Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of heat Check, we've got a special
Speaker 2: interview with friend of show David four from The Athletic.
Speaker 3: He is here to explain some very important details.
Speaker 2: Number one, why he doesn't care if he's right or
Speaker 2: wrong on Twitter, why he prefers the Western Conference over
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference, what's the best region around the world
Speaker 2: to help fuel the future of the NBA, and everything
Speaker 2: in between. This is an awesome, wide ranging interview, so
Speaker 2: let's get right into it. Nick, do me a favor
Speaker 2: and drop that generic ass beat. Where do you want
Speaker 2: to start in the NBA landscape?
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's so much there really is a lot.
Speaker 1: It's funny. I was talking to my neighbor last night
Speaker 1: and he was like, Oh, I know you've been busy
Speaker 1: because there's so much stuff happening in the NBA. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: the Bucks are the best team in the league right now,
Speaker 1: which they're also getting as healthy as they've been all seasons,
Speaker 1: so maybe they've been the best team all along. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 3: That's what I wondered too.
Speaker 2: And people asked me when Middleton was down and when
Speaker 2: Drew had been injured and Giannis's hyper extension of his
Speaker 2: knee came back, and I said to people multiple times,
Speaker 2: I said, hey, everybody's crowning Boston, but just remember this
Speaker 2: thing went seven without Chris Middleton.
Speaker 3: With Chris Middleton, it did.
Speaker 2: Look at one point in time like they were the
Speaker 2: best team in the league, and now they're starting to
Speaker 2: find their mojo. I find the Bucks to be not
Speaker 2: nearly as interesting though as the drama to me, to like, like,
Speaker 2: for example, the Mavericks.
Speaker 3: Okay, the Mavericks to me are a fascinating team.
Speaker 1: You like the dysfunction, Yeah, cause I feel.
Speaker 3: Like things that function well really aren't that interesting.
Speaker 1: Okay. I mean there's suit sides to it. But you know,
Speaker 1: my basketball brand loves when things go well. I love
Speaker 1: to tell you why it's working rather than why it's
Speaker 1: not working, because too often in the NBA, and this
Speaker 1: is you know, this comes down to their personal preference thing.
Speaker 1: Like I prefer to care about what happens on the
Speaker 1: court and not necessarily what's happening between a guy's ears
Speaker 1: off the court that's affecting him on the court. I
Speaker 1: don't want to think about that stuff. So like when
Speaker 1: teams are playing well, I don't have to think about Oh, well,
Speaker 1: you know it was probably uplate watching conspiracy theory videos
Speaker 1: on YouTube, you know, like you do the Bucks, nah Man,
Speaker 1: they watch pro wrestling and they go out and kick
Speaker 1: ass playing basketball. So I tend to lean there. But
Speaker 1: the Mavericks are a team that I unfortunately watch too
Speaker 1: much of and have watched too much of. And yeah,
Speaker 1: their dysfunction is very It starts at the top. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got a coach that's like, hey, I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: just a bystander. You don't don't mind me. I'm just
Speaker 1: watching the games like you guys are I just got
Speaker 1: a great seat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, why do you think basketball wise?
Speaker 3: Because I I don't really care.
Speaker 2: Like you said, you don't care about the psychology of it.
Speaker 1: You're a c They're missing good players. That's the problem, right,
Speaker 1: Like they don't have good enough players. Getting Maxi back
Speaker 1: is going to be good if as long as he
Speaker 1: can stay healthy, that'll help their defense. But you know,
Speaker 1: Christian Wood is a big problem, Like he kind of
Speaker 1: is not very good and gets you know, I think
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd has been proven right about Christian Wood. You know,
Speaker 1: I think last night played eighteen minutes was minus sixteen.
Speaker 1: Just ineffective, completely ineffective. So empty stats don't help you
Speaker 1: out very much. And then the Kyrie the Kyrie Luca thing,
Speaker 1: I'm less worried about because this is more normal two
Speaker 1: guards trying to figure each other out. That's not dysfunctional.
Speaker 1: The dysfunction is you don't have a coach that's putting
Speaker 1: them into like cohesive sets or running plays to get
Speaker 1: them to work together, like in two man game. And
Speaker 1: then they're getting to end of games and you know
Speaker 1: they're one and four now since the trade, and they're
Speaker 1: getting to end up games and it's like, no, go ahead,
Speaker 1: your turn, which is great, like you love the selflessness,
Speaker 1: but Luka Doncis had thirty nine points and was cooking
Speaker 1: in the third quarter of that game. He had thirty
Speaker 1: six in the first three quarters, only three in the fourth,
Speaker 1: and it's like, wait a second. I understand that Kyrie
Speaker 1: has been dubbed the King of the fourth quarter because
Speaker 1: he's leading the league and scoring in the fourth, but
Speaker 1: that's Luka Doncic and he's on a heater, as he
Speaker 1: tends to be. So I'd rather Luca take the last shot.
Speaker 1: So I need Luca to be a little bit more selfish,
Speaker 1: selfish out there Layden games, and I think, like that's again,
Speaker 1: it's a coaching issue. They've got a coaching problem.
Speaker 2: Do you think Jason Kidd is even close to on
Speaker 2: the hot seat one and number two?
Speaker 3: Why is he just being the watcher.
Speaker 1: Shit? I mean, that's tricky, right because he's buddies with
Speaker 1: the owner, So I don't know who knows. I think
Speaker 1: that they're at the point though, where they need to
Speaker 1: start thinking about the Luca part of this a little
Speaker 1: bit harder than anything else. They put all their chips
Speaker 1: in the table between the Christian Wood and Kyrie trade, right,
Speaker 1: Like they got these guys, they don't really have a
Speaker 1: lot of assets. You give up He's not their best defender.
Speaker 1: Dorrian Finney Smith has not been the best defender on
Speaker 1: that team this year. That's been Josh Green. But Dorrian
Speaker 1: Finney Smith was probably their most important defender because of
Speaker 1: his ability to slide between positions so seamlessly, and he
Speaker 1: just knows the defense and he's really turned himself into
Speaker 1: a knockdown shooter. But you gave up that guy, and
Speaker 1: what you have left is not as good around Luca,
Speaker 1: Like it's not maximizing what Luca does. Now, if Kyrie
Speaker 1: hits like that's great, that's higher than just maximizing Luca.
Speaker 1: You've got two individual stars that can create off the dribble,
Speaker 1: and they can both shoot in the mid range and
Speaker 1: both shoot threes three level scores, and that's great come
Speaker 1: playoff time. But the key to their defensive run last
Speaker 1: year was Dorian Finney Smith. The key to getting to
Speaker 1: the conference finals was that defense, and Dorian Finney Smith
Speaker 1: was sort of the lynchpin of the whole thing. And
Speaker 1: so you've just punted on that identity, you know, two
Speaker 1: thirds of the way through the season, and you're expecting
Speaker 1: your coach that has not proven to be like an
Speaker 1: ex's and O's wonk to figure this out on the fly.
