 Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Good Tuesday morning and welcome to the post Christmas edition of Run it Back. We're all here today. Shumtrania Stadium Insider coming to us from Ishikagu, Chandler P out in L.A. Lou Will in Atlanta. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you? Are you in Atlanta, Lou? Oh, okay. I couldn't tell. I was like, did it change behind you? I'm coming to you from New York. Look, there was no shortage of sports over the weekend. And specifically, we get down to the NBA, the full docket of Christmas fun that happened yesterday. You had Lakers hosting the Celtics, Celtics winning this one. Weird. First Christmas day went over the Lakers, 126-115. They've met three times. Chris stops through in 28. Anthony Davis, 40, and 13. But we want to focus on what LeBron James actually said after this game. He said he does not think that the Lakers are where they want to be to be able to compete with the top teams. Lou Will, do you agree? Yeah, how this team is, how they're currently built, you know, I just feel like they lack consistency. They're still trying to find that definitive group that they're going to start games with. They're still trying to find a group that they're going to finish games with. And in between that, they just lack consistency because of that. You know, they've put a lot of stock in some of these guys that just aren't playing to the level that they need to be playing. So with this team sitting in 11 in the West, it's going to be an uphill battle for them to get inside of this playoff race. And so I agree with the things that he said. At this point, for them to compete with the top teams, they've got to play better. They've got to be more consistent. Yeah, the thing is, too, is AD is doing a lot of really great AD stuff. And you don't want to waste that, Sean. So are we hearing any mumblings, any whisperings of any plans as we head into the new year? They're going to be patient. I think the Lakers for an office has shown they're going to do their due diligence around the league. Zach Levine is a player we've talked about for weeks as a player that they're going to express interest in. He has to get back on the court though. He's been sidelined. The hope is that he's going to be back at some point in January. He's got to show that he's going to be back on the court. One more player to keep an eye on. I'm told a potential target for the Lakers. Hawksguard Dejante Murray. Levine is in the second year of a $215 million deal. Dejante Murray still has four years, $120 million of an extension that kicks in next season. So that's a little bit better when you think about a reasonable salary to be bringing in when you already have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on your books. The Hawks direction, of course, it's in flux. They gave up multiple first round picks, a swap to go get Dejante Murray a couple summers ago from the Spurs. So when you look at the Lakers asset pool, they have one first round pick they can trade now, or they could wait until draft time and they'll have three first round picks to trade. So any deal that the Lakers want to pursue for a star player is going to most likely have to include the names of Gothic Austin Reeves, Max Christie. That's who teams will want. The Lakers obviously have shown no inclination of moving Austin Reeves, don't want to move Austin Reeves, but those are the types of players that teams will ask for. And if you're the Lakers, you like Lou said, they have to figure out the rotations, but you probably feel like the talent might be there. This is the same group for the most part that made to the Western Conference finals last year. Darvin Ham is clearly searching for answers when it comes to rotation and he still has yet to find it. And I think we're still a few weeks out from the entire roster. Rui Hachimura, Austin Reeves from being trade eligible. Chandler, go. I mean, yeah, you look at what they did last year, right? They didn't panic. They made a bunch of moves and they put themselves in a situation to kind of go and get these pieces to be a contender. And now look at the same, same this year, you look at the end season tournament. This team has showed the capability of playing really well in an elimination type atmosphere and a postseason type atmosphere. There's just these kind of, you know, who's going to get traded? Who's it going to be? Are they going to move Rui? Are they, are they waiting for this D'Angelo Russell? They just moved him to the binge. So it feels like there's a lot of questions on what they want to do. But as far as talent wise, I think they have enough talent now to compete. They have the depth. I do love the, the Jean-Té Murray thing, Sean. I think he's perfect. He's a young asset that they can kind of go with into the future. He doesn't exactly fix their shooting woes that we talk about how they need a little bit more outside shooting, but I love that fit almost more than being, especially with the unknown of his injuries. But I think LeBron's talking about effort. He's talking about ever since that postseason tournament, ever since that championship, they've really been struggling and there's been a target on their back and they just haven't been performing up to the expectation. So I definitely expect they have enough. And this is a team that once they have their team going forward into the playoffs, I don't think they really care who they play. They think they can match up with anybody. They think they can beat anybody. It's all about healthy consistency like Lou said, but I definitely like to move with Jean-Té Murray though, if that's an option. And I want to talk Anthony Davis here in a second Chandler, but just because you brought up Jean-Té Murray as well. Are you moving Austin Reeves for him? Is Austin Reeves untouchable? I mean, I would try not to. I like Austin Reeves with that roster with Anthony Davis and LeBron James more than D'Angelo Russell. Now if you can throw in a Max Christie, a Rui, Dilo, how much are you willing to give up for Jean-Té Murray is the next question for me, but I like him talent wise. I like him fit wise, but I still look to that roster last year when they really kind of exploded, they got perimeter shooting and that team that they threw out there in the beginning was not a good shooting team and they end up fixing that, but as talent wise, yeah, I love it, but I'm not willing to give up Austin Reeves quite yet for him. I feel like Austin Reeves doesn't want to get