State of the NBA (with Dieter Kurtenbach)

RealGM Radio

RealGM NBA Radio with Wes Goldberg

Sports, News, Basketball, Sports News

4.7 • 627 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Wes Goldberg and guest Dieter Kurtenbach dissect the explosive Kawhi Leonard investigation, praising Pablo Torre's groundbreaking reporting. They scrutinize Adam Silver's tenure as NBA commissioner, questioning his focus on TV deals over league health. They explore innovative ways to enhance NBA strategy discussions, comparing coverage to the NFL and proposing new systems for describing team formations. All-Star Game format changes and ideas for boosting fan engagement round out this wide-ranging NBA analysis. Tune in for a critical look at the league's present and future, including potential consequences for cap circumvention and suggestions to revolutionize NBA media coverage. 0:00 Intro 3:42 Sports media's coverage of Kawhi scandal 15:41 NBA salary cap circumvention and punishment for alleged violations 20:30 League Dynamics and Player Influence: League control by top players 24:42 NBA Star Player Movement: Failure of acquiring star players 37:47 NBA Contracts and Team Flexibility 41:54 Coverage of Basketball vs. Other Sports 55:28 Sports broadcasting and game scheduling: Importance of structured game nights 1:03:52 Naming Defensive Formations 1:12:24 Mark Cuban's defense of Steve Ballmer 1:17:03 Ideas for All-Star weekend changes 1:22:00 The Take Wheel RealGM Radio is powered in part by North Station Media (CLNS). For advertising or media inquiries, contact info@clnsmedia.com 🔔 Like, comment, and subscribe for more NBA insights and analysis! Follow RealGM Twitter: https://x.com/RealGM Follow Wes Goldberg Twitter: https://x.com/wcgoldberg PrizePicks: PrizePicks is the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, PrizePicks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick MORE or LESS on at least two players for a shot to win up to 1000x your cash! Run Your Game all season long on PrizePicks. Download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Gametime: Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, welcome to Real Jam Radio. I'm Wes Goldberg. And today I'll be joined by Dieter Curtinbach, sports columnist over at the Bay Area News Group. Also, my former colleague, when I worked there covering the Golden State Warriors. And what we have for you today is essentially a state of the NBA episode. And I had Dieter on about a year ago for a very similar type of episode. I want to try to do these every so often.
0:26.4	And I wanted to do it now because there's just so much going on in the NBA between the Kauai scandal.
0:32.1	Adam Silver talking publicly about a bunch of different things, Kauai, a league overseas,
0:34.8	changes to the All-Star game, all these things.
0:55.5	So much going on that I had a bunch of stuff rattling around in my brain. So I texted Deeter. I said, hey, can you come on next week? He did. We had the conversation. And I think you're going to find it very interesting. It's wide-ranging. We hit a lot of different topics, including whether or not Adam Silver should be considered a good commissioner, the things that we think he can improve on.
1:01.1	A lot of stuff on the Kauai scandal that haven't really been talked about in a lot of different types of places.
1:03.9	We're not trying to do the lawyery kind of reporting talk.
1:07.8	We really tried to get down to the bottom of some of our opinions on these things.
1:13.8	And stuff like even Mark Cuban's involvement, why he's defending so vigorously Steve Ballmer in this situation.
1:14.8	So we talk about that.
1:18.2	And then we kind of get into this interesting crossover conversation about what NBA media and what NBA coverage can learn from NFL coverage,
1:24.1	which I found very interesting.
1:26.2	I hope you do too.
1:27.1	I think you will. It's a great conversation. I hope you do too. I think you will.
1:28.0	It's a great conversation.
1:29.2	I hope you enjoy it.
1:34.3	But I did want to talk to you because I wanted to do a like state of the NBA type of show.
1:42.6	With all the Kauai stuff happening,
1:44.5	Adam Silver speaking publicly,
1:46.2	there's just a bunch of stuff going on.
1:47.9	Obviously,
1:48.3	the NBA season's coming up.
	...

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