Speaker 1: On this episode of The Heat Check, we finish our
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference preview with the IKEA of Divisions, the Southeast
Speaker 1: Division worse than the IKEA of Divisions actually like IKEA's
Speaker 1: coffee tables. You know, they try to pretend like there would,
Speaker 1: but it's actually just made out of cardboard that's been
Speaker 1: like disintegrated and packed into like some glue form. So
Speaker 1: I guess it is the IKEA Divisions. We're looking at Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Look, Orlando,
Speaker 1: and the Washington Wizards. We also have a great interview
Speaker 1: with Kurt Healing from NBC Sports to prepare you for
Speaker 1: all the things about the new season. It is a
Speaker 1: loaded show. Welcome, let's get into it. William drop that
Speaker 1: generic gas beat that should be reh honest breaking down
Speaker 1: all the biggest NBA storylines heat Check. The Heat Check
Speaker 1: was just a CRA's the best podcast covering all the
Speaker 1: drama around the association. Our final preview Southeast Division. I'd
Speaker 1: like to say last, but not least. We saved the
Speaker 1: best for last, but we didn't. I waited as long
Speaker 1: as I possibly could to talk about this shitty ass division.
Speaker 1: The yellow starburst of NBA divisions is the Southeast. It's
Speaker 1: like the candy corn in the Halloween Bowl, whereas like
Speaker 1: nobody wants this shit. It's sticking to everything else. You
Speaker 1: can't get rid of it. They put it on sale
Speaker 1: for nine to nine cents for an entire pound at
Speaker 1: your local Fred Myers. But we're gonna get into it
Speaker 1: anyway because there's still NBA teams here that we have
Speaker 1: to cover. That's how much I love you. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about other things the tea, like the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bulls players meeting only first game of the season has
Speaker 1: to get waxed by the Okase thunder. But no, no, sir,
Speaker 1: we must fulfill our commitments, and we start with the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks. Key additions. They get Kobe Buffin in the
Speaker 1: draft out of Michigan. They get Patty Mills from free agency.
Speaker 1: What is Patty Mills doing there? By the way, what
Speaker 1: the fuck? Why? First of all, aren't you ready to retire?
Speaker 1: And second of all, why do you want to be
Speaker 1: with that dog shit organization? Subtractions. John Collins Finally, he's
Speaker 1: been in the news trade rumors so long. Finally happened.
Speaker 1: He gets himself into a better situation. Congratulations to John Collins. Anyway,
Speaker 1: we move forward about the Hawks. So though last year
Speaker 1: the Hawks imploded, they fired their coach of the deadline,
Speaker 1: they went out and hired a coach midway through the
Speaker 1: season in Quinn Snyder for so much money, all the money. Spectacularly,
Speaker 1: also fired their GM, hired a whole new front office.
Speaker 1: Remember then they tried to say the GM wasn't really fired,
Speaker 1: he was just in an advisory role. Now I mean
Speaker 1: they fired him and he just kept him on site
Speaker 1: on step. Yeah, Travis Schlank. Now he's working for the
Speaker 1: Washington Wizards, part of the same same sort of umbrella,
Speaker 1: yellow starburst. But we'll move forward. The explanation of hiring
Speaker 1: Quinn Snyder and then not waiting out the year was
Speaker 1: just so that Snyder could assess, he could wait and
Speaker 1: see what he had. He could get a head start
Speaker 1: for this season. And he found out pretty early that
Speaker 1: this old John Collins Trey Young thing it's not working.
Speaker 1: It's never gonna work. John Collins doesn't like Trey Young.
Speaker 1: So this summer they sent out John Collins the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz for Rudy Gay and his second round pick. Remember
Speaker 1: they were at one point I refusing to trade John
Speaker 1: Collins unless they got multiple first round picks for him
Speaker 1: back That was a real article. Those were the real
Speaker 1: news rumors. Sounds like they couldn't get that first round
Speaker 1: pick for him, and now they got a dirty muffin
Speaker 1: which was Rudy Gay and his second round pick. They
Speaker 1: turned down much better packages for him in the past.
Speaker 1: I like where John Collins landed for a team that
Speaker 1: was pretty trash. Last year, the Hawks didn't really do much.
