 Run it up, they run it back, yeah. Run it up, they run it back, run it back. Run it up, they run it back, run it back. Good, Wednesday morning, this is Run It Back. I would like to introduce everyone right off the bat, our good friend, the wisdom that is us, Stadium Insider, Shom Serania, who we're gonna get to in about two seconds. Chandler Parsons, Lou Will, I know we have no intro for us. That's all we get. My name's Michelle. But Shoms, we do start with you because the report yesterday, Mark Cuban, making moves, making money, what's going on? Mark Cuban, one of the most popular NBA owners of all time. He has sold a majority stake to the Adelson family. It's a casino tycoon, $3.5 billion plus valuation for Mark Cuban. He maintains a stake in the team and also full basketball control, moving forward. And the initial reaction from everyone is, why would you sell right now? Why would Mark Cuban sell right now? And there were a few factors, that I'm told, one of them was just the real estate arena development that Mark Cuban feels like by partnering with the Adelson family, he's gonna be able to bring potentially a new arena and just a better real estate plan to Dallas. And then probably the bigger component here is the casino development in Dallas. Mark Cuban has been talking about it for the better part of the last year, is building a casino district in Dallas, bringing the first casino to Dallas. They're working with the Adelson family to get these laws passed in Dallas that would get it. And so he's been wanting a new arena, wanting a casino district. And he feels by bringing in this influx of cash from the Adelson family, he will finally be able to do it. And at the end of the day, in order to compete at the NBA level, at the highest of levels now, you need money and you need a lot of it. And Mark Cuban, he's never been shy of delegating responsibility. And now he's gonna have a big partner, a majority partner to share the responsibilities with from a cash perspective. So it was a massive move and probably one of the most unique setups in an ownership transfer, at least initially. Yeah, because he retains control of basketball ops. It's like the best deal of all time, unless I'm missing something. Well, I think we'll see how long that lasts for, right? When you buy a team or when you buy any company, you can kind of leave someone on for a certain time period. I can't imagine he's gonna be running basketball ops for a very long time. But look, this is the best of both worlds for him. Now he can be himself. He can spend time with his family that he's been missing out on years, summer trips during the season. He can do that now. And also when it's not the biggest sale of a team, but he's getting close to $3 billion. Like he's netting, Sarver got 600 million basically. So to look at that, he's making a lot of money and now he can just kind of have way less stress. He can still keep a stake and run the team for however long. But this is huge for him because again, there's bigger plans here. The Adelson family, we all know what they do. They're a resort hospitality casino company. They've never had that in Texas. No, we haven't. So I think this is the purchase of the MAVs. This is small beans in comparison of what's to come. And you gotta imagine that Mark's gonna be involved in that as well, which is casinos make more money than MBA. Billions of dollars of revenue per year that could be happening here in Dallas. And that's because the Adelson family that's been marked Cuban in his vision, he's been working on this for literally the last year, getting the Adelson family in. God, well, does that mean we're one step closer to getting our fan dual apps open and are we gonna legalize weed? I'm just checking Texas. I wanna see all the things that were worked out. It's all happening. Just before I head back. All of that being said, Lou, I wanna ask you, if you're a free agent, do you keep up on who owns teams? Does it affect any decision making? What does it do for you as the player? Honestly, no. They're usually not a part of the process unless you're a guy that's gonna come in and change the complete trajectory of that organization. If you're a superstar level guy, that owner is probably gonna be a part of the process. Other than that, it's business as usual for the general managers and the other partners in that organization. And they just don't have the time. They're too busy building casinos. See, I agree with Lou. During your playing career, it doesn't really matter, right? They're gonna give you the resources they're gonna provide for you. Maybe some are more frugal than others or more outrageous with the spending. But I look at it like a huge positive. This is a family that has billions and billions of dollars that post-career, they can help you more than just an owner that doesn't have this going on. So if they're talking about building all these casinos and resorts and stuff in Dallas, I wanna be a part of that after my career, which is more money that I'm probably gonna make while I play in Dallas. So I think it's huge and to have, there's Balmer and now there's the Adelson family. There's no one even close to the wealth. So it's a huge move for them and again, the Mavs is just the first piece to this whole puzzle. Okay, so 16 seasons he's been doing Shark Tank. This is all happening these announcements within hours or days of each other. Is he, something else going on? Because you know people are gonna be like, oh, he's running for president. That makes me sad. Or having a crowd. The Shark Tank of it all? I love Mark. Hi, Joe! Yeah, and I talked to him yesterday and he wants to spend time with his kids more. He's got a 14-year-old. But people say that and then it passes. Yeah, listen, and yeah, I wanted my family to come here for a week. They came for a week. It was great. They have a 14-year-old, a 17-year-old, a 20-year-old. He's missed some time. They're going off to college. They're gonna be gone soon. So he feels like he needs to spend more time with them. I think he's gonna be on Shark Tank through 2025. So it's not ending right now, but yeah, that's an end to an era that I know everybody loves. And trust me, he's still gonna be involved in investing and things like that, but he's just no longer gonna be on that show. I think why everyone thought this was so surprising and so stunning is we never thought Mark Cuban would ever sell even a little piece of the team, right? And even to the point where it's a partnership and now it's a majority stake, he's given up. And I mean, he's been on record. But if he can keep control, like that's a win. And for Mark Cuban, that's the thing right now, right? It's like, I keep a stake in the game ownership-wise. I can keep my courtside seat. I can keep traveling with the team sitting on. I literally just saw him at the Clippers Mavs game on Saturday night and he was literally sitting on the bench of the team and