On this episode of the Heat Check. Oh, it's ketchup time get you up to date on everything popping in the NBA. Summer League is about to start today. We got a new NBA Meteorites deal, which we kind of already knew what was going on, but now we have it. We've got some Team USA drama, Clay introducing himself in Dallas, and a lot of new signings. So much to get into. Let's get into it. Come on, Anthony drop that generic ass beat should.
Be recorded, all right, some of the lets.
A lot of news popping. League free agency has come to a close. There's players that really are still free agents that are going to sign somewhere, but doesn't feel like any deals are being made right now. I am boots on the ground in Las Vegas. I'm gonna be giving you my thoughts all week. But for now, we've got big news. The NBA has announced a new media rights deal, which has been the end game, the end goal over three years of speculation and now was finally signed.
What does it mean. It means that the NBA is about to go fucking bananas. Seventy six billion billion with a B dollars over eleven years six point nine billion dollars per year, which is triple the amount of the previous deal. Who is in and who is out? Here are the winners ESPN and ABC. Disney two point six billion dollars to the NBA, Amazon Prime. They're getting media rights on digital one point eight billion dollars. NBC and Peacock paid two point five billion dollars to be on
regular network TV and streaming on Peacock. Who is out? Apple TV is out? They were supposedly gonna bid, but apparently the bidding was just way too rich for their blood, and sadly, Turner TNT, which technically has a few more days to match either Amazon Amazon's deal, doesn't feel like they're likely to do so. This seems like it's going to court because no matter whether Amazon or no matter whether TNT tries to match the deal or not, it feels like the NBA is just gonna say no anyway.
Next year is gonna be now the last rodeo of the inside of the NBA as we know. It looks like Chuck is going to retire, Ernie's gonna stay on. Turner Kenny Shack, who knows Amazon now gets the NBA Cup AKA the n season tournament, which will be a thirty team blind draw this year. They also get some playoff games as well, which they'll split with NBC. The Finals stays shockingly with ESPN and ABC exclusively, and boy did they pay for it double what they paid on
the previous deal. But I guess that's the price of the NBA Finals for you, which is kind of a sad thing because I would have loved even just TNT to do the finals or NBC the new kid on the block, to do the finals. Don't love the way that ESPN has been covering the NBA Finals, but that's just me. Bottom line is the NBA is now going to be nationally televised seven days a week, which is
kind of insane when do you think about it. That is a sign of how big the league is going to get internationally nationally in the last in the next five years. NBC and Amazon will have to build a dawn to dusk NBA coverage in the next twelve months, so there's gonna be a lot of movement in NBA media markets. But there is something that nobody is talking about yet. As John Hollinger tweeted out, now that the media rights deal is done. It is expansion time, baby,
looking at you see Sattle, looking at you Vegas. So not only do we have a massively expanding NBA media landscape with two new broadcast partners, and NBC is indeed new. It has been two decades since they did NBA, which means I was like, man, I'm old. I was gonna say. I thought it's been less time than that, but I guess I'm almost forty. I was like, I don't remember it leaving my kids. No, it's I think I was
eighteen the last time the NBC had the NBA. New front offices, new scouting departments, new media divisions, new social media teams, new producers, knew everything, and for the people in the business of hoops, business is booming. More on this very very soon. All right, moving on, Man, I'm losing my voice already, Guys, I am losing my voice already. I always say that my voice is kind of like a Maserati, you know, like a high performance vehicle, but
always in the fucking shop. That's that's me. That's one day, two days out in the middle of a bunch of and I am dead. So anyway, I'm in Vegas for Summer League. But before the league kicked off, we had Team USA versus Team Canada tune up game before more exhibition games where the US goes to Abu Dhabi and Wow, before the game even tipped, we got some e news, you know, reality show Real Housewives of the NBA type trauma.
The team begins and ends with Kawhi Leonard. Now, we kind of knew Kawhi Leonard was probably not going to be ready to go for the Olympics, considering that he was held out of the most of the first round of the playoffs and hasn't played a damn game since, and even during the finals, WOJ was tweeting about maybe Derek White taking a slot. But now it's happened. Now Kawhi Leonard has been kicked off of Team USA. Basically, hey,
your knee's not right. We already got a guy in Kevin Durant who has a CAF that's strained, and we're not really sure when he's coming back, so we can't have you there. You gotta go. And depending on who you believe though, either Kawhi left tam Usa on his own with the Clippers or Team USA said you gotta go. You gotta leave. But I do think that from what I hear, Kawhi was the last to know. Kawhi in general, had no idea until the decision had already been made.
