On this episode of The Heat Check, We're back, baby.
I'm fully moved into my childhood home in Portland, Oregon.
I apologize for miss last week. I am really sorry. However, I don't even know how that would have worked. It was stressed. But now we are back. We are ready to cook. We talk in this episode.
About the resurrection of the Gangs, the Sacramento Gangs. We talk about the latest and the Jimmy Butler Saga Zion getting suspended after just one game back, even though he looks really good in a bunch of news from around the league. Anthey, my man, drop that motherfucking beat should be real. Welcome back, Welcome back, Welcome back. First and foremost, you're not following me and subscribing to me on Instagram for the feet photos.
I don't know what you're doing. I'm just kidding.
Welcome to the first episode back in the Heat Check on the West Coast.
I finally moved back home to Portland to help out my mom.
I will be more consistent from here on out. We have a lot to cover, and I think number one to me in the news is the I think it's a complete turnaround. I'm not ready to call it that exactly, but it's close of the Sacramento Kinks.
Less than two weeks ago, the team parted with.
Mike Brown, who remember, just two years ago was the Coach of the Year so and they replaced him with interim coach Doug Christie. Now, Doug Christie seems to have reinvigorated these boys. To be fair, I did not have a lot of hope for the Kings this year after that move. Not no shade did Doug Christie and the photo that was surfaced after he got that job with.
Him on a leash with his wife.
I thought maybe the issue with the Sacramento Kings was more roster related, and I think maybe it still is. I wasn't sure any coach would be able to help team chemistry was in the toilet. Shooting from three was erratic at best. The team was not able to defend a park car. Their three point.
Defense was really bad.
So I was wondering, like, how is a coach going to be able to fix all of these issues? Somehow, some way, Doug Christie seemingly has, and after losing his first game as head coach, the Kings have now reeled off seven straight wins.
They are now the hottest team in the NBA. Can you even believe it? So? How have they done it?
Friend of show Will Easy we have to have him on soon has broke this down on Sports Illustrated. First of all, they have improved their three point shooting under Doug Christie, raising it from thirty four to thirty seven percent. The correlation, though, is that they're now holding their opponents from to thirty six from deep as well, down from
thirty eight percent. Very subtle shift, but that's important because it means that they are now shooting higher quality threes nineteen open threes on average under Doug Christie compared to thirteen only under Mike Brown, and they're defending the perimeter much better. Fourteen open opponent threes to sixteen a game under Mike Brown doesn't seem like a lot, but shit adds up, especially when you're only losing by a few points per game. Second, they're playing up to their competition
instead of down to it. During the seven game winning streak, they've beaten the MAVs without Kyrie and Luca, the Grizzlies without Jaw, the Warriors stephf did play in that game, the Heat without Jimmy Butler the Boston Celtics fully loaded on the road by seventeen points. I know I'm downplaying who was playing in that game, but these were big teams to beat regardless of whether they had stars out.
I think under Mike Brown, and this is no shade to Mike Brown, they would have lost those games even without.
The stars playing in it.
And to top it off, this team is now doing it without Dearon Fox and his twenty seven points per game. Damar DeRozan and Demonis Bonis are both averaging twenty one points per game now. More importantly, Keegan Murray is averaging fifteen a game since coming back from injury, up from eight to game in the six games before that. In those three games, he averaged a plus thirteen net rating as opposed to.
A negative eight before.
So I don't know what's going on with Keegan Murray, but that's pretty incredible. The big news is that Sacramento is now ninth in the West. They are a game over five hundred. More importantly, the Kings are just two games out of the fifth spot in a very loaded West, and on top of that, the Mavers are just falling off of a cliff without Luca, who knows how long they're gonna be without him. Kyrie is injured as well, so there's open spots for the Kings to make a
move against the odds. Our Kings are Sacramento Kings. Their season is back on.
Warm me up on that bean baby moving forward.
Another team that I am enjoying watching right now is the New York Knicks. Despite the fact that this team is third place in the East twenty six and fourteen six point fifty winning percentage, which is absolutely bizarre and insane, there are some doubters still, mostly because they went through a rough stretch where they lost four or five OKAC, which is fair Chicago, which like Chicago, is.
Very, very tough.
There were those teams that BAITCHA or Orlando and OKAC again losing twice to Thunder.
Though like I don't really blame them for that. It's not a big deal.
Almost everyone is getting trucked by the OKAC Thunder unless they're the Cleveland Cavaliers. They lost to Chicago by thirteen, Orlando by nine, and now everybody is losing faith.
Everybody is thinking, oh, the Knicks are not good. The Knicks up now.
