The Ringer NBA Show - Things We Need to Stop Talking About | Heat Check

Episode Date: March 2, 2020

Instant Replay: The Knicks make a hire, developments in the Giannis-Harden beef, and the Timberwolves get a resting policy violation (03:16). The Main Event: We play Heat Check Survivor and vote tired conversations off Heat Check Island (22:58). Good Call/Bad Call: Dan Devine gets a new nickname, the aftermath of the mystery box, and should the gang try a disgusting smoothie (37:49)? Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Haley O'Shaughnessy, Dan Devine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, guys, this is Kelly, and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. Recently, on the Winging It podcast, Vince Carter and Annie Finberg sat down with NBA All-Star Kyle Lowry and recording artist for Timmy. This week, 2017, first overall pick Markell Fultz joins the show to talk about living up to expectations and working his way back from injury in the NBA. Make sure to check out Winging It on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Heat Check. I'm your host, John Gonzalez, joined as I am every week by my producer, Steve Alman. Steve, I've been thinking about this. You know, look we're family here at Heathchuck, and I feel like you need a nickname.

Previously, you were new Isaac, but you've since grown out of that. I'm thinking about maybe Stevie Franchise for you. Steve Franchise. Has anybody ever called you that? No, absolutely not. I'm kind of okay with it. Were you a Steve Francis fan at all?

Not entirely, no, but I can actually, I can adopt this. This is a good look for me. So at the beginning, there were very high hopes for him. I don't want this to be like an omen for you. right? Because there were very high hopes for him, and then he sort of flamed out. And you're going to have a much better career trajectory than Steve Francis. You're just going to continue ticking upward rather than it being sort of a parable. Speaking of, thank you for listening. A reminder to please rate and review us. And don't forget about all the great NBA content on the ringer.com. Palo Esco blog has his questions of the week column up, including the rocket ceiling and Zion's rookie of the year. Chances is going to get into Zion in just a little bit. The incomparable Haley O'Shaughnessy, two pieces. Double dip of Haley O'Shaughnessy. Janice versus the hardened Twitter beef. We're going to have a little Twitter beef NBA beef convo in a little bit.

And also she wrote about how the NBA has missed Steph Curry. His return has been a little postponed. Talk about that as well. And then Dan Devine, last week I had problems with Dan Devine. This week I got more problems with Dan Devine. I'm going to need him to defend himself. He wrote about how the Sixers are breaking down, but they're not broken. I'd take umbrage with that.

Coming up later in the show, we'll play, as Steve alluded to, NBA Survivor. That sounds fun. I don't know how that's going to go, but it sounds fun. And we'll vote some things off of Heat Check Island. But first, let's review the latest news from around the league and bring in our regular contributors, Dan and HALY. Boom, Chakalaka. He's heating up. He's on fire.

All right. One of them is in studio and one of them has returned to our NYC HQ. It's Heechek coast to coast with Haley and Dan. Dan, you're back in the NYC studios. I traded in the comfort of my own home and Lugar on the couch for a building where there's a ton of construction going on. So if you hear like clang, clang bang, it's not just me flipping tables. There's a lot happening here. Feels like a BC that's later on in the show and the program.

But I feel like you made a mistake. I'm skipping ahead. I apologize. And Haley, fresh off of Sunday's Clipper Sixers game, you went to the game. Yeah, I had a great time. Except. How good a time did you have, Haley? All right.

All right. All right. Let's keep some things to before the show. We'll get to that in just a moment. But first, let's review some headlines from around the league with NBA instant replay. All right. So the Knicks, the Knicks went out and made a hire. They have officially hired Leon Rose as their president.

Per Wode, he will attend the Rockets Knicks game on Monday night at MSG. His plan is to, quote, stay behind the scenes initially, observe and listen and stay away from big public proclamations. Dan, I'm going to start with you here, your beloved New York Knicks. That feels like a good place for Leon Rose to start. Although he also, he tweeted this out or sent it out on social media, he asked fans for, quote, continued patience. What's your continued patience level, Dan? Well, I mean, I'm dead inside. So I guess I'm pretty patient.

Like, I can last for the remainder of eternity with considering the lack of faith in my heart. I would say the right idea for any Nix GM or president or exec is to like just kind of chill out and not say anything that's going to step on rakes and sort of blow everything up in your face. The last time we heard from the Nix executives publicly, it was the like crazy weird press conference that Steve Millie. and Scott Perry had to give at the beginning of the season. Didn't work out so well for, at least for Steve Mills. Yeah, let's just sort of take our time and try to get one thing right. And then we'll see where we go with Leon Rose. Haley, what are the chances that Leon Rose can fix the broken New York Knicks that nobody else has been able to fix previously?

So we saw Mills and Perry screw it up. And before that, Phil Jackson couldn't get it together. And now we've got Leon Rose. Is Leon Rose going to get it together? Rose is the one of office. Are you buying it? I'd like to stay away from big public proclamations, but yeah, Rose is the one. No press conferences either.

