 Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to Run It Back. Three of the four of us are wearing pants. Guess which one's not. Chandler, you wanna speak for yourself before we move on? It's too hot in here. I wore pants yesterday. Never again. I wore pants yesterday. There's the quote of the day. And they made me stand up. They made me stand up yesterday. I'm not doing that today. No, you made it possible. Like, we can't get you to do that. Stadium insider Shyam Shrani, he's working on his phones. I expect something great is happening. No, okay. Possible. All right, my name is Michelle Chandler. Lou Will on the end. I'm sorry, Lou, that you have to be on the far end of this. It's all right, I prefer it. Yeah, but we had some moments last night. We had some history being made last night. It was a crazy Monday in the league. But here we go. Joe L. M. Beat, a career high 70. Yeah, 70, first time meeting Wemby. Sixers defeat the Spurs. Only by 10. He did have the 70. It was 24-41 from field goal line, from field goal line from field goal, 21-23 from the free throw line with a career high 18 points. I don't even, look, there's so much being made these days of everybody, every star, their first time facing Wemby. What's it gonna look like? And I know everyone says the right thing, but are guys getting extra up for these moments against this unicorn named Wemby? Cause it feels like it to me. I think he definitely wanted to make a statement. He wanted to kind of impose his will. You can tell when you watched these highlights or you were watching the game, he physically just dominated the game. They were throwing double teams at him. They were throwing triple teams at him. They had no answer for him. Missing shots, getting on the offensive glass. And Wemby played so good. And we're not even gonna talk about him. Cause Joe L, this is one of the most dominating performances of all time. He got to the free throw line. He sized them up pretty much every play. And then they took the jump shot and made it was efficient. But yeah, I think there was definitely a little extra juice here. He also had a career high 18 rebounds. Come on. It was an insane performance. The fact that Will's never done this is now just him and Michael Jordan and this company is insane. And Joel just keeps continuing to have games like this. We're gonna be talking about a possible back-to-back situation of an MVP here. He deserves it. He's absolutely dominating. And this was a hell of a game from him. You know, when it comes to Wemby, that's not a unique experience for him. Every top rookie is gonna be attacked cause we want to see what you're made of. We want to see who you are. And unfortunately it had to be him last night to get a lot of that 70 piece, but all rookies, especially the top draft picks with a lot of hype coming in, the guys who feel like they're the superstars that are the pillars of the league, they're gonna test you. They're gonna check your temperature and see what you're made of. And so this was definitely a statement for Wemby. And this is one of the few matchups for him. That's gonna be bad. Cause the physicality is just, he can't match that, right? He's got the skill. He's got the ISO. He's got the, you know, the offensive rebound go down and shoot the three over him. But when it comes, there's nobody in the league that can guard Joel and Bede one-on-one with that kind of body, with that kind of presence in the paint. So this is just a mismatched nightmare for Wemby. Yama and the Spurs, you know, Zach Collins, the, you know, the double team, triple team, they had no answer. I mean, they tried. They did try. They really tried. They never gave up. They tried, but man, he was on another level. That was, it was kind of ridiculous. It was fun to watch. I'm not gonna lie. John's your biggest takeaway, watching that game last night from the Bede. I thought it was absolutely unbelievable, his performance. And I had a funny story that I heard during the fourth quarter when the game was going on, Joel and Bede started to take his shoes off. And once someone on the bench told Joel and Bede that the record, the franchise record is 68 points, he started putting his shoes back on and said, let's go break this record. And he didn't do his normal pre-game routine either before the game last night. So something was definitely a little different about him last night going into the game. And the way he's performed this year, clearly right now, one of the MVP front runners, if not the MVP front runner, but if he misses eight more games this season, he could be eliminated from winning an MVP award. And so that is gonna be something interesting to monitor. But this Sixers organization, Joel and Bede, they're playing for the playoffs. He knows he's been MVP already. He's been all NBA, he's been all star. He's got a bunch of accolades, scoring champion back to back years. He wants to win a championship in Philadelphia. They know keeping him healthy is the most important thing for April, May and June. I bet whatever his routine was before last night, that's what he's doing. There's a new routine, there's a new pre-game routine. Right, like how different could it have been? It's like eating, by the way, the only needing to miss eight more games to be out is that's not a lot of games. That's tough too, because when I think of this season and the season he's had, I don't feel like he's missed that much time. So this new rule implemented, it's gonna hurt. And I guarantee you Joel knows that and he's gonna want that MVP. He wants that on his resume, he deserves it. And if he does play enough games, the MVP is his for the taken. We're trying everything. We're trying the end-season tournament. You're trying to put in regulations for guys to play a certain amount of games. Just shorten the season. You shorten the season to 65 games. You get the atmosphere that you got from the end-season tournament. And you give them an opportunity to play at a high level. Some of these games, I understand what this is about. But just shorten the season. Think about if Joel plays 64 games and Tatum plays 66, he gets the one, the MVP. Like that's stupid. And now he's playing in games, just because he's at the quota of the games, like when he's playing in games, he'll fade it. If you're telling a guy, you gotta go out there and you can't afford to miss eight more games to get the MVP. Maybe he's banged up, maybe he's sick, maybe he's going through whatever he's going through. Now you have a guy that's going out there giving you a half a product instead of the games that you want to see him play at a high level. Your miss could have the reverse effect where if he is now trying to grind through injuries and playing and that gets worse, it's that happened because he's trying to meet the