Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick. On this
Speaker 1: episode of the Heat Check, we made it, baby.
Speaker 2: It is the final week of the NBA season, can
Speaker 2: you believe it? And there is still chaos in the
Speaker 2: streets of the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: We're gonna break.
Speaker 2: Down that as well as all the news that's fit
Speaker 2: to use for you, ranging to a recap of the
Speaker 2: playoff situation, to Lebron opening up the Starbucks, to an
Speaker 2: appreciation of our man Walker Kessler, the new White, Rudy Gobert,
Speaker 2: lots in between.
Speaker 1: So, Nick, do me a favor.
Speaker 2: Drop that generic ass royalty free should be Rihanna asbyat.
Speaker 2: I know we just did a playoff picture on the
Speaker 2: Western Conference last week, but that's how much it changes.
Speaker 2: So if you're not pulling up the NBA standings on
Speaker 2: a day to day basis, and you don't are not
Speaker 2: aware of how the tie breakers, what games are coming up,
Speaker 2: let me help you out. We got to continue to
Speaker 2: go through it because right now there is a wildly
Speaker 2: tight race for the five and six spot in the
Speaker 2: West that is between the Clippers, Lakers, and the Warriors.
Speaker 2: One of those three teams will be in the plan.
Speaker 2: If you recall These are the two spots above the
Speaker 2: playing tournament and the ones that guarantees you a winnable
Speaker 2: best of seven series against the three in the four
Speaker 2: seeds got it with just a handful of games to go.
Speaker 2: We have no clarity. Zero Warriors currently tumbling down the standings.
Speaker 1: Man, they suck right now, are dubs? What is going on?
Speaker 2: They threw up all over themselves on Sunday against Denver
Speaker 2: without Jokic. They were giving you that game. They gave
Speaker 2: it to you, and what did you do? You found
Speaker 2: a way to Dennis shrewder it. Fumble the bag, baby,
Speaker 2: fumble the bag. Could not must up the strength to
Speaker 2: win a game that was given to you like the
Speaker 2: championship caliber team that you're supposed to be.
Speaker 1: Clay blew two open looks in.
Speaker 2: The final five seconds to win the game against the Nuggets,
Speaker 2: and now they pretty much gotta win every single game
Speaker 2: left in order to avoid that playing spot. Lakers, somehow,
Speaker 2: some way control their fate. They have an equal amount
Speaker 2: of losses of the Clippers and the Warriors, but one
Speaker 2: less game played. So Wednesday, which is today, is a collision.
Speaker 2: Well it should be today, and we're recording this Monday,
Speaker 2: but it is today for you is a collision course
Speaker 2: between the Clippers and the Lakers at the crypt. Winner
Speaker 2: one hundred percent makes the top six one hundred percent
Speaker 2: with just a couple of games to go. Loser potentially
Speaker 2: drops into the play in tournament, although given how bad
Speaker 2: the Warriors have been and their schedule and how many
Speaker 2: games are left, probably not as likely.
Speaker 1: Very confusing in these streets. Here's what we know.
Speaker 2: Lakers currently hold the tie break over the Warriors. The
Speaker 2: Clippers currently hold the tiebreak over the Lakers.
Speaker 1: The Wolves, why are they involved? I don't know.
Speaker 2: They hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers, but then what
Speaker 2: do they do? They suffer the worst loss in thirty years.
Speaker 2: That was the largest line, the largest favorites that we
Speaker 2: have seen.
Speaker 1: Since nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 2: Nineteen ninety three, they were nineteen and a half point
Speaker 2: favorites at the crib to my egregiously tanking Portland Trailblazers,
Speaker 2: where again they are load managing trendon Watford. And you
Speaker 2: know what, somehow found a way to lose that game,
Speaker 2: which means that if the Warriors, Clippers, and Lakers all
Speaker 2: finish forty three and thirty nine, which given how many
Speaker 2: games are left to go the teams that they play against.
Speaker 1: That kind of is what it looks like.
Speaker 2: That would mean that the Clippers would get the five spot,
Speaker 2: the Lakers would get a sixth spot, and the Warriors
Speaker 2: would our Dubs would be in the playing tournament at seven.
Speaker 2: In fact, given the fact that the Clippers play the Lakers,
Speaker 2: the Warriors must win every single game that they have
Speaker 2: left to avoid the inevitability of finishing in the seventh spot,
Speaker 2: unless the Lakers were to do something like loose twice
Speaker 2: to the Utah Jazz, who are also egregiously tanking, which
Speaker 2: I don't think is gonna happen, but listen, look at
Speaker 2: the Wolves.
