Baseline Breakdown: Heat Media Day, Rockets’ Dilemma & Jokic Forever Nugget

On this week’s Baseline NBA Podcast, Warren Shaw takes us inside Miami Heat Media Day with nsights, reactions, and storylines coming out of South Beach as the Heat gear up for its most challenging season yet. Then we go Around the League with a jam-packed slate of headlines:

• Nikola Jokić reveals his plans to retire as a Denver Nugget — what this means for the franchise’s long-term identity.?
• The Houston Rockets face a major challenge after the devastating loss of Fred VanVleet to injury — can their backcourt and new-look roster keep them in contention?
• Kevin Durant makes it clear: he intends to re-sign with Houston. We debate how that impacts the Rockets’ championship window.
• Anthony Edwards spent time working with the legend himself, Michael Jordan. Could MJ’s mentorship push Ant to another superstar level?
• Kawhi Leonard speaks out on the Clippers’ legal situation, insisting the team will be acquitted. Is this a good look for the Clippers and Kawhi?
• Zion Williamson is reportedly in the best shape of his NBA career. Can this finally be the season where Zion can stay on the court injury-free?
• The Portland Trail Blazers are building an identity around defense — we break down how that shift could redefine their young roster.
• And in Golden State, the Jonathan Kuminga stalemate continues. What does this mean for the Warriors’ future as they juggle veteran stars and developing talent?

Another loaded episode of The Baseline, where we take you from Media Day to the biggest storylines across the Association.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's good. Everybody is your boy cal game Face Lee.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
And it's me Warrenshaw and we are officially live on
millions y'all.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
That's right, The Baseline NBA podcast is officially live. Just
go to millions dot co and go to our profile
the Baseline NBA Podcast to check out more dope content
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
And if you're looking to book with us, collaborate us,
or get with us in any way, that's the spot
to make sure that that happens, y'all.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Absolutely so be sure to go to millions dot co.
You already know.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Keep it real here the Baseline NBA Podcast. Your boy
Cayl gave Face Lee and my man Warren Shaw hit
us up on millions. Don't miss out. This is the
Baseline discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Welcome everybody,
your tune to the Baseline Cali won't y'all discussing the
hot button topics.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Of the NBA. And man, it's.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
About that time at your watch ready to rock and
roll baby. NBA Media Day is upon us, so you
know what that means. We are team minus. I want
to say twenty five days give or take me before
we get to NBA tip off. Teams have gotten together
already in their OTAs, getting ready for their preseason games,

(01:23):
which will probably take place in less in a week's
time frame. But as always, Man, it's just another exciting
time for your boys to get back on the microphone
and start rolling out that content getting you ready for
this upcoming exciting NBA season. So, without further ado, Man,
let me go ahead and reintroduce my man with the
master plan www dot Shawsports dot net, BICKHUNAPNC, my man,

(01:47):
mister Warrenshaw repping out of Fort Lauder, Florida, back like
we like, it's never been done before, rush out the gate.
There's only been with a two week iatus a little bit.
What's good Man, Great to be back. You know, it's
like the first day of school when you know the
NBA season clearly officially begins with Media Day.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Our favorite time of year, you know, obviously playoffs obviously
including that, but it's basketball season. Basketball is officially kind
of back here. And much to my wife Sagarn, her
least favorite time of year. As she comes in and
I'm watching Media Day from all around the league and
I'm taking notes, and she was like, oh, it's back. Yes,
damn right, it's back, and we back up in this

(02:28):
joint as well too, the baseline for yet another season
of NBA basketball. Bro.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Then I could not be more excited to do it
with you, like for another year.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
I know what fourteen seasons in county right counter?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
I mean most people, Yeah, most people, most people you
know marriages and that after after ten. So yeah, man,
we've been doing this for quite some time, and there's
always a new wrinkle two you know what I'm saying, Uh,
not just what we've been covering what we do, but
there's always a new wrinkle. This is why I appreciate

(03:01):
and love so much the evolution of the baseline because
we continue to evolve, we continue to adapt and change
and listen, man, we're not trying toot our horns, man,
but we we know a lot of talented people. We
know a lot of people who've made sacrifices, people who
have rolled the dice. We've been very fortunate, probably even

(03:22):
blessed in some regards to find a balance in being
able to be an everyday person but still look to
find a way to you know, introduce and speak on
some extraordinary things that take place in this game and
this culture and this league in itself, and so again, man,
to be doing it this long, right and to continue
and get ourselves ready for yet another season. I just

(03:45):
think it's remarkable. I tip my hat off to you
because I don't know too many people that would have
followed my crazy idea, your crazy idea, which is to
get on some kind of platform and just speak nothing
but that basketball right, Like you know what I'm saying,
I don't think anybody was anticipating it was going to basically.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Go this far, this long. But I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
And as always, man, you know, I appreciate you, and
I appreciate our listeners who've grown with us through the years.
You know, we've got people who've been down with this
since day one, and we've got people who are fresh
off of things that we just did this past season
or maybe over this past summer, and we'd like to
again welcome everybody, always rolling out that red carpet, always
opening our door for you. If I'm you know, saying

(04:29):
coming off like you know, I'm a person who is
too humbled, that's probably because you know, maybe I just
had a moment and just have actually breathed in what
we've been able to accomplish for over fourteen seasons.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I mean sometimes you got to step back. I've
been saying this lot in life in general. You gotta
stopping smell the roses. Every now and then we get
very caught up in the go, go go, and you
don't realize, you know, what you've been able to do,
who you've been able to impact, who you've been able
to connect with as you've you know, I think so
eloquently put so, the baseline has been here to stay
and is here to stay for a very long time.
I'm I'm very excited of the body of work being

(05:02):
able to produce, especially in the latter years here with
the nineteen Media Group and even before nineteen Media group
is a thing. You know, you and I were rocking,
and again I think are our friendship, our brotherhood definitely
shines through and what we produce on a day to
day basis. Yeah, we're back here like again for another season.
So it's an exciting, exciting time. You know, We're not
here with the cliche stuff like that some of these
folks might have heard at media day with something I'm
in the best shape of my life.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
We're always in the best shape year on the baseline
and exactly, Man, it's that Pilate's for me. You know. Anyway,
we got a great show for you man.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
As you know it's been it's NBA Media Day, so
all of the teams have obviously opened up their doors
to their favorite people in the world. I mean, they
they love these people like it's their own family during Christmas,
right like, and so as always, man, my man Shaw
has had the opportunity and with the hard work and

(05:53):
perseverance and you know what I'm saying, making sure he's
keeping those those those those uh heat people. Honest, they
were nice enough to allow him the access, you know
what I'm saying, backstage access for Miami Media Day.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
So we're gonna get into a little bit of that.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
We'll also get into a little bit of stuff that's
happening around the league. I mean, just because it's media Day,
don't mean the medium stops at just the players. So
there's obviously some news and notes that's taken place as
we are starting to get close to the start of
the NBA season. As always, we appreciate every single person,
Like I said earlier to you and yours, be sure

