The Ringer NBA Show - The Shallow Lakers, a Kyrie Irving Setback, and Max Player Buddy Hield? Plus: the NBA League Pass Draft | Heat Check

Episode Date: October 14, 2019

We review the stories coming out of this weekend: a minor Anthony Davis thumb injury, Kyrie Irving’s reaggravated facial fracture, the Kings’ Buddy Hield contract dilemma, and Zion Williamson’s impressive performances (2:51). Then we draft all 30 NBA teams in terms of watchability (12:16) before deciding whether an NBA news item is a good call or bad call (42:42). Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Haley O’Shaughnessy, Dan Devine, Micah Peters, Isaac Lee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer NBA show is presented by State Farm. The moment we've all been waiting for is about to arrive. The official start of the NBA season. This offseason was filled with a lot of big changes in fresh starts. For the fresh starts in your life, talk to a state farm agent. So when it comes to insurance, you don't have to go it alone. Fresh starts all over the NBA. You've got Kawhi and PG in Los Angeles, Mike Connolly in Utah.

And of course, Al Horford leaving Boston for a much better city, America's best city, frankly. Philadelphia. Talk to a state farm agent today about a company. combining your home and auto insurance and get a teammate who can help you prepare for the big changes in your life, State Farm. Today's show is also brought to you by the Google Assistant. The Google Assistant is ready to help you get more done with just your voice in the car at home and everywhere you take your phone.

With the Assistant, I can send a text without typing on my phone just by saying, Hey, Google, text Dan Devine, you were right, which is something I tell Dan all the time because he's frequently right. Comes in handy. A little help, hands free. just say hey Google to get started. And now let's start He Check. Welcome to He Check.

I'm your host, John Gonzalez, joined as I am every week by my producer, Isaac. Hey. Isaac, we are just eight days away from the NBA season tipping off. It's here. It's here. I've been watching preseason basketball because I lead a full life. But soon we will have regular basketball to watch. And we'll have lots of basketball to talk about. We want to thank you guys for listening.

A reminder to please rate and review us wherever you get fine podcasts. And don't forget about all the great. NBA content we have on the ringer.com. Haley compiled a very fun list of a modern NBA dictionary, and she also spent some time with Drew Holiday, so you want to read those two pieces. KOC has a piece about

Christaps, Porzingis, and Luca Donkich together on the Mavs and what the Mavs offense will look like this season. Dan Devine has like 10 other stories. Be sure to check those out, and this isn't basketball, but I love Breaking Bad. So be sure to to check out all of our El Camino content. We've got various think pieces up there

by Allison Herman and Miles. and then we have an exit survey, so that's all very fun. Later, coming up in the show, Micah Peters will join us for the second annual league pass draft. Isaac, as you remember, I won that last year, I think. This is fake news. This is completely false. Pretty sure I won that, but we're going to do another one.

We're going to do another one run through all 30 teams, which teams were excited to watch. But first, let's go to our regular new contributors who will be with us at the start of every show, every week. Let's bring them in, Dan and Haley. Boom, Shakalaka. He's heating up. All right, joining me.

One of them is in Studio 1 is way across the country in our NYCHQ. It's He Check coast to coast regulars. It's Haley and Dan, gang, two weeks in a row. We did it. We didn't get fired after week one. Hooray! Coastal elites. We did not get fired after one week.

We'll see how week two goes. In a little bit, we're going to have our second annual league pass draft. But first, we're going to review some headlines from around the league and a segment we're calling NBA instant replay. All right, so the Lakers are back from China Gang. And as we all know, the NBA shutdown media veil amidst the international controversy with the Chinese. Popovich popped off again and fired back at Trump. But we did our geopolitical pod last week, so we'll continue to monitor that in the future. But some basketball-related things that happened in China gang, Anthony Davis off injured.

Injured again, sprained his thumb versus the Netsi has a grade one ligament strain. He's going to have an MRI on that on Monday. So by the time you guys listen to this, we might already have more news on that. But we'll spin it forward a little bit here. Haley, do the Lakers have enough depth to survive an injury to Anthony Davis? I'm surprised you could ask me that without laughing. Of course they don't. What?

You're going to shade Javail and Dwight? You don't think Javill and Dwight can do this? Honestly, absolutely not, because what we saw worked well was Javail next to AD, right? It's not even a matter of them being good backup centers, which, by the way, they're not. That's a completely different problem. It's about who's going to take over the four position. That affects the three. They have a couple guys who are interchangeable, but they don't have enough guys.

And they absolutely still need Anthony Davis. What else would it be than last year's team without Lonzo? Yeah, that would be a bad version. Dan Devine, I suspect that you concur with Haley's assessment here. Yeah, I mean, if I'm going to have to take the opposite side of, nah, they're totally fine without Anthony Davis. That's going to be a rough beat for your boy. I mean, it's going to be pretty big for them to get Kyle Kuzma back at some point.

You know, they're reportedly nearing return from his foot and ankle injury. Yeah, you know, he barely, oh, he wasn't able to play for Team USA because he had that injury. So getting him healthy in operation, at least gets another body into the mix at the four spot. We sort of expected this team was going to go as far as the MVP caliber talent takes it. It's a good thing you have two of those. Well, you know, what if you don't? And what if you're without one for an extended period of time? Certainly not the start that they were looking to get off to at the Lakers.

This is something that lingers for a while and they get off to a slow start. Is that danger Will Robinson for the Lakers? Can they overcome it? Because they do. I mean, the West, I don't know if you guys have checked this out. We're going to look at this when we do our league pass draft. The West's pretty good. That's my expert analysis. You've been saying a lot of really smart stuff today.

