The Ringer NBA Show - Kent Bazemore Traded, Kyrie Back on the Record, and All-Star Starting Ballots | Heat Check

Episode Date: January 20, 2020

Instant Replay: The Blazers have cut ties with Kent Bazemore and Kyrie Irving is back saying weird things in the media (4:01). The Main Event: Our very own Dan Devine has been coronated as an All-Star voter! We run down his list of starters for the Eastern and Western conferences (24:04). Good Call/Bad Call: LaMelo has a horse named … LaMelo, Josh Richardson is out here naming random iguanas in his backyard, and the Memphis Grizzlies are bumping metal in their arena (35:17).  Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Haley O’Shaughnessy and Dan Devine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, guys, it's Liz Kelly, and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. This week, to celebrate the 100th episode of the Rewatchables podcast, Quentin, Quentin, returns for the third and final movie in his three-part series with us. In the final episode, Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessee discussed with Quentin one of his favorite movies, the 1990 Crime Thriller King of New York. Make sure to check out this special episode and follow at The Rwatchables on Twitter for highlights of all 100 episodes. Welcome to Heat Check. I'm your host, John Gonzalez, normally joined.

by my producer, Steve Allman. He's not here. Isaac Lee, my other producer, he's also not here. A special guest production appearance by Bobby Wagner is here. Gloves are off, baby. Time to throw out all the good takes.

It's wonderful that you're here. Your name is Bobby. Sometimes I call you Bob. Sometimes I hit you with a Rob. Who knows what's going to happen on the show? Whatever you need to do, man. It's very exciting. I'm thrilled to see you.

Also, a happy MLK day to everybody. It's a big day for our country. A big day in the league as well. 14 games going. on today. Only the Clippers and Mavs not in action. They'll play on Tuesday a lot for us to get into. And we'll do that shortly. I want to thank you guys for listening. A reminder to please rate and review us and don't forget about all the great NBA content on the ringer.com. Also, great NFL content on the ringer.com. I want to shout out the NFL team and also

Danny Heifitz who wrote about Andy Reid making it to the Super Bowl. B. Wikes, how do you feel about Andy Reid getting back there? Well, I'm not an Eagles fan, so I don't hold any animus towards him for getting back there. I think it's kind of good. It's a nice narrative arc. You know, everybody's dumped on him for a very long time. Including me for many, many years, although I've come around on Andy. I want nothing but good things for Danny Hyfitz. That too. Danny's done a young.

Go read his stuff. Go read his stuff. He's done an excellent work, as has Palo Ouggetty, who wrote about Markell Fultz, finding himself in Orlando, Womp for the Sixers, but good for Markle Fultz. Also, Powell also has his regular Monday morning column up on Zion's pending return and potential trade questions. That's a fun one. Haley wrote about Kyrie Irving already wants more help in Brooklyn.

We're going to get into Kyrie in a second. He's been popping off. And then Dan wrote about the biggest delights and disappointments at the midway point in this season. Coming up later in the show, we're going to talk about Dan's story and piggyback off of it and give some of our delights and disappointments. But first, let's review the latest news from around the league and bringing our regular contributors, Dan and Haley. Boom, Shackalaka. He's heating up. He's on fire.

All right. So after we recorded this, and before we go on, on to the top of the show here. News came in. The Chandler Parsons says that he suffered a potentially career-ending injury in a car crash. According to a statement by his lawyer, Parsons suffered multiple severe and permanent injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, disc herniation, and a torn labrum. Allegedly, the person who struck him in the car crash was charged with a DUI. So we're not sure what kind of condition. he's in, and it seems that

according to Chris Haynes, that his return to play is unclear. But we just wanted to send out our thoughts and prayers to Chandler Parsons and hope that he has a speedy recovery. All right, one of them is in studio, one is way across the country on our NYCHQ.

It's he checked coast to coast with... You know what? They're not just regulars. They're my favorites. It's Haley and Dan. Thank you, guys. And we got Bobby here. Hello, everyone. New, new, Isaac. new,

Bobby. I love it. Yeah, new Steve is Bobby. That's what we'll call them. We got all kinds of stuff to get into. Let's get to it. It's NBA instant replay time. We have a trade. The Blazers set, Kent Baysmore,

Anthony Tolliver, and two second round picks to the Kings for Trevor Erezza, Wen Yan Gabriel, and Caleb Swanagan. Initially, people were like WTF, what's happening here, but Woj explained it to everybody. The Blazers saved $12.3 million and cut their luxury tax bill in half.

Haley, do we like this? I like it for the Blazers. My instinct, even before considering how this helps or hurts the team is, oh, good for them. Because if you trace this back, it can be traced back to Evan Turner, which is like always been a little bit embarrassing for them. They shaded him to the Hawks for Baysmore this summer and now obviously sent Baysmore for this. So they have to pay a lot less. And they are saving $12.3 million in salary, but their luxury tax bill, they're saving $16 million. Right.

they cut that in half. So the numbers here, Dan, not exactly sexy stuff to discuss. But Kent Beasmore, for a team that really needs help has been injury ravaged, a disappointment for the Blazers this season. Yeah,

I mean, part of the problem is just that, like, Kent Beasmore is a guy that can guard three positions that, but one of them's not power forward or center. You know, so like what they've needed

without Alf Rukamina without Mo Harclis and with the injuries they've had in the front court is somebody else that can plug in the gaps of front. He's just not the right guy for that team right now. The thing that I'm most interested about with this is just, is this a precursor to something bigger for Portland or not?

