 Good morning. And guess what? We ain't talking the Lakers today. Time to run it back. Good morning. It's November 1st, the day after Halloween. Of course, stadium insider Shom Sharani is here. Chandler Parsons, Eddie G in the house. Did everybody have a good Halloween? Who went sugar-treating, Eddie? I think you did, right? I did. Took my daughter, Khaleesi, sugar-treating. She was an angel. She's so anti-everything. She brought the smallest bucket she could and said, all right, time to go home. She did like four houses. It was fun. She doesn't like it? She's the complete opposite of me. Yeah. She said, my legs are tired. I have enough candy. I said, what? There's enough candy. Well, I mean, first of all, how old is she? Because this is like, she might be an anomaly. She's nine, so she definitely is an anomaly. No such thing as too much candy or enough candy. I'm a little bit shocked. I saw Chandler was in the spirit as well. I think Shoms and I are the two losers. Next year. Next year. All right. We're going to get things kicked off, Eddie, with your part of the world, the Nets and the Pacers. Nets figured something out, right? Broke the five game losing streak. What do we think? Did they figure out any kind of a secret, Eddie? No. They looked a little better. I mean, they absolutely needed this win. They're not an awful team. They shouldn't be one in five, shouldn't have been. But there was still a lot to be concerned about. They gave up a lot of open shots. They were up 24 points in that game, just to turn around and then be down in the third quarter. They had the same defensive lapses. I think what improved in part with Ben Simmons not being there is they had more space in the offense, more fluidity offense. Not even because what he doesn't do, it's just that the defense had to play a little more honest. They started Joe Harris in his place. But yeah, I mean, there's still a lot of issues there. There's still a little too lackadaisical, even with them needing this game that bad. But hey, they won. Sometimes you have to win ugly and that's what they did. It still counts, right, Shoms? It still counts. Did you see any big differences? I mean, I think clearly the defense was a lot better. They held Indiana to 28 percent three point shooting. They weren't sniping from everywhere on the court like Indiana did on Saturday night where the defense was just pathetic. But I think there are still concerns just moving forward. The team is so isolation heavy down the stretch of games. You see the way KD and Kyrie can create and play make and create shots for themselves and for others. But there's not really much creation around them. And that's why you want to have Ben Simmons in those positions to whether he's playing that drop position in pick and rolls, whether he's getting guys involved on the fast break. That's the value of a guy like Ben Simmons at his peak. So they're still missing that factor. We'll see when they get it back. But Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant had six of the teams, 13 threes. They were the focal point of the offense. But on nights where one or two or both struggle, we see that the Nets have a hard time winning games. So that is a concern. It's so hard for the Nets to have blowout wins it seems. Even last night when they were up 20 or 25 or whatever it was, Indiana comes roaring back and they get into games and it becomes ugly finish. Yeah, they hit it on the head, I think as well. I think they had a double digit lead pretty much all game long and allowed the Pacers to kind of stick around and come back and make that push there. But I'm still not convinced like the guy said that it's going to take two big games from Kyrie and KD. I kind of like their offense more without Ben Simmons, without the defense clogging up the paint, allowing them to spread to the shooters more. So it's interesting. It's interesting to see it's kind of like when the Lakers played the other day without Russ, how's it going to work? This is like the Nets now playing without Ben Simmons and they got a little taste of it. But I'm with the guys. I'm still not convinced. There's still a lot of holes in this team and a win is a win in this league, but it didn't really convince me. All right. So no one's super convinced. Eddie, I know it can't be KD and Kyrie all the time because you're right. Somebody's going to struggle if not both on certain nights. So the third dependable score should be who? I guess Nick Claxton. That's the way it's set up right now. Last night he had a solid game, 19 points, nine rebounds. They're pretty much force feeding him his buckets. And because of KD and Kyrie and last night without Ben on the court, there's a ton of openings there for him. So it can be him. He's not necessarily that kind of player, but nine of 11, a lot of easy looks. I think they would like it to be Ben, but he's just so adverse to shooting, not even scoring, just shooting at all that it's probably not going to be him anytime soon. I think that's fair. Yeah. I think it's got to be like a collective effort of those other shooters. It's got to be a Patty Mills one night. It's got to be a Curry one night. It's got to be a Joe Harris, but having Nick Claxton as your third score on a championship team, that's tough, man. And I don't, it's not going to be Ben Simmons. So I think it's just going to have to be that third spot. It's going to have to be someone different every night and someone's going to have to show up to help those other two. I like it. Or rotating third spot. Look, I hate to do this because I'm always really against talking about the coaches and if they should lose their jobs or not. But I feel like with Steve Nash, it becomes a topic of conversation at least once a season since he's been there. Are the problems with this team all personnel or at what point or do we ever look to Steve Nash to be in the hot seat, Chandler? I mean, you can't say he's doing a good job. I think he's a brilliant mind. I think he was a hell of a player. Sometimes the best players don't make the best coaches and they see the game differently and they can't articulate that in a way that they would do as them playing. So I don't know, man. I don't love the schemes. I like their roster. I like their team. I like their talent. They're just not