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Shop today in stores online at Nordstrom.com or download the Nordstrom app. 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. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Oh my gosh. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Rolling into the final hour of the program, greatly appreciate you providing us, I'll go royal, plural, with a few minutes of your time on a holiday, especially Memorial Day. A day not only of barbecues and beaches and easing our way into the unofficial start of summer, but also a day of reflection. So, don't want to be too heavy-handed, but if you have a moment or if you decide to be a bit more reflective, try to recall what the spirit of this holiday is all about in addition to having a lot of fun. And I've had a great time with you as always. If you enjoy my approach, or at least find it not too overbearing, I got good news for you. I'm back on July 4th and then the majority of the following week as well as Rich always takes a little bit of time off in July before things ramp up prior to the start of training camp. If you think this has been a tough listen, I can appreciate that enough for everyone. That's why I'm a guest host. Rich and the guys back with you tomorrow.
I do my best not to destroy his outstanding brands. Coming up in 20 minutes, we'll talk baseball concisely and in entertaining fashion as we round the bases with Gay Blacks of USA Today. We'll try to come up with context for what Aaron Judge is doing for the Yankees. The numbers are just astonishing. We'll get an update on where the Dodgers are dealing with a variety of injuries across their rotation and bullpen.
Good thing they have astronomical amounts of money to spend to buy them depth. Let's get back to the NBA though to start this final hour of the program. And I try to come up with a balance show. Hopefully it's clear I do have a roadmap, but I don't block out every sentence. I can't afford writers as a fill-in guy. Plus, the appeal to me of radio has always been, and I was fortunate to get my start in TV professionally, but I did a lot of college radio. I should bring those tapes in someday.
Those certainly will not be going to the Broadcasting Museum Hall of Fame. But what keeps bringing me back to radio, in addition to wanting to avoid human contact on a holiday, is its interpersonal dynamic. It's just me and you.
It's, in my mind, the best platform, if you have half a brain, to organize your thoughts and then see where it goes organically, knowing the takeaways you want to deliver. You don't just come in with USA Today in 2002 and say, page three, what did Rudy Martschke have to say? But I wanted to talk more about the Thunder and the Timberwolves, but I had to make the editorial shift based on the Knicks coming up with yet another legendary comeback. And we'll get back to that in 10 minutes, because I know the audience is always shifting on a holiday.
But perhaps what I have stumbled into reflects a general referendum, if you want to get a little bit deep with wordplay here, or just a conventional wisdom approach to the Thunder. This is a team that did not even appear on Christmas Day. How do I know? I filled in for Rich on Christmas Day, and I still talk NBA, even though the NFL has hijacked that holiday, because football crushes everything in its path. But you have wall-to-wall basketball on Christmas Day. The league made a ratings-based decision, market size was part of the analysis, and did not even put OKC on their showcase, quote-unquote, day with five games now, although OKC had the best record in the West last year. And anybody who followed the league knew they were clearly on the ascent. Now, I realize that schedule was made prior to the season starting, but it was a business decision by the league going for the big markets and the bright, shiny objects they thought could give them a better chance of competing with the NFL.
And we know how that turned out, because the NFL steamrolls everything that might come its way on the way to global domination. OKC, 68 wins this year. Top seed in the West again.
Number one in defense, if you care about metrics like point differential, and I'm not great at math, but even I'm aware of the resonance of that number, plus 13, the best point differential in NBA history. We talked about it with Curt Heelan of nbcsports.com in the last hour of the program. Reminder, if you miss any portion of any program, you can listen anytime on demand. Check out the podcast.
It'll be pushed out a few hours after we're done. But Kurt, I thought, offered some intriguing analysis of the pushback that SGA gets for being, quote unquote, a free throw merchant, because it's hard to accurately describe his game. He takes so many funky shots with tough angles, and that just speaks to his creativity. As long as you don't overlook his athletic ability, the guy is the total package. Now he's tucked away in Oklahoma City.
Obviously, people pay more attention now in the postseason. But if you throw out tropes, I'll go with my aunt Margie. If I ask my aunt Margie, who's in her late 70s now, are you aware of SGA?
