Speaker 1: On this episode of the e Check, We've got a
Speaker 1: special guest, Keith Smith spow Track, who brings us up
Speaker 1: to date on everything from the Caruso trade to the
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick Hire and more. Anthony, take that victory lap,
Speaker 1: my man, because you scowp woes like the og that
Speaker 1: you are on the JJ Reddick Hire. Let's celebrate by
Speaker 1: dropping that motherfucker beat that should be rhunt. All right,
Speaker 1: we're joining this bonus episode with my guy, Keith Smith's
Speaker 1: bow Track, who's going to the moon because it Selfish
Speaker 1: just won the championship. He joined me on my other
Speaker 1: show bet MGM Tonight, where I was joined by my
Speaker 1: post Nick Ashu. Bet MGM Tonight airs seven to eleven
Speaker 1: on the radio most major markets and also live on
Speaker 1: video on twit. So let's get right.
Speaker 2: Into it, oh Track as well, and let's start with
Speaker 2: JJ Reddick Keith, because now we can finally say it's official,
Speaker 2: he's actually the head coach. No more speculation on who
Speaker 2: they're talking to or Dan earlier, any of that anymore.
Speaker 2: So as we now look at JJ Reddick the head
Speaker 2: coach for the Lakers, I know we have no resume,
Speaker 2: we have no real way to truly know what type
Speaker 2: of coach he'll be, but we can speculate it. We
Speaker 2: can play that game. So we'll play that game with you.
Speaker 2: What type of season one do you think the Lakers
Speaker 2: will have with JJ Reddick as a head coach.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of what will answer that question
Speaker 3: is not really as much about JJ Redick as it
Speaker 3: is about what happens with the roster. This roster needs work.
Speaker 3: As it stands right now, they're probably somewhere around the
Speaker 3: seventh or eighth best team in the Western Conference. Now,
Speaker 3: they can make moves for sure, but what we'll have
Speaker 3: to see, you know what Rob Polinka does with that.
Speaker 3: But I don't think JJ Reddick is going to come
Speaker 3: in and lift them to twenty more wins or anything
Speaker 3: like that. I don't think he's going to come in
Speaker 3: and drastically, you know, downgrade them as far as his
Speaker 3: coaching either. I think what we'll see it they should
Speaker 3: be a pretty sound x's and O's team. I think
Speaker 3: he's going to come in and design good stuff. That's
Speaker 3: been a strength of his as an analyst, whether it
Speaker 3: be on the broadcast of games or on his podcasts
Speaker 3: and the like. I think, well, mostly what will determine
Speaker 3: his success will be how he handles the relationships with
Speaker 3: the players. Every head coach that I've ever talked to
Speaker 3: you says, it's like one percent about the x's and o's.
Speaker 3: Everything else is being a people manager and making sure
Speaker 3: you know, when a guy's in a five team shooting slump,
Speaker 3: that he knows, hey, we're not out on you. We're
Speaker 3: still here with you. Let's try to get you right
Speaker 3: and and do those kind of things. That's going to
Speaker 3: be the stuff that in in game management is going
Speaker 3: to be what JJ Rex's gonna have to learn and
Speaker 3: learn on the fly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and JJ Reddick not known for his positive spin
Speaker 1: or his affability on the broadcast, at least I don't
Speaker 1: know him personally, so that should be I should be
Speaker 1: a fun experiment to watch live, especially when we see
Speaker 1: maybe some three or four game losing streaks. And I
Speaker 1: guess what I've noticed, just as a follow up from
Speaker 1: some of the players with Darvinham, is that they felt
Speaker 1: comfortable lambasting and throwing Darvin Ham under the bus, even
Speaker 1: sneak dissing him in the media. Is that something that
Speaker 1: we should expect going forward with JJ Reddick. In these
Speaker 1: players or is there a way for him to prevent
Speaker 1: that type of stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that has to be like an organizational
Speaker 3: wide thing of hey, we're not going to put up
Speaker 3: with it, Like we need to be in a place
Speaker 3: where if you have an issue with the coach, go
Speaker 3: talk to the coach. You don't need to do it
Speaker 3: through the media. And it's become this weird kind of
Speaker 3: thing I think with players not fully grasping that the
Speaker 3: coach is the one who's in front of the media
Speaker 3: every single day every day. Not every player does media
Speaker 3: every day, some.
