 Run it up, run it back, run it up, run it back, run it back, run it back. Good Wednesday morning. This is Run It Back. This is Spandall TV. This is an NBA driven show. I'd like to introduce everyone this morning. Shum Sharania, who will be speaking a lot today. I'm already predicting that for you. Feeling good about that? More than yesterday, I'm sure. Yeah, there's a lot going on. Chandler P, still not wearing pants. Thankfully, you don't get to see that. Danny Green in today. Danny Green in the house. Appreciate it. Good to be back. Good Lord, Shoms. I have nine jobs, and you basically interrupted all of them yesterday with the breaking news. But I liked it, because it made me look like a genius, but the Bucks fire their coach. They're not doing poorly. What is going on? I mean, for sure, shocking to everyone externally, 30 and 13, second best record in the league. But there's been mounting, this didn't just happen overnight, and they wanted to maximize their abilities. They know with Damian Lord, Janssen de Kumpo, they need to contend for an NBA championship this year. And the roster top down from their best players to the back end of the roster. They simply were not responding to Adrian Griffin. And key officials on the Bucks team too. This goes beyond just the players. They lost confidence in Adrian Griffin, his ability to create the right schemes, his ability to communicate those schemes, his adjustments. And the Bucks simply, the players had lost faith in Adrian Griffin. He had lost the team. And Michelle, it got to the point where in early December, I'm told the Bucks went and sought Doc Rivers out to be essentially a special consultant and an informal consultant to Adrian Griffin. So picture this, Adrian Griffin, Doc Rivers, Bucks, key officials, all in meeting starting in Vegas during the in season tournament. That's really when the beginning of this process of, at first it was like mentorship and trying to figure out a way to allow Adrian Griffin to finish out this season. But now, a month and a half later, Doc Rivers is the leader to be the new head coach of this Bucks team. The sides are working toward a deal, I'm told, last night and this morning. The Bucks have looked at a couple of other candidates, Nate McMillan's name potentially, if these negotiations don't finish off with Doc Rivers, but they want to get a deal done fast. I'm told they're trying to hire a coach, Doc Rivers, as soon as possible, because the clock is ticking on the season. And they know this window with Damian Lillard still in his prime and Giannis, it's short. This is a championship team, the expectations change when they got damed there. And you know, Doc Rivers seems to be on his way, Marquette, Marquette alum, he's got his jersey hanging at their arena rafters. So this, this is, you know, this is something that's, that's moving here. It's cutthroat, very game of thrones. I know you were surprised, Chandler, because when the texts started going between us, you thought we were talking about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's how I know you weren't thinking like, oh, it could possibly be Adrian Grip. So what did you think? I was very surprised. And clearly this was something to do with the, you know, personality and loss of the locker room and just all around just respect for this guy. Because at the end of the day, they're 30 and 13, they're second in the east. They're three and a half games behind the Boston Celtics, who everyone's so scared of and has as their contender, it's shocking because it's such a small sample size, but clearly they're in a win now situation where they don't have confidence and they've lost all faith where they'd rather pull the plug now. Who cares about his guaranteed three-year deal moving forward. They want a guy right now who can earn the respect of those players, make in-game defensive schemes. The whole thing about how his defense is bad, that I don't think is fair. That they traded their best defensive player through holiday and they got one of the better scoring point guards, but Dave is not that great of a defender. So of course, their defense is going to take a hit. I just think this is more of a personality trait. This is more of a locker room issue. The Bobby Portis, having team meetings early on. The issue with Terry Stott early on. There's clearly been stuff behind the scenes where there's been issues going on. But yeah, I think I hate the raw deal that NBA coaches get. And now it's just a cesspool. Let's go hire someone who's already had multiple chances and Nate McMillan and Doc Rivers, who've been fired for the same reasons for another organization. Let's go bring them in. They'll change it. Well, your ex-wife will marry another. Yeah, exactly. So it works out. And let's also hire my next wife to help my current wife. Just to be the enemy of their wish. Which them. It's a cesspool, and I think it's pathetic how the NBA coaching service happens. I think there's a word for that. Ah, no. It's like, were you shocked? I was shocked. But the Terry Stott's incident was a sign early on. I love Griff. I had Griff in Toronto. I'd never had him as a head coach, but he was great. I think, as I said, the locker room situation was the end of the day type of decision. So I was shocked. I didn't think it would happen this fast, this soon, but I was given the sense of urgency that Milwaukee has a winning with the group. Everybody's explained that. Giannis and Dame, they don't have but so many years left. So yeah, I think Doc is a good fit. We'll see if it happens. Well, I was going to ask you that because you played for him in Philly. So when you hear Doc is most likely going to get this job. I think I said, I think he's a he's a good fit. I think he knows how to coach certain players and I think he'll they'll respect him. I think that's the biggest thing with Griff that he was lacking from the locker room was probably the respect factor said the in-game adjustments. They were winning games. They're second in the East. But the way they were winning wasn't great. They should be better. Everybody expected him to look better. The games that they were losing in season tournament losing Indiana. Indiana had their number losing multiple games to Indiana. I think was a sign if the playoffs come and we can't make adjustments to beat these type of teams or, you know, we match up with the team, we don't trust they didn't trust Griff to make those adjustments to when the game slows down and when the playoffs. Yeah. And there's a lot of this team. We're talking about how talented they are. A lot of these wins just come from pure talent. Yeah. Offensive firepower where Dame goes for 39. Yannis has these big games. So I understand from that aspect and Doc Rivers as an experienced player like a Yannis like Dame, these all fan players, they have to respect the head coach. They have to seem them come from somewhere before where they've handled superstar players like that. And Doc Rivers has done that. He knows how to work a locker room. He knows how to give the speeches. Now, I don't know if they're the in-game situations and schemes or if they're going to just magically play. But to me, Danny, now it's on the players. For