Speaker 1: Come home on this episode of the Heat Check. Guess what,
Speaker 1: another COVID episode. Just when, just when I thought maybe
Speaker 1: my obligatory COVID episode was done for the year. Since
Speaker 1: that dropped literally a week ago, shit has hit the
Speaker 1: fan even more. Goddamn Omarion. With that being said, Brock
Speaker 1: dropped that motherfucking beat. So we did the COVID show
Speaker 1: last week and then guess what, shit fucking got worse? Yeah,
Speaker 1: how bad has it gotten in the last week. We
Speaker 1: are currently approaching one hundred NBA players currently in health
Speaker 1: and safety protocols, the vast majority of them having caught
Speaker 1: the omar On variants. Here's where I have to remind
Speaker 1: you to go to math school. There is only four
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty active NBA players at any given time
Speaker 1: in the league. That's fucking a quarter of the league
Speaker 1: that's currently quarantining. Like right now, a quarter of the
Speaker 1: NBA is in health and safety protocols and Adam Silver
Speaker 1: and the NBA are in full crisis mode. Now of
Speaker 1: course they're like, what do we do? Like these guys
Speaker 1: can't even field full rosters, Like it's just the YMCA
Speaker 1: after a Saturday night, Like and you get there on
Speaker 1: Sunday morning, and like it's just you and three people.
Speaker 1: That's currently where we're at. Like as of the recording
Speaker 1: of this show, they've now canceled seven games or postpone
Speaker 1: that I guess. And although Adam Silver has made it
Speaker 1: clear that I paused to the season is not going
Speaker 1: to happen, even though he's keeping his eye on the NHL,
Speaker 1: which has paused the season, I don't know what that means.
Speaker 1: It means he is not sure what to do, like
Speaker 1: I said, and and that's a lie, Like I think
Speaker 1: he might have to put it on pause. Not sure
Speaker 1: because maybe, just maybe he should have thought of that
Speaker 1: before he created an entire eighty two game season and
Speaker 1: not said, Okay, for first half, he's gonna be schedule
Speaker 1: and then we'll evaluate after that's Nope, Nope, that's what
Speaker 1: they did last year. Seven two games. Half the season
Speaker 1: was planned out in advance, and they said, we'll see
Speaker 1: where we're at. We'll make adjustments. Given that the entire
Speaker 1: Wizard's roster has had COVID for two straight weeks, like
Speaker 1: we're gonna need to backload some of these games, give
Speaker 1: him some and then we'll figure out when the playoffs
Speaker 1: really start. We've got buffers in in place. Concerts are
Speaker 1: gonna have to wait. No, they said, unless something extraordinary happens,
Speaker 1: things are good. And now they have had some extraordinary
Speaker 1: circumstances happen and extraordinary rules implemented. Just to keep playing.
Speaker 1: The nets played and won with only eight players on
Speaker 1: the roster. The other night, teams are struggling. Teams are
Speaker 1: struggling just to put out players we know, struggling to
Speaker 1: put out players that can actually be in shape to
Speaker 1: play full minutes and to make sure they have enough
Speaker 1: warm bodies on the floor. The NBA has passed a
Speaker 1: new extraordinary rule allowing expanded rosters. This is what shams
Speaker 1: or shams tweeted out. Whatever shams or shamps unless sure
Speaker 1: scham so that's rude, that's rude. I like shams. He's great.
Speaker 1: The NBA will allow teams to sign one replacement player
Speaker 1: for each player who's under contract and test positive for
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. Remember one hundred of them are in cell
Speaker 1: health and safety portal calls right now. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of dudes that they can replace, effective immediately through January nineteenth.
Speaker 1: What happens after januinely, what happens on January twentieth, I
Speaker 1: guarantee it's like they extend that. The nice part though
Speaker 1: for teams is that in every new signed player under
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen hardship rule, it's not even a hardship though,
Speaker 1: get boosted fam and then maybe you can play some hoops.
Speaker 1: Does not count towards the salary cap or the luxury
Speaker 1: tax threshold. So cheap ass teams can sign these ten
Speaker 1: day guys and they don't get taxed for it, and
Speaker 1: they don't need to like doesn't add to their situation
Speaker 1: with the cap. Also, they revolt the ten day contract
Speaker 1: rules that stated that a player could only play so
Speaker 1: many games before you have to convert him to a
Speaker 1: full contract, So guys can literally just be ten days
Speaker 1: through the end of the season. Probably you're gonna find
Speaker 1: some former G League player who's on like seven or
Speaker 1: eight different ten day contracts like between now and the
Speaker 1: end of the season, which is tremendous. What does all
Speaker 1: of that mean, First and foremost, I think it means
Speaker 1: that the league goes on even in the face of
Speaker 1: mounting pressure to cancel games during and do to the pandemic,
Speaker 1: and those games that have been postponed have been really
Speaker 1: not because they care about health or safety, but because
Speaker 1: they couldn't find enough plumbers in enough time to field
Speaker 1: eight guys. Like if Toronto had the ability to pull
Speaker 1: up their g leigue guys and bring them to the
Speaker 1: roster by tonight, they wouldn't have postponed the games. If
Speaker 1: it was like just Kembirch and Scottie Barnes and Greg
Speaker 1: Monroe and some guys from the Washington go Gos and
Speaker 1: they could get up to Toronto in time and pass
Speaker 1: all tests and blah blah blah blah blah, they'd be playing.
