Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check. The NBA Cup
Speaker 1: opening rounds are over, and I will give you a
Speaker 1: cup date that's my own little I made that up
Speaker 1: cup date and who made the quarters? You can tell
Speaker 1: I'm pleased with myself. We'll also break down what's happening
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles with the Lakers. It's sad. It is
Speaker 1: really just a too bad scenario. What's going on with
Speaker 1: the uh with our Lake show. It's Friday, so it's
Speaker 1: injury update time and we even get a little news
Speaker 1: from around the league. Lots to get into Anthony my man,
Speaker 1: drop that motherfucking beat. That should be wean all right.
Speaker 1: The league is comming along, homing along nicely. Can you
Speaker 1: believe it's already been already a quarter away to the season.
Speaker 1: That's insane. This shit goes so fast. Anyway, we are
Speaker 1: humming along nicely in early December. The League Cup is
Speaker 1: through the early stages. Teams are starting to find their groove.
Speaker 1: Players are showing us who are there, who they're gonna
Speaker 1: be this year. By the way, Donovan Mitchell out of
Speaker 1: his mind right now. The Suns fall to one and
Speaker 1: seven without KD. Tibbs is playing his starters forty plus
Speaker 1: minutes in a twenty four point blowout of the Hornets
Speaker 1: and the Calves. They just keep winning, and they keep
Speaker 1: doing it with their awful powder blue jerseys on that
Speaker 1: say Land City. Well, what is this like a Taylor
Speaker 1: Sheridan show. I don't know what's going on. Even the Warriors,
Speaker 1: our dubs keep beating the Rockets, which they've now done,
Speaker 1: by the way, fifteen times in a row. And like
Speaker 1: death taxes and everything else, the Lakers they just keep losing.
Speaker 1: Yeah they do. I know that we haven't talked about
Speaker 1: the Lakers in a minute, but yeah, it's making me
Speaker 1: feel really good. It's making me just's not roasting on
Speaker 1: an open fire, you know what I mean. It's like that.
Speaker 1: It's like going to the tree lighting ceremony. It's just
Speaker 1: very warm, fuzzy. It's like a pumpkin spice latte. It's
Speaker 1: like a cinnamon fur candle. Just oh my god. And
Speaker 1: everybody was sick and tired of the brown and brawny thing.
Speaker 1: And then JJ Reddick being a madman as the Lake
Speaker 1: Show burst out of the gates like Secretariat and everyone's
Speaker 1: like a the Lakers are back, purple ink goal. Baby.
Speaker 2: It's showtime ad even me ad playing an MVP level
Speaker 2: caliber will Lebron ever age never he is the man
Speaker 2: without any ability to slow down Reddi Coach of the
Speaker 2: Year candidate.
Speaker 1: And after five games, I said, in the second week
Speaker 1: of the season, this was fools cooled. I put out
Speaker 1: a video and I said, listen, they're cooked. The Lakers'
Speaker 1: front office, they just it's literally the same thing every
Speaker 1: time too. The Lakers' front office hasn't done enough to
Speaker 1: surround Lebron James with the guys that he needs to
Speaker 1: compose a roster that's gonna compete, not enough to fix
Speaker 1: the problems that plagued Darvin Ham or Frank Vogel or
Speaker 1: Luke Walton, and no coach ever could make the Lakers
Speaker 1: work under any circumstance, because, as Lebron James said, I
Speaker 1: don't know two years ago, when I think he was
Speaker 1: pressing for Kyrie Irving, we ain't got no snipers. Some
Speaker 1: of you laughed at me and you said, Tristan, it's
Speaker 1: too early for this. Guess what I think. Laker fans
Speaker 1: are hitting the panic button now. We got Windhorse saying, hey,
Speaker 1: it's ugly out here on these streets, and you know
Speaker 1: how ESPN loves the whole water for the Lakers. The
Speaker 1: Lakers are are in a tailspin not seen since Amelia
Speaker 1: Earhart tried to cross the Pacific. They've been outscored by
Speaker 1: an insane seventy points in their last two games. I
Speaker 1: want to say that again because it's kind of hard
Speaker 1: to really absorb the first time around. The Lakers have
Speaker 1: have been outscored by the team they were playing against
Speaker 1: by seventy points combined in their last two games. There
Speaker 1: are now reports out there that this is the worst
Speaker 1: point differential in a two game stretch in NBA history.
Speaker 1: Trista Fax is here to report that's actually not correct.