showing it to us on the court. And listen, to be there four years now and not make it past the second round with that amount of talent and with James Harden on their team last year, it's like we can think of all these excuses, but they have the pieces implemented. They're just not being a good product. So at some point, yeah, he's going to get hot. I think the way this franchise is set up, they had the second highest tax bill last year. They're trying to compete. They're trying to contend. The first shoe that's going to fall is for sure going to be the head coach if there is one. They had all the conversation about this summer. We don't know where they stand at the moment, but if things get worse, you'd have to imagine that's going to happen. It's not like they're going to send guys home. They can't cut players. This isn't the NFL. The roster is what the roster is. Even their tradable assets like Patty Mills can't be traded till December. So yeah, if you're going to do anything dramatic, it's going to be your head coach. I don't know that he's on the hot seat just now, but if it gets worse, he's going to have to be. Let's not forget too, their best player wanted him fired a couple of months ago. So I don't think that's gone away with the squatting hot start. It's not like they come out on fire. So someone's going to be the scapegoat. And like you said, it's not going to be a player. It's not going to be KV. They're not just going to cut Kyrie even with all the circus around him. Probably going to fall on Nash. There are a lot just real quickly on the Kyrie thing. Every morning there are more and more articles calling for either him to be let go or some sort of punishment. It's got to be hot down there. And also if I'm Steve Nash, why do I want to coach this team? Like I got a lot of other great things I could be doing. I've always wondered that about Steve Nash. What is the draw for him to have to be in this position? Does anybody know or can anybody even speculate? I mean, that's what I wonder. It's living in New York. He could live in New York without a gig. Like he's got the money. Do whatever you want. I don't get it. It is confusing because the guy has money. The guy has it all. But he just loves the game. He loves coaching. He says it all the time. It's just he was chilling. He was literally chilling in Manhattan Beach. No one thought he would take the next job. He took it when they offered it. You know, after like three weeks of decision making from what I was hearing at the time and like he had a great life in Manhattan Beach. He was literally chilling. So maybe at some point, you know, back to life. You never know. I'm Steve Nash. I'm out. Moving on. Sixers. Don't look now. Do not look now, but they won their third straight. No Embiid. What did we see that maybe we think they've turned things around, Chandler? Anything? I mean, Tyrese Maxey is a hooper. This guy is playing, you know, all star level. And what he's doing, he's really showing that James Harden can be more of a facilitator and he can be in that role where he can step up when Embiid is out. And they're playing really well with Embiid out, but this kid is aggressive. He's fast. Someone last night during the game called him sudden, which I thought was really good. Like he's very, he's very like sudden. It's impressive. We've got that explosive speed. He's so quick. He can make shots. And then James is obviously going to do his thing and contribute. But last night, the X-Factor was most melting. The guy had 16 points up the bench with seven of 10 shooting. I think he should play a lot more for them. And I think listen, this team is not going to struggle all year long. They're going to find their strides. They're deep. They have shooting. They have toughness. I think they're going to figure it out. And I think Joelle being out right now is kind of a blessing in disguise with letting Tyrese and James get in their field. Yeah, shops, because it's two games now without Joelle. And I know Doc's made a concerted effort to make sure that this team knows they can win without him. What is the strategy when Joelle Embiid is not around? So I think what we're seeing here is that there's two different styles. When James is running the show and his James show, they're playing very up-tempo and fast. When Joelle's there, of course, you have to slow it down a little bit because you have to get the big man involved in the low post. So they've won two of three of these games in a row without Joelle Embiid. He was out the other night and then he was sick last night. So I think for the team, it's when James is running the show, they play up-tempo, they play fast. And I think he even spoke about it last night is we need to figure out a way when Joelle's in the lineup because they know they need him. You're not winning a championship without Joelle Embiid having a very serious role and probably being the number one guy on this team. But I'm curious, Chandler played with James Harden. He was around for the Daryl Maury era in Houston. So where's this style? I mean, is there going to be a clash of style? Like how are they going to try to move forward here when the team runs really two different setups? Yeah. And it was when I had him in Houston, it was kind of the same thing with Dwight Howard as that up and coming best big man league and James as the guard. And they definitely butt heads. And I don't think the personalities are exactly identical with Joelle and Dwight, but James is difficult, but he's also incredible to play with. I loved him as a teammate. I thought, you know, I had my best year with him. I got my big deal because of James Harden. So I have nothing to say about him because I basically just stood there. I stood there at the elbow. He lulled his guy to sleep. He kicked it to me and I either shot it or drove to the basket, but he creates so much. I love him as a creator, but in the back of his mind, James Harden is the score. He's one of the best scores games ever seen. He's always going to be able to go and get you a bucket, but it's nice. Now, and earlier on in the season, when they were losing, he was trying to do a lot of scoring. I think now they're having a little, they're going to have some more success with him facilitating Tyree. Tyree's getting out on the break, getting