OKC Thunder GM Says Regular Season Changes Caused the Major Injuries Across the NBA | THE ODD COUPLE

OKC Thunder GM Says Regular Season Changes Caused the Major Injuries Across the NBA | THE ODD COUPLE

all right Rob uh Sam presty who runs basketball operations in Oklahoma City and Rob you Sam prey is a great executive fantastic executive obviously he built that team that never won a championship but had Kevin Durant James Harden and Russell Westbrook all three went on to win MVP awards all three be first ballot Hall of Famers and all three are just terrific players uh without question um and he drafted them all and so you got to give him credit for that obviously KD might have been a no-brainer because Greg Olden went first right remember that Rob in Seattle and I think there in Seattle I don’t even know that he was I I don’t know that he was the one in Seattle that drafted um uh uh Durant but Harden and Westbrook were not Nob brainers um and then Rob that team breaks up you know of course Durant leaves to go to Golden State and Westbrook uh eventually you know he stays but is eventually traded and of course Harden left early uh when he went to Houston to become a superstar and now Rob Sam presty has rebuilt this thing again you got he he fleeced now it looks like fleece I mean it really is a fleece because Paul George and kawi Leonard couldn’t stay healthy for the clippers but he did trade Paul George in the deal that got him Shay gild just Alexander and a lot of draft picks and um and now he’s built around shade jayen Williams great find Chad hren look I think he’s going to be a star and so they they are at rolling in OKC Rob number one seed in the west got to the second round youngest team ever in the history of the league to win a playoff series so they got to the second round and next year Rob um you know I don’t know that they could win it next year but they’ll probably go you know they’ll have a chance to go a step further and in a couple years they’ll probably be knocking on the door and ready to maybe win a championship and so he’s a great executive um and today or yesterday he spoke to the media Rob and uh he I I was surprised because Sam doesn’t really say a lot you know a lot of stuff that’s really controversial or or newsworthy but yesterday when he spoke to the media for two and a half hours Rob he blamed three thing he said the reason so many of these stars and you and I have talked about it at nauseum so many of these stars are hurt in the playoffs Rob most teams most teams have a star player who is hurt let’s go I mean we got uh the Knicks Julius Randall was out Philadelphia I won’t say embid because he played but he was hurt um Cavaliers lost Donovan Mitchell Pacers Tyrese halberton Milwaukee Giannis an Dumbo that’s not even to mention Dame missing a little heat uh Jimmy Butler that’s five of the eight playoff teams in the East we go to the West nuggets I mean you could mention Jamal Murray we won’t have we won’t banged up we don’t have banged up right um the West Was A little better was obviously Kawai uh I think just about every obviously Phoenix had injuries throughout the year but not in the playoffs Lucas play banged up for the Mavericks um Zion Zion yeah for the Pelicans so so almost half the playoff teams had lost a a big time player or and more than half either you know if you include players that played through injury and Sam prey Rob blamed it on three things one was the NBA’s new 65 game rule where you had to play a I’m GNA let just let me get through it and then you can go off um you know where you had to play at least 65 games to be eligible for postseason Awards two was the inseason tournament now remember they didn’t play any more games but just the way I guess they were scheduled he said um didn’t give him as much rest and then three the way you you heard this Rob in the second half of the season they the officials let the players be more physical and so he said those are the three things 65 game rule inseason tournament changeing officiating to allow more physical play in the second half of the Season that is why so many guys are hurting the playoffs Rob Parker your thoughts no Sam presty stop it Chris is this new this has been going on for years now come on Sam really kawhai Leonard can we just just take kawhai Leonard Chris is it this year that kawh Leonard’s been heard or the last five years right on I don’t remember 65 game rule or tournament in any of those years there were no tournament there was none of that you’re using it as an excuse to ask somebody to play Chris 65 out of 82 games is a crime that’s a that’s a crime oh my God how can they play 65 games forget 82 Chris out of 365 days a year you can’t play 65 games really that’s the reason that they’re hurt they have better everything better doctors better training staffs massages Chris uh what everything better better uh living conditions better travel accommodations I mean my God everything is better and this whole notion again you didn’t add more games Chris whether you like the inseason tournament or not they didn’t add 10 games right they didn’t make you play nor did you play three and three nights there you go or something that right to make extra backto backs none of that and the idea too that the playoffs and the idea that my God they actually let a officials allow players to defend oh my goodness gracious Chris how awful is that how would a player is going to react if someone’s actually trying to make a play or a