(06:30):
to get at my man shawt at Deee Warrenshaw. You
can get at me at game Face, lead the shows
Twitter handle at NBA Baseline.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
You can also go to www.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Dot the Baseline NBA dot com to only check this
episode out, but also all of the content that we've
been rolling out for the teen years that we've been
doing our podcast.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
So if you want to get.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
A little background, you want to do a little the
research on how we on how our flow works, listen
to some of the older episodes and stuff. So get
yourself ready for this upcoming NBA season. And as always,
when you see us on the YouTube channel, we'd like
to say hello to you and yours. And if you
see the blue and white logo down in the lower
right hand corner of your screen, that is the nineteen

(07:09):
Media Group family nineteen Media Group you run in these
content streets, so be sure to go to www dot
Nineteenmediagroup dot com to not only check us, but the
great content creators that are part of the nineteen Media
Group family. So that being said, Shaw, let's go ahead
and roll out. You know what I'm saying, Like my
man Ludo would say, ride out. You know what I'm saying,

(07:30):
like our man Orlando Octave would Octave would say, right,
we're gonna ride out and let's talk about NBA Media Day,
specifically your experience being down at the Miami Heat Media Day.
And it's interesting before we get into that real quick, shaw,
I kind of want to highlight people about the emphasis
of what we were just talking about before we jumped

(07:50):
on and recorded this episode, about how interesting the media
day has kind of evolved. You know, there's certain as
to the NBA season that is taking a little bit
of time, a lot of time for people to warm
up to. Right first, it was All Star weekend. Right now,
that is a thing. NBA Summer League, that is a thing,

(08:13):
the draft, Like, there are these iterations and moments of
where when the NBA wants to put brand, want to
put something on brand and say, hey, this is an
important date on your calendar. Market you know what I'm saying,
maybe to the internal you know, on the inner circles,
it's important that it's media Day.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
But now, because of the amount of headlines that the
NBA generates and because of what's going on, NBA Media
Day is now becoming one of those dates where it's like, oh,
I don't want to miss out on this because I
know that somebody's going to say something or somebody is
going to do something, you know what I'm saying, And
so I find it interesting now that we're getting to

(08:54):
that point where don't don't you know, don't be surprised
if the NBA figures out a way to brand out
this thing come next year and moving forward on the
importance of NBA Media Day, because it's not just about
the media more so than it is about really getting
people primed up and ready to go and figuring out
where are superstar players and teams and cultures. Mine is

(09:19):
headed at going into what's going to be the start
of the NBA sea.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
I'm silver as a salesman, so there's no doubt about it.
If he can find a way to figure out, you know,
more brand activations and our activity and sponsorship dollars into
the space, absolutely will.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
I think it would be an interesting.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Play because not all the play yours are as excited
as we are, even as media members to kind of
come back. There's some players who are excited, especially if
you're a rookie or you know, just you're just coming
back off in an amazing season. But there's some guys
you know, who are not as let's say, engaging on
the media day festivities, and then you wouldn't want that
to taint the brand sponsorship. So you got to figureut

(09:59):
a way to make sure you're everybody on board. And
obviously there's been various and maybe not so great iterations
of that when the All Star Game, as you're talking
about that, when the players say they're going to be
more than don't really give their best effort. But I
think again, if the league has an opportunity, especially with
new TV deals and Amazon and Peacock et cetera, et cetera,
maybe next year that's something that they did look trying
to do.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
I you know, I said this you know as well too.
Seaw Like.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Some of the some of the teams may not have
a lot to speak on, but this again can be
a great space and opportunity to reintroduce people, remind people
the history and maybe the legacy of what previous teams
have done, what maybe people may may may not know

(10:46):
about some upcoming players and opportunities. So again I find
this to be a very interesting way that we want
to look at and we want people to try and
interpret the importance of media Day. I'm not trying to
make it sound like we got to make it stand
out or anything like that, but to your point, we
were just talking about this and you'll highlight this in
a moment because I want to really get your perspective

(11:08):
about what your feelings were, and it's not to cast
any level of aspersions on whether teams are or aren't
doing it right. I think what I'm speaking to is
more about how within the community there there can be
opportunity in space, and I don't think it should be
out of the realm of thought that we can all
take a little responsibility to help elevate a specific time

(11:32):
frame where this is an event that can single out
and help to put not only a team, a culture,
a fan base, a community in a moment where they
may not get that kind of chance or spotlight or
opportunity right like, because let's remember too, not everybody's going
to be on primetime television, you know what I'm saying,

(11:53):
capturing the eye and the lure of whether you're the
you know, the the freak, the crazy Greek fandom, or
the novice. You won't have access to all those prime
time games. So these are little nuggets of chances where
you can sprinkle people's appreciation to learn more about your team,
get into your team, you know. And I liken that

(12:13):
to a lot of those teams that we now used
to be small market teams now are you know, our
teams that we speak of in the same tongues that
we talk about with the major market teams like the
Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies. You know what
I'm saying, Like, these guys put a lot of emphasis
in time and making sure that the name still gets
spoken to utilizing all of these other platforms and ultimately

(12:36):
these other dates in order to make sure that there's
relevancy regardless of whether they're having up years or down years.
And I just hope that's something that most of these
other teams are starting to pay attention to because the
NBA will continue to push forward, will continue to globalize,
and they're gonna be more dates, they're gonna be accessible
for how you utilize those dates to elevate that space
that think is gonna speak volumes.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Well, I mean, so I'll say this one last thing
to kind of close loop on this. You know, it
was interesting to me come home from the heat Meetia
to day, it's all right, where am I going to
get my content?

Speaker 1 (13:05):
My immediate reaction was to turn on NBA TV.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
NBA TV is showing old basketball games from the two thousands,
and while that's great in the off season because there's
not another content, it's frigging media day. So where is
the wall the wall coverage on the NBA TV. Then
I happen to go through my phone and look, Oh,
the NBA is live on Instagram. Oh, the NBA's live
on YouTube. Oh, the NBA's live on X So very

(13:28):
much understanding what Adam Silber said more recently than that,
this is I think he was. He was trying to say, like,
you're trying to connect to this generation, so to speak,
but this is a social media frenzied engagement when it
comes to the fan base now. So traditional methods of
being on your actual NBA TV channel wasn't wasn't available,

(13:49):
Like that was mind boggling to me. But on Instagram
and you know, there was simulcasting on Instagram and based
all the social platforms, they had wall the wall coverage,
you know, with Modak, Hills, Harper, you know, and they're
going through all the different media days that way, and
I thought that was such a unique way to do that.
I was like, this is the league. They're not even
why they wouldn't just also do that on their cable

(14:10):
provider was strange, But they chose to only do that
from the social side. So there's a definite, definitive switch,
I think in terms of how they want people to
consume the content. And that's why I don't think your
idea is off base in terms of like, well, maybe
next year the funnest way to try to monetize that,
or maybe they are already monetizing that to the social aspect.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
But I find it to your point, y'all, I find
it a little.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Crazy.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
You just finished signing this megadeal, capturing all of these
streaming partnerships and your NBA Media day going into this
new season, right, forget the TV, just the streaming aspect
of it. You have access to Peacock, you have access
to Amazon, you have access to all of that, and
you're not promoting your media day, which is about two

(14:59):
weeks before are your actual NBA season is getting ready.
I mean, if this is not a great opportunity, a
great leaping, you know what, I'm saying a jump off
sort of speak for you to get on. This would
have been great, This would have been awesome. You know
what I'm saying. It's just again we're not saying, oh,

