Trysta Plays Reaper with a Couple Doomed Teams

time has come. Come with Mama. She'll take you to the graveyard where your NBA team will reside for the rest of the season and maybe longer. We've got two bodies in the NBA to take Denver and Philadelphia. Why just has to be. I also get into the Laters Victor versus Chet one sided battle, kind of talk about how that game went. It was very anticipated and kind of a little bit of a clunker. Yanni's trade rumors really Tias Jones fixing the Sun and so much more.

Loaded ash show. Whah, It's Halloween, Anthony, my man, drop that motherfucking beat that should be reaped. Happy Halloween, folks, got a little uh. I went around the neighborhood today, well last night, and there were so many fucking kids dressed up just so cute. They were all just screaming. Then they add their a little plastic pumpkin things. No, nobody does look like the pillow case anymore, right, Like,

that's just my era. We were greedy as hell. To take a pillowcase with you around a neighborhood and fill that thing up is crazy. Anyway, I kind of get a little overwhelmed. I'm like, Yo, there's way too much chaos going on right now. So I'm working through it on this podcast, which y'all and I have got a lot to say. Starting in Mile High City. I'm concerned, folks. The Nuggets start the season to losing two in a row.

I watch those games with a careful eye because what I am seeing is not gonna make it into the box score. Since then, they've won two in a row, a two point win over the Raptors in overtime where they needed every single one of Yogic's forty points in an overtime win, and then another overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets where they had twenty two or more points from Jokic, Gordon Murray, and Russell Westbrook to survive against the team who's leading scorer was Dennis Who the fuck

did Dennis Shruter think he is? Shreoter. So, while I'm not I'm not saying that the Milwaukee Bucks trade rumors type of trouble because they still have one of the best coaches in the game, which, by the way, we really should talk about the fact that Michael Malone will not play young guys at all, or maybe they're just not very good. He also said the funniest thing the other night. He said, I'm glad I get to coach Nicola because I can't imagine game planning that guy. No shit, dude,

no shit. Anyway, back to the Nuggets, I do think that there's some things that should keep Nuggets fans up at night, like they have always started slow. They don't have the ability or runway or the way to just start a season slow anymore. But most importantly, we got ourselves at Jamal Murray problem. Folks. I don't know if it's an injury. I don't know if it's an accumulation of a bunch of injuries. I'm not sure if he's cooked. But I've never seen Jamal Murray look this through molasses

before like ever. And trust me, I'm not the only person talking about this either. An anonymous NBA guard said Murray is very easy to guard, and let's just say that reverberated throughout the league, to the point that Murray had to respond to it in his postgame presser and he said, who are they and they said they're anonymous, and he goes, well, that's why they're anonymous, simple as that.

I'm not sure that makes sense, honestly. But let's see the Nuggets lost to OKAC and the Clippers, and I don't see the guards on either of those teams talking shit like. I don't think James cards like you know, Jamal Murray's really slow. I don't think that's going on. The quote came out the day after the Nuggets barely beat the Raptors, and my guy Davion Davion put the clamps on Jamal along the way to a sixteen six and two game held Murray on a six for twenty

night shooting. I'm not saying it was Davion who said it, but I think it is. I've seen Daveon up close. He will shit talk you no fucking problem. The truth is, though, regardless of who said it, Jamal Murray is looking slow. He's not shooting well. He hasn't shot well, not only this season through four games, where he's shooting a paltry thirty seven percent from the field, which is only slightly worse than his forty percent from the field in the

twelve playoff games last year. But folks, this has been going on since the playoffs all the way through, considering he shaw twenty nine percent from the field in total in the Olympics in France this summer, net negative thirty two in the playoffs, a shocking net minus forty six against the Wolves. He looks just tuckered. He looks ready to put to bed. He looks ready to put the

mouth tape on night Night sleep mask. And that's damning for a guy who's supposed to be taking the pressure off of Jokis, who, by the way, signed a massive four year, two hundred and eight million dollar extension this summer. He got the bag and he said, my hamstring hurts. I don't know what the hell is going on, but it's not good. He better get right, get fast, because

this team is gonna get habochied without him. And by the way, don't even get me started on Michael Porter Junior, Like I think he's got it though, But this is not the only thing wrong with the Nuggets. The bigger issue facing them the bench. Someone said they acted in the offseason like losing KCP was no big deal and now they're paying the price for it. I think that's right. Acting the second loss of the game, both Michael Malone and Jokic just sending strays at GM of the Nuggets,

