Speaker 1: Breaks breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines.
Speaker 2: So the Heat Check.
Speaker 1: The Heat Check with Sista Crazy, the best podcast covering
Speaker 1: all the drama around the association. We move on, though,
Speaker 1: to the worst team in the Atlantic. Just an abysmal,
Speaker 1: bysmal team. How the culture has changed for the Toronto
Speaker 1: Raptors since twenty nineteen. They were forty one and forty
Speaker 1: one last year.
Speaker 2: Ninth place.
Speaker 1: They end up drafting a guy that I love, Grady Dick.
Speaker 1: They end up acquiring Dennis Shooter through free agency. They
Speaker 1: get Darko Radjokovic, who's currently the guy that's being sued
Speaker 1: and by the New York Knicks.
Speaker 2: Great hire. They lose. They lose Nick Nurse, they lose
Speaker 2: Fred van Fleet.
Speaker 1: But there's some other guys that are kind of like
Speaker 1: in flux, you know, like they're in the we'll call
Speaker 1: it they're in roster purgatory.
Speaker 2: That's Ogiidanobi. That is Ascal Siakam. I think there's some
Speaker 2: other ones, but those are the main two.
Speaker 1: They were very disappointing last season, extremely disappointing five hundred team.
Speaker 1: They get bounced in the playoff play in they fire
Speaker 1: their coach right away.
Speaker 2: Nick Nurse won the only title.
Speaker 1: In franchise history, did not see eye to eye with
Speaker 1: Massai Eugerie. He got shown the door. It was shocking
Speaker 1: to some Our guy, Jake Fisher, friend the show was
Speaker 1: calling for that pretty much in the preseason last year,
Speaker 1: said that he was going to be on the hot
Speaker 1: seat because of some cultural issues between those two in
Speaker 1: terms of their philosophy for the how the squad's going
Speaker 1: to play. Also, the roster construction very strange and that
Speaker 1: leads to underperformance as well. They were in constant trade
Speaker 1: rumors over and over and over again. They did absolutely
Speaker 1: nothing at the deadline. Shocker again, roster purgatory players that
Speaker 1: we didn't know if they were going to go or
Speaker 1: if they were going to stay. Masai Ujeri greatest cock
Speaker 1: t's in the NBA or spinning fire to night him midnight.
Speaker 1: The Raptors then lose Fred Van Fleet for nothing again
Speaker 1: because he was in the trade rumors that they didn't
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: He was supposed to be the heart and soul.
Speaker 1: Of the team aka the Kyle Lowry of the team,
Speaker 1: who they again lost for nothing. They add Dennis Shooter,
Speaker 1: who I love actually feba god. He was a part
Speaker 1: of the World Cup run where I don't think Germany
Speaker 1: lost even one game. One of the most underrated players
Speaker 1: in the league. Right now, they get Grady Dick, who
Speaker 1: people are just calling Dick now, which I love. Very
Speaker 1: wild card Dick is. You know, you know, you know
Speaker 1: how Dick b is. Just never know what Dick's up to.
Speaker 1: You know, one second he's here, one second he's not.
Speaker 1: Could be really good, could be a real mess, just
Speaker 1: like any Dick anyway. The biggest change is dark Over Jakovich,
Speaker 1: who comes over from Memphis.
Speaker 2: He's a very unknown commodity.
Speaker 1: He dropped into this team like a vampire, and he
Speaker 1: seems like already kind of causing a ruckus given the
Speaker 1: fact that I think the New York Knicks are accusing
Speaker 1: him of stealing some proprietary information from their team. He
Speaker 1: is now tasked with coaching a team that has a
Speaker 1: bunch of veteran presence, a lot of defensive ability, a
Speaker 1: lot of length, a lot of athleticism, but not a
Speaker 1: lot of true bucket ketters, not a lot of guys
Speaker 1: who can shoot from beyond the art consistently.
Speaker 2: Besides, of course, the wildcard Dick.
Speaker 1: He will preside over players like Pascal Suakam, who is
Speaker 1: either going to sign an extension or is going to
Speaker 1: dipset og Nanobi, who has been unhappy with his role
Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen twenty twenty. It's been a while not
Speaker 1: happy in Toronto. I'm probably gonna walk in free agency
Speaker 1: if he doesn't get sent out by the deadline.
