Speaker 1: On this episode of The Heat Check. It's a Monday,
Speaker 1: so we got the weekend news to get into. I'm
Speaker 1: officially worried about the New Orleans Pelicans, folks. Is this
Speaker 1: the worst rebuild in recent memory? I think it is.
Speaker 1: Ryan Windhorse makes waves calling out the culture of NBA media.
Speaker 1: I agree. I have thoughts. And it's Monday, so it's
Speaker 1: time for the Monday Injury Report, and sadly, I have
Speaker 1: to say it's packed. Anthony drop that motherfucker beat that
Speaker 1: should be Rihanna. Have you been listening to The Heat
Speaker 1: Check for anyone at the time. You know that I
Speaker 1: love being right. It's one of the things I love
Speaker 1: being and doing most, and fortunately for me, it happens
Speaker 1: a lot. First of all, the Calves are now eleven
Speaker 1: and oh, I told you. I saw him play the
Speaker 1: Wizards and I just knew something was up with this team.
Speaker 1: My god, Darius Garland could be first team All NBA
Speaker 1: if he keeps playing like this. And I know it's
Speaker 1: early eleven games, but boy, oh boy, And remember that
Speaker 1: last year they went eighteen and two in like February.
Speaker 1: They've got the goods and now they've got a real coach.
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson's motion offense uses cutters to create space for
Speaker 1: the three point shooters. We'll save that for another day.
Speaker 1: I watched this team down seven with like two minutes
Speaker 1: left to go, come back roaring back against the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 1: Eleventh straight win to start the season. Eleven and ozh. Also,
Speaker 1: by the way, I alerted you about these Jordy Fernandez Nets.
Speaker 1: They are spicy, they are frisky and pesky. They are
Speaker 1: so good they may be too good to tank and
Speaker 1: they're already talking about a fire sale. Toriyan Finney Smith,
Speaker 1: you gots to go. You're too good. Dennis Shooter, who
Speaker 1: the fuck is Dennis Shuoter think he is? He's gotta go.
Speaker 1: You're too good, Cam Thomas, maybe we'll keep you, Cam Johnson,
Speaker 1: you got to go. I've also been pulling the fire
Speaker 1: alarm on the Bucks and Sixers since Week one, and
Speaker 1: guess what. They have the two worst records in the
Speaker 1: NBA right now. Bucks are two and eight, Sixers are
Speaker 1: one and seven. The Bucks lost one thirteen, one oh
Speaker 1: seven to the Celtics on Sunday, despite getting forty three
Speaker 1: from Yannis. They also lost to the Knicks. Disgusting. You
Speaker 1: know what that means. It means that Doc Rivers is
Speaker 1: now nineteen and twenty seven as the bucks head coach,
Speaker 1: which is the second worst in Milwaukee history for a
Speaker 1: coach that wasn't one of done. And with the Knicks
Speaker 1: now of four and five spinning their wheels, I am
Speaker 1: three for three on the alarm bells this season. Not
Speaker 1: here to reactual news when I'm right, but I am
Speaker 1: adding in ap their team to the burning dumpster, and
Speaker 1: to their name we go the New Orleans Pelicans. The
Speaker 1: only thing worse than their name is how they're playing.
Speaker 1: The Pelicans have the second worst record out West at
Speaker 1: three and seven. The season's about to go more upside
Speaker 1: down than a pineapple and a Florida retirement community, or
Speaker 1: more upside down than an STD test in the villages.
Speaker 1: You know, you know, Zion Williamson was diagnosed with the
Speaker 1: left hampst hamstring strain. No timetable for his return. Zion
Speaker 1: cannot stay healthy, and I don't even think it has
Speaker 1: to do with the amount of ben yes that he's
Speaker 1: eating anymore. And we're not that shaming Zion. Remember we've
Speaker 1: ended that years ago, so don't get on me about that.
Speaker 1: Every year there's talk about him coming into the season
Speaker 1: in the best shape of his life, and nearly every
Speaker 1: season he gets injured. Last season was the lone exception.
Speaker 1: He played seventy games, but guess what still got injured
Speaker 1: at the end of the season. They haven't listed whether
Speaker 1: it's a Grade two grade three strain, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: We can assume that he will have be gone weeks,
Speaker 1: if not longer. And for guys that are explosive like Zion,
Speaker 1: who have like literally eat, breathed, sleep on their explosiveness
Speaker 1: very tough, the fear is that he's going to reinjury
Speaker 1: injure the hammy if it's not properly rehabbed. The one
Speaker 1: thing that we know about the Pell's front office, they
Speaker 1: are very cautious when it comes to Zion's rehab. Add
Speaker 1: this to the list of injuries that this team has
Speaker 1: already suffered. Trey Murphy, the third, hasn't played a game.
