Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick on this
Speaker 1: episode of the Heat Check. Game one of the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: It's in the books, folks. Denver draws first blood as
Speaker 1: many expected. Adam Silver did his beginning of the series
Speaker 1: presser like he always does, and this time it wasn't
Speaker 1: about the series at all. There was an ominous message
Speaker 1: for John Morant. Eric Lewis, the referee will not be
Speaker 1: refereeing the finals for the first time in a long time,
Speaker 1: for maybe the most ridiculous reason you've ever heard. It's incredible. Actually,
Speaker 1: Plus we have coaching and GM updates from Detroit, Washington,
Speaker 1: and New York. We even give you an update on
Speaker 1: the Lakers and the MAVs. You should get charged double
Speaker 1: for this episode. It's so loaded like a baked potato baby.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's get into it. Nick. Drop that motherfucking
Speaker 1: beat that should be riata. So as a lot of
Speaker 1: people predicted the Denver Nuggets beat down the Heat, they
Speaker 1: gave them a good old Kurb stomp in Game one.
Speaker 1: You could say the little bit of it is a
Speaker 1: hangover from the long series that the Heat had against
Speaker 1: Boston where they let that sweep slip away. You could
Speaker 1: say it was that insane difficult to breathe altitude in
Speaker 1: Mile High City. You could even say that the heat
Speaker 1: were just got off of from three and that was
Speaker 1: the reason. Probably all three have a bit of truth
Speaker 1: to them, really, but the reality of the situation is,
Speaker 1: for at least tonight, Denver was just better. They were
Speaker 1: just much much better than Miami. Because, by the way,
Speaker 1: they're a better team. They have better players, they have
Speaker 1: a better star, they have a better second star. They
Speaker 1: are the superior team. What do we like about Miami.
Speaker 1: They're cockroaches, That's what we like about them. And you
Speaker 1: know what happens with a cockroach. Blow up the home
Speaker 1: that the cockroaches in and see what's still lives the cockroach.
Speaker 1: That's the only narrative we have really to go off of.
Speaker 1: Score one oh four ninety three was never really that close.
Speaker 1: Caleb Martin was a trocious Duncan Robinson, max Sjuice all
Speaker 1: together shot an astounding two for twenty three from the field. Yep,
Speaker 1: you heard that right. Three of Miami's snipers from three
Speaker 1: shot the ball twenty three times. They came away with
Speaker 1: check notes six points total. That's bad. That's really bad.
Speaker 1: The Nuggets held Jimmy Butler to He was not himmy.
Speaker 1: He was more like I don't know. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was more like forgimme, like because you forgot about him.
Speaker 1: He had thirteen points. The heat will not beat anyone
Speaker 1: if their four snipers shoot a combined eight for thirty seven.
Speaker 1: That is twenty one points six percent from the field,
Speaker 1: nineteen total points for a quartet that averaged sixty seven
Speaker 1: points per game in the Celtics series. The only player
Speaker 1: so the entire team with a positive plus minus is
Speaker 1: a shocking, shocking Kyle lowryeta plus two, which, let me
Speaker 1: be honest with you didn't see that coming. But really
Speaker 1: it was really just all about the Denver Nuggets and
Speaker 1: what they did right. You know, their starters they scored
Speaker 1: ninety points compared to Miami sixty one. They played all
Speaker 1: a minimum of thirty six minutes. The only player on
Speaker 1: the starting five that didn't score in double figures was
Speaker 1: Kentavious called woll Pope. Jokic pretty much was able to
Speaker 1: do whatever he wanted, dimed everybody up like he was
Speaker 1: selling rock in Inglewood in Snowfalls twenty seven, fourteen and ten.