buckets and having that combination and mixture of throwing the ball inside and just kind of having a balanced attack. But yeah, it's, it's interesting. I think later in his career now, I think he's more understanding and just wants championship and wants to win. But yeah, there was definitely some, some head knock and when I was in Houston with him and Dwight. Yeah, I think the Sixers, they had these issues a little bit when they had been as well. It's a team that is in a lot of ways set up to run. The idea is, yo, you say, you surround Joel with a bunch of shooters and that can space the floor, but you can also run with those guys. You could, you know, you got a big six, 10 foot shooter, like, uh, Karoops and, uh, all these guys that come off their bench, Milton, like we mentioned, and then Maxi, who, as you said, he's sudden. He wants to play fast and James, James has been kind of plotting before, but this year, yes, he's kicking the ball. They're getting more active. Um, you know, there is a natural clash and maybe it's on Joel to get in better shape. Maybe it's on Joel to adjust. People have worried about his conditioning for pretty much his whole career. Uh, they're going to need him in the paint in the playoffs either way, but yeah, it would be nice for him to be able to fit in on that style of ball as well. And we'll see how they implement that. Yeah. And we know how important the MVP award is to Joel and B, but if this is the style, I'm thinking he's going to be frustrated and angry at some point. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. I don't know. In the interest of being fair and balanced, of course, they did play a team last night. It was the Washington wizards for Zingas with 32, but we're not going to talk about that. This is an excuse to show a video and I'm excited about it. Boom. What do we think about that, guys? He's at a big year, but damn. He's at a big year. He's playing well, but that was tough. Yeah. Chandler, you ever, you ever, you ever did this, Chandler? Yeah, I'm guilty of that as well. But you know what? It would have been late in the game. We would have been up 20. It would have been this and like was third quarter. That's a, I don't want to do that. Yeah. Wide open, wide open. Oh, I'd love videos like that. Yeah, whatever. We've got one team left, just sole team standing unbeaten at 6-0. It's the Bucks. Of course, they still don't have Middleton, but that does not seem to be a problem. And I want to know why. How are they able to continue this hot street going Chandler without Chris Middleton? Because they have the best player in the world and the guys on a mission. Boom. He is balling man. He's doing things at a crazy clip. He's playing defense. He's getting on the break. He's scoring points. He's, he's really, really, really doing it all. And I'm not surprised. It's between him and Brooke Lopez, you know, playing great. I think he's averaging three blocks a game. True holidays been that floor general. They're just a really sound team. They got guys like Bobby Portis that are stepping up, playing big roles for them. They're just a seasoned team that experienced. And the fact that they're doing this without their second best player has got to be an unbelievable feeling for them because they're only going to get better from here. Yes, Shoms. Do we have any updates, by the way, on Middleton? So I did check on it. I'm told the plan still remains that he's going to be back in the lineup at some point mid to late this month. So we're already in November, which is crazy to think about, but it's November one now. The goal is still to get Chris Milton back in the lineup before the month is out. But yeah, I mean, what they're doing right now, how deep they are as a team. And this is not a team that's gone through many changes. They have literally brought back basically the entire team that they had last season, you know, resign different players, get Pat Conten, the extension, resign Bobby Portis. So this is, this team is seasoned. They're, they're better laden. And they're a team that's ready in prime to make another run potentially. Yeah, they don't have anything to be stressed out about yet. But will they ever, Eddie, is there a team in the East that you can see that could give them an actual run for their money? Well, the team that beat him last year, the Celtics, you would love to see that series healthy matchup between them. Obviously Celtics need to get Robert Williams back to really have the defense that they want to have against Giannis. I think about the Cavs as well. I'd like to see Giannis against that big frontline, every mobility, Jared Allen in the playoff series, just to see how they mix that up for him and complicate things. But I mean, it's tough. They're hot streak now. They're, they're, we were wondering last week, yo, who was going to be their second option? And then Drew Holiday scores 29 points a game for the last two games and 11 assists as well. Brook Lopez is leading the league in blocks. And I think he's a key of what they've done to be not even resurgent. We knew there would be a great team, but to be a great team this year, he's healthy again. He's spacing the floor. Giannis absolutely needs Brook Lopez, just as much as he needs Chris Middleton. He spaces the floor for him on offense. Doesn't clog up Delaney as the center. And then on defense allows Giannis to free Rome, knowing he has that big fella behind him protecting the rim. He's been great this season. Mike Boonhozer just called him the key to the season. And I think it's true. He's, he's been incredible for them. Yay. Good job, Brook Lopez. Chandler, you look so serious. What's going on? Yeah. I'm trying to think of a team and honestly, it's Boston, but I watched Toronto and with their defensive schemes and the way they got these just big, strong wings like OG and Scotty, no one's talking about Siakam this year right now. He is straight balling, but defensively they have those two long bigs that switch on pick and rolls with OG and Scotty and Siakam. Those guys are going to give Giannis, I think the most trouble being able to put that physicality. So listen, are they going to beat him in a series? No, but I was just racking my brain thinking he was a team as a chance and he called me out. Yeah. I like