Here come the Miami Heat... and the Denver Nuggets | Floor's Yours

I'm going to be honest. I don't know what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about something. And yes, we'll preview some heat nuggets because that's coming in later. And Tony has an announcement. Yeah, I want to go to that first. What's the announcement? Let's just start. Let's do it. All right, boys. After four long and hard covid years, that's going to be stupid. It's finally happened. Price picks is now illegal in my state. Oh, and I opened an IRA. I am now a stock investor. I no longer invest in the stocks of players. I'm retired. I'm I got a three percent match on my eye. I'm out. I'm out. You're an idiot. It's unfair. My other app that I could use is hard rock. That's unfair. I made a smart choice. You and I needed finances because I got it as well. So here, though, I know I don't live in Florida, but it sounds like there will be a shift tomorrow in the app and what's offered. But price picks will be around. It will just be a different type of game. So I should plug better edge is legal in Florida. You can set your own line. Use a code five hours and get yourself twenty dollars and five reason sports when you sign up. It is much, much, much better than the book that we will not name it. Genghis either. Tony mentioned it. But there are lines I know from being there over the holidays. Their lines are garbage. And that's why they're trying to take everybody out, because you don't want to have a place. They want to have a, you know, a one store. I control everything. I control the line. So don't give in to that. Go to better edge. Check out prize picks as it relaunches. And to be clear, better edge is still my exclusive football NFL season betting app. There's nothing I would rather use. Welcome. The floor is yours. I'm here. I'm here, Tony's here, Sean's here. Timmy is not here. And we did not bother to get a fourth person because I think three is enough, as Eric's poster slash Ethan Skolnick would say. We're going to talk about a myriad of things. Tony and I apparently are going to talk about finances because I just dabbled into the money market fun game. Not too long ago. We could talk about that time. Um, look, man, tax season, you got to do what you got to do. Don't forget to file your taxes. OK, before we get into heat nuggets, what's going to happen tonight? Because we do this once a week, we figured since the Heat are playing at 10 nuggets championship rematch, both teams playing really, really well. We figured why not start it actually before leading up to that right now as the Warriors are pimp smacking Knicks. So we are going to honestly just kick it around. There's a lot of interesting things going on in the NBA right now in general, standings, watch, whatever. I don't. We can look at this seriously. We can look at this unseriously, but we can play floor is mine right now. And I would ask Tony, because you had a weapon, Yama topic that you wanted to get to if you want to start with that. And then, Sean, you could hit us with what has really stood out to you league wide. And then I will throw in mind people in the comments you can contribute. And obviously, we will end it with a heat nugget. So, Tony, tell us why Victor Webber Yama is already a top 30 player, in your opinion, which I'm not sure I'm on board with. Yeah, it's hard to start to analyze where he is without projection. So to just take it at where he is right now is tough because of the minute restriction and the alignment that the Spurs throw out there every night. That seems like it's single handedly trying to sabotage him. And he's still recording five by fives and 30 point games and scoring with incredible efficiency and doing things I've never seen before. So you have to start asking yourself, where does he fit in? Where does he fit in the top player group? You know, how good is he? Is he going to make an all NBA team as a rookie? I think he has a pretty strong case for it. And if you don't want to say first team, I think he's got a pretty strong case for second team. He might not do it, but you get five players like Jason Tatum. You get five players like Jimmy Butler, which gets you into the 20s and you start looking down the list and you go bam out of bio somewhere at 26, 27. You go Laurie marketing and you start asking yourself, do I? Do I think Victor Wiminyama right now is better than Laurie marketing? Do I think Victor Wiminyama right now is better than Jamal Murray? Do I think right now Victor Wiminyama is better than Brandon Ingram? And some of these questions, I think you can easily say no to. These players have established have been here for a really, really, really, really long time. But just at their current skill level, there's just a gap from what a lot of those players offer defensively to what Victor can do offensively. He kind of closes that gap with his defensive ability. And then what he gives you on offense, pretty ******* good. And I think the coolest thing about him is that some of these guys that will mention top 30 are not engines. You can't give them the ball. They can't create. They require someone else to get them going. Victor will take the ball, full court, full head of steam and finish and dribble in half court setting. He'll do a whole bunch of stuff. He still needs a guard. I think that there's this idea that he can just give the ball and he can go. He can't. He needs a guard, but he has the ability to do those things. He can create off the bounce. He can create in transition. So I like this this topic. I don't know if he's quite there yet, but when you look at the guys at 27, 28, 