Speaker 1: Come on, come.
Speaker 2: On, come on this episode of the Heat Check again.
Speaker 2: More shenanigans in Sacramento. Yes, it's our weekly bi weekly
Speaker 2: tri weekly check in. Uh. Also more shenanigans going on
Speaker 2: with Brooklyn and they've got Twitter fingerprints of nothing other
Speaker 2: than Darryl Moury behind them. Possibly some collusion, possibly some tampering,
Speaker 2: Possibly executives from around the league united to come after
Speaker 2: Michael Rupert, owner of the Philadelphia seventy six ers. We
Speaker 2: also get into an All Star scandal, this one surrounding
Speaker 2: my man book starting All Star forward Andrew Wiggins. House Way,
Speaker 2: how has that.
Speaker 1: Been the same man?
Speaker 2: Fucking Sacramento, get your shit together. The funny thing is
Speaker 2: it's it's resulted in actually nothing like this now. The
Speaker 2: story is like a story about a non story, right,
Speaker 2: like nothing actually deals with a real trade. This week
Speaker 2: the big news. This is the bomb. This is the
Speaker 2: sound of the Wojes bomb. I don't even know if
Speaker 2: you could constitute this as a woj bomb. But apparently
Speaker 2: there will be no deal Sacramento. Kinks are doing no
Speaker 2: deal with the Sixers for Ben Simmons. Okay, Woljes report
Speaker 2: is that the Kinks have quote unquote, ended their pursuit
Speaker 2: of a deal with the seventy six ers and turned
Speaker 2: elsewhere in trade talks, sources told ESPN on Friday, inside
Speaker 2: of two weeks until the February tenth trade deadlin, the
Speaker 2: Kings believe that the asking price for Simmons is too steep.
Speaker 2: You guys are just hearing that. You guys are just
Speaker 2: getting that, and that the pathway to a trade agreement
Speaker 2: with the Sixers does not exist, sources said, shocking the
Speaker 2: Daryl Moury is still trying to fleece other teams to
Speaker 2: the point that even the Sacramento Kings are like, no, no,
Speaker 2: even we even we know this is not a good trade.
Speaker 2: Like the team that's the most dysfunctional, easy to fleece,
Speaker 2: like completely non organized, the worst franchise. Even they're like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I think we're good. You go ahead
Speaker 2: and test the waters out for yourself. Embat is playing
Speaker 2: his bets basketball and that you would think would lead
Speaker 2: to a deal getting done. That's how you know you're
Speaker 2: asking price is way too fucking high. When the farm
Speaker 2: team laughs at you in the face, what we are
Speaker 2: They're not doing that deal? You are straight tripping. And
Speaker 2: remember the Kings have lost five straight games and are
Speaker 2: desperate to move about everyone on their roster not named
Speaker 2: deer in Fox, and they still do not They're like,
Speaker 2: I do not care. Woach further notes the King's roster
Speaker 2: represented one of the Sixers' best options for a Simmons
Speaker 2: deal ahead of the trade deadline. Losing them in the
Speaker 2: marketplace somewhat diminishes the chance of an nd season trade.
Speaker 2: Although the Sixers believe that there are potential avenues to
Speaker 2: find a deal in the next two weeks, they believe
Speaker 2: a lot of things. They do. They believe things that
Speaker 2: don't make any sense. I have been saying this for
Speaker 2: I don't even know how long now. This deal's not
Speaker 2: getting done. Like this is not happening. I don't know
Speaker 2: why we even consistently put news out. It's like it's like, uh,
Speaker 2: fodder for us. It's just like a little more so
Speaker 2: for us to chew on like a little baby sour
Speaker 2: patch kids like, oh, it's like this is tasty. But
Speaker 2: this is not anything substantive. Nothing substantive is coming. What
Speaker 2: exactly is the path forward? Darryl Woach says his sources
Speaker 2: are saying that the Nets will quote unquote not engage
Speaker 2: with the Sixers in any way, shape or form on
Speaker 2: a deal for Harden. Uh okay, who's left. Well not
Speaker 2: an All Star, that's for sure. So if you're not
Speaker 2: getting Hardened and you're not getting Foxy, then who the
Speaker 2: fuck you think you're getting. Mark Stein reports that NBA
Speaker 2: execs just don't even believe Daryl Moury is bluffing about
Speaker 2: keeping Ben Simmons. I can't find a team out here
Speaker 2: these days that believes Daryl Moury is bluffing about keeping
Speaker 2: Simmons past the deadline to a first, make what it
Speaker 2: sounds to outsiders as a rather hopeless attempt to convince
Speaker 2: Simmons to rejoin the team for a playoff drive. Ah,
Speaker 2: that's not happening, and b more importantly, retain Simmons to
Speaker 2: offer him as the centerpiece of offseason trade pitch for
Speaker 2: the likes of Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Jalen Brown, and
Speaker 2: of course Brooklyn's James Harden in free agency. That would
Speaker 2: of course mean that those teams are actually interested in
Speaker 2: trading for Ben Simmons in the first place, let alone
Speaker 2: trade their superstar forgetting him. They have shown less than
Speaker 2: zero interest in this so far, all of this means
Speaker 2: two things. The Ben Simmons drama is going to drag
Speaker 2: out into the off season and priction time, this Ben
Speaker 2: Simmons drama is going to drag out into February twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three. We are we have a whole more twelve
Speaker 2: months of this to go. The Kings are going to
Speaker 2: Also Also, what this means is that the Kings need
Speaker 2: to get very creative because they need to move Buddy
Speaker 2: Healed for sure. He's been on the trade block for
Speaker 2: thirty six months now. It feels like we've been talking
Speaker 2: about them moving Buddy Heeled for as long as I remember.
