You're tuned into Heat Check, buttal quick.
On this episode of the Heat Check, it's a bonus episode. I've got a special betting preview for the Southwest, Southeast, and Northwest divisions. I am joined by my BEDMGM co host Ryan Horbat, and we recorded this on a recent episode of BETMGM Tonight. We break down our favorites to win each division, as well as the most intriguing teams to watch. We had a lot of fun, So do me a favorite nick and drop that motherfucking beat.
Southeast. We got the Hawks, the Heat, the Wizards, the Hornets, Yeah, and the Magic. Yeah.
There's only a couple of answers that you can really say, And I guess you could say, all right, which teams are exciting?
Which teams get your heart racing?
I think the Hawks are the only exciting team in this division right now outside of the mat like the Magic.
Actually, I've watched every game.
The Hornets will be exciting. Well, when's LaMelo coming back, hopefully before a Lonzo which is probably nebruwhere I.
Think his timeline is out at least man it doesn't make say it doesn't say in terms of like timeline, This is what I would say about the ankle for time for LaMelo. I injured my high ankle. I had a high ankle sprain and it took me. Yeah, it took me. I was in pet for like four months. They said it would be eight weeks. It would me to be able to run again, but to be able to cut, plant, spin out the things that LaMelo got
to get back into the game shape. It could be two to three months, like three months maybe more so, depends on how severe his ankle is and when they get him back, they need to get back Gordon Hayward as well. Right now, it's just man, just Terry Rosier, and they actually might trade Terry Rosier. So this is not a team that you want to be betting on.
And it was a disastrous offseason obviously off the court stuff.
Yeah, no, Miles Bridges obviously indefinitely. Yeah.
Probably domestic, Yeah, I would hope.
Maybe, maybe not.
He played no contest just the other day. He's not going to face any jail time. He's going to serve a parole. He may be back in the uniform for someone at some point. But I would not bet on the Hornets. I think Hornets unders for a while are going to be the.
Move which is crazy because z just all I know, I said that the other.
Night, crazy like they score eighty five points.
Now they don't have anybody and they don't play any defense, but I mean, they can't score. So I'm with you on that. I would not do anything obviously with the Magic. You couldn't pay me to touch the Hornets. I hate the Wizards same, but you know my thoughts on Trey Young and I bought into the Hawks last year because it just seemed like it was going to be their year after losing in the Eastern Conference seven and three right now, and they should have beat the Bocks in
that series. I mean only I only say that because Giannis didn't play the final two games. They got Chris
Middleton and de Holliday. Though, I just feel like, if I'm getting the heat though, plus one twenty five, and I know it's kind of been a mess, and I know that they've had guys in and out of the lineup, I mean, Jimmy Butler included, I just feel like, if you're giving me, and I know the price isn't great, plus one twenty five with Eric Spoltra and that team of veterans you know, they always treat the regular season the way that it should be treated. I'd probably take it.
Here's the question that I have for you. The Heat every year win like fifty three to fifty four games. They're a top three seed in the East, and I feel like they kind of burn out. Now last year they had a shot there.
But two years ago maybe they're just like screw it.
Like like kind of like the Bucks did finally a couple of years ago, where it's like, we don't need to win sixty sixty two games. We'll use more load management. You know, we have you Donnas Haslim Donnas Haslam checked into a game the other That's crazy. He's one hundred and ninety seven years old. He was literally in the league when I was at Saint Mary Nativity in the eighth grade. I'm not kidding you. This guy is still in the league. But I would still I would take
the Heat plus one twenty five. I like the Hawks. I don't know that I trust them.
I'm not minus money. I would need plus two hundred to take the Hawks.
That's what I mean.
I can't take a minus one twenty five. I do think though they're very exciting. You look at de Jonte Murray. De Jonte Murray, we were talking about props at the break and I made a whole list today of players that are on my do not bet list and players to target lists. His rebounds are a target, his assists are a target, his points are a target, his steals are a He's just his hitting every single prop like on every level. Steals, blocks, assists, rebounds, points, He's doing
everything for this team. Three pointers as well, He's hitting like five a game sometimes, so his efficiency is off the charts. He's just really added a lot to a team where Trey Young, Trey Young's undersize, Trey Young is up and down, and de Jontay Murray is very steady. And for whatever reason, de Jontay Murray is getting John Collins involved. And John Collins now is averaging like fifteen points per game or something crazy like that.
