 The supposedly taking Utah Jazz, 3-0. The Spurs, 2-1. Maybe women y'all is not that good. Let's run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Run it up, do run it back. Happy Monday morning. Our first full official NBA weekend is in the books. We are joined as we will always be by stadium insiders, Shams, Sherania, I swear, that Monday morning tongue twister, Shams. We've got 10-year NBA vet Evan Turner in the house and of course the co-host with Kevin Durant of the Etc. Eddie Gonzalez, gentlemen. How are we feeling? Feels like a Monday. It feels like a Monday. We're basketball's back, so it's a good Monday. I know. First full weekend and there's a lot of, dare I say, confusing storylines going on, people doing what we didn't think they could do, people doing what we knew they were going to do and we're gonna just jump right into it. First with a team that I believe is not doing what we thought they would do and that is the Philadelphia 76ers who so far are winless on this season. They are 0-3 having been beaten by the San Antonio Spurs and we'll get to all that. But a very slow start indeed for this team, Evan. How concerned are you? I'm not really concerned considering the two losses that they came up against. Granted yesterday, playing versus Spurs, you don't ever want to lose to a team that's received a B-Worst in you. But offensively in a game where, you know, offense matters in general, they're really kicking it up and I think if they do something to at least attempt to play a little bit of defense, I think they'll go on a run. Attempt to play a little bit of defense, Eddie. Well, I'm with Evan, you know, they lost to, what might be the two best teams in the league to start to seize it, it's tough to get that schedule. You see James's average is 26 points a game, nine assists, Joel average is 27, he just dropped 40. You even have, sorry, Maxi average in 20 points a game. They're going to get buckets. Their offense is a little stagnant, but it's just going to be with James. You got to worry about their defense. I thought the defense would be an issue when the playoffs come because they just have lineups that feature a ton of guys who aren't great at the point of attack. James, Maxi, Tobias, even George Nieng off the bench. But yeah, it's looked bad so far, but look, they're going to win a lot of games this season. They'll be fine in that sense. And maybe they can show up their defense by playoffs. Yeah, and I'm curious what ET thinks about this, but just the hierarchy, I'm curious to just monitoring from James Harden, Joel and B. They're both obviously, Joel and B had a big last game, 40 points plus, but he's still coming back from conditioning. He double-played our fascitis in the summer. So he's kind of come into the year, a little step behind, but James Harden is playing well. You have Tyrese, Maxi, Tobias, here's both guys that have been, you know, Tobias Harris with the number two option throughout last season. So he's taken a little bit of a role change. And you know, Tyrese Maxi has a lot of potential to be the number two guy on this team as well. So I'm curious how the hierarchy plays out in Philly. I think the hierarchy has to show up, you know, and not make any excuses. At the end of the day, they don't have a luxury of a bench. We can make excuses for, you know, and I'm trying to get figured out and rolling, but I'm not necessarily trusting a bench of Harold Nieng or even, you know, Deandre Melton. So I think right now, the big dogs really have to show up and perform the whole year and earn their check-in. You know, I have to do it by committee to have a strong five or six that can really make sure that, you know, things occur where they can go on runs, but they have to stay healthy and, you know, really be accountable. You know, PJ Tucker yesterday, taking sort of that leadership role, voicing the frustration, being very vocal about it. Doc already having to address a lot of questions that are probably not fun to answer. So what is the next step? What happens? How do they get this thing back on track, Eddie? Well, it is about defense. It is about effort. That lands squarely on those guys' shoulders. Somebody like PJ Tucker's shoulders, you know. The Celtics were not running from him when they played him. The Bucs were not running from him when they played him. Now you run that risk. You sign him at that age, at that contract, and you give him a player option at the end of that contract as well. You're putting a lot on his shoulders. I think Sean's mentioned it, and this is going to come up as well. We've got to worry about Joel and Pete's conditioning. He's got to be the anchor of their defense in so many different ways. He's got to cover up so many of the warts they have on that perimeter. So it's going to start there. It's just about, you know, them locking in, I guess, for lack of a better term. The schedule will get easier. We'll see them beat up on some bad teams, and we'll see, you know, another 40-point game from James pretty soon, and it'll be all sunny out there. Look, the Eagles are 6-0. The Philly's in the World Series. They're lucky right now. They're not going to feel the rafters yet. They got time. But by the time that World Series is over, they might want to be ready. I would think someone who's probably happy that there's a lot going on in Philly sports right now is Doc Rivers because it feels like a tale is old as time. You know, Doc Rivers, hot seat talk. It starts at some point almost every single season. Is there anything that we need to worry about, or is there anything that Doc needs to worry about? I suppose we're fine. But, Shams, do you hear anything? Is it too early in the season to even be thinking about those kind of talks? I do think it's a little early in the year. There's a lot of power that Doc Rivers has in Philadelphia. When we look at a roster perspective, he's very involved throughout the organization, you know, throughout the offseason. He had, he led a lot of the meetings with Joel and Bede, with James Harden. When they were trying to get James Harden and his role defined in the offseason before he took a pay cut, Doc Rivers was right there in all those meetings. And so I think there's going to be a lease year this season for them to see how this year goes and really see how this team can gain a chemistry because this is really their first year, full