Ukraine will attack the Russian army and infrastructure with two million drones. Ukraine is set to produce two million drones this year. Hannah Vodzaya, Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine said this. At the same time, she acknowledged that the current needs of Ukrainian troops far surpassed the country's financial capabilities even with the assistance of partners. Even with our partners, it would be difficult for us. However, we are working in this direction. Vodzaya stated, we are ramping up drone production, she added. Vodzaya addressed doubts raised among Ukrainians by President Zelensky's statement about producing a million drones, clarifying that in terms of production, we are far beyond a million. I am confident that this year we will reach the mark of two million. Vodzaya emphasized, highlighting the capability of Ukrainian drone manufacturers, the Deputy Minister mentioned they can already produce up to 150,000 units monthly. The drone sector in Ukraine involves around 200 domestic companies, with nearly 60 of them already included in state orders. In an interview with the Independent, Oleksandr Kamyshin, the Minister of Strategic Industries emphasized Ukraine's urgent need for ammunition due to the ongoing war with Russia. He noted that Ukraine requires an amount of ammunition that no single country can deliver, including the United States. Kamyshin also highlighted that the capabilities of Ukraine's defense industry far exceed the funding currently available for its support. Ukraine is positioning itself as a global pioneer in unmanned technologies, according to Kamyshin, with UAVs becoming a crucial weapon on modern battlefields. He expressed confidence that this year Ukraine will produce over a million FPV drones and thousands capable of flying more than 1,000 kilometers, reaching oil refineries in Russia. In a meeting with Ukrainian and international journalists at the end of 2023, President Zelensky stated, we will produce one million drones next year. We will make a million. We will do everything to make it happen. Protection against threats from Russia First NATO base opened in Albania Albania has opened the first NATO base. The airbase located 80 kilometers south of the capital Tirana is designed to protect the western Balkans region from the threats posed by Russia informs NATO. This is another element of security from our region of the western Balkans, which we know well may be endangered from the neo imperialist threats and ambitions of the Russian Federation, stated the prime minister of Albania, Eddie Rama. He also announced that initially the airbase would house two Black Hawk helicopters and three Bayraktar strike drones. The opening ceremony was attended by the president of Albania, Bajram Begaj, Prime Minister Eddie Rama, as well as military leadership from Albania and NATO. It is reported that around 50 million euros have been allocated for the modernization of the Soviet era base. The reconstruction of the facility began in 2019, during which time the runways, control tower, hangars and warehouses were renovated. According to NATO acting spokesperson Dylan White, the airbase will serve as a crucial NATO hub, strengthening the alliance's presence in the western Balkans. In the first half of 2024, NATO is conducting a series of exercises under the overall codename steadfast defender 24. Poland is one of the participating countries and will host a significant number of soldiers and equipment from allies on its territory. As part of steadfast defender 24, Poland will also conduct national exercises called Dragon 24, involving the armed forces of other countries. Additionally on March the 4th, large-scale military exercises called Nordic Response 24 began in northern Finland, Sweden and Norway. These exercises, led by Norway, will continue until March the 15th. Approximately 20,000 military personnel from 14 countries, along with over 50 ships, including frigates and submarines and more than 100 aircraft including destroyers, helicopters and other aircraft will participate. Furthermore, in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Sicily, maritime exercises named Dynamic Manter began on the morning of February the 26th. These NATO exercises serve as a platform to test and enhance the alliance's crisis response capabilities. Russia developed a new weapon to shoot down U.S. and European missiles. The Russian military conducted tests of the S-500 Prometheus air defense system, which they claim is capable of shooting down hypersonic targets reports Defense Express. Supposedly during these tests, the S-500 system demonstrated the ability to shoot down hypersonic aerial targets. As an example, they cite prospective western hypersonic missiles, combat units of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or guided warheads, as well as short-range ballistic missiles. Russia claims that such capabilities of the S-500 were supposedly confirmed during the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Tula nuclear-powered submarine of the Russian Northern Fleet, which was launched in the Laptev Sea. Russian authorities attribute the successful destruction of targets to powerful radars, electronic computing systems and highly maneuverable anti-aircraft missiles. Among publicly available information, it is noted that the Russian anti-aircraft missile system is a new generation of anti-aircraft missile systems, which are expected to apply the principle of separate resolution of tasks for the destruction of ballistic and aerodynamic targets. As early as 2021, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov claimed that the S-500 system was allegedly in serial production. There are also plans to develop a naval version of the promising S-500 anti-aircraft missile system, including for installation on the Storm Aircraft Carrier Project. Previously, a representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Vadim Skibitsky, stated that during the war, Russia transferred air defense systems from the Far East and the Northern Region to Moscow and the occupied Crimea. However, the power of defense does not always correspond to the aggressor's statements. The representative of the Military Intelligence reported that the most powerful complex they have in service is the S-400, but even it is not entirely perfect. There are cases when their equipment fails. The well-known Panzea also misses our aircraft, which ultimately reach their targets, he added.


Hey guys, it's Liana and I'm here today to tell you every book that I read in 2020. So because I read 104 books in 2020, this will be a really long video if I stop to talk in depth about each of the books. So I'm just going to tell you the book and the story reading that I gave it and then maybe maybe if it's a if it's one that I particularly loved or particularly hated, I might throw in a line or two saying something more about it, but it's just going to be mainly a list. So off we go. The first book that I read was Gwenevere Deception by Kirsten White. I gave that two stars. Then I read Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I gave that four stars. Then I read Serpentine Dove by Shelby Mahuryn and I gave that two stars. And then I read The Fellowship of the Ring by JR Tolkein and I gave that four stars. And then I read A Study in Scarlet by I was going to say by Sherlock Holmes. By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I gave that four stars. And all of the books that I just listed, I have standalone videos or reviews for them. The Gwenevere Deception is actually a combo where I talked about that and Sorcerers, no, Sorcerer of Thorns, yeah. But anyway, I have separate videos for those books. The next book that I read was The First Volume of Sons of Aries by Pierce Brown. It's a graphic novel prequel to the Red Rising books. I gave that five stars. It made me cry. The next book that I read was Nocturna by Maya Montaigne. I gave that one star. I have a rant review for that. The next book I read was Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I gave that five stars and I have a standalone review for that. And it made my best books of the year as well. Then I read The Queen of Atolia by Makin' Well and Turner. I gave that four stars. So then I read The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I gave that three stars. Didn't like it as much as A Study in Scarlet, but I quite liked it. Then I read Born to Crime by Trevor Noah. I actually have a standalone review for that as well. And I also give that five stars and I think that might be on my best books of the year. If it wasn't, then it was a contender. I genuinely don't remember. Then I read The Art of War by Sun Tzu just because I wanted to have read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I gave that four stars. Then I read The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski, which is the last book in the Witcher series. I gave that four stars. I was quite disappointed with it. I do have a video kind of on the Witcher. Once I finished that, I did a video on the Witcher series as a whole. So that's available to you. Then I read The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak. I give that three stars. I was quite disappointed with that as well, but I do have a standalone review for it where I'm like, it was fine, but I don't get why people like this. Then I read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. I do have a standalone review for that. I give that five stars. I really enjoyed it, which I was surprised because I hated, hates a strong word, but I really did not care for Murder on the Orient Express. So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved And Then There Were None. Then I read The Hearts and Visible Furies by John Boyne. I gave that five stars, but I never reviewed it for some reason. Then I read The Midnight Lie by Mary Koski, which I gave four stars to, but I also genuinely keep forgetting that I read that book. I literally leaves my brain every single time. Like looking at it right now, I was like, oh yeah. And every time I see it on my shelf, I'm like, oh yeah. Then I reread The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I gave that five stars. It's time the first two times I read it, I gave it four stars. This third time I gave it five. Then I read Lips Touch Three Times by Lainie Taylor, which is a trio of short stories, which were hit in this. I gave the book three stars because the average was that. But one of the stories in it I really liked and would have given it a higher rating. But the other two stories I was a little more meh on. Then I read Malice by John Gwynne, which I hated and gave one star too. I have a standalone rant review for that. And then I read Ninth House by Lee Bardugo, which I gave four stars to. I have a review for that as well, mainly positive, but I think there are some easy fixes that could have made it a five star. Then I reread The Wolf by Leo Carew. That was my third time reading that as well. Gave it five stars every time. Then I read Defy Me by Tehada Mafi, which is the second to last Shatter Me book. I have yet to read the last one. I gave that four stars, even though it was like starting to wind down for me. And like I'm beginning to sense that I'm falling out of love with Shatter Me. So I'm very scared to read the last one. Then I read Breed Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore, which I have two stars do, mainly because there were some very questionable consent things in the romance that I was just like, no. Then I read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, which I gave four stars to. I love Oscar Wilde's plays. I love his writing. His like dry wit. So I really enjoyed Picture of Dorian Gray. Then I read Dangerous Alliance by Jeanneke Cohen, which I gave one star to and it has appeared in many listical videos of mine recently where I have slammed it over and over. Then I read Niffron Rising, which is the third book in the Re-Area Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. I gave that four stars. Then I read Romancing the Duke by Tess Adair, which was