She would think that might be a disease you need to treat with penicillin. Not on her radar. Now she would know Lebron, and she would know Steph Curry because of their commercials, and everyone knows Lebron.
But I hope you get the point I'm driving at with SGA. He is still ascending in terms of mainstream appeal. And you win a title, that boosts you into a different level of connectivity with a wider audience. But here's a team that has a dominant leader in SGA, who somehow is polarizing in a lot of circles of NBA Twitter, which obviously is not real life. But it is an interesting way to gauge fan interest and get a notion of what's out there. Now, maybe a lot of people just don't like the way he plays, or maybe it's easy to take shots at a team as statistically dominant as the Thunder, because once you get to the top of the pack, people want to knock you off.
That's just human nature. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. We're talking baseball in 15 minutes, when we're joined by Gabe Lacks of USA Today. But I'm not sure what there is that is problematic about rooting for the Thunder.
Unless you want to go old school, and this is again right in my wheelhouse, it was a sports crime. The Sonics got ripped out of Seattle. Now, I am playing the hits here and I'm going way back. So I got to catch myself before I start rattling off names going back to Lonnie Shelton, and I'll name the starting five of the mid-90s team that made the NBA Finals. Let's do it together.
Ready? The Glove, Sean Kemp, Detlev Schrep, and I'll pause there. George Karl is not walking through the door.
That's my bias, just because I'm a history nerd. But this is a club that wins through a team concept. And yes, you have a transformational talent in SGA, but he didn't single-handedly carry them to 68 wins.
He got Jalen Williams. If you believe that big men still have a role in this sport, as they did for 75 years, isn't it refreshing to see a healthy Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenschneid, and couldn't the Knicks use him, although they were able to save their season last night? But it's another reflection of how Sam Presti has been a master architect coming up with this talented and well-constructed roster, with role players like Alex Caruso that have bounced around the league. This is a team that's better than the individual sum of its parts. And I do think that's going to come into focus again tonight, because my question for Timberwolves fans who might want to have at it on social media, B.W.
Weber, Weber with two Bs, would come down to a couple thoughts. Are you going to count on Terrence Shannon Jr. giving them that kind of lift like they did Saturday night in a game that, if it was a fight, it would have been stopped in the fourth round? That's how lopsided it was. But to me, it was reminiscent of what we saw Cleveland do, go back around in the Eastern Conference understanding that Cleveland was dealing with real injuries, and that's certainly part of the analysis of how Indy has gotten back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.
You can only play who's healthy and in front of you, but that is part of the conversation. Remember, Indy comes up with wins on the road, games one and two in Cleveland. Then the Cavs go to Indiana and absolutely obliterate them.
And then we know the rest of the story, a gentleman sweep, Pacers winning in five. To me, that's the parallel taking the injuries out of the equation between what happened in that series and what occurred Saturday night in Minneapolis. Now, Kurt Ehler from NBC Sports disagreed, and I respect his opinion immensely.
He does this for a living in talk soups 52 weeks a year. And I don't wager, and I don't get into gambling conversation unless I get paid to do so, and then I'll pretend I spent my life in a sports book. Just my intuition, my take on this game, I think the Thunder realized the magnitude of the moment and the opportunity if they can come up with a victory tonight to close things out at home when the series shifts back to OKC. So that's what I'm looking for, taking nothing away from what the T-Wolves have done and supportive of Julius Randle. I've liked his career arc and certainly did not foresee him going off the way he did against the Warriors with a reminder. No, Steph Curry changes the dynamic of that series.
But if we're just stacking rosters side by side, understanding Minnesota is a very talented team. And if you're asking me who's the next face of the NBA, irrespective of wins the championship this year, I think long term it's Anthony Edwards because he's got and not a comparison to Jordan, not a cop, but he's got a little Jordan-esque swagger to him and that combination of the aerial game and the ability to bury threes. People forget he was the leading three-point shooter in the league this year because he spent the time in the offseason. He actually collaborated with Steph Curry to improve his game. So you put his work ethic together with his athleticism and his attitude.
