REShow: Howard Beck - Hour 1 (7-5-2022)

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Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry, clean feel all day. This is the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing?

Good Dan, how about you? No complaints, no complaints. That's good, we don't want to hear them anyway so... That'll wrap it up for this show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

That's a fact. We don't want to hear the complaints. We don't want to hear it.

We absolutely don't want to hear complaints. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Dan Schwartzman. And now sitting in for Rich. Hit the drop. It's Dan Schwartzman.

In the captain's chair again Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen. Three times this week by the way. Gonna have a lot of fun. It is July 5th. Hope everybody had a safe and happy fourth and have emerged unscathed with all your fingers and limbs. No joke my friend.

I mean forget the Jason Pierre Paul. It happens. People get hurt. Fireworks are dangerous. And it's funny, I'm in the great state of Pennsylvania and you go to the supermarket or Walmart and they sell fireworks like it's candy.

Art Martinez by the way on the other side of the glass. Art, I'm talking about like boxes. Massive boxes of all these different variety packs of fireworks and they look fun.

But I'm obviously in my you know mid-40s at this point so I'm like yeah maybe not. How do you pick out the sparklers? You know I live in the Inland Empire like 45 miles away from the studio and the stores are all over. The little vendors. They're all over. The fireworks vendors.

Yeah they're all over. I'm telling you man it's a packaging thing. They look so like so much fun.

I mean each package is like nicely detailed and it's like wow man I could have a heck of a firework show in my backyard you know with this. But I didn't do it thankfully again. And neither did I. And we bought a bunch of sparklers. We did not even use the sparklers. I don't know why.

I think we just forgot. And the funny thing is after we came home with like three packs of sparklers we realized we still had sparklers from last year that we forgot to use. So now I'm like stockpiling you know sparklers like it's going out of style. So next year 4th of July art I should be stocked up on sparklers but you know what's going to happen? I'm going to make another run at Walmart, see a bunch of sparklers, completely forget that I have like six boxes of sparklers already in my house and I'll buy three more.

There you go. And then I'll come home and be like I got nine boxes of sparklers what's going on? So in your mail next year art I may be sending you sparklers by like July 6th or 7th okay just so you know. I gotta get rid of these things. Okay that sounds good.

All right a bunch of sparklers for you. I want to get into some NBA talk to start the show today. There's kind of an interesting thing going on. First of all these salaries these players are signing are flat out ridiculous okay. The amount of money that NBA players get in their contracts with all this lingo right super max extensions, the rookie designation max, just the max contract. There's so many different terminologies of contracts in the NBA but they all have one thing in common.

It makes the person who gets that contract the recipient filthy rich. Nikola Jokic five-year 270 million dollar extension. Richest contract in the history of basketball. I mean that is five that's fifty four million dollars a year. Dude is making over a million dollars a week.

I mean think about that. The amount of money the NBA because look not a lot of players in the league and big money TV and big money TV contracts. There's a lot of money floating around the NBA and look I'm happy the players get it.

They are the product right. The players are who we show up to watch. They deserve the money but it is just unbelievable sums of money. So you think 54 million dollars a year is pretty good which it is.

I think we can all feed the family on that. Not sure if Latrell Sprewell can but we can. On the other hand you have guys like what Devin Booker, Carl Anthony 10th, Carl Anthony Towns guys like that what is it four years 224 million dollars 56 million dollars a year. That's a million dollars a week plus four million dollars a year. I mean just think about the numbers we're talking about here and these guys are like 23 years old right. Imagine being 23 years old and you're going to get a quarter of a billion dollars and you're going to be 27 28 years old when you get to sign another ridiculous contract.