Speaker 1: His return is imminent, though Jordan Hawkins out two weeks
Speaker 1: with a lower back injury. Herb Jones is out a
Speaker 1: month with a to rotator cuff. CJ McCollum. Haven't even
Speaker 1: seen CJ McCollum yet, right ad doctor strain he could
Speaker 1: miss a month. Uh. De Jonte Murray out indefinitely. Jose
Speaker 1: Alvarado has been dealing with an ankle sprain. Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Then that's a lot of injuries right there, So I'm
Speaker 1: ready to talk about it. I brought this up the
Speaker 1: other day on TikTok and Instagram, let's just call it Instagram.
Speaker 1: We have the New Orleans Pelicans. Are they the worst
Speaker 1: executed rebuild in the history of the NBA? Transport yourself
Speaker 1: back to the year, the Lord's Year of twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: The Pelicans traded Anthony Davis to the Lakers for brandon Ingram,
Speaker 1: promising Lonzo Ball, promising Josh Hart, the fourth pick in
Speaker 1: the twenty nineteen draft and the twenty twenty two and
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five Lakers unprotected first round picks. They
Speaker 1: also had had Drew Holliday, who they then flipped for
Speaker 1: three more first round picks and two first round pick swaps. So,
Speaker 1: in other words, they got a borderline All Star and
Speaker 1: Bi a six Man of the Year candidate, and Josh
Speaker 1: Hart a solid if I been injured point guard in
Speaker 1: Lonzo Ball in an absolute shit ton of first rounders. Okay,
Speaker 1: so what did they turn that into? Also, by the way,
Speaker 1: they had number one pick overall Zions, what did they
Speaker 1: turn that into? Twenty nineteen, twenty thirty and forty two
Speaker 1: missed the playoffs. Twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, thirty one
Speaker 1: and forty one missed the playoffs. Twenty one, twenty two,
Speaker 1: thirty six, and forty six first round loss four to
Speaker 1: two to the Suns. By the way, that was like
Speaker 1: the worst start in NBA history, one of them. They
Speaker 1: had to claw back into the play in just to
Speaker 1: get to the first I mean, the fact that they
Speaker 1: even made the playoffs at all was a fucking shock.
Speaker 1: Twenty two, twenty three, forty two and forty playing lost
Speaker 1: one two any three to one eighteen to OKC, twenty three,
Speaker 1: twenty four, forty nine and thirty three first round loss
Speaker 1: weep to the thunder again. So, in other words, since
Speaker 1: the Pelicans took Zion number one in the draft, they've
Speaker 1: never won a playoff series. They have, in fact, have
Speaker 1: missed the playoffs three of those five years. And the
Speaker 1: question you might ask is, so, what did they do
Speaker 1: with those picks that they got for Anthony Davis. Here's
Speaker 1: what they had to show for the ad trade Jackson
Speaker 1: Hayes and Nikail Alexander Walker that they got trading the
Speaker 1: number four pick to the Atlanta Hawks. They got two
Speaker 1: first round picks in that same year, which they turned
Speaker 1: into them. They got Dede Lozata. Excuse me what, Herb
Speaker 1: Jones great, Dyson Daniels not even there anymore. Only Herb
Speaker 1: Jones is still on this team. The Pelicans traded Drew
Speaker 1: for Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and two first rounders. What
Speaker 1: was their draft haul for Drew? Sam Merril? Sam Merril
Speaker 1: the other first rounder sends Zion Kyra Lewis, Trey Murphy
Speaker 1: and Daniels who's now with the Hawks. So, in other words,
Speaker 1: since Zion went number one to the Pelicans, they turned
Speaker 1: five first round picks and three pickswaps the draft assets
Speaker 1: from trading two all stars as well as their own
Speaker 1: first round picks into Herb Drones and Trey Murphy and
Speaker 1: technically de Jon Tay Murray. David Griffin is not getting
Speaker 1: enough flag. People are not talking about how bad he's been.
Speaker 1: This is gone so sideways. This is a team. And also,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, why so the owner of the Pelicans
Speaker 1: also owns the Saints, and let's be real, she's kind
Speaker 1: of got her hands full with the Saints right now.
Speaker 1: The New Orleans City they do not give a fuck
Speaker 1: about the Pelicans. They care about who Day Nation. Also,
Speaker 1: remember when the Pelicans were going to the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: want to say, you could get court side tickets for
Speaker 1: like twenty two dollars. It's like for the price of
Speaker 1: a smoothie you can get court side tickets to the
Speaker 1: Smoothie King Arena. Listen, I'm not even lying to you, Tristan.