year together. So I do think they'll give Doc Rivers every opportunity. But listen, if this team struggles and it's the midway point of the year, we know how Philadelphia is. So we'll be curious to monitor. Yeah, I agree with Shams. I don't think Doc should be nervous. I think even if he does get fired, isn't he already in a hall of fame? You know what I mean? So is he really tripping? But I think at the same time, in the same way, you have to really weigh the pros and cons on where would you go from here? And you have to really be honest with the franchise because everybody keeps putting these championship aspirations, but they haven't made it past the second round since the rebuild. So I think sometimes the fans have to dig deep in and really looking in and see the weight of pros and the cons on what the truth is. Yeah, that process seems to have it. Go ahead. I was gonna say, Doc is in a tough spot. When you have James, your offense is gonna be the James offense for long points of the game. I know they had a dribbling stat the other day. That's probably kind of typical. You never lead guard like that. But look, it's gonna be a lot of high pick and roll. It's gonna be a lot of guys having to be stagnant in the corners and on the weak side. And that's not necessarily Doc's fault. That's just kind of the situation they put themselves in. I think he'll be fine, at least until the all-star break, but we'll see. Shoms must be getting some really hot breaking news. Just had to duck out. He'll be back, I'm sure, at some point. And I can't wait to hear what that phone call's about. But we'll move things over to the Portland Trail Blazers. A very surprising three and O hot start for the Blazers and 41 points for Dame yesterday. Eddie, you had him as your long shot MVP. And I think I thought that was silly at the time, but how are you feeling today on this Monday? Well, look, he's had a big week. So I'm not gloating just yet. We're only three games into the season. But 34 points a game, third in the league scoring. He looks like Dame. Like I said, we didn't get to see that last year, so you almost forget how great he can be in the right settings. But he's been helped as well, Anthony Simons. Jeremy Grant was a huge pickup for them. Hit the game winner versus the Lakers after a huge shot from Dame. They're just a better team. They're healthy and they're a team that wants to win. And sometimes a team that's just going to try hard and cares more, that's going to help you through most of the regular season. Right. I grew with Eddie. I talked to Dame yesterday right after the game, just congratulating him on a big run and a big week. And one thing he said was, we have toughness and we're together. And I responded and said, that's better than being 12 deep. And he was like, oh, I'm God. And I think that's one thing that's really being said and that's really being shown right now. It's your toughness. Because and sticking together, because even though Dame's having these crazy games, we have yet to see great games from Ant Simons. We've seen one game winner from him when he stepped up. But he's still developing as number two. And I think the more and more he develops, the better and better that team goes. And that energy and chemistry, that's all part of the culture. Dame's a winner and he's going to carry people with him. So the vibe just seems like, oh. Sorry. Sometimes having that continuity and having that leadership already in place makes a huge difference, especially early in the season as teams are trying to figure themselves out. I obviously have a much well-respected coach in Chelsea Billups. But Dame is, that's his franchise. He's been there since he was drafted. He'll be there until he's done. It was dope to see the end of the Sun's game. They give that shot to Anthony Simons. And Dame shouts him out at the word, says, hey, that's what we're going to expect you to do with that big contract now. And yeah, a running hook shot. You got that in the bag, ET? Like, is that there for you in Creston when you need it? I like making it in Creston, but no other time. But yeah, they clearly have an established hierarchy like we just spoke about with the Sixers. And I think it wins itself out late. And Jeremy Grant, he's just one of those players who can plug and play. You saw that with him on the Olympic team. You've seen it with him other stops along the way for him. That was a huge pickup for them this off season. Shams, you all right? Anything good? Uh-oh. We lost him. We lost him. We lost him. We want to figure that. The news is so much. Michelle, it's Monday morning. So there's always calls coming in, whether it's injuries and the trade fronts. But as far as Portland goes, I actually agree a lot with Eddie. This Portland team came in with a lot of expectations. The future of Jeremy Grant wasn't certain. He is extension eligible starting December. So I was going to be curious to see, does he commit to a long-term future in Portland? But overall, it's good that they're off to this promising start because it bodes well for their future and Dame being there for the long-term. Well, let's get down to the details on this. Because obviously the vibe is good. It's the new season. Happy vibes going on. But do they have enough actual pieces? Is there something glaring that's missing for this team to really make a run at anything, Evan? I just think depth. Although they have experience in their first five or six, they're super, super young on the back end. And I think that's one thing. Like we said earlier, it's so heavy, Dame. He has to stay healthy. Any situation he goes down, it might turn into a situation like last year. Yeah, I think they're going to expect Shade-on Sharp to step up at some point this season, obviously. And like the rest of the league, they're looking for a mobile big who can help stretch out their defense and can help make their offense a little more versatile. Now you look at Jeremy Grant, he's a huge guy. Maybe he's that as you get closer to the playoffs and you want to shorten your rotation a little bit. But for now, look, they're just happy to be here at the moment. It's a 3-0 start, but they beat the Kings and the Lakers. It's not the hugest wins ever. But it's nice to see them pull out close games early in the season and start building a camaraderie. Well, in fairness, they beat a Lakers team that, for some