The Ringer NBA Show - Wizards Chemistry Experiment, Suns-Rockets Trade, and Are We Sure ...? | Heat Check (Ep. 309)

Episode Date: September 4, 2018

The Ringer’s John Gonzalez is joined by Joe House to discuss interesting NBA story lines as training camp approaches (2:24). Then, Haley O’Shaughnessy comes on to parse the trade between the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets (31:08) and debate some Are We Sure questions (40:09). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly. Before you start the show, here are a few things that are going on at The Ringer this week. The NFL kicks off on Thursday and college football is officially back, so we've got dual threat with Ryan Rusillo on Wednesday and the ringer NFL show in full swing with new shows every day of the week. Also, we'll be doing our first ever NFL wins pool, which you can check out live on Tuesday and after the fact on YouTube. On the site, Alyssa Boresnick has a feature going up about the future of the magazine cover, which you can check out on the ringer.com. Welcome to the Heat Check podcast. I'm your host, John Gonzalez. Join per usual by Isaac Lee holding it down on the turntables. What's going on, Gons? We were just talking.

You had a nice weekend. I had a nice weekend. And then we looked at the calendar and we're like, holy shit, basketball's almost back. Six weeks, man. Training camp is rapidly approaching. Training camp for the NFL already over. NFL season is almost upon us. We have all sorts of NFL coverage on the ringer.com.

We've got Robert Mays with our preseason power rankings. Danny Kelly's got the biggest winners. and losers from the preseason. Plus, do you like podcasts? I think you do. You're listening to this one. We got tons of NFL podcasts. We've got the Ringer NFL show podcast with Mason Clark.

We've got GM Street with Tate and Lombardi. We've got the fantasy show, the Danes show, very clever with the Danys. You want to check out all of that content. They'll be keeping you in your NFL coverage for the entire season. It's going to be very exciting. And as we mentioned, the NBA offseason, funneling to a close. Training camp's going to open in the end of this month. So we've got all kinds of NBA content for you on The Ringer.com.

Danny Chow just broke down the Sun's Rockets trade. Very interesting later on in our show. We're going to break that down with Haley O'Shaughnessy. She's going to be here. And we're going to also run through some of our Are We Sure series, which continues. But first, as I mentioned, NBA training camps coming up in a few weeks. A lot of storylines that I'm interested in, some storylines that our friend is interested in. So we bring in a man we have not talked to.

And frankly, far too long. I've missed his scent. let's get him in here. All right, joining me on the other line. A man, frankly, it's been too long. He was on heat check all the time, and then summer happened, and I was on vacation, and our paths didn't cross, so it's been way too long. Joe House from House of Carves and Shack House triumphant return on heat check.

Long gone, it's been too long, but we're back, baby. We are back. We got a lot of NBA to talk, and I was trying to figure out what you and I should do and we're both excited because we both like the NBA and training camp is about to open in a couple of weeks. So we figured we'd each come up with like three storylines that we're very excited about individually and just like cash it out three storylines as training camp approaches that we're looking forward to. Absolutely positively. Wang Gan, do you realize we are barely six weeks away from the first game, the first regular season game on the NBA schedule?

My head hurts house. Like I love basketball and I'm excited about it, but I'm also kind of Like, really already? It's already happening. But look, this is the thing that we're in a September-October mode. There are two schools of thought. Either you're an April-May kind of sports person or you're a September-October kind of sports person. What's your preference? What do you like?

All the great things on the sports calendar happening right now. And it's great. The resumption. I think mine is clouded by, I feel like we just ran a marathon and like we haven't full recovered yet because the finals wrapped in June when we had July and August, now we're in the very beginning parts of September and we're already talking about basketball being back. And it's hard for my brain to process it that it's here already. I get it.

I'm still riding the high. I'm waiting for my turn with the Stanley Cup while I'm gone. Believe me, I'm waiting for my K Street, Triumphant walk down the street with the Stanley Cup. I'm waiting for the caps to call me up. You've got to enjoy that. You've got to ride it out as long as it'll last. as we speak house, I'm wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat. So I'm going to ride that out as long as I possibly can.

These types of things don't happen that often for you and I for D.C. in Philadelphia. I'm telling you. I thought we might have something hot going with baseball, but both of our teams made a mess in the pants in the last few weeks. So we could just cross that one off. All right. So we've got basketball coming up. Storylines we're excited about. You go first.

You're the guest. I seed the floor to you, my friend. Number three. Okay. Well, I'm going to pick up on one of the. the most recent developments in the association, and that is the Luol Deng Disappearing Act. And so here we are with the Los Angeles Lakers, led in spirit and in title as well, and by, you know, by religion, by magic himself.

There is, it feels like a magic act coming, which is, how are we going to transform? form Luwoldang into a star caliber player, there is this, you know, ongoing narrative as it relates to one LeBron James, who shall he select? And of course, Kauai is the leading contender, but I, that's one of my other, I have that topic sort of slotted off here for another conversation. I very much like this roster of free agents coming up in 2019. It's not just Kauai, Wangan. We've got KD in the mix. He's got an opt-out for himself.

He probably exercises it. He likes the freedom that provides. Clay Thompson, L.A. is in his name, Wangan. And in his blood. His dad is an L.A. guy. He was raised in L.A. And, of course, Jimmy Butler and Kyrie, it's going to be. I don't think Kyrie's going to L.A.,

but any one of those other guys could be there with the LBJ. What do you think? Well, okay, so you're, you're, you're, Your number three here is very interesting in terms of Lakers roster building. Clay said he wants to stay in Golden State forever. Are you buying that or you're just saying now that you think that that might be lip service and he could be pried away? It's the right thing to say for Clay.

He's always conducted himself with the utmost, you know, wisdom and appropriate adult spirit in terms of how he holds himself out and his commitment to his team and so forth. He doesn't engage in very much knucklehead behavior. he does dance a little funny. That dance in China last year was funny. But he said the right, that's exactly what he should say. But, you know, look, things change. They went another title.

That's how many rings on his fingers. I don't know if he's going to go one for the thumb. But, you know, L.A. is in his blood. Who knows? I do think, like, independent of whether it's Clire, they're going to add via trade or they're going to add in free agency, I wrote a piece, that this Los Angeles Lakers roster, currently comprised.