29, you get the consensus list, you can start asking yourself, does he really fit in? And I think that means he's a top 40 player. If I can if I could say he might be a top 30 players, definitely a top 40 player. And that's still ******* incredible. I think for a kid his age on a minute's restriction is Zion Williamson the last rookie that we would have probably said is the top 30, 40 player as a rookie went healthy or is it go back further than that? Does somebody that popped into mind? I mean Apollo was good last year. I would have put him top 30 40. I think now he probably is. Yes, but yeah. Yeah, there's an all-star. So yeah. Yeah, I would say Zion or jaw I would say would be the the two that fit that category, but you know when bees he's just so unique and you know, you can see that obviously the Spurs have experimented all year. They're not really trying to compete which I think long-term is the right way, but I think they're going to have to pivot to like you're seeing that not so much just about the all-star game stuff because I think that's somewhat irrelevant. But like when B wants to compete and when he doesn't want to go out there and continue to just lose. And so I think that they're going to fast-track whether it's Trey young whether it's Tyler hero, whether it's back to John Dejounte Murray, what whatever it is, they're going to shuffle around this summer. I think that they're going to move things and I think obviously there's going to be guys that want to play with let me so it's an attractive place, even though San Antonio isn't exactly the Glamour place that you want to go, you know, obviously they have history there, but it's not a Glamour City by any means NBA market. I think he's really good. I have long-term health concerns as I've said, but I'm not going to make it about that. I'll say this though. One thing I do really like about him is that he is competitive as ----. Like he was not reportedly not thrilled about Anthony Edwards just sort of tanking the what was it skills competition during all-star weekend where Anthony Edwards just shot left-handed Victor when when I was like, yo winning is fun. Like I'm not like Anthony Edwards is like I'm here to have fun and Victor when when I was like winning is fun and I was like I'm going to end up liking this dude. Aren't I? I feel like he's going to be here for a good time. Not a long time, but I think while he's healthy and he was healthy this year, which you know, that's a win and that's another reason Tony that I feel like they need a guard is so that he doesn't eat up 30 34 usage and things like that, right? Like I think you don't want to over utilize him especially even now like this year. He's been on a minutes restriction for a lot of the season, you know, and he's somebody that you're going to have to like you're going to have to want you're going to have to limit in spots just because of the body type long-term. So I think he needs help for those reasons as well. Not even just for basketball reasons, but also if you want to extend however long his career is going to be and hopefully it is a long one because it could be a lot of fun because he does some ----. That's ridiculous. He blocked somebody the other day like but not even jumping did it from behind like he was ******* Kenny George at UNC Asheville back in the day. Like I think when be next to ban Kenny George. Kenny George if you if you were not outside for Kenny George and well, I don't know what to tell you. That was the time in the early early early YouTube era shadow College Hoops 2k8. Yeah, I think Victor women Yama could be really really good really fun. But you gotta you gotta get him some pieces so that he's not doing all the work because that's the quickest way to really give him some wear and tear injuries. And yes, I agree with Jose Matos. He needs to get a bigger as well. Sean would have stood out to you so far in the NBA over last week or so. Yeah, I think we were getting to that point. Obviously tomorrow is March 1st Jimmy. Let us know that it's time the Miami Heat are surging. We'll talk about them later. But I think you're seeing the the divide in the league at this point. You're seeing the push by some teams. Obviously the Boston Celtics right now are super hot. They've won nine in a row. If you listen closely, you can also hear teams, you know, the one two three Cancun like right now. I don't know if this is a bold statement or not, but the Washington Wizards are the worst team in the league. Not the Detroit. The Detroit Pistons are still playing hard. Like they're a good team. If you like to partake in gambling, they will cover some games because oh, yeah. Oh, they're eating. The Washington Wizards are not the Washington Wizards are done. I don't know. What's the guy's name? They called up from the JV, but he is not going to be the full-time coach the Charlotte Hornets. They compete a little bit. They are one, two, three Cancun. The Nets obviously are just awful. They don't have a choice. You're seeing teams that are clearly, you know, there are 10 basically 10 teams in each conference that are competing for the playoffs. And now it's just figuring out where they're going to land in those last 25 30 games. So it's gonna be a fun, you know, I think there's a lot of teams that can compete. I don't know if there's a lot of teams that can win the championship, but I think it's going to be an exciting playoffs just because of the parody around the Tony. What do you got for that? I think that it's cool watching it play out where the pieces fall is interesting. You had guys early in the season, like, let's see Phoenix. Who's another