reason, people still had weird, higher expectations for based on what I see it to be nothing. But that brings us to the Lakers. We were able to hold off for 12 minutes in talking about this team. But here we are, 0-3. Who wants to start? How do you fix the Lakers? Evan, why don't you start? I'm going to sit back for this. I'll defend the middle of the pack, guys. As a non-shooter myself, I want everybody to stop being up on a deck that's not hitting 3. Wally Walker, Kendrick Niner, Russell Westbrook, or those other guys showed up and said, hey, I'm a jump shooter. You know what I mean? Literally. So I definitely wanted to defend the 3-point shooting. Other than that, I mean, it's a tough start. It's definitely a tough start, considering the fact that Anthony Davis had 22, 10, and six blocks yesterday. And LeBron, he still punt up 30 at night. But I think the chemistry and the overall fit is an ideal right now. And they have to do something on the trade blocks. I hate to sound so dour, but I'm not sure how they fix this. Shams had a report this morning about what's available out there for Russell Westbrook. And he can get it to a little more. But there's no magic trade package that's out there that's like, OK, cool. Now LeBron has two, three Nd guys around him and a slashing point guard. And they're a decent team now. That's not available. They just make more 3s. LeBron said himself, this is not a team of shooters. We're not going to just start knocking them down. They're playing the running joke on the first night of the season that they're playing a Uber driver to guard Steph Curry. But they really were. They were really were playing a Gordacher to guard Steph Curry. So that's just the nature of their roster right now. They have some cap space coming up this off season. This year might just be about LeBron passing Korean. I hate to say it. Oh, my gosh, that is so depressing. That is so depressing. Yo, the greatest player of all time. Like, you know, that's a good that's a good price. Do you know how depressing that is with seven 79 games left to go? We're like, well, I guess the moral victory is we could celebrate LeBron passing Korean. That's tough, Shams. That's too early. Yeah, you know, I'm going to look at the other side of this. The Lakers could really be two on one right now. They had a shot to win the Clippers game. They had a tough finish to that game. They played well defensively. And then last night, or yesterday, they were up 98 to 90 with about four minutes and 42 seconds left. Russell Westbrook comes back into the game, and they end up losing. The Portland goes on a 16 to 6 run to finish the game. Westbrook goes 0 for 2 in those four minute plus of action. And that missed that he had late in the game. LeBron answered for it. Russ answered for it. Darvin Hamm answered for it. But that's something that a lot of people within the Lakers were talking about even into this morning. So that shot that Russell Westbrook took, I'm curious to see how Darvin Hamm and the Lakers respond Wednesday night. Will they bring Russell Westbrook off the bench? How will they handle their rotation? But there's not a quick fix for this team. There's not a trade that they can go make out there. Every team is asking for everything that the Lakers have asset-wise. And what they have is those two 2027 and the 2029 unprotected first-jump picks. Charlotte could be an option material this year. The Indiana package with Buddy Hilden, Miles Turner could be a package. One that I report on this morning, Josh Richardson from the Spurs, your Spurs, Michelle. That's another guy that the Lakers have called on recently and I think will engage again with San Antonio. So there's not great options out there that can propel this team to be an overnight contender anytime soon. So it's stage of you all over again. I feel like we literally ended the season with this exact topic and we are picking right back up with this exact topic. Evan, in a perfect world, how do you see the Russell Westbrook Lakers chapter playing out? In a perfect world, I would see it playing out with them mending whatever beef they have. I'm a big Russ fan. I think Charles Barkley brought up about his energy and his body language. Regardless of which whether you like him or not, he used to always play with a certain type of passion and fire that you like to see. And I think if the coaching staff can get out of him, I think the leaders of the team have to be accountable. This is still a Brian's team. This is still an Anthony Davis-type team. They have goals they want to accomplish. So I think that's to come from them in order to get their teammate, their brother to really get on the training and let's turn it around. He's still a top 50, top 30 player in the world. So they have those three guys. They do a lot more help than harm, you know? Look, Russ has not played well. He's not shot well. There's no way around it. Has he defended better in spots? He put up some great defense against Kawhi in that game. He's had his moments. But at the end of the day, the Lakers aren't putting him in the best place to thrive. He's being asked to be a standstill shooter. He's being forced to create offense late in the clock. It's not where he thrives. So can they cater their offense a little more to better benefit him? Of course, bringing him off the bench may help that. Spelling LeBron instead of sitting next to LeBron may also help that. There's some bad body language on that team. It's a long season. They have to get it together. There's no way around it. They're not trading Russ tomorrow. I mean, maybe they will, I don't know. But they're not trading Russ tomorrow. They're going to have them in fences somehow. That shot at the end of the game was bad. There's another possession late in that game where AD came and took the ball out his hands, essentially sent him to the corner, and he was upset. That's bad. LeBron refusing to comment on it. Leadership, but it just shows that he knows what's going on and they're trying to fracture that team. I think there's ways to put him in better places while he's on the court, but they just seem to all be frustrated and only winning will fix that and they're not a good team to be winning right now. Right. The one fix doesn't seem even feasible at this point. Adam Silver, this next topic is one of my favorites to even think about. So Adam Silver went and spoke