Speaker 1: Come on, come.
Speaker 2: Come home. On this episode of the Heat Check, it's
Speaker 2: the third week of the NBA playoffs. Things could not
Speaker 2: be more wild. We've already had a couple of ejection,
Speaker 2: broken elbows, angry press conferences, chaos in the court, chaos
Speaker 2: on the streets, chaos on Twitter, and you know me,
Speaker 2: I love it. I love that. So let's before we
Speaker 2: get into all the games, break down the news from
Speaker 2: around the league, and then we'll get back to some
Speaker 2: listener questions because I know you have a lot. It
Speaker 2: will now become a regular segment. I am back on
Speaker 2: my bullshit. We love the playoffs rock, so drop that motherfucker.
Speaker 3: Perfect good right side man.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get into the some news around the
Speaker 2: NBA before we break down the playoffs. Uh, there goes
Speaker 2: my Hero. Congratulations to my guy, Tyler Hero winning sixth
Speaker 2: Man of the Year. Congratulations well deserved. Pretty much everyone
Speaker 2: thought that this would be the case from I don't know,
Speaker 2: you not coming off the bench like ever since you
Speaker 2: started starting, you started leading six man of the year,
Speaker 2: And what do you get for that? What do you
Speaker 2: get for sixth Man of the year? Apparently maybe a
Speaker 2: max contract for Tyler Hero. People are talking about Yes. Yes,
Speaker 2: if you're listening to this right now and you've done
Speaker 2: one of those things where you cock your head back
Speaker 2: and you shake it, well, your eyes are closed, that's
Speaker 2: the same result and the same and range of emotions
Speaker 2: that I went through. So I had an interesting conversation
Speaker 2: with a couple of people, and I'm starting to ask,
Speaker 2: just randomly, Hey, do you think Tyler Hero is worth
Speaker 2: Max money? Hey? Hey, you over there in the chip line,
Speaker 2: in the chip aisle, Hey, do you think Tyler Hero
Speaker 2: is worth Max money? Like? He's pretty good? But are
Speaker 2: do we even know? Like off the top of our
Speaker 2: head when sot we just say max money, do we
Speaker 2: even know that number? Because when you say max, I
Speaker 2: think thirty, and I still say no. And now when
Speaker 2: we say max, it's actually closer to forty. That's the
Speaker 2: question right now for the Heat, because Tyler Hero is
Speaker 2: now slated for an extension and it could be an
Speaker 2: expensive one, uh for a team already sort of struggling
Speaker 2: with their cap situation. I think that they are at
Speaker 2: over one forty one hundred and forty million dollars. That
Speaker 2: puts them square the luxury tax I went on Jake Fisher,
Speaker 2: Insider for Bleacher Reports podcast a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2: I think maybe yesterday. It's called don't aggregate this great name.
Speaker 2: Uh so give that a fall I'll give that a listen.
Speaker 2: But he reported this. Some rival executives an agents polled
Speaker 2: believe Hero's next deal may approach five years, one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty four million dollars maximum. Others have pointed more
Speaker 2: towards Jalen Brown's recent structure of a four year, one
Speaker 2: hundred and six million dollars deal. Let me just say this,
Speaker 2: there is a significant difference between twenty seven million dollars
Speaker 2: a year and thirty seven million dollars a year. I
Speaker 2: that's an extra player or two that now you don't
Speaker 2: get to sign. So where to those who are thinking
Speaker 2: about this situation, like, first and foremost, is he worth that?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Where will he fall in terms of who's gonna pay him?
Speaker 2: Where is he gonna fall in terms of that range
Speaker 2: when it comes to his next contract? Is he a
Speaker 2: max player? I don't think so. Me personally, he's a
Speaker 2: nice player. I think if you can get two or
Speaker 2: three other guys that can shoot the three around screens,
Speaker 2: kind of do some facilitating, you know, has the ability
Speaker 2: to do that thing that he does with his lip.
Speaker 2: Maybe get Jack Carlow to partner on a song with them, Like,
Speaker 2: I think maybe that guy's just as worthwhile as Tyler
Speaker 2: here and I like Tyler Herro, But you're already paying
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler thirty six a year, Kyle Lowry twenty eight
Speaker 2: a year, Bam Autebayo thirty two a year. Is he
Speaker 2: more valuable than any of those humans on the court?
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't mean in terms of it's like
Speaker 2: worth as a as a human. I mean just in
Speaker 2: terms of, like, is he worth more money to the
Speaker 2: heat than any one of them? I don't think any
Speaker 2: of them. To me, I think he's a little bit
Speaker 2: less valuable than Kyle Lowry. He is younger, so maybe
Speaker 2: you factor in more money coming in from betting or whatever.
Speaker 2: No Max money served reserved for superstars and Tyler Hero.
Speaker 2: If you're paying Tyler Hero and he's not a superstar
Speaker 2: max money thirty seven million dollars a year, you're not
Speaker 2: gonna win a championship. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, that's a hit. You're
Speaker 2: in a situation where, I mean, truthfully, PJ. Tucker might
Speaker 2: be more hard to replace than Tyler Hero, and he
Speaker 2: has paid seven million dollars a year. He's no athletic freak.
Speaker 2: He's not gonna get you forty on any given night
Speaker 2: or even average twenty. But like grind tough guy important,
Speaker 2: very little of those. A lot of guys coming around
Speaker 2: screen shooting threes, so also really quick. As an aside,
Speaker 2: what I've realized was an epiphany as I was thinking
Speaker 2: about this is I'm dead certain patt Riley, executive for
Speaker 2: the Miami Heat, will never pay Tyler Hero forty million
Speaker 2: dollars a year. How do I know that? One? Dwayne
Speaker 2: Wade won a ring by himself. As soon as Dwayne
Speaker 2: Wade's value started to diminish, pat Riley told him, don't
Speaker 2: let the door hit you where the good Lord switch
Speaker 2: split you. He didn't pay him. He's like, I don't
Speaker 2: care that you were underpaid. When you want us a ring,
Speaker 2: you're no longer valuable to us, Twayne. That's the pat
Speaker 2: Riley way. Also, it's been the pat Riley way since
Speaker 2: pat Riley was not even pat Riley. Let's go back
Speaker 2: to nineteen seventy nine, nineteen eighty. He was holding Spencer
Speaker 2: Haywood's baby in his arms in Spencer Haywood's house while
Speaker 2: actively shopping Spencer Haywood. What, by the way, love winning time.