Speaker 1: They do not. They're not postponing them because there's just
Speaker 1: covid is in the air. It's Mady holadays, covid is
Speaker 1: all up in the No, it's not because of that.
Speaker 1: It's because they literally don't have enough physical human beings
Speaker 1: that they can play the game with care. The quality
Speaker 1: of humans. It literally can be mister Plumber from Quebec
Speaker 1: on the Toronto Raptors. They do not care ten day
Speaker 1: contract for mister plumber. First and foremost, and second secondly,
Speaker 1: teams are gonna have to be flexible. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to be flexible, moving forward. Even the NBA Christmas slate
Speaker 1: is now up in the air. We'll say it's two
Speaker 1: days way. The Knicks game apparently may be upended by COVID.
Speaker 1: They're saying that, Okay, we're gonna give you twenty four
Speaker 1: hours notice at the very latest. You might hear whether
Speaker 1: you're playing or not by Christmas Eve in the evenings
Speaker 1: in the eves. This is like now when Jason Kidd
Speaker 1: had his team running practice on Christmas Eve and they
Speaker 1: didn't get to go home, like you were the random
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzly team. You guys are, have the most complete
Speaker 1: roster of full NBA caliber guys. I know that you're
Speaker 1: not slated to play on the Christmas slate. Guess what
Speaker 1: you are now. I know you had some thoughts and
Speaker 1: prayers out to you and your family. Happy Holidays, like
Speaker 1: you're playing on Christmas Day. Like we don't care. They
Speaker 1: do not give a fuck back to backs. Now they're saying,
Speaker 1: are going to make up for the growing number of
Speaker 1: makeup dates that will fill the back end of the schedule.
Speaker 1: And we all hate this, especially gamblers. We don't even
Speaker 1: know who's gonna play until game time. NBA is not
Speaker 1: even giving the right designations for the injuries, which we've
Speaker 1: talked about, and now the NBA is going to have
Speaker 1: to find teams that are not giving designations until all
Speaker 1: the way up until because listen, also, television rights contracts
Speaker 1: depend on mark he stars. So if it's like Steph
Speaker 1: Curry's got COVID or Steph Curry's got a sprain ankle,
Speaker 1: and you don't even say until no, Steph Curry at tip,
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, fifty thousand dollars five for you. Third,
Speaker 1: Although the NBA has figured out how to continue playing,
Speaker 1: I think the main issue, which is the million dollar question.
Speaker 1: The billion dollar question is fans. Will fans be an arenas,
Speaker 1: Will they be playing in front of fans or not.
Speaker 1: There's growing concern that having fans in the midst of
Speaker 1: the omarian surge will have catastrophic effects. We talked about
Speaker 1: this last week, Right, Okay, nobody's really doing the whole
Speaker 1: like this is a highly contagious virus thing. They're not
Speaker 1: really taking that into account. So you don't test a
Speaker 1: fully vaccinated player. He's walking around with COVID, he's a symptomatic,
Speaker 1: he's in a stadium with a fan, The fans wearing
Speaker 1: a mask. The fan also, so it was maybe vaccinate,
Speaker 1: maybe not. They go home to grandmama, Grandmama gets sick,
Speaker 1: Grandmama dies. Now you've got COVID tracing. And now you
Speaker 1: find out you've got a player who had COVID who
Speaker 1: you didn't tell anyone had COVID because they don't announce that,
Speaker 1: like you're not testing them. Finds out he's got COVID.
Speaker 1: You got death. Now you've got disorder. Now you've got
Speaker 1: big time legal issues. Right, you can't have a roster
Speaker 1: full of guys who may have COVID and are asymptomatic
Speaker 1: playing in games with fans like you just that they
Speaker 1: could be the most spreadable variant to date, and this
Speaker 1: could end up being in a crowd of two twenty
Speaker 1: thousand people, fifteen thousand people in there like a super
Speaker 1: spreader event. Remember where was it? Someplace in the South
Speaker 1: where they had an election like a campaign event, and
Speaker 1: they had like a big rally and it was like
Speaker 1: a super spreader event for COVID. Then, like what imagine
Speaker 1: one of those fans, like I said, going home and
Speaker 1: getting someone sick like this is a fuel for a nightmare.
Speaker 1: One writer noted at the nation. I don't even know
Speaker 1: this place, but this is the that's the that's it.
