The Ringer NBA Show - Zion’s Injury, Buddy Gets Paid, and Way-Too-Early Playoffs Predictions | Heat Check

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

The NBA-China story drags on, Zion Williamson’s injury delays his much-anticipated debut, and Buddy Hield reaches an extension with the Sacramento Kings (3:37). Then: Which teams will actually make the playoffs (18:06)? Host: John Gonzalez Guests: Dan Devine, Haley O’Shaughnessy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer NBA show is presented by State Farm. The moment we've all been waiting for is about to arrive the official start of the NBA season. This offseason was filled with a lot of big changes in fresh starts. For the fresh starts in your life, talk to a State Farm agent. So when it comes to insurance, you don't have to go it alone. All kinds of fresh starts all over the NBA. Isaac wanted me to mention the one right here in Los Angeles. You got Kauai Leonard and eventually Paul George.

And they got high hopes. And I hope it works out for him. And for the Clippers, it would make my life a lot. lot easier here. Domestic Bliss gang. Talk to a State Farm agent today about combining your home and auto insurance and get a teammate who can help you prepare for the big changes in your life, State Farm. Today's show is also brought to you by Mountain Dew. This NBA season, Mountain Dew is all about the threes, the shot that's changing the game. With the season starting tomorrow, do you think Houston will shoot the most threes again this season? Yeah, I think there's a good

bet. They've been consistently doing that over the last couple of seasons, and they're going to continue to evolve beyond the arc. Don't forget, heat check brought to you by Mountain Dew, the official beverage of the NBA, do the do, and now heat check. Welcome to Heat Check. I'm your host John Gonzalez, joined as I am every week by my producer, Isaac Lee. Isaac, basketball tomorrow. Tomorrow. It's all happening. How excited are you? I'm very excited. I'm excited to watch my Los Angeles Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night. Hopefully something like 121 to 86. You know, one can hope. A big season for Isaac Lee and the Clippers, a big season for us here at the Ringer NBA show, Heat Check podcast. We want to thank all of you guys for listening. A reminder to please

rate and review us. And don't forget about all the great NBA content on the ringer.com. We had Dan on the players who aren't superstars and what it takes to stick around and have long careers. It was Dan's first ever long-form feature gang. He crushed it. I highly recommend you reading that. You should also read Haley's story about Steve Clifford saying he wants the magic to quote, look more like the magic. Historically, that feels like a bad idea to me, but the story is really good. I recommend it. KOC's Power Ranking Series continues with teams on the brink.

Check that out. And I wrote about the latest escalations between China and the NBA. And also, you do not want to miss NBA preview Paloosa. That's going to be streaming all day on Tuesday on the ringer's Twitter account leading up to tip off with the Pelicans and the Raptors. Coming up later in the show, we'll run through our predictions for the Eastern and Western conferences, the playoff. playoffs and the finals. Not a single game has been played yet, but we're clairvoyant. We're going to

tell you how it's all going to play out. But first, let's go to our new regular contributors who will be with us each and every week, Dan and Haley. Boom, Shakalaka. He's heating up. All right, joining me. One is in the studio. One is way across the country in our NYC HQ. Once again, it is heat check coast to coast with our regulars, Haley. And Dan, hi, gang. Hello. Hello. The NBA season is upon us. It starts tomorrow. We are very excited.

We're going to run through our Eastern and Western Conference standings, rankings, however you want to call them. We're going to make our playoff predictions, our finals predictions. But first, we begin as we do every week with headlines and our NBA instant replay. All right. I just wrote about this again, guys, because apparently this is no longer a basketball podcast. This is a geopolitical podcast. This is where everybody comes for all their hot international news.

Basically, we're the new Pod Save the World. Shouts to those guys. the NBA in China, you two, are back at each other's necks. So we had LeBron's comments last week and then updating it more recently. Adam Silver won on the Time 100 Health Panel and said that the Chinese government asked the NBA to fire Daryl Morey. He said there was no chance in that. And then the Chinese government clapped back and said, are the kids still saying clap back? Yes.

Fantastic. The Chinese government clapped back and said that Adam Silver had fabricated lies out of nothing. and that he would receive retribution sooner than later. Not going great. No, it sounds like, again, there's really no good way forward for the NBA here. Every time somebody feels like they have to talk about this or winds up talking about it, it winds up extending the story and inflaming things more. I'm sure that everybody involved would like the answer to just be, everybody, be quiet and just let the season start,

but it doesn't seem like there's any real chance of that happening. So that's interesting. And Haley, Adam Silver's sort of, like very optimistically, it was like, we all need to go on with our lives and it's back to basketball, right? And he was like telling TMZ sports, don't forget, the NBA season starts on Tuesday. I think he desperately wants this issue to go away. Feels naive to me. Right. And at the same time, he said the financial consequences have been and may continue to be fairly dramatic. Yeah. I mean, that's not very optimistic. No, and it shouldn't be. I mean, he also was asked, you know, will the NBA return

to China next year? And he said it was unclear. He said, we need to reset with the Chinese government and everybody has to establish the rules of the road going forward. I don't know how they do that because just in Hong Kong on Sunday, the police had tried to ban protesters from taking to the streets again. Didn't work. Massive March. A bunch of protesters in Hong Kong were wearing masks in defiance of an ordinance that was supposed to ban masks in public gatherings. So this thing is like really flared up in Hong Kong. And then here in the States, just on Friday at a game in Brooklyn, a bunch of people showed up at a Nets game. in the stands wearing masks and shirts that said stand with Hong Kong. And so naturally, a bunch of players got asked about it afterwards, including

Kyrie Irving, who had this like word soup response. And I just see this like this cycle occurring where if you want to disrupt an NBA game, it's going to be pretty easy for you just to like show up at an NBA game, wearing a stand with Hong Kong, chant. And then all of a sudden what's going to happen? People like us are going to go to the players and say, hey, what do you think about this issue? Right. And as far as this dying down by it's on its own, that seems very unlikely. I mean, this isn't a beef between two teams or even two leagues. This is a matter of a political stronghold. So in that sense, you're not going to have someone an entire country, entire government say, hey, like we're going to let this go. This is a matter of dominance and showing that they're not going to back down.

Dan, what did you make of Kyrie's response? What did you think? I mean, we didn't get to talk about LeBron last week, but LeBron came in hot from China, took the very first opportunity to throw Darry under the bus, later tried to walk it back. And then on top of that, said, and I asked him this question of practice,

and he gave a good answer. Like in the day after he went after Darry, to his credit, he did address the issue again. But at the end, he said, this is the last talk he's talking about it. We're not politicians. And in my head, I was like, yeah, good luck with that. This is like Adam Silver saying,

oh, we're all going to get back to basketball. I don't think so. Yeah, how I feel about Kyrie's talking is, generally speaking, I think he says, whenever I listen to him, it sounds like, all right, yeah, he's saying a lot. He's giving these amazing multi-paragraph answers, and there's a ton here, and then you go back and look at it, and you're like, I have no idea what was said in there. So his starting point for the Hong Kong and China discussion was, quote, I don't know

whose notes or who is in there that you can't really depend on to keep a conversation like that in house, especially when it is about the NBA brand and the NBA players being impacted by it. I stand for four things, man, inner peace, freedom, equality, and world peace. So if that is being conflicted inside of me, I'm definitely going to have something to say, and I left it in that room. And I feel like I got left in that room or locked away in a room inside my nightmare in the back of my brain, and I don't really know what happened. So I think it is cool to stand for inner peace, freedom, equality, and world.

peace. Maybe that's what I take away from Kyrie and say, all right, great. We'll keep on focusing on those issues moving forward. And the general idea of like, and I think this is going to be a common theme that we hear, there are enough domestic issues for players to talk about without necessarily feeling that they are compelled to speak about international ones that don't directly impact their lives or that they don't have a whole lot of one-to-one experience with. I think that's a note you're going to hear from a lot of players as we move forward because everybody's looking for kind of a safe landing spot to where they feel comfortable with what they're about to say. Kyrie Irving can take an elliptical way to get there, but I think that idea is probably one you're going to hear repeated from a lot of players.

