Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Crick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of The Heat Check, I joined Damien
Speaker 2: Barling on The Dlo and Casey Show on ESPN thirteen
Speaker 2: twenty in Sacktown, always one of my favorite times of
Speaker 2: the week talking to the boys, and let's face it,
Speaker 2: the vibes were immaculate, and I thought I would share
Speaker 2: it with my folks on the Heat Check podcast. Let's
Speaker 2: not waste any time, Nick, go ahead and drop that beat.
Speaker 3: What is happening?
Speaker 2: What is this?
Speaker 3: The Blair trist the Blair Crick Project, Like, whoa, what
Speaker 3: is going on?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm in New York right now, and so I'm
Speaker 2: in this hotel that I'm in the little library area
Speaker 2: where there was food, and my hotel that I'm actually
Speaker 2: staying at is a couple of blocks down the street.
Speaker 2: But I had just finished eating, and so there's like
Speaker 2: this little back area that I can charge my phone
Speaker 2: and it's not going to interrupt anyone. But I realize
Speaker 2: I'm like right up against the lamp, and I was like,
Speaker 2: and I was like, this looks really. I mean, you
Speaker 2: guys make fun of me from my living room and
Speaker 2: how dark the background is?
Speaker 4: I mean it's a whole new level. It's a whole
Speaker 4: new level.
Speaker 1: It's slinky.
Speaker 3: It's literally just your face. That's now we can see
Speaker 3: your hands with the like no, it's.
Speaker 4: It's also I've got a black sweater on, so.
Speaker 3: It's just it's all it's just all darkness. That's that's
Speaker 3: we know, it's perfect. I mean, this just adds to
Speaker 3: the it's it's just adds to the fun of talking
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're at one of Trista's speed dating
Speaker 1: tables that she's had to stop at as on sort
Speaker 1: of you know, going around the room like we've got
Speaker 1: like two minutes and then she's got to move to
Speaker 1: the next table.
Speaker 2: If only, if only I was not lucky to be
Speaker 2: on speed days.
Speaker 4: My day is Bizara. I'm looking for some wall trousers after.
Speaker 3: It's excellent that so I assume, uh w f A N.
Speaker 3: That's that's why you're no.
Speaker 4: Dnist appointments today, the old New York YEP. So I
Speaker 4: had to get some new visilne put in.
Speaker 2: And then I don't know if you guys can tell,
Speaker 2: but I got some new little new littelashes, uh all right,
Speaker 2: and so then yeah, they my dnnist appointments only on
Speaker 2: Friday morning, so I had to come up Thursday and
Speaker 2: then leave Saturday. So I'm gonna go and see some friends.
Speaker 2: I actually I'm getting dinner with Jake Fisher tonight.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm gonna try to get some get some tea
Speaker 4: on this Kyrie Irving news.
Speaker 3: No, well we'll we'll We'll get to Kyrie here, uh
Speaker 3: in just a heartbeat, and I'm sure you'll share the
Speaker 3: tea with us, uh when you get the opportunity. But
Speaker 3: you fired up as all of us were last night,
Speaker 3: Uh to see Daron Fox miss out on on the
Speaker 3: All Star Game. And you're connected around the league, so
Speaker 3: it's up to you.
Speaker 4: T K Like I was a little.
Speaker 2: Worried that I might be complicit or an accessory to
Speaker 2: crime if a ride actually took place, because I said
Speaker 2: we riot at dawn, and then I think King's player
Speaker 2: also said let's.
Speaker 4: Riot, yeah, and I was like, let's not really.
Speaker 2: Riot because if my tweets the first one, then it's
Speaker 2: a January sixth situation I'm not trying.
Speaker 4: To get into all.
Speaker 1: Clearly, you're in New York, so you can ride at
Speaker 1: the at the NBA offices. We understand what's happening here.
Speaker 2: I'm going myself like that girl at the Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaker 2: playing game.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna stick it to the window.
Speaker 3: Has glued herself to Adam Silver's door in a deer
Speaker 3: in Fox Jersey.
Speaker 1: In Fox Jersey, there it is.
Speaker 3: I speculated that that coaches were trying to make some
Speaker 3: grand point by selecting a bunch of defais guys like
Speaker 3: Paul George and Jaren Jackson and Drew Holliday at the
Speaker 3: expense of a guy like Taron Fox.
