Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with justtal Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, the trade deadline
Speaker 2: has come and gone, so no better time to bring
Speaker 2: on Keith Smith. I was joined by my bet MGM
Speaker 2: co host Ryan Horvaugh and Nick Ashe.
Speaker 3: We're recorded right.
Speaker 2: After the deadline. Keith is a real deal NBA insider.
Speaker 2: He works for SPOS Trek breakdown all the tea, you know,
Speaker 2: more than you can ever want. Amazing double length episode,
Speaker 2: So do me a favorite, Nick and drop that beat.
Speaker 2: Keith was as shocked as I was about the trade deadline.
Speaker 2: He gets right into the Sun's trade and what it means.
Speaker 1: I absolutely wild dead deadline. I did not expect it
Speaker 1: to go quite like this. So we're we'll see these
Speaker 1: deals are all going final now. Some of them are
Speaker 1: going to structure as multi team deals, but we're gonna
Speaker 1: be in the range of twenty total deals in season,
Speaker 1: and about fifteen or sixteen of them are going to
Speaker 1: have happened in the last about twelve fifteen hours or so,
Speaker 1: which is absolutely incredible. So I think we're in a
Speaker 1: spot now where the league is exactly what he said,
Speaker 1: It's wide open. These teams feel like they have a
Speaker 1: chance to win, so they're going after it. And we saw,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of becoming an arms race in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference, especially a couple East teams tried to do
Speaker 1: some things to shore up their positioning. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: really wide open in the NBA right now.
Speaker 2: I was really struck Keith because matt Eshbia just took
Speaker 2: over yesterday and his first order of business was to
Speaker 2: make sure that he got Kevin Durant before the deadline
Speaker 2: and before.
Speaker 3: That night ended. Right.
Speaker 2: Was that something that we can say is going to
Speaker 2: be a foreshadowing of how aggressive he's going to be
Speaker 2: as an owner and what that means for the Phoenix
Speaker 2: Suns in the future.
Speaker 3: I mean, what sort of struck you about that trade?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it could be something where when we look back
Speaker 1: on this ten year or so from now, we're like, man,
Speaker 1: this guy came out day one really making big moves
Speaker 1: and he's never stopped. But then I think back to
Speaker 1: Mark Cuban when he took over the MAVs and they
Speaker 1: made a million big trades, and they were trading and
Speaker 1: signing everybody under the sun that they could get, and
Speaker 1: then he became actually down the line one of the
Speaker 1: more conservative owners for quite a while. So I think
Speaker 1: this was I want to make a big splash, and
Speaker 1: I know Kevin Durant wants to be here. Let's go
Speaker 1: get him if we can, And they had that opportunity
Speaker 1: to go get him as everything kind of went sideways
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. So I think this is more let's jump
Speaker 1: on it, let's make something happen, than it was anything
Speaker 1: where it became a you know, we want to read
Speaker 1: into this and say, yeah, this is a you know,
Speaker 1: this is what it's going to be like in Phoenix forever.
Speaker 2: How would you assess that trade in terms of the
Speaker 2: details and the pieces got they got moved and who
Speaker 2: benefited more or you know, did anyone win or lose
Speaker 2: that trade?
Speaker 3: In your opinion?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be hard to know on the Net side,
Speaker 1: because we've got years upon years of draft picks. We've
Speaker 1: got some seventh and eighth graders that are gonna be
Speaker 1: picked with a couple of those picks. So it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a long time before we know the end story.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think the Nets in a tough
Speaker 1: situation this week after Kyrie on Friday basically said get
Speaker 1: me out of here. They did fine in that trade.
