After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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One-year upgrade requires Go 5G Next plan, financing new qualifying device, and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. The NBA is back. How are you feeling about it? Gosh, even as we ask you about upsets that you never saw coming, there have been a couple recent ones in the NBA postseason.

Or anyone gonna throw the Stanley Cup playoffs at me? On Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, we've got plenty of good stuff that you can be amused by. Plenty of ways that you can amuse yourselves on both our Twitter and Facebook pages. We've got a couple of polls still ongoing. We're gonna reveal your choice for TD of the Week. It's a healthy balloting right now.

We've also got a space where you can send your questions for Ask Amy Anything that comes up next hour here on the Hump Show, middle show of the work week. And now we're asking you, in light of Diamondbacks rallying past the Phillies to make just the second World Series in their franchise history, first in 22 years, what is another stunning upset in sports that you never saw coming? In fact, you still can't believe it happened. You never saw it, even though you are the best of prognosticators, and even though you could guarantee a lock here or there or everywhere. I do love it when people guarantee something that they can't control.

Nah, nah, nah, you're just guessing. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As I say, start of the NBA season tonight, and in Denver, as was the right in the Mile High City as the NBA champions, they had a special ring ceremony and a banner raising, and it was kind of cool to see them flash all their bling and then have to turn around and play a game. I always enjoy that emotional dynamic.

Producer J grabs some of the cool moments from the ceremony. Nuggets Nation. I can't hear you. You guys have been the best fans in the NBA for eight years. We appreciate that.

Last year was amazing. We got one ring. Who wants another? Murray has it at the mid-court circle, guarded by Torian Prince. They're going to go to Jokic in the high post again. This time a pick by Joker. Joker, kick out three-pointer.

Got it! There's a triple-double, Nicole Jokic. Game number one.

27-13 and 11. Some things never change from a ring ceremony and a banner raising and a salty Mike Malone, although I think he's pretty mild on opening night. A triple-double for Nicole Jokic, the two-time MVP. They shot 53% tonight against the Lakers, and it was kind of fun to see basketball start in Denver.

Maybe that's a storyline that you never saw coming or an upset, a winner that you never saw coming. We are pleased to welcome Matt Moore from Denver. He's got the Locked on Nuggets podcast, also locked on NBA, long-time insider and rider for the Action Network, and at that ring ceremony with the banner going up into the rafters. What was it like there for the Nuggets and their fans, Matt? It was emotional. The Nuggets talked all week about how they wanted to get past it and get back to work and turn the page, but it was emotional. It was emotional for Michael Malone, who lost his father two weeks ago.

He said that when he received the ring, he thought of his dad as the banner was raised there in the arena. Nicole Jokic, there was a video package that kind of showed all the fan reactions to their winning the title, and Jokic talked a lot about how much that meant to him. I spoke with Michael Porter Jr. after the game, and he said that he wasn't aware that everyone with the organization gets a ring, and so he's talking about the training staff and the equipment managers and all the people that go into the giant organization of an NBA team and how it was great to see them get recognized for their contribution. Overall, it was a really emotional and a real night of celebration for the Nuggets and their fans, and that continued through the end of the game. How much has changed for those Nuggets in the last four months?

Not much. Honestly, I asked Aaron Gordon, you guys seemed really sharp given that it was night one. Honestly, it felt like we stopped playing yesterday.

We just picked it right back up. The continuity of that team, I think, helps a lot where Jokic and Murray and Gordon have been playing together. Especially, Gordon and Jokic have been playing together for several years, and so they all know how to play together.

Obviously, there's been some changes. Bruce Brown's gone. Jeff Green's gone. They're playing younger guys like Peyton Watson. They need a big step up from Christian Brown. Reggie Jackson's now the backup point guard, but those are all pieces that kind of fit into limited roles who are asked to do limited things.

The key components are still that starting five, and that's the best starting five in basketball with the best player in basketball, and that's going to make them tough to beat throughout this season and into the postseason. LeBron has been through several of those, emotional two, multiple places, and here he is starting his 21st season. So, Matt, how much of the conversation around LeBron is how much longer he plays in the NBA? Yeah, you know, he had that conversation about possibly retiring, which I think that was just a moment for him, a tough moment after a disappointing exit last postseason, but look, I think he's seen his own basketball mortality, right?

