Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, we're digging in
Speaker 2: to why Adam Silver and how Adam Silver loves France
Speaker 2: just so damn much.
Speaker 3: We break down Jeremy Sohan's new free throw shooting style
Speaker 3: to break down his free throw blue. We have some
Speaker 3: Karl Anthony Towns drama shocker, he's never in the news,
Speaker 3: and we also get into some other.
Speaker 1: Tea from around the league.
Speaker 3: So much popping as a trade deadline approaches, So do
Speaker 3: me a favor, Nick and drop that generic each before
Speaker 3: we get into everything popping around the league. I wanted
Speaker 3: to give a special shout out to all the good, fine,
Speaker 3: fine folks in buff New York for hosting me as
Speaker 3: America's guest in Buffalo for the Bengals Bill's game.
Speaker 1: I I'm not sure.
Speaker 3: I haven't gone through a table yet, but I believe
Speaker 3: just shy of that I'm a part of Bill's mafia,
Speaker 3: which means, of course I take some sort of blame
Speaker 3: in going there and declaring my AFC fandom just so
Speaker 3: they can get their ass at home. I'm sorry, Buffalo,
Speaker 3: we know it's a huge sports town. We talk about
Speaker 3: that not only in some of these radio hits that
Speaker 3: I do in Buffalo, but also in Rochester, so I
Speaker 3: got to talk a little hoops with them. A lot
Speaker 3: of people there reminded me multiple times that Buffalo was
Speaker 3: the original home of the what is now the LA Clippers.
Speaker 1: Did you know that? If you're not a historian, you
Speaker 1: did not.
Speaker 3: And I was told an incredible story about the Buffalo Braves,
Speaker 3: which was the original NBA team, well one of the
Speaker 3: original NBA teams in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: So I had to fact check.
Speaker 3: It turns out this crazy story that they told me
Speaker 3: while I was tailgating near double propane burners trying to
Speaker 3: warm myself up at their tailgate was true. It's actually
Speaker 3: maybe the craziest reason that an NBA player has been
Speaker 3: traded in league history.
Speaker 1: It's absurd.
Speaker 3: It's it's got a little ism to it, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, Like, there's a little there's more to
Speaker 3: this story than just that anyway. So the Buffalo Braves
Speaker 3: NBA franchise from nineteen seventy to nineteen seventy eight. They
Speaker 3: have a fascinating history in the sense that they have
Speaker 3: three Rookies of the Year in four seasons.
Speaker 1: Think about that.
Speaker 3: Three out of four of their years, they had the
Speaker 3: Rookie of the Year, and they were a team on
Speaker 3: the rise, and then all of a sudden, ownership decided,
Speaker 3: fuck it, we're just gonna take We're just gonna try
Speaker 3: to sell this team. Pretty bad luck if you're trying
Speaker 3: to sell the team with multiple Rookie of the Years
Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy six. So they're shedding guys, right, They
Speaker 3: shed Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo, the league MVP and
Speaker 3: a four time All Star at this point for cash.
Speaker 3: First of all, outside of this trade story, that's bonkers
Speaker 3: and that is absurd. David Stern would have stepped in
Speaker 3: and said no. So they wanted to deflate attendance numbers
Speaker 3: so they could just break their lease in Buffalo twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two. Buffalo would never allow this to happen, I
Speaker 3: promise you.
Speaker 1: The Braves then turned.
Speaker 3: Around and got Moses Malone, who was just absolutely a
Speaker 3: monster in the pain as we know later World champ
Speaker 3: with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: His career lasted.
Speaker 3: Exactly two games in Buffalo, two games before he was
Speaker 3: traded to Houston.
Speaker 1: Why why did he get traded? What did he do
Speaker 1: that was so wrong?
Speaker 3: What was so egregious in his behavior that would cause
Speaker 3: them to move someone who's this level of a player
Speaker 3: in two games. Well, coach Tates Locke immediately got it
Speaker 3: in his mind that Moses Malone, Moses Molan was lazy
Speaker 3: because Check's notes he slumped on the bench during timeouts.
Speaker 1: No, that's the reason.
Speaker 3: That's the reason it is Moses Malone got traded from
Speaker 3: Buffalo because of bad posture. Or maybe a more reasonable
Speaker 3: idea is that Tates locks as an asshole. Edie didn't
Speaker 3: like Moses Malone like that's probably more accurate. According to
Speaker 3: the recent history of the Buffalo Braves, Locke talked the
Speaker 3: owner into trading Moses Malone immediately because I just don't
Speaker 3: like the way he sits on the bench, just rubs
Speaker 3: me the wrong way. He gives me vibes of just man.
Speaker 3: It feels like a very complacent player.
Speaker 1: Moses Malone. We're not talking about some janitor. We're talking
Speaker 1: about Moses Malone.
Speaker 3: A year later, the Braves are in San Diego, so
Speaker 3: their efforts to get themselves shipped out of Buffalo worked.
