Draymond, Ja, Herro & Questions

will now become a regular segment. I am back on my bullshit. We love the playoffs rock, so drop that motherfucker.

max contract for Tyler Hero. People are talking about Yes. Yes, if you're listening to this right now and you've done one of those things where you cock your head back and you shake it, well, your eyes are closed, that's the same result and the same and range of emotions that I went through. So I had an interesting conversation with a couple of people, and I'm starting to ask, just randomly, Hey, do you think Tyler Hero is worth

Max money? Hey? Hey, you over there in the chip line, in the chip aisle, Hey, do you think Tyler Hero is worth Max money? Like? He's pretty good? But are do we even know? Like off the top of our head when sot we just say max money, do we even know that number? Because when you say max, I think thirty, and I still say no. And now when

we say max, it's actually closer to forty. That's the question right now for the Heat, because Tyler Hero is now slated for an extension and it could be an expensive one, uh for a team already sort of struggling with their cap situation. I think that they are at over one forty one hundred and forty million dollars. That puts them square the luxury tax I went on Jake Fisher, Insider for Bleacher Reports podcast a couple of days ago.

I think maybe yesterday. It's called don't aggregate this great name. Uh so give that a fall I'll give that a listen. But he reported this. Some rival executives an agents polled believe Hero's next deal may approach five years, one hundred and eighty four million dollars maximum. Others have pointed more towards Jalen Brown's recent structure of a four year, one hundred and six million dollars deal. Let me just say this, there is a significant difference between twenty seven million dollars

a year and thirty seven million dollars a year. I that's an extra player or two that now you don't get to sign. So where to those who are thinking about this situation, like, first and foremost, is he worth that?

Maybe get Jack Carlow to partner on a song with them, Like, I think maybe that guy's just as worthwhile as Tyler here and I like Tyler Herro, But you're already paying Jimmy Butler thirty six a year, Kyle Lowry twenty eight a year, Bam Autebayo thirty two a year. Is he more valuable than any of those humans on the court? I mean, I don't mean in terms of it's like worth as a as a human. I mean just in terms of, like, is he worth more money to the heat than any one of them? I don't think any

of them. To me, I think he's a little bit less valuable than Kyle Lowry. He is younger, so maybe you factor in more money coming in from betting or whatever. No Max money served reserved for superstars and Tyler Hero. If you're paying Tyler Hero and he's not a superstar max money thirty seven million dollars a year, you're not gonna win a championship. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, that's a hit. You're

in a situation where, I mean, truthfully, PJ. Tucker might be more hard to replace than Tyler Hero, and he has paid seven million dollars a year. He's no athletic freak. He's not gonna get you forty on any given night or even average twenty. But like grind tough guy important, very little of those. A lot of guys coming around

screen shooting threes, so also really quick. As an aside, what I've realized was an epiphany as I was thinking about this is I'm dead certain patt Riley, executive for the Miami Heat, will never pay Tyler Hero forty million dollars a year. How do I know that? One? Dwayne Wade won a ring by himself. As soon as Dwayne Wade's value started to diminish, pat Riley told him, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord switch split you. He didn't pay him. He's like, I don't

care that you were underpaid. When you want us a ring, you're no longer valuable to us, Twayne. That's the pat Riley way. Also, it's been the pat Riley way since pat Riley was not even pat Riley. Let's go back to nineteen seventy nine, nineteen eighty. He was holding Spencer Haywood's baby in his arms in Spencer Haywood's house while actively shopping Spencer Haywood. What, by the way, love winning time. Pat Riley likes Tyler Hero a lot. He loves Tyler Hero.