Like, when we looked at who might be sellers, I kind of suggested the idea for them might be like ride out the suck. Like, don't sell off anything important. Just be bad this year. Try to do your best to make the eighth seed. But if it doesn't happen, doesn't happen. Sometimes years don't go your way. The best, their biggest move now might be something like if you can move Hassan Whiteside to get out of the luxury tax completely. That might be a way to do things.

But it's probably like this is a precursor to them not. doing a ton and just kind of saying, we'll give it a shot with Dame and CJ and Mello and see where we go from here. Riding out the suck. Farewell, Kent Baysmore. He's gone. Mike Connolly is back. He returned on Saturday in a win over the Kings. Missed a month with a hamstring injury. He played 15 minutes. He took three shots. He made one. Down season for Conley across the board, Dan, shooting 36% from the floor. All his counting stats are down from a season ago with the Memphis Grizzlies. The jazz, however, are humming right along. Do we think Conley will get it together?

Yeah, I mean, I'd bet on track record more than anything else. You know, it's a guy that's averaged, you know, about 15 points and 6 assists a game for 12 years. It's a career 37.5% three-point shooter before he got to Utah. Like, there's a track record of stability there. And realistically, all he needs to do with the way the jazz are playing right now, just to get himself back into the rhythm of things is be like a manual, Moodye, or better. So he's going to take those backup point guard minutes right now because that starting

lineup is killing people with him out of the, out of the mix. So all he has to do right now is just be that level of okay and then figure it out from there. I have confidence that he's going to get there. I like Mike Conley's ability to clear the Emanuel Mutiate bar. And as you mentioned, they are playing really well, Haley. They're 2913 as we record this. They're in fourth place in the Western Conference. They are nine and one over their last 10.

To Dan's point, like if they get anything out of Mike Conley, they should be contenders in the West, no? Yeah, absolutely. It also doesn't have to be that a team improves because of players out. The Jazz were 12 and 2 without Conley, I think. But that doesn't mean they can't just plug him back in. I think him being out genuinely helped them figure it out because it helped Donovan Mitchell assess like, okay, I need to do more.

And we shouldn't have been splitting this the way that we were splitting this. But that doesn't mean that they can't plug Conley back in. That doesn't even make sense. He's so much more talented. Yeah, he's really good. I love him. You know who else is really good? And also back to his old self.

Kairie Irving. It's back to doing his Kyrie Irving thing. He recently told the athletic that he might not come out and say things publicly because that only puts a lot more emphasis on the situation. And we all went, huh, maybe Kyrie is growing a little bit. So much for that. After a loss of the Sixers last week, Kyrie said it's transparent. It's out there.

It's glaring in terms of the pieces that we need in order to be at the next level. He cited the injuries and continued by saying, we've got complimentary young guys that have done a great job the last three years. Wait for it. Collectively, I feel like we have great. pieces, but it's pretty glaring. We need one piece or two more pieces that will compliment myself. K.D., DJ. He gave Garrett Temple a shout out in this one. Spencer, Dinwiddie, and Karras Levert. I love Kairie popping off. But for the two of you, Haley, we'll go,

this feels like it's right in your wheelhouse. Thoughts on Kiree returning to his unique brand of leading by talking. Why is this in my wheelhouse? This is your kind of thing I think you enjoy. Oh, no, it is. First of all, if you're talking about Kevin Durant, the first person that you're mentioning is Kevin Durant, then you're thinking past this season. And if you're thinking past the season, why are you talking about it publicly halfway through this one? Especially if you've just gotten back, it's bad leadership to indicate to the people around you that they are not enough. That's a conversation to have with management. Obviously, he's allowed to talk with management. That's the only reason they signed DeAndre Jordan. So that's where you should, that's where you take it.

You don't take it to the media. I care not at all about his leadership and very much about the content. and I have staked out my corner on this one on this podcast multiple times. The more he talks, the better it is. I hope he never shuts up. Dan, I'm very curious about your take here. I could see you going either way. I could see you being excited about the content, but also like, okay, boomering this. Which way are you going?

It would be weird for me to okay, boomer Kyrie Irving, because I think I'm significantly more of a boomer than him. But I think to me, the thing, well, honestly, the next thing that Kyrie said in that presser was even wilder, quote, when I was out for those seven weeks and not saying anything, but people are still saying things about me. It's inevitable. You know, they crucified Martin Luther King for speaking about peace and social integration. You know, you can go back to historical leaders and great people in society who do great things, and they're still going to talk shit about them. It is what it is. So I don't think Kyrie is necessarily comparing himself to Martin Luther

King Jr., but it's in the ballpark. And I think the, it leads you to wonder what the lessons are that he learned from his time in Boston and how he's applying them in Brooklyn. Ultimately, as you you guys are talking about, this is a gap year. All that's going to happen here is, can we figure out some things that we can bring into next season once we have a healthy Kevin Durant? The concern, and it's the concern that a lot of people have had since the beginning of the season, is that things go so wobbly and so haywire while you're waiting, that it's just even getting Kevin Durant back to solve all your problems.