Speaker 4: Of them don't, but the coach is the one. He's there.
Speaker 3: The coach is the one who's generally there answering for
Speaker 3: a lot of the stuff the front office does and doesn't.
Speaker 3: Two too, because it's pretty rare that the GM more
Speaker 3: than a handful of times a year does a press conference.
Speaker 3: So that's one of the things where when a coach
Speaker 3: is talking about, yeah, you know, a guy's not playing
Speaker 3: so well, you know a player, then, more often than
Speaker 3: I can ever remember at any point, a lot of
Speaker 3: these players then when they get their chance like, well,
Speaker 3: I don't think he's always coaching well, and it's like
Speaker 3: that's not you know that that's not productive for anybody
Speaker 3: to kind of go that route, and I think that's
Speaker 3: gonna be a little bit of a challenge. As you
Speaker 3: said here, Reddick is not He's going all the way
Speaker 3: back to when he was a player at two. He
Speaker 3: was never really warm and fuzzy. He was always a
Speaker 3: guy who in Brake's being the villain. He's openly talked
Speaker 3: about he loved being booed as a player because that
Speaker 3: meant other teams smeared him and they felt like he
Speaker 3: might do something to beat them. So he's gonna have
Speaker 3: to work on the relationship side of it for sure,
Speaker 3: and that's going to be a huge part of what
Speaker 3: will determine his long term success.
Speaker 1: Lost in the shuffle, well maybe not lost, but another
Speaker 1: team that was a evaluating JJ Reddick shockingly, the Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 1: I've been banging the drum that Moni Waiam's probably not
Speaker 1: the right coach for this rebuilding team all of last year,
Speaker 1: but to do it a week before the NBA Draft
Speaker 1: was very surprising to me. Apparently Moni himself was also blindsided.
Speaker 1: What was your take on that and just kind of
Speaker 1: how that went down and what kind of hire. Do
Speaker 1: you expect now with Trajan Langdon in Detroit?
Speaker 3: Yeah, This to me is one of the things that
Speaker 3: it always comes off surprising. I kind of have been
Speaker 3: conditioned to expect when there's a new front office that
Speaker 3: takes charge, they're probably going to move on from the
Speaker 3: coach more.
Speaker 4: Times than they're not.
Speaker 3: But this one seemed like Langdon was there for a
Speaker 3: little bit and there was no news, no news, and
Speaker 3: then they finally moved on. I don't know if that
Speaker 3: was a finally convincing Tom Gored, Hey, we just got
Speaker 3: to eat the money. We've got to move on.
Speaker 4: One of the.
Speaker 3: Biggest mistakes I think NBA teams, really sports teams in general,
Speaker 3: but especially did the NBA make, is they'll hire a coach,
Speaker 3: pay that coach a lot of money, doesn't really go well,
Speaker 3: and everyone can see, oh man, this is not going well,
Speaker 3: or they sign or trade for a player, and then
Speaker 3: one of the things that they love to do is say, well,
Speaker 3: we have to give it time because we just got them.
Speaker 4: I think when we all know things aren't going.
Speaker 3: Well, it's fine to rip the band aid off and say,
Speaker 3: you know what, we made a mistake, because otherwise all
Speaker 3: you're doing by giving it more time is compounding that mistake.
Speaker 3: And I think for Detroit this is a chance for
Speaker 3: them to really have a fully fresh start yet again.
Speaker 3: But you know, this is probably ultimately for the best
Speaker 3: if they believe the best thing to do is get
Speaker 3: somebody new in there, somebody can coach up the young
Speaker 3: guys and get the moving forward.
Speaker 4: That's probably the best path.
Speaker 1: Is that Brego too.
