 Steph versus Luca. Need I say more? Run it back. Starts now. Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Good Wednesday morning everyone. Look at these beaming, smiling faces that I see before me. There it is, Eddie. All right, as always, joined by Shyam Sharani, a stadium insider, Chandler Parsons, and of course Eddie G live from I guess Jersey. We guys, we had a big night. We won't get to the parlay yet because obviously we need to stick that for the end of the show. But the big game last night was Mavs Warriors and oh, so much to talk about. The Mavs beating the Warriors, 1-16. Look, Clay, that could have been an open game tying three and they used Steph as a decoy on that. So Chandler, I know this might be brought into question but are you okay with this as the final play of the game? Yeah, of course. Look, we're talking about again the second best shooter of all time and he got a wide open look. And Clay went 1-for-6 last night from the field but you'll take this shot 10 out of 10 times. I don't care who it is. I don't care if this is Poole, if this is Wiggins. This is a great look. This is a great play. I was thinking that they were gonna try and get the ball and Dallas should have fouled but this was such a good play. Mavs weren't even able to foul. I'm perfectly okay with this. And listen, if Clay makes that shot we're having a whole different conversation today but if they need Clay to be the guy, they gotta treat him like the guy and they gotta give him looks like this at the end of the game. I love that shot at the end of the game and really the difference last night was the Mavericks shooters. We talked the other day about just a lack of shooting that this team has. There's only three players in the rotation that are shooting 40% or more from three. Last night they had Tim Hardaway Jr. He went 5-11 from three and then you had Davos Breton's Josh Green. They added another five threes totaling. And so Luca Dantz has played otherworldly but they actually got some support for him. Some guys actually made threes and Warriors are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league even though they've had a few down years from guys. But Dallas finally shot the three ball a little bit better than their opponent last night. Yeah, it's a great shot for a great shooter. You can't be upset at that. Clay couldn't blame the media or whatever for shooting two and nine last night but he's gotta knock that down and you usually trust him to knock it down. So yeah, you know, look, sometimes you just miss. Luca's missed a few game winners this year himself. It happens. Yeah, yeah, Davi has. I think most of us as fans can agree that we love a game that has lots and lots of travel calls and luckily for us last night there were 10 of those, including this one on Steph with 10 seconds left, Warriors down two. You know, a lot of calls were made guys but Eddie, do we agree with this particular one? Yeah, I agree with it for one reason. He should have drove the ball. Like he earned that the wrong way. But I mean, look, the gather police on Twitter, they explained to me very in depth that yeah, he absolutely lifted his pivot foot and switched it and all this good stuff. Yeah, that's travel. Come on, Steph. He said after the game, I think that, you know, he basically just lost track of the score. It's so weird that this is a killie's heel. Like, we can win the game if I drive, but I just want to shoot a three on a guy I could absolutely beat off the dribble. But yeah, he deserved it just for that decision alone. Yeah, that decision basically just showed you what he's about. He's the best shooter ever. He wanted to take that big shot, but I watched the video of these 10 plays and they're all travels. And I think the biggest surprise is that they don't usually and they haven't called this play historically. But this year, they've been pretty consistent with it. And yeah, I don't think it's great for the game. I don't think it's great for fans watching, but every single one of these plays last night, they were a travel, guys switched their pivot foot, guys kind of crossed their feet when they go off the dribble. And listen, the kudos to the refs for calling it, but now they got to continue to do it because when they start missing these calls with games on the line, opposing coaches are going to be livid. So they better be consistent with it throughout the year if they're calling 10 of these in one game. Oh, Chandler, they're not going to call these. They're not going to be consistent. You know what it is? It's like the carry call. Like you could legitimately call 30 carries a game. So like, yeah, are you going to pick and choose or are you going to call it every single time when someone switches their pivot foot? They're now putting the onus on them to be consistent or not. Great, Choms. Great. Point of emphasis. Do I sniff it? Going into the season, it was really bench decorum and the palming violation. So George will get called, I think for two or three palming one night in Miami, like that was one of the emphasis as well as bench decorum and traveling in the last two weeks, three weeks, it's really skyrocket across the league. So clearly that is something that the refs are trying to clean up or at least pay attention to more, but we look back at that step three pointer or that attempt that ended up being a travel. And that shades of Kevin Love, right? Like at the end of that final series where Steph is three point hunting instead of just going for the drive. And I think that's really the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that play. So many calls. All right, so Luca, his fifth triple double of the season, 41 points, 12 and 12. It's lovely to watch, but I think I'm just gonna ask the question we're gonna ask the entire season. Is this sustainable? This version of Luca, is it sustainable Eddie? Of course not. We've seen it phase out multiple times in his career now, which is unfortunate because he's a great young player, but he was dynamic last night. I'm happy we weren't in person when Chandler gave his parlay picks. I'm not a tackler. I just, Luca has lit the Warriors up a few times already. There was no way he was going with the under, but shoot for the stars, I guess. But no, it's not sustainable. The team is saying it out loud. They're looking for a