Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Crick.
Speaker 2: On this bonus episode of the Heat Check, We've got
Speaker 2: a special guest, folks, Chris Miles of NBA TV, here
Speaker 2: to break down the aftermath of the Draft as well
Speaker 2: as the latest on free agency buzz. I'm joined on
Speaker 2: this episode by my co host Nick Ashew. It was
Speaker 2: recorded on our national radio show bet MGM. Tonight comes
Speaker 2: out Monday through Friday, seven to eleven. If you like betting,
Speaker 2: so Nick, do me a favor and drop that motherfucking
Speaker 2: beat that should be Rihanna.
Speaker 3: Chris Miles, NBA TV jumps on with us. Let's start
Speaker 3: with Damian Lillard here. We've heard his name certainly mentioned
Speaker 3: at least in whispers for years, but it was always no, No,
Speaker 3: he wants today, he wants to stay. Could this offseason
Speaker 3: finally be the difference? Could this, finally, Chris, be the
Speaker 3: time where he either asks for a trade or at
Speaker 3: least says fine, if you can find a good spot
Speaker 3: for me, I'll take it and go. So were like,
Speaker 3: I don't know the Miami heat.
Speaker 4: Perhaps you know what this seems like when two couples
Speaker 4: are about to get a divorce but everyone wants to
Speaker 4: keep the friends, right, That's what the Blazers and Damian
Speaker 4: Lillard are. They're like, I'm trying to keep the friends.
Speaker 4: I'm the good one here.
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't. I'm not the one that pulled
Speaker 1: the trigger on this.
Speaker 4: So you're my friend, right, NBA fans and fan base,
Speaker 4: that's what they're doing. And I think we're starting to
Speaker 4: get to the point where one or the other is
Speaker 4: gonna be like, you know what, I don't care what
Speaker 4: people think.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to move on.
Speaker 4: And it feels like the Blazers are there more so
Speaker 4: than Damian Lillard as far as saying it publicly, like
Speaker 4: you said, oh, they're taking.
Speaker 1: The billboard down.
Speaker 4: Really, Oh, they drafted the guy that's going weird double
Speaker 4: zero right, like, oh okay, and they they're drafting your position,
Speaker 4: and they are keeping guys you know who are showing
Speaker 4: signs to have value on a trademarket.
Speaker 1: Like, think about it, if they were planning.
Speaker 4: On keeping Damian Lillard, Anthony Simon's right, someone you could
Speaker 4: get a veteran at a different position for so you
Speaker 4: could kind of bring in Schoot Henderson and say you're
Speaker 4: doing this thing or Shaden Sharp had an excellent rookie
Speaker 4: year and a sense of like value on a trade market.
Speaker 4: If you were keeping name you and you were gonna
Speaker 4: draft Schoot Henderson, then you could have moved those pieces
Speaker 4: and kind of got some veterans. John Collins on the
Speaker 4: market for two and a half dollars.
Speaker 1: Like he went for a second round.
Speaker 4: And Rudy Gay even I was like, wait, Rudy Gay
Speaker 4: has another year on his contract, Like, Rudy Gay is
Speaker 4: my age?
Speaker 1: What's going on here? You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: So it's like all of these things that if you're
Speaker 4: dam You're like, what is We're not going to get drafting?
Speaker 4: These young guys were developing. Come on, everyone knows it.
Speaker 4: We can all see it. And they are teams that
Speaker 4: would love to have Damian Lillard. And you know what,
Speaker 4: the NBA would love to have Damian Lillard on the
Speaker 4: East Coast. I say you that much.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're right. And the thing that I thought was
Speaker 5: interesting and Chris is the Dame came out through Chris Haynes,
Speaker 5: which we know they're very close, they've been close for
Speaker 5: a long time now, is that he says he doesn't
Speaker 5: want to play on a team with multiple All Stars
Speaker 5: he just wants to be on a team that has
Speaker 5: a shot. He says, I don't want to be on
Speaker 5: a team with three All stars. That's Miami baby, Like,
Speaker 5: if he was to go there, it's Jimmy, it's Bam,
Speaker 5: it's him. So that feels like maybe not the right spot.
Speaker 5: I am curious though, from Portland side, if Dame were
Speaker 5: to go, and I still have hope that maybe they
Speaker 5: just couldn't find a deal during the draft and that
Speaker 5: maybe they can figure something out in free agency. But
Speaker 5: is Chauncey Billups won the right coach for a rebuilding team?
Speaker 5: And two do you think he is the coach if
Speaker 5: Damian Oller does ask out.
