 Run it up, then run it back, yeah. Run it up, then run it back, run it back. Run it up, then run it back, yeah. Run it up, then run it back, yeah, yeah. It's happening. It's season two of Run It Back. We made it. We made it. We didn't know. It was close and it got real weird for a second there, but we made it. So the intros will begin. I'm saving the new guy for last. So to my right. I can't believe I have to do this. Stadium Insider. Starting lineup. Shom Sharad, I know. It's like a whole thing standing. Shoms, welcome back. Good. Why am I asking? Did you take a vacation? Yeah, I did a little bit of a vacation. I did one week in Portugal, but it's always hard for me to stay fully. But you brought your phone and got on Wi-Fi, quick. No question. No questions asked. International plan, everything. Is that a vacation? No, it's not. But I'm happy you left the country. It's my vacation. Yeah, you did. Wow. I'll take a call in the middle of the show. Yeah, he actually will. He does. Because they're important and he needs to. Nine-year NBA vet and recent father of a baby boy. Now there are too many of you walking around the earth. How crazy is that? How does it feel? Life comes at you fast, Michelle. Here we are, first day of school. First day of school. We're already sweating. And the newest member of the Run It Back family. Roll it. Last second shot, score, pull up on the block. My goodness, move, win, score. OK. Seventy-year NBA vet, three times six-man of the year. Lou Williams is here, y'all. OK, you feeling good? How you feeling? Amazing, I'm happy to be here with you guys. So it's had some fun. We had no rehearsals. Hopefully you won't be able to tell that here in a second. But we're just going for it. Because it's Monday and the season actually starts tomorrow. And my goodness, I'm ready to get there. Vacation, you live a vacation. Lou, was your summer great? I live a vacation. OK, that's what I'm talking about. What did you do this summer? I went to Greece. I did take a vacation. It was lovely. Great place to be. How do you know? Like, how do you know? I'm just saying, it's probably a great place to be. Google it. Google it once. I saw it in a picture once in a movie. It's not online. I saw Chandler's story when he went. I lived it through him. We lived through him. Yeah, well, no vacations from here until the end of the NBA finals. Because we're going to be here almost every single day to get you through it. And we start with the off-season storylines of which there were a few. The biggest one. Look, we're about 24 hours away from this bad boy. And this one, Damian Lillard going to the Milwaukee Bucks. It shocked a lot of us. There's the trade. You're looking at it right there. What you basically need to take away from this is Damian Lillard's on the left. That's one player. And then in return, everyone else got all these other players, Drew Holiday being the big name there in the middle. Trailblazers, of course, we know he's gone. But look, Shoms, all of us had our phones. I've got my Shoms notification set. I'm sitting here waiting on Lillard to go to the Miami Heat. And then all of a sudden, I'm thinking there's a typo. How did we get here? Yeah, so Lillard and the Heat, really, they both obviously wanted to be together. And they believe Portland had absolutely no interest in doing any deal. It got to the point where Joe Cronin and the GM in Portland, he did not return any of the calls from Damian Lillard, Damian Lillard's agent. They went weeks without communicating. There was a point where Damian Lillard was in the facility in September working out. And there was no communication. Joe Cronin, there was no hi, hello, no pleasantries exchange. And that's, I think, when Damian Lillard knew. I'm going to get traded. It's only a matter of where and when. And he obviously ends up getting traded in Milwaukee. And we know the pressure that the Bucks have been under. When you think about Giannis and his decouple, made those comments a couple of months ago now and said, I just want to win the championship. That's on Milwaukee, I'm fine. I mean, really opening the door for his exit. And John Horst, the GM there, you have to give him credit. In 2020, when Giannis' Supermax extension was on the line, they go out and get Drew Holliday. Now, when Giannis' extension, from what I'm told, he's not going to extend. But his future's up in the air. They go out and get Damian Lillard. And I think they're still trying to fit in. They're still trying to find their place. But from what I'm told, Damian and Giannis are hitting it off. And I think Damian is happy now with the result. I mean, look, they jumped up to plus 380 to win a championship on the Fandall Sportsbook. I don't know if Dame was excited to move to Milwaukee as a fan and a consumer of the product of basketball. It's exciting to me. Are they now in the running for the best? I mean, look, when you look at the Eastern Conference, it's Milwaukee and it's Boston. And then there's a drastic drop-off. But when you look on paper, this makes sense. It fits, right? Damian Lillard can shoot the ball on an elite level. He can play make. He opens up the lanes for Giannis. And that's exactly what he need. But to sit here and automatically assume this is a huge upgrade over Drew Holiday, who has won them a championship, who Team USA is now making the point that we want this guy going to the Olympics. He can lock down the best offensive score on the other team. So there are some questions. But yeah, when you look offensively, you look at this team and you can get a healthy Chris Middleton and some of the other signings, some of the guys they brought back, they're going to be right there at the end of the season to compete for a championship. The Drew Holiday part, I think, was bittersweet for a lot of people. We didn't want to see him go. Big fan of everything he's done in the court. All right, Lou, this is a very pointed question. Is Damian Lillard that much of an upgrade over Holiday? Offensively, yes. And after that, it's a very polite no. Just to piggyback off of what Chandler just said, look, you've won a championship with Drew Holiday already. He was one of the anchors of that team. What's hard to say a guy is an upgrade after replacing the guy that you've won a championship with and that guy being Damian Lillard, who can change the trajectory of any team that he's going to play on. So I don't know if upgrade is the word, but he definitely gives them the same opportunity Drew Holiday gave them and won in the championship, if not a better one. To me, the key is Chris Middleton. Last year, he went through so many injuries. You know what you're going to get with the honors. You know what you're going to get with Damian Lillard. People forget quickly how good he was and how he was kind of the go-to score. He was closing out the nets