Speaker 1: Episode of My Geat Chat. It's the Eastern Conference preview time. Baby,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be looking at the audi of the division,
Speaker 1: the Atlantic. We're gonna be looking at Toronto, which is,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, the worst of the law, Philadelphia, Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks, and the Boston Celfies. That's five
Speaker 1: playoff for playing teams of one division. Folks. Everybody be
Speaker 1: eaten in the Atlanta. Let's get a move on, Lamb
Speaker 1: and drop that generic gas beat should be Ranni.
Speaker 2: Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines you
Speaker 2: n so the Heat Check the Heat Chat with Shrista
Speaker 2: cra the best podcast covering all the drama around the association.
Speaker 1: All right, so we gotta finish our NBA season previous.
Speaker 1: I realized that a conference previews they're kind of a
Speaker 1: but we are going to give our first stop. I
Speaker 1: know it's a lot in the Atlantic Division where most
Speaker 1: of the Eastern best teams are located. Let's start with
Speaker 1: are they though I don't actually know if that's true.
Speaker 1: I just know that it's like a pretty loaded division
Speaker 1: in general. There's no like besides Toronto. There's no bottom
Speaker 1: feeders here. Let's start with the Philadelphia seventy six ers
Speaker 1: that finished fifty four and twenty eight last year, which
Speaker 1: is good for third place. Key additions, Pat Beverley, that's
Speaker 1: really a key addition. I don't know, Kelly Oubrace Tsunami Poppy,
Speaker 1: and of course Nick Nurse Key, we'll call it subtractions,
Speaker 1: key losses. George Nang he goes to Cleveland. I always
Speaker 1: think his name is Georgie Yang because there's another Georgi.
Speaker 1: Gorgi Jang is too. It's too confusing. And then Doc Rivers,
Speaker 1: of course, the players coach that nobody actually liked playing for,
Speaker 1: and ever since he's left, and now Nick Nurse is there,
Speaker 1: everybody's starting to like spill the tea about how Iso
Speaker 1: heavy dog Rivers style was like, oh yeah, I'm Joel
Speaker 1: and Beads being like, oh yeah, I never really wanted
Speaker 1: to be an ISO player. I never really wanted to
Speaker 1: just be in the block. I like ball movement. Anyway,
Speaker 1: we move on. The Sixers begin the off season by
Speaker 1: firing that guy, Doc Rivers, and shit has been a
Speaker 1: little haywire since then. I don't know if anyone has
Speaker 1: had a worse off season in the NBA than the Sixers,
Speaker 1: probably the Toronto Raptors because they're getting sued by another
Speaker 1: team in their own division. The next maybe the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat who lost out on Dave. There's a few down
Speaker 1: bad teams, let's be honest. But short of those, the
Speaker 1: Sixers are in rough shape at the start of the season.
Speaker 1: Once again, of course, it's about disgruntled former All Star
Speaker 1: James Harden, who would rather sink his own damn career
Speaker 1: and play in China than never be seen in the
Speaker 1: Sixers uniform. Again, very stubborn man, James Harden, extremely stubborn man.
Speaker 1: Of course, this has been the story that's been looming
Speaker 1: the entire summer. He hijacked my entire offseason, wondering is
Speaker 1: it gonna happen, When is it gonna happen, what's he
Speaker 1: gonna say next? But the long story short is he
Speaker 1: ain't coming home. He ain't coming home. There's no there's
Speaker 1: no way to cajole or finesse or tell him, hey,
Speaker 1: if you play eight games like he did for the Rockets,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get traded soon, It'll happily promise. No, he
Speaker 1: knows he's dealing with Daryl Morey and Daryl Moorey is
Speaker 1: gonna do whatever he can to extract the greatest set
Speaker 1: of assets for him as he can, and that's just
Speaker 1: not gonna be working for James. James is not going
Speaker 1: to play for anyone else but the Clippers, and the
Speaker 1: Clippers apparently don't want to get rid of now new
Speaker 1: starting I don't even know what position Terrence Man plays
Speaker 1: for the Clippers because they don't fucking know, but anyway,
Speaker 1: he's in the starting lineup now. Finally, Terrence Man. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned last week, Terrence Man apparently is the second
Speaker 1: coming of Michael Jordan as it relates to the LA Clippers,
Speaker 1: and he's holding up the entire trade. Lawrence Frank believes
Speaker 1: Terrence Man is untouchable. Let's be real, though, the lackluster
Speaker 1: years for Terrence Man, I think that the Clippers fault. Honestly,
Speaker 1: they played him twenty three minutes a game. They moved
Speaker 1: him in and out of the rotation. You're here, you're there.
