Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick On this
Speaker 1: episode of the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: All Star Game is over, folks, Yes, sir, it's time
Speaker 2: for us to move forward. We are gonna break down
Speaker 2: the good, the bad, the ugly. Speaking of ugly, Nate McMillan.
Speaker 1: Gets fired another one bites the dust. Atlanta is now
Speaker 1: looking for a.
Speaker 2: New head coach, and Russ and Kevin Love also changed teams.
Speaker 2: Just over twenty games left in the regular season, Nicks,
Speaker 2: so do me a favor and drop that generic gass beat.
Speaker 2: All right, So this extravaganza in Salt Lake City, Utah
Speaker 2: has come and gone. Everybody's take pretty much from the
Speaker 2: game is that's stunk.
Speaker 1: I also thought it stunk.
Speaker 2: I thought, what are you gonna really ask for when
Speaker 2: there's multiple stars that are out for injuries and the
Speaker 2: injury reserves and all of these things, considering.
Speaker 1: That it is just a game. It is not just
Speaker 1: a game. It's an exhibition game. Let's be honest.
Speaker 2: I listed players who one hundred percent would phone it in,
Speaker 2: and every single one of them did. Nicole Jokich had
Speaker 2: four points, Luca had four points. Do I hate on
Speaker 2: them for not trying?
Speaker 1: No like Luca sometimes needs a break.
Speaker 2: Okay, he wanted to go to Mexico and he went
Speaker 2: to your little event and he played. Okay, he showed
Speaker 2: up better than you can say for Trey Young. It
Speaker 2: is a great opportunity for late nights hanging out with
Speaker 2: other superstars.
Speaker 1: It is like an NBA convention. That's basically what it is.
Speaker 1: It's like a trade show for the NBA and people
Speaker 1: who are around the NBA.
Speaker 2: The fact that there's fans there and that there's a
Speaker 2: TV event that's basically subsidizing this little party. They do
Speaker 2: not care about the person or people responsible for some
Speaker 2: their party.
Speaker 1: They just want to party.
Speaker 2: I do not also buy into the fact that the
Speaker 2: ratings were so bad that they're gonna hurt the league
Speaker 2: in the next round of the media negotiations. That is bullshit.
Speaker 2: That is absolute poppycock. The All Star Game is not
Speaker 2: It is not the corner stone of a season, and
Speaker 2: it took a back seat to the trade deadline, which is,
Speaker 2: if we're being honest, what's even more important than the
Speaker 2: All Star Game.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, the game wasn't fun to watch.
Speaker 2: People had ideas about how to fix it. I also
Speaker 2: have ideas, as usual about how to fix things. One
Speaker 2: of my ideas went viral a few days ago. My
Speaker 2: tweet was this the only way to fix the All
Speaker 2: Star Game. You pit the US versus the rest of
Speaker 2: the world and see them duke it out like hunger games.
Speaker 1: Think about it. Team USA, who's on that team?
Speaker 2: You got Steph Lebron has to start, Kevin Durant, Tatum
Speaker 2: ad That's like pretty standard starting five. And then for
Speaker 2: the bench, you've got jaw Jaylen Brown, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 2: Devin Booker, Kyrie At, Daron Fox, Kawhi, Jared Allen. So
Speaker 2: that's my that's my All Star team for the US.
Speaker 1: And then Team World. Man, this is a squad.
Speaker 2: You got shay Giljes Alexander, you got Luka, Doncic, you
Speaker 2: got Jannis Embiid and Jokic my god. Then on the
Speaker 2: off the bench, you got Demonic Sabonis, Marknen, Ben Mathern,
Speaker 2: Pascal Siakam, Andrew Wiggins, Rudy Gobert, Jamal Murray, og Annon, Nobi,
Speaker 2: Josh Giddy, Franz Wagner, DeAndre Ayton, from the Caribbean, christ
Speaker 2: As Porzingis, Jeremy Sohan, Steven.
Speaker 1: Adams come on, now, come on, now.