on the road in game seven. As good as he honestly is. Give me a healthy Chris Middleton. Now we're talking about this team and that trio as the best trio in the NBA. This is the thing, and it's amazing to me that Drew Holiday ended up in Boston. Do you think that they would have made this trade if they would have known that he was just going to be in the same conference, not that far off the other contender? I don't think so. No, right? I don't think so. But that's the risk that you're willing to take when you move a guy like Drew Holiday to a rebuilding team like Portland. You can't imagine he's going to last there. You can't imagine that. But now it's kind of they made their bed and they got to sleep in it because that's going to be the guy and the team that they're going to have to go through to get to the finals. I kind of love it. It's almost like they weren't done screwing with them. Like, oh yeah, now watch this. We're going to keep it moving. It's a dice roll, and it might backfire. Look, the East was not the only place where moves were happening. Obviously the West as well. The NBA never sleeps. And on that side of thing, you had Raleigh Beale to the Suns, Chris Paul to the Wizards, who then ended up with the Warriors. And he's going to start, you guys. He wants you to know that. Jordan Poole and a bunch of picks to the Wizards, then later traded. It's just it's convenient. I don't know about Chris Paul starting, by the way. He's not going to start. Really? But nobody wants to tell him that because it's awkward. All right, Beale had the very big, famous, beautiful, delicious, no trade clause. One of the few in NBA history. It's a wonderful thing, all power to you. But did it affect how everything went down for him? No question it affected things. I mean, if Damian Lillard, let's be honest, if he had a no trade clause, he would have been in Miami now. So Bradley Beale negotiates a no trade clause. And I think we finished our show the week that Bradley Beale got traded. So this is a good kind of circle moment. It's full. All come in full circle now. But I think the leverage that comes with that no trade clause and the fact that he wanted to go to Phoenix. And I think the one thing that I've been told between him, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, they've talked and we're not trying to see who's going to score 35 points. If one of us is at 18, 20, any given night, 15, as long as we won a championship, I don't think these guys care. But I think, of course, having the no trade clause, that led him to Phoenix. And at that point, it was Matt Ispia, James Jones, Josh Barrelstein going out and meeting with him in New York and selling him. They were the only team out of all the teams to go out and get a meeting with him. So Matt clenched it. They're like, we're not wasting time, otherwise. Katie has said, this big three that you just mentioned, that once they're rolling, often rolling, they're going to be impossible to stop. We do love a big three. They are tied for phase with the Nuggets right now, Vanduul Sportsbook. But we've seen big threes fail, Lou. How does this one look to you? It looks really good. I close my eyes and get a ball to any of those guys and ask them to go win us a basketball game. So impossible, you know, this is the NBA. But it probably is close to impossible. It's impossible is going to get with Bradley Book and Katie at the helm of that team. And when you look at how those three guys play, the question is, who's the point guard, right? Do you take Book away from what he does really well and make him bring it up? Do you have a guy like a Kogi initiate the offense? But those three guys can go one-on-one. Those three guys can go get out and transition. They're so talented and they're so explosive offensively. I'm not really worried about who their point guard is. They have capable guys to bring the ball up and get into sets. I agree. They're going to have to take turns. They're going to have to be unselfish. It's going to be a different guy every single night. But man, on paper and on film, they fit. And if they're healthy, I think they're the team to beat in the West. What is the weakness, if you have to? I mean, who's going to defend outside of Josh Kogi? Who's going to play point guard? Is their bench going to provide sparks? I like their signings. I like Drew U-Banks off the bench. I like Nurkage starting in the end. So they have the team. I love Eric Gordon, who can come in and knock down threes. But I think that point guard is a huge question. I mean, Jordan, Jordan, good one is really good. He's a backup. And he's their only point guard in the roster. And you know as the season goes along, it's all about depth. It's all about depth. You deal with injuries. You deal with different things. The bench is going to have to try to win them a lot of basketball games. So I think that's where the weakness comes in for me. KD's had his share. That actually sounded awful. I'm going to redo that. KD has been a part of very important big threes in his life. There have been some really good ones. I'm going to take a look right now, Chandler. I'm going to put you on the spot. I want you to choose which of these. You have to rank them. And that ain't a bad list to be on. Yeah. I mean, jeez. I think the best, obviously, is the Warriors, right? I think they continue to win the championship until last year, if you didn't leave. So I go number one, Warriors. And then going to the bottom, you got to go to the Nets before. They played about seven games together with the Warriors. Oh, that's the bottom? That's the last. What a weird way you're doing your list. I'm just going from best and automatically the worst. All the drama that that team was riddled with injuries. I think they were 10 and three together. Yeah, but it's a small sample, so I know. I can't rank them. The Thunder was, they were, I think the Suns had the chance to be the second best big three he has. The Thunder, they were young. They weren't quite in their prime yet. These guys are all in their prime. They're all healthy. I think it goes Golden State, Phoenix, OKC, then Brooksville as far as. So Phoenix get in the nod. I think they can be. And I think they can win a championship. And that Oklahoma City team never did. Agree? Yeah, I'll stay with that. Yeah, I feel like that was good. I mean, the Oklahoma City one, what could have been? I feel like that will always be a what could have been whenever we look back on that entire time. The more stuff happened, you guys, Kristoff's first thing is, remember him? They once called him the unicorn, but that has now been stolen and given to other people since. Traded to the Celtics. Marcus Smart then goes to the Grizzlies. Tyus Jones, Danilo Galanari now in the nation's capital. As far as best starting lineups, people are saying maybe the