Speaker 1: Anything's possible, so.
Speaker 2: Damn complicated, And technically the Suns who are currently locked
Speaker 2: up on the fourth spot, not mathematically at this very second,
Speaker 2: but really it is. There's four games left. There are
Speaker 2: four games behind the Kings. They decide who is the
Speaker 2: five seed because they play the Lakers and the Clippers
Speaker 2: before this whole thing ends.
Speaker 1: They could either.
Speaker 2: Sit out stars let that team beat them, or that
Speaker 2: they could treat that game as a playoff game like
Speaker 2: against the Lakers. If I'm the Suns, I do not
Speaker 2: want to play Lakers the first no shot. I would
Speaker 2: much prefer to play the Clippers without Paul George. Let
Speaker 2: Kawhi and Nick Batoom do their very best. See how
Speaker 2: that thing shakes up. Here's another little wrinkle in the
Speaker 2: playoff picture. The Dallas Mavericks must be listening to the
Speaker 2: heat check because after their dismal overtime loss to the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Hawks, where JaVale McGee had two free throws at
Speaker 2: the end of the game in order to win it,
Speaker 2: decides to only make one free throw and they go
Speaker 2: to overtime. They lose to the Atlanta Hawks, who are awful.
Speaker 2: They are now down to the eleventh spot in the West,
Speaker 2: and rumor has it they are going to shut down
Speaker 2: Luca and shut down Kyrie for the rest of the year,
Speaker 2: trying to get a top ten spot in the NBA Draft,
Speaker 2: and deciding they are going to take themselves out of
Speaker 2: playoff consideration altogether. That in the West only impacts the Kings,
Speaker 2: who only need one more game to win in order
Speaker 2: for them to win the division and seal up the
Speaker 2: three spot. My ideal matchup, my ideal ratings matchup one eight.
Speaker 2: I want to see Denver play the Pelicans. So you've
Speaker 2: got Zion versus k that's a fascinating matchup. You've got
Speaker 2: Brandon Ingram against Michael Porter Junior amazing. You've got Jamal
Speaker 2: Murray against CJ.
Speaker 1: McCullum. You got Aaron Gordon being.
Speaker 2: Defended by Skinny ass Rangey amazing defender, Herb Jones. Fun matchup,
Speaker 2: fun watch out Nuggets two seven, Warriors Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, oh my, I need it. I need
Speaker 1: it so bad.
Speaker 2: Jaw and Dylan Brooks and Jaron Jackson chirp and Clay Chirping.
Speaker 2: I mean the energy, the emotion, the aggression that is
Speaker 2: top tier first round matchup, top tier Clippers versus the
Speaker 2: Kings three six, I mean, I just want that.
Speaker 1: I just want it personally.
Speaker 2: I want to go down to Lac the Crypt without
Speaker 2: worrying about the Kings having to face the Lakers.
Speaker 1: It's a good matchup.
Speaker 2: They have no Paul George's the King's Best show in
Speaker 2: order to win a first round series and continue to advance.
Speaker 2: And then four to five Suns Lakers, Oh boy fireworks,
Speaker 2: Lebron James against Chris Paul Banana, Boat Brothers facing off
Speaker 2: against one another. Anthony Davis trying to soun DeAndre Ayton Kevin.
Speaker 1: Durant now in the mix. Do you remember the last
Speaker 1: time these two teams.
Speaker 2: Play Anthony Davis sprained his ankle, Lebron James got hurt
Speaker 2: in the Sun's advanced and then ended up in the finals.
Speaker 2: This is it, folks, Oh my god, this is the
Speaker 2: best stretch of final regular season games we've ever had
Speaker 2: in life. In life because the play in tournament. That's
Speaker 2: why I didn't like it at first, But I tell
Speaker 2: you what, it does make this very intriguing and out
Speaker 2: East a lot more clarity, a lot more boredom, Let's
Speaker 2: be honest, not much things that are fun going out
Speaker 2: in the East. The one thing that we know for
Speaker 2: sure is that the are gonna play the Calves in
Speaker 2: the first round. Incredible matchup one, two, three seeds, Bocks,
Speaker 2: Celtics sixers. They don't care who they play, doesn't really matter.
Speaker 2: You can play uh, I don't know Heat. You can
Speaker 2: play the Raptors, you can play the Hawks, you can
Speaker 2: play the Bulls.
Speaker 1: Who cares.