I feel like that's a, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, because we've seen with the Knicks previously how media averse they are. They have disdain for the media. And yet, I really enjoy when they do, to Dan's point earlier, step on rakes and screw things up. That's always good fun for the rest of us. And at the very least, good content, Dan. That's right. I mean, Gons, far be it for me to get between you and.

content. But if we're talking about what's the best thing for the Knicks, yeah, it's maybe sort of keep things quiet and sort of do things in a, I don't know, normal professional basketball organization sort of way. The next big thing that's going to happen for Leon Rose will be who he chooses to hire as a general manager. We see who that person is and what sort of plan they want to implement together. We'll go from there. If we don't hear anything between now and then, that might be just fine. And other news, let's go to another big city. here in Los Angeles both teams played on

Sunday, not both of them in Los Angeles, but both Los Angeles-based teams played. The Lakers were in New Orleans against the Pelicans. They picked up a big win on the road. No Anthony Davis. LeBron had a 34-point triple-double. He ties Luca for most triple doubles in the league this year. They're 8

and 2 over their last 10, Haley. They're five and a half games up on the Nuggets and the Clippers. How good have the Lakers look? I mean, except for the Grizzlies' loss, which was on the first night, but back-to-back. Our guy John Morant and our Grizzlies. Exactly. What are you supposed to do? Stop him? That's not happening. Can't stop the official team of heat check. You can beat Zion, but you cannot beat John Moran.

That's right. And that's why he's winning rookie of the year. It has nothing to do with Zion. All of a sudden, this has become a grizzlies topic, which I love, but also the Lakers have been really good. They have been really good. And their problems are still the same. They could use an extra ball handler. They need wing help. And then obviously there's the injury scares. Dan, they cleared a roster spot and there have been reports that they are working out. Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith. Yes to both, please. Back to our point about always wanting content here on heat check, that would be glorious, glorious content.

But you're a basketball guy. Would either of these guys help the Lakers? I think the best case scenario for both of them absolutely could. You know, you talk about needing another ball handler. You know, Dion Waiters is a guy who did a lot of positive things as a ball handler in Miami when he was sort of on the straight and narrow there, you know, working alongside Goran Dragich. You talk about needing more wing help guys who can defend the best version of J.R. Smith a couple years ago. was able to sort of switch off on twos and threes and handle himself out there, he might be a little bit further removed from that, given how long he's been away and also wasn't really at his peak defensively in Cleveland before they went out. But the best version of both of those guys could

help whether you're going to see the best version of both of those guys is, I think, very much an open question given where they were at before they got let go to the point where they're going to be working out this late in the season. Haley, I feel like you'd have a take on this one between Dion and J.R. I really like both of them because they're such knuckleheads and they're super fun in that regard. But I feel like you'd have like a stance on this. Do you have a Dion versus J.R. Pick? You know the chart where it's like chaotic evil, neutral evil? Okay, J.R. is a better one. He's more neutral than Dion is because Dian's had actual problems with coaches and playing time. And he's been frustrated with that. J.R. is spacey. They're both taking wild shots. But J.R. is

spacey and that's his biggest problem. Obviously, there's a huge example he could point to in the finals. With Dion, he actually is kind of a problem a lot of the time. I'm very excited here because I just want to note for the record that Haley O'Shaughnessy just did a Dungeons and Dragons thing on this podcast. What did I do? That chart, chaotic neutral. That's a chaotic game thing? That's a Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game thing, Haley. Judges and Dragons is a role-playing like...

It's not a video game? It's a tabletop game. Yeah. As a blog girl, you should definitely know. Dan, you just got her to do this. Let's take this W and walk away. Let's take this W and walk away. I abscond.

All right. This is too good. I'm shocked. I thought that was an internet thing. Not me. You did that. Things that we all learn on the fly. Also in the Lakers and Pelicans games, Zion had a career high 35 points.

He's looked absolutely incredible. I'm curious, though, about what they're going to do with Zion moving forward. Dan, they've got four back-to-backs coming up. They're chasing that eight-seat in the Western Conference. They're three games out on our, I'm saying that for heat check here, our Memphis Grizzlies. they're trying to make it into the playoffs. They're nine and seven since Zion has returned. But they've got these four back-to-backs.

If you're the Pelicans, what do you do with Zion? You play them the rest of the way? You play them in those back-to-backs? That's a lot of wear and tear on him when they're trying to keep him around for the long term. Yeah, I think that the David Griffin regime has sort of maintained they're going to have a long view with Zion because of the, you know, obviously the start of his career with the meniscus injury and, you know, the extended layoff and still just sort of getting him going and getting some momentum. and with him. I think it's going to be, they started him with those sort of a minutes limitation,

the early games, and Alvin Gentry was very clear, like, I really don't like that. I want to be able to play him as much as possible, but I think they have to. It's going to be, you might see some push and pull

between coach and front office there, but it's got to be about the next five years, not the next five weeks. It'll be interesting to say if they catch the Grizzlies for that last spot. I want to note that our ringer teammate, JJ Reddick, on that team.

