Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, we're back in studio, folks.
Speaker 3: It is a new year and the NBA. NBA is
Speaker 3: out of control right now, like it just really is.
Speaker 3: Things are happening, So we're going to get into it.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get into the best team in the NBA
Speaker 2: that nobody gives.
Speaker 3: A fuck about. It's Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 2: Like, has anyone said a peep about the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 2: number one team in the West. No, has anybody said
Speaker 2: a peep about Yolk that she's playing better basketball than
Speaker 2: he has in the two years that he won the MVP. No,
Speaker 2: why cause it's he's he's fat, and he's foreign and
Speaker 2: they're in Denver. We talk also about who's the blame
Speaker 2: in Minnesota, why things are a little bit tilted in.
Speaker 3: Boston, And we're not just talking about the rims.
Speaker 2: We are talking about what's happening with the team, and
Speaker 2: a little news on the pair of the league's biggest
Speaker 2: young superstars, Luca and Jaw.
Speaker 3: Come on, Nick, do me a favorite drop that generic
Speaker 3: ass beat. Let's start with the Nugs. Let's start with them.
Speaker 2: So we have Nikola Jokic right, the reigning two time
Speaker 2: MVP in a season with historic performances so far from
Speaker 2: Tatum kd Joannice and beat Shay Yogis Alexander jaw and
Speaker 2: Jokic still may be the best player in the league
Speaker 2: again again, But you didn't see that one coming. Shout
Speaker 2: out to Jeremy Renner, go well soon, Jeremy Renner. Also,
Speaker 2: as an aside, if you don't have a truck that
Speaker 2: can plow snow, don't plow snow with that truck. Heads
Speaker 2: up to that three time MVP for Jokic. Could he
Speaker 2: be a three times back to back to back like
Speaker 2: Drake MVP? Like probably, Let's be real, like Jokic statistically
Speaker 2: better than he was last year, statistically better than he
Speaker 2: was the year before. And this time the Nuggets aren't
Speaker 2: the four seed folks, They're not the sixth seed folks.
Speaker 2: Where where are the Nuggets in the standings?
Speaker 3: Checks notes? Number one in the West?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And nobody cares his last game against the best team
Speaker 2: in the NBA so far with the number one rank
Speaker 2: defense in the NBA thirty twelve and twelve and get this,
Speaker 2: zero turnovers and one foul. That is an average game
Speaker 2: right now for Nikola jokicch that no one watches. He
Speaker 2: had his ninth triple double this year, nine triple doubles.
Speaker 2: He's like the big white fat Russell Westbrook and no
Speaker 2: one is talking about it. Twenty seventh game shooting fifth
Speaker 2: percent from the field?
Speaker 3: Are you serious? Are we like? If you were.
Speaker 2: Honest with yourself, how many games have you watched of
Speaker 2: Nikola Jokic's this year?
Speaker 3: Is it? Is it less than five? Can you count
Speaker 3: them on one hand? Can you count them on two fingers?
Speaker 3: Be honest, you're doing yourself a disservice.
Speaker 2: I know they don't play if you're on the East Coast,
Speaker 2: they don't play at a great time. They don't. You're
Speaker 2: probably night Night's sleep mask. But you probably need a
Speaker 2: DVR where you probably need to just stay up a
Speaker 2: little longer because it's ridiculous what he's doing. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: And I'm saying it to myself as well, because I
Speaker 2: haven't watched a ton of Jokic primetime games. Why because
Speaker 2: the NBA won't put him in primetime. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: He has the highest player efficiency rating in the history
Speaker 3: of the NBA last year and he's actually better this year.
Speaker 2: Not a peep on ESPN, not a peep on First Take,
Speaker 2: not a peep on this disputed, not a people on
Speaker 2: NBA TV.
Speaker 3: No one seems to care.
Speaker 2: No one seems to notice enough to care, And that
Speaker 2: I think is why he's the perfect star for the Nuggets,
Speaker 2: because just like people still sleeping on him, no one
Speaker 2: giving the Nuggets.
Speaker 3: Any love either.
Speaker 2: None, not on this podcast, not today lead story, on
Speaker 2: this podcast. We are absolutely going to give him and
Speaker 2: this team their flowers. What is happening with the Nuggets
Speaker 2: needs to be redlined because this is a team that
Speaker 2: is just possibly possibly could win at all what they're
Speaker 2: doing right now. And I know the non Jokic minutes
Speaker 2: are ugly, so things are gonna change there.
Speaker 3: But after starting fourteen and.
