 Run it up, they run it back. Run it up, they run it back, run it back, run it back. Good morning and happy Tuesday morning. This is Run It Back Live, very bright and early. Might have some trouble getting words out today. Shyam Sharani, he won't have any trouble. Chandler Parsons, Eddie Gonzalez. We start out with some confusion and we will get into that in a second because Shyam's had some news yesterday which then trickled down into a million other things. Shyam, kick it off. Yeah, so from what I'm told Kyrie Irving has reached out to LeBron James to see whether James would come to Dallas and we know Kyrie Irving is a free agent. And to me, this is more a subplot of his upcoming free agency. Clearly he's become kind of a recruiter, putting on his recruiter cap, wants the Mavericks to improve their roster. And I do believe there's seriousness to Kyrie Irving wanting to play with LeBron James. We've seen it the other way around the last two years. It's been a rumor that LeBron wants to play with Kyrie Irving in LA and now you're kind of seeing the script being flipped a little bit. And I think there's no question. Both Kyrie Irving and Luca Doncius want the right players around them in Dallas. And so it's unlikely that LeBron James is gonna end up in Dallas. Just like it is, I think unlikely that Kyrie Irving ends up with the Lakers. I think LeBron James is happy in LA. His son, Brani, is gonna play for USC this season. But listen, in some ways there is a good amount of leverage here that even LeBron James gets for something like this because there's no doubt he wants his team in LA to improve the workload that he had last year going into age 39. So we'll see how this impacts Kyrie Irving's free agency. What? What? I was about to take a sip of water. He's like, yeah. You need a coffee, man. I'm sorry. Yeah, I just don't know how it would work, Shoms. Like, first of all, you're too good because I don't even know how you know this. I don't even know how this gets out. How was this news? But you're really good. But how does it work? Who do they get rid of? Like, are they trading everybody? Are they trading Bertons? Hardaway, Hardy, Green, every pick they have, I don't know, in the next 10 years. Like, it doesn't make sense to me. But if you can go and get a LeBron James, obviously, do you try and do it? Sure, like I think for one year, because he's already made it clear he's gonna go try and play with Brani if he were to have that opportunity, right? So I don't understand how this would work. But yeah, if you can go and get arguably the greatest player of all time, why not? Like, it's $48 million salary. Like, how do you even do that on that team? Shout out to Kyrie. I'd love for LeBron to be part of Run it Back. Like, I'd love for him to play for a bunch of teams. I bet he would. The worst kept secret in the league the last year is these two desperately wanna play together. Like, they have not hit it at all. My thing when I watch this is the Lakers. They have made it clear that they don't wanna trade a haul for him. They've had three opportunities to go get him and did not. Does Mark Cuban want LeBron? I bet he does. But how do you even make that happen? Would you even do that? LeBron's not leaving L.A. Kyrie's not going to L.A. apparently. So I don't wanna say it's a non-story, but it's just a hilarious, another hilarious Kyrie-LeBron thing. One point they'll play together again, I'm sure. Once you get him, then how do you fill out the roster? You just hope guys take way less and get guys on minimum deals to kind of surround this trio. That would be really good. But again, I don't see how it's possible. And I don't, like, why do they leave each other in the first place if they just wanna go back and that'd be the big storyline? Sometimes you think grass is greener and it turns out it's not. It's all dead and garbage. But here's the thing. Let me be the ass for the minute. For Kyrie as a recruiter, just hear me out. Is it possible that Kyrie, knowing that he wants the big max deal and that half the world thinks it's a bad idea and the other half thinks they're stuck and they have to do it, is he just not showing himself as a, quote, recruiter? Look at me. I'm invested in the team. I love Dallas. I wanna be a maverick. I wanna make the team better. Look what I'm trying to do in a ploy to sort of bamboozle the front office and it'll be like, yo, he's totally in. And you know what? It gets the fan base on his side too. Like, oh my gosh, look, he's trying to recruit LeBron James to come to Dallas. He went for the big whale. Like the biggest little whale. I definitely get it. Then also at the same time, he's going to Lakers playoffs games in LA trying to get leverage from other teams. So I think he's definitely playing a little chess, not checkers, but also he's an extreme talent. And like you said, maybe it is a bad idea to sign him long term this summer, but they made their bed and now they're sleeping in it with him. And I think he goes back there. I think he gets a three or four year max deal there because they have to, Mark has to, right? He gave up a lot of assets to get him. Does he have to? It didn't really pan out for this three month trial last season. But I mean, you're looking at still the best backcourt going into next season if they lock up Kyrie Irving and Luca. So Chandler, you've been a recruiter at different points. I mean, how often are you going after the big guy, you know, the big fish? And then you, if you don't get the big fish, which clearly like the odds of him actually getting LeBron James, I don't know what they are. You know, they're- I think it's zero to 0.0. 0.0, maybe 0.5. At what point if you're Kyrie Irving, is this a point to get other players that are also in the marketplace? It's to set the stage for that. A little bit of both. And I was 50%. I got Dwight Howard when I won him and then Deandre Jordan just broke my heart. And that was actually for Dallas as well. So yeah, it's tough because you want to better your team. You want to make your job easier. So you want to get the best possible players. This just seems like a, this seems like a, you know, he's swinging for the fences here and it's probably not going to happen. But listen, do they even become an immediate contender if LeBron goes there? Like how many games does he play? Is he going to still play at the same level he played this year? Like I'm not putting all my eggs in a basket. He already just did that. Mark already just did that with Kyrie Irving. I'm not doing that again for LeBron James for one year. For one year? Okay, so as a recruiter with Kyrie, and we've seen with KD, is he a good recruiter? Of course. What's his, what is the game plan? I mean, what's the resume? I mean, I guess the resume is Kevin and if you let them