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Not available in all states. We got to talk about your birthday, bro. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Happy birthday. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday.
You're finally the age that you've looked since you're 28. The Rich Eisen Show. Happy birthday. Today's gasps ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst. Five time Pro Bowl tackle to Ron Armstead, co-host of No Contest Wrestling podcast.
O'Shea Jackson Jr. And now it's Rich Eisen. That's right, everybody. Hey, it is my birthday. Happy birthday. Can I confirm it is my 26th annual 30th birthday here on the Rich Eisen Show. That's a way of saying I am 56, but I guess what? I'm wearing a shirt that I bought on my honeymoon.
So that's the way it works in my life. Yeah. Looks good, right? It's an old shirt. It is that, but you can't tell. You can't tell. You can't tell that. You can't tell.
You can't tell. I like to say you can't tell the shirt's old and I'm hoping you can't tell that the person inside the shirt is. I'm feeling youthful today. I'm feeling youthful.
Thank you very much. Louis feeling good. Hey, it's a fun day in our neighborhood.
844-204-rich is the number to dial. Brian Windhorst is going to be joining us a day before the draft, two days after the Thunder have won it all. The Thunder are having a celebration in Oklahoma City today based on the video. It looks like it's a rally that's starting inside the arena. And then we're assuming it's going to go outside. I don't know if the weather is bad or not. I have no idea, but yeah, there it is.
It's hot everywhere kind of east of us. I guess so, but look, it's a full lower bowl there. The thing that stands out is first of all, the Canadian flag that's draped around SGA as he's rallying the fans who are there. And then if you wouldn't mind rolling that back as well, you could see when they scan the crowd, this is really weird. People are not wearing the same shirt. It's kind of wild. Although it does look like they do have some sort of white shirt giveaways there. I don't know. Is that some sort of championship shirt that they have?
But the fact that not everyone's wearing the same shirt kind of threw me off. And so the Oklahoma City Thunder have moved into the winner's circle. And one of the things I want to hit here, and I will speak to with Brian Windhorst, let's just jump right into it, here on the Rich Eisen Show, that when I look at this team and I see how it is constructed, and we went over it yesterday, the centerpiece obviously is the reigning MVP of the NBA, who the Thunder acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in the same year that SGA was drafted and acquired by the Thunder, drafted by the Clippers, acquired by the Thunder, in the same year they got Lou Dort as an unrestricted free agent, the 2022 draft.
Monster Big for the Thunder, they draft both Chet Holmgren, speaking of Monster Big, and Jalen Williams, who apparently, now that he has won the championship, had his first sip of alcohol, it appears. Did you see that with Scott Van Pelt? Did you see that?
T.J. Jefferson? Oh, by the way, I realize I didn't introduce all you guys. Good to see you, T.J. and Chris and Jay Felley. Thank you. I guess today's all about me, and that's the way I started the program.
I think all three of us took it. But, you know, it's all about the Thunder right here and the acquisition of the other players on the team, like Isaiah Hartenstein, and we talked about Alex Caruso and other players that you would consider as role players. But, man, you put it all together, there's really no role players. They just play a role as one of the best teams we've seen. 68 wins in the regular season, 84 wins when you tack on the 16 dubs that got in the playoffs.
So they could have this rally and parade today. When you look at the fact that Shay Gilders Alexander was acquired by the Thunder because Kawhi Leonard, after winning the championship with the Toronto Raptors, decided to come back home here to California, Southern California, and said, I'll come to the Clippers, as the story goes, if you also acquire somebody else to come with me, and I choose Paul George. And I guess Sam Presti kind of figured out all of that. And the shrewd general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder, I believe we do have the details of the trade. He popped it up on our Monday show. Do I have to see it again?
I have it here in front of me. A first rounder in the 2021 draft, the 2022 draft turned into Jalen Williams, a first rounder in 2023 with a pick swap in 2023, a first rounder in last year's draft, a pick swap in this year's draft for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and a first rounder in next year's draft. They're going to have another first rounder from the Clippers in next year's draft for the guy who is the MVP of the league right now, celebrating a championship the day before the draft in which they have a pick swap with the Clippers. And the reason why I bring all this up is Kawhi said, I want Paul George, Paul George goes, the two of them, as we all know, are not together anymore. And that's kind of caused me to wonder the question that I asked Jay Billis, and I will ask Brian Windhorst shortly, as I asked Billis yesterday, is this the end of the super team era in the NBA?
Or has it already been, or has it already been dead? If you recall, that was Draymond Green's response, right? After the Warriors won one of their titles, and I believe was LeBron tweeting out something about the super teams or something like that, right?
I remember it was early on in our world here on the Rich Eisen show that's turning 11. Yeah, Cavs and Warriors seemingly played every year. Right, and so he says, you started the super team, bro.