Speaker 1: And then now you've got two years left to Luka
Speaker 1: Doncic and probably gonna lose Kyrie this summer, and Christian
Speaker 1: Wood you didn't make a decision on, so you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to make a decision on him in the summer.
Speaker 1: And uh, it just looks like the beginning of the
Speaker 1: end to me. Like I texted my my buddies that
Speaker 1: I do the Mavericks pod with and I was just like,
Speaker 1: this is it, mark this date, this is when when
Speaker 1: the downfall started. I think we're gonna watch this guy
Speaker 1: just basically start putting his foot out the door because
Speaker 1: it's not working. So either they got to get a
Speaker 1: new coach, someone that obviously Luca respects, which I've not
Speaker 1: heard that he doesn't respect Jason Kidd. But they need
Speaker 1: somebody that knows how to coach because Jason Kidd is
Speaker 1: really not coaching this team very well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're right, like it feels if you're not
Speaker 2: all in on Christian Wood, which which they're not and
Speaker 2: they shouldn't be, and they don't. They don't like him,
Speaker 2: like personally, they don't like his agent. Luca seems to
Speaker 2: be the only one that loves christian Wood. But Christian
Speaker 2: Wanan's not impacting winning, So you gave up pieces for him,
Speaker 2: You give up pieces for Kyrie to rent him for
Speaker 2: twenty five games. And now once they both are gone
Speaker 2: this offseason, what do you really have without Dorian Finnie Smith.
Speaker 2: You have a bunch of empty cupboards. You've got Reggie Bullock,
Speaker 2: You've got Josh Green, and that's in Maxi Klaybla. It's
Speaker 2: it and a very overpaid Tim Hardaway Junior. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you are hoping to move at the deadline, and we're
Speaker 2: able to so if you're Luca, and I think every smart,
Speaker 2: every smart individual person in their career can look around
Speaker 2: at their surroundings and say is this best for me
Speaker 2: long term? Even if I know I'm here for another
Speaker 2: two years, I'm looking at some of these other organizations
Speaker 2: and saying, I think this is a better place, a
Speaker 2: better culture, a better fit to maximize my legacy.
Speaker 1: I am really really tight with Nikola Jokic. Yep, you know,
Speaker 1: I started thinking Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior and some
Speaker 1: picks like does that get the conversation started. I'm not
Speaker 1: look and I'm not saying that this guy's asking out.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that he'll he would even do that.
Speaker 1: Maybe he just finishes the contract, goes a free agency.
Speaker 1: But just they're not doing a good job of putting
Speaker 1: a good team around him. They I think that they
Speaker 1: were on the right path. Injury luck has really hurt them.
Speaker 1: I mean, Maxi being out for as long as he
Speaker 1: was obviously did him no favors, but they didn't They
Speaker 1: would have been better off standing pat over the summer
Speaker 1: than doing what they did. And you know, the Porzingis
Speaker 1: thing not working out. I'm not blaming anybody for that
Speaker 1: because Porzingis is a pretty good player. Just didn't work
Speaker 1: with him and Luca And sometimes you don't. You can
Speaker 1: think of fit as natural until you actually get it
Speaker 1: on the court and you realize, well, Porzingis is not
Speaker 1: that guy.
Speaker 2: Ooh, let me ask you about this then, because I
Speaker 2: wasn't planning on asking you, but it just popped in
Speaker 2: my head when you said sometimes you think it's gonna
Speaker 2: fit and it doesn't fit.
Speaker 3: Does it ever fit with Rudy Gobert, Carl Anthony Towns
Speaker 3: and Aunt Edwards.
Speaker 1: Hell no, they gotta trade Karl Anthony Towns. They should
Speaker 1: have traded Karl Anthony Towns when they've made the go
Speaker 1: Beart trade. They could have gotten a haul over the summer.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Is there a single player whose value
Speaker 1: has dropped more that without getting old? Yeah, suffering an injury,
Speaker 1: a big injury in the last three years. Remember all
Speaker 1: the lists that used to come out where Karl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns is the best young big in the league, best
Speaker 1: young prospect in the league. Now I never bought any
Speaker 1: of that at all because to me, like his position,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to defend to have value.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's John collins ish, but John Collins actually
Speaker 1: protects the rim. Like there's some strong argument that you'd
Speaker 1: rather have John Collins on your team than Karl Anthony Towns,
Speaker 1: which is sad to say compared to where we were
Speaker 1: three years ago. And of course Karl Anthony Town's great
Speaker 1: shooter can shoot off the dribble, which for a big
Speaker 1: is super valuable. But man, he does not fit. He
Speaker 1: can't be the second best player there because he's not
Speaker 1: the second best player there.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this, then, does this actually mean
Speaker 2: that we've been wrong about Tim Connolly this whole time?
Speaker 2: Because if he doesn't see that on the front end,
Speaker 2: what was that really?
Speaker 1: I don't know if we're if it might be too
Speaker 1: early to say we're wrong about him. I mean, he
Speaker 1: did a really good job in Denver. That's that's the
Speaker 1: track record that he's got, right, So we can't judge people.
Speaker 1: People are really quick to jump on that go Bear
Speaker 1: trade and they're like, oh, you overspent. By the way,
Speaker 1: Gobart looked great against the Clippers, right, Like now they don't.
Speaker 1: They like to play small too often. But something has
Speaker 1: clicked with him and it could be health. I mean,
Speaker 1: he really looked strong in that game, so that might
Speaker 1: be a big, a big swing for them, and he's
Speaker 1: been better since Karl Anthony Town's out anyway, But trying
Speaker 1: to judge the go Beart trade today is impossible.
Speaker 3: It's impossible. It's impossible.
Speaker 1: It's impossible. It's impossible. Look, it's possible, you can do it,
Speaker 1: but we don't know, Like, no one should have expected
Speaker 1: this team to be a championship contender this year, Go
Speaker 1: Bear trade or not, but Top four is still in
Speaker 1: reach for them. That was my I thought that they
Speaker 1: would rack up a lot of regular season wins because
Speaker 1: I actually thought that Karl Anthony Towns would come back
Speaker 1: this season being really good shape, would be able to
Speaker 1: you know, it's a lesser offensive role, maybe he would
Speaker 1: play a little bit more defense, and it obviously he's
Speaker 1: been hurt for a lot of the season. Well it's
Speaker 1: been out for a lot of the seasons, so, you know, mysteriously,
Speaker 1: So I just think that we don't really know what
Speaker 1: it's going to look like. It sucks that they lost
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt in the Go Beart trade because that's a
Speaker 1: guy that they I mean, look, they they gave up
Speaker 1: a lot, okay, but go Beart in and of himself
Speaker 1: is a top five defense right under normal circumstances. And
Speaker 1: I think that that we're seeing that regression back to
Speaker 1: the mean, Like we're seeing a team that you know,
Speaker 1: has a dominant defensive center. And then what Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: is doing defensively, this is some you know, this is
Speaker 1: like top five, top seven player sort of wow. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean he's like he's on the MVP track to me,
Speaker 1: and the defense is a big part of that. And
Speaker 1: we know what he does offensively, but the way he
Speaker 1: has stepped up defensively this season, that's like next level.