Speaker 2: Harrison Barnes probably needs to go. Rashaun Holmes he seems
Speaker 2: like he's a likely candidate to go. But one thing
Speaker 2: I promise is if the Sixers ride Joel Embiid, the
Speaker 2: MVP of the league right now, into the playoffs and
Speaker 2: come up short because Daryl Mourray is too stubborn to
Speaker 2: make the right deal. His ego is too big to
Speaker 2: go out of the trade line and get someone who
Speaker 2: can actually help you win games in key moments. I
Speaker 2: don't know. Maybe it's at this point one of those
Speaker 2: situations where you trade for Jalen Brunson. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: a good point guard. He's gonna get twenty million dollars
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons for Jalen Brunson and Alfred Peyton. No, what's
Speaker 2: his name? Reggie Bullock? Reggie Bullock and a first who
Speaker 2: says no, Ben simmons career will last longer in Philadelphia
Speaker 2: than Darryl Morriy's. That's what's going to happen if he
Speaker 2: won't get a deal done and they end up losing
Speaker 2: some random fucking playoff series because they.
Speaker 1: Didn't fast be mine. That's why the.
Speaker 2: Big news in the NBA this week centers around James
Speaker 2: Harden in the future. Just about every basketball show, every pod,
Speaker 2: it's the top of the top of the top. They've
Speaker 2: talked about, Ooh, dis Harden actually want to be in Philadelphia?
Speaker 2: No he does not. Does he prefer the city of
Speaker 2: Philadelphia over the city of Brooklyn? No he does not.
Speaker 2: Is it real? Is it smoking mirrors? As with most
Speaker 2: things with James Harden, I don't actually know what to
Speaker 2: believe because I've spoken to people that I actually trust
Speaker 2: and they say it's real. Potentially that James Hardens hasn't
Speaker 2: had a great go since he arrived in Brooklyn thinks
Speaker 2: haven't exactly gone gone. How his mind's eye believe that
Speaker 2: they might be. What I do know, though, is this
Speaker 2: Chris Haynes broke some nose on his podcast that makes
Speaker 2: this entire scenario even more complicated. This is what he said.
Speaker 2: There's another player we're going to add to this dynamic
Speaker 2: with James Harden. His name is Michael Rubin. For those
Speaker 2: who don't know, Michael Rubin, the Sixers co owner, is
Speaker 2: quote very very very good friends. All three of those
Speaker 2: varies are written with James Harden. Three varies very very
Speaker 2: very good friends with James Harden, which means they probably
Speaker 2: exchange texts all the time, probably talk on FaceTime video
Speaker 2: all the time. And he says furthermore, I've been talking
Speaker 2: to a rival owner, talking to a rival front office
Speaker 2: executive who believes that there can be some talk right
Speaker 2: now going on between both sides. Rut Row. That's that's
Speaker 2: what we call dampering. That's dampering. Sh that's Dan Bring.
Speaker 2: That's against the rules. That's not okay, that's no, No,
Speaker 2: you don't do that. That's not what we do until February. No, No,
Speaker 2: because what guess what that means, big trouble. It's like
Speaker 2: when my dog eats some random chicken bono the street.
Speaker 2: You know you're not supposed to do that, Emma, don't
Speaker 2: do that. That's a no. That's a no. That's a no. Rubin,
Speaker 2: that's a big no. You know, you're not supposed to
Speaker 2: talk to James about free agency decisions until July. And
Speaker 2: it's made it even worse because James Harden doesn't have
Speaker 2: an agent right now, which is bizarre on its own front.
