Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check. Oh, it's ketchup
Speaker 1: time get you up to date on everything popping in
Speaker 1: the NBA. Summer League is about to start today. We
Speaker 1: got a new NBA Meteorites deal, which we kind of
Speaker 1: already knew what was going on, but now we have it.
Speaker 1: We've got some Team USA drama, Clay introducing himself in Dallas,
Speaker 1: and a lot of new signings. So much to get into.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it. Come on, Anthony drop that generic
Speaker 1: ass beat should.
Speaker 2: Be recorded, all right, some of the lets.
Speaker 1: A lot of news popping. League free agency has come
Speaker 1: to a close. There's players that really are still free
Speaker 1: agents that are going to sign somewhere, but doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like any deals are being made right now. I am
Speaker 1: boots on the ground in Las Vegas. I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: giving you my thoughts all week. But for now, we've
Speaker 1: got big news. The NBA has announced a new media
Speaker 1: rights deal, which has been the end game, the end
Speaker 1: goal over three years of speculation and now was finally signed.
Speaker 1: What does it mean. It means that the NBA is
Speaker 1: about to go fucking bananas. Seventy six billion billion with
Speaker 1: a B dollars over eleven years six point nine billion
Speaker 1: dollars per year, which is triple the amount of the
Speaker 1: previous deal. Who is in and who is out? Here
Speaker 1: are the winners ESPN and ABC. Disney two point six
Speaker 1: billion dollars to the NBA, Amazon Prime. They're getting media
Speaker 1: rights on digital one point eight billion dollars. NBC and
Speaker 1: Peacock paid two point five billion dollars to be on
Speaker 1: regular network TV and streaming on Peacock. Who is out?
Speaker 1: Apple TV is out? They were supposedly gonna bid, but
Speaker 1: apparently the bidding was just way too rich for their blood,
Speaker 1: and sadly, Turner TNT, which technically has a few more
Speaker 1: days to match either Amazon Amazon's deal, doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: they're likely to do so. This seems like it's going
Speaker 1: to court because no matter whether Amazon or no matter
Speaker 1: whether TNT tries to match the deal or not, it
Speaker 1: feels like the NBA is just gonna say no anyway.
Speaker 1: Next year is gonna be now the last rodeo of
Speaker 1: the inside of the NBA as we know. It looks
Speaker 1: like Chuck is going to retire, Ernie's gonna stay on.
Speaker 1: Turner Kenny Shack, who knows Amazon now gets the NBA
Speaker 1: Cup AKA the n season tournament, which will be a
Speaker 1: thirty team blind draw this year. They also get some
Speaker 1: playoff games as well, which they'll split with NBC. The
Speaker 1: Finals stays shockingly with ESPN and ABC exclusively, and boy
Speaker 1: did they pay for it double what they paid on
Speaker 1: the previous deal. But I guess that's the price of
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals for you, which is kind of a
Speaker 1: sad thing because I would have loved even just TNT
Speaker 1: to do the finals or NBC the new kid on
Speaker 1: the block, to do the finals. Don't love the way
Speaker 1: that ESPN has been covering the NBA Finals, but that's
Speaker 1: just me. Bottom line is the NBA is now going
Speaker 1: to be nationally televised seven days a week, which is
Speaker 1: kind of insane when do you think about it. That
Speaker 1: is a sign of how big the league is going
Speaker 1: to get internationally nationally in the last in the next
Speaker 1: five years. NBC and Amazon will have to build a
Speaker 1: dawn to dusk NBA coverage in the next twelve months,
Speaker 1: so there's gonna be a lot of movement in NBA
Speaker 1: media markets. But there is something that nobody is talking
Speaker 1: about yet. As John Hollinger tweeted out, now that the
Speaker 1: media rights deal is done. It is expansion time, baby,
Speaker 1: looking at you see Sattle, looking at you Vegas. So
Speaker 1: not only do we have a massively expanding NBA media
Speaker 1: landscape with two new broadcast partners, and NBC is indeed new.
Speaker 1: It has been two decades since they did NBA, which
Speaker 1: means I was like, man, I'm old. I was gonna say.
Speaker 1: I thought it's been less time than that, but I
Speaker 1: guess I'm almost forty. I was like, I don't remember
Speaker 1: it leaving my kids. No, it's I think I was
Speaker 1: eighteen the last time the NBC had the NBA. New
Speaker 1: front offices, new scouting departments, new media divisions, new social
Speaker 1: media teams, new producers, knew everything, and for the people
Speaker 1: in the business of hoops, business is booming. More on
Speaker 1: this very very soon. All right, moving on, Man, I'm
Speaker 1: losing my voice already, Guys, I am losing my voice already.
Speaker 1: I always say that my voice is kind of like
Speaker 1: a Maserati, you know, like a high performance vehicle, but
Speaker 1: always in the fucking shop. That's that's me. That's one day,
Speaker 1: two days out in the middle of a bunch of
Speaker 1: and I am dead. So anyway, I'm in Vegas for
Speaker 1: Summer League. But before the league kicked off, we had
Speaker 1: Team USA versus Team Canada tune up game before more
Speaker 1: exhibition games where the US goes to Abu Dhabi and Wow,
Speaker 1: before the game even tipped, we got some e news,
Speaker 1: you know, reality show Real Housewives of the NBA type trauma.
Speaker 1: The team begins and ends with Kawhi Leonard. Now, we
Speaker 1: kind of knew Kawhi Leonard was probably not going to
Speaker 1: be ready to go for the Olympics, considering that he
Speaker 1: was held out of the most of the first round
Speaker 1: of the playoffs and hasn't played a damn game since,
Speaker 1: and even during the finals, WOJ was tweeting about maybe
Speaker 1: Derek White taking a slot. But now it's happened. Now
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard has been kicked off of Team USA. Basically, hey,
Speaker 1: your knee's not right. We already got a guy in
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant who has a CAF that's strained, and we're
Speaker 1: not really sure when he's coming back, so we can't
Speaker 1: have you there. You gotta go. And depending on who
Speaker 1: you believe though, either Kawhi left tam Usa on his
Speaker 1: own with the Clippers or Team USA said you gotta go.
