The Ringer NBA Show - The Spurs Keep Coming Back | Heat Check

Episode Date: January 13, 2020

Instant Replay: The Nets beat the Hawks, plus the impact of Spencer Dinwiddie's off-court interests, a possible Sixers trade, and debating whether Steph Curry should return this season (02:42). The Main Event: Paolo Uggetti joins us to talk about the Grizzlies' fight for the eighth spot and why you should never count out the Spurs (16:39). Good Call/Bad Call: KD and Kendrick Perkins get into a spat on Twitter, Rob Pelinka gets an extension, and the glorious gift of scratchers (32:15). Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Haley O’Shaughnessy, Dan Devine, Paolo Uggetti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. Winging It with Vince Carter and Annie Finberg is back in full swing for its second season. Catch up on recent episodes with guests like Wycliffe John, who talks about growing up in Haiti, hip hop as a teacher, and performing with a goat. And you can hear from tennis phenom, Cocoa, on beating Venus Williams at 15 years old. You can listen to Winging It on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Heat Check, I'm your host, John Gonzalez, joined as I am every week by my producer, Steve Alman and Steve. It's wonderful. You're here. I'm here. And it's Monday. It's not Wednesday. We got the day right this time.

We got the day right this time. And I've been told by my incessant Twitter feed that many things have been happening in the world of sports. Yes. They keep having basketball. God. It never stops. Basketball never stops. We love basketball. But we're here on the right day. We're going to continue to have the right day. We figured it all out. It's a new year. It's a new us. But it's the same you guys. And thank you for listening. A reminder to please rate and review us. And don't forget about all the great NBA content on The Ringar.com. Lots of good stuff up there, gang. We have Dan Devine's five most interesting teams under 500.

We have Haley O'Shaughnessy, how to make the most of an NBA trade demand, which was very funny, very Haley. And Palo O'Ggetty, Palo Esco blog, with second half questions, which, very germane for this show, Palo will be here on the program in a little bit to talk about that very topic in a little while. And he'll probably stick around. We'll play a little good call, bad call. But first, a lot of news from the weekend. Let's review it and bring in our regular contributors, Dan and Hale. He's heating up.

All right, one is in studio, one is way across the country in our NYCCHQ. It's he checked coast to coast with Haley and Dan. Hello, friends. Hey, Gons. How's it going, Gons? Everybody feeling okay out there? It's a little bit of sickness over here in the NYCHQ. Yeah, so the girls are down with fevers, yeah?

Yeah, Chauvin and Olivia Devine are DNP fever today, so I hope they feel better. I also hope they're not listening to this show because we curse way too much for my small children to be listening to. Listen, education has to start sooner. than later. I hope they do listen to it because we need the downloads. That's true. Coach them up and get them back on the floor. Tape them up. Yeah, no more load management in the house.

They got to get out there. I don't have kids and I haven't had a fever in a while, so I'll figure it out. A lot of news to get to, let's review the headlines from around the league with NBA instant replay. All right, so we got a lot of players who are back in action. We're going to run through them quickly. We've got Kyrie Irving, who is back with the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets

beat the Atlanta Hawks by 22 on Sunday. They led wire to wire. It was the biggest win of the season. The fewest points allowed of the season. Kyrie Irvin comes back and scores 21 points. He only missed one shot. He had been out since mid-November with a shoulder injury. He had a quarter-zone shot around Christmas. They went 13 and 13 without him. We had debated the two of you last week whether or not they should bring him back because

obviously this is not the Nets year. It's going to be next year when KD returns. But clearly, Dan, your Brooklyn Nets. back Kyrie Irvin and boom, he's off and running. That's the missing piece. Well, I mean, are they going to keep playing the Atlanta Hawks every night? I think that's sort of the main question. I think that's how the schedule goes, yes. If you're going to come back, you might as well get a soft landing. I think the interesting part of it to me, obviously Kyrie looked great, but that Kenny Atkinson started Dinwiddie alongside Kyrie Irving

when they came back. He's had Karas Lever coming off the bench. That's a big sort of question for me, what the offense winds up looking like, and what they really, maybe more on the defense event, because they're going to score like gangbusters with those two ball hands. handlers out there, are they going to get picked on defensively with sort of a smaller back court? But so far, it looks pretty good. And I think that's the kind of, their offense has really struggled. They want to get some more juice in the offense. So getting the two of them out there together makes a lot of sense.

