The Ringer NBA Show - Updated Playoff Picture, Players In and Players Out, Surprises, and Disappointments | Heat Check (Ep. 240)

Episode Date: April 2, 2018

The Ringer’s John Gonzalez is joined by Juliet Litman to discuss the matchups to watch for in the looming playoffs (2:57). Then, Kevin O’Connor comes on to evaluate the impact of players out with injury and returning from injury (26:12). Finally, Jonathan Tjarks and Danny Chau join to name the biggest surprises and disappointments of the season (49:17) and are quizzed on current scoring streaks in the NBA (58:29). Pre-order Ringer merch at http://bit.ly/ringershop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's Ringer MBA show, Heatcheck, is brought to you by the Google Assistant. With the Google Assistant, you can complete over a million actions on your phone in your car and around the house. One of my favorites is to get the latest sports info when I'm in the car and can't be messing around with my phone. I can still get the latest scores, team records, and schedules. Download the Google Assistant today, and now, Heat Check. Welcome to the Heat Check podcast. I'm your host John Gonzalez. I'm joined as I am every week by our producer, Isaac Lee.

What's good guns? Basketball is good, homie. Much of it college basketball related. The ringer has you covered. We had Roger Sherman do winners and losers from the final four over the weekend. That was a lot of fun. And Shocker had an interesting piece. Did you read Shocker's piece? I did read it. The headline was maybe the greatest headline in ringer site history. It's Villanova's offense as a death machine and it vaporized Kansas. So shouts to whichever editor wrote that one. That was great. I mean, sounds about right. And shouts to the Villanova Wildcats, V for Villanova as a Big Five. guy who went to LaSalle, sort of bittersweet for me. Like, I like seeing them do well because it's kind of a Philly team,

but then not really liking watching them do well because it's a big five team. But they're in the championship, so we're rooting for Villanova, so go Villanova tonight against Michigan. But you can check out all your NCAA coverage on the ringer.com. We also have, of course, the excellent one-shining podcast with Titus and Tate. They were all over the tournament. Isaac, did you see the picture that they

put out on? What did these two guys become the million-dollar man? They were both wearing a million-dollar man, Ted Biasi, super current pop culture, WWE reference. Yes. But both of them were wearing tuxitos, and they were standing in front of a suitcase full of money, like big baby style. Yeah, I don't know how they got that money.

I don't know how they got that money either, but to Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey and the rest of the bosses here at the ringer, Isaac and I would like to be paid in suitcases full of money. Yes. So make that happen. But so that's all your basketball coverage, NCAA basketball coverage. We've got all your NBA coverage here at the Heechak podcast. We've got another big program for you.

We got Charks and Chow coming up. We did a surprises and disappointments piece last week. On The Ringer, it was a group post. It was a lot of fun. We're going to do that with them. And then we're going to play a game that we've never played before. Should be interesting. KOC will also be on the program because he's constantly on the program.

He's on every program. He doesn't go home. He just sleeps on one of the couches. He'll be here to discuss players that are back, players that still aren't, and players that might be on the move. He had a very interesting piece on the Ringer.com last week. We're going to talk to him about that. But first, there's no basketball today.

There was a lot of basketball yesterday. And much of it had playoff implications. Many things happening with seating, many teams moving up, moving down. And for that, we need a playoff expert. Let's bring her in. All right, as I mentioned, there was a ton of basketball yesterday. And seemingly all had playoff implications. And for that, we need to bring in our senior postseason correspondent.

She's the heat check OG. Julia Littman is back. Hello, what's up? I love when you're on the program. So happy to be here. Thanks for having me. It's like a nice warm security blanket. It's very comfortable.

I'm familiar with it. And also, I needed you to discuss the Thunder with me. Because they're one of the teams that's in flux. They lose, they win. I don't know what to make of them. It's been like this all season long. Yesterday, they snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over the Pelicans on the road. Russ had a triple double.

PG had a big three late. Mello stayed on the court, which we'll get into in a second. You are our resident thunder enthusiast. What do you make of them? I think my spirit's been broken. Oh, yeah. That's it. They've crushed your will.

It's really tough. You know, even though they won, they were up like 9 or 10 with two minutes left. And then I forget, someone hit a three on the Pelicans, and then they were up six. And then Russ comes back and takes a pull up three pretty early in the shot clock. I mean, it was like a minute and a half left. Yeah, really on brand. It was really like, it was like 2013 Russ. And it was upsetting.

It's hard to watch that because you want them to be better. And it's just kind of like, have you learned anything? And the answer might be no. It's Russ, right? Like, you're not going to get the Russ out of Russ. It's just the way he plays the game. I'm tired of defending him. Yeah, I mean, I think that it was encouraging that Paul George was involved late.

Again, as I mentioned, Mellow stayed on the court because previously they had lost those three games in a row. Mello sat the entire fourth quarter in an overtime loss to the Nuggets. And he was very hoodie Mello in that one. He had his hood up. He was sitting on the bench. He went to check in and decided not to because Jeremy Grant was playing well. And I'm like, well, this is a bad sign. He played the overtime in the loss.

and play the fourth quarter. And this is really interesting. I want to get into this with you. This is from our boy Royce Young from ESPN. Anthony, who walked to the scores table with about three minutes left in regulation to check in, elected to sit himself back on the bench because Jeremy Grant, and now I'm paraphrasing, was playing well and hit a corner three. Anthony waved his hand at the court after Grant's three dropped and walked back to the bench telling Donovan to stick with Grant. Now, a couple of things here. You're Carmelo, Anthony. He's Jeremy Grant. What the hell is Billy Donovan get paid for? I don't know. And this is the NBA, right?

So players can check themselves in and out of games if you're of a certain stature. Sure. That part's fine. However, check the calendar and the standings. You're in a playoff race here. You're jockeying for seating. You're one of the great players of your generation, and you're like, and Billy Donovan is like, okay. To your point, what are they doing?

It's confusing. I also noticed, I think in that same Royce Young article, it said that Meadow was playing an all-time low, like 32 minutes per game. Which is fine. That's so high. 32 minutes a game? That's a lot for a 33 year old. Okay.

At first I thought you were thinking like playing more. Yeah, you're right. No. 30 to 32 is fine. It's fine. 30 to 32 is like a lot of minutes. 32 is probably on the high end for him. Yeah.

30 is probably that sweet spot. Maybe late season you want to pull it back to 28. I'm just saying that's a lot for like 75 games basically. Yeah. Over 75. Yeah. I mean, like, minutes load and how you want to manage these guys going into the postseason makes sense. So, again...

It also just speaks to what has always going to be their problem is they have no depth at all. So, like, they actually need Mello to play a lot. It speaks to the depth. They don't have a lot of it. They do need Mello to play. But it also, again, comes back to my Billy Donovan point, which is like, what are you doing with your rotations? What are you doing with your minutes load? Who's determining this?

Yeah. So afterwards, Carmelo said, I was sitting the whole fourth, and there was, like, two and some change on the clock, and he hit a three. and I said, you know, I just figured, like, let him stay out there. Donovan said, Carmel's always been a team guy. I think he felt like, okay, Jeremy's playing well. Let's let him go and let him play. He said it was a very hard thing for him not to put Mello back in the game. Was it a hard thing?

Because it seems like you didn't put much effort into it. And also, is Mello always been a team guy? Like, I'm calling bullshit on these statements. Sure. I think there's, like, again, there's a lot of different Mello's, and I think Happy Mello is a team guy, but unhappy Mello is not. This is definitely like a mellow we've never seen before. Like not checking himself back into the game.

I mean, he was four for eight from three last night against the Pelicans, but he hasn't been shooting particularly well. And can't play any defense, obviously. Really? Still, can't still not doing any defense. He's a net negative. You know, you don't even need to look at the advanced stats to know that. He is not helpful on the floor for them.

It's going to be tough. I don't think they'll make it out of the first round. So that's interesting that you mentioned that. They snapped a three game losing streak. They pick up a win over the Pelicans. They're now in the five seed, which would set them up for a first round matchup with the suddenly ascendant. And I don't know how they're doing it. San Antonio Spurs.

