Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check. There is so
Speaker 1: much popping around the league, not a lot of news.
Speaker 1: We are so close to the trade deadline, though we're
Speaker 1: chugging along, chew chew all aboard the Jimmy Butler Trade Express.
Speaker 1: I will cover Victor women Yama's week in Paris. I
Speaker 1: go over the mystery of Trey Young in Atlanta. Also
Speaker 1: that kid who posted that he should be MVP as Ridonculous.
Speaker 1: I take four teams to task for not sucking anywhere
Speaker 1: nearly bad enough at a time where Cooper Flag is balling.
Speaker 1: What's a little news from around the league? Anthony, do
Speaker 1: me a little favor. Drop that motherfucker beat and that
Speaker 1: should be Rihanna, but obnestly's too cheap to pay for anything. Okay.
Speaker 1: Big news this week was the NBA's annual a for
Speaker 1: wah uh A Bonjo. But voyage was it? Voyage into
Speaker 1: Europe where the Indiana Pacers played, not surprisingly the San
Speaker 1: Antonio Spurs because of Victor Webbin Yama question if the
Speaker 1: ping pong balls would have changed one number, literally just one,
Speaker 1: and Victor would have been a Portland Trailblazer and not Scoot, which,
Speaker 1: of course I love Scoot, but you know, I'm so
Speaker 1: happy with Scoot. But would Portland be going to France
Speaker 1: instead of San Antonio? Would? Is it just wherever Victor goes,
Speaker 1: whatever team he's on, that's just what team goes to France?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Anyway, he played twice. The games in
Speaker 1: Paris were prefaced by a lot of Victor photo ops,
Speaker 1: and to be perfectly honest, I was intrigued by all
Speaker 1: of it. The French obviously are fascinated and in love
Speaker 1: with Victor. How could you not be. He's awesome, he's
Speaker 1: so fun, he's so likable, he's so tall, just so tall.
Speaker 1: And this is the people not really known for being
Speaker 1: that friendly to even their own countrymen, and they love them.
Speaker 1: But France, France loves himself some wemby and he was
Speaker 1: so happy to show his teammates his home country. The
Speaker 1: team landed in Patti on Monday, and it was like
Speaker 1: it literally looked on Instagram, not just the San Antonio Spurs,
Speaker 1: but it was almost like Victor wembin Yama was the
Speaker 1: school teacher chaperone and all of the NBA were his students.
Speaker 1: It was like a high school trip or a middle
Speaker 1: school trip. To Washington, DC. He took him on a
Speaker 1: never ending series of sightseeing photo op trips. A small
Speaker 1: list of what Victor did. Monday team dinner and then
Speaker 1: a group shopping trip at the legendary Hosmon Opera Saint
Speaker 1: Lazarre Quarter. I think I butchered that. Definitely butchered that
Speaker 1: Tuesday trip back to his hometown. I'm definitely gonna butcher
Speaker 1: this La les Chesney, where he dedicated not one, but
Speaker 1: two basketball courts in his name, before heading back to
Speaker 1: past Paris for Why Fashion Week, good shit, Adam Sover,
Speaker 1: great Collabo, no wonder he has custom sweatsuits that I
Speaker 1: have no idea how they fit him. He probably has
Speaker 1: a tailor for sweatsuits. Wednesday, Paris Saint Germain's soccer game
Speaker 1: against Man City PSG one four two. Thursday first game
Speaker 1: versus Pacers. Friday tour of the Eiffel Tower, which I
Speaker 1: thought only tours from Toledo went to. But I guess
Speaker 1: when Keldon Johnson gotta take them to the Eiffel Tower
Speaker 1: as well. Saturday second game against the Pacers. Sunday coss
Speaker 1: sauce with the Crodies, bagets with the boys, then get
Speaker 1: on the jet plane and fly back to San Antonio.
Speaker 1: What a fucking week, people, And also Opie Topping and
Speaker 1: his chick looking fucking bad, looking so good, all of
Speaker 1: the photo ops from the Pacers and the Spurs chef's kiss.
Speaker 1: I am jealous. I love how much this trip happened.
Speaker 1: I want a team, an NBA team, to be in Paris.