He considers Tyler here'll be like a version of him. But I swear to you he's gonna look at Tyler Hero in the eye, smile on his face, tell him I love you like a son. I'd never trade you. And then the very next day, Tyler Hero will be in Toronto for Pascal Siakam Like that's where we're at. Hero is a good player, average twenty points a game, thirty eight percent from three off the bench. But my lord, I tell you what, he can become one of the top scores at that age, at that size, at what

he's doing. He makes things look easy. Bam Adebayo loves him. That's his quote. Problem is that shit does not matter to pat Riley. Deuces Tyler Hero. He does not care how popular you are. He does not care about that. He cares about only two things, winning and whether you're affordable. And Tyler Hero may have made himself quite unaffordable to the Miami Heat. Another quick little story. Masaiyuzuri has spoken out GM president of basketball operations as well for the

Toronto Raptors. He has spoken out about the Lakers pursuing Nick Nurse. For those not in the know, Braun and Ad apparently want Nick Nurse bad no shit, and all three are rich Paul clients, and maybe Braun felt that he and Ad had an inside track and swooping in and stealing Nick Nurse. They don't call it La La land for nothing, the land of dreams that are unattainable.

Nick Nurse's own denials, folks, weren't enough. So leave it to the president of the basketball operations of the Rasters, Messi Usurie, to just guillotine this shit once and for all. He said, first and foremost, no team has contacted me about Nick Nurse. But I dream like they dream. I want MESSI I want Ronald though I want Kobe Bryant. They can dream for Nick Nurse too. Oh shit, Messiusierie just put the entire Lakers franchise in a body bag, zipped it tight, threw it in the back, headed it

to the morgue. That's where that's going. Then once he got to the morgue, ran a John Deere over it and turned that ground into a parking lot, the gall of Braun and Ady to think after what they did, a Vogel snake and him anyone who would be as respected as Nick Nurse to go anywhere where those snakes were in the grass. No shot amazing. And then Massai Ujieri wasn't done. When asked a few days later about how much he wanted a WNBA team in Toronto, he replied with a smirk, a call back to those who

have been following along, I can dream. I can only dream, just like the Lakers.

being in Utah. We already know what time it is, and now are there some new pieces of information that are surfering, that are surfacing that are not only giving me pause for what the Utah Jazz organization is going to look like moving forward. But two, whether it's Quinn Snyder even makes sense for the Lakers makes even less sense potentially than Nick Nurse. Could he be the kind of guy that can lead stars like Braun and Ad despite the news that's come out that Braun is pushing

for him. One first piece of news in the aftermath. I talked about this briefly on TikTok, but in the aftermath of another Sad exit, the Utah Jazz have pretty much their entire franchise is going to get blown up there in free fall. Might be years before they're good again. Reports now are that Rudy Gobert is telling the brass it's either Donovan or it's me. Oh boy, oh, Rudy, see you see you, sir, you can just go ahead and clean out your locker. We're gonna go ahead and

just find another option for you. And there are plenty of options for Rudy. He's been linked to the Warriors, He's been linked to the Hawks, he's been linked to the Dallas Mavericks, all places that are in need of some front court defense, and that they're just a piece away, maybe from a championship. Rudy gets paid forty million dollars a year, folks. So that's that. Secondly, I learned another piece of peculiar news about the Jazz organization's structure of

decision making. Normally in basketball you would have owner, and then below owner is the president of Basketball Operations and or GM. There could be combo rolls, different guys, all kinds of different ways that that set up. But that's the structure, right, And then after the GM, it goes the coach and then maybe some star players like you know, with Clutch and Rich Paul in the mix. Like maybe below the GM or equal to the GM is the agents of the star player in this case, according to

I'll say it's publicans. According to Jake Fisher in our conversation yesterday, a below ownership is Donovan Mitchell's people. That's it owner group, Dwyane Wade, Ryan Smith, CAA making decisions for what the roster does in terms of whether it's beneficial to Donovan. Is that not bonkers to you? Is anybody else feeling like maybe Donovan Mitchell is not? I mean, Dona Mitchell is a fine player, but is Donovan Mitchell good Where he's the first, his people are the first decision makers you call.