What do you make of if it ends up being OKC and the Spurs, you think the Spurs are going to upend OKC even without Kauai? I do, actually. I think that the Thunder are too inconsistent and they still look listless like half the time. And that's what Coach Pa preys on. So the Spurs ended up beating the Rockets on Sunday. They're eight and two over their last 10. I still don't know. I look at the spurs and it's like,

pop sprinkles his pop pixie dusts on the team. And, you know, like he does his incantations. And somehow he makes these guys with a Marcus Aldridge and a bunch of olds good. And I don't understand it because I look, if you're just looking at personnel, I'm OKC all day. But as we've said, they have problems with who are they still? How are they going to play? Who's getting the ball late in games?

Russ is going to pop a three early in the clock. Like Carmello's like, man, I'm good. I'm going to sit on the bench. If it's just talent-wise, I'm okay to see all day. If it's system-wise, of course it's the spurs. Paul George is just like the most confusing great player in the NBA. Can I just pause for a quick aside? Yeah.

He's getting very fuzzy. He's letting everything grow out. And I'm here for it. It's almost the playoffs. It's like Mountain Man, Paul George. It's deep into the season. You don't have time for haircut. Look at my hair.

I haven't had a haircut in months. You're wearing a hat. I have to wear a hat now because I have so much hair. And I think that's what's happening with Paul George. I think he's just going to let it go and I like it. From game to game, he's obviously incredibly talented and like one of the best players in the league. But he just from game to game, his involvement changes so much. And he and Russ, like they obviously have a hard time playing together.

Russ is so dominant on the floor that's hard to pair him with another player who should be dominant. And, you know, you just think about Paul George last year when he didn't take the last shot in one of those games against the Cavs. And he was very vocal, like I should be taking the last shot. I'm sure he still feels that way. He's still a max player in the NBA. but his quotes don't speak to that at all. And it just seems like there's some kind of weird trance in Oklahoma City where the players don't want to talk about the Russ problem,

but there obviously is one. It's almost like Russ really needs the ball all the time forever, as opposed to, say, the Spurs, who share it amongst a bunch of guys that you would be like, meh, I'm not really thrilled with them. And their best guy, Kauai Leonard, decided, I'm going to go to NYC for further treatment on a quad injury that his teammates say isn't a big deal. The Spurs situation is,

to me for different reasons as fascinating as Oklahoma Cities because a couple of weeks ago, we had Shay on the program and Shea was sweating it. And KOC wrote a story where we had maybe the greatest art in Ringer history. Greg Popovich holding up a skull as a symbol of maybe this is the end for the Spurs. It doesn't look like it's going to be the end for the Spurs. They're going to make the playoffs. We'll see what happens for them. But it's just, it's going to be very interesting to see if they end up matched up Spurs against Oklahoma City. One of those is one and done and all of a sudden things get very interesting for that organization. Yeah, I think the Spurs. if they lose, it's not like a constitutional crisis of San Antonio.

I don't know, because what happens with Kauai? Do you move them? Is he coming back at all? He obviously, there's some situation going on there that we still don't know about. His teammates are barking at them. But on the other hand, if they make it out of the first round and they don't have Kauai, it's almost like, well, this is not Kauai's team. Like, we're still this first. I think either way, they have like the foundation to be fine.

Like, you know, when they lost in round one to the Clippers in 2015, that was like a shocking, horrible loss. Like, they've had some bad playoff losses. Sure. For all of their win. So they'll be fine. The Thunder, on the other hand, it's just like a ticking time bomb until Paul George leaves. Yeah, and first round out certainly wouldn't help that. All right, let's blow through a bunch of the other games that happen that have playoff implications.

The Denver Nuggets, Juliet Lippman, had a very big win. So the Pelicans lost. The Denver Nuggets won. Now the Nuggets are, the Pelicans are just one game up on Denver with five to play. Denver had a huge win over Milwaukee in overtime. And the Bucks absolutely came apart at the seams in that game. Janice got ejected with about four minutes left. The Bucks were up 18 points in the fourth quarter.

They were up eight points with a minute to go. And then Jamal Murray and Jokic took over. And the Bucks absolutely cratered. How do we feel about the Nuggets playoff prospects? Do we think that they're going to make it? And the Pelicans might not. What do you think there? So the Nuggets have the Pacers tomorrow.

And then... Not an easy game. No, it's not an easy game. They're home versus the Pacers, home versus the wolves, at Clippers, home Blazers at Wolves. That's not an easy schedule,

but Minnesota does not look great. So I think they could get at least one of those. Portland will almost easily get the three seed. So by the second to last game of the season, I don't even play their full squad. I don't know. Right. That's a good point. That's a good point.

They could be resting. Yeah, take that game off. I think that there's still a chance for Denver to sneak in, but it's going to be tough. The pelicans are so confounding. I just have watched a couple of pelicans games recently. And every time Etouin Moore has the ball for a big shot at the end of the game, I'm just like, why?

Why? Well, this is, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago with Micah and Varyer, our resident New Orleans Pelicans experts. And it's still AD in a bunch of what? Like question marks? And, you know, Drew Holiday is playing great. It's playing great. But beyond that, it's still AD in a bunch of what.

And yet, the Pelicans on like, pretty. previous years are playing well, at least well enough to be in the playoff picture, which I think is interesting. It's a real testament to Anthony Davis. It is. Obviously. But yeah, you know, it's dicey. I think they can still sneak in. But it's just also so tight. Like the wolves are only one and a half up on the Nuggets. Right. The Western Conference and that situation with the Nuggets winning that game, very interesting at the back end. The Eastern Conference, because of that game, not quite as interesting because it looks like it's pretty much set. It's just going to be where do they fall in the order. Yeah. But the Bucks are not looking good right now. And that game was

an absolute abomination. They should have won it very easily. They were up huge. And I think they've just been terribly coached all year long. First Jason Kunti and now Joe Pronti, I don't think Joe Pronti making a good case to keep that job full time next year. And you heard Janus making some comments earlier in the season, KOC wrote about this, where he made comments in Greek. And, you know, the helpful people at Reddit went and translated. And I'm paraphrasing here. It was basically like, the Bucks got to get their shit together because if they don't, I'll do what's best for me. Right. I love the bucks.

I think if I were looking at the Eastern Conference playoff picture, I still wouldn't want to play them because they have Janus. And if you're playing Janus, chances are you're going to be playing against the best player on the floor of that game, depending on which team you are. But this is not good for them right now. No. Yonis is a sneaky hothead. I feel like we've been getting it a little bit more lately,

but he definitely loses his temper and I like it. Like it makes me like him more. But him getting ejected is just more of that. I feel like Dark Yonis will be, we'll be rising. He was very upset about calls that didn't get called. against him that did get called against Yolkich and they bounced them and that was the end of that. And then, you know, like I said, that really helps Denver. And you mentioned the Western Conference playoff picture, which is still in flux because another game from yesterday, the Jazz beat the T-Wolves.

They didn't just beat the T-Wolves. They crushed them on the road. Now Utah's a half game up on Minnesota. They're seven and three over the last 10. My boy, Rick Rubio, looking very good. All of a sudden, the Jazz, asserting themselves. And the wolves are not. And they really need Jimmy Butler. The Jazz is the most fun Western team right now to me. Really? You're buying it on the jazz. Donovan Mitchell. They're just fun. They're just like they're fun to watch. They can steal it. It's not even stealing. They're competitive every game. And it's like fun to see Jay Crowder finding a home. I just feel like happy for him. Jay Crowder back. Yeah. I like it. Like I've said many times on this podcast, I am a Rick Rubio enthusiast. I'm here for his samurai topnot. Yeah. He's out there doing doing things. Tossing and lobster, Rudy Gobert. Rudy's

playing great defense. The Jazz, I think, have been overlooked in this whole situation because they're what? They're a half game back of the Thunder for that five spot. There are a game up on the Pelicans for the eight spot. That whole back end of the Western Conference, really, really interesting. But the T-wolves, earlier in the season, we talked about what Jimmy Butler met to that team and how he sort of marshaled them, right? And he makes them look better than maybe what they are.