moved either. Let's talk Anthony Davis because he does take a lot of heat and rightfully so a lot of the times, but over the last 14 games, he's averaging 29 points and 13 rebounds Chandler. I don't want to be cynical and say I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but right now he looks great. Where do you rank him in best players in the league? I mean, it's, listen, he's always had the talent to be one of the best players, if not the best player in the NBA going back to high school. Like I was the number one player in high school and he's had that talent, whether it's been health or consistency or whatever it is, it seems like he's always taken that back seat and leaving you wanting more. And the last two years didn't help him that well and being able to kind of take that huge leap forward to be known as the best big game in the NBA. So that's where it kind of was with him and he's kind of been the backseat now to those guys, but when you look at these numbers, I mean 29, 13, 2, he's dominating the defensive and even he's doing things that aren't showing up in the stat sheet where he's altering, altering shots. He's coming weak side. He's been huge for them and this is the version of him that LeBron has talked about the first thing that this is his team. We need to go through him. He's got to be the guy and as good as LeBron has been, Anthony Davis has been better and he's been consistent. So I'm happy for him. He's in a great place. Where do I put him in the NBA changes every week? Top top seven. I'll give him. I still I still think the two. I still think you'll get an impeter above him. I think Luke is above him. I think Giannis is above him. So it's just every day, but he's got the talent to be the best player in the NBA. Luke. Like it's there and it's been proven and that's the frustrating thing about Anthony Davis is you look at Joe L&B one of the top teams in the East. You look at Jokic, one of the top teams in the West. Then you look at the Lakers team. You are standing next to LeBron James who's at 39 years old playing out of his mind giving you guys an opportunity to win basketball games. So and you guys are sitting at 11th in the West and so the talent is there. The numbers are there. The presence isn't there. I want him to be the clear cut best basketball player on that basketball team in order to get them over the hump. I don't know if we can depend on a 39 year old LeBron James at this point to carry you throughout the postseason. And like he said at the beginning of the year, Anthony Davis is the best player on his basketball team and so he has to start putting them in a position to make sure you feel that yes, the numbers are there but are these empty numbers, are they impactful numbers? And that's the, I think that's the difference between him and the other top players in the league. And so the only thing that's stopping him is just more success. They got to put a string of wins together for him to put his name in that half for me. That's fair. Do not waste this man's moment. Shams, Gabe, Vincent, one of the moves they made in the offseason. We haven't talked about that. I'm told he's going to soon undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. This is an issue that he's been dealing with all year. He rehabbed it for two months. Finally came back about a week ago and he still has swelling in that knee. So he's going to undergo this procedure. He's going to be sideline Michelle for six to eight weeks from what I'm told. This is just a gut punch for Gabe Vincent. It's a gut punch for the Lakers. This is someone that was their best friend, Daniel Russell. The start on this team and now he's out at least potentially through the trade deadline. The swelling in his knee has become an issue and he's soon going to undergo surgery. I like to add I think that sucks, Shams. That's one of your not as great news stories. Chandler, Christof Prasings, I don't know where you had the cell ticks last year. So let's just put them here. How much has the addition of Porzenges elevated that has been so good for them? And same thing with him is when you look at Anthony Davis, not as a lead of a player obviously, but when he's healthy, he can cook. And I think when you look at his body of work in the Olympics and the Euroleagues and then what he's done, he's shown flashes on the Knicks in Dallas. Whatever reason, hasn't been consistent. He hasn't been able to stick. When you look at the makeup of this team, he now has to be the opportunity to play off two stars. He can give space to Jalen Davis and he can stretch the floor. He can knock it down. He also is a great rim protector for this very thin team. So I see all these tweets last night. I like Derek White more than more than anybody talking about should he be an all star. If there's a third all star on this team is this guy, dude, he's putting up 27. He's blocking shots. Like I said, he's stretching the floor. He's running the floor. He's a perfect fit for this dynamic duo that needs that half court space to go and get a bucket and you can't over help on it. So I'm happy for him. He seems to be flourishing in this role and for a team that's not very deep. They got when they're going to go, you know, seven, maybe eight deep in the playoffs. He's got to be good because they need to get that 20 and 10 from somewhere else other than those two guys. You guys want to talk Warriors nuggets? I don't I don't know what's going on out there, but that's what we're going to do right now in Denver. They defeat them 121 14. It's their fifth straight win for the mile high guys. Jamal Murray was 7 to 21, but let's focus on Yokech for this one. He had 26 points, four of 12 from the field, but 18 of 18 from the free throw line, which is what had Steve Kerr very angry afterwards saying that the fact that he got 18 free throws is a while he was disgusted and I quote and wouldn't want to watch if he were a fan. Chandler, we'll start with you. Do you agree? I agree that watching free throws, watching James Harding Houston was really, really boring back in the day, right? Watching him just go like this every single play and draw a contact himself to the free the line. But at the end of the day it's a foul and it's I understand this guy's frustration is boiling over the top so much where he's now complaining about the refs. This guy's unguardable. If you don't if you don't want to go to free the line, don't guard him one on one. Don't pressure him so much. Throw him back. I'll agree with him on that. But