Haley, as we record this, the Nets are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Eastern Conference back end, not exactly gangbusters. There are a couple of, they're a game and half up on the Orlando Magic for that final spot. Upcoming schedule includes playing the jazz at home at the Sixers, Bucks and Sixers at home and then also the Lakers at home. With Kyrie back in the mix,

there's still a concern about his shoulder injury. He didn't rule out shoulder surgery. He said that he might need more shots as well. But with Kyrie back in the mix, chances that they move up in the east. Do you like their playoff aspirations? Well, and it's his shooting arm also, which has to be mentioned because that's obviously

the majority of his game and his handle. He definitely needs that, yes. If there's any time for him to come back, it's now. Yes, last week we were talking about. talking about potentially shutting him down. And that's really just to preserve whatever him and Katie are going to be. But if he's fine, I mean, I know that this was against the treeless hawks.

But if he could do this, they certainly need him facing the jazz who've won nine in a row, the Sixers, the Bucks, the Lakers. This is the time for him to come back. And he's back. And I like watching him. I also like watching Pascal Seaccombe who returned. He is back with Toronto. He started the game on Sunday.

He had 15 points. Sounds good in theory. only one, though, after the half. He missed all five shots in the second half, including a possible game-tying layup. The Raps blew an 18-point lead, Dan, to the Spurs. Nick Nurse said it would take some time to shake off the rust. What did you think of Pascal's return?

Yeah, I think it's encouraging just that he was able to get up and down and didn't look necessarily like himself from the beginning part of the season, but it's going to take him a while to get his win back and get his rhythm back. But the most important thing to me is that the concern with the Raptors was when all those guys got hurt at once, Gassal and Norm Powell, et cetera. that they didn't fall apart. They went six and five without Siakum in the lineup.

There are only a couple games back of the two seed, and they didn't, like, completely run Kyle Lowry into the ground during that stretch. I think that's the most important thing. Now that you get your larger collection of guys back together, you can sort of coalesce and see what you're going to be for the second half of the season. But they were already with inhaling distance of a home court advantage,

and now they get him back in the lineup. I think that sort of fortifies them as they go forward. Yeah, I've enjoyed the Raptors all season long. I think, like what we said, they've played well even when they've played well, even when they've had injuries and they've had moving parts and, you know, the cliches about the back against the wall and the next man up and the whole bed,

and they keep doing it. And I was going to count out the Raptors this year. And that was obviously the wrong thing to do. And as you said, they were in a hailing distance without Pascal. And now hopefully they'll continue to be. The Washington Wizards, they haven't been hailing distance of anything but the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They did, however, get two more players back on Sunday.

Bradley Beale and Thomas Brian Haley returned to the lineup. One of them looked good. of them did not. They lost at home to the jazz, but Beal and Thomas Bryant back for the Wizards. I want you to tell me which one looked good and which one did not. One of them looked good and one of them looked schmere. The good was Bradley Beale. He was out since January 1 with a lower leg injury, had 25 points and 27 minutes just cooking. And then Thomas Bryant back after six weeks. He was out with a right foot stress reaction, 20 minutes, just eight points and three assists and then zeros across the board with the rest of his line. He looked

shmah. Before we started recording, Gans said he looked schmah. And I refused to say it. And yet you just did. I did. Jokes someone, you tricked you into it. You were mentioning Brad Beale and Trey Young and their race for potentially getting All-Star Nots. Well, yeah, and then also Kyrie.

Because Kyrie should have, he played the Hawks last night. If had Trey played, then that would be the two leading boat getters for the guards in the East. And then there's Bradley Beal, too. But Bradley Beal is missed time. Do you want to throw out which one you like best? By the way, I like how you tied this beginning of the show into a nice little bow for us. I'm coming for your spot. You did a great job.

It was always going to be yours. I'm just holding the seat for you. I want Trey the most. I think he's the most fun and also the most healthy of the three right now. Dan Devon, you got a vote on that between those three? Not like it's probably not going to come down to just one of them, but pick one. Imagine it did come down to my vote. I was the one deciding those guys would hate me,

more than anyone already hates me. I would take Trey Young for the purposes of something new and for the purposes of he's outperforming and outproducing Beal in those categories. The fact that they're so bad, though, with or without him, it kind of makes it hard. The Wizards aren't much better, so I guess it makes it a little easier to say

we'll take a guy from the most losing team than another losing team. But yeah, I would go with Tre Young there. Wouldn't feel great about it. One more potential return to keep an eye on, not in the Eastern Conference, out in the Western Conference. Steph Curry, video of him shooting,

looking really good, getting up a lot of shots. He apparently will be re-evaluated on February 1. It sounds like he's getting close to a return. My question, though, Dan, should he be getting close to a return? This is obviously a lost season for the Golden State Warriors. They're sort of looking towards next season already. I know he wants to play, and it's a disappointing year for Steph, but he's the franchise. I think part of this is my Sixers talking right now, my Philadelphia, shut everybody down and just wait till next year. But should they at least consider that? I think they should. I mean, obviously, you're talking about a team that's nine

