Speaker 1: Come on this episode of the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: We talk about the underrepresented, the disenfranchised group of people
Speaker 2: who are finally getting some equality in the world. The
Speaker 2: NBA front office execs are unionizing folks. It's happening, Thank god,
Speaker 2: because who knows who would have taken advantage of them
Speaker 2: if they weren't to create a collective union a Sacramento,
Speaker 2: we talk about them. They finally fire Luke Walton and
Speaker 2: now what the question is now what? And then thirdly
Speaker 2: we delve into an investigation that almost that revealed what
Speaker 2: we almost saw, which was the NBA Finals completely shutting
Speaker 2: down to me a favored rock and dropped out fucking lead.
Speaker 2: So we talked recently about the dysfunction of the Blazers
Speaker 2: organization that led to an investigation into workplace misconduct by
Speaker 2: one neil o'she who it still has a job and
Speaker 2: the investigation is still ongoing. There has been some recent
Speaker 2: developments about this well. First and foremost, Trailblazer's president and
Speaker 2: CEO Chris McGowan, in the midst of all this, recently
Speaker 2: resigned from his position his post. He had been there
Speaker 2: ten plus years. He had been there the exact same
Speaker 2: amount of time as neil o'she huge surprise. By all accounts,
Speaker 2: everybody loved him. He was given a ton of power
Speaker 2: from Paul Allen, and then when Paul Allen passed away,
Speaker 2: rip Paul Allen, Jody Allen, his sister. He was set
Speaker 2: to take on a bigger, more important role within the organization.
Speaker 2: And apparently now he said, hey, my resignation has nothing
Speaker 2: to do with the Olshane investigation whatsoever. Sure, sure, Okay
Speaker 2: McGowan was in the last year of his contract. Since
Speaker 2: he started the same year as Olshay, people are one
Speaker 2: hundred percent going to think that the two things are related.
Speaker 2: Even if they're not. He might move on to greener pastures.
Speaker 2: Who knows. Maybe there were some things that were going
Speaker 2: on with this role that had nothing to do with
Speaker 2: Neil o'sha being kind of an asshole and putting a
Speaker 2: negative stain onto his reputation. He's like, I gotta go.
Speaker 2: But maybe maybe had nothing to do with that. Maybe Apparently, though,
Speaker 2: this investigation into the Blazer's workplace environment, along with the
Speaker 2: Robert Sarver investigation, I'm sure, has a whole lot of
Speaker 2: NBA front office execs scared, running scared, making moves like
Speaker 2: little rats in the corners, shifting around, scurrying around like
Speaker 2: when you turn the lights on your How scared you
Speaker 2: may ask, Well, apparently there is a new push to
Speaker 2: expedite the creation of an NBA can't make this stuff
Speaker 2: up an NBA Front office employees union because they are
Speaker 2: worried that teams are going to start using such allegations
Speaker 2: like hostile workplace environments and ramp at sexism and racism
Speaker 2: as being four cause terminations where those contracts will immediately
Speaker 2: be avoided in those gms will get no money. Really, huh,
Speaker 2: you don't say. According to ESPN, NBA general managers are
Speaker 2: working to finalize the formation of a professional association that
Speaker 2: would collectively support executives with access to legal defense funds
Speaker 2: because they don't have enough money themselves, lawyer referrals, and
Speaker 2: public relations professionals to help basically prevent any blowback to
Speaker 2: stain their own reputations for possible shitty things that they've done.
Speaker 2: Why now, you may ask, COVID Mostly COVID because revenue
Speaker 2: is way down. There are NBA executives who are afraid
Speaker 2: that Portland is creating a precedent a blueprint to invoke
Speaker 2: firing four cause to avoid payment on big money contracts. Imagine,
Speaker 2: if you will, if Sacramento could find some way to
Speaker 2: fire Luke Walton for cause where they wouldn't have to
Speaker 2: pay him out his contract, how fast do you think
Speaker 2: he would have been fired? How fast do you think
Speaker 2: some sexual investigation would have been going on into him?
Speaker 2: Which I mean, I think that already happened, by the way,
Speaker 2: I think that happened. I google it. I think it
Speaker 2: happened again. The question is why will these same NBA
Speaker 2: executives point out that over the nine years in Portland,
Speaker 2: the NBA has received quote no calls to the league
Speaker 2: office or tips to its hotline alleging workplace complaints against
Speaker 2: oshe huh. Nor has the Blazer's HR department received any
Speaker 2: complaints until recent quote unquote recent weeks. Excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 2: This all leads me to a point about something I've
Speaker 2: been thinking about since this story came out last week.