You take him off that team. It's glaring. Absolutely. also they brought him in for a very specific reason which was for more scoring particularly in crunch time and like at the end of games because that's where they really struggled last year more scoring great defense

and that's where they're still struggling without him again and he also is just like he just seems like he doesn't have a care in the world the giff of him throwing the stat sheet up is just sort of like that's I think indicative of just sort of the type of player he is like for good and for bad like he is I think very self-focused

but in a way that it like it helps his team and they miss his relentless homelessness. Yes, that attitude and that like, I'm going to take over this game at one end of the floor or the other, or both is sorely lacking now because you, now it's left to towns is going to be towns regardless. Yeah. But now it's kind of left to Wiggins to do more. And Wiggins is not that guy, gang. Like I like Wiggins. I like him fine as a lot of people don't like him. I like Wiggins fine as a third option, which he was on this team. He does not like that though. No, he wants to be the one and he's not a one. But he's not a one. I just want

to say right now, Blazers Jaws would be the first round series. and that would be extremely fun. That would be good. Yeah. I am team Blazers. I ride for Portland, but that would be a lot of fun. Just horrible about Damian Lillard's brother. Yeah.

Just horrible. Yeah, that's an unfortunate situation. Yeah. Same time as he has his son. Yeah. There's honestly nothing to say except like what a horrible confluence of events for him. Yeah. Prayers to the Lillard family.

Yeah. All right, moving along here to more basketball. The Sixers and the Pacers both won again, Juliet. Sixers smacked the Hornets. The Pacers pulled out another close one over the Clippers. Pacers have won five in a row. The Sixers are on a 10-game heater, have really played well. They're right in that four-five range.

They would end up as a first-round matchup, which would be fascinating. I keep saying, like, if you could pick your Eastern Conference playoff opponent, it would be the Pacers. But I'm starting to come off that position. I would pick the Bucks. Even if they have the best player on the floor and Yannis. It's tough for me. I don't know, but they're a mess.

They're not like an organized team that's going far. That's true. Let me play devil's advocate, and I don't want to because of the point that I'm about to make here, despite the fact that they've won 10 in a row, would you maybe rather play the Sixers with Adam Bede? Yes, I'd rather play the Sixers without Embed, definitely. Because playoffs are different, and now you're going to challenge Simmons to shoot that. Now, look, all season long, people have been challenging Simmons to shoot, and he's been like, yeah, I'm just still going to get to the rim and good luck stopping me.

He's amazing at it. He's so much fun. I wonder if it's going to change the playoffs because it always changes in the playoffs. Sure. Also, like after two games, you could like figure him out a little bit. Would you potentially be excited for a semi-nonym Pacers team? Apologies to El Adipa. And a no M-Bed Sixers team playing each other. Like, are you excited just for the basketball part? No. Give me M-Bed. I ride for Ben Simmons, but like, let's get a Sixers team with M-Bed. No faults. You don't want to see faults in the playoffs?

Are you, like, so where are you at with faults? Have you talked about this yet? We haven't. Last week, so what happened, Jason Concepcion came on the. show and he sat exactly where you're sitting. And the two of us went, don't bring back Fultz. It's too late in the season. The Sixers know what they are. And literally like an hour and a half later, they're like, Fultz is back.

He's playing the night. Insane. Ring or curse. Yeah, absolutely ringer curse. But I agree. I almost think it was like kind of mean to bring him back in some ways. Like, it's a good way to ease him into like being in the NBA. You know, you get a few games.

Maybe you can play in the playoffs, whatever. But I don't know. I just think I would have saved him for a fresh start for next year. I wonder, like, what does minutes load is going to look like in the playoffs if you're, going to be, if you're going to be able to play him and then how much and how comfortable you're going to be and how comfortable he'll be. I am excited for Pacer, Sixers in a really weird, dorky basketball way because that's the like NBA writer in you.

Nerd in me. Yeah. That's like how you get really excited. And I'm sure a lot of NBA writers feel that way too. I've spent the last week, I'm writing about the Pacers for later this week on the ringer.com. So I've spent a little over a week with them. And I'm like, yeah, this is an interesting team. Nobody else thinks that. All right. Let's run through the last couple here. The Cavs won again. They're just a half game up on the Sixers. They're game up on the Pacers.

It's interesting because it's the reverse of last year. Last year, LeBron got to sit himself down down the stretch. And they just gave the first seed to the Celtics because they didn't care about it. This year, they don't have that luxury. Sure. Although, like, what's the difference for the calves? Like, seriously. Like, what's the...

Rest versus not? Right. And, like, what's the best matchup for them in the playoffs? Let's see. Right now, as we do this, they'd be matched up against the Wizards, which I think might be their best match. Yeah, I think so too. Which brings us to the Wizards who lost.

They get John Wall back. He doesn't play against the Bulls because he's a DMPCD because they don't want to play him back-to-back games right away because they're going to need them for the playoffs. They lost to the Bulls. Yeah. They're jogging for a playoff position. They lost to the Bulls.

It's tough. I don't really notice it about the Wizards. They're like, there's no future for them. We had Joe House on from Jamaica last week. Nice. And he was very excited about John Wall coming back and he was confident that they would do Wizards things in the playoffs and somehow went around. Joe House, if you're listening, buddy,

and I know you are because you love the He Check podcast. I don't think this is going to go well for you. He really does love John Wall. He's like, he is the number one John Wall fan. He's like, yes, Bradley Beals good, but give me all of the John Wall. I like that about House. But like, what are the Wizards supposed to do with this team? They're not going to win a championship. No.

And they've a lot of money committed to players who are like, not that good. I'm channeling my inner KOC right now. Blow it up. Yeah. Okay, so that's your updated playoff picture. A lot of things happening, as Juliet, mentioned, I am very excited about this. I've gotten so nerdy about it. I can't wait for the play. This is one of my favorite times of the year when you're trying to figure out who's going to

who and where they're going to fall and the postseason's coming and our guys getting rested and I love it. So you left out my favorite team though. Hit me. The Miami Heat who are currently feuding with their franchise center. Yes. Hassan Whiteside. Hassan Whiteside really wants to be the guy. Yes. And they're like, no, we don't even need you at all. Yeah. So as KOC mentioned in the ringer NBA slack. Who knows? If they could find a taker for him, he could be gone. Oh, absolutely. I don't know, though. He gave the Celtics trouble. Sure. And they don't have Kyrie. So who knows? Probably the two best coaches in the East. Probably two best coaches in the top, two top five coaches in the league. Yet another matchup that I'm excited about, Juliet.

I'm excited about that one too. It's almost like you know. I'm excited about that one. It's almost like you know that I like these storylines. One more storyline, and then I want to run past you, and then you got to get out of here because you have so many things to do because you're Juliet at minute and you run the entire ring. You do everything at the of Ringer Julietette. We saw over the weekend, Anthony Davis. I wish everyone could see me rolling my eyes. She's rolling her eyes in Anthony Davis's direction.

Anthony Davis did something on social media with Red Bull where he pretended to shave his unibrow, his brow. Yes. And it was an optical illusion. And then he said, of course, I wasn't going to do that. It was an April Fool's trick. Now, as Micah Peters pointed out among our colleagues, it wasn't April Fool's when he did it. No.

So that doesn't count. It was so stupid. Here's my thing about Anthony Davis. Tell me. Doing SponCon for Red Ball. Obviously, I have no problem. I like that you shortened it to SponCon. I have no problem with SponCon.

If you do it right, that's fine. I support it, get that money. Players, publishers, everyone. You know, I work in media. I get it. Anthony Davis, there's nothing less cool than talking about your own unibrow. Like, just let it be.