one? Indiana was high and in differential and points per 100 and all that good stuff. And now they falling right on down, you know, bottom of the pack right next to the Miami's the Lakers, you know the world and you're seeing it kind of fine balance, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, who I was really bullish on very early in the season, Denver coming back into the top four in differential ninth and offense and then eighth and defense figuring that part of the basketball court out Milwaukee fumbling their selves down. Like we knew they would and the middle of the pack coming in strong in the back half of the year and rising up to ranks Golden State, LA, Miami, the teams at the continuity and the old guys. They're getting it together towards the back end. Every year. We repeat these patterns and it's fun to watch the cycles play out and watch people get shocked and shook. What do you mean the young team in Indiana? Can't figure out a way to win crucial game. It's what happens. This is how it plays. It's what makes Cleveland so impressive because they actually do manage to win basketball games playoff games. Not so much, but right speaking of repeating patterns. Remember when weeks ago? Everyone was saying that the Clippers are probably going to win the championship. They are three and five over the last eight and they're starting to get a little bit banged up. Who could have seen that coming? I said weeks ago. Like I don't know why we're handing over the Western Conference to the Clippers or Minnesota or Oklahoma City or whomever else other than Denver and I wouldn't even hand it to them yet, but you guys get what I'm saying like Denver's earned a level of trust based on not just what they did last year, but they actually had a couple playoff runs went healthy at least with Jamal Murray healthy before that. They went to Western Conference finals in the bubble playoffs, which proved out to be legitimate as did, you know, pretty much everything else that happened in the bubble because we saw what happened after that. Now, I don't think the Clippers are a bad team at all. But as always this sort of happens in January February where we get way too quick to crown teams. There was a push earlier this year for the Pacers to be something that I don't think they are. The Knicks are pretty banged up and they're losing again tonight and quietly very quietly. They can miss out on home court advantage. One of the reasons why we'll get to later. Philadelphia may slide into the play in and I think when we have this tendency to act like we know a bunch of different things in February and the Clippers one just really struck a chord with me Minnesota to to some degree but really with the Clippers because I'm like, listen, we know what this is like, they're really good in the regular season James Harden. There's conversations about hey, he doesn't need to do what he's been expected to do in the playoffs because he has Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and it's like, are you sure they're going to be there? And are you sure they're going to be healthy? During these playoff runs and on top of that James Harden does need to be there acting like he doesn't need to be good in the playoffs. James Harden does need to be good in the playoffs for them to still win a championship. Like it's not like he can disappear and they could just get away with it. This team is good. Would you call them a deep team like a really deep team? I don't know if I would do that and Russell Wex Russell West Brooks has some bad games lately. Kawhi Leonard. I trust that dude. I don't trust his knees and Paul George is hurt right now. So right now to me just in the Western Conference Denver is probably the only team I'd really fear everything else is just a ******* mess. Oklahoma City's fun. They're young. They need to get their ass whooped. I do not trust Minnesota at all to get to like the finals. The Clippers will see Phoenix the Lakers like it's to me. It's Denver's is going to ******* beat all of these teams if they're healthy. That's where I'm at. I agree with especially on the bottom half. There's if you turn tune into a certain network, you're going to be led to believe that the Warriors who are up 10 right now into the third quarter against the Knicks started off 10. Oh, the Warriors are back. They're good team. They're going to be a tough out. They're a veteran team. Same thing with the Lakers last night way past my bedtime, but I heard that LeBron went crazy and they came back. Listen, he went ******* bliss. I'm mad that I only played him over one and a half threes. Why do people still keep having moments with Tyloo? You know, it's that LeBron had a step around Tyloo moment. This is real life. I think I don't know but like those teams are going to be exciting to watch. I think in the play in they're going to be exciting and have moments in the first round series. I do not think that either of them regardless of matchup is going to get past the first round. I don't care who they play. I know there's experience, but I just don't think if healthy Minnesota, Oklahoma City, the Clippers, the teams at the top. I would be much more worried about like the Mavericks than I would about. Yes. Yes, Lakers Etc. One of the best things about the Western Conference and I want to get your thoughts of this Tony before we actually get to our heat Nuggets stuff. One of the best things about the Western Conference really the NBA as a whole that I've enjoyed over the last few years and that seems like the heat for example have kind of exposed better than other teams is that there are no juggernauts anymore. There's