Speaker 1: I love how much Wemby embraces his celebrity both in
Speaker 1: Europe and the United States. Just a super nice kid.
Speaker 1: I love this trip. I also thought it was interesting
Speaker 1: that they played twice because I was tripping when the
Speaker 1: NBA was putting out highlights, I was like, it's just me.
Speaker 1: I swear to God, this game already occurred. Are we
Speaker 1: getting highlights from three days ago or three minutes ago? Anyway,
Speaker 1: this is what he said. This week was amazing, just
Speaker 1: seeing my family. I'm not trying to get emotional, but
Speaker 1: everyone did their job making this week incredible. And guess what.
Speaker 1: On the court, Wemby was tremendous in the first game,
Speaker 1: thirty point blowout win, which is insane. Victor put up
Speaker 1: thirty eleven and six five blocks five five blocks plus
Speaker 1: all eighteen net rating. Rick Carlile made it a point
Speaker 1: to stop him in the second game, and indeed the
Speaker 1: Pacers split the two game series with a thirty eight
Speaker 1: point win. I think jet lag had something to do
Speaker 1: with it. They held Wemby to twenty twelve and two,
Speaker 1: but after the game, Carlile said he was shocked when
Speaker 1: he looked at the box score. You don't stop that guy,
Speaker 1: he said, he still had twenty to twelve, and it
Speaker 1: was our sole mission to eliminate him from the game.
Speaker 1: The entire week had not gone better, and as the
Speaker 1: Spurs point guard said, Victor responded despite the enormous pressure
Speaker 1: on him. He said, I can't imagine what it was
Speaker 1: like for Victor come back home and play. He was
Speaker 1: so excited. But it's a lot of responsibility that comes
Speaker 1: with that. Every media outlet, every event, trying to see
Speaker 1: your family that you don't get to see to that often.
Speaker 1: And Vic is one of those guys who tries to
Speaker 1: sign every autograph. I just love it for him. I
Speaker 1: love him so much. I hope this becomes an annual tradition,
Speaker 1: the San Antonio Spurs bag Get annual bag Get Classic,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I hope they. I would
Speaker 1: love him to play four times a year. Fuck it,
Speaker 1: let them go multiple times. This NBA Cup, let's have
Speaker 1: that shit in Paris. Victor's already a star. He's on
Speaker 1: the cusp of becoming a top ten player in the league,
Speaker 1: if he's not already there, And it was just cool
Speaker 1: to have basketball on at two pm here in America.
Speaker 1: I was getting mad. It was like it was the
Speaker 1: pandemic all over again. Baby. I was like, Wow, two
Speaker 1: pm on the West Coast getting a game. With the
Speaker 1: announcement that the NBA is looking to open a league
Speaker 1: affiliated EuroLeague, events like this take on in even greater importance,
Speaker 1: and Victor's announcement at the end of the week that
Speaker 1: he's gonna be playing for Team France and EuroBasket twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five seem like the final thank you from one
Speaker 1: of the more grateful dudes in the world of basketball
Speaker 1: to his country. Well done, Adam Silver. That was one
Speaker 1: of the best well planned situations that you could ever
Speaker 1: have expected. Do that more, all right, Moving on, Moving on,
Speaker 1: Trey Young. Gotta talk about him. As you guys know,
Speaker 1: I'm not a huge Tray fan. You know, as far
Speaker 1: as ethical basketball goes, Trey Young's not at the top
Speaker 1: of that list. He's been the subject of a lot
Speaker 1: of discourse as of late, in large part because of
Speaker 1: the weird nature of the Atlanta Hawks, who really cannot
Speaker 1: decide what they are. Are they good? Are they dog shit?