That to me is the total package. Still, I think asking Julius Randle to be your second best player, although he bounced back after that hideous game too, as part of that blowout win on Saturday night, I think that's a reach. And if we're just talking overall talent and overall cohesion, it's a Vantage OKC in a major way, which I think adds up to the victory tonight. And then they close things out game five. Now, if I was a daily sports talk content creator, I'd be praying to the basketball gods that the T-Wolf show up tonight to extend the series and make it level at two apiece, as we would say in tennis, because this bear is repeating. Game one of the NBA Finals is not going to be altered. It's set on the calendar because of arena commitments.
It won't get underway until June 5th, next Thursday. And when the Pacers, as we shift back to that series, were leading by 20 points with three minutes to go in the second quarter, part of me was thinking about all my brethren who do this for a living every day. Folks have a good time riding OTAs and mindless NFL conversation all the way to the NBA Finals, because you're going to have a lot of time to fill. And everything changed last night. So as we've been discussing, some of it, I think, a byproduct of Tom Thibodeau acknowledging as much as it had to pain him, because nobody appreciates a starting five and ringing every possible minute from them more than Tom Thibodeau throughout his career. But he made the switch going big with Mitchell Robinson, putting Josh Hart on the bench. Both of those players responded to their different role last night. Robinson part of a strong start for the Knicks, helping to clog the lane.
Knicks have to slow down Temple, which they did, because if it's a fast break game, as it was until the midway mark of the third quarter, advantage Indy. And Hart is always an energy player, as we saw certainly on display towards the end of the game with some absolutely crucial rebounds that he pulled. But this game is all about Karl-Anthony Towns, who transformed himself and certainly the perception of Knicks fans by exploding with 20 points in the fourth quarter after he did virtually nothing, in part because he was in foul trouble, in part because that's the cat experience.
This man has wild pendulum swings minute by minute, game by game. Just think within the body of this series, go back to the last game that the Knicks could have won on Friday night. Cat is sitting on the bench for the majority of the fourth quarter, coach's decision, in part because of his defensive liability. Now I do think it was telling and reflecting just how stubborn coaches can be, Thibodeau refused to call a timeout. He didn't want to burn one to get Karl-Anthony Towns back on the floor, and as things were unraveling for the Knicks last night, and getting to a point where they're now 20, following along on social media was fascinating because, and I can tap into this intensity as a recovering New Yorker and a former Knicks fan, I don't root for specific teams anymore, I'm just looking for compelling topics to discuss in whatever job I'm doing. NBA Twitter was of the mindset, if the Knicks didn't rally, that Thibodeau should have been fired after Game 3 if they fell down 3 games to none. Leon Rose, who calls the shots from a player personnel perspective, should be exiled from New York City, escaped from New York like Snake Pliskin back in the day, another current reference, for coming up with not only the cat trade, but giving up all of that draft capital to get McHale Bridges. I think in retrospect, it's going to be very clear, I think it's clear right now the Knicks grossly overpaid, but this was all part of the notion that we have something building here with the Nova Knicks.
Let's pick up another glue guy. Yeah, they gave up too much, but if they make it to the NBA Finals, which they have a great shot at still achieving that goal, everything will look good after the fact because we're talking about a team that hasn't won a title since 1973, hasn't played relevant games in June since Larry Johnson had a strike-shortened year in 1999. It's been a minute, and that's why what happened last night was so important and so interesting that it happened in large measure with Jalen Brunson on the bench with his five fouls. He picked that up with roughly seven minutes to go, didn't come back and play significant action until about 1.35 left in the game, meaning Thibodeau finally had to turn and look down that bench and realize he has functioning players to use and actually went nine deep, as much as it was a brilliant contrast to what Kenny Smith said at halftime on TNT, that Tom wouldn't use nine players if it was a baseball game.
Well, he had to. So my question as we get closer to game four tomorrow is, what else can we take away from last night that could have a carryover effect? I think the starting five adjustment remains the same.
