 Run it up, do run it back, run it up, do run it back, run it back, run it up, run it back. Good Tuesday morning. This is Run It Back. The intros, if I shall. Very good mood this morning, Lou Williams. Wow. Danny Green there on the edge. Shom Sharani joining us from Chicago. How fun for you. A normal time, right Shoms? I love that for you. Guys, I don't want to speak for the entire world, but the end season tournament is kind of fun. And I kind of loved it. We had the first game last night, Celtics Pacers. Yeah, Halliburton, first appearance ever on TNT, which I still find a little bit shocking, but they beat Boston 122-112. The first ever, they'll go down in history as having done that. He had 26-10 and 13. Also his first career triple double, zero turnovers. It was a fun game to watch. It felt very playoff-y. But as far as the Pacers are concerned, do we need to reevaluate how we speak of them? Is there something else going on here that we maybe haven't given them enough love for? I thought they've earned their respect. I think they're part of the party now. They're part of one of the teams that need to be talked about this season. They're exciting to watch. They play at a high level, very competitive basketball team. And like I said, they're exciting. They play fast, get up and down the floor. Now, post-season, that remains to be seen. That's a completely different beast, but so far so good. I think they're in the mix of everybody else that's been one of those teams that we expect to do some things in the playoffs. But that part remains to be seen for me, but this team is definitely exciting. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I agree. They're playing at a high clip. They're getting up and down the floor. I love the way they're playing. Rick Carlisle is letting them do their thing offensively. I think this year, Indiana and Orlando are the two teams in the east that made a jump. The east is usually pretty wide open, but those are the two young teams that Indiana offensively, Orlando defensively, strangely enough. But they're two teams that put themselves in the conversation of being a solid playoff team in the Eastern Conference. There was the whole Halliburton needed his inhaler at halftime because he was having trouble breathing. I don't know if that's just a norm thing for him. I don't know if it was the experience or the craze that was going on. Probably adrenaline and excitement. Did it feel playoff to you? For sure. I mean, it was a lot of fun. I wouldn't give them a playoff experience of just one game. They got a small taste of it. I see all the memes of Adam Silver cooking up what he did in season tournament. Adam Silver dancing in the kitchen. But yeah, he did his thing. It's turning out very well for the league. They're getting a lot of good viewership and a lot of fun, a lot of excitement, and a lot of great atmosphere for teams that haven't experienced it in a long time. A city like Indiana, they haven't experienced that playoff atmosphere in a while. So this is something they get a small taste of. I like the term that Rick Carlisle used yesterday. He said it was a playoff simulator. Ooh, I like that. Yeah, he said it was a playoff simulator. And I agree with him. It's not quite there, but it gets you in the mindset of this is what it can be like. And so that was fun to watch. I don't know if it's a coincidence that the young teams seem to be embracing it or it feels like they are. Do you think there's a little more weight added to the in-season tournament for the younger guys? For sure. 100%. I've read somewhere, I don't know if this is true or not, but they said they have 10 roster guys on Indiana that make it $3 million or less. So that $500,000, if they're making that, that's a big change for those types of players. That means that pretty much under the cap, they're only very few teams, I think, under the cap. You have 10 guys on the roster making it under $3 million. So yeah, for the younger guys, I wouldn't say it means more, but it definitely gives them more excitement and it can definitely change their year a lot more. I'm interested to see how Vegas would feel and how it's going to look. Because if the NBA knocks this out of the park and they kind of make it feel like an all-star weekend type of environment, make it a little bit more important than what we're used to, I think we see a lot of guys get excited for in the seasons to come, because we have fear of missing out. We love to be involved in the cool things. So if they get this right, I think you see a lot of guys, not just the young guys, but the veterans as well, start getting excited about it. I'm just so weirdly excited more than I thought I would be. I'm excited to see what they do in Vegas. Two weeks ago, we ranked the top five point guards. Lou, you had Halliburton at four. Yes. Now you don't get to say anything about that, because you already made your call. But do you think he's the best pure point guard in the league? It's hard to say the best, the best of a one season, but he's proven up and said the most impressive part of the stats, and I let him be in his first triple double, with the zero turnovers. That's the more impressive part to me. Having the ball in your hands for that duration of the game and not turning it over throughout the whole duration of the game, but him putting up high club numbers of scoring, usually 25 to 30 points a game, but also 13 assists and making big plays and making great decisions down the stretch without turning the ball over. That says a lot for a point guard and a high IQ player. So that puts him definitely in the conversation as one of the best pure point guards in the game today. One of the best. I think if we call him the best pure point guard, then we have to call him the best point guard in the league. I don't know if we're ready to give him that crown yet. The best is tough for anybody. There's a clip I want to play for Lou right now of Halliburton, actually, a moment in time with Drew Holiday. Talk to me about... Oh, yeah. Listen, for Drew, this happens a lot. And I'm saying that with all due respect. It's like shot blockers. If you challenge the rim enough and you're known for that, you're going to get dunked on every once in a while. So Drew Holiday, with the effort that he puts on that ball and things that he's trying to read his spot and he got turned around. You know, good offense, be good defense. And so this happens every once in a while for Drew. That's a great analogy. You play enough basketball. You're going to get dunked on. You're going to get crossed over. But he competes at a high level. He's guarding the other team's best player. And he still challenged that shot. He still got back into the shot. You know, three feet behind the three-point line, which in most times is a bad shot. It's a good contested shot for