Speaker 1: You gotta leave. But I do think that from what
Speaker 1: I hear, Kawhi was the last to know. Kawhi in general,
Speaker 1: had no idea until the decision had already been made.
Speaker 1: This Steph Curry said this about Kawhi. I know he
Speaker 1: wanted to play, hopefully for the long term. He's in
Speaker 1: a good place before because the game needs him. When
Speaker 1: he's not out there, you miss an all time great player.
Speaker 1: And we hope he's ready for the season. It's pretty
Speaker 1: sad for Kui. Not gonna lie what that means going forward.
Speaker 1: We'll get into the next month because Clipper fans should
Speaker 1: be absolutely terrified. But you know what, Fortunately for Team USA,
Speaker 1: there's a natural replacement for six eight, two hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty pounder board out there, ready and willing to play,
Speaker 1: known for his lockdown defense, can stretch the floor. This
Speaker 1: is someone who also won an NBA Championship, win Finals
Speaker 1: MVP Eastern Conference Finals MVP Jalen Brown, the closest player
Speaker 1: probably to Kawhi Leonard in the league right now, and
Speaker 1: Grant Hill said no, he went out and picked Kawhi's
Speaker 1: replacement as Dereck White, And I guess you can say
Speaker 1: we already have a lot of wings on Team USA.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of big players. Maybe we need
Speaker 1: some more guards in order to defend on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: much like Drew Holliday is doing. But Jalen Brown was
Speaker 1: very unhappy. He immediately got online and started tweeting shit
Speaker 1: and pointed a finger as he's wont to do, as
Speaker 1: if there was a conspiracy theory of foot in who
Speaker 1: he thinks is blackballing him. When the news broke, he
Speaker 1: tweeted out three thinking emojis had to say as is
Speaker 1: to say, hmm, that's strange, and then stood for a
Speaker 1: couple more hours before saying at Nike, this what were doing.
Speaker 1: He then adds some more tweets which said I'm not
Speaker 1: afraid of you or your resources. I did not have
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown versus Nike on my beef card this calendar
Speaker 1: or this summer. And you know the thing that makes
Speaker 1: it super weird is like it's Jalen Brown's teammate who
Speaker 1: got picked instead of him, And He's like, hey, you
Speaker 1: chose this fucking guy over me, So yeah, JB's pissed.
Speaker 1: How did Grant Hill react? He said that he picked
Speaker 1: Derek White because he wanted a player who knows his role.
Speaker 1: He said, White is someone who's accustomed to playing alongside
Speaker 1: great players. He plays with two stars and Chasing Tatum
Speaker 1: and Jaylen Brown. He knows how to be a complimentary piece,
Speaker 1: but also stands out in his role. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that whether he sits for two games or plays the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, he's gonna have a great attitude. He's going
Speaker 1: to be Derek White aka Jalen Brown's not gonna take
Speaker 1: it in stride if we bench him and he's the
Speaker 1: twelfth guy on our team, and he's probably not gonna
Speaker 1: take it great. Derrick White, he knows. He's just kind
Speaker 1: of there and we'll see how many minutes you get.
Speaker 1: Don't you worry about Jaylen Brown? Though he didn't sit
Speaker 1: home and pou He took out his smoke show girlfriend,
Speaker 1: a WNBA player that I don't even know how to
Speaker 1: pronounce her name. I'm not gonna try. Kissra Gondrazick google it,
Speaker 1: who's also looking for a new team. By the way,
Speaker 1: after being waived by this guy to the sp Awards,
Speaker 1: or she broke the internet because I think she had
Speaker 1: like on a catsuit dress where I could see every curve.
Speaker 1: I think I saw a nipple or a belly button.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. Sometimes you can't win for losing. But
Speaker 1: don't think Jaylen Brown's gonna forget this. No, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be ramifications going for He's gonna continue to speak on it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure. How does this impact the relationship between JB
Speaker 1: and Derek White. Does it's spill over the locker room?
Speaker 1: I don't think so, but the tea is definitely hot.
Speaker 1: Moving on, Speaking of Team USA, I got to see
Speaker 1: them up and close against Canada in Las Vegas. Fascinating
Speaker 1: tune up. They played Not Like Us multiple times to
Speaker 1: troll Drake to troll Canada, which was awesome, But in reality,
Speaker 1: the first tune up was actually the untelevised and mostly
Speaker 1: unseen by media scrimmage of the Olympic team versus the
Speaker 1: Team USA Select team, which had Haimi Hawkes on it, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, as I saw him and his girlfriend
Speaker 1: last night, his girlfriend was a smoke show. Jabari Smith,
Speaker 1: Aman Thompson, Jalen Suggs, and Cooper Flag, who is in
Speaker 1: high school. By the way, Flag was the first high
Speaker 1: school or college player to play on Team USA Select
Speaker 1: in a decade, and Cooper Flag largely balled the fuck out.
Speaker 1: He was incredible. The Internet and the media around the
Speaker 1: NBA is a buzz about Cooper Flag right now. He
Speaker 1: led the select team that narrowly missed out on a
Speaker 1: huge upset, losing by one point. He was ballin'. One
Speaker 1: player who was super impressed by Cooper Flag was KD.
Speaker 1: He said, he looks like hell of a player. He's
Speaker 1: somebody who's gonna get better with experience, and he's only
Speaker 1: seventeen years old coming in here and playing like you.
Speaker 1: He's almost a vet. No emotion, good offensive skills, tight defense,
Speaker 1: great quart awareness, athleticism up the anti. If he wasn't
Speaker 1: going to Duke, I probably would be more excited about him.
Speaker 1: That aside, Cooper Flag is the consensus number one pick
Speaker 1: in next year's draft. There's gonna be a real effort
Speaker 1: by teams to tank for the top pick. This year,
Speaker 1: Cooper Flag opened a lot of eyes back to Team
Speaker 1: USA versus Team Canada. Here's a couple of points that
Speaker 1: I would like to redline because I was there in person.