Why wouldn't it? As I mentioned, it led to a quality start for the Knicks, and you got the energy of Hart coming off the bench, especially cleaning up misses off the boards. I fully understand and appreciate why Jalen Brunson has to play all those minutes. He's the heartbeat of that team. But maybe with the interest of thinking about the long term of this series, if it's going seven and look, the guy is superhuman with his willingness to be on the court. But maybe you get him a few more strategic respites and you utilize the bench again, because I think last night showed that if you mix and match from a Nick perspective, positive things can happen. You cannot in any way put down a Carl Anthony Towns game for the ages in the fourth quarter again.
That's something that just fell out of the sky. If Carl Anthony Towns could do that on a nightly basis, he'd be the best player in the league. He doesn't.
He's capable of it. But we see these undulations, and that's part of the reason why, in addition to all the money he's getting and the lack of defense that he plays, he was deemed expendable by the T wolves. But it feels like the Knicks stumbled into something last night that they can leverage in Game four, which I still think they absolutely have to have.
I realized that they'd be going back to New York. Everybody plays better at home. If you're an angry Knicks fan, you're telling me, hey, pal, you were skipping over the fact. And I don't think you really want to dwell on this. We were up 14 with two minutes to go in Game one and had many opportunities to win Game two as well. But you put it all together just from a standpoint of having compelling things to talk about other than where Giannis could be going. It was a gift from the basketball gods and Carl Anthony Towns in particular. The Knicks came up with that massive turnaround, setting the stage for what should be another really interesting game in a series that's been filled with twists and turns coming up tomorrow in Indianapolis. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. I will check your activity on social media coming up.
Good tweets get read. It's B. W. Weber Weber with two B's in 20 minutes. More NBA.
What's going on with a series of shifting champions on the hardwood is the SGA trade, the worst trade in sports history. We'll get there. But because I believe in the power of baseball on Memorial Day, we're going to hit the diamond. What's the historical comp for what Aaron Judge is doing this year? We'll find out. We're joined by Gabe Lacks of USA Today.
I'm Brian in for Rich. It's a Memorial Day edition of the Rich Eisen show in the NFL. There's zero margin for error.
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Ask your doctor about Evglis and visit evglis.lily.com or call 1-800-Lily-Rx or 1-800-545-5979. And I'm old school meaning baseball should be front and center. Always a pleasure to spotlight MLB with Gabe Lacks of USA Today. Gabe, thanks for taking the time. How are you? I'm doing well.
How are you doing today? I'm doing very well and I want to be balanced in my coverage since I'm talking so much New York sports with all the Knicks fallout from last night. And I'll get to Aaron Judge in a moment.
I want to be more expansive as we start the conversation. So, unofficially we're at the quarter poll of the long MLB season. If I asked you what were the biggest positive developments you've seen so far, where would you slot the Tigers having 34 wins on Memorial Day amongst that conversation?
Pretty much right at the top, certainly. It's just a wonderful job building on what they developed last year. And you talk about things working out really well when you add a Glaber Torres, you throw a Javi Baez in centerfield.
You know, those things have worked out really nicely. And then you look at the turnaround of former number one overall picks. So, you know, Spencer Torkelson, you know, he was sent to the minor leagues a year ago. Uh, you know, one of the, one of the best DHS in the American league right now, Casey Mize pitch really well out of the rotation.
He's got a little hamstring issue right now. So he's on the IL, but, uh, and then AJ hinge really does a good job pushing the buttons for that team. Uh, you saw that last year with the way he handled the, what I like to call their pitching chaos, which got them, uh, practically to the ALCS. And then, you know, this year it's a, it's a legit kind of rotation when you've got scooble, you got Jack clarity back kind of just doing, you know, what he does, providing an infant and, you know, a chance to win every night. And then Casey Mize, you know, down to resource and on down the line, just a really solid team. And, uh, no, they're, they're absolutely a live dog just because they, you know, they play the kind of game that, uh, that is well suited both to the grind and also to, to, to the playoffs with a good bullpen, good starting pitching and, uh, you know, enough, enough slug to kind of win some, uh, you know, win some games where maybe you might be struggling offensively. Taking it around the bases with Gabe lacks check out his outstanding work at USA today.