He's out right now, but he's on the team, and he's never missed the playoffs in his career. So. And the first thing that he said to Zion and about that was like, don't fuck this up for me. Don't fuck it up for JJ. We want him to make the playoffs. Haley, we want to run this past you before and we move along. At the end of the game, Zion, Javale McGee came up to Zion after the game and asked Zion for his jersey. And so Zion gave it to him. I want to know what you think about Jersey exchanges between teammates. Oh, I love them. Actually, I saw a tweet the other day that was these two guys leaving a club in Vegas. And they both had buttonups. And they were like, we had such a good night. there were strangers that they exchanged bud nuts. Yeah, I thought of that too.

I love that. I'm all for it in all circumstances. I thought that Javel McGee, who I don't know if you guys know this, Javelle McGee is an avid fanny pack enthusiast. I one time when he was with the Warriors had like a 10 to 15 minute conversation with him about his fanny pack collection. And I thought that if Zion was going to give him a jersey, he should give Zion a fanny pack. So maybe he can mail it to him or something. Are they out?

But not for Javile McGee. The new thing is that across the, it's like, Fanny Pack. back shaped a cross bag. I don't have any either of those. I'm not really a bag person, but why not? They're lawful evil. Lawful evil.

There we go. I'm so mad about that. To the other Los Angeles team that did play here, as Haley told us, she went to the game. The Clippers up and your 10-9-8-76ers. Clips win 136-130 in a game where nobody played defense. The Clippers have won four straight.

Dan, are they finally getting hot at the right time? Kauai, PG, Montrez, all had big lines. Marcus Morris is playing not as well. well as he played for your New York Knicks, but are they finally getting hot at the right time? I think it's less about getting hot at the right time and more about getting the lineups together at the right time. You know, our colleague Zach Kramm wrote about this today. Whenever the clippers have had their full compliment of dudes, or at the very least,

Kauai and Paul George together, they've been sensational. I think they're 21 and 7 in the 28 games. Those guys have played together, something like plus 8 per 100 possessions when they're both on the floor. When they have the team the way it's supposed to look and everybody's healthy and lined up, that's about as good a team as you're going to see in the conference with the exception of the Lakers and even right up their shoulder to shoulder with them. So I think it's less about overall jelling and more just like availability.

Haley, do you have any concerns about their defense? Because yes, they won this game. Yes, they've won four straight. But the Sixers on the road, as we know, and we're going to get to the Sixers in a second, not good away from Philadelphia. They didn't have Ben Simmons. They didn't have Joel Embed. They still scored 130 points.

And Shake Milton had a career high 39. Yeah, but that's just Shake Milton. Top five player all time. You can't stop them. with that. I don't have huge concerns about their defense. I think, like Dan was saying earlier, a lot of their problem is that they haven't gotten enough time to get their lineups to mesh, their ideal

lineups to mesh. When you look at them on paper, they have wonderful defenders. They have Paul George, they have Quilinner, they have Patrick Beverly. I think their defense is going to be fine. They're seen time. Dan, we mentioned the Sixers. Nine and 22 now on the road. Just cannot seem to buy a win away from Philadelphia. You wrote about them for the ringer.com. Great website. Everybody should check it out.

The story you wrote was the Sixers are breaking down. They're not broken. I think that both of those things are actually true. They are both breaking down and they are broken. Josh Richardson, by the way, right after you write this, ringer curse strikes, Josh Richardson gets a concussion in the game against the clippers. Explain to me why you seem less concerned about the Sixers than like basically everybody I know from Philadelphia.

Well, I think maybe because I'm not everybody you know from Philadelphia. So it's not like an elevated blood pressure situation for me. But it's also, you know, yes, they're nine and 22 away, but they're also, was it, 28 and two at home? Like, there is a, and then when we have seen them respond, like, this is a game where they were down there two best guys and they were still right there neck and neck with one of the best teams in the NBA for the duration. And, you know, shake Milton, obviously he's not going to be putting up 39 every night. He's probably going to be putting up something more like 45 or 46. But, like, that's a guy who can play and who's now getting an opportunity to get more run on the

ball as the point guard with Ben Simmons out. They know, there's a redistribution of sort of opportunity there. I feel like the collection of those guys getting more opportunities, Horford as a center, Tobias Harris has a power forward. And then the heat also struggling. And that's the team that Philly needs to catch. There's still a chance this winds up with home court advantage for the Sixers. It might not be a huge one,

but I still feel pretty confident about that from them. And then if I'm healthy heading into a postseason series with Embed and Simmons and that cast, I feel good about almost everybody I could play in round one. As we record this, Sixers, a game and a half back of the Miami Heat for that four spot, which would be critical for them because then they get to have home quarter advantage in that first series. And you mentioned this last week, Dan, but remind me, you got to play games on the road in the playoffs? I checked with the league office, and it turns out you do. You did. You did the reporting on that. He's a journalist. Sixers really need that spot. All right, moving along here.

Janus, Janus had 40, 20, and 5 in 35 minutes in a win over the Hornets. It's the fewest minutes to reach that line in NBA history. He's absolutely killing it, much to the dismay of his I guess arch rival now, James Hardin. We're going to go to the NBA beef section of the program. Hardin and Janice have gotten into it. Hale, you wrote about this. The two of them have sort of gone at each other. Hardin wrote that none of them can mess with me.