I'm not sure this gets you there, but I don't think it gets you further away from that either. Like I said, I just want him to keep talking. And the idea of him trying to self-censor, that was never going to really work. And now we're back to the usual Kyrie, and I'm here for it. We've talked about that a lot, though. We've talked about this next topic quite a bit on this show as well, so we won't spend too much time on it. So much for the proposed schedule changes to the NBA, according to Wojj, who just had a monster

weekend. NBA has informed teams that will continue to take a long look at changes to the NBA calendar, but will no longer take a vote at the NBA's board of governors meeting in April. There were concerns about protecting Christmas Day and travel for the Final Four receding proposals. According to Woj, the NBA has been working closely with teams, the NBA, PA, and stakeholders, and wants to continue studying how in-season tournaments, play-ins for the 7-8 seeds, and the reseeding on the final four could, and this is the important part, best be planned and monetized

in the long run. I think there we have it. It was always about the money. Was it not, Dan? Yeah, I think so. I mean, when we've had this conversation before, I've wondered, like, how are you going to get 30 extremely wealthy ownership groups on board? with maybe making less money from fewer games in the schedule.

So if you cut it from 82 to 78, you're losing those home dates. And it sounds like nobody's really got a great answer for that yet. So until they have an explanation that's going to make this at worst revenue neutral and hopefully, you know, like making you more money, I don't think you're going to get any movement on it. All right, Haley, I want you to join me in this next one because I wanted to run through all that other stuff just so we could leave ourselves some time for this next topic. So I found out something very exciting over the weekend. We like to think of Hitchuk as a family, right?

I mean, you guys are my coworkers and my friends, but really, when good things happen to you, I feel like good things happen to us. And Haley, how exciting is it that Dan Devine has an all-star vote? He's all grown up. You're all grown up. What did you say blog boy turns into blog man? I feel like it just took me like a smooth decade to get here. But yeah, I'm all growns up. The NBA offered me a vote.

I was one of the voting members of the media panel for All-Star starters. And I freaked out. And I said, yes, thank you. and now I've been freaking out ever since. I'm freaking out. This is amazing. I wrote down, it's like we all have a vote. Hooray, heat check, and I put it in all caps because that's how excited I was.

And I am. So let's talk about, did you submit the ballot yet? How does this work? Do they pay you extra money for it? Can you have Adam Silver on the text message now? How does this work? No extra money. No money exchanging hands for votes.

I cannot stress that enough. This is the wrong way to do it. I would immediately be, you could totally brought. May. That said, if anybody does want to hit my Venmo up, let's talk about it offline. Peruso. This is how you get in. This is amazing. This is the way you make the, yeah, that's how the sausage gets made. So, yeah, you know, you get a link to a form and you can fill in names. You pick two guards and three front court players for each conference. You have until 11.59 p.m. Eastern on Monday, January 20th, to submit it. So I have not submitted the ballot yet. I've been going

through it and trying to figure it out. And I'm wondering if maybe you guys can help me. This is wonderful. We're going to get a sneak preview and help him out hit us. I honestly, I would not trust myself to help you. I'm going to leave this to you and just whatever you say, I'm going to clap. Listen, I have an app on my phone I specifically downloaded today that has an air horn on it. So whenever you say one, I'm just going to press the air horn. I love this. Bobby, I'm sure this will help you a lot with your editing. It's going to go great. Hale, you need to prepare, though, because the next person on the show to get a vote

is going to be you. It's not going to be me. The NBA is going to come to you next. Look, I'm telling you guys directly, do not do that. No, I think it would be wonderful. It would be wonderful. I will vote in Alex Caruso and Taco Fall. All right, Dan, hit us. What are you got? All right. So two, I guess I said, three front court spots, two guard spots for each conference. Start out in the East. Obviously, lock Janice out of a cunbo at number one. Haley, please do not get the app. All right. Bair, bear, bha. That's just me.

Haley is the app. Go ahead. Right. For the second front court spot, I put Jimmy Butler out of the Miami Heat, which bummed me out because I was like, why can't I make Jimmy Butler a guard on this team, but I'm not allowed to. The drop-down menu says he is not a guard. He is a forward. That's a story for another day. That's done. Third front court spot we're going to come back to. Okay. Because I have an open spot on my little spreadsheet here. And yes, I do have a spreadsheet because I am a sick nerd. the guard spots. I have in here at Kemba Walker of your fight in Boston Celtics, team that Gons, I know you're a big fan of. Yeah, always.

And also somebody from a team that I know you are a big fan of, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers. Shoot a three, make the All-Star game. Honestly, to me, it's more the other side of it. It is a vote for the value of everything else Ben Simmons does, which is everything else at a great or elite level.

and then this being the other thing. So I think that the overall value and what he has been to them, especially on the defensive end, has been, you know, sort of incalculable. So that's my vote there. Other names under consideration in the back court, Jalen Brown in Boston has been fantastic. Malcolm Brogden for, you know,

has been tremendous on the ball in Victor Olipo's absence in Indiana. I couldn't get myself to Trey Young as a starter being like maybe the worst defensive player in the league, even how great he is offensively. I just couldn't get myself there. and, you know, Kyle Lowry, Bradley Biel, a slew of other names. And the front court spot, so if you mention, if you remember, there was one empty spot there. I do remember.