not there are really good teams NBA is a collection of really good teams. Each and every one of them are flawed from the Celtics all the way down to whoever you think the last really good team is Sean mentioned Dallas. I actually think Dallas can make a serious run again to the Western Conference finals. Like I think that team with Luka Doncic if Kyrie Irving is healthy, they need to figure out like what the minutes distribution is for that center position. They're just platooning Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford Daniel Gafford barely played the other night, but I think I think Dallas is a team that could actually make a real run and because they have Luka Doncic they could be some of these other teams. We've been talking about like I don't think Phoenix wants to see the dudes in the playoffs at all. I don't think anybody maybe maybe Denver but I don't think anybody wants to see Dallas in the playoffs for example. So Tony where you at because I don't think I think the reason the reason I'm probably lower on the Clippers than most I've explained that but I think the larger overall point is like we can't keep crowning team so prematurely if they haven't done anything because there are no juggernauts anymore in the NBA and that's just where we are unless they've done it already. I think the other thing that the heat prove is that when you come to playoff success, there's variables that bring things up and down right but continuity and shooting just unilaterally are some of the most important things during teams playoff run and and the reason I think Dallas eventually does have a ceiling is they don't know what they're going to try and do defensively subconsciously yet and that's the thing that the Nuggets have down like I don't know how to tell people this because the win-loss rating isn't as good but Nuggets are a better team this year. They're better. They're better because they can actually ******* defend and they can do it in a lot of different ways and they did last year too though. Tony did they have like a big turn defense for the last few months of the year and that's people forget like they think all defense doesn't matter anymore and it's like no you still need to have really good defensive with a title Denver had a really good defense and not you have to be you have to be a top 10 defense or you have to at least be league average. I think there's there's one exception to that in like the last 10 years, but top 10 net defense is almost a prerequisite and you know that the the talk on Denver last year. It's just bring yoga to the level of the screen. I heard that probably 70 ******* times every day during the playoffs bring yoga to the level of the screen and they proved you he can they just manipulate the defense or he can get to that position and recover in a pretty good way to a man that doesn't put them at a disadvantage like that team is playing together on a string dudes like KCP or pushing them to be even better than they were before the defense is getting better. Christian bronze finally starting to show up and play basketball see if that leads into the playoffs. But yeah, Minnesota doesn't know each other well enough Dallas doesn't know each other well enough and the rest of the teams in the West. Okay, see, I don't think has I don't think they've suffered enough. I don't I don't think that's real. Is what it's going to take to pull something away from the Clippers to pull something away from Denver to pull something away from like these squads who've been going at this for a while even Golden State. They just they know what they want to get to. They know what they want to do at a certain level. The X's and O's fade away and it's just about execution and some teams just execute better than others at but it's a you throw a wrench. Okay, sees a wrench in the whole ******* thing. Minnesota is a wrench in the whole thing. If they can figure out what they want to do on offense. It's competitive as hell. I think that that's the one thing in your monologue. I want to throw in that wasn't there that will every single series in the West is going to be a ******* dogfight unless somebody's just too young and doesn't they're not ready for the moment. It's going to be a dogfight. It's going to be fun basketball and there are teams who you worry about their fourth quarter offense, Minnesota included Minnesota's fourth quarter offense. Why why stop at the fourth quarter? Just go ahead and say all three. What's wrong with you? Listen, listen, listen, they're going to give Rudy Gobert a defensive player of the year and then I'm going to watch him. I'm good task whooped in the playoffs one more time. I think I think this is a Steven Jones take. Okay. I think this is Steve Jones take a put this out there. Steven Jones. I'll listen. They'll it's all on Rudy. You know, the Minnesota Timberwolves success in the playoffs is all in all on Rudy all if it's all on Rudy then and and I agree. That's why I don't think I think they have a ceiling but if Rudy is in a place where he's willing to attack the mismatch because they are going to generate mismatches with him if he'll attack offensively. They've got it. They've got there's nothing that can stop them in the end of the fourth quarters and I just don't know and he's doing it now. Will he do it in the playoffs? I don't know. You want to guess this is actually like I could not believe this that when I saw it. You want to guess who's the worst team in the NBA against the spread with the rest disadvantage. It's so many prerequisites. I'm going to say it against the spread with the rest worst team against the spread