Don't acknowledge it. Let it live. Let it go. And just don't make it a topic, like a talking point. Like, your signature should not be something like you discuss. Like, I don't know. The coolest. like figures and culture and celebrity don't like talk about their signature moves. You don't need

to bring it out. Prince never really talked about using a symbol for his name as far as I know. I mean, well, he did say I'm now a symbol. Sure, fine. I mean, he didn't point that out. He was cool. Like, he just like did it in a cool way. Like, Anthony Davis just has like no chill and like no cool. My problem with this was less about the SpanCon and less about before April Fool's. My whole thing was, I also hate April Fool's jokes. I do too. But my whole, my point was, was so people were making fun of him because he wanted to like do a little grooming. And as somebody else who also has giant eyebrows, sure, people were making fun of him on our ring or slack. And I was like, step off. This should be an eyebrow safe space. No problem with grooming at all. I think for those of us

who have large eyebrows, we shouldn't be shamed. No. When we want to trim them up a little bit, Peter Gallagher and I and Anthony David. You saw Peter Gallagher? At dinner. Yeah. This is a fantasy of mine. We've gone off the rails now. I saw him at son of a gun on third street. He was on the OC, which is one of my favorite shows of all time. One of my favorite shows, I have long fantasized about meeting Peter Gallagher, so one, we could talk about the OC, and two, we could have, like, an eyebrow conversation. And I think, like, those of us, we should, like, be supportive. And then he, he ruined that eyebrow trust by doing this stunt. I think he's out of the eyebrow club. There's no problem with grooming, to be clear. Like, if you have your eyebrows, however you

want them. But I'm just saying, like, in terms of brand management, this was really stupid. And it's not because it was Spongon. No problem with that. But it's just, like, do something different. and do something better. Do something better. Be better, AD. Be better. All right, Juliet Lidman is excellent. She's always better.

After this show, you'll tell me more about Peter Gallagher. Yeah, of course. All right, she's Juliet Lidman. Thank you. Of course. Thank you. All right, we're going to get to KOC, but first, a word from our sponsors. Today's heat check is brought to you by Coca-Cola and PowerAid.

If you're into sports, then it's your favorite time of year. It's NCAA March Madness. Championship game tonight, Go Nova. With so many games, you never know what's going to happen. That's why you need to be ready for. whatever the next round brings and make sure your fridge isn't empty, swing by Walmart, before every round, and stock up on Coca-Cola, Coke Zero Sugar, and Powerade before the next one tips off. Coca-Cola is the official fan refreshment of the NCAA. Be ready to watch all the

games by picking up Coca-Cola and Powerade all tourney long. Today is the national championship game, as I mentioned, and that's why there aren't any NBA games. So here at the Ringer LA offices, we're planning on watching the big game together. We'll have Coca-Cola to refrable. us all throughout it. NCAA March Madness isn't just one game. It's a whole tournament. Make sure you're ready. Refresh every round by heading to Walmart to pick up Coca-Cola, Coke Zero Sugar, and Powerade. And now let's bring in KOC. All right, joining me now in studio. He is already one of the great writers at the Ringer. Now, frankly, he's one of the most handsome. He got a new haircut gang. And he is streamlined. He got here very quickly. I think he ran here. He's sweating a little bit.

But the haircut is just, I mean, you're ready for the playoffs. You're postseason ready, homie. If you say so, Gons, I really appreciate it. How are you doing? I'm doing excellent. I'm doing better than some, not as well as others. There are quite a few players in the NBA that I want to talk to about. Some of them are back from injuries.

Others are now injured and will not be back for the foreseeable future. Some might be on the move for different reasons. You wrote a piece that we're going to get into. But let's start with my beloved Philadelphia 76ers. it looks like it's one man in, one man out. Last week, as I mentioned when Juliette was on the show a little bit earlier, we had Jason on last week. And Jason and I were both like, don't bring him back, Fultz.

Don't bring Fultz back. Let him sit for the rest of the season. It doesn't make any sense. And then like an hour later, they were like, he's back. An emotional Brett Brown. Very emotional. So the Ringer curse lives. Would you make a Fault in his first couple games back?

So after that first game, I wrote something on the Ringer, like just react. to that and it's like, whoa, really impressive, confident, comeback performance. Fighting through adversity, you know, he had a shot block three times, but he wasn't hesitant to shoot after that. He followed poor plays with good plays, and since then it's been, you know, a mixed bag. You know, I think he's continued on making great passes, playmaking well, bringing energy on that end. He's been pretty good defensively more than you'd expect for a rookie point guard, but the

shooting still isn't there, and that's a scary part. The shooting's not going to be there, right? I mean, it's just not going to be there this year, I don't think. It'll take a lot of time. There were little parts that I've liked, okay? Like, yes, the passing has been good. He, against the Hawks, he dunked from, I think, half-court. I was like, where did that come from?

Everything else is there, like, that he had at Washington. Like, he looks like a number one pick except for the shooting, right? Well, the athleticism, he's never been a guy who was going to blow you away with athleticism. Sometimes. Like, with the weak side blocks, there's sometimes big dunks. Yes, sometimes big dunks. But, like, he's got this sort of. His body is kind of a little doughy.

He suffers from RFD, as Jason would call it, round-faced disease. But he doesn't like, you don't look at him and go, man, he's like hyper-athletic. And then he throws down a dunk like that and you go, whoa, false. Like, that was interesting. Good for you. I felt like for a moment we were going to go into the same debate that me and Chris Vernon had before. Does he look like an NBA player? No, I'm not going to do that.

He very much is an NBA player. I'm ready to go. No, I'm ready to do it. You're on the wrong podcast. That's tomorrow. I'm ready to go. You guys can save all that nonsense for tomorrow where you guys just yell at each other. You and I will do something different on this one.

You're right, though. Like, it doesn't always show. It doesn't always show, but it showed. And I'm like, okay, so this is good. These are things like he's getting to spots on the floor. He can get places on the floor where he needs to get to get off like a mid-range shot or a layup or a dunk. And that's good because, as you mentioned, the shooting, probably not going to be there this year. And we're a little worried about it.

Passing on some open threes, man. Passing on threes. So that brings me to my next point. We're at a point in this season. is why, look, I want Fultz to be good. I want him to be good for a number of reasons. One, just as a general NBA fan, I want to see him. I want to

see him do good things. I want it for the kid. He's 19 years old. What a story it be. What a story. Also, as a Philadelphia, I want to see this happen. However, as we all know, things change as you get to the playoffs, right? Yeah. So, your rotation shortened. Your minutes, loads get increased for your best

players. For your not best players, they tighten up a little bit. So my question is, if you're brown, And you've got a team that's going to play the Pacers who are a difficult team, despite the fact that they've been overlooked a lot of the year. Unless you guys steal that three seed. Unless you steal the three seed, which they could, which they could. This is still in flux.

This is still in flux. But let's just say you're Brett Brown. What do you do with Fultz in the playoffs? I'm playing them. But how much? Look, so you're going to get a Joe Allen Bied back. That means one guy's minutes are going to get bumped down. Right now in the rotation, that's for Sean Holmes.

Right. So maybe your nine-man rotation will end up being something like the five-starters. but then you'll have either Amir Johnson or Ilyossova, Fultz, Bellinelli, I lost count. I think I should restart. No, you got to keep this in. Just start again, but keep this in, Isaac, because it was great. All right, so you're talking through your rotations. Rashon Holmes gets bumped down.

I'll answer this another way. I think Fultz should play. And the reason why is exactly what Brett Brown said before his first game back. If it's the risk reward, you're leaned towards the risk. And Fultz, as he's shown with moments on defense, playmaking, I think he helps your team, whereas T.J. McConnell, you know what you're going to get. Solid point guard play, but not a lot else. I just think Fultz raises, as Daryl once said, he raises your risk profile. Yeah.

And he at least deserves a chance. And if he stinks, if his lack of shooting hurts you, guess what? Turn to T.J. the guy that you know what you're going to get or plug in somebody else. Normally you come on the podcast and you ride the fence. Now it's been reversed. You've staked out of position and now I'm riding the fence because I can see. It's crazy.

It's really interesting. Who knew? Kevin O'Connor's shoe is. There's nuance in the world. Who knew? It's Kevin O'Connor's show is now on John Gonzalez's foot. But I could see it both ways where on the one hand, you're playing with House Money this year. They're probably not going to win a championship.

