Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check, let's do something different.
Speaker 2: Everybody's thinking about March Madness, everybody's thinking about college basketball.
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about.
Speaker 2: Some dogs, hungry dogs in the NBA, undrafted guys who
Speaker 2: played their way into the league. I just think it
Speaker 2: makes sense considering that, like, there are gonna be guys
Speaker 2: who play well in this tournaments and they will not
Speaker 2: go drafted, and then they will end up being on
Speaker 2: your favorite team or the irritant against your favorite team.
Speaker 2: We'll also cover some news from around the league, and
Speaker 2: we also have an interview with Robin Lumberg of Sports Illustrated. Yes,
Speaker 2: that folks got a cash infusion. He's here to fill
Speaker 2: us in on what's popping. Anthony, come on, let's drop
Speaker 2: that motherfucker beat the Shirihana.
Speaker 1: Hey that an episode without talking about the Lakers or
Speaker 1: the Warriors. Good for us.
Speaker 2: It feels like every single episode starts with like how
Speaker 2: they're doing, and like what is going on with the
Speaker 2: roster or with the coaching staff or something like some
Speaker 2: news peace pops, some sort of reporting pops. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean they're fighting for their fucking life. You know who
Speaker 2: else is fuck fighting for their fucking life. These hungry
Speaker 2: dogs are fighting for their life. What do I mean?
Speaker 2: So anyway, I did a social clip recently yesterday on
Speaker 2: Keon Ellis of the Sacramento Kings. Check it out on Instagram.
Speaker 2: He had five blocks off the bench the other night.
Speaker 2: He has been bawling for the Kings the past ten games.
Speaker 2: I like a ton about Ellis Island aka Killer key
Speaker 2: On aka in a falsettle because he's got that good D.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, good D? Pause? But what
Speaker 1: do I like about Keon?
Speaker 2: He was an undrafted player who is known for his
Speaker 2: defensive intensity at Alabama and he made the All Defensive
Speaker 2: team as a senior. There is a trend here and
Speaker 2: I've seen it with others, and so we got into
Speaker 2: the lab and dissected whether you could find those hungry
Speaker 2: dogs and how well they're doing in the NBA Right now.
Speaker 2: Not enough people are talking about these types of players,
Speaker 2: the guys that may not get everyone's attention because they
Speaker 2: can't score, but what they bring to the table translates
Speaker 2: to the next level.
Speaker 1: So what is this hungry dog type of a player?
Speaker 1: What are these dogs the NBA?
Speaker 2: They're undrafted players, mostly defensive minded pests who has a
Speaker 2: trip on their shoulder and they have earned everything along
Speaker 2: the way, they have been given nothing, and that will
Speaker 2: not leave their shoulder the chip.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it today.
Speaker 2: I watched a clip I will not share with you,
Speaker 2: but I was like, oh, I am a hungry dog.
Speaker 1: These other dogs, these.
Speaker 2: Are Kennel AKC Kennel certified show dogs and me, I'm
Speaker 2: not related to anybody. I don't know anybody that's been
Speaker 2: in the business or played any sport of any kind.
Speaker 2: I have to literally take a piece of scrap off
Speaker 2: the kennel and fight other dogs for it, and they
Speaker 2: do too.
Speaker 1: So I love these guys.
Speaker 2: We're talking about guys who hassle opponents, full court press,
Speaker 2: ninety four feet, feisty in the paint, causing chaos on
Speaker 2: the court, probably yelling at their coaches, probably yelling at
Speaker 2: their gms, probably yelling at their teammates. Pat Beverly is
Speaker 2: the archetype of this player. People forget that Patrick Beverly
Speaker 2: washed out at Arkansas, did not get drafted, had to
Speaker 2: play four years overseas, four years before getting a shot
Speaker 2: with the Rockets, and using his defensive intensity and his
Speaker 2: strap like defense and annoying behavior to make a career
Speaker 2: that still is alive and well. Today, the Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 2: traded for Pat Beverly simply because they had no dogs
Speaker 2: on that squad. And this is a team that's a
Speaker 2: championship contender. So let's look at the past ten drafts,
Speaker 2: this year being excluded, as it takes sometimes for puppies
Speaker 2: to emerge into full junkyard dogs, and I think that
Speaker 2: they become more easy to spot than you think. All right,
Speaker 2: undrafted rookies who hustle all game long, who harass and
Speaker 2: hassle other players into making dumb mistakes, who love to
Speaker 2: get into the mud and get their hands dirty. If
Speaker 2: Keon Ellis is the hungry dog of the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two draft, then the twenty twenty one drafts has two
Speaker 2: of them, Jose Alvarado and Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves h
Speaker 2: so much that he makes Larry Bird look lazy. He
Speaker 2: may not be like the best defender, but he hustles,
Speaker 2: he tries. Jose Alvarado, he is on another level. Jose
Speaker 2: Alvarado is like a miniature pincher. He'll beat the shit,
Speaker 2: he will bite the shit out of you. Here's what
Speaker 2: Pell's coach Willie Green said. The band they call Grand
Speaker 2: Theft Alverado GTA. He said this, he's extremely unique. I
Speaker 2: say this jokingly, but it's kind of true. I don't
Speaker 2: know anyone in the NBA who is six feet and
Speaker 2: under this nice. All those guys are kind of like
Speaker 2: Chihuaha was. They bite you, they bark, They're ready to
Speaker 2: fight at anytime. That way makes That's what makes Jose unique.