So let's flip it, go from the positive to the negative. Gabe, what has happened to the Orioles? I don't follow baseball as closely as I used to, but even I'm aware of all of their terrific young talent, like Gunned Heatherson and here we are Memorial day. They've already fired their manager, Brandon Hyde. What has led to their implosion?
Yeah, kind of a perfect storm in a sense. Uh, first of all, they did not have a very good winter and, uh, they, uh, uh, you know, relied on Charlie Morton. He was the big off season pitching by at $15 million a year. You know, they've lost every game he's pitched in, uh, to this point.
Uh, so that, that backfired badly. Tyler O'Neill has been hurt. Zach Eflin opened a starter, got hurt. Uh, Gunner Henderson started the year with a little bit of an oblique issue. So it took him a minute to kind of get going, but, uh, yeah, a little bit of a regression with some of the young guys with regard to, uh, you know, Adlai Rutchman really into a tailspin, the second half of last season and, uh, hasn't really come out of it necessarily, you know, just not, uh, you know, not quite moving in that linear fashion. You might've liked to have seen from a two time all star, although it is, it is tough being an offensive minded, uh, catcher, you know, that thing can kind of go in waves. The one positive has been Jackson holiday, really stepping forward. And, uh, you know, a guy who's still just 21 years old and he's, he's getting there, but, uh, the pitching staff has been terrible. The injuries have hit really hard. Uh, Brandon Hyde from a strategy standpoint, really kind of pushed all the right buttons. You'd look at every game individually and go, okay.
You know, that was the right move. But then, uh, you know, the, the reliever gave up a three run homework to, uh, you know, to a slap hit or whatever the case might've been. So, uh, in retrospect and in hindsight, uh, not a well put together team. And then you, you throw in the injuries and maybe a little bit of either regression or kind of flattening out of a, of the young talent. And it's, uh, it's kind of added up to that and kind of as a, you know, it's not too late, but kind of looking like a lost year at this point.
Yeah. Feeling like it even with the wildcard when you're 14 games back of the Yankees. I'm Brian Weber in for rich eyes and we're talking baseball with gay blacks of USA today. So Aaron judges doing sensational things. Three 97 batting average. I'm sure the ups is ungodly 18 home runs gave. I realized we're only on the cusp of June, but is there any comp for what judge is doing other than himself? These numbers are absolutely astonishing. Definitely not in the post drug testing era. I'll tell you that you're gonna go Barry bonds.
That was the other name that came to mind and I covered him when I was a local sportscaster in San Francisco. Right, exactly. And, but the, yeah, again, the batting average really jumps out at you, you know, under over 400 for most of this third of the season here. Uh, and in case you're, you know, you're checking the ups is 1246, which is insane. That's, that's a good April OBS and we're practically to June. And to put that in perspective, uh, number two in the major leagues and OBS is Shohei Ohtani 220 points behind him.
So just gives you an idea. He's, he's in his own world right now. And, uh, it's interesting to see, you know, a guy get better with age with regard to just, I mean, I, again, the batting average is what jumps out at me and in the games I've seen him play, it's just been a matter of him taking exactly what the picture is giving him. Of course, we love the home runs and the massive exit velocity and he'll have plenty of home runs. He may, uh, he may get close to 60 again, but, uh, it's almost like his singles are more impressive, you know, just lashing the ball to left, taking it to right, you know, realizing that, uh, you know, this isn't the time to, you know, to go with the A swing and, uh, and just kind of taking what he's given. And so that's, uh, you know, it's, it's shaping up to be essentially a perfect offensive season. So, you know, he's going back to LA this week.
Hopefully he gets out of there uninjured as, uh, avoid the wall if he can. Right. Exactly.