Carl Anytown's bald Anyway, People forget that the Knicks had won nine in a row before that little skid, So Sunday's game against Milwaukee had this added interest. Everyone was like, ooh, how are they going to perform against Jannie and Dame.
Turns out pretty looking good.
The Knicks put a straight boot a black air Force one to the Buck's throat, curb stomping them, curb American history, exing them to the tune of one.
Forty to one oh six.
Jalen Brunson scored forty four on five to ten from three, Kat scored thirty on shooting ten for sixteen, campaign scored eighteen off the bench.
Just a complete performance.
By a Knicks team and a good reminder that Brunson can win games.
All by himself.
Also, Josh Hart has had some awesome games here and there throughout the season. It feels like they're the whack a mole team in the East where on any given night somebody could go off and we're not really sure who that is. As for the Bucks, they've now I love it. They've fallen back to earth. They are now at twenty and seventeen. They've moved Chris.
Middleton to the bench.
They've brought Torrian Prince into the starting lineup, who contributed a total of checks notes three points in twenty three minutes and negative twenty eight net rating, and Chris Middleton, by the way, was the only Bucks player with a positive net rating. So the Bucks are kind of in a little bit of trouble. As for the Knicks, they're gonna have spills where they dip for a few games
and then they write the ship. I think what's very interesting is the comment that Josh Hart made on the Roommates podcast not that long ago, where he said, listen.
It's only a few minutes.
Per game where maybe you get a bad call or a great call, or maybe you go through a little bit of a shooting slump or a hot streak, and that decides everything these games. When we slump, people think that we're going to change things or change everything.
We're not changing anything, uh.
And we're so glad to have a fan base that cares about us and rocks with us whether we're losing or winning, but also presses us to be better. It's better than a fan base that doesn't care at all, And I think.
That's very fair.
The Knicks are gonna have downturns, They're gonna have upswings. But what matters is how they play in the playoffs. And this team with n Kelbridge is playing at a pretty damn good level, which we've talked about him before.
I think they're dangerous.
The issue, obviously with the TIBs team is will they be fresh coming off so many forty minute games? Their rotations are eight men at most even a thirty point blowout Rent win, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and Karl Anthony Towns all put in thirty five or more minutes. As someone said about Tibbs all the way back in Chicago, the only thing holding the Tibbs team back is Tibbs Cat.
Karl Anthony Town's Okay, Cat.
Dismiss this claim of being overworked, but I think it is something to monitor moving forward. Okay, since we last talked, the Jimmy Butler saga has gotten even more strange. Not only has Butler said, Hey, I don't.
Want to be here anymore. I'm out of here. Trade me right now, get me out of here. I'm not happy. I've lost my love for the game off the court, I'm happy. On the court. I'm miserable.
Then, the Heat suspended them for ten games, and they sent a full memo to the NBPA outlining all the ways the Butler has just continued to tank the Heat so far, including lying to the team about being injured while partying at night.
It is getting ugly the truth of the matter.
By the way, Also, Jimmy Butler going to Unrivaled and hanging out working out with some of the players was awesome.
That was like a good feel good story. But the truth of the.
Matter is there's not much interest in taking on Jimmy Butler. You're gonna need to pay him one hundred million dollars. He's thirty five years old. Even when he's not lying about his injuries, he's injured. Even when he's not going out, he's still got things that he wants to do off the court. And Jimmy Butler is an awesome playoff performer, that's what we know he does well, but his regular season stuff is not great. On top of that, he's a bit mercurial and sometimes.
Can just decide I don't really want to play for you anymore. So he's difficult at best.
The teams that could hypothetically take on his salary, like the Brooklyn Nets or the San Antonio Spurs don't really want him. They don't have any interest in adding him to the roster, and why would they really, And he has zero interest in playing for them or any non contender.
He even has.
No interest in playing for some contenders. He said to the Milwaukee Bucks, do not trade for me. I don't want to play for you. I'm not playing for Doc Rivers. The only team that is interested in Jimmy and the only team that Jimmy is interested in, are the Phoenix Suns. He wants Phoenix bad the big roadblock, Bradley Beial. Bradley Buial has a no trade clause. Bradley Bial is the only piece that they can conceivably trade for Jimmy Butler
without looking like complete buffoons. He has one hundred and ten million dollars left on his contract and a no trade clause that he will not wave wherever he goes next. So why would the Miami Heat want to do that? So then the Sons in the Heat need to find a third team to send them.
And how difficult is that going to be?