Speaker 2: Ten with Jamal Murray struggling to come back into form,
Speaker 2: Michael Porter Junior struggling to be healthy on any level,
Speaker 2: the Nuggets are ten and two since then, with the
Speaker 2: league's eighth best defense, They had the set best defense
Speaker 2: in their five game win streak. They currently still have
Speaker 2: the best defensive rating in clutch time, Yes, when it
Speaker 2: matters most, they are locking folks down, and that is
Speaker 2: just absolutely wild, considering that Jokic is zero defensive love.
Speaker 2: People actually consider Jokic to be a negative defender. People
Speaker 2: consider Jokic to be a liability on defense, a joke
Speaker 2: if you will on defense boom. Yet yet every year
Speaker 2: his defensive rating continues to improve. Michael Malone went on
Speaker 2: a rant last April when he said, yeah, you can't
Speaker 2: say Jokic is not an elite defender. All of the
Speaker 2: analytics that they use for other players, When you apply
Speaker 2: those same analytics to Nicole Jokic, he would be an
Speaker 2: all defensive player. Nate Silver at five point thirty eight,
Speaker 2: who I love because he's a nerd and he does
Speaker 2: all the work for me. He crunched the data and
Speaker 2: said that Jokic could have and probably should.
Speaker 3: Have been defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 2: Last year, or at least in the conversation, not a
Speaker 2: single person mentioned that we had Marcus fucking Smart, no
Speaker 2: shade to him, Marcus fucking Smart when the defensive player
Speaker 2: of the Year for no reason. He wasn't even the
Speaker 2: best defender on his own team. Okay, like not even close.
Speaker 2: Rob Williams should have won it over him, just on
Speaker 2: the team the best defensive Player of the Year in
Speaker 2: Boston was not Marcus smart Let alone in the NBA
Speaker 2: just slept on this team. Djokis in general slept on,
Speaker 2: but so are a lot of the other Nuggets as well.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about a player who I have hated on
Speaker 2: and it stops now.
Speaker 3: He's not just a dunker.
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon this year is absolutely insane. Having a career
Speaker 2: year right now. Aaron Gordon averaging seventeen points per game,
Speaker 2: six point six rebounds per game, shooting sixty percent from
Speaker 2: the field.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about how.
Speaker 2: He's transformed the game, because during his time in Orlando
Speaker 2: that nobody really remembers or cares about. The only thing
Speaker 2: you remember is is him dunking over the mascot.
Speaker 3: Let's be honest. With short hair.
Speaker 2: Like six and a half seasons in Orlando, he never
Speaker 2: eclipsed league average in true shooting percentage, never fifty three percent,
Speaker 2: thirteen point eight points lower than this year's mark. That's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: He has improved in every way. According to Cleaning the Glass,
Speaker 2: a career high sixty three percent of his shots are
Speaker 2: at the rim this season, which is in the one
Speaker 2: hundredth percentile among forwards. He's shooting seventy six percent around
Speaker 2: the rim ninety fourth percentile. Dude has become so versatile.
Speaker 2: He's changed his game so much, so immensely. He doesn't
Speaker 2: shoot pull ups anymore. He slashes more. He's using his
Speaker 2: size more down in the pain.
Speaker 3: Like he's basically.
Speaker 2: Said, Okay, I am bigger, stronger, faster, and more bouncy.
Speaker 2: So why am I shooting jumpers again? Like why am
Speaker 2: I doing that? These guys can't guard me? And it's working.
Speaker 2: He has redefined its play style to do what his
Speaker 2: gifts allow him to do. Right, don't shoot those mid
Speaker 2: ranges anymore. Just literally post guys up and dunk over them.
Speaker 2: That's what you do. Rebound over them, dunk over them,
Speaker 2: push guys around. So should Aaron Gordon be an All Star?
Speaker 2: Why is he not getting enough praise? I don't know.
Speaker 2: Let bones Hyland say what he thinks.
Speaker 4: This is definitely one of the best seasons or the
Speaker 4: best season, not seeing you know, from ag play by far.
Speaker 4: His numbers prove it. He goes out there and give
Speaker 4: his all on both ends of the floor, whether that's
Speaker 4: Guarden the best player, or you know on the other end,
Speaker 4: you know, scoring, rebounding, assaysts, so you know, he does
Speaker 4: the junk yard work for us, and I feel like
Speaker 4: he doesn't get a lot of praise. So you know,
Speaker 4: ag definitely All star for.
Speaker 3: Show for show. What is uh?
Speaker 2: What does Jokic think about Aaron Gordon? Because this comment shocked.