Speaker 2: None of them pose any real threats to them in
Speaker 2: that first round. We know those three teams are going
Speaker 2: to advance further doesn't matter. Zero drama, and the Nets
Speaker 2: aren't gonna beat the Sixers unless Embeid goes down, So
Speaker 2: zero drama.
Speaker 1: Who makes it out of the plane in the East
Speaker 1: Do I care?
Speaker 2: No? I give zero fucks why because they're all trash vomit.
Speaker 1: Some really sad news out of Utah. Apparently they are.
Speaker 2: Jazz are reportedly shutting down rookie center Walker Kessler. Nobody
Speaker 2: saw that coming, but there are legit people out there
Speaker 2: whose business it is to write about the NBA believe
Speaker 2: that the Utah Jazz won the Rudy go Bear trade,
Speaker 2: not just because of the bonkers amount of first round
Speaker 2: picks that they landed from Minnesota or the young players
Speaker 2: that they got, but because Kessler, they believe, is already
Speaker 2: better or as good as Rudy at one tenth of
Speaker 2: the price. People are legitimately saying that they would not
Speaker 2: trade Walker Kessler for Rudy Gobert straight up right now.
Speaker 2: That's how much of a fleecing Danny Ainge put on
Speaker 2: r Man. Tim Connolly shame. Tim Connolly shame probably should
Speaker 2: not surprise anyone. He was a beast at auburn seven
Speaker 2: feet one, seven foot five wingspan nine feet five inches
Speaker 2: standing reach.
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: He had one of the highest block rates in college
Speaker 2: basketball history ten blocks per hundred possessions. Jesus Christ, that
Speaker 2: seems like a made up stat. That's a Kenyan Martin stat.
Speaker 1: It is not.
Speaker 2: I promise you it is not a fake stat. Some
Speaker 2: scouts thought that this was the steel of the draft,
Speaker 2: considering his stats, his size, his upside, and the wild thing.
Speaker 1: He did not lose a step.
Speaker 2: Converting to the NBA in Utah, his seventy two percent
Speaker 2: fiogal percentage this year is the best in the NBA.
Speaker 2: He won't win the title because he's a few shots
Speaker 2: short of the minimum amount of shots to the quality
Speaker 2: and one of the highest ever by a rookie. He's
Speaker 2: also averaging an incredible two point three blocks per game
Speaker 2: on twenty three minutes per night.
Speaker 1: Let me say that again.
Speaker 2: Walker Kessler currently averaging two point three blocks per game all.
Speaker 1: Nor only twenty three minutes per night.
Speaker 2: Last twelve games, he averaged thirteen ten and two with
Speaker 2: three blocks and less than one turnover in twenty eight
Speaker 2: minutes of playtime.
Speaker 1: So pretty damn good.
Speaker 2: I'd say, not really fair to call Walker Kesler a
Speaker 2: replacement per go Beart because they do different things. But
Speaker 2: in reality, oh my god, he's just so much cheaper
Speaker 2: for a center and thus so much more valuable to
Speaker 2: a team that's rebuilding than Rudy Gobert could ever be. Honestly,
Speaker 2: keeping Rudy Gobert would have been bad for the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 2: You don't want to build around him with all these
Speaker 2: young guys and him making forty plus million dollars a year.
Speaker 1: No shot.
Speaker 2: What Danny Angel will Hardy have accomplished in Utah in
Speaker 2: their very first year, I think is gonna go down
Speaker 2: as one of the more remarkable transformations. In many years,
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz were filled with oldies, guys who could
Speaker 2: not play defense, no athletes outside of Donovan Mitchell and
Speaker 2: Rudy Gobert, who by the way, hated each other, and
Speaker 2: both were making thirty plus million dollars per year, and
Speaker 2: they had no real ability to get out.
Speaker 1: From under that.
Speaker 2: And now all of a sudden, they have this quote
Speaker 2: unquote conscious decision to tank, and they've got young guys
Speaker 2: like oshayok Baji and Lori Markinen and Walker Kessler and
Speaker 2: and a bajillion draft picks do not Forget blocker Kessler.
Speaker 1: That's what we're calling them now, Blocker Kessler.
Speaker 2: Who is going to be swatting shots in Salt Lake
Speaker 2: City for a long time, even though he is shut
Speaker 2: down for the next three games, because let's be honest,
Speaker 2: Utah was always going to avoid being in the play
Speaker 2: in tournament or the playoffs. Oh boy, So I love
Speaker 2: the coaching care ofself. It's one of my favorite things
Speaker 2: about the NBA, is really that kind of level of
Speaker 2: chaos and happening before the carnival is even over yet.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about em Udoka rumors to Houston either,
Speaker 2: which have him linked to Houston for the last couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. I am talking about one of the most
Speaker 2: respected names in the NBA, widely considered a top five
Speaker 2: coach in the league and one of the best coaches
Speaker 2: in history. Probably what he did for the twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: Toronto Raptors with Kawhi Leonard pretty remarkable. Nick Nurse, this
Speaker 2: was a little bit of a shit show over year.