Speaker 1: They did really well in this trade. I think it's
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. So it's hard when you trade one of
Speaker 1: the best players in the league and an MVP candidate,
Speaker 1: But you got Michael Bridge's back, you got Cam Johnson back,
Speaker 1: and you got four draft picks and a pick swap,
Speaker 1: and some of those picks are gonna come probably long
Speaker 1: after Kevin Durant is retired, so we don't even know
Speaker 1: what the Sons will be at that point. So I
Speaker 1: think long term, the Nets look great in this. In
Speaker 1: the immediate it's obviously the Suns. As long as kd
Speaker 1: can come out of the All Starbury kealthy and ready
Speaker 1: to go, the Sons are a title contender. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be very, very hard to slow down that offense because
Speaker 1: this is kind of Chris Paul's dream. Now he can
Speaker 1: just orchestrate probably doesn't ever have to shoot if he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to, and set up Devin Booker, set up
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, make sure DeAndre can get some touches, just
Speaker 1: kind of do their things.
Speaker 2: All of the teams that didn't do much this trade
Speaker 2: deadline season was the Grizzlies. Keith explains why they stood
Speaker 2: pat and what it means for their playoff chances.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough for them. They I thought they should
Speaker 1: have made a bigger move and gone a gutten like
Speaker 1: og Ananobi or somebody like that, because they have the
Speaker 1: draft pick capital to spend that that team is basically
Speaker 1: the core group is there and locked in, and it
Speaker 1: was time to add to that group and step forward.
Speaker 1: But we're in a position in Memphis where they're still
Speaker 1: gonna be pretty good. That they'll probably finish my guess
Speaker 1: is still probably finished second in the conference, behind Denver,
Speaker 1: but behind them, Phoenix, the Clippers. Uh, those teams get
Speaker 1: better so that they're they're gonna be pushing up the standings.
Speaker 1: The Warriors are still around, and the Warriors made made
Speaker 1: a fairly minor ish move, but but it should help
Speaker 1: them on the court with getting Gary Payton the second back,
Speaker 1: so that that's gonna be something that'll be interesting to watch.
Speaker 1: And then the challenge for Memphis is they might have
Speaker 1: this great regular season and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: find themselves in the very first round of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Looking at the Warriors or maybe even the Lakers, who
Speaker 1: got a lot better in the span of the last
Speaker 1: couple of days. So that's a really tough spot to
Speaker 1: be in. And Luke Caernard's going to help them. Really
Speaker 1: good shooter, gives them a guy that they really needed.
Speaker 1: They needed one more guy who could knock down jumpers.
Speaker 1: But it's it's just doesn't feel like enough compared to
Speaker 1: what the other teams in the West did.
Speaker 2: The Lakers actually were the most active team on the
Speaker 2: trademarket this week, but did they do it enough to
Speaker 2: move the needle. Keith Way's in on Los Angeles and
Speaker 2: they're changed roster.
Speaker 1: They're much better. Their challenge with the Lakers is everyone
Speaker 1: goes to, well, you know, they're only x amount of
Speaker 1: games behind fourth place, in sixth place or eighth place
Speaker 1: or whatever. But their challenge is they're still thirteenth in
Speaker 1: the conference. That means you've got to climb a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of teams just to get up into the mix
Speaker 1: for those spots. So that's where you know, I keep
Speaker 1: telling people, you keep talking about fourth place and those
Speaker 1: kind of things, it's probably not happening because that means
Speaker 1: they have to go on a incredible run the season.
Speaker 1: You'll probably only lose four or five more times in
Speaker 1: their their final twenty five or so games, and then
Speaker 1: that involves involves a whole bunch of teams in front
Speaker 1: of them losing, you know, seven, eight, nine, ten times,
Speaker 1: and that's probably not gonna happen with all those teams.
Speaker 1: So their work is cut out for them. But they're
Speaker 1: in a better place today than they were yesterday. I
Speaker 1: think getting D'Angel, Russell, Jared Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley is
Speaker 1: huge for them, especially when the only guy that gave
Speaker 1: up of any kind of consequence is Russell Westbrook and
Speaker 1: it sounds like that was headed that direction anyway, if
Speaker 1: we believe all the recording that's coming out today. So
Speaker 1: they're definitely better. I did Thomas Bryant move that was
Speaker 1: a little weird, but sounds like he didn't really want
Speaker 1: to be there anymore either. Mobamba Da I'm not a
Speaker 1: big Mobamba guy, So how much he'll he'll help them.