hilarious. I gave that four stars. Then I reread Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which, you know, it was a reread. I gave it five stars. Then I read Prosperous Demon by K.J. Parker, which is, I guess, a novella, not a novel, which I quite liked. And I gave that four stars. Then I read The Wolf of Orinero by K.S. Viosa, which is the first book in the Chronicles of the Bitch Queen. And I also really liked that. And I recently recommended it in a video. I gave that four stars. I finally read Vengeful by the Ishuang, which is the sequel to Vicious. And I gave that five stars. Then I read The Silence of Bones by June Her, which I gave four stars. Then I read The Paris Hours by Alex George, which kind of like the Midnight Light. I keep forgetting that I read that. But I gave it four stars. I thought it was pretty good. Then I reread Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie, which I gave four stars. Then I read Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, which is the first book in the Truly Devious series. I read that all in one sitting. It was a pretty great time. I gave that four stars. Then I reread The Gentleman's Guide to Bison Virtue by Mackenzie Lee. Even though I had a great time with it, I still gave it three stars the second time. Then I read Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which I hated. And I gave one star too. I have a standalone rant review for that. Then I finally, finally finished Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. I didn't hate it as much as Uprooted, but I didn't like it. Give it two stars. I have a standalone rant review for that as well. Then I read The Foxhole Court by Nora Saccovich, which is the first in the all for the game series. As you will soon see, I read the next two as well. And I had to review a video of the trilogy as a whole. Then I reread The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Avercromby, which is the third and final book in the first law trilogy. Gave that five stars. Then I read The Raven King, which is the second all for the game book. I gave that three stars. Then I read Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott and Mickey Daughtry and Tobias Laconis. I bawled my eyes out, reading that and I gave it five stars. Then I read After the Armistice Ball by Kitriana McPherson, which is the first in the Dandy Gilbert Mysteries series. And I had a really good time with that. I gave it four stars. Then I reread Morning Star by Pierce Brown because I was trying to reread all the revising books before reading Dark Age. I gave that five stars again. Then I finished the All for the Game series with The King's Men by Nora Sackovich. Gave that three stars. Then I read Beach Read by Emily Henry, which I gave five stars to. I really liked that one. Then I read The Shift of Seas in by N.K. Jemisin and My Mind Was Blown when I gave it five stars. Then I read The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Also amazing. I gave that five stars. Then I read Eden Brook by Julianne Donaldson, which was a really sweet romance that was just a nice, nice pleasant time. I'm gonna give that four stars. Then I read The 39 Steps by John Buckin, because I quite liked the Hitchcock movie. And I also liked the new adaptation of it from maybe like 10 years ago. And I concluded that both movies vastly improved on the source material. I didn't really like it. I gave it three stars because it's an old, like a lot of its problems are because it's old, but I also unhauled it. The next book that I read was The Silver in the Wood, by Emily Tesh. I recommended that recently. I gave that four stars. Then I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. That was on my best ofs for the year for sure. Give that five stars. That is required reading. Everyone should read that. Then I read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. And I gave that five stars. Also balled my eyes out. Then I read Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. That was on my best ofs for the year. Give that five stars. Then I read Normal People by Sally Rooney, which I've watched a lot more than I expected to. And I gave that five stars. Then I read Kings of the Wild by Nicholas Ames, which I hated. I have a standalone rant review for that. I give that one star. Then I read Be Read Iron Gold by Pierce Brown. Again, be reading Red Rising. Give that five stars. Again, then I read The Obelisk Gate, which is the sequel to the fifth season, the second book on the Broken Earth trilogy. Give that five stars as well. Mind continued to be blown. Then I read The First Three Volumes of Sandman. So I read Preludes and Nocturnes and gave that four stars. I read The Doll's House, gave that five stars. And Dream Country and gave that five stars. Those are all by Neil Gaiman, of course. Then I read Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert and liked that more than I expected to. Give that four stars. It was really funny. Then I read Cersei by Madeline Miller, which I didn't like as much as Long of Achilles, but I did think it was really good. I gave that four stars. Then I reread A Little Hatred by Doe Abercrombie, gave that five stars because in anticipation of the next one coming out. Then I read Dearing in the Duke by Sarah McLean and hated it. I think that I made that my worst of the year. One Star. Then I read Reach of Dragons by Evan Winter, which I have a review for. I gave that three stars. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I just, I thought it was... Then I read The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, which is the first book in the Chronicles of Prudain. And I really enjoyed that. I gave it four stars. Then I finally, finally read Dark Age by Pierce Brown, having reread All of Red Rising and Mind Blown. It was on my best of the year for sure. Five stars. Then I read The Liars' Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, which was a thriller and it was quite thrilling. I gave it four stars. Then I read The Sky is Falling, how vampire zombies, androids, and superheroes made America great for extremism. And it was interesting, but I didn't agree with a lot of its points. So I gave that three stars. Then I read The Vanishing Stare, which is the second truly devious book. I had continued to have a great time and gave that four stars. The next book that I read was by Forrest Alon by Lavi Tadar. And I thought it was quite a unique book. So I gave that four stars. I have a standalone review for By Forrest Alon as well. Then I read The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie, which was like one billion out of five stars. Loved It was my best book of the year. Have two reviews for it, a non-spoiler, any spoiler review. Then I read The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King, which I really, really enjoyed. I gave that four stars. Then I read The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lou, which I liked a lot more than I expected to, even though I picked it up because I thought I, I thought I would like it, but it was really good. I gave that four stars. Then I read Skulled Duggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. I have a standalone review for that. Really, really enjoyed it, gave it five stars. Then I read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Also have a standalone review for that. Gave it four stars. Then I read The Unsuitable by Molly Pollig, which I really, really, really enjoyed. I gave that four stars. And I gave a copy to Shaya, who loved it. Then I read The Prestige by Christopher Priest. And I have a review or a video of discussing the book as it compares to the film, The Prestige. I thought the book was pretty good. Gave it four stars. Then I read The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, because it was the season. I gave it four stars. Then I read A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. And I hated it. And I gave it two stars. Then I read Playing with Fire by Derek Landy, which is the second Skulled Duggery Pleasant book. I didn't like it quite as much as the first, but I did quite like it. So I gave it four stars. Then I read The Wolf by Chelsea Bobolski, or Bobolski, which started strong, but then fizzled. So I gave it three stars. Then I read The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neal, which I have, I don't, I never did a standalone review for it, but I talked about it quite a bit in my wrap up. I felt I had very, very mixed feelings about it. So I gave it three stars. Then I read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Sling Vampires. And Amanda has on her channel our live show where me, Mara, Bethany and Amanda all dressed up as vampires to discuss it. It was one of my favorites of the year. I gave it five stars. The next book that I read was Black Chalk by Christopher Yates. I didn't really care for it, but I gave it three stars. Then I read Something We Get This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, and I gave that four stars. Next I read Rebecca by Daphne Demourier. I have a video talking about the book as well as the various adaptations of it. I gave the book five stars. I really liked it. Then I read The Invisible Life of Adi LaRue by the Eshwab. I gave it three stars. I have a standalone review for it. I didn't really care for it, and I found it quite underwhelming. Next I read Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. I gave that five stars. Loved it so much. Oh, I think that was all my best steps for the year. Next I read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Give that three stars. Then I read The Devil in the Dark Water by Stuart Turton. Give that three stars. Then I reread The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Surprise, surprise, give it five stars. Then I read The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, and I was very let down by that. Gave it two stars. Then I read The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. Gave that four stars. Then I reread The Bone Season, thinking to reread the books in order to read the new one coming out. But upon reread, realize that I don't like this series and will not be continuing with a reread or a reading of the new books. So that's one less thing to worry about. Two stars. Then I read The Emerald Storm, which is the fourth book in the re-area revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. Had a good time. Gave that three stars. Then I read One Day in December by Josie Silver, which was extremely frustrating. But overall, I enjoyed it. So I gave it four stars. Then I read In a Holidays by Christina Lauren, which was me and Amanda's buddy read for that month. It's on her channel, our discussion, Bethany joined us for it. I didn't really care for it, gave it two stars. Then I reread Intreat Me for the third time and gave that five stars. Then I read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, which I had very mixed feelings about again. So I gave it three stars. Then I read Spinning Silver and in a surprising turn of events, I ended up loving a Naomi Novik book. So I gave that four stars. And then the last book that I read in 2020 was The Black Cauldron, which was the second book in the Chronicles of Predane by Lord Alexander. Had a great time. Gave it four stars. That's all I read. Let me know in the comments down below if you read any of the books that I read. If you liked or hated the books that I read or whatever you wanna let me know. Yeah. Hope this was entertaining for you. I know it wasn't too in depth. This would be like a monstrously long video. If I went super in depth, like a full wrap up with all of them. So, yep, that's just all. All. There you go. Mission accomplished. My reading goal, my reading challenge goal was 90 books. So I well surpassed my reading goal. So I've made my reading goal for 2021, 100 books. Hopefully I surpassed that again. Let me know in the comments down below all the things. I post videos on Saturdays, other random times as well, but definitely Saturdays. So like and subscribe. And I'll see you when I see you. Bye.