I used to say that if I have two I have two daughters right. If I have a boy and I would get them involved in professional sports obviously my daughters can play professional sports as well but the money is not the same unless they want to be tennis stars and Naomi Osaka proved that you can make 54 or 58 million dollars in a year mainly on endorsements and that's great. And that's the highest I think a woman has ever made in a year in terms of an athlete. But if I used to say go play soccer right look at Messi look at Ronaldo the the contracts they get they of course they make tremendous amounts of endorsement dollars as well. In fact you know while they're making five six seven eight hundred thousand euros a week which is a lot of money that does pale in comparison to what these NBA players are bringing in it does it pales in comparison. So on the other hand they get a ton of endorsement deals because you know soccer is the quintessential global sport. Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo walks on any continent in this world they will be recognized all right Messi's recognized everywhere Ronaldo is recognized everywhere and I think LeBron James probably is recognized everywhere but Devin Booker is not and he's got a 224 million dollar four-year contract. Nikola Jokic for certain is not recognized anywhere heck he could walk down the street in New York City and no one knows who he is because he plays for the Denver Nuggets except he's a big tall guy he'd probably be like oh that guy probably plays basketball you don't know he just signed a 54 million dollar a year contract but whatever you get my drift but after I see all these NBA contracts I think to myself you go one and done right you go to Kentucky one and done and out the NIL deals you've probably become a millionaire in that one and done year at Kentucky or Duke whatever it might be go to the NBA as a high draft pick you make some money the first couple of years three four years whatever it is and then you sign these rookie max extension deals like Luka Doncic guys like that if you've been all NBA the first few years and then at 27 28 years old you're gonna get another big contract all right so you're gonna sign another four-year contract and who knows what the tv money is at that point so you're talking probably another quarter of a billion dollars for the next four years so by the time you're 20 you know you're 32 years old you've made over half a billion dollars and with today's conditioning and nutritionists and all this at 32 you're gonna sign another four-year deal and you can play great basketball till you're 36 right we've seen guys do it plenty of guys are doing that now so unlike baseball it's like oh my goodness they have my rights for the first three years then it's the arbitration years and yeah they get paid you know Aaron Judge just got 19 million dollars in arbitration but Aaron Judge is gonna get a one big deal and that's it he's 30 years old this off season coming up he's gonna get one big deal of eight years 10 years whatever it might be and he's gotta cash that paycheck at 30 years old coming out of the NBA as a star player and Aaron Judge certainly is a superstar baseball player guys have already made 400 million dollars Aaron Judge is a pauper compared to them so why would you go play baseball right and by the way you could be a first round pick in baseball you go toiling the minor leagues if you're lucky for just three years you play three years of the minors by the way that's a fast rise up to the majors NBA you go straight to the league right to the show right to the money climate controlled environment less games you get your summers off right because basketball is a winner and you know so it's a winter sport forget baseball if I got a son he's not playing baseball you're not playing football obviously because of the head injuries soccer sure because you know I always like to say this and I'm not going to disparage American cities but there's some cities in America that aren't the greatest places I have to tell you kind of boring places right like I was in Houston once for a final four and I went to dinner at this steakhouse uh downtown with a buddy of mine and afterwards we were younger this is probably about you know 10 12 years ago and uh we were looking to go like a bar hang out right we're walking around and there's nothing I see a cop I go officer uh where's like the the strip of bars like a place to to go hang out he goes oh you got to go out of town for that what do you mean he goes I don't know this is downtown you got to go out of town there's a like a Washington street or something art it was a bizarre it's bizarre like I'm downtown Houston tall glass buildings and no one's there it's like ghost town at night wow it's one of the a lot of American cities are like that people come into downtown to work and then they get the heck out of downtown and they go have drinks and stuff in like the suburbs that's that's unfortunately a lot of places like that I mean there's not a lot of walking cities in America right like think about it like New York you walk around Boston you walk around Philly Washington Chicago LA as you know you really don't walk around much right everybody drives so I think you know that's kind of a thing so like imagine being a free agent in the NFL you have to choose between like Jacksonville Houston and Cincinnati all right fine they all have something good to offer or play soccer and be choosing between like Paris London Barcelona Madrid you get my drift right like it's it's a completely it's a completely different world it's a completely different world so it always came down to soccer but then I see