WEBVTT - Missing Playoffs Only The Beginning For The Dallas Mavericks 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:17.560 If what was happening in Dallas wasn't hilarious, I would 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:19.919 probably be sick of talking about it. But it's actually 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:25.280 quite delightful. Feed me all of the Mavericks misfortune, feed 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.120 me all of the drama going on with Mark Cuban. 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.240 I just love it. I love the chaos. I love 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:36.879 how completely inept everyone is there, from Mark Cuban to 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.800 Nico Harrison to Jason Kidd, all the way down to 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.720 probably the ball boy. The ball boy probably doesn't even 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:44.720 know how to inflate the basketballs for the team. That's 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.279 how bad it is there. It's like watching a slightly 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:54.960 overweight European train go off the rails as a more 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.600 slightly overweight owner tries to fix it, but he can't 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.200 and he just has to watch horror. And if you 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.920 thought that the last month was entertaining, oh boy, this 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.480 offseason just got even more spicy, more of a soap opera, 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:13.920 because it's probably gonna get worse. So where do we start. Well, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.200 we talked last episode about how Dallas punted on the 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.680 season technically, and then Luca came out and said, no, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:25.160 that's actually not true, We're not doing that, and then 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.720 more bad things happened. They deemed a future draft pick 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.160 more important than trying to make the playoffs, which was 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.759 Luca's stated goal. They said, we need to not give 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:39.840 the pick to the next so we're going to do 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.760 whatever we can to keep it ourselves. So they tanked 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.360 in a way that was even more egregious, even more embarrassing, 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.520 even more obvious than the Blazers, which is kind of 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.080 crazy because they said the quiet part out loud. They 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.320 told everyone. Jason Kidd came out in front of everyone 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.200 and said, Hey, my bosses are telling me that no 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.640 one can play toon because we need to plan for 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.920 the future, and losing games right now is how we 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.600 do that. And the league says, oh, no, baby, you 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.880 can't say that. You can't do that. Luca came out 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.000 and played for a quarter and some change, got his 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:20.880 player prop ching and got a weirdly non standing ovation 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.640 standing ovation, and then that was the last that we 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.040 saw from him. That was the last that we saw 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.280 from Kyrie, who did not play, did not give an 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:33.960 exit interview, and it is just so bad. Why was 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:35.720 Luca so mad that he didn't get to play the 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:40.160 full game despite the fact that he wanted to participate 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.839 in a game that was still meaningful because they could 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.400 play in the playoffs. It has everything to do with 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:50.680 Slovenia because the MAVs scheduled Slovenia Day on the second 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:57.720 last day of the season, meaning people traveled from Slovenia 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:02.960 to watch Luca, and Luca played a quarter in front 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:07.120 of his own people. He had to sit in warm 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:12.160 ups while people who flew ten thousand miles or whatever 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:16.280 it is watched insert player you've never heard of and 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:22.120 Reggie Bullock? Are we serious? Do you know embarrassing that 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.160 is for your people? Do you know how much of 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.400 a slap in the face that bullshit is? And they 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.040 were like, we do not care about Slovenia. The only 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:34.360 Slovenian that we care about is you. And Luca was pissed. 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:40.840 So what did they do? They like, I said, They said, Kyrie, 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.720 christian Woods, Hardaway Bullock, and it was everybody was clearly healthy. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:51.680 They sat Christian Wood and Jaden Hardy for rest guys 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:56.040 who were in their early twenties. And then now what 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.240 is going on, Like clockwork, the league investigates the maps 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.840 for tampering. Everybody is thinking about what the outcome is 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.640 going to be. There's every scenario down from finding the 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.240 MAVs five million dollars to taking a draft pick from them, 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.280 which would be hilarious because that was the whole reason 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:13.120 that they did it to begin with, is to preserve 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.400 their draft pick. Everyone now says that Luca is unhappy. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.839 There are new reports that Dallas fears that he will 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:23.360 ask out. Luca says, I am happy here. I am 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.320 not asking out anytime soon, but we need to fix 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.920 these problems. He sounds a little like Damian Lillard. Folks 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:35.760 with less patience and really less rope with the organization. 