Celtics team. Do you agree with that? It's one of them. I don't know who they're going to start. I don't know if Horford's going to start, if they're going to start KP and Horford. I'm probably the biggest Derrick White fan in America. I think he's so solid. I think he can score. I think he can defend. He can shoot. He can playmaker. I do think losing someone like Marcus Smart to their locker room, to their culture is tough. I know preseason is preseason, but Przingis looked good. And he looked very, very strong. He looked healthy. He could shoot the ball. He looked stronger, right? He looked better. OK. It's tough to put my eggs in that basket after everything of what we've seen. But yeah, just for me, this is still the best team in the Eastern Conference. To me, it just feels like it's their time. I think Tatum and Brown are entering their prime. They're ready. They struggled last year in the playoffs a little bit, but they're going to grow from that. They're going to get better from that. They have a good bench, but it's just like every team. It's all who's healthy and who gets hot in the playoffs. So you have holiday. You have Przingis. Somebody has to, I don't want to say suffer, but their role's going to change. Who's that? One of those two. It ain't going to be, Brown. No, they're not changing at all. It's not going to be JT, and it's not going to be J. So Przingis, you got to get in where you fit in, bro. You got to get in where you fit in. Those two guys have always anchored that basketball team, accomplished so many different things without having expectations to do that. So to add Drew Holiday, to have Przingis, those guys got to get in where they fit in. I mean, there were moments last year where those two guys, JT and Jay, they disappeared in the playoffs. I mean, I remember you just being frustrated and like, what's going on? So now when those types of things happen, you figure out, is this a trend, or was this just a blip? What do you do with that from last year carrying into this season, if you're those guys? Well, I think it's a blip for now, but if it continues this season, and then it becomes a trend, then it's an issue. But I don't think they worry about them. I think you look at two of these guys, possibly the best duo. You know, there's so many of these days, duos, trios, but these two guys are elite. They can do everything on the floor. They both are two-way players. They can defend. And now you add a Drew Holiday, who has that experience in the post-season, the relief pressure. Hopefully Przingis is healthy. Derek White, Al Horford, guys like this, they can relieve pressure. But yeah, the best players show up in the post-season, and those two didn't do that last year. So they definitely have an onus on them to step up this year and kind of carry this team to a championship. Sometimes a disappointing finish is the best thing that can happen to a team. Does that strike you here? Is that interesting to you here? No question. And obviously we know about the players. Like Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, those guys being superstars is going to take this team where they're going to go. But to me, what I'm looking at is Joe Missoula. Last season, I think there was a lot of scrutiny there. His coaching staff, it was a tough position for him to be in. Literally, he takes over a few days for training camp. Emy Yodoka's out. So now he gets a full summer to kind of get ingratiated there. And then they've really toughened up the staff. Charles Lee comes over. He was the lead assistant in Milwaukee. They get Sam Cassell. He comes over from Philadelphia. Like they really beefed up that bench. I think Chandler touched on that. Like their bench needed to be stronger, supporting a rookie head coach. And now they have, I think, done that. So the spotlight's going to be on Joe Missoula. Because there are guys on that bench there that are very, very proven. I don't, I'm not going to stay here and say which one's the better player, Drew Holiday or Marcus Smart. But we all know the value of Marcus Smart to the fans of Boston in that locker room. For Drew Holiday, is that an upgrade for the Celtics? I say no. I say no. When I think of Marcus Smart, I feel like he was the heartbeat of that team. He was one of those guys that championed the traditions of being a Boston Celtic. He was the energy guy. He was the locker room guy. So when I, even though JT and Jalen were the best players on that team, when I think of the Boston Celtics, I always thought of Marcus Smart. And so basketball-wise, I think so, but locker room-wise, culture-wise, I say it was Marcus Smart. And Lou makes a good point. A lot of time it's not about the production. It's all the little things that a Marcus Smart can do. It's that locker room. It's the culture and the weight room and the facility. And he provided all that. And when you do think of the Boston Celtics, obviously the fans, they think of Tatum, they think of Brown, they think of points. They think of highlights. Marcus Smart has been the heartbeat of the team. And I think Drew Holiday is an upgrade offensively, being a true point guard, having the history of being a champion, but he's gonna be missed there for sure. I'm gonna miss him. And I'm not even a fan of that team. Off-season trades, what did they result in percentage-wise? Who are we thinking are the favorites? Who are on top? We'll take a look right now. This is the final question for this part, guys. This is how Bandel Sportsbook has decided these guys are gonna finish out. Boston Celtics sitting up top. Do we agree? Is there anything on there that we're changing for Memphis? Why? I mean, I'm surprised Memphis is even on there to be honest. Well, I mean, they're... And Cleveland, they're kind of a long shoot. I mean, it's hard to sleep on the champs, right? Everyone always forgets these guys. They didn't make too many moves, but that's the same consistent product that they had last year that got it done. So I don't ever overlook them, but yeah, the Celtics are my team. That's okay? Yeah. Same. I'm going with the champs again. Nice. I'll just add something different to the conversation. I do believe you sort of get to be the favorite until you're not. You earn that. Yeah, until they're beat, they're the champs. We're gonna take a quick break here when we come back. James Harden, can he play nice? Can he play at all in Philly? I don't know, we'll find out. Next on Running Back. Run it back, run it back, run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back, yeah, yeah. Fans, man, it's like, I just appreciate the support and love, and I mean, it's definitely, it's a difficult time, but for me, it's just trusting, you know, the people that's been on over a decade, and, you know, when I got traded here, my whole thing was, I went into retire at 60, you know what