There's two, the early bus, the late bus. Apparently not only does Quinn Snyder have three buses, not sure why, but he has seating arrangements that he creates like children for his players on the bus and the better you play, the further up on the bus you move. And on the team plane he has assigned seats on the team plane,

assigned seats on the team buses. If that like, just let that sink in, Like grown men making millions of dollars a year and you get on the plane and it's like, Rudy, you're gonna be going, You're gonna sit here. You you miss this defensive assignment, You're on the back of the bus. Now, sir, excuse me. That shit doesn't work on any team that's actually a contender, because these are grown stars with egos, and like why are you controlling them in this way? And second of all, is

never gonna work on a place like the Lakers. So Quinn Nighter is on that kind of bullshit. If that's true, I mean that's true. I had it verified that on team planes and most likely buses, Quinn Snyder is assigning seats. Imagine Lebron James getting on the team bus and it is like, Lebron, no, that's not your seat. You're You're in Aaron fifteen seven fifteen, A next to next to Kent Basemore.

But playoffs are nowhere in the near future. Dot it D bye go there, Bye Conley, Bye, stuck.

all want to do. But I promise you we, as NBA fans, should all want to see the Grizzly succeed, Like this is a this is what the American dream like. They didn't buy anything, They didn't find some random wash star to come in to Memphis and pretend he wants to be there and then get free agents to come there more. No, this is all built organically, and they all love Memphis and they all love each other. You've got they're just pissing off the establishment. How could you

not love that? Thumbing their noses the man, which is basically the Warriors of the world like a dynasty. They're like, we did not care about you, we are not afraid of you. A team that trash talk Lebron James. You got role players being like, sit your ass down, Lebron, You're it's our time now. I mean, this is a team where John Morant posted a video of that iconic moment that Jordan made long time ago where he was like, Yo, it's easy to talk shit when you're up thirty. Why

don't you talk shit when is zero zero? Why don't you talk shit when you're down twenty? How about that? Like that's the vibe that the Grizzlies are on. So this this Grizzlies team, as we know if you're listening and watching basketball or not living under a rock. Grizzlies lose Game one and a heartbreaker got buried in the national press immediately, and all of a sudden, somehow the Warriors, who let's be honest, are the darlings of the NBA for a variety of reasons, some valid, some not. Vat

we're already talking about that the Grizzlies. We're gonna get swept. Oh like, can the Grizzlies next up on undisputed? Can the Grizzlies find their way to win one game?

Memphis Draymond Green both got the hook. Draymond in game one, Dylan Brooks in Game two. Both of them physical with the reputation that precedes them. Some would say cheap, some would say dirty. So anyway, Dylan Brooks Gary Payton the second going up for a layup and he hits him across his head. Gary Payton falls to the ground immediately shatters his elbow. Obviously did not return to the game. He's not coming back for the rest of the season.

We found out four months, probably on the sidelines, independently of the game. Beyond the game, let me just say, because outside of the news, this shits sad, like this is very sad Gary Payton like Steve Kerr. So I think the only thing that he said that was right in that press conference was that this guy's been just trying to find a home for like six years. He hasn't stuck. He's been in and out of the G League.

He's finally found his role, his place. He's a legit player that I think could get ten million dollars a year because of what he does. He's that Jose Alvarado type. He can steal the ball, he can go up for a dunk, athletically in transition, he can pass really well. He's just a thereat in a lot of different ways. And the Warriors number one jostopper. So now he's not there,

people are wondering, what was it intentional? Is Dylan Brooks trying to take Gary Payton out of the game because they're so afraid that he's gonna stop Jahn Morant from doing Ja Morant things. So that was a problem. This is a thing Dylan Brooks gets the early quick cook,

Memphis still ends up getting the win. Secondly, that set off Steve Kerr, set off Draymond Green pretty much the rest of the Warriors team, where they're telling Dylan Brooks hit the road, Jack, don't you come back no more, saying get the fuck out of here when he's leaving because he has to obviously go to the locker room, can't even be on the sidelines. And they were even more angry after the game, to the point where they're

making wild accusations about what Dylan Brooks was doing. What this type of behavior should end up getting in terms of consequences, lot to unpack. One probably pissed because Dmon Green got ejected for less and has been ejected many times for less. That plays into it. Also, like I said, they're scrambling now without Peyton. Thirdly, though which I don't think I wrote down, the Warriors have had their own fair share of injuries that they've cost in the playoffs,