Thank you. That's why the listeners come to He-check. I want to say that I just looked up the Lakers'EF chart and 10 people are listed day-to-day, two out, obviously, Cousins and Dwight. They're taking some liberties with the term death chart with the Lakers. Well, in fairness, we're all day-to-day pending something horrifying happening to us. Gonda has already threatened us if we screw up today. Yeah, that's it. That'll be it for all of us.

I'm not going to say that Gond's father time, but he could come for us all. That's fair. I am very old. All the other things that developed in China, the net's a little setback with Kyrie Irvin, who aggravated a facial fracture. I've never had a facial fracture. That sounds painful. Aggravating it also does not sound good.

Same question only. We'll go to Dan this time first because he is in New York and lives in Brooklyn. The concerns over not having Kyrie around potentially. The Nets are sort of maybe better position to handle a little bit of that at least because you've got Spencer Dinwiddie around. You have Karis Levert. You've got some guys that can handle the ball and run the offense. We saw what the Nets look like with that last season when those guys sort of took a step

forward next to DeAngelo Russell. I think you have to be a little bit worried, though. Kyrie has, you know, I believe it's Jeff Stott's from the injury blog in street close called it. a propensity for facial fractures. That is a bad propensity to have. I'm not trying to get regular face breaking as part of my diet. But apparently, Kyrie's bone structure has some concerns to deal with.

And the mask issue, I mean, sometimes he's been great with that. Sometimes he's been not. So I don't think they're expecting him to be out for an extended period of time. But without KD, it's going to be the Kyrie's show. You need to get him on the court as soon as possible. Dan, you've got to get more bar fights. Get some facial fractures. I'm not too far behind Father Time.

My bar fighting days never happened. And if they did, they would be all long gone by now. They're long in the past. It's for the best. You have a handsome face. I don't want to see it broken. You did mention Spencer Dinwiddie, and I want to bring this up as well in other news and other headlines. Spencer Dinwiddie is charging ahead with his plan to turn his contract into an investment opportunity, despite the fact that the NBA said he can't do it.

He's going to do it anyway. As our resident financial expert, she's always pushing IPOs and cryptocurrency. She's basically the Jim Kramer of Heech. Haley, explain this to me because I do not understand. I'm giving you the dirtiest look right now, and Isaac, you're going to have to cut this? Because I don't fucking know. What the fuck? You didn't tell me I was going to have to talk about this?

Listen, this is all part of the heat check operation now. You are... Haley IPO Shanisi. Haley IPO Shanisi. I figured gambling is essentially the same as investing, right? Why not? Dan, you've actually checked this out a little bit, right? Have you not?

Didn't you, like, at least read the athletic article about this? Yeah, I've taken a quick look into it because I don't understand cryptocurrency. or tokenized securities or a lot of other words that make our eyes glaze over. But what I do know is you need 150 Gs just to buy into this whenever it starts. So I think Isaac's the only one who can get there. That's Isaac Lee money. Once he switches to a full-time singing career. Well, I was going to say just the residuals off of Halaluka alone should get him there.

Right, right. That's like one chain. Nobody even understands the salary cap. Today I did a post about new dictionary, MBA terms. Yes, it's an excellent post. Everybody reading on the ringer.com. for returning fans. And I was like, look, nobody really understands this shit anyway.

Don't worry about it. Just learn like three of the basic terms. Throw them out as much as you can. Say luxury tax at least five times a conversation. Nobody want to talk and be with you anymore. You want to make anything up. And now we'll throw Spencer Dinwiddie's investment opportunity contract into that mix. Speaking of contracts, Haley, and this is one I know that you have paid attention to.

The Kings and Buddy Healed are apparently at an impasse. He would be restricted free agent next summer unless they reach a contract. contract extension this month. It's a bad 2020 free agent pool. There are reports Haley that he's willing to take slightly less than the max to stay with Sacramento. Riley McAtee, our resident Kings fan, maybe the only Kings fan,

says give him the max and just be done with it. Is Buddy Healed worth a max? The Kings absolutely have to keep him. I think that he's one of the most underrated players in the league and he got a lot of attention last year. Plus, what was all this for if you can't prove your point? What was this entire trade for?

the jokes about the next Steph Curry for and then all of a sudden he's the best three-point shooter in the league looking like it in a couple years will be that title probably for sure. What is all this for if you don't keep him given the max? I think that plus also it's Sacramento. It's Sacramento.

Nobody's coming there by choice. He's telling you I'll take a little bit less than the max. You absolutely have to keep him. Make him happy. The best point that you made was it's Sacramento which I have often referred to as the Cleveland of California which I don't know which one is more insulted to which state or city, but it's true.

They're very similar. Nobody's going there. Give him the max. My apologies to Sacramento and everybody lives there. Dan, give him the max, right? Yeah, the complicating factor for that is just when you're really bad for a long time and you've got a lot of young guys on rookie scale deals, you've got to start thinking about what the future looks like.

So De Aaron Fox is going to come up at some point. Bagley's going to come up at some point. They're going to get there with Bogdan Bogdanovich right away because they signed him to a longer-term contract out of Europe. So he's going to hit restricted free agency as well. All these guys, they're all, they're only important in parts of the puzzle. They got to figure out kind of who is going to, you can't pay all of the maxes off their rookie deals eventually. And then complicating that, you paid Harrison Barnes a lot of money.

So like maybe that was sort of the complicating factor that makes everything else harder. But I think you're right. Healed should be worth that to them because even if he's only worth a little bit less than that on the open market, you've got to kind of solidify what you have in Sacramento because you can't just fall back after what you had last year. and he was a huge part of what made them so successful. And as I mentioned earlier in the show, The West, I looked at it. Very good. You're going to need some talent.