stop at the end of the game and they have to touch the other player you know what I mean like I just cannot that Sam pry would let that come out of his mouth as the reasons why is total BS total um uh Co yes thank you totaly hog go goobly goop thanks Grady and all of that other stuff Chris none of it makes sense to me I agree with you wholeheartedly and Rob if Sam presty and and he did say Rob G correct me if I’m wrong he has numbers to back it up or at least you know he thinks back up what he’s saying but Rob I if he believes this then why are we playing 82 games basically what you’re saying is they can’t play 82 games anymore that’s what he’s saying if 65 games is too much then forget about 82 if the inseason tournament which added no games is too much forget about 82 and they let you play a little physical they play Far More Physical in the 90s and early 2000s and those guys played Chris I I don’t have the numbers and we talk about it all the time they played they played 80 games a year you didn’t go into a year thinking I’m GNA miss any games every player’s goal was 82 games Chris and I talk about this all the time and this is no lie when we were covering the league as beat Riders did we ever in our in in our imaginations Chris go to the arena and go I wonder if Patrick euan’s playing tonight did you I wonder if K is Kerri KD playing tonight like like Chris you never thought about that that was not in our even even our thoughts it wasn’t even in the players thoughts either or the coaches thought it was not an issue whatsoever and Rob I’m serious and I’m not if Sam said these things then what he was essentially saying is we can’t play 82 Game season anymore and I’m telling you Rob and I don’t think that we’ve talked about it they’re not going to cut the games when they can sell out 82 games a year oh yeah that that’ll never you cannot I’m sorry it is disingenuous to have 82 games if you don’t think your players can play it is the because Rob what if the game I pick to take my son to on his birthday and three of his friends and I spent out shell out $500 I want to go see Shay gilders Alexander and that’s a day he’s resting cuz he can’t he’s healthy is all get out but he can’t play the2 it’s not fair now I Sam presy may not I don’t know that he’s right but I’m just saying and it’s odd too Rob because his team was a healthy team that was one of the reasons they were able to have the best record in the west is because their starters for the most part played shade gilders played 73 five games Jaylen Williams 71 Chad hren 82 Josh giddy 80 Lou Dort 79 so I don’t I don’t understand what prey talking about and Rob we’ve talked about it with Carrie KD how the game is so spread out now and players have to cover more ground defensively so it’s tougher on the joints makes sense that makesense makes sense but right we don’t know it’s only a theory that Carrie and maybe some others have we don’t know if it’s true or not cuz others Antonio Daniels thinks it’s because they don’t practice and play hard enough they don’t play enough games he thinks it’s that load management is actually the reason they’re getting hurt I don’t know which one is right but I tell you what I think the league needs the league Rob needs to do their best to get to the bottom of it right and we talked about Chris all the offse and workouts and the trainers and like the year round stuff that maybe it’s just too much maybe it’s that stuff like like guys right they don’t give their bodies a rest they don’t give their bodies a rest and they feel like if they’re not doing something in the off season like they’re cheating someone I it’s okay no there’s no question about that I agree with you and so I don’t know what the reason is those are some theories that we’ve thrown out there and others have thrown out as well but I tell you what Sam prey is saying rob to me this comes off like 82 games is just too much and I don’t think that’s fair to expect fans to pay top dollar to get in the games and yet they’re the best players are are are penciled in for 15 Lo misses forget getting hurt that’ll be another 15 or whatever but they’re penciled in for 15 so and again I don’t put it all on the players Rob I’ve talked about it a lot of this is team training staffs so we’ll see it’s interesting um but I I I think the league needs to do what it can to get to the bottom and I and I do I I don’t think reporters should settle for we don’t know I mean we they need to find figure this out because you don’t want your most important games having your best players be out Rob the Celtics run to the finals is the easiest Cakewalk I can recall in the playoffs I might be missing one or two but off the top of my head I can’t recall an easier Cakewalk where the the three teams you beat to get to the finals all were missing their best player for at least half of the series yep and and Chris the other other one people talk about always is the Warriors their first championship three of the point guards were all out on those teams right every starting point guard that was n they still had to get through LeBron James and but I’m just saying compared to this yeah they did have they did have that made it a little easier

THE ODD COUPLE – Chris Broussard & Rob Parker react to Oklahoma City Thunder GM speaking out about how the NBA lost multiple superstars in the playoffs, siting the 65-game rule, in-season tournament, and allowing physical play.

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