Speaker 1: No, no, come home, Come home, Come home.
Speaker 2: On this episode of The Heat Check, I did it again.
Speaker 2: I did it like Britney Spears before she got commandeered
Speaker 2: by her father. Oopsie, my golly. I mushed another team, Yes,
Speaker 2: I did. It's the Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah. Uh, poor Jahn
Speaker 2: Morant caught astray. I had a whole thing about them,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, as much as I
Speaker 2: related them for going nine and one, yet metaphorically speaking,
Speaker 2: they then went on an immediate down downhill spiral. And
Speaker 2: then later on the show we also get into another
Speaker 2: reason that the Lakers are unfixable, Like it's just one
Speaker 2: after another now, but now there's new injury news of
Speaker 2: Anthony Day, So it's just more time to dissect what
Speaker 2: the fuck is happening in Lakerland. So do me a
Speaker 2: favorite brock and dropped that beat. So we talked last
Speaker 2: week about the Memphis Grizzlies, how good they've been, all
Speaker 2: these role players stepping up, Desmond Banded, Anthony Melton, all
Speaker 2: these people that the casual fan has no idea who
Speaker 2: they are. You know, Dylan Brooks is doing things. They
Speaker 2: won nine of ten. They were like it was not
Speaker 2: an exaggeration to say that they were the hottest team
Speaker 2: in basketball at the time that that segment came out.
Speaker 2: And if you've been following the Heat Checker this league
Speaker 2: at all, you'll know and could guess exactly what followed
Speaker 2: after that, a mush, an immediate in immediate downwards viral
Speaker 2: of the Memphis Grizzlies. Oh yes, I didn't just mush them, though,
Speaker 2: I mushed them twice, which is even worse. Right, first
Speaker 2: and foremost, they lost one oh five to.
Speaker 3: One hundred to the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 2: At home, at home the day after the episode dropped,
Speaker 2: like the day I mean the mush. There's no delay.
Speaker 2: There's no mush delay here is as soon as we
Speaker 2: push published, as soon as there's one stream, even if
Speaker 2: just one stream put it out on the TikTok, put
Speaker 2: a little promo out submit, then it's just the ether
Speaker 2: conspires against me. It's just everything goes the opposite way,
Speaker 2: because why can I be right on a micro level?
Speaker 3: I cannot be.
Speaker 2: I might remind people that Portland at that point at
Speaker 2: that point had only run won one road game at
Speaker 2: that period, the one road game, and their second road
Speaker 2: game was that one against the hottest team of basketball,
Speaker 2: Memphis Grizzlies. I'm sorry, I'm sorry Memphis. And worse yet,
Speaker 2: the next game they played the Oklahoma City Thunder that
Speaker 2: they had just beaten by seventy plus points without jaw
Speaker 2: and they get jaw back, and everyone's oh, how much
Speaker 2: are you gonna steamroll them? By that time, I know
Speaker 2: SGA came back, but jaws back. Look Out MVP, lookout NBA,
Speaker 2: jaws coming. The Ninja emoji has emerged Spanish no more
Speaker 2: taking the court storming back, and Oklahoma City beat them
Speaker 2: one O two ninety nine in about as ugly as
Speaker 2: a game as the Grizzlies have played all year. Jesus, Jesus,
Speaker 2: Lord help me. Lord helped the Grizzlies because they might
Speaker 2: not win another game. So to recap, in the past year,
Speaker 2: I have mushed the Orlando Magic after a hot quick start.
Speaker 2: I must remind you after that episode dropped, Mark hel
Speaker 2: Foltz tore his acl Utah Jazz Incredible against this bread
Speaker 2: winning streak. Soon as that episode came out, that against
Speaker 2: the spread winning streak ceased to exist. Dallas Mavericks after
Speaker 2: their winning streak and the end of the season when
Speaker 2: the Golden State Warriors last year were playing really well.
Speaker 2: I said, hey, hold on hold the phone. They could
Speaker 2: actually go to the finals. Didn't make the playoffs at all.
Speaker 2: There's just a few that come to mind. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's one after another after another after another. Oh, Bucks,
Speaker 2: the good one. Bucks will never win the championship ever
Speaker 2: in their current construction. They won that following year after
Speaker 2: you know, everyone thought that they were toast. So yeah,
Speaker 2: since the episode relating the Grizzlies metaphorically came out, they
Speaker 2: are zero and two with one loss, including John Morant
Speaker 2: on the floor against two of the worst teams in
Speaker 2: the league. Uh yeah, any team who has an unexpected
Speaker 2: segment written about all. I'm not talking about like Golden
Speaker 2: State right now, where it's like there's nothing I can do,
Speaker 2: Like nine and one. Golden State will not go one
Speaker 2: nine and one, and they did. That was another one.