Speaker 1: That's the place. The NBA has decided that someone will
Speaker 1: be taking the court, even if a team has to
Speaker 1: play a fifth string guard pulled off the streets. It's
Speaker 1: not discussing limiting seating in arenas or retreating back to
Speaker 1: the bubble. It has decided that the television money and
Speaker 1: the gate receipts are worth not only a probable increase
Speaker 1: spread of the contagion across our population, but also the
Speaker 1: possible devaluing of the product. All of that to say,
Speaker 1: fuck you fans, fuck your grandmother, and fuck this product
Speaker 1: that you think is keeping you distracted in the middle
Speaker 1: of a two and a half year long virus that's
Speaker 1: making you go out of your fucking mind. In fact,
Speaker 1: one of the few things that Adam Silver said, and
Speaker 1: he is absolutely unwavering in, is that there is not
Speaker 1: going to be a bubble. Nope. Because they talked with
Speaker 1: the MVPA Player Association. No nobody wants to go back
Speaker 1: to the bubble. Even though nobody got COVID inside the
Speaker 1: bubble and nobody died as a result, no fans got
Speaker 1: sick and Fourthly, you know, we're not sure, and we
Speaker 1: will have no idea who's good and who's bad as
Speaker 1: a team until like late in the season because we've
Speaker 1: got plumbers and like electricians coming in and playing basketball,
Speaker 1: and like we don't even know who these full rosters
Speaker 1: are or what they look like. And at no team
Speaker 1: and no time in history has roster construction been so
Speaker 1: incredibly fluid. Like teams that can stay healthiest to me
Speaker 1: are the teams that are going to be rolling the season.
Speaker 1: Teams like Phoenix. Phoenix is seventy five degrees all the time,
Speaker 1: like except for the summer, Like it's beautiful there right now.
Speaker 1: You wonder why nobody's had COVID on Phoenix. Like you
Speaker 1: never hear about anybody in health and safety protocols. It's
Speaker 1: like everything's at outdoor event all things like you've got
Speaker 1: you know, Chicago and Cleveland where it's tiny little spaces
Speaker 1: and it's cold as fuck, and you're like, the whole
Speaker 1: team has COVID except for Lonzo Ball. Like Lonzo Ball
Speaker 1: is massed up, double triple massed up, and he goes
Speaker 1: home and he plays video games and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not gonna do anything, and like that's
Speaker 1: that's it. Like it's gonna become a point where your
Speaker 1: scouting report is, like what does this guy do on weekends?
Speaker 1: Does he do anything? Is he a partier? Like I
Speaker 1: like Paolo Bancaro, but like does he have a penchant
Speaker 1: to go to the clubs? Like because I don't want
Speaker 1: a guy like that on my team because he could
Speaker 1: end up having COVID. Like that's where we are right now,
Speaker 1: Like we don't have a bubble because guys like Lou
Speaker 1: Williams will go to fucking Magic City, come back, get
Speaker 1: some wings, and then spread COVID everywhere get fined. So
Speaker 1: to recap, you've got a league, the NHL, which uses
Speaker 1: helmets and masks and is barely like in close contact
Speaker 1: because they're on skates, has like very little close contacts
Speaker 1: and like they're pausing the season. And then you've got
Speaker 1: another league that is like basically people who are naked,
Speaker 1: just shorts and a tank top and they're breathing and
Speaker 1: sweating and spitting and bleeding all over one another. And
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, Isaiah Stewart was bleeding all over his
Speaker 1: face and body, and I'm just that's just what they're doing.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say which league is right in
Speaker 1: which league is wrong because I have an NBA podcast,
Speaker 1: so I don't have an NHL podcast, or maybe I've
Speaker 1: had have some different things to say about what the
Speaker 1: NBA is doing, truthfully, but goddamn it, it does not
Speaker 1: seem like this. Like you know when you see something
Speaker 1: and you're watching it and you can't exactly put your
Speaker 1: finger on why, but you're like, this doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: a great idea. You know, I'm not gonna speculate how
Speaker 1: this is gonna turn out poorly, but it just doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like this is gonna be a smooth exit. And
Speaker 1: that's what I think is happening. Right, You've got like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just that it doesn't seem like a
Speaker 1: recipe for success here. And Adam Silver said on ESPN
Speaker 1: just the other day, NBA players are ninety seven percent
Speaker 1: vaccinated and only sixty five percent boosted. To me, that
Speaker 1: seems like the most likely first step. Maybe get that
Speaker 1: number up to ninety seven percent if you're testing players
Speaker 1: outside of the parking lot of the When NBA players
Speaker 1: come in, they're getting tested, which they are right as
Speaker 1: soon as they get out of the cars. It's maybe
Speaker 1: time to say in addition to this test, we got
Speaker 1: them on Durna Booster, what do you think hey, just
Speaker 1: like offer it to them. Hey, I know you're uh,
Speaker 1: you're going in practice, but what do you think about
Speaker 1: I'm Jerner Booster, what do you think about a Jane
Speaker 1: j Like? Can I offer you this? And maybe you'll
Speaker 1: get some guys saying yes, that's the bare minimum. They
Speaker 1: have it everywhere, so why not do it? And then
Speaker 1: who's playing on Christmas? I have no idea. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It might be a team. We don't even know the
Speaker 1: names yet. You had Austin Rivers on a live stream
Speaker 1: being like, I don't know how to scout for guys.
Speaker 1: I've never seen these human beings before. These guys that
Speaker 1: I'm playing against, I don't know what they do. I
Speaker 1: don't even know if these left handed are right handed?
Speaker 1: Who is he? I don't know. I don't even know
Speaker 1: if he came from the G League overseas? Who else?