Speaker 2: He's that way.
Speaker 1: To make it to this level, you kind of sort
Speaker 1: of have to have that.
Speaker 2: What did I tell you, hungry small bark in chihuah
Speaker 2: was out there fucking shit up, waiting to pick your pocket,
Speaker 2: waiting to make you look, waiting to get their shines
Speaker 2: that they get paid.
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty draft.
Speaker 2: Gave us Naji Marshall, who is a dog down of
Speaker 2: New Orleans, playing hard nosed defense, still getting seven four
Speaker 2: and two and nineteen minutes alongside Herb Jones, a second
Speaker 2: round picker. He'd be on the Hungry.
Speaker 1: Dog list as well.
Speaker 2: Alvarado in New Orleans man our man Griff has a type.
Speaker 1: He likes those junk yard dogs.
Speaker 2: They come cheap from the beginning, too good good type
Speaker 2: of assets when you're building a roster full of dudes
Speaker 2: that you have to pay a lot of money to,
Speaker 2: like Brandon Ingram, CJ.
Speaker 1: Mccollin, and Zion Williamson. The twenty nineteen draft is a
Speaker 1: huge draft for hungry dogs. We get lou Dort. There
Speaker 1: no one wants to play lou Dort.
Speaker 2: I saw lou Dort and a T shirt once. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's like, he's like if ray Rice, how about this? No,
Speaker 2: He's like if ray Lewis decided to play basketball. He's
Speaker 2: like if ray Lewis decided he was going to shooting
Speaker 2: guard and then learn how to shoot a jumper from three.
Speaker 2: He's like if Miles Garrett decided he was gonna play basketball.
Speaker 2: Twenty nineteen also gives us Caleb Martin. He's made a
Speaker 2: career down in Miami as a dog off the bench.
Speaker 2: There's nas Reed, who's a nightmare off the bench. Just
Speaker 2: signed a huge contract with the Wolves. And guess what
Speaker 2: these dogs are getting paid. Twenty eighteen gave us Heywood,
Speaker 2: Heismith and gave Vincent both heat guys.
Speaker 1: Do you sense a trend here? Do you sense a
Speaker 1: trend here?
Speaker 2: Miami is a breeding ground for the Dogs, Duop Reid
Speaker 2: out in Portland who's quietly becoming a monster.
Speaker 1: Lsu All Defense.
Speaker 2: Twenty seventeen produced Chris Bouchet, who barked.
Speaker 1: All his way to a title in Toronto.
Speaker 2: But twenty sixteen, Folks is the biggest year for the
Speaker 2: Hungry Dogs, with a quartet of dudes who define what
Speaker 2: a hungry dog is. Alex Caruso the Goat aka the
Speaker 2: Janitor might be the best armball defender in the NBA.
Speaker 2: Derek Jones Junior, who has athleticism oozing out of his.
Speaker 1: Pores, found a home in Dallas.
Speaker 2: Gary Payton the second, Gary Peyton, the third, Gary Payton
Speaker 2: the second Gary Payton the second, who went healthy as
Speaker 2: a top five defender in the league, really bounced around
Speaker 2: for almost forever, kept that tenacity just like a junkyard
Speaker 2: dog will have. You can't hold them down. It's just
Speaker 2: a matter of time before they escape your kennel. And
Speaker 2: then the King of hungry Dogs, Fred van Fleet, who
Speaker 2: parlayed his Chihuahua status to the tune in three years
Speaker 2: and one hundred and twenty eight million dollars and.
Speaker 1: He's not even fully healthy. He's a hungry dog with
Speaker 1: this way back.
Speaker 2: Twenty fifteen gives this TJ McConnell, who's set an NBA record.
Speaker 2: By the way, he does have back problem, so it's
Speaker 2: like a total positive.
Speaker 1: I guess a real comparison anyway. Twenty fifteen gives a TJ.
Speaker 2: Connell who set an NBA record with nine steals in
Speaker 2: one half. Twenty fourteen as Maxi Klaiba, who went undrafted
Speaker 2: and parlayed that into a fifty million dollar career so far.
Speaker 2: Twenty thirteen had Roco and Matthew della Vedofa. Roco is
Speaker 2: the only HPCU alumnus in the league in Deli. I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, this guy was a hungry dog in Europe
Speaker 2: and parlayed that to the league into Cleveland to.
Speaker 1: Get a championship.