(15:21):
the NBA as well. Hopefully there is a method to
their madness. But again I go back to the fact
that these are those little things that I'm talking about, man, like,
these are those those are little things.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
So that being said set the tone for us.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
What was it that you took away from your experience
with Miami Heat's media day.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
The biggest thing for me was the realization I think
of Eric Spolstra as a coach. I got there about
two minutes sentence press conference, Miami traffic at all. But
he became very reflective and he's always good. Like I've
told you of this on this podcast a hundred times over.
I like coach talk, right, I can get more out
of coaches speaking than player for the most part.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
But it's a players league and so we all understand that.
But he was very reflective.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
This organization was humbled by that embarrassing, you know, four
oh sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's
not how they want to go out culture and all,
and they feel like they have some things to prove
this and her in some ways happy that their disabuse
of the Jimmy Butler situation and I can just focus
on playing basketball. This is the kind of team that

(16:27):
our exposure usually overchieves with right no kind of lower
level expectations from the outsiders, but high expectations on the
on the inside. But Sopocial was very reflective of who
he is, how he needs to handle old players and
new players. And I came across with a really interesting
sense that I was telling you offline that Spolstra is

(16:47):
kind of like this hard nosed coach that gets a
lot of praise for his exes and no's and you know, adjustments,
But there's really such a thing as a coach sposra doghouse,
and I witnessed this is too strong a terminology, but
almost like I shared trauma with some of the players
who were in Spoltual's doghouse at some point last year

(17:09):
and now trying to figure out, okay, well how can
they get out of that? But on the flip side,
hearing him saying, hey, I got to be better about
connecting with people on a human level and not just
getting into what I need them to do with that
will work, what I want them to work on on
x's and those of things. So that was a really
interconnective part of the conversations that I had with players
and kind of just kind of like watching the barometer

(17:30):
of that of the heat media day kind of in person,
Like you might not have picked up on it if
you weren't really there, but I'm telling you, like I'm
on the truth. I'm not here giving a scoop rink
like that too. I'm blessed that they let me into
their arena and to their organization to.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Be a part of their media day. But it was
really interesting for my less to kind of pick up
on that little tipit. I want to.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Quickly piggyback on what you just said, Sew, because it's
now made me reflect about Let's remember, right, like Spolstra
is in our generation, right, he's around our age group,
you know, So he's been coaching back when we were
still in college. You know what I'm saying, He's been

(18:11):
doing this so long, and I liken, I almost want
to make that comparison to what we saw with.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Coach Popovich.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Now I know people are gonna sit here and be like,
is he trying to compare sposures Popovich. I'm not trying
to do that, but I want people to really think
about where it is I'm going with this. Remember, coach
Popovich was brought up, you know what I'm saying, under
a very strict and very culturally influenced, disciplined background.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Right, it was these it's my way or the highway.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Right, It's got to be this, this, this, this and
this and this is the structure and this is how
it is.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
And it wasn't until after a certain number of years
in being in the league and going.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Through the growing pains of having to get past the
Lakers and you know, getting past the Mavericks at times,
and all that other kind of stuff, the jazz and
everything like that, you saw an evolution.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
You saw a change.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
You actually saw People may look at it as him
being you know, getting weak because the players are being
marketed more and he's now centered around where the players
are really standing out more so than coaching and everything
like that. He changed, he evolved, And why would that
be crazy for us to not think that Spostra is
getting to that part now, right, He's getting to that age,

(19:32):
where yes, it's always been about the Heat culture, and
we spent a good portion of our time trying to
figure out what the hell is the Heat culture and
you can only be able to kind of guesstimate that
via through pat Riley or via through the way that
the players respond. This could actually be a transformation where
if you see Spolster, he's like, I want to get

(19:53):
to a point where I want to see what I'm
showing you resonates through what the players are gaining from this,
Because it's either that the players got it or they don't,
and if they don't, we don't ever hear from those
guys unless they go play for another team. This could
actually be an opportunity for the Miami Heat or Spolstra
where he can actually help to I don't want to

(20:15):
say these guys had to be talented and have to
fit in, but I'm saying maybe we get an opportunity
to see the growth and the evolution of some players
who weren't quite picking it up, because maybe Spolstra is,
to your point, being more reflective and trying to figure
out another way to get in the ear of these guys,
to get them to play or to be better about
the way they go about handling their business or the

(20:36):
business and playing Miami Heat basketball.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, so I'll pick it up from a guy like
Terry Roachier who had a very bad year.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Terry Rogier is even having anty controversial year too.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, so investigations and he wasn't really trying to get
into any event. But one thing Supple said about Terry specifically,
it was like, well, I'm not going to hold them
accountable from last year.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
This is the new year to clean slate.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
So it's like, yes, there's a body of work right
that like a guy like Bam out of body, like
you know he's going to start and so forth, because
it's Bam right. But a guy like Terror who had
a bad year, But we're not going to focus on that.
We're gonna say, hey, here's a new opportunity. Kyler heroes
injured to start the year, So a guy like Terry
Rogier has a chance to earn minutes again. A guy
like Drew Smith, who had opportunity to duel it all with,

(21:19):
he has an opportunity to earn minutes coming off of
his injury. They got norm Pal so he's a new addition.
He was going to get minutes regardless, but there's going
to be opportunities for him to maybe be more diversified
in what his role can potentially be, especially with the
beginning of the year. But Hero is going to be out,
So that is the other part of it too. Obviously,
when I'm talking about the overarching kind of feeling about
Spoilsure on how he wants to kind of coach this

(21:42):
team and coach up maybe some other guys, it's also
the notion that Tyler Hero is going to be gone
for the first two months, maybe three months of the season,
and so now there's an opportunity for other players to
really step up in that way. And you know they
also know sit like everybody wants to Bam to score more,
but Bam is not going to be a twenty five
point per game guy.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Like you can just get that out of your mind.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
But his leadership aspect and his create play creation or
something that will allow guys like Norman Powe and maybe
Rogier and some others be able to pick up the
slack Jovic as well too.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
He's another guy who's just like, yeah, my role was
really weird last year.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
You know, I got minutes and didn't get minutes, and
so I'm just trying to figure out what Full needs
me to do. But now Wiggins is more acclimated, you know,
being here now a full summer and has his family
here and not in transition.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
All those things impact guys, right, So that's where I.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Think this Heat team can really maybe surprise some folks
because Spo is in a different mindset. They're wiping the
sight clean. They have a lot of similarly liked, similar,
similar size and skilled players that I think, you know what,
he can feel confident. All right, Well, I'm gonna put
Jovis in you know what, and I'm going to put
from Techio in right and can get very similar production,

(22:51):
you know, and maybe ride a hot hand to some
of the agreer Gully David Mitchell has made this roster
from last year being kind of off cast from Toronto.
Uh So there's just a lot of guys who are
going to be biting for minutes here, and I think
that's the way Spull likes it, right, It's just like, hey,
well let's everybody, let's go out here, roll the balls
out and see what happens with Bam and Tyler primarily
as a lead guys Norman Powell as another guy to

(23:13):
coming in who could score, you know, primarily and be
a lead scorer for them. But this team is going
to really rely on execution and defense and then hopefully
the second year adjustment, if you will, and ascension of
a guy like killelwear Did you.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Get the sense from when you had the opportunity to
hear from Spolstra, did you get the sense of the
emphasis on the team just getting better or him really
putting his imprint on this team's ability to score the basketball?
I think more. I don't want to use the word effectively,
but score the ball fluently a little bit more, right Like,