Speaker 1: The OKC thunder lost two games in December one and
Speaker 1: December two. To remember this, I remember this. We talked
Speaker 1: about this twenty twenty one in the second year of
Speaker 1: the heat check. They lost their two games by combined
Speaker 1: seventy seven points. I think one of them was like
Speaker 1: by seventy though. Yeah, but the Lakers seven second worst.
Speaker 1: They've now lost six of eight that includes four twenty
Speaker 1: point or more losses. Two games ago, they got their
Speaker 1: doors blown out by a struggling Timberwolves team. I think
Speaker 1: they actually like you know, and in Agatha all along
Speaker 1: how the witches she takes their powers, you know, and
Speaker 1: they're like they're yelling at her, and they're trying to
Speaker 1: show her, Ah, we're a witch, we've got powers. And
Speaker 1: that just plays right into her hands and she just
Speaker 1: soaks it all up and then she gets more powerful.
Speaker 1: I think that's what the Timberwolves did to the Lakers.
Speaker 1: The Timberwolves were on their dying breath, they had no
Speaker 1: purple stuff left inside, and you know what they did.
Speaker 1: They've been rolling ever since. They took belt to ass
Speaker 1: to the Lakers, which we'll talk about. I'm sure sometime
Speaker 1: soon they got anyway, Lakers got murdered by the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: who I think Tyler Hero had seven threes in a
Speaker 1: row against them, one four ninety three, and like anytime
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat scored more than one hundred, it's a
Speaker 1: good day for the Miami Heat. One thirty four. They
Speaker 1: put one thirty four the Miami Heat. Jimmy Butler on
Speaker 1: his last breath of his career, and Bam had a
Speaker 1: bioh and Tyler herroll. They gave you one thirty four
Speaker 1: twenty nine point loss, followed by a forty one point loss.
Speaker 1: In the Minnesota game, Anthony Davis had twelve points on
Speaker 1: four for fourteen shooting, and then against Miami he had
Speaker 1: eight points, three for fourteen shooting, and he was statistically
Speaker 1: the worst person on the floor for the Lakers at
Speaker 1: a minus twenty nine. That is concerning. This is supposed
Speaker 1: to be Anthony Davis's team. You cannot lose by seventy
Speaker 1: points in two games and your MVP caliber player have
Speaker 1: twenty points combined scoring in those two games. It's also
Speaker 1: not just the fact that they're losing, it's the way
Speaker 1: that they're losing. There's just you know, you know when
Speaker 1: people get really old and they just kind of like,
Speaker 1: I'm done. I've just decided I'm not gonna try anymore.
Speaker 1: My grandma did that. That's Lebron James right now. He's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't really feel like getting back on defense.
Speaker 1: I'll wait until we're here on offense, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: walk around and stand on the court again. You've got
Speaker 1: various Lakers walking back on defense getting clowned by other teams,
Speaker 1: like the possession where the Heat had the ball out
Speaker 1: of the basket for an open layup but instead decided no,
Speaker 1: we won't do that. We'll do the Harlem globe trotter
Speaker 1: thing and pass it instead to the perimeter where they
Speaker 1: played in around the world. Until finding an open shooter
Speaker 1: who hit a three against you guessed it no defense.
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers are twenty seventh in offense and
Speaker 1: twenty seventh in defense in the league out of thirty.
Speaker 1: Just in case you forgot how many teams were in
Speaker 1: the NBA. Lebron, by the way, who has been in
Speaker 1: an epic slump, said, when you're individually fucking up and
Speaker 1: you're trying to rely on everyone else to cover for you,
Speaker 1: I think it starts with individuals. First. All of us
Speaker 1: have to take accountability. Ooh when we have when we
Speaker 1: have direct shots fired, it's not good. This is aimed
Speaker 1: at Rui Hachimura, who, at one point against Miami, Lebron
Speaker 1: literally pointed to where he was supposed to be on defense.
Speaker 1: Ruy was like, eh, lost his man on the switch.
Speaker 1: Tyler Hero hits one of his seven open threes while
Speaker 1: Lebron James is just throwing up his hands in disgust.
Speaker 1: I think we need to check in on JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: see how he's handling this. He says, I'm embarrassed. We're
Speaker 1: all embarrassed. It's not a game where we have the
Speaker 1: right fight, the right professionalism. There has to be some ownership.