Speaker 2: Then he hooked on with Lebron who absolutely loves hungry
Speaker 2: dogs and gets them paid hungry dogs everywhere. No akc
Speaker 2: papers like these purebred dookies and Jayhawks.
Speaker 1: Ugh, we don't like those. We don't like those blue
Speaker 1: blood purebread dogs.
Speaker 3: Eugh.
Speaker 1: You push them around a little bit and they squeal.
Speaker 1: Don't like that. We like ones that growl at you
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 2: These guys have earned everything that they've got, and Lord
Speaker 2: helps the person that tries to take it away from him,
Speaker 2: just like when my dog finds a t bone bone
Speaker 2: underneath some sort of Porterhouse bone underneath the eleven Howard bench, and.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden you feel like you might not
Speaker 1: get your fingers back. So good for those dogs. Find them?
Speaker 1: Who are they in this draft? That will be part two.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of news from around the league
Speaker 1: to get to.
Speaker 2: So let's begin of Minnesota, where the final acquisition of
Speaker 2: the Timberwolves has concluded and Mark Lorie and a Rod
Speaker 2: are now officially the owners of one of the best
Speaker 2: teams in the NBA.
Speaker 1: What a steel for a Rod. My goodness.
Speaker 2: They take over controlling ownership of the Wolves from Glenn Taylor.
Speaker 2: I tell you what, Glenn Taylor's gotta be punching air
Speaker 2: right now. Has to give up the team right as
Speaker 2: that they're at the peak of their powers. I tell
Speaker 2: you some Minnesota, Minnesota fans who are absolutely celebrating to
Speaker 2: get rid of Glenn Taylor. He was one of the
Speaker 2: cheapest owners in the league. He was very unpopular in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: He has been very unpopular for very very long.
Speaker 2: So it's great news for the Wolf and all that
Speaker 2: remains is approval from the league and the Glenn Taylor
Speaker 2: era is officially could put timon.
Speaker 1: Couldn't have been better?
Speaker 2: Right, everyone's talking about the Aunt Edwards Show, one of
Speaker 2: the best shows on hardwood. Even Michael Jordan came out
Speaker 2: and said, yeah, I see myself in AUNT. I mean,
Speaker 2: you can't get a better endorsement than MJ himself, who
Speaker 2: hates everyone. By the way, MJ tells everyone that he's
Speaker 2: Kobe's not even like me.
Speaker 1: No, this guy Lebron absolutely not Aunt Edwards.
Speaker 2: Sure, so Wolves fans have a lot to look forward
Speaker 2: to now with one of the most explosive players in
Speaker 2: the world, the number one defense in the league. Now
Speaker 2: finally owners who aren't trying to squeeze five pennies out of.
Speaker 1: A nickel out of every turn.
Speaker 2: So congratulations Wolves fans, you got yourself a legit organization
Speaker 2: with a legit star. All right, Moving on, I was
Speaker 2: doing my weekly hit in Sacramento with Damian Barling and
Speaker 2: Kenny Carraway on their Del and Casey show when the
Speaker 2: subject of Malik Monk came up.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the tape. What think you gets? Tell
Speaker 1: them over market? I know I've posted this on Twitter.
Speaker 2: People got very mad because they want everybody to be
Speaker 2: very moum on Malik.
Speaker 1: But just between me and the lamp post, you know, what.
Speaker 4: Did what did? What did you?
Speaker 5: What were they saying? What were they saying to you?
Speaker 5: I saw the tweet, but you know, I didn't go
Speaker 5: through the comments. What were other you know, fan bases
Speaker 5: saying about Malik like what he might get?
Speaker 2: It was mostly it was mostly Sacramento fans like, please
Speaker 2: don't bring this up right wrong.
Speaker 5: I'll tell you we'll be jumping people.
Speaker 4: Man, it just as our own and we just be jumping.
Speaker 1: People like what are you doing? D Loo Casey let
Speaker 1: her know.
Speaker 2: We're not supposed to talk about Malik right now, like
Speaker 2: nobody should know about him.
Speaker 3: The first role of Malik Monk free Agency is to
Speaker 3: not discuss Malik Monk free agency. It's hard to imagine
Speaker 3: him not getting an offer in the vicinity of twenty
Speaker 3: million dollars from someone like I feel like if he
Speaker 3: got you know, four offers outside of a Sacramento or
Speaker 3: three offers outside of Sacramento, I feel like they're all
Speaker 3: ranging between nineteen and twenty one million dollars.
Speaker 5: I think that's the.
Speaker 2: Right right as someone who is certainly not a Sacramento
Speaker 2: King's cap expert.
Speaker 1: How much do we have to pay him?
Speaker 3: Well, it's not the cap that's the problem.
