 It's Thursday, which is our Friday, which makes us happy. What, Lou? Lou's dancing all the way in here. These guys, Hoodie-O, you got a solo cup on the table. What? We got some flip cups going today. It's our Friday, y'all. It's time. They ate water. It's how we end the week. It is seven o'clock in the morning. What else would it be? All right. Stadium Insider. My name's Michelle. That's Chandler Parsons. Lou will come and do us from Atlanta. And guys, there was basketball last night. Can you even believe it? Look at this. Some West Coast fun. Clippers, Kings. Clippers? Clippers, Beatle. 131. 117. Kawhi Leonard had 34. Nine rebounds. James Harden finished with 26 points. De'Aaron Fox. And it's just becoming normal. He had 40. Ty Lou opened up the postgame presser saying that this, Chandler, is how this thing is supposed to look. That's the blueprint. Do you agree with him? Somewhat. I think the production of the main guys, sure, that's what they're looking for, right? Finally, Kawhi Leonard, he had a great, efficient game, as well as James Harden, as well as Paul George. Now, there's some issues with the other four-star that didn't get the productivity, didn't get the minutes that I'm sure he wants. But yeah, when you look at this team, they finally were efficient. They had a balanced attack. I think that, I don't think they want them all to play close to 40 minutes a game going forward. But I think getting this win, having a team that Sacramento, who's hot, obviously they're coming off an emotional win the night before, that was to their advantage. But yeah, this is, they all played efficient. They all played well together. They all picked their spots, and they got a win on the road, which is huge, no matter what happened the night before there, what's been going on with the Clippers. This is a big win, and everybody played well, except Russ, who I'm sure we're going to get to. Well, no, I'm glad you brought that up, because Russ only had 19 minutes in this game, and he had nine points and eight assists. Lou, if you're Russ, are you happy with this quote unquote blueprint? Yeah, you should be. I mean, remember, this is the guy that got ahead of the bullet. He knew somebody who had to sacrifice minutes. Somebody to get out of that starting lineup. And he was the guy that stepped up and he said it. And he's also a guy that's accomplished everything in this league that you can possibly imagine. He's made the money. He's been an MVP. He's made deep playoff runs. The only thing he hadn't had is a championship. And he know with this group, they have an opportunity to do that. And somebody needed to come off the bench. So he was the guy that stepped up and said, hey, I'm willing to be that guy to come off the bench and give us that balance. So, you know, nine and eight probably isn't an ideal stat line for him. But it's a 14 point win. He should be happy with that. Yeah. And again, I don't think they should have made the trade if this was going to be an issue. You know what I mean? Like I get it. The 98 I think is fine with him. 19 minutes, I'm sure he's, you know, a little bit termed by same with Norman Powell. He didn't get as many minutes as he used to be getting. But this is this is the reality now. This is the this is the deal they made. This is the new role that he has. And is he going to play 19 minutes every single game? No way. There's going to be games where he's going to play 40 and he's going to have a hot night. This was a great start and they got the win. But I don't think I don't think Paul George, Coehler, Jay Turner, they're all going to play 40 something minutes and Rusty on play 19. It's all going to kind of even out. All right. Dynamic. What's going on? How does it look between Russ and Harden? Yes. So I think what we've been talking about as soon as they made the trade for James Harden was they were going to have to rip the band aid off. And James Harden, you went all in with him. He's making 36 million this year. You gave up two first round picks. You gave up second round picks. You gave up a draft swap. You gave up multiple rotation players to get James Harden. You didn't go make that James Harden trade to bring him off the bench and let Russell Westbrook start. They were going to have to choose one of them. And for all intents and purposes, intense and purposes, the Clippers made this decision to bring Russell Westbrook off the bench. And I think overall it was only going to be a matter of time in a lot of ways because you need the ball in James Harden's hand. This team is playing better. Like overall, when you look at the record, you look at the way they play, the way they look when James Harden is playing point guard. And last night we saw it. I mean, 26 points, six assists, three steals, season high and points and three point field goals made like he showed. And I think Tyler said after the game, this is who James Harden is as a player. But there's no question. Russell Westbrook, his points have gone. I mean, he's averaging four. He went from 14, seven and six as a starter with 31 minutes a game. So now he's at nine points, five and a half rebounds and five assists. And his minutes are down by nine per game. And so and his field goal percentage are down. He's not getting the ball as much as he did before. But this is going to be all about acceptance, sacrifice. That's all this team can can hang their hat on if they're going to get to where they want to get. He's the only one that's sacrificing. That doesn't seem right either. Here's what's interesting to be to as a player to you hear the word. It's a term. It's a business, right? It's a business. Then when it's when it doesn't go your way, then all of a sudden it's personal. And you know what I mean? So like, again, this is a business as a brand, as a player, you have that option to leave in free agency to go get more money, to go get more opportunity. Coaches, you know, they have the same option to trade you to not play as many minutes as you think you deserve. So it's it's it's got to be if there's a balance, right? There's got to be a fine line. But when it doesn't go your way, you still got to understand the business aspect of it, that they just traded for James Harden. They just did this deal. And this is now, you know, the process going forward. This is what it's going to be like. So again, I think this is going to change. I think Russ is still going to have these big games as soon as James Harden goes out with a, you know, for a game. Maybe he slides in the starting lineup. It's all going to change. And this team is deep and they're versatile. But I don't I look at this like a good win for them. But this isn't the, you know, the final solution. I will say, Russ Westbrook, he had like a few baskets down to search for that Mavericks game over the weekend that I was at. And he basically won them that game. He they pulled away