Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines. So The Heat Check.
The Heat Check with Crista Craker, the best podcast covering all the drama around the association. Denver Nuggets, Denver Nuggets. Everybody's saying, oh my god, they've lost everything. They've lost all their depth, They've lost all these key players. What will they be able to do?
They lost Bruce Brown, they lost Jeff Green, they lost.
Thomas Bryant, who did not play more than a few minutes in the playoffs.
What will they do? The sky is falling?
They do add Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett, and Hunter Tyson. I like Hunter Tyson a lot. They are your defending world champions folks. And Calvin Booth is filling himself. He's doing ten thousand word features with the Ringer, and he's throwing people under the bus while he's at it because why because he just who won a championship and fuck them, that's why, blowing up players who helped them win a
chip and then left Denver. And he's like, you know what, take that mental finger, sit on it and spin strap in because this feature got weird. The Nuggets returned the same starting five.
And won him a championship.
Jokiic, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter, Junior Kentavious Callwell, Pope, AKAA KCP and.
Of course Jamal Jamal NBA Murray.
They are key bench players, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, Thomas Bryant who have left for greener or more money pastures. Calvin Booth had, of course, nothing but glowing things to say about them, right, you know, like, just.
Keep it classy, keep it cute. No, absolutely fucking not.
No. Calvin Booth was like, fuck those guys. You don't want to be on our team, then fuck you. This is what he said in an interview. Some of these teams were trying to get Bruce Bruce Brown, trying to make it worth it, and I'm like, be careful what you wish for. Peyton Watson's bigger, Peyton Watson's longer, he's more athletic, he guards better, he passes better. End quote
my quote, Trista's quote pause, that's a lie. I mean, he might be bigger, he might be longer, he might be more athletic, but he's not a better player than Bruce Brown.
Calvin and you fucking know that.
Why Because your entire scouting department was sitting next to me in the Summer League and they were putting their hands over their eyes because Peyton Watson was fucking terrible, terrible in the summer league. Hey, Calvin, did you know that the when you do an interview, it's all on the record because they quoted you and you looked salty.
If you think he was.
Done with the ricochet shots on other Nugs players, he was striking up that nug and getting a little high and saying whatever came to mind.
We are just getting started.
His first big move as GM was trading Bones Island to a lot of people like they were wondering, what's up?
Why did you do it? Why did you let him go? Two playoffs ago?
He was important, had meaningful contributions when Jamal Murray was injured. Jamal Murray's not injured anymore, folks. So here's what Booth had to say. Uh, I knew you couldn't have two guys that couldn't guard, and we couldn't have two guys that were young and kind of more me guys. Mike makes thirty million and he's one of the best shooters in the NBA. So Bones There's no place for you. Oh my god, why did you have to treat Michael
Putter Junior that way? I know he was mediocre in the finals, but damn it, you didn't need to shoot at his confidence by calling him a non defensive minded me.
Guy that you kind of make it sound like he's overpaid you.
There is no place for you, Bones, get out of here. No soup for you, sir, No soup for you. Jesus bro, what is Calvin Booth up to? I've never seen this from a GM in my life that's currently a GM of that same team. The article where these quotes came from, published by The Ringer, mostly about how he started this dynasty or how he wants to build one in an area Erarow where dynasties are very hard to build. The man, Calvin, you did not have to do Bruce Brown and Bones and MPJ like that.
As for the team, Calvin Booth.
Is very high on the guys that he selected in the draft, as you might imagine. Julian Strawther from bust University, the WCC aka Gonzaga, the other two Hunter Tyson and Jalen Pickett five years college ball. To me, that's very interesting. Most gms would say if you played four or five years in college, you are worthless. But if you're a contender, you say that guy can help me. Right now. I don't have any time to waste with these little puppies.
I need a finished product. And and that is what Christian Brown was, and Christian Brown is going to take another step. Will any of them be as good as Bruce Brown. I don't know, but I tell you what I like Christian Brown. The Nuggets are still going to be very hard to beat. Why because nobody really has found an answer in their off seasons for Jokic.
That's about as simple as it gets, folks.
When you have Jamal Murray and you have Jokic together, and you add Aaron Gordon. By the way I saw stat today, the Jokic to Aaron Gordon assist duo was only second to James Harden and Joel Embiid. That is fucking scary. You should be frightened by that stat. And they are only getting closer by the second. Aaron Gordon said, Yeah, you think we have chemistry on the court, We're even tighter off the court. It is nightmare scary hours for you.
If all three of those guys are healthy. The problem, though, is big risk.
Is that they were a very very healthy team last year, healthier than they've been so.
MPJ played eighty two out of one hundred and two games despite missing forty five percent of his games in the previous three years. Jamal Murray played eighty five of one hundred and two games last year, but missed fifty three percent of the games.
That he was supposed to play the previous three years.
And Aaron Gordon, who played eighty eight of one hundred and two games, he missed thirty three percent of the games in the previous three years. So none of this is a guarantee, folks. But I tell you what, if we're gonna make an NFL analogy, this is the San Francisco forty nine ers of the NBA, the least amount of flaws that you can find. A GM who, despite being obviously mean as a snake to his former players, knows how to build a roster where he talks about
having a lack of redundancies in his lineup. KCP was a massively important move, and I like the Nuggets a lot. The West is a pit of vipers. You never know who's gonna rise up and strike at any moment. The Lakers have definitely added some depth and athleticism. They find a way to increase their size and the ability to try to match up with Jokic. That's gonna be fun.
But listen, one thing is for sure. As long as Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon are healthy, this team has a chance to repeat and win three out of the next five and boil boy will they need some contributions from those role players. Otherwise they're probably gonna get traded and Calvin Boo's gonna say some mean things about him.
Next week though Eastern Conference. We move on.
That's all the time that we have for this episode of the Heat Check. Came back Monday for an all new episode. No come back Friday. Actually, we have an interview with Frank Michael Smith, a content creator in the NBA space. Fucking electric dude built a massive business.
I cannot wait.
We're going to interview him later on today and then follow our many episodes that are going to drop unexpectedly throughout the season, and follow us as we head into an all new and.
Season.
Do not forget to download, subscribe, and tell your friends, every single one of them, and follow us on socialide at this heat check and at Tristan Crick on TikTok.
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Big shout out to William my new producer, and big shout out to you.
We'll see you next time.