Speaker 2: Pat Riley likes Tyler Hero a lot. He loves Tyler Hero.
Speaker 2: He considers Tyler here'll be like a version of him.
Speaker 2: But I swear to you he's gonna look at Tyler
Speaker 2: Hero in the eye, smile on his face, tell him
Speaker 2: I love you like a son. I'd never trade you.
Speaker 2: And then the very next day, Tyler Hero will be
Speaker 2: in Toronto for Pascal Siakam Like that's where we're at.
Speaker 2: Hero is a good player, average twenty points a game,
Speaker 2: thirty eight percent from three off the bench. But my lord,
Speaker 2: I tell you what, he can become one of the
Speaker 2: top scores at that age, at that size, at what
Speaker 2: he's doing. He makes things look easy. Bam Adebayo loves him.
Speaker 2: That's his quote. Problem is that shit does not matter
Speaker 2: to pat Riley. Deuces Tyler Hero. He does not care
Speaker 2: how popular you are. He does not care about that.
Speaker 2: He cares about only two things, winning and whether you're affordable.
Speaker 2: And Tyler Hero may have made himself quite unaffordable to
Speaker 2: the Miami Heat. Another quick little story. Masaiyuzuri has spoken
Speaker 2: out GM president of basketball operations as well for the
Speaker 2: Toronto Raptors. He has spoken out about the Lakers pursuing
Speaker 2: Nick Nurse. For those not in the know, Braun and
Speaker 2: Ad apparently want Nick Nurse bad no shit, and all
Speaker 2: three are rich Paul clients, and maybe Braun felt that
Speaker 2: he and Ad had an inside track and swooping in
Speaker 2: and stealing Nick Nurse. They don't call it La La
Speaker 2: land for nothing, the land of dreams that are unattainable.
Speaker 2: Nick Nurse's own denials, folks, weren't enough. So leave it
Speaker 2: to the president of the basketball operations of the Rasters,
Speaker 2: Messi Usurie, to just guillotine this shit once and for all.
Speaker 2: He said, first and foremost, no team has contacted me
Speaker 2: about Nick Nurse. But I dream like they dream. I
Speaker 2: want MESSI I want Ronald though I want Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 2: They can dream for Nick Nurse too. Oh shit, Messiusierie
Speaker 2: just put the entire Lakers franchise in a body bag,
Speaker 2: zipped it tight, threw it in the back, headed it
Speaker 2: to the morgue. That's where that's going. Then once he
Speaker 2: got to the morgue, ran a John Deere over it
Speaker 2: and turned that ground into a parking lot, the gall
Speaker 2: of Braun and Ady to think after what they did,
Speaker 2: a Vogel snake and him anyone who would be as
Speaker 2: respected as Nick Nurse to go anywhere where those snakes
Speaker 2: were in the grass. No shot amazing. And then Massai
Speaker 2: Ujieri wasn't done. When asked a few days later about
Speaker 2: how much he wanted a WNBA team in Toronto, he
Speaker 2: replied with a smirk, a call back to those who
Speaker 2: have been following along, I can dream. I can only dream,
Speaker 2: just like the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Just like the Lakers.
Speaker 2: I have never seen a man, a president of basketball
Speaker 2: operations put an entire franchise twice in a body bag
Speaker 2: like I just saw him do to La. What a
Speaker 2: thing of beauty. Another story that's coming out another Laker
Speaker 2: coaching candidate, Utah Jazz head coach Quinn Snyder, who has
Speaker 2: now probably aged. If you look at him, he's aged
Speaker 2: faster than a sitting president, Like he just looks rough
Speaker 2: being in Utah. We already know what time it is,
Speaker 2: and now are there some new pieces of information that
Speaker 2: are surfering, that are surfacing that are not only giving
Speaker 2: me pause for what the Utah Jazz organization is going
Speaker 2: to look like moving forward. But two, whether it's Quinn
Speaker 2: Snyder even makes sense for the Lakers makes even less
Speaker 2: sense potentially than Nick Nurse. Could he be the kind
Speaker 2: of guy that can lead stars like Braun and Ad
Speaker 2: despite the news that's come out that Braun is pushing
Speaker 2: for him. One first piece of news in the aftermath.
Speaker 2: I talked about this briefly on TikTok, but in the
Speaker 2: aftermath of another Sad exit, the Utah Jazz have pretty
Speaker 2: much their entire franchise is going to get blown up
Speaker 2: there in free fall. Might be years before they're good again.
Speaker 2: Reports now are that Rudy Gobert is telling the brass
Speaker 2: it's either Donovan or it's me. Oh boy, oh, Rudy,
Speaker 2: see you see you, sir, you can just go ahead
Speaker 2: and clean out your locker. We're gonna go ahead and
Speaker 2: just find another option for you. And there are plenty
Speaker 2: of options for Rudy. He's been linked to the Warriors,
Speaker 2: He's been linked to the Hawks, he's been linked to
Speaker 2: the Dallas Mavericks, all places that are in need of
Speaker 2: some front court defense, and that they're just a piece away,
Speaker 2: maybe from a championship. Rudy gets paid forty million dollars
Speaker 2: a year, folks. So that's that. Secondly, I learned another
Speaker 2: piece of peculiar news about the Jazz organization's structure of
Speaker 2: decision making. Normally in basketball you would have owner, and
Speaker 2: then below owner is the president of Basketball Operations and
Speaker 2: or GM. There could be combo rolls, different guys, all
Speaker 2: kinds of different ways that that set up. But that's
Speaker 2: the structure, right, And then after the GM, it goes
Speaker 2: the coach and then maybe some star players like you know,
Speaker 2: with Clutch and Rich Paul in the mix. Like maybe
Speaker 2: below the GM or equal to the GM is the
Speaker 2: agents of the star player in this case, according to
Speaker 2: I'll say it's publicans. According to Jake Fisher in our
Speaker 2: conversation yesterday, a below ownership is Donovan Mitchell's people. That's
Speaker 2: it owner group, Dwyane Wade, Ryan Smith, CAA making decisions
Speaker 2: for what the roster does in terms of whether it's
Speaker 2: beneficial to Donovan. Is that not bonkers to you? Is
Speaker 2: anybody else feeling like maybe Donovan Mitchell is not? I mean,
Speaker 2: Dona Mitchell is a fine player, but is Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: good Where he's the first, his people are the first
Speaker 2: decision makers you call.