Speaker 1: But that's a better roster. It's a RUSS that certainly
Speaker 1: makes a lot more sense. They have a lot more versatility,
Speaker 1: so they're going to be really good. But by putting
Speaker 1: themselves in the hole they did, it's going to be
Speaker 1: hard to dig out of it. I think they get
Speaker 1: into the playing tournament and then let's see what happens
Speaker 1: from there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm curious about who Keith you think are going
Speaker 2: to stay on that Lakers team, because you've got guys
Speaker 2: on expirings, right, I think d los On in expiring.
Speaker 2: I can't remember if Beasley is as well, So you've
Speaker 2: got that. Like, do do these moves give them? Is
Speaker 2: this like kind of a gap year? Does this give
Speaker 2: them more flexibility less flexibility heading into the offseason?
Speaker 1: They basically have almost the same amount of flexibility that
Speaker 1: they had prior to making any of these trades. I
Speaker 1: think what's important to know with these guys is they're
Speaker 1: in a spot where all of the players they took
Speaker 1: on they've really got control over moving forward. So Dangel Russell,
Speaker 1: you're right, he's an expiring contract. H Malik Beasley, there's
Speaker 1: a team option for him, so the Lakers are controlled there.
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt is a very very light guaranteed amount for
Speaker 1: next season. Mobamba is fully non guaranteed for next season,
Speaker 1: same as is Devon Reed, who they got also from
Speaker 1: the Nuggets and the Thomas Bryant trade. So they're in
Speaker 1: a spot where they can still get to thirty million
Speaker 1: dollars in cap space if they really want to. But
Speaker 1: I think now what you're looking at is, well, we
Speaker 1: kind of like Malik Beasley. If he plays well, we
Speaker 1: keep him. We keep D'Angel Russell. I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised if we see them extend D'Angel Russell. They can
Speaker 1: give him a two year deal with a fairly minor
Speaker 1: amount of rays I'm involved off of his current pay,
Speaker 1: it would not be a surprise at all to me
Speaker 1: they extend him, and then that aligns his timeline with
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis, so they would all be
Speaker 1: coming off the books at the same time. And if
Speaker 1: they need to hit a big reset in a couple
Speaker 1: of years, that's when.
Speaker 2: Though the Bucks added a great piece in Jake Crowder,
Speaker 2: Keith loves this move for Milwaukee as much as I do.
Speaker 3: Why is the question?
Speaker 1: Yeah, George Hill, that moves like one named moneyball, Billy
Speaker 1: Bean trades. Carlos panis so so artile, can't play him anymore, right,
Speaker 1: That's what they That's what that reminds me of. I'm
Speaker 1: with you because Joean Carter should have played more than
Speaker 1: him in the playoffs last year. Again s the Celtics,
Speaker 1: but that's that's water under the bridge, I guess. So
Speaker 1: I think Jay Crowders is a huge upgrade for them,
Speaker 1: especially while they have Bobby Portis signelined. They needed to
Speaker 1: get one more guy on the court that's kind of
Speaker 1: coming off the bench, that's not six foot four, right,
Speaker 1: you just needed a little bit more size. Crowders guy
Speaker 1: who's been there, done that. He'll do a lot of
Speaker 1: the dirty work as far as defensively, you'll get in
Speaker 1: there and bang. You know, he's the kind of guy
Speaker 1: he's gonna knock somebody down in a playoff game and
Speaker 1: then not pick him up, and that's gonna get everybody
Speaker 1: kind of going one way or another. The question with
Speaker 1: him is is he gonna make shots? That's really it.