This is, I believe, after talking to people in the league office, sort of the nightmare scenario for them where, like I said, it's sort of cyclical where something happens with Hong Kong and China. There's, you know, all of a sudden protesters in the stands. Boom, the players get asked about it, rinse and repeat, and on we continue. And it's a problem specifically for the league because the league doesn't really have a uniform objection policy. it's largely led up to individual arenas and teams. And we saw nobody get ejected in Brooklyn for the Nets game, but previously there were fans ejected for pretty much the same action in Philadelphia. And that brings me to our next headline.

The NBA recently enacted a new zero-tolerance fan conduct policy for abusive and denigrating behavior. I'm going to read a quote here from Jerome Pickett, the NBA's executive vice president and chief security officer. He said, we've added any sexist language or LGBB. BTQ language, any denigrating language in that way, anything that is non-basket related. That's an interesting clause, right? It's pretty open to interpretation. So things like your mother comments, talking about your family, talking about test scores, anything non-basket

related. He said twice. We've added that in as well as being something that we will go and pull a fan out of the seat and investigate what happened. Kind of reminds me of famously, I'm sure every, every he check listener remembers Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's off-quoted remarks on obscenity. I know it when I see it. But it is very much left open to interpretation. I wonder if they'll try to slap this on to the Hong Kong things as well. I think on the whole, this is good because last year we saw what happened with Boogie and Russ, where fans had said something that was at the very least derogatory and probably racist and left in the games.

So I think this is a good start, but I wonder how it'll be applied. This is necessary for how fans interact with players. Obviously, we saw last year. And in the years before that, it just got more attention last year, that it's gotten out of hand. And that it can't just be a situation where a fan can say whatever. whatever they want to a player. And, I mean, literally, like, it's a zoo and the player can't say anything back. That's completely unfair.

As far as it affecting the inner stadium, inner arena, Chinese protest, I think that's going to be completely up to the team. Unless it gets to a point where the league decides that they need to have some overarching policy for all of the arenas. But I do think it's interesting that nobody got kicked out of the Nets one, especially considering what the new owner's stance was on it. Yeah, I think you're right, Gons, to point to that. like maybe this is something that the NBA uses to more broadly look at it and say,

instead of putting out a firm policy that everybody's got to adhere to, we can fit stuff into this. We can say, you know, if the Hong Kong speech goes beyond a certain line that our arena employees deem unacceptable, then we can get it in under this sort of broader policy. But it's funny to think about this issue being so top of mind so paramount right now. It makes you forget a little bit just how big the regular garden vera. Cursing from the stands at players kind of comments were how big an issue that was last season. And our friend, our colleague Tyler Tynes, wrote about this last season of sort of a big feature

about how players feel in that fishbowl, in that sort of, you know, where the product and there's people that are screaming out of the seats. It's such a tricky issue to navigate. And I think the NBA wants to be able to give arena employees and, you know, individual fan bases and individual teams the opportunity to legislate that themselves. But at a certain point, you have to have a, like, top-down answer for it. it seems like a step in the right direction, whether it meaningfully changes things in terms of what fans are saying game by game and what players are hearing and then what fans are able to express

in terms of political speech, I think that very much remains to be seen. Something that we will continue to monitor because that's where you come for all your hot international takes here at Heechak. Let's talk a little bit about basketball or rather people who won't be playing basketball. No Zion to start the season out for an indetermined period, which really sucks, number one. And number two, I have mentioned this before. Zion is a gigantic man. He's hyper athletic.

I feel like he's almost as wide as he is tall. How much of this are we laying at the feet of maybe Zion isn't in the best shape? Or maybe he's playing at a weight that might be a touch too heavy? I think that's a real concern that people have had. You know, nobody really wants to say it because what we're watching when he's out there is so much fun to pay attention to and to sort of extrapolate out. but 6-6-285 thereabouts, like that is, the dimensions are wild for repeated pounding on wood over and over again at warp speed. We don't want to see that, you know, what that could wind up being over the long term.

But before we get too far afield and start saying, well, he's going to break down, he's never going to play 50 games or whatever, I think, you know, we hope certainly this is a shorter term thing, but it's a real cause for concern. And, you know, it's why people had said maybe he needs to get down to a lighter way to be able to sustain the pounding of the pros, especially in 82 games. schedule, and it looks like even from the starting point, he's not going to be able to get anywhere near 82 games off the rip. Haley, I really wanted to watch him play basketball because he was so fun in the preseason. You will. It'll come. I have to wait, though. I think if anything, they're being

very cautious, which they absolutely should be. Yeah, that's true. I mean, it's my problem is I want my dessert now. And, like, I get it. Like, the Pelicans want to wait and we got to have our vegetables and, like, they're thinking long term here about the health of the player. And they should, and that's great. And they also have a very scarring history of their super who's supposed to save the franchise getting injured. This is a good point. You bring up a good point and we should all be patient, but I don't want to be patient because that's basketball starting now. And like, I want it all immediately. And then it'll be, you know, January and I'll be like, oh, there's so much basketball.

I'm just going to say, you know who else doesn't want to be patient as the people at Turner Sports and TNT that are looking forward. They put Zion on opening night against the Toronto Raptors in the league office. And it's not just the TV networks, but they wanted to have him. him as the showcase thing, the first big game on opening night. The Raptors get their rings, the banner gets raised, and then Zion Williamson gets unfolded into the world, and you're going to have a little bit of delayed gratification for that. So I think everybody's going to be pretty bummed out about that, except I would imagine the Toronto Raptors.

Right. Sad trombone for everybody, but the Raptors, sad trombone, by the way, for Dionne Waiters, our guy, Dion Waiters, already up to Dion Waders things. We haven't even gotten to Game 1 yet. He won't get to Game 1 because he was suspended for the season opener for conduct, detrimental, which will be the name of my autobiography and his. I love Dionne Waiters. Every time I talk about Deon Waiters, I feel like I'm saying he's not long for the team that he's on. I'm very excited for him to interact with Jimmy Butler.