I average more points and assists. I wish I could be seven feet and just dunk. That requires no skill to which Janus replied. My game is not just power. And threw a little shaded Hardin and said, I want someone to pass the ball. Here's my question. Is this fun? This feels like a very manufactured

kind of lame beef between the two of them. I think that for Janus is mostly responding because Hardin has had comments and not necessarily directed at Janus, even if he's used Janus's name. Hardin, and he did this with Russ too, where he's just had comments like, what does this MVP award mean to you guys? Because look at all this fantastic stuff that I'm doing and I'm still not winning. So I think that a lot of Hardin's beefs, you know, we kind of, I think manufactured the one of him and Russ. But he did, back then he was like, is this about winning? Because my team's winning. But then now his argument is more like, I put on this amazing performance and I carried this team.

And last year, the Bucks had the best record in the NBA. So he's kind of switching his arguments. But I think that Hardin's always been like me versus the voters and versus the narrative and the perception. And then Yondis is kind of like, okay, that's great, but you can't talk shit about me. I still won. Normally I would love this stuff. You guys know me. Like, as we've mentioned many times on this program, I'm all for people going at each other for content purposes.

but this feels like neither of these guys are very good at it. And I would like a little bit more spice to my spice. Yeah, Janice, well, the thing is that Janus isn't genuinely malicious in his comments. Like some guys are, he's like cutesy about it. Like when they were doing the draft, he said, I want someone who will pass me the ball. He's not a good asshole. And that's a Beatt's job. Yeah, he's not a good assal.

Beat is very good at it. These two guys are less good at it. I want to wrap up with a couple more things. Dan, Steph Curry was supposed to come back on Sunday versus the Wizards. They decided to sit him out. They issued a statement that said, the Warriors issued a statement that said, he continues to make good progress and remains on schedule for a return to play at, quote, some point in March.

He's scheduled to practice with the Santa Cruz G-League team on Monday. So it seems like he's close. Kurt told him he was going to hold him out, though, said that Curry wasn't thrilled, but he's a pretty even-keeled guy. It's the right move to not bring him back yet. And would you consider just shutting him down completely? I mean, the season's almost over and the Warriors aren't very good. Yeah, I mean, there are four and a half games clear of the Cavs for the worst record in the NBA and, you know, the highest odds for the number one pick in the lottery.

I don't, I think if Steph Curry wants to play and he's 100% healthy, then you give him a shot because he's Steph Curry. Everything about your franchise is oriented around him. And it's not worth like screwing that up in some capacity by holding him out longer when he's ready to go. But I think that said, there's no compelling argument to me to like if he's 97% or if you have any uncertainty at all, then, you know, no, yeah. and you don't need to rush him back for any purpose. I just feel like at this point, it's not, it's about how you manage that relationship. Because I think fans get it.

The Warriors fans, like they would want to see Steph play again. But they also understand what they're, that it's about next year for them and moving forward to. So I think it's like if it's cool by Steph and you're, and he's 100% you let him go. And if not, sure, let him wait a little bit. Haley, last headline. And then we'll move on to the main event.

Last week, the Timberwolves were fined $25,000 for violating the league's player resting policy. Now, this is interesting because the wolves arrested DeAngelo Russell in a game late last week against the Nuggets on the road. He was deemed healthy, however, under the policy. The policy prohibits sitting players in, quote, high-profile nationally televised

games. That game was on NBA TV. So your mileage on the term high-profile and NBA TV might vary. But still, this is the way that the NBA came down on it. The policy requires teams to rest players when they are at home unless there are unusual circumstances.

But this is the first time the league has find a team since putting the rule in place in 2017. Do we like this rule? And are you surprised that they finally enacted it and levied it against the wolves? I'm glad that it at least has some flexibility. I think that the league probably felt that they had to do something about it because so many fans are upset. So if they're saying, okay, you can do it at home games. It makes a little bit more sense. I don't really like anything that prevents people from resting or sitting out.

I mean, this is their career. If they feel like they need to take a break, then they need to take a break. and this is all about the postseason anyway. My theory is that everyone just hates DeAngelo Russell. You saw what Magic said when he left the Lakers. You saw what Steve Kerr said. Yeah, now the league office. Everyone hates DeAngelo.

That's... Haley cracked the case. Except for Carl Anthony Towns. She's an investigative journalist. Also, NBA TV is so annoying. You don't get it with league pass. This is like, this is the worst channel on TV. I didn't realize you'd get so spicy about NBA TV.

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That's get roman.com slash ringer NBA eligibility requirements and additional terms apply. And now, back to heat check. All right. So I spent some time last week with our guy Sean Yu, who does excellent work for our video team. Turns out he's a massive fan of Survivor. And we have a Survivor podcast, our guy. Riley McAtee does a pod called The Pod Has Spoken. And Steve, you produced that pod, right?

Yes, indeed I do. Everybody should listen to it. It's a wonderful pod. So we've got a lot of Survivor fans here at the Ringer. And Sean's one of them. And Sean was telling me how one of the guys who got voted off had survived cancer. And he's like, I can't believe he got voted off. He's the only actual survivor on Survivor.