and a half games out of the eighth seed with 538 has them with less than a 1% chance to making the playoffs. So it's not a very unlikely that Steph would like galvanize them to a run to the postseason. But the big question that they've got to figure out next summer, it doesn't sound like they're going to move DeAngelo Russell before the trade deadline. So they've got to figure out what they want next year's team to look like. Is DeAngelo Russell going to be a part of that or do they want to move him this summer? And I think a big part of that decision making process is going to be what does he look like next to Steph Curry? So if you get a half season to take a look at it and some more reps, some more opportunity to

analyze what that looks like. I can see that being something that Steve Kerr in the front office wants to take a look at, especially if you, if it's like he's back from the broken bone and he feels comfortable and there's no real major extra reason to be concerned that he's going to get injured again. I think that makes sense to try to get as much information as you can before you got to make the choice this summer. Haley, I feel like you'd have a real strong take on whether or not Steph should just take the year off or not. Like, I do. How do you know that? I just, I just feel like this is right in your wheelhouse. But I don't know which way you would go. I could see you going either way here, but I know for sure that you have an idea

about it. All right, let's see what both of you think I'm going to say. I think you would say, I don't like the idea of Steph sitting out. He should get back out there and play. That's what I think. I'm 26. I'm not. Okay. Dan, what do you think? I think you're going to say if you can get a paid vacation for the next two months, go for it. What is the 26 component have to do with it?

That's a very, like, old man, get off my long go play. First of all, I want to say this. You said Seth Curry's the face of the franchise. No, he's not. It's Eric Pachow. Second of all, No, he can do whatever he wants. Steph should sit out if he wants to sit out. Maybe missing an entire season is like a pride thing for him based on his early seasons, which

were so filled with injuries. Maybe he wants to mentor on the court. Maybe his kids are at the age where they're getting annoying. Maybe he has to come back. I don't know, whatever it is, but this should be entirely up to him. To dance point, yes, that makes sense. Do you want to see if they can play if he can play with D'Angelo Russell? It makes sense.

But Clay Thompson's coming back and there's not going to really be a need for him anyway. I do really like the idea of the paid vacation. that sounds delightful. Last one for you guys for headlines. And Dan, you're New York Knicks. Boy, are they nickin, apparently, to these various reports. They did not make Dan's cut

for the five most interesting teams under 500. I don't know why, because they are forever on my list. The Athletics Champs Charney reports that they are interested in Andre Drummond. S&Y's Ian Bagley reports that it is more serious. These talks than just exploratory. The Detroit Free Press reported

that the Pistons are indeed looking to move Andre Drummond before the deadline. They have talked to the Raptors and Mavs, and they reported that the Nix potential package could include Frank Neal Akeena and Julius Randall. So sure. Dan, thoughts on the Nix looking at Andre Drummond, who has stated more times than not that he wants to become a free agent this offseason. Yeah, it feels really wild that the one thing that we feel like we know the Knicks have is a rim-protecting pick-and-roll dive man center on a cheap contract for a few

years. So instead, let's trade for one, give up some, you know, I mean, and the idea of Randall plus Frank, I mean, it hurts my heart, the idea that Frank would go, but that's not a lot to give up if you're not putting picks in the pile there. But to pay, for the right to pay him a max for four years after that, that's wild to me. I don't know. I, I, in theory. They don't even want They don't even really want to try out Mitchell Robinson, who's your guy. I mean, they have, like, in fits and spurts, and I realize that they changed the coach here, but with Fizz, there were moments where, like, oh, it looked like he was really committing to Mitchell Robinson, and then all of a sudden they weren't.

And the same thing is sort of happening now. And I just wonder, like, what is their plan with that position? I mean, listen, if you knew the answer to that, you could probably make a lot of money consulting with them. I would love to. Get out. I mean, James Stolen. Drummond would be a, I can see the idea as like a floor raiser sort of. Like Detroit's never been great with him, but it's also, like, he's a decent enough player

on both ends of the floor. He's, you know, certainly a more talented all around and a better all around player than they have at basically any front court position right now. It just seems like the idea of trading for a guy that you have to pay max money to lock in like good, not great or not really a raise in your overall ceiling, feels like, a lot of money to spend for not much return. So I'm skeptical that it would be a good idea. I'm not skeptical at all that they will pursue it, and we'll see.

