Come Home.
On this episode of the Heat Check.
It is a special deep dive into I would say the most surprising team in the East, in the NBA, in.
The in a good way.
There's been plenty of surprising clunkers, but holy shit, the Washington.
Wizards are relevant.
We are going to do a breakdown in week two of the NBA seasons about the Washington Wizards. We're gonna break down why they're playing so well, why Bradley Beal, and more importantly, really why Bradley Beal will never ever leave Washington DC. So do me a favor, Bra and drop that motherfucking beam. Come Remember last year when it
was clear that the Wizards didn't deserve success. I mean, they certainly weren't gonna get success, but they didn't deserve success either because they were getting rid of their stars. They were making strange moves. They offloaded one overpaid star for another overpaid star, and then you had Brad Beil
throwing chairs, which is a very mild mannered guy. Like for Brad Beale to be throwing chairs and losing his shit on the sidelines in front of nationally televised camera's right there, people, right there, and he's like I don't care bubble no bubble whatever, COVID no COVID whatever, like this is terrible. And then they ask him at that point, like what's up, Brad, and he's like, listen, we can't
even guard a park car right now. They were the most COVID affected team in the NBA, probably because of a close contact between Brad bill Ad Jason Tatum. As we found out later, like NBA fans were starting hashtag so, I mean, really me, hashtag free Bradley Beale. There was a move It was a movement started by me. Brad had no help and Brad is fucking good. He was dropping forty. There was like a Laughingstock meme where it was like every time Bradley Beal dropped forty, they lost.
It was a bum legged Washington Wizards, Westbrook and Scott Brooks who everyone wanted fired and basically no one else, I mean even Davis Bertans went from being a sharpshooter to just.
Like a guy that everybody wanted to trade. So at that.
Point everyone and I mean everyone he liked for stake and speeded and blah blah, everybody wanted to see Brad Beeal traded Brad Beal was adamant that he wanted to win in DC.
I mean, yeah, sure, Brad, like okay, wink wink. Like.
It kind of felt at that moment that Brad was just being the nice guy that was publicly saying one thing and like, Dame, I want to be a staple in the community and blah blah blah, but wouldn't admit the truth publicly, which is what we all know is you can't really win in DC like at all.
If Brad wants.
To win and wanted to win, the only way that he could win was to join a plethora of other stars in Boston or LA or Philly, or even join up with Stephen Clay in Golden State, etc. That was the only way that Brad Beale could ever win because it was never happening here. I mean it's early right now.
But it turns out that that really wasn't true. What Brad actually needs are competent role players like and some depth like the most complicated complex train that sent out Ross after sending out John Wall turns out to have been the only way.
Having an overpriced star.
And trading him turns out to be the only way to stalk your kitchen like that, like you turned an empty cupboard with like a couple of good items into a fucking pantry a plethora of pieces. Now the depleted cupboards are full. The Wizards are five and one right now, and not like a fraudulent five in one like the Chicago Bulls, like a real five and one, you know what I mean. They have gritty wins over Boston twice, like.
They should have lost last year.
They would have lost to Boston, like they won in overtime without Bradley Bealt against Indianapolis.
They have a signature blowout win over.
Atlanta and at that point, and Atlanta went to the Eastern Conference last year is Eastern Conference Finals last year, and they did that.
Without forty percent of their lineup. I mean, excuse me.
Not only did they beat Atlanta, they beat the shit out of Atlanta without your starting point guard, without your starting center.
I mean, it's pretty stunning. It's not like this is the Washington.
Wizards beating putting Tray Young in prison, like a team that Bradveil said couldn't guard a park car stopped Tray Young and like the guy that did it, I don't well, even we'll get there in a second.
But it was a discardible piece, Aaron Holiday.
And that was when I thought, hmm, maybe need to adjust my Eastern Conference rankings a little bit.
So let's talk about that roster.
Like I said, Aaron Holiday, Pacers already had a holiday, so you can't have to I guess.
So they got rid of Aaron. Aaron is putting guys in prison.
People on the Wizards are saying, Aaron Holiday is the best defender on this team.
He was a discardible piece. He was discarded.
