 Run it up, do run it back, yeah. Run it up, do run it back, run it back, run it up. Good morning and welcome to Run It Back here at Fandral TV. We are excited to bring you an hour of NBA Entertainment Talk. Right, guys? Can't wait. I feel like you're not buying in. That's fine. Jailor Parsons, Lou Will on the end there, and of course, Shom Shirania joining us from his abode in Chicago. Shom looks fresh today. I know. What's going on, Shom? That haircut, oh, we got different. Trade deadline prep? We got a haircut, we got trade deadline prep, but I don't think anyone's as smooth as Michelle this morning. Let's be honest. Look at the jacket, look at the pants. Don't worry, still got sweats, but don't laugh at me. Let's give Michelle some love. Keep it real. I wish we could see what's happening below. You could see from down there. She would not have said that. The blazer was a late ad. All canceled out. We had a lot of games actually last night, and some good ones, some good matchups. This one being one, T-Wolves, Thunder. Yeah, Minnesota wins this one, 107-101. They all scored OKC by 10 in the fourth. You don't want that. Anthony Edwards had 27, Kat with 21 and 10 rebounds, SGA 37, 7 and 8, and Mike Conley missing four out of the last five games with the hamstring. So the physicality of this game is where we're gonna start. Anthony Edwards had this to say when asked how they pulled off the win. I don't know, I don't know. And I'm gonna take the fine because the refs did not give us no calls tonight. We had to play through every bump, every grab. I don't know. Big shout out to my team. Big shout out to my coaches for sure. I like it. He said cheat has revs. He's like, I'll take the fine. He knew and he went in. It's on a way. How do we feel about it? Was he right? I mean, when you look at the free throw disparity again, it is pretty insane. And I watched this game, and the way Shade plays, it is hard to guard him without fouling. He's so fast. He's so quick. He's got a real, and that was an obvious foul too. It's crazy. Listen, do I think these refs are cheating? No, but I do think they're getting a little hesitant in certain situations to blow the whistle. It just so happens to be that he's on that side of it a lot of the times. Like I said, in Garden SGA, it's tough. He's so crafty. He's so smooth. He's so fast where he kind of initiates the contact. And it's extremely frustrating, you know, for the opposing player. But it's throughout a season, I imagine it's gonna balance out. The numbers are gonna kind of equal. But this was a huge win. And this was a big, big, they made big plays down the stretch, fourth quarter, a lot of guys stepped up. They made a crazy amount of threes in the fourth quarter. And this was a huge win, because teams are talking about, you know, this is one and two, but are they really, there's the other teams behind them? But this was a huge win for Minnesota. They showed maturity and it was without Mike Conley. Yeah, what does it say about the fact that they were able to do this with that kind of a frustration? No Mike Conley on the road. I thought that experience was good for them. These are growing experiences for a young team who's trying to find its way at the top of the Western Conference, right? So, you know, this is the same group last week that blew a game with their star player having 62 points, coach chewing them out publicly. So for them to bounce back, take that experience, make this one a positive experience to move forward. This is good for them, especially moving forward, getting ready for the post-season. It's gonna be a lot of games where they're not gonna get the benefit of that whistle. And so for them to do that on the road against a team, that they're gonna battle for quite some time now. That was good for them. I have this luxury with Kyle Anderson and McDaniels that are both these long athletic wings that can defend these explosive guards like Shay. They can switch, they can go on multiple different actions and cover it well. So I do like the balance where Anthony Edwards can play both sides of the ball. But when you have a luxury like those two guys that can really defend and lock up, it helps a lot down the stretch. Crazy, they're still number one in the West, Shoms. What was your takeaway from this one? Just the balance. I mean, we see it every night but Anthony Edwards, the performance that he had, 27 points, four rebounds, four assists. Carl Anthony Towns, he's been consistent, super consistent, I think, since really the beginning of the season. It hasn't really been an issue of host team. It is, he knows it's Anthony Edwards team. Carl Anthony Towns has been playing at a high level. Rudy Goberto, 12 points, 18 rebounds. So the multiple efforts that they have. And then Tim Connolly, their president, it's crazy. He has Denver, he built, he was the architect of that Denver team. They're a top, one of the top teams in the West. And now he has Minnesota among the top teams in the West. And I think he's gonna be aggressive in this trade market. Alex Rodriguez, Mark Lorre, they're new owners. They want the team and the organization to be aggressive and really willing to spend. And with this team, they're gonna be a team that's gonna be in that second apron, potentially a team that's gonna be paying the tax for years to come if they keep this group together. And I think they're gonna be aggressive. It's still weird to hear Alex Rodriguez as a part owner of this thing. Look, the thunder right now are 28 and two when leading going into the fourth quarter. Those two losses, Minnesota. Maybe it's too early to say this is a team that has their number, but what do you learn when this has happened now twice? Well, I think they have been really good in the fourth quarter. And Jaylen Williams especially, I think he's, I think we said yesterday, he's 13, they're 14, then they're in the fourth quarter points. They have SGA, who's a closure, who can go get you these buckets. This was the first game last night. Chet looked like a rookie. He looked lost in certain plays. There is certain choices where if I'm them, I'm going after a veteran big because there's too many possessions where he's getting bullied. Rudy Gobert kind of looked like a man playing against a boy last night in certain plays. So that to me is a glaring hole where they at least need some sort of physicality with size to relieve pressure for them. Let him play that stretch four instead of playing the center position. But yeah, obviously this happened twice, but the fact they only have two losses blown like that, that's a huge sign for such a young team. Right, the only thing I would take away from it is just might be a matchup issue, you know, with these two groups because I can't say they need to close, they need to learn how to close games. They're 28 and two when leading and going into the fourth quarter. So that's not