(23:50):
I think one of the things that I've often found
interesting about any team that's been coached by Spolstra, You'll
never ever get You'll never question the team's heart. You'll
never questioned a team that he coaches and their desire
to play defense.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Right.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
Rarely do you see teams running up the scores against
the Miami Heat. And if it ever happens that that
is just done like, he stops that, you know, full stop,
right like, he probably would rather see team like his
team's you know, lose you know, ninety five to to
h to sixty rather than a team beating them down
like one thirty, you know, to ninety.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
But I've often said that like, at some point there
has to be a more innovative means of their ability
to score the basketball. There has to be a way
for it to become easier for them to score the basketball,
something that they can lean on and say this, we
know that if we do this, we're we're at least
getting eighty five, we're at least getting ninety points. You

(24:50):
get the sense that there is that level of to
your point, reflection on what he may need to do
in order to find them to get it. So it's
easier not just his star players, but all of these
players to find ways for them to get within it
a flow offensively, to be fluent for them to score
to basketball.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
He said something I forget who asked the question, but
it wasn't about even so much three point percentages and
some of those other analytical things. Is like what quality
shots are we getting and already playing mistake free basketball?
And I think that's how Miami wants to be able
to manufacture, you know, good offense and getting good looks
and getting guys who play roles that are befitting to them.
You know, Wiggins is a guy who can also score

(25:32):
for them. You know, he's a roller coaster, I think
at times. And he's also had a lot going on
in his family life, as I've already alluded to. But
he's somebody who can manufacture some offense for them as well.
But then the afore mentioned Kalel where does he want
to be a lob threat or does he want to
camp out or shoot threes?

Speaker 1 (25:49):
Right?

Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know, I think there was some conversation about what
role best fits him right now in year two and
what he might think of himself right now in year two.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
So as all they tried to figure out some of
that role.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
The fine men, that's what posed job really is, and
that's where I think it will be, like, Okay, well
is this guy going to give the minutes now? Because
when you look up and down the roster they need,
they don't have elite play creation, but they have good
play creation like Tela Hero when he's back can create
for others, and Band can create for others at that
that pinch post and that that four or five slot

(26:21):
as well. But then it's kind of like, all right, well,
who's going to be other guys who get get guys
the ball? Davian Mitchell, I don't think is an established
ball distributor, but he plays a point guard position, so
is that something where he can take another step up
there and help? But Fantechio can shoot it. We think
Djovic can shoot it as well too, right, we know
Wiggins can be a slashing and kind of like score.

(26:43):
Can Rogier get back to even ninety percent of what
he was in Charlotte, you know, and be somebody.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
Who can really score the basketball? I asked him about
play creation.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
He said, yeah, I want to do everything, you know,
back to where I can really get back and be contributing.
So they have a lot of different options, but we
always need to see how it plays out.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
And the only thing I'm.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Worried about, even as I'm talking to you right now,
is are there too many people with points to prove?
And then does that kind of bog down the notion
of well, yeah, I had a bad year, so I
got to get back or I was in exposed doghouse,
so I gotta, you know, do everything I can to
get out of exposed dog house.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
And then you're you're trying too hard in that.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
I'll mention this really quickly from my lens. Howkas felt
like he was in the dog house a little bit,
you know, and you know, he was very vulnerable and
indicated that he went and saw, you know, a mental
health professional trying to figure out why year, his rookie
year was different from a second year. But Howcas feels
like he was in the dog house a little bit.
Jo always feels like he was in the dog hoss.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
A little bit.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Rogier knows he was in the doghouse because he just
wasn't wasn't playing well.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
Right, that's three guys right there.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Collel Ware, even as a as a rookie, felt like
he should be doing more. Then got started to shine
toward the latter part of the season, but felt like
you could have been doing that all for all year.
All those guys have that like I'm not really sure
what my role was or I didn't feel like, you know,
I got to minutes I.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Was supposed to get.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
If they all come there with that same attitude again,
then the heat are going to struggle, right, But they
too need to wipe the say clean. As Sposal said
that he was going to do for them and then
contribute and find ways to help this team win.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
And do whatever it takes to win.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
And that might be passing up a shot, that might
mean taking a charge, you know, playing the passing lane appropriately,
communicating more on defense. And that's where I think Spote's
going to have a little bit of a challenge. But
he's up for that, as we've seen many many times
like this is I keep saying this, this is the
type of team that he coaches up. But there are
some competing agendas, if you will, And that's my word,

(28:41):
not there's my word. Based on some of the things,
all the people will feel like they need to redeem
themselves from last year.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
You know, we could actually have a Hoops redemption episode
just on the Miami Heat based off of what you
just said.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Right, surely you're tuned to the baseline.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Cali Warrenshaw discussing the hot topics of the NBA. Great
conversation with my Man Shaw aka the Correspondent, Lick correspondent.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
My Man covering the Miami Heat day and.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Listen, you know we're gonna be talking about the Miami heating,
you know, in a couple of weeks time, right, obviously
we're gonna do our previews, you know, where the Miami
Heat might actually find themselves in the pecking order of
the Eastern Conference. And I think it's it's important that
you know, this is kind of the how do we say,
this is somewhat of the introductory, right, getting to know

(29:34):
what we might expect to see from this this Miami
Heat team for this upcoming season. So really phenomenal stuff. Man,
I'm glad you had opportunity to be in the midst
and and hear you know, not just from a media perspective,
but just you know, being in the midst in the
air of what is the beginning of the Miami Heat
season for them, right like ultimately for for fans and

(29:56):
also for the media. Like, so, I'm really glad you
had an opportunity to be a part of that.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, I appreciate it, my brolin, And again shout out
to the Miami Heat organization. They are a first class
organization and it was really exciting to be there for
I've lost count I've been there multiple years in a row,
and you know, I think minus the COVID year obviously,
but yeah, this has been a you know, great experience
and I cleaned a lot of great things and a
lot of amazing colleagues that I got to interact with

(30:23):
well too. So folks we've had on our podcast as well,
you know Five Reason Sports folks, and our guy, you know,
Jeff Fox over there, remixed media, just really really amazing
stuff too. So I look forward to getting back to
the Heat Media Day next year, but also doing some
more Heat coverage and more general NBA stuff. But we
got more to talk about, brother, We got to hit
the rest of the league, but shout out to the
Miami Heat one last time.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Absolutely, man.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yeah, So coming up, Sean, I will be discussing some
of the news and notes that are happening around in
the association. As again we said, this is it, man,
it's the start. It's NBA Media Day, and so we're
also staying on top of it. But before we do that, listen,
we don't talk about this stuff just so that you
can only see our beautiful faces on a YouTube channel

(31:05):
for you to get your fill when it comes to
the NBA. If you are a true hip hop I'm sorry.
If you're a true hoop junkie as I am, and
you already know that one game of night isn't enough.
That's why NBA League Pass is the ultimate cheat code
for hoops fans. We're talking every matchup, every buzzer beater,

(31:25):
every rookie breakout stream live or on demand, straight to
your phone, tablet, or big screen. Want to rewatch that
in sane fourth quarter run?