Toronto. I like Toronto and give flowers to Siakam because he is not being talked about and he is playing just as good as anybody. That was your thinking face. Note to self. I will call you out again. By the way, we have to try to guess who's going to hand them their first loss. These are their next five games. Detroit at Minnesota, OKC at Atlanta and then at OKC. Who wants to take a guess here? They're not on this graphic. Whatever team it is, they're not on this graphic. Sorry. I could see Atlanta. Do we all agree? I honestly don't think they're going to lose any of those five games, but I think Atlanta would be the obvious one there. There's one back to back, but the second night is OKC. Yeah, I think they won them all. You know what? I'm going to go out on a limb. I think it's going to be Detroit. It's going to be a bit of a like, oh wow, it's going to be the first one on that list. It's going to be Detroit. Let's see what happens. I don't win any prizes, but we'll see. The jazz, OK. Every day I sort of giggle when we bring up the Utah Jazz, but they're sitting at six and two. They beat Memphis convincingly, by the way. I still think this is part of a long-term strategy to tank and then say we tried, but should they tank? I mean, now there are people saying maybe they should actually try to win something here. I mean, Shams, what do you think? Are there moves to be made? Will there be moves made? What do you predict? They have teams calling them every day on Jordan Clarkson on Malik B's lease. They have a list of suitors on both of those guys, I'm told, but I think you just have to ride this out. You have to see what this team looks like in 20 to 25 games. I know they're off to this crazy start that no one predicted. You have pictures of Danny Ainge looking like super, super upset at Will Hardy. By the way, Danny Ainge loves Will Hardy, so he must have just got caught in the moment. That's his guy. I'm sure he's actually reveling in the fact that they got off to this great start. Because like you said, Michelle, I think things can trickle off. I want to see this team 20 games in, 25 games in, see their record. They can always start flipping guys closer to January if they want to. Yeah, I think they have time to make that decision. But I mean, I was wondering this yesterday. They look great. They're an active team on defense. I'm looking up their stats, trying to figure out like, oh, how are they doing this? None of their stats jump out. They're fourth in the league and assist. They're clearly a team that's spreading the ball out. That checks out, but they're just a solid team that's playing hard. And so I started wondering, yo, you only have a 14% chance to win the number one pick if you're, even if you're the last four teams. Is that worth it? I know this is a great superstar to be that we're looking at. But yo, building something now with the players you have now and making the playoffs now, that's really beneficial to a franchise as well. Will Hardy, the youngest head coach in the league, he's got these guys ready every night. Colin Sexton hasn't even really been released yet. So I just like, yo, maybe they should have played this out. They have players they can trade to even beef up themselves. And you have to remember they have all of those Timberwolves draft picks. It's not like they lack in draft capital going forward. So yeah, maybe build for now. I think it's worth taking a look at as we get further into the season. Yeah, I like them. I like them. Listen, it's early. There's six and two, I think, right? It's too early to tell. I think if this continues, which it's hard to imagine they can, they don't come back to reality at some point here, but it's fun. I think it's fun. These guys are playing hard. They have a nice combination of vets and young guys, pretty much everyone on the roster can shoot. And Laurie Markin is playing very, very well. I think when you get a guy like him who had a lot of hype coming out of the draft, he was a top 10 pick for whatever reason, just didn't reach his potential and his other teams, but he's playing extremely well. And I think him playing on the national team, Jordan Clarkson playing on his national team, I think they just continued to stay in shape and they got game reps throughout the summer and now it's paying off early on in the season. But yeah, if this continues and they're 20, 30 games in, they're still well above 500 in the hunt. You can't just shut it down. So it's interesting, but I still think it's eventually going to start. You're holding on to that. By the way, this is quite the turn from, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago when for sure we thought, no, this team's awful. This is, I'm enjoying all of it. We don't know anything is what I'm trying to say. No talking head on television really knows what they're talking about. That is what I want the world to know. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. I think at every time. Shoms with some SKU plus, is it time to hit the panic button on a future Hall of Famer? All that next on run it back. All right, Shoms, Zach Levine question ball expected to play tonight versus the Nets. All right. He would then sit Wednesday's game against the Hornets and then manage the knee during early part. Okay. Okay. Shoms, so he's playing against the Nets. Is that the deal? He is playing against the Nets. This is a national TV game on TNT. So he will be out there. I don't know how that affects the lines, but he will be a go tonight. And I think for the Bulls and Levine, this early part of the year with that knee, he has surgery on it over the off season. They want to make sure they manage it on back to backs. And so he will be in the lineup tonight. They play against the Hornets at home tomorrow. So the plan had been to rest him on the road and then play at home. But this being a national TV game against the Nets, an Eastern Conference competitor, he will give it a go. Speaking of the Nets, do you have the latest on Ben Simmons? So from what I'm told, Ben Simmons yesterday, it was dealing with soreness and swelling in his knee and he missed the game yesterday. The hope and the plan had been that he would play tonight. We'll see. Anytime a player has swelling or reports swelling in the knee, you just don't know if