Speaker 1: This team is going to probably demolish everyone else. They
Speaker 1: are huge. The second unit could be the best Team
Speaker 1: USA team we've ever seen. Since the Dream Team. Kiel
Speaker 1: embiid he's needed. He did not have a good, good
Speaker 1: game in his debut. Fouled out in eleven minutes. He
Speaker 1: had six points, five bounds. He was hunting fouls. Fever rules,
Speaker 1: of course are different than the NBA. The game's much
Speaker 1: more physical without people march into the foul line. It
Speaker 1: was a rough showing and in fact, the whole team
Speaker 1: U I say, even though they slaughtered Team Canada, none
Speaker 1: of them looked particularly good. It was not a good
Speaker 1: showing and they still won by fifteen. Edwards feels like
Speaker 1: he wants to be the leader of this team. He
Speaker 1: said it out loud leading the games, leading days leading
Speaker 1: up to the game, but during the game you could
Speaker 1: kind of feel it. He was pushing the pace. He
Speaker 1: led the team in points thirteen, three and one. Afterwards
Speaker 1: he said he was nervous, but I gather he's gonna
Speaker 1: get over that. Also, I think Steph Curry and Lebron
Speaker 1: James are here because if anything goes wrong, they can
Speaker 1: get you buckets and crunch time whenever the fuck they want.
Speaker 1: This team is three loaded, but the bottom line, whenever
Speaker 1: it gets in trouble, Like I said, Steph Curry and
Speaker 1: Lebron James, who are gonna come out and do whatever
Speaker 1: they want to bail them out. Both of them were
Speaker 1: pretty good. Steph Curry had a viral moment where he
Speaker 1: had an am one and slid into this little like
Speaker 1: pose where he had one hand on his head and
Speaker 1: one hand on his hip. It was very spicy, very cute,
Speaker 1: kind of blew up. The internet went viral. This is
Speaker 1: the last rodeo for both of them. Steph Curry's actually
Speaker 1: never took part in Team USA ever in the Olympics,
Speaker 1: so that's gonna be really fun. So let's just sit
Speaker 1: back and enjoy them. We will have a lot more
Speaker 1: on Team USA next week as they head to Abu
Speaker 1: Dhabi to pick up their bag of cash and to
Speaker 1: play a couple of other teams. I forget which ones.
Speaker 1: I think it might be Germany and Serbia. I don't think.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Anyway, they are looking sharp, even if there are questions
Speaker 1: right now about how they're gonna handle Victor and Rudy
Speaker 1: and Team Francis. Hey, I think honestly, with Joe lmbiid
Speaker 1: bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis, we're gonna be just fine,
Speaker 1: moving on. There are some things that I'm gonna it's
Speaker 1: gonna take a long time. But Clay Thompson to the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks and not on the Warriors and not number
Speaker 1: eleven is something that I'm gonna have a really hard
Speaker 1: time getting used to. He had his introductory press conference
Speaker 1: in Dallas. He talked about the details that led him
Speaker 1: to jump ship. And it's not pretty. It's not good,
Speaker 1: Like a girl at the prom whose date got caught
Speaker 1: kissing a girl and is now crying in the bathroom,
Speaker 1: mascara running all ugly. Let's dip into it. Sources are
Speaker 1: telling Warriors reporters. Then, in his own way, Clay was
Speaker 1: as much of a locker room distraction last year as
Speaker 1: Draymond was the year before in the aftermath of his
Speaker 1: infamous punch of Jordan Poole. It all really began last offseason,
Speaker 1: of course, when Golden State wouldn't give Clay Thompson the max.
Speaker 1: Then add that to the fact that the team sucked
Speaker 1: for long stretches and he ended up getting benched halfway
Speaker 1: through the year, and then an emergency of young players
Speaker 1: who played well, and then you get exactly kind of
Speaker 1: what you expect, and that is exactly what happened. Clay
Speaker 1: was upset. Clay was pissed he didn't get an extension
Speaker 1: after Draymond blew up the team and Draymond then got
Speaker 1: four years, one hundred million dollars. Clay was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: why can't I get what Draymond gets? I don't understand.
Speaker 1: I've done so much for this team. I am Game
Speaker 1: six Clay. The Warriors weren't really interested in bringing back Clay,
Speaker 1: at least for the thirty five million dollars a year
Speaker 1: that he wanted. The best that they could muster up
Speaker 1: was two years forty million, which that was a line
Speaker 1: too far for Clay. He felt disrespected. The butt herdedness
Speaker 1: apparently carried through the year and explains in part he's
Speaker 1: erratic behavior on and off the court. He was distracted.
Speaker 1: He was a distraction. He wasn't himself. He carried that energy,
Speaker 1: of course, into the offseason as well, all the way
Speaker 1: to Dallas, who's coming off of a historic run in
Speaker 1: the final, and that is where he has landed as
Speaker 1: the cornerstone of the largest trade in NBA history, the
Speaker 1: first sixteen deal in NBA history. He signed for three
Speaker 1: years fifty million, which is a big discount on what
Speaker 1: the Warriors were offering per year, and just like that,
Speaker 1: now the Splash Brothers are done. Clay seems happy, light,
Speaker 1: bubbly in Dallas, where he had his intro press conference
Speaker 1: and said, sometimes breakups are necessary to do It's right.
Speaker 1: I'm not the first NBA athlete to do this. I
Speaker 1: grew up in Portland, so I remember when Scotty Pippen
Speaker 1: came to the Blazers. That was one of the best
Speaker 1: days of my life. I look forward to being rejuvenated here.
Speaker 1: A lot of good basketball left in the tank. Of course,
Speaker 1: the repercussions moving forward are going to be huge. The
Speaker 1: Warriors replaced Clay with Buddy Healed, Kyle SloMo Anderson, and
Speaker 1: de Anthony Melton, who I don't know if he has
Speaker 1: a working back, but we'll see. At least one player is.
