 Run it up, do run it back, yeah. Run it up, do run it back. Oh, good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Run It Back. This is, you know what, I'm gonna introduce everyone, but here's the problem. Chandler asked for a pen before the show. He doesn't, he has no paper to write on. He's just gonna use it for- He feels smarter like this. Yeah, we'll get him glasses too. Shamsharani, the only serious one up here at the panel. He will have real information coming out of his face. And then we have Chandler Parsons and Eddie Gonzalez there on the end, and I can't promise what will come out of y'all's faces. But, we did get news from the moment that we left yesterday. Rudy Gobert didn't even get to make the trip out here to Los Angeles. What a bummer for him, definitely suspended. Definitely not playing. Not great for the Minnesota Timberwolves as they take on the Lakers tonight. Shams, what's the latest? How angry is this guy? So yes sir, it was basically internally, the Timberwolves deciding how do we move forward with Rudy Gobert? And from what I'm told, the players actually were ready to move on and have him rejoin the team and play in that game. But I think organizationally, Tim Connolly, the president of Vassar Operations, he's the one who came down to the locker room at halftime and told Rudy Gobert to go home. He sent him home, security escorted Rudy Gobert out, and he's the one, I think the organization are the ones that made the decision to suspend him for this one game. And I think a lot of it, of course, had to do with the punch. Kyle Anderson, what he said, not only on the bench, what he said at halftime, I think it's tough. You can see him kind of as an instigator to an extent, because in Rudy Gobert's mind, he was playing hurt, he was playing through pain on Sunday. And this is something that clearly they're gonna have to move forward with, they're eight and four without Rudy Gobert this season. So that's someone saving grace you can take going into tonight's play in game against the Lakers. But another thing, Kyle Anderson, I think there was some audio of him saying, this is a team that has the decisions to make this summer. So that's coming down the line. Rudy Gobert has a very tough contract to move, but organizationally, how do they move forward after this incident? Eight and four without him. So you're saying there's a chance, I like that. Look, we didn't know what they were gonna do, and then they did it. Were you surprised they actually suspended him for this? I wasn't, just because you have to, right? You have to set the tone that the culture and the conduct of this team is more important than winning this game. And they did go eight and four without him, but they also had Nasreed, who's also out tonight, who's had a great year, who's up for a big payday this year. But this is just, this is still shocking to me because I personally know both of these guys. And Kylie Anderson, Rudy Gobert, they're not bad guys, but this seems like this is something deeper. This is personal. The audio that we're getting from the locker room, that's something that's deeper and that's gonna have to be resolved after this playoff series. But this is a huge blow, because when you look at the Lakers and you look at this matchup, someone's gotta guard Anthony Davis. And the obvious one is Rudy Gobert. I know Eddie crushes them all the time, and he seems to be not the most liked guy in the locker room, but the guy's averaging a double-double. He has extreme value defensively. And he will be missed tonight trying to maintain Anthony Davis. Yeah, look, I do, you know, crap on him a lot. All the time, yeah. But for the record without him eight and four, there are two an O against the Lakers with them. They're an O and one with the Lakers without him. So yes, I'm with Chandler. They need that rim defense. They need what he provides on that end of the court. And they need what he can do at the rim with the ball, actually, and actually put some pressure on the Lakers. The Lakers are a team that want to pack the paint. The Lakers are a team that want to get to the glass on the offensive boards as well. And so they do need him. I hear a lot of people saying, hey, the spacing will be way better without him, but they also have to defend on the other end. And they're going to need him. And it's going to be a tough loss for them. But whoa, you don't know that it's going to be a loss. It's going to be. You don't know that. Not having Rudy is a tough loss for them. Got it. But most of us hope it's not a loss. But they ultimately had to do that. Do that what he did during a game and not have some sort of consequence. Well, oh, good. Again, it's different when it was the Dream On thing, and that video never leaked. It's different if someone says it or so. Oh, he swung on Kylie Anderson to do it in a timeout during a game. That's something that I'm surprised it's only one game, honestly. Well, the king of self-awareness did weigh in. Thankfully, Dream On Green has opinions on this one. He did it on his podcast where he does most things. And he said that Gaubert's reaction to being called the B-word got him to respect him a little bit more. And then he also said, I personally think Gaubert is on the softer side. Eddie, you guys have that in common, I think. Should he maybe not have an opinion on this? Yeah. Right message is the wrong messenger here. This is a guy who is nobody but him. Pretty well known for punching his teammates, cussing his teammates out, not taking two kinds of the B-word, but also using it fairly often. So I don't know if he's the right guy. I like the pettiness that they have going on. I don't know what their beef is. But as somebody on my end, I understand your beef with Rudy Gaubert, whatever it is. But maybe Dream On has had to talk about everything on this show. Fair. So yeah, it was interesting. Would it be a show, though, if he didn't talk about anything? Again, he's probably the last guy that should comment on this, considering he actually connected and knocked out the guy that just gave the bag to this summer. But again, this is Dream On. This is who he is. This is the platform he now has. And he loves situations like this. He really does. Maybe also he thinks it makes him look just slightly better, because, hey, look, everyone's doing it. Not necessarily the case. OK, so we're going to talk about the Lakers for a second. It's shocking that I'm even going to ask this question. But given how the season started for them and they were the butt of everybody's jokes, and now we're literally talking Lakers and possible championship in the same sentence, is that crazy to me, Chandler? I mean, a championship is pretty unrealistic. I think that would be one of the most historic miracles that's ever happened. And that kind of turnaround would be insane. I said yesterday that I think it's already been a huge success of how they've gotten here, how they've flipped this season around, the moves they've made at the deadline. It's already been kind of a special season to give them hope and confidence and everything like that, but it's not really fair to say anything short of a title as a failure, because I think they've already had a success. But if