Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick. On this
Speaker 1: episode of a Heat Check, we are now at the
Speaker 1: halfway point of the regular NBA season.
Speaker 2: Can you believe it?
Speaker 1: Time is going best, folks. It is time for me,
Speaker 1: Professor Crick, to give out some grades some guys. Some
Speaker 1: teams are getting the ruler, folks, Smack smack. This episode,
Speaker 1: we're gonna break down the Eastern Conference. We're gonna grade
Speaker 1: every team from Atlanta down to the Washington Wizards. So
Speaker 1: let's get right to it, Nick, we don't have much
Speaker 1: time drop that generic gass beat. All right, So we've
Speaker 1: reached halfway throughout the season. Actually, last Thursday, I could
Speaker 1: have done it, but I didn't feel like it was
Speaker 1: too much work. It's a lot you gotta go into
Speaker 1: all these ratingsts. I don't mean to make it sound
Speaker 1: like my job's like super complicated.
Speaker 2: It's not.
Speaker 1: I do this for the love of the game. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to do it. I want to do it right.
Speaker 1: And now it's just like college. It's like the midterm
Speaker 1: exams and we're giving out mid semester grades. Some teams
Speaker 1: I think will be very happy with their scores. Kids
Speaker 1: that came into the classroom. They had a backpack with
Speaker 1: no books in it, and you said to yourself, oh boy,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a doozy, And all of a
Speaker 1: sudden they became one of the best students in the
Speaker 1: whole damn classroom. And then others will probably be very sad.
Speaker 2: But them's the breaks.
Speaker 1: I am just the instructor, and I call it like
Speaker 1: I see it.
Speaker 2: So let's start out East. Let's break it down.
Speaker 1: Next episode will break down the West, because, like I said,
Speaker 1: these stats are hard to come by. So let's start
Speaker 1: in the Atlantic Division. The Atlantic Division is a wagon
Speaker 1: by the way you look at it. I think it's
Speaker 1: the best division in the entire NBA. What you may
Speaker 1: not think about it because who does who is in
Speaker 1: the Atlantic Division. It's the Nets, It's the Sixers, it's
Speaker 1: the Celtics, it's the Knicks.
Speaker 2: That's a good ass, good ass division.
Speaker 1: And listen, like, most of these teams have had various
Speaker 1: degrees of dysfunction throughout this offseason and into the season itself.
Speaker 1: So I mean these teams were seen as toxic full
Speaker 1: rebuild situations like the Brooklyn Nets. Four of these teams
Speaker 1: right now, though four of these teams are top six
Speaker 1: in the East. So it's a wagon that's unreal. So
Speaker 1: let's start with the Brooklyn Nets. I mean, that's the
Speaker 1: kid that came in with the backpack that was empty,
Speaker 1: and you were like, this kid's going to fail, Like,
Speaker 1: this kid's probably gonna withdraw the class. In the first
Speaker 1: month of the season, they look like they were headed
Speaker 1: for a full teardown, didn't They kd wanted out. Kyrie
Speaker 1: was a mess. He gets suspended, he wants a max deal,
Speaker 1: they say no. In the offseason, there's just cascating thing
Speaker 1: after cascading thing, the whole yahweh issue. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: Joe sigh. They wanted to fire Sean Marks. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: By the way, they fired their coach in the middle
Speaker 1: of the season. Try to hire em Udoka. That didn't
Speaker 1: work because the league shut that down. They brought in
Speaker 1: Jacques Vaughn, who was the interim head coach the last
Speaker 1: time they fired their coach. So it was a world
Speaker 1: class distraction. You were like, okay, this is we had
Speaker 1: the ghost of Nick Claxton.
Speaker 2: What's he gonna be? Like, what's TJ.
Speaker 1: Warren gonna be? Ben Simmons, Is he gonna be himself?
Speaker 1: He had been in his own mind, just very broken,
Speaker 1: and so you're thinking to yourself at this point, this
Speaker 1: team steering at a full rebuild, especially when Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: wanted out and you look up after they fired Steve
Speaker 1: and their second in the East. You gotta give the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets an a plus. You have to. They are
Speaker 1: the second best defensive team in the last fifteen games.
Speaker 1: They went eighteen and two after they brought on Jacque
Speaker 1: Vaughn KD until his injury became probably at the peak
Speaker 1: of his powers. Nick Claxton, by the way, who no
Speaker 1: one is talking about as a real defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year. He's like plus fourteen hundred right now, which
Speaker 1: is worth a little sprinkle if you want to put
Speaker 1: a little money on it for that award. He's got
Speaker 1: twelve double doubles so far. He's dominating in six of
Speaker 1: the seven interior categories in the league. He leads the
Speaker 1: league in blocks. Ben Simmons has been a game changer.
Speaker 1: And it's not just the defense either. They've been very
Speaker 1: good in terms of their bench. Edmund Sumner, TJ. Warren,
Speaker 1: My Guy, John Utah, Wattnabe, Joe Harris coming back from injury,
Speaker 1: p Mills, cam Thomas, Royce O'Neil, all of whom have
Speaker 1: stepped up now that Kevin Durant is out after you know,
Speaker 1: for another month. Oh yeah. By the way, Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: is taking accountability for not playing well in fourth quarters,
Speaker 1: tweeting out, I me, Kyrie Irving have to be better.