tell it, you know, they came to that together and just needed a city and it didn't end as great as they wanted it to. They both admitted that. Look how fun they were. It's Kyrie, Kyrie's an enigma because everybody in the league loves him to a man. And he's just like a great guy and they think he plays beautiful basketball. But if you ask like ownership for different teams or general managers or maybe not even coaches, I feel like coaches like him too. He's obviously a very interesting character and can he get LeBron to Dallas? Probably not, but is he smart and does he know exactly what this means as far as his leverage for getting a contract, for his ability to get other guys, for the way he looks as a team player and all of that? Oh, he knows all this for sure. He's brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. You know what it feels like? He's like the NBA Leonardo DiCaprio. He gets all the baddest ones, but they don't last. By the way, the latest Leo DiCaprio, just to go off that tangent, is Gigi's 22 year old friend. It's crazy. How? And again. He must be dumb, because if he's just talking to 20 year olds and there's nothing going on up here. I don't think it's about talking to him. Shut up Chandler, Chandler's like he's my hero. Let's just put on our make-believe hats for a second and just think that this could potentially be something. What can Dallas even offer in a trade? Well, it would have to be literally their biggest salaries. They have two first-trump picks that they can trade. You really have to go all in on that. The only other option, if you're not gonna get acceptance on Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber, basically you stack these contracts together, two first-trump picks, and if that, you know, obviously that's a hard sell for the Lakers. Luca Dutch is the only other player. And they're not gonna trade Luca, right? So you're trying to get LeBron James on a team with Luca and Kyrie. But listen, like, is there a universe where LeBron James is like, I want to be in Dallas. And if there are players in the league that have built up the equity to say, I want to go here, trade me here, I mean, Kevin Durant just a few months ago, he wanted to go to Phoenix, he ended up in Phoenix. So, but again, that's a very alternative universe, you know, that I don't think we're living in. That's the market though, right? Two young guys, another starter, a hall of traffic. And those are things that Dallas doesn't have. What is even trade for LeBron James at this point in his career? Can you just play three? I mean, if you could just play three. They might want that. The Lakers don't want Tim Hardaway, they don't want Bertrand. They're like, they have to be, there has to be some sort of jail in brown, some staple piece in the trade to make it work or make sense in my opinion. Three-way trade, is that what you're suggesting? You gotta bring in a three, yeah. Now we're talking Leo and Leonardo DiCaprio in three ways all of a sudden, so. We're back, baby. It's early. It's early. It's Tuesday. Okay, if you're Luca, by the way, we haven't even really talked too much about it. It's still his team last time I checked. If you're Luca, do you even want LeBron James? Yeah, I would, because we all know how passive LeBron James is. We all know how he gets off by making the extra pass, playing unselfish, almost to a fault this season. But yeah, I think Luca just needs help. He would love to have Kyrie Irving back. He would love to have LeBron James. He would love to add just pieces that can kind of manage his workload, not make him have the ball so much in his hands, and there's gonna be still games where he dominates and he takes over games, and it's his team. No matter who they bring in this year, it's still his team. But yeah, if you can get a generational talent like LeBron, who's also gonna fill the stadium, the amount of Jersey sales, everything that LeBron brings, the Mavs and Luca would die for. But again, it just seems very far-fetched. LeBron in another Jersey? That's just weird to think about. Like, I mean, his history says if he goes, he'll get to your title at some point. I mean, I don't know if he's doing that at 38, 39, 40 years old. But if this is the best player on the market, the Maverick should pursue him. I think on the flip side, like the Lakers, people have been saying this for a while, they should consider what they can get for him going forward. And if that's, if they can, he has, what does he have, a player option next season? So they have to consider their future without LeBron James. This is, I don't think the deal, but maybe that deal exists. Maybe there is a three-team trade. Maybe there is something. I wonder if deep down in the truth box that they have over there at the crypto, if they actually would consider a LeBron James threat, I think they should. I don't know if they would. We always talk like LeBron has all the leverage. And maybe that is true, but the team itself, the Lakers, how much leverage do they have over him? I mean, to an extent, I think both sides right now, it's interesting. You know, the Lakers, they just make those trades at the trade deadline. Get all those guys. D'Angelo Russell, Malik BZ, Jared Vanderbilt, really hot tomorrow that can help them win right now. And they end up going to the Western Conference Finals. D'Angelo Russell gets benched in game four. And I think overall, when you look at the landscape, when you talk to team executives, they feel like, you know, the Lakers could be in the market for a point guard, right? So when you think about the available point guards, Fred Van Vliet, Kyrie Irving, their best bet might be to bring back D'Angelo Russell. But I think what you're going to see over the next, this, you know, between now and July one, July two, is like, can they get a point guard? Can they see what's available in the marketplace? And so LeBron James, clearly the workload he had this year, at the age of 38, can he do the same thing at 39? The amount of games he played, the minutes that he played, even in the playoffs, the minutes that he was playing on a torn tendon. I think this offseason will be interesting to see how much the Lakers prioritize decreasing that workload for him. Yeah, again, I think it's something they explore. I think they look for it. If they can get something in return that can pair well with what they just traded for this deadline, then yeah, go for it. But again, I think we all agree that this is kind of far-fetched and Dallas just seems like more of a want than actually going to have. So if you're the Lakers, like, how do you go about this offseason, trying to decrease the workload on LeBron? Or do you think you don't need to? Even like last year, I wish they would have started the year with that team. They