Speaker 4: Fuck no.
Speaker 2: Makes you wonder like could Donovan Mitchell exist anywhere else
Speaker 2: with these types of demands? And I promise you, Leon Rose,
Speaker 2: if he ends up finding a way to get Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell back into the home, like Donovan Mitchell is not
Speaker 2: gonna be able to like just lead the bus there.
Speaker 2: I don't think he's gonna get treatment like that anywhere else.
Speaker 2: Speaking of buses, though, this is the last piece of news. Fourthly,
Speaker 2: the inside scoop is that Quinn Snyder normally a team buses.
Speaker 2: There's two, the early bus, the late bus. Apparently not
Speaker 2: only does Quinn Snyder have three buses, not sure why,
Speaker 2: but he has seating arrangements that he creates like children
Speaker 2: for his players on the bus and the better you play,
Speaker 2: the further up on the bus you move. And on
Speaker 2: the team plane he has assigned seats on the team plane,
Speaker 2: assigned seats on the team buses. If that like, just
Speaker 2: let that sink in, Like grown men making millions of
Speaker 2: dollars a year and you get on the plane and
Speaker 2: it's like, Rudy, you're gonna be going, You're gonna sit here.
Speaker 2: You you miss this defensive assignment, You're on the back
Speaker 2: of the bus. Now, sir, excuse me. That shit doesn't
Speaker 2: work on any team that's actually a contender, because these
Speaker 2: are grown stars with egos, and like why are you
Speaker 2: controlling them in this way? And second of all, is
Speaker 2: never gonna work on a place like the Lakers. So
Speaker 2: Quinn Nighter is on that kind of bullshit. If that's true,
Speaker 2: I mean that's true. I had it verified that on
Speaker 2: team planes and most likely buses, Quinn Snyder is assigning seats.
Speaker 2: Imagine Lebron James getting on the team bus and it
Speaker 2: is like, Lebron, no, that's not your seat. You're You're
Speaker 2: in Aaron fifteen seven fifteen, A next to next to
Speaker 2: Kent Basemore.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: Uh. And then like, just like lastly, I would say,
Speaker 2: blow it all up, get rid of Quinn, let him
Speaker 2: go wherever you just like free like a bird, go on,
Speaker 2: do your thing. Get rid of Donovan wherever he wants
Speaker 2: to go. Get as many pick as you can, Get
Speaker 2: rid of Rudy, get rid of Mike Conley because he's washed.
Speaker 2: You know, just build around no one, just start again,
Speaker 2: start fresh, scorched earth. Things in Utah will see better days.
Speaker 2: But playoffs are nowhere in the near future. Dot it
Speaker 2: D bye go there, Bye Conley, Bye, stuck.
Speaker 1: Up on track. Find me somewhere out in Leney.
Speaker 3: You know that's the hide away.
Speaker 2: I need some head of some more support from you
Speaker 2: right away since I've been making donations to you like you,
Speaker 2: oh man, Let's talk about the Memphis Grizzlies. The main
Speaker 2: thing I want to discuss today is that.
Speaker 5: Question.
Speaker 2: Are the Memphis Grizzlies the new villains of the NBA?
Speaker 2: Not necessarily to fans, but to the rest of the league,
Speaker 2: Like are they public Enemy Number one? Like let's squash them,
Speaker 2: Let's humble them. They're too young, too loud, too ostentatious,
Speaker 2: too brash, too bold, too fucking arrogant, Like why are
Speaker 2: they winning so much? Every team feels like they want
Speaker 2: to humble the Grizzlies. It's what they feel like they
Speaker 2: all want to do. But I promise you we, as
Speaker 2: NBA fans, should all want to see the Grizzly succeed,
Speaker 2: Like this is a this is what the American dream like.
Speaker 2: They didn't buy anything, They didn't find some random wash
Speaker 2: star to come in to Memphis and pretend he wants
Speaker 2: to be there and then get free agents to come
Speaker 2: there more. No, this is all built organically, and they
Speaker 2: all love Memphis and they all love each other. You've
Speaker 2: got they're just pissing off the establishment. How could you
Speaker 2: not love that? Thumbing their noses the man, which is
Speaker 2: basically the Warriors of the world like a dynasty. They're like,
Speaker 2: we did not care about you, we are not afraid
Speaker 2: of you. A team that trash talk Lebron James. You
Speaker 2: got role players being like, sit your ass down, Lebron,
Speaker 2: You're it's our time now. I mean, this is a
Speaker 2: team where John Morant posted a video of that iconic
Speaker 2: moment that Jordan made long time ago where he was like, Yo,
Speaker 2: it's easy to talk shit when you're up thirty. Why
Speaker 2: don't you talk shit when is zero zero? Why don't
Speaker 2: you talk shit when you're down twenty? How about that?