Speaker 1: Of course, morning Clay's lost, and that was Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: Steph said, Clay turned the extension down, and you know
Speaker 1: we ended up here. I wish it would have gone
Speaker 1: differently in the sense of whatever Clay needed from the
Speaker 1: Warriors to not feel disrespected, I wish that's how it
Speaker 1: would have gone down. But I also know that's because
Speaker 1: he needed a fresh start. Things were kind of looking
Speaker 1: a little differently, and that was the through line of
Speaker 1: this whole last season. So it's a two way street
Speaker 1: on that front. I think that's why Clay was so
Speaker 1: adamant that I not get involved, because whatever outcome he wanted,
Speaker 1: he wanted to make sure it was kind of a
Speaker 1: pure process. And at the end of the day, we
Speaker 1: all have to make decisions that are in the best
Speaker 1: interest of ourselves. I'll do that at times when it's
Speaker 1: right for me. Hold on, what when it's right for me?
Speaker 1: When it's right for me is Steph Curry? Is there
Speaker 1: gonna be an opportunity in a situation where Steph Curry
Speaker 1: is in another uniform? Excuse me? Right for me? He said?
Speaker 1: He also said I want to be a warrior for life.
Speaker 1: But so did Clay. Oh my god, Clay. Now on Maverick,
Speaker 1: He's going to get a lot of open looks thanks
Speaker 1: to Luca and Kyrie. And one thing's for sure, it
Speaker 1: is going to be a weird day when Dallas plays
Speaker 1: Golden State and when the Clippers played Philadelphia, and you know,
Speaker 1: you get the picture. The landscape is traveling and moving
Speaker 1: fast in the NBA. All right, moving on, we had
Speaker 1: some movement in free agency. Let's get over it, go
Speaker 1: over it. Excuse me briefly. Joshikoji back to the Suns
Speaker 1: on a two year, sixteen million dollar deal. Sidik Bay
Speaker 1: Sidwell Friends alum three years twenty million deal to the Wizards,
Speaker 1: of course, despite the fact that he will not see
Speaker 1: the court until March. Vat Creatchie gets a prove it
Speaker 1: deal four years ten million to return to the Hawks.
Speaker 1: Daniel Tice goes to the Pelicans on a one year deal.
Speaker 1: They needed a center big time. Kyle Lowry, who is
Speaker 1: the reason that Caleb Martin ended up going to the Sixers.
Speaker 1: He returns to the Sixers on a one year deal.
Speaker 1: Luke Garza, Hell yeah, Lulugarza, get your money, baby, two years,
Speaker 1: four and a half million dollars to stay in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Simone Fentichio. Man. They just love Simone Fontechio in Detroit,
Speaker 1: don't they? Two years sixteen million. Dariosarich replaces KCP in
Speaker 1: Denver on a two year ten point six million dollar deal,
Speaker 1: which I actually really like, as does Vlado Kansar on
Speaker 1: a one year two point four to three million dollar deal,
Speaker 1: which is eighty thousand dollars over the middleum. The Hornets
Speaker 1: keep Miles Bridges. Why what the fuck? Three years seventy
Speaker 1: five million dollars. We'll talk about that another time. Malik
Speaker 1: Beasley actually left the box for the Pistons. Why one year,
Speaker 1: six million dollar deal. That's kind of just a very strange.
Speaker 1: They do need shooting there, they do need shooting. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Jonathan Isaac got five years eighty four, but
Speaker 1: only the first two years are guaranteed because he averages
Speaker 1: twelve games a year in the last three years, So
Speaker 1: he got his money. If you he can stay healthy,
Speaker 1: that'll be nice. But of course, the most interesting deal
Speaker 1: recently in terms of role players was Caleb Martin to
Speaker 1: the Sixers four years, thirty two million dollars. He had
Speaker 1: five years sixty five million from the Heat before free agency,
Speaker 1: and he turned it down because he wanted fifteen a year.
Speaker 1: He thought he would get a bunch of suitors. And
Speaker 1: apparently the second Apron has everyone running scared because the
Speaker 1: best he could get was a huge pay cut eight
Speaker 1: a year. That's gonna help the Sixers a lot. We
Speaker 1: will get into how the Heat have allowed some of
Speaker 1: their most valuable players, Caleb Martin, Max Strews gave Vincent
Speaker 1: to walk out the dough in the past twelve months
Speaker 1: without nothing to show for it. Too bad, too sad,
Speaker 1: But we'll do that another time. Here are a few
Speaker 1: pieces that may move. I doubt Marktin is one of
Speaker 1: them at this point, and it looks like no one
Speaker 1: wants to bite the two hundred million dollar extension that
Speaker 1: brandon Ingram is looking for. Either brandon Ingram not only
Speaker 1: wants the Max Folks, he wants the Super Max. Other
Speaker 1: than those two, it's mostly TPEs, minimum contract Guysjevsky, Gary
Speaker 1: Trent Junior, Tyas Jones, Spencer, Dinwitty, Gordon Hayward. Nothing really
Speaker 1: left on the map that's really interesting, But of course
Speaker 1: stay tuned we will update you on the even smallest signings. Finally, though,
Speaker 1: we get a nice bonus interview that I did with
Speaker 1: Chicago radio legends Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes on six
Speaker 1: seventy The Score in Chicago. We talked a lot about
Speaker 1: Team USA as well as the Chicago Bulls, and also
Speaker 1: how to dress really well and sharp if you're an
Speaker 1: older gentleman. Fun discussion because oh by the way these coaches,
Speaker 1: these older coaches, they always have great little old man fits.
Speaker 1: So let's get right into it.
Speaker 3: Let's talk some basketball with our friend Trista Crick, who
Speaker 3: is covering a team USA. A little bit of summer
Speaker 3: league action to come as well, and Trista joins us
Speaker 3: on the Circa Sports Illinois Hotline. Download the Circa Sports
Speaker 3: app today. You can find her also on Twitter at
Speaker 3: Tristan Underscore Crick, the host of bet MGM Tonight in
Speaker 3: the NBA podcast Heat Check with Trista Creek is on
Speaker 3: twitch dot tv slash Chicago six seventy of the score.