Speaker 1: When have we seen that? Hey, I gotta be a
Speaker 1: better leader. Did someone take over this man's account? You
Speaker 1: can't get I ed gray than the Brooklyn Nets. Boy,
Speaker 1: I swear I thought that was a shit show. And
Speaker 1: they have vastly overperformed expectations. This team could win at all?
Speaker 1: What Boston Celtics less excited about them? Why they went
Speaker 1: to the finals? They went to the finals. Yes, they
Speaker 1: had their share of dysfunction as well. They fired he
Speaker 1: may Udoka. Let's be real to firing He's never coming
Speaker 1: back to this team. They bring on a guy with
Speaker 1: his own set of scandals, a bunch of skeletons in
Speaker 1: his closet, a religious sellate that he is who I'm
Speaker 1: not completely sold on.
Speaker 2: And the team was in need of a prayer and
Speaker 2: they found one.
Speaker 1: They went obviously, and they had a bunch of key
Speaker 1: pieces that they still had two of the best wings
Speaker 1: in the league with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. Rob Williams,
Speaker 1: though missed twenty nine games start of the season, and
Speaker 1: the fact that they're still number one in the East
Speaker 1: feels very impressive to me. They pick up Malcolm Brogden
Speaker 1: probably would have been a shoe in to win six
Speaker 1: Man of the Year if Russell Westbrook didn't become whatever
Speaker 1: we're seeing. If he gets traded, Malcolm Brogden will win
Speaker 1: six Man of the Year. But the only thing that
Speaker 1: I can't give him an A plus or an A
Speaker 1: solid a their name minus for me. They lost to
Speaker 1: the Magic twice. They got stomped by the Dubs. They
Speaker 1: got stomped by the Clippers. They lost to the Thunder,
Speaker 1: the OKC Thunder, who is largely considered to be one
Speaker 1: of the biggest egregious tankers in the league. They lost
Speaker 1: to them by almost fifty points, fifty of them half
Speaker 1: of one hundred. So I don't really know what else
Speaker 1: to say other than the motivation of this team can
Speaker 1: sometimes be called into question, and that, my friends, is
Speaker 1: a coaching problem and something that.
Speaker 2: Even Joe Mizula is making fun of.
Speaker 1: That he doesn't take timeouts and maybe he should, and
Speaker 1: that the momentum shifts.
Speaker 2: Et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics are gonna be fine. But I can't give
Speaker 1: him an A plus or an A minus because largely.
Speaker 2: The pieces are the same.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the New York Knicks. New York
Speaker 1: Knicks gotta give them B minus B minus, which is
Speaker 1: pretty damn good, right, pretty damn good for the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks. Halfway point, specifically, Jalen Brunson has been a monster.
Speaker 1: He has worked out. He is averaging thirty two points
Speaker 1: in the month of January, what, fifty percent from three
Speaker 1: point range, almost six rebounds, almost six assists per game.
Speaker 1: They've got one of the best road records in the NBA,
Speaker 1: fourteen and eight. Do you know what the Golden State
Speaker 1: Warriors would do to be fourteen and eight on the road.
Speaker 1: Julius Randall right now is playing out of his mind
Speaker 1: for the most part. And the young guys they're developing
Speaker 1: into contributors as well, right, Like, Yeah, we may not
Speaker 1: see ob topping much, but he's been injured. RJ Barrett
Speaker 1: on the other end, hasn't been great despite his stats,
Speaker 1: saying that he has been okay, he just hasn't really
Speaker 1: been there.
Speaker 2: He's gotten injured.
Speaker 1: I would imagine the one downside that the Knick sea
Speaker 1: is Wow, Donovan Mitchell really is him. We probably should
Speaker 1: have traded Quinton, Like I can't believe that Quinton Grimes
Speaker 1: held this fucking trade up Quinton Grimes. Do we see
Speaker 1: what Donovan Mitchell is doing? He has seventy one points.
Speaker 1: If you would have said to Leon Rose, this man's
Speaker 1: gonna score seventy one in the garden, are you willing
Speaker 1: to trade Quinton Grimes and RJ Beart, I think that
Speaker 1: they regret that decision. Fucking her extending RJ. Barrett trying
Speaker 1: to play little games with our man, Danny Ainge. You
Speaker 1: can't play games with Ange. Uh. They've blown On the
Speaker 1: other side, that's also bad. They've blown seven double digit
Speaker 1: leads and lost those games. Remember the game that Luca
Speaker 1: had like one of his.
Speaker 2: Best performances ever.
Speaker 1: They scored like they were down nine with thirty seconds
Speaker 1: or nineteen seconds to.
Speaker 2: Go, and the MAVs won that game. Yeah, that was
Speaker 2: against the Knicks.
Speaker 1: That was against them, And when it comes down to
Speaker 1: crunch time, the offense goes stagnant.
Speaker 2: They miss a bunch of free throws.