Speaker 2: Like that's the vibe that the Grizzlies are on. So
Speaker 2: this this Grizzlies team, as we know if you're listening
Speaker 2: and watching basketball or not living under a rock. Grizzlies
Speaker 2: lose Game one and a heartbreaker got buried in the
Speaker 2: national press immediately, and all of a sudden, somehow the Warriors,
Speaker 2: who let's be honest, are the darlings of the NBA
Speaker 2: for a variety of reasons, some valid, some not. Vat
Speaker 2: we're already talking about that the Grizzlies. We're gonna get swept.
Speaker 2: Oh like, can the Grizzlies next up on undisputed? Can
Speaker 2: the Grizzlies find their way to win one game?
Speaker 5: What?
Speaker 2: Yeah? They were? I remember. If you don't remember, I remember,
Speaker 2: Pep Bridge Farms remembers so quick, little interesting nuggets that
Speaker 2: happened in Game two. Besides the fact that the Grizzlies
Speaker 2: ended up winning at home, and it would have been
Speaker 2: dastardly if they would have gone down two and then
Speaker 2: head back to San Francisco, I agree, first three minutes
Speaker 2: of Game two, we got our second flagrant two ejection
Speaker 2: of the series. Dylan Brooks memphisis Green and then also
Speaker 2: Memphis Draymond Green both got the hook. Draymond in game one,
Speaker 2: Dylan Brooks in Game two. Both of them physical with
Speaker 2: the reputation that precedes them. Some would say cheap, some
Speaker 2: would say dirty. So anyway, Dylan Brooks Gary Payton the
Speaker 2: second going up for a layup and he hits him
Speaker 2: across his head. Gary Payton falls to the ground immediately
Speaker 2: shatters his elbow. Obviously did not return to the game.
Speaker 2: He's not coming back for the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: We found out four months, probably on the sidelines, independently
Speaker 2: of the game. Beyond the game, let me just say,
Speaker 2: because outside of the news, this shits sad, like this
Speaker 2: is very sad Gary Payton like Steve Kerr. So I
Speaker 2: think the only thing that he said that was right
Speaker 2: in that press conference was that this guy's been just
Speaker 2: trying to find a home for like six years. He
Speaker 2: hasn't stuck. He's been in and out of the G League.
Speaker 2: He's finally found his role, his place. He's a legit
Speaker 2: player that I think could get ten million dollars a
Speaker 2: year because of what he does. He's that Jose Alvarado type.
Speaker 2: He can steal the ball, he can go up for
Speaker 2: a dunk, athletically in transition, he can pass really well.
Speaker 2: He's just a thereat in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 2: And the Warriors number one jostopper. So now he's not there,
Speaker 2: people are wondering, what was it intentional? Is Dylan Brooks
Speaker 2: trying to take Gary Payton out of the game because
Speaker 2: they're so afraid that he's gonna stop Jahn Morant from
Speaker 2: doing Ja Morant things. So that was a problem. This
Speaker 2: is a thing Dylan Brooks gets the early quick cook,
Speaker 2: Memphis still ends up getting the win. Secondly, that set
Speaker 2: off Steve Kerr, set off Draymond Green pretty much the
Speaker 2: rest of the Warriors team, where they're telling Dylan Brooks
Speaker 2: hit the road, Jack, don't you come back no more,
Speaker 2: saying get the fuck out of here when he's leaving
Speaker 2: because he has to obviously go to the locker room,
Speaker 2: can't even be on the sidelines. And they were even
Speaker 2: more angry after the game, to the point where they're
Speaker 2: making wild accusations about what Dylan Brooks was doing. What
Speaker 2: this type of behavior should end up getting in terms
Speaker 2: of consequences, lot to unpack. One probably pissed because Dmon
Speaker 2: Green got ejected for less and has been ejected many
Speaker 2: times for less. That plays into it. Also, like I said,
Speaker 2: they're scrambling now without Peyton. Thirdly, though which I don't
Speaker 2: think I wrote down, the Warriors have had their own
Speaker 2: fair share of injuries that they've cost in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard being the most major one. That Zaza Petulia
Speaker 2: that ended up turning into a whole new foul call
Speaker 2: about landing space. So we'll get into the postgame quotes
Speaker 2: a bit after I talk about what came next. Then
Speaker 2: next Draymond Green gets poked in the eye, bleeding down
Speaker 2: his face so badly he had to leave the game
Speaker 2: temporarily go back to the locker room get himself. I
Speaker 2: don't even know how you stitch up an eye. So
Speaker 2: that's another thing. Memphis fans who are out of their
Speaker 2: fucking minds, obviously because they're a part of the villainy
Speaker 2: that is now the Grizzlies. They're cheering for Dramon Green
Speaker 2: to be bleeding out of his face, like is the
Speaker 2: Roman colisseum. I mean, I don't know, they've never won
Speaker 2: anything before. It's a brand new team. Like, just let
Speaker 2: him have it a little bit, but still crazy. Then
Speaker 2: Draymond Green flips him off, does the Kyrie the double
Speaker 2: flip off. Then they start cheering for the double flip
Speaker 2: off because they know he's about to get fine fifty
Speaker 2: k wild. So all of this drama is happening whilst
Speaker 2: Ja Moran is having a historic night to the tune
Speaker 2: of almost to fifty. Nugget on another planet had fifteen
Speaker 2: final points in the fourth in Game two. Also in
Speaker 2: Game six against the Minnesota Timberwolves, yet thirteen final points,
Speaker 2: just consecutive. No one else, just Jaw, Just Jaw turning
Speaker 2: into Michael Jordan in the final minutes of a game.
Speaker 2: No one else, just me, just me, one on one.
Speaker 2: Try to stop me, and everyone knows what Yah's gonna do.
Speaker 2: I'm taking it to the rack. If you give me space,
Speaker 2: I'm shooting three every time. Don't even say though, Like
Speaker 2: I know, there's a lot of things on Twitter about
Speaker 2: whether he carried in one of those plays or not
Speaker 2: he did. I mean, there's a lot of things about
Speaker 2: the carry now, So just stop. But I think that's
Speaker 2: solidifying as we back up and try to make sense
Speaker 2: of this about what Jaw is becoming in front of
Speaker 2: our eyes. Jaw obviously shouldn't have won Most Improved Player.