And we have to wonder, is it officially dead or has it just been dead for a while? Because the Thunder on Sunday night became the ninth different franchise in Adam Silver's dozen years now as commissioner of the NBA to win the title. So in Adam Silver's first 12 years as commissioner in the NBA, nine different franchises have won at all. And if you want to just bleed it into David Stern's last year as commissioner, when the Heat won, it's 10 different franchises in the last 13 NBA seasons to win the trophy. The only repeat champs are the Warriors. They won it four times in the tenure of Adam Silver.
And I saw that graphic. Did you see how many teams won it during the 30 years of David Stern? Eight. Eight different teams in the 30 years of David Stern. Now you can go back and forth about, is it the way the league is constructed?
Is it the way the league is run, the way that teams go about their business? There was expansion in there. Well, there was also Michael Jordan in there.
Wow. And Magic and Kareem and Isaiah. That presented a lot of other teams from going places. I think certainly in the era of Jordan, ask a Jazz, Knicks, Rockets fans, right?
Ask them all. Or at the end of the, you know, Bad Boys era, Pistons fans, you know, he blocked a lot of people, but it's the Thunder, Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Cavs, Spurs, and Heat in the last 13 seasons, 10 different franchises had their players lay hands on the Larry OB. And then I, I did this for the David Stern years. Heat, Mavs, Pistons, Spurs, Rockets, Bulls, Lakers, Celtics. That's it. And you know, were the Lakers and the Celtics the original super teams? Can you say that? Right. They weren't constructed in the way of modern super teams.
But when you look at the resulting. Well, when you look at it, when you walk through, say, Springfield, Massachusetts, and the basketball hall of fame, and you see, oh, there's Michael, there's Bird, there's Chief, there's DJ, there's Walton, all Celtics, and there's Jordan, and there's Pippen, and is Rodman in there? He should be. Rodman is. Okay.
I'm just making sure. You know, oh, there's Magic, there's Kareem. Big game.
But it wasn't friends on vacation being like, let's all go to some spot and play together. Now that was the Miami Heat that did that for the first time. Yeah.
Right. And then everybody started to try and do the same thing with Durant joining a Warriors team that really wasn't super teamed up. They just drafted really well, right? That was their thing. And then Durant joined.
Went to seek out these players. And wasn't that the moment where LeBron complained about, in some way, shape, or form about Durant joining, and that may have been the genesis of that drop. But is the super team era over? You know, we're taking a look at this free agency period. Durant just gets hired by the Rockets. Hired? That's interesting.
I've never really heard anybody put it that way. He's hired to be the 37-year-old gunslinging adult in the room for these kids, right? The Celtics draft both Tatum and Brown, and then start building the team around them. Derek White becomes a Hall of Famer out there. Yesterday, they just sent Jeru Holiday packing to Portland, who acquires him for the second time in two years.
That's right. Holiday, if you recall, had a way station in Portland for a split second before the Celtics snagged him in that deal that involved Dame Lillard as well, right? And Anthony Simons going now to the Celtics. They get younger at the position. He's also an expiring contract.
Good three-point shooter. So I kind of dig that trade for both teams. Seems like a win-win. But my point is, is that the Celtics aren't going to go into the free agent market and try and add somebody to make this a super team. They might not be able to afford it. They're already on, you know, their umpteenth apron. Yeah, they're looking to shed salary at this point. Correct.
Because maybe the aprons, the way things are set up, you get to the second apron and things get incredibly expensive. Teams are avoiding that, and that's potentially preventing a super team from happening. So you've got to draft wisely and then shop free agency and say, okay, let's get Alex Caruso. Let's get Isaiah Hartenstein and add him to Chet Holmgren.
Let's add Caruso to all these young backcourt players that we have. Let's put this together with blanketing perimeter defense collapsing in the paint defense with some shot blockers of note, and a kid that we're gonna acquire because somebody else in the final throws of the super team era try to create their one of their own at the behest of one of the stars that they were acquiring in the free agent market in Kauai. Would you agree the super team era is dead in the NBA and this is the final nail? Who's creating a super team?
Sort of. Houston's trying to. See, their thing is like the way the super team was previously constructed, it was three players and then some really talented parts around the three guys. That they can afford. Yeah, they can afford. Now it's seemingly, it's a two player super team creation with, you know, highly skilled role players around two guys instead of three.
It just looks a little bit different now, but dead, dead, I don't know. Boston added Porzingis and Drew Holliday to go with those two guys. That, in a way, was a super team, even though it wasn't free agency, it was trades. Now the super team would be for the Rockets. If you, I don't know if this is true or not, what comes across my threads timeline is Harden in play.
Oh, to go back to Houston? I saw that, that the Rockets have an opportunity to add some massive salaried players. I saw Jalen Brown still being, being remembered for that as well. And that, and that Harden can leave the Clippers due to some option.
That's news to me. Now that's a super team. If they acquired James Harden or Jalen Brown. And Durant. And Durant. And they still have Cengun and Van Vleet and Emay resigned. That's a super team.
