Jonathan Von Tobel: The Clippers Finally Have A Power Forward

0:00Hey, let's chat about choosing the best tool for the job. When the pressure's on, you find out what's really built for the moment. That's true late in the fourth quarter of a big game. And it's true when there's work to get done on a deadline. On the job site, conditions change. The clock keeps moving. And the tools you reach for have to be ready to handle it again and again. That's why DeWalt tests its tools under real-world conditions that push even the best tools to their limit. Only then does a tool earn the DeWalt badge. So when the pressure is high and the work needs to get done, DeWalt tools are built to perform, built to last, and built to finish strong.

0:39DeWalt. Guaranteed tough. Available at the Home Depot. How doers get more done. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was. The bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. I'm living my best life. Yeah, yeah. This is The Rich Eisen Show.

1:21Here's the other surprising part. With guest host, Brian Weber. Yeah, big shoes to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television. I have my own show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Final hour of the program. Thank you for spending part of your Monday with us. I normally say thank you on a Monday for starting your work week with us. However, I understand many of you, thankfully, have the ability to supersize at least the weekend, if not take the majority of this week off. If I just go by anecdotal evidence, I got to work 20 minutes early because there was nobody on the road here in Southern California.

2:09And the staff was worn out before we even started the program. So pick me up. I'm a lonely man talking about myself off the air. 844-204-7424. Or most of the interaction today has been on social media. The ex-platform BW Weber. Weber with two Bs. Coming up in 20 minutes, we'll say hello to our only guest today. Say hello to Jonathan Von Tobel. You catch him on V-CIN. NBA analyst, good friend of the program when I'm here. We'll get back to the NBA to start this last hour of the show. We have talked baseball. I mentioned the sports crime that continues in Pittsburgh. And I'm not anti-Pittsburgh, although coming up in 40 minutes when I give you the view from Vegas and let you know the handful of games the Steelers are favored in, which is really intriguing.

3:02But you got to back up for a second. Beep, beep, beep. Back that thing up. It's all about strength of schedule in the NFL. So when I give you the reasons why the Steelers are underdogs in the majority of their games, all based on the caliber of the opposition. If you care about my background, I'll do it in 30 seconds. My grandfather was from Scranton, PA. Spent the bulk of his career in Pittsburgh. I was a massive Steeler fan because I'm a frontrunner, late 1970s. And what was better than Pittsburgh, circa 1979, we are family. So I backed up being a Steelers fan in New York by loving the Pirates.

3:43and the Buccos had those wacky hats circa 76 for the Bicentennial. I mentioned the sports crime of what's going on with Paul Skeens, and I said I didn't want to bog the show down with the minutiae about how lousy his win-loss record is, which, of course, you should not use anymore because that's old-school counting numbers for pitchers. The advanced metrics do work better as I'm destroying the show. Here is the punchline. Paul Skeens, one win in his last 13 starts, an ERA of 172. Why would you stay if you have the talent and at some point the leverage that Paul Skeens is going to have? And that's why as much as I still care about baseball and talk about it in compact chunks, the game is still fundamentally broken when you have situations like that because there's no mandate that the Pirates and the A's and other horrendous franchises like the Marlins, though I know they're playing respectable ball because baseball is also witchcraft, but the sport is still fundamentally broken.

4:52We've talked college football with Big 12 Media Days getting underway tomorrow. I'm back with you tomorrow. Among our scheduled guests, another old friend, PFUTAC, collegefootballnews.com. will use the first of two Big 12 media days at the Star in Frisco, Texas. That's the glittering team facility of the Cowboys to talk about who are legitimate national title contenders. If you don't like Ohio State, here's the bad news. They're still atop the odds makers list of the teams with the best possibility of winning again. In fact, if you've taken a little break from college football, I hope you're aware.

5:33We have Texas, Ohio State at the horseshoe week one because this sport, as poorly as it's run by the powers that be, still delivers blockbuster matchups. So with all of that in our rearview mirror and more pro football coming up, let's get back to the NBA. I feel the need to let you know of important transactions. Again, I can do this now in 30 seconds because I've mentioned it for the third time, once per hour. The NBA can't stop, won't stop. The deal-making hasn't ended, even though we've blown through the most significant portion of free agency and trades like the Kevin Durant deal becoming official yesterday.