with the rest disadvantage in the NBA. Is it a playoff team or a non-playoff team? They're a team. We just talked about their team. We're about to talk about and they're the Denver Nuggets. He they haven't been great. Oh, wow. They haven't been a great against the spread this year two and six with the rest disadvantage, which they have today against Miami Heat tonight against Miami Atlanta's also tied with them for for 12. They've been in that position more often, but fourth time on this trip that we're getting someone on the second night of the back-to-back and it's the fourth of his teams we played on this trip. The two easiest teams were when we were on the second night of the back-to-back. So not that it discounts anything the heater playing really good basketball right now, but that has to be part of the calculus and we know that the schedule opens up really easily the rest of the way and I think sometimes we get too caught up in that like ease of schedule because we know, you know ---- happens, but it's it's there in front of Miami if they want it, you know, they they are closing in on teams that are right above them. The Knicks obviously right now a game and a half up with right now losing so that you know going into the game. They're probably a game behind them so they could win tonight in Denver and be a half game behind if I'm doing my math correctly. So damn that blown game in November Thanksgiving weekend in New York. That's going to be hopefully not something to look back on because I was there and that's going to hurt you up on them right now. I don't think this iteration of the team we've been seeing is blowing that same game. I I will get into heat Nuggets right now. I was like Sean like Greg like others was pretty much out on this team three weeks ago. I was like man, they're just it just looked too lost or whatever didn't look like they were going to make a run and as soon as that happened, they won 9 of 11. They want like six straight road games or whatever it is. And this is why I respect this organization so much just as a League Observer. I like it's not even the oh you count them out and then whatever whatever. It's just like really when you least expect it. It's just it's it's there all of a sudden and you started to see it a little bit before the the all-star break when Jimmy Butler started playing really well, and then it felt like others followed suit and then he had to step away because of the family issue that he had to take care of that hopefully he did, you know, make peace with now he's back and he's ridiculous again. He's playing at an all NBA level. I'm Denver by the way, seven and four this season straight up with no rest four and seven against the spread though with no rest this year. I thought I'd throw that in there. Not not not great. Oh, that's not good news. Um, I think this is this is a house money game for the heat to me one that I think they could win and look there are sharp betters who are betting he plus five. He plus five. He plus five and a half. He plus six right now. It's on six in that range. Um, JD 2000 gives us starters. No surprises here. Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovich Bam out of bio. It's probably who I would start the rest of the season. If I'm being honest, probably not a discussion. We need to get into right now. I don't think Tony would agree with that. That's probably what I would do though. Um, I think that's just where we're at. Tyler Hero is not playing tonight. Neither is Josh Richardson. Neither is Thomas Bryant. Obviously, Drew Smith and Denver's missing. Nobody except I think Flacco conchar. So they have a clean injury report. Kevin Love also out tonight and Kevin Love is also out tonight. Now we're going to lose by 10. The over under is really low by the way to 214. It was 212 earlier and the heat. Lot of unders in this situation. Rest advantage of road games road underdog lot of unders and some of that is struggling offense. I think lately. It's been great defense. They've been elite elite defensively in the month of February and as Sean mentioned third easiest schedule out of the all-star break soon as all-star break ended. They had a third easiest schedule to rest it away. Orlando had the easiest which is going to be interesting because of the standing. So Sean, let's go to you here. Let's preview this game. What are the things you're going to be watching for other than the result of the closest? Yeah, I mean, it's going to be interesting. I think, you know, looking at the starters have put them back up on the screen again. It's I would assume you go Rozier on Murray and I think that's a tough matchup. Hopefully Terry can because we know that Murray can be tough me and Brian were talking pregame. I think based on what a lot of people are betting. I think that there's probably a minutes restriction on Murray who a lot of people are trending him under and Reggie Jackson over. So we may see a little bit more Reggie Jackson than maybe some people are expecting and the way that the heater defending Murray. Also, I think that they're going to throw a lot of attention on him. Nico Jovich is you can't stop. I mean, you just want to make him work and I mentioned that this morning when I put my keys, I think, you know, no kids Sorry, you'll catch the Joker. Maybe we'll say that about your bitch one day. Maybe Joker. We need BAM to be able to defend him without having to bring a lot of help because Joker will pick you apart. I do not like them playing zone. I think Joker gets to the nail that he's going to find gaps in the zone. He'll pick you apart from there too. So I'm worried about Joker