Speaker 1: We might have games, and we do have games like
Speaker 1: we might not recognize half these players and why The
Speaker 1: question is why is the NBA doing it this way?
Speaker 1: Because fuck them? That's why like that's basically what they're
Speaker 1: saying to us. We want our money. We want it now.
Speaker 1: We're ABC, We're ESPN, We're Disney, and Mickey Mouse is
Speaker 1: having a hard time making money these days, and Mickey
Speaker 1: Mouse needs something to go. Oh boy, you know, and
Speaker 1: the machine must continue to go. There's too many millions
Speaker 1: at steak and in order to get those ESPN ads
Speaker 1: in front of you on Christmas Day, the show wants
Speaker 1: a hold.
Speaker 2: Up, wait a minute, All good, Just the week ago
Speaker 2: crew at my house and we party every weekend. So
Speaker 2: on the radio. That's my favorite song. Make me bounce
Speaker 2: around like I don't know, like I won't be here
Speaker 2: long now. The thriller's gone, got no patience, I mean.
Speaker 1: Is covid stuff. It's not all bad, not all just
Speaker 1: dark clouds and game because at least Marque's Chris gets
Speaker 1: another shot at the NBA. I was lost wondering what
Speaker 1: he was doing. I've been thinking staying up nights being
Speaker 1: like I wonder where Marquise Chris is right now. He
Speaker 1: is just one of my favorite irrelevant players and now
Speaker 1: he's back, he is here. I needed my Marque's Chris fix.
Speaker 1: Like take the words of Celtics coach Ema Udoka. This
Speaker 1: is the best time in history to be a G
Speaker 1: League guy, or a free agent player, or a forty
Speaker 1: year old trying dying to get back in the league.
Speaker 1: Lance Stevenson is on a roster, folks. Yes, if you've
Speaker 1: been struggling overseas to get on a roster, you've been
Speaker 1: in Israel like, or you're toiling for the Iowa Energy
Speaker 1: for a few years, or fuck it like, say you're old,
Speaker 1: you don't want to play around in the G League
Speaker 1: to try to get back in. Maybe been on the
Speaker 1: Big Three hanging out? Now is your time. The Winter
Speaker 1: Showcase just took place in Vegas and there were guys
Speaker 1: who have never been on a G League roster ever
Speaker 1: in history. They showed up, played one G League game
Speaker 1: in front of real NBA executives who are evaluating them,
Speaker 1: were signed as soon as the game was over. This
Speaker 1: is not an exaggeration. As soon as the game, sweat
Speaker 1: on your face, towel over your neck, Hey, do you
Speaker 1: want to come play for the Houston Rockets? Well, actually
Speaker 1: not the Houston Rockets because they're actually getting rid of guys.
Speaker 1: But you know what I'm saying, point stands So with
Speaker 1: those new rules that we just talked about, there's an
Speaker 1: absolute bonanza of signings. Players who haven't played in years
Speaker 1: now getting run because of this expanded roster rule. Guys
Speaker 1: like Isaiah Thomas are in the starting lineup, got signed
Speaker 1: one day next day in the starting lineup for the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers. What are we talking about right now?
Speaker 1: This is a reality that is not a joke. It
Speaker 1: sounds like a joke, but it's not a joke. Slow
Speaker 1: grind turned into a fast fucking cry for Isiah Thomas.
Speaker 1: Boom kidding me? Mike Marquise Chris has not played since
Speaker 1: the twenty nineteen season. Back up and down, guys like
Speaker 1: Admiral Schofield back, Langston Galloway back, Alphonso McKinney, Emmanuel Moodier,
Speaker 1: Wnyon Gabriel, Portland legend, Theo Pinson, Justin Jackson, North Carolina
Speaker 1: legend back in the league, Lance blow him a kiss.
Speaker 1: Stevenson back in the league. CJ. Miles, fifteen year veteran,
Speaker 1: has not played since twenty nineteen, three years ago. Back.
Speaker 1: There are a ton of players also now that you've
Speaker 1: never heard of on NBA rosters. Second, never in your
Speaker 1: life heard these words edtered out of my mouth. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go there, Quindary Weatherspoon, Joe, Mario Jones, Trevlyn, Queen Hasani,
Speaker 1: Gravit names I don't even know if I'm pronouncing them correctly.
Speaker 1: Even get this. It's Christmas time. Charlie Brown is on
Speaker 1: our roster. Charlie Brown. These guys are in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna get minutes. These guys you've never heard
Speaker 1: of their names, getting minutes no matter what happens, no
Speaker 1: matter how long this lasts for, they can say for
Speaker 1: the end of time they were in an NBA player, I
Speaker 1: played in the NBA. I did I played this game.
Speaker 1: They probably gonna queue it up on their Infinity app.
Speaker 1: Is gonna be saved, save this thing extended out another
Speaker 1: hour in case we go to overtime. Every minute of
Speaker 1: this action is now going to be recorded in history.
Speaker 1: They're gonna even get baseball cards, basketball cards, excuse me, NFTs.