I'm saying probably because I'm leaving room for the possibility. But Ben Simmons hasn't shot yet. He might have something hidden. All of a sudden he starts shooting three-pointers and blows my mind. You never know. But I'm saying you're playing with house money. So, you know, who cares, right? Like you lose in the playoffs, but maybe you get something out of faults. The reverse, though, is that you want to see what these guys can do,

especially if you could somehow get out of the first round and then get him being back. So defensively, like if you're looking as another team, you know what's going to happen. Like, everybody knows what's going to happen. They're going to really pack the paint and they're going to dare Simmons to shoot. and they're going to dare Fultz to shoot, and that's going to cause serious problems. That's why they're not going to win a championship. It's going to cause serious problems for Brep Brown, right?

So if I'm Brett Brown, just from a coaching perspective in the playoffs where you're trying to do something after all these years of protracted losing, the obvious don't play him that much candidate is Fultz as opposed to T.J. It just is. Sure. It's not like T.J. McConnell is this is certainly a lights-out shooter either. No, no, no, no, but he's going to give you more. For sure.

He's shooting over 40% this year. So what I should say is that, look, You can look at the three-point shooting number, the percentage. Right. But there's one thing when a guy shoots a certain number and how defenses defend that guy. So he's a low-volume three-point shooter that takes a while to get his shot off and defenses aren't sweating if he's spotting up in the line. Even though he's been successful this season over the course of his life, he hasn't quite been at that level. It's why Brett Brown is getting paid to big bucks.

He's still around. He's got to figure that out. So Fultz is in and Ambide is out. Irony of irony is, Fultz, his shoulder ends up colliding with. with Embed's face, so now Fultz is still around, but Embed is not. When you saw the injury, it initially didn't look that bad. Now we know it is kind of bad, and he's going to be out. Could be back in two weeks, depending on his pain tolerance.

What's your prediction for the fight, then? Prediction? Prediction? Pain. They're asking Joelle Ambide right there. What is pain tolerance is? Joel's surgery changed his voice quite a lot. He sounds just like Mr. T.

It's very weird. What would you do? I mean, obviously, you've got to think long term. him with Joelle Embed, and you don't want to rush him back. But let's just say Joelle Embed comes back, and he's like, in two weeks, he's like, yep, good to go. Give me the mask. I can do it.

I want to see him in the mask. You're running him out there? I rush him back just so we can see him in the mask. If we don't see him being in a mask, this season's a bust. It's a failure. Yeah, it just doesn't matter. Just erase it from the history books. I would like him to wear one of those masks that Eagles fans and the Eagles were wearing

those dog masks during the Super Bowl, so like we could have a little bit of synergy here. But seriously, like, how careful would you be with him? let's say you get past the Pacers or whomever you play in the first round hasn't gotten back yet and Beat is not back you've gotten through the first round I mean I mean maybe is the rest good for him maybe it is for his legs that have been quite injury prone over the last four or five years why do you have to bring up the pass I mean well you're talking about rushing I'm back who cares about his face I'm talking about his knees and his legs and his that's what I'm scared about his face is his money

maker he's not getting Rihanna without that face I'm nervous about his back and his legs and his knees. I mean, the face, what matters is that he's able to come back and that he's able to see his vision is the same because sometimes with that injury from what I've read and from what I've heard from the intern. I'm not a doctor. But I've read that the concern sometimes can be like your vision isn't exactly the same. So as long as he can see fine, great, you know, bring him back, wear a mask. You look awesome. You'll look cool. But it's about will there be an increased risk after an extended period of rest for his a lower body injury. That's what I would be nervous about and maybe a little bit more cautious

about. He's been fine all year aside from his face. You didn't think he was going to play this many games. You were a skeptic. Was I? Wasn't you? I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to paint you as a skeptic. Remember when Bill Simmons asked like a group of us, would you bet on a B'd play in 50 games or like you die? Was that the question? Something like that. I don't know. I forget it was like 65 or 62 or something like something like that. I don't know. Danny didn't die though. So that's a good I'm pretty sure I bet that he would play that amount at some point. I don't know if was this year, but whatever. The point is, is that I want Joel to be healthy and

to be... I also want him to be healthy, and I'm desperate to see, I'm like, and this is why it sucks as a Philadelphiaan, because all this stuff was going well, right? I just saw our buddy Mike Levin over the weekend from the Wrights to Ricky Sanchez podcast, shouts to Mike. And we're talking about... I can't do that. Unfair.

I can't do that. Not cool. It's probably not Mike. It's probably Spike's a crazy person. It was Mike. But so we were talking about this over the weekend where it was, you know, it's super exciting to watch the Sixers and everything's happening now and like everything's coming together and they're going to be in the playoffs and we get to see playoff mb with playoff simmons and playoff faults and what and then all of a sudden he goes down so i want to see him out there because

we've been waiting a long time for this but on the other hand to play both sides this is a long-term thing right we're playing the long game if you're the sixers and despite the fact that like if it's just pain tolerance you can throw the mask on him whatever hell yeah i'm a little i'm like a little pumped to breaks worried about like let's just remember that this is Embed over the next 10 years and not just Embed over the next 10 playoff games or however many they get. Are you really not worried about his face? It's a beautiful face. Not everybody is as handsome as you, KOC with his hair cut.

We want him to be okay. I'm worried about the legs. His face is going to be okay. They said his eyeball caved in or whatever they said, you know, like it was dented. Give him goggles like Kareem. Give him goggles like Kareem. That is pretty scary. That's enough sexers.

We're going to move on. on, we're going to go to the Spurs. The Spurs yet again announced that Kauai Leonard is still not back. And not only that Wodge reported that he returned to New York and there is no timetable. And I put this on our slack the other day. And this is totally true. I cannot believe Kevin O'Connor that Markell Fultz came back before Kauai Leonard. I'm like, my mind is blown. There was a poll on Twitter maybe two months ago or something like that. And I was like, who comes back first? Gordon Hayward Hayward, Kalilander, that was me. That was my poll. Oh, that was your poll. Yes. Who led that poll? It wasn't, it wasn't Fultz, right?

I don't think so. I think it might have been Kauai. Okay, I thought it was Kauai too. I like that you're just like, there's some guy on Twitter. Hey, man, my brain, like my memory mushes things together sometimes. So that guy, like that guy on Twitter is like everybody combined. Everybody that's, it's all just one person, that guy. But so let me ask you, what did you or what would you have voted for? Probably Kauai. Right. Me too.

I mean, I'll have to like dig up the poll on your Twitter and find. I know what I did vote for, but I think it was Kauai. And I don't know, maybe that poll went up at around a time where there was news like, oh, Kauai could be back in early March. Who knows? There was a lot of that. Yeah, there was. And now we're in early April, still not back.

And now it's at the point where in March, everybody was talking, if Kauai comes back, there's enough time for him to get back to 100% before the playoffs. Now, if he comes back now, what we saw from him midseason when he returned was not the same old Kawhi Leonard. No, we saw a guy who was maybe 70%. percent, Kauai Leonard. And so if he comes back now, he's not going to swing the needle that much in their favor for what they need to really get past some of these unbelievable Western Conference teams.

You still, obviously, you'd rather have Kauai than not have Kauai. But I think, like, all the stuff that's swirling with that team about players questioning how intense his injury is or how bad his injury is and saying that he could be back and then, you know, the rumors about how it's going with the front office and, like, them not being of a mind, right? This is very troublesome stuff. Of course you want to bring him back. Let's say you don't have him back.

What are the, like, how far do you think this, like, went around maybe? Like, what do you think the Spurs could do? Because right now they're looking at OKC as a first round match. I mean, I guess I hope Shea Serrano doesn't listen, but. You love to anger Shea. I love when Chase's happy. I like when Chase's happy. You better rethink what you're about to say.

Every time the Spurs win and he tweets me with Popovich holding my skull, it makes me happy. Look, right now the matchup. has Spurs against Oklahoma City in the first round. Right. I would never bet against the Spurs. No. But then again, it's the type of thing where they are really depleted without Kauai right now. I mean, they don't have their go-to score.