more so than Murray because I think with the lawn with Terry with Caleb with Heywood, I don't really like on him. I think I like him on bigger guys, but they have guys to throw at Murray. I think you can hide Duncan and Nico Jovich on mpj and kcp and then that obviously leaves Jimmy with Aaron Gordon, but we know what Denver does very well is they're going to force you into mismatches. They're going to force you into switches and then Aaron Gordon can punish you or mpj can try to punish you. I don't I don't concern myself with him as much. I think it's really about one Miami has to take care of the basketball. Denver is not a team that forces a lot of turnovers. They got to be able to rebound the ball to not give them second chances and they have to have ball movement player movement. The thing that we've seen when guys are out is that there's a lot of movement and it's you know, some people want to make it a Tyler hero thing. I just think it's good basketball when they play that way they're tougher to guard. It forces a defense to defend multiple actions. Everyone is involved. So you have multiple people having to defend and you know, Denver is a top 10 defense, but if you can make them work, I think you can find advantages there. So I think it's a game like you said, I think, you know, Miami has a puncher's chance, but they they can't get down early. They need to compete and or take the lead right off the gate, you know, get go. Tony, where do you at with this game and after Tony talks we are going to throw up a bunch of your comments. So keep them coming the donations get read first. They they got handed a pretty swift defeat in the final Sean covered analysis and I think I'm just going to cover the emotional part. You got to probably play this team. If a magical run happens and you get back to the finals again, if you can do it again, you're going to have to go through Denver. I think most of us agree with that. You can't just let him have the mental edge every single time you go up against them. It's important to have something in your back pocket to say we can beat this team. If we go to these things and truly truly believe it when the heat were able to get a victory against the Nugget State, like Sean said, kept the actions in front of them, you know, they kept Aaron Gordon from going behind them at the baseline and getting to the cup. They they played like that like Morphic zone thing, but it really covered like man. It was hedge and recover and it was show but but don't stay and get back but they kept everything in front of them. It's low Denver down and you're able to outpace them and outgrind them at the end. I was the one game. They got so Sean's right. I think you got to play man and just really and if you do run some type of zone or trap ball handlers up top, it's got to be show and recover fast and get back to your man. I think switching is is a death sentence and I think zones a death sentence and this team trying to find a way to get this win on their second night of a back to back and get the mental edge in the regular season to carry that into the playoffs if you ever do meet them. So you're not fighting out of a 2-1 hole in a playoff series with Denver, you know already walking into it that you can get a win if you do the things that you need to do to get it going. That'd be nice to see I see a lot of people in chat talking about the threes need to land against this squad. I think you can like Sean said you can pick you can pick if you can get them moving left and right there's advantages that you can create at the rim for Jimmy Butler for Bam on a bio. They're mismatch hunting to I don't know what Defender sees mpj on defense and thinks oh ----. I'm fucked. I don't I just don't think that exists. I think most people would think that's food. So, you know, let's hope that we get something going at the rim tonight Duke's. We're going to need it. Okay, let's throw up some questions. It's going to get it on the record. The Knicks are going to win this game. To everyone that celebrates bing bong bet them life. No, I don't. I don't try to bet live during this show because I'm committed as a producer to excellence. Ethan Skolnick expects nothing less of me. So, all right, let's get some comments. If you want to throw any more up there and they're good. We'll go to those but I have a couple that I starred x-factor talking about tonight's game. Let's go an x-factor for the heat and x-factor for the Denver Nuggets. Tony Nikola Jovic. Nikola Jovic 610 Nikola Jovic. You can play big minutes tonight. I mean, we need his size and we need his length. And I think if he's able to space the floor and just keep that defense spread out and then turn around to be a big body on defense. There's a chance he really use that size. So if something's going to lead the Heat to victory tonight, I think it's going to be his play. I want to say Delon Wright for the Heat. Jovic probably would have been where I've gone. I want to say Delon Wright for the Heat. I love that guy, by the way. He is such a Heat player. He's such a me player. Like I love the way he plays defense. I think he will see Jamal Murray tonight and that's going to be an important stretch. I think that's something you have to give a look for like a whole stint to see how it is for Denver. I think it's Peyton Watson, not somebody that they relied on in the finals last year. Peyton Watson is, he's coming into his own. He's going to be a dangerous player once he continues to develop or as he develops, I should say. And he could be the quote-unquote random scrub Heat killer, except I don't think he's a scrub at all. I think