these NBA salaries I'm like nah whichever Schwartzman if there's a Schwartzman boy somewhere in this lineage he's playing in the NBA what a job what a career now one guy is not getting paid all right and this is kind of a surprising thing I want to get into the DeAndre Ayton saga former number one overall pick do do you realize DeAndre Ayton was picked two picks ahead of a guy named Luka Doncic I mean talk about missing right I mean look Ayton's a good player don't get me wrong DeAndre Ayton is a good player he is not a great player he is a good player he's never lived up to the hype he's only 23 by the way he'll be 24 this month but he's never lived up to the hype he came out of high school as one of the top five recruits in the nation went to Arizona was what one and done he was ridiculously good in his one year at Arizona right 20 points a game almost 12 rebounds per game played the entire season 35 games clearly was the number one pick but in his four NBA players DeAndre Ayton is averaging about 16 points and 10 and a half rebounds a game those are good numbers not great right they're not superstar numbers he's not averaged he's never averaged over 18 points a game he has been hurt by the fact that look two of these years have been COVID years where you're talking about shortened seasons but he hasn't lived up to being the guy that everybody thought he would be when he came out of college and even high school so when you look at DeAndre Ayton you think to yourself you know first overall pick in 2018 and by the way Marvin Bagley went number two what a terrible pick that was Luka Doncic goes three Jared Jackson who's kind of coming into his own four then Trae Young goes five so uh clearly a miss the Phoenix Suns do not get Doncic and they don't know they don't get Trae Young now they had Devin Booker so that's probably something that played a role in that but DeAndre Ayton couldn't get a max deal from the Phoenix Suns last year last off season they did not give him a max deal they didn't want to do it and there was some talk you know it kind of angered him to a point that kind of made him think like uh do I have a career here do I not have a career here and in reality this was a season for him to kind of show up and and show that they made a mistake well this year DeAndre Ayton okay he played 58 games but that means he missed the boatload of games again right the guy missed 24 games this year and he averaged 17 points 10 rebounds a game all right this field goal percentage was you know over 63 shot better from three-point range not a big three-point shooter obviously and now he's looking for money and the question is how much is a guy like that worth and the market kind of speaks right it's like when you have baseball cards all right remember when you had baseball cards and you'd get the Beckett baseball card monthly and you'd look up your card and it would say that card's worth eleven dollars remember that oh yeah right so you had the Beckett so it's like eleven dollar card you get excited wow this baseball card's worth eleven dollars and I get excited and run over to my dad who didn't care about baseball at all and I would show him the card and say dad this card's worth eleven dollars and my dad who's uh a realist would always say to me yeah you know you know what that card's really worth I'd say eleven dollars you know it's worth what somebody's willing to give you for that card and I never quite understood that when I was a kid and then of course as I got older I understood that sure a piece of paper could tell me the card's worth eleven dollars but in reality it is worth literally what somebody is willing to pay me for the card if somebody's willing to give me eight dollars for the card and no one's willing to give me more than that the value of that card is eight dollars not eleven because Beckett baseball card monthly told me it's worth that so with DeAndre Aiten his agent shopping around and they're talking about oh he's this good and that good and he's put up 17 points a game and 10 rebounds this year and he's improved his shooting yada yada yada no one's biting guy's still out there a week later it's kind of I think a kick in the you know what when you think about what is my value and with a guy like that you think at his age his skill set somebody would pay him a lot of money right the NBA they throw money around and yet no one's paying them so you wonder what's the deal what is he worth is this a guy that's overrated himself all these years I don't know that's the craziest thing about it and I was scratching my head last year when Phoenix didn't give him that max deal and I'm scratching my head now going what is his value who's gonna pick him up is he gonna stay with Phoenix because look he's not the man there right Devin Booker's the guy there he's gonna be the number one guy there for years to come Chris Paul's number two there right now right the savvy veteran big money guy great player hall of famer one of the greatest in the history of basketball DeAndre Ayton is the number three guy in Phoenix what do you pay a number three guy you don't pay him 224 million dollars over four years we're gonna find out more Howard Beck senior writer for Sports Illustrated co-host the Crossover podcast also an analyst with Sirius XM NBA radio he's gonna hopefully have an answer for us as to what the heck is going on in the DeAndre Ayton saga because I am flat out curious all right don't forget when Callaway engineered chrome soft to be 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better for everyone find out which chrome soft is right for you at Callawaygolf.com chrome soft Howard Beck talks to NBA with him next Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen it is July 5th a beautiful Tuesday out there in most of this country man we're gonna have a fun show coming up on the Rich Eisen Show. Back on the Rich Eisen Show Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Tuesday July 5th a lot of NBA talk to start the show DeAndre Ayton what's the deal with him where's he ending up what is he worth in today's ridiculous spending NBA market it's amazing how much money gets thrown around in that in that league good for them players of the show and people pay to watch and play and they're making the money our buddy Howard Beck senior writer Sports Illustrated co-host of the crossover pod and of course Sirius XM's NBA radio as well Howard were you the guy in your neighborhood shooting off fireworks all night are you that guy no not me but man there were a heck of a lot of them here in Brooklyn I will tell you that I feel sorry for the dogs you know they are the ones that get really scared by that it's unbelievable man I had a dog back in the day this big golden he used to go hide in the shower I mean it was bad yeah no it's not it's not good and they would if it felt like last night was more than usual at least around my neighborhood it was it was a lot it was a lot you're not that guy good to hear Howard you know I started the show off and look I commend players in the NBA for getting these massive contracts it's a lot of money I mean the amount of money guys get you know Mitchell Robinson is still kind of a project for the Knicks he's getting 15 million dollars a year over four years but to me the guy that's still sitting out there DeAndre Ayton what is the latest on him kind of didn't you know didn't get that max deal he thought he could get last off season from Phoenix had a decent year nothing great 17 points 10 and a half rebounds where do you see him ending up don't know um I think you know the general sense around the league is that you know Ayton's future his destiny his contract everything is ultimately tied back to Kevin Durant because the Suns have to decide how much in this Kevin Durant sweepstakes they are what they're willing to give up and whether DeAndre Ayton in a sign and trade could be part of that in which case DeAndre Ayton of course has to be willing to do that he has to decide that he wants his future to be in Brooklyn and the Nets have to decide that they want to be the ones to whether it's max him out or or give him whatever it is that he's seeking uh that or that that's amenable to him so there's a lot of variables that I just threw out there and yeah I don't think we have any clarity on any of that as we sit here on day five of what is essentially supposed to be the moratorium when no deals are actually made you're just supposed to be able to I mean you can you can come to terms with guys but nothing is official until the moratorium lifts tomorrow so um there's there's still a lot of uh variability in just in in the market and especially where it comes to DeAndre Ayton the fact is it's not like there was a really robust you know market this summer anyway because there weren't a ton of teams with cap room who were in a position to chase him and and maybe max him out Howard is he a guy that who's going to be 24 by the way I believe this month is he a guy that people look at and say there's still potential there or is he a guy that coming out of Arizona look he was a tremendous player in college clearly the number one pick in the draft no one scoffed at that when Phoenix announced that is he a guy that people look and say you know the talent at the NBA level is maxed out or somebody's got to unlock more how's he viewed oh no I don't think anybody's viewed him as a completely finished product I mean he's turning you know 24 in a few weeks here uh not even you know entering his prime yet we kind of usually you know think of the prime as you know 26 27 when you start hitting your prime um I think he has improved every year uh he's even become a pretty solid on low volume but a respectable three-point shooter not that that's necessarily where you want him but great touch around the rim and a nice little mid-range game and he plays both ends there aren't that many centers in today's NBA who you know can give you you know a you know something above average at both ends of the court and Ayton's one of them so we may not be you know there's where we're trapped between the the notion that you know Biggs or traditional Biggs or a thing of the past versus this apparent big man renaissance we're having now of course you know uh Yokochin and beat him in one two and then BP race the last couple seasons uh and you know Carl Anthony Towns obviously has been great in Minnesota now has Rudy Gobert next to him either DeAndre Ayton is is the the rare guy though who you know at seven feet manning that position close to seven feet can do something at both ends and I don't think the Suns make the finals last year without him and I do think that there's value um are you the league sees him as a valuable guy and a guy who's still got probably more he can do um just depends on on the context and the team it's not clear to me exactly what you know kind of got crossed between him and the Suns but you know I don't think anybody sees DeAndre Ayton as a finished product or or as in any way a diminished product senior writer for Sports Illustrated Howard Beck joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show Dan Schwartzman in for Rich you mentioned Rudy Gobert he is now a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves big deal coming from Utah the next guy there is Donovan Mitchell people wonder is that going to be a tear-down