Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check, buttal quick. On this episode
Speaker 1: of the Heat Check, everyone is talking about Jaw Joe.
Speaker 1: This is actually the only time in NBA history we
Speaker 1: can say that joke, which is Joe, and it actually
Speaker 1: makes sense. You're like, think about that. We'll fill you
Speaker 1: in on what's happening with him. But I think probably
Speaker 1: from a different perspective because the media, the media machine
Speaker 1: is in full force and they're like vultures. The columnists
Speaker 1: are like vultures circling around Jaw's cold body. I also
Speaker 1: break down some news from around the league, including New
Speaker 1: York Knicks bing Bong and how the perilous future is
Speaker 1: for the new Brooklyn Nets, especially and particularly Sean Marks.
Speaker 1: A lot happening, Nick, drop that generic ass beat. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about basketball. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: four of the best shot makers on planet Earth going
Speaker 1: toe to toe on a Saturday afternoon. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about Luca and Donchetz and Devin Booker going head
Speaker 1: to head, face to face, smile to smile at the
Speaker 1: end of a game. But you know what I have
Speaker 1: to talk about. I have to talk about one of
Speaker 1: the best superstars in the league, one of the most
Speaker 1: electric players in the league bringing a gun and taking
Speaker 1: off his shirt and going to a strip club after
Speaker 1: getting his ass handed to him by Yo Kitchen the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets And how did he get that gun to Denver?
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about this. I bet you
Speaker 1: don't want to hear about this. I bet you don't
Speaker 1: bet there's twenty five think pieces written about it already
Speaker 1: for those who have returned from a darkness retreat and
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm talking about. Jah Morant is I
Speaker 1: don't even know if it's considered suspension because they didn't
Speaker 1: say the words suspended. But Ja Morant is going to
Speaker 1: be away from the Memphis Grizzlies for at least two games. Wow.
Speaker 1: He sorts his shit out, and the Grizzly sort their
Speaker 1: shit out, and certainly the NBA sorts out what they
Speaker 1: want to do with Jah Morant. Why Because in the
Speaker 1: same week that a Washington Post article dropped about Jaw
Speaker 1: flashing a gun, Jaw actually one on his own Instagram live.
Speaker 1: He did himself, people, He went on his own Instagram
Speaker 1: live and showed a gun in his own hand to
Speaker 1: his own face. Why Jaw, Why At like two in
Speaker 1: the morning of course it was at two in the morning.
Speaker 1: What do you think it was at two in the afternoon. No,
Speaker 1: there was alcohol involved, obviously, and he is in trouble.
Speaker 1: This is also on the eels of the Indiana Pacers
Speaker 1: thing where they accused him and his friends pointing a
Speaker 1: a laser scope gun thing. Adam, I don't even know
Speaker 1: there were right words, because I don't have guns. That's
Speaker 1: how you know. I don't know the terms. What is
Speaker 1: what is going on? Everyone is wayed in. Gilbert Reinas
Speaker 1: is weighed in. Gilbert Arenas is a fucking idiot, by
Speaker 1: the way, Gilberna said, who, by the way, got suspended
Speaker 1: fifty games for bringing a gun into the locker room.
Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna say he's the beacon of wisdom here.
Speaker 1: Thought maybe thought maybe he would have learned from this.
Speaker 1: Gilbert Arenas's take is the ja moran. We should just
Speaker 1: pretend we didn't see it. This is real take. That's
Speaker 1: his real take. Boogie Cousins, why are all these people
Speaker 1: you see how it's like it's never never, like Dame
Speaker 1: Lillard like weighing in on it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: It's like Boogie Cousins. Gilbert Ornus uh, Paul Piers like,
Speaker 1: people who truthfully shouldn't be weighing in on this are
Speaker 1: weighing in like that's I guess what makes it funny.
Speaker 1: Boogey Cousins says, this is why you need a strong
Speaker 1: veteran presence in your locker room. Someone lobbying for a
Speaker 1: job here. Also, Boogey Cousins, I don't know if that's you, right.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that that type of person matches up
Speaker 1: with you and your reputation. Paul Pierce, of all people,
Speaker 1: also chimed in. God. He says, I don't care what
Speaker 1: y'all say about jaw. I carried a gun after I
Speaker 1: was stabbed. Okay, oh god, Uh, we all don't know
Speaker 1: what he's going through. Everyone got something to say. Until
Speaker 1: you really know what's going on in someone's life, when
Speaker 1: you black and rich, you're a target period.
Speaker 2: Okay, So we should just enact an open carry license
Speaker 2: for every NBA player because they're all rich and they're
Speaker 2: ninety five black.