Run it up, do run it back.  Run it up. Well, well. Happy Monday. We are still here in studio in Los Angeles, live and in living color. Michelle, Chandler, Lou, and joining us. First names only today. That's what we're doing. We're going to keep it cashed. The birthday boy! Happy birthday, Charles. OK, I expected like a hat or a balloon. Like, what do we, what does a sham's birthday look like? No hats, no balloons. It's a Monday. Like, it's a run it back day. We're all locked in to run it back. That's all we want to do. Nothing this weekend, nothing last night. No action. Just family time. Just family time. And I'm getting right. I'm getting 100% healthy. That's true. He was it. We got a stretcher. He was banging up last week. He was not feeling good. Do you get gifts from your family? I like gifts. I think I just allow them to just figure out what we're doing. And that's the only gift I need, you know? You guys handle the planning and preparation on what we're doing. Everything else, you know? I'll just show up. Speaking of gift shams, I wanted to give you a gift. It's your birthday. So I wanted you to be the first to know. So I got special news for you. I have a scoop for you. So last week, my phone started ringing a little bit. Playoffs are coming up. And I'm considering some opportunities. So I'm giving you the scoop that I'm officially coming out of retirement today. There you go. Make it happen. Happy birthday, Shams. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, what? Want to get some teams? Yeah, are any of them like teams we like? I know it's April Fool's Day. Are you pulling our leg, dude? It's April Fool's Day, Shams. I'm a little person now. Shams, he had this planned, and we didn't think he'd pull it off with the acting part. That was pretty good. Also, it is weird, your birthday and April Fool's long same day. You sold me. You sold me, Lou. I was hooked. I was there. You wouldn't believe that because I felt you had already known. You would know before Lou would know. That's a great point. Well, no, not necessarily. Lou just decided this morning. Nobody knows. All right, fine, let's move on. We do have a happy birthday. Yeah, happy birthday, Shams. We have a really good gift for you, but you're not here. Shams scoops is happening. This seems like a big one, this first one right out the gates here. Joellen Bede. What's going on there? Yeah, Joellen Bede is nearing a return to action. I'm told it's any day now. It could be as soon as Tuesday against Oklahoma City Thunder at home on TNT. He recently completed multiple five on five scrimmages. On Thursday, he played five on five at practice Saturday, as well, five on five full contact. So he's been fully cleared from what I'm told for really all basketball activities. At this point, it's just about conditioning, making sure he feels comfortable, confident, getting out there on the floor. So you think about the six or schedule this week. Tuesday against the Thunder, Thursday in Miami, Saturday in Memphis, and Sunday in San Antonio. But I'm told it's sooner rather than later, possibly as soon as Tuesday. I mean, this is massive, obviously, since he's been out since January 30th. The sixes are 11 and 18. They're 26 and eight with him in the lineup. It's a night and day approach for the sixers. But they're going to get Joellen Bede back very soon, possibly on Tuesday on national TV. I mean, I don't know if it does. I mean, look, they're in the plan, right? No matter what. But here's why I like it, because they are going to be the eight seed, probably like, you know, they're going to have that chance to play the Miami Heat. Or if something happens with the Pacers, they're going to have that chance to possibly get that seven seed to not play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. That makes sense to me. And there are four games ahead of the Chicago Bulls and then the Atlanta Hawks. They're not going to fall all the way to nine. So they're going to have two games. So I think if they can use this time this next week, next two weeks to kind of build his conditioning, get his legs back, have him go and get fully 100% for this one play-in against either the Pacers or the Heat. I like it. You see, they're 26 and eight with him. They're a completely different team. MVP was his for the taking, how well he looked early on the year averaging, you know, 35 and just putting up crazy, gaudy numbers. So I like this, as long as he's fully healthy, he's clearly been doing workouts with the team. He's clearly been playing 5-on-5 with this. Wouldn't be news or he wouldn't be coming back with this soon. I love this. This team was on the rise. This team, it was them in Boston and all the struggles with Milwaukee that you could throw them in there. But I like this, as long as he knows his body, cause everything he's been through is still scary with him. All the injuries he's been with is with multiple different things. But I think if they can find a way to get that 17 and avoid the Boston Celtics in the first round, why not? What do we wait on? That's a daunting task. You know, dare I say it, I'm kind of interested in them still trying to get that six spot. You know, with these last seven, well the last seven games I'm looking, the schedule is favorable for them. You know, they still got matchups against Memphis, San Antonio, Detroit, Brooklyn, OKC, Miami, Orlando. This is, that's the stretch that they might can go out and get five or six of these out of these last seven and put them in position. Obviously that weighs on, you know, the way that Indiana plays and the things that they're going to be able to do. They're not in control of that destiny, but they put themselves in a pretty good position. They can go out and win five or six of these last seven. Because here's the thing, as long as he can get through this, they can just shut them down again, whatever they don't get the seed they want or whatever they don't get the matchup they want. So if he can get into game shape, and you know, being out missing this much time, it's hard to emulate that, whether it's with coaching staff or the G League, it's going to take time. So I think at least he has this kind of look at two more weeks till this play-in game, which is either looking like it's going to be against the Pacers or Heat to get the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs, then fully back-loaded with him 100%, then anything can happen. Because originally I said they should just sit them down for the rest of the season and allow them to heal up. But you know, that was before we realized he had two weeks before the season was going to be over and the playoffs are going to start. That's a lot of time for somebody to get their legs back under them, get their win back together and make a good playoff run. But seeding is going to be important for them. Make no mistake about it. Seeding is going to be really important. So I feel like they put them out there to give themselves an opportunity to try to get the best seed they can. Selfishly, I'm excited for this. I like it. Just because I want everything to be as great as possible. Shoms will be back here in a second. Let's talk a little Sunday hoops that we got yesterday. This was a fun one. Thunder at Madison Square Garden, taking on the Knicks. SGA, of course it was SGA with the game winner with a second left on the clock. And one right there by the way. They clinched the playoff spot. He ended up with 19. Josh Giddy with 16, 13 rebounds, 12 assists and Jalen Freakin' Williams, 33 points. The game winner was with 2.6 left on the clock. It was such a high drama ending to this game. But if we didn't have Nikola Jokic, is he 100% the MVP? Or is he, I mean, look, Lou's sticking with he still is, so. Yeah, there's no Jokic for sure. Because now look at it. Now they're half the game up. They have the solely and the number one seed. I had that shot today. The thing this kid has done, look how he reacts to it. It's just chill. Just another shot that he even said after the game. He practiced this shot. He wanted to get to this. He's taken thousands and millions of these jumpers. Gets right to it. The guy is so calm, so collected. It's crazy because he's still so young too. So yeah, I think with Joelle going down, it kind of became this two-man race. And now it's hard. We said it, Lou's been on him since day one. And the fact that if they do continue to get this number one seed, it's hard not to go this way. But this was an unbelievable game, unbelievable shot. He struggled all night long too, and it didn't matter. Jalen Williams was great at 30 plus points, kind of his domino stretch. They still knew who to get the ball to. It's SGA, and he got it done. Why, what is the thing that will keep him from getting it? I know Yolkic is a big name, has been doing it, but...  Really? Yeah, the number one seed, that shot. Listen, we love style. We like cool things. We like buzzer beaters. We like game winners. That did it. You know, Yolkic has, he has those games where he fills up stat sheets, but it's like it's so, it's just anti-climatic. You know what I mean? And this right here, and with voters, I think this does it. He's been doing it all year. He's been leading this basketball team. I feel more confident about my pick than any time before. So I have a question about this particular game just because it was such high drama and it was so much fun to watch. And the biggest knock against this Thunder team, no matter where they are in the Western Conference at any moment, is that they're too young to make a long run. Does a game and the way it ends, like yesterday, do anything to change that? I think they put that narrative to bed a while ago. You know, this team is dead serious. One thing, two things that the Oklahoma City Thunder have working for them that you can't buy. Chemistry and confidence. These young guys play with so much confidence. They play well together. You have those two things, they're the real deal.  