when he came in in the fourth and he had a few baskets. James Harden didn't need to come back into the game. That's how good Russ Westbrook was. And last night, even though he didn't play as much as he wanted to, I think everybody had nine points, eight rebounds or whatever. Like he was still producing, I think, to a level, even though he played under 20 minutes last night. And the team, this good, sometimes it just takes one win like this to kind of get off the snide, right? And to kind of get going, they played good. They were efficient. They had four or five turnovers as a team. This is the recipe for them to win a lot of games. I guess I'm just not, I'm not happy with it right now the way it is. But we'll see if that changes. Yeah, you mentioned the the Kings coming off the emotional win the other night. That's just, I mean, look, that's a weird back to back. Two tough games. That's just all that is. I mean, we don't need to sit here and dissect them. I don't think so. Again, listen, they finally beat up their big brother the night before. It was an emotional win. It was the in season tournament game. The intensity was high. And as a player, honestly, when you're on a back to back, especially against the Clippers and the Warriors to get one of them as a win. So you kind of have that let down, especially when you get the first one. And that's what they did. There's just an emotional let down. They couldn't sustain it. And again, the Clippers, they found something and they played well. All right, Lou, Fox had 40 points, but only three assists. That's an interesting line at that point. What did you make of that? Does he need to do something differently? Yeah, I thought maybe he started the game and thought he was just cooking and decided to be in an offensive bag. You know, this is a guy, he's ever just seven assists on a season. You know, so the three is not really glaring to me. It might have stood out last night because of they had lost their game on a win. I don't think we really talk about getting his teammates involved as much. And look, this team is built on him to score. They are built for him to create pace for this group, built for him to have that basketball in his hand and to create a place where his teammates and so I thought last night was one of those games where he got it going early and he continued to shoot the ball. And so I don't I don't think this is an issue moving forward, but I think this is a one-off. Let him cook. Love that. Don't look now, but the Raptors were the ones that snapped the win streak. The Suns were on a seven game streak at that point. Raptors got him 1-12, 1-0-5, Pascal Siaka with 22 and nine. Scotty Barnes had 23.7 rebounds. And I say that because he had 12 of those 23 in the fourth quarter. And after the game, he was asked about his performance, said, I've got that dog in me, Chandler. I love that. How good can this kid be? Didn't Pat Bev say he didn't have the dog again? That's somebody's got the dog, nobody knows who. Listen, Scotty Barnes is great. I love his game from, you know, rookie of the year to look. These numbers are pretty impressive. Yeah. It's average in 19-9-5. He's one of these versatile players that can turn into that Kawhi Leonard type where he can lock up the other team's best player. He can post up a smaller guy. He can take a bigger guy off the dribble. I've seen him play point. I've seen him play the five position. So he is one of the more versatile players in the league. He's 22 years old. So the ceiling is, you know, who knows? He's going to continue to get better. I think their teams, and obviously a little bit of disarray, are they going to move some guys? Is Siakam going to be there? One thing for sure, this guy is going to be there. And he's definitely their building block for the future. Yeah. He was the untouchable in any sort of rumors that were about Shams. But the league, when they look at this Raptors, as far as positioning, how are they viewed? You have to give credit to Masai Jiri for the roster, at least in terms of talent. Pascal Siakam, Ojiwana Nubi, Yaka Pertle. You have Scotty Barnes. Scotty Barnes, no question. He's the untouchable. That's the guy that is not going to be available in trade. But teams are keeping a close eye, as this year goes on, on this roster. Because whether it's Siakam, Ojiwana Nubi, both guys are entering, these, they're not expiring contracts. So they're going to be free agents, expected to be free agents this summer. And so on paper, we've been waiting for this Raptors team to start gelling. It just hasn't happened this year. They're hovering again around 500. They were around 500 more last year as well. And then they make the trade for Pertle. When everyone thought they were going to start tanking and trading guys away, but they kept all their guys. And so I think as we get closer to the trade deadline, I think Masai Jiri likes to wait until closer to the trade deadline. He'll evaluate his team and we'll see if any of these guys finally do get traded. By the way, they have a lot of, if I'm a contending team, they have a lot of pieces that I want. Like Gary Trent is valuable. He can provide the outside of shooting. Boucher, is that how you say it? Boucher? Bouchard? Boucher? Chris Boucher. He's like, they have talented players that can take that next step. And like Tarana's kind of in that gray area. No, they're not tanking. They got talent. They kind of have pieces for the future, but they're probably not going to win in advance in the playoffs. So it's a weird situation there. Do they make the playoffs? And if they can only just make the play-in or the playoffs, is it worth keeping these? Here's the thing. Is the play in the playoffs? Kind of. If they make the nine or ten seed, sure, they win two games and they're in and anything can happen. They're better than Detroit, Chicago, Washington, and Charlotte, for sure. But then you get a little sticky with that. Lana's and, you know, there's other teams. So I think they can make the top 10 with just the talent alone. And they're going to win enough games, but then I don't see them surviving and advancing in the playoffs. Yeah, we should just establish it right now. Is the game? Are we counting the play-in as the play-off? Is there ten play-off teams? It's technically the playoffs. No. It's hard to not make the ten. You have to be pretty bad. So then it's like you make the playoffs or you are a play-in team. That's how we do it. So there's eight play-off teams. There's two play-ins. So if you lose, for the ten seed, you lose, you're not a play-off team. No, you're not. Absolutely not. But then if you win two, you are. You are, but yeah. Man, I'd hate it. This is weird math. Katie was back though. He had missed the two games with the foot injury, Lou. Still averaging about 37 a game. Can this continue? This for a 37? Yeah. I mean, that's 35-year-old