Trade Rumor Drought

No, no, come home, no come home, no, no, no.

Come home, come home, come.

Home. On this episode of The Heat Check, I tell you what.

We get into some trade deadline talk, what is happening in Toronto, one of the most interesting teams in the league that have some moves to be made. We get into exactly what I said we'd go wrong about the Chicago Bulls and why it actually happened, and is Donald.

Mitchel about to leave Utah? It seems like it might be happening. All right, brob, drop that motherfucking beat.

I'm perfectly gone at it, sir.

I don't get on this side exist, don't.

Make by mother bu my same went next like.

Man, I'm perfect. We are crawling onto the trade deadline, just crawling. No moves have been made.

Two weeks is left, nothing notable has happened. Fuck you know, I'd like to see some motion.

As Drake would say, I guess that's just emotion. Oh that's what I was listening to on the way.

But the part the team, for me, that's the hardest to dissect, the hardest to predict, the hardest to figure out who they are, what their identity is now, what their identity will be is the Toronto Raptors. They are long, they are switchable, they are young. They can compete with almost anybody on any given night. They could also lose to almost anybody.

On any given night.

Team full of stretch threes and stretch forwards. Everyone on this roster basically basically a six seven.

We haven't talked about you about.

The Raptors lately because they've been bad, but they have resurrected their season after they had COVID on COVID on Covid COVID. Team is nine and six in their last fifteen. They are in the ninth spot currently in the East. But but but but just four games out of six seeds, just four games out of not being a play in tournament.

Who you never know? You never know.

When the Atlanta Hawks were a five seed and they end up in the Eastern Conference Final, you never know.

That's the optimistic side of me.

All of that leads me to a fun little hypothetical. So, Okay, you're a five hundred team, right, You're playing better now than at any point in the season. You're in a year where there is no real clear cut favorite, like the Bucks are there and the Nets of course got something to say.

But I mean, come on, so.

You know the Bucks are healthy, but they just got blown out by the Calves. Right, the Nets are healthy, but they just lost to the Lakers. Lakers aren't really healthy. But you're coming up on the trade deadline. So you got two options. You make every effort that you can to improve the team now, even if it means that you move away from the quote unquote plan that you

That's fact.

Welcome to the mental pretzel for my man Nick Nurse and my man Messi u Jeri.

So not a big deal, kind of a big deal.

I was texting back and forth with Nick Nurse the other day and I asked him about his thoughts on the team, and he says, this is exactly what he says.

This is tremendous. Just think about this quote. Let it soak in. We're pretty good. We have no depth, but I like my five to six guys.

Does he know the starting five is five players. I like my starting five plus one. I like my starting five plus one.

So I dug into that.

How much does Nick Nurse love his five to six guys. I'll tell you it is. It is love, love, it is, it is, Oh my god, holy shit love. Fred van Fleet, my guy leaves the NBA. In minutes played per game thirty eight point two. Scottie Barnes, a rookie, is playing thirty five point five minutes per game, the most of any rookie in the NBA.

No surprise Rookie.

Of the Year, Gary Trent Junior plays thirty three point eight minutes per game. Pascal Yakam playing thirty six point nine minutes per game. Og A Nanobi plays thirty six point nine minutes per game. That is ridiculous, folks, That is fucking ridiculous.

That reads like.

A box score from nineteen thirty six when it was the Cleveland Rosenblooms, a real NBA team, by the way, who had seven roster players, and if someone fouled out or got injured, they literally had to pull someone from the stands to be like, hey, you you look at let it come play basketball.

That's what's happening.

It would happen in Toronto if they actually had fans. They probably just need to grab the actual like Toronto mascot because he's the only available bench guy that they have.

They live git play their starters more than anyone.

All those guys top twenty in the league in terms of minutes played, which makes comments like these from Nick Nurse that he didn't say to me, but he said to the media hilarious, laughable, untrue. He's talking about the battle between Sam Decker and Esok Bonga, two guys that were at the end of the roster, and they were trying to make a decision who's gonna play, who's gonna get cut, and who's gonna play.

And this is what and this is what Nick Nurse had to say. Uh, Esak kind of fills the role that we want.

He's got size, he's a versatil defender, he's on the offensive glass. He's kind of a real role playing guy. We can think we can throw in there.

At any time.

He's good enough to get into games anytime right now.

To be honest with you, but.