sure. We made the trade. We fired your coach. Now, defense is 90% effort. So if these guys now, if Doc can get that out of them, sure, great, it looks good. But to me, there's not, Doc's not just going to come in here and sprinkle good defense on a locker. I think he knows how to light a fire, though. I will say he knows how to light a fire. He knows how to get the best out of some of his guys. If you've seen him on with KG and Paul talking about the days in Boston, but he knew how to get under a certain guy's skin to get them to play hard. He'll attack KG in different ways. He'll attack Paul in different ways. So I think he knows how to, let's say, micromanage, but he knows how to manage certain egos. He knows how to get guys to play harder defensively and light a fire in them. So that's one thing I know he will change. They will respect him, and he will find a way to get those guys to play harder on defense. And teams have done this before, like Atlanta, when they hired Lloyd Pierce, they hired Dave McMillan, who is basically his replacement. Right? So they did the same thing with Beeline and JB Biggerstaff and Cleveland, where they know that basically your replacement is in that office right next to you. And it kind of feels like this with Doc hired him as a consultant, knowing that one day, as soon as you mess up or as soon as you lose the locker room, this guy is taking your job. That's a weird, look, I get every business has a backup plan. There's a succession plan. All of those good things. But it's odd to have hired him, then bring Doc in and just sort of have him, I mean, I just pictured it as like lingering in the corner, just waiting. You know the business. I get it. Business is business, but... You know the business. It is kind of slimy feeling, though. And to me, when you look at this team, obviously we know how talented they are. We know they're going to win games just based on that. But we talk about the Thunder coach, Mark Dagnaut. Sure. We talk about Chris Finch, how good of a job they're doing. What are their records? 30 and 13. So it's like these guys are a coach of the year candidates and this guy is getting fired with the same exact record. It's just, I get it, there needs to be adjustments. You've got to have the morale and the locker room and the team. We've all got to be on the same page. But to me, Griffin got shafted. Does Griffin sign an NDA or will he be able to talk about all this? Because that's who I want to hire. I mean, it seemed like he did at least a couple interviews and all he did was support the Bucks. Listen, I spoke to a few people in the locker room, players, to me, two things that stand out. You need to have a coach that you respect. And the other thing is, this is a Bucks team when you think about it. They're not used to this type of turbulence as an organization. We don't hear, we don't see a mid-season change out of this organization. Obviously, having Mike Boodenholzer there, there was a string of years of stability. They haven't had this in really a really long time since Yanis and Tudokubo's been there. So this is the team right now with Damian Lillard. He's got hopefully two, three, four more years left in his prime. They got Yanis still going strong. Obviously, like they have to make it happen now. And they simply felt like Adrian Griffin was not going to get the job done in the playoffs when it mattered most. And they made this assessment in January. No, no. They just thought he wasn't going to be able to get it done. We think of you guys sometimes as robots, like the players, like, oh, just you can do whatever. They'll be fine. But changing a coach mid-season, is it weird? Does it take time? I've never had a coach in change mid-season, but I have been traded mid-season. So I assume it's similar going from one situation to another and trying to figure it out on the fly, moving your whole family. It's going to be an interesting move for me. But I think Doc has said, if you're going to find somebody that's experienced and it has respect to do it mid-season, he's the guy to bring in and to make things, I'm going to say, ship it the right way, but at least keep it under control. I had it. I had Fisdale get fired in Memphis when I was there. And I hated it because I loved Fisdale. And I didn't think that was the right move. I thought that's a whole other story with him and Gasol. And that was more personal, which this feels like to me too. But there's a honeymoon phase where, yeah, OK, great. I brought the fresh air. It's like when you trade for a player, oh, this is just going to change everything. There's a different feel in the facility. There's an energy. And I think that's what's going to happen here. And again, I think now the onus falls on the players where they have to. Or else the next one to go is a player to get traded. I mean, they're not. This is it. The coaching change they make, this guy's here. And they've already done that. They already made the big trade for game loads. So now they have their team. And whoever they hire, that's going to be their coach moving forward. So now it's on the players because they have to have that responsibility to defend and play hard and win games. Or now they're going to be next. Yeah, you can't do this again. Danny, I mean, you played with Doc. And you had him when you guys had some star players there in Philadelphia. How do you think Doc is going to manage, or could manage, Yanis and Dane? You saw him with Ben and Joel. I think he's going to challenge Dane on the defensive end, first of all. I was going to challenge Yanis. But Yanis is a little different in that aspect. Yanis is a different motor. I'm not saying Dane doesn't. But on the defensive end of the floor, we know he's the guy that people sought out or going to pick out on the playoffs and the playoffs slow down. They're going to find the mismatch. And they're going to go, Dane's a smaller guard. He's not known for defense. That's not saying he can't. But I think Doc is going to challenge him. The way he did with Tyrese Maxey and Tyrese as the players today, I think a lot has to do with how Doc challenged him. So I think he's going to challenge Dane. He's going to challenge the rest of the guys. But like Chandler was saying, if this doesn't work out, I think they're going to make some moves with players. They paid a lot of guys there to win. They're very talented. This is a win now situation. If they don't win now, whether it's with Doc or not, they're going to move something's going to happen this summer with the player situation. And I imagine Doc won't be cheap either. Like that's going to be another bunch of money. Double fig. He knows his worth. Yeah, like that's... He's making a lot more than Griffin was. And he just got fired from Philly for not being able to manage these. And what about Doris Burke? No one's asking the tough question. And now what's ESPN going to do? No, it's all falling apart. Yeah, who knows? Got rid of Mark and Jet. I don't know what's going on. We could spend another hour on that and I'd love to. But we had a game last night, the battle for L.A. Well, look, they didn't have LeBron. So we can, we can start there. But the Clippers got on 127, 116, Kawhi with a triple