Speaker 1: He could add forty twenty and twenty. Honestly, Jokic can
Speaker 1: score whenever he wants. Against bam Adebayo Murray twenty six
Speaker 1: along with ten assists, he was incredible. They looked like
Speaker 1: the team that everybody built them as they nullified much
Speaker 1: of what Miami does really well, managing to be exactly
Speaker 1: what they were supposed to be, and their identity of
Speaker 1: the team was on offense. It was really fun to
Speaker 1: watch if you're a hardcore basketball fan. It was really
Speaker 1: fun to watch if you're a Denver Nugget fan, and
Speaker 1: if you're anyone else, probably was horrible. Actually, specifically if
Speaker 1: you're a Miami Heat fan. I'm sure Dan Lebtard and
Speaker 1: them boys are shaking in their boots. The thing though,
Speaker 1: about this win, the Nuggets just really didn't do anything extraordinary.
Speaker 1: They didn't need a fifty point game from Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: or Yokic. I'm sure Yokic though, could have given them
Speaker 1: fifty at any point in time. In the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: he decided, oh, I want to score now, and he
Speaker 1: just made everything. They played their starting five pretty much
Speaker 1: the entire game, and they said, listen, see if you
Speaker 1: can beat our starters, and they could not not in
Speaker 1: the first quarter, not in the second quarter, not in
Speaker 1: the third quarter. The only time Miami got traction was
Speaker 1: when the starters for the Nuggets were not on the floor,
Speaker 1: when it was our man Christian Brown and Jeff Green
Speaker 1: getting minutes. So now the heat are They're facing a
Speaker 1: deficit for the first time in this playoffs. I think
Speaker 1: even they might have potentially expected this. We have no
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler press conference footage, but I'm sure he's gonna
Speaker 1: say they remain confident and to be fair, if Miami
Speaker 1: comes out and they compete well in Game two, I
Speaker 1: think that's a big victory for them to split it
Speaker 1: in Denver, or even just compete in Game two. Spolster
Speaker 1: is going to counter. We know that. The question is
Speaker 1: can you attack the Denver Nuggets and make your offense
Speaker 1: the primary thing that they need to counter. Are the
Speaker 1: Nuggets gonna go with their starting five nearly the whole game?
Speaker 1: Once again? Are we gonna see Miami shoot some fucking threes?
Speaker 1: What is Michael Malone aka Mike Malone going to cook up?
Speaker 1: What a fun start to the finals. It is almost
Speaker 1: midnight and I am still juiced, so ready for Game two,
Speaker 1: which comes Sunday. Let's move forward though somber news from
Speaker 1: Adam Silver in front of the NBA Finals Game one. So,
Speaker 1: as you know, Adam Silver takes the podium before the
Speaker 1: Finals every year, takes the mic just before the NBA's
Speaker 1: most important event, and he gives a speech on you
Speaker 1: guessed it, jaum morant and let's just be honest. When
Speaker 1: I watched it, I did not come away thinking, well,
Speaker 1: that's good news for jaw. My guy came away thinking
Speaker 1: oh fuck. It had the tone of the conversation in
Speaker 1: Adam Silver's pause and cadence, and just the entire tenor
Speaker 1: of the vibe we'll call it vibe check bad. Had
Speaker 1: all the gravity of a president in a sci fi
Speaker 1: movie standing up in front of the American people and saying,
Speaker 1: we got ourselves. Unfortunately, we have miscalculated and we have
Speaker 1: an alien invasion. That's what it felt like, folks. He
Speaker 1: looked so sad to be announcing this news. He looked
Speaker 1: even almost menacing, like he was about to hand down
Speaker 1: two years of suspension, like a Mormon father who catches
Speaker 1: his daughter sneaking into the house drunk at four am.
Speaker 1: That is short of it. Really, as I call him,
Speaker 1: now Darth Silver. He basically said that we were investigating
Speaker 1: Jaw as we do, and we found some shit, and
Speaker 1: we're not going to tell you what that shit is
Speaker 1: right now out of respect for our premier event, the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals, And honestly, he's already indefinitely suspended, so it's
Speaker 1: not gonna change much. I was like, holy shit, he said,
Speaker 1: he's already indefinitely suspended. Here if you don't want to
Speaker 1: believe me, I've got obviously receipts. In terms of the.