Let me just make shit.
Yeah, he should be doing that right now.
So yeah, he's averaging thirteen a game right now, but he's shooting threes. He's shooting somewhere between two and seven threes a game, John Collins. So yeah, I think that de Jontay Murray makes this team a lot more fun I've watched a lot more games because of him. Yeah, Clint Capella will probably be moved at some point for someone, So yeah, I mean it would only be the Heat for me at plus one twenty five because this is a team that just continues to try hard and I
don't know how much I trust Nate McMillan. And like we've seen the Hawks go into like these fifteen game tailspins, fifteen games where they just win like four of fifteen.
It's gonna happen in January.
I don't even really want the Heat plus one twenty five this year.
The problem is bad conference.
The problem is there's yeah, there's no value because the Magic sure maybe in a year or two, righteah, maybe two.
Two, the Hornets not the Horness.
No, no, probably never, to be honest with you. And then the Wizards, like any chance, what is the Wizard's goal? Because is it just make the playoffs and get some playoff money? Right, like you get the host two games, get some playoff revenue in there.
You just have to try to saytiate because Bradley Beal that you're on the right track.
That's it.
Like Porzingis has to be healthy all year.
See, and I just the other night. Okay, so, and I know Brad didn't play. Maybe he did play. I don't even remember because it was Friday night, right, But all the last thing I remember was Porzingis for some reason running his mouth.
No, he didn't. Kevin Durant, he didn't play the last two games, that's right.
And Kevin Durant was at the free throw line and he just stared at him and he started jawing with him, and then he murdered everybody on the team like he is. Daniel Gafford. Has he played since that night because his ankles were broke.
I don't think he has played. I don't think he has.
A team is dump and they're not going to be able to make any moves. Like what's the best thing that they could do.
Yeah, he had five points last night, five and seven, but he's in a bad place.
The Wizards just really have no goal.
Yeah's eleven to one. No, thank you.
That's pretty much all I have in terms of just like breaking this team down. But what I will say, for people who haven't watched any Magic games, you should, honestly, like you really should. Pala ben Caro averaging thirty in the last five games. He's averaging almost thirty points per game. Just insane stuff.
He's awesome. So give me one reason to watch the Wizards if I'm just the best.
There isn't one one. There wasn't one.
Give me a reason to watch the Heat.
Kyle Kuzman, Oh, no, to watch the Heat bam on a bio season.
Yeah, he's gonna be fun.
Oh and Max Strews Juice Shrew's three pointers.
Tyler Hero assists Tyler Hero three pointers.
For props, really just for props. There you goes, Jimmy Butler mid ranges, There you go.
If I had to make a bet, I'd go with the Heat only for the value same plus one plus one. Let's talk a little Southwest Division winner. And while I pull up those future odds, I tell me, just tell me, good good, thank God, throw them out to me.
So it's Mavericks they're the leader plus one thirty five Nope, Memphis Grizzlies plus one fifty nope. Uh, New Orleans Pelicans plus two fifty, Spurs plus twenty five thousand, and Rockets plus fifty thousand.
Well, I'm clearly all in on the Rockets this year.
No, I'm kidding they're the worst team in the league.
I think, yeah, I'm kidding about that, but I do like that price for the Pelicans. Same really like the Pelicans because the only issue with the Pelicans and I love what they did at the deadline last year. I mean acquiring CJ, which obviously, you know, you get another guy that could get your buckets in the fourth quarter. But also the thing with them is they kind of I mean, they're really young, but now they have the experience.