Speaker 3: All Right, what are you seeing out there? What's interesting?
Speaker 1: Oh? I think the thing that was really, really really
Speaker 1: interesting to me is the JJ Reddick Rob Polinka duo.
Speaker 1: It was I was. I was sitting in my seat
Speaker 1: and I was just just trying to like get a
Speaker 1: little content. I'm texting some people in the media to
Speaker 1: see where they're at, and I look over and there's
Speaker 1: and there's Rob, And I text Anthony Irwin, who also
Speaker 1: produces my podcast, heat Check, but also is a Lakers insider.
Speaker 1: He has a podcast, It's Awesome Lakers Lounge, an Odyssey
Speaker 1: podcast do, and so I text Anthony because we were
Speaker 1: just talking about how Rob and he are going to
Speaker 1: have some sort of weird, awkward interaction, most likely at Summerleague,
Speaker 1: and I go, there's your guy, And then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, I see JJ pull up. They're dressed completely
Speaker 1: the same white shirt, jeens, some sort of like hipster shoe,
Speaker 1: you know, the ones without laces, and so they got
Speaker 1: that on, and then Rob like leads JJ over to
Speaker 1: his seat and puts his hand on his lower back,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is just the most awkward thing.
Speaker 1: And I'm watching them for probably fifteen minutes because I'm
Speaker 1: a people watcher in general, but I've obviously more focused
Speaker 1: on NBA people than anything. And JJ just I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm like an energy reader. That's just like maybe something
Speaker 1: that I look too deep into. Maybe you can say
Speaker 1: I psycho analyze. JJ. Look like he's just not stoked
Speaker 1: to really be standing next to Rob Polinka and being
Speaker 1: near him and to talking to him. He either has
Speaker 1: incredibly negative energy all the time and like is a
Speaker 1: very intense dude all the time, or he's very like
Speaker 1: not so stoked on Rob Plinka. So I made some
Speaker 1: texts and the rumor is that very fairly, JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: may not be particularly sold on Rob Polinka and is
Speaker 1: a little skeptical of Rob Polink as a decision maker,
Speaker 1: which if you've been paying attention to what the Lakers
Speaker 1: have done this offseason or pretty much any offseason, is
Speaker 1: totally fair. And then what was also funny about that
Speaker 1: is that I kept seeing all these old coaches and
Speaker 1: I'm not, like, really focused on the Laker beat and
Speaker 1: them building out their coaching team, but every person that
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick has added to his coaching staff, they also
Speaker 1: just happened to be right there and they're walking down
Speaker 1: He's dapping them up. So yeah, that was a really
Speaker 1: incredibly interesting interaction. I was talking some other media people
Speaker 1: about just this team in general not looking particularly cohesive,
Speaker 1: which is fine, which is in their opinion, the only
Speaker 1: reason that Lebron James and Steph Curry are there is
Speaker 1: that they're the heavies. If things get really bad, they'll
Speaker 1: come in the game and they'll save the day, especially
Speaker 1: when we play a team like France.
Speaker 4: I mean, the rumor about JJ is that he is
Speaker 4: wound a little tight. I mean, even in the really
Speaker 4: bad but so bad it's good clipped mini series on Hulu.
Speaker 4: They make mention of that, of like how he's very
Speaker 4: particular about his hair, he's very particular about when and
Speaker 4: what he eats every day, and he's kind of got
Speaker 4: that reputation of being a guy that is got a
Speaker 4: little bit of a sour puss.
Speaker 3: When he's just out in real life. So I guess I.
Speaker 4: Understand that to a certain extent.
Speaker 3: But yes, the.
Speaker 4: Lakers drama overall is fascinating to watch, and knowing that
Speaker 4: stuff in Vegas hasn't started for Summer League yet, but
Speaker 4: seeing seeing the Lakers play and having Bronni out there
Speaker 4: and him trying to figure things out, the whole thing
Speaker 4: seems like it's just a mess, like an overall mess
Speaker 4: that that. Luckily there were veteran assistant coaches who were
Speaker 4: added to this thing to try and bring some semblance
Speaker 4: of normalcy.
Speaker 1: But are those assistants any good? Honestly, like Scott Brooks,
Speaker 1: as someone who is a Portland Shoiblazer fan from the
Speaker 1: time I was five years old, I'm telling you Scott
Speaker 1: Brooks ain't it. He's a particularly good old man dresser.
Speaker 1: But past that, I'm not so sure. I'm not so
Speaker 1: sure what he does well, I don't. That's the most
Speaker 1: modern thing about Scott Brooks.
Speaker 3: I'm always interested in assistant coaches in general, who matters
Speaker 3: and who doesn't matter, or who is just of a
Speaker 3: certain age and profile to balance out the various. In
Speaker 3: some sense, it's almost like casting. And it's one thing
Speaker 3: for a team that casts bench roles. It's another thing
Speaker 3: for a team that just hires people who are really
Speaker 3: good at something, and a head coach who is certain,
Speaker 3: this is my defensive X and O guy, This is
Speaker 3: a somebody who's gonna work with my bigs. This is
Speaker 3: somebody who speaks point guard, and I don't know how
Speaker 3: they're constructing it. Also, like we talk about with staffs
Speaker 3: in any sports, who are Polinka's guys and who are not,
Speaker 3: and that can be a source of conflict.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if you look at it too, the thing
Speaker 1: I find to be incredibly fascinating is how difficult it
Speaker 1: has been for JJ to build out his staff and
Speaker 1: how many guys have turned it down. And maybe that's
Speaker 1: a personality thing, maybe it's just I actually don't really know.
Speaker 1: I want to find out more. But it's the Lakers.
Speaker 1: You can't build out a staff. You've got guys being like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm good. I'm not gonna come to LA
Speaker 1: and be on one of the most story franchises in
Speaker 1: NBA history. I'm just gonna like do whatever it is
Speaker 1: that I was doing and maybe not collect a check.