they even advance, and they are a dangerous team, but give them Memphis or Denver, I can see them beating either of those teams too. Championship is crazy. Crazy. I could see them beating Memphis and Denver as well. And it's a great turnaround. They started, what was it, 0-5? They started at 2-10, and 2-10. So, yeah, the fact that they got back to 500 is kind of insane. But yeah, let's calm down a little bit. Now, if we had 34-year-old LeBron and 27-year-old AD, if it the bubble guys, that's a little different. But we're asking a lot. And I think, ultimately, it just comes down to, they don't match up well with the Warriors. They don't match up well with the Suns. They don't match up well with the Clippers. And these are the teams they have to get through. And on top of that, none of us are picking them against any of the big three teams in the East. So, championship, like, yeah, let's slow down. Well, I think they're the only ones in the playing tournament that has a chance at potentially advancing past the first round, getting to the conference finals. And listen, I saw them in the bubble. They have the pedigree at the very least. You have LeBron, James, you have Anthony Davis. They have a chance. For sure, anytime you have those two guys, and this team is clearly deeper, what are they, eight in one, I said yesterday, with D'Angelo Russell, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis in the lineup. Listen, are they the championship favorites? Probably not. But anytime you have those guys, that collection and that roster, I think you have a chance, for sure. Yeah, cause I heard a lot of people saying that they would pick them against the two seed. And I thought, wow, what a weird turn of events this has been. But if you're the Grizzlies and you're watching this game tonight, who are you rooting for to win? If I'm them, I want Minnesota. They're banged up. They're missing three key guys. Rudy will obviously probably be back. But Nas, Reed being out is huge. McDaniels being out is huge. All these, this isn't the team that is the seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs. It's a banged up team and it's just awful timing. And the Lakers present a very tough matchup, I think, for the Memphis Grizzlies. And just going into a playoff series, beating Anthony Davis and LeBron James is a pretty tall task to do that four times. And it's harder to do that than be Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns four times. So I think they obviously would prefer the Timberwolves in the first round. Yeah, I'm with Taylor. You don't want to deal with LeBron Anthony Davis right now. Like, I know it's cliche and I know it's five on five, not two on five. But those are just matchup issues you do not want to deal with. And if you're the Grizzlies, what is your answer for there? I mean, you have your interaction. You feel like it's defensive player of the year. You have Dylan Brooks who is like almost worse than Rudy Gohbair. Excuse me? But you don't think those are exactly what they're equals. You don't think those are the guys that are going to slow the down to team effort. And if I had a choice, yeah, I'd definitely rather deal with whatever the Timberwolves bring, banged up as they are. If I could just give a bit of advice to anybody on the Grizzlies team, say nothing. Don't ask for any of these teams. Don't say who you would rather play because you're just going to make it worse on yourselves. And I feel like we're going to get something out of jaw or Dylan Brooks. We're like, yeah, bring on the Lakers. Like, no. I was going to say, like, say nothing does not sound like that. I don't think they will. I don't know. Did you see Dylan Brooks the other day? What was that? Who are you? Maybe they talk with Fitzminnesota. I don't know if they're talking about the Lakers. The Lakers are 11 and four, 11 and five on Anthony Davis' course. 30 points or more this season. I think when he's dominant, this team has a chance for sure. There is another game, by the way. This is the late game that we started talking about. There's a game before that in Atlanta taking on Miami. The Heat have had a pretty decent time with Trey Young. They've shut them down to almost 20 points on 35% shooting. So why? Why is this Heat team so good at shutting Trey down? And by the way, shutting him down is relative. I understand that. Yeah, it's funny because Trey Young, he's a player that can get going in any game, right? He can shoot from deep. He's quick. He gets in the lane. He gets to the foul line. He gets to his floater. Trey Young is a special player. And I feel like he kind of took a step back this season just because of maturity and Nate McMillan getting fired. But this kid is an insane talent. It's just, I think, Trey Young, for him to be the best version of himself, he needs to be the second or third best player on his team. And he's forced and thrown into this role where he's taken all the shots. He's the guy. And they've had such high expectations this year, bringing on Giante Murray. And then, you know, I love Deandre Hunter. And they have the talent to be a really good team. They just need that star to kind of relieve the pressure from Trey Young and kind of let him be that pass for his guard. That can still go get you 30 on any given night. And the Heat are just a tough matchup. They're tough. They're gritty. They play defense. They fly around. They got length. And that bothers Trey Young when they pick him up full court like they do. Yeah, the numbers are a little skewed. He had a three-point game against them a few weeks back. But I think his most concerning is how much they turned him over. He had a 10 turnover game against the Heat at one point this season. It's they throw a bevy of guys at him. You have Eric Sposers, maybe the best coach in the league. I know you're partial to Greg Poppins. Well, I mean, you're wrong, but go on. Well, Greg Poppins technically is not playing anymore. So we'll call Eric Sposers the best coach in the league right now. But, you know, he's going to come with a game plan. He's going to get the ball out of his hands. He's going to force him into long shots. I think if you can make Trey shoot long shots that he's willing to take, he will take a 40-footer. You've won the battle. Like, do that over there. It's fine. If you make two out of 10, we win. But they put pressure on him. It's interesting he had the eight-point game against the Heat that had Kevin Love, had targets for him to go after, had Tyler Hero, and he still struggled against him. So I'm very intrigued by what happens tonight. These are some of the most topsy-turvy teams in the league and you never know what you're going to get from the Miami or the Atlanta Hawks. And it's going to be a 30-point game either way. And it could be a nail-biter if for both. Yeah. I mean, when you look at Miami last year, I think they had similar trajectories going into the year. But I was a lot more confident in Miami last year than I am this year. This year they've been so up and down. I don't know if their supporting cast has been as good as they thought it would be. Kyle Lowry has been in and out of line-ups at a different point. But I know Eddie's gone at Jimmy Butler, you