Speaker 1: I think they were like eleven for forty one a
Speaker 1: couple of games ago. Certainly a fun team, definitely overperformed,
Speaker 1: but some flaws, some bad decisions where I feel like, man,
Speaker 1: would they be good with Donovan Mitchell moving forward in
Speaker 1: the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia seventy six Ers, who to me,
Speaker 1: they are a B plus. They are very interesting. I
Speaker 1: think this is the same sort of team as they
Speaker 1: were last year, where I don't know if they're good
Speaker 1: or not.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure they could go to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 2: They could flame out in the first round.
Speaker 1: All of that depends on the two key pieces, which
Speaker 1: is James Harden and Joe l emb Are they healthy,
Speaker 1: are they in shape, do they have a connection?
Speaker 2: Can they be stopped? How is the defense doing well?
Speaker 2: They brought on PJ.
Speaker 1: Tucker, the guy who was considered it would be one
Speaker 1: of the best point of attack defenders in the league.
Speaker 2: He has stunk.
Speaker 1: He has stunk so bad that people within the blogosphere
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia seventy six Ers media are calling for him
Speaker 1: to be sitting his ass on the bench. So all
Speaker 1: that considered for the Sixers to still be fourth in
Speaker 1: the league in defensive rating with PJ. Tucker largely being
Speaker 1: not very effective, is pretty good because of the Anthony
Speaker 1: Mountain that the Anthony Mountain trade that they made with
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies is unreal. The Anthony Mountain is one
Speaker 1: of the top leaders and steals per game and deflections.
Speaker 1: If you look at Embiid and Harden, their connection has
Speaker 1: been elite. They've also had their fair share of injuries, though,
Speaker 1: so you can't give them an eight right because all
Speaker 1: those things that we worry about have already reared their
Speaker 1: ugly head. Embiid has missed time. He's missed nine games,
Speaker 1: Harden has missed fourteen games in a row. He's back
Speaker 1: and somehow a player that they did not account to lose.
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey missed nineteen games, but all of that considered,
Speaker 1: the Sixer still managed to go thirteen and six without
Speaker 1: him and they're healthy now. So with Maxi and Embiid
Speaker 1: and Harden, the Anthony Mountain all in the court, gelling
Speaker 1: and meshing, this team could be really, really dangerous. Tobias Harris,
Speaker 1: he doesn't even have to do much now that Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxey is good he's a very solid fourth option. Considering
Speaker 1: that his stats have declined and plummeted off of a cliff.
Speaker 1: It's okay because you don't need him to score a bucket.
Speaker 1: When Embiid is out sitting on the bench, it's like,
Speaker 1: that's fine. Just spot up, shoot threes, catch and shoot,
Speaker 1: maybe do a little dribble drive pass back to James
Speaker 1: and let the offense flow. So this team could be
Speaker 1: dangerous or like I said, they could be a first
Speaker 1: or second round exit Toronto Raptors. What's stopping me from
Speaker 1: giving you an F Hope, good roster, good GM, good coach.
Speaker 2: They're a D minus.
Speaker 1: This is a team that you could say is one
Speaker 1: of the most disappointing teams in the NBA. I thought
Speaker 1: they would be like a top four, top five seed.
Speaker 1: When you have current players like CJ. McCollum commenting about
Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors generally speaking in like nobody speaks about them, right,
Speaker 1: But when.
Speaker 2: You have them talking about the Toronto Raptors on.
Speaker 1: An ESPN hit with i Isy Gutierrez and speaking of
Speaker 1: them in negative terms, not in the fact that they're
Speaker 1: the gold standard, which is what they have been for
Speaker 1: recruiting and scouting and developing talent and making talent gel
Speaker 1: and mesh, finding guys that came from the G League.
Speaker 2: All that is what Toronto is known for. Right now,
Speaker 2: they are known.
Speaker 1: For their dysfunction and now that means it is bubbled
Speaker 1: up to be mainstream news quickly. As an aside, does
Speaker 1: anyone find it weird that CJ. McCollum, who's not just
Speaker 1: a player, he is the president of the NBA Players Union,
Speaker 1: is commenting on this on ESPN, like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like just feeding chum to the aggregators, the bloggers for
Speaker 1: drama purposes and driving ESPN's ratings at the detriment of
Speaker 1: other NBA teams as a whole. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant would not like that. I don't feel like.
Speaker 2: The pure Hoopers would want to do that.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the icky thing where it feels like
Speaker 1: these players are start towing the line between player and
Speaker 1: like media personality, Like you can't on one hand be CJ.
Speaker 1: The New Orleans Pelican Hooper mid range master and on
Speaker 1: the other hand hot take men stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith wannaby, I don't like that. I don't like that.
Speaker 1: But here's what he had to say when he was
Speaker 1: spilling the team.
Speaker 3: I think in terms of what they need or what
Speaker 3: they're lacking, something's gonna happen. I don't know what. There's
Speaker 3: rumblings about certain players on the team not being happy
Speaker 3: and due to tampering. I can't speak to that, but
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna move someone.
Speaker 2: So let's break this down.