with Sun's employees a lot about the Sarver situation. He took questions and then ultimately tanking came up. What can be done about tanking? And that's going to be a big topic all season long because of Victor Wimanyama. And he addressed the idea that the league office has considered relegation, which of course is one of the best things about European soccer. And the idea that a team has no incentive to tank because you will drop down a league. He ultimately said it's not good for the league's business model. However, do we like the idea of relegation in the NBA? Evan, you play, what would it be like to know that if your team just sucks so bad, you're out of the NBA the following season? What would that feel like? That would definitely not be what I signed up for. That's for sure. But I think after being with the Sixers and being towards the beginning of the Tank Sixers, one thing I felt that wasn't always necessarily fair was when they were openly tanking and we were trying to discuss the value of the player's time and what we were competing for. And it was like, we're just sitting here and having our time wasted for a year or a year and a half until they slide out and pick brand new players and then send you off the river. That's a tough gig to really prepare for. You have to really be a consummate pro to really stay focused on what's next and the hope that the free agency or your agent's able to get you into a better situation. I don't dig front office guys to come in and make those decisions because they probably never hooked and they get to pull the wedgie out the ass. No effect. No effect. We'll have you through that in there at the end. Look, as a fan, tanking sucks, but it is a part of the game. Like you almost have to accept it in a sense. I always feel bad for the players. If you're a player, a draft pick means nothing to you. It's just, it's a roster spot that might take your spot. You're there to win. You have pride. There's professional pride with being in the NBA and wanting to play well, wanting to look well, right? It sucks as a fan to know that, hey, when we get to February, some teams are just going to put a bad product on the floor. But that's the nature of the league. That's the nature of every league. There's always going to be a deflection point to me when they talk about, yo, you know, if you're like the X team in the playoffs, you got a better spot than the last team. You'll see teams tanking their way out of the playoffs to be that team, to have the best opportunity to get them one shot. There's almost really no fix. I've seen them toy with the lottery, with all kinds of stuff. Relegation is a lot. That's a lot to ask for the league and ever ask the players. And you know, we're talking about $120 million payrolls and you're going to play 30 games. Like that's, this is, there's too much here. There's a lot of, there's smoke with this, I guess, but I don't see any fire with this situation. You're telling me that if the Oklahoma City Thunder continues to do what they do, that it's not right that they should be in a different league altogether so that we can sort of incentivize this not to keep happening. Look, I get it. I see it from both sides, but there's some idea of just the cutthroatness of a relegation situation that is, I would think terrifying to a team. Shoms, I'm just sitting here like dreaming about relegation. Am I crazy? I feel like I'm crazy. Yeah, I mean, I'm always looking from a factual perspective. This isn't a real thing that is being discussed. From a bargaining perspective, this is something that the league would have to negotiate with the MBPA. So it hasn't even reached that perspective yet and I don't expect it to. But listen, I think tanking has been around from for years now. Evan was part of a tanking team. So I don't think this is gonna be something that has real, real traction. Well, girl can dream, girl can dream. New segment time, that man has a family. This is really just our blatant excuse to be able to show some bad assery that has happened in the last few days. And it's got, we've got dunks. We've got ankle breakers. We've got everything. And we start things off with the rookie. Possibly rookie of the year. Who knows? A lot of people think so. How about Baycaro, y'all? Evan, that's gotta be dunking the year so far, right? Evan has a player. You dunk on the little guy taking a charge. That's not the same, right? That's like, I dunked on him, but he was a cone, right? I mean, low key jump. That was impressive. I'm not going to lie. That was impressive. The only thing I will say is it was kind of set up because he was trying to take a charge if his heels were on there. But for a 19 year old baby, his first game in a league, I'll give it to him. I'm gonna give him snaps. All right, don't listen to me. I've never seen the top of the rim. So don't listen to me. I'm just, I'm crazy. How about that? I count. Eddie, I'm with you though. It just looks fun. It looks so fun to be able to do that. But yeah, it does not look like a baby. That is a grown man right there. Colin Sexton, come on up because he had a moment right past the MVP. Yep. And I hope Yolkic brothers saw that too. You know they did. That's a cold move. That's disrespectful, honestly. What he did is just there. He looked like he told them. I'm going left. There's nothing you can do here. Like just take it. That's great. I love that. I love when the big guys, when the little guys, technically guys. I feel like dying at Tarrasi about centers. What do they do? But the inside joke is that like, you can do this to Yolkic every time. Yolkic is not a great defender. You know what I mean? You can literally throw Yolkic and do this to the league MVP. If you're like me, this play right here is exactly why you're like, they'll never win a title. There's no way. If you're a hater like me, well, that was nice. That's like he told him he was going to do it. All right, this next dude, we will never stop talking about him. Not until he's in an NBA uniform. How? When? Why? Who? What? How? It's to get blocked, but then also following your back. There's, that has to feel awful. That has to feel like how do you recover from that? That's great. That's the honest block. But now how you felt when you were talking about Banchero, Dunkin' On, and Corey Joseph? This is how I felt about the 75 kid blocking somebody. You're talking about