This cast of misfits that they've assembled around LeBron James is not the team that they're going to have in place post-trade deadline. We've seen from LeBron James' teams time and time and time again that they like to tinker, especially when he was in Cleveland. He got very impatient. I can't imagine that he's going to go through an entire season with Lance Stevenson and Rondo and Javelle McGee and, you know, Beasley and like, you know, who knows how long Lonzo and LeVar Ball are going to be around.

It just feels like it's going to be funny for a second And he's going to be fine with it until he's not And then yeah, I'm with you that eventually You know, it looks to me like magic is going to have to move some pieces around And don't forget magic said, hey, if I don't get the stars to come to L.A., I'll resign. Now, he got the biggest star, but that's not the end of the process here. You got to keep going because you've got a lot more you got to do if you're going to contend with the Golden State Warriors.

Word up. All across the board, Wongon, I'm not surprised in the least bit we agree with each other 100%. I like it. So number three on my board, as you know, from the east, spent a lot of my life on the East Coast, lived in Boston for a while,

very interested to see what the Celtics are doing. They were already Eastern Conference contenders last season. I have them at the top of my Eastern Conference rankings right now because they're adding in two All-Stars and Kyrie and Gordered to a team that was already really, really good. I want to see how they phase those guys back in, though. Because it's, on the surface, you look at it and go, oh, my God, they're going to be so good, right? But also getting them minutes means folding some minutes back for some of the other guys. So what does it mean for the J-Team? What, like Jason Tatum, I think, is going to be safe in terms of his minutes load. But what's it mean for Jalen Brown? Probably you got to bring him off the bench. How's he going to take that? This is going to be a Brad Stevens coaching job spectacular. I want to see what's going to happen with the Boston Celtics. Yeah, it hurts me to say this.

For any other team in the league, except for maybe San Antonio, I would think that there's some genuine intrigue around how Boston is going to make this work. Brother Stevens is just too good. I mean, we've just seen him manage people so well over the course of his entire NBA tenure. If there's a singular skill that he has exhibited and demonstrated, he's been able to break through with no knuckle. heads and turn them into assets for the Celtics in terms of trade assets. You know, the Jordan Crawford thing, I'll never get over. The rehabilitation he put on him, you know, what he did in terms of maximizing poor little Isaiah Thomas, but they got the very, very best out of him.

There was almost no rebuild at all in Boston. And here they are sitting with a wealth of riches between the picks that they have and the players that they have. and it hurts my heart to say this, but I think that Brad Stevens is going to figure out a way to make it work. They're good, they're deep, and I can't, in good conscience,

put Toronto ahead of them, although Toronto is right there. So you've got, for me, I've got the Celtics, because all the things that you just said, I mean, like, they're loaded already, and they have so much financial flexibility and draft picks that they could move pieces around the board. So they're in really good shape

if they wanted to somehow add another star, Let's make sure Bill Simmons doesn't listen to me. I know, I hate this. I can't say anything good about the effing Celtics. And I'm going to get a lot of heat from people in Philadelphia, but I got to be objective here. Celtics are really, on paper, they look great. They're loaded.

They're loaded. It's hard to deny. But in that second tier, like after the Celtics, I've got the Raptors and the Sixers on the same line, like 2A and 2B. I think I could see either of those teams giving the Celtics a run for their money, but I still would have to put the Celtics ahead of them. Oh, yeah, you have to.

I mean, the interesting thing to me, the Celtics in 2018-19, the fulcrum player to me is Kyrie. Like what version of Kyrie are we getting? What happened with his knee? Is it fully rehabilitated? And he continues to be a headline item associated with the New York Knicks. So is he thinking about next season and perhaps relocating out? of Bean Town. There is a little bit of intrigue around him, but it may not matter.

It's the maddening thing because of the, you said it, the J team. They're just so deep in Boston that Kyrie might be expendable. And in fact, may be expended. We might see him on the trade deadline. Expend away, Danny Aange. Expend all of them away and ruin your team. That would be wonderful for us. All right, give me your number two.

That's enough Celtics talk. Yeah, that's enough Celtics talk. What we talked about, we hit on them a couple times here already. I'm loving what's happening in Toronto and the campaign that I'm excited for in 2018-19. Keep Kauai in the six. We have Drake with an unprecedented challenge in front of him. They have a pretty damn good team in Toronto. They're deep.

They're young. And they have a guy in the form of Kauai who, if he's healthy and motivated, and motivation has previously not really been an issue with him, but who knows after the weirdness of last season, he's a top, not just a top five player, he's a top three player in the league. He's a genuine two-way guy.

And the combination of Nick Nurse, who gets deserved credit for revamping the offense in Toronto, an offense that put them in the very upper echelon of all the advanced metrics last year, 59 wins and and just what is Drake capable of

do we know whether or not Kauai likes to rap does Kauai like to sing does he have a good voice Nobody knows anything about Kauai he's an enigma he's always been a complete riddle that guy like for being as good

as he is on the floor he is unknown and unknowable off the floor the inscrutable Kauai well let's see if Drake can drag something out of him keeping Kauai in the 6 is the storyline that I'm to relish the entire year.

Because I'm not, we just saw with Paul George, he was persuaded to stay right there in Oklahoma City after showing all of that love and affection for Los Angeles. They couldn't pry him away. Maybe Kauai finds something in the T-Dot that keeps them right there in the six. Yeah, I like this one. I think Messiah Jerry is to be commended for making this move. They're going to be considerably, I like DeMar de Rosen fine. but as you mentioned,

Kauai Leonard is an incredible upgrade at both ends of the floor. And this Toronto team, I think everybody kind of overlooks them because, you know, we go, oh, you know, by the time the playoffs come around, what are they actually going to do? But LeBron is gone now,

and the East is open, and yes, I think they're still behind the Celtics, but who knows by how much, because you did add one of the five best players in the entire NBA to a team that was already really, really good in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Then you've got, I mean,

I think he's going to, fit in seamlessly with Kyle Lowry. I really like Fred Van Fleet and DeLon Wright and some of these younger guys. Plus, they added Danny Green, who's a good defender, can shoot the three ball. I mean, you mentioned Nick Nurse. Fine, fine. I'm, you know, like, I don't think that that's here or there, like head coaching-wise. Like, you move on and you start over with your head coach, but you really, I think, upgrade

your roster big time. Now, the question is how much? And is it enough, like you said, to get Kauai to go, okay, I'm going to stay in Canada. I'm going to stay with this Raps roster. We can do something in the Eastern Conference and then, you know, who knows what happens if and when we make it to the finals. Yeah, that's the underrated aspect of this. Let Kauai get a taste of what it's like to go up and down the East Coast and kick everybody's ass,

you know, being in the Eastern Conference as opposed to the nightly, you know, battles that he encountered because the West has during the entirety of his career been, you know, eight to ten teams deep. And every night it was a battle for the Spurs. Now, he had the benefit of the impeccable Spurs system, you know, as a form of continuity and stability. But I think he might like going out and kicking ass against the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I mean, how could he not? This is going to, look, he's out of San Antonio and all that is behind him.