Durant. He looks great. I'm not saying he looks like he should take a break. But how are we doing? Yeah. I mean, he scores. He scores so easy. You know, and I think at this point of his career, he's learned ways to be efficient, learned ways to not burn so much energy trying to score the basketball. If you look at these clips, he's under no pressure. He's under no duress. Backdoors, lobs, getting to his spots, pull-up jumpers. This is a guy that's going to score at a high clip for a very long time. Granted that he's 35, but if anybody can do it, it's going to be these superstar-level guys, the Kevin Durant, the LeBron James, the Steph Currys, the guys that hold the league up. And so, can he do it for a long time? I think he levels out at about 30-31 on average when this season is all said and done. But I think he can do it. Yeah. Can he? Sure. But does he want to? I don't know if he wants to put that in many minutes. But he's in a great situation where his team is so loaded and once they get Bradley Beal back and Devin Booker continues to play he doesn't have to. And no matter where they finish, they finish one through six, which even probably four at the worst, if they're fully healthy in the playoffs, I think they have a potential they could win it all easily with this fully loaded roster. So I don't think there's a reason to be playing him 40, 45 minutes at night when their goal should be to be healthy going into the postseason. I feel like it's hard to tell him, though, of a lot of guys, like, because he wants to be out there. Yeah. It's hard to tell anybody, especially him, that's just an absolute animal. Good luck with that. It's crazy how old, like, I guess how old, I mean, these guys are young in basketball terms. But how much him, LeBron and Steph will continue to play. I mean, you hope they stay healthy. And they want, like, they love it. It's not like, oh. When is the drop-off coming for those three? Never. Some people just don't. That's just different. We're all built differently. Some of us can get out of bed in the morning without hurting. Some of us can't, Chandler. I don't know what to tell you. Lakers, remember Lakers lost big time the other night? Well, we're moving past that now because they blew out the Pistons. 133-107. D'Angelo Russell had 35 and nine assists. Highest scoring game of the Laker. Anthony Davis with 28 and 16. And Kate Cunningham threw in 15. But look, the blowout was a Kate Cunningham. It's very hard for me to speak today. That was a 44 point loss the other night. And we know what LeBron said afterwards. I don't know if you ever get rid of all of the stink of a game like that, but does this do anything for you? I mean, it's a team that is historically struggling. I don't know if it pays to be the worst team of all time. Like, they are bad. So does this eliminate the loss of the 44? No, but it sure does make you feel better. And now it's what do they do next? Do they grow from this? Do they get better? Do they, because the minute they go and throw out another stinker in their next game, then you start having that doubt. Then you got to kind of recircle back to what you did wrong. And you know what I mean? So this was a mature win. They handled their business against a team who was God awful. I'm not impressed, but this is what they should do. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough one. Look, we don't really talk much about D'Angelo Russell unless it's somehow part of a trade talk, Lou. But he had himself a great night. Is he the third guy? Is he capable of being the third guy? Or is he just going to be trade talk fodder? I feel like he's always been. You know, now that Austin Reeves has gone to the bench, he's established himself as he's going to be the third best player on his team or the third best score. The only thing I would like to see from D'Lo is just consistency, absolutely being that guy, taking care of the basketball, not taking as many chances with trying to make plays and just being efficient on the offensive end. You know, he's still averaging 17 and a half, 0.6 and a half assistant for this basketball team. 35 was a great night. I wouldn't expect that from him very often. But if he can give you that 17 and six every night with a LeBron and 80 lead team, you got a good third piece. Yeah, I agree. I don't think there has to be necessarily a third person here. I think it's collective. What can they do? Can Austin Reeves put in 15? Can Christian Wood put in 15? Can they get Rui and Gabe Vincent back? So I think once they get their full bench back, they don't really need a third guy. Let LeBron continue to play how he's playing. Let Anthony Davis be the best player on the team. And then each night, it could be someone different throwing in a 20 piece. Can we do a little art of the flop? I mean, it's always up for interpretation. Is it, isn't it? There was a moment last night. What do we think? It's funny because it happened with Stewart, too. You know, their beef from last night. Yes, there was blood last night. I got a little piece. You can't flop when you have beef with someone. But so then... It was definitely a flop. Did he get fine for this or tea? Oh, I don't know. I don't think so. Of course not. No, it's a 21 point game. Like, what are you going to do? What are you doing? Yes. Trying to sell it. Trying to sell it. It's a flop. It's a flop. It's just a weird thing. But he doesn't flop. Remember you said that last year. No, he doesn't. Why would he? Look, the pistons are two and 16. 15 straight losses. That is really tough. I know the expectations are high, but my goodness, what do you do with your mentality through all this? I don't think they expect it to be this bad, obviously. I think when you hire Monty Williams, they gave him a massive contract, one of the richest contracts for a coach in NBA history. When you pay him that much money, this is not the type of start. Two and 16. We've lost 15 in a row. But at this point, all you can do is try and hope for growth day by day. And I think Monty Williams spoken about it. It's the habits day to day, the losing habits that have been building for the last several years in Detroit. Breaking them, losing them is hard. Like, it's not easy. And then you add in Boyan Bogdanovich, Monte Morse. They have not played yet this season. And those are two veteran players that you're relying on. Monte Morse was supposed to start for this team, potentially. Boyan Bogdanovich is a starter. He's the guy that can command a lot of value in the trade market. And Joe Harris, who they traded for from Brooklyn, he hasn't played that much this year as well. He's out in extended period of time. I will say help does seem to be on the way. Boyan Bogdanovich, I'm told now. He's been out with an injury the entire season. He is day to day. He could be back in the lineup as soon as tonight in New York, if not on Saturday