were a real team, right? They were contender, they were deep, they had shooting, their pieces made sense. That team that they threw out there in the beginning of the season didn't even make sense. And they had no shot. They started off two and 10 or two and 12, whatever it was. But I think they have to continue to get depth. They have to re-sign Austin Reeves. And I agree with you, Sean. But I think there's not really a better option out there than D-Lo this summer at Point Guard, although he struggled in the postseason. I mean, it could be the best they could get. So I think they kind of run it back here. They try and save LeBron's legs as much as they can. But it also has a lot to do with Anthony Davis, right? He's got to be healthy. He's got to be a dominant player that he's been in the past. Austin Reeves, highlight reel. It's funny how the cookie crumbles, right? They're the only team that got swept by the Nuggets now. Even the Timberwolves got to win off the Nuggets. But they beat the Warriors. So it's like, yo, what is this team exactly? Are they true contenders? Can they beat the Nuggets in a series? What would they have? They beat the Warriors, the Warriors of the Raining Champions. What are they? I agree with Psalms. I think they need a Point Guard to obviously seek that out. They should be wondering if they can get Kyrie to LA. They should be thinking about that rather than LeBron to Dallas. I feel like that's part of this. Kyrie's up to something. I need the most chaotic version of this story. Basically, Chandler wants them to run it up and run it back. Yeah, why not? Do the rest of the lyrics. OK. We've got to start. Chandler, why don't you tell us who's coming up next after the break? We got arguably the best coach in the NBA. My favorite coach I've ever played for, head coach of Cleveland Cavaliers, J.B. Bickerstaff. Coming up next, Bernie Sun. Got to love the video, head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Also, Chandler's former coach, favorite coach, which I think is staying a lot. J.B. Bickerstaff, good morning. Thank you for joining us. We have gotten to know Chandler a little bit over the course of the year. So my only really most important question is, is this dude even coachable? Morning to y'all. You work with him every day, so you know the answer to that question. It's a lot of mind games with Chandler to make him think everything was his idea, and then he would buy in. By the way, I love that we have a highlight tape. Interesting. Head coach. High video. My favorite J.B. story is my first ever workout, right? The NBA was a group workout in Minnesota, and he was on the staff for the Timberwolves. And I just remember all the best wings in the 2000 left draft were in this workout. And I just remember going up to J.B. and I was like, A, it was like Jimmy Butler, Kawhi. And I was like, put me against those guys, right? Because I was like, I wasn't a projected lottery pick. And it actually turned out that I played really, really well. J.B. ends up getting higher with McKayle and Houston. And sure enough, I think I sold him that workout because he ended up drafting me. Is that true or false, Kyle? We were desperate at that position. We were desperate at that position at the time. So we made the best available. Best available? This is the start now, guys. J.B., I know you guys wish you guys were still playing right now in the NBA finals, lost to the Knicks in these playoffs. Now that you've had a little bit of time to reflect, what did you learn from that? What did you, any regrets? How do you view that series as you guys moving to the off season next year? I mean, it was a great learning lesson for us. And that's what it comes down to is there are processes that each team has to go through. There are steps that you just can't skip. And I thought this was a great learning lesson for us. There's the unwritten rules of engagement that change in the playoffs. And our guys, and myself included, we had to go through that together as a group to kind of figure it out. I think the Knicks found that they had an advantage with their physicality. So that's an opportunity for us to get better over the summer. We know we can improve on that. To a man, we know we can get in the weight room. We know we can be more physical. We can be stronger. And it's not something that you can just turn on in the playoffs. It's something that throughout the season and over the summers, you have to continue to build on. And that's something that our guys are going to accept a challenge. And I expect to make better for it next year. We had a young all-star on your roster. Donovan Mitchell, what's the best part about coaching him this year? I mean, he's just an awesome dude. And it's just that you forget and move aside of his talent because he goes out and he shows that every single night what he's capable of. But his first conversation with me when we traded for him was, coach me as hard as you want to. And he lived up to that. A lot of superstars don't want to be coached. They don't want to have to listen. But you could coach Donovan hard. You could challenge him in front of his teammates. And he would accept those challenges. And from day one, he came in. And he just wanted to be a part of the team. He was on vacation when we traded for him. Our guys had a group workout in Nashville. He left his vacation to be a part of the group workout. So he came in and just wanted to be a part of the group and not separate himself. And that made my job extremely easy. I feel like I know the answer to this question. But Dmitz recently said that he should have been first team all NBA. Do you agree? And why? Because I feel like you've got to agree. Yeah. I mean, I think his on the court merit gives him that it's not me being biased. You look at what he did throughout the season and how it impacted winning. And I think that's the thing is like, there were what, six or seven teams that won 50 games this season. And we were one of them. And obviously, a lot of that had to do with Donovan and his performance. You look at a guy whose numbers increased from last year to this year. You look at a guy whose numbers weren't empty numbers. The guy had a 70-point game, 71-point game. We were down 20 at half. And he figured out a way to kind of will us to victory. So it's not like he was putting up empty numbers. He was putting up impactful numbers that led to winning at a high clip. So I definitely agree with Don. I feel like he should have been first team. Again, I know we all would have traded that in to continue to play further on. But he definitely earned it through the regular season and proved that he was one of the top five players this year. So walk us through how you consume playoffs in these finals. Are you watching players? Are