Speaker 1: That's the leap that he's taken.
Speaker 3: Who does he remind you of?
Speaker 1: I mean Michael Jordan really, I mean straight up, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course.
Speaker 3: Really it to me.
Speaker 2: It feels crazy when I say that out loud, but
Speaker 2: like that's the only He's obviously not him, but that's
Speaker 2: the only in terms of the way that he plays.
Speaker 1: Right, well, he's got like a physical dominance and it's
Speaker 1: different than than obviously different players, different style of play,
Speaker 1: and he and the three ball for him. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy is probably gonna wind up breaking Steph Curry's
Speaker 1: record wherever you know, or the previous record. He'll pass
Speaker 1: Ray Allen at some point. Right, he may not pass
Speaker 1: Steph because Steph could do this for another decade, but
Speaker 1: the three ball being so powerful for him opens up
Speaker 1: a lot. He gets to the basket and he can
Speaker 1: just decide to get to the basket because he's got
Speaker 1: the body for it. You know, it's funny that the
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towlens brings up you know, he's eating hot
Speaker 1: fries or whatever it was that he that what was Popeyes? Popeyes?
Speaker 2: Which whatever, such a racially charged fast food chain.
Speaker 3: To choose to Popeyes is delicious, It's amazing.
Speaker 1: It's not Church's Chicken, but it's pretty good. So also,
Speaker 1: calories are calories, and like the quality of calorie. I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about a professional athlete like that. Guy puts
Speaker 1: out enough work that that doesn't matter. So maybe should
Speaker 1: he eat more salads, Sure we all should, but he
Speaker 1: should keep eating the Popeyes because he's pretty good. But
Speaker 1: he's in a like, he is incredibly strong, especially for
Speaker 1: his age, and this has always been a thing for me,
Speaker 1: like as a scout, I love strength on the wing,
Speaker 1: like I loved Kawhi Leonard coming out of college because
Speaker 1: he was already so strong. He was also a decent
Speaker 1: shooter already, but he was so strong that it puts
Speaker 1: him ahead of the game and it applies defensively but
Speaker 1: also offensively. We know now Kawhi is so good at
Speaker 1: using that off arm to create space. Well, Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: has been able to do that basically since he got
Speaker 1: into the league dropping his shoulder. I mean he's not
Speaker 1: quite built like a wide receiver, but he's not far off.
Speaker 1: You know. He's got good shoulders, got a good back,
Speaker 1: and he uses his body in a way that it
Speaker 1: reminds me of Michael Jordan. And then he's so under
Speaker 1: control and just determined. Like that's the thing is that
Speaker 1: it's kind of that mindset, which is funny to say,
Speaker 1: but when you watch him play, it's like, God, he's
Speaker 1: got a little bit of Jordan in him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he really does.
Speaker 2: It's fun to watch him, and there isn't any comparable
Speaker 2: player in today's air that you can really say, because
Speaker 2: he's just.
Speaker 3: So big, you know, And I don't know I said this,
Speaker 3: maybe a month into the season.
Speaker 2: Exactly what you're saying, which is the only way that
Speaker 2: this pairing can work with Rudy Gobert and Edwards, is
Speaker 2: Karl Anthony Towns just can't be on the floor.
Speaker 3: You just can't.
Speaker 2: The space that Aunt Edwards needs is just there's just
Speaker 2: not enough space on the floor for them all to
Speaker 2: have taking up space without that creating a clog in
Speaker 2: the lane, which essentially neutralizes a lot of the things
Speaker 2: that Aunt Edwards wants to do right and limit Sam
Speaker 2: to a perimeter score.
Speaker 1: Carl Anthony Towns is too good of a player for
Speaker 1: you to just say, Okay, you're.
Speaker 3: Gonna go be Chris Bosh in Miami late stage.
Speaker 1: Kevin Love right now, by the way, Kevin Love and
Speaker 1: Chris Bosh both better than Karl Anthony Towns when they
Speaker 1: made that switch, better than he is right now to wow.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, come on, no, Look, he's not a winner.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Like, you can put up numbers all day long,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if you don't win basketball.
Speaker 3: If you put Karl Anthony Towns on the Warriors.
Speaker 1: Where he's the fourth best player.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what what is what is that?
Speaker 1: He probably he probably is frustrating. He probably winds up
Speaker 1: being a lot like Dylan Brooks for them, Yeah, where
Speaker 1: it's like this guy's taking up possessions and just doing
Speaker 1: weird or dumb stuff. I mean he's not he's not
Speaker 1: proven to be a guy that like makes other players better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a little bit like it's like Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis if you took away the All NBA Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year level defense, right, So it's like very
Speaker 1: much like offensive style Anthony Davis, where it's like he'll
Speaker 1: put up numbers, but man, I don't feel his offensive
Speaker 1: impact all that often. Yeah, and with Karl Anthony Town
Speaker 1: it's kind of the same way, but no defensive impact whatsoever.
Speaker 1: So no disrespect for Anthony Davis mentioning him in the
Speaker 1: same breath as Karl Anthony Town's here, but just the
Speaker 1: lack of defense really just kills him. If he defended,
Speaker 1: if he defended his position at an average level and
Speaker 1: was able to just blend into the offense of what
Speaker 1: they do, be the release valve. I mean, he could
Speaker 1: be a guy who attacks off the dribble theoretically, he
Speaker 1: just doesn't. So you know, I just don't I don't
Speaker 1: think that that world exists.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about We talked about Tim
Speaker 2: Conney and what the job he did for the Nuggets,
Speaker 2: But I feel like I saw on your Twitter that
Speaker 2: you don't like watching them based on you saying a
Speaker 2: casual fan would like watching the Denver.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no no no, I love watching it.
Speaker 3: You love watching them?
Speaker 1: Well, it's good team basketball, right and casual. Look, casual fans.