Kawhi Leonard being the most major one. That Zaza Petulia that ended up turning into a whole new foul call about landing space. So we'll get into the postgame quotes a bit after I talk about what came next. Then next Draymond Green gets poked in the eye, bleeding down his face so badly he had to leave the game temporarily go back to the locker room get himself. I don't even know how you stitch up an eye. So

that's another thing. Memphis fans who are out of their fucking minds, obviously because they're a part of the villainy that is now the Grizzlies. They're cheering for Dramon Green to be bleeding out of his face, like is the Roman colisseum. I mean, I don't know, they've never won anything before. It's a brand new team. Like, just let him have it a little bit, but still crazy. Then Draymond Green flips him off, does the Kyrie the double

flip off. Then they start cheering for the double flip off because they know he's about to get fine fifty k wild. So all of this drama is happening whilst Ja Moran is having a historic night to the tune of almost to fifty. Nugget on another planet had fifteen final points in the fourth in Game two. Also in Game six against the Minnesota Timberwolves, yet thirteen final points, just consecutive. No one else, just Jaw, Just Jaw turning into Michael Jordan in the final minutes of a game.

No one else, just me, just me, one on one. Try to stop me, and everyone knows what Yah's gonna do. I'm taking it to the rack. If you give me space, I'm shooting three every time. Don't even say though, Like I know, there's a lot of things on Twitter about whether he carried in one of those plays or not he did. I mean, there's a lot of things about the carry now, So just stop. But I think that's solidifying as we back up and try to make sense of this about what Jaw is becoming in front of

our eyes. Jaw obviously shouldn't have won Most Improved Player. He was very very good last year. The stat that he took, the leap that he took, I don't think warrants it was very small leap. What we're seeing right now from Jaw is that he's an MVP level player. He's a top five player. And not only is he a top five player and one of the best in

the league. I think John Morant has a real shot and has showed in moments where the times are bright, that he can be the face of the league, not the face of the league by the way that the NBA particularly would want. He's got the grill, he's got a blue dread a red one, and he's taking shot to tequila on Instagram live on his G six on the way to the All Star Game, being like, listen, I'm about to get fucked up, all of that in your face. He's doing the gritty every single game they win.

He's shit talking Steph Curry being like, this is about to be really fun. He's stomping on the middle of your court on your logo, same things that got Kyrie villainized. And he's not babyfaced like Steph Curry tatted so and yet and yet there he stands. He's the one I think we all think about being the most electric person to watch in the NBA. If you could watch to yourself, think about this, If you could just watch one guy play basketball on any given night, who would be It's

Jaw on a Tuesday in February. It's Jaw on a Saturday night in March, it's Jaw every single time. He's musty TV. In regular moments, when the moments are bright, he's almost blindingly good. He's almost a star so bright we can't even directly look at him. And if you are one of the sad souls that want to tell John Moran to be quiet, or that he needs to be humbled, or that he should just be humble or less loud with his play, or talk shit less, or figure out a way to just be more like Steph Curry,

you're missing the fucking point. Also, by the way, check out Jaw Moran's postgame presser. He couldn't even see when he was having those fifteen last.

at all. It looked like he was intending to hit his arm, try to hit the ball and stop him from going up and stop him from at least like being able to shoot the shot. No intent to harm him at all. I don't think like he was. Like I said just a second ago, I don't think he was trying to hit his head. He kind of looked like his head just kind of got in the way of the swipe to the arm end of the ball. I don't think for sure he was trying to frack his elbow. Will take him out for the rest of

the series. And to me, if Peyton pops back up like right away, I don't even think it's a flagrant two. I think it's a flagrant one maximum. As an aside, today on First Take Pivot, Draymond became news because Draymond flipping off the fans maybe isn't seen as comporting himself in a exactly the word comporting himself. It is not seen as I think they're trying to make kind of

Draymond out to be the villain. And mad Dog Russo, a famous radio personality, said, fans are tired of Draymond Green's antics and they all want to say enough already. And JJ Reddick, probably the treasure of the NBA now, decided to clap back in a way that only a former player can and explained it in a way that I felt needed to be brought to the pod because it explains how I feel about Draymon and how guys like Chris Russo are harmful to the culture.

single time. Stop it unless they're doing something that's against the law or harming someone, Then how about you just take a fucking seat and watch your place said forty five, driving me crazy, sheldy eye.