He knows that's getting harder. He's not able to do the things he used to, and usually when players reach that point where they can see the end, that starts kind of the clock for them to eventually not come back. And I think that LeBron's kind of in that zone, and I think it's one of the reasons why there's so much optimism and focus with this team in preseason about making one more run is how important it is and what the clock looks like with LeBron. And so, you know, part of that equation is LeBron's kind of asked for Anthony Davis to step up and be the best player on the team the last couple of years. He keeps saying, if we're going to win the championship, AD's got to be our best player. He said that every year, and it kind of was there in a big way this postseason or this preseason as well.

So that's going to continue to be a storyline. It's not just how much does LeBron have left, but is Anthony Davis ready to be the one that carries LeBron to the title, because he needs that from Davis if they're going to compete for a championship. The Lakers have employed load management for their two stars in the past, a significant rule change this year. How do you think teams will navigate these new rules that are instituted by the league to prevent stars from taking as many nights off or to prevent stars from sitting out all at the same time? I mean, it wasn't a great start when Bradley Beal, who, you know, did tweak his back and have an injury, but they said that he's out basically out of trying to be cautious in the first game of the season. Not a great start there, but that said, I'm still pretty optimistic that I think we're going to see a much more, a higher level of effort and focus from teams and players on the regular season this year.

It's been a big talking point. Most notably, if you kind of, if you have conversations around the league, you kind of get a sense that a lot of this is coming from the players themselves. That in coordination with the NBA, who knows that a new media deal is being negotiated and they need to put their best foot forward for the good of everyone financially. I think we're meeting the summer of the NBA where there is a little bit of this sense within the ranks of trying to get everybody back on track of, hey, we, we get to play, like we got to be out there. I know that the training staffs are telling us that we need to rest, that it's dangerous, that we're going to get injured, but we've got to push through a little bit. We have to kind of change the narrative. I think the players are really tired of being accused of not wanting to play when so often it's the teams that are asking them and telling them, hey, you're at risk of injury. We think it's safer if you don't play tonight. I think the players are kind of taking this stuff into their own hands and saying, no, we're going to compete this season.

Now we'll see if they carry through with it, if they can still do it in January, but I do think we're going to see a lot less load management, a lot less rest nights. I think a lot more play on back to backs. I think we'll see a lot, a better product from the NBA this season. We're always excited to welcome Matt Moore back to the show. Former colleague of ours here, but now with the Action Network has been covering the NBA for a long time, has the Locked on Nuggets podcast as well. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. While we're talking about wrinkles in time for the NBA, how do you like this new in-season tournament?

I'm excited for it. You know, I think the players don't really know what to make of it. I think there's a lot of skepticism about what it means and how much to try and all those types of things. But talking to some coaches around the league and asking them about that question, they all said the same thing, which is we have guys going at it in practice. We have guys that get into fights with teammates on a Tuesday over a play in a scrimmage. And you're telling me that the most competitive players in the world aren't going to care when there's something?

It doesn't matter what it is. These guys go round for round in shooting competitions. These are the most competitive athletes on the planet. And if you get them in that environment in a one-off, you win or you go home, I think that there is going to be a little bit of, not a lot, but a good amount of effort to make these games compelling. I think the stakes in the NBA are an important thing that's been missing and it just provides an opportunity for that. I think Vegas is a great place to host for these events for a number of reasons. It'll be cool inside the sphere.

All these things are really great. I think you'll see like a really good moment and kind of new thing happening with the league when it comes to the in-season tournament. It almost feels confusing to me and I'm trying to actually figure it out. The simple thing is November, Tuesdays, and Fridays. That's one of the smartest things the league has done, which is just like, hey, here's two nights, these are the games, that's when you get to watch. And if you're able to take out all the guesswork, now following the standings and all of that, that's going to be more complicated. Understanding who's getting the wild card in these situations, yeah, like that stuff's going to be tough. But I do think that having certain nights where you can say, if you turn on NBA game in November on Tuesday or Friday, there's something on the line.

It matters what happens in a very short-term matter. I think that that helps a lot with fighting off some of the problems that are inherent with the 82-game season where no game is really different from any other and the players talk about that openly. This changes that and if they embrace it, the league will have something good.