at home against Cleveland. So I'm told he is on the cusp of getting in the lineup and then hopefully that energizes this group. But this is no doubt. They got to take some steps here as a franchise. And that's... I mean, looking at their team, like, Cade Cunningham, I think, is a star. Who does he pass the ball to? Like, there's no shooting. There's no spacing. I mean, I like Jade Naivi. I mean, their team doesn't even make sense. They really need those Monte Morse, Bogdanovich, and Joe Harris. At least that can provide some outside shooting to give Cade Cunningham more lanes. Right now, they're just packing the paint and letting Killian Hayes get wide open shot. So it's kind of a disaster. And I almost feel bad for Cade Cunningham because he just has nothing around him. Well, he feels bad too. He told us. He was very honest about it. We're bad. We're bad. That's it. There's nothing else to say. It's hard in today's NBA when you're without three guys, three veteran players like this, and then you're asked to take the next step as a young team and you don't have your veteran players. And so Detroit's in a tough spot. And also, again, Monte Williams, you don't pay Monte Williams to go, you know, like this team is supposed to take a step here this season and you hope that they do. They're not firing Monte Williams with that bag. Absolutely not. I don't know if that's a good or bad for him. It's great for him. Yeah, it's great for him. But all right, we got some shums. Scoops time. The Warriors on Tuesday night, of course, that was that bizarre game where they were up so big, but they also had some injuries. So you've got updates. Two injuries. One is significant injury. Gary Payton, the second, he had a non-contact calf injury. I'm told it's a torn right calf. He's going to be out in definitely significant time. He's going to be missing. And this is a guy that's obviously been a key cog of this team. They traded for him back last season from Portland. He's been integral for this team. Chris Paul, he has a nerve issue in his left leg. I'm told this is going to be more of a day-to-day injury. He is out tonight against the Clippers. We'll see exactly how long he'll be out. I mean, again, this is a guy that's, you know, late stages of his career, still playing at a high, high level, but they're going to be careful with this injury. He's going to report to the training staff, medical staff today, and they're going to evaluate him and see how he feels. That's a... Yeah, that's not good timing. But they're eight and 10 now. And so when you're thinking about it, injuries are settling in. I mean, I'm curious from Lou's perspective, how much trouble are they in? Like, are they cooked? A torn calf is crazy. That sounds gross. They can meal prep right now. I don't know if they cook, but they... Magic City meal prep. They give them prep. Look, this is a team that's... They're still a half game out of the play-in spot. And when you guys are talking about the play-in, I like to think of that nine and 10 spot as like a wild card. I don't know if they're a playoff team, but they got an opportunity to get in. So I'll call them a wild card from nine to 10, not a playoff team. Because if you wanted to be a playoff team, you'd play better throughout the course of the season. But you know, this is a team that's a half game out of being in that 10 spot. And they also have the capabilities of running off seven to eight wins in a row. But it just feels weird with this group now. You know, the body language is off. The vibe is bad for a team who's kept a lot of adversity in the house. And now all of a sudden we have storylines and we got distractions with this group. So it just feels funny. I don't know if they still have that glow, but they're capable, but I just don't feel it right now. Yeah, I think cooked is a bit aggressive, but they're definitely showing signs of slowing down, which is scary as a Warriors fan. And when teams, when you used to go to Golden State, they feared them. Like I used to hate going to play them. You know they were cooking. You know they were moving there. They were moving without the ball. They were knocking out three. It's not like that this year. And as a player, you feel, you know, you kind of feel the decline. You don't want to accept it, but they're not who they used to be. And that's a scary, scary, scary feeling. Just life though, isn't it? Yes, tell me about it. A cycle of life. Lou, you're cheating. Because now you get to leave us for the rest of the day. And I don't think that's fair at all, but here it is. For good reasons. Good luck today, Jada. And the Hebron Christian Academy Lions. I'll see y'all later. Okay, fine. That's a good reason. All right, Lou. We'll see you next week. When we come back, Kenny Beachham joins the show. We'll talk some more hoops. Running Back Returns. Running Back. Running Back. Running Up. Running Back. Yeah. Running Up. Running Back. Yeah. Running Up. Running Back. Running Up. Running Back. Running Up. Running Back. Running Up. Running Up. Running Back. Yeah. Running Up. All right. We now welcome one of the internet's top basketball minds. Also great background. Co-host of Through the Wire podcast and the Kenny Beachham podcast. And one of Fandals newest partners, Kenny Beachham joins us now. Welcome to the family, first and foremost. But we got to talk Chicago Bulls. I think all of us growing up, that was probably our favorite team, but it's yours. And they're 5 and 14. What do you do with this team? Blow it up? I think that's the only way to go at this point. You know, as a guy that has watched every single Bulls game for the last five years, this is the least amount of fun I've had. And we've had real tanking seasons in that five years. So I think when you put together a roster that with the idea of competing and your struggle and to compete every single night, the writing is on the wall that something needs to change. So I'm just, I'm waiting for the Shams update that something has changed. Just so we all are. Wait, can I ask one thing? Because when you're a fan of the team who's at some point going to have a fire sale, probably, do you also sort of speculate, like where's Zach Levine going to go? Or do you just want it done and over with and have your new team in place? I am always on the trade machine. Always on the trade machine, trying to figure out, does it make sense for this team? Does it make sense for us? I am prepared for whatever the trades are to not be very beneficial to us. So if it does end up being beneficial, then it's a win-win. But I'm always looking around the league, like, hold on, maybe he's unhappy. Unhappy, maybe we can get that guy. I'm always here. We need something. We just need something. Kenny, as a Bulls guy, I played for Billy Donovan for four years. Do you think he's the right fit for this either rebuild or process that you