Speaker 2: I mean, if I say you're a world beater, or
Speaker 2: if I say you're not gonna be good, like the
Speaker 2: Chicago Bolt, it just goes the opposite. It just goes
Speaker 2: the opposite. And it's funny and it's just it's just
Speaker 2: the surest fire away to send a team into a
Speaker 2: tailspinners for them to catch my attention and for me
Speaker 2: to spend time researching how good they could be and are.
Speaker 2: So John Morant is now taking a hiatus from social
Speaker 2: media at large because he was booed off the court
Speaker 2: in his first game back. Yep, that happened. So I
Speaker 2: can say that that might be part two of the
Speaker 2: mush because I was like, oh, Jow's come in NBA.
Speaker 2: Look out Eddie peekin it did. John did not have
Speaker 2: a bad game in his return, but it wasn't also
Speaker 2: a great game, but that shouldn't matter. He was coming
Speaker 2: back from injury, his first game back off of something
Speaker 2: that could have been devastating, after something that people thought
Speaker 2: might be a Derek Roe situation, and we all got
Speaker 2: to see him ball out again in like a eight
Speaker 2: weeks time, So I mean it should be a celebration. Pitches,
Speaker 2: it should be a celebration. Of course, he's rusty, but
Speaker 2: apparently Grizzlies fans have very high hopes, high expectations for
Speaker 2: how a star is gonna come back off out of
Speaker 2: an mc house brain. They got used to winning ninety
Speaker 2: percent of their games. Fuck it, So if he's not
Speaker 2: gonna contribute to winning ninety five ninety seven percent of
Speaker 2: the games. Then get this motherfucker off the court right now,
Speaker 2: because like, listen, we just beat the team by seventy jaw,
Speaker 2: what have you done for me lately? We just lost
Speaker 2: to the Oklahoma City Thunder with you on the floor.
Speaker 2: We just beat him by seventy So obviously you are trash.
Speaker 2: Obviously you are the problem. Jaw.
Speaker 3: Pretty bad coincidence.
Speaker 2: I'd say fan base has now become I would say
Speaker 2: maybe a worse, more entitled version of the Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 2: Just just gross hate them, and like, truthfully, this team's
Speaker 2: probably gonna be moved, So fuck him anyway. Really, Like,
Speaker 2: when this franchise is up for sale, I promise you
Speaker 2: there won't be a covenant where it has to stay
Speaker 2: in Memphis, promise you. Uh, And so fuck him because
Speaker 2: they heckled Jaw Morant. They heckled him. They heckled their
Speaker 2: all star player, number two player taken off the board,
Speaker 2: the future of the franchise.
Speaker 3: They heckled him.
Speaker 2: He was sixteen, eight and six on a six twelve
Speaker 2: shooting night. In just twenty eight minutes, he was plus
Speaker 2: two for the game that was decided by one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it is a good game decided by one possession. I mean, Dane,
Speaker 2: I would take that coming off an injury. I'll tell
Speaker 2: you what. Fans were not happy to see their team
Speaker 2: lose to a team that they blew out, and Jaw
Speaker 2: they let him know it, and Jaw got sad. Jaw,
Speaker 2: this is a segment really about just Jaw being sad.
Speaker 2: So you're talking about a guy. So, but what's crazy
Speaker 2: is like Jaw doesn't get sad like the It's so
Speaker 2: remark arkable. Jaw has literally gone on the record and said,
Speaker 2: my dad, my father, my father, my biological father, is
Speaker 2: my greatest hater. Like he has been calling me trash
Speaker 2: for as long as I can remember. And I take
Speaker 2: his hate and him in the driveway saying I'll never
Speaker 2: be shit. I take that as fuel, and I turn
Speaker 2: that into leading the league in points in the paint
Speaker 2: and dunking on people's faces and putting my nuts right
Speaker 2: in their nose, you know what I mean, Like, not
Speaker 2: even metaphorically, like just actually that's truthfully. He loves criticism,
Speaker 2: he says, he turns hate and he makes it productive.
Speaker 2: So for a guy like Jaw who can allow his
Speaker 2: own father to trash talk, him for him to get sad.
Speaker 2: Imagine all of the lengths a fan base would have
Speaker 2: to go in order to get there, right, Like, that's nuts.
Speaker 3: After a near devastating injury.
Speaker 2: That provides perspective, hopefully for himself and for the fan
Speaker 2: base of what they could have lost and what was
Speaker 2: right there to enjoy the moment of having John Morant back.