So we started talking about all this stuff. And I thought, okay, I haven't watched Survivor in a while, but maybe we'll play a little heat check survivor. whereby there are things in the NBA that maybe we're not so thrilled with, that we're done with, that we're going to vote them off Heat Check Island. So we've all got some different suggestions. And because I am contractually obligated, we will go to Haley O'Shaughnessy first. Ladies first, I just want to say as a quick aside that I thought that when I had read Gons' suggestion to do this,

I thought he meant that we were going to be voting each other off the proverbial island. And this is a lot less competitive than I thought. So I'm a little bummed out. I will still be voting to you guys. Out of curiosity, which of us wouldn't have made the cut? Well, we'd have to see how the game played out. We'd have to see. Fair enough.

My first one is that I want to erase the narrative that Hardin is boring to watch. You're voting it out. I'm voting it out. And as a huge, historically big fan of Russ and the way he plays, if I can accept that both of them are very fun, then everyone should be able to accept it. Stop being grumpy. Dan, where do you fall on this?

I'm kind of on board for it, but I want to know what about Hardin specifically is fun for you. Oh my God, all the scoring. All of the scoring. And I'm sorry, but you've mastered this thing that, yes, probably slows the game down, but we're still watching basketball. It's not like we're watching baseball. I, and I realize that I am like a rare case here. I'm in the minority.

But I like his ability to draw fouls. Like, I know that that's like people are like, I can't believe you like to watch free throws. Not so much that I like to watch free throws. I like to watch the art of getting to the line. That is a skill. And he utilizes it better than anybody else in the league. I mean, his ability to get, I mean, like, once he gets to the line, he's automatic. And that is a huge advantage for him.

And like to see the different moves that he puts on people to get them to draw contact and get the whistle. I think it's fascinating. He frustrates the hell out of people. And then also you see players from other teams showing other players knowing that they're about to play the Rockets how to guard him. There have been like multiple clips of them. that when two teams have played and after the game, they know that they're about to play the Rockets. That is fantastic. That is very fun. Like you said, he's mastered something. We should appreciate him. And the Eurostep. I mean, his Eurostep is insane. Yeah. And then all the three-point shooting

and all the three-point shooting. You sold me. I'm on on board with this. Dan Devine, what's the first thing that you're going to vote off of Heechak Island? I mean, we'll go pretty basic here. But James Dolan, get the fuck off our island, buddy. Oh, this is so obvious. I want to vote him back on. I want him on that island forever. Just to torment me. Until Haley votes me off. It's been 20 years, 20 long, hard years. And there's just the idea that you can't, you can be so successful as a business person.

It's so successful. The Rangers have had a lot more success over the course of this two decades than the Knicks have. And seeing that like if you hire a good person and leave them in place and let them do their job, then good things can result from that. But tearing up the plan every two years and hiring like one of your guys, it never seems to work.

It's just you're perpetually on that treadmill. So until and unless we see something, maybe Leon Rose is the answer. As my colleague, Haley informs me, Rose is always the answer. Until we see that, I don't believe it. And James Olin, get the fuck off. I want to tell everybody that's listening at home that when Dan said maybe Leon Rose is the answer, as Haley suggested, Haley double finger gunned him. So he must be. So you got the double finger gun.

Positive reinforcement to everything he says that's smart. Dan, he also is in talks potentially to buy the Mets. How do you feel about that? You could get a double dip of Dolan. That's a lot of alliteration. That's really good. That's professional broadcasting. The thing about the Mets,

so I grew up a huge Mets fan, and I haven't been watching them very much because when we get to the end of the NBA season, it's like there needs to be a compelling reason to watch sports for me to allow it to be on TV when there's so much DVRians to catch up on. And they're the Mets. So they're out of it every year by June. I don't think James Dolan owning them is going to reduce my level of psychic pain at all and increase my level of interest when the basketball season ends.

So I'm hopeful that it doesn't happen. But then Bobby Wagner, our boy Bobby Wagner was like, it can't be any worse than the current ownership situation. And I was like, well, that's crushing and depressing. So I guess, yeah, just keep shoveling it on, Gons. Keep shoveling it on. Your misery gives me so much joy. Steve, Steve, I want that.

I want that clip. Shotny Floyd is my favorite thing. And like, you're such a source of it. All right. So I think that heat check listeners, like the number one complaint I hear from heat check listeners. I'm going to go now. The number one complaint I hear from heat check listeners is that we simply do not talk

enough Philadelphia 76ers on this program. Ignoring them constantly. We never talk about them. So I'm going to talk about them here. I get a lot from Philadelphia especially, but in general. I mean, it's happened here at the ringer. There's been all kinds of podcasts talking about breaking up