a lot of times the heat there they're giving him too much contact. They're swiping him across the arm. Yes, it's boring. Yes, it is not fun to watch, but this this just seems like frustration as a coach. All you want to be is even right. You want to free throw the discrepancy not to be so far off and that is annoying. One player especially is getting the free to line this much over and over again and the fact that he's making him so I agree with it to a point. But again, you think he's after waking up being like I'm going to I'm going to get your kids to the free to line like no and not worry about your mom or getting 28 on you. Not the other guy getting 18 free throws if you want us. If you want to beat them, it was a bit of a shocking line. I mean if you were flipping around yesterday, a lot of us were between football and basketball back and forth and you come back and he's 18 of 18 from the free throw line, but he's also shooting. It's all down, Lou. Worse and last what five of his last 11 games. We always talk about he's unstoppable. Are teams figuring something out or is this a yokich problem? You can split the responsibility for me. You know, when you when you play an extra six weeks during the season, you give a lot of teams a lot of personnel to have an opportunity to watch you play basketball and I think that's showing with how the how he's being guarded and what's being done in a scouting report. You know, those are the penalties of being at the top of the hill. I feel like there's three things working against him. The preparation from other teams, you know, obviously like I said, they have they've had an extra six weeks in that last season and that championship run to kind of figure things out to make adjustments going into the summer for this basketball team and they have a winners hangover. You know, you when you win a championship, you kind of know what it takes. So you kind of go through this phases of the regular season and you're just preparing yourself for the postseason. So these these kind of games are kind of they get mundane to you a little bit and you're just ready for the for the real thing. And then after that, you're going to get teams best best shot every single night. They're going to game plan for you, especially with Murray being in and out of the line of with some of the injuries that he's had this year. I mean, you could being out there by himself. These teams are going to load up on today, even though he's shooting under 40% in the last five or few games. Like I said, he's getting to the free throw line. He's made adjustments as well. And so, you know, I think it's an even swap so far. Look, if you are watching the Warriors feels like we're watching the chiefs like I just don't know what's happening. It's the dynasty that's crumbling. Steph Curry specifically has scored fewer than 20 points in nine of his last 10 Christmas day games, but he really is also I think the only guy that's going to be the chiefs. I think it's going to be a great combination for this that you can come up with. I don't know if it's a coincidence of Christmas Day or what, but when you play like Steph Curry and you launch these shots and you take these shots, there's going to be some nights where you just don't make them and it's going to look really bad. It's funny. You said that cause I was thinking about the chiefs and Warriors are very simple yesterday and watching them. Yeah, no, I don't put any stock into this. It's Christmas Day. I don't feel like he's played on the biggest stages in the world. I don't think Christmas Day gets him rattled. It's just it comes with how he plays. He takes these unorthodox, crazy deep, crazy long shots and there's going to be some gays where he's only makes 20, 25% of them and then they look a little crazy, but no, this is Steph Curry we're talking about. I'm more worried about the future of the head coach now complaining about foul calls, the suspension of their third best player. I mean, I'm worried about a lot of other stuff other than Steph Curry struggling on Christmas Day. Same shams. We are at game seven. Dreymond has now missed seven games. Is there any news leaking out of the San Francisco area? Well, Dreymond Green has started counseling. We reported on that last week. He has also started counseling for foul calls with the league with the union as far as his progress week to week. This is still something that's going to take a little bit more time. The sense around the situation from what I'm told is still Dreymond Green at the earliest will not be back until the second or third week of January. So that would put him at anywhere around 12, 13 games of an overall suspension. The Warriors seven games that you said, Michelle, they're five and two without Dreymond Green. You've seen Jonathan Kominga play a lot more. Trace Jackson Davis is playing a lot more. They're relying on a lot of their young guys, Brandon Przemski. So this is a different era right now for the Warriors. They're relying on three young guys. They have not done that in past years. The thing about guys this young in the rotation, but I'm actually curious from Chandler and Lou's perspective, you're integrating a guy like Dreymond Green back into the fold in your locker room. How are you handling this season for an extended period of time? How are you bringing it back after like a month away? I think he's been with them so long. I think it would be natural, right? You know, I think it would just be a natural thing, even though this is a longer lapse than usual. You know, Dreymond has been out with some injuries and some issues as well, and this team has always adjusted and the way that he plays, the way that he integrates himself back in the system, you know, he's going to be a defensive guy. He's going to play with energy. He's going to get those guys open on screens on roles. He knows it. He knows this offense just as well as anybody else. And like he's mentioned in the in the public before he is that defense. He's the anchor that defense. So I think it'll be a seamless thing for him to come right back. Yeah, I don't think it's about whether he can fit in when when Dreymond Green gets back. He's able to do that. He's able to play with really good players. His talent defensively and communication is top of the leagues. But I think Dreymond Green has an organization as a franchise. I think this is a blessing in disguise where now you're you're clearly you're able to play these young guys. You're able to develop Trace Jackson, who, by