Speaker 2: He comes back and then they do that, folks, Imagine
Speaker 2: what it must take to rattle that man. This is
Speaker 2: what he said after the loss. Even during the game,
Speaker 2: I was running down the court and heard some of
Speaker 2: my fans court side, court side, not even in the
Speaker 2: cheap seats, court side fans telling me I need to
Speaker 2: sit back out. So I don't understand what they were
Speaker 2: trying to get out of that. I think it makes
Speaker 2: it worse. Like, you don't think Jaw knew, Hey this,
Speaker 2: we just beat this team by seventy and now we're
Speaker 2: barely in the game. You don't think he had the
Speaker 2: presence of mind to get that parallel on his own.
Speaker 2: You don't think Jaw's smart enough to see how that
Speaker 2: may not be great optically. Come on, come on now, sheesh,
Speaker 2: He wasn't done. He kept going this is what he said.
Speaker 2: It's a lot, man. I'm excited to be back. I'm
Speaker 2: thankful for my teammates because they've tried to keep my
Speaker 2: spirits up and tell me not to worry about what
Speaker 2: people say. But it's hard not to see that stuff
Speaker 2: and hear that stuff. It's easy when I see it,
Speaker 2: but when I'm running down the court mid game and
Speaker 2: I hear it from the same people who were chanting
Speaker 2: MVP a while ago.
Speaker 3: It's frustrating.
Speaker 2: There was more. This is also what he said. I'm
Speaker 2: just frustrated. Normally y'all have seen it, when anything somebody
Speaker 2: says negatively about me, it fuels me. But tonight, tonight,
Speaker 2: the remarks from the fans actually hurt my feelings.
Speaker 3: I'm going to do what I normally do.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna bounce back. I'm very excited about this next game. Pause, folks,
Speaker 2: take the pr for Jamaran next game, because I'm sure
Speaker 2: he's going to blow it out of the water. Whatever
Speaker 2: the point number is, whatever the three point number, just.
Speaker 3: Take it all.
Speaker 2: Take all the Ja Morant props because he's fuel. He
Speaker 2: got so sad, though his teammates had to chime in
Speaker 2: and defend him to the fan base. This is what
Speaker 2: Desmond Bain said. It's nonsense. People just want something to
Speaker 2: talk about at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: They want something to talk about.
Speaker 2: And Jaw's an easy target because he's the best player
Speaker 2: on our team, in an All Star in his third year.
Speaker 2: He will be in Memphis as long as he wants
Speaker 2: to be. It's his franchise. I mean, what are we
Speaker 2: even talking about here. Jaw was still brooding after the
Speaker 2: press conference, and that is when he took to social
Speaker 2: media to say goodbye to folks on social media, which
Speaker 2: he later deleted because he was so in his feelings.
Speaker 2: After the fact, he realized, God damn, I was in
Speaker 2: my feelings. It's what he said off social media for
Speaker 2: a while. Peace emoji, anybody who need me got my number.
Speaker 2: Love is love black heart emoji. Then followed up by saying,
Speaker 2: appreciate the real ones black heart emoji. The Memphis fan base,
Speaker 2: the trash at Memphis fan base that doesn't even have
Speaker 2: good barbecue.
Speaker 3: They felt the need because it's all vinegar base.
Speaker 2: That felt the needs to come after Ja Morant and
Speaker 2: they ran them.
Speaker 3: Off of Twitter.
Speaker 2: Think about that. In one game, these motherfuckers in the
Speaker 2: expensive seats on the court, ran Jamarant off the Twitter.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? Three days ago? Jamrant was on
Speaker 2: Twitter speaking in Spanish with the Ninja emoji three days ago,
Speaker 2: like Jaw loves Twitter. I love Jaw on Twitter. And
Speaker 2: now he's gone, and now we don't get that anymore.
Speaker 2: This is a guy who was MVP candidate, comes back
Speaker 2: one mediocre game, limited minutes, and they're like, grab the bench, Jaw,
Speaker 2: sit your ass down, Jaw, we don't need you anymore.
Speaker 2: We're gonna roll out with the Anthony Melton and Desmond
Speaker 2: Bane the fuck out of here. Are you serious? I'm
Speaker 2: starting to think the fan base of Memphis doesn't deserve
Speaker 2: Jahn Morant. If they don't shut the fuck up, Ja.
Speaker 3: Morant might never see social media again.
Speaker 2: He might shave his head like Britney Spears and go
Speaker 2: into his own little hovel and probably force his way
Speaker 2: out of Memphis where he's at it, where he's not
Speaker 2: gonna be heckled for coming back early in what could
Speaker 2: have been like Houn's traffic injury. He rushed himself back.