Speaker 2: Can we talk about the elephant in the room here,
Speaker 2: because it's been weighing on my mind and I feel
Speaker 2: I need, as a voice of reason to come out
Speaker 2: and say some things. Can you just come with me
Speaker 2: to this place. Imagine that you yourself have been working within
Speaker 2: the NBA front office ranks. Maybe you went to like
Speaker 2: Wichita State, trying to get your feet wet, and you
Speaker 2: find yourself in with the Portland Trailblazers. You're maybe like
Speaker 2: a a scout, right, your little assistant scout. You're just
Speaker 2: starting out, You're just a baby in the game, and
Speaker 2: you discover that in your early goings that the workplace
Speaker 2: environment is how we say, unsavory, less than ideal, not
Speaker 2: quite toxic, but not clean water, not quite flint water,
Speaker 2: but definitely not like Portland or New York water, like
Speaker 2: DC water, Like it tastes like shit, but you and
Speaker 2: you know there's something wrong with it, but you can't
Speaker 2: exactly point out why. Who exactly do you complain to?
Speaker 2: Like you go to the anonymous NBA tip line, like
Speaker 2: be serious, like ringing ring ring. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is trusted Creek. I'd like to speak with Adam Silver.
Speaker 2: Who are you? Yeah, yeah, I'm an NBA assistant scout
Speaker 2: for Portland Trail Basers. I've been here for sixty days.
Speaker 2: I'd like to report to some malfeasans like click excuse me,
Speaker 2: I'd like to report my GM for saying some mean
Speaker 2: things to me When I told them that Jonathan Kaminga
Speaker 2: had a nasty left hand, he called me a fucking idiot. Who, Like,
Speaker 2: who do you think these people have access to? Like, oh,
Speaker 2: we haven't heard any complaints against Neil O'Shea in the
Speaker 2: nine years that he's been there. Like, who are these
Speaker 2: people these cogs in the wheel supposed to be going
Speaker 2: and complaining too? Right? Like do you think that these
Speaker 2: people have access to those that are in power? Like?
Speaker 2: Who are these people you're supposed to hit up? It's
Speaker 2: not the GM. Hey, Neil, just want to let you know.
Speaker 2: I'd like to put a little piece of paper into
Speaker 2: the tip box. I think you were mean to me
Speaker 2: last Tuesday when I brought my tuna fish sandwich in
Speaker 2: and you said my breathsteaks, Like what are we talking
Speaker 2: about here? Like these people are just cogs in the wheel.
Speaker 2: They're easily replaceable, expendable, a normal everyday bolt. You could
Speaker 2: pick up the ACE hardware. You're what's special? Just fucking
Speaker 2: there's a million of you waiting in line, just salivating
Speaker 2: over the chance to work for an NBA team. No,
Speaker 2: so you just put up with some shits. You're not
Speaker 2: gonna complain You're gonna put up with some shit until
Speaker 2: you don't have to anymore. Everyone, though, starts out as
Speaker 2: a bolt, everyone just an every day bolt, turning into
Speaker 2: Eric Spolstra, Like Eric Spolstra was the video coord that
Speaker 2: one gotta good, that one gotta going the Eric Spostra
Speaker 2: was a video coordinator at one point in time. Do
Speaker 2: you think people thought he was gonna be one of
Speaker 2: the most highly respected NBA coaches in modern memory. No,
Speaker 2: So there is no incentive if you're an everyday little
Speaker 2: bolt to be truthful about these things. There's no way
Speaker 2: to be honest about these types of things in an
Speaker 2: environment which has no protections for whistle blow like it is,
Speaker 2: does not behoove you to say a peep. This is
Speaker 2: why not a few, but apparently dozens of employees came
Speaker 2: out all at the same time, just mysteriously. When Robert
Speaker 2: Sarva came under investigation, it was like a waterfall came
Speaker 2: down of complaints. Because once enough people are there, then
Speaker 2: you feel brave. Bravery is not easy when you're the
Speaker 2: only ones saying anything like they talk about Uh, trailblazers
Speaker 2: are the ones with the arrows in their fucking backs,
Speaker 2: like you don't want to be those people, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, Like, that's why the old shat probe
Speaker 2: took all of twenty four hours to escalate into a
Speaker 2: full scale investigation, because you talk to a couple people
Speaker 2: and you're like, oh shit, yep, so here's the thing.
Speaker 2: I am sure there's more than a few toxic environments
Speaker 2: in the NBA. I'm sure how long did Donald Sterling
Speaker 2: exist before? I mean, how you think that was just
Speaker 2: new new news like this? He just woke up one
Speaker 2: day and was like, I am gonna start being a slumlord.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna start dropping the end bob to my side piece.