double is second. Only a second career triple double that doesn't even make sense to me. They are 11 and two over their last 13 games. They're a game and a half back right now to first in the West channeler. I know, I know you and Lou both love the Clippers. I'm starting to kind of see your ways here. Sticking with it? Yes, I like them. I like them a lot. I think their experience, they defend, they can score in multiple different ways. They're deep. When you look at Boston and Denver, I like their starting fires, but they don't have the depth that these guys have. Terence Mann is now getting his legs. James Harden's more comfortable. Kawhi Leonard is as healthy as we've seen him in recent years. So I do like this team a lot. They have size. Like I said, they can go small. They can switch one through five. So I think this team has it all. They've all been there before. They're all happy. They're all from L.A. It seems like all's working right now. They have a great coach that they all seem to be. It's just a great vibe right now for them. And I think they're the team to beat in the Western Conference. I agree. I didn't see this. I'll be the first to tell you, admit that I was wrong when the trade happened. I didn't think that it would fit. I didn't think they would mesh, but they figured it out. Tyler has got these guys playing at a different level. Russ has taken a backseat to come off the bench and play in limited minutes, but being very effective in doing that. And also James being a little bit more passive at the point guard's position. So I didn't see this coming, but they're playing great basketball right now. And I can see them being sort of forced to be reckoned with when the playoffs come in. Their biggest issue is health. They can stay healthy. They're going to be one of the best teams in Denver right now for me. Look, sometimes we get it wrong. We might have gotten this one wrong. No, no, me and Lou have been all hot. No, not from the beginning. Not when the hardened things first happened. No, we kept saying, listen, that we lost like three or four, whatever in a row, we said, listen, as soon as they go on a winning streak, we're never going to talk about this again. The world was a catch. The world was coming in when they lost six in a row. But you know what I will say, I've been to several Clippers games ever since that whole stint. The Russell Westbrook, I think we have to give him a lot of credit. The way he comes off the bench and changes games, his ability to be a spark plug, it might not happen every night, but I've seen more often than not, he comes in and he changes the tenor of the game. He'll have burst in the fourth quarter. Well, he'll score like six, seven, eight points and have all these dashing rebounds and assists and the energy he plays with, the fact that he bought into that role, I mean, you have to give him a lot of credit because it's this element that they have. That 20 point comeback against Brooklyn, just his energy alone. He's cheering on the sidelines, embracing that role. Him bringing that energy allows everybody else to just be comfortable. Like James, that's the way about stepping on the sideline. Yeah, he's the way about stepping on the sideline. Everybody's toes, they're just playing with a lot of fun. He's free and he's leading the charge with the fun. He's completely shifted his mindset now to first team all defense is what he's saying in the post game. So now he doesn't care about the whole starting, not starting. That's all just an old memory. Now he's just focused. He's accepted this new role and he's really thrived at it. It's been fun to watch. I didn't mind being wrong about this one so far. We talked a little bit yesterday. Danny Lu was talking about how this is sort of the guys on the trading block are basically auditioning now. Every time they go out, it's a glorified audition. Well, DeAngelo Russell would probably fall into that category. Last five games, he's averaging 25, seven and three and he's shooting 50% from three. Is he auditioning right now? I think when you, when you say get traded or if you get traded to LA or if you end up being signing with the Lakers, I think every night you know you're auditioning. Damn. When you're playing with a LeBron James team at any moment, things can change and big moves can happen. So, and that's for most teams that are contenders when they're not doing things or they're not what they're supposed to be by the deadline, whether it's Milwaukee, whether it's Philly, whether it's the Lakers. Any major market team that's supposed to be winning and that they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing by the deadline, everybody's auditioning and it's up for, unless it's their main superstars or franchise guys, they're not letting go of it. There's probably only two of those guys untouchable, but Golden State, you know, they have those three or four guys you thought they would never get off of. These are the main three anyway, but right now it looks like only one person's untouchable. Yeah. And it is them all to run it back. I know, every one of it's stuff. And at this point of DeLa's career, teams know what he can do. They know what he can provide. Now it's just about matching it up, making sense for a move, but you know he's a scoring guard that can either start, he can come off the bench, he can shoot the ball, he can provide that offense. So yeah, he is auditioning and I give him kudos because he's not getting distracted by all these rumors. It's not letting it get to his head. There's obviously the viral video, it looked like he was crying on the bench. That's clearly not a thing. So yeah, he's playing well and he's handling this situation very well because it's not easy to hear your names and trade deadlines and trade talks, then have to go to the facility and watch film and then you're not even knowing if you're gonna be on this team the following day. Do you not, like if you're a guy that's being on the trade block, and for example, like a LeBron team, do you look at those guys differently when you come in because you're thinking, are they trying to get rid of me? I think you're silly to not know it coming in, that there's a possibility that you might be shipped out at some point. But I could see that as a years ago, I feel like there was a situation with Lagos and Lamarro with him. His name was in trade talks and it just went, it spiraled downhill after that, especially for him. So it's hard to stay committed, it's hard to keep focus, it's hard to keep the love for the game when you're constantly in these rumors and talks. But I give a lot of kudos to D'Angelo for staying professional, not letting it affect his game, playing at a high level right now and not allowing the situation to make him play at a lower level than he normally plays. It's also easy to say it's a business until it's your business. Exactly. And you're involved in it. No, it feels like that today. Like we say it's a business when the guy got fired for seemingly having a great team and it just feels weird. And it's a business when Kyle Lowry gets shipped to Charlotte in a trade, right? But then when it happens to you, you're offended, you're pissed off and it hurts your personal relationship. So it wouldn't be a business if it wasn't a little slimy. I guess so, you gotta do something. Any, you were at the game. So let's start with any movement with the Lakers, the D'Lo of it all. We keep talking about it, but is it, is something happening? I mean, you have to give D'Angelo a lot of credit for the way he's playing. Five of the last six games, he's had 20 points or more. I mean, just this month overall, 23 points per game, six, seven assists a game. His splits are, I mean, amazing. 