And ownership that's like bring on the aprons because we want our own rally and parade. I just don't see it anymore. You just don't see it much anymore. And, um, I wonder if that has to do to also TJ with so much talent in the league. Whereas before there weren't as many superstars. So when you kind of grouped a few together, you're like, oh, that's a super team. They have three future hall of famers. Now there's so much talent in the NBA. The skill level is super high right now.
Pretty much across the board. Every team has a outstanding franchise players, so to speak. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to sound like the old guy, but that argument is skill wise.
Players aren't as good now as they were, you know, in our time in the nineties, in the early, you know, athleticism is higher, but like skills, like, you know, you're talking guys, four years in college, all of our stars went to college for multiple years and, you know, kind of hone their craft before just jumping into the league. So how about, how about this one? And then we'll, we'll ask Brian Winhorse so we can be on time for him.
How about this one? Cause I'm flying back with coop from Fanatics Fest, sitting next to each other. We're watching the game on, you know, on those, the screen back, um, and, um, or the, the, the seat screen. Right. And just one fast break, pull up three pointer after another. And he turns to me, go, see, this is what I have a problem with the NBA. And I'm like, what? He said that?
I swear to you. He said, everybody, everybody just throws up threes. Yeah.
And so if that is in fact now the way the game is played, and I think we can agree, right? I mean, the Celtics are the, you know, Hey, just keep hoisting three. You make half of them. We win. We, we, we, we, we, we miss 75% of them.
We lose. You know what I mean? Like it's that, that's the way it is.
Pretty much. And so you just find that sweet spot. If we make 30 dips, somebody just make, I'm sure Brad Stevens figured it out. We make 32% of our threes on a game night. We're going to win.
Or I'm just picking a number. Right. And so, so many people shoot threes now. What do you need a super team for?
Right? If you just, all you got to do is just get somebody who's really supremely great. And then have everybody start to hoisting threes and make them. I mean, maybe that's it, the way that you construct a roster.
I don't know. I think the Thunder are changing that SGA. Look at what his game is.
He's mid range. He's pull-ups, you know, he, he's not the three point specialist. Like his game lives within. Oh yeah. I know the elbow.
He actually shoots. So that, that might be the way it is. And you know, the last dance was on ESPN. You should have watched about an hour of it. And I'm just sitting there like watching Michael Jordan just dominate from 12 to 18 feet, Chris. I'm like, I know you told me all the time, the numbers say the three, but man, just in my mind, you master the mid range game. You can't be stopped.
I don't know why these kids don't do it. Four feet further back. It's worth one more point. Yeah.
But four feet further back, your percentage drops. Right. Again, the question is, is this, and we will ask this of Brian Windhorst when he joins us, is the super team era over in the NBA? And he's just logging in right now. Let's go throw a break.
So when we come back, one of our favorites in advance of the draft, in the aftermath of the NBA finals, being won by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brian Windhorst coming up. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, you chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, not available in all States or situations.
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That's OReillyAuto.com. Let's talk sleep number, people. If you're like me, then you are just not yourself when you get a bad night's sleep. Look, sleep plays an important, crucial role in recovery. We're all unique in what we need from our bed, too. That's where sleep is.
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See the store or sleepnumber.com for details. All right, back here on the Rich Eisen Show and on the Roku Sports Channel. Radio audience will rejoin shortly, but let's bring them on right now. Our friend Brian Windhorst back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Brian. How are you? Good afternoon, Rich. Morning, I guess, to you.
Yes, correct. Are you in the city of New York getting ready for a draft? I am indeed. I am in the brand new Robert Iger building, new Disney headquarters in New York. You'll be welcomed here if you'd like to do your show from here one day.
Ah, I didn't know that. Do you always speak for Robert? I wouldn't. I would never, I would never speak for Mr. I say Mr. Iger. I don't know how you call him. You may call him Bob. I call him Mr. Iger.
Okay. Well, I haven't really called him much yet, but you know, yeah, I go so far back to, I remember getting my first note from Eisner, um, you know, when he was watching me on sports center as like a 26, 27 year old, I'm like, wow, this is amazing. That's how far back I go as a cast member, you know, so.
Yes. Well, I'm sure that was not unnerving at all. No, I just said, you know, I'll just sit back and let Stewart take all the heat. That's pretty much is what I was doing back then, but it's good to see you, sir.
It is good to see you. What, what are you looking forward for the draft? First up?
Yeah. So the first two, obviously we have Cooper flag, which I there's as much excitement about him as there has been about, um, a player since Victor, women Yama, obviously. And so the fact that he's going to a team that is already pretty established is exciting. And so this should definitely not be passed over as anything, but the Cooper flag draft night, this could be the introduction of a, of a real game-changing player in the league.
Um, but there's no drama with that. He will be a Dallas Maverick. And I don't think there's any drama with the number two pick.