Last point here for headlines and continuing the idea that the West is very good and you're going to need some talent. Zion Williamson, as advertised so far, gang, just absolutely murdering people. And I suspect when we do our league pass draft, he's going to be top of mind for some people. But 21 of 25 overall from the floor in his first couple of preseason games, watch out. That's it. That's my analysis. Watch out. Gons, you're crushing it this morning. I'm in mid-season form. Watching him go to the hoop every time.

I know we say that there's the phrase you can power your way to the basket. He, like, is the only one we should be saying that about right now. It's wild. I haven't seen this in so long. All right. So we're going to talk about Zion Williamson. I suspect quite a bit when we start our league pass draft. That was NBA instant replay. Let's get to the league pass draft. Let's bring in and yet another member of the He-check family, Micah Peters.

What's going down? We have Micah here. We've got Isaac here. We've got Haley and Dan. We're going to do the second annual league pass draft. Last year, you guys weren't on the league pass draft last year. Isaac was, however. Isaac, correct me if I'm wrong.

I won last year. I will correct you because you are wrong. The winner, I believe, I think it was Juliet. It was Juliet? Yeah. Because I named, it was an arbitrary decision by myself, and I was more concerned about keeping my job. Oh, that's right.

I forgot we let you decide who the winner was. This year, we're going to have a different judge. Just so everybody understands the rules here, there are no rules. Pick whatever team you want for whatever reason you want. Just give us an example or a reason behind your methodology, why you are picking this particular team on the League Pass. We're going to draft all 30 teams. We're going to keep it moving. Dan Devine, I'm looking at your handsome face.

We're going to keep it moving. And we're just going to run through these teams because there's all kinds of reasons why people like to watch various teams on League Pass. For example, last year, I watched an inordinate amount of Phoenix Suns basketball because I lead a full life and I like to watch Devin Booker Cook. So who knows who will end up on my team or your team. But I have determined the draft order very scientific. Haley's first. Ladies first. Why not?

Ladies first. So in your estimation, you're very scientific requires no explanation. You showed no work. No work. Just pointing to the person to your right. It's going to be Haley, then Micah, then Dan and I, and I'm going to be the end of the snake. I'll go fifth and sixth.

So Haley, you get to go first, kicking off our 2019 NBA heat check annual week pass draft. Isn't it obvious? It's the pelicans. I don't want to miss a single thing Zion does. So I purposefully put you first randomly, randomly, as I said earlier. And then Mike a second because I wanted this to happen. Give us your explanation on the pelicans.

That's one way to treat people. Sure. I don't want to miss a second of Zion. And also, I did that feature on Drew Holiday. Yes, you did. I think that he's another player who we could see have a second emergence. And that's also true for, I think, Lanzo Ball, maybe more than Brandon Ingram, but both of them are possibilities as well. And they have some other really exciting young guys.

So I think it's a team of the future. It's like who we didn't know the Kings were going to be last year, but way more talented. They're going to be fun. And now they're on your league pass team. Micah, I suspect that that would have been your pick. They're off the board now. Who do you take number two? Wow, you suspect it might have been my pick?

I had a hunch. Okay, it's fine. I'm a journalist. You know what? My reporter instincts went off. I hurt people, hurt people. I'm taking the sexers. Oh.

See, this is just unfore. Can we at least, I mean, like, I invite you on the podcast. You come to heat show. And I feel like I've invited you into my home. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just, I'm just saying that I am just genuinely excited about the swaying thicket of limbs that y'all have in the paint. And also the fact that Ben Simmons is hitting threes.

And maybe he's hitting three. He's hitting three. Singular three. Singular three. Singular three. And, you know, like, also, maybe, maybe I'm excited about Zair Smith. Have you ever considered that? I just, I just feel like this is going to be a very contentious draft now. Now, now we're all trying to hurt each other.

I'm just saying that you started it. Isaac, can we at least get some music on this? That's the greatest. I can't look he just has that cute. I had him have a cute. It's the greatest song in the NBA, maybe in sports for at large. Dan Devine, you are picking third now that the Sixers are off the board. Ah, man.

So we're going with the theme of hurting people. I'm going to take Isaac Lee's Clippers. What? Why? This is an evil draft. They got Kauai Leonard. They got who's the other guy? Paul George, he's pretty good.

You know, I can cut this out, right? I can just edit all of your voice out of this podcast and make it that you never existed. I will not be silenced. not be erased, Isaac Lee. They were one of the most fun teams to watch for most of the last season, and they added two of the five best two-way players in the world. I don't know what they're going to look like exactly when those guys are all healthy, but I'm looking forward to watching a lot of it,

and Isaac not getting to. I mean, I love it. I love how petty this has become already. That's not how that works. You don't have to just not watch any other teams that you didn't pick. You probably, for your job, you should watch the Clippers. Yeah, first of all, League Pass has blocked out the Clippers and the Lakers in Los Angeles, so jokes on you.

And NBA Reddit streams is no longer a thing. RIP. God bless the thing. Isaac, Isaac, that's welcome to the club of being disappointed that you didn't get your team. You are picking forth with the clippers off the board. You know, it would make sense for me to take the New York Knicks right now. But I feel like that's more punishment for me.

So I'm going to take the Sacramento Kings because they're an actually fun team. They brought back the same exciting court from last year, Darren Fox, Buddy Healed, Marvin Bagley, Bogdan Bogdanovich. They lost the Willie Colley Stein, which is addition by subtraction, and they added some veterans. I'm going to have fun watching the Kings. Nobody has ever said that sentence. I will have fun watching the Kings. You're the first person to put those words together in succession in the English language.

