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  • 22 hours ago
Takeaways and reaction to the Giannis Antetokounmpo introductory press conference with the Miami Heat.
Transcript
00:00So we said it at the beginning of the show, and I certainly feel that way after the press conference.
00:05It really is a fantastic day for the Miami Heat and for Heat Nation at large,
00:11because I thought Giannis appeared very comfortable, as he always does.
00:19You know, he seemed to me like Giannis, and I think there's, and he talked about it in the press
00:25conference.
00:27There are guys, nice people, he's one of them, who get used to surroundings,
00:34and when you get into a new situation, it can be off-putting.
00:39Again, I go back to Sergei Bobrovsky when he came to the Florida Panthers.
00:43It took him a long while to get his feet under him because he was not used to being here.
00:51You move anywhere. I don't care what profession you are.
00:53Now, is it easier when you have millions and you have a staff of people,
00:58the organization that you're going to, who are willing to help you at every stretch of the way?
01:02Yeah, of course. But Giannis, and he broached it, he said,
01:07I spent 13 years in Milwaukee. I don't know where the training room is.
01:11I don't know who I'm supposed to talk to about getting treatment.
01:15I don't know where I'm supposed to go for how to get access to the court.
01:21And you can see where a guy who's as nice as he is might be, you know, out of sorts.
01:27And he wasn't out of sorts. He was Giannis.
01:31It's one of the reasons that I love the press conference, one of the reasons that I love Giannis.
01:34Like, you could tell, man, he is grounded. He's a good guy.
01:40But more than that, like, he made me feel confident in his ability as a leader and member of this
01:50Miami Heat squad
01:51to come on in here and start winning or start putting the heat on a course to winning.
01:57And I'm excited about it. I can't, like, I didn't know how I was going to feel exactly after the
02:05press conference.
02:06And because when they walked out there, I was like, man, he looks maybe a little trepidatious.
02:11Yeah.
02:12Then he started talking, man. And I was like, yeah, Giannis, he's that dude.
02:17Like, he's that guy.
02:19I, to your point, it looked very, I would say morbid, but it was, like, so calm.
02:26And so, like, then Riley spoke and then Eric spoke.
02:30He was like, I'm not putting too much on that.
02:32And Eric spoke for, like, he spoke for, what, 90 seconds?
02:35Yeah.
02:36But then Giannis was kind of like, no.
02:38No, it's, like, his calm confidence really gave me the goosies.
02:46Like, I got goosebumps because he was just like, no, I'm that guy.
02:51Y'all might have forgot.
02:53Like, me and Bam are about to go out here and go crazy.
02:56Just trust me. Don't worry about that.
02:57I really enjoyed their press conference. I'm not going to lie.
03:00But, Hawk, to your point, because when he comes out there, I felt the same way.
03:05It almost seemed like he was timid a little bit.
03:07And I think, naturally, we want our athletes to be, like, robotic almost.
03:11Like, well, a business is a business.
03:13This is the next chapter.
03:14And, you know, I'm ready to be here.
03:16He was very forthcoming at the end where he responded to a question.
03:20He said he spoke with Pat Riley, and he told him, I'm scared.
03:24You don't hear athletes of that caliber often say something like that publicly
03:31because people will just kind of, you know, use it as ammo to calm soft or whatever.
03:36But imagine he was 18 when he came to the United States, and he's been in one place
03:40for 13 years.
03:41Yeah.
03:41Entire life.
03:43Like, yeah, anybody, anybody in all walks of life would be scared to move from there.
03:48As much as you travel and as much as you're familiar with all the other NBA cities
03:53because you're there all the time and whatever, it's still a big deal anytime you move.
03:58Most people won't ever move because they're comfortable where they are.
04:02Like, it's a, it's a big deal, but I watched them and it was like, yeah, I'm, I'm watching
04:08them.
04:09And where you say like the old y'all must've forgot, you know, for whatever reason, because
04:14you've heard some of the stuff coming out this week on other pods and other media platforms
04:20where people are talking about the heat.
04:21They don't talk about the heat being in the upper echelon, whether it's with LeBron or not.
04:25And I feel like it was like a, y'all must've forgot moment because that dude's young.
04:34Yeah.
04:34How old is he?
04:3531, 31.
04:37That dude's young.
04:39Riley said one of the five best in the NBA, maybe one of the five best basketball players
04:44in the world.
04:45Like that guy's on your team with bam and Andrew Wiggins and Bobby Portis and Davion Mitchell.
04:55Like you're telling me that you don't think this heat team is going to be in the elite
05:03group of the East.
05:04I think you are crazy if you don't think that.