Do we think that he and Jimmy Butler will get along thick of thieves, or do we think that they'll be at each other's throats? Because I could see it going either way here. Fight or friends. Fos, because ultimately Dionne Waiters, the ratio of like detrimental to productivity for any team game, well, I don't want to say game, but stretch is like three to one. And if you are the reason that your team is losing games, if you are causing problems, Jimmy's going to have your neck. Yeah, I'm excited for this. I hope it plays out. I hope he doesn't

get traded. I hope he stays there because drama in Miami, which Jimmy Butler would be wonderful. Last one before we get to our standings here, gang. So as we saw last week, Bradley, Beale got paid. Pascal Seacum just got a max extension. He got paid. And as we're recording this, breaking news, Isaac Lee, do we have a breaking news sounder? The Sacramento Kings and Buddy Heald, who had been at odds, have agreed according to various reports, including one Adrian Wojernowski, to a four-year, $94 million contract extension with bonuses that could reach $106 million. How do we feel about this, gang? It's good for the Kings. I think it's good for Buddy Heald.

It's good for Sacramento because we weren't sure if Buddy Heel was going to end up getting shipped out of town. And we heard from our friends in Sacramento who were very angry at my characterization last week about it being the Cleveland of California. but now look at this. All's good. It sounds like this actually kind of serves both sides because the initial reporting on the deal is 86 million in base salary, reachable bonuses that get to 94 million, and then other bonuses that are tougher to reach that could get to 106. So the original idea was the Kings were offering somewhere around 90, Heald wanted somewhere around 110.

It seems like they maybe found a solution that works for everybody. And like if Buddy Heald plays well enough to get to those. bonuses, I'm sure the Sacramento Kings won't mind paying them. I think this is about as smart and sharp, well put together a deal as you could have hoped for in the situation. I think this is wonderful. I think if you're the Sacramento Kings, you need to lock down what you have that is good right now and worry about the future when the future comes. Because you can't plan for, I mean, you can and you you should plan for paying Fox, but you've already messed up by paying Harrison Barnes. Lockdown, buddy healed now, try to fix that situation later. And also an interesting thing about this is that

there are fewer and fewer teams that are tanking now and that can take on a contract down. And that's something that we'll probably be talking about more at the trade deadline. But teams are competing now more than they have been in the last two years. I think that the Kings had to do this. They had to hold on to them. Take that young core, build on what you had from last year, the momentum when you're starting to get this team moving a little bit and rising in the Western Conference rankings. And who knows where they'll end up this season. but this is a good development for them. They might even, who knows, we might get crazy,

they might end up in our Western Conference playoff picture when we get to that later on. But first, let's do our playoff predictions, our standing predictions, start with the Eastern Conference. We're going to go through all eight teams in each conference that we think are going to make the playoffs. We're going to go eight to one and just go through it.

Now, when Haley came in, Dan, this morning for the show, we're doing our show prep, waiting for your beautiful, handsome face to pop up on Isaac's computer screen here. She said to me that her rankings are very controversial, controversial. And I'm excited about this. I'm excited for her to throw heat right off the bat. Haley, you start with team number eight in the Eastern Conference that you think will make the playoffs this season. The Atlanta Hawks. Wow. I love it. That would be an accelerated timeline.

Give us the pitch. I think that they are going to be the team that unexpectedly makes the jump this season. They have so many young guys. I think that everyone thinks that their timeline is maybe a year off, two years off from making the playoffs. I absolutely do not. I think that we've ignored their potential growth this off season because of all the other teams that have changed up, guess what? They're in the East. If they have a chance to do this, they're absolutely going to do it. And it's over the magic. And I absolutely think that they can be a more exciting team than the magic, especially on offense. You just wrote about the magic and how Steve Clifford said he wants the magic to look more like the magic, which made all of our heads, cooked all of our noodles. I think that the magic

they really last year clearly very much wanted to make the playoffs. That was a big, deal for the franchise. It was a big deal for the city, a big deal for the fan base. They pushed forward rather than trading Nick Vujavich. He's back. They put sort of, you know, Mobamba got hurt, but they very much emphasized like playing their vets and like bringing Jonathan Isaac along a little slower than I think people expected. This year, they're wanting more from him. But you've got them on the out for their, uh, the ringer, hipster team. Which I feel terrible of destiny. I know, I feel terrible because Vooch was an all-star. Really not much has changed. So I think the only thing that's changed is that I think there's another team that could be better than

them. So it really has nothing to do with the magic. I'm really sorry to all of Orlando. The Hawks are going to be fun. I hope that happens. Dan Devine, who do you have in the eight slot? The Chicago Bulls. I think the idea of upgrading from a real negative at point guard and Chris Dunn to Thomas Satteransky, who is not like great shakes by any account, but, you know, he's a professional point guard about whom Haley O'Shaughnessy has written a wonderful profile last season. You should go check that out. I think that's sort of steadies things for them. Thad Young in the front court, same kind of deal. I love the idea of Zach Levine sort of being able to be free to just go score. Markinen and Wendell Carter being healthy.

I think there's a lot of talent there that's interesting auto-porter ties things together. I think they're going to be good, at least good enough to crack into that top eight, maybe a little earlier than we expected. So I like that pick. I was staring at this for a long time. I'm going to bring in Isaac Lee here. Isaac Lee, as he checks resident NBA rules committee expert, do we have to have eight teams make the playoff? because I was staring at it. And the Eastern Conference is not very good. Yeah, not very good.

If we can condense it, that would be great. If we can go 1 through 16, that would be awesome. But they're still going with 18s. We have to pick 18s? Yeah, we kind of have to abide by the NBA's rules because there's only one NBA and we cover it. Okay, so I had a tie here between the Magic and the Bulls for that last spot to get in.

Isaac, you pick for me. Which one gets in? Since Dan already said the Bulls, let's go with the Magic. Also, the Magic made the playoffs last year, so I can't see them. falling out, they didn't get worse. Yeah, that's true. They didn't get worse, but also they're not good.

I don't think that they're good by, like, and I say this because I know Kevin Clark loyal, he checked listener, and it will anger him, also an Orlando Magic fan. I don't know that they're good yet. Like, I know everybody wants the magic to be the team that takes this next step. I still look at them and go, shmah, I'm shoulder shrugging. It's not a team that I'm going to be super excited to watch, but I want nice things for Orlando. And also Isaac picked for me.

So, fine, the magic get in at eight. Haley, team number seven. The heat. Yeah. Jimmy Butler's heat. Dion Waders is heat. I like it. I think Jimmy Butler is going to be a usage monster this year.

Absolutely. I think that he's going to take all of those pieces that we've kind of been hoping would turn into something in Miami and make them all exciting again. That's just usually sometimes we've seen that he has that effect on people. Sometimes he just destroys teams. I think that this is going to be the former. Yeah, I think so too. I think he's just going to go crazy and we're going to see the Jimmy Butler. that we got frequently in Chicago,

not even so much in Minnesota, but more in Chicago when it was his team. And in Philly. Yeah, but he had to navigate. They used him a little bit differently in Philly, but yeah, I think it's going to be a big Jimmy Butler year. Dan Devine, who do you have in the seventh slot? I'm going to go with the Orlando Magic.

They were one of the, I think, the best defensive team in the league over the second half of last season. We'll see if that translates. A lot of times teams that go on a big run late in the season, that kind of comes back to the pack the next season. But I like the young talent. I think guys like Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon could make a step forward this season.

Lucevich and Ross being back kind of solidifies things. And then there's the eternal wild card of Markell Fultz and Mo Bamba. So there's guys who have the opportunity to grow and sort of improve and a defensive solution that I think is kind of, it works for them. We know what the baseline is there. They could, I think if everything clicks, they could be way better than this. But I think if nothing else, they should be solidly around 500. And that's probably good enough for a seven season.

