Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick. On this
Speaker 1: episode of the Heat Check, it's officially the off season. Baby.
Speaker 1: We are about to head on a much needed content vacation.
Speaker 1: Where is Windhorse right now? Probably on a beach. Where
Speaker 1: is Zach Low right now? Probably in the trees of
Speaker 1: the forest. Guess what we're putting out the last episode
Speaker 1: of the NBA podcast season. Let's put a bow on
Speaker 1: the Summer League and the tea that's been brewing around
Speaker 1: the NBA. I gotta get up out of here, nick.
Speaker 1: I will be gone for the next two weeks unless
Speaker 1: I'm breaking news goes down. So do me a favor.
Speaker 1: Drop that generic ass beat. This should be Rihanna all sad.
Speaker 1: The Summer League exhibition in Las Vegas that nearly killed
Speaker 1: me is over. Google for yourself really fast in me
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas throat. It's not what you think it means.
Speaker 1: It really is not. That's what I had pause for
Speaker 1: the last nine days in Las Vegas. Turns out the
Speaker 1: frequency of my voice doesn't penetrate pause at the club.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. A title game between the
Speaker 1: Rockets and the Calves ended tonight. Do you know that
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Cavaliers were thirty to one to win the
Speaker 1: whole Summer League? Did you know of that? Just a
Speaker 1: beat down over the Rockets. The Rockets hadn't lost a
Speaker 1: game before Amani Bates and friends came through with the
Speaker 1: Tomahawk to decapitate the Houston Rockets. Did you watch it? No,
Speaker 1: I know you didn't. Don't even lie. Cam Whitmore, by
Speaker 1: the way, one MVP. We'll talk about that in a
Speaker 1: little bit. Remember he was expected projected to be a
Speaker 1: top five pick, and then even the team that's light
Speaker 1: years ahead of everyone else, the Golden State Warriors, passed
Speaker 1: on him so that he goes to the Houston Rockets
Speaker 1: at twenty, which begs the question, though, does anyone really
Speaker 1: give a shit about the end of the Summer League?
Speaker 1: A lot of people joking in the Twitter streets saying
Speaker 1: that it should have been shut down after the first
Speaker 1: weekend most big league players leave big parties tendem only
Speaker 1: happened in the first few days, which is actually a
Speaker 1: lie considering that the WNBA parties were absolutely lit. Cannice
Speaker 1: Parker was getting busy on the dance floor anyway, I digress.
Speaker 1: ESPN coverage takes a dive like broadcasters you've never heard of,
Speaker 1: and Isaiah Thomas start debating the usefulness of the silent
Speaker 1: e in the English language, like that's where we're at
Speaker 1: in the summer leagues. Teams shut high draft picks down
Speaker 1: after the second game, interest in buzz memes by Joe's
Speaker 1: Tsaiah starts to weigh on the internet. It becomes one
Speaker 1: of those boo boom, boom boom. It's like just straight
Speaker 1: dust mothballs in the Twitter streets. So who cares about
Speaker 1: the second half of Summer League? Does anyone actually give
Speaker 1: a shit who wins the tournament? That's a very complicated question.
Speaker 1: It depends on who you ask. If you are Ausar Thompson,
Speaker 1: if you were aiming Thompson a fifth pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: top five lottery pick, you probably don't care. I mean,
Speaker 1: that affects your life in absolutely no way. Are you
Speaker 1: worried about the Warren Lagarry Summer League ring and the
Speaker 1: MVP trophy? The answer, no, shade to Warren in the
Speaker 1: Summer League MVP Trophy, but no, Like that does not
Speaker 1: affect you at all. Like you see Summer League as
Speaker 1: a way to announce your arrival to the league, to
Speaker 1: show out, to show your teammates what's up, to show
Speaker 1: the batties out there. Who needs to be putting a
Speaker 1: target on your back. You're already getting four years, five
Speaker 1: years guaranteed. You're probably wrapped by Bill Duffy. You're probably
Speaker 1: got multiple endorsement deals, already, set up gatorade cases in
Speaker 1: your garage, shoes on, shoes on shoes. What else do
Speaker 1: you need? Life's good. So if you win the Summer League,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just you're just sitting there in street clothes,
Speaker 1: popping a bottle of Rose Champagne, get your mug on
Speaker 1: ESPN Torque with Holly Row and navigate your new found fate.