Speaker 1: So I guess that's what we'll do there. For Paul
Speaker 1: Pierce to feel comfortable, I can say this with complete confidence.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone is checking for these men's opinions
Speaker 1: on this subject. I don't think anyone's like, hey, Adam,
Speaker 1: when are you gonna make it a decision about what's
Speaker 1: going on with Jaw. Well, I need to hear all
Speaker 1: the stakeholders' opinions. I need to hear what Paul Pierce
Speaker 1: and Gilbert's Arenas and Boogie Cousins have to say. First,
Speaker 1: the guys who I can really rely on to give
Speaker 1: me a cogent understanding of all the facts on the
Speaker 1: ground here. Ah, everyone wants to lecture, Everyone wants to
Speaker 1: point out what Jaw's doing wrong. People want to pile
Speaker 1: on fucking columnists. They are vultures, aren't they. They come
Speaker 1: out of the woodwork. I don't even know what they do,
Speaker 1: what they would do without this type of stuff. Like
Speaker 1: I'm sure Nancy I haven't read one column because why
Speaker 1: would I. But I am certain that Nancy Armor has
Speaker 1: a column. I'm certain Christine Brennan has a column. I'm
Speaker 1: certain Sally Jenkins has a column. That Dan Wolkan, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, I love I know these people like personally,
Speaker 1: so it's no shame to them. But Dan Wolkin covers
Speaker 1: college football. Okay, what does Dan Wolkin need to say
Speaker 1: about Jahn Morant. Not a damn thing. It's kind of gross,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Like when you think about it, they all
Speaker 1: have some POV about how Jaw is going the wrong
Speaker 1: direction and how without proper guidance and leadership, and there's
Speaker 1: always some socioeconomic thing that these yts have to say
Speaker 1: about it. Right, it's wild. It's when you think about
Speaker 1: it from that, it's absolutely Bonker's land what we're living in.
Speaker 1: They just sit around and they wait in a corner
Speaker 1: somewhere until somebody, some athlete does something bad and then
Speaker 1: they have a think piece ready to go. They have
Speaker 1: no connection to Ja Morant, They have no connection to
Speaker 1: these streets. They have no connection to being someone who's
Speaker 1: that young with that much money that quick. And I
Speaker 1: already said I think Jaw's being an idiot, so that's obvious.
Speaker 1: But these think piecers they got to get the fuck
Speaker 1: out of here with that. Also, the person that I
Speaker 1: did like when he had to say the only person
Speaker 1: that I think had anything to say good was Jalen Rose.
Speaker 1: Let's listen, I am Jahn Morant.
Speaker 3: Like you guys have got a chance to see me
Speaker 3: grow up. For public consumption since nineteen ninety one, and
Speaker 3: I've been involved in drug raids, I've survived assassination attempts.
Speaker 3: I've been that undisciplined young person that was trying to
Speaker 3: figure out how to be famous, how to be successful,
Speaker 3: and how to change the dynamics of my family. The
Speaker 3: one thing that young people have to understand, and in
Speaker 3: John Moran's case, when you first get drafted, you go
Speaker 3: from being a member of the family, a member of
Speaker 3: the crew, to being the leader, to being the bread
Speaker 3: winner and first and foremost. I hear a lot of
Speaker 3: people talking about like his family and his crew. When
Speaker 3: you're the leader, it's on you because you end up
Speaker 3: searching that lifestyle. You end up wanting to be down.
Speaker 3: And what I had to learn is that people come
Speaker 3: into your life for four reasons. To add, subtract, multiply,
Speaker 3: or divide. You have to choose wisely. He has way
Speaker 3: too much to lose. Trust me. I've been that young
Speaker 3: player carrying a gun and Will Bond alluded to this.
Speaker 3: When you start waving it, that could get you killed.
Speaker 3: That that ain't that's that's all. That's an entirely different
Speaker 3: thing than we're talking about. A superstar athlete should be
Speaker 3: putting themselves in position. And as Stephen they mentioned, that's
Speaker 3: him on the video on his ig live. Ain't nobody
Speaker 3: coaxing him, Ain't nobody got a uh, Ain't nobody egging
Speaker 3: him on to do that. That's a personal choice.
Speaker 1: That's a personal choice. Jalen Row is the only person
Speaker 1: I'm listening to listening to on this that is straight
Speaker 1: up facts. Because as much as uh, everybody's like, oh,
Speaker 1: John needs to pick better friends, Oh, he's too loyal
Speaker 1: to people who I saw his uncle on my Instagram
Speaker 1: and his uncle posted that Jalen Rose video and said, facts,
Speaker 1: that's his uncle. Okay, so I've I think everybody's kind
Speaker 1: of in agreement. Jaw's being a little bit of an
Speaker 1: asshole right now. He's doing things the wrong way on
Speaker 1: his own. It was Jaw who decided allegedly to beat
Speaker 1: that seventeen year old kid down when the kid threw
Speaker 1: the basketball at him. It was Jaw flashing the gun
Speaker 1: on his own Instagram on social media, which is just crazy,
Speaker 1: Like that decision is just baffling to me, as someone
Speaker 1: who's made my own share of Instagram live decisions wild.