Speaker 1 (31:33):
It's there.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
Curious about the next big star? League Pass has you
covered with behind the scenes access as well. And here's
the best part. By signing up through our link, you're
not just leveling up your basketball experience, you're supporting the
baseline as well. So head over to link dot NBA
dot com slash LP nineteen MG. Don't just watch the

(31:55):
highlights live the season NBA League Pass where the game
never stops coming up. Sean and I go into around
the league notes. It's happening in the association. Don't miss
it here on the baseline. We are back Cali Warrenshaw

(32:21):
Baseline NBA Podcast just finished talking NBA Media Day, Miami Heat,
NBA Media Day, My Manshaw covering you know, everything that's
been happening down there in the the the the what
is what.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Do they call what is it down there? It's not
the it's not the is it the sunshine thing. Ah,
there we go as as and you know, as always.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Man, it's it's great that we are able to kind
of lead off into you know, what's going on down
there with the Miami Heat. So let's transition ourselves to
kind of get into stuff that's been happening around in
the association. And uh, first things first, nicolea Jokic making
very assertive proclamation, he says that he plans to retire

(33:06):
a Denver nugget. I gotta tell you, I admire this dude.
You know, if he says he's gonna do it, I
am not wanted to, you know, saying to not believe him.
So clearly, the Denver Nuggets have gotten in his ear,
done all the right things behind the scenes for him

(33:28):
to basically come out and say, my my president and
my future will be a nugget.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
For as long as he plays basketball, as long as
he plays basketball.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
And yeah, so he more or less was just indicating
and like, listen, he's not worry about contract extensions. He
doesn't only think about all that is his plan, as
you lute to president futures to be a nugget. So
while the general manager and new leadership came out over
the summer and said a couple of things that wouldn't
indicate otherwise, but just like, hey, you know, we could

(33:58):
offer him and he could decline. He's more like, listen,
you know what, I have no interest of really trying
to do anything else. And I think that allows him
to marry himself, you know, to that organization because they
know they're going to do right. He's the best player
in basketball hands down, you know, GM survey and.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
All that stuff. This US sure is about to come out,
but he's the man there.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
They know that, and I'm great glat to see that,
you know, he's being able to be that a set
up about his future there even though it was never
really question.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
You know what's so great about it too. We've seen
Nikola Jokic and again maybe this is something you know
for athletes in general, really like they put their all,
their everything into them competing, and it's just it's crushing
when they don't, you know, you know, achieve, you know,
whatever their ultimate goals are, whatever it is that they're

(34:43):
setting themselves out to do. And we've seen it break people, right,
We've seen athletes like just basically become a shell of
themselves if they've fallen short. Nakolakic has always he's been
adamant that he said, there is more to this game
than just playing the game. He's He's made that perfectly clear.
But that doesn't mean that he's not competitive. It doesn't
mean that he doesn't command the respect that the players

(35:06):
that he plays with, and it doesn't mean that he
doesn't want to go out and win. He does want
to win, but he is you know, also, had has
made it adamantly clear like this.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Game will not ruin him or run him. He will
run the game.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
And so, I you know, if you're the Denver Nuggets man,
you gotta you got a genuine person there, because most
athletes hide behind, you know, saying they have a They
have to have an alter ego for for us to
buy into whether or not that is or isn't the case,
and and and so it's empowering. But at the same time,
it's like, all right, Jokics can get away with saying that,

(35:41):
whereas a lot of other players are probably not in
that space right now to say that or command that.
I believe Jokic because he's already basically achieved everything you
could possibly achieve and done everything that he could possibly
do if you're the Denver Nuggets, So I'd be very
careful because he's saying that to say.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
Don't screw me over right, like do right by me right.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
If my heart's in this, you will never question where
I am. I'm gonna be a nugget, but don't make
me have to question that, because if so, we're gonna
have these kind of conversations that Giannis is having right
now with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
So good point and good point, but yeah, I think
Denver's in good hands and the Yokis is not looking
to you know, upset Alpa Carte as you say, just
keep it moving, man, and Nugget should be good. And
they've done a lot of great things this offseason to
improve our roster.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
All right, So especially about you saying keeping it moving,
we are going to keep it moving. And if I'm
Kawhi Leonard in the Los Angeles Clippers, I wish they
were to keep this thing moving before it even happened.
But now apparently why Leonard, he has a voice and
he speaks yeah, and he is saying that the LA
Clippers will be acquitted of all wrongdoing and charges and

(36:54):
there's a level of confidence here. Now I don't know
which congress person he's he's sitting there getting his talking
points from, but I just find it very bold of
him to actually be coming out and saying such things
in this moment in time.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
No, I mean, I was surprised he said he even
addressed it at all. I thought he might have just
rushed it off. But he spoke with a certain level
of not only confidence, but certainly even a level of
depth for Kawhi, you know, where something like that is
even concerned. He's like, yeah, I don't pay attention to headlines.
I think he might have called Pablo's story click baity
or something along those lines. I don't want to misquote him,

(37:31):
but that's what I had read. But ultimately, just like, listen,
you know, and I'm so old seven million dollars in
some of the situation, So you know, listen, Kawhi, no
show jobs soprano style. It is what it is. I
just hope there was nothing that fairy is there. But
I'm glad he was able to address it. And let's
see how much of a distraction this becomes throughout the
course of the regular season.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
I think it's a distraction just because he said something.
I listen. The only thing that was clickbaity about it
is the fact that there just keeps There's more and
more stories that keep coming up about the fun company
and the company itself, and more about whether or not
Balmer knew or didn't know. And that's always gonna be

(38:10):
the case when that amount of money is, you know,
up in the air and it's involving a major league's
you know, a major pro a pro sports team and
a pro sports league. Right, So again, I know you're glad.
If I was Kawhi, I probab would not have said
a thing. I would not have set a thing until
the NBA has said something to it. Because now if

(38:34):
you are wrong, or you're even a half a word
off of what you're saying, you have now opened up
another reason for things to get clickbaity.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
And you don't even think I'm only going to cut
you off from this one. Do you think Kawhi cares?
Kawhi could not be bothered now because he's got his money.
Does does matter for the Clippers? Sure, but Kawhi does
not care. Like I mean, I don't think we can
be any more certain about a player who does not
care with the media what's going on or how they're
going to dig and investigate. He is unbothered and we

(39:06):
could only be so lucky to have his level of
not giving f's when it comes to playcating or you know,
giving answers to things. So the fact that he said something,
if it goes left, he's not kind of caros.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
I get you, Shaw, but it is a shame a
little bit though, because if you really think about it,
the LA Clippers are really doing their best to protect
Kawhi Leonard. So is Kawhi Leonard really protecting the LA Clippers.
And that's what I'm saying. That's when sometimes just not
given an f Yeah, that sounds really cool and everything
for that person, but it ain't really cool for an
organization who roll the dice on bringing you to them