they can actually play when they intend and want to. But the hope was that this was not a long-term injury. All right. And then the Sixers getting a little punishment yesterday. They're being docked a couple draft picks for tampering shams. What can you share about that? They lost two second round picks over the next two years in 2023 and 2024 because the league investigated them and had findings that they made early free agency contact with PJ Tucker and Daniel House Jr. So those two were, they were giving consequence for. The big thing though, Michelle, that the league found there was no wrong doing it was James Harden taking that $15 million pay cut. That was actually what people around the league were really looking into is when a guy gives up a $48 million player option designed for whatever was 33, 34 million. That's when antennas went up. But the league found there was no wrong doing in that pay cut. Guys, I look, I like PJ Tucker and Daniel House Jr. as much as the next guy, but is that, did we need to tamper to get these deals? I mean, I don't understand why this just happened, Chandler. This seems a little bit odd. I think in this scenario, I don't think it's that big of a deal because their second round picks are most likely going to be later in the draft anyways. And those guys are solid assets for them. But yeah, you don't want to lose picks. You don't want to lose potential prospects. But it's interesting because every free agency, there's communication, right? Your agent is talking ahead of time. He's telling you your offers that are coming in. So there's nonstop with every player, whether it's a max player, a minimum player, it doesn't matter. They're talking. And so it's interesting to me on which ones they decide to investigate and how you actually get caught. And because they're all doing it and they all know, I knew my deals before free to start. When you see these guys signed at Mid-Tite and they announced, what do you think they negotiated 20 seconds before? Yes. Yes. That's what I think. It's been going on for years. I just don't understand the difference in my agent talking to the teams or my manager, whoever's talking to them. But the deals are getting done way far in advance than that Mid-Tite or whatever the deadline is. I know it's all an illusion, Chandler. We have to sell the illusion that it happens at 11.59.59. Shams, muchas gracias, sir. I do have to say, I mean, this is rampant around the league. I mean, Chandler knows. I mean, I think we all know. This is something that we can all, I think it's whenever it's so blatant, I guess. I mean, I don't think there's a rhyme or a reason. There's some instances that get investigated that there are others that don't. I mean, Chandler, I'm sure saw it when he was a player. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. But appreciate you guys. We will see. See you tomorrow, Shams. Appreciate you. Time for a little panic button. This is my favorite because we just always overreact. And we're going to start with Eddie Carl Anthony Towns. Are we hitting a panic button on him at this point in the season? My sleeper MVP pick? Don't do it to me, Eddie. Come on, Eddie. No, no panic button for Kat. I joke about him more than any other player in the league, maybe, but he's talented. He's great at what he does. I don't know if he's the best big man shooter ever, like he says, but he's a great big man as a shooter as well. I think, you know, there's an adjustment period for him, both with having Rudy Gobert there, as well as Anthony Edwards stepping up even more in his role. He's added two more shots to his arsenal this year. He's taken a bigger part in the offense. He's leading the team in scoring. Kat will figure it out. This is a team. I think Chandler is right in that, like, yo, there is some success in their future for sure. MVP might be a stretch, but they'll be fine as they go on. They need it, Rudy. And they needed an advancement from Ant badly. And so Kat will gently adjust. And I think you will. Okay. See, Chandler, you're still alive. Don't worry. How about Ben Simmons? I feel like that's just going to be the question all your long panic button yet. Is that me or Eddie? Oh, that's you, Chandler. My bad. Um, I mean, yeah, listen, it's it's early and the guy hasn't played in two years, but you could just see he's not the same player. He plays timid. He's not shooting the ball. He's not playing aggressive. Even when he tries to play aggressive, he's doing some, some, some wild things out there. I wish you would just focus on the defensive and play hard, do all the little things. And he's shown flashes of that, but with his salary and the way he's playing, I just can't see a light going off and him just, you know, all of a sudden balling again. So yeah, I'm panicked with, with that. He's young still. So he still has somewhat of a bright side here, but I'm right now I'm panicking. All right. Chandler's panicking on Ben Simmons. This next one, Eddie, I feel like should have an asterisk by it because we, I think he gets a little more time with Jamal Murray. Do we think it's panic time for him? No, not yet. I mean, ACL is a tough injury to come back from. He has had ample time. He is healthy, structurally, but he's getting back into the flow of playing NBA games. He scored 25 the other night against the Lakers, looked a little bit more like himself. There's also a different team he's coming back to. Michael Porter has taken a bigger role. They have Bruce Brown there helping a little bit with the ball handling. Yoko just obviously took time MVP and he's going to get his. So Jamal, you know, he's just getting his feet wet. I think as we get into December and beyond, we'll see the old Jamal and he'll be, he'll be fine. Okay. No panic there. Chandler, for you with both rebounds and blocks below career averages, Joel and Bede panic or no? It's a good one. It's a really good one. I'm still, I'm not panicking. The guy's still averaging, you know, 27, 10 and three. I don't think he's in the best shape with his injury history. It's a little scary. Bigs, bigs are getting to the point where they're extinct and they're tough. He has transformed himself into, you know, he can step out, he can shoot, he can knock down threes. Yeah, he's just, he's got to come out there. He's