the way, is really, really good and really active. Your cominga is now showing flashes where he's doing a little bit of everything. He's posted up guys. He's getting to the rim. So if I'm Dreymond Green, I'm now just more concerned that I self inflicted organization's decision to go this route. So to me, that's the biggest issue is not coming back how many minutes he can come off the bench. He's going to fit now. What's his role in all moving forward? And we always talk about kind of this dynasty. Is it over? Is it not over? Are they going to resign clay? I think they're starting to realize that Dreymond Green is definitely not a part of this future. All right. I really paid him. So I don't know what they're going to do there. There was another game right here in New York where he won the first game of the docket. Well, the Bucks were on a seven game winning streak, but that is over. Jalen Brunson with 38.6 Damian Lillard had 32 and 8. Giannis 32 and 13. But Jalen Brunson is the story of this one. And of course, this was a week in which Becky Hammond said that he was quote too small to be player 1A on a championship team. Do you agree? I agree in this scenario. I agree that on this team with that 2A or 3A or C, whatever 3B, whatever 2 or 3 option they say this this makeup doesn't have the championship DNA, right? If it's going to be Jalen Brunson as the number one guy, number two has to be way better. Number three has to be way better. Number four has to be better. Is he a really, really talented player? And can there be 1A guys? Of course, there's Steph Currys. There's Chris Paul. There's Alan Iverson. They're small guys and they're the best player on the team. I think it's just when you look up to makeup of this team, it's the other guys that they're going to have to have more for. They're going to have to have one of the deeper teams in the NBA for this to work. But yeah, Jalen Brunson, he's an absolute stud. He's an all star. He can do it all. I love how he got here. He wasn't a highly recruited guy. He wasn't ever talked about. He's just business as usual. We talked about before the show. He's got the biggest heart of his teammates involved. He's everything you want in a point guard on your team. It's just, is he the best player on a championship team? He's not this year. The Knicks on a championship team and he is by far their best player. So I agree with that, but the comment is a little strange because literally the best point guard in the world is, and I know she said there's exceptions and stuff, but it's there's plenty of little guys out there that can carry a team. I respect Lou. This was a big win for this Knicks team, but I feel like we're still waiting on them to do just one more thing, maybe add one more piece. If they can get these types of wins, shouldn't they do everything in their power to add a star and make a run? I'm on the fence about it because you know, you got to realize that this team has another all star on that group with, you know, outside of Brunson and that's Julius Randall. If we can get Julius Randall to play we can give RJ Barrett another year or so to come into his own and start seeing some fruition in his development. I think you got a pretty solid core, you know, in the NBA where there's so much turnover and teams are going in different directions and trading and switching teams is so prominent. Sometimes I think it's okay to just stand pat with the group that you have and so I think they can go out and get a guy that can bring them something that can make another splash, but you know this team is doing just enough for their alarm in that area and so I like where they are. It still feels like something is missing. I don't know what it is. I can't really pinpoint it and put my finger on it, but you know they have actual all stars on that basketball team that can get them somewhere if you give them an opportunity to develop. So we'll see what happens in the future with this group. Shoms you have an interview with Julius Randall coming up. What can you give us a teaser? Yeah, I do. I think the biggest thing with Julius Randall is the ankle surgery in the off season and he got off to a super slow start. I mean 13 points a game, 10 rebounds a game the first six games of the season. He was shooting 27% from the field and we've seen the back and forth with him and Nick's fans to him the biggest takeaway I've gotten is how motivated he is by that back and forth he has with Nick's fans and I think when he's playing well they're rolling with him. He scored 20 plus points in 14 straight games he's finding his stride and in this month of December he's averaging 9 and 5, 55% shooting from the field. So this happiness at times people make a lot out of it. There's a back and forth with the fans but he told me he wants to win in New York City he wants to win with the Knicks and he has locked in long term but there's no question the Knicks are continuing to look at stars could he be a part of something long term we'll see but right now this is the group that the Knicks are rolling with. I love it the relationship with the fans they'll let you know Shoms off thank you so much we will see you bright and early tomorrow we'll take a quick break right here when we come back Kenny Beachham is back we're going to talk all things hoops when we return Run it back Run it up Run it back Run it up Oh he is back host of the Through the Wire podcast the Kenny Beachham podcast a basketball guru Kenny first of all happy holidays to you we're just going to jump right in because there was so much to watch yesterday so right off the bat your takeaway of the Christmas games it didn't hit the same this year I don't know why maybe because maybe because it wasn't all basketball you know I have a household that have football lovers so now we got the split screen so I couldn't really dive in as much as I want to I'm always a fan of the year maybe it was the lack of jerseys or whatever but it wasn't as good as I remember you know what I agree with you we were talking about that during the break like there was just almost too much dare I say to watch I know that sounds un-American the Warriors are five and two since Dreymon got suspended and we talked about it a little bit in the first segment whether or not he's part of the long term plans moving forward if it's you where are you leaning on this it's hard to really say I think a lot of things that might happen with the front office has to do with Steph Curry and Steph Curry is a very unique star in a