(39:41):
so that they can start hoisting some banners, giving them
a reason to go get an old arena completely separate
from big brother La laker Land, you know.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
What I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
So everybody else looking at that situation would say that
the Kawhi Leonard saga and or era an LA clipper
Land has been less than maybe some would even go
so far as to say it's a disaster.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
You think Kawhi would utilize those words. He would not.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
He would be like, hey, I've played, I'm a borderline
Hall of Famer, I've made my bread, I got my bag,
and I'll see you in La.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
So shaw, I know we're gonna man, I don't want
to go down that rabbit hill.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
If I don't want to go down ram I'm for
the Western Conference.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Okay, no, no, no, But this is something separate what
I'm saying to this point, though, Shaw is I think
anyone who is naive and thinking that Kawhi Leonard coming
to the LA Clippers to do what they were is
very much like what the Brooklyn Nets did.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
When they when they went and got Kevin Durant.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
You know what I'm saying, Like they saw something else
out of all of that that I think they completely misread,
and only the money and the terms and what they
basically did rolling out the red carpet, basically giving the
franchise to a player who I just think is in
a different space, has a different mentality about how he
sees the game of basketball, how he goes about playing

(41:04):
the game of basketball is not the same kind of
thing like you doing this for a Kobe Bryant. Were
you doing this for a Lebron James or even doing
it for a Dwayne Wade. And I think that is
where the LA Clippers screwed the pooch on this. If
you wanted a guy to go out there and be
a franchise killer, you know what I'm saying, make life
miserable for the LA Lakers and all of this stuff great, awesome,

(41:26):
But if you were hanging your hopes on Kawhi Leonard
being a guy who is going to be the front
end face franchise, the rusher, you into the new era
of what we perceive as LA Clippers basketball man.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
I hope you had a legit backup plan to that,
which they didn't.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
And I think this is why now to your point,
they're not giving an f thing.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
I'm not surprised by it.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
What I'm saying is I feel bad for the Clippers
because now they're getting all of the I don't given
f on this.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Listen, it's a much deeper layered conversation that we do
not have time for today.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
All right, So we're gonna change that up from uh
from pabulatory finds that let y'all find out.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
I don't know, couple jobs, but I have opinion.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Uh, Callie want shot Baseline NBA podcast. As we keep
things moving along, all right, seaw just want to take
a couple of minutes to really kind of highlight what's
going on with the Houston Rockets, right Like, so obviously
off season moves that have been made the Houston Rockets
were really considered as what early season, early early off

(42:32):
season contenders for the Western Conference title, getting Kevin Durant. Uh,
you know what I'm saying, moving pieces along. They still
have their core, They've got an up and coming, you know,
really young group of quality players with Smith, with Sengoon,
with Thompson. And now we find out that van Fleet

(42:55):
is going to be gone for the season and that
and even in the midst of that, you know, so
Durant has said, yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm
gonna extend my contract, you know with the Rockets and
stuff like that. With that being said, I find that
what should be really important for the Rockets losing a
guy like Fred van Fleet and how much of that

(43:16):
impact is now now going to be on putting more
onus on Kevin Durant's ability to help lead this basketball
team because arguably he is the veteran person now next
to a guy like Van Fleet. He's gonna have to
be that guy.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Yeah, listen, as many people have said, and Kevin Durant
is great and will as a first Battle Hall of Famer,
a leader of men has not always been his first
calling card and friend Van Lead as a guy who's
been on himself as somebody who is also I think
the president of the Players Association newly elected as well

(43:52):
too is a leader of men. So Fred will still
have the ability as much as he wants to and
can be around while he's recovering for his to kind
of still have an infut on this team.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
I don't know that Katie's going to be that guy.
I don't.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
I just I just I think asking Katie to be
a leader in the locker room in the most loud
way instead of as a leader by example, so to speak,
on the court is something that a lot of teams
have been disappointed by. And again it's not shade, it's
just kind of like the body of work that we've seen.
So the play creation, maybe aman Thompson will be able

(44:26):
to pick up some of that because he did play
some point guard, you know, growing up in college, I
mean in high school, and then he knows one year
an overtime elite. They still have Aaron Holliday reach. Shepherd
is obviously getting was already going to get a great opportunity.
But when you talk about leadership, I think that leadership
in terms of like scoring, yeah, that would be Kada,
but Katie. But the leadership in the locker room, I

(44:50):
think that'll still come from Udoka as a head coach,
and then maybe Fred van Vliet if he's still willing
to kind of be around in that space.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
And that's that's the best I can say of it
right now.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
I just I don't have a lot of warm and
fuzzy's about the you know, the former of what you've
asked me in terms of Katie being that guy to like, hey,
come here, young buck and put my arm around you,
and you know, I mean to show you the way that.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Just hasn't been his way to today.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
Yeah, And I think that to me is the biggest
key about where the Houston Rockets are going to find that.
Right there's a vacuum in the vocal leadership on the floor,
not off the court. It's certainly not in the in
the locker room because I think Van Fleet for him
to feel like he is making progress, I mean, he's

(45:33):
gonna have to be around those guys, and he's gonna
have to be in the ear of whoever the starting
point guard is going to be for the Houston Rockets.
The Houston Rockets have emphasized that they're not going to
go crazy and try and rap, you know, rush into
trying to bring somebody on.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
And I appreciate that this is an opportunity for.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Some of the younger guys who I've had an opportunity
this past season to you know, compete in the playoffs, right,
so they have a little seasoning under their belt, they
could beat step in into quote unquote unquote be vocal leaders.
So for Udoka, he doesn't necessarily need a Van Fleet
kind of point guard. He needs a heady point guard,

(46:11):
someone who is going to get their young players and
KD in their spots. But I don't think you necessarily
need to get like that kind of vocalized leadership. I
think you just need someone who's intelligent, can play the game,
can operate in a space where those other guys can
thrive and you know, kind of be clutching certain situations

(46:32):
doesn't have to be Van Fleet clutch. So but I
think more than anything, that's such a big blow to
your point, do shaw about what the expectations are for
Kevin Durant. You have to make it so Kevin Durant
just goes out there and plays basketball. Just go out
there and hoop, and we'll see if whether or not
that's what's gonna take place. And obviously too, we're gonna

(46:54):
see where the tolerancy level for Udoka is gonna be,
because that's navigating a very delicate ship. You've got a
very you know, Veteran Layden kind of player in Kevin Durant,
and you've got some young guys that he's obviously spent
time and energy getting them to a point where he
wants to see a level of independence and accountability coming

(47:15):
from there. And it can't be messed up because Kevin
Durant feels a certain kind of way or has a
certain kind of expectation of how he gets to play
on that basketball court.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
With that team.