Speaker 1: Are they maybeocre? We don't know. They're twenty two and
Speaker 1: twenty three, largely because they've been four and six in
Speaker 1: the last ten games. They're sitting in ninth four games
Speaker 1: at a fourth place as the East decks up like
Speaker 1: Cordwood after the top three in the East. And also
Speaker 1: they've beaten every good team in the East. They've lost
Speaker 1: to all the bad ones. So we don't know. And
Speaker 1: since Trey Young is at the center of this team,
Speaker 1: you can consider them the lighting rod. And whether Trey
Speaker 1: being at the center of the Hawks is a good
Speaker 1: thing or a bad thing is kind of what this
Speaker 1: is about. Jared Weiss from The Athletic tried to think
Speaker 1: peace how Tray Young has taken a step back so
Speaker 1: the Hawks can take a step forward kind of remind
Speaker 1: me of a Paul Abdul song, actually, and it resummarized
Speaker 1: the way Trey has been talked about as of late. Tilly.
Speaker 1: What the article is about is how Hawks coach Quinn
Speaker 1: Snyder is trying to get everyone on the Hawks to
Speaker 1: embrace this defensive first basketball and that includes Trey Young,
Speaker 1: who has, let's face it, ben Akne for most of
Speaker 1: his career to date, despite the fact that he's one
Speaker 1: of the best stealers in the league west thiefs in
Speaker 1: the league. In addition, I actually love Quinn Snyder, by
Speaker 1: the way. In addition, Snyder envisioned in offense with Trey
Speaker 1: having the ball a lot less often in his hands.
Speaker 1: As Trey noted, Snyder put it out in front of
Speaker 1: me and showed me how we can do it. And
Speaker 1: I can still get the same amount of touches because
Speaker 1: it helps our offense. But maybe it's getting off the
Speaker 1: ball early and getting a pick and roll later into
Speaker 1: the shot clock that can help too. The ball's in
Speaker 1: my hands, but I'm getting it in different ways. Allah,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, That's what we've been trying to say for
Speaker 1: many years now. But Steph, but Steph coming into the
Speaker 1: Trey Young experience hasn't really worked with the Jonte Murray experience.
Speaker 1: That's why he had to get a bat of there.
Speaker 1: The shift happened in the offseason with that trade for
Speaker 1: de Jontay Murray for Dyson Daniels in the offseason, because
Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels has been a revelation on track to set
Speaker 1: an NBA record for steals. This guy was sitting at
Speaker 1: the end of the bench for the New Orleans Pelicans
Speaker 1: last year, I might remind you, and that has been
Speaker 1: setting the tone for a team that is now five
Speaker 1: points better in defensive ratings than they were last year.
Speaker 1: And Trey has responded. He is averaging twenty three game
Speaker 1: which is almost seven points worse than his career high,
Speaker 1: but he's also getting eleven and a half assists per game,
Speaker 1: which leads the league and is a career high for him.
Speaker 1: His twenty one potential assists per game is four and
Speaker 1: a half higher than Nikola Jokic. That is nuts. That
Speaker 1: is nuts. The change in numbers come with some pain.
Speaker 1: Young is averaging a career low forty percent from the field.
Speaker 1: Part of that is because his percentage of isolation is
Speaker 1: nearly half of what it is last year, and his
Speaker 1: pick and roll plays have soared astronomically to twenty six
Speaker 1: per game. And let's be honest, like Trey Young made
Speaker 1: his bones at Oklahoma and even Atlanta as an IO
Speaker 1: player as an IO god. That's what he does. By
Speaker 1: the way, pick and Roll plays five more than Damian Lillard,
Speaker 1: who is the only other player in the twenties also
Speaker 1: ISO god. That is also worth noting. The new look
Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks have a ton going for them. Jalen Johnson's
Speaker 1: on the cusp of being a superstar. DeAndre Hunter has
Speaker 1: found his groove as a six man. Tyson Daniels, like
Speaker 1: I said, has been a revelation defensively. But the team
Speaker 1: is still struggling because they don't have any shooters. As
Speaker 1: Lebron James has said many times many years, we don't
Speaker 1: have no snipers. They're currently twenty seventh in the league.
