Okay, thank you. I sincerely hope that you can hear me in the last rows because I'm coming from the warm weather of Rome and here in Brussels already Made some a little bit of damage this cold, but anyways, if you cannot hear me, please raise your hands. I hope so Yeah, yeah, this is the thing that has a green light. So I really hope It's a good indication that it's probably is working so city of Bologna 2015 There are a lot of road construction works and of course just like you with the any road construction site It attracts a lot of people a lot of all people who just go there and try to see and see if the if the road is being done Correctly just like they used to do in their times and it's such a popular phenomenon I guess not just in Bologna and not just in Italy but all around the world But we have created this word which is called umarel and umarel means exactly this is the person It's a little man and it's the person Usually of old age who goes and checks the work And to give you a couple of facts about umarels 11,000 euros This is the budget that the city of Riccione just close to Bologna Allocated yearly to pay a stipend to these umarels because they do provide a useful service to the administration they do provide and the service a double check to To ensure that the public works are carried out in a good way and This guy here was the first one to be awarded the price of umarel of the year 2015 Franco and there was a nice celebration where the vice major gave this award and nominated him head of the road construction site for one day But to introduce you now somebody who is definitely not an umarel Don't don't say I ever made this metaphor is my boss, uh, Diego Piacentini. So who is Diego Piacentini? He was uh the Senior vice president of amazon and he took a two-year sleeve To be tasked with the the job of digitizing and modernizing italy. He was named commissioner for digital agenda So what did he do? He formed a team a team of 30 super experts as the as the press would define them Uh and try to tackle this immense job and when 30 seems like Medium to large agency. Well, if you put all of us in the same room or in the same slide, it's not that many people So in order to tackle this enormous task, uh We set out some plans and they go thought well to be effective. We need to be we need to to work, uh On the on the infrastructure. We need to be plumbers What do I mean by this? I mean just like a plumber Has made makes his own job in your own house or in in in a building You will only know about the job that he did well or she did When it was done not properly. Otherwise it's hidden. It's in the foundation. It's in the infrastructure And just like any good plumber at the beginning, uh He started to write with the team at the three-year plan He started to lay down the plans for what they would do in this In in this program and well, it's a rather big document which is also translated into English But it's about 150 pages. So I'm not going to explain the whole plan to you right now I'm just going to give you a very quick glimpse. Well The first thing that was defined was the technology of course the technological platforms and infrastructure The second part was about the processes defining processes and the third one Were to decide tools that would embody those processes that were decided And this is exactly where openness and hackability comes in because of course technology is an enabling factor You need to have enabling platforms which allow you to To build something so it needs to be generic. It needs to be api days, etc But the real the real key the one the the message that I want to explain to you today goes into these two levels The processes and the tools To give you an idea about the technologies. Well, this is a very very quick summary But basically we created uh, we created or we have to to to build Projects that were already ongoing about the identity. So giving a digital identity online offline on your id card Used with standard chipset so you can build an open ecosystem around it Or the anographical information centralized so you have api's you can integrate better applications Then a second big chapter was made on platforms Such as the payment platforms or an api ecosystem where you have this pretty radical shift of No longer having service being given to the users but starting from a set of api's so that it can be integrated And and the machines also in the public in the 12 000 public administration that we have in Italy can talk to each other And then of course a data and analytics framework so that We can properly make use of all the big data that we are producing And of course all these technologies are great But if we keep developing them the usual way then we keep being in a world garden So How do we create the open processes? Luckily for us, uh, we have already had start. We had this digital administration code Which is a pretty pretty advanced code in As far as law goes and and this was the effort that was Put in place before we arrived in order to open up the processes and To sum up the articles. There are two very nice articles which article 68 which says that all public administration have to choose open source solutions first and that All new code that is created for public administration should be openly licensed But of course, this is not enough. I mean sure Having a good law having a good framework is absolutely essential. Otherwise, you don't have the freedom to implement new policies and new processes, but Good tools are as well Because if you don't if you just provide the law and other tools Then it's very hard for anybody to complain especially think about the definition all software should be openly licensed What it means in in a jurisdictionary system So we started to realize that we had to Create tools and processes and we did it with those key technologies that you saw in the three years plan so By choosing those technologies and really eating our own dog food Instead of to see how we could implement proper processes and tools So we started to Work on how the source code was published and released and we passed from something like this to this Very normal for you. Sometimes it was not very Something very normal for the people who are working in in in in the public administration The documentation as well passed from a very long pdf written in the forms of the law where you see seen the the the decree and seen the law to Read the box And of course created a place where you can discuss all of your changes and where you can just hang out with fellow developers But up until now, well, of course, this is modernizing. This is digitizing. But what is the real the real innovation? I mean Really we have seen this before in the u.s. There is 18 f there is in France a similar approach from the government Where they try to publish all of their code on github. They try to open source them The real The real change and I think the real innovation that we're trying to bring forward also communicating with our european partners Is this is the same difference that has it is between? Android and debian to put it to an extreme which both are open source But you know there is a clear difference between them and it's of course the open governance model Where with the open governance model The people from the community whether they are individual developers whether they are companies Whether there are other actors can actually Not only contribute and some poor request and just watch from the outside But also contribute and if they wish they can take responsibility for a few of the software that are used from everybody And from all the citizens think of it for example If I we have released a toolkit for doing websites in an accessible way, which follow respects all the guidelines What if I do a WordPress theme well, then this can be easily maintained from the community If there is like some core WordPress developer italian who wants to maintain it then This is something that can do and of course it doesn't need to be italian Many of the technologies that we are creating are actually Quite generic the whole framework about data processing and data analytics Is completely generic uses meta-based it uses superset it uses jupyter notebook So those are all things that can be of value and that can be shared between the systems and with the open governance model We are giving power to the community main challenge of course is then with the public administration itself because Well, there is some kind of fear that you need to overcome when you ask People who are used to work in a very closed and locked environment and just release once every one or two years To do development in the open sometimes from day one sometimes after the day of the release Then you need to change a new mindset where if you open a pull request that doesn't really mean like Okay, I'm intruding in your work and stepping in your work directly It's just like a pull request and you have to answer that because it's somebody that can provide a useful contribution Maybe they sent a patch and it's all wrong You have to explain why so it's a new mindset that needs to be put and then of course you need to find your flows that work because If I'm just going to say okay, you open everything up And you don't provide them a framework in which they can work effectively Then this just impacts productivity and they're going to hate you for that So we started this community in with a large event on 6 7 of october where we have 800 developers 27 cities in italy it was the largest public hackathon ever organized in europe second largest in the world because nasa they beat it And where we kickstarted this community we asked for help to develop many of those components and the developers who sent in successful pull requests were Well and accepted and were nominated as maintainers if they wished to to be so of course And for the future We are trying to now are in the process where we already saw a model that is working And we're in the process of scanning things up. How do we do that? We are writing national guidelines and I want to explicit that once those guidelines are going to be published They're going to be binding for all public administrations. So this is a document. We're working on right now And which will be open for comments by more or less the end of this month And of course all comments are welcome in this sense and in this guidance we want to write things such as you need to Publish and put all your code on a collaborative platform or your choice could