Speaker 1: They're still trying to roll out this whole Dejontey Murray
Speaker 1: and Trey Young experiments. I preferred to Jontay Murray. They
Speaker 1: add Patty Mills and Kobe Buffkin. Neither are going to
Speaker 1: be very much factors. This team is going to fall
Speaker 1: again on whether Dejonte and Trey could play together. And
Speaker 1: I don't know, honestly. I like DeAndre Hunter a lot.
Speaker 1: I am not sure honestly if this roster makes any sense.
Speaker 1: They refused to extend Sidik Bay, which they traded for,
Speaker 1: which means he's probably getting moved at the deadline or
Speaker 1: they'll lose him for nothing. We're looking at a starting
Speaker 1: five of Clint Capella, who looked horrible in their opening game.
Speaker 1: He's been rumored to be traded for the last sixteen months,
Speaker 1: Trey Young, de Jontey Murray just signed an extension, DeAndre
Speaker 1: hurt Hunter, and bog Don Bogdanovic. Does anybody think that
Speaker 1: this team is gonna win their division? No, this is
Speaker 1: a team that went to the Eastern Conference finals. Does
Speaker 1: anyone actually like this team? The Washington Wizards circle Atlanta
Speaker 1: on their calendars, like, yep, that's the game. That's the
Speaker 1: game we low manage stars for. That's the game we
Speaker 1: low manage Jordan Pool for. They're gonna probably win forty
Speaker 1: forty two games. They're gonna be a playing team as
Speaker 1: like a twelve seed? Was it seven, eight, nine, ten?
Speaker 1: So it's a ten seed? Ten seed? It feels like
Speaker 1: so many damn teams get in. This is the kind
Speaker 1: of team really is like wins the NBA in season
Speaker 1: tournament and they just call that season his success because
Speaker 1: the owner's son is now running the team, and you
Speaker 1: know how that whole thing goes. And then we're gonna
Speaker 1: have another mediocres to season and Quinn Snyder will have
Speaker 1: to decide whether Trey Young can be on this team
Speaker 1: any longer in order for them to move on and succeed,
Speaker 1: and I think he'll get to the point where he
Speaker 1: realizes maybe he's been the problem the whole time. We
Speaker 1: move forward another team in this division. My vote for
Speaker 1: the team that had the absolutely worst off season by far,
Speaker 1: by far was the Miami Heat. How do you go
Speaker 1: to the finals and still have the worst off season
Speaker 1: of anyone? Love their draft picks, Haimi Hawkez love him,
Speaker 1: you end up getting Thomas Bryant. Don't hate it, Josh Richardson,
Speaker 1: you pick him up. That's terrible, John. I might be
Speaker 1: the leader of the Josh Richardson dis fan club, like
Speaker 1: the non fan club like. I don't hate him as
Speaker 1: a person. He is not a piece. Though he is
Speaker 1: not a piece. I would have rather they got Kelly
Speaker 1: than Josh Richardson. That's not a lie. They lose Max Struz,
Speaker 1: who by the way, had seven threes for the Caves
Speaker 1: the other night, just loading up buckets after buckets. They
Speaker 1: lose Gabe Vincent. They lose Victor Oladipa. They were just waiting.
Speaker 1: They knew they were getting Damian Lillar, didn't they. They
Speaker 1: just knew they were getting Dame. They thought they were
Speaker 1: getting Bradley Beal for a song. This team could have
Speaker 1: had Dame brad Beal, Jimmy Butler, bam Adebayo. Jesus, what
Speaker 1: are they doing? Pat Riley? Pat Riley, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to say other than he just doesn't want to
Speaker 1: spend money. He's done, he's decided, like the Chicago Bulls,
Speaker 1: We're gonna put together a good product and in the
Speaker 1: playoffs we'll see. But I'm not gonna go into the
Speaker 1: luxury tags for a thirty something star who's gonna make
Speaker 1: like sixty five million dollars next year. They lost out
Speaker 1: on Bradley Beal, who was his first choice, was going
Speaker 1: to Miami. Even this week. Something came out where he
Speaker 1: was like, I thought it was a done deal, and
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, they did not want to make a move.
Speaker 1: It's the no trade clause, Bradley, It's the no trade clause,
Speaker 1: and they dragged their feet. No clue what happened. I
Speaker 1: know what happened. You know what happened, pat Riley. Happened.