Speaker 1: This is wild, and as I say, I say this
Speaker 1: that Jaw could be the problem, Like Jaw is his
Speaker 1: own worst enemy. That is an issue that needs to
Speaker 1: be addressed. Who he decides to have with them is
Speaker 1: only augmenting what's going on. I think Jaw is the
Speaker 1: most exciting player in all of sports, period. End of story.
Speaker 1: I love Damian Lillard. I think John Moran is the
Speaker 1: only player I would go to the Capitol One Center
Speaker 1: to see. It's true, Capitol One is trash. The lighting
Speaker 1: is horrible, the vibe is awful, parking awful, Chinatown, all
Speaker 1: of it, all of it. But I said, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go and see Jaw at the Capitol One.
Speaker 1: Did I see John? No? I did not. That's a
Speaker 1: totally different story, a different day. It's a low management discussion.
Speaker 1: But I was like, you know what, I'm still gonna go.
Speaker 1: Why just so I can get a glimpse of Jaw
Speaker 1: in street close. That's how cool and how exciting and
Speaker 1: how electric Jaw is. You want to know what his
Speaker 1: vibe is at any given moment, but Jaw clearly has not.
Speaker 1: Is just the problem, has a problem, and he alludes
Speaker 1: to it on his statement the pr statement that like
Speaker 1: his Olivia Popes put out. He said, I take full
Speaker 1: responsibility for my actions last night. I'm sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners,
Speaker 1: City of Memphis, and the entire Grizzlies organization for letting
Speaker 1: you down. But this is the key piece. I'm going
Speaker 1: to take some time away to get help and work
Speaker 1: on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my
Speaker 1: overall well being. Straight out of the Josh Primo pr handbook.
Speaker 1: I think that's like basically what he said. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take some time away and find some better methods to
Speaker 1: coping with stress. The keywords get help, learning better methods.
Speaker 1: It is very clear that Ja Moran has had I
Speaker 1: don't know if problems is the right statement, but definitely
Speaker 1: things surrounding alcohol, and it's clearly something that's being used
Speaker 1: in a way that could be construed as destructive and toxic.
Speaker 1: It's certainly not new. I remember thinking ooh when I
Speaker 1: watched Jaws again. Another Instagram wive, this man wants to
Speaker 1: broadcast all of his business out on the streets for
Speaker 1: no reason, clearly being like Ooh, I get drunk, I'm
Speaker 1: so cool. So he posted on a private plane on
Speaker 1: the way to Cleveland last year to the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: his first All Star appearance. I'm watching him not shirtless,
Speaker 1: but just guzzling a bottle of tequila on the plane
Speaker 1: with his friends, loud dancing. Fine, but it was like,
Speaker 1: you're already fucked up, you are already trashed, and you're
Speaker 1: taking another bottle of alcohol to the head. Not good.
Speaker 1: And then he was like, oh, yeah it was lit
Speaker 1: at All Star Game. Ooh it was lit. Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1: The like a lot of this surrounds bad decisions when
Speaker 1: you are not sober and you lose control, things happen
Speaker 1: in your brain. Those sensors that tell you, hey, you
Speaker 1: shouldn't do this, Those sensors go away when you've had
Speaker 1: too much tequila. Hence the whole blame it on, Blame
Speaker 1: it on Henny, Blame it on Patron, Like that's you
Speaker 1: can't you bring a gun to the club. You can't
Speaker 1: blame it on the alcohol. You can't. Sorry, Like it's
Speaker 1: the truth, and you people forget Jaws only twenty three
Speaker 1: years old. He's a baby. Yeah what I was doing
Speaker 1: at twenty three years old? My lord, my lord, It
Speaker 1: doesn't excuse anything. But this is a guy who just
Speaker 1: signed five years two hundred and thirteen million dollars. Nothing
Speaker 1: can prepare you for five years two hundred and thirteen
Speaker 1: million dollars at twenty three years old. And I love
Speaker 1: him because he's defiant. He's defiant, and that is what
Speaker 1: that Instagram life was. Oh, Washington Post, you want to
Speaker 1: post a story about me putting a gun in my waistband,
Speaker 1: let me show you this gun to the face, no
Speaker 1: shirt on. Like, okay, I don't think you get it, sir,
Speaker 1: Like you can go to jail for this. You've now
Speaker 1: moved a gun allegedly. I don't know how the gun
Speaker 1: got there, but the NBA is gonna want to know
Speaker 1: the gun got from Memphis to Denver, across state lines,
Speaker 1: maybe on a team plane. Now you're talking about felony,
Speaker 1: You're talking about Gilbert Arena's suspensions. All kind of things
Speaker 1: are in play, and now this just came in today.
Speaker 1: Colorado police are now investigating the incidents to see if
Speaker 1: job Brokenny laws. It is believed that jaws Ig Live
Speaker 1: was filmed in Glendale, a suburb of Denver known for
Speaker 1: its strip clubs. He since he was only It's the
Speaker 1: only county in Colorado that is not an open carry County.