Speaker 1: But if you are an undrafted free agent, if you're
Speaker 1: a second round pick, the championship game, getting to the
Speaker 1: championship game where eyeballs are on you important, eyeballs are
Speaker 1: on you, very important. It's an extra game in front
Speaker 1: of a national TV audience. It's an opportunity to showcase
Speaker 1: your skills to your coaches and your organization. And more importantly,
Speaker 1: if you don't latch onto your original team in the
Speaker 1: Summer League, it's more important that you show yourself to
Speaker 1: other teams like Max Struce. Max Streuce initially impressed at
Speaker 1: the Bulls Summer League while secretly catching the eye of
Speaker 1: Andy Ellisberg and pat Riley, and then he parlayed that
Speaker 1: into a ten day contract with the Heat and into
Speaker 1: a sixty three million dollar contract with the Cavs. That
Speaker 1: is what the exposure at summer league can do for
Speaker 1: a player who very badly needs exposure. Even if fans
Speaker 1: aren't in the stands, they are. It's a convention, baby,
Speaker 1: they're executives and scouts, and they still remain and they
Speaker 1: are everywhere like fleas, like flies, like rodents. They are
Speaker 1: putting in the time watching Orlando versus Dallas yuck at
Speaker 1: nine pm yuck at the Cock Center, yuck on the
Speaker 1: last Friday night of Summer league. Yuck. And they think
Speaker 1: about it like it's Game seven of the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 1: Kobe Buffkin might as well be Kobe Bryant to them
Speaker 1: to like third string scout who lives for this shit.
Speaker 1: He just wants to talk about wingspan and like hip
Speaker 1: size and mobility. That's him. That's his shit. And it's
Speaker 1: a good thing too, because the vast majority of summer
Speaker 1: league roster players never make it to the NBA, but
Speaker 1: a ton of them are gonna play professionally somewhere. Summer
Speaker 1: League will give him instant credibility, instant access to their
Speaker 1: tape where you cook a lottery pick. He's been touted
Speaker 1: as the next best thing, and you know what, you
Speaker 1: twisted his ankles up. That is how a kid from
Speaker 1: Towson ends up making seven figures a year at Olympiacos
Speaker 1: or Fenner Bacchi or Leon a Bug or any of
Speaker 1: the one hundred euro teams that exist there. And some
Speaker 1: of these guys they parlay euros success then as a
Speaker 1: path back to the league as a scout or executive
Speaker 1: or a coach, as brand ambassadors. It's corporate liaison, and
Speaker 1: god forbid, maybe they actually make it to the league. League.
Speaker 1: Talk to Patrick Beverley about that. They just want to
Speaker 1: be surrounded in the game that they love. They're willing
Speaker 1: to spend years traveling by bus, probably at the little
Speaker 1: tippy top of the bus, like those double deckers in
Speaker 1: the dusty roads and the icy snow conditions and the Balkans,
Speaker 1: just to figure out a way to play one more season,
Speaker 1: just to figure out a way to win at any level.
Speaker 1: Some of these guys returned the Summer League to start
Speaker 1: the process all over again, like moths butterflies. That's kind
Speaker 1: of beautiful to me. So here's what we're not gonna do.
Speaker 1: We are not mocking the end of Summer League because
Speaker 1: we didn't see Chet Holmgren, or we didn't see Victor
Speaker 1: wembin Yama. By the way, I figured out a way
Speaker 1: to say his name. It's not Wambayama anymore. It's wembin Yama. Okay,
Speaker 1: So we're good there. Summer League isn't just for them.
Speaker 1: It's for Wendell Green and Luke Travers and Craig Porter Junior,
Speaker 1: all of whom have played for the Cavs. It's for
Speaker 1: Trevor Huggins and Matthew Mayer, har Harrold and James Hoff
Speaker 1: of the Rockets. This means something to them. So celebrate
Speaker 1: Summer League from beginning to end. It's like the end
Speaker 1: of a marathon. You're too tired to celebrate it properly,
Speaker 1: but you know you did something and you accomplish something great.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait for that next year. I absolutely flourish
Speaker 1: at Summer League. It is the best thing in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Event Wise, I'll see you guys next year. So the
Speaker 1: Summer League released it's awards directly following the championship game.