Speaker 1: But they've got enough offensive cover that if he's not
Speaker 1: making shots, they'll just pull him out and they'll play
Speaker 1: somebody else. So I think that was a really good
Speaker 1: depth edition for Milwaukee, considering they give up George Hill,
Speaker 1: Serge Ibaka, and I can't remember who the other guy
Speaker 1: was now, Jordan Awara. Yeah, guys who don't necessarily play
Speaker 1: for them, So yeah, why not? And they added a
Speaker 1: little bit to their tax bill, which you know that
Speaker 1: ownership group should be lauded for. They've paid significant money
Speaker 1: to keep that team together and keep chasing titles.
Speaker 2: With the trade deadline kind of fizzle. Keith gives us
Speaker 2: some insight into the buyout market, which is really about
Speaker 2: to heat up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned a couple of them. Reggie Jackson, it
Speaker 1: sounds like he's gonna be out there. He gets traded
Speaker 1: from the Clippers to the Hornets. I think Will Barton
Speaker 1: is getting close with the Washington Wizards. He'll likely be waived.
Speaker 1: So these are all guys this is a little bit different.
Speaker 1: Normally what happens on the bio market is it's these
Speaker 1: old veterans where it's kind of like I like to
Speaker 1: say they're more name than game, and that just is
Speaker 1: my way of saying, like, yeah, you recognize the name,
Speaker 1: but they're not very good like and they haven't been
Speaker 1: very good for a number of years. But this is
Speaker 1: a little bit different. Some of these guys can still
Speaker 1: play and can still help teams, and there's not a
Speaker 1: sense like a lot of times in normal years, it's
Speaker 1: like this guy get traded, he's gonna be bought out,
Speaker 1: and we all know where he's going this year. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit different because there are so many contenders.
Speaker 1: A bunch of those contenders opened up roster spots. I
Speaker 1: think Boston has an open roster squat, Phoenix has has
Speaker 1: an ability to take somebody in as well. Those are
Speaker 1: two teams that I know some of these guys are
Speaker 1: definitely looking at. I think Chris Haynes reported that Reggie
Speaker 1: Jackson may get a look for look from Phoenix and
Speaker 1: that would make a lot of sense for them as
Speaker 1: they try to retool a little bit of their depth
Speaker 1: after adding Kevin Durant. So it's it's definitely going to
Speaker 1: be a very very busy bio market for sure.
Speaker 2: The Clippers that are strange deadline day and Keith wonders
Speaker 2: if they did enough to get over the hump. I'm curious,
Speaker 2: Keith about the Clippers. I just don't get it. Honestly.
Speaker 2: I thought that they were going to try to make
Speaker 2: a move for Fred van Fleet and now it looks like,
Speaker 2: you know, you get rid of Reggie Jackson and you
Speaker 2: get rid of John Wall and what you're going to
Speaker 2: get now is Bones Highland and Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 3: What am I missing?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think the Mason Plummeley edition does help them.
Speaker 1: They needed any big behind Vitazuwacha all so that that
Speaker 1: will help. But yeah, I mean, bones Hiland, this is
Speaker 1: a guy the Nuggets, who are at the top of
Speaker 1: the conference and presumably competing with the Clippers to get
Speaker 1: to the finals. They were like, sure, we'll let them
Speaker 1: go and for not even much of a return. So
Speaker 1: that that to me is a little worried. So I
Speaker 1: think they made their changes. They're gonna be a different
Speaker 1: team now and that they're going to look different. But
Speaker 1: but we'll see. I know they weren't happy with their
Speaker 1: point guard play for most of the year with Reggie
Speaker 1: Jackson the yeah wall, and now we'll see what what
Speaker 1: it looks like with Terrence. Man's going to get the
Speaker 1: run there, you know. But we'll see if they can
Speaker 1: poach somebody on the buy out market or not. They'll
Speaker 1: probably be pretty active. But yeah, a little bit of
Speaker 1: a disappointment from the Clippers for sure, which is kind
Speaker 1: of the term for this entire Clippers that were quite frankly.