Speaker 1: From Deep Paiging Buddy Healed, Paijing Buddy Healed. The Hawks
Speaker 1: are on the cusp good enough to beat some top
Speaker 1: teams in the league. They won over Boston twice, New
Speaker 1: York twice, Cleveland twice, the Lakers Milwaukee, and then they're
Speaker 1: bad enough to lose to the Drags, losses to the
Speaker 1: Wizards twice, Chicago twice, Toronto twice, Portland wolf So you
Speaker 1: never really know what they're gonna get. What are they
Speaker 1: gonna do with the deadline Are they gonna sell, are
Speaker 1: they gonna buy? Trade for another shooter? Ditch some contracts
Speaker 1: put themselves in a better position. When are they gonna
Speaker 1: get rid of clink Appella? Who knows? But no matter
Speaker 1: what happens, Trey Young will be at the center of
Speaker 1: the Hawks moving forward. And I think for all of
Speaker 1: us who have been praying for more ethical basketball, we
Speaker 1: can at least give Trey Young a golf clap for
Speaker 1: more of what he's been doing than he's been doing
Speaker 1: this season. All right, Moving on, It's around this time
Speaker 1: of year. Did NBA teams loser? Goddamn mindes? We're talking
Speaker 1: about tanking or in this case, capturing the flags watery
Speaker 1: and there are teams that don't feel like they really
Speaker 1: am getting the picture so far? Have they not been
Speaker 1: watching Cooper Flag? Have they not been seeing the clips?
Speaker 1: Are you guys not on X or fucking threads or
Speaker 1: on what's the one red note, blue sky whatever? Yellow bird?
Speaker 1: Who knows? Okay? Cooper Flag setting records, Dylan Harper, Ace
Speaker 1: Bailey putting up monster games at records. VJ edgecomb killing it, Portland,
Speaker 1: New Orleans, Toronto, Charlotte not getting the memo, all four
Speaker 1: teams in the bottom flour of their respective conferences, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden have decided hoopin, hoopin' hoopin. Here's what
Speaker 1: they've done. Blazers four and one in their last five,
Speaker 1: Pelicans five and three in their last eight, Raptors five
Speaker 1: and one in their last six, Hornets four and two
Speaker 1: in their last four. Of the eight worst teams in
Speaker 1: the NBA are all of a sudden, four of the
Speaker 1: hottest teams in the league. What are you doing? Portland? Portland, Portland.
Speaker 1: You've got Aton, You've got Rob Williams. You've got Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant that you must trade. You need to trade them.
Speaker 1: New Orleans, Why why are you even trying to win
Speaker 1: when you could maybe, just maybe pair Cooper Flagg Wizion
Speaker 1: Williamson in the greatest duke connection of all time. Charlotte,
Speaker 1: your season is over. Brandon nort it's a rap for him.
Speaker 1: You should be shedding salary. And worst of all, Toronto
Speaker 1: in the six you got no business winning five of six,
Speaker 1: no business. You stink you're gross, But a top pick
Speaker 1: in this draft could set you up for years. Baby,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Who? You guys need to be
Speaker 1: taking notes from who you guys should just pull up
Speaker 1: some YouTube clips. On the fourth quarter, Will Hardy of
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz aka the Master Commander of Tanking Utah Jazz,
Speaker 1: chugging along baby, doing what he's supposed to do, supposed
Speaker 1: to do. Two and eight in their last ten, Brooklyn Nets,
Speaker 1: who turned a five hundred team into a deep sea submersible.
Speaker 1: One and nine down the stretch. Oh yeah, baby, and
Speaker 1: they called it. And they you know, when you make
Speaker 1: a bank shot, you gotta go. That's a bank. That's
Speaker 1: what they said. We're losing. We're not gonna lose, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. We're not fielding the winning team
Speaker 1: no more. Shoot. Kyle Kuzma.
Speaker 2: Washington Wizards with Kyle Kuzma Oh in ten in their
Speaker 2: last ten, Kyle Kuzman says, I'm now trying to win
Speaker 2: cause I don't wanna fit into what we're trying to
Speaker 2: do here.
Speaker 1: Demand the ball never change kus. He said, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna let these guys develop. He said, I don't wanna
Speaker 1: let them develop. I want to shoot. I don't want
Speaker 1: to fit in to what the Wizards do. I'm tired
Speaker 1: of that. I am gonna be me cous cous Maybe
Speaker 1: he will ruin their chances as a punishment for not
Speaker 1: trading him two years ago. I don't understand all that
Speaker 1: to say this is one of the top drafts in
Speaker 1: recent memory. Okay, tanking is crucial. Take it from me.