Calvin Booth, he said. Malone said, going into the season, shooting was a concern of mine. You lose a guy like KCP who's a forty three point shooter, and dot dot dot basically what you think was gonna happen, what you day was gonna happen. And then Jokic said, we're just not a good shooting team except for Mike and Jamal, all of us are kind of streaky, well not streaky, but really just average shooters. Oh my, Calvin, baby, what

are you doing? And this made more start by the fact that they did not bring in a sniper for the bench, but then they decided to bring in a guy Russell Westbrook, who literally his wife has been going on Instagram fighting the trolls because the kids are having His kids are having to literally fight back against other kids calling his dad what Russell Westbrook. That's the kind of shooter. Okay, that's the kind of shooter that he is not, Like there's bullying going on. Okay, let me

just put this into perspective for you. He is such a bad shooter that his kids are getting bullied by other children because he's so bad, they've given his kid the name Westbrook. Do you understand that? Like, think about that for a second. The bench is awful. They had a decent outing against the Nets, but I cannot express this strongly enough. This is the Brooklyn Nets and they were without Ben Simmons, who, despite being allergic to a layup, he can strap folks. He has he has handcuffs for you.

And they still into ot with the traffic cone like Cam Thomas and shake Milton there at the guard spot. What are we doing? The nuggets they're gonna have to rely on Julian Strather, Peyton Watson, Dario Sarch Are these names you even know?

put them on the bench. This is a team that needs to make a move, although I don't really know what they're gonna do from a salary cap standpoint, I'm not sure how that's gonna be possible. But the bottom line is that this team already saw how it stacked up against the thunder boat Race not good enough. They play the Wolves next week. I bet you this. Put my hand up to God. Boat Race. Just count on it, and we'll get more insight onto how they fit into

the stack West after that game. But I promise you it's gonna be the same my suspicion. This team is a play in team. This is a play in team. Yeah, that's what it is. You don't have shooters, you don't have a bench, and your lead guard has either a bum hamstring or he is a bum. Let's move on. We are the round of the anticipated showdown between the Chetolmgren, Victor women Yama battle. Chet says, not a rivalry. I don't care about this. This is just you guys forcing

an artificial thing on us. We're not even in the same draft class. I got injured, I was a year ahead of him. Blah blah blah blah blah. This is not real. Well, Victor kind of thinks it is, because Victor, according to reports, won't even save Chet's name. So, I don't know, feels like the guy that's getting the best out of the other guy is being like, this is not that meaningful, and then the other guy that's supposed to be like the future goat that's what they say,

is kind of like a little in his feels. When I wrote notes down for this episode, my one line was Victor largely got shut the fuck down, which he did. I mean, you look at the stat sheet and you're like, yeah, he was not a good outing for him. Six points, one for five shooting from the field, five shots only. Devin Vesell's not walking through that door anytime soon. Tony Parker is not walking through that door. Chris Paul, there, baby, you got trade Jones. You don't even got the good Jones.

Eight rebounds, three blocks, twenty seven minutes of play and ch Chad fifteen at AFT time and he said, let me slow up these breaks up here. Nineteen points seven for ten shooting shot perfect from deep. Ooh. I light seeing that from Chet because that was exactly what we were hoping to see from him, right, is like, can he get his jumper back? Five rebounds, two steals, two blocks. What a big game for him. But his defense was really what was most impressive. Again, Victor largely shut the

fuck down. That was why everybody that he defended, where he was the primary defender, he held them to four for seventeen shooting oh for seven from three. That's not all NBA numbers, that's like defensive player at the year numbers. The six points for Victor was a career low. Chet was the primary defender on forty percent of victor miss shots, well all of his shots, all of which he missed.

