Speaker 1: You're you're listening to The Hottest, The Hottest. It be
Speaker 1: a podcast out here. I said what I said. It's
Speaker 1: the Heat Check, Heat Check Check.
Speaker 2: It's just on this episode of the Heat Check. Oh.
Speaker 2: I'm fired up about a lot, baby, but we'll just
Speaker 2: keep it to basketball right now. I'm fired up about
Speaker 2: Harden and the LA Clippers. You know, I got some
Speaker 2: thoughts on that. The Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins. Someone
Speaker 2: says him, he gets the SoundBite of the week. We
Speaker 2: got a surprise winner in a lot going on, William,
Speaker 2: So uh, do me a favor and drop that motherfucker
Speaker 2: beat that should be Rihanna. Oh, we gotta talk about this.
Speaker 2: I know we do. When I know it might just
Speaker 2: might blow up in my face because it hasn't been
Speaker 2: enough of a sample size. It might fix itself, but
Speaker 2: let's be in all reality, it's not gonna fix itself.
Speaker 2: I am fired up about the most unseerious basketball player
Speaker 2: to call himself a superstar in my lifetime in the
Speaker 2: Association in twenty twenty three, mister loaf, mister fatsuit, mister
Speaker 2: James Fucking Harden. Harden has now taken his circus to
Speaker 2: La where he is now fucking up the chemistry of
Speaker 2: another team, and three games in he's got an entire
Speaker 2: fan base stripping themselves of their own DNA, cannibalizing each
Speaker 2: other like it's the fucking Hunger Games. The Clipper fan
Speaker 2: base in all four of them are at each other's throats,
Speaker 2: calling for Tyloo's job to be fired into the sun,
Speaker 2: Hardened to be benched, Russ to be benched, Kawhi to
Speaker 2: ask out for an entire dismantling of the organization in
Speaker 2: just one week, one week everything with simpatico Clippers fans,
Speaker 2: we're happy Harden gets there and is just chaos. Here
Speaker 2: is the top line. The Clippers are now zero in
Speaker 2: three with James Harden on the team. Harden is a
Speaker 2: negative thirty nine plus minus over that span. That's what
Speaker 2: it took three losses, Harden as a minus thirty nine
Speaker 2: in three games for mass panic on the streets. There
Speaker 2: is blood, there is fire, it's an explosion out there
Speaker 2: at the arena. In all seriousness, it's not just that
Speaker 2: the Clippers are losing, it's how James Harden is playing.
Speaker 2: I think that is the problem. So there's this clip
Speaker 2: right that goes viral on Friday night. So James Harden
Speaker 2: half heartedly decides I'm gonna cut. I'm gonna cut to
Speaker 2: the basket, and James Alert, Alert. When you cut to
Speaker 2: the basket, people are going to be looking to pass
Speaker 2: you the ball. It was like James Harden didn't even
Speaker 2: consider that I am going to cut to the basket
Speaker 2: for no other reason. Half heartedly too, for no other
Speaker 2: reason than just I don't know to clear out. So
Speaker 2: Paul George tries to pass James the ball and he's
Speaker 2: unaware that it's coming his direction and it just goes
Speaker 2: out of bounce. Some of the most unseerious basketball going on.
Speaker 2: And to call James Harden disinterested would be doing a
Speaker 2: disservice to the word disinterested. What the fuck, James, what
Speaker 2: the literal fuck? You're supposed to be revived? There? You
Speaker 2: look like a corpse on the basketball court. The whole
Speaker 2: world is watching you, and you don't seem to mind.
Speaker 2: You think it's just fun and games. You're just an MVP.
Speaker 2: You can turn it on whenever you want. But guess what,
Speaker 2: it's bad. And I think it's gonna get worse. I
Speaker 2: think it's gonna get much much worse. He was supposed
Speaker 2: to be the guy Harden that raised the ceiling for
Speaker 2: the Clippers, and what James Harden has done is lowered
Speaker 2: the floor. That is insane. You trade all your pieces,
Speaker 2: all your role players, all your depth for one massively
Speaker 2: overpaid guy at the end of his career on an
Speaker 2: expiring contract, and guess what, and guess what and guess what.
Speaker 2: It fucked up the chemistry and now you guys are
Speaker 2: taking heavy yells and I think Terrence Man hates him.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure Terrence Man the key
Speaker 2: piece in the trade that didn't end up getting traded.
Speaker 2: You saw it in the clip. James Harden's or makes
Speaker 2: his arrival, walks into the locker room, and Terrence Man
Speaker 2: in his slides, looks up from his phone for about
Speaker 2: two seconds, rolls his eyes, and goes back to his
Speaker 2: phone again. Here are some interesting stats, and I know
Speaker 2: it's a small data set, but I do not care.
Speaker 2: The Clippers before James Harden were fifth in offensive rating,
Speaker 2: fourth and defensive rating third in net rating. After James
Speaker 2: Harden arrived, twenty fifth in offensive rating, twenty eighth in
Speaker 2: defensive rating, twenty seventh in net rating, that is very stark.