I've been listening in Tenley. So I have four names that I'm trying to figure out for that spot. Hit us. Joe L. M. Bede. Go ahead. You're good. You don't even, I get the other three names. I never heard of it.

Pascal, go ahead. Pascal Seacum, Domanta Sabonis. Bam out of bio. Ooh. So are we, we're really how. having this conversation? Dude, going strong. Well, here's...

Email it in and be like, I'm here. You guys can't take this away from me. So here's the thing. All right. The best player of those four players is Joel M.B. Am I right, Gons? You are correct. He has played 11 fewer games than Bamatabio,

nine fewer games than Subonis, and about 500 fewer minutes than Atabio, and 400 fewer minutes in Sabonis. Both Mbid and Siakum have played 31 games being out from Injjjjibon. So the question is, are they better full stop than those other two players buy enough to make up that gap? So just to remind you of your history here, because if you aren't aware of it, you'll be doomed to repeat it. This is the same argument that ended up with Malcolm Brogden as the rookie of the year instead of Joelle Ambide.

He's the best player. Just put him in. Also, know your audience. I just did a whole thing about how we're family and we're debating this thing. This isn't know your audience. let's know your direct superior who's allowing you to be on this show. This is, listen, this is a kumbaya show. We each have one third of the program.

I'm going to leak our text exchange. Every week to say nice things about the sixers. I vote for Embed. What is your vote? No, it's Embed, yeah. So the fact that Siakum, like, sort of took that leap from, like, almost star to, like, MVP candidate in the first quarter of the season doesn't weigh in for you guys. It does. I love Pascal Seaccombe.

He's an all-star. He's missed the same amount of games, no? If Pascal had played more games, then yes. I don't even think it's that big of a gap between him and Embedd. I don't think it's a, I mean, I'm not saying in talent. I'm not saying in potential. No, Pascal's incredible. But this season, yeah.

Pascal's incredible. I'm still going Embeddead. And part of that is baked in filiism, but it also legitimately me going, like, if I had to pick one of those two players, I'd pick Embed because I just think he's got the edge. Which way are you going to go? I have until 11.59 p.m. tonight. Oh, come on. You're doing a podcast here.

You can't hedge on this. You've got to tell the people what you're going to do. Oh, my God, he's picking on the spot right now. I am leaning toward Embed for the reasons that you said, like the idea that when he's out there, he is a more valuable and better all-around player than the other guys. The idea of not having a Raptor or a pacer represented in the starting lineup and having two Sixers, given the way that season has gone,

is kind of a little bit shaky to me. It's weird. So I'm still wrestling with that a little bit. I think the first cut is going to be out of bio. So my apologies to, bam, you are one of one, but you are not one of my starting five. And we will figure out the rest from there. But I'm leaning in Bid, and we'll see where the rest of the day takes me. I'll take it.

That's good enough for now. Give us the Western Conference. All right. There's a similar open spot here, but I think it's a little clearer. But I'll see what you guys think. First two front court spots are both Lakers. LeBron James, Anthony Davis. I don't see any way you can argue around that.

There is a blank next to that. Okay. And then in the back court, again, I don't know how you can argue against James Hardin and Luca Donchich. I think those are two, those are four pretty much like easily understood lead pipe locks. Yeah. The final spot in the front court, this is the truth. It is sad, but it's true. Before I went to bed last night, I laid down in bed and thought, oh, man, what's the difference in games played and minutes played between Kauai Leonard and Nikola Yolkich?

Let me go just over quick to basketball reference and just run a player comparison finder. see what that is. And Sarah was like, what are you doing? I thought you were in bed. And I was like, I had to just do a thing for work. I didn't explain to her what it was because I thought I might have gotten divorced on the spot. It would have been better if you just said watching porn. It would have been less nerd. It would have been easier for you to handle. Yeah. That's true. It would have been less embarrassing and more understandable. But so having done that, it's a similar kind of deal. Kawhi has played in 33 games. Yokic has played in 42. It's about 250 minutes or so difference. Advanced stats actually lean.

toward Yokich on this. Winshares per 48, box plus minus, value over a placement player. A lot of these sort of line up leaning toward Yokich. Kauai's got a higher P.E.R. He's been awesome. Like 27, 7 and 5 when he's been in the game. But the overall net rating stuff,

Yokch is about plus 14 plus per 100. Kauai's plus 10 per 100. And you're talking about, again, a nine or 10 game difference for teams that are like up in that upper crust of the West. So what say you, is Kauai Leonard better by enough to make up that gap. I feel so hypocritical because even when you were saying those two players, I was like,

Yokic, Kauai has not played enough at all. See? That's what I'm talking about, man. This stuff drives you nuts. All right. Maybe I'm taking, maybe, well, no, because Pascal missed the same amount and it really has to be between them. Yeah, I was Yokic 100%. Listen, as I established in

the first part of this conversation, I'm all about where the numbers lead me. So clearly it's, it's Yokic. I mean, why would this even be a conversation? See, that's the, okay, the thing that I have a hard time with, though, is that it goes back to that, and sort of Embed versus the field argument of like, when Embed's on the floor, he is clearly either the best player on the floor or the second best player on the floor in every game he plays, right?