That's not gonna be easy, I really think, And I said this before Jimmy Butler gonna end this season on the Heat. He is going to pick up his player option and do.
This shit again.
It's like when a team is so physical all game long that eventually refs just stopped calling fouls. If Jimmy Butler is tanking all year long in Miami, They're not gonna suspend them the whole season. There's just no way that they would do that. There's no way that the
NBPA would do that. And personally, though, outside of the semantics around Jimmy Butler and whether he's doing the right thing or whether he's handling this in the appropriate way, this is exposed a lot of my Heat brethren, my Heat fans, my Heat fan brothers and sisters, y'all look like hypocrites right now. I'm just gonna say my mentions. When Damian Lillard asked for trade to the Miami Een and the Miami were in shambles, people were so mad
at me. They were commenting, Trista, the Trailblazers just need to do right by Dame. Trade him to a contender, trade him to where he wants to go. Allow that man who's been loyal to get to his destination, regardless of what the package pause looks like for Damian Lillard from the Miami you take that Heimi Hawk as Tyler Hero, Nikola Jovich and two first round picks in twenty seven and twenty thirty one or whatever it was, and.
You fucking eat that and swallow it and like it. And I was like no.
And then my comments were, Oh, well, you're just a poverty franchise and nobody's gonna wanna come there if you don't do right by Dame blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And now look at you, and now you're saying, we just need to get something back.
Good for Jimmy. We're not gonna send him wherever he wants to go.
It's a different tune all together, Heat fans. But one thing is for sure, this is not gonna have a happy ending. This will end badly for everyone involved. No one's gonna get what they want. And I don't think this ends anytime soon. Zion's back returning, but the honeymoon lasted just one game.
Zion also looked bomb.
He looked really good against the Timberwolves. Yeah, he actually looked like he was pretty fit. Twenty eight minutes he played, reminded everyone that he is, in fact still a superstar when healthy, drives I think the third most in the NBA per game. Most of the discourse was all about how good it was to see him back, how fit he looked, and then all of a sudden, the Pelicans suspended Zion for conduct detrimental to the team after one game. You can't make this up. You really cannot make it up,
Chris Haynes reported the following. New Orleans Pelicans stars Zion Williamson has been late for multiple practices this season, on top of being late for the team's flight to Philadelphia. These incidents led to a one game suspension.
Bruh, you can't get How do you get fired on your day off?
How are you late when you haven't even been here the whole season? Bro, this is a bad look. Zion took accountability. He said, this is on me. I shouldn't have done it, and this is a bad look for me the franchise. But like Zion, you're kinda you kinda ain't shit right now.
Really.
Zion ended up missing two games before coming back Sunday night, losing to the Celtics, where he put up sixteen seven and three, he had five steals in limited action. The trade rumors are now even heating up more honestly, because people are saying, well, while he still looks fit and he's still healthy, they might as well get rid of him to somebody who wants him, like a San Antonio
Spurs type. But if the Pelicans continue to play terribly and Cooper Flag continues to ball out, does he want to play for the New Orleans Pelicans with Zion on it and brandon ingram on it.
I don't know.
Hopefully this is just a blip on the radar and we zee Zion on the floor for the rest of the year. But knowing Zion strap in folks, it's gonna be a bumpy, lumpy ride again.
Okay, some news.
From around the league. I would be remiss not to mention just the devastating fires that have plagued LA. The place that I used to live, the Pacific Palisades, was like a.
Second home to me.
They used to spend a lot of time there and to see it disappearing in real time has just been crushing. And the NBA community, as you imagine, was hit hard as well. JJ Reddick, head coach of the LA Lakers lost his rental home, but he also lost all of his belongings.
He said, I.
Wasn't prepared for what I saw. It's devastation and total destruction. I had to go a different way to get to the house, but I went through most of the Palisades village and it was just all gone. I don't think you can prepare yourself for something like that. Our home,
it's gone. Other Lakers personnel tragically lost homes include the team's legal director, Dan Grisby, Josh Green, the Lakers general counsel, who lost homes in the Palisades, and Rohan Ollie, the team cameraman who lost his home in Altadena.
As for the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, after just.
Coming back from injury, he is stepping away from the team to take care of his family who had to evacuate as well. Doe to the fires. We've got games canceling. LA Laker games and the Clipper games were canceled through the fires. Probably gonna resume soon, but the fires are raging on. More homes in the valley are starting to go up in flames, Evacuations are more taking place. Attendance is probably going to be spotty because of so many displaced people.
It's tough.
My heart goes out to everyone that is affected by this. It's been gratifying to see community outreach and support and a pouring of just embracing one another, you know, and getting supplies and shelters opening up for the animals that needed to be evacuated as well.