Simmons and Embed. I am voting that idea right off a heat check island. Keep them together. They're both in their 20s. They're both, what, top 15, 20 players in the NBA. They're locked into contracts. It is incredibly hard to find young, talented players that other teams would kill for, one, let alone two of them. Yes, the fit is awkward. Yes, there may be, there's rumblings about how well they get along and all that nonsense. I don't care about that. What I care about is they are incredible generational talents,

and the idea that they should split them up now doesn't make any sense to me. So get it out of here. It's silly. They haven't tried enough things to split them up, like, say, a new coach. And I'm not saying this is on Brett Brown. I'm not saying this is on Brett Brown, but there are different things that they can still try. And you shouldn't throw away one superstar when you haven't exhausted all possibilities. I want to stop here for a second. Hinky did not die for this. I want to stop here for a second and go back to Haley's idea about voting each other off. The second thing that you said get rid of Brett Brown, I'm like, Horton's got to go. I didn't say that. I said that you should exhaust all Possibilities. Yeah, you hit it around it. Here's an idea. Maybe put some shooters around them. Here's another idea.

Maybe get somebody who can handle the ball on the pick and roll and you free up Ben Simmons to do some other things. I mean, like I don't, look, again, as I mentioned last week, everybody talks about Zion's efficiency and how he gets, he gets anything he wants at the rim. And he doesn't really shoot threes. Hmm, who does that sound like? Yeah, and I agree. It's like Russell Westbrook, totally. No, no, you're right. And it's funny when you say, maybe try putting some shooting around him,

I kind of remember a pretty good team that had Dario Sarich, Robert Covington, and JJ Reddick around those two guys. And that lineup annihilated everybody for two years. Or a year and a half, I guess. So, yeah, there is a template that works here and that could potentially work in a postseason series. Let's just see some more of that. I'm firmly on board with this and the idea that you can't, the hardest thing to find is cost, controlled or under contract controlled, 25 and under talent that's like an all NBA caliber player. And they got two of them under contract for the next five years or four years.

Like fix everything else around them maybe. Give them a stable organization where the leadership is steady year to year and you know who's making decisions for what reasons. And then maybe we can talk about it after that. I love it. We're all in accord. Let's do one more around. Haley, give me your second one. My second one is that I want everyone to shut up about the TV ratings being down. I don't care. No more complaining. I don't care about the investigation behind why the TV ratings are down. Because it's going off into crazy things. People have responded to my piece on Seth Curry by saying him being gone is the reason the TV ratings are down. That's ridiculous. That is absolutely

ridiculous. Now, in Golden State, it definitely is. You can see the numbers there. I think it's crazy. I think that we are missing how good the NBA has been this season. And so I think also, With me voting those off, I have to vote off Jeff Van Gundy. Oh, Jeff Van Gundy goes too. Because he is the, he talks about this on every broadcast for like a good quarter. You would think that they would tell him, the network would tell him to shut the hell off. It's so surprising that the NBA is the only one where the announcers regularly talk about having issue with some part of the NBA. Whether it's a player, a rule, a foul, the challenges, how long it takes at the end of the games to review or the overall TV ratings.

It's ridiculous. As a quick addendum before we go to Dan Devine, I just would like to say that I want to, whatever the opposite of voting them off is, I want to keep all Van Gundy brother related grievances on the island. Because they've got a bunch of them. And when they start complaining, like, yes, maybe the TV one can go, but all the other Van Gundy related grievances are delightful. Yeah, where it's like, you know, the thing about coaches is they're always the first one to get fired, right? It's always their fault. And Stan's argument about analytics, all of it, sure. It'll be anything, though.

It'll be like, oh, the thing about Greek yogurt. And then Mark Jackson will be, like, talking about window panels. Like, it's so weird. I love them. Last year, I called up Van Gundy for my why it's hard to evaluate coach's piece. And you'd think that Jeff Van Gundy would have some things to say about it. And he did it. At the end of it was like, Jeff, I got to go, man.

It's been like an hour. But thank you for everything. Dan, give me your next one. I'm sick of, I'm voting off hating on. So the idea that I have here is like, hey, I think Janice out of Kumbos is the MVP. Why are you hating on the bra? I'm not hating on LeBron. I just think he's the number two guy in the MVP race.

Oh, he's number two. Why are you hating on James Harden? I'm not hating on James Hardin. I just think he's the third best guy. Oh, he's the third best guy. Where's Nicola Yokic? Where's Luca Donchish? Everything that you decide is not a referendum on somebody else being good.

Multiple people can be good and sometimes some of them are better than others. Also, it's an opinion. How can you be that mad and argumentative about an opinion? I'm not hating on your favorite guy. I'm just saying the thing that I think. Heyley, correct me if I'm wrong. Translate for me here. This feels like something touched a nerve with one Dan Devine.

No, I love this. Personal, maybe, Dan. I think that this is just part of Dan being nice and wanting everyone to understand everyone and respecting everyone's opinion. I personally love this because I don't have that strong of opinions on basically everything outside of basketball. I was going to say, Haley, that's bullshit. Basically everything outside of basketball.

Like candy corn. It's fine. Like, things are fine. Everything's okay. Like, if you like it, go eat it. Shake, Shack versus In and Out, whichever one you like, you should probably go to. I don't fight me about it. But basketball.