6:16Today, three-team deal. Clippers, Heat and Jazz hooking up. Norman Powell from L.A. to Miami. The Heat actually do something. although anything in the East maybe puts you in the ranks of teams with a shot because there's such a massive difference between the East and the West. Clippers, unfortunately, play in the West. They got John Collins coming their way, 4-Powell on his way to Miami, and then Utah building for the future. Kevin Love, the veteran, Kyle Anderson, and a 2027 second-round pick. I mentioned the Jazz because they were part of that deal, and if you follow me on X, I try to be self-deprecating to balance out all of the bloviating.

7:01I'm Brian Weber in for Rich. It's B.W. Weber. Weber with two Bs and 15 minutes. We talk hoops with Jonathan Tobol of V-CIN. Saturday night, because I have such a rock star lifestyle, I was watching the start of Summer League from Salt Lake City. Now, the Summer League that most of you care about, if you do, I'm presuming a little bit, And it's also just a platform to see young stars. Remember, hopefully you have a scrapbook of when I fill in for Rich, but there was all of the Wemby mania in Vegas not too long ago. Remember the incident with Britney Spears when she wanted a picture taken? I got a whole show out of that.

7:43Well, it is the season of taking chicken you-know-what and turning it into chicken salad after all. Cooper Flagg will make his debut in Vegas on Thursday. that's the summer league action that people care about. They draw well, and then it's always interesting to see who shows up. LeBron James' kid, Bronny, will be playing that night. So LeBron will be courtside. Bronny getting it done. I am not going to beat the Bronny topic into the ground. It's not his fault that the Lakers capitulated to his old man. I wish I had a more powerful father. I'd be taking this week off like the rest of you, But some of us lose the genetic lottery, and my old man's gone, so now I can take shots at him because I'm not afraid of him anymore.

8:28Salt Lake City has a summer league. Now the San Francisco Bay Area has one. Used to be in Sacramento. So games are going on, and I wanted to see, after spending time on the Ace Bailey drama, and I realize a lot of you don't care about the NBA draft. If you tuned in at all, it was just for the coronation of Cooper Flagg. But if you stuck around for even a few more minutes, the question was, where would Ace Bailey go after coming to Rutgers? He was projected to be the second best player in the upcoming draft. And it was pretty interesting. His teammate, Dylan Harper, Ron's kid, wound up going number two to San Antonio.

9:09Think about all the young talent the Spurs have bolstered by Wemby. They're going to be really good. not too long from now for a long time, Bailey had to have gotten bad advice or somebody told a teenager, you get to make terrible decisions and we're not going to intervene. Because we had all of the reporting heading into the draft that he refused every invitation to work out with every team. Just said, no, thank you. and reportedly canceled on a scheduled visit, workout, and dinner with the Sixers the night before said visit was supposed to occur. Why is that important? Because Philadelphia held the third overall pick.

9:53So conventional wisdom was saying Bailey was trying to engineer where he would go and wanted to go to Washington or Charlotte or New Orleans. Now, it makes no basketball sense. They're god-awful franchises. unless Zion's finally healthy in New Orleans. But the motivation was he wanted to get to a team where he could be the man, ball out, put up huge numbers, then get paid with the second contract. And given his talent and the perception of his skill set, when he was sitting there at five, Danny Age and his kid were not going to let him go past their ability to take him because of the value. Guy arguably should have been top three pick, wound up going five to Utah.

10:37Then there was the mini-drama, he didn't look happy on draft night. Okay, I'm not a body language expert, but I didn't have to call Dr. Phil to see the kid wasn't smiling. That was backed up by, he didn't show up the next day for the customary introductory press conference, and it looked to be a little bit more jarring because their other first-round pick, Walter Clayton Jr., the national champion from Florida, showed up. Well, Ace finally showed up the day after he was supposed to. And he played Summer League for the first time on Saturday. I tried to watch the game. As I pushed out on the X platform, I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich.

11:16If you want to have at it on social media, it's B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs, with a conversation with Jonathan Von Tobel of VEASAN coming up in 10 minutes. I understand, as someone who is a broadcast courtesan, if you give me a check, I'll show up. I have done a lot of crappy games for a lot of lousy platforms platforms who I am no longer employed by so I can be more transparent. It's a tough time in sports media because you kids won't get off your phones and nobody has the resources nor the willingness to spend that they used to. But this was on national TV and I understood what they did. They took the Jumbotron.