Speaker 1: Very unfortunate scenario for Jahn Morant. He may be now
Speaker 1: in play for a weapons violation. That is, in addition
Speaker 1: to whether it can be ascertained if it was his
Speaker 1: playing his own gun on the team plane, which would
Speaker 1: break all kinds of NBA locker room type laws. This
Speaker 1: shit could get ugly very fast. Sometimes it's better to
Speaker 1: be a slept on team. The Grizzlies, I think, are
Speaker 1: a team that's better to be slept on them as
Speaker 1: the team that everybody's looking for, they do not know
Speaker 1: how to handle that. You have Dylan Brooks with sixteen
Speaker 1: technicals already at this point in the year. He's getting
Speaker 1: suspended suspensions. You've got John Morant happy. This is probably
Speaker 1: the worst weekend for the Grizzlies in team history because
Speaker 1: they lose Brandon Clark to an achilles injury, which is
Speaker 1: not being discussed. It would have if this jaw thing
Speaker 1: wouldn't have happened. You've had Steven Adams missing a bajillion games,
Speaker 1: knows when he's coming back, and now you've got one
Speaker 1: of the thinnest teams as a two seed and you're
Speaker 1: losing to the LA Clippers. When you had a fifteen
Speaker 1: point lead in third quarter. You're just pew Downstandings, Sacramaro
Speaker 1: Kings breathing down your throat, Clippers breathing down your throat,
Speaker 1: MAVs breathing all down your throat. I want Jaw back,
Speaker 1: but I only want jawback if he's changed as a player,
Speaker 1: if he's changed as a human being, Because if he
Speaker 1: has the same baggage in the Satis decision making tree
Speaker 1: that he had when he decided, Oh yeah, you think
Speaker 1: this is gonna harm me, I'm gonna put the gun
Speaker 1: in the ig life. If that shit is going, this
Speaker 1: is gonna get bad very fast because Jaw, we don't
Speaker 1: deserve it. But really, Jaw doesn't deserve it. Really, Jaw
Speaker 1: needs to sort himself out. He deserves to play with
Speaker 1: new tactics to deal with being him. Outside of just
Speaker 1: bottles of Henny and strip clubs and guns. There's gotta
Speaker 1: be other things. Kyler Murray chooses call of duty. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's call of duty. I don't know what the methods
Speaker 1: of coping are going to be for Jaw, but this
Speaker 1: clearly can't be the method because obviously it's leading to
Speaker 1: being reckless and reckless decisions with a superstar with pajillions
Speaker 1: of money on the line. We're talking about sponsorship, we're
Speaker 1: talking about the league is not going to work. And
Speaker 1: I will wait and we should all be ready to
Speaker 1: wait for as long as necessary for this new version
Speaker 1: of Ja Moran to come back. I was thinking about
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn met Nets and Shawn Marx the other day.
Speaker 1: She just just the Saturday. So Shawn Marks gets like
Speaker 1: a lot of flak right for being this mediocre or
Speaker 1: poor GM. Everybody says it, Oh, Shawn Marks doesn't know
Speaker 1: what he's doing. Shawn Marks can't build teams. But if
Speaker 1: you look at this that I'm about to tell you,
Speaker 1: there may be no better GM in the world than
Speaker 1: Shawn Marks. I can hear you, like Trista, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? Their team has eroded, they have no picks.
Speaker 1: Find another GM in the league that has built three
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference powerhouses and had the team he took over
Speaker 1: build a fourth. Find that no one in the NBA
Speaker 1: has built more winning teams than Shawn Marks. The only
Speaker 1: problem is they're not his team. They're not his teams.
Speaker 1: There are other teams that he's building. So in fact,
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets are responsible for building right, now the
Speaker 1: top four rosters in the East that are not him.
Speaker 1: Let's break it down. At the top of the East,
Speaker 1: you have the Boston Celtics. Now this is not Sewn Marks,
Speaker 1: but it is the Nets. While this slightly pre date
Speaker 1: Shawn marks tenure with the Nets, he did not arrive
Speaker 1: until February twenty sixteen. The Nets famously trade Boston for
Speaker 1: a couple of warm corpses and included the draft picks
Speaker 1: that turn into Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown for you
Speaker 1: guessed it, Paul Pierce and Garnet. Well done, Brooklyn. You
Speaker 1: just gave two of the most prolific two way wings
Speaker 1: four guys who did not contribute to you whatsoever. Next up,
Speaker 1: you have the Milwaukee Bucks, who have one of the
Speaker 1: best defenses in the NBA. The center of that defense
Speaker 1: is not Yannis. The center of that defense is actually
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez, Yes, the same Brook Lopez, who has scored
Speaker 1: ten thousand points for the Nets, which is the most
Speaker 1: in team history. He's one of the leaders right now
Speaker 1: for Defensive Player of the Year. He came over from
Speaker 1: the Nets to Milwaukee just to show how Sean Marks
Speaker 1: is a good dude. The Nets are actually paying Javon
Speaker 1: Carter four million dollars this year to play for the Bucks.