I mean? Like I wanted to be here in retire at 60, and my office didn't have that in their future plans. You know what I mean? So, like, it's literally out of my control, and some of the, I didn't want to have it in the system being in this position, but I gotta make a decision for my family, understand this is a business. Man, that got real serious, champs. Whoa, what's the latest on James Harden? So, James Harden has not been present around the Sixers in nine days, and he's not there today as they're starting the week. It's game week, they have their opener in Milwaukee on Thursday, there's no sign on when or if James Harden will rejoin the 76ers, but like, let's take a look at this. He's played no pre-season games. He's had one day, he's participated in scrimmage in practice once, and that was October 7th, so that was a couple of weeks ago now, and at this point, given that he's only done five on five once, he hasn't played any pre-season games. At this point, he's been away from the team for almost two weeks. There's no sign of him coming back anytime soon. I think the 76ers are operating as if it's unlikely he's gonna start games to begin this season. It does not sound like a player that's in position to play, so when you look at the Sixers, they've been talking to the Clippers. They've been negotiating for months now. Philadelphia has asked for Terrence Mann, a first round pick, a swap. The Clippers do not want to do that. They don't want to give up anything more than salaries for the first and a swap, and so Darryl Murray, we know what his MO has always been, going and getting a star, and so could he take this into the season and just wait for a trade to develop, wait for a three way to develop? Who knows? Chicago, does one of their guys get available? Do you look at Toronto with Pascal Siakam? Like, you guys have been around Darryl Murray, you guys know what his MO is, so there's no clarity on when James Harden will play again for the Sixers. Obviously, he said it, he doesn't want to play for Darryl Murray ever again. He's a liar! Wow, that was a loud, he's a liar, that was said around the world. You guys, you played with Harden, you know Murray, what is your take on all this? So, obviously, I think this is a sticky, sticky situation, Michelle. That was nice. There's layers to this, and James Harden, at the end of the day, he feels like he was betrayed, he feels like he was lied to, he went to a situation that he wanted to retire a Sixer, he just said. Did you believe that? I don't know, I don't know, but it doesn't look like he is, and he's not gonna play any time soon, and he just feels like that they didn't give him that big contract that he wanted. He went there, he played really well last year in the playoffs, I think he had two 40-point double-doubles, he played good, they took the Celtics to seven games, they could have won that series. He helps Joellen B win MVP. A lot of things went on internally there, there's the sell of the team with Michael Rubins now out, who James is guy, and he just feels like he was lied to and not treated correctly and that he wanted to trade to the Clippers and that was going to happen, and now it's not gonna happen, and now here we are, season starts tomorrow, and their second best player has not even been in camp with them, so this is gonna be a long situation, it's gonna be drawn out, he's not playing any time soon, and this is a complete dismantling of a team, I think, the minute they start off two and eight, three and seven, James is eventually gonna get moved. Don't be surprised if Joellen B then asks for a trade, and this is gonna be a dumpster fire in Philly. That's, yeah, it does feel like a lot of ugly is on our way. Do you have advice, like what do you make of all this? Selfishly, I'm a big Sixers fan, spent my first seven years there, they deserve a winner. For me, I would like to see J.A. show up, deliver what's needed for that city, great fan base, and at the same time, it's gonna be difficult for him to coexist a normal life in Philadelphia at this rate, that fan base, they're very vocal about their feelings about things, especially when you're showing that you're not in solidarity with them. So, you know, J.A. is my guy, personal friend, I would love to see him show up and deliver for that team. Do we think he's, do you suspect him this week at all? I don't think he's wrong, I don't think he's wrong at all. No, you know. But do you think he's handling it? Like, would you handle it this way? Listen, listen. He's a professional, he's a professional. He's like, mm-hmm. It's a lot of money, man. Yeah. And look, this isn't like the Ben Simmons situation where he, this is an excused absence, right? He's not being fined, so you gotta look, you gotta take that however you get into it, right? Like, he's clearly allowed to be away from the team. So there's some accountability on the front office here. And Darryl Moore is different, right? He's Billy Bean, he's Moneyball. He looks at players, not like humans, they're assets, right? And at the end of the day, he has a job and he's trying to protect his job and he's trying to have longevity of his job just as James is with his career. And James feels like all I have to do is win a championship and thought he had that in Philly. And now he doesn't. And now, again, it is chaos there. Well, we all thought that James and Darryl would be that undestructible bond that, I mean, you guys have been around both. You guys have been, you know, the beneficiary of that relationship. You guys have been on the other side of that relationship. So like, what is your perspective? The fact that we always thought those two guys were the thickest of these worlds. Yeah, people lie. It's, what have you done for me lately? Wow, can I benefit? And Darryl to James? And that is Darryl, listen, I was drafted by the Rockets, Darryl was my GM and I was the second round pick. And he would ask me, my opinion, and my second and third year of who we liked, do we want Roy Howard, do we want this guy? So the minute that he did not do that to James, he probably felt a certain way, right? And he probably felt slighted. He probably felt that why isn't this guy who's family to me kind of treating me with the same respect he used to in Houston? And at the end of the day, he feels as if he was lied to. And now I think it's to the point where it's unsalvageable. And I think there's a nasty, nasty breakup coming. Are you shocked that, cause I would have thought when this, I mean, this has been going on for a while, I would have thought Darryl Morey would have been the guy that was removable and we would have sort of seen the team do that. Is anyone surprised by that? That is more, it's more, he's still there and would that even fix it? Like if you got rid of Morey today and I'm not advocating for that, but would James