Speaker 1: Is he getting minutes? Is he not getting minutes? Where's
Speaker 1: he at in the playoffs? So it's been a little
Speaker 1: like touch and go with Terrence Man's development. He averaged
Speaker 1: nine points last season, but remember he had this incredible
Speaker 1: game in the playoffs where he put up almost forty.
Speaker 1: It's just very weird. The whole thing is very weird.
Speaker 1: Back to the Sixers, here's what they gained. Patrick Beverly,
Speaker 1: who's an absolute past great culture guy, gonna fit on
Speaker 1: this team absolutely. Tsunami Poppy, who is reckless, plays with
Speaker 1: a level of I don't give a fuck that only
Speaker 1: a man beloved and lusted at if they're by other
Speaker 1: men that claim to be heterosexual, could have. Right, Like
Speaker 1: when you know you can turn I hate to say this,
Speaker 1: when you're a guy who knows that you can turn
Speaker 1: any anyone in your favor despite their proclivities, I guess
Speaker 1: that's confidence right there. That's the type of confidence that
Speaker 1: Kelly Ubre plays with. I will shoot this ball whenever
Speaker 1: I want, despite whether I'm open or not. And that's
Speaker 1: the way it goes. So Kelly Uber. He's in addition,
Speaker 1: he's going to be the three point shooting that they
Speaker 1: lost from Nang, which I think he's probably a little
Speaker 1: better than George Nang. You have Nick Nurse with a
Speaker 1: new system from Toronto. He's going to implement this new
Speaker 1: system with this without a point guard. I think that's
Speaker 1: going to be Tyresse MAXI that will be very interesting
Speaker 1: to see how it works. But the truth of the
Speaker 1: matter is that the Sixers are going to, like always
Speaker 1: trust the process, fail or succeed this season based on
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid's health. The team with the healthy Embiid is
Speaker 1: a problem, especially when you have PJ Tucker, Tobias Harris,
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubray, and yes, even Pat Beverley. And
Speaker 1: by the way, if you haven't seen Joel Embiid at
Speaker 1: media Day or during his press availability, he looks fucking ripped.
Speaker 1: This is the most in shape I think I've ever
Speaker 1: seen Joel Embiid, So we can say things are looking up.
Speaker 1: They always have Daniel House the Anthony Mountain. I think
Speaker 1: the upside for the Sixers is actually pretty good, but
Speaker 1: they haven't really solved their biggest issue yet, which is
Speaker 1: a roster that is constructed not to win in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: constructed this way where teams can throw high quality defenders
Speaker 1: at Joel Embiid, who may or may not be healthy
Speaker 1: at that point because his uses radued through the roof
Speaker 1: and he's been injured every playoffs for the last four years.
Speaker 1: So the sixers are in flux. And the funny thing is,
Speaker 1: no matter if James Harden's playing for this team or not,
Speaker 1: and also Terrence Man, if he plays on this team
Speaker 1: or not, not gonna save him. We move on, though,
Speaker 1: to the worst team in the Atlantic. Just an abysmal,
Speaker 1: bismal team. How the culture has changed for the Toronto
Speaker 1: Raptors since twenty nineteen. They were forty one and forty
Speaker 1: one last year, ninth place. They end up drafting a
Speaker 1: guy that I love, Grady Dick. They end up acquiring
Speaker 1: Dennis Shooter through free agency. They get Darko Rajakovic, who's
Speaker 1: currently the guy that's being sued by the New York Knicks.
Speaker 1: Great higher. They lose, They lose Nick Nurse, they lose
Speaker 1: Fred van Fleet. But there's some other guys that are
Speaker 1: kind of like in flux, you know, like they're in
Speaker 1: the we'll call it, they're in roster purgatory. That's O Chidanobi.
Speaker 1: That is Pascal Siakam. I think there's some other ones,
Speaker 1: but those are the main two. They were very disappointing
Speaker 1: last season, extremely disappointing five hundred team. They get bounced
Speaker 1: in the playoff play in they fire their coach right away.