Speaker 2: He was literally counting down the days like Dank Dunk
Speaker 2: dick talk, two more days before I come back with
Speaker 2: my sort emoji like, what so, I mean, it's probably
Speaker 2: only a couple more days before we see like is
Speaker 2: Memphis better without Jahn Morant? Next up on Undisputed? And
Speaker 2: as for me, I'm taking all the Jamran moments I
Speaker 2: could get because life's too short to watch just Desmond
Speaker 2: Bane ball out for the CRUs.
Speaker 4: Hey, yeah, I'm making a change today. The litt have
Speaker 4: been taking a pain away. I heard you was giving
Speaker 4: your chain away. It's kind of like giving your fame away.
Speaker 1: It was wrong with you.
Speaker 4: I sit in a box with our own. This dual
Speaker 4: boss is a road that I've grown into. I let
Speaker 4: you to death, but I told you the truth.
Speaker 2: I can't just be what you will. If you pulled
Speaker 2: one hundred NBA fans start the season and you said,
Speaker 2: after thirty games, I'm gonna give you two choices, Cleveland
Speaker 2: Cavaliers or the LA Lakers, which team is going to
Speaker 2: be better after thirty games? People would say, is this
Speaker 2: a trick question?
Speaker 3: Are you serious?
Speaker 2: One hundred out of one hundred, no chance anyone even
Speaker 2: imagines a moment that the Cleveland Cavaliers after thirty games
Speaker 2: would be better than the Lakers, let alone that they
Speaker 2: would be better off for the future. No chance, like absolutely,
Speaker 2: like maybe a little fluky moment, everybody dies in La
Speaker 2: Lakerland and then somehow Cleveland played no one and everybody
Speaker 2: that they play has COVID and it's all gle like maybe,
Speaker 2: but like, okay, Jay scrub is like logging many minutes.
Speaker 2: You know, nobody, like everyone high levels of confidence chooses Lakers.
Speaker 2: But here we are thirty games in and look at
Speaker 2: the standings. The Calves are the better team right now.
Speaker 2: The Calves are not just a better team right now,
Speaker 2: they are in better shape for the future, for the
Speaker 2: long term and the intermediate term than the Lakers. I
Speaker 2: bet you that the Calves end up with a better
Speaker 2: record than the Lakers this season. And I know that.
Speaker 2: I said last season in the off season when they
Speaker 2: signed Russell Westbrook and they had problems and Dennis Shrewder
Speaker 2: didn't sign and then that thing fell apart, and then
Speaker 2: you had Montress Harrell wanting out, and you had you know,
Speaker 2: couldn't sign even Twight Howard, and there was just many
Speaker 2: issues of things going wrong. And I said, this is
Speaker 2: rock bottom. And now I know that wasn't rock bottom.
Speaker 2: This I might think is rock bottom because it's a
Speaker 2: real world scenario now where you're comparing the Lakers to
Speaker 2: the Calves, Lebron James's former franchise, and it doesn't look good.
Speaker 2: The Lakers do not look good in comparison to the Calves.
Speaker 2: And you've got folks in real world, in the real world.
Speaker 2: I have to point this out. People like Kendrick Perkins
Speaker 2: are not imagining scenarios, but they are creating real scenarios
Speaker 2: where Lebron James is forcing him his way from Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: California to Cleveland, Ohio. Let me let that sink in
Speaker 2: for a second. There are people like Jimmy Patzos who
Speaker 2: are saying Lebron should ask his way back to Cleveland.
Speaker 2: Like Jimmy Patzos, he's a serious person. There are serious
Speaker 2: people putting that out into the world, and not just
Speaker 2: people like their trolls like me. You know, like these
Speaker 2: are real human beings with serious thoughts in their head.
Speaker 2: You know, they're not just like what would be funny.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe Kendrick would like this is nuts. That's
Speaker 2: where we're at. Let me find the Kendrick Perkins tweet,
Speaker 2: cause that's nuts. He said. I wonder if Lebron James
Speaker 2: would consider demanding a trade back to Cleveland. The Calves
Speaker 2: have a nice squad.
Speaker 3: Don't remind me though, and carry on.
Speaker 2: Outside of Trey Young stud Garius Garland is the second
Speaker 2: best point guard in the Eastern Conference and should be
Speaker 2: an All Star this year. Carry on, This is my man,
Speaker 2: patsost what he had to say last night on bet
Speaker 2: MGM tonight.