51 from the field, 47 from three. So he's playing at a high level. I'm sure there's gonna be a level of interest in him around the league. The Lakers, I'm told, they're continuing to monitor two players. I think the two guys at the forefront of their targets list, going to the trade deadline. Dejante Murray of Atlanta and Bruce Brown Jr. of Toronto. Those are two guys, I think they continue to monitor. I expect those conversations to continue as the next week, week and a half, two weeks go on. But they only have so many players that you could use in a deal, right? Dejante Russell, you have guys like Rui Hachimura. You don't want to trade Austin Reeves for the Lakers. So there's only a couple of really guys that could have some value there and they have one first round pick they can trade now, or they can save it until the draft and then they could have three first round picks on draft night to trade. So the Lakers have a few decisions here. Do you save your first round pick for draft time? Do you trade it now? That's obviously what we're going to see. I had a question for you and I know we're probably going to talk about this later in the show. I think we are. But there was a big target for the Lakers early on. I'm wondering why it's quieted down. Zac Levine, why has that not been on the board as much? I think from everything I understand, there's still interest in Zac Levine. The thing that makes it a little difficult is the bull's price for Zac Levine. And also the fact that Zac Levine is making three years, $140 million after this season. And the fact that you have it, LeBron James, Anthony Davis bringing in another big money player. We saw them do that with Russell Westbrook a few years ago and I don't know if there's still some bad taste as far as how that shook out. But clearly, they don't want to part ways with assets. They don't want to part ways with Austin Reeves and right now Zac Levine is out. He's going to be out at least the next one or two weeks with an ankle sprain. So he missed 17 games before that with a foot issue. So I think anything can change. I think there's still a level of interest. Could they still go back before the deadline? Sure. But I think they have other priorities. What's interesting to me is this team kind of made that switch last year and got shooting and then kind of took off. Now they're talking about trading against Russell and getting Bruce Brown and Judge McGregor can't shoot. So like that? I wouldn't say can't shoot. But I'm saying like shooters. They're not exactly shooters. So to me it's like you're... Bruce Brown didn't shoot very well last year in the playoffs. Yes, but you guys are more, he's more a defensive guy. John Seymour of a slasher, a ball handler, but yes. So now you're trying to give up one of your better shooters to get one of these other assets that I don't know if that fit on the court is what they need. How much of it sometimes is just the need to do something? To make a change and just feel like, OK, we've tried something. I think that's for mid-tier, lower-tier teams. The contenders, I don't think you just need to do something. Yeah. They're trying to make a move to get them over the edge. But they're in the playing right now. Like they're not like even last year, they were fighting to play and then they made those moves. How many games back is that? You're right. When LeBron James Healthy, Anthony Davis was playing, that's nothing for them to make up with a good stretch. And D'Angelo, with the group they had last year, they could make those games up fairly quickly. So doing something just to do something, I still, I wouldn't say they're contenders, but they're still a team that's a really good playoff team. Nobody wants to see them in the playoff. Yeah, they're four or five games out of the five seed. Yeah. I had someone tell me yesterday, I mean, think about it. D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Jared Vanderbilt, LeBron James, Anthony Davis. That's starting five, that went to the West Commons five. They played three minutes this year. I mean, as players, like how would you feel in the locker room? Like, would that be a topic? And you guys, they signed Gabe Vincent, who hasn't been able to play most of the season. So I'm just hoping to see how that happens when he is, if he's able to come back, how that works and able to get more minutes on the road with the group that you had last year. We're all waiting to see who is Gabe Vincent, because we don't know yet. We don't know what version this will look like. The Laker of Gabe Vincent anyway. We know that Miami gave it. Yeah, we know that one that got here. He's critical, I think. He's their starting point guard when he's healthy that allows these other guys to come off the bench. It allows Austin Reeves to go out these second defenders. So he is big to me. You see how well he is in the postseason for Miami. He's an experienced player. He can shoot the ball. So I do expect him to get a little bit better when he's back. Wait a moment last night. I love a Russell Westbrook video moment. I think they're the gifts that keep on giving. And here is one of those now. Whee! Do you think he did it on purpose? It felt weird. It seemed like he had it back on there. And this is kind of hard to do in an NBA game, right? Last time I've seen that, Mike Miller? Yeah. Yeah, I was on the button. We were on the back. Remember this happened one time and Tyson Chandler grabbed it and threw it and got teed up. That was a good one. Yeah, but this is impressive. This is, he still managed to get the two for water off too. And he got back on defense too. He didn't even think to go get the two. He got back on defense. He got the two for water off too. How come no one wears high tops anymore? How come it's just all low? Yeah, I don't know. I'd like to go in. I'd like to do an hour special on that at some point. High tops versus low tops. Yeah, like what happened? I know, I'd like to know the thinking behind that. Maybe our next guest will have some ideas. I'll just go rogue on that. But when we come back, quick break now. Kenny Beecham, yeah, Chandler joins the show. We're gonna pick his brain for some hoops talk. Run it back. Run it back, yeah. Run it up. Run it back, yeah, yeah. Run it up, run it back. He's back! Co-founder of Enjoy Basketball hosted the Kenny Beecham podcast. It's Kenny Beecham. We got a lot of really important basketball news, Kenny. And we're always happier here. But the most important question I can come up with is the fact that we had Paul Shearer on Monday's show and he said that Space Jam is a horrible way. You're from Chicago with MJ. Where are you on this? As someone that's watched Space Jam like