sense that he isn't a player that from our knowledge has added a bunch of pressure to us for an office traditionally because that team as long as they've been healthy has been really successful right we see Bron we see I guess Kevin Durant we see Giannis add a pressure to their front offices to make adjustments make traits to make their team better and with Steph Curry being 35 36 years old we don't know how many more years we have of Steph Curry playing as great as he is right now so I would want him to add the pressure and the way some of the young guys are hooping right now some of that pressure might be hey maybe we don't need Dreymon as much now as we did two years ago or five years ago when we last won our championships I agree with you Kenny moving on to the Lakers they've been struggling to say the least ever since this in season tournament championship they've benched Delo if there's one move that you'd like to see them make what would that be they need another I mean I guess Buck could get them and I'm not just saying that because the Chicago Bulls have Zach Levine in the market and I'm looking forward to him moving to his next team it's not what I'm saying that but when I watch this team play they have a couple different identities and I was the guy that was high on them coming to the season because I saw what they did at the second half of last year how they clamped up defensively and let the offense kind of work well now I know they've dealt with a bunch of injuries between like Vanderbilt or Gabe Vincent but the defense is not holding as well this year and the offense hasn't been there like when they have like Vanderbilt on the team or on the court their defense is stellar but now we can guard LeBron a little bit easier and Anthony Dave's a little bit easier because Vanderbilt isn't much of a threat I want to see them make some adjustments and again I was a guy that was really high on their offseason I had them in my contention list and right now I'm kind of hesitant to say that 30 games into the season what about you know there's always going to be the first thing is let's look at the coach is Jarvan Ham safe no no no LeBron coach is really safe after the first season it's just the way it works should he be safe it's hard to really say I know a bunch of Laker fans that are in my personal life that hate his rotations that you know and I kind of like the idea of him switching it up having D'Angelo Rossa come off the bench having also Reese come off the bench eventually but I guess I'm not really into Laker fandom enough to say like oh he's the problem but LeBron teams you usually got like an 18 month window and then you can get on the hot seat Kenny let me ask you this you once said that you felt like the Celtics were the best team in basketball what makes this team different than the teams in the past better equipped to win a championship I think they also have a bunch of different identities where so far they are 23 and 6 they've had a bunch of games where Porzingis wasn't there we've seen some games where Drew Holiday missed we've seen their White Miss games and they've always been able to really put it together they have the best top 6 in all of basketball and when I think about playoff time and I think about them being healthy because that's obviously a big thing there's not going to be a team that can match the versatility where there's not many bigs that can play the defense that can guard Cristias Porzingis when he's 30 feet away from the rim and simultaneously protect the rim where we saw that last night where they were really able to just have a bunch of players contribute we had a whole stretch where it was Peyton Pritchard dropping 10 straight points when he's cut him back door on LeBron James in the next play coming down and pulling up for 3 they just have so many different options and we haven't even seen the best version of Jason Tatum just like he's been great don't get me wrong but like we've seen better versions of him last season I feel like he's still trying to adjust to having 5 other players on the court that can create for themselves and create for others so this team just has it all and they still have a $6.2 million trade exception because of the Grant Williams deal so they still have room to add maybe the eighth man because I really do like Sam Howser and Peyton Pritchard as far as the playoff rotation but like an eighth man that can really put it all together the eighth man like there have been some hot starts so far this season it's been fun to watch if you had to pick one who you given that award to it is the Boston Celtics it is the Boston Celtics they have had the I think third hardest schedule all the basketball in the game we're sitting at 30 games to the season basically with only six losses and it's only going to get easier as time goes on again health is a big part with them when you think about the players that are on their roster with the older guys and like Al Horford or Porzingis who struggled to stay healthy over the last five seasons or so but that team feels in my eyes right now unbeatable in a seven game series based on the competition so if you had to pick the hottest player start is that person coming from the Celtics I'm sorry say that again if you had to pick the hottest start for an individual player are you picking anyone from the Celtics or is that someone else altogether that's probably someone else and it feels bad saying this right now because he just had his worst game in the season last night but I might say Terry's Maxi as the hottest start to the season I wanted him to go on national TV and just have a great game in front of the national audience and of course he didn't do that but I think his leap is the reason why the 76ers are still as good as they are this year versus last year when they had James Harden he's not the best player on that team I know he's not hey Joel and Vitas is my MVP right now but having a good number two goes a long way and Terry's Maxi is that alright alright I get it hot starts Lou hot starts Kenny everyone was everyone was ready to run them through the mud and write them off why they make this trade for James Harden and they've lost their last two without Kawhi Leonard they're now 17 and 12 fifth in the west are they real is this a contender it's a question that I've been wrestling with during their win streak there's a stat that they put up on the broadcast a couple games ago that when Kawhi Leonard scores over 30 points in his Clippers tenure they went 