The Ringer NBA Show - The Tanking Warriors, the Overachieving Suns, and the Undefeated Sixers | Heat Check

Episode Date: November 4, 2019

Instant Replay: The tanking Warriors, Giannis-to-Raptors rumors, early overachievers, and the Blazers’ frontcourt void (4:00). The Main Event: The still-undefeated Philadelphia 76ers, with special guest Tyler Tynes (21:53). Good Call/Bad Call: Dwight Howard’s nickname for the Lakers, Mike Malone calls out his team, Kenny Atkinson’s unconventional communication, and 42-year-old Vince Carter (30:39). Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Haley O’Shaughnessy, Dan Devine, Tyler Tynes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer NBA show is presented by State Farm. Just like basketball, the game of life is unpredictable. Talk to a State Farm agent and get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected and help you handle whatever life throws your way. For example, if you're going to talk about something unpredictable, let's say you're the Philadelphia 76ers and you're on the road against Portland. And you're down late. What might be, say, an unpredictable outcome that say, I don't know, I'm just spitball in here.

Firkhand Corkmaz hits a three to win the game on the road, without Joel Embed, Isaac Lee, that might be unpredictable. As we all predicted, Furkan Korkma's saves the day. You know, we all thought this. We all knew this was going to happen. No, no, no, no one predicted this. Never count Furcon or the Sixers out. Who knows? We might even talk about them a little later in the program.

But first, get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected. Talk to a State Farm agent today about combining your home and auto insurance. And now, Heat Check. Welcome to Heat Check. I'm your host, John Gonzalez, joined as I am every week by my podcast. producer, Isaac Lee, who, by the way, another win for your Clippers, buddy. Oh, yeah, I'm feeling good.

Beat Utah last night, beat the Spurs on Thursday, a game that I was at. It looked like an 80s game because they're only shooting mid-range jumpers, but I had a good time. And I love to see my guys win without even Paul George back. Paul George, hopefully coming back soon. Basketball is well underway.

We're very excited about it. We want to thank you guys for listening. A reminder to please rate and review us. Don't forget about all of our great NBA content. the ringer.com. Zach Cram with the typically smart, fun, clever, Zach Cram piece, right? Did you read it? Always read Zach Cram.

Always read Zach Cram. Deep into the numbers on the most interesting changes so far in the NBA. Our very own Dan Devine, who will be joining us shortly, wrote a piece about the Nuggets title push and how it's starting slower than Nicola Yokic. Shots fired at Nicola Yokicich. I don't know what he did to deserve that. And Jonathan Charks on what phase two will look like for Luca Donkich. Hala Luka.

Man, he's just like putting up triple doubles. Yeah, he looks really good. He's looking swaggy. He looked really good. Even though they lost that game to the Lakers, he looked really good. Yeah, I mean, that game was an all-timer on Friday night. I was actually at dinner with a few of our colleagues here, including Haley O'Shaughnessy, and we all pulled out our phones to watch it at the very end because we all got the same alert saying it was a close game.

And man, Luca looks special. He's going toe to toe with LeBron. Obviously, LeBron respects him as well. He made that comment after the game. He's going to be special. I'm very glad that the song is going to work out well for years to come. I assume that you picked up the check because you've got all those fat halaluka royalty's rolling in. Right? You just picked it up. Isaac's a big spender.

All right. Coming up later in the show, one of the hottest heat checkers in heat check history makes his triumphant return to the program. Be careful. Maybe handle this podcast with asbestos gloves because it's going to get a little spicy. But first, let's go to our new regular contributors who will be with us each and every week, Dan and Haley. Boom, Chakalaka. He's heating up. All right, one of them is in studio and won his way across the country in our NYCCHQ. It's heat check coast to coast with our regulars, Haley and Dan, guys. Hi.

Hi, I feel amazing today. I just want to go ahead and get this out of the way. Lamar Jackson beat the Patriots. You get to Crow a little bit. Yeah. You get to Raven a little bit. Oh, no. Oh, nicely done.

That's Isaac Lee. That's a perfect way for us to get into. Our highlights from the weekend, it's NBA instant replay. Speaking of crowing and raving in a little bit, Haley O'Shaughnessy, you kind of predicted this. You didn't predict injuries, so we're not going to gloat over that. But you did, however, predict that it would be a rough year for the Warriors, and that continues. Steph Curry out at least three months. This is from Wojjj.

