 Run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back, run it back. Run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back. Good morning. Welcome to Run It Back. We are here on a Tuesday, cloudy in New York. I don't know where it is. Where you guys are. We got Chicago, LA, Atlanta. We are very, very national. This show right here. Stadium insider Shum Shrani, a Chandler Parsons. Lou Williams on the end. Guys, we had a lot of basketball, which is good because we have none tonight. So we better take this entire hour to talk about it. And it was the big James Harden debut in the garden. Spoiled. Defeating the Clippers, 111, 97. James Harden did have 17 and 6 assists. Kawhi finished with 18. Russell Westbrook was 17. And Julius Randall, here in the grapes of Nix fans, it looks like, 27 points, 10 rebounds. But we're going to concentrate on Harden here at the top, Chandler. Your biggest takeaway was what? Uh, very passive. I think this first quarter, he didn't take a shot in his first stint, which also is no need to panic. This is a guy that hasn't had a proper training camp. He hasn't went through a preseason, may have practiced one or two times with this team to get familiar with the offense. And this just kind of looked like this was the first day of school for these guys. No one wanted to step on each other's toes. No one wanted to be a pig and be aggressive and shoot too many shots. It was an ugly game both ways. Honestly, in the first half, but it was, it was a sign of maturity for me to see James kind of take it back seat in that first quarter and kind of let everything settle and then start off slow. But this isn't a matter of how they wanted to go. I'm sure nobody with 20 plus points. Paul George struggled huge. They got going a little bit and they did show flashes that this can work and they have some excellent offensive plays. But this was just, it seemed like they were just like a first date. They were getting to know each other. They were unfamiliar and very, very fast. CP, I agree with you, but only thing I disagree with when it comes to James, I thought it was, I thought it was more of the same. I've seen him play like this in Philadelphia where he's kind of taking that back seat to Joel or he's being a facilitator. I like to see him just be aggressive going out gunning and being who he is and everybody falling in line. And so I don't want him to get caught up in playing this way. They're going to need him to be aggressive on the offensive end and be himself for them to be successful. I like the idea of the first date analogy. I mean, what did we expect? He's just going to go in there like a bull in a china shop, but we all are keeping our eyes on everything. Shoms, the dynamic between all of these superstars on one team, the starting lineup, all those that the dynamic between Westbrook and Harden specifically, what have you heard? Yeah, I think that's going to be the most critical thing to see. And we saw early in the game, I think Chandler spoke to just now, like the sacrifice and like the guys actually passing, maybe even overpassing. There was one point where James Harden had an open three, but he kicked it to Russell Westbrook, who might have had an even better look. He makes a three from the corner. So I think the fact that Russell Westbrook started the game on the ball playing point guard, you go out and get James Harden because of his playmaking, his ability to facilitate. And like Lou just said, this is a guy in James Harden who has been showing the last couple of years in Brooklyn before and then in Philly that he's he's a willing passer, like he's able to make that extra pass. He's able to change his game and really facilitate the ball. But I am curious for how long do they go with this four star lineup in their starting five, because there is this concept of there's one basketball. And so every decision that these guys make, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, it's magnified, especially when you have two guys in Kauai Leonard, Paul George, Kauai Leonard is the best player on this team. Paul George has a case to be, you know, one A one B on any given night. And so how do they make sure those two guys shine on every given night? And Terrence Mann is getting close to return. That's the guy who Tyloo said was going to be the starter. So I mean, I'm curious how Tyloo handles the starting lineup, especially when you bring in James Harden to be the guy on the ball. You know, it's funny because we all had these ideas or fortune telling on how this was going to look right off the bat. If you would have told me that Paul George, who was averaging about 29 points coming into last night, would be the guy last night that finished with 10. I would have lost that bet, Lou. Why do you think that was the case for last night? Yeah, to me, I'm talking this up as a bad night. To me, it seemed as though he was getting the shots that he liked in the usual spots he was doing. He had his mid post spots. He was shooting his pull up threes. They were doing the pin downs where he was coming off and shooting the threes. A lot of those times when I watch the Clippers play those are the looks that he get. Didn't get one got one for 63 got 11 shots. Only one other person have more shots than that. So I wouldn't talk. I wouldn't say this is a James Harden thing. I'm talking this up. It's just a bad night at the guard. Yeah. And also, and also it's going to be a different guy every single night for this team, right? It's not going to be Paul George going to get 30 every night. He's going to have tough nights. The two for 11 is tough and the 10 points is kind of glaring when you look at it today. But this team has so much talent. There's guys on the binge. Bones, Highland, Norman Powell, those guys are going to lead this team in scoring. So when you have that much firepower offensively, there's going to be some stinkers from guys like Paul George, like James Harden, where they're going to have single digit scoring games, which is not the norm for them. So that's going to be an adjustment period. The other thing was the rebounding. I think the Knicks out rebounded them by 17 or 18 offensive rebounds with the height differential. Is there a concern there on your part, Chandler, that the Clippers are just going to be too small? Yeah, it's funny because you got to go back to like old school college box out drills. These guys, a lot of times when you have an athletic back front court, those guys rely on their athleticism, their height, their length, just to go and get a rebound. Kind of like K.D. at the end of that San Antonio game where you got to put a body on people. And when you're that small and when you basically have three wings and two guards and it puts a huge onus on a zoo box, puts a huge onus on guys like Plumlee that come in, they have to clean up the glass. And those guys, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, they have to be getting in double digit rebounds. They have to be attacking the offensive glass and they literally have to go old school box out because they can't. They're going to have to put bodies on Zion. They have to put bodies on Anthony Davis, Joel and B. They're going to have to do that. They're going to be guarding and blocking out a lot bigger guys. So yeah, that comes with it, but they still also have to guard them on the other end. So it's a, it's a tit for tat situation, but it's definitely puts a huge onus on all those guys. Russell Westbrook has to continue to rebound. Well, he's got to be that guy getting 10, 12 rebounds a night for this small ball line up to have success. Oh, I want to ask you, Lou, the clippers with the turnovers. I look, I feel like almost everything feels very, as you guys said at the beginning, first day of school is, but 22 turnovers. Can we chalking that up to just new guys getting to know each other first game? No, I think there's, I think that's different. You know, they have a lot of like size guys and a lot of like size positions. I saw Zubek out there with three of the best combo guards, one of the best small fours in the game, but there wasn't a lot of screening. There wasn't a lot of playing together. It was too much iso ball. And I think that was natural because of the positions that these guys play. I think my first red flag was seeing Russell Westbrook and the docker so much playing in those positions. You know, they got to find lineups to give them more size. And for that, I think they were just trying to pass the ball around and try to make plays to guys in positions that they're naturally weren't in, you know, and on a defensive end, the Knicks were at the rim all night. So definitely agree with Chandler so much as far as size. That's going to be an issue for them going down, going down to stretch of these games. You know, the Knicks, they woke Julius Randall up. They gave him an opportunity to attack the rim, get to the basket, use his size to be effective on the inside of the rim. And they exploited that. And so that's going to be an issue for them going down the line offensively and defensively. And they legit just lost Mason Plumley. He got his leg crashed into by Julius Randall. And they're not, he's going through testing today, but they're not optimistic about his leg injury. And we'll see how bad that's going to be. But that's another guy that they're going to be without. He plays such a vital role coming off the bench, a guy that can pass, a guy that can obviously play in the dunker spot. So that is going to be a tough, you know, hopefully not a long-term loss for them, but definitely a short-term loss. And we'll see. I do think they'll look into the veteran big man market if he does miss significant time. Who are we looking at? The NBA doesn't sign veterans anymore. I know. I'm like, who's out there? All right. I'm curious about that. Switching gears over to the Knicks side. When I tell you that Julius Randall is the subject of conversation here in New York, and it's frustration on like 100 all the time, I'm not exaggerating. He was averaging under 17 and he was shooting 27%. And then last night, he just drops 27 points. I don't know if he's hearing it. I don't know if he's oblivious to it or what, Chandler. But what do you do with Julius Randall? I mean, listen, this is a guy who's been all NBA two of the last three years. He's had, those are great seasons. I don't care how bad he's struggling now. It's unfair to make, to put this amount of bonus and pressure on him where he's, let's be honest, he's probably not a number one option on a championship contending team. Now he can be any given night. He can be a great two or three guy. I think Adam Jalen Brunson has really helped him. But yeah, he's having a historically bad start. When you look at his stats, 25% from the 329 from the field, 67 from the free throw. That's on him. That's on him to take better shots. That's on him to not force. You can tell he feels this pressure, which means he's definitely hearing it because he's taking kind of bad shots. He's getting to step back. He's taking low percent shots, which is not going to help him get out of this hole. Now last night he got to his left hand. He got to the basket. He got to the foul line. He let the game come to him and he looked much better. But again, it's like playing on the Lakers or Clippers. There's a different kind of heat. There's a different kind of pressure when you're playing in that kind of market and those New York fans there, they want greatness every single night. But like, look at that shot right there. Even that fade away spinning corner jumper. It's a tough shot. But when he lets the game come to him, when he takes the pick and pop threes, when he comes down in transition, gets to his left hand, beats bigger slower guys off the dribble, that's where he's great. But I think he showed flashes last night that, you know, he can still be that guy. It's just, it's again, it's a small sample size. It's seven or eight games. He's going to be fine. But for him to, I think for him to really flourish, he needs to not have that number one role. He needs to have better guys around him and to really be on a championship team. Yeah. They, uh, they're not quiet in these parts about their feelings for Julius Randall. It's very interesting. Switching gears, Lakers and the Miami heat. This was a doozy heat hanging on to barely defeat LA by a point down in South Beach. They missed four open shots. The Lakers did at the end of this one. I'll give you some numbers. Bam out of bio 40 or 20 points, 20 rebounds, tenesis. That ain't bad. Jimmy