Speaker 1: The Raptors came to the season and we all thought
Speaker 1: that they were on the rise. Scotty Barnes wins Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year. He looks to emerge as a real
Speaker 1: superstar playmaker, can do multiple things on the court. Siakam
Speaker 1: We knew he was gonna take a step up, and
Speaker 1: he did take a step up. He's been insane this year,
Speaker 1: absolutely incredible. Og Nnobi was supposed to break out. He's
Speaker 1: actually leading the league in deflections right now, so defensively,
Speaker 1: he's been amazing. And they got out from under Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry's contract. They had Fred van Fleet, who.
Speaker 2: Is an All Star.
Speaker 1: Like, all of this gave us vibes of improvement. Right,
Speaker 1: you've got to bring in another heavy hitter. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: it's all good, but no, halfway through the season, despite
Speaker 1: a team of six to seven to six to nine guys,
Speaker 1: with the with the best steal rate in the league,
Speaker 1: allowing the fifth least points in the paint, the fourth
Speaker 1: lowest second chance points in the league. The Raptors are
Speaker 1: only fifteenth in the league in defensive rating. So why folks,
Speaker 1: They're five games under five hundred. They are out of
Speaker 1: the play in tournament, and I am not sure that
Speaker 1: they will sneak into the play in tournament. And now
Speaker 1: you've got rumblings about various players wanting out. Fred van
Speaker 1: Fleet wanted to get paid, them not wanting to pay
Speaker 1: him because he is undersized and has somewhat of a
Speaker 1: ball dominant attitude. Pascal Siakam is one of the only
Speaker 1: guys that is untradeable, but does he want to be traded.
Speaker 1: I've heard that Ogannobi is unhappy with his role and
Speaker 1: how he's being used on this team. Who is not unhappy?
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes doesn't look happy. You've got Nick Nurse throwing
Speaker 1: Gary Trent under the bus and saying, listen, if he
Speaker 1: can't play defense, he's of no use to us. He's
Speaker 1: yelling at players on the coach, I mean, on the bench.
Speaker 1: There's just so much going on with this team, safe
Speaker 1: to say this is not the way anybody thought it
Speaker 1: would go, not the way that anybody would want it
Speaker 1: to go, which is why they get a failing grade.
Speaker 1: They can't get enough because I love Missiu Jerry, and
Speaker 1: I think he's too smart to let this shit happen.
Speaker 1: Still time for things to turn around. But when you
Speaker 1: only have two guys on this roster who are untouchable,
Speaker 1: that's a rut row. That is a massive, massive rut row.
Speaker 1: Let's move to the Central Division. We'll start with the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee Bucks get a solid C, not a
Speaker 1: C plus, not a C minus, but a C. They
Speaker 1: have the third best record in the East, but I
Speaker 1: think probably the most disappointing team in the division.
Speaker 2: If the Pistons did not exist.
Speaker 1: They have almost the entire year, with the exception of
Speaker 1: seven games, been lacking Chris Middleton. When they did have
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton for those seven games, he looked like Doo doo.
Speaker 2: He looked horrible. It's never a good sign.
Speaker 1: May they asked Chris Middleton about his time that he
Speaker 1: has been missing, and what I found to be very
Speaker 1: strange is uh that some people close to Chris Middleton
Speaker 1: have said that Chris Middleton's knee injuries will continue to
Speaker 1: persist and continue to be a problem, and they've always
Speaker 1: been a problem. Who are those people close to Chris Middleton?
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton, this is what he said. I've always had
Speaker 1: knee issues since college. When I tour my meniscus. That
Speaker 1: was one of the reasons why my stock in the
Speaker 1: draft drop lower because I was coming off of a
Speaker 1: meniscus injury that a lot of people didn't trust it.
Speaker 1: It's been great for me so far. What I'm going
Speaker 1: through now normally happens during the offseason when nobody hears
Speaker 1: that my knee is swollen. I still work out. Rest
Speaker 1: doesn't do it any good. It's just building it back slowly.
Speaker 1: What so Chris Middleton, you would imagine telling on himself
Speaker 1: probably not the best strategy unless he's like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: locked down for.
Speaker 2: The next five years.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I'm under team control, guaranteed contracts, bitch,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna tell you that my knees swollen. Twenty
Speaker 1: four to seven. Wait, let me look and see when
Speaker 1: his contract ends. What next year? Twenty twenty four, he's
Speaker 1: a free agent and he had missed having knee pain
Speaker 1: and knee swelling. Since college, He's had only played seven
Speaker 1: games and largely been unproductive. I would say for the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks, that is a big red flag. That's about
Speaker 1: as big red flag for a wing as you can get.
Speaker 1: The rest of the box not giving me much hope either.
Speaker 1: Giannis all of a sudden missing games, not just load
Speaker 1: management games. This is his fourth straight game that he's
Speaker 1: missed as of today. He hyper extended his left knee
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference Finals two years back, and now
Speaker 1: it's the same knee that's giving him problems that he
Speaker 1: played through when they won the title. I don't know
Speaker 1: about that. This team feels like a hospital wing to me.
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday has missed time. Grayson Allen has missed time.