quota for the MVP. But do you think a guy like Joel Embiid who's already won the award would do that? I think so too, because most people in the NBA, they say, who's the best player in the NBA? They say Jokic and that, and Joel hates that. And he knows he has to and he wants to. He thinks he's better than him. He thinks he's the best player in the NBA. But he told us, he told him that he's the best player in the league after that game. We say all types of things after a game. It's emotional right after games. Everybody says something. Joel wants that MVP. So that means he can't miss eight more games unless it's something serious. He's playing that minimum games. I mean, if he gets the eight and everything goes swimmingly and he's got what, 21 straight, 30 point games so far, which is kind of insane to me. Is there an argument to be made? Because neither one of you have him as your MVP. What's the argument against it? The argument against it is that the Philadelphia 76ers just weren't going to kind of take that jump. They weren't going to be as good of a team as Boston, as Milwaukee, but man, he keeps playing like this. They keep winning games. I wish the MVP voting also would go through the playoffs. I hate that it's done before the playoffs even start because that has a huge impact on their seasons. Not just get the number one seed if you lose first round. You shouldn't win MVP. So I feel like the voting should start later. But yeah, I mean, he keeps playing like this and they keep getting all these big games from Maxi and Tobias Harris and they keep stacking up wins. He's going to be right there. I'll be honest. He's a victim of us being bordered with excellence. You have so many of these guys that consistently they're at the top of the mountain. Sometimes we want a fresh feel. We want a fresh idea. And I think SGA has done something that we hadn't seen before. OKC is back at the top of the Western Conference since we've seen that with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. And so we're excited for that. Embiid, he's been playing like this for so long, playing well for so long. He's like, ah, it's boring. Let's get a new field. And so I feel like he's been a victim of that. But he's playing his tail off, man. You give him credit. 30 straight 30s is nothing to sniff your nose. It is true. The NBA always is looking for that next star, right? They'd rather Anthony Edwards. They'd rather Shea. They'd rather one of these guys get it for the first time and kind of keep having this balanced star power of guys. They don't want Yolkets to win again. They don't want Joel Embiid. But you keep putting numbers like this. You can't not vote for the guy. I feel like that the example of what you guys are talking about happened in one night even last night. Because we had the 70 points. We had the, what, 62 points? And then we had Durant with 43. By the time I got to the Durant with 43, I was like, who cares? Big deal. Yeah. Then I realized, no, that is actually a big deal. The environment in the building last night was actually kind of fun. Everybody on pins and needles. Afterwards, it was a party. It was fun. Well deserved, too. Yeah. I mean, this was a historic night. I feel like well deserved. Literally him and Michael Jordan. And everyone knows everything Joel has went through with his injuries early on just for here. Oh gosh, no. His foot. He is happy. He is healthy. And he is absolutely balling. I couldn't be happier for him. I know you have a take on Pop. Because he does like the psychological warfare. I don't know that people have figured out that Pop's sarcastic about 97% of the time. But before the game, joking about hammering and beads hats. But as players though, you know he's messing with you. Or is there a little part of you that goes, oh. Honestly, I don't even think Joel is even aware of this. That it even happened. I mean, not before the game. Yeah, I love it. We're so stuck in our minds. Like we were just talking about your pre-game routine. It's structured. You're not worried about anything outside of the bubble of getting yourself prepared for a game. So if somebody even walked up to me to tell me what an opposing coach said before a game, they'd probably get cursed out immediately. And also looking at social media, though, people are ignorant. They don't know he's being sarcastic. This is what he's been doing for two decades. This is what he does. He plays the mind games. He says things like this. And watch the interview. He's clearly joking. Has he ever done it to you? Yeah, I don't do this. Wow, I'm not. He wore shorts, because everything's open. He got me. He got me good. He said right before the game how I was one of his favorite players, I was going to be a star. You do have news. Oh, boy. We have breaking news. The Miami Heat are on the verge of acquiring Terry Rosear from the Charlotte Hornets. Kyle Lowry in draft picks, including a first round pick. I'm told going to the Hornets. So the Heat are now getting a player that is averaging 24 points a game this season. It's big for the Heat. We've been talking for the last year, Miami, which player are they going to go get? They need some pop with Jimmy Bulda, with Bam out of bio, and with Tyler Hero. They need a scoring point. We know they went after Damien Lillard. They've been in talks for a plethora of players. Bradley Beal, down of a Mitchell. They're in a season right now where they're trying to win. They're trying to compete for a championship. They know they needed one more punch. They made some calls into Dijonte Murray, into Ty's Jones. But they're now on the verge of acquiring Terry Rosear. Can I do my own breaking news that I think is going to happen? Justin and Kyle Lowry retires from the game of basketball. Or her. Or it doesn't want to go to the show. Or he's waved and signs back with the Heat. I love this for the Miami Heat. Sean, can you really just tweet at this 57 seconds? I'm telling you, Sean, we're talking about that. You are a monster. It's a pleasure to see you work, Sean. He's the best. It's his honor to hear you tweeting. OK. So first of all, all of our reactions were, oh, Kyle Lowry, that sucks for you. But what does it do? Let's start with Miami first. Like, how much better does that make? It gives them a younger guard. Obviously, another scoring punch. A guy that's going to play with a lot of energy. But Low is one of my guys, one of my real personal friends. And I'm not sure how this is going to be received with the guys in the locker room for the Miami. He's such a beloved part of that organization. And he's at the point of his career. He's made enough money. He's going to either go somewhere where he actually wants to be. Like you said, he might. I'm not trying to say that that's something that he's told me. But once you