the 75 kid that blocked the dude? 75. Every time I hear that, it makes no sense, 75. No sense at all, but I'll watch it all day and I can't wait to see it for reals for reals. D'Angelo Russell, gotta love a good DRes moment. Dropping. You know what, I like Mike Conley. So I don't really want to, I don't want to pile on to Mike Conley in this next highlight, but you kind of have to. D'Lo's good for like one or two of these a year. Easy. That's safe. Rate the push off, E.T. Is this a strong one? It's a light one. Like, what do we do with it? That's a light one to me. That's a light one. Mike Conley was thirsty. That's Buckeye on Buckeye right there. He literally swiped. That is his OG, you're right. That is his OG. Shout out to the Jazz for winning the game. Jazz still won the time shot from D. Russ. Took it in OG. That's nasty though. That's tough. That was, that was. That's no Jazz. Who would have thought? I feel like that's, that's embarrassing. You know what, we're not going too far away for this next one. Again, with the Jazz, somebody tell him what's up, but Markinin over go bare. That's nasty. Business decision by Rudy. That's, that's a lot. That's, that's, that's tough. Business or not, he was in the frame. Lord Markinin on the block though. Yeah, trajectory right now. I don't think Markinin got the memo of what we're trying to do. I didn't know he had that. I didn't know he had that in him. Putting the dotted line. Geez. Well, I feel like he thinks that no one knew he had that in him. And now he's having a moment to refine the world or what, what he is, but coming up next, Eddie, I'm putting you on the spot. You somehow can you convince us that that jazz team that we just saw is going to make the playoffs and can even convince us that the Sixers will not make the playoffs. This is going to be a lot of convincing on the other part. Get your inner lawyers out. All of that coming up next right here on run it back. Good luck, boys. Pess us out. Oh, shams with the tweets. I'm Williamson, a posterior hip contusion. Of course, missing the finish of Pelican's jazz game. Shams with us, of course, right here. It can update us in real time. What is the latest? I was hoping would be at least month into the season before we had a tweet like that, Shams. But what is the what's the latest on Zion? Yes, it's like it's like only injuries can hold the Pelicans back right now. But the latest is that both Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson will be re-evaluated today for both of their injuries. Brandon Ingram suffered concussion-like symptoms. Zion Williamson with that hip contusion. Both will be re-evaluated. I'm told the Pelicans will be conservative with both players in case they have to miss time, potentially. But, you know, it's just unfortunate that Zion Williamson had that tough fall on his hip and Brandon Ingram had the hip across his head. So both those guys will be re-evaluated today. And, you know, I think you just got a hope for the best. But neither injury appears to be significant or anything long, long term. Looks like a stinger. Looks like it. Sorry. Good moving over to the Lakers. The latest with Moe Harkless. What do you have? So Lakers worked out Moe Harkless last week, met with him, and they're still considering potentially signing him into this week and next week. They have 15 guaranteed roster spots. They could wave someone and bring him in, but there's clearly a need for wing depth and shooting and front court experience on this Lakers team. They're really going solo with Anthony Davis at center playing Damian Jones a little bit. But right now, I would expect the Lakers to continue to check if Moe Harkless could be an option or other players that they could bring in to work out. Miles Turner. What do you have? Miles Turner had that ankle sprain, unfortunately landing on a ball boy before the season opener last Wednesday for the Pacers. I'm told he is expected to return soon. He's going to join the team on the road trip this week. So he could return as soon as Wednesday in Chicago or Friday against the Wizards. Did we ever talk about how's the ball boy? I feel like we don't get injury updates on the ball boy after that. Is he OK? I hope he's OK. I hope he didn't get in trouble. Zach Levine, any updates? Zach Levine missed the first two games of the bull season. He came back the other night and he looked well Saturday against the Cavaliers. He shot the ball well. I was at that game. He looked like he had his springs, but I am told that this knee issue that he's dealing with is going to be something to monitor, at least for the first half of this season, you know, whether it's back to backs, managing his minutes. That's something that the Bulls are going to have to go through. It's unfortunate, both with him and Lonzo Ball, both players underwent surgeries. Lonzo in January and Zach in May. And this is still an issue that they're going to be dealing with. Lonzo Ball remains out. The hope is he's going to be back for the second half of the season. Zach Levine is playing, but they will manage his load at different points. And I know you're on top of all that. I know Mondays are busy for you, Shams. Thank you so much. Run off. Go do great things. We're waiting on all your tweets. So I've got my notifications on. So don't worry. We won't miss anything. You guys, though, get to stick around because we're going to do a little, a little convince me. This is basically for your inner high school mock trial hero persona. So I'm going to give you a topic and you've got to defend it. You've got to convince us somehow. Maybe you don't believe it. Maybe you do. That's when we're going to know if you're good at this or not. So Eddie, you're up first. The undefeated jazz convinced me that they will make the playoffs. Well, they have a three game head start already on all the tankers. There's 10 playoff spots. And maybe Danny is just stubborn. Maybe he just hears what we say about him all this time about him tearing it down and how he's so great at killing the everything you've had at that franchise before and building its own thing. And he just wants to prove a point. But all jokes aside, they have a solid roster. Colin Sexton hasn't even found his groove over there just yet. This is a team that can win some games. They can be competitive. You know, they won on a buzzer reader yesterday when we thought they