Speaker 3: I think it may be. So I've been doing a
Speaker 3: little bit of connecting the dots here where trad and
Speaker 3: Langding came in from the New Orleans Pelicans about you know,
Speaker 3: in the last week they announced that we're gonna hire
Speaker 3: Fred Vincent as their top assistant coach, which is a
Speaker 3: little weird because then he turned around and fired the
Speaker 3: head coach. But Fred Vinson came over from the Pelicans.
Speaker 3: James Rego last job assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 3: So I think we might be seeing Tradon Langton going
Speaker 3: with a couple of guys. He's comfortable with a couple
Speaker 3: of guys who have pretty good development track records and
Speaker 3: kind of owning, hey, this is not gonna be a
Speaker 3: fast track thing. We're gonna play through our kids We're
Speaker 3: gonna build this thing up and I'm gonna bring in
Speaker 3: these guys, So it wouldn't be surprised if it's James Rego.
Speaker 3: I thought if something had really gone sideways with the
Speaker 3: Lakers and JJ Reddick, that maybe it would be James Barrego.
Speaker 3: Two slides in there. Now that that job's off the board,
Speaker 3: maybe the Cavs you'll go that direction. We'll see, but
Speaker 3: I think he'd be a good hire for the for
Speaker 3: the Pistons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Barrego the favorite two to one to be
Speaker 2: the next Pistons head coach. And then Chris Quinn is
Speaker 2: in there at six to one after that with Sean
Speaker 2: Sweeney and Sam Cassell talking to Keith Smith bet MGM. Tonight,
Speaker 2: we know this time of year means Lebron James. Rumors
Speaker 2: means Lebron James. Anything to control the narrative, do you
Speaker 2: put any real I guess substance to the like Phoenix
Speaker 2: Suns or Dallas Mavericks. And then Lebron's son only working
Speaker 2: out with the Suns and the Lakers is just gonna
Speaker 2: be one of those things. When it's all said and done,
Speaker 2: he just he goes back to La and it's kind
Speaker 2: of one of those that's probably gonna be the most
Speaker 2: likely scenario. Why did anybody believe anything else?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's exactly what it's gonna be. I
Speaker 3: think he's gonna be back with the Lakers. Now, maybe
Speaker 3: he throws the ultimate curve ball, but I think he'll
Speaker 3: opt out and then I think he'll sign a new
Speaker 3: deal with the Lakers. That kind of puts him in
Speaker 3: a position where whether it definitely finishes there or you know,
Speaker 3: puts himself in position to finish off his career there.
Speaker 3: The Sun stuff, it's did these things that people are saying, Well,
Speaker 3: the Sons are gonna you know, he's gonna go there
Speaker 3: on a minimum contract. It's just so nonsensical, Like, this
Speaker 3: is a guy who very famously said he's never taking
Speaker 3: a dollar under the main because if he does, then
Speaker 3: then the owners and GMS can go to every other
Speaker 3: player in the league and say.
Speaker 4: Lebron did it? Why not you.
Speaker 3: Now we're obviously in a very different phase of his career,
Speaker 3: but he's still not a guy who should be taking
Speaker 3: a minimum deal.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: I don't even know why he would do that anyway.
Speaker 3: I don't know that he's looking at the Suns and saying, man,
Speaker 3: let me sign up for this, this is great. I mean,
Speaker 3: the Lakers were just as good as the Suns were
Speaker 3: last year.
Speaker 4: So I don't.
Speaker 3: Understand, you know that that seem to be, you know,
Speaker 3: just some people dreaming things up out of fantasy and
Speaker 3: definitely not going to be a thing. So I think
Speaker 3: he'll stay with the Lakers, And I think what ultimately
Speaker 3: happens is I think Bronni probably gets drafted fifty fifth
Speaker 3: overall by the Lakers and then they move it forward
Speaker 3: that way, which honestly is fine.
Speaker 4: Fifty fifth.
Speaker 3: You're not going to miss out on a kid you
Speaker 3: probably couldn't get as an undrafted player on a two
Speaker 3: way contract.