get to a point in your career where you're satisfied with what you've been able to accomplish, it's going to go your way or no way. And so I'm interested to see what he decides to do. Yeah, he won't play one game for the Hornets, I guarantee it. Doesn't feel like it. There's no way. But I do love this for the Miami Heat. We all know how good they are in the postseason. We all know this culture. Terry Rozier hasn't been really in a position to win games on a good team. Now he goes to Miami where he can play. He's got shooters around him with guys like Duncan Robinson, Tyler Hero, a stud big and bam. This changes a lot for the Eastern Conference. I love the Miami Heat. I love this trade for them. Terry Rozier, that's a really good signing. I feel like Terry Rozier just sort of disappeared. And we forgot. And that's what kind of what happens when you go on certain teams that we don't really talk about. We're talking about Murray. We're talking about all these. And then he's gone. So it begins. Yeah. It begins to heat up. So a lot of different pieces of stuff are falling now that a few of these guys are moved. We'll see what happens. What else, Sean? Damn it, Miami. I know. Should we just sit here and fly? I was about to tell a really cool pop story. I know. Let's go ahead. Stories with Chandler going on over here. All right, fair enough. We'll wait for the next one. You're saved from the story this time. But next time. Carl Ethan Towns also had himself a bit of a night. Different outcome, though, for the team as a whole. But he did have the 62. It was a career high and a franchise record. 44 in the first half. But it was a loss to the Hornets team that we are talking about right now. It was 21 to 35 from the field, 10 to 15 from 3. 10 of 14, free throw line. But four points on two of 10 in the fourth quarter, which is, it's weird. In a game in which, like I said, they lost. Did he do anything? Did he prove anything? What did you learn from the Hornets? I mean, it's a big game. It's a hell of a game. And scoring 62 points, I don't care on a win, a loss, whatever, that is a big game. And it's funny because we're going to find ways to pick it apart right now. Oh, sure. The four points in the fourth quarter, the loss to a bad team in Charlotte. There's definitely things that we can pick at right now. But this was a hell of a game. This was an unbelievable first half. It was crazy watching Joelle and then watching, you know, tuning into towns. It was an insane offensive game, I will say. When a guy gets hot like that as a teammate, you want to keep them going. You want to keep feeding the hot hand. But it does, it takes away from the offense. It takes away from the system and game plan you're doing. And that really hurt the Timberwolves last night. And they end up losing a game that they're no business losing because they wanted to see towns get 70, 80. Anthony said they want to see him get 100 points last night. And they end up backfiring. And they end up losing the game on a horrific no-call, by the way. But no matter what you can say, it's a hell of a game. A guy just had 62 points in an NBA game. Great game, towns. You know, one thing he did prove to me, maybe he is the best shooting five of all time. Whoa. I remember him saying that. And I was like, I'm not sure about this. There's a guy named Dirk Niewitzki, I really like. So I'm going to change the narrative for him. He's the best shooting five of all time. Shooting five. Yeah, I like that. That's still a big thing to say. Almost fives couldn't shoot like five years ago. But five years, we've seen a lot happen. I'm not fair enough. You want to talk about what should have been, or maybe not should have been, called a foul? It was a foul. Talk about the five seconds left right here. This was a foul. This is a bad, bad no-call. And the one thing I don't agree with, Chris Finch, he's my man. That guy's name is Leakey Black. Leakey Black is the greatest name of all. Chris Finch, he went offense defense with a guy that has 60 points. And I understand what he's doing. He had timeouts to burn. But at the end of this game here, they got a stop. They played great defense. And now they have to call a timeout just to get towns back in the game and allow Charlotte to set up their defense into where they didn't really get a good look. Yes, he got fouled. Yes, it should have been two free throws. Would have been way cooler and a better feeling in that city today with 64 points and a win. So it's like the most negative, frustrating 60-point game, probably an NBA history, because everyone's nitpicking and talking about how they lost the game and a no-foul call. And everyone's frustrated. And it's taken away from his brilliant performance. But yeah, that's a bullshit no-call. And he should have been able to win the game from the free throw line. But we got to shout out Leakey Black. But Leakey Black. Sounds like a cool musician. And I'm here for it. Leakey Black. So Chris Finch was not pleased after this one. He had some thoughts about the defense played by his team. Here he is. Well, I mean, it was an absolute disgusting performance of defense and immature basketball all the way through the game. So it really didn't slip away. It had been there from the jump. So this is what happens when you have this type of approach. What do y'all think about that, Lou? I think they got sucked into watching a guy perform at a high level and forgot that they had to be pros as well. And they were there in a competition. I think what backfired is the Charlotte Horners realized they were in a competition. And it's the guy in the court trying to embarrass them by going out and doing everything that he can to put as many points on the board as he can on the anniversary of Kobe scoring 81 points. And so that happened. And he might have run out of gas in the fourth quarter. Yeah, when you're hunting shots like this, and Anthony, I think took one shot in the first half because they're trying to get him going. It's not a good thing. And I understand what they're trying to do and they're trying to make history. And they think, oh, it's the Charlotte Horners. We're going to win this game anyways. And sometimes you let your guard down and you kind of have slip-ups and then it bites you in the ass and they end up losing the game. But I understand what Finch is saying. I don't think this should be the message after a historic performance like this. But yeah, he's frustrated. Not publicly or just at all. I mean, they definitely said it in the locker room before because Anthony Edwards basically said the same thing. He's frustrated. We got too caught up in trying to feed Kat. We got away from our game plan. We got away from it works and it happened. It was targeted. He said the defense. Yeah, it's not like him, but it was