Speaker 4: Well, First and foremost, I am not going to say
Speaker 4: anything bad about the champion Chauncey Billups.
Speaker 1: And whether or not he's we don't know.
Speaker 4: The verdict isn't in on whether he could be a
Speaker 4: good coach or not right, and we don't he there's
Speaker 4: not enough of a samp side to know if he
Speaker 4: deals with a veteran team or young team. The one
Speaker 4: thing I do know about Chauncey Billups is that everyone
Speaker 4: that's played with him or that's been around him, there's
Speaker 4: a level of respect there, right, And it's not like
Speaker 4: if you mentioned a different coach and can're like, well,
Speaker 4: I've heard this about him, or a different player kind
Speaker 4: of heard this about him.
Speaker 1: With Chauncey Billups, it's all like leadership.
Speaker 4: He's the guy, you know, different teams want him, whether
Speaker 4: it's the front officers or a coaching position. So I
Speaker 4: kind of feel like any coach, though, you want to
Speaker 4: put your stamp on things. And with Damian Lillard, he
Speaker 4: had been there so long that that's Dame's team, right.
Speaker 4: He kind of has that power that if Dame's gone,
Speaker 4: I think Chauncey has a better chance and a better
Speaker 4: opportunity to mold these guys into what he wants, kind
Speaker 4: of like ima Udoka and Houston as well, getting a
Speaker 4: bunch of young guys in there as opposed to having,
Speaker 4: you know, guys who had some success before he became
Speaker 4: head coach.
Speaker 3: You know you mentioned the John Collins trade. He's got
Speaker 3: three years, seventy eight million dollars left on that contract.
Speaker 3: Utah absorbs that deal. Atlanta just gets Rudy Gay in
Speaker 3: a second round pick, and you're going, right, You're scratching
Speaker 3: your head going it.
Speaker 1: And I don't.
Speaker 3: John Collins isn't a great big man, but he's pretty good.
Speaker 3: Are we going to see more of this offseason of
Speaker 3: just maybe some moves where teams are just trying to
Speaker 3: clear some cap space, keep themselves away from that dreaded
Speaker 3: second apron It feels like like even if people aren't
Speaker 3: and most people aren't well versed in the CBA because
Speaker 3: it's millions of pages and it's boring and nobody actually
Speaker 3: wants to read that stuff, but it does have a
Speaker 3: direct effect on the way some teams are treating this offseason.
Speaker 3: Do you think this will be an offseason that does
Speaker 3: have maybe fewer big moves and it's more based on
Speaker 3: like the deal we saw today with Atlanta and the Jazz.
Speaker 4: And you know, it also gives Atlanta some flexibility that
Speaker 4: they just had zero flexibility with the contracts that they
Speaker 4: had and the decisions they've made, and now they have
Speaker 4: the what twelve million dollar exception they can use and
Speaker 4: four and a half months they can go get guys
Speaker 4: who may be out there on a bargain that kind
Speaker 4: of fits that veteran leadership that they need in the
Speaker 4: locker room. Also, also they have that twenty five million
Speaker 4: dollar trade exception now that maybe some of their young
Speaker 4: developing guys that really haven't proven themselves, they can take
Speaker 4: money back for a player that fits more into what
Speaker 4: they're trying to do. If John Collins, to your point,
Speaker 4: is a really good I would call him like a
Speaker 4: top tier role player could be an All Star with
Speaker 4: the right team, and you would think with Trey Young
Speaker 4: that that would be the case, but it just never
Speaker 4: fit in that way. I think the Hawks waited for
Speaker 4: that to happen. And with the Utah Jazz, it's like
Speaker 4: he's their highest paid player, so like he comes in
Speaker 4: and immediately, like when you talk about cap flexibility, they
Speaker 4: just had it to absorb that.
Speaker 1: So it made sense for.
Speaker 4: The Utah Jazz, where as the Atlanta Hawks, it just
Speaker 4: was like this handcuff of a contract. So I want
Speaker 4: to see what else the Atlanta Hawks are up to.
Speaker 4: I think that this was the first in three or
Speaker 4: four moves that they are about to make to try
Speaker 4: to make this team one that can really compete again
Speaker 4: to get to the Eastern Conference finals, because right now
Speaker 4: that feels like a fluke, and I know that's not where.