Butler would 28. LeBron had 30 and 37 minutes and Austin Reeves dumped in 23 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists. Now the big thing that everyone's going to talk about obviously is on that last play. LeBron kicks it out to Cam Reddish who misses the shot. And now I feel like I'm in a time machine and I've gone back and now I'm asking you this, Chandler, should LeBron James have passed that ball or should he have taken a shot himself? He should pass that ball 10 times out of 10. That was an unbelievable elite, elite pass. Now we can argue if this board, this picture of the board we saw if that was real or that was actually the, you know, Cam Reddish in that spot who hadn't taken a three all game long. Now this is interesting. Seeing this board shows you that's exactly what LeBron should do because that was literally the play that was drawn up. But that's a high basketball IQ. And to have that open of a look, I don't care that it's cambers. If he makes a shot today, we're giving him his flower saying he's a hero and he's so clutched. It's an unbelievable play. It's the easiest shot in the NBA is that corner three. Now my confusion is why didn't they put a Torian Prince and Austin Reeves, a Christian Wood who had made three threes already? Sure, argue that. But anybody that says that's a horrible pass and LeBron should have took a one leg fade away floater knows nothing about basketball. It was a great pass. Oh, dropping that. Lou, you agree? Yeah, I agree with Chandler. We can pick this play apart is high basketball IQ. He saw help coming over. And this has been LeBron's MO throughout his career. He makes the right play whether it's for him. Usually when the game's on the line, if they're not giving him a sneak drive to the rim where he can lay it up, he's probably going to be the facilitator in that play. So I think this is the right call. We can go back and forth and in personnel and who should have been in that corner. I play with Kam Reddish. I know him. I know him to be a score, a knockdown shooter. I know he's struggling in LA, but you know, they got two or three guys they could have put there. But I think this is the right play. Yeah, definitely the right play. Now, I don't know if it's the right play call. Could you have gone with LeBron James, Christian Wood, pick and roll? There are a couple of probably different options you could have had there, but definitely the right pass. But then if you notice on that play as well, I think it was like four or five seconds on the clock. Kyle Lowry shows shows help on Kam Reddish on the kick out. Torian Prince was wide open there on that shot after Kyle Lowry helped. So I think this could have went a couple of different ways, but there's no doubt LeBron made the right play passing this out. Definitely enough time to make extra pass. Yeah, that corner three, that's the best shot. And basketball is the highest percentage three. He's probably thinking I'm really going to look silly if I make this extra pass and the clock runs out. Again, we're nitpicking here. If he makes that shot, we're talking about how clutch camera issues and how it's such a good signing. Completely different conversation. It's the right play. It's the right shot. I feel, I mean, I've been doing this for a long time and I feel like this particular question about should LeBron have taken the shot? It's been part of his narrative since day one. Has any other player, and this is again, sounds like a LeBron question. We don't do this with anybody else, like as much as we do with LeBron, right guys? Like, can you imagine or remember anybody else who we question their sort of last minute antics? No, but I think this is part of his greatness. This is why guys want to play with him. He's not, he's not just the all-time leading scorer. He makes passes like this to Cambridge who again, like Lou said, he's a great scorer, but LeBron is a basketball savant. He doesn't care who that is. That's the right statistical play. Why take a one-legged fadeaway shot with help side coming over a great shot blocker? I'm going to kick it to the open guy because I'm a great teammate. I'm a great passer, and that's the right basketball play, and he should do that every single time. We want to nitpick and say if he stops and takes a fadeaway or takes a hook shot right there, we're talking about how it's a horrible play. He should have kicked it. So it's a lose-lose situation for him unless Cambridge makes that shot. But yeah, there's certain, listen, there's certain scenarios in his career where I think he should have taken the shot, and he was a little passive. But again, that's what makes him who he is. That's what makes him the greatest in his vision, the way he can pass that thing and score that thing. So he did no wrong here. Well, he was not happy about the refs after this one, complained about them a bit afterwards, where his complaints valid. Chandler, you start. You can find something to complain about. Being a NBA referee, it's the worst job in the world. Any time you blow that whistle, well, there's a couple that are worse. But any time you blow that whistle, somebody's pissed, right? You can't please everybody. And there's no way these guys are going into these games. I know how guys, some players think it's a personal like Vendetta, and they can't get the whistle. Listen, I'm a player. I hated a lot of the refs, trust me, but there's nothing personal there. They're trying to do their job just as we are. So I get it early in the season, LeBron, go get fine. Talk about that. Maybe you'll get some more whistles now, but it's nothing personal. They're not doing this intentional, and they're just, they're trying to get it right, especially nowadays with replays and everything. They're not purposely trying to get it wrong. But sure, there were some calls that were missed last night. There's going to be some calls that are missed tomorrow night. That's part of the game. I mean, I would argue, I'd push back a little bit on that. There have to be a few over the course of the NBA history that have been personal. I just think of Crawford and Tim Duncan. I feel like there had to have been some dudes that didn't like them. Well, Donna, he had his personal reasons to... Well, yeah, he was invested very much. Anthony