targeted. He still probably got the game ball. If anything, he said it was an immature approach to how the game was to be played. But he said defensively, they just weren't there. But I gotta say this. You live with the offense defense. I understand certain scenarios. But when a guy has 60 points, I don't care, man. You play him. You just subbing him out offense to defense in a close game. So I don't agree with Finch's decision on that. And like I said, then they have to call a timeout. Then Charlotte's sister defense, they get to put in their best defensive players and they get kind of an awful look there at the end of the game. So I would rather just, you live with what Towns gives you on the defensive end when he's got 60. I would, I'd like the idea that, despite whatever Charlotte's record is, it's still a professional basketball team that felt like they were being embarrassed. So yeah, bad outcome on that one. There was something in the air and maybe it was the Kobe Bryant anniversary of 81, but Kevin Durant also with a big night. 43 for him, including a game winner with a second left in this one. They beat the Bulls. They've now won six straight and are sitting in the five spot. I mean, that's, okay. So we are going to start with that shot. It's a difficult shot that looks very easy because of who's taking the shot. Is there a better guy playing right now that you want taking that shot? I mean, the double contested, the double pump. Caruso played great defense. He kind of, he forced him out. They hit Nirkage. They cut backdoor. He was right there. It was a ridiculous shot. He literally altered his shot, double clutch and knocked it down like he wasn't in there. So that's just a big time play by a big player. Caruso has turned into the new Craigie low. Look at this. He literally moves his, it's ridiculous. It's such a great shot. It's a great play call too. No one that Caruso is going to be physical and deny him, but this is a big time, this is a big time, big time shot. And don't look now, but the Suns are hot. Well, I mean, maybe it just took a minute, but they seem to have been figuring this out. And we discussed that going into all-star break, the teams that have championship aspirations, they're going to start revving up and really make a push going into that break to have some momentum coming out of. You see the Orlando Magic falling off. You see Minnesota losing games. You see these inexperienced teams that don't know how to handle success going the other way. You see the Clippers. You see the Suns. You see these experienced teams, they're going to go the other way. I'm just checking on Shams periodically. Yeah, what are you doing over there? You're making me nervous. Dealing with Fallout. You know, what happens with Kyle Lowry? Now, like he's going to become a potential buyout candidate. You have a slew of contending teams that now could go after Kyle Lowry. And so the buyout market usually begins in February and March. We're having something in January now, which is interesting. I like that. Yeah, I wonder where he'll end up. That'll be the fun thing. We'll guess that for the rest of today. Celtics Mavs, another game. They didn't have Porzingas on the Boston side of things. Did not seem to matter. Jason and Jalen with 73 points combined. They beat Dallas by nine. Luka Donshich did, however, have his 38, 30 point triple double, which now passes LeBron for third all time on that particular list. But if these two dudes, Jason and Jalen, are playing the way they played, who's beating them? Nobody, if you ask me and Lou, we both have them win the championship at the Eastern Conference. And the depth is going to be the concern for this team all season long. And they even went eight deep last night. And that's counting Cornette, who kind of gets spot minutes. So when you have Tatum and Brown, when they're efficient like this, they're going to give you 39 and 34. And they're efficient from the field. They're both 11 of 21, 13 of 22. They're 50%. They're making threes. They're getting to the foul line. This is the best duo in the NBA. And they play defense. Everyone talks about their starting five. The addition of Drew Holiday has been huge for them because he provides that defensive spark. He provides that leadership to get this win against a really good Dallas team without Porzingas, who also has been great for them this year. It's huge because you can start to gain more trust in guys like Houser and Pritchard. Now you can get a solid 10, 12 minutes from Cornette. So this is a big win for the Celtics. And this is why teams trust them. Is that the only, I mean, they've got, what, a three and a half game lead right now in the league? Is it the depth? Is that the only concern moving forward? Yeah, if anything, it's going to be the depth. That's been there, Kelly's here, why they hadn't been able to get over that hump to win the NBA championship. But one other thing I'll note is the Porzingas knee issue. That's been something that's been playing him for the last few years of his career. And he's going to be somebody they're going to need coming down that stretch to give them that stretch for another guy that can score the basketball when teams start taking things away in the playoffs. And so that's something to also note that can possibly be a concern for them as well. I would have to imagine, Shoms, that Dallas is sitting there, what, eighth in the West, probably trying to figure out what is the plan. You don't want to waste Luca years, which sometimes it feels like that's what's happening. So trade deadline approaching, any plans coming out of Dallas? They're searching for a 4-3 type. And we've discussed it. They've looked into Pascal. They looked into Pascal's outcome. They've made calls on Jeremy Grant. But those asking prices are going to be high. But Kyle Kuzma, Andrew Wiggins, I'm told those are two other names on their list. But around Luca Donchich, Kyrie Irving, they know they probably need to add one more player, one more support guy, especially in that front court that can help both of them. Because they're having great years. When they're on the floor, 100% healthy and together, this is one of the more lethal offensive duos. Now it's just finding another player to come in, a reasonable contract that can come and play with them. It feels like behind closed doors, like that has to be just the nagging question of, we can't waste Luca, right? Like is that the main concern right now in Dallas? Yeah, for sure. And you re-signed Kyrie Irving. So now you have this great back court moving forward. And they've showed flashes of brilliance. They got a great draft pick in Derek Lively. They signed Grant Williams, who's kind of that solid glue guy. But to me, I always harp on green and hardy. I thought these two guys were