Speaker 1: You can't control who gets hurt. But guess what you
Speaker 1: how many years do you suffer through a decimated roster
Speaker 1: before you say we cannot count on Zion. You've got
Speaker 1: a husband who doesn't take out the trash. Stop waiting
Speaker 1: for him to take out the trash. It's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: They had a chance to trade him to the Knicks
Speaker 1: two years ago. They decided, Nah, We're just gonna see
Speaker 1: whether he can stay healthy. This may be a boat
Speaker 1: anchor around this franchise's neck, because I don't see Zion
Speaker 1: ever being healthy enough to make a championship run or
Speaker 1: even to be a tradable asset. Thank God, the Blazers
Speaker 1: did not trade for Zion to keep Damian Lowerd. That
Speaker 1: would be a fucking nightmare. If he is gonna be
Speaker 1: a insistent winner, he's gonna have to take care of
Speaker 1: his body better. He's gonna have to take his care
Speaker 1: of his body more carefully than a crystal vase than
Speaker 1: a Faberge egg. And that means kid gloves, load management,
Speaker 1: no wings, no weed, and no Mariah whatever the fuck
Speaker 1: her name is. And for the Pelicans, they're three and
Speaker 1: seven start an injury stacking like Djenga blocks. Doesn't look
Speaker 1: like this year is gonna be any different than the past.
Speaker 1: Best case scenario first round exit. Considering the state of
Speaker 1: the West, which is getting tougher and tougher, even a
Speaker 1: playoff spot right now seems highly unlikely. Moving on, Brian
Speaker 1: Windhorse made some news alert alert. Where did he make
Speaker 1: news on Finasis Antitacumpo's podcast? Yep, the NASAs. I think
Speaker 1: it's called Fanalytics or something. I mean, he got Brian Windhors.
Speaker 1: He got Brian Windhors to do his podcast and give
Speaker 1: up his time as a reporter to join literally a
Speaker 1: fringe NBA players podcast for ninety minutes, not a fifteen
Speaker 1: minute hit. If I try to get Brian Windhorst on
Speaker 1: my podcast for fifteen minutes, I would be swipe left
Speaker 1: so fucking fast. And I'm a pretty girl. He's the Nassas.
Speaker 1: Do you understand he went on fanalytics, probably because the
Speaker 1: NASAs is Gianni's brother. Very interesting interview, though the salient
Speaker 1: part came about forty five minutes into it when he
Speaker 1: said the following.
Speaker 2: I would say that we're not in a great place
Speaker 2: with media right now. We're not in a great place
Speaker 2: because we're we're we're I think we're devaluing things. I'm
Speaker 2: just like an old man here. I think we're devalueing
Speaker 2: things that help build the league up, Like one of
Speaker 2: the things that storytelling. Everything's too short right now. People
Speaker 2: are too focused on tweets, too focused on guys getting
Speaker 2: crossed over, too focused on guys getting dunked.
Speaker 1: On.
Speaker 2: People getting embarrassed, you know, social media posts not as
Speaker 2: much on storytelling, like learning about players and learning their backgrounds,
Speaker 2: and you know what I call chronicling the season, like
Speaker 2: talking about what's going on the season, like nuance and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. You know, when you're really into your
Speaker 2: team and you know about all the players and you know,
Speaker 2: you know there's special features done on them, Like yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I think what is interesting and it struck
Speaker 1: accord in NBA social media circles. As someone who's part
Speaker 1: of new media, I think I have some thoughts, and
Speaker 1: it might be not the thoughts that you think I have.
Speaker 1: I think Wendy's right. Honestly. One of the things that
Speaker 1: the NBA has done really well is I think allow
Speaker 1: media rights to be using viral moments. I'm getting demonetized
Speaker 1: on Instagram, So maybe I'm wrong. So maybe if I
Speaker 1: use viral clips, I get demonetized. But like Jah Morant
Speaker 1: had a pair of twisting three sixty layups that generated
Speaker 1: a record one hundred and sixty one million impressions across
Speaker 1: the NBA social media channels. And while that's awesome and
Speaker 1: Adam Silver is brilliant because featuring these little sound bite moments,
Speaker 1: these highlight moments, is a key component of the growth,
Speaker 1: but it has overshadowed the games themselves. Often you will
Speaker 1: rarely hear on social media about a one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety eight game between the Clippers and the Jazz if
Speaker 1: there was no highlight moment attached with it. So the
Speaker 1: NBA has gone from a star driven league to a
Speaker 1: highlight driven league, and that's because the the become a
Speaker 1: problem because a segment of new fans are now only
Speaker 1: interested in watching highlights and not the game themselves, which
Speaker 1: is not the only issue facing the league. And part
Speaker 1: of the problem is also that the mainstream NBA media
Speaker 1: has prioritized transactions hot takes over the players and on
Speaker 1: the on court basketball. One of the things I love
Speaker 1: doing is the random Reports. This is what we're calling
Speaker 1: the Random Report because it really does highlight players. It
Speaker 1: really does highlight what makes the league special, and the
Speaker 1: storylines and the nuance and the history and kind of
Speaker 1: the things that I like about the league, which are underdogs.