Speaker 1: Anyway, can you explain to me the trade, the Alex
Speaker 1: Caruso for Josh Giddy trade, and like maybe put that
Speaker 1: into context in what you think the Bulls might be
Speaker 1: trying to do, see it was.
Speaker 3: Gonna cheat and tell you I could explain it from
Speaker 3: the thunder side because I fully understand what they're trying
Speaker 3: to do. Sure, yeah, well I can try with the Bulls.
Speaker 3: I guess I really don't know. I'm confused on the
Speaker 3: bull side of this trade. I don't understand how when
Speaker 3: you're trading with the Oklahoma City Thunder and you're giving
Speaker 3: away the better player. I don't care that he's significantly
Speaker 3: younger than ounced Carus, so that part doesn't really matter
Speaker 3: to me.
Speaker 4: You should be coming away without a minimum.
Speaker 3: Protected first round pick or a couple seconds, so Thunder
Speaker 3: have more picks than they could ever possibly use.
Speaker 4: I don't know how the Bulls didn't come away with
Speaker 4: at least.
Speaker 3: One pick in this trade, so that part of it's
Speaker 3: a little confusing. As far as getting Josh Kitty. If
Speaker 3: this is followed up by we're not resigning to mar Derozen,
Speaker 3: We're gonna move Zach Lavine, we're gonna move Nick Mucovich,
Speaker 3: and we're gonna kick off a rebuild, then I'm okay
Speaker 3: with this. Then it starts to make a lot more
Speaker 3: sense why you would make a move like this. But
Speaker 3: as it stands right now, it seems like they're still
Speaker 3: in let's try to bring back the Rosen. We're gonna
Speaker 3: probably trade Levine, but we don't want to just move
Speaker 3: him for young players and pick. We want back guys
Speaker 3: who can play, And that seems like this never ending
Speaker 3: quest to be the eighth Seed is still going to
Speaker 3: continue in Chicago, and I don't get it. For the Thunderside,
Speaker 3: they get one of the best perimeter defenders in the league,
Speaker 3: Alex Screws so could have been a first team All
Speaker 3: Defense guy, but was a second team All Defense guy.
Speaker 4: He's he's really really good and he can shoot. He
Speaker 4: can shoot.
Speaker 3: Now they lose a little bit more rebounding, which I
Speaker 3: think they're gonna figure that out, you know, with subsequent
Speaker 3: moves here, because the thing what the Thunder is even
Speaker 3: after the trade, even though I took on a little
Speaker 3: bit of money, about one point five million, they still
Speaker 3: have over almost thirty four million dollars in cap space.
Speaker 3: And this is a team that's only got like one
Speaker 3: or two rotation spots that they're looking to fill. And
Speaker 3: now we're in a spot where they may be able
Speaker 3: to kind of hand pick whoever it is they want
Speaker 3: to get and say, hey, come on in here, be
Speaker 3: a part of this. This is what we need you
Speaker 3: to do and move this thing forward. That's a team
Speaker 3: that's going to be very very carry next.
Speaker 2: To Thunder are just so well run in the position.
Speaker 2: I know never best GM in the NBA, don't Keith
Speaker 2: Smith front Office show spoll track. We love having you on, buddy,
Speaker 2: thanks for coming.
Speaker 1: They call it just hang up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna let me count it real quick. Brad
Speaker 3: Stevens might be the best GM in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Haith congrat congratulations.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, you're right, and congrats to the self.
Speaker 4: Appreciate it. Thank you as Keith.
Speaker 2: I guess Brad Stevens Sam Presty both really good. I
Speaker 2: would take either one in my organization. That's for Tampa Shure.
Speaker 1: Oh good stuff from Keith Smith. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining us. That's all the time that we have
Speaker 1: for this episode of The Heat Check. We've got to
Speaker 1: get into some more rumors and some news, so come
Speaker 1: back Monday for an all new episode. Check out the
Speaker 1: feet for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly
Speaker 1: like a Chicago Bulls trade out of nowhere. We're also
Speaker 1: gonna be taking some some needed vacation now that the
Speaker 1: finals are over at some point soon, so do not
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