It's gonna be ups and downs. It's gonna be peaks and valleys for young teams. They hadn't went through a lot of adversity. They've been steady. They've been going straight ahead. And all of this is on the back of SGA and the Jalen Williams and the Chad Holmgrens. These guys are fully loaded. They're a really good young basketball team. So I don't think yesterday was the measuring stick. I don't think the Knicks were the measuring stick. But I think there was a big win for them going into the last two weeks of the season and they can carry it over into the playoffs. By the way, this is a team that's a young team. We always talk about their youth. We haven't seen them do it in the postseason. But when they continue to win this many games and they do have bright moments like this, they've beaten good teams. They've absolutely ran. Bad teams, they've shown us a little bit of everything. They've won them with their defense. They've won with their scoring. They've had close games where they've had closers. Jalen Williams is one of the leading scores in the NBA in fourth quarter points. So it's not just SGA either.  Josh Skinny's had a great year. They have this Lou Dort who kind of is that fifth starter that literally plays defense and guards the best offensive player on the other team every single night. So they just fit. And early, I remember when I watched them, it just kind of looked like a fun young AU team just because of how they played, how young they were. This is a team that was also just in New York City on a Saturday night and still came out and handled their business on a Sunday Easter game. So that was a mature win for me. And I do think Jalen Brunson got fouled on the play before that could have been an M1. But it doesn't matter. SGA got to his spot. He rose over McRide and that's what big-time players do. And you know what else we're not talking about? If they get Gordon Hayward going again, that changes everything for them in their bench play. Yeah, he's been struggling a little bit trying to find his footing with this team. But if they can get him going, he gives them a great look, gives them a stretch for that they can rely on coming off that bench. And the size thing still, when you have Jett as really your only big and you've got Mascala and Viombo, are they your only bigs off the bench? They're a little thin there. But I think that's a problem for only a couple of teams. It's gonna be a problem with Denver and it'll be a problem if they get to the finals and play a Joel and B. Other than that, I think they're in good position. There are moments yesterday, like when he goes up against Hart and Shine, you're just like aware of how he's kind of, not frail, but he doesn't look like he can hold it down against some of the big dudes yet that might be coming. Josh Getty, by the way, there are some dudes that love playing at the Garden and I'm assuming we're gonna go ahead and throw him in that category because now he's played three games there and has a triple double in each of those. What is it about the Garden, y'all? Chandler, what is it? There's some guys that just... I love playing at the Garden. I mean, listen, that's the... Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing? I've been mature, go ahead. He... Wait a minute. Listen, this is the Mecca. This is the Mecca. As an athlete, as a competitor, you want to perform on the greatest stage. That's MSG, so this kid, maybe it's a fluke, maybe it's not, but he seems to continue to have great games in this building and it's cool to go there.  So listen, this guy, he likes the bright lights and it's a great, fun place to play. You got it, Lou. All right, Lou, why don't you not touch that and we'll just keep it moving. I won't touch it. Fair enough. I promise you. Shams, I know you're still there. I hope you're eating cake in between shots of you, but the nicks, no Julius Randall, no OG Annobe yet. What can you tell us about that? I'm nervous. Yeah, these are serious losses for the nicks. I mean, obviously, OG Annobe, he's been out since March 16th, Inflamed Elbow. The hope is that the information goes down. At some point, he's gonna be able to come back. The hope has been that it's gonna be when, more of like which day exactly, which game exactly, when is he gonna wake up feeling better than if, but with Julius Randall, it's a little bit more precarious. I mean, this is someone that's been out since January 27th, we're already into April and he still has not done anything more than controlled contact with that dislocated shoulder and Josh Hart, his comments I thought last night were very telling. He said, we have to operate as if neither of those two is gonna be back in the lineup. So for the nicks, it's really a wait and see approach. It seems OG Annobe is more likely than Julius Randall at this point, but we'll see. And Mitchell Robinson also missed the game last night with his, with the ankle injury as well. You know what's interesting to me about this shot is they, it is true when you have guys missing like they do and they've had Mitchell Robinson in and out, they've had Julius Randall out, they've had OG now for quite a time.  They're 15 and 13 without those guys and then OG came out for those back of those three games and they won all three of those games. So it is kind of annoying when you are one of the players that are playing and you keep hearing how good we're gonna be when everyone's back out. But, but tips is rotation to me are crazy. Last night, Josh Hart, 45 minutes. Miles McBride, 45 minutes. Dante D'Vincenzo, 39 minutes. Oh, a slow night. Meanwhile, Bogdanovic, who they literally, I thought was gonna be like this deal breaker is gonna really help their team place 10 minutes. Alec Berks plays 12 minutes. Have you seen them playing? I know, but it's like almost like Tibbs has his guys that defend and are tough and hard on. He like, he did the same thing with Fournier, but when you play these guys that many minutes and you're talking about all these injuries, you would think they would, he would kind of mix it up a little bit, especially with guys like Badamac, who they kind of made the move for to better their team. And Alec Berks the same way. So I don't understand necessarily the clip at the minutes that these guys are playing, especially when they have three or four rotation guys out. But they have a lot of talent on that bench. It's not really getting the minutes that they could be getting. I think, for my money, I think he has tried to put Bogdanovic and Berks in there. As a matter of fact, I would argue that he's put Berks in there longer than he probably should have played in some of those games. And I think he's trying to get them to be a part of it. Have you noticed I've been watching a lot of Nick's games? I think he wants them to be, but they're not producing. So what is he supposed to do?  There's also basketball is a rhythm game. You got to allow him opportunity to catch a rhythm as well. You know, playing. But you're battling for each game. You can't afford it. So what do you do?   I just don't know if a recipe playing two or three starters 45 out of the 48 minutes. Yeah, and he should have learned it. Is the key decision. He should have learned it from experience. Yeah.  It's a lot of minutes. We're talking about this whole load management that doesn't exist in New York. That doesn't exist for TIBS. But I think he's, this is my argument. McBride, for example, was given an opportunity to come in. Injuries and all that stuff. And he has literally shown how valuable he is. So you can't take him out.  So then they're out. How can you do it in eight to 10 minutes? I don't know, Lou. You got eight to 10 minutes to shine. Eight to 10 minutes. So eight to 10 minutes a game, that's a minute and a half, two minutes stretches, a half. You can do a lot in two minutes. You can shine. I agree. But on the basketball court, it's a little different.  It hurts me. Lordy, Lordy. April Fool's show has canceled. It's Maverick, by the way, Maverick's Rockets. This was a big one. Nobody can lose. Somebody had to lose the lead's team. 7th straight win, 125-107. Rockets with the game, the winning streak. So sad. Kyrie Irving, 24-7 assists. But Luca did finish with 47 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 22 of those came in the first quarter. They are fifth in the West. There are two games behind the Clippers for fourth, which feels weird. Can they? Do they have enough time? Can they catch up? Let me look at my standings right now. I think it is what it is now. We think so, we're stuck. I mean, listen, there's only two more weeks left. So we're getting down here to where the schedule is. It's tough. And then when you look, they got the Warriors still three times. Is that right? Is that right? Yeah, the Warriors three times. They have the Hawks twice. They have the Hornets.  So if any team can do it, it's the Dallas Maverick right now. And they are hot. Kyrie Irving has found something. Luca Donkic, some of those highlights last night. Yeah, I know. Just a joke.  They're insane. But yeah, I mean, this team is dangerous. This is the healthiest, most loaded team Luca Donkic has ever had. When you look at the landscape, they can defend. They have size. I love the PJ Washington edition. I love the Daniel Gafford. They have bigs now. They have rim runners. Derek Lively's been a pleasant surprise for them. So when you have these two guys and you have the Tim Hardaway's that can sprinkle and Dante Exum had a great game last night. They have now the capability and the talent to have a more balanced attack. And right now they're rolling. And they're one of these teams where the Clippers are going the other way. The Suns are going the other way. The Timberwolves are kind of banged up right now. You know, they're going the other way. There's certain teams right now where they hit their stride and they play their best basketball at this point of the season. It's very, very good going into the playoffs. Okay, but then I don't want to hear every time when if Dallas falls short, it's like, well, you got to put some talent around Luca. No, this team, he's got enough right now. He's got enough right now. Now look, they're one of the better teams now. We're talking like the Nuggets or the Celtics. I don't think they're really a championship team. This year, but they have enough talent. And when these two guys, we haven't talked about Kyrie Irving enough this year either. We can. He has been unbelievable this year. And so when they have those two guys on the courts, arguably the best backcourt, they're going to win a lot of games. It's going to be hard to beat those guys in a series four times. Well, let's