Speaker 2: Timing, We've uncovered a fair amount of additional information. I
Speaker 2: think since I was still asked about the situation, I
Speaker 2: would say we probably could have brought it to a
Speaker 2: head now, but we made the decision, and I believe
Speaker 2: the Players Association agrees with us that it would be
Speaker 2: unfair to these players and these teams in the middle
Speaker 2: of the series to announce the results of that investigation,
Speaker 2: and given that recourse in the offseason. He has now
Speaker 2: been suspended by the Memphis Grizzlies and definitely and so
Speaker 2: nothing would have changed anyway.
Speaker 1: Nothing would have changed anyway, doesn't mean he's been emancipated, obviously.
Speaker 1: If nothing would have changed, he's probably about to be suspended, folks.
Speaker 1: Adam Silver looks like he's presiding over a weeke. He
Speaker 1: has all the deer of a doctor telling a young,
Speaker 1: seemingly healthy twenty seven year old that he has terminal cancer.
Speaker 1: It was rough, it was bad. Bad. Jaw is gonna
Speaker 1: get suspended, suspended like oh, like Gilbert or Rena suspended.
Speaker 1: I don't even know, man. Maybe it's the entire season.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned, because shit's got to hit the fan and
Speaker 1: the t Morant Jah Morant household. We might be losing
Speaker 1: one of the biggest stars, a player who now everyone
Speaker 1: is wearing his shoes for a half a season minimum.
Speaker 1: Maybe the whole damn year. Wow, bad for business. If
Speaker 1: you follow my rep reports on social media, then you
Speaker 1: know the name Eric Lewis. If if you don't know
Speaker 1: the name Eric Lewis, you probably don't care about the
Speaker 1: NBA because he is no stranger to the REP reports.
Speaker 1: He's one of the NBA's most respected refs. For the
Speaker 1: first time in ages now Lewis will not be working
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals, and the reason is not because
Speaker 1: he's missing calls. It's not because the body of work
Speaker 1: is so bad. He is being told host it down
Speaker 1: because he got caught with a burner account on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Let me just say that again, one of the most
Speaker 1: respected refs in the NBA is not reughing the premiere
Speaker 1: event of said league because he has a burner account
Speaker 1: on Twitter and is spending all hours of the day
Speaker 1: defending his brethren and him on social fucking media. Yes,
Speaker 1: he seemed if you look at the receipts there, he
Speaker 1: seemed at it's tim to be spending all of his
Speaker 1: free time defending his calls against angry fans, which if
Speaker 1: you follow NBA Twitter at all, you know that's probably
Speaker 1: like seventy eight percent of NBA Twitter, So it was
Speaker 1: probably like a second full time job for mister Lewis
Speaker 1: The truth though, from what I can see is that
Speaker 1: there really wasn't a lot of stuff in there that
Speaker 1: you can get mad about, just him and his little
Speaker 1: burner account and his Twitter fingers defending himself and other refs.
Speaker 1: So why is this a big deal? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: kind of a big deal because Adam Silver knows that
Speaker 1: you don't want to mess around with the perceived propriety,
Speaker 1: the reputational integrity of NBA refs. Why Because it's already
Speaker 1: been damaged. There was a guy and he like took
Speaker 1: money and he changed calls. His name was Tim Donnie
Speaker 1: and there was an old documentary about him. And you
Speaker 1: don't want to have a controversy, especially a controversy cloaked
Speaker 1: in secrecy like secret burner accounts, because it makes other
Speaker 1: fans wonder what other refs are using burners. If they're
Speaker 1: using burners, are they coming after players with those burners
Speaker 1: like Fred van Fleet who criticized those refs by name,
Speaker 1: and does that translate into ref retaliation? Are we gonna
Speaker 1: get a full scale KGB versus the CIA ref versus
Speaker 1: player interaction here? Are we gonna get some espionage? That's
Speaker 1: a can of worms that the NBA just can't have,
Speaker 1: it does not want to open. According to my guy,
Speaker 1: Mike Bass, he's longtime NBA spokesperson, had a communications regarding
Speaker 1: Eric Lewis and the social media posts. We are continuing
Speaker 1: to review the matter and he will not be working