be github It could be yourself hosted githlab or githia or bit bucket or basically whatever you want And we're going to propose a model a community working model. This is the github flow It it should be it will be something similar to the github flow where You have several maintainers and you have all public administrations working on the same code. The end goal is to turn All Servicemen all the people all the coders who are already working for the public administration Into real open source developers who know how to contribute upstream when they use upstream projects Who know how to publish their work how to work together and cooperate this is of course a pretty pretty challenging task, but I think it's a It's a highly successful one another key part of our strategy is the open innovation hubs What is an open innovation hub is a way to stabilize? this The culture of the opening even more it's a series of places Which are created to promote the open culture in cooperation with the universities in cooperation with the municipalities in cooperation With the local institutions so that they can form a group about open source and open practices and to be a part To be a reference point for the public administration so that they can cooperate So taking the existing community and leveraging on the and the work of the existing of the existing communities who are That do and develop open source and give them a way to talk to public administrations And on the other hand For the public administration to have like some kind of feedback when they want to create new technologies Or they have new ideas for the public with the public All of this of course in constant communication with other european partners We are speaking a lot with the french team. We're speaking a lot with the european union with the uk team So to sum it up just like franco was given on that day the possibility of Driving the the machine for for making sure that the road was even And his dream was fulfilled for one day. Well, we hope That you appreciate and you can be our digital umara for the next days Thank you very much So in the national guidelines, we are not mandating any specific platforms of course Because it would be I think it would be even illegal to do that directly in indonesian again And we are just giving the requirements for a platform And then we are quoting a few of the platforms Which satisfy those standards In the case of lack we have one for those key technologies that we created So if you just go on developers.italy.it you have the button which is lack and then you can get your invitation For now this has this was set up for the hackathon So we wanted to keep it as free as possible and then now we are having all the developers just be there and use that as a reference point The thing is it's very very hard to choose a good communication method and Also to momenta like you could go for a hosted solution such as lack and there you have Several competing solutions with pro and cons etc And you can go for your hosted yourself Which was for a hosted solution because it was easier to set it up and it was easier to maintain it in the long run Because we need to stabilize this kind of effort. Sorry On github on the other hand the italy organization just go github.com slash italyah It's a completely free organization because all of the the repositories that are completely public and open source So there is no need to close it up We I can tell you what we did for developers italyah Which is the part of the development of those key technologies But then all the administration will be able to choose Based on their needs already. We have some regions which are house their own software on some kind of source forge so It really depends on the skills of the administration and and what they want to do and what do they want to invest Okay, wait first you See many hands this is This project So, uh, yeah, sorry, uh, so he says that most Most contractors will not probably be happy about the openness of those projects And releasing them as open source What I can tell you is that when Like they are already obliged by law to release them as open source Uh, because there is article 69 which says oil code made custom for the public administration should be released openly Now the definition of openly until now Has been somehow problematic Because it was not never specified like okay, what does it mean? Like does it need just need to be free does need to be under certain licenses Didn't need to give you any freedom. It was summed up in um, it was called a reuse catalog where you would You would be able to give it to other public administrations for free Which is a little bit open source, but not exactly. So what we are doing is Buy those guidelines, which will be binding for the public administrations You will need to release it as open source Otherwise you will not be able to participate into In in the call So it's it will be It will be for new software, of course, because we cannot do it on the previous software, but all new contracts Will be made in this way now this for the specific details Of course you need to wait for the guidelines to be out and published and of course there is a commenting work So this is for the exact details, but in general I hope this answers your question. Okay Okay, I see hands in the back Okay, you because this is a very very good question So he was asking about whether the documentation on the forum is just for technical development or also for this general civilian documentation So he started out for The forum was created for discussing the three years plan. So very very much a civilian But quite technical but still pretty much. It was not the documentation for the software Um, then uh, the on the other hand the read docs part So the the technical documentation was created for the software But now we are more or less in the process of merging the two things Uh, we are using the infrastructure that we created for the technical documentation also for example to host Versions of the low One very good example is though that digital administration code, which was the first low which was put on github Completely version and you see you can see all diffs between the version from 2006 till the one which was passed just last december And you can see how it evolves with regular gift diff tool And then you can read it and read the docs, etc And the idea is to try to bring this forward more and more Probably the interface will need to be adjusted because of course you are serving two different technical use cases But we are going in in this direction and You have also to consider that most of the documentation for the technical part of course for the loads is in italian But for the technical part, we are trying to be as international as possible Most of the documentation is actually in english for example about all the data processing is is done like that And it's also interesting to see that other governments are doing a little some some stuff Similar to this an example was the french government which released the uh software is called open fisca Uh, which is a python package where they they you can run simulations for your country You you basically write a python classes and You you define the fiscal system of your country and then it's completely generic and you can run simulations You can see how to optimize taxes. You can propose the reforms And then see the impact of that and you're working on this We're also applying for a google summer of code and this is for example If we get accepted as a google summer of code organization one of the challenges that we try to propose to adapt it for our fiscal system Okay, more questions So you're asking about like, okay So you're asking about how what is the scope of the program? It's just for new software for old software open source software. So the answer is is different. So article 68 I I go back to the law article 68 You have to choose open source solutions first what it means is I am a public administration And I need a new piece of software The first thing to do I have to do is I have to evaluate what is already present before asking for it to be made for myself And if I find an open source package that is good for me or that can be modified it for to suit my needs I have to choose that I am mandated by law to do that Instead of I choose to have something new made for me, then I need to create it and release it for everybody as open source What we are doing is we are adding a collaborative model and an open way because until now it was open source like android Okay, which is open source, but you just get a tileball every now and then And said with this model you're able actually to maintain it and create a community around that A community which could be of other public administrations it is in everything For the governance question if I if I got it correctly so asking like Who are you reporting to we report directly to the prime minister? So this is the head of all the public administrations So once we do all this work and we release this code The presidency the government the the municipalities the hospitals the universities the schools Everybody will be covered by this Is it a Please okay, so the question was If I Create a model where you have to release as open source the software that you create doesn't this doesn't this create an incentive For small public administrations to wait for somebody else to do it and then get it for free well Yes and no meaning that if you if you have something that you need Usually usually actually what happens is the other way around So you recreate the same software over and over because you believe that what is there until now? It's not really good or not exactly satisfying your needs I don't think that this model changes very much this because This was kind of the way it was until now you have still article 68 and article 69 are Older than our team are older than this collaborative model. It's just a framework that was already present On which we are working So in theory already now this could have been a problem because Old public administrations are obliged to give to somebody else the software if they if they are asked for it for free And this is not a problem that is arising. So yes in theory This is a problem what you're quoting but in practice Ah, it it didn't really show up And actually we need to encourage more of this participation and more of this maintenance of the same software I have Cooling that my two or three or four developers can be paid to get the work