Speaker 1: Probably they're gonna be on top shot. You imagine like
Speaker 1: G League Scrubs top shot that's gotta get sold. Who knows,
Speaker 1: Maybe there'll be a game where Charlie Brown gets seventeen
Speaker 1: to eight and eight and he gets sign of a
Speaker 1: big contract like these are. This is the American dream
Speaker 1: happening right here. This is the unintended consequence of COVID.
Speaker 1: COVID just making dreams come true. Truthfully, when would Charlie
Speaker 1: Brown have ever gotten a look by any real NBA executive?
Speaker 1: He there are real scouts putting their eyeballs on film
Speaker 1: and evaluating Charlie Brown. Think about that, like they've watched
Speaker 1: tape of him and like, oh yeah, he's like got
Speaker 1: a decent crosser. They would never even look at him. Never.
Speaker 1: The NBA is impossible to break into unless you've gotten
Speaker 1: a huge break and it's kind of a racket because
Speaker 1: they'd rather recycle these like dudes like Jared Dudley or
Speaker 1: you know, you've got like DeAndre Jordan, who's trash. They
Speaker 1: got one of the worst plus minuses in NBA history,
Speaker 1: just keeps ending up on rosters just because of what
Speaker 1: he did in twenty twelve, And like guys like Charlie Brown,
Speaker 1: you never know, never know. My favorite signing though, by far,
Speaker 1: Iso Joe is back. Yes, he is forty year old
Speaker 1: Joe Johnson who has been just killing in the Big
Speaker 1: Three since leaving the league in twenty seventeen was just
Speaker 1: signed by the Celtics. Dude is still bucket, I guess.
Speaker 1: But come on, you're gonna play on Christmas Day. You
Speaker 1: got Joe Iso Joe playing on Christmas Day, folks. And
Speaker 1: let me just say this. His nickname I went through
Speaker 1: because you know, the insane person just he has a nickname,
Speaker 1: maybe the greatest NBA nickname I've ever heard. The Armadillo Cowboy. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Armadillo Cowboy coming in. That's the lead we're gonna get into.
Speaker 1: Why what a tremendous story about how you got that nickname.
Speaker 1: But and all that reminds me of this is like,
Speaker 1: you got the Armadillo Iso Joe Cowboy playing on Christmas Day,
Speaker 1: and you have a seven footer who can shoot three
Speaker 1: and handle the rock out of Illinois by the name
Speaker 1: of Meyers Leonard and he is not even sniffing a job.
Speaker 1: Think about that, folks. You've got a guy who was
Speaker 1: paid ten million a year just a year ago playing
Speaker 1: on the Miami Heat who now no one will even
Speaker 1: look he is a leper in the NBA. What that
Speaker 1: says to me is that there are owners with a
Speaker 1: certain line they allow things to slide. Probably like domestic
Speaker 1: violence and other things they do not and the red
Speaker 1: line for them for a seven footer with a three
Speaker 1: pointer getting run with the Toronto Raptors. Instead of him
Speaker 1: getting run, he's selling his million dollar mansion and pushing
Speaker 1: his energy company that he co founded with his wife.
Speaker 1: And the question is why, because the hard line is
Speaker 1: a word. I'm not even gonna say it. You can't
Speaker 1: say the name. The slur, the racial slur is where
Speaker 1: you end up crossing the line, folks, That's what it is.
Speaker 1: So instead of playing hoops, he's selling all of his
Speaker 1: assets and he started a new nutritional company and he's
Speaker 1: out the league. So get used to seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of familiar names as well as unfamiliar names the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. And I tell you what this is
Speaker 1: just Oh, we are just on O Marion right now.
Speaker 1: Think about P Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z like, think about how many more variants
Speaker 1: and then we could circle back around to the beginning
Speaker 1: of the alphabet all over again, folks. Maybe there'll be
Speaker 1: an Alfonso variant. Maybe we'll start getting into new global
Speaker 1: variant names. Who knows. This is just the glipse into
Speaker 1: the NBA's future. And who knows, maybe we'll see Charlie
Speaker 1: Brown on the front cover of a wheeze box.
Speaker 2: And you know why you've been fucking with me since
Speaker 2: I was a small five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, text, that's my little guy.
Speaker 2: I know something consider co sign I'm on the West
Speaker 2: side and sign.
Speaker 1: You know, we can't talk about Kobe without talking about Kyrie.
Speaker 1: In the wake of Joe Si capitulating going back on
Speaker 1: everything that he stood for and said apparently huge anti
Speaker 1: anti anti vaxxer right like very hard line on those
Speaker 1: who were COVID truthers, vaccination deniers, etcetera, etcetera, he came
Speaker 1: out explicitly stating we will not have Kyrie Irving on
Speaker 1: our roster if he can't play full time and he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to do what the City of New York
Speaker 1: says he needs to do to play, He's not gonna play.
Speaker 1: So what's best for our team. We can't have guys
Speaker 1: coming in and out of the roster, in, out of
Speaker 1: the lineup here, there, everywhere, not in shape, in shape,
Speaker 1: et cetera. And then this is what Sean Mark said
Speaker 1: about Kyrie's return. We arrived at this decision with the
Speaker 1: full support of our players and after full and careful
Speaker 1: consideration of our current circumstances. That's the keyword, including players
Speaker 1: missing games due to injuries and health and safety protocols.