Davis left the game, had the growing hip spasm. And of course, Lakers fans are like, no, shams. What's the latest there? I'm sure Anthony Davis is going to have tests today and just make sure that it's not anything else structurally wrong. But yeah, I mean, it's growing hip spasm that whole area of the adductor. But for now, Anthony Davis said post game, I expect to be 100%. I'm definitely going to play Wednesday in Houston. So that's the approach that Lakers are taking. He'll have more tests today, but definitely a unique injury. Play happened. It looked like he just tweaked that area. And it wasn't anything that really happened on contact. So you hope there's nothing more severe. But when he did come in and come out and then come back in and checked in and out, he was hobbled. And it looked like how he looked in the 2021 playoffs against the Suns where he had the groin injury, the groin strain, and he just didn't look right on the court. And if he's not moving, he's not able to be athletic and impact the game defensively. Obviously, that's not the Anthony Davis that the Lakers need. No. And it's not the one that LeBron called the face. And so, Lou, I ask you, who's more vital to this team's success? AD or LeBron? It's going to be LeBron for me for sure. He controls the pace of the game, gets everybody involved. He's usually going to get something good in transition when he's running full speed and attacking that ramp. He anchors that defense by his presence and how he communicates and holds everybody accountable on a defensive end. And I think AD waits a lot of games for the game to come to him. And I think that reason is being that he plays with LeBron because LeBron controls everything that has to do with a basketball game. So, LeBron gets my vote for that one. All right, Chandler, you agree? They need them both to have any chance. But yeah, I think LeBron is the guy everyone tries to keep saying this AD has the keys, he's the future, or he's the franchise. It's because he's in his prime, it's because he's younger, it's because of LeBron's age. But currently, as we stand right now, LeBron James is the best player on this team. Interesting, interesting. BAM out of IO. He had a good night. You heard the numbers, six career triple double. Where, Chandler, are you putting him on your list of centers in the league right now? Oh, it's tough because Joe Kitchen and Beter are in a league of their own, and then there's BAM. And then he's almost in a league of his own with the rest of the guys. And he's so versatile. He can do it all. He's a great defender. He's great help side coming over. He can move his feet. He can switch one through five. He is a stud. That's why he's so valuable with Team USA. And when, when with this, with this Miami Heat team, he can do it all. He can score in multiple ways. He can knock down jumpers. He can go back to the basket. He's just in an interesting situation now where two of the best players in the league are the, you know, the MVPs and Joel and Yolkich. But BAM's different. He's not as physically dominating as those two guys. He's almost more of a point center where he can take the ball coast to coast. He can score an array of ways. He can pass the ball. He's, he's unbelievable. And you look at a guy like him and, and, and what he's done in such a short amount of time, he's got such a huge 50% from the three this year. And I don't know how many he's taken, but his numbers are great. He's great. He's just, he's kind of, to me, he's third behind those two guys. All right. We're taking a quick break here. Shams, we say we bid you adieu, sir. We will talk to you bright and early tomorrow. When we come back, Quentin Richardson joins the show and we got some questions for him and run it back. That's right. Right there. 13 seasons in the league, 2005 three point contest winner and love the podcast. Knuckleheads podcast with Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson joining us right now. Good morning, sir. And we're just going to jump right in because we had a big debut last night, James Harden new uniform. What did you think about his first day out with the Clippers? You know, they struggled man. It was just one game. You know, I hear a lot of people jump at the conclusions and, and, and, you know, the knee jerk reactions, but I think those guys have figured out. I think, I think, you know, all of them have done all of making money in different things. All that's left to do is win now. Lou's been on it since day one. He said, keep the starting lineup as is, just insert him. Do you like that move? Do you think that will stick at all? Yeah, I don't know. You know, all of those guys are the type of guys that you, you know, you got to start them if you can. And I think it fits. And I mean, I think like, like I said, I think they'll work it out. You know, Kawai being strong enough to guard some of the fours and things like that. They got a lot of lean. It's going to be a lot of versatility out there. Once they, you know, start hitting a stride together. And I know we just talked about the Lakers game as well. So I might as well ask you the last play. How many times we've asked, should LeBron have taken the shot or should he have passed it? What do you think the past to Reddish good? I mean, it's always, I mean, it's when he makes these plays, it's never a question. Is it a good or bad play? I mean, he made the right, you know, a good basketball play. But I mean, him being who he is and people want to see him go in and make the basket or get fouled and things like that. But I mean, I think, you know, LeBron, it's who he is. He's done it the way he's done it. And, you know, last night, it didn't really work out for him because, you know, Reddish missed the shot. But I think it was still a great play at the end of the game. This question is for me and all my boys in Orlando that grew up playing AU basketball, doing this after every single bucket. How would that come about? What made you guys do that? Man, it's crazy. So the story behind that is, you know, we played there in LA and we, we was, you know, Darius was 18. I was 19. We fresh out of high school and we still was, you know, into high school basketball. So at the time, Westchester High School was like the top team in the city or whatever. So