So we'll see how that goes for him. Well, you and I very much of a like mine as we're doing this podcast. You're in the Eastern Conference. Eastern Conference is on your mind. It's on mine as well. my number two city brotherly love two guys that I want to know if they can shoot

can Ben Simmons and Markle Fultz shoot now. They spent apparently all summer working on their shots there was video of Simmons shooting from various gyms this summer and of course our friend Kevin O'Connor broke down

Ben Simmons' appearance on James Corden where he was shooting with his right hand instead of his left because KOC is a maniac but I want to see if Ben Simmons can shoot And then also, Markell Fultz spent the entire summer with shot doctor, Drew Hanlon, who works with a number of professionals in the NBA, including Jason Tatum, and Joel M. Bede and Bradley Beal and Jordan Clarkson and all these guys. They were working out right here in California and L.A. out by L.A.X. But at the beginning of the summer house, they were letting media, including me, come in and check out Markell Fultz's shooting.

And then towards the end of the summer, you know, then all of a sudden they weren't letting people. people in. So I just wonder, like, maybe his shot is right. Drew Hanlon went and did a podcast where he said, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to fix this kid's shot. He's going to make my career. I hope that's the case, because if Markle Fultz can shoot now, that's exactly the kind of guy that the Philadelphia 76ers need. Well, I'll put it this way. I like that take and this thing to look forward to with this upcoming season quite a bit. I wonder if we, all we need out of both guys is a credible motion. It doesn't mean that they have to come in and bow shoot 55% or 60% from the field.

They just have to have the threat. I mean, we already got a triple double out of Markell Fultz in the, you know, in the 10 games that he played. And Ben Simmons may not need a shot. Like, you know, remember, it took Jason Kidd forever to get a shot. And he was pretty gosh darn effective. I mean, Ben Simmons was unbelievable last year. He had a rookie year that puts him in the top five of all rookies in the history of the association. So the shot, I mean, I'm okay with tapping the brakes.

I'm not in a hurry for him to find a shot. But it will be very interesting, exciting of both of them. All they need is a credible shot. They don't need a great shot for both of them to have that, in a repertoire that both of them possess, you know, a lot of skills in other areas. And I just, more than anything, with Fultz, I'm excited to see him play basketball.

That's what I'm looking forward to with the. Sixers. Even a whiff of a shot from one, I don't even need both. Even a whiff of a shot from one of them would go a long way for this team because as this team is currently comprised, if Fultz can't shoot or can't play and if Simmons can't shoot, this team is still in the Eastern Conference contending mix. They were last year, they will be again. They've got Embed and like you said, Simmons, even without a shot was an amazing player last year. So if they can add one of these guys with a sniff, just a little bit of a shot, then all of a sudden we're on to something.

I'd be really excited. All right, give me your number one. My number one hotline item for the 2018, 2019 season, as we sit here on September the 4th, 2018, is Ernie Grunfeld an emotional genius? And by that, I mean, does he possess a supernatural instinct when it comes to emotional intelligence,

did he know that this upcoming 2019 draft class? Now, I've only seen a little bit of these Duke kids, but I've been online, I've been reading, I'm going to say all the names wrong, Jonathan Gavoni, you know, I never get the names, right? I'm on there checking it out. These Duke kids, what they did up in Canada, it felt like it was the dream team against Senegal all over.

I mean, it was incredible. Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett. And we didn't see, we didn't see Cam Reddish. What these kids appear to be capable of, it feels like this upcoming 2019 draft could be five or six. The top six players might all be franchise cornerstone kids. I mean, I'm already, I know the projections are that R.J. Barrett is probably going to go number one. But Zion Williamson, I just can't overstay.

I gotta pause you for a second. Wait, so are you, the way that you're presenting this, like, are you pro Wizards Tank? Well, this is the thing. This is why my boy Ernie Grunfeld might be a genius because he was badly criticized. He's definitely not. He might be the criticism of the moves that were made

by the almost bullets in the off season, acquiring Dwight Howard, acquiring Austin Rivers, acquiring Jeff Green, the biggest questions have to do with chemistry. Well, how about this? If the chemistry stinks, why not hit the reset button, the eject button, coincident with an all-time cornerstone franchise player draft? Let Zion wins and come on in here to Washington, D.C. We can jettison Dwight Howard.

Who knows if John Wall, I mean, he was 200. 29 pounds at one point this summer. And I was wondering if he was going to try out for the professional football team here in Washington. He looked big. Maybe he's going to play big. And I don't know anything about the chemistry between all these guys. It is by far the most veteran team that John Wall will have ever been in charge of. And there's no question.

There's no debating that Dwight Howard is the best center that John Wall will have played with in his entire basketball career. So who knows? It may be a dismal failure. And if so, plan B is staring us in the face, Wongon. I love this. Before I unveil my number one, last time you and I mentioned John Wall and his size, like he looked thick, right?

So I got, people gave me heat on Twitter for saying that he's, you know, in shape and he's fine. I don't know. Like, am I losing my mind or does he look like he, like if Jordan, If Jordan Reed is injured again for the Washington football team, which he is always injured, like it looks to me like John Walker play tight end. Didn't he look like he was a little big during the summer? I mean, he's capital, all caps, T-H-I-C-C.

That's how the kids say it. Am I right? Long gone thick. He's thick. But he did sign up with a trainer down in Miami that has a great track record. And there was a bunch of agility stuff that you could look up on the YouTube's, and I did. And his agility did not seem to be affected in any way, shape, or form if the purpose of the muscle is to provide him a foundation to help take some of the wear and tear off his knees, I'm all for it. If we're looking at this is the season that we're going to see an adjustment out of jaw wall in terms of, you know, the sort of reckless abandon going to the hole.