a hundred times in my life, I can't give you hand Paul's take here. I'm sorry. Here it is. I know he's a movie guy and I respect his opinion on movies more than a lot of people, but just the nostalgia factor is enough for me to say it's a good movie. That's what I thought. Yeah, I mean, well... Maybe I'll re-watch it, but... We were younger when it came out. So as a kid, you're a little more inspired by watching it. I think if we watched it tonight, we'd be like, wow, this movie sucks. Watching it as an adult is probably gonna... That does happen. Paul might have watched it as an adult. Might have. Yeah, so I don't... All right, homework assignment, re-watch it, come back, we'll talk about it. I can do that. Like I said, it's Michael Jordan. Why is he living in that two-bedroom house? He's playing himself. Why is the house bigger? That was fair. Kenny, obviously yesterday, a lot of news around the league, but especially in Milwaukee, the Bucks firing Adrian Griffin, Doc Rivers, appears to be in line to take over. What are your thoughts? Who do you think the Bucks should hire? It's hard to have a real good shortlist halfway through the season. Before the season started, obviously, they had Kenny Atkinson, they had Nick Nurse, who's looking amazing in Philadelphia, and they opted to go with the first-time head coach. And a lot of that was because he had the backing of Giannis and everything. Of the people available, I'm guessing Doc is the best. It's hard to say, man. It's hard to say. Obviously, in 2008, he had the good run with the Boston Celtics, but since then, he's failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs in most cases. Obviously, he's also never coached a talent like Giannis. So maybe Doc is the right answer. We just have to wait and see, I guess. You know what they say? You can tell him somebody's lying. Yeah. When there is pitch, high-pitched, tall, he goes up. His tall, he was on an opera. I'm Ron Bergen. Just how he's singing. I guess he's the best. I mean, it's fair, we don't know. It's like, that's what's weird about firing a guy so early, but it's fine. It's been done, it's over. We had a lot of breaking news yesterday. Shams was a busy, busy man. Terry Rogier in the middle of the show was traded to Miami. What do you think about that deal? How does it look for the heat moving forward? I love it because they've obviously struggled recently, offensively. Like I've watched a bunch of their games and even when Jimmy Butler's back, Jimmy's just such a passive guy in the regular season. Something I don't really understand, but they just needed another guy that could go out there and get a bucket and Terry Rogier has had a very underrated season. The only thing that I worry about a little bit this year is that he's shooting 30% on catch and shoot shots. Obviously in Miami, he won't have the ball as much as he did in Charlotte, especially when Lamello was out. But like historically, he's been like a 40% catch and shoot guy. So maybe under Miami, he can get back to that. They just needed another bucket and Terry Rogier has had such great performances in Charlotte. He's been a big shot maker for Charlotte in the few close games they've had over the last two seasons. So I love it. I mean, I hate it for Cal Lauri, obviously, but I think he'll be fine with the bag that he got a few years back. So Kenny, everyone, Zach Levine, he's a name that we've been hearing for a very long time. He's been out with an ankle injury and the bulls kind of look good without him. Does he get traded before the deadline? And if so, do they just completely blow it up, trade to more, get rid of everybody? I've been waiting for the shams of bait that it's happened. But with the injury and something that I'm sure everybody agrees on, when you have a player of Zach Levine's caliber we've seen in here in Chicago, he's not gonna be your one option. And a lot of cases, he's probably not gonna be your two option on a very good team. So why should we pay him $40 million annually to be the third best player on the team? And I think that's where the hiccup is. The bulls have made the least amount of trades since 2021. So I'm assuming that that means the front office is holding on to all the assets and asking for crazy returns. I'm hoping that we get the trade done, mostly for Zach's sake, because even when he came back from the first injury, you can tell that he was very passive. He didn't wanna step on any toes because Kobe White was playing very well. I think a change of scenery is necessary, but I don't know how likely it is because the contract is so big. So what is the deal you would most likely to see happen before the deadline? For the bulls? For anyone. For anyone? Wow. Oh, for anyone. I kinda wanna see the 76ers buy in a little bit. I know they've preached flexibility from the off-season standpoint, and I completely understand that, but I feel like there are some people on the market that you can trade for right now and maintain that flexibility come off-season. I think Joel and Bede is playing some of the best basketball I've ever seen in my own two eyes. I understand the critics, like we gotta get past the second round. We gotta play all these games and the plows, but just looking at the regular season, he's having his best year, and I think that they need another guy on the team that can create their own shot outside of just him and Terry Smaxy. Again, I don't know who that guy necessarily is, but them just sitting on the expiring contracts in those two additional first round picks that the Clippers gave them would probably be a mistake in my opinion. I wonder if that answer will be the answer to my question, because I wanted to ask you, give me a team that will absolutely not win a title unless they make a move. Yeah. It is silly, it is silly. So they have to do something. This is the way it is. Look, whoever did the Dak Prescott, Joel and Bede memes the other day, that's not cool, but also kind of funny. And I feel like that's what I'm hearing is like until they can get over that hump, we can't do much with it. So you need another piece. The man just dropped 70 and everybody was like, well, in the playoffs, he don't play well. So he needs it for his own legacy. He needs it for his own respect factor, because nobody is gonna deny the fact that he's one of the top talents in basketball. But all the other top talents in basketball either have a conference finals appearance and NBA finals appearance or a championship. And he has none of those things and he's about to be 30. So even he mentioned it in his post game, like I dropped 70, but it doesn't matter because I haven't played well in the playoffs. It's like this is such a great moment for him. But we're talking about April, May and June. Instead of 30, like it's old. But to be fair, Joel, from my memory, he hasn't been healthy most of the playoff runs. He's broken his face. He's broken his hand. He's always had an interest. So hopefully this year, this playoff coming and he'll be healthy and then he can show you that he's not Dak Prescott. Kenny, sticking with Joel, obviously we know about the big game the other night, looking like the front runner for the MVP. He has missed 10 games. So do