he could be really good. By the way, Delon has adopted my Highsmith agenda. It was never actually Highsmith. It was Delon the whole time. Delon at the fore. We've talked a lot about how the Heat will defend the Nuggets. We didn't really talk about the opposite way. We know from the finals and I think you'll see this against tonight. They kind of lived with Bam, trying to beat them from the mid-range. You can remember Bam got a lot of uncontested middies. He's been shooting them pretty well for the last like eight days. Prior to that, he was colder than, you know, Antarctic winter. So I think Bam is kind of an x-factor because obviously his defense on Jokic and his offense going to be important. I think Jimmy is going to have some, he's going to have a tough go like Brian said, Peyton Watson, you have Aaron Gordon, you have length that you can throw at him. So I think that Bam is going to have to have a good game tonight in order for them to have success because it's going to be tough sledding. I think for for Jimmy. Yeah, I don't but the thing is I think Jimmy's going to he's going to get like 12 free throws. I think it's going to be one of these games. I actually wanted to get this question. Stacks says hello guys from Serbia. Nicola is going to be better than the other Nicola stacks. I want to go to Serbia. I like I legitimately actually wants to visit Serbia and watch basketball out there. Please tell me that it's that is dope so I can try to do some convincing where I live at Serbia looks so looks cool from here. Anyway, I think Jimmy's going to have like 1214. I think he's going to have a lot of free throws this game. That's one of those like I think that's how he gets it done today. I think also that you could find him this matches like if you can get Jamal Murray on him, they were able to do some of that in the finals. I think it's fine and listen, he was cooking Herb Jones and other reasonably good defenders like I think he can get his against Aaron Gordon I think by the way, I think we both have that Brian assist for Jimmy, but I think overall his game is going to be he's going to have a good game. He's got to work for it. Yeah, and and if teams keep bringing it the Nuggets like the last two teams we played, although I feel like it's a different level competition here are going to keep bringing two to the ball and Duncan Robinson on that DHO action. He are going to have a lot of opportunities to punish at the rim BAM specifically. We got Duncan being the x-factor. Somebody says the Suns when we were talking about the West. What do you think with them? Like we kind of hit on them a little bit. Obviously injuries are concerned Bradley Beal can't stay healthy. We dodged that bullet. I know the price was very cheap a lot of heat fans wanted him. It's the same old same old you pay Bradley Beal to rehab. He is like a senior citizen that goes off to the YMCA. He does his water cardio, you know, he's out there with the weights on the water and then he comes back in. He has a snack. He ain't playing. So he is not a guy, you know, maybe he gets healthy. Maybe he maybe this is good for him because they can like tread water and then they can get out there playoffs, but I don't trust them whatsoever. Even though they have Katie and book. Yeah, I I think the Sun I need to get to this comment. Please keep it up. Um, I think the Suns are like Grayson Allen's their fourth best player. Like I just that's that's a tough one for me, you know, not going to make it. Yeah, I think one or three Bobo. I think they can win a series. Maybe two on talent, but man given where they're going to be in the standings, maybe two, but I doubt it. I wouldn't pick it given where they're going to be in the standings. I'm a hater. They're just going to be I'm a hater also. Actually. No, I'm not a hater. I'm just not as easily impressed. Where's Katie next year after they lose in the second round or virtually better whoever beats the Boston the Boston Celtic. I think Golden State's gonna gonna finish this one out by the way. All right. Stacks says Belgrade is like mini New York. You're talking to a New Yorker, bro. Let's go. Great food nightlife and amazing basketball. You need to come. Yeah, I I want to go to Serbia. I'm not even joking. I want to watch I want to watch a Serbian League basketball out there. You know what I mean? Like maybe Belgrade, you know, I'm saying see the Red Star. JD 2000 says so y'all expecting some Landow minutes tonight question mark. How many Lando's Orlando Robinson? Oh, I was so confused. Yeah, this is not a f1 reference. No. Well, here's the thing. Even though if you can go positionless you throw Orlando out there to match sizes. He can't compete with Nikko. Anyways, so you could try to go small and spread them out. I just don't know. What do you you have options but that's where I mentioned BAM as my x-factor. I think he's got to be out there for a lot of minutes tonight. He has to play well and or you get Joker and foul trouble when he's out on the floor. It's not ideal. Stacks is telling me I need to see partisan. He says **** Red Star. Okay, cool. I can see them play against each other stacks. That would be good, you know, see against them. I follow international basketball. So I'm a little bit more up on this than the casual person. If you followed my FIBA World Cup coverage and there will be Olympic stuff coming forward. Arthur Jams says do we see Delon on Maria any point? I say yes, Tony. Yeah, because they're going to try and switch. I know they are listen Delon and Terry somebody in the comments were saying that they don't like that backcourt. I think that I love it. I