And if there is a small diminishment in his speed, but he's going to be a little bit better able to withstand. contact around the basket. I'm okay with it because he's, I don't know if the advanced stats bear this out. My eye test is he doesn't finish as much around the rim as I would personally like. I love that you came up with this one for your number one. We did not discuss this beforehand. In fact, as I mentioned at the top of the show, it's been far too long since you and I talked. We've texted a couple times that you were at Summer League and then I was on vacation. So we didn't get to discuss all these moves for the Washington Wizards. You said during your conversation about your number one,

if the chemistry is bad for the Washington Wizards. My number one is the Washington Wizards tire fire and the certain awful chemistry. I could not wait to talk to you about this because when they signed Dwight Howard and they acquired Austin Rivers, I laughed for a good and long time and thought about my friend and colleague Joe House

and felt bad for you. Because I am really looking, like as a Philadelphia and as a basketball fan, I am really looking forward to seeing what becomes of the Washington Wizards with Dwight Howard in that locker room with Austin Rivers, one of the most hated men in the NBA in that locker room. In their infinite wisdom, we came at this, we ended up at the same point, but we came out it from two different ways.

You're hoping that this ends up in a tank. I'm just looking at it as an LOL situation because in their reason was... I'm not hoping it ends up in a tank. I just think it's a reasonable option to go ahead and pull the plug and tank if a over the first 25 games or 30 games, we don't like what we see. And I think that makes complete sense. And I hadn't even considered that point.

I was just thinking about, oh, this is going to be an absolute tire fire. And like, let's see where it ends up. But yeah, taking it to a logical conclusion, they should go to the extreme. But in their infinite wisdom, they looked at this team and they went, okay, we've got a chemistry problem.

Marlene and John Wall obviously aren't getting along. Let's get rid of Marlene. That part, part A, makes sense. Part B, let's bring in, Dwight Howard, who everywhere he's gone has been an issue with his teammates, and let's bring in Austin Rivers, who not exactly beloved, like, that's where I take my leave and go, what are you doing, Ernie? Like, this is not the way to make your team better.

This is not the way to elevate them out of the Eastern Conference. You barely squeaked into the playoffs last year as the eighth seed, if only because the Detroit Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets and the Knicks were even worse than you. I look at this and go, this is a disaster waiting to happen. I'm with you, Joe House. Let it happen. tank it up, get a good player, and then blow up the rest of the roster. Yeah. So I'm going to do the glass half full version, starting with this proposition,

which is the Wizards committed the Cardinal sin. You cannot do what they've done in this era of National Basketball Association, which is sign the wrong three players to Max's contracts. There's nothing wrong with having, you know, a big three and signing all those guys to Max contracts. They just have to all be all-star players. and what the Wizards have is kind of one and a half all-star players. Beul-made the All-Stars for the first time this most recent season and Otto Porter will probably never be an all-star, although he is beloved by the advanced metrics crew.

He's a very efficient offensive player. But once you start with that Cardinal Sin as the foundation, then what you're doing is trying to find ways to surround those players who are great but not super to elevate that triumvirate. And the best you can do is try and find reclamation projects and guys that are motivated by situation to exceed their past, to beat their past. And I'm mainly talking about Dwight Howard.

It happens to be the case. It happens to be the case while I'm gone. Please name for me the very best point guard, professional point guard, that Dwight Howard has played with in his career. Late era Steve Nash, early era, Jemir Nelson. Yeah, that's it. I mean, that's the list.

I mean, I think it's reasonable to argue that John Wall could be the very best point card that Dwight's ever played with. And Dwight loves a pick and roll, and John Wall's exquisite of the pick and roll. Temba's pretty good, but I'd obviously take John Wall over him. But yeah, I'm with you on all those things. I will say just to your point about like the three guys that they signed him contracts. They were in a tough spot there because I'm no Ernie Grunfeld fan. I can't

I can't believe that he's still running that team after all these years. Emotional genius. How do you not sign John Wall? How do you not sign Bradley Beale? Maybe you don't sign Auto Porter, but what are your other options? So it's like you kind of, you're kind of boxed in in that situation, but I'm with you that.

Well, other GMs have other options. That would be the one that I would take issue with and umbrage with and be, you know, wanting to have more creativity and more flexibility. I like very much out of Porter and he's been, he's nothing but the constant professional, you just can't pay him max

money, that's all. Yeah, I think the other option would be to find another general manager, but the Washington Wizards evidently are, it's like a Supreme Court justice. They installed Ernie Grunfeld and it's his job for life, so Godspeed. Somehow, we ended up doing our top three storylines and both of us ended up on the Wizards as the number one. So that'll never

happen again. Apologies to all the other NBA fans. You've got, you're everywhere. As I say, all the time on this podcast. You've got Shackhouse. You've got House of Carbs. You want to plug anything? Wang God, I don't know. Everything's in flux. We're going to have a Shack House House about the Rutter Cup. We know all the guys are going to be on the Ryder Cup. We're looking very forward to that. And I don't know what I'm hungry for. We're going to see what appears in September on our menu and on our plate on House of Carbs.

All right. Check out Joe House on both of those podcasts. And he'll be MBA is back, which means Joe House back on Heat Check as a regular contributor house. Miss you. Thanks for this. Love you, Wang Gan. Thanks, buddy. All right, homie. All right, so that was Joe House. Before we bring in Haley, a quick word from our sponsors. Today's heat check is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Hiring is challenging, but there's one place you can go where hiring is simple, fast and smart. It's a place where growing businesses connect to qualified candidates. That place is ZipRecruiter.com slash ringer NBA. ZipRecruiter sends your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards. But they don't stop there. With their powerful matching technology, ZipRecruiter scans thousands of resumes

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ZipRecruiter.com slash Ringer MBA. ZipRecruiter, it's the smartest way to hire. Heat Check is also brought to you by Miller Light. I love that we got a booze ad. This is wonderful. It's very on brand for the Heat Check podcast. Look, here at the Ringer, we have our disagreements, but there shouldn't be any debate about this.

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All right, so we have a lot of smart people at the ringer. We have a lot of young people at the ringer. The sweet spot, the intersection of smart and young, is sitting in the studio right now with the wonderful announcement. joining me in the studio, Haley O'Shaughnessy. You want to break the news? You want to tell everybody your new title? Oh my God, don't embarrass me.