And if not, it'll be gone in a couple of years. Similar to a model that we see with European soccer, so we'll see how it is implemented, Tuesdays and Fridays in November. Okay, Matt, let's talk about some of the new duos and tandems that we have in the NBA. I actually was listening to Warriors basketball on my drive into work and Tim Roy utters these words, Chris Paul may be the best Warrior on the court tonight, and then after a pause he follows it up with a phrase I thought I'd never say. So there you've got Chris Paul joining the Warriors, but that's just one of the moves. With Dame going to Milwaukee, the changes for the Celtics, Whenby in San Antonio, who are a few of the new combos that you are psyched to see?

I mean, I think it starts with Milwaukee. Just seeing Danny and Lillard for years has been one of the best offensive players in the league and he's carried these teams with rosters that were fine. They weren't terrible, like these teams were not filled with non-NBA players, but he's never had a real star beside him, a real superstar. And now he's got arguably the second best or best player over the last five years in basketball in Giannis Anacompo. And having Giannis as a player he can play off of is going to elevate his game to an even higher level. Having Dame to space the floor and make sure teams can't send droves of defenders at him is going to make Giannis better.

This is the best defense that Dame's ever played with. And I was thinking about this too, where does Chris Middleton fit in with the number of guys that Dame has played with? It's probably in Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge, and then I think Chris Middleton is probably better than CJ McCollum. So Chris Middleton, the now third or fourth best player on the team, is still probably on the list of third best players that Dame's ever played with.

And that I think is really exciting. The Celtics, I'm more excited on how they all go together, because you have so much defense in the backcourt with Derek White and Drew Holliday. That's just a fantastic defensive combo that's going to give point guards nightmares game after game after game. But in previously you kind of saw this, Chris F. Porzingis was phenomenal last year. I've never been really high on Porzingis, and he was amazing last season because he was finally healthy. If he stays healthy, he provides a weapon that means that the Celtics won't have those stretches where their offense completely melts into pieces. And that's really exciting, and that can open up even more for Jason Tatum.

So all these things, I think that they were super exciting. The Warriors I'm a little bit more skeptical about with Chris Paul and the age and the injuries and all of that. And the Suns, I've talked to players who have kind of said like, yeah, I don't know if Phoenix is going to be dominant enough because of their defense.

And that I think is an interesting question. And I think everybody in the league, I will say this, I don't know, I've never seen a rookie come in that so many players are like, I got to make sure I watch that, as I've heard talk about Victor Wemenyama. What do you expect with him? I had kind of lowered the bar on my expectations and been like, well, you know, look, he doesn't have the muscle mass and he's going to get pushed around and guys are going to attack his dribble.

And then I saw him in preseason and was like, man, maybe not. Maybe he's just going to block four shots a game and hit threes and dunk from the free throw line. There's a part of this where these guys that are so physically exceptional, I'll never forget, I seen early in Giannis' first MVP season where they were playing the Nuggets and Paul Millsap was trying to stop Giannis in transition. It was obviously impossible because of Giannis' athleticism and wingspan. And Paul Millsap looked at the bench like, what is it you want me to do here? And that's how every player looks with Victor Wemenyama.

What is it I'm supposed to do here? And that I think is going to be really amazing in that, look, it's not going to be perfect every night and there will be nights he struggles like any rookie. But the things that he does are things we've never seen before. And that's going to be exciting and something to watch for every single night. Matt Moore is with us from Denver here after hours on CBS Sports Radio. What happens with James Harden? I think he ends up a clipper. I think eventually that deal gets one side or the other budgets and they get it done. I think there's a sense of resignation on the sixer side with a lot of things going on. And I think on the clipper side there's a confidence that they can get him. Now look, my understanding is that Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have both expressed that they want that deal to get done.

But that's something that they think the team needs to do. Typically those guys get what they want with the clippers and so I think it's very likely that he winds up there. Harden is away from the team right now with a personal family illness. And it is for all of the jokes and all of the comments and I understand why Harden has put himself in a position for those jokes to be made. But my understanding is that the situation is serious. And so I'm trying to have empathy and care and not get involved in the kind of cynicism that Harden has honestly generated for himself.

And understand that he does have a family and a personal life and he's got some stuff going on. But long term I think he probably goes with the clippers. The bigger question in NBA circles I've talked to is very little about Harden because he's not considered to be that much of an impactful influential player anymore.

Quite honestly. The question is what happens with Joel Embiid then? And there are a lot of teams that are keeping their cap sheets and offers ready in the event that Joel Embiid decides, You know what?

You didn't get a star back in return. I don't want to waste a season. This has gone sideways.