you think the NBA is going to regret this whole threshold of the 65 game minimum for these awards? I think that the first year's trial, they're going to keep it for year number two. Because I'm looking at Joel and Bede's success and how dominant he is. The number two option in this, if Joel and Bede fails to hit the 65 game threshold, it's not like we're falling off from the best player to lead to somebody that's not that. It's the guy right under him, which is Nikoli Okic, who's almost equally as valuable when it comes to this MVP award. So I think that no matter what, we're going to have an MVP that we feel very confident and good about. But I think that Joel and Bede, right now, again, just thinking about the first 41 games of the regular season, he's been head and shoulders above everybody. I mean, he's putting up legendary stuff. And I think that the NBA also added something where you could refute some of the games missed. So maybe we get that from Joel and Bede where he ends up with 63 games. Enough. Well, how does that even work? Two or three games. What do you mean you missed the games? How are you going to refute them? I refute it. What do you think the number should be? You know, asking everybody. I think there should be a number. If you play 64 games and you're as dominant as Joel and Bede, you're the MVP. Okay, but what if you play 50 games and you're a donor? And don't vote for him. Like, I don't think there should be a threshold of game. Well, you know, that's not going to happen. There's people that don't deserve to be an All-Star. But think about it, if Joel plays 64 games and Joker plays 66, he gets to win it, even though Joel had a better season. Well, you're picking, literally, what is going to happen in one of these years and we're going to be like, damn, he got screwed. Well, let's wait until we get to there. Kenny, my next question to you is, because I know my answer, Wimby Chet, Rookie of the Year. I think it's... Don't note, don't lead the witness. Go on. Who was your Rookie of the Year and why? If the season was in right now, it would be Chet. Come on. But I think that once we get to April, it's going to be Wimby. There we go. Like, he's training up here. Kenny, I agree with all your takes, till right now, don't do this. Well, you know, you're not watching the Wimby stuff. Yeah, I'm watching them win seven games and I'm watching Chet be on the number one team in the Western Conference right now. Let's be real, Chandler. It's not Wimby that's causing them to win seven games. He's playing 25 minutes per game and he's averaging 26 points in that timeframe. Like, it's only so much one man can do. And we're talking about a 20-year-old. He's not Bron, he's not KD. He can't single-handedly put a team on his back yet. But he is one of the most impactful defensive players in all the basketball as a 20-year-old. And his points per minute, I know we're talking advanced stats here, but like, his points per minute is on par with some of the best players in ball and Chet has the luxury to be the third option almost nice. And that's not a knock on Chet because his efficiency is really good. He's such a good defensive player, but he's trending more, like he's plateauing a little bit while Wimby's taking off. And I think that when we come to April, we're gonna look at these last 40 games but like, man, Wimby was playing out of his mind. For the individual, the rookie, who's the better rookie? He's unbelievable. Where'd you find this guy? He's unbelievable. Look at that. But I do think the only way Wimby wins as if Chet goes down like a season and then get driven out. But it's not. I think it's a lock. I think he's running away with it. By the way, forget rookie in here. Chet is an all-star this year and he's borderline all-MBA. You don't think he's gonna win rookie of the year? He's the second best player on the best team. I think Chet has played out of plateaued a little bit. They have been winning. His numbers aren't as good as Wimby's. Thank you. The points per game in the minutes are it's a nut stat from Wimby. He's, listen, he's unbelievable. Yeah, it's weird. Important numbers like that. He's unbelievable. But I think when you look at an award like this, you have to look at everything and his team is one of the worst teams. But where in rookie of the year does he say, look at everything? Are we not doing co-Rookie of the Year anymore? Oh, I'd be pissed if you didn't. It's been about 26, 27 years since then. Hell, JK was the last one. Oh, I'd be livid. I wouldn't want it. Give it to him. That would be such a cop out. I will also say Chet is more available. Wimby has been set out some games. Yeah, and Chet's technically, it's the second year in the league. I don't want to give it to him. You like this first or no? You like this first? Shut up. The true rookie hoodie? Yeah. Chet's not a true rookie. Neither was Blake Griffin. He still ran away with the rookie of the year. Yeah, and he could argue that as well. Oh, when Wimby playing pro since he's eight, that doesn't count for something? Well, eight. God, you're such a nice adder. Fine, let's stick with the thunder for one second because they played the Wolves. They beat them and after the game, Edwards was not happy. Thought it was very hard to sort of play against them. SGA getting the calls he got. Afterwards, SGA had the post on Instagram with another classic SGA caption. Post game, post game, you know the drill. But we want a rivalry here. So let me ask you that. One, are you here for a rivalry between Anthony Edwards and SGA? 100%, our league needs more rivalries. Like this season, we just saw the Bucks and the Pacers start to brew. And if we can get two of the top young talents in basketball, this like each other on court, like this is Canada versus USA too? Oh, I mean. This is everything we can really ask for in a rivalry. I'm here for it. We need, and as one of those guys that's always gonna talk, and I need him to continue that so we can have more rivalries. Now, the tough question is, you got to start a franchise today. Which one are you starting? That is tough. I've seen, I think I've just seen Shay do it more consistently over the last couple of seasons. So I'm proud. I mean, Shay's all NBA for the last, he's gonna be all NBA again this year. He's top three, top four at MVP. Anthony Edwards still hasn't got there. Yeah, I think he has the possibility to get there. But I'm gonna take the proven all NBA player in the moment. And maybe I'll look back on this and say it was the wrong decision, but I'll go with Shay. It's hard to argue that. That's a tough one. I'm thinking in my head, how do I argue with him right now? But it's tough, man. SGA, he's done it. He's all all NBA. I think he's a better two-way player, but not SGA. So the question is, he's leading the league in score, like he's done it all. Do you think SGA can, as he reaches full potential, you think there's more for him? But I think Ant has a lot more room for growth. I think that's why some GMs make their draft picks of the potential of who Ant-Man could be and besides the potential of who SGA could be. I think SGA too is in a great situation where he's 25 years old and he's the vet. He's the leader of this