Doc Rivers at fault for Joel MB's latest injury? Yes, of course, twenty nine points ahead of the Toronto Raptors in Game six with four minutes left in a close out game against a team that had woving, waving, wivn the right white flag, waved the white flag, wove the white flag anyway, describe were in and you know who was out? Not out fucking Joel Embiid. What's he doing out there? You know? And like also Embiid already had his thumb was torn up. He shouldn't be out there

a second longer than he has to. Why was he out there, you ask? Because Doc is so worried, so nervous, so insecure about the prospect of blowing a three to zero lead, that he kept them on the court to ensure that they didn't blow another lead. He's blown so many leads that he's not even comfortable with up thirty with four minutes to go. What, of course he has responsibility for this. He's gonna say he doesn't, but he does.

You pull him, you put him on ice, and you don't see him again until the Heat series, and you know what, they're now losing joelmb for games one, games two, probably game three, maybe game four, and by that time it's night night, sleep mask and it's maybe night night. To Doc Rivers, he'll probably be fired over it. I mean, you think about it and you're just like, why'd you do it? Got elbowed in the eye for no reason

at all. I know Pascal was the one, and so he's a starter and he was in the game, So don't give me that if don't come into my mentions over that. All right, Next question, dot, does does Tyrese Maxey really hate James Harden? My initial thought is I hope so no, No, I'm just joking. I do think it's funny. There was this funny video that went semi viral of Tyrese Maxey seemingly not wanting to sit next to James Harden when they were getting blown out by

the heat during a timeout. The video was a one hundred percent real it was one hundred percent recent, and it did seem like he wanted nothing to do with James Harden as soon as James Harden sat down next to him. He switched seats to sit next to Maxie, and as soon as he Maxie got up and he went and sat somewhere else, which is fine, by the way, if that was to happen like that doesn't mean you hate him. Sometimes you're just tired of your teammates. You

don't want to see their fucking face. They're annoying you. They didn't need to pass you the ball, they made a bonehead to move. You're gonna lose the game because of them. At that point, it's just better for some space. Doesn't mean you hate them, but you do need to kind of remove yourself before things get heated. I've been there. However, it does turn out that that wasn't really what happened.

Maxi changed seats because Sam Cassell, assistant coach for the Philadelphia seventy six ers, who by the way, probably deserves a head coaching shot, wanted to break down a play with Maxi. He did it, but it did lead obviously to a lot of chatter. Shall we say Sixers players finally getting rid of and tired, sick and tired of James's bullshit type of tweets. I wish it was true.

I really wish it was true that Tyrese Maxie, after saying all these positive things about James Harden, that he's like, no, you know what, I don't even want to be next to you, all right? Next question, A lot of Sixers questions, will James Harden sign for less than the max?

He's promised Daryl Moury that'll take less if he traces trade for me, Darrow, I promise, I promise no. Sam Amick on his podcast, former colleague, said that he's being told that Sixers intel was that Harden will potentially take less than max money to stay in Philly. I will believe that when I see that forever. Also, by the way, James Harden was the one who told us he forgot to sign his player option when he got traded. Oh yeah, the deadline just passed. I didn't even realize damn, my bad,

I really was meaning to do that. What do you think is just like you forgot to pick up the mail like he has handlers and agents and managers and people and the team their ringing ring ring. Hey, we need that, Hey, we need that. He didn't forget to sign them player option? Does that something you casually forget? What everywhere James Harden goes. He's been a little fast

and loose with the truth. Let's be honest, except for though, the one thing was that he said Houston was dog shit without him, like that happens to be one hundred percent true. But like, do I think he's gonna he promised Darryl Morey he would take less money. Oh yeah, in the open market, just pay me forty We're good. Like I'll let you you know, I'll leave the ten aside. No,