Speaker 1: the finals. Shity, you are not gonna be seeing Eric
Speaker 1: Lewis this year, maybe never in the finals again, all
Speaker 1: because he couldn't stand being criticized on social media. NBA
Speaker 1: refs they also put on their pants one at a time,
Speaker 1: NBA ref. They also defend themselves on Twitter. They're just
Speaker 1: like us. Let's move forward. I almost open this segment
Speaker 1: by saying now that the Lakers have been safely eliminated
Speaker 1: from the playoffs, but I thought that would be I
Speaker 1: thought that would be a little rude. I thought that
Speaker 1: might be piling on a little bit, even though I
Speaker 1: can't stand them. As you know, the Lakers, if you remember,
Speaker 1: were swept. They took no games from the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference Finals. They as if they did
Speaker 1: not win one game at all. But really, ESPN now
Speaker 1: has stopped its week long freak out over whether Lebron
Speaker 1: James is going to retire. So I did want to
Speaker 1: take a quick moment to survey how things are going
Speaker 1: in Purple and Gold laker Land, because the Purple and
Speaker 1: Gold Kingdom is having some trouble, mostly because they're a
Speaker 1: victim of their own success. What do I mean, Rot Palinka,
Speaker 1: I've said some mean things about Roy Plink. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie. Some of it's warranted, most of it's warranted.
Speaker 1: But he also made a ton of great moves. Let's
Speaker 1: be real, what he did to get rid of Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook at the trade deadline, was nothing short of David Copperfield.
Speaker 1: Two guys that he ended up picking up at the deadline,
Speaker 1: incredible Ruiyachi Mura, but then picked up as an undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent two years ago Austin Reeves. And now that
Speaker 1: they've played really well down the stretch, now that they
Speaker 1: played really well in the playoffs, it just might cripple
Speaker 1: the Lakers franchise to the point where they're deep into
Speaker 1: the luxury tags, which Jenie Buss does not want to
Speaker 1: be and like, truthfully, they're kind of having a hard
Speaker 1: time keeping him for the long term. Let's start with
Speaker 1: Ruiyachi Mura. He was jettisoned, largely given up on. I
Speaker 1: think he actually asked for a trade out of Washington.
Speaker 1: But he looked really good for the Lakers, like really
Speaker 1: really good Lakers inside. Jovon Booja noted that the Lakers
Speaker 1: have stated on multiple occasions that they are going to
Speaker 1: match any offer for Ruey Hachimura, since he already turned
Speaker 1: down fifteen million dollars from the Wizards. The market for
Speaker 1: Ruey is rumored to be in the fifteen to eighteen
Speaker 1: million dollar range, but could go up to twenty million
Speaker 1: dollars per year. That's anberony Simon's money. Anything over fifteen
Speaker 1: is a problem for LA. So this is what Booja wrote.
Speaker 1: I think where it gets a little dicey is if
Speaker 1: there's a team that sells themselves on Ruey and offers
Speaker 1: three years sixty million or four years eighty million. The
Speaker 1: impact though, of having to overpay for Rui has ripple
Speaker 1: effects and a one hundred percent impacts how the Lakers
Speaker 1: deal with what do they call him the the Arkansas
Speaker 1: Bird or whatever they call him the Nashville I don't
Speaker 1: know when no one has played themselves into a bigger
Speaker 1: contract than Austin Reeves. As you know, he's from Arkansas.
Speaker 1: As I just said, he's become a real two way
Speaker 1: threat this past season. And the Lakers problem with Reeves
Speaker 1: is that you have an undrafted rookie. They signed him
Speaker 1: to a two year, two and a half million dollar contract,
Speaker 1: but unlike second round draft picks, he became a free
Speaker 1: agent after two years because they were stupid, doodo dumb
Speaker 1: about how they negotiated. And the bigger problem now is
Speaker 1: that the Lakers have his bird rights and they can
Speaker 1: technically match any offer for Reeves. But let's be real,
Speaker 1: they can only offer him four years fifty two million dollars,
Speaker 1: as Mark Stein and others believe, There's going to be
Speaker 1: multiple offers for Reeves as high as twenty million dollars
Speaker 1: again for him. Again, another problem for the Purple and Gold.