It feels like a very next move. Haley, I need less word from you on this. I have struggled with Andre Drummond and figuring out what he is for a while now, so you be the final decider here. Is he good or is he just good stats bad team? No, he's not good stats, bad team. He's good at what he does. The problem is that it's extremely limited,

which is what's hilarious to me. Why is he opting out? Who is paying him a max? I can't believe this is a thing. Am I the only one who doesn't think he should get a max? If he opts out, he's going to be opting out of $28 million next year. Well, this is my point with Andre Drummond. I look at his numbers and I go, okay, he puts up numbers, right?

But it very rarely manifests itself in the Pistons winning. And then beyond that, Andre Drummond clearly thinks that Andre Drummond is really good, right? Because he's out there trying to showcase different parts of his game. And in the service of what? What are the Pistons doing? And if you're another team in a league that is increasingly marginalizing the center position, like how many people out there are, to your point, looking to give a max to an Andrejohnman? Everyone is trying to transform their offense or make it multifunctional.

You're not going to do that with Andre Drummond. He will give you those numbers. And he'll give you defense. But at what cost? At what cost? Literally, literally at what cost. Too much, Haley O'Shaughnessy. Too much.

That was NBA instant replay before we bring in Palo and go to the main event. Let's take a quick break for a world. from our sponsors. This NBA season, Mountain Dew, is all about the threes, the shot that's changing the game. Steve, help me out here. I mean, everybody knows

that I'm one of the youngest up-and-comers here at the Ringer. Oh, yes, absolutely. Nobody says otherwise. Future is so bright, I got to wear shades. And for me, growing up, I always watched Steph Curry because he's, you know,

he's a three-point virtuoso. And as a young child, watching him, it was quite exciting. His pre-game routine, he's bombing from half court he's doing stuff from the tunnel everybody loves stuff Curry and he's much older than me

so I'm excited to see what happens with the rest of his career and that was brought to you by Mountain Dew the official beverage of the NBA Do the Do The Do and now back to Heat Check All right joining us in the studio Staff writer extraordinaire Palau Getty

who you wrote a column You're a columnist now but you were slightly delayed in getting here because we were going to start the show earlier, but Palo was thrust into duty on behalf of Haley who demanded that she'd go and get him coffee. But he forgot all my red skittles. Also, when we sat down, Steve, she was like, where are my headphones? Like, people on this pod, like superstar Haley O'Shaughnessy's demanding things.

That's what she needed the coffee. Everybody's got to deliver for Haley. Anyway, hi, playoff P. What's up? Good to be here. Playoff Tee, I like that. It's not even the playoff time, but I'll take it. It's always playoff time for It's exciting. He wrote a very fun column that we're going to get into. It's time for the main event. All right. So, Palo, your column about second half questions leads us to start with the Western Conference. Haley, you had previously written about this as well. But Palo, I'm interested about your thoughts on that race for the 8C that now includes surprisingly the Memphis Grizzlies who have won five in a row and seven of their last 10. I love it. Like, I can't get enough of the Grizzlies. I'm actually watching Grizzlies. basketball for a while.

And I feel like it's like the bizarre other spectrum of what Grin'Gryon was. Like they were fun to watch for very specific reasons. But now this is kind of like, what if that but the exact opposite? And you just watch like jaw go at the room like crazy triple J's, which is I think what I like to call them. I don't know. People do J.J., J.J., Triple J. Has been playing really well. Wait, who does J.J.J.J.

Triple J. I've heard a bunch of different variations. Maybe J.J. Redick does that because he's. But the extra Jay is Jr. maybe. One too many Jays, but I'm with you. Keep going because this core is super fun. They were here in LA

I think about a week ago. And you could just tell that they like playing with each other. Like even the veterans, like you have Jay Crowder there. You have, I think Solomon Hill. Like they like the vibe of the team and they like the fact that

Jaws getting all this attention that he's playing so well. It seems like they have the perfect mix of veterans and young players who are playing really well right now. Haley, as you know and as he checked listeners know, this is the Memphis Grizzlies podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. Nobody else on at our company has a tie to the Grizzlies. We love the Grizzlies. We got in on the ground floor. John Morant is incredible. He's so much fun. And he's terrifying for the same reasons. He's so much fun. Like he'll just jump in the air and there'll be a giant 30-foot man in between him and the rim. And he'll somehow climb over that man and then land like halfway. He's like doing a mid-air like snowfall. like thing. He almost ended Kevin Love.

Yes, and he's always ended himself like multiple times. His limbs are not made to do that, but somehow he's done it. Dan, Zach Cramm, our colleague, Zach Cramm, had a story about some of the young guys and the comps to them.

And John Morant's number one comp was Stevie Franchise, Steve Francis. Tell me he's, yeah, I also grimace, Dan is grimacing right now. It's a handsome grimace face, but it grimace nonetheless. Tell me that John Morant is not going to be Stevie Franchise.

