You're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Crick.
On this episode of The Heat Check, I joined Damien Barling on The Dlo and Casey Show on ESPN thirteen twenty in Sacktown, always one of my favorite times of the week talking to the boys, and let's face it, the vibes were immaculate, and I thought I would share it with my folks on the Heat Check podcast. Let's not waste any time, Nick, go ahead and drop that beat.
What is happening?
What is this?
The Blair trist the Blair Crick Project, Like, whoa, what is going on?
Well, I'm in New York right now, and so I'm in this hotel that I'm in the little library area where there was food, and my hotel that I'm actually staying at is a couple of blocks down the street. But I had just finished eating, and so there's like this little back area that I can charge my phone and it's not going to interrupt anyone. But I realize I'm like right up against the lamp, and I was like,
and I was like, this looks really. I mean, you guys make fun of me from my living room and how dark the background is?
I mean it's a whole new level. It's a whole new level.
It's slinky.
It's literally just your face. That's now we can see your hands with the like no, it's.
It's also I've got a black sweater on, so.
It's just it's all it's just all darkness. That's that's we know, it's perfect. I mean, this just adds to the it's it's just adds to the fun of talking to you.
I feel like we're at one of Trista's speed dating tables that she's had to stop at as on sort of you know, going around the room like we've got like two minutes and then she's got to move to the next table.
If only, if only I was not lucky to be on speed days.
My day is Bizara. I'm looking for some wall trousers after.
It's excellent that so I assume, uh w f A N. That's that's why you're no.
Dnist appointments today, the old New York YEP. So I had to get some new visilne put in.
And then I don't know if you guys can tell, but I got some new little new littelashes, uh all right, and so then yeah, they my dnnist appointments only on Friday morning, so I had to come up Thursday and then leave Saturday. So I'm gonna go and see some friends. I actually I'm getting dinner with Jake Fisher tonight.
Okay, I'm gonna try to get some get some tea on this Kyrie Irving news.
No, well we'll we'll We'll get to Kyrie here, uh in just a heartbeat, and I'm sure you'll share the tea with us, uh when you get the opportunity. But you fired up as all of us were last night, Uh to see Daron Fox miss out on on the All Star Game. And you're connected around the league, so it's up to you.
T K Like I was a little.
Worried that I might be complicit or an accessory to crime if a ride actually took place, because I said we riot at dawn, and then I think King's player also said let's.
Riot, yeah, and I was like, let's not really.
Riot because if my tweets the first one, then it's a January sixth situation I'm not trying.
To get into all.
Clearly, you're in New York, so you can ride at the at the NBA offices. We understand what's happening here.
I'm going myself like that girl at the Minnesota Timberwolves playing game.
I'm just gonna stick it to the window.
Has glued herself to Adam Silver's door in a deer in Fox Jersey.
In Fox Jersey, there it is.
I speculated that that coaches were trying to make some grand point by selecting a bunch of defais guys like Paul George and Jaren Jackson and Drew Holliday at the expense of a guy like Taron Fox.
Are you guys the type of people who think about the All Star Game as an accolade and an accomplishment, or are you guys of the mind that the All Star Game is primarily an event for fans and to entertain fans.
Both.
I think it's the first because I think players, I mean, their contracts are based off of All Stars, like whether they make the Hall of Fame, you have to accumulate some of these accolades. And to me, like the players, they do think a lot of it. Like I've talked to Sabonis about the potential for Fox to be there and what it would mean, and he was just like he wanted him to be there to get the experience
of it, like how amazing it is. And Fox had been there for like rookie rookie sophomore game stuff, But to be part of the big game is just different and it has a different feel and vibe and you're thought of differently as a player when you have that All Star It's not like Major League Baseball All Star where every team gets an All Star and then you know, or the NFL, where didn't the Ravens quarterback. It's through four touchdowns make the Pro Bowl?
Snowpuntley? Yep, it Snoopuntley.