secondary ball handler, which is like, we could keep going back to, I have no clue what Janet Brunson won because they need that exact player and don't have him. And he has to do stuff like this to win by, what was it, three points at the end of the game? And so, yeah, it's not at all sustainable. Yeah, this is tough because it's fun to watch. It's unbelievable. It's impressive, but it's not sustainable. And I hate that he's doing this in November. You know what I mean? Like, May and June are so far away and I'm just worried when they get in the playoffs, he's not gonna be able to do this consistently for seven games to get deep into the playoffs. He's just not, he's gonna have to have guys like Tim Hardaway, Den Witte, Josh Green was great for them last night, knocking down some shots. But then all of a sudden Christian Wood disappears and like, he needs at least two or three of these guys to get double digits every game because the reality is he's having these 40 point triple doubles to get wins just to stay around 500. That's not good and that's concerning. And like I've always said, he's not the most physical in shape specimen ever. So this is definitely gonna take a toll on him and come playoffs time, he needs to be fresh and they need to have a more dynamic, spread out balanced offense for them to have success because the playoffs are a whole another level. They're gonna, as soon as this dude crosses half court, they're throwing double teams at him. They're blitzing him every pick and roll and these other guys are gonna have to step up. So they better start getting the reps now. When you see what James Harden did, that's probably the most comfortable player to what Luca Dodge is doing now, but his teams were getting one, two seeds, right, Chandler? So that was the one stark difference year in and year out. They were competing for high seeds and James was winning a lot of games in Houston. And I think what's interesting in Dallas is I think they do have a couple of guys in Denver and Christian Wood that you can run offense through. But I mean, I'm curious from your perspective, Chandler is like, when you watch this team, you've been in that situation before with multiple talented players on your team, like how do you manage and, you know, manage egos and manage shots because if you have other players that can do it, how do you get those guys more engaged on a night basis? Yeah, it works both ways. Listen, everybody in that roster, that organization knows Luke is the guy and they know most nights it's gonna be him. But also, Jay Kidd, I guarantee you, is telling these other guys, Dodo, Green, Dinwoodie, there's gonna be times when these guys have to take over and they have to be ready, but I never wanna speak, you know, injury or anything like that into existence, but I mean, this team would be so lost without this guy and at this usage rate, I think it's impossible to sustain. So these guys are gonna have their number called, they're gonna have their opportunity and they can't be salty, they can't be, you know, ego driven to what wise Luke could get and all this stuff because they know he's the guy, they know he's the top three player in the NBA. So they just gotta be ready when their number's called and, you know, Luke has gotta keep doing a good job getting them involved and keeping them involved, but it's tough, it's tough to watch one guy dribble the air out of the ball all game long, all season long, especially when you're a 500 team, like you said, you're not even a one or two seed. It'd be nice if they could load, manage whatever, Luke and force the hand of the other guys to step up. Cause yeah, I don't want an injury, so I don't want like a clipper situation, but I would like to see them do it. Luke had a couple of moments last night that were blooper-esque, if you will, or at least it didn't feel very Luke-esque. How about this, the eight second violation? I mean, whatever. He had that, he had that moment. There's a whistle, kind of the rest were busy last night or never good and you never want to do it. And the only thing that saved him was that he was at home. So the booze probably weren't too loud, but how about air ball on a free throw? What? What is that? You never see that from a guard like this. No, what is that? He's tired. I gotta be honest, the eight second violation to me is more unlikely because you know the rule, even if someone's pressuring you, you should be able to cross the line. I shot an air ball twice in college from the free throw line. It happens, I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's sweat on your hand, although it's nerves or what, it definitely happens, that eight second violation is inexcusable. I like how you remember both all these years later. Like you know it was two and you remember them that well. One was in my hometown at the Magic Arena against UCF and I swear to God, like my grandma was booing me, it was so bad. Ah, grandma, that is crazy. So you never did it in the NBA? That was just the college thing. No, I never did it in the NBA, but I mean, it happens, you see it happen more, you know, more somehow a lot. He looks exhausted already. He did walk into the game, very accountant happy hour like, yes, there it is, but what do we, I mean, look, we mock everyone on the fashion and here this is just a suit, right? But yet feels weird. Yeah, it's like the forced gump suit. It looks like, like, what is the way it looks exactly like something Dirk would wear back in the days and maybe it's a great call. It does look like a Dirk suit spot on. Yeah. Okay. So maybe that's what it was. Madness culture over there. That's probably what it was. We had another out at an elbow last night. Look, I have the Zach Collins, Russell Westbrook fresh in my mind, but this is Dinwiddy on pool. And Dinwiddy was also ejected for this one. Good call, Chandler. Yeah, I mean, that's a pretty violent hit to the head. Jordan pool can't catch a break with all these shots to the face. That's not, I don't think it's intentional, no one's been here, but that that's definitely, you know, a dangerous play and straight on elbow to the face. So I think you got to toss him for this. Yeah, I mean, you got to, it's that's a strong elbow right in the face. I get it. I mean, maybe I go flag or one because I don't think it was intentional. Where are your