an issue for them. I think they gotta figure out in order for them to be successful and get past the Minnesota Timberwolves, they're gonna have to find those groups for them to finish those games and be able to get those wins against this group. Well, he was back. Doc Rivers making his coaching debut last night with the Bucks, but the Nuggets beat them. 113-107, Nikola Jokic 25-6-9-12 is 14th triple double this season, Jamal Murray with 35. Yanis threw in 29-12 rebounds and Dame had 18 with five assists. Of course it's Doc's first game as coach of the Bucks. Did you see anything different in the team? Well, they got off to a crazy good start when I was watching this game, but their offense was moving, they were sharing the ball and Doc, even after the game last night, he keeps emphasizing we. We have to do this to get the goal. Their goal is obviously to win a championship and they have that talent right now. They only gave up 113 points, I think it was, to the Nuggets, which to these days isn't that bad. So when you can get them around 25-29 points per quarter, you're gonna be in games, especially with this offense. So I think it's gonna take time. I didn't see any drastic changes in their coverages. I didn't see what it was interesting to see his rotations. I was interested to see his play calls. Who got the first possession of the game? Things like that, that Doc's gonna just have to get used to, but I thought they looked good. I loved them, plus four, they should have covered last night. Honestly, if John had traveled at the end of the game, would have covered, but they looked good. This was a tough first game for Doc to come back and Denver against his team, but I think we'll see this team kind of start to figure it out and start seeing the rotations settle in and this team just start to peek. Expecting massive differences. Shoms, talk to me about the deadline approach for the Bucks now that Doc is in place. I'm told the Bucks have been active over the last few days and I think they're gonna continue to be active on the market to try to find some perimeter defense. They have two second round picks that they can use. One being the 2024 Portland second round pick. That's gonna be a high second round pick, obviously with Portland and the season that they're having. So they don't have many contracts to play with right now. They made their big move getting Damian Lillard. They don't have any first round picks available. They don't have swaps, but they do have those two second round picks. They have some salaries to potentially match and go get a perimeter defender. Doc Rivers said last night he's pleased defensively with how they looked and they competed. And I do think under Doc Rivers they're gonna be better defensively. They're gonna be more organized, but I do expect John Horst and the Bucks to be aggressive in the marketplace. We talk so much about the T-Wolves and the Thunder, but we also sort of always add the caveat of, we'll see Clippers, of course, you guys both love the Clippers, but the Nuggets are a half game out of first place in the West and they're only a game behind the pace that they had last year, Lou. Are we just not talking about them because we know they're going to be there or are we not giving them the right amount of respect? No, this team doesn't have a shortage of respect. Trust me, it's no team in the NBA that's going to Denver to play this basketball team and saying, ah, this is gonna be a night off. This is gonna be an easy one. You gotta lace your boots up when you play against this team. I think Denver has one thing going for them that other teams don't. Their star player could care less about respect or them being talked about or any of those things. I think this group, they prefer to fly under the radar and play this way. And listen, they're one of the best well-oiled machines that we're gonna see this year as far as chemistry goes and teams that's been there. They've been to the top of the mound. They know what it takes. They don't need to talk. They don't need to hear it. They don't need to respect, to trust or any of that stuff. So I don't think there's a shortage of it. Yeah, they're all reliable, right? All these other teams make all these big changes. The Clippers, a new team. The Box of Phoenix going through their ups and downs with the Big Three. This team, for the most part, is their core. They're back. They're the champs till someone knocks them off. So this is a team that, again, like Luda said, they're the perfect team for the postseason. They don't care about what seed. They don't care about stats. They don't care about all NBA. These guys just grind together. They play extremely well. They defend. They can shoot. So this team is going to be a tough out in the playoffs. It's just, you're right though. We don't talk about them enough. Yeah, I think we're just taking it for granted. Like we just know they're gonna be there. I ask you, which duo would you rather have? Yokic and Murray or Yanis and Dame? I mean, I'd rather have Yokic or Murray. They just want a championship. When Murray is healthy, he is a game changer. He's one of the better guards in this league. When he's healthy, it's just always been a concern. Dame and Yanis offensively has showed that it's been successful, but let's face it, the fact of fact, their coach just got fired after 33 games for something. So I'm probably gonna go with the duo that has a championship and the guy that's a historic center in this league with Yokic. And they just play better. The Denver Nuggets, they play better. That team is a lot better when it comes to chemistry. And that's because of these two guys. Give me the two guys that's won a championship already and still in the running to try to do it again. Here we go. I know this is the topic we've been most excited for. Lou, looking at you. Ben Simmons, big return back injury played for the first time since November 6th. He had 10 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, five for five from the field in 18 minutes off the bench. After the game, Simmons had this quote, as soon as I checked in, I told them, you know what time it is. He also said, it's always a fast break when I have the ball. I honestly thought these were not real quotes, guys. Which one's your favorite? I'm just confused, because here. I love it. Here we go. Here we go. Close up of Chandler, thank you. Everything he's been through. And by the way, he played very good last night, right? There you go. This is why I think everyone was so confused, because he's physical, he's talented. He can't shoot, but who cares? Because he can do this other thing where he involves himself in the game in so many other aspects. So when you come, and then you say things like this, it's just like, what do we do, man? You have one game back, your team won. Let's not give us anything bad to talk about. You look good, you