You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
On this episode of the Heat Check, the New York Knicks, the Knickerbockers, if you will, off to another hot start.
Could this be another year that they go to the playoffs?
And there is one reason a man who might actually be, in hindsight underpaid. We break down the Knicks hot start and we get into what's happening in Portland, which, as a Blazers fan, I am an absolute shock.
About Steam's four one baby what.
Plus we cover some news around the league, including the Lakers continuing to stink but.
Now being tone deaf. On top of that, Kevin.
Durant being run into the ground again in Brooklyn. I compare the NFL and the NBA's handling of the concussion protocol.
Uh wi, let's.
Just say this NBA handling things a lot better than the NFL and Joellen deciding you know what, fuck it, I'm not playing defense anymore and the NBA going all in on Victor wembin Yama and the hype train.
So much to talk about, so Nick dropped that motherfucking beat.
I have a thought, obviously since this is a podcast about thoughts, but.
Is Jalen Brunson actually underpaid.
Everybody said, oh man, the Knicks really fucked up with Jalen Brunson one hundred and four million.
No way he's worth all that money.
I actually think if you look at this first four games and it continues for the rest of the duration of the contract, this deal looks like a bad deal for Jalen Brunson. Like it looks like he's worth Damian Lillard money. I hate to say it, but the man is bawling and true point guards are very hard to
find these days. Jalen Brunson was the first of what we're supposed to be two huge moves for the New York Knicks, right And in fact, you could pretty much argue that last season they were committed to this being the case. They knew it was bad as soon as Dereck Rose got injured. Tibbs didn't have any of his guys in there, and things were not looking good, and they thought it's gonna be Brunson, and they thought it's gonna be Donovan Mitchell.
And then a very funny thing happened.
Danny Ainge did Danny Ainge things, said, you know what, Leon Rose deuces I'm done doing business with you.
We're just gonna deal with Donovan.
Mitchell to the Calves and left the Knicks scrambling, and at the last minute they're trying to.
Figure out how to piece together a roster that was largely outside.
Of Jalen Brunson unchanged. And you have Julius Randall making one hundred and seventeen million dollars over four years, and he's looking like an atrocious player that you can't get rid of.
Sad boy season in New York.
I know, I was live on Wfan for it, and people were calling in like, no, no, we didn't want him anyway, No, no, There.
Was a lot of that.
Right But now, after a week of basketball, the Knickerbockers stand three and one with an OT loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, a team that everybody is.
In absolute love with.
On opening night where they clawed back like a very gritty team down fifteen, take it to OT, they should have won the game, but there was a no call goal ten by jaw Morant. Truthfully, the Knicks should be could be four and oh right now, which they would be the only undefeated team in the NBA.
So what's the difference.
My man, big Booty Brunson, Jalen Brunson, a six to one guard out of Villanova. He's not the fastest, he's not the quickest. We know he's not the biggest. He's six to one on a good day.
You look at him.
I've seen him up close. I've covered him when he played for Villanova. He's five eleven and a half.
Let's be honest. He's one of those.
Guys that doesn't wear that height. Well, do you know what I mean? One of the few true point guards left in the league. Right with doubt Donovan Mitchell and what was pretty much gonna be a shooter friendly offense.
Instead, Tims went.
Back to his basics and basically put the offense and the next season in the hands of Brunson, a guard in which his own dad calls a thick rear ended guard.
Yep, you think I'm joking.
The other word that Rick Brunson used for his son's booty was significant. Jalen Brunson has the significant caboose and it runs in the family. And that kabooz folks is getting loose, getting loose on the court.
It's very on the court. I don't mean it pause, very much pause. I don't know what he's doing outside of that. It's so clear.
It's so I didn't mean say it like that. It's very clear when you watch him. He's running this offense. And I saw him at the Garden on Monday night against the Orlando Magic, and man, does he have command of the Knicks offense in a way that they haven't had.
Let's be honest, since Mama there goes that man Mark Jackson.