This is what? Listen, I'm like a proud parent over here. This is so great. I'm so excited for you. As a resident old to see you coming up and getting your due, you're a brand new staff writer at the ringer. A applause, applause, applause. This is great. Congratulations.

I'm very happy for you. Same with Palau Getty, Palo Esco Blog. Got the title bump as well. And Zach Cram. And Zach Cram. Three of my favorites at the ring are all coming. up. I love to see good things happening to good people. So now you're here. You're an expert. You've always been an expert, but now you're an expert

with a fun title. And so I brought you in because we haven't gotten to discuss. We've discussed it on Slack. We haven't discussed it in person. The Suns and the Rockets made a trade. Very interesting. Ryan Anderson and DeAnthony Melton for Brandon Knight and Marquis Chris. Danny has a piece up on the ringer.com right now saying that it's kind of more than a Ryan Anderson salary dump. And Anderson did reduce his guarantee in 2019. from 21 million to 15.6, which... Can you believe that? It's criminal.

I love Darry. I think he's, for my money, he's, if not the best, than the second best, you know, 1-1-A with Danny Aange, GM in the NBA. Who's one? Who's one A? Toss it out there. I mean, I'm good with either of them. I'm not going to disparage either man. However, what the hell with that contract and amazing that he got out from under it?

He must really love basketball. or Phoenix. I don't know what it is. But maybe he got tired of everyone talking shit about his contract for so long. Also, sorry, my voice is gone. Isaac more vocal fry than usual for me. There's nothing I can do about that.

You know that, right? It's very sultry. It's good for basketball conversation. For Ryan Anderson, I think, like, you know, I don't begrudge him, you know, get your money, man, right? No, that's the thing. Get your money.

Like, what are you doing? Yeah. For years, people have been, like, Like, since the start, they've been like, I think that this might be a bad idea. And now you're like, yeah, I guess I agree with you. Except when your next contract comes around, you're never going to see as kind of money. So why would you ever reduce it? So Woge made this point, and I'm going to credit him for that because, you know, never steal from Woage.

That's good advice for people in the NBA and also young aspiring writers. But he made the point that by reducing his salary, it still kind of works out for him because either he makes the money or he goes into free agency. in 2019 with like the full amount depending on, you know, certain bonuses. So it's not going to be that bad for Ryan Anderson, but I'm with you. I would have probably just been like, just give it to me now. I'm not going to gamble on this. But how do we like this trade in general for the teams? I like it for both teams.

You do? You do? Obviously, probably the biggest storyline is that Houston's been wanting to get Ryan Anderson gone for a very long time. So that's probably the biggest. Can't play defense. No. Albatross in the playoffs.

Yeah. And what made him so appealing is now just not enough. For a team that's a title contender, it's just no longer enough. That's probably biggest for them, not necessarily what they got back, obviously. And then for the Sons, this is exciting. This is, you know, pair him with Areza. It's another veteran that can give them stability among all these young guys. And he's just a sweet spot. And so is Ariza of not inhibiting them, which can be a problem for, you know, young teams that will sign veterans. Like the king's always. come to mind. You know, they just bring it better and to do too much. Like George Hill, that signing was always confusing. You know what I mean? Careful. Danny listens to this podcast.

That's his guy, George Hill. All right, I have many questions about the Suns because I feel like the ringer is very pro-suns right now, very excited about, just like about the young guys. And it'll be interesting to see with McDonough was sort of on the hot seat there. Is this finally going to be a team that's like exciting at least or entertaining? Oh, yeah.

I think exciting for sure. The second this happened, Like if they weren't already my league pass team this year, they are now. They're top of your league pass rankings. We're going to do league pass rankings on this show before the season begins. But they still, and I looked at the roster and double checked it. Still no point guard. And I've been thinking about this.

I think they'll make a trade. They could make a trade. But as somebody who watches the NBA. Who? Me? You and me and Isaac. We all love the NBA here. I'm going to go out on the limb and say that the NBA is a point guard league might need a point guard.

I'm a little nervous about that. Would you run Devin Booker at the point? Is this what you think that they might do? Is this what we're looking at? Do they have to do it by necessity? Yeah, if they have no other option. It could be interesting. It'd be fun, personally.

I don't know if it's in their best interests. Let's see, they have Melton now. Yeah, how do you feel about De Anthony Melton? I think it's, they're all exciting. I can't wait to see all them play. I think that he has a lot of promise. So that'll be fun. Who do they have from the draft now?

They have him, Bridges. eight and Yep. It's a young team. That's so much fun. It's a young team. So I think that honestly, let's say that they don't trade for a point guard, which I think there's probably like 75% chance that they do.

Okay. It'd be fun to see them rotate everyone around. Yeah. I mean, the stakes are still low. No one expects them to come out and like make the playoffs this year. I wonder. Again, though, no, I don't think anybody expects them to make the playoffs. I do, however, wonder what this means for McDonough because there were like a couple of years ago.

Remember, like out of nowhere, the sun's got good. they had two point guards. It was really interesting. Then all of a sudden they added it a third point guard. And then it got messy. And it didn't go very well. And then all of a sudden they created it again. And now they're trying to rebuild it. I wonder if they do go out and make a trade. I wonder if they're just going to go and run the young kids out there. From the Rockets perspective, I thought it was interesting too, that they do get out from Ryan Anderson. And then they bring in Chris, who obviously did not realize his potential, frequently had no idea what he was doing on the basketball court. Or sometimes didn't look like you wanted to figure out what he was doing? Yeah, it was kind of like go over and stand in the corner, okay. I'm like, you're a rim runner and you're like being a rim follower or a sleeper. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there were many times where he just looked completely bizarrely lost.

And then you've got Brandon Knight who has had different points in his career where he looked alternately really good and really terrible. Also coming off an ACL injury, you don't know what you're going to get out of him. I think that it's those two guys could potentially be good or at least in. interesting for the Dan Tony system. You got tall Marquise, Chris, rangy could potentially be a good defensive player if you wanted to be, and Brandon Knight can shoot the three ball. You're adding those complementary pieces that previously that they would need.

They could get into the rotation. I'm not convinced. I think Marquis is more interesting for me because, like you said, we thought he had all this specific potential, especially like shooting the three, which is definitely not materialized in anything. But also what he was supposed to be super good at, He has not yet been great at.