I'm going to be in Hibbter. What can I say? I believe in last year's draft, they went in the final round. Good for the Kings, I guess. Go pay buddy heels. I feel like the Kings are like a ramshackle sled that's going really fast. They can only play in transition, and eventually the wheels are just going to fly off. That's so much fun.

Yeah. It's a lot of fun to watch. It would be like a really good leave fast team. They could be fun. And sure. Good choice, Isaac. It's Calvin and Hobbs going downhill. Haley, I would like to return the favor here, but I feel like you have a black heart and don't care about anything.

Don't have a team. Do you have a team that I can take from you? I have players. I have many players. That's what I was saying. Everybody else here has a team. How do you not have a team? Every Louisville player in the NBA.

Every Louisville player. Because, you know, Kentucky, professional sports, work, collegiate sports. Were you ever like a Pacer's fan by proxy? No, they were terrible the whole time I was there. Okay. All right, well, I'll just go with... That's not true.

That's not true because they had the playoffs against the heat and the LeBron. Wait, I thought you were like strangely a Timberwolves fan. I get randomly obsessed with teams every year and they are my teams, a number of teams. What are you? Which team are you obsessed with this year? Last year... I tinted them like little chickens. Haley, don't tell them.

You're going to steal them from you. And the kids... Well, I'm saying last year. Last year was the Nets and the King. And yes, Micah, for many years before it was the Timberwolves. So she's all over the place. I can't steal her team. I'm going to go with...

You're a masochist. You got to go with your instincts here. And the team that's fascinating is right in our backyard. A.D. may or may not be around. With the fifth pick, I'm going to take the Los Angeles Lakers. See, you did it because LeBron is my number one player. LeBron is still a human being who exists in his very good at basketball. We were all evil.

Your personal number one player? Just you. Yeah, just me. I'm very... Yeah, it's a niche take. I've held on. I'm very interested to see if the Lakers can actually realize some of the potential that we thought they might have last year. You know, when LeBron came into the league, I knew he was going to be good.

Nicely done, Haley O'Shaughnessy. She's a forecaster. With the six-pick in the Heat Check annual NBA League pass draft, I'm going to take the best and most interesting players still on the board. Give me Janus in the box. This is why you put yourself last. Well, that's a sneak draft. That's the best position. The hot corner.

Yes. I'll take Yonas. How are you going to take most dunks in the league away from me? Yeah, well, I wanted you to end up with the Pelicans. You didn't get it. Instead, you took my sixers. Maybe there'll be a trade later. That's an absolute, that is a filthy and odious lie.

You did not expect me to take the Pelicans. Maybe there will be a trade. Who knows? Isaac, you are on the clock. I'm taking the Dallas Mavericks. Yeah. Obviously, Luca Donchich. Also, now he has Christop Sprozyngas.

And also, the greatest basketball player to ever grace this. Galaxy is on this team. His name is Boban Marianovic. By the way, if you read Kevin O'Connor's piece today about how Luca and Chris Staps will pair together and the new look Dallas Mavericks, he's got some stuff in there from our guy, Bobi. Apparently, the Mavs very much want to play five out this year, and that includes one Boban Marianovich who is going to be cranking three balls, Dan Devine. That is unbelievable. And I mean, having too many seven-foot three guys shooting is there's no such thing. Seven-foot four now, actually. re-measured him. That's unbelievable. Isaac, well done. Way to bounce back from the ruination

I visited upon you in round one. Dan Devon, you are on the clock. Speaking of giant Eastern European gentlemen, I'm going to go with the Denver Nuggets led by one Nikola Yokic. They were one of the most fun teams to watch in the league last year. I had no idea if they were actually the second best team in the West or not, but they kept winning. Yokic is just a monster to see when he puts his mind to scoring, when he puts his mind to facilitating, whatever he wants to do. All those young guys, a few better trick-or-treat players in the league than Jamal Murray, tons of young talent. What is Michael Porter, Jr.?

Lots of things to be able to watch unfold. And I think they're going to be awesome to check out again this year. They're so deep. They're so deep. And last year, you know, like they almost, I mean, there was a scenario there where if the Spurs hadn't brainlapse in that game seven with the communication issue, where they don't even get out of the first round after being one of the best teams in the West all season long. So they've still

got something to prove. They're going to be a fun team. Micah, Peters, you already have the Sixers. What other pain can you visit upon the group? His face is just so full of regret right now. I'm like it's just really like, man, whatever. Fine. I'm going to take the second most dunks and go with the Utah Jazz. Oh my God.

That was the answer. That was the answer for Haley. Oh, my God. Yeah, I'm sorry. Did you want Donovan Mitchell on your, did you want the privilege of watching Donovan Mitchell? all season. Just, you know.

I was just wondering. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But I'm not, though. We can still watch these teams. I just know that they're underrated and going to be very fun to watch. Let's quickly touch on the jazz because I think that there are high expectations with the jazz having Mike Connolly now and adding Bogdanovich, who was just a killer three-point shooter

last year for the Pacers, especially in the corner on corner threes. Are we buying the jazz as top-tier Western Conference contenders? Is this the year where they break through? I think it could be. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, especially since they still have Joe Engels. I love Chingles. The thing is that, like, I absolutely would hate playing against anyone like Joe Engels.

I would not want him anywhere, like, on my team. Like, he looks like you're a shitty college roommate that leaves dishes in the sink. But he hits threes, and he annoys the shit out of everyone. And he's a great passer. It's a great passer. Suddenly, they have a bunch of shooters in a modern offense. I like it. It's going to be a fun team.