Speaker 3: They then later as we know, moved to Los Angeles
Speaker 3: because of all of the things that were happening with
Speaker 3: the Clippers, and that's where they are now. But what
Speaker 3: a story. I gotta make my way back to Buffalo.
Speaker 3: What an incredible story.
Speaker 1: That was big.
Speaker 3: Thanks to all the folks in Buffalo who came by,
Speaker 3: said hello, did not throw me through a table, gave
Speaker 3: me the original Buffalo Wings, showed me a great time.
Speaker 1: Went to Auto's amazing subs.
Speaker 3: I think there's like a sausage patty and some sort
Speaker 3: of meat thing in there and cheese awesome. Also Chop
Speaker 3: Gene Battaglia bulldog who did not come out, but we'll
Speaker 3: see him next time. And now I know what Bill's
Speaker 3: mafia is truly like. So onto the league current league news.
Speaker 3: I just had to share that before we got into
Speaker 3: more ridiculousness from our current commissioner.
Speaker 1: Adam Silver.
Speaker 3: So we've talked about how much Adam Silver just fawns
Speaker 3: over Europe, just loves it, just loves everything about the culture.
Speaker 3: Clearly wants to be a part of the culture, wants
Speaker 3: this culture to be a part of the.
Speaker 1: NBA in some way.
Speaker 3: And now I feel like there's even more evidence of that.
Speaker 3: A new country has struck Adam Silver's fancy and it
Speaker 3: is France.
Speaker 1: Currently in love, currently a Franco file real quick.
Speaker 3: As an aside, if you look at Adam Silver, does
Speaker 3: he kind of just look like the guy who just
Speaker 3: picture him in your mind? Doesn't he look like someone
Speaker 3: who would correct you for saying croissant wrong? I guess
Speaker 3: quissant it's and I was like, okay, guy, you're American.
Speaker 1: Doesn't he seem kind of like the guy who has.
Speaker 3: A couple maybe five, maybe seven berets in his closet
Speaker 3: in different colors that he wears with a turtleneck when
Speaker 3: he goes out to a French restaurant and orders Flakral, Like,
Speaker 3: doesn't that seem.
Speaker 1: Like Adam Silver?
Speaker 3: Like you just know when he goes to dinner parties,
Speaker 3: he regales you with that time that he discovered one
Speaker 3: of the best cheeses on the planet when he took
Speaker 3: his trip with his lovely wife to Roquefort. You know,
Speaker 3: like that's him, That's Adam Silver, and he's gonna shove
Speaker 3: French culture down our throats whether we like it or not.
Speaker 1: That's just what's going down.
Speaker 3: So last week they decided to have a game in Paris.
Speaker 3: NBA did first ever game in the city of Lights.
Speaker 3: Who played in that game? Was it? Was it Lakers Bucks?
Speaker 3: Was it somebody star studded? Do we get to see
Speaker 3: I don't know, do we get to see Steph Curry
Speaker 3: and the Warriors play against I don't know, even the
Speaker 3: Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: Oh, it was much better than that.
Speaker 3: Something really to just warm your palette up a little bit,
Speaker 3: get you get the juices going. It was they decided
Speaker 3: to send the dead last Detroit Pistons with a total
Speaker 3: of twelve wins, to face the Chicago Bulls on the
Speaker 3: verge of a rebuild. Did the French have they not
Speaker 3: been tuning into the NBA since Michael Jordan era, because
Speaker 3: that that game in nineteen ninety one would have been amazing.
Speaker 1: But hey, zach Lavine's name does sound.
Speaker 3: A little French, Leval zach Levan, so that counts, I
Speaker 3: think for something. So I'm watching the game at three PM,
Speaker 3: which is in itself weird, but nothing is weirder than
Speaker 3: when you're watching Adam Silver chare karoons with Emmanuel Macron
Speaker 3: of French Presidents, right, like that's how he wanted me
Speaker 3: to say it.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it like that. That's how he wanted
Speaker 1: me to say it.
Speaker 3: So, according to the AP over a Cafe, Adam Silver
Speaker 3: and Macron struck a deal to work together with the
Speaker 3: hopes of continuing to grow the game of basketball internationally
Speaker 3: in France. So the question is now, why now, why
Speaker 3: are we doing this now? Well, if you know anything
Speaker 3: about what's popping around the league, you know why. Adam
Speaker 3: Silver has been commissioner for a very long time. We
Speaker 3: know he's been loving things France, all things French since
Speaker 3: I don't know, like he went to the Louver on
Speaker 3: a senior class trip at his private school. We know
Speaker 3: he's been in love with French women for fifty years now.
Speaker 3: So why the urgency, why this international deal at this moment?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's very simple. It's two words. It's stick
Speaker 1: your Wambiyama like it's him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the guy Magic Johnson just came out and called
Speaker 3: the best player of the world. He is coming to America,
Speaker 3: presumably going to blow basketball up in France along the way,
Speaker 3: because the French are gonna be so excited. They have
Speaker 3: only had Tony Parker and Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier,
Speaker 3: like they finally get a real guy in the NBA, right,
Speaker 3: they finally get someone they can be proud of, not
Speaker 3: some chucklehead that they all get made fun of about.