He's going to be better. than that. More like Grimmus from McDonald's, but I appreciate that. I think that Steve Francis is like, I get it from a high-scoring pick-and-roll point guard up and down north-south player kind of thing, but I feel like the playmaking feel that Jha has is more advanced than that. Another player on that sort of accomplice was Trey Young, and while Jha doesn't have that kind of range, the feel on the pick-and-roll, the ability to manipulate the defense and move the ball to either side of the floor, I think is that's maybe more where the line that I see him in. Morant's been incredible.

incredible. Jaron Jackson Jr. has been fantastic. He's bombing away from three to a greater degree than he did last year. Very quick, before we go, DeAnthony Melton. I love De Anthony Melton. I mentioned this before the season, and it wound up. I think the first time we did a pilot podcast, you were like, De Anthony Melton, stop talking about the Anthony Melton. But they are plus 149 in his 400 plus minutes with them on the floor over the course since December 1st. He's been fantastic defensively and as a complimentary offensive player. They got balance in the starting lineup and the bench. It's fantastic.

Watch the Grizzlies. You will not regret it. As I said, this is your place for all Grizzlies talk. Where else are you getting that much DeAnthony Melton conversation? That's a deep cut, but I have always believed he's a USC guy, so that's partly why. But I wrote a story in him for The Ringer, and he was a freshman at USC about how he had some of the similar skills that would make him like an elite on ball defender in the NBA. and how I thought that that's what was going to make him go into the NBA. Then he bounced around from Phoenix to Memphis.

And it seems like that's like the perfect spot for him. It's going really well. He's striving like Dan said. I have really enjoyed watching the Memphis Grizzlies. I've not quite enjoyed as much watching the San Antonio Spurs, although they've been playing much, much better of late. They started out 7 and 14, Haley. And now all of a sudden they are tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for that 8th spot.

You are shaking your head. You cannot believe that they're still in this. Don't make, don't call me. out on shaking my head. I was doing that. This is a thrust thing between me and you. It's a theater of the mind.

I'm bringing the listeners into our studio. Look, they always come back. They do always come back. It's funny because yesterday... Like a what? You can't get rid of them like a what, Haley. Do not say things that I said in confidence to you.

Could someone fill me in? After the show and the mic is no longer on, I'll be happy to... You just can't get rid of them. You just can't get rid of them. I see it. Keep coming back. Like a bad penny. They turn up again.

That's what it is. Like a bad penny. That's what we were going to say. But so no. I love the spurs. I love the spurs. I love watching the spurs shoot from the mid-range all time. You know what?

It's interesting that you mentioned that though because Lamarcus Aldridge over these last 10 games all of a sudden out of nowhere, Dan Devine is shooting three-pointers with abandoned five per game. He's shooting 56% from three out of nowhere. Greg Popovich was asked about it. He said, I'm not even coaching him. I'm coaching his twin. It's like he's a new guy.

but you coastal elite Dan Devine, much like Haleo Shannessi, had poo-pooed the Spurs, and I told you not to last year. I was the one who dismissed the Spurs, and you mocked me for it, and I was wrong last year. This year, those roles have been reversed. Repent, Dan. I'm heartily sorry for having offended the Coach Popovich. I wrote about them a little bit in five-most-interesting teams on Friday. Lamarcus shooting a ton of threes is opening the pain up a lot for DeRosen.

Nobody has driven to the basket more over the last 10 games than DeMars. to Rosen, and he's shooting 81.5% at the rim. So it's like this idea, the whole ecosystem gets, it's a lot healthier when you got more space on the floor, and you can get that one guy knifing to the basket. It's opened up a lot for their offense, and it's made them more competitive over the last 5-10 games. That's Dan saying he was wrong, and I was right. For that last spot in the Western Conference, before we move on, I just want to take

everybody's temperature here. So we've got the Grizzlies and the Spurs, as we've mentioned. Somehow, the suns are kind of sort of involved. the Portland Trailblazers are not that far off the pace and eventually, hopefully they'll get NERC back. Let's go around the horn here. Who do we think at the midway point? Because we're talking about the second half questions here. In the second half, the last seat in the Western Conference will be who, Palo?

I would love for it to be the Grizzlies. I really would. But I kind of think that it will be either the Blazers or the Spurs. It'll be the Blazers, but I wish it was the Grizzlies as well. Dan Devine? Well, for the purposes of commitment to the bit, I'm going to fade the spurs and say, Go Grizzlies. Let's go for it. I would love for it to be the Grizzlies.