Spencer Dinwitty was just added in to the trade fold it in if you will, like h like in a gumbo, all of a sudden, you're like, oh, there's and Dewey in here as well, Like didn't know I had rice, I had beans, I had this, I had this meat that meet Oh my god, I also get in Dewey sausage.
That was Spencer.
Spencer Dinwitty's low key probably the best signing, underrated signing in the NBA in this offseason, and he was just thrown into the deal. They figured out a way to get the Lakers to make that deal, and a million other teams too to make that deal work. Right, He is a bucket. He is a playmaker. He hit the final shot against the Pacers for the dagger, like he can put a team on his back if he needs to.
He takes the.
Pressure off of Bradley Beal, where Bradley Beal now can work on his defense, which no one says he can defend either, like he was a part of that, Like I can't guard apart, like I can't park guard to park car And Montres Harrell, who was getting dnps in Lakerland, is now averaging almost twenty points a game off the bench, probably gonna run away with six Man of the Year Kyle Kuzma the Chucker, he is top ten and rebounds right now KCP.
KCP is maybe.
An automatic lock in prop bets for over one and a half threes.
I think he hits it every single time.
He's hitting corner threes like no other and lockdown defender on the perimeter. Never mind the fact that Ruy Hachimura they're starting for has been completely mia for this year.
He's nowhere to be found. No one has seen him in the facility.
He will be back at some point, so they don't even have their full squad yet. And Daniel gafferd is just now getting back healthy. So this is what Bradley Beal said after their second win over the Celtics. The first win was like, Okay, it's an aberration. They blew him out. Celtics are a roller coaster ride. Second win in overt double overtime. Okay, this is what he said. Just imagine when everything starts clicking, when everybody's jelling, when
everybody's healthy, it's gonna be scary. Excuse me, are you not jelling right now? Is this not a jeled team? They put up one hundred and thirty points against the Placers and they're not even clicking yet.
People are who's not healthy? People aren't healthy. Brad's not healthy, Gaffer's not healthy.
They are five and one in the seventh toughest schedule in the NBA. So yeah, I agree. I agree, Wizards could be scary good. The Wizards to me, are the most surprising, delightfully surprising team in the East six games in the season.
I know the sample size is small.
But everything I need to know I now know about Bradley Beal's future. Forget that we are now seeing Jason Tatum. It meant openly, yes, I am recruiting Bradley Beal to be a Celtic.
I am.
I know you guys have been saying it and I've been denying it, but it's true.
I am.
I am recruiting him. We've talked about it. But let me just make this very very clear. Like Bradley Beal.
Now, I know Bradley Beial is never coming to Boston.
In fact, these first six games show me Brad is never leaving DC to go and play with another star.
Brad is and wants to be the star. He is the guy.
Brad is not the second fiddle to some new John Wall the latest installment of John Wall two point zero, Like, he's not the player that you pair next to, the player that you build your franchise around.
He is the player that you build your franchise around.
He is that model, that prototypical guy on and off the court. Brad is Batman. Now, we a lot of times think that Batman's have to win the day or save the world without any help. Like that's how we as a society think about Batman. But the truth is Batman had some help. He Batman had a Robin. Batman had an Alfred, he had some tech tech and cars and shit.
So what Brad needs is a Robin and an Alfred or two.
Not because he needs it all the time, but when the going gets tough and Batman's and some shit, you can call on Alfred for backup. That's now that we see the Kuzma and KCP and Tres and Aaron Holliday and Spence. That's with this squad, a little baby diet cola version of the Avengers.
Like, that's what they are.
No stars other than well maybe Spence would be considered a quote unquote star, but.
No real stars.
Is just Brad and the rest of the Wish version of the Avengers, and that's what he needs.
How far can the Wizards go?
I think, truthfully, in a quiet moment, they could be this year's version of the Atlanta Hawks, the team that nobody saw coming and goes to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Will they? I don't know, but could they? For sure? The team that nobody but me? Right here?
It's Monday, November first, The Washington Wizards could go to the Eastern Conference Finals right now, market That's all.
The time that we have for the heat Check podcast. Will be back Wednesday morning early. Squirrely, do not miss it. Do not forget to give us a follow at Trista Creek and at This Heat. Check on TikTok, download, subscribe and give us a rating on Spotify and Apple.
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