The Ringer NBA Show - The Wizards (Finally) Want to Blow It Up | Heat Check (Ep. 340)

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

The devastatingly underachieving Washington Wizards look to sell, sell, sell (3:17) and the glut of talent in the Western Conference coagulates even further (31:13). Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Joe House, Jonathan Tjarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, guys, it's Liz Kelly. We just launched a brand new podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network hosted by our very own staff writer, Shea Serrano, called Villains. In the premiere episode, Shea is joined by Jason Concepcion and Sean Fennessee to dissect the iconic villain Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. You can check out the first episode and subscribe right now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Heat Check.

I'm your host, John Gonzalez, joined as I am every week by our esteemed producer. Sir Isaac, we are separated once again. You're in Los Angeles. I am in Philadelphia on the road. I was on a jet plane. They emergency dispatched me for Jimmy Butler, so I'm here working on that. And I got off the plane, homie, and there was snow. And I was like, oh, yeah, they still do that on the East Coast.

They still have snow here. What is that? Yeah, exactly. And because I live in Los Angeles, I was ill prepared. I do not own a coat. And I had, like, running sneakers on. It was as storms go, not prepared. Basically, what you're saying is you're soft.

Yeah, I was never hard. Just to be clear on that, I've always been soft. I'm just softer now. So I'm in Philadelphia. There's a lot going on here, which we will certainly get into. We also, of course, before we get into all that, want to remind everybody to please rate and review us and all of our fantastic Ringer NBA shows and pause. And thank you as well for listening to us.

And thank you for patronizing us on the Ringer.com. We have lots of great, excellent NBA content going on right now. We have a story up shortly about the wizards apparently putting everybody on the block. Finally, Ernie Grunfeld got a round of that. Powell O'Gaddy also has a story on LeBron flipping the switch earlier than usual. And he has got another one about how the Warriors can get their groove back. Powell is everywhere. Dan Devine wrote about the surprisingly fun Grizzlies.

Jonathan Charks wrote about the rockets and how they've righted their ship. And KOC has a great piece on the next team that could make a bold move, sort of like how the Sixers rejiggered their roster. I almost said the Phillies. My Philadelphia brain is all kinds of mush right now. And of course, desktop. Desktop killed it last week. You've got to see Verno singing a song. Incredible.

It was incredible. It was absolutely incredible. Oh, and by the way, speaking of incredible ringer videos, you have to check out Isaac Lee cutting Roger Sherman's hair. Oh, no. My man, I think I might let you cut my hair. I need a trim. It was definitely the weirdest thing I've ever done.

I think it was towing the line between good content and an 80s. HR violation. So definitely check that out. If anything, just for the weirdness of it. Check that out. Check out. Check out all those stories later on in the show. We're going to have Jonathan Charks to talk about the Western conference with us because the standings are crazy. Everything's in flux. The West is absolutely wild. But the East is just as wild, as I mentioned, the Wizards are doing stuff. The Sixers are doing stuff. So for all of our East Coast needs, we need an East Coast correspondent. Let's bring them in. Joining me on the other line from House of Carbs and Shack House.

It's Joe House. What's up, House? Wangan! You know what? I'm slightly heartbroken. We're a fifth of the way into the season, and this is our first convening on the heat check, my friend. So there was a couple of different things that happened.

Initially, I was trying to have you on, but you were traveling because I had written a long wizard's piece. And then I was going to have you on last week. You were scheduled to be on last week. But then Jimmy Butler, trade happened and we had to have an emergency podcast, we've got you here. And you know what? Providence has divined that you come in at the perfect time because right before I had

you on, we're going to start with the Sixers because Jimmy Butler, I'm in Philadelphia, the whole bit. Bumped because the universe has decreed that we talk about your wizards right before we came on, Adrian Rojianowski tweeted out that the Wizards, I'm going to read this tweet in full. It's amazing. The Wizards are signaling a willingness to consider trade overtures on the entire roster, including All-Star guards, John Wall and Brad Beal. House, congratulations.

It's all happening. I mean, you think it's finally time, guys, to start considering the possibility of trading. Two players, they might get along personally. We have no idea. There's been lots of conjecture and speculation over the last 18 months about their personal relationship. But one thing we know for sure, Wang Gan, they are incompatible on the basketball court. for whatever reason and there seems to be a contagion when the two of them are on the basketball court.

They both suffer from a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of desire to compete defensively, and an overall malaise that has, by extension, infiltrated the entirety of the Wizards franchise and organization. It is a group of people that do not appear to like each other professionally. Yeah, what gives you that? sense. It's hilarious. So a couple of weeks ago when you were supposed to be on, but you were traveling, the wizards were like touring through California. And, you know, they had that game where they lost to the Kings. And then they just all lit each other up. Specifically, Beal Wall and Morris, Keith lit up Otto Porter. And then they came to L.A. and, you know, individually,

like John Wall is a fun guy to talk to. Brad Beal is a really good dude. Keith and Porter are good dudes. Scott Brooks, wonderful person to talk to. Individually, they're all great. Together, it's toxic. You can reach no other conclusion. They, for whatever reason, have not been able to and appear completely unable to going forward, looking forward, to come up with a way to coexist and produce a successful basketball formula. They're all, as far as I'm concerned, now equally responsible. They all have dirty hands. The dirtiest hands obviously belong to Ernie Grunfeld. Ernie.

For repeating the mistake that he made. Now, you know, the circumstances were different when extensions were granted to our previous lackluster big three, Gilbert Arenas, Antoine Jameson and Karan Butler. Arinas got $11 million contract after injuring his knee in a manner that prevented him from ever successfully playing basketball again. and Antoine Jameson got a four-year, $50 million extension when that was probably about $30 million more than he deserved at that point. Now, under that, at that point in time, and this is true of the entire Grunfeld era, you could justify those extensions. And A. Poland definitely had his hands on some of those.

He essentially gave out the functional equivalent of bonuses to the guys for helping him. resuscitate a team that was in the doldrums that was nationally irrelevant with the introduction of Agent Zero and the acquisition of Karam Butler and bringing on Antoine Jameson when he did. Grunfeld reinvented the team and then Brunner and then unreinvented it. But that was Poland, really. The thing that's so crazy is here we are in this current moment. And I think it is by now the whole league is.