And today, according to ESPN's Michael Wright, I don't think Michael Wright should have reported this, Honestly, it makes Victor look bad. He won't even say Chet's name out loud. He said, well, Chet isn't exactly the candy man. By the way, if you're young and you haven't seen candy Man. That shit is so scary, so scary. Whatever those bugs are, they're all over his face. So basically, here's let's just

go backwards really fast. So basically the premise of the movie is like it's a kid's parable, Like, oh, like, don't say you have to say candy Man, candy Man, candy Man, candy Man in your bathroom, turn the lights off, turn them back on. He's there. That's the premise of the movie. Really, and it flickers and he kills you. Really scary stuff. Anyway, people don't even want to say the word candy man. That's basically what Victor's doing to Chet. Won't even say his name. That has pretty much been

the theme since Victor Wembanyama arrived in San Antonio. That's what he says. Monday night, we specifically asked Victor Wembanyama about the matchup with Chet. This is what he said. I'm getting excited to get back to winning ways. It's always a good challenge to play Oklahoma City, and he said he's watched every one of Oklahoma City's games. What you didn't here and haven't heard was him he Chet

Holmgren will not mention the guy's name. Oh boy, I need to know, Like I need someone to be like, hey, do you not say Chet's name? Is that like what you do at all? Someone ask him? Grow a pair. We got ourselves in real fashioned four alarm rivalry on our hands, baby, and I love it. Love it so much, deliciously love it. I don't want to I need to go to Oklahoma City and watch this matchup, like I need to be court sided for this game. There is no way Victor doesn't use this as motivation to come

over the top the next time they play. The best point, the best part is that we get like twenty more years of this, twenty Like imagine chat with kids. He's grown, Victor with kids, he's grown. They're thirty and they've been dueling this out like undersize, like magic and bird, you know what I mean, like the the emaciated magic and birds. That's good for the NBA. I freaking love it. Can't wait to see it. All Right, we're moving on. Word of the daytime Claxon, No, I'm talking about Nick Claxton.

I didn't stutter. It's not a Brooklyn Center. That is the word of the day. A claxon is a bell used to warn people of impending danger. And I'm telling you right now, I hate being the claxon for the NBA. I actually feel like I'm the Canarian the coal mine. Do you know what I'm saying? I am Rio from its Agatha all along. Rio is the original green Witch.

She's death. She comes up, shows up in your life like the grim Reaper, takes your hand, says come with me, and then you slip off into a daze, never to be seen or heard from again. So it's not just the Bucks, It's not just the Nuggets, it's the Sixers as well. Speaking of bells, shocker right like we just kind of nude and wet, like, uh, they just never healthy. Paul George Joe l embiid if it could only be different, if they could only just be not fragile, if they

could only just play in the games. I saw this happening in like December, not in October. It is way too early for this. If I were a Sixers fan, after all the fanfare of the off season, they were supposedly the best off season team when you ask all the espn ors, the NBA dot comerce like which team had the best offseason. They are like, oh Sixers, Paul George,

they did all they got. Caleb Martin Folks I would be on the verge of despondency right now because not only is Paul George already hurt, but the Sixers revealed that Joel Embiid has a shocking left knee condition and is not close to one hundred percent. It is the Lord's year. Twenty twenty four, November. First, we are one week into the league and Joel Embiid we don't know when he's coming back. The worst part about it is the Sixers lied about it to the point where now

the NBA is launching a full scale investigation. According to Sham's the league investigation found that there is a left knee condition that joelmb is rehabbing and recovering from to make sure that he is one hundred percent this season. The problem, man, I tell you what, if you're Paul George, you've got to be kind of pissed because like, this is exactly what it was with Kawhi, where the team lies about his status and his injury and it's like