Speaker 5: They need Anthony Davis to play. And then they had
Speaker 5: a couple of guys that're waiting to see if they
Speaker 5: get healthy actually like coming out off the bench but
Speaker 5: with a d out. Why can't Lebron say I'm going
Speaker 5: back to Cleveland one more time? They would take him
Speaker 5: if because he went to Cleveland, they become the favorites
Speaker 5: right now in the East. The West is too good.
Speaker 5: You got the two best teams in the West. The
Speaker 5: West is so go the East go to East for
Speaker 5: six of us? You know, three months? Why not? And
Speaker 5: he's allowed to go to Cleveland because that's his place.
Speaker 2: Coach, How is that deal gonna get done? Like that
Speaker 2: trade has to make sense? You think the Lakers are.
Speaker 6: You think the Lakers trade for Kevin They trade their
Speaker 6: like they trade Kevin Love and Colin Sexton and like
Speaker 6: seven first round draft picks for Lebron.
Speaker 2: Jake co turn me out Kobe White for Lebron instead,
Speaker 2: tell me how this works mathematically, and like, how is
Speaker 2: this going to make sense from a Lakers.
Speaker 5: No, I mean you just salary wise, you have to
Speaker 5: throw Love in there. And then Sexton wants money, so
Speaker 5: he's looking for a place that has cap room. No.
Speaker 5: In a year, you figure out the rest. You have
Speaker 5: to throw a couple. I don't know if you'd want
Speaker 5: Cleveland picks because they're gonna now you could throw a
Speaker 5: Choro in there. It was a really good young guy
Speaker 5: at six y seven, because you can find it because
Speaker 5: Lebron's gonna play solo. Choro. Sexton loved the salary cap
Speaker 5: and your first rounder. And hey, if Lebron says I'm doing,
Speaker 5: he rottens the league basically, And I got no problem
Speaker 5: with that.
Speaker 2: This man said Kevin Love would match the salaries. And
Speaker 2: that's how I knew. He was coming off of a
Speaker 2: plane and they had free drinks. That's how I knew
Speaker 2: this man was not thinking streets like and then and
Speaker 2: then people in Los Angeles and Rich Paul had to
Speaker 2: dignify it with the response and said, I spoke to Lebron.
Speaker 3: This is what Sham said.
Speaker 2: I spoke to Lebron's agent, Rich Paul, and he's this
Speaker 2: talk is totally ridiculous. Lebron James is not leaving the Lakers.
Speaker 3: You you spoke with him and.
Speaker 2: He said it was ridiculous. The fact that we even
Speaker 2: are talking about this, this team he's going. This team
Speaker 2: doesn't look like it has the young legs that they
Speaker 2: need to have. And that's why the Lakers have been.
Speaker 3: Active in the trade market.
Speaker 2: When you look at a guy like Ben Simmons, they
Speaker 2: love to get a guy like him or Jeremy Grant.
Speaker 2: What are we even talking about right now? This?
Speaker 3: How do you think you're getting these teams, these players? How?
Speaker 2: Like this is not a bad Lakers team, not just
Speaker 2: a bad Lakers team. This is an unfixable, untenable situation.
Speaker 2: This is a marriage that is just too costly to split.
Speaker 2: Like you know that guy, I'm sure you know him.
Speaker 2: I know you know of some some man or woman
Speaker 2: that's in a relationship and they're married, and it would
Speaker 2: just be a complete financial disaster if they split this
Speaker 2: thing up. So they just go along peacefully in their
Speaker 2: own realms. But everybody knows. They're not really happy. They're
Speaker 2: not gonna be together long term. And that is Russell
Speaker 2: Westbrook right now in the Los Angeles Lakers, because there's
Speaker 2: no one.
Speaker 3: Who wants him, no one.
Speaker 2: And now Anthony Davis, the cornerstone of their franchise where
Speaker 2: they traded multiple first round picks to get him. Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis is hurt again again. He is twenty seven years old,
Speaker 2: and he still has a degenerative issue in his tenonosis
Speaker 2: of the achilles that's still happening. Yep, not tendonitis, but tenonosis,
Speaker 2: which I always let people know is degenerative condition. And
Speaker 2: now he has a springed MCO four to six weeks
Speaker 2: out at best. At best, Anthony Davis says mentally, I'm fine.
Speaker 2: I'm in good spirits just being around the team. Obviously
Speaker 2: avoided a major injury, which has my spirits back up
Speaker 2: because I just didn't know. He said.
Speaker 3: I heard it, pop, folks.
Speaker 2: And now the team is five hundred now just lost
Speaker 2: their best player, and face it, they have twenty games
Speaker 2: at the very.