Speaker 2: In three games, that's actually impressive. Actually, to be able
Speaker 2: to destroy a team that fast is actually quite stunning.
Speaker 2: They were the best big three in all of basketball
Speaker 2: were Paul George Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook before Harden
Speaker 2: got there, and now that he's in the mix, integrating
Speaker 2: him into the offense has been mass chaos. So what's
Speaker 2: the problem, Like why? Well, TYLERU Tyler thinks that the
Speaker 2: problem is that James Harden's trying to assimilate too much. Hey, James,
Speaker 2: we don't need you to fit in. We need us
Speaker 2: to run everything through you. We need James to be James.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, ty No, you don't, No, you don't. Harden
Speaker 2: says he needs ten games to figure out where he's
Speaker 2: at in terms of his in shapeness, in terms of
Speaker 2: his ability to get guys the ball, to get the
Speaker 2: feel of the team. And I think that's true. Let's
Speaker 2: be real, James Harden didn't practice, he didn't go through
Speaker 2: training camp, he didn't do any live on ball stuff.
Speaker 2: He was basically chilling. So yeah, this is his training camp,
Speaker 2: and so it's probably gonna be ugly, but I am
Speaker 2: starting to fear that James Harden might be washed. I
Speaker 2: really am. And to say that James Harden and Russell
Speaker 2: Westbrook don't work together is an understatement. It didn't really
Speaker 2: work in Okay, see except for that James Harden came
Speaker 2: off the bench and he was six man. It really
Speaker 2: didn't work in Houston. And I am certain it's not
Speaker 2: gonna work now. And Westbrook was absolutely cooking before Harden
Speaker 2: got there. He was running the offense. He was putting
Speaker 2: up points, getting steels, getting blocks, getting rebounds. He looked
Speaker 2: vintage Russ. Now looks like he was on the LA Lakers,
Speaker 2: absolutely lost, uncertain where to be, uncertain what his role is,
Speaker 2: Uncertain how much time he's gonna get. I tell you what,
Speaker 2: help Russell Westbrook out? Can we get some delineated roles
Speaker 2: in this bitch or what? As for Harden, I think
Speaker 2: it's time for him to come off the bench, I
Speaker 2: really do. I don't think any teams should make him
Speaker 2: the focal point of their offense ever, again, unless they're
Speaker 2: trying to lose as many games as humanly possible. The
Speaker 2: Guangdong Dragons shouldn't make James Harden the focal point of
Speaker 2: their offense. So no NBA in the association should do so. Either.
Speaker 2: He needs to adapt like we need Harden to receive ball,
Speaker 2: shoot ball. Receive ball, shoot ball, don't do anything else, James,
Speaker 2: do not put the ball in the four, do not heasy,
Speaker 2: do not pump fake, do not head fake. Definitely, do
Speaker 2: not step back, stand in the corner, catch and shoot.
Speaker 2: But he won't. But he won't. James Harden is who
Speaker 2: we thought Tobias Harris was passing up easy shots to
Speaker 2: take much much more difficult shots because they seem cooler.
Speaker 2: They look very much more cool in the highlights when
Speaker 2: you make them catch and shoot, not so sexy tween
Speaker 2: tweeny tween step back three splash looks pretty cool. That's
Speaker 2: the kind of thing the bad culture likes. Folks like
Speaker 2: I said, I think Harden should come off the bench.
Speaker 2: Let him be that version of Harden. Then if you
Speaker 2: want James Harden to run the offense and run the
Speaker 2: offense through him, do it against the scrubs. That's all
Speaker 2: I gotta say. Let him throw lobbs at Zubac all day.
Speaker 2: In the second quarter, midway through, when Paul George and
Speaker 2: Kahi are getting a breather, we are very close to
Speaker 2: finding out whether this mad scientist idea of throwing a
Speaker 2: bunch of all stars at a wall right before and
Speaker 2: arena opens up and they're all on expirings is gonna work.
Speaker 2: But my guess is no. If they don't work this time,
Speaker 2: I am betting that the wheels will fall off and
Speaker 2: then some drastic moves will happen for La where maybe
Speaker 2: we never think about him for the next decade. Cool
Speaker 2: new arena, though heurd it's gonna be awesome. Let's move forward.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the best SoundBite of the week, folks.
Speaker 2: Let me introduce you to Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins.
Speaker 2: You might not know who Taylor Jenkins is because his
Speaker 2: coaching style is somewhat hands off, which might shock no
Speaker 2: one considering that he is the coach of John Morant
Speaker 2: and Jah Moran's been doing whatever he wants for the
Speaker 2: last few years. But he's probably one of the most
Speaker 2: chill understated coaches in the entire league, probably least recognizable
Speaker 2: next to Mark Dagnall, who I still think may be
Speaker 2: actually a guy in witness protection. And the fact of
Speaker 2: the matter is, in all seriousness stories about de Mark dagnall,
Speaker 2: I get confused for stories about Taylor Jenkins and vice versa.