rebuild is Mitchell a guy that kind of has to wait because of Kevin Durant as well wherever Durant goes maybe Mitchell goes somewhere else if he doesn't go to Miami we know that Miami has kind of looked at uh Donovan Mitchell as well it's not far-fetched to think that if Donovan Mitchell is going to be available that no one's going to play all their cards for him until they see what Kevin Durant goes for where he goes it's possible that all these teams could be connected right um Phoenix Miami both in the running presumably for Durant uh Miami in particular if they didn't get Durant might turn their attention to Donovan Mitchell I don't know that the Suns would because they've got you know Booker and Chris Paul there but you could see where between Durant being available Mitchell potentially being available Utah Phoenix Miami Brooklyn you know throw I don't know Oklahoma in there because they've got cap room to help people offload contracts you could see where this could become a massive deal with a bunch of guys changing teams including the two stars Mitchell and Durant at a minimum um that's possible a lot's on the you know there's like everything is is on the table at this stage but I also think that you know the Nets are going to play this methodically they're not going to rush into a decision on Durant which means that as long as they're being patient about it and methodical about it it may hold up everybody else so um I think the bigger question to me is just you know are the Jazz ready for the full teardown are the you know and is Donovan Mitchell ready to say you know what this is the time you know Gobert is gone and even if they didn't get along well that was Gobert was the other element making them a strong playoff team or at least a strong uh regular season team um and they're not they're not without without Gobert they're not so you're either redirecting all those resources all the assets you just got for Gobert to try to get done of Mitchell a new co-star or you're saying well maybe we don't have one and we can't get one and maybe it's time to just go all the way the other direction now the whole Kevin Durant thing is fascinating he's got a four-year deal for close to 200 million dollars that kicks in this year so Brooklyn technically is under no obligation to deal the guy right I mean there's not a ton of leverage except Kevin Durant maybe say I'm just not going to play for you and Brooklyn can say fine you're going to sit out four years so when it comes down to it is there a scenario where Brooklyn doesn't get really you know they're only offered pennies on the dollar by other teams because they realize Brooklyn probably wants to bring back some talent and offload a guy that doesn't want to be there is there a scenario where Brooklyn actually keeps them and he's playing for them next year I mean I've been coming to sleep for 25 years everything is possible you know we you know the second the the the second we say that something can't happen we're we're wrong so um you know I don't expect Kevin Durant is going to be in a Brooklyn Nets uniform and on the court on opening night in October but it's possible um I'm sure the Nets would love to have that outcome rather than the alternative uh is there a scenario where they trade Kyrie they find ways to retool around Kevin Durant and convince him that there's still the potential to contend here um I'm in Brooklyn so I'm going to say here um like I think I think that that is conceptually possible but only Kevin Durant could tell you whether or not that's reasonable or plausible and you know Durant is really hard to read really hard to figure out he's like he's I shouldn't say he's hard to read people around him will tell you tell you it's easy to read you know when he's out on something and he's out on the Nets right now and that doesn't seem likely to change but could he change his mind potentially I mean if you're the Nets you're doing everything possible to do that you're trying to make the case for why this is still the best place for him um and I listen I can make the case that the Nets could still be a contender with him yeah you know you're but but it's not not my case to make and and I don't know if Durant would be receptive to the Nets uh making that picture or not um if he if they don't trade him if they've failed them to get find the deal that they want and they hold on to him I I don't know what happens next you know we saw Ben Simmons sit an entire season with the Sixers calling his bluff and saying fine and you're you're you're forfeiting salary um I don't think Durant would do that because Durant is is he loves the game too much I mean I I'm not saying that Ben Simmons doesn't but the history of Durant and what we know of him is the guy just loves to be in the gym loves to play I just cannot see him especially at the stage of his career at age soon to be 34 sacrificing a full season but having an unhappy Durant isn't doing much good either yeah you mentioned it I mean you look at that roster right with Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving is potentially back for another year Ben Simmons we think is going to be healthy and ready to go they just bring in T.J. Warren who hasn't really played the last two years but a really good player before that still only 28 years old and apparently going to be fully healthy there's still a lot of talent there in Brooklyn so you're right it's not as if you look at that roster and you say they're garbage they can't win anything that's a 50 plus win roster that can go deep into the playoffs so it is kind of surprising to me when you break it down that you know he's soured on Brooklyn when they have talent