talk about Kyrie for a second here. There you go. Ema Odoka saying he's by far the best offensive player I've ever seen. We know, we coached him obviously. He's averaging 25 and five on the year. We just mentioned that this Mavs team looks as good as a Mavs team has in recent years. They made it to the conference finals in 2022. Lou, what's the ceiling this year for him with Kyrie playing the way he has been? You got to, you got to think postseason is half court basketball. You know, it's going to be a game of runs and who better to have than Kyrie Irving and Luca Dunch is in a half court. You know, when it comes down to it, you need guys that are going to be able to create off the dribble and they're going to be able to create for your teammates. And also you need shopmakers. These guys are both. The problem is they can't get stops. They can't get stops at a high clip. And that's what stops this team from being as dangerous as they should be and not reaching that full potential. But in the league where this thing is wide open in the West, you know, we have some teams that have more talent. We feel like their favorite. But again, if you look at it, the OKCs and the Minnesotos, we can't really crown those guys the favorites because we haven't seen them do it, right? So in my opinion, the West is wide open and who better to have than those two guys when the game is going to slow down and be a half-courtney. This team against the Thunder or the Timberwolves in the series is really, really hard. So when you have a conference as this deep, it's impossible and it just makes for a really, really good postseason. The Luka part is just fun. I don't know how far it gets or how great this ride will be for Dallas, but Luka himself shams. When you watch him play and we can include the silliness and warm-ups as well, and we'll show that video here in a second, but what are your takeaways from Luka? He looks so happy and I think having Kyrie Irving, that's a star player that he respects a lot. Those who have such a great relationship and it's developed, right? I think last year they went through a lot of lows on the court, but I think that time that they got with each other to be able to build up the chemistry to this point I think has only helped them.  And when you see them, I mean, 11-1 in the last 12 games and seven of those games, Luka's been the leading scorer for them, Kyrie's been the leading scorer. So it's been balanced. It hasn't been just Luka every single night. We've seen the massive Kyrie Irving games as well. And PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford, you talked to people in Dallas. The additions of those two late at the trade deadline was big for them. PJ Washington, I've spoken about on it already. They view him as this Aaron Gordon type of player, versatile defender, is gonna know his role, won't command the ball, but he's gonna play efficiently exactly where you need him to. And Daniel Gafford, I mean, Derek Lively is great as a rookie, but they feel like they needed one more veteran big man and they got that with them. And I think Chandler said it recently, this might be the most deepest, most dynamic team Luka Dodgers has had in Dallas. You know what's crazy is obviously we always talk about the MVP and when that goes to usually the one of the better players on the best teams. Yeah. Which is Jason Tatum, Jokic and SGA. But Luka is averaging 34, 10 and nine on 49% from the field and 39 from three. Like that is an insane season. That is insane numbers. So obviously this can only go to one person. I think SGA and Jokic have the huge advantage being the number one team winning so many games. Who's your official MVP pick? It's Jokic. So it's Jokic.  It's real close, dude. But I'm just saying it's crazy that guys can now average 35, 10 and nine. Do you think Luka's... And not even really even have a chance. Like it's nuts. But do you think it's his usage year in and year out? He's always gonna have these gaudy numbers just because of who he is and how he plays. I think it's wins. I think if he was happening to be in the same position right now as the Thunder or the Timberwolves I think it's a more of a conversation. But when you're kind of dabbling with the play-in most of the season and now you're in the five seed maybe getting home quarter advantage that MVP has to impact winning. That's the most important thing at the end of the day is winning and being the top seed in the conference. So if Tatum was putting up crazier numbers than he is now I think he would have an advantage too. But these guys, the stats are getting just out of hand. What are you guys doing the first quarter? It's crazy. All right, roll the circus shot. Cause this, if you weren't on the internet yesterday good for you, A, B. That's a real shot. That's a real shot. That happened and it worked. I heard an analyst say, well you just gotta foul him. And I was like, if I'm a coach and I'll just foul him on his plate. Let him shoot that. I might not, I might not put you back in the game. Yeah. How would I foul that? That just looks like a throw away. You literally let him shoot that and make it. I don't even, are we calling it shooting? If he makes it, tap him on the butt, tell him good shot. You don't foul him on that. So by the way, he had the thing during the warmups to the, that was more impressive than this one. What was that? I don't want to play this guy on horse. I do. Look at this. This makes no sense to me. And if I was a cynical person I'd say it was edited to look as though it worked. Okay, watch. Here we go. All the way up to that. No chance. It's ridiculous. How?  I've never seen that before. He's a ridiculous human being. Look at his teammates. They're just like, you don't even know what to do with it. I've never seen that. Yeah, that's absurd. Yeah. That is absolutely absurd. Yeah. Horse would be fun. Add it to the old star. Bing bong. All right, let's, let's move on. Cavs, Nuggets. Donovan Mitchell was back for this one. Didn't matter. Yokich had a triple double. Easy win for Denver. 130-101, he finished with 26-18-16. First player to reach those numbers in a game since Oscar Robertson in 1965. All right, when he has a triple double his team is 17 and five. I don't know defensively what you're supposed to do with that. Is there any way to stop it, to squash it? Can guard him. You can. You can guard him because he's just, he's a willing passer. Anytime you get a guy that's willing to pass the ball you can't double, you can't send looks at him. He can score 101, can shoot a three ball. It's unguardable. So then what do you just let him go and everything else? It's a minimise.  Like Lou said, you can't, you double team. He's still big enough. He's still smart enough. He's gonna pass it. He's gonna have 20 assists if you maybe take away his points. He's still gonna be able to rebound the ball. He's still gonna get defensive rebounds.  So there's no, there's no way to stop him in a half court. Sure, you could double team him. You could make these other guys, make the Porter Jr, make KCP, make them beat you with outside shots, but there's no method to contain this guy. No matter what you do, he's got a counter. No matter what, how you guard them alone has a different offensive system or something else to go to where they can get him more involved.  Jamal Murray is a perfect fit playing off him. And now he spaces the floor with shooters. They have athletic wings that come in off the bench that cut and move without the basketball that play beautifully off him. So there's not really a game plan. You just have to hope that these other guys don't contribute and don't have the 15 to 25 point games on top of his 26, 18, and 16. So hope is done. And it's just, he does it so efficiently. He does it, he's 11 of eight. He does it so efficiently. He slows the game down. You can't speed him up. He's so strong. He just, it's crazy. He'll miss a shot. He's tipped the ball around.  Do you remember when Tony Cuckooch was like, he ate that great? That was funny. What is that guy smoking? Yeah, that was insane. I just remember in the playoffs, we tried to turn him into a scorer. Like, listen, just let him score. All right. Take away his passing ability, take away his playmaking ability. And he ate us up then. You know, he was running off, he was running off eight to 10 in a row and stretches. And then at that point, you forget your game plan and your coach is like, well, we gotta go double. Now he's back in his passing bag. And it's just difficult to guard him. He has everything. You gotta get a guy some credit, man. Yeah, it's frustrating when you play. It's frustrating to see how slow he's moving. I know. You're like, how's that not cool? Well, that's what's crazy about him and Luca. They're these both, these slow, kind of like unathletic dudes that you can't speed up and they're so big that you can't put a bigger guy on them because they still have the quickness. You can't put a smaller guy on them because there's bullion. So there's not, there's not one person that can just guard either of these kids. It's perfect. It's kind of a perfect situation. All right, we'll take a quick look around the league. Starting with Lakers and LeBron. He drops 40. Lakers win. It was a season high, by the way. Career high, tying nine three-pointers. A 116-104 win over Brooklyn. They've won five of six. They're a season-best nine games over 500. Afterwards, he said he won't play very much longer. He doesn't know when he will retire. I don't know.  I'm buying. I'm buying. Father time is undefeated. I think- You'll just know. Yeah, this thing is a day-by-day thing. He's 40 years old and he still, and he has 40 points last night. But when you wake up that next morning, your body tells you a different story, right?  He wants to play with Brony. But now I think he's starting to make business decisions for LeBron James based on how his body feels. To me, he looked like he's still playing at a high clip, still playing at a high level and can contribute at a high clip for years to come. But who knows what he's going through in between those games. When I was with Kobe Bryant at the end of his career, I'd seen his man with- That's crazy. At least six to seven ice bags on every game and the preparation that it takes to get ready to go out there and play a game when you're at that age, it got to be taxing and it's a lot of preparation. So I think that's starting to creep into the back of his mind. As this season goes on in month four or five that we're in, his body's probably starting to wear. So I'm buying it. I think he literally doesn't know when he's going to call it quits. Yeah, and how could he?  