Speaker 2: Like no, no, this had been going on, right, Like
Speaker 2: we needed video evidence for this thing to become a
Speaker 2: full scale gotta get this guy out of here twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one. It is a different world, boy, And the
Speaker 2: NBA is full of machismo, right, and vulnerability is lucked
Speaker 2: down upon. There is a ton of competition. You have
Speaker 2: to put up with so much shit just to be
Speaker 2: in that place. Like think about you know Gerson rosis
Speaker 2: in Minnesota, Like so many of these front office employees
Speaker 2: were athletes themselves, and they were like running suicides until
Speaker 2: they threw up. They're like, oh, well, I was put
Speaker 2: in to like one hundred and one degree like tool
Speaker 2: shed when I missed three free throws at the end
Speaker 2: of the game against you know, Portland State. But like
Speaker 2: I can put up with someone calling my breath smell
Speaker 2: like hot pickled pigs feet, Like what's that? You know?
Speaker 2: At least I didn't at least I didn't have to
Speaker 2: like sit into a like a sauna. These guys played
Speaker 2: for guys like Bobby Knight, like neil o'sha is nothing.
Speaker 2: Neil O'Shane is a dream. My college coach was way
Speaker 2: worse than that, Like what do you mean toxic work environment?
Speaker 2: Like what do you mean, oh, just because no one's complained,
Speaker 2: nothing's going on, Like and on top of that, like,
Speaker 2: let's talk about this union we got it to I mean,
Speaker 2: are you serious? Like they don't need a union. Do
Speaker 2: you know who needs a union? Walmart workers need a union.
Speaker 2: Unions protect employees from predatory instincts of their employers who
Speaker 2: tried it always take advantage of underprivileged, underserved, voiceless workers
Speaker 2: who make like seven dollars an hour, people who do
Speaker 2: not get paid enough, people who have to work under
Speaker 2: extreme working conditions. People cannot lobby to protect themselves. Right,
Speaker 2: They need a union because they will be fired as
Speaker 2: soon as they try to speak up from themselves. They
Speaker 2: are the voiceless. They need a union. You know who
Speaker 2: doesn't need a union? People with ten year long contracts.
Speaker 2: We will make millions of dollars who normally when fired
Speaker 2: right off into the sunset with a fat fucking check.
Speaker 2: Those people, they don't need a unionized like they now.
Speaker 2: These fuckers are working over time to keep doing everything
Speaker 2: that they can to keep those parachutes, those golden, golden
Speaker 2: parachutes intact. Because that's how it's always been. It doesn't
Speaker 2: fucking matter if you berate your secretary or tell her
Speaker 2: she looks good in that tight ass skirt or called
Speaker 2: John from Accounting an incombinent piece of shit, like no,
Speaker 2: if you get fired, you get paid. That's the way
Speaker 2: it goes. NBA front office execs, they don't need a
Speaker 2: fucking union like they don't. The funny thing, though, is
Speaker 2: that this is all coming up after they looked into
Speaker 2: neil o'shay. Because neil o'sha had tenure, lifetime tenure. Jody
Speaker 2: Allen was never gonna fire in Neil o'she and by
Speaker 2: the way, Neil o'sha is terrible at his job period,
Speaker 2: Like that is not a debate. He's not good and
Speaker 2: he's been in the good graces of an owner and
Speaker 2: the owner's now sister who's largely completely hands off, and
Speaker 2: it's gonna take an investigation like this for him to
Speaker 2: lose his job. And now everyone's like, oh fuck. If
Speaker 2: Neil Snake Tongue O Shay can get fired, all of
Speaker 2: us can be fired. And if he doesn't get any money,
Speaker 2: none of us are getting money. Come on, now, come
Speaker 2: on now, so let's form a union to get defense
Speaker 2: funds to protect us so that no matter how egregious
Speaker 2: our behavior is, in order for us to get out,
Speaker 2: in order for you to show us the door, you
Speaker 2: need to pay us our fucking gwop. Like that's the
Speaker 2: deal that shit is. It is ridiculous. The lengths that
Speaker 2: millionaires will go to make sure to protect themselves and
Speaker 2: they're fucking millionaire friends to make sure they all stay paid.
Speaker 2: It never ceases to amaze me. Man, Like they are out,
Speaker 2: I mean, the things that they will do, the excuses
Speaker 2: that they will make, like they're like, oh, well, these
Speaker 2: owners you know, we gotta basically say, hey, these owners,
Speaker 2: they're the real bad guys, like we are the little guys.
Speaker 2: They are the big. Get the fuck out here a
Speaker 2: union for allegedly shitty and incompetent employees, most of them
Speaker 2: that are mediocre at their job, to stay paid no
Speaker 2: matter what they do. Get the fuck out of here.
Speaker 2: Fuck your union, Fuck your couch like I'm gonna put
Speaker 2: my little feet all over your couch and put my
Speaker 2: mud all over if are you serious? I cannot wait
Speaker 2: to see how this sends. I can wait, Mi am
Speaker 2: on the edge of my seat. I tell you what.