done whereas the media's quality itself would have been completely Five percent of the work. So that was their distance Or just not at all because my department has five percent of what I really need to hire a human So I just don't hire a human But when I can give the budget to somebody else and then they can create a pool of funds and have to manage that developer team It happens Yeah, absolutely, but this is more or less experience. We saw so I mean it's Okay Okay, so the question was for for the internet speakers Um He was speaking about his experience in the Dutch government The bigger problem was to convince the manager a rate layer that You had to like that if you do something as open source Then it benefits everybody and not just the people who are funding you then this is a problem and then how to educate them not to Like that open source is not that much more expensive So you should do open source in general because it's better does it sum it up. Sorry It had to be a quick summary Okay, thank you You know it's actually read five minutes left. So no time's up Okay, yeah Well, in Italy, we are in a luckier situation because they have to release it as open source So You can kind of avoid the question in this way But in general, I would say that leading by example is always the best practice In in a way We are doing that also in Italy by trying to be an example in Europe And try to put it as a as a reform point For all the other governments try to see and enjoy because I I honestly believe that Not only Italian Uh, this is a personal belief that not only Italian institutions should participate in this kind of effort as I was quoting before the french government has also released Very good open software which can be adapted and used in other countries So if we of course, there will be some software which will be just for a nation or just to comply with a particular law or Just like a design choice. So for example for the the web the the web toolkits But otherwise There should be should be created. I think a much more Wide collaboration platform where where these things can go and and evolve Of course, sometimes it's quite hard to just convince the the management Another problem that we have many times is well, but if I open open it up, then it's less secure Which is of course not exactly the case, but then you need to talk them through it and and What we have seen working is that often best practices really help and We try to apply them in our work because because it's not really nice to go to somebody and say well You have to do it anyways, you know, it's because I I'm the I'm the boss or I'm the one who is putting down the guideline So it's always better to convince them and to have them to means that Opening things up is a good way. It takes a little bit of effort Uh For example, one of the things we tried first is to have the ticketing system be part be put on the open and then having like all of this Work gone and then you create a workflow and then you they're very very scared at first and then they see that It's actually good and they start to receive Good quality contribution Another example is that with the the agency's called uh, polygraphico which creates the the identity cards They have a middleware for reading the cards and so you could build your own application You could have it as an authorization mechanism for your office or for the gym or for the buses But it was windows only You managed to have it released as open source for the hackathon Just two days before and during the hackathon somebody took it and converted it for imported to arduino So now everybody could use just an arduino and all italian citizens Not all of them because they need a new id card, but more and more Italian citizens in the next 10 years their rollout will be complete. Hopefully also sooner You can just create your authorization mechanism with that And so they saw this as a real real good value And this is when they start to understand the power of open source and of opening things up because they can Stand to receive contribution. They have immediate feedback and so on. So yeah best practices to put this shortly Okay, uh wait, I just go in order because and I've tried to keep the answers short I saw some hands there since a lot of time, but I didn't see them anymore So we'll go one. Okay. Good. Okay, so The question was about uh, this is uh, and this is more about open source and not about hacking Uh, what I can tell you the the hacking part if I understand your question correctly is about the the platforms which are open and Let's say an api first approach where all the government agencies and all the services are exposed first via apis So you can build your own applications Well, this is of course a very very broad answer because you get all kind of apis and all kind of system But to give you to give you an example the data analytics framework will collect all of the data from all public administrations And then you have a central interface to analyze it and it's the only source of truth because it's where Like you get real-time feed. It's not like an open data portal where somebody just needs to go and upload A csv file every now and then when they remember, but it just like has life feed from The data the data directly and then of course depending on the access level policies You can go and analyze it And for all the datasets that are opened by law then you can just Create your account login and then you have a jupiter notebook with all of the data Directly inside and you can do your analysis and you can publish them for others to see So in this case if you're an activist or a journalist or a citizen who wants to do some dashboarding You can do it easily in this kind of framework The the electronic ad card is another example Your you can build your tools and devices and authorization with that. Yes Can I take the last question very quickly? Okay Please Okay, so the question were very long We will do that. We will do that But in general, yes article 68 is already working. We already have examples and yeah, thank you very much


Good, how you doing? Good. Good. Feeling after? Yep, feeling good. Healthy after Miami. Missed a foul a little bit, but hopefully he getting better. But as a unit, we've got guys who's out there feeling good, but excited to get better, going against the Panthers this week. Highly competitive unit, division play. We all know how that go, and so we're excited to get back to it. 4-8 was quick to point out. Ladies, it's in the section. I'm sure to get there, get to the next match, that's it. Yeah, it was good. Good play. Nice pass to us move, you know what I'm saying? Beating them inside, setting them up for an outside move, and it came at the right time. And they just threw the ball up, and 4-8 was there to make a great play. Take it back, put the office in position to score some points, and it was good. So hopefully we can continue to get into that quarterback and get them to the ground. You know, with a put like that, it's one head to head to talk about who's, like, the greatest offense that he had on that play. It doesn't really show up in his stat books, but it means so much to the overall players. I mean, from an individual perspective, like, how do you feel about that? Is it something that you take pride in that, like, you know what, we're getting the stats. Like, I've made that play, yeah. Yeah, definitely want to take pride in your work. And at the end of the day, whether the stats were accounted for or not, I know how I affect the game. And that's what's important to me. Obviously, as a competitor, you want, like, stats and stuff to go up. But I mean, for me, the biggest thing is watching that film, you know what I'm saying? Seeing how you affect the game. Because it could be, you know, somebody can help. I mean, it could be stats all day or not, you know, not that much effect on the game or vice versa or both. You know what I'm saying? So at the end of the day, whatever's going to happen, I'm going to take care of myself. But I'm just trying to affect the game the best way I can. You know, it seems like this team's trending in the right to the right with it. Having the start that he said and then kind of coming back now when I'm pretty good at playing games for the best of its together. To kind of go into the two-week time where you face Carolina, you face the Saints. I mean, how important to kind of have this story is to run the three guys from, I guess, like a mentality concept? You know, it's been good just to get some wins going.  Even the games that we lost, we felt like we could have been competitive in. So I think we don't prepare to lose games, you know what I'm saying? So whether it happened now or then, it always feel good to win, you know what I'm saying? So you want to continue to build on it, give each week as respect and preparation that you can be ready for game day and have success.  Don't count, you know what I'm saying, for tomorrow. So we got to keep going, keep working day in and day out. I'm trying to continue to stack it up. How are you doing that, Mr. Clark, after the coordinator to affect the quarterback? You know what I'm saying? They had a six-year sack, two-year first week. They'll play this week. This has the most first time in this kind of team. Yeah, you know, definitely want to work together, you know what I'm saying? But like I just said, last week, don't matter this week. You know what I'm saying? Whether they gave up six sacks, they pros too. You know what I'm saying? They're going to make the adjustments that they need to do. They're highly competitive guys, and they're not going to want to go out there and put a bad performance. We're not going to go out there and put a bad performance. So at the end of the day, we're kind of developing our plan, going into the game, and giving each team, each player's respect they deserve, and letting the rest take care of itself. Yeah, yeah, they play multiple guys across the line, man.  He's mobile as well. So we've got to be disciplined in our wrestling. So, so, highly competitive team with a lot of pride. They want to do well. Absolutely, absolutely. That's big, that's big for him. It's big for the team, you know what I'm saying? He'd be first to tell you.  So team effort, but a great individual effort by Deion. And I'm happy to see it, you know, personally, and, you know, as a friend. So definitely hoping that he can continue to stack on that. And that definitely feels good feeling to get that player to the week. Cool, cool.