were trying to lose. So yeah, maybe they're just they're going to attack it all year. I think I think there's a chance. Evan's got a poker face. Are you convinced, Evan? I'm pretty convinced. I'm a big Kelly Olenek fan, so I'm rooting for him. Oh, I didn't. Shout out to Kelly like randomly, very clutch in his career. A couple of buzzer readers like he's he's no joke. I like Kelly. I like that. I didn't have it on my bingo card, but I like that we got that shout out in. Well, OK, so you did it. Kelly and my god, Katie had a little scuffle a few years back, just a couple of elbows exchange like it's. I have no clue how that happens. Kelly's the nicest dude on earth. I mean, Kelly is like, damn, bro. Like you just missed on a really good plan, right? You understand what I'm saying? He's a really good friend. You know, you're sad about a friendship. He's coming out to that game and he didn't even remember it. Like, I don't know. I don't think he hit me. I don't know. Just it's just a blur. I was like, all right. Oh, OK, OK, Evan, you up. You ready? OK, you've got to convince us that the windlass Sixers will not make the playoffs. All right. Well, one to start off. I don't like their depth. I think they're super top heavy. I'm not a fan of the bench at all. The bench has proven that they've been struggling to score. I think at most they put up 17 points in a game. I think that's going to hurt. I think along with the depth, the Sixers have to account on their main players staying healthy. So that's Joe LB, who has a history of being injured along with James Harding, who's still trying to get conditioning up and trying to carry the team as of right now to start to season. I feel like he's aware on his tear on his body right now. It's already crazy. And then you have to look at the relationship over the past couple of years. The static with Doc Rivers, even though I'm not worried about it, it has been there. And you have to comprehend, understand a relationship or wonder what the relationship he has with his players and in that locker room every year with so much negative energy around the organization in the city. You know, it seems as though things start start to crumble. And with a rep, with a reputation of a couple of players that never made it past the second round of one big, I can see how certain guys might be able to quit and just not meet the playoffs. Are you convinced, Eddie? It's a tough one. You know, I think the I think the hell is a great point. James has been playing 39 minutes a game, three games into the season. Joel has played 36. Tyrese Maxey has played 37. And those are guys who, again, at the top, they've had histories of injuries. So, hey, I haven't got me. I'm with it. He's 11 seed for the Sixers. Oh, my God. I can't even look. Anything can happen, obviously. But I cannot even imagine what a downfall that would be. Time to get your front office hat on, Eddie. Convince me that Scoot Henderson should be drafted ahead of Victor Wimonyama. So look, seven, five. It's hard to argue about what that guy is on my podcast with Kevin. And I called him taller Kevin. There's not supposed to be taller KD, but you can little worry a little bit about the health. Legs aren't supposed to support all that jumping from somebody that's tall. You could really be in a tough place if that doesn't work out. Hate to wish injuries on anybody, not wish injuries. But you look at Scoot, prototypical NBA point guard. He's crazy athletic. He's learned to shoot a little bit better in his young age. He could learn to shoot much better as he goes on. He might really be the safer bet, all things considered. I don't know if that's that convincing an argument. But hey, we've had number two draft picks end up great. We've seen this dance before a few times. We've seen the tall guys have the foot, the legs, the whole nine. And then that number two pick, that number three pick, Michael Jordan end up being something amazing. I don't know what you think, ET. Is that a good is that a good way to see is that good? Good. I don't think you give Scoot Henderson enough credit because of Victor, how freakish Victor is. The Scoot Henderson is what, six, five. When I see him play, it's marvelous. His playmaking ability looked marvelous. His physicality, his body was unbelievable. I mean, he's only 18 or 19 years old. We're literally looking at a two prodigies that's going to carry the game forward. And I think Scoot Henderson, if you take him with the number one pick, they won't hurt. Somebody's thinking about it. His midrange jumper percentage, his pullup percentage, they end up being above average, even though his threes weren't. I feel like everybody when they think of shooting, they just look at threes and they go, oh, that's a bad shooter. Scoot is a decent shooter. And as he stretches, this rains out, he could shoot. I don't think it's, by the way, for the record, I don't think it's crazy. I do think that sometimes the hype will get ahead of us. I my heart actually hurts a little for women, Yama, because this is a lot. This is a lot of expectation on a really young kid. But there is a GM somewhere out there that's thinking, maybe I'll maybe I'll be crazy and take Scoot first. So we'll we'll see. I don't think it's going to happen, but we'll see. It's basically went above Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. Any bad decision can happen. We can see it and have it in a day don't worry. Bad decision. We got games tonight. Of course we do. We're in the middle of the season. We're going to take a look at tonight's biggest matchups. Celtics, are they the best? How far can Jha take the Grizzlies? All that coming up next on Run It Back. Well, that ain't a bad list to be on. Most points by Celtics through the first three games. You got Bird Bird and Tatum on top. 98 points and of course, counting as we head into the Monday night roster of games. And there's some good matchups tonight, starting of course with Boston at Chicago. We'll look at Boston first. Are we are we talking about the best team in the league right now, Evan? Yes, I definitely think so. I think I think one thing is they have two young Lions that are scoring at a high level. They can go off and combine for 70 points at any night. And with that, I think they compete at a high level defensively. And when you had a youth, you had an energy around you, I think the culture and