elbows supposed to go there? You're taught to swipe through to create space. But, you know, maybe Jordan pool gets a little bit of the benefit of the doubt because of past history there. I don't know. He's had a rough year. That's past history. Yeah, I mean, I don't like that play looked like a natural, like you're swinging your elbow and you're trying to get some contact and you swing your arm out. I don't know. It could have went either way. I understand the flagrant flagrant two, but I could have easily seen that being a flagrant one. Yeah, these flagrant twos, the intent doesn't seem to be there in the last two of these, but what do I know? The Knicks had some good news last night. What? The birthday boy was in full effect. Maybe it should just be Julius Randall's birthday every single day. And then he can do things like 36, seven and five. Look, this is the guy that they wanted. This is the guy they expected. Does he have it, Chandler, that he can be what the Knicks fans have expected this entire time? I mean, I think he's a heck of a player. I do not think he's a number one guy, but you know, he bought out last night and Barrett, Brunson, Grimes, they all had, you know, double figure 16 points. They had a nice balanced attack last night, but at the end of the day, I mean, yeah, it's always good to win games in the NBA, but this is against a very bad team, you know. There we go. Missing Dave Cunningham, missing Jade and Ivy. This is a game that they're supposed to win and they won, but I don't think this is a turning point for this team and all of a sudden puts Julius Randall as this number one guy, but it was a hell of a game for him and the Knicks did what they were supposed to do and beat a bad team. Yeah, look, beating the worst team in the league, you're supposed to beat in them by 30, that's pretty impressive though and creeping right back to 500 and the absolute mediocre that the Knicks have been, that's cool. But you know, look, Julius can do this. He can have big games, he can have great games. He's an athletic guy, he can score. When he's hitting his shot, you know, he hit six threes last night, you don't always want him to take me 13, but when he's hitting his jump shot, it completely changes who he is as a player and who they are as a team. So nice to see him out there doing stuff like this. He had a rough year last year, so I'm happy he's back at it. The dunk is nice. The dunk is nice. I know, whoa, oh, I like that. Look, and I know you guys are both poo-pooing on it because it was against the Pistons, but it is a team that seems to disappoint. I feel like a win's a win no matter what for the Knicks. Maybe I'm just crazy or maybe I'm talking from the perspective of a bad fan. The dunk though was fantastic. I would like to show that again, but I don't know if we're going to. So we'll just keep it moving. Guys, all right, fine. Oh, we're gonna keep it moving. Clippers, blazers, next up. No clippers, of course, still without two main pieces. The blazers are still surprising some, but pal. The story in this one was pal with 32, 22 of those in the fourth against his former team. I love motivation when it's revenge factor, Chandler. How much of that is there when you're facing your former team? It's a lot. And you always, players are always saying it's just another game, not putting any more pressure on it. Anytime you go to your former team that basically didn't think you were a part of their future plans, traded you away. There's a little hostility and there's some bitterness there. And Norman Powell took that to heart and he absolutely took over the fourth quarter. 22 points in the fourth is insane, 32 in the game. He absolutely torched his old team. And this is why I think Tyron Liu is such a good coach. He makes the adjustments to put Nicholas Batum on Simon's late in the game and they have to come up with two big blocks. He plays Moussa Diabetti, who was my guy, played on my AU team in Orlando. He is just up his third game ever and he's blocking shots. He's battling with Nurkitsch. Even when Jeremy Grant fouls out and they bring back Nurkitsch and Tyron Liu rolls with him, it's working. Why change it? They came up with another big block against Simon's late in the game. So this was huge for the Clippers. I mean, you can't help but think how good they would be with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and all these guys just rolling. I think that immediately takes them to a contender. But they're only going to go as far as Kawhi can really take them. But this was a huge win for them. And yeah, Norman Powell had something, had a chip on his shoulder last night going into his old team. Yeah, that's the Norman Powell that you see when you play with the Clippers on 2K. And he has said the right attributes to be this special player. 22 in the fourth is nuts. But I'm with you on Tyloo. That's a big win for that team on the road. And I know that the Blazers have kind of back down to Earth in their 11 and 10 now. But you're missing both your stars, your manufacturing points slowly but surely on offense. And then you get two great performances in the fourth quarter from the guys that you mentioned. That team is scary. I said on Twitter yesterday, they're kind of boring without those two guys. But if they can get healthy when it matters most, which is four or five months from now, that's a scary team because they just have a ton of vets who just know how to play NBA basketball and grind it out. And yeah, Norman Powell, he looked amazing last night. Four or five months from now? Oh, go ahead. I have to be back off of what CP said. I mean, the Tyloo factor, and you've seen some of the frustration that he's had after games when they've asked him about Kawhi Leonard, about Paul George's health and everything like that. He's had to go through so many different lineups and for him to stick with his guys, come up with a rotation, a lineup that works. I think you have to give him his flowers for sure. Yeah, and obviously they've been banged up and the West is kind of all over the place, but they're fifth in the West right now with Lily without their best player. PG's been in and out. John Wall's missed a lot of games. They've created this team where it's a bunch of long vet athletic wings like Robert Covington, Norman Powell, Nicholas Batum. They have a lot