guys are going through? Well, I remember when he left, okay, see one of the main reasons was because they were going towards the rebuild. So I don't know if that's his priority. Like, I think he wants to coach a competing team. I enjoy Billy Donovan as a coach. I mean, you can speak to it, but it seems like he is a guy that can get the team behind him. Obviously, he's had his points of contention with, like, Zach Levine. But for the most part, with the younger guy specifically, I feel like they enjoy playing for him. And if we're doing a rebuild, I'm assuming that we're getting young guys back so he might be the fit. But I don't know if he'll want to be there. Yeah. And this end-season tournament, obviously, you know, there's multiple different opinions on it. The other night, the Celtics, they went to hack and drum. And obviously, that could be the new norm now at the point differential. What's your take on that? Do you think there should be any changes to that tournament? Do you like it? Do you hate it? I loved it. If there's one thing I would change, I would maybe open the pool to, like, 10 teams just so we can have another knockout game because I love, like, winter go-home scenarios. We see that with the off-season or the post-season tournament. We're like, man, this one game means we can make it or we go into the off-season, right? So I would extend that. I like the idea of teams playing hard for 82 minutes, even if that means they're up by 30 points because of the point differential. And I know there's a lot of conversation about the unspoken rule as someone that's never really played professional basketball. I don't really look at it like that. So when they went hack or drumming, I'm like, well, drumming, let's make some free throws, baby. You know, that's what my head was at, instead of being mad at Joe Mozzula. That's the thing. The civilians like us, we like the point differential because we're like merciless and you guys actually have respect for your opponents. I think that's what I noticed now. See, I said the other day, though, when the Warriors were playing the Kings, they were so worried about this 12-point differential that they played fast and they just lost the game instead of trying, you know what I mean? So you got to be careful. I love it. Kenny, so you say you've been messing around on the trade machine. So I want to know, what trade would you make? Well, what's on the hierarchy of your trade request list for your bulls? That's the thing, Shams. I think that because I'm a bulls fan, I'm a bit biased towards my bulls. So because of that, I may value Zach Levine a little bit higher than maybe consensus. So I'm not looking at a trade that's like, oh, we're going to get a Rudy Goldberg type trade package, Kevin DeRene trade package, because that's not what the value of Zach Levine is. At this point, I just think the locker room needs to be shaken up. So if that means we get a couple young role players and maybe a protective first-round pick, I'm not going to love it, but I'll be okay with it because everybody's walking around with their head down. I'm not seeing half-fives. Like Steve Nash gave out a lot of half-fives in his time. I'm not seeing a lot of those here in Chicago. So I just want something to change, Shams. And I think the city will be happier when it happens. So speaking of the bulls again, who's on your Mount Rushmore? Yes. All-time bulls history. Obviously, we know about Jordan, we know about Ben, we know about Dee Rose. Yeah. What's your Mount Rushmore? MJ, MJ, MJ, MJ. So there is a, I think, official Mount Rushmore Chicago Bulls fan, but I have my own personal one. Of course, we're going to have MJ, Scotty, Derek Rose, and I have Jamal Crawford there because my first memory as an NBA fan or as a kid is watching Jamal Crawford go against Allen Iverson in a game in April. And I think Jamal had 30, AI had 40. And here in Chicago, at that time, if you didn't have cable, the only thing you could watch is Bulls basketball. And that two-year span when he was in Chicago, I was watching Knightley. And at that point, I had to be like eight years old. So he helped me fall in love with the game. So even though his time in Chicago was just a few years, it mattered a bunch to me. Oh, I love this Mount Rushmore. Shoms, who's yours? Yeah, right? I got to have Joe Keem know at the five in there, right? I love that. Give me him, Robin, Pippin, MJ. He's got to be Dee Rose. Yeah, I mean, Joe Keem's got to be your son. He's got to be. What about Wilford? He's my favorite. Do you, Kenny, do you retire, do you retire Dee Rose, Joe Keem, Luol Deng? Like, do you retire those guys? Without actually getting the jewelry, I think it's a little bit tougher. I mean, Chicago has been pretty stingy with retiring jerseys historically. If it was up to me, I would, because that era was the best I got to see as a Bulls fan. Born in 96, I didn't really get to experience the second three-peat. So that, the couple of years we were the one seed and we thought we had a chance against Miami. Like that was really, really fun years for me. And to see like the one year where Dee Rose was out and Joe Keem know stepped up, ends up fourth in MVP voting. He has my heart, you know, as a Bulls fan, but I don't know if it really makes sense long term. Kenny, I'm about to ask a question. I can honestly say I've never asked anyone in my entire life. Okay. Why do you have Chris Paul as one of your favorite players of all time? So, okay. So growing up, like everybody, I hope dreams, you know? Moms is like five, two pops is a five, 10. So I'm like, I know I'm not gonna get really tall. And I saw Chris Paul as a guy that was watering six foot, dominating the game. I'm like, this is the guy that I want to play like. I wasn't in the gym enough to have the handle or the vision or the leadership. So I was like, okay, I'm going to take a step back as trying to play ball, but just admire ball. And Chris Paul is the guy. Like when he was in with the Hornets, like that was prime fandom for me growing up. And I watched, obviously didn't have cable. So watch all the highlights I could. And to this day, a bunch of years later, I still can't get away from it watching him. It's still fun for me at least. That's great. Okay, so Lemma, I have a theory. Like there are some players across all of sports that are just, they have some sort of a jinx or a curse and they're never going to get a ring. I've always had Chris Paul in that category for myself. Do you think he's going to get one before he's done? He ain't getting it this year. He not getting it this year. And you know what? Going into the season, I thought there was a possibility. They started off pretty hot. The first time in Steph Curry's career where they have a positive point differential when he sat, a lot of that was Chris Paul running with the second unit. I'm like, this could be