Speaker 3 (47:24):
So that combination along with losing, like Van Fleet was
pretty much the ball whisperer.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
You know, he I think he could.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
He would have been a reason to channel that communication
for what Dudoka expects from Durant and what Adoka expects
from those young guys. He's and that is missing, and
we're going to see how long that can kind of
shape before.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
I'm sorry, they don't.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
I mean, I've never really heard much about Clin Capella
as a locker room presence, but I mean as a veteran,
he's there.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
Steven Adams Alster returns, I don't forget.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
They have Uncle Jeff, who they do like, and he
is somebody who is helping and putting his arm around
guys and kind of showing them the ropes types of situation.
So Katie with all his glory and obviously his accolades
and just overall experience, can contribute to that, and maybe
they'll have enough without Fred van Vleet, you know, with
some of the other veterans.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
I tell you what I you know, I wish I
would have been very interested to see if Marcus, if
Marcus Smart was still available, what he would have been
like for that team, because I think he would have
been a very good, solid backup player underneath Udoka.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
He got an opportunity to thrive, and I think he still.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Earlier and they have a different, you know, a lot
of different options. It happens when it happened, so you know,
again right before training camp, and you know, it's just
a different situation, but they have a lot of I'm.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Surprised though, I am surprised that the Rockets weren't looking
at him. I am surprised that the Rockets weren't looking
at him and try to go after Marcus Smart when
he you know, when he when he was available. So
I was a little surprised by that.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Well, gotcha, gotcha, your tune to.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
The baseline, Cali weren't shotscussing the hot button topics of
the NBA. Coming up, We're gonna finish off this show
a little bit more news than notes that is happening
around the league, so you do not want to miss
it here Callie Warrenshaw based on NBA podcast.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Stay tuned. We are back Calli Warrenshaw based on NBA podcast.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
As we round out the third part of our show,
all the news and notes that are taking place NBA
Media Day, So Shaw.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Talk timby Minnesota, timber Willis basketball and.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Man has been reportedly working out or has been reportedly
learning or gaining knowledge with the great MJ.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
It's kind of like Spike Lee and Denzel. You know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
We were winding when this was gonna happen, gonna get
where we're gonna get. This combination was ever gonna happen?
Got Spike Lee and Denzel? Wow, what do we make
of it?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
I think, and was more or less saying he perceived advice.
You know, I don't think MJ was with him in
the gym, but I think just understanding that all the
MJ comparisons that we've had a vent in the last years,
it becomes a little bit more saalatious for us to
kind of discuss so, you know, shout out to and
for you know, giving the media what they wanted Little
Jude advice from MJ, you know, over the course of

(50:31):
the summer. And so we'll see, you know, if we
see what that actually looks like, because advice and working out,
you know, it's a difference from a phone call versus Hey,
I was in the gym with you, like a Chemologia
one style and works on you and you know, helped
you with your footwork. But again, I love Ann He's
one of the more quotable guys in there, hence why
he made our show today with his salacious talk of

(50:52):
conversations with MJ and the off season.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
I love it, you know what I'm saying. If I listen,
if we talk about it enough, somehow it must manifest itself.
And uh, I gotta give props to a man Jabbari,
you know he you know, he, me and him, we
had a little bit of a pick them, you know,
and he's my He's my dark horse to win the MVP.

(51:19):
So now's a good time as any if you want
to really win that damn thing. Boy, you need to
be up in the air of every person who out
there who's won it. You know what I'm saying, MJ. Hakeim,
you know what I'm saying. Any Em any Ordon, any
I an't any O'Neil, I don't care. You get you

(51:40):
sit down with them cats, you know what I'm saying,
and you get as much information as you possibly can
get so you can put yourself in the best position
possible for me to actually be saying. Oh, as we
get to the midway point, guess who is a you know,
top three, top five conversation of league MVP. You know
what I'm saying, And his name's should be in there
every single year, you know what I'm saying now more

(52:03):
than ever. So I'm glad that if that's what took place,
And I don't even care if it was just a
three word whisper whatever I'm saying. You gotta start somewhere.
I just started somewhere, all right, shall Uh if people
have been paying attention to Zion Williamson, Uh, you know
my man, you know, must be on that road program,

(52:25):
Serena's Road program. Uh, you know, hunt homie, homie coming
up looking cut up. You know what I'm saying. And
everybody is is now with their eyes all popped down
in the back of their heads, and.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
You know they're like, watch out now, you know, mountain
mount Zion is coming. Yeah. What do we make Uh?

Speaker 2 (52:51):
You know I've seen everything from was he on the thigh?
Joe's empiic too? Did he actually like really work out? Man?

Speaker 1 (52:56):
And I don't know what to make of it. We
know we know they brushing the mAbs. He likes his grub.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
He's as talented as they come, but he's been as
unhealthy as they come.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
As well. So it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
What he looks like right now in terms of the
shizzled and spelt physique is can he stay healthy and
be on the floor. And that's all we're going to
judge him by, because even at the excessive weight that
you know, we've said that he's been at, when he's
on the floor, his production has been stellar. I just
need to see him on the floor, whatever that means.
So if the weight loss helps him, great, If it doesn't,

(53:34):
then we're just at the same back at square one.
So let's see Zion stay on the floor, play sixty
plus games this year and see the Pelicans can gather
all the dull drums that they've been in, you know,
under the Wildie Green era, not because of Woodie Green's fault,
but Willy Green has been built a bad hand with all.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
The injuries, you know, especially in the last two three seasons.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
I completely agree with you, and I'm gonna say this,
you know, so that people can really understand where were
where we're coming from and where I'm coming from. You
lose all of that weight, and that's great, man, Like
you know, if you're doing that, because you know, you
don't like when people are body shaming you or whatever,
so be it.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
But if that weight.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
Is where you were a dominant basketball player, it wasn't
because of how you looked. It's how you were managing yourself, right,
And that's a question of what you were doing in
pregame preparation and what you're doing in postgame preparation, right.
And I think some people just get this thing completely,
you know, misconstrued. That is just you know, oh, he's

(54:36):
like eating hamburgers or stuff like that. Maybe he's not stretching.
Maybe he is not, you know, in a proper routine
to strengthen and stabilize the muscles for the amount of
you know, you know, what he's doing through the course
of an eighty two game season.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
He hasn't figured that part of it out.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
And if someone is saying, okay, for you to do that,
you're gonna have to drop twenty or thirty pounds, okay, great,
as long as what they're saying is conducive to what
he is asking himself to go out and do. So
I say that for the same thing for Luka Dakich,
it all sounds great, and he went and lost that
weight because y'all demanded it.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
But if it shot don't look right.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
If he can't back a guy down back and you
know what I'm saying the way that he does, if
he's not scoring the same amount of points as the
same clip for all of that effort, what did that mean?
Absolutely nothing, right, So we'll see what all of that means.
But I honestly it doesn't matter to me, because to
your point, it's the fact that the reason why we

(55:36):
talk about this is because he can't stay on the
basketball court. That's more of a disciplined thing to get
yourself ready to play for an eighty two game season
than it is just about what he's putting just in
his stomach.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
It's more than that. And I think if that.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
Requires him to get a completely different team, have a
completely different mindset, a completely different.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
Approach, I ain't got no problem with it.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
If it's along as he knows how to play with it,
and we're not gonna be able to see that until
another season. Like it ain't gonna happen automatically. We've seen
these players go through those drastic changes, and it's taken
them at least two years before we've seen the product.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Though that we've seen the results of what they what
they attempted to do. Yeah, I'm rooting for Zion.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
I think he's as talented as anybody, and I want
the Pelicans to be better than everybody's predicting them to
be under Zion's crucial leadership.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
So let's just see it on the floor. Man, It's
going to be a really unique season.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
But hopefully Zion can get into the form that we
all know or hoped he could attain the coming out
of Duke and he was projected to be one of
the more dominant players in the league.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Absolutely all right.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
The Portland Trailblazers, they are looking to adopt or have
more of a defensive identity for his upcoming season, which,
you know, I admire that that, you know. Listen, Chauncey
Bills was the guy that when he you know, got
with the Detroit Pistons, he got with his boys, he
finally understood the importance of him playing defense because he