I mean, it's like you have all this incredible athleticism, but it doesn't matter if you have a low motor on the court. I like motor talk. We're pro-motor here at the heat truck. And I question this motor. I was wondering, what happened to his motor clearly needs to be tinkered with? I think that's good on the rocket, so I will say that because he's going to be around a lot of very intense veterans.

Chris Paul is super intense. Mello's very intense. He can be under Capella, who I think is a very good case, that Dan Tony can take these, I mean, Cabell is 6'102. He can take these guys and really, like Danny said in his piece, simplify the game and say this is exactly what you need to do. We're putting you next to these two point cards who are going to set you up. That's your job.

Just please rebound, you know, finish around the room. Do little things, do what we ask you to do, right? Try. To side of the court. Yeah. Try. I could see this going too way. I have no idea what to expect from Brandon Knight because Brandon Knight's career has been a mystery

to me his entire time. But for Marquis Chris, I could see this really going one. of two ways. Either he's like a regular part of the rotation and he like figures out where to go on the court and he tries hard or he is completely vanished and he's stuck on the end of the bench and we don't hear from him again. And that's the end of Marquise Chris and the NBA. Oh, it would be. It totally would be. I also think it's fun that he's going to the Rockets because this he's like was supposed to be a three point shooter or maybe not three point shooter, but was supposed to like bring an option. This is part of his skill set. Well, was supposed to be. I don't know what. Does he have a skill set? I don't... I'm not convinced. But it's cool that he's going to the Rockets,

because if that's going to ever be a thing, it's going to be a thing on the Rock. That could have been yet another item in our continuing R.O.E. Sure series. Are we sure? Markis Chris has a skill set. I'm not sure, but I'll bring that up to Justin Veria, who's the steward of our R.O.Sure series.

Maybe we can fit that in under the wire before the NBA season starts. A short article. It would be a very short. A graph or two. In and out. So we're doing an Rwee's sure series as we run up to the NBA season.

a number of them that you can find on the ringer.com. We're going to run through some of them right now, some of the latest ones that we've posted. One of them by the aforementioned Paolo Esco blog. Are we sure that we've already seen the best of the O'KC Thunder? The basic premise here is, yeah. I mean, are the Thunder done in the Western Conference? What do we think about the Thunder?

Where are you, Haley O'Shaughnessy? The Thunder, very divisive team in Ringerland. I think that there's no question that they're better. I don't know how any... First of all, losing mellow makes you better. Addition by subtraction. Exactly. And plus they added on, so let's see, they have Nerlands, which is interesting.

He's not even high stakes. Like, they don't need him to be something, but that's interesting. I don't know if you know this about me. I hail from Philadelphia. And I have covered one, Nerlands Noel, for some time. And I ran into him last year when the Mavericks were in town. And this was early onset Mavericks pre-Haptime Hot Dog. Before he had been absolutely bad.

I know I'm like talking with my hand. She's, Haley is looking at my hands very suspiciously right now because I'm gesticulating wildly. Luckily, it's a podcast. But I was talking to him and this was early Carlisle before they had really had their falling out and he had been buried on the bench. And he was hopeful that he could, you know, be on a team where his skills, he's, nobody's higher on Nerlands than Nerlands. Which is good. I am, this is a very long way of saying, I am still very high on New Orleans. I have always been of the mindset that he's like a starter kit, Joe Kimnoa, good Joe Knoa, not Nick's Joe Kmnoa.

He doesn't need the ball offensively because he's not very good offensively, but he is a rim runner. All the things that you said about Markey's Chris and his motor and all that stuff, he's a rim runner, he plays excellent defense. He's a really good and underrated passer. I think this is going to be the perfect compliment for a Stephen Adams needs a little blow. You're playing him like 20 minutes a game maybe. This is going to be a very good addition for them, I think. Yeah, I totally agree. And the best part about it is that exactly what you said.

He has to bet on himself. or he's, I don't want to say out of the league, but he's going to be in a bad place because this is on the qualifying offer, right? Yes. Or did they sign him? Listen to me, this is yet another thing to go back to tie it up with the Ryan Anderson, Take your money thing. Take the money, man. That was an all-time gaff.

Somebody, like I said, nobody loves Nerlands more than Nerlands. What was it that we was offered? Let's check this. Was it like 16 a year? Four-year 70 million. Four-year 70 million. So now he's on a two-year, $3.7 million

contract. Anybody offers you $70 million, generally take it. I think that's good advice. But I think for the thunder, I'm kind of torn on them because last year they worry what they were, they had Mello,

they put this three-headed monster together. They didn't, they used him, and for whatever you think about Mello and I'm not a huge Mellow guy, he had a good point in that, like what they asked him to do wasn't his game.

if you're going to invest in Mello, like you're going to get Mello, right? Like the ball goes in, it's ISO, it doesn't come out, he doesn't play defense. They used him basically as a three-point shooter. He shot their second most amount of three-pointers last year because they needed him to after Paul George. And then he hurt them in every other way.

So I think you're probably right that it is addition by subtraction. But I just like look at this team and I don't know where they're going to get. That's not entirely me saying that Melos can't help out a team that's like hunting a title. But you're right, it was mutually. not beneficial. He wasn't doing what he thought he should have been doing and honestly what he does best.

I don't think you should be spotting him up in the corner necessarily. Although at this stage in his career, I'm not really sure what else he offers that would make him a starter, which is exactly why the whole starting and Houston thing is interesting.

But before we stop talking about the Thunder, also they have Dennis Schroeder. I'm so glad you brought this up. He's now the best backup point guard in the league. Mini Russell Westbrook. He checks for dates. he might even end up being, Isaac and I are going to have to come up with like an all-heed-check team for the heat-check podcast.

But this is a great point. What do we think Dennis Schrooter looks like playing understudy to Russell Westbrook? Do you mean like... And can he? Like at what point does he like decide that he should start over Russell Westbrook? He loves himself some Dennis Schrooter. He's probably already decided that, but we've seen that before with Dion, right? What did he write on his shoes that one time?

Like starter or potential starter or future starter or something? Yeah, no, I think it'll be fine. I think it'll be really great, actually, on the court. It'll be interesting to see between him, Nerlands, Russ. I'm trying to think about if there's another attitude guy on that team. You know, like, who choose out who on the court first. It'd be really fun if it was Schroeder first, losing his shit on somebody. That would be funny, but I think it'll probably be Russ on somebody.

Russ is also supposed to be, like, he convinced Paul George to stay. He's probably like a super great teammate. Stephen Adams fights the death for him on social media, Ennis Cantor still does. Russ is an underrated team. Before we move on, I'm fine with, I'm fine with Russ. I like watching him. I don't know if I'd want to play with him just because it's like all Russ all the time.

I've got the rhythm inside me. I'm not terrible. I'm half Cuban and half Italian, so like that's like automatic. Real quick. Last year, the Thunder had 48 wins. Middle of the pack in the Western Conference playoff picture, obviously bounced by the jazz and an uncerramed. in the playoffs, better or worse than last year at 48 wins.

48 wins actually. I still can't believe that they actually got that far. I keep them the same. You're going to get 48 again? No, I would. It's a tougher Western Conference, but they're also a better team. A tougher Western Conference, better team I'm going to take the under. All right.

Next one here for our Are We Sure series. This one was written by Jonathan Charks. Are we sure the Bucks aren't a finals contender this year? This one is pretty much based on the premise that the Eastern Conference is garbage, hot trash. Don't disagree with that. What do we think about the Milwaukee Bucks potentially as a Eastern Conference

playoff contender? I'm really excited about Boodenholzer and what he can do with the roster and the supporting cast that no one's been able to do so far because they have a lot of potential and honestly like Janus is... A monster? Like he's giving you enough. You know what I mean?

He's not asking you to do anything crazy. He's like, I'll do everything. I'll lead the team in points, rebounds, blocks. Not a sis, but close. He's amazing. I mean, he's a do everything except for shoot three-pointers. And who knows? Maybe he'll come back with that.

Maybe he will. Janus is one of my favorite players to watch. We're definitely pro-Yannis here at the Heat Check podcast. I look at the rest of the team, though, and I wonder if they have enough because when they got Eric Bledsoe, I was like, oh, this is good. He plays defense. He can shoot the three ball. He can get to the rack.

He doesn't need to be the main focus. He got out of Phoenix where he didn't want to be. I thought it was going to be really positive. it didn't work out the way that I thought it would work out. Malcolm Brogden is fine. Chris Middleton is their second best player. I believe in him. Yeah, I like Chris Middleton.

But then... I'm with Chris. But if Chris Middleton is your second best player, what do you really have? And this is not to disparage Chris Middleton. This is a star-driven league where we're talking about super team stacking and like five all-stars in Golden State. We've got the Boston Celtics budding juggernaut. And of course, I don't know if you know this.

I'm from Philadelphia. The Philadelphia's 76ers are ascendant. I just wonder, like, can you be an Eastern conference, even in the weekend Eastern Conference, can you be a championship contender when Chris Middleton's your second best guy? First of all, shots fired. Too much? When you were saying that, I just logged on a Twitter and added him and said, That's okay.

Chris Middleton, come on the heat check podcast, and you can yell on me. I like Chris Middleton. I think that, okay, not this year, but I wouldn't underestimate the coach who took the Atlanta Hawks 60 wins without a superstar. Yeah, and that was a sum of its parts team. That was a really good team. I just think that they had more parts to have a sum of. Sure.

This is fewer parts and a lower sum. Sure, but they've Janus. They do have Janus, which skews the average. He equals like three very, very, very good role players. Right now. If you divide them up. Right now, as I look at this, I've got them fifth of the Easter conference behind in order. the Celtics, Raptors, and Sixers, I have kind of in the same tier, but I have the Celtics first and the Raptors and Sixers, then the Pacers, then the Bucs.

Okay. I think they're going to be fine. I don't think that they're going to win the Eastern Conference. I think that even Yonis is going to need more. That's fine. Maybe not this year. Maybe not this year. Are we sure series continues with, this one actually, this is from Kendrick really made me laugh.

Are we sure that the Southeast Division shouldn't be called the South Least Division? Heyo, he really nailed that one. I really like this. The Southeast Division, not good, Haley O'Shaughnessy. Not great. Not great. Is this the worst part of the NBA in general? You've got the heat, the wizards, the hornets, the magic, and the hawks.

The wizards could be good. I think the wizards will be better. They've got Dwight Howard now. I'm so into that. So we already had Joe House on the podcast, and of course I busted. I said I'm so into that. I busted his chops about that. How are you into Dwighton?

Howard? Because that's all they've needed to take the next step the last like three seasons and health. Are you doing this like, are you making fun of me right now? No, I'm genuinely. No, I'm not saying specifically Dwight Howard. I'm saying they needed to get Gortat. Out of there. Yeah.

So here's my thing though. All right. So you've got. And is their weakness. You have this, this group of people who clearly did not get along in John Wall and Bradley Beal and Marcyne Gortat, right? And especially Gortat. Gortot and Wall butted heads quite a bit.

Right. I don't think Gortat and Brad were friends. Gortat and Brad were team not John Wall when John Wall was out for a little bit. Team share the ball. Yeah, and then like... Team everyone eats. Yeah, everyone eats. Exactly.

It was that period. And then so Gortot and Wall, butted heads. They get rid of Gortot. And their answer to this roster strife after clearing out one part is to bring in Dwight Howard? See, I think it brings everyone together when you all... can direct your own petty hate to one person. Haley, I'm maybe your biggest fan here at the ringer. I'm going to save this and we're going to play it later.

Like, not even later in the season. It's going to be like three weeks into the season and Dwight's going to do something stupid and I'm going to have you back on the podcast. We're just going to rerun this whole thing for you to defend. This is what I'm going to say. This is what I'm going to say. Yes, tell me. For the situation they've got themselves in where they cannot afford to pay anyone,

but they had to improve upon Gortat. If you look at what Dwight, I mean, Dwight is still extremely, extremely capable. Is he? Yes. What are you talking about? I'm way out on Dwight Howard. I'm out on him as a teammate.

Yeah, but he, I mean, like, did you see that he said that he wanted to be, what did he say, Isaac, a younger version of, no, it was Anthony Davis. It was Anthony Davis, who's younger than him. And he's like, I'm going to shoot three. No, you're not. You're not going to do any of those things. You're Dwight Howard. You were totally looking at this. You were looking at this the wrong way.

Everyone's like, oh my God, I can't believe the Wizards did this. This is going to be a mess, whatever. Maybe. Yeah, probably. But what are there other options? This is such an upgrade from Gortai. I cannot believe that people are just like... This is hilarious.

It can't work chemistry-wise. And it definitely can't work in him, like, revamping his game. He is Steve Bouchemi in the meme, like, hello fellow kids. He's not going to teach himself new shit. Wouldn't you take the chance, though? No. You wouldn't take the chance? On Dwight Howard.

What are other options? Not Dwight Howard. Yon Mahemi. I don't know. Are you serious? I would honestly rather have Yon Mahemami. him me as your guy than Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard is a career team killer.

Everywhere he's been. They got a man who is capable of elite rebounding. I did not mean, I can't believe we, I don't generally do hot take corner. Like, in fact, on the last podcast I did, I was like railing against doing hot takes. And yet this has gotten spicy. I did not anticipate this. I just think that people, it's not, I'm not saying that people are, are overreacting upon him being a bad teammate. That's not what I'm saying.

saying that they don't have any other options. Who else are they going to pay and has his talent? Two years, 10 million. Yeah, well, that's another Ernie Groundfeld really screwed up. They have to take this risk because otherwise they're going to stay

in the exact same place, even in the East. Yeah, I mean, they're not going anywhere. They're not going to be... Period, but they're definitely not going anywhere with Dwight Howard. All right, let's... We've got to figure out, like, a little bet between you and I here.

So they had 43... They had 43 wins last season. You are clearly pro-wisards and clearly pro-Dway Howard. I just think that this is not as bad an idea as everyone says it because they've truly locked themselves into a corner. Where do you think they finish this? Better or worse than 43 wins?

Obviously, you're going over. Let's see. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. You got to pick a stand here for me on the Wizards. Are they going to win around? Yes. They're going to win around.

Yes. They will finally advance. I'm going to say implosion. Yeah, I don't know if they're going to last that long. You're going to have to chop all this out. You can't have yay. They're going to win around and no, they're not going to make it that long. You've got to pick aside.

Remember also that they have Austin Rivers on their team. And they have Austin Rivers. This is a great point by Isaac. Austin Rivers and Dwight Howard. I'm going to say no playoffs for the Wizards this year. Really? No playoffs. Impossible.

You can't have those two. All right. You're going to say they're going to make the playoffs. Look at the Eastern Conference right now. I know, and that's how much I don't like Austin Rivers and Joy Howard. I think I just became the host of this podcast. I think you did. You get to host the podcast in perpetuity if they make the playoffs.

Mark that down and talk to the bosses about it. All right, last one for us on our continuing Are We Sure series. This one is by one. Staff writer, Haley O'Shaughnessy, are we sure that the NBA has not passed Pat Riley by? Talk about shots fired. That's the thing. The title might say that. But in the end, I said that he has an extremely long leash.

I think that he'll get a chance to shake this up even after all these contracts expire if it comes to that. But it's just he's in a bad spot. You know, if you look at the time in between when he started in 95, drafted Dway, got Jack, got LeBron. Basically, he still has time from moving on to LeBron to the next big thing. It's just that he's really locked himself into a bad spot and didn't do anything this summer. That's the most damning thing is that if he, because last year he missed out on Gordon Hayward, freaked out. Yeah.

You know, oversigned a bunch of these guys. And now he's saying, okay, I want this team to grow naturally and organically. And maybe that's just in the meantime

a tryout to see who could be the best role players for a championship team and then he decides who to trade and who to deal. But there's just no one

on this team. He keeps comparing it to the Warriors. He's like, the Warriors grew this thing from the ground up. Who on the team is going to become

even Clay Thompson? Well, I was going to say, yeah, forget about Steph, who's your clay, who's your Draymond, you don't really have anybody. I will say that their roster, and because of the conference, because we've continually disparaged, they're good enough to be problematic for other teams. Like, I see the heat being exactly what the heat have been in the last couple of seasons. Oh, it's very fun in the series. They're just good enough to be a pain in your ass. They're just good enough to potentially play spoiler.

They're not good enough to win the conference. They're not good enough to challenge for, like, real, you know, top-tier conference superiors. Right, and they weren't last year, and it was very clear. And if, I mean, even before the playoffs, and honestly, the year before it was very clear. And so any normal summer, you'd expect Pat Riley to be this guy who's in the running for, you know, obviously it couldn't be a big free agent because he didn't have room, but, you know, for some kind of huge trade deal. And the team he was battling against the most all summer was a team in China for Dwayne Wade. Yeah, they've got some, I mean, they've got some nice people.

pieces, but they don't have any great pieces. They really do have good pieces. BAM is exciting. I like Goran. Bam is fine. Justice Winslow, they need to take the next step. I've always been a Josh Richardson guy. When you're paying Hassan Whiteside $25 million, that's a major, major problem.

And I wrote about Hassan Whiteside extensively last year, not just during the season where I said, like, the Miami heater kind of stuck in that, like, middle of the pack in the NBA where you don't want to be because of Hassan Whiteside. When we got to the playoffs, what happened? Couldn't play them. Can't play Hassan Whiteside. You're most expensive...

Can't play Canter. Your most expensive player because he, you know, defensively was getting exposed when they were dragging him out to the perimeter. And he couldn't do anything but like lock himself into the paint, which is not the kind of guy that you need in the playoffs. And he really, really hurt them.

So I just wonder if they could find... They've been trying to find a taker for Hassan Whiteside since they signed him. So I wonder what happens next. See, that's the thing though, is that... Whiteside is a Riley guy. Yeah. So are they?

I mean, no, they definitely are trying to work it out. No, well, when you're, when you're paying him that kind of money, of course, he's your guy. But yeah, I think that they try to get off of that contract and a heartbeat. And that's definitely like, that would definitely help them too. So we'll see what happens with Pat Riley and the Miami Heat this season. Maybe it's passed by. Maybe it hasn't. NBA hasn't passed Haley O'Shaughnessy by.

She's here for a long time now, gang. She's a staff writer. She's not going anywhere. She did really great. We want to encourage you to read all of Haley's stuff on the ringer.com. Read all of our NBA coverage. Make sure you read all of your. our NFL coverage. Check out the NFL show with Mays and Clark. You want to check out GM Street and

Danesie Football. I want to say thank you to Joe House for appearing on the program. It's been far too long. Thank you to Haley O'Shaughnessy. Thank you to Isaac Lee. Heat Check will be back soon. Thanks for listening. Bye.