Speaker 1: Braken was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines lor so.
Speaker 2: The heat Check. The Heat Check was just Cray the
Speaker 2: best podcast covering all the drama around the association.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the Brooklyn That's very fun team. Actually,
Speaker 1: they were forty five and thirty seven, sixth place. They
Speaker 1: of course a lot of those wins came with Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant on the team. Key editions Noah Clowney in the draft,
Speaker 1: Derek Whitehead, and my guy Lonnie Walker, who I.
Speaker 2: Think is going to be a massive addition for them.
Speaker 2: Key subtractions.
Speaker 1: You lose Seth Curry, you lose Joe Harris, you lose
Speaker 1: Patty Mills.
Speaker 2: Brooklyn, Ye're one of The rebuild has begun.
Speaker 1: This is like it's like a post apocalyptic society living
Speaker 1: in a silo like common as the Sheriff. They have
Speaker 1: now fully embraced the rebuild. They have shed KD and Kyrie.
Speaker 1: They have brought in Mikhale Bridges and Cam Johnson as
Speaker 1: the cornerstones of this team. They swapped out the bright
Speaker 1: lights of the Big City for let's be real, a
Speaker 1: tunnel three thousand miles below the Earth's surface. Instead of
Speaker 1: this team being all glitz, glam and Kardashians.
Speaker 2: This is Ma and Pa Kettle.
Speaker 1: This is not a sexy, particularly sexy team. I'm not
Speaker 1: throwing shade at Dorianfinny Smith or Spencer Dinwoodie.
Speaker 2: I like this team, Okay, I like them. I like them.
Speaker 2: They're very cute, They're adorable, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They're not doing anything of note, but they're gonna be
Speaker 1: fucking fun. And the Big Three era, of course, is
Speaker 1: gonna be marred by what ifs. But it's time to
Speaker 1: forget about all that, all the stars, all the egos,
Speaker 1: all the trade capital that you gave up for James Harden.
Speaker 1: No more ifs and butts, candies and nuts. Okay, now
Speaker 1: the eyes are on the future. Let's build a winning
Speaker 1: culture here. Let's build a winning team like we did
Speaker 1: the last time, where you had D'Angelo Russell and Jared
Speaker 1: Allen all these young young up and comers, like gritty,
Speaker 1: scrappy players. They also lost Utah watt Nabe, so that
Speaker 1: was a key piece lost as well. This is basically
Speaker 1: an overhaul. The most interesting thing that they have is
Speaker 1: a healthy Ben Simmons, very important piece and an aspect
Speaker 1: of this team that could be very interesting.
Speaker 2: Who knows what it means. I don't fucking know, Like
Speaker 2: is he healthy, is his mind right?
Speaker 1: Is he right handed? Is he left handed? I don't know, sir,
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's They have a pretty good defensive
Speaker 1: team because they have Michail Bridges, Cam Johnson, Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwiddie and Nick Claxton. The only player on this
Speaker 1: team that really isn't strapping you is Dimwitty. That's a
Speaker 1: fun ass core. Then you add Lonnie Walker, Dorian Phini's,
Speaker 1: Royce O'Neill. This is like a top six team in
Speaker 1: the East. Honestly, this is a team that could be
Speaker 1: better than the Knicks.
Speaker 2: Not gonna lie to you.
Speaker 1: I like this team, very pesky defensive team, got some
Speaker 1: bucket getters. If Michel Bridges can do what he did
Speaker 1: last year, but for the entire season, I mean give
Speaker 1: me thirty thirty five a game, which I'm not counting in,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying he can be that.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be very fun. Are
Speaker 2: they a winning team?
Speaker 1: Probably not, but they're gonna score enough to beat the
Speaker 1: lot of good teams on a lot of good nights
Speaker 1: at a couple exciting young players in.
Speaker 2: The draft next year. Who knows?
Speaker 1: This is a team that's on the up and up,
Speaker 1: on the straight come up. It's not smoking mirrors. The
Speaker 1: culture is being built. No more star hunting, no more chasing.
Speaker 1: Which brings us to another team, the New York Knicks,
Speaker 1: fifth place team last year forty seven and thirty five.
Speaker 1: They end up getting Dante DiVincenzo from the Warriors. They
Speaker 1: become Villanova New York Villanova team. Right, they got a
Speaker 1: few of them, they lose Dereck Rose and Obi Toppin.
Speaker 1: Ain't no stopping Obi topp and now that he's not
Speaker 1: with Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to make of them. I really don't.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I go back and forth. Sometimes I feel very optimistic.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I feel like they can't shoot a lick. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure they got much better this year. I don't
Speaker 1: think so. Actually, do you swap out d Rose and
Speaker 1: Obi Toppin for Dante DiVincenzo. It's gonna be a team
Speaker 1: that tries hard all the time. You sign Josh Hart
Speaker 1: to an extension, that's big. Jalen Brunson's obviously there as
Speaker 1: the connective tissue. They won forty seven games last year.
Speaker 1: They can win games. Mitchell Robinson one of the best
Speaker 1: room protectors in the league. But this roster bro if
Speaker 1: you look at it, doesn't inspire much confidence. Can they
Speaker 1: improve on the fifth place finish?
Speaker 2: Probably not.
Speaker 1: The question really is can they do better than they
Speaker 1: did in the playoffs last year when they looked awful
Speaker 1: against the Heat.
Speaker 2: A lot of that I think comes from RJ. Barrett.
Speaker 1: We're gonna need to see him take that next step.
Speaker 1: He showed flashes, but he would also disappear. They're very tough.
Speaker 1: They're a defensive, scrappy, hardworking team, like all Tom Thibodaux
Speaker 1: teams are. Jalen Brunson played in FIBA. How's that going
Speaker 1: to affect him? He was very meh and feba very
Speaker 1: me You add that to Julius Randall, who is an
Speaker 1: All Star but kind of plays like he's not an
Speaker 1: All star, kind of plays like he's still most improved
Speaker 1: player before he was most improved, went healthy. He's a
Speaker 1: real problem, but he also disappears in big moments. You
Speaker 1: add in Josh Hart, who's like a roller coaster from
Speaker 1: the perimeter shot fifty percent from three as a Nick,
Speaker 1: and I think it was like twenty percent from three
Speaker 1: as a Blazer. Quentin Grimes is nice. Mitchell Robinson I like,
Speaker 1: but can't make free throws. He's not really a bucket
Speaker 1: for I like Isaiah Hartenstein a lot. You add them in,
Speaker 1: this could be a forty five win team.
Speaker 2: What do I think of the Knicks.
Speaker 1: I'm, as you can see, like, very confused. It's a
Speaker 1: fun team. They could make some little baby noise. They
Speaker 1: need to swing for something, Let's be honest. They need
Speaker 1: to try to figure out a way to get Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell or just wait for him to be a free agent.
Speaker 2: They're a piece away.
Speaker 1: There's now news that they could be going after Karl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns.
Speaker 2: I don't know how much I love that.
Speaker 1: As long as Thibodeau is coaching this team, they're not
Speaker 1: in the doldrums, but I don't see them really competing
Speaker 1: on any real level with the rest of the teams
Speaker 1: in the East.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we have for this episode.
Speaker 2: That heat check. Come back later this week for a
Speaker 2: new one. We'll be back Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Check out in the feed for past episodes and many
Speaker 1: episodes which drop unexpectedly like a island breeze, and follow
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