Speaker 1: We got a little bit of time, very very quick
Speaker 1: time to just go through this. But I didn't want
Speaker 1: to talk about a couple of players who were very impressive.
Speaker 1: I have to mention John wall Man. He was so
Speaker 1: out of the league. He was nowhere. Houston was keeping
Speaker 1: him away from the team like Jay Crowder as well.
Speaker 1: People were wondering when he was going to play basketball again.
Speaker 1: He now has openly talked about how that affected his
Speaker 1: mental health. It had deteriorated to the point where he
Speaker 1: had thought about suicide. So the fact that we add
Speaker 1: some John Wall hoopin vintage John Wall, my lord, he
Speaker 1: played so well. Charles Barkley openly speculated why one of
Speaker 1: about a dozen teams didn't find a way to make
Speaker 1: a deal for just him last year. He looked like
Speaker 1: the old John Wall except for this time. He plays
Speaker 1: defense fifteen four and three with the steal.
Speaker 2: He was steady.
Speaker 1: He was getting such easy buckets, so calm, so under control,
Speaker 1: coming around screens, getting easy mid ranges, getting very fast
Speaker 1: out into transition, came back into the game after the
Speaker 1: Lakers made their huge run. Reggie Jackson was just getting
Speaker 1: cooked that he was with the B team. He made
Speaker 1: clutch jumper after clutch jumper, Kawhi gave him the ball.
Speaker 2: When does that happen? He played awesome defense.
Speaker 1: Laker guards, like I told you guys before, shot four
Speaker 1: percent from the field for a game.
Speaker 2: That wasn't just because.
Speaker 1: They're bad shooters, but Wall Kawhi PG looked like a
Speaker 1: real dominant big three up there.
Speaker 2: If they can all increase their their minutes to.
Speaker 1: Like the high twenties thirties, this team is gonna be dangerous. Lastly,
Speaker 1: another player that was super impressed with was Herb Jones.
Speaker 2: Love Herb Jones so good. A lot of people are
Speaker 2: still learning about him.
Speaker 1: If you're a casual fan and you need a reminder,
Speaker 1: six seven, four were who can guard one through five,
Speaker 1: steadily improving his offense as well. He was drafted number
Speaker 1: thirty five overall, not this last draft, but two drafts ago,
Speaker 1: and he is becoming maybe one of the best defensive
Speaker 1: players in the league.
Speaker 2: Like he could easily win Defensive Player of the Year
Speaker 2: this year. That's how good he is.
Speaker 1: His first game in Brooklyn, his stat line, you might
Speaker 1: not think is very good six four to three with
Speaker 1: one steal in twenty eight minutes. But let's look at
Speaker 1: how the Pelicans did. When he was on the floor
Speaker 1: against Brooklyn's Big three, he was a plus thirty four
Speaker 1: for the game. The Pelicans outscored the Nets by thirty
Speaker 1: four points in his twenty eight minutes, by far the
Speaker 1: highest plus minus in the game. Because he was locking
Speaker 1: down every single person that he defended, he helped contribute
Speaker 1: to Ben Simmons fouling out in the twenty five minutes,
Speaker 1: and when he was on the court, the Pels net
Speaker 1: rating was one point eight to two. When he was
Speaker 1: on the bench, it was minus one point nine to eight.
Speaker 1: The Pelicans don't need Herb Jones to score. They've got
Speaker 1: Bi and Zion and Jose Alvarado and CJ McCollum and
Speaker 1: just player Trey Murphy. So many traits, but he can
Speaker 1: be everywhere. On defense, he can get into the paint,
Speaker 1: stop a man from rolling into the basket.
Speaker 2: He rotates over.
Speaker 1: Quickly to block the best scorer in the world in
Speaker 1: the corner, three in two seconds flat.
Speaker 2: He's special.
Speaker 1: And when he was asked who he models his game after,
Speaker 1: who do you think maybe?
Speaker 2: Why? No?
Speaker 1: He says his defense and how he sees the game.
Speaker 1: He is trying to emulate safeties in the NFL. He said,
Speaker 1: his two guys that he emulates are Ed Reid and
Speaker 1: Cam Chancellor.
Speaker 2: That was how he.
Speaker 1: Covers so much ground. I look at them, They're long,
Speaker 1: they cover a bunch of ground. So that's what I
Speaker 1: do on the basketball court. I needed to figure out
Speaker 1: how they were able to read react to plays, and
Speaker 1: I felt like if I could take pieces from their mentality,
Speaker 1: then I could roam around on the basketball court fairly easily.
Speaker 1: Holy shit, Yes, Herb Jones, he's not. He's not Paul
Speaker 1: George Stopper. He's not you know, a longer defender of
Speaker 1: that we've seen in the NBA.
Speaker 2: He is the Ed Reid of the NBA.
Speaker 1: He is a ballhawking monster, not afraid of contact, who
Speaker 1: can anticipate your next move before you do. He might
Speaker 1: be my new favorite player. I've got more to cover,
Speaker 1: but I have no time. So that's all the time
Speaker 1: that we have for the Heat Check. We'll be back Monday.
Speaker 1: I'll give you some of my early impressions from the
Speaker 1: players I already wrote about. Make sure you check out
Speaker 1: the feed for past episodes from the offseason and follow
Speaker 1: the Heat Check as we get you ready for this
Speaker 1: new season. Do not forget to download subscribe. Please tell
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Speaker 1: that beat for me again, Nick,