Not only Markell Fultz, not just one former failed first round, Philadelphia, point guard, but also MCW. They got two. Very exciting. How you navigated all those Fs is amazing. I'm very impressed with you. Professional broadcaster John Gonzalez. I use words for a living.

Haley and I are of a mind. I also have the heat in the seventh slot. And so I echo everything that Haley said at seven, Haley to six. The Toronto Raptors. And this is where I feel like I'm going to get a lot of heat because I have them at six. And they are the reigning champions. So just extended Pascal. But with a very big chunk missing.

They're missing Kauai. obviously, but they brought back Kyle Lowry, who becomes the first guy over 30 to make $30 million in a single season. Good for Kyle Lowry. I think he's still got a little something. Markisaw on the down swing, but still a very talented player. I like the Toronto Raptors.

I like them a little bit more than you. They're going to appear a little higher on my list. Why do you have them so low? What are you worried about aside from the Kauai bet? Which is a big day. Why I have them so low? Yeah. I think that there's a lot of adjusting that they have to do. I do think that Pascal's going to fill a lot of Kauai's shoes very lovely, but I do think

it's going to take a little bit into the season. I'm also wondering if there's any way that they could trade Ibacca mid-season, that to me would be very exciting. They did not sign him to extension. He's on an expiring. So I think that's an interesting component. And perhaps if that happens, then they could move up in the rankings. Not mine, because this is solid.

Yours is in concrete. It's calcified for sure. Dan Devine, what are we at? Six here? We're at six. Who do you have? I have the Brooklyn Nets. a team that I think if, you know, based on the way they won the summer, you kind of immediately

thought, like, oh, yeah, that'll be a contender in the East for a few years. And then you remember, oh, right, Kevin Durant's not playing basketball this year. So it's largely the same Nets team as last year, but swap in Kyrie Irving for DeAngelo Russell. There are some differences. You know, DeAndre Jordan's also there. He probably shouldn't be starting and playing significant minutes over Jared Allen. Tori and Prince is there, and he looks like he could be a really nice fit for them at the four spot while Durant's out. But I kind of think there's a decent chance this team is like a bit better on both ends just because of the Kyrie bump, but not significantly better. So I think to me, that looks like a team that's maybe a 45-ish kind of win team that fits in the

middle of the lower half of the bracket. Now you and I are of a mind. I also have them at six. They were a lot of fun last year. They had a good run. They made the playoffs. It felt like basketball in Brooklyn had been revitalized. The Barclays Center had a good vibe to it.

Karas Lever, coming off that injury, played much better in the second half. And then also, especially in the playoffs. I think this year, how do we feel about Carous LaVarra? I think he's going to be with KD, not around this year, a nice running mate, a 1A option with Kyrie. Oh, absolutely. And I think that this year, he's going to be healthy. Healthy Caris LaVard, I like it. Him and Did we?

And that's why I have the Nets at 5. Oh, look at that. See, this is a very good transition. You should be a professional broadcaster. You've got them at 5, which brings us right around the horn here. You're more bullish on them slightly than we are. Right, and it could go wrong. and I've been saying this for a while.

This is kind of a similar situation to the 2017-18 Celtics where there's a lot of young guys and they're not used to somebody like Kyrie coming in. Well, Kyrie was literally there and then he got injured and then they took off. But I do think that if everyone stays healthy, they have a lot of potential and they could really surprise us

because last year I think that we think of them as this team that exceeded expectations, but they did that with Karris Levert injured, Spencer Dinwiddie injured, So I think they have a lot more potential. Dan, since I'm the host now, let's hear your number five. Well, thank you, Haley, professional broadcaster. My number five is the Boston Celtics.

We just sort of pivoted off of... Bo tomatoes, boo! Off of Kyrie going to Brooklyn and, you know, the way that things stumbled last year in Boston with him. I think that the Celtics replacing Kyrie with Kemble Walker is obviously a significant change. We'll see how much that actually matters in terms of chemistry and locker room. Rotary and all those sorts of things. But in terms of on-court product, Kembo Walker's about as good a like-for-like replacement as you could ask for for Kyrie and the role he can play in that offense.

Jason Tatum has looked in the preseason like he's attacking the rim more and maybe not settling for quite as many of the long twos in sort of the mid-range game that his game got mambaed last year and we've talked about the detox of that. Jalen Brown, you know, a really interesting player on both ends of the floor. I have a lot of questions about what their center rotation is going to look like, how they're going to be able to defend with Al Horford going out. Ennis Cantor and a rotating cast of characters moving in. But I like the bones of what's there enough to be sort of another middle of the pack

team. And then if it all hangs together well, you know, maybe a little more life in the postseason. But, and then obviously keep an eye on Gordon Hayward now full, two years fully removed from that catastrophic leg injury. We see what, you know, what he looks like a little bit shaky and preseason, but might wind up being a little healthier and a little more active as the season goes on. I swear to you, I was looking at your mouth move and the words coming out. And I didn't hear anything after you said Boston Celtics.

I'm sure it was all very smart. Number five, I can't, my brain just switches off Boston anything. All of a sudden I have an aneurysm. The Indiana Pacers, I've got the Indiana Anapacers at five. They're always pretty much in that middle of the Eastern Conference Pack. Depot's not back yet. I like Malcolm Brogdom as an addition. I think Miles Turner is going to take another step.

Who knows what's going to happen with Subonis. TJ Warren, they got him for a song. T.J. Warren's a good player. And he'll be a nice addition to them, and they'll be in the middle of the Eastern Conference Pack, and there'll be a nudge and a little aggravation for everybody else in the conference, and they'll probably be a first ride out. That's my Pacers take.

I have the exact same take. And I think that they've also proven that they can do a really good job without Victor Oladipo. So that gives me a lot of hopes. That's why I have that before. You did it again. Another smooth transition. Wink. Nicely done. Dan, who do you have it for?

It's not the Pacers because I have them missing the playoffs. You have them out completely. I do have them out completely. Baring the lead. Yeah, well, I mean, we didn't start by saying who's not making the playoffs. I have concerns about how much of their offense went away, not just with Oladipo being out injured, but also Boyan Bogdanovich going to Utah. I think there's real concern of how they generate offense.

All of a sudden, Malcolm Brogden is like the straw that stirs the drink, and that's a little bit concerning with their point guard rotation. When Oladipo comes back, and we know he's back to doing five-on-five, and, you know, things appear to be moving in the right direction. We don't know when he's at. He's going to be back on the court. We don't know what he's going to look like when he gets there or how long it'll take for him to get back to being Victor Olipo. And if the answers to any of those things are a while, a while and a while, that offense could be really dismal.

And I think that the defense could be great. The offense might not be enough to sort of carry them. And I think that's a team where you have a subonis trade or you have a Miles Turner trade or you have a significant injury to one of those run court guys. It can get pretty dark, pretty fast. So I absolutely could wind up looking like an idiot on that. but I think that there's some real concerns there. Isaac Lee, when you do the show recap, fair for it to be coastal elite,

Dan Devine hates the middle of the country in Indianapolis. I think that's fair, right? Yeah, I'll write exactly that. Put that down. Of course. So you don't have them at four. Who do you have it for? I have the Toronto Raptors.