If you're going to report that the Spurs broke an all-time attendance record last week, put a little respect on it. 68,323 Warriors fans did not fly to San Antonio. Good God. Run it back. Starts now. Good morning and welcome to Run It Back. Look at this chipper and sunshiny group of young men. As always, Stadium Insider Shamsherania joining us back at home. Chandler Parsons still has not been released from whatever camp he's been detained. And there's Eddie. Eddie, you look great today, bud. Thank you. The Celtics fans also took over an arena this weekend, but don't feel bad. Dude, when I tell you though that thing last week was awesome and it was such a big memory lane and it was only because San Antonio, look, let's not, we're not having secrets here. The San Antonio team right now is not going to win the championship. So people showed up to have like a big memory party and it felt very emotional. I just, I used to be the national media and I didn't like us then. And now that I'm not really on that platform anymore, I don't like them even more. So that's all I have to say about that. But let's get this bad boy started right away. Look, Sixers Lakers, let's just start there. And let's just start with what happens at the end. Play it, please. That's what surprises me the most, that you get possession. You don't call the timeout and set something up. It's a great shot at the broad. Already in the showers. Look, Westbrook says he was fouled and Bede says he's unlucky. Chandler, what say you? Yeah, this is tough. This could go either way. I actually like the no timeout call here. I don't like giving the chance to set up. You know the ball is going to either go to Russ or LeBron in this situation. The defense is getting back in transition. I like the no timeout. If you're Russ though, you got to get a better look than this. You got to get a shot at the rim. This is the worst possible outcome here. I'd like to see LeBron obviously with the ball in his hands here. But even if Troy Brown gets that pass, I don't know if it's going to be the best look. I don't think he got fouled here either. I think it's pretty good defense from the big man. But look, you have your second best player, point guard on a mismatch against the center. I don't know what out of a timeout you could get better than this. But yeah, you got to get a shot up to give yourself a chance. I would even win a little quicker if I was Russ. But that's not how you want the game to end. It's sloppy, Eddie.  Yeah, I mean, look, coaching is hard. And the easiest things to coach from the couch are subs and timeouts. So everybody sat there and watched the Mavericks game and said, yo, why didn't he sub anybody? And over time, I didn't call a timeout. And then this game as well, they said, why didn't call a timeout? I actually liked the matchup. It's fine. Russ played a great game yesterday at triple double. He shot 50% from the floor. He was good. He helped keep them steady. Again, they're competing with a contender in the east. And then they just did the same thing with the Mavericks a few days before. They're not as bad as, like, we would like to think. But you've got to get that ball on LeBron's hand at that point. I get it what he said afterwards. He's trusty. Russell Westwood is a former MVP. It's a matchup he likes. Look, Joanne Beat is a great defender.  He knows Russ only got a certain amount of time. And Russ can't shoot jumpers. It's a little bit easier for him. Call a timeout, get the ball to LeBron, and figure it out from there. I don't like it. I get his rationale. And again, it's so easy to armchair coach when all we're thinking about is timeouts and subs. But my whole thing is LeBron has to touch that ball at that point. He also had a great game, a better game than Russ. And he kind of deserved that shot. But hey, it is what it is. LeBron was clearly, very clearly not happy with the decision walking off the court. And so, yeah, you hate to relegate LeBron to a bystander with the game on the line. This is like two really, really tough losses for the Lakers in a stretch without Anthony Davis, where you need everyone you can get. And so the Mavericks loss, this loss last night, like they're going to be kicking themselves weeks from now when these two games are very important. But I think, listen, the no timeout call, I agree with Chandler. It was a good call. But once Russ tries to drive once, then has to bring it back out. We've seen that movie before with this Lakers team with Russ Westbrook, when he tries to get by someone like it's not like how it used to be, right? So that's where you call the timeout, where there's still four or five seconds left.  I don't know if that's the most prudent move in that moment. And like Eddie said, LeBron James, that's a moment where he has to touch the ball some former fashion. So Chandler, that's the thing. I think people are, whether you like the timeout, no timeout, what have you at the end of the day, that seems to be a moment where Darvin Ham should be stepping in. And a lot of people are kind of questioning that today. Where do you stand on his coaching there at the end? I mean, look, again, like Sean just said, once he kind of fumbled the ball and didn't have a straight line driver, a good look, that's maybe where I agree. Burn the timeout, draw something up. I don't care if the defense gets set. I don't care if they know it's going to LeBron or Russ. You got to get something and you got to get a look at the hoop. Not getting a shot off again. That's the worst possible scenario. And that's a nightmare for a coach. And if Russ happened to hit a step back or got to the lane and got fouled, we're not even talking about should he have called a timeout. It just didn't go his way. But again, I'd like to see Russ have gone quicker. But yeah, knowing what we know now, you'd love to see him burn a timeout there and put the ball in their best player's hands.  On the Embiid side of things, he had 35 and 12. Seems like this team is turning things around, Shams. What do you think the biggest reason for that is? The biggest reason I think is the communication and just the energy and the flow that you're seeing right now with James Harden and Joel Embiid. They're talking after every game raving about each other. That line of communication has never been better. And we were talking all year at the beginning, at least, about just the two different styles of playing. You're starting to finally see how this team is coexisting with one another. This is the best stretch they've had that Joel Embiid's had with a co-star in a while, at least the last two, three years. So kudos for them to figure it out. And we saw last night, Tyrese Maxey came off the bench. That's a level of sacrifice for this team. He's clearly a starting caliber player who's made the decision. Doc Rivers said it was more on Tyrese Maxey to come up with the idea to come off the bench. He's sacrificed. And we saw his answer after the game. He said, I want to be a professional, whether I'm starting or coming off the bench. This team is probably a little bit better suited with D'Anthony Melton as a starter. And then Tyrese Maxey can take over coming off the bench. So you're starting to see a lot of the things aligned for this team from a sacrifice perspective and role and continuity. Yeah, I mean, this team's just getting healthy. They're hitting their stride. A month ago, we were talking about Tyrese Maxey's their second best player. And James Harden is their third. And this just shows you how good James Harden still is when he's facilitating, when he's on. And when him and a big guy like Joel, they're getting along. They're having fun. They're winning games. And you haven't seen this before with this duo. And it's going to take time for Tyrese Maxey. I think he's, he is their second best player. And I think he shouldn't be starting, but I do love the options of a Milton, of a Melton, people like that, that they can sub in there with the defensive mindset because they struggled defensively last night. It wasn't pretty for them defensively. That was a game, honestly, they could have easily lost. But this is a team that's super dangerous. They have a great big. They have great guards.  And the more, the more comfortable, the more legs Tyrese Maxey gets, this team is going to really be dangerous. I feel like they have a really good problems to have, like that team does. On the LeBron side, second player in NBA history to score 38,000 points. The Kareem countdown is officially official right now.  Would we enjoy these milestones more if perhaps he would have stayed in Cleveland? I don't know. Like LeBron kind of represents the modern mercenary NBA.  It means a little more and yada, yada. But that's for the local fans, for everybody else. It's like, oh, when he breaks this record, it's kind of cool that he's doing it and stay moves and whatever. But I don't know that it would mean more. I think it'd mean more to Cleveland for sure. But LeBron is a team unto himself. And so it's going to mean more to the LeBron fans, whatever day and team he does it for. And I think that's what it all comes down to for the most part. Yeah. I think it would be cooler if the Lakers were good, too. And these games were exciting. Yeah. That's fair. They were winning and playing in these big, meaningful games while LeBron's breaking this record. I think that would pack a little bit more of a punch. But no, I don't think going from Miami, Cleveland, Lakers, I don't think that matters. But this is an unbelievable accomplishment. It just, it feels like that's why the Lakers are playing this year for LeBron to break this record. And it would mean a lot more to be a lot cooler. To me, if the Lakers made a push, it got into the playoffs and had a better season.  