11:56They took the in-house production from the Huntsman Center of the game featuring Utah. However, that camera, I believe, was purchased in 1985, or somebody held up their iPhone. Or they turned out the lights. Maybe there was a blackout in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains. In fact, we have affiliates across Utah. Give me a call, 844-204-7424. Did the lights go out on Saturday? Because the lighting was atrocious. I'm just trying to watch this game. I can't see anybody. And I think they had two cameras. Still, you could say, get a life. Why are you watching Summer League? Well, I wanted to see what Ace did.

12:36And if you want to bash this kid, and I'm 55, anybody who's in their teens is still a kid. If you want to take a shot at the rookie, he did not cover himself in glory by only having eight points. But it's Summer League. Can we pump our collective breaks? So when I'm with you on Thursday, getting you set for the highly anticipated debut of Cooper Flagg at the Vegas Summer League, I'm not going to give you my projection for what he's doing on the floor that night. I'm talking about his future in Dallas. Speaking of which, I found it very interesting that Kyrie Irving, who for a long time hadn't said anything wacky, Did you notice that?

13:20Got very quiet when he was in line to get another payday, and now that the extension with Dallas is official, Kyrie's doing Kyrie-like things again. So he was on some live stream, because everybody's got their own platform now, and he was fielding questions, and somebody asked him, roughly, and I'm paraphrasing here, any chance that you will heal quickly enough from your torn ACL to be back in time for the playoffs? because the traditional timetable, based on when he went down, would be the entire upcoming season wiped out. And instead of saying, we'll find out, or I'm going to give it my best shot, Kyrie said, don't hold your breath.

14:01Now, again, to be fair, the rest of the quote was, when I come back, I want to be the best version of myself. But it was just sort of a weird Kyrie statement, because you are what you consistently do. when Kyrie says weird things. But when he's healthy with Cooper and Anthony Davis, and that's where I have to hit the pause button because that's a big two and a half. And Anthony Davis undeniably is a Hall of Famer. As I read my resume, I saw him in person win the 2012 National Championship at the Superdome, and he was remarkable leading to the National Championship. People forget he didn't grow until he was 16, 17, so he was primarily a guard.

14:47He's got the ball handling skills. When healthy, and there's the entire argument, when healthy, he's a transcendent talent, but he's never healthy, unfortunately. So all the histrionics and the hype surrounding, I'm hearing, oh, Dallas with their depth and this nucleus of talent, they're going to make a run to the title. Well, a couple things. Tell me when Kyrie's going to be healthy. And then secondly, tell me that I can, with a degree of conviction, pencil Anthony Davis in for 70 games. Then we'll have a conversation. Otherwise, to me, this is just mindless hyperbole. A lot like all of the talk about DeAndre Ayton.

15:26And when I was here on Friday, I tried to put that signing in context for the Lakers. Understanding they had to do something, anything. But I gave you the key number for the big fella. He only played in 40 games last year. I was in a good frame of mind because it was a holiday. I didn't want to take gratuitous shots at him. Do you remember his snow day when he couldn't make it to the arena because of an ice storm in Portland? Didn't show up. There's been a pattern since he signed that second contract with the Suns, and I saw him play a ton at Arizona, where he deserved to be the first overall pick of the 2018 draft.

16:04I'm not putting him in the same category as Anthony Bennett or Marco Fultz, but because we're shaped by geography, all of the ridiculous, over-the-top enthusiasm of Laker fans on social media, ridiculous. Yes, they got a center. They needed somebody. Mission accomplished. But especially in the West, what does that get you? Because the Durant deal became official yesterday. if you think about what he is adding to. There's a reason why Houston was the two-seed ahead of schedule in the regular season this year. Unfortunately, they had two games against the Warriors in which they just could not make a shot.

16:49Less than 90 points of scoring. So maybe some of that was nerves for a young team. We know it to be true. In this league, you've got to build up scar tissue. It's a slow build throughout the postseason. You don't have a bolt out of the blue to make a championship run. OKC had the best record in the West last year and flamed out in the middle of a postseason run and then learned how to win, especially problem solving on the road in the playoffs for the Thunder. So it's a Houston team on the rise. You slap together the addition of Durant and getting more depth behind Chengun in Clint Capella, very impressed by what the Rockets have done.