Speaker 2: We interviewed him before the season started. It was a
Speaker 2: lot of hearts and flowers. Well, everybody thought this team
Speaker 2: was gonna be pretty good. Pascal Siakam had a career year.
Speaker 2: Ojan Andobi was really good, Fred van Fleet was really good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Gary Trent Junior not so much.
Speaker 2: But listen, did anybody think that there would be this
Speaker 2: much dysfunction to the point where people are starting to
Speaker 2: check in on Nick's status for the following few years
Speaker 2: while he's sitting there under contract.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: No, it went off the rails really before it ever started.
Speaker 2: So they had a weak start. You had injuries to
Speaker 2: Pascal Siakam, you had injuries to Scottie Barnes, you had
Speaker 2: injuries to Ojan Andobi, and that pretty much set them
Speaker 2: back and they've been scrambling ever since, hovering around the
Speaker 2: five hundred mark. As the struggles deepened, grumblings about unhappy
Speaker 2: players started to arise make their way out of Toronto,
Speaker 2: which is a very hushog organization by the way, So
Speaker 2: when rumors start to get out, you know it's not good.
Speaker 2: Og Nnnobi Siakam, Fred Van Fleet, even Scottie Barnes at
Speaker 2: times seemed to have tuned Nick Nurse out. After bad
Speaker 2: loss after bad loss started to stack up, and also
Speaker 2: what was going on in the trade deadline. Every player
Speaker 2: was rumored to be on the chopping block and for
Speaker 2: the first time ever after trading No. One and trading
Speaker 2: for Yaku Birtle, Nick Nurse may possibly be on the
Speaker 2: hot seat, which some of these NBA insiders have predicted
Speaker 2: since the offseason. I might imagine shout out to Jake Fisher,
Speaker 2: who did see this coming.
Speaker 1: For the first time in Nick Nurse's career as.
Speaker 2: An NBA head coach, He's had to address these rumors.
Speaker 2: Let's just say, after hearing what he said last night,
Speaker 2: I'm not so sure he's going to be around.
Speaker 1: There for a long Here's what he said.
Speaker 3: I think when this season gets done, you know, we'll
Speaker 3: evaluate everything and even personally, like I'm gonna take a
Speaker 3: few weeks to see where I'm at, you know, like
Speaker 3: you said, where's my head at, and just see how
Speaker 3: the relationship with the organization is and everything. It's been
Speaker 3: ten years for me now, which is a pretty good run.
Speaker 3: Right now, my head is to get this and make
Speaker 3: this as long as season as possible. This team needs
Speaker 3: playoff experience, right So that is where I'm at right now.
Speaker 3: More about that, if you, for whatever the reason, you
Speaker 3: might not be better here. No, I think that I'm
Speaker 3: concentrated on this job. For sure, and this game essentially.
Speaker 3: But I think that heading ten years is a good
Speaker 3: time to sit back and reflect a little bit, right,
Speaker 3: So I think that's where we're going to do that
Speaker 3: all when the season ends.
Speaker 2: Doesn't it sound like there's a possibility when when you
Speaker 2: hear someone say ten years is a good time to
Speaker 2: sit back and reflect.
Speaker 1: Oh, they're already reflecting. Maybe they are already starting to get.
Speaker 2: Their tickets to Cancun or Cabo or whatever they're gonna
Speaker 2: do some thinking, some deep thought, maybe a monastery in Quebec.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: He has one year left on his deal, has not
Speaker 2: been offered an extension yet that we know about, and
Speaker 2: damn it looks like his five years as Dwayne Casey's
Speaker 2: assistant in five years as head coach in Toronto just
Speaker 2: might be coming to a close. Eric Kareen of The
Speaker 2: Athletic some of the best when he wrote this, In
Speaker 2: no way is Nurse the primary problem with the Raptors. However,
Speaker 2: when a coach calls out his team effort and energy
Speaker 2: as many times as he has this year and the
Speaker 2: results continue to be fairly poor, it's clear something is wrong. Really,
Speaker 2: many things are wrong, barring a surprisingly positive end of
Speaker 2: this Raptor season, A coaching scene change seems more likely
Speaker 2: than not.