And he's on pace. And he's going to be the most ever in the history of the game. But it's nuts. It's like a moral victory for Lakers fans. Like, there's something to root for us, I suppose. If you're into that. Yeah, there's something to do. Shams, you know we're not getting out of the Lakers topic without me asking you the latest on Mr. AD's return. So, Anthony Davis is expected to start running now. So once that happens and he's back onto the floor running full speed, that point, he's going to progress to contact work in the relative near future. And so I'm told that the hope is that Anthony Davis is going to be able to get back out on the floor with a handful of games left before the All-Star break. So that puts you out at about early February for a potential return for Anthony Davis to get back on the floor. He's got a bone spur issue. He's got a stress reaction in that foot. And so he's one of the guys that should be in the All-Star game this year, voted in. He's already among the leaders in the fans. So you've got to come back before the All-Star break if you want to play in the game itself. We'll see if he's going to be able to make it back. But right now, the goal is for Anthony Davis to be back out on the floor with about a handful of games left. And that puts you right around trade deadline. And we'll see how that impacts which moves the Lakers could make. Oh, it's going to get good. It's going to be fun. Moving on to the next. What is going on? Ben Simmons, late scratch. Hello, Backstornis. They fall to the Thunder 112. Eddie, on a disappointment scale, I'd like to hear what you think about this one. It's pretty up there. Even with Kevin and Ben out, they were there in the game the entire night and just faltered down the stretch. And we're watching the shots. Now these are easy shots for the Thunder over and over, dunks and dunks. And it's like, what's going on there? It was a frustrating watch for sure. And it's a game. You don't overlook the Thunder. They're a competitive team. They're just out of the playing right now. They're ahead of the Lakers. We've spent 10 TV minutes talking about. They're a good team. This is not a bad team.  Very disappointing loss. And you're looking at, they said at least another week until they evaluate Kevin and then however further along he goes with that. So you're looking at some time now. You're looking at some tough games coming up as well. You played the Warriors. You're going to play Lakers at home. You got some stuff coming up. They got to find ways to win some of these games while he's out. And it's frustrating that they lost that one because going in, you think you still have a chance as the better team and at home against the young Thunder and didn't go their way late. Yeah, this was a tough loss, but the Thunder are good and the Thunder are playing for the future, but they play so hard and they're having fun. And SGA and Josh Giddy, those kids are absolute Hoopers that play the right way, that see the floor, that are making the game easier for these other guys that don't have a lot of experience in the NBA. You got a guy like Lou Dore who I feel like is a vet. He's also still young and he just grinds defensively. I really like what they're doing, but yeah, on the flip side, this is a time for Brooklyn where it's dangerous or missing your best player and you just have to sustain and you have to tread water and they've now dropped a couple and Kyrie Irving can't have 15 points in a game like this. He's got to dominate. He's got to take over games like this and he's going to be the reason why they stay afloat with KD out. But this was a tough loss. But one thing I learned is I'm not saying another bad word about Yuta because this man base is out of control, but he did go over two of the three point line last time. If you're going to be one of the best shooters in the NBA, you got all these people getting your back. Got to step up, make some shots. But no, these are games that the Nets have to win. I don't care who's in, who's out. This is KD's out, Kyrie's out. This is a game they got to win. We got to keep a three chart behind you. Since you have a blank wall anyways, we might as well turn that into like a Yuta Watanabe three chart and then we just keep track as we go. It's my room to go there. It's my room to go there. Everybody has one except for Shoms. Shoms is not biased. By the way, speaking of Kyrie and not being able to just have 15 in a game like this, he did have an interesting answer to reporter's question post game. Here he is. To that point, it's kind of easy to look at last year when Kevin goes down, you guys lose 11 a row and then look at how you guys started. How do you, what can you take from the way things kind of fell off the wheels last season to kind of maybe ensure that it doesn't happen this time around? Well, I'm consistently in the lineup that helps. We also don't have halfway in or halfway in anybody in the locker room. And there's just a primary focus on the big picture here. I like that whole vibe that was going on there. Look, they have a five game road trip that starts Tuesday here in San Antonio. I don't know what fairness is in this one, Eddie, right? Is he supposed to fill Katie's shoes? Like what exactly is a fair expectation for Kyrie? Well, Kendrick Perkins is arguing with the world about this right now, but if Kyrie is a superstar or an all-star, and I think he's an all-star, I think he's a superstar. Yeah, you should be able to carry the offense a little bit against these teams and win some of these games. And I think it's fair to expect that. I think Kyrie expects that of himself. We're talking about somebody from the Kobe tree of influence. So he's feeling like he can do this. It had tough night last night, obviously, and you don't expect that every night. But yeah, I think it's absolutely fair to expect him to be able to tread water at least while Kevin's out. I think he and the rest of the Nets and the rest of the league understand that, yeah, Kevin's their best player, and he kind of makes the boat float. But Kyrie should be able to handle some of that as well. We're talking about two-week, three-week strats and some winnable games coming up on the schedule. They play yours first in a few days here. You expect to win that game. But I think it's absolutely fair. And I think Kendrick Perkins thinks it's fair as well. Yeah, I agree. Kyrie Irving is a superstar. He's an all-star. He's a go-to guy. He's a number one option on a lot of teams. So it's definitely fair to say that he needs to step up. He needs to kind of orchestrate the offense. He needs to go and get 30, 40, 50, have some of these crazy games that all the guys are doing. But it also falls on the other guys. It also falls on everybody on that Nets roster where it's a collective effort. When you've got a guy like Kevin Durant go out, everybody needs to step up. Guys are going to be playing more minutes than the crunch time, but they're not used to playing. So it kind of falls on everybody. But yeah, a lot. Now, Kyrie Irving, you're the best player. This is your team now for the foreseeable future. And a lot of it is on him to kind of produce and keep them afloat if they want to continue to stay in that home court advantage area. I think there's an understandable fear with Katie out of a repeat sort of of what happened last year. And so then I ask you, Shams, when's he coming back? Well, I think the hope and the optimism is still right before the All-Star break with plenty of time to spare before the All-Star break, which is good news for the Nets. It's not as serious as it was last year when he missed six weeks. But there's no doubt, like you said, Michelle, like these guys have to step up in his absence. 25% or 75%, 25% or 75% from three, that's 33% from three-point range. That's unacceptable. You're just not going to win many games like that. Kyrie Irving is going 16 to 44 in the two games without KD. That's 36% from the field. That's just not going to cut it either. So for sure, him stepping up his game, two back-to-back off-nights is tough. Off-nights from three-point range is going to be tough without him, especially Seth Curry had a big game last night. But Joe Harris, Utah, there were a few guys that just did not shoot the ball well. So they're going to need all hands on deck. This team is much better equipped to play without Durant this year. They've just got to go out there and prove it now. I'm sure he'll have a career night here on Tuesday. You're welcome ahead of time, Eddie. How about we move on to the Warriors? What is going, why? Other than what they did here on Friday night, the Warriors on the road are just awful. They only have four wins so far away from home. They lost to the Bulls. They're four and 17. That's below 500, sitting eighth in the West. Shoms, you were at this one. If you could put it into words, what's the most noticeable thing or notable thing that you were able to notice in this game? Period. Why? Well, on both sides, for the Warriors, what I'm seeing is just the attention of detail, especially on the defensive end, is just not there. Guys just aren't, it doesn't look like they're on the same page. There was a lot of vocal players, especially on the sideline. Dremont Green, second half of the game, was very animated on the bench. Not quite sure what he was upset at, but he was very animated. And you could see the frustration was boiling over at some points in the second half of the game. This is a Warriors team that's one in 10 against the Eastern Conference on the road. Not a good sign, not a good look. This team is night and day at home versus on the road. It's just not a sign of a championship contender, but we'll see. They have the pieces to turn it around. Clay Thompson said after the game, I'm not worried. We'll find our stride. Dremont Green, likewise, I think they're all optimistic that they'll be able to figure it out. And on the other side, the Bulls. Like, Nikola Vukovic had a 40-in-10 game. Zach Levine had a solid game as well. No DeMar DeRozin. He should be back here this week. But I think this is a team we spoke about last week.  