got to play a lot more aggressive, a lot harder. He's got to play with that dog in him. And you can tell that he's just, I don't know if it's the conditioning or what, but am I panicking? No, not on him because I think their team is picking it up and he has great players around him and they're going to figure it out. And he still has crazy numbers. I just think sometimes it's frustrating us because we can see what the potential can be, but no, I'm not panicking on him. Yeah. That's a good point. I think it's frustrating, I think to fans. These last couple, I feel like we haven't mentioned at all on this show yet, but Eddie, how about Kyle Lowry? Yeah, I got to just say, I'm biased here in that, like, there's probably no player in the NBA. I do not like watching more than Kyle Lowry. This is the guy who was flopping in the All-Star game at crunch time. I say all that to say, yeah, you can panic a little bit. You paid him a lot of money to come and be the point guard there and handle your ball handling duties. And you pretty much benched him in the playoffs last year to play Gabe Vincent and Gabe looked much better on both ends of the court. Kyle's getting long in the tooth. You do got to worry a little bit. They probably have missed their opportunity to trade him as well with that contract and the money he makes. So yeah, a lot going on out there in Miami. Chandler, look, the team's doing fine around this next guy, but what about Chris Paul? Yeah, I'm panicking a little bit just because he's getting up there in age and he doesn't look the same. When I watch him play, he doesn't have that first step. He's not playing as aggressive. And listen, he's still playing a lot of minutes and he's just not producing as much as we're accustomed to. The guy's still averaging 9 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds. So any other guy, I would think that's a very, very solid stat line. But yeah, I think this team is playing well. I don't think they are what they were last year. I think they kind of missed their window. But yeah, he's 37 years old. He's making a lot of money. It's safe to say he's on the decline. I'm not panicking because of the team or because they're still winning and they still have a very good team. But yeah, I think it's closer to the end than the start here. Aren't we all taking a quick break? That's depressing, by the way. We got some surprising names that are off to hot starts. We have to figure out is it for real? And Miles Turner, can you tamper for yourself? Run it back. Coming up next. Got to say, didn't have Miles Turner makes the case to the Lakers as to why they should trade for him. On my bingo card, I'm washed. Yeah, no, this is, he basically said if I'm the Lakers, they're taking a, they should take a very good look at this. Do we like the strategy of selling oneself to the team that you want to go to, Chandler? How do we feel about this? I mean, I feel him. Listen, he's been on the trading block for basically four years. He probably feels a little disrespected, detached from the team. They're tanking anyways. Should you do that? No. I mean, I don't think it sends a great message. He's going to the locker room today and he's literally out there selling himself. But yeah, I think he sees an opportunity where he could go to Los Angeles and play with LeBron James and help them win. He sees holes that we all see with shooting and that him and Buddy can definitely provide. And I think it's more entertaining and funny that the guy has an agent and a whole team around him and he's over there doing the loge posh, the loge cast selling himself. I don't know that I've ever seen that. But the guy wants out and that's the trade we've all been talking about for the last couple of months for Russ. So I feel him. I wouldn't do it, but I mean, I wouldn't say that about him. But yeah, I get it. He wants out and they have no future plans for him in Indiana. So why not? Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen a player do this before. I had to listen to it like twice, make sure I was hearing everybody. I get it. You want to market yourself. If you're not breaking the CBA, you're technically not asking for a trade request. Yeah, whatever. I know your business, I guess, but I was shocked to hear him do it. It was funny. It was amusing a lot of ways. You know, he went on there too, like with that plan. I'm going to pitch myself. For sure. Maybe he thinks by saying it out loud and putting it into the universe. It's his own vision board. Like he's just going to get it done because no one else seems to be doing it. I kind of respect it. And I think it's funny at the same time. How about a little you buying that? We've got a few players here and off to some amazing starts. Luka Donchich, I don't think there's a surprise. Obviously, everyone thinks he's going to be the MVP, but good Lord, he's had at least 30 in the first six games and no one's done that since Michael Jordan in 1986. Okay. So are we buying Luka Donchich as leading the league and scoring? Chandler? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm buying it. The guy can do everything. He's a mismatched nightmare. When you see him in person, the guy is huge and he's got an unreal ability holding people off. He's got a crazy touch. He's not fast, but he somehow can get by you even if you're smaller and faster, bigger and stronger. The guy's a mismatch all across the board. He's knocking down shots. And honestly, with their team, the way they're playing, it's going to be the ball in his hand. His usage rate is through the roof. Yeah, I can definitely see him. I don't see him slowing down anytime soon. Yeah. He's got to be the odds on favorite to lead the league and scoring. And you see why? Chandler just mentioned it. The ball is always in his hand and he plays at his pace at all times. Nobody speeds him up. Nobody slows him down. He does it all. He's got the greenest green light in the league. And I expect him to keep this up. He's in much better shape this year than he was last year. Playing for the home country helped that. I think he made sure he was ready for that and it's rolled into the season. I expect him to keep it up there around 35, actually, all season long, which is insane when you think about it. Okay, so yes on that one. How about