On this bonus episode of The Heat Check, we have a special guest, Chris Miles of NBA TV. Harlem's in the building. He is here in the previous big storylines from the new NBA season. I'm also enjoyed on this episode by my co host Nick aShw. It was recorded on my national rady show bet MG in the night without further Ado, William Let's drop that motherfucker beat that should be Rihanna.
Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines your children, So the Heat Check. The Heat Check was just a crack the best podcast covering all the drama around the association.
There's a lot of games to go, and that's why we bring on our buddy Chris Miles NBA TV to start with. Well, we can start with this game. We can start with the offseason for the Lakers. We can look at the Denver Nuggets if you want. Let me tell you something, man, I despite the fact that right now the Lakers, Chris are down by fourteen after the first quarter, I do really like this Lakers team. I think they had a good offseason and I think they put themselves in a position to be real contenders in
the West. This year, as long as, of course, Anthony Davis and Lebron James at least stay relatively healthy.
Yeah, I mean, as long as this isn't a team that thinks, oh, we're going to do all of this again, be competitive and get swept by the Nuggets. I mean, I don't know why people are sleeping on at Denver Nuggets. Man. I thought to a lot of NBA people in the past week, Nick, and They're like, ah, Nuggets were one off, and I'm like, what are you guys talking about right now? Stop sleeping on the Nuggets. They just told the Lakers to wake up in the first quarter the first game of the season, right.
Yeah, that's what's crazy, Chris is I'm talking to a lot of people too, and the one thing that keeps coming up is that Nuggets don't have a bench. Like, who do you really count on outside of that starting five. They lose Bruce Brown, they lose Jeff Green. It's like, before Bruce Brown and Jeff Green got to these Nuggets, this Nuggets team, it wasn't like they were highly coveted players. They got the bag because they contributed for the Nuggets
and then they won a title. Do you think this is still the best constructed team in the NBA, or or do you worry at all about their death?
You know, I just I think that's a great question. But I realized what the Denver Nuggets are, right, And this is old man Chris, family man Chris talking right. They are the kids tell you rode, okay when the tn't tell you ride wins all these awards and they're like, oh, it's the best family vehicle out there. And Charles Barkley drives a TI and tell you ride and he his kids have grown. Okay. Now what I'm saying to you
is that's what the Nuggets are. They're a team that everyone's used to being Like a kid, I would never buy Kia. That's not the car I want to Now. The family people are like, oh, that's that's the best value, the best car out there that you can get. But then people who want like flashy range rovers are like add or like Nicola Ogice, I ain't played slowly. He
plays like he's playing in mud. He's got ten to five and two in the first twelve minutes, the first nine minutes he's played, you know, in this regular season. Like that's who I think the tim Ver Nuggets are and you know what I'm buying into the key to tell you, Rod, if I could put more money into it while the stock is still at a good price, even though it's already won the awards, I'm putting more more money into it. That's where I'm having with the Nuts.
The Celtics and the Bucks co favorites to win the NBA title and the East right now. Both had great offseasons. I absolutely love the fit with Dame in Milwaukee. I think it's perfect. I think his game completely compliments what Giannis has going on there. I know that you have been the president and CEO of the Honis fan Club from the very very beginning, long before he was an
MVP candidate. Are though, are the Boston Celtics a team that you think is even with Milwaukee or are they maybe even better than Milwaukee at least right now on paper.
So I'm also torn on this, Nick, because what I've always been a secret fan of daph porzingis as well, the originally Unicorn.
You know that, yes, and and I'm like, oh, now he's in Boston. I mean, if you want to see a video of how much I love the Unicorn when he came into our studio last year. You can find it on YouTube, It's on my page. I'm just like looking up at him smiling, and you can tell by the end off.
And he followed me back on the Twitter and I was like, we're friends now, Nick, We're friends. So I'm just torn, like King Yannis or King Kristaps, I don't know. The only thing I need now is for Winby to play with one of these guys. I'm like, Oh, my brain's gonna explode. What am I gonna do there? So
I don't really have that answer for you. I would love to see them play in the Eastern Conference finals, but somehow Miami's gonna be there again that I'm gonna be like, Oh, the Miami Heat and their boring style of play.
Don't even put that in the universe. Please. I do not want to see the Miami Heat go on a playoffrunt to get I'm done.
Oh no, I don't want to see my spirit animal, Kyle Lottery, who should be working with me these days, right out there in the playhoffs man, not at all.