Speaker 2: But let's be honest, it's MASSI, so he'll probably keep him.
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes, who was a big time sophomore slump last year,
Speaker 1: but I like a lot MASI wants to build the
Speaker 1: entire team around him.
Speaker 2: But the question really is, what is this team? What
Speaker 2: is this What are they doing?
Speaker 1: I know they're probably good enough to be a five
Speaker 1: hundred team again, but like, could it be better than that?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I don't have really any real idea. I suspect this
Speaker 1: is a loser team. Honestly, I suspect this is not
Speaker 1: a good team. I do think they're gonna play freer.
Speaker 1: I do think they're gonna play looser with more joy.
Speaker 1: The Nick Nurse experiment, the Nick Nurse train is a
Speaker 1: little Thibodeaux esque. He's not afraid to bury you in
Speaker 1: the media. We'll see what Darko does. I don't know
Speaker 1: how that's gonna be. They're probably gonna ditch this whole.
Speaker 1: Like we play five to seven guys forty two to
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes a night. Thing the bench is not
Speaker 1: an existing thing. We don't even really even travel with
Speaker 1: the bench because we're not gonna use them. It's like
Speaker 1: Nick Tom Thibodeau nurse, you know, kind of that kind
Speaker 1: of a vibe. Where will the Raptors end up? I
Speaker 1: have zero confidence in this team. I'm not gonna lie
Speaker 1: to you. In my notes it says they could be
Speaker 1: a six seed, but if I actually said that with
Speaker 1: any conviction, I'd be lying to you.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna do that.
Speaker 1: This is a very schizophrenic, defensive oriented a lot of
Speaker 1: ninety eight to ninety six wins if they're gonna get them,
Speaker 1: and in a league where Jannis and Dame are gonna
Speaker 1: probably put up one fifty a night, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: tough sledding. They are very we'll call it a wild card.
Speaker 1: We'll see what they get at the deadline, if they
Speaker 1: get anything at all. But onto the team that everyone
Speaker 1: thinks is going to be the real contender, the Boston Celtics,
Speaker 1: who's Colie taken.
Speaker 2: Not Joe's. That's really the main question mark.
Speaker 1: There is Joe Key edition, Chris DAPs porzingis in free agency,
Speaker 1: and Drew Holliday via trade. They lose Marks Smart, Grant Williams,
Speaker 1: Rob Williams, Malcolm Brogden. If you think that's a lot,
Speaker 1: well that is. Uh that's three starting players and six
Speaker 1: Man of.
Speaker 2: The Year Malcolm Brogden. So they made a lot of
Speaker 2: money moves.
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens is under the gun. I'm sure ownership is
Speaker 1: crawling up his ass to get a championship in while
Speaker 1: the J's are still in their prime.
Speaker 2: They're only nineteen.
Speaker 1: By the way, did you know Jason Tatum only nineteen?
Speaker 1: For like the seventh straight year tradered Brad has pushed
Speaker 1: all of his chips into the middle of this summer
Speaker 1: and now the Celtics are the odds on favorite to
Speaker 1: win the title.
Speaker 2: So how did this happen?
Speaker 1: Well, they made the big trade earlier in the summer
Speaker 1: when they shipped out Marcus Smart, which we predicted should
Speaker 1: have been traded probably two years ago. Everyone murdered me
Speaker 1: in Boston for that. For that, I say, thank you,
Speaker 1: guy was right. Then they end up doing this deal
Speaker 1: with Memphis in a three way trade that landed them
Speaker 1: kristavs Porzingis in Kelly Green.
Speaker 2: They then signed them to an immediate.
Speaker 1: Extension, which I don't know, baby, I don't know about
Speaker 1: that huge move brings an all star big man. I
Speaker 1: like the prospect of Chris DAFs porzingis a lot. I
Speaker 1: think him playing five is very interesting. If he's healthy.
Speaker 1: He can stretch the floor. He can shoot threes, he
Speaker 1: can dribble, he can literally bring the ball up and
Speaker 1: pull up from thirty feet right in your dome face.