And, like, they're going to be playing, like, they were playing faster last. season, but it seems like they're going to play even faster this season, which would be great. Good for Mike Connolly, too. I'm excited for Mike Connolly to have nice things. Haley O'Shaughnessy on the clock for two. What clock? The clock that I have running right here. Do you have a clock? How much time do I have? I'm just kidding. It's the Warriors. I know this sounds weird, but for the first time, the Warriors are going to be a team that we're not sure what's coming from them. Their defense is going to be way worse. Danilo and Steph on the perimeter. Jamon's going to have to take over way more.

I want to see what he's like when he has more responsibility. I don't know when Clay's coming back. I don't know if they want to risk that early. Maybe they'll trade DeAngelo later in the season before the trade deadline. I mean, it seems like that's why they signed him. Them figuring it out is going to be interesting, and they're going to be interesting for the first time in like two years. I am very interested to see what a season long Steph Curry-Hecheck looks like.

He just put up 40 in a pre-season game. Why? I don't know. loved it. I will say, though, that I wonder how much of this past couple of seasons of just grinding out an entire season followed by like the lengthy playoffs, followed by all those finals appearances, like, that's got to take a toll on Draymond, that's got to take a toll on Steph. Now they don't have KD. Now they don't have Clay. Like, how much do they have left in the tank? I know that Kerr just said that Steph's never been in better shape. Everybody's in career best shape at this point

in the season. Like, that's something that everybody says in training camp. Yeah. There's so many questions here. We all in this room are in career best shape. I'm not. You guys, as Dan said, I'm fathered time. My career best days are over. Give us another team. Raptors. That's interesting. I love Pascal. I love him. I love Fred. And I feel like I want to see. Her on first name basis, he's with all these dudes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Fred. I, you know.

Father Fred. He did have Steph Curry running from the ass whipping in the finals. He was great in the finals. They're very interesting to me. I want to, I like teams when I'm not sure what they are anymore. when the star's gone. Can you just say something? This is a bad pick. They're not going to be all that fun to watch. Man, we don't even know how that,

I don't even know how we win this. Dragging your third pick, all right. There's no record. Nobody's told me how we win this. There's no right or wrong in the heat check league past drafts. Dan Devine, you are a big fan of one Fred Van Flea, dating back from our times talking to him at the NBA finals last year. He's a delight.

He really is. And he's actually in a pretty interesting position because the Raptors just extended Kyle Lowry's contract for another year. 31 million, so he's under contract for two more years. Van Vleek hits unrestricted free agency this summer because he was an undrafted guy, not somebody that's going to hit restricted free agency. So they've got to figure out, like, what's the price point for him, what's the role for him over the next couple of years, and what do they do with Lowry?

So I think he's a really interesting player in a team that, I think Haley's right. We don't know exactly what they're going to look like, but there's a lot of talent still there to be able to either be fun or whatever. We'll see. I'm glad we're a unifying force so we don't get kicked off. Against Isaac. This podcast. No, I think like, massage.

has a lot of decisions to make and in the Eastern Conference, which, again, going back to my earlier analysis, the West, very good. The East, by comparison, not as good. The Raptors could still be a thing in the Eastern Conference. There's a scenario where they're, you know, in that 4-5 middle of the Eastern Conference playoff pack. Kyle Lowry, not dead yet, just got a new contract. Who knows what happens with the Raptors? He's still out there. Not dead yet. Not dead yet. Micah Peters, you are on the clock. I am going to go at the Brooklyn Nets.

Ah, boo, I was going to take the Nets. Yeah, I was going to go out. Yeah, I was going to go out to Brooklyn Nets because maybe this is the year that D'Andre Jordan figures it out. Him and Jared Allen are going to dunk a lot. That is the last reason that you should pick the Nets.

There are so many more exciting players. DeAndre Jordan is going to play 20 minutes a game. They have like the three-headed snake with Carislevard and Spencer, Dinwiddie and Kari Irving, who's, you know, going to swashbuckle. I'm still thinking about Karras Avert just beating James Ennis' ass with an inch of his life during the finals last year.

Do you remember that one panel where it was just like, I can't remember who it was that was sitting on the bench that was just staring over Ennis's shoulder. It wasn't good for him. But the Sixers did okay. Yeah. They did okay. They did do okay. They did do okay. They did do not do.

They did do they make it through a year. year waiting for what they're really going to be. You know, Durant, they're saying not going to come back before the end of the season. So everything's sort of a holding pattern. I'm excited to see what Lavert looks like. He got the extension. You know, he's sort of a building block now. Jared Allen's a backup center it looks like right now, which seems crazy.

That's weird. But I don't know. That'll change. That'll change very quickly. I think it should. But I mean, you know, your man just got $40 million because DeAndre is friends with the guys that matter. So, like, maybe he winds up playing.

I don't know. I'm interested, but I don't, they also might not be that much. much better than like a 44-45 win team. And I don't know if they arrive at it in a particularly explosive way. I will also say that Kyrie Irving has never played a full season in his career. He played somewhere in the 60s the last two years. And he'll undoubtedly miss time this year. He has a propensity for facial fractures.

Yeah. I heard about that and that's not good. The aggravated facial fracture. That kind of echoes the 2017-18 Celtics, right? Exactly with Kyrie. So I hate watch the Celtics As listeners of He-check know and understand I'm interested to see where they fall in this draft

Which brings us back to Dan Devine Who I maybe he'll go with Boston We don't know Dan, you're on the clock Yeah, I'm gonna take not the Celtics Okay I'm gonna go with and this is admittedly from a record perspective This is a bit of a reach But I'm going with the Memphis Grizzlies

Love this Love this pick they were on my board What? No, I swear they were on my board Because I am Charks got me into Triple J before he was even in the league. He was so much fun to watch last year before he got injured. He plays at both ends of the floor.

He protects the room. He shoots threes. And also, I am way high on John Moran. Absolutely. I think he's leading the preseason and assists per game right now. He's already looked like he can play pick and roll in the NBA at a high level. They've got just a bunch of weird dudes that are fun to watch. Like Bruno Caboclo is in the mix there.

Brandon Clark, their first round pick. They could be a really sort of big, it's like a giant team that doesn't know what to do with its hands yet. and I'm kind of interested to see how that all plays out. De Anthony Melton is a weird little dude playing point guard. He might wind up being sort of like Tony Allen 2.0. He was like the thing they got in the Josh Jackson trade this summer. So like, I don't know.

There's a bunch of interesting pieces and I have no idea how they all fit together. But they're like young, athletic, long, and I think you're going to be fun to watch. Isaac Lee, you're on the clock next. But I think we should remind everybody that of all the NBA shows that we do here at the Ringer, he check has long established that the Memphis Grizzlies are the team. of Heech. Yes, of course. Yeah.

Heech, you know, when we talk about Memphis or anything related to Tennessee, Heatcheck is the go-to podcast. There's no other podcast or podcast host on the Ringer NBA show who's connected to

or likes the Memphis Grizzlies. It's just He-check. So this is where you get all your He-check Grizzlies news. Isaac, you're on the clock. All right. I'm going to take the Atlanta Hawks because...

Wow, yeah, that's a very ringer peck. They were next up for me. They have a lot of fun young players, Trey Young, John Collins, Kevin Hurder, Cam Reddy. and then a very not young player in Vince Carter who's having his last season.

So I think they're going to be fun. Has he said it to his last season? Yes, it's one less year. You know that we're the same age, Vince Carter and I, and he's still out there dunking and playing about the same as it used to be. Excellent, yeah.

I always played above the rim. All right, I'm on the board for two. Another team that we have long loved here at He-Chek still on the board. I'm going to take the Blazers. I love all things. Portland. They made the conference finals last year for the first time in two decades. I love Dame. Have you seen their new court, by the way? It's a 50 anniversary court. It's beautiful. I love it. You know it with like the white pain area. Yeah. And the 50, the zero is the blazer symbol. And also I love their blood red, fire red alternate jerseys. CJ and Dame are a fun back court. I think Zach Collins could do some things this year. I'm hopeful that he'll emerge. I like the Blazers. I'm going to take the Blazers. I'm going to guess it'll probably do some things.

He's going to do some things. Last year, he's going to block some shots. He's going to block some shots. He's going to shoot some threes. I'm hopeful for Zach Collins, because last year I was hopeful for him, too, in the same way that previously, like, after Lamarcus Aldridge left Portland, I was convinced that Myers-Lennard was going to be a thing. As it turns out, he has too many cursive tattoos on his biceps to succeed.

It did not succeed. I was like, he's big. He shoots threes. He runs a lot. I could see Myers-Lenard. doing some stuff. He didn't do anything. Now Zach Collins is in that Myers-Lennard roll from me where I'm hopeful.

I was just about to get a cursive sleeve. And now I can't. And now you can't. Because then how would I ever make it in the league? You know, I don't know how you would. But I mean, like, you got the, you already got the wingspan. You just got to, we'll work on your tattoos. I don't know if you know this, but I have an unusually long wingspan.

This is great for this audio-only medium. You have wingspan in your dictionary. Dan, before I make my next pick, you had something. Two things on the Blazers. One, Zach Collins is like a member of the arcade fire, got Super Soldier Serum. And two, the thing that I really want to see from Terry Stotz all season is that spread collar, like 70s look that he had in the preseason game, where he was sort of confusing and bedeviling Mike Malone on the Nuggets bench with his chest hair. You need some more of that, like some Threes Company vibes from Terry Stotz on that bench.

And I feel like that will really amp up your viewing pleasure with the Portland Trailblazers. From the aesthetics to the basketball, I love the Blazers. I love Portland. With my next pick, as I mentioned to you guys earlier, This is a little weird. I watched a weird and strange and probably too much amount of Phoenix Suns basketball. I'm doubling down. I'm taking the Suns again because I love watching Booker Cook.

I like D'Andre Aiden in the Pick and Roll, although he's bad defensively. Who knows what's going to happen with Kelly Ubre? They got my man, Dario Sarge, but more than anything. And this is something that you and I were talking about in a pre-show meeting. They have my guy, Rick Rubio. I love him so much, I call him. He's handsome. He's an excellent.

Now you add Ricky Rubio into that equation. I'm watching all the Phoenix Suns games. Gans, have you heard the expression fool me once? I have. Okay. Please. I'm encouraging them to fool me again. That's how much I love the Phoenix Sun.

I'm the only one. I'm the only Phoenix Suns fan out there. Isaac Lee, you're on the board again. I'm going to take to Oklahoma City Thunder. They got some nice young pieces from my Los Angeles Clippers. It'll be kind of like watching last year's Clippers in a way, like a dismantled version of it, just in Oklahoma City. Guess who's not in Oklahoma City anymore?

Russell Westbrook, so it's going to be a lot more fun to watch them. That's confirmed. That's a direct shot at you, Micah Peters. Go back to your stats page on NBA stats. NBA stats. Go back to your stats page and your community. Go back to your zero-calorie basketball. Dan Devon, you're up.

Well, it's about as good a time as they need to take the Houston Rockets. Come on. You need to see what it looks like when James Harden and Russell Westbrook play together. It might be like the episode of Pete and Pete where they turned on a dehumidifier and a humidifier at the same time right next to each other and everything just exploded and burned a lawn. I'm not exactly sure. That is a deep pole. That is a deep pole. Well, I'm like I said, I'm right beyond like a stepfather time.