Multiple times I saw Jalen Brunson on the floor pointing at the court to different players like stand there be there, like in front, yo, go over there, and they did. Like little chess pieces, they moved to Jalen Brunson's whim. And that is benefiting no one more than our guy, Julius Randall. All of a sudden, the player that we fell in love with two years ago, that one most improved player is back. And not coincidentally, it correlates with I don't know, Randal having a true point guard where
Randall doesn't have to run the fucking offense. This is what Julius Randall had to say about what Jalen Brunson does for him.
Bump the audio up, Nick because it's a.
Little low early games, like, he just makes the game so much easier for me, you know, if I, you know, just keep moving segua scring is run the floor. You know, he's always looking to make the right play. So he finds me, He gets me going, gets me easy baskets.
He just makes the game so much easier for me if I just keep moving and setting screens, running the floor.
He's always looking to make the right play. Yeah, because last year Julius Randall was tasked with the Jalen Brunson role, and let me just say, this wasn't really working. Wasn't really working.
Think about this, Julius Randall is scoring more points in less minutes than last year and is shooting fifty four percent from two, his best in his knixt career, because I don't know, he's not taking those god awful long twos at the end of shot clocks anymore.
According to official.
NBA stats, last year, Randall averaged two point two dribbles per touch, had the ball in his hands four point one minutes per game, felt like more. This year, he's down to one point four eight dribbles per touch and two point eight minutes per game.
What a difference.
And if you look at a stat line, it's ridoculous. Twenty points per game, nine rebounds per game, three assists, and one point two steals.
Julius Randall is.
Getting busy, and Randal actually has added some things to his game. He is shooting floaters now, Julius.
Randall shooting floaters.
He had two, count them, two zero dribble floaters against Orlando on Monday. When's the last time Julius Randall had two zero dribble floaters? He had two combined since the twenty seventeen season. So he's having two in one game and had two in the course of five years. He is adding to his bag. This is what Tibbs had to say about how differently Julius Randall is playing.
And why so.
And Julia's was terrific from start to finish. I love the way he's diversifying his game, like running the floor. Sometimes he's the pace guy. He'll push it up and then he'll create movements. Sometimes he just beats people down the floor. I think him getting easy baskets is huge for us, huge and uh it puts a lot of pressure on the defense. I thought Mitch gave us great minutes and you can't say enough about you know, what Jalen does for the team. He just he's incomplete control
at all all times. And the game. You know, you hit some tough spots in a game, and he has such a strong demeanor and a strong face, and it's one of determination you have. It gives your team belief that we can do this. We we you know we can play well.
Wow, a strong face gives your team belief. Yep, he does.
Jalen Brunson is making this whole thing work because why Tibbs's vision works only with a competent point guard, and they did not have one last year because Derrick Rose was injured for much of that year. He needs a very specific roster and outside of Jalen making this team better, making his teammates better, being in New York makes.
Him better too.
In a league where big men are now shifting towards the perimeter, Jalen is taking what his dad calls a thick booty down into the paint to create space and get easy shots. This is what he said about his post play. I'm always comfortable in the post. I'm comfortable being able to play with my back to the basket or just playing out of the mid post or playing from the elbow.
It gives me a chance to kind of slow down. For a guard, it's hard to guard. It's unconventional. Let's talk about his stat line his first four games with the Knicks.
Twenty points per game, eight and a half assists per game, one and a half turnovers, fifty one percent from the field, forty one percent from three, and eighty five percent from the.
Free throw line. All of that to say, do you believe me now?
Jalen Brunson might just be underpaid one hundred and four million dollars.
Who unlocks the offense.
Who makes a guy you're paying one hundred and seventeen million dollars to actually worth one hundred and seventeen million dollars, slows the team down in times of pressure, has poise helps you win games cheap at twice the price. I could go on this entire podcast about Jalen Brunson.
I've loved him long before it was sexy two. I've loved him at Villanova.
I thought that he should be a point guard that the Mavericks used and paid long before Lucas stepped into that building.
But you know, what.
That's okay because he's getting his shine now and I would not be surprised if the Nicks end up in the playoffs again this year.