Speaker 1: God damn sheesh. I love some Nick Nurse.
Speaker 2: I do. He's one of my all time favorite coaches
Speaker 2: and people in the league. Very insightful, as you can
Speaker 2: see even from his interview, very thoughtful. People have linked
Speaker 2: him to Houston. But I tell you what, if you
Speaker 2: don't want to coach in Toronto because young guys are
Speaker 2: doing dumb shit and they're tuning you out, I promise
Speaker 2: you you don't have the energy for Houston, my guy, No,
Speaker 2: you don't. You don't have any We talk about bad roads,
Speaker 2: six lane highways, back to back traffic. You go from Toronto, Canada,
Speaker 2: one of the most progressive cities in the NBA, to
Speaker 2: a full blown red state with crazy traffic and young
Speaker 2: guys who just want to chuck all day like AAU players.
Speaker 2: Fuck No, absolutely, fucking not one thing is for sure.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: If he wants to coach, cheeky coach, he's not gonna
Speaker 2: be out out of a job for long. Probably would
Speaker 2: win another chip again. Just not in Toronto, baby, just
Speaker 2: not in Toronto. Oh, let's move on to Lebron James.
Speaker 2: There's a cute story. This is really sweet. I saw
Speaker 2: this and I said, we got to talk about this
Speaker 2: on the show. Lebron James just opened a Starbucks. That's
Speaker 2: not really news in itself. I'm sure he has lots
Speaker 2: of businesses. I think he owns a Blaze Pizza and
Speaker 2: Los Angeles as well. He has a ton of fingers
Speaker 2: and a ton of businesses. Most of them are pretty
Speaker 2: damn successful. So why is this Starbucks story news? Because
Speaker 2: he opened it in Akron, Ohio, his hometown. And not
Speaker 2: only did he open in the Starbucks in Akron, it's
Speaker 2: being opened in a part of town where Starbucks never
Speaker 2: ever ever open the hood. You ever go to the
Speaker 2: hood and see a Starbucks. You ever go to the
Speaker 2: hood and see a Whole Foods? Fuck no, that's kind
Speaker 2: of like the correlating factor. No Starbucks around, Get out,
Speaker 2: move on, Like, if you're a newcomer, your tourist, don't
Speaker 2: be in that neighborhood. This is not a suburb, it's
Speaker 2: not a gentrified part of downtown. It is across the
Speaker 2: street from two boarded up buildings. So why did Lebron
Speaker 2: James open it here? If you have to ask, you
Speaker 2: probably don't know. Lebron James well enough. The simple answer
Speaker 2: is because Lebron James wants to transform his hometown. The
Speaker 2: truth is, the simple answer is that he loves his
Speaker 2: hometown and he wants to build. The more complex answer
Speaker 2: is because Lebron James thinks that these people deserve a Starbucks.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna make fun of the fact that it
Speaker 2: is like a very whitey like piece of luxury. Like
Speaker 2: there's more important things probably to open up in the hood.
Speaker 2: I remember I did a piece in Atlanta and they said, uh,
Speaker 2: and I'm not banging on Lebron James for doing this.
Speaker 2: I think it's great and we'll get to it. But
Speaker 2: there's a side road I didn't anticipate. I remember I
Speaker 2: did a piece in Atlanta about gentrification near the Mercedes
Speaker 2: Benz Stadium, and they said, when when white people give
Speaker 2: their advice on how we fix our neighborhood, they always
Speaker 2: say a coffee shop, and really what we need is
Speaker 2: a laundromat and like a place where you can get
Speaker 2: money to be loan until your next paycheck.
Speaker 1: So I didn't think it's like a little funny anyway.
Speaker 2: That's just that's just honestly a side note because there's
Speaker 2: more to it than the Starbucks. More importantly, it's two
Speaker 2: blocks down from where the I Promise school was that
Speaker 2: he opened, which if you don't know about that, we've
Speaker 2: done pieces on it. It's incredible job training, school training,
Speaker 2: job training for the parents of the kids who go
Speaker 2: to the school. But there are forty six workers that
Speaker 2: are not being paid just an hourly salary. But at
Speaker 2: this Starbucks also earning valuable job training certificates for the
Speaker 2: hospitality industry. So it's basically like a vocational technical credit
Speaker 2: for working at Starbucks.
Speaker 1: Who doesn't want to be a baristaet.
