You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
On this episode of the Heat Check, We've got a very special treat for you a couple of interviews that I recorded on my nightly betting show bet MGM The Night, which I co host every night Monday through Friday, seven to eleven pm Eastern with my co host Ryan Horvat and PJ Lasser. On this episode, we talked to NBA insider Sean Little of the MSG Network and the No
Ketchup Podcast. He breaks down his thoughts on the NBA season so far, and we follow it up actually with an interview with Robin Lundberg of SI who gives some great insight into the league as well. There's one team that he is surprisingly low on and it rhymes with Smiladelphia Sixers. Double interviews mean double bonuses for you, Nick, do me a favor and drop that beat. In this first clip, I asked Sean his thoughts on the New York Knicks, who lost their opener to the Grizzlies but
managed to claw back and force overtime. They showed a ton of grit, and since he's a Chicago guy now living in New York City, I had to ask him about the Bulls as well.
Listen in Yeah, I mean I live. I live out here half the week now and majority of the week. I went back and forth from New York and Chicago, and everybody I talked to this morning was very encouraged. I know, I was watching them. Yeah, that was easily a game that they could have. You know, opening night kind of got tucked in early, were down big, and they could have folded up. But I think they showed
a lot of fight Julius. It's such it was so important for Julius Randall to get going and be involved early like he was, because when he's not, everything snowballed and it starts to snowball from game to game. I also think it was major that, you know, they went and got Jalen Brunson to handle the rock so Julius doesn't RJ. If RJ didn't play is bad as he did last night, they win that game about five, six,
maybe even seven points. So yeah, I was encouraged. They have a big home stretch coming up here that they have to play really well. They play, they play some of the bottom teams in the league, Detroit being one of them. They kick off tomorrow with the opener, But yeah, very encouraged. Everyone I talked to in New York is very encouraged. Memphis is supposed to be, you know, a top flight Western Conference team, and they went head up in the opener.
Let's talk about the Chicago Bulls because first and foremost, very impressive win against the Miami Heat, even though the Miami came back, made it a game, just a I would say, very impressive. More impressive than even last year, considering that a bunch of your guys are not really right and secondarily you know your thoughts on that. But what's up with Pat Williams.
Yeah, let's be clear. The only people that I want to know are Io Desumu and Jamar Jarroz and everybody else. They can't even take credit for that WU yesterday. But yeah, it's it was a very encouraging win. They looked good. Jamar, It's just ridiculous. I I tweeted out yesterday, looked for look to take his point total, attent total, all that stuff over. When Levine's not in his use is great. Skyrockets by like five or six percent. His attempt shot to go up by five or six, He scores six,
seven points more a game. He's sensational when Levine's out, So yeah, it was a it was a great win. I don't know just what's going on with Pat Williams. I it's it's very nauseating because at the very least for a guy that's his friend, six's a you know, but you know the whole story, perfect frame for a young hooper. He doesn't even clean He doesn't even clean up the glass. He makes no impact in the game.
Whatso everyone he's out there and I know he got hurt and missed the majority of the year last year, but even in like the ten or twelve games that he did play, it was very similar the way you saw it last night, not really making an impact. He's kind of just a guy out there jumping around and playing a little bit of defense, but he just doesn't
make an impact on the game. And I don't know, you hate to give up on a dude that's so young like he is, but you also have to look for something that gives you a spark, a flash of something, and I haven't seen it at all.
In this clip. I asked Sean his candid thoughts about a couple of teams from the West who could surprise for different reasons. The New Orleans Pelicans and the Phoenix Suns.
The Pelicans are awesome. I won't jump out and say they're a legit contender to go on and win the West, but they're loaded. Man, Zion is awesome. He's literally a walking twenty five plus every night. Ye whan when he wants to walk on the court and he's healthy. I was joking around in the group chat. One of my boys says, man, make Zion go right, and it's like, man,
you can't. It's impossible to make him go right. He's going to go left whenever he wants, and he's going to get to the basket and try to finish at the rim. I mean they're awesome. Zion can score, Ingram can score Herbs. The big question mark right, is who's going to play defense. Well, Herb Jones will play D. You got Alvarado who will come off the bench and bring energy and play D. You got Balanceonis who will rebound. Davonte Graham off the bench, is not afraid to get
shot up. He'll get his shots up. Larry Mantill run the floor. I really I'm with you, guys, I really really like the Pelicans, and I didn't even namc delacull him who when a big bucket is needed, jump shot or otherwise, he's shown that he can get it done for you. Yeah, I really really like this squad. They're young, they'll have a lot of energy. They'll be fun to lost. My number one leak past squad right now for sure.