Speaker 1: I own this, but there's gonna have to be some
Speaker 1: ownership on the court. JJ. JJ. You thought you were
Speaker 1: just gonna be able to grab a bottle of I
Speaker 1: don't know merlow and some whiteboards, and you thought you
Speaker 1: were gonna be able to x'es and o's this fucking
Speaker 1: dumpster fire and to be in something. Let me tell you,
Speaker 1: I've been watching the Lakers for a long time, and
Speaker 1: ever since doctor Buss died, there's no exes and ohing
Speaker 1: anything out of doing anything. I just I could have
Speaker 1: told you. I could have told you don't take the job. JJ.
Speaker 1: I know Purple and Gold is enticing, it's intoxicating. You
Speaker 1: think you can be the next pat Riley. No one
Speaker 1: is going to be able to fix this because it's Rob,
Speaker 1: Rob Snake, Polinka fucking everything up, and Genie and Linda
Speaker 1: Rambis and Kurt Rambus. It's the same thing every year,
Speaker 1: every single year we told about the same people fucking
Speaker 1: up the same things, and Lebron James just taking money
Speaker 1: even though he knows this is never gonna work. He
Speaker 1: just keeps extending, and keeps extending, and keeps extending, and
Speaker 1: then lies and says that he's not gonna extend, and
Speaker 1: then pretends he's going to leave, and then tries to
Speaker 1: get somebody to come there, which is why they ended
Speaker 1: up trading for Russell Westbrook, which is why he tried
Speaker 1: to get Kyrie there. It's insane. Anyway, Renick has declared
Speaker 1: he's going to meet with his coaching staff, the players
Speaker 1: as a group, and then other players individually, all in
Speaker 1: an effort to complete, to prevent the Lakers from completing
Speaker 1: completely falling apart. That was just a bad sentence, Just
Speaker 1: scratch that. All to stop the mutiny, which we know
Speaker 1: is on its way right First, it's like, first comes
Speaker 1: the money, next comes the power, then comes the nana fool.
Speaker 1: Don't be no dummy. First comes, first comes the losing,
Speaker 1: Then comes Lebron bitching, Then comes the coach bitching, and
Speaker 1: then comes Lebron getting you fired. That's how it goes.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry it was so bad. Channing Fry said, this
Speaker 1: might be the worst effort I have ever seen in
Speaker 1: the last few years. This Lakers team quit before the
Speaker 1: game even started. In no world, my guy should my
Speaker 1: guy Kevin Love be able to guard a D or
Speaker 1: a D not be able to go at him every time?
Speaker 1: The worst effort in recent memory, May I remind folks
Speaker 1: that Luke Walton coach this team disastrously. Darvin am coached
Speaker 1: the Lakers recently. So the worst effort is saying a
Speaker 1: lot and there are issues? Oh yeah, there are issues.
Speaker 1: Do you think I feel like I'm excited about this
Speaker 1: segment because I am like I could go all day,
Speaker 1: This entire show could be just this. And there are
Speaker 1: issues with everyone from Ruy who's been god awful, he's
Speaker 1: been Wizards, Ruey, let's be honest, Dalton Connect, who has
Speaker 1: turned back into March madness, Dalton Connect at Tennessee ten
Speaker 1: five and one over the last seven games to now Lebron,
Speaker 1: which probably the first time I've ever said this in
Speaker 1: my life. In the last seven games, Lebron's offensive production
Speaker 1: dropped to nineteen seven and nine, down from twenty six,
Speaker 1: ten and eleven in his previous seven. He missed twenty
Speaker 1: four consecutive three pointers at one point and is shooting
Speaker 1: twelve percent from three in his two week slump, and
Speaker 1: by the way, Lebron James was shooting the best from
Speaker 1: three in his career up until that slump. There's just
Speaker 1: a lot of people now online. The mutiny comes fast
Speaker 1: on social media, does it. They are people ready to
Speaker 1: put Lebron James's head in a guillotine. What they are saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: Lebron James is washed. Get this motherfucker out of here.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Asked whether Lebron has slowed down, Lebron just
Speaker 1: said it was a blip. I just feel off rhythm
Speaker 1: these last three four, not one, not two, not three,
Speaker 1: not four, not five, not six, seven games. It's everything.