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse won the only title in franchise history, did
Speaker 1: not see eye to eye with Massai Eugerie. He got
Speaker 1: shown the door. It was shocking to some Our guy,
Speaker 1: Jake Fisher, friend the show was calling for that pretty
Speaker 1: much in the preseason last year, said that he was
Speaker 1: going to be on the hot seat because of some
Speaker 1: cultural issues between those two in terms of their philosophy
Speaker 1: for the how the squad's going to play. Also, the
Speaker 1: roster construction very strange and that leads to underperformance as well.
Speaker 1: They were in constant trade rumors over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. They did absolutely nothing at the deadline. Shocker again,
Speaker 1: roster purgatory players that we didn't know if they were
Speaker 1: going to go or if they were going to stay.
Speaker 1: Masai Ujeri greatest cock t's in the NBA for spinning
Speaker 1: fire tonight at midnight. The Raptors then lose Fred van
Speaker 1: Fleet for nothing again because he was in the trade
Speaker 1: rumors that they didn't do it. He was supposed to
Speaker 1: be the heart and soul of the team aka the
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry of the team, who they again lost for nothing.
Speaker 1: They add Dennis Shuter, who I love actually feba God.
Speaker 1: He was a part of the World Cup run where
Speaker 1: I don't think Germany lost even one game. One of
Speaker 1: the most underrated players in the league. Right now they
Speaker 1: get Grady Dick, who people are just calling Dick now,
Speaker 1: which I love. Very wild card Dick is. You know,
Speaker 1: you know how Dick b is. Just never know what
Speaker 1: Dick's up to. You know, one second he's here, one
Speaker 1: second he's not. Could be really good, could be a
Speaker 1: real mess, just like any Dick anyway. The biggest change
Speaker 1: is dark Over Jakovich, who comes over from Memphis. He's
Speaker 1: a very unknown commodity. He dropped into this team like
Speaker 1: a vampire, and he seems like already kind of causing
Speaker 1: a ruckus given the fact that I think the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks are accusing him of stealing some proprietary information
Speaker 1: from their team. He is now tasked with coaching a
Speaker 1: team that has a bunch of veteran presence, a lot
Speaker 1: of defensive ability, a lot of length, a lot of athleticism,
Speaker 1: but not a lot of true bucket ketters, not a
Speaker 1: lot of guys who can shoot from beyond the art consistently. Besides,
Speaker 1: of course, the wildcard Dick. He will preside over players
Speaker 1: like Pascal Suakam, who is either going to sign an
Speaker 1: extension or is going to dipset O g Nanobi, who
Speaker 1: has been unhappy with his role since twenty nineteen twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: It's been a while not happy in Toronto. I'm probably
Speaker 1: gonna walk in free agency if he doesn't get sent
Speaker 1: out by the deadline. But let's be honest, it's MASSI,
Speaker 1: so he'll probably keep him. Scottie Barnes, who was a
Speaker 1: big time sophomore slump last year, but I like a
Speaker 1: lot MASI wants to build the entire team around him.
Speaker 1: But the question really is, what is this team? What
Speaker 1: is this? What are they doing? I know they're probably
Speaker 1: good enough to be a five hundred team again, but like,
Speaker 1: could it be better than that? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I don't have really any real idea. I suspect this
Speaker 1: is a loser team. Honestly, I suspect this is not
Speaker 1: a good team. I do think they're gonna play freer.
Speaker 1: I do think they're gonna play looser with more joy.
Speaker 1: The Nick Nurse experiment, the Nick Nurse train is a
Speaker 1: little Thibodeau esque. He's not afraid to bury you in
Speaker 1: the media. We'll see what Darko does. I don't know
Speaker 1: how that's gonna be. They're probably gonna ditch this whole.
Speaker 1: Like we play five to seven guys forty two to
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes a night. Thing the bench is not
Speaker 1: an existing thing. We don't even really even travel with
Speaker 1: the bench because we're not gonna use him. It's like
Speaker 1: Nick Tom Thibodeaux nurse, you know, kind of that kind
Speaker 1: of a vibe. Where will the Raptors end up? I
Speaker 1: have zero confidence in this team. I'm not gonna lie
Speaker 1: to you. In my notes it says they could be
Speaker 1: a six seed, but if I actually said that with
Speaker 1: any conviction, I'd be lying to you. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: do that. This is a very schizophrenic defensive oriented a
Speaker 1: lot of ninety eight to ninety six wins if they're
Speaker 1: gonna get them, and in a league where Jannis and
Speaker 1: Dame are gonna probably put up one fifty a night,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough sledded. They are very we'll call
Speaker 1: it a wild card. We'll see what they get at
Speaker 1: the deadline, if they get anything at all. But onto
Speaker 1: the team that everyone thinks is going to be the
Speaker 1: real contender. The Boston Celtics. Who's Colie taken? Not Joe's.