Speaker 3: Least without him.
Speaker 2: Do you know what that means? I mean, that means things.
Speaker 2: You just hate to see another year where the Lakers
Speaker 2: stars are hurt. The supporting cast cannot carry the load,
Speaker 2: and they are waiting for their star to come and
Speaker 2: dig them out of a hole where it's just too deep.
Speaker 2: In order for them to dig them out of, they've
Speaker 2: played sixteen different starting lineups in thirty one games. They've
Speaker 2: struggled mightily to mix and match their way out of
Speaker 2: this mediocrity. Frank Vogels in the lab trying to cook
Speaker 2: up ways to make and I said this pre a preseason.
Speaker 2: I was like, listen, maybe there's a way that this
Speaker 2: can work. Maybe I doubt it, but if there is
Speaker 2: a way, Like when you go to that show Chopped
Speaker 2: and you get there and there's a box of ingredients
Speaker 2: and they don't make no sense together and you have
Speaker 2: to make a Michelin star meal out of them. It's like,
Speaker 2: we're gonna give you foa graw and Cheetos and a
Speaker 2: light bulb.
Speaker 7: Make something that's like but it's like if they give
Speaker 7: that to if they give that to Wolfgang Puck, right,
Speaker 7: You're like, I'm excited to find out what this is
Speaker 7: gonna be.
Speaker 2: Right, if they give that to me, I'm like, fam deuces, right, Like,
Speaker 2: you cannot give this mix and match box of ingredients
Speaker 2: to Frank Vogel and expect a culinary masterpiece to come out.
Speaker 3: And that's what he's been doing.
Speaker 2: He's been sweating when the lights and the cameras are
Speaker 2: on with the sate pants and they're like, Frank, what
Speaker 2: are you making up here? And he's like, ah, I
Speaker 2: just wa fa gra got some fa grah got some.
Speaker 2: And it's like you're just saying the ingredients that you
Speaker 2: have yet we got Russ, we got ad, we got Lebron.
Speaker 2: We're just figuring some things out, and it's like you're not.
Speaker 2: I don't know that this mix ever makes sense. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure that this will ever taste good. I'm certain
Speaker 2: this will never be a championship contender. But I think
Speaker 2: actually this is a recipe that's gonna put folks in
Speaker 2: the hospital if they eat it. Like I think you
Speaker 2: might have glass in your lungs at the end of
Speaker 2: this thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's cooking up these lineups and.
Speaker 2: They don't make no sense. Bron told reporters after the
Speaker 2: recent loss. We currently have no idea what this Lakers
Speaker 2: team it's capable of. Due to the whole entire season
Speaker 2: of us not all being together. It's hard to assess
Speaker 2: how good we can be. Yes, that's true, injuries impact
Speaker 2: a team, but guess what when you ad Russ and
Speaker 2: DeAndre and Jordan and Mellow were all playing, you were
Speaker 2: still five hundred. Russell Westbrook says he's also extremely very
Speaker 2: optimistic heading into the fifty games left in the season.
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, I know he's not. Remember it
Speaker 2: was Russ who poo pooed the preseason saying that nobody
Speaker 2: cared about games that didn't count. And then it was
Speaker 2: Russ after the shaky start who was like, well, you
Speaker 2: can't judge a team in the first couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Thirty one games in, He's like, well, can't judge a
Speaker 2: team till April. And it's like it's like, wait, we
Speaker 2: can't judge you until you're literally like packing up your locker.
Speaker 2: Is that what you're saying that there's no time period
Speaker 2: prior to you going home.
Speaker 3: Where we can say, hey, this isn't working.
Speaker 2: It's like, well, Russ, you're just lost. I know. And
Speaker 2: how you should know that the Lakers are truly in trouble,
Speaker 2: like actually things are a big issue is that Austin Reeves,
Speaker 2: an undrafted player, same level as Jace grub a man
Speaker 2: that you've never heard of his name before this year
Speaker 2: is statistically their best player on the team. Who who
Speaker 2: exactly I call him diet Alex Carusoe, the assistant janitor,
Speaker 2: if you will, the assistant to the janitor, baby goat,
Speaker 2: which is the kid so Austin, the kid Reeves. That's
Speaker 2: the new nickname for him. Undrafted number two two guard
Speaker 2: out of Oklahoma by the way of Wichita State. And
Speaker 2: when he is on the court, their defensive rating is
Speaker 2: at ninety eight point three. When he's off the court
Speaker 2: one oh eight point seven. That is a crazy net rating.