Yeah.
Absolutely another team that I think some of us thought maybe would take a big step back just because of all the drama issues with the contract of DeAndre Ayton, you know, Chris Paul getting another year older, and some
of this that he has with teammates. Just generally speaking, what a gritty, gritty comeback win for Phoenix against the mass They could have just laid down and died, and yet somehow, some way, Monty Williams decides, Okay, well, I'm actually going to bench Chris Paul that my guys who were on microwaves finish this game out. What were your thoughts just on that game and whether we can take anything from that in terms of how good Phoenix can actually be.
Yeah, you know what it feels like to me that Dallas is just a bad matchup for them. Overall. They have a lot of trouble with Dallas. That's obviously been seen in the playoffs and we saw and you saw it last night in the majority of the game. But yeah, it was awesome. They locked in and did what had to be done. I think when you get in situations like they were down last night, in a little momentum
starts to come back. As they're getting back into the game, we're not thinking about like the off the field stuff we're not talking are off the court stuff we're not talking about. Aden's not wanting to be there. He's already on the floor doing this thing. I think it was a very gritty win. It was encouraging to see. It was encouraging to see, you know, those guys get rolling. Ayden was efficient, Devin led the way. I was watching the show and I heard Bill Ryder crush Chris Paul.
When you were interviewing.
I thought he crushed him, and I thought that was a little over the top, right, I'm like, man like, he's shown year in and year out, and as recently of last year, that he's still one of the best clutch basketball players in the world. He would close out games for the Sun night in and night out, and basically tough teams away and he was a non factor yesterday. It was almost like they realized they had to move
on without him. So, yeah, you're right, they left Paul on the bench and when he did that thing.
Finally, I asked Sean about the Los Angeles teams and his thoughts on the Clippers and Lakers. They are very, very well worth listening.
After all the law of that the Clippers got in the offseason. We know who's coming back and apparently who's coming up, who's coming off the bench. We can have a whole other conversation about how these injuries are are dealt with nowadays, Like people strain a calf and they're out forty games. It's like it's kind of insane. But we can talk about that the other time. But the
Lakers are they still have the rocks. But I also think that number was a little fishy to five and a half the point spread for all the love that the Clippers gott and how deep they are, because they are incredibly deep. You start talking about take because a ad looks great. Last night, he was moving really well. I like the way he looks. Lebron is Lebron. He scored twenty nine or thirty last night. But then okay, we know about the deal with Russell Westbrook, but the
who's the fourth best player? Kendrick Nunn is that the fourth best is that the fourth best player on the team, Kendrick Nunn is it Walker the fourth like who? Like that? That's where he gets really really spooky, right, So if you pull those two guys and then there's questions around the third best player. So, I mean, it's just a really tough situation that it just seems like Lebron is just internally has kind of, you know, has accepted, like
I have a lot of other stuff going on. I'm going to try to go get Kareem's record, like I think deep down, you know, if there's no titles coming anytime soon.
Yeah. The thing about the sun, Sean, I don't know if you've ever lived in la is that it just makes you forget all your ambition. When it's seventy two in sunny every single day, you just like you're like, I don't really even care. I said this really quickly, and I'd like to get your thoughts. Is it possible Lebron James as a Laker never makes it to the playoffs ever?
Again, Oh, I.
Mean to the league. Yeah, it is possible. It definitely is possible. I think with the play in kind of changes that a little bit. But I don't see unforseeably competing in the NBA. You don't want to be the team scratching and clawing to get the eight and then get bounced like that's the worst place in the entire world that you want to be. And that's kind of what I'm afraid of for my bulls. If this whole of beam thing continues to happen, we might have to
rip it down once again really quick. What happened to Lebron last year? He realized they weren't going to do anything and the roster that they assembled wasn't going to compete, so he just went out every night and tried to score thirty second and scoring in the league.
Yep.