Speaker 3: And then you add in the twenty twenty four Olympics,
Speaker 3: which by the way, is in Paris. Even though we
Speaker 3: just had the Olympics in Tokyo, feels like just yesterday
Speaker 3: and now we have a.
Speaker 1: Full blown partnership going on. So what is in this
Speaker 1: international coord that they just struck?
Speaker 3: First and foremost, They're going to have a collab between
Speaker 3: the NBA and the LNB, the French Professional Basketball League.
Speaker 3: So we already saw that to a degree so far
Speaker 3: this year. More exhibitions like we saw with the Metropolitan
Speaker 3: ninety two and Victor Wambiyama against the G League Knight
Speaker 3: and Scoot Henderson Rights. That was a game that we
Speaker 3: all liked to see. Was in Vegas.
Speaker 1: It was lit. And beyond that, there were two things
Speaker 1: that came from this trip. The league. You're gonna hype
Speaker 1: up the Olympics, probably.
Speaker 3: Meaning that Adam Silver is going to put pressure on
Speaker 3: all the big stars to show up and play. Steph Curry,
Speaker 3: You're fucking playing in these Olympics now, like you're not
Speaker 3: ducking this anymore. You're on the tail end. You've been saying,
Speaker 3: you've been part of this championship window. You don't want
Speaker 3: to compete in international basketball because it messes up your
Speaker 3: your training regimen and your calendar of load and duration frequency,
Speaker 3: and you don't want to tail off before the season
Speaker 3: gets to a turning point.
Speaker 1: But no, no, no, you're playing in Paris, Steph. That's
Speaker 1: what's happening. Demarto Rosen's already committed.
Speaker 3: Not sure if that moves the needle from an international perspective,
Speaker 3: but the second thing that they decided.
Speaker 1: On is fascinating.
Speaker 3: NBA and French officials are going to work together to
Speaker 3: grow the game in Africa. Why well, we've heard this
Speaker 3: multiple times from folks like Jerry West. Other gms around
Speaker 3: the league are talking about Okay hoopers from Victor Wambayama,
Speaker 3: Rudy Gobert and Bape and Soccer all having roots in Africa.
Speaker 3: Jerry West has said that at Summer League that the
Speaker 3: NBA is deeply interested in that corner of the world
Speaker 3: because that partnership feels like probably where the NBA is
Speaker 3: going future of the league all stems from that France
Speaker 3: Africa connection. And now Adam Silver has aligned himself with
Speaker 3: the government whose colonial policies.
Speaker 1: Controlled most of the area. So it's a win win,
Speaker 1: right Like, so who knows what that means? What is
Speaker 1: the end goal of all this?
Speaker 3: Well, there's a closer relationship, most likely between the NBA
Speaker 3: and the EuroLeague, and surprise, surprise, the same day of
Speaker 3: the accords of the EuroLeague announced they were having talks
Speaker 3: to fix the kind of fractured relationship between the two entities.
Speaker 1: Everybody wants the.
Speaker 3: Olympic Games to go well, right, but ultimately, for Adam Silver,
Speaker 3: a franchise in Paris has to be the end game.
Speaker 3: Pick me, pick me, I'm coming, I'm going. Whatever the
Speaker 3: name of the franchise is, I am in. I'm changing
Speaker 3: my entire life. I'm sure that they would love an
Speaker 3: NBA betting analyst to show up and eat some.
Speaker 1: Macaroons with macron.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's gonna happen like tomorrow, but maybe
Speaker 3: like ten years, ten, fifteen years from now. The NBA
Speaker 3: is going to be international folks in our lifetime. And Paris,
Speaker 3: of course is at the top of Adam silver first list,
Speaker 3: the return of one of the wildest free throw shooting motions,
Speaker 3: and I don't mean underhanded. So Ricky Jeremy Sohan of
Speaker 3: the Spurs is known.
Speaker 1: For three things. One he wears his hair like Rodman.
Speaker 3: Two he's pretty much playing oncannily like Rodman, and three,
Speaker 3: just like Rodman, he can't shoot free throws at all.
Speaker 3: The kid has a horrible, horrible free throw shooting percentage.
Speaker 3: He shot fifty nine percent at Baylor and only as
Speaker 3: slightly improved as sixty three percent, which is okay, I guess,
Speaker 3: not great though, for a guy who's probably gonna get
Speaker 3: fouled a lot, targeted a lot by teams latent games,
Speaker 3: which is why, uh he shocked a lot of people
Speaker 3: when he randomly started shooting free throws one handed.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so Hann explained it like this.
Speaker 3: During shoot around, before I even touched the ball, Coach
Speaker 3: Pop and Brett Brown came up to me and they said,
Speaker 3: you're shooting with one hand for this game, and I
Speaker 3: just this is tremendous and I just did it. It's
Speaker 3: about my development versus how it looks and whatever.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna listen to that. I'm gonna do my best.