no shot. He's gonna get paid fifty million dollars a year and not a cent less And Darryl Moury is gonna pay him that money because he loves James Harden like a son and has absolutely no care in the world about his own job security, and he will be staking his career on the James Harden signing and oh boy at that point, can't wait to see what happens next. Last question, I think that's question. Last question, Yes, should the Lakers trade Lebron? You know now that you mention it,

it's not a terrible idea. It's not a terrible idea. It depends on what you're focused on. If you're focused on making money, which let's be honest quickly, you have to think about these teams in terms of who's owning them. The Lakers organization, and we're finding this out time and time again on winning time, is that they've been broke from the very beginning. They've never had money, real money outside of the real estate. The Jerry Buss ended up getting rich off of and then selling in a trade

to own the Lakers. He was struggling with debt collection from second to one. It hasn't gotten that much better. No matter how profitable or valuable the Lakers seemed to be on paper, they make cheap moves after cheap moves. We've got Genie Bus. I think fucking Phil Jackson again, I don't know. I'm not sure like he's given her advice again, So as long as he's given her advice,

He's probably given her something else. So they're not like gonna kill They're not gonna tray Lebron because they care about Lebron's value to them in terms of Jersey sales, in terms of ticket sales, in terms of concessions, all that. But if they care about winning, I would do it. No One though, by the way, likes to be right more than me. First and foremost. I've been saying this, there's not a lot of options for the Lakers if you want to win. There's only a few people that

you can really get out. You guys Anthony Davis, and it's Lebron James. And now you're hearing that Anthony Davis isn't really worth that much. So maybe it's both. And maybe it's like start again, which is a shame because you add a ton of high quality players that you gave up for one Mickey Mouse ring hate to see it. Enter stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. Smith then now goes on today and it's fucking infuriating when it happened six weeks later. Like I've been saying this, and nobody, I mean,

I'm screaming into the void. I'm not on first take. But here we go. This is it right here, Let's see it.

Lebron James. That is what I believe. Now a lot of people are gonna lose their minds because the brother's thirty seven in his nineteenth year, and he just averaged thirty and all of this other stuff, and if the team was better, he would have been a League MVP candidate without question.

his way the fuck out. That's what he needs. Like I said, they're not going deep into the luxury tax. He can win in La just not in the purple and gold. Go to Balmber Barmber spent let me just just very slowly speak to you closely, slowly, slowly. Steve Balmer spent two billion dollars on the clip, and he paid them with a personal check. He wrote, let me get out my check book and wrote them the check right in front of their fucking face. Do you know

what kind of money you have. If you can write a personal check for two billion dollars, it's just sitting there. It's not in investments, it's not in bonds. You don't even have to accumulate it, call people, you just write the check and it's there. This is a team. The Lakers are a team. They didn't even want to sign Alex Cruzoe because it would put them a dollar into

luxury tax. What are we talking about, so, Lebron, if you want to win as much as you say you do, and you want to stay in La as much as you say you do, then just make it happen. Because the Clippers aren't going anywhere, the Nuggets aren't going anywhere, the Pels aren't going anywhere. Sons, Griz, Timberwolves, Warriors, MAVs, all of those eight teams better than you, and maybe the Blazers Lord willing they can get back into the playoff.

Co Lakers are not getting any younger, they're not getting any cheaper, They're not getting any better. I know that trading Lebron is ridiculous, but maybe it's best for both sides. From a monetary perspective, he is probably still one of the best players in the league. You get four, five, six, seven, eight first round picks for him. You can get a lot of picks. Clippers don't have a lot of picks now, but maybe they can make some moves. Three team trade. Get rid of I mean, fuck it, get rid of

WHI fuck it, fuck it, get rid of PG. I don't care if I'm the Clippers got some nice young pieces we already get made moves. Just make it happen because they will never contend because Ad is always in street close. That's all the time that we have for the heat Check. We'll be back Monday with a new episode. Follow us as we get deeper into the playoffs. Do not forget to download subscribe. Please tell your friends follow us. Follow us please on this heat check and at Tristy

Creek on TikTok. Give me a DM. Let's stay connected. I will see you guys.