Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, we're digging in
Speaker 2: to why Adam Silver and how Adam Silver loves France
Speaker 2: just so damn much.
Speaker 3: We break down Jeremy Sohan's new free throw shooting style
Speaker 3: to break down his free throw blue. We have some
Speaker 3: Karl Anthony Towns drama shocker, he's never in the news,
Speaker 3: and we also get into some other.
Speaker 1: Tea from around the league.
Speaker 3: So much popping as a trade deadline approaches, So do
Speaker 3: me a favor, Nick and drop that generic each before
Speaker 3: we get into everything popping around the league. I wanted
Speaker 3: to give a special shout out to all the good, fine,
Speaker 3: fine folks in buff New York for hosting me as
Speaker 3: America's guest in Buffalo for the Bengals Bill's game.
Speaker 1: I I'm not sure.
Speaker 3: I haven't gone through a table yet, but I believe
Speaker 3: just shy of that I'm a part of Bill's mafia,
Speaker 3: which means, of course I take some sort of blame
Speaker 3: in going there and declaring my AFC fandom just so
Speaker 3: they can get their ass at home. I'm sorry, Buffalo,
Speaker 3: we know it's a huge sports town. We talk about
Speaker 3: that not only in some of these radio hits that
Speaker 3: I do in Buffalo, but also in Rochester, so I
Speaker 3: got to talk a little hoops with them. A lot
Speaker 3: of people there reminded me multiple times that Buffalo was
Speaker 3: the original home of the what is now the LA Clippers.
Speaker 1: Did you know that? If you're not a historian, you
Speaker 1: did not.
Speaker 3: And I was told an incredible story about the Buffalo Braves,
Speaker 3: which was the original NBA team, well one of the
Speaker 3: original NBA teams in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: So I had to fact check.
Speaker 3: It turns out this crazy story that they told me
Speaker 3: while I was tailgating near double propane burners trying to
Speaker 3: warm myself up at their tailgate was true. It's actually
Speaker 3: maybe the craziest reason that an NBA player has been
Speaker 3: traded in league history.
Speaker 1: It's absurd.
Speaker 3: It's it's got a little ism to it, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, Like, there's a little there's more to
Speaker 3: this story than just that anyway. So the Buffalo Braves
Speaker 3: NBA franchise from nineteen seventy to nineteen seventy eight. They
Speaker 3: have a fascinating history in the sense that they have
Speaker 3: three Rookies of the Year in four seasons.
Speaker 1: Think about that.
Speaker 3: Three out of four of their years, they had the
Speaker 3: Rookie of the Year, and they were a team on
Speaker 3: the rise, and then all of a sudden, ownership decided,
Speaker 3: fuck it, we're just gonna take We're just gonna try
Speaker 3: to sell this team. Pretty bad luck if you're trying
Speaker 3: to sell the team with multiple Rookie of the Years
Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy six. So they're shedding guys, right, They
Speaker 3: shed Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo, the league MVP and
Speaker 3: a four time All Star at this point for cash.
Speaker 3: First of all, outside of this trade story, that's bonkers
Speaker 3: and that is absurd. David Stern would have stepped in
Speaker 3: and said no. So they wanted to deflate attendance numbers
Speaker 3: so they could just break their lease in Buffalo twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two. Buffalo would never allow this to happen, I
Speaker 3: promise you.
Speaker 1: The Braves then turned.
Speaker 3: Around and got Moses Malone, who was just absolutely a
Speaker 3: monster in the pain as we know later World champ
Speaker 3: with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: His career lasted.
Speaker 3: Exactly two games in Buffalo, two games before he was
Speaker 3: traded to Houston.
Speaker 1: Why why did he get traded? What did he do
Speaker 1: that was so wrong?
Speaker 3: What was so egregious in his behavior that would cause
Speaker 3: them to move someone who's this level of a player
Speaker 3: in two games. Well, coach Tates Locke immediately got it
Speaker 3: in his mind that Moses Malone, Moses Molan was lazy
Speaker 3: because Check's notes he slumped on the bench during timeouts.
Speaker 1: No, that's the reason.
Speaker 3: That's the reason it is Moses Malone got traded from
Speaker 3: Buffalo because of bad posture. Or maybe a more reasonable
Speaker 3: idea is that Tates locks as an asshole. Edie didn't
Speaker 3: like Moses Malone like that's probably more accurate. According to
Speaker 3: the recent history of the Buffalo Braves, Locke talked the
Speaker 3: owner into trading Moses Malone immediately because I just don't
Speaker 3: like the way he sits on the bench, just rubs
Speaker 3: me the wrong way. He gives me vibes of just man.