Uh, Dylan Harper from Rutgers will be, uh, Victor women. Yama's two new teammate with the San Antonio Spurs, the draft drama and entry will really begin with number three. Um, and the Philadelphia 76ers, um, all three of the top picks this year, uh, rich are, this is an interesting situation because all three of these teams are more established teams that fell to this spot, both due to luck in the lottery and because of injury, because if Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving's injury and lottery luck, Dallas is at number one, um, Victor women, Yama's injury contributed to the Spurs being number two. And obviously Paul George and Joel and B this, this, the talent level under contract for the, uh, 76ers does not indicate a, um, a, you know, a top three team.
So the fact that these top three guys are going to these teams creates this extra level of intrigue about how these picks could affect the NBA this season because very rarely do rookies actually impact winning and losing because most of the time they go to teams that are not good impact rookies. So if the 76ers, uh, whatever they do is going to create a lot of, uh, cascading effects, the more intriguing player after those first two is Ace Bailey out of Rutgers, a player who had a sort of mixed bag during his, his only season of Rutgers was listed at six 10 measured in at six, seven and a half. Um, and then has elected not to participate in individual workouts with teams, at least any that we know about. And there is all kinds of speculation that he has a promise from somebody, and this is what happens when you have a promise, you shut down workouts and try to slip through, um, so that you get that preferred team.
I don't know who that preferred team might be. Um, and so because of that, Ace Bailey has slid on the draft boards, Jonathan Gavone, our draft expert at ESPN, who's the best at the business. He's got him actually going back to number six at Washington, um, even though he's got him number three on his board.
So what happens to Ace Bailey will be interesting, especially what happens if someone sees him sliding, if he does indeed slide and wants to trade up. So we've already seen three first round picks in this draft traded. And I think there's a couple that are in play in the top 10. Um, keep an eye on the number seven pick, which is the New Orleans Pelicans. They last week made a deal with the Indiana Pacers to acquire their pick, the 23rd pick. And there's some belief that they may be trying to package the 23rd pick and their number seven pick. They also have some draft assets of the Milwaukee Bucks over the next couple of years, which could be very interesting, um, that they can go and maybe there's a player in that top six or five that they may be interested in trading up to. Um, there's some, there's a lot of uncertainty around the Hornets at number four.
Would they stay put or would they move back? Because it's possible that the best option there will be guards and there's, you know, they have guards on their roster. So that's possibly in play. And then the Raptors at number nine, the Raptors are showing interest in potentially moving. You know, there's a lot of uncertainty in the Eastern conference, um, next season rich and the Raptors seem to think that they want to see if they can use the number nine pick and a player on their roster to, to improve. Now the number nine pick has been out there being offered around a little bit.
So, um, I think we could see, look for all I know, it'll go in order. Ace Bailey will go three. Nobody, no trades in the top 10, but there is some intrigue. So I would specifically that sort of middle hour after the number two pick goes, keep an eye on that middle hour.
We could have some drama in there. Brian Windhorst here on the Rich Eisen show with a superb soliloquy to set the stage for the draft, uh, the NBA draft that's going down on Wednesday night on the ESPN family of networks. Uh, based on all that, what I took away is that, uh, the Sixers have the first domino essentially in this draft.
Uh, Ace Bailey may have been standing on a New Brunswick phone book when he got measured, uh, and he arrived at school. Uh, a complete mystery as to what he can do in the NBA and who might be interested in him. Um, and, and also, um, rookies in the NBA are, are rarely impactful in a first season. Is that why, um, the Rockets, when they're chock full of young players, they're like, screw it, let's just send the 10th pick and Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks and a whole bunch of twos for Durant.
Let's go win right now. Is that part of the reasoning? Before they even did the Durant trade, the number 10 pick was available. The, I think the, you know, the Rockets, if you remember, they had the number three pick last year. They drafted Reed Shepard and Reed Shepard could not crack the rotation this year. Now he did have an injury, uh, in the latter half of the latter part of the season that also impacted his availability. But, um, you know, I, I'm not sure Houston thought there was a player they could take at 10 that would be able to dramatically improve them this year.
Whereas of course, Kevin Durant certainly can. And so I think they were looking to move back anyway because, um, they were trying to manage some of their salaries going forward. Um, so, uh, yeah, I think the number 10 pick was always available when they could include it in for Durant.
They, uh, they definitely were willing to do that. Well, and Desmond Bain obviously went for a slew of draft choices, um, to the Orlando Magic last night. Uh, the Celtics and Blazers made a trade, uh, walk me through the Celtics Blazers trade, the why and what you think, Brian? Yeah, my friends and relatives who watch and listen to NBA content, they tell me, stop talking about the second apron. It's confusing. People don't understand it. Um, it's, it's annoying to hear you talk about it.
Just talk about stuff that we can understand. And I get it because it is terrible terminology. It's a lawyer term.