healthy health healthy, Oh, done for the season. Anyway, The Sixers denied that there was a problem, so the league have now find the organization one hundred thousand dollars. This comes on top of the fact that the Sixers announced that MB will be missing games regularly and that this will be the new normal. The new normal, according to Sham's the new normal is going to include periodic time

off at different points during the season. It's going to include routine checkups on his knee over the course of the season, and it is all part of the Sixers and then beads new strategy on how to keep him healthy when he has never been And that's for the playoffs, folks. Forty games, That's what it's gonna be. We'll see you at the All Star break. This is the truth. They are unwatchable without PG and MB. We worried about this, and now I feel we should be very, very concerned.

This team has the bottom falling out already. Remember when Embiid got hurt last year, they were cooked and they had Tobias Harris. What don't we have now? We just have Maxi Maxi and I love him. Second I a scorer in the league right now, and he cannot save you. Nick Nurse now is tired of talking about EMBIID and pg's injury updates. Get used to it, Nick, They're not healthy, he said, I'm not gonna answer. Go ahead, anybody else got anything. They've given you the updates on that, right,

They've given you the updates on Joel. You think Nick's a little pissed and these a little terse got hiss panties in a little bit of a bunch woo. The Sixers are struggling and with no clarity about EMBIID, this could be a very, very rocky season. Reo is coming, okay. Couple of quick updates the stories that dropped this week. Number one, if you haven't checked out the interview that I had with doctor David Berry about the finances of the WNBA, it is up on YouTube. It is wherever

you get your podcasts. I need you to check it out. For me, I feel it's one of the most important conversations that I've had on the Heat Check ever. I feel it is very important for people who think that they know about what's happening in NBA and WNBA economics. They need to give it a listen. Must second of all, my rant about the Buck season going off the rails starting to gain a little traction for the first time in a few years. There are now unofficial, official, unofficial

trade rumors surrounding you. Honest, an NBA executive told friend of show Bill Rider teams are circling and hopeful. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened by the trade deadline.

that's it. It's just Florida, no sales, tax, beaches and babies. Goodness, gracious, the Bucks aren't stupid, though they're not gonna want Like, listen, the Blazers didn't want Tyler Hero. You think the Milwaukee Bucks what Tyler Hero and Dame and Duncan Robinson and some random first round draft picks in twenty thirty one. No shot. The other team the Brooklyn Nets, who to be honest, they've got the cap, they've got the space, they've got the assets. But like, why would he want

to go to Brooklyn? That was also where Dame said he wanted to go, by the way. I remember he was like, I'll play with McHale, I'll play with Bam. Why are Brooklyn and Miami even a thing? Why would Giannis want to play with Cam Thomas. This is the reason I think it's fougaysy because these like destinations are really strange. Writer says that there are other teams that could be in play, like the Thunder who have space, capital interest. I don't know how he fits with that team.

Are you playing him at the four and Chet at the five? Like? Is Chet now just brook Lopez? Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. The fact that you is even being mentioned as having a trade destination is crazy. That is bad bad news in Milwaukee all right? Another update, Just like Tristan pats herself on the back on on Friday, do you know who has the best record? In the NBA right now. Not the Lakers they've lost to in

a row. Not the Boston Celtics are defending Chance, who dropped a game to the Pacers in overtime for their first loss of the year. Not even my OKC thunder who are four and Oh no, it's Cleveland, not terrible club, not great, but actually number one in the East, number one overall. Last episode, I was like, keep your eye on Cleveland and now best record in the NBA five and zero, and the teams that they've beaten are pretty impressive. They beat the Lakers like a drum one thirty four,

one ten behind six players with fourteen or more points. Wow, this team could go ten and zero. Kenny Atkinson has this team hummon boy. A recent article detailed it. He said sixty percent of the time seventy percent of the time I think he said, was spent talking about, Hey, how do we unlock Evan Mobley when he was interviewed

for this job. Evan Mobley is having a year. He is shooting fifty seven percent through the first five games, fifty percent from three, with an average of a net plus sixteen per game, a total net rating of plus eighty He's averaging nineteen eight and two with three stocks per game. These are all NBA numbers, folks. But guess what what I think is really impressive is that he is becoming one of the main ball handlers in pick and roll. You've got Darius Garland screaming for Evan Mobley,

