NBA SEASON IS BACK!!! And the crew is... mostly back. Harp phones in from the casino floor at Harrah's Cherokee Valley River in Murphy, North Carolina, Robert Horry is squeezing us in before a flight, and Rob Jenners is just glad real basketball tips off tonight.

We start with the Lakers waiving Dalton Knecht. Robert isn't surprised, shares what his old college coach told him about Knecht's scoring, and names a couple of teams that should go get him (Denver, you need a shooter). Then it's ring night at the Garden. Robert knows the other side of that one. His first year in San Antonio, he had to sit there and watch the Spurs get rings for beating his Lakers. He also tells the story of the 1995 Rockets ring that came out looking cheap.

From there it's Steph's ankle scare, the Porzingis illness, Draymond showing up heavy, and Ben Simmons tearing his Achilles right when he looked like himself again. We also get into the NBA's memo cracking down on certain prop bets, and why the leagues' sudden moral compass is hard to take seriously when the sponsors are sportsbooks and beer companies.

In the WNBA Finals, the Atlanta Dream finally won a Finals game and Angel Reese put up some history. We talk about the viral clip of her walking off when she didn't get the ball, and Robert explains what he'd tell her and what Shaq used to do instead.

Harp had to bail once the afternoon show took over his table, so Robert and Rob lock in their East and West playoff picks without him. His are coming next week. Robert has the Wizards in the playoffs (with an asterisk), Rob has the Celtics second in the East, and we'll be holding all of it over each other until April.

We close with the college football weekend where five of the top seven teams lost, picks for Miami-Pitt, Indiana-Michigan, Tennessee-South Carolina, Texas A&M-Alabama and Ole Miss-Texas, Big Shot of the Week for Brooklyn Green, and a game called Number One With a Bullet: how many No. 1 overall picks did Robert play with?

00:00 Intro: The Crew's Back-ish

02:48 NBA Opening Night & the Lakers Waive Dalton Knecht

07:41 Opening Night Schedule & Knicks Ring Night

08:38 Sitting Through Someone Else's Ring Night

11:07 Will the Sixers Spoil the Knicks' Party?

12:22 Wednesday's Slate & the Clippers

13:51 Steph's Ankle & the Porzingis Illness

17:17 Draymond's Weight & Off-Season Conditioning

21:40 Ben Simmons' Season-Ending Achilles

23:34 The NBA's Betting Crackdown Memo

27:24 WNBA Finals: The Dream Get Their First Win

28:14 Angel Reese's Viral Walk-Off

33:54 Eastern Conference Predictions

39:21 Western Conference Predictions

45:13 College Football's Chaos Weekend

46:52 College Football Picks

53:51 Big Shot of the Week: Brooklyn Green

55:57 Game: Number One With a Bullet

1:03:03 Does Going No. 1 Even Matter?

1:05:11 Wrap-Up

Episode 280, and B-Dawg is somewhere out on the ocean on a Carnival cruise, so it's Robert Horry and Rob Jenners holding it down. Bob's calling in from Vegas, where he's working the Lakers preseason game for season ticket holders. That gets the guys talking about the new ownership, what it means to be a Lakers legend, and why Bob respects teams like the Rockets that keep bringing back the older guys who never saw the big money. (Also: Bob is never getting on a cruise ship. Jaws, the Titanic, the Poop Cruise and a 6'2" shower for a 6'9" man. Case closed.)

Walker Kessler says he's been asked to be the Lakers' defensive anchor, and Bob is not a fan of coaches handing out roles. "Your role is to win games." That turns into Luka's defense, Devin Booker shutting people up at the Olympics, and whether anybody ever had to tell Hakeem or Tim Duncan to anchor a defense. Also on the table: LeBron calling Mike Breen a liar over the Embiid practice story, Paul George's rough Celtics debut, John Collins grabbing Dillon Brooks by the throat five minutes into a preseason game, and the Knicks shutting down extension talks with KAT, Josh Hart and the rest.

The WNBA Finals are set with the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream, and the Dream are stuck playing for a title in a 3,500-seat arena. The guys go back and forth on where it should have moved (McCamish seats 8,600, for the record), whether the Angel Reese haters owe her an apology, and who wins it.