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton has missed time. Two years ago, Brook Lopez
Speaker 1: had back surgery. So that gives me a little bit
Speaker 1: of pause. My man, Serge Ibaka isn't playing basketball that
Speaker 1: I had to look him up because he's been so irrelevant.
Speaker 1: The only thing that I know of Serjebaka doing is
Speaker 1: YouTube videos eating bow penises. He used to be one
Speaker 1: of the best room protectors in the League, and now
Speaker 1: he just makes other NBA players admit things while eating
Speaker 1: weird foods.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I give him a very low grade in
Speaker 2: my mind.
Speaker 1: Of all always said that the Milwaukee Bucks were healthy,
Speaker 1: they were unbeatable. But the question is is that actually
Speaker 1: true anymore? Has the window closed? Like? Should we be
Speaker 1: worrying when Giannis and Chris Middleton both aren't healthy, Andrew
Speaker 1: Holliday hasn't been healthy, the core three not fully healthy?
Speaker 2: I can't tell.
Speaker 1: Without a rescue line at the trade deadline, the window
Speaker 1: very much might be closing soon. Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 2: A minus.
Speaker 1: This is maybe the biggest surprise in the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: maybe the biggest surprise in the entire NBA. I saw
Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings coming. What I did not see coming
Speaker 1: was the Pacers, and they are fun. Everybody thought that
Speaker 1: the Pacers were gonna be a lottery team. Even the
Speaker 1: Pacers thought they were gonna be a lottery team. The
Speaker 1: Pacers told the world at Summer League, we're in the
Speaker 1: sweepstakes for Victor Wamba Yama. Let me tell you this,
Speaker 1: they are not. They are not even close to getting
Speaker 1: Victor Wamba Yama. They are in eighth place right now
Speaker 1: twenty three and twenty one, and they've had injuries too.
Speaker 1: They're doing all this with guys out of the lineup,
Speaker 1: like Miles Turner, like Tyrese Halliburton. Dworte has missed twenty
Speaker 1: two games, but Tyrese Halliburton is now becoming one of
Speaker 1: the best playmakers in the league, making that Sabonis trade
Speaker 1: look beneficial for very much both sides. He's consistently getting
Speaker 1: double digitusists per game. He's scoring twenty four forty just
Speaker 1: massive numbers on a night tonight basis, And oh did
Speaker 1: I mention Ben Maturin akaa, Ben Matthern is averaging over
Speaker 1: seventeen a game as a rookie coming off the fucking bench.
Speaker 2: Can they keep this up? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think so.
Speaker 2: But they're probably gonna have to pay Miles Turner now.
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna have to pay Buddy Heel now, or
Speaker 1: they're gonna trade him for a boatload of assets to
Speaker 1: some aspiring team like the Milwaukee Bucks that want to
Speaker 1: win a title and get a lot in return. He
Speaker 1: Smith that spow Track wrote a piece about a month
Speaker 1: ago about how the Pacers are looking to lock Miles
Speaker 1: Turner up for an extension and he said no, So
Speaker 1: who knows. But they have been largely excellent all year.
Speaker 1: This is a very fun team. Not something I thought
Speaker 1: I would be saying. Chicago Bulls.
Speaker 2: C minus.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they are in crisis mode, aren't they. We talked
Speaker 1: about it recently, We've talked about them all year, and
Speaker 1: not in good terms.
Speaker 2: Right, They are just not very fun.
Speaker 1: Everybody on the bull seems to be ready for a
Speaker 1: blow up, right, Like Lonzo Ball just gave an interview
Speaker 1: today where he said whether he would even play the
Speaker 1: rest of the season. You got the Bulls taking out
Speaker 1: insurance policies in case Ball doesn't play basketball ever again,
Speaker 1: covering eighty million dollars left on his contract. You got
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine, who hates everybody on his team. He's taking
Speaker 1: mid range twos with four seconds left to go down three,
Speaker 1: very much trying to lose that game. Billy Donovan hated
Speaker 1: by everybody. DeMar DeRozan the only bright spot on this team,
Speaker 1: but he's had injury issues as well. Is there anything
Speaker 1: to like about this team? Is there anything fun? Well?
Speaker 2: I guess Alex Caruso is fun, but that's it. They
Speaker 2: could be.
Speaker 1: Beating anyone on any given night, and they could be
Speaker 1: beaten by anyone on any given night. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to make of them. I don't know if they're
Speaker 1: going to be sellers. I don't know if they're going
Speaker 1: to be buyers. Every time they tank and everybody thinks, okay,
Speaker 1: it's a blow it up scenario, they win five, and
Speaker 1: then it's like, I don't know. Now the delusional Chicago
Speaker 1: fan base is getting excited again. They are a c student.
Speaker 1: They barely show up the class. When they show up
Speaker 1: the class, they fall asleep. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: on a random Tuesday, they have intelligent questions and they
Speaker 1: have thoughts and notes and poignant pieces of knowledge to
Speaker 1: share that maybe nobody in the class has ever thought
Speaker 1: about before.
Speaker 2: But that happens like literally, when.
Speaker 1: The blue moon is out, Cleveland Cavaliers as you have
Speaker 1: to start talking about the Cavs through the Mitchell lens.