Speaker 1: Carter has started thirty three games this year and is
Speaker 1: averaging a career high eight three and two with a
Speaker 1: steel per game and a plus minus of plus seventy eight.
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez was traded to the Lakers and then signed
Speaker 1: with Milwaukee in twenty eighteen. Third is the most interesting one,
Speaker 1: I think is the Sixers. So we know that Sean
Speaker 1: Marks traded James Harden, but he is also kind enough
Speaker 1: at that same time to take on the worst contract
Speaker 1: in the entire NBA in Ben Simmons. So you give
Speaker 1: this team James Harden and take back Ben Simmons. Ben
Speaker 1: right now is probably a negative asset. You're probably gonna
Speaker 1: have to give up two first round picks to get
Speaker 1: him off your hands. And yes, the Sixers, like you said,
Speaker 1: like you may know, gave up two first rounders to Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: but not ever first rounder as equal folks. This included
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two unprotected first rounder which was deferred
Speaker 1: to twenty twenty three, which will end up probably being
Speaker 1: between twenty five and thirty, and then also a twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven first round protected which is top eight that's garbage.
Speaker 1: So you give up James Harden, and now the Sixers
Speaker 1: looking like one of the most potent Eastern Conference teams
Speaker 1: in the league. The two man game between Joel Mbi
Speaker 1: and James Harden is looking very very good. And why
Speaker 1: did you do that deal? I don't know why he
Speaker 1: did that deal? Do you know what? Does it make
Speaker 1: sense to anyone? I don't know. Next up is the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers, who have some of the best defense in
Speaker 1: the league as well, And you traded Jared Allen for
Speaker 1: no reason to get James Harden, who turned into two
Speaker 1: random first round picks and Ben Simmons. Oh yeah, you
Speaker 1: traded Torrian Prince as well away. Torrian Prince turned into
Speaker 1: Ricky Rubio. The Calvs also used the twenty eighteen draft
Speaker 1: pick from the Nets to get Colin Sexton, who they
Speaker 1: eventually use checks notes as a major piece for Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: So Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, and Jared Allen all because
Speaker 1: of Sean Marks and the Nets. So we're talking Jared Allen,
Speaker 1: Ricky Rubio, Colin Sexton, Donovan Mitchell, Brook Lopez, James Harden,
Speaker 1: taking on Ben Simmons and Javon Carter all because of
Speaker 1: Sean Marks. That is that's impressive. That's impressive. No, nobody
Speaker 1: is more friendly to the competition than are Kiwi Shawn Marks.
Speaker 1: He even traded Spencer Dinwi to do the Wizards for
Speaker 1: no reason in a five player trade with the Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: just because just because he was a mensch, only to
Speaker 1: trade back for him a year and change later, same
Speaker 1: amount of money. The draft capital, if you look at
Speaker 1: this team is very wonky. I think they're gonna need
Speaker 1: to make some moves. They have three first rounders this year.
Speaker 1: They have their own Phoenixes and the sixers, but none
Speaker 1: of those are likely to drop into the top five.
Speaker 1: And that's where franchise altering players are unless you're Denver
Speaker 1: and you can find Jokic and the forty fourth pick.
Speaker 1: They have one first rounder phoenix which is likely in
Speaker 1: the twenties between twenty twenty four and twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna have to attach to some of their
Speaker 1: later futures just to get out from under Ben Simmons contract.
Speaker 1: And the bigger problem they don't have any of their
Speaker 1: own first rounders because they traded them all to get
Speaker 1: James Harden. So Houston has all their own first their
Speaker 1: first rounders, and they're probably gonna be a lottery team
Speaker 1: before long. I don't know what's going on. You have
Speaker 1: Sean Marx, Josigh. They're swinging for the fences. They miss,
Speaker 1: they get Kyrie and Cady, they miss on them, they lose,
Speaker 1: They get very little back for them. Now you're stuck
Speaker 1: till waiting till twenty twenty seven. We have two first
Speaker 1: rounds picks. That's four years. Four years from now to
Speaker 1: start building through the draft, that's three whole years away.
Speaker 1: Michael Bridgers at this point is gonna be an unrestricted
Speaker 1: free agent. I don't think that people realize how screwed
Speaker 1: Brooklyn is unless this team somehow becomes really, really good.