Speaker 1: What is the guy that you run into at the
Speaker 1: bar when he finds out what you do for a living?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Man, you know love watching the Warriors. The Warriors were
Speaker 1: musty TV because the ball was flipping and flying all
Speaker 1: over the place. It's not like watching pick and rolls
Speaker 1: is boring. Yeah, pick and roll after pick and roll
Speaker 1: after pick and roll and then going to the free
Speaker 1: throw line. It's boring. I want to watch offense. I
Speaker 1: want to watch stuff happen and low key. This is
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why the NFL, I think, is
Speaker 1: so much more popular. Number One, you have a more
Speaker 1: educated fan based part of that is because just style
Speaker 1: of the game, you get more time to explain. It's
Speaker 1: also linear, so you're going in one direction. I can
Speaker 1: tell you exactly what everyone's doing or as in basketball,
Speaker 1: you've got actions that come away from the basket. You
Speaker 1: know you've got there's just it's it's a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a confusing game. It's a faster paced game.
Speaker 1: There's more possessions. But we love a good pass in
Speaker 1: basketball more than we love a good dunk. Just straight up.
Speaker 1: We love a good dunk, but a good pass. And
Speaker 1: this is why Jokic is the perfect guy to put
Speaker 1: in front of the masses, because the guy throws some
Speaker 1: ridiculous pass that they have to go to replay to
Speaker 1: show you three times a game. And that sort of
Speaker 1: style of play where you have backdoor cutting, Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: catching lobs, Michael Porter Junior just can sometimes catch fire,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray takes some of the toughest shots that you've
Speaker 1: seen in the league, and then Jokich just kind of
Speaker 1: controls everything. That is to me a casual basketball fan,
Speaker 1: which is what I am. Yeah, I'm I want to
Speaker 1: just turn on a sport and watch it and enjoy it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I do this for money, right, like I
Speaker 1: do this for a living. But like when I watch football,
Speaker 1: I'm not sitting there. I don't have the stat sheet
Speaker 1: out I don't get paid to talk about football, so
Speaker 1: I'm just watching the game. I want to enjoy it,
Speaker 1: and so you know, it's just like that. Women's college
Speaker 1: basketball is my favorite. The women's NCAA Division one is
Speaker 1: my favorite domestic basketball because I turn it on. They
Speaker 1: play good offensive systems constantly. There's a lot of variation,
Speaker 1: right it's college basketball, and I don't have to care
Speaker 1: about it. I just watch it, enjoy the hoops. It's great.
Speaker 1: And I think that the Nuggets if you highlighted them,
Speaker 1: the Warriors, you know, which we already have the track
Speaker 1: record for it, and of course Steph Curry helps with that.
Speaker 1: But I think team based basketball is what casual fans
Speaker 1: are attracted to. If you wanted to get more more
Speaker 1: eyeballs on your league, show them teams that play basketball
Speaker 1: instead of just, you know, the sort of heliocentric marketing
Speaker 1: machines that we've got.
Speaker 3: Is there any way.
Speaker 2: Is there any way to incentivize We'll get back to
Speaker 2: the Nuggets in a second, but I do want to
Speaker 2: ask this because I feel like you're you're someone who
Speaker 2: thinks about the future of the league in terms of
Speaker 2: where it's headed, where it should go from like a
Speaker 2: not just a pure marketing machine standpoint. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: how do you incentivize teams to play more like the
Speaker 2: Nuggets do?
Speaker 3: Is that?
Speaker 1: What is that?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: Rule changes would help number one. So defenses don't have
Speaker 1: a chance right now, the pick and roll is powerful
Speaker 1: because defense doesn't have a chance. Whether you switch, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. Illegal screens are never called. Traveling is rarely called.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to sit here and sound like
Speaker 1: Rick Berry. I don't mind if they don't call it
Speaker 1: travel if the move is cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do I care?
Speaker 1: Like I'm watching, I want it to be fine. But
Speaker 1: you're talking about basketball. I mean, the defense has no
Speaker 1: chance to defend, period. So I think that you could
Speaker 1: create an environment where you don't even have to incentivize
Speaker 1: team play because the natural inclination of basketball, it's a
Speaker 1: communist sport, sharing the sugar, like the ball has energy,
Speaker 1: like we know all this stuff like for a reason.
Speaker 1: Team basketball is the key to the sport. And so
Speaker 1: if you can take away the individual a little bit
Speaker 1: by actually allowing these guys to play defense, call the
Speaker 1: illegal screens, you know, take away some of these offensive
Speaker 1: fouls they get away with going to the basket allow
Speaker 1: teams to guard, well, then you're gonna see they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to make passes to create those little, you know,
Speaker 1: advantages on the margins. That's what the Warriors do. It's
Speaker 1: like death by a thousand back cuts. It's backcut, pass, tape,
Speaker 1: screen past, you know. And we love Steph Curry. We
Speaker 1: love watching him because of all the mastery off the ball.
Speaker 1: That's basketball. That's how it has been played since it's
Speaker 1: really been organized, where you had dribbling and passing and
Speaker 1: jump shooting right like, I would rather see that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love watching the Warriors because I'm I'm a triangle
Speaker 1: guy as a coach, so I love the triangle concepts
Speaker 1: that they brought in. They flipped it, made it modernized,
Speaker 1: took everything outside of a three point line. But then
Speaker 1: they get layup lines at the basket. And then you
Speaker 1: watch a team like Boston that has struggled to get
Speaker 1: to the rim. They don't go to the free throw
Speaker 1: because they don't really run anything. This is you know,
Speaker 1: Historically they were a harder watch, but the teams like
Speaker 1: the Warriors, teams like the Nuggets, it's just a joy.
Speaker 1: I don't want to watch pick and roll all day.
Speaker 1: It's boring.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you think the Nuggets are for real?
Speaker 1: You know, I think they are as real as anybody is.
Speaker 3: I think anyone this year to you Milwaukee, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Austin is you know, on the cusp of real. I
Speaker 1: think that they're real. They went to the Finals. There's
Speaker 1: just some stuff there that I don't quite trust, Like
Speaker 1: they don't seem to trust their own offense late in games,
Speaker 1: and that gives me some pause on Boston because it's
Speaker 1: the same thing that they did last year. But I
Speaker 1: think Boston and Milwaukee are about as real as you
Speaker 1: can get in the East, and Denver is probably the
Speaker 1: only team that's serious right now out lest Like Steven
Speaker 1: Adams coming back from Memphis will be huge. Steph Curry
Speaker 1: is going to be back for the Warriors and so
Speaker 1: that changes everything for the Warriors to me. But I
Speaker 1: think Denver they should be the favorites to come out
Speaker 1: of the West. Like they have what you need their
Speaker 1: late game defense. You know, for all the knocks against
Speaker 1: their defense, their late gay defense, they do have another
Speaker 1: level and they turn it up a notch. Aaron Gordon's
Speaker 1: been great, but also Jokic Layton games. He has had
Speaker 1: a lot of clutch defensive moments, whether he's you know,
Speaker 1: flashing out and rushing the ball or making plays at
Speaker 1: the basket like he's just you can see he's almost
Speaker 1: conserving effort on the offensive end to to be able
Speaker 1: to turn it up late on defense. So there's a
Speaker 1: there's been a change there, and I think that internally
Speaker 1: they probably feel like we need to make the finals
Speaker 1: this year. Jokis for sure feels that way because he's
Speaker 1: gonna win his third MVP, and you know, he can
Speaker 1: he can say all he wants that it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: you know, like he doesn't hear the noise that stuff
Speaker 1: is gonna start eating at him because he's a competitor
Speaker 1: and the guy is a killer. So I think that
Speaker 1: they should be the favorites come out of the West.