going to make the jump. I thought they were going to be in talks of most improved players. They really haven't had that production this season that I would have loved to see them do. I do think this is a team that still can be dangerous. I love Kyle Kuzma to Dallas. I think he fits. I think he can space the floor, pick and pop, get out and transition. I love him here. But yeah, this team, they're going to have ups and downs because they're so dependent on those two guards. Tim Hardaway Jr., he's had a great year. He's averaged 18, 19 points efficient, shooting 37% from three. He's had a great year, but they need more. They need guys like Curry to step up. They need hardy to step up. They need Josh Green. They need these guys there to kind of start doing more to help relieve that pressure from Luca. I think they've got to go in more of a defensive mindset. They've got to go get somebody that's going to take pride on a defensive end and take a lot of pressure. Like a Pat Beverly type of guy who's going to go out there. His impact is going to be defense. He's going to create energy while Luca is scoring all of the points. He's doing all the heavy lifting on the offensive end. They got three guys that can score the basketball and Hardaway, Kairi, and Luca. Now they've got to go out and get some guys that's ready to do the dirty work and do the difficult things. Defense. Look, Luca had a good game. It seems to always have a good game. But Jalen Brown still managed to do this. Oh, no. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Listen, no one said he's a defensive savant here. But can I say something, too? You know what makes it worse? Somebody else saw them if they had it. Yeah, why is he guarding him? He can't put anybody else out there. No, they got him. Here's the worst part. Those shoes draw so much attention to the moment that you're on the ground. You can easily see them now when he falls. When they're in the air. And did he actually trip your lure? No, that's a clean one. This is just a straight up. That's a clean one. Baroque. Yeah, that's nasty. And he made the shot. And he made the shot, which, you know, that's got to make the shot. All right, we're taking a quick break. When we come back, it's weird to say we're going to have Sean Scoops, even though in real time we just had a Sean Scoop with Terry Rogier heading to Miami and Kyle Lowry and Pigs going to Charlotte. But we'll have more of that. And that man has a family when we come back. You've got the top three point percentage in the league right now. How bad do you want to be in the three point contest? Do you feel like you deserve to be at the three point contest at All-Star Weekend in Indy? Yes, I feel like I have deserved to go the last couple of years, but especially this year, I'm leading the league in three point percentage. And I, you know, God forbid I don't want to continue that. But yeah, man, I deserve to be in the three point contest. Like, you know, I've always wanted to be in it. You know, I think I can win it. You know, I've been talking a lot of talk with Dame and, you know, he's been helping me out. But man, other than that, man, I believe I should be in it. You know, I worked hard. And I'm shooting at a high rate right now. Where do you think you stand in the league as far as shooters? Do you feel like you're the best shooter in the league right now? Yes, I do feel like I'm one of the best shooters in the league. Obviously, there's lots of guys who can put the ball in the hole. But, you know, I'm not trying to be cocky or anything. I'm just confident right now. I'm real confident in my work. I've been putting in work every day. And, you know, it's showing and it is showing. And like I said, not to be complacent. That's the main thing I'm focused on right now. Just don't get bored with success. Q doing my work, Q recovering and things like that. That was your recent sit down with Malik Beasley. He's very serious about this, very serious. He's very serious about the three-point shootout. Well, my takeaway was we talked a little bit about Yanis and Tadakumbo. And Yanis is interesting because he gravitates more towards some of these rotation role players. Bobby Portis, who they signed in 2020, when they brought him in, Yanis and Bobby became close. And Bobby Portis came in on a like room exception deal, smaller deal, then he gets his big deal. Malik Beasley, similar situation, comes in on a minimum. And him and Yanis have bonded over the course of the summer. And he said to me, he jokes a lot with Yanis. He feels like he's one of the few people that make Yanis consistently laugh on the team. So I guess that has a spot, as well as being one of the top three-point shooters in the league. Note to self, if you go to Milwaukee, shouldn't you cozy up to Yanis? For sure. OK, that's what you would do. That's what his brother does. You said it, bro. OK, you know what? That's not what I was going to get. Malik Beasley, for the minimum, is what a bargain. I mean, three-point contest. Lakers sure could use him right now. Too late. We got some shams, scoops, more shams, scoops. And we're starting with a player to keep an eye on as the deadline approaches. Spencer Dimity is something, someone to watch. 18 points a game, six assists, and two rebounds over the last three games. This is someone whose role at times is fluctuated. Ball in his hands, ball not in his hands. He will be a popular name as we get closer to the deadline. The Nets have valued him. They're not just going to move him for nothing. But this is someone that, pick and roll, he's one of the best, better scoring guards in the league, one of the best corner three-point shooters last season. And when Brooklyn wins, he plays better than when they lose. And so they need him to play at a high level to win games. But he's someone to keep an eye on. We good? You know who should keep an eye on? You know, every once in a while, we have our class come down. Yeah, I know who. I'm like, what's happening over there? He's keeping an eye on Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry, in what way? Buy out? Where's he going? He ain't playing for the Hornets. I'll tell you that right now. He's going somewhere. He's going to a contendi. Or nothing, right? Or back to the heat would be nice. It'd be a nice feel. There's banks everywhere. Yeah, but do you think he's mad, right? Who needs a point guard with a really good team? The Phoenix Suns really need a vet point guard to set up those three. Devon Booker's not a point guard. He's going to Phoenix. So you're on the board with Phoenix, Lou? He's not backing up Lamello ball. Hell no. He's not even going to Charlotte. There's no way he flies to Charlotte. Why would he fly to Charlotte? I will say this. There is a 0% chance Kyle Lowry plays in Miami. Zero. He's