I got to Google some shit. Yeah, I didn't catch that at all. That's fun. It's like a matter and antimatter. I don't know how it's all going to go together, but I'm going to be interested to see. see how it plays out. That could be the best offense in the NBA. The defense could be absolute trash. Also, Mike Dantone's

a lame duck coach, and I have no idea what it's all going to look like. Micah Peters, you are up next. Hmm. All right, and I guess we're getting into the weeds here a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. I'm going to go with, I'm going to go

with the Spurs, just because, like, I really like DeJante Murray, and that's literally the only reason I have for that. He's healthy again. That's fine. Somebody has to take the Spurs, Somebody has to do it. You took the spurs. I took the spurs. Shea Serrano's not here to take the spurs.

You do it on his behalf. Haley O'Shaughnessy, you are up for two. So both of my teams are players that I really like to watch in new situations. So the first one's Boston. I'm very excited. I'm very excited to see Kempa with people who are good. Which has literally never happened in his entire career. So that's my first.

And then my second is Miami because Jimmy Butler. I feel like he fits so well there, and they do have really interesting pieces that we've been ignoring for a couple years because they don't have someone like Jimmy Butler. They no longer have Whiteside. I think that they're going to be an interesting team. Usage monster Jimmy Butler is going to be both fun

and also potentially a major problem for the heat. I mean, it's just going to be Jimmy Butler gets to do whatever he wants, the Jimmy Butler show. That can often be entertaining, and it can often lead to wins. And conversely, it can do the. exact opposite. Yeah, I think that that weirdness has the chance to be either like a total train wreck

or the third best team in the east. And I don't know which way it's going to go, but it'll be interesting to watch it. Who knows what's going to happen in the east? Michael Peters, you're up again. Speaking of not having any idea what's going to happen in the east, I'm going to take the Pacers because I like the mode that Victor Oladipo

gets into where it's just like, I'm going to drift out to the halfway line and then sprint directly on my defender and shoot a pull-up three. The Pacers are consistently overlooked in every regard, not just on the league pass draft, but also in the actual league. Like the last couple of years, their feisty team after Depot went down, they could have completely folded. They didn't.

They get Malcolm Brogden. They add him to the mix. Feisty is a good descriptor because they're like consistently just good enough to ruin a better team's day. Yeah. I mean, Miles Turner is, you know, I still have high hopes for Miles Turner. And by the way, they got T.J. Warren for basically a song. I like T.J. Warren.

I think he's good. He's going to be in the mix, especially with Bogdanovich gone. When is Depot coming back? That's a great question. We don't know yet. Nate McMillan just said the other day that he won't be doing anything in preseason. He's been working out a little bit, but he's not doing anything contact-wise in the preseason. So it's going to be a little bit before we see Yola Depot again.

But as we've seen with them in the past, they're scrappy. I like the Pacers. It's a good pick. All right, who's up next? We got Dan, right? Yeah, I'm going to go with the Orlando Magic for the... Wow. He laughs in spite of himself for the Markell Fultz situation,

because I don't know what he's going to be or what he really is. I think, and I wrote about this last week, I don't know that what he's shown in this preseason is appreciably better than what he showed when he was in Philly. But even that player can be pretty useful, I think. And there's a lot of young guys that can pop on that team, Jonathan Isaac, Moebamba. You know, there's talent there. They're going to be better than you'd expect. And, you know, there's a chance that leads to some watchable basketball.

Dan, bless your heart. I mean, they're a weird freak show down there in Orlando and I like it. I mean, you've got, you've got bomb and also, by the way, they have not one but two former failed first round draft pick point guards from the Sixers. MCW is also down there too, so that'll be fun. Isaac, you are up. I'm going to take the Chicago Bulls.

Because the Bulls are, you know, I don't feel passionately about this pig, but it's kind of like... You should let me have them then because I do feel passionately about them. But they're going to be like relatively good in the East. The East is so wide open. and like they might make the playoffs. Like Justin Vary and I were talking about this last week. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the Chicago Bulls make the playoffs because

they got Wendell Carter, Lori Markinen, they drafted Kobe White. It's just like a fun young squad. Again, I don't feel too strongly about this pick, but it's like I don't have kids, but if you had kids like you go watch kids like musical or a play or whatever, oh, it's like not that good. But, you know, you're smiling the whole time. I hate that you took the Bulls. I was very excited about them.

I think Zach Levine is in for a career year. very much wants to be an all-star. I think he's just going to put up crazy points. You mentioned Kobe, and they've got Wendell Carter and Marking in, and I think in the Eastern Conference, they could be something. I'm pissed off that you took them. And also, there's very little in the way of teams that I'd want to watch left here. So I'm going to go with, I like a train wreck.

People who listen to He-Chack know that I like a train wreck. There's a massive train wreck in the city in which Dan Devine resides right now. I have no idea what's going to happen with the New York Knicks. You've always got the James Dolan factor. They've got 47 point guards, including Frankie Smokes, who's still on that team and was marginalized last year and might also now be a thing again because he played really well in Fiba. Give me the weird Knicks, man. I'm a little bit mad. I kind of, I went with the magic because I thought you might pass the Knicks just for Hayton.

And now you've taken them away from me. But I totally agree. Also, respect Mitchell Robinson. Respect Mitchell Robinson to this giant man who blocks everything in sight. The only other player to block more than 10% of opponents' two-point shots was Mnute Bull. This guy is weird and fun and the only reason to watch the Knicks last year May he continue his rise in his reign.

Dan Devine has, since he started appearing on Heechak, he got in early, he bought stock on Mitchell Robinson before everybody else. So he was the first person there. I commend you for sticking with your guns on that. And I'm going to watch some Knicks basketball. Gons, I like how you mentioned all the point guards on the roster and not all the power forwards that are on the roster. Julius Randall, Todge, Gibson, Bobby Portis,

Kevin Knox, and Marcus Morris are on this roster. What, like, one of them will be there next year. Yeah, maybe. Exactly right. I'll take the Knicks, and I need another one. There's not a lot of teams left here. Like I said, I like weird and I like bad, and, man, are the Charlotte Hornets going to be weird and bad? I'm going to take the Charlotte Hornets.