the depth that they have, Murphy Smart, Blake Griffin, Al Horford, Derrick White, Malcolm Bright, then you got Noah Volley. You have a lot of players that are just playing well and playing at a high level. And early on, you know, the most turnover each season, you know, those teams usually have the best runs. And I think they're taking full advantage of that. Yeah, I think they're the best team. As the Warriors fluctuate between engaged in whatever we've been killing you guys all for nine years, we'll be fine. The Celtics, you know, they want to get their get back. They've come in, motivated. They've got a lot resting on their shoulders, obviously with their coaching situation and all of that. But like Evan said, they have the birthday boy, Jalen Brown, and they have Jason Tatum, who a lot of people is the MVP favorite already, three games at the season. I hate to give an MVP away in October, but he's been great. He's leading the league and scoring. They understand what they are, which I think is their biggest strength as well. They have their continuity, even without Rob Williams right now, they know exactly what they want to do night in, night out. And Mazula has been killing it. You know, he's got the prepared. He's kept them engaged. And he's gonna have to do it all season because they saw what it's like last year and they're ready to get back. So then give me a weakness. What would you name as a weakness? Eddie? Which is like such a weird, such a weird thing, but they don't do, their offense can be stagnant because in part, Brown and Tatum are so nice in isolation. You'd like to see a little bit more ball movement, but I think it's funny we call out their weakness, but they've also made a concert effort to run a little bit more this year, to try to get the ball moving, to try to create motion, to stagger the defense a little bit, but they don't start a traditional point guard in that sense with Marcus Smart. So that's, I guess, takes away a little bit of that. But again, their continuity kind of eats away their lack of playmaking. Yeah, I think also too, when it comes down to, I'm a big Jimmy's and Joe's guy over X's and O's. So we're talking about winning the whole championship. Their superstar has to be better than another team superstar. So my man Jason Tatum, he's the top three player in the world. When it comes down to championship, if he faces, you know, the baby faces Satsen, Steph Curry, he's going to have to outperform him. And that's just what it is in my opinion. When it comes down to stretch and we're talking about winning it all, yeah, their franchise has to bring it home. Top three for JC. I like that. I like that a lot. How about the bulls? I know Shams touched on the fact that there's some injuries that they're going to have to keep monitoring throughout the season, but what can they do to improve the roster as it stands right now, Evan? I think as it stands right now, part of it is just getting everybody healthy, in my opinion. It's tough having the, you know, the backcourt struggle with knee injuries, but I think also too, they need depth on the bench as well. I'm a big fan of Javante Green. I'm a big fan of, you know, some of their young core, but, you know, you have to have more with Caruso, I think, and really have to have a big lineup on the wings and on the perimeter. I agree with Evan. I think Lonzo coming back, being healthy, being Lonzo, being that defensive force and then a playmaker on the other end. It does a lot to help their depth. It does a lot to make them a better defensive team. So yeah, just get healthy. I think the problem for them is they're probably that tier below the true contenders. And unless they're going to kind of play beyond what they are, they're not really a threat to the bulls. They're not really a threat to the Bucks. But, you know, hey, maybe with Lonzo back, they can step it up and be a little bit better. It's time to talk, Nats, Eddie, facing Memphis tonight. I know, I know. I'm just going to throw it over to you. Are you pleased with... Well, let's just start with Ben Simmons first, with what you've seen from him. I mean, he's such a... The nice way to say it is a unique player. The mean way to say it is a weird player. But he's just so opposed to shooting. It's almost strange watching him play. But again, he hasn't played in a year. It's been quite some time. He's learning a whole new team. Kevin has spoken. A bunch of players have spoken about how unique it is to play with him and that he's so pass heavy. You can see a little mix-ups here and there. But, you know, Steve Nats says he's coming along. They're going to take their time with him. So I guess in that sense, he's on schedule. Okay, that was a very diplomatic way of handling all that. I'm very impressed. Evan, as far as Jaumarant... Look, I believe it was you can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him. What can the Nats do as far as Jaumarant is concerned? I think it's going to take a team. I think it's going to take a team effort. You know, he's going to have to see a lot of bodies. You're going to have to get back in transition. And now you're going to have to stay alert. You know, when you talk about what Jaumarant can do with the ball, I don't think he gets enough credit for how hard and how well he moves without the ball. So you're going to have to stay in front of the rim, make sure he doesn't get one of those electrifying dunks that really sets a young, energetic team like the Grizzlies on fire to go on runs. And they've been doing that year in and year out. And being in Memphis too, they have to come in with that type and master energy as well because playing in the grind city is tough. Those dudes, the fans and everything are definitely there to support. And the energy in there is crazy. I mean, sticking with the Memphis thing, we watched some of the highlights. And we're going to still talk about Ja, Eddie, is, is, is he for real? Like what, what am I missing here? Is there any weakness? What is the weakness in Jaumarant's game? Well, he's shooting out of the charts this year from three. I think much like scoop, like we mentioned earlier, there's a road where Ja just begins to shoot better and gradually starts to shoot better. Obviously if he's shooting the three at a high clip, that completely changes how you guard it. You can't guard them. So it's over with you. Just pick