of interchangeable pieces. They have a lot of shooting and then they have star power when those guys are healthy. So this is a team I think had high expectations coming into this season and didn't start off very well, but man, I'd love to see those two guys get healthy because sky's the limit for this team once they are. Yeah, I would too because so far they've played four games together and we're a quarter of the way through the season. But let me ask you, Chandler, are they, is the team right now good enough? I hate to say tread water because they're doing slightly better than treading water, but if in fact we don't get a full healthy Clevers team for four or five months, are they good enough to sustain it and then get these guys back full strength and make a run or is it too late by then? Yeah, I think they are. I mean, listen, I don't, I do not think they're a contender without those guys, but I think they have the experience. They have the depth. Like I just said, they have the shooting. If Norman Powell is going to play even half as good as he did last night, he's got that capability. Reggie Jackson's been solid for them all year. Zoo box, we saw the game he just had. They have a lot of pieces. And I think they found something last night in Moussa Diabetti just with his length and his energy. They have a lot of pieces to continue to win games and to stay afloat without those guys, but do I see them advancing even in a playoff series without them? I don't think so, but I'd love to see them fully loaded. We'll see, Eddie, it's time to do the positive report card. What did you take away from the trailblazers last night? Well, our one parlay leg that hit is Jeremy Grant. He's been a monster. He's been a monster this year and a great pickup. And that's something that the franchise is going to have to reckon with because he's going to be a free agent this summer and he's going to command a lot of money. A guy at that size, an Olympic gold medalist who can defend multiple positions, who can score over 25 points when need be. And he's hitting a three like crazy this year. He looked amazing. Unfortunately, he fouled out when they needed them and it went from there like Chandler mentioned, but he looked great. Obviously, Simon's lit it up. You know, a little bit of concern about how much they clamped him late in that game, but I mean, he had an incredible third quarter and it looked like the game was over really, but credit the Clippers for making the adjustments and getting the bigger guy on him late in that game. And I think that's, you know, that's how the Clippers are going to trade water, you know, not to backtrack, but they defend like they, I don't know their defensive numbers, but you watch them, they put out a group of long athletic guys who can defend multiple positions and they switch everything and they make it tough for guys. So, you know, that's how they'll be able to hold on. But if you're the Blazers and you're waiting for Dame and who knows what it looks like? I saw him work out in Brooklyn. He was working out full speed. He looked great. So I don't know what the hold up is, but if you're the Blazers, you can record that. Is that breaking news? Wait a minute. Is this an Eddie bomb? Like what is this? What is happening right now? Hey, I just, you know, I see stuff sometimes in these arenas. That's all no big deal. But Jeremy Graham has been amazing and they really have to figure out if that's a piece they need on that and so it's going forward. Well, if there was ever a segue for Shams to chime in, there it is, Jeremy Grant, Money and the Future. Where is he with this team? Yeah, I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago for a stadium sit down. He told me that he had reservations when he was first traded to Portland. But I think now he sees that this team, he likes the fit that he has there. And we've seen him play a few different roles so far in the NBA. He was a guy that was a second round pick and then he plays a rotation, a supporting cast role in Denver in Oklahoma City. And then he gets to be the number one option in Detroit. And I think the role he has now in Portland is a hybrid role. He's able to be the one on some nights, the two on most nights, two, three, along with Simons and Lillard. So I think that is the best position for him. In January, guys, he's going to be eligible for a four year, $115 million contract extension. We'll see if and when he gets that offer, if and when he's going to take it. But right now he looks like he's a perfect compliment on that team in the role that he's playing. Well done, keep it moving. Pelicans Raptors, that is a game tonight, but we want to concentrate on the Pelicans because Zion Williamson hit a bit of a milestone on Monday, his 100th game in the league. Yeah, yeah. I know he was drafted in 2019. You know the history there though, but he happens to be on a bunch of really high profile lists through his first 100 games in the league, including 10th most points by any player, the most since Michael Jordan in the 80s, not bad. So let's start with Chandler. If you had to grade Zion's first 100 games in the NBA, what are you giving him? He's been incredible. I got to give him an A minus just because we're talking about 100 games in his fourth year. It's really the only thing he's done wrong. The guy is explosive. He scores in so many ways. He kind of plays that point forward sometimes for New Orleans. He reminds me of John Morant where he's just must see TV. He's great for the NBA. There's really nobody like him with his size and his strength and the way he plays. He is an absolute freak of nature and we just hope he stays on the floor. It's interesting when I was in the league, I had a medical doctor tell me that there's no physical possible way with this guy's strength and his explosiveness that he's gonna be able to sustain this playing in the NBA. So that's the only obviously concern is health with him but I give him an A minus because he's been unbelievable. Not bad. Yeah, look, I love Zion. I think those stats are great and it's really cool. The story is absolutely that he's only played 100 games so far in his career which is insane. He obviously was hurt his Duke season as well and the body type and the way he plays you have to be concerned. And it's been a story since he's been in the league