Speaker 1: So yes, they're basically saying COVID is the reason that
Speaker 1: they have to bring this guy in who doesn't believe
Speaker 1: in vaccinations for COVID crazy, I know. First things first,
Speaker 1: Rolling Stone has to have an inside man because they've
Speaker 1: now done three four articles deep dives. There's got to
Speaker 1: be like fifteen thousand words that Rolling Stones has put
Speaker 1: out in the wake and all centered around Kyrie, mostly
Speaker 1: like something in the peripheral of Kyrie, and definitely all
Speaker 1: COVID related. How is Rolling Stones getting all this access?
Speaker 1: When did a music magazine turn into an NBA deep
Speaker 1: dive on medicine? Don't know, but it's happening. It's happening.
Speaker 1: So today a new article dropped on NBA, Kyrie, and COVID.
Speaker 1: Those are the three some by He's in with all
Speaker 1: three of those. So the big revelation of the story
Speaker 1: that got buried in the lead is that Kyrie the
Speaker 1: great the greatest story ever. Really, Kyrie gets allowed to
Speaker 1: come back. First day he gets there, pulls up, gets tested,
Speaker 1: has COVID, literally walks in the door with COVID. Are
Speaker 1: you fucking joking me? Like, that's amazing. Apparently he's now
Speaker 1: like as I saw it, it popped up. Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: is now in healthy safety protocols. I was like, he
Speaker 1: just got there. I was like, is this a part
Speaker 1: of this? Like is this a stipulation where it's like
Speaker 1: he's coming back into the fold. So basically he's within
Speaker 1: the health and safety protocols until he gets enough negative test. No,
Speaker 1: he had COVID, folks, he got there, tested, he got
Speaker 1: out of his car, test it boom, COVID. See you later,
Speaker 1: get back in your fucking car and go into isolation.
Speaker 1: What amazing? And then Iguodala comes out and talks about Kyrie.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, Kyrie's my man. I hope he shows
Speaker 1: his talent to the world and continues to prove me
Speaker 1: right that he's a top player. Ever, they don't want
Speaker 1: us to see his skill set though. His mind is
Speaker 1: too free. It's not it's not folks, because let me
Speaker 1: just say this, Kyrie's mind is so not free. He's
Speaker 1: apparently only gonna take the vaccine if it's plant based
Speaker 1: think about that words. I never thought I would ever google.
Speaker 1: I did today googled what is a plant based vaccine
Speaker 1: for COVID? I didn't know just so much the perfectly
Speaker 1: stated Kyrie Irving sentence. Ever, like, Kyrie Irving isn't against vaccines,
Speaker 1: He's just waiting for a plant that based vaccine for
Speaker 1: him to take. And you know what it's coming. Apparently
Speaker 1: a plant based vaccine out of Quebec City, of course
Speaker 1: is coming, is I mean? And let me just say
Speaker 1: I went down a rabbit hole to the point where
Speaker 1: I might not even even recorded this episode because I
Speaker 1: was like a health dot com plant based vaccine, like
Speaker 1: it goes literally, you're going to ship plants that have
Speaker 1: the vaccine and the spike protein, fake simulated, just like
Speaker 1: fake meat. It's like fake vaccine, right, It's like not
Speaker 1: quite the real meat from the cow, but it tastes
Speaker 1: like the burger. It's like the impossible burger for vaccines.
Speaker 1: That's basically what it is. And you can just chip
Speaker 1: the plant itself. It doesn't even need to be anything
Speaker 1: more than refrigerated. I don't know. I mean, there was
Speaker 1: so so much to it, I can't even explain. It
Speaker 1: was so complex. All I want to say is, apparently
Speaker 1: it's safer. I don't know. I am now back on
Speaker 1: the Kyrie irving sympathizer train again, because I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's ever been a human being more confusing and
Speaker 1: yet also as a former vegan, I understand it on
Speaker 1: like on a deep spiritual level. I went to a
Speaker 1: movie Softworks over Knives. Never ate meat for the next
Speaker 1: three and a half years, like just because of that,
Speaker 1: and I was hard fast, and I got it. I
Speaker 1: get Kyrie like he is actively vegan, and there is
Speaker 1: nothing more stubborn than an active vegan. Like they you
Speaker 1: can't tell them nothing, like you got vegans coming out
Speaker 1: talking about we shouldn't even have leather, we need to
Speaker 1: have synthetic leather because and it's like these cows are
Speaker 1: dying anyway, We're just gonna like, hey, you should just
Speaker 1: uh just throw the skin away. No more leather, like
Speaker 1: they are wild, these vegans. He's like he's not gonna
Speaker 1: compromise his stance whatsoever. It's like, I am vegan and
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna put anything in my body that's not
Speaker 1: plant based. And until then, I guess I'm just not
Speaker 1: gonna play basketball. Professionally, like that's the mentality of a vegan,
Speaker 1: like no compromises. This is my personal moral stance. When
Speaker 1: I was a vegan, I only drank nut milk that
Speaker 1: I made myself. I had a Vita mix and I
Speaker 1: had a nut milk bag and you put the you
Speaker 1: blend up, so basically you soak these nuts. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just go through it. You soak these nuts in the
Speaker 1: water for like twelve fifteen hours, and then you drain
Speaker 1: it and then you put it with water and vanilla
Speaker 1: bean into a blender and then you strain it through
Speaker 1: a nut milk blake and then it's actually pretty good,
Speaker 1: and then you put it in like a mason jar
Speaker 1: and then you drink it right. And there was nothing
Speaker 1: that Starbucks. Starbucks could do or say to convince me
Speaker 1: that they're all enjoy in a box wouldeverever touch my
Speaker 1: coffee in any way. And the coffee probably was tested
Speaker 1: on animals. Probably animals were killed growing that coffee bean
Speaker 1: in some way, But it was fine. All I needed
Speaker 1: to know was that I wasn't eating any meat and
Speaker 1: that I had nothing to do even though I probably
Speaker 1: did with animals being killed with my synthetic fake meat shit.