We have not done a better job of coming up with something different. We have not done a great job of explaining it, but long story short, it's a threshold that is very, very restrictive and not just restrictive in terms of expensive. It's restrictive and what you can do for your team. And so if you are in the second apron, you are thinking about getting out of it.
If you go into it, you want to keep into it for a short period of time. And if you're in the second apron and you don't think you can have a great chance to win a championship, it's not a place to be. And so the Celtics are in there because of they've paid all the legacy guys that they have to win the championship, but the last year and without Jason Tatum, I don't think they see themselves as a real championship contender. At least their actions are dictating that.
And so they are going to start making moves to try to get themselves out of the second apron. And their first move for that was trading Drew Holliday. Now the player that they got for him, Anthony Simons, he will be a nice fit for them because he is a big time three point shooter, high volume, and he can really put up points. This is a guy who can have a 35 point night and win you a game. He can average even in the 20s, I believe. And for Joe Mazzulla, who likes guys who shoots threes, I mean, he will get minutes. And I suspect that he will become to a new level of consciousness. He's sort of been toiling in Portland in anonymity because they're in a rebuild after the Dame Lillard trade.
He's about to become much better known for casual NBA fans. That said, this is a downgrade trade from a defensive perspective. And the Celtics were built to be a defensive team. But Drew Holliday has 35 million dollars left on his, or he's aged 35 and he's got a hundred million dollars left on his contract. And if you don't think that you can have a great chance to win the championship this year, Drew Holliday's value is probably not going to increase. And so there were people that were telling me that they thought that because he was owed a hundred million that the Celtics may not be able to get true value for him, that they may have to incentivize a trade.
In other words, put some stuff into it to get somebody to want to take on all that money. They ended up getting two second round picks and a guy that I think can be good for them. So I think they did well in a trade that was motivated by money. This trade will save 45 million dollars in tax and salary for next year.
And there's probably more on the way. I would keep an eye on potentially Chris Hapsporzingis, although his health is a factor in a trade and potentially some other role players so that the Celtics can hold on and afford Jalen Brown and Derek White and their other core guys for when Jason Tatum is healthy. Brian Windhorst here on the Rich Eisen Show from New York where the draft's going down on Wednesday.
And so what about the big name, the blockbuster, anything out there? You know, Giannis is real quiet right now on that front, certainly you know when it's being discussed nationally. What do you have for me on a potential massive huge moment tomorrow night on that front, Brian? He won't be traded tomorrow night. But when it comes to Giannis, I think it's helpful just to state some facts. Giannis has not asked for a trade, at least as the time, my awareness as we do this. The Bucks are not looking to trade him.
The Bucks have seven free agents, four or five of which I would call their core players or rotation players. They do not have salary cap space. They do not own or control their first round draft pick. When I say control, they can't trade it for five more years. They're only allowed to trade one first round draft pick, and that's either the pick in 2031 or 2032, one or the other, not both.
They have been deeply in the tax over the last couple of seasons and have paid almost a billion dollars, a billion in salary and luxury tax over the last seven seasons. They are not sure what Damian Lillard's status is going to be. They're hopeful that he can return next season, but he's in his mid 30s and he had an Achilles tear in April.
So those are the facts. And teams are looking out there and seeing those facts and saying, let's just wait and see what happens with Giannis. And there is no certainty. I am not here to say any certainty with that, but I think I'm reacting to teams actions. And when you see teams not go after Kevin Durant to save their assets for something bigger, I can't say for sure. I can't say absolutely what is in Pat Riley's mind as he doesn't put all of his assets on the table that he could for Kevin Durant. I can't say exactly what Leon Rose is thinking as the general manager or president of the Knicks when they elect to pass on Durant, but I can state those facts surrounding the Bucks and you can extrapolate what you want to extrapolate.
Love it, Brian. You just did the pointing without the pointing, pretty much, the famous point. I don't know. I mean, in the case of Rudy Gobert, I knew he was getting traded. I don't know what's going to happen here. And not knowing is enough to leave some teams to leave their options open. All right.
A few minutes left here with Brian Windhorst. Are the Knicks going to go into the draft without a new coach? I mean, it looks like it, right?
Yeah. It's not that big of a deal. The Knicks don't have a first round pick and don't have a high second round pick. There's not going to be decisions made Wednesday or Thursday that probably dramatically affect them, but it's obviously not going well. And so they asked permission from a whole bunch of guys. They got turned down. They interviewed Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown, two guys who were successful coaches over the last few years. And now they have moved on to interviewing other candidates, Mike Inori, an assistant with the Timberwolves, and there may be some more candidates. So again, I'm not going to try to pretend like I knew everything that's going on there, but if they love their options, I don't know if they keep doing interviews.