Speaker 2: Right, it's like they were supposed to get a point guard, right.
Speaker 2: Do you have any insight in terms of why that
Speaker 2: fell apart.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was told they really wanted Kyrie Irving and
Speaker 1: that that was not just a smoke screen that they
Speaker 1: were trying to get in on getting Kyrie, and that
Speaker 1: turned into yeah, it just didn't go that way, and
Speaker 1: they didn't have necessarily the same kind of assets to
Speaker 1: send back because they're a little pick poor and those
Speaker 1: kind of things there, and then then they just ultimately
Speaker 1: chose to go a different direction. So, yeah, they didn't
Speaker 1: get Fred van Vliet. There was Taka Kyle Lowry. I
Speaker 1: was so Kyle Lowry's market was basically nail. Everybody was
Speaker 1: kind of like, this guy looks like he might be done.
Speaker 1: Uh So I think for that Clippers they looked at
Speaker 1: it and said it was them playing pretty good when
Speaker 1: we actually show up and take it at least semi
Speaker 1: seriously and play most of our guys. So we'll do
Speaker 1: some additions around the edges and kind of keep it
Speaker 1: moving that way.
Speaker 2: The Raptors or a team that was expected to make
Speaker 2: many moves and instead ended up adding instead of selling,
Speaker 2: getting Yaka Perl, instead of moving anyone.
Speaker 3: What does this mean? Test thoughts you.
Speaker 1: And me both and a lot of people around the league.
Speaker 1: It was you know, one of those things where everybody
Speaker 1: kind of we got to about two thirty and was like,
Speaker 1: all right, are we finally going to get the big
Speaker 1: raptors trades to drop? And then they just never kind
Speaker 1: of happened, and they were positioned. They made it pretty
Speaker 1: clear early on, all right, really the end of last week,
Speaker 1: like we're not gonna be full on sellers here. We're
Speaker 1: gonna try to still be pretty good if we can.
Speaker 1: Where we're gonna, you know, maybe move some guys, but
Speaker 1: we're gonna bring some guys in, and we don't want
Speaker 1: to fully tear this thing down and bottom it out.
Speaker 1: And and Yaka Pertole is fine, and he'll be a
Speaker 1: nice addition for them and it'll probably be their long
Speaker 1: term center moving forward, but there's a lot more work
Speaker 1: to be done on that roster. It's even a weirder
Speaker 1: roster now because now everybody's to the slide, don't necessarily
Speaker 1: really fit all that great in so I'm just really
Speaker 1: not sure what they're doing. And that's where where a
Speaker 1: lot of people were feels like a very big missed
Speaker 1: opportunity for them when we saw what the prices some
Speaker 1: of these guys were fetching that they didn't move ogn Nanobe,
Speaker 1: Fred Van Vliet, Gary Trent Junior, guys like that.
Speaker 2: In this segment, Keith gets into the match and what
Speaker 2: Kyrie means to them moving forward. Hint hint, he likes it.
Speaker 2: And then of course we get into the strange, bizarre
Speaker 2: James Wiseman sagam.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be really really good offensively. They're really gonna
Speaker 1: push and make it tough on other teams to defend them.
Speaker 1: It's essentially Kyrie Irving gives them a souped up version
Speaker 1: of what Jalen Brunson was. I don't have the worries
Speaker 1: that a lot of people came up with there's only
Speaker 1: one ball, or these guys are gonna be able to
Speaker 1: play together. Kyrie's played with Lebron, He's played with Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be fine. He knows how to play with
Speaker 1: other guys. In this year. He'll probably be on his
Speaker 1: best behavior. The rest of the season. Everything will probably
Speaker 1: be fine. It's year two, three and beyond. If it
Speaker 1: goes that far where we'll probably see some kind of
Speaker 1: circus that sends everything spiraling. But for now they should
Speaker 1: be fine. They're challenges, they don't have anybody other than
Speaker 1: Josh Green, who's a very young player that really plays
Speaker 1: a lot of defense. MAXI Kleebl will come back and
Speaker 1: he should help them defensively. But I think for them,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to try to beat teams, you know,
Speaker 1: one twenty to one fifteen a lot of nights, and
Speaker 1: we'll see if they've they've got enough offensive firepower to go.