Speaker 2: If GM's actually fuck around and successfully form a union
Speaker 2: to absolve them from what we're finally seeing as a
Speaker 2: baby semblance of accountability. Only when there's video evidence and
Speaker 2: a mountain of employee complaints and you still stay paid
Speaker 2: and protected, Holy shit, are we in for a hell
Speaker 2: of a ride only We'll talk about this last week,
Speaker 2: But you know who has been broke for a long
Speaker 2: ass time in Sacramento. They have been a broke ass,
Speaker 2: poverty ass franchise for a very long time, and they
Speaker 2: needed fixing. So last week I was on ESPN Sacramento
Speaker 2: with Damien Barley Barling and Kenny Carway to talk about
Speaker 2: the Kings fun conversation. They basically knew exactly what I knew,
Speaker 2: which is this guy Luke Walton, he's gotta go, He's
Speaker 2: gotta go. They follow the Kings like a religion. When
Speaker 2: a nice little banter, you know, if you're in Sacramento,
Speaker 2: I mean, what else do you talk about? Truthfully, no
Speaker 2: shade to Damien and Kenny, but like it's that's it, right,
Speaker 2: there's anything else going on there? I don't know. So
Speaker 2: we said, no way, Luke Walton is the King's coach tomorrow, right,
Speaker 2: Like I knew they were losing games. We talked about
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yo, he's gotta go. Right, So this
Speaker 2: is what I tweeted. Went on ESPN Sacramento Today with
Speaker 2: the host Damien Barling and I Am k Diddy and
Speaker 2: said the exact same thing. No reason that the King
Speaker 2: should be getting their doors blown off tonight with the
Speaker 2: talent that they have. And let me tell you, I
Speaker 2: have never seen someone come after me for such an
Speaker 2: innocuous and completely factual take Like that wasn't even a
Speaker 2: hot take. That was a nice statement about the Kings
Speaker 2: having good pieces and not needing to lose and not
Speaker 2: needing to lose in this fashion, and their coach was
Speaker 2: culpable of that fact, right, culpable. I won't give his
Speaker 2: handle out, but I think it might have been Luke
Speaker 2: Walton's burner like truthfully, the way that he was speaking,
Speaker 2: he tweeted this with all due respect, your opinion is
Speaker 2: the complete opposite of every reporter that covers this team
Speaker 2: on a day to day basis, and almost all national
Speaker 2: NBA reporters. Okay, Luke, like Okay Luke that it was
Speaker 2: Luke right. An insane thing to say, considering that both
Speaker 2: Damien and Kenny one hundred percent agreed with me that
Speaker 2: Luke Walton needed to go. Luke Wald's need to go
Speaker 2: for years, which is that they have too much talent
Speaker 2: to be fucking around blowing huge leads, looking completely inconsistent,
Speaker 2: sometimes great, sometimes not great, and not even sniffing the
Speaker 2: playoffs pretty much every year. And then I responded to him,
Speaker 2: which is just the fact that this is a segment now,
Speaker 2: which is what that Luke Walton isn't to blame for
Speaker 2: the four guard lineup that allows posing centers to feast
Speaker 2: that Davion Tyres Gylliburton, Buddy Heal, Harrison and Fox are
Speaker 2: just scrubs that they are the ones to blame. I
Speaker 2: listen and read. I mean if you think I'm not
Speaker 2: listening and reading, uh, it's time to clean house. And
Speaker 2: then he doubled down and he will actually me. He
Speaker 2: was like, well, actually they play a three guard lineup,
Speaker 2: not a four guard None of the players you noted
Speaker 2: are an All Star. Pause. Yeah, nobody that plays on
Speaker 2: the Kings, no matter how good they are, is gonna
Speaker 2: be an All Star. Like but fucking Boogie Cousins, one
Speaker 2: of the most dominant big men in NBA history, barely
Speaker 2: made the All Star Game and they shipped him the
Speaker 2: fuck out And many of them have struggled offensive late
Speaker 2: to start the season. No shit, they're all four guards
Speaker 2: playing on the court at the same time. Like, what
Speaker 2: do you think they're gonna all be able to get
Speaker 2: their shot off? There's no mismatches? Are you serious? It's
Speaker 2: like you no shit? Anyway, this team has only projected
Speaker 2: to be the tenth or eleventh and the standings, what
Speaker 2: have you been reading that? This is a indicating that
Speaker 2: this was a playoff roster pause. Calves were also indicated
Speaker 2: to be an eleven seed and see what they're doing.