is it a personal thing I mean do we even know as you said it's hard to read Kevin Durant is it a personal thing with Kyrie Irving with Kyrie Irving I mean he went there because Kyrie Irving kind of helped recruit him there right in the first place so is there a problem are they on the outs do we even know so I wrote this last week for Sports Illustrated on si.com people can go find my column there but I mean my read of this based on talking to people in the wake of Durant's trade request was basically this there's nothing rational about where things stand right now like I did trying to find some rational explanation for what Kevin Durant's position is is almost futile because the two things as I understand it that are driving this trade request are one he doesn't like the way you're just enchanted about the way last season went right disillusioned about the way that the next you know the finish seventh they're swept in the first round it was a disaster lost James Harden along the way had to trade him for Ben Simmons under duress didn't like the way last season unfolded but he's also not happy with the way the Nets have dealt with Kyrie Irving in terms of a contract extension they've taken a hard line because of his commitment issues you know Kyrie being unreliable and so but these things don't square because the reason for last season's debacle is mostly Kyrie Irving and the fact that he wasn't available because he wouldn't take the COVID vaccine and so Kyrie Irving kind of sabotaged the season and instead of Durant being mad at Kyrie Irving he's mad at the Nets for trying to hold Kyrie Irving accountable and taking a hard line with him on his contract talks so like I'd that to me doesn't make any sense but but that is as I understand it why Kevin Durant has taken the position he has chatting with Howard Beck here on the Rich Eisen Show Dan Schwartzman in for rich Kyrie Irving is well back with Brooklyn as of now does opt into that last year on his contract for 36.4 million dollars any scenario for Brooklyn dealing in without having to bring back Russell Westbrook yeah involve a third or a fourth or an eighth team um I I don't I I just I don't make too many you know absolute predictions and I've not wanted to you know say that like this is definitive as I was just saying a few minutes ago like I've covered this like too long we don't we don't know anything think things happen but two two things I'm fairly fairly certain of the Nets are not going to keep Kyrie Irving even if they somehow find a way to keep Kevin Durant Kyrie is gone like there's just no it's that's not tenable you cannot bring him back after all that's happened I think that they will find a way to trade Kyrie Irving with the one year on his deal of course they're not going to get a ton back and it may require trading him for Russell Westbrook at least as an initial component of this but I don't see a Russell Westbrook future in Brooklyn because if they're keeping Ben Simmons Westbrook and Simmons would be a complete disaster together I also just don't think the Nets if they're rebuilding like West an aging Westbrook isn't the guy you're rebuilding around um and I don't think Westbrook and Durant are looking for a reunion either in that scenario any case I think that you're redirecting Westbrook somewhere else or if it's only a two-way trade you're buying him out and he goes to a free agency and he signs a you know a minimum deal somewhere I think the ideal for the Nets would be Kyrie to the Lakers uh Westbrook and and picks go out the the Nets hopefully you know for them for their sake they'd want it they'd want the picks redirect Westbrook somewhere else that has cap room somebody else you know fills in the other details last question Howard Russell Westbrook you you know he's obviously on the decline he's now one of four teams in the last four years or so he's the triple double guy no question about it only him and Oscar Robertson he's done in multiple years how are you going to look back and think about the career of Russell Westbrook is he a great stack compiler not a great teammate tough to win with him how's he going to be viewed well he made the 75th anniversary team I was a voter for that and he I had him on my ballot and I think he earned that he's a unique talent one of the all time great talents in terms of just sheer performance and dominance on the court and obviously his passion and his will I mean yeah the grand scope of Westbrook's career is one of success only one NBA finals obviously early on with Durant and Harden and Ibaka that group that lost to Miami and you know Westbrook as a solo act has been you know a failure frankly you know once Kevin Durant left town you know I know that Westbrook won MVP that year was not at the top of my ballot but that was that was a year of just sheer individual dominance and and not enough team success and he has not been able to manufacture that kind of team success since then he is in decline he is just kind of bouncing around over the last few years of his career nothing is quite working out he is difficult to play with he does have deficiencies in his game that he's never really addressed specifically shooting and defense and big deficiency you know yeah those are those are important too but you know we sometimes remember too much about the latter stages of a guy's career Dwight Howard comes to mind than we do about what made the guy great in the first place in the earlier stages yeah that's a great point Dwight Howard people forget the 20 and 14 years he had where he was just an absolute beast especially with Orlando our buddy Howard Beck senior writer Sports Illustrated co-host the crossover podcast also