And they did fix that. Good. So that's a good on the Dodgers for that. But, uh, yeah, if he, if he continues to stay healthy, it's fascinating to see if he can pick up, keep up this pace for the last two thirds of this year. Well, Gabe, since you mentioned that the Yankees will be playing the Dodgers in a world series rematch, what's your perspective on LA? They dropped two of three taking on the Mets who were scuffling prior to that series. Ohtani did go deep yesterday, homer number 18, but again, as somebody who flips around and follows things professionally, but don't live and die with baseball the way I used to, what is going on with that wave of injuries the Dodgers have had, not only in the rotation with three guys not available, the bullpen's now gotten pretty battered as well.
Yeah. I mean, it's, uh, you know, the, the dustoff kind of a modern cliche, the ultimate predictor of injury is past injury. And so you've got a lot of guys who, uh, you know, who have been injured in the past, banged up in the past, you know, Blake Snell, you thought he might've been healthy having had a full spring training this year, but, uh, you know, that shoulder is barking, you know, Tyler Glasgow back on the, on the IL, uh, and then, uh, you know, scouts kind of mentioned that Sasaki looked a little flat last year relative to, uh, you know, his body of work in Japan had never thrown more than 129 innings in a season. So you kind of had a feeling he might have a physical adjustment to major league baseball.
Certainly didn't think he'd be on the IL, you know, by early may. So that's a, that I think that's a tough one for them for sure. Uh, and then, you know, the, as a, when you look at the relief piece of it, uh, you know, they did come off of, you know, they're coming off a world series here where they relied heavily on the bullpen and, uh, you know, you're talking about a team that, you know, was employed a bullpen game for game for the world series. So it's, it's not your father's world series champs where, uh, you know, like they just had four guys that ran out there and pitched six innings every night. It's, uh, you know, and sometimes you get the effect, the downward effect on a bullpen the year after, which certainly could be the case with Michael Coppock, uh, with Evan Phillips who ended up, uh, banged up last year, Blake trying to now with a strain form. Uh, and so, and then, you know, the bad luck of Kirby Yates going down with a hamstring situation, you know, it's, uh, these things kind of happen.
And I know, uh, Andrew Friedman has said, they're looking at everything that, uh, you know, to, to kind of like diagnose it all, but it is tough. It, you know, is there, is there something they're doing with their, their pitching that's, uh, kind of, you know, you know, teaching them pitches that are more stressors on the arm or things like that, or is it just a confluence of, uh, of unfortunate events? But the funny thing is you kind of could see this coming, you know, they go to camp with nine starters and you kind of knew like, okay, they're going to end up probably having to do bullpen games at some point just because that's what happens with the Dodgers.
But in the big picture, it's, uh, you know, not too hurtful. They're just kind of chilling, you know, And they can afford nine pitchers too, right? With that astronomical payroll and Otani getting closer to returning to the mound. Hey, I had one more thought and we're talking baseball with Gabe Lacks of USA today, since we just saw the Dodgers and the Mets play over the weekend in Queens, what do you make of Juan Soto's slow start? If you still care about the batting average, statistically, the worst 50 games stretched open a year in his career, ultimately, do you think he gets right based on everything we've seen him do in the past?
I think so. And it's, uh, you know, you talk about track record, you know, he has a very long one at the very tender age of 26. So you're talking about a guy, a very proven one, you know, generational hitter and still very much in his physical prime.
And, you know, he's, he's played in the National League before he's played in New York before. So you would have thought it wouldn't have been that big of an adjustment, but sometimes it does. And then, you know, nobody has carried a, you know, a, uh, the pressure of a $765 million contrast before now, granted, all of us would like that kind of pressure, but nonetheless, it's, it is different for the man in the arena, so to speak. So, uh, but you know, the on-basis healthy, the slug isn't quite where you'd like it, but, uh, you know, this is a 15 year investment and it's, it's not all going to be linear. And so it's a tends to, you know, it tends to be a greater scrutiny at the start of this thing, but I'm, you know, maybe this year it's not peak Juan Soto, maybe it's a little bit less, but be it this year, be it next year, you know, you're going to see that guy, you know, do, do Juan Soto things as they said. So I would just preach a little bit of patience to Mets fans and, and, you know, continue to think that you're fortunate to, to have them in the middle of your lineup. However, as someone who grew up 20 minutes away from Shea Stadium, I can counter with Gabe, what do you think the likelihood that Mets fame would ever have patients?
