rich eyes have been at and when i got the call i was like it's been a while we had beef i thought we had russell westbrook patrick beverly never have trick something i said no never never never plummet when you had me on i've never you know never losing sleep over this man it is good to hear yours as well so uh what what did you glean from last night's action anything last night well i was connected to what y'all were just talking about um because i mean i get my you know my hairs on my arm started standing up and y'all were talking about a fantasy draft you know um also doing some fantasy stuff this year on sunday mornings with matthew barry i guess i might as well plug that fantasy football pregame for uh nbc sports and peacock um the most interesting name that you guys mentioned but just kind of like passed over was brandon cooks to me man like brandon cooks just gets like forgotten nobody wants a texan it ain't sexy you know you know you know where darren wallace got derek carr or chris goblins got tom brady so on and so forth it's like oh you know it's davis mills and brandon cook just puts up consistent numbers man he's dependable explosive at times davis mills is going to be pretty good i like the texans to be competitive not to compete for that division you know god no i'm not saying i'll shock the world like david mills was talking about but i mean let me go have that defense playing hard they got some good young players uh i'm sure you all talked about damien pierce as a fantasy asset in reality no he didn't we didn't we didn't we didn't that's like fight club no no no no that's like five it's so funny this is a sleeper i know i don't see this well streaming or whatever you call it whatever with prime video last night like nobody's sleeping on anybody now isn't rb1 he's not a sleeper anymore it's too late for that i i agree uh that that horse is out of the barn but uh it's so funny that everybody's just like i'm gonna get him i know in like round 10 round 11 round 12 as if nobody else knows right that he's really good this year's javonte williams like right i like it i feel like that's like who you who what league are you playing in if you think you're gonna sneak damien peter oh it's called the league that's the that's the league that we're in we're in the league okay yeah i know okay so you picked you gleaned that anything from the niners with lance and um and his readiness i i kind of went all in on that last segment as well that it just the niners are gonna have to turn to the kid at some point it just happens that now is the time i mean the niners are not used to breaking in a new quarterback and training wheels that's just not their gig that's not what they've they're they're doing i mean this is big this could be if you were the biggest controversial move at the quarterback spot or the most concerning move since harbaugh went to kaepernick instead of alex smith all those years ago you could make that case i mean they they they made this move when they made the move up to get a period if it was a matter of time and they kind of backed themselves into a corner and you know setting aside the awkwardness of the jimmy garoppolo situation just now it is trey lance's team you know that position traditionally they're not used to being patient with in san francisco given the the rich history of quarterbacks there and so they're gonna have to be patient with this young kid who just has not played a lot of football it's really that simple he has not attempted a lot of passes over the last few years he had the one year north dakota state then he had the one game for the kobe shortened season and then he more or less had a red shirt season last year like you know there are some aspects of his game that is just going to take some time to develop i was in the green room last night with my new teammate ryan fitzpatrick and his head exploded there was a throw that lamp's head over the middle that was just it was just fundamentally poor it was a completion but the receiver shouldn't have the opportunity to run this is for a team that i believe was at the top of the uh the league lead when it comes to yards after the catchphrase wide receivers they thrive off the yards after catching that offense and he just threw a poorly placed throw that did not allow the receiver to make uh as much of a play as he could have had it been a better a more accurate throw it's just she's just got a long way to go for a team that has a you know it for the last few years he said when healthy has had a super bowl roster around it to say nothing of the issues along the offensive line um so san francisco i i think could be in for may maybe they're one of those teams maybe they're one of those teams that gets better late in the year but early on i feel like it could be rocky michael smith here on the rich eisen show fresh back from houston uh where the texans and the uh mm-49ers played a preseason game on amazon prime it was great to hear al's voice last night as well right here on the rich eisen show so uh let's just switch gears a little bit here uh what did you make of the sudden uh genie placed back in the bottle by the brooklyn nets and that durant is now back in the fold and everybody left as sean shirania told us this week left that meeting energized um and they're gonna go try and put what that that great roster on paper into practice on a court what do you think of that you know it's so crazy how long it's been since we talked how much has happened right and then not happened in brooklyn you know man i'm gonna choose to look at this as a positive because when i first heard the stories i was on the road um i was in indianapolis on monday i went to indianapolis monday night i spent tuesday with the colts wednesday with the bengals miss missed the fight club yesterday and it went to houston so i was on the road when i heard that all was well in brooklyn and i rolled my eyes