Wiser. Everybody understands you cannot overpay for non-all-star talent. And so I submit to you, Wangan, Exhibit A. Is it Yon Mahemi? No, see, by the way, very quick aside on Mahimmi, and I'm going to Twitter this. I am not making fun of Yon Mahimmi, at least through the balance of this holiday season, and maybe all of 2019. That's your New Year's resolution, and good for you, because there's so much

other stuff you can make fun of with the wizards. I have to tell you why. His house is absolutely stunning. He has done a beautiful, in this respect. Did you go over there? A corner house that's on my route, that's on my commute. And to his credit, him and his family, they have done such a beautiful Christmas-flavored holiday theme.

It's all decked out in lights. He and his children must come home each night and just smile at the beautiful. array of light that they have assembled. I'm telling me, he's done such a great job with the holiday decoration. $64 million will buy you a lot of lights. That's where you got it, Wang God. To his credit, he's done the right thing. The lights are beautiful.

I am not going to say one bad word about Jan Mahidmi. But you said that I have plenty of other guys to say bad words about plenty of other guys. I need one more update on Jan Mahimmy's holiday decorations. I mean, with $64 million, this better look like the house from Christmas vacation And does he have like light up reindeer and all that shit or what? Of course, of course he does. Yes, he has all kinds of characters.

The lights are everything. By the way, very tastefully done. I mean, he's got that French flavor. He's got a little aesthetic to it. So I really commend him. I hope that he was out there doing it himself, Clark Griswold style, and he didn't hire somebody. But I'm going to suspect that he probably hired somebody. All right.

So for the rest of the things that you can make fun of the Wizards about, they've lost six to ten. They're five games under their 500. They look horrendous. Ernie Grunfeld has finally had this like awakening. He's been there for 15 years, house. And it's amazing to me that he has been because like WTF about the Wizards is basically like the too long didn't read. But you made a really good point because like on the one hand, you look at it and go, okay, they don't like each other. They're capped out.

They're paying a luxury tax for a team that like isn't going to make the playoffs. It might not even win 30 games. What the hell are they doing? And yet individually, it's really hard to get players of that caliber. right? So were I in Ernie Grunfeld's spot? Like, you're not doing this in a vacuum. Like in each of those decisions, what are you going to do? Are you not going to keep John Wall? You're going to let John Wall walk? I guess you would trade him earlier before you had to sign him to this new deal, which we're going to get to. The contract is fucking amazing. Then you've got Brad Beale. What are you going to do? You're not going to keep Brad Beal and pay Brad Beal. Of course you are. He's a good player.

And same with Otto Porter. Maybe he's not worth quite the max, but he's pretty close. But that's the problem. Let's just hit the pause button on Otto Porter. Because really that's That's the problem. Let's you and me sit here right now in this, in this moment that we have together Wangan. Please. And speculate, speculate. You tell me how many All-Star games is Auto Porter going to play in? That's a great question. The over-under would be a half, right? Correct. Exactly. And I'm going to take the under. Yeah. So you, that's the challenge, right? You can't pay $27 million a year to a player that never going to play in an all-star game. That's the problem. That's the franchise problem that they have. And on top of that, now I, you mentioned earlier that the object of the

ire of those veterans back in that, following that Sacramento game was Otto Porter. I actually think it was Kelly Ubre. But the fact that, because there was some accusations of selfishness and players, they were all, they did it anonymously. Players jacking up shots. It was definitely The speculation was that it was Porter, but I had it from a source that it might have been Ubray. We didn't get it nailed down. It doesn't really matter. It's everybody. It's everybody who's got John Wall and Bradbill and Keith.

Yes. But you know, you fast forward to the moment that we're in right now, which is Scotty Brooks coming out after another lack of daysical effort and saying, this is embarrassing. I'm going to play the second unit guys because they're the only ones that look like they're competing. And in fact, he's right. The second unit guys are the only ones out there giving the appearance of busting their ass and caring about the outcome of the game. The number of Ole moments. Now, especially defensively, they are in the bottom five against the guarding the three-pointer.

And this was supposed to have been a point of emphasis. And when I've gone on to the message boards and the Reddits and the deep dive here in the Washington NBA basketball, Twitter sphere by extension, the commentariat, lots of folks just say, guarding that is a matter of two things. One is effort and the other is communication. And both of those things are missing. And they can't be missing on a team that bears the veteran caliber and traits of this team. That's the real disconnect to me. If we know anything about the wizards, it's that communication is their forte.

That's where they really thrive. They get along great. So Ernie had this revelation. He decides finally that he'll, I just love the phrasing for the Woj tweet to signaling a willingness to consider trade overtures, maybe possibly perhaps basically. Like Ernie might like you might be able to convince Ernie to. How else are they supposed to say it?

It's crazy. It's just absolutely amazing. He can't say please come bend me over, which is what he needs to be saying. Well, I mean like this thing like good frigging luck on this one because like let's just start with John Wall. Like if you were going to, you mentioned Otto Porter. fine. I think you could figure out somebody to grab Auto Porter, but you'd rather keep Brad Beal,

but Brad Beale is going to fetch the biggest price, and he's going to be the easiest to unload. I personally think the problem here is John Wall, because you've got John Wall who, you know, John Wall is going to make videos and give comments about he's a man and he can go out and party and he can do whatever he want. And I'm all for that. Content-wise is frigging fantastic. Contract-wise, you want to talk about the greatest sin of Ernie Grunfeld's entire career is giving four years and $169 million to John Wall, who in the final year of that deal is going to be 32 years old house and will have a player option for $46 million. Who in God's name is going to want 32 year old John Wall on a player option for 46, almost 47 million? And by the way, here's the great crazy.

If that's not crazy enough, this contract has a 15% trade kicker. Thank God. There are still dumb NBA GMs out there. That's the only thing I can say to you at this point. There are, and our own Kevin Obama, Kevin O John Wallhater, Kevin O creative trader, came up with a scenario that's very plausible for a team that could be looking for a super-duper star. And that landing spot was the New Orleans Palicans. In exchange for what? Some combination of Solomon Hill, Julius Randall, because Wall right now is only the United States.

getting paid 20 million bucks. They only need to come up with the 20 million bucks. Yeah, you got to get rid of them before the extension kicks in. And that's it. And the thesis is that that's, you know, to create the very best possibility for Anthony Davis of sticking around that New Orleans has to do something radical. And Wall is the only player of that sort of certain caliber that might be available on the market right now and able to bring in by New Orleans. Yeah, I mean, that's interesting. Like if you're in New Orleans, I could see how that could potentially make sense. You take one last ditch effort at convincing Anthony Davis,

like, hey, maybe we can do something here. And maybe you shouldn't leave, although he's definitely going to leave. And then you're stuck with John Wall at 32 years old for $46 million. I'm a hard pass on that one if I'm any team. But I mean, sure, like I guess maybe the Pelicans could roll the dice on that. Bradley Beale is interesting too, because right now the Sixers, when you're looking at it, they go and they make a play for Jimmy Butler. It gets them into the Eastern Conference contending conversation.

you know, slightly behind the Raptors still, but in that like Bucks Celtics tier, and we'll get to the Celtics in the second. But if they could go out somehow and convince Ernie Grunfeld to pry loose a Brad Beale, that might be an interesting landing spot for them. But if I'm the Wizards, that's the guy. I'd rather somehow figure out a way to get rid of

Wall and Porter and keep Beal. But I think Beal is the easiest guy to move and will fetch you the most in return. So this is precisely the tension. It will come as no surprise to any of the great listeners of the heat check that you and I are once again in violent agreement. The most important player to me for the franchise to move is Wall. Wall's got to go.