because he had to get in better shape. He had to get in a diet. He knows it. He's aware of it. He's saying it in interviews. I'm not even gonna tell you what I like eating because you're gonna make fun of me. Like he knows what the perception is. It's super unfortunate but what I always say about guys and I said to Chandler when I seen him like guys don't want to be hurt. Zion wants to play basketball. He doesn't wanna be hurt. He doesn't want this injury tag. It's just unfortunate and I love him like he's family. I wanna see him play 80 games a year and I wanna see him be amazing because he's way too big for anybody who can stand in front of him. He's way too quick for anybody who's big enough to actually take a bump. At the end of the day, he jumps so high in the air it doesn't matter how well you guard him. What I love about Zion though, he does not take shots that he doesn't think he can make. Which sounds like a really simple and stupid thing but he doesn't. He only takes what he thinks he wants to get as close to the rim as he can and get layups and dunks. And he's been amazing so far in his career. We just gotta get him on the floor. Fingers crossed, shops. What do you have? I mean, for those 100 games, I'm gonna give him an A because of those games played but like Eddie has said, like the story is for sure that he's only played 100 games but those 100 games that he's played, I mean, he's been as dominant as any player on the floor. Every time we say anything with grade and Zion, I can just hear him saying, what would you grade me? And now I just can't help. But Giggle, he's mastered the press conference. Coming up next, taking a quick break here and update on Carl Anthony Towns and Chandler's former coach with a secret extension. Run it back, returns. Run it up, run it back, run it up. Well, there it is. Several weeks. Look at that. Look at you. It's the Fandals Sportsbook Love Shoms teaching people all about these numbers plus minus. What have you got? Okay, Carl Anthony Towns. We saw him go down. We saw him look back. It was a right cap strain. I see your tweet, but what do you have as the latest? So he underwent testing yesterday and that showed no damage to his Achilles, which of course was the fear as soon as he looked back and it looked like he got kicked or he felt he got kicked on his leg. And so thankfully no Achilles damage, but he does have a strain calf. He's going to be out several weeks. I think there's a fear and we believe that it's going to be at least a month. And that leads you to believe that it's at least a grade two calf strain. So this is going to mean a lot more time for Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards to spend time to try to see if they can figure out a way to play without having that too big lineup. But the worst was avoided for Carl Anthony Towns with that cap injury. That's the good news. Maybe Anthony Edwards will do some stuff. Okay, so there was a contract extension, but it was hush-hush. What's that about? So the bull side, Billy Conovan, Chandler's former coach to a contract extension, a multi-year deal. So he only had two years left on his deal going into this season, but now he has at least four years on his deal. They had a nine-win improvement his first year, 15 wins his second year. They made to the playoffs for the first time in four years last season. So you have to give Billy Donovan credit for bringing the bulls back into the playoffs. This year they obviously have gotten off to a slower start. They're nine to 11 so far this year. They've been without Lonzo Ball. So the hope is that he's going to be back at some point in the second half of the season, sometime after the new year, but we'll see on that. But yeah, this was something that was not reported. It was never announced. So Kudos to Billy Donovan. He got a new contract extension. Yeah, secret one. Shams coming to his life from the road. As always, thank you. And oh, enjoy your weekend. It is Wednesday. We'll see you on Monday morning. Chandler, I want to go to you first. Obviously you played for Billy at Florida. We know coaches don't sleep and they're stressed out all the time. And it is a bit of a struggle as far as the start of this season. How is he handling it? Yeah, look at the young guy. Wait a minute, hold on, hold on, hold on. This definitely was not a good conversation. I can tell you right now, this was not a positive conversation that we were having. It doesn't look positive. Billy D is the man. And listen, he's got that New York mentality. He's from the school of Rick Petino. He's great exes and O's. He's great player development. I still think to this day, he's like the best workout guy I ever had. He's really good at player development and individual workouts. And I was worried when he got to the league because he's such that loud New York style in-your-face college coach. And I was wondering how it was going to translate to the NBA, but I'm happy for him. He's done great. He's had some pretty good teams. He has a way of kind of going at you on the court, but he's his relationship with you off the court. You know it's not personal. He's a hilarious dude. I think exes and O's at a game timeouts. He's a pretty brilliant mind for the game. But I'm happy for him. I got to be honest, when I saw breaking news, Billy Donovan, I thought it was him getting fired. Yeah, there you go. I did too, to be quite fair. I thought that as well. Yeah, it's awesome that he got a little love there and is going to be in Chicago for a while. I love that. He was definitely yelling at you about defense too. I could just see this. What the hell were you doing out there, son? It was such a great shot. It was probably after my free throw air ball. Perfect. We just tied it all together today in a little boat. There you go. Baby Chandler. Oh. Hell of a tan. Hell of a tan. Right? Why are you so tan? What is what? I like the hair. Weren't you in a gym all the time? How are you this tan? No, I was at pool parties drinking for work. All right. Well, at least the honesty is still there. We'll take it. There's time for a little who you got. We'll start with Chandler. Coach of the year or quarter of the way through it. So Joe Missoula, Mike Brown, who you got. I got to go Joe Missoula, even though I love Mike Brown. I love what he's done for Sack. But I saw a stat