Speaker 2: Are you guys the type of people who think about
Speaker 2: the All Star Game as an accolade and an accomplishment,
Speaker 2: or are you guys of the mind that the All
Speaker 2: Star Game is primarily an event for fans and to
Speaker 2: entertain fans.
Speaker 3: Both.
Speaker 1: I think it's the first because I think players, I mean,
Speaker 1: their contracts are based off of All Stars, like whether
Speaker 1: they make the Hall of Fame, you have to accumulate
Speaker 1: some of these accolades. And to me, like the players,
Speaker 1: they do think a lot of it. Like I've talked
Speaker 1: to Sabonis about the potential for Fox to be there
Speaker 1: and what it would mean, and he was just like
Speaker 1: he wanted him to be there to get the experience
Speaker 1: of it, like how amazing it is. And Fox had
Speaker 1: been there for like rookie rookie sophomore game stuff, But
Speaker 1: to be part of the big game is just different
Speaker 1: and it has a different feel and vibe and you're
Speaker 1: thought of differently as a player when you have that
Speaker 1: All Star It's not like Major League Baseball All Star
Speaker 1: where every team gets an All Star and then you know,
Speaker 1: or the NFL, where didn't the Ravens quarterback. It's through
Speaker 1: four touchdowns make the Pro Bowl?
Speaker 4: Snowpuntley? Yep, it Snoopuntley.
Speaker 1: Yeah he made the Pro Bowl, and so did Derek Carr,
Speaker 1: you know who had that great line yesterday. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of look at it that way, like in
Speaker 1: the NBA, it's a huge accomplishment that if you don't
Speaker 1: stack those accomplishments, you don't have an opportunity to be
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think I'm of that mindset too.
Speaker 2: But when I think about it like a fan event
Speaker 2: as well, I say to myself and I tweeted this,
Speaker 2: does anyone really want to watch whatever Jaron Jackson's jump
Speaker 2: shot is out there?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Do we want to see his defense do we want
Speaker 2: when you talk about like getting defensive guys, why do
Speaker 2: we want defensive guys in the All Star Game?
Speaker 4: Like we really don't.
Speaker 2: I want to see the box use his impressive dribbling
Speaker 2: skills to successfully fake out his opponent.
Speaker 4: Like that's what I want to see, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean? I want to see him in the mid range.
Speaker 2: I want to see his floater. I want to see
Speaker 2: his speed and athleticism. I could really care less about
Speaker 2: Jerry Jackson Junior and I am a fan of the
Speaker 2: Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh, we're going to revisit that. But I think
Speaker 3: it goes to the first thing you said though, like
Speaker 3: is it is it is an at? Is it an
Speaker 3: accolade or is it a a showcase for the fans?
Speaker 3: I think coaches may have looked at it as an accolade,
Speaker 3: And of course there's components of both, as James mentioned,
Speaker 3: because there's incentives and contracts, so that's important. But the
Speaker 3: accolade part of it that that's that's It's like, all right,
Speaker 3: we've got shooters and Kyrie doesn't play a lick at
Speaker 3: defense and he's starting, so we're gonna put Drew Holliday
Speaker 3: in and we're damn it, we're gonna take control of
Speaker 3: our league again, and we're gonna bank all stars at
Speaker 3: a defensive players. So we'll put this guy who's played
Speaker 3: thirty something games into it and averages fifteen points per
Speaker 3: game rather than Daron Fox or I mean, hell, even games.
Speaker 4: Do you think that the solution is also to put
Speaker 4: you have to play a.
Speaker 2: Minimum a certain minimum amount of games in order to
Speaker 2: be eligible.
Speaker 3: Well, that's that's the case with postseason awards or not,
Speaker 3: maybe not postseason awards like MVP points, like you have
Speaker 3: to play a certain amount of games. And I think
Speaker 3: James has said earlier Jaron Jackson leads the league in blocks,
Speaker 3: but he's not actually eligible to lead the league in blocks.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, he's not. He hasn't played enough games. I
Speaker 1: was even telling Damian too Trisa that I was talking
Speaker 1: about this with my son and my son said, well,
Speaker 1: do you know about the whole block thing with Jaron Jackson?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, what do you mean he is? Oh,
Speaker 1: look at his block numbers at home versus on the road,
Speaker 1: seventy seven blocks in eighteen games at home and thirty
Speaker 1: seven blocks and seventeen games at home, I mean on
Speaker 1: the road. So they're like around the league, it's known
Speaker 1: that their their scorekeepers are giving him blocks for things
Speaker 1: that aren't blocks, and they're patting his stats, and it
Speaker 1: comes down to, like, what exactly are we doing here?