We can't play everybody. Excuse me, you don't play anybody. Excuse me, you're just playing five to six dudes? Five really six? Okay, so your five starters are all top twenty minutes played and you can't find Esoc Bonga any playing time.

Excuse me. That's hilarious.

And now Nick Nurse's mind has turned to the trade deadline and how he can make this team more competitive, because he even said it, it's now undisputable they have zero depth.

Not only do you know that based on who he's playing, you know that because he said it's a goddamn self. This is when he said, there's some stark downs.

Man, it's been a battle to pick everybody up or pick yourself up.

But he is optimistic that the Raptors right now can contend.

I told him that's the sort of beautiful optimism that you just can't get the delusions of optimism when you're not winning any team, not just them because they're actually like decent, but a team like the Lakers. To believe you can win at any moment, any game, despite being so very clearly outmatched, out depths, out athleticism, I mean, it's just I die. I would die for that level of optimism about any fucking thing, anything, even about getting my toast like perfectly toasted.

I don't have optimism that I could complete anything in that manner.

So Michael Grange reports that Nurse has had moiple conversations with GM Bobby Webster about trying to evaluate with the Raptor's.

Need coming up to the trade deadline, but it's been hard.

To evaluate given the way that the season has gone. He says that there's about a six to seven man corps that they want to focus on going forward. Yeah, those are the six to seven guys that are getting.

All the minutes.

Actually it's really five to six. But you can't say you only like your starting five. You can't go out to the world and say that you said I like seven because anything less than seven sounds like you're a psycho. That's a psycho move.

So what do you do right now?

If you're the Raptors, you got a good corps, all of them the same guy, Like all six to seven athletic can switch, can handle the rock. Well, it's been a while since they've seen some winning hoops right in Toronto. They literally played in Tampa the entire all last year. They didn't even see Canada when they were in the basketball season last year, So you'd think that the tendency might be push your chips in the middle of the table and go quote unquote all in.

To me, that is terrible, that's a terrible idea.

Even even still, they did decide to sort of tank to get Scottie Barnes last year, right, And it's a fact that they have no depth like it's a fact. So Nick Nurse also told me that there is no point in his career he's ever believed he's had a lost season.

He doesn't believe it exists.

He believes as the head coach, there's no moment in time that exists where you say, pack it up.

We're just gonna build on this one.

We're just gonna have this be an emotional victory. All these things or creative ways to get new guys involved and develop develop young talent. No, no, you play to win, no matter what he said. You play to win, no matter what. He's gonna run the legs out of these starters. Chase wins, which means from a betting perspective, they're never

But like, this is the team.

He's going to put Fred van Fleet out there when they're down thirty, Like, think about that. If you lead the NBA in minutes played, that's including games you're getting blown out. He's like, fuck it, Fred, it's just you, my guy. Go ahead and pag your stats. That's fucking crazy. Back to the problem. Everyone wants the Raptors to make a big trade. You want it, I want it. Toronto fans want it. Massai wants it. But I don't think it's gonna happen. I'm not sure because there's two words.

Then what do you have? You have Precious a Chilia who's a.

Nice piece, but god damn, you could have had Tyree maxin two firsts. I understand the concept of fuck Philly, but not at your own expense, you know what I mean? Like, don't just don't do that trade because you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

No.

No, So for me, it's gonna be a very interesting thing watching them going forward, because it'll tell you everything you need to know.

If they don't make a.

Move and they let Gore and Dragicic's contract just wither away, that means they have no interest in doing anything right now. They have no interest in going out and getting free agents because they got guys to sign soon, and that's happening.

They will be signed, and the only.

Guys you're gonna be able to get is in the draft, not in free agency, which means young young, young youth movement, which probably means more five to.

Six man rotation.

Ah well, since Toronto can only get better via trade, kind of like the Blazers, it might just mean go and get Norm Powell again. I guess, maybe trade Chris Bouchet. I guess it's a situation that is developing.

Keep your eye on it.

But if I had to put my gavel down, I'd say Toronto will be a player team and and at that point, why not just do the watery again.

Seemed to work out last time round. But keep your eye on it.

Keep your eye some she fragrance when you lift discover it ain't no complaining. I'm ready to be a ward a disc one and me I'm telling me called wards off, can afford the risk drop to a range.

And I'm gonna be nice, but I'm gonna speak the truth as usual. Chicago, Chicago, So me in.

I was sucked. You know, I said this team very short bench. I said it. I was like, Okay, what are they really gonna do?