that'll continue. And look, the adolescents, they've never done this before, right? The father had passed in recent years and this was the kid's dream, right? So, but they need help. They would love Mark Cuban to stay on. They're not just gonna come in here firing people, thinking they know what they're talking about basketball-wise, it's a business move for them. So you still have to have basketball savvy people that know the ins and outs of the NBA and how to run a team. So it's a good start, because a lot of these owners want to do it themselves and think they're smarter than- They have Carolina Panthers, David Pepper, we're looking at them. They hire coaches and GMs, then don't listen to them. That's not gonna be the adolescent. They're gonna hire the right people. This is crazy. When I saw that, I was like, Mark Cuban? I never, I never thought that would happen. We did have some game, we had a lot of games actually last night. This one, U2, property, Warriors, Kings, but elite monk, sinking them. Kings win this one, 124, 123. They'll play at home versus the Pelicans. They win West Group C, Fox had 29, nine and seven monk with 21 points off the bench. And including of course that game winner that you just saw there. Look, it felt like a playoff game. It looked like a playoff game. They were down 26 points. I don't even know how they got to that point. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the in season. You guys were talking before the show started. We're all in, right? This in season things for real. We got the bug. Yeah, it happened. Because never on a Tuesday late November am I watching this intense of a game. This was a playoff atmosphere. When the Kings won this game and made this comeback, there were people jumping in the crowd hugging each other. It's November, it's a Tuesday in November. Like it's ridiculous. So shout out, you know, Adam Silver at heat. Again, there were some worries and concerns about this. I know I was one of them, but this is great. It's providing a such a more spark, such a more entertaining, amusing value. And this game last night, like I said, this was playoff intensity. I do still have issues with some of the things, like why is there four games? Why is there not eight games? It's this three. Why is there the magic and the calves can go three and one, but this point differential thing is a little confusing? Because again, Kenny Smith said last night, what if you're in a bracket that they play fast and they score more points? You're already at a disadvantage. Or like the Knicks, they get to play the Hornets and the Wizards just beat the breaks off them and kind of stack their points. So there are some issues. It's the first time that we're seeing this, but man, it is exciting and fun to watch. And let's show some love to our sisters. The WNBA has been doing a commissioners cup for some time now. They haven't had the media like we have. They haven't had the back end that we have. But this has been a layout that they've tried that's worked for them. And I enjoyed it. Last night, I was all in. I was enjoying the point differentials. I was enjoying the guys complaining about it and everything like that. But these games were exciting last night. You know what else is crazy too? Like a team like the Kings, this was a playoff game. So when the actual real playoffs come, this is great rehearsal. This is great practice because this is an experience that they normally wouldn't have in a late November regular season game against their big brother that they could never beat. They finally got off the hump of that and advance in this new play in season tournament. Really cool idea. I mean, they won eight of their last 10. Like when you look at this Kings team, if you had to, what's missing? Anything? It's hard to say something's missing when they're rolling like that. And how they walked Golden State down last night, been down 26 with everything going on in their home court. Those guys had a good look. Got a light in the game. Check out the atmosphere. It's an exciting time to be an NBA fan, especially in Sacramento when a lot of their entertainment is based around this basketball team. These guys are delivering for their communities. Dope. And they got the dynamic duo. They got Sabonis. They got Fox. Sabonis had an off night last night, but then they get. Oh, he did. What happened? He was under on your rebounds. Well done. But Sasha, he came in. He really was a spark. He didn't play in the first half. He was an unbelievable second half. Malik Monk is legitimately their third best player coming off the bench. It's a luxury to have someone like that. But to me, again, this is more about the Warriors and their struggles and their issues, because this was a glaring, glaring loss to me. I'm glad you brought that up, because on the reverse here, they've lost eight of their last 10, Lou. So if you're this Warriors team, where are you mentally right now? I could imagine it is bad. And it's dark in a locker room right now. When you go through stretches like that, it's hard. It's a tough working environment to come into when you're trying to get right. And that game last night was demoralizing. Just it felt bad. You know, it felt bad. Turnovers, Draymond getting into his tips again. And Steph didn't make shots coming down the stretch. And it just looked bad all the way around. It's something missing. The magic is missing. It looked like somebody's taking their Space Jam basketball from its Warriors team. And it's just not there right now. And you could tell watching this team, especially the Draymond situation, guys are rolling their eyes. Guys are sick of it. Who goes and acts like this and gets another technical foul, almost ejected? Your first game back from a five-game suspension. No self-awareness. I don't understand. I understand this is the energy he brings, is who he is. But when it starts getting to this level where it's a distraction and you're hurting your team, it's a problem. And you can see Steve Kerr, he literally had to take him out of the game. I also thought Steve Kerr made a horrible sub with taking out Moody, who had the high hand in the fourth quarter. Yeah, he had 11 in the fourth and you take him out of the game. I don't know why he did that. But this was also me and Lee were talking about. I'm sorry to cut you off, but you actually can hear the Golden State fans booing when Moody came out of the game. And no one even noticed. There was one where Clay said an illegal screen and Moody came off and they called the foul. But he made the three right after he made the first two threes. And he took him right out. I was like, why would he do that? But it was, I don't know, it was mind boggling. And it looked like the worst. This is another thing about the end season tournament. The Warriors were trying, they were up five or seven points. They were trying to win by 12 last night. Right. And it ended up costing them the