know, as far as what he says about turning it on second half of the year. I personally love that, though. Like he knows exactly what time it is. He knows exactly when he wants to turn it on. His on-off switch, he's one of the best players in the league. Only player this season to average 22 points, five assists, five rebounds, and one half assists per game. So he's clearly elite when he wants to be. And right now he will be elite. Jimmy knows when it's Jimmy time. And he's told us that. You know, I wanted to ask you about Trae Young really, really quickly before we go because if they don't get out of this plan, I would assume he's top of the list of is he staying where he's going? I mean, I would think that'd be the next move, right? Everything they've already done, the players they've brought in and shipped out, the coaching moves, I think now the next move is would be to shop Trae Young. And you see what kind of, you know, get back you get with the Rudy Go Bear, with the Kyrie, with the Kevin Durant. Trae Young is gonna draw the same attention and get the same assets. So depending on what they can get this off season, I do think they consider that now they have Dejante Murray, they have all this other talented roster, they have a new coach moving forward. The next step, I think, would be to shop him. But this is a team also that we just talked about. They're so talented, they can advance in the playoffs and they can go on a run like they did a couple of years ago. So I'm also not surprised either way, but I do think kind of time is coming to an end here for Trae Young. And if they don't make something happen here soon, I think the next big drastic move is to ship him out. Yeah, when they were having their drama throughout the season and wondering if they're gonna fire their coach and Trae Young's walking out of practice and saying, I'm out of here. I asked around a little bit, what do you get for Trae Young? Is he, are teams even interested? And yeah, teams are gonna be interested in a guy this young who all-star caliber player. I think it is interesting. You look at a team like the Thunder, maybe they could add him and they have the pile of picks and they have the contracts or the Brooklyn Nets. And there's a couple of other teams. People wondered if he was a fit for the New York Knicks, which I thought was curious. But it's, they have to explore it this summer and they have to get with their new brain trust now and their new head coach who they've committed to long-term and say, hey, is this the guy we want going forward? And just playing the game will be a big part of that. I think if the right backers is out there, they should absolutely look into that. I mean, John Collins thinks he's a better playmaker than Steph Curry. That's interesting. Kevin Love, by the way, also a big fan of one of his teammates. This is what he had to say on Jimmy Butler. And look, you're supposed to say positive things. This might be excessive, but he said, I'll take Jimmy Butler over pretty much anybody in the league when it comes down to winning. I throw a lot of people in the league that have won a lot more, Chandler. What is he talking about? Yeah, this is tough. And I get it. I get what he's doing. He's new there, fresh face, new city, new team. And he's back in his guy, just like John Collins just did with Trey Young in the Steph Curry comment. But no, we're talking about Jimmy Butler. He is very underrated, right? When you see Jimmy Butler play, it's nothing flashy. It's nothing crazy. It's hard nose. And he is very clutch in the fourth quarter into games. And he's one of those players that you want on your team. He plays both sides of the ball. He could score. He gets to the foul line. He defends the other team's best player every single night. But we're talking about a guy that's playing in the play-in as being the most winning player in the league right now. That's a stretch to me, but his value is unmatched. And he's a very good player. What is this winning reputation? I'm not exactly sure. I think he's won like five playoffs series. He's went to the finals in the bubble. Congrats for all of your bubble accomplishments. And I appreciate that. But I feel like Jimmy Butler practiced at three in the morning one time, 10 years ago. And he's just had this great reputation ever since. I'm not saying he's a bad player. I'm not saying he's a losing player. But like at some point, we got to slow down. You're taking him. There are four-time champions in this league. There are five-time champions. What are you talking about? Like there's a guy with four finals MVP. Is that you played with Kevin Love? And I'm not trying to be all in defense of LeBron, but Stephen Curry's the winner. Kevin Durant's the winner. Gianna Sanzi Kupo's the winner. What exactly are we talking about here? We're talking about guys playing one finals. And he lost pretty clearly. And yes, he was in conference finals last year. That was your slow injuries, a lot of things going on. Jimmy just told us he doesn't care like that. So why are we pumping him up in this way? I like Jimmy Butler. But he's done some great marketing on his own part. To be turned into this Kobe figure of winning that he is now. Settle down, Kevin Love. Kevin Love is a little more of a winner than Jimmy Butler. I feel like Jimmy Butler has a great edge. He is a winner. Everyone's a winner in their own right. But has he won a championship? Hold up, what's happening? That's what my mom told me. Has he won a championship? No, but I feel like every year that that team is competitive. There's not a year that they don't have down years in Miami. They never had a down year, I think, in Minnesota. He brought Minnesota to the playoffs for the first time I think a decade. Yeah, I mean, he hasn't won a championship, but he's had some good regular seasons and some good playoff runs. I mean, look, I think we all like Jimmy Butler, but that quote, I think, was asking for it. Kevin Love, great teammate. Yeah, incredible teammate. Yeah, I would love to hear positive things like that be said about us. Yay. Look, the Celtics will also be watching this game. Of course. This is a bit tougher than the last one. Are they rooting for the heat or the Hawks, Chandler? I'd want the Hawks. I think they could speed them up. They could buoy them. They can get physical with them. They're much more talented than them. The heat are scary because they do have pieces and they do have toughness. And they do have a little bit more experience and they have shooting. So I think the heat are a better team than the Hawks. And if you're the Celtics, you'd rather, obviously, play the worst team and a team that you can kind of punk and bully. And the heat aren't that team. Yeah, I'm with Chandler. I mean, these are two teams that we expected a lot more out of this season, both of them. Atlanta, they're supposed to be on a comeback year and they're supposed to get back to the things that got them to the Conference Finals a few years ago. The heat were actually in the Conference Finals last year with these Celtics. And it took seven games to beat them. So if I'm the Celtics, yeah, I want the Hawks. They're a little more gutted. They're still working in their new coach. And