And then all of a sudden, one seed fucking okay, well gotta eat crow. At that point, tomart Rozan's playing an MVP level. You know, Lonzo's a throwback floor general. Okay, Okay, Levine bawling out so that he could get a huge deal from the New York next next year.

Okay, I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Don't get mad, don't get mad.

Booch have been having an interesting year, has some clutch moments. Not his best year, not particularly any better than his worst year. But okay, I mean my man, Io, Io Desunma, he's a nice little piece.

I already got his jersey, retired to Illinois. Tomart Rosen's going to Illinois with Io. They're having a good time. Okay, I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

And then just like the ss, Chicago Bulls sinking faster than Bitcoin.

Just like that, Just like that.

By the way, read up on Obj getting his contract in bitcoin, fascinating story. Might wanna just scale your enthusiasm for bitcoin for a second. And you would think that because I issued an apology already to Bulls fans, that I would hold back on saying I fucking told you so.

But no, no, that's not me. I am that petty.

Someone said on TikTok today Trista doesn't fully know the alphabet because she knows every other letter but lle. The only letter that she's not acquainted with is the word is the letter L. Yeah, I don't take any l's like I don't take l's. I'm right, you guys are wrong.

I told you so. What did I say earlier on the season? What did I say? I said, quote, I found my own quote. I'm quoting myself.

This starting five has the ability to play with anyone. I like how I'm reading the quote like it's not me. But the bench is so thin, and if the starters keep playing as much as they have been someone might break down and if they break down.

They're gonna be in troubble. Folks. If that's not about as accurate as it gets, I don't know what is. Guess what multiple players now broke broke, broke, broke, broke.

Down, bulls sliding down the standings like a fucking water park. Sh They were number one with a bullet and now people are wondering, real.

Media people, not me. I didn't say it.

There are people like Brian Winhorst being like, can this team even host a play in game? What? What?

Where did it all begin? Where did the deterioration of the foundation start to happen?

My man Alex Crusoe. Of course, I'm starting to get a little worried about Crusoe. They might be a not injury prone, but maybe say bitten from injuries. He's missed fourteen games last year with the Lakers, this year, banged up most of the year, and now he's out four to six weeks with rist surgery after he came down from that Grayson Allen injury.

And I think, wow, DeRozan is the brains of this team.

I think Cruso is the heart and soul and without Caruso and his infectious energy and his intensive intensity, intensive defensive intensity.

That's what I meant to say.

This team is just lacking when he's not on the court. And then the same thing can be said about Lonzo Ball. He's a defensive monster.

He and Caruso make that thing go. They're like the gel.

They're like the connective tissue of the defensive identity of this team.

And Lonzo Ball is an assist machine.

So without those two guys, rot row and now you got Dereck Jones Junior. Nice little role player on a team that has no depth. So he doesn't matter unless you are already are struggling with depth, and now it really matters.

He's having surgery on his wrist. He might miss the rest of the season.

My man Zach Levine continues to miss games with knee sortis on the same leg that he had acl surgery on.

Yikes.

And Patrick Williams he's probably out the remainder of the season two And we all knew in the beginning of the season Patrick Williams had an ankle injury. Now you got a torn ligament in his wrist and he's gone. He was supposed to be there this corps was supposed to have something. They have less depth than I thought that they had in the beginning of the year because they haven't even had their main guys, And like clockwork, they go three and seven in their last ten fall into second.

Which you're like, oh, Tristy, you're hating on them. You're a hater. You're a hater. They're in second, You're a hater. No, no, no, no, no no.

They're just a game up on the calves and one and a half games up on the bucks in the nets. You don't think those guys when they figured out, they're not gonna be able to surpass you.

It's a close race in the east, folks.

In other words, Bulls are a two game losing streak away from being in fifth place, and probably another two to three games away from seventh place. Excuse me, excuse me, Just give me my flowers.

Just tell me, Trista, you're not right all the time.

But you were fucking super right on this. And it's not DeRozan's fault, of course. It's not like all the things I said about him very wrong. I continue to stay wrong on demart Rosen. In the last two losses, he scored thirty five and forty one and a single handedly keeping this Bulls team in the game.

But without depth, it's just too much to overcome. It's a bridge too far. It's a bridge too far, and it is exactly what I fear might happen. It is why I can't take Toronto.

Seriously, you can't go out there, roll the ball out and be like five to six guys, go out there, play hard.