actual game because they were coming down. They were playing faster than usual, with two minutes, three minutes left. And so it's funny because this end season tournament, they obviously wanted to advance. But it ended up costing them the actual game for the playoff seeding and for the future of the season. So it works both ways. And I think they got a little greedy trying to win by 12. I'm actually glad you brought that up because I think some teams could be like, oh, you know, it's just an end season tournament. Nobody cares. But you're saying they were actually trying to win. And then you lose the way you lose when you're up as big as you are. So in that locker room afterwards, something like that, with all the dream on of it all, all the points that were lost. Talk to me about that. Is there somebody that talks? Is it silent? What is their anger? I think you're pissed off. It depends on your leadership. Yeah, you just blew a very, very big lead to a team that you've kind of dominated in recent years. And I don't think people are going to look to the dream on thing. That's not why they lost. But they got outplayed by a younger, hungrier team. And it's interesting, at halftime, they were up 17. The spread of the second half was six, which means that if the Kings covered that second half spread, it means the Warriors weren't advancing and then the Kings were advancing. So it was interesting how they did that. And it looked like the Kings just wanted it more, honestly. I'm not pressing the panic button on this team. But like even the last play of the game, like Clay Thompson, if you look back at that replay of the step shot, I'm never going to hate on a step shot. Never. Clay Thompson was wide open. You could tell walking off the floor of Clay Thompson, he has his little arm. He wanted that shot. He was wide open. He had a better look. I'm never going to bet against a step shot. And they could also take. You was like double team. Clay was wide open, I think. These guys have all been kind of out of sort. Wiggs started the year out of source. Now he's starting to play better. Clay Thompson started out of source. Now he's starting to play. He's got 20 point games in the last three, four games. Wiggs has 29 and 10. But they even have substitution with Moody. We're not used to seeing Steve. Like Steve Kerr is usually on point. You know what else we're seeing with this Golden State team? They've been dominant for so long. Teams have started, oh, they're human again. And teams are getting up to beat the hell out of this basketball team because they've done it for so long and they've done it in fashion, show boating, having a bunch of fun. And so now they're coming back down to earth and teams are having their way with this team. Yeah, we haven't seen them struggle like this and people like that. They're vulnerable now. Yeah, it's like the bullies getting bullied. The bullies getting bullied, yeah. But you can take a good thing with this because Andrew Wiggins looked like Andrew Wiggins last night. Clay Thompson had the confidence coming off screen shooting the ball. So there are some positives to take from this because those two guys are vital to their season. But there were also some injuries last night. The big ones, actually. Yeah, I mean, I think if you're the Warriors, you have to have a level of concern today because Gary Payton, the second, that calf injury that he suffered, that didn't look good. And he's having tests, he had tests last night. He's having more tests this morning as we speak and they're gonna get a better idea of just how bad that calf injury is. We'll see. And Chris Paul, you saw him, the videos of him limping in the hallway. He's got a lower leg injury. Don't know the severity of that yet, but he's played a lot of years in the NBA. It's definitely a cause of concern for the Warriors and two guys that are essential to their rotation. Yeah, I think at some point, none of it is good, Warriors are not. But you know what? We talked about him like this last year, too. They struggle. I don't know what happens with this Warriors team. I do know a team that is bad and I can pretty much bet on that every time. Bulls, they played last night. Well, I don't know how to segue. That was the worst one ever. Wow, that court. All right, Celtics, yeah. I got silly D. Massive, Matt, 124.97. They win East Group C because they won the tiebreaker with both the magic and the nets. They will play Indiana in the corner vitals. That's kind of fun. Brown, 38 and six, Tatum, 21, seven and four. This one was the hackadrummin' situation in the fourth despite the fact that they were up by 30. Well, it's because of the point differential that you referenced a few minutes ago and Billy Donovan was not happy about it. Obviously, do you have an issue with the fact that the Celtics did what they did? No, because this is now the new in-season tournament and this is one of the protocols that you have to follow and you're gonna have to get used to this. And if this is a non-in-season tournament game, yeah, then we're fighting, then there's a tech. But if this is what it takes for them to advance, which by the way, it was, and they advanced, you gotta do it. And I love that he had enough respectability to basically tell him, like, look, I have to do this. And if you're a player on the Celtics, you really appreciate that your coach is literally going above and beyond to have you advance and to get to that bonus. So it's weird. It's new. It's more than bread too. Yeah, like, yeah, he gets a bonus too. So it's like, you respect it as a player. It's gonna get real obnoxious. I think it will lead to some sort of altercations, eventually, because you don't want that to happen to you, especially when you're down. But it's the name of the game now. Well, from top to bottom, everybody just has to recalibrate what they're thinking. Listen, on Tuesdays and Fridays, these are the rules. And this is the layer of the land for these particular games. They've tried to deal with the courts. They've tried the, how much money they've spent on advertising for this tournament. So with that comes circumstances, right? And so if you're a team that you have to win by 34 points, all the unwritten rules and all of that stuff, on Tuesdays and Fridays, they are out. Everybody has to retrain their brains for these particular games. This is a different environment. Can't be sensitive. Yeah, this is a completely different thing. And so, listen, you gotta do what you gotta do, man. And these games are getting interesting. And so some of the players kind of just gotta get over what they're used to and how we're used to dealing with these type of things. What would we be saying if, for example, it came down somehow to the point differential and they missed it by a few because they didn't. We would be saying, well, did you not know the rules? Why did you do that? I just think we're just so used to the sportsmanship