Speaker 2: I think at that point you'd have to put it
Speaker 2: in a city where there was nothing else to do
Speaker 2: but whoop. It would be have to be a separate
Speaker 2: week There is zero chants that Luca and Jokic would
Speaker 2: mail it in if it meant they were fighting for
Speaker 2: their country. They were fighting to say that the world
Speaker 2: was better than America. They've got competitive nature running through
Speaker 2: their veins, and you know what they don't want to
Speaker 2: do is to make it seem like America is the
Speaker 2: only thing that matters. They played internationally. This is an
Speaker 2: international fit. Easy fix, Adam easy. I am giving Adam
Speaker 2: Silver a multi billion dollar idea for free.
Speaker 1: So just do it.
Speaker 2: Fifteen American All Stars, fifteen non American All Stars. Winning
Speaker 2: team gets bragging.
Speaker 1: Rights for the year. Make it a whole thing. This
Speaker 1: is the only chance that you have.
Speaker 2: As for the rest of the All Star weekend, it
Speaker 2: was pretty good. What except for the skills competition. That
Speaker 2: shit's gotta go. We gotta have some sort of substitute
Speaker 2: for what that was. It's confusing, it's on the wrong night.
Speaker 2: There's no drama. I honestly don't know who thought watching
Speaker 2: the Antitukunpo brothers throw bounce passes into a tire would
Speaker 2: make for a great TV. Like, I don't know why
Speaker 2: we wanted to Team Utah other than the fact that
Speaker 2: they were in Utah. There needs to be another replacement
Speaker 2: for this. Also, the Celebrity Basketball Game, I don't know.
Speaker 1: About that either.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the only reason I'm even slightly optimistic
Speaker 2: is because I am hoping that someday maybe I can
Speaker 2: play in it. That's the only reason is I can
Speaker 2: get on TV just to play basketball. Other than that,
Speaker 2: I could take it or leave it. The Rising Stars Game,
Speaker 2: that was probably the best thing that we saw, besides
Speaker 2: maybe the dunk contest. Jose Alvarado is being micd up
Speaker 2: the entire time, which was great. He gets the MVP
Speaker 2: after him and Donovan Mitchell go back and forth. He
Speaker 2: makes a bet with Donovan Mitchell that he was going
Speaker 2: to hit a game winner, and that was pretty fun.
Speaker 2: You got to see G leaguers like Scoot come out
Speaker 2: and play some basketball again.
Speaker 1: In the All Star Game. You could have had Victor
Speaker 1: wam Nyama play right now. Would have been very interesting,
Speaker 1: wouldn't it.
Speaker 2: And like listen, you got to see the G league
Speaker 2: play and realize why they're not.
Speaker 1: In the league yet.
Speaker 2: Let's be honest, these you gotta while to go. You're
Speaker 2: like fresh chicken out of a pack, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. You're still a little wet behind the ears.
Speaker 2: We gotta put a little seasoning on you. We gotta
Speaker 2: put a little uh just marinate. You gotta marinate in
Speaker 2: the bag a little bit more scoot before you play
Speaker 2: in the NBA.
Speaker 1: The three point Contest was for me a highlight.
Speaker 2: I did predict that Damian Lillard was going to win
Speaker 2: it because he went to Weaver State.
Speaker 1: That's not why I loved it, even though that was
Speaker 1: a nice little piece of vindication.
Speaker 2: But lots of guys were struggling, and I love to
Speaker 2: see pro struggle in any sport. Tyler hero looked not
Speaker 2: like a hero. Kevin Herder looked like he had no
Speaker 2: business being in that contests.
Speaker 1: Randall looked like he snuck in to the tournament. He did.
Speaker 1: It was so painful. His son cried and then boot him.
Speaker 1: It was so bad. That's not even a joke that happened.
Speaker 2: Tyrese Halliburton, which his shooting stroke. I understand why scouts
Speaker 2: were like, I'm not sure if this kid can can.
Speaker 1: Do it, but he can. He can really shoot.
Speaker 2: Tyrese Haliburton set a record with thirty one points in
Speaker 2: the first round, and his little hitch was so ugly.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how he makes shots. Honestly, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know how he does it.