Harden then show up? What do we think? Well, here's the thing, it's not about James Harden and Joelle or James and Nick Nurse. This is definitely a beef with him, possibly the new ownership. But James Harden is kind of, he's not in his prime right now, right? So like, they're not just gonna fire Darryl Morey who's kind of good at what, he's good at what he does, right? He gets assets, he finds gyms in late in the second round, like myself. Stop, just stop. No, but it's definitely, it feels like this isn't gonna get fixed anytime soon. It's a shame because them healthy and them playing, they can compete. And they, again, last year they took the Boston Celtics to seven games, but now it's done in my eyes. And with their relationship it's hard for, it's hard for James not to take it personal. You know, how close they've been over the years and, you know, Darryl's one of the reasons that James was even interested in being in Philadelphia. And so how close those two got in their relationship and in business, it's hard for him not to take it personally. I wish, I really don't know what to expect come Thursday. Like, is he just gonna show up? No. No. I'm shocked. They said it, they said it. Yeah, that's it. I'm gonna put money on yes, just in case. I wanna make sure I cover myself. On the West Coast, we've got the Clay Thompson. Well, now all eyes will be on that for a while. Is there a future there in Golden State? Do we see an extension get done with Mr. Thompson? Yeah, the Warriors and Clay Thompson have been discussing an extension, but from what I'm told, there's a significant gap in years and money. The negotiations right now, from what I'm told, they're at a dead point. So Thompson wants much more than what the Warriors are offering overall in both years and salary. And the Warriors have dealt with multiple Clay Thompson free agencies, multiple Steph Curry's free agencies. We saw with Draymond Green, he was not extended last year and then he had a solid year and they ended up paying him. They kept him and they kept their big three together and he got paid. So as of right now, all signs point to Clay Thompson going into free agency in the summer, not getting an extension done. And in an ideal world, the Warriors wanna take care of him, they wanna pay him, but they also wanna see how the season goes and Clay Thompson, he's gonna have a chip on the shoulder, I think. But this is not where I expected to be with Clay Thompson. In my mind, it was just, that's a team that was made to always stick together, but does he test free agency? Does he go out there? Where should he go? Well, this situation should show fans and people in the world that this is a business and no matter how good of a guy, Clay Thompson's probably the nicest guy I've ever met in my life and he is unhappy and he wants an extension, he's not getting it. And I see both sides here, right? He thinks what more can I have given to this franchise? We've got four championships, I'm a Hall of Famer, I deserve to be paid, I deserve to be treated with respect and this is my home and I don't wanna go anywhere. And on the flip side, the Warriors thinking he is out of his prime, he is coming off in Achilles, an ACL injury, so it's tough and the guys that are making 30, 35, 40 million dollars, Clay wants to be paid like that, but the Warriors kinda don't see him as their future plans and they don't see him in his prime and kinda on the decline, so they're kinda just butting heads and it's weird to picture him somewhere else. It's so weird. It's definitely weird to picture him somewhere else, but maybe it comes to that and I'm all for him going and getting his bag somewhere else if he's not taking care of there. I look at it differently. I think Clay would be a valuable number two piece coming in the near future. Me dealing with the ACL, Terry took me about two years to get back to the level of play that I was used to. I think going in two years too, after that injury for Clay, I expect a big year for one. Does it feel like they just pick Dremond over everyone? It feels like, you know, Jordan Poole, you're out. Now this, which I would have never guessed, I always thought Clay Thompson's a warrior for life. It sort of feels like that. Have they put themselves in that situation? I can't figure that out. I mean, they didn't even offer Dremond Green an extension before last season. They offered Clay Thompson an extension. It's just not where Clay Thompson wants it to be. And so now it's a situation where he's gonna play out the year. He's gonna bet on himself. He's gonna see, all right, can I return to the Clay Thompson of old form? And if I do, then these people will have to pay up what I want. And if I can't, then I'm sure the warriors are thinking, okay, you're gonna take what we've already offered you. So it's kind of, it's not as, you know, it's not just the easy, okay, which is gonna extend. I think both sides clearly wanna see, you know, where they're gonna go. It's a win-win for the warriors, right? If he plays good, they got prime Clay Thompson. If he plays bad, they're just gonna give him what they've already offered him. Yeah, I mean, if you offer me garbage, is that an offer? I mean, it feels like you're just sort of- Isn't it funny that 24, 25 million is garbage? I'm speaking as someone else, obviously. I would kill families for that much money, but that's another story. You say still a viable number two. Absolutely. You think so too? Not on a championship team, and I love him, but I think he's a third option. I think he's a fourth option. I think he can still put up 20, 30, 40-point games consistently, but it's tough. It's nowadays, everyone's got that one-two punch that are in their prime, that are elite, and I think, and that's no knock on him. He's had a hell of a career, and he's looked really good at times last year, and I would love him to come out and dominate again and get back to that level, but a two-option on a championship team now is tough. So this is an actual game I played with friends, with Clay Thompson specifically, because we were trying to think like, where else? If he's one of those players, you don't picture him in another uniform. I just, I cannot do it, so I'm trying to. And with his boat and his lifestyle that he seems to just absolutely love out there, if you have to put him somewhere else, where are you putting him? I mean, he's a plug-and-play player on any team, right? Every team could use a Clay Thompson. There's a pissed-off shooting garden, Philly, that I could maybe see, you know what I mean? I could see him with Joelle, I could see him, again, he is a special elite player that can shoot the ball, and any team will want him. It's just that what number? Do you have any plays that you could, I mean, the Philly thing would be interesting. Maybe it would keep him beat happy. Yeah, I'm