Then football. Nick Sirianni kicks it short with eight seconds left and loses in London, and the Commanders sit in field goal range and let the clock run out for a tie. Bob tells the story of an inbound play at South Alabama from his freshman year that still haunts him. He was at Georgia-Alabama with his son Nick and has thoughts on the missed PI, the targeting no-call and Kalen DeBoer's sideline moment. Kentucky walks off another one, LSU turns out to be fool's gold, and Arch Manning takes some heat.

College football picks for Ohio State-Indiana, Florida-Texas, Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee, Mizzou-Ole Miss and Notre Dame-BYU. The Big Shot of the Week goes to Ben Miller and the neighbors who pulled a 90-year-old woman out of a pond in Champaign, Illinois. And in How About Them Underdogs, Bob goes 4 for 5. The one he misses? His own '95 Rockets.

Subscribe, hit the bell, and drop your questions for the guys in the comments.

00:00 Episode 280 and Harp's on a cruise

01:35 Why Bob will never go on a cruise

03:38 Bob in Vegas and life as a Lakers legend

07:35 Teams that take care of the old-school guys

11:58 Walker Kessler, defensive anchor? Bob on roles

15:55 Luka's defense and Devin Booker's Olympic turn

18:01 LeBron vs. Mike Breen over the Embiid story

20:27 Paul George's rough Celtics debut

21:26 John Collins grabs Dillon Brooks

23:29 Knicks shut down extension talks

26:58 WNBA Finals: Valkyries vs. Dream and the arena drama

31:15 Angel Reese and the WNBA Finals picks

33:07 Eagles lose on a short kickoff in London

35:39 Commanders run out the clock into a tie

39:08 Bob's inbound play disaster at South Alabama

40:57 Bob at Georgia-Alabama: the PI, targeting and DeBoer

46:22 Kentucky, LSU and Arch Manning

50:20 College football picks

56:43 Big Shot of the Week: the Champaign pond rescue

58:22 Game: How About Them Underdogs

Friday Shoot Around. Harp is somewhere recovering from a week of NLDS parties, so it's Big Shot Bob and Rob. Rob opens by telling Bob he never has to apologize for springing Allie Clifton on him Tuesday, and then it's straight into the story everybody kept asking about: Gregg Popovich marrying Mary Beth Budenholzer. Bob knows her personally, and his take is simple. Love is love, Pop needs somebody right now, and if anyone deserves a roast it's Bud.

Listener questions carry the rest. Casey asks about the viral Giants game video, the mom carrying a baby and an armful of nachos and the husband asking where the ketchup is, and whether the couple deserves the beating they're taking online. Steven wants to know why nobody believes in Buddy Hield after four teams in one year, which gets Bob talking about what it's like to be a specialist, plus Dennis Schroder and Rudy Gay. Then: which teams can't outspend their own legacy? The Mets, the Browns, the Cowboys and the Jets all get named, and Bob and Rob try to find the NBA version.

The back half goes off the rails in the best way. Rob just finished the Lanterns finale, which turns into the best and worst TV finales ever (Sopranos, Seinfeld, Fresh Prince, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, 24), Rob catching grief for watching Elsbeth, and Bob's movie pet peeve: the guy who runs right past the gun. Plus Reacher's bulletproof walk, John Wick's suit jacket and the monologuing villain.

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00:00 Friday Shoot Around: Harp's NLDS hangover

01:22 Pop marries Mary Beth Budenholzer

04:20 Falling for someone at work

06:10 Casey: the Giants game mom and the ketchup

10:03 Steven: does anyone believe in Buddy Hield?

12:15 Specialists who keep moving: Schroder and Rudy Gay

13:18 Teams that can't outspend their own legacy

15:29 The NBA version: Wizards, Jazz, Blazers

17:42 Lanterns and the best TV finales

20:27 Why 24 got ridiculous

21:56 Elsbeth, The Good Wife and Denny Crane

23:46 Movie pet peeves: pick up the gun

26:28 The monologuing villain