Another one that can similarly look kind of wild if to some of those in-season deals that Haley was talking about wind up, coming to fruition, you know, moving a Baca out. Just because they extended Kyle Lowry does not mean they won't trade Kyle Lowry. Mark Gassol could be a guy on the move as well. So this team could look a lot different come March than it does right now.

But they were 17 and 5 without Kauai landed in the lineup last year, had a healthy scoring margin when Kauai was off the court, significantly worse when Danny Green was also off the court. But I like what's still here. They still have six of their top eight from last year's postseason rotation. And I think that, you know, Siakam's going to get the chance to grow into a larger role. They were excellent in the second half after they got Markisaw last season. So I feel like there's enough here for this team

to be consistently competitive as they move into whatever comes next. Same brain again. I also have the Raptors, Danny Chow's, Toronto Raptor. Shouts to all of our friends up in Canada. We had a great time there, Dan Devine and I did last year during the finals. I have them before. You said it all very eloquently. Haleo Shannisie, number three. I have the Celtics. I also have the Celtics. Boo, tomatoes. There are many, many variables to this team, but if anyone can make the most of, like you were saying, Dan, Ennis Cantor, hopefully healthy Gordon Hayward coming back, unleashed Kemba Walker, it's Brad Stevens.

And now this season, Stevens will no longer be in a power struggle with anyone. You know, Gordon Hayward probably really just wants to look good again. And his cancer wants to prove that he can be on a team. Kemba Walker wants to prove that he can keep up with a good team that can make the playoffs and hopefully stay in, pass the first round. And then there's, of course, Tatum and Jalen Brown, who also are still young. And I don't think in any way want to defy Brad Stevens. So I think that they're set up for a very possible.

good season. Don't forget my guy Mark is smart too. I love watching him play. Dan Devine, you do not have the Celtics at three. You have somebody else at three. I have the Miami Heat. This is a bold statement. Talk about heat checks on heat check. Tell me. So after a free agency kind of shook out, I remember having a conversation with our colleague John Charks. And we were both sort of looking at it and saying, like, is it crazy to love this roster? It's weird as heck. And the pieces don't really fit together. Or they might look like they might not fit together. but Jimmy is sort of the main creator, Justice Winslow as a guy who can be the point guard.

You can also play center in a small ball lineup. There's all these sort of big, long defensive guys. Tyler Hero looks like a stud in preseason and maybe the exact kind of shooting guard they need, which I think that's part of why Deion Waiters is maybe moving off to the side. It looks like we have the shooting guard we need now. Bam out of bio moves into the starting lineup

with Hassan White's side out. So I think defensively, I think they're going to be really good. They've got the kind of contracts that you can move if it's Goran Dragic, you know, Kelly O'Linnick, Myers-Lennard, there's a bunch of sort of mid-tier sort of contracts you can move. And Eric Spolstress is, you know, we taught you, Haley, you mentioned with Brad Stevens, a coach that can kind of get the most out of mismatched parts. Eric Spolster is that exact same kind of guy.

I just feel like this is going to congeal into something better than the sum of its parts. And I think there's a real chance that that offense could take a step forward. And if the defense is there, that looks like a pretty darn good team to me. I am ready for the possibility that it blows up, because all things can happen with Jimmy Butler. But I like the idea. I think I like the way it looks and I'm looking forward to it. That would be an accelerated timetable for them.

They're sort of looking at next offseason, the season after to really reboot this thing with Jimmy. But if they could get ahead of the curve, that would be good for everybody in Miami. People in Philly would probably be quite angry about that, but it would be a nice foil for them. All right, so that leaves two teams for everybody here. We all know who's going to be the top two teams

that we're all going to pick in the Easter Conference. So give me two and one, Haley O'Shaughnessy, in that order. Gons looks so happy right now because he knows. I know what you're doing. He looks so delighted. And you're about to be more delighted because I am picking the bucks to finish second, which obviously means that then the Sixers. I'm fist-pumping, as you might, because that's what the kids do now.

You know your audience. You know where you are? You know your audience. No, I know my host who I want to keep happy. Yeah. No, really, I do think that the Sixers will finish first of a moment. overall. I think it'll be close. I'm hoping the rest of the Eastern Conference will be as close as the Western Conference season to make it as exciting. But I have the Bucks a second. I think

that losing Brogden is actually going to hurt them a lot more than we think. But with that being said, I still have them second. There's an argument to be made that last year during the postseason that Brogden was their best guard. I mean, Bledsoe kind of disappeared. There was a time when there's an argument to be made, frankly, that Brogden was their second plus player period after Yanis in the playoffs. George Hill had a good run there for a second. Middleton kind of like was average at times, but Brogden was really good throughout the whole thing.

So I'm with you. I think that they're going to really miss him. Dan Devine, in what order do you have those two? Well, being across the country from you and having a little distance from your long reach with the jab, I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to put the Sixers at number two

and the Bucks at number one again in the conference. This is really a bet on Janice Adakumbo being even better this season than he was during his MVP year. I know Prese's, only matters so much, but Janus, in 23 and a half minutes a game this preseason, 27.3 points, 12 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.6 combined steals and blocks on 61% shooting. Janus, by his own internal math, his own estimation, thinks he's only about 60% of the way

to where he can be, if he nudges that anywhere north of this and is even better than he was last year on both ends of the court, I think that's going to be enough to have them winning, if not maybe 60 games, then nearly as many as they did last season. I think that the questions about where they look in the back court and on the wing are real, but I think that those wind up manifesting more in the playoffs and they do in the regular season. And I think if Yannis is the kind of monster that sort of just, again, dictates the season. It would not surprise me at all if he repeated as MVP this year, as unlikely as that might seem. And it would not surprise me at all if the Bucks repeated as the number one seed in the east.

And to back up your preseason claim about his points, he has gotten better statistically every year. Yeah, he's fantastic. These are all reasonable points. Well, in all things, except for three-point shooting. Well, yeah, I mean... But once you're so low, does it really even matter? You can't rush these things, Haleo, Sean. See, he'll get there.

These are all reasonable points. I'm not necessarily a reasonable human being, though. I want to bring in my partner in crime. Isaac Lee, Isaac Lee, you and I have been doing this podcast for what? Like a couple decades now. Yeah, yeah. I feel like you know me about as well as anybody at the ringer. We already know, I think, who I'm going to have in the two spot.

But you just, you just, you tell the folks, who am I taking it? at number one in the Eastern Conference. It's the song. It's the song everybody knows and loves. Clap your hands, everybody. It's almost like I'm doing this as a bit. Are we going to do this every week, by the way? And that I might not actually believe it,

but I'm going to play the song because I love the song. You got the Philadelphia 76ers in that number one spot in the Eastern Conference gang. We're going to take a quick break for a word from our sponsors, and then we're going to do the Western Conference rankings. Today's episode of Heech is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Hiring can be a slow process. Cafe Alturo's C-O-O-Dillin Miskowitz needed to hire a director of coffee for his organic coffee company, but he was having trouble finding qualified applicants, so he switched to ZipRecruiter.

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In that eight spot, I have no idea what to do with it. So Haley O'Shaughnessy, you go first. Who do you have in the eight spot? I have the Warriors. Falling all the way to eight. Yes, I do. I think we are seriously underestimating the pieces that they've lost. I love DeAngelo Russell.