You've got Donovan Mitchell screaming for Evan Mobley. He is being used all over the floor. Garland's having a career year. Donnovan doesn't have to shoulder the burden. Jared Allen's playing well. This is a team that, if they can stay consistent, might be better then I think, and you think as well. Okay, it's time for us to talk about Tias Jones, one of my favorite players in the NBA. I've been just

stumping for Tias for years. I just the thing that I've consistently said is best turnover assistant turnover ratio in the NBA. It's almost like he had one of the best period ever. Not a lot of people talking about Tias Jones was kind of lost in the preseason shuffle. Phoenix Sun signed him well below market value. I think he was. His market value was like nine million a year. He was getting offers nine to ten million a year. Signed a one year, three million dollar deal with Phoenix.

Jones is one of the best at protecting the ball. Not just one of the best, he is the best. Hardly ever turns the ball over. He's not one of those guys that needs to score. He loves to set the table. He loves to get guys involved, get them easy looks, and to four games he has just been unlocking the guys Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal to do the things that they do best, which is

not play point guard. Remember when Frank Vogel was like, oh yeah, we're committed, We're committed to playing Bradley Beal at point guard. Oh yeah, we're committed to playing Devin Booker at point guard. And then they just like got torched by the Timberwolves in their last five games against Phoenix. By the way, they pressured the player bringing up the ball one hundred and fifty seven combined possessions, which is the highest number that the Suns faced over five games

last season total. So they knew what it was like. These boys are not point guards. They are not trying to handle that double team smoke and they got exploited. So the Sons at a point guard problem. They couldn't even keep Campaign. They were just like, we can't afford him. Oh my goodness. And let's be honest, like Campaign's also not that great in terms of like taking care of the bone, but ball so that almost no money. Everyone's like, oh, yeah,

you're kind of fucked. You know, maybe you should just get rid of Bradley Beal for scraps. And then Tias only the grace of the basketball gods, did the best point guard at protecting the ball land in their last You think you can ball pressure Tias Jones, No, sir, He's top five in the NBA and assistant turnover ratio for an astounding eight straight years. You are not speeding him up or slowing him down. And through four games, what is his impact? Bill is dribbling the ball thirty

percent less than last year. Booker has dribbled the ball fifty one percent less, astounding both flourishing on the offensive end as a result. And that is what happens when you actually have a set of the table point guard and you don't have your shooting guards, your scorers, your peer scorers have to play out a position. Don't even get me startled on the fact they try to play Kevin Durant as point guard as well. The wild thing about it is that Tias Jones may end up being

the most impactful signing of the entire offseason. Okay, let's talk about the deadline for rookie extensions. There were some surprising decisions made by some teams, probably the most devastating being the Lakers declining the third year rookie scale option on Jalen Hood Chaffino. If you recall, Jalen Hood Schaffino was Rob Polinka's personal pet, selected at seventeen because he saw Ko Chafino play his alma mater in the Big Ten tournament and houch if you know, went crazy and

he was like, I've got a hat of them. By the way, the next two picks in the draft, Hi Mi haawk Is and Brandon Pajemski. Can you imagine Brandon Pajemski on the La Lakers right now? Both played college ball in California. Disaster, just a catastrophe. Similarly, the Bucks declined their option on Marjon Beauchamp. He was the twenty fourth pick in the twenty twenty two draft, while players like Nikola Jovic Andrew Nemhard Jalen Williams with the y