This Steph Curry said this about Kawhi. I know he wanted to play, hopefully for the long term. He's in a good place before because the game needs him. When he's not out there, you miss an all time great player. And we hope he's ready for the season. It's pretty sad for Kui. Not gonna lie what that means going forward. We'll get into the next month because Clipper fans should
be absolutely terrified. But you know what, Fortunately for Team USA, there's a natural replacement for six eight, two hundred and thirty pounder board out there, ready and willing to play,
known for his lockdown defense, can stretch the floor. This is someone who also won an NBA Championship, win Finals MVP Eastern Conference Finals MVP Jalen Brown, the closest player probably to Kawhi Leonard in the league right now, and Grant Hill said no, he went out and picked Kawhi's replacement as Dereck White, And I guess you can say we already have a lot of wings on Team USA. We have a lot of big players. Maybe we need some more guards in order to defend on the perimeter,
much like Drew Holliday is doing. But Jalen Brown was very unhappy. He immediately got online and started tweeting shit and pointed a finger as he's wont to do, as if there was a conspiracy theory of foot in who he thinks is blackballing him. When the news broke, he tweeted out three thinking emojis had to say as is to say, hmm, that's strange, and then stood for a couple more hours before saying at Nike, this what were doing. He then adds some more tweets which said I'm not
afraid of you or your resources. I did not have Jalen Brown versus Nike on my beef card this calendar or this summer. And you know the thing that makes it super weird is like it's Jalen Brown's teammate who got picked instead of him, And He's like, hey, you chose this fucking guy over me, So yeah, JB's pissed. How did Grant Hill react? He said that he picked Derek White because he wanted a player who knows his role. He said, White is someone who's accustomed to playing alongside
great players. He plays with two stars and Chasing Tatum and Jaylen Brown. He knows how to be a complimentary piece, but also stands out in his role. He's a guy that whether he sits for two games or plays the fourth quarter, he's gonna have a great attitude. He's going to be Derek White aka Jalen Brown's not gonna take it in stride if we bench him and he's the twelfth guy on our team, and he's probably not gonna
take it great. Derrick White, he knows. He's just kind of there and we'll see how many minutes you get. Don't you worry about Jaylen Brown? Though he didn't sit home and pou He took out his smoke show girlfriend, a WNBA player that I don't even know how to pronounce her name. I'm not gonna try. Kissra Gondrazick google it,
who's also looking for a new team. By the way, after being waived by this guy to the sp Awards, or she broke the internet because I think she had like on a catsuit dress where I could see every curve. I think I saw a nipple or a belly button. I'm not sure. Sometimes you can't win for losing. But don't think Jaylen Brown's gonna forget this. No, there's gonna be ramifications going for He's gonna continue to speak on it. I'm sure. How does this impact the relationship between JB
and Derek White. Does it's spill over the locker room? I don't think so, but the tea is definitely hot. Moving on, Speaking of Team USA, I got to see them up and close against Canada in Las Vegas. Fascinating
tune up. They played Not Like Us multiple times to troll Drake to troll Canada, which was awesome, But in reality, the first tune up was actually the untelevised and mostly unseen by media scrimmage of the Olympic team versus the Team USA Select team, which had Haimi Hawkes on it, who, by the way, as I saw him and his girlfriend last night, his girlfriend was a smoke show. Jabari Smith, Aman Thompson, Jalen Suggs, and Cooper Flag, who is in
high school. By the way, Flag was the first high school or college player to play on Team USA Select in a decade, and Cooper Flag largely balled the fuck out. He was incredible. The Internet and the media around the NBA is a buzz about Cooper Flag right now. He led the select team that narrowly missed out on a huge upset, losing by one point. He was ballin'. One player who was super impressed by Cooper Flag was KD.
He said, he looks like hell of a player. He's somebody who's gonna get better with experience, and he's only seventeen years old coming in here and playing like you. He's almost a vet. No emotion, good offensive skills, tight defense, great quart awareness, athleticism up the anti. If he wasn't going to Duke, I probably would be more excited about him. That aside, Cooper Flag is the consensus number one pick in next year's draft. There's gonna be a real effort
by teams to tank for the top pick. This year, Cooper Flag opened a lot of eyes back to Team USA versus Team Canada. Here's a couple of points that I would like to redline because I was there in person. This team is going to probably demolish everyone else. They are huge. The second unit could be the best Team USA team we've ever seen. Since the Dream Team. Kiel embiid he's needed. He did not have a good, good game in his debut. Fouled out in eleven minutes. He
had six points, five bounds. He was hunting fouls. Fever rules, of course are different than the NBA. The game's much more physical without people march into the foul line. It was a rough showing and in fact, the whole team U I say, even though they slaughtered Team Canada, none of them looked particularly good. It was not a good showing and they still won by fifteen. Edwards feels like
he wants to be the leader of this team. He said it out loud leading the games, leading days leading up to the game, but during the game you could kind of feel it. He was pushing the pace. He led the team in points thirteen, three and one. Afterwards he said he was nervous, but I gather he's gonna get over that. Also, I think Steph Curry and Lebron James are here because if anything goes wrong, they can get you buckets and crunch time whenever the fuck they want.
This team is three loaded, but the bottom line, whenever it gets in trouble, Like I said, Steph Curry and Lebron James, who are gonna come out and do whatever they want to bail them out. Both of them were pretty good. Steph Curry had a viral moment where he had an am one and slid into this little like pose where he had one hand on his head and one hand on his hip. It was very spicy, very cute, kind of blew up. The internet went viral. This is
the last rodeo for both of them. Steph Curry's actually never took part in Team USA ever in the Olympics, so that's gonna be really fun. So let's just sit back and enjoy them. We will have a lot more on Team USA next week as they head to Abu Dhabi to pick up their bag of cash and to play a couple of other teams. I forget which ones. I think it might be Germany and Serbia. I don't think.
I don't know.
Anyway, they are looking sharp, even if there are questions right now about how they're gonna handle Victor and Rudy and Team Francis. Hey, I think honestly, with Joe lmbiid bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis, we're gonna be just fine, moving on. There are some things that I'm gonna it's gonna take a long time. But Clay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks and not on the Warriors and not number eleven is something that I'm gonna have a really hard
time getting used to. He had his introductory press conference in Dallas. He talked about the details that led him to jump ship. And it's not pretty. It's not good, Like a girl at the prom whose date got caught kissing a girl and is now crying in the bathroom, mascara running all ugly. Let's dip into it. Sources are telling Warriors reporters. Then, in his own way, Clay was as much of a locker room distraction last year as Draymond was the year before in the aftermath of his
infamous punch of Jordan Poole. It all really began last offseason, of course, when Golden State wouldn't give Clay Thompson the max. Then add that to the fact that the team sucked for long stretches and he ended up getting benched halfway through the year, and then an emergency of young players who played well, and then you get exactly kind of what you expect, and that is exactly what happened. Clay
was upset. Clay was pissed he didn't get an extension after Draymond blew up the team and Draymond then got four years, one hundred million dollars. Clay was like, Hey, why can't I get what Draymond gets? I don't understand. I've done so much for this team. I am Game six Clay. The Warriors weren't really interested in bringing back Clay, at least for the thirty five million dollars a year that he wanted. The best that they could muster up was two years forty million, which that was a line
too far for Clay. He felt disrespected. The butt herdedness apparently carried through the year and explains in part he's erratic behavior on and off the court. He was distracted. He was a distraction. He wasn't himself. He carried that energy, of course, into the offseason as well, all the way to Dallas, who's coming off of a historic run in the final, and that is where he has landed as the cornerstone of the largest trade in NBA history, the
first sixteen deal in NBA history. He signed for three years fifty million, which is a big discount on what the Warriors were offering per year, and just like that, now the Splash Brothers are done. Clay seems happy, light, bubbly in Dallas, where he had his intro press conference and said, sometimes breakups are necessary to do It's right. I'm not the first NBA athlete to do this. I grew up in Portland, so I remember when Scotty Pippen came to the Blazers. That was one of the best
days of my life. I look forward to being rejuvenated here. A lot of good basketball left in the tank. Of course, the repercussions moving forward are going to be huge. The Warriors replaced Clay with Buddy Healed, Kyle SloMo Anderson, and de Anthony Melton, who I don't know if he has a working back, but we'll see. At least one player is. Of course, morning Clay's lost, and that was Steph Curry. Steph said, Clay turned the extension down, and you know
we ended up here. I wish it would have gone differently in the sense of whatever Clay needed from the Warriors to not feel disrespected, I wish that's how it would have gone down. But I also know that's because he needed a fresh start. Things were kind of looking a little differently, and that was the through line of this whole last season. So it's a two way street
on that front. I think that's why Clay was so adamant that I not get involved, because whatever outcome he wanted, he wanted to make sure it was kind of a pure process. And at the end of the day, we all have to make decisions that are in the best interest of ourselves. I'll do that at times when it's right for me. Hold on, what when it's right for me? When it's right for me is Steph Curry? Is there gonna be an opportunity in a situation where Steph Curry
is in another uniform? Excuse me? Right for me? He said? He also said I want to be a warrior for life. But so did Clay. Oh my god, Clay. Now on Maverick, He's going to get a lot of open looks thanks to Luca and Kyrie. And one thing's for sure, it is going to be a weird day when Dallas plays Golden State and when the Clippers played Philadelphia, and you know, you get the picture. The landscape is traveling and moving fast in the NBA. All right, moving on, we had
some movement in free agency. Let's get over it, go over it. Excuse me briefly. Joshikoji back to the Suns on a two year, sixteen million dollar deal. Sidik Bay Sidwell Friends alum three years twenty million deal to the Wizards, of course, despite the fact that he will not see the court until March. Vat Creatchie gets a prove it deal four years ten million to return to the Hawks. Daniel Tice goes to the Pelicans on a one year deal.
They needed a center big time. Kyle Lowry, who is the reason that Caleb Martin ended up going to the Sixers. He returns to the Sixers on a one year deal. Luke Garza, Hell yeah, Lulugarza, get your money, baby, two years, four and a half million dollars to stay in Minnesota. Simone Fentichio. Man. They just love Simone Fontechio in Detroit,
don't they? Two years sixteen million. Dariosarich replaces KCP in Denver on a two year ten point six million dollar deal, which I actually really like, as does Vlado Kansar on a one year two point four to three million dollar deal, which is eighty thousand dollars over the middleum. The Hornets keep Miles Bridges. Why what the fuck? Three years seventy five million dollars. We'll talk about that another time. Malik Beasley actually left the box for the Pistons. Why one year,
six million dollar deal. That's kind of just a very strange. They do need shooting there, they do need shooting. I don't know. Jonathan Isaac got five years eighty four, but only the first two years are guaranteed because he averages twelve games a year in the last three years, So he got his money. If you he can stay healthy, that'll be nice. But of course, the most interesting deal recently in terms of role players was Caleb Martin to
the Sixers four years, thirty two million dollars. He had five years sixty five million from the Heat before free agency, and he turned it down because he wanted fifteen a year. He thought he would get a bunch of suitors. And apparently the second Apron has everyone running scared because the best he could get was a huge pay cut eight
a year. That's gonna help the Sixers a lot. We will get into how the Heat have allowed some of their most valuable players, Caleb Martin, Max Strews gave Vincent to walk out the dough in the past twelve months without nothing to show for it. Too bad, too sad, But we'll do that another time. Here are a few pieces that may move. I doubt Marktin is one of them at this point, and it looks like no one wants to bite the two hundred million dollar extension that
brandon Ingram is looking for. Either brandon Ingram not only wants the Max Folks, he wants the Super Max. Other than those two, it's mostly TPEs, minimum contract Guysjevsky, Gary Trent Junior, Tyas Jones, Spencer, Dinwitty, Gordon Hayward. Nothing really left on the map that's really interesting, But of course stay tuned we will update you on the even smallest signings. Finally, though, we get a nice bonus interview that I did with Chicago radio legends Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes on six
seventy The Score in Chicago. We talked a lot about Team USA as well as the Chicago Bulls, and also how to dress really well and sharp if you're an older gentleman. Fun discussion because oh by the way these coaches, these older coaches, they always have great little old man fits. So let's get right into it.
Let's talk some basketball with our friend Trista Crick, who is covering a team USA. A little bit of summer league action to come as well, and Trista joins us on the Circa Sports Illinois Hotline. Download the Circa Sports app today. You can find her also on Twitter at Tristan Underscore Crick, the host of bet MGM Tonight in the NBA podcast Heat Check with Trista Creek is on twitch dot tv slash Chicago six seventy of the score. All Right, what are you seeing out there? What's interesting?
Oh? I think the thing that was really, really really interesting to me is the JJ Reddick Rob Polinka duo. It was I was. I was sitting in my seat and I was just just trying to like get a little content. I'm texting some people in the media to see where they're at, and I look over and there's and there's Rob, And I text Anthony Irwin, who also produces my podcast, heat Check, but also is a Lakers insider.
He has a podcast, It's Awesome Lakers Lounge, an Odyssey podcast do, and so I text Anthony because we were just talking about how Rob and he are going to have some sort of weird, awkward interaction, most likely at Summerleague, and I go, there's your guy, And then all of
a sudden, I see JJ pull up. They're dressed completely the same white shirt, jeens, some sort of like hipster shoe, you know, the ones without laces, and so they got that on, and then Rob like leads JJ over to his seat and puts his hand on his lower back, and I'm like, this is just the most awkward thing. And I'm watching them for probably fifteen minutes because I'm a people watcher in general, but I've obviously more focused on NBA people than anything. And JJ just I don't know,
I'm like an energy reader. That's just like maybe something that I look too deep into. Maybe you can say I psycho analyze. JJ. Look like he's just not stoked to really be standing next to Rob Polinka and being near him and to talking to him. He either has incredibly negative energy all the time and like is a very intense dude all the time, or he's very like
not so stoked on Rob Plinka. So I made some texts and the rumor is that very fairly, JJ Reddick may not be particularly sold on Rob Polinka and is a little skeptical of Rob Polink as a decision maker, which if you've been paying attention to what the Lakers have done this offseason or pretty much any offseason, is
totally fair. And then what was also funny about that is that I kept seeing all these old coaches and I'm not, like, really focused on the Laker beat and them building out their coaching team, but every person that JJ Reddick has added to his coaching staff, they also just happened to be right there and they're walking down He's dapping them up. So yeah, that was a really
incredibly interesting interaction. I was talking some other media people about just this team in general not looking particularly cohesive, which is fine, which is in their opinion, the only reason that Lebron James and Steph Curry are there is that they're the heavies. If things get really bad, they'll come in the game and they'll save the day, especially when we play a team like France.
I mean, the rumor about JJ is that he is wound a little tight. I mean, even in the really bad but so bad it's good clipped mini series on Hulu. They make mention of that, of like how he's very particular about his hair, he's very particular about when and what he eats every day, and he's kind of got that reputation of being a guy that is got a little bit of a sour puss.
When he's just out in real life. So I guess I.
Understand that to a certain extent.
But yes, the.
Lakers drama overall is fascinating to watch, and knowing that stuff in Vegas hasn't started for Summer League yet, but seeing seeing the Lakers play and having Bronni out there and him trying to figure things out, the whole thing seems like it's just a mess, like an overall mess that that. Luckily there were veteran assistant coaches who were added to this thing to try and bring some semblance of normalcy.
But are those assistants any good? Honestly, like Scott Brooks, as someone who is a Portland Shoiblazer fan from the time I was five years old, I'm telling you Scott Brooks ain't it. He's a particularly good old man dresser. But past that, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure what he does well, I don't. That's the most modern thing about Scott Brooks.
I'm always interested in assistant coaches in general, who matters and who doesn't matter, or who is just of a certain age and profile to balance out the various. In some sense, it's almost like casting. And it's one thing for a team that casts bench roles. It's another thing for a team that just hires people who are really good at something, and a head coach who is certain, this is my defensive X and O guy, This is
a somebody who's gonna work with my bigs. This is somebody who speaks point guard, and I don't know how they're constructing it. Also, like we talk about with staffs in any sports, who are Polinka's guys and who are not, and that can be a source of conflict.
Yeah, and if you look at it too, the thing I find to be incredibly fascinating is how difficult it has been for JJ to build out his staff and how many guys have turned it down. And maybe that's a personality thing, maybe it's just I actually don't really know. I want to find out more. But it's the Lakers. You can't build out a staff. You've got guys being like, yeah, I think I'm good. I'm not gonna come to LA and be on one of the most story franchises in
NBA history. I'm just gonna like do whatever it is that I was doing and maybe not collect a check. I think there's a skapegoat element that people don't really want to be along for the ride for the roster's not very good outside of Ad and Lebron. If you look at the role players, they've done absolutely nothing to improve that. Cam Reddish is not even an NBA player, and he's one of the guys that they're seeing that they need to lean on. There's multiple players that have
trouble staying healthy. If there's a major injury to either Lebron or Ad. And there's a reason that AD's nickname is was it paper, skin of paper, bones of glass. There's a reason that that's his nickname, and he was healthy, really healthy last year for the first time in a long time. If one of those guys go down, this is a team that's going to have a real hard time even getting into the plan.
What's been the reaction of people down there, and what's your reaction to Kawhi Leonard leaving Team USA.
Oh, it's people are kind of fed up with Kawhi. Honestly, from what I gather, he wanted to stay, but he was clearly not right and so he had to get removed from the team, like Grant Hill had to come in. And on top of Kawhi being obviously the injury issues that he's been dealing with for as long as he's been dealing with. That's heartbreaking because Kauhi at its prime is a robot and he's unstoppable and we love to
watch him. But it's everything that comes along with Kawhi that people are having a hard time grappling with on top of what, like what, just like it's there's always something that's keeping the setback and and he wants to play through these injuries and then it ends up creating new injuries and the there's just some sort of personality friction around it that I keep hearing about that no
one can really quite give me full detail on. But it's it's kind of like a this is some BS stuff like I throw up my hands with Kawhi kind of a thing. But furthermore, it's an indictment on on Grant Hill too. From what I keep hearing down gear people are wondering why Grant Hill is running Team USA.
So does Jalen Brown have beef that his teammate was in to replace Kawhi and instead of him? And what are the like to me? I wonder about like the politics of that. If if I'm Derek White and I got named to the team, but you're my teammate on the championship squad and you're mad because I got the spot, that doesn't feel like it would go over well.
On top of that, I think there's interesting elements to it, Like if you're looking for a Kawhi replacement, that's not Derek White, right, Like the Kawhi replacement in terms of how play style, body type, et cetera, that's Jaylen Brown. That's just what it is. Like that, Like they're the very similar like defensive minded, can score big long athletic freaks, right, that's not Derek White. Derek White's the hustle guy. Derek White can get you threes. Derek White's gonna do the
little things. Derek White shows up, has a great attitude. Derek White's an amazing glue guy. But he's not like a replacement for Kawhi. So that that point that Grant Hill made of why he chose Derek White over Jalen Brown, I don't think holds water to me. And if you're Jalen Brown, I think you got to be feeling some sort of way because my teammates Drew Holliday, Jason Tatum, and Derek Whiter on the team from a championship team
and not me the finals MVP. Why's And I was just and that that adds that adds to the mystery. And I'm not a huge stephen A Smith like I don't put a lot of stock into what he says in terms of the reporting that he has, but that that adds a little mystery to me around the whole, Like do people like Jalen Brown, like the powers that be do they want to elevate Jalen Brown or would they prefer to elevate someone else?
What are you hearing after all of that buzz about Cooper Flag? Because the way these things happen is when you're around NBA scouts at executives like that, Like you you see the physical responses, you see them share glances, and then everybody pretends they didn't see what we all saw.
Yeah, I think that what I'm hearing about Cooper flag is we knew he was good, and we thought he was really good. But now it's like, all right, race to the bottom. That's kind of what, like, wow, I really I've heard from multiple team people, Yeah, I really hope our team gets Cooper flag Man. Is he a physical specimen? And the term that kept putting, like kept coming up is like, wow, did he make ad look bad?
So?
Are the Bulls one of those teams? I know that you were. You were talking about this on the Score on Sunday about about where the Bulls stand as you work through it. How do you feel about what it is they're trying to do and do you think they can accomplish their goals?
Man? It's it's really hard because I feel like the Bulls have have been forced into a rebuild. If they if the organization wasn't pushed into it by DeMar saying like get me the hell out of here, and the top ten pick that they owe, the top ten protective pick that they owe to San Antonio, that doesn't exist, right. I think maybe the Bulls try to figure out a way to patch things together. So they have to figure out a way to be a top ten Lottery team, but and they don't want to be, and they want
to tell everybody they don't want to be. So I think that's one piece of it. And then you've got the element of we still have zach Lavine, and we still have Booch, and we want to trade zach Lavine, so we can't keep them on ice. And so zach Lavine has to look good, meaning he has to impact winning and we have to give them minutes to do that so that we don't have to attach multiple picks to get rid of them. But maybe that makes us win too many games to be a top ten Lottery team.
It's a real conundrum. What I think that they have to do and should do, is just get them off the team before training camp begins. I just think you have to wash your hands of it, because if zach Lavine even puts up thirty five and gets you two wins more than you should that's the difference between Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper. And I really really like Dylan Harper, and I really like Ace Bailey, and I really like VJ. Edgecumb. Those four guys are gonna be the guys that everybody's
talking about next season. I promise you, by the.
Way, Firth and I agree with you one hundred percent. The only question I have, Trista, is is that necessity worth adding one of these second round picks that you just got or maybe both of the second round picks.
That you just got.
Yeah, I think you have to say the DeMar trade is the is how we get off of Zach Levine without giving a first round pick. I think that's what you say, is we got two second round picks and we need to attach those to Zack Lavine. With Zack Lavine, I think Golden State's a perfect partner for that. Like, let them do that, and then you probably have to get a third team to figure out a way to dump that salary as well, because you probably don't want Andrew Wiggins on your team. Like, that's just not a
salary that you can stand. That's why you didn't pick up Harrison Barnes and get the twenty thirty one first
round pick swap, which to that point really quickly. I love Jalen Smith and I like that pick up as a whole, but that is the Jalen Smith is the reason that you don't have a twenty thirty one protected or twenty thirty one unprotected first round swap right now with Sacramento, because you could have taken on Harrison Barnes to your salary cap without that Jalen Smith, and then turned around and flipped Harrison Barnes for something else at
the deadline or before training camp or something right. And that's how you accumulate assets is you make good deals. And the problem that I have with with Ak and Mark Eversley and furthermore obviously the Rhyanes Dwarfs as a whole is like they just aren't good deal makers period.
I expected Canada to play better last night, and maybe there's the another like Olympic cycle away, but when you look at the talent that they can put on the floor, I think Team USA is gonna win. But between Canada and France, I'm looking forward to some of the games that we see played when the games are for real.
Thousand percent and Latvia, and I know that Porzingis is gonna not be able to play, but that team's particularly strong. Germany's particularly strong as well. But you're right, I think Canada needs some bigs and they don't have any that's the problem is you're rolling out Kelly Olnik and Kelly Olynic's a rough watch. He's getting dominated, So he'll get dominated by the bigs from France, He'll get dominated from Germany,
He'll get dominated by Latvia and also the USA. So I think that's the real issue is that Canada has some of my favorite players on it. I love Lou Dort, I love Shane like Dylan Brooks is an awesome irritant. I love Jamal Murray. These are some of my favorite dudes period in the NBA. So I was somewhat like, don't want to be like a non patriot, but I was kind of rooting for Canada to put up a
fight last night. I was kind of hoping for some narratives of Canada beating Team USA last night to light a fire underneath this team.
Creg hates America. I have said it all the time. She is not the eight. She must be deported by the next administration and or imprisoned.
Yeah.
I listened to Oh Canada in my ears whenever the national anthem is or not like Us, which by the way, was playing during the USA. Team USA intros like to play against Canada with not like like Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss record as Lebron James is being introduced, is just chef's kiss.
It is, okay, So we need to go back to something from earlier, because you know, Dan and I are both drifting into old mandom. What makes a good old man dresser?
Oh, you gotta go like perfectly fitted T shirt with like it can't be too long, right, like you can't be tucking it in. It needs to be like the perfect crop to like your you're like sort of right above your belt right, So that needs to happen. Like I'm gonna send you guys a video I took of Scott Brooks, Like, Wow, damn, Scott Brooks, I didn't know
you had it like that perfect perfect T shirt. Simple like somewhat perfectly fitted jeans meaning like not loose at all, and there's no break at your shoe, Like the break at the shoe is how I know you're old. Like you need it to stop right at your shoe right like that's where it is, or a little cuff. You need to have a pair of shoes that are like very either cool or nondescript. Don't ever wear low Jordan ones. Ever, No, Jordan One's lows only highs. But even then you gotta
probably wear those with shorts. So maybe like a pair of you know, Chuck Conde garsons, you know, like maybe a pair of like low top vans, maybe those Vin slide on slip ons. We can go shopping. If you guys are down, I'm like always down.
Well, I mean that that's how that's how Joe Madden dressed. He'd be on the list of good old man dressers that he was all about his vans and he'd have the nice pants and everything else. So okay, all right, we've got our marching orders.
No no, no, no, speak for yourself. I'm out on all of this.
Well, you don't care about how you look, Dan's You're You're done right.
I'm dead, all right, it doesn't it doesn't matter at this point. I'm dead already. Seriously, I'm dead inside and already, So.
There's no you just care about getting the fish in your bucket, right, Like you're like, does this does this clean easily? Does this not wet? Does this wick sweat? Can I f this T shirt up and still put it on? And no one really noticed? Like you've got different goals. You're not trying to like, you know, Lawrence is still someone on the market ish, you know what I mean, And so he's got a ring on it. He's got to kind of like check out the scene.
Well and also I probably.
Lawrence real quick, sorry Dan, not to cut you off the screenprint tease. You gotta get rid of those just no, man, that that's you know.
I I gotta I gotta.
Represent about what do you represent?
Answer?
Man, I gotta do. I gotta no no.
No no no no no, no, gotta no no no no no.
The bottom line. And I can tell you this, and I don't know what the when you're you're finally vested as a married person, but I know we're twenty five years and if there's something for which I need to look good or different, it is her responsibility to say, Like I will say what am I wearing to this? And she'll say, wear this shirt with these pants? Is
this is? Are those things? Is this clean? To said? Right? Well, if it's just need to be cleaned, And then she'll look at it and whatever I need to be up to speed is not on me, and I'll just put it on.
Yeah, there's this, there's this new trend.
I don't.
I hesitate to even talk about this trend that's that's happening on TikTok, which is basically like a a transformation like white boys dating black women or married black women trend where it's like the transformation, Like, that's basically that's what you're saying, that's what's happening.
Yeah, it's not exactly.
And people use the Tommy Richmond song to you're making it.
You're making it sound like Kip and Lafonda in Napoleon Dynamite.
Yes, that's basically what we're hoping happens.
For you, unless unless somehow I get home and and and Beth as a black woman, I don't I don't think that's and wouldn't I wouldn't mind. But I'm just saying it's probably not.
Can you can always add if Beth's down, you can always add.
Yeah, she would much prefer the other way. She'd must I come home and I'm and I'm a big six eight black. But that's just happening for sure.
That's a Freudian slip right here.
No, it's not.
It's it's the truth. Is can we get a shot of Emma or is she sleep.
Where are you at treat? Where is she in the shower? Real fast? I'm gonna go off camera real fast.
The dog is in the show.
Emma was there earlier before we started the segment.
Emma was on camera.
And then I guess Emma got a little antsy.
And we know that when trist Emma Emma falls asleep. Ever heard our voices like there we go, there's.
It's hot. So she's here with me in Vegas. I couldn't find anyone to babysit. And so now I've got a dog in sin City, which is like shows you where my head is at.
I say, you walk Fremont Street and and then yeah, no, just with the dog, and then you charge people to take pictures with the dog.
Well, smart, smart, I can experience. I can, I can? I can I end up using that to like balance out my expensive dinners.
Yes, I like that idea.
Trista, as always, we love you, Thank you so much for joining us, Love you back.
That's tris the crick.
That's all the time that we have for this episode of The Heat Check. Thanks to Dan Bernstein, Lawrence Holmes, and producer Ray Diaz and the whole score crew. Come back midweek for an all new episode, and check out the feed for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly, like the temperature in Vegas. Not anytime soon, though, Do not forget to follow the heat check throughout the off season, which means Summer League in the Olympics. That means download,
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