the defense. But he said, you play enough basketball. That's going to happen. Especially when you're playing or guarding the other team's best player every night. He had some moments last night. It was just fun. Shoms, the Celtics on the other end, of course, they have big aspirations. They want to get to the finals and win that whole thing. What were some of the problems you noticed last night? My concern with the Celtics is a lot that we've seen the last couple of years, which is late game execution. They get outscored 17-7 down the final minute 30 of this game last night. And I just think, yeah, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, have been unbelievable throughout, you know, the seasons and throughout playoff runs. But late game execution, I just think that's still an issue for this team. No Christos Porzingis. So that was a significant loss in the lineup. We'll see how he comes back. But a strained calf. That's something that you want to be careful with. Porzingis, given his injury history. But I just think from a style's perspective, getting timely baskets. The Celtics clearly were a little bit lacking last night. And 21 points off the bench. Sam Hauser scored a little bit. Luc Cornette scored. The Pacers, on the other hand, they got 33 points off their bench. They had multiple players in double figures coming off the bench. The Celtics gave up a couple first-round picks in that Drew Holiday trade. They still have a few first-round picks left over. I expect the Celtics to be active in the trade market as we get closer to February to try to see if they can beef up their bench rotation and players coming off that bench and see what they can do in the trade market. You know what? The struggles. The bench is the big one. Everyone's mentioned that. You guys have all talked about it a lot because they don't seem to have one. The struggling in the half-court. I know Christoph's Porzingis obviously in the street closed last night. When he comes back, is that enough to fix some of these issues? Or are you with Shams? Like, they need something else. I think it patches the leak. Excuse me. I think it patches the leak. He gives them another big that can stretch the floor out, Al Horford type of guy that's... And he can go out and get 25 to 30 on any given night. He's a post-up threat. You know, he's one of those guys that can create switches on offensive end. And so he gives them a look. But as far as this basketball team, they got two of the best one-on-one players in the league. This is their identity. This is who they are. They're going to live and die with how those two guys carried them on an offensive end. And so... And that's by handing them the ball and telling them to go get a bucket. Will there be a problem in the playoffs? You know, they've got... They've had some deep playoff runs. I think for them to get over that hump, they've got to be a better half-court team. I think they just have to be better defensively. I don't think him coming back patches it up, but it definitely helps. Offensively, they can score more with him there. Defensively, he protects the rim a little... A lot better than they've had. He's a decent rim protector. He's a decent rim protector, but he's better than what they don't have when he's out. But it doesn't make them a great deal better defensively. So that's the lack... So they don't have the depth from the bench and they lack defense. So that's the biggest concern from my standpoint for them, is the defensive side of it. And also half-court, playing in the half-court set. And this team, the Celtics, they've never had a bench to me. They've always been a top-heavy basketball team and it's gotten them this far. So I'm not completely concerned about them because that's how they've been playing. But I think for them to get over the hump, some of these things have to be addressed. Something different has to occur. Jason Tatum, last week, we talked about him being the best... This was where we got stuck. Was he American or American-born? But Chandler's not here. We can ignore that now. Best American player in the league. Do you agree? I think he's up there in the top three. It's hard to say. Who's your three-quick guff? That's tough, man. That's tough. Americans, like you said, you think of the best players in the league and when you think about them, they're not all of them American. Right. Yolk, it's Joel. Exactly. Even though Joel wants to play for Team USA. So that was the argument. Chandler wanted to argue that Joel's now American. I was like, but are we doing American or American? Joel's not American. He's not American. He's championed Africa this entire time. That's the trick. American-born. If he wants to play for Team USA, he should say that. It's very tough to say. That's a great point, actually. I mean, as we talk later in the show, we're talking about the match-ups of the season tournament coming up tonight. You know, the most consistent to me, Bron has been... Oh, duh. Yeah, that's a good one. You know, so... Bron Steph. He's been a pretty good American for the last 20 years. Yeah. So I always have him in the conversation, regardless of who's up and coming. And the younger guys, Ann Edwards is one of the younger guys up and coming, American players. But I think Jason Tatum, for sure, is in the top three. I can't rank them or give you... It's tough. I'd have to really go through... We like rankings around here today. We need lists all day, every day, Danny. We got games tonight, Nick's Bucks. That is the... That's who's going to play Indiana, the winner of that one. Who's the better match-up? For Indiana? Mm-hmm. It's going to be the Knicks. I would... For me to advance and have to look at Giannis, Dame, Chris Middleton, and the rest of that group, I would much rather play the Knicks. But I think the better match-up for Indiana would be the Bucks. Because I think... New York is going to muck up the game. You know how tipped this. They're going to slow it down. I think defensively, New York is a little better than Milwaukee all around. I think Milwaukee has... With the trade, when they lost Drew, when they lost Drew, when they traded Drew, they lost a lot of defense in that aspect. So I think Indiana, if they want to get up and down and play and score a lot of points, it's against the Milwaukee Bucks team. They're not going to do that against the New York Knicks team, I would think. I'm just apprehensive because the Knicks are just hiding cold for me. You never know what version of the Knicks you're going to get. And so, for me, I just feel like when it comes down to it, Milwaukee, they got a couple of guys they can throw the ball to that can win them a basketball game on any given night. And the Knicks do too, but you just don't know what version of that team that's going to show up. For sure. I wonder if we'll know right