Speaker 6: It's the fact that he signed a two year contract
Speaker 6: right when we signed him a couple of years ago,
Speaker 6: and so there's a max that he can be offered
Speaker 6: because of that structure, and we I always I think
Speaker 6: it's like seventeen and a half is where it starts,
Speaker 6: and then you you know, you can have the increments
Speaker 6: raised after that. But I don't think Sacramento can start
Speaker 6: above seventeen and a half. Well, and that's why King's
Speaker 6: fans are terrifying. That's why King's fans are terrified.
Speaker 1: Didn't want you to shut up, man, I am. I'm
Speaker 1: really hoping things will work out for the Kings in
Speaker 1: the league.
Speaker 2: Fortunately, so does Malik himself. He said this to Anthony
Speaker 2: Slater the other day. I love to be here, man.
Speaker 2: I got comfortable here, made a lot of new friends here,
Speaker 2: met a lot of great people here.
Speaker 1: The city loves me.
Speaker 2: I loved the city, so yeah, I'd love to come back.
Speaker 2: The problem is that the Kings did not structure his
Speaker 2: deal in a way that allows them to be at
Speaker 2: the head of the negotiating table.
Speaker 1: Here is what is under the King's control.
Speaker 2: The most the Kings can offer because they gave Malik
Speaker 2: a two year deal, is a four year, seventy eight
Speaker 2: point four million dollar contract based on having early bird rights,
Speaker 2: which means the Kings can offer him one hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy five percent of this year's salary, with raises.
Speaker 1: Eight percent each year. That is rough.
Speaker 2: They would keep him comfortably under the salary cap at
Speaker 2: that point, especially since they don't have a twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four first rounder to sign. But there are now estimates
Speaker 2: coming out that there are some young and scrappy upcoming
Speaker 2: teams that want Malik and could sign him for anywhere
Speaker 2: between twenty and twenty two million dollars per year for
Speaker 2: teams looking for somebody who maybe the sixth man of
Speaker 2: the year and maybe offering him a starting spots.
Speaker 1: Will he stay for.
Speaker 2: I don't know, twenty thirty million dollars less overall than
Speaker 2: what he could get on the open market. The Aaron Fox,
Speaker 2: send that man some flowers or a hooker.
Speaker 1: I don't know. He's only twenty five, he's at the
Speaker 1: prime of his career.
Speaker 2: If he takes a shorter deal in order to get
Speaker 2: to his bird rights, that might work for both sides,
Speaker 2: but why would he really Like he tears an acl
Speaker 2: and he's done done. I hope he stays in Sacramento
Speaker 2: with Fox, but it's not a done deal, and that
Speaker 2: makes Kings fans and myself and the Aaron Fox and
Speaker 2: Mike Brown extremely extremely nervous. All right, moving on, I
Speaker 2: think it's time for us to revisit and start talking
Speaker 2: about Jalen Green. We've been quite critical of Jalen Green.
Speaker 2: I have said he's not a winning player. He has
Speaker 2: not made winning decisions. Maybe Eme Udoko would make him
Speaker 2: a winning player like he did.
Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: In his game on Tuesday night, though Jalen Green went
Speaker 2: off for forty two and ten rebounds. The forty two,
Speaker 2: by the way, was a career high. It was capped
Speaker 2: by this Jordanesque dipsy do up and under change reverse
Speaker 2: hands in the middle of a contest that lit up
Speaker 2: social media like a firefly and a dark bathroom. It
Speaker 2: was pretty pretty as him, and more importantly, it led
Speaker 2: to the six consecutive win for a streaking Rockets team.
Speaker 2: So We've seen highlight plays from Jalen Green, but we
Speaker 2: have not seen those coincide with wins. In his last
Speaker 2: ten games, Jailing Green has been clutch twenty seven, six
Speaker 2: and three, forty eight, forty and eighty shooting splits better
Speaker 2: yet though. He's a plus eleven net rating in those
Speaker 2: ten games. And like I said, they are streaking, they
Speaker 2: are winning, meaning he's hugely.
Speaker 1: Impacting the Rockets during this win streak.
Speaker 2: His game against the Lossington Lizards as we call them
Speaker 2: aka Washington Wizards to you, but they don't get many dubs,
Speaker 2: so we give him the Lizards title saw him put
Speaker 2: a forty two eleven from thirteen, eleven for thirteen from
Speaker 2: the line, and seven for thirteen from three, ten rebounds,
Speaker 2: three assists, a block, and a steel in thirty six
Speaker 2: minutes in a game that the Houston Rockets won by
Speaker 2: twenty three.
Speaker 1: What was his net rating in that.
Speaker 2: One checks notes A plus twenty six. Oh my goodness, dude,
Speaker 2: just impacting winning on both sides of the ball. If
Speaker 2: only Jalen Green could have gotten Draia Dreya pregnant earlier.
Speaker 2: He's on his grown man status, no more fuck boy
Speaker 2: like stat sheets. We're only trying to get plus numbers
Speaker 2: in terms of impact. And the best part, he's got
Speaker 2: his eyes on the prize for the first time in
Speaker 2: his NBA career. He said, I've got a goal now
Speaker 2: I'm a dad.