Speaker 2: He even denied the fact to me that Harrison Barnes
Speaker 2: was a two guard when I set him an article
Speaker 2: screenshot that headline said, Harrison Barnes struggles to adapt to
Speaker 2: play two in the NBA. Like, what are we talking about? People?
Speaker 2: What are we saying? People will just go to any
Speaker 2: lengths to make a woman sound wrong on the internet.
Speaker 2: They really will. Anyway, My points stands. Luke Walton was
Speaker 2: a trash coach, and I predicted if he lost two
Speaker 2: more games, he would be fired. And guess what, Luke
Speaker 2: Walton here on a Monday, and on a Tuesday his
Speaker 2: asses fired. I said, watch your butt, Luke, and his
Speaker 2: butt is now sitting on a couch. His butt is
Speaker 2: now chilling at the crib. His butt is now probably
Speaker 2: headed to the Lakers bench, to the Warriors bench to
Speaker 2: sit there. Because he came there and he was okay there.
Speaker 2: That's not to say that he was unpopular with the team.
Speaker 2: He wasn't. Tyrese Haliburton had very nice things to say
Speaker 2: about Luke all accounts a decent guy. I just don't
Speaker 2: think he's a very good coach. That's what he said,
Speaker 2: he said very nice, flowery things, but Alvin Gentry. Alvin
Speaker 2: Gentry has been named the semi interim head coach. In
Speaker 2: a WOJE reporting, Wolj bomb Gentry. This is what he said.
Speaker 2: Gentry is already under contract through the two twenty three season.
Speaker 2: He gets a raise, why, I don't know, to take
Speaker 2: the interim job and agreement on some benchmarks of success
Speaker 2: the rest of the season with the team to try
Speaker 2: and keep the job longer. John Hollinger wrote this about
Speaker 2: Alvin Gentry. Alvin Gentry is you can tell in my tone,
Speaker 2: I don't believe this at all. He is one of
Speaker 2: the most beloved people in the league. He's worked for
Speaker 2: darn near every team in the league. He's a retread. Obviously,
Speaker 2: that means he's a retread, and you'll have trouble finding
Speaker 2: many people with anything bad to say about him. He's
Speaker 2: also pretty much seen everything this league has to He
Speaker 2: worked for Donald Sterling's Clippers, so nothing that happens in
Speaker 2: Sacramento is likely to face him. What you're trying to
Speaker 2: say there is that he has been so unsuccessful that
Speaker 2: he's bounced around like a journeyman, and that he's worked
Speaker 2: for dysfunctional teams that largely stayed dysfunctional in his tenure
Speaker 2: on those teams. He is one of those people, those
Speaker 2: little bolts that doesn't speak about the shit that's going on.
Speaker 2: That's him. And he got a head coaching gig and
Speaker 2: he failed at that head coaching gig multiple times. Uh so, Yeah,
Speaker 2: he got into a fight with the GM of the
Speaker 2: New Orleans Pelicans recently because the Pelicans GM clowned him
Speaker 2: for giving him all the answers to the test and
Speaker 2: his ass still not knowing how to solve the problem.
Speaker 2: And this guy is the interim head coach with a
Speaker 2: new fucking race. These guys, more things changed, more things
Speaker 2: to stay the same. You're in. Fox himself does not
Speaker 2: expect the Kings to have a big overhaul due to
Speaker 2: the change from Luke Walton Viele Gentry and that is
Speaker 2: a shame, I tell you what. And he emphasized finishing
Speaker 2: plays and getting out to good starts. So what happened
Speaker 2: folks first game? In their first game under Gentry against
Speaker 2: the Sixers, the Kings were three and a half point
Speaker 2: favorites against the Sixers without Tobias Harris, no mb'd of course,
Speaker 2: no Ben Simmons. No, Danny Green and I hammered the Kings.
Speaker 2: I knew dead cats. They don't bounce that high. No,
Speaker 2: they don't. The Kings led by nine early in the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter, but guess what, folks, they were outscored twenty
Speaker 2: five to eight over the final nine minutes forty five seconds.
Speaker 2: So yes, nothing changed. Nothing. That's exactly what the Kings
Speaker 2: have been doing. This is what I'm saying. I don't
Speaker 2: know why they get these big leads and then they
Speaker 2: give them up. But I don't know. It can't just
Speaker 2: be the player's fault for that. These are professional athletes.
Speaker 2: So gentry got its first chance to talk about what's
Speaker 2: going wrong with the Kings. That's what he said. Uh
Speaker 2: quote bottom line, you have to step up and make shots.
Speaker 2: Pause pause. He's already put in the blame on the players,
Speaker 2: isn't he. We got some good looks at it, and
Speaker 2: we didn't make them. That's where we've struggled. We played
Speaker 2: a team that had a lot of their starters missing,
Speaker 2: and we didn't get the job done. Oh my god,
Speaker 2: Once again, Tristan Thompson, the voice of reason. Let's see
Speaker 2: what he has to say.