away if it's going to be one of those nights. We'll see. I don't know. I'm really pulling for that. Shoms Vegas, as it gets ready for this first of its kind tournament during the NBA season, how will it be? Do we have any insight on what to expect? Yeah, I think Lou called it like all-star. Like, I think it's going to go the other way. I think they're going to, I think the league is going to make it more like the NBA Finals. We're going to see NBA Finals light or whatever you want to call it, simulator of the NBA Finals, the media day on Friday. Danny's been a part of a ton of media days. I mean, I don't know how it's going to compare to an NBA Finals media day, like the attention that you get in whatever host city that the NBA Finals in, I don't know how it's going to compare in Vegas, but that's the only similarity you can make to it. It's Vegas. Yeah. It's Vegas. Bright lights. It's going to be amazing. The lights are going to be bright. Look, Twitter is usually a cesspool of garbage, but sometimes it's positive. So, we're going to show it. Get a Drusky. There you go. Shout out to Drusky. Adam Silver, getting love. I mean, look, a lot of us are, maybe we thought it was going to be a bad idea. We didn't know. Oh, yes. Yes, chef. Yes, chef. Could we have the answers in the tournament? The Bear Show. Yeah, it's so good. I love it. I like that one. That's a good one. He actually looks like Adam Silver. It just does, actually. Yep, that's good. Twitter approves. Some of us were wrong about this tournament. Pelicans, Kings. I think some of us predicted this one incorrectly. What happened? Kings lose. 127, 117. Well done, New Orleans. They move on to Vegas as well. Brandon Ingram finished with 38 and six. Herb Jones had 23 points and always want to check on the Aaron Fox, who threw in 30 points. Shoms, this wasn't close for a lot of it. So if you're taking away something for this Pelicans team, what is it? First of all, Zion Williamson last night, he says we can do something really special. The fact that he believes that, I think it's a good sign for them. When you watch this team, how has developed the last few weeks? The offensive balance throughout the roster, Zion Williamson only scores 10 points. But you get BI, he scores 30. Herb Jones, undrafted player, he scores 23. They have so much depth right now. And if these guys are all healthy, last year we saw before, Zion Williamson strained his hamstring. They were competing for a home court advantage in the Western Conference. Then he gets hurt. And their season just nose dives a little bit. But now these guys have been healthy. Can't remember the last time Ingram and Zion Williamson have played this cohesive, this long stretch of time that these two guys are on the floor. And Jose Alvarado comes in the game last night. I thought he completely changed the tone of the game. He has that GTA moment where he steals the ball in the front court, comes from behind. And to me, the way he changes the tone, he only has nine points. But they were down double digits. They got it to within one or two points to end the first quarter. And they never looked back. And so I agree with Zion Williamson. If the Pelicans are healthy, I think they're a legitimate threat in the first round of the playoffs if they make it. It's like the Aaron Foxx forgot what Alvarado does. He's right behind you the entire time. Look, he had 10 points in 28 minutes. Charles Barkley talked a little bit about his physical, what he saw. When he saw him out there, it doesn't seem to have the same explosiveness, although Barkley said it in a more Barkley-esque manner. Are you concerned at all? Not for me. The way that Brandon Ingram was playing, the way that CJ McCullum was playing, I think this is okay for him. It's going to take him some time to find his rhythm, get into a groove. This is a guy we hadn't seen playing 40 games in two years. And so to see anything positive from him, to see him consistently on the floor is a great start, especially when you got two guys that you can hand the ball to, and they can go get a bucket for you. And that pressure isn't on him for them to be there. But I saw some defensive plays that he made last night that were incredible, that he showed his athleticism. He hadn't played over the rim like we're used to him playing, but I think his presence has been felt. So I'm not that concerned about it. I'm not concerned at all. I think he's on the floor. That's the biggest thing. And he'll get back in playing shape, or Charles Barkley shape, that he expects him to be over time. So as long as he's available, I'm happy. And I think he needs to be their best player all around. I think BI needs to be their best offensive player and lead the charge on the offensive in the floor and scoring. But Zion, to defensively handle the ball, making plays and understanding and trusting their process or their system or how he's buying in, as he would say, is the biggest key. And he has to be their best player all around for them to succeed. All right. So I'm glad you said that because Ingram had the 30 points last night, but you're saying who is their best player right now? I think Zion is. But I think BI has to be their best offensive player for them. He's still trying to get back into his Zion shape, and it's going to take some time. What is Zion? I feel like a million dollar question. I mean, when we know to see him as explosive, he's been in the past. I think that's out. It's tough, but I think you can get there. I think he can get there. It's just going to take some time. But I think he needs to be their best player always. Right now, BI is playing as their best player. And offensively, he's leading the charge. So I think he needs to continue that for them to be successful. But as long as they stay healthy and he's available, Zion's available, they always have a chance. But the X factors for me on that team, Trey Murphy and Herb Jones. OK. Well, I'll see what he needs to get up. But hold on. Wait. You don't think Zion can get back to physical shape? No, I don't. But I don't think that's a bad thing. I think he's just getting older. He's getting more mature. Even though he's still a young guy, he's naturally going to be this big muscular kid. He's not old. No, not at all. I said he's getting older. Oh, who is it? Yeah. Yeah, but when you begin to play these games and you travel slowly for surely, it's going to catch up with you. And it's harder and harder to play above the rim. It's harder and harder to run that floor and be a lob thread like he's always been. You have to have a different type of discipline to get back to your younger self. And I don't think Lou trusts that in Zion right now. He's going to be 23. I was trying to dance around with him. I appreciate it. He's 23. He lives in New Orleans. The food is great. The willpower. We're not going to see