Speaker 1: He didn't say that, and that's to get to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: That's just to win, stack as many w's as we
Speaker 2: can before the end of the season and pray that
Speaker 2: we can get into the play in tournament.
Speaker 1: That's the focus. Does anybody remember.
Speaker 2: Jalen Green saying anything about stacking wins to get to
Speaker 2: the playoffs?
Speaker 1: Folks remember Steven Silas God he was bad anyway. He said,
Speaker 1: everyone's playing hard.
Speaker 2: We're chasing something right now, we've all got the same goal.
Speaker 2: We've got shit, we've all got the same goal, Anthony,
Speaker 2: and everyone's on board with it.
Speaker 1: Please help me out with this edit. There's a reason
Speaker 1: that they're eight.
Speaker 2: And one in March, and that reason has a name,
Speaker 2: Jalen Green and Ema Udoka. Like I said, it's been
Speaker 2: a huge month. Jalen became a father to be for
Speaker 2: the first time with Drea a uh what we call Drea.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you know if you know who
Speaker 1: she is, is she.
Speaker 2: I need I don't know, man, I she's not around
Speaker 2: the way girl. She's more like a every other city,
Speaker 2: week ago, every other video.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: She's eighteen years older than him. I don't know if
Speaker 2: that's a good thing or a bad thing. Does that
Speaker 2: mean like she's instilling maturity in him?
Speaker 1: Does that mean that she's pulling some predatory behavior on him?
Speaker 1: I don't know. She's pregnant with Jalen Green's baby. At
Speaker 1: least we could put some of those.
Speaker 2: Rumors to bed that surfaced on social media last year
Speaker 2: when he old dorm room videos surfaced. If you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, his rockets.
Speaker 1: Are two and a half games out of the plan
Speaker 1: with a shot at the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Dude is killing it. Great to see for a guy
Speaker 2: that a lot of people started to write off earlier
Speaker 2: this year. People started to say that the G League
Speaker 2: Night wasn't any good just because of him. He was
Speaker 2: also named NBA Player of a Week. That was the
Speaker 2: first such award of his career.
Speaker 1: Good for Jalen Green. I clown around a lot, but
Speaker 1: Jalen Green was considered.
Speaker 2: To be one of the most highly touted, highly hyped
Speaker 2: players in his draft class. So it's good to see
Speaker 2: a guy that people were excited to see finally.
Speaker 1: Start to produce at that level. It's easy to forget that.
Speaker 2: Things don't always come together so easily or come on
Speaker 2: the expected timeframe. Zion, for example, It's been many years
Speaker 2: since Zion was supposed to produce, and now many years
Speaker 2: into his career, he's finally doing it.
Speaker 1: As emy Udoka said, this has been building for a
Speaker 1: long time.
Speaker 2: The assist numbers, the shooting numbers, the defensive competitiveness, all
Speaker 2: those areas have really improved. It's not just gonna happen overnight.
Speaker 2: It's a little slower for some people, but it's really
Speaker 2: been clicking for Jalen even before the All Star break,
Speaker 2: you could see signs the double doubles in a row,
Speaker 2: the five game stretch that he had to put it
Speaker 2: all together. Now it's even more needed with some guys
Speaker 2: going down to injury like alprin Shangoon, and to think,
Speaker 2: like I said before the nets turned down Jalen Green
Speaker 2: for four firsts Jalen Green, and four first for mckil bridges.
Speaker 1: The nets are gonna nets, so they're not.
Speaker 2: And the Rockets started this year blisteringly hot, faded and
Speaker 2: now got hot again after their best player went down.
Speaker 2: If the Rockets make the playoffs after getting emay Udoka,
Speaker 2: Dylan Brooks and the junkyard dog Fred van Fleet, emay
Speaker 2: Udoka should win Coach of the Year and Jalen Green
Speaker 2: should be most improved player. I know it's not gonna happen,
Speaker 2: but if there's any justice in this world.
Speaker 1: It will.
Speaker 2: We end this show with a special interview with Robin
Speaker 2: Lundberg of SI Sports Illustrated. Robin has been an MBA
Speaker 2: insider for years. Join my other show, but MGM Tonight,
Speaker 2: which airs Monday through Friday live from seven to eleven Eastern.
Speaker 1: I was joined by my co host Ryan Horvaught.
Speaker 2: Rob gotten to a ton of interesting NBA news and
Speaker 2: his thoughts on these teams going down to the stretch
Speaker 2: as we get into play in tournament, in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So let's get right into it.
Speaker 7: What do you think right now about the Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 7: because they're paying technically three head coaches right now. Mike Budenholzer,
Speaker 7: we saw what happen with Adrian Griffin and now Doc
Speaker 7: Rivers takes over. They were playing a little bit better,
Speaker 7: especially on the defensive end. No Giannis tonight. Just your
Speaker 7: overall thoughts right now on the Bucks in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 8: Well number one, I think Doc Rivers is actually slightly
Speaker 8: underrated at this point in.