very much like you. I don't see him playing anywhere else. It's just, it's a weird dynamic. I think he becomes a meme, one of those forgotten NBA players, he's in a Miami heat jersey or something. Somewhere weird, I don't see it. I would like for him to finish out and go. It's gotta have water wherever he goes, right? He's very big on the water. Figure it out, Golden State, don't let him leave. They'll figure it out. They always do right by the hand. Yeah, come on. I feel like they'll figure it out. All right, we got that, believe it or not, we have a, that man has a family. It's a pre-season edition, but it counts, and I would say some of these are probably a foreshadowing of what's to come. We'll get to those in a second, but first up, Paulo Banqueros. He's a lot stronger. I love that we did these already, this is awesome. This kid, by the way, Orlando Sneaky. This kid is gonna have a big year. I think Orlando's one of those teams that could make the play in and make some noise in the Eastern Conference. It's wide open. They could make the play here. What? All right. That's a big step for Orlando. Get him, this guy too, playing on Team USA, getting that experience. I think he's gonna be super valuable and he's gonna have a huge year. Well, shouldn't they be good? They, it feels like they should be good. It feels like they haven't been good since I was in high school growing up. It's been a while. Yeah, it's been a minute, so they're overdue. Your connection to Florida. I forgot about that. All right, so that's fun. Valentinas is no tiny person. Zion. By the way, Lou, what you'll realize is that during this segment, it's usually a white man getting done. It's 99% as a white guy. It's science. What do you want? What do you want? I mean, look, last time we talked about Zion. We need to see that in the regular season all year. Yes, come on. I don't wanna get ahead of myself, but I would love to. Hey, today is a good day. A day at a time with that. Right? Seriously. One time. And now, I believe the future, well, we're about to see it in the next two. I don't even need to say anything. Yeah, this is great. But the best part about this clip was Thomas' boss reaction. His face was like, oh my God. He's looking at the bench. Like, what am I supposed to do with this? I hope you show that. What do y'all think about as players? Like, does he not look like a cartoon? It's, we've never seen anything like it. We don't know what to compare it to, right? Go-go gadget arms, he can handle, he can shoot. It's kind of crazy looking. I mean, if that's what we get to see all season long, then here you go, he can do other things as well. Blocks are fun. Yeah, he's got great instincts. He can come across the help side defense block shot. That's probably where he's most valuable is on the defense event, honestly. What are guys making of this, you think? I think he's got a little bullseye on his back. I think guys are gonna definitely go at him. He has, no one's been this high since LeBron. People are gonna be going at him. Unfortunately, Michelle, he's on the team, but it's not gonna win a lot of games. He's gonna be here, he's gonna be here, he's gonna be here. Shut up. Wow. Here you go. Ah. Another rookie. This kid's done it. Somebody help him up. Him and Scoot, him and Scoot, man. It's always a dicey play to take the charge, Lou. It's dicey. You got it. It's dicey. Even if you get the call, people just think it was a bad call and they took it away. Yeah, I'm getting out the way. Yeah. Swipe. Yeah, we'd deal with it. See, I don't like how the rest call offensive foul on plays like that. That should. Did they call a charge here? Yeah, they call a charge. That should be an end one. That shot, that angle is awesome, though. Why is he just laying there? Ban the charge on post. RIP, who is that? Daniel Gaffer. See, and also, if you're a center also, don't take charges. Never? Go meet him at the rim. All right, how about Cam Whitmore? Yeah. I like this. Oh, my God, that's a charge. That's who we are, too. That's the reason for that. That's a charge, too. The last time you dunked a basketball, I liked it. 2016? Like a white guy. See, he didn't take a charge. Dunked my turn. That's what we do. The little things. Daniel Gaffer, go get it. It didn't go his way, though. No. I agree. He usually doesn't. He usually doesn't, though. There's no way I would stand in front of anyone, dude. Would you, Shoms? I mean, we're just civilians. No. I don't even play defense. I saw some Shoms highlight this summer. It makes two of us, Shoms. Yeah? Michelle's probably the best defender. I actually like playing defense. Yeah, you're the best defender on the system. I played an eight, quote unquote, celebrity game once. She's feisty. I don't have to guard turtle, Jerry Ferrara, and he got mad at me at one point because I was playing defense. Because what else am I going to do? I'm not going to shoot it. There's no way. All right, time to look at the future. Zion, is he going to dominate? And Wemby rookie of the year, right? Yes. Wynne, run it back. Return. Run it back, run it up, run it back, yeah. Run it up, run it back, yeah, yeah. Run it up, run it back, run it up, run it back. This NBA season, there's no better place to get in on the action than Fandall. Because right now, Fandall is hooking up all customers with three months of NBA league pass suite. When you place a $5 bet on the NBA, it doesn't matter if you're new to Fandall or already have an account. Everyone can watch and bet the action live with NBA league pass. So download the app today and see why Fandall is America's number one sportsbook. Why are you laughing? I'm not laughing. Oh, I don't want to know. We've got rookies. We just showed a bunch of highlights of a lot of rookies so far. There are going to be a lot to watch throughout the course of the season. We're going to take three. Three that we think we want to keep our eye on the most. And of course, we start with the number one dude, the cartoon, the alien, everything that they're calling Victor Wimbanyama. You know the deal. Number one overall pick, most hype since LeBron. He's plus 110 on Fandall's sportsbook to win Rookie of the Year, which makes him the favorite. And for his averages in the preseason, a little over 19 points a game, five rebounds, two blocks. And 1.7 threes in three games. What do you think? What are your expectations for him? I mean, Skye's the limit with this kid, right? He's an unreal talent. He I think it's going to be a slow play for San Antonio. There's no reason to rush this guy. I wouldn't even be surprised if he was on a minute restriction to start the year. But he showcased everything he can do in preseason. He can run the floor. He can block shots. He can shoot the three. He obviously still has his issues. And he's thin and he's going to continue to get stronger. But