Talk to Dr. Stephen Shin, who performed the surgery on Steph Curry's left hand. also did a procedure on Drew Bree's broken thumb for Curry. The significant part of the return depends on his ability to take a head on the hand and not re-injure it. This is truly a three to four-month timeline to make sure the bone fully heals. Plus, Draymond heard his left index finger versus the spurs on Friday. Wamp-womp, not good for the Warriors. Haley, take a victory lap here. You kind of called that this was going to be tough.

I mean, I'm not going to be happy about the fact that Steph Curry. Not that part. And Drayman got injured. But I will truly say that even if they're on the court, we saw that it was going to be a rough season ahead. And also, I'm never going to doubt someone's injury. That's not my place. But what I'm saying is if all my friends were staying home from school, Draymont Green, I would also be staying home from school. I think he deserves this if it's just rest.

But again, I would never speculate that. He would have had to go to great lengths here because he did have a wrap on his finger and his wrist. They say he has a torn ligament and he's out for the next few games. Meanwhile, DeAngelo sprained an ankle. He was out for a little bit. I'm going to get to their lineup for the Hornets game over the weekend, which was just atrocious. But Dan Devine, Jermon Green, there's been some speculation that, I don't know, maybe, you know, like with the way things are going with the Warriors, if they end up tanking, would they consider moving him. But the window there would be awfully tight, no?

Yeah. So he agreed to his extension, the four-year contract extension, on August 3rd. And that means from that date, you get six months. you can't get traded. So the window for him to be traded opens on February 3rd, and the trade deadline is February 6th. So anything that would have to get done would have to get done in those couple of days.

So if you're trying to sort of kickstart a tanking or a rebuild or whatever, or if you're another team looking to add a big piece early, he's not going to be available on the table until only a couple days before the deadline. So they have a lot of decisions to make here, obviously. They should, I think, lean hard into this tank. They have a pick that's protected 1 to 20,

if it doesn't convey this year to Brooklyn, and it conveys in 2025 as a second round pick, it feels like to me that it would behoove them to tank to hold on to that pick if they decided to move Draymond in that tight window. Maybe that would help them out a little bit because, I don't know. I just don't see them staying afloat in the Western Conference even a little bit. So, like, maybe they get to like a mediocre team, but why bother with that? Look, let's be honest.

Is this really a decision to tank or are they going to do it without, yeah, without like having the attention of, losing. Does Kai Bowman push the needle for you, Gons? Do you really think he's going to be a difference maker? If Curry is out for three to four months, Draymond Green is absolutely not going to contribute the offense that he would need, that Clay Thompson would need, that the ghost of Kevin Durant would need for them to win. And apologies to Kai Bowman, who just caught shrapnel from Haley. I mean, he's a big, he-checked listener and all of a sudden she's throwing out of the bus. I should have done Willie Collie's time because of the Kentucky stuff, but I let that go a long time.

Dan Devine, whether or not, to Haley's point about whether or not it's a decision, to make Joe Lacob very defiant after Steph Curry went down saying that he wouldn't even entertain tanking, that it goes against everything they stand for, and you balked at that. Yeah, because it's bullshit. It's not the truth. Hawks' GM Travis Schlenk, who came up in the Warriors front office, said as much in an interview with CBS Sports last year. It's open.

Everybody sort of understands this. The year that they drafted Harrison Barnes at seven, their first round pick was protected one through seven. He said, we made a decision halfway through that year to trade Monta Ellis, for an injured Andrew Bogot who we knew wouldn't play. And one of the reasons that they did that was we knew we had to fall into those bottom seven spots to get our pick. And that was really important to us.

So whether you call it tanking or just doing something that's really important for us. Dan's doing air quotes now, by the way. Did he get in trouble for saying that? Because that seems exactly what the NBA was trying to punish people for last year. Yeah. And it's what Mark Huberman got. I mean, Mark Cuban literally said, I think we tanked. But we're tanking.