17:36How about the Nuggets? Because their biggest issue after winning the championship, and it's just so funny now to look back at the eras that never occurred. Because while Giannis still has his bright years in front of him, when they won that championship over Phoenix, I was filling in for Rich or a different show. I might have said Dynasty coming to Wisconsin, and obviously that was off the mark. How about when Denver won? Because we gravitate towards the superstars. Well, you figure Joker's enough to stack some Larry O 'Brien trophies, but we saw it with the way the Thunder won and how the Nuggets hit the wall, losing in the postseason, in Game 7s and back-to-back years.

18:22They just did not have enough guys. So to flip Michael Porter Jr. into a more versatile player in Cam Johnson is a step in the right direction. To go out and get a glue guy like Bruce Brown, who was part of that championship team, is a positive addition. Tim Hardaway Jr., nice player, especially because they got him for virtually nothing. And we've been on Valanchunas. Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. According to reports, forget about that Greek offer out there. He's going to take his talents to Denver to back up Joker and give him a real legitimate option as their number two center. So Denver vastly improved.

19:02What does that mean for the Lakers? Yes, they were the three seed in the regular season. But something like a game and a half separated the three seed from the eight seed. Could have been a play-in team. They got utterly embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs. Outclassed and outcoached by Minnesota. and you're telling me LeBron, a year older, is suddenly going to put together a meaningful playoff run just because of the addition of DeAndre Ayton? That is just blind hope. But that's what Laker fans do. And I understand you have all of those banners. I am not hating. I'm just trying to be a realist.

19:43This team's got major problems in terms of how they're constructed. and even the addition of, say, Bradley Beal as a buyout candidate will not make a difference. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich. NFL Talk in 30 minutes. How many games are the Steelers favored in this season? The answer, I think, will be a little bit of a surprise. Straight ahead, we'll keep the basketball momentum going. Even with the moves I just detailed made by Denver and Houston, can anybody slow down the Thunder? Looking forward to checking in with Jonathan Von Tobel, NBA analyst for VEASAN. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich. It's a Monday edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

20:36Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles in sports. Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. They're kids fighting cancer. They're families standing beside them. Doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than$303 million and supporting over 40 ,000 children. Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash Hope on Wheels. Taking a quick break to chat about choosing the best tool for the job.

21:10When the pressure's on, you find out what's really built for the moment. That's true late in the fourth quarter of a big game. And it's true when there's work to get done on a deadline. On the job site, conditions change. The clock keeps moving. And the tools you reach for have to be ready to handle it again and again. That's why DeWalt tests its tools under real-world conditions that push even the best tools to their limit. Only then does a tool earn the DeWalt badge. So when the pressure is high and the work needs to get done, DeWalt tools are built to perform, built to last, and built to finish strong.

21:47DeWalt. Guaranteed tough. Available at The Home Depot. How doers get more done. The greats don't shy away from change. They attack it head-on with confidence, preparation, and a clear strategy. KPMG LLP and their transformation professionals work with organizations across industries, using their advanced AI to help them move faster, work smarter, and adapt with purpose. Because in today's business environment, winning teams don't react to change, they shape it. Learn more at visit.kpmg.us. You can hit me up on the X platform during or after the program, B.W. Weber. Weber with two B's. Let's keep the NBA momentum going.

22:28Always appreciate the availability and the insights of a good friend. Jonathan Von Tobel, senior NBA Address for V-CIN, host of Money Moves weekdays at noon Eastern. Jonathan, thanks for taking the time. Did you do your show today, or are you on vacation? I actually just came back from vacation. I was out for two weeks, so it's a very refreshing time. And today they will get no more energy than this day from me because I am ready to go. I love it. All right, so let me be the lazy fill-in. What did you lead with today? If you're talking from the NBA perspective, let me just piggyback and steal from you.