Speaker 3: Why one handed, you might ask, well, because it keeps
Speaker 3: his elbow tucked, which is a major flaw.
Speaker 1: In his forum to date. Actually, that's one of the
Speaker 1: flaws of Yannis too.
Speaker 3: Jannis puts his elbows out and that's one of the
Speaker 3: great flaws that has him getting absolutely trolled from fans
Speaker 3: across the country.
Speaker 1: And it's actually working.
Speaker 3: So ever, since he started shooting one handed, he went
Speaker 3: from shooting forty six percent to seventy six percent, so
Speaker 3: and it's pretty good. It speaks a lot to how
Speaker 3: so hand is though as a player. Right the notes
Speaker 3: on him before the draft were that he's very coachable,
Speaker 3: very hard working. Everything that we've seen from him right now,
Speaker 3: including the one handed free throws, tells us that's pretty
Speaker 3: much true. He's coachable and that's probably going to carry
Speaker 3: him a long way in a team that is going
Speaker 3: to need guys that they can coach, because this is
Speaker 3: a rebuilding team. Pop had this to say about him
Speaker 3: defending opposing team star players. He said, Yeah, it's been
Speaker 3: thrilling to watch this guy. He's fearless.
Speaker 1: He's only seen these guys on TV, and we have
Speaker 1: him go guard them all the time.
Speaker 3: This is Greg Popovich, the guy who is we'll call
Speaker 3: it a little gun shy about giving compliments That is
Speaker 3: pretty much the closest thing to a compliment Popovich has
Speaker 3: ever given out since he last dealt with the great
Speaker 3: late Craig Seger.
Speaker 1: So if so Han turns.
Speaker 3: Out to be half the player that Rodman does, he's
Speaker 3: going to be probably the steal in the twenty twenty
Speaker 3: two draft. I wanted Portland to draft him, not what
Speaker 3: wasn't gonna happen because he was just so low down
Speaker 3: the level of needs.
Speaker 1: That the Blazers had. And he's still raw.
Speaker 3: Some Knights will have zero points, some Knights so have fifteen.
Speaker 3: But he has a talent, has a grit, and a
Speaker 3: place like San Antonio needs him and if they know,
Speaker 3: and they do, I think, know how to nurture that talent.
Speaker 1: Sky is the limit.
Speaker 3: So you're probably tired of hearing about Carl Anthony Towns
Speaker 3: because even writing.
Speaker 1: This, I was kind of like, you know, I'm just done.
Speaker 1: I'm just done with him. He's not even playing right now.
Speaker 1: Why are we even discussing him?
Speaker 3: And yet during his recovery, he's managed to do the impossible.
Speaker 3: He he's making himself even more unlikable than ever before.
Speaker 1: And listen, my New Year's resolution.
Speaker 3: I said this before is to be kinder and gentler
Speaker 3: to Karl Anthony Towns. And so this is me trying
Speaker 3: to even though he's annoying. His latest hullabaloo, well, Towns
Speaker 3: has gone after the Wolves very publicly for giving an
Speaker 3: overly optimistic timeline for his injury recovery.
Speaker 1: Ah, he has a calf tair stinks.
Speaker 3: The severity of it has been debated. It happened about
Speaker 3: a month ago. The Wolves released info that Karl Anthony
Speaker 3: Towns's calf strain was a Grade two and the recovery
Speaker 3: for a grade too cash strain is between four to
Speaker 3: six weeks. But that time has come and that time
Speaker 3: has gone, and now Karl Anthony Towns is mad. He
Speaker 3: is big mad. This is what he said. It was
Speaker 3: never a grade two strain. It was never going to
Speaker 3: be a Grade two strain. Unfortunately, I prayed to God
Speaker 3: Almighty that it was a Grade two, but I knew
Speaker 3: that it wasn't. It was a Grade three. Grade three
Speaker 3: is a full blown tear. A lot of times you
Speaker 3: need surgery. It could be god knows how long before
Speaker 3: he comes back. And yeah, he's mad, reasonably so, because
Speaker 3: his team is lying about his injury and giving not
Speaker 3: only false hope to the fans that he's coming back
Speaker 3: anytime soon, which is not. But then when he doesn't
Speaker 3: play according to their timeline, what does it make Karl
Speaker 3: Anthony Towns look like?
Speaker 1: Makes him look like people already consider him soft.
Speaker 3: Carl Anthony Towns is being shaped and the narrative continues
Speaker 3: to persist as him being overly soft grade three strain.
Speaker 3: NAT's a no, no, you're not coming back from that
Speaker 3: anytime soon. Kat then continued, NBA team was trying to
Speaker 3: say four to six weeks. There was no way with
Speaker 3: the injury. I sustained it's a very significant injury. I
Speaker 3: don't know if they were trying to give false hope
Speaker 3: to the fans or what the.
Speaker 1: Case may be.