Speaker 1: That's really the main question mark. There is Joe Key edition,
Speaker 1: Chris DAPs porzingis in free agency, and Drew Holliday via trade.
Speaker 1: They lose Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Rob Williams, Malcolm Brogden.
Speaker 1: If you think that's a lot, well that is. Uh
Speaker 1: that's three starting players and six Man of the Year
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden. So they made a lot of money. Brad
Speaker 1: Stevens is under the gun. I'm sure ownership is crawling
Speaker 1: up his ass to get a championship in while the
Speaker 1: J's are still in their prime. They're only nineteen. By
Speaker 1: the way, did you know Jason Tatum only nineteen? For
Speaker 1: like the seventh straight year tradered Brad has pushed all
Speaker 1: of his chips into the middle of this summer and
Speaker 1: now the Celtics are the odds on favorite to win
Speaker 1: the title. So how did this happen? Well, they made
Speaker 1: the big trade earlier in the summer when they shipped
Speaker 1: out Marcus Smart, which we predicted should have been traded
Speaker 1: probably two years ago. Everyone murdered me in Boston for that.
Speaker 1: For that, I say thank you guy. Was right. Then
Speaker 1: they end up doing this deal with Memphis in a
Speaker 1: three way trade that landed them Porzingis in Kelly Green.
Speaker 1: They then signed them to an immediate extension, which I
Speaker 1: don't know, baby, I don't know about that huge move
Speaker 1: brings an all star big man. I like the prospect
Speaker 1: of Kristaps porzingis a lot. I think him playing five
Speaker 1: is very interesting. If he's healthy. He can stretch the floor.
Speaker 1: He can shoot threes, he can dribble, he can literally
Speaker 1: bring the ball up and pull up from thirty feet
Speaker 1: right in your dome face. He can also get lobs.
Speaker 1: He can rebound. Not the greatest perimeter defender, pretty good
Speaker 1: at defending the rim. I think this is going to
Speaker 1: take the team forward. It's certainly going to make them
Speaker 1: more unique, a little more athletic, a little bit more versatile.
Speaker 1: But they were not done. In the aftermath of the
Speaker 1: Dame Lollard trade, of course, Brad Stevens put his big
Speaker 1: balls on the table and when now he got Drew Holliday,
Speaker 1: one of the best perimeter defenders, if not the best
Speaker 1: perimeter defender on planet Earth, in exchange for time Lord
Speaker 1: Rob Williams and six Man of the Year Malcolm Bronkon.
Speaker 1: You lose Grant Williams to free agency, he goes off
Speaker 1: to Dallas. That is a good portion of the defense, folks,
Speaker 1: that is now gone. Drew Holiday presumably helps set immensely.
Speaker 1: Now this team is a serious problem. This team is
Speaker 1: a when healthy, a massive problem. You have Derek my
Speaker 1: name is Kodak Black, but when you see me, I'm
Speaker 1: white and I like him a lot. We don't even
Speaker 1: mention him because he's a key piece of this rotation.
Speaker 1: Swapping out Holiday for Smart, I think is a big improvement, really,
Speaker 1: especially since Holiday is a forty percent three point shooter,
Speaker 1: and we know that Marcus Smart a little on the
Speaker 1: iffy side from three, can be good, can be very
Speaker 1: ice cold. They are not gonna have to worry about
Speaker 1: who's going to handle the rock down and the crunch
Speaker 1: time and clutch time. It's not gonna be Jaylen Brown anymore.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be Jason Tatum anymore. You now have
Speaker 1: a floor general who can also walk up on defense
Speaker 1: but also make the right decisions. You don't want Marcus
Speaker 1: Smart taking the last shot of a crucial game seven.
Speaker 1: I'd be fine with Jew Holiday taking the last shot
Speaker 1: in a crucial Game seven. But the issues on this
Speaker 1: team are are threefold. One, Ken Christas porzingis stay healthy.
Speaker 1: That's key. If he can, this team's gonna be insane.
Speaker 1: History shows, though, let's be real, Christas Porzingiz has difficulty
Speaker 1: playing a full season. If he is out for any
Speaker 1: extended period of time, they have really nothing to back
Speaker 1: him up. I'm not even sure who their backup center is.