Speaker 2: So why is this a problem. Some front office executives,
Speaker 2: according to Chris Haynes, are prepared to, quote, when the
Speaker 2: time comes, if a deal does look like it's about
Speaker 2: to transpire where there could be a potential sign and
Speaker 2: trade in the off season, they are prepared to get
Speaker 2: the league involved on a potential collusion case dating back
Speaker 2: to what they think and believe it could be going
Speaker 2: on right now. You know why we're talking and hearing
Speaker 2: a lot of people Philadelphia James Harden talk. I was
Speaker 2: told that there will be complaints issued to the league
Speaker 2: to try to investigate to see if there was any collusion. Yikes,
Speaker 2: last time this happened. Bulls Heat second round picks forfeited. Yup.
Speaker 2: So here's the bottom line. I don't think they're gonna
Speaker 2: get Michael Rubin's phone, first of all, I don't know
Speaker 2: how they're gonna prove this. Yes, Harden has a friendship
Speaker 2: with Michael Rubin, one of the Sixers owners. Yes, James
Speaker 2: Harden has a pre existing relationship with Daryl Morey, who
Speaker 2: is his former GM in Houston. Yes, Harden does seem
Speaker 2: to be frustrated with the NETS organization. Can you blame him?
Speaker 2: Kyrie's never there, Kevin Durantz now out like he's fat.
Speaker 2: I don't know, But none of that means that James
Speaker 2: Harden is going a place I've been. Think to yourself,
Speaker 2: if you're an adult right now, and you're not a
Speaker 2: little kid listening to this podcast, how often have you
Speaker 2: been frustrated with your employer? How often you're like, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna get the fuck up out of here, and then two, three,
Speaker 2: four years later you're like, fuck, I don't have a
Speaker 2: better place to go. That's the case here with my man,
Speaker 2: James Harden. So by definition, Wal's reported also that the
Speaker 2: NETS aren't even entertaining any offers for James Harden, despite
Speaker 2: the fact that Chris is convinced that there's a Simmons
Speaker 2: and Maxie plus picks deal for Harden on the table
Speaker 2: that the Nets have said no to. So by definition,
Speaker 2: this means that Morey's only way to get what he
Speaker 2: perceives as the appropriate value for Ben aka a James
Speaker 2: or Dame or Beale or Jaylen Brown, it's gonna have
Speaker 2: to be in the summer. It's not gonna be in
Speaker 2: the next two weeks. But then Daryl Moury says that
Speaker 2: he thinks he has a deal on the table in
Speaker 2: the next two weeks, which means it's not James. So
Speaker 2: it's very confusing. It's all very astounding, it's all very intriguing,
Speaker 2: and it's all smoke and mirrors, and that means Ben
Speaker 2: Simmons is probably not gonna play basketball for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 2: As we said about the Kings pulling out of any
Speaker 2: deal with Daryl, the Sixers are ten games over five
Speaker 2: hundred in an injury played east. There are two games
Speaker 2: at a first place, which is fucking wild. Joe l
Speaker 2: Embiid is averaging over thirty a game the last ten
Speaker 2: games and single handedly is rescuing a dog shit season.
Speaker 2: I really do want to say this for for Sixer
Speaker 2: fans like I feel for you. I really would hate
Speaker 2: to see the Sixers get to a Game seven in
Speaker 2: the playoffs and you guys lose because you have a
Speaker 2: GM who is so arrogant and so egotistical, he just
Speaker 2: keeps spend Simmons on the roster for no fucking reason.
Speaker 2: Would hate to see it, would hate to.
Speaker 1: Investigated that shit was the basement way.
Speaker 2: I stopped the phase because sh just started e raised
Speaker 2: sambo way hoping days and it should just stop her rain.
Speaker 2: We are going to be talking about the NBA all
Speaker 2: started voting a lot more going forward, but starters being announced,
Speaker 2: we got our first of what I am sure will
Speaker 2: be many controversies. The system is broken, folks. We've talked
Speaker 2: about fuck those kids a lot like I don't care
Speaker 2: a fifty fan vo like that's bullshit. We've talked about this.
Speaker 2: I literally do not care what some eight year old
Speaker 2: thinks should be an All Star. I'm sorry to say,
Speaker 2: but it's just you don't even know what you're watching,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Clay is being voted for
Speaker 2: right now, like Kyrie is being voted for right now.