Speaker 1: The MVP of the Summer League, Cam Weird body concern,
Speaker 1: medical issues, mental concern. Whipmore. Yeah, yeah, that guy, the
Speaker 1: guy that was supposed to be a top five draft
Speaker 1: pick that they thought Houston might pick at four over
Speaker 1: Amon Thompson. Oh no, he slipped all the way to
Speaker 1: twenty and then ended up on the same damn team
Speaker 1: that was thinking about drafting in the fucking first place. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure why that happened again. Is it
Speaker 1: his medical Is it because Cam Whitmore doesn't smile for
Speaker 1: the cameras, Yes, sir, No, sir. Oh, I'm so happy
Speaker 1: to be here, sir. I don't know. Some people said
Speaker 1: his knees and his ankles were all fucked up. He
Speaker 1: looked pretty damn good to me. He looked pretty damn
Speaker 1: good to me. He was consistently the best player on
Speaker 1: the floor as soon as Jabari Smith got shut down
Speaker 1: most of the Summer League, he was incredible. If Keyante
Speaker 1: George didn't get injured, maybe he wins it. But his
Speaker 1: slash line was crazy. Twenty six and two and three
Speaker 1: steals a game. Cam Whitmore was everywhere. Did you see
Speaker 1: his jumper? If you look at he is a pro
Speaker 1: everything about Cam Whitmore head two toes is pro basketball player,
Speaker 1: jump shot, wet, strong, athletic, can dunk, can get out
Speaker 1: into transition, decent form in terms of his jump shot,
Speaker 1: arc release all that. He also made first Team All
Speaker 1: Summer League, which was also announced. Here's the first full team,
Speaker 1: Kyante George for guard Sam Who the fuck is Sam Merrill?
Speaker 1: Congratulations Sam Merril, We got you. Viral, my guy, we
Speaker 1: got you. Viral. Hunter Tyson at the forward spot also
Speaker 1: got a little love on the IG page. Cam Whitmore
Speaker 1: and Orlando Robinson, who was ballin'. Here's the second team,
Speaker 1: Max Christy in the backcourt, Javon Freeman, Liberty who are you?
Speaker 1: Where'd you come from? And oh my god, baby Tatum,
Speaker 1: Baby Tatum, Xavier Moon from the LA Clippers. I slanted
Speaker 1: this man, I said, the Clippers at such a bad roster.
Speaker 1: And you know what, he did nothing but make shots.
Speaker 1: That's all he did. I don't think he missed a
Speaker 1: shot really in five Summer League games. Every time I
Speaker 1: saw him put one in the hoop, it was like
Speaker 1: the thirty six of thirty six in the front court
Speaker 1: Amani Baits from the Calves, Jabari Smith from the Rockets,
Speaker 1: and jay Lynn Wilson, another Kansas grad plan for the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets. I'm sure Keegan Murray would have made the list.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Scoot would have made the list, but listen,
Speaker 1: they didn't play enough games. I am especially impressed with
Speaker 1: Amani Baits. He looked like a stud right away. He
Speaker 1: looks very solid. Hunter Tyson seems primed to figure out
Speaker 1: a way to be into the roawation steal some of
Speaker 1: Jeff Green and Bruce Brown's minutes. Why did they pay
Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson and not Jeff Green. I'm just still kind
Speaker 1: of confused by that. But what's moving forward? I love
Speaker 1: Summer League. It's even getting busier and busier and more
Speaker 1: fun every year. Who will be the next young undrafted
Speaker 1: or late first round, early second round to make the
Speaker 1: first team All Summer League. We're gonna have to find out.
Speaker 1: Let's move forward to the tee, a little tea around
Speaker 1: the NBA iced tea, hot tea, any tea. Before we
Speaker 1: break for the month, we're gonna have to talk about
Speaker 1: what's going on. In Philly. Yeah, of all the teams
Speaker 1: during the start of a very sleepy season, the Sixers
Speaker 1: are in disarray. I hate to see that, I do.
Speaker 1: Philly is now facing not one but two potential star
Speaker 1: player crisis, the first leading directly into the second. Domino
Speaker 1: that seems to fall just as often on the floor
Speaker 1: as a domino. So the latest, I'm really surprised you
Speaker 1: didn't find that to be funny. So the latest is
Speaker 1: that the NBA's Butch Cassidy and Sun Dance, Darryl Morey
Speaker 1: and James Harden aren't like peanut butter and chocolate anymore,
Speaker 1: aren't like peas and carrots anymore, aren't like macaroni and
Speaker 1: cheese and greens anymore. Their relationship, according to Sham's big word, fractured, fractured, fractured,
Speaker 1: Oh boy, big time. Harden is of course looking for
Speaker 1: a long term deal. He gave them a mench move
Speaker 1: last year, took a team friendly two year deal. He
Speaker 1: opted in because he's like, you will not pay me,
Speaker 1: I will be traded. He let the team sign PJ.
Speaker 1: Talker and Daniel I fucked the COVID tester in the
Speaker 1: bubble house. Junior. Sham's reported Sham's reported excuse me, Sean'm sorry.