Speaker 1: I think they're probably in a tier below some of
Speaker 1: those other West teams are really loaded up and improve it.
Speaker 3: I'm really curious, Keith.
Speaker 2: The James Wiseman experiment comes to an end, and Joe
Speaker 2: Lacob loved him some. James Wiseman boy. He did not
Speaker 2: want to let him go. He did not want to
Speaker 2: say it was a mistake. Somehow Bob Myers, in the
Speaker 2: final year of his deal, figured out a way to
Speaker 2: pry James Wiseman from Joe Lakob's hands, and they get
Speaker 2: Gary Payton back.
Speaker 3: What do you make of what the Warriors did at
Speaker 3: the deadline?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's a pretty big upgrade because Gary
Speaker 1: Payton can play, and we've no sense that James Wiseman
Speaker 1: can and Gary Payton was a huge part of them
Speaker 1: winning the title last year, so they're gonna get him
Speaker 1: very obviously, right. They just plug him right back in
Speaker 1: and just hey, do your thing, you know, do what
Speaker 1: you do and they'll move forward with that. So that's
Speaker 1: big for them to get a guy who can fill
Speaker 1: rotation minutes and do a lot of things for them.
Speaker 1: For a guy who wasn't filling rotation minutes. It was
Speaker 1: never going to work with James Wiseman and Golden State
Speaker 1: has just gone too far. There's too much pressure on
Speaker 1: him because they needed to win. You have the draft
Speaker 1: status hanging over him. This fresh start for him in
Speaker 1: Detroit is huge because he'll get there, get a chance
Speaker 1: to play there. Well, we'll find out here over the
Speaker 1: next couple of years if this kid can really play
Speaker 1: or not. I think there's still a player in there.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't ever gonna happen in Golden State. And
Speaker 1: kind of kudos for them. It took him a long
Speaker 1: time to get there, but they finally did realize and
Speaker 1: move away from this. Well silly, you know, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have two timelines and you know, twenty years of dominance
Speaker 1: and all this stuff build around your core. Now do
Speaker 1: right by Steph and Clay and Dre and those guys
Speaker 1: and try to win today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was just really following up on that.
Speaker 2: James Wiseman of the Pistons, it kind of feels like
Speaker 2: he's a perfect Piston, right, just like feeding off of athleticism,
Speaker 2: you know, not a lot of you know, a lot
Speaker 2: more organized chaos or less organized chaos.
Speaker 3: What does that mean? I guess for Jalen Duran too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of funny. Two Memphis guys right there that
Speaker 1: are now gonna kind of go head to head. But think,
Speaker 1: if you're the Pistons, let's throw him out there. You know,
Speaker 1: they'll well split the minutes down the middle. Whoever's playing better,
Speaker 1: We'll get more of them and we'll just figure it out.
Speaker 1: I think has really handled things since Kate Cunningham went
Speaker 1: down and was kind of all right, our season is
Speaker 1: not gonna go so great. It wasn't let's go completely
Speaker 1: in the tank here and let's trade Bogdanovich and sit
Speaker 1: all these guys, because then it gets really messy. And
Speaker 1: if you're getting blown out and getting your head kicked
Speaker 1: in every single night, you get nothing out of that.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't go well for you. So I think
Speaker 1: for them. It turns into let's try to be at
Speaker 1: least semi competitive, but we're gonna play all these kids.