almost had a triple double, but the quotes are ridiculous. They're not real. They're arrogant. They are real. But they shouldn't be real. Yeah, it's just, it's crazy. It's crazy that that's what we're talking about after the guy had 10 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, and 18 minutes, which is an unbelievable stat line. The team won. It's the first time they've won consecutive games since December 23rd. And then you say shit like this, where it's like, my God. Why would you do it? Lou loves it. Lou just, he does it. Well, in a weird sort of- He can't. Glad it's not me, honey. The one thing I enjoy about Ben Simmons, is I'm glad he's healthy. I'm glad he's back on the floor. And I'm glad he's actually showing some confidence in himself. Is it confidence or delusion? I'm gonna say it's confidence because I was part of the series when it started going downhill, when people started saying that he lacked confidence. And so for him to come out and say these things and kind of trying to reassure himself, reassure his teammates that he's still somebody to be respected in this league, I'm all for it. I would prefer for him to just stay quiet, keep building, stay healthy. The most important part is just staying healthy. But at the end of the day, listen, we're all arrogant at some point in our athletic abilities. I'm cool with him showing it. It's cool. And I will say this. I'd rather this version of him, that is confident and borderline arrogant than having mental issues and missing games because of it. So- If we have to pick. Yeah, this is what it takes to have him on the floor and healthy and doing things like he did last night. Keep saying stuff like this. I thought he played great last night. Just don't give, don't give us any more, anything else to talk about besides basketball. Always a fast break when I have the ball. That's a fact. Cause half court, listen, half court. The one time it is, that one's a little strange. Isn't that already taken? The same time thing? I didn't see the clips. I didn't hear the context. I didn't hear the tone. So- But when it was in our thread, did you not think it was fake? I thought it was fake. I thought it was fake. Yes, I thought it was fake. That's what it's with on our thread. So there's that. By the way, if a guy doesn't want to shoot or doesn't seem comfortable shooting realistically, what should we be doing with that? He shot 100% from the field last night. He did. Do you think that will, I mean, how to get him to play his shots? It is, what it is. He shot 100% from the field last night where the day would live tonight. He was efficient. And again, let's give him credit. Maybe he's found something that works for him. And you could hide him in the dunker. You can get out in transition where guys run to a three point line. He's not doing that. He's going to the rim. He's cutting back door. He's catching lobs. He's going to have to find ways like that because he can't shoot. He's not comfortable shooting and he'll never be a shooter. As long as he can shoot 60 to 70% from the free throw line and not be scared to go to the free throw line, he can still be a valuable, valuable player. But you can see sometimes he gets so timid. He just gets hot potato because he doesn't want to shoot or doesn't want to get fouled. So with that being said, it's for him to be effective, it's going to have to be a fast break every time he asks for ball. Every time. That's where he plays the best. If you slow him down, make him play half court basketball. I think you see a different version of Ben Simmons. So I'm cool with this. Put this little bug in your teammate's ear. Let's get stops and let's get out and run so I can be successful. Two teams go to like hack of Ben. Absolutely. That's the other game. You're going to see, we're going to see all the trash. See that's, and that will be when it gets interesting. Yeah, you're going to see guys lagging off of them 10 feet, you're going to see the hack of Shaq approach. You're going to see all of those things. They're going to make them prove it. By the way, do we like these uniforms? I can't, I can't figure out. No, I know. They're kind of a lot. Okay. And I like colorful things. The villain back at it. My favorite rivalry. Dylan Brooks and LeBron. Last night he was given a flagrant for a hit on LeBron. That was after he had pushed Jared Vanderbilt in the back on a dunk attempt. Dylan later gave a nudge to Vanderbilt who then retaliated, was eventually ejected. LeBron refused to answer questions about Dylan Brooks after this one. But Anthony Davis did respond. Take a listen. Both. I mean, you can take a hard foul part of basketball, but you're just not going to blatantly just push someone in their back, you know, when they have no control of their body in the air. I think he should have got ejected for that. And then, you know, the blatant, obviously, you know that him and Brian have there, whatever. And from what I saw, they were just a blatant hit from Brian to the face. So, the ref saw it differently. That's where it is, though. I thought that was a very calm response. Should he have been ejected? I will say, I didn't. His reputation, yeah. Yeah. So that's going to always exceed himself, and he's always going to not get the benefit of the doubt. It's like Draymond's situation. He can't do certain things other guys can. So, yeah, I didn't watch this game. So I didn't see like the flow of it. If it was getting physical, if refs just kind of, you know, quick whistle to get it. But if I'm just watching that play and it's somebody else, I don't think he'd get ejected for it. If this is Rui Hachimori doing this to Tate, no, I don't think he gets ejected. But, again, Dylan has to be smart. They know the fake rivalry that these guys have. And I'm sorry, did you say fake rivalry? This is not a rivalry. No, no, no, no. This is a battle between them. It's like a Reuben Patterson-Coby thing. One guy is trying to make it something. It's not. I love this. Hey, Chandler, in LeBron's 21-year career, when they put his five-minute highlight reel together, do you think Dylan puts something apart of it? That's why I said fake. It's not a, but I do hate that LeBron, like, no comment. Like, don't even give it the benefit of itself. So what, yeah, what do you think about, because I feel like that's- You're making it something it's not by saying this and, yeah, then you're, you're feeding into this rivalry that people will think now it's something because you don't want to answer questions. You don't even want to speak this guy's name. I thought it was well played. I thought LeBron did exactly what he's supposed to do. Let's not put any, put any fire on this and give him more attention than what is needed. This is not a rivalry until somebody's game start becoming meaningful. This is not a rivalry. Why can't you let us have this, Lou? And I don't think that