Speaker 3: Everyone's gotta get a reality check. You gotta just have
Speaker 3: more toughness and grit, like you know, playing a little
Speaker 3: too nice, Gotta get a little nasty, Gotta hit the
Speaker 3: motherfuck on the floor, Gotta make someone feel you, you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, Like Frich to get hit like
Speaker 3: that in his eye playing hard, someone's gotta go set
Speaker 3: set a legal screen or a backpick on someone to
Speaker 3: feel that, you know what I'm saying, Like Rich, he
Speaker 3: he punches the clock in that kid works, he's got
Speaker 3: better every year for this, for this team and this franchise.
Speaker 3: And he gets hit and Diye has a bus to die.
Speaker 3: But no one, you know, no one gets a hard
Speaker 3: foul or makes someone feel them, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: Like that's the little things like can't be nice in
Speaker 3: this league. Can't be nice nice teams always always finished last,
Speaker 3: or or get excited about the lottery balls. So all
Speaker 3: these all these guys here that on this roster, they
Speaker 3: don't want to lose, They don't want to lose, they
Speaker 3: want to win. But we all got to look in
Speaker 3: the mirror and get one percent better. Everyone, everyone, everyone
Speaker 3: that steps in this building to work has to look
Speaker 3: and see how can they get better because right now
Speaker 3: it's it's it's not a good feeling. We're not where
Speaker 3: we want to be. So it takes everyone. Everyone's got
Speaker 3: to be better, and everyone's gotta be realed themselves, be
Speaker 3: rolled themselves, and we gotta be real with each other.
Speaker 3: Might not like it, but you're gonna respect me at
Speaker 3: the end of the day.
Speaker 2: Uh Yeah. Basically, we need to be not soft, like
Speaker 2: we need to fuck people up when they fuck us up. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you need your head coach to say that. Listen,
Speaker 2: we need a bounty gate here, That's what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 2: we need the head coach being like I'm giving out
Speaker 2: hundreds to people who smash these footh yo, Rashaun Holmes
Speaker 2: got poked in the eye, give him your bodies. I
Speaker 2: don't need Tristan Thompson, former Cleveland Cavalier and Canadian. No
Speaker 2: shade to the Canadians, but like, I don't need that.
Speaker 2: I think I can trash Canada now that I'm not
Speaker 2: owned by Penn National Gaming that's now owning the score. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the Canadians are soft, Like, you can't have the Canadian
Speaker 2: be the toughest one on your fucking roster. You know what,
Speaker 2: I'm saying, so Kings fans, but buck up, Yeah, Kings fans,
Speaker 2: buckle up. Alvin Gentry is not the answer. Who is
Speaker 2: I mean, you got Doug Christi there. Why isn't he
Speaker 2: giving a given an opportunity. People are already speculating that
Speaker 2: Deeron Fox's role is now going to be diminished because
Speaker 2: he was the centerpiece of Luke Walton's offense. Boy, that
Speaker 2: doesn't sound great. All I can say is that if
Speaker 2: you have Daron Fox, one of the fastest, if not
Speaker 2: the fastest guy in the league. You have Halliburton, you
Speaker 2: have Buddy Heeled, one of the best shooters in the league.
Speaker 2: You have Harrison Barnes probably one of the best too
Speaker 2: two way players in the league. And Rashawn Holmes one
Speaker 2: of the rollers in the league. Gave you on Mitchell
Speaker 2: clamps off the bench, and you can't win games. You
Speaker 2: got problems. You got problems on the offense, you got
Speaker 2: problems on the defense, and that largely stems from the
Speaker 2: front office and the coaching staff. You need to figure
Speaker 2: out a way to make that talented lineup win some
Speaker 2: fucking games. And oh, by the way, for those still
Speaker 2: simping for Luke, Walton. I get it, I get it.
Speaker 2: You've got a low bar for things in Luke Walton's burner,
Speaker 2: including for Luke Walton's burner, not Walton one two, three
Speaker 2: for five, who definitely wasn't Luke Walton simping for him
Speaker 2: in his Twitter mentions. Uh, I've got some good news
Speaker 2: for you. Luke Walton's forty winning percentage, which you might
Speaker 2: think is trash because it is his winning percentage is
Speaker 2: the head coach of the Kings. That is the second
Speaker 2: best record in franchise history. That's heartbreaking. Eighteen head coach,
Speaker 2: eighteen head coaches in franchise history, and he is the
Speaker 2: second winningest head coach in Sacramento lore. This is the
Speaker 2: only head coach on earth that couldn't get a five
Speaker 2: hundred record out of Lebron James and he has the
Speaker 2: second best record at forty three percent. Buckle up, Kings fans,
Speaker 2: this is gonna be a hell of a rod. This weak.