part of it. And like we mentioned, the unwritten rules, sometimes it's considered disrespectful to do those things. We kinda gotta wash that out of our brains and get used to what's new. Well, obviously the guys after the game were asked about it, Jalen Brown, this is what he had to say about running up the score. It's tough because I mean, that's just not how the game is supposed to be played, you know. When you gotta respect your opponents and to like, you know, it's just a weird setup. You know, we understand the rules, but like if I was another team, I'd be upset. First of all, it's the coziest outfit ever. Looked very comfortable, but he's like, he's kind of having a hard time with it. It was interesting to hear him say that. But this is, cause it's what we're used to. It's what we're used to. If there's a fast break and you're up even six points for three seconds, you don't go and lay the ball in. That's just what we're accustomed to. Like he said, it's respecting the game, respecting the opponent. And just know, you're gonna have to play this team again. Now, the bulls aren't very good. So the game's not gonna really matter, but if this comes to a point where it's Celtics versus Bucks or Celtics versus Philly, and this happens, they're not gonna forget it. And so, but again, those are the rules. That's just what you now has to be the new norm, right? That's what it is. It's exciting. People I think love it. I even kinda, the courts are even starting to grow on me. My wife walked by me the other day. I was like, what is that court? And then I have to explain it. And so now I'm starting to think that was brilliant because now people are asking about it and it's creating more buzz and people are talking about it ugly or not. Lou hates it so much. It gets the people going. It does. It's a fuck it is. It's honestly really, really brilliant. Wow, was that okay? The unreal movement? Wait, wait, wait, the courts are brilliant now? No, they're hideous, but the people are talking about it. People are literally on social media. People that don't know about basketball, I'm not a fan of the, people that don't know about basketball go by and see that and be like, what the hell is that court? I think they still keep walking. Really? Ask the question first. I do think they ask the question. They do. They're like, what is that? They're seeing that. Does that count as an engagement? Did they ask the question? Kind of. Positive negative, it's an engagement. If they watch even a little bit, you're like, oh, this looks different. What's like, all publicity is good. You're getting jumped right now, you're getting jumped. What is it, no publicity is good? All publicity is not good publicity. Well, trust me, I agree with that, but some people don't. Whoever made that saying needed some good publicity. Yeah, there's a couple guys in the getting publicity right now that probably don't want it. Oh, that was interesting. Shout out Conrad. Shout out Conrad. That's not a segue. We need to get publicity. Moving on. Moving on. All right, fine. Celtics Pacers will be who matches up in these quarterfinals. And if you don't remember, last time, Celtics dropped 155 on them. Can they keep up this time around? Chandler. I mean, to score that many points, probably not. And it'll be interesting now to see this knockout round, see the matchups. Now do they slow it down? Now do they go back to their normal pace? Do they continue to put up these crazy numbers? This game was insane last time, so I hope there's something similar to that. But I don't think they're gonna have that many points again. 155. That's crazy. That's crazy. By the way, you see there, the winner of this will play the winner of Nick's Bucks. Bucks played last night. And this is how we got here. They beat the heat. This is a bad court. 131-124, they win East Group B. It can't be both y'all. Y'all gotta pick a side. This court sucks. This court sucks. They host New York in the quarterfinals. Giannis with this 33-10-5. Damian Lillard, 32-9-4. It was close game. No Jimmy B in the lineup. Spent a cycle hamper. Combined 65 for both Giannis and Dame. Okay, I mean, do they, look, the bench had 21. Do you have to have those two guys always be at the top to have a shot? You would love them to be, at least one of them. And then you have to get contributions from guys they got last night. You gotta have Chris Middleton. You gotta have Lopez. You gotta have these guys all contribute. Obviously, those two guys are the focal point. Those are the two guys that are gonna get the, you know, the most offensive load every single night. But this team is deep. This team has a lot of other people that can contribute. So anytime you can get 30 plus from both of them, it's going to help. But yeah, when you throw in 16 from Beasley and 17 from Middleton and 12 from Lopez, now all of a sudden you have a balanced attack and makes them even that much harder to guard. Oh, I thought you could say something. Damian, I don't know when, what game are we? I just realized I didn't, I don't have a zip up jacket thingy. Shums and CP got off. Well, I don't either. We didn't get the memo. We didn't get the memo. Yeah, well, maybe we did get the memo. Well, we didn't get the memo. I'm sorry. I like that. I'm a non-zip. Honestly, I don't really like what they're wearing. Leo, I think we're just fine. I think we're good. Yeah, thank you. Lillard one day will look normal in a Bucks uniform. It's, I'm still not there, but he seems to be acclimating just fine. They've won nine of their last time when he's averaging 28, seven and four. All right, he can stay at this level. They seem to be okay. Is this what has to happen, Lou? Yeah, just had to give it some time. You know, let him get acclimated with the city and his new digs. Still kind of weird for me to even see him in a Bucks uniform. It's so weird. So to see him performing at a high level, he's getting that confidence knowing exactly who he is, how he's going to play for this ball team. It was a pleasure to watch last night and he's going to be very instrumental in the success of his team going down the stretch. And he's going to have to be the best player on a lot of nights. I felt like last night, though, it was both of them, but you know, it's going to be, he's going to be very important for this team down the stretch. And he's just, oof. I also, the campaign signing too. He was so good in Phoenix every time someone was out. He has, he's been off to a slow start, but there's going to be games that Damon Lillard doesn't have it, that he misses. The campaign's going to get that opportunity in those minutes, just like he did in Phoenix. And he's got to take advantage of it as well. For you, what stood out about this win? Well, I think Yanis and Damon Lillard both scoring 60 plus points in three straight games. Like that to me shows, it's all about their chemistry. They're going to go as far as those guys lead for