I'm with you guys. I think it would be super fun. I'm going with muscle memory here. Never count out the San Antonio Spurs. I learned my lesson. I don't need to be taught it again. Give me the spurs. All right, let's go through some of Palo's questions

from his excellent column on the ringer.com. Which, as I said, he's a columnist already. How old are you like 21 years old? You're like Benjamin Button. You're aging in reverse. It's really incredible. Which injured player will make the biggest impact in the playoff race in the second half? This is a great question.

Give us your answer. Yeah. So I thought, you know, there are a couple teams, well, there's a handful of teams getting players back from injuries that have been out for a while. And the three that I focused on where Victor Oladipo coming back for the Pacers, Kyrie coming back for the Nets, and Yusuf Nercritch coming back for the Blazers. And in the context of the playoff race, I thought because the East is the way it is, and you kind of have the Pacers and Nets is more or less locks. Like the Nets are in the 8-seat, I think four games up on the Hornets.

I thought the most impactful addition back from injury is going to be Nerkich whenever he comes back. It remains unclear when he's supposed to come back. But when he comes back, I think that hopefully, for the Blazers' sake, they remain in striking distance so that he can help them get to that eight-seat. Because otherwise, I don't know, they look like they need. I mean, they've been relying on Hassat and Whiteside. Yeah, which I'm not a Hassan. And White's I got in previously, you saw how well NERC operated in that system.

They ran a lot of offense through him. He was an excellent passer. It just changed the dynamic for that team. So, yeah, I wonder if the question for me is timing. Like, how soon is he going to be back? And are they still going to be in the playoff picture? Haley, Palo mentioned Victor Oladipo. We have been waiting for him for quite some time.

He's going to come back on January 29. As Palo mentioned, they are a playoff lock. I mean, the Pacers are going to be there. How much will he help them? Well, I mean, he's their best player. He's their best player. Their best player could help. It's going to transform everything, but I think in a good way, we're going to see less Aaron Holiday,

probably less TJ shooting. But these are all good things because this means that their second unit is automatically going to get so much better. So all of a sudden, the Pacers who somehow have these last two years always found a way to stay firm in their positioning are going to be a lot stronger. Some other questions from Palo's story here. And this one's fun. Dan, I'll go to you first on this one.

Will the return of Zion or the Splash Brothers bring more excitement? We had talked at the topic of the show about Steph Curry looking like he's going to be re-evaluated February 1. He's getting up shots. He looks good. I'm not sure he should come back. But as Haley said, maybe his kids are annoying. So he could be. What are you more excited about here?

This is Heal Haley all episode. This is fantastic. Haley just crushing little kids. Amazing. I will say, I think Zion, because we still haven't even gotten to unwrap the present, right? Now we know how exciting stuff Curry can be. We know how exciting that the Splash Brothers can be. What Zion looks like in this live action is still something that we don't know.

And how long he's going to be effective doing it to what degree is even going to be better than he was in the preseason. How long will it take him to get back to the historic levels he was in the preseason? We don't know. So I think all the anticipation for that and having to wait several months to get there, that's what I'm really waiting to be able to open that up and see what it looks like. Our ringer teammate, JJ Reddick, just had Zion on his podcast. You guys should check that out. Palo, with Zion, there are a number of questions about how he'll look coming off the injury, but also conditioning, weight.

Like, I'm whispering this because, you know, he's a bigger dude. And I just wonder, like, at what weight when he's that young, like, if you want to have a long career. Right. This is something that we're going to be focused on with him. It was interesting. The Pelicans were here last Sunday, I think, and he wasn't. through a full warm-up and it was my first time watching him in person and he just there's something about him that boggles the mind because he's so big and yet can move so quickly and then dunk and

you're like how are you a basketball player you know but at the same time he was actually i heard him talking about how he's the thing that's going to be a while is his rhythm right because he was talking about when he comes across the middle like sometimes he's so used to catching the ball in stride that he was missing it a little bit so i think it's those things that those things that's that are going to be more interesting to watch, see how he's fitting in in terms of like keeping up with the pace of the team, especially because when Lonzo's in there, they like to play faster. But I will say, going back to the eight seed conversation, there are only three and a half

games back of the eight seed. So there's a world in which Zion comes in and is incredible immediately. Pelicans make a playoff push. And maybe you get a little bit of the Embedde-Brogden rookie of the year situation where one player plays only a few games, but they're better than a full season. I don't know. There's a lot of endless possibilities. Don't talk about.

But Ja is a lot. Like, he's not Brogden. No, I understand. No, I don't think it's going to happen. But I think it could be interesting to keep an eye on that. If Zion comes in and immediately blows up. I won't. I mean, we just established that this is the Grizzlies podcast.