Yeah he made the Pro Bowl, and so did Derek Carr, you know who had that great line yesterday. But yeah, I kind of look at it that way, like in the NBA, it's a huge accomplishment that if you don't stack those accomplishments, you don't have an opportunity to be a Hall of Famer.
Yeah.
I think I'm of that mindset too.
But when I think about it like a fan event as well, I say to myself and I tweeted this, does anyone really want to watch whatever Jaron Jackson's jump shot is out there?
Like?
Do we want to see his defense do we want when you talk about like getting defensive guys, why do we want defensive guys in the All Star Game?
Like we really don't.
I want to see the box use his impressive dribbling skills to successfully fake out his opponent.
Like that's what I want to see, you know what I mean? I want to see him in the mid range.
I want to see his floater. I want to see his speed and athleticism. I could really care less about Jerry Jackson Junior and I am a fan of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Yeah, oh, we're going to revisit that. But I think it goes to the first thing you said though, like is it is it is an at? Is it an accolade or is it a a showcase for the fans? I think coaches may have looked at it as an accolade, And of course there's components of both, as James mentioned,
because there's incentives and contracts, so that's important. But the accolade part of it that that's that's It's like, all right, we've got shooters and Kyrie doesn't play a lick at defense and he's starting, so we're gonna put Drew Holliday in and we're damn it, we're gonna take control of our league again, and we're gonna bank all stars at
a defensive players. So we'll put this guy who's played thirty something games into it and averages fifteen points per game rather than Daron Fox or I mean, hell, even games.
Do you think that the solution is also to put you have to play a.
Minimum a certain minimum amount of games in order to be eligible.
Well, that's that's the case with postseason awards or not, maybe not postseason awards like MVP points, like you have to play a certain amount of games. And I think James has said earlier Jaron Jackson leads the league in blocks, but he's not actually eligible to lead the league in blocks.
No, yeah, he's not. He hasn't played enough games. I was even telling Damian too Trisa that I was talking about this with my son and my son said, well, do you know about the whole block thing with Jaron Jackson? And I'm like, no, what do you mean he is? Oh, look at his block numbers at home versus on the road, seventy seven blocks in eighteen games at home and thirty seven blocks and seventeen games at home, I mean on
the road. So they're like around the league, it's known that their their scorekeepers are giving him blocks for things that aren't blocks, and they're patting his stats, and it comes down to, like, what exactly are we doing here? Like it should be the best of the best, And if you're gonna reward Jaron Jackson for being on the Western Conference number two overall team, then forget that Aaron Gordon's a better player. He should have made it on
a better team as the Denver Nuggets. So I get you don't want two representatives from the same team rewarding, you know, getting rewarded, But if you're gonna do it with one, then like again, Jaren Jackson just didn't make any not on anyone's board as far as what was he number twelve in Ford's in the Western Conference when it came to aggregate score. That just didn't make any sense.
Yeah, And I think the thing that also is frustrating is just how they formulate the teams, because you you know, somebody said this in my mentions, and I think this is true in terms of like Jaron Jackson obviously playing a different position than Fox, and so you've already got your guard slots already set, and so there's an additional slot that Jaron Jackson for a forward, you know, position
that he could get in. So they said, oh, well, would you if you had to choose, then would you take out Jaw or Sga or Dame if you were going to put in Fox? And I'm like, wellhy challenge this premise completely because maybe there's just more. Maybe there's just more guards that are All Stars this year that are playing in an all star calibern.
Well, I would add this too, like, it's very possible that they loaded up on forwards because they know that Zion isn't going to play, and so when they replace Zion with somebody else, it doesn't have to be a forward, right because they've already loaded up on so many forwards, and it would leave the possibility to add a player like Fox in the next round.
They better use him as the replacement.
Otherwise, like we we are writing, we will, you're gonna take it.