Now here's where I'm going to start stating more facts. Several of the coaches that they asked for permission on are in position to get contract extensions. Emei Yudoka in Houston has gotten a contract extension. Billy Donovan has been reported, and from what I have been told, they're going to try and get a contract extension done. When it was turned down, it was under the understanding that he would get a contract extension done. Jason Kidd, who was their number one choice, has not had a contract extension done. And Jason Kidd's lead assistant, Sean Sweeney, just left the Mavericks to go work for this first.
Those are just facts that I just dated, and I can move on from there. Okay, Brian Windhorst dropping a breadcrumb. Listen, I'm not going to go down the path of, you know, the Thunder are set up for long-term success, even though everything points to that, with their age and their assets for Sam Presti. I mean, what happened last year at this time, we're talking about Celtics, could be a dynastic team and yada, yada, yada.
There's aprons and Achilles and stuff like that. So what is the resonation you think that is going to come out of the Thunder win? Copycats around the league, trying to figure it out.
What do you think is the rippling effect in this NBA pond here, Brian? Well, the big thing that the Thunder have going for them is that their two of their three best players are really young. I mean, Shea is young too, but Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are on the first contracts. It's almost like having, in the NFL, having a quarterback who's on his rookie deal, who's great.
You don't have to spend a big portion of your salary cap. So next year, the Thunder are not going to have any salary stressors, because Chet and Jalen Williams are going to be on the first rookie deals. And even after they extend their contract, which I expect to happen this summer, those numbers will start off relatively low.
And so they're not under the same stress as some of these other teams are where they have to break up the team because they're facing second apron pressure. And not only that, but the Thunder have 15 first round draft picks over the next seven years, including two. They have two tomorrow night, including the 15th pick. And by the way, they have a player who sat out this year that nobody knows about unless you're a Serbian or you're a big Thunder fan, Topic, who basically got drafted last year.
He slipped to the Thunder in the back of the lottery because he had a torn ACL. So he's a guy who can come in next year and do it. So even if they have to slice off some players because they start facing salary pressure, it'll be role players and they're completely positioned to continue to draft players. They can still draft guys that, if you look at these, let's say between Topic, the two guys that they draft tomorrow night. And if you look at next year, they've got three first round picks. Let's say out of those six players, only two of them work out.
Okay. That's a low batting average for Sam Press. Let's say only two of them work out over that three year run. They could let two of their other players that could be more expensive go and then still have those role players to put next to their big three, which are going to be under contract.
So I would never make assumptions about the future. The idea that right now I would be talking about the Celtics breaking their team up a little bit after what I watched a year ago is a reminder of reality. But I knew that Celtics were headed to the second apron. The Thunder could avoid the second apron and keep these three players years into the future.
And that gives them an opportunity to really do something special. Okay. Last one for you. You said multiple times in this interview, I'm just stating facts.
You can draw your own conclusions. Um, eight different franchises have won, pardon me, nine different franchises have won a title in Adam Silver's first 12 years as commissioner after eight different franchises won in the 30 years of the David Stern era. Are we done with the super team stuff in the NBA, Brian?
Well, I just detailed how the Thunder could maybe do it, but, um, this, these aprons are anti-super team measures. And so, um, basically the idea of having a big three, the only way you're going to be able to really afford, uh, to put together a competitive team with three enormous salary players is if you're in a situation that maybe like the Thunder are, where, um, you have the ability to bring in a whole bunch of extra role players. And maybe for a while, those players aren't at the highest salary. Um, part of the reason why you're seeing such a robust market for Kevin Durant was because he was, you know, he had a list, but part of it was because you gotta be real careful bringing in a guy like Kevin Durant or bringing in any player that makes $50 million when he may not be your best player, uh, or, you know, be regarded as being your best player. Uh, even though at this age of his career, Kevin is sort of maybe ideal as a guy who shares the load.
And so it's, it's going to be very hard under the current rules to have your third salary. When I say your third salary, you can have two max players, but your third big salary, that guy's gotta be a killer. And you know, in the case of, of, of, of Oklahoma city, that's going to be the case. But, um, yeah, I think right now, if you look at the teams that made it to the end and you look at the teams that thrive during the regular season, even if you're looking at the Cavs, you're looking at the Celtics, it's teams that have depth. The, the Thunder have depth up and down their lineup. The Pacers had eight different guys, average and double figures just during the finals.
The copycat is depth and depth is not having three guys making all the money and then having a bunch of minimum salary guys filling out the other nine spots. I mean, no doubt. I mean, why would the Thunder say, Hey, we're in such great position because we built the team the way we built it and, and then go to the super team road.
That makes no sense. I mean, that I, they wouldn't do it. I mean, right.