Speaker 1: Like it should be the best of the best, And
Speaker 1: if you're gonna reward Jaron Jackson for being on the
Speaker 1: Western Conference number two overall team, then forget that Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon's a better player. He should have made it on
Speaker 1: a better team as the Denver Nuggets. So I get
Speaker 1: you don't want two representatives from the same team rewarding,
Speaker 1: you know, getting rewarded, But if you're gonna do it
Speaker 1: with one, then like again, Jaren Jackson just didn't make
Speaker 1: any not on anyone's board as far as what was
Speaker 1: he number twelve in Ford's in the Western Conference when
Speaker 1: it came to aggregate score. That just didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think the thing that also is frustrating
Speaker 2: is just how they formulate the teams, because you you know,
Speaker 2: somebody said this in my mentions, and I think this
Speaker 2: is true in terms of like Jaron Jackson obviously playing
Speaker 2: a different position than Fox, and so you've already got
Speaker 2: your guard slots already set, and so there's an additional
Speaker 2: slot that Jaron Jackson for a forward, you know, position
Speaker 2: that he could get in. So they said, oh, well,
Speaker 2: would you if you had to choose, then would you
Speaker 2: take out Jaw or Sga or Dame if you were
Speaker 2: going to put in Fox? And I'm like, wellhy challenge
Speaker 2: this premise completely because maybe there's just more. Maybe there's
Speaker 2: just more guards that are All Stars this year that
Speaker 2: are playing in an all star calibern.
Speaker 1: Well, I would add this too, like, it's very possible
Speaker 1: that they loaded up on forwards because they know that
Speaker 1: Zion isn't going to play, and so when they replace
Speaker 1: Zion with somebody else, it doesn't have to be a forward,
Speaker 1: right because they've already loaded up on so many forwards,
Speaker 1: and it would leave the possibility to add a player
Speaker 1: like Fox in the next round.
Speaker 4: They better use him as the replacement.
Speaker 2: Otherwise, like we we are writing, we will, you're gonna
Speaker 2: take it.
Speaker 3: Twisted someone, which is just a massive curve ball from Tristan.
Speaker 3: You look like the death Row magazine Vibe cover and
Speaker 3: I can't unsee it.
Speaker 2: Now. That's a tremendous compliment.
Speaker 3: I just can't unsee it.
Speaker 4: I have that on my wall in my my house
Speaker 4: that I grew up in.
Speaker 3: Oh that that's iconic. It is just as it?
Speaker 4: Uh, someone can someone make this on Photoshop?
Speaker 2: Can they add me it? And like, can you put
Speaker 2: it on Twitter? We just see what it would look like.
Speaker 1: Say they put Lebron's head on Willem Dafoe the other
Speaker 1: day for me from the platoon poster. So yes, they
Speaker 1: can trist to.
Speaker 3: I guarantee they're already working on it. It'll it'll, it'll
Speaker 3: be in your mentions by the time the calls over.
Speaker 3: So you're in New York. How about the if that
Speaker 3: keeps on giving? You mentioned it earlier? Kyrie wants out
Speaker 3: of Brooklyn, And from what we read from Adrian Wajhanowski
Speaker 3: a few minutes ago, is that teams are calling asking
Speaker 3: about Kevin Durant, like, Hey, how far are you going
Speaker 3: to take this thing over the course of the next week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And if I'm Brooklyn, what is your what is
Speaker 2: your real incentive to do what he wants?
Speaker 4: What is it? Like?
Speaker 2: I don't think you have any you know, you know
Speaker 2: he wants to stay there, you know he wants to
Speaker 2: be there.
Speaker 4: The entire reason for the.
Speaker 2: Trade request is salary and him getting a contract extension
Speaker 2: that he is not being offered, and them wanting to
Speaker 2: see what they have in the postseason with him before
Speaker 2: they do any of that, right, because he's a gigantic
Speaker 2: headache when he's not one of the best players on
Speaker 2: the court, which he's been awesome this year. He's been
Speaker 2: really really good when he's not suspended.
Speaker 4: And so that's one component. And so if you say, well.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, we're just not going to trade you by
Speaker 2: the deadline, like you're just I have to figure it out.
