Speaker 1: On this episode of The Heat Check, it's officially game
Speaker 1: time in Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: And I am in my fields.
Speaker 1: We also get into the recent reporting that is spilling
Speaker 1: the tea on the cold war between Dame's camp and
Speaker 1: the Blazers front office, all the latest on the.
Speaker 2: Jew Holiday trade.
Speaker 1: We also have a fun interview with Jonathan Zaslow of
Speaker 1: the Zazlow two point zero podcast straight out of Miami
Speaker 1: to get to the heat view of how things went down.
Speaker 2: Hint, not great, Bob, not great?
Speaker 1: All right, William drop that generic asid beat that should
Speaker 1: be Rihanna Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines,
Speaker 1: So the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: The Heat Check was.
Speaker 1: Sista Trade's the best podcast covering all the drama around
Speaker 1: the association. All right, last time we talked about Damian Lillard,
Speaker 1: he just been traded.
Speaker 2: In the entire basketball world was in shock.
Speaker 1: Let's rewind for just a second and basque in the
Speaker 1: glory of this monumental trade.
Speaker 2: Shall we shall we shall we we shall?
Speaker 1: The Blazers get Drew Holiday, which has he has been traded,
Speaker 1: but the beginning of the trade was Drew Holiday, DeAndre
Speaker 1: eight and Tumani Kamara, who is very good.
Speaker 2: I actually like him a lot. A twenty twenty nine
Speaker 2: first round.
Speaker 1: Pick unprotected and two pickswaps in twenty twenty eight and
Speaker 1: twenty thirty. As I would say, twenty twenty thirty, the
Speaker 1: Sun's got Yusef Nurkic, Grayson Allen Nicer Little and Keon
Speaker 1: Johnson and the Bucks get of course, Dame Dame Time Lillard.
Speaker 1: That happened and if you hadn't had or heard, how triggered.
Speaker 2: The Miami fans are.
Speaker 1: We've got a short interview at the end of this
Speaker 1: episode with Miami radio guy Jonathan Zaslow, friend of show,
Speaker 1: who will break all that down.
Speaker 2: But in essence, we have two things to do on
Speaker 2: this episode.
Speaker 1: Really, as media begins to roll around today, by the way,
Speaker 1: breaking news if you're living under a rock shocker, James
Speaker 1: Harden did not report today to Sixers Media Day. We
Speaker 1: will talk about that next episode, but for now, the
Speaker 1: first really is to discuss the other non hardened breaking
Speaker 1: news Portland has traded you Holliday to the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: We'll get into all of that in a minute.
Speaker 1: And the second thing we have to do talk about
Speaker 1: the Cold War still being waged between the Blazers for
Speaker 1: an office and Damian Lillard's camp because we got not
Speaker 1: one but two massive I guess, think pieces, if that's
Speaker 1: what you want to call him, that dropped over the
Speaker 1: weekend and they tell, as you might imagine, radically different stories.
Speaker 2: This is rare, radically different.
Speaker 1: But first, let's talk about the Jew Holiday trade, which
Speaker 1: was an absolute haul. When the Blazers acquired this four
Speaker 1: time All Star All NBA Defensive First Team guard in
Speaker 1: the Jew for Dame trade.
Speaker 2: It was a massive win for Joe.
Speaker 1: Cronin personally and the franchise as a whole. Because why because,
Speaker 1: according to Miami Heat fans, the Blazers had no leverage
Speaker 1: to get anybody other than someone like Tyler Hero, who
Speaker 1: is a no time All Star. Probably pat Riley in
Speaker 1: the front office thought that the best deal was Tyler
Speaker 1: Hero and two first round picks.
Speaker 2: And that was the best the Blazers were ever going
Speaker 2: to get.
Speaker 1: Even after the trade, a shocking number of Miami people
Speaker 1: were saying that the Heat still had the better offer
Speaker 1: because Tyler Hero was worth as much as Drew Holiday,
Speaker 1: which they thought would be a first round pick.
Speaker 2: And of course that was bullshit because there.