Speaker 2: The fuck out of a hood, just go to another
Speaker 2: Starbucks somewhere else. Anyway, typical Lebron James, not looking to
Speaker 2: just create jobs but also create careers. You can make
Speaker 2: fun of him first corny takes. You can make fun
Speaker 2: of them for lying incessively about things that are very
Speaker 2: easy to disprove. But I don't know if anyone in
Speaker 2: the league does more good with his money than Lebron.
Speaker 2: The building the houses the Starbucks is also going to
Speaker 2: become a complex by twenty twenty four, containing a sports bar,
Speaker 2: a wine room, even a Lebron James museum with a
Speaker 2: full sized recreation of his spring Hill apartment at six
Speaker 2: oh two where he grew up in Akron with his mom.
Speaker 2: It's going to have an ice cream shop, a clothing store,
Speaker 2: and a concert venue, and of course, because Lebron James
Speaker 2: loves himself some taco Tuesdays, there's always also going to
Speaker 2: be a taco shop only open on Tuesdays. Just kidding.
Speaker 1: This is not groundbreaking news, especially.
Speaker 2: You know, for people who see these sort of developments
Speaker 2: go up, but it is pretty groundbreaking if you live
Speaker 2: in Akron. These sort of multi use places being built
Speaker 2: in a neighborhood that's not really being shepherded or invested
Speaker 2: in is going to create long lasting change. Lebron James
Speaker 2: did this in parts of downtown Cleveland when he was
Speaker 2: a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Multiple juice bars that
Speaker 2: he opened, more white and more white tea things, really
Speaker 2: fitness studios.
Speaker 1: But it worked.
Speaker 2: It worked lots of players to talk about giving back,
Speaker 2: which to most players means just hosting a basketball camp,
Speaker 2: giving away some t shirts, giving away some shoes. But
Speaker 2: he is literally rebuilding his town brick by brick. I
Speaker 2: would not be surprised if Lebron James opened up for
Speaker 2: Lebron James Apartments, Lebron James Apartment Complex. Lebron James already
Speaker 2: has a school, He's got a Starbucks, he's got an
Speaker 2: ice cream store, he's got a taco shop. We're gonna
Speaker 2: keep an eye on this. One day down the road.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to come visit. All right, Let's move
Speaker 2: on to something that's not really news, but I want
Speaker 2: to talk about it anyway. Who, if you had to guess,
Speaker 2: is the least popular NBA coach of all time. If
Speaker 2: you give an answer to anyone other than George Carl,
Speaker 2: you are wrong. He has probably the most dislike coach
Speaker 2: in NBA history. That's not a hyperbole, that is fact.
Speaker 2: Do not take my word for it. Ask our guy JR.
Speaker 1: Smith. This is what he had to say about his
Speaker 1: time playing in Denver. He said, how do I put this?
Speaker 2: George Carl wasn't the coach I thought he was when
Speaker 2: I first got there.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking he's a player's coach. I didn't even know him.
Speaker 2: By the time I was gone, I was like, if
Speaker 2: I never see this dude again, I am good. There
Speaker 2: are certain people you vibe with and certain people you don't.
Speaker 2: I get that, But then there are certain people who
Speaker 2: just throw salt into the pot just because they want to,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, just to see what the
Speaker 2: outcome is. I don't like stuff like that. I feel
Speaker 2: a lot of what DeMarcus and a lot of other
Speaker 2: players are saying. He's not the easiest person to deal with.
Speaker 2: There's many players other than Jerr Smith that have decided
Speaker 2: to come over the top rope on George Carl. DeMarcus Cousins,
Speaker 2: of course long running beef with George Carl. He tweeted
Speaker 2: out in response to Cousins taking shots at the King's
Speaker 2: organization by asking what DeMarcus Cousins ever did for them?
Speaker 2: They paid you fifty million dollars and gave you the
Speaker 2: opportunity to play professional basketball, Sir, George Carl, do you
Speaker 2: know that that DeMarcus Cousins at one point was one
Speaker 2: of the most dominant big men in the game. Everyone
Speaker 2: wanted DeMarcus Cousins. They didn't give him an opportunity to
Speaker 2: play fucking basketball. I hate to tell you, George Carl,
Speaker 2: A whole lot of other teams would have been happy
Speaker 2: to pay Boogie Cousins as well. Don't act like Sacramento
Speaker 2: did some sort of favor to DeMarcus Cousins. He had
Speaker 2: seven coaches in seven years there, and of course DeMarcus Cousins,
Speaker 2: who was great.
Speaker 1: I love him Boogie. He tweeted a snake emoji.
