Speaker 1: Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines.
Speaker 2: We're tuned in to the Heat Checked.
Speaker 3: The Heat Check was just a crank, the best podcast
Speaker 3: covering all the drama around the association.
Speaker 4: All Right, we bring on Jonathan Zaslo Zaslow Show two
Speaker 4: point zero, and I mean, if you got anything on
Speaker 4: this game, if you feel free, But my god, I'm
Speaker 4: sure it's been a rough couple of days down there
Speaker 4: in Miami for you too, So feel free to go
Speaker 4: either direction you want. The floor's yours, my friend.
Speaker 1: Well, I will tell you that I thought the Packers
Speaker 1: were the play tonight, so I'm hoping for a strong
Speaker 1: second half.
Speaker 2: I just got home.
Speaker 1: I have not been watching, but I do know the score,
Speaker 1: so obviously I'm not pleased with that. And as far
Speaker 1: as the as far as the news yesterday afternoon, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm I was shocked.
Speaker 2: I was shocked. I feel stupid.
Speaker 1: I was very confident that the Heat were going to
Speaker 1: land Damian Lillard. And you know, as more and more
Speaker 1: the details come out, you realize that the Heat really
Speaker 1: never had they never had a chance, and that part
Speaker 1: is is aggravating if you're a Heat fan. It's not
Speaker 1: that the Blazers owe the Heat anything. It's not the
Speaker 1: Heat's right to be able to trade for any player
Speaker 1: they want. The Blazers don't want to talk to them,
Speaker 1: they don't have to talk to them, and that seemingly
Speaker 1: is the direction it went.
Speaker 2: So that part, as a Heat fan is frustrated.
Speaker 3: Why do you think they didn't want to talk to
Speaker 3: you guys.
Speaker 1: Because I think I think things got personal. I think
Speaker 1: they got in their feelings and I think that and
Speaker 1: look I out full disclosure, I don't like player empowerment,
Speaker 1: but there is a movement in the league these days,
Speaker 1: these years where player empowerment is a very real thing,
Speaker 1: and it would appear that the Blazers and Joe Cronin
Speaker 1: in particular, I guess, were were angry with Damian Lillard
Speaker 1: essentially trying to thin the market for a possible trade
Speaker 1: by saying I will only play for Miami, and the
Speaker 1: Blazers decided, Okay, well we're not going to play that game,
Speaker 1: so we're going to take any deal out there, the
Speaker 1: best deal not Miami. So there's no reason to even
Speaker 1: talk to the Heats. I mean, the details that are
Speaker 1: coming out now are they really never had a real conversation,
Speaker 1: And that part, to me is crazy because while of
Speaker 1: course no one owes the Miami Heat a phone call
Speaker 1: or even an opportunity to trade for anyone, But if
Speaker 1: you're talking about at worst, top three player in your
Speaker 1: franchise is history. Maybe some people would say the greatest
Speaker 1: player in your franchise history, if he really, really badly
Speaker 1: wants to go to one team in particular, is it
Speaker 1: crazy to pick up the phone, have a conversation. At
Speaker 1: the end of the conversation, tell pat Riley fu hang
Speaker 1: up the phone, and then say, Dame, we tried.
Speaker 2: But like they didn't even do that. Like that part's
Speaker 2: crazy to me. So what do you think they do next? Now?
Speaker 5: Like I'm reading articles you got Sports Illustrated saying should
Speaker 5: we revisit conversations about mb to the Heat? Which I
Speaker 5: do think, like after this year, Philly doesn't do anything,
Speaker 5: maybe he looks to get moved, but we'll kind of
Speaker 5: a splashy move can they make because you know pat
Speaker 5: Riley has to do something here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's well see that's the thing. I don't think
Speaker 1: pat Riley thinks he needs to do something here. Now
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of hubris on the team's part
Speaker 1: where they don't necessarily feel they need to do anything.
Speaker 1: But then there's also the evidence, which is two of
Speaker 1: the last four years they've been in the finals. One
Speaker 1: of those other two years they were in Game seven
Speaker 1: of the East Finals. So do they really think they
Speaker 1: need to do something. No, I don't think that they
Speaker 1: feel that way. They lost Struce, they lost Vincent.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: They get new Struce's and new Vincent's every couple of years.
Speaker 1: So I don't think that they feel the need to
Speaker 1: do anything. And they're like, yeah, well, we were just
Speaker 1: in the finals. We'll run it back. And and by
Speaker 1: the way, we proved that it doesn't even matter what
Speaker 1: seed we are. We just need to get into the
Speaker 1: playoffs and we're comfortable with our team. As far as
Speaker 1: the MB thing, that is a pipe dream. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if Embiid's gonna ask out
Speaker 1: at some point, but let's be honest here. There's a
Speaker 1: difference between trying to trade for Damian Lillard and saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll give you Tyler Hero as the main piece in
Speaker 1: whatever draft picks that ain't cutting it for any type
Speaker 1: of Joel Embiid conversation, like, if you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: conversation about EMBIID, the conversation begins with Bam at a bio.