Just about. This one, it's like, I, Yokic can be that and is that a lot of time. He wasn't that for like the first month. And then he's been sensational since. Kauai was that dipped and has been unbelievable for the last like six weeks or so or a month or so. So it's like where do you go? I think if I'd rather have Kawhi Leonard than Nicole Yokic if I needed it for one game.

But over the course of the full body of work, it's a little bit harder to sort of parse that value. The distance in minutes played and games played is not as vast as it is for and Bede and some of those other guys in the eastern front court. But I'm thinking about like trying to weigh that value proposition. And honestly, I'm not really sure where I'm at with it right now. This is incredible. Do either of you watch the good place. Bobby, do you watch the good place? I do.

Yes. This is a very cheaty. Like you're basically cheating. There's no perfect solution here, guy. Just go with your god, as Katie said when he was tweeting, it's just the All-Star game. It's not that serious. Well, see, you say that. I know because you're not the one whose mentions are going to be a frigging tire fire

and like a super fun site, like the Gowanus Canal when this all goes up in his public and I have to write about it. So it's easy for you to say, man. It is. You don't know the power of the vote guns. That's true. You're right. It is easy for me to say, and I did say it, but I wish you luck.

And I'm very excited about you getting the vote. And you'll tell us eventually, if you don't spontaneously combust, what you ended up picking. I'm going to need real quick, yes or no, or quick answer. New Steve, new old Isaac, Bobby Wagner. Where are you going on this? Which one in each conference? Oh, so I get to vote on both conferences. Yeah, you do.

I'd like, for you, I would like you to get very hard behind Subonis and just make it like your weird internet corner. But if it were me, I would choose Embed for the fun of it because it's an entertaining game. And then between Kauai and Yokic, I would go with Kauai, just because I feel like the reason that Yokic holds the edge on all of the advanced stats that you were listing is because he's been weirdly lucky on defense despite the fact that he doesn't really pass the eye test. So in this specific instance, I would just like to see Kauai. He's a smart man. It's why we brought him in to fill in for Isaac and Steve. You know what? I'm with him.

I'm going and beat in Kauai as well. Final thoughts on this. No, and beat in Yokic. Okay. Well, there you go. Dan, you'll have to think that through. Thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate it. He'll just be a pool of sweat this entire time. That was NBA instant replay.

Let's go to the main event. All right, so Dan, you wrote a fun story about disappointments and delights from the midway point of the season. We thought we'd go around the horn and we'll each list one delight and one disappointment. Haley, you decide. Do you want to do delights or disappointments first? Delights. Okay, give us your delight. Get some positivity.

Dan, are you doing the Grizzlies? I was gonna Nope I want you to have them I want you to have them I have many delights this season Okay great One is the Grizzlies

I won't deny it But I will pull in audible because I am intelligent And I can do that And I'm going to say The Miami Heat The Miami Heat absolutely All of their young players

Are so exciting Kendrick Nunn is very fun Duncan Tyler They're great I love BAM seeing him grow. Jimmy Butler, it's been so much fun seeing, like, he only wants that mentality, and now he's matched up perfectly with a franchise who can give him that. It's been fun to see

him lead a team legitimately because in the Sixers, he had to play a role. And I think he was fine with that, with the wolves. He wanted to be the guy to elevate them. And he was, but they just never meshed. He's with the heat. The heat are good again. The NBA is fun when the heat are good again. We don't talk about that enough. Like, you know, we say that with the Celtics and the Knicks, which never happens. But it's true of the heat too. Oh, I'm sorry. Hell is just sniping at me at nowhere.

I'm sorry. Yeah, I didn't mean that. We didn't need that. Anyway, I'm going to say them. I also want to say that if no one else says it, the thunder are a delight. A surprise for sure. Yeah.

Yes. And also a delight because I love watching SGA. And we've got to say the Raptors, Pascal. And it's just been fun. Also a surprise. It's been fun. And they are legitimately fun to watch too. No doubt about it.

And as we know, Raptors Twitter, NBA NBA show here loves you and you guys are fantastic We love you and we support you and we recognize you and we see you. Please don't come for us.

Dan Devine, what's your delight? You mean besides that? I'm going with as Haley mentioned, the Memphis Grizzlies. I'd like it noted for the record.

I got the Grizzlies in the third round of our league pass draft back in October. That's true. I probably said the worst things about that. You were an early adopter.

Isaac, I think might have taken the Kings first. So shout out. God bless the dead, Isaac Lee. But the Grizzlies have been... Gone and forgotten. To me, John Morant might be the most exciting player

in the NBA right now. Yeah, he's incredible. Jaron Jackson Jr. is really moving toward like a full-on unicorn status. He's shooting more threes. He's playing fantastic on the break and on defense. Jonas Valanchunis just sort of brutalizes dudes every now and again, which is a lot of fun to watch.

You forget about him, but he's like super important to their starting lineup. And all the young guys are coming along. Dylan Brooks is having a fantastic year. Tyos Jones has been great for them off the bench. De Anthony Melton I talked about last week. Absolutely love what he brings to the team. They are legitimately exciting, and you could see the fun they're having.