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.560 By the way, meanwhile, Kyrie and Luca were five and 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.120 eleven when they played together this year, and Dallas has 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:47.800 just one option. They must sign Kyrie Irving. There's no 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.960 other maneuvers that you have. The roster is in disarray, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.600 and I don't know if you can see the train 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.360 wreck coming, but I certainly can't, and I don't know 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.440 that there's much to do to stop it. And by 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.040 the way, quick little aside. I did a show on 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.279 New York Sports radio this weekend on WFAM, and I 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:11.560 spent nearly two hours talking with fans, nick fans about 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.000 whether they wanted Luca on the Knicks, and eighty percent 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.360 of people said no, which is just where we're at 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:25.560 on Luca right now. Insane. I love the end of 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.760 the season because every time that it ends, we all 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.719 know who's getting fired. And we've been waiting for months 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.880 for Steven Silas to get fired. We've been speculating for 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.760 months about Dwayne Casey getting fired. We've also been commenting 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.760 recently about whether Nick Nurse would decide to leave. Two 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.640 out of those three are now no longer with the 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.360 team and a coaching capacity. Dwayne Casey stepped down after 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.240 very rough season. When Cade cutting him went down, it 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.920 was curtains for them. We knew that they got James Wiseman, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.440 and then the curtain call came down even more. That's 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.920 what happens when you win a league low seventeen games 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.240 on top of twenty three wins last year. Just not 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:12.040 a team that you can trust whatsoever. Killian Hayes developed 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.360 into a nice piece. Isaiah Stewart did as well. Like 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.000 this is a team with talent, as a team with athleticism, 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:18.799 this is a team with length. But the good news 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.880 is that Casey has stayed on with the team and 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:27.919 some of the other replacements that are possible, potentially Chauncey 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:32.039 billups Piston's legend and moving forward. Down in Houston, the 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.240 Stephen Silas eras has also come to an end. He 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.000 he was fifty nine and one hundred and seventy seven 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.000 while he was the head coach of the Houston Rockets. 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.480 He said that it was one of the best times 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.360 of his life, but fifty nine and one hundred and 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.880 seventy seven record would be so painful to watch on 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.279 a day to day basis, not just watch it like 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.480 us because I watch it and I'm in pain, but 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:03.280 also watch it and be asked to fix it. It 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.840 has been rough for him. Things were so broken by 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.000 the time he got there when James Harden and Russell 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.800 Westbrook asked out that you can't really blame them except 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.040 for that you can. Except for that you can. He 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.680 was not taking into account what his coaches said to do. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.040 He didn't hold any of his players accountable. He had 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.920 no ability to fix the defense. He did not develop 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.200 Jalen Green. No one knew their role. Eric Gordon asked 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:30.600 to be a part of the offense, and he told them, 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.960 I'd love to give you some more responsibility. However, Rafael 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.720 Stone and the man with the shrimp fork Tillman for 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.280 Titta says we can't do all that, We gotta let 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.920 the young guns develop. The athletics said this to say 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.880 about him. The absence of leadership on the floor turned 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.320 to chaos, with lack of winning habits the only consistent 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.400 theme in a twenty and sixty two season. Offensively, players 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.240 deviated from game plans and resorted to their own means. 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.320 It's bad Defensively, the effort was largely Nolan Voyd on 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:05.400 a nightly basis. It is no surprise that the Rockets, 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.640 per cleaning Glass, have ranked in the bottom four an 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:13.480 offensive end defensive efficiency over the last three seasons. I mean, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:15.840 is there anything more scathing that you can say than that? 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.360 The article basically said what we could all see, this 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.080 guy is in over his head. The Rockets have no 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.480 identity as a team, and that you add that to 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.880 a front office with heavy fire and an owner with 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.360 no patients, and you've got a team that's underperforming on 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.000 the court, that really does not compete. That is a 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:37.160 recipe for disaster. And Silas pretty much was on the 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.040 chopping block all year. He's a good offensive coach, but 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.520 he has no business leading men. As for the Rockets, 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.640 the latest rumor is that they're primed to go big 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:50.520 game hunting in the off season for more stars. I 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.880 don't know who they think they're gonna get. Honestly, they've 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:54.640 got a lot of cap space. But would you want 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.679 to play in that mess right now? No, No one 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.760 wants to oversee a rebuild again in h Town. No chance. 