Laurie Marken and do we buy him as an all-star? And Eddie, before you answer, remember that Malik Beasley has said he should be an all-star. I don't know if that sways you one way or the other. Eddie, but what do you think? Yes or no? Yo, shout out Malik Beasley. Dope, father, son, Superman. I was in costume yesterday. But my friend, you are out your mind in that conference. There is no way he makes it. I mean, you, the two Lakers will make it pretty much no matter what. The two Clippers will, if they show up to games at some point, obviously the Warriors have their guys. You have the Timberwolves, the Sun's guys will make it. It's really hard to make the all-star out there in that conference. Now, if we get some injuries, get some guys who can't make it out, don't want to play in Salt Lake City. If you want to take a vacation rather than spending your February in Utah, yeah, well, he might make it. But shout out to Laurie. He's playing great. But I'm not buying that one. Sorry, Malik. You know, I'm buying it, Eddie. You know why? Because all-star voting starts like next week. It's not, all-star changed. It's not the best players in the NBA anymore. It's who's had like the best first two or three months, which is kind of a joke. Like it's, Andrew Wiggins was a starter in the all-star game last year. Is he a top 10 basketball player in the world? Like, no. So if this jazz somehow continue this streak, and they are a top six, top five team, which I don't see it, but if they do, someone's got to be an all-star on their team, right? And if this guy's averaging 22, 23, 9, 3 assists, like, it's going to be him. So like, I think, I think it's possible. I think this, this team is shocking everybody, especially me. And again, like I said, all-stars kind of watered down now. It's not even who had the best season. You can play really, really good for three months to be an all-star and not play the rest of the season, but you're still an all-star. You know what I mean? So it's, it's, it's, it's almost not that big of a deal anymore to me. So I think there's a chance. It's not very sad, but that seems like the formula. Oh, okay. Put them in, put them in three-point contest. Yeah, let them do that. I don't know. I might be with Chandler on this one. You know what? The scoring so far this season has been pretty off the charts, 114 average a game. So Chandler, can, can this be sustained? I think so. The talent in the NBA is unbelievable. You look at, even the bad teams have so much good young talent and everybody can score the ball now. Every position can shoot the three now. And defense is, is not a hot commodity these days. So I think it is. I think it's great for, for ratings and viewings. And it's more fun to watch, you know, you know, points than the defensive stops for most people, unfortunately. So I think it's, I think it's possible. And, and like I said, the talent is, is, I watched Detroit the other night, who, granted, they're not a good team, but they have like Ivy and Cunningham. So the first time I really watched Kate Cunningham play, he's so good. He's tall. He gets in the paint. He drops dimes. Like even the bad teams have so much talent now where they're going to score the ball and they're going to score it at a record-breaking clip. You know, as a fan, yes, I much prefer to watch points than defensive stances. You are right, Chandler. Time for a little convince me. I'm going to give you guys a couple of premises here. You got to convince me that it's possible. And Eddie, I'm going to start with you. Ben Simmons is actually right-handed. Convince me. Oh, that's, that's easy. You gave me the layup. I have to give him candy corn yesterday. Yes, I got you. Ben, Ben, whatever the number amount of shots he's taken this year, he's taken one that's been left-handed. And it was a three-pointer at the end of a quarter. So every other shot he's taken is either been two-handed or right-handed. He said himself that he's right-handed. I went and googled it. He threw out the first pitch at a Philly's game, right-handed. That guy's right-handed. Let's, let's shoot with the right hand, Ben. Let's see what happens if you do that. Right. What's the deal, Chandler? Do it. I mean, at this point, try. Like, yeah, when you get fouled, shoot the free throws right away. You can't get much worse. So why not? I'm, I'm with Eddie. I think he should shoot free throws right-handed, get in the gym and change something up because what you're currently doing is not working. It seems like a no-brainer. If I knew I was dominant on my rights, this, I don't understand the hang up. I think it was his dad that told him to do things left-handed, but you can't fight your body on this one. It's anatomy. Chandler convinced me that the Clippers, despite Kawhi's knee issues lingering, can still make the playoffs. Yeah, I think that's something to play off. Again, there's 10 spots and, and anything can happen. They still have Paul George. He still had Norm Powell, Reggie Jackson, John Ball looks to be, you know, contributing player now. I don't like what I'm seeing and it's a little concerning. He's not playing a lot. He's not playing a lot of minutes and they definitely need him to be a contender. And I love the Clippers before the season. I loved how deep they were. I love their talent. I love all the wings they had. They're interchangeable. They can switch defensively and they have those two guys that are, you know, two of the best two-way players in the game. Contender, no playoffs. Yeah, I think they still have a chance with or without Kawhi. Obviously, Kawhi's going to help them, you know, advance. Yeah, I mean, they made, they made the playoffs last year without them. I think they made the plan, right? But I think last last night is a good example of what we'll see in a lot of these games. They eat out a win against the team. They absolutely should be better than them because it's a roster full of veterans. So they have a ton of versatility to the to the lineups they have as well. Yeah, I think they're a playoff team, but they're going to need Kawhi to be more than just get there, you know. I know Andy's my MVP pick. So selfishly, really need him out there. Eddie, someone convinced me, someone other than Jordan Poole. We'll win six man of the year. I got Christian