Break was breaking down all the biggest NBA storylines. So the heat Check The heat Chack was just a crak the best podcast covering all the drama around the association.
Real quick, quick hitters from around the league. Speaking of Nick Nurse, so he gave a big interview on the eve of training camp. Well we got training camp froming soon Media days in two weeks, and the big takeaway is Joe Ellenbi needs to play more minutes. Yep, that is what Nick told Sixers Wire. I think that we're looking at it maybe a little different than people think we might be. We're not trying to get him to play more games. Our goal is that it's going up
for him, not the other direction. Some people would say, oh, that's playoffs is he going to be We're just trying to get it the other direction. I think that's just what our people believe here, that he can play. And again, knock on wood, cross our fingers, all that stuff. What a quote, I am confused, kind of fascinating. Reminds me of what stam May and Gunny said about Zion that he didn't need to play less to stay healthy, he needed to play more. So Nick giving him be more minutes.
He's probably very in tune with his coaching philosophy, which is to keep his starters to play as many minutes as possible and hopefully that keeps him healthier in the process. We'll see about that one. Gonna be a fun little piece of tention to watch those two duke it out. Quick update on Dame. Willard Dame is now out here
spinning how the whole trade situation has gone down. Not really interested in what he has to say about that, other than for the first time in a long time, he said he'll he'd wish and would be happy to finish out his entire career in Portland. Do not want to talk about is a deleted IG story where he said future Heat legend.
No.
What fascinates me is that there is a secret team that appears to be making a move to swoop in and steal Dame from the Miami Heat. What team could that secret team be? Sam Presty and the Oklahoma City Thunder oh Man, Do I love this for both teams? Sports Illustrated Chris Mannix reports if Dame is still on that block Blazer's roster in January, and if Okase is overachieving, if they're playing really well. Do not be surprised if they go out and make a run at Lillard. Hell yeah,
the Thunder. I have to cut good players anyway to get under the number this year. They have so much talent on the team. They have a million draft picks. They're steering down the barrel at three first round picks next year, meaning even more cuts because all of those contracts are guaranteed. And you know what that means, trading first round picks and young talented players like Alexi Pokoshewsky, Lou Dort, maybe Josh Giddy to the Blazers four game.
And that's right. Here is everything that I wanted as a Blazers fan. Players that I can feel good about, draft picks that I can feel good about. Dame gets a chance to win it all. He gets a chance to play with Shay Gojess, Alexander and Chet and a bunch of other young talented players. Scoot and Shaden get paired with young awesome talent too. Oka See is building a brand new stadium for nine hundred million dollars that keeps them there until Aliens come down and steal our earth.
I can think of no better way for building excitement than Shay and Dame. And as an aside, Scoot Henderson loves Portland. He said this, I think living here is pretty dope. All the people show love and support the best fans. I see why they say that. So if Dame has to go, I say, fuck the heat and their bullshit. Will we won't we throw in Nikola Yovich? Will we won't we throw in Caleb Martin. I don't
give a fuck. I don't give a fuck. We want okay, see, because they have a Brinks truck and you know what, Miami is a miser and they are cash poor. Finally some breaking news. We move on out of Milwaukee. There's a whole lot of fear in Deerland, Deerville, whatever the fuck they call it about Giannis already seating his exit for Milwaukee. But there is one guy out there doing his best to set the record straight. Talking about Chris Middleton. He put to bed one of the biggest controversies in
NBA circles. Who's the real number one option in Milwaukee? Okay, all right? Chris said this, There's never been a struggle about who's the number one and number two between us. As we got older, the respect that was formed and bonded between those intense practices. Then as time goes on, we realize none of this matters. Oh sounds like the quote of a loser. We had our battles in practice. Now our job is to go out and win. So whoever is one, two, three, four, five, that doesn't matter.
As long as we win, everything takes care of itself. Everybody gets paid, everybody is happy, and everybody gets to go wherever they want to go. Everybody gets to go wherever they want to go. That's just the way we learn. Hold up, he just snuck in. Everybody gets to go where they want to go. I hope he means winning the championship. It's never really been a struggle between Batman
and Robin. Batman knows he's Batman and Robin knows he's Robin U. And these two did have tension before Giannis gained one hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle, and Chris Middleton we realized was an absolute bucket. But Chris Middleton really really, it feels like Chris Middleton Middleton still kind of believes there's a debate between who's the number
one option and who's the number two option. It's like Jeremy Renner being like, you know, there's never really been a shit struggle about who's the number one and number two between me and Tom Cruise on the set of Mission Impossible. A lot of other people think that I do stunts better than him, but when we're all doing stunts,
we can all win and make good movies. It's like, uh, okay, Middleton, you're a great player, but Giannis is without question, one of the three best players in the league, and you're not even close to a top ten player. No question between who's number one and number two. What an absurd quote. Chris Middleton is like Spain saying there's no struggle with the US in terms of who controls NATO. He is the potato telling the steak that they're both equally important.
On the dinner play, he is Molly Karen being like, yeah, there would be no first take without me. And by the way, Chris Middleton, without Drew Holliday, Jannie is out do see you later. You need to be begging at Drew Holliday's feet, kissing his toes, hoping he doesn't retire in twelve months. O wise, Yanni is gonna be playing for Golden State. That's why Yanna said he would even consider coming back, and the only reason was that Drew has to stay. And we know that Drew says he
wants to retire. So Chris Middleton from the Batman Robin scenario is more like Alfred. I like Middleton a lot. That is just an objectively funny quote, more of the kind of thing you would see from Kelly Oubre than Chris Middleton.