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:06.319 Moving forward, Tray Young time when Quinn Snyder was hired 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:11.880 to help and helm the ship of the Titanic that 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.440 is the Atlanta Hawks. I did say that it was 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.920 weird timing, but you add that to the notion that 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.840 there were speculation that the only reason he came on 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.439 that late in the season was to figure out whether 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.160 he could live with Tray Young in the mix. It 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.240 turns out that we have our answer about what that 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.120 was all about. Rumors are now catching fire saying that 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.320 the Hawks are one hundred percent going to explore trading 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:46.439 Tray Young in the off season. The rumors, let me 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.040 say that again. The rumors are that the Hawks ownership 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.520 has given the green light to whoever wants to do 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:59.760 it to trade Tray Young in the off season. Wow, 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.640 the Trey Young experience may have been coming to a 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.600 close in Atlanta. According to Kevin O'Connor at The Ringer, 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.840 who dropped this recent article called the Hawks have changed 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.319 everything except for Tree Young. The Hawks could be making 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.440 some huge moves and make no mistake, the decision will 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.640 be one hundred percent Quinn Snyder's because, according to O'Connor, 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.199 league sources say during months of negotiations in the lead 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.640 up to Quinn Snyder getting hired, and he has demanded 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:31.800 and now wields significant influence over personnel decisions. Though Atlanta's 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.360 front office dynamic is described as a quote collaborative effort, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.480 which is never something that you want, many high level 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.920 decision makers from opposing teams believe that it's now Snyder 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:48.040 who has the final say pause, paus pause. Did Kevin 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:53.959 O'Connor just write months months of negotiations with Quinn Snyder? 0:10:55.640 --> 0:11:00.720 So they were negotiating with Quinn Snyder while eight McMillan 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:05.040 was still rolling out the ball and coaching the Atlanta Hawks. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:12.880 That is interesting. That is very very interesting. I guess 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.040 it makes sense given that the most desirable coaching candidate 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.240 on the market at the time would demand control, and 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.040 it would make sense that he would want some sort 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:25.480 of conversation prior to the opening. But ge zis christ 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.240 is that wild? He has been ten and eleven since 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:33.800 taking over. Because Trey Young doesn't want to move without 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.880 the ball. Basically he is Russell Westbrook. Everybody thought he 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:38.960 was going to be Oklahoma Tree Young, which is some 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:43.760 version of Steph Curry with off the ball movement, pinned downs, 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.240 dribble handoffs, and really what he does when he doesn't 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.040 have the ball is just stand there. Is that encouraging 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.400 to you or not? Because it is not encouraging to me. 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.079 How Snyder has gotten the kids Aj Griffin, Sadique bay 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:02.319 Jalen Johnson to buy in and Trey Young hasn't shows 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.520 you everything you need to know about Trey Young. So 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:08.199 would that shock me if Trey Young and or Dejontey 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:13.760 Murray got moved this summer, No, it would not. Would 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:15.960 I be shocked if they tried to build around Trey 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.320 Young next year? I would also not be shocked. All 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.120 I know is, for the first time in Trey Young's career, 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.440 people are pointing at Trey Young and saying, listen, motherfucker, 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.640 you are dead on the chopping block if you don't 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.920 get that shit squared away. They are not putting up 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.240 with his nonsense. So either he needs to move without 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.559 the ball and be a little baby Steph Curry, or 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.160 he is going to somewhere like Houston with Jalen Green 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.920 and them boys. That's all the time that we have 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.800 for this episode of the heat Check. Check back Thursday 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.880 before we start the playoffs. Do not forget to check 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.199 the feed. I hope that there will be more interviews coming. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:57.120 Might have an interview lined up that is very special. 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.800 Stay tuned for that, and please follow the heat Check 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.640 is the playoffs are now here, download subscribe, Please tell 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.480 your friends, all of them. Follow us on socialide at 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.679 this heat Check at just to criek on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram. 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.840 Because the heat Check never sleeps, even when my voice 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.240 is going and the chaos is insuing.