Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of a Heat Check, we are now
Speaker 2: at the halfway point of the.
Speaker 3: Regular NBA season. Can you believe it? Time is going best, folks.
Speaker 2: It is time for me, Professor Crick, to give out
Speaker 2: some grades some guys. Some teams are getting the ruler, folks,
Speaker 2: Smack smack. This episode, we're gonna break down the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2: We're gonna grade every team from Atlanta down to the
Speaker 2: Washington Wizards. So let's get right to it, Nick, we
Speaker 2: don't have much time drop that generic gass beat. All right,
Speaker 2: So we've reached halfway throughout the season. Actually, last Thursday,
Speaker 2: I could have done it, but I didn't feel like
Speaker 2: it was too much work. It's a lot you gotta
Speaker 2: go into all these ratingsts. I don't mean to make
Speaker 2: it sound like my job's like super complicated.
Speaker 3: It's not.
Speaker 2: I do this for the love of the game. So
Speaker 2: I wanted to do it. I want to do it right.
Speaker 2: And now it's just like college. It's like the midterm
Speaker 2: exams and we're giving out mid semester grades. Some teams
Speaker 2: I think will be very happy with their scores. Kids
Speaker 2: that came into the classroom. They had a backpack with
Speaker 2: no books in it, and you said to yourself, oh boy,
Speaker 2: this is gonna be a doozy, And.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden they became one of the best.
Speaker 2: Students in the whole damn classroom. And then others will
Speaker 2: probably be very sad.
Speaker 3: But them's the breaks.
Speaker 2: I am just the instructor, and I call it like
Speaker 2: I see it.
Speaker 3: So let's start out East. Let's break it down.
Speaker 2: Next episode will break down the West, because, like I said,
Speaker 2: these stats are hard to come by. So let's start
Speaker 2: in the Atlantic Division. The Atlantic Division is a wagon
Speaker 2: by the way you look at it. I think it's
Speaker 2: the best division in the entire NBA. What you may
Speaker 2: not think about it because who does who is in
Speaker 2: the Atlantic Division. It's the Nets, It's the Sixers, it's
Speaker 2: the Celtics, it's the Knicks.
Speaker 3: That's a good ass, good ass division. And listen, like, most.
Speaker 2: Of these teams have had various degrees of dysfunction throughout
Speaker 2: this offseason and into the season itself. So I mean
Speaker 2: these teams were seen as toxic full rebuild situations like
Speaker 2: the Brooklyn Nets. Four of these teams right now, though
Speaker 2: four of these teams are top six in the East.
Speaker 2: So it's a wagon that's unreal. So let's start with
Speaker 2: the Brooklyn Nets. I mean, that's the kid that came
Speaker 2: in with the backpack that was empty, and you were like,
Speaker 2: this kid's going to fail, Like, this kid's probably gonna
Speaker 2: withdraw the class. In the first month of the season,
Speaker 2: they look like they were headed for a full teardown,
Speaker 2: didn't They kd wanted out.
Speaker 3: Kyrie was a mess.
Speaker 2: He gets suspended, he wants a max deal, they say no.
Speaker 2: In the offseason, there's just cascating thing after cascading thing,
Speaker 2: the whole yahweh issue. Oh my god, Joe sigh. They
Speaker 2: wanted to fire Sean Marks.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah. By the way, they fired their coach in
Speaker 3: the middle of the season.
Speaker 2: Try to hire em Udoka. That didn't work because the
Speaker 2: league shut that down. They brought in Jacques Vaughn, who
Speaker 2: was the interim head coach the last time they fired
Speaker 2: their coach.
Speaker 3: So it was a world class distraction.
Speaker 2: You were like, okay, this is we had the ghost
Speaker 2: of Nick Claxton.
Speaker 3: What's he gonna be? Like, what's TJ. Warren gonna be?
Speaker 3: Ben Simmons, Is he gonna be himself?
Speaker 2: He had been in his own mind, just very broken,
Speaker 2: and so you're thinking to yourself at this point, this
Speaker 2: team steering at a full rebuild, especially when Kevin Durant
Speaker 2: wanted out and you look up after they fired Steve
Speaker 2: and their second in the East.
Speaker 3: You gotta give the Brooklyn Nets an a plus. You
Speaker 3: have to.
Speaker 2: They are the second best defensive team in the last
Speaker 2: fifteen games.
Speaker 3: They went eighteen and.
Speaker 2: Two after they brought on Jacque Vaughn KD until his
Speaker 2: injury became probably at the peak of his powers. Nick Claxton,
Speaker 2: by the way, who no one is talking about as
Speaker 2: a real defensive Player of the Year. He's like plus
Speaker 2: fourteen hundred right now, which is worth a little sprinkle
Speaker 2: if you want to put a little money on it
Speaker 2: for that award. He's got twelve double doubles so far.