a thinner version of him. Yeah, he has a willpower state where he's at right now. But to get back to the younger Zion. We've got to send him to a crappy food city. Yeah, but he has a chef. He has everything. There's no excuse. Listen, everybody has a chef. And your chef is going to cook whatever you take. He has the resources to do a lot of things. He has the resources to get really good or to get really bad. He really does. So that's kind of funny. It's all right. Okay, we'll keep an eye on that. There's some sound I want to play from Willie Green talking about the win. Here he is. High intensity game, fun to be a part of. I think the guys just relish these type of moments and it's experience for us more than anything. So we can lean on these experiences when we start to get down the stretch, when we face adversity, things like that. And, you know, we love these moments. I mean, I don't know how many of these moments. Yeah, it's a young team and he's talking about it like the experience. That's valuable, right? It has to be. I think atmosphere-wise, yes, they can draw on that experience. Playoffs is a different beast. I'm almost positive none of these teams in the end-season tournament were going into it trying to take away an option, trying to do the things that you're accustomed to in a playoff atmosphere, in the real one. In the playoffs, you're going to have to play half-core basketball. You're going to have to do something different than what's been your calling card throughout the season in order for you to be successful. I think these games are fun and they're exciting. The playoffs is still a completely different thing for me. For sure. It's definitely chess in the playoffs. This is more of a fun NCAA-like tournament. Yes. You know, having fun. It's still regular season. So they're not looking at these teams or we have to play them in a seven-game series. And what do we want to take it? When we start with what things we're going to adjust to, it's a one-game, one-and-done type situation. So it's not like a, you know, who can play off who or read off what they have to game one and two. So it's very different, but it is a small taste of what it can be like atmospheric, like for certain cities. But it's way different animal than the playoffs. Pelicans have now beaten the Kings three times this season. I love when this happens where it just seems like one team has another team's number. Is this that case? We're looking at one of these right now? I think so because realistically, Sacramento, I think, when I look at it, I think they're the better team. Right. It's just, for some reason, it doesn't add up to why they can't beat New Orleans. New Orleans is very up and down, hot and cold, and sometimes healthy, sometimes they're not. They play well. Some nights, some nights they don't look like a playoff team at all. But some nights you're like, oh, this team could actually make a run. But for Sacramento to be one of the top teams in the West, in my opinion, and be able to beat, like, the Golden State Warriors consistently or to beat, you know, the Lakers or, you know, beat some top teams in the West and then lose to New Orleans, it just shows that some teams just have your number. What's a team that you remember that had a number of a team you were on? Man. I played on a lot of different teams. Fair. I can't say one team or the other. I don't. It said I have to go really back far. To the archives. Because it's just different. But I do remember there's like, there's little brother, big brother moments. Yeah. There was a time when I was in San Antonio, we were the big brother of Golden State. Yes. And at a point, you know, younger brother gets better than the older brother. You know, I guess another analogy would be Marcosol-Palcosol. Yeah. No, that's fair. At a point, you know, big brother's going to handle the brother. And at some time, younger brother's going to grow up and he's going to get tired of big brother kicking his ass. So he's going to, you know, eventually get better. By the way, San Antonio, I feel like also had that with Memphis sometimes. For sure. I'm like, what's happened? For sure. It's refreshing to hear San Antonio again in here, by the way. Lou, just because you're in a good mood for one day. We were a heavy San Antonio group. It's a process. I already know. It is a process and we're being patient. Well, so I went back to San Antonio days. I know she'd appreciate it. Oh, God. All right, Tray Murphy, we could talk about him. Look, his second game back, he had the off-season knee injury. He had 16 points and you already mentioned him that he is one of the X factors. What do you expect to see more of from him? I don't know if they'll continue to bring him off the bench, but the way Herb Jones played last night, you know, he's been a very key factor as well. But those two guys, they're three in D-wings. They give them a different type of look. You know, CJ and BI can score the ball, Zion can play point forward and also play a little bit of defense. But these guys are the ones that stretch the defense and also defend and they lead the charge on the wings with guarding the bigger guards, the Kevin Durantz, the LeBron James that they're going to see in the playoffs, the Jamal Murray. You're going to see Herb Jones get thrown on them or Tray Murphy, you know, bigger, long athletic guards to affect those smaller guards' shots. So these guys are not only key for them offensively but defensively because they're the ones that are going to be leading the charge on that end of the floor. Can we just... I love Mike Brown. Took a little bit of time in his pregame presser and wanted to sort of scold the media because they're not talking enough about De'Aaron Fox as a potential MVP. I mean, in fairness, it's the beginning of December. But... It's very early. It's very early. Do you agree, though? Is he on that list? I'd like to see how long this list is. You know, this... This early is probably a really long list. Really long list. Yeah, I mean, this Sacramento team is sitting at fifth in the West for him to be a constant part of that conversation. He got to get them in that top three. And I mean, it's not great for them to get knocked out on that home court for this end-season tournament to have, you know, somewhat of a rent for that to happen. And so on the list, sure. But I would like to see how long that list is. Agreed. And I think a lot of times what we do as people, as players and coaches, we try to put together the full body of work into one season. You know, we can't count. Obviously, he was the most clutch player last season. He had a great season, all of last year in the end of season. But you can't add that with this season. Oh, he should be an MVP... If you put them together, yeah, he's definitely an MVP conversation. But this season is different from last