WEBVTT - Cracks Showing Early for Minnesota and Philly 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:06.240 You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick. On this 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.080 episode of The Heat Check, the first week of the 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:15.440 NBA season is behind us and the Utah Jazz. The 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:21.600 Utah Jazz are the best team in basketball. The Sixers 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.480 are the worst team in basketball next to the LA Lakers. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.920 Just like everyone thought, well with the brain, everyone with 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:30.840 the brain thought the Lakers would steak. But I will 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.680 be going over all of my big surprises this past week, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.120 as well as getting into a few viewer questions. Also, 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.080 is Jake Crowder going to the Milwaukee Bucks. NBA is cooking, Nick, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:50.440 So do me a favor and drop that beat. This 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.800 week was wow. This week was something. This is the 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.560 first week of the NBA season. It's in the books, 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.400 and I've made a list of some surprises I wanted 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.319 to share. I wanted to highlight the teams and players 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:09.360 who have genuinely given me some sort of shock, both 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:13.920 good and bad. And like baseball, the heat Check is 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.760 going to begin in Philadelphia, where the Sixers are off 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:22.600 to a hot start, a shockingly really rough start, which 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:25.840 means that the Sixers are now zero and three at 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.759 a team when the city, I don't know, maybe it's 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.959 a at sports Peak. You've got the Philadelphia Phillies now 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:36.320 going to the World Series. You've got the Eagles, maybe 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.640 the best team in the NFC. And then you've got 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:45.360 the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, a bendless Philly team with 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:50.360 the addition of some pieces like PJ. Tucker, got some 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:54.560 pieces like the Anthony Melton, a healthy embiid and in 0:01:54.680 --> 0:02:01.960 shape Harden. And yet somehow and three you hate to 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:06.800 see it couldn't have happened to a nicer city, could 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.760 not have happened. Is Doc gonna get fired this year? 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.760 It feels like it's starting to be a groundswall. I've 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.760 been looking on Philadelphia seventy six Ers reddit and there's 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.400 comparisons to Jimbo Fisher, which he would be fired if 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.000 if Texas A and M didn't know him eighty seven 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.600 million dollars over the next two years or three years 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.880 or whatever it is. So what is happening why? It's 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:38.919 a good question because it's shockingly not Harden's fault, But 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.560 it never really feels like it's Harden's fault, does it. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:47.440 He can offensively carry the load and somehow not contribute 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.280 to winning. He has been great, though he had one 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.280 bad game against the Spurs, but is averaging twenty six, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.120 eight and nine a game. I don't think I expected that, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:02.480 did you? Joelle is Joel? He's averaging twenty seven, thirteen 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.200 and four, very standard performances for a perennial MVP candidate. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:12.160 Tobias Harris, who I personally don't like as a fit 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.799 on this team shooting forty four percent from three tyrese 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:20.040 Maxi is averaging twenty three and three. So on paper, 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:24.280 everything looks good, which seems to be a real problem 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.200 with Doc Rivers teams. Right great on paper, not so 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.959 great in reality. The big problem is that they can't 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:34.480 play defense. They just can't. They can't transition for shit, 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.200 when Mbat is off the court. This team is just 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.760 horrendous defensively. Maxie can't defend, and that just makes two 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:47.120 giant holes defensively, alongside with Harden, who's also a hole. 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:52.040 The Sixers are twenty fourth in defensive rating this year. 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:57.360 A draft from sixth last year? Where's Matisse? Thibel? Wasn't 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.640 he supposed to be the next Ben Simmons. Matisse has 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.880 played all of forty one seconds in their first two games. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:09.000 Don't worry, he got an uptick in minutes three minutes 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.880 against the Spurs when they lost. When asked why, Doc 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.760 had a perfect answer, It's just the other guys. It's 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.280 a pecking order. Right now, he's working his butt off. 