Speaker 2: He's dominating in six of the seven interior categories in
Speaker 2: the league. He leads the league in blocks. Ben Simmons
Speaker 2: has been a game changer. And it's not just the
Speaker 2: defense either. They've been very good in terms of their bench.
Speaker 2: Edmund Sumner, TJ. Warren, My Guy, John Utah, Wattnabe, Joe
Speaker 2: Harris coming back from injury, p Mills, cam Thomas, Royce O'Neil,
Speaker 2: all of whom have stepped up now that Kevin Durant
Speaker 2: is out after you know, for another month.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: By the way, Kyrie Irving is taking accountability for not
Speaker 2: playing well in fourth quarters, tweeting.
Speaker 3: Out, I me, Kyrie Irving have to be better.
Speaker 2: When have we seen that? Hey, I gotta be a
Speaker 2: better leader. Did someone take over this man's account? You
Speaker 2: can't get I ed gray than the Brooklyn Nets. Boy,
Speaker 2: I swear I thought that was a shit show. And
Speaker 2: they have vastly overperformed expectations.
Speaker 3: This team could win at all?
Speaker 2: What Boston Celtics less excited about them? Why they went
Speaker 2: to the finals?
Speaker 3: They went to the finals.
Speaker 2: Yes, they had their share of dysfunction as well. They
Speaker 2: fired he may Udoka. Let's be real to firing He's
Speaker 2: never coming back to this team. They bring on a
Speaker 2: guy with his own set of scandals, a bunch of
Speaker 2: skeletons in his closet, a religious sellate that he is
Speaker 2: who I'm not completely sold on.
Speaker 3: And the team was in need of a prayer and
Speaker 3: they found one.
Speaker 2: They went obviously, and they had a bunch of key
Speaker 2: pieces that they still had two of the best wings
Speaker 2: in the league with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. Rob Williams,
Speaker 2: though missed twenty nine games start of the season, and
Speaker 2: the fact that they're still number one in the East
Speaker 2: feels very impressive to me. They pick up Malcolm.
Speaker 3: Brogden probably would have been a shoe in to win.
Speaker 2: Six Man of the Year if Russell Westbrook didn't become
Speaker 2: whatever we're seeing. If he gets traded, Malcolm Brogden will
Speaker 2: win six Man of the Year. But the only thing
Speaker 2: that I can't give him an A plus or an
Speaker 2: A solid a their name minus for me. They lost
Speaker 2: to the Magic twice. They got stomped by the Dubs.
Speaker 2: They got stomped by the Clippers. They lost to the Thunder,
Speaker 2: the OKC Thunder, who is largely considered to be one
Speaker 2: of the biggest egregious tankers in the league. They lost
Speaker 2: to them by almost fifty points, fifty of them half
Speaker 2: of one hundred. So I don't really know what else
Speaker 2: to say other than the motivation of this team can
Speaker 2: sometimes be called into question, and that, my friends, is
Speaker 2: a coaching problem and something that.
Speaker 3: Even Joe Mizula is making fun of.
Speaker 2: That he doesn't take timeouts and maybe he should, and
Speaker 2: that the momentum shifts.
Speaker 3: Et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: Boston Celtics are gonna be fine. But I can't give
Speaker 2: him an A plus or an A minus because largely.
Speaker 3: The pieces are the same.
Speaker 2: Let's move on to the New York Knicks. New York
Speaker 2: Knicks gotta give them B minus B minus, which is
Speaker 2: pretty damn good, right, pretty damn good for the New
Speaker 2: York Knicks. Halfway point, specifically, Jalen Brunson has been a monster.
Speaker 2: He has worked out. He is averaging thirty two points
Speaker 2: in the month of January, what, fifty percent from three
Speaker 2: point range, almost six rebounds, almost six assists per game.
Speaker 2: They've got one of the best road records in the NBA,
Speaker 2: fourteen and eight. Do you know what the Golden State
Speaker 2: Warriors would do to be fourteen and eight on the road.
Speaker 2: Julius Randall right now is playing out of his mind
Speaker 2: for the most part. And the young guys they're developing
Speaker 2: into contributors as well, right, Like, Yeah, we may not
Speaker 2: see ob topping much, but he's been injured. RJ Barrett
Speaker 2: on the other end, hasn't been great despite his stats,
Speaker 2: saying that he has been okay, he just hasn't really
Speaker 2: been there.
Speaker 3: He's gotten injured.