That defense is going to be a disaster on the perimeter. And also, we've got to worry about later incorporating Clay Thompson. What is his fit going to be? Are we really going to have three Splash Brothers? Does DeAngelo shoot well enough to even be a Splash Brother? TBD, I have them at eight. Dan Devon, number eight in the Western Conference. The New Orleans Pelicans, we're hoping that whatever is keeping Zion

Williamson out opening night does not keep him out for very long. But I love the way this roster's put together. For the draft, I was like, this makes sense. The way they're drafting guys, the way they're putting a roster together, they bring in JJ Reddick, they bring in Derek Favors. I love the collection of talent, youth and age. And I think Alvin Gentry is going to have a ton of fun with this team. I think they're going to be much better than they should be year one. I considered the Pelicans.

The Mavericks are on the Come. I consider the Mavericks with their new pairing with Chris Daps and Luca. Carl Anthony Towns is on a mission apparently and says, don't sleep on the wolves. I'm going to personally sleep on the wolves. I'm going to chill out. sleep on the wolves a little bit. It's like a grab bag of teams for this eighth spot in the Western Conference.

I'm not sure which way to go. So I'm going to correct a mistake. Dan Devine, last year, and actually even on last week's podcast, you said, you know, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. What happens when I've been fooled by myself

like 12 different times? You made fun of me so many times last year where I had counted out the San Antonio Spurs and then immediately they got good again and reminded everybody that the San Antonio Spurs. neither of you picked the spurs. I'm picking the spurs.

I want the spurs in the eight spot because they're going to end up in the playoffs. They always end up in the playoffs. I've been counting them out forever in a day. And I'm going to stop doing that. Yeah, healthy Dejante on top of last season. Dejante, Derek White. Lamarcus Aldridge is just solid and is out there all the time. Dan's making a face.

I don't feel like he's quite on board with this idea. It's because at some point it's got to happen, right? At some point they have to miss out. but maybe we'd share it. So maybe this year you say they're going for it, and I say they're out. Okay, yeah, let's flip it. This year, you can be wrong, and then this year I'll be right. We'll alternate years when being wrong and right on the spurs, although now I feel like I jinxed myself.

Number seven in the Western Conference, Haleo. I will be wrong as well because I picked the New Orleans Pelicans to be number seven for all the things that Dan said, but I have a little bit more confidence in them because I'm really excited to see Lonzo. I guess the word is unleashed, but I think just more comfortable in the position. Drew's going to play off ball. You know, I'm big on him. I wrote that feature. I know you are. I'm very excited for that back court,

and I think the defense is going to be solid. And again, I don't think Zion's injury is going to be that much of a problem. Knock on wood. Knock on wood. Seven slot in the Western Conference, Dan Devine. I'm going with the Warriors.

This is a bet that Steph and Dremont stay healthy and that Clay gets back late in the season, and they're able to just to defend well enough to get there. But it's dicey, man. It's dicey with the way that defense looks right now. But this is a bet. This is a, I believe in Stefan and Dremon kind of bet. I do too.

think it could be like an MVP caliber season for Steph provided that he stays healthy because he's going to have to, there's going to be a big heavy lift here, right? I'm interested to see what happens with the Angela Russell and how those two pair together. But then, we saw in the finals last year, like, even when they had Clay Thompson on the court, they got thin, super fast. Absolutely. And you even have a lot of the guys that were reliable last year gone. And so now it's, you're relying on a bunch of rookies, no more Eagle Dahl and no more Sean Livingston, no more boogie. There's so many unanswered questions here. You have to expect that Steph and Draymond are going to be able to organize everybody. And it's a tough ask. This kind of echoes the

Rockets last year when Hardin had to carry everyone. Who is going to be their house? Yeah. And all of a sudden, like, Arquise Chris is there? I mean, like, he's a guy who's going to have to eat some minutes from them, which like, you know, danger Will Robinson. But I also have them at seven as well, Dan. So you and I continuing on the same page, Haley O'Shaughnessy number six. I have the Blazers, and I feel bad about having them this low. I think that this is just a product of all these teams being very competitive there. I'm with you. I also have them six for the same exact reason.

I like the Blazers. I think that what we saw in the Western Conference last year will be similar this year, where in that last week you're going to see a bunch of teams with very similar records jockeying and a lot of movement in that like three, four, five, six range where any of those teams could move up or fall down. But they're going to be pretty much interchangeable for me. And that backcourt is one of the best backcourts in the entire NBA with C.J. Jay and Dame. I think Zach Collins could take a step forward this year. They're going

to miss NERC. The White Side thing, that's another guy that you've written about. I wonder what White Side would be like in that role. I will say, though, that we've seen that like second center for them have success in the last couple of seasons, right? It'll be interesting. He has a nightly double-double. I am

interested to see his fit. Do we know when NERCIT is coming back? Not yet. We don't. But we did see Enis Cantor have some success for them last year in that role. So maybe, you know, you swap out Ennis, you put it in Hassan. Right, and Hassan White Side is much better at defense and his Cantor. He is better at defense. Sorry, Annes Cantor.

Dan Devine. Let's make it a clean sweep. We'll go to number six with the Blazers for me. What they lose on defense with Alf Rukamino and Mohawk was going out, I think, could be a cause for concern. The offense might be higher eventually, but I think they're going to take some time to figure it out. So congratulations, Blazers on your home court advantage in the first round. I love everything about that Blazers experience, too. When you're talking about the home court, have you seen the new court with it's their 50th season and the zero. Do we talk about this last week?

We might have talked about this last week. I apologize if we did. But the zero is the Blazers emblem, and they've got like the blood red jerseys in the whole bit. It's just a wonderful. I recommend everybody go to Portland and see a basketball game. You guys are just nodding at me. You pay for that.

I will absolutely do that. Number five. I have the nuggets at number five. Again, I feel bad for having them this low, but it is a product of, I believe, more in Anthony Davis and LeBron James to pull out the end of a season, despite what we saw last year with Anthony Davis. Should I say quitting on the Pelicans or is that too rude? And then LeBron James also sending it in.

But I believe in them more, they have more experience. So that's why the Nuggets of Five. Although I do believe that they're going to have a beautiful season. I'm very excited about Nicola and there are other pieces that should make another leap this season. Full on Jokic Dadbod this year. I mean, like he's really leaned into it. But does he have to change that if it works? No, I mean, I evidently not.

Smoke cigarettes at halftime, eat burgers, eat raw pieces of steak. I don't care. Whatever works last year, it really worked for him. Do whatever you got to do to say happy. It's been working for him two years ago. The first time I ever went to Denver to cover a game, he was wandering through the bowels of the arena before the game, and he had a giant bag of candy, and he was just offering candy to people, and it definitely wasn't Halloween.

It was like late in the season, like, right before the playoffs. And I'm like, this is wonderful. Like the star player just has a bag of candy that's like for communal use. I'm here for all of it. Number five, Dan Devine. The jazz, and I feel pretty bad about this. I think we're getting to the point where we're all going to feel bad about a team being lower than maybe they should be.

