Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines.
We're tuned in to the Heat Checked.
The Heat Check was just a crank, the best podcast covering all the drama around the association.
All Right, we bring on Jonathan Zaslo Zaslow Show two point zero, and I mean, if you got anything on this game, if you feel free, But my god, I'm sure it's been a rough couple of days down there in Miami for you too, So feel free to go either direction you want. The floor's yours, my friend.
Well, I will tell you that I thought the Packers were the play tonight, so I'm hoping for a strong second half.
I just got home.
I have not been watching, but I do know the score, so obviously I'm not pleased with that. And as far as the as far as the news yesterday afternoon, I'm like, I'm I was shocked.
I was shocked. I feel stupid.
I was very confident that the Heat were going to land Damian Lillard. And you know, as more and more the details come out, you realize that the Heat really never had they never had a chance, and that part is is aggravating if you're a Heat fan. It's not that the Blazers owe the Heat anything. It's not the Heat's right to be able to trade for any player they want. The Blazers don't want to talk to them, they don't have to talk to them, and that seemingly is the direction it went.
So that part, as a Heat fan is frustrated.
Why do you think they didn't want to talk to you guys.
Because I think I think things got personal. I think they got in their feelings and I think that and look I out full disclosure, I don't like player empowerment, but there is a movement in the league these days, these years where player empowerment is a very real thing, and it would appear that the Blazers and Joe Cronin in particular, I guess, were were angry with Damian Lillard essentially trying to thin the market for a possible trade by saying I will only play for Miami, and the
Blazers decided, Okay, well we're not going to play that game, so we're going to take any deal out there, the best deal not Miami. So there's no reason to even talk to the Heats. I mean, the details that are coming out now are they really never had a real conversation, And that part, to me is crazy because while of course no one owes the Miami Heat a phone call or even an opportunity to trade for anyone, But if you're talking about at worst, top three player in your
franchise is history. Maybe some people would say the greatest player in your franchise history, if he really, really badly wants to go to one team in particular, is it crazy to pick up the phone, have a conversation. At the end of the conversation, tell pat Riley fu hang up the phone, and then say, Dame, we tried.
But like they didn't even do that. Like that part's crazy to me. So what do you think they do next? Now?
Like I'm reading articles you got Sports Illustrated saying should we revisit conversations about mb to the Heat? Which I do think, like after this year, Philly doesn't do anything, maybe he looks to get moved, but we'll kind of a splashy move can they make because you know pat Riley has to do something here.
Yeah, there's well see that's the thing. I don't think pat Riley thinks he needs to do something here. Now it's a little bit of hubris on the team's part where they don't necessarily feel they need to do anything. But then there's also the evidence, which is two of the last four years they've been in the finals. One of those other two years they were in Game seven of the East Finals. So do they really think they need to do something. No, I don't think that they
feel that way. They lost Struce, they lost Vincent.
But here's the thing.
They get new Struce's and new Vincent's every couple of years. So I don't think that they feel the need to do anything. And they're like, yeah, well, we were just in the finals. We'll run it back. And and by the way, we proved that it doesn't even matter what seed we are. We just need to get into the playoffs and we're comfortable with our team. As far as the MB thing, that is a pipe dream. I mean, you know, I don't know if Embiid's gonna ask out
at some point, but let's be honest here. There's a difference between trying to trade for Damian Lillard and saying, Okay, we'll give you Tyler Hero as the main piece in whatever draft picks that ain't cutting it for any type of Joel Embiid conversation, like, if you're gonna have a conversation about EMBIID, the conversation begins with Bam at a bio. And I don't think a deal like that necessarily benefits
the Heat. The Heat aren't going to part with Bam for practically, I don't think anyone like they weren't including Bam in a conversation for Kevin Durant last year. So the EMBIID stuff, I think that's a waste of time for Heat fans to even talk about.
Yeah, I mean, you get kind of spoiled. I guess when you watch an organization make moves that you don't know how they make the moves, and then somehow they make it happen year after year, and at some point you go, Okay, they're just gonna figure this out. And if they don't make any I mean, right now, I'm assuming there's really nothing else they can do unless pat Riley pulls a something magic at of his hat and somebody requests a trait right before the season, which would
make any sense. So let's assume that this team is gonna go in looking the way that they do. Where do they stack up in the Eastern Conference?
In your eyes. I mean, last year.
Was a really frustrating regular season, and so they barely sneak into the postseason as the eight seed. They almost you know, didn't even make the playoffs at all. Because they're playing they should be a lot better than an eight seed, Like they should be a top five team. You know, it doesn't really matter what seed they are going into the playoffs. They've beaten Milwaukee two of the
last they faced each other. Three of the last four playoffs, Miami won two of them, and a couple of them were actually pretty handily in Miami's favor.
It should be a top five team.
I think they look at it and say, all right, we're gonna have a super motivated Tyler hero. We maybe we're gonna get a resurrected Duncan Robinson because they dusted him off in the playoffs and he was great again.
Caleb Martin.
Caleb Martin thought he was Jimmy Butler for half the playoffs, all right, And then you gotta full of the young guys in Djovic who had a fantastic World Cup, and Hakez Junior is twenty two years old, like he's gonna play. So I think there is intrigue because there are some pieces there that they feel really good about.
They should definitely be a top five team in the East.
I like the plus five point fifty for the Heat to miss the playoffs. How disappointing would it be if you guys became a lottery team. I'm sure awful. I see Barry my Man Barry Jackson at Florida Sports Buzz already to the place of acceptance in the stage of grief where Heat fans legit zazz are talking about just whether there's any merit to start this whole thing over again and blow it up. It's wild out there on the streets.
Well, I mean, being a lottery team the year after Wempan Yama is stupid, all right, So yes, I would be really annoyed if they were a lottery team this year. There were plenty of Heat fans, by the way, after the Heat lost the first playing game and then had to play the second one, the do or die game against Icago, there were Heat fans who wanted them to lose that game because like, ah, they're not gonna be able to do anything as an eight seed. Let's just
get into the wembin Yama sweepstakes. But as far as as far as the missing the playoffs, like, the only way that would happen is if there's some type of catastrophic injury, God forbid, and and and the blowing it up, starting over, tearing it down kind of deal that that has never been the Heat's way. It's never going to be the Heat's wave. They do not play that game.
Jonathan Zaslow Zaslow showed two point zero. Always good to talk to you, man, Yeah, not at all.
We're gonna be all right down here. The weather's nice. We're gonna be okay.
That's all the time. We after this episode of the Heat Check, come on back later for an all new episode. Many thanks to Jonathan, as well as my co host Nick Asho and Ryan Horvatt and producer Scott Lynn. Check out the feed for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly and follow the Heat Check. As we head into the new NBA season, this one should be a doozy more dame on the East Coast.
That's good news.
Don't forget to download, subscribe and tell your friends, every single one of them, and follow us on socialide at this heat Check and at trust to click on TikTok. We'll see you next time.