not going back. So that's out. Negative 10% chance he could let him out. Book at Phoenix. You said it, Lou. Phoenix, Lou, where do you see him? Phoenix is interested. I like him with the Lakers. Really? I like him with the Lakers. What about the Knicks? Not really a contendi. How dare you? You don't know. The Clippers? Clippers? No. Why would you go to the Clippers? This is us right now. We're just like, no. I think all those contenders will surely be involved. Lakers, Phoenix. You're saying the Lakers are a contender and the Knicks aren't? What? I missed that whole idea. But Phoenix as well. That sounds good. They don't have a point guard. They literally don't have a point guard. Phoenix, just on paper. Excellent. They're a sensible fit. But Lou, you got the plug. I do. I don't have anything to break. OK, well, keep working on it. He's not telling me anything good. We'll play some fun video. And if it breaks, just scream. And we'll get to you. That man has a family. First up, Rudy Gobert. Oh, this is a fun one. Mm. Fancy Player of the Year on the defensive. Oh, no. Didn't see that. That was fun. Spoke too soon. Didn't see that happening. Yikes. Yeah, he's like, no. That was, this play has everything. I like it. Defensive Player of the Year last year, dunking on the guy that's probably going to win it this year. It takes you on a trip. And then it takes you on another journey as we see them again. It's like, now it feels personal. No. Oh, my heavens. I feel like he's angry at Rudy. I feel like he wants the Defensive Player of the Year. He wants to put Rudy, not. Yikes. What? I don't even know what I said, but you get it. Sure, yep. Y'all up and under with the dunk. I like that. Michael used to do this, but just didn't dunk. This is a different clip. Yeah. Thanks for playing, Lou. Same type of way. It's like on the other end of the court and everything. Oh, it goes next in. Oh, look at that. There you go. Oh, there's your rookie of the year, guys. Represent for the serve. There he is. There he is. That's better than a 70 on your head. But let's keep, let's keep moving. They only lost by 10. I don't know why we're not talking about that more. I fought for it spurs, but we didn't get it. But I'll continue the good fight. They only lost by double digits. They only lost by 10. They should have lost by 30. When I saw Embiid had what he had in the first quarter, I thought, oh, they're losing by 30. I think the producers are trolling us, by the way, because all of these clips have one thing in common, 95% of the time. Which is what, buddy? It's a white guy getting dunked on. I just like what he does. It's usually what happens. You're usually jealous. It's either taking a charge, getting out of the way, or getting nuts on your forehead. That's usually what happens to the Caucasians in the end of the day. The Caucasians. Skewed Henderson. Let's see, oh. I'm sober, who? Look, the trend is broken. That was just a layup. Okay. Oh, my dear. And it's probably a black guy getting dropped. That he had it. This is the guy I was showing you. Who is Ben Sheppard? Those are the missing. Gerard? Sheppard. Oh my God. Is that Shepard? Is that Shepard? Maybe. That's Shepard. I like Shepard. He's Ben Sheppard. Please clip that for his sizzle reel. For whatever job you go get next. Slim Pickens. Cliff Pickens after this episode. Nick Kloss. Classic. There you go. There he is, Luke. Watch your head, cousin. Watch your head, cousin. Look at this. Easy, bro. Yay. Are they not teaching verticality anymore? Swipe and get out of the way. Swipe. Get out of the way. Stay out of foul trouble. My friends is why Bill Lambeer was hacking the hell out of everybody. Yeah. He's not letting this happen. He letting that happen. But I'm on the ground. And he stares at the back of his head kind of rudely. That's, mm, mm, mm. And he gave a little extra hang there. I would take it personally. Next time. He had no shot. He was so late. It's okay. Panic button time. God, I feel like this is weird. But through December, Deer and Fox was averaging over 30 a game. And since the first of the year, that's down to 22, under 42% from the field. Are we hitting a panic button on Fox being the dude on a contender? I'm panicking because for them to be that good and for them to take that next step, he's gotta be great. And he hasn't been great. He wasn't good again last night. I think he finished with 12 points, five of 16. He's just not efficient. He's not getting on the break. He's not coming to him easy. Am I panicking on his game or him not eventually being a number one option? No. I think they have to have a really good two and three option, which is a bonus. And we don't know who the third one is, but no, I'm not panicking on him. He's young, he's exciting. He's so explosive, so athletic. He's just going through a little rough patch. A little, if you will. A little rough patch. All right, fair. Lou, perfect timing on this next one with the breaking news that Shams had for us in the earlier in the show. Kyle Lowry may or may not be available at some point because Devon Booker's scoring and assist numbers have gone down. So are you hitting the panic button on him as a point guard? Yeah, hit the panic button. He's not the guy to set the table. He is the table. You know, he needs somebody else to set the table for him. And so I believe help is on the way. You know, I think they'll be active in the trade market, get somebody there. They can get those guys in their spots to be able to be efficient on that offensive end. But yeah, that's just not what he do. Wasn't working. Even though they're starting to pick up some steam now, that's just not his thing. Never made sense to me. He's the best shooting guard in the NBA. Let's make him a point guard because we get Bradley Beal like, why? Maybe they just couldn't figure out a better plan, but maybe now a better plan will fall upon them. Hmm. Chandler Jalen Green, number two overall pick back in 2021. And now in his third year, he's averaging the lowest points of his career, shooting under 40%. Is it too early to hit the panic button on him? Is it too early to panic that he's a franchise changing face of the franchise player? No, I'm panicking. I don't think he's that guy. Is he gonna be a 20 point score? Shoms who is it? Shoms who is it? What's going on, Shoms? Take it. Is he a really good young player that can continue to get better and grow into an all-star one day? Yes. Is he that guy to lead a team to a championship and be the best player on a great team for years to come? No, I don't think so. All right. Again, perfect timing. Hornets, 10-31. Yeah, they've lost 18 of the 21, but they won last night. And they got Cal Lowry going. And they got Cal Lowry heading their way some picks. As a franchise, Lou, this is a daunting question. Are