Speaker 4: Time because I feel like he's gotten so much.
Speaker 8: Blowback for being a choker and a failure that people
Speaker 8: forget to realize. You know, his career record is well
Speaker 8: over five hundred. He is an NBA championship coach. He
Speaker 8: has been to another Finals that they happen to lose
Speaker 8: in a Game seven. I don't think the Lob City
Speaker 8: Clippers were some sort of juggernaut that were supposed to
Speaker 8: run rough shot over the league during that entire timeframe.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 8: I understand the blown three one leads, and I understand
Speaker 8: some of the critique, but it's not like the Sixers
Speaker 8: were bad under his tenure either. I think this is
Speaker 8: a flawed Bucks roster in a sense where you give
Speaker 8: up a guy like Drew Holliay, let's go back to
Speaker 8: the Olympics. People forget this, but Damian Lillard was the
Speaker 8: point guard for the Olympic team. Now, he was dealing
Speaker 8: with an injury at a time, to be fair, but
Speaker 8: that team got much better when Drew Holliday came in
Speaker 8: and took over for Dame Lillard.
Speaker 4: It was really Katie, Holliday.
Speaker 8: And Tatum that were the top three guys for that
Speaker 8: team because of what Holliday was able to do defensively.
Speaker 8: And you look at this Bucks squad. You know, Lillard
Speaker 8: brings that clutch time offense. He brings that logo shooting
Speaker 8: that we've all come to expect. But beyond him and Giannis,
Speaker 8: the end between is a little lacking. The perimeter defense
Speaker 8: is a little lacking, and that's what would concern me
Speaker 8: about them in the postseason when things get hairy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2: I mean, Chris Middleton, we haven't seen him in quite
Speaker 2: some time with an ankle injury.
Speaker 1: A team on the.
Speaker 2: West in a very dangerous spot right now is the
Speaker 2: Lakers robin. They're seven and six and their last thirteen
Speaker 2: one and two in their last three. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of smoke here in terms of, like, if they don't
Speaker 2: make the play in what's going to happen with Darvin Ham.
Speaker 2: It just came out yesterday that Rob Polinka overruled the
Speaker 2: scouting department, took Jalen Hood Shaffino over Haimi Hawkes and
Speaker 2: Cam Whitmore. But what do you think is the is
Speaker 2: the future this season for the Lakers. Obviously they're very
Speaker 2: dangerous if they do get into the playoffs, but there's
Speaker 2: a couple of teams that are hot on their tails.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Well, I mean, look, Lebron's basketball IQ will do a
Speaker 8: lot for them. He can diagram the plays with JJ
Speaker 8: Reddick as they get closer to make sure that they
Speaker 8: don't fall out of the postseason. Contention, the Lakers are
Speaker 8: a flawed team. I mean, you pointed it out. It's
Speaker 8: a flawed roster. You know, they've got some good players,
Speaker 8: but they've lacked that real outside shooting for a minute now. Obviously,
Speaker 8: you know, if you look at the way that the
Speaker 8: organization has been run, if Lebron didn't go there, we'd
Speaker 8: be talking about the Lakers as some sort of epic
Speaker 8: historic failure considering what they once were versus what they
Speaker 8: were toward the end of Kobe's time and after Kobe's
Speaker 8: time there before Lebron got there.
Speaker 4: Now, the benefit for them is the.
Speaker 8: Play in tournament, which makes it so much harder to
Speaker 8: fall out of the playoffs.
Speaker 4: And I think.
Speaker 8: Anytime you get into a constricted situation where you're playing
Speaker 8: you know, fewer number of games and you can rely
Speaker 8: more on the top of your lineup. It benefits them
Speaker 8: obviously because of who they employ in Lebron James and
Speaker 8: to a lesser degree, Anthony Davis. So I still think
Speaker 8: they're dangerous if they can get into a playoff scenario.
Speaker 8: We saw a similar thing last year, and the most
Speaker 8: important thing for them, to be honest, is gonna be health.
Speaker 8: You know, if those guys are healthy when they get there,
Speaker 8: it gives them the proverbial puncher's chance.
Speaker 2: I would say, if Anthony Davis had fifty straight double doubles,
Speaker 2: would that be covered differently than Demonas Sabonis, who now
Speaker 2: has surpassed that.
Speaker 4: Perhaps here's the thing with AD. The thing with AD is.
Speaker 8: He's never going to be what we cast him to be.
Speaker 8: You know, the biggest anomaly out of the bubble was
Speaker 8: Anthony Davis's shooting where he looked like the second coming
Speaker 8: of KD. And since then, the real problem there is
Speaker 8: he's a terrific defensive player, very versatile player. When he's
Speaker 8: got the energy going, he scores because he's cutting, diving,
Speaker 8: grabbing rebounds, putting them back up all that stuff, but
Speaker 8: he doesn't have that much of a bag.