you watching Spoe and Malone? Are you taking notes? Like, how exactly do you watch these finals? I mean, it's a combination of all those things. What I aim to do is continue to study and try to learn and get better. I want to be able to help this team and this organization as much as I possibly can. I want to be able to help our players as much as I possibly can. So not only do I watch, but I listen, too. And I think one of the things that, in listening to Miami and the Heat and Jimmy Butler and their comments, they keep saying that they don't care what anybody else thinks. And when you play with that type of mindset, you can play without any insecurities and play with complete confidence. As an organization, you look at the Heat and the Nuggets from top to bottom, and you see the consistency that's been there, the consistency in their core players, the consistency in their coaching staff, front office, ownership group. That allows your players to play with a freedom and a confidence, where the only thing that they're thinking about is how do we go out and win to the highest level that we can possibly win? And I think that's extremely important. So as a coach, trying to figure out, how can we bring that same consistency? How can we bring that same level of confidence and shed the insecurities that you may get from listening to the outside world so your guys can be the best versions of themselves when it matters most? JB, what do you see as the biggest priorities for you guys going into this offseason? I mean, it's going to be our individual development, to be honest with you. We are extremely satisfied with our core group of players. I don't think, and I know I give Kobe and Mike Gansy and those guys a ton of credit, because they've been able to pull rabbits out of their hat. But it's going to be extremely difficult for them to go find a player that's better than the guys that we have currently on our roster. So they have to continue to improve. They've got to keep working. Our coaching staff has to keep helping them develop. But I know Kobe and Gans and those guys, they'll go find complementary players to help our young guys be the best that they can be. So our focus is, what do we do to help our young guys continue to improve, that's individually and that's us systematically putting them in position to be successful. Yeah, the Eastern Conference this year was loaded with you guys, Philly, Bucks, Celtics. Were you surprised that the heat were the team to make it out of the East? I mean, you never bet against the heat. I have to give them a ton of credit. They're one of the organizations that, being in this game, you admire because, again, there's never any panic. And you know exactly who the Miami heat are going to be. And for us, it's like, they put it out there. And if you get guys who are tough, mentally tough, physical guys that are willing to do all the dirty things, it's that thing of where chemistry, right, allows you to maybe overachieve and be teams that may have more talent, but you've got better chemistry. You've got more consistency. You have a better understanding of your system. Like you can out physical and mentally tough teams. That gives you an opportunity to win. And I think the Miami heat personify all those things. And again, it's one of those like learning lessons where you go out and you try to instill that in your group and that's what we're trying to build here in Cleveland as well. Going to the other side of this series, you got the two-time MVP, Nicolo Jokic. A lot of conversation about making him a scorer and how you handle that. How would you handle Jokic in a series? And do you think that's a real thing? We make him a scorer? Yeah, I mean, it's one of those pick your poisons, right? It's, you know, if you make him a scorer, what is that number to where he has to score, to actually make it work? I think with great players like that, he's gonna figure out a way to put pressure on you no matter what your defense does. And I think he's shown, and I know there's, I saw a number when he scores 40 points or whatever, but he's gonna find a way when it comes down to it to put pressure on you and to win games. So you have to do the job. It's where the mistakes that you make that allow the other guys to become better players. And I think that's where you see a lot of that happening is, you know, the great players typically are gonna be the best player in the series, no doubt. But there's always another guy or another, you know, two guys who make you pay when you make mistakes at key moments. And I think that's where, you know, when you're defending great players, like you have to figure out, you know, contain them, slow them, make their life difficult. But on championship caliber team, playoff caliber teams, you know, you have to make sure you don't make mistakes to allow the other guys to have a major impact on the game. JB, shout out to your dad, Bernie. He was a championship winning coach back in the day with the Bulls as an assistant. I know you guys are close. What's the biggest lesson coaching wise, or even as a person, a human being that you've learned from him? No, again, I've tell everybody this, like I've been extremely fortunate that I never had to look for a role model outside of my house. That includes him and my mom. So, you know, my dad, the thing that he taught me at a young age in coaching and it's translated to life as well is two things. It's you're honest with players, you know, they may not wanna hear it in the moment, but as long as you tell them the truth, you know, or your truth, at some point in time, they'll respect you for it. And then the other thing is you treat everybody the same, you know, your 15th player, the ball boys, you know, the security guards, you know, they're no different as human beings than your best player. So you treat everybody with that same level of respect. And, you know, that's how you build environments and that's how you get people to buy in to something greater than themselves. So JB, does he still give you advice? Like, is he in your ear when you mess up? Does he stay on you, especially when you make, you know, whether it's a coaching error, whether it's something he sees in your fashion game, like, you know, there is no fashion game. There is zero fashion game, JB. Listen, I have eliminated the fashion mistakes because I just keep it simple with a polo or a pull-up, but no, like, this is my dad to a tee. He has the link to the video cameras in our gym. So he watches every single practice that we have every time that we come together in the gym. And about 95% of the time I leave the gym and I get to my phone, I've got three or four text messages from him already talking to me about, you know, things, you know, where the coaches are standing on the