you feel like they're just the worst team. So I'm going with the Hawks. That's fair enough. Heater Lakers, more dangerous. Oh, wait, did you want to say something? I always feel like I'm putting Sean up. This is me sometimes. I'm just like back to Sean, whatever. Who do I think is the most dangerous? Peter Lakers? I mean, I think got to be the Lakers, right? Yeah, I think it's the Lakers also just because the West is more wide open. Like the heat could go, but they're not. They're playing the Celtics. They're not beating the Celtics the second round. So I think it's the Lakers. You guys are picking against super winner Jimmy Butler. That's crazy. It's tough to go against him, but yeah. I'm going Lakers. My favorite version of Eddie is the sarcastic one. Guys, we're taking a quick break. Yes, I'm excited for this. When we come back three time NBA champ, Cavs Guard, Danny Green will be joining us. A warmer spare. A winner. A real winner. Run it over, run it back, run it. I love it so much. He's a 14 year NBA vet. He's in Cleveland right now, awaiting their first round matchup against the Knicks. A matchup we are all very, very excited about. Please welcome NBA three time champ, Danny Green. I know, I was like, we don't have a live audience, but we just made one. All right, I'm going to, we're going to get to basketball questions real quick, Danny, but it's been a minute. You were with the Spurs, obviously, hence my big, big, fat smile. And you had snakes when you were there. I'm obsessed with them in a bad way. I hate them, including what an albino one. Where are they now? Oh man. First of all, thanks for having me. Second, the snakes haven't made it throughout the whole career. I had lost, once they lost them, but they had passed when I left Toronto. So they came to Toronto on my way back to get across the border. They, something happened weirdly when I was traveling and I was going away from them for too long and they didn't make it. Don't try to make me cry over snakes, Danny Green. I'm not like, no. I guess you're bringing that up. I got dogs now. I got dogs, I have both animals a little bit better. So yeah, I got dogs now, so. But RIP to the snakes. I thought about getting another one. Wifey wasn't having it, so we're just thinking with the dog. Wifey's smart, dogs are cuddly. It sounds like a hard sale. So Danny, you started the year with the Grizzlies. You get traded at the trade deadline. How did you feel getting traded and what was your reaction when you found out? I was my first time getting traded mid-season. So it was a bit shocking and very hectic. I was, I was, when I heard the news, I was kind of shocked. I wasn't sure what was happening. I think when KD was traded, a lot of teams started going into a frenzy a little bit. But all year, you know, things have been going well. They did so well with my rehab. I thought they were gonna stick with me for a while. It did such an amazing job. And I did like Memphis, like the organization. They were top notch, but they didn't give me like a full heads-on warning that they were looking to make a move. So I was a little bit shocked by it. But, you know, being back in Cleveland, first the moves with the Houston, so I wasn't sure what was gonna happen there. And I didn't stay there too long, but again, a chance to have a full circle moment back in Cleveland, I think has been, you know, quite fun and exciting, especially since they're a playoff team again and contender this year. Yeah, Danny, what's up, Manage Chandler? JB Bickerstaff is one of my favorite coaches I ever had. How's your time been with him? What's the experience been like with him? It's been cool. I've only been here a month, but it's been good, man. He's a very respectful dude of the veterans. He understands what we need and what the communication, what it takes. But he also knows what it's been to coach these younger guys and what he has to do and build the habit. So I've been impressed with him thus far. And I'm excited to see what he can bring, you know, come playoff time, what adjustments he'll make against the, you know, the Knicks, the first matchup. Yeah, and what is it? What do you think the biggest difference is in the locker room in Memphis and now the locker room in Cleveland? There's a big difference. The Memphis locker room, not so quiet. Cleveland locker room, not saying they're quiet guys, but they're a lot more to themselves a little bit. Two different types of animals. The Memphis is in your face, come at you, talk trash. Cleveland is a little more, you know, quieter guys. You know, play behind the scenes and not talk too much trash in your face. But both great groups of kids, great groups of guys, love playing with them, very young and a lot of similarities. So it's not a big adjustment coming from one or the other. But in terms of personality-wise of the locker room itself, it's a 180 for sure. Hey, Danny, I'm curious. You've 14 years, three titles. You've played with a bunch of contenders. Being in that Cleveland locker room, do you think they have the makeup of being that, of being a contender and all that takes a bunch of young guys over there? You know, Mitch has done it, he's made some deep runs, but a lot of young guys over there, you think they have that makeup going forward? 100%, I think we have the pieces for sure. I think the maturity is what we lack in the experience. Like you said, there's not a lot of guys here that have playoff experience. Don is one of them. Some of the other guys, Jay has a little bit, Bert has a little bit, Rola, Robin Lopez, the Ricky has been in the league a long time. So we don't have a lot of experience, a lot of playoff experience. So this is a lot of these guys and their families first time and some of the coaches that are going through playoffs and what that would look like. So they turned to me and asked me, what should we do? How should we handle this? The travel, et cetera. So that's interesting for me. But they do have, that we have a great defensive makeup with Jared Allen and Evan Mobley at the rim protecting Isaac O'Coral, Lamar Stevens. You got Don, Darius, those guys can play on the wing. But when you got those two big down there that are elite shot blocking rim protectors, it always gives you a chance to be a contender. All right, Danny, got the Knicks first round. Their fan base has worked up, Cavs fan base has worked up. We're not sure yet when Julius Randall will return, talk to me about how you guys match up with New York. That's a tough matchup. They've been hooping all year. They have some all-star caliber players and some great role players coming off the bench that can provide a spark for them with a quick lead-topping grimes. You know, those guys are very good, you know, pieces behind Brunston, Julius, and RJ Barrett. So they have a great makeup there and obviously this is an amazing coach. So it's gonna be a hard-fought battle, especially the fact that the garden hasn't had a playoff run or, you know, a playoff series in some amount of years. So I expect the garden to be rocking and I expect this team to come out with a chip on their shoulder and an edge and it'll be playing like they've been playing the last half of the season. Danny, you play with