Speaker 1: It's just the rhythm. I feel off rhythm these last
Speaker 1: three four games. My man, it's almost ten games. It's
Speaker 1: not three four. But when asked about maybe, hey, you
Speaker 1: think maybe you want to take a day off or something,
Speaker 1: get a massage, he said, no, I want to play
Speaker 1: all eighty two. A dude in his twenty second year
Speaker 1: in the NBA saying I'm exhausted, I have no rhythm,
Speaker 1: sucking win on the court, not trying, says no, I
Speaker 1: want to let you guys know, I'm an iron man. Sorry,
Speaker 1: that's just not gonna happen. JJ, Reddick has different ideas.
Speaker 1: When redd occurred that Lebron said that, his response was, immediately,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's in the best interest of
Speaker 1: him and us if he decides to do that. You
Speaker 1: think you think, JJ. It's one thing to know Lebron
Speaker 1: James personally. It's one thing to host a podcast with them.
Speaker 1: It's another to tie your career longevity and your ability
Speaker 1: to make a living at your new path with Lebron James,
Speaker 1: who does whatever the fuck he wants and allows the
Speaker 1: shrapnel around him to go ourd anyway. Bron will be
Speaker 1: forty in a few weeks. Probably needs some time off.
Speaker 1: He has maybe been distracted by the fact that Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Probably not, But I do want to add this in.
Speaker 1: He's not been distracted by it. I just want to say,
Speaker 1: but the fact of the matter is his media company,
Speaker 1: spring Hill. I don't even know why I need to
Speaker 1: put this in here right now, except for the fact
Speaker 1: that it's in the news and I need to put
Speaker 1: it somewhere. Spring Hill losing money twenty eight million dollar
Speaker 1: loss in twenty twenty three, on top of a seventeen
Speaker 1: million dollar loss in twenty twenty two. Could be even
Speaker 1: more in twenty twenty four. In other words, Lebron's got
Speaker 1: to take money from the Lakers because his media company's
Speaker 1: not doing so well. His company could be looking at
Speaker 1: seventy five million dollars or more in losses the last
Speaker 1: three years. Back to the basketball, the bottom line is
Speaker 1: the Lakers roster, which wasn't fixed in this last off season,
Speaker 1: and wasn't fixed in the off season before that, and
Speaker 1: wasn't fixed in the off season before that, is doing
Speaker 1: the same things that occurred in those other seasons. Dalton
Speaker 1: connect is never going to come in and be your savior.
Speaker 1: You lost Torrian Princewitz, I think you probably would pray
Speaker 1: for right now, considering the fact that Torrian Prince is
Speaker 1: the best three point shooter in the league right now.
Speaker 1: Guarantee he's shooting thirty two percent for the Lakers though
Speaker 1: right now, if he's on that team. Austin Reeves is
Speaker 1: never going to turn into a twenty five point a
Speaker 1: game guy. The Angela Russell is never gonna play basketball
Speaker 1: the right way. Rui Hachimer is never gonna give you
Speaker 1: consistent production. Anthony Davis is always Anthony Davis, and Lebron
Speaker 1: James is not getting any younger. The fact that they're
Speaker 1: twelve and ten, and that that's actually worse than it
Speaker 1: was at this time last year under Darvinham when they
Speaker 1: were thirteen to nine, and they probably should have should
Speaker 1: be worse, shouldn't have surprised anyone. And guess what, it
Speaker 1: didn't surprise me. And I love nothing more than a
Speaker 1: victory lap, and that's what this was. Unless major changes
Speaker 1: are made to this roster, the Lakers are a team
Speaker 1: that's going to like normal, spe in the seven seed,
Speaker 1: scratch claw for the play in, and then get bounced
Speaker 1: in the blink of an eye. Good luck, Lakers, it's
Speaker 1: been real. At least my Portland Trailblazers aren't fucking you.
Speaker 1: Let's moving on. Let's move on your NBA Cup date.
Speaker 1: The up opening rounds of the NBA Cup are over.
Speaker 1: We've moved down to the quarterfinals, set to be played
Speaker 1: next Tuesday and Wednesday. Couldn't make it out to Vegas.
Speaker 1: I'm doing some moving next year. In the first Tuesday quarterfinal,
Speaker 1: we now get the matchup between the two hottest teams
Speaker 1: in the East, the Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1: The Bucks have been surging as of late, they haven't
Speaker 1: really played anyone anyway, winners of their last eight of
Speaker 1: ten games. The Magic have won eight of ten, mind you,
Speaker 1: without Paolo Bancaro. Franz Wagner versus Giannis, Jalen Suggs versus Dame.
Speaker 1: I love this matchup. This is so much better to
Speaker 1: me than like the Pacers versus Bucks matchup, which definitely
Speaker 1: was rivalry. But this is gonna be really really fun.