foul was any change in either. No, that's what I'm saying. It's who did it. It's not the actual act. I mean, if he really wants to be a villain, make it a clear one. Yeah. Okay, well, maybe next time. No. I'm not advocating. You know what I mean? What do you want, Lou? Oh, there'll be a next time. Yeah, there'll be a next time. There will be another. Like I told you, he had nothing to do against any of the Knicks. He waits for these moments and- Did he play well? He did. He did. He had 17 points. He was somewhat efficient. You're seven or 12 from the field. And by the way, they beat the breaks off him. It's funny that we're not talking about that. We're talking about this. Well, Houston's a party stop. That's true. Houston's a party stop. You know, that's a place that if the team's not that great, we're going out. We're going to have us a good time. Places to go. Things to do. Yeah. Gotcha. All right. Miami's also a party stop. See what I did, Lou? I just turned it right into that. Just standing on business. They lost seven straight. Sun's handing them a 118-105 loss. They're now 24 and 23, sitting at that seventh spot out in the east. They've also given up 118 points a game over this entire seven game losing streak. It's a weird team to ask if you're concerned about, but I'm going to ask, Chandler. Are you concerned about the heat? I am somewhat concerned, but we know that they have this extra gear that they throw it in for the postseason. And it's not like this streak has been bad. The last three games have been outscored by 62 points. They're not even close. They're not competing. They obviously just made the mood for Terry Regiro, which I like. It's going to take time to implement in the offense. They're healthy now, too, so I fully expect them to kind of get off this snide, too. But this is a team that can defend. The team is poised for the postseason, but yeah, you never want to go on a streak like this. This is two, three weeks in a row of losing. There starts to be some friction. You start questioning certain things, but this is a mature team that I do think will get out of this and Sun seemed to have their number. You know how we talked about Golden State and body language and how it feels? I'm starting to feel that way about the Miami Heat. I usually have confidence in this group, figuring it out and going on one of those historic runs and putting themselves in a position where they're in the Eastern Conference Finals or even making it to the NBA Finals. I don't feel that right now. It's a lot of flash without the fire with this group. And it's just something that's missing. I don't know what it is. And with Kyle already being traded, being one of the centerpieces of their culture, of Heat culture, I just don't know. I don't see Jimmy with the boastful energy that's usually there. I don't see Bam be known as chess. I'm just not feeling it. It's something weird going on in Miami right now. And I know afterwards Jimmy Butler was talking about, like we need to figure out how to start having fun again and all. So clearly they're in it. Any time the fun is gone, you have a bad situation, especially guys saying that. If I'm Bam and I'm on a seven game, six game losing streak, I'm not taking nine shots. I'm being aggressive. I'm coming out. He's got to be there. Anthony Davis, where as good as Jimmy Butler is, as good as Hakez and Hero can be, he's their guy and he's got to be dominant for them to succeed. And you get at some point, enough's enough. He's got to go out there, take 25 shots and dominate the game and get your team off this night. All right, Shoms, what worries you about this Miami Heat team? What concerns me is that they haven't been able to get Terry Rosier and Tyler here to play well together yet. They moved Terry Rosier into the starting lineup after a game of him joining the team. And those two guys, that was the question. When you go get Terry Rosier as an offensive minded guard, obviously he can do a little bit of passing, can play make and set the table, but him and Tyler Hero are scorers. And so getting them to play well with each other that hasn't happened yet, Jimmy Butler's usage rate over the last six, seven games during this losing streak. He's been behind some nights, Tyler Hero and Bam out of bio. So how can you get Jimmy Butler with a ball more? This team obviously is more successful when he has the ball in his hands, when he's able to be Jimmy Butler. That usually gets saved for the playoffs, but they need it right now. They need them to get rhythm. But until I think Tyler Hero and Terry Rosier play well together, it's going to be tough. I mean, I'm curious from Lou and Chandler's perspective, how would you get those two guys playing at a high level together when you know both of them want the ball and want to be scorers? Yeah, it's tough too, because when you do lose Kyle Lowry, your point guard now, you're kind of in that Phoenix situation where you don't have that true set up guard. Rosier is a bucket, Tyler Hero is a bucket. Now Duncan Robinson, he's playing three minutes last night. So now he's starting to get pissed off again. He's out of the rotation. So they got to find different rotations and timing. Tyler Hero's a score. He doesn't want to play point guard, like Devin Booker. Don't let him do what he does. So I do think losing Kyle Lowry, you lose one of your leaders, one of your favorite teammates, the locker rooms, that changes. But then on the court, you don't have that vet calm you down on a 9-0 run. You don't have that guy to get you into your offense. You have all these scoring mentality guys. Terry Rosier is new to the city. He's trying to prove himself. Tyler Hero wants to take the next step. He wants to go average, get 30 points a game. So they're going to have to find ways to get these guys to play with in their offense while still getting, bam, their best player touches while Jimmy still can do his thing. And it's going to take time. But again, I think having that point guard is huge for them. And I think they're, you're late in finding that chemistry. You know, you had Duncan Robinson name in trade talk. You had Tyler Hero's name in trade talk. And then you got tricked into keeping that group because you began to be successful. And so you give it another try. And now you're starting to see that maybe we should have made some moves that last season or the season before that when it was being talked about. And so now you're dealing with a chemistry issue and it's showing. And you don't have Gabe Vincent this year. No. You lose Max Drew. So you lose these comfortable, familiar faces that now it's hard. And you can't just trade for a guy and expect it to work. Oh, and keep waiting for March to get here. That's when Jimmy Butler turns it on. So we'll see if that's going to be enough. When we come back, Shom scoops. And the guys are going to decide which teams need to