Speaker 1: It's easy to say because they're the one seed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I seem very smart right now, but they should be
Speaker 1: the favorites. But I still haven't sold my Warriors stuff.
Speaker 2: I just was about to say that, So I haven't
Speaker 2: sold my stock as well on the Warriors just because
Speaker 2: I feel like as soon as I sell it, that's
Speaker 2: when they turn it on.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh, there are people who are obviously out on the
Speaker 2: on the Warriors, on our dubs because of death, because
Speaker 2: of you know, lack of experience outside of the core,
Speaker 2: some of the guys that they lost last year, Gary
Speaker 2: pay not being healthy and who knows when he will
Speaker 2: be to you, and obviously Steph Curre getting injured twice
Speaker 2: doesn't help, and they're just kind of mathematically in a
Speaker 2: bad spot right How high is the Warriors?
Speaker 3: Are the Warriors ceiling right now? To you? Is it
Speaker 3: still a finals team?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean they won the title last year and
Speaker 1: they still have Steph Curry, and as long as Steph
Speaker 1: is healthy, then I give him a shot at winning
Speaker 1: the finals, not just making it, but winning it. Draymond
Speaker 1: has been awesome. Draymond's been great. Klay Thompson has looked
Speaker 1: better than he looked in twenty nineteen, like significantly better,
Speaker 1: not better on the defensive end, though well no, no, no,
Speaker 1: hold on now, his defense had declined in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: I actually think he looks better on defense than twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: specifically that one year, because his defense had declined. I
Speaker 1: don't know if maybe he was dealing with an injury
Speaker 1: that season that wound up compounding and becoming you know,
Speaker 1: the hamstring which became the knee. I'm not sure, but
Speaker 1: his defense looks better and part of that is he's
Speaker 1: playing up a little bit more so he's guarding bigger guys,
Speaker 1: which is what he should be doing anyway, Like Steve
Speaker 1: Curse had a few weeks back, I think about Clay
Speaker 1: as a four sometimes that's his future. I mean, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're six seven and he's got a
Speaker 1: good sized body, he can guard four as no problem.
Speaker 1: Now you don't want to do that, you know, for
Speaker 1: eighty two games. But by the time he gets to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, expect to see him guarding a lot more
Speaker 1: for us. But he's come around. Jordan Poole is you know,
Speaker 1: you never know, but when you get Steph, you don't
Speaker 1: count on Jordan Poole. The thing is, what they've figured
Speaker 1: out is Dante DiVincenzo. That's a playoff player for them.
Speaker 1: If Wiggins is gonna come back and be healthy, we
Speaker 1: know what he is. And Jonathan Kuminga is legitimately a
Speaker 1: force for them. He is an up like he is
Speaker 1: an up and down the court athlete that they have
Speaker 1: been missing, and so you add him to the mix
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, I mean they've got pieces. Now, Well,
Speaker 1: this relies on them actually playing Kevon Looney for every
Speaker 1: important minute of the game. And I'm still not convinced
Speaker 1: that Kurr is going to do this. But if they
Speaker 1: play Kevon Looney for every important minute, they should win
Speaker 1: the title.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Period.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Kevon Looney is I mean, that guy is legitimately good,
Speaker 1: and he stays underrated somehow, but he is so important
Speaker 1: to what they do on the glass. That's the number
Speaker 1: one His number one job is just go out, get
Speaker 1: as many rebounds as you can and let us score.
Speaker 1: And I mean he's really really good at it. They
Speaker 1: rebound as a team better when he's on the court.
Speaker 1: The whole team does, so, I think Kevon Looney. But yeah, obviously,
Speaker 1: if Steph is one hundred percent the Warriors, they should
Speaker 1: make the finals. Wow.
Speaker 2: The other team in the West that we haven't really
Speaker 2: touched on yet, and I feel like they really tried
Speaker 2: their very hardest, kind of like the Nuggets did at
Speaker 2: the trade deadline, just to really improve some of the
Speaker 2: holes that they had. They didn't always succeed at that, right,
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think they got the point guard that
Speaker 2: they were hoping that they might be able to get
Speaker 2: in Bones Highland and Eric Gordon and then Russell Westbrook
Speaker 2: in the buyout market. Kind of feels a little strange,
Speaker 2: but it explained to me a basketball scenario because Tyler,
Speaker 2: I think is one of the best coaches in the league.
Speaker 3: Help me understand.
Speaker 2: How Russell Westbrook what role he could be in to
Speaker 2: elevate this team to a finals caliber team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't have an answer. Wow, he doesn't fit.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's an argument to me. May and he
Speaker 1: makes him play faster because those guys play slow, so
Speaker 1: he gets them into stuff faster and early in games.
Speaker 1: I think he sets a good tone for him so far,
Speaker 1: and he's had moments. First quarters for him have been
Speaker 1: pretty good. He had eight assists I think in the
Speaker 1: first half of the game yesterday. There are times where
Speaker 1: it's Russ's doing okay stuff for them, But then at
Speaker 1: the end of game you got him out there closing
Speaker 1: and the Timberwolves were able to go into full ball
Speaker 1: denial on Paul George and Kawhi and neither one of
Speaker 1: those guys are fighting hard for the ball period. They're
Speaker 1: just not Tyler's out there on national television, begging his
Speaker 1: begging his team to play hard, just to play hard,
Speaker 1: not play He kept saying, they're playing harder than us.
Speaker 1: We need to play hard, not we need to play
Speaker 1: harder than them, because he knew that team, this is
Speaker 1: not the team to ask to play harder. Just play hard, period,
Speaker 1: just hard for once. So I don't know what he
Speaker 1: can do. Maybe he can get him to play hard,
Speaker 1: because if there's one thing you can say about Russ
Speaker 1: is Russ goes hard. But Russ going hard usually equals
Speaker 1: bad stuff. So I don't know like his role is.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. Is he supposed to fire these guys up?
Speaker 1: Isn't that Tyler's job?
Speaker 3: Is Is it?
Speaker 2: Like as soon as you touch the ball and the
Speaker 2: wing rush, just attack the paint, like, just go to
Speaker 2: the basket. Is that?
Speaker 3: Is that?