And then Aldridge would need to carry that team regardless of the matchup. They can win around. They can win around without Kauai. Juliana and I were just talking about that. I really want OKC versus the Spurs in the first round for the storyline purposes because either the Spurs beat Oklahoma City with their three guys that they went and assembled that whole team. or Oklahoma City beats the Spurs,

and then all of a sudden it's like, the Spurs are in disarray. What do they do with Kauai? They lost in the first round. Like, is this, as you wrote, the end of the Spurs run? Yeah, I think I'd rather, OKC, drop a little bit down the standings

and face the Golden State Warriors in the first round. You want that? A vulnerable Warriors team against against Oklahoma City that's loaded up. I don't know how vulnerable the Warriors are. They got their three guys back. No step, but they still got three great guys. If OKC loses to Golden State

in the first round, without Steff and Curry? I mean, that would be... That is unbelievable based on what the expectations were. And I don't know. It would also be super cool to see OKC beat Golden State

considering there's no Steph and then who knows what happens the rest of the playoffs. It always... It doesn't always translate when you're listening to a podcast so I'm going to paint a word picture for all of you listening right now.

Kevin O'Connor just got so excited about basketball. The basketball bubbled up inside of him and he was gesticulating and his face got happy. This is why I like, having you on the podcast because my inner nerd also gets excited about storylines like that and you got me excited. So this is why it's great to have you on. More player talk. We got a hustle. So let's set a timer with the Google assistant for this. Hey, Google, set a timer for two minutes. All right, two minutes. And we are starting now. John Wall is back for the Washington Wizards. He played against the Hornets

after two months on the bench. Then he got a DMPCD against the Bulls and the, and the Wizards lost. what did you think of wall in the first game? It's nice to have them back if you're a Washington Wizards fan, that's for sure. Everybody eats was really fun and a lot of the things that were... Was it fun for like a week and a half? It was fun for about a week and a half and then it got old quickly. Everybody was on Satteransky and I'm like, yeah, are you? You like Sederansky, do you?

You rather have him than John Wall? All my house, my house Sharp, my buddy Luke who works at Huffpo that are all Wizards fans. Those are the only three Wizards fans I know. They might be the only three Wizards fans in existence. They were all on Satiransky and everybody eats. Really? Yeah. How's that looking now?

Well, look, there's elements to take from that nice little run with the ball movement, the player movement, that they can incorporate now because look, you need John Wall. John Wall is an unbelievable point guard. He really, I think, gives that team a chance in any playoff series. But they also need John Wall to be better. And one of the things that he can do is to take some of the things that Satiranski was doing, moving off ball, cutting, attacking closeouts the second he receives the catch. Just those little things

I think would really help the Wizards. Will we see that? I don't know. I bet against it just based off Wall's history, but I sure is how hope we do see little elements of that incorporated with Washington the rest of the regular season and then into the playoffs. Do you give them any shot in the playoffs against? Right now they're in the

sixth seed. Let's just say of the teams, there's three teams that have a chance at the three seed, that's the Cavsixers and Pacers. You give them any shot to beat the Cavsixers or Pacers? Yeah. What shot? I mean, which team do they match out best against. Which team would you rather, if you're the wizards, who would you rather want to face LeBron James? You don't want to play LeBron so they're out. Is Joe Ellen Bid back? He's not

back. So he misses the entire first round. Misses the first round. I'd like to face the Sixers. You'd rather play the Sixers and the Pacers? I think so, yeah. Because the Paysers are fully healthy, then they're doing what they're doing. They've got Ola Depot out there doing Depot stuff. Yeah. Hey, Google, stop the alarm. Um, anyhow, OloDipo has been his shot. This is not going to get you on band from the rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast. Hey, if they want to ban me from the podcast for for being consistently honest and even in times when everybody was like, oh, the process is a joke. Fire Hinky. Hinky sucks. At that time, I was still like, know what? This is going to be a good thing for them. They're doing the right thing. Sam Hinky's a genius. He's won every trade. I understand

that I committed a crime and voting Al Horford over Joel Abed for the All-Star game. I committed a crime. but I hope that crime can be committed because of my history of supporting the process. I love you for so many reasons. It really saddens me. I love you for so many reasons. One, like I said, we get to nerd out together about basketball. You're one of the few people that I know that likes the nerd elements of basketball as much as I do. So that's great.

The second thing is I can put the quarter in and immediately wind you up and you did it. And it's wonderful. It just hurts. It hurts, gone. Last one before I let you go because you got a lot of stuff. You're writing a zillion things. You wrote a piece last week that was excellent. I highly recommend it.

about Kemba Walker and how things have changed for him. Pre-trade deadline. Kemba Walker goes, don't trade me. I want to be here. Post-trade deadline before the playoffs are approaching and Charlotte is not going to make it. Kamba's like, hey, I'm going to wait to see who they hire as a general manager.

And then we'll talk and then they'll do what's best for them and I'll do what's best for me. And you had a couple of potential landing spots for him. Is Kemba on the move? Is this the end of Kemba and Charlotte? I mean, I think they're certainly going to shop them. Most NBA people have talked to expect his name to be right out there in the trade, trade rumor mill, you know, just as it was

kind of in January and then a little bit in February. I had the four teams I had were the Knicks, the Bucks, the sons, and the cavaliers as teams that make sense on paper based on that team's needs and based on their situation. Another team could be the Pacers as well.

I kept them off because the teams that put on there were teams that I think should pursue him. And whereas for Indiana, I'm like, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. Because they don't have any big money contracts or long-term deals outside of a whole- They're in a great position. Their cap space is really interesting.

Right. They're not tethered to any contracts. And also, everybody on their team, except for Darren Collison and Al Jefferson, is under 30. And Darren Collison is only 30. So they've got a young team that could have some flexibility. The other one that you mentioned that I thought was interesting was the Cavs. In that scenario, is LeBron Stang?

Yeah. I would never trade the Nets pick for Kemba Friggin Walker. As good as he is. Wow. Unless LeBron's a whole piece about Kemba Friggin Walker. I think you like him. Well, I mean, Kemp is a really good. point guard, but he's like the 11th or 12th best

point guard. And I wouldn't trade the Nets pick unless what I'm also getting is LeBron's saying. But that's not an indictment. Point guard is the deepest position in the NBA. It's not an indictment against him at all. But what I mean is like... Why do you hate Kimba Walker so much? I would not trade like the seventh pick in the draft for him

unless I'm getting more. So like even with the NICs. Like I think the NICs are, they'll have like the ninth or tenth pick. NICS would be interesting. Right now they're in the nine spot. That's kind of where I don't know if that does it though. A little from Charlotte. You don't have to come up with more than just that. Well, I mean, what else is out there, though?

I don't know. You got to give me something more of on Charlotte. That's the thing. First of all, how many teams need a point card? Not a lot. Fair. How many teams have the assets for a point card? Not a lot.

How many teams are in situations that would appeal to Kembo when he wants to go to a winning situation? Not many. So it's like, there's not many teams that even like putting the bucks on hair. They might not have enough assets for him. Like you said. And then what are you doing? Are you getting rid of blood so? Is bloodso in that deal?

You just traded for bloodso? Are you playing for bloodso? Are you playing Bloodsoe and Kemba together? It's an interesting spot. Bloodsoe already had a situation like that in Phoenix. Didn't work out. He went to the hair salon. Yeah.

I bet on Kemba being traded. I think they could probably find something, but it wouldn't really surprise me at all if this waits until the regular season. If there's no good offers during the summer, maybe a team gets desperate before the 2019 deadline rather than the summer of 2018. All right.

Thanks to keep our eyes on. Make sure you keep your eyes on KOC. One, on the ringler.com. And two, if you see him in person, take a good look at the haircut. It's handsome. It's pinup model stuff. He's looking good. He's Kevin O'Connor. Read him, listen to him. He's everywhere. He'll be back

tomorrow on the Ringer NBA show with Chris Werner. KOC, thanks, Holmes. Cool. Thank you, Gons. That's fun. All right, we're going to bring in Charks and Chow. And I promise you don't want to miss the end of that segment because we're going to get a little nutty. But first, a word from our sponsors. Today's He-check is brought to you by Ringer merch.