Speaker 3: Listen, I think Carl Anthony Towns is very unlikable. I
Speaker 3: think a lot of times he's he's his own worst enemy.
Speaker 3: But at this point, I am on team Karl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 3: I am a thousand percent in his corner. They should
Speaker 3: know better, Minnesota, how dare you right? How dare you
Speaker 3: You're already knowing that your star player is battling a
Speaker 3: reputation for being soft, and now he's gonna be called
Speaker 3: that over something that you did, over.
Speaker 1: News that you incorrectly gave out.
Speaker 3: That is just dumb. That is just doodoo, dumb, dumb,
Speaker 3: dumb dumb. I think the Wolves are a mess. We've
Speaker 3: said that before, but this type of stuff is bush league,
Speaker 3: and this is an incident, even as small as it is,
Speaker 3: that has done nothing to change my mind about what's
Speaker 3: going on there with Tim Connolly, who's supposed to be
Speaker 3: absolutely goaded, is doing what he can to change his
Speaker 3: reputation day by day. And listen, there's social We talked
Speaker 3: about this. They tried to coin the nickname Gobzilla for
Speaker 3: Rudy Gobert, and that trade's been a disaster.
Speaker 1: Minnesot is probably.
Speaker 3: Not gonna make the play in tournament and we got
Speaker 3: Austin Rivers as the team pr spokesman. You just can't
Speaker 3: get much worse than that. As of now, we have
Speaker 3: no idea when Towns is going to return, maybe.
Speaker 1: The playoffs, if they're even in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: No guarantee that they're even gonna make it there. And
Speaker 3: if that's the case, I think things get very dicey.
Speaker 3: In the offseason, we got some trades, our very first
Speaker 3: deal of the NBA twenty twenty three trade deadline is complete.
Speaker 3: And if you add Ruy Hachi Mura on your Bengo card,
Speaker 3: I mean you're a liar. Congratulations, you're a liar.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone.
Speaker 3: Besides maybe Wizards fans thought that he might be the
Speaker 3: first person moved. And it wasn't like people didn't see
Speaker 3: it coming, because they did. They've been asking Ruie questions, Hey,
Speaker 3: do you want to be traded? And he's like, I
Speaker 3: don't know, and they're like, have you asked formally for
Speaker 3: a trade? Uh, that's no comment. So that was like
Speaker 3: twenty four hours before he was traded. So things started
Speaker 3: bubbling up a little bit in terms of Ruie getting moved.
Speaker 3: And as a side note, anytime you ask someone a
Speaker 3: question that's a yes or a no question and they
Speaker 3: answer no comment, yeah, that's probably something bad.
Speaker 1: He did ask to be traded.
Speaker 3: Otherwise he would have just said no, right, he would
Speaker 3: have just said plainly, nah, I haven't done that. So
Speaker 3: the Kings and the MAVs have been kicking his tires
Speaker 3: for a week or more.
Speaker 1: But boyle boy, did I not see the LA Lakers coming?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yes, the team that everybody including Jeanie Buss said, was
Speaker 3: going to be standing packed they trade Kendrick Nunn.
Speaker 1: Sad said, you cannot assess.
Speaker 3: This Lakers team without a fully healthy Kendrick Nunn. I've
Speaker 3: been saying this for forty eight months. It feels like
Speaker 3: you don't know what you have in this Lakers team
Speaker 3: without Kendrick Nunn. And now that he's gone, how can
Speaker 3: I truly know what they are? Three second rounders on
Speaker 3: top of Kendrick Nunn for Ruey hachimurro So. I saw
Speaker 3: Polinka sitting alone at the PKI though nine Invitational, and
Speaker 3: I said to myself, what is he scouting? Well? Who
Speaker 3: are you scouting with all those second rounders? And now
Speaker 3: the question becomes even more clear, no one, you have
Speaker 3: no more second rounders even to use, and you've got
Speaker 3: a decade with a D You down down three of
Speaker 3: your seven second rounders, despite the fact that the only
Speaker 3: guys you really hit on are undrafted or guys late
Speaker 3: in the second round. Caruso alec Reeves, come on now,
Speaker 3: Austin Reeves, excuse me, Alex Rusom As Shaan's noted, though,
Speaker 3: the Lakers are not going to pay this price unless
Speaker 3: they sign to a long term deal, and that is
Speaker 3: that's where it gets tricky.
Speaker 1: Folks. Ruey Ruey a long term laker. Ruey.
Speaker 3: They have Rui's bird rights and his eighteen point eight
Speaker 3: million dollar cap hold, and they've already said that they
Speaker 3: intend to sign Austin Reeves. So now, if you sign
Speaker 3: Austin Reeves, you sign Ruey to a long term deal,
Speaker 3: You've already got Lebron in an extension. You've got Anthony
Speaker 3: Davis on the books. The question I think everybody who
Speaker 3: knows math is asking is, so, are you not going
Speaker 3: to be able to get a big free.
Speaker 1: Agent this offseason when Russ comes off the books?