I love what they did in this off season. I love Mike Conley Jr. coming in. I love Boyan Bogdanovich coming in with the established defense of Rudy Gobert. And Donovan Mitchell now gets kicked off the ball a little bit more. And maybe he gets a little more efficient in a smaller role. I think it all makes sense. There's just so much competition in the top of the Western Conference that I feel like, as you know, Haley mentioned, you know, if you're getting down to the jockeying for position and

it's Ken LeBron and Anthony Davis get themselves into home court advantage, I feel like, you know, that's a pretty good place for them to be. And that's where I see Utah maybe taking a little bit of a step back. I have Utah a little bit higher on my list. Actually, quite a bit higher. We'll get to them in just a second. I'm not going to be fooled again. This goes back to my, I'm correcting the mistakes of the past.

last year, super bullish on the Los Angeles Lakers, and my faith was not rewarded at all. This year, I am less bullish on the Los Angeles Lakers for the same reasons as last year. They got LeBron, and hopefully he'll be healthy. And when LeBron is healthy, he's still one of the great players in the NBA, one of the greatest of all time. Anthony Davis, if he can stay healthy, could have an MVP caliber season. I just like beyond that, when you're looking at Kyle Kuzma as your third best guy, Javelle McGee is a rim protector.

and that's fine, but how many minutes can you get out of him? What about the rest of the supporting cast? Where are you getting shooting? I still have a lot of questions about the Los Angeles Lakers, especially in the Western Conference that's so packed and so good, and so many other teams are so much deeper than they are. You're going to have to get so much out of LeBron and AD. They're going to have to cape all season long.

I just wonder. I wonder if they can pull it off for an entire year. And you're going to have to be extremely lucky with their health, too, which I'm not super optimistic about. That's a huge variable. And when you say Kyle Kuzma as their third guy, he's often going to be their second guy. And I love Kyle Kuzma, but that's not what you want. That's why I have them before.

Oh, you got them before? So that is still very optimistic. But I have them that low because I think that health is going to be a major concern. And they absolutely do not have the depth to take care of that. Yeah, we talked about this, Dan Devine, where I asked you, do they have the depth to survive Anthony Davis? We thought Anthony Davis might be injured. And, you know, luckily that thumb injury. wasn't a big deal. And I forget exactly what your specific response was, but it essentially

involved you laughing at me for a period of time. No, I think it was, the idea was I have to take the other side of that debate. And I was really like, yeah, no, sure, they're super deep. I think we can all, so 25 and 15 for Dwight Howard every night. Javelle McGee's going to shoot. He doesn't look good, though. He got in shape. And the hair, the hair's a plus. I think everything's really nice for him. 39, I think, is his number. And that's weird. That's a bad look. But yeah, I also have the Lakers at number four. This is a bet that one or both of LeBron and AD misses some time.

If they're healthy all season, this could be a 61 team because they're that good. They can elevate everybody, but there are certainly causes for concern elsewhere. I feel like they're a home court advantage team. I don't know exactly where they fall on the spectrum. But if they can get to April with those two guys healthy, they are an absolute wrecking crew that I think everybody's going to be pretty afraid of in the West. Yeah, playoffs different from a different equation than the regular season. I think the regular season is going to be a little bit of a grind,

but if you get them into the playoffs healthy, as we all know, playoff basketball, much different. All of a sudden, accounting for those two guys is going to be awfully difficult. At four, I've got the Houston Rockets. I don't know what to do with the Rockets. I haven't known what to do with the Rockets in the past. I still don't know what to do with them. Russell Westbrook and James Harder reunited and it feels so good.

I have the same questions about those two paired together as I did, Chris Paul and James Harden. And initially, I thought when they got Chris Paul that that was going to be a massive problem. That first season went pretty well. I mean, they got pretty close to making the NBA finals. I thought that they might have, if not for that cold streak. But then last year, the wheels really came off that relationship. And similarly with the team, they had that whole mellow flap.

They still have depth issues this year. I like Clint Capella fine. But also in the playoffs, he became a liability, right? So that goes back to the whole thing about the playoffs being different. I just wonder about James Harden and Russell Westbrook coexisting for an entire season when both of them are absolute usage monsters, but they're going to be good enough to be in that middle of the pack, be in the conversation.

Could they make some noise? I'm still not sure. I have them at three because I, yes, they'll have issues. They'll have perhaps fit issues at the beginning, but I will not bet against those two and it being an extremely high-scoring offense. No matter what, that will be an extremely, a high-scoring offense. And also, I think that

Russell Westbrook on a mission is something that nobody should ever bet against. Sometimes it is to his detriment. He can shoot the team out of a game, but I think that especially under Dan Tony, this is going to be a Russell Westbrook who wants to prove that he is capable. Both of them have

something to prove in the playoffs. So I think that they're going to try as hard as they can during the regular season to get great positioning. Dan Devine, you're number three. My number three is the Los Angeles Clippers. Again, this sort of a... Oh, this is an upset.

This is an upset. If you're telling me we're taking injuries off and fatigue off, then I think it's probably Lakers and Clippers 1-2 in some order. But we already know Paul George is going to miss time at the start of the season coming back from his shoulder surgeries. We don't know exactly what the minutes plan or the management plan is going to be for Kauai Leonard. He says he feels, it's like night and day difference from last year, but you'd expect

there's still going to be some sort of load management game planning for him over the course of the season. There's still the questions about what their center position looks like. Montrez-Harris is going to see a ton of time. VizizuBots is going to see a ton of time, but is that going to be good enough to, you know, matter for this team? I think there's some questions about what it can look like night to night with those guys in and out of the lineup, maybe.

So I think they're still going to win a bunch of games, but I think that they're still, they're very obviously playing for June and that could wind up resulting maybe in Isaac Lee killing me. I hear some heavy breathing in my ears. Your hike has been cut off for the last like three minutes. Yeah, I'm not even sure. Just a lot of me moving my mouth. You'll end up in the show.

Isaac Lee, when we do the show recap, I expect a way. We will also add coastal elite Dan Devine hates best team in Los Angeles. Yeah, coastal elite Dan Devine friendly with the establishment, the hegemony, Los Angeles Lakers, and ignores the actual best team in Los Angeles. Best team in Los Angeles. We're going to get to them in a second. My number three, the Denver Nuggets, for all the reasons that Haley O'Shaughnessy outlined, I really like them. They might be the deepest team, not just in the Western Conference, but in the league period.

They've got so many options. We saw how that was, I guess, counterintuitively kind of. of a problem in the playoffs last year where they had Nicola Yolkich and then like Jamal Murray emerged, but really that like, you know, third option, fourth option and fifth option on like a nightly basis. They weren't sure where they were going in the playoffs. In the regular season, though, that's a benefit. I mean, they're so deep. You know, if they have any injuries, they're built to sustain them. I love the Denver nuggets. They're going to have another successful season. Congratulations to Denver. Your third team. I do agree with you that I think Denver could be the

deepest team, but I think that the issue with them is seeing how their top three perform. Yeah. So that's the variable with them. For number two, I have the jazz. I am very excited about everything that they have. I love Quinn Snyder. I obviously love Donovan Mitchell. I'm very excited to see how he plays when all the pressure isn't on him to score, when he has

people around him, because they've done just fine while he is the main option. So I'm very excited with Bojan around him, with Mike Conley. and that obviously means I have the Clippers number one because once again I'm sucking up to one of the creators. Yeah. No, I think that Paul George and Quillaner, they do have huge injury concerns, but I don't think they are as big of injury concerns to me

as Anthony Davis and LeBron James because Paul George, his injury history is significantly lighter, he's significantly younger than LeBron, and I just think that they're extremely deep. Dan Devon, you're two and one. Number two, the Houston Rockets. I think they are a regular season team. I think Hardin is going to hit the ground running and be awesome in the first couple

months of the season. I think they could be the number one offense in the league. And I think there's always concern for them in the postseason, but I think they're a regular season monster. Along the same lines, number one, the Denver Nuggets. I think that depth matters a ton. I think if, you know, as long as Yokic winds up maybe even improving over number four spot in MVP voting this year, last year, adding Jeremy Grant is a big help for them.