Speaker 1: Me, Like he's the guy who doesn't maybe get a
Speaker 1: lot of credit, but he's a really big part of
Speaker 1: this team, you know, Like I said that he's the
Speaker 1: soul of this team.
Speaker 3: Pause, the soul of the team.
Speaker 2: Two time MVP says, Oh, yeah, Aaron Gordon's the soul
Speaker 2: of our team.
Speaker 1: If didn't make any sense because he can do everything
Speaker 1: on the floor, and I mean he has a night
Speaker 1: like that like today, it's really good.
Speaker 2: Also, the dunk of the year. Did you see what
Speaker 2: he did to Landry Shametta on Christmas Day? Haven't talked
Speaker 2: to you all since then. I think we had the
Speaker 2: New Year's Day episode, but I didn't have time to
Speaker 2: be talking about Aaron gordon dunks, So, oh my god,
Speaker 2: though the soul of the team, you can legit say
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon should be most improved player this year. I
Speaker 2: know it's gonna be Shae because he was so good
Speaker 2: last year and the numbers that he's putting up. But honestly,
Speaker 2: he could legit win it. He should be in the conversation.
Speaker 2: This is ridiculous what he's doing. Also, a little fun fact,
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon and the have both shot fifty percent or
Speaker 2: better from the field every single game since before Halloween.
Speaker 2: That's what January two, twenty two consecutive games. That is
Speaker 2: the longest streak of any duo shooting better than fifty
Speaker 2: percent since nineteen ninety.
Speaker 3: All right, let's move on past or Aaron Gordon and Jokich.
Speaker 2: Bruce Brown has been great twenty points against the Celtics
Speaker 2: off the bench, replacing Jamal Murray. KCP has been a
Speaker 2: spark as well. He's been really really good. Bones Highland
Speaker 2: has emerged. If you if you didn't see him send
Speaker 2: Sam Hauser to the shadow realm against the Celtics, you
Speaker 2: should look at that. He missed the three, which made
Speaker 2: it like really sad because if he would have, if
Speaker 2: he would have hit that, that would have just been
Speaker 2: like maybe an all time NBA moment of this season.
Speaker 2: He also got into a little battle with Jalen Brown,
Speaker 2: tripped him to the floor. They beat the shit out
Speaker 2: of the Celtics, like they beat them down. This is
Speaker 2: the kind of intensity that you want from your role players,
Speaker 2: from your young players. Also, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior
Speaker 2: starting to slowly acclimate themselves back from injury when they
Speaker 2: get back fully healthy.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: I know we don't think about the Nuggets in terms
Speaker 2: of them accomplishing anything on any level because they're the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: But I think this is a finals team, Like this
Speaker 2: could be a team very easily that has home court
Speaker 2: when you've got multiple teams struggling like the Warriors. You've
Speaker 2: got Memphis having their own depth issues, You've got the
Speaker 2: Pelicans kind of up and down. The Suns have been
Speaker 2: garbage on the road. Like this is a team that
Speaker 2: legit when fully healthy, especially if they make some moves
Speaker 2: at the deadline, which we'll talk about in just a second.
Speaker 2: This could be a team legitimately representing the West. And
Speaker 2: they're all in on Jokic. They know he's legendary in
Speaker 2: his prime. They are not They're not talking Western.
Speaker 3: Conference finals only. They want to win it all. This
Speaker 3: is what coach Malone said.
Speaker 2: For us to be first place in the West, having
Speaker 2: beat some really good teams as of late because of
Speaker 2: our defense is a good sign. So if you can
Speaker 2: do this for nine games with the schedule that we've had,
Speaker 2: that shows it. If you can have the number one
Speaker 2: clunch defense in the NBA, it shows it. We've got
Speaker 2: the personnel right now. Basically, you just have to execute
Speaker 2: night after night after night and not allow the Sacramento
Speaker 2: Kings to shoot seventy five percent from the field the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter. So the rumors are that the Nuggets are
Speaker 2: going to go after another wing defender, try to find
Speaker 2: another Aaron Gordon to add a depth, add to their versatility,
Speaker 2: helping non Jokic minutes, to have maybe a playmaker as well,
Speaker 2: like Malcolm Brogden type, maybe like I don't know, like
Speaker 2: Mike Conley. You add that to a healthy Nuggets team, like,
Speaker 2: watch the fuck out. I think the Nuggets might be
Speaker 2: the most slept on team in the NBA. And if
Speaker 2: the response to Jokic's back to back MVP is any indication,
Speaker 2: I think even if this team were to win it all,
Speaker 2: the Nuggets would still not get the credit they deserve,
Speaker 2: and that is a damn su