your poison, but no, he's for real. He's an MVP candidate for the next half of his career. He's ridiculous. He's one of those players where as a regular human, it would terrify me to guard him. My knee ligaments are shaking right now. Just thinking about it. So Evan's right. Like it takes the whole team. It's easy to say, yo, Ben's going to guard him and he's going to, he's going to shut him down. But Ben's going to have some issues himself. You're going to have to be there on the back end. You're going to have to rotate. You're going to have to step a little bit off those shooters to make sure he doesn't have to land. But he's amazing. I love watching him play. We've got another game tonight, Denver at Portland, a hot Portland squad. But with the Denver Nuggets, I know, I look, we're not, it's three games in. I get it. But we have to talk about something, right? So is this Nuggets team from what you've seen so far? Do they have enough that they could pose a real threat, say to the Warriors, Evan? I don't think so. We spoke on it earlier. I just think defensively, if it comes down to it, this is a pick and roll heavy lead. I think if you throw your kitchen to the pick and roll, once again, I think that's where it comes down to at the end of every season. And the Warriors have the Nuggets number. It's just one of those things. I don't think that's the team to worry about. You know, I'm a huge Jamal Marie fan. I'm a big Yolkish fan in Bones Highland as well. I could not see any big, that slow stopping, even kind of stopping Steph Curry. All the actions, they'll run him in off screens. Everything, especially since he'll be guarding Dreymon, they're going to run him in every action and they're going to make him show it. And there's just nothing they can do with Steph. They beat him the other night. Great game. Fun game. Warriors mounted. He's come back, but I just, I just don't see it. Good team though. The throwaway line. Good team though. Okay. About that good team though, two-time MVP. What do the Blazers do? Can they shut down Yolkitsch tonight? Yeah, like I said prior to, you just have to, I hate saying it repeatedly. It sounds like I have something against them. Make him guard, throw him in a pick and roll. Everything else is going to occur. If we're going against best player versus best player, this is Dane, Mr. 60 point Lillard. I think he's averaged 48 points versus Nugget. So, I mean, second night of it back to back, I think he'll be tough. But other than that, I'm rooting for the Blazers in this situation. Nuggetch wants that smoke. I don't know if he's going to win the battle, but he's been wanting that smoke since they were pups in the league. So, shut them down. I don't know, but I think they win this game. Yeah, I feel like shut them down is a relative term. Maybe it changes from player to player. I don't know what shut it down with Yolkitsch actually means, but we're not done here yet. We still have several many tons of minutes left. And we're going to be on Tank Watch. And Tank Watch is probably going to go through this entire season. So come back, join us as we address all of that and run it back. Today wins make your day so much better. That's why FanDuel Casino has a daily free-to-play game. Reward Machine is a free game that gives players the chance to win up to $2,000 in Casino bonus every day. FanDuel's Reward Machine has already given way over 5 million prizes to over 250,000 winners. To get in on the action, all you have to do is log in daily, spin for a free chance at rewards. FanDuel wants you to win. Play Reward Machine for a free chance at everyday wins, only on FanDuel Casino. Oh, it's Tank Watch. We are on Tank Watch tonight. It's Utah, Houston. I don't think Utah is on Tank Watch, because nobody's told them about it. But which one, if anybody, is going to tank harder in this game? Because remember, Utah is 3-0, guys. What do you expect, Eddie? Houston. They got this down pat. They played two close games. And then pulled the loss from the clutches of victory. So I think they got it. Evan, you agree. They have to agree, right? Yeah, yeah. I agree too. And they're too prone. I think they got the memo. They understand. Everybody got paid. They're going to do their job. Everybody's gotten the email. They acknowledge it. I love what we're about to do right here. It's called On the Fly Parley. You guys are going to design this amazing four leg parlay. People have a chance to win. Eddie, what do you have first? I have been sentenced to score over 10 points tonight. He, look, we talked about it earlier. He's off and on. He played better on the road in the preseason. He's going to be engaged tonight, guarding John Morat. I got him attacking. I got him. I got him going over 10 points for the first time this season. Okay. So Ben Simmons, what else? On top of that, I have Jalen Green over 30 points. Jalen has been off and on this season. He's the, the jazz are coming off second out of back to back. He played overtime last night. Jalen likes to get them up. So I'm going to just say he's going to go over 30. I like the young guy. I think he's going to have a great season. Okay. Evan. Okay. So I have the Raptors. He, I think I have a, I think I got him going under. Under. Okay. Two, 16 and a half. All right. Yeah. And then for Marcus Smart, I have him making more than was it? One and a half threes per game. Okay. Okay. So Ben Simmons, that's who. Okay. So let me get this right. Ben Simmons has to score over 10 Jalen Green over 30 Raptors. He under two 16 and a half and Marcus Smart over one and a half. Three pointers. If all four of those legs hit and you feel like doing this, bet a hundred bucks. You'll win $2,891. Oh, this sounds like you guys made it sound so easy and fun. Okay. I like it. I like our hearts. I like Smosh or a Nick Nurse just zoning each other up for 48 minutes and having an 80 point game. That's great. I can't like that too. Both teams. I feel as though Toronto is filled with two, five men that have the ball so much. So I feel like that's going to set a certain pace to the game. And then he, you know, Jimmy, it's either he gets 35 or he gets 18. And I feel like that's going to set the time. Guys, if this works, if this works, we're taking it on the road. Well done. That's going to do it for us today on this Monday. We will be back tomorrow for a little more run it back. Enjoy the games.