when you watch him, the impact he's going to have, he's going to have a great year. I just don't know how much San Antonio is going to win. It's a long play with these guys. And eventually he is going to be a top five, top 10 player in the NBA. I mean, Pop, he's asked obviously a lot about load management already. But I think they were thinking they were going to control the minutes and try to figure that out. But then he said, Wimby's kind of wants to be out there and he wants to play. Do you think there will be a minute restriction? I mean, you're going to be, I mean, he's so young. How do you put a 25 minute limit, 30 minute limit on a kid that young? Now, will they be very cautious with him if he has an injury or something like that? If he's got a sore foot, of course. But I think they're going to let him play free. Are they trying to win games this year? Are they trying to make it to the finals this year? Probably not. I think this is still a rebuilding team in San Antonio. I think they'd still love to get a high draft pick, some assets. But I think at this point, you let Victor go. Let the man live. What? If you're on another team and you've got to face him, what exactly can you even game plan? For me, I think you just put a small guard under him, just get under his skin, make him work, play with his back to the basket, shoot threes off the dribble. He has the whole package and he's almost eight feet tall. You know what I mean? That's crazy. It's difficult to guard. So if anything, I say you just put a small guard under him and just get under his skin. I wonder if you could place a bet on who goes at him first. Like, really goes at him. Patrick? Yeah, whoever they play. But oh, it's a good one. Someone on whoever they play first is going at him. The first game? Yeah, you have to. And again, that's how you're going to have to guard him. Obviously, his weakness is his physicality. You're going to have to push him out. You're going to have to deny him, have to make it tough on him. And he has not seen this kind of physicality in the NBA night in, night out. I know Europe is a great league and he's played against grown men. But this is a different monster and it's a long season. So it's going to be a test to him. But man, I would just love to see him be efficient this year. I don't want him to put up gaudy numbers, but shoot 40% from the field. I would love to see him be efficient and still put up good numbers while being efficient. Have we heard any nicknames that are good? I haven't. I like Wimby. Wimby's cute. San Antonio, let's keep it simple. How about this? How about this, everyone who calls games for a living? I don't need you to have a nickname for Wimbynyama, but what I do need for you to do is stop saying Wimbynyana. It's not that hard. Okay, I'm not going to call anybody out my names. You know who you are. But let's stop saying it incorrectly. Okay, that's a small ask. Chet Holmgren. He is going to be a contender for Rookie of the Year. Reminder of who Chet is, because of course we were robbed of his first official season in the league, but he was the number two overall pick back in 2022. He missed all last season. He had the injury on the right foot. Plus 320 on Fandall Sportsbook to win Rookie of the Year. That makes him the second favorite. Any restrictions for him? Are they going to be extra cautious? I think initially probably you have to keep an eye on him, but this is an OKC team. I think they're trying to make the playoffs this year. I think they want to take another step. They're homegrown internally. You look at Chet Gills' Alexander. He wants to win, you know? And I think the team that they're putting together, Josh Giddy, Jalen Williams, this is a strong young nucleus. And so of course initially they're going to be careful with him, but he's hopefully also going to get the opportunity to just go. Yeah, the young guys that we're going to talk about, he's on the best team of those guys, which I think has weight on voting for Rookie of the Year. And Chet's similar to Wimpy, where he's a freak, right? He's long. He can handle it. We haven't really seen many guys of Kevin Durant, this type of body that can handle it, that can up get a rebound, bring the ball up, transition, shoot the three. And again, he's going to be on a playoff team, which I think that carries more weight than putting up numbers on a bad team as a rookie. So to me, he's my Rookie of the Year pick. I think also having that experience, like Blake Griffin dead, when you get hurt and you have that full year training in an NBA facility against your teammates running those games on a nutritional program, it's a better advantage than playing in Europe. It's a better advantage than playing in college basketball. So I think he has the advantage just for the time he's spent in the NBA already. And with so much hype around Wimpy, I think it gives him an opportunity to just go out and play and be free. SGA is going to be a great vet to him. SGA has had great vets. You know what I'm saying? And so I think he brings him along and be a great... Let's turn it off. I know. Who was a good grunt? Who was that? This guy named Lou Will. Ooh. Yeah. Shout out to SGA. Shout out. That is big, right? Did you think he was going to be this good by the way? Absolutely. Really? We were heartbroken when he got traded. Absolutely. We were crushed that he got traded. Even though it was for PG. Even though it was for PG, we knew who PG was, but we had spent so much time and energy and kind of just being instrumental in his career and his development, you know, just making sure he's getting extra shots. And he was so open to information, so open to learning and wanting to be great. We knew he was going to be one of those players. Where do you put him in the landscape of the NBA? Is he top whatever? I think he's the top five player this year. Wow. I'm jumping out the window. You know what's crazy? My boy's obsessed with fantasy basketball, right? I've never played in the NBA fantasy basketball, but they took SGA with their first pick. Really? Because, I mean, the kid can do it all, right? He's going to get a lot of minutes. He's going to control the offense. He's going to have points, assists, rebounds. Plays at his own pace. Yeah, it's crazy how much of a, you know, how much progress he's made in such a short time. He's a fashion risk taker. And he provides off the court as well. Yeah, I've never played fantasy basketball either. And that feels like too much. It's too much. That's like every night. I'm not, I don't have the attention span. Scoot Henderson, the next great volume guard. Reminder, number three overall pick in the draft. Went to Portland, played 19 G. Lee game last season. He's plus three 70. So he's your third favorite to win rookie of the year. You don't have Lillard anymore, obviously. So what does