Speaker 2: And if if you need to get paid whatever is
Speaker 2: your max through the bird rights, then you're going to
Speaker 2: have to work with us with the sign trade. And
Speaker 2: that's just what it is. You need us, we need you,
Speaker 2: et cetera. So why why feel rushed to do that
Speaker 2: when teams are only going to take advantage of you
Speaker 2: given the desperation in him being on an expiring.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is this I mean, this is one of the
Speaker 1: few players that I can remember where he's going to
Speaker 1: be worth a certain amount as a player and he's
Speaker 1: worth a totally different amount as a human being. I mean,
Speaker 1: does that make sense? Like I don't think that he's
Speaker 1: like he's making thirty six million this year, which again
Speaker 1: he should be a forty something million dollar player, but
Speaker 1: he's not. And I have this feeling that, like he's
Speaker 1: not going to get that big contract that you would
Speaker 1: expect unless it's from brook Brooklyn, who you know has
Speaker 1: a ton of money and a huge market. But I mean,
Speaker 1: even like if you go to the Lakers, you're not
Speaker 1: getting the money. Well, I guess you could if they're
Speaker 1: able to complete a trade, because then they would have
Speaker 1: as Larry Bird rights, but just as like an asset
Speaker 1: going around, you're not going to be able to get
Speaker 1: like dollar per dollar for what he should be like
Speaker 1: worth as as as a player.
Speaker 2: And on top of that, you've got Ruby Haschi Mura
Speaker 2: there who's also going to want a deal in the
Speaker 2: off season, which is going to take up quite a
Speaker 2: bit of your cap space.
Speaker 4: And so at this point the math mathon.
Speaker 2: Unless you're sending Russell Westbrook to the Brooklyn Nets, which
Speaker 2: which you're doing, yeah, or you're doing a three team
Speaker 2: trade and sending Russ to like Chicago or something and
Speaker 2: trying to figure I don't know that Kevin Durant, if
Speaker 2: Kevin Duran ends up playing with Russell Westbrook again, which
Speaker 2: I don't think he wants. I mean, what do you
Speaker 2: what do you? What are we doing here?
Speaker 4: Really?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I never know what we're Kyrie irving,
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, I just I Lebron's out
Speaker 3: here tweeting I emojis and crowns like, don't I don't
Speaker 3: know what's happening with with with your king. We looked
Speaker 3: at Phoenix having a really intriguing potential offer. I feel
Speaker 3: like we mentioned another team, James Oh, Miami Miami potentially
Speaker 3: having something, but it felt like Phoenix worked the best.
Speaker 3: But there's that, and you noted this a minute ago.
Speaker 3: There's that weird. Why would Phoenix do this unless they
Speaker 3: knew that Kyrie was staying long term, because you'd you'd
Speaker 3: probably have to move with Calbridge, you'd have to move
Speaker 3: someone you value to get Kyrie back. And that's what
Speaker 3: the weird thing hanging over all of this is is
Speaker 3: you talk about the incentive to do what he wants.
Speaker 3: No team is going to make a deal, no team
Speaker 3: like Phoenix, I should say, I feel like the Lakers
Speaker 3: will do whatever just because they're the Lakers. I don't
Speaker 3: think Phoenix or Miami makes any sort of deal unless
Speaker 3: they have assurances that they can have him on their
Speaker 3: team for at least another couple.
Speaker 2: Of years, which means, then, okay, Kyrie, we're going to
Speaker 2: offer you a two year deal, and if we do
Speaker 2: this trade, you're going to accept the two year deal.
Speaker 2: Means you're gonna have to sign this now, like secretly,
Speaker 2: and then we're gonna submit it when it's the time
Speaker 2: for us to submit it, Like it's gonna have to
Speaker 2: all be locked up where there's no funny business. Because
Speaker 2: if I was worried about funny business with any player
Speaker 2: in the NBA, them changing their minds, them going back
Speaker 2: on their words, them deciding they need to step away
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, that would be Kyrie Irving. Right.
Speaker 4: So, if you're a.
Speaker 2: Team and you're in the risk management business, unlessen Phoenix
Speaker 2: has had their own fair share of controversies as well, right,
Speaker 2: you don't want to be having another issue or a
Speaker 2: potential blowback controversy that you really did not need to have,
Speaker 2: Like it would be an unmitigated disaster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so avoidable. Wait you just yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: could it work out and he makes your team great, sure,
Speaker 1: but it could also not work out and you could
Speaker 1: be like stuck in a gigantic nightmare of a situation
Speaker 1: with him both financially and the pr stuff which you
Speaker 1: talked about. There are certain teams that can do it,
Speaker 1: and then there I think Phoenix is one team that
Speaker 1: you might look at and go like, you can't because
Speaker 1: they're the team that's actually going to have to give
Speaker 1: up true value. Like if you look at the Lakers,
Speaker 1: like regardless of what my friend Damien here thanks of
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, Like in NBA standards, it's not value, like
Speaker 1: you're not getting value for him. And where you know
Speaker 1: mckail Bridges. If you're gonna get Bridges or you're gonna
Speaker 1: get Cam Johnson, you're gonna get a stack of players.