Speaker 2: My guy almost put a story in that was actually
Speaker 2: not about Taylor Jenkins, and I had to remove it
Speaker 2: because it was factually incorrect. Jenkins is not a guy
Speaker 2: all that being said that ever seeks the limelight. He
Speaker 2: is widely considered to be one of the nicest guys
Speaker 2: in basketball, which is when he decided to go absolutely
Speaker 2: nuclear in a press conference after a loss, which many
Speaker 2: of them are losses nowadays with Memphis, I expected him
Speaker 2: to be like factual mellow, maybe a little angry, But this, folks,
Speaker 2: was a whole new version of Taylor Jenkins. Let's listen in.
Speaker 3: You know a lot of calls that ended up not
Speaker 3: going your way in this game. Just how would you describe,
Speaker 3: you know, the feeling between yourself and the team, you know,
Speaker 3: when a game kind of plays out that way.
Speaker 4: Sure settle up one of the most poorly officiated games
Speaker 4: I've ever seen recorded.
Speaker 1: I'm fine with it. Fucking atrocious.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 4: Jaron Jackson plays twenty three minutes and is.
Speaker 1: In the paint all night.
Speaker 4: He's one of the most professional players in this league
Speaker 4: and gets a double technical foul and the excuse I
Speaker 4: get is that he's charging at an official.
Speaker 1: It's called de escalation.
Speaker 4: Twenty nine free throws to thirteen, and I'm not that coach.
Speaker 4: You can go back in the history. I've done this
Speaker 4: one other time. Our team is competing their asses off,
Speaker 4: competing their asses off, and this is what happens. The
Speaker 4: interactions right now with the officials, complete disrespect.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's coming.
Speaker 4: It's unbelievable, the looks on the faces when I'm trying
Speaker 4: to engage in conversation to defend our guys that are
Speaker 4: busting their tail right now, busting their tail. And Jaron
Speaker 4: Jackson's one of the most professional guys. And if you
Speaker 4: go watch the play, two possessions in a row, he
Speaker 4: gets hacked underneath the basket.
Speaker 1: Zero free throw attempts.
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to put a name on a jersey,
Speaker 4: and this guy should earn these fouls and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: Watch the game. Twenty nine free.
Speaker 4: Throws to basically like there was seven, and then at
Speaker 4: the end of the game a few more added. I
Speaker 4: don't understand it when guys are competing their tails off
Speaker 4: and we got stuff we can clean up. Sometimes we're grabbing,
Speaker 4: holed in, and one's like, oh man, here in the
Speaker 4: heat of the battle, when conversations are trying to be had,
Speaker 4: notices trying to be made on things that are happening,
Speaker 4: and there's not the enforcement of it.
Speaker 1: It blows my mind. What are we doing here? What
Speaker 1: are we doing?
Speaker 4: Our guys are competing their tails off. We gotta play better,
Speaker 4: we gotta coach better, we gotta play better. But I
Speaker 4: don't get tonight whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go back to the interactions stern, nothing, stonewall, ignoring,
Speaker 4: and then you wonder why guys are trying to compete.
Speaker 2: Oh, this is all time, all time, Taylor Jenkins rant.
Speaker 2: I could go back and listen to that a million
Speaker 2: more times. He is furious. What I gathered from that
Speaker 2: is that the referees hate the Memphis Grizzlies. Honestly, they
Speaker 2: hate you. They do not have time to be talking
Speaker 2: about your bullshit. Marcus Smart, John Morant, Derrick Rose on
Speaker 2: this team, and that right there is three strike sh're out.
Speaker 2: That right there is three strike sho out. I do
Speaker 2: not recall Taylor Jenkins ever coming out after rest before
Speaker 2: and he's not wrong, Like, have you ever known Taylor
Speaker 2: Jenkins to make waves at all. No, I didn't even
Speaker 2: think that was I was listening to that on Twitter.
Speaker 2: I didn't even think it was Taylor Jenkins. Grizzlies fans
Speaker 2: can back up this statement as well. Reddit is full
Speaker 2: of posts complaining about reffing before Jenkins weren't on this rant.
Speaker 2: I think this might be a long way coming. I
Speaker 2: honestly believe that this is a team that is down
Speaker 2: in the dumps, isn't playing good basketball, and the refs
Speaker 2: are like, you know what, fuck you, you know what,
Speaker 2: you get no calls, You're not getting any free throw attempts.
Speaker 2: You will be the worst team in the league. No
Speaker 2: suit for you. Memphis is one third of the way
Speaker 2: from having John Morant back and have won exactly one game.
Speaker 2: They could very easily be three and seventeen twenty games
Speaker 2: the end of the season. They are facing a very
Speaker 2: uphill battle to get the six seed. Like and that
Speaker 2: is an understatement, probably and Jaron Jackson now not getting
Speaker 2: any foul calls. Memphis might have one of the most
Speaker 2: brutal schedule of anyone over the next six weeks. They
Speaker 2: play the Red Hot Rockets three times, the Suns twice,
Speaker 2: the Celtics, the Wolves, the Lakers, Thunder and the Clippers.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, this is a team that could be
Speaker 2: shutting up shop before John Morant even gets back into
Speaker 2: the door. No wonder Taylor Jenisons is losing to Got
Speaker 2: that one.