young AAU team that's kind of taken over the NBA, you know what I mean? So he's got the keys. Ant does as well, but he's in a different system. Last year, they struggled with the whole Rudy Goberri trade didn't work. Now it's starting to pan. Now it's starting to work out. I do think he's one of the better two-way players, but I'm with Kenny here at SGA. He's something. Can't beat it. Kenny, all-star starters coming out on Thursday tomorrow. Steph Curry currently ahead of SGA and then in the East, you have Trey Young over Gauzik. All right, that's stupid. Dominic Mitchell. Taris Maxi, your boy Jalen Brunson. Salza Petrolia almost started in the all-star game one. Andrew, we can start it one year. Come on now. Should Steph and Trey be all-star starters? Nah. And that doesn't mean that they're bad or nothing, you know? Like Luca and Shay are literal MVP candidates. Steph Curry's not that this season. Like, I want to see those guys. I think on the guards on the Eastern Conference, I feel pretty good about Taris Halliburton being one. He's number one in voting. And then that second guard spot, it could be Jalen Brunson. Come on, yeah. It could be Donovan Mitchell. Maxi. But it's probably not gonna be Shay. I mean, it's probably not gonna be Trey. He doesn't have the same respect amongst his peers as we saw in previous all-star voting situations. So I don't think it's gonna be Trey. That's crazy to me that that could happen. But you're right, we do get some weird pops and this doesn't make any sense. All right. Well, talking about all-star weekend, is there anything that you would like to see change for all-star weekend? Something new, something added? I just want to have the good dunkers participate. You know? I was there in Cleveland and it was... Was you, guys? But you know what? I'll take Mack McClellan because he made it happen. He's back. You know? But we haven't had, other than Mack McClellan last year, like a really, really good dunk contest since Aaron Gordon versus Zach Levine. And we're just waiting. I think most players just don't want to be labeled a dunker because we saw that for both of those players for years. And then Zach Levine had to make two all-star appearances before people start to realize that he was really good at basketball. So I just want players to be in it, man. The moment that we get people dedicated to Jaws, the Zion's dedicated, that's when things come back. But I just don't think it's possible. I don't think we can get them there. So that would be your pick. That's who you'd like to see. I mean, it obviously helps to get the big player. I would like to see a one-on-one competition. That's much better than a skills challenge or... A lot to do with the king of the court situation. Yeah, I'd love to see Tatum play Devon Booker one-on-one with two dribbles. You know what I mean? Or Tatum against Jaylen Brown. Exactly. You remember that one? That is more exciting than watch Wimby go coast to coast and throw a ball through a hole. For the fans. Why do you hate Wimby? I was watching chat with them. Go, go, go. Sick of that. As former players, do y'all think that the one-on-one thing would work? Like, would you be able to convince real players to do it? Yeah, I don't. It's tough to even get them to play serious in the game. So I don't know. I said it's not for us. I think it's more for the fans. I think it's more interesting and exciting for the fans to see us play one-on-one for the players. One-on-one is not that big of a deal, nor do they take it as serious. It's a free way to get exposed, too. Like, if you don't play good, there's a lot of negative things that could happen. That's another reason why I don't see you guys taking it seriously. They don't want to get exposed. They don't want to... Pipe dream. I know, I love this time of year, though, because we're always trying to figure out how do we make the All-Star weekend better? I won't forget that. Well, first of all, don't put it in Indiana. I almost made it through a show, Kenny. We almost did it without insulting an entire city. Chandler's going to Indy this week. Yeah, he's going for us. I don't think not enough. I gotta clean my garage. He might get jumped out there. Clean my garage. Okay, so over the weekend, we had the Bruce Brown sound bite about talking about playing for Tibbs and the Knicks. He doesn't play for Una. And Dejante Murray talking about playing for the Spurs. I don't want to define tampering, but maybe this could be called tampering adjacent. What are we doing with these little moments? Nothing, I want more of them. Because it shows us what a real priority is live. Bruce Brown wants to play for the Knicks. Dejante Murray wants to play for Pop again. Like, being transparent could go a very long way, so we won't get situations where players trade to a team and he doesn't want to play there. So just be vocal, be honest, and maybe we can get you to the place you want to be at. Right, we'll have our dream job. I guess, man, but it's not like you're not employed by a certain... If this works and he goes to the Knicks, I'm gonna lose it. You can pitch yourself to another competing company. I kind of love it. Look, the Bucks brought in their next wife while the first wife is still sitting there. Like, it's the whole thing. It's dirty and it's weird and I love it. Kenny, love having you on. Can't wait till we have you on again. Thank you so much. And we will take a quick break when we come back. No phone calls after 9 p.m. Wemby's my kind of guy. We'll run it back, return it back. Oh, I love this. We got video of Boogie Cousins' reception in Taiwan. That is overwhelming to say the least. Man, Danny, are you buying that more players should maybe consider playing overseas? Different countries? Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, you only get a certain amount of time to play the game. Yeah. You know, you can do anything after, well, not anything. Most things after you're done playing at 40. So why not? And if you can take care of your family and continue to play a game that you love or do something you love for as long as you can in other countries where they show you that type of love and support, they pay you, they pay the taxes, they pay your agent. I'm sorry, they pay the taxes? They give you a car. They give you a car. They give you a car. There's a lot of residence, penthouse. You have me at taxes. Yeah. Money on the side, yachts, boats. Money on the side? Nikolay, they still play over there. They pay for his kids. Schools, they pay for, they give him, him and his wife cars, everything. A lot of different health, different insurances, different conditions. The markets in Dwight are like LeBron and KD over there. What does the ball look like? It's still over there, it's nuts, man. Like, they are the craziest, most passionate fans in the world. That was a heck of an image. You can't go anywhere, they freak out. That's, okay, that's pretty cool. Yeah, for nothing else, maybe extended a couple more years, boom, done. Kind of love it. All right, Deandre Ait and Ice Man. Said, I got nothing to prove in this league. I'm a max player, and I'll continue to be a max player. Jailer, you buying that? Fuck, no. Excuse the language, no, I'm not