He's been very, very fortunate in that category. So at this age, at this clip, the minutes he's playing, he's still enjoying it. He's still dominating, he's still being effective and he's still being very productive, but he's also still having fun.  He's still talking to fans. He still has that fire and that passion in him. So yeah, I think we should just, you know, continue to watch it.  And trust me, you're going to get a toy. He's 59 assists away from being 40,000 points, 11,000 assists, 11,000 rebounds. He's 59 assists away from that. Trust me, he's mindful of that. He wants all of those records.  All right, quick break here when we come back. More sham scoops and a 40-20 game for your almost rookie of the year soon to be. Mwah! Run it back, yeah, yeah.  Well, we got some sham scoops from the birthday boy himself. It's all Kings related. And unfortunately for them, none of it is good. So we obviously know Kevin Herter. Malik Monk is now her. This could not be worse timing, Shams. What's the latest? Kevin Herter out for the season. Surgery on a torn labrum in his shoulder. But this next one's even more devastating. Malik Monk, six man of the year leader. He will miss at least four weeks with an MCL sprain. 15 points, five assists a game this season. We know how electric dynamic he's been for the Kings ever since he signed there a couple of years ago. And this is a team that's fighting in a playing position right now and having to deal with two major injuries to starter in a backup guy, Malik Monk, who essentially plays starter minutes. He's arguably the third best player on any given night. Just a brutal injury, couple back-to-back injuries for the Kings. Shams, does he qualify for six man of the year? I think he still wins. Will he still be able to get there? I believe he still is, yeah. This is tough. And looking ahead at the Kings schedule, I mean, we're talking Nick, Celtics, Thunder, Pelican, Sons, like, and this deep play-in. That's a tough end. And this deep play-in when you look at the Sons, the Mavs, the Pelicans, the Lakers, this is just the worst possible timing. They still have the Murray, they still have Harrison Barnes, they still have guys, Davey and Mitchell's now beginning more playing time, but when you take these two guys off, how important they are to this team, the scoring, Malik Monk's gonna be six man of the year, Kevin Herter with his outside shooting, this is just a tough blow of a team that, you know, they needed to be fully healthy to have any chance to even kind of advance out of this play-in. Now you look at all those teams, the depth there. I don't see them getting out of play-in without those two guys. Ditto. Do they drop though? I mean, we're looking, okay, here you go. They're at the standings right there. Is it, you see a world in which they drop? I don't know if they'll drop.  And I mean, the good thing is, it's one game. They could stay in that seven, eight seed right there and they win one game. And yeah, then all of a sudden, congrats. That one game is a monster though. You get the nuggets in the first round. That one game is a monster. That's just a crappy. It's not good. This is a team that needs to be all hands on deck and now they're not, with those two guys out, it's a huge, huge blow. Yeah, the timing is absolutely awful. Shams, the Timberwolves ownership situation has read like a soap opera over the weekend starting on Friday, I guess, but what's the latest there? This has turned into a war for the Timberwolves between Glenn Taylor and the potential owners in waiting in Mark Glory and Alex Rodriguez. Right now they currently have 40% of the team they were expected to get the remaining controlling interests of the Timberwolves. They submitted financial documents a couple of weeks ago to the NBA and Glenn Taylor that essentially was the final piece before their March 27 deadline. But now Glenn Taylor is saying that he will not sell to them the majority interest and that the team is not for sale. It was a $1.5 billion sale price. Right now the team is worth two times that Taylor claims that both of them were late on payments and they obviously deny it and they say that Glenn Taylor has sellers remorse. Alex Rodriguez told me on Friday, it's now personal, we can be in this fight for five years, 10 years, whatever. We're not going to let go. Mark Glory told me as well, we will use every ounce of effort here to enforce the contract that Glenn broke. So that means time, capital, whatever means necessary. And so you think about it, this is a Timberwolves team that's in one of the best seasons in franchise history and this is what's clouding all of it. This is gonna go into mediation and arbitration.  It does sound like sellers remorse though. One and a half when you see the Hornets go for three, I feel like you might want to re... But you know what? Oh, he's like, oh shit, we're good and we're young and we have something to look forward to here. Oops. Maybe I pulled the trigger a little too soon. Lawyers are gonna be making a killing on this one. Shoms, happy birthday sir. Will you better give us some scoop as to what you do with the rest of the day? Go get just obliterated thumbs, please. Just get dumb. Okay, that's it. We'll keep things going here with some headlines. This was fun. This was a fun game on Friday. Wemby, big win over the Knicks, but he had 40 points, 20 rebounds, seven assists. It did take overtime to get their first 40-20 game for a rookie since Shaq in 1993. He was moved to center on December 8th. He's averaging 22 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. So riddle me this. I don't need to know about your rookie of the year picks, no one cares anymore. He's the best rookie since whom? Shaq's rookie year was crazy. LeBron's was crazy, but Tim Duncan, how you don't even gotta look further than the San Antonio Spur, I think. He was the first overall pick. He kind of changed that whole dynamic of that franchise. They won, I think, 35 or 40 more games than they did the year before and leading them to their second, or their championship in his second year. So there's been some crazy rookie seasons, but this guy, the things he's, it's not even that it's his rookie. It's the things he shows us that just makes us excited for like the future. It's not even just what he's doing now as a rookie, it's just he shouldn't, no 30-year-old player should be doing the things he's doing, putting up the stats he's doing. He has the whole world on notice. He is one of the more exciting players we've ever seen come into the league. So he's got a super bright future and it really is ridiculous watching him. That was a fun game on Friday, like an immediate. What are you smiling about over there, Lou? I was just trying to do some research really quick and I was gonna try to stick it to you and say, well LeBron made the playoffs his rookie year, but he did not. Yeah. And he wasn't, yeah. But he did not, but I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say since LeBron. Okay. No other player since then has had the hype surrounding them like Wimby has had. And it's been LeBron-esque and he's been able to, he's been able to eclipse some of these things. LeBron was 25 and five as a rookie. He's at 27 and what else? What is he averaging? Whatever, it's close to that. 22, 11 and four. Yeah, you gotta say since LeBron James as far as the hype goes and living up to the hype, LeBron won a few more games. 35 and 47 as a rookie, but he has the stat. So I go with LeBron. Spurs do it right. Him, David Robinson's was crazy and Tim Duncan's was nuts. It's almost like they know something. Yeah, like they're good at stuff. Bravo. All right, but in the same game, this was a heart, it tore at your heart strings. Let's talk about it. Because it's Nix and Spurs and it's Jalen Brunson who is my second favorite non-Spurr player in the league. And he had 61 on this evening and of course it just wasn't quite enough to get it done. He was one shy of the franchise record of Carmell Anthony. We were rooting for that. Seventh player to score 16 a game this season. That's insane to me by the way. So Lou, when you look at the landscape of the league, the guards that are currently active and crushing, where would you put Jalen Brunson in that? He's right in the middle of the pack with everybody else. I think there's close to eight to nine guys who have played tremendous at that point guard spot this year. And you gotta put him in the middle of that pack. I don't think he's the best. I don't think he's the worst. I think he's right there with the rest of these guys. I think Luca and Shay are gonna be the two guys that lead the pack on that. But then you got Steph Curry, you got Donovan Mitchell, you got the Kyrie's. And you got Holla Burton, all of these guys. And Jalen Brunson has been right there in the mix of those guys. I think Luca and Shay have separated themselves from the pack other than that. I think Jalen Brunson is right there in the mix with the rest of this special talent. Maybe three. I want a number, Lou. It's hypothetical. It's hypothetical. Well, if you're asking me, I'm gonna go Luca, Shay. I'm always gonna put Steph there for the body of work that Steph has put into his career. Kyrie for the body of work. And that puts him in the middle of the pack. So it's at least five, six. Yeah, it's crazy because the league isn't such good hands with the guards, but Luca, SGA and Steph, they're in a league of their own. And then you look at a guy like Jalen Brunson, the things he does, it's just crazy because he wasn't this highly tatted high school recruiter. He wasn't this highly, the crazy draft pick. So the expectations were so low for him that every night he does something like this. It just shocks the hell out of me. Like I'm used to seeing Luca do this. SGA has high expectations. Anthony Edwards was the number one picks. I expect this from him. Nobody expects this from Jalen Brunson. So it is just mesmerizing when you continue to see it. And as a New