Speaker 2: He was very very good last year. The stat that
Speaker 2: he took, the leap that he took, I don't think
Speaker 2: warrants it was very small leap. What we're seeing right
Speaker 2: now from Jaw is that he's an MVP level player.
Speaker 2: He's a top five player. And not only is he
Speaker 2: a top five player and one of the best in
Speaker 2: the league. I think John Morant has a real shot
Speaker 2: and has showed in moments where the times are bright,
Speaker 2: that he can be the face of the league, not
Speaker 2: the face of the league by the way that the
Speaker 2: NBA particularly would want. He's got the grill, he's got
Speaker 2: a blue dread a red one, and he's taking shot
Speaker 2: to tequila on Instagram live on his G six on
Speaker 2: the way to the All Star Game, being like, listen,
Speaker 2: I'm about to get fucked up, all of that in
Speaker 2: your face. He's doing the gritty every single game they win.
Speaker 2: He's shit talking Steph Curry being like, this is about
Speaker 2: to be really fun. He's stomping on the middle of
Speaker 2: your court on your logo, same things that got Kyrie villainized.
Speaker 2: And he's not babyfaced like Steph Curry tatted so and
Speaker 2: yet and yet there he stands. He's the one I
Speaker 2: think we all think about being the most electric person
Speaker 2: to watch in the NBA. If you could watch to yourself,
Speaker 2: think about this, If you could just watch one guy
Speaker 2: play basketball on any given night, who would be It's
Speaker 2: Jaw on a Tuesday in February. It's Jaw on a
Speaker 2: Saturday night in March, it's Jaw every single time. He's
Speaker 2: musty TV. In regular moments, when the moments are bright,
Speaker 2: he's almost blindingly good. He's almost a star so bright
Speaker 2: we can't even directly look at him. And if you
Speaker 2: are one of the sad souls that want to tell
Speaker 2: John Moran to be quiet, or that he needs to
Speaker 2: be humbled, or that he should just be humble or
Speaker 2: less loud with his play, or talk shit less, or
Speaker 2: figure out a way to just be more like Steph Curry,
Speaker 2: you're missing the fucking point. Also, by the way, check
Speaker 2: out Jaw Moran's postgame presser. He couldn't even see when
Speaker 2: he was having those fifteen last.
Speaker 1: Points you scored the last fifteen points.
Speaker 2: Were you seeing okay as you were fifteen those last
Speaker 2: fifteen points?
Speaker 1: Abolutely no? But would you aim in the middle or
Speaker 1: how did you?
Speaker 4: I got another good out over here?
Speaker 2: Moving forward? After the game, the anger built up on
Speaker 2: the Warriors bench over Peyton's fractured elbow, and it's spilled over.
Speaker 2: Draymond went off on Warriors fans throw not only throwing
Speaker 2: up multiple birds, but he also said, like listen, it
Speaker 2: felt good to flip these guys off, and I would
Speaker 2: do it again.
Speaker 4: You're gonna boot somebody who get elbowed in the eye
Speaker 4: and face running on blood. You should get flipped off.
Speaker 4: So I'll take the fine. I'll go do an appearance
Speaker 4: and make up the money. But it felt really good
Speaker 4: to flip them off. You're gonna boot someone to get
Speaker 4: elbowed in the eye and blood running out of your face.
Speaker 4: I could have had a concussion or anything. So if
Speaker 4: they gonna if they're gonna be that nasty, I can
Speaker 4: be nasty too.
Speaker 2: Whoo. Let me get that rich good. That's gracious. But
Speaker 2: it was Steve Kerlough who I think really went viral,
Speaker 2: changing the conversation. He had some very terse words about
Speaker 2: Dylan Brooks and how he broke the NBA code by
Speaker 2: putting Gary Payton's life in danger.
Speaker 6: I don't know if it was intentional, but it was dirty.
Speaker 6: And you know, playoff basketball is going to it's supposed
Speaker 6: to be physical. You know, everybody's going to compete, everybody's
Speaker 6: going to fight for everything. But there's a code in
Speaker 6: this league. There's a code that players follow where you
Speaker 6: never put a guy's season slash career in jeopardy by
Speaker 6: taking somebody out in mid air and clubbing him across
Speaker 6: the head and ultimately fracturing cars.
Speaker 2: Heal.
Speaker 6: But this is a guy who's been toiling the last
Speaker 6: six years trying to make it in this league, finally
Speaker 6: found a home, just you know, playing his butt off
Speaker 6: this year in the playoffs. You know, this should be
Speaker 6: the time of his life. And the guy comes in
Speaker 6: wax him across the head in mid air. He broke
Speaker 6: the code.
Speaker 2: I don't see it that way. Me personally, I don't
Speaker 2: see it that way. A lot of people thought this
Speaker 2: was a dirty play. I watched this clip fifty sixty
Speaker 2: times in a row. It's only like ten seconds to
Speaker 2: don't act like I was breaking down extensive film. But
Speaker 2: I didn't see the intent to hit the head. I
Speaker 2: don't think it was dirty. I don't think he went
Speaker 2: out and decided to take Gary Payton out. Brooks I
Speaker 2: think is more valuable to the Grizzlies than Gary Payton
Speaker 2: is to the Warriors. Did not look intentional to me
Speaker 2: at all. It looked like he was intending to hit
Speaker 2: his arm, try to hit the ball and stop him
Speaker 2: from going up and stop him from at least like
Speaker 2: being able to shoot the shot. No intent to harm
Speaker 2: him at all. I don't think like he was. Like
Speaker 2: I said just a second ago, I don't think he
Speaker 2: was trying to hit his head. He kind of looked
Speaker 2: like his head just kind of got in the way
Speaker 2: of the swipe to the arm end of the ball.