82% of games and we just saw him for three weeks average 30 points so if we get in that version of Kawhi and we saw the playoffs last year before he got injured then I would say yes but we also haven't seen Kawhi play this much basketball early into the season I don't know what he looks like at the end of it I don't know how resty he will be for the playoffs right now I'm still very hesitant to say contender but if they are a contender they're very close to it right now so I switch pace with you Timberwolves best team in the west are they title contenders or you think this is just regular season success I got a lot of love for Anthony Edwards I got a lot of love for Rudy Gobert as a rim protector so they've had a schedule where they've gone against teams and a lot of the teams they've gone against were missing their best player they have a win against the Heat without Jimmy Butler they had a win against this team without their best player so I'm not saying that their 22 and 6 star is fraudulent but I do want to see them play against the best teams with the best players playing before I really say that their defense is really good this is really going to be a testament to who Rudy Gobert is because we've seen him in the playoffs before half series where he really struggled but now he has other pieces around him that can help him anchor that defense where you have Jada McDaniels and Anthony Edwards who don't give up defensively are they contenders I'm going to say yes but if they didn't end up doing it I'm not really upset about it you think this seems to continue who do you like out of the west then but West is all over the place I'm still Denver Nuggets until they show me otherwise I know Yolkich hasn't had the same start to the season as he normally does but I talked to Michael Porter Jr he admits that they have the championship hangover right now I'm sure about April when things matter the most it'll be all gone so I still have them as my favorite out West but it's wide open though it's not like they're world leaders they're not destroying every team that they go against but I still give them the benefit of the doubt right now alright let's talk a little grizzlies obviously John Morant is back and since then they've won all three games I mean the hole that they've dug for themselves is obviously very deep can they still make the playoffs yeah because we have some teams out West that are not competitive at all we have like the Spurs we have the inside jazz where they can just they can just jump up them really easily and they're playing a different brand of basketball it's the same brand that we saw last year when Ja was healthy but a new brand compared to before he was healthy where I do believe that they could win at a pace of about 50 wins and that will put them in like a play in range I mean I don't know I'm not saying they're finishing the season at 50 but I'm saying it from the point Ja got there until the end of the season of 50 win pace and that will put them like at the 7th seed and we've seen them go into a play in game before in the genre era and win game so I think they can still make it happen there are some teams out there that are really taking a step up like the Houston the Rockets that we don't know for sure if the Rockets are going to be a team that can hold on for a full season so I would give the Grizzlies a benefit of the doubt it's going to take a lot for that team to climb uphill you know they basically got to win 85 to 90 percent of their games they got to play perfect basketball but they have one of the top point guards to do it what does Ja rank in your list of point guards so far man what does he rank so last time I was here we were talking about point guards and we didn't mention Ja Moran because he didn't play I mean when you look at his first game back versus the Palakins that was like a storybook movie type stuff like coming back and hitting the game winner putting up 30 points he's comfortably in my top five I don't know if he's comfortably in top three though so maybe maybe maybe four or five maybe four or five why are you laughing Jailer I like that I've been drinking the juice on the Jalen Brunson the Tyrese Halliburton the Tyrese Maxis and now Ja Moran's back and I feel like I feel like it's Steph Luca and then I feel like it's Ja Moran I feel like he's the next one up which is crazy though we have someone to go with that's Kenny Zion seems like he's always taken all this crazy criticism what is his work ethic his weight and hurt whatever it is do you think some of that all of that none of that is warranted I think some of it is I think I get a little bit too personal for my Leica but it's only thing I do is compare Zion to Zion right the best version of Zion a couple years ago where he was averaging 28 on 60% shooting and he was shot to getting his own rebounds that's the version of Zion I want I'm not comparing him to this fictional version of him that was supposed to be the next LeBron James whatever they said after his his rookie season or whatever if we could get him back to that version again I know it's a stretch because stuff he is gonna be one of the top 10 players but we haven't got that and the Pelicans are a team that have the depth to be really really good but they need their 1A to be a 1A every single night and there's too many times on watching close games of the Pelicans and he's just sitting in the dunker spot where he's not really involved in the actions and he had been involved in the actions through the first three and a half quarters and I think that's something that happened in that genre at return game we kind of just waited around and let Brandon Ingram do his thing and B.I. is a killer in himself but having both of those dudes be really good options offensively can go a long way so I think it's somewhat warranted but it has been overdone at this point I like that it does feel personal at times let's talk Cleveland for a second here there's 17 and 13 and something bad is in the water injury wise because now you got Evan Mobley Darius Garland the Donovan Mitchell stuff it will never quiet right but at this point if you're the Cavs are you really entertaining the idea of maybe trying to move Mitchell and make a change I would say yes because all we've heard since he got to Cleveland today he wants to play for New York he obviously is going to be done with this contract relatively soon I think he's got another season after this and then player option at the end of it and if we believe that