Speaker 1: I do like tea, and I like the tea as
Speaker 1: much as anyone. That's what we call the cotton candy.
Speaker 1: But I also like the vegetables. I also like the
Speaker 1: Brussels Sprouts. I also like watching the Cleveland Cavaliers cut
Speaker 1: a million times and create space and a full game
Speaker 1: of back and forth between them and the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 1: On a Saturday night, even when my team, the Oregon Ducks,
Speaker 1: are playing, I'm turning on the calves and the nets
Speaker 1: because I like hoop That's what I like. This podcast
Speaker 1: is about basketball. Ninety percent of that discussion has been
Speaker 1: about what is going on the court, not off the court.
Speaker 1: I talk about teams. We talk about how they're playing,
Speaker 1: how injuries unpacked their seasons, how we look at what
Speaker 1: we're seeing on the court and equate that as a prediction.
Speaker 1: I like takes, they don't need to be unnecessarily hop
Speaker 1: and while that rarely goes viral, I think it's a
Speaker 1: critical part about how we should be talking about the NBA,
Speaker 1: something that you don't see a lot on mainstream media,
Speaker 1: which is the same mainstream media the ditch Zach Low
Speaker 1: for Kendrick Perkins. And I know Zachlow is kind of
Speaker 1: a dueb, but I fucking love Zach Low, and everybody
Speaker 1: else loves Zachlow too. He's not boisterous, he's not like
Speaker 1: everything you talk about Steven A. He's not doing that
Speaker 1: back and forth right Like, I can't even imagine Zachlow
Speaker 1: doing that. But I don't know why there's not room
Speaker 1: for both. Why isn't there room for both? Because not
Speaker 1: enough people are watching the games to support the thing
Speaker 1: that supports watching the games. It just is a lowest
Speaker 1: common denominator. As less and less people watch the games,
Speaker 1: the less and less room there is for people who
Speaker 1: talk about the games, but only one category in their
Speaker 1: eyes is marketable, the one that goes viral and the
Speaker 1: one that talks about transactions, the ones that gets clicks,
Speaker 1: not the one that necessarily grows. The game attracts long
Speaker 1: life fans, brings people from not watching games to watching games.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I actually love. One of
Speaker 1: the best moments of my career in the NBA is
Speaker 1: somebody DM me and told me that they stopped watching
Speaker 1: the NBA altogether, they weren't a fan, and then they
Speaker 1: started listening to the podcast and now they work for
Speaker 1: the fucking NBA. That's so sick. But it is like,
Speaker 1: in general, the whole thing is a little sad. If
Speaker 1: you were invested in the long term health in the end,
Speaker 1: you would invest in the things that promote the game itself,
Speaker 1: promote the players, and not just the highlights and the
Speaker 1: hot takes. And I like hot takes and I like highlights.
Speaker 1: I saw a tweet today that said inside the NBA
Speaker 1: going away is not a bad thing because Chuck Shack,
Speaker 1: Kenny and Ernie have such a pre eminent voice in
Speaker 1: the sport, and it's no longer as nuanced and fun
Speaker 1: as it once was. I don't know. I kind of
Speaker 1: agree they do make a living in terms of like
Speaker 1: broad stroking the game, at least at least Shack and
Speaker 1: Chuck do. Kenny really does try to break down the game,
Speaker 1: and Ernie tries to keep it on the rails. But
Speaker 1: like it has gotten a little bit too clown around
Speaker 1: Arrow when we don't when these former players don't even
Speaker 1: know who's playing on the teams, they literally have a
Speaker 1: segment called who he played for? I think that kind
Speaker 1: of tells you what's going on. Windhorse's other point about
Speaker 1: storytelling is something I believe in. I'm like, I think
Speaker 1: I am at evidence that you can do stories and
Speaker 1: be viable on social media's like I told you, like
Speaker 1: I do the Rando Report. Anyway, we'll have more to
Speaker 1: say about this in the future. I'm gonna start asking
Speaker 1: this question of guests on the Heat Check in the
Speaker 1: future because I think it's an important debate. But we
Speaker 1: got to move on. It is Monday, so it is
Speaker 1: time for the injury report, and I hate to say
Speaker 1: that the injury bug is back. It is raging, raging
Speaker 1: Cajun and I'm not talking about Aaron Gordon. I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about Tyrese Maxey. We have to lead off with
Speaker 1: the horrible news. Sunday Nights game Chat. Holmgren went up
Speaker 1: to defend the rim, got hit in the chest, falls
Speaker 1: awkwardly on his side, then rolls around in serious pain.