Speaker 1: He's incredible. He's the most dramatically different player from last
Speaker 1: year to this year that I've seen from a superstar.
Speaker 1: Just changing teams, He's increased how many threes he takes
Speaker 1: per game. He's taking sometimes ten threes a game. He
Speaker 1: would take three, four five threes a game in Utah.
Speaker 1: The way that they play is really beneficial to him.
Speaker 1: He's bouncier, he's faster, he's quicker, he's just got it.
Speaker 2: He's just so fun.
Speaker 1: And this trade looks amazing for the Cavaliers. They just
Speaker 1: do He's playing defense now, clearly something that he did
Speaker 1: on purpose to Utah to say, you know what, fuck
Speaker 1: ERU to Gobert, I'm not gonna play defense because why
Speaker 1: because you guys have a two time defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year.
Speaker 2: He can handle it, you know what. Let him do it.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that's strange I think that's holding
Speaker 1: the Cavs season back is Evan Mobley. Evan Mobley has regressed.
Speaker 1: He's not the player that he was when everyone thought
Speaker 1: he would be the rookie of the Year. And I
Speaker 1: think that's something that's gonna take time for him to
Speaker 1: figure out his role, because I think he can be
Speaker 1: an all NBA kind of a guy. I think he's
Speaker 1: got all the tools. I think he's got a great attitude.
Speaker 1: But they're fifth place, standing a half game out of third,
Speaker 1: pretty much expecting where I would think they would finish
Speaker 1: right right in the slot, maybe fourth, maybe fifth, maybe third.
Speaker 2: Somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: You add in Garland, who has missed time with his
Speaker 1: own eye injury. You now get Ricky Rubio back though
Speaker 1: to counteract that, and then you know you've got Mobile
Speaker 1: and Jared on the front line. And all they need
Speaker 1: really is a wing, a good solid wing to get
Speaker 1: rid of a coro's ass and find somebody competent that
Speaker 1: can play three if that is the case, If they
Speaker 1: do that at the deadline, what they really need is
Speaker 1: LORI marking them back. They could be very, very dangerous
Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 2: They get a D plus. That stinks. I like them
Speaker 2: so much, I wanted to give him a C minus.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't. They What are they right now? Record wise?
Speaker 1: It's not great. They're twelve and thirty five. You can't
Speaker 1: give somebody a C plus when they're twelve and thirty five.
Speaker 1: But they're fun right like. They're a team that you
Speaker 1: enjoy watching on a night to night basis. They compete
Speaker 1: and lose, same kind of thing as they did last year,
Speaker 1: same kind of thing as they did two years ago.
Speaker 1: This year, Cad Cunningham gets hurt, he goes out for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. That's a big setback. They
Speaker 1: weren't gangbusters when he was playing. But I tell you what,
Speaker 1: You're not gonna win many games when the number one
Speaker 1: overall pick is down for the year with a strange injury, right,
Speaker 1: And now you don't get to develop chemistry with Ja Nivy,
Speaker 1: the rookie, you know, Jalen Duran, he's not finding time
Speaker 1: with cad. So it's just another wasted year of a rebuild.
Speaker 1: And you wonder, does Sadik bay now get moved? What
Speaker 1: do we do with Bogdanovich? Did they really want Bogdanovich
Speaker 1: to begin with or is he just an asset if
Speaker 1: they locked up long term to be a valuable trade
Speaker 1: piece in the future. So this team's probably headed for
Speaker 1: another high lottery pick. They will consistently be athletic, they
Speaker 1: will consistently be fun, they will play hard for Dwayne Casey,
Speaker 1: and they will be extremely watchable, but they.
Speaker 2: Will not win games.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately the off season has been a bit.
Speaker 4: Of a wash.
Speaker 1: Let's move to the Southeast Division, which is probably the
Speaker 1: worst division in these So the Hawks are a D plus.
Speaker 1: There's a lot more drama to unfold for them to
Speaker 1: get an F and I think it will happen. I
Speaker 1: can't give them an F right now because the season
Speaker 1: is not over.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: You can't really give an F at the halfway point
Speaker 1: because what if things turn around?
Speaker 2: Make no bones about it. Though this team's in trouble.
Speaker 1: The GM got fired along with everybody else that he
Speaker 1: hired in the front office.
Speaker 2: The owner turned.
Speaker 1: The team over to his twenty seven year old son,
Speaker 1: who has no management experience. He probably didn't even manage
Speaker 1: a McDonald's, let alone a fucking team, so he's running
Speaker 1: things now. Came out of nowhere from the clouds. Had
Speaker 1: anybody heard of him before this year? No, I don't
Speaker 1: understand why people aren't more angry about this right Like,
Speaker 1: nobody's talking about it.
Speaker 2: I don't see it on NBA today. I don't see
Speaker 2: it on first take.
Speaker 1: You know why, because Atlanta is largely irrelevant as a team.
Speaker 1: If the dumpster fire just keeps on burning, and like
Speaker 1: a bad neighborhood, you just walk past it like it's
Speaker 1: fucking normal. But you know what, it's not normal, and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to normalize it. The coach wants to resign,
Speaker 1: the star players don't like each other, the I mean
Speaker 1: all of it.