Speaker 1: So here's what could happen. A team like San Antonio
Speaker 1: could offer Austin Reeves four years eighty million dollars, certainly plausible.
Speaker 1: The Spurs would be on the hook for twenty million
Speaker 1: dollars per year, but if the Lakers choose to match,
Speaker 1: there's all kinds of ramifications here. The Lakers will get
Speaker 1: Reeves in his first two years of his extension of
Speaker 1: eleven point four million and twelve point two million. Then
Speaker 1: here's where it gets interesting. The final two years become
Speaker 1: a bomb on their cap sheet, and Reeves will make
Speaker 1: more than twenty seven million dollars per season after that.
Speaker 1: This is what the folks and the biz call a
Speaker 1: poison pill for a reason. Michael Scoto notes Orlando, Houston,
Speaker 1: and San Antonio will all have their eyes on Reeves
Speaker 1: in the offseason, and others may be watching and waiting
Speaker 1: as well. So to recap the Lakers are in a
Speaker 1: precarious situation with Ruey and Reeves the cornerstones of the
Speaker 1: depth that Braun and Anthony Davis need. Let's be real,
Speaker 1: it will cost them dearly in the first two years,
Speaker 1: probably around thirty million dollars per year, and could balloon
Speaker 1: to fifty million dollars a year for both of them
Speaker 1: the final two years of their contract, which will get
Speaker 1: make it very difficult for the Lakers to do the
Speaker 1: things that the Lakers need to do to compete. But hey,
Speaker 1: probably retired by then, right, it's only two years away. Well,
Speaker 1: they still also have to find a point guard, and
Speaker 1: now rumors are that they're either going to have to
Speaker 1: sign d lo In as sign and trade or try
Speaker 1: to get him to take a team friendly deal, which,
Speaker 1: let me be honest with you, our guy was sitting
Speaker 1: on the bench getting straight no minutes in crucial playing time,
Speaker 1: and so do you think he's gonna want to be
Speaker 1: a team friendly to the team. No, I sincerely doubt
Speaker 1: that Delo is going to sign any deal that is
Speaker 1: not worth his market, even for the team that treated
Speaker 1: him so well AKA drafting him and then jenisitting him
Speaker 1: out of town the first time which weave is the
Speaker 1: point guard option as Fred van Fleet, who they will
Speaker 1: not be able to afford and to just start signed
Speaker 1: with Clutch Sports. Clutch has used the Lakers like a
Speaker 1: piggy bank for a long time, so we'll see how
Speaker 1: that goes. So don't expect to be Fred van Fleet
Speaker 1: to be giving the Lakers a discount either. The Lakers
Speaker 1: are at a precarious crossroads. A lot of it has
Speaker 1: to do with them being victims of their own success
Speaker 1: and just mismanaging the roster. Funny how Rob Polinka might
Speaker 1: lose again.