the year. But these last two weeks, these last two to three weeks, just like it's not happening. And now again, historically he struggled with injury. These later parts of his career, we're seeing that pop up again. I don't think it's going to happen unfortunately, but everyone doesn't get a ring. Nope. You can still be great without that jewelry in my opinion. Kenny, what's your take on the feud between right now Chris Paul and Scott Fossil? We've seen again flare up over the next week. I think it's, I think it's comedy, honestly. Like, I can't help but to tune into those games if I know that, like, this is the only time that I care about who's officiating the basketball game, you know, for better or for worse. You know, we're here for the basketball players, but if we see Fossil there and Chris Paul there, we know something is going to happen. It's going to be an ejection. It's going to be an argument. It's going to be a Chris Paul loss historically. It's fun, but I understand the frustrations from everybody that's actually rooting for the team that Chris Paul is on. To see him get ejected for some words, it's not great. But again, the NBA is also like a drama, and that's part of it. I know. It's like wrestling when those two are... I never thought about that. It could be the Warriors pistons on a Wednesday of Scott Foster's ref, and I'm tuning in because I want to see the fireworks. Like, I know everyone's like, he shouldn't ref CP games, but you just said it. Like, it's kind of this added bonus. And then you got Draymond Green in all of it. So there's more drama to talk about. He finally gets back from the five-game suspension and then turns around the fourth quarter and gets a technical... There are so many differing opinions on Draymond and that team, but for you, for your money, for your opinion, is he too much of a distraction? It's easier to say that now than previous years, right? You were willing to put up with Draymond's antics because at the end of the day, when Draymond, Steph, and Clay played together, they were virtually unstoppable. Now that we see them slow down collectively, everybody except for Steph. Steph is doing his thing. See the rest of them slow down. You're like, are the antics really, really worth it at the end of the day? And part of the reason why Draymond Green was worth it because of the defense, right? The defense was all the world. And so far this season, we haven't seen that version of Dray. So it's like, this is a team that can't afford to not be one of the top six teams. The last time they were a playing team back in 2020, 2021 season, they had the one game to win and they lost both and they were on the outside looking in. Now they followed that up in an NBA championship, but this version of this team is not the same as then. So Draymond Green, it's hard to tell a player after 10 years of antics that he has to tone it back a little bit, but it is time that we get more just production on court and not the other stuff. The tech that led to what, a 13 to six runs and then a game winner, it hasn't been great. No. Yeah. Kenny, last week, I saw something I've never seen before in that Spurs Clippers game where this man Pop grabs the mic. This man Pop? Like it's a high school basketball game and tells the crowd to stop booing Kauai Lee. Do you think he, he should be, he can do that? Do you agree with it? Do you think booing is part of the game? Because I think it's bogus. I agree with the idea that if I am a paying customer, I should be able to boo. Like I think that's the, that's the maximum, right? We're not calling Kauai out of his name. We're not doing anything extra, but booing is just a part of sports in general. It could have been anybody at that line. This is the opposing team. I'm rooting for the Spurs. I'm going to boo. It was, it was different, right? There's nobody in the game, as far as coaching goes, that I respect more than Greg Popovitz, but this was just one. I was like the few times in Popovitz's career that I say I don't agree with them. Like let the fans that pay the money do what they can do. Come to think about it, when I played in Memphis, my home crowd booed me and my own coach didn't even tell them to stop. Can I, can I, you should have learned from that. Yeah, they probably should have booed me, but what about my own coach? You're not likable. Do you not get that? Fisdale, Jimmy Pickerstaff, I'm off you. Fisdale. I'm off though. They could have had my back. Jamie should have grabbed the mic. Yeah. You kidding me? My home crowd booed me? Maybe they agreed with the crowd. Oh, wow. Yeah, thanks. Where's that been? We need that more. Another home crowd boo. Oh, no, I kind of love that. I can't dodge it. Pop. So, Kenny, you've talked about surprising small market teams. We've seen the rise of the thunder this year. What do you think their ceiling is, you know, this season? It's pretty high. It's higher than I anticipated going into it. I think that I was a bit of a skeptic when it came to Chet Holmgren, not because of him himself, but just for the fact that he is a first-year player. Right? It's rare that we see a first-year player, especially at the center position, be as impactful as he has, where if you look at like, I'm also kind of like a numbers nerd for the people. I don't know if everybody agrees with that. But you look at like EPM, he's like six in the entire league, behind people like Shade, behind people like Yolkic and Embiid, and some of the best players in basketball, that he's been able to hold it down in his 2.2 blocks per game. It doesn't tell the full story of his defensive versatility. So I think that adding a guy like him, we finally get spacing for Shade Gears Alexander, something that he's been able to average 30 points per game without it. Like it's really, really high. Obviously, they got a cloud over the organization at the moment. But if they settled that out, I think this really is a team that other teams that are used to being in that situation are not going to be looking for to plan in the playoffs. Kenny, I got to say, man, I'm impressed. I love the way you dissect things. That was really well done. So now I want your opinion on the Kings, man. They're 10 and 7. They're 8-4 when Darren Fox plays. I didn't have on my top five point guard list. Lou did. Who's your top five point guards in the NBA right now? And the reason I didn't is because I counted Luca as a point guard. Yeah. As you should. As you should. You're putting me on the spot here. I think Steph Curry is still the best point guard in basketball. I guess I'll put Luca too. Right. If we're counting, shake yours, Alexander, I think that he has to be in this conversation too. After that, I think it gets a little bit more difficult. It's a little bit more difficult. Like Damian Lillard historically deserves to be in the spot and he's starting to put it together. So I