It's so much fun to watch them enjoy what they're doing. I can't stress enough. If you have league pass, if you get the chance to catch them, you will not regret it. Jha is like a one-man band, man. Like that Cavs game where he threw down the one-handed alley-oop that he got from Crowder that was just incredible and dynamic. And I was like, holy shit, I can't believe he'd, He threw that down.

And then also, he would have had what would have been the assist of the year where he had this in the same exact game. He had this spinning behind the back, no look, incredible pass to Triple J who then got blocked. He had no idea. But he was watching the ball come into his hands. And even from the back view, you can tell he's like, what the fuck? This is for me? This is not supposed to be here. He's like, you were too high up to be doing this right now.

He's incredible. It was beautiful. Please, please, please watch him. Yeah, he's super, super fun. All right. not super fun, but I'm picking them as my delight anyway because I'm sort of a bastard this way. I'm going to, my delight this year, because I, Chaden Freud, I've said this before, I've written it before, but it's true. It's a German word, but it's functionally Philadelphian.

I love Chaden Freud. And what is better than the New York Knicks? Dan Devine's New York Knicks, not to Knicks fans, but for everybody else have been a friggin delight this year because they can't get out of their own way per usual. James Dolan, uh, just being an asshole, consistent. to just everybody in New York. I love it. Steve Mills and Scott Perry holding that impromptu press conference where like this isn't going well. David Fezdale, bless his heart.

Collect those checks. Put your feet up. Have a little drink with an umbrella in it and just like cash the money. Good for you on getting out. I love that they like that there's this rumor that they're interested in Andre Drummond when they have Mitchell Robinson.

I mean, because of course, if you can lock in Andre Drummond, that's the thing you want to do. I love the story about how they don't want to trade Marcus Morris because again, if you've got a journeyman that you've overpaid, you've got to hold on to him. And then maybe my favorite story of the whole NBA season

was the kid who made the half court shot when our guy Zach Kramm shots to Zach and his Zacks. The Knicks hadn't made a half court shot. They were like over 76 over like the last five years. And this guy comes out of the stands and makes a half court shot and they reward him with a thousand dollars

worth of frigging scratchers, which he's probably still scratching off right now. Nix! Holy shit do I love the Nix? Gons, what happened to he check as a family, man. What happened to... It's a bye. I was like, my jaw was open for like five minutes while you were saying that. I couldn't believe you went.

What's the opposite of an air horn? Like, what's something I could do to show? This is really disrespectful. A little wamp-womp. Sad trombone. I mean, you're not a Nix fan, are you? No, I'm not. That's what I'm saying.

Like, as a non-Nix fan, don't you love it when the Nix just like fucking trip into a rake and smack themselves in the face? it happens all the time. I don't love it because I'm not, I'm an NBA agnostic when it comes to teams, but I am also a Mets fan in baseball. And it is very reminiscent of that. And Dan Devine, you can't even imagine what it's like to be a fan of both.

So no, I don't wish that ill on any other fan of any other sports. Yes, I am. Yeah. Oh, I'm not, Dan. I know you are, Bobby. That's tough stuff. I just made Dan really sad.

I'm sorry, Dan. No, no, it's cool. What time is it? Time for drinks? Let's go. That's everybody. All right. So that was our delights.

Let's do disappointments. Haley, you lead off again. My disappointment is the $38 and $6. No, I'm just kidding. It's Dan. Wow. No, I'm just kidding. It's the Sixers.

What? Okay. I'm sorry, Gonn. No, please. I just thought they'd have it more together by now. And it's really that simple. They have so much potential. And I understand that I've seen on Sixers' Twitter.

Let's just appreciate this for what it is. And then, you know, y'all flip-flop a lot because then there's Sixers Twitter who's like, these two are never going to work together and we need to figure it out right now. It's really as simple for me as I thought they'd be better and I wish they were better because it would make everything a lot more fun. It would be. It would be a lot better for everything, all my friends and family at home when I was there for the holidays. They just spent the entire time talking spicy about Brett Brown, who as you guys know and listeners to the show know, I love and I hope everybody leaves them the hell alone. I disapprove of this pick, Haley O'Shaun.

honestly, although we might be of a similar mindset when we get to me in a second. Dan Devine, your disappointment. We'll go quickly through this. The Sacramento Kings, some of that it's not anybody's fault. You know, they've had injuries to De Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley and Bogdanovich is hurt now. Rishon Holmes, who was awesome for them early in the season, is hurt. They've had like a real disjointed season because they haven't had their full team together. It haven't really developed a rhythm.