Speaker 4: He doesn't have that much of a jump shot.
Speaker 8: And we thought at that time, Okay, Lebron's gonna hand
Speaker 8: the reins over to Anthony Davis. It's gonna be Anthony
Speaker 8: Davis's team and Lebron's gonna take a step back. That
Speaker 8: is never going to happen. And the thing is, Sabonis
Speaker 8: and Anthony Davis are on a similar tier. I mean,
Speaker 8: I know Sabonis owns him head to head. We've all
Speaker 8: seen that, but that is closer than people realize, I think,
Speaker 8: And therein lies the the rub. But you know, of
Speaker 8: course eighty plays for the Lakers and plays next to
Speaker 8: Lebron James, while Sabonis plays in Sacramento, which is covered
Speaker 8: a little bit differently.
Speaker 7: All Right, So I wanted to ask you about Wemby.
Speaker 4: He's going to be Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 7: Although we really like Chet, we like Jimi Hawkins as well,
Speaker 7: but like I'm looking at Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 7: he's down to plus three point fifty. Rudy Gobert's minus
Speaker 7: five hundred the last fifteen games. I know it's a
Speaker 7: season long award, but I was looking at this in
Speaker 7: the Spurs, like the last fifteen games of the defensive
Speaker 7: rating with Wemby on the floor one oh seven point three,
Speaker 7: which is actually better than Minnesota's a top spot with
Speaker 7: him off the floor one nineteen point three, which would
Speaker 7: be twenty ninth overall. Do you think he has a
Speaker 7: shot to actually win this award or no, it's Rudy Gobert's.
Speaker 8: Well, I mean you look at the odds and I
Speaker 8: think those are the odds that would give him a shot.
Speaker 8: I mean I would certainly it'd be worth a as
Speaker 8: Trista likes to stay a sprinkle and then if you
Speaker 8: get it wrong, you could just blame your interpreter, you know,
Speaker 8: and you'll be good. But fs Wenby goes from it
Speaker 8: is an ability standpoint. I think it's the problem is
Speaker 8: it takes a minute to catch up, and that's the problem.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think he said it himself like this
Speaker 8: is Rudy Gobert's last year and then it's my territory.
Speaker 8: But when you watch when you watch him, I watched
Speaker 8: the Nets game he ate Nick Claxton alive on a
Speaker 8: couple of possessions back to back or the same possession
Speaker 8: back to back plays, Claxton tries to go up, blocks him.
Speaker 8: Claxton tries to go up again, blocks him. And the
Speaker 8: talent is just freakish, which is why he was pegged
Speaker 8: the way he was pegged coming in. Is he the
Speaker 8: most impactful defensive player in the league. I would say yes.
Speaker 8: If I had a vote, I would vote for him.
Speaker 8: As far as him actually winning it, you know, there's
Speaker 8: only looking at that board, there's only two players who
Speaker 8: have a chance. One has a better chance than the other.
Speaker 8: But it's it's more than a complete total long.
Speaker 4: Shot, Robin.
Speaker 1: We were doing the lord's work.
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes people get mad when you shame players
Speaker 2: into doing their job. But somehow, some way, multiple years
Speaker 2: have gone past, and now all of a sudden, I
Speaker 2: look up and Zion has lost twenty five pounds since
Speaker 2: the nd season tournament. You watch him on the court
Speaker 2: and you're like, oh my god, he's shredded. He has
Speaker 2: the elevation and he's got that vertical back. My goodness,
Speaker 2: what will it take do you think for us to
Speaker 2: flip the narrative on Zion?
Speaker 1: And what do you think the Pelicans can become?
Speaker 2: Because it's starting to get out that the Pelicans could
Speaker 2: be a dangerous team in the West.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's happening now.
Speaker 8: I mean the fact that you're asking that question, and
Speaker 8: obviously what we've seen from Zion.
Speaker 4: I've never been the biggest brandon Ingram fan.
Speaker 8: My concern for Zion is more like from a basketball standpoint,
Speaker 8: is more on the defensive end, because unlike Webbin Yama,
Speaker 8: he's not incredibly long, and then he's so big and strong,
Speaker 8: he's not incredibly deaf moving laterally, So I think he
Speaker 8: can be put in some tough spots in mismatches and
Speaker 8: crossmatch and.
Speaker 4: A little bit.
Speaker 8: But he is, I mean, he is a monster. And
Speaker 8: it's funny we talk about you guys. I think you
Speaker 8: guys were talking about March Madness at the top of
Speaker 8: the segment before I came on. He feels like the
Speaker 8: last college basketball star on the men's side in many ways.
Speaker 8: You know, we haven't really seen that since then. But
Speaker 8: the reason he was so hype we're starting to see now,
Speaker 8: and what was address was his conditioning and and him
Speaker 8: actually just being healthy and out on the floor, because
Speaker 8: the one thing he can provide is just like monstrous deficient.