Yeah. So, I mean, maybe it's just if you don't use the word or maybe a statute of limitations thing because it was a few years in the past. But like the idea that the warriors are in some way above this or that this is not, it's an anthem of the way they do business, that's horseshit. And the warriors are going to operate whatever gets them to being like light years ahead. So I think that this, if that's what this is, that's what they'll do. And they won't sort of think twice about it. Maybe it's Travis's baby blue eyes. Maybe that's why he gets away with things. What this is, is as Haley mentioned, they're starting

line up, Kai Bowman, who she just buried RIPA, Jordan Poole, Glenn Robinson. Eric Pachal and Willie Colley Stein. That was their starting five. I don't think that actually actively trying to tank would be any different than what they're doing right now. All right, moving on here. Bucks beat the Raptors this weekend in the battle for the second best team in the Eastern Conference.

Yannis had 36 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 blocks. He said he had a lot of motivation to get past the Raptors after they dispatched them in the playoffs last year. Just a quick note here. There's been some rumbling, some whispers, some rumors, about whether or not Yannis wants to stay in Milwaukee. John Hollinger at The Athletic said, sources say the Raptors are likely to be one of the chief pursuers of Yonis,

if and when he hits the 2021 free agent market. So any moves that eliminate the possibility of max cap space, that summer would be extremely unlikely by Toronto. This isn't really new information. To be honest with you, I would say, like, for over a year, I've been, like, talk to people around the league and like, there's been little rumblings. Hey, do you think Yonis is going to stay?

It could be one of those situations like with Kauai where if they win, it could make it more likely that he leaves. And if they don't win, it could make it more likely that he leaves, right? Because it's Milwaukee. So what are we making here, Dan Devine, out of this report? Is it something that if you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan, you'd be concerned about? I think if you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan, you're concerned no matter what, right? I mean, there was the Harvard Business School kind of case study quote where then Yana said he never said that having a rough year this year would make it more difficult to stay. but, I mean, the quote came out of somewhere, right?

So all of these things are going to add up to make you more and more angry and more and more stressed out if you're a Bucks fan. But I don't think it changes the state of play for them. It's basically like if we don't win a championship or go to the finals, this is going to be a problem. So everything is the same. It's just you're going to start getting more and more of these sorts of things as the year goes on. Haley, do you want to see him stay or would you be intrigued by a move to another outpost like, say, Toronto? By this point, I really just want them to do.

what they think is best specifically for which front office will take care of them. Because we've seen so many superstars at this point who have wasted, who have spent four or five very unfruitful years

with a front office that just couldn't take care of them, couldn't surround them by the proper talent. The Bucks have done an admirable job, right? I mean, they brought in guys like George Hill last year,

Eric Bledsoe, you know, they re-signed Chris Middleton. They lost Malcolm Bragman. That was a big loss. I mean, my question is specifically for the Raptors, what exactly do they have? have other than they prove that they are capable of smart front office moves.

What do they have that would really draw Yonis in? I mean, Lowry had a good game. Pascal had a good game. O.G. looks great. But what exactly do they have at this point that would make him want to go there? You're just throwing bows all day today. Everybody's catching heat on heat check from Haley O'Shaughnessy. Somewhere the Knicks are talking about how they have a shot at Yannis right now.

Let's move on to early surprises of the season so far. Drink. Drink, right. Early surprises of the season. so far. The Sons, the Phoenix Sons, I said to you guys that last year I watched an inordinate amount of Phoenix Sons basketball and you mocked me and I'm doing it again this year and now everybody's talking about the Sons. They're four and two. They are third in net rating in the NBA. They are looking very good. My man, Rick Rubio, both handsome and talented, playing alongside Devin Bucker. Praise. Praise for the Phoenix Suns. I think you mean playing alongside Aaron

Baines. And Aaron Baines. The hero. The absolute hero. And I just want to say I am so happy. I can't name a single person who would not be happy for Monty Williams right now. He deserves this. He's a good dude. This is good for him. He's a good coach. Dan Devine. They should just trade DeAndre Aidan, right? Because they're just rolling. You can't mess with chemistry. Yeah. Why would you move away from the Aaron Baines, Frank Kaminsky, front court when it's working so well? Future Hall of Famers. Future Hall of Famers. Other surprises. The San Antonio Spurs lost to the Lakers at home over the weekend. However, as I claimed, the San Antonio Spurs, four and two, top seven offense with the this weird mid-range game that they continue to roll out there.

Dan, as I've stated, I'm on the Spurs this year. You are off the Spurs this year. One of us is right, and the other one is you. Well, I think we can all agree that this is still early season smoking mirrors. Small sample size. So let's get Zach Kramman here to analyze what the numbers are really going to look like for them. I think the thing you've got to watch for San Antonio is that their starting lineups have been kind of shaky.