Speaker 1: At least in the short term. They're gonna have to
Speaker 1: hit home runs in their first three first rounders this year,
Speaker 1: or bundle them and move up to the draft to
Speaker 1: get like a top ten off I pick, to figure
Speaker 1: out a way to get Brandon Miller or somewhere the
Speaker 1: Thompson Twins or something. No one has more writing on
Speaker 1: this draft than Sean Marks. Does. You either pull a
Speaker 1: rabbit out of the hat or you have to trade
Speaker 1: mckel Bridges. That's that's it. Those are the only two
Speaker 1: options you have. You have one year, two years to
Speaker 1: save your job. But if Josie cuts ties with him,
Speaker 1: there's probably a lot of GMS out there they'll owe
Speaker 1: him a favor so he won't be unemployed for long.
Speaker 1: That's what we can say. Let's let's face it not
Speaker 1: easy to believe in this next team. Everybody was ready
Speaker 1: me even me, including to think that Tom Thibodau is
Speaker 1: going to get the boot this year. A lot of
Speaker 1: people slept on Jalen Brunson. Not me. Uh, He's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite players in the league. I think he's
Speaker 1: probably a top five point guard in the league for
Speaker 1: me right now, plays with such a chip on his shoulder.
Speaker 1: But the next culture is different. Right now, they are
Speaker 1: on their longest winning streak in two years. But they
Speaker 1: they are beating really, really good teams along the way.
Speaker 1: They beat Boston last night without Jalen Brunson. Yes there
Speaker 1: was no Malcolm Brogden, Yes there was no Rob Williams.
Speaker 1: But I don't care. You have Tatum, you have Brown.
Speaker 1: You should be able to beat these Nicks teams with
Speaker 1: this Knixt team without Jalen Brunson. Shit, they took Boston's
Speaker 1: best shot, repeatedly, get off the mat, taking them down
Speaker 1: in doubt. And I think that was a signature whin.
Speaker 1: I said to myself, Wow, this is when I'm in
Speaker 1: on the Knicks. You did it without Brunson, you did
Speaker 1: it with Emmanuel quickly, Emmanuel quickly getting thirty nine points.
Speaker 1: He played every single minute in that second half. And
Speaker 1: it feels different. It feels different to me cause two
Speaker 1: years ago it came out of nowhere. Everybody's like the
Speaker 1: Knicks are back. But October twentieth, twenty twenty one, the
Speaker 1: Knicks beat the Celtics at home one thirty eight, one
Speaker 1: thirty four. That was the bing bong that was then.
Speaker 1: That's when the bing bong cree got created. Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: had forty six, Evan Fournier had four threes. In overtime,
Speaker 1: the Knicks went five to one. Everybody was bing bong,
Speaker 1: bing bong, and then they went six over six and
Speaker 1: sixteen over the next month. That win was the beginning
Speaker 1: of a season against a Boston team that was still
Speaker 1: not a Boston team that we know, catching them out
Speaker 1: of nowhere. This is Boston Number two seed coming off
Speaker 1: of the finals, and yes, under undermanned, but Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum in their zone. Nothing like that one,
Speaker 1: nothing like that win. The Knicks have wins during this
Speaker 1: streak the last month, two times over the Celtics, two
Speaker 1: times over the Heat, the Nets, the Hawks, the Wizards.
Speaker 1: All teams tenth place are higher. They're not feasting on
Speaker 1: teams like the Houston Rockets and the Spurs. They beat
Speaker 1: the Sixers as well, all playoff teams except for the Wizards.
Speaker 1: They're doing it on the road. They are twenty and
Speaker 1: twelve away from MSG this year. That is second in
Speaker 1: the NBA. But really, since the deadline is when things
Speaker 1: change for me. Josh Hart has been incredible in the
Speaker 1: Celtics game. He was he was hounding Jalen Brown, he
Speaker 1: was hounding Jason Tatum. He was just like a fly
Speaker 1: on raw meat out there. It was impossible for them
Speaker 1: to get any shot up. And Tibbs loves Josh Hart.
Speaker 1: I love Josh Hart. Most importantly, Jalen Brunson loves Josh Hart.
Speaker 1: And they get him for getting rid of Cam Reddish
Speaker 1: and a first round pick for this year. They're nine
Speaker 1: and oh since Josh Hart got to New York. They
Speaker 1: are undefeated. They have won eleven out of twelve games.
Speaker 1: He is plus one twenty Josh Hart in those games
Speaker 1: on average, a plus thirteen per game, eleven six and
Speaker 1: three with a steel per game, and he's shooting fifty
Speaker 1: nine percent from three. Josh Hart kind of what I
Speaker 1: wanted to see from in Portland. But we'll just move
Speaker 1: on from there. We got some glimpses. He was a
Speaker 1: little bit tentative. That's what happens when you have Dame
Speaker 1: Willard on your team. You allow him to hit those shots.
Speaker 1: He averaged sixteen ten and two in his last week
Speaker 1: with Portland, so maybe he was finally healthy. I guess
Speaker 1: why does this work? Though? To me, the reason this
Speaker 1: is different and the reason that Josh Hart is so
Speaker 1: good is he's really an extension of Jalen Brunson. On
Speaker 1: this team, you have Villanova DNA it frees Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: up even more with Heart in the lineup. Brunson's numbers
Speaker 1: are up ten percent and his minutes are down ten percent.