Speaker 1: We're gonna throw them out there. We're gonna play big
Speaker 1: line of small lineups, you know, lineups with three guards,
Speaker 1: lineups with three bigs. We're gonna do all sorts of
Speaker 1: stuff and try it. Giving up on Sadiq Bay that's
Speaker 1: a little odd to me, but sounds like there were
Speaker 1: some odds between him and the front office there and
Speaker 1: maybe the coaching staff, so that's probably why that went
Speaker 1: that way. But very very interesting, you know, MOUs here
Speaker 1: by Detroit as they kind of continue this.
Speaker 2: Rebuilt Keithing, this clip breaks down who he thinks is
Speaker 2: gonna be the team to beat the snow surprises here.
Speaker 3: He likes Boston and Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think Milwaukee and Boston are the two best teams.
Speaker 1: I think they're in a tier of their own at
Speaker 1: the top of the conference. Those teams. Two teams are
Speaker 1: very very good. Uh, they've proven that Philly. For me,
Speaker 1: that loss to Boston without three starters and then a
Speaker 1: fourth starter goes down at halftime and the Celtics really
Speaker 1: controlled the entire second half. That says to me, I
Speaker 1: just I don't know where Philly's going. They just can't
Speaker 1: seem to get by the Celtics when no matter what happens,
Speaker 1: Juelanbi just doesn't have it. They just can't get there.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, if you're the Celtics, you're
Speaker 1: looking at the Bucks. That's the team you're worried about.
Speaker 1: And we'll see, you know, they feel pretty good against
Speaker 1: the Bucks, but they feel really good against everybody else.
Speaker 1: I think Cleveland's probably a year away. This is the
Speaker 1: year to get into the playoffs, experience what it's like
Speaker 1: to play the same team four, five, six, seven times
Speaker 1: in a two week period, see what it's like how
Speaker 1: you have to make adjustments to win playoff games, and
Speaker 1: then they'll really get after it next season. But for now, Boston, Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: maybe Philly. I also don't necessarily trust Philly to stay healthy.
Speaker 1: That's a whole other issue. But it's you know, it's tough,
Speaker 1: you know, but I think, you know, now it's kind
Speaker 1: of Celtics Bucks and everybody else is hoping maybe something
Speaker 1: happens and we.
Speaker 2: Can sneak and he gets into what's left for the
Speaker 2: Brooklyn Nets after losing their star players, and then he
Speaker 2: gives me the tea about what's going on with my
Speaker 2: Portland trail Blazers.
Speaker 1: I think now you let Sean Marks do what he
Speaker 1: did after the Boston Trade. When he came in. It was, hey,
Speaker 1: all those picks are gone, that sunk cost. We can't
Speaker 1: get those back. Now we start the process of trying
Speaker 1: to build this team back up. And he did a
Speaker 1: really good job. I call it the diamond mining process.
Speaker 1: That's how they found Spencer Dinwity, That's how they found
Speaker 1: Joe Harris. And how they did that was, Hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna use the bottom three four spots on our ross.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna constantly turn it. We're gonna bring new
Speaker 1: guys in. We're gonna keep trying guys out, and you know,
Speaker 1: eventually we might try ten guys, but one of them
Speaker 1: might pop and stick and say, hey, this is an
Speaker 1: NBA guy, And now now we moving forward. I think
Speaker 1: that's what they start. Now, they're starting from a little
Speaker 1: bit better of a place because McHale Bridge is really,
Speaker 1: really good. Cam Johnson's pretty good. So I think what
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to avoid it is if they can
Speaker 1: get into a spot where it's you know what we're
Speaker 1: pretty good. We're forty five fifty win team, and you
Speaker 1: know we're fourth, fifth in the conference and we're competitive.