Speaker 1: The relationship between James Harden, I almost call him joms
Speaker 1: Harden because of Sean's Joms Harden and Darryl Moury is
Speaker 1: essentially severed. Uh, it's actually worse than fractured, severed. Do
Speaker 1: you want your leg to be fractured or do you
Speaker 1: want your leg to be severed? Okay, that's how I
Speaker 1: process that. It's essentially fractured throughout this process. Now the
Speaker 1: Sixers are uninterested in signing up Big Gang James long
Speaker 1: term because why, I mean, you know why. But it's
Speaker 1: not gonna be easy trading him to where he wants
Speaker 1: to go, which is the La Clippers. So we've got
Speaker 1: a big old fashioned Western standoff here. We got Darryl Moury,
Speaker 1: who outlasted even Ben Simmons and figured out a way
Speaker 1: to get James Harden for him, versus James Harden, who
Speaker 1: all of a sudden seems to have eaten his way
Speaker 1: into another fat suit alongside of little Baby who still
Speaker 1: looks fantastic with perfect skin, all in the span of
Speaker 1: two years. The unexpected outcome of all of this is
Speaker 1: that Joel Embiid is maybe thinking about playing for another team.
Speaker 1: Why do you ask, oh, well, because Harden doesn't appear
Speaker 1: to want to come back. Buckle up, folks. Joella Embiid
Speaker 1: said this when Rachel Nichols asked him how he felt
Speaker 1: when he heard the news about James asking out of Philly.
Speaker 1: He said, disappointed, But then again, I also understand that
Speaker 1: it's a business. You know, people make decisions, and I'm
Speaker 1: more appreciative of the way that he's handled the whole situation.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be boys forever. I want him to come back, obviously,
Speaker 1: so we can go out and accomplish what we want,
Speaker 1: which is to win a championship, which is obviously not
Speaker 1: a possibility. I mean, everybody knows that anyway. He elaborated
Speaker 1: further to Uninterrupted to Maverick Carter Lebron, James is a
Speaker 1: business manager in a like Ted talk environment, in a
Speaker 1: way that made some Sixers fans very fearful, he said this,
Speaker 1: I just want to win a championship, whatever it takes.
Speaker 1: I don't know where that's gonna be, whether that's Philly
Speaker 1: or anywhere else. I just want to have a chance.
Speaker 1: Say it ain't So that's the beginning of a Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard situation. I know that because I've been involved in
Speaker 1: that or anywhere else. I just want a chance. That
Speaker 1: is dame. That's how it starts, and it ends with
Speaker 1: guys like Joel Embiid hosting a trophy for the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks or the Oklahoma City Thunder. I know. Joelle
Speaker 1: came out and said on Twitter that he was trolling
Speaker 1: because that's his middle name when he wants to get
Speaker 1: people all riled up. But so did Damian Lillard when
Speaker 1: he was in Wherever the fuck Overseas and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, coincidentally, a big Willie style will Smith started
Speaker 1: playing Welcome to Miami, A'm benito a Miami on the
Speaker 1: IG Live and he was like, oh, oh that's a
Speaker 1: total EDG. Does not mean anything. And then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, like nine days later, it was like, Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard requests to be traded to the Miami Heat. Oh,
Speaker 1: maybe that's just why he thought of it. Maybe it
Speaker 1: was just a coincidence of the song and you just
Speaker 1: had a little divine revelation. No shit, that song's on,
Speaker 1: I want to go to Miami now. This is a crazy,
Speaker 1: crazy offseason. It's all fun and Games Sixer fans, until
Speaker 1: your star player has one intended destination that is not
Speaker 1: the team that he is currently on. Joe Ellenbiid is
Speaker 1: not making the Sixers feel any more cozy inside about
Speaker 1: what's happening. Funny funny how the Sixers feel like they're
Speaker 1: about to become the next Portland Trailblazers. That's all the
Speaker 1: time that we have for the heat check. A little
Speaker 1: housekeeping news, we are taking a well earned content vacation
Speaker 1: for the next two weeks. I probably will still be
Speaker 1: on TikTok and Instagram, but I will not be doing
Speaker 1: the pod. Things are slowing all the way down, but
Speaker 1: we will be back. In early August. We were preparing
Speaker 1: you for the new NBA season talking about how these
Speaker 1: teams look moving forward. In the meantime, check out the
Speaker 1: feed for past episodes, many episodes which drop unexpectedly, and
Speaker 1: please follow the Heat Check on social because we'll keep
Speaker 1: pumping out content at Trista Crik on TikTok ig this
Speaker 1: heat check on TikTok and do not forget to download, subscribe,
Speaker 1: and please tell all your friends, every single damn one
Speaker 1: of them. And thank you to Nick Berlansky, my beautiful
Speaker 1: producer for making this season possible, cutting up episodes, making
Speaker 1: sure the episodes go out right and tight. And thank
Speaker 1: you to all the fans who have been rocking with
Speaker 1: me for now three full NBA seasons. We will see
Speaker 1: you next time.