Donovan Mitchell now. He's having his best NBA season. You play with a lot of star players as well. What player does he remind you of and what do you think makes him so special? That's hard to say, man. He's a very special, very great player. Become way more efficient now, I would say way more, because he was good when he was in Utah, but he's become more efficient each year from the perimeter and from the three-point line, which has made him a special huge jump. There's not many players that I could say he reminds me of because he's built very different. He's a point guard side, but he's got big hands and feet like a center and it's very athletic and explosive. So it's hard to compare him to anybody. Obviously, he's athletic like Jai is. He's got floaters like Tony, but he's explosive and athletic, which is that I haven't had many point guards except for Jai that's like that. So it's harder to compare him to anybody. You know, they call him Spider. I like to call him Tasmanian Devil. He's just very explosive, man. He's got big hands and he gets to the rim whenever he wants to. It also said shoot three very efficiently this year. Danny, I'm going to get messy a little bit real quick, but it started with you. It started on Inside the Green Room, your podcast. Last week you said the Warriors had the fourth best chance in the Western Conference to win the title. You put them behind the nuggets, the suns and the clippers. You beat them in the championship before. You did that a few years back. You're one of the few to do that. What do you see in them that has you a little skeptical of them to put them fourth? Just the fact that they haven't been healthy. The whole unknowing of what Wiggins is going to look like when he comes back. He had a tough year all year round besides the fact that he had the family issues. He's been injured. He's been in and out. He hasn't been able to get a rhythm. He hasn't been able to be himself as last year. Obviously now Clay has been a huge factor, huge plus and an amazing year for him. He's had a big, one of his best career years which has helped him a ton. But the fact that they're not as deep as they were and the fact that Wiggins has been missing all year of being in and out, I think it's hard to have that and just throw it together and say, oh, the chemistry is going to work right away. It's going to take them time. Also, that's why I think a lot of people are skeptical of the Phoenix factor as well. They have the great pieces and the great team that just haven't had the time to put it together. So Golden State, I think they just haven't had the time to be healthy and have this starting five for as many games as they need. And I think that's going to hurt them in the playoffs. Yeah, Danny, sticking in the West, how far do you think your old team, the Memphis Grizzlies, can go? I think it's so wide open that they can make it out the West if they wanted to. Obviously, they aren't the healthiest team, but I do have them going to the Western Conference Finals at least. And I think that's because the reason why they're not out the West is because of Brandon Clark being hurt, Steven Adams being hurt. But with those two guys being out, I still see Xavier Tillman and Santiago Dama being big factors for them and being a big plus and being able to beat some of the teams that they face. But I do have them making the Western Conference Finals. And if they go on a run, who knows what happens on the teams? Clippers aren't healthy, Sons may not be healthy. I could see them sneaking out of the West. I can feel the tension from Eddie at the end of this table. Right now, all right, you've got three championship rings. You've got Spurs, Raptors, Lakers. This is the most important question you'll ever answer in your life. Which of those teams is beating the other two in a seven game series? Oh man, that's tough because I've played with some greats and it depends on if you're saying these greats in their prime, who would I pick. Lakers, we just had so many guys, so much talent. We're just so much better than everybody. It's hard to say, but I do like that San Antonio team. We're probably the most disciplined team that I've played for. Well-oiled machine that played together, shot the ball well, and played selfless basketball. So if I had to pick any team against any of those championship teams that have come throughout the whole, I said the last decade or so, I would pick that San Antonio team. Wow. Oh, that was the right answer, Danny Green. Wow, shot, shoot. Oh, it stressed out for you. Well, 2014 was one of the greatest sports years of all time in the NBA. Danny, thank you so much. Absolute pleasure to catch up. Good luck the rest of the way. Pleasure to all mine. Thank you so much. You guys take it easy, fellas. Thank you. Happy he answered that that way. Were you guys nervous? Did you guys talk about that beforehand? No. Guys, I'm impartial. I'm a journalist, big J. No, I'm not. The shot on the script, same. I'm none of those things. We're gonna take a quick break. Their coaching changes have already begun. We didn't even get to this yesterday. That's how much is going on. Shams with all of the scoops, when we return. So when you look at this offseason, you're gonna be a restricted free agent. Do you want to be a Laker? Yeah, I want to be a Laker. Obviously, they gave me, you know, the first opportunity. I was a huge Laker fan growing up, big Kobe fans. So, you know, honestly, just to be able to, you know, play for the Lakers organization special. And I want to be a Laker. So, and hopefully we can get this done and I can stay there, you know, for hopefully my whole career. I believe him when he says he wants to stay there. What's your biggest takeaway? Well, my biggest takeaway is that he clearly says he wants to be a Laker. And the Lakers will have a window of time going into free agency. He's gonna be a restricted free agent, but they're gonna be capped out. They can only offer him a max of four years, around $51 million. So, we'll see, will they come with that full offer? Does he have to test free agency and try to get an offer sheet? Elsewhere in the marketplace, there's a few teams with Capspace. Do they throw a bag at him? Cause if it gets to that 60-70 range for Austin Reeves, that's a tough contract for the Lakers to match. But I do think clearly with his comments, he wants to give the Lakers every opportunity to try to get a deal done. That would be a big discount if he did that. What do you think? Is he a Laker next season? Not for $51 million. I think he deserves more. I think some team is gonna offer him, you know, 20 million, 30 million more than that. And I think he deserves it. I think he's played great this year. He's been arguably their most consistent player, third, fourth best player all year long. He can pass the ball, he defends, he's got length, he can shoot, he's a bona fide NBA player. It's not just the hoopla around the Lakers. You put him on any team, he can fit, he's smart. And he plays the right way and he set his future up very, very well for the summer. Eddie, can you see a world in which nobody comes through and offers him that much more than he stays? No, somebody's gonna offer him money. And shout out to Austin, the MVP chance when I was there on Friday for the massive scoring explosion he had. But somebody's gonna offer him more. He's a versatile player. He can handle the ball a little bit. He can shoot a little bit. He can defend. He's what you need in a role player. And that's the price of the market. And I think if nothing else, you're sitting there in the Western Conference going, why let him stay on the Lakers? Let's take, let's gut them as we can. And it's fascinating that this is the guy who has garnered all this interest at this point. And, but he's earned it though. So you got Tipper Hat at that point and you get a player like that. It was a whistle like that. Like, you know, he gets those calls. The Reeves whistle. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta sign yourself up for that guy. What a world. But the thing, the thing about Austin Reeves is all the teams with Capsule this summer, Detroit, San Antonio, Houston, Orlando, they're all kind of obviously developing younger teams. It's not like Austin Reeves is gonna stunt your development process. You just plug him either as a starter or a backup and he could even potentially help you bring that culture and winning edge, in my opinion. Yeah, I see both sides. I see him also, I feel like a contender should want him because there's no real value of paying a guy like that to go to a young team. Although he is a good locker room guy and he is a guy to lead and have these guys kind of follow after. And if you're not gonna win anyways, you gotta pay somebody. He seems to be the prime candidate. If you're not gonna win anyways, you gotta pay some extra. Give him that Chandler Parsons bag. Yes, he should. He should. Chandler's a fan of that. All right, it's Shom Scoop's time and it's the bad part of the season. So take it away. Yeah, so Steven Silas was head coach of the Houston Rockets. He has been fired. They did not pick up his fourth year team option that they had on his deal. I think you can look at a lot of different factors but mostly the organization wanted to take the next step. It just was not going well. There was a lot of meddling going on even with the foreign office and Steven Silas. I had a story in the athletic on Sunday where I wrote about one specific story where the GM of the team, Raphael Stone, came on to the court during a practice session that Steven Silas had and was giving defensive position instructions and input to the players from what I was told. And Silas had to essentially check the foreign office and say, this can't happen. It did not happen again. I think for the most part, those two guys had a good relationship but Steven Silas clearly from the moment Russell Westbrook and James Harden requested trades when Steven Silas got hired. This was going down a rebuilding path. He's out. I think a few names to look at to potentially take over Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, James Borrego, Adrian Griffin, Ema Udoka, Kenny Atkinson. And I think those are the coaches that'll be at the focal point search process. This is, I hate this. I hate this part of the league. And this is why I'm doing stuff like this and not on a coaching bench because it's unfair. So there's expectations that these guys, Steven Silas, never been a head coaching job. You can get him for cheap-ish. And then you put him in that roster in that organization right now and you expect him to win. Like put Popovich as the coach, as the raucous is here. They still stink. Right. So no coach could just sprinkle a little miracle dust and make that team good this year. It's like Jamal Mosley in Orlando. Like you sign him to that deal knowing they're gonna be bad for years. You're gonna fire him next year because the magic still aren't good. That was the expectation when you hired this guy. And it worked out great for JB Biggers. I'll never forget when he got the job in Cleveland, they weren't that great. They were young, they had some talent. But then they gave him time. They didn't give him pressure. And then the front office made a huge move for Donovan Mitchell that now look at him. Now his job is secure for now. And Steven Silas never got that chance. Jamal Mosley may never get that chance. And coaches like that, it's unfair that they have to go through this and they're expected to pull this miracle off that nobody could do. And then they get fired and now they're back to square one. Yeah, they're not wizards. Yeah, it's unfortunate for Steven Silas because he's gonna have this as his reputation now. This is the level of coach he is. And for all we know, he's maybe a great coach. He just was dealt a bad hand. He can't win with this team. We knew that going in. And you see some of these pieces that come out and they kind of hit pieces and you have reporters apologizing because they're reporting their own stuff. And it's like, the deck is getting stacked against him. I hope he gets on a bench next year and kind of works his way back and gets another shot because I think he's deserving of that. And we can finally see what he could do with an actual team that wants to win basketball games. What's the Houston Rockets have not been? I know. Since James Harden left. They haven't, but they played hard by the way. If you watch Rockets games, it's not like they weren't playing hard. I was speaking to somebody around the team and it was like, yo, you guys were competitive. You weren't winning every game, but you guys are competitive. You beat some of the better teams in the league this year. There was some growth. Like there were good signs coming out of Houston, but they just decided to sign and move on. It's always nice to hear those glossier names. You're looking at E-mail, Doka. You're looking at Nick Nurse. You're saying, oh, that could change things. But if they don't add talent to that roster, none of those guys are gonna be miracle workers. And that's why this is a big summer for the Rockets. 60 million plus in salary cap space. They're trying to turn the dial here. They're trying to win. They wanna go get, I think, a coach with some gravitas. This is the summer to do it. We'll see if Ruff fell stone. They're GM Ruff fell stone. I think this is gonna be a potentially make or break summer for an office and how they can go get talent. And get the right coach in place. Some big gravitas. That's what you want. I like that word, does gravitas. And then we had the announcement from Dwayne Casey, a guy that I think is liked very much around the league. Yeah, I mean, Dwayne Casey went out on his own accord. He's gonna join the front office. And I think this was more of a mutual thing than the Steven Siles situation. But you look at this Detroit team. They have a lot of good young talent. Kate Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivy. The list goes to Isaiah Stewart. They've got young talent. They've got a bunch of cap space this summer. They're gonna have a chance to potentially battle your spurs for Victor Vaman Yama. So they're gonna have a chance to really elevate this team with cap space as well. You can add a good couple of veterans with cap space. You can get a really good draft pick. You already have good young talent. You go hire a coach. Two guys I would keep an eye