Speaker 1: You can't then say, hey, there's two stars who really
Speaker 1: want to come to New York, let's go get them,
Speaker 1: because if they're not the right two stars, it all
Speaker 1: goes sideways on you so very quickly. I mean, the
Speaker 1: people were telling me, you know, two years ago, oh man,
Speaker 1: now Kd's back, this team is going to be dominant,
Speaker 1: that they won one playoff series. That's it, one playoff
Speaker 1: series and their entire time together there in Brooklyn, and
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's just lately you said, that's a massive,
Speaker 1: massive failure and now it's we got to start over
Speaker 1: again and pick up the pieces. But they're doing with
Speaker 1: some pretty good players and a whole boatload of draft
Speaker 1: picks and probably more coming when they get into the summertime.
Speaker 2: Nbau Keith, that would be remiss as a Portland Trailblazer
Speaker 2: fan to not ask, oh, what the hell they're doing.
Speaker 1: I don't know, hey, maybe outside of Toronto not trading guys.
Speaker 1: Just a super confusing trade deadline. It was like when
Speaker 1: they tried to Josh Hard, it was like, Okay, I
Speaker 1: kind of see what they're doing here. Maybe they're going
Speaker 1: to go in a different direction. But then it was
Speaker 1: now let's go add you know, let's bring in guys
Speaker 1: this way. Okay, Now let's take Gary Payton the second
Speaker 1: out and and move him along. I just it's it's
Speaker 1: it's odd they're they're in Portland. I don't really know
Speaker 1: a good way to to explain that. And it just
Speaker 1: feels like we're into I don't know, you're ump team
Speaker 1: now of Damian Lillard and another small guard was CJ McCollum.
Speaker 1: Now it's Anthony Simon's and then a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: guys you kind of like but you don't necessarily love,
Speaker 1: and and then they're probably gonna give Jeremy Grant a
Speaker 1: contract I'll hate by the time it's signed, and you
Speaker 1: know what, we'll just see what it's. It's just a weird,
Speaker 1: weird spot. They're in Portland. I felt like it was finally,
Speaker 1: you know, we kind of picked a direction and now
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, let's let's let's go a completely different way.
Speaker 1: And that just feels off to me.
Speaker 2: And in this final short segment, Keith tackles the weirdest
Speaker 2: team in the East. The Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. They they they didn't do a lot.
Speaker 1: They want got Sadiq Bay That's fine, Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1: That's a little bit of an odd fix because you
Speaker 1: already have DeAndre Hunter. That would have made been a
Speaker 1: movie that would have made a lot more sense if
Speaker 1: they traded Collins, but they didn't. You know, I feel
Speaker 1: like we might be sitting here ten years from now
Speaker 1: and saying, man, it might maybe the Hawks will trade
Speaker 1: John Collins this year. Like it's just I don't know
Speaker 1: what this team is doing. They're confusing, they don't play
Speaker 1: enough defense, their offense isn't good enough to bail them out.
Speaker 1: It feels like this is a team that it's all
Speaker 1: gonna kind of end in an early exit in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And maybe it may be a team that hits reset
Speaker 1: in a major, major way this summer, or maybe they're
Speaker 1: content to just keep plugging along around five hundred. I
Speaker 1: really don't know.
Speaker 2: Ben mg and Tonight airs Money through Friday Live from
Speaker 2: seven pm to eleven pm Eastern Standard Time. It's available
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcast. It's available on the Odyssey
Speaker 2: app as well. A million thanks to my co host
Speaker 2: have many producers, folks on the ground, and everyone who
Speaker 2: listens to this podcast. That is it for the bonus
Speaker 2: trade deadline episode the Heat Check. Check back soon for
Speaker 2: an all new episode, and do not forget to watch
Speaker 2: the feed for past episodes and interviews. Please follow the
Speaker 2: Heat Check as the NBA season heads towards All Star weekend.
Speaker 2: Download subscribe. Please tell your friends, every single damn one
Speaker 2: of them, and follow us on social wed at this
Speaker 2: heat Check and at tristan Cek on TikTok because the
Speaker 2: Heat Check never sleeps, even after the trade deadline when
Speaker 2: it's twelve thirty pm Eastern Standard time. Love y'all,