They want to be competitive. Want to try to see if this team can make a playoff run. You look at the roster, it's not an issue about talent. It's an issue about connectivity and this team figuring it out. And maybe they need to get Nikola Vukovic more involved every single game. Yeah, and the Bulls, they looked like a really good team last night. When they have that big three and they have Vusevich playing like Jokic, they're really good. And I do think Lonzo Ball is critical to this team. When you have two-wing scores, like DeMar and Zach, you need someone to set them up. You need someone to initiate offense. And they're missing that kind of real point guard. But like Shyam said, they have the talent. They have the depth. They have size. They have the roster to be good. For whatever reason, they are just not playing well this year. But last night, they were flying around. They were better defensively. And when you go to the Warriors, you can't give up 132 points to the Chicago Bulls and have Vusevich give off like that. And it's defensively. These guys, we know how explosive they are offensively. They have so many pieces that can get hot and beat you. But they're not rotating. They're not talking defensively. They're not giving that second and third efforts defensively. And they're horrible on the road. So yeah, I'm not worried either, like Clay said, but it's January. Like when are we going to worry? Because this is starting to become who they are. So they got to get it in gear here. But this was not a good start, a good finish. They did not play well. Does that surprise you, Eddie?  But they're just sitting, what, 10th in the east? Is that what I just said? Yeah, 10th in the east. So do you think that they have enough to actually make some noise, especially if, based on shams, they don't really plan on blowing anything up? So what do you think they can do? Missed tough for them because they dug such a hole. And much like the Warriors, they seem to be inconsistent night in and night out. Between the three guys, I mean, 43 points is magic, but we don't get that from Vusevich every night. Their issue, and it's funny, we didn't see it as much against the Warriors.  Their issue has been defense all year long. Just their effort on defense and kind of waiting on Lonzo Ball for that and then expecting Alex Caruso to carry a ton of the load there. And I love Alex Caruso, but he cannot be your defensive anchor on the team that you want to win playoff games with. So it's, if they can show up their defense, you know, but I don't know that they're equipped with that. I don't, with Vusevich and with the way Zach Levine has defended over the last few years, I don't know that they're just set to be a defensive stalwart in the playoffs. Can they climb up the standings? They're right behind the Hawks and who else, the Pacers. The Pacers look better every night and then the Heat who was just slowly getting better. So it's going to be tough for them to climb up the standings anyway. You know, I don't know if they can make some noise. They can maybe get that playoff spot that they want. I get why they're not giving in. Like they've invested so much money into these guys in this lineup. And it was just last year, they were, you know, home court advantage this foreign to the season. And so they probably, we see the potential there, but I don't know about making noise. Their next game, it's Thursday in Paris. Not at all. God, Chandler, these one off international games, they just, they're all over the place. But as a player, I mean, they seem very happy. They're on the plane. Would you want to play in Paris? I mean, Paris is awesome. There's there's a big deal over there. I don't know if I'd want to do this in the middle of the season. Like I went and did a Taiwan in Philippines when I was on the Rockets for a preseason and it was a blast. And the fans over there are so passionate and it's a great opportunity to kind of, you know, learn and see different parts of the world and play in front of new fans. It's a, it's an incredible experience. This in the middle of the season with, you know, the flight, the jet lag that, you know, piling in a couple of games that you missed here and there back in. It's tough, but it's definitely fun. It's definitely a great experience for these young guys. I bet you a lot of them have not been to Paris. So just the simple fact of going to sightseeing and do all the things that, but in the middle of your season, it would be tough. Yeah. I mean, I, I get what's Ellis going for. The NBA is just going to keep doing these games. They're clearly focused on like global expansion, both in the way they market their players and things like this. They played a game in Mexico City last month as well. And, you know, there's always been rumors like, yo, maybe they'd have a team in this city and in this country and all of that. And, you know, I wouldn't be shocked. We live to the point where planes get faster and they actually have a plant, a team in Paris or something like that. But they're going to keep doing these games and, you know, they get a good couple of days off before and get a couple of days off after to deal with the jet lag.  I get, I get what you're saying though. It is tough to throw into the middle of the schedule as you're coming up on the break here. Guys, you lay down on the plane. You fly overnight. So there's your eight hours of sleep. When you land, it's a beautiful day in Paris. What are we talking about? I could be there by tonight. You guys just let me know. Well, I'm mad that the San Antonio Spurs didn't get to do this trip.  So Michelle, Michelle's got to be out there. It's going to, it would be, it would be dangerous for Michelle on the streets in Paris. Yeah, I need no excuse. No, and there's a chance to have brunch with Tony Parker. I already saw the NBA tweet that out. So there you go. Moving on to the, what looks like the third time MVP, Nikola Jokic, game winning three against the Magic. Time expiring. Also had his seventh career triple double last night. Magic head coach Mosley said after the game an MVP type player makes the MVP type play. That's what it came down to at home. This conversation will go on until the awards are handed out. But Chandler is Jokic starting to really distance himself in this thing. I think so. And I think this season it's so close because every night, every week, one of these MVP finalist guys has an explosive night. Has a crazy night where it makes this thing. Maybe, you know, maybe he's in the lead now.  But when you watch Jokic last night, the guy took 11 shots. He went eight for 11. He's so efficient. The way he plays, we really have never seen a big play like this where you can initiate the offense through him. He hits the rebound. He takes it coast to coast. He's the guy shooting 62% from the field because he doesn't take bad shots. He doesn't force. His vision is unbelievable. At the beginning of the season, I was finding every excuse to be like, no way I can give this guy a third MVP. Someone else give it to a Luca. Give it to a Tayden. He's having a great year on the best team. I can't. This guy is unbelievable. He's averaging 25. He's averaging a triple double. They're the best team in the Western Conference. And he makes everybody around him so much better. It's not just one of these guys with Gotti Stast is putting up 40, 50. This guy is making his team better. He's making his team the best team in the Western Conference, pretty much for the majority of the season. And it's so impressive what he's doing. So yeah, I think it's him. And I think it's truly remarkable that he could possibly win three in a row. That is unheard of. Look at that. Yeah, I think he's running away with it. I mean, I've been calling the MVP a narrative award for some time and the narrative is building. And the only narrative block he had was voter fatigue. And now the voters are fighting back at voter fatigue. They're saying, yo, that's not a real thing. That shouldn't exist. This is in a vacuum. Doesn't matter. Like suddenly we've shifted the narratives. Last year, the narrative was like, yo, they would have never been in the sixth seed if he wasn't there. And he wins the MVP. This year it's, well, he's the one seed and he has the best stats. So now he's the MVP. I'm not trying to diminish what he's doing. He's playing incredibly well. But if you just look at the way people vote and the things that they weigh when they do that, Luca is seven games back in the standing. So if you had him as close, that's a big enough gap. Jason Tatum, we're already kind of writing him off as a competitor here for the award. Kevin just went down for two, three, maybe four weeks. And so who is left? Giannis, they're slipping in there up and down all season long. The MVP is his to lose at this point, halfway through the season. And it's kind of like the coronation of Yolkets right now. And like all the things Chandler said, he's averaging a triple double. He's got the best record in the West. He's looking incredible night in, night out. And so I get it. I can hear the noise. I can see the noise. I can see the narrative already building up. If he remains healthy, that award is his. Let's talk about the other awards and the combo is already over as far as I'm concerned. Wow. How about how stoic? How about how stoic he was? Like he hits that. It's a crazy shot game winner.  I love, I love the fact that Nicola Yolkic is going to just be him unabashed. And so shout out to Nicola Yolkic for that. But I think if this team is a number one seed in the West, it's hard not to look at him as the MVP for sure. And I know if you're Nicola Yolkic and the Denver Nuggets, the expectations that they've set on themselves is trying to win a championship. So they've been to the conference hours before if they get the number one seed, individual accolades are cool. But I know what this team is going to be going for, what Calvin Booth is going to be aiming for is try to get this team to a championship. And so those are going to be the expectations, especially if they get the number one seed. But it's going to be tough to deny Nicola Yolkic of an MVP if they're the number one seed in the West. By the way, the Nuggets have been doing a good job of putting out content. There's a pop culture contest between he and Jamal Murray that just shows his person.  