I'm not sure if it was on this very podcast, the Heat Check, or if it was on a Bill Simmons podcast, or if maybe it was during Summer League, I had the opportunity over the summer to share my views on the developing Washington Wizards. And as these free agents came into the four bolstering the bench with, some veteran talent. Everybody has their opinions of Dwight Howard. Everybody has their opinions to Jeff Green. Everybody has their opinions of Austin Rivers.

Those guys are not the issue with this team. And they were never going to have a role in determining the ultimate direction of the team. The one player with that capacity is the guy that the franchise has empowered as a leader without ever seeing one single glimpse from my humble position of actual leader. of actual leadership capacity or skill. I said in the summer podcast, this is the show me year for John Wall. He expressed some dissatisfaction with his teammates and what happened last season

as he had a season that was really, from my perspective, a lost season because he arrived in whatever shape he was in. He had a knee injury that became a nagging knee injury that became something that required surgery. He played 41 games. and then complained about the behavior of his teammates after he was out and after there was this moment of them sharing the ball. They gave everybody a glimpse of what it looked like to see the ball moving and everybody to be involved in the offense.

And he didn't like some of the way that the team kind of rallied around that opportunity moment. And my takeaway from that was, okay, okay, John Wall, I see what you're saying. you are the self-ordained leader of this team. I'm not sure what anybody would point to objectively as the highlight of your basketball career, including college, Mr. John Wall. I mean, the highlight of his career, there's two highlights. One is being the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs of a handful of years ago when the Wizards were underdogs. And the second would be making a three-pointer in game six against the Boston Celtics in the east.

Eastern Conference semifinals. So if those are your two greatest basketball moments, but you believe yourself to be a leader of basketball men, well, then this season was the put up or shut up season. We're 20% into the season, and I'd like John Wall to shut up and go away. He has neither put up nor shut up, but may I applaud you, Joe House?

You have had quite a few epic rants on heat check. That was an all-timer. That's all I need from you. That's why I have you on this, because when something happens with the Wizards and there's always something happening, I just want to, I want to turn on the microphone and lean back and listen to you because that was beautiful. Thank you.

I appreciate it. All right. We got to talk about the Sixers. God bless your Wizards. We've got to talk about the Sixers. I'm in Philadelphia. I was dispatched. They threw me on a plane and hurled me out here to watch Jimmy Butler.

There are worse things, Wong gone. No. It was amazing. Are you kidding? I was here for his home debut. The game to start his Sixers career in Orlando, not the way they wanted. They lost to the magic. Kevin Clark was gloating and texting me about it.

The magic are pretty good. Magic are not bad. They're fine. They're fine. They're better than they. They're more interesting and more useful than they've been previously. But I'm still not bullish on the magic. But they go, the Sixers come home.

They debut with Jimmy Butler. They squeak out a win against the jazz. Then they go to Charlotte on the next night on Saturday. And they end up beating the Hornets on a game winner by Jimmy Butler where he called game. And then they're going to have the sons tonight. We're recording this before they play. So far, so good with Jimmy Butler, I kind of like this. And I'll tell you what, House, you have all these people who want to jettison everybody

off the Wizards in D.C. And Wizards fans are angry. It took precisely a game and a half, not even for everybody in Philadelphia to be all in on Jimmy Butler. They love him here. Why do they need a game and a half? I guess Philly has that natural sports skepticism. Anytime a guy from abroad who's cultivated a certain reputation and he's been

put in a little bit of an unflattering light through his own hands, by the way. So I understand that. It's just a normal Philly skepticism. That's pretty quick. When I say, when I, like, within 90 seconds in the home game where he was debuted here in Philadelphia, they were chanting his name. People were going nuts for him. Of course, they win the game.

He gets the game ball. He tosses it into the stands. People were hoot. But I'm saying, like, Philly can be pretty fickle. And for them to, like, fall for him, not just fall for him, but frigging swoon for him that quickly, everybody's. in here. Well, it does seem like, and he his own self said this, that his work ethic and his approach to the game does fit the Philly ethos, right? He does, he is a hard worker. He is a guy

that looks like he's going to motivate his teammates, hopefully not tear anybody down. Hopefully there are no fragile flowers among the best players of the sixes. We'll find out. But, you know, he is a, he's a guy that wants to win. You can't call him a proven winner because I'm not sure another guy who's crew's basketball career. I'm not sure you would say, oh, here are the objective successes that he's had. But you know what? He busts his ass. And for this Philly team, the one thing that they were missing was a guy inside that last five minutes. Honest to God, this is the difference between them beating the Celtics last year in the, playoffs and where they ended up, which was, you know, losing in kind of heartbreaking fashion.

He wants the ball for every one of those possessions, which means, that both Embeded and Simmons, and by extension, JJ will get even better looks as well. But it just frees up. It's a psychological and basketball sort of liberty that he delivers to all of them because of that doggedness that he possesses. Yeah, the late game stuff, you hit it, man. That's 100% right. I mean, like, you know, he ends up making a lot of plays late in the jazz game to

help them win. They almost blew a 16-point lead. They pull that out. Then they go to Charlotte. And he had the ball in his hands at the end of regulation. and overtime. And like, that is 1,000 percent.

You, you touched on the Celtics last year, that series. They didn't have a closer. I mean, like Simmons, you know, he doesn't shoot.

And with M.B., like he's a big and it's hard. There's a reason why it's hard to play through your big latent games. And also, you know, sometimes he tries to do too much and he'll fumble one out of bounds or whatever. They needed exactly a Jimmy Butler type to take over. That's exactly what Brett Brown said.