I love what they have as far as a roster that can make it through the six months and maybe win in the high 50s. So whether that is enough to sustain them through three rounds and into the finals, I don't know. But I think for the regular season, they're going to rack up a lot of wins. Yeah, those top three teams for me could have super interchangeable. I have the same top two as Haley O'Shaughnessy. I've got the Jazz at number two and the Clippers at number one. So because Haley already said a whole bunch of fun and smart things about them, I'm going to cede my time to the gentleman from Los Angeles, Isaac Lee,

to give us a statement on the Los Angeles Clippers as my number one team in the Western Conference. Listen, the Los Angeles Clippers, obviously they've added Kauai Leonard and Paul George in the offseason, but most importantly, they've kept all the pieces that won them 48 games last year and took two games off of the Golden State Warriors. Like, I really don't get the argument

that they're not going to be a good regular season team just because Kauai and Paul George might miss time because they were a great regular season team last year. especially post-Tobias Harris trade, which is most of the core that stuck around, Jamichael Green, Vita Zubots, obviously Lou Pat and Trez are still on this roster.

They're going to be really, really good in the regular season as well as hopefully the playoffs. All right, let's do our finals predictions and our eventual champions. Who's going to make the finals? Who's going to win it all?

All right, well, I think the Eastern Conference Finals, I would be surprised if all of us didn't pick the Bucks and Sixers to make it there. I'm going to Apparently this is a show where we're going to lean into the host and the creators

so let's go with the Sixers over the bucks in the interest of keeping a happy home and then in the West let's go with Lakers and Clippers I think they're going to wind up being sort of regular season

slow play and then they're going to be monsters come to playoff so we'll go with those that's the final four I can't stick with the bit I'm sorry Lakers versus Sixers in the finals

and then let's go with Sixers in six. Wow. You picked the Philadelphia 76ers to win at all. I think you've got a future on Heat Check. I really like this. It's a great idea. Haley O'Shaughnessy, your time.

I actually have everything the same except for I have the Clippers over the Lakers, and I do think that they will ultimately win the title. I always knew I liked you, Haley. You've got the Clippers. My Western Conference, I'm going to go with Clippers and Jazz. Actually, I'll take the Clippers out of the West. In the Eastern Conference, I've got the same two teams as everybody. This is probably going to surprise you guys,

but I'm going to have the Philadelphia 76ers advancing to play the Clippers. Shocker. Isaac Lee, as a man who knows me very well, who do you think I have winning it all in 2019-20? I think you have the Philadelphia 76ers winning it all, and I think you just jinxed yourself. So congratulations to me, a Clippers fan. Isaac, what I'm looking for here is maybe a little ditty,

a little ditty to play us off here? You want me to play it again? Maybe a little song. Maybe people want to hear the song. We don't have the rights to this song, man. They're going to come after us. I'm just saying. It's just a catchy song

I mean tell me that doesn't make you happy Listen it's a great song We just don't have the rights to it We should get the rights to it probably Let's talk to our legal team about that All right those are our predictions We're going to wrap up the show With our new segment

Good Call bad callers the kids say GCBC We learned something though this week Gang We got some feedback Heat Check is not just coast to coast It's not just a continental show It's an intercontinental show

It's an international show Dan Devine and Haley O'Shaughnessy Our friends down under in Australia told us that G.C. has a different meaning down there. Are you like expecting one of us to say it? I'll go for it. I'm not going to say the word, but yeah. So apparently in Australia and New Zealand, G is still good, but C is a different four-letter word that starts with a C. And rhymes with that sort of, that exact word. That's a diplomatic way to put it.

Yes. But it's not a pejorative. It's like used as a like, You're ripping somebody. It's good nature. Yeah. Like, oh, that's a good person. G.C. How that word gets used that way, I'm not entirely sure. But apparently, so shouts out to all of our listeners in Australia and New Zealand who were like,

could not wait to let us know about this. All right. I got two GCCBC calls for the week. We're going to go around the horn and get everybody here. Basketball reference has a nickname thing on everybody's personal player page. And the one that they have for Zion is Zanos. so kind of like Thanos but now Zanos

How do we feel G.C. or B.C. or B.C. on Zion as Zanos on basketball reference? B.C. because I don't think he's a villain, which I very well versed in comic books and things of that nature. No, he is a villain. I did not Google it beforehand. Also, this is something as Duke teammates came up with beforehand. So it's not exactly original to this year. Yes. But no, he's not a villain.

First of all, we all want to root for him. Second of all, he's always smile. It's adorable. B.C. Dan Devine. B.C. Zion is a cool enough name on its own that you don't need a separate nickname for it, especially one that sort of like contrived. I think, yeah, it's two syllables. It's quick. It's punchy. It sounds good. Zion is fine. It's fine on its own. Double BC. Isaac Lee, where are you? Definitely BC. Again, as Dan said, Zion's a cool name. Just stick with Zion. I was going to go with you guys. I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to be my own man on this. I'm going to go G. G.C. I like a part. I like a pun. All right, last one for you. This is one, Dan Devine. Dan, you don't get to vote on this one. We're just going to go with the other two. Dan Devine, already husband and dad of the year. But Dan Devine went out. He's got two beautiful little girls. And he went out and basically folded to the internal house pressure and came home. Dan, tell the folks at home what you came home with this weekend. Yeah, we went and got a dog. We adopted a 70-pound big dude. I don't.

know exactly what he is. Maybe Pitbull, maybe Boxer, I'm not entirely sure, named Lugar. And so he came home yesterday and my kids are over the moon for him. My wife is over the moon for him. He's already very comfortable in the divine household, slept in the bed the first night. So after we get done with this, I'm going to go back and give him a walk and see how he's doing. Luger, who's 70 pounds, I think, 64 of which are in his giant good boy puppy head. He has a huge head. Massive head. He's such a good boy. Can we sweep it with a GC on this one? On his dog? Yeah, on him getting a dog.

would I be if I called this a bad call. I am pro dog. Pro dog. We're all G.C. Nicely done, Dan. We're very excited that you brought home Lugar. I want to thank you for doing that. I want to thank Dan Devine for being on the program, Haley O'Shaughnessy.

Our producer, Isaac Lee, killing it. Yet again, I want to thank all of you guys for listening to Heat Check. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcast. Read all of our content on the ringer.com. Don't forget about the NBA Ringer preview Paloza, which will be running all day on Tuesday. listen to the Ringer NBA show on the Ringer podcast network, and Heat Check will be back next week with our new roster.

Thanks for listening, everybody. Bye.