I think something like that can happen once again this year, where he just looks around, He's like, man, this isn't it. I'm going to go get Kareinge record and the score a toront of points and I'll pull a handy. I'll sit a bunch of games if I need to, and we'll just continue the way for Brownie to show up and I'll do movies and I'll do all that other stuff. So to answer your question, I think he'll get back
to the playoffs. Will he ever actually have a chance to compete again and even make it to the Western Conference finals at this rate, I would say no.
We also had on Robin Lundberg, senior host of SI, to get his thoughts on the opening week. In his first clip, he gives a very savage opinion on a couple of teams with very myopic fan bases, the LA Lakers and the Philadelphia seventy six ers. How does he think they're going to fare this year? Do they have any chance to contend?
Listen in, the Lakers still have Lebron James, and they still have Anthony Davis. But beyond that, who's the third best player. It's probably Patrick Beverley, right, So there's always a little extra when it comes to Lebron, when it comes to the Lakers and some of the criticism that's probably lobbed their way, and everyone knows that they got to get it out of the way now, especially if it spirals downhill. Plus, there's a whole Westbrook dynamic, and
he's the punching bag. But the problem is that the construction of the roster in a few ways. One, they don't have the three point shooting, which Lebron pointed out the other day. And if Lebron's going to be the basis of your team, you're gonna need shooters. That's been the blueprint basically, you know, the entirety of his career, especially you know, since he went back to the calves and became, you know, the older version of himself as
he evolved a little bit. And then one thing I think is also interesting is everybody talks about the bubble and they like to say TJ. Warren, or they like to point out whoever, you know, a random player that went off in the bubble. Perhaps the biggest bubble anomaly was the shooting of Anthony Davis, who looked like Kevin Durant in the bubble and has been the least efficient jump shooter in the NBA over the last two years.
So yeah, without some sort of influx of athleticism in shooting, I do think it's probably gonna be a long season for the Lakers. They'll win some games, you know, Lebron will get thirty five forty points, in some of these games, and I'd actually give them a better chance in a series against some teams than I would over the course of a long eighty two regular season when depth comes into play, because if you get into a short, truncated series, you can get carried by a couple of heroic efforts.
But I just don't see the personnel on this team for the Lakers to be anything better than average, because they might have the worst roster in the league three through fifteen.
That's facts. Joe l Embiid said after they lost to the Heat they needed some dogs, and he specifically named PJ Tucker. What I'm saying is, we don't have a PJ Tucker. So they go out and get PJ. They go out and get a bunch of other guys that James Harden played with in Houston. And the question that I have is, even with those dogs, do you trust the Philadelphia seventy six ers to be a real championship contender or is this just a cute team that ends up racking up some regular season wins.
Absolutely no trust. I don't think the Sixers have any chance to win a championship. You know, when you talk about the flaws on the Sixers. They're also a team with some depth issues beyond their top four or five guys. PJ. Tucker is a dog and I love PJ. Tucker. I also loved Tyrese Maxie. Big fan of Maxis games. But the real problem with the Sixers is their stars. Joel embiid It's about time we start pointing the finger at him. It's always somebody else's fault with Joel Embiid. On's he
been passed the second round of the playoffs. I don't trust either of their stars when it comes to crunchdown. And I'll give James Harden a little credit. He's played well to start this season and he's hit some like little quasi mid range jumpers, which are interesting because he hasn't really taken those. But still at the down the stretch of this game, and he had the last shot attempt there to try and get Philly back the lead, he didn't look to make a shot. He looked to
draw a foul. And that's a problem with Harden. When it comes to crunch time, it's either a step back three or flailing for a foul. It's not actually trying to make a bucket. And I don't trust drawling beat at all. When it comes to crunch time, he's flow up and down the court. He needs somebody to get him the ball to create his shown shot. He often looks like he's laboring in those situations to get back on D. So I just don't think Philly Stars are
good enough. And I'm not even sure, you know, over the course of the regular season, I trust Boston and I trust Milwaukee. Beyond that, we'll see, you know, Miami, They've earned a degree of trust with their consistency. I wouldn't write the Nets off after one game, though. They really have to prove they aren't the softest team in the league. The Cavs should be better, that the Hawks
should be better. I put Philly in the mix with those teams, but regardless, when it gets to the playoffs, I think they're stealing at the second round.