Speaker 1: I think there's a skapegoat element that people don't really
Speaker 1: want to be along for the ride for the roster's
Speaker 1: not very good outside of Ad and Lebron. If you
Speaker 1: look at the role players, they've done absolutely nothing to
Speaker 1: improve that. Cam Reddish is not even an NBA player,
Speaker 1: and he's one of the guys that they're seeing that
Speaker 1: they need to lean on. There's multiple players that have
Speaker 1: trouble staying healthy. If there's a major injury to either
Speaker 1: Lebron or Ad. And there's a reason that AD's nickname
Speaker 1: is was it paper, skin of paper, bones of glass.
Speaker 1: There's a reason that that's his nickname, and he was healthy,
Speaker 1: really healthy last year for the first time in a
Speaker 1: long time. If one of those guys go down, this
Speaker 1: is a team that's going to have a real hard
Speaker 1: time even getting into the plan.
Speaker 4: What's been the reaction of people down there, and what's
Speaker 4: your reaction to Kawhi Leonard leaving Team USA.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's people are kind of fed up with Kawhi. Honestly,
Speaker 1: from what I gather, he wanted to stay, but he
Speaker 1: was clearly not right and so he had to get
Speaker 1: removed from the team, like Grant Hill had to come in.
Speaker 1: And on top of Kawhi being obviously the injury issues
Speaker 1: that he's been dealing with for as long as he's
Speaker 1: been dealing with. That's heartbreaking because Kauhi at its prime
Speaker 1: is a robot and he's unstoppable and we love to
Speaker 1: watch him. But it's everything that comes along with Kawhi
Speaker 1: that people are having a hard time grappling with on
Speaker 1: top of what, like what, just like it's there's always
Speaker 1: something that's keeping the setback and and he wants to
Speaker 1: play through these injuries and then it ends up creating
Speaker 1: new injuries and the there's just some sort of personality
Speaker 1: friction around it that I keep hearing about that no
Speaker 1: one can really quite give me full detail on. But
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of like a this is some BS
Speaker 1: stuff like I throw up my hands with Kawhi kind
Speaker 1: of a thing. But furthermore, it's an indictment on on
Speaker 1: Grant Hill too. From what I keep hearing down gear
Speaker 1: people are wondering why Grant Hill is running Team USA.
Speaker 4: So does Jalen Brown have beef that his teammate was
Speaker 4: in to replace Kawhi and instead of him? And what
Speaker 4: are the like to me? I wonder about like the
Speaker 4: politics of that. If if I'm Derek White and I
Speaker 4: got named to the team, but you're my teammate on
Speaker 4: the championship squad and you're mad because I got the spot,
Speaker 4: that doesn't feel like it would go over well.
Speaker 1: On top of that, I think there's interesting elements to it,
Speaker 1: Like if you're looking for a Kawhi replacement, that's not
Speaker 1: Derek White, right, Like the Kawhi replacement in terms of
Speaker 1: how play style, body type, et cetera, that's Jaylen Brown.
Speaker 1: That's just what it is. Like that, Like they're the
Speaker 1: very similar like defensive minded, can score big long athletic freaks, right,
Speaker 1: that's not Derek White. Derek White's the hustle guy. Derek
Speaker 1: White can get you threes. Derek White's gonna do the
Speaker 1: little things. Derek White shows up, has a great attitude.
Speaker 1: Derek White's an amazing glue guy. But he's not like
Speaker 1: a replacement for Kawhi. So that that point that Grant
Speaker 1: Hill made of why he chose Derek White over Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: I don't think holds water to me. And if you're
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, I think you got to be feeling some
Speaker 1: sort of way because my teammates Drew Holliday, Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: and Derek Whiter on the team from a championship team
Speaker 1: and not me the finals MVP. Why's And I was
Speaker 1: just and that that adds that adds to the mystery.
Speaker 1: And I'm not a huge stephen A Smith like I
Speaker 1: don't put a lot of stock into what he says
Speaker 1: in terms of the reporting that he has, but that
Speaker 1: that adds a little mystery to me around the whole,
Speaker 1: Like do people like Jalen Brown, like the powers that
Speaker 1: be do they want to elevate Jalen Brown or would
Speaker 1: they prefer to elevate someone else?
Speaker 3: What are you hearing after all of that buzz about
Speaker 3: Cooper Flag? Because the way these things happen is when
Speaker 3: you're around NBA scouts at executives like that, Like you
Speaker 3: you see the physical responses, you see them share glances,
Speaker 3: and then everybody pretends they didn't see what we all saw.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that what I'm hearing about Cooper flag
Speaker 1: is we knew he was good, and we thought he
Speaker 1: was really good. But now it's like, all right, race
Speaker 1: to the bottom. That's kind of what, like, wow, I
Speaker 1: really I've heard from multiple team people, Yeah, I really
Speaker 1: hope our team gets Cooper flag Man. Is he a
Speaker 1: physical specimen? And the term that kept putting, like kept
Speaker 1: coming up is like, wow, did he make ad look bad?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 4: Are the Bulls one of those teams? I know that
Speaker 4: you were. You were talking about this on the Score
Speaker 4: on Sunday about about where the Bulls stand as you
Speaker 4: work through it. How do you feel about what it
Speaker 4: is they're trying to do and do you think they
Speaker 4: can accomplish their goals?
Speaker 1: Man? It's it's really hard because I feel like the
Speaker 1: Bulls have have been forced into a rebuild. If they
Speaker 1: if the organization wasn't pushed into it by DeMar saying
Speaker 1: like get me the hell out of here, and the
Speaker 1: top ten pick that they owe, the top ten protective
Speaker 1: pick that they owe to San Antonio, that doesn't exist, right.