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.320 He'll play. He's got a chance to earn more minutes 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:29.400 at some point. But now, right now, Daniel House and 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.640 de Anthony Melton are in front of him. We're going 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.120 with the smaller rotation. But he'll have a chance to 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.719 earn minutes at some point. Daniel House, Daniel House could 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.840 barely get minutes on a Rockets team when they were 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:48.040 actively tanking for Jalen Green from potential first team All 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:52.159 NBA defense to a third stringer behind Daniel fucking House. 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.520 Daniel fucking House was fucking that COVID tester in the bubble. 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.640 What a rough fall from grace Boy, Oh boy, you 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:05.560 gotta trade matist Bible. You gotta let him go. There's 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.080 ten teams that want someone who can put some good 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.800 defensive minutes in. Can it be fixed? That is a 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.400 matter of significant debate at the moment. To be honest, 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.040 there are really three major problems happening at once. One 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.559 there's the Joel mb problem, not that Jojo is playing 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.960 bad because he's not or getting hurt. Well, he might 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:29.560 be hurt, but we're not sure. We'll get to that 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.920 in a minute. This is about the offense. He's having 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.240 to work so hard on offense that his defense is suffering, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.800 and when Joel's defense SAgs, the entire Sixers defensive scheme 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.279 falls apart. He's not making easy buckets. He's not getting 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:44.520 much in the mid range and struggling to get into 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.440 the low post where buckets are plentiful and easy for him. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.080 It's almost like the offense is being ram poorly. It's 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.400 almost like the entire philosophy of the offense isn't great. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.440 It's almost like Doc Rivers is making it very hard 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:05.760 by an old school, post centered offense. Second, Harden not 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.960 exactly what you think. I mean. He's really good offensively. 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.400 He seems in shape, very motivated, looks good, averaging double 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.600 digit assists. Yet the Sixers are twenty fourth in both 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:22.000 offensive and defensive efficiency. This is a team problem. It's 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.520 not just a single issue. Our guy Seth partnow points 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.440 out the issue as partly Harden's usage rate, which is 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.839 so ridiculously high that Maxie's usage rate is down sixty 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.720 percent and Harris's rate is down seventy five percent from 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.760 last year, So they're not getting opportunities either like last year. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.800 And Maxi, for all of his points, I mean points 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.000 per game, has looked not the same player that he 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.800 was before. I think Tyrese Maxi might need to sit 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.479 his ass on the bench and come off as a 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.719 six man. But that's another situation. Thirdly, which I intonated 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:01.760 and sort of foreshadow second ago, there's a coaching problem 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.599 in Philly. It has now reached critical mass. Is Doc 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.760 Rivers a bad coach? No? Would another coach be better 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:14.840 with this team? Absolutely? After losing to the Spurs, Doc Rivers, 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.800 of course, as per usual, gets absolutely murdered on social media. 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.080 The blue checks a plenty, Like Ben Dietrich, we're calling 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.080 for his firing after a game one loss to Boston. 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:27.640 What do you think what happened when they lost to 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:32.160 the Spurs? Get the fuck out of here. His postseason 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.000 failures are very well documented. If this team struggles in 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.400 the regular season. When Doc Rivers went on the record 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.480 to say that this was the deepest, most complete team 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.800 that they've put around, Joel mb call me overreaction Monday. 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.560 But I am overreacting and the overreaction is not good. 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.880 So yeah, the problems are there. The writing, as they say, 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.720 is on the wall. Will they plague Philly all year? 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.600 I have no idea. I thought the Boston Celtics were 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.640 a bad team until like January of last year, and 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.320 they went to the finals. So anything is possible. With 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:10.120 Boston and Milwaukee looking as good as advertised, Man Sixers 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.760 might be in for a long year. Oh yeah. About Embiid, 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.680 there were reports swirling about that he's still dealing with 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:20.000 the planter fasciitis that he suffered over the summer. Didn't 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:21.920 even know he had planter fasci idis. I thought he 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:23.920 had in an orbital bone fracture and a terror in 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.640 his thumb. But this is like the amount of injuries 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.760 racking up on Joela Embiid's body. Only rivals operation, but 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.079 you know, we move on. Players like Gorn Dragich Yusuf 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.480 Nurkic have missed significant time with this injury. So for 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.880 a big man, not great. This is what Embiid said 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.360 before training camp. It all started when the team was 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.960 out in La out of nowhere. I just thought it 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.200 was whatever soreness. Over time, it just kept getting worse 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:50.719 and worse and worse, and then it got to the 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.160 point where I couldn't walk and it was really painful. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.920 Oh man, that is rot row embiid rough start for 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.800 Philly might not get any better anytime, which I would 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.880 hate to see personally. So you may look at the 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.840 Timberwolves right now and be an optimist. If you're living 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.719 in Minnesota, that's probably you, or from Minnesota, that's probably you. 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.079 You want to say good things about the Timberwolves because 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.880 things look exciting. See the glasses half full. They're two 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.520 and one. They're only loss coming from blowing a second, 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.440 big half lead, second half lead to Utah, which you know, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.920 you can see Utah like a team like Minnesota kind 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.480 of overlooking Utah. You could say, oh, you know, they're 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.560 an aunt Edward's free throw away from being three and zero. 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:40.040 And you would be right in theory, but wrong in reality, 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.720 because we are now seeing some things come to light 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.720 about the issues in Minnesota, at least early on, that 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:54.000 are not being addressed, not shockingly, not shockingly. It all 0:09:54.040 --> 0:10:01.080 starts with giddy cats. Carl giddy cats and any giddy 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.320 cat talents. I don't know why that's so disrespectful that 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.960 I said it so many times, but we're gonna continue. 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.720 He's having a very hard time in this system finding space, 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.840 and he's a guy who kind of needs space because 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.040 the center, all of a sudden of the floor is 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.000 blocked out with a massive red X by the name 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:29.200 of Rudy Gobert. And it is becoming apparent that the 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:33.080 Rudy Gobert experiment is going to require some patience. It's 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:39.240 going to require some tinkering, because it's gonna be it 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.360 feels like very up and down for the foreseeable future. 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:47.360 And the biggest problem, according to a Timberwolve Substack Howls 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.040 and Growls, which is a very funny name, is getting 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.320 Aunt Edwards didn't see that coming. To buy into the 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.520 pick and roll monster that is Rudy Gobert. It's almost 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.520 like two guards, two teams in a row. Donovan Mitchell 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:06.480 and Ann Edwards don't particularly love working alongside Rudy Gobert. 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.280 We'll have to see. But Ann is a supremely talented star. 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.280 As we know. He has spent his entire career working 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.120 with these pick and pops with Karl Anthony talents. It 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.720 shows he likes that, and a number of times already 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.920 this year he's blown assignments and even allowed mediocre defenses 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.200 like okay, see he gets set and then get a stop, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:31.320 and then that vaunted as they say, that high prestige, 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:36.599 elite defense that Gobert supposedly has. Well right now, the 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.440 Wolves are eighteenth in the league in points given up 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.920 three hundred and forty because they're giving up an absurd 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:46.320 number of uncontested shots, specifically in the perimeter. They're leaving 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.400 guys wide open from three. They are twenty fifth in 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.640 rebounds allowed, they are twenty eighth and assists allowed. They 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.520 are twenty third in the league in creating turnovers. They 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.199 suck so many metrics. They're nineteenth in defensive rating. They 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.000 were thirteenth last year with Rudy Gobert. Without Rudy Gobert, 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.000 So that is saying a lot, right, These are issues, 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.680 These are problems that need to be fixed. And the 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.320 Wolves already played OKAC twice and let's just say this, 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.080 it wasn't easy, and that's okay, zee, So what's gonna 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.520 happen when they play a team of a higher caliber. 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.680 I'm not saying that the Wolves are gonna not be 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.760 a plan team. I'm just saying, let's pump the brakes. 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:28.679 That this is the top five team, top six team 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.840 in the West. I am saying also that there's a 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:40.000 situation that needs to be monitored carefully.