Speaker 2: It takes so long to get the ball. It's almost
Speaker 2: like there's a glitch in the system, you know, and
Speaker 2: he's trying to re get the system to work smooth.
Speaker 1: But it was all daytime. Man. He came out crushed it.
Speaker 2: He lit through the final rack to win his first
Speaker 2: three point contest.
Speaker 1: Then he rolled off on the Sunday. He's done.
Speaker 2: He's never probably doing it again. He wanted one for
Speaker 2: the resume. I'll probably never.
Speaker 1: See him back.
Speaker 2: And then a quick little question I have for people
Speaker 2: who make these little cute T shirts and sweatshirts and stuff.
Speaker 2: How come there weren't any parody shirts made that I
Speaker 2: could have bought that said twenty twenty three NBA All
Speaker 2: Star slut like Salt Lake City Utah slut like that
Speaker 2: should have been an easy thing for the people on
Speaker 2: the internet to do, but they didn't. But they didn't,
Speaker 2: And Finally, the Dunk Contest was awesome. No one on
Speaker 2: earth wanted to watch the Dunk Contest and it ended
Speaker 2: up being an electric factory. It's been so bad for
Speaker 2: so many years outside of the Zach Lavine and Aaron
Speaker 2: Gordon Contest, that we were just making fun of Mac
Speaker 2: McClung before we even saw Mac McClung. And you know what,
Speaker 2: he single handedly saved the Dunk Contest. And now they
Speaker 2: want to know if he'll play in the Dunk Contest
Speaker 2: for his entire life, Like, hey, that's what you do.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: You come out and we know your name, we know
Speaker 2: what you look like, we've seen your face. We're happy
Speaker 2: with you in here now, and now you have to
Speaker 2: come back every year, and so I think he will,
Speaker 2: but the question remains.
Speaker 1: Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith talked about this, which is wild. People are asking
Speaker 2: why the Dunk Contest doesn't have major stars in it anymore.
Speaker 2: Stephen A thinks Lebron killed it because Lebron didn't do it.
Speaker 2: Now all the other stars are following suit, so he
Speaker 2: ruined it himself. His one decision set the dominoes off.
Speaker 2: But people are now asking everyone, hey, Dunk Contest is
Speaker 2: kind of fun Are you going to enter it next year?
Speaker 2: They asked Jaw. They asked Aunt Edwards. You can scratch
Speaker 2: Aunt Edward's off of your thoughts about him being in
Speaker 2: the dunk contest? Why well listen to what he had to.
Speaker 1: Say now, Reggie Miller, are a lot of guys want
Speaker 1: to know, could you plausibly get in the dunk contest
Speaker 1: one of these?
Speaker 2: Nope? No, come on and stop playing. Nope.
Speaker 1: I just like dunking ok people. Man, whoa you heard that?
Speaker 2: Reggie like dunk old? Yeah, I think that sounds about right.
Speaker 2: I just like dunking on people. Ditto for Ja Morant.
Speaker 2: These guys want to be dunking in game. They want
Speaker 2: to fly down the lane. They want to stuff the
Speaker 2: basketball down your throat. They want to embarrass who's ever
Speaker 2: standing there. They want to posterize you. They want to
Speaker 2: demolished your ego, put it into a little package, wrap
Speaker 2: it up in a bow, and take your ego home
Speaker 2: with them and put it on another night stand.
Speaker 1: That's what they want to do.
Speaker 2: If there's nobody standing underneath the rim, what fun is
Speaker 2: it really to dunk? If you're someone like Ja Morant
Speaker 2: and Edwards? I actually kind of get that everything else
Speaker 2: is kind of like a fake dunk. A real dunk
Speaker 2: is what you do in a game when you murder somebody.
Speaker 2: The rest is kind of pageantry. Frankly, far more interested
Speaker 2: in seeing that than I am watching the dunk contest.
Speaker 1: But those McClung dunks were
Speaker 2: Sick, and he's probably gonna end up being are a
Speaker 2: little poster child for the Dunk Contest for the next
Speaker 2: fifteen years, so good for him.