Speaker 1: Sat? He brings the ball up too much? So this
Speaker 1: is the thing. I think. You know, it's hard to
Speaker 1: play him with a center, yep, because of the spacing
Speaker 1: issues that you're gonna run to agree right. Well, No,
Speaker 1: it's different though, because Ant can shoot the three.
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly, he can. He does more obviously, but in
Speaker 3: terms of just needing.
Speaker 1: Right, So with Russ. It's worse because he can't take
Speaker 1: those open threes that they're gonna give him, and with
Speaker 1: Ant they're guarding him on those threes. And Aunt actually
Speaker 1: has gotten really good at moving the ball, relocating and
Speaker 1: getting catching shoot opportunities, which opened up a whole new,
Speaker 1: you know, driving kick game for him. That again, better
Speaker 1: player right now, Russ, he's got to be. I think
Speaker 1: you bring him off the bench number one. What they
Speaker 1: were doing in LA actually was kind of working for him.
Speaker 1: Bring him off the bench and let him just go
Speaker 1: against second units, eat up innings for you for real,
Speaker 1: instead of putting out there in these high leverage moments.
Speaker 1: Maybe he can find success on the margins playing against
Speaker 1: lesser players, you know, attacking the basket off the dribbles great,
Speaker 1: but he needs to not bring the ball up. He
Speaker 1: needs to be playing more of a two to three,
Speaker 1: like a wing guy than point of attack guy. But
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, they you know, look at who they got.
Speaker 1: They got Eric Gordon, they got Bones Highland. Their best
Speaker 1: option was already on the team. Terrence Man. Just play him,
Speaker 1: Just play Terrence Man. You know, he's bigger, he's a
Speaker 1: better defender. I just don't get the the hesitance to
Speaker 1: to play Terrence Man in these big minutes. But I
Speaker 1: think if if you're gonna have Russ out there with
Speaker 1: with your main guys, if he's gonna be in the
Speaker 1: starting lineup, Paul George needs to be the guy bringing
Speaker 1: your ball up and initiating your actions, and you need
Speaker 1: Russ to be able to just catch and drive. But
Speaker 1: they're gonna hang four feet off five feet off Russ.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have a foot in the paint. They're gonna
Speaker 1: be helping on the nail.
Speaker 3: But they're not worried about collasing.
Speaker 2: They won't be collapsing on whatever side Russ is on though, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, because he'll just attack.
Speaker 1: So if attack, but if he attacks, it's one roadation
Speaker 1: and his finishing is just not where it used to be.
Speaker 1: So he's not he's not going to threaten your defense.
Speaker 1: So you're happy to have him just touch the basketball again.
Speaker 1: I'm going I go back to the play the end
Speaker 1: of the game. Now, Russ came back the next possession
Speaker 1: hits a big three. So this is the thing with
Speaker 1: Russ is like he is indomitable. You were not gonna
Speaker 1: he is not gonna beat himself and he'll he'll beat
Speaker 1: himself in the court, but he's not gonna do it
Speaker 1: in his head. And that's valuable too. Maybe you just
Speaker 1: need that mindset out there for the Clippers, but they
Speaker 1: were the Wolves went bald denial on Kawhi and Paul George,
Speaker 1: both guys who are not gonna fight excessively hard because
Speaker 1: they're not gonna try hard right now. Yeah, And and
Speaker 1: you wind up with Russ being defended one on one
Speaker 1: in a matchup that he probably felt like he liked
Speaker 1: but gets forced into, you know, a fade away and
Speaker 1: deep in the paint or mid paint. But it's a
Speaker 1: bad look because it's tightly defended and Russ has no
Speaker 1: legs by the fourth court yep. So you know teams
Speaker 1: are just gonna be pumped and they see Russ out
Speaker 1: there the Clippers.
Speaker 3: Are done done?
Speaker 1: Does that mean don't play hard? Like, I don't know
Speaker 1: how you can expect to win basketball games that matter
Speaker 1: in the NBA being too cool for school. It just
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 2: If they're done, and we'll only spend like forty five
Speaker 2: seconds on this because I know you have a heart
Speaker 2: out and I have so many things to ask you
Speaker 2: still if they're done done right and they perform well
Speaker 2: below expectations, which is finals basically Western Conference finals or.
Speaker 3: Bus is Lawrence Frank gone?
Speaker 2: And like Bob Myers in, is that like a realistic thought?
Speaker 1: I mean, they probably hope. But what's he gonna do
Speaker 1: because like move things? Yeah, Paul George? Yeah, then what
Speaker 1: do you do? Kawhi wants to play with Paul George?
Speaker 3: Does he really care that much?
Speaker 1: I think he does, really, I think he does. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook is not there by accident, right that you
Speaker 1: think Lawrence Frank made the call on that he did not?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I look, if I if I were this team,
Speaker 1: I would do what what the Brooklyn Nets are trying
Speaker 1: to do. Not necessarily blow it up, but I would say, hey,
Speaker 1: look it's not working your way, dudes that play basketball.
Speaker 1: Maybe we need to let the basketball people make decisions
Speaker 1: around here, and maybe you guys ought to try being
Speaker 1: basketball players and running offense Tylo and you know, look,
Speaker 1: I've been a guy. I've been on the Tylu tran
Speaker 1: since he took over in Cleveland. The guy actually is
Speaker 1: a pretty good coach. But you're not a good coach
Speaker 1: if your players don't play hard for you, So you know,
Speaker 1: I can't even say you're not a you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say he's a bad coach, but he's not.
Speaker 1: He's not coaching well right now because they don't play
Speaker 1: hard period. These guys show up every single game and
Speaker 1: it looks like they've never played basketball together, never even met,
Speaker 1: much less played basketball. There's a bunch of strangers trying
Speaker 1: to play basketball together that speak foreign languages. I don't.
Speaker 1: I really am confused by the Clippers, or maybe I'm
Speaker 1: not confused. They literally just they're strangers. They're strangers. There's
Speaker 1: no familiarity whatsoever. The people are in and out of
Speaker 1: the lineup. The team has been completely reshuffled. I mean
Speaker 1: losing Reggie Jackson for this team, what are they gonna
Speaker 1: do come playoff time? That guy has hit the biggest
Speaker 1: shots for them every single playoffs since he got there.
Speaker 1: Who's gonna step up and be that Guy's not gonna
Speaker 1: be Paul George?
Speaker 3: Well, we know that podcast. P Does he have a
Speaker 3: podcast podcast?
Speaker 1: I have a personal rule, man, You know, you don't
Speaker 1: want a guy on your team that has a podcast
Speaker 1: if he's not an All star, Like if he's not
Speaker 1: like an All defensive player or an All NBA guy.
Speaker 1: Don't have a podcast.
Speaker 3: Let's go to the East.