Speaker 1: I think maybe the Bulls try to figure out a
Speaker 1: way to patch things together. So they have to figure
Speaker 1: out a way to be a top ten Lottery team,
Speaker 1: but and they don't want to be, and they want
Speaker 1: to tell everybody they don't want to be. So I
Speaker 1: think that's one piece of it. And then you've got
Speaker 1: the element of we still have zach Lavine, and we
Speaker 1: still have Booch, and we want to trade zach Lavine,
Speaker 1: so we can't keep them on ice. And so zach
Speaker 1: Lavine has to look good, meaning he has to impact
Speaker 1: winning and we have to give them minutes to do
Speaker 1: that so that we don't have to attach multiple picks
Speaker 1: to get rid of them. But maybe that makes us
Speaker 1: win too many games to be a top ten Lottery team.
Speaker 1: It's a real conundrum. What I think that they have
Speaker 1: to do and should do, is just get them off
Speaker 1: the team before training camp begins. I just think you
Speaker 1: have to wash your hands of it, because if zach
Speaker 1: Lavine even puts up thirty five and gets you two
Speaker 1: wins more than you should that's the difference between Cooper
Speaker 1: Flag and Dylan Harper. And I really really like Dylan Harper,
Speaker 1: and I really like Ace Bailey, and I really like VJ. Edgecumb.
Speaker 1: Those four guys are gonna be the guys that everybody's
Speaker 1: talking about next season. I promise you, by the.
Speaker 3: Way, Firth and I agree with you one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: The only question I have, Trista, is is that necessity
Speaker 3: worth adding one of these second round picks that you
Speaker 3: just got or maybe both of the second round picks.
Speaker 4: That you just got.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you have to say the DeMar trade
Speaker 1: is the is how we get off of Zach Levine
Speaker 1: without giving a first round pick. I think that's what
Speaker 1: you say, is we got two second round picks and
Speaker 1: we need to attach those to Zack Lavine. With Zack Lavine,
Speaker 1: I think Golden State's a perfect partner for that. Like,
Speaker 1: let them do that, and then you probably have to
Speaker 1: get a third team to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: dump that salary as well, because you probably don't want
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins on your team. Like, that's just not a
Speaker 1: salary that you can stand. That's why you didn't pick
Speaker 1: up Harrison Barnes and get the twenty thirty one first
Speaker 1: round pick swap, which to that point really quickly. I
Speaker 1: love Jalen Smith and I like that pick up as
Speaker 1: a whole, but that is the Jalen Smith is the
Speaker 1: reason that you don't have a twenty thirty one protected
Speaker 1: or twenty thirty one unprotected first round swap right now
Speaker 1: with Sacramento, because you could have taken on Harrison Barnes
Speaker 1: to your salary cap without that Jalen Smith, and then
Speaker 1: turned around and flipped Harrison Barnes for something else at
Speaker 1: the deadline or before training camp or something right. And
Speaker 1: that's how you accumulate assets is you make good deals.
Speaker 1: And the problem that I have with with Ak and
Speaker 1: Mark Eversley and furthermore obviously the Rhyanes Dwarfs as a
Speaker 1: whole is like they just aren't good deal makers period.
Speaker 4: I expected Canada to play better last night, and maybe
Speaker 4: there's the another like Olympic cycle away, but when you
Speaker 4: look at the talent that they can put on the floor,
Speaker 4: I think Team USA is gonna win. But between Canada
Speaker 4: and France, I'm looking forward to some of the games
Speaker 4: that we see played when the games are for real.
Speaker 1: Thousand percent and Latvia, and I know that Porzingis is
Speaker 1: gonna not be able to play, but that team's particularly strong.
Speaker 1: Germany's particularly strong as well. But you're right, I think
Speaker 1: Canada needs some bigs and they don't have any that's
Speaker 1: the problem is you're rolling out Kelly Olnik and Kelly
Speaker 1: Olynic's a rough watch. He's getting dominated, So he'll get
Speaker 1: dominated by the bigs from France, He'll get dominated from Germany,
Speaker 1: He'll get dominated by Latvia and also the USA. So
Speaker 1: I think that's the real issue is that Canada has
Speaker 1: some of my favorite players on it. I love Lou Dort,
Speaker 1: I love Shane like Dylan Brooks is an awesome irritant.
Speaker 1: I love Jamal Murray. These are some of my favorite
Speaker 1: dudes period in the NBA. So I was somewhat like,
Speaker 1: don't want to be like a non patriot, but I
Speaker 1: was kind of rooting for Canada to put up a
Speaker 1: fight last night. I was kind of hoping for some
Speaker 1: narratives of Canada beating Team USA last night to light
Speaker 1: a fire underneath this team.
Speaker 3: Creg hates America. I have said it all the time.
Speaker 3: She is not the eight. She must be deported by
Speaker 3: the next administration and or imprisoned.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I listened to Oh Canada in my ears whenever the
Speaker 1: national anthem is or not like Us, which by the way,
Speaker 1: was playing during the USA. Team USA intros like to
Speaker 1: play against Canada with not like like Kendrick Lamar's Drake
Speaker 1: diss record as Lebron James is being introduced, is just
Speaker 1: chef's kiss.
Speaker 4: It is, okay, So we need to go back to
Speaker 4: something from earlier, because you know, Dan and I are
Speaker 4: both drifting into old mandom. What makes a good old
Speaker 4: man dresser?
Speaker 1: Oh, you gotta go like perfectly fitted T shirt with
Speaker 1: like it can't be too long, right, like you can't
Speaker 1: be tucking it in. It needs to be like the
Speaker 1: perfect crop to like your you're like sort of right
Speaker 1: above your belt right, So that needs to happen. Like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna send you guys a video I took of
Speaker 1: Scott Brooks, Like, Wow, damn, Scott Brooks, I didn't know
Speaker 1: you had it like that perfect perfect T shirt. Simple
Speaker 1: like somewhat perfectly fitted jeans meaning like not loose at all,
Speaker 1: and there's no break at your shoe, Like the break
Speaker 1: at the shoe is how I know you're old. Like
Speaker 1: you need it to stop right at your shoe right
Speaker 1: like that's where it is, or a little cuff. You
Speaker 1: need to have a pair of shoes that are like
Speaker 1: very either cool or nondescript. Don't ever wear low Jordan ones. Ever, No,
Speaker 1: Jordan One's lows only highs. But even then you gotta
Speaker 1: probably wear those with shorts. So maybe like a pair
Speaker 1: of you know, Chuck Conde garsons, you know, like maybe
Speaker 1: a pair of like low top vans, maybe those Vin
Speaker 1: slide on slip ons. We can go shopping. If you
Speaker 1: guys are down, I'm like always down.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean that that's how that's how Joe Madden dressed.