sure. But their chemistry, they're starting to figure it out. You're starting to see them both play well together. And the other thing is Chris Middleton. He had a couple of clutch shots late in the game. 17 points, eight rebounds. He's getting up there again in minutes. I think that is probably the most positive takeaway that I had from last night. Seeing Chris Middleton hit a clutch shot that reminds me of a couple of years ago when they won the championship. That reminds me of why he's so important for this team. And if he's not going to be, because in a lot of ways, Damon Lillard might be their closer. We know about Dame Time, but Chris Middleton also can close games. They will now face the Knicks at home next week. The first time they played, the Bucks won it. It was a close game though. So who you got? Bucks by Double Digits. Double Digits. Make it a cool 20. Let's just blow it out the water. Yeah, because now you're down to the nitty gritty, right? You're in the quarterfinals. You're trying to get to... Is this... These are in Vegas, these games already? Or no, that's the semis. That's the semis. You're trying to get to Vegas. You're trying to... Bucks by Double Digits. Yeah, like we said, the three guys that's supposed to be rolling for the Bucks are rolling. So they're dangerous right now. I don't like the Double Digits win. I think that was an unnecessary prediction. I'm going to say it's not going to go down. We're proving you're probably going to lose by nine. Yeah, that's fine. No, I did not say that. We did have a jersey swap, a good old fashioned jersey swap, but yes, it's more. Oh my God, what are we doing? What's this guy's dealin' about? I just love the Lopez brothers. I don't care. Maybe that's his spirit, Angel. Maybe he really wants to be a mascot. I heard the Lopez twins have a Disney-themed shared house. Yes, they are. You hear this? What? They have a house. Comic book in Disney. And it's all tricked out and like Disney-themed. Lou, Lou, stop it. I sort of got it. Is that legal? What do you mean? What do you mean? Is it legal? Of all the things you could have in your house, that's what you're worried about? It's a little less suspect for two grown twins to have a Disney-themed house. But there are such a thing, and don't get me wrong, they creep me out, but there are such a thing as Disney adults. And these two are like comic book Disney nerds. Yeah, no, on like the Instagrams and the TikToks. Oh, what a present. I'm cool, I'm cool, let's keep going. You know what? I think they have a sweet, innocent fun. Sweet already. Let's go to Thunder Timberwolves, shall we? T-wolves top the thunder. However, they do lose Edwards to injury. He landed pretty hard during a dunk attempt. T-wolves do eliminated from in-season tournament, which is kind of shocking a little bit, but they walk away with the win, Shams, but the Anthony Edwards of it all, I think is very concerning. Did not return to this one. What's the latest? I mean, clearly it was a bad bruise. I mean, bad fall. They diagnosed him with a hip contusion. There's gonna be further testing, I'm told, this morning on that hip, just to make sure there's nothing else structurally wrong, but they hopefully dodged a bullet. We know he's played an MVP caliber level, even last night, 21 points, 12 points in the third quarter. So he's been big time for them. They still win the game last night, but for now just a hip contusion, further testing this morning. Yeah, that would be a bad loss, but somehow they figured it out. I mean, they didn't have him in the four, Timberwolves get the win, go Bear. All right, here he is. He and Shet in the fourth. Go Bear puts up 17.16 rebounds, four blocks. Okay, Rudy. Right? Like I feel like we spend a lot of time sort of mocking, making fun, guys don't like him, whatever. It's easy to score a yin and a hei a lot, man. You know? Okay, really, Lou. That's what we're doing right now. We have to give him some love. I mean, look, this is a guy that's been defensive. Whoa, defensive player of the year. He has this size. He has the mobility to switch pick and rolls, to guard, you know, point guards and shooting guards. So he has this capability for whatever his issues are off the court or whatever his person. I know him. I like him. What issues? I've never played with him. He's just an unlikable guy. Yeah, I enjoy Rudy Go Bear. I've spent actually a lot of time with him. I love that he's thriving now. I love that he's playing well. Listen, this trade for him last year, it didn't work. Neither did the Kyrie, Luca situation last year. Everything good takes time. We're now starting to see Damian Lillard get his legs under him and that's starting to work. Now, do we dare say that this trade works it? The Minnesota Timber Rows are at top of the Western Conference. They're winning games. It's early and they need Anthony Edwards healthy. But maybe this does work out. Maybe he can play with Cat, but they're not going anywhere without Anthony Edwards. Yeah, let's say they're number one, but without Anthony Edwards, rain is coming. Have you guys ever had a fall like that? Have you guys ever had a hip contusion? I don't think we ever got that high. I used to fly a little bit. Yeah, don't speak for Lou. Don't speak for Lou. It's been a while. Billy Daze? Yeah, it's been a while, but. It seems very painful. And the hip. Have you ever felt like that, Lou? No, boy no. I actually have, man. I had beef with David Liefa years. I tried to dunk on him one time at Madison Square Garden. He guided me straight to the ground and I wanted to fight him. I literally wanted to fight him for a play like that. Did you pull a KG on Mello? No, actually, I ran into him randomly in Atlanta and he apologized. Oh, that's nice. Happy ending. What? See, Flortigators are a respect for us. That's what we do. But also, I like that this is, I mean, I don't like it, but it seems to be just like a bow bruise, right? It's not going to be anything long. It's like a painful spot. Yeah, it just sucks. It just hurts. As an old person, I can tell you the hip. It's going to be an acre. Yeah, he were old. Thank you, Chandler. Josh Giddy is still on the floor. Probably need to address this at this point. The latest on what is going on with him and the league. The NBA is looking into the allegations that Josh Giddy was having an improper relationship with a minor. It surfaced on social media last week. Giddy and the team to this point have declined comment and the Thunder believe that right now he's going to continue to play. There's nothing to talk about. He's going to continue to be available. He played. He's been playing. That's a decision that the Thunder made and there's been no evidence otherwise. And so the NBA probe ongoing, but for now Josh Giddy will continue to play for the Thunder as they look into the veracity, the accuracy of these allegations. That's not great. Good, let's talk about something else. We want to