you hitting the panic button on Charlotte? As a franchise? As a franchise. No, I wouldn't go that far now. Where's the light? Now, this particular group I was built, I would hit the panic button. PJ Washington, Miles Bridges, Lamello Ball, they've had that core for a few years now and it's just not working. Usually when you put that young core together, you'll start seeing some of the fruits of having that happen. It looks like they're going backwards. They're not really getting to a point where this is gonna work. So I'm hitting the panic button on blowing this particular young group up, put some other pieces around Lamello Ball, but as a franchise, I love Charlotte, so. So it begins. If MJ's sold, I'm out. Like, he's out, I'm out. That's actually fair. Yeah, I mean, he paid at the panic button. He hit the panic button and he got out. I actually, I can tell. And made crazy bread. Might be the smartest thing you've ever said. The Thunder, third worst team in the league in rebounding. That's weird, don't they have a really tall guy? Are you hitting the panic button on their title chances if the rebounding doesn't get better? Yes, because I do think that's a glaring hole that they have. And I don't think you want guys like Chet or Wim and Yama to be taking that. Don't throw Wim and Yama in there. He's not a big physical five. He can't do that. So why, they need, yeah, I think, I think Lou mentioned like an Andre Drummond type, someone like that, a vet, just to come in and give you six fouls. Big body. Yeah, just a physical player. They don't have a real five man on this roster. So yeah, it's a whole yes, they're great. Yes, their future's bright, but this is an issue with them and you don't want Chet to be their starting center with his body type with his physicality. You just don't want that. You want him to be able to do what he does best and that's not pound with friggin, you know, go-kitch and indeed. Ooh, no, I don't think that would end well. Do the pretty stuff. The Nets 13 and 10, they started the season that way, but now they've lost 15 of 19. Lou, panic button time? It's probably the team we've talked about the least. This entire year. Weirdly, I know. I'm sitting here looking at the standards from, to me in my opinion, from one through seven, those teams are gonna be locked in, you know? But I think they can compete with Orlando. They can compete with Chicago and Atlanta to try to sneak into that playing system. So I'm not hitting the panic button yet, but they do gotta play better basketball. Yeah, it doesn't look great, especially if they start making some of these moves that they may or may not make. Anything? Nothing, man. We're just gonna keep asking. Fine, we'll keep going to you. Coming up, here who Doc Rivers thinks is the best player in the NBA when Run It Back returns. Run it back, run it back, run it back. At the end of the day, you still gotta deal with that dude in Denver. He's the best player right now? Yeah, cause he just does everything. Joel's the best scorer. Yeah. Like Joker's the best player. Joel's the only guy that can stop Joel from scoring. You can't stop, you know? He is, he can do everything, but the Joker, oof, man, he just makes everybody better. Interesting, so Yolkage's best player and B best scorer, Lou, you agree? Yeah, I'm sure Doc and myself and a bunch of us ex-clipper guys, we still have nightmares about the Joker based on how he made his team better, how they just found it and they did it on the back of his talent. And so yeah, I agree with Doc here. Yolkage is the best player, NB is the best scorer, but Chandler and I, we're talking off camera. You gotta give kudos to the league. We thought big guys wear dye and breed. Two best players are sinners. So the game is still alive and well, the big position is still alive and well and so it's a credit to everybody, but I agree with this take from Doc. Yeah, it's an interesting debate because I think Yolkage is the best player, but I think Joel is the most dominant. He's Shaq, so yes, he can score, he can do things in different ways, but if I'm building a team, I want the guy that can do everything, it's probably gonna be Joker. I was gonna ask, if you had to pick one. No, that's not what you said, that's not what you said. Don't do this. That's not what you said. If I was a player, like if I could play with one of these guys, I'd rather play with Joker, Joker, Joker. You got it. He would pee past, he does everything, but when I watched, I watched Joel and B to so dominant, physical ones. So as a viewer, you like watching and B, but if you were playing, you'd play with Yolkage. Yeah. I think I'd be better with Yolkage. As a viewer, you're just watching. Yeah, it's like, it's fun. As a player, I would score too. Yeah, we'd be better with Joker, but Joel is more dominant, if that makes sense. Now it kind of makes sense. No, I get it. Even though you butchered his name six times, so we're with you. Because why is it Yolkage, but Joker? Should be Joker then. I've been saying Yolkage for a minute. But do you say Yolker or Joker? Joker. Right, my point. No. Well, it's Novak Djokovic. Oh, but he goes Djokovic. Oh, I have a lot to think about today. See? Kevin Durant. That's what we're talking about. Letters are hard. Kevin Durant said the reason that he is not in the goat conversation is because he went to the Warriors that one time. You agree? This is interesting, because you can definitely say he took the easy way out. But when you look at basketball players, he is one of the best most talented players ever. The things he can do with the ball in his hands at that size with his length, it's incredible. But yeah, you can say he took the easy way out. He joined a super team. He didn't do it by himself. I think guys would respect him a lot more if he didn't do that. But basketball-wise, it's hard to argue that he's not one of the best players. But he was so good when he went to that team. That's absolutely the reason he's not in the goat conversation. Good, better, and different. That's the reason, you know? But LeBron's in the goat conversation. He did that in Miami. He went and assembled the big three and they botched. I think the scenarios are different. I think they built that big three because of that's what they wanted to do. And at that time, you had to build a team like that when Boston had put their big three together the year before that. So I think the scenarios are different. But Kevin Durant is still one of the top players in the league. It's gonna be one of the top players in the league. But as far as public opinion go, this is the reason that people like to say it. Like Hooper's love, Katie. Like if Katie and LeBron played one-on-one, I think Katie destroys him. Absolutely, he is a Hooper. He's better than that. That's