Speaker 4: He'd be on the list of good old man dressers
Speaker 4: that he was all about his vans and he'd have
Speaker 4: the nice pants and everything else. So okay, all right,
Speaker 4: we've got our marching orders.
Speaker 3: No no, no, no, speak for yourself. I'm out on
Speaker 3: all of this.
Speaker 1: Well, you don't care about how you look, Dan's You're
Speaker 1: You're done right.
Speaker 3: I'm dead, all right, it doesn't it doesn't matter at
Speaker 3: this point. I'm dead already. Seriously, I'm dead inside and already, So.
Speaker 1: There's no you just care about getting the fish in
Speaker 1: your bucket, right, Like you're like, does this does this
Speaker 1: clean easily? Does this not wet? Does this wick sweat?
Speaker 1: Can I f this T shirt up and still put
Speaker 1: it on? And no one really noticed? Like you've got
Speaker 1: different goals. You're not trying to like, you know, Lawrence
Speaker 1: is still someone on the market ish, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, And so he's got a ring on it.
Speaker 1: He's got to kind of like check out the scene.
Speaker 3: Well and also I probably.
Speaker 1: Lawrence real quick, sorry Dan, not to cut you off
Speaker 1: the screenprint tease. You gotta get rid of those just no, man,
Speaker 1: that that's you know.
Speaker 3: I I gotta I gotta.
Speaker 1: Represent about what do you represent?
Speaker 4: Answer?
Speaker 3: Man, I gotta do. I gotta no no.
Speaker 1: No no no no no, no, gotta no no no no no.
Speaker 3: The bottom line. And I can tell you this, and
Speaker 3: I don't know what the when you're you're finally vested
Speaker 3: as a married person, but I know we're twenty five
Speaker 3: years and if there's something for which I need to
Speaker 3: look good or different, it is her responsibility to say,
Speaker 3: Like I will say what am I wearing to this?
Speaker 3: And she'll say, wear this shirt with these pants? Is
Speaker 3: this is? Are those things? Is this clean? To said? Right? Well,
Speaker 3: if it's just need to be cleaned, And then she'll
Speaker 3: look at it and whatever I need to be up
Speaker 3: to speed is not on me, and I'll just put
Speaker 3: it on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's this, there's this new trend.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I hesitate to even talk about this trend that's that's
Speaker 1: happening on TikTok, which is basically like a a transformation
Speaker 1: like white boys dating black women or married black women
Speaker 1: trend where it's like the transformation, Like, that's basically that's
Speaker 1: what you're saying, that's what's happening.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not exactly.
Speaker 4: And people use the Tommy Richmond song to you're making it.
Speaker 3: You're making it sound like Kip and Lafonda in Napoleon Dynamite.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's basically what we're hoping happens.
Speaker 3: For you, unless unless somehow I get home and and
Speaker 3: and Beth as a black woman, I don't I don't
Speaker 3: think that's and wouldn't I wouldn't mind. But I'm just
Speaker 3: saying it's probably not.
Speaker 1: Can you can always add if Beth's down, you can
Speaker 1: always add.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she would much prefer the other way. She'd must
Speaker 3: I come home and I'm and I'm a big six
Speaker 3: eight black. But that's just happening for sure.
Speaker 1: That's a Freudian slip right here.
Speaker 3: No, it's not.
Speaker 4: It's it's the truth. Is can we get a shot
Speaker 4: of Emma or is she sleep.
Speaker 1: Where are you at treat? Where is she in the shower?
Speaker 1: Real fast? I'm gonna go off camera real fast.
Speaker 3: The dog is in the show.
Speaker 4: Emma was there earlier before we started the segment.
Speaker 3: Emma was on camera.
Speaker 2: And then I guess Emma got a little antsy.
Speaker 3: And we know that when trist Emma Emma falls asleep.
Speaker 3: Ever heard our voices like there we go, there's.
Speaker 1: It's hot. So she's here with me in Vegas. I
Speaker 1: couldn't find anyone to babysit. And so now I've got
Speaker 1: a dog in sin City, which is like shows you
Speaker 1: where my head is at.
Speaker 3: I say, you walk Fremont Street and and then yeah, no,
Speaker 3: just with the dog, and then you charge people to
Speaker 3: take pictures with the dog.
Speaker 1: Well, smart, smart, I can experience. I can, I can?
Speaker 1: I can I end up using that to like balance
Speaker 1: out my expensive dinners.
Speaker 3: Yes, I like that idea.
Speaker 4: Trista, as always, we love you, Thank you so much
Speaker 4: for joining us, Love you back.
Speaker 3: That's tris the crick.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we have for this episode
Speaker 1: of The Heat Check. Thanks to Dan Bernstein, Lawrence Holmes,
Speaker 1: and producer Ray Diaz and the whole score crew. Come
Speaker 1: back midweek for an all new episode, and check out
Speaker 1: the feed for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly,
Speaker 1: like the temperature in Vegas. Not anytime soon, though, Do
Speaker 1: not forget to follow the heat check throughout the off season,
Speaker 1: which means Summer League in the Olympics. That means download,
Speaker 1: subscribe and tell your friends. Even that guy in the
Speaker 1: studio who asked you what you do and you tell
Speaker 1: him you do an NBA podcast and he goes, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: make me laugh. Hey, sir, I'm not a fucking comedy pony.
Speaker 1: I don't just get to do whatever you want to say,
Speaker 1: like I'm on a string. Anyway, if you want to laugh,
Speaker 1: go to the eat check. It's good for you. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to follow the each check at cho just to
Speaker 1: crack on tiptop Twitter and Instagram and I'm starting to
Speaker 1: put your stuff on