that was coincidentally right up the street from what we practiced at LA Southwest Junior College. So we started to go to their games and they had Trevor Reza signed out on Bobby Brown. They had a whole bunch of guys over there, man, that, you know, ended up making it and doing well. But that was actually their celebration. And they were, you know, they were doing it in their games. And, you know, we started to go to their practices and practice with them and stuff. And they asked like, yo, man, y'all need to do, rep our stuff in the game one time. So, you know, we did it. We had only did it really one game. But after we did it that one game, the fans was like the next game, they was like, well, y'all should they was all doing it. So, you know, it kind of became a thing and took off from there. But it's crazy. That definitely, you know, started out. That was the Westchester High School. That was that was their celebration. You know, they they access to do it and then, you know, the rest is basically history. That is like the that's the original influencing like that's what an influencer. Right. Gentlemen, I hope kids are watching. So on the on the podcast, you said before the season started that Wembe was not your pick for rookie of the year. But then sounds like you're maybe coming around to some things on Wembe and Yama. What what have you seen that has been maybe the most eye opening for you from him? I like his aggressiveness, man. I like I didn't think he would come out and and and and shot hunting like look for the look for the ball and be as aggressive as he's been offensively. I mean, I knew he was going to be special and have a chance to, you know, block shots and change shots and do some crazy things defensively at the rim. But I didn't know he was going to come out this aggressive offensively and really be looking to go to work like that. Q, what's good, bro? So I got it. I got it. How are you? So I got to ask, man, the defending champion nuggets have started the season 71 Celtic suffered their first loss. They fought a five on one. Which one of those teams you like better? Damn. Man, listen, Jay Tatum, my young fella, that's my guy. So I'm pulling for him to, you know, him in the Celtic to go ahead and get over the hump. But man, I'd be lying if I if I said that I'm not seeing what I'm seeing out there in Denver. They they are back and they ready to defend a title. And I feel like they haven't missed the beat. I feel like Coach Michael Malone, like he said, he's gotten them in the mind space where last year is over with they not having some hangover like some teams have when they come back and start slow. He got them right out the gates. They hitting on all cylinders. So I mean, you got to you got to respect them until they get you some reason not to. So I mean, right now Denver is still my favorite. But I mean, I'm definitely pulling hard for the Celtic. You know, the West is interesting. We expect big things from the Suns. We haven't gotten their big three yet. We haven't been able to see that. But if you have a game on the line and you got to pick Katie or Booker, which one gets the ball? Katie? Every time. Not even a real. It's not even a real question. I mean, he's done it. He's done it enough times in the biggest moments on the biggest stages, finals, everything else he he's proven it. So I would I would say Katie. Hugh, you played one season for Coach Spoe and his second year of coaching. Who did you see? Did you see what he was going to become that you knew he could possibly become one of the best coaches in the NBA? I felt he was one of the best coaches I had played for at that time. And I played for some great coaches, you know what I'm saying? I played for Coach Larry Brown, you know, Coach D'Antoni, Coach Gentry. A lot of guys, a lot of guys that was great coaches. I felt like me and Spoe got a crazy relationship because I feel like I played with them for like five years, but I only played with them in one season. And you know, obviously we hit it off. I had a chance to join the staff, but I was doing other things and couldn't do that. But yeah, man, I think I think I respected about Spoe was that even in his second year, he didn't back down. He didn't care who you were. Like Jermaine O'Neill was a strong personality. Obviously you had D-Way, you had Udyne and she had a lot of guys on that team, you know, strong personalities. But Spoe, he didn't back down. He would engage with you. He would, you know, all of that. Like you seen on the court, on the game when he got into it with Jimmy, like Spoe's not backing down in any situation. And I think that's, that's how he got to be what he is because when it came to D-Way, he did the hard things. He, when they had to go head to head, I watched him and he did that. And that's how you gain in respect of the whole team and the whole organization. And when you, when you challenge the guy that's at the top, that you know everybody's kind of afraid to challenge and he wasn't afraid to do that. And I think, you know, that was a big part of him becoming what he is. Because I think everything else, X's and O's, Spoe works so damn hard and he's so overprepared, it was no way he was going to fail at that. But I think the biggest challenges was the, was the personalities and the egos and he took it straight on, man. So, you know, that, I think that was a big part of him getting over that hump and becoming what he is. That's awesome. I like hearing about that. Back in the day, you and Paul Pierce were trash talking, the art form of trash talking. You got ejected for his trash talking, which by the way, in and of itself is special. So what was that? Is that a real feud? Is it just fun, fun trash talk? Like take us through that. I mean, he does talk a lot. So we had Paul on the show and we talked about it. You know, that started way back in day and at, at, uh, was it UCLA or it might have been like when we're high school, when the runs were there instead of UCLA, when, and, you know, just two dudes in there, the, the, neither one of them ain't gonna back down. Both of them gonna say what they got to say. And if it go further, we could do that too. But, you know, we, we just was competitive. And I think from that, that, that day back then, we kind of marked each other that