it, absolutely. I don't know. No, it's true. Like, he's a magician with the ball. Yeah, we just watched that shot last night. It looked effortless. Not saying that it's not saying that it's a credible opinion. That is the reason that people had it. That's why. Like if he did this in OKC his whole career, he would probably be in the Goat Championship. Oh my gosh, they figured that out and turned it around. By the way, they had their own nationals big three. And he was the best player in that last championship run for them when he was on the war. Exactly. Every team he's been on, he's been the best player. So it's not like he's going and mooching off staff or mooching off book. Like, he's still the best player wherever you go. He's the best player on the Olympic team. He's the best player on the All-Star team. He's the best player on any team he's ever been on. I know, that's why I feel like that argument sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable. It was a cop out. He didn't have to do it. It was the easy way. It was the easy route. Sometimes the easy way. Work smarter. I love the easy way. Yeah, I know. Big easy way guy. Jimmy Butler says he does not care if he is eligible for any of the awards due to the 65 games cut off and all that. He just cares about banners. Hang it up, Lou. You believe him? This sounds consistent with Jimmy's brand. I've never known him to be one of the guys that cared about any individual awards. He's always been a team guy. Everything that he's done has been based around that. And so I agree with him. Simple and polite. I'll just read the next one or you can just talk. No, we're cutting it out. We're cutting it out. I'm just like. The next one is Kyle Lowry and Tyler Hero say that he'd have enough. Where's the magic, Johnson? The NBA is not going to be here. The NBA is so funny, man. It is crazy. 40 minutes ago, that question was valid. We were going to talk about Kyle Lowry talking about how good the heat are. Well, he probably still thinks they're good. Live television. I love it. That's incredible. All right, Lou. Cam Thomas been coming off the bench, said he doesn't really have comfortability with either one, starting, coming off the bench, whatever. It's whatever Jacques Vaughn needs. What do you make of that? I like this, especially from a young guy. 22 years old, playing at a very, very high level. Scores at a high clip. I watched him against the Clippers the other day in person. He was making some tough shots, you know. And it doesn't matter where you put this kid. He's going to make an impact on the floor. So he's showing you that he's selfless. He's all about team. He's trying to win. He wants to be in a position to be able to win and be successful in Brooklyn. So I really like this idea of him saying this publicly and giving his coach kind of that nod of confidence and respect that I trust whatever position that you put me in to be successful. That's kind of what you want to hear, right? It's a very mature thing to say, especially someone like him who's instant offense. He's a bucket. When guys are hurt, sure, start him. But he's kind of figured out this role where he can come and play however many minutes and go get you 20, 30, 40 point games. So I think it's smart. It's a very mature thing to say when you're in the position he's in on a bad team where he can do a little bit of everything. Doesn't matter right now. So great thing to say. Great attitude. Dremont Green said that James Harden should be an all-star this year, Chandler. Do you agree? No, I don't think so. I think he's had a great year. I think this trade has worked. They are now one of the better teams in the NBA. They are a contender. They have a great chance of winning an NBA championship this year, but you look at his numbers. He's averaging 17 points and he's averaging eight and five. It's a solid year. But when you're talking about all-stars, you're talking about other guys are putting up these gaudy numbers. I just think the competition is too thick. And I think there's two guys on his team that will make it before. And they're not getting three all-stars. Yeah, that's fair. You can have three. All right, Lou, Carmelo Anthony's son Keon said he could beat his dad at 16 years old. He said I'm frying him. He wasn't nice until he was 17. I love that. It was a big summer. It was a big summer, that one. Look, I actually love this. I love the fact that he's at an age and Melo is at an age where they can work out together. You see them in the gym playing one-on-one. That's something that all dads look forward to with their sons. However, 16-year-old Melo will beat the hell out of 16-year-old Keon. I don't know where he got this idea that his dad turned nice at 17. Melo has been nice as long as I've known of Carmelo Anthony. He don't want to run into the Afro headband, Carmelo Anthony, being that his dad. And so, I love it. But this is great, man. This is a great banter. Like I said, this is what dreams are made of, to have an opportunity to even trash talk your son and him feeling like he's good enough to even say something like this with Carmelo Anthony being your father. If my idea of a sports time machine simulator ever gets built, these are the conversations we can finally settle. And I really want it to happen. So get smart people on it. Thank you so much. After a loss to the Knicks, Bruce Brown said that he plays extremely hard and he can do whatever Tibbs needs him to do, Chandler. Problem is, he didn't play for the Knicks. What do you make of that? I mean, the guy that got bounced around, he was in Denver alone, so he's not gonna leave Denver. He goes to Indy, now he's in Toronto. Now there's talks, he's gonna go to Lakers. So who knows, the guy's confused. Who knows what Jersey's gonna have him on. It's an honest mistake. It's an honest mistake. It wants to be a nick maybe. Yeah. Make it happen. All right, fair enough. We're gonna take a quick break, wrap things up when Run It Back returns. I like it. Run it up, they run it back, run it back, run it up. A quick, quick, prop party. Chandler, you're up. Yes. Oh yeah, by the way, it's Lakers Clippers. Sorry. Oh, that's right. I got Clippers' money line. No LeBron, no, no Lakers. But I do expect Anthony Davis to step up over 27 and a half, book it. All right, Lou. Clipper gang, I don't bang. This is an in town rivalry. Y'all know I'm a Clippers guy. Clippers' money line and I got James Hart having a big night plus two. I also have Clippers having a big night, specifically Kawhi and PG. I'm taking the over for both of them. Shoms, we have 15 seconds left. Anything breaking still? Nothing breaking yet. But we lost Shoms 30 minutes ago. Oh, he lost him. He lost Shoms. I'll now rate to the Phoenix Sun Shoms. Go ahead and tweet it. Book it. We'll be back tomorrow.