just blow it up when we run it back the turn. Oh, I love that sound. Because it means we've got some scoops with Shoms. All right, Cleveland got Evan Mobley back last night. Where are we on Darius Garland? I'm told Darius Garland plans to make his return Wednesday against the Pistons at home. He's been out since December 14th with a fractured jaw. Michelle, he had his mouth wired shut for four weeks. He's been rehabbing. He's recovering, getting his weight back. He just got his screws out this week and he's planning to make his return on Wednesday. And this is a team that just got Evan Mobley back. 10 points, nine rebounds and 20 minutes last night. They're 28 and 16. Fifth place, just a half game out. A third, two and a half games out a second. They've really righted the ship without having Evan Mobley and Darius Garland for the last six weeks or so. You guys give JB Bickerstaff a lot of credit. This team has gone through a lot of turbulence. When you think about rumors, when you think about the injuries that this team has had, but they are now in the thick of it in the Eastern Conference. They have a chance to get definitely home court advantage and now they become whole this week. You're on a roll. The jaw thing, how bad is that? Yeah, I broke my jaw and one of the best seasons I was having when I was playing for the 76ers, I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I had my jaw wire shut for eight weeks. So is it just shakes and stuff? You can't eat. Everything is through a straw. And I learned early in that process that everything isn't meant to be blended and drink. Like a turkey sandwich. Yeah, so this is gonna be tough. And one of the positives about it, I was able to work out the entire time. Even though my breathing was affected a little bit, I was still able to get on the court, get a lot of shots of steel, get some conditioning in that. And so Darius Garland, I feel like he's gonna come back and it's gonna be seamless. And by the way, when teams have guys out like Darius Garland and Moby, usually they kind of tinker off. This team has become the hottest team in the NBA. They've won 10 and won in their last 11 games. Don't you hate that? Yeah, so like it's now like Craig Porter, Jr., a friend of the show. Friend of the show, obviously. He's kind of found his way. Sam Merrill's shooting the ball. Dean Wade, so like these other guys that haven't been getting opportunity, they've taken real advantage of that and JB Biggerstaff now has this luxury of having this experience bench that can produce when their main guys are out. So this team, this is how I expected them to start. I expected them to have the great year last year. First round exits to the next. I thought they'd come with a sour taste in their mouth, but now we're starting to see them put it together and they're starting to click. Have you ever thought about having your Josh wired shut? Never. Okay. I've also never thought about it. Something to think about. Shoms, a lot of offense this season so far. Are there any talks, discussions on how the league's looking at that? This might be the stat of the season for me. The first 75 years of the NBA's existence, six players scored 70 points or more. And just over the last year, four players have done it. We know, I think from an individual perspective, there's been an uptick of performances. We saw Luka Dantje, Joel and B scored 70 over the last week or so. I'm told there was a competition committee meeting earlier this month. GM's players spoke on it and spoke about finding ways to allow more allowance on defense and more balance, more ability for players, for guys to play defense. I think the league, all those parties, players, GM's, team governors, they're all gonna continue to discuss how that looks and how to allow defenders to go and defend and increase competition. How does that look like? Is it rule changes? Is it allowing more physicality? I think it's on the docket because the players want it, GM's want it, but how does that actually look? I think we'll take some time. Chandler and Lou played, maybe they have some ideas. I think it starts with the rule change. I think guys have so much freedom now and offensive players are so creative that it's impossible to guard. Like you are taught how you're taught how to play defense and close out and cut off the baseline. You can't do that now because the minute there's contact, it's a foul and then you're trying to stay on the court so you're not in foul trouble. So now you see a lot of, you know, Ole defense where guys are just getting to the rim or the guys are getting to their free to line. So it's tough. And guys, again, I think the talent level of the league is a good problem. We're talking about too many points. Like what are we doing? I think that's the first thing that guys mastered scoring and guys can really shoot the basketball. The pace at which the league has played at is much faster now. So I think naturally there's going to be more points scored. But yeah, like this used to be crazy back in the day. You can remember giving up 30, like damn, I got my ass busted. Now guys are giving up 50, 60, 70. Like it's, it should be embarrassing. It's not like, like who's first team all defense? There's are even going to keep defensive awards going this year at this clip because the offense is clearly better than the defense. I mean, when he's, when Sean says the players want it too, there have to be some players that are like, no, I'm good. But then like does Anthony Edwards really want fouls to the, because then he's not going to get those same calls on the other end. So as much as you want to chirp about SGA getting the calls, you want those same foul calls when you're on offense. You also want to see a good product. You want to see a competitive basketball game. And right now we're just not seeing it at the clip that we would like to because you can't touch a guy, because you don't see the physicality, you don't get to see that part of the game. Listen, all of these guys that are historical basketball players, the Gary Paytons of the world, the Reuben Patterson, the Rajah Bills, we're eliminating those guys and their reputations out of the game because you simply can't touch guys. And so you got to get to a point where we add that back in the game and bring that excitement as well. And think about that guys have jobs because they can defend and do that. Now it's like, can you shoot? Can you dribble? You have a job now. Because the defense is such a not a priority. Is that two Reuben Patterson's in one show? Yeah, shout out to Kobe Stopper. All right, that just happened. Shoms, love you mean it. We will see you bright and early in the morning. And we're sticking around because it's build it up or blow it up. Okay, so the trade deadline, as you know, is quickly upon us here. And there are some teams that seem to just be stuck. Chicago being one