Speaker 2: I don't think for sure he was trying to frack
Speaker 2: his elbow. Will take him out for the rest of
Speaker 2: the series. And to me, if Peyton pops back up
Speaker 2: like right away, I don't even think it's a flagrant two.
Speaker 2: I think it's a flagrant one maximum. As an aside,
Speaker 2: today on First Take Pivot, Draymond became news because Draymond
Speaker 2: flipping off the fans maybe isn't seen as comporting himself
Speaker 2: in a exactly the word comporting himself. It is not
Speaker 2: seen as I think they're trying to make kind of
Speaker 2: Draymond out to be the villain. And mad Dog Russo,
Speaker 2: a famous radio personality, said, fans are tired of Draymond
Speaker 2: Green's antics and they all want to say enough already.
Speaker 2: And JJ Reddick, probably the treasure of the NBA now,
Speaker 2: decided to clap back in a way that only a
Speaker 2: former player can and explained it in a way that
Speaker 2: I felt needed to be brought to the pod because
Speaker 2: it explains how I feel about Draymon and how guys
Speaker 2: like Chris Russo are harmful to the culture.
Speaker 5: So we say the same sort of connotations that the
Speaker 5: shot up and dribble Krawd has towards athletes, and I
Speaker 5: have a real problem with that and specifically with Draymond
Speaker 5: the idea that America is tired of.
Speaker 7: You do realize the guy has a very very popular
Speaker 7: podcast that he hosts where he talks himself for a
Speaker 7: majority of the episode.
Speaker 1: And people listen to that. He signed a talent deal
Speaker 1: with Turner because people want to hear what Draymon has
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 8: Sure, the reason they want to hear what Draymon has
Speaker 8: to say is because, just like in this press conference,
Speaker 8: he is real, authentic and unfiltered. And as a player,
Speaker 8: he is real, authentic and unfiltered.
Speaker 1: The edge that he carries with what's.
Speaker 8: Himself with He's talked about this since Game one. Klay
Speaker 8: Thompson has talked about this since Game one. It's what
Speaker 8: makes him great, it's what makes him a future Hall
Speaker 8: of Famer.
Speaker 1: It's the reason he is who he is.
Speaker 8: It's just like saying, hey, John Moran, stop dancing when
Speaker 8: your teammate's making a three. The reason John Moran is
Speaker 8: great is because he plays with joy and fun and
Speaker 8: a care free attitude and a fearlessness. You can't take
Speaker 8: away what makes a player great, So there's no shut
Speaker 8: up in play.
Speaker 1: He is so polarizing I think for all the fans
Speaker 1: and you think there's some of.
Speaker 8: The podcasts a watch whom I can give you a
Speaker 8: fifty million fans who would take the same thing enough
Speaker 8: for Ready, So he is a polarizing athlete.
Speaker 1: Sure, there are certain younger fans, especially that lack you
Speaker 1: hear him play. I'll give you a large segment of
Speaker 1: older fans who will followed the NBA for sixty years.
Speaker 8: Or this is not a political scenario or a race situation.
Speaker 1: Who will follow Wilp and Whoop is a nick fan who.
Speaker 8: Love pride and love read on.
Speaker 1: I don't think not say that a race situation.
Speaker 7: I'm saying that that the fans you're talking about, they
Speaker 7: talk about athletes that way like you just talked about
Speaker 7: an athlete.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot. I think the people have Foxing.
Speaker 1: The people on Fox News talk about athletes that way.
Speaker 1: But that's my issue.
Speaker 8: I don't actually care about the fans that watched Bob
Speaker 8: Coosey play and I watch Will play.
Speaker 1: I don't care. I appreciate that they've been.
Speaker 8: NBA fans that long, right, but I don't appreciate the undertone.
Speaker 2: I don't appreciate the undertone. Listen. I don't know that
Speaker 2: there's much more to say than that zip up the
Speaker 2: body still warm. I think he's coming back Wednesday to
Speaker 2: get bodied yet again by JJ Reddick. My lord is
Speaker 2: that true? Yes? This all of this every day twice
Speaker 2: on Sundays. Stop telling athletes how they should act every
Speaker 2: single time. Stop it unless they're doing something that's against
Speaker 2: the law or harming someone, Then how about you just
Speaker 2: take a fucking seat and watch your place said forty five,
Speaker 2: driving me crazy, sheldy eye.
Speaker 1: I need to see you and feel your next to me, comprofide.
Speaker 1: If it's thin, you need a eye like you smile.
Speaker 1: I don't want them to see your craft.
Speaker 2: I got some questions that that guy that asks an
Speaker 2: eye hope you can come over. Then all right, let's
Speaker 2: get into some questions. This episode is a little longer
Speaker 2: than I thought it was gonna be because I am
Speaker 2: long winded, but it is what it is. Question one.
Speaker 2: I didn't write down who asked it, but I'll get
Speaker 2: back to you. Was you know who you are? Is
Speaker 2: Doc Rivers at fault for Joel MB's latest injury? Yes,
Speaker 2: of course, twenty nine points ahead of the Toronto Raptors
Speaker 2: in Game six with four minutes left in a close
Speaker 2: out game against a team that had woving, waving, wivn
Speaker 2: the right white flag, waved the white flag, wove the
Speaker 2: white flag anyway, describe were in and you know who
Speaker 2: was out? Not out fucking Joel Embiid. What's he doing
Speaker 2: out there? You know? And like also Embiid already had
Speaker 2: his thumb was torn up. He shouldn't be out there
Speaker 2: a second longer than he has to. Why was he
Speaker 2: out there, you ask? Because Doc is so worried, so nervous,
Speaker 2: so insecure about the prospect of blowing a three to
Speaker 2: zero lead, that he kept them on the court to
Speaker 2: ensure that they didn't blow another lead. He's blown so
Speaker 2: many leads that he's not even comfortable with up thirty
Speaker 2: with four minutes to go. What, of course he has
Speaker 2: responsibility for this. He's gonna say he doesn't, but he does.