We also ask Robin what team would surprise him the most a lot of people. He went with the very trendy New Orleans Pelicans. He also gave his opinion on his very favorite rookie to watch this year, and of course, because I have to ask everyone, what was his thoughts on the Suns beating the Dallas Mavericks. Listen in.
I'll say, because I was at this game, I'll say the Pelicans. There's something about seeing Zion in person, especially if like you have a certain perspective where you can see from the side a little bit, where when he gets the ball anywhere between let's say eight and ten feet of the rim and has any sort of forward momentum, the defenders are hapless. There's nothing they can do. He can't be stocked. He's just too strong. And then he has good touch. If he misses, he has a good
second jump, so he's right in there. So with that aspect added to their team. If he's healthy, you throw in Brandon Ingram, who has won me over in recent times. I wasn't always the biggest fan of his game, either Brandon Ingram and c. J McCollum, who are both pickled shot makers. So when it gets into like a bailout situation, they got two knyes who can make shots like that, and then they got a pretty deep roster. You know
that they can switch around the physical. So I would say my biggest takeaway from the you know, it's hard to make preseason predictions right because you're just kind of like, all right, do I want to be different or you know, you haven't seen stuff from stuff I've seen. The Pelicans are the one team that I went, oh, maybe they're championship contenders.
Yeah, if you look at them right now, I think when they open they were just to win the West. I want to say they were plus twenty eight hundred. Let me see what they are I win. Yeah, let me see what they are right now? Yeah, to win the West, it looks like they're twenty to one. To win it all right now is thirty to one, So it's actually moved down a little bit. That's really interesting. You know another player that when you see him in real life, he just seems way more physically imposing than
he does on TV. Very similar in some ways to zion Is Palo. Ben Carol put on an absolute show last night. I'm not sure if you had a chance to watch that game. It wasn't a game that necessarily was nationally televised, so for those who didn't have League Pass, tough to watch. But he looks like he's going to be sensational. What do you think about some of these rookies Pallo included.
Yeah, yeah, it's a good rookie class, right, Murray and Matherin and Ivy, but Palla is another one of these examples. It's so weird how college basketball could be such a different sport, for sure than professional basketball. I guess maybe it's because the coaches of the stars in college, so they're almost micromanaging.
Now.
I don't want to say that so much about Shachefki, who proved what he could do with pro players. You know, he earned a lot of respect from me for that. I know everybody's easy to win with those guys, but it wasn't exactly like they were in Great States when he took over the United States basketball team. But in college, the one thing you saw about bn Cao is that he had that NBA ready body and almost moves set off the bounce, and that stuff opens up at the
NBA level. So yeah, I mean, I think you're not even counting chet Holgren, right. So this is one of those rookie classes where I don't think we're going to look back and say it was mid I think you'll look back and you'll be able to look at three, four or five kind of guys who were impact players in the league.
You know, I think a lot of people are sort of saying that the Suns are going to have a big regression this year. A lot of that has been because of the drama surrounding the franchise with Starbar and obviously all that contract issue with DeAndre Ayton. Last night showed me that this team obviously has a lot of grit in that Monty Williams is committed to still you know, making adjustments including benching Chris Paul like, where do you see and does this game you play into it at all?
Is where do you see Phoenix ending this year?
Well? I mean they got a good team, right. They won a lot of games last year. Their collapse was kind of startling, not because we thought, you know, this was some sort of dynastics sort of squad, but just you didn't expect the wheels to come off the way they did. I think that the biggest challenge they'll they'll face Christy and you just mentioned Chris Paul is how
you know us can he stay for how long? It feels like as the season goes on, whether it's wear and tear or you know, a variety of injuries that he winds up nagging injuries that he's not as strong at the end of the year. And if that's the case, I don't know if you're benching Chris Paul in the playoffs and still winning those games. But when you're trotting out Booker and Ayton and Bridges and Johnson, you know, night in, night out, you can win a lot of games.
That's all the time that we after The Heat Check. Bet MGM Tonight airs Monday through Friday live from seven to eleven Eastern Time. It's available on demand as well. Million thanks to my co hosts PJ Glasser, Ryan Horvaught, and super producer cam and Gray. Also thanks to Sean Little and Robin Lundberg for coming in and talking hoops. That's it for the bonus episode of the Heat Check, and do not forget to check out the feed for past interviews in episodes.