Speaker 1: Second Tuesday quarter pits the defending Western Conference champs, the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks, which I am shocked if they are here,
Speaker 1: by the way, versus one of the teams they had
Speaker 1: to be to get there, the OKAC Thunder. No love
Speaker 1: lost between these two teams. Both are playing very well.
Speaker 1: Luca's health will be a key point in the game.
Speaker 1: Luca in Vegas, guys, come on. OKAC without Chet actually
Speaker 1: has proven to be pretty beatable, even though they will
Speaker 1: still lead the West by one and a half games.
Speaker 1: Dallas quietly has won nine of ten, so this is
Speaker 1: gonna be be a very very fun matchup. On Wednesday,
Speaker 1: the surprise Atlanta Hawks will play in the third quarterfinal
Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. Of course, this
Speaker 1: means Trey Jung returns to the place that he became
Speaker 1: a villain, which he loves. Plus, the Hawks have won
Speaker 1: five in a row, including two wins against Cleveland one
Speaker 1: against Milwaukee. I don't know what Atlanta is. Are they good?
Speaker 1: The Knicks are good. They are rolling behind Karl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns and Brunson and og. They just came back by
Speaker 1: like twenty five points last night to the Charlotte Hornets, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, proabab shouldn't be down to the Charlotte
Speaker 1: Hornets either, which way, pretty impressive win. This is the
Speaker 1: game that I'm most looking forward to seeing. Gonna be
Speaker 1: very fun, bad blood between these two. And then in
Speaker 1: the final quarter we have a great matchup against the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. I don't know
Speaker 1: how these teams get good. The Rockets are shockingly good
Speaker 1: right now despite not being able to hit the broadside
Speaker 1: of a barn from three, and while Golden State is
Speaker 1: stumbling a little bit following their very hot start. They've
Speaker 1: lost five in a row before beating the same Rockets
Speaker 1: last night. As I said, they have now beaten the
Speaker 1: Rockets fifteen straight times. Anyway, that's gonna be a very
Speaker 1: fun matchup too. Note that the NBA Quarters does not
Speaker 1: have Cleveland and Boston in it, the two top teams
Speaker 1: in the East with the two best records. You snooze,
Speaker 1: you lose. You lose to Atlanta, you get bounced the
Speaker 1: fuck out, which is exactly what happened. And the second
Speaker 1: NBA Cup has proven to be a lot of fun
Speaker 1: once again. I am looking for the final eight teams
Speaker 1: to really get with it. Five hundred thousand to the
Speaker 1: bench players. We know that means really a lot. So
Speaker 1: look for star players to ball out in an effort
Speaker 1: to get their boys paid and hammer those steel pops.
Speaker 1: We're not supposed to say that. Hammer those steel props
Speaker 1: during Cup games been super profitable two years running. Okay,
Speaker 1: moving on, it's Friday. Let's get in on these injuries.
Speaker 1: We haven't had an update on Kawhi in a while.
Speaker 1: What do you think he's doing. Do you think he's
Speaker 1: coming back anytime soon? Uh No, he's not. According to
Speaker 1: Bill Simmons, the Clippers are now expecting Kawhi to return
Speaker 1: to the lineup before Christmas. I just don't believe it.
Speaker 1: Reports are the East had on court activities for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, so that's probably not gonna be surprising.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, though, I really don't see it.
Speaker 1: The Clippers, though very surprising fourteen and ten. They've been
Speaker 1: playing really good basketball as of late, seven and three
Speaker 1: in their last ten, so it's gonna be fascinating to
Speaker 1: see how they try to integrate Kawhi back, if he
Speaker 1: ever comes back. Where Norm Powell and a mirror coffee,
Speaker 1: just a small coffee, are thriving, thriving. In fact, Norm
Speaker 1: was asking why the Clippers are thriving with only Harden
Speaker 1: on the floor, and he said, I think the way
Speaker 1: that we're playing with the group of guys that we
Speaker 1: have is more team oriented and less star dominant. How
Speaker 1: insane is it by the way that a team with
Speaker 1: James Harden on it is considered team oriented less star dominant.
Speaker 1: He said, we had four superstars and Hall of Fame candidates,
Speaker 1: and everybody was used to playing a certain way. It's
Speaker 1: hard to get four superstars on a team. To mesh
Speaker 1: oo sounds like shots fired at Kawhi Leonard. Norm Powell
Speaker 1: thinks you're gonna have trouble integrating back into this lineup.