(57:02):
was always considered big shot billups, but he couldn't stay
on the basketball court because he wasn't a sound defensive player.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
So now I think he, you know, understands it even
with this youthful, you.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
Know, team that he is working with these guys to
give themselves a chance to allow themselves to grow offensively,
they have to have some kind of foundation to be
able to play solid defense, and so I think having
that kind of identity would suit them well. So what
do we make of the emphasis though, of them saying, hey,
we need to have a defensive identity.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
I think emphasis for me was coming from the lens
of Drew Holliday seemingly buying into what this roster is.
A lot was made about him being traded and not
feeling like what is he going there for, Like not
really understanding what the move was, But if he's buying
in just saying, hey, at this stage of my life,
in my career, I'm going to help these guys lock in.
And he's always been, you know, a plus defender, then

(57:53):
you take that with you know, Tomii Komara, who's also
one of the best defenders in the league. I think
he made thirteen All Defense last year. Jeremy Grant, while
maybe not as impactful as he once was, but also
has a defensive mindset. Your guy at peastible, you know,
kind of getting back from some of his injuries and
getting into this not have been clinging as an elite
level rim protector. Again, these guys don't scare you offensively

(58:14):
per se, but they do say like, oh you know what,
they can really go in there and lock you the
hell up.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Robert Williams if he's able to come back from injury.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
All these are guys who Deportland Troilbazers expect to play
key minutes along with Shaden Sharp and now Scoot Henderson
has a nagging injury, you know he'll be back with
in the season.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
But again they'll have enough firepower if you will. But
they're going to hide.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
More so on their defensive identities alluding to because of
those guys, because that's where they have been able to
make their hay in the NBA. And so I think
if they just go out there and try to be
just ragtag, dog you down type of defenders, the Blazers
could have a lot of success, you know, going into
the season and continue the kind of like the surprising
success that they had at the end of last year,

(58:54):
kind of the breakout year of Denny Avvia as well too,
and not getting them away from DeAndre eight.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
And I think this Pleasures team.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Could be a lot of fun and could challenge for
a playing spot in the Western Conference.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Yeah, so they they sound it's a sound like dark Horse, right,
could be dark one of your dark Horse picks.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Yeah, I mean again play and I'm not, you know,
going anything crazy, but you know they can.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Build off of that success. But we'll say something that
for the Western Conference. Okay, good, good teaser? Hey man,
me not again, we got to tea. We do it
in the biz exactly.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Finally, Shaw Jonathan kaminga stalemate with the Warriors.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
No surprise there.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
I just want these guys to like, this is starting
to become like one of those shows that what love
Island or you know, whatever the case may be, like
ninety day fiance.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Like, yo, man, let's just call it a rap man.
Move on from each other man, real talk. Yeah, I
mean the Warriors get Al Harford in. They finally.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
You know, that was much rubener off the summer of
the Anthony Melton as well too. But then Kminga's like, yeah,
I'm gonna go ahead and stay from this mediate day
situation for right now. And that's not to say that
he won't join them by the end of training camp
or even their first preseason game. But given all the controversy,
around it. I think it was probably best for both parties.
And I didn't pay attention to how many questions Steph
and Draymond got asked about that, and I'm sure they did,

(01:00:09):
but Cominga himself didn't want to put himself into that frame.
I'm glad the team and he agreed that that was
probably best for them right now, like you said, let's
go ahead and wrap this thing up.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
They want you again.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
It's it's been much much valued about what both sides want.
I just think they need to kind of agree to
part ways and Golden States seemed to be kind of
holding steadfast and to maybe wanting certain things that Kaminga
does not want to deal with. But again, it doesn't
matter what side of the fens and you're on. I
just think we all recognize that this is a relationship.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
That he's in.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
Yeah, I needs to And I'm surprised that Dunleavy didn't
figure out a way to move Kaminga or figure out
a way to package Kminga.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Wa Often he just haven't liked them, or you know,
or trying to extrapolate more value than that might originally
be there. And that's done Leavy's rights as a president
and governor or not governor, but as a president to say,
you know what, I think we can get more.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
But they've offered him more than some other teams can
for Kminga. But Kminga does not want to be in
Golden State, like he just does. He does not want that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
So even if he can get twenty five a year
and can't get as much from other teams, you know,
with the whole bird Right situation, he doesn't want to
be there and does not trust Steve Kurrent and when
their trust is lost, it's nearly impossible to kind of
get back.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
But the one good thing for Kaminga, though, is he's
never given you a reason to be that kind of
a player that is so malcontent that if you put
him in a different situation with another team that he won't,
you know ingratiate himself to whatever that team, that culture
is going to be. Right, The Warriors really can't because

(01:01:49):
if you really think about it, the Warriors have done
themselves with disservice and how they've handled Jonathan Kaminga.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
You know, the wishy washiness, you know the way and
let's just keep it real, man. Steve Kerr to me,
did not really do a great job, you know, really
handling Jonathan Kaminga, really settling into where he can fit
in with that. You know, I'm not gonna put this
on Steph and Draymond or whatever the case may be,
because whether they wanted him to or not wanted him to,

(01:02:17):
ultimately it still comes from Steve Kerr and those guys
ride amongst each other, and I just feel like, if
you weren't gonna be sold on Kaminga, then you should
have moved him when you had him at the height
of what he was actually giving the Warriors, And that
to me is just it sucks because I think that
there's a place for Kaminga. There's a couple of teams
we just finished talking about one of them. I would

(01:02:38):
have liked seeing Kaminga playing with the with the Miami Heat,
you know, that level of athleticism, you know, and you
have a healthy Tyler hero.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
If you had Wiggins as well too, you move Wiggins
back to the two, you know, or Bam at the five,
and you have Kaminga playing the four.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
I don't know, man, I just don't know what the
Warriors are doing. Uh m, well, well we will see.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
They feel good about their perspective this year, full your
Jimmy Butler, their perspectives. They feel good about it, and
then maybe Kaminga is forced back into the fold in
some weird situation and we'll see how they handle it
from there. But yeah, I think we're all tired of
watching this from afarm just like yo, like we all

(01:03:23):
know what needs to end, so just end it already.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
But you know, stubbornness prevails.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
Absolutely great episode, shaw Man. Once again, you know what
I'm saying, we didn't even get we didn't even have
a warm up episode, bro already out the gate. Just
hot fire, just boo.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
You know what I'm saying. Lighten it up, man, I
love it. You know that's what the nbabel returna will
do to you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
So you know preseason games by the time we're recording,
you know our next preview, like, we're going to get
a lot of you know, some limited looks at some
of these new rosters and teams. Uh so rock with
us here on the Baseline NBA podcast again. You know,
another year, another great season.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
I had a lot of rape guests kind of coming
up first in store.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
We're gonna be a little amazing collaborations with our amazing
partners on NICs to media group and those outside of
our media group football too.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
On the baseline, man, you know again, one of the
best shows out there. And yeah that's a little biased,
but I said, stand on it exactly. I mean, it's
just all good man, there's nothing wrong with you know
what I'm saying. Yeah, we got it, we got it,
we got it. We got the ears in, Bro, we
got the ears in and and no no no show
jobs here.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
Exactly. We come in, we put in network. You know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Oh, Man, for the baseline, Cali warren Shaw. We appreciate
you guys. Thanks hopping up ball with us this week,
and we'll catch up with you next time.