I mean, that's, well, yeah. Well, I mean, we have to see how their draft picks mature. We have to see what type of contracts these guys sign. I mean, you know, the Thunder got in trouble last time they had three great players by, by trying to get away with not paying all of them the max. That's what happened with James Harden. So I think they will be very careful not doing that, but, um, you know, they are uniquely positioned to be able to extend the window before reaching the second apron longer than other teams who would, you know, you know, for example, like a team like Denver, you know, they let veteran players, support players walk because of the cost of their, their highest prepaid players and it's cost them. They have lost in game seven, the last two years after winning the championship. And I can't predict what would happen if something didn't happen, but if they had had their roster intact from two years ago, they may have multiple championships by now, but the stresses of the league and the, and the forced talent sharing that is, is in business that is put down by the aprons and the luxury tax forced Denver to not keep its team together.
Oklahoma city is in a position where they may be able to do so, but other teams are not going to be in that position. Brian, you're the best man. Thanks for the time. Go crush it over the next two nights, obviously, as I'm sure you will. And look for more of my texts to say, please come on. I really appreciate it.
Have a great week. That's Brian Winhorst makes us smarter, says it in such a concise and understandable way. I don't know who's calling him up saying, stop talking about aprons, but I mean it, you know what I mean? It is, it is, uh, the reason why Drew Holliday's not on the Celtics anymore. Yeah. And Christoph Porzingis probably won't be there next year. And perhaps Shaylin Brown it's, you know, it's, uh, it's the way the NBA is right now behind the box spent a billion dollars in salary and luxury, a billion.
That's a B that would be, you got to say that. All right, we'll take a break here. Uh, Lakers news.
Um, and very rare. Is there news about when there's less of somebody, but apparently that's the news as we continue the buddy and Aaron Rogers is talking to our buddy Pat and, uh, saying some things, saying some things about football, right? Football. Okay. I got to say that, uh, we will take a break right now. The caller there right now, here on the Rich Eisen show. Who is this person? Hello? Oh, rich. This is a guy that's not all that keen on French guys, but I want to tell you happy birthday.
Oh my God. Happy birthday to you. You know, I'm going to sing it. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Oh, Richie.
Happy birthday to you and a whole lot more. It is your old pal, Joe Willy roll time and go just famous. Joe, this is the greatest thing of all time. Thank you for doing this.
How are you doing? I just, I'm a fan. I've known you for a long time and all of a sudden you flipped a long time and I hope you live a whole lot longer too. Oh my God, Joe, you don't have no idea what this means to me right now to get, to get a call from you on my birthday. You know, I mean, thank you so much.
I can't, I don't even know how to say it. As one of your fans, you've got millions of fans out there these days, man. So keep up the good work.
I love listening to you and seeing you on a case. And I, and I, and I appreciate that, you know, cause you know, I was born the year you won the super bowl, Joe. That's the year I was born. That was a good year.
You see that? That was a very good year. It was a good year and a day in the life.
It was a good year and a day in the life for sure. But, you know, I'd love to be able to not have to say that. Right. I'd love to be able to talk about some, some other championship other than that, Joe, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Well, that may come about. So once again, man, I don't want to take your time up here much. I know you're talking about some important things, but I love you. Thanks Joe. And I look forward to seeing you around campus, man. Joe, let's, let's, let's, let's get you back on another time when I can have a longer conversation with you, but this means so much that you would call in and say happy birthday like that. Well, you bet. And nearly any time you feel like it, happy willing to talk with you. I enjoy it. Thank you, Joe. That's thanks for calling in dude. Come on.
I got choked up right there a little bit, by the way, I did get choked up, you know, and then I get more easily choked up now that I'm older, you know, that was fun. Who are you surprising me with today? Me, Jay Felley and TJ. Okay. So there is no surprise. Well, 56 isn't really a monumental birthday, you know what I mean? It's that Lawrence Taylor birthday, man.
Actually my, my, my fraternity brother, Dave money, Satlin, the guy who came up with the garden. Yeah. For years ago. He texted me happy Jeff Loggeman birthday. Oh, he went, do you guys go far back then?
Yep. He might've recalled when I was in college. That's when Loggeman got drafted. I remember sitting there at the draft and seeing how the jets drafted Jeff Loggeman.
And that was when Mel Kiper was making his bones on the air and he gave them the, the jets clearly don't know what the hell to do in the draft treatment. Yeah. Who'd you take him over?
I wonder. I mean, I don't remember where they took, but there were, there were other people on the board. I got a, I actually got a text from the man, the jets chose Kyle Brady over today.
I'll be Warren sat 99 hit me up today. Steve Atwater went six picks after awhile. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is he in the whole thing? Yes. Okay, great.
Just good to know if you're on hold, stay on hold. We'll, we'll have some real estate to take some calls in our number two, Toronto Armstead is making his way to the studio. Just recently retired after 12 years in the national football league. He was on our show last year as a mere 32 year old veteran of 11 years. Now he's coming back and we'll chit chat with him. He says Tua is just as good as breeze.
At what? Playing football and his accuracy, you know, turn on Armstead protected breeze for many years. I mean, he would know, he would know and also one thing I want to check on with him is he said one of the people he's most happy to not have to deal with anymore is Jared verse mentioned the defensive rookie of the year being a handful and he didn't have to deal with him very long.