But basketball. Yeah. I hate on people. See, I know where that came from, though. I know because Dan and I have had many conversations about Dan's mentions and Dan engaging with people in his mentions. And my general rule is, don't feed the trolls. and Dan can't help himself because the trolls come along and he throws them a couple crumbs and then they keep coming back.

The thing is that Haley's exactly right. I start from this stuff with like a, yeah, let's all have a good conversation about what we're talking about here. And so it starts with like, let me in good faith engage with our readership because that's a nice thing to do. And then sometimes it doesn't go so well for me. And then I get a text from Gons at like midnight going like, like, stop. Get off the social media. Social media is a scourge. All right.

last one before we wrap this up here. So I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my last one. Initially, I was thinking about like voting off in the same way you were saying, voting off people who were complaining about the TV ratings, voting off people who complain about the rest. I'm not really into that. Then I was thinking about voting off the entire mismatch podcast because they masquerade as the official Grizzlies podcast of the Ringer Podcasting Network when we all know

the official Grizzlies podcast of the Ringer Podcasting Network is right here. But instead I'm going to go more niche. My guy, KOC, who I love, He's just a sweet heart of a human being, Dan and KOC and I did a podcast last year from the NBA finals where KOC climbed into my bed and podcasted from the bed. Gospel truth. Fine by me. I love him.

Make yourself comfortable. However, what I do not love about KOC is his continued conspiracy theory about Ben Simmons shooting with the wrong hand. I frankly had enough of that. So we're going to vote that off the island. No more KOC talking about Ben Simmons and what hand he shoots with. However, because I love KOC, I come bearing a gift. I've got a suggestion for KOC in lieu of him talking about Simmons and what hand he shoots with.

He should instead talk about R.J. Barrett and what hand he shoots with, because last week, if you guys missed this, R.J. Barrett informed Nick's writers that he's actually a righty and has a better shooting form with his right hand. He's just more comfortable shooting with his left, which makes no sense to me. but KOC, I gift this to you. This is your new thing to discuss. I like that it's sort of like an eternal sunshine of the spotless mind kind of thing. Like we're not voting Kevin off the island, just this specific part of his brain. Like this one thing goes. But then, as you say, you come and replace it with something else.

I also, I would be remiss if I didn't note that this was the subject of an NBA desktop investigation around the draft where he was, or during Summer League, where RJ was seen using chopsticks with his right hand. And it's like, nobody uses chopsticks with their offhand. It's always your strong hand. So, yeah, I mean, listen, why not? Listen, there are plenty of very great athletes who have the sort of that end by dexterity. LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.

I'm sure that R.J. Barrett's going to go in that fine lineage and that Russell Westbrook and he's going to go in that fine lineage and that Kevin O'Connor can continue to hunt him like the guy who goes after the Incredible Hulk for the remainder of his career. That'll be wonderful. Yeah, Westbrook and LeBron's are both lefties who shoot with their right hand. These are all things. It's up to them. And I'm not going to lie. has nothing to do with R.J. Barry being a spotty shooter. That's just on him. Shaded R.J. I like it. And these are all things for KOC to investigate. So I wish him well on his course.

That was the first ever he checked Survivor. I think it went well. We're all still on the island. Do you want to vote one of us off now? I'll do it later. We'll do it later. We're going to do something next show. That was also the main event. And now it is time for our favorite segment. Good call, bad call. What a bold call here. All right. So last week, We brought to the attention of our listeners something called the Mischief Mystery Box. And we got quite a lot of feedback on this. Feedback ranging from, we love this, to Dan Devine, open the box, to quite a few people telling us that it was a scam,

and we shouldn't be telling people about this scam box. So good call or bad call on us potentially setting our listeners up for fraud? As a part-time scammer, I'm going to say good call. That's a good call. Dan Devine. You got a lot of feedback in your DMs. I did. I mean, I really hate the way that sounded.

But yes, I did. I got a lot of feedback in my DMs on the mischief box. I say, I think publicly, we have to say, bad call on us going for this box. And then secretly, us among the three of us and Steve. Yeah, just us. Good call. Good call on the box. Steve Allman, you and I came up with this.

So where are you on this? Well, as a full time. chaotic evil scammer. I am a thousand percent in on this. Good call. We're doing this. We're still doing this. Oh, this is an excellent point. And this is what I've mentioned to heat check listeners before. First of all, the four of us were a family.

That includes the listeners, though. The listeners are family as well. So if you guys are going to get scammed, guess what? We're going to get scammed with you because we're still buying this damn box. And I am opening it the second it comes. That's it. We will stop you from opening that. You don't have to sedate me. Elephant Trequilizer time. I got a Mo Spates update for you guys, which is very unusual.

Most Spates played in the NBA for a long time, as most T-Chek listeners would know. He recently joined the Big Three, and there were a lot of big three heads at the ringer, but I want to tell you guys a little Mo Spate's story that you may not know. Back when he played with the Sixers, his nickname among the writers was shit man fuck. Now, you may not know this. The reason why his nickname among the writers was shitman fuck was because whenever you'd go to talk to Mo, Mo was a great guy. He'd always say yes. But any, you could ask Mo Spates anything in the world, any question.