Speaker 2: It feels like you talk way less about the East
Speaker 2: and the West.
Speaker 3: I think the East is less interesting, is that?
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Less interesting?
Speaker 2: Do you think Quinn Snyder has any chance of doing
Speaker 2: anything in Atlanta if they don't trade trade Trey Young?
Speaker 1: Nope, nope. I mean I don't like to use the
Speaker 1: term coach killer, but as close as we've got to
Speaker 1: it in the league, it might be Trey because he's
Speaker 1: clearly talented on the offensive end, but he's not out
Speaker 1: there playing basketball with his teammates. Again, like, the whole
Speaker 1: goal of a coach is to create a team. That
Speaker 1: is your job, whether that's managing the egos, coming up
Speaker 1: with an offensive philosophy that works, coming up with rotations
Speaker 1: that work, you know, all of these things that we
Speaker 1: know goes into the job. But you got to get
Speaker 1: him to come together as a team. And Trey just
Speaker 1: does his thing. Trey is Trey out there and that's it.
Speaker 1: And so until you can get through to him on that, no,
Speaker 1: you don't have a you don't have a shot. Maybe
Speaker 1: he will, though, I mean, look, Quinn Snyder is a
Speaker 1: good coach, He's got a good track record. Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 1: swears by Quinn Snyder, and you know, Trey and Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell are kind of tight. So maybe that helps, you know,
Speaker 1: like get some a foot in the door with Trey
Speaker 1: as far as like getting him to listen or whatever.
Speaker 1: But I think this team would be better off they
Speaker 1: traded Trey Young. I mean it just they could probably
Speaker 1: get a bunch of good assets and they had become
Speaker 1: a pretty good basketball team fast. I mean, John Collins
Speaker 1: has been on the block for some reason since they
Speaker 1: drafted him. And the guy all he does is put
Speaker 1: up twenty and ten.
Speaker 3: And he's checked out. He's checked out.
Speaker 1: And well, but what for a good reason?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, Like if you if you're out there trying to
Speaker 1: play team basketball and you have a guy dominating the
Speaker 1: ball and not playing with his teammates, I wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to play with that dude either. Meanwhile, to John say Murray,
Speaker 1: you see these games where Trey Young's not out there?
Speaker 1: Did John say, Murray, I mean you want to talk
Speaker 1: about sharing the sugar and doing your job and bringing
Speaker 1: the other guys up. I mean, did John say Murray
Speaker 1: can lead that team. I don't mean, Look, this is
Speaker 1: not like he's not best player on a championship team.
Speaker 1: But let's be honest, the Hawks are not a championship
Speaker 1: team anytime soon, which they're young either, so I would
Speaker 1: just move on. Yeah. I don't know. Quinn Snyder's a
Speaker 1: good coach, but I don't think he's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to work that one out. I don't know if anyone will.
Speaker 3: Not in Atlanta, Not in Atlanta, that place is.
Speaker 2: I think that there's not enough conversation around how toxic
Speaker 2: that organization is right now, Like how Bill Rider put
Speaker 2: out an article today and it was everything that I've
Speaker 2: been saying since all the Travish Flank drama went down.
Speaker 2: I don't understand why more people aren't discussing, Hey, alert alert,
Speaker 2: things are Game.
Speaker 3: Of Thrones down there.
Speaker 2: It's not good the way that they've structured things.
Speaker 1: The I don't know, man one of their owners. One
Speaker 1: of their owners does commentary for the NBA. Yes, Like
Speaker 1: what am I supposed to care about this stuff? Like
Speaker 1: there's a point where I just have to stop caring
Speaker 1: because none of it makes any sense. Like an owner
Speaker 1: of an NBA team who happens to be a former player, right, great,
Speaker 1: but why is that guy calling games on NBA TV?
Speaker 1: Like that's bullshit? Right Like, So we could start there,
Speaker 1: but that's a league thing. So, you know, the entire team.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's happening in Atlanta there. I mean,
Speaker 1: luckily we don't ever have to worry about them. They
Speaker 1: don't do anything. Yeah, they're not making the finals probably, Honestly,
Speaker 1: if the Atlanta Hawks ever make the finals, I'll be shocked.
Speaker 2: I find the international pool of talent to be fascinating.
Speaker 2: I talked to Jerry West a little bit about this
Speaker 2: over the summer. He thinks that France by way of
Speaker 2: North Africa is going to be one of the big
Speaker 2: growth areas for the NBA.
Speaker 3: For you, what region do you find to be the
Speaker 3: most interesting?
Speaker 1: I mean, the Balkans have been incredible, right, Like, they've
Speaker 1: been putting out players for you know, thirty forty years,
Speaker 1: So I think I start there. You look at the
Speaker 1: skill level, especially the big biggs, the Yokches of the
Speaker 1: world come from there. Nurkic comes from there. You know,
Speaker 1: Boban came from there. The what they're doing with centers
Speaker 1: and big men as passers Poku some of the ridiculous
Speaker 1: stuff he tries. I mean, this is this is the
Speaker 1: environment that they sort of fostered. But I agree, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think I sort of agree with Jerry West. Africa
Speaker 1: in general is being scouted so much more. You know,
Speaker 1: Basketball Without Borders has been in there and they've been
Speaker 1: doing you know, obviously the bal so we're gonna get
Speaker 1: more talent out of there, and the NBA is trying
Speaker 1: to circumvent all the pro clubs in Europe from going
Speaker 1: in there. Right, So the French League is super athletic
Speaker 1: compared to the rest of of the the leagues in Europe,
Speaker 1: and so one of the reasons why I like getting
Speaker 1: more players out of the French League is I have
Speaker 1: a sense of what these guys play against other what
Speaker 1: they look like playing against other high level athletes. Whereas
Speaker 1: the you know, if you look into ACB, you can see,
Speaker 1: all right, these guys are better basketball players. But for
Speaker 1: sometimes when you're scouting, it's tough because the basketball part
Speaker 1: comes slower than the athletic part, if that makes any sense. Yeah, yeah, So,
Speaker 1: I mean I'd love to see guys at all different levels,
Speaker 1: but I think my favorite is just what they're doing
Speaker 1: with big men in the Balkans. I just it's it's
Speaker 1: just different, you know, guards, It seems like guards develop
Speaker 1: all over the place, but the big they're just growing
Speaker 1: them in the Balkans right now.