Speaker 1: That's veganism. Veganisms are like that. Veganisms are like Kyrie,
Speaker 1: and so I get it Kyrie, and so I kind
Speaker 1: of now understand why he wants to take this one.
Speaker 1: And he's waiting for this plant based vaccine over all
Speaker 1: the other like real active viruses injected into his veins.
Speaker 1: But also he's probably eating morning Star and morning Star
Speaker 1: isn't really meat, and truthfully, that means he probably doesn't
Speaker 1: care that much about his health because if you've seen
Speaker 1: the ingredients list of morning Star, it'll make your fucking
Speaker 1: like hair stand up on your hand. I mean, I
Speaker 1: digress all of that to say, Kyrie's back. All of
Speaker 1: that to say, and he might be back back with
Speaker 1: this new plant based vaccine, like playing home games. He
Speaker 1: might be back back, and that just who knows. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing. You know what this is all about.
Speaker 1: You know why the Nets changed their mind so rapidly.
Speaker 1: The New York Post hit it on the head when
Speaker 1: they said this. The Nets are a third of the
Speaker 1: way through the season and they haven't beaten a single
Speaker 1: really good team yet They've realized they can't win big
Speaker 1: without Kyrie. So COVID is the excuse that they're using
Speaker 1: all these players in health and safety protocols to bring
Speaker 1: him back. This's that's it, right there. That's the nail
Speaker 1: on the head. They needed an opening, a wedge to
Speaker 1: change their mind rapidly, and now they have one. And
Speaker 1: Joe side least was honest about it. He said, because
Speaker 1: he caught some flak after this. One eighty was egregious.
Speaker 1: One eighty he said, my only religion, It's amazing. My
Speaker 1: only religion is to win game teams and to win
Speaker 1: the championship. That's where we are. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people are either pro vax or anti vax. People
Speaker 1: are mad at me for taking one stance or the other.
Speaker 1: But I have said from the very beginning, I'm not
Speaker 1: taking this as a political thing. I'm doing this to
Speaker 1: help the Brooklyn Nets win a championship. Paul's I don't
Speaker 1: think that's exactly true. I think he had some very
Speaker 1: very serious comments about that. Joe SI, Kyrie Irving's decision
Speaker 1: is about the team, not him. Joe SI says choice
Speaker 1: to not have Kyrie Irving play is a decision for
Speaker 1: the team's best interest. Says that he's not going to
Speaker 1: speak to Kyrie until he gets vaccinated. That's his own belief.
Speaker 1: But I have to make this team decision, and we
Speaker 1: are not. It is not tenable for us to have
Speaker 1: a team with the player that comes in and out,
Speaker 1: no home games, only away games. What do you even
Speaker 1: do for practice at Okay, Joe sigh. Okay, here's the thing, Kadi.
Speaker 1: If Katie had a co star that was a real
Speaker 1: co star, Like if James Harden was the James hard
Speaker 1: we know in his MVP season and not the James
Speaker 1: Harden whatever James Harden is that we are seeing now.
Speaker 1: If they had a better offense, like the offense that
Speaker 1: they had last year where they were number one in
Speaker 1: the league instead of fourteenth in the league, it's closer
Speaker 1: to the top top, and they didn't have to have
Speaker 1: these monumental performances from Kevin Durant two years off of
Speaker 1: an achilles in NiCl and the Olympics, he was averaging
Speaker 1: thirty seven minutes a night, by the way, in order
Speaker 1: to beat the fucking Charlotte Hornets, for God's sake, Like,
Speaker 1: if we didn't need that level of performance for Katie
Speaker 1: in order for them to just stay in the mix,
Speaker 1: I don't know. The number one in the East. But
Speaker 1: this is not the same team. Then Kevin Drank wouldn't
Speaker 1: give a shit where Kyrie Irving was. Kyrie Irving wouldn't
Speaker 1: be me sniffing the roster knowing to be talking about
Speaker 1: him right now. That's he'd be on his couch burning stage.
Speaker 1: And but that's not what's going on. Harden's not himself.