talk about that. Holmgren. Holmgren, rookie of the year. Major impact on the race for him so far. He has the second best odds and of course trails Wimby as we know, but okay, he's actually really good. Their schedules, their record is much better. So yeah, at this point, Holmgren's getting it, right? It seems to lose. That seems like it. It seems to lose. Yeah, he's the best rookie. He's putting up the best stats on the best team. So I don't see how he doesn't run away with this. I think the Thunder are going to continue to win games, but yeah, when he's doing things like this, making shots like this, showing his versatility, he's unbelievable. He's absolutely starved. I know it hurts me to say that, but I feel like this is, unless something crazy happens, maybe they just go into the toilet a little bit. It's in a bag already. But Wimby, there are, dispersers are already in the toilet. So he's just going to do us. I know, but he could shine. Everything he does could be shiny. He could shine right around the toilet. You know what? It's just, there's no way he's not. Unless he literally knock on what, does it, it gets hurt? Oh right. That's the only way he does it win this. Less. Yeah. Knock on what? Here we go. We're not gonna win. We don't want anyone to get hurt. We're going to take a quick break here. These two, when we come back. Oh, thank God. Someone to rescue us. Jeff Teague, we'll join the show. Jeff, we will be with you. Lighten up, Jeff. It's going to be a good one, bud. What? What's that? Oh, what's that? It's falling. Let me back. I got the energy. I got the will to survive. I got the energy. What's so spectacular? I got the energy. Energy, energy, energy, yeah. That's right. Joining us now, a 12 year NBA vet, a champ and all star, but really the podcast right now is the thing that is blowing up. Jeff Teague joins us. And Jeff, I want to get right off the bat because I know you and Lou were teammates at one point. I need a story about Lou before Lou gives us a story about you. Go. Now, Lou is always the coolest dude in the room. Still the coolest dude in the room. So some of the stories I can't tell about me and Lou. You had some good times. Thank you, Jeff. And the feeling is mutual. I have no stories. Oh, come. You guys are. No stories. Not how TV works. Nothing. Nah, I got nothing PG enough. We can share. It's early in the morning. It's basically night. We've had some time, still. We've had some time. Jeff, give us one good Lou moment as a teammate because I never played with Lou. I feel like me and Lou would have been great teammates, but give us. No, Lou is bad teammate because he's thrown us under the bus already and we've been on this show for two minutes. You gotta let that go. You gotta let that heal, Michelle. You gotta let that heal. Is he a good teammate or a teammate? Nah, he's the best teammate. He's definitely top three in my team. What I'm talking about, dawg. Appreciate. Appreciate. That's the first time I heard that too. That might be for TV, but thank you, bro. I appreciate that. I tell everybody that. We had a segment on our show about you. That's what's up. I was telling everybody. Yeah. That's what's up. Top three. I wonder who the other two were. Who are the other two, Jeff? Kyle Corver. He was a great teammate. Kyle Horford. Oh, that's a good company right there. All right. Two amazing teammates. That's fire. So, Jeff, we talked earlier about the hack of drumming that went on in Boston last night. Even though they were up 30 points or whatever they were up, if you were on the bulls, though, how upset would you have been last night? I wouldn't have been mad. I mean, you gotta make free throws. Straight up. You could have had 20 points. Straight up. Even sticking with this whole end season tournament thing, the Hawks pulled their starters last night and the Cavs kept theirs in, kind of running up the score. Is that just something now you deal with because it's the new norm or is that good under your skin? I mean, you're probably gonna remember it, but it's the norm now. I mean, they're trying to win. They're trying to find themselves still kind of early in the season. So, I mean, I ain't really mad at them. I mean, I'm a high school coach now, so I'm trying to run up the sky. I see. I don't never understood the sensitivity about running, that's the whole point, I thought. But then there's the Draymond Green of it all. He was back from his suspension last night and just then gets a T in the fourth quarter. It riles up the Sacramento crowd as it should. But we've been asking the guys this morning, at this point, is what Draymond does causing more harm than good? Oh, look, I love Draymond. So, I'm gonna ride with Draymond. Whatever he got going on, they champions, they gonna figure it out. But I mean, they just said they always go through a rough patch in a year at the beginning of the year, these last couple of years. So, I think they'll figure it out. Do you think there will ever, because that seems to be the answer that people give, right? They love Draymond. And so, for that reason, he kind of gets the pass. But will there ever come a day where it's just too much? For example, the chokehold. For you, what was your opinion on the chokehold scene around the world? It was funny to me. He held, man, I don't know, bro, crazy. But I wouldn't have did it, but I understand why he did it. They had a little past history, so he thought it was his moment, and he took advantage of it. I mean, it crossed him in the end, but shit, it was funny. It was good TV for me, my bad. It's not like no one, no one has Brutie's back. Jimmy Butler didn't play last night, but you were in Minnesota with him. And of course, there's the infamous practice that was legendary. As far as taking on Kat and the rest of that team, the starters, you were there. I know it's been a minute, but it's still one of my favorite stories. What happened? He just had a moment in practice where he was killing, and he wasn't really scorn. He was just making everybody better, and he was letting GM and everybody know about it. And I just kind of appreciated it because I ain't never seen somebody talk to the GM like that. And I was like, that's kind of hard. I need that kind of pull. It never happened to me. So when I actually got the pull, they were straight at me. So it was over with. And you know, you've been in the league a long time, and everybody knows how documented we were just speaking about the Kat and the Jimmy drummer. Is that one of the better beefs that you've seen in the league that you've been a part of? It wasn't really beef, because Kat wasn't trying to beef with, like Kat was more like trying to fall in line with him, but I can't really see know how it would work. It was like Kat, go to the front office, Jimmy, go to you. So it's different, but it ain't really no beef. So Kat, for whatever reason, gets a lot of disrespect from players, fans. You played with