On today's show Sharp and Golliver celebrate the calm before the trade deadline storm. First, after another disastrous Cavs game, when will the NBA think about abandoning conferences and re-seeding the playoffs? How has the current model hurt the East? And what's the best way to fix it? Then (19:00): they circle back to talk about the diminishing returns of today's max contracts, the pitfalls for teams in the middle tier, and the ongoing implications of the failure to smooth the cap in 2016. From there (32:00) they examine LeBron's role as player/GM and how much credit/blame he deserves for the state of the Cavs. At the end (42:00): they discuss Kobe the cat, LeBron the lizard, Rasheed the guinea pig, and 45 minutes worth of NBA pet names, family histories, and the hidden meaning of Ben Golliver's initials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices