On this episode of The Heat Check. Yes, sir, it's a Sunday night and it is preview time, previewing every team in the NBA by division, starting with Oh Yeah, the Rolls, Royce, the Golden Goose, the Jordan Number one type of division. That's the Pacific Division, the Big Boys, Kings, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers.
And Sons.
So many damn stars in this division and it's likely all five teams are gonna.
Make the playoffs this year.
So also, we have a great interview with CBS Sports Radio and NBA insider Bill Ryder oh Man. Folks, the NBA season is just right around the corner. We already got preseason games, So come on, William, do me a favor and drop that generic ass beat what should.
Be Rihannes all the biggest NBA storylines, Lord till did so the heat Check. The heat Check was just a crazy the.
Best podcast covering all the drama around the association. NBA camp is under way, folks, so it's about that time.
Time to preview the NBA divisions for the new season. There's a lot that's happened so.
Far in the off season. Obviously, the Damian Lillard thing was overwhelming. Yeah, it was. It was pretty much what we all thought about all offseason. That in Harden and so a lot of the players who have moved teams. I bet you forgot Bradley Beal was even on the Suns, right, happened so long ago.
I bet you.
Didn't even remember that Eric Gordon is on the Suns. So let's preview the division and get into it, because I'm sure there are some things that you need to remember. We will not miss any of the news. You know that we're not going to miss any of the tea. So I wanted to make sure, though, while it's still the quiet season, that maybe we get everybody up to speed for every damn team. We start out with the
Pacific Division. They have five teams, all of which you can make a very serious argument could win the title this year if the right things happen right, if the right, right right things happen for the team. But we gotta start with the team that I affectionately call our dubs. Long time everyone knows, longtime lifelong Warriors fan, that's me. So we gotta start there. Gotta give the Kings of the Hill their props.
Yeah, I know, they.
Didn't even get to the Western Conference Finals last year, but that is not There was a lot happening around the team.
You know what I'm saying.
Oh, Draymond punched, fucked up the vibe anyway. Golden State Warriors, their win total is sitting there at forty eight and a half wins, which means that Vegas thinks they're gonna win me somewhere between forty eight and will they Let's get into it. The new editions. Chris Paul Brandon, Pojaempski, Poja Semski.
You know what I mean.
You know what I mean, dar Yo Sarich, Rudy gay Uzman Garuba, that's a sneaky one.
Remember he was the first round pick.
Rodney McGruder who has beef currently probably still with Clay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Remember Clay called.
Him, I think he called him a bitch or something like a couple of years ago, made NBA TV. Everyody's like, ooh, Clay's the Savage Clay Clay Clay, and then Draymond got on National TV and said something else I mean about him, but he's on the team. Corey Joseph from the Detroit Pistons also on the team sneaky pickup out is Jordan Poole. Out is Dante DiVincenzo, Andre Igwa Igwa gimme Igwa Dalla and James James I got taken second overall and no one knows why heisman.
The Warriors started out last season. It was just a mess.
Is who has the tape? Who leaked it? Why did Jordan Poole get hit in the face? What he say to Draymond apparently the new leaks coming out, or that he said that Draymond Green was Steph Curry's overpriced backpack, which I heard it was actually even worse than that.
The puncher ends up getting one hundred million dollar extension for all the trouble, doesn't get suspended for all the trouble that he calls, and Jordan Poole, the guy who got assaulted, ends up in Washington, DC on one of the most dysfunctional franchises in the NBA.
Seems fair, seems fair?
Right, that's Siberia, Folks. Rough break for Jordan Poole. But at least he's got Kuzma to show him off in Chocolate City, little nightclub actions, show him where all the fashion is. See what's popping off on U Street, and I tell you the block is hot. I know it from personal experience.
The block is hot on U Street twenty four to seven.
The big addition, of course, is Chris Paul, the point god CP three, The same guy that I said might be a big issue for the Suns is now on the Warriors. Why why did I say he might be a big issue? Let me recap what I said after the trade went down. Chris Paul averaged twelve five and seven in the playoffs, which was which was off his twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three season average of fourteen four and nine. So that's obviously in itself the
least productive number in his entire seventeen year career. Even in Chris Paul's rookie year he averaged sixteen to five and eight, and that was his worst statistical season until last year. And remember this, Chris Paul's final game as a Phoenix Sun. He was a minus three nine And I think he's thirty nine years old, so sweet justice. He missed twenty three regular season games last year.
Yep, thirty nine years old.
Yep.
We did a little mass school.
What exactly Golden State expects from this slow, undersized point guard who could probably give you twenty two minutes.
Fifty eight sixty games.
And then, of course we know about the playoffs what he's gonna do there, which is not a lot. Apparently Steph thinks the world of Chris Paul because they've been playing pick up, according to Steph all summer, to help them prep for the season.
I know this though.
The one thing I will say that's a positive is I saw Chris Paul get like just throw an absolute dime back door to Klay Thompson. He did not even expect because he's probably never.
Seen it in his pro career from a teammate.
The Warriors team obviously had had some issues.
It's not just chemistry. Staying healthy is going to be the biggest one. And it's not Paul only and his what was.
That Chris Paul's secret juice, secret stuff, but Klay Thompson as well. He needs the secret stuff of him himself because he is on the back end of his career with an acl and an achilles tear that happened not too long ago. Steph, of course, always has to be healthy. When he's not healthy, the team is a lottery team, and especially Draymond Green, who's, by the way, check's notes already hurt, already.
Hurt yep our Dubs.
Little ankle injury for our Dubs. In addition, the team needs to learn how to win on the road again, because they were an absolute disaster away from the Chase Center. I do think the biggest issue is probably depth. They brought in a seventeen year vet.
Let me say that again.
They brought in a seventeen year vet, not seventeen year old. A seventeen year vet in Rudy Gay and a journeyman Rodney Magruder, Dario Sarich and twelve year pro Corey Joseph. They were like, remember when we said we're gonna go two timeline thing, we are, but the timeline word going is back back in the time. We're only taking guys that have been in the league fifteen years and longer twelve if you're really good. There's still Kaminga and Moody,
the babies of the crew. Although Kaminga all off season was rumored to WANTA Trade was not.
Happy with his usage in the playoffs.
Not exactly a super deep bench, But listen, our Dubs always contenders as long as they have Steph Curry, Kevon Looney and a very healthy, very productive Draymond Green.
They have Klay.
Thompson who's now playing power forward full time and who many people say is washed, but did lead the NBA somehow with three hundred and one made three pointers last year. They also have the unsung hero, which I just referenced. I'm talking about Kevon Looney. Tough, durable on court IQ is out of this world. He's one of the most effective rebounders in the league. Steve Kerr had many glowing things to say about Keavon in the playoffs, but this
one stuck out. He said, I think Loune is one of the best centers in the league.
I really do.
People don't recognize it because he's not dunking, shooting threes.
And all that stuff. But the guy is a flat out winner. He's a machine. We wouldn't be here without him. That's facts.
They wouldn't have gotten out of the first round without Kevon Looney last year. I know it, I saw it, and he was effective. Golden State is going to be at least a regular season force this year because in the Steph era, they usually are I'm not sure that this team is any better than last year when they won forty four games.
I see him about the same this year.
I can see them very easily being a playing team, or I could see them being a five or six eight seed.
This is gonna be one of those things that comes down to the world.
As an aside, maybe the biggest loss of the off season was Bob Myers, their longtime GM, the architect of the dynasty. When this team needs help, it's always been able to find a rabbit of the hut because Bob Myers.
What is my man, Mike Dunleavy Junior going to do to fill his shoes?
Big shout out to Mike Dunleavy Junior. You have made it in life. You are a Portland legend. One thing is for sure. Of course, the Warriors are gonna be very fun to watch. I am not sure our dubs are. I can't actually say is dynasty, Baby, We're back, can't mush us.
Let's move on to the LA Clippers.