I wonder like, you know, they're still going to have to figure out how to play him and, and Simmons really together. they want Simmons to be the point guard, but they're also going to want him to do some screening and pick and roll actions, which they didn't really do a lot of pick and roll before Butler came and like he's a natural pick and roll player. But, you know, they'll have to see how the fit works. Where do you think it gets them? Because I mentioned like, hey, if they could go and also add Bradley Beal now that you're really on to something, where do you think not like just adding Jimmy Butler and just having that big three positions them in the Eastern Conference?

Yeah, we're only going to talk about the big three because I'm not going to permit this Bradley Beal slander. There's no reason for Bradley Beale to leave Washington. He is the singular best player and he needs to stay here. Congratulations to Future Sixer Bradley Beal. I mean, I don't know what the hell the Sixers could give Washington. I don't either. Are you interested in Markell Fultz so you can get him at a good price? No, sir.

All set. All set with Markell. Although Mark, maybe that would help him come home. Maybe coming back here to the DMV and getting some of his mom's home cooking. Maybe that would be the thing. He knows exactly where the chick filet is that he was frequent. All kinds of chick filet. I would buy him also.

it's a trick-fled. Did you see, by the way, his free throw for him from the other night? I mean, the sad thing, that's psychological, right? That's a guy going through something in his head. It's what we've watched. You know, I have to put everything in terms of golf. It's what we watched with Charles Barkley and his golf swing, right? He's got a brain issue right now that he needs to overcome. And I'm rooting for him. He's super young and super talented. There's no reason he can't turn the corner. I mean, the guy had a triple double last season. He can play basketball. For those who didn't see, what happened was, like, first, in the Orlando game, he had a hitch, and he said the ball kind of slipped out of his hand.

All right. Then in the jazz game, he debuted a new thing whereby he dribble, dribble, dribbles, and then, like, as he's going up to load to shoot, he, like, bats it back and forth in his hands like a hot potato, and then just, like, flex it. And I've never seen anything like it. I don't think anybody's ever seen anything like it. Jay Crowder definitely didn't see anything like it because he was literally mimicking him doing it in the game.

So it was absolutely bananas. Godspeed to Markov Fultz. Back to the Sixers and Jimmy Butler and where they position. Where do you think they fall now in the hierarchy? There's no reason that they can't win the East. I mean, there are now to my way of thinking four legit contenders for the Eastern Conference. They are the Raptors. They are the Bucks.

They are the Celtics. And now they are the Sixers. And to me, it's just going to be a function of who's healthy come playoff time. and what develops between now and when the playoffs get going in terms of personnel changes and moves. So those are the two big drivers. The Celtics are going through a chemistry experiment right now. And Bill Simmons likes to call Brad Stevens the president right now. I don't think he's quite at that level because he's in the science lab right now.

We don't have any presidents with strong science backgrounds. I can't think of any. Well, let's, because I'm with you for the Sixers for the last thing. I mean, like, I think the Eastern Conference was before the Sixers went and traded for Jimmy Butler, going to come down to one of the four teams that you mentioned in the Raptors, the Bucks, the Sixers, and the Celtics, and after they go and get Jimmy Butler, it's still going to come down to those teams. And I think the Raptors are still ahead of them. It gets the Sixers closer for sure. And I like match-up-wise, you mentioned the Celtics and whatnot, and like having a closer and all that helps. But I think that's still like tossed one of those four in a hat and pull it out and probably more times than not you're going to pull the Raptors out. But you mentioned the Celtics.

And this is the last team we'll get to in the Eastern Conference before I let you go because you have lots of stuff to do. You're very busy. You have like 27 jobs. The Celtics, five and five over their last 10, my man. And they lose at home to a jazz team on a back to back offensively not good. Well, that's it. You just hit the nail on the head. And I think that's the chemistry experiment, right?

The guys don't yet have the one thing we know about basketball, successful NBA players that are creatures of habit. They like to know their comings and goings. They need predictability to maximize their performance so that they're not thinking about anything other than when they're on the floor doing the thing that they're supposed to be most effective at. And I

think this experiment of the Celtics ended last season with a young core. If you just played the young core they ended the season with last year and then tried them just blend in Kyrie, I think they would be four or five games better than they are right now. I think

they would have won four or five games more. What has happened instead is by trying to work in both Kyrie and Hayward, they're paying the price. It's coming at the expense of Rozier. It's coming at the expense of Jalen Brown. And for some weird reason, it's also coming, I haven't been able to put my own finger on it. I'm not in the Celtics Reddit room.

I don't know what's going on with Tatum other than the terrible judgment on the long two pointers, which is not like him from what we saw. out of him last season, but they don't take good shots as a team. They shot 15% from three-pointer against the jazz on Saturday night. I watched it. Not good. That's a bad number. That's a bad number.

Offensively, I mean, it's kind of crazy because so they've got all that talent and their 27th and offensive rating, which, you know, you mentioned a lot of reasons or a lot of things going on, but I would think that's almost impossible because early on, Kairie looked terrible and he looked like he was definitely still recovering. and all that stuff. Lately, he's been fantastic. And I would just expect, like, once Kyrie gets a go and they're going to be fine offensively, not the case.

Like, I, I just thought he would buoy them. And it hasn't been so, so far. But I will say this, Joe House. And this is something that we can end on me because we could both agree on it. Struggling Celtics is my favorite Celtics. Oh, it's great. I've relished that game against the jazz. And not only because I have hard earned cash on the jazz over 49.

And a half this season long gone. Yeah. But also, you know, I expect something. it was two parts. It was both my expectations for the jazz this season and seeing them defensively put the clance on somebody. But obviously, I love watching the subject struggle. I mean, and the problem I have with this one guy, we have to enjoy it now because they're going to figure it out and they're going to have the rotation. It might only be a, with Terry Rozier playing somewhere else and, you know, a couple other personal developments yet to occur.

But man, oh, man, do I enjoy watching them miss shots? Oh, me too. I'm going to steal this bit from our buddies Spike and Mike at the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast. But until they figure it out, Brad Stevens, I think clearly on the hot seat. This could be it for him. Oh, that's great. This is it.

He has until Christmas to figure it out, Wangan. Otherwise, I mean, there are some good coaching candidates out there. Dave Jagger might be available. Who survives longer? Scott Brooks or Brad Stevens? We don't know. What do you got going on this week? You got a special House of Carbs Thanksgiving?