I'm out. And if that happens we're just going to go from the Dame situation and the Harden situation right into the Embiid saga. And it will just keep on running because there's not a lot of confidence that things will calm down with the Sixers. Unless Daryl Morey and the Sixers front office find a miracle trade for a true star running mate next Lindsey.

It's going to be crazy to see. The Miami Heat actually represented the East in the NBA Finals last year. What a story they were. Have they gotten better or worse in the offseason, Matt, considering they didn't get Damian Lillard? You know, there's a lot of confidence from their side about the developmental program of Nikola Jovic, not Jovic, Jovic. Of rookie Jaime Hockes, of Cole Slider, another young player that they're developing. They feel confident in their ability to find all these guys to replace what they lost when Gabe Vincent and Max Stroust left in pre-agency. Because quite honestly, the Heat were making room for Damian Lillard.

I'm still pretty skeptical. You got Jimmy Butler in his mid-thirties after a lot of years under Tom Thibodeau. He's got a lot of miles on him. The rookies will probably be good. Eric Foster is an amazing coach, but rookies aren't consistent. And consistency wins in the NBA. And there will always be now the question of like, oh, well sure, they'll start a regular season, but they'll just do what they did last year. And I have to kind of just like really stress, they were down with three minutes to go in the second play-in tournament game. It was three minutes from not even making the postseason. The margin for error for Miami is very thin, that the growing pains will be difficult. That said, if they can get things to break right, I think that there's a chance that they'll be in the mix once again through sheer force of will. If they can figure out a way just to get through six months of basketball and land in the playoffs, that combination of what Jimmy Butler is in the postseason and Eric Spolstra is enough to give them a chance as we saw last year. Matt, before I let you go, what are your emotions as you cover another NBA season, another start to an NBA season?

I'm really refreshed, to be honest with you. I'm kind of having a renaissance and falling back in love with the game. There's so much nonsense and there's so much stuff that goes on behind the scenes in the NBA with regard to the business side of it. So much is driven by money, but seeing the kind of joy that happened in Denver with that franchise winning its first title, and then seeing all the great basketball, there's such talent in the league right now. There's talk of expansion because there's so much talent to support that kind of expansion. It's going to be an amazing season. There's going to be great storylines.

I think we're going to see better effort, as I talked about earlier. I think we're in for an all-timer when it comes to what this NBA season looks like. The enthusiasm to share from Matt Moore, long-time NBA writer and insider, now with the Action Network. You can find him on Twitter at HPBasketball.

He's very active, especially late at night, working at the same time that we are. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes and happy basketball season. Thanks for having me, Amy.

Anytime. Well, that should whet your appetite on the upcoming season. I love that Wembley fever is not only being felt in San Antonio, but around the league with actual players. Guys who will have a chance to face him and then watch him as well. What can't he do? That will become the question. Can he stay healthy? That's always a challenge when international players get into the NBA because of the rigors of an 82-game season.

I like the rules that limit load management simply for the sake of rest and load management. I don't know about this in-season tournament. Interested to see some of the new combos and how quickly they settle in.

We did see the Denver Nuggets defend their title in game number one, but if you thought the Golden State Warriors might have gotten better or might be able to start out hot because of either the addition of Chris Paul or just in general the way that they lost in the second round of the playoffs last year, well, think again. It may be a bumpy re-entry, but you know that they're always a lot of fun. By the way, I surprised mom with the same piece of audio that I used to surprise you on our last show, and if you missed it, we'll bring it back. We'll probably bring it back every single night of the NBA season, but yeah, I have to tell you how I surprised mom with it. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Twitter. After Hours, CBS, we've got polls. We've got a show question tonight. A lot of you weighing in on the upset you never saw coming, and then also send your questions for Ask Amy Anything, which comes up about an hour and 15 minutes from now. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Touchdown! To cast your vote for the TD of the Week, head to at After HoursCBS on Twitter, or give us a call at 855-212-4227. The Minnesota Vikings. Cousins on third and six, big blitz like Pete said.

So Cousins fires over the middle, and it is caught by Edison. A 2010 touchdown! That time, Jordan Edison stole it from Tarvarious Ward, and it's a 60-yard touchdown, and the Vikings strike in the shadow of halftime, and they lead 16-7.