Speaker 1: He can also get lobs. He can rebound. Not the
Speaker 1: greatest perimeter defender, pretty good at defending the rim. I
Speaker 1: think this is going to take the team forward. It's
Speaker 1: certainly going to make them more unique, a little more athletic,
Speaker 1: a little bit more versatile. But they were not done.
Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the Dame Lollard trade, of course,
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens put his big balls on the table and
Speaker 1: when now he got Drew Holliday, one of the best
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders, if not the best perimeter defender on planet Earth,
Speaker 1: in exchange for time Lord Rob Williams and six Man
Speaker 1: of the Year Malcolm Brockton.
Speaker 2: You lose Grant.
Speaker 1: Williams to free agency, he goes off to Dallas. That
Speaker 1: is a good portion of the defense, folks, that is
Speaker 1: now gone. Holiday presumably helps set immensely. Now this team
Speaker 1: is a serious problem.
Speaker 2: This team is.
Speaker 1: A when healthy, a massive problem. You have Derek my
Speaker 1: name is Kodak black, but when you see me, I'm
Speaker 1: white and I like him a lot. We don't even
Speaker 1: mention him because he's a key piece of this rotation.
Speaker 1: Swapping out Holiday for Smart, I think is a big improvement, really,
Speaker 1: especially since Holiday is a forty percent three point shooter,
Speaker 1: and we know that Marcus Smart little on the iffy
Speaker 1: side from three, can be good, can be very ice cold.
Speaker 1: They are not gonna have to worry about who's going
Speaker 1: to handle the rock down and the crunch time and
Speaker 1: clutch time.
Speaker 2: It's not gonna be Jaylen Brown anymore. It's not gonna
Speaker 2: be Jason Tatum anymore.
Speaker 1: You now have a floor general who can also walk
Speaker 1: up on defense but also make the right decisions.
Speaker 2: You don't want Marcus Smart taking the last shot of
Speaker 2: a crucial game seven. I'd be fine with Jew Holiday
Speaker 2: taking the last shot in a crucial Game seven. But
Speaker 2: the issues on this team are are threefold. One, can
Speaker 2: Christas Porzingis stay healthy. That's key. If he can, this
Speaker 2: team's gonna be insane.
Speaker 1: History shows, though, let's be real, Chris Porzingis has difficulty
Speaker 1: playing a full season. If he is out for any
Speaker 1: extended period of time, they have really nothing to back
Speaker 1: him up.
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure who their backup center is. I
Speaker 2: really don't know. I would have to google it right
Speaker 2: this second. Not anyone good.
Speaker 1: They don't have time Lord there to back him up now,
Speaker 1: which was kind of a key piece. The second point,
Speaker 1: are they gonna have enough defense in the interior, specifically
Speaker 1: to stop Joel Embiid?
Speaker 2: And you're honest, I don't know. I don't think about that.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Not to mention those other teams out West, like Jokic
Speaker 1: and Jamal Murray and a plethora of other teams that
Speaker 1: are gonna be coming for that ass Drew's lockdown defender
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum can play defense.
Speaker 2: Jaylen Brown can play defense, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm suss on this also, of course, the third more
Speaker 1: obvious glaring question mark is Joe Miszoula. He did not
Speaker 1: have a stellar coaching performance in the playoffs. He does
Speaker 1: not have particularly great called bedside manner with the media.
Speaker 2: He doesn't really.
Speaker 1: Have great in game adjustments. But he has surrounded himself
Speaker 1: with more veteran assistant coaches. He gets another year of experience.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he's not watching the town anymore. That did not
Speaker 1: work out. The question really, will he be able to
Speaker 1: more consistently manage rotations and the clock in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and not just be like, well, their jobs to figure
Speaker 1: it out, and my job is to watch.
Speaker 2: I'm watching just like y'all.
Speaker 1: That's not an acceptable answer, Joe. So the Celtics are
Speaker 1: going to be a very, very fun team to watch
Speaker 1: this year. Whether it ends up with them hoist see
Speaker 1: Larry O'Brien, we will see