But they're doing shit that they should know better than to do. Like, what was good about them last year, what worked was that they played fast. They let Fox and Buddy Heald get out in the open floor and just run rampant, fire up threes, get to the rim. They were third in pace last season under Dave Yeager, according to NBA.com, all the way down to 28 this season under Luke Walton. Slowest offense in the league after a turnover, which is like nuts when you have Fox and you can get out on the break in the open court. Everything that was fun and loose is like just feels really tight right now. There was a really notable quote, I thought, according to Marcus Breton of the Sacramento B, they gave up 123 to Utah on a blowout. out loss this weekend. Afterward, Luke Walton was asked why the team wasn't playing more physical,

and he reportedly said, I don't know you'd have to ask them, which is not really what you want to hear from the coach halfway through the season, and guys are like, you're losing, you're getting blown out, you're not responding, and all of a sudden it's like, yeah, well, you've got to ask them why they're not given effort. I don't know, I can't coach that. It seems like it's going to get worse before it gets better, and that's not really what we were hoping for a team that was really exciting last year. As we said, Isaac picked them very early in our league best draft. hasn't been so much fun for them to watch. Yeah, shouts to Riley McIntyoo,

he was really excited about this season and probably less so right now. Kind of a bummer. I also initially, Haley, had the Sixers down. I'm not going to double disappoint them, though, because that would be too much. Sixers' Twitter would lose their minds. I will say that as my buddy, Mike Levin,

noted from the Wrights to Ricky Sanchez podcast, say the name. Noted over the weekend. They didn't lose to the next 90, 87. I watched that game, and I was like, what the hell is going on with this team? I don't know. I had high hopes for them this season.

They are a built for the playoffs kind of team. Maybe it'll get better. But I'm not going to double disappoint then. And at least we didn't suggest trading Embed. So Sixers, Twitter, again, in the same way that Raptors, Twitter, please don't come for us. Sixers, Twitter, please don't come for us. I'll go to the Western Conference for my disappointment. This sucks.

The Portland Trailblazers. I was so excited about them last year. They made the Western Conference finals for the first time in two decades. I love Portland as a city. I love the aesthetic. I love Dame Lillard as a player. Like everything about that team and that experience when you go see a game up there

is incredible. And then this year, it's just a bummer man. The injuries have killed them. They haven't gotten, they haven't been as consistent as they were last season. They just haven't gotten in a rhythm. They bring in Carmelo Anthony, who's actually played pretty well. And still, that hasn't been a boost. As we record this right now,

they're trailing the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference. They're also trailing Dan's hated, Coastal elite Dan Devines hated San Antonio Spurs. they're trading the aforementioned Memphis Grizzlies. This is not where the Portland Trailblazers wanted to be this season. And I don't know that it's any one thing. Like I look at them and I watch these games and I'm going like, you know, injury-wise, yes, it sucks, but like what's going on with them?

I can't figure it out. So I think by all accounts, even Ian Carmel front of the program and Hecheck would admit that this is not the way that they wanted to go. Oh, interesting. So I never would have guessed that you had the Sixers. You're blindly optimistic. Initially, I had them, but I'm not going to double disappoint. We can't both disappoint on the Sixers.

That's too much disappointment. Yeah, that's a lot of... I can't have it. Yeah, no, that makes sense. My friends and family would come for me. That would be the end. I'd be so I'd be so on the Sixers. I want to note that it was Haley and not me if you want to reach her.

She's at Haley-O-something on Twitter. Feel free to reach out and tell her what you think. Why don't I give them my Venmo while we're at this? Let's do that too. That was the main event. Let's go to everybody's favorite segment. sweeping the nation, it's time for good call, bad call. What a bold call here.

We'll start it off with John Moran. We mentioned him earlier in the program. Chris Haynes reports that there will be no dunk contest for John Morant. That is a bummer. As we said, he threw down the business end of a crazy one-headed alley-oop, and it got me wondering, like, oh, man, what kind of insane dunks would he bring out in the dunk contest? Haley O'Shaughnessy, you always lead us off.

Good call or bad call on just sitting out the dunk contest. Test. Everything is telling me to say bad call, but that is so selfish of me. I'm not John Moran's first hater and I will not be his hater right now. Whatever he wants. Good call. If it's what he wants, good call. Dan Devine. Yeah, I mean, good call. We already have the dunk contest participation we need with Dwight Howard. So I'm not, I'm totally fine with that. Boo. Bobby Wagner, good call, bad call. Good call. When you know that everybody wants you to do something, you got to make them wait a little longer, make them earn it. This is a decidedly BC for me. I love Jha. I was super excited to see him out there. And now, as Dan said, we'll just have to settle for Dwight Howard, who's going to be dynamic. We move to the next one. Lamello Ball is leaving the Australian League to prepare for the draft.

There was a story going around, possibly apocryphal that he was leaving to spend more time with his horse. This is not what I'm going to ask you about. This is the part I'm asking you about. His horse is named, I swear to you, Lamello. He named his horse after himself. Haley O'Shaughnessy, I cannot wait to get your opinion on this. Naming an animal after yourself, G.CBC. Hell, yeah, brother.

Being from Kentucky and going to high school in Indiana, there are so many horse girls. And God bless them. And that's such a horse girl thing to do. You love your horse so much. You named after yourself. Honestly, this is a testament to how much he loves himself to. And self-love is very important. today. I love it. Dan Devine.

I guess, I don't know how I can argue against that. I don't have nearly as much horse girl experience as you probably would think. You'd be an excellent horse girl. I like to think that I would be a caring horse person, I guess. I don't know. Good call, Lamello. You have a name that's wonderful. You might as well share it.