Oh you twour in acl No, No, keep playing, keep playing. You can't do that.

Can't do that.

Like your starters are playing too many minutes.

It's just a matter of time. These men aren't robots, right, Like, why know we think that they're robots. And because they're elite athletes, they can do whatever however, as much as they want, as much frequency and an intensity and a duration. But no, these are human beings with bodies that will break down with impact and force and momentum. Another team that's been banged up this year is Cleveland, who lost two starters, Sexton and Rubio. The difference, the big difference

They got guys go down no matter.

They just keep on keeping on and they make moves. They immediately replace Rubio with Rejeon Rondo. When the Bulls lost somebody, what happened?

Nothing? Nothing, nothing's happened, nothing has been done. It was like it was immediate.

It was Ricky Rubio season ending injury. The next tweet that you saw was Cleveland pursues Rajon Rondo, like within three seconds, They're like, we gotta do something. What are you guys doing? What are you fucking guys doing nothing? You're just sitting on your laurels and all your main starters who are all out in indefinite period of time somewhere between six to eight weeks. But one guy, Lonzo Ball, hasn't even had surgery yet, so the clock on his eight weeks hasn't even been done yet.

Tick talk tick. They don't even know what they're gonna do in his surgery. So can the Bulls save their season? I don't know. Gonna need to make a move.

A lot of chatter about Patrick Williams, He's gotta go, He's gotta go in order for you guys to even figure it out.

You gotta get some. You need some multiple pieces. You don't need a star like Jerry Grant and Jeremy Grant. You need role players.

Excuse me, they're gonna be getting a Lonzo Ball and Crusoe back by the playoffs.

But even LaMelo Ball can attest. When he came back from his risk injury, he was like, I was not the same. I was not the same.

Not until the very next year did I feel anywhere near myself. So the worst case scenario, as I predicted, because it's science, has happened in Chicago. It's just math, it's just math, and I think it's actually a physics. It's more physics than math.

But physics has math. It's all the same.

And now they have to work super super hard from sliding below that coveted four seed in the east. And just like math, anything below six is a plan, which means TK is right.

You could send me my claps, thank you, thank you, thank you. I will not be taking questions at this time. How much money you got alive, how many products you got a lot? How many people have doubted alive left you out and a lot. How many prey did you how many players have left your franchise. A lot a lot of good ones. A lot of good ones have left Utah and maybe a new one is coming soon. What is happening in Utah?

We just did our deep dive on the Jazz. Like I said, they are spiraling. It's a struggle bus No Rudy Gobert. Their defense is suss And then this happened. My man Rick Buker over at Fox wrote this, nothing has happened this season to dispil the impression that the Jazz are a one trick pony and a step behind the.

Elite teams in the Western Conference.

Nullify their three point scoring advantage, and they are eminently beatable.

Yikes.

It is no coincidence that January is the first month this season in which Jazz opponents are averaging more threes made and Utah is four and nine this calendar year. The worst part the Jazz I said they need to be one seed, didn't I I said they need They need home field advantage, home court advantage all the way out.

They need it. They are now in fourth.

They are zero and four against the teams in front of them, Griz Sons, Warriors.

Yikes. Yikes.

Stress levels in Utah have gotta be through the roof. There's no outlets like coffee or sex or anything.

Maybe sex. Look up soaking. But that stress is at an all.

Time high right now, has to be when they read this bombshell that Bucker dropped. The incessant buzz around the league is that there are those in Donovan Mitchell's circle who believe he is too big of a star for Salt Lake City. Further, some say it's only a matter of time before he joins his former agent at CIA and current New York Knicks president Leon Rose in New York.

Here's where it gets real spicy.

They are a first round exit away from Donovan being in New York and Eastern Conference.

Scout said, oh oh, is that true? Uh? I'd say that's pretty likely. A first round exit for the Utah Jazz. I don't care who they see.

They are vulnerable. Remember remember good old Darron Williams. You remember Gordon Hayward, Good players, nice guys, had some handles. Doron Wins one of the better floor generals, Gordon Hayward one of the better wings in the league. Two Jazz first rounders who said deuces, I am all the way out of this fucking place for greener pastures. The difference is Gordon Hayward left in free agency. Donovan Mitchell still

Tell your friends. See you guys Monday, Folks, see you guys Monday. I'm protecting Damn.

I'm protecting I'm protecting dam protecting Damm.