whenever I see you is going to be on site. And that's what it really was. Like it was, it was, it was like that several, I mean, the funny thing, it was several games. Like people was thinking like the child, when y'all mess with each other's girl or something like it was never nothing like that. It was just, all right, we gon, that's just what it is. And that's what it was the whole time. I love that. I miss some of that from, from today's game. Julius Randall. Okay. So you might have better insight than most Julius Randall. We know about his struggles last night. He had a hell of a game and there's a lot of frustration here in New York from the fans towards Julius. How hard do you, first of all, as a Nick, do you hear the mumbling? Do you hear the talking? Are you able to put it out? Like, what's he going through when he's struggling here? First of all, when I was there, you, you heard everything. You knew what was going on somehow, somewhere you knew. And to me, and, and, and this generation is no way with the, with the social media and with the phones and with everybody having a voice is no way. But I mean in New York, come on, man, it's the, it's the garden. Those fans going to come right down behind the bench and say whatever they want to say to you. And they're going to say it loud and demonstrative or whatever. And it's like to play, I've said it a million times, man, to be a Nick, to play in New York, to be a giant Yankee, any of that stuff. Like, you got to have, you got to have a different type of toughness, like a mental toughness about you. Because I've watched teammates literally get taken out of it and like, like quit, like, like, damn this, get me out of here. Like, I'm, I don't want, I don't want any parts of this. Like, I like enjoying my life and things like that. And sometimes if you in New York and you on the wrong end of it, you might not enjoy yourself. And if you're not the, you know, the, the, the right type of person mentally and you don't got that mental makeup, it could affect you big time. I've definitely seen that. Keeping it with the next Q, when you were on the next Kobe drop 61 at MSG. Yes. What do you remember, what do you remember about that game? Anything in particular? I remember it being Spike Lee's fault. Cause Spike Lee got there on the damn sideline and talking crazy to Kobe Bryant. Why they got Wilson Chandler, our rookie garden him and he, he was going crazy. It was, it was, I think Kobe said that too. Kobe said it was his fault. Yeah, it was, it was, I was looking like, yo, he's talking to him. And like Wilson is out here getting put through the, through the business because of it. He was, he was doing everything that night, bro. He was pump faking, spinning, stepping through. I was like, love, like, like great. Gladfully that, you know, Wilson was a, Wilson had the mental makeup you need to have. Cause you know, Louie and Chandler, some dudes don't recover from a night like that when it's really just almost all on you. It was crazy. But you know, Wilson was a different type of dude. He didn't really trip in care. He got back to it right away. But it was like, yeah, we all looked at it that night. Like that was, that was on spike. I mean, you played him a bunch in your career as did I. I never had it. So what, what was your game plan going against? So what's the scouting report on Kobe? Man, for me, whenever I played him, you know, I'm going to try and be physical and everything and try and use that type of stuff against me. It wasn't really like, man, you know how I was with Kobe, though, when he made up his mind that he was going to go crazy, it wasn't nothing nobody could do. That was, that was it. Like you had to, you know, make things as difficult as possible. And then, you know, hope he having some type of off night, which didn't happen as, you know, hoping at all. But I mean, that was definitely, you know, we doubling, we doing different things, but ultimately you just want to try and make everything as difficult as possible for him knowing that he still could get 30, 40 with it being, you know, your best effort and all of that stuff. Yesterday, we were talking a little bit about the end season tournament because it's obviously it started on Friday. Most of us are still a little bit confused, but we do understand money. And Lou was right in saying that 500 grand is incentive. I don't care who you are. Do you agree? I mean, it's 500,000. Like who cares, right? It's the end season tournament. Is that good enough to, to make you try a little harder? Absolutely. I think absolutely. I mean, people would be lying if they say they don't. I think some of the dudes with the biggest contract still looking at that 500,000 like, yeah, we need that. I mean, that's the nature of the competitor, man. Like we'd rather get it than see somebody else get it and say they got it. Like that's, that's how, you know, the competitive dudes are. They just want to win. If it's a chance to win something else, like this is the first ever tournament of its kind. So I know, you know, some of those dudes who, who, who are competitive like that, like a Yannis or something, he want to go win. Like I don't know nobody that's at this level that, that you know, there's a championship out there. They just gonna say they don't care. No, that's not true. They want to go win it and be, be known as that champion or whatever. And if it's a MVP or something to be one, they want to win that too. That's why we're here. Absolutely. Q, we shared a lot of stories when I came on a, on a knucklehead's podcast with you and D Miles. And you guys have known each other since kids. You got to give me a great D Miles story. Oh, bruh. I give you a D Miles, man. It's too many. I, I give the best story I could give you about D Miles is my first met him, right? So D Miles came and play. He's from East St. Louis. I'm from Chicago, but he came to play AU with us to Illinois Warriors because Larry Butler was our, was our coach. So he came to us when he was in, I want to say eighth grade. So when he first got there, we, we had already went on a couple tournaments and play. Now we go into Nike camp, right? So he, the week before Nike camp, he crashed his mama car. He like broke his arm or something. So he got his arm in a sling and he had this one