Speaker 1: I think it's not that serious, but I hope it's
Speaker 1: not that serious. He had to be carried off the court.
Speaker 1: There's no update now, but he couldn't put weight on
Speaker 1: his right leg. All we know is that he was
Speaker 1: ruled out with a right hip injury. He did post
Speaker 1: to his IG story while in the locker room. Go
Speaker 1: get this one, boy, so maybe it's not as bad
Speaker 1: as a Kevin Durant is now injured as well. He
Speaker 1: threatens to derail the promising start that the Suns have.
Speaker 1: He has a hammy that's gonna keep him out at
Speaker 1: least two weeks. Man. Kevin Durant's been playing out of
Speaker 1: his mind right now too. Like the Sons look really
Speaker 1: freaking dangerous now that they have a point guard. They
Speaker 1: look really really good. Indy, the Pacers have a bunch
Speaker 1: of injuries Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nemhart both mistaken for
Speaker 1: each other by the way, they're both missing time. Nie
Speaker 1: Smith out until December, Nemhart out about two weeks. All
Speaker 1: of this comes back on the back of rumors the
Speaker 1: tyres and Aliburton's injury woes. Scoring woes have to do
Speaker 1: with his injury, which is the same thing that caused
Speaker 1: him issues in the playoffs last year. So John Morant
Speaker 1: is injured as well. They're calling that a posterior hip
Speaker 1: subligation without dislocation to go with a Grade one pelvic
Speaker 1: muscle strain. This is fucked right, Like what are we doing?
Speaker 1: Best case scenario for jaw is ten days. Worst case
Speaker 1: scenario is a month. We can't get less, like I
Speaker 1: don't want games without jaw. Also, by the way, Desmond
Speaker 1: Bain still isn't playing. There's like too much injuries for Memphis. Also,
Speaker 1: Charlotte Brandon Miller is now banged up. Myles Bridges will
Speaker 1: be out two weeks with the bone bruise. By the way,
Speaker 1: Bone Bruce no joke. In San Antonio, Jeremy Sohan is
Speaker 1: now out indefinitely. He fractured his thumb and that requires surgery. Ugh,
Speaker 1: And it's not just players out for extended time either.
Speaker 1: You've got players like banged up in general, Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: ankle sprain, Luca left groin injury. Is that surprising? Eighty
Speaker 1: planther fasciitis? Is that surprising? Steph Curry ankle issues? Is
Speaker 1: that surprising? All these dudes have had these injuries, like
Speaker 1: seventeen times all four have missed a game or three.
Speaker 1: Even Greg Popovich is out indefinitely, though the Spurs are
Speaker 1: saying nothing about what's ailing him. Fucking injury. Fuck the
Speaker 1: injury bugs. I hope everybody gets healthy soon. We're like
Speaker 1: ten games into the season for some teams even less,
Speaker 1: and I think it seems to be getting worse every
Speaker 1: single year. That's all the time that we after the
Speaker 1: episode of a heat Check, come back tomorrow for an
Speaker 1: all new episode, and check out the feed for past
Speaker 1: episodes and mini episodes which drop unexpectedly, like Dak Prescott,
Speaker 1: who's now probably having season ending injuries. SI surgery sign
Speaker 1: our Cowboys, see you next year. Do not forget to
Speaker 1: follow the heat Check throughout the season. That means download,
Speaker 1: that means subscribe, that means tell your friends. Even that
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Speaker 1: have six hundred rooms and not one of them is
Speaker 1: available before two pm, even though you've got black, Platinum, Platinum,
Speaker 1: Extra Platinum status. Dude, how is it possible that your
Speaker 1: cleaners came out at nine am and not one room
Speaker 1: it's free before too? What in the Shenanigans is happening?
Speaker 1: Throwing the heat check into your EarPods. Go help that
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Speaker 1: sit in the lobby for two hours. Do not forget
Speaker 1: the fall. Me on threads metas new social media app
Speaker 1: NBA people are on there also people who have questions
Speaker 1: about really important things. I'll be posting there a lot.
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Speaker 1: check it on TikTok can I too,