him, why is that? Like why does that keep happening to him? I don't know, because he's one of the best players in the league. I think it's because he changed his voice in his interview. So now he's for real, bro, I think people think that way. He make yourself an easy target by doing stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, in fact, bro. But he really code. Like I told before, I think he's one of the best players in the league. People thought I was crazy. And I was like, he remind me of, he ain't as tall as Wimby, but like his skill set when I first met him, he was doing all that stuff. But I think he just get a bad rapper and stuff like that off the court. Yeah, you always, I mean, you recently said that there's nobody worse than a Minnesota Timberwolves fan. No, I didn't say that, bro. That's why we're here. Let's clean everything up. That's what my notes say. Let's clean everything up. Yeah, that's what they said about it. They don't like meat, so it's been the future. Got it, got it, got it. You should know that. I think the Memphis Grizzly fans are right up there with them. Fair enough. Everyone's got their own personal experience, I guess. So I gotta ask, because recently we saw Scott Foster and CP go through that thing. But you've also had your thing with CP and you've expressed it on your podcast, Club 520. By the way, everybody check out Jeff's podcast. What started that with you and CP? I don't got beef with CP. It's just like, you know, you go to Wake Forest and you kind of look at him as a mentor. And it just, you just didn't get that love no more once you got in the league, but I understood it by his competition. But after that, he just kind of liked with Lil Broby and I'm like, bro, I ain't really had no big, I got a real big brother, he ain't gonna keep Lil Bro on me, bro. Like, you only like a couple years older than me. Right. So I just didn't appreciate that kind of stuff he had said to me. So kind of came like that, bro. I'm not your bro, bro. I'm not your bro, bro. No, that's fair. See, Lou? Clearing that up. 2016, playing for the Hawks. You got LeBron and the Cavs on the other side of things, Eastern Conference Emmys. It's a bit of a, I guess it's a body check. Call it a body check, right? Yeah, no, I'll call, I count it. What happened here? Jeff, you would've got 10 games if this was 2003 for that one. I didn't get nothing, I didn't get a five or nothing. Nothing. You'd've got 10 games for that show. That's your limitation. On LeBron? You're a good nut. Oh yeah, Draymond would've been proud of you, bro. There's a salt these days. I was out of pocket, bro. Oh, why'd you do it? I was havin' it. That's good. That's it. It was good. You know how I learned everything to cheer for him. I said, well, hell no. I knew this was my last game for the Hawks, though, by the way, so that's good. Oh, there you go. You left with a bang. Legend. Okay, that's fair. I knew it was my last one, too, I'm out. But seriously, Jeff, you guys were the best regular season team I know one year. You guys had, like, what, four starting line-up was in the All-Star game together one year? Yeah. Do you feel like you guys should've won a championship? Obviously, LeBron James came in the way, but do you feel like you guys should've won the ring one of these years? I'ma say, I thought we could've made it to the finals. I thought we could beat LeBron in them, but everybody started getting hurt. And then LeBron, being the player he is, he just started figuring this out. He's like, Jeff T, you can't guard me one-on-one. I'm just gonna make him guard me pickin' rough, and it was over with. Yeah, Jeff, there's been a few players, there's actually been a lot of players that have had my numbers that just always bust my ass. Who is that one guy that, for whatever reason, would just cook you every time? Shit, the list is long. That's what I'm sayin', you play long enough, you gon' have a long list like that. Who's like a weird guy? Like, who shouldn't have? I never played to be a defender either, uh. But, I mean, all the great ones, they gave me buckets, I mean. Shit, Lou gave me buckets. You gave everyone buckets. I'm a bucket. I'm a bucket. I'm a bucket. I'm a bucket. Thanks, Lou. That's a fact, here. I remember one year, the Pro-M in Atlanta, and you went against Jerry Jack, I came and watched him in the stands, and y'all was goin' back and forth. Y'all was arguing, and you was just playin' with your homeboys, they had a home NBA squad. And you had, like, 55. We got my Pro-M team, it was so rigged up, they just passed the ball until I shoot. That's it? That's just how we play. Hey, but y'all beat him, though. Yeah, we go beat him every time, though. See? That's great. Yeah, you don't have to make it that, it's not that complicated. Lou surprised us the other day, he said that Kawhi was one of the three funniest players that he's ever played with. Is there a player that you've played with that's either really misunderstood, or maybe we've just gotten completely wrong? I think Andrew Wiggins is really funny. I mean, he doesn't talk much, but if you get to know him, he's a super funny guy. Tyus Jones is hilarious. Tyus Jones? You're good on him. I wouldn't guess that. He's hilarious. What makes him funny? All the, cause their personalities, they just quiet, they reserved, and people don't get an opportunity to see their personalities. So you get them behind the scenes and situations where they comfortable, yeah, they just let loose. I know, I get that. That's how Kawhi is, like behind closed doors, he runs the show. We'll never know. We'll never know. Church and Lou. So look, you're up, my bad. You've been known to trash talk a little bit. That's what they say. I was trying to tell you that you was quiet. You might get upset sometimes, and you might trip like the LeBron push. Who's the most annoying person? Oh, wow. I got a couple, cause we done been in some battles together, but who's the most annoying person you would say that's trash talking on the court? The most annoying was probably Dennis Schroeder. It was, I know you got a story, Lou. That's what, so I'm gonna leave that alone. No, no, no. We gonna leave that alone. We gonna leave that alone. But Jeff and Dennis, they had their little thing going on. They practiced a lot, man. Competitive spirit. Yeah, he was the most annoying. You know it's bad when he's saying one of his teammates. We were looking for like a Pat Babb, someone that you played against. Someone that you played against. No, he was annoying, man. But I mean, that's what Beckham Hill, man. He's a competitor, but he definitely was annoying. Did you play against, did you play against Prime KG? Oh. Hey, man, he was crazy. KG was safe. We got on all fours one time. I'm gonna say some things to him on the floor. Wait, what? Personal. He did what? Got on all fours and barked at me in the playoffs, man. He said, dude, crazy. Dude ain't got it all, man. That's