And every single answer would start with some combination of the words, shit, man and or fuck. Hence his nickname among the writers became shitman fuck. So what say you to Mo Spates' nickname, Shitman Fuck? G.C. or BC? You know, I don't really like cussing in any... Liar. Circumstance.

So I'm going to say bad call. Yeah, Haley's delicate sensibilities. Dan Devine. I'm going to say, I mean, it's a great call because it's a wonderful nickname, but it's also a significant, it makes me think of fuck marry kill. And I'm like, I don't want the game, shit man, fuck. I don't want that game. We have to go away from that. We should do a segment.

We should. That'll be our next segment. That'll be our next segment. Steve Alman. I mean, shit, man. Fuck. That was a G-C. That was a G.C.

And I'm going GC as well. Speaking of nicknames, I spent some time with Dan Devine last week. And some various people decided, Haley, to call Dan a dilf. So thoughts on Dan's new nickname being Dilf? You're asking me if that's a good call. Yeah, I'm asking you if it's a good call.

I support anything that makes Dan feel good about himself. Good call. Dan, I'm going to come to you last. Maybe I don't get a good call. to vote on this one. Good call. Good call. Absolutely. It's a G.C. My love for Dan is bottomless, and this is just one more thing that I love about Dan. Dan, what do you think about your new nickname that's been bestowed upon you? Thanks. I hate it. It makes me feel so uncomfortable. Michael Bauman, our friend from the Ringer MLB show, decided that that was something he could put

in a tweet without clearing it with me. And then it caught like wildfire among the four people that looked at that tweet, all of whom are my colleagues and keep talking about it. That's so good. My skin crawls every time I hear it, which is how I know it's never going on. I'm sorry, buddy, you got a mirror.

You look in the mirror and see how handsome you are every day. This was found to happen. Gons, what's the worst nickname you've ever had? Worst nickname? I don't know that I've had a word. Everybody either calls me Gons or Gons the O is optional and all the way I go.

Why do you have a bad? Did somebody, shit, man, and fuck. Did you have a bad nickname? Feels a little personal. Well, I've had a lot of nicknames. Okay. Do you want to share any of them? Not now?

I will say that a lot of people recently, since I've gotten out of college, because a lot of nicknames in college, but recently, that people have been Oshag Hennessy, like, from Key and Peel. People are really into that. Oh. Yeah. I like Haley. Haley, Shonness, who works as a name. All right, last one, I want to run this past year because I got another idea for us as a show.

last week was the mystery box, this week's a new idea. So Colleen, my wife, was at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis this week. And I don't know if you guys saw this. There's a guy named Ben Barch. He's a Division III tight end. And he's at the NFL Combine as an offensive lineman. Now, Division III tight ends, they go about $2.50. He had a bulk up.

So he gained 70 pounds to become an offensive lineman. This has nothing to do with basketball in the same way that the mystery box didn't either. But I don't care. So he had a bulk up. So to bulk up, he created this ridiculous smoothie. This smoothie is seven scrambled eggs, a tub of cottage cheese, oatmeal grits, a banana, a chiton of peanut butter, and a gatorade of your choice. Now, at the NFL Combine, Colleen and Ben Barch drank this smoothie together. God bless Colleen.

Yeah, and she was like a little nervous about it. And I asked her afterwards, like, what did it taste like? And she's like, it wasn't that bad. The temperature was a little off because the eggs were warm. but but but but but but but she said taste wise it was kind of sweet and mostly peanut buttery so gc or bc to the four of us trying the and this is binding this is a binding agreement majority wins we're not we're not doing a united thing here so whatever side we all fall on is what side it will be gc or bc on the four of us trying this on next week's heat check let's make it a boozy shake and i'm in g c dine diane divine you'd have to have to make your own from over there because I can't like teleport you your own. So you'd do one there and we do one here.

You know what? G.C. I'm I'm about the show. Steve Alman. I mean, shit, man. It's the content. Fuck. Good call. Good call. That's a sweep. We're doing it next week. Next week on heat check to round out to round out.

To round out, good call, bad call. I will make us seven scrambled eggs, a tub of cottage cheese, oatmeal, grits, banana, peanut peanut butter. A tarb. A tar. A tar. A tar. A Wait, there's like Gatorade in there? What is this? It's disgusting. Why would they put that in there?

Is this a gallon? Why would he just do like protein? No, it's a, uh, it's like, you know, like a normal container of Gatorade. You pick your favorite flavor. He says you dump it in there. You blend it all up and you drink it. She said it wasn't bad.

We're going to find out. Uh, stay tuned for that, everybody. I want to thank all of you for listening. I want to thank Dan Devine, Dill, Phelia, uh, nickname, uh, still TBD. Steve Olman, speaking of nicknames, I've decided he's going to be Stevie franchise. I like that for him. Hell yeah, brother. And he's killing it on this show. He deserves it. Please rate and review us. If you don't mind, read all of our content on the ringer.com. Listen to

the ringer MBA show on the ringer podcast network. Keycheck will be back next week, including a smoothie. Thanks for listening, everybody. Bye.