Speaker 4: You know, quarantine super clean and had a little Kamba
Speaker 4: Thomas hit by.
Speaker 2: Hard Boy to make COVID funny. But uh this new
Speaker 2: story from The Rolling Stones about COVID during the NBA
Speaker 2: Finals called me dark, but it tickled me. It did?
Speaker 2: It did? Uh? As an aside, what a world that
Speaker 2: we live in where a music magazine that maybe doesn't
Speaker 2: even produce a physical copy of a magazine anymore does
Speaker 2: NBA world class NBA research? Like we are now seeing
Speaker 2: multiple COVID pieces coming out from the Rolling Stones with
Speaker 2: crazy good reporting. Obviously someone at the Rolling Stones is
Speaker 2: very close with someone within the NBA because they're spilling
Speaker 2: all the tea to only the Rolling Stones. It's like
Speaker 2: when TMZ became like a legitimate news source, Like I
Speaker 2: don't know what's going on. I don't know, and it's
Speaker 2: like hidden behind a paywall, very shady. I am like
Speaker 2: baffled by this. I'm also like imagining now a world
Speaker 2: where maxim is doing like the disctconstruction of like Lebron
Speaker 2: and Isaiah Stewart, like looking at Lebron's angle of his
Speaker 2: elbow and like, will Isaiah Stewart make it in this league? Anyway?
Speaker 2: Turns out that the league, according to the Rolling Stone,
Speaker 2: nearly had a full blown NBA COVID crisis on its
Speaker 2: hands that came very close to ruining the centerpiece of
Speaker 2: the NBA season. So the fascinating story of COVID and
Speaker 2: how it nearly destroyed the twenty twenty one NBA Final
Speaker 2: and now we are just now learning about it. So
Speaker 2: it goes back to the summer of fourth of July
Speaker 2: when multiple sources. According to multiple sources, no one on
Speaker 2: the Bucks organization knew whether Yanis or not was vaccinated.
Speaker 2: So that's problematic considering at that point if you remember
Speaker 2: that Wisconsin was a hot spot for the Delta variant,
Speaker 2: like it was sweeping Milwaukee record cases. People couldn't travel
Speaker 2: in and out, but the world did not know within
Speaker 2: the Bucks organization whether Yannis had decided to get the
Speaker 2: vaccine or not. Right row, an anonymous Bucks exec told
Speaker 2: Rolling Stone this we were very concerned that Jannis wasn't
Speaker 2: vaccinated and that with all of his exposure from all
Speaker 2: of these different people, the new face of the NBA
Speaker 2: might get infected. Uh. That's not good, or at least
Speaker 2: contact traced by the NBA and be forced to quarantine,
Speaker 2: potentially altering the course of sports history. The biggest thing
Speaker 2: was just make sure Yannis tests negative. Wink wink wink. Uh.
Speaker 2: The wild thing is that this no team were more
Speaker 2: fanatical about COVID protocols than the Bucks during the regular season.
Speaker 2: The Bucks hadn't allowed family to join players on the
Speaker 2: road during the first round of the playoffs because they
Speaker 2: were sticking to the mantra stay locked in, Bud, keep
Speaker 2: your job, Budenholzer, keep your job, stay locked in. Uh
Speaker 2: what was it, uh, Jeff Goldblum where he said, uh,
Speaker 2: Jurassic Park. Nature finds its way. That's right, so do idiots, friends, cousins,
Speaker 2: girlfriends that have to just hang on like little leeches
Speaker 2: in the glow of famous NBA players Like got a roll, Listen,
Speaker 2: I get it, Like if I had a best friend
Speaker 2: that was the number one fate, I'd be sticking around too.
Speaker 2: So the finals apparently were a different animal for the Bucks,
Speaker 2: and it was Budenholtzer who opened floodgates. Of course, he said,
Speaker 2: we're bringing in our families. Three people. What of course
Speaker 2: we're bringing in our families. That's what he told the team.
Speaker 2: It's the finals, Yeah, I mean, Bud like, of course,
Speaker 2: Covid loves the NBA Finals. Covid is gonna take a
Speaker 2: vacation during that particular part of the NBA playoffs because
Speaker 2: COVID couldn't possibly ruin the finals when they they're known
Speaker 2: NBA fan COVID. COVID nineteen loves the NBA. They take
Speaker 2: the NBA Finals off, of course, to watch the action,
Speaker 2: right Like, they would never come after you because they're
Speaker 2: too busy watching the NBA Finals versus infecting the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2: Do you remember when Isis took time off of terrorizing
Speaker 2: fools in order so that they could watch the World Cup?
