THE BOX OUT PICK AND POPS 1. How can Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak be at it again when Szczerbiak has only played four games? This story in Minnesota is becoming more tired than Iverson vs. Brown. 2. Lost in all of the Yao Ming hoopla Thursday was the Glen Rice sighting Thursday in Dallas. The Rockets forward scored a season-high 16 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from three. QUOTE OF THE DAY “You kissed some cows in your life. Trust me.” —TNT analyst Charles Barkley's quip to Kenny Smith after kissing Smith's ass (a donkey) to pay up on their much-publicized Yao Ming bet. NUMBER OF THE DAY 11-9 The worst record through 20 games by an NBA champion (the 1946-47 Philadephia Warriors) TRASH TALK You had your say. So here are the best comments: Just because Shaq is back don't think the Lakers are going to go on a roll like they were the Dallas Mavericks. Even with the Big Fella, the rest of the team needs to finally find their respective rhythm. Anthony Baca, Baldwin Park, Calif. Can somebody please tell Mr. O'Neal that it's only a toe! I wouldn't want Dr. Phil (no, not the gaudy TV host but the gaudy, dare I say, luckiest coach in the world) to put another asterisk on this year's NBA champ. No, the Lakers will NOT win the title again. Raul Garcia, San Antonio, Texas When you beat a team for only the fifth time since '91, don't talk trash. Also, your lack of man-to-man defense will be exposed. Trust me. Marcus Wilder, Los Angeles, Calif. I hope Shaq remembered what RUN DMC had to say, "...kings from Queens, from Queens come kings." S. McKinney, Louisville, Ky. Yao Ming the next MVP, I've got one interesting fact to bring up: Acie Earl hit for 40 one time. That's 10 more than Yao's career high. Timothy Wearing, Vancouver, B.C.

With apologies to ESPN.com colleague Andy Katz, who knows anything and everything about men's college basketball, the nickname "Answer Man" really belongs to a 7-foot-1, 350-pound know-it-all who gets his kicks questioning the gender of the Sacramento Kings.

Not like Shaquille O'Neal needs another name. The media already calls him "Shaq Daddy," "The Diesel" and "Big Aristotle." But we've brought "Answer Man" to the floor because of all the questions that will be answered when the … oops, one more … Big Fella returns to the court.

Questions like:

Are the Dallas Mavericks that good? As in 12-and-oh good, that is, good enough to derail the Lakers' effort to further annoy Red Auerbach and win Phil Jackson his record 10th NBA title as head coach?

Does the addition of 6-11 jumping jack Keon Clark to the frontcourt really make the Kings (or "Queens," as Shaq told reporters to write down during one of his rehab riffs) finally Shaq-proof?

Are the Sonics' small-ball methods just another get-rich gimmick before the stock bottoms out in May? (Must admit that Desmond Mason's hops make for some awesome highlights.)

Have the Spurs scrounged up enough weapons up front and in the backcourt to combat Shaq and Kobe Bryant in a seven-game series?

Is Dikembe Mutombo still sturdy enough to be the foundation of a title contender, particularly one constructed in the Jersey swamps?

Has China built a better Shaq trap in the way of Yao Ming, who appears to be blossoming into the game's second-best center right before our eyes?

And last but not least, can Brad Miller prompt a roundhouse right from Shaq and live to tell about it again, this time in the uniform of a vastly improved Pacers squad?

You see, all of the above could not be answered without Shaq in the equation. What transpired the first 24 days of the regular season was nothing more than practice games -- a preparation for the real test. Until O'Neal returned, everyone had earned an incomplete.

Including those troublemakers in the back of the class wearing purple and gold.

Bryant returns to the good life of being single-covered, and Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and Robert Horry go back to getting longer looks than the ones supermodels sitting courtside get at Madison Square Garden. But can Tracy Murray hit that open J? Can rookie Kareem Rush?

Yes? No? Maybe?

To that -- and all of the above -- we'll find out soon. Time's up, pencils down.

	Yao

Clutch!
Luckily for Charles Barkley, he didn't bet Kenny Smith that he'd kiss his ass every time Yao Ming scored 19 points. All of a sudden, the No. 1 overall pick can't be stopped. Yao put on a show in the first half of the Rockets' 103-90 loss at Dallas with 21 of his career-high 30 points. Give it up, Yao haters. The kid can play.

	Wallace

	Stoudamire

Joe Lago, NBA editor for ESPN.com, writes Morning Shootaround every Wednesday and Friday.