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons sitting out home wherever he is is being
Speaker 2: voted for right now. So how do I know that
Speaker 2: the system is broken? We live in a world in
Speaker 2: an era of positionalists basketball where Andrew Jehovah's witness, Wiggins
Speaker 2: can't get a starting spot on the All Star team
Speaker 2: over Devin Booker. Let me say that again. We live
Speaker 2: in a world where when positions don't matter because you're
Speaker 2: gonna say, oh, well, Trista, Andrew Wiggins is a forward,
Speaker 2: Devin Booker is a guard. I don't give a fuck.
Speaker 2: We live in an era where there is positionalists basketball.
Speaker 2: You can roll out three guards. We already know Sacramento
Speaker 2: Kings do that shit all the time. We live in
Speaker 2: an era where Andrew Wiggins is getting a starting All
Speaker 2: Star spot over the best player on the best team
Speaker 2: in the NBA. That's where we're at. Just pause, pause
Speaker 2: and think. Let that shit soak in. The best player
Speaker 2: on the best team in the NBA gets beaten out
Speaker 2: by the fourth best player on the second best team
Speaker 2: in the West. What are we talking about here? And
Speaker 2: Drew Wiggins and Drew Wiggins, the same Andrew Wiggins who
Speaker 2: carried the pressure for his entire career of being the
Speaker 2: number one pick in the draft, all those years in
Speaker 2: Minnesota being dog shit. The same Wiggins who was traded
Speaker 2: at Golden State and everybody last year wanted to trade
Speaker 2: him when he was out here bricking shots in the
Speaker 2: play in game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Everyone hated Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 2: People are like, this guy doesn't make any sense on
Speaker 2: this team. That guy right now is getting a starting
Speaker 2: spot over Devin Booker. Last year, when Steph was going nuclear,
Speaker 2: people were like, oh yeah, Wiggins, trade bait, trade bait, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: we can get a real wing. That guy who people
Speaker 2: don't even think is a real legitimate wing. Less than
Speaker 2: six months ago, that guy is starting over Devin Booker.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying he's not an All Star this year.
Speaker 2: E'X plained, well, but he's a starter. I'm happy for
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins, I am, but this is a gregious I'm
Speaker 2: saying there is no universe that Andrew Wiggins on any team,
Speaker 2: on any place in any universe. I don't care if
Speaker 2: it's Mars, I don't care if it's somewhere where they
Speaker 2: only only suit up Jehovah's witnesses on their team, Like
Speaker 2: there is no place where Andrew Wiggins should get the
Speaker 2: start over Devin Booker. Let's talk stats or Luca or
Speaker 2: Chris Paul, Like there are multiple players who are better
Speaker 2: than Andrew Wiggins. Andrew Wiggins is like the twenty fifth
Speaker 2: best scorer in the West, twenty fifth. Let's talk about
Speaker 2: the stats. Eighteen four and two fine, defensive rating one
Speaker 2: hundred and five to six. That's not anything crazy. Second
Speaker 2: lowest points per game he's averaged in his eight year career.
Speaker 2: If he wasn't an All Star, then why the fuck
Speaker 2: is he an All Star? Now? He's shooting forty one
Speaker 2: percent for three. That's respectable. Plus minus two forty seven
Speaker 2: for the year, pretty fucking good. But is he just
Speaker 2: because he's a forward quote unquote forward? Should he get
Speaker 2: a starting spot over Devin Booker? Devin Booker. Devin Booker
Speaker 2: is averaging twenty five six and four and a half
Speaker 2: up in every statistical category he is again, let me
Speaker 2: say it again, folks, for the people in the back
Speaker 2: who didn't hear me. He's the number one option on
Speaker 2: the number one team in the entire league. And he's
Speaker 2: not a starter because Jaw Jaw is ballin' and because
Speaker 2: the world can't has their rose colored Steph Curry glasses on,
Speaker 2: and there's only two starting guard spots. That's where we go.
Speaker 2: That's what we do. Come on now, all that to say,
Speaker 2: I'm fucking tired of this shit. Oh, Devin Booker, he
Speaker 2: is a good man. What a good man. There is
Speaker 2: no scenario in life where I get disrespected as much
Speaker 2: as Devin Brooker. And I don't say a thing. I
Speaker 2: don't start a riot like I would create a press conference,
Speaker 2: I would get a mob. I would be talking about
Speaker 2: this shit. He has been slandered his entire eight year career.
Speaker 2: People have been saying, oh, yeah, he plays up a
Speaker 2: lot of stats, but his team doesn't win. Okay, and
Speaker 2: now it's like his team wins, but his stats, like
Speaker 2: his stats are kind of just the same.