Speaker 3: Or nah?
Speaker 1: And it feels like nah.
Speaker 3: So if it's impossible to sign said star in the
Speaker 3: off season that we've been hearing that they're going after,
Speaker 3: what are they going to do? Strange strange decision by
Speaker 3: Rob Polinka to give up that much draft capital only
Speaker 3: to be forced to renounce Ruy's bird rights if they
Speaker 3: actually want to bring in a heavy hitter.
Speaker 1: I'm starting to think.
Speaker 3: I'm starting to think that Rob Polinka might not be
Speaker 3: very good at his job. I'm starting to think that,
Speaker 3: I know, shocking, I've never thought that before. But this
Speaker 3: is what has This is the straw that's broke the
Speaker 3: camel's back.
Speaker 1: I think for me, Rui, I actually like him.
Speaker 3: Very perplexing player heard as someone lives in the DMV
Speaker 3: area district of Columbia, Maryland. In Virginia, I've heard a
Speaker 3: lot of things about Rui's work ethic. We know that
Speaker 3: he missed a lot of time last season for personal issues.
Speaker 3: I've heard he's by all accounts, a very good dude,
Speaker 3: but also someone who has struggled to not be the
Speaker 3: star the guy. If you go to Japan, Ruey is
Speaker 3: on every bag of chips that you can find, and
Speaker 3: Ruey is a bag of chips in the NBA. You
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, Like that's him. He's a bag
Speaker 3: of chips. He's a guy that you're not building around here.
Speaker 1: So it's strange and things, as we know.
Speaker 3: Ask Kyle Kuzma, his former teammate who also came from
Speaker 3: the Lakers, things are magnified in Laker Land. Fans are
Speaker 3: not caring about what your status is in another country.
Speaker 3: They want to know if you can get them wins
Speaker 3: right now, bright lights and Ruey hats. Humor are shrinking
Speaker 3: under them in the DMV. Oh boy, what's it gonna
Speaker 3: be like here. I'm not gonna get overly pessimistic because
Speaker 3: there is some good things about it. But another thing
Speaker 3: that I find to be weird is why is Rob
Speaker 3: Polinka trying to remake the Washington Wizards in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: You've got Thomas Bryant who's a former Laker and came
Speaker 3: from the Wizards. You've got Troy Brown, yes legend, Troy
Speaker 3: Brown went to Oregon, Ruey Hachimura.
Speaker 1: And Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 3: A quarter of the roster played with Russell Westbrook on
Speaker 3: the Washington Wizards.
Speaker 1: There's two groups.
Speaker 3: There's the clutch Sports group and then there's the ex
Speaker 3: Wizards group. There's literally zero overlap, none, zero, there's not
Speaker 3: And I try to see if there was any connection,
Speaker 3: there's not.
Speaker 1: Russ and Ruey.
Speaker 3: This is where things get real strange because we imagine
Speaker 3: in our heads that Russell Westbrook is not gonna be
Speaker 3: on the.
Speaker 1: Lakers next year when his contract is up.
Speaker 3: But then you start to put the pieces together and
Speaker 3: you wonder, huh, maybe that's wrong.
Speaker 1: Russ and Ruey very close relationship.
Speaker 3: Ruey calls Russ Sempi, which is a term of great
Speaker 3: respect in Japan. It's closely closest words leader. For his part,
Speaker 3: Russ loves Ruey. He says he's a great scorer, he's
Speaker 3: got great hands, he can guard any position on the floor.
Speaker 1: Pause.
Speaker 3: Ruey is not known for his defense, I will say that.
Speaker 3: So he says, he's seen him do great things, and
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see him do it here. I think
Speaker 3: this means that Russell Westbrooks stays on the LA Lakers. Folks,
Speaker 3: You've got all these guys that he played with. You
Speaker 3: see clips on Twitter of him mentoring Rui, showing him
Speaker 3: how to avoid turning the ball over in the post,
Speaker 3: him going out and drawing a foul on the very
Speaker 3: next play. Russ has been amazing off the bench, incredible
Speaker 3: sixth man of the year.
Speaker 1: He's getting triple doubles even not starting.
Speaker 3: And for their part, the Wizards just continue to be
Speaker 3: worse than the Lakers in every way if it's possible,
Speaker 3: Like Wizards fans are pissed because Rui was when did
Speaker 3: he get picked?
Speaker 1: Was he tenth? Rui?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Rui was the t the tenth pick overall. You
Speaker 4: trade ninth, ninth pick overall, and you trade him for
Speaker 4: Kendrick Nunn and three seconds, not one useful player.
Speaker 3: No disrespect to Kendrick Nunn. We know you haven't been healthy.