buying it. First of all, everybody, no matter you're a max player or a men player, sorry about that. You forgot where we were. You're always trying to prove something. Always have something to prove. To even say this is just so soft and so weak and like, it's so irritating. You didn't go to a game because you couldn't get out of your house, stop, stop. Come on, man, I don't care who you are. LeBron James is still trying to prove something. He should have took a sled downhill. I'm just saying, have you ever heard of anyone not making a game because of ice? It is 2024. There's a lot of things I haven't heard of that are happening today. Listen, this kid is a tough, tough guy. To agree with Chandler, yes. You always have something to prove. Come on. As a max player, you have to prove night and night out that you're a max player. Carry that way, not just only on the court, but off the court of how you show up to games, your availability, how you treat the younger veterans, how you lead the younger kids, not younger veterans, but the younger kids in your group. And there's a young group in Portland that need that leadership and that veteran maturity. So, should be at these games, finding ways to make it through the ice some way. But showing up. Quotes like this is why you now understand why they traded him, why they had an issue with him, why they shipped him to Portland. Yeah, why say anything? Why didn't you just say nothing? So a lot of people were- If I'm Portland now, I'm terrified. I'm like, Jesus, when I'm paying this guy a max contract and he doesn't care, there's nothing to prove. Like, come on, give me a break. Some guys are sensitive, you know? And sometimes the weight of the internet, being heavy on him, you feel he needed to say something to chime in. People are all, he's going viral for the wrong things. Yeah, he is. And some of them say, so, I'm going to speak on it. And some of the big guys are sensitive, you know? Very. They don't like certain people talking about them. Wow, all right. Donis Haslam said on his latest podcast that, Duncan Robinson is a better shooter than Kevin Durant. But Kevin Durant is obviously a better all-around scorer. Pure shooter, what say you? I mean, this year, KD, his 3.0 percentage was extremely high. He was leading the league in most of the season. That's crazy. High 40s, even, I think at some point he was in the 50s. But on average, most scorers don't shoot 40% from 3 for a career. So I don't disagree with you, Donis. Most shooters shoot 40 plus percentage for their career. KD is an anomaly, he's different. I think he does most of his years he's shot in 40, but most scorers, even book, he would never know that he never shot 40% from 3. Like, there's certain guys that are really good scorers and really good shooters, but don't shoot 40% from 3 because their score is Bradley Beal, another one. But I said, I can't disagree with him because I'm a little biased. I'm biased towards the shooters. And the reason why you need those guys in your team to do the catch and spot of shooting for the scorers to have their space to operate in the... At face value, it feels crazy, but it's not. It does. When you hear it, you're like, is this guy on drugs? Yeah. You want drugs? This one's for Chandler, for sure. Spurs staff, they've been advised to never phone Victor Wimbanyama after 9.30 PM because that's when he's gonna read for an hour. I can't wait to laugh at that. And then he's gonna go to sleep. First of all, he reads. I know that's already gonna throw you off, but no calls after 9.30. You know, it's really a podcast, he reads, it's on. It's a book on tape. I don't think that's crazy. It's not first of all why would anybody on the staff want to be contacting him at 9.30. So first of all, that's weird. But yeah, I mean, I think somebody eventually is gonna turn him out and have him contact him after after 9.30 PM as he's not a Kermit. He's like, he has a life. And he's not gonna go to sleep every night at 9.30. He's texting with somebody personally, but yes, I'm buying that. Why would the team just wait till the morning? Like, the guy who was at the facility all day long, like there's no reason why a staffer from a team should be hitting you up as, whenever you leave the facility, unless there's a scheduling error. Unless there's an emergency, unless a guy wakes up too late. Or he wakes you up in the morning to the text. That's fair. Or like you should be here. And I text you last night, so you woke up to that. That's the only other reason. Also, 9.30 is not, I mean, 8.30. He's still a child. Yeah, he's a child. Should I include it on the road as well? Well, no, because then you get the, I still get them, the text about the buses, and when you, a bag pull off. You're definitely gonna sleep later than 9.30. Why are you so... I don't know, y'all really like this question. I wanted to hear Chandler Stutz. I haven't even, 9.30, what are we doing? He's a grown man. He doesn't have a clue. Chandler, you go to sleep around 9.30, right? I do not. Well, I, well, you should. He's digging stuff around 9.30. I'll take a quick break. We'll be back. You should go to bed by 9.30. You have to be here by 6. He's going to bed at the time. All nighter, Michelle. Running back, y'all. Oh, time for a little bitter break. We got a, a new haircut. What? Are those braids? Oh, are those braids? Yeah, yeah. Lucas got the cornrows. Oh. I don't think he should wear those in the game. I don't think he should wear them ever again. He's in the Bahamas and he's in the H-3. I'm all for relaxing, you know, with your family away from everybody, away from cameras. He's going to bed. Just go away from him. Oh, wow. All right, fair enough. This one's for you. I feel like any fit that he wears looks kind of crazy because he's 7' 6". I heard something once. I heard never trust a man in a vest. Is that, is that a real saying? What the hell? I don't think that's a real saying. I don't think, I think you just made it up right now. I like the vest. I like the vest. What about the duty? There's not many seven-footers that can dress. He's doing decently. And then there's this. It's too big. He can do no wrong. No, but that's true. He can do no wrong. He is high fashion. I'm not going to argue. But that is... You know, he's... It's fashion, Michelle. It's fashion. He knows fashion. So is this guy. Yeah. I'm out. I'm out. Former Danny Green teammate. They know what the trends are, so I can't say anything about them. They look kind of crazy, but they know the trends. What? This is clean. This is clean. This is clean. This is going on. These are getting out braids. Is this real? Scotty's back in the south. Maybe that wasn't a men's type to say, because I'm like, I'm rip fit right now. Okay, I'm done. We're done. That's a solid fit. No, come on, come on. Are you drunk? Danny, stop. Maybe one or two pieces, but all together it's... Give me the bag. Give me the bag. You don't like the bag? The bag's the best part? Oh, I said give me the bag. Oh yeah, I'll take the bag. 100%. Sean's gonna take the bag. That's outrageous. It makes me feel old that that's what's dope now. Now you know. That does it for us. Danny's back tomorrow. And we will be as well. Have a good one.