What do we got? We do indeed. We have a special. I don't want to spoil. the surprise. We have an angle on Thanksgiving that I don't think a lot of people are anticipating. We've had our traditional run-up. We had Adam Rappaport, Bon Appetit, Editor-in-Chief, helping us with some sides. So that was a couple of weeks ago. We had Matthew Odom from Austin, Texas on. We talked a little bit about a Texas-style Thanksgiving. This week's show,

I just don't want to give any indication as to exactly what angle on Thanksgiving, but it is, You know, in the words of Jacoby and Jail and if I can steal, I don't know whether this is a cultural or a regional thing, but there is a Thanksgiving tradition we're going to touch on this week, and it will be glorious. I am excited. Be sure to check that out. Be sure to check out House Carbs and Check House and everything House related. He'll be back soon on Heat Check House. You're the best. Thanks, Wang Gan. Love you, buddy. All right, that was House. That was always excellent. I love when he rants about the Wizards. That's one of my favorite things. And now next we bring in one of our other favorites, Jonathan Sharks.

Chakalaka. He's heating up. All right, joining me on the other line from parts on. I assume he's in Dallas, but who knows? I'm in Philly. Always. I'm guessing he's in Dallas. There he has his staff writer, extraordinary.

Jonathan Charks, Charks, you and I, like, over the weekend, we were, like, trying to figure out what we were going to talk about and things changed, like, 12 different times. And then finally, we were like, we should just talk about the Western Conference because it's crazy bananas out there. Yeah, it feels like the NFL right now. Like, there's no bad teams, but are there any good teams either? It's just wild. So let's start with a team that should be a good team. The Warriors, through the first four weeks, charts, they were 11 and 2. They were first in offensive rating.

They were 16th in defensive rating. Since then, they've lost four of five. They're 24th in offense, 23rd in defense, and number one in drama. How do you feel about the Warriors right now? Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say. What was Steve Kerr's line? Like, we're hurting physically and spiritually. I love Kerr because,

Like he's always been this way. Like you ask him a question. He's one of my favorite people to talk to in the NBA. Because you ask him a question and he's not going to give you a canned cliche. He's not going to give you a talking point. He's going to tell you what he thinks, like more times than not. And then beyond that, like they've won enough championships and he has such a standing. When you win three and four titles, say whatever the heck you want.

Yeah, exactly. He's got the standing now where he can just be like, fuck it. Here's what I'm actually thinking. And what he's thinking is this is probably not good for us right now. Like they've got a lot of shit going on. They're not playing well. And then beyond that, they've got the KD. and Dremont thing that's still lingering.

Yeah, I think to me, I mean, if you look at just on the court stuff, what stands out, like without Steph in there, they don't really shoot very well. They got a lot of guys who can't shoot. They got a lot of bigs who kind of hang around. I'm not sure what they're really doing out there. It's kind of ugly basketball right now. Yeah, they're thin. I think we spent so much time focusing on the main four guys and then, you know, five when

Bucky finally comes back, that we forget that when you have a roster that's that expensive and that top loaded, that the rest of it kind of. end up being tough to fill out and a little thin. And like you mentioned the big guys. Like you've got Kavan Looney doing nothing, you know, and Bell. And he's been better than Damian Jones and Jordan Bell. Yeah, I was going to say, like, he has been better than Bell. Bell hasn't done anything either.

So like rotation-wise, they don't have a lot that Kirk can really mix and match with. Yeah, I got a deep cut a few guns. Like, you know the guy that's actually kind of missing where now is Alfonso and McKinney. I love when you do this. This is such a runger take. Explain to me why they're missing Afounsen McKinnock, please. He's like they're only three and deep player on their supporting cast. He's shooting like 50% from 3 and he's 6'88.

So he just allows Kerr to like move around lineups. Without him out there, without him and Steph, they're playing like Livingston a lot, Iguodala a lot. All these guys who can't shoot. And then it's like, okay, all those double Clay and double Durant and what are they going to do? And the answer is not much. What was that game where we had the Jonas Derubco game? Yeah, he's played pretty well for them too, actually.

The Hawks maybe, the Hawks game, I think. He flashed and everybody was excited. But then, yeah, beyond that, I mean, like, I think that says everything that you need to know about the, they're still going to be fine. They're fine. They're the warriors. They're having a little hiccup. They're arguing with each other. There's infighting.

The playoffs are going to come around. They're going to steamroll everybody, most likely, provided there's no injuries. See, I think the thing is, though, it's like what we're seeing is they're just not one injury. And all of a sudden this whole thing kind of, because they have so little shooting, they miss one guy and just kind of falls apart. Yeah, the barring injury. That was my major caveat. But to your point, I think when you say the guy that they need is Alfonso McKinney, that says everything that I would have said about how thin they are.

Okay. If that's your guy, cool, man. But the Western Conference now is really, it's crazy. Like, we were looking at it. And it's so tight right now. As of the time, we're recording this at the top, you've got the Blazers and the Warriors. And then you've got the Grizzlies, the Clippers, and the Thunder, half game back. You've got the Nuggets, Lakers, and the Pelicans within two games.

and then you've got the wolves who, like at the bottom of the conference, even the teams that are outside of that, with the exception of the suns, the wolves are the worst of that bunch, and they've got seven wins. Yeah, I mean, Minnesota's playing a lot better without Jimmy Butler, which is, that's a whole different can of worms. But they're like, oh, let's play basketball again. Let's have fun. So, all right, let's do a quick wolves aside.

It was divine, I think, that wrote about the wolves being really fun, Sands Jimmy Butler. And I'm cool. I'm with it. I like, I mean, obviously they've got Roco and Dario now, and those are two players that I've always enjoyed watching. But to see, you know, Carl Anthony Towns get to do more than just play second fiddle slash understudy slash, you know, sidekick to Jimmy is the Carl Anthony Towns that we were always supposed to get. Yeah, I mean, it is kind of weird if you have like a 22 year old big man, you give him $200 million. But then you're like, hey, let's make Jimmy the guy just like grind off Jimmy, fill it holes around Jimmy.

And he's like, I don't really want to do that. know, like, I don't know just jack shots. Yeah, and, and you know what? Good, go do that. Yeah, now you have Dario and Roco grinding for towns, so towns can kind of jack shots and have fun. I mean, not that Tibbs is ever going to, like, go into his bench, but maybe like just having Dario around. Like, he's already starting to play Dario more than Taj, which, you know, good.

I was, like, kind of up in the air about whether or not he'd have that revelation. I really like Tosh. Like, he doesn't hurt you anywhere. He's a hustle player, but his ceiling is low, just like his floor is high. So, good for Tibbs. Yeah, Todd's more of a five at this point. So he was playing like two fives together, and that's just tough. Yeah, yeah, run them off the second unit.