Speaker 2: As his description of George carl So he seems to
Speaker 2: be beefing with everyone. George Carl He said, also Doc Rivers,
Speaker 2: we talked about this before two weeks ago, that Doc
Speaker 2: Rivers had been anointed as a black coach, and now
Speaker 2: there's going to be four or five more anointments of
Speaker 2: the young Afro American coach. Don't say Afro American, please, don't.
Speaker 2: That's cringe. Don't do that as if that's some sort
Speaker 2: of bad thing for coaches.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: To represent the players, the labor base they have that's
Speaker 2: largely black and brown.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: This seems like former players kind of make sense to me. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he also took a lot of unnecessary shots at Nuggets players.
Speaker 2: He uh whatever, for whatever reason, decided to say that
Speaker 2: Kenyon Martin had all that money and no father's fucked up.
Speaker 2: Carmarlos's dad died when he was two years old. Kenyon
Speaker 2: was raised by his mom and sister, and he says
Speaker 2: that those two are his father.
Speaker 1: Figured.
Speaker 2: So I don't know Kenyan Martin. You already know he's
Speaker 2: not about this. He said he was an awful and
Speaker 2: coward ass coach, a terrible person, selfish, unhappy, miserable, the
Speaker 2: worst coach that he ever played for. Jesus, I met
Speaker 2: Kenyon Martin in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 2: let me say that is probably the censored version of
Speaker 2: what he would say behind George Carl's back, without the
Speaker 2: media there to take note into record. It the list
Speaker 2: of former players who have zero good things to say
Speaker 2: about George Carl. The list is long, Gary Page, Sean Kemp,
Speaker 2: Chauncey Billups, numerous others, and George Carl still, for some reason,
Speaker 2: still tweeting about current players like Jahn Morant nineteen fifties
Speaker 2: takes on Ja Morant.
Speaker 1: If you know, you know, when you.
Speaker 2: Make a list of most or least popular NBA coaches,
Speaker 2: George Carl is literally the Kalisi of that list. No
Speaker 2: one is as unpopular as him, not a chance, and
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody will ever make that list. Also
Speaker 2: fun fact, George Carl accidentally spit on me in a
Speaker 2: basketball clinic. I was sitting front row and he just
Speaker 2: loogied all over me and didn't say goddamn word.
Speaker 1: So I personally don't like George Carl either.
Speaker 2: We have an uptake on Andrew Wiggins. I avoided discussing
Speaker 2: the situation in detail because it's a personal matter and
Speaker 2: I didn't want to get into it.
Speaker 1: I did a TikTok.
Speaker 2: There's a bunch of rumors about what happened with him
Speaker 2: and his girlfriend. There's a bunch of floating rumors circulating
Speaker 2: that were bullshit. Even Andrew Wiggins's girlfriend was responding to
Speaker 2: my TikTok videos, which was wild, saying that these were
Speaker 2: one hundred percent falls. I'm not even gonna mention what
Speaker 2: the rumors are anyway. Now we kind of have an
Speaker 2: honest update on what's happening with Wiggins. He's now back
Speaker 2: with the team.
Speaker 1: We even got a boom. This is the bomb. This
Speaker 1: is the sound of the woes bomb on it.
Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors All Star forward Andrew Wiggins is nearing
Speaker 2: a return to the team and is expecting to be
Speaker 2: back this week. Wiggins is missed twenty one games attending
Speaker 2: to a family member matter excuse me. Huge boost for
Speaker 2: the depending champions and the six seed in the West.
Speaker 2: This was followed by the first bits of real information
Speaker 2: about why Wiggins has missed the past twenty five games.
Speaker 1: What was the personal man?
Speaker 2: According to Shams, who always gives us more information than woaj,
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins's father is currently dealing with a serious medical condition.
Speaker 2: And Andrew Wiggins plans to attend Warriors Thunder on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: The reason for wiggins leave of absence since mid February
Speaker 2: is his father, Mitchell Wiggins, has been dealing with a
Speaker 2: serious medical condition situation. Sources close to the situation say
Speaker 2: it's rumored that Andrew Wiggins will be back before the
Speaker 2: play in tournament, which the Warriors inevitably will be in.
Speaker 2: That's kind of a tune up for Andrew Wiggins, actually
Speaker 2: a plan game. Maybe it's actually better for them and
Speaker 2: the Dubs need him more. Our Dubs need him, probably
Speaker 2: more than they ever have before. Let's be honest, Big
Speaker 2: prayers up for Wiggs, his pop, his entire family. It
Speaker 2: is great to have you back.
Speaker 1: Let's move on.