that the Celtics as a team are almost doing the 50, 40, 90. It's insane what they're doing. They're so balanced. They just have bought in completely to everything Missoula is saying. You know, you thought maybe they were going to take a step back with all the drama with Udoka. And clearly, this guy has just spilled right in and has continued to reach this team's potential. I mean, 17 and 4, they've got off to a great start. They've only lost to two teams all year long. I think it's Cavs and Bulls or something. They have been dominating. And you've got to give it to him because he's the coach of the best team in the NBA right now. Yeah, it was Stormy there for a while. I'm not giving it to him, by the way. They just went to the finals. Like, he got the Ferrari. It's fine. Mike Brown, this video of Mike Brown showing his guy how to rotate and take a charge like really warmed my basketball heart. So I wasn't doing that. By the way, Eddie, from Formula One references Ferrari, that's not a good one. They're awful. OK, moving on. Rookie of the year, they've managed to ruin a Ferrari at Ferrari. So Paolo Bencaro or Matherin. Eddie, who are you taking? Who you got? Yeah, I've seen Benedict Matherin light the nets three times now. So I know he's amazing. But I'm going Paolo. Paolo's ridiculous out there. He's a man, child. And I can't go against him. He leads the rookies in points. He's in exactly the advertise. So it's him. Somebody has to come in second. I'm sorry, Benny, but it's going to be you this year. Paolo's great. Great number one overall pick. I know there was some debate on draft night. They absolutely made the right pick. Yeah, no, it's just. Imagine if Jabari Smith went number one, they would not have loved that. Well, good talking to him and he's got a lot of time to get it right. But yeah, imagine that. Yep, hindsight, hindsight. Ladies and gentlemen, most improved. This one's kind of fun. Chandler, this is for you. Shay Gilgis, Alexander or Tyrese Halliburton? Who you got? I mean, Tyrese is he's a fun dark horse. He's playing great. His assistant turnover ratio has been unbelievable. But I mean, when we talk about Shay, he he's taken the lead. The guy's averaging over 30 points a game. He's getting wins for this team when he probably shouldn't be. He's showing them that I'm not a trade asset. I am the centerpiece moving forward. I don't care what draft picks we get. This is my team. I'm the man and I'm going to carry you guys once you get some help around me. And he's always been good. And I think, you know, most improved. It's different. Are we talking like a bull bull who averaged two points who's now in double digits? Are we talking about a guy like this who went from good to really good? And I think it's him. He's had a great year. His numbers are pretty insane. I think he's an all-star, even though their team is bad. You got to give a nod to him. Where's Jordan Poole? What happened all this Jordan Poole talk? I thought, you know, you're right. I mean, Jordan Poole, he he's not even a six man conversation. You know, Halle, Halle has an argument as well. And I think it's exactly what you said, Chandler. Like everybody's definition of this award is different. We knew Shay was pretty great. And you know, his team is bad. But Halle Burton is the best player on the board right now as the foreseed. And he just needed that opportunity to flourish. It was going to be tough for him in SAC next to the Aaron Fox. Now he has the ball at pretty much all times. His numbers are great. And I think that leap from good to really good is different than the leap from kind of like unheralded to pretty good as well. And again, we're talking about criteria of really arbitrary award. But Halle Burton has just as good an argument. And they're actually winning games. So that helps. First of all, Eddie, all of these awards are very serious and life changing. So please never mock them again. OK, thank you. More disappointing offseason acquisition. You're already blocked by this guy. So T. Wolves, Rudy Gobert or the Knicks getting Brunson, Eddie? Rudy, come on now. Like I'm just I'm just going to lean into the anti-Rudy. But no, they I mean, they gave up for him. The Knicks could spend money. They were going to have to spend anyway. The Timberwolves actually mortgaged their future for what they thought was going to be a defensive anchor for a championship defense or contending defense. He's been him on defense. And that's great. He's a shop locker. He roams the paint. But he hasn't transformed that team at all. And in some ways, you could argue he's made them worse by kind of curtailing what Kat and Anthony Edwards do. So absolutely him, especially as they start getting those graphics out there in Utah. That's going to be tough to explain in 2027 when they're awful again. Yeah, this could go down historically as one of the worst trades of all time. And I know Gobert's value. I know he's good. His defensive presence. But what they gave up for him is to go for a two center lineup that his position is kind of extinct at this point. I didn't see it. And it's pretty bad. Brunson, I think, is a great pick. I think Brunson's worth every penny. I think a lot of teams could use Jalen Brunson. He's that floor general. And I think Dallas could really use Brunson right now. So it's definitely Gobert. Yeah, Dallas could use him. What's weird? How about positive awards? All right. So we're going to do MVP a quarter of the way through out of the East first. Tatum or on Tatecumpo, Eddie? I'm going Tatum. He's just he's been amazing this year. They're the number one seed right now. They've been the best team in the league pretty much the entire season. He's on a rampage. And he's clearly the best player, like shout out to Jalen Brown. But he's definitely taking that leap up to superstardom. I think he's the MVP period, not just this Eastern Conference. Super happy for JT out there. He's killing it. I like that. Chandler, real quick, you agree? No, I don't. I think it's Yannis. I think Tatum's had a great year. But Yannis is we're saying that Celtic are the best team right now. They're two games above Milwaukee. And I think this guy is the best player in the world. And I think, you know, I think this Celtic can still stay afloat with, you know, with Jalen Brown, with these other guys. I think the Bucks are