Speaker 2: You pull him, you put him on ice, and you
Speaker 2: don't see him again until the Heat series, and you
Speaker 2: know what, they're now losing joelmb for games one, games two,
Speaker 2: probably game three, maybe game four, and by that time
Speaker 2: it's night night, sleep mask and it's maybe night night.
Speaker 2: To Doc Rivers, he'll probably be fired over it. I mean,
Speaker 2: you think about it and you're just like, why'd you
Speaker 2: do it? Got elbowed in the eye for no reason
Speaker 2: at all. I know Pascal was the one, and so
Speaker 2: he's a starter and he was in the game, So
Speaker 2: don't give me that if don't come into my mentions
Speaker 2: over that. All right, Next question, dot, does does Tyrese
Speaker 2: Maxey really hate James Harden? My initial thought is I
Speaker 2: hope so no, No, I'm just joking. I do think
Speaker 2: it's funny. There was this funny video that went semi
Speaker 2: viral of Tyrese Maxey seemingly not wanting to sit next
Speaker 2: to James Harden when they were getting blown out by
Speaker 2: the heat during a timeout. The video was a one
Speaker 2: hundred percent real it was one hundred percent recent, and
Speaker 2: it did seem like he wanted nothing to do with
Speaker 2: James Harden as soon as James Harden sat down next
Speaker 2: to him. He switched seats to sit next to Maxie,
Speaker 2: and as soon as he Maxie got up and he
Speaker 2: went and sat somewhere else, which is fine, by the way,
Speaker 2: if that was to happen like that doesn't mean you
Speaker 2: hate him. Sometimes you're just tired of your teammates. You
Speaker 2: don't want to see their fucking face. They're annoying you.
Speaker 2: They didn't need to pass you the ball, they made
Speaker 2: a bonehead to move. You're gonna lose the game because
Speaker 2: of them. At that point, it's just better for some space.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean you hate them, but you do need to
Speaker 2: kind of remove yourself before things get heated. I've been there. However,
Speaker 2: it does turn out that that wasn't really what happened.
Speaker 2: Maxi changed seats because Sam Cassell, assistant coach for the
Speaker 2: Philadelphia seventy six ers, who by the way, probably deserves
Speaker 2: a head coaching shot, wanted to break down a play
Speaker 2: with Maxi. He did it, but it did lead obviously
Speaker 2: to a lot of chatter. Shall we say Sixers players
Speaker 2: finally getting rid of and tired, sick and tired of
Speaker 2: James's bullshit type of tweets. I wish it was true.
Speaker 2: I really wish it was true that Tyrese Maxie, after
Speaker 2: saying all these positive things about James Harden, that he's like, no,
Speaker 2: you know what, I don't even want to be next
Speaker 2: to you, all right? Next question, A lot of Sixers questions,
Speaker 2: will James Harden sign for less than the max?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Why would he do that? If we're talking about Tyler
Speaker 2: Hero signing the max? I promise you players keep notes.
Speaker 2: If Tyler Hero is getting thirty seven, James is getting
Speaker 2: forty seven. Why would he do that? Why would James
Speaker 2: Harden decide he would take less money for the good
Speaker 2: of the team to win because he has enough money.
Speaker 2: He's promised Daryl Moury that'll take less if he traces
Speaker 2: trade for me, Darrow, I promise, I promise no. Sam
Speaker 2: Amick on his podcast, former colleague, said that he's being
Speaker 2: told that Sixers intel was that Harden will potentially take
Speaker 2: less than max money to stay in Philly. I will
Speaker 2: believe that when I see that forever. Also, by the way,
Speaker 2: James Harden was the one who told us he forgot
Speaker 2: to sign his player option when he got traded. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: the deadline just passed. I didn't even realize damn, my bad,
Speaker 2: I really was meaning to do that. What do you
Speaker 2: think is just like you forgot to pick up the
Speaker 2: mail like he has handlers and agents and managers and
Speaker 2: people and the team their ringing ring ring. Hey, we
Speaker 2: need that, Hey, we need that. He didn't forget to
Speaker 2: sign them player option? Does that something you casually forget?
Speaker 2: What everywhere James Harden goes. He's been a little fast
Speaker 2: and loose with the truth. Let's be honest, except for though,
Speaker 2: the one thing was that he said Houston was dog
Speaker 2: shit without him, like that happens to be one hundred
Speaker 2: percent true. But like, do I think he's gonna he
Speaker 2: promised Darryl Morey he would take less money. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: in the open market, just pay me forty We're good.
Speaker 2: Like I'll let you you know, I'll leave the ten aside. No,
Speaker 2: no shot. He's gonna get paid fifty million dollars a
Speaker 2: year and not a cent less And Darryl Moury is
Speaker 2: gonna pay him that money because he loves James Harden
Speaker 2: like a son and has absolutely no care in the
Speaker 2: world about his own job security, and he will be
Speaker 2: staking his career on the James Harden signing and oh
Speaker 2: boy at that point, can't wait to see what happens next.
Speaker 2: Last question, I think that's question. Last question, Yes, should
Speaker 2: the Lakers trade Lebron? You know now that you mention it,
Speaker 2: it's not a terrible idea. It's not a terrible idea.
Speaker 2: It depends on what you're focused on. If you're focused
Speaker 2: on making money, which let's be honest quickly, you have
Speaker 2: to think about these teams in terms of who's owning them.
Speaker 2: The Lakers organization, and we're finding this out time and
Speaker 2: time again on winning time, is that they've been broke
Speaker 2: from the very beginning. They've never had money, real money
Speaker 2: outside of the real estate. The Jerry Buss ended up
Speaker 2: getting rich off of and then selling in a trade
Speaker 2: to own the Lakers. He was struggling with debt collection
Speaker 2: from second to one. It hasn't gotten that much better.
Speaker 2: No matter how profitable or valuable the Lakers seemed to
Speaker 2: be on paper, they make cheap moves after cheap moves.