That's fine. But yeah, so the Western Conference is just like, it's both fun and a little bizarre. Like I think ultimately, you know, barring an injury, the Warriors are still going to be the Warriors. But you've got the Blazers who I think last year people slept on. And then this year, I think that there was a little expectation that there would be a regression. They'd fall off a little bit. And so far, they've been fantastic. I mean, yeah, they just got, they got a second.

a bad matchup last year at Anthony Davis. And then it's like last team members, I'm getting swept in their home court. It's like, how could they really be? But they do have continuity. They do have Dame and CJ. I think that the big change from this year is what they've done is they've gone away from the stagger where they used to always play their Dame or CJ.

And they're playing them together the entire game. And they're giving Evan Turner the second unit. And really, if you have Evan Turner, you have to give them the ball at some point in the game because he can't play off the ball. No. So it's a better shift of their resources, I guess. I think every team that he's been on learned that lesson the hard way,

that Evan Turner needs the ball because he's not going to stand over in the corner and shoot three. He still can't do that. But he can be a useful, I mean, he's a good passer. And he rebounds well, play a little defense. I mean, I like Evan. And I fucking love Evan when it comes to Evan, just being Evan. Like, he goes way up on my- His quote game is pretty high for sure.

Yes. He might be my favorite in the NBA. He's up there. And I mean, I don't know what paying Evan is $75 million, But if you're going to do that, you got to let him do what he does, right? You got to let him run a second unit. Yeah. Well, I mean, for sure, quote-wise, he's worth the money.

He's probably not worth the money actual production-wise. But in terms of what he gives them in the second unit, he's been fine. And then the Grizzlies have been confusing, but, you know, five games above 500. Like Conley and Gasol do so much for them. The Thunder without Russ have been really good. I think that one's very interesting. Like Paul George basically having that. team all Russ has been convalescing has been good for them. Yeah, I think the big change for them

where things really flipped as they benched Patrick Patterson because he really is on his last legs in the NBA and they went with Jeremy Grant. And so now like we're not going to shoot, but we're going to play like five plus athletes all the time. And that's at least gives you identity. But before they're kind of like half and half out on their team. And now this group of Oklahoma City does really can't shoot still, but they're going to press you. They're so athletic. That'll win you games in regular season. Yeah, they won nine of their last. S-10 sharks. And, like, I think, like, early on, I was like, oh, no, same old Oklahoma City.

Billy Donovan's got to be on the hot seat, finally. Like, I don't see him, you know, figuring out whatever the secret sauce is supposed to be that they couldn't figure out how to mix up before. And now all of a sudden, like you said, like, they kind of change their rotations and they're playing different dudes. And, like, it's a little Sixers West. The Sixers have a bunch of players, former process players that are, like, sprinkled throughout the West. But they've gotten really, like, Jeremy Grant, has become good. Yeah, and it's like, it feels like with all these teams, it's going to come down to matchups in the playoffs. And then if you get a bad matchup, it'll be like Portland, last year.

Oh, this team is so overrated. They're so done. It's over. But really, it's more about like, because there's not much separation after Golden State. And I guess Houston now, after those top two, it's really just totally matchup dependent. Where are you on the nuggets these days? The nuggets are hanging in there. They were sort of fluctuating up and down.

They're five and five over the last 10. Jokic has had games where he's been absolutely incredible. and then like a little invisible and they're still waiting on Will Barton to get back and Hernan Gomez is showing some flashes like some nights I'm like this team could be anybody at any time and other nights I'm like I will maybe

overestimating them. See my thing with Denver I think they've got a brewing point guard controversy I think that's really at the heart of the problem right now in Denver is that they have this great big man Yokic but as you said they don't always get him the ball and you look at their team Jamal Murray's a two guard like he's just not a point guard

Jamal Murray's here to get buckets and that's about it which is fine. But if he's at the point, it feels like other guys get frozen out sometimes. But they've got Gary Harris to two. Right, exactly. He got Harris to the three.

I feel like that Russia's a little mismatched right now. Yeah, so what would you do then? I don't know. I mean, honestly, I think they're better with Monta Morris at the one

with like a true point guard. And that gets into like before they get Isaiah Thomas back on a couple whenever he comes back. They got a lot of guys to need shots. As we know, Isaiah Thomas cures everything with every team.

He fixes all chemistry issues and ball sharing issues. Listen, he's going to fit right in and the Nuggets will go to the finals. It's going to be fantastic. Another team in the Western Conference that I've written a lot about, I've covered them a lot, and wasn't sure what to make of them. I was really, really bullish on the Lakers at the beginning before the season started. And then they had a slow start.

They had the fight where Ingram and Rondo were suspended. And the roster looked like they were still trying to figure things out. And now all of a sudden they're playing extremely well. They won seven or their last 10. and LeBron James goes out. He's on another one, man. He's killing it right now. My God.

So Powell wrote about him flipping the switch, you know, earlier than he generally does. And he did, man. He went out there and put 51 on the heat in 38 minutes. He was incredibly efficient. He had six of his eight threes. He looks fantastic now. I mean, I think the concern, though, as you're saying, like, it's Thanksgiving this week. Like, he's slipping the switch now.

Like, that's a long time for that switch to be on. I mean, play for until April. Yeah, that's true. I wonder, well, like, don't forget last year he had to do the same thing, like, where he, he led the league in minutes. And then he led the postseason in minutes. And he was just like, all right, look, this first iteration of the calves last year was garbage. And the second iteration was trash. And he was like, I got to take them on my back and do it myself.

I think he's got a lot more to work with in Los Angeles than he did in Cleveland. So I kind of feel like it's just a figuring out how to squeeze the best out of them situation. And so while they're doing that, he's just going to pick them up. Yeah, it's kind of, as we've been saying, it's like one or two rotation pieces. Like for the Los Angeles thing, Tyson Chandler's been huge because now they have two centers, the whole game. Like, the whole Kuzma at the five thing, that's over. That was a disaster.

Surprising development, that was never going to work out. Right. And so, yeah, I feel like having Tyson stabilized in a little bit. They've kind of, like, Kuzma's minutes have fallen off a little bit. Like, initially he was probably, you know, like of the LeBron that's like the not LeBron young kids. Early on in the Ingram heart ball, Kuzma quartet, he was the best one.