The New England Patriots. Kacicki into the huddle, Douglas departs for New England, and Mike Wallace aligned to the right inside of Devontae Parker. And meanwhile, Henry, Boren, and Stevenson flex left before Jones summons Stevenson to the quarterback's right hip. A second goal to go from the left hash one. Andrews over the football to snap it back. Jones has it, looks to his right, throws it to the right.

Got it! Touchdown! He's got it. Patriots! There he is, Mike Kacicki off the side of a milk carton, catching the game winner. The Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers in a tie game line up with everything in tight. Pickett communicating the play. The lone setback is Najee Harris.

Pickett steps in, hands it off. Najee into the end zone. Pittsburgh Steelers go ahead, touchdown.

It's the iron horse. Najee goes into the end zone. The Cleveland Browns.

Here we go. Hudson and Harris, Browns from the one. This is the game. Out of the eye, they need the touchdown. Hunt and Harris. Walker gives to Kareem Hunt.

Pushing, pushing. Touchdown! Kareem Hunt got it across the goal line.

Kareem Hunt are the cardiac kids back. Kareem Hunt getting it over the goal line. The huge touchdown on fourth down. You knew you could run it at that point. It didn't matter.

That was the last play. Those are four worthy candidates for TD of the Week, and the polling is going on for another hour, so you can check that out on our show Twitter. After hours, CBS, it's pinned to the top of that Twitter, or you can find it on my feed.

I just did retweet it for you, ALawRadio. Pretty healthy competition among three of the candidates. I'm actually kind of surprised with how it's shaking out right now, but an hour left to vote, so either place, either social media, you can decide the after hours TD of the Week. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So we were talking about the start of the NBA season. The Warriors were hosting the Suns in the second game for a couple of reasons. Number one, Kevin Durant, still with Phoenix, used to play with Golden State, obviously won a couple of NBA Finals MVPs, but also Chris Paul, facing one of his former teams. So facing the Suns in the season opener, and we can get to the game itself coming up, but it was kind of funny, as I mentioned to Matt Moore, I heard Tim Roy say on the broadcast, Chris Paul has been the best Warrior on the court tonight, and there's this big pause and he utters, I never thought I'd say that phrase, or a phrase I never thought I'd say, something along those lines. Yeah, it's early, there are a lot of new duos and combos in the NBA, but one thing that does not change is the Splash Brothers at Golden State, and we've been big fans.

I know you guys are big fans too. I mean, Steph Curry has changed the NBA. He's increased its global presence. He is an international superstar. He transcends the game. And then Klay Thompson, who's overcome so much adversity.

The two of them are arguably the best shooting back court in the history of the league. And so when we got the email from Warriors PR on Monday with an audio clip, we were stunned, speaking of stunned, to hear this. This is Klay Thompson, four-time champion with the Golden State Warriors.

You're listening to one of the best shows in America, After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So my mom had her birthday on Tuesday, and she is a huge Warriors fan because of the Splash Brothers. She loves Steph.

She loves Klay. Anyway, I sent the email to my mom's husband, and I said to him when we were on the phone, I was on the phone with my mom for her birthday and Mike was in the house, and I said, don't read the email to mom. Just open up the email and play the audio. So I'm on speakerphone. They're on speakerphone. I hear in the background, this is Klay Thompson.

This is Klay Thompson. And my mom listens to the whole thing. We listen to the whole thing together, especially the part about one of the best sports shows in America. We're listening to one of the best shows in America. And there's silence on the other end of the phone. And I said, mom, did you hear that?

She was like, yes. Well, why aren't you reacting? Well, why is Klay Thompson talking about your show? I was like, okay, of all the things to ask, why is Klay Thompson talking about your show? How does he know?

How did he do that? So I guess she was a little surprised. So I explained to her that we got this email from Warriors PR and Mike read it to her. She still didn't understand that someone had put a script in front of Klay Thompson and said to him, hey, can you read this for us? And that happens. If you listen to any broadcast, gosh, if you watch NBA TV, you'll see various athletes who are reading what we call IDs or opens or rejoins, anything like that.

They're reading these clips to kind of reintroduce a show or to give it a legal ID at the top of the hour, which is required by the FCC. So my mom had no idea why Klay would be talking about After Hours. And I said, still, though, how cool is that?

Stop trying to figure out how the sausage is made. Happy birthday and listen. Since she loves the Splash Brothers, it was probably just as cool a moment for her as it was for me. So it was really neat to be able to share that with her on her birthday. So, Warriors, thank you. Thank you so much for that cool moment for Mom, who has been a fan since the Splash Brothers arrived on the scene.