may put him at four, just out of respect. Halliburton. After that. I think I won Tyrese. I think I won Max. Too many. I think I threw in Max. I think I panicked and put Max. And Kenny, in fairness, our top five list are usually seven long. So if you want to, if you want to go ahead and choose as well. Yeah. I always say, I always say the realm of top five instead of giving away top five. You know, he's not playing. He's the guy about him. Stop. Yeah. You can't reward. I would say something like Deira Fox is the top five ish point guard in basketball. There's Kyrie. There's Jalen Brunson. There's Kyrie. There's so many now. Brunson. It's crazy. Dre, y'all. The game's in a good spot. Nessie. Now we're back on the top 10 again. Timberwolves 13 and four. One of those teams that's starting off the season hot been fun to watch. But are you buying it? Are they for real? I feel vindicated because I am a guy that has always said that Rudy Gobert is the best defensive player in basketball. And when he got traded to Minnesota, I was like, I didn't love the trade because it was a lot of capital. It was a lot of good players. But I was like, this is a team that was like 20 second in defense last year. They were towards the bottom of the league in the fits of rebound and where Rudy Gobert does that. And last year it was a disappointment according to the talenters out for the off season. Then got injured in November. And they struggled. Like they ended up making a playoff spot but for the most part when you pay that much draft capital you pay all of that. That's not what your ceiling is. And now we're seeing that Rudy Gobert is injured last season. He was trying to adjust. And they're rolling. Do I buy it as like a real team that I'm appearing in the playoffs? We still have to see that. But if there's any team last year that played the Denver Nuggets well, it was them in the first round. Oh, nice. Like they have the pieces to maybe slow down that with the double big lineup. I'm gonna say because Anthony Edwards is such a stud and Carthony Towns is looking like a good version of himself. Again, I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt. But there are a few teams that I might put above them come play off time. Kenny, another team I think taking the next step. The Orlando Magic. Eight wins in a row. Are they for real? Are you buying them as a home court advantage type of team? No, I'm not putting them in the home court advantage, but I'm buying them as a genuine playoff team. I think that the way Jamal Moseley had them guys playing, they have finally a identity. I think that when you have a rebuilding team, that's one of the hardest things to figure out. Who are we as a collective? And they're hanging their hat on the defensive side of the ball. And if you look at the last six or seven games they're doing this win streak. Palo is looking a lot better. Franz is looking a lot better. And they have the blue guys like Jaylen Suggs who can give you a highlight throwing a lob to another point. Like, it's a fun team to watch, but they still do have things that they struggle with, like half court offense. And if we're talking about the playoffs, half court offense is extremely important. So I am enjoying that the Orlando Magic have finally turned the corner, but I'm not seeing them as a top four seed in the Eastern Conference. The early season fun stories so far. Oh, okay, negative for a second. There are some bad teams. We've talked about one already this morning. Who's the most unwatchable this season? It has to be Detroit. Oh man, that hurts. It has to be Detroit. I sat down and watched the tank bowls, what a lot of people are calling it, the Wizards versus the Pistons. Watch the entire thing. No cuts, no distractions. I'm like, I need to really figure out what's going on in Detroit. It's not pretty. It's Kay Cunningham trying to create for himself and others, but the people that he's creating for don't, they're not real threats. Or like even the guys that we consider positive three-point shooters now, like Isaiah Stewart, the other teams are not respecting because if he beats us, then that's okay. Well, I like watching the Sir Thompson play. He's a fun story, but for the most part, you got a guy like Monty Williams coming in to change the identity. This is not the direction they thought they were going to go in. They have won above 500 seasons since 2008, since Obama was in office. Like think about that. Lifetime ago. So it's a team that has been looking for change and they thought that they found it and they haven't. Well, you know what? I'm kind of glad you mentioned Washington there. The Jordan pool experience for you has been what? It's been amazing. It's been amazing. And not in the traditional sense, not in the Steph Curry, LeBron James sense amazing. Like you don't know what you're going to get any day of the week. Is he going to watch his coach draw a play in the huddle? Is he not? Is he going to blow kisses to the audience when they're down by 26? Is he throwing it off the backboard while down by 30? Like you never really know. It's like the rocks, just this crazy ride that no one can predict. I kind of love it. And for your money, the best league pass team is who? Best league pass team. So I don't want to pick one of the team. I don't want to pick the Lakers or the Boston Celtics. They have a bunch of games on national TV. I might still have to go with Sacramento, honestly. They're brand of basketball, free flowing, a bunch of passes. The Montessor bonus playing as the hub. They were my number one league pass team last year. And I'm going to go two years in a row. They're winning it. I like that one. That was a good one. I mean, if you don't pick the Spurs, obviously. Kenny, we're going to have you on throughout the rest of the season. We very much are looking forward to it. Thanks for the time this morning. It's going to be good. Thank you, guys. Thank you. And we will be back with that man. Have your family in here. Run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back. Run it up, run it back. Sean, something that you're here for us. This is just a fun highlight part where some people, you know, kind of look like fools. No. There you go. Boom. I love this kid, Choms. He can play, and he's so young. They drafted him in the first round, and he's already proven he can be a starting point guard. He's been one of the bright spots for Utah. This is a team that wants to contend. That's fun. In real time, that's something. You'd like to see your point guard do that. Yeah, that angle's good. I like it a lot. Joel, oh yes. Two monsters. What? That's a nice block. I know you have to go up and under action there, you know. He's like coming down. I like, like, meet me at the rim. There's two centers. Why is the block happening below the net? Look, you can only deal with what you're given, and he was given