Speaker 2: We gotta talk about this Women's Final four Championship game
Speaker 2: really quickly because the game was incredible. My mom was
Speaker 2: texting me every other second. She had so many thoughts
Speaker 2: about Angel Reese and Alexis Morris and Caitlin Clark. She
Speaker 2: was just breaking down their game, talking about how incredible
Speaker 2: the postplay was. The game, let's be honest, wasn't nearly
Speaker 2: as fun probably as it should have been, because of
Speaker 2: the refs. The refs fucked everything up. They put Kaitlyn
Speaker 2: Clark in a foul trouble. They put Angel Reese in
Speaker 2: foul trouble. They put Alectionis Morris into four O foul trouble.
Speaker 2: They put u Sisano, Monica Sizzano.
Speaker 1: In foul trouble.
Speaker 2: It was probably the worst ref game I've ever seen
Speaker 2: in my life. And it was trending on Twitter. Of course,
Speaker 2: it's anytime, you know, trending the refs on Twitter, that's
Speaker 2: never good, right, But really, it was the aftermath of
Speaker 2: it that I want to talk about for a few minutes,
Speaker 2: specifically the reaction to Angel Reese and her trash talking.
Speaker 1: I love Angel Reese, I do. I did my fair
Speaker 1: share of trash talking on the court.
Speaker 2: I did my fair share of trash talking when the
Speaker 2: game was over the court. Nothing would stop me from
Speaker 2: coming to someone who was anointed as the future of
Speaker 2: college basketball if I slayed her and I got to
Speaker 2: tell her, YO, you forgot about the Tigers.
Speaker 1: I love how many eyeballs were on the game.
Speaker 2: I think five point five million for the Iowa South
Speaker 2: Carolina semifinal alone, which is twice as many viewers as
Speaker 2: any NBA game on ESPN this year.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing.
Speaker 2: I understand that Angel Reese was quote unquote taunting Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1: Makes sense. She came right up into her face, did
Speaker 1: the ring did can't see me? John Cena?
Speaker 2: But let's be real, if the tables were turned and
Speaker 2: Caitlyn Clark did that to Angel Reese's face, same way,
Speaker 2: would people have called Caitlyn Clark a classless piece of shit.
Speaker 1: The answer is, think about it in your head.
Speaker 2: Do not immediately say yes, because if you immediately say yes.
Speaker 1: You're lying. You're lying.
Speaker 2: People who are willing to go on the record and
Speaker 2: tweet out that any twenty year old kid in the
Speaker 2: height of their most important moment of their basketball career
Speaker 2: is a piece of shit needs to look at themselves
Speaker 2: in the mirror and say I am out of pocket.
Speaker 1: There is a lot going on there.
Speaker 2: There is a racial undertone to the entire women's basketball tournament.
Speaker 2: Could not be more wider blacker matchup than Iowa versus
Speaker 2: Louisiana State. Look at the rosters, and I like the
Speaker 2: Angel Rees said, I am unapologetically myself. I do not
Speaker 2: care if you think that I am hood. I do
Speaker 2: not care if you think that I am not the
Speaker 2: typical player. I am gonna do me and they need
Speaker 2: to put some respect on my name.
Speaker 1: So that's really it.
Speaker 2: I'm excited that people are interested in women's basketball next year.
Speaker 2: Let's stop saying anything out of pocket about kids.
Speaker 1: Let's just not.
Speaker 2: Maybe you think that it was a classless move, but
Speaker 2: don't call her personally classless. Maybe you think it was
Speaker 2: shitty in how she did it, don't call her a
Speaker 2: piece of shit.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Don't do that. Let's concentrate
Speaker 1: on what's good.
Speaker 2: Caitlyn Clark, Angel Reese, Hayley van lith Zia Cook. By
Speaker 2: the way, Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese both juniors. We're
Speaker 2: gonna get some more of this, baby. We are gonna
Speaker 2: get a little film night Invitational November twenty fifth, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three in Portland, Oregon, another white city, and I
Speaker 2: bet they played one another. First game of the PKI
Speaker 2: women's basketball is blowing up.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I'm here for it. But don't be a bad person
Speaker 2: when you're commenting on the game. That's all the time
Speaker 2: that we have for the episode of the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: Check back Monday. Don't forget to check the feed for
Speaker 2: past episodes, interviews, bonus episodes.
Speaker 1: Please follow us on the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: The playoffs are here, people, download subscribe, Tell your friends,
Speaker 2: tell every damn one of them, follow us on socialde
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Speaker 2: the Heat Check never sleeps, even when my voice is
Speaker 2: going for my tilt