D Miles to wear it before like he started getting content. He had the glasses on. So we go to Nike camp. He basically got ranked just because he was with us and we was calling him baby KG. Cause he, you know, he was tall, he was tall, dark and skinny soup. But like that was literally like he got, cause you know how it is when you're young, you play on the older team and that older team is killing everybody. We was smacking everybody up. The war is beating all of the top teams and stuff. And he was there. All D Miles had to do was get a dunk, like catch a live, get a black shot. And it was like next thing, you know, he was the number one player in America. True story. And obviously he, he took to form like by playing with us. Like once we went on, like he took over over like next time I come see him, he getting quadruple doubles, like all of that with blocks rebound. Like he was, he was going crazy. Like when you go see him in high school, it was legit a one man show. He out there, six, nine and nobody else bigger than six, four. And he played one through five, doing everything. It was crazy. I, okay. So pranks either you've been a part of one, or you witness one. What is the best one that you can remember? Oh man. So when I was with the nicks, we had, we had Nate Robinson. We had Nate Robinson, Eddie Curry, Jared Jeffries, and Matt Barnes. These dudes were children, literally were children. Like it was like, you know, at this time we had to wear suits to everything that we did. We had to wear a full split suit. So one game you come out, we come out of the game and we get dressed and Matt goes, I want to say it was Matt, Matt goes to put his dress shoes on and like Nate had put like cream cheese under the sole. So as soon as he stepped down, like the cream cheese came all up. So then the next game after that, you come, we were in Boston. I remember this, we were in Boston. And Nate, we come out of the game. We get, you know, the game is over. You better get dressed. Jared had, Jared had, no, Jared and Matt had took Nate's suit and cut all of his buttons off, off of his furthest suit. And then they like twisted it and tie, you know how you get the ice wrap, when you get the little, the little wrap going around the ice bags, they had took his suit and like twisted it and wrapped it all the way up in the whole thing. Then when he unwrapped it, you notice he had no buttons to button anything up. But the worst one of them all was when Nate, Nate literally, this is the sense, how the wings that Nate would go to do a prank. He was late for the plane. Number one, he was late for a plane, took that little 500 dollar fine. So, but he was late because he went to the, he stopped at the store to get X-Lex. The man put X-Lex and Nate, I mean, and Eddie's cereal and they would bring like 10 boxes of cereal on the plane. They would eat cereal when you go on a travel. Nate put X-Lex and Eddie's cereal. And then obviously Eddie had the runs. Eddie ended up missing the game the next day because of this, because he was so, he got dehydrated and all type of stuff. Like, these are, these are, I'm telling you, listen, I'll tell you, talk about a book that New York next team was unreal, bro. It was unreal. It was always something. I love messing with bodily fluids is the ultimate prank and I have the utmost respect for any profits. No, that wasn't cool. That is, no, it's nasty. Quentin, we appreciate the time so much. Thank you. Love, love the podcast. Hope we have you back on. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me, man. Keep doing our thing. All right, we're taking a break guys. It's election day. We got votes when we come back. All right, cast your vote because hopefully you've already done that today. Election day across the land, but we also have very important things that we need to vote on here. Chandler, I'm going to start with you. Most valuable player right now. Luca Donkitz. It could be easy to say, Yoakitz Tatum. Listen, the Dallas Mavericks are six and one after not making the playoffs last year. Dude is averaging 32, 9, 10, 50% from the field, 41 from three. Give me Luca. Damn. I'm still going with Tatum. I'm gonna stay, I'm gonna stay there playing, playing lights out. Luca's putting, putting together a very great run. He's, he's doing some tremendous things with the triple doubles, but I'm staying Tatum. I like it. I appreciate that. Lou, most improved player so far this season. Give me Maxi. I'm gonna stay Maxi, uh, averaging 25 and seven. He's obviously the second best player on that basketball team. Made a huge jump from last year. Like that. Yeah, it's, it's hard to not go with Maxi here, especially with James moving on, giving Maxi. And I don't know why I don't see Kate cutting him on that list because he's been balling too, but I think Maxi is the clear cut favorite. All right, Chandler, sixth man of the year right now. Sixth man of the year stuff. I feel like it always changes. Someone ends, ends up starting. I'm going to roll with Chris Ball for now. I think he's embracing it. I think they're going to win a lot of games and I think he's extremely valuable to that team. Give me Nasri. Unlike how Nas has been playing. He's had some really big games early on in this season, averaging 15 points, five rebounds off the bench. I'm going to take Nasri. All right, Lou, best duo in the league. Yoakage Murray until, until the end of the season and they defend their title, give me those two guys. They're proven winners. Yeah, I'm with Lou here. Yoakage Murray, Champs, Tatum and Brown are right there, but they still haven't gotten over that hump. Give me those two guys in Denver. That's fair. No argument. Chandler, defensive player of the year right now. I like Anthony Davis. I do like what we talked about yesterday. I think Wimby has the potential to do it. He keeps getting these four, five, six block shots in any given game. I like him, but I think Anthony Davis is the, is the clear cut. As long as this injury doesn't linger for him. We all know defense isn't my forte, so I am going to say Wimby. I like the defensive plays that I've been seeing. Everything that he does on the defensive end goes viral. Give me Wimby. He only had two blocks last night, you guys. You can imagine I was pretty bummed about it. Lou, best shooter