- 3 months ago
Locked On Heat Host Wes Goldberg joins the show to talk all things Miami Heat!
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00:00with Locked On Heat's Wes Goldberg here.
00:01He joins us on the Toyota of Hollywood guest line.
00:03Shop over at 2,000 Toyotas on sale at one location,
00:06Toyota of Hollywood on 441 between Hollywood and Sheridan,
00:09toyotofhollywood.com.
00:11And there we got Locked On Heat host Wes Goldberg.
00:13What's going on, Wes?
00:15What's going on, guys?
00:16What are we doing with frosted tips?
00:18Are you on your way to the Keys or something?
00:20Frosted tips?
00:20Maybe it's just the sun.
00:21I thought I had to do –
00:22I thought I was supposed to do the Toyota hotline from a Toyota.
00:25Did I get that wrong?
00:26Yeah.
00:26What, are you going on an adventure?
00:31You got like a weekend adventure going on?
00:33No, just a little adventure.
00:34An adventure to Broward County.
00:36I love it.
00:37I love it.
00:37Thank you for making time for us in your adventures today.
00:41So yesterday, Heat's schedule comes out.
00:44We'll get to the national TV games in just a sec.
00:46Was there something that popped to you besides the lack of national TV games
00:49that right off the bat with this schedule that came out for Miami?
00:53Yeah, the beginning of it, right?
00:55Five out of the first eight games all on the road and tough road games, too.
01:00I mean, these aren't walkovers.
01:02I mean, you've got two games in L.A. against the Lakers and the Clippers.
01:05You've got one against the Nuggets.
01:06You've got one against Richter Webinyama and the Spurs.
01:08Those are all tough places, places where Miami has struggled to play,
01:11especially Denver.
01:14This team is going to be tested really early in this schedule.
01:19Would you rather get that trip out of the way, though?
01:21Yeah, so we were talking about this on Locked on Heat yesterday,
01:25and I kind of see it, but you would like a little bit of a warm-up, I think,
01:29before you kind of get into that, especially with some new moving pieces and stuff.
01:33But you know what Eric Spolscher and this team are going to say.
01:35They're going to say exactly – they're like, hey, we're going to get tested early.
01:39We've embraced the challenge, heat culture-y, spoisms here and there.
01:44Sprinkle those throughout.
01:45But I think there's pros and cons to it, right?
01:49Like there is a sense of urgency right off the bat,
01:51which is not something that this team has necessarily had over the last couple of years.
01:54Well, the thing I like is that hopefully at least you have a healthy team
02:01at that point in the season.
02:03When they've made this trip in the past, they've made it with eight guys.
02:06And so maybe you will get a different at least idea of what can be done
02:14or what this team can be because it's relatively early and you'll have health.
02:20Yeah, and look, I think this is one of the deeper teams that the Heat have had
02:26in a couple of years here.
02:28So it'll be an opportunity for them to test that depth.
02:32It'll be an opportunity for them to kind of figure out, okay, like what are we?
02:36Are we good enough in the Eastern Conference to really compete?
02:39And to your point, like you can get some of these tougher games out of the way early.
02:42But, you know, it's kind of a weird schedule anyway.
02:45They have another five-game road trip later in the season.
02:50But that's against some of those more cupcake type of teams like Portland
02:53and teams like Utah, those kinds of teams that are a little bit easier.
02:56Sacramento is on that trip as well.
02:59So, yeah, I think you get part of it out of the way.
03:01It's a tough schedule in the beginning too.
03:03They get back, they play Charlotte and Portland after those first eight games,
03:08and then they play the Knicks twice and the Cavs twice.
03:11So it's a rough start to the schedule, but at the same time,
03:16it should lighten up for them in the second half of the year.
03:21So one thing that obviously stood out to a lot of fans,
03:23not a lot of national exposure, only five national TV games
03:27with a new TV package and all that.
03:29Do you feel like the Heat take that as any kind of a message to them,
03:33or do you feel like it shouldn't be a surprise with where they've been
03:36the last couple of years?
03:37If they're surprised, I don't know why they would be.
03:40I mean, they lost their superstar player in Jimmy Butler.
03:44They got routed in the playoffs last year.
03:49They didn't look like a playoff team in the postseason last year.
03:52Yeah, I don't think that they should be surprised.
03:55Now, to the first part of your question, will they use it as motivation?