Twisted someone, which is just a massive curve ball from Tristan. You look like the death Row magazine Vibe cover and I can't unsee it.
Now. That's a tremendous compliment.
I just can't unsee it.
I have that on my wall in my my house that I grew up in.
Oh that that's iconic. It is just as it?
Uh, someone can someone make this on Photoshop?
Can they add me it? And like, can you put it on Twitter? We just see what it would look like.
Say they put Lebron's head on Willem Dafoe the other day for me from the platoon poster. So yes, they can trist to.
I guarantee they're already working on it. It'll it'll, it'll be in your mentions by the time the calls over. So you're in New York. How about the if that keeps on giving? You mentioned it earlier? Kyrie wants out of Brooklyn, And from what we read from Adrian Wajhanowski a few minutes ago, is that teams are calling asking about Kevin Durant, like, Hey, how far are you going to take this thing over the course of the next week.
Yeah, And if I'm Brooklyn, what is your what is your real incentive to do what he wants?
What is it? Like?
I don't think you have any you know, you know he wants to stay there, you know he wants to be there.
The entire reason for the.
Trade request is salary and him getting a contract extension that he is not being offered, and them wanting to see what they have in the postseason with him before they do any of that, right, because he's a gigantic headache when he's not one of the best players on the court, which he's been awesome this year. He's been really really good when he's not suspended.
And so that's one component. And so if you say, well.
I'm sorry, we're just not going to trade you by the deadline, like you're just I have to figure it out. And if if you need to get paid whatever is your max through the bird rights, then you're going to have to work with us with the sign trade. And that's just what it is. You need us, we need you, et cetera. So why why feel rushed to do that when teams are only going to take advantage of you given the desperation in him being on an expiring.
Yeah, is this I mean, this is one of the few players that I can remember where he's going to be worth a certain amount as a player and he's worth a totally different amount as a human being. I mean, does that make sense? Like I don't think that he's like he's making thirty six million this year, which again he should be a forty something million dollar player, but
he's not. And I have this feeling that, like he's not going to get that big contract that you would expect unless it's from brook Brooklyn, who you know has a ton of money and a huge market. But I mean, even like if you go to the Lakers, you're not
getting the money. Well, I guess you could if they're able to complete a trade, because then they would have as Larry Bird rights, but just as like an asset going around, you're not going to be able to get like dollar per dollar for what he should be like worth as as as a player.
And on top of that, you've got Ruby Haschi Mura there who's also going to want a deal in the off season, which is going to take up quite a bit of your cap space.
And so at this point the math mathon.
Unless you're sending Russell Westbrook to the Brooklyn Nets, which which you're doing, yeah, or you're doing a three team trade and sending Russ to like Chicago or something and trying to figure I don't know that Kevin Durant, if Kevin Duran ends up playing with Russell Westbrook again, which I don't think he wants. I mean, what do you what do you? What are we doing here?
Really?
I don't know. I never know what we're Kyrie irving, to be honest with you, I just I Lebron's out here tweeting I emojis and crowns like, don't I don't know what's happening with with with your king. We looked at Phoenix having a really intriguing potential offer. I feel like we mentioned another team, James Oh, Miami Miami potentially having something, but it felt like Phoenix worked the best. But there's that, and you noted this a minute ago.
There's that weird. Why would Phoenix do this unless they knew that Kyrie was staying long term, because you'd you'd probably have to move with Calbridge, you'd have to move someone you value to get Kyrie back. And that's what the weird thing hanging over all of this is is you talk about the incentive to do what he wants. No team is going to make a deal, no team like Phoenix, I should say, I feel like the Lakers
will do whatever just because they're the Lakers. I don't think Phoenix or Miami makes any sort of deal unless they have assurances that they can have him on their team for at least another couple.