I don't know why he's your spirit animal. And I'm just gonna leave that right there because I've got a lot of questions and we don't have much time, but maybe offline someday. What do you think Chris happens with Memphis now? Because Steven Adams done for the year, Brandon Clark done for the year, and I like Xavier Tillman fine, but he's not really a starting center for an entire year. Like, would you bet them to go under forty five and
a half wins? Would you bet them to be a playing team or do you think that this is a team that could actually maybe go out and get some center help and who would that be?
Well, Trista, what you will learn about me is I will go back to the tangent and tell you that Kyle Lowry and I are the same exact height and have the same body build. Yet he has made for jillions of dollars in the NBA. And when I saw him, he saw it all over my faith. We came up with a secret handshake that he is my spirit animal.
That's how that works, that thick boy love.
Oh yeah, best, that's That's That's where I.
Was going with it. But I just want damn wen. I don't know you like that, but maybe I.
Do now, So here's the deal. When I look at the Grizzlies and I look, first of all, I look at the landscape out west, and I'm like, oh, somebody's got to drop, right, there's somebody that we're gonna have high early start season that can't finish there because there are other teams that need to rise, Like, for instance, the Lakers kind of need to rise out west right compared to where they finished last year. I think the
Memphis Grizzlies are the team that falls. I think I believe in the Sacramento Kings UH as being a team that will you know, finish in the top five again this year. I believe one hundred percent obviously in the Denver Nuggets.
UH.
I think the Phoenix Suns have built a good enough roster that I can't see them finishing outside of top the top three, even if Booker's out for a while, Kadi's out for a while, I think they have enough guys that can lead them, you know, into a top
three spot out west. So when you look at it, I go, Okay, John missing the first twenty five games, Brandon Clark out who was huge for them, Stephen Adams out, and I'm like, offensively, They're not gonna be the same Dylan Brook's gone, Like, there's just too many pieces of who they've been in the past four or five years that are not going to be playing the start this season.
They're gonna to try to figure it out throughout the year, which also leads to more injury concerns, especially with Marcus Smart's been you know, his body has been through so much. I'm with you, I think the Grizzlies will be in the play in situation. I don't know what I have for wins because I think out West, even like forty four wins might have you in the plane, right, So I think they'll be in the play.
What about the Thunder this year? I think the Thunder have a chance to make a big jump man.
Well, Fassa, look the Thunder in the San Antonio Spurs the big Science experiments. I don't know if you saw that lineup that the Spurs put out there against the Warriors in the preseason game. But they're like Jeremy Sohan came into the league as the power forward. He will start at point guard. Who's like, what is going on the Thunder the same way they just put like six twelve basketball players out there, like, all right, what's your
measurement is that six twelve or higher? You're on the floor. You're on the floor. You're on the floor. That's exactly what they do. I mean, Sga is sixty six legit, and I feel like taller than that when you see him, and he is their point guard and Josh Kitty is going to handle the rock a lot. I mean he's six seven plus. Like they're just balanced, talented, great defensive. Lander had a check home grins to that mix, which was like the perfect player they needed.
Yeah, you know a lot of people were wondering whether OKC was gonna take Chad or whether they were gonna take the Jabbari, the difference between Jabbari and Powelo, because there was a lot of rumors about that back in the day. I'm curious speaking of Paolo, I love the Orlando Magic. They were fifty to one to win the division last year, and all three of us took them because we're high on them as a squad, Right, and Franz Wagner comes to FOBA and he balls like his
name is Laurie Marketing. What do you think about Orlando this year, especially considering they have not just a lot of talent, but they have like ten guards on their twenty man roster.
The glove don't fit in Orlando right now, and I think they're gonna have to figure that out. Apollo Van Carroll is the start they've been waiting for. The rest of that team is just like who fits where? Who did they need to move? When they signed Cole Anthony to that three year, thirty nine million dollar extension, I thought, Okay, somebody's getting moved. They don't want to lose the asset
for nothing. That's how I see that. So until they kind of figured that out, and Anthony Black looks like the kind of player that's gonna need like three or four years in this league to like not make silly mistakes, you know what I mean. So it's like, Okay, they drafted this kid, and then you know Jeded Howard also is kind of like, yeah, I think he's gonna need three or four years to play an the NBA. Like they didn't draft you know, day one ready guys in
this draft either. So I just think now they're primed. If there's a star in the market, I think they have all the assets to, like, if you're a team looking to rebuild. Yes, boll here are players, give us that asset back. But the way this team is constructed right now, I'm like, Okay, they're right there with like the Wizards and where I think they'll fit towards the finished towards the bottom of the East.