It's funny to watch and it's adorable. And that's all I have to say because it sounds creepy after that. Taking a quick break right here, but we've got the latest on my favorite thing in the whole wide world, the slam dunk contest. And the latest edition of that man has a family when we return. Welcome back. This is a run it back. And the slam dunk contest is taking shape slowly, but surely shams wow us with the latest. So this is a little bit of history. There's a guard by the name of Mack McClung on the Philadelphia 76ers G League team, the Delaware Blue Coats. He's accepted an invitation to be in the dunk contest, not the G League dunk contest, the NBA dunk contest. From what I'm told, and he becomes the first outright G League player ever to be in the NBA dunk contest. He's accepted this invite. So this is a bit of history. He's known as like this internet phenom. He's definitely a phenomenal athlete at six foot two, but he's a guy that gets a lot of traction on the internet, on social media for his dunks. So he'll join Shaden Sharp with Portland, KJ Martin of Houston. So he'll be the third participant so far committed. Look for a fourth participant to round out this list. The league is looking at OB Toppin really strongly. The guy, he won last year's dunk contest and he was in it the year before as well. So it could be a third straight year for OB Toppin. But yes, Mack McClung, a little bit of history here. When you say the league is looking at OB Toppin, have they just all been given up on the superstars? I mean, should we just give up on superstars being in this? Is that the deal? Tell me now. I mean, we haven't seen a history of that. I mean, I guess Zach Levine, Aaron Gordon were like the last two starter caliber players to be in it at a high level. I mean, OB Toppin did it last year. Diamond Mitchell did it a few years ago. So, I mean, it's just tough when guys reach a certain level, right? Like a John Moran. I think everyone's clamoring for John Moran to be in it. But once a guy reaches a certain level of stature, it's like they just don't want to do it, I guess. Chandler, your reaction to the news of Mack McClung. Eddie, if you don't stop laughing right now, I swear we'll come through the screen. It's a cool thing what they're doing, whether giving these guys that aren't household names, that now have an opportunity on national TV, on a huge stage to perform. And it's, Tom's just introduced Mack McClung. A lot of people don't know who that is. I don't know if that's the guy that you want for a dunk contest. But this is a kid who I've heard of just from the internet. He's like a millennial, Gen Z viral dunker. And I knew about him from Instagram and Twitter before he even went and played college basketball and went to Georgetown. I had heard about him, but I think there's a G-League dunk contest as well, correct? Sounds like it, yeah. There has been years past, but I think they stopped it in the last few years. So I don't know if it's still around, but it was for sure at one point. That's the last first thought when I heard the news. I'm like, it's got to be the G-League dunk contest. There's no way it's the American dunk contest. Yeah, I think it's cool. It gives these guys in the G-League, you know, hope to be able to do this. And I think with his viral kind of reputation, I think that's the reason this kid particularly is in. But again, I think the dunk contest is kind of, it's getting watered down now. And guys want to see stars. Guys want to see household damage. But like Shyam said, all-star weekend is kind of a weekend to kind of chill, to party, to make a lot of money and doing events and appearances. A lot of big games aren't going to participate anymore. So it'll be interesting to see. I hope he does really well. I hope it's exciting. But I just don't know. I don't like the idea of not knowing who these kids are in a dunk contest. Yeah, look, I like Mac. I remember his Instagram saves. It's cool to see a short white dude dunking. Like, I get it. I get the whole appeal. It was fun when he went to Georgetown. He's not an NBA player. He's had an NBA chance. He's not an NBA player. I'm not exactly sure why he's in the NBA dunk contest. If you're going to do this, go get some of those viral dunkers.  Go get the guy who does the 720 or between the legs. Go get those guys. Just do a dunk showcase, if that's what you're going to do. This is a little strange to me. I get it. Mac probably put on a great show.  Anyway, go get Jericho Sims. He's touching the rim with his shoulder so we see that he can jump this high. Go get him. Go get guys. I promise there's four guys in this league and they might not be starters. They might not be great players, but they want to do the dunk contest. Get four guys that want to do it. And hopefully he can put on a show. But yeah, isn't Obie Topping hurt? Like, I'm confused about this whole thing. I'm so confused. And not only that, but if these NBA guys lose to a G-League dude, that just changes this entire thing forever. You know what? I stick to my original idea.   Go get the old guys. I will watch them dunk. Get Vince. Vince, I know for a fact Vince could still dunk. I just saw him like two weeks ago. He looks fine because that I would rather watch. So Mack McClung wins the dunk contest here. Next year, they're just going to let the most athletic G-League guys participate. Like it's not NBA players. Or we just call it a showcase. Like Eddie said, we call it a show. Or like maybe you buy a TV at Best Buy and you get to enter the dunk contest. Like we're just going to let anybody in off the streets to be in the NBA dunk contest. I'll start a weekend dunk contest, because it's not the NBA dunk contest. We're just letting anybody do it. I can't wait. Just put the trampolines out and bring celebrities. Like let Meek Mill do a flip at a dunk. Just do that. Slam ball. I'm in. Slam ball dunk contest. Don't want to see that. Let's make it happen. Nobody wants to see this. Shops. What's it do with this? All right, I don't want to get tricked. Mack stuff pops off on social media though. Like his thing, like if the league is going for that Gen Z audience and millions of viewers on social media, like that's not a bad guy. He's, I mean, he might get more views than anyone else in the dunk. I mean, I hope he kills me. I really do. I hope he kills me. Vince Carter dunking will get more views than Mack McClung. Period. Fact science. See, that I agree with. That I agree with. I think they got a petition that. Make it happen. I think Michelle, you're onto something. Let's get this out. All right, fine. There's some, you know, real basketball news to talk about. Lakers working out both Myers Leonard and Boogie Cousin Shoms. Any shot in the world that either one of these guys gets to play? I think the Lakers are looking at which guy they want to sign, how imminent they want to do it. If AD really is on his way back here in the next few weeks, do they even really need a big, maybe you sign a big to buy time? But both those guys worked out. Darvin Ham said they look great. Myers Leonard, of course, has not played since January, March of 2021. He had the anti-semitic slur on TV. He had shoulder and ankle surgeries as well that derailed him. He was literally unable to step foot on a court and be cleared for workouts until this past week. So he's back on the trail. DeMarcus Cousins had been working out in Vegas from what I'm told. Teams have been looking into him. He does appear in great shape. But this is his first formal workout. We'll see if either gets signed. They do have an open roster spot as of today. Sterling Brown, who signed a 10-day, is no longer on his 10-day contract. So we'll see who they sign. I'm curious. Chandler has played against both of these guys, knows, I'm sure, both these guys. Who do you think is the best fit for this team?  And a Myers Leonard can shoot the ball. He can space the floor. He can defend. I haven't seen any of them, and, you know, quite sometimes. I don't know the shape that they're in. But yeah, I think the Lakers could use a lot of help, especially with AD out. I don't know if it would be for the rest of the season. But why not throw a big body out there of that? I'd like to put a good positive locker room guy there. So, you know, it's, you know, one of them, I think, could help. And they're both talented. They both, they both actually, Boogie can shoot the ball too now. But are any of these guys putting them over the top? I don't think so. But yeah, I think both these guys can still play in the NBA and help. You know what? I like that workout. I'm curious, are either of these guys even going to play over Wayne and Gabriel?  You know, I'm very curious why they feel like they need a big and they're working bigs out when Anthony Davis should be returning imminently. And Thomas Bryan and Wayne Gabriel have been playing well for them over the last month or so. So it's just, you know, we're like all things in the Lakers, just curious team building. But I guess they feel they need a big guy who kind of shoot. I like that. It's curious team building, as we say about the Lakers this year. Shoms, thank you as always. We shall see you bright and early manjana. But guys, we have to do a little, that man has a family and it's sort of a tease to all of us because it's the all dunk edition. What could have been? Oh my sweet, sweet, no. This was one of the nastiest bodies I've seen in a really long time. It's so good, it's so good. I did like a real facepalm when I see it. I couldn't, if Jog gets to jump off two feet, just move. Right, don't bother. I love that he leans into it too.  By the way, that's a great tweet that he had. I also, and when I look at this, I just think of poor strength.  Even like the move to like kind of split this little pick and roll right here, is everything about this play is insane. It's the whole team. The stat that he has now dunked on every team is like one of the most weirdly impressive stats I've ever heard for a guard at that height, you know, even though he jumps that well. That's insane. This is why we need guys like him in the dunk contest to see more of this. No defense. Right. I know with no defense. Let me watch him shine. Yeah, that's a 45 for me. It's going to be weird. It's going to be weird. How about Lil Nas read on Mr. Jared Allen? No. Wait, is that on Jared Allen? I don't, it's on anybody. Oh, here it goes. Oh, this one. That's, oh, these are all like that's not. I have mobibles. Okay. That's a lot. All right. These are a lot of dunks. Well, there's Jared Allen. So there he is. That's a nice in and out. That's a nice in and out. A collection of bangers. That's fine. Please. Nas read on a real team. Kawhi's playing you guys. Kawhi's playing. Bram, bram, bram. Why? I love to see Kawhi doing this. Me too. Kawhi is a great resume just dunking on God's head. No flash to it. Just I'm going to jump higher than you.  