I daresay there are millions of Americans who would say the same thing. After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I'm not sure what's cooler. Well, that's cool. But do you remember, Marco, Jay wasn't with us then, going back to say you're number two maybe. And our former bosses, Mark and Eric, they were part of the final four kind of press junket. And it would be so it was Jim Nantz, Bill Rafferty, and then some other people that were working for CBS.

And I don't know, Jay, if you can find them. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There was also one from Bill, which was really cool. And I remember hearing those and was completely blown away by the fact that Jim Nantz uttered the name of the show. Just awesome. Hi, this is Vern Lundquist. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Forgot about Vern. That was another incredible moment. So between Klay Thompson, Jim Nantz, Vern Lundquist, and then Kurt Warner telling me that I stole his gig with Southern Recipe Small Batch Pork Rinds and that he was going to try to steal it back. Those are kind of my ooh, brush with greatness moments.

Not bad. Which one would you say is the coolest? I mean, Klay Thompson did call it one of the best sports shows in America. I do like that. There's always a chance that he said that all by himself off the cuff. I'm going to go with off the cuff.

I'm going to go with the Kurt Warner. It's just a think. I like that. Amy Lawrence of CBS Radio took your job. Amy's great. She is. The film rings and she says, come on and visit my show. I say, yeah. And I say, what's the deal about taking money out of my guy's pocket there for the pork rinds? She's better at it.

I hate to admit it, but she is. Now, see, that was pretty freaking amazing. And that was on Westwood One.

That's off the cuff. I like that. We took it from Westwood One. So, yeah, that was pretty awesome.

And then Kurt came on the show and admitted the fact that he was going to try to steal it back. So, yeah, every now and then we've got some brush with greatness here on After Hours. Our little middling show. We call it the little engine that could.

We just keep chugging through the overnights. Marco left us and then he came back because he couldn't stay away. I left. You did. You left. I don't remember it being like that.

Yes. Come on. You left us. I don't think it was like that, but OK. How is it like? Well, I don't see how I left.

Where did I go? I didn't leave. OK. You changed time slots.

Well, not time slots, but I changed days of the week. Yeah. I suppose that that would be considered us leaving you then. Right.

Right. I was going to say, you left me. After you left me, then they moved me where I was kind of off the network for a while and then I came back. And now we're reunited.

And there you go. I was thinking about this earlier and I know we're running a little late, but I was thinking about this earlier about the original voices left on the network. So we're now wrapping up year number 11 here on CBS Sports Radio with D.A.

departed. I do miss him. It's not the same without him and Sean Morash in the morning, though Pete is still here working the new morning show that's Maggie and Purlov. Maggie started on the network, but then she left. She was gone for five, six years. So she started doing a Saturday morning show and didn't come back until, what, a year ago, year and a half ago. So she was gone for a while. I know that Jody Mack still works weekends.

Right. So he but he was also gone for a while. I don't know if Jody ever actually left, but I hear I think he was always on the Saturday Sunday.

OK. All right. So I thought he was gone. I think he spent a couple of years doing some other stuff. I could be wrong, but I feel like Jody doesn't ever miss anything.

Jody's working 24 hours a day. I don't think he ever turned out. I have not run into Jody in years. I haven't seen him.

We just do not cross paths. Well, and then the pandemic kept people at home for so long. But otherwise, you started with the network at the beginning. Right. So you've.

But I don't know. Did you work all the way through or did you. So you you did continue to do shifts on CBS Sports Radio, even when you were also doing other things. Right.

The only thing that I was I just wasn't always full time. That's only been the last couple of years. Right. So me, you. Let's include Jody.

Maggie's back. But who else is there that's that's been here since the beginning on air? Andrew Bogusch. OK. Bogusch as an anchor has been on air at the beginning.

And he's also done some hosting. Right. Jim Rome. Well, of course. And then. Rick Ackerman. OK.

So few anchors. Peter Schwartz. OK. So there. Well, he was gone for a while, too, but he did come back or he was not left. Yeah. Well, he was not used for quite a while.

Remember, because he was on this show and they they let him go. So he. Yeah, he was.

Yeah. I clawed his way back in. But, yeah, no, they let him go. So he was full time and then it wasn't anything to do with him. It was just they were changing.