season. It's a regular season award. And so far, there's a lot of guys on that list that's playing very well in the regular season. Demona Sabonis had, you know, 26 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists. I would... I will say this personally. I think the Sacramento Kings are the team. I most hear the question, can they beat and then fill in the blank? Like, are they good enough to do this, this, and this? And so I wonder if they're missing something. I don't think so. I think they have enough. Maybe defensively, at moments, they have some lapses, but they have the depth, they have the scoring power, they have, you know, the coaching. They have the star power with, you know, Fox and Sabonis. So I think they have enough to get it done. And they were right there on the brink of it last year playing Golden State. It was just a more experienced, more mature team that got them. I think if, you know, it's strange how playoffs match up, because I think if that season, that series ends up differently, it may end up differently for the Lakers, because I honestly think Sacramento would have been a tougher matchup for the Lakers in the next series. So strangely enough, I think, I think they have enough. I don't think they have anything missing. I don't see them making any moves before the deadline. Right. But defensively, they need to tweak some things. Better match up for the Pelicans, Sons or Lakers? Neither way is an easy route. Neither way is an easy route. But listen, the Pelicans played really well last night. I'm excited to see Sons, Lakers tonight. But if I'm going to pick one, I'm probably going to say the Lakers. The Sons, D-Book and KD, they've been playing at a high, high clip. And, you know, this Lakers team can also be hot and cold at times. And so I'm going to say the Lakers will probably be a better matchup for them if they want to get to the next round. I think either one of these teams are an easy route. Yeah, I hope not. I'm going to go with the Sons. It all depends on AD. I don't want to see a aggressive... Can you elaborate on AD? Because we have these debates about AD, like for sure, we just don't feel his presence. No, AD, and I think this year he's done a better job of you don't see it in the numbers on the stat sheet as much, especially offensively. But defensively, he's carrying that what he did last year at the end of the season of protecting the paint. And if I'm the Pelicans, I don't want to be bothered by AD's room protection. I don't want to be bothered by AD's room protection. I think Phoenix has, you know, not as good defensively. So I think if you want to score, you want to be able to chance to beat a team or be effective the way Zion is, the way Valentunus is at the room last night, I think you don't want to play against Anthony Davis when he's playing his best basketball. Yeah, if you get a hot Anthony Davis night. You never know. You never know. That's the beauty of the system. Take it a quick break. When we come back, we've got some shams, scoops, they always rank their top five shooters. Run it back. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. I love this part. Shams, scoops and Austin Reeves. Oh, got himself a little deal or at least extended it. What's going on? Yeah, it's never a dull moment. Austin Reeves gets a new contract in Lakerland. But he had a multi-year deal with this Chinese shoe company, Rigor, last summer, seven figures per year. Two months into this NBA season, him and his reps, they rip up that contract. He signed a new extension with Rigor that now includes part ownership. He's going to be a shareholder with the company. He's dropping new shoes on Friday. So for Austin Reeves, we know what he's done this season with the Lakers. He's taken, I think, a step last year in the playoffs. You know, was a star, maybe a third star on different nights. But now as a shoe brand, has his own signature shoe line with the Chinese shoe company, Rigor. Oh, I'm not going to just let that pass. You ever heard of Rigor? No, I have not. But I mean... Seven figures, seven figures. It is. It's a great deal. A smart deal. Nobody wants to make that magic, Johnson. Oh, don't say it, say it! Nobody wants to make that mistake when I get, you know, steak in the company. So it could be a big deal in the future. We never know. I never heard of it, but I'm sure we'll hear of it 20 years from now. It might be one of the biggest sneaker companies in China. He might be the pioneer in on the ground floor of this company. For all we know, they're the biggest company and we're just ignorant. That's probably more likely. But we have talked about the Austin Reeves situation in the year 2023. Obviously he got the deal. Now he's coming off the bench. Do you think this is a good move for him? I think it's a good move for them. For the Lakers. With the ball handling, D'Angelo, Russell, you got LeBron James on the ball. You don't need too many guys on the ball in the first unit. I think this gives him more freedom. It gives him a spark off the bench. Another aggressor offensively off the bench. So it's better for him. Yes, he can pick and choose and have more opportunities for his spots. And it's better for their team collectively. So it seems to be working out. And I'm assuming they're going to keep it going from hearing out until things seem broken. It's not affecting his other money. So clearly everything is good in Austin Reeves Land. Shams, is it snowing in Chicago yet? It is. We got a couple layers of snow today, but it's all good. Shut up. I was kind of kidding. Oh my God, I love it so much. Bring some. All right, we will see you bright and early tomorrow. Appreciate you. And since we have Danny here, it's what better time than a rank of a situation. 40% from free for his career. So we thought, why not? Top five shooters. It seems pretty logical. So, Danny, you're first. Your top five. It's hard to rank shooters and scorers. So my number five, I'm going to go, and I gave this kid a lot of slack, Tyrese Maxie. The scout report on him when he first came to the league was, you know, go under. You know, you can't, he's not a great shooter because he's so fast. You don't want to let him get to the rim. But the last couple of years, he's been shooting at a high clip, 40 to 42%. The last couple of years. So I'm going to put him at number five. I like it. That's one of my top five young guys shooting because most scorers don't shoot well from three. They usually shoot under 40. Gotcha. Even Book is a great scorer, a great shooter, but I don't think he's ever gotten to 40 from three in his career, interestingly enough. But yeah, most scorers don't shoot from three. Tyrese, I think is one of those guys that's going to be a scorer that still shoots really well from three. All right, Tyrese. Number four, Desmond Bain, another guy. He's been shooting at a high clip since he's been in the league. 