Speaker 1: And I don't think a deal like that necessarily benefits
Speaker 1: the Heat. The Heat aren't going to part with Bam
Speaker 1: for practically, I don't think anyone like they weren't including
Speaker 1: Bam in a conversation for Kevin Durant last year. So
Speaker 1: the EMBIID stuff, I think that's a waste of time
Speaker 1: for Heat fans to even talk about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you get kind of spoiled. I guess
Speaker 4: when you watch an organization make moves that you don't
Speaker 4: know how they make the moves, and then somehow they
Speaker 4: make it happen year after year, and at some point
Speaker 4: you go, Okay, they're just gonna figure this out. And
Speaker 4: if they don't make any I mean, right now, I'm
Speaker 4: assuming there's really nothing else they can do unless pat
Speaker 4: Riley pulls a something magic at of his hat and
Speaker 4: somebody requests a trait right before the season, which would
Speaker 4: make any sense. So let's assume that this team is
Speaker 4: gonna go in looking the way that they do. Where
Speaker 4: do they stack up in the Eastern Conference?
Speaker 2: In your eyes. I mean, last year.
Speaker 1: Was a really frustrating regular season, and so they barely
Speaker 1: sneak into the postseason as the eight seed. They almost
Speaker 1: you know, didn't even make the playoffs at all. Because
Speaker 1: they're playing they should be a lot better than an
Speaker 1: eight seed, Like they should be a top five team.
Speaker 1: You know, it doesn't really matter what seed they are
Speaker 1: going into the playoffs. They've beaten Milwaukee two of the
Speaker 1: last they faced each other. Three of the last four playoffs,
Speaker 1: Miami won two of them, and a couple of them
Speaker 1: were actually pretty handily in Miami's favor.
Speaker 2: It should be a top five team.
Speaker 1: I think they look at it and say, all right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a super motivated Tyler hero. We maybe
Speaker 1: we're gonna get a resurrected Duncan Robinson because they dusted
Speaker 1: him off in the playoffs and he was great again.
Speaker 2: Caleb Martin.
Speaker 1: Caleb Martin thought he was Jimmy Butler for half the playoffs,
Speaker 1: all right, And then you gotta full of the young
Speaker 1: guys in Djovic who had a fantastic World Cup, and
Speaker 1: Hakez Junior is twenty two years old, like he's gonna play.
Speaker 1: So I think there is intrigue because there are some
Speaker 1: pieces there that they feel really good about.
Speaker 2: They should definitely be a top five team in the East.
Speaker 3: I like the plus five point fifty for the Heat
Speaker 3: to miss the playoffs. How disappointing would it be if
Speaker 3: you guys became a lottery team. I'm sure awful. I
Speaker 3: see Barry my Man Barry Jackson at Florida Sports Buzz
Speaker 3: already to the place of acceptance in the stage of
Speaker 3: grief where Heat fans legit zazz are talking about just
Speaker 3: whether there's any merit to start this whole thing over
Speaker 3: again and blow it up. It's wild out there on
Speaker 3: the streets.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, being a lottery team the year after
Speaker 1: Wempan Yama is stupid, all right, So yes, I would
Speaker 1: be really annoyed if they were a lottery team this year.
Speaker 1: There were plenty of Heat fans, by the way, after
Speaker 1: the Heat lost the first playing game and then had
Speaker 1: to play the second one, the do or die game
Speaker 1: against Icago, there were Heat fans who wanted them to
Speaker 1: lose that game because like, ah, they're not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to do anything as an eight seed. Let's just
Speaker 1: get into the wembin Yama sweepstakes. But as far as
Speaker 1: as far as the missing the playoffs, like, the only
Speaker 1: way that would happen is if there's some type of
Speaker 1: catastrophic injury, God forbid, and and and the blowing it up,
Speaker 1: starting over, tearing it down kind of deal that that
Speaker 1: has never been the Heat's way. It's never going to
Speaker 1: be the Heat's wave. They do not play that game.
Speaker 4: Jonathan Zaslow Zaslow showed two point zero. Always good to
Speaker 4: talk to you, man, Yeah, not at all.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be all right down here. The weather's nice.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be okay.
Speaker 3: That's all the time. We after this episode of the
Speaker 3: Heat Check, come on back later for an all new episode.
Speaker 3: Many thanks to Jonathan, as well as my co host
Speaker 3: Nick Asho and Ryan Horvatt and producer Scott Lynn. Check
Speaker 3: out the feed for past episodes and many episodes which
Speaker 3: drop unexpectedly and follow the Heat Check. As we head
Speaker 3: into the new NBA season, this one should be a
Speaker 3: doozy more dame on the East Coast.
Speaker 2: That's good news.
Speaker 3: Don't forget to download, subscribe and tell your friends, every
Speaker 3: single one of them, and follow us on socialide at
Speaker 3: this heat Check and at trust to click on TikTok.
Speaker 3: We'll see you next time.