23:03What were your biggest takeaways? Well, I think we led with, and it was a little easy for us because it broke right when we were coming on the air, but the trade today that sent Norm Powell to Miami and John Collins over to Los Angeles, among some other moves. And keep in mind for your audience, too, and I think you know because we've talked a couple of times, I'm a Clippers fan, so it was one of those that kind of hit close to home as well as being breaking news. Everybody loves Norman Powell here in L.A. Seriously, I see Norman Powell jerseys at the mall. Yep, he's awesome. I have bet on him to win sixth man of the year, like three straight years, and he should have won at least one of them.

23:37But I think it's a big deal because the Clippers finally have a power forward, and that's kind of huge news for the non-hardcores out there. They've been desperately trying to fill that slot. You know, Derrick Jones Jr., they tried to play him a vast majority of minutes of power forward. Didn't really work out. Can't really shoot. Obviously, we saw that in the playoffs. They really needed some more shooting on the floor in that series against Denver. So the fact that Collins comes in is really going to help him out. But the other part of that was right after that happened, the rumblings really started to grow louder that once Bradley Beal is bought out, he might be donning a Los Angeles Clippers jersey.

24:12And if that is the case, when you're talking about Harden, Beal, Kawhi, Collins, and Zubach as a starting five with a much deeper team than it was last year, guys like Chris Dunn sliding to the bench, I think this team is a very, very dangerous team in the Western Conference, especially going into a year in which Kawhi Leonard finished a playoff series healthy, has a healthy offseason, and might be strong and ready to go for the regular season. I appreciate the analysis. Now take off your Clipper jersey and be a realist with me. What exactly are you getting in Bradley Beal, even though you're getting him cheap thanks to the buyout?

24:48I mean, that's the thing, right? It's, you're going to get a dude who was almost, he was almost shooting at a 50, 40, 90 clip. Like the shooting efficiency, if I were to remove the name and just show you his statistical profile over the last couple of years, you would say, dude, if you're getting that guy at 14 million, that's incredible. I was having this conversation, though, with my colleague a little bit earlier today, too, on social media, which is, like, I don't doubt anybody who doubts the Clippers. This has been a team that has had a talented roster almost every single year, has fallen short since they acquired Kawhi Leonard.

25:19and has guys like James Harden who have a history of disappearing in postseason series, and he did just that as well as the team as a whole in a must-win Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets. But it's hard to deny the actual talent and statistical output that this team could have and the overall depth they could. So I think it's realistic to say this team could improve on their win total from last year. They won 50 games, finish inside of the top three-ish to make closer to three, obviously, than a one, and get a very good seat in the Western Conference. Whether that leads to playoff victories, series victories, or the finals championship is another thing.

25:52But if they get Beal, it would be a disappointing year if they were not one of the top four teams, top three teams in the Western Conference next year. I respect you. I appreciate the relationship, so I'll stop bashing Bradley Beal, although he's given all of us a lot of material over the years. I'm Brian Weber in Fort Richey. As in check out Jonathan Von Tobel's excellent work as a senior NBA analyst for Feaston, Money Moves weekdays, noon Eastern. he's back from vacation. Jonathan, the Kevin Durant deal became finalized yesterday, so now we know exactly what Phoenix is getting in return for a first ballot future Hall of Famer.

26:29Understanding that Durant had input in this deal, so Phoenix just couldn't ship him off anywhere they wanted to, how do you think they did all told, now that we know all the particulars? I mean, I think they did fine, if we're talking about it from the Phoenix perspective. I like, look, I think Dylan Brooks is a good player. We know who he is. He's a good defender, and that's about it. Doesn't really match like any sort of timeline. And neither does Jalen Green. Like Jalen Green is the worst contract the Rockets had, and you willingly took that on, was really not getting anything back. You know, I think it's somewhat telling because I'm one of those Cam Whitmore truthers, and I think it is somewhat telling for Whitmore's future that the Suns said, no, we'll take the second-round picks instead of Whitmore, which I think is somewhat shocking because obviously then they flip him to Washington.

27:14But I think that it's generally a deal that the Suns should be kind of mocked for. You didn't really get anything that was going to accelerate your timeline, make you somewhat better. And if Green starts to, again, just be this high-volume, low-efficiency scorer and Dylan Brooks is just Dylan Brooks, what exactly are you getting? I think it's a deal that Phoenix really just didn't come out on top. And frankly, I'm a guy who, if you're under team control and you don't have a no-trade clause, I can do what I want, deal where you want to be damned. I loved what Portland did two years ago with Damian Lillard.