Speaker 1: He's averaging twenty eight four and six and he was
Speaker 1: averaging twenty six three and five before. So He's playing
Speaker 1: less scoring more direct result of having a guy who's
Speaker 1: defensively really going to be there to protect you the
Speaker 1: primary defender on the other team's best scorer, which frees
Speaker 1: you up energetically. He gets out in a transition. He
Speaker 1: can play point guard if he needs to, which is
Speaker 1: what he did last night. He had the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands a ton when Emmanuel Quickly didn't have the
Speaker 1: ball on his hands. He doesn't turn the ball over,
Speaker 1: and more importantly, he ensures when Brunson is not in
Speaker 1: the lineup that the intensity stays high. Yes, was it
Speaker 1: ugly against the Celtics last night with no Brunson. Hell yeah,
Speaker 1: it was very, very similar to Julius Randall, just dribble, dribble, dribble,
Speaker 1: shooting step back threes. But the biggest change for me,
Speaker 1: the Knicks are different because they're having fun. The enduring
Speaker 1: image is Brunson putting his fist out during the timeout
Speaker 1: to tap up Tibbs and TIB's fist bumping him. Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson is having a good time, Emmanuel Quickly is having
Speaker 1: a good time, and you know what, they are all close.
Speaker 1: According to insiders, people are saying Julius Randall's body language
Speaker 1: is better. He is bawling out In his last twenty
Speaker 1: five games, Julius Randall averaging twenty eight ten and five,
Speaker 1: including thirty eight percent from three, all the while having fun. RJ.
Speaker 1: Barrett says, they're having fun and the young players like
Speaker 1: Quickly Grimes, Obi top End, Jericho Sims, Duce McBride all
Speaker 1: don't care how many minutes they're having, and they all
Speaker 1: have an impact. When you consider the fact that they
Speaker 1: are the average age of the team's like twenty four
Speaker 1: years old. This team's gonna be good for a long time,
Speaker 1: to the point where you could say, well, I understand
Speaker 1: maybe why Leon Rose didn't want to trade for Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: They were gonna have to give up too much to
Speaker 1: get them. Stefan Bondi of The Daily News summed up
Speaker 1: the difference between this year's nixt team and this one
Speaker 1: that surprised everyone in twenty twenty one. He said, well,
Speaker 1: this year they have the fifth best rated offense and
Speaker 1: have an identity around efficient scoring. Their seventh ranked net
Speaker 1: rating underscores the balance of both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: For perspective, the year that they came out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: they had the twenty second ranked offense and one of
Speaker 1: the slowest teams in the NBA, feasting on their defensive
Speaker 1: identity and a very old Derrick Rose. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: the offense that comes during playoff time. It's half court
Speaker 1: offense that you can rely on during in playoffs. You've
Speaker 1: got to thank Brunson for that. You're gonna think Emmanuel
Speaker 1: quickly for that, and to a degree, Julius Randall as
Speaker 1: a third option as well. There is a reason New
Speaker 1: York media is saying that this is the most fun
Speaker 1: Knixt team since the nineteen nineties, and with their record
Speaker 1: on the road, there is no Eastern Conference team that
Speaker 1: wants to see them in the first round, especially the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers. Man we have had justin and killed. I
Speaker 1: don't know why it's been so good basketball wise these
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks, but it's been great. Clipper Sons
Speaker 1: had the one seventy six one seventy five rematch which
Speaker 1: came down to the wire there as well. You had
Speaker 1: Sons and the Mavericks. You add Kad Kyrie Booker Luca
Speaker 1: in a game where we had everything that we would
Speaker 1: hope for one eight one twenty six was down to
Speaker 1: the wire, Luca missed a bunny with three and a
Speaker 1: half seconds left, and of course there was electricity there.
Speaker 1: In addition all four superstars putting up thirty points per
Speaker 1: game in the same game, there were also a couple
Speaker 1: of fascinating interactions I wanted to note. Outside of the
Speaker 1: fact that you had four of the best scorers in
Speaker 1: the league all playing at the same time, having over
Speaker 1: I think one hundred and thirty points combined between those
Speaker 1: four one the interaction between Kyrie and Katie is curious.
Speaker 1: Nobody's really talking about it, which is exactly what I
Speaker 1: find fascinating. There's nothing going on between them. There's zero looks,
Speaker 1: there's zero touching, there's zero conversations. Nothing. These guys were
Speaker 1: supposedly so thick as thieve. They're best friends, their brothers.
Speaker 1: They want to play together for the rest of their careers.