And now all of a sudden, like, he was sort of an instant offense. But all of a sudden, I think part of the reason they've gone away from him a little bit is defensively he has not been good. Sure. Yeah. And it's like we've been saying, like,

if you're not playing Kuzma at the five and LeBron's playing minutes at the four, all of a sudden his minutes are getting just kind of compacted in. Yeah. Where were you on them before? Like, what did you think that they were going to do this season? Because this was a big conversation at the ring.

or where we were all like, it was a very divided camp. It was either like, you think that the Lakers like me were going to finish third in the conference or near the top or other people who were like, not sure if they'll even make the playoffs.

I was thinking they'd be in the great unwashed middle of the West, but I was always thinking it doesn't really matter because once you get the playoffs, we're talking about matchups. And the beauty of LeBron is like, you have LeBron, you can match up with anybody.

And like you can move a team around where LeBron can kill you at any position. I think that's going to get them an edge in a playoff series, which is just what really matters, right? it's like they'll probably hang around this point and then LeBron, I think LeBron takes a game up

not a level in the playoffs. This is 100% like the basis of all of my Lakers-related arguments. You just distilled it perfectly. It comes down to they have LeBron. He's still LeBron. He's always been LeBron. And he's going to continue to be LeBron.

It's like, it's pretty simple for me. Like I just go, all right, the Lakers are going to be fine. And by the way, like in the same way that Billy Donovan really got saved here,

Luke Walton really got saved here. Yeah, for sure. And I think we'll see with Waltz And for as much grief as Ty Liu got in the regular season last year, one thing he was good at in those playoffs, if you go back in those playoffs series, is like he moved his team every series. He said,

okay, where is his team the weakest? Let's put these guys on LeBron to attack him with that spot. And that's what what he's going to have to do in the playoffs, is like maximize LeBron, use lineups and convince guys to come off the bench. That's where we'll see if Luke Walton can only be the coach to his team. Is like, can he convince Rondo to play like 10 minutes a game?

How will, like, Ingram feel like getting bench? How will Kuzman feel about getting benched? That's all on the table and off the Lakers. it's going to make it run in the playoffs is everyone else has to buy in to being LeBron's supporting cast and moving around to make his game look better. You are 100% right. Everything you just said is correct. I feel like that should have been obvious to everybody when LeBron signed there.

But I guess you're right. I guess like Luke Walton does have to, like that's a principal part of his job now being like, hey, you know, we always knew this was coming, but it's here now and you're going to have to deal with it. And it's, you know, for the betterment of the team. just sort of like relationship massaging. Yeah, and here's the thing. It's like, yeah, everyone knows like LeBron's team, but Kuzma, Ingram, Hart, Lunds,

they're going to get paid soon. It's talking with the young guys around LeBron, it's like, man, I want to get my money. If I'm playing 20 minutes game off the bench, am I going to get my money? Whereas older guys kind of, okay, I've been in the league, I've made money. Right.

I'll just, you know, kind of kiss LeBron's ass now. Right. Like, McGee, who was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to take like this really, I mean, like, I'm going to go to Los Angeles and play with LeBron for like, you know, two million or whatever his contract is. I love the West.

There's so many storylines here. The Pelicans. The Pelicans are not in seven. The Spurs are eight and seven. The Rockets are eight and seven. And the Jazz are eight and eight. So they're all in that bunch there. You wrote about the Rockets.

You said they figured it out. You feel good about them. They've won seven of the last ten as well. Yeah. The thing about the Rockets is like they've gone back to the system from last year with Paul and Hardin and everybody else buys them around them. Like Mello's out of there. Everyone else knows, okay, I'm here to shoot threes, play defense and that's it.

But my way with the Rock, it's like with the Lakers, they're in like go mode in late November. Can Chris Paul keep us up all season? We'll be healthy in the playoffs. That's what I wonder about, really. I think they found a formula that works, but can it work for nine months? It's amazing.

It's almost like you get rid of hoodie mellow. It's probably totally coincidental that they got rid of mellow and all of a sudden things started working again. But like, in a shocking development, that marriage was not a good one. What do you think about mellow? is he, I mean, we know he's washed, but where does he land? Would you even bother?

There were a little whispers about, like, maybe he goes to L.A. That doesn't seem like it's going to happen. No, I don't think so. Where do you want to see him go? Would you even bother? Guangdong. I was going to say, like, he's going to be in China. He's destined for China.

Isn't that Mello's ultimate goal, right? Like, winning like five titles in China, like, Stefan Marbury. There's no doubt. Getting a bronze statue. I think we should just dispatch somebody now to be our, like, Beijing correspondent. And just like, get somebody. over there as a bureau chief to cover because he's going. It has to happen.

I mean, you look at Mello's career, right? Does Mello want to take a million dollars to go to, like, Philly, play eight minutes of game spotting up? Or does he want to go to China and make like $50 million and win a championship? Like, well, it really seems like what's more Mello's at Mellon of this state, really ever? I really hope it's the latter or not the former. I don't want him anywhere near the 76ers. And like with Houston, they cut Mello because they were like, okay, Gary Clark,

and under the free agents ahead of you. Can you accept that? And he was, no, I cannot. Well, if you can't accept being in a role and being benched for weeks, then what use are you with your current site in the NBA? You're just not. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's an excellent point. Like, if you can't do any of those things, why are you around?

The jazz, the jazz, I saw them in Philadelphia on Friday. They almost pulled out a win against the Sixers, and then they went up and they beat the Celtics. Like, the jazz right now are 500. And I think, like, you look at the record and you go, okay, like, how good are they? But, dude, their schedule has been. absolutely brutal. And I think for them to like steal one in Boston

and like kind of send the Celtics in a little bit of a free fall is huge for them. Yeah, I feel like with Utah, I think they've been kind of like, if you look at the numbers, really the guy that's killing them is Derek Favors. Yeah. And they've been doing this like Go Bear Favors thing for like three or four years now.

I hate it. It's kind of, it feels like with the way the league is now. It just doesn't work anymore playing two bigs together. And like that's just like free points if they ever moved Degers back to the bench. I said this last year. and the jazz stands came for me on Twitter. And I'm like, all right, look, yes, I know that they went on that run the second time that

Gobert came back and they were like playing like they could beat anybody and their defense was incredible. And Favors was getting a lot of minutes next to Gobert and it looked good. But exactly what you just said. Like, the way the NBA is now, it just, I don't think it makes sense and I don't think you can get much long term with that combination. Plus, Donovan Mitchell the other night, what was it, 35 points or 31 points on 35 shots? It was one of those.