Speaker 1: There are a fair number of nuance injuries to monitor.
Speaker 1: Terrence Mann, Clippers player, He's gonna undergo surgery to replair
Speaker 1: a fractured middle finger on his left hand. He's had
Speaker 1: an offseason production down twenty five percent over the last
Speaker 1: few seasons, so maybe this break is actually gonna be
Speaker 1: good for him. Lakers center Jackson Hayes, which no one
Speaker 1: cares about, resprained his ankle. He won't return for another
Speaker 1: three weeks. Lakers injury woes continue. Remember, we can't really
Speaker 1: evaluate what this Lakers team is until Jackson Hayes gets
Speaker 1: fully healthy. Kevin Durant sprained his left ankle. He will
Speaker 1: miss at least a week. They are not gonna win
Speaker 1: any games without him. They just lost to the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Pelicans. And finally we'll get an update on Zion Williamson,
Speaker 1: who Michael Scotto says will be re examined in two weeks,
Speaker 1: which is to say he will not necessarily be back
Speaker 1: in two weeks. Definitely not going to be back in
Speaker 1: two weeks, but he will be looked at in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, which we will then have a better
Speaker 1: idea of how long he'll be gone. There's also a
Speaker 1: big list of players who are about to return. Zach
Speaker 1: Edie he has ramped up his recovery he's doing on
Speaker 1: court work. Taylor Jenkins says the recovery timetable sooner than later.
Speaker 1: Jeremy's Sohn he is ahead of schedule in his rehamp
Speaker 1: from a thumb injury. He should be back end of
Speaker 1: the month, right around New Year's Day. Jared Vanderbilt, who
Speaker 1: seems to have missed like I don't know, three seasons. Honestly,
Speaker 1: when was the last time. The last time I saw
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt was when he was buying clothes, keeping the
Speaker 1: tags on them, wearing them and then returning them anyway.
Speaker 1: He has recently experienced fluid in his knee, so he's
Speaker 1: now slated to be back in a month, which no
Speaker 1: one also cares about. Joe El Embiid, who has missed
Speaker 1: a ton of time for the season for the Sixers
Speaker 1: five and fifteen. They are maybe he'll be back this weekend.
Speaker 1: They say, how well has he recovered? Unknown? And finally,
Speaker 1: speaking of guys who have been injured, Chris Middleton is
Speaker 1: slated to make his season debut and they gave him
Speaker 1: a real Cupcake Day game to come back to Boston
Speaker 1: it's been I would feel like that, maybe I'd want
Speaker 1: a little bit of a ramp up period, little Washington Wizards,
Speaker 1: a little Charlotte Hornets. Anyway, it's been a very long
Speaker 1: road back for Chris double ankle sent surgery. By the way,
Speaker 1: he'll be in his classic Middleton form, hopefully instead of
Speaker 1: what we saw in Fitz and Spurs Spurts the last
Speaker 1: two season, which was wish Middleton. Also, Jalen Suggs sprained
Speaker 1: his ankle against Philly. He stepped on the foot of
Speaker 1: a comedian, Michael Blaxham. That's actually kind of a nuts
Speaker 1: situation who was sitting courtside. That's like sounds like something
Speaker 1: I would make up, but it was not made up.
Speaker 1: It actually was real. Suggs thugged it out, he played
Speaker 1: thirty seven minutes to another win. But he said this
Speaker 1: oute of this game, I was mad, and then I
Speaker 1: saw it was him, and I couldn't be mad anymore.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's brought me too many laughs to be angry.
Speaker 1: Jalen Suggs in that game, by the way, still had
Speaker 1: seventeen points and three steals, so good for him. Wish
Speaker 1: him back very very soon, and a little tea from
Speaker 1: around the league. Not a lot, just a few little stories. First,
Speaker 1: we did discover the truth behind why Adrian Wargenowski left
Speaker 1: ESPN for a job with Saint Bonnie's, besides the fact
Speaker 1: that he was tired of breaking news about Isaaca Quarrel.
Speaker 1: Back in March, Wojes was diagnosed with prostate cans sir,
Speaker 1: and probably as you would imagine, caused Weljesh to say,
Speaker 1: am I doing what I need to be doing right now?
Speaker 1: Or maybe should I spend some time with my family.