I mean, you think Yolkich doesn't show emotion. Good Lord. This is a robot all the way. I love it. I like it. Kawhi is my, my guy. I like it. Moments later, by the way, same victim. This, this almost seems like we're piling on Zeke at this point. But John Wall, why let this man live? Oh, that's right. Put left hands is what he does. This kid is just getting body left and right this game. All right. Poor guy. He must have gone home and had a real come to Jesus moment in the mirror. Which is what he puts down. Two legends to send you home in the same night. Poor guy. But I, I appreciate it. I should see John Wall do that as well, though. Yeah, I agree with that. All right. Last but not least, Mr. Julius Arundel. Oh my. Oh, he left that man down. Help him. I love the Daniel Gafford tries. Kevin dropped him earlier this year. He had his own crazy dunk off the hoop. And then, you know, it just comes back. The pendulum swings.  That's just me. That's a big guy to get dunked on by. Yeah, right? No, no wonder. Is that guy okay? He's Daniel Gafford. Okay. I'm just checking on him.  Stay down. Stay down. It's tough though as a big guy, because you are getting ripped in film tomorrow if you don't try and block attempts like this. Right. And so you get a bow right to the face. But I feel like you're getting made fun of either way. So I'd rather just not try. You hear that, kids? It's better not to try than to be mocked. Okay. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up next, a little you buying that is James Harden, a lock hall of fame. And how about a little Lori Markinon? Are we locking him up for the All-Star Game? Welcome back. We're going to do a little you buying that with Start Things Off with James Harden. Recorded his 100th 30.10 assist game on Saturday. So Chandler, I ask you, are you buying that he is a lock hall of fame guy? Yes. He's a lock 1000%. I think he's the only player to ever win six May of the year, a scoring title and MVP. Pretty much the only thing he's missing is an NBA championship, which he has a pretty good chance this year to get. Obviously there's holes in his game defensively. And like I said, he's never won a championship, but the things that this dude has done offensively, the way he scored the ball, he's one of the best scores of all time. His career numbers are great. He's played on the USA team. His resume speaks for itself. Obviously I think a championship is the icing on the cake for this guy, but there is no doubt about it. He is generational talent. He is incredible. And he is a lock for the Hall of Fame. A lock Eddie. Yeah. No, absolutely. I know James is a little bit of a punch line, you know, when we see his belly and pitchers and he flops and all this stuff. But it's really easy to forget how great a career he's had. Three times scoring champ. He did that back to back to back years, scored 36 a game one season. He's phenomenal. He made the 75th anniversary team. He's made all NBA seven times, 10 times all the time. He's it doesn't matter the class he goes in. I don't care of him, Kevin and Steph all retire in the same season. He's the first ball of the Hall of Fame. He's a lock. There's no debate about it for me. That'd be a fun night if they all go at the same time. That'd be great, actually. Moving on to Lori Markinon, who's getting so much shine this season, averaging 30 a game, nine rebounds in January. Are you buying him as a lock Eddie for the All Star weekend? Yeah, I think he'll get it as a reserve, even if he gets some hometown love there. And I think he deserves it. 24 points a game this season, eight rebounds. He's kind of taking that step that, you know, everybody who had stock in him early on was hoping he would take it. Yeah, that wings body. It'll be a fun time for him to play a couple minutes in that game and he deserves it. He's been great all season long. Yeah, I agree. I think being in Salt Lake helps a lot. I think his numbers are great. You know, he's really blossom and flourishing and having a great year this season with the injuries in the Western Conference. I think he's a for sure lock. He's not going to start. He's not going to play much in the game. But yeah, I think the hometown kid and the season he's having, he deserves to be in that game. Well, I can't help but hear a lot of caveats on why he will make it and why he's going to be a lock. So I give you this over under 1.5 all-star appearances for Laurie Markinen. Eddie first. Oh, man. I'll say over because he's going to get one this year and has a lot of time to get another one after that. But that's a nice little bed. Fandal, is that on the books? I might want to get in on that. It can be. Chandler, you didn't sound so sure. I'm not because I don't think they're going to be good for a while. I don't think they're supposed to be good this year.  But considering he's going to get in this year and he's young, yeah, I'd probably take that over because he's got a solid eight to 10 years to make another one. But that's tough. This could be lightning in a bottle. This could be for him. We will find out. Time to take a quick break. The good news and the bad news is either way, we've got our parlay when we come back. Take it as you want. Sometimes they're all far. Football fans, when you bet NFL same game parlays on the Fandal Sports Book from now through January 16th, hey, it's tonight. You can get up to $100 in free bets. Win or lose. All you have to do is place a total of $20 or more on the NFL same game parlay bets during the wild card round. The more you bet, the more you'll get back in free bets. Make every moment more with Fandal, official Sports Book partner of the NFL. So as we'd like to end each show with a three leg parlay, we did exactly that on Wednesday.  All three of us just pooped the bed.  Why would we even show this? This is so long. I don't know. I mean, Eddie was the closest in fairness. You and I, we lost by like double digits, Chandler. That was gross. That's good news, though. Throw it away. We're starting over today. Eddie, you could just please kick us off on this fine, beautiful MLK Monday with some good news. Please go. Yeah, the good news is Beedle finally missed on a pick. So she's joined the group officially. And I like that. Team's the worst. I'm doubling down with the Pacers. I'm taking the points tonight against the Bucks. I know they've lost three straight. I know that they have not looked great. I know they lost the Barley for me last week. But fool me twice. Let's see it happen. There's too many points. It's too enticing. That's a lot of points. I like that one. Yeah. All right, Chandler. I like the heat. I like, I think the heat are honestly a better team. I think they're playing better right now. I think they're kind of hitting their stride. They're figuring out, they're getting healthy. I think the heat will win this game easily, which is scary. Which is pretty scary because I'm not the most accurate picker. Do you know what I love imagining is some serious betting people just stumbling upon our faces on the television, listening to us make these picks. And we're just like, I don't know, try this one. But I'm going to try. I'm going to try again. I'm going to do Pelicans. I believe in this Pelican squad plus six and a half at Cleveland. I mean, I like that one too. All right. I feel like it's going to be a great game regardless. It's probably what I'm going to watch because that football game has two evil forces in it and I can't deal with it. Bet $20. Win a hundred and, well, 16 really. Guys, last chance to make any changes. We feeling it? Oh, I love them all. Let's ride. I don't know if Brandon Ingram is back. I don't think he is. So when we lose, I'll blame Beetle. But I like them. I like the other ones. That's not the point. I know he's not. Is Jose Alvarado playing? Oh, hello, Marguerite. My God. Oh, that's a great win.  That's going to do it for us. But as always, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 10 Eastern a.m. See you in Mugna.


TfNN, headline, news update. Welcome folks, we have the down industrial finished down 74, and as it goes up 88, S&P is up 3. Gold, gold contract down $20.70 trading at 18.45 an ounce. You have silver down $1.21 and 36 cents. Light suede crew down $2.88, $1.73 a barrel, notes and bonds. A 10-year note, down 24 ticks, trading 107.09, the 38 down a full point, plus 15 ticks at 112.11 and $king dollar. $king dollar is the culprit out here again, folks. Up 815 ticks at 106.988, the euro at 104, the yen trading at 149, the British pound at 120 to 1, the U.S. dollar. Now, we get over and take a look at the S&P first. We are going to see, had a huge contraction of volume. You did, you know, at the end of the day, reject lower price, okay? So, what we did Friday is this. We went 115 million shares on the way up. We got down to 424 today, 424.46. We finished at 427.30, and you only did 80 million. So, that's saying this thing wants to bounce. And it's the cues that are leading out here. So, what the cues did is that the cues, first off, when they broke this swing, they only broke it for one day. You had huge volume coming on Friday. We did volume on Friday at 64 million. Well, today, it never got under that low. We did 49 million. So, the cues, number one, a back inside its higher range. Number two, had volume on Friday. Number three, followed through today. So, this is going to be really interesting because what's run in this market is the bond market and the dollar. And the bond market didn't hold its lows, well, didn't reject its lows. It has a million lighter contracts, but it closed at the low of the day. You know, you're going into the low that was established out here last Thursday at the 10707, we're at 10709. Now, we did 1.4 million versus 2.2 million, which is good, but when you don't hold price, it's a problem.  We take a look at the dollar. The dollar had a huge move out here today, 818 ticks. Have a great night, folks. Have a safe night. Come back and visit Tommy tomorrow morning. Kicks us off 9 a.m. Great show, folks.