Speaker 1: They want to take control of their future, they want
Speaker 1: to build a dynasty together. They have been planning this
Speaker 1: over facetimes and Palo Sancho, incense burning sensions, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you have Kyrie saying that Kevin Rant
Speaker 1: was him in a prior life. Like these guys were
Speaker 1: tight and now it's like they see each other. They
Speaker 1: don't even speak, and we find that strange. I find
Speaker 1: that strange. They didn't even acknowledge each other. During the game.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant came over the Dallas Mavericks bench talking to
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd and he's like dapping up and hugging bear
Speaker 1: hugging Mark Keith Morris, who I don't know, played with
Speaker 1: him for a cup of coffee in Brooklyn a month
Speaker 1: they played together. They did not played together on any
Speaker 1: other teams. He's giving him a bear hug and he
Speaker 1: says nothing to Kyrie Zero. They did not even acknowledge
Speaker 1: each other pregame. They did not shake hands after the game.
Speaker 1: What is going on here? It deserves a full on
Speaker 1: tea investigation. Kevin Durant was asked after the fact about
Speaker 1: what he felt while facing Kyrie irving All. He said,
Speaker 1: I felt no emotions at all. It was another game.
Speaker 1: I'm glad we got the w whoa no emotions, stone faced,
Speaker 1: stone cold, Steve Austin, My lord, it's dead over there.
Speaker 1: It's a dead relationship. Kyrie said this before the game.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it, playing against the Suns, playing
Speaker 1: against the new look sons with KD. I think it'll
Speaker 1: be an exciting time for us to compete again with
Speaker 1: each other. He's my brother for life, but when we're
Speaker 1: stepping out there, I'm looking forward to the competition. So
Speaker 1: Kyrie seems to be less upset with Kevin Durant than
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is with Kyrie. Rumors are that Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: was angry that Kyrie just dip set it on him
Speaker 1: in the middle of the season. Could you blame him
Speaker 1: logic police, Yes, we of course you want to see
Speaker 1: him play this thing out. He would not play it
Speaker 1: out because they would not give him the extension, and
Speaker 1: he dipped out kind of in a suspect way. So
Speaker 1: is there beef. I don't think there's beef, but they're
Speaker 1: certainly not close vibes close energy between the two. Are
Speaker 1: they gonna be going to Turks and Caicos this summer
Speaker 1: and spending some time on a sailboat. No, I do
Speaker 1: not think so. I think the relationship has grown chilly.
Speaker 1: I thought that they would. I thought that they would
Speaker 1: stay close after a last offseason when Kevin Rant was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: no matter, what's in the best interest of Kyrie. We're
Speaker 1: always gonna be tight, not the way that it went
Speaker 1: down this time, folks, No, sir, I'm not sure anymore.
Speaker 1: The other great thing that was happening in this game
Speaker 1: was this rivalry between Devin Booker and Luca. It is
Speaker 1: something I need full seven games of again. I needed.
Speaker 1: The rivalry obviously stems back to last year when Luca
Speaker 1: did that little meme in Devin Booker's face. Just google
Speaker 1: if you don't remember what I'm talking about. He's smiling
Speaker 1: because he has thirty and the Sons have twenty seven
Speaker 1: at halftime, and he's just looking him dead in his face,
Speaker 1: like two inches from his face. Maybe Sons were up
Speaker 1: in that series. Of course, they talked a lot of shit.
Speaker 1: Luca was not happy with that. Hey, why don't you, uh,
Speaker 1: why don't you wait to talk shit when it's just
Speaker 1: even it's all fun and games when you're up. But
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden they get their asses handed
Speaker 1: to them in game seven and then obviously Devin Booker
Speaker 1: talked shit to Luca when he missed a bunny with
Speaker 1: three and a half seconds left. Luca was not having that.
Speaker 1: He said to Booker, Yeah, it's a competitive game, it's
Speaker 1: all good. Next time, just don't wait until there's three
Speaker 1: seconds left to talk. That's facts. Booker was asked after
Speaker 1: the game about the incident. He said this, You guys
Speaker 1: say you don't want everybody to be friendly friendly. There
Speaker 1: you go. We got smoke, So the star players on
Speaker 1: these teams have smoke. I want to see a first
Speaker 1: round playoff series between the Suns and the Maths. Yes,
Speaker 1: I do. Do I want to wait until the Western No,
Speaker 1: I don't want to wait. I want the first round
Speaker 1: to be that. I want all the drama. I want
Speaker 1: all the questions about Katie and Kyrie. I want Luca
Speaker 1: and Devin Booker to go at it. You're damn right,
Speaker 1: I do. That's all the time that we have for
Speaker 1: the episode of the Heat Check. Check back for an
Speaker 1: all new episode. Do not forget to watch the feed.
Speaker 1: We just had Dave Defour on. Make sure you catch
Speaker 1: that interview. He was electric. Bonus episodes will continue to drop.
Speaker 1: We have Bill Ryder coming very soon as well, host
Speaker 1: of Writer than You. CBS Sports Radio also does a
Speaker 1: call him. Please follow the Heat Check as the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two to twenty twenty three season heads towards the playoffs.
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