Speaker 1: On this episode of The Heat Check, we continue our
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference preview and we are going to be looking
Speaker 1: at the Central Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indy and the Milwaukee Box.
Speaker 1: Oh baby, is anybody excited about.
Speaker 2: This fucking division?
Speaker 3: Not me?
Speaker 1: I guess you could say the Milwaukee Bucks are bringing
Speaker 1: everybody stop gum.
Speaker 2: So let's get right into it.
Speaker 1: William drop that generic ass beat that should be Rihanna.
Speaker 3: Breaks breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines, Lord Children,
Speaker 3: The heat Check, The heat Check, It's just Crak's the
Speaker 3: best podcast covering all the drama around the association.
Speaker 1: All right, let's start with the Chicago Bulls. Chicago Bulls
Speaker 1: just living on their past success.
Speaker 2: They don't care.
Speaker 1: They don't care, folks, how many games they win. They
Speaker 1: don't care about a goddamn thing except for money. Key editions,
Speaker 1: Javon Carter, Tory Craig Key, Subtractions, Patrick Beverly, Derek Jones Junior.
Speaker 2: I don't think either any of.
Speaker 1: Those four players are meaningful to any roster, and I
Speaker 1: like Javon Carter.
Speaker 2: What could you say about the Bulls? Really? What can
Speaker 2: you say.
Speaker 1: About them when they barely make a play in tournament
Speaker 1: and Their biggest offseason move is Tory Craig. Tory Craig,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, gross, People forget about the Bulls and
Speaker 1: that they had this commanding lead on the heat and
Speaker 1: the play in tournament with six minutes left and the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. It was all very cute, and then nobody
Speaker 1: could hit an open Look. You had zach Lavine missing shots,
Speaker 1: holding onto the ball too long, and then the Miami
Speaker 1: he'd end up going from almost getting bounced to making
Speaker 1: it to the finals. This Chicago Bulls team, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: to say, if you don't already know, you're probably not
Speaker 1: a Chicago Bulls fan. They don't care about a goddamn
Speaker 1: thing except for packing out the UC their arena. They
Speaker 1: don't care about winning, they don't care about contending, not
Speaker 1: gonna make moves. They fucking extended Nicola Vusovich, one of
Speaker 1: the worst defenders in the league, paid him his dough.
Speaker 1: You got demartirosan Old, I like Damar. You got zach Lavine,
Speaker 1: one leg bucket getter, not playing defense. You got Lussovich.
Speaker 1: He can get a double double for you on any
Speaker 1: given night, but he's not a plus player in any regard.
Speaker 1: I love Alice Cruzo, But goddamn, Chicago, do something, do something,
Speaker 1: make a move, trade some guys, not just extend players
Speaker 1: that don't help you win.
Speaker 2: I'm annoyed at them.
Speaker 1: They have been living off of the fumes of the
Speaker 1: Jordan era for two generations now. Or like, oh yeah
Speaker 1: bulls like very important logo, like very raucous crowd. They
Speaker 1: sell games out. But like you want to know why,
Speaker 1: Jordan is the goat. He took a forgettable franchise and
Speaker 1: made them so great that they still.
Speaker 2: Get a pass multiple decades later.
Speaker 1: We think Bulls, We think Jordan, and that is they've
Speaker 1: done one thing since, which is get Derrick Rose for
Speaker 1: a quick little season where he had the MVP. Here's
Speaker 1: where the Bulls are at in a nutshell. Patrick Williams,
Speaker 1: according to Zach Lowe, is looking for a two hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar extension.
Speaker 2: Are you serious? No kidding, I'm not joking you.
Speaker 1: This is a guy averaging nine point seven points per
Speaker 1: game and four rebounds per game trying to get trying
Speaker 1: to get two hundred million. This is a guy I
Speaker 1: don't even like for twenty million a year, let alone.
Speaker 1: Whatever two hundred million over five year works out too.
Speaker 1: That's what is that that's forty million? Oh my fucking god.
Speaker 1: They have some nice pieces. They have some I guess
Speaker 1: I like the Martin Rosen. He's a bucket. He is
Speaker 1: getting kind of old. He is languishing in Chicago. Someone
Speaker 1: save him, Someone go get him. Caruso still one of
Speaker 1: the best defenders in the league. Lavine is still a
Speaker 1: bucket ish twenty five, five and four and seventy seven games.
Speaker 1: I mean the bulls people will tell you, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: people were ragging on Zach Lavin. He wasn't nearly as
Speaker 1: bad as everybody says. He was pretty good. Actually, like
Speaker 1: when you have to defend your superstar for not being
Speaker 1: as bad as everybody's making him out to be.
Speaker 2: He wasn't great. He wasn't great. Io Di soon moved.
Speaker 1: They're hoping for major strides from him, and I like
Speaker 1: ioe a lot Dale and Terry. They're hoping for major
Speaker 1: strides from him. And my argument to those people who
Speaker 1: are expecting that is okay, and then what like, let's
Speaker 1: let's act like I owed desumuh. I like quote bit
Speaker 1: and Dale and Terry, who I like Quarteba both exceed expectations.
Speaker 2: What are you then?
Speaker 1: What is this team, then are you a six seed?
Speaker 1: Congratulations you did not have to go to play a tournament? Gross, Like,
Speaker 1: what do you what are you are?