All the offense around Lamarce Aldridge and DeMarre de Rosen, not so good. their bench units very good. So how that sort of equals out over the course of the year, are they going to keep getting carried by the Marco Bellinelli and Rudy Gay lineups of the world? We'll see. But in the early going, yes, Gons, you're looking good and I'm looking bad, but I continue to believe in this bit.

So we're going to keep doing it. Once again, coastal elite Dan Devine, hating on small markets. Helio Shaughnessy, a bigger market. The Miami Heat 5 and 1, kind of surprising to me, at least, ruined the Rockets by 29 over the weekend. Houston's D was really bad. Russ did not look great. Here's a stat from stat muse.

Russell Westbrook was a minus 46 in Houston's blowout loss at Miami, a personal career worst. And the worst plus minus by any Rockets player in a game since 1996, 97. Haley, number one, were you even alive then? And number two, do you believe in the Miami heat? Yeah, it was a young baby then. I don't want to discount the heat. I think that's very rude.

I think we should applaud them for what happened. But I think that this is obviously Houston's fault, but I think this is dramatized too much because of Houston's many problems. First of all, they were in Miami the night before. Yeah. But Miami's in Miami. It's true, but these guys are used to it. They get to do it all off-season.

It's kind of like dealing with altitude sickness in Denver. I mean, you just get used to it after a while and then people come in and they can't deal with it. I like this. The Houston Rockets defense is terrible. It's absolutely terrible from the perimeter. It's terrible in the paint. Miami carve them up. Both situations.

Opponents are shooting best against. them from three. So we'll see if that continues, but so far, they are literally allowing the best percentage for all of their opponents. Something that they should look to address. Other surprises so far, Dan Devine. Andre Drummond, three straight 2020 double doubles, first since Boogie in 2015. Not missing Blake Griffin.

They beat your Brooklyn Nets because you get all of New York City's bad basketball. Are you buying Andre Drummond as a thing this year? I think he kind of has to be right now because their point guard. rotation is so jacked up that he's going to handle the ball more and do more, you'll have to do more with it and then also score it and start possessions too. The idea of Andre Drummond being the guy who gets the ball off the rim, goes coast to coast and finishes, seems like it should scare you if you're a Detroit Pistons fan, but it might be their best option right now, you know, with all the injuries they're dealing with. One more surprise so far. Markell Fultz, he got his first start

against the Nuggets, nine points to assist three steals, 25 minutes of action, took a three, he but he took it. No, this is a big thing, right? Because do you want to see him at least get out there and attempt to shoot these threes? As I've mentioned previously on He-checked, kind of conflicted here. On the one hand, as a human being who wants nice things for other human beings, I'm happy for Markell Fultz. As somebody who has followed the Sixers my entire life, it's harder for me to parse.

Haley, what do you think about Markell Fultz and how he's done in Orlando so far? I'm happy for him, but I really don't think that it's to the point where you should be feeling bad about not having him. He looks not bad though. No, no, no, he doesn't. But I mean, I can't believe I'm fucking doing this. The Sixers are already doing pretty well gone, if you haven't noticed. And if you want to, like, think about what we've been saying about Fultz the last couple

games. We've been like, thank God he's taking threes. Y'all, he's not making threes, okay? He has taken one three the last three games and missed them all. He took four before that, made one. It's just not looking really pretty. Everybody catching bodies from Haley O'Shaughnessy today. We're going to run through a couple of injuries real quick, and then we'll wrap up headlines.

Reggie Jackson's stress reaction in his back out a month. Detroit Pistons fans might wonder if he was playing at all. Brandon Ingram left Saturdays lost to the thunder with a head injury and did not return. The ringer curse reared its ugly head. Good news, though. He's been cleared to face Brooklyn on Monday. And finally, and this one sucks, and I want to bring this to Dan Devine's attention. Zach Collins' shoulder surgery, he dislocated his shoulder.