Speaker 1: Fuck you.
Speaker 2: If I am Devin Booker, I'm like this shit. Why
Speaker 2: can't I get any love? Like? Why can't I'm handsome,
Speaker 2: I have handles, my mid range game is tight. I
Speaker 2: studied under Kobe. I wear the same pair of purple
Speaker 2: ass shoes every single game to let him know who's
Speaker 2: the truth. Kobe, and I can't get any damn respect
Speaker 2: not from the media, not for my contemporaries, not from
Speaker 2: the fucking eight year old kids. Why why, why, it's
Speaker 2: a crime. I'm so mad about this. Luca, Luca is
Speaker 2: just like an afterthought because Devin Booker is so agreed,
Speaker 2: so egregious, because Luca's been injured. But Luca is averaging
Speaker 2: twenty five nine and eight, twenty five nine and eight.
Speaker 2: You don't think that big ass, six foot five dude
Speaker 2: could be a starting forward, he could be a wing.
Speaker 2: What are we talking about. There's no more disrespected star
Speaker 2: in the league than Devin Booker. They're just not It's
Speaker 2: not close. And you can tell it's outlandish because even
Speaker 2: Monny Williams is out here cracking jokes about it. His
Speaker 2: quote says, I laugh every time I look at the
Speaker 2: All Star voting and I see guys ahead of Devin
Speaker 2: Booker on the ticker. It's a joke. It's ridiculous. You
Speaker 2: might say, oh, well, Dame Lillard, he was disrespect he
Speaker 2: was disrespected two years before he got in two it
Speaker 2: was it took Devin Booker seven years to get into
Speaker 2: the All Star and he had to be a reserve.
Speaker 2: It's what are we saying? And people are chirping him
Speaker 2: to make my man. Tim McMahon tweeted, congrats to the
Speaker 2: twenty fourth leading scorer in the Western Conference. Yes, I
Speaker 2: get it, I get it. This is a weird voting system.
Speaker 2: Players voted Rudy and Draymond over him, media voted Draymond
Speaker 2: and Karl Anthony Towns over him. Only the fan voted
Speaker 2: him third. But hey, but hey, what's done is done.
Speaker 2: Wiggins is over the moon. Ha ha ha. Good for Wiggins.
Speaker 2: He cashed out on his points prop because I knew
Speaker 2: he would the day he ended up getting announced. He said,
Speaker 2: I thought I was dreaming for a second.
Speaker 1: Me too.
Speaker 2: I saw that on TNT and I was like, that's
Speaker 2: a joke. That's not true. This is a this is
Speaker 2: a hoax. This is some shit where you question. Let's count,
Speaker 2: recount the votes, stop the vote, now, stop the vote.
Speaker 2: He said, I was doing my pregame nap. My girl
Speaker 2: woke me up and said, you're a starter. You're a starter.
Speaker 2: I thought I was dreaming. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Because it's so outlandish what happened, all of his teammates
Speaker 2: were equally quote unquote elated, well, at least everyone but Draymond.
Speaker 2: Steph said that the group chat went nuts, with the
Speaker 2: exception of Draymond Green. My guy, Anthony Slater reported that
Speaker 2: thirty minutes after the news broke, Draymond Green finally acknowledged
Speaker 2: that Curry made it ay. He's so petty, Draymond, stay
Speaker 2: yourself all the time. Even Karl Anthony Towns seemed happy.
Speaker 2: My vote was for him. We went to Wars together
Speaker 2: out there. I just want to see him get the
Speaker 2: fruits of his labor. He's averaging less than he did
Speaker 2: in minutes. Stop. Maybe I should look at this differently.
Speaker 2: Maybe this is just a victory for lunch pale players
Speaker 2: like Andrew Wiggins, not stars. Andrew Wiggins is durable. He
Speaker 2: is put up with the lot. He's missed four games
Speaker 2: all year only for health and safety, which is hilarious
Speaker 2: because he didn't want to be vaccinated in the first place.
Speaker 2: His career, he's only missed eighteen games, amazing. Klay Thompson
Speaker 2: says he's an iron man, which, to be honest, is
Speaker 2: not a stretch coming from a man who has missed
Speaker 2: two straight years. So Wiggins is now in forever a
Speaker 2: starter on the All Star Game. Congratulations to him. No
Speaker 2: one's gonna be able to take it away. But the
Speaker 2: only question that remains is when will Devin Booker get
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins level respect I am waiting, make it make sense, respectfully.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we have for the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: We'll be back Wednesday night with a new episode. Please
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