at first but then i just said you know what kd thank you thank you for making our summer interesting in a way that it ordinarily would not have thank you for contributing to society or more accurately contributing to the news cycle giving us free content so i want to say i appreciate kd but at the same time i'm annoyed with kd because that just shows like yo man your trade request wasn't that well thought out it's like because if you because if you're going to make that trade request you can't just go back and be like you know what never mind it's just that's just that's annoying to say the least um to use my my daughter's favorite word um but in in reality though in reality i i saw that this is where it was going and many have pointed out their go bear trade and what the jazz got for gobert certainly didn't help but early on i actually saw that this is where this was going that we had all better get used to seeing him in the next uniform because katie at the end of the day and this this is kind of on brand not necessarily the wishy-washy part but he's going to play basketball he's not a dude that's going to pull a james harden and show up and throw basketballs at people or show up out of shape or show up not wanting to play the nets always knew that at the end of the day he was going to play kyrie had no options like you know as the great chris rock once said a man is only as faithful as his option and kevin durant had no other options kyrie irving had no other options but to return and but to look at this and say you know what if we all want to play me you ben simmons seth curry like we could be good you know like yeah we're frustrated yeah we may not believe in the front office but on the court we could be really good if we if we're all healthy we're all committed and so it was the wise choice even if the initial trade request seemed rash and ill-advised especially if you're not going to follow through with it and say you know what trade me or else well what is your or else he was only going to go so far with this well i mean not to cross streams with politics and everything else here but you know across the street no i'm just saying like i would love to see the unredacted conversations oh well i really would i'd love to see it because kyrie says i'm staying and then durant says i'm going within 48 hours of each other but we're told that those are two mutually exclusive decisions that they're not correct connected to one another it's just guys figuring they have to do what they have to do yeah and then durant says i want the front office out and i want the coach out and the owner's like no and now we're all back together and they're not happy with the front office that's given them the possibility of playing with each other right and adding simmons and seth curry and oh by the way that royce o'neal deal that happened is pretty damn good too and then you look at the roster why would you be upset with the fun i was always trying to figure out i don't get it it was what you wanted him to do like i don't recall and correct me if i'm wrong i don't recall an instance where there was some sort of decision that the players were at odds with i mean nobody in their right mind is not going to run your decision making through kevin durant and by extension kyrie irving in the first place but they wanted james harden they got james harden you know they they hired steve nash i mean it was on kevin durant's podcast where kyrie irving first infamously uttered the idea we could all be the head coach so okay y'all all want to have this you know this group approach to coaching the team so you got the coach you wanted you got the players you wanted what's held this team back and i mean it's it doesn't fit with the jokes we all like to get jokes off at this so at this experiments expense but it's really simple it's injuries and vaccine you know a global pandemic and one player's unwillingness to get vaccinated coupled with injuries did not allow this team to reach its full potential and therefore people have been able to you know default to their initial uh evaluation that this would never work we never got a chance to see if it worked they played 16 games together but yeah i'm with you i never understood why there was beef with the front office because the front office didn't tell kyrie irving to get vaccinated the front office didn't tell you know james harden to jump ship again the front office then you know didn't get hurt i mean it just it was all silly and i just wish people would think things through before they decided to go to the extreme of trade me and then double down and say it's me or them i mean it's i guess you can come back from that if you're kevin durant because because the organization's gonna say no thanks right because you're kevin durant as well and then you know the front office was aggressive enough to get hardened and then aggressive enough to know if it wasn't working to get rid of him and get people that could not only help them right then and there but maybe for the future and then so that's the whole thing i i don't unders that's why i said i want the unredacted you know conversation like what has been how did you how did they how did they do this 180. that's a hell of a sales job i know and then and how big how how deep how deep is this iceberg underneath the brooklyn waters here and and what does it mean and how how did they put the genie back in the bottle like i i don't know how it happened but it's going to be must-see television hell yeah you know this fall in the world better would be russell westbrook and patrick beverly being teammates that looks like that's going to happen doesn't it i mean westbrook's best interest i don't i mean but a lot of things are in westbrook's health interest that he doesn't necessarily go with but i mean you know it's in his best interest to not shoot threes but you know hey here we are um i if i were russell