Speaker 2: We've got Genie Bus. I think fucking Phil Jackson again,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm not sure like he's given her
Speaker 2: advice again, So as long as he's given her advice,
Speaker 2: He's probably given her something else. So they're not like
Speaker 2: gonna kill They're not gonna tray Lebron because they care
Speaker 2: about Lebron's value to them in terms of Jersey sales,
Speaker 2: in terms of ticket sales, in terms of concessions, all that.
Speaker 2: But if they care about winning, I would do it.
Speaker 2: No One though, by the way, likes to be right
Speaker 2: more than me. First and foremost. I've been saying this,
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of options for the Lakers if
Speaker 2: you want to win. There's only a few people that
Speaker 2: you can really get out. You guys Anthony Davis, and
Speaker 2: it's Lebron James. And now you're hearing that Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: isn't really worth that much. So maybe it's both. And
Speaker 2: maybe it's like start again, which is a shame because
Speaker 2: you add a ton of high quality players that you
Speaker 2: gave up for one Mickey Mouse ring hate to see it.
Speaker 2: Enter stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. Smith then now goes
Speaker 2: on today and it's fucking infuriating when it happened six
Speaker 2: weeks later. Like I've been saying this, and nobody, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm screaming into the void. I'm not on first take.
Speaker 2: But here we go. This is it right here, Let's
Speaker 2: see it.
Speaker 9: Because I have something that I want to say to
Speaker 9: Doggie and JJ Reddick. I specifically because Doggie and I
Speaker 9: were supposed to do this segment. I specifically requested that
Speaker 9: you be in this segment because I have an announcement
Speaker 9: i'd like to make. It is involving Lebron James, Dougie,
Speaker 9: JJ Reddick. I want to announce the American public that
Speaker 9: I think the Los Angeles Lakers should strongly consider trading
Speaker 9: Lebron James. That is what I believe. Now a lot
Speaker 9: of people are gonna lose their minds because the brother's
Speaker 9: thirty seven in his nineteenth year, and he just averaged
Speaker 9: thirty and all of this other stuff, and if the
Speaker 9: team was better, he would have been a League MVP
Speaker 9: candidate without question.
Speaker 2: Paus I said that shit. I said that shit in
Speaker 2: maybe March. It's May fourth, where you been at steven A.
Speaker 2: Keep going.
Speaker 9: This is not throwing a speck of shade on Lebron
Speaker 9: James in case he's watching, which he has tried to
Speaker 9: deny it, but he's watching. Okay, I'm telling you right now,
Speaker 9: it's no shade at all. It's a testament to his greatness,
Speaker 9: and it's a compliment to him that I'm saying, this
Speaker 9: is what the Los Angeles Lakers should consider. The Los
Speaker 9: Angeles Lakers is presently constructed.
Speaker 2: Are going yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Anyway, like I said,
Speaker 2: go to the clip. You can listen. I'm not this
Speaker 2: is the only thing that's left for you. Like I said,
Speaker 2: you have to movee the Ross Braun eighty for as
Speaker 2: much value as you can. Lebron if he wants to win.
Speaker 2: Let's be honest. I have an announcement for the public,
Speaker 2: and I get all that. The announcement is if Lebron
Speaker 2: James wants to win another title, he needs to force
Speaker 2: his way the fuck out. That's what he needs. Like
Speaker 2: I said, they're not going deep into the luxury tax.
Speaker 2: He can win in La just not in the purple
Speaker 2: and gold. Go to Balmber Barmber spent let me just
Speaker 2: just very slowly speak to you closely, slowly, slowly. Steve
Speaker 2: Balmer spent two billion dollars on the clip, and he
Speaker 2: paid them with a personal check. He wrote, let me
Speaker 2: get out my check book and wrote them the check
Speaker 2: right in front of their fucking face. Do you know
Speaker 2: what kind of money you have. If you can write
Speaker 2: a personal check for two billion dollars, it's just sitting there.
Speaker 2: It's not in investments, it's not in bonds. You don't
Speaker 2: even have to accumulate it, call people, you just write
Speaker 2: the check and it's there. This is a team. The
Speaker 2: Lakers are a team. They didn't even want to sign
Speaker 2: Alex Cruzoe because it would put them a dollar into
Speaker 2: luxury tax. What are we talking about, so, Lebron, if
Speaker 2: you want to win as much as you say you do,
Speaker 2: and you want to stay in La as much as
Speaker 2: you say you do, then just make it happen. Because
Speaker 2: the Clippers aren't going anywhere, the Nuggets aren't going anywhere,
Speaker 2: the Pels aren't going anywhere. Sons, Griz, Timberwolves, Warriors, MAVs,
Speaker 2: all of those eight teams better than you, and maybe
Speaker 2: the Blazers Lord willing they can get back into the playoff.
Speaker 2: Co Lakers are not getting any younger, they're not getting
Speaker 2: any cheaper, They're not getting any better. I know that
Speaker 2: trading Lebron is ridiculous, but maybe it's best for both sides.
Speaker 2: From a monetary perspective, he is probably still one of
Speaker 2: the best players in the league. You get four, five, six, seven,
Speaker 2: eight first round picks for him. You can get a
Speaker 2: lot of picks. Clippers don't have a lot of picks now,
Speaker 2: but maybe they can make some moves. Three team trade.
Speaker 2: Get rid of I mean, fuck it, get rid of
Speaker 2: WHI fuck it, fuck it, get rid of PG. I
Speaker 2: don't care if I'm the Clippers got some nice young
Speaker 2: pieces we already get made moves. Just make it happen
Speaker 2: because they will never contend because Ad is always in
Speaker 2: street close. That's all the time that we have for
Speaker 2: the heat Check. We'll be back Monday with a new episode.
Speaker 2: Follow us as we get deeper into the playoffs. Do
Speaker 2: not forget to download subscribe. Please tell your friends follow us.
Speaker 2: Follow us please on this heat check and at Tristy
Speaker 2: Creek on TikTok. Give me a DM. Let's stay connected.
Speaker 2: I will see you guys.
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