03:58100%, they're going to use it as motivation.
03:59They're going to do the nobody believes in us.
04:01We're always overlooked.
04:02This is exactly where we want to be.
04:04And by the way, I think that's true.
04:05To me, I look at maybe the biggest motivation for them is
04:08the Las Vegas over-under has them at like 38 and a half wins.
04:12And I think they're going to look at that and be like,
04:13hey, we haven't lost that many games in a year
04:16that wasn't sort of derailed by a Jimmy Butler trade demand in 10 years.
04:20Like, we don't do that.
04:21We don't lose that many games.
04:22I think there's plenty of motivation for them going into this season.
04:27You combine the win totals.
04:29You combine the lack of national TV exposure.
04:31You combine that urgency that they're going to have to have
04:34to start the schedule.
04:36We're going to learn a lot about this team
04:37because they didn't show that level of passion or urgency last year.
04:40And I think for a team that I think a little bit wrongly,
04:44there was sort of a narrative around this group about,
04:47oh, they've proven that the regular season doesn't matter.
04:48It's all about the playoffs.
04:49I don't think they ever truly believed in that.
04:52But they didn't necessarily show that either in the regular season.
04:55And now they have to show it.
04:56We know who's responsible for that.
04:59That's your man Tobin right here.
05:02What?
05:03Who's leading the charge of the playoff Jimmy.
05:06Don't worry about it.
05:07Don't worry about it.
05:08How can you say that I am that guy?
05:10I'm watching Serbia, Czech Republic later today.
05:13Everything matters to me.
05:15Playoff Nico.
05:17I don't even do.
05:18Have you found any of these Serbian websites to try and watch?
05:21Nobody's watching this.
05:23Pretty scary.
05:24I don't know how to look.
05:26It's hard to log on to those websites.
05:28I can't even get onto Euro hoops without feeling like they're taking my social security.
05:32They probably are.
05:34No, they probably are.
05:34But it's worth it.
05:36Well, I guess this is the question.
05:37Because we know about the talent.
05:39Like, I'm not surprised the Heat are where they are with the national TV.
05:42Do you feel like we were talking about this a little earlier.
05:44Do the Heat have a guy that will draw in the crowd nationally?
05:50Like, is there a talking point?
05:51Because Tyler and Bam, we know they're good.
05:53This is not a declaration on their talent.
05:55We know they're very talented.
05:57It's not always talent.
05:57It's like, is there going to be a guy?
05:59Is it Kalel?
06:00Is it a Nico Leap?
06:01Do they have anything on this roster?
06:03Because Norman Powell is, like, even the perfect Heat guy.
06:06Because he's very good.
06:07But I don't know how many people are paying to watch Norman Powell play.
06:10So, like, do you feel like any of the young guys can become that for Miami?
06:14Or is it another jump from Tyler that could, like, draw the nation back in to make the Heat a spectacle?
06:20The short answer is no.
06:22I don't think that player is on the roster.
06:23But that doesn't necessarily mean that the roster isn't good enough to make compelling TV, to play good in entertainment basketball games.
06:33But, you know, there's a difference between talent and TV product, right?
06:38Like, Melo Ball is a TV product, right?
06:40He's a high-Jersey sale guy, but he doesn't impact winning in any meaningful way in Charlotte.
06:44And yet, kids will tune into Hornets games and try to find the Melo Ball highlights from the few games in a season that he actually does play.
06:51So, you know, I think that Tyler Hero can take another leap.
06:55Bam can take another leap.
06:56That the rest of the roster and its depth can put together a good basketball product.
07:01But in terms of, hey, this is the guy that we're going to sell to NBC, Peacock, Amazon Prime, ESPN, they don't have that kind of star power or roster.
07:10And I think the Heat know it because I don't know if you guys watched that, like, four-minute video announcing the fact that the schedule was announced.
07:18Like, Davion Mitchell is the headliner.
07:19He just got here.
07:21And Davion Mitchell is, like, the main character in this schedule release video.
07:24So I think they're just sort of looking for everything right now.
07:27You think it's a situation where we've seen teams have success without that megastar, right?
07:35And it's still, even if they have success, because they don't have that megastar, it's going to be hard for the country to warm up to them.
07:43And even if they win, even if they were to win a championship, it will still be kind of has that, like, we're going to look back after the fact and go, those guys were really good.