York Nick fan, oh my gosh, it's perfect. This guy is the best star you could ask for. He's humble. He's zero distractions. He has all business. And you start bringing other guys with more personality around him? Fine. But he is the perfect guy going forward for this franchise as a point guard. And guys want to play with him too. I'll play with dad. I think I'm getting old. That's crazy. You are getting old. That's so weird to say out loud. But yeah, no, I think he's, I never wanted him to leave New York. Like I don't even see him on another team. I don't think he will. He can't. He cannot. He's making them cool again. He's making them great again. Look at that. Oh, look at that. You guys are connecting. I love it. Love to see it. Love to see y'all on the same page. Final. Quick break. Just took five months. Yeah, I mean, we're not there yet. But that man has a family when we come back. We'll be returning. We'll be running back, running back, running back, running back, running back, running back, running back, running back, running back. Well, let's take a look around what's happening here. Warriors in San Antonio yesterday. Dremont had a day. 21.6 rebounds, 11-6, six steals. It was a 1-17, 1-13 win. Ah, squeaked by over the spurs there. Key offensive rebound and a kick out to Clay basically is how this thing ends. I mean, look, I would be fine if we never talked about Dremont again. However, this was a positive for Dremont. So are these the moments that keep them hanging on to Dremont? Like they can't quit him? You can't quit Dremont. He's a former defensive player of the year for this basketball team. In a lot of ways, he's the heartbeat. He's the motor. He's the quarterback. He keeps the offense in check. He's the guy that's gonna be vocal on defense. He's very valuable to this team. I know this has been a rocky year, but we can't ignore the body of work that he's been able to put together for the Golden State Warriors and the things that they've been able to accomplish. I think that's what keeps everything at Bay with just doing away with Dremont Green.  And they've run into some hard times this year and some turbulence and a lot of distractions and things of that nature on the strength of some of the decisions that he's made. But be clear, he's just as important as a Clay Thompson and a Steph Curry when it comes to the Golden State Warriors. You can't just do off with them. Yeah, I think this is why Steph gets so frustrated, right? Because he knows the importance of Dremont Green. He knows little plays like that offensive rebound to having the heads up thinking to kick out to Clay Thompson, those are game defining moments that ultimately result in wins. And say what you want about Dremont Green, he is a winner. He knows how to play with these guys. He does all the little things. Six steals, you're not gonna usually see the points, which non basketball people that they know, they don't know about the impact a guy can have with taking a charge or the way he moves and the way he rotates on defense. He does do a lot of things that don't show up in the stat sheet, but usually he has like five or six or seven points that people think he sucks at basketball. That's not the case. He is very important and their team is a much better team with him on the floor, which is why you see Steve Kerr and Steph Curry so pissed off with him because they realize that this is the best version of this team with him and he has to be more mature and not do things to take himself off the floor. I played pickup with Dremont Green a few summers ago and it was by far the easiest the game was for me in a pickup game. Like he's so valuable in the things that he's able to do on the floor that makes it easy for guys to score the basketball. Like he was directing, he looking at me big eyes, I'm back door cutting it. I was playing like out of body because and but he was leading me into these things and I was like, damn, that's what it feels like to be Steph Curry, you know? So this is the value that he brings to this team. If we can cut down the antics, we won't even be having this conversation. We'll be celebrating Dremont Green. It is what it is with that type of stuff. But last night it shows you this is, this is who he's been for this organization for years and years. And a lot of teams guard him wrong.   He can see over defenses. He's six, seven, six, eight, six, nine. He's got great vision, he's got a great feel.   So they can't, they're not gonna just cut them or wave them or buy them out. So they picked him. They got rid of Jordan, well, they picked him.  I agree. That'll be fine. I agree. Paul George, by the way, had a season high 41, this time 14 of 21 shooting. Clippers beat the Hornets, 131-18. Afterwards he swapped jerseys with Rookie Brandon Miller, who of course earlier in the season had called him his personal goat. Now, in that moment, Miller took heat for this, but as we've learned over the course of the last couple of seasons, a lot of these young guys look up to PG over MJ or LeBron. Well, I don't, what's your problem? I ask your personal goat, it's who you model your game at, who you admire. It has nothing to do with how you feel about it. You know what, my personal goat is Alan Iverson. My personal goat is Dirk. I know he's not the best player of all time. I loved him growing up. But think about the positions that we play. That's Charles position. This is my position. That's Brandon Miller's position. Look at that, they're basically identical. I was gonna say. They're basically identical. So he found somebody that he can model his game after to give him a blueprint of how he would like to play in how he carries his career. And be clear, Paul George at one point was one of the top three players in the league before that horrific injury that he had that kinda slowed him down a little bit. A lot of players really feel like this about Paul George and is deserved and it's earned. And again, it's not like he said Paul George is the best player ever said his personal goat. He likes him more. I like Dirk more than LeBron. He likes Alan Iverson more than like, you know what I mean? That's your opinion as a player to patent your game to have someone like that to look after. And you watched him play last night. I loved that Paul George kind of cooked him. And I loved it. But then there was also some highlights of Brandon Miller. He got him too a couple of times. So like this is fun. That's fun. As a normal kid from Orlando, Florida, I used to look at NBA players like they were aliens. I remember I saw like Turquilu in the mall. I freaked out like, and so the fact that this guy, they'll get to play against his idol and score on him and talk trash to him. And then just Jersey swap and all be loved and respect afterwards. It's what it's all about. Yeah, these are moments forever. These are moments forever man. This next little bit though, not a dream for half of the dudes you're about to see. That man has a family. We start with Jaylen Brown. Nice setup there. Nice little seggy. Segui. Hey man. Oh dear. See that? That's the way Bruno. Bruno. A little cross too. Bruno better than that. This is nasty. It's not great. It's not. It's not a highlight for Mr. Fernando is it? Jaylen Duran. It seems like everyone just stopped. This is six. Did you say it's a six? Dunk contest worthy. That was. Next. Next, we're over this one. The defense is crazy. Zupac. Zuchi man. Zupac. I'm not even looking at the rim when you jump. It's kind of crazy. It's Zuchi. There you go. Zupac is fun. But it's only going to last for so long. Because same game. Oh no. The get back. Oh this is. Oh not the get back. You know it was coming. Yeah this is very Zupac like. You know I love you Zupac. Live a moment. Die the next moment. Love that one. This is what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to get dunked on.  This is a battle of the bigs right here. Chris Dobbs, Zion, double block. No. No. No. That's something. I don't know. That's fun. He just ripped that thing out of his hand though. Yeah right. She's Louise. Possession. White's sitting in there as well. Yannis. I feel like I barely see bucks anymore. What's up with that? It's crazy because he did so many of these. It doesn't even do it for me when it's him. Someone else did this. Is it on that little boy in the middle? That seems unfair isn't it? That small man right there, the small child. He's probably like 6'5". He looks tiny. I feel bad for him. Oh. Now this was insane. Push, dunk you and you're on the floor. Damn it. He is. Just an offensive power there.  Little man. See what? If McBride didn't play 62 minutes this game he'd be able to take that contact. Any on the floor. Dude he's young, he can do this. By the way, you remember what he did to him a couple of weeks ago. Yeah and I like this. I don't think Wimby forgot. Never forget Wimby, hold the dredge forever. This again, this looks like I would do this on like a seven foot. Yeah I like it. This yeah, Fisher Price, nerf friend, look at this. I'd do that to my son. Playing around in the living room. I don't even think I can do that to my, I can't. Not yet. No. But you will.  It's coming. That's funny, you know he doesn't forget. This is rookie year. No, no. Watch him afterwards. Ah. Yeah, like remember that kid. All right, we'll take a quick break. Wrap things up when we come back. He's pretty good. He's all right. Yeah, I kind of love him. All right, we got time Chandler for a little prep party. All right, I like the Phoenix Suns tonight. I think they are playing for something big. I think New Orleans is banged up. No Brandon Ingram. I like Phoenix Suns minus one. And I like, Not bad. But I do like Zion to go a little bananas and go over 26 and a half. Okay, that's a lot. That's a lot. Yeah, not too bad. I like Pelicans Moneyline tonight. And I got CJ McCullum having a big night with Brandon Ingram being out. He'll pick up the slack over on 23 and a half. Is that right? Yeah. All right, that's some inside scoop there.  And I think both these guys are gonna score. We got a lot of points. I got a lot. By the way, between the three of us we have too many points on the board. Over. Over. Over. Shoot out.  Dear goodness. All right, Davis Bertons tomorrow and Will Zalatoris. Real stick. I got some questions. Easy, cowboy. Easy. Enjoy the game tonight. Go.