Their win totals sitting there at forty six and a half by Vegas. This is who they've added kJ Martin. They have re signed Russell Westbrook, they got Josh I don't wear underwear, Primo, Xavier Moon, and Jordan Miller out of Miami. They lost Eric Gordon. But let's be real, this team just hasn't made at many moves. They've been looking and trying and waiting to scoop up James Harden for a discount, and that has not happened yet. But
let's be real. No team has more questions coming into this season, and no team has done less to address their issues than the LA Clippers. That is why the Clippers are my.
Team of this division.
Ah, I want to believe, I want to, but they are in desperate need of a real point guard and are currently holding up the Philadelphia seventy six ers kind of at gunpoint for James Harden. You will take this one first round pick and you will like it. They're offering Marcus Morris, Rob Covington, Oh my god, Roco a first round pick and a swap. Daryl Morey is like, bitch, please, I do not want Roco, Are you fucking serious?
No?
I want Terrence Man Baby, the versatile six seven long wingspan, can't play point guard, can't play small ball five.
And the Clippers were.
Like, no, we don't have a lot of young assets, so we kind of don't really want to give them up. So that's where we're at on the trade. Even though Woj says they are disinclined to up their offer because there is no other offer, we know that everyone knows that any NBA fan knows there are no other offers for James Harden. They did bring in a couple of young players of interest. kJ Martin played the right way when he played for the Houston Rockets. He's Kenyan Martin's son.
Kenyan Martin lives in LA. This is gonna be an amazing fit. I think for him, a new star for his career. He gets out from under what was clearly a very dysfunctional organization until emy Udoka came in. He probably is gonna carve himself out a nice little role. They signed Josh Primo on a two way contract because let's be honest, they're not giving him anything more than that after what he's been accused of doing. But the player, Josh Primo, outside of all the semantics involved, this is
a fine, fine young player. Clippers loved him. I remember talking to Jerry West about Josh Primo right after the draft two summers ago.
He loved him.
They wanted to pick him up before San Antonio snaked them. So they are thinking, we got Josh Primo at a discount. Baby, Oh boy, we have a guard of the future. So what are these Clippers other than the forty four and thirty eight fifth seed from last year? Very talented, pretty much off an injured team facing a bunch of new crackdown rules from the NBA on you guessed it, what we're calling the Kawhi Rule low management. Kawhi is saying
he's healthy. PG is saying he's completely healthy. But with those two, those guys are like the basketball version the LA Chargers, And I can't tell which one is Keenan Allen and which one is Mike Williams.
Who is gonna be the Mike Williams of this.
Year's LA Clippers.
I don't know. It's like whack a mole.
One year it's PG, one year it's Kawhi, then back and forth and back and forth again. Kawhi has never played more than fifty seven games, never played more than fifty seven games in his time in Los Angeles. Paul George has averaged forty seven games per season in LA as well. Harden not exactly the guy that you want leading your franchise when you have multiple marquee stars.
Down with an injury. So I don't know how he really helps them.
The upside in theory great.
Do you really want to give up Terrence Man for him? Does it really move the needle for you? Does it? Because it doesn't for me.
The Clippers have been skating by on their potential for a very long time, and I just can't believe anymore. I've been I've been hoodwinked. I have been bamboozled for too many years. I've been on the Clippers hype train now for since they got Kawhi, since twenty nineteen, and I am done.
If I have to be.
Super optimistic, like I said, I'm gonna try to put a brave face on Josh Primo could be very good, maybe bones Highland. I saw him throw behind the back pass to Kawhi Leonard in a preseason game tonight, so there's that.
Xavier Moon.
I watched him be absolutely unguardable in Summer League. I called him trash. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I wasn't familiar with your game.
Xavier Moon.
I wasn't familiar with the fact that you are a mid range machine, and so if.
He's that at the next level, this could get very interesting. Maybe they'll be very fun.
Maybe it'll be Josh Primo and Xavier Moon the back court of the LA Clippers future. Just in time, those household names, just in time. Today debut a very new stadium that's very expensive. But mostly I'll be waiting. I'll be sitting there, waiting for the inevitable injuries which will derail a team that I was sure was going to the finals the past three years. Fool me once, shame on me, booy, fool me twice. Can't get fooled again.