And it's just a lot.
And to see people help others in distress when government programs and insurance companies aren't doing what they need to do in times where it's very dire was heartwarming, honestly. So I hope everybody's staying safe out there in LA and I wish I could do something more anyway. Moving on to some other NBA news, turns out that those big plans that the Sixers had to build a new stadium at Market Street are dead. Instead, the organization said they're going to build a new stadium in South Philly,
although the details have not been released. The change of venue is tied now to a new deal of the six signed with Comcast Spectacor. What's surprising though, is that the news is that the Philadelphia City Council just approved the project, and now the Sixers are being accused of acting in bad faith by supporters of the original project, which promised to revitalize a huge swath of the city's downtown.
The plan was not without opponents. It was slated to basically remove Philadelphia's Chinatown from existence, which is not good, and create an enormous gridlock in the center of the city. Councilman Jimmy Harridy, who supported the downtown plan, he is he is pissed, folks.
Quote.
I am so livid right now. I don't even know what to say. I feel as though I was used as a pawn, no, sir, more like stalking horse. It's more of what it feels like to me. Since the Sixers rent out their Curnerina from Comcast Spectacre, it is almost certain that they may be updating venues and they will not be changing locations. All right, And finally we got a DeMarcus Cousins Boogie Cousins Sighting Boogie signed a deal with Sey Lang Gay bo Don Soup Bar.
Tar whooh, okay.
I don't know if that's correct exactly, but who They're a team in the Mongolian Professional League. Get your money, Boogie, get your fucking money. I would do the same thing. I was unaware that Mongolia, the country north of China with the population of just three and a half million people, had a professional league, But in fact they do. They have a ten team Professional Basketball Association and Selangey stands
in second place at ten and five. They are contending, trailing the zach Broncos who are off to a hot fifteen and dudes dart.
As they say, can't stop the zach Broncos. You can only hope to contain them, you know. That's what my mama always says.
Some detailed research shows that there are at least twenty American players though right now Mongolia, including some for Mirria.
Your names that you might know.
Lance Thomas played a duke, played briefly for the Knicks. Orlando Johnson man. Orlando Johnson had a lot of promise from Santa Barbara, who played with the Pacers diamond Stone.
He got drafted fortieth overall. He played with the Clippers.
Other college stars excuse me, Chamori Pond's out of Saint John's, Kenny Wooton, junior of my Oregon Ducks, all of them.
Playing in Mongolia.
I am happy that men are able to make a living somewhere doing what they love.
Thirty four years old, Boogie Cousins.
He should probably still be in the league right now, but at least he's out getting his bread. I would love to sit down and get some stories about what it's like in Mongolia to play basketball.
Maybe I will track him down for an interview soon.
And then we end the around the League segment with a quick story about Nicola Miritych, the montenegri And center who played five years in the league. Miritich was reached out about his experience with Jimmy Butler and who he said had the greatest work ethic of any player he ever shared a floor with. But I think what struck out to me about the interview was his comments on what it's like to play in the NBA as a Euro.
He said things that stood out about playing in the NBA were speed, physicality, trash talk.
Oh.
I hated the trash talk. I couldn't get used to that for a long time. During the practice and in the game, there was just so much trash talk that I was actually taking it personally.
So if you ever wonder why.
The Euros throw down so often in the NBA, they feel disrespected, They feel some kind of way. Yo, don't call me out my name. They don't like the O Mama jokes. Apparently they don't get them all right. And finally we returned with your trist as wild ask that of the week which is usually Fridays, but because we missed the whole week, it is happening on a Monday,
and let me tell you it's about LaMelo Ball. Turns out everyone's favorite Charlie Hornet is currently taking the most shots per minute of anyone in.
The NBA in history.
Since it's the guy everybody always compares everything too Wilt Chamberlain. His point seven to seven shots per minute is the fifth most in NBA history so far, trailing Wilt's sixty one sixty two season where he had point eight one four shots per minute. Wow, that is world class chucking. He will have to chuck some more if he wants
the record. On top of that, LaMelo Ball, I think is the leading guard for All Star voting, which just shows you at the cold basketball is having a hard time staying afloat.
That is all the time that we have for the Heat Check.
Tune in every week as we break down on what's happened in the NBA and soon the Women's game also come back throughout the twenty twenty five season. Check out the feed for past episodes of many episodes, whatch drop unexpectedly like my move to Portland, and do not forget to follow the heat Check all season. That means download, that means subscribe, That means tell your friends, all of them.
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