Speaker 1: I really don't know. I would have to google it
Speaker 1: right this second. Not anyone good. They don't have time
Speaker 1: Lord there to back him up now, which was kind
Speaker 1: of a key piece. The second point, are they gonna
Speaker 1: have enough defense in the interior, specifically to stop Joel Embiid?
Speaker 1: And you're honest, I don't know. I don't think about that.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Not to mention those other teams out West,
Speaker 1: like Jokic and Jamal Murray and a plethora of other
Speaker 1: teams that are gonna be coming for that ass, Drew's
Speaker 1: the lockdown defender. Jason Tatum can play defense, Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: can play defense, but I don't know. I'm suss on
Speaker 1: this also, of course, hur The third more obvious glaring
Speaker 1: question mark is Joe Missoula. He did not have a
Speaker 1: stellar coaching performance in the playoffs. He does not have
Speaker 1: particularly great called bedside manner with the media, he doesn't
Speaker 1: really have great in game adjustments. But he has surrounded
Speaker 1: himself with more veteran assistant coaches. He gets another year
Speaker 1: of experience. Hopefully he's not watching the town anymore. That
Speaker 1: did not work out. The question really, will he be
Speaker 1: able to more consistently manage rotations and the clock in
Speaker 1: the playoffs and not just be like, well, their jobs
Speaker 1: to figure it out, and my job is to watch.
Speaker 1: I'm watching just like y'all. That's not an acceptable answer, Joe.
Speaker 1: So the Celtics are going to be a very, very
Speaker 1: fun team to watch this year. Whether it ends up
Speaker 1: with them hoisting the Larry O'Brien, we'll see. Let's move
Speaker 1: on to the Brooklyn Nets. Very fun team. Actually, they
Speaker 1: were forty five and thirty seven, sixth place. They of course,
Speaker 1: a lot of those wins came with Kevin Durant on
Speaker 1: the team. Key additions Noah Clowney in the draft, Derek Whitehead,
Speaker 1: and my guy Lonnie Walker, who I think is going
Speaker 1: to be a massive addition for them. Key subtractions you
Speaker 1: lose Seth Curry, you lose Joe Harris, you lose Patty
Speaker 1: Mills Brooklyn, ye're one of the rebuild has begun. This
Speaker 1: is It's like a post apocalyptic society living in a
Speaker 1: silo like Common as the Sheriff. They have now fully
Speaker 1: embraced the rebuild. They have shed KD and Kyrie. They
Speaker 1: have brought in Mikhale Bridges and Cam Johnson as the
Speaker 1: cornerstones of this team. They swapped out the bright lights
Speaker 1: of the Big City for let's be real, a tunnel
Speaker 1: three thousand miles below the Earth's surface. Instead of this
Speaker 1: team being all glitz, glam and Kardashians, this is Ma
Speaker 1: and Pa Kettle. This is not a sexy, particularly sexy team.
Speaker 1: I'm not throwing shade at Dorianfinny Smith or Spencer Dinwoodie.
Speaker 1: I like this team, Okay, I like them. I like them.
Speaker 1: They're very cute, They're adorable, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They're not doing anything of note, but they're gonna be
Speaker 1: fucking fun. And the Big Three era, of course, is
Speaker 1: gonna be marred by what ifs. But it's time to
Speaker 1: forget about all that. All the stars, all the egos,
Speaker 1: all the trade capital that you gave up for James Harden.
Speaker 1: No more ifs and butts and candies and nuts. Okay,
Speaker 1: now the eyes are on the future. Let's build a
Speaker 1: winning culture here. Let's build a winning team like we
Speaker 1: did the last time, where you had D'Angelo Russell and
Speaker 1: Jared Allen, all these young young up and comers, like gritty,
Speaker 1: scrappy players. They also lost Utah Wattonnabe, so that was
Speaker 1: a key piece lost as well. This is basically an overhaul.
Speaker 1: The most interesting thing that they have is a healthy
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons, very important piece and an aspect of this
Speaker 1: team that could be very interesting. Who knows what it means.
Speaker 1: I don't fucking know, Like, is he healthy, is his
Speaker 1: mind right? Is he right handed? Is he left handed?
Speaker 1: I don't know, sir, I don't know. They have a
Speaker 1: pretty good defensive team because they have mickl Bridges, Cam Johnson,
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons, Spencer Dinwiddie and Nick Claxton. The only player
Speaker 1: on this team that really isn't strapping you is Dimwitty.