on potentially as the next head coach, Charles Lee, the Bucks assistant and Yime Yudoka. Another guy, Yime's gonna be involved in multiple of these coaching processes. So just two initial names so far. Like enough time is gone on the email thing that he will be on every list. I love the boss move to be like, you're not firing me. You're actually giving me a push here, better job. Safer job. I like that. I love that. I'm gonna use that at some point. I'll get my cloud up and I'll do that. I don't think you're gonna have a choice Eddie, if we're being honest. Uh. Taylor, do you want this job? Detroit? No, I'm not asking you. I'm saying if you're a coach, obviously you want this job. You know what? It's interesting because like Charles just said, they do have talent. They do have pieces. They are gonna have a high pick. I'd like to wait and see what pick they get. If they get the number one pick, I'll take that job tomorrow. But again, this is, I feel less bad for this one. Dwayne Casey's had a head coaching job. He's had other opportunities. Steven Silas has got the role under this deal. I agree with that. And the Grizzlies, this is some good news. So Kenny Lofton, a four year contract. He got $1 million in guaranteed salary just for the final weekend of the regular season. He gets 1.7 million guaranteed next year, if we're untold, and then two non-guaranteed years the following two years. So four year deal, Kenny Lofton, the last day of the regular season, the game that he made $1 million for, he scores 42 points, I think 14 rebounds or whatever. So big game, last day of the regular season vibes. But this is a guy that I think the Grizzlies are gonna be banking on to have some kind of a role for them in the playoffs. They need size. Steven Adams out, sent the ultimate injured. That's why they waived Kennedy channel. They wanted to bring in a big man for the playoffs and Kenny Lofton gets the deal. Well, you look at this guy and you think Zach Randolph, right? You got a baby Zebo, big body, lefty, can face up, spinning off the block post game. So this kid has his first start putting up those numbers. You know, congrats to him, getting that million dollar signing bonus is awesome. I do think this kid has a future in the NBA, but his dad is not the Cleveland Indians legend. By the way, I want to clarify, because I heard announcers make that mistake as well. His dad, Kenneth, was in the Army. Yes. He worked for the Postal Service for 18 years and is now in school. Not a center fielder. Not a center fielder, not that guy, but we all learn something every day. Nice to make a million dollars in a day. Right? Chandler, tell us about that. Like, what's it like? Exciting new year guys. But it's awesome. Tell us. Yeah. There you go. Break time, when we come back, Chandler and Eddie with their post season, end of season, all the awards, we'll have some fun with that. When we come back to run it back, the awards, the official ballots, were due yesterday. I think it was six Easter and so it's in. We can argue still, but it's all in. There's nothing you can change. But we thought, why not? I want to hear from you guys. So Chandler and Eddie, do you guys want to start with your MVP? It doesn't sound like you have a lot of differences right off the top. Yeah. Oh, we're doing 13. Oh, 13. It's my bad. Yeah, 13, I mean, we pretty much, we're pretty much the same there, except we got, I think you got Fox on second. I think the main guy I left off and I probably, you know, get scrutiny for is Julius Randall. Yeah, you did. And then we had Danny Davis over him and I just don't. You have LeBron and Eddie or just Eddie? I got both. I went just Eddie, no LeBron. Okay, let's see, let's see the awards right now. We are visual learners, we have to see them with our Ohos or we cannot understand what we're talking about. God only knows the picks we make. You just described my life, Michelle. I know, I just, okay, here we go. Okay. So you guys, 1,000 percent. I mean, this is just, this is what's going to happen. Yeah. So why disagree? Wait, Joel and Bede for sure he's going to happen. We're good with that. Brooke Lopez, not defensive player to you, Jared Jackson. Yeah, that's arguable. I've seen a lot of Evan Wobbly love too. I think Jared has it. I think the one that may be in the air is Lori Markinand. A lot of people saying Jaylen Brunson could win that award. Ooh. Or SGA, though, right? And Shagill. Tyrese Albert. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot. And Six Man of the Year is not up there too, but we both had a quick manual. Yeah. Look at the next, get a lot. Really weird award this year. Not Bobby Portis? Mmm. 14 inches. Shoms, not him. And you know what's crazy? I know that the MVP has been like the big talk. Right. I would go Giannis second now. Same. You know what I mean? Like I think he's been the best player on the best team. I think Joel's the MVP. I think he's dominated leading the NBA and scoring, putting up the numbers he has in the Eastern Conference. I think he's been unbelievable. And I do think the voter fatigue has an issue, even though it shouldn't, right? Like why is people, it's the MVP of this season. Last year it shouldn't matter. 10 years ago it shouldn't matter. But I do think Giannis should would be second in my voting. Yeah, it's not a bad choice. Like you said, best record in the league. I think he's fifth in scoring. It's not like he's a slouch on that end. He's like fourth in rebounding. He's Giannis. He's incredible. I just think it's Joel and Beast's time. You lead the league in scoring. You're that dominant. You're that great defensively. And it's not like his record's bad over there either. So I think it's become kind of clear. Yolkett's missed a lot of games down the stretch. Didn't play, he's great in the one. But he still played more than the other two guys. Which is like one more game than Joel or something, right? So it's like, it's like, what have you done for me lately? Yeah, I got you. I stick into it. I think Yolkett's towards the end was just like, I don't even want this stupid award. There's way too much negativity. I mean, he may not even care about the award anyways. It was, it definitely give up those vibes for sure. You could just tell. So you guys have Yolkett. Yeah, who do you got? You felt that? Yeah, he's an actual voter. He's got a lot of stuff to do. He's got too much insanity to tell us. Come on, they'll leak it. Tell us, tell us. You know what, Shoms? We'll get it out of you. Kills me, I'm gonna get it out of him. Before we leave here. Okay, so you guys all agree on that, but then we've got all of the teams, third, second, first. This is where things might get a little spicy. So we'll start with third team because you know, you gotta build it up, obviously. And here we go. I mean, I went with Julius Randall over LeBron James here and Anthony Davis over LeBron James. I think they were more consistent. I think they were more important to their team. And I know LeBron is value everything he's done. He's had a great year at his age. I just feel like all these guys were a little bit more deserving. And honestly, I had some bonus on my second team initially, but I think position-wise, I bumped him down to