Speaker 2: Trey Young probably wants to be moved.
Speaker 1: Trey Young wants Nake McMillan to be fired after they
Speaker 1: fired another coach like two years back.
Speaker 2: And you know what they stink.
Speaker 1: They stink on the court.
Speaker 2: They are not a watchable product.
Speaker 1: They're twenty one and twenty two and they play ugly
Speaker 1: ass basketball. Just a bunch of trible handoff you know,
Speaker 1: screen situations, thirty feet jumpers four seconds into the shot clock,
Speaker 1: give a lob only because the floater isn't working at
Speaker 1: the moment. Trey Young with the bad attitude. Is his
Speaker 1: shoulder working? Is it not working? Is he coming to
Speaker 1: the game? Is he coming to practice? Nobody knows, people
Speaker 1: ask he gets an attitude. All of it's weird. Nobody
Speaker 1: wants to acknowledge it's weird. And the only thing that
Speaker 1: is good about them right now is Kyle Korver And
Speaker 1: Kyle Korver hasn't played for the Hawks in like fifteen years.
Speaker 1: Is Kyle Korver any good in terms of being him
Speaker 1: being a new assistant GM.
Speaker 2: Which people probably don't even know. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just give him the benefit of the doubt because
Speaker 1: he has a nice smile and he seems like a
Speaker 1: nice guy. The whole front office are playing yes men
Speaker 1: to a guy five years out of college? Five years?
Speaker 1: Does this kid know anything about hoops? Did he play
Speaker 1: college hoops? Did he play in the NBA? Did he
Speaker 1: play high school hoops? Can he fucking make a layup
Speaker 1: with his off hand? What can he do? Does he
Speaker 1: have a mind for basketball? Or he's just a kid
Speaker 1: with a silver spoon in his mouth. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is everything that's wrong with America. The Atlanta Hawks are
Speaker 1: everything that's wrong with America. A guy coming out of
Speaker 1: the clouds, just taking something that he's just like part
Speaker 1: of the Lucky Sperm club, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he has real power over a club where there's only
Speaker 1: thirty clubs.
Speaker 2: Fuck the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 1: They are deep plus staring right at a F. Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2: I lied, I lied. They get an F.
Speaker 1: They do.
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna give out midtermfs, but I mean, here
Speaker 2: we are.
Speaker 1: Why Why do the Charlotte Hornets getting f Because they
Speaker 1: wanted to bring back a guy who beat the shit
Speaker 1: out of his girlfriend and his kid, allegedly, and they
Speaker 1: just pretended that they were never going to do that.
Speaker 1: They were never gonna bring him back and try to
Speaker 1: extend him because I don't know, they thought that they
Speaker 1: could gaslight us and that we would agree or believe them.
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan wants to bring Miles Bridges back because they're
Speaker 1: in shambles basketball wise, and it's like, oh, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we were never gonna do that. That was just something
Speaker 1: that we floated out to woo Janowski just to check
Speaker 1: the temp. And it's like, the temp is cold, the
Speaker 1: temp is ice cold. Okay, this is a trash division.
Speaker 1: There's a trash ass franchise. The only bright spot in
Speaker 1: this division right now is the Orlando Magic.
Speaker 2: Think about that.
Speaker 1: Think about that, the Orlando Magic that's been in the
Speaker 1: dumps for like thirty years, maybe not that long, since
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard was there and Jamiir Nelson. That's the team
Speaker 1: that I'm most excited about. In the Southeast might have
Speaker 1: to break out the dreadeddef for.
Speaker 2: A bunch of teams in this division.
Speaker 1: Moving forward to the Miami Heat, they get a C
Speaker 1: minus maybe fringe D plus as well. They're old, they're frustrated,
Speaker 1: they're looking for a change. No team has their fingers
Speaker 1: and more trade opportunities and scenarios than Miami.
Speaker 2: They need to make a move. Who's gonna go. I
Speaker 2: don't know. It's not gonna be there goes My Tyler. Hero.
Speaker 1: We know that because he's like the son of pat Riley.
Speaker 1: Outside of him, I think everyone's on the table. Sposter
Speaker 1: is a great coach, pat Riley's.
Speaker 2: A great gym.
Speaker 1: Again, this is like one of those scenarios like the
Speaker 1: Toronto Raptors, where you're like, okay, I kind of gotta
Speaker 1: give him the benefit of the doubt. They went to
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference Finals. They were a three point shot
Speaker 1: away from Jimmy Butler from going to the finals. They
Speaker 1: went to the finals two years back in the bubble.
Speaker 1: But man, does it look bad right now when you
Speaker 1: gotta get meaningful minutes from Victor Oladipot and Gabe Vincent.
Speaker 1: No shade to gave Vincent like you need big minutes
Speaker 1: for Omar. You're seven and Max Struce has to put
Speaker 1: up fifteen threes a game. It's brutal. Jimmy Butler's not
Speaker 1: it in terms of what you need from a player
Speaker 1: to carry a franchise, and I like Jimmy Butler. Bam
Speaker 1: is also rumored to be unhappy Lowry is Lowry but
Speaker 1: a worse version of himself and probably gonna get traded.