Of years, which means, then, okay, Kyrie, we're going to offer you a two year deal, and if we do this trade, you're going to accept the two year deal. Means you're gonna have to sign this now, like secretly, and then we're gonna submit it when it's the time for us to submit it, Like it's gonna have to
all be locked up where there's no funny business. Because if I was worried about funny business with any player in the NBA, them changing their minds, them going back on their words, them deciding they need to step away for whatever reason, that would be Kyrie Irving. Right.
So, if you're a.
Team and you're in the risk management business, unlessen Phoenix has had their own fair share of controversies as well, right, you don't want to be having another issue or a potential blowback controversy that you really did not need to have, Like it would be an unmitigated disaster.
Yeah, it's so avoidable. Wait you just yeah, I mean, could it work out and he makes your team great, sure, but it could also not work out and you could be like stuck in a gigantic nightmare of a situation with him both financially and the pr stuff which you talked about. There are certain teams that can do it, and then there I think Phoenix is one team that you might look at and go like, you can't because they're the team that's actually going to have to give
up true value. Like if you look at the Lakers, like regardless of what my friend Damien here thanks of Russell Westbrook, Like in NBA standards, it's not value, like you're not getting value for him. And where you know mckail Bridges. If you're gonna get Bridges or you're gonna get Cam Johnson, you're gonna get a stack of players.
Those are valuable pieces, long term contracts, young players that can help you today and you know, kind of further what you're trying to do, maybe both teams get get help in this situation where again like Dallas doesn't have something to offer like that, and and even the Lakers they don't have something to offer like that.
If you're Dallas and you're Brooklyn, do you accept like Dorian Finney Smith and Tim Hardaway and like Jaden Hardy or something for Kyrie, and like, do you do that? Deal?
Does those.
I don't know how the math checks out, but that's probably not like, it's probably not a horrible option for Brooklyn in the sense of the like, Kyrie's obviously very good, but the reason you're a championship contender or potential championship is because of Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant is one of the best basketball players on Earth, and if you can surround him like that, it simply boils down to what compliments KD and if they can determine that those guys do,
I'm all for it. I personally would love to see Kyrie and Luka Dancic let me see that. I want to watch that implode. I will watch every Dallas Mavericks game on League Pass to make sure I am tuned in live when that inevitably goes bad.
Someone tried to get King the Kings in the mix, said would the Kings be interested in Kyrie Irving?
And I was like, what, I don't believe that that happened.
No, what are you serious? Is there a team that makes less sense than them?
I believe our friends at the Kings. Harold wrote an article and the article said, well no, and that was the end of the article.
What are we doing? Like, what are we doing? Guys? What is this?
We will step in as a fan base and just say hard pass fan, we're good.
Also, what has not been mentioned in all of this, and I think, and I hadn't thought about it until just today, is we're in the period of time right now.
Where normally in normal years.
Past, like two three years ago, pre pandemic, at this point, all attention and focus is on the Super Bowl, right and then what you've had is a change obviously with the eighteen weeks season, but also the trade deadline moving backwards. Usually the trade deadline happens around All Star Game. I remember when Boogie Cousins was traded in New Orleans right after the All Star Game.
So I love the.
City he was traded during.
Oh yeah it was during. Yeah, it was difcent.
I had to confirmed during the actual Star.
Game like he's going, okay, that's insane.
So now the war between the NFL and the NBA is just fully on, right, NBA and croaching on the All Star Game, and or NFL and coroaching on the NBA All Star Game, NFL and croaching on the NBA playoffs with the draft, and then the NBA clapping back and saying, that's fine, we'll just have Kyrie Irving requested trade and Pro Bowl.
How about that.
We're going to ruin your Pro Bowl, your crappy Pro Bowl all next week, all.
Next week, the week where all of the excitement is supposed to.
Be on Jalen Herds and this big Patrick Mahomes matchup, and everybody's just talking about NFL, NFL, NFL, and it's like, no, it's trade deadline weeks. Trade deadline week. Is Cape Kevin Durant going to be traded? Because that's what I care about