42, 43%. You can, you know, count it. You can put it. You can scratch him in for that each year. And he's been happy to carry away, even though Memphis has not been playing well this year. He's still scoring a high clip, you know, 25 to 30 points for them. And he still shoots 40 plus from three. All right. I like that. Number three, Clay Thompson. He's a forever going to be in the top five. Regardless of how much he's struggling or not. Forever. Forever, as long as he's playing, he's going to be in that top five for me in the league and in history. He's one of the top five shooters in the history of the game. You cannot have him not in the top three while he's an active player in the top five shooters in the league. I like seeing that. So number two, Damian Lillert, another one. A scorer shoots at a high clip from three and, you know, him and Steph are just in the league of their own from the range they shoot from. And of course, number one is Steph. So these two guys, you know, go hand in hand. You can't go wrong with either one of them, which how they shoot with off the dribble, off the catch and multiple various ways, but they shoot a 40 clip and a high volume as well. If somebody didn't have Steph at one, I think we couldn't take the list seriously. But that's not a pressure on you to tell us your list now. Top five. I think Danny's a percentages guy. For sure. He went with the numbers. See me, I'm just a, I'm a bucket. You know what I'm saying? So I'm thinking in terms of if I got one shot, who do I want to give this basketball to to win me a basketball game? So at number five, Luca Dunchich is at my five spot. It was a stretch when I was playing for the Clippers. We literally had to guard this guy before he crossed half court because of the range. He gave you guys struggles though. Yeah, he gave us. He had a thing with the Clippers. I don't know why, but he had a thing. He has the number. I think once the cover was pulled off of us and he realized that he could take advantage of a few scenarios, it began to get a little difficult for us. So Luca at five, for me, number four, I'm going with Devin Booker. Who has a prettier jump shot than Devin Booker? Who's more consistent in the mid range than Devin Booker? Super smooth, consistent. Within the three point range, this guy can totally shoot the basketball. At number three, I'm also going with Damian Lillard. Ranging consistency. This is another guy that you have to guard as soon as you get out of his car at the arena. You know, he just has the range where he can shoot the ball from anywhere. He's always going to be a threat. Number two, I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. It's Clay Thompson. For sure. He's one of the best shooters in the world. I'm giving Clay Thompson number two based on the body of work, the things that he's done over the course of his career. I don't care that he's struggling right now. He's the second best shooter in his league. And obviously, it's his brother, the Splash Brothers. Steph Curry. There you go. Splash. He got notes. I don't even have to elaborate on that. Steph Curry is the best shooter in the world. I kind of love that Clay Thompson's earned enough equity that he will be on the list regardless. That's a respect. But was there anyone, either one of you, both of you, that you had to leave off that was tough? I mean, it varies year to year. There's always a couple of guys that I believe of. And Book was one of them. Katie, he was shooting at 50. I had Katie there too. Katie was up there, it's the earliest season, like 57 at one point. There's a couple of guys that had to leave off. And there's also guys that don't get the recognition that shoot very well. Malik Beasley and Milwaukee shooting very well. There's always Luke Canard, who shoots very well from three. There's a bunch of guys. I go by numbers. You go, yeah. It's percentages. So some guys get, you know, high clip percentages. There's always some of those guys that don't play a lot of minutes or get the notoriety that I think can change the game. And you know, you see in Dallas, there's a couple of guys there that can change the game. You know, Steph Curry coming off the bench. Oh, yeah? They can shoot it very well. And even though Steph is number one, Steph has a really good career percentage as well. That's right. The numbers. Wait, is there anything, because everyone knows Clay, obviously with the struggles and whatnot. Could he turn it on and have him above game? Oh, it takes his one. Absolutely. Yeah, okay. All it takes is one. One game, one shot. Yeah. For shooters, you get one shot. If you get one that gets you high and then one game to get your confidence back. It's where you're not thinking about it and getting in rhythm. But that's just the life of a Hooper and of a shooter. It's part of it. By the way, the fact that you were writing the entire time, like a lawyer in court was quite interesting. It's a professional. It's my style. Yeah, just every time. It's my style. You can possibly be writing right that. All right, so we got some guys that were left off and maybe next time we'll make a game both though. All right. Time for another edition of Say What after this break. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. You know, I'm looking forward to his first game whenever he's cleared and whenever he's ready to have his first game. I already told my teammates that if they play on the same day we play and then I might have to catch them next game. So, yeah, I told y'all I told y'all I'm gonna play. Family over everything, champs. So, like y'all, if I could definitely got to see Bronny's first, you know, his college game whenever he's cleared and ready to go. Yeah, I told y'all on the plane, remember? That's my favorite part. Nobody has a problem with this, right? This is totally acceptable. He's definitely earned that. You know, his sons, his sons' first colleague is going to play his son's first college game on top of the adversity that he's been through, how hard he's had to work to get back on the basketball court. I think everybody is perfectly fine with that. I'm actually looking forward to seeing this as well. So, this is not a problem at all. Same. We're all fans of the game, but I think Bronny is such a workaholic when he, I don't think he believed himself when he was saying it. As you can see it in his face. So, you don't think he will actually do it? I don't know if he'll actually do it, but he loves to compete himself. He loves to play. He's going to try to do both if he can. Somehow he's going to try to attend the game and then go to his game if he can do that. Oh, man. So, yeah, that's what he does. But as a fan, we're all, everybody's looking forward to Bronny being back on the court. I'm not surprised now that he said this publicly. It might get rigged up to his liking. Oh. The scheduling sort of changes last minute. He has that type of pool. Everybody. I kind of like that, actually, if that happens. Yeah, good. We're all in agreement there. John Sully had some words on LeBron saying, I think he can play as long as Tom Brady until he's 45. 