Speaker 3: We don't know who you are right now. Uh. I
Speaker 3: think Kendrick Nunn probably gets moved, and those three second
Speaker 3: rounders are great in a league where you can get
Speaker 3: Io Desumo and Herb Jones. But listen, if I can't
Speaker 3: trust the Wizards to draft someone competent with the tenth
Speaker 3: overall pick and you get Johnny Davis, do you think
Speaker 3: I can trust if I'm a fan of the Wizards
Speaker 3: for them to draft anyone of value in the second
Speaker 3: no shot. I mean, then you've gotta deal with cat space,
Speaker 3: and then you have to move other players like Will Barton.
Speaker 3: I doubt that they're going to move on from Kyle
Speaker 3: Kuzmo or Porzingis and Beale is going nowhere, So what
Speaker 3: are they even doing? The fact that Ruey got moved
Speaker 3: means he asked to be moved and they were done
Speaker 3: with him. Very interesting trade. I kind of like it
Speaker 3: for the Lakers. I don't love it for the Wizards.
Speaker 3: They have been patient with Rui and if he wanted
Speaker 3: to be gone, I guess you have to get something
Speaker 3: for him. And for a team that's been up and
Speaker 3: down every game, the Lakers, the last.
Speaker 1: Thing they need is inconsistency. So I am very curious.
Speaker 1: What an interesting way to start trade season.
Speaker 3: Lastly, as we were about to record, major news dropped.
Speaker 1: Wanted to keep you updated.
Speaker 3: We'll have something more on the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow.
Speaker 1: When we record.
Speaker 3: But Steven Adams of the Memphis Grizzlies, the strongest man
Speaker 3: in the NBA, the guy that is in a movable force,
Speaker 3: has a PCL sprain and we'll miss the next three
Speaker 3: to five weeks. Oh my god, I don't know that
Speaker 3: I can overestimate how big of a deal this is
Speaker 3: for the Memphis Grizzlies. He's not only important to the
Speaker 3: Grizzlies in general, he is very important to chaw Ja
Speaker 3: Morant in particular. Not only does Steven Adams average you know,
Speaker 3: a decent amount of points, you know, eight point six points,
Speaker 3: eleven and a half rebounds per game, two and a
Speaker 3: half alphassists per game, but he also leads the NBA
Speaker 3: in offensive rebound rates.
Speaker 1: More than that, he is a hard rock.
Speaker 3: And someone who enforces and keeps John Morant from losing
Speaker 3: his life every time he gets airborne, right, You're not
Speaker 3: gonna mess around with him.
Speaker 1: When you know the Ja Morant has Steven Adams right there.
Speaker 3: John Drives does not get hit and struck out of
Speaker 3: the air like a bird right by a hunter. You
Speaker 3: could probably make an argument that Steven Adams is the
Speaker 3: second most important Memphis Grizzly player right now, and that's
Speaker 3: saying a lot considering that Jared Jackson is probably gonna
Speaker 3: win Defensive Player of the Year. Memphis currently in second place.
Speaker 3: They're gonna face ten to fifteen games with doubt them.
Speaker 3: You're probably gonna see more Brandon Clark, who I love more,
Speaker 3: Santi al Dama, who I like and does not get
Speaker 3: nearly enough minutes I don't think, and probably a heavier
Speaker 3: dose of Xavier Tillman, which has the Internet right now
Speaker 3: in a tizzy. People are losing their shit over Xavier
Speaker 3: Tillman starting tonight's game, and I tell you what, I
Speaker 3: can't blame them, Honestly, I can't blame them. None of them,
Speaker 3: no matter how good they are as a collective, are
Speaker 3: gonna come close to Steven Adams. He's the only person
Speaker 3: on the floor probably that made Shannon Sharp in his
Speaker 3: four thousand dollars cardigan that he was popping out of
Speaker 3: look small.
Speaker 1: Next to him.
Speaker 3: And then when he said, oh, John didn't want smoke,
Speaker 3: Team morand didn't want smoke, Dylan Brooks didn't want smoke. Remember,
Speaker 3: Shannon Sharp somehow mysteriously forgot to mention that Steven Adams
Speaker 3: did not want any smoke.
Speaker 1: So just be aware of that.
Speaker 3: Injuries they always impact the NBA season, as we know,
Speaker 3: and Memphis has actually faced their fair share of it.
Speaker 3: The fact that they're in second place right now, considering
Speaker 3: that Jaron Jackson has been out for the beginning of
Speaker 3: the season, he was out, Desmond Bane missed time with
Speaker 3: his toe. Now you've got Steven Adams missing considerable time.
Speaker 1: Even Jaw has missed eight games.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna see how the Grizzlies do and how
Speaker 3: they handle their business over the next month, because if
Speaker 3: they can hang out and just stay steady, that would
Speaker 3: be a huge win. I tell you what, though, there
Speaker 3: are a lot of teams that have the Grizzlies in
Speaker 3: their crosshairs, and without Steven Adams, our Sacramento Kings put
Speaker 3: a beat down on them, and they don't have their
Speaker 3: incredible hulk to protect them when they talk all that
Speaker 3: shit even from the stands. Next up, really Quick, could
Speaker 3: not end this show without telling a little bit about
Speaker 3: the latest from our favorite holy roller in the NBA,
Speaker 3: Joe Missoula. Yep, we gotta talk about him. Yep, Hey, Joe,
Speaker 3: Joe Missoula.