They were debating whether or not he would have shoulder surgery, just rehab. The update will come after he has his surgery. I did a little Google doctor investigation here, and turns out this could be anywhere from three to six months. Dan, how bad does this hurt the Blazers? And should they go shopping for somebody like Danilo Gallinari or another forward? Yeah, I mean, it hurts them a lot. You know, the idea with Zach Collins was he could give you rim protection and some offensive

punch, stretching the floor, making plays in the short role, stuff like that. Anthony Tolliver, as a, you know, a good veteran was great when I talked to him for the artist ticking around story I did in the preseason, but he's not, doesn't, doesn't provide both of those the same way. Scott LaBCA is their other option. They've been playing a lot with him. He's shown some flashes, had good plus minus last couple of games, but seven fouls per 36 minutes, still sort of figuring it out on defense.

They don't really have enough on either end with those guys, so they've got to sort of figure out another option to make a deep playoff run next with putting someone next to Damon CJ. Golanari is an interesting candidate because, you know, the, the thunder were going to be open to deal. the power forward market could be awfully interesting. Could I maybe interest you in a Julius Randall that's lightly used and hasn't been all that successful so far this season?

Or Marcus Morris, he wants to be a dog and bring toughness back to your location. He will just need a variety of shots that he can take and miss and look kind of shaky while he's doing it, but he'll snarl and it'll be tough. Maybe Portland you'd be interested in that? You just want a basic, Bobby Portis? Anybody, really? Take your pick of anybody in New York for Dan Devines. Stretch big!

New York Knicks. Haley, should they make a move? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's, imagine me telling you going into the season that the Lakers' front court rotation would be better, or just purely like their centers, would be more effective than Portland's. I mean, it's really sad. A lot of it has to do with injuries, obviously, you know, Gassal is still recovering from foot surgery. There's Nerkage.

But then there's this on White Side who's kind of always been like a maybe X factor. That's your guy. Yeah, I mean, it's always been like a hopeful thing. Maybe he'll have like a bump year again finally. but yeah, this is very sad. And I think that Portland has always had a chance every year at being great. You know, this could be, how much longer is CJ and Dame going to happen? Give them what they need.

Don't stress. Listen, we're off of trying to tear up and blow up that back court. We're on board with that back court. We believe in Neil Lachey. I am too. I want them to make it happen while it can. We want nice things for Portland. I'm rooting for them.

And that has been NBA instant replay. Before we go to our main event, let's take a quick break for our work. from our sponsors. Today's episode of Heat Check is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Hiring can be a slow process. Cafe Altura's C-O-O-Dillin Miskowitz needed to hire a director of coffee for his organic coffee brewing company, but he was having trouble finding qualified applicants. So he switched to ZipRecruiter.

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businesses of all sizes. Try ZipRecruiter for free at our web address, ziprecruiter.com slash ringer MBA. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash R-I-N-G-E-R-N-B-A. ZipRecruiter. Smartest way to hire. And now, back to Heech. All right, so before the break there, we were talking about the Blazers. They lost a thriller at home to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday without Joel M-B'd. And now you guys might have been wondering, how is it that I, John Gonzalez, did not mention the team

that I just said, the Philadelphia 76ers, who are the last remaining unbeaten team in the NBA. Isaac, our resident Heechek historian, have we ever even talked about the Philadelphia 76ers on this program? Philadelphia, what is it, the 80, I don't know, 70, 76ers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't talk about them much. I don't think they've ever been brought up on this podcast. The last onbeaten team, this is frankly a nightmare scenario for everybody who is not a Sixers fan, and I am sympathetic to this. Now, I know that no one knows how obnoxious Philly fans are when

Philly teams are really good more than someone from Philly. And to illustrate that point, let's bring in a very special guest and go to the main event. Joining us in our NYC studio, fighting out of North Philadelphia, the undefeated, unrepentant

hot take heat check champion. It's Tyler Tynes. And I've been waiting. What's up, I have been segregated, federally segregated from the heat check programs for what feels like years at this time. And I've been waiting. Tyler, let's run through the Sixers who had a big game over the weekend, beat Portland.

They won without him beat on the road. They were down 21. They took their first lead against the Blazers with 10 seconds left. Lillard had a late drive and he kicked it to Anthony Simons for three and it looked like they won. And then, Tyler, your guy, Furkan Korkmaz, hit the game winning three. I don't know. Did they go 82 and O? I don't see why they don't.

I don't see why there is any real reason why they can't go 82 and O. I mean, the makings of a great team like the Philadelphia 76ers would be when stars go down, stars step up. And so Furkan Korkmas, who was born in North Philadelphia, and who is also black, won a game for us. And so I don't really seem to understand how it is. is inconceivable we will go 82 and O. I have a reason. It's what's going to happen tonight. They're playing the Phoenix Suns.