third. Yeah, Damian Lillier was the name I kind of struggled to remember. He only played 58 games. And again, I went with AD over Julius Randall, which hurts a little bit and Julius Randall had a great start. Is that your anti-nix bias? It might've been. Okay, let's take it. I'm just really impartial to the difference that Anthony Davis made. This is a year it felt like more than any other year. It turned into a lot of how many games did this guy play? And you're weighing that against that. And I don't know how much you're supposed to take that insight. Just a start. We got 65 game limit next year. But yeah, pretty soon we won't have to weigh that anymore, right? Some of these guys won't even be eligible. That'll be weird next year when some of these names aren't on list because simply they just didn't play the 65 games. That's gonna be very different to look at. Second team, as we move things on up, you got a lot of differences here, guys. See, I bumped Jalen to second team. You had him third team, right? I just think that duo, the season the Boston Celtics have had. And I think our biggest difference here is I had Luca first team who are, he was kind of in the MVP talks. He's in pretty much all season long. They fell off majorly at the end there, which I think did hurt him a little bit. But I still gave him the edge on first team over Donovan Mitchell, but he really can't go wrong. And it's funny, this is why positions are stupid, right? Yoakit should be first team all NBA. But you can't have both. And obviously if we think Joel is the MVP, he's gonna be first team. Yeah, I think for me, I went Kevin over Jalen Brown first. Why'd you do that? Yeah, why did you do that? Look, Kevin's been great. He's lost 12 games all year long. I know he's been hurt, but I'm just not punishing guys for being hurt. I think he's the least amount of games of anybody on his teams as well. It's gonna be interesting to see if he makes any of the teams. Been incredible, first 55, 40, 90 ever. But yeah, like Sam said, next year, starting next year, he wouldn't qualify to even play on this. I went Donovan first team over Luca, which we'll see here in a second. He had an incredible season, 28 points a game. Great, they're the four seed all year long. And he's a part of the best defense in the league. And I think that matters for his case. And people were wondering just how is he gonna do on that end of the court? He's been great. He stepped up. Well, that leads us to first team. First team honors, the big boys. You guys have some differences, obviously as you've seen these lists, they've been setting themselves up for a bunch of differences here. And all right, Chandler? Yeah, I went with Luca over Donovan Mitchell just because of the season he's had individually. Again, he was in top five in MVP voting for the majority of the season. I do think he's a top five player in the NBA. And I think he showed it this year. I just think the end of his season did hurt him. And Donovan Mitchell had a great year in Cleveland. I just think it's interesting like the Kawhi Leonard's back and he's gonna make one of these teams. And SGA being an all NBA is so impressive. And that kid's come so far from when he was in Kentucky to drafted to the Clippers to now he's an actual star in this league. So the fact that he's gonna be considered a top 10 to 15 player in the NBA is special. Yeah, we got four of those guys the same. Kawhi, I'm happy you mentioned his name because he's one of the guys who's tough to leave off. And I don't envy you guys with these votes. I know we're doing this show. I think it's the best show, best basketball show on TV. Please don't make me else vote for any of these things because this is a lot of scrutiny. And I don't need my name and my votes out there to get scrutinized. Would you be a guy that would be honest, like open about who you voted? I used to have a vote. Like I would tell you who I voted for. I'm pretty transparent. It comes out anyway, later on, it comes out anyway. I know, don't you want to get ahead of the story? Come on. Not my own story. I like to get ahead of the story, it's not my story. Fine, fine. Look, we have a few minutes here and I don't know what Dylan Brooks has got planned for us in the playoffs, aesthetically, obviously, not even on the court. But this was such a moment in the final race of the game. Who wants to go for, Eddie, I know you have opinions on this. I know you do. I said he looked like Vampire in Brooklyn. People told me he looked like the villain from Men in Black 3, he really does. So good though. He's leaning into whatever this character is that he is. Fantastic. You had him before, right? He wasn't. This wasn't the sink. No, he wasn't this before. This is it. I need him though, game one, to have this hair with like a headband, holding it all down. It's incredible. But listen, this is the most we've ever talked about Dylan Brooks's career and most of it is not basketball related. So it's working. He's getting clicks. He's doing stuff like this and we're talking about it. They're having fun. I mean, is there a better time to be having fun than now? Probably not. There was a hazing moment that happened the other day. I guess it was after the last game of the season, which is weird timing, Chandler, Benedict Matheran. But they wrapped his car in plastic, which by the way, kudos. But is it in this normal timing? Seems like a worry issue. No, I feel like this isn't that bad of a prank. No. No, I've done worse for sure. The popcorn would be awful. That would be tragic. Spray painting the entire car with awful words. I think that'd be hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. This seemed pretty tame. Did you get hazing here? I got popcorn. You did. It was more like during the season, like I had to carry a backpack with like, you know, cards or whatever. Last things are tough. Yeah, like the last day, I'm assuming things led up to this, but this isn't bad at all. Are we hazing somebody on set? My hazes are, they're not good. You guys won't like me, but I will, if you want to be hazed by me, I can certainly put in some time and effort. I think we should get Jason Cahill. Oh, okay. I think we can do something good. I don't know. We'll strat his eyes later. He's too happy. And also they have to be here so early. It almost feels like that is the hazing. And you're welcome on that. It's a tough one. All right, so tomorrow we are back. It's our last show for this week. Big day. Anyways, in Los Angeles, we've got Spencer Denwitte and Kevin Durant. I'm whispering it because I don't want to jinx anything. But yes, we've got Spencer Denwitte and Kevin Durant, both of whom, of course in the playoffs and we'll have hopefully a lot to say. Eddie. Hopefully. I mean, hey, it's early in the morning for one of those guys. Sottle though. That is dedication for them to be getting up at 6.45 to get on here. Yeah, they have no choice. Spencer's going to be on the East Coast though. So he's good. Yeah, he's good. He's a lot. He's practically new out there. That's going to do it for us today. We'll be back tomorrow. Remember, we're always on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 10 Eastern. Happy playing tournament at night. Enjoy.