Speaker 2: His on court net rating is nine point eight. That's
Speaker 2: the highest on the team by far, I mean, out
Speaker 2: of guys that actually play. I mean, we knew this
Speaker 2: team would struggle to get open bucks gets when they
Speaker 2: had Russell Westbrook, you know, fucking with the spacing.
Speaker 3: You know, we knew that.
Speaker 2: Everybody knew that. But you didn't think that they would
Speaker 2: be twenty sixth in the league in offense while Lebron
Speaker 2: James was on the court, thirtieth below thirtieth on offense
Speaker 2: when Lebron James is not on the court, So basically
Speaker 2: just to be mediocre, Lebron James needs to log like
Speaker 2: forty eight minutes a game, Like what time is the circle?
Speaker 2: Every team with Lebron with every team with Russell Westbrook
Speaker 2: struggles offensively. He limits every superstar that he's near. That's
Speaker 2: just the case, Like, that's just what I hate to say,
Speaker 2: is the case. It's not an easy fac I don't know, Like,
Speaker 2: what is the recipe for success? And we've said it
Speaker 2: a million times for Lebron James. You surround Lebron James
Speaker 2: with shooters that can space the floor, provide lots of
Speaker 2: open lanes for passing, open lanes for driving, and kicking,
Speaker 2: Like all of those three things make for a successful
Speaker 2: offense move without the ball, drive, kick, open up things
Speaker 2: with you know, dribble drives, open up things with pick
Speaker 2: and roll, pinned downs, et cetera. Right when you have
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook, none of those options exist, Like they're all gone.
Speaker 2: It was like, and then you give him instead a
Speaker 2: bunch of old guys that either can't shoot or that
Speaker 2: do shoot but can't play defense, like Carmelo Anthony. And
Speaker 2: so it's a net negative regardless whether it's on the floor,
Speaker 2: whether or not on the floor. It's not a great
Speaker 2: scenario because when Carmelo is not on the floor, they
Speaker 2: can't fucking play offense. When he's on the floor, they
Speaker 2: can't play fucking defense. That's what the numbers on NBA
Speaker 2: dot Com slash Advance tell you. You know what I mean,
Speaker 2: It's not any and it's not even a hard fix.
Speaker 2: It's not even like a supremely difficult fix. I think
Speaker 2: it's completely impossible to fix. And now with ad is hurt,
Speaker 2: this team is now giving big minutes to my man
Speaker 2: DJ my man DeAndre Jordan, who won in a recent game,
Speaker 2: was a negative twenty six in fifteen minutes of time.
Speaker 2: That's the largest in the NBA. He is the second
Speaker 2: lowest plus minus while playing fifteen minutes or fewer by
Speaker 2: a Laker since two thousand. Since two thousand, he's nine
Speaker 2: minus ninety two for the season. That's the second lowest
Speaker 2: player by any player in the entire NBA who's played
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty minutes or fewer.
Speaker 3: And shams and woves. They keep.
Speaker 2: Clicking and clicking on their Twitter machines saying that the
Speaker 2: Lakers are active on the trade market, and I'm like houseway,
Speaker 2: how what you gonna get, how are you going to
Speaker 2: take It'd be like, okay, you got that box of
Speaker 2: the light bulb and the Fois Gras and the chocolate
Speaker 2: and the popcorn, and you're like, hey, I'll trade you
Speaker 2: this light bulb for your stake. And you're like, no,
Speaker 2: I'll trade you my Russell Westbrook light bulb that fits
Speaker 2: nowhere in this box. And I want you to give
Speaker 2: me Ben Simmons. No, I'm sorry. Even even someone who's
Speaker 2: about to lose his job like Darryl Mory's not gonna
Speaker 2: do that trade. And that's assuming that they can actually
Speaker 2: trade for anyone like Jeremy Grant isn't gonna help this
Speaker 2: team win a title.
Speaker 3: And I don't even think you can get Jeremy Grant.
Speaker 2: Like the best trade piece that the Lakers have is
Speaker 2: Austin Reeves, Like, and he makes no money. He makes
Speaker 2: no money, So your most valuable piece, you can't even
Speaker 2: trade for anyone of value for him back, Like that's
Speaker 2: your best player, Austin Reeves, you can't trade him, Like
Speaker 2: you would be better off actually truthfully trading Lebron James
Speaker 2: and Austin Reeves. Right now, that's a t that's a
Speaker 2: troll thing to say.
Speaker 3: That's a troll.
Speaker 2: See that's but it's not untrue statistically.
Speaker 3: So what does this mean going forward?