The only thing that scares me a little bit about saying that is I said that about Atlanta the year before that, and then they ended up being a complete dumpster fire. But we've already seen it here early with the Pelicans, like they look like they're the real deal when Zion's out there, when he's fully healthy. He's in shape right now. He just needs to stay healthy. That's the other thing that scares me a little bit. But I love brandon Ingram. I've always been a big brandon
Ingram fan. I thought the Laker should have held on to brandon Ingram. And I like that roster. They're deep, they got a bunch of young guys, they got guys that actually played defense, and I think that they're they're One of the reasons I like him is you have you have the veteran leadership with a guy like CJ. But also you have a bunch of young guys that are going to get up for these regular season games.
Kind of like nobody saw that coming from Memphis last year where they were the second best team in the West only next to Phoenix. They covered every single they played hard every single night. You just don't know that you're going to get that with these veteran type teams, especially in the West right now. Like the Clippers, well they're using the load management. They just want to get into the playoffs, where with the Pelicans, this is new
and exciting. You got guys trying to increase their numbers and pat their stats a little bit every night, and they're just a good team. I like the Pelicans a lot, but I also do like the MAVs because they have Luca and every single night he could give you forty. I think the value bet would have to be the Pelicans, right, the value.
Bet for sure.
Here's the issue that I have with the Pelicans is that last year they were one in thirteen. They started out, they started out really, really poorly, and it felt like Willie Green was already sort of with his back against the wall.
Zion wasn't around.
You had a bunch of undrafted guys or second round guys coming in congealing together.
Brandon Ingram was the alpha on this team.
And then you make the trade for CJ, and CJ sort of unlocks brandon Ingram, and all the while they were able to figure some things out without Zion. And now that Zion comes back and you've got you know, herb Jones is clicking, and brandon Ingram's clicking, even to a degree, Jose.
Alvarado has found himself a role.
Now you insert Zion back into the lineup, and now a team that was a stifling defense, a team that took Phoenix to the brink in the playoffs based on that perimeter defense, playing really athletic, good team stuff, covering for one another. Now all of a sudden, they're just picking on Zion because he's not a very good defender at all, and he's barbecued chicken and he knows that, and he has inconsistency and issues with I think complacency
as well. So I think what's happened is you have a team that was super desperate last year to a team that's been feeling themselves a little bit early. I think they getting smacked in the mouth last night against the Indiana Pacers shows them that they need to come out and compete just like they did last year, every single night and not think that there's a team that they can just walk through and beat, especially when you've got Zion who's gonna get absolutely picked on in the
pick and roll specifically, So I like that pick. I am a little nervous about them, though. I'm nervous about all those teams. I'm nervous about the MAVs in terms of who's going to be the other primary scorer, and you know, teams just allowing Luca to have forty and them losing. I'm worried about the Grizzlies without Jaron Jackson.
The Grizzlies would probably be my picky because I think when Jaron Jackson does come back, they're going to take another step and they're winning games even without one of their key pieces. All the other teams they're not missing anyone. You know, Mavericks have their entire team, Pelicans have their entire team. Now you could say they're getting Zion back into the and integrated into the lineup. I know this mount might sound crazy, but I think defensively, the Pelicans
are better without Zion, really I do. Yeah, I think that there's a better defensive team without Zion on it.
Better defensive team, yeah yeah.
Defensive team. Not a complete team, but just a defensive team.
Yeah. No, I think that's fair. I completely agree with that. Which team do you think is built to actually to make a run in the playoffs? All three of them?
Yeah, I do.
I think all three have have a legit chance. You look at the Grizzlies, they could have beaten the Warriors.
We didn't see Jaw healthy. He got hurt.
You know, you had a couple of fifty fifty balls go down. So that is another one. I think the Pelicans could have very easily. There were some key moments. I think they could have ended up beating the Phoenix Suns in the first round. That would have been an awesome matchup with the Mavericks. And then obviously the Mavericks
go to the Western Conference Finals. So and another fun team that I'm not going to bet on, but a team that you should definitely watch until the trade deadline is the Spurs, Like the Spurs are a very fun team.
Do you think they're going to be active at the deadline. Do you think they're gonna be I.
Think they're gonna be sellers.
Yeah.
I think I've heard yaka pertl to the Boston Celtics, which you would love.