Speaker 1: Is everything.
Speaker 3: Okay, my guy? You okay? I think you're under a
Speaker 3: little too much stress out there in Boston because, according
Speaker 3: to Celtics beat writer Adam Himmel's bock, Joe Missoula just
Speaker 3: just walked past Marcus Smart in the locker room, did
Speaker 3: a fool did a full summersault in front of him,
Speaker 3: turned instead, turned and said you can't do that, then
Speaker 3: walked out. That's a real story that sets how crazy
Speaker 3: it is. What what's happening?
Speaker 1: What is going on? I am worried. I am worried
Speaker 1: about Joe Missoula. What is he doing? What? What? What
Speaker 1: kind of Ninja summer saw mental health? Cry for help? Nick?
Speaker 1: Is this?
Speaker 3: Are you a six year old girl in tumbling class
Speaker 3: or are you the head coach of the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 3: Random somersaults, you know those girls that.
Speaker 1: Just randomly do just out of nowhere.
Speaker 3: They just start they do, what's the other Thing's the
Speaker 3: one you do this side? The handstand? Handstanding? The somersault
Speaker 3: and they just land it. They're like, see, bet you
Speaker 3: can't do that, Like that's a girl. The people who
Speaker 3: do that are girls named Tanya, not not Joe.
Speaker 1: Missoula, the head coach, himmel's.
Speaker 3: Bach probably saw this up close, because otherwise how would
Speaker 3: he even know about it.
Speaker 1: No one's gonna tell him this story. He viewed this.
Speaker 3: Like all of us and me who is currently in tears.
Speaker 3: Bewildered by this, he went to Marcus Smart and said, hey, dude,
Speaker 3: was that some kind of inside joke between you guys?
Speaker 3: And Marcus Smart literally shook his head no, and he said,
Speaker 3: I have zero idea where that somersault came from. Then
Speaker 3: he rolled his eyes and said, we need to stop
Speaker 3: giving him sugar?
Speaker 1: Did Are we sure that's not a story about Deuce Tatum?
Speaker 3: I have so many questions about this. Why for what
Speaker 3: reason would a thirty four year old man just pop
Speaker 3: out in a gymnastics move in the locker room and say,
Speaker 3: bet you can't do that.
Speaker 1: Second question that I have is this a is this
Speaker 1: gonna be a pattern. Has this happened before?
Speaker 3: Are we going to see more progressions of gymnastics in
Speaker 3: the locker room?
Speaker 1: Are we gonna see him.
Speaker 3: Do a forward role into a tuck, jump, a hop
Speaker 3: to safe landing into a log roll?
Speaker 1: I need to know.
Speaker 3: Third question, even though Marcus Smart said he had no
Speaker 3: clue that this was coming, why was it he more
Speaker 3: shocked or shook by this? I am reading this, and I, personally,
Speaker 3: who was not there.
Speaker 1: Am shooketh.
Speaker 3: I would if I had anyone that I worked, would
Speaker 3: jump into a somersault right in front of me.
Speaker 1: And say, bet you can't do that. Yeah, no, I
Speaker 1: can't do that. And I don't think you should be
Speaker 1: doing that either.
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, we have an insurance policy out for you.
Speaker 3: We got one coach who's already been suspended for his
Speaker 3: fucking own gymnastics in the bedroom.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: We got another guy, bible thumper, doing gymnastics in the
Speaker 3: locker room, and we don't even get one side eye
Speaker 3: from Marcus Smart. And you know what that means. Marcus
Speaker 3: Smart has seen some shit. You know. If that doesn't
Speaker 3: phase you, you've seen things. And if you had to
Speaker 3: pick one guy in the NBA who's not getting a
Speaker 3: lot of adult gymnastics in his life. It's Marcus Smart.
Speaker 3: He's way up at the top of my list. I hope,
Speaker 3: I hope that there's more of this story.
Speaker 1: To be told.
Speaker 3: And this, I think is just a sign that Joe
Speaker 3: Mizula is just a strange cat. If this is a
Speaker 3: sign of him crying out for help, like blink twice, Shoe,
Speaker 3: if you need something, things are only gonna get weirder
Speaker 3: in Boston. That is all the time that we have
Speaker 3: for the Heat Check. My God, Joe Mizula, come back
Speaker 3: Friday for an all new episode. As we have trade
Speaker 3: deadline coming in less than three weeks, We're gonna be
Speaker 3: very busy filling you in on all the details. Do
Speaker 3: not forget to read this story about Joe Miszula, because.
Speaker 1: I did not make it up. It seems like I
Speaker 1: did and I did not.
Speaker 3: Do not forget to follow us on Twitter, at at
Speaker 3: Trista Underscore Criek, and on TikTok at this Heat Check,
Speaker 3: and tell all your friends, every single one of them.