What? We got Ringer merch now. We have exciting news for all you ringer heads out there. And Heat Check listeners, the Ringer has new merchandise with a shiny new storefront, and you can check out right now. We have hats. I'm actually wearing one as I record this. Hoodies and even an exclusive Shea Serrano, disrespectful dunk t-shirt, which is Superfly. I think all the kids say fly right now.

Or you could say dope, it's that too. Your friends will be low-key jealous when they see you strutting down the street with an official ringer zip-up hoodie. My wife actually asked me for one. I'm going to get her one through the employee discount. We get a discount. You guys get just regular counts previously available only to ringer. Ringer staffers, we're letting you, our loyal listeners, get first dibs on the goods. Go to the ringer.com slash shop to pre-order your merch now.

You can get it before it's even out. These are limited run items and will not last long. Once they are gone, they are gone. Again, check out the ringer.com slash shop to pre-order your official ringer merchandise today. You can also find the link to the Ringer web store in the show notes for the podcast you're listening to right now. Just click on it.

And now, oh, you're going to get excited about this. one. It's a little weird, a little fun. It's Charks and Chow. All right now, joining me on the phone is Jonathan Charks, and joining me in studio is Danny Chow, two-thirds of the draft class podcast, except not really. Danny told me that he was on the draft class podcast, and then, like, I saw Twitter, and he goes, yeah, I've only been on twice, so basically Gonzalez was peddling propaganda on my behalf. So, yeah. No, Danny's made it his podcast. That's what happened. Right. See, I've, I've become a regular fixture now, but back a couple weeks ago, everyone seemed to have like ad copy saying that I was part of it. And I was just like, yeah, that's pretty generous. You know, that's nice. Lean into it.

Lean into it. These guys are all over the ringer. They've got a lot of stories right now on the ringer. com. Charks has a piece about how Jalen Brunson could make any team better. So I recommend that you go and do that. And by the way, V for Il Nova, go Nova tonight. That'll be exciting. Also, wait, but Charks, you want Michigan because that way you'll win the ringer pool, right? Yeah, I'm all about the small amount of money that could win me. That's what motivates me is small amounts of cash. Bragging rights here at the Ringer as well. It's strictly the money for me. I just blog, so I got to get all the money. All the money you can get. You're a blog boy. We did a blog post last week, blog boy, where we did disappointments and surprises on the ringer.com. Danny, we're going to run ours past you because you were in the field on assignment, working angles and talking to people in Portland. Eating a lot of food. Eating a lot of food. Nice.

So we did the most disappointing players and teams and then the most surprising players in teams. So for surprising players, Charks had Fred Van Fleet. And I had, and I'll explain mine, Damien Lillard. Let's start with Fred Van Fleet as a surprise. Charks, you want to make the case for Fred Van Fleet? Well, yeah, I mean, like, I kind of thought he'd be like 11th man on this team this year. They already had Kyle Lowry and Dilan Wright. And he's just been so good and undrafted for age.

And now he's like one of their top five players. He closes games for them. He's kind of like almost remade their team around their bench. He's their best bench player. Their team's all about their bench. And he's kind of been the guy. Yeah. I mean, this is a completely surprising pick.

Like, I wouldn't say he's the most surprising just because, you know, he's still a bench guy. But again, he's a plus minus God. The dude just, like, knows how to play. And he's pretty much like an anchor for their surprisingly effective five out, five in bench defense. It's been amazing. Yeah, he's been good. he's been a lot of fun. I picked Dame Lillard, and I'll explain why. I took a liberty with the question in that he has not been surprising to me. Listeners to the Heat Check podcast, know how much I love Portland,

know how much I love the Blazers, know how much I love Dame Lillard. I think he's been surprising to some of our friends here at the Ringer because as recently as the All-Star game, I was mocked, mocked by my Ringer peers about Damien Lillard wanting to be an All-Star and people going, you know, he's lobbying for it. He probably was the last pick. And now all of a sudden, oh, he's in the MVP conversation, the Blazers are in the third seed. I would like to pretend that I'm the type of person who doesn't say I told you so, but I'm not. And I did. Look, I'm just saying perception matters a lot. And they are, the Blazers are now clearly the third best team in the West right now. But if you, if you look at what Damien Lillard has been able to do for the past

five years, none of this should be that surprising. 2014 was really his, you know, breakout year where he was making clutch fourth quarter shots left and right. He still has the last buzzer beating series winner. Yeah. Oh, wow, that's interesting. The last one was John Stockton back in the 90s. You're talking about the one that he hit right in Chandler-Parson's face? Yeah, over Houston.

Yeah, that was great. Against Houston. That's his defining moment. Shouts to Dame Lillard. Unfortunately, no shouts to Wiggins or Isaiah Thomas. Those were our disappointments. You picked Wiggins. I picked Isaiah Thomas for obvious reasons.

Make the case for Wiggins. I mean, I was never a huge Wiggins guy, but I figured like he's the piece from Minnesota, if they're going to be like an elite team going forward. And it's just disappointing to see him not really develop his game at all, playing with Butler, playing with Tibbs year two. It just seems like we're all waiting for him to get better and it hasn't happened yet. And it's like, let's go, man. Like, you're a max guy now.

It's hard to really produce. I don't feel like he's really taking except forward at all. Just watching The Wolves play all year and how much they relied on Jimmy Butler, I get, you know, he has this huge contract now that he has to live up to. But, man, Butler covered for so much of what that team did. And he was really the engine of what made that team even remotely good or great on the borderline. So, I mean, really, the way in which Tibbs kind of gets guys, like, the way Tibbs kind of, I don't know, favors the guys that he favors. Yeah.

It was always just going to be Butler's team. And so it was, and it is. And without him, we saw what happened last night where they get smacked at home while they're trying to, you know, jockey for playoff seating. Mine was obvious. It was IT. You know, he goes from last year being an MVP candidate at this time and marshalling the best team in the Eastern Conference record wise, seating wise, maybe not in actuality because they did get upended. But still, amazing year last year. Everybody loved him.

And then all of a sudden, he plays 15 games in Cleveland, falls out of favor, is mouthing everybody. gets traded to the Lakers, has a hip injury. When are we going to see him back? If at all, what's he going to look like? It's night and day and it totally sucks for him. Surprise team. These are pretty obvious. We spent a lot of time on them already, so we won't believe it by the point.

But Charks, you picked the Blazers. I picked the 76ers who are in the playoffs. It's very exciting. And then Charks, you and I landed on the exact same disappointment, the Detroit Pistons. Yeah, I mean, I don't think anyone had too high hopes, but this is, this is brutal, man. what's happened to them. This is, it's some sad stuff right now in Detroit. Yeah.

You trade for Blake thinking you're making this playoff push. You go into the season thinking, oh, the East is wide open. And now you're spending how much money on Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, for a team that is, what, five games out of the, out of eighth place? That's nuts. And they just on a wind streak right now. Like, this is crazy. Is there time for me to bring up like my, you know, most surprising, most surprising team?

Sure. I just think it's Ola Depot. I don't know how many different alternate timelines exist in the NBA in which Ola Depot goes from like a de facto second option to what Russell Westbrook and completely underperforms and becomes an all NBA talent. Killing it. You know? And probably a lock for the most improved player. Absolutely. He's literally broken statistical models for improvement.

Like I think Kevin Pelton brought that up in a piece that he wrote for ESPN. I just don't know how much more surprising you get. And going off that with most surprising team, I think it's the Pacers. They have a better win percentage than the Spurs right now, which, again, that takes away a lot of context. But just if you were to go into the season and say that, and you were to say Miles Turner probably was the second best,

but he was pretty injured the entire year, and yet they still had this record. We went into the season thinking Miles Turner was like, who was supposed to be the guy? Yeah. It's interesting. It's almost like you're in my head, Danny Chow. Check out the ring or later this week.

We might have some Pacers-related content. Oh, nice plug. That's synergy, Danny Chow. You want to do your disappointments, too? No, I think you got it. I think you got it. It's the Pistons and it's Isaiah Thomas. Danny's a positive guy.