Speaker 3: Now for winners.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, we haven't heard much out of Dallas
Speaker 1: since they tanked and they blew the season up in
Speaker 1: the final week of a very successful effort to keep
Speaker 1: the number ten pick in the upcoming draft. Congratulations, you
Speaker 1: did your job. You understood the assignment. Last week, though,
Speaker 1: Eric Pinkus of Leasher Report reported that the Mavericks and
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving have a some sort of handshake deal before
Speaker 1: the trade with the Brooklyn Nets took place, and that
Speaker 1: Kyrie wouldn't have said yes to the trade without this
Speaker 1: handshaked deal to anything less than the max. Turns out
Speaker 1: that was a bullshit report, there is no handshake deal
Speaker 1: according to Michael Scoto, not to say this is what
Speaker 1: he said, not to say that he won't be back
Speaker 1: in Dallas. They certainly have all the motivation to keep
Speaker 1: him after training for him. They have the financial resources
Speaker 1: to make him the best offer available, but nothing is
Speaker 1: done as of yet. The question is where will Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving go? What is Kyrie Irving worth? Will Lebron get
Speaker 1: his way? Kyrie Irving is probably gonna have to take
Speaker 1: a team friendly deal in order to get his ass
Speaker 1: to the Purple and Gold. The question is whether Rob
Speaker 1: Plinka wants to make it so. The MAVs would be
Speaker 1: insane to give him a super max over like a
Speaker 1: long period of time. I'm sure the years are gonna
Speaker 1: be the big sticking point. Who wants to saddle themselves
Speaker 1: to Kyrie Irving for four years. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what he's gonna do in the next four months, let
Speaker 1: alone like an entire presidential cycle. Can't imagine they'll be
Speaker 1: having to outbid anyone on a long term contract. As always,
Speaker 1: no one knows what the fuck is going on, not
Speaker 1: even Kyrie Irving. Let's move on. We got to do
Speaker 1: a little housekeeping. We gotta update you on a couple
Speaker 1: of important moves in the NBA front office market. The
Speaker 1: first is a bit of a shocker, I think, not
Speaker 1: if you're a Knicks man, but probably if just you're
Speaker 1: a casual NBA fan. The New York Knicks are now
Speaker 1: looking for a new GM. Scott Perry did not have
Speaker 1: his contract renewed, which means there's going to be some
Speaker 1: major changes going on in the Knicks organization. Ooh, is
Speaker 1: Massaio's year. He going to be the Knicks GM. He's
Speaker 1: been rumored for that gig for a long time. Moving forward,
Speaker 1: Moving forward, moving forward, stay on task. Perry joined the
Speaker 1: Knicks in twenty seventeen, and like that team was really bad.
Speaker 1: Let's let's be honest. That fucking team was atrocious? How
Speaker 1: bad when he took over the Knicks and it's cantor
Speaker 1: excuse me, I'm sorry. Enis Freedom was the highest paid
Speaker 1: player on the roster at twenty one million dollars per year,
Speaker 1: and Ramand's sessions it's a real name, that's not a
Speaker 1: creative player name was the starting point guard for the team.
Speaker 1: They also had Jokim Yo, Noah, Tim Hardaway, and Courtney
Speaker 1: Lee for a combined forty six million dollars. In the books,
Speaker 1: it was a train wreck. It was horrible. Today, of course,
Speaker 1: we know that the Knicks are much better off than
Speaker 1: they were when he got there. So although his tenure
Speaker 1: as the GM saw the Knicks go one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety two and two seventy four, it's hard to call
Speaker 1: it exactly a failure. They are They lost a hard
Speaker 1: fought second round series against the Miami Heat, who are
Speaker 1: now in the finals. They have a bright future, but
Speaker 1: let's be real, some of this success is due to
Speaker 1: Worldwide West and our man Leon Rose. What did our
Speaker 1: man Scott Perry do? What was his track record? What
Speaker 1: kind of decision making quality did he have? He made
Speaker 1: some awful moves, to be honest. He signed Evan DNP
Speaker 1: Fournier for four year, seventy three million dollars. That's probably
Speaker 1: the most egregious thing he did. Evan Fournier was supposed
Speaker 1: to come in and replace Reggie Bullock, who was also
Speaker 1: not very good to be there a three point sniper,
Speaker 1: and what did he do. He became unplayable. He became
Speaker 1: a guy who really is there to take up space
Speaker 1: on the bench and make twenty something million dollars per year,
Speaker 1: a deal that nobody thought was a good deal then
Speaker 1: and nobody thinks it's a good deal today. He's also
Speaker 1: not a great drafter, our man, Scott Perry, trading away
Speaker 1: a lot of the capitol in twenty twenty one and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, coming out with one decent player in
Speaker 1: Quinton Grimes out of four draft picks. He also, as
Speaker 1: you might know, remember, drafting in twenty eighteen, Kevin Knox
Speaker 1: at nine when mckal Bridges went ten. You know, Mikal Bridges,
Speaker 1: he's the guy that is untradeable for the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 1: That the team that turned down four first round picks
Speaker 1: from the Memphis Grizzlies to take him off their hands.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'd say that's a miss, a huge miss.
Speaker 1: He also took RJ. Barrett at three when Darius Garland
Speaker 1: went five. Scott Perry was a holdover from the previous administration.