Come on. It's in their DNA. Ah, Mets fans are very narcissistic that way.
They think we have all the world's problems. Well, Gabe, no, I appreciate it. First of all, you got my attention with the TR, the Teddy Roosevelt illusion. Now we're throwing out polysyllabic words and your spot on, well, I'll say it this way as we say goodbye. Mets fans, in my opinion and in my past experience are more accustomed to being miserable than being happy and they revel in it. Hey, it's, it's a way of life, so you just got to go with it at some point. Thank you, Gabe. I appreciate the information and hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend. Okay, you too.
Take care now. Gabe Lacks, USA Today. Mets fans are narcissistic. Now let's see if we want to go narcissism. I've already mentioned one WWE reference. How about Lex Luger as the narcissist when he came first from Jim Crockett Promotions, the WCW, then had to sign a contract with Vince McMahon's International Body Federation before he showed up and stared himself in a mirror at the WrestleMania in Las Vegas.
I know I've killed the show. I wouldn't say Mets fans are narcissistic. Now there is a degree of self-esteem and we'll always have 1986 and before that we had 1969 and I'm aware of the other World Series appearances, but in between a lot of heartache and a lot of angst, but that's part of the culture. You grow up a Mets fan either because you're from Queens or from Long Island or in my case, Westchester County, but my old man was too cheap to go to Yankee games, so we went mostly due to dollars and cents and I got so lucky. Now look, I endured the 1979 Mets. Lee Mazzilli and John Stearns are walking through that door, but I was right there. In fact, I went to Darryl Strawberry's first game when you could buy tickets walking up and you have Doc Gooden and the Phenomenon and the rest of the story. And again, back to my podcast available on Odyssey.
The way things used to be would be web. Nostalgia is the lowest form of conversation as we learn on the Sopranos. The point I was trying to make with Gabe, if we're preaching patience and it takes one to know one, as someone who grew up in New York, for anybody from the tri-state area, it's in short supply because of social Darwinism.
Tell me here, when you have 25 people waiting for a slice of pizza, if you're not going to step up for yourself, you're never going to get served. And it took me years to make that adjustment when I got to California. And within about a minute, people say to me still, and I moved here in 1987, you're from New York, aren't you?
Not the, you're not from around here as they put on a 10 gallon hat, but it is a culture as well as a way of life. All right, we've gotten deep as a fill-in guy on a holiday. Let's get the show back on track as we wrap it up with gusto straight ahead. We're turning to the NBA. Is the SGA trade the worst deal in sports history?
Plus with a seventh different champion about to be crowned next month on the hardwood, positive or negative development for the league. That's coming up. Hey there travelers, Kaley Cuoco here. Sorry to interrupt your music, great artists, BT but wouldn't you rather be there to hear it live with Priceline? You can get out of your dreams and into your dream concert. They've got millions of travel deals to get you to that festival gig, rave sound bath, or sonic experience. You've been dreaming up, download the Priceline app today, and you can save up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights. So don't just dream about that trip. Book it with Priceline. This episode is brought to you by Amazon prime from streaming to shopping prime helps you get more out of your passions.
So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time with services like prime video, Amazon music and fast free delivery prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into visit amazon.com slash prime to learn more. Brian Weber back with you. We are winding down. That means rich and the guys are warming up back with you tomorrow. Rested and ready with all of their takeaways from a jam packed holiday sports weekend. Given riches ties to the Big Apple, you can certainly bank on a lot of Nick conversation in addition to the fallout from whatever happens tonight in the Twin Cities as the T wolves try to prove that beat down they applied to OKC was not a one off, not an anomaly, although to bolster my standpoint that like the thunder decided once they were down 20 to mail it in and be fully rested like ritual be when he returns to work tomorrow heading into tonight's game. Quick reminder the Thunder have not lost back to back games throughout this postseason.