Speaker 2: Like they stopped with the drone strikes and the rocket
Speaker 2: launchers and the little baby child soldiers with bombs on
Speaker 2: their chest so that they could live troll Lionel Messi,
Speaker 2: Right like, that was what they thought would happen with
Speaker 2: COVID taking time off to watch sports. That's why sports
Speaker 2: unite us, because terrorists and pandemics don't affect us during
Speaker 2: those times. It's like the Olympics when we all come together.
Speaker 2: Peace treaty, COVID treaty. No, are you fucking kidding me?
Speaker 2: Like no, Rolling Stones's investigation revealed for the first time
Speaker 2: that over a dozen people a dozen people associated with
Speaker 2: the Bucks and the Suns tested positive for COVID during
Speaker 2: the finals. Yikes. According to the league sources and four team
Speaker 2: official officials with knowledge of the situation, six vaccinated staffers,
Speaker 2: including coaching and medical staffers from the Bucks, family members
Speaker 2: and people in both franchise, entourage's hangers on, and one
Speaker 2: player Janis's brother uh and teammates Thanasis Onto Zakoumpo. Let
Speaker 2: me just say this, You don't think Janis was a
Speaker 2: close contact to his fucking brother who got COVID in
Speaker 2: the middle of the finals. Come on, bro, literally bro,
Speaker 2: Come on, bro. The funniest thing about the whole debacle
Speaker 2: was the two officials say that Milwaukee official responsible for
Speaker 2: keeping the team COVID free tested positive for COVID. Rule
Speaker 2: number one a fight club. Don't talk about fight club
Speaker 2: rule number one of being the COVID zar. Do not
Speaker 2: get COVID. Are you kidding? That's the entire rule for you, Like,
Speaker 2: don't get COVID, don't let anybody else get COVID. That's it.
Speaker 2: You get paid if you can keep those two things
Speaker 2: from happening. Even now, the Bucks are protecting gy honest
Speaker 2: about this whole situation, basically saying Yannis was protecting himself.
Speaker 2: Yannes quote unquote, the MVP doesn't even like to go
Speaker 2: to Team Dinners. He doesn't even like his brother really No,
Speaker 2: They didn't say that he'd received private attention from the
Speaker 2: team's medical staff, avoiding further close content. What the effect
Speaker 2: did he returned another negative test? Only is brother and
Speaker 2: six staffers tested positive within the NBA Finals. That are sanctum?
Speaker 2: I mean, come on now, keyword? Is only only only
Speaker 2: six staffers and his brother? What if Yannis actually got COVID?
Speaker 2: Like what if is it possible that Jannis actually had
Speaker 2: COVID versus hyper extending his knee? Yes, just fall down
Speaker 2: real quick on that knee, real quick and just miss
Speaker 2: some games. Like I don't mean, you don't mean to
Speaker 2: tell me it's impossible to believe that the face of
Speaker 2: the NBA might have gotten COVID and that we never
Speaker 2: really saw any negative tests, Like he wasn't a close
Speaker 2: contact to his brother who got COVID, Like an unvaccinated
Speaker 2: Yannis wasn't a close contact to his brother who's on
Speaker 2: the team. Like truthfully, all the unvaccinated players on the
Speaker 2: Bucks should have been quarantining, including Yannis, Like it could
Speaker 2: you imagine NBA Finals with like Pat Connaton, DJ Wilson,
Speaker 2: DJ Augustine uh like diaquite Virginia legend against DeAndre Aton,
Speaker 2: Devin Booker's Chris Paul, like the NBA would lose their
Speaker 2: shit ratings, plummeting money, not there, deer Park nonexistence. I mean,
Speaker 2: COVID has been a motherfucker, but if it would have
Speaker 2: derailed the finals, yikes, I mean we thought, I thought
Speaker 2: COVID took vacation during the final. It's like it could
Speaker 2: have been the worst most dramatic plot twist in sports history.
Speaker 2: We were one NASAs sneeze on a bus or a
Speaker 2: whistleblower away from making this the nightmare scenario come true
Speaker 2: for the NBA sons and four baby that I would
Speaker 2: have been right. That's all the time that we have
Speaker 2: for the Heat Check bet be back early, Squirrely Friday
Speaker 2: morning for our Thanksgiving episode. PS. Just to give you
Speaker 2: a little taste of Kevin Dourana's Ashley, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2: Do not forget to follow us on social ad the
Speaker 2: heat Checking at Tristan Criek on TikTok. We'll see you
Speaker 2: a Friday morning.
Speaker 4: You're not going head yeah, quarantine clean sylights to be
Speaker 4: cleansed BB and had a little yeah being cumba so
Speaker 4: much shitty, I mean, baby and going on up them
Speaker 4: and this and Lily and yeah, pull fuging that wine.
Speaker 2: And some want to