Speaker 2: I would imagine the one downside that the Knick sea
Speaker 2: is Wow, Donovan Mitchell really is him. We probably should
Speaker 2: have traded Quinton, Like I can't believe that Quinton Grimes
Speaker 2: held this fucking trade up Quinton Grimes.
Speaker 3: Do we see what Donovan Mitchell is doing? He has
Speaker 3: seventy one points.
Speaker 2: If you would have said to Leon Rose, this man's
Speaker 2: gonna score seventy one in the garden, are you willing
Speaker 2: to trade Quinton Grimes and RJ Beart, I think that
Speaker 2: they regret that decision. Fucking her extending RJ. Barrett trying
Speaker 2: to play little games with our man, Danny Ainge. You
Speaker 2: can't play games with Ange. Uh. They've blown On the
Speaker 2: other side, that's also bad. They've blown seven double digit
Speaker 2: leads and lost those games. Remember the game that Luca
Speaker 2: had like one of his.
Speaker 3: Best performances ever.
Speaker 2: They scored like they were down nine with thirty seconds
Speaker 2: or nineteen seconds to.
Speaker 3: Go, and the MAVs won that game. Yeah, that was
Speaker 3: against the Knicks.
Speaker 2: That was against them, And when it comes down to
Speaker 2: crunch time, the offense goes stagnant.
Speaker 3: They miss a bunch of free throws.
Speaker 2: I think they were like eleven for forty one a
Speaker 2: couple of games ago. Certainly a fun team, definitely overperformed,
Speaker 2: but some flaws, some bad decisions where I feel like, man,
Speaker 2: would they be good with Donovan Mitchell moving forward in
Speaker 2: the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia seventy six Ers, who to me,
Speaker 2: they are a B plus. They are very interesting. I
Speaker 2: think this is the same sort of team as they
Speaker 2: were last year, where I don't know if they're good
Speaker 2: or not.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure they could go to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 3: They could flame out in the first round.
Speaker 2: All of that depends on the two key pieces, which
Speaker 2: is James Harden and Joe l emb Are they healthy,
Speaker 2: are they in shape, do they have a connection?
Speaker 3: Can they be stopped? How is the defense doing well?
Speaker 3: They brought on PJ.
Speaker 2: Tucker, the guy who was considered it would be one
Speaker 2: of the best point of attack defenders in the league.
Speaker 3: He has stunk.
Speaker 2: He has stunk so bad that people within the blogosphere
Speaker 2: of Philadelphia seventy six Ers media are calling for him
Speaker 2: to be sitting his ass on the bench. So all
Speaker 2: that considered for the Sixers to still be fourth in
Speaker 2: the league in defensive rating with PJ. Tucker largely being
Speaker 2: not very effective, is pretty good because of the Anthony
Speaker 2: Mountain that the Anthony Mountain trade that they made with
Speaker 2: the Memphis Grizzlies is unreal. The Anthony Mountain is one
Speaker 2: of the top leaders and steals per game and deflections.
Speaker 2: If you look at Embiid and Harden, their connection has
Speaker 2: been elite. They've also had their fair share of injuries, though,
Speaker 2: so you can't give them an eight right because all
Speaker 2: those things that we worry about have already reared their
Speaker 2: ugly head. Embiid has missed time. He's missed nine games,
Speaker 2: Harden has missed fourteen games in a row. He's back
Speaker 2: and somehow a player that they did not account to lose.
Speaker 2: Tyrese Maxey missed nineteen games, but all of that considered,
Speaker 2: the Sixer still managed to go thirteen and six without
Speaker 2: him and they're healthy now. So with Maxi and Embiid
Speaker 2: and Harden, the Anthony Mountain all in the court.
Speaker 3: Gelling and meshing, this team could be really, really dangerous.
Speaker 2: Tobias Harris, he doesn't even have to do much now
Speaker 2: that Tyrese Maxey is good he's a very solid fourth option.
Speaker 2: Considering that his stats have declined and plummeted.
Speaker 3: Off of a cliff.
Speaker 2: It's okay because you don't need him to score a bucket.
Speaker 2: When Embiid is out sitting on the bench, it's like,
Speaker 2: that's fine. Just spot up, shoot threes, catch and shoot,
Speaker 2: maybe do a little dribble drive pass back to James
Speaker 2: and let the offense flow. So this team could be
Speaker 2: dangerous or like I said, they could be a first
Speaker 2: or second round exit.
Speaker 3: Toronto Raptors. What's stopping me from giving you an F Hope,
Speaker 3: good roster, good GM, good coach. They're a D minus.
Speaker 2: This is a team that you could say is one
Speaker 2: of the most disappointing teams in the NBA. I thought
Speaker 2: they would be like a top four, top five seed.