Speaker 1: The Knicks are now one hundred percent on roses team,
Speaker 1: So that means that Scott Perry, You're just lucky your
Speaker 1: ass didn't get fired before your contract was up. He
Speaker 1: will hire a GM before the draft, But let's be real,
Speaker 1: it's probably not gonna matter. It's it's all Leon and
Speaker 1: Worldwide West all the time. We're gonna finally find out
Speaker 1: whether New York and Leon and Wes can live up
Speaker 1: to the hype. A lot of work to be done
Speaker 1: in New York moving forward. Another GM news comes out
Speaker 1: of Washington, because holy shit, the Washington Wizards made not one,
Speaker 1: but two consecutive smart moves in a row. Yes, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to say, really, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: kind of it's kind of like seeing like a like
Speaker 1: a two year old learn how to play chess. Like
Speaker 1: the baseline of of that is when they just keep
Speaker 1: putting stuff, like they keep from putting the pieces in
Speaker 1: their mouth. Like that's the wizards, like just don't put
Speaker 1: just don't swallow the rook, you know, just don't put
Speaker 1: the I know it's a little horsey, but like, don't
Speaker 1: don't sit on the horsey. Now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the Wizards of like castled on the queen's side, putting
Speaker 1: the opponent in check moves in front of moves, Like
Speaker 1: what the fuck? I'm not ready for this? Do you
Speaker 1: had the rook in your mouth? Last summer, Tommy Shephard
Speaker 1: was mister rook in the mouth. Now you have one
Speaker 1: great off season move. With another good off season move,
Speaker 1: you hire Clippers GM Michael Winger to head up basketball
Speaker 1: operations for Monumental. He will oversee the Wizards in the mystics.
Speaker 1: I like Michael Winger. He's a good he's a good GM.
Speaker 1: He's a good front office guy. As president, his first
Speaker 1: order of business, of course, was to hire a GM.
Speaker 1: Who did He hire one of the most respected guys
Speaker 1: in the league, who you may not like very much
Speaker 1: because he got sullied. His reputation got smathered slathered up
Speaker 1: by the Atlanta Hawks. You add multiple folks seating bad
Speaker 1: stories about Travis Schlank, and now it's like he's nobody.
Speaker 1: He was considered one of the best gms in the league,
Speaker 1: almost one GM of the year when he made those
Speaker 1: moves to try to surround Trey Young with talent. To me,
Speaker 1: this is a home run. And I don't care if
Speaker 1: you think about the de Jontay Murray trade. Travis Schlank
Speaker 1: tried to prevent that from happening. That's why he got fired.
Speaker 1: He was like, no, I'm not paying multiple first round
Speaker 1: picks for Dejhonte Murray and they were like, all right,
Speaker 1: we'll see you later. Former president of basketball Operations of
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks. I think he helped build them into
Speaker 1: a winner. He was very good about developing picks into
Speaker 1: real players. He wanted to trade John Collins. They didn't
Speaker 1: want him to do that. A lot of it was
Speaker 1: an issue with the ownership and them wanted to take control.
Speaker 1: When Travis Shlank wanted to take control. There were real
Speaker 1: reasons that he got fired. There were two words, apparently,
Speaker 1: Trey Young Trey Jung, who marked two coaches and one
Speaker 1: GM in the past two seasons. It's incredible the Wizards
Speaker 1: did this. It's incredible that ted le owns is a
Speaker 1: step in a side considering their history is filled with
Speaker 1: one terrible decision, make making move after another. Schlank, of course,
Speaker 1: has his work cut out fro him. He's got a
Speaker 1: roster that's a mess, a player who's a diva, a
Speaker 1: new head coach, lot to do. What are you gonna
Speaker 1: do with Kuzma and Chris STAPs being free agents? One
Speaker 1: thing is for sure. The adults are in charge, and
Speaker 1: for the first time in ages, Wizards fans have a
Speaker 1: reason to be optimistic as long as his first word
Speaker 1: of business is trading, Bradley beal If Bradley Beal so
Speaker 1: makes it so, let's moving forward. Also, we have a
Speaker 1: new coaching hire to discuss. After the Bucks hired Adrian Griffin,
Speaker 1: after the Sixers snapped up Nick Nurse, the Detroit Pistons
Speaker 1: put their nuts on the table to the tune of
Speaker 1: six years, seventy eight million dollars seventy eight and a half?