Speaker 2: And they play that team style of basketball that again
Speaker 2: will be a part of fostering. If you could have
Speaker 2: which I don't think will ever happen, but if you
Speaker 2: had thirty Jokic's or fifteen jokic is ten Jogics, that
Speaker 2: changes the entire dynamic of a team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and how the one problem there is that it's
Speaker 1: below the rim, you know, and that that's the biggest
Speaker 1: difference in athleticism between the European leagues or really any
Speaker 1: other league and the US League and even n Cuba
Speaker 1: is more above the rim than like EuroLeague. So you know,
Speaker 1: you get in the Adriatic League down there where it's
Speaker 1: even lower level. It's so below the rim that a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys don't see top level athletes until
Speaker 1: they get to the NBA. So that's sort of the
Speaker 1: big thing is like the skill gets to a certain point,
Speaker 1: but you know, how does it translate when you go
Speaker 1: and you play against superior athletes? Guy like Jokic, who
Speaker 1: can dominate the pace of a game, which is the
Speaker 1: most valuable single skill in basketball. Whether it's Luca, whether
Speaker 1: it's Lebron. Steph Curry dominates the pace by speeding you
Speaker 1: up and Jokic slows it down. So like dominating the pace,
Speaker 1: that stuff comes from the team building side that they
Speaker 1: do over there and then coming over and trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how do I make my athleticism translate in
Speaker 1: the league. That's above the rim, and again, few and
Speaker 1: far between are the Jokics. You know, he's a top
Speaker 1: twenty player of all time when it's all said and done.
Speaker 1: So it's a different it's a different thing, but I
Speaker 1: just like what they do. Plus I know a bunch
Speaker 1: of those coaches.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that helps.
Speaker 2: I have been thinking, obviously a lot about Victor Wambyama
Speaker 2: and where he's gonna go, and the fact that there's
Speaker 2: a handful of places that I can envision him going.
Speaker 2: I personally think if you were the Okay see Thunder,
Speaker 2: I would give up half of your first round draft
Speaker 2: picks in the next four years to get them, like
Speaker 2: seven of them if you can. If you feel like
Speaker 2: he's gonna be healthy, that's I don't think people will
Speaker 2: say yet, Like, I don't think any team says yes,
Speaker 2: but maybe you could get.
Speaker 3: Someone to fall into that trap.
Speaker 2: But for you, do you think that there's any team
Speaker 2: that Victor Wambayama won't transform? Nope, you think he would
Speaker 2: transform the Houston Rockets, Yes, the number one.
Speaker 1: You need a new coach there, but yeah, you have
Speaker 1: to flush everyone else out. I think maybe you can
Speaker 1: keep Tarry Easton, but I would everyone else would be gone.
Speaker 1: I would start with a whole new slate, I mean
Speaker 1: top to bottom. I would bring over one of his coaches.
Speaker 1: Well then no.
Speaker 3: No, because going that roster intact, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's probably going to be too good. I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be good enough that it won't matter. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: curious what he's going to do to the sport, honestly,
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm not worried. If, like again you you
Speaker 1: mentioned him being healthy, I'm gonna throw that out. I
Speaker 1: don't because I try not to exist in the world
Speaker 1: where these guys aren't healthy. Like I'm I'm rooting for him,
Speaker 1: rooting for me because I want to watch this guy.
Speaker 1: But what is a guy who's seven foot five with
Speaker 1: that handle, with that jumper, which you know, hey, look
Speaker 1: we see all the makes. He's not He's not Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant from out there yet, but he's got the stroke
Speaker 1: for it. He's going to I I don't know what
Speaker 1: he does to the sport. Can he lock five shots
Speaker 1: a game? Probably? Can he make five threes a game? Maybe?
Speaker 1: Is he gonna average fifteen rebounds a game as a rookie? Maybe,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, just from being tall and being there,
Speaker 1: he may put up numbers that cause us to to
Speaker 1: just have to rethink numbers in basketball. His height is unteachable.
Speaker 1: You cannot teach. You know, this is just like he
Speaker 1: is a freak of nature. There's a scenario where he's
Speaker 1: like MVP level, you know, production player right away. If
Speaker 1: he's on a bad team, this guy is going to
Speaker 1: touch the ball, He's going to score, and you know
Speaker 1: he defends. I mean, his defense is actually the thing
Speaker 1: that I'm most excited about, because this guy he cleans
Speaker 1: up mistakes in a way that just I don't know
Speaker 1: that we've ever seen so before.
Speaker 2: I let you run then in an ideal world, best
Speaker 2: for the league.
Speaker 3: World, where does he go San Antonio? That's what I
Speaker 3: think too.
Speaker 1: Yep, but they have to they have to not do
Speaker 1: their their San Antonio bullshit. No G League. I don't
Speaker 1: want them to go to the G League. I don't
Speaker 1: want him playing fifteen minutes a night. I don't want
Speaker 1: him shut down over a hangnail. Like I'm just actually
Speaker 1: sick of this. Like this is the stuff that you know,
Speaker 1: I'll let I don't really talk about this on my
Speaker 1: own podcast, but I'll let it come out here. The
Speaker 1: stuff that really pisses me off, as like an NBA fan,
Speaker 1: is that, like you're disrespecting me. Like these guys they
Speaker 1: have relatively short careers, play them, play them. And now,
Speaker 1: certainly there's a lot of injuries out there, but the
Speaker 1: Spurs do a lot of bullshit with their rookies. And
Speaker 1: I'm just tired of watching people lose on purpose. So
Speaker 1: you put Victor out there, and you're not gonna lose
Speaker 1: games for very long. I think he's gonna figure it
Speaker 1: out pretty fast. And he might be a guy who's
Speaker 1: he may rewrite the game, like we may be seeing
Speaker 1: rule changes because of this guy. Wow, he's just different.
Speaker 1: It's completely different.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much. I know you got a
Speaker 3: heart out this was fun. We got to do this again.
Speaker 1: Dave four.
Speaker 3: Follow him on Twitter. He won't.
Speaker 2: The tweets won't last long conversation.
Speaker 1: It just don't. I don't care enough about being right
Speaker 1: and wrong to leave stuff up.
Speaker 2: The opposite of me, I care so much. Dave defour again.
Speaker 2: You can follow them on Twitter. Give us your handle,
Speaker 2: It's Dave four, NBA NBA. Find him on Back to
Speaker 2: Back podcast. Find him on the NBA's Daily Ding. Follow
Speaker 2: him on Instagram. I don't think you're available to do Instagram.
Speaker 2: No again, thanks again so much. No, you put like
Speaker 2: stef you rock climbing on there.
Speaker 1: So that's why.
Speaker 3: That's a lot. That's all the time that we have
Speaker 3: for the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: Do not forget to watch the feed for past episodes
Speaker 2: and interviews.
Speaker 3: Please follow us on the heat Check as.
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty two twenty twenty three season heads towards
Speaker 2: the playoffs, download subscribe. Please tell all your friends, every
Speaker 2: single one of them that includes you, to Dave and
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Speaker 2: to criek on TikTok because the Heat Check never sleeps,
Speaker 2: especially during a record breaking weekend like this past one.
Speaker 3: Thank you, so much knucklehead, Well you see you next time.