pretty bad without Yannis, which makes him my MVP. OK, all right. Well, we'll get the West then right now. Chandler, you could start this one. Devin Booker or Donchich? Yeah, this one, again, is tough because Devin Booker is the best player on the best team. But Luca Donchich means the world to the Dallas Mavericks. I would give it to Luca. His numbers are insane. What he's doing is insane, like we talked about earlier. I don't know if he's going to sustain it. But what he's doing is absolutely incredible. His numbers are going to be ridiculous. They're going to win games. They're going to get above 500. They're going to sneak into the playoffs and hopefully do some damage. But I think it's Luca. I think he's a generational talent, and that's no shade to Devin Booker. He's having a heck of a year and he doesn't get talked to enough in my eyes. But I got to go with Luca here. Yeah, look, Booker's the best record in the conference. I mean, for all that Luca's done, we talked about it 20 minutes ago. It's not moving the needle out there. But Book, getting it done, 28 points, five rebounds, almost six assists a game. He had an argument last year and it turned into this weird debate over the analytics versus winning and who really matters and all this stuff. But Booker's carried this team without Chris Ball and as they kind of, through the murky waters of what's going on with De'Andre Ayton and how do they continue going forward? And all of him blowing it in game seven last year, I think it's Book out there. Shout out to Luca in great numbers, but I like to see wins when I'm voting for my MVP. I mean, that's fair and it is weird. The Sun's thing is perplexing to me. How about embracing the tank? This was the season in which the tank will be discussed more and more as we move into it. Rockets or pistons? Who's embracing it more, Eddie? The Rockets and it's actually more fun over there. They're playing close games with bad, with good teams and just losing out late and, you know, they have exciting young players that are on the floor. It sucks in Detroit. It just kind of, it's gloomy. Cade might be out for the year. Like there's no fun happening over there. It's unfortunate. You know, I love the culture of that team and what they built, but the injuries have kind of made it tough out there. But at least the Rockets is like... Fun taking. At least the Rockets out there is like, you know, Jalen Green might have a monster dunk or Kenya Martin Jr. And it's some fun over there in Houston, at least, as they lose, of course. Right. The tank party's fun. I like the idea that we can at least make something negative fun. We're going to take a quick break right here, but we come back. Are the Lakers one or two players away from actually contending? What? Run it back, returns. Well, if Anthony Davis keeps playing like this, the Lakers have to make trades. You can't waste a season like this. That is a fair sentiment. And according to ESPN's Dave McMenderman, there are leaders, quotation marks, in the Lakers locker room that believe they're one or two players away from contending for a title process and now speak. Chandler, how do you react to that? Yeah, they're missing one or two all-stars away from me. Like, Kareem and Magic? Are those the two players we're talking about? I don't know who's coming through that door that's going to make them a contender, because also to get any of these players, we're going to have to give things away. And so this is, I don't agree with this. I think this is just a poorly constructed team. They need shooting. They don't even need necessarily stars. I mean, they need help in every aspect. They need toughness. They need defenders. They need shooting. They need guys that can go get a bucket. They need everything. So I don't know what two players, but yeah, they need star players and they need shooting for sure. Yeah, me and Chandler are like, Giannis and KD away from competing for a title too. Yeah, everybody's that away. No, like, how do we get those? Are they going to trade LeBron? Are they going to trade AD? Like, come on now, let's, Laker fans, put the Photoshop down for a few hours and just breathe. Like it's just, just wait it out. You know, it's fine. A lot of cap space this summer. I mean, it's two player. Like if you said five players away, maybe that could be a conversation, but two seems so no, it's intangible to me. I can't, I can't. They need a whole new free agency is what they need. They should go get Jason Tatum in that Kobe's earthy and then they might be a lot better. But there you go. That's what they need. A couple of mega stars. Okay, so then that obviously is going to bring up the Russell Westbrook of it all because he is playing better. He's accepted a new role. But do you think Eddie, that this makes him untouchable now versus trades or is he still in there? No, he's going to be in trade talks all year long. That's 47,000 in cap space for somebody that you might want cap space this summer. He's constantly been the scapegoat very much every game. You don't blame LeBron over there. You don't really blame AD either. So who else has left to blame? Not only is the end trades ours, he'll eventually get traded. He's not going to finish the season on this team. They need to do something with that cap space and another team is going to want that cap space. So something will happen. What's interesting here too is I'm not shombed, but the Pacer trade was the big trade going around with Turner and Heald. And now they're in the fourth seed. If I'm them, I'm not that trades off the table now. So like I would have done that moons ago if I was LA and Russ has figured it out a little bit. He's embracing the binge roll, but this guy is probably the most tradeable piece in the NBA. So I definitely think he's touchable. I look, I don't like calling what? Let's get San Antonio. They have the cap space. They can make it happen. Let's get them over there. No, we're building something right now. We are building something right now. Shut it, Eddie. But I will say this, I don't call for people's jobs very often. I am shocked that we are this far into this Lakers project and the front office has stayed intact the way it has. Like I am shocked by that. Got an extension. That to me is somebody's got photos of somebody. I'm not sure how all that works, but we'll