that do for him? Yeah, well, he's going to have the ball. And he's got a good big man there with the Andre 8 now, but he, he, he, he is the most physically ready, gifted body, right? Chet, Wimby, these guys are projects. These guys need time. This kid's ready right now. And he's going to have the keys to the franchise. He's going to be the head of that snake. He played in the G League, which again, I think that's more valuable playing against guys in the G League than it is playing in college or coming from overseas. It's, it's, he's got the advantage. And he's got that body, like the Russell Westbrook, the John Wall type where he's so explosive where he's going to be a lot of fun to watch this year. What can't he do? I like him. I have him as my rookie of the year pick. Okay. You know, he has that, has that, that year under his belt in the G League. He's played against grown men. And he's, he's been, he's got a custom to NBA fits. I have him as a rookie of the year. I think he can do it all. You know, he has DeAndre Aten up there. How does that help when you're a young guy in this league for whatever your game is going to end up being ultimately? It helps a lot. Anytime, being this young and getting the keys to the franchise, that's tough. And even having a guy like Anthony Simons who can relieve that pressure, who can be that number one guy. It's not going to be scoot every single night. And he's going to have ups and downs. We all know how hard and how long of a season this is. But he does have players that can kind of relieve some of that pressure and go get buckets. But he's going to be held accountable and he's going to be a great player for a really long time. And it's just a matter of how many games. Again, Portland's going to win, you know, over under how many games. So it's tough. How many do we think that is? Let's just take you guys. I have no idea. Under 35. Under 33. Oh, that won't even worse than I thought it was going to do. We're going to take a quick break when we're right now. Yep. When we come back, future bets time, the fun stuff. Who wins what and what we think is going to happen. When we run it back, return. Run it back, run it back, run it back, run it back, run it back, run it back. Ooh, run it back to the future. Get it? It's never too early to predict. And honestly, if you want to get really rich gambling, this is what I've learned. I haven't done it yet, but I'm trying. This is the time to start making some of these bets. So we're going to go through them each person. Chandler, you're up first for your awards. How do you see him playing out? OK, I got Jason Tatum to win MVP. I feel like it's his time. He's improved every single year. He's got a great team. He's got another year under Missoula. I think it's his year. Second of all, I got Cade Cuttingham as most improved player. No one really talks about him, but he's been injured a little bit last year. But now he is back. He is fully healthy. He is going to absolutely be that entire focal point of the offense. He could do it all. I love him. I touched on Chet Holmgrid, rookie of the year with that year of experience in the NBA. I just think that's a huge, huge advantage. Then I got, what do I got here? I got Anthony Davis to win defensive player of the year. Yeah, I noticed a lot. I think, again, I think Anthony Davis, I think he is poised for a big year. I think he understands that the Lakers have a good team starting the season. They're not going to have to make all these changes like they did last year. Who knows how much longer LeBron is going to have, but he's got LeBron right now who can still dominate. I love him having a huge year. And finally, I got Boston Celtics to win it all. Really? I think last year, all the trials and tribulations they've had, I think Brown, Tatum are going to learn from how they played last year during the postseason. Like I said, I love Derek White. I love the KP if he's healthy. I love their bench. Giving the Celtics to win it all, plus 380. For the record, we were told to give 3. I don't know why Chandler has 17. Oh, I was just reading what's on the board. OK, Lou, you've got, all right. You guys agree on MVP? You have Tatum as well? Yeah, I like JT for the MVP. Another year under his belt, I think this is the year that they get over that hump. They make it happen. So I got him at MVP. I got Boston winning the East. That group has been together another year. Like Chandler just mentioned trials and tribulations. I think they got a chip on their shoulder. They got so much to prove. I think they make it happen. And I got Scoot Henderson as my rookie of the year. We all disagree on that one. I like that we have different answers. All right, mine's boring. They're the favorites, but that's a coincidence. I truly believe this is all my heart, that this is how it's going to end up. And we're going to finally get to see Damian Lillard play some relevant basketball deep into it. So we've got Buck Sons playing for your finals. Obviously, Victor, I'm never going to change. I'm going to be a homer until I die. And I wish this was a bet that you could make. And maybe we could figure out a way to do that. I do believe that Embiid will be demanding out of Philly possibly before the All-Star break. I think that's your best one there. I think that's Locke. You think that's it? Let's be, look, we know the drama around Harden, but is this not where the focus should be right now? There's no way Embiid's happy. This is going to be the story. It's tough, right? I mean, what's new? It's always something in Philly, man. Always, but it's got to be frustrated, too. This sounds like a disgruntled Philly fan. I'm a Philadelphia 76ers fan. I just stamp it, stamp it. Little Will, stamping it. I grew up in that system. Philly's one of those? No. I actually do like the Phillies. I love the Phillies. By the way, and this is a cross-sport moment, but the fans of the Philadelphia Phillies have become lovable, though. I don't know, the whole country's behind it. I've never seen any. I never thought I'd see the day where people were behind Philly fans, ever. I never thought a baseball game could be so lit, either. Watching those Phillies play baseball games on my face. It's been kind of fun. Day games? We should just cross-sport them out at that point. We got to send Lou to a Phillies game. Yeah, we do. World Series. It's not gonna work out. What? It's not gonna work out. Why not? I'm a brace fan. Oh, okay, that's fine. I'm a brace fan. Yeah, and I'm aware it on my sleeves. It's not gonna work out. That's fine. Guys, we did it. We got our first one under our belts. Does everyone feel okay? Yeah. Good to go. Clap for ourselves, and tomorrow it officially begins. The NBA season is upon us. Finally, this has been Running Back, and we will be back in the night. Who's back running out? Running out.