Speaker 1: Were twenty teams calling for Drew four three, four teams
Speaker 1: that seriously Drew would re extend with, and the second
Speaker 1: the trade was finalized, half the league was beating down
Speaker 1: Crona's door for just a chance to get Drew, who
Speaker 1: has proven that he can be the final piece to
Speaker 1: push a team over into a championship. We saw that
Speaker 1: with the Bucks when he in late twenty twenty, and
Speaker 1: they won a title shortly thereafter. The reason that many
Speaker 1: teams wanted Drew is because he's the Dame Stopper right
Speaker 1: Because Dame de Milwaukee forever altered the NBA landscape, particular.
Speaker 2: For the teams in the East.
Speaker 1: Not only did it make the Bucks immediately the best
Speaker 1: team in the East in the NBA and the favorite
Speaker 1: to it, it all also removed Giannis from the board
Speaker 1: for the teams that were salivating at the thought that
Speaker 1: maybe they could get Jannis to ask out and snatch
Speaker 1: him away from Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: Now that's off the table, I think.
Speaker 1: And the other teams in the East, particularly Miami, Philly,
Speaker 1: Boston and Cleveland all needed to make a significant move
Speaker 1: to stay afloat, and that meant a bidding war. So
Speaker 1: take that, Miami Heat fans who are still trying to
Speaker 1: push the narrative that Tyler Hero is the same as
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday. But it turns out the one team that
Speaker 1: was willing to pull all their chips into the middle
Speaker 1: was the Boston Celtics landed Drew in this blockbuster deal.
Speaker 1: Here is the details. Portland gets Rob Williams Time Lord
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year candidates, Malcolm Brogden sixth Man
Speaker 1: of the Year, a twenty twenty four first round pick
Speaker 1: via the Golden State Warriors, but it came via the
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies to Boston in the Marcus Smart trade, a
Speaker 1: twenty twenty nine unprotected pick from Boston in the first round.
Speaker 1: Boston gets Drew Holliday. That is a holy shit trade.
Speaker 1: Proof that Joe Cronin knew what was up. He knew
Speaker 1: what he was doing, which is I'm gonna flip players
Speaker 1: and listen he It wasn't like he wasn't down to flip, right,
Speaker 1: he was just not down to take a risk on
Speaker 1: what Tyler Hero was worth. A perennial Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year in Time Lord. He's always in the mix,
Speaker 1: hasn't won it, but he's certainly in the mix. The
Speaker 1: reigning six Man of the Year and two first that's
Speaker 1: that is now. What the Blazers are going to do
Speaker 1: is now trade Malcolm Brogden, probably for another first and
Speaker 1: probably another young piece. The Dame deal is looking sweeter
Speaker 1: by the minute. It is looking better by the.
Speaker 2: Moment for the Trailblazers and Joe.
Speaker 1: The move makes a ton of sense because, as some
Speaker 1: Boston insiders have said, if Dame had been traded earlier,
Speaker 1: Marcus Martin never would have been moved. You need somebody
Speaker 1: to stop Dame, and they had no guard on the
Speaker 1: team that could really stop Dame. And they knew that
Speaker 1: they had to figure it out, go all in and
Speaker 1: what a big bass trade.
Speaker 2: From Boston's perspective, they had a.
Speaker 1: Directive from ownership to do whatever it took to win
Speaker 1: a chip asap Rocky, and that's what they did. I'm
Speaker 1: sad for Boston fans kind of because I know how
Speaker 1: much you love time Lord. That was like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll give you Peyton Pritchard and the ghost of aaron
Speaker 1: Ne Smith. And I mean, they just wanted to give nothing. Right,
Speaker 1: that's what fans wanted to do. And they are rightfully
Speaker 1: split because now as we see Brad Stevens has traded
Speaker 1: sixty percent of his starting lineup that most people thought
Speaker 1: last year were favorites to win it all and some
Speaker 1: people thought were favorites to win it all this year,
Speaker 1: and they are now poof gone time Lord great defender,
Speaker 1: defensive Player of the Year caliber, whn't healthy, like I said,
Speaker 1: but his plate less than half a season every year
Speaker 1: he's been in the league. I know that may sound
Speaker 1: like it's bad for the Blazers, but he's very young.
Speaker 1: Brogden six Man of the Year, He's gonna get flipped.
Speaker 1: But from Boston's perspective, he's also been injured a ton.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, reports are that Brogden wanted
Speaker 1: a fresh start after the Celtics look to trade him
Speaker 1: back in June to the Clippers, and he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would like out.