He's not here. Danny's like, no, we've had enough of this. Let's just keep the show. I said this before when Danny's come on the show. He really should be the host because he's like, let's just move it along. Moving it along, actually. This is why if you've made it, it this far in the podcast heat check listeners do we have some a treat for you uh lebron james earlier this

week passed michael jordan for the most consecutive double digit performances in nbae history in other words how many games in a row have you scored 10 points or more he now has 868 after they just beat the mavericks that's the most in NBA history the last time he didn't score 10 points or more 2007 he went three for 13 against Milwaukee so that's really interesting right So it got me thinking, gang, about the active streaks in the NBA because there are a lot of people trying to score points in the NBA, but nobody is even close to putting together a string like LeBron. So after LeBron, who's the top five? So Isaac and I put together a little game for you, and we're going to play that. It's going to be Danny versus Charks trying to come up with the next five active streaks.

Here we go. Hold on two seconds. We're just going to pause real quick. Oh! Danny, why don't you explain to everybody at home in Sharks what just happened? Okay, so Gons was wearing a hoodie earlier, and he just stepped off, went into a Superman booth, came out with like a classic Terry Stott's like houndstooth blazer. Shout out to...

Nice. Despite the fact that this is an auditory medium, I have decided to bring visual props to this game. Gons is a fashion plate. This is how much I am committed to this game. This is how much Isaac is committed to this game. Isaac, let's do it. Well, it's time to play double-digit duel, the game that's totally a game and not made up at the last second. Let's bring in our host, Johnny Game Show Gonzalez.

Thanks, Iceman. Oh, my God. I am happy to be here on double-digit duel, the game that's totally a game and not made up at the last second. Now let's meet our contestants. He was Dallas's most eligible bachelor, but now he's off the market. Let's welcome in everyone's. favorite handsome hoops husband. It's Jonathan J. Bird,

Sharks. For the record, I'm wearing my jammies living that full blog life. That's perfect. And his opponent, he's a fan of spicy food and even spicier takes. He once said that George Hill is his favorite player and meant it. Let's welcome in Danny

Chili Pepper. Chow! I am so, so bad under pressure. And anyone who has watched any of our pop quiz on the ringer knows this. So let's go. Let's go. It's going to go great. Okay, gentlemen, welcome to double-digit duel, as you already learned,

this is totally a real game where you have a chance to win totally real prizes. Disclaimer, prizes may not be real. The ringer incorporated Bill Simmons LLC and Sean Tennessee Esquire, not responsible or legally liable. Great. Let's get started. As we learned, LeBron James has the longest active streak of consecutive games with 10 or more points. We're looking to identify the five active streaks from players still in the league who come after LeBron James. The first player between Charks and Chow to identify three of the five names on the list after LeBron wins double-digit duel, a totally real prize.

If you get stuck, each of you can ask for a hint one time only at some point during the game. A totally real flip of the coin that I totally did before this show determined that, uh, Charks will go first. Nice. Charks, your first guess. Okay, so I know the first one is James Harden. I read an article about it. I know that one for sure. He's cheating a double-digit duel. I love it.

Question. So is it just active players or active streaks as well? Both. Streaks that are both active and players that are active. Ah, okay. Yes. So that is correct. So it's my turn? Yes, it is your turn. Okay. This is for all the blog boys.

Is it Kevin Durant? This is for all the blog boys. You know, it's interesting. Kevin Durant was on it, recently had his streak snap, now has a new streak going, not in the top five anymore. The Golden State, ball sharing offense. He's actually sixth on the current list. Sixth, just missed the cut.

Just missed the cut. Good guess, incorrect. Back to John Sharks. Okay, so do I have to guess any of the five or ask you number three? Can I get points for like getting four or five or something? Any of the five. You already guessed number one, so there are four names left.

All right. Are these all names we know or like, are there any surprising names on the list? There is, depending. my hand now. Depending on your definition of the word surprising, I think number five is interesting, but the other three guys that you're looking to identify are big names. Yeah, they're big names, and you would expect it. I'm thinking it has to be somebody who really has the ball. How about DeRosen? DeRosin, excellent guess. Incorrect. How to streak snapped and has not had a new streak going for quite some time.

Last streak that he had going was last year. So not on the list. Not on the list. back to Chowell. Okay, let's go with the Charlotte Hornet's all-time leading score. Kemba Walker. Kemba Walker, excellent guess. Not on the list. Wow. What is going on here?

No, not on the list. Also a good guess. Back to Charks. Okay, I'm going to guess, based on your prior history, I'm guessing you made Dames on this list because if you're the one hosting this. Damien Lillard, absolutely on the list. Two right for Charks. No right for Chow.

He's won away from winning this game, Danny Chow. I'm completely used to this. I just want to say one more reason why I was right about Damien Lillard and the rest of my ringer colleagues were not. Chow, you need to bootstrap yourself here, buddy. I mean, I really don't. I really don't. Let's get us some good content here.

You have a hint still left. Would you like to use your hint now to keep the game going? Yes. Okay. One of the players on this list who comes right after James Harden. So we have James Hardin number one. You're still looking for two, four, and five. Damien Lillard was three on the list.

The guy who's at number two on the list currently injured, a big man. Okay. But his streak is active. Huh. He's a big man who's made some big moves in his career most recently last year. Injured now. He's a big man who had spent his entire career in one place.

Yeah, no, I'm totally cracking under pressure. He spent his entire career in one place until making a big move somewhere else last year. year. It's way too early for this. It's 10.30. I'm cracking under pressure, guys. Never trust me in a crisis. Never text me in a crisis.

This is going to be great on a podcast. Oh, wow. Just make any guess. This is incredible. It's a place you've been to recently. Oh, okay. You went for work. Right.

You ate food there. Uh-huh. Okay. You wrote about it. I wrote about it. Yeah. Oh. This is great.

Wait. Did I? Didn't you? I definitely did. You 100% did. Yeah. As in like, recently? You wrote about it for the ringer.

I would say, I need to forget. Oh, okay. I got it. Clears his mind. I got it. To Marcus Cousin's. Yes, he got it.

How long did that take? How long did that take? Approximately 55 minutes. Yes. This show is an hour long. Danny did 58 minutes of it. It's two to one and back to charts. Okay.

I'm going to go with the, stay with the host. So I'm going to say Embed because you're from Philly. Okay. This is an excellent guest. actually was on this list and would have been on this list if we had done this game a week ago. He had his streak snapped last week. Oh, the injury?

Because of his injury. He would have been number five on this list, but he just fell off this list. I'd like to give you partial credit, but I can't. So it's back to Danny. It's two to one. I'm going to give some more hints here to move it along for everybody's sake. Number four on this list is a big-time unicorn for a team that projects to the back end of the Eastern Conference playoffs. and number five on this list

is a guy that you actually already mentioned on this podcast, Danny Chow, sort of a surprising person. Victor Oliva? Victor Oliva, it's like Danny Chow could read my mind. He's number five on this list. It's two to two. Victorola Depot, 73 straight games with 10 or more points

dating back to last year. You guys are looking for number four on the list. Back to charts. End this now. We're looking for a unicorn. We're looking for one of our... So a unicorn from the bottom of the east? From the bottom of the east.

Janice. Janice, Antitocompo. There is your winner. Jonathan Charks. Thank God you guys saved us from double-digit duel. I don't know if you're going to win the NCAA pool, but you won double-digit duel. We'll have a prize to you in the mail probably soon, right, Isaac?

Yeah, within the next five to ten years. To ten years. We're going to be on heat check for a long time. Make sure you check out Danny Chow and Jonathan Charks on the ringer.com. You can also listen to them. You can listen to at least one of them, who knows about Danny Chow, on draft class, on Fridays. They do an excellent podcast. You can also listen to all the other Ringer podcast this week.

You got KOC and Verno on Tuesday, sources say on Wednesday, group chat on Thursday, and then we will be back next week on Monday with He Check. Thanks to Juliet, KOC, Charks and Chow. And of course, Isaac, who did everything great for double-digit duel. It was a lot of fun, Jans. It was a lot of fun. We'll see you guys next week. Thanks, bye.