Aaron Baines. Team full of suckers. Team full of suckers. And also known piece of shit, Aaron Baines. So, I mean, teamful of suckers and Aaron Baines really not afraid of him as I have never been in my life.

Defend that comment. He's just Australian. That makes him absolutely a sucker. Anyone not from North Philadelphia and Tyler's eyes is a piece of shit. That's not true. Can I remind you, Ben Simmons, Australian? It is also a sucker, but he is my sucker.

He protected your entire team from Carl Anthony Town. No, because he didn't even fight anybody. Wait, we're going to get to that. He just made peace. He just made peace. Don't do that part just yet. Tyler, Haley does bring up a good point, though. They are on a tough road trip here.

They didn't have Joel Embed for that game in Portland. They're not going to have him for the Phoenix Suns game. Then they play at the Jazz on Wednesday and at the Nuggets on Friday. Any concern with this road trip? Well, Donovan Mitchell is a fraud and also just Jared Jack in Utah. So not super concerned about Donovan Mitchell, who came from a trash university. Also, super unconcerned with the entire state of Colorado. It's Joel M.B.

against soft boy Nicola Jokic, who are only white guys on the internet like. And so super unconcerned with him too. So what tough road trip is this? We're going to be kicking our feet up winning games by 20. Honestly, I will say he makes a good point with the jazz. Mike Conley is at a really, really rough stretch. I mean, actually, entire season. He's had an incredibly tough entire season,

turnover twice, and shooting guys. Donovan can't carry it forever. We learned that the last two years. You know why he can't? Don't even do this. You know why he can't? You know why? Because he's Jared Jack with a shoe deal.

I just block you on Twitter. Jared Jack with a shoe deal is good even by your standards. Dan Devine, jump in here. It's really hard to know where to go after Jarrett Jack with a shoe deal. So, Tyler, are you concerned at all that Matisse Thibel is getting too much MVP buzzed? Do you feel like it's, like, is that going to really become a distraction in the locker room? I don't think so, given that Joelle Embed is going to be the MVP, Matisse Tybal is going to be rookie of the year, and Ben Simmons is going to be defensive player of the year.

I don't think there will be a lack of accolades for our roster when we go 82 and O. Brett Brown is coach of the year, even though he should still be fired. and Elton Brand will be the executive of the year. I do like that you've come around on Brett Brown, even though you're still advocating that he gets fired. This is part of the reason why last year, when we had Tyler on a couple of times, he was so divisive. Isaac, as the resident Heechak historian,

how do you think that Tyler's latest turn on Heechek will be received by the listeners? I think the listeners will call for the show to be renamed Volcano Check. Yeah. Because I think that's where we're at at this point. Tyler never disappoints. Let's talk about, we discussed the suspension with Joel and B. Tyler, you talked about it on

Unrighteous suspension, Gons, unrighteous. You talked about it on NBA desktop. He's out for two games. He already had one. The second one will be against the Sons. Somehow, though, Ben Simmons guys, gang, drink, avoided being suspended. Simmons was deemed a peacemaker in the original ref post-game report. In the after-action report by the league, they said that Simmons was calming to.

Cat down with his arms. He was. Somebody helped me here because this was hilarious to me. I can't believe he avoided even getting fined. I think, like, wrestling announcers should just completely pivot to that. Completely because that was a chokehold. Cat tapped out. He tapped out.

That is so embarrassing. He did literally tap out. Didn't know the heat check had police officers on their broadcast. I will say calming him down with your arms. That's like some real older brother shit that you say, like, no, no, no, I'm not like messing with. I'm just calming him. down. I'm just trying to make sure he's okay. Greatest tweet of all time, he said, catch these calming arms.

I don't see anything wrong with what Ben Simmons did. I don't see why anyone would think of him as anything other than a peacemaker. Everyone from the state of Minnesota is a known coward, and they have been since 2017. And that's public record information at this point. And so, why? In 2017, what happened in 2017? Oh, oh, have you not heard? What happened in 2017 was that all of the state of Minnesota came to Philadelphia? and got that ass beat by the Philadelphia Eagles 38 to 7, and then we're in their damn feelings since that moment. And so all I'm going to say is, just like everybody from the state of Colorado, just like Donovan Mitchell, the state of Minnesota,

is a sea of cowards. As Tyler just said, that's public record. You can FOIA that shit and find that out there for you. Tyler Times is our senior these hands correspondent. Ask about it. Tell me, so this is something that you've discussed regularly. Carl Anthony Towns got what you thought was coming to him. Who else needs to catch these hands from the Sixers this season?