Speaker 2: I don't want this bullshit anymore.
Speaker 1: Because remember Brogden publicly criticized Boston for how they handled
Speaker 1: things when they lost in the playoffs. Lots of Instagram
Speaker 1: videos prior to the trade at camp and guess what
Speaker 1: none of those videos showed Malcolm Brogden none.
Speaker 2: It was been icy over there four months.
Speaker 1: It was a heavy price to pay, but ultimately what
Speaker 1: they had to do to keep up with the Bucks. Now,
Speaker 1: the Celtics team is down Rob Williams eight eight and two,
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart twelve three and six, Malcolm Brogdon fifteen four
Speaker 1: and four, Grant Williams eight five and two, all down
Speaker 1: from last year, all accounting for thirty six percent of
Speaker 1: their scoring, forty five percent of their rebounds, and fifty
Speaker 1: two percent of their assists.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a lot.
Speaker 1: More importantly, those four players represented sixty percent of the
Speaker 1: team's blocks and forty five percent of the team steals.
Speaker 1: A lot of defense is gone, which is why drewam
Speaker 1: was so important to get Drew Holliday.
Speaker 2: Lockdown point of attack defender.
Speaker 1: Yes, he did get cooked by Jimmy Butler, but that
Speaker 1: was just what you had to do to stop Dame.
Speaker 2: The move had other ripple of effects, of course.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Miami, Uh cause yeah, I have to.
Speaker 2: They get left with their dick in their hands.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they do, and they got to run it
Speaker 1: back without their two key starters and Vincent and Strus
Speaker 1: who got replaced by Josh Richardson and Thomas Bryant. Yikes,
Speaker 1: it's now so bad in the Miami streets that Barry Jackson,
Speaker 1: longtime Miami reporter who everybody was saying was one of
Speaker 1: the most respected reporters in the business, but he had
Speaker 1: been chilling for pat Riley for the entire summer and
Speaker 1: Dame's agent for the entire summer.
Speaker 2: Remember he said, no matter where.
Speaker 1: Dame went, Dame was gonna immediately ask out to Miami. Right.
Speaker 1: Remember that, And now Barry is back on his bullshit,
Speaker 1: except for he is tired of the Miami Heat organization
Speaker 1: doing Miami Heat cheap things.
Speaker 2: Because this is what he said on Twitter. Miami won
Speaker 2: their titles.
Speaker 1: My impression is they're happy fielding competitive, good teams and
Speaker 1: selling out every team, which they do. We're selling out
Speaker 1: every game, which they do. If they can win another
Speaker 1: title without losing tens of millions, great, If not, they
Speaker 1: won't be losing sleep. Whoo. Then he said if he
Speaker 1: reported half of the things, because peop.
Speaker 2: Were like, that's bullshit, Barry, that's bullshit.
Speaker 1: Then he said, if he reported half of the thing
Speaker 1: he knows and can't say about what's happening behind the
Speaker 1: scenes with the Heat, he would lose his fucking press credentials.
Speaker 1: My god, Barry this is what we want to see,
Speaker 1: scorched earth journalism. Meanwhile, in Philly, they are still trying
Speaker 1: to figure out how to get in the mix as well,
Speaker 1: given that the fact, like I said, James Harden has
Speaker 1: not reported to media day, he is not going to
Speaker 1: Colorado where they have their training camp. We're still trying
Speaker 1: to have a sense of what's gonna happen with him.
Speaker 1: As Windhorse said on The Hoop Collective earlier last week,
Speaker 1: James Harden is owed.
Speaker 2: Nine million dollars, one quarter of his salary.
Speaker 1: Today we'll have a lot more insight on what's happening
Speaker 1: with the Sixers this week. But the truth of the matter,
Speaker 1: the best opportunity to move Harden was in a multi
Speaker 1: team trade involving Drew, and now that that ship is sale,
Speaker 1: they must get into the Malcolm Brogden sweepstakes.
Speaker 2: People try to move.
Speaker 1: Hard into the Clippers, get Malcolm Brogden, do some sort
Speaker 1: of salary magic, but it is very shaky in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: right now. The big winner, though, is young first time
Speaker 1: GM Joe Cronin. Joe Cronin was seen as a guy
Speaker 1: that they could bully, right everybody on Miami Twitter, everybody
Speaker 1: on NBA Twitter said Joe Cronan would have to get fleased.