Speaker 2: When you have current players like CJ. McCollum commenting about
Speaker 2: the Toronto Raptors generally speaking in like nobody speaks about them, right,
Speaker 2: But when.
Speaker 3: You have them talking about the Toronto Raptors on.
Speaker 2: An ESPN hit with i Isy Gutierrez and speaking of
Speaker 2: them in negative terms, not in the fact that they're
Speaker 2: the gold standard, which is what they have been for
Speaker 2: recruiting and scouting and developing talent and making talent gel
Speaker 2: and mesh, finding guys that came from the G League.
Speaker 3: All that is what Toronto is known for. Right now,
Speaker 3: they are known.
Speaker 2: For their dysfunction and now that means it is bubbled
Speaker 2: up to be mainstream news quickly. As an aside, does
Speaker 2: anyone find it weird that CJ. McCollum, who's not just
Speaker 2: a player, he is the president of the NBA Players Union,
Speaker 2: is commenting on this on ESPN, like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: like just feeding chum to the aggregators, the bloggers for
Speaker 2: drama purposes and driving ESPN's ratings at the detriment of
Speaker 2: other NBA teams as a whole. Like I feel like
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant would not like that.
Speaker 3: I don't feel like the pure Hoopers would want to
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 2: That's kind of the icky thing where it feels like
Speaker 2: these players are start towing the line between player and
Speaker 2: like media personality, Like you can't on one hand be CJ.
Speaker 2: The New Orleans Pelican Hooper mid range master and on
Speaker 2: the other hand hot take men stephen A.
Speaker 3: Smith wannaby, I don't like that. I don't like that.
Speaker 3: But here's what he had to say when he was
Speaker 3: spilling the team.
Speaker 1: I think in terms of what they need or what
Speaker 1: they're lacking, something's gonna happen. I don't know what. There's
Speaker 1: rumblings about certain players on the team not being happy
Speaker 1: and due to tampering. I can't speak to that, but
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna move someone.
Speaker 3: So let's break this down.
Speaker 2: The Raptors came to the season and we all thought
Speaker 2: that they were on the rise. Scotty Barnes wins Rookie
Speaker 2: of the Year. He looks to emerge as a real
Speaker 2: superstar playmaker, can do multiple things on the court. Siakam
Speaker 2: We knew he was gonna take a step up, and
Speaker 2: he did take a step up. He's been insane this year,
Speaker 2: absolutely incredible. Og Nnobi was supposed to break out. He's
Speaker 2: actually leading the league in deflections right now, so defensively,
Speaker 2: he's been amazing. And they got out from under Kyle
Speaker 2: Lowry's contract. They had Fred van Fleet, who.
Speaker 3: Is an All Star.
Speaker 2: Like, all of this gave us vibes of improvement. Right,
Speaker 2: you've got to bring in another heavy hitter. Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: it's all good, but no, halfway through the season, despite
Speaker 2: a team of six to seven to six to nine guys,
Speaker 2: with the with the best steal rate in the league,
Speaker 2: allowing the fifth least points in the paint, the fourth
Speaker 2: lowest second chance points in the league. The Raptors are
Speaker 2: only fifteenth in the league in defensive rating. So why folks,
Speaker 2: They're five games under five hundred. They are out of
Speaker 2: the play in tournament, and I am not sure that
Speaker 2: they will sneak into the play in tournament. And now
Speaker 2: you've got rumblings about various players wanting out. Fred van
Speaker 2: Fleet wanted to get paid, them not wanting to pay
Speaker 2: him because he is undersized and has somewhat of a
Speaker 2: ball dominant attitude. Pascal Siakam is one of the only
Speaker 2: guys that is untradeable, but does he want to be traded.
Speaker 2: I've heard that Ogannobi is unhappy with his role and
Speaker 2: how he's being used on this team. Who is not unhappy?
Speaker 2: Scotty Barnes doesn't look happy. You've got Nick Nurse throwing
Speaker 2: Gary Trent under the bus and saying, listen, if he
Speaker 2: can't play defense, he's of no use to us. He's
Speaker 2: yelling at players on the coach, I mean, on the bench.
Speaker 2: There's just so much going on with this team, safe
Speaker 2: to say this is not the way anybody thought it
Speaker 2: would go, not the way that anybody would want it
Speaker 2: to go, which is why.
Speaker 3: They get a failing grade.
Speaker 2: They can't get enough because I love Missiu Jerry, and
Speaker 2: I think he's too smart to let this shit happen.
Speaker 2: Still time for things to turn around. But when you
Speaker 2: only have two guys on this roster who are untouchable,
Speaker 2: that's a rut row. That is a massive, massive rut row.