sidelines, you know, who was dribbling a ball while one of the coaches was talking. So he's on all of it and he pays attention to it and makes sure I know everything about it. And first of all, you know what happened to your fashion style. He used to wear these Vince Carter draft days baggy ass suits till I got ahold of him, got him a tailor. But I always say be hard to believe looking at you. Are you going to agree, JB? Once again, he's making you think of his idea. You just happened to come in at the lead in the time where big suits were going to smaller suits. So yes, you had on the, you know, the little boy tight suits first. Oh, that's what he does that. That was his way of complimenting. But I always say, Jay, I think being a head coach, it's, you get an unfair deal, right? You see guys getting fired after being coach of the year or winning championships. Do you think it's become too much of a player's league where the coach always ends up being the scapegoat? No, not by, I mean, we know like what this comes down to is, you know, the league is driven by players. But what organizations and, you know, teams have to understand, fan bases have to understand. And again, you can look at Mike Malone and you can look at Spoe and you can look at these teams that have had, you know, stretches of success, whether it was Bud, you know, you go back to even, you know, Dwayne Casey when he was in Toronto, like those teams were good teams and put themselves in position to be successful because they stayed consistent. And I think what happens now is, you know, there's a lot of outside influences and pressures. And the coach is always the easiest one to blame, right? You're the one who's standing out there and it's always easier for people after the fact, you know, to make comments about what you're doing. But, you know, you have to have faith from an organizational standpoint that you hired the right guy and you give that guy the right amount of time to do the job that you hired him to do and understanding the reality of the NBA, like winning in the NBA at a high level is extremely difficult. Winning in sports at a high level is extremely difficult and takes time, right? It's not something that just happens overnight. You cannot, especially if you, you know, skip the free agent groups, but like find teams that were built organically that just turned a corner and did it overnight. Everybody goes through painful moments and, you know, again, not all coaches are perfect, not all coaches are the right one for the job, but like if you see the group trending in the right direction, give those guys an opportunity to finish it and play it out. And I think, again, that's what you're seeing with Mike Malone and Eric Spostrow as we watch these finals. You guys both mentioned it. We're watching coaches get fired years after winning Coach of the Year, years after winning titles, going to the finals. How do you manage that as a coach? How do you manage the expectations? How do you get an organization to buy into your long-term strategy? Well, I mean, you have to do that in the very beginning of your conversations. And I've been extremely fortunate, you know, working with Kobe Altman and having a relationship with him where he and I have a similar vision of what we're trying to accomplish. You know, obviously he was here with the Cavs, you know, at their peak, but when, you know, the change happens and now you're starting from the bottom and you're working to, you know, rebuild a franchise in an organization, you have to be with somebody that you trust. And I trust Kobe, ultimately, you know, Dan Gilbert has given us an opportunity to be extremely successful with the resources that he's given and the trust that he's putting us. So again, it takes a lot of conversations, a lot of communication, but you have to see some sort of progress. And I think that's one of the things where, you know, again, as a group, you know, we've continued to get better as individuals, our young guys have continued to get better. And I think, you know, as an organization, whether it was here in Cleveland or other places, you know, you do have to show some growth. But again, you have to have patience and you have to have an organization that trust and believes and one that you're on the same page with. Like these businesses now are partnerships and you have to be willing, you know, to bend and compromise to make sure the partnerships work. Yeah, moving on to someone that we both spend some time with, Dylan Brooks, I said, he wasn't always like this, right? I did some things this season where I really rolled my eyes. What was your time like coaching him? Have you seen him change? Was he like this in Memphis when you had him? I mean, I had a great time with Dylan, you know, one of the things that made Dylan who he was was the chip that he had on his shoulder. And, you know, that was why, you know, he was able to overachieve and be the player that he became and make it to the NBA. You know, he is a tough-minded defender. You know, he is a guy who, you know, his teammates embrace. He's a guy who will go out and do the dirty work and those things. So, you know, I will hold comment on, you know, some of the other stuff that's been said about him. Like all I can comment on is the time that I spent with him and I watched him grind every single day to become a better player. I watched him go out and challenge guys defensively. So, you know, that's what I can speak on because that's the time that I spent with him. I mean, bringing things a little bit closer to home, he had that moment with Donovan, the groin hit. Did you say anything to him? Were you shocked, were you surprised or that's just sort of what he is there to do? No, I mean, my focus is on our team. I don't get involved in, you know, what other organizations, other players, other teams are doing, you know, in that moment all I'm worried about and concerned about is Donovan. And, you know, I was proud of Donovan's response. And I was proud of Donovan's teammates' responses to make sure that they had his back. So, I'm not, you know, in it for all of the sideshow stuff. You know, our focus is on our group, our team, how we respond, how we continue to get better. And, you know, that's where we focus. And then again, you know, other teams have how they do things and I've, you know, believe in everybody, everybody has the opportunity to do things the way they want to do it. And I let other coaches, other front offices, they handle their team and we just worry and focus on our team. All right, Coach, very important question. You're a Big Eagles fan. Jalen Hurst asks very nicely for a 10 day contract. Would you give him one? That's easy. Yeah, that's easy. Yeah, what position do you want to play? How many minutes do you want? That's an easy one. Which number? That's all. Yeah, whatever it is, yeah. Yeah, that's easy. That's all he has to do, guys winning at life. Coach has been awesome. Do you want to do the honors to say goodbye? Yeah, JB, thank you so much. We look forward to next year. You guys got a good thing cooking over there. So look forward to seeing you soon. Love you, appreciate you coming on. Love you too, appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me. Thank you so much. We'll be back. I know, I feel like that's, you should say goodbye. Yeah, that's my guy. What's your guy? That's my guy. Oh, yes, it's time for you to buy now. We got some stuff to talk about, and we're going to start with the serious one. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, of course, saying a Jaumarant suspension won't be announced until after the finals. That got a lot of heat, Chandler. Are you buying that this is the right move? I think it is. I think the way he said it, insinuated that he knows something we don't, right? Maybe I read it wrong, but I feel like he made it seem like there was other information. There was something else that we haven't been made aware of yet, but at the end of the day, this is a very serious situation. Obviously, it's something that he did twice, and it just shows that his rehab stent or his therapy session just didn't mean anything. It didn't change him. So I respect Adam Silver doing this and not letting it take away from anybody that's playing in the finals. The nuggets, the heat, they deserve to be there, and this is a huge story, and that kind of takes away from what people are talking about. Kind of like the LeBron thing, acting like he's not going to come back next year at the timing of that. That wasn't fair to the team that just beat them in advance to the NBA finals. So I respect it. I do think the punishment is going to be pretty harsh, but I like this. Don't give him anything to talk about. Don't give people any distraction. Everyone should be focused right now on the two best teams in the league that are playing for a championship. I'm going to go the other way because he said, him saying this was a new story. Just tell us how many games. This idea that we can only have this one story going, well, we're in the league with LeBron Samson, Kyrie Irving, and all these other players, Giannis keeps telling us that it's fine that he lost and all this stuff. We can walk into him at the same time. Tell us how many games he's suspended. Because that is like how long are we waiting? He's not suspended until October anyway. Just get it over with. Tell us what's going on. One thing I do think is whatever the amount of games is, people will haggle about that amount for months. Not enough to a minute. Yeah, exactly. So that I buy, that part. Can we bet on it on the Fingal sports book? That would be an interesting problem. I say a season. The over under was like 40, I think. I say a season. Yeah, I mean, I think that if you're going to announce this job as a suspension, you either got to do it before the finals or after the finals. They clearly didn't do it before. It's hard pressed to do it during. Because at that point, I do think it becomes somewhat of an unnecessarily, you're putting that during the finals. Like you either address it beforehand. And I do think there was a window of time where they could have done it, whether it was that Monday before the finals on a Thursday, late in the week. Could have done it earlier Monday, first thing Monday. Could have done it over the weekend. Again, but I'm not. And then we'd be over it by now, right? Do you think there's anything in the meantime job? I mean, I know he did the cryptic goodbye tweet, which was just basically saying goodbye to social media, but it was the timing was odd. Is there anything he could be doing? Apparently, he unfollowed his buddy. Yeah. People care about that. In the one in the video? Yeah, I guess. But no, I mean, the thing with him is he's. He's killed all the goodwill he had with his half-assed apology and everybody going, yeah, that wasn't. We don't believe that. So honestly, the best thing to do is be silent and say goodbye. That's insane. Yeah, I think, honestly, getting off social media, keeping his circles small. I mean, again, like Eddie just said, no matter what he says or does, people aren't going to believe it at this point, right? He's already given multiple opportunities. So I just think he needs to really work on himself. He needs to better himself. Whatever that is, offline, off social media, with his family and without these people he's surrounding himself with. I love this next one. It's an evergreen question. Been asking it for years. Silver also said the league's going to turn to expansion after media rights discussions next spring. Eddie, which city should get a team? Las Vegas, duh. Wow, that was easy. Like, put it in Vegas. I know everybody says Seattle. Yeah, everyone says Seattle. There's the idea that they'll do both. But put a team in Vegas. It's time. We've seen the Raiders. We've seen the WAs. They go there. The cocky might get another championship. The Aces won a championship last year. Put it in Vegas. Let's do that. Figure out where to put that arena. I mean, I guess they could play in T-Mobile. Yeah, they play there and deal with the traffic. But it makes the most sense. Yeah, I agree. I think you look what the hockey team's done. I think everybody around the world goes to Las Vegas. I think the success that they've had with multiple other franchises moving there, I think it makes the most sense. It's a huge market. I also, if it's not an expansion, I think you just replace one of these other cities. Like, how does Oklahoma City, instead of Seattle? They're about to be great. But I'm saying, like, how do they Memphis? How do you even? San Antonio, all these cities, you're a dealer? No, I'm saying China's going to be on the hit. No, OK, Siemens. No, I'm just saying, like, how is Memphis not in Nashville? You know, I mean, there's bigger markets. There's better cities. There's, you know what I mean? So you would rather just take one of the teams from a city that you hate, which you hate most of them, and put it in Seattle, is that what you're saying? I just think there's some really cool cities out there. Seattle, I don't know why they ever moved. That was such a great house, such a great city, and they moved to Oklahoma City, which is not that, you know, electric of a town, you know what I mean? They've been expanding the downtown area. You've been OK, Sie? It's been a minute. They've been, they've been expanding. San Antonio, you wouldn't rather see the Spurs in Austin? No. Yeah, me neither. I'm literally a Spurs fan. That lives in San Antonio. What is wrong with you guys? You guys are going