figure it out. Shoms, get on it. If he's watching, get on it. Time for some convinced me, Eddie. We're going to start with you today. Each team should be able to have one contract that will not impact the luxury tax, et cetera. What do you say? I don't think there should be a salary cap. Let's just do this like baseball. And if you want to spend $100,000 on somebody, then go for it. But no, I like this kind of roster tinkering and ways for teams to keep their contenders together. I'm a small town guy. I'm from Sacramento. I've watched stars leave when they needed the most. The NBA does need something to keep their homegrown stars in town. Now, still, the guys can still say I'm not living in Milwaukee for my late 20s. I need to be around where I can do something with this money. But try to incentivize them a little bit to keep these guys around. I'm with this. I like this idea. Yeah, this would allow small teams like Orlando to go get a star if they just can pay him $200 million to earn him whatever. It would definitely allow those small market teams to get more players. Yeah, but if the small market teams want to part with that kind of money, that's a whole other thing. Chandler, your turn. Convince me. There should be no zero fouls called in the final three minutes of a game. Remember the MMA basketball we lost? Yes. That's what the NBA would turn into. So you would have to have at least one goon, maybe two or three on each roster because there would be so many fights. There would be so many ejections. There'd be so many suspensions. And I think that's awesome. And I think you could start charging pay-per-view. I think the ratings would be way up. I think this is violent and dangerous. And I think we should do it. Love it. I love it. Maybe hopefully somebody's listening. Eddie, convince me that the NBA should recede come playoff time. Yeah, I think they should go one through 16 by record. And that'll help. Every year we were having those Western Conference years where like 45-win teams are missing the playoffs. I'd rather see that team than like the Hornets having to get swept for a week. Like that's no fun. I know the old-timer argument was like, yo, the airplanes and the distance. Memphis, Tennessee is in the Western Conference. Like, come on, enough of this. Let's get it right, NBA. Let's recede it. I know. We are bad at geography as a nation, but that is just a hot mess. Nobody understands anything about that. Chandler, you have a good one here. So I cannot wait to hear your justification. Convince me that teams should have the option of having a three-point line or not on their home court. Yeah, the Lakers would be a lot better because you know what? When teams like Golden State come in, this would give them some sort of advantage because when you see teams go on a run or they win by 20, 30 points, it's mostly because of the three-point line. Guys get hot and out of control with the three-point line. I think these non-shooting teams, like the L.A. Lakers, they would never have a three-point line on their every home game this season and it would make the competition a little more fair. I love it. I think it would be so much fun and then you'd have to completely have to do everything differently. Coming up, America's two worst prognosticators try one more time. It's time for a part, ladies and gentlemen. This'll happen. We're all about accountability here at Run It Back. So before we get to today, this is last night's Parley. Oh, so close. So, you know what? At least both of you missed one. How many threes does Spencer have, Eddie? As many Parley wins as we got. We have not gotten one. I actually think it's harder to do this than get them right. It's crazy. The statistical probability has to be insane that we've missed 18 times or whatever. I don't care how good Luca is, Eddie. 32 and a half points is so many points against a good defense and he just blew past it, bro. I don't get it. Yeah, well, clearly. Clearly you don't get it, Chandler, because that's why we have this problem every single day. But you know what, it doesn't stop us. We are nothing if not stupid because we keep trying to do the same thing over and over again. All right, Eddie, go. Number one leg for you is... Tyrese Halibut, over 20 points in his return to Sacramento. He literally cried when he got traded. I'm expecting him to shoot 45 times or something like that tonight. Please, Tyrese, please, I'm begging you. How about number two? I like that one. I'm going with Rudy Unders until they hit. I don't care, Rudy under 14 and a half points. I don't believe he can do this again. Pull me once, Rudy. But you're not pulling me twice. What is wrong with you? How are you doing this again? Oh, God, Chandler. Even with Towns out, you don't think he's getting 15? Anthony Edwards, 35 field goal attempts tonight. I'm all in. I mean, that's a prediction. I like the Grizzlies minus two and a half, maybe because Rudy Gobiar doesn't score a lot of points. Hopefully this works out for us. Towns out, I think it's going to take a little adjustment period for them. I think the Grizzlies are a better team. They get it done. Okay, fair. I don't hate it. What else? I like Blazers plus five and a half. Listen, they will let one slip away last night. Everybody enjoys piling on the Lakers. They're young enough to not be affected by the back-to-back. I like them getting five and a half points against the Lakers who aren't very good. I mean. Leads against the Lakers. What kind of scam is Fandall running? We won. This is it. We got it. We got all four. Well, if you bet 20, you win to 16. Here's what I want to call to action for anybody watching or listening. Please send us screenshots of your parlays. I'm assuming you're doing the opposite of what these guys are doing every single time and you've probably won big. So that's what I want to see. Just tweet at us, whatever. I want to see the screenshots. Guys, this has to be the one, right? Stephen Adams, we are banking on you tonight in many ways. Come on. We need a big spoiler. And you are just leaning into your Rudy Gaubert situation in one of these days. My God, it'll pay off. Guys, that's it for us. There's no way back now. This is it. I can feel it. We're going to come back Monday with big smiles because we hit the parlay. Best of luck to everyone. Enjoy the weekend. Stay safe.