God, that'd be a huge pickup. Because the other thing I was going to bring up was you think about the trade deadline, you think about some of the guys that might get moved, and then you think about the act of obviously you know the owners and the general managers that are going to be looking to sell or buy, I should say at the deadline and this conference, the Grizzlies are kind of set for the next couple of years, right because they have such a young core that I
don't think they're gonna move any of those guys unless it was the right deal to be made. And then you look at obviously Dallas and you have Mark Cuban who's always super aggressive. But do you think there's gonna be a big name that's available at the deadline, Like what's gonna end up happening with the Nets? We don't know. With Kyrie and KD. But I don't think either of those guys Kyrie. I was gonna say, he's not worth
a headache. I don't think anybody's gonna want Kyrie, even Mark Cuban and he's him and Luca together, is not I was.
Talking to Andrew about this and he said was he's Andrew are our brand manager. We were talking to him friend of ours, and he basically said he would take Kyrie for the Minnesotamberwolves, which I wouldn't hate.
Kyrie is a good enough.
Point guard to say, all right, Kyrie, D'Angelo, Russell Aunt Edwards, I don't Chicago.
I mean, I don't know why you would.
Let's be honest, there is a real possibility and isaological reasoning behind the Nets deciding that they are going to tank this year to get Scoot Henderson or someone because this is the last year that they and the Houston Rockets have a pit a pick swap, and Houston will either get their own pick or they will get the Nets pick, whichever one is better for them more advantagious. So the Nets could very easily get the second or third overall pick and they will have their own pick.
So tanking this year works for them, get rid of Kevin Durant, get rid of Kyrie Irving, use your own pick, find or trade that pick for a star.
Figure it out.
There's you trade Kevin Durant to Dallas to play with Luke.
That actually would be amazing. Christian would Yeah, that honestly is an amazing trade. I think that's like really interesting for this division. But this is the last year that the Nets will have their own pick for a very very long time. They'll have to have either the Sixers pick or no pick at all. So I really do like the Grizzlies though at plus one fifty, it feels like when they get Jaron Jackson back and they have enough pieces to make another move if they need to.
Pelicans five and five, Spurs five and six, Maverick six and three, Grizzly seven and four. So they're all sort of hovering between five and nine, kind of like right around five hundred.
Let's talk Northwest Division winners in the NBA, and let's talk about the futures market and what you would do in that particular market. So looking at it right now, you have the Nuggets pretty juicy, have your favorite and fifty Timberwolves, who were my preseason pick plus three hundred really quick. So you know, Brendon said the go Bear move made him scratch his head, and while I kind of agree, I also kind of understand what Minnesota was doing.
Now.
I worried about the spacing because we saw in Utah. You know, with go Bear on the floor, he's a rim protector. He's obviously solid defensively, but you know what he is offensively, right, he's gonna be under the basket in spacing is always gonna be kind of shummy. But I liked it because Karl Anthony Towns couldn't stay out of foul trouble in those big playoff games. Yeap, like every game he had four fouls, three fouls in the first half of the Yeah, where the hell's Karl Anthony Towns.
He had five fouls in the first half of an NBA game. They were the game he fouled out in the third quarter, Yes, in a playoff game. So I kind of liked go Bear because then you could put Cap back as a stretch for because he was playing the five at times last year. So I didn't hate it.
But the team have him rom like Anthony Davis.
Yeah, but it's not a fit like, but do you think it's we're not even halfway through a season, probably too early to consider blowing up.
I think that Carl Anthony Towns is soft, But yeah, I think he is, I think, no matter what.
And I like him as a person.
Yeah, and he's been through a lot as a human being, but as a player he's a b I b H.
Yeah.
We're in the money betting business and betting on Carl Anthony Towns to show up and be a man on the court without Patrick Beverly up his ass at any moment. Is now not a profitable endeavor. Aunt Edwards is hating him. The Timberwolves are a bad bet. I think that probably something is gonna have to change. I don't think that Carl Anthony Towns can be trusted to be himself. He's offensively looked horrible. Just the spacing's off. I think you might say to yourself, well, the Jazz are sitting atop
the West. I think they do trade some guys away, I don't think. Yeah, I think they trade Kanye. I think they trade Jordan Clarkson. I think that they trade some pieces that you know, maybe one out.