that's the case then this is the time to get the most value I feel like in the league we get so many organizations that tell themselves that we can convince them to stay and then we get to the point where he's got three months left of his contract and then we're trying to trade and we don't get the same value back I mean I think it was a worthy shot to trade for him and the core and the version of them that's going to compete for championships have to do with Darius Garland and Evan Mobley hitting their next steps and I think they might have just increased the timeline a little bit too fast for me and I just saw Craig Porter Jr act like Andre Miller against the Bulls the other night I think they'll be fine they'll be fine if they make that trade and they'll get back pieces that can improve their depth and they'll be alright okay okay so Cleveland's fine then let's concentrate on the next side of things because now it looks like Mitchell Robinson's out for the season that's a big loss if they were in fact to figure out a way to bring Donovan Mitchell over talk to me about who you move and what does that look like on the court I think that the so the Knicks have a bunch of different draft capital picks which obviously will go a very long way because the calves already traded three to get Donovan Mitchell into the door so I don't know the exact number but some trade pieces and draft capital probably like R.J. and then it's quickly or Grimes who's already been relegated to the bench it's something like that again I'm not a GM Shams will probably do a way better than me you know telling me what the the noise is but I have my closest friend as a Knicks fan and he loves Donovan Mitchell but he also loves Jalen Bronson and he is a guy that's like if the trade happens I'm cool but if it doesn't happen I'm cool too because though he didn't go full Becky Hammond he does believe to have it to 62 point guard as your back court it will be a little bit tough to win a championship that way but if Donovan is saying he wants to come to the team I think Leon Rose has to do what he can do to make it happen because it's only so often that you can get a guy of that caliber in the locker room and you figure out the rest later. Well said your bulls they've been kind of sneakily playing pretty good lately without Zach Levine they're waiting for us since he's went to you know on an active list here what's going on here do they move them do they roll with this team what we got I think that they should still be trying to move them obviously all of the rumors that the market isn't as great as the bulls kind of anticipated but I'm loving having Kobe White with the ball in his hands we saw this towards the end of last season where he did look really good the second half and then the first 10 or so games here in Chicago I mean he was shooting very poorly and I was just like that's not him now he's also not the player that's going to shoot 60% from 3 and 97% from the free throw line but he has been really good and this team has a new I guess flair to him we set our record for most assists in a single game a couple times since Zach Levine so I would still be looking to move him when he gets to the point where he is healthy it's going to be an interesting conversation to figure out what do they do because again the team has been rolling and they were awful when he was playing maybe we get him buying back in I don't really know I'm kind of enjoying the good vibes this was a team that I had no plan to drive into the United center to watch and I've been to three games since Zach Levine has been out so it's been really nice now for Zach Levine fans where should Zach Levine go if you're following that well there was a year where the All Star game was here in Chicago in 2020 and Zach Levine was doing his thing and doing his media run and then he went on TV and said I love to play with a player like LeBron James in the defensive anchor like Anthony Davis he said he said that and then Bulls fans everything caught on fire because he was up for an extension so we're like no he's leaving to LA he's leaving to LA and obviously that didn't happen but I know that they got connections with his agent in the Los Angeles Lakers for him he probably love LA but again we don't know if LA would really they would have to trade a bunch to make it happen because we're talking about a $40 million contract I think that's the best place for him for the Lakers maybe not so much Kenny let me ask you this you were at the game you said you're starting to like going to the games but you were there when Yelkich was ejected do you feel like this season the referees doing a little too much you think they're exerting their power in the games too much this season I think so and I guess it's hard to quantify really but just the eye test just says I've seen some really tough ejections so far whether it be Yelkich or I guess Tatum had won this season Jaylen Brown also had won this season where it felt like the actual result of the technical or the ejection wasn't really warranted I think that Nicole Yelkich didn't even get a warning before it was just two texts immediately and you're out the door and it happened to be a game where it was a Serbian heritage night but there was a large Serbian population in the United Center for the people that don't know outside of Serbia and Yelko has the most amount of Serbian like the biggest Serbian population so anytime Yelkich is in town everybody's there to see Yelkich I was there to see Yelkich and he only played like 12 minutes and I was really upset about it so there has been a power dynamic where there are players that don't have as much of a leash as far as what they can and can't get away with and other players like Yelkich have a shorter leash and when you're talking about one of the top players in basketball we don't want to see him ejected without a warning give him a technical for the words that he said and let's go back to basketball luckily for them, the Nuggets still pulled out that win but for the fans, I saw a lady that literally walked out of the United Center when Yelkich got ejected that's not a story, that's the real life so for us fans when you think about all of the people that are buying tickets to these games it's just too much real quick, did you boo? and then I'll ask you my real question I just want to make sure that you were booing that's important to me Kenny you boo, all right Pistons, it's 26 straight games right now here's the next, I think five games net