Please do not disparage clear runaway favorite for rookie of the year, John Moran. I love him. I am kind of, my interest in Zion has wained while we've waited. Has it waned for you or does has waiting made it more exciting? Let me send you some YouTube clips. I literally wake up every morning. John's is very millennium. He's like, I want it now.

Give it to me now. I have the attention span of a nat. I want to bring the listener into the fold a little bit more. Not only did Haley shake her head at me earlier. Then she just like squinted, like a disgusted, disapproving look at me when I suggested that my interest had waned in Zion. All right. Okay, so you're excited about Zion.

I'm excited now. All right. To the box. Haley, I want to bring this up to you. as Powell points out in his story, winning 70 games is nearly impossible. However, if they continue on this pace, they can make a run at 70 wins.

They have the 14th easiest schedule, the rest of the way. Yeah, you're nay on them making a run at 70. I don't know. I guess we'll see if their team changes at all. It's possible, perhaps. I mean, I think that them being in trade conversations has been kind of maybe all season.

But, I mean, they have the best record. They have Janus. Did you guys see the Bogdan Bogdanovich rumor? That would be very fun. But also if it takes too much, that's fine. You know, they're really good as is. The loss of the Sixers does kind of make you think. It does kind of make you think.

As you said, you're coming. But that's speaking about the, we're talking about the record. We're not talking about the postseason. As you said, you're coming for my seat. That was an excellent transition because I wanted to bring up the Sixers and whether or not they'll make a trade, a final question from Powell's column, whether or not they'll go on.

and they just lost to the Mavs. The Knicks are not the only ones Dan and Powell who are circling the pistons decaying carcass. According to the inquires, Keith Pompeii, the Sixers are interested in, God help me, Langston Galloway, Luke Conard, and Free Agent Jeff Green, please tell me that's not true.

Would any of those guys help? The Sixers obviously desperately need shooters in the outline to further pull back the curtain. I wrote that Conard could be a poor man's JJ for the Sixers in the sort of Brett Brown offense, where they need the dribble handoff and he'll jack up some shots. And Palo, Dan corrected me.

He gave me a well-actually and said that the better comp would be Bogdan Bogdanovich. Classic man. Classic Dan while actuallying me. Just help me out here. Would any of these guys help the Sixers? Okay.

For one, I want to give a quick shout at to the Pistons for actually looking like they're going to tear it down finally at last. As well, they should. Like, congrats. It's about time. to Luke Cunard, I think he would be pleasantly surprised by him. I think he's good.

I like him fine. I think he would be great on the Sixers. I'm saying, Palo, I'm saying. I don't know how they get him, but I think he would be good on the Sixers. This is what I'm saying. Okay, so Dan, I'd be fine with Luke Conard. I think he would be good on the Sixers. Yes, they obviously need some help.

This is a tough spot for Elton Brand, though. Yeah, I mean, the only thing that we know for sure about Elton Brand, outside of the fact that he likes gigantic dudes is that he's willing to go all in on stuff. He's not afraid to make a big trade because he thinks that this is the window they have to maximize. I think Karnard is going to be a tough piece because I think you'd have to give up a lot to get him. But the idea of that sort of player, the guy who can shoot, space the floor, and maybe run some pick and roll, that's exactly what they might need to be able to get some better shots off, link together their big guys and ease up some of the tension in that offense.

Easing up some of the tension in that offense would be excellent. I would love for that to happen. We'll monitor that. Those were the second half questions for us to keep an eye on. That was the main event. Powell, you want to stick around? Let's do it. Let's play a little good call, bad call. What a bold call here. All right, first one for you. This was well chronicled, but I have to

bring it up to the gang because it was so much fun. Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins went out of each other on Twitter. Two old teammates. KD. said some shit. Kendrick Perkins then said all the shit, including telling KD that it was the weakest move in NBA history that he

joined the Warriors after OK, FAC fell to the Warriors when they were up 3-1 in the Western Conference finals a couple of years ago. Then Perk went on the jump and said, no disrespect, but you never got past the first round until I got there. My God, good call or bad call, Haleo Shannisie, you kick it off on delusional online Kendrick Parkins. Good call, because I like this version of online KD. So whatever brings it out, I support. It's been wild. Palau-Ugetty.

Bad call, because it was kind of a weak argument. Like, yes, Perkins calling him out for saying, like, that's what everybody on Twitter said when KD moved. Like, oh, that's such a weak move. We're past that. Like, you know, why need to relitigate that? It was kind of weak on what I thought. And then also, like, KD, coming up with the averages of what Perkins did and that seriously,

like, I just want to imagine, like, Katie just firing up his Macwick and going on basketball reference just to make sure that he had the averages, right? I just, like, I love that. That's my favorite part about it. That part was fantastic. Dan Devine, I'm going to say, good. Good call if for only you're to say, no disrespect, but here's something extremely disrespectful. Always my favorite way to enter any argument.