Speaker 1: In particular, he attended the funeral of his colleague Chris Mortensen,
Speaker 1: and he was flabbergasted at how few of his colleagues
Speaker 1: from ESPN decided to come in to attend the funeral,
Speaker 1: sort of like a, well, these people will give a
Speaker 1: fuck about me, Like, so, why do I really give
Speaker 1: a fuck about them if I die of this prostate cancer?
Speaker 1: No one's coming to this, None of the players, none
Speaker 1: of the gms, no one. Just my wife and my kids,
Speaker 1: who probably hate me because I've been off breaking news
Speaker 1: for so long. Anyway, he said, I don't actually think
Speaker 1: they hate him. Just wanna make sure that's clear what
Speaker 1: I was doing. It wasn't fulfilling anymore. It was just done.
Speaker 1: This is what gets me excited to learn something new,
Speaker 1: to be a part of something like this, it's a
Speaker 1: whole new challenge. I'm glad Woj's reevaluated his life. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I like to see him happy at Saint Bonnie's. I
Speaker 1: like to see that he's enjoying some time away from
Speaker 1: the grind and giving up the capo life. Of course,
Speaker 1: we all hope that Woja's recovery goes well. By the way,
Speaker 1: he said that this process cancer was very manageable, So
Speaker 1: I don't think Woj's life is in danger. I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be fine. That's why I'm able to crack
Speaker 1: jokes Bonnie's upset someone in March madness. We're hoping for
Speaker 1: that as well, wishing Woj well. Second, we've got another
Speaker 1: example of how the NBA is just a cold, cold world.
Speaker 1: Pelicans just released Alfred Peyton. Remember Peyton got signed by
Speaker 1: the Pelicans because they're hospitaling. There's just seven games. He
Speaker 1: came in and gave him some good minutes, great numbers
Speaker 1: for a guy who most people had written off. He
Speaker 1: averaged seven three and seven two stocks a game. I
Speaker 1: remember he had that huge assist game. I think he
Speaker 1: had over twenty assists. Yeah, twenty one assists and fourteen
Speaker 1: points against Indy. Only Trey young Is had a game
Speaker 1: with more assists this season. So then they they got
Speaker 1: healthy and they said, fuck you, dipset. Why boy, we
Speaker 1: needed you for about seven games and now you're out
Speaker 1: of here. That's pretty tough. That's a tough break, let's
Speaker 1: be honest. After eight years, remember though, remember really quick
Speaker 1: side road. Remember Alfred Peyton was like the starting point
Speaker 1: guard for the New York Knicks. That's how far we've come, folks.
Speaker 1: It was bad for a while. Anyway, Elfred spent all
Speaker 1: last year overseas and the G League, where he led
Speaker 1: the league in assists. So I think it can be
Speaker 1: an NBA player. Here's the hoping he gets another shot.
Speaker 1: He's a hooper. I'd love to see him get to
Speaker 1: the ten year mark to get those benefits. Very important
Speaker 1: for your pension. It's tough break for Alfred Peyton. Next,
Speaker 1: Lonzo Balla is in the news. This one one is delicious. Uh.
Speaker 1: Not because he's back on the court after a three
Speaker 1: week recovery from a knee injury. No, not because he
Speaker 1: dropped an ig post about reuniting with Mellow and Charlotte
Speaker 1: that went megaviral. No, and not telling his brother Leangelo
Speaker 1: the Hey, you've got no future in the NBA. Your
Speaker 1: future is not in the G League either. We tried that.
Speaker 1: It didn't work. It's in Europe only. No, not that either.
Speaker 1: Lonzo Ball made news because he finally admitted, well, we
Speaker 1: all kind of knew and were trying to tell him
Speaker 1: as nicely as we could, which, hey, probably don't let
Speaker 1: your dad build sneakers for you and sell them when
Speaker 1: you're trying to make a living playing back basketball. Remember
Speaker 1: those Big Baller shoes, by the way, they're still being made,
Speaker 1: and remember they were getting we were getting charged five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars for them. Get the fuck out of there.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't remember the Big Baller brand.
Speaker 1: I remember it, and you know who also remembers it.
Speaker 1: Lonzo Ball remembers it. They were a huge splash in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. Remember the Zo two. It was like a
Speaker 1: broke ass wish version of the Kobe and then like
Speaker 1: it sort of clang lawn to relevancy and then it
Speaker 1: disappeared into the cultural ether. Even like LaVar Ball was
Speaker 1: on TV with I want to say Skip Bayless, maybe
Speaker 1: it was Colin Coward. And then remember LaVar told Christine
Speaker 1: Leaheat to stay in her own lane. Yeah, he was
Speaker 1: on that show to talk about the Big Baller brand sneakers.