Speaker 2: You've got a thirty seven year old player, Lebron James,
Speaker 2: who must play thirty five minutes or more just to
Speaker 2: keep them at five hundred in mediocrity perpetually. And then
Speaker 2: when they ask an interim coach David Fizdale, mister take
Speaker 2: that for data, because currently Frank Vocal has COVID like everyone.
Speaker 2: They asked him, hey, why don't you try to slow
Speaker 2: Lebron James from playing so many minutes? And he's like,
Speaker 2: Lebron doesn't give us a choice.
Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
Speaker 2: Like, what do you mean?
Speaker 3: He's out there?
Speaker 2: He literally just he just puts his body on the
Speaker 2: floor and then we have to find someone to pull
Speaker 2: off the floor. Lebron always wants to be out there.
Speaker 2: He's in such good shape. He's not worrying about it.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know who's gotta worry about Lebron James
Speaker 2: getting reinjured? Everyone, every single person who profits off of
Speaker 2: the NBA must worry, must shake in their boots, must
Speaker 2: stay up late at night wondering thinking about the amount
Speaker 2: of minutes that Lebron James is logging for this dog
Speaker 2: shit team, like he would probably bring in just as
Speaker 2: much money on the East Coast when we can watch
Speaker 2: him at a reasonable hour, Cause I don't want to
Speaker 2: watch him at eleven PM play with DeAndre Jordan and
Speaker 2: Austin fucking Reefs. I would love to see Lebron James
Speaker 2: with Evan Mobley. Oh, I kind of love that. I
Speaker 2: would love Lebron James and Darius Garland and Laurie Markinen
Speaker 2: and Evan Mobley on at seven pm Eastern time in
Speaker 2: Purple and Gold. I would love them to just not
Speaker 2: be in Cleveland. I would just love them to be
Speaker 2: another team instead. But you can't have everything you want.
Speaker 2: And then if you're wondering, okay, well maybe they'll just
Speaker 2: wait for the Russell Westbrook contract to fall off the
Speaker 2: books and him to be a They just lose him
Speaker 2: for nothing, something, buy him out whatever. No, by that time,
Speaker 2: James will be forty. That's I mean by next not
Speaker 2: this summer, but the following summer, Lebron James will be
Speaker 2: thirty nine and change. And that's not great. Honestly, I
Speaker 2: just cannot think of a single scenario for the Lakers
Speaker 2: to get out of this one. Somehow you took five
Speaker 2: valuable pieces that you could trade and brought back one light.
Speaker 3: Bulb like.
Speaker 2: I can just and then they're like, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: it's just Russell Westbrook. He just plays a little too
Speaker 2: fast for trying to slow him down. And it's like
Speaker 2: this light bulb, all it knows how to do is
Speaker 2: give you a light like that's all it is, on
Speaker 2: or off, that's all it is.
Speaker 3: You can't slow this man down. We've tried.
Speaker 2: He's a Tasmanian devil. Ask folks in Washington whether Russell
Speaker 2: Westbrook can play at sixty five percent pace in the
Speaker 2: speed that every other elite athlete plays at, because he's
Speaker 2: legitimately way too fast to be on the court with
Speaker 2: other elite athletes. I mean, I the only way it
Speaker 2: works is if Lebron James somehow becomes twenty three years old.
Speaker 3: Again, I don't think that's gonna work.
Speaker 2: Or you could potentially trade the only real piece you
Speaker 2: could besides Austin Reeves is Anthony Davis. If he traded
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis for like Donovan Mitchell or Paul George, I
Speaker 2: don't see any scenario short of that where this team
Speaker 2: can actually do what it needs to do, which is
Speaker 2: to win a title, the let alone even contend for
Speaker 2: a title like this is not a team in the
Speaker 2: top six and the fact that they're five hundred right
Speaker 2: now is a testament to how great Lebron James has been.
Speaker 2: He has been fucking amazing, Like we can't say enough
Speaker 2: how good he is at this age. And it still
Speaker 2: doesn't matter because without him, this team is twelfth, thirteenth
Speaker 2: in the West with a lovely, sweet, very athletic light
Speaker 2: bulb who gets paid forty six million dollars and is
Speaker 2: an anchor bringing your entire fucking franchise down to the
Speaker 2: basement in the West. That's all the time that we
Speaker 2: have for the Heat Check. We will be back Monday
Speaker 2: evening with a new episode from all of us here
Speaker 2: at Odissey. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy whatever holiday that
Speaker 2: you enjoy. If you just passed with the winter solstice,
Speaker 2: Happy Solstice to you have a joyous holiday folks. Please
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Speaker 2: see you Monday. Lady, to my intended tempt