Speaker 1: Really for who? For Monty Williams. Wow, Moni Williams got
Speaker 1: the fucking bag. Huh. Detroit has pushed all their chips
Speaker 1: in the middle. The hand that they're going all in
Speaker 1: on is three card money, mister culture himself. Thirteen million
Speaker 1: dollars a year for Monny Williams. That is what freedom
Speaker 1: gives you money. Williams was ready to be like, nah,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm gonna sit it here out. We'll see
Speaker 1: how things go. Detroit. It's been nice. We had a
Speaker 1: nice little chat. I'm good. And they were like, well,
Speaker 1: how does eighty million sound? And he said, when can
Speaker 1: I start? He said, when can I start? Thirteen million
Speaker 1: dollars is so much money he couldn't win in with
Speaker 1: a loaded team in Phoenix. I like him though, what
Speaker 1: other choice did they have. He is a culture creator,
Speaker 1: he is a players coach. You're gonna get young guys,
Speaker 1: guys who learned to play professional basketball under Monni. It's
Speaker 1: a really interesting team. They have a lot of athletic talent.
Speaker 1: They have Kid Cunningham, they have Jade and Ivy. They
Speaker 1: have Jalen Duran, they have James Wiseman. They have Marvin
Speaker 1: Bagley Junior, both former number two picks in the draft.
Speaker 1: They have ten first rounders on this team, including five
Speaker 1: top seven picks. Talent is not the question, kind of
Speaker 1: like it was in Phoenix, will Money Williams took over.
Speaker 1: Is trying to get the most out of said talent.
Speaker 1: The problem, though for the Pistons is they went from
Speaker 1: the number one pick in the draft in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two to three games worse than the year before. That
Speaker 1: is called regression. Troy Weaver and company, they knew they
Speaker 1: needed to see Dwayne K Casey's ass out. That was
Speaker 1: just not gonna work. They saw the riding on the wall.
Speaker 1: Another trip to the lottery this year and that would
Speaker 1: be a disaster. So we need to see like thirty
Speaker 1: five wins. We need to see like thirty two, like
Speaker 1: Monny Williams what he did the first year with the Suns,
Speaker 1: Like I think they went from nineteen wins to thirty
Speaker 1: two wins to forty five wins to sixty something. That's
Speaker 1: what you need from Manni. Fortunately he has six years
Speaker 1: to turn things around. They gave him a long deal
Speaker 1: like that will Hardy money that Utah Jazz just slowly
Speaker 1: but surely developed these guys. But Moni turns teams around
Speaker 1: fast too. He took Phoenix from the dregs of the
Speaker 1: league all the way to the NBA Finals in four years,
Speaker 1: less than four years. The good news for Pistons fans
Speaker 1: he didn't hire Kevin Awllie. That's start right there. The
Speaker 1: only direction available, though is upwards. If anyone can get
Speaker 1: these guys to buy in, it's MANI. Will the Pistons
Speaker 1: be a winning franchise soon? I don't know. Maybe will
Speaker 1: they be in the lottery next year? I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe will Monni win in Detroit? I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 1: if they give them six years, though, anything's possible. Like
Speaker 1: Kevin Garnett said, we will see. But it is a
Speaker 1: fascinating hire. That is all the time that we have
Speaker 1: on the Heat Check it is midnight on Friday morning,
Speaker 1: so this episode will come out early. Scorely. We'll be
Speaker 1: back Tuesday with an all new episode. As we are
Speaker 1: now in the midst of the finals, hopefully it's not
Speaker 1: too zero by the time we talk next. Check out
Speaker 1: the feed for past episodes mini episodes they drop regularly.
Speaker 1: We are now coming to the close of the season.
Speaker 1: Shit moves fast. Please please do not forget to download.
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