Speaker 3: You?
Speaker 1: Are you a set?
Speaker 2: I don't even think you're that.
Speaker 1: I think you're like an eight or a nine seed.
Speaker 2: That's the issue.
Speaker 1: This is a team that just is totally fine with
Speaker 1: being mediocre. They are totally fine with being a five
Speaker 1: hundred team if that means that they can compete on
Speaker 1: a night to night basis and be anyone on a
Speaker 1: given Tuesday in the regular season. But they are a
Speaker 1: mile from winning anything of no, and if I'm a
Speaker 1: fucking fan of that team, I am living.
Speaker 2: We now turn two, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: They may moves actually key additions Max Strus in the trade.
Speaker 2: I think it was a sign in trade George Yang
Speaker 2: bang bang Niang.
Speaker 1: Free agent Amani Baits, who I absolutely am in love with.
Speaker 2: Key subtractions. I actually think Chedty Osmond is on this team.
Speaker 1: I think Cheddy Osman's still there either way. If he's there,
Speaker 1: if he's not there, not relevant to my breakdown. I
Speaker 1: kind of think the Calves are a forgotten team. They
Speaker 1: were a wagon in the regular season. A lot of
Speaker 1: people last year were like, Ooh, Calve's about to make noise.
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, back court of the future, bucket getters,
Speaker 1: guys that are able to protect the rim, Evan Mobley,
Speaker 1: Cheered Allen, etcetera, etcetera. You had Donovan Mitchell as a
Speaker 1: legit MVP candidate last year averaged Jashia thirty game. You
Speaker 1: have a deep bench, ish, not a lot of wings,
Speaker 1: decent coaching, They've got assets that they could move to
Speaker 1: at another piece that they had to, and yet guys.
Speaker 2: Like Bill Simmons are hammering they're under their wins.
Speaker 1: Paul Pierce is saying that Donald Mitchell can't wait to
Speaker 1: get the fuck out of Cleveland, which I wouldn't blame
Speaker 1: him if that was true.
Speaker 2: So what gives? What gives? I think the hype surrounding.
Speaker 1: The Calves has been about how Donald Mitchell doesn't want
Speaker 1: to be there. If Donovan Mitchell had signed an extension,
Speaker 1: we'd be feeling a lot different about this CALVS team,
Speaker 1: will we not. Bill Simmons says it's the worst kept
Speaker 1: secret in the NBA. But remember Damian Lollard to Miami
Speaker 1: was a done deal. So until it's done, it's not done,
Speaker 1: and until Donovan Mitchell flees Cleveland, he is.
Speaker 2: A Cavalier period period.
Speaker 1: I'm very skeptical, especially considering that Donovan Mitchell probably doesn't
Speaker 1: want to turn down a massive contract that only Cleveland
Speaker 1: can offer him. Donovan Mitchell is a superstar. Does he
Speaker 1: fit with Darius Garland? I don't know. I mean, we've
Speaker 1: done the CJ McCollum Damian Lodard thing before. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: Darius Garland gets traded at some point if Donovan Mitchell staves.
Speaker 1: Darius Garland's an All Star though made his first All
Speaker 1: Star last year. Evan Mobley hoping to bounce back.
Speaker 2: Obviously one of.
Speaker 1: The most intriguing players in the NBA right now, and
Speaker 1: the future of the Calves really hinges on him. Kind
Speaker 1: of a sophomore year for him got cooked, absolutely barbecued
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. He's gonna need to develop an outside shot,
Speaker 1: even a mid range shot, to some sort of consistent
Speaker 1: level in order to be a player that the Calves
Speaker 1: can rely on. And also you add then Jared Allen,
Speaker 1: who on one hand phenomenal player for this team. But
Speaker 1: it's kind of the issue, kind of feels like the
Speaker 1: odd man out. I like him, do I like him
Speaker 1: on the calves, I don't know. The roster feels a
Speaker 1: little tricky to me. What he does well overlaps with
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley a little too much actually. I mean there's
Speaker 1: been rumors about them moving on from Jared Allen. If
Speaker 1: you move him for like a guy maybe like Ojobi
Speaker 1: or maybe Pascal Siakam, that actually maybe makes the team
Speaker 1: a lot better. They add Max Strews, this team's gonna
Speaker 1: have shooting now. They didn't have a lot of three
Speaker 1: point shooting last year. And now you got Strewice, and
Speaker 1: now you got kni Yang Bang Bang Kniang.
Speaker 2: I like saying it like that.
Speaker 1: Most importantly, the young gun Amani Baits. He's an X
Speaker 1: factor for this team. He could be special. Remember he
Speaker 1: was a top recruit. He was like the top high
Speaker 1: schooler in the country at one point. So you add
Speaker 1: you have Lavert, you have Kniang, and you have Max
Speaker 1: Struice on top of the money Baits. I think that's
Speaker 1: a solid little bench. I hate a coral though. He's
Speaker 1: gotta go, He's gotta go. The upside of this team
Speaker 1: is probably where they were last year three four in
Speaker 1: the East. If they're top three at the deadline. Maybe
Speaker 1: they make a move. Are they a contender? No, but
Speaker 1: the East not super deep. It's kind of Milwaukee and
Speaker 1: Boston's to lose.