westbrook but i'm also older and i'm wiser if i were russell westbrook i'd say you know what damn 2013. man you know you did something dirty you hurt my knee it cost me the thunder but like in the here and now this team just got a lot better this team made the best of a bad situation that front office had made some ill-advised personnel decisions and yet salvaged it with the perfect catch and shoot three and d role-playing tenacious irritant uh that it needs right and so if you're russell westbrook your career you're on the verge of being john wald now john wallace central covered and landed with the clippers good for him but you're on the verge of being john wall so your options are we could send you home we could trade you or you could fully embrace setting aside this beast and playing with this guy now it's not totally up to him because it's still in the organization's best interest to trade russell westbrook um you know and and get younger better role players um because that that big three that some everybody need a big three that's just a big two in l.a they need a big two and some pieces but if you're westbrook i'm begging to play for darvin ham stay with lebron james and anthony davis i'm squashing that i'm grilling up that beef and eating it with patrick beverly and trying to make the most of playing with the lakers else you may get shipped to some place like i don't know um indiana or something like that no respect to indiana i just left there well i mean the i know the the biggest uh head scratcher for me this entire offseason for the nba was westbrook's longtime agent breaking up with him or they broke up together and he sends out a statement saying i told russ he should stay put rather than be somebody else's salary cap saving one year and done acquisition that's not his leg that's not what his legacy should be he should stay put by whatever darvin ham is selling and and so i'm out meaning russ wants out like what is is that what that is like i that one was i don't recall an agent ever sending something out like that about his star you know the truth of the matter is man these dudes don't know what they want they're grown-ups but they don't know what they want half the time they don't even know and i think i think the consistent pattern with a lot of these mercurial superstars is that they haven't thought these things through they're acting emotionally they acted irrationally you know and and so many of them you know and it's part of what i love about the nba i love that players have so much power so when players have that much power and and don't think about the long term or don't or have pride and ego and so on and so forth you know it it gets emotional it's if not now if i may cross streams real quick but i am staying in sports i think one of the more fascinating stories i'm sure you've covered this extensively maybe even today in recent sports transactional history is one of the premier quarterbacks in the nfl negotiating his own contract yeah like that's that's not just unique that's unprecedented it's like you ever been your own agent rich oh no way me neither i ain't got the time or the temperament because it don't take nothing to piss me off so if you tell me what i'm not worth i'm checked out right so if you're the baltimore ravens and you're negotiating with your quarterback and you're trying to like come to an agreement on a massive historic contract that he probably wants to be fully guaranteed thanks to deshaun watson and so on and so on and so forth like yo how do you talk about redacted conversations how does that conversation go how does how does the organization say yeah man you're great but in the playoffs and not so much but go on out there and deliver a championship for us because you're still our guy we still want you it's like i that situation is just incredible because it's you know if nobody does that like if imagine one of these nba dudes we're talking about negotiating their own contract you know i mean it's just players i think everything they say and everything they request probably has to be taken with a grain of salt and i think we oftentimes give the ramifications of their request way more thought than frankly they do michael thanks for the call uh so you're on are you on the road all uh every thursday you're you're not that is the plan my friend all right that is the plan i'm racking up the miles i'm back in my element i'm shaking hands and kissing babies and and i'm having a good time man i'm having a good time with amazon and all good but this made my week catching up with you man right back at you well let's do this let's do this desktop let's do this more often i know you're in kansas city for the opener of thursday night football on amazon chargers and chiefs how huge is that game going to be maybe we'll uh we'll check in after that one as well on a couple fridays let's do it hey good luck with this fantasy draft and everybody needs advice well it's it's come pretty good you got it it's come to a screeching halt because brockman and tj are now in uh minute 40 trying to choose so should we take darren waller or not michael just told her to take brandon i did agree with the sentiment somebody i think it was a reference to chris godwin somebody said um that uh if he's not ready for week one or week two so be you know so be it like with tight end like there's a there's a shelf and you don't want to you know if you if you're gonna not if you gotta put it this way you're gonna pass on darren waller then just wait and either take somebody late with upside or stream the position so we can't go we can't really clean the position but if you're gonna pass don't start reaching for a tight end saying oh i gotta get a tight end no you don't all right let's bolt thanks for the call michael greatly appreciate it let's uh let's chat in a couple weeks all right yeah that's michael smith right here on the rich island show