Speaker 2: Dame Lillard had all the leverage. He had no leverage.
Speaker 1: And now his new nickname is Trader Joe and it's Jover.
Speaker 1: I like it Crover more than I like it's Jover.
Speaker 1: But people are now putting out memes of Joe Cronin
Speaker 1: as Doctor Manhattan, complete with a giant hog.
Speaker 2: Not only did he yeah, that's memes that they're out there,
Speaker 2: they are out there.
Speaker 1: Not only did he get three firsts, one from Golden
Speaker 1: State in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Four, which could actually be sneaky valuable.
Speaker 1: Draymond Green, which I didn't mention, is out for the
Speaker 1: first month of the season with a sprained ankle. CP
Speaker 1: three old. Who knows what this team's gonna be. They
Speaker 1: also have two first round pickswaps. Also, later in the decade,
Speaker 1: when Giannis is going to be older, Dame's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna be there anymore. Brook Lopez will be retired, Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton will have no need, so those pickswaps could be valuable.
Speaker 1: The former number one overall pick in the draft, DeAndre Ayton,
Speaker 1: and two starters from the finals two years ago. He
Speaker 1: still has the opportunity to get even more back because
Speaker 1: there's no chance that Malcolm Brogden plays a second as
Speaker 1: a trailblazer. They're calling Cronin also the Flipper or the Dolphin,
Speaker 1: which is like a shot at Miami because he just
Speaker 1: keeps flipping players for more picks and more players.
Speaker 2: He's like that kid.
Speaker 1: There's a kid who uh started trading with a paper clip,
Speaker 1: ended up with a house.
Speaker 2: That's Joe Cronin. He's gonna be the new Sam Presty.
Speaker 1: He's gonna take Dame Willard and he's gonna turn him
Speaker 1: into like five starters and seven picks.
Speaker 2: This is better, by the way, than the Donovan Mitchell trade, or.
Speaker 1: At least on par Donovan Mitchell was two first and
Speaker 1: two pick swaps and multiple players.
Speaker 2: This is very much on par with that. You look
Speaker 2: at the.
Speaker 1: Trade and you say, okay, wow, Lori Markinen, oshaiak Boji,
Speaker 1: Colin Sexton, and those were all very young players, right,
Speaker 1: So that's not the same caliber player. And I love
Speaker 1: Lauri Markining, but he wasn't that player at the time.
Speaker 1: You've got Rob Williams, You've got DeAndre Ayton, and you've
Speaker 1: got too Mani Tomorrow and then they had three first
Speaker 1: round picks twenty seven and twenty twenty nine and two
Speaker 1: pick swats. So really that's basically what it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be equal to that of the Donovan Mitchell trade.
Speaker 2: Very interesting.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Brogden six man of the Year, really
Speaker 1: good defensive presence, and he can shoot.
Speaker 2: Often hurt, a bit moody.
Speaker 1: Kind of a some people say, a little bit of
Speaker 1: a cancer in the clubhouse. Ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 1: People get upset when you ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 1: I call him a tree shaker, and that might explain
Speaker 1: why he's been passed.
Speaker 2: Around the league quite a bit.
Speaker 1: I won't make a Brittany Renner joke there, but that's
Speaker 1: where my mind went. What Brogden should bring, most likely
Speaker 1: another first round pick, probably some more young players. Where
Speaker 1: could he end up Probably Miami, but I just don't
Speaker 1: see that they are so damn salty. I wouldn't blame
Speaker 1: Cronin for offering Brogden to Miami for the original.
Speaker 2: Dame Weller deal.
Speaker 1: Hey give us Tyler Era and a couple of firsts
Speaker 1: late in the decade and we'll see nobody needs a
Speaker 1: point guard guard more than the heat. They also will
Speaker 1: take Lowry off your hands too, how about that. Also, Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: they need a point guard as well with the James
Speaker 1: Harden deal being kind of up in the air, and
Speaker 1: Brogden could have a revenge tour against Boston Anyway, What
Speaker 1: a while few days where Portland was in the eye
Speaker 1: of the basketball hurricane and came out smelling like the
Speaker 1: city of Roses.