to be beefing now. I think Vegas is the ideal choice. I think that's the biggest market that's, you know what I mean? And now that you've seen, there's a track record that sports teams have gone there and they're thriving. So I feel like that probably helps. Don't look at the, don't look at the Raiders track record of police blotter, but besides that, it's been great out there. But hell, there you go. That's a nice little turn that we took. Oh, Jeff Van Gundy, been in the news for a couple different reasons. This one with a few suggestions for the league. I love this, not really. Eliminating free throws until the final four minutes and wants to reduce halftime to five minutes. Are you buying either one of those, both, none? I like the halftime one. I do think halftime is too long. Five minutes? Like a Super Bowl halftime is outrageously long, an NBA game. I think it's too long. But the free throws, now we're getting silly. I wouldn't be going to change the rules. There's no double dribble next. Like this is a critical part of the game. This is, puts a different dimension of pressure on guys to knock down a shot when the game's on the line. You can't just take away everything. I understand what he's saying. It slows it down. It's horrible to watch guys like James Harden back in the day that we're shooting 25 free throws a game. It's boring and it's not exciting to watch, but it's too much of a critical part of the game to take it out, but the halftime is interesting. I definitely think that makes it quicker and almost better. Well, what goes on in halftime? Five minutes seems short. It's some oranges. Do you go to the bathroom? Is there a line to the bathroom? Are there enough bathrooms for me? Yeah, there's enough. You go on your phone? Did you go on your phone? No, you know what? I mean, when I was younger, yeah, you would, but you kind of put it away. Now that he's mature. Yeah, later in my years I didn't. But no, the coach comes in. You kind of talk about adjustments. If you're up, what to keep doing. If you're down, sometimes they throw some things. Sometimes it's aggressive, but it's too long. It's too long. But again, it gives fans time to go get drinks. You guys got to use the restroom. You got to go potting? Yeah, so I get it. We get to watch Wastope Rappers perform. Yeah. But I also like the guy with the dog. I like the guy with the dog. The dogs is kind of fired. The baby races. Baby races are good. We need time for the baby race. Do you care? Do you like either one of these? What about no free throws in the five-forms? It's such a weird thing, because does that mean we can just foul in perpetuity until it's a 44-minute mark? That's a little odd, but the halftime thing, I mean, I think they could tinker with halftime, but stuff does, like arena stuff has to happen at halftime. You know who doesn't want that? Are the play-by-play guys, because that is their one break to get up and use the restroom. And if you make it five minutes, that's rush time. I mean, I guess if you can still foul out, but there's just no free throws, I guess that could work. But there's got to be some sort of punishment. There's going to be a penalty for fouling people. For a hacky. Yeah, you get the points. The mabs pulled the job offer after these comments. Oh, there was that rumor yesterday that he was being reported to be an assistant coach under Jason Kidd. I don't know how much. I read everything and it's too much real. That's where we are at this point. So there's something going on with the league. They're looking into these reports that longtime official Eric Lewis has been using a burner social media account that responds to the criticism of his work. Brilliant. He's not among the 12 referees selected to work these finals, and he has been many times before. But here's where we're having an issue. A burner account, is that really grounds for suspension? Like, what's the rule break here? I mean, I don't think so. It's like he's doing anything illegal. It's not like he's doing anything malicious for if he's threatening a player or he's fanning out. I guess there's the rumors that he's a Boston Celtic fan or something. The rumors. All these reps are human beings, and they were probably fans of a sports team growing up that they're reffing for. But at the end of the day, having a burner account, it's hilarious. It shows that this guy is a little insecure and wants to clap back at people that are shitting on him and his calls. But I don't think it's grounds to not put him in the finals. I don't think it's grounds to suspend him. And Eric Lewis is one of the cooler reps. So I feel for this. But I guess it's more amusing and entertaining that he goes home right at halftime. He gets on his phone. I love it. And he tweets at people. Yeah, I mean, I think the NBA's investigation is mostly around that, like having a referee being put in this situation. If this is true, you have an account where you're tweeting, even again, I don't think anything is grounds for like, you know, the Brian, this isn't the Brian Calangelo. No. When he was president of the Sixers and him and I guess his wife were tweeting like private information about the team and going at players and saying something that was very, very, something you don't let out about an organization, about your own players. This isn't that. I think this is him going to bat for himself and the other referees, which I think you have to admire a little bit, but I, you know, if you know, you just, you also can't, I don't think Eric Lewis, I don't think the refs want to be in a position where you're doing that. You know, shout out to Katie for opening up the Rural. Opening up the NBA Rural to the Burner accounts. Burners. But this isn't the only ref, that Jerry Calangelo wasn't the only GM. Kevin is not the only Brian Calangelo, isn't the only GM. Can't be. Kevin isn't the only player. You've probably interacted with some burners of some important people before. How do they get busted? I don't know that this affects the game. Like, I don't, you know what I mean? We all go home and vent about our jobs and complain and he did it on Twitter and so, you know, it is what it is. Complete side note, how about the Wizards girl that got so lit? She, remember, did you see this couple weeks ago? She went on the Wizards account and posted. Oh, she was on Snapchat, yeah. Oh, that was on purpose? She thought she was on her, it didn't switch back over and she posted like a girl do like a stanky leg at like a bar. Oh dear. They must have been in Nashville. It was cool. That was, that was in Nashville. We got a follow up. Did that girl ever get fired? Whatever you have, let's follow it. We'll get back to you tomorrow. Quite the meeting after that. Quite the one on one. I just hope that this is the extent of