07:54Kind of like we did Detroit.
07:55Remember when Detroit won with a whole bunch of guys that were good?
07:59Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Phillips, yeah, yeah.
08:02Exactly.
08:04Exactly.
08:04So I think with success, we get more, you know, more eyes.
08:10I think you're seeing that even with OKC this last year, right?
08:13Like, Oklahoma City has a star player.
08:15Jacob Juss-Alexander was the best player in the league last season.
08:18And, yeah, I don't know that he's a star.
08:21Like, he's not a celebrity in the way that people are going out and buying his jerseys a ton, that he's in a ton of different commercials.
08:26Like, he's got that one AT&T commercial, I think it is, and that's, like, it.
08:29He's not a big celebrity, not a big superstar draw, but the Thunder are on national TV 34 times because they're the defending champions.
08:37They're really good.
08:38And people are figuring out, like, they're getting hip to the Thunder being good.
08:42And it took them literally winning a championship in order for that to happen.
08:45They were the onesie two years ago.
08:46They weren't on national TV that way.
08:48Jacob Juss-Alexander has been this good for a couple of years, but it took them winning the whole thing in order for people to really recognize that.
08:55And now that's the selling point, right?
08:57We're the defending champs.
08:59Come take the belt.
09:00Like, that's the compelling TV draw that gets them on national TV.
09:02So I think the Heat, I think they're going to be better than people expect this year.
09:06I really do.
09:07I think they're, I don't know, they're not going to win the championship.
09:09I don't think that they're a contender.
09:10But I think they're going to win 40-plus games, and they're going to be a decent basketball team.
09:14And people will probably like watching them more than they think.
09:17But, yeah, they're going to have to really put all of this together at some point eventually, superstar or not, in order to kind of get that national sort of recognition and exposure.
09:27Is this a talent thing or a health thing?
09:30Because the last couple of years, they've been decimated at the wrong possible times with injuries.
09:35And I would say that if everybody was healthy, you would have seen a different Heat team.
09:42But for the last, what, three, four years, they can never be healthy at the biggest moments of the season.
09:48Yeah, I think you're right about the last couple of years.
09:52I think it was a health thing specifically with Jimmy, right?
09:56But I don't know that the two things are mutually exclusive.
09:58Like, the best ability is availability, right?
10:00Like, you could argue health is a skill.
10:02Health is a talent.
10:02And Jimmy Butler just wasn't healthy enough during the regular season.
10:05And then they ended up being in the play-in tournament in the three of the last years.
10:11And that just kind of puts them behind the eight ball.
10:13It puts them at a disadvantage going into the postseason, as we saw last year, getting white by the number one seed, Cleveland Cavaliers.
10:19And then the year prior, same thing happened to the Boston Celtics.
10:21Like, you're not doing yourself any favors when you're doing it that way.
10:25Now, though, I do think it's a talent issue.
10:27They don't have that apex superstar player who you throw the ball to, get out of the way, and he can go take care of things.
10:33So it's just that kind of – you need that player in the postseason, right?
10:37Like, as great as Bam is, as Tyler Hero is, as some of these other guys are,
10:42they don't really have that guy who can just do it all himself and that sort of north star that, you know,
10:48again, they can throw the ball to, he can kind of just figure it out.
10:51He can run the offense.
10:52He is the offense.
10:53He is the system.
10:54They don't really have that.
10:55That's the guy that they're missing.
10:57Talking to Wes Goldberg, host of the Locked On Heat podcast.
11:00Before we get you out of here, man, there's been a lot of talk over the last couple of weeks
11:05about Tyler Hero's contract, teams monitoring it, even other players comparing to what Tyler's going to get.
11:12How interesting do you think that storyline is going to be this year about what Tyler Hero's money is going to be,
11:17you know, where he ends up getting, and then, like, the idea that he's kind of this measuring stick
11:21for some other young guys in the league.
11:24Yeah, he was that way when he signed the last deal, right?
11:26You saw a guy like R.J. Barrett sign his contract, Hero signed his.
11:29So he's always been sort of that measuring stick because he's a really interesting –
11:34like, he's an interesting measuring stick in that way because he was sort of the sixth man of the year.
11:38Could he be a starter?
11:40And then he's a fringe all-star.
11:42And then last year, he becomes an all-star.