Speaker 1: Those are valuable pieces, long term contracts, young players that
Speaker 1: can help you today and you know, kind of further
Speaker 1: what you're trying to do, maybe both teams get get
Speaker 1: help in this situation where again like Dallas doesn't have
Speaker 1: something to offer like that, and and even the Lakers
Speaker 1: they don't have something to offer like that.
Speaker 2: If you're Dallas and you're Brooklyn, do you accept like
Speaker 2: Dorian Finney Smith and Tim Hardaway and like Jaden Hardy
Speaker 2: or something for Kyrie, and like, do you do that? Deal?
Speaker 4: Does those.
Speaker 3: I don't know how the math checks out, but that's
Speaker 3: probably not like, it's probably not a horrible option for
Speaker 3: Brooklyn in the sense of the like, Kyrie's obviously very good,
Speaker 3: but the reason you're a championship contender or potential championship
Speaker 3: is because of Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant is one of
Speaker 3: the best basketball players on Earth, and if you can
Speaker 3: surround him like that, it simply boils down to what
Speaker 3: compliments KD and if they can determine that those guys do,
Speaker 3: I'm all for it. I personally would love to see
Speaker 3: Kyrie and Luka Dancic let me see that. I want
Speaker 3: to watch that implode. I will watch every Dallas Mavericks
Speaker 3: game on League Pass to make sure I am tuned
Speaker 3: in live when that inevitably goes bad.
Speaker 2: Someone tried to get King the Kings in the mix,
Speaker 2: said would the Kings be interested in Kyrie Irving?
Speaker 3: And I was like, what, I don't believe that that happened.
Speaker 4: No, what are you serious? Is there a team that
Speaker 4: makes less sense than them?
Speaker 3: I believe our friends at the Kings. Harold wrote an
Speaker 3: article and the article said, well no, and that was
Speaker 3: the end of the article.
Speaker 4: What are we doing? Like, what are we doing? Guys?
Speaker 4: What is this?
Speaker 3: We will step in as a fan base and just
Speaker 3: say hard pass fan, we're good.
Speaker 2: Also, what has not been mentioned in all of this,
Speaker 2: and I think, and I hadn't thought about it until
Speaker 2: just today, is we're in the period of time right now.
Speaker 4: Where normally in normal years.
Speaker 2: Past, like two three years ago, pre pandemic, at this point,
Speaker 2: all attention and focus is on the Super Bowl, right
Speaker 2: and then what you've had is a change obviously with
Speaker 2: the eighteen weeks season, but also the trade deadline moving backwards.
Speaker 2: Usually the trade deadline happens around All Star Game. I
Speaker 2: remember when Boogie Cousins was traded in New Orleans right
Speaker 2: after the All Star Game.
Speaker 4: So I love the.
Speaker 1: City he was traded during.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah it was during. Yeah, it was difcent.
Speaker 1: I had to confirmed during the actual Star.
Speaker 4: Game like he's going, okay, that's insane.
Speaker 2: So now the war between the NFL and the NBA
Speaker 2: is just fully on, right, NBA and croaching on the
Speaker 2: All Star Game, and or NFL and coroaching on the
Speaker 2: NBA All Star Game, NFL and croaching on the NBA
Speaker 2: playoffs with the draft, and then the NBA clapping back
Speaker 2: and saying, that's fine, we'll just have Kyrie Irving requested
Speaker 2: trade and Pro Bowl.
Speaker 4: How about that.
Speaker 1: We're going to ruin your Pro Bowl, your crappy Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl all next week, all.
Speaker 4: Next week, the week where all of the excitement is
Speaker 4: supposed to.
Speaker 2: Be on Jalen Herds and this big Patrick Mahomes matchup,
Speaker 2: and everybody's just talking about NFL, NFL, NFL, and it's like, no,
Speaker 2: it's trade deadline weeks. Trade deadline week. Is Cape Kevin
Speaker 2: Durant going to be traded? Because that's what I care
Speaker 2: about