45, though, huh? You played with him. Can he do it until 45? I'm a big believer in... no. I don't think you could be father time. Absolutely not. And I didn't think that he would make it to playing with Bronny. But the way he's playing this year and how fresh he looks, he looked better than last year to me. So I think he'll be able to play with Bronny, but another 60... because he's going to turn into 39, he's going to play. I just don't see it. But the way he's really making me a believer each year, each game, each month of how fresh and how he's chasing down blocking dunks, chasing down blocks, dunking the ball, having five or six dunks in a game, which is unbelievable. I'm like, man, he looks young again. I don't know how he's going... he's beating father time right now. But another five years, I think father time is going to get another two or so. That's a long time. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it does. No, five years is a long time. Yes, that's fun. Jordan Hawkins said the following, anybody has the ability to become a 40% three-point shooter. Yeah, Danny. That'll get you on any team in the league. Just shooting the ball and defending. All that dribbling is cool, but I just keep it simple. A 40% shooter will get you on any team. Yeah, right? I feel like what's happening here? No, I agree. I agree with him. I don't know if he should have threw a shot at the dribblers in the league. The ballhandlers, he really exposed not his cup of tea. Fair. No, I agree with this take. If you're a 40% guy, you're going to get an opportunity in this league. Shooting is at a premium. You know, teams are always looking for a guy that they can throw out on the floor that can go make shots to them. So I agree with this take. I agree that you have an opportunity, but I don't agree that anybody can be a 40%. Right. It's not, some guys, as much as hard as they work at it, they just may not have the touch. They may not have the shooting. They may have the footwork and agility and, you know, hand-eye coordination and the IQ to be able to read people's rhythms and chemistry to play defense. Some people can work at it really hard at a long time, a lot of hours and still not be great at it. So I don't think anybody can do it, but to his point, a lot of guys are capable of being a role player and doing or being great at what they're good at and get an opportunity to play in this league. Tribbling is the hard part of talking about the wizard's struggles. This is, we can't guard a stop sign. That's kind of really what it boils down to. We let anybody get whatever they want on us. So until we change that, then that's probably going to be the result. I don't disagree with them. Who's at fault here? I mean, they need some leadership and I think this is him trying to be a leader and trying to set a fire under them or light a fire under them. There's other ways to go about it. I don't think this is wrong. I'm not going to say wrong or right, I'm going to say something and let them know. They are lacking some veteran leadership. They're lacking a lot of things. I could see them being one of the teams that makes some moves because right now I expected them to be a lot better. I think that the world expected, not a lot better but better for sure. We expected more from their two guys and they're doing what they can but they said they're just lacking that leadership. That's the only way I can put it. I mean, he's been a part of some of those Jordan Poole experience moments though where they're just doing their best. This is the question of the day and I've just been waiting to get to this loop. Anthony Edwards said he thinks he might be the first NBA player to play also in the NFL. Now, of course, he said he wants to win an NBA championship first but is it going to happen? Hell no. Why? Listen, just imagine an NBA player saying he's going to wake up and I'm just going to go play football. So I would like to hear more context of what he meant by this. You know, maybe if he's saying I'm going to train, I'm going to do what's appropriate to try to get myself. Let's say he's going to train. Train however many months you want. I'm still saying no. I'm still saying no. You just have to be built for it. I think when we train we are big guys. We are muscular guys. We are in shape but we're in shape to do something completely different than play NFL football. So no, Ant-Man. Hell no. You can't play in the NFL. I'm a dream killer. You are a dream killer. Come on. I think we are able to adapt and adjust other sports better than other professional sports. But to be a professional I think you can try but you have to put your 10,000 hours in. And I don't think this is going to happen overnight. I don't think six months or a year is going to where you can just change and transfer over to be another professional athlete or another professional sport player. I think it would take some time. But it would be interesting to watch. I'm obsessed with this. I would think it would be a lot of fun for other sports to be able to change sports if they can. We just don't see it anymore. And with Deon Sanders doing back in the day when Mike went to baseball and we had a couple guys playing sports. These guys are unicorns. Yeah. You don't have that anymore. You don't have any more. Because we had Travis Kelsey on the show and he and Chandler said he could walk in the NFL and get things done and Travis Kelsey no chance. But then I'm thinking he could walk into the NFL and get a touch down. What a strong one that's. What's wrong with us. What's wrong with us. It's not. It's the world blue. You know a lot of the world is delusional. On the basketball court, he plays at his own place. He's smooth. You got three seconds to make a play in the NFL. It's a different type of speed. Obviously, our game moves fast. Their game moves fast, too, especially when you don't know what you're doing, and you haven't done it 10,000 hours, and you're not a professional at it. Even when you sit out from injury, I was injured last year, when you come back, the game is, you don't realize how fast you're like, damn, that game is so fast. It takes a while for you to adapt and adjust to it. I'm just thinking. I can't imagine a guy just going to another sport and how fast that game seems for them. Listen, as freakishly athletic as DK Metcalf is, if he woke up today and said, I can go play in the NBA, every single NBA player would be offended. For sure. Every single one of us would be offended, and we would make it a point to make it miserable