05:08And I do, I, I almost feel like the rallying cry for the season should be y'all must've
05:14forgot because Giannis, I said it yesterday, last season was a weird season, but I think
05:21a lot of people are putting last season on Giannis as if that's who he is.
05:28And like Roy Jones, Jr.
05:30I don't know the song Solana.
05:32It's inexplicably it's Roy Jones, Jr.
05:36In his rap album, y'all must've forgot was one of the songs and they played like Bobby
05:45Portis was almost the, the, the, the voice of reason as well.
05:53Cause Bobby Portis was kind of like, he was taken back by the questions like, bro, it's
05:58me, Giannis, bam, Tim, what, like, what are y'all talking about?
06:04And, and Giannis was more calm about it, but man, come on.
06:08I kept arguing and I felt bad even when we were like, Oh, are they top six?
06:12Are they playing once hearing Bobby and Giannis talk?
06:17Yeah, man, we're top four in the East guaranteed.
06:20But that's just, that's just what people do.
06:22Like, Oh, what have you done for me lately?
06:26Like, Oh, that team doesn't have shooting that like they've got the two best defenders in
06:32the league at playing with one another with one of the best role players in the league
06:36coming off the bench is another great defender.
06:37Like the idea that they're not going to be good is just ridiculous.
06:40Hey, by the way, Andrew Wiggins can be a scorer too.
06:43When you're the third option, it's a whole hell of a lot different than being asked to come
06:48in and being the number two option or the number one option that they're, and they may
06:53add another, I have an ask Ira question that I saw earlier was like, Ira, which one makes
06:58more sense?
06:58And it was DeMar DeRozan, Clay Thompson, Russell Westbrook, Russell Westbrook.
07:04I don't think it was right.
07:05I hope it's not right.
07:07Give me a B.
07:08It was B.
07:09It was B.
07:09It was B.
07:10Yeah, it was B.
07:11But I thought it was, it was very apparent from Pat Riley at the beginning to point out
07:18we're going for it now because we've heard from Brian Windhorst.
07:23We've talked about this.
07:24We've heard from Brian Windhorst.
07:25We've heard from several people.
07:26Uh, it mentioned Mad Dog Russo the other day on first take was like, I don't see Giannis
07:30ever winning in Miami, but people kind of assuming like this will be a project year ones, whatever.
07:35And then year two and three is when they're really going to go for it.
07:38You get a finite number of years with a guy like Giannis Antetokounmpo.
07:42And to me, it was very apparent.
07:44Pat started it.
07:45He kind of set that precedent.
07:46Spoh talked about it.
07:48And then Giannis delivered the same message, which is, no, no, we want to win now with this
07:53group of guys.
07:54They're not.
07:55I love what you said about Riley.
07:57Cause Riley did point out Riley easily.
07:59He could temper expectations.
08:03He could have come out there and said, this is a huge piece.
08:07And this is a work in progress.
08:09And we feel like we're on this ascension now.
08:14You know what I mean?
08:15Where you go, you're talking about ascending and a piece and progress.
08:19And he didn't do that.
08:21He said, well, we loved Yaka Jonas and we loved Jaime Hacquez Jr.
08:27We love Tyler, but we're about now, right now.
08:33And I love it, man.
08:35This team, y'all must've forgot.
08:39I really, I'm so down with that.
08:42Y'all must've forgot because you're going to watch Giannis out on that court with Bam.
08:49I'm betting the under, first of all, on every opposing team.
08:53I don't think a single opposing team will put up over 55 points against the heat next season.
08:58How do you feel about that?
08:59They, they, they better shoot threes.
09:01Cause you come around and paint, you in trouble.
09:03You don't like soccer scores.
09:05Wait till you see what the heat do to opponents next season.
09:1158, 52, no, 108, 52, but okay.
09:17The heat.
09:18Yes.
09:18They don't have the best three point shooters right now.
09:20Okay.
09:20Fine.
09:21Right.
09:21Like we're all willing to concede that shooting is going to be a question mark on the team.
09:25Fine.
09:25But what do teams who maybe don't have that element of their offense?
09:30What do they have to rely on to create offense defense?
09:33And you tell me right now who has a better four man defensive unit in the league.
09:37I'd even include five men, whether you want to put Bobby Portis or Pella Larson, you interchange
09:42them.
09:43I'm not kidding.
09:43Davion Mitchell, one of the best on ball defenders from the point guard position in the NBA.
09:49Andrew Wiggins as your third best wing defender in your starting lineup.
09:53Think about that is ridiculous.
09:55And then bam and Giannis like defensively, this team is going to be unlike anything we've
10:01seen from a heat defense and just insane to say, if you really want to bring in a shot
10:05blocker to Hassan Whiteside is in shape.
10:08And if you really want to make things right with the deer bra, this might be the top.
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