We're still on the board. Tough, there's a very tough look. Never quite worked out. Hard to see where he might land. Maybe Europe, I don't know. Also, Atlanta has declimbed the option on Grizzlies draft pick David Roddy again twenty twenty two rough draft. Probably the most surprising non tender was the Wizards of deciding to pass on the number ten pick Johnny Davis twenty twenty two draft. He's just not an NBA player, just not good. The Wizards are barely

an NBA franchise, playing young dudes all over the place. Honestly, if you can't hook on with the Wizards, I'm not sure you can hook on. But all of that to say, like, I'm starting to think the twenty twenty two draft might have been very, very bad. I'm starting to think outside of the top picks pretty effing trash. In related news, Lonnie Walker eighteenth pick in the twenty eighteen draft, he

signs with the EuroLeague. I'm not even gonna try to pronounce that zalgearis Countess, but he has an NBA buy out up to February eighteenth. I have no idea why a team like I don't know the Philadelphia seventy six ers, I don't know the Milwaukee Box, I don't know the Denver Nuggets couldn't just pick him up because he shoots forty percent from three. Teams like Denver could desperately use that right now. And he's better than probably twenty percent

of the bench players in the NBA. Very very fascinating stuff. And finally, we haven't checked in on Crazy Joe Missoula in a while. The last we heard from him, he was responding to the question of whether he felt any pressure to repeat by saying, I don't give a shit when anybody says to me, it's not pressure. There's nothing in this press conference circle can do to me that's gonna impact my identity and who I am as a

person and who I am as a coach. We're either gonna win or not in forty years from now, and none of you are invited to me a funeral. And that's it. By the way, Joe Missoula is thirty. He's gonna die at seventy. Jesus Christ, what's he gonna do Joe is not a fan of the press. By the way. To be fair, he has not been very nice, and before he steamrolled the league on the way to the championship,

he wasn't nice. Then this week he dropped another of his wild ass ideas that probably stem from his background in martial arts. I remember he was like challenging Marcus Smart to a fight, a wrestle, like in the locker room. He's like, no, dude, what. So somebody asked him what rule changes that he wanted. This he implemented and said, the biggest thing that we wrought rob people from from an entertainment standardpoint is that you can't fight anymore. I

wish we could bring back fighting. What's more entertaining than a little scuffle. How come in baseball they're allowed to clear the benches every time someone gets clubb In the NBA, you don't need a monitor to see if there was a misdemeanor committed. I don't see why some sports are allowed to clear the benches. They have bats and weapons and we don't. We just have a ball. The other sport has one of the hardest surfaces in playing instrument and pucks and sticks, and we're still not allowed to

throw down a little bit. What a wild quote. I think people have their whole careers have been close to ended by a fist to the face in basketball. Maybe it has to do with the fact that, like, you're almost naked, right, you don't have any pads slowing you down or any skates to change the impact of your fall. It is just body, shoe, earth, and an orbital bone. Are we talking about it? He said. I didn't say legalize it. I said allow people to express themselves. Jesus Christ,

what a DP. I don't think so when you you know how it's bad. Gilbert A. Renus came out and was like, whoa, that's fucking extreme. No, Joe, we can't have fighting in games. People will literally lose their lives no matter how weird. The players he puts out on the floor are nobody. Nobody's gonna be as nuts as as Joe Missoula. That's all the time that we have

for this episode The Heat. Check comeback Monday for an all new episode, and check out the feed for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly, like the Baseball in front of a New York Yankee in the World series Wolf. Don't forget to follow the heat check through the season, which means download subscribe to your friends. Even that what is cadre? Even that cadre of kids who descended upon you during Halloween. It's like a pirate hoard

looting a defenseless ship. They're like ding dong ding dong, ding dong, ding dong. My dog's losing it. Tell these kids, hey, while you're eating the candy, make sure to tell your parents put on the heat check. Don't forget to follow me on threads. Meta's new social media app. Tons of NBA people have migrated there. It's Trista Underscore Crik Sam Hanley can find me on on Twitter and Instagram and of course at this tea checking on TikTok and at some point I think