Speaker 1: Joe Harris is dead, probably gonna be traded, like Joe
Speaker 1: Harris is out for the season. He's done, Probably gonna
Speaker 1: be traded. Blake Griffin, He's not Dunky anymore. He's back
Speaker 1: to Detroit Pistons Blake, which is probably one of the
Speaker 1: worst versions of Blake we've ever seen. Nick Clason has
Speaker 1: always been Payotian human form, like you cannot rely on.
Speaker 1: It's not even, it's not even. It's like you don't
Speaker 1: know what you're gonna get from him. One night you
Speaker 1: might have a wonderful experience of luxury and psychedelics. The
Speaker 1: other you're like, this is a bad trip. He missed
Speaker 1: four free throws in a row and crush time. He
Speaker 1: can't have this guy as your starting center. LaMarcus Aldridge
Speaker 1: has a heart murmer who knows how long, he's gonna play,
Speaker 1: got guys like David Duke Junior getting minutes. Like that's
Speaker 1: where we're at right now. So KD knees reinforcements, put
Speaker 1: pressure on Joe's sigh, get this guy back. We need
Speaker 1: some scoring. Here were the fourteenth fucking offense in the
Speaker 1: league right now. We need someone who can get me buckets.
Speaker 1: Do you think David Duke Junior is gonna give me buckets?
Speaker 1: David Juke Junior's not David Duke Sr. Who knows he's
Speaker 1: probably light the world on fire, David ju Duke Senior. Truthfully,
Speaker 1: you know he's lighting other things on fire. KD is
Speaker 1: tired of carrying this team with three guys on the
Speaker 1: bench from the G League that like what was his
Speaker 1: name again, quandrelle quandrelle Quendrie sch Witherspoon, jum Mario Jones.
Speaker 1: He's like, give me Kyrie Irving back. What is this nonsense?
Speaker 1: And truthfully, when you think about Quinn Dairy Witherspoon versus
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving's like, I'll take half of a Kyrie over
Speaker 1: a one hundred and fifty percent of Quindaari Witherspoon, Like, please, please,
Speaker 1: I'll take ten percent of Kyrie Irving even if he
Speaker 1: goes on walk about what are we even talking about
Speaker 1: right now? I've got I've got Kyrie or Langston Galloway, Like, okay,
Speaker 1: we need to just think about things in another light
Speaker 1: right now, Joe, Like, we're trying to win the championship
Speaker 1: and we got guys that are literally just have a
Speaker 1: plumbers slick coming out of the back of their pants
Speaker 1: and wrenches around their waist, and then we got Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving burning stage on the couch, a very good Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: Can we just can we just be reasonable here? And
Speaker 1: Joe Sie's like, you know what, You're right, You're right,
Speaker 1: we should do that. We should just give Kyrie an
Speaker 1: opportunity to play and maybe once he gets out there,
Speaker 1: he'll take a play at bass Vaccine and we'll have
Speaker 1: him back in the fall and we'll be good to
Speaker 1: go again. And like, let's be real, Like Joe Sai
Speaker 1: only cares about winning. Joe Sai is a rich billionaire
Speaker 1: who bought the team from another rich billionaire Russian who
Speaker 1: is said, basically, I'm opening up my doors for you
Speaker 1: guys to have whatever it takes to feel comfortable to
Speaker 1: win me a chip, because this is just a nu
Speaker 1: other measuring stick of my dick and my success against
Speaker 1: all of my other billionaire fucking friends. And if I
Speaker 1: don't get like Ruka salt, if I don't fucking get that, now,
Speaker 1: I don't even know why I'm paying you guys all
Speaker 1: this fucking money. Like why do I have all these
Speaker 1: divas on the team if I can't buy my way
Speaker 1: to a chip? So you know, that's it. So like
Speaker 1: it's like a parent who grounds their kid and then
Speaker 1: they realize and it's like, you can't have my car,
Speaker 1: Like you're grounded from the car for a month, and
Speaker 1: then you come down with like you're sick and you
Speaker 1: can't take him to school, and it's like the person
Speaker 1: that's supposed to bring him he's not available either, and
Speaker 1: you're just like, I'm not getting my ass out of
Speaker 1: bed for this kid. You just take the keys and go.
Speaker 1: The grounding is off. I don't like, just do what
Speaker 1: you need to do. I'll see you later. That's basically it.
Speaker 1: You just Omarion got him and KD needs some reinforcements.
Speaker 1: And truthfully, like Josie might be the perfect NBA owner
Speaker 1: for the COVID world like just it's very loose and
Speaker 1: fast with the rules in his morals, which I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a billionaire. We already kind of knew that, didn't.
Speaker 1: We like win no matter the cost, fucked the optics
Speaker 1: this league. That's all the time that we had for
Speaker 1: the Heat Check. We'll be back Friday morning, early Squirrely
Speaker 1: with a new episode. Yes, we'll be back Friday morning.
Speaker 1: From everyone here at Odyssey in the Heat Check. Happy
Speaker 1: holidays to you and yours. I hope you make good
Speaker 1: gingerbread cookies, or as my mom would say, don't fake
Speaker 1: gingerbread cookies. If you're just starting baking, we'll bake something
Speaker 1: easier like checks mix, do something like that. So do
Speaker 1: not forget to download, subscribe. Tell all your friends. Please
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Speaker 1: not on