It was excellent. Steve Allman. Good call, and I wish I could join Katie's clapback staff. 1,000% good call. Listen, Twitter is the place for Crazy Street Preachers to rant shit, and Kendrick Perkins finally figured that out, so I'm on board with it. Next one for you. Rob Polenka, the Lakers extended his contract and promoted him, gave him a multi-year extension

vice president of basketball operations and general manager, gang, we are less than a year from him warring with magic and fighting a proxy battle in the press and everybody wondering what the hell was going on with the Lakers. And then all of a sudden, like, they're winning some games, things are going fine. They're like, you know who you should extend? That guy. Good call, bad call on Rob Polinka being with the Lakers for the foreseeable future. I wrote that piece a couple weeks back that addressed the question that nobody wanted to ask

about whether he was actually good. Yeah. A lot of the things that he's done were not him. LeBron, AD wanted to come anyway. But he did sign the surrounding cast. There were some gaslighty things that he did that feature. But good call. Palo Gettie.

Good call. Because I'm all for rewarding people who win. And he won. He ousted Magic. And he's the guy now. And at this point, what are you going to do? You just got to hand it to him. He's still standing, but only because Magic decided to quit on TV when nobody knew it was happening.

Well, you know, he's there. He's there. That's all the matters. I'm tipping which way I'm going on this. I'm revealing too much. Dan Devine. Yeah, good call. History is written by the winners. And he's the one that got at the end of the day, the signings of LeBron James and Anthony Davis happened on his watch. So he winds up getting the credit for that. Steve Allman. Come at the king. You best not miss. He did not miss. Good call. These are all wrong. I would say bad call. He should give a cut to Rich Paul. He got this promotion because of Rich Paul. He should send Rich Paul a nice fruit basket. All right, this next one. I'm a nice fruit basket. All right, this next one I am very excited about because it is such a Knicks thing. So the Knicks had a contest where a fan hit a half court shot. And as Zach Cram pointed out, another shot to our teammate Zach Cram, in the last half decade, actual real life Knicks are 0 for 76 from that same distance.

So this guy did something that the real professional Knicks hadn't even done. And what did he get for it? He was rewarded with $1,000 worth of scratch lottery tickets, not even money or like a trip or anything, but scratch lottery tickets. So Haley O'Shaughnessy, good call or bad call on the Knicks just throwing a bunch of scratchers at this guy who did something the Nix couldn't do. I am on my laptop right now. I'm starting a GoFundMe for him.

I love this. I'm like halfway through it. I've never used GoFundMe before, so. This feels like a bad call. It's a bad call. It's a bad call. It's a bad call. I would say they should have given him a 10-day, but I wouldn't want to subject that guy to

be more part of the NICs organization. Dan Devine. Bad call because the industry standard here. is that you give somebody actual money. And, you know, as opposed to the chance to win money. And this is, this is bad. If there's one thing the Knicks have, it's money. Give it to the guy.

I want to know, before I go to Steve Allman, how many did they give him? Like, how many, like, scratchers is he going to sit in his living? Did it was, like, just a couple or one that's worth a thousand? Or does he have, like, $1 scratchers to go through? Great question. This could be a time commitment, Steve Allman. I can't imagine, like, the, the, the,

holiday gift giving that he has to receive now, that he's gotten scratchers from his own team, let alone people in his own family. This is a bad call. I'm going to go also bad call, although, as Nas said, the buck that bought the bottle could have struck the lotto. So who knows? Maybe this guy strikes the lotto and everybody's going to be like, see what the next did for him. This whole thing was just so Gons could show everybody he knew a Nas lyric. Right. I know stay woke, everybody. Stay woke. Listen, my age demands that I know many Nas lyrics. By the way, it just occurs to me that getting the old group chat gang back together is fun. This is group chat 2.0 here on heat check.

Those are reception. You got to give the people what they want. You got to get Haley or coffee. You got to give Haley her coffee. Powell, I'm coffeeless over here. What happened? No, that's one part I don't miss my. Bring it to New York.

Oh my God. This has made me sound so awful. This is wonderful. I'm so glad you guys could join us. That was good call. Bad call. I want to thank Paloogetti who brought the coffee. and also some wonderful opinions to the show

for joining us, Haley O'Shaughnessy, Dan Devine, our producer, Steve Allman, and all of you, please rate and review us, read all of our content on the ringer.com. Listen to The Ringer NBA show on the Ringer podcast network, and heat check will be back next Monday in its regular spot. Thanks for listening, gang. Bye.