amazing. Speaking of KG, he recently said some crazy comments that Jordan Poole doesn't belong in the NBA. He tripping. Yeah, Jordan Poole, he's still cold. He's just having a bad moment right now. But he deserves to be in the league. I mean, I get what KG talking about. He more passionate about stuff. Oh, man. Uh-oh, tech, technology kicking in. We got those. Oh, no. Who's that? Is that us? Is he gone? Do we lose him? We lost him to a FaceTime. We lost him. I bet somebody called him. The Schroder is calling him. The Schroder is calling him. What? Dennis Schroeder. Dennis Schroeder on line one. By the way, I don't think that's ever happened where you asked somebody about with the trash talker. You might have been there. Maybe you've, what happened between Dennis Schroeder and Jeff Teague? No, well, Jeff was the star and point guard. Dennis is coming over from Germany. Dennis had quite the reputation in Germany. We didn't really, we weren't really. What kind of reputation? Well, a good one. He was a pro already. Oh, great one. Okay. Yeah, so we didn't really know who he was, know much about him. And he just had this thing with Jeff. And, you know, they were just dueling. He wanted Jeff's job and Jeff wasn't going for it. Oh, that's fair. And it just created some competitive energy in the gym. That's all. I can honestly say, though, did not expect the teammate to be the answer. I knew for a fact he was going to say Dennis Schroeder. That's why I kind of laughed. That's amazing. By the way, you want to check out Jeff's podcast. He does have, he's got the stories wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back, we got some power rankings. Jeff's phone died. Love that. And it died. It's okay. We'll be back. Run it up, run it back, run it up, run it back, yeah. We love lists. Everybody loves lists. We're going to start doing a top 10 power rankings at the end of each month, because that will change, obviously. So teams starting with number 10. Okay, I know this team is hot. They're currently second in the Eastern Conference, 12 and five. Everyone knows they're not the second best in the Eastern Conference, but Jamal Mosey has got these boys playing, Franz Wagner, Paolo. I got the Orlando Magic as the 10th seed, the 10th best team right now. I love that. At number nine, give me the Los Angeles Clippers. Not in a great run right now, but they have a lot of firepower, lot of star power. They can get this thing together. Once they get their lineups down pat, this team is going to be dangerous coming down the stretch. And so not a great ranking, but I still got them in a top 10. No, but seven and nine. Yeah. At number eight, I'm going to stick with here in LA. I'm going to go with the Lakers. Again, they're not off to the fastest start, but they have the talent. They have the experience. A lot of guys early on right now, it's 18, 19 games in. You're looking at the seeding. That doesn't tell you the full story of who's the best team. I got the Lakers in the eighth hole right now. Number seven, give me the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is a great ranking for this basketball team. This is a young team, still growing, still learning, still figuring out different ways to win basketball games. So being number seven is a great one for them. I even got them having an opportunity to move up throughout the season. Yep. At number six, we got the Minnesota Timberlows. Again, they're number one right now in the Western Conference. They're 13 and four. It's a great start. Again, are they the best team in the Western Conference? I don't think so. I think they'll kind of finish somewhere in that four, five, six range. So I think this is comfortable right now for them in the six. I'm screen grabbing it because I want to see what this looks like in two months. Yeah, number five, getting down to the nitty gritty Milwaukee Bucks in the top five. I think from one through five, I think this is going to be consistently where these teams are going to be going down the stretch of the season. Middleton hooping really well. Dame Lillard has turned into Dame Dala. He's hooping. And obviously the Greek freak is doing his thing. And so I see this team moving up as well, but top five for the rest of the season for sure. Yep. At four, we got the Philadelphia 76ers. They obviously have the MVP in Joe L&B. They have the rise of Tyrese Maxi. They're going to continue to get better when they keep getting healthier. When they get Kelly Ubrey back, keep getting great minutes for Marcus Morris to buy his Harris. You know, I think teams counted them out. I think people thought there was just the Celtics and Bucks, and they're going to run away with it. But they've showed that even though the whole James Harden drama, they are there for real. Number three, with all of that talent, Phoenix Sons, whether Katie is out, you still have Devin Book on the floor. If Devin Book is out, you still have Katie on the floor. And you have a Bradley Bill waiting in the wings to get his feet wet with an opportunity to make this group really special. So I like Phoenix at three. OK. Number two, we're going to the defending champs. This was tough for me to not put them one until they get knocked off. They struggled a little bit. They're 12 and 6. Jamal Murray banged up. You can see the other night, even when those top guys are out, they still find ways to win games. They're deep. Reggie Jackson has been super valuable. Just showed Deondre Jordan can continue to play at a high level. Give me the Denver Nuggets. And they're not going to go down. They're only going to go up. Drum roll. That one is the same. Oh, no. You know what? Number one, give us the Boston Celtics. I picked Jason Tatum as this year's MVP. So far, so good. I'm looking like a genius. 18 games in. Wow. Celtics were one of the best records in the league. I like them that way. A genius, though. We said this three seasons. Jeff Teague said I was one of his favorite teammates that qualified me as a genius. I love that Luke thinks I'm supposed to heal because you threw us under the bus. And you want me to just. I was new at TV and I panicked, Michelle. I panicked. I'm not out. You're saying like, here is our first of the season power rankings. I think that left side is definitely going to be the one to keep your eye on, as that will probably change the most. But I'm with you, Lou. I think the right side will just kind of, they'll move within each other. That'll be it. Yeah, it'll just, it'll be a back and forth. I actually, I'm going to say the Milwaukee Bucks are going to find themselves top two. That's fair. Yeah, I think it's going to come down to Boston, Milwaukee on the east side and on the west. East side. I really like Phoenix or Denver. Yeah, and again, I think some teams on that six to 10, they go out. They might, we might not see them. All right, that's it for us. We'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week.