that. It's a good deal. And he swatted it to the stands. I don't know what else you want. I'd like him to kick it to Dilo over there. All right, we got two more big ones. Possible rookie of the year versus defensive. Oh. See, this is going to. Let's give Rudy Gobert some flowers. Yeah, he's playing well. Shout out, Eddie Gonzalez. Rudy Gobert to the move. Shout out, Eddie Gonzalez. That's right. You know what? This is going to happen to Chet a lot, because he's light in the loafs. He's going to get bullied down there. This is going to happen quite a bit. Are we going to, we're just doing light in the loafs now? You don't like that? I don't know if we're going to let that one stick. Um, you know what? That court's not awful, by the way, for the record. Shingoo. Alperin. Okay, yes. That's my favorite one so far. Kyrie, you played with LeBron, who patented this block. Shame on you. Yeah, but this is pretty awesome. Look at Shingoo. What can't he do? I didn't know he had this. He's got it all. He's got it all, Shoms. Alperin. Scotty Barnes. Look at you to try to take the charge right here. Do not say anything about you to. We have learned our lessons. Oh, the right foot, dude. See, I think the Euro step makes it even better. And then the fact that he's so lengthy, these guys barely get off the ground and dunk. Yeah, the dunk alone doesn't do it for me. It's the Euro. Yeah, I agree. All the side step. Also, dunking off your right foot, it's just, it's harder. It's more impressive. I've always thought so. Coiletter. Spurgrate. Boo. Who's that, Javel? Oh. Yeah, let's see what he can do. I like, see, I like this because the fact that he's, he's still doing this. He's back. Of course he's still doing it. He is back. And when you boo him, he does it more. So technically, he should be happy that he's getting booed. Is it back to back 30 point games for Kawhi? Yeah. Stay hot. I get a blow right by Lyles. Look, I've, I've moved on. My, my anger has subsided, but I can't speak for everyone else. They're mad at him. Of course they're mad at him. Yeah. Come on. It was an ugly leave though. You know, there are breakups and there are ugly ones. You buying that, it's time. While on Gilbert Arenas' podcast, Rashad McCant said that, quote, real Hoopers know that Kevin Durant is going to go down as a better basketball player than LeBron. You buying that? No, he's not. I understand what he's saying. Kevin Durant is like a Rucker Park smooth silky Hooper. Like he is a absolute. Yeah. Like it's pretty. It's smooth. He offensively, he's got a deeper bag than LeBron. But no, the, the, you've never once heard the debate. Who's the greatest of all time? LeBron or Katie. It's LeBron or Jordan. I love Kevin Durant. I think he's an unbelievable talent. At his size, what he does being seven foot tall and plays the way he plays is unheard of. But no, LeBron. A better basketball player. No, LeBron is, no. LeBron is a better basketball player. But I, as a Hooper, I get it. I would rather watch Kevin Durant play basketball. Okay, there it, okay. I think it's, it's, it's sexier to see him do his thing than like LeBron bully through guys. Sexier, it's a sexier watch. All right, maybe he should say it that, that way next time. Although that would be weird. Yeah. Paul Pierce. It's always Paul Pierce. It's like the same group of dudes that keep giving us these quotes, but here it is. The best American player in the league is Jason Tatum. Said I'm just looking around. I think he's past Kevin Durant. I think he's past LeBron. The only argument left is Steph. I don't disagree. Also, Joel Embiid now is on Team USA. So if he's, if he's full American, I'm, he's the best player in the NBA. He's just MVP. We have to say American born, maybe. Well, he's on Team USA. Listen, it's not really a Tatum is up there. He's a top five. Maybe he's top five. Can't just change where you're born. It's Steph. It's Joel, because he is American Team USA player. And then it's probably Tatum. I think Tatum has now currently a better basketball player than Katie and LeBron. Hold up. Wait, hold up. So he's buying Paul Pierce. No, because I think I still am taking Steph or Joel over him. Okay, the Joel of it all. He's on Team USA. He's an American basketball player. Okay, but I wasn't born in this country. So I can't say I'm an American born person. You are. You're American. Okay. I'm technically an American now, but I'm not born here. All right. What do you think Tatum is better than Steph Curry, LeBron and Katie? No, I think I like Steph Curry the most. See what I figured it out. All right. Guess what? Who guessed who the next guy is that said something? Kevin Garnett. Had this to say about Anthony Davis. A.D. looks 40 years old. When I watch Anthony Davis play, he looks like me. Chandler, you buy it. He's putting up 40 and 20. I mean, I understand again, where he's coming from, he always leaves you wanting more. He's always on the ground, right? You don't know like when he goes down, is it as torn Achilles or he just get poked in the eye. You have no idea. So it kind of moves like that, like he's a bit older, but I know I'm not buying it. He's still a lead player in the NBA. He still can dominate a game. He is literally the best player on the Lakers right now. Now these guys are drunk. You know what they're doing? They're reaching that age where you look at other people and you think you've deluded yourself into thinking they look the same as you. And you can just say whatever you want. You just don't care. Yeah. Well, that also that. Yeah. That she looks just like my age. No, she doesn't. We're taking a quick break here. When we come back, we got to talk a little Kyrie. What did he do now? When run it back returns. All right. There's a play here between Kyrie and Dylan Brooks. I want to show you right now. I just, I already know this is going to be great because of the two names we just said. But here it is. I want your thoughts. You know what? I saw this play and I was like, oh, that review they're going to win. They reviewed this play and lost. If you watch Dylan Brooks right hand, he gives them a little tug right there. I think he sells it. He does sell it. But it's done. They reviewed the play. It's a barrel. He barely like goes like this. Yeah. But it's going this way. I think he gives a little tug right here. It can get you off balance. And it gets him off balance. I think I'm always off balance. It looks like he got punched in the face, but it's a foul. It's a foul. It's definitely a sell. And this one, you know what? This was his, he fouled out because of this call. Dang. And they reviewed it. Dang. And he is not American. He's Canadian. Yeah. Canadian born and Canadian. He's not on the run scene. We're going to have a fight about this for the rest of the season. Fabulous. All right. That's it for us. We will be back Monday. Bright and early. Safe weekends to all.