want to see that I want to see but this is this is my new Heywood Highsmith take and every content creator has to have a bullshit take that they want to get to all I just want to win basketball games. I don't give a **** who's out there playing. I just want to win. But if I ever have a bullshit take Terry or Tyler has to go to the bench. I just do because Delon's that explosive on defense and I don't think he needs the ball and that's what I thought. Heywood Highsmith was going to get be that it doesn't need the ball. They can shoot it and they can defend at the lawns that guy give him to me. I thought Victor Oladipo be that guy and what did I like? He's wearing the same number. I believe man. I Delon right? I don't think it's going to start but who if Spode did that you could talk me into that being good line. And let's get a couple more on the way out so we could actually watch this game. Arlene comments Arlene VP comments threes and defense can win the game tonight. Yeah, I would say for a Spode team. That's the case of most nights, but you know, I think it's going to be close and so do a lot of other people. We're putting money on this game tonight. Are his brothers going to be there tonight? The Yolk is brothers. I don't know. They still come to games or did they ban them finally? They might be in Serbia, you know, what do you think Thomas Bryant does after he gets his drink like he is he go to dinner? Does he catch a movie to watch a game at the hotel? You sit on the plane and wait for them. What is Thomas Bryant do during the time where he has to leave the arena after he gets his drink? He accepts his player out and collects his money after the season. Might as well get this out of the way. Hey guys coming back first time. He's played two seasons in the same place. I like Thomas Bryant, man. He's a good. He's good. Here's here's why though. You can tell, you know, he's a great locker room guy. Yes, you know, he is. You have to know any could play a little bit, you know, Lenny Pena. Do you think do you guys think Tyler will get benched for Duncan at some point? This probably the last question because yeah, I think they play Duncan and it completely independent of Tyler like always. They've all except for that one time when neither one of them can hit a shot before the trade deadline. They're subbing out Caleb or they're subbing out Perry or they're subbing like that. I don't think Tyler and Duncan have as much one two as people think they do. I think Tyler's going to yeah, it's a Tony's point. I think Tyler's going to have a longer least than maybe some people think he should until the playoffs. If he struggles at the playoffs, I think spo will be like a little bit more because we actually saw it during the run that they had a couple years ago where Tyler had his minutes cuts in some cut in some instances where like they use Victor Oladipo for defense or they went in a different direction here like dark ages. They have enough minutes now to pass around like you can you can close with Terry the lawn Jimmy BAM and Caleb, you know what I mean? Like you have eight or so closing options that you don't that Tyler doesn't need to be there every night. If he's struggling if Tyler's open then he's who right but I think in the playoffs is more of a conversation. I think in a regular season Tony's right, but I think that's the beauty of the roster right now. You have probably 10 guys that you can throw out there that you can trust to close games in the playoffs. I would say almost anyone besides Orlando Robinson Drew Smith. Obviously, he's hurt who else Cole Swider everyone else. I feel comfortable putting out there given situation if they're playing well, and there's a few guys that are protected that like they're going to be in the rotation regardless, but I think you're going to see times where Duncan's on his minutes go up and other people's minutes go down whether it's Tyler whether it's Delon right whether it's Caleb whomever there's going to be times where Caleb plays more there's going to be times where Heywood plays more there's going to be time. I mean, there's just so many minutes and I really think the only ones that won't be as variable are BAM and love because you only have those two guys that can play the quote-unquote five and have that big guy minutes. So like, you know BAM probably placed 36 38 40 minutes in a playoff game Kevin Love fills in the gap of whatever 8 10 12 and the rest of the minutes are subject to whoever is playing and that's that's a beautiful thing to arm spo with because he can go so many different routes offensively defensively switch zone shooting attacking. I mean, it's just a beautiful thing as a coach to see that. Yeah, like you you can end games with Duncan Delon Jimmy Love and BAM. You can end games with Tyler Terry Duncan Jimmy and BAM like you there's a lot of different ways you can go about this the best roster they've had in the Jimmy era. This is the deepest roster. Yeah that they've had in it. I was looking through the 2019-20 team recently and I was like man. It was a lot of Kendrick Nunn that I forgot about boy. You forgot who I never forgot. I never forgave. He's not playing as well in Greece as you would have thought is what I would say. It was a lot of Kendrick Nunn. It was a lot of Myers Leonard guys who would not be getting playing time on this team. You know what I mean? Like every guard in their rotation is probably better than Kendrick Dunn finally giving the chef in the kitchen good ingredients to cook. All right, we'll leave it there. We'll be back next week and enjoy the game. I think it's going to be a fun one. Eat eat.