Larry Bird. Larry Bird is definitely in the crosshairs of numerous people, and I hope that he finds his way to a sideline somewhere, and Mike Scott tramples him. So Larry Bird is definitely top of the list. Is there anybody else who's not like a senior AAR? P member who's maybe actually playing with now. Danny Aange can also catch these hands.

I understand that most old white men should catch these hands, but like anybody that's currently in the NBA? Oh, in the NBA at this moment. Huh. Well, you know, that's tough. I would say Jason Tatum probably has to catch these hands. Fair enough. I would say...

Is that mostly a beard situation? Does he have to catch these hands because it's not connecting? I just don't like him that much. I don't really appreciate people who sort of subscribe to the church of mid-range jumpers. And so, you know, if that's the truth, I just can't respect. Wait a minute. We got Ben Simmons doesn't take jumpers on the Sixers. And Simmons doesn't take jumpers. Fair enough. Fair enough. All right. He took jumper in the preseason, one. All right. Another person who deserves to catch hands, Goran Drogich.

Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler. Let's see. Nicola Jokic. Really anyone who, like, I guess like, blog boy Twitter would describe as like their favorite people can probably catch hands. Let's see, Marcus Saul can get hands. Tyler is staring bullets through me right now. Like, as he talks about blog boy Twitter, it's like, it's over the top of the monitor, but I can see it. I feel it. I just feel like some of these people who we have decided are fan favorites are mostly dog shit at what they do for a living. And like, that's fine.

They make millions of dollars and, like, congratulate some of them. I reserve the right to say that they are trash. And so here we are. I mean, Donovan Mitchell, again, deserves to be beaten down with the fury of God and tied into a Gordian knot. All I'm saying is, Gons, there's so many people who deserve to get beat the fuck up. And if we as a nation war gave people the ass beatings they deserve earlier in life, maybe we wouldn't be as shitty. So I'm saying. You're so dead to me.

I don't know how else to add anything else to that. So we're going to leave it right there. He never disappoints. He's Tyler Tynes. Make sure to read all of his excellent work on the ringer.com. Read my shit. Tyler. Thanks, buddy.

All right. That was the incomparable. Tyler Tynes, we move on to everybody's favorite segment sweeping the globe. It's time for good call, bad call. What a bold call here. All right. So Dwight Howard, an interesting human being playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kyle Goon, who covers the Lakers, tweeted this out, that Dwight Howard said that the Lakers want to be the bad news bears. Not the bad news bears in a bad way, but we're going to bring bad news to the other team.

That type of bad news. good call or bad call on the Lakers being the kind of bad newsbears but not really Haley O'Shaughnessy. This isn't about the Lakers. It's about Dwight who keeps saying corny shit on every team he's ever played on B.C. Dan Devine, G.C. BC, because you know a nickname is bad when you immediately have to explain that you didn't mean it in a bad way. This is like, it is just ridiculous nonsense. And Dwight should have thought a little bit harder about this one before we let it out. Isaac Lee noted Lakers fan.

G.C. BCBC on Dwight Howard's word soup explanation here. BC on many levels. Number one, you can't give yourself a nickname. You got to wait until somebody gives you a nickname. Number two, it's a bad explanation. Number three, I hate the Lakers. Isaac, what's your nickname?

Ice. That's a good one. It's an excellent one. So that's three BCs. You know that I love Team Unity and Chemistry here at Heat Check. But I'm going GC because I'm going GC. because I am way here for weird Dwight Howard. Anytime I can get strange Dwight Howard quotes, I'm here for it.

Next one, Mike Malone, not at all happy after the Nuggets lost to the New Orleans Pelicans over the weekend. It was the first win for the pelicans. Mike Malone, kind of an old school guy, decided to go to the press and absolutely destroy his players. Said, I'm embarrassed. That was an embarrassing effort. It was disappointing. That was an embarrassing effort. I don't know if you notice a theme here.