Speaker 5: They want to be. De Jontay Murray is one of
Speaker 5: my favorite young guards, Chris. He obviously is up for
Speaker 5: an extension. They can't offer him until free agency, probably
Speaker 5: what he's worth on the open market, but there's been
Speaker 5: some whispers that maybe it's just not working with him
Speaker 5: and Trey Young, despite the fact that they wanted to
Speaker 5: play together. Do you think that he is one of
Speaker 5: those three or four moves that you're talking about where
Speaker 5: maybe they send him somewhere else?
Speaker 4: Man, it's crazy because I enjoy watching him in person,
Speaker 4: so I would like, absolutely hate for that to happen.
Speaker 4: And truly, when I watch Trey Young and de Jontay Murray,
Speaker 4: I think for Trey he's the perfect compliment slash backcourt
Speaker 4: mate that if he's moved, I just don't know how
Speaker 4: it works out right in the sense of, Okay, so
Speaker 4: you move the defensive guard that can also put up
Speaker 4: big numbers and be an All star as well, then
Speaker 4: what are you looking to put next to Trey Young?
Speaker 1: So to your point, it would be more of a
Speaker 1: business decision.
Speaker 4: If they think they can't resign him, that he's gonna
Speaker 4: go elsewhere and they won't get anything for him.
Speaker 1: Which would be really sad.
Speaker 4: So I guess objectively, looking at the Atlanta Hawks, I
Speaker 4: hope that doesn't happen for them. I hope that they're
Speaker 4: able to keep him, that it works out between he
Speaker 4: and Trey Young, because I do think that the way
Speaker 4: that they play should compliment each other more than it
Speaker 4: did this year.
Speaker 3: Talking to Chris Miles NBA TV Warriors and Chris Paul,
Speaker 3: it just sounds weird. It's gonna look weird. It's gonna
Speaker 3: take some time getting used to. And there's also some
Speaker 3: of the extra curriculars, right Steph saying it's not twenty
Speaker 3: fourteen anymore to Chris Paul, and then Draymond's got some
Speaker 3: beef with him and then he had the fake life
Speaker 3: after Steve Kerr? Is this gonna be one of those
Speaker 3: situations where when it's all set and done, everybody gets
Speaker 3: in there kind of just puts it all aside and says,
Speaker 3: we're trying to win a championship or did you kind
Speaker 3: of look at this and go, wait, what, how in
Speaker 3: the world is this all gonna mesh when it's all
Speaker 3: said and done?
Speaker 1: What years it again? Like twenty fourteen? I know that. Yeah, And.
Speaker 4: To your point, right, guys on that twenty fourteen team,
Speaker 4: like one of them works with me, Jamal Crawford. The
Speaker 4: other guy that backcourt, JJ Reddick, is a star on ESPN.
Speaker 4: It's about that time for Chris Paul, you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like the Warriors won four championships in an eight year
Speaker 4: span since then, Like this is what we're talking about
Speaker 4: when you say something like that, Like, yes, Chris Paul,
Speaker 4: his apex was probably, you know, twenty and eight to
Speaker 4: twenty fourteen. I think at this point Chris Paul knows that, Right,
Speaker 4: there's a time where you go, oh, like I was
Speaker 4: moved just for my contract being one that they didn't
Speaker 4: want anymore.
Speaker 1: He has to know that. He has to understand that.
Speaker 4: And it's a matter of is he willing to come
Speaker 4: off the bench and lead a second unit and be
Speaker 4: like Golden State's Kyle Lowry, Because if he is, the
Speaker 4: league is in trouble.
Speaker 1: He's good enough to do that.
Speaker 4: If he is, if he has that mentality to get
Speaker 4: that championship, then the league.
Speaker 1: Is in trouble.
Speaker 5: So you covered NBA draft Chris for NBA TV. Other
Speaker 5: than Cam Whitmore, who slid for like really inexplicable reasons
Speaker 5: they said they had to do with his medicals, but
Speaker 5: he was doing windmills in the one on zero workouts.
Speaker 5: I saw it on Instagram myself. He looked pretty explosive.
Speaker 5: Who else besides him? Were you really surprised to slide
Speaker 5: down in the draft?
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I wouldn't say I was surprise where
Speaker 4: they ended up being drafted.
Speaker 1: But a guy that I'm like, I just don't know
Speaker 1: if I understand the draft anymore. Ben Sheppard out of
Speaker 1: Belmont that went to the Pacers at twenty sixth.
Speaker 4: It's like I spend all this time objectively watching guys
Speaker 4: see who pops. I mean, I called the Nike Hoops Summit, right,
Speaker 4: that's where like the first time they get a name,
Speaker 4: like Nicole Okitch and Jamal Murray play together, Like I
Speaker 4: watch them from that stage and Nick.