68 wins in the regular season for a reason. If you've enjoyed my approach, we can continue the conversation on the X platform. That's BW Weber Weber to bees. If you know the quote unquote dulcet tones you may be aware I fill in for other folks as well. So always a wonderful opportunity to have a chance to go back and forth with you. I promised a few more NBA thoughts before we ease out in a few minutes. This is not hyperbole.
This is not lava filled. And I actually did give this some thoughts when we think about the worst trades in sports history and a lot of people losing their mind in terms of Luca for Anthony Davis. And we understand the disparity there, especially because the Lakers did not send a raft filled with number one picks in return.
I would say just pause and think about the SGA trade as the worst trade in NBA history and tantamount to the Herschel Walker deal. Because if you forgot what Steve Ballmer signed off on as the owner of the L.A. Clippers, he defers to his quote unquote basketball people like Lawrence Frank. But he's the owner.
He's a fan after all. He's the guy who got so hands on with the design of their new stadium here in Los Angeles to build what he refers to as the wall to replicate the acoustics of a college arena and pull that off. But still, with all the money he has thrown away on that team, can't get them out of the first round. Because if you build a team around Kawhi Leonard, who finally was healthy come playoff time, and James Harden, and there's a game seven involved in the postseason, you're on borrowed time because you are what you consistently do.
And Harden never shows up when a series is on the line throughout his career in Game Seven of any playoff series with magnitude. SGA for Paul George in 2019, part of this unbelievable package, bulging with compensation as we get him to go to the wrap up the program. Five first round picks, two pick swaps.
So effectively seven picks there. Danilo Gallinari when he could still play and SGA. Now, in fairness, nobody knew SGA was going to become the MVP. But my goodness, you wonder why Sam Presti has such a high basketball IQ. He came up with that at least commensurate deal that the Clippers signed off on to send Paul George, who at the time was going to be the other foundational talent in a super team along with Kawhi Leonard.
And you know the rest of the story. If we think about where we are overall in the NBA and we mentioned Kawhi and go back to the Raptors winning that title, principally because of what he meant to that team when he was still healthy consistently. NBA Finals MVP for a reason with the Spurs and the Raptors. Warriors go back to back 2017, 2018. Since then, one and done as champs. It continues clearly as Boston couldn't make it past the last round with the Knicks, primarily because of the Jason Tatum injury.
I know Nick fans don't like that analysis, but I'm just telling it like it is. And Boston collapsing in games one and two because they refused to change their offensive game plan. So we're coming up now on seven consecutive years with a new NBA champion. And that is a massive departure from what we've seen in this league. Just to further illustrate, I got nothing going on socially.
I dug up this nugget over the weekend. In the history of the NBA, going back to the late 40s, seven teams are responsible for 70% of the championships. And you can just rattle off the top of your head when you think about dynastic runs by the Celtics and the Lakers and the Bulls and then multiple championships, even, believe it or not, won by the Knicks in 69 and 73. So the question becomes good or bad for this league? And obviously it's a star driven league and we get so myopically focused on TV ratings, we're convinced that the fix is in with conspiracy theories for big markets. I would counter just as a fan, the league has never been healthier based on this trend. And look, if you're flipping around NBA TV and you come across the Washington Wizards, you're not going to watch all the jazz as they rebuild. But I'll watch the majority, the other 28 teams on a nightly basis because talent has never been more evenly spread out. Yes, injuries played a major role so far in this postseason. But I think this is a positive development for the league. The trade off is you don't have that one singular super team, but there's never been more competitive balance as we're seeing in this postseason.
But when we get to the end of it all, probably going to be the top seed in the team that won 68 games that win it all. Enjoy OKC in Minnesota tonight. A lot of people to thank, starting with Rich Eisen, Bruce Gilbert, all the good people at Westwood One, David Murnach and the rest of our friends at the Infinity Sports Network, our technical producers, Curtis and Alex. My name is Brian Weber.
Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day and I'll talk to you to you on July 4th on The Rich Eisen Show. If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side with industrial grade products and next day delivery. Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1 800 Grainger, Grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