From Hollywood, it's time now for Johnny Dulling Hello, what'd you say? Who is this? Yeah, that's right. I'm investigating the Ricardo Amarillo matter who are you? Hello Hey, listen, you have some information a tip on the case. Who are you? Hello. Hello. Hey, what is this a gag? Or is this supposed to be some kind of a cock-eyed threat a warning for me to get off the case? Hello Hello Tonight and every week day night Bob Bailey in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-pact expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigators yours truly Johnny dollar Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania To the Philadelphia mutual liability and casualty company Following is an accounting of further expenses incurred during my investigation of the Ricardo Amarillo matter Expense account item 10 $21 even for drinks for me alone and believe it or not I'm cold sober But the least I could do was buy one at each of the bars on the list Pete Corbin gave me a List of all the places Ricardo Amarillo used to hang out before his disappearance in a South Jersey swamp In spite of all the circumstantial evidence pointing his way I still wasn't convinced Corbin had engineered an accident to kill Amarillo Pete did also give me a list of Amarillo's closest personal friends three of them I told them I'd see them later Meanwhile, I hope to learn something helpful from the places where he apparently spent most of his time during his last few months on this earth But the result can pretty much be summed up at the last bar on the list the hangover club Cost you 80 cents. Yeah keep the change.   Oh, did you know any of them? Oh, sure Well, they are your saxophone player at the crystal room. Oh Who else? Jerry somebody little player Jerry Goldsmith. Yeah, they're on my list. Hmm anybody else. No. Oh, yeah Sure his agent Pete Corbin. Yeah, that's it. Hey, if you knew that why'd you ask me? I've heard the same thing exactly 20 times so far today. Well, I'll say this for them They must have loved Amarillo. They might have fought and argued with him when they caught him in here But it was all for one thing to try and straighten them out. But mister He was too far in yeah Yeah, shame for a talent like him concert violinist to hit the skids the way he done Nobody couldn't see the story had been exactly the same in every bar in the list Apparently the only friends the only associates that Ricardo Amarillo had had where those Pete Corbin had named Expense account item 1110 cab fare to the apartment of William Elliot over on Caliwell Street Same story. No new names of friends or even acquaintances He and Corbin and Goldsmith and the old English violin maker Eric Snowden had known Amarillo for years good times and bad Had all tried to help him straighten them out. We're deeply grieved over his death Item 12 570 cab to a suburb call in arc to see Jerry Goldsmith where I'll admit I expected to get the same story the same names no more no less This time I took the Amati violin with me. I'm Johnny Donner. Oh, yes, you called come in Friend of Pete Corbin's you said Mr. Goldsmith, I'll get right to the point. I'm an insurance investigator and I came in case That that looks like Riccardo's it is and and the Amati. Yes I found it down on a South Jersey swamp where Amarillo's car plunged off the bridge It had been lying there hidden by the Marsha for several days. Is it all right? May I see it? One reason I brought it along was so you could substantiate identification. I make no bones about it, Mr. Dalla I covered this violin like nothing else in the world. I've played many fine instruments strads when you're a Even this my stain I see but Riccardo's Amati it There was something between that violin myself that could exist for no one else Not even Riccardo Amarillo when he was at his greatest and when he started his terrible downfall you Wanted it even more. Yes more than anything else in the world Enough to kill for it. Mr. Dalla. I Should kill you for even thinking such a thing I love Riccardo Okay, sorry The fact remains somebody saw through a steering arm on his car. I still can't believe that No one could have killed Riccardo.   It's a is the Amati. Yes I know it as well as I know my own May I play it sure? What's the matter? I don't know Mr. Dollar it it isn't here the tone of the brilliance the response it isn't here Something's wrong. You're sure this is the Amati. Of course. I'm sure but something's wrong Something's happened to it. It isn't the same. Why do you think the dampness of the swamp? Oh, no, you can see it's it's all right But but it isn't well. I I don't know anything about violence. No cracks. No marks. No damage Even the sound post but you're sure it's Riccardo Amarillo's Amati. Yes. Yes. I told you so I couldn't possibly be mistaken but something is The dollar well, I don't know You know something I don't either I'm afraid I left Jerry Goldsmith rather abruptly and around the distress condition But I had plans and the sooner I could carry them out the better Item 13 on expense account 420 taxi fare back into town at the shop of Eric Snowden violin maker The only man who'd been allowed to touch Riccardo Amarillo's amati except of course for the music store owner Who'd cleaned it up after I found it in the swamp Yeah, it was possible. He had done something to it that would destroy its tone But for some reason or other call it a hunch of your like I hope not Snowden shop was located on a colorful little side street really not much more than an alley called Isminger Street Right in the middle one of the busiest sections of the city surrounded by skyscrapers office stores and all the traffic that goes with them This one little alley Except for Snowden's place the tiny buildings packed side-by-side are all residences Left over from years gone by when this was a residential section and still unspoiled by the bustling activity around And I'll be sure to hear you at the Academy of Music Saturday night Mr. Snowden yes, I'm Eric Snowden, but that violin case. I'm Johnny dollar. I thought oh, please come in Mr. Dollar That's right. It's Riccardo Amarillo. It's been found Please let me mr. Snowden. I'm an insurance investigator part of my job has been recovery of this violin It's possible loss was the most heartbreaking thing I ever contemplated, but you found it I think so you think I don't understand. Well here take it examine it Yes, but not here come we'll go up to my work room on the second floor where I can check it thoroughly I'll lock this front door so we won't be disturbed now come with me, please It's so wonderful. You found it. It would have been a terrible loss to the world. Yeah, I guess so You're not a violinist yourself. No, I'm afraid the only violin music. I know is what I hear and what a shop Most of the finest violins in the world have been here one time or another The Stardivarius of Yasha was quite a shop the violins are lined with fiddles in the making and with tools some for midurian some that were A couple of them small and delicate boy, but one a big one dirty As Eric Snowden turned away to open the violin case I ran my fingers over the blades There was grease on one Well, mr. Snowden Yes, mr. Dollar, this is Ricardo Emery goes violin. You're certain of that Do you think that I have all people wouldn't know mr. Dollar aside from Ricardo himself I am the only person who has touched this magnificent instrument for years now. I Must confess I resent your least question of my judgment. All right. I'll be honest with you I don't pretend to know much about violin so I had somebody play it a while ago I'd be that as it may it didn't sound to him or even a me like a $30,000 violin and whom did you permit to lay hands on this priceless instrument a friend? Should be horse-whipped Only an artist a great artist should be permitted to handle a thing like this, but I suppose you Understand that mr. Dollar. I don't suppose you what go on mr. Dollar Someone has tampered with this. Oh, of course. It doesn't sound right Did this friend of yours presumed to be a violin maker to what do you mean the sound post the placement of the bridge? Of course, it doesn't sound right. No now why does somebody have to join answer that no let them wait This is more important. No wonder you or your friend or anyone else question the validity of this instrument Hey, whoever that is down there. He really wants you look here a simple adjustment here and here.  I'll wait. All right. I shall be right back It was a quick suspicion when I spotted the hacks on the wall and I couldn't forget the warning over the phone Snowden waited on his customer. I poked around the shop some more looking for goodness knows what and I found exactly nothing No doubt Snowden was telling the truth Until I started to sit down to wait for him and as I pulled over a stool I knocked open the door of a cabin next to his workbench. I started to close it again And then I saw it Hanging there on a hook was a violin. I grabbed it out of the cabinet and held it under the light beside the one in Amarigo's case. I held them up together It was unbelievable The shape the color the markings nicks on the little pegs you tune them up with a spot of stain on the scroll Even a tiny almost indiscernible scratch on the back an old pencil mark on the inside near the label It was impossible, but it was true These two violins were absolutely Identical. Oh, here's our star to tell you about tomorrow's final intriguing episode of this week's story tomorrow Well, it's a wind-up, but believe me a wind-up with a real twist Join us. Won't you yours truly Johnny dollar? Yours truly Johnny dollar starring Bob Bailey is transcribed in Hollywood written by Sam Dawson It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone Be sure to join us tomorrow night same time and station for the next exciting episode of yours truly Johnny dollar Roy Rowan speaking You