of them 22 and 25, ninth in the East right now. And we know the rumors. We've talked about them. It's like two seasons now with the Levine and the DeRosin and all that. But they played a little bit better lately. So are we blowing it up? Okay. Blow it, blow it all the way up. Blow it up. Listen, if you're gonna let Zach Lavigne go, free DeMar DeRosin as well. This is, my position is coming from a personal place. I wanna see my brother have an opportunity to compete at the highest level in the later years of his career. I don't wanna see him be wasted away there with floating around in the eighth or ninth spot. Give DeMar DeRosin an opportunity to compete at a high level. Blow it up. Yeah, and this has been rumored since last year. And the teams haven't done it. They re-signed the contract extension to Billy Dobbins. They have their coach moving forward. This is a team where it's not like a young team like a San Antonio or a building team. This team is poised to win right now and they're not winning. It's not working. Well, no matter what the system is, the offense, the character of the guys, whatever. This hasn't worked. You can get a lot for these guys too. They're talking about you can get two first-round picks for Alex Caruso. Imagine what you can get for DeMar DeRosin, for Levine, for Vooch. So they have assets that teams want. Blow it up, because they're not competing this year. Okay, that's two right there for blow it up right off the top. How about the Nets next? 19 and 27, they're 10th in the East. And there are, there's interest in Dorian Finnysmith, Spencer Dinwiddy and Miguel Bridges. Go send them to the Knicks. Blow that up too, I guess. That's the sound effect you're doing. We'll blow it up more than Chicago. At least Chicago has the guys that can go and surprise a team in a playoff series right now. This team has no chance to win. I love Miguel Bridges. I think beside, and Cam Johnson saw it as well. And the best thing for them is that Ben Simmons continues to do it. He did last night, because with that contract, they have, he's got a hold on their situation there. But yeah, guys like Spencer Dinwiddy, Dorian Finnysmith, these are guys that contenders want. These are guys that contenders can use. They have even more pieces, I think, than Chicago. They're not going to win with everything with Kyrie and KD and James. This team is now in full blown rebuilding mode. Blow it up. Guys will always want to come to New York and create and see. Let me ask you a question. Who do you think the best players on the Brooklyn Nets? Bridges. You think Macal Bridges? OK, I agree with you. I don't know if we blow it up. I think we refocus who do we build this team on. Yeah, when I say blow it up, I mean, keep him. Keep other pieces and then get something back for Dinwiddy, for Dorian Finnysmith. I think you keep Macal Bridges. You keep the two cams. You build from there. And so I think they just need to recenter their attention on some of these younger guys opposed to I love Spencer Dinwiddy, but I think it's Macal Bridges team. I love Dorian Finnysmith. I think you can get something valuable for him. The two cams are still very young. You build around those three pieces and keep moving. And again, they're talking New York. You're always going to be in on free agents. All right, so that's a build it up, I heard. All right, we're split on that one, kind of, sort of. Hawks, Lou, 1927, 11th in the East. And the names in that, of course, are Dijante Murray and Bogdanovich. Build it up or blow it up? This is tough for me. This is tough for me. I want to see this organization be successful, like no other. They embraced me at the end of my career. I thought I wasn't going to enjoy my time there. But I ended up loving my experience with the teammates and building with those guys. But I think it's time to blow it up. I think it's time to reset. That group has been together for a number of years now. Have had a lot of highs. They had a lot of lows. And right now, they're in extreme low in a year that they're supposed to be turning the corner and being more successful. You know, we're two years away, two years out from East of Conference finals appearance. And so for this to be basically the same group, sending 11th in the East, it's not working. Blow it up. And this team isn't that young anymore. You look at guys like D'Andre, Hunter, Trey, Young, like they've been in the league now for enough time to expect wins. And it hasn't translated to that. Look at this team. They have the talent. They've have the guard play. They have Capella and Akangwa. Akangwa. Akangwa. They have the, I love Bogey, too. Like they have Siddique Bay. It doesn't make sense to me that this team's not winning games because they have a little bit of everything. So on the blow-up side, I do think. They've changed coaches. Like it's everything. Yeah, they've changed. All the tools that are there is just not work. So I don't think they have to blow it up, per se. But I think they have enough pieces and assets to move two or three of them and still be in an OK place. Who do you move? Yeah, who do you mean? I mean, Junkie Murray, I think, is the obvious one. He's won. But like, what do they do with Trey Young? There's like, is he their guy still? Yes. If they move Trey Young, that's blowing it up. Yes, but then you still have the Jalen Johnson, the other players that you don't have to go through this full tank rebuild mode. And what can you get for Trey Young right now? That's kind of interesting to me. Can you go and get two or three starting level players for him or is the stock so low? You can't. You're going to build to the draft and just stack up assets like Oklahoma City did. I think they have so much talent that even if they do decide to trade two of these guys, they're in an OK place. All right, all right. Raptors 16 and 30 this season. They're 12th in the East. And of course, we already know that Siakum and OG are out. Are they, is this, they're blowing it up in process? I feel like they already have. OK. Is that what you're doing? He's finished the job. They've got this one guy, his name's Scotty Barnes. Yeah. Everyone else is on the child boom block. So I think they're already in the process of it. They've already moved Siakum. They move OG. They get back assets like RJ Barrett, but this is a team. But again, they're also, they have the talent. So it's not like we're looking at like a Charlotte or a Washington that's just stuck with these horrible contracts. They're not going to win for a long time. They have solid players. So when you say blow it up, I don't mean blow it up and go for the number one pick because they're so talented. They're still going to win certain games. But that's almost worse sometimes. Yeah, it's because you're kind of stuck in the middle. Like Chicago has been the last two or three years where you're like, you're not a contender, but