Speaker 1: That's a fun ass core. Then you add Lonnie Walker,
Speaker 1: Doriannfinny Smith, Royce O'Neill. This is like a top six
Speaker 1: team in the East. Honestly, this is a team that
Speaker 1: could be better than the Knicks. Not gonna lie to you.
Speaker 1: I like this team, very pesky defensive team, got some
Speaker 1: bucket getters. If mckel bridges can do what he did
Speaker 1: last year, but for the entire season, I mean, give
Speaker 1: me thirty thirty five a game, which I'm not counting in,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying he can be that. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be fun. It's gonna be very fun. Are they a
Speaker 1: winning team? Probably not, But they're gonna score enough to
Speaker 1: beat a lot of good teams on a lot of
Speaker 1: good nights at a couple exciting young players in the
Speaker 1: draft next year. Who knows. This is a team that's
Speaker 1: on the up and up, on the straight come up.
Speaker 1: It's not smoking mirrors. The culture is being built. No
Speaker 1: more star hunting, no more chasing. Which brings us to
Speaker 1: another team, the New York Knicks, fifth place team last year,
Speaker 1: forty seven and thirty five. They end up getting Dante
Speaker 1: DiVincenzo from the Warriors. They become Villanova New York Villanova team. Right,
Speaker 1: they got a few of them. They lose Derrick Rose
Speaker 1: and Obi Toppin. Ain't no stopping Obi toppin now that
Speaker 1: he's not with Tom Thibodeau. The Knicks, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to make of them. I really don't. I don't.
Speaker 1: I go back and forth. Sometimes I feel very optimistic.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I feel like they can't shoot a lick. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure they got much better this year. I don't
Speaker 1: think so. Actually, do you swap out d Rose and
Speaker 1: Obi topp and for Dante DiVincenzo. It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: team that tries hard all the time. You signed Josh
Speaker 1: Hart to an extension. That's big. Jalen Brunson's obviously there
Speaker 1: as the connective tissue. They won forty seven games last year.
Speaker 1: They can win games. Mitchell Robinson one of the best
Speaker 1: rim protectors in the league. But this roster, bro if
Speaker 1: you look at it, doesn't inspire much confidence. Can they
Speaker 1: improve on the fifth place finish? Probably not. The question
Speaker 1: really is can they do better than they did in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year when they looked awful against the Heat.
Speaker 1: A lot of that I think comes from RJ. Barrett.
Speaker 1: We're gonna need to see him take that next step.
Speaker 1: He showed flashes, but he would also disappear. They're very tough.
Speaker 1: They're a defensive, scrappy, hardworking team, like all Tom Thibodeau
Speaker 1: teams are. Jalen Brunson played in FEBA. How's that going
Speaker 1: to affect him? He was very meh and FEBA very
Speaker 1: me You add that to Julius Randall, who is an
Speaker 1: All Star but kind of plays like he's not an
Speaker 1: All star, kind of plays like he's still most improved
Speaker 1: player before he was most improved, went healthy. He's a
Speaker 1: real problem, but he also disappears in big moments. You
Speaker 1: add in Josh hart who's like a roller coaster from
Speaker 1: the perimeter. Shot fifty percent from three as a Nick
Speaker 1: and I think it was like twenty percent from three
Speaker 1: as a Blazer. Quentin Grimes is nice. Mitchell Robinson I like,
Speaker 1: but can't make free throws. He's not really a bucket
Speaker 1: for I like Isaiah Hartenstein a lot. You add them in,
Speaker 1: this could be a forty five win team. What do
Speaker 1: I think of the Knicks. I'm, as you can see, like,
Speaker 1: very confused. It's a fun team. They could make some
Speaker 1: little baby noise. They need to swing for something. Let's
Speaker 1: be honest. They need to try to figure out a
Speaker 1: way to get Donovan Mitchell or just wait for him
Speaker 1: to be a free agent. They're a piece away. There's
Speaker 1: now news that they could be going after Karl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 1: I don't know how much I love that As long
Speaker 1: as Tibodeau is coaching this team, they're not in the
Speaker 1: doul drums, but I don't see them really competing on
Speaker 1: any real level with the rest of the teams in
Speaker 1: the East. That's all the time that we have for
Speaker 1: this episode of the Heat Check. Come back later this
Speaker 1: week for a new one. We'll be back Wednesday. Check
Speaker 1: out in the feed for past episodes and many episodes
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