Wood. He's in the perfect role for that award. And he's right there next to him. And so it's not, it's not like it's a long shot here, but playing with Luca, he's going to get all the shots he could ever want. He's going to get wide open shots. I've seen him play in person the other day. And it's actually one of his lighter games. And you could still see the difference he makes for that team. I think it's Christian Wood. If he embraces that role at the bench, which it seems like he has after complaining initially, I think she has a word to lose. All right. Coming up guys, taking a quick break here. All of the very best NBA Halloween costumes from the evening plus are on the fly. Barley that I promise you, I promise you it's going to hit. Run it back next. Every day wins make your day so much better. That's why FanDuel Casino has a daily free to play game reward machine. It's 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 away over 5 million in prizes to over 250,000 winners. To get in on the action, all you have to do is log in daily, spend for a free chance at rewards. FanDuel wants you to win, play reward machine for a free chance that every day wins only on FanDuel Casino. It's fitter brick time. I wish Halloween was every day because I really want to see more and more costumes as we go. Guys, let's start things off with I think the king of Halloween, Jordan Clarkson. Clearly his favorite holiday. He is now messing around. He is taking his shoes. That great game last night as well. I just imagine after the game, you have to put this back on to get in the car and go home and that's just hilarious to me. Yeah, this is fired. JC goes all out clearly. I feel like he sets aside his outfits for regular games. Then he has his whole other just bag for Halloween and he brings the heat. I want him to have an entire room in his house. It's just a big Halloween costume closet. And that's in my mind what it is. So Jordan Clarkson for me is just a Halloween winner all around. But he's not the only one. A lot of people in the spirit last night, Colin Sexton also giving it his best shot at a little Halloween fun. What? What is he? Like a demented clown murderer? This is like he got this off the rack. This is nice. He can't follow Jordan Clarkson like this. Yeah, he went to the party store for this and just copped the scariest like a nasty good find. I mean, it is a little, it's hard. If it's not going to be movie quality, like we can't we can't disrespect Jordan Clarkson like this. So I love it. Now the bar is Jordan Clarkson or it sucks. It's going to be no in between. He set the standard. Yeah. Okay. No pressure then. We have another one. John Wall. Come on up because now I feel oh, okay. Okay. This is amazing. This is incredible. This I saw actually on my timeline and I died. I love this movie. I love, I love this costume. This is so funny. The caption even it's this, this is all in. I like this more than the JC probably just because I have a soft spot for Blue Streak and I love that movie. But this one is incredible. A lot of people probably don't know who this is. No. I'm with Emily. This is amazing. Like I didn't even realize it was John Wall. That's how great this costume was. I just thought it was Martin. I was like, what is going on here? And it's John Wall. This is great. This is the new standard. You've done it. We've done it. John Wall has now jumped to the top of our chart. Jordan Clarkson just like that. Replace. Boy, he's got one more shot. Malik Beasley. What did you bring for us on this beautiful Halloween? Okay. You already said you like this, right Eddie? Yeah, I can't hate. This is, this is amazing. Look at this little guy in his Spider-Man costume. He's probably been wearing that for months. You know, our kids are and he's just like, it's a regular day, but I love this. This is great. We might have a new standard. This is not fair. He cheated. Wait, I Superman allowed to be with Spider-Man. I feel like it's confusing. When you bring a baby, you can do whatever you want. Maybe I'm a nerd. Fine. Fine. I'm a nerd. That's on me. My bad. Yes. Before I was a dad, I was the guy that would get annoyed like on the airplane when the baby's crying. Now I don't. So now this baby makes the costume a lot better than it really is. Guys, you cannot cross DC and Marvel. This is a clear lawbreak, but that's fine. This is a little guy smiling so hard too. This is adorable. Hey, fine. I'm the hater. That's fine. Fine. We'll move on. Okay. We've got a part. Look, I don't know if we hit one of these yet, but that doesn't mean we're going to stop trying. Guys, four leg parlays up. Eddie, I'm nervous. Give us your two legs. I'm nervous too. I had Orlando magic in Thunder going over. We joke about the Jazz who have not embraced the tank. These two teams embodied the tank. I don't expect no defense out there. This is actually kind of low. I'm actually surprised this is low. They're for sure scoring 113 each. So I'm going to go over with these guys. All right. We got it over. What else? Stephen Curry over 27.5 points. He just did this to the, like, four days ago. He's torching them again. There's no way around it. Unless he had a crazy night in Miami and we don't know, he's a family guy. I'm imagining he would sleep pretty early last night. That's the thing. The Miami thing always seems to get people. Chandler, no pressure, but your two have to pick up. Yeah. I went with a crazy one. Clay Thompson just kind of getting lucky here. Hopefully getting a quick action for him knocking down a three to get the first bucket. And I got Philly minus four against Washington. Okay, guys, if you do this and you bet $20, you will win 1,137 bucks. And by the way, when I met Philly over Washington, I meant Phoenix over. I know you did. I know you did. It was on the board. And I was just like, you know what? I'm going to let Chandler have his moment. Do you guys think we should have our own personal side profit about when one of these is going to actually hit like what we can this season? This one's not the one. This isn't the one. This isn't the one. But do it anyways. Yeah. I got people hitting me up on social upset. Like, you know, I'm sorry. I'm trying. Hey, not our fault, but we will be back tomorrow and we'll give it one more shot then. Guys, have a good night.