Were you surprised that they took two guards so high in the draft this year because they get Jet Howard at eleven, they get Anthony Black at six, but Bla Kolabali sitting there, Jeris Walker is sitting there, Taylor Hendricks is sitting there, and I'm sitting there, why, Like.
What are they up to? They need grown ups? They have enough like kids with potential and who is going to do what in the future. I was shocked that they kept those picks. I mean just I'm looking at the landscape around the league and I'm like, no, they need to go get like whatever star they can get that can score twenty something a game. I mean, Nick
heard me say this. I was kind of like, you know, it's really interesting, not that Bradley Heal would want to go there, but like I seem like the perfect fit that if they can get someone next to Apollo who can score the same way. Then I look at them differently. Then I look at them as a playoff team or a team that I'm gonna pay closer attention to see what they're doing this season. Now looking forward, I think they have a bright future. I just this year, I just don't see it.
I just don't, all right, So look at a couple of minutes talking to Chris Miles NBA TV. So Victor Weminyam is the favorite, no surprise, to win Rookie of the Year. We know the type of prospect he is, the type of hype that's around him. I feel like the only thing, besides obviously injuries put that aside, the only thing that keeps him from winning Rookie of the Year this year is if he has a good season.
But people look at that and say, well, you didn't exceed the expectations that people may be unfairly put on you in the averages, like you know, seventeen and nine. Is there anybody else besides Wemby that you look at and say they're at least a threat to winning Rookie of the Year.
Now, first of the foremost, Stude Anderson and chet Holmgren are gonna have good enough seasons to win the right let's just make sure we all understand that they're gonna put up Rookie of the year numbers. Here's the problem. I thought Winby was good, and then when I had to work preseason games doing like pregame shows, postgame shows because Wimby was playing, and I was like, WHOA, what is going on here? And so watching every moment of him on the floor, I'm like, oh, this is different.
Like I didn't know he was this good at basketball, right, Like I knew he and now you know. I was at his first Summer League game. I was like, Oh, he's long, long, he can block shots. Oh he's he
can don't Oh he does have a shooting touch. But watching him in preseason with actual NBA players was completely different, Like his decision making his help side defense, like Andrew Wiggins thinking he's opened five different times and shooting great shots and Wimby just denying him him and seeing like would we get these guys heads, I'm like, oh, Like,
I don't know what to think of the Spurs. I have to watch their first ten games because I can't just automatically count them out now to that point, if the Spurs win own for thirty games. He is your rookie of the year, whatever stats he puts up, because he's gonna he's gonna have the highlights, he's gonna look the part. I think he's gonna be amazing. So if he plays the prerequisite sixty five and the Spurs win thirty games or more, he's your rookie of the Year.
And there's no conversation to be at.
Chris, who should I bet on for Coach of the Year.
Oh, let's see what team is likely to overche Greg Popovich. What's the odds gonna pop?
Oh? I mean, they've gotta be They've got to be pretty long. Let me see, how many games do you think the Spurs need to win? While Nick looks us up? How many games did the Spurs need to win for pop to win Coach of the Year.
Well, they won twenty two last year, right, Papa bitch is thirty to one, Chris, Oh, man, put the money on that baby? Are you kidding me? Look, I'm only not that he's gonna win the awards, But you always have to look at it as the overachieving team or the thing that they Pop's gonna be. That man, Oh, look, at this lineup you put out there with why not thirty to one? That's the best and generous thing I've ever heard in my life.
And the amazing thing is too, I mean they have they do have other decent talent besides just wenby their O. Sure they got the potential to actually really chump up and try to win games, as your Chris Miles NBA TV. Great talking to you, buddy.
That's all the time that we have for this bonus episode of the Heat Check. Many thanks did Chris Miles and my bet MGM co host Nick Ash you of course my producer Scotland as well. Check out the feed folks for past interviews, past episodes that will drop unexpectedly like Manna from Heaven, and follow the Heat Check as the season is heating up. And follow us on social of course, at at this heat Check and at your
to click on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. Do not forget to download, subscribe and tell your friends every single damn one of them and we'll see you next time.