which, I mean, he's already being punished, obviously not working these finals. So, I mean, they can always hide behind the fact that maybe he wasn't going to be picked to work to find, probably not true. But I hope that's it. Maybe fine. Is that breaking any rules? You know, fine maybe and keep it moving. Yeah, I mean, it's probably embarrassing more than anything. He's probably embarrassing that. But again, unless he's tweeting, like, oh, he did this call on purpose, or he, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, Scott Foster hates Chris Pollard talks about it all the time. Exactly. That would be a problem. There was something like that that actually exposed some juicy detail of something. But like, this guy just venting, like, as he would with his wife at home. I don't see the big deal. I don't either. It's kind of a funny story, but I also hope it's over with soon. We're gonna take a quick one. When we come back, we begin the two day process of previewing a big, important game three. Oh dear. Mike Malone is losing it. He's sick of his ass, man. Sorry, buddy. When NBA Playoff games tip off, there's no better place to bet than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because now you can build a same game parlay after the game has already started. Live SGPs are just one of the few new features added for the playoffs. Go check it all out right now on the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Of course, we've got one more sleep until the games resume. That's tomorrow night heat. Now they're in Miami. That's the fun part. The next two, by the way, they're all tied up. Chandler, biggest adjustment you need to see from Denver. Well, Coach Malone said it. It's the effort, right? There's no surprises now. They know each other's games. You know what you're gonna get. It's all about who executes more, who follows the scout and report more, the game plan more, who's getting those 50-50 balls. And that's always been a weakness of the Denver Nuggets, right? They've never been a great defensive team. They have a lot of personnel there that aren't the toughest guy that don't play the hardest. And they defend, our defense is predicated on their offense. There's a lot of guys like that when the ball is not going in. Are we taking plays off? Are we not rotating to the next man? So I think the biggest thing for them is the effort. Everyone knows they're a favorite. Everyone knows they're a more talented team. That doesn't scare the Miami Heat. They do not care. They've made that abundantly clear. So they have to play like they're hairs on fire. They have to throw the first punch and they have to be the more physical team and play harder. If not, they're letting this huge upset happen right before our eyes. I'm gonna be the bad guy and say, Jokic needs to step up on defense. I know he scored 40 points. I know he is the best basketball player alive right now. But if you watch that game, they continue to attack him at the top of the key over and over and over again. And eventually they sagged off. Eventually they found different little adjustments to try to clog up the lane a little bit. But earlier in that game, it was a layup line. It was a lot of dunks. It was a lot of stuff going on. And a lot of it was Jokic at the point of attack. So some of that will lay on him. And then, yes, the effort thing. But if your coach is asking for effort in the NBA finals. That's weird, right? That's a problem. That's a really weird time to be asking for something so basic. Do you agree it's Jokic, the player that needs to step up? I, no, I would more go towards some of the role players. Michael Porter Jr., Tavius Colwell-Pulp, they need to shoot the ball better from three. And I think we saw in game one the difference in game one and game two is then in Nikola Jokic, I think the pass the wrong point, the guys just were not making shots. And I think Michael Porter Jr. really is an X factor for this team. When he's playing well, when he's making shots from the outside, which he did in game one, this team should be the favorite. Yeah, Pope can't be one of four and Porter can't be two of eight. These guys can't combine for 11 points. They've been critical throughout the first couple rounds of the playoffs. And they're those other guys. And we all, again, we all know what Jamal Murray's gonna do. We all know Jokic is gonna have crazy triple doubles. It's what those other guys can do. And can they match the production of the Caleb Martins, of the Duncan Robinsons, of those other role players? Cause the stars are gonna shine. So it's gonna come down to those guys and especially Michael Porter. He's one guy that I took from Malone's press conference that even if shots aren't going in, even if you are two for eight, you have to affect the game. You have to rebound. You have to defend. And he's gotta find a way to do both. But hopefully, you know, shots are falling for him. By the way, we didn't get into it too much, but I know Kerr was on Draymon's podcast and he said that the head of the snake for Denver is not Jokic, it's Jamal. Does anybody have an issue with that? We go with it? No, I agree. You do. Because it's, when he's making shots, when he's driving to the remit, when he's using the Jokic's pick and roll in the way he does, that offense explodes to another level. I think the league has decided that there's nothing you can do with Jokic. You let him score 40 or he gets a 30 point triple double with 17 rebounds. But since there's no way to stop that, you turn to the next best option. And if you can calm Jamal Murray down, you have a chance in the game. And that happened the other night. He shot bad. He made two big shots late, but he had a bad first three quarters and the heat ran away with it. It doesn't sound right though. No, I disagree. I think there's a reason Jokic is a two-time MVP, not Jamal Murray. There's a reason that he's one of the best centers of all time, and Jamal Murray's not one of the best point guards of all time. He is the head of the snake. Every offense goes to him. I agree, they are a much better team when they get a lot of production from Jamal Murray and he's efficient and he's talented up to explode for these big games. But no, when you have a seven-foot center that can handle the ball, that can bring it up, that can facilitate, get everybody involved with, that guy's the head of the snake. He's the one that's causing the double teams. He's the one that's collapsing defenses. So I disagree with him on that, but obviously Jamal Murray is critical piece. Coach giving us weird phrases. That's gonna do it for us today. We will be back bright and early tomorrow with Matt Barnes. I'm sure it will be peaceful and calm. We'll see y'all then. Run it back, run it up, run it back, yeah, yeah, run it.