Speaker 1: So anyway, Lonzo Ball gave an interview to Ramona Shelburn,
Speaker 1: who's the best. It's a great read about his thousand
Speaker 1: day recovery, which is crazy. Lonzo Ball told ESPN when
Speaker 1: his dad made him wear the Zo twos in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: he said they were unwearable. They were like kickball shoes.
Speaker 1: So she followed up, like a good interviewer would, like, Hey,
Speaker 1: do you think those kickball shoes contributed to your string
Speaker 1: of injuries that caused you to have a thousand day recovery.
Speaker 1: He was blunt. I think it's a possibility for sure,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, I wasn't really getting hurt
Speaker 1: like that until I started wearing them. We tried to
Speaker 1: tell you. Everyone was like, you're trying to keep a
Speaker 1: black man and his family down. Black businesses, we gotta
Speaker 1: support these businesses. Like No, I just don't think that
Speaker 1: LeVar Ball has the acumen to build a shoe for
Speaker 1: basketball high performance, and I just think like testing it
Speaker 1: out on somebody else might be better. To be fair,
Speaker 1: Lonzo does speculate he had knee isshoes before blowing it
Speaker 1: out while wearing the big baller shoes as a rookie,
Speaker 1: but like, let's be real, the shoes didn't help, right
Speaker 1: if you lived through those days where LeVar tried to
Speaker 1: force his way everywhere, which I remember like it was yesterday.
Speaker 1: Nothing about this is surprising. What has surprised me is
Speaker 1: how good Lonzo and LaMelo both have been and become.
Speaker 1: I hope Lonzo finds some good orthotics and has a
Speaker 1: very long successful career and that his knee is as
Speaker 1: solid as how heavy those big baller shoes were. I
Speaker 1: hope that he's fine. I hope he's found the right
Speaker 1: path and the right shoes. And I hate pointing how
Speaker 1: right I am out out for a like a new
Speaker 1: topic when you're right right, and I am right. I
Speaker 1: said this season that the Denver Nuggets and how they
Speaker 1: needed to win they would have to rely on Jokic
Speaker 1: at a historical degree, well world class crank and old
Speaker 1: man yelling at Klow's George Carl just tweeted by the
Speaker 1: way fun fact he spit in my face when I
Speaker 1: was nine the accidentally, the Nuggets have been more reliant
Speaker 1: on Joker than the Bulls ever were on Jordan. Jokic
Speaker 1: is the primary rebounder, passer, playmaker, and leader every game.
Speaker 1: I don't think that sustainable, do you. I watched the
Speaker 1: Nuggets get the brakes blown out of them by the
Speaker 1: Calves last night. Not even Jokic could have saved them.
Speaker 1: Nuggets fans, it's gonna be a rough one for you.
Speaker 1: Don't run from it. You can't win long term. Trade
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior while he's still hitting threes at an
Speaker 1: alarming rate, and try to get something back. Try to
Speaker 1: get Jeremy Grant. I don't figure it out. You're fucked.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we have for this episode
Speaker 1: of Heat. Check come back Monday. Check out the feed
Speaker 1: for past episodes, and many episodes would drop unexpectedly, like
Speaker 1: a new season, new series from Taylor Sheridan. That man
Speaker 1: has put out King of Tulsa. That man has put
Speaker 1: out lab Man. That man has put out Yellowstone, That
Speaker 1: man has put out Mayor of Kingstown. That man has
Speaker 1: put out Lioness Jesus christis man is putting out so
Speaker 1: many damn good shows. He is prolific. Do not forget
Speaker 1: to follow the heat check throughout the season. That means download, subscribe,
Speaker 1: tell your friends, even that lapteck at the vet trying
Speaker 1: to sell you every single add on possible. Say hey,
Speaker 1: I don't need my dog to get her anal glands
Speaker 1: expressed for sixty seven dollars. I just try to get
Speaker 1: some meds so that you know she can get by
Speaker 1: on her day. This is just a I just want
Speaker 1: her to get her raby shots anyway, Throw on the
Speaker 1: heat check to cover up the sound of yelping dogs
Speaker 1: the vet and just chill out. Do not forget to
Speaker 1: follow me on threads, Twitter, Instagram and at Trista Underscore
Speaker 1: crips and this cheap check on TikTok and and at
Speaker 1: some point soon promise YouTube