11:44And I do think that, you know, are you better or worse than Tyler Hero?
11:48I think that's a fair kind of place to be.
11:51Now, whether or not his extension gets signed before the season is a talking point.
11:56I think it's interesting.
11:59The most interesting thing about it is I think we're entering an era in this NBA,
12:03like this new apron world, where players like Tyler Hero, like a Zach Levine or a Bradley Beal or something like that,
12:08they used to just get the max money.
12:10They just got it.
12:12The organizations just gave it to them.
12:13Everybody was happy.
12:14There was no negotiations.
12:15Either you were a max guy or you weren't.
12:17And if you were close to it, they gave it to you, and then you just kept moving on,
12:20and then you just sort of dealt with it later.
12:22You can't afford to do that if you're an organization anymore.
12:25And if the Heat, with one max player already and Bam Adebayo, if they give Tyler Hero the full max,
12:30it's going to be 60% of their cap tied up into two players.
12:34And, you know, Bam and Tyler Hero are very good.
12:36They're not good enough where you can have those two guys representing 60% of your cap.
12:40And so the Heat are going to have to make a decision.
12:43Now they've already paid Bam.
12:45So they're not going to be able to afford to pay Tyler Hero the max amount of money and build a roster around them.
12:51And that's why I think it's interesting because of what Tyler Hero sort of represents.
12:55And there's other players like this, right?
12:57But Tyler Hero, for our purposes, sort of represents this new era of team building that we're kind of getting into.
13:03And fans who follow this kind of stuff are learning about it as they're getting walked through it by their own team.
13:09So I think the Heat are going to figure out, OK, this is how we've got to build.
13:13You're going to have to, like I said before, there used to be no negotiations.
13:15Now there's a negotiation.
13:16It's going to look a little bit more like the NFL, I think, where it's like, you know,
13:19we could pay you all this, but we don't really want to because we've got to do all these other things.
13:23Can we bring you down?
13:24And then when do players start kind of accepting that and figuring out, OK, this is sort of the new reality.
13:29We don't just get the money the way that we used to go get it.
13:33Is this a big year for the young players?
13:35Because if you're going to do this with Tyler, then a guy like Jovich, a guy like Kalel, Jaime, David,
13:46all these guys are going to have to really perform to kind of make the Heat comfortable with having this, you know,
13:55kind of this kind of method of re-signing Tyler.
13:58If they're not any good, then you have a whole nother conversation, but you might only have two players to start your team with.
14:09It's such a great point, right?
14:10Because are you young or do you just have a couple of young guys that you kind of like?
14:14Are you a young core that you're building with or are you just sort of nowhere waiting for something better to show up?
14:21So this is a huge year for all the young guys.
14:24I think it's a huge year for Kalel, who, you know, up and down in Las Vegas, they need to see more from him, certainly.
14:30And they need to see a big leap.
14:31And they've got a lot invested into Kalel as the starter next to Bam Adebayo.
14:35It's a big year for Nikola Jovich because Tyler Hero's not the only one up for an extension.
14:39So is Nikola, right?
14:41And so he'll be a restricted free agent next summer.
14:44There's a lot of money potentially on the line for Nikola Jovich to make here.
14:47And then Brian Mayakas Jr., he's coming off of a sophomore slump.
14:50He has to be better.
14:52They need some of these guys.
14:53And Pella Larson, you know, he's been good.
14:55But is he an every night rotation NBA level player?
14:58So there's a lot of questions for these guys to answer.
15:02And when you look at the depth chart, they're a big part of it.
15:06So are they deep?
15:07Are they not?
15:08They have a lot of players who are interested in that are worth talking about.
15:10We don't know how many rotation guys they actually have.
15:13Until this season actually starts and they actually show the improvement that they need to see from them.
15:17It's a huge year for everybody.
15:20And so the answer to your question, Leroy, is yes.
15:22I mean, this is what it looks like when you exit an era and start a new one.
15:26It's a big year for everybody on the roster.
15:28Are you a part of what's next or are you not?
15:31Go check out Wes's work.
15:33Wes Goldberg, Locked on Heat Podcast, YouTube, all your podcast platforms.
15:38Real GM Radio as well does some great work.
15:40Go follow him on all the social media platforms.
15:42Thanks for the time, man.
15:43Appreciate you.
15:43Thanks, Wes.
15:44Thanks, guys.
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