Sirius XM's NBA radio Howard always a pleasure man hope you had a great fourth we'll talk soon my pleasure Dan thanks for having me awesome stuff as always that's a great point you know like we look at Russell Westbrook and Art you're in LA I mean I'm sure you read all about him and watch him and it was kind of a disaster no question about it and no one wants him back in LA and the only reason why he's probably gonna have to be there is 47.1 million dollars worth of reasons but the reality is you know he's on that all stack compiler team with like Carmelo Anthony right guys like that you look at the numbers you're like wow what a great player and then you realize well they've never won anything and then you have to point a finger as to why they never won anything and that finger ends up pointing right back at that player because they're hard to play with Carmelo has always been that number one option ball hog bring it down the court everybody clears the lane he does his little fancy dribble and then just shoots it up he's a volume shooter Russell Westbrook you know look a talent's talent and triple doubles are hard to do and to average a triple double throughout the entire season I believe four times in his career is impressive right you can't take that away from the guy that's impressive Oscar Robertson did it one year and everybody thought man that's amazing well he's done it four times and you know we'll sit here we can disparage Russell Westbrook but great career doesn't mean great teammate to play along with and doesn't mean he's a guy that maybe he's one of these guys that people just didn't understand how to coach and maybe didn't understand how to utilize him a little bit differently maybe his stubbornness in not wanting to change how he played plays a role in it but it's hard to look at Russell Westbrook and kind of figure out how he's going to be viewed all-time great sure I'll give him that but I'll give him that if he's not I'll give him that I think it's hard to argue against that and I think if you are arguing about him not being an all-time great it's because you just hate the guy but you know he's just he's difficult he's a difficult one to figure out really difficult to figure out the Kevin Durant situation I brought it up with Howard there is there a scenario where he actually doesn't get moved by Brooklyn I want to examine that a bit because there is a realistic chance that he isn't there's four years and 198 or so million reasons as to why they may not move him I'll explain that next Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen on a Tuesday right here on the Rich Eisen Show Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen the Rich Eisen Show on a Tuesday talking NBA thanks to Howard Beck for joining us great stuff from him as always a Kevin Durant saga continuing and kind of holding up the rest of the market but Donovan Mitchell's of the world wondering am I going to get dealt and where and when and the answer is well take a seat friends you got to wait till the Kevin Durant situation gets figured out now here's how I view this the situation look if Kevin Durant had like one year on his contract remaining then yeah he's got some leverage right but at 34 years old starting a four-year 198 or 200 million dollar extension he doesn't have a ton of leverage he can tell the Brooklyn Nets trade me I want out okay fine and Brooklyn might say we don't want you here because you're disgruntled and we're gonna trade you okay but in the real world when you're talking about one of the top two or three best players in the league you don't just give that guy away and if you're the Brooklyn Nets if people are going to offer you pennies on the dollar because they think you have to trade Kevin Durant why would you take that deal right why would you take that deal and you can always tell Kevin Durant okay Kevin you don't want to play here for us that's fine but we have your rights for four years you want to play hardball we'll play hardball you want to sit out this year fine you sit out four years good luck getting a hefty contract excuse me good luck getting a hefty contract at 38 years old having sought out sat out four years oh are you gonna turn down 50 million dollars a year okay good luck enjoy have fun because you can't sit out and get paid if you're gonna sit out as a form of protest you're pulling a Ben Simmons and you're not gonna get paid you don't leave that kind of money on the table so the truth is he doesn't have a ton of leverage right like I know you don't want disgruntled players playing for you I get that but you don't want to give away talented players like Kevin Durant you don't just give a guy like that away and if the Miami Heat are going to be offering you know a deal to bring in Kevin Durant you're not just going to take a bag of basketballs and some extra hoops and nets right you gotta bring in top players you gotta bring in talent or else it's not worth your time to make that deal so if I'm looking at Miami's roster I'm thinking myself okay who do I want bam out of bio 24 years old okay I want Jimmy Butler Jimmy's great Tyler Hero he's only 22 you're fine you give me bam out of bio and Tyler Hero and all right cool man you get your guy Kevin Durant's on his way to South Beach but I'm not taking 42 year old Adonis Haslam and Markieff Morris and Victor Oladipo I'm not taking those players just because I have to get rid of Kevin Durant I don't have to get rid of Kevin Durant he's my guy for four years like it or not he's my guy for four years I'm looking at Phoenix right if I'm thinking about the Phoenix Suns okay you want Kevin Durant what do I get from you sure DeAndre Eaton in a sign