Speaker 8: He never misses around the basket. He's incredibly adept at finishing.
Speaker 8: Nobody can really stop him. If they can get the
Speaker 8: perimeter play to match that, they're going to be a
Speaker 8: very dangerous team. I'm just not so sure I trust
Speaker 8: that they have that cohort to go with him, uh
Speaker 8: to get to the the NBA Finals or make a
Speaker 8: deep run in the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 4: You know, obviously they should get there.
Speaker 1: How far do you think they could go?
Speaker 8: I think they could win around possibly depending on the matchup,
Speaker 8: But I think that's about it. I Mean, look, these
Speaker 8: teams that we're talking about, we talk about for a reason,
Speaker 8: right I mean, the Denver Nuggets, clearly, the Timberwolves look
Speaker 8: like they're they're for real. Obviously, the Clippers, if they're healthy,
Speaker 8: are legitimate, you know, and you have just up and
Speaker 8: down the West, even though all those playing teams feel
Speaker 8: who would you pick the Pelicans or the Lakers in
Speaker 8: a playoff series if it came down, I would still
Speaker 8: pick the Lakers in a playoff series, probably because of
Speaker 8: the guy who wears number twenty three, right like, so
Speaker 8: you know, same with the Warriors, because we saw we
Speaker 8: literally saw it last year where those two teams felt
Speaker 8: like they were and then they wind up in a
Speaker 8: great playoff series. So I think until I see them
Speaker 8: do it, I'm skeptical that they're going to it advance
Speaker 8: even past one.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we hit on the Pelicans, Clippers, Wolves, and Nuggets,
Speaker 7: but not the one seed right now, that'd be the Thunder.
Speaker 7: Do you think the Thunder are good enough to win
Speaker 7: a playoff series? A couple playoff series?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 7: What do you think they're ceiling is this year?
Speaker 4: For Okay?
Speaker 8: See, I mean I think their ceiling is the NBA Finals.
Speaker 8: I don't think that's gonna happen, but I do feel
Speaker 8: like that's a realistic ceiling, and I think this core
Speaker 8: could eventually get there.
Speaker 4: I mean because they have they can check all the.
Speaker 8: Boxes with Williams, with Homegrin, obviously with SGA. You know,
Speaker 8: so they have a real complete team and you know
Speaker 8: it is the prob. I know, sixers with the process,
Speaker 8: but it was the process realized. But again, I would
Speaker 8: be skeptical until we actually see them do that, because
Speaker 8: we've seen a lot of teams have really good regular
Speaker 8: seasons and then when they run into the playoffs, it's
Speaker 8: that experience. It's that you know, been there, done that
Speaker 8: When you're in that seven game series and the other
Speaker 8: team knows your tendencies? How do you how do you react?
Speaker 8: How do you react to those pressure situations? And and
Speaker 8: I would still lean with the teams that we've at
Speaker 8: least seen get their toes into the water.
Speaker 2: I remissed, and I have you on and ask you
Speaker 2: about the Knicks. Mitchell Robinson is now looking more and
Speaker 2: more likely to see the court very soon. We know
Speaker 2: og and Obi is dealing with some elbow inflammation. But
Speaker 2: I'm not really too worried about that. I've dug into
Speaker 2: the lab talk to some people.
Speaker 1: It's just a precautionary thing before the playoffs.
Speaker 2: No word on Julius Randall yet, but obviously Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: is the key to making this whole thing go. Now
Speaker 2: that most of the pieces are starting to congeal back
Speaker 2: together healthy, where are we at on the Knicks.
Speaker 4: I think the Knicks are a dangerous team if they're healthy.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 8: I mean, look just last year the Knicks. We're right
Speaker 8: there with Miami, who wound up in the finals. You
Speaker 8: look at the way that these numbers bear out, I mean,
Speaker 8: all those teams are punched up. That's telling you all
Speaker 8: those teams are a similar quality. The Knicks beat the
Speaker 8: Cavaliers just last season. I think it's those three guys.
Speaker 8: Mitchell Robinson would be good for them, but I don't
Speaker 8: think that's really what matters. I think it's Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 8: og Nnobi, Julius Randall, those three guys healthy and available
Speaker 8: in the playoffs because they provide different elements for them too.
Speaker 8: You know, anonob was exactly what they needed between Brunson
Speaker 8: and Randall. Randall I still have concerns even if he's
Speaker 8: on the floor about how he handles pressure situations because
Speaker 8: he hasn't done that well in the past. But he
Speaker 8: can really score, and Brunson has proven himself as somebody
Speaker 8: who can get his shot anytime he wants.
Speaker 7: Thanks so much, man, Robin Lumberg right there. Follow him
Speaker 7: on Twitter, Robin Lumberg.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we have to this episode
Speaker 2: of The Heat Check. Many thanks to Robin Lumberg and
Speaker 2: the whole gang at bet MGM the Night. Come back
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