I want to see Terry Rozier go and do whatever it is, the Terry Rojier is going to do. You're looking at me like I'm crazy Helio Shanisi. I probably am. I don't know. Look, they're not going to be good. I like a train wreck. we go now to Isaac Lee. Man, my last pick.

There are not many good options on the board. I'm going to take the Minnesota Timberwolves because they're just the best one that's left. Wonderful. Carl Anthony Town is good and Robert Covington is good and the rest of the team might not be. How do we feel about Culver? Jared Culver?

I mean, he's fine. Van Devine? I would say that I've watched about 13 seconds of Jarrett Culver playing professional basketball, so I don't really have a hard take on him. He has potential. All right. That's the kind of analysis you can get in the league past draft.

James Devine, you're up again. He's a basketball player, so that's what I have to say there. We do have that. All right, let's lean into the pain. Let's take the Detroit Pistons, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, man. Home to Blake Griffin. Isaac, you're familiar with his work?

Yes, yes. I have heard that name once or twice in my life, yeah. Micah Peters, your last pick. Wow. There's only two teams left. I will take the cavaliers who exist and have Colin Sexton. Tough times in Cleveland, which means that you're a Washington Lizards. End up with Haleo, Shaughnessy.

All right, that's it for the league past draft second annual. Last year, Isaac was the one who declared the winner. But Isaac, you have a conflict of interest this time, whereas I am an impartial judge. So I will declare the winner. I think it's me. I think I won. I really like my teams. Very objective of you.

I especially do not like the fact that Micah took the Sixers for me so that he can't be the winner. So we'll just go with me. We're going to end now, by the way, with a new... Hoisted by your own butard. Hoisted so many partards, so much hoisting. We have a new segment that we're going to end the show with called Good Call or Bad Call, in which I'm going to present you with a topic. And very quickly, you just run around the table and tell me, good call or bad call.

The kids these days, as my friends from the around the NFL podcast, I've been trying to make G.C. a thing for a while now. G.C. standing for good call. So we're going to make it a thing. Same amount of syllables. It's literally the same amount of syllables. You are saving no time. This is a point that many people have made, and I don't care because I like the idea of G.C.

G.C. or B.C., LeBron's new and improved and curious hairline. G.C. fake it till you make it. He needs to feel young anyway. The resiliency of LeBron's hairline is one of my favorite things. I think it's a good call. Yeah. Dan Devine. G.C. Be the person you see in your mind. That's a full, we're going to sweep it. Be the person you want to be.

I love it. That's a GC for me too. Next one for you, the Brooklyn Nets News Statement Edition jerseys. This is an auditory medium. We're doing a visual thing here. But for those of you hadn't seen it, it's got sort of like a yo MTV Raps 90s vibe font. Have you seen the jerseys? everybody bring it up real quick on your old computer machines take a look at it it's the statement edition jerseys I like them very much Twitter was sort of torn on this

okay the gray ones was the statement jersey okay now you're out on it it's a BC it's a bad call yeah because who used to make zoo York this is what it looks like that's exactly what it is like zoo York and the thing is that like when I think about it I see Macy's and I'm not fucking with it

I see ANM1 or Yo MTV Vaps for those of us who are a little bit older. I think it's a G.C. Haley O'Shaughnessy? B.C. Dan Devine. B.C. because you're trying to go for graffiti, but it looks too clean and too neat for that. Exactly. They're aiming at something and they missed it.

Isaac Lee, take us home? Oh, B.C. for sure. Terrible. I love them. I think they're really good and I commend the nuts. Yeah, but you like visors, though. I do like visors. I have somebody. I tried to make visors happen for a while. The advisor gang did not work out.

That was a BC. That was a BC. As our last one, as our last one. The president of the United States, as you know, was constantly on Twitter and tweeted out, where's Hunter? For those of you have been following politics, you know that he's talking about Hunter Biden. He tweeted it out in all caps. DeAndre Hunter came out of nowhere off the top rope, quote tweeting it and said,

what's good? DeAndre Hunter responding out of nowhere to the president and trying to get some attention, G.C. or B.C.? G.C. Because it has you bum vibes. And that was one of my favorite moments of that season. G.C. or B.C. Okay. So this is a difficult one for me because I think in general everybody should stop

quote tweeting the president. Just leave it alone. But also that shit was funny. It wasn't really, though. That's what I'm saying. It's not really worth it. So I'm going to go a bad call. Yeah. See, I convinced you. I'm going B.C. because it's on. It wasn't. It wasn't really worth it.

On two fronts. One, don't feed the animals to your point about retweeting the president, right? So, like, just leave him alone, stay away from him. And then two, beyond that, I think it missed on the humor mark. Dan Devine, bring us home. G.C., I'm a desperate dad who makes clout chasing jokes on Twitter. And he was a 21-year-old man doing the same thing. Shouts to him.

Shouts to him. Shouts to you guys. This was a very fun show. I want to thank Isaac Lear producer. I want to thank Dan Devine. I want to thank Hale-Oshonnessy. The incomparable Micahe, Peters was here. A very fun show, gang. Thanks to all of you for listening. A reminder to please rate

and review us. If you wouldn't mind on Apple Podcasts, don't forget to read all of our content on the ringer.com. Listen to the Ringer NBA show on the Ringer podcast network. Heat Check will be back next week with our new roster. Thanks, everybody. Bye.