Speaker 1: He wanted to basically get another star for free and
Speaker 1: have Bradley Beal wave his no trade clause, and instead
Speaker 1: Bradley Burele goes to Phoenix for basically nothing. Literally, I
Speaker 1: think it was like what how many? Like a handful
Speaker 1: of second round picks? And Beale is still like, how
Speaker 1: did I end up in Phoenix? I don't know how
Speaker 1: this happened. It wasn't even on my board. It didn't
Speaker 1: even register as a team for me to go to. Then,
Speaker 1: of course they lose Dame because they didn't want to
Speaker 1: make a real offer. What did that leave them thinking
Speaker 1: maybe they could get into the Drew Holiday Sweepstakes? But
Speaker 1: by then it was like Portland's I don't call us
Speaker 1: lose our number. Then now they're thinking maybe they can
Speaker 1: get into the Heart and Sweep steaks because Harden is
Speaker 1: now opening up the possibilities of trade partners for Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: He just wants to compete, doesn't matter if he's in La.
Speaker 1: It's a disaster. Their backup plan, Kelly Oubre went to
Speaker 1: the Sixers. Then Jannis, who was their backup, backup, backup plan,
Speaker 1: just signed a massive three year extension. All they can
Speaker 1: hope for now is Joel Embiid. That's it. I'd say
Speaker 1: pat Riley is coming to a close of what he's
Speaker 1: willing to do in terms of his aggressiveness. They find
Speaker 1: these guys out of the bottom of the barrel. They
Speaker 1: want these role players who can contribute with very little
Speaker 1: money attached to them, and that helps them, you know,
Speaker 1: with their financial situation. That's fine, but ultimately that's not
Speaker 1: what you want to do when you are a championship
Speaker 1: caliber franchise. He's a junk ball pitcher now, pat Riley,
Speaker 1: his command has failed. The Heat were three minutes from
Speaker 1: getting bounced last year in the player and then what
Speaker 1: do they do? They said, well, well, just instead of
Speaker 1: using that data to make our decision, we're going to
Speaker 1: use the data that's less likely, which is the fact
Speaker 1: that we went to the finals and then you lose
Speaker 1: two guys that were on the team that were key contributors.
Speaker 1: What do I like about this team? Obviously Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 1: He's fucking beast. He's one of my favorite players in
Speaker 1: the league. I love bam Adebayo. Those two are enough
Speaker 1: to do a lot for you in a postseason. Tyler
Speaker 1: hero is an absolute bucket. He's like the white Anthony Simons.
Speaker 1: He's going to be able to get your buckets from
Speaker 1: the perimeter. He's going to probably have a chip on
Speaker 1: his shoulder and Chuck I don't know eighteen times a game.
Speaker 1: He's been rumored to be in every trade Miami's ever had. Recently,
Speaker 1: he deleted Miami from his Instagram. Remember, at one point
Speaker 1: this beach could probably revenge season for Tyler Hero. Duncan
Speaker 1: Robinson I think is back into the rotation. I think
Speaker 1: they hate him less because he proved himself when Tyler
Speaker 1: Hero was out. In the playoffs, they're starting guards though,
Speaker 1: are Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin. This is a bad team, folks.
Speaker 1: This is a bad team. This is the same team
Speaker 1: as last year, only worse. If Heimi Hawkaz doesn't produce
Speaker 1: or Nikola Yovich, who was a healthy scratch last night
Speaker 1: doesn't produce ah and they don't make the playoffs, I
Speaker 1: would not be shocked if they don't make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Everyone else except for Atlanta got better in their division
Speaker 1: and they got worse. It's Mas school, folks. They are
Speaker 1: taking a downturn. The biggest asset that the Heat have
Speaker 1: is obviously Eric Spolstra. He continues to make gold out
Speaker 1: of garbage, so I would be also not shocked if
Speaker 1: they made the finals again. Best case scenario is playing,
Speaker 1: but you never know what's gonna happen when you get
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler in the postseason, the heat though, or a
Speaker 1: team in decline. I am not ruining for them. I
Speaker 1: do not feel like they are a team that you
Speaker 1: can believe in, and pat Riley must take the blame.