and trade makes sense I can ask for Devin Booker I'm not getting Devin Booker my guy can always ask how about Michael Bridges right a talent like him young guy 25 years old good talent you gotta get something back that makes sense you're not gonna give him away for guys like uh JaVale McGee and Cameron Payne that doesn't work Alfred Payne's not going to get you Kevin Durant and all these teams like Phoenix or Miami that looks at Kevin Durant says we're a really good team Kevin Durant makes us the best team in the league they're putting Kevin Durant on the team with Devin Booker and Chris Paul okay they're putting him on the team with Jimmy Butler and bam out of bio and Tyler Hero as if you're not going to have to give up a talented player to get Kevin Durant like let me just package the back of my bench and some first round picks and tell Brooklyn here you go thanks for thanks for Kevin no with one year left on the deal maybe throwing a couple of steak didn't you know just a couple of uh seafood dinners at Joe Stone Crab in Miami we got a deal throwing season tickets to the Diamondbacks we got a deal no it doesn't work that way and Brooklyn is under no obligation to make Kevin Durant happy they're under no obligation to say all right Kevin because you want to go to Miami or Phoenix we are going to help you out here you go what if the Utah Jazz said to Brooklyn hey let's talk we're going to start a deal off with the name Donovan Mitchell Mitchell's a New Yorker all right he may want to come back to the area so isn't a Donovan Mitchell led deal better than any sort of a deal that Phoenix or Miami is going to give you that does not include one of their top players and I don't care if Kevin Durant doesn't want to go to Salt Lake City you're going to Salt Lake City because you have no leverage what are you going to do tell Utah I'm going to sit out four years okay same scenario same scenario he's in with Brooklyn sit out four years go right ahead my friend sit out there become 38 years old again very little leverage do you get my drift here Brooklyn is really going to do what's best for them not what's best for Kevin Durant now the problem for Brooklyn is this the NBA is a league where the players run this league no question about it right players get coaches fired players can dictate where they want to play it's happened often in this league probably a little too often out of any league and professional sports the NBA players have the most power within the confines of their league within the confines of their teams they usually get their way and because of that Kevin Durant probably says all right in the end I'm gonna get my way because that's the nature of the NBA right now and maybe it's up to Brooklyn to fight back and say ah not this time my friend we gotta look out for ourselves we honestly aren't gonna look at you and take you into our consideration at all I don't care if I have to send you off to wherever the other side of the planet it doesn't matter I don't care if there's five teams on your list I don't care if there's five teams on your list that you don't want to go to if they're offering me the best deal you're going there you can deal with that so it's so interesting to watch this Kevin Durant saga it's like sit back grab your popcorn and hit play because I have no idea how this ends but him staying in Brooklyn potentially could be an actual ending in this because teams think they're shopping in the bargain bins right now because they feel that Kevin Durant by asking to be traded has taken away any leverage that Brooklyn had but Brooklyn has plenty of leverage it's called you're we have your rights for four years and I know Philadelphia ended up shipping off Ben Simmons rather than making him live up to the deal that's because they got offered James Harden okay fine you're bringing back a superstar player make it work but if you're looking at superstar players right as a return for a superstar player it's just Simmons for James Harden then if you're looking at Phoenix and you say who's the superstar player okay DeAndre Aiten has got to be part of that package I think Phoenix is fine with that and then who else but for Miami it's got to include Adebayo it's got to include a Tyler Hero type player you have to give to get I don't get it I don't because I look at Brooklyn's roster and yeah I think Ben Simmons I don't think he loves that I you know Howard Beck didn't want to say it and that's his opinion but I do believe that Ben Simmons does not love basketball as much as say Kevin Durant does I think Ben Simmons the guy who's great at basketball can't shoot a lick by the way has lost his confidence but I think he enjoys what basketball brings for him in terms of salary in terms of lifestyle and things like that he likes being on page six with models and the Jenners and things like that Durant doesn't Durant's just a ball but he just wants to be out there on the court all right hour two coming up want to get into some baseball as we are right at that halfway point of the baseball season the story with the Angels continues the greatness of Otani and the Yankees what wow 58 wins it's next dance forceman in for Rich Eisen right here on the Rich Eisen show hour two next for the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson too all-time Hogan opponents Macho Man's got to be in the conversation where's Andre for you I've always said Andre was number one wow because even going back before you know Hulk Oatman was a babyface Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan wherever they went that was an attraction something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard listen wherever you get your podcasts