you're in like this playing situation, not bad enough to go get a top five pick. So they're kind of a lot of teams in this gray area. The gray area, six. The jazz, 24 and 24. Well, that's right there. You're just stuck, 10th in the West. So they got Jordan Clarkson, Collins Sexton, Laurie Markinen. Do you keep all three? Do you blow this entire thing up, start over? What do you do here? Is that a tricky one? You know what, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe by the end of my statement, I haven't figured out. But if you're 24 and 24 in the West with so many good teams playing good basketball, that's pretty decent. I don't think they're playing under par. I think they're playing pretty decent basketball, considering the circumstances. You've got about six or seven teams in front of you that's supposed to be in front of you where you are with talent-wise and where your group is. And so I don't know if you blow it up. You have a lot of good pieces. But I'm curious to see what they do at the deadline and see if they can get better or get some pieces for Collins Sexton or Laurie Markinen or somebody there. So I don't know if you blow it up. I'll build it. They had that stretch, too. Last year, if you remember, we had that kind of Orlando this year, a type of start, where it's like, whoa, what are we doing? I don't even think they realized that that was possible. Laurie Markinen kind of turns into this household name where he's an all-star. So I don't think they blow it up. I think if you can, sure, go get Jordan Clarkson and go get some things back, young to grow at the Walker Kessers with the Chiantay George, these young asses, they have, sure. But again, now there's a reason we're asking about these teams because they're all stuck in this area where they're not quite good. The Lakers are a 500 team. We're not saying blow it up for the Lakers. This team doesn't have the expectation level that the Lakers do. And they're still right there at 500 as well. So I say you build it. And there's just different. I think the Lakers, no doubt, can still win a play off series. I don't think the Utah Jazz can win a play off series. That's the difference. I mean, there's a big difference. This last one did not see having to ask this in the last several years. But the Warriors, 19 and 24, 12th in the West. To say they're trying for a fifth ring, obviously they're trying, but not like this. This has to be blown up, right? Well, yeah, then let's face the facts. They're not going to win a championship with this core anymore. And that sucks. And that's sad. But this dynasty, again, we almost just stopped talking about it because it's just not the same. Now it's sad. Are they really going to blow it up and trade Clay Thompson and trade drama Green? Probably not. So then the question is, who do they get rid of? What can they get back for in Andrew Wiggins? What can they get back for anybody else? I'm trading everybody, if I'm them, except Kaminga and Steph Curry. Kaminga has now showed me enough where he's a building block for the future. He's versatile. He's so young. He's athletic as hell. I'm keeping him. Everyone else figure it out. But we have to find a way to maximize Steph Curry for the next two or three years. And they can go and get free agents that want to play with Steph Curry for the next two or three years. So again, I think who can they get for those guys? Are they really going to kind of shake up the world and trade Clay Thompson? I just can't see it. But it's probably the best option at this point. I think that's the only option. Wow. I think that's the only option at this point. Like I like to compare to Kobe. You have such a successful run with Shaq and that group. And then years later, it's not going away. They bring in a pal, Gasol. They bring in all of these other pieces and give you another opportunity to have a championship run. And it worked and it was successful for them. So I think that's the route you go for Steph Curry. You give them one more chance. You give them one more hurrah with a completely different group. This is a A-1 organization. If Clay Thompson or Draymond were to be moved, I'm sure they'll give them an opportunity to be successful and compete somewhere. End of an era, it would be. By the way, Kominga moving up to the Untouchables list, that's something that's proper. You know what, I wasn't a big fan. I watched him play during that time that Draymond Green was out and he can play. He's getting more confident. He's getting, he's so bouncy. He moves without the ball. He plays well. He knows his game. He doesn't take really bad shots. He doesn't even take a lot of perimeter jump shots. And he's so young. If that keeps developing, he can turn into something real special. That was almost sincere sounding. That was, that was, I know, and there he goes. Oh, we're gonna take a quick break when we come back. Which of today's defensive players could slow down Prime MJ? Oh, I love these. I love them. Being up. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. All right, fill the lane. Chandler, you're up first. Best number two player on a team right now. I think it's Devin Booger. I think he, the other record doesn't show it. But if we're talking about a guy who's pretty much been the number one guy on his team for his whole career, who can carry a team and every single night is kind of just, you know, taking a back seat this year, to moving positions to a point guard letting Kevin Durant be that guy. I think he's got it. There's a lot of good ones. I think Jalen Brown's solid. I think Paul George, Anthony Davis are solid, but the best player number two option is Devin Booger. Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown, okay. You think right now Jalen Brown is better at basketball than Devin Booger? I mean, he's better at being in that position than Devin Booger is, I think so. You think this all comes with it? I don't think he's the best. I don't, I don't, how can I tiptoe around this thing, right? Good luck with that. Can you put Devin Booger on the Celtic right now? You don't think they're a better team than with Jalen Brown? No, because Devin Booger's not, I don't think he's equipped to just wait his opportunity. Yeah, I don't know. All right, okay, fine. Lou, you get to go first on this one. Name one player you want on your team to win a game seven right now. Give me Brian. Wow. I'll take LeBron. Okay. One of the best game managers we've seen in quite a while. He knows what it takes to win a game seven. He's gonna do everything that he can to manage both ends of that game. So I'll take Bron. Yeah, it's interesting because I was gonna say Steph Curry, but then he lost game seven to LeBron James. So it's like LeBron can't go wrong. Then I was thinking clutch. I was like, do I go Damian Luller? But he hasn't had that many game sevens. So Bron's a good answer. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. It makes total sense. What a weird world. All right, Chandler. One defensive player right now that could stop Michael Jordan in his prime. It's gotta be like Kawhi Leonard but like prime, healthy Kawhi Leonard. But it's the rules that are changing. Like you couldn't barely stop the guy with hand checking and fouls and a flagrant foul back then is like a 25 game suspension now. So it's tough. The way the game is called, this guy would probably average 45 points a game. So it's tough, but it's gotta be someone big, athletic, physical, strong like Kawhi Leonard. That'd be fun. Yeah, I'd watch that. That would be my only, that'd be the only guess I had. Is there another one, Lou? Is there anybody else? I'm not gonna say like Jane McDaniels or Patrick Beck, like I'm not gonna say a guy like that. It's gotta be a... You wanna see Michele as they get made? Wimby? Wimby! Oh my gosh. To stop Michael Jordan? Cause there's nobody that can stop Michael Jordan. So if anybody, I'm gonna try the seven foot four guy that blocks a lot of shots and they're gonna go through that. Lou, he's never seen this problem. He's never seen this. He's never seen it. Seven, six. That's the only reason. It's a good point. So before this turns into a viral click bait thing that is the only reason I'm saying Wimby can stop prime Michael Jordan cause he's never seen anything like it. I'd like to see that too. I'd like all of these things. Joe Aldous gave him 70 but he's gonna stop Michael Jordan. Ha ha ha! Brain fart. He finished? Yeah. They only won by 10. It was fun talking about it. Give me the best veteran role player on a team right now Lou. Give me Pat Bev with Mike Conley. Oh okay. Give me one of those two guys. They bring two completely different shots to the table for their groups but it's working. The 76ers and those young guys are responding well to Pat Beverly and his leadership. I like that. Mike Conley is still playing at a high clip in year 18. Giving them great, great minutes. I'll take either one of those guys. Yeah I got Mike Conley on here and I got Al Horford and Reggie Jackson. Both solid players that know their role that are smart. They're both on winning teams. These are guys where if a guy gets hurt Jamal Murray goes out, Brazilian goes, gets out. These guys step right into that role. You don't miss a beat. They're both savvy guys. Great dudes. I like those two guys. Great dudes. Which one on one matchup would you most like to see at All-Star weekend? Okay I got three here. Three, okay. I got three. I got Wimby and Chet which is just her obvious reasons that would be unbelievable. Honestly I don't know. I think Wimby would win one on one but it would be an insane matchup just because they're pretty much the same build and body and talent. I like Shay and Ant because the whole foul call thing they're both unbelievable with the ball. They're both fast. They're both the score. And I think Devin Booker and Jason Taylor were probably the biggest, like, best little pivotee, iso, mid-range. So those three matchups would be my three. I'm not turning the chair. I was thinking like a big, like Joelle, Joe. Probably not as fun. Kevin Durant, I'd like to see one on one with somebody but those three matchups are bigger. I like the matchups. I'd like to see Joker and Joelle and B at a random park in Denver. In Denver. You know that ain't happening. In Denver? Like that's not, yeah. Joelle's gotta clean his garage. Joelle's not available for that. He's gotta clean his garage out that night. A neutral site. Yeah. With no elevation. And you should be fine. I can't believe we're doing this. Lou, you get to go first though. Which city has the best fans? Oklahoma City. What? Oklahoma City. Did they not see that coming? Yep. They have a college crowd. Wow. And you talk about from start to finish games where the fans are respectful. Okay. Cheers for their team. Enthusiastic. It's okay, C. Yeah. When I think best, I don't think like classy. I think like it's... There we go. There we go. The Jazz, Portland and Boston for me, I always found those. Those places are nuts. But they're not classy. No, they're offensive. Okay. They're racist. They're insane. I like that to me. Those are the craziest. Taylor said it, but I would retweet it. He's on the sofa. Yeah. I just like it. Those to me are like, they'll call your mama ho. Like there's no limits, you know what I mean? So those to me. Use your mama ho. Well, you said it. All right. In Utah. In Utah. You said it. In Utah. Okay. Okay. I would not have guessed that. Who has the classiest fans? I have to know that now. Okay, C. Classy. Oh, you know what? Go to state. Really? Go to state. Okay. Who's the worst head? Yeah, that's what I'm waiting on. I'm just waiting for Chandler to put his foot in. Go ahead. Who has the worst head, Taylor? I don't enjoy playing in Utah. I've heard my fair share of things. That's not cool. Okay. Yeah. Chandler? That's not his experience in Utah. No, it's a different experience. It's a different experience. I'm a white guy in Utah. You know what I'm saying? It's not a pass. They put a corn out there. That's your one place. I mean. Say it. Just say it. Get it over with. Doc Holliday is not watching. Doc Holliday? That was Doc Holliday. Yeah, Memphis socks. There we go. I can't get through a show without it. We'll take a quick break right now. We'll come back when we're at the full-party. Doc Holliday. I mean, the fact that I even have to remember that. I can't believe you said it. Kill me. Run it back. Run it over. Run it back. Yeah. Fandals put in the ball in your court for the rest of the NBA season. Because right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. Bet on the NBA with a wide range of bet types, including quick bets, live same-game parlays, player props, and more. Download the app today. Make your first bet a layup. Fandal, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Prop party time. Chandler, what you got? I like it. I'm going to go with Pacers Celtics game here tonight. I like Siakum over 19-and-a-half points. I feel like that's kind of low for him. He's starting to get his leg. He's starting to get his rhythm. Get comfortable in this Rick Carlyle offense. And Halliburton back. Give me a double-double. It's official. Halliburton's back. I mean, we're going with it. Our bets are voided, if not. I like him getting a double-double. Double-double. Well, I think the Celtics are going to win if Halliburton's out. However, if he not, Siakum is going to have a great night at 19-and-a-half. Those are my bets. All right, I went over for both of mine. Both Tyrese and Jason Tatum will have the overs on their 20.5 and 30.5 respectively. I like it. Celtics on a back-to-back. Yeah, it's tough. Pacers play good against good teams. Yeah, that's going to do it for us. We'll be back tomorrow. Oh, you got it. Have a good night.