Speaker 3: It feels like a very complacent player.
Speaker 1: Moses Malone. We're not talking about some janitor. We're talking
Speaker 1: about Moses Malone.
Speaker 3: A year later, the Braves are in San Diego, so
Speaker 3: their efforts to get themselves shipped out of Buffalo worked.
Speaker 3: They then later as we know, moved to Los Angeles
Speaker 3: because of all of the things that were happening with
Speaker 3: the Clippers, and that's where they are now. But what
Speaker 3: a story. I gotta make my way back to Buffalo.
Speaker 3: What an incredible story.
Speaker 1: That was big.
Speaker 3: Thanks to all the folks in Buffalo who came by,
Speaker 3: said hello, did not throw me through a table, gave
Speaker 3: me the original Buffalo Wings, showed me a great time.
Speaker 1: Went to Auto's amazing subs.
Speaker 3: I think there's like a sausage patty and some sort
Speaker 3: of meat thing in there and cheese awesome. Also Chop
Speaker 3: Gene Battaglia bulldog who did not come out, but we'll
Speaker 3: see him next time. And now I know what Bill's
Speaker 3: mafia is truly like. So onto the league current league news.
Speaker 3: I just had to share that before we got into
Speaker 3: more ridiculousness from our current commissioner.
Speaker 1: Adam Silver.
Speaker 3: So we've talked about how much Adam Silver just fawns
Speaker 3: over Europe, just loves it, just loves everything about the culture.
Speaker 3: Clearly wants to be a part of the culture, wants
Speaker 3: this culture to be a part of the.
Speaker 1: NBA in some way.
Speaker 3: And now I feel like there's even more evidence of that.
Speaker 3: A new country has struck Adam Silver's fancy and it
Speaker 3: is France.
Speaker 1: Currently in love, currently a Franco file real quick.
Speaker 3: As an aside, if you look at Adam Silver, does
Speaker 3: he kind of just look like the guy who just
Speaker 3: picture him in your mind? Doesn't he look like someone
Speaker 3: who would correct you for saying croissant wrong? I guess
Speaker 3: quissant it's and I was like, okay, guy, you're American.
Speaker 1: Doesn't he seem kind of like the guy who has.
Speaker 3: A couple maybe five, maybe seven berets in his closet
Speaker 3: in different colors that he wears with a turtleneck when
Speaker 3: he goes out to a French restaurant and orders Flakral, Like,
Speaker 3: doesn't that seem.
Speaker 1: Like Adam Silver?
Speaker 3: Like you just know when he goes to dinner parties,
Speaker 3: he regales you with that time that he discovered one
Speaker 3: of the best cheeses on the planet when he took
Speaker 3: his trip with his lovely wife to Roquefort. You know,
Speaker 3: like that's him, That's Adam Silver, and he's gonna shove
Speaker 3: French culture down our throats whether we like it or not.
Speaker 1: That's just what's going down.
Speaker 3: So last week they decided to have a game in Paris.
Speaker 3: NBA did first ever game in the city of Lights.
Speaker 3: Who played in that game?
Speaker 2: Was it?
Speaker 3: Was it Lakers Bucks? Was it somebody star studded? Do
Speaker 3: we get to see I don't know, do we get
Speaker 3: to see Steph Curry and the Warriors play against I
Speaker 3: don't know, even the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: Oh, it was much better than that.
Speaker 3: Something really to just warm your palette up a little bit,
Speaker 3: get you get the juices going. It was they decided
Speaker 3: to send the dead last Detroit Pistons with a total
Speaker 3: of twelve wins, to face the Chicago Bulls on the
Speaker 3: verge of a rebuild. Did the French have they not
Speaker 3: been tuning into the NBA since Michael Jordan era, because
Speaker 3: that that game in nineteen ninety one would have been amazing.
Speaker 1: But hey, zach Lavine's name does sound.
Speaker 3: A little French, Leval zach Levan, so that counts, I
Speaker 3: think for something. So I'm watching the game at three PM,
Speaker 3: which is in itself weird, but nothing is weirder than
Speaker 3: when you're watching Adam Silver chare karoons with Emmanuel Macron
Speaker 3: of French Presidents, right, like that's how he wanted me
Speaker 3: to say it.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it like that. That's how he wanted
Speaker 1: me to say it.