They were letting people go. So. All right. So it's a few anchors, four anchors that have been here since the beginning. And then me and Jim. I mean, yeah, I mean, full time, definitely, definitely.

Part time. I don't know if there's been any other other than Jody. I don't know if there was a host that's been here from the start. I mean, there's some that, like you said, that were here and left and came back or moved on or whatever and started like a year later.

No, not at the top, but I could be missing somebody and I apologize if I am. But an 11 year odyssey. That's pretty incredible.

It's pretty incredible. Yeah. We wrapping up your number 11.

The network launched on January 1st, 2013. I can't I can't get over it. I feel very old. That's all right. I think about the I don't know, I don't think you were here for that when we had to do the dry runs. Those were the fun ones in December. No, because I was in Connecticut working for my previous network, so I still had a job there. OK. Yeah.

Those were fun. We talked to ourselves. I did come in for an audition. Do you know who my audition was with?

Tiki and Tierney and Chris Moore. OK. OK. Yeah. It was the four of us crazy enough. Yeah. There was a lot of different combinations for a long time.

Yeah. That they were trying to figure out. Again, the dry run is just funny because it's almost like an inside joke, but it was the idea that we there were so many of us here and we were running it basically 24 hours a day. So we were doing shows and people would do two hours worth of a show and then they would just replay for two hours and they bring in another host. And we were talking to ourselves and I had to do six straight hours of updates and I was like, what are we doing? You're practicing. We got to the point where we're looking at each other and we're like, we figured out the clock after an hour.

Like how many times do we have to do this? I'm so sorry. I missed that. Oh, my goodness.

That sounds like fun. So Marco actually predates 2013. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. We've gone through many iterations.

It's pretty incredible. Don't forget. This was like, you know, December 23rd and 27th really come in for this New Year's Day 2013. Jay, you missed out on so much. It was real different around here. OK. On Twitter, a law radio also after our CBS, which did not exist when we started.

And then on our Facebook page, too, thanks for the kind words from Mom. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Booker gets open again. Doesn't shoot it. Scoops the ball. The Okogie left block. Gets it back. Booker another open three on the way.

That one's good. Devin Booker over 30 for the second time in a season opening game. He joins Charles Barkley as the only sons to do that more than once in their career.

One hundred and ninety six. Sons up four. Forty feet away. Around the screen from Nurkic on the right wing. Back in between the circles. He gives it right side Gordon for three. He got it.

Eric Gordon from way downtown. And the Suns are back up five, 106, 101, 43 seconds to go. Gets to the top of the arc. Gives to the cutting Nurkic.

He scoops it up and in off the window. What a feed from Book. And Nurk finishes at the rim to put the Suns up four with ten point three seconds left. Timeout Warriors.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. This was a weird game. It really did epitomize the opener of the NBA season and that teams other than Denver maybe have got some settling in that they need to get to.

Listen to this. Okay the first quarter between and I did watch some of this and then listen to Tim Roy on my way in who's the voice of the Warriors. That's the Suns radio network.

Al McCoy is now retired. Phoenix and Golden State played to a draw. In the first quarter it was 28-28. Quarter number two. The Suns outscored the Warriors 33-18. Quarter number three. A 40-19 edge in favor of Golden State. Final quarter 28-18. So the Warriors go from scoring 28 in the first quarter, 18 in the second, 40 in the third, 18 in the fourth.

Alright. The team definitely started slowly. We'll get some reaction to Chris Paul being integrated as a starter into that Warriors lineup. But how about Kevin Durant playing in front of the fans in the Bay Area for the first time in five years. It's always good to be recognized for the work you put in so it was exciting to see people that I haven't seen in a while. Some familiar faces and I feel like the fan base here got nothing but love and respect for me as an individual player and as a person and that's all I can ask for. Kevin Durant now with the Suns which I still have to pinch myself and remember.

We didn't see a whole lot of it last year. It was still a work in progress and that's the same thing with Kyrie Irving. You want to talk about stunners, I'm pretty surprised that he ended up in Dallas except for when I consider that there really wasn't any other place for him. If you missed the conversation with Matt Moore at the top of the hour, I did ask him about James Harden and he believes that ultimately, it may take a while, but ultimately James Harden will get traded to the Clippers because Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are on board. Forget anybody who runs the team, as long as the Stars are on board, well okay James Harden. Let's head to your fourth team in, what is it, five years? The NBA where everyone plays with his BFF. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.