Speaker 1: Knows this about me until it's time to get to
Speaker 1: the draft, and so I see guys as levels happen.
Speaker 4: And then I get to the draft and I'm like, wait,
Speaker 4: Ben Shephard is awesome, Like he's a basketball player, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, why is he going twenty sixth?
Speaker 1: And then I look up some of the other guys
Speaker 1: and I'm not.
Speaker 4: Gonna disrespect them, and I'm like they play the same position,
Speaker 4: they're not as good.
Speaker 1: What is happening? Is it a an age and upside?
Speaker 4: Because I see this every year and I see guys
Speaker 4: get drafted and they just like never never make it,
Speaker 4: and they're like, oh they're eighteen, they're nineteen. The upside,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I would take the twenty one or twenty
Speaker 4: two year old that I know can play in the
Speaker 4: NBA immediate, Like, I just don't get it. I understand
Speaker 4: it's some guys the upside and they end up being there.
Speaker 4: But that's the kid that I look at, like, how
Speaker 4: how is twenty six where he goes like I look at.
Speaker 5: You, no, no, no disrespect? Is that is that person
Speaker 5: Jet Howard? That you felt like, wow.
Speaker 1: He really went a lot earlier.
Speaker 4: And I expected, well, yes, he's one of the guys,
Speaker 4: but he doesn't play the same position. So Jet Howard
Speaker 4: I kind of got from Orlando's perspective, right because they
Speaker 4: got all of these young guys who and then who
Speaker 4: they drafted at six Anthony Black was was kind of like, okay,
Speaker 4: interesting because they have like eight guards.
Speaker 1: So like I kind of looked at the value on
Speaker 1: the board.
Speaker 4: And kind of thought they need shooting the Orlando Magic
Speaker 4: just need guys that can shoot. So like I saw it,
Speaker 4: and I'm like they probably were trying to figure out
Speaker 4: Look at what Grady Dick is wearing here.
Speaker 1: We don't need too much. We don't need too much, right,
Speaker 1: Like we need a professional.
Speaker 4: Like God is just gonna come in and just do
Speaker 4: his job, and we know his dad, we know what
Speaker 4: this is about. Let's get safe here, because we might
Speaker 4: have made the splashy pick at six, So I get that,
Speaker 4: But I'm with you as like, man, that's pretty high
Speaker 4: for a guy that you think is gonna come in
Speaker 4: and just shoot three pointers. So yeah, but there are
Speaker 4: a couple of other guys that I just kind of
Speaker 4: look at and I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I thought Ben Sheppard was better.
Speaker 3: Chris got about a minute here, Bradley Beal, the trade
Speaker 3: finally happened. You and I have talked about this for years.
Speaker 3: The return was not nearly what they could have gotten
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago. Your thoughts on that in
Speaker 3: about a minute.
Speaker 4: You've had my thoughts on it for five years, right, Yeah,
Speaker 4: And it's like this is exactly what I said would happen.
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, first of all, I have to talk
Speaker 4: to Bradley beal right, Like, he's a guy that I
Speaker 4: know in real life, and I'm happy that he's gotten
Speaker 4: as much money as he had. Having said that, I'm like,
Speaker 4: why Wizards are you signing him to these coins? Like
Speaker 4: once you dealt John Wall and then you had Russell
Speaker 4: Westbrook that next season it didn't work out.
Speaker 1: That was the time to cash hit. You could have
Speaker 1: got like Shay.
Speaker 4: Gildess Alexander in six draft picks for him. Instead you
Speaker 4: got Landry Shammitt in second round picks.
Speaker 3: It's just, oh, you wait till you give him a
Speaker 3: no trade clause and then you give him as much
Speaker 3: money as possible. He fleeces you, He holds the organization hostage,
Speaker 3: and then he gets to go where he wants to go,
Speaker 3: and they get him for pennies on the dollar. Chris Miles,
Speaker 3: NBA TV. Always good talking to my friend.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we have for this bonus
Speaker 2: episode of the he checked. Many thanks to Chris, my
Speaker 2: bet MGM co host Nick Ashew, and my producer Scott Lynn.
Speaker 2: Check out the feed for past episodes and many episodes
Speaker 2: which will drop unexpectedly like the manna from heaven and
Speaker 2: follow the Heat Check as the off season is now
Speaker 2: in full swing. Do not forget. Please to download, to subscribe,
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Speaker 2: Crick on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. Many shout outs also
Speaker 2: to my producer Nick Berlanski for putting this thing together,
Speaker 2: and of course thank you all for listening to the pod.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next time.