Speaker 1: I mean a player literally threw a massage gun in
Speaker 1: the middle of the court just the other day, So
Speaker 1: what are we doing? Can they get better? Probably because
Speaker 1: it's pat Riley. They have an injured Duncan Robinson as
Speaker 1: an asset. They've got obviously bam Adebayo who could possibly go,
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry who could possibly go.
Speaker 2: Maybe Max Struce.
Speaker 1: But I don't think they're gonna find any value from
Speaker 1: the undrafted free agent pool like they do so often.
Speaker 1: So Nikola Jovich isn't gonna save you. Some random guy
Speaker 1: is not gonna save you. They're gonna need to make
Speaker 1: a move to be anything positive. Orlando Magic. I just
Speaker 1: I'm just so intrigued B plus for the Orlando Magic.
Speaker 1: I was not expecting this. They they may even be
Speaker 1: a friend J minus. The Orlando Magic are the most
Speaker 1: fun team to watch in this division. They are breaking
Speaker 1: all expectations. They have one of the greatest rookies in
Speaker 1: recent memory, Paolo Bencaro, who they knocked out of the park.
Speaker 1: He looks like he could be the next Lebron James
Speaker 1: type if he could get his handle up. He's big,
Speaker 1: he strong, he's a willing passer. He can shoot, he
Speaker 1: can rebound. He's getting twenty two points a game as
Speaker 1: a rookie, which is absolutely bananas. Franz Wagner is a beast.
Speaker 1: He's a wing who can handle the rock like a
Speaker 1: point guard who's six'. Ten Bowl bowl is what you.
Speaker 1: Know we Want Victor wambanyama to be in terms of his.
Speaker 1: Floor they've had multiple injuries and somehow continue to win.
Speaker 1: Games they're not like a great team record, wise but
Speaker 1: they have beaten really good teams like The Boston celtics.
Speaker 1: Twice Markel folts is. Emerging Cole anthony's, Okay you've got
Speaker 1: a ton of assets that you can. Trade we haven't
Speaker 1: seen a peet From Jonathan isaac. Yet mobamba still needs
Speaker 1: to get better and. Develop they have A Wendel carter
Speaker 1: has been really. Good they have a lot of, dudes
Speaker 1: a lot of. Dudes even though they're sixteen and twenty,
Speaker 1: eight they're only four games out of the play. In
Speaker 1: NOBODY i tell you if they were to sneak into
Speaker 1: the ten, seat nobody wants to See Wendell carter bul.
Speaker 1: Bull Paolo Franz wagner And folts in a one and done,
Speaker 1: situation nobody, Nobody so for, me it's A b. Plus
Speaker 1: AND i think this team can get even better at the,
Speaker 1: deadline especially considering they have multiple guys who get limited
Speaker 1: minutes who would be really good on other teams that
Speaker 1: can succeed and try to.
Speaker 2: Win Now.
Speaker 1: Washington, wizards oh, god they get A d they. Do
Speaker 1: as a resident of THE, dmv.
Speaker 2: They are. GROSS i have to say it as an unbiased.
Speaker 2: Fan they're no. Fun they're no fun to.
Speaker 1: Watch eighteen and twenty five staring at the outside looking.
Speaker 1: In probably gonna fire THEIR Gm Tommy, shepherd which considering
Speaker 1: the Rumors i've heard About Tommy, shepherd WHICH i will not,
Speaker 1: name probably is a year too. Late Brad beal is
Speaker 1: locked down till the end of oblivion with a no trade,
Speaker 1: clause making fifty million dollars a, year and haven't played
Speaker 1: much games this. Year when he does, play he's chucking
Speaker 1: and missing and fourth quarters that you are out. Of
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen With Kyle. Kuzma we already know he
Speaker 1: probably wants to. Leave you're gonna have to trade him
Speaker 1: or give him considerable amounts of money.
Speaker 2: That is way over what he is valued.
Speaker 1: At poor zingis is, okay you've Got Monty morris as
Speaker 1: your Prime murray ball.
Speaker 2: Handler that's.
Speaker 1: Bad the guy that you Took Johnny, davis he's not
Speaker 1: developing the one bright. Spot it's Probably Denny. Abdel he
Speaker 1: had twenty rebounds the other, night, twenty so maybe he's
Speaker 1: like your wing of the. Future tough team to root,
Speaker 1: for tough team to. Watch they play ugly ass. Basketball
Speaker 1: they lose all the, time but you know what they
Speaker 1: are covering. Machines so if you're AN nba better and
Speaker 1: they're at, home that is where stars come to load,
Speaker 1: Manage so keep that in. Mind that's all the time
Speaker 1: that we have for The Heat. Check we'll be Back
Speaker 1: friday with an all new. Episode check out the feed
Speaker 1: for past. Episodes we'll do The Western conference midterm grades on,
Speaker 1: then as well as some social clips in terms of
Speaker 1: what's popping around THE. Nba we'll make sure to get
Speaker 1: you caught up to speed on. That do you not
Speaker 1: forget to, Download please, Subscribe please tell your, friends follow
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