So listen we're always looking for any bit of news and anything to do with Luca last we heard from Luca or about Luca was him getting a little bit of a heads up in advance of the Lakers sale of $10 billion out of the bus family and him saying he's looking forward to winning championships here, meaning, Hey, he's committed to the Lakers where it was any, any sort of sign that we could see that he's committed to the Lakers or Los Angeles where we're eager to see. And the fact that when we saw him recently in a white t-shirt, right. Looking very healthy, pretty svelte and trim. Yeah.
Svelte. Yeah. You know that he's potentially committed at least to Los Angeles life. That's the way things go.
You know, you moved to LA and suddenly, you know, sun shining a little bit more and there's a more healthy options, more green foods in your diet. That's correct. I don't know.
I got chubbier when I moved here. Interesting. That's it. That's you weren't the opposite.
I did go there. Okay. So Dan Woyke of the Los Angeles Times saying basically in the athletic that he's dropped significant weight is working on a strict diet and cardio training. According to a source with knowledge of the plan and a shift from his normal off season, he spent a month away a month away from on-court work to focus more on his body. He's looked visibly slimmer in photos and is now back working out with Slovenia, reading, reading for the Euro basket competition later this summer.
Oh, so we'll see in Euro basket if he's going to be making more baskets or cause he's got better stamina and he's got better, uh, training strict diet. I don't know what it is, except we have a rich eyes and show exclusive. Oh boy. We're going to add to this report. Um, Sean Mitchell helping with this one. He is on, uh, spike Zempic.
That's what he's on right now. It's a new, uh, peptide filled with spite. And all you gotta do is inject it with minimal draft picks involved.
You have to consult your general manager before using spite Zempic to see if it's right for you. You just, you just inject spite in there. And then all of a sudden the weight comes off and you're no longer trying to win championships by chugging beers after the game. And I'm sure Mavericks fans are seeing this commitment to training and saying, is that the same guy that Michael Finley just strolled right up and took the beer away from, like he's at an RA on the dorm floor. You know what I mean?
Once a week, just take spite Zempic and the weight will come off. I believe him. That's what he's on rich eyes and show.
Um, according to sources, it's a, it's a new injectable glutide. Glad we can break just filled with spite and the weight will come off and you've got a new commitment that you previously did not have. Oh yeah. He's got the beans. Maybe he's going to the spike store first. That's here in Los Angeles too.
As you know, just no defecation. He's European. A lot of drink and repeaters and you know, he, he, he carves off season.
I think he's going to find out he's not going to be so happy. That may be where he's from, but where he lives now is Los Angeles, California. There are trainers every single second.
Like, are there more arowans or trainers here in Los Angeles? Right. So there's, there are more, um, um, healthy choices.
I mean, to be made here, or is it just an injection of spite? I'll show you talking about my commitment. I'll show you talking about my lack of commitment towards focusing on a 24, seven, three 65.
Is it LeBron saying there's a 24, seven, three 65 approach to winning? Look at me. I'm, I'm in my forties now and I'm, I'm just as good as ever.
Or do you just go and just take that injection of spite once a week, you know, subcutaneous and off, off comes the weight. And you're now, so now you're hooping it up in Euro baskets and you're, you're getting ready to win championships. We'll see.
Maybe he won't be as strong. Let's see. I'm about to make a name for myself. Be careful though. You have to consult your general manager before using to see, well, we've seen Polinka these days. He's nice and trim too. No, it's the, it's the general manager that you're, you're, oh, you're spiting.
You're spiting to see if it's right for you. I was on spike Zempuk after leaving ESPN for a long time. But as you know, I'm off it now. I've heard that.
I saw that in the trades, but still looking good at age 56. No spike Zempuk in here. None at all. Is that a great smidge special or what?
It's pretty good. We're going to bring this up to O'Shea Jackson Jr. When he joins us in hour three, do we know what he wants to talk about? Cause he said he, he, he's asked for time. I heard normally he'll just show up prior to like 10 minutes to go. Maybe Tuesdays are normally when his, he needs to pick his daughter up from school, right? School's out for summer schools out. So now he can take an hour out of his Tuesday to come here.
And do we know what's I have? Is he on spike Zempuk? Look, man, he's hitting it. Cause he said, he's trying to get his RMB body back.
So he he's definitely out there, but I don't think he's using spike Zempuk. He's actually putting in the work, but I don't know. He just turned to me when the podcast was over. He's like, I'm coming on the show tomorrow.
I was like, what? That's hour three. We'll ask him, we'll ask him, we'll, we'll, we'll inform him of the rich odds and show exclusive Lucas on spike Zempuk.
The most common side effects of spike Zempuk. The United States soccer Federation presents the U S soccer podcast. Inside the opening 45 seconds. What a goal! With that cannon of a left foot.
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