Speaker 3: So, according to the AP over a Cafe, Adam Silver
Speaker 3: and Macron struck a deal to work together with the
Speaker 3: hopes of continuing to grow the game of basketball internationally
Speaker 3: in France. So the question is now, why now, why
Speaker 3: are we doing this now? Well, if you know anything
Speaker 3: about what's popping around the league, you know why. Adam
Speaker 3: Silver has been commissioner for a very long time. We
Speaker 3: know he's been loving things France, all things French since
Speaker 3: I don't know, like he went to the Louver on
Speaker 3: a senior class trip at his private school. We know
Speaker 3: he's been in love with French women for fifty years now.
Speaker 3: So why the urgency, why this international deal at this moment?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's very simple. It's two words. It's stick
Speaker 1: your Wambiyama like it's him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the guy Magic Johnson just came out and called
Speaker 3: the best player of the world. He is coming to America,
Speaker 3: presumably going to blow basketball up in France along the way,
Speaker 3: because the French are gonna be so excited. They have
Speaker 3: only had Tony Parker and Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier,
Speaker 3: like they finally get a real guy in the NBA, right,
Speaker 3: they finally get someone they can be proud of, not
Speaker 3: some chucklehead that they all get made fun of about.
Speaker 3: And then you add in the twenty twenty four Olympics,
Speaker 3: which by the way, is in Paris. Even though we
Speaker 3: just had the Olympics in Tokyo, feels like just yesterday
Speaker 3: and now we have a.
Speaker 1: Full blown partnership going on. So what is in this
Speaker 1: international coord that they just struck?
Speaker 3: First and foremost, They're going to have a collab between
Speaker 3: the NBA and the LNB, the French Professional Basketball League.
Speaker 3: So we already saw that to a degree so far
Speaker 3: this year. More exhibitions like we saw with the Metropolitan
Speaker 3: ninety two and Victor Wambiyama against the G League Knight
Speaker 3: and Scoot Henderson Rights. That was a game that we
Speaker 3: all liked to see. Was in Vegas.
Speaker 1: It was lit. And beyond that, there were two things
Speaker 1: that came from this trip. The league. You're gonna hype
Speaker 1: up the Olympics, probably.
Speaker 3: Meaning that Adam Silver is going to put pressure on
Speaker 3: all the big stars to show up and play. Steph Curry,
Speaker 3: You're fucking playing in these Olympics now, like you're not
Speaker 3: ducking this anymore. You're on the tail end. You've been saying,
Speaker 3: you've been part of this championship window. You don't want
Speaker 3: to compete in international basketball because it messes up your
Speaker 3: your training regimen and your calendar of load and duration frequency,
Speaker 3: and you don't want to tail off before the season
Speaker 3: gets to a turning point.
Speaker 1: But no, no, no, you're playing in Paris, Steph. That's
Speaker 1: what's happening. Demarto Rosen's already committed.
Speaker 3: Not sure if that moves the needle from an international perspective,
Speaker 3: but the second thing that they decided.
Speaker 1: On is fascinating.
Speaker 3: NBA and French officials are going to work together to
Speaker 3: grow the game in Africa. Why well, we've heard this
Speaker 3: multiple times from folks like Jerry West. Other gms around
Speaker 3: the league are talking about Okay hoopers from Victor Wambayama,
Speaker 3: Rudy Gobert and Bape and Soccer all having roots in Africa.
Speaker 3: Jerry West has said that at Summer League that the
Speaker 3: NBA is deeply interested in that corner of the world
Speaker 3: because that partnership feels like probably where the NBA is
Speaker 3: going future of the league all stems from that France
Speaker 3: Africa connection. And now Adam Silver has aligned himself with
Speaker 3: the government whose colonial policies.
Speaker 1: Controlled most of the area. So it's a win win,
Speaker 1: right Like, so who knows what that means? What is
Speaker 1: the end goal of all this?
Speaker 3: Well, there's a closer relationship, most likely between the NBA
Speaker 3: and the EuroLeague, and surprise, surprise, the same day of
Speaker 3: the accords of the EuroLeague announced they were having talks
Speaker 3: to fix the kind of fractured relationship between the two entities.
Speaker 1: Everybody wants the.
Speaker 3: Olympic Games to go well, right, but ultimately, for Adam Silver,
Speaker 3: a franchise in Paris has to be the end game.
Speaker 3: Pick me, pick me, I'm coming, I'm going. Whatever the
Speaker 3: name of the franchise is, I am in. I'm changing
Speaker 3: my entire life. I'm sure that they would love an
Speaker 3: NBA betting analyst to show up and eat some.
Speaker 1: Macaroons with Macron.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's gonna happen like tomorrow, but maybe
Speaker 3: like ten years, ten, fifteen years from now. The NBA
Speaker 3: is going to be international folks in our lifetime and Paris,
Speaker 3: of course is at the top of Adam Silver first list.