for him to even think that. So for us to think that we're going to flip-flop and go do something that's way more physical, we have a flop rule in the NBA. No, I know. If we get pressed at the line, we're not going to fight through that and still run our route. We're going to be looking at the referee swan the flag. Did you see that? Yes, it's not happening. This is always the great debate of every sport and every barbershop. We love talking about it, and it's going to be until it happens again, because we've seen in the past other players change their sports. People always going to debate whether they can box, whether they can play baseball, whether they can swim. Oh, this guy can go here. It's going to forever be a debate until it happens. And I think it might be one of the first ones to let us see what happens if we change the sport. Well, he said he wants to win a championship first. So first things first. Let's get that accomplished. I'm going to take some time. And we got some time. All right, tell me one player in the league, because now I'm just stuck down this rabbit hole. Who's going to hit the hardest in the NBA? Who would hit the hardest right now, if needed? Isaiah Stewart. Isaiah Stewart. No! He's proven he's about that line. I love that. OK, so we got that. We like a little contact. That's going to be the next example when we try to figure out how to stick someone in the NFL. This topic is one of my favorites to do. We can do it every day. But we'll move on. Darvin Ham said, trying to contain Tyrese Maxie is like trying to contain a Lamborghini. Hmm, is this accurate? Very close, yes. He's very fast. And he's a smart player. He's not just a fast player. He's athletic. He's explosive. But he knows the game. He understands the game. And now the fact that he can shoot, it makes it that much harder to guard him. Because you can't just go under screens. You can't give him space or cushion. You have to guard him out there. That's the reason why Trey is one of the hardest players to guard in this league as well. Because he can shoot from far out. And he's very fast. So you have to come up with schemes, whether to double them or different types of schemes on the pick and roll of how to guard them. Because they're so quick and smart and can shoot the ball from deep range. Where are we raking Lamborghinis on the sports car list? That's pretty high. I'm not much of a sports car type of guy. We need them, but I'd say it's probably top three. Top three? Most money I've wasted in my life are sports cars. Wasted? Didn't you not enjoy them when you had them? I just don't enjoy them. The engines are too loud. They're a little small on the inside. It's just it's not a very pleasurable thing for me personally. I don't think I've ever disagreed with one of your takes more in my entire life. Oh, you're an engine. The engine's too loud. Yeah, in the Lamborghini, your engine is literally behind your. That means it's an amazing car. American muscle, huh? I'm not American. I'm in the music. I want to hear my music. Oh, that's fair. I'm a cruiser. I listen to sports talk like every cool person does. Oh, take a quick break here. When we come back, we will preview the next two games happening tonight. We got games tonight. The second games of this entire beautiful process. So we've got Suns, Lakers, and Lakers won the West Group. They were 4-0. Suns were 3-1. Got the wild card. There are so many stars in this game. It's kind of silly, but let's just for the sake of it. LeBron, AD, KD, Booker, best player that's going to be on that floor tonight is who? I mean, I said earlier, I'm going to go with LeBron. I think he's been the healthiest this year, the most available, and he's its most consistent. Book, obviously, is always at a high level, but he's been in and out of line-up, so I'm KD. Been in and out of line-up. AD as well. Offensively, inconsistency is here and there, but defensively, he's been great. But I'm going to go with LeBron. LeBron has been playing it. So he looks fresher than to me than he was last year, which is unbelievable. And he's playing at another level that I haven't seen. We haven't seen anybody do it at this age, so. We haven't seen what LeBron's been doing at this age. Extremely impressive. Like I said, every game that he plays, everything that he does on a basketball court at this point is history. But pre-injury, Kevin Durant was the best player in the NBA. And so among these four, Kevin Durant is the guy. All right, are those your keys as well, or do you have keys that we should be looking out for that maybe no one's thinking about? You know, honestly, I don't have a key. I'm excited to watch this game. Same. I'm just excited to watch it. I do have a key. I think AD is the key for the Lakers. He's the puzzle. Oh, Lakers, he's the key. For Phoenix, I also think Nurkic, because in that matchup, you know, if Nurkic can handle or contain AD, if he plays defensively, protect the paint for them, protect the rim. So I think the big man matchup is the key for this game. But I think, for some reason, I got the Lakers. I think the Lakers, in season tournament, they've been playing at another level. They've been playing very well. It's something about that in-season tournament hasn't played at a very good playoff-like type of chemistry and winning some games. Do you agree, Lakers, tonight? Prediction time. I'd go against the Grand. I like the Sun. I do like the Suns. I think the Suns is a better team, but in season tournament, Lakers have been playing really well during that time. The value of a LeBron James buying into the in-season tournament for everyone to see, that has to be critical to the league. LeBron is a fan of the game. He watched last night. He's seeing the excitement. He's on social media. He's seeing how the fans are reacting. He's going to come out and try to win this basketball game. But I think all of these guys are. I think we're all in at this point. So it'd be exciting to watch. Well, the other game, of course, is Knicks, Bucks. I really just simply, who's winning tonight? That's all I want to know. Milwaukee. For sure. I got the Knicks. I got the Knicks sneaking them. I got the Knicks sneaking them. Last night, we saw Sacramento get upset and Boston. So I think this is the tournament of the upsets. And I'm going to go with the Knicks. And I'm going to see, I guess, Knicks-Lakers matchup. I think that's how it happens. Oh, in the end? Yeah. No, the next one would be Knicks would play the Pacers or the Bucks. I always lean on star power. So Jalen Brunson. Yeah, Jalen Brunson is a star. However, he's not a Dame Lillard star at this point of his career. I got the Lakers in the finals. And Indiana. Oh, I love this. OK, that's going to be fun. We'll get your predictions tomorrow. Everybody else's. That's going to do it for us today. We'll be back tomorrow.