He used the word embarrassing quite a lot. They went on. It kind of worked. It went on. they beat the magic in the next game, but GCBC for Mike Malone's old school motivation. It's really not for me to say, because I don't know what motivates their young guys.

So typically young guys want a coach who's not going to out them. You know, they like someone who's like a player's coach. So it's not for me to say, I don't have an answer. But for the purposes of the show that we do, and the segment called GCBC, where there isn't an option for you to go, I don't know, it's not for me to say. So much pressure.

Let's just pick aside. Okay, a B.C. because obviously it worked. Haza. Dan Devon. It's a G.C. because Malone did this a few times last year, and they responded to it.

When they sort of started to let go of the rope a little bit, he would come out and light him up and say, you know, similar sorts of things, and it seemed to get everybody refocused. The question is, if it doesn't work the same way this time, like Yolkich still didn't look like a dominant player for most of that game against Orlando. They're still not all moving in the right direction.

If it gets shaky here, then you wonder if it's diminishing returns on that kind of approach. But so far, G.C. Isaac Lee, you like a little tough love? BC, I'm one of those snowflake millennials. I need to be coddled and I need compliments. Not people calling me an embarrassing effort. You know what?

I'm going to go BC too, but not for the snowflake millennial thing. I just think they're professionals. They're adults, right? And Pat Riley used to do this shit all the time. And people would talk about how his act wore thin super quick. I just feel like I'm an adult. You're an adult. I know that we shouldn't have lost to the Pelicans.

That sucked. I'm going to get my shit together. And let's get back out there. They're also adults who make a fuck ton more money. money than you. Yeah, that too. You can't tell me shit. All right, next one. Kenny Atkinson, he held up a college football style card with a picture of Dennis Scott with a circle around it and a line drawn through it to say, don't let up any threes, which I thought was kind of interesting, but GC or BC on this unique form of visual play calling and encouragement. I love it.

I mean, what a better reminder. And also, this is a way to say that you guys are being embarrassing without going out and saying you guys are being embarrassing. Plus, I love college football. Play a little defense. Dan Devine. Good call. Also, for me the reasons that Haley said, and also, it made me think about Dennis Scott and Ghostbusters. It made me think about the logo from Ghostbusters, which I always enjoyed. Yeah. Sweep it up. G.C. Plus, I love how all of a sudden Dennis Scott is catching shrapnel. Like, out of nowhere, Dennis Scott's like, what did I do? All right, this is the last one for you. I noticed in the course of the early parts of the season so far, and also in various videos,

I noticed that our teammate here at the Ringer, 42-year-old Vince Carter, kind of getting the little thick boy for us. And my question is, I am also 42 years old. We are the same age. She's like a month or two older than me. Basically, I'm confused for Vince Carter all the time. My question is, should I also

follow Vince Carter into thick boy middle age, G.C. It is getting cold out. If you were ever going to do it, now's the time to do it. Plus, I will never, ever body shame you, Gons. That's a G. G.C. I think Dan Devine. I'm going to go with our apparent new third option. It's

really not for me to say. Gons, you stay healthy. You feel comfortable with you. I love you no matter what. I think it's a G.C. If you're into it, it's a B.C. If Colleen's not into it. That's a G.C.

Oh, man. First of all, I think Vince is getting thick for a professional NBA player, which means going probably from 2% body fat to 3% body fat. Right. So if you want to go up 1% body fat, Like, go ahead. That's not for me to say, but I think G.C. Welcome to our new segment.

Who knows? Shoulder shug. Right. No, no, no, okay, to make a definitive statement, as a thick boy myself, I'm going to go G.C. on this one. I'm pro thick. I'm here for all things, Vince Carter. I ride hard for him.

I love that we are the same age and he's still playing NBA basketball. And, like, if I go for a run over, say, like, three and a half miles, all of a sudden, I'm in traction so that he's out there and he's playing and looking good. I'm G. I'm G. all the way for him. He's the best. You guys are the best. That was a killer segment of Good Call, Bad Call.

I want to thank Isaac Lee and Dan Devine and Haleo Shaughnessy and nobody's like him. Tyler Times was on the program. And I want to thank all of you as well. Please rate and review us on Apple podcast or wherever you get fine podcasts please read all of our content on the rigger.com. Listen to the Ringer NBA show

on the Ringer Podcast Network. Keycheck. We'll be back next week with our new roster. We're excited, gang. Go Lamar. Bye.