Maybe as long as it's not like Lamello Jr. That would be a little bit weird, the cross-pollination of that kind of thing. I like that you correct it to horse person. We don't subscribe to gender normative descriptions here at He Check. Bob Wagner. Is there a WC for worst call? I hate this so much. This is like, if I could put on my sports radio caller voice for a sec, like, I just

wouldn't draft him because of this. This is very rare. Oh, man. Like, boy, are you in the wrong place? I think you guys know that this is a big time GC for me. It's so weird and I love weird. And yeah, man, name your horse after yourself. Why the hell not?

In other animal news, we've really found this sweet. spot today, the cross section between the NBA and Animal News. Josh Richardson gave an interview to Sixers Wire in which he explained that he had wild iguanas in his backyard in Miami, and he named them. I'm going to read a quote here. Well, there's Terry, who was the first one. When I moved in, there he was. He was like a little green one, like light green.

Then there was O.G. Larry, because he was really big. He was like big, like dark green, and he had these big spikes on his back. So he was like O.G. Larry. And then there was Barry. who was just real skittish. He would just run and kind of piss me off. And that was it. So those are the three.

G.C.BC on Josh Richardson, naming his wild iguanas, Terry, O.G. Larry, and Barry. It's so funny to me when people name their pets human names. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like, they'll say, this is my dog. Barry. I'll be like, no, that's spud.

It shouldn't be Barry. So we have two dogs named Dasher and Blitzin. We love Christmas on our house. But initially, Dashers, name was Doug, and we, to this day, regret renaming him because Doug the dog is just too goddamn good, so periodically we call him Doug. I disagree with your take is what I'm saying. I kind of like the human names because they're so weird. I mean, that's fine. Why are these all, and why is Doug also like a 60-year-old guy's name? Yeah. They're all, whatever. I mean,

yeah, whatever you guys want. So what are you doing here? No, I'm just kidding. It's really not for Haley to say, Gons. Really not for me. I'll do a good call, support whatever people want to do. She's going, good call. Dan, which is not far off from Doug, what do you say? It's true.

I have many dog-like qualities. I would say, I think it's a good call because it feels to me like he's sort of like, it's like a backdoor pilot for an animated series about Three Aguanas, Terry, Larry and Barry, like they like in a Huey-Dooie and Louie type situation where they all rhyme and they get into mischievous adventures. Also, I love the idea that Terry had, was fine on one name. Barry was fine on one name. Oh, G. Larry. Larry needed to have a modifier. And that really makes me very happy. I like the idea of taking a pet and going like,

you need something extra. You need an honorific. Like, that's Dr. Harris. That is, you know, like, Sergeant Grimmis. This is who we're talking about here. So I think Josh Richardson has done a nice job. And better that than like, oh, yeah, that's Josh Richardson, the iguana. Like if you're lamello ball, yeah, Lamello's the horse. Josh Richardson, Josh the iguana, no, thank you. Josh Richardson put some thought into this. What say you Rob Wagner. I'm going to go G.C. But Josh Richardson, for the love of God,

drop the strain, bro. I love it. I love all of it. Hey. I get that reference. I even get that one. This is a GC for me as well. Last one for you.

This involves our very own Dan Devine and the Grizzlies who are just all over this podcast. Once again, I want to remind everybody that He-Chek is the one and only Grizzlies podcast on the Ringer podcast network. That's our team. But Dan wondered aloud why the Grizz played, Where is my mind by the Pixies in the fourth quarter? Well, guess what?

Justin Baker, the Grizzlies DJ responded to him and said, it's for when we do something cool, late game, and it usually signifies we're about to kick into fifth gear, which I call, quote, metal mode. Helio-Oshonnessy, GCBC on the Gris going metal mode in the fourth quarter. I had to look up this song. But then once I heard it, I have heard it. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, metal mode. Cool. So metal. I'm about it. It's a very Memphis thing to do. The grit and grind has now evolved. into metal mode. Dan, I know where you're going on this. Yeah, I mean, A, that's like, I love that song. It's a good call for me. So any, any instance

to play, where is my mind? Where people younger than me might know that as like the closing scene in Fight Club? Like, they're watching the buildings blow up. Oh, yeah. That's right. That's right. The idea that any franchise would have something called metal mode, Memphis sounds exactly right to me. So that, I think it's a good call all the way around. Also, if you're watching Memphis on League Pass, the music they play throughout the game is, just fantastic. There's plenty of great drops, hip hop, rock, metal, whatever. It's a value add to watching games at the grind house. Great call all the way across the board. Yeah, I saw you say, if you put me on the spot and ask me which of the 30 teams had metal mode, it would take me

roughly seconds to immediately go to Memphis. You're absolutely right on that. Bob Wagner. Good call. I like it. Just for the fact that maybe some player might roll in wearing like a chain wallet and like a black leather jacket, you know, it might inspire some of that. that. I love it. Roll up a pack of smokes in your t-shirt. It's a G-C for me. And also, Dan and Haley, can we give a G-C to Bobby Wagner filling in today? Be certain. He really good. Just absolutely killed it today. Bobby Wagner, we want to thank you for filling in for new Isaac, Steve Allman, Dan Devine, Haley O'Shaughnessy, great job. Thank you. All of you for listening. Please rate and review us. If you don't mind, check out all of our great content on

the ringer.com. Listen to the Ringer MBA show on the Ringer podcast network. He check will be back next week on Monday. Thanks for listening, gang.