Celtics Raptors Rockets Jazz can this thing go 31? it definitely can so I there was a night where there was seven games of basketball in the one game that I watched was Jazz versus Clippers no Larry marketing, no Keyante George no Jordan Clarkson I was like if history is going to stop, it's this game and they lost that game by double digits this team has no business being as bad when I look at the roster they have talented pieces this is not a team that looks like 26 straight losses but we might get to 30 oh god history is history, I'm here for it I mean maybe there's yeah, what's it like in the locker room? that's damn near two months of just straight L's that's harder to do would you fight with each other? I can imagine a practice facility right now no it's just deep quiet in a practice facility surprise there's no stories coming to blows or altercations because at some point there's got to as a man, you got enough right like, Keyante if you're in that locker room, you're in the front what do you do? do you try and get better players? is it just that simple is it at this point nobody is safe you cannot go 26 straight losses on the fourth year of your rebuild they blew it up four years ago and this is what we got there has to be something I've never been in a high level locker room like you too but from my days of high school hoops we lost three in a row and I was ready to call it quits so I can imagine 26 in a row and their coach has an absolute bag too, is there any fire on their coach? can you forfeit the season and then just write it off as a lost tax wise write it off the season's forfeited already that's a great point Kenny, love having you on, can't wait till the next time you're here, thank you so much sir thank you everyone brutal, we'll take a quick break, we'll be back after this oh are we buying that okay Lou, I'm starting with you, Russell Westbrook said he doesn't think too many people are defending better than he is right now do you agree, you buying that? not buying it, simply because he's coming off the bench, he's not getting those marquee matchups you know, he's guarding a different caliber or player even though he's playing extremely well, I give a lot of credit to Russell Westbrook, but I'm not buying it simply because he's not getting those marquee matchups okay that's fair, that wasn't smack talk Chandler, Jaylen Brown said that he feels like he is playing the best basketball of his life, you buying that I think he's playing pretty good I think he's averaging 23, 5, 4, but when you look at him, I think it's more about efficiency, right, and he's only shooting 33% from 3 and 73 from free throw you get that up a little bit, now you're talking about close to a 38 game then I'd say yes, he's consistent though he's getting better, he's knocking down more shots, but once he gets that 3 pointer up closer to 40 and the free throw over 80 he's playing the best basketball of his career because then he's averaging close to 38 games okay I like that, we could set goals for ourselves Lou, Joe Missoula said that Derek White is an all star are you buying that I think coaches sometimes they get into a position where they're just so focused on their basketball team and they kind of have a different sense of reality I'm not buying it, Derek White isn't top 20 in any statistical category there is, however he's been really well for this team, he's a glue guy energy guy, makes big plays on offensive in, knocks down open shots he's probably one of the MVPs on that basketball team, but in the entire league I'm not buying, not rolling I like they saying it you know what's funny though if I'm Pozingas, I'm like the hell, I'm having a better year than him, I'm sporting more boys and you're saying this cat's all star get out of here well do you think, well hold on Pozingas needs to hear that more than Derek White does, or you think he knows that Derek White should hear that let's face it, either of them are all stars whoever deserves to hear it should hear it okay fair enough they're both very valuable to their team are they all stars, are they top 12 15 players in the conference no there's Chandler just pooping all over Isaiah Thomas from Washington has said now that Paolo Bencaro can be the best guy to come out of state and there are a lot of dudes, if you want me to read them off Stockton, Crawford, Levine, Brandon Roy, Dijontae Murray they've all come out of Washington state you buy in that I mean that's a tall task, that's a lot of talent a lot of great resumes on there but people love this kid Mike Miller went on record the other day says kid's going to be a hull of famer now Isaiah Thomas who reps Washington hard whose boys with all these other guys saying he's the best he's got the tools I'm buying it if Isaiah is saying it he's got the talent he's got the keys to a franchise for the next whatever, seven years so yeah I'm buying it because this kid can be an absolute stud for the foreseeable future Lou you got lucky because this is my favorite one of the day, former NBA All-Star Kermit Washington said Draymond would never slap anyone in the 90s because quote he'd have been in the hospital every other week are you buying that no I'm not buying it because I see video of guys getting slapped consistently in the 90s it's some guys that we only know of them and they're only relevant from their careers in that times man because of how physical they played it wasn't because of skill it wasn't because of a talent it's because they were slapping the hell out of people and knocking people out of the ground so I think Draymond Green he's going to adjust to the times you're going to adjust to the temperature game at that time and you are allowed to get away with certain things he's still doing it now and he's not even allowed to do it so in a time period boy it was a little bit more acceptable I think people still getting slapped at the hands of Draymond Green so I'm not slapped what Adonis Haslam said that he thinks he's only hitting players that won't retaliate yes or no Chandler because that's something that either it's not like he's picking on point guards or a little dude like he went straight at Nerkich yeah I mean like Rudy's a center like he's not he's going out little guys so I don't agree with that and I agree with Lou too I think if he was back in the day I think he's doing even more because there's much less punishment if you were to get it slapping sounds so bad alright that's it for us we will be back tomorrow on Wednesday enjoy your evening