Speaker 1: Pallo ban Cao, Chet Holmgren, Victor Wembin Yama, Brandon Miller,
Speaker 1: any of those players could have been my team's players.
Speaker 1: But guess what. We had to roll the ball out
Speaker 1: on a random February night and say we're gonna beat
Speaker 1: New Orleans tonight. Do you think we give up anybody?
Speaker 1: Anybody gives a fuck about that game three years ago? Now, No,
Speaker 1: we don't. We don't care at all. Do you think
Speaker 1: Paolo ban Caro would have been a nice consolation prize
Speaker 1: to a dismal season? Absolutely? Ask Orlando when your future
Speaker 1: is on the line. A draft like this comes once
Speaker 1: every I don't know, decade or so. Do not fuck
Speaker 1: this up Portland. Those wins in February and January, those
Speaker 1: will mess up your lottery odds, and guess what, they
Speaker 1: will come back and haunt you. Okay, little news from
Speaker 1: around the league. ESPN's Mark Jones has reported it around
Speaker 1: three weeks ago. Anthony Edwards reached out to Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: about how to deal with double teams. Oh shit, oh shit.
Speaker 1: I was told by someone in his circle that three
Speaker 1: weeks ago. Aunt reached out to Michael Jordan on advice
Speaker 1: on how to handle some of the double teams and
Speaker 1: traps that he's seeing. He's been extremely frustrated up until late.
Speaker 1: I don't know, if you see in the clips. He
Speaker 1: fucking hates it. He says, I can't stay in the game.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do. They said, Aunt, do
Speaker 1: you get rattled? Do you feel like you can stay focused?
Speaker 1: He's like, I don't enjoy this. I don't enjoy just
Speaker 1: passing the ball to my teammates at all. I do
Speaker 1: not want that. I want to score. Aunt. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about this season up and down. Since getting that advice
Speaker 1: from Michael Jordan, he's averaging thirty two, six and six
Speaker 1: forty seven percent from deep in his last twelve games.
Speaker 1: That is up from twenty one to six and five
Speaker 1: and thirty eight percent from deep in the last twelve
Speaker 1: games before. That would have been nice to know, probably
Speaker 1: would have been him. Not sure what Jordan told Aunt,
Speaker 1: but it seems to have worked. I know what. They
Speaker 1: probably told him. Shoot from the lolo, motherfucker, shoot just
Speaker 1: further back. I know there are a lot of jokes
Speaker 1: about Michael Jordan being Anthony Edwards's dad, But let me
Speaker 1: tell you, if Aunt Edwards keeps playing like this, those comparisons,
Speaker 1: those DNA tests, the asks are gonna keep coming out
Speaker 1: in Phoenix. Moving on, we apparently have some beef between
Speaker 1: Yusuf Nurkic, the fourth string center, and Mike budenholds her
Speaker 1: what huh? Nirk told the Arizona Republic that the two
Speaker 1: haven't spoken a couple of days, right, we can couple
Speaker 1: of leaks three weeks two months. NRK said this, We
Speaker 1: don't have a relationship, so it's fine. Don't let you're
Speaker 1: on that back. We don't have a relationship, so it's
Speaker 1: fine for me. Just be a pro, do the best
Speaker 1: I can work and stay ready for whatever it might be.
Speaker 1: But there is no chaos or bringing that to this team.
Speaker 1: They already have plenty of it. Oh my god, Nirk
Speaker 1: with grenades. Oh boy. Bud was stoic about Nirk's comments,
Speaker 1: considering he basically has demoted him to dnp's AKA do
Speaker 1: not Play, saying it's never easy in the league. He
Speaker 1: hasn't played. Why I did a video about this, he
Speaker 1: hasn't played. I'm sure he's frustrated. I respect that this
Speaker 1: story's tremendous, the story the Suns. They really want to
Speaker 1: get the last year of the nrks contract off their books.