with the game on the line. It's the chef. Simple and plain game on the line. I want number 30 to have a basketball in his hands for me, whether he has it, bringing the ball up the court, whether it's a pin down, whether it's a set play out of bounds. ATO, I don't care the scenario. Give me number 30. It's tough. It's tough to go against him because he's obviously the greatest shooter of all time. I took this end of the game clutchness. Give me Dame Lillard. He's had the, he's had a good one. He's made the big shots from 35 feet. Like Lou said, he can come off screens. He can step back off the dribble. He's kind of proven to me that when the game is on the line, he's got to be the most clutch shooter. I'm going with Dame. All right, best in game dunker. I like Anthony Edwards. I think he, I think he bodies people. He jumps off one foot, two foot. He'll give you a little windmill, give you a little spice on the break. I think he's so much fun to watch. He's so bouncy. He'll get you with the left hand, right hand. He's a versatile dunker. I think he's the best in the game. Great minds think alike. I'm going Ant-Man as well. Attacks their rim. He's not scared of anybody at their rim. Even I like the clip that I saw in USA, USA team practice. He told, he told Rudy Gobert, I believe he's the defensive player of the year. Not Rudy Gobert, whoever it was. I think Aaron Jackson. Yeah, Jared Jackson. He's supposed to be the defensive player of the year. He's supposed to jump. So give me Ant-Man. And he's funny. I love that. Lou, best handles. Kyrie Irvin. Without a doubt. Kyrie Irvin is going to be the guy for me. Sometimes I think he over dribbles and then he finds his way to the rim with an uncontested layup. So obviously I don't, I don't know much about it, but give me Kyrie Irvin and Darius Garland to be a close second for me. All right. Yeah. Garland's a good one. I don't, I wouldn't even know who to put second on this category. Honestly, when you ask any, it's he of every category you asked, besides probably shooting and stuff. I think if you ask who has the best handles in the game, where of all time, every player is going to say Kyrie Irvin. So that should answer that question. Yeah. That's a good one. All right, Lou, team most likely to sell at the deadline bulls or rafters? I say the bulls, you know, they have, they have veteran all-star guys that clearly they aren't happy the way they're playing, how the season is going. It's looking like there's going to be some, some movement in Chicago. So I'm selling the bulls. Yeah, I think it's Chicago. I think they almost did it last year. Like Lou said, these are veteran guys that's just not working for whatever reason. They're not meshing together. They're not winning games. Toronto, yes, but they're still young. They still have time to develop those guys. They still have a lot of basketball ahead of them. These vets, Levine, DeMar, Buche, they can help a team right now. I think the bulls blow it up. I can't wait for all that to start up again. Deja Vu coming up. Somebody got posterized. That's next. I'm running back. Well, it took overtime, but the Celtics had a loss. Handed to them by the T Wolves. And with 38, 9, and 7, 8 of those points coming in overtime, Gobert finished with 14 and 12, Tatum 32, Brown 26. Look, the Minnesota is the only team now that has beaten both the Celtics and the Nuggets. That's crazy to me, Chandler. Is this a fluke or is this team for real? I don't know if they're for real. I know Anthony Edwards. You have to answer right now. Are they for real? I mean, listen, they're four and two. It's early. They're looking good to win a game like this with Carl Anthony Towns having seven points against arguably the best team in the NBA. Yeah, that's big. And again, this is a team that they swung for the fences with the Rudy Gobert trade. They're still trying to work that end. And they have a little, they have a nice mix. They have Mike Conley, a nice vet. They have young guys. They have a good bench with Kyle Anderson and Nasri, who Lou mentioned earlier, who's had a great last half of the season last year and beginning to this year. So yeah. And then you put Anthony Edwards, who I literally think is the best two way player in the NBA. When you look how good he is on offense and when he really locks up, he had some plays last night and Tatum at the end of the game that were incredible. So yeah, this is their dangerous team because they have experience. They have size. I love Jaden McDaniels. He's one of those players that can do it all. So I wouldn't want to call it a flu because we don't know yet, but then they are performing and they've beaten two of the best teams in the league. But they're fun to watch and they're going to be exciting. I mean, listen, I think the league is in, I think the league is in good hands, man. And I think it starts with Anthony Edwards, man. He's been one of those guys that's just, he gets better and he gets better and we forget how young he is. And so the temple was for real. I don't know, but they're going to go as far as that man is going to take. It's pretty impressive that they've beaten the two teams at the top at this point. Go Bear Haters. You do have something to hang your hat on though from the night and I do like to give people beer. So here we go. Jalen Brown. This is personal feeling. Good morning, Rudy. And it was all downhill for Rudy. This is all, this is all cats fall. First of all, he bites on the shot fake. He lets him go at all and he does put Rudy in arms way. Do I like, I don't know if you guys can answer this, but do guys like to do things like that to like a Rudy Go Bear? Because sometimes it feels more personal than others. Am I wrong? Okay, good. I see what I'm going to make sure. The former defensive player of the year. Especially the reputation guys. Gotcha. Okay. That makes total sense. The reputation guys. Yeah, you love it. The Dylan's the Rudy's. Rudy gets a bad rap. He gets, Rudy gets a bad rap. It was, it was all downhill for Rudy when he touched on his microphone. Oh God. When it's all said and done, that's his legacy. That's going to do it for us. Chicago Sky head coach, Teresa Witherspoon will be on the show tomorrow. That's going to do it for us. Get out there and vote and we'll see you guys tomorrow.