00:00Rick, let me start here with Adam Silver.
00:03How well do you think he's running the NBA right now?
00:07Well, I think Adam's done a really nice job with it.
00:09I mean, come on, it's grown into such a worldwide phenomenon.
00:12Of course, it was all started by David Stern with help from Rick Welts,
00:15who actually I knew when I was up in Seattle.
00:17He was working for the Seattle Supersonics, and then he went to the NBA,
00:21and he was really instrumental in helping to grow the league into what it is today.
00:26And then, of course, he left, and he was with the Warriors and the Phoenix Suns,
00:28and he was very instrumental along with David Stern.
00:31And I think that Adam's done a nice job with it.
00:33I mean, you can't please everybody all the time in life.
00:36I mean, so he's going to do things that people are going to be very upset with.
00:40But overall, I think he's done a masterful job.
00:42Look at where the league is.
00:44My God, they're one of the most successful professional leagues in the world.
00:51How important do you think that that dream team was in developing the European player?
00:57I mean, look at where it was in 1994, and look where it is right now in 2026.
01:04You know, that was a major point for David Stern to want to expand the sport.
01:09I mean, look at the influence of the European player.
01:12Do you like it, Rick, and how important that was?
01:16Well, let's not give David too much credit in that regard, because it wasn't his idea to do it.
01:20It was his willingness to let the NBA get involved.
01:25But it was a gentleman, because I know my wife ran women's basketball for USA for many years.
01:29She was involved when the dream team was being put together and all of the stuff was done.
01:34But the guy who really changed it all was a guy by the name of Boris Stankovic with FIBA.
01:39And Boris was the one who said, look, the only way we're going to catch up is if we play
01:43against the best.
01:44And he realized and understood that getting the NBA to play, the NBA was going to be dominant, what have
01:50you.
01:50Obviously, the dream team just destroyed everybody.
01:53But it really accelerated the growth of basketball around the world.
01:58And look how quickly the foreign countries have all caught up.
02:02Look how many foreign players are playing in the NBA today.
02:04So Boris Stankovic is the guy that did it, and then David was willing to allow the NBA and talk
02:11the owners into allowing them to compete.
02:13And so overall, it was great for the sport, without question.
02:17What do you make of this role, Rick?
02:19I mean, I look at your ledger, and I look at your resume.
02:22I mean, look how many games you played.
02:24You loved the game.
02:25Michael Jordan had a clause in his contract that said, I have a love of the game in my contract,
02:30which means I can play any time I want it.
02:32And there's numerous 80-plus games that he played like yourself here.
02:37Now there's a 65-game limit that if you don't have those 65 games,
02:43you're not going to be able to win any of the awards like Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Player
02:49of the Year.
02:50What's that tell you about the league when it comes to this load management kind of thing?
02:55Well, I think it was a way to not let load management take over.
02:59I can't relate to load management, first of all.
03:01I mean, it's insane.
03:02I mean, I love basketball.
03:03I hated when I didn't play, okay?
03:05I hated when we blew somebody out because it means I wasn't going to get to play.
03:08I went to the NBA to play.
03:10You know, I mean, one season I think I averaged 47 points a game.
03:13I averaged over 40 many different times.
03:15Now most players are in around the 36 minutes a game average that they play.
03:20But the number of games to qualify, it's meaningless.
03:23Records don't mean crap anyway.
03:24The only record that means anything is, did you win?
03:27That's all that really matters.
03:29You know, I found more things about me in the last 15 years that I never knew I accomplished,
03:33that I'm on this record, I've got this record, I've done this, I'm one of these people.
03:37And then, because we didn't pay any attention to any of that stuff.
03:40So it's a different world.
03:41So, you know, that's kind of the situation that exists now.
03:44The only thing that should mean anything is, did you win the championship?
03:47And if you didn't win the championship, you didn't have a great year.
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