Speaker 1: I tried to tell folks, the best part of the
Speaker 1: Dame trade was getting rid of NRK. The best part
Speaker 1: of the Dame trade was getting rid of Nirk. This
Speaker 1: guy is not good. Four years seventy million dollars to
Speaker 1: NRK nineteen point four million on the books. You want
Speaker 1: to talk about fanasasu tokupos of the world, you know,
Speaker 1: just there because the superstar wants them there. That was
Speaker 1: Nurk and Damian Lillard. Send that motherfucker to Milwaukee. Phoenix
Speaker 1: is a mess. Things like this will not make them
Speaker 1: any more attractive for free agents who might be tempted
Speaker 1: to head out to the desert. Oh boy, what a
Speaker 1: tremendous story. And I'm sure it's only gonna get more
Speaker 1: calm as the free as the trade deadline approaches. Finally,
Speaker 1: out in Indiana, where the Pacers have been scorching hot
Speaker 1: nine of eleven, there are whispers yes they are. These
Speaker 1: are the good ones. There are whispers of the most
Speaker 1: familiar kind. Miles Turner is on the trade block again.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I've been talking about Miles Turner on the
Speaker 1: trade block for the Indiana Pacers since twenty twenty. Since
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, death taxes and Miles Turner on the trade block.
Speaker 1: Say it ain't so. Literally, one of the trade machine
Speaker 1: Hall of famers just cannot be quit. This time from
Speaker 1: friend to show Yovan Bouja, who reports I've heard a
Speaker 1: little bit of chatter about that, about some uncertainty and
Speaker 1: not Lakers specific, but just kind of league chatter in
Speaker 1: terms of Turner. If he's available, it would be more
Speaker 1: so because Indiana and the contract situation, and not as
Speaker 1: much about them because Indiana is not really a team
Speaker 1: that tanks or looks to sell off players. But that
Speaker 1: could be an exception just based off of his contract situation.
Speaker 1: If Miles Turner is available, I think if you're the Lakers,
Speaker 1: you have to go get him because he just fits
Speaker 1: perfectly next to ad on both sides of the floor.
Speaker 1: He spaces the floor, and he's a rim protector. That
Speaker 1: would be the ideal. Even over Walker Kessler. This is
Speaker 1: what we call no shade to Yovon Bouja. Really, no shade.
Speaker 1: Just throwing shit against the wall, that's what that I mean. Really,
Speaker 1: that's not reporting. That's just like, hey, you see that
Speaker 1: girl over there, I would fuck that girl, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like, that's just the Lakers being like,
Speaker 1: if he was available, man, we would trade for him. Okay,
Speaker 1: Like there's no side of interest from Indiana's perspective that
Speaker 1: they are willing to trade Miles Turner. And I don't
Speaker 1: think he's that back of a contract either. Can we
Speaker 1: just stop these Miles turn trade rumors? The dude has
Speaker 1: been through enough. He's been so good in Indiana. The
Speaker 1: Pacers are red hot. They are now in fifth, They're
Speaker 1: a game out of the fourth for slot, I sincerely
Speaker 1: doubt that they make a move like trading him for
Speaker 1: contract reasons. That is, throw shit against the wall for
Speaker 1: Miles's sake, For for Miles's sake, Can we just him live?
Speaker 1: Can we just have one year without a Miles Turner
Speaker 1: trade rumor? Please? Please Yo Yo Vaughn, make it stop.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we have for this episode
Speaker 1: of The Heat Check. Tune in Wednesday for an only
Speaker 1: episode and check out the feed for past episodes and
Speaker 1: many episodes which drop unexpectedly. Like all the teams that
Speaker 1: I enjoy watching the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Commanders,
Speaker 1: I am heartbroken. Fuck the Bills, I mean, fuck the
Speaker 1: Chief excuse me, fuck the Eagles, Fuck this super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Do not forget to follow the heat check all season long.
Speaker 1: That means download. Subscribe to your friends, even the ones
Speaker 1: you have to talk to a year, say hey, download
Speaker 1: heat check. Follow us on TikTok at this heat checking
Speaker 1: at trist to Creek for as long as it exists,
Speaker 1: and on Twitter, Instagram and threads. Threads is metas new
Speaker 1: social media slapform. I post her every day we are
Speaker 1: voning white Fish. Please hop it is lazy. We'll see
Speaker 1: that time than Can'tony four He is my guy.