Of there, but don't But what if they don't, what I would do is two things.
I would take the Blazers at plus five fifty and I would take the Jazz at plus eight hundred. That's what I would do. That's what I think is a good bet. I think those are very very good bets. I think the Blazers might be for.
Real any chance that they make a move. And I know it's Portland, but just because they're trying to keep Dame.
I think that they're happy with what they have. You know this, do they need the team full of scrappers?
Man? Is a team full of scrappers. You know, Josh Hart playing the three. I hated the move, but even at six six six seven, he's just tough. He's gritty, he can hit tiny shots. He hit a game winner last night against the Miami Heat with no time left on the clock, which I thought was huge, just like buzzer beater style.
You've gotten to, sir little who's doing things.
Jeremy Grant's been awesome, like just really defensively, a really great four for us.
And there's just a ton of depth.
This is a very deep, very athletic team and they don't need Dame in order to win games.
And that's huge and they still need to get trend and wat for back there.
But yeah, I actually would play Portland plus five fifty.
I think I'm going to I like the price, and it's not like the Nuggets are going to run away with North.
No.
Now, no, like minus one fifty seems a little insane.
That seems crazy to me. That seems crazy.
I gotta be honest, I'm playing I'd play Portland. I'm sorry, not Portland. I would play Portland plus five fifty, especially over the day. Well, I don't hate the Timberwolves plus three.
I wouldn't do it.
I still think that they don't salvage this.
This is like the Lakers.
This is the Lakers, way too much talent, but they have young talent. Like that, the Lakers are dead because it's a bunch of old dudes.
Do you like who do you like on this team? Besides Edwards d Russ Russell? You like Digelo Russell?
I don't know. I like the bone Arrow.
Oh my god, he's maybe one of the worst players on this team. Yeah, they don't have a point guard. They need a point guard. They don't have one.
Oh no, this team is I think this team is absolutely cooked.
I wish so. No, I'm not gonna bet the Thunder this year, but I just.
Can't wait to like when they decide twenty five, yeah.
Because they just have so much talent. But the thing is, like, is Shay gonna be on this team when it's time to start? So that's what he said, committed, But I feel like when when it's finally time, he's gonna be like twenty second year, that's next year.
Next year they'll get Victor Wambanyama or shot.
I don't shad enough though.
They're four and six right now.
I don't know. Yeah, but is that bad enough?
I don't know.
We're I mean, you know what they do trade deadline, they shut everyone down, and they lose the next twenty games.
I'm actually surprised they haven't shut everybody down yet.
Four and six right now, the Thunder are. The Timberwolves are five and six. The Blazers getting no respect. There's seven and three plus five fifty. Nuggets are also seven and three, so to be what minus one fifty?
I just can't do it. Yeah, I mean, ten games into an eighty two game season's still seventy two games to go. Injuries happen obvious. I mean, especially with Denver. I mean the last couple of years, it's been Nicole jokicch and nobody else. Yeah, Jamal Murray just coming back. I do love Bones though.
He's fun, he's got a cool name. But that's what I would do. That's the best. Those are the bets that you need, honestly, those are That's the bet.
That's the best bet on the board right now is the Blazers plus by fifty. I mean, hell, maybe Danny Ainge says, yeah, like, we'll let this team go as far as they take us.
We're the number one seed in the West, so be it.
That's the thing. It's not like they're gonna be like buyers at the deadline or anything. If anything, they're gonna sell off parts. They're not going to add a piece. So you would have to like this roster like as is as is, and I don't enough. I mean, a nice story, right, and the guy's playing hard. I'm not saying they can't make a run to the playoffs as an eight seed or a playing team, but eventually the Warriors are gonna start taking the regular season seriously, Yeah,
you know, eventually. I don't know if I don't know, like if Minnesota is going to figure it out, Memphis is just fine. They've just lost a couple of games that you expect them to lose. I don't know. I like the Eastern Conference more this year.
That's it for this bonus episode of The Heat Check. Check back tomorrow we will be recording another episode, and do not forget to check out the feed for past episodes and interviews.
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