It was bad, and he didn't have an assist. That's not a great way for them to lean on their offense. Yeah, I think the thing with Mitchell we're realizing now, like last year he was great as just a score. But now if the Jazz is going to take another step forward, he has to become a more well-rounded, kind of complete player. Like, if you're just going to score the ball, I mean, I guess it's kind of obvious,

but you don't make anybody better to score on the ball, right? You use your scoring to leverage somebody else and pass the ball to other people. And that's what they're missing right now. It's like, Donovan's got to become, for him to be like an all-star level player, he has to can't just be a score, he has to be a pass or two.

I ride for Donovan Mitchell. Everybody at the He-check knows that I love Donovan Mitchell. But yes, I'm with you. The game needs to evolve a little bit there. I think he's going to figure it out. He's just too talented not to. Yeah, he's too talented for it not to.

And like I said, the jazz schedule has been absolutely brutal. So for them to like, you know, figure it out early here is not an easy task, especially like with them being on the road so much. Isaac, we have talked about a lot of the Western conference. Is there anything you think we forgot? There's a team in Los Angeles, and it's not the one that you were talking about.

It's the Los Angeles Clippers who have the second best record in the West. Granted, they're tied for second with a bunch of other teams, but this is an extremely good team, and nobody's talking about them. It's insane. They are 10 and 5. They're winning two-thirds of their games. They're tied for the second best record, as I said. Seventh in point differential. And guess what, guys?

You know which team is first in strength of schedule? according to ESPN. You're Los Angeles Clippers. They're first in strength of schedule. They have the toughest schedule, and they're winning a lot of games. No one's talking about them. What's going on?

Charks, last night, we were putting together the outline for the show, and I had, like, everybody in the outline, because the NBA is bananas, and I want to talk to you about all this stuff. And I get a text.

I'm just going to read it. This is from Isaac. Yeah, but while the Clippers win four in a row have the second best record in the West, but no mention in the outline. Cool, cool. I see how it is. I'm not mad.

all. He just kept, he just kept, my phone just kept pinging. It was like ping, ping, ping, ping. And it's just like a long rant about how disrespected the clippers are. They're good. They're good. You got 30 year chip on your shoulder. I get it. They're good. I just sometimes forget about them because like they're better than the sum of their parts. Like Tobias Harris is their best player and he's really good. And SGA is going to be really good. He's starting to figure it out. SGA, man. Shout out SGA for sure. But like I think part of what drives NBA content, especially on the ringer is like narrative right and there's a little bit of that lacking with the clippers like i like there's a lot of bit of that lacking with the clippers yeah yeah they're just like they're just like a

really there yeah good NBA team right and then like full stop well here's a tough thing like their most compelling player is probably Bobon in terms of like okay here's the guy i want to watch like when bobon's the guy i'm like yes he's definitely killing it man he was starting for a fan favorite there's no doubt about that i wish the clippers well i hope it works out for them uh and i and i want it for Isaac, too. The last thing I wanted to touch with you on Divine wrote about this last week, but we were talking about it on Twitter and in Slack, the Memphis Grizzlies. Like, I've watched probably too much Memphis Grizzlies basketball this year. I don't know why. I just find them on on league pass.

And it's just remarkable to me how much Mike Conley and Marcus Saul mean to them. Because, like, you look at the rest of their roster, save for your guy, Triple J, who's like really starting to figure it out right now and looking really good when he's not in foul trouble. But you look at the rest of the roster beyond that and I'm like, God, I'm not on board with this. Like, you're, like, shelving Mac is like a thing for you. He's been closing games for them. Yeah, and they need

them to be. But, like, really, it comes down to the top two guys. Like, they change everything. Yeah, and it's like, that's what you worries you, if you're, playing them so many minutes because everyone else is just a role player, right? Beyond those two. And they're both playing 33 minutes a game

in their 30s. I think that's what we've been talking about for this whole podcast is like, the margin for error for all these teams is so low. So you look at a team built around two older players. Like, man, if one of those guys goes out for any amount of time, how can this continue? And that's what's tough about Memphis. It's like they just don't have much talent down their roster. So Gassar Khan can play 80 games.

They'll make the playoffs. But is that really likely? I don't know. And also, like, they're doing it in a way that the rest of the league isn't in that they're playing low-scoring games and playing defense. It's just like it shouldn't be fun to watch, but it is fun to watch. And I think you and I have talked about the Grizzlies like every single time you've been on this podcast.

And like I think it's fantastic. It's excellent. Isaac, there's, so my friends who do the around the NFL podcast, shouts to Chris and Dan and Rosie and Sessler. They, they do a thing with their podcast where they like claim a team for their podcast.

So that's their bet. But I want to borrow it for a second because frankly, nobody else, especially not the mismatch talks about the Grizzlies. I think we claim I'm, I'm throwing down the gauntlet right now. And I'm making, I say we claim the Grizzlies as the team of the heat check podcast. Yeah, I like it.

I dig it. I mean, because those guys aren't going to talk about them. It's true. It's not like they have a guy who's on the Grizzlies broadcast. You know what? All the more reason for us to do it because he's neglected them. He's not, he's just stealing money over there. So take that, Chris Berrador.

With Chandler Parsons, not playing. I'm sure Varnaziann't even care about the Grizzlies anymore. That's what really got has attention. That's the only thing he cares about is his boy. Charks, that was excellent. What do you got this week? You want to plug something? Yeah, I got a big Spurs piece.

I've watched more Spurs basketball than really is healthy. Yeah, so I've really kind of gotten to the wheat with the Spurs this week. And you told me when we were talking about that when I was saying the Grizzlies are more fun than they should be. You said the Spurs are not. It's hard. I mean, like, they're kind of winning. It's just hard to watch them over. Like, I'm going to watch them again for months after this Spurs binge I've been on.

All right. Nobody tells She about that. Charks really appreciated. Excellent work by you. I want to thank Jonathan Charks. want to thank House. Of course, Isaac Lee and his clippers. I want to remind everybody to rate and review us on iTunes if you would be so kind.

And of course, check out the NBA show. We've got heat check every Monday. The mismatch on Tuesday where you're not going to have any Grizzlies content. You got sources say on Wednesday's group chat on Thursdays. And of course, Corner 3 with Jonathan Charks and Danny Chow and KOC on Fridays. But not this week. You're going to because of the holiday. When are you guys doing it this week?

We're recording Tuesday, I think, for a Wednesday publish. Okay. I think the idea is we'll stop watching basketball for like one day this week. Stop watching basketball, eat some turkey. Want to wish everybody a happy holiday. We will be back next week. Thanks for listening, gang. Bye.