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Chapter 1: What does Dan Le Batard think about the Heat's roster decisions?
Folks, I'm getting hungry. And you know my favorite part of any meal, snack, or game day app? That's right. The GOAT, or should I say the greatest of all time, Frank's Red Hot. It's got the perfect blend of flavor and heat that elevates all foods from wings to buffalo chicken dip to even ice cream. That's right. I said ice cream.
And with a roster of flavors from OG to sweet chili, you can put that shit on everything. So make every dish the greatest and eat the GOAT. Can I get an honest appraisal from all people involved on and no sugarcoating? How does everyone feel about Trista's dog, Ollie, being here? Pretty non-obtrusive, like compared to all the other dogs. Couldn't wait a second before you started some shit.
I mean, I like dogs, I guess, but I like my dogs, you know? So I feel that way when people show you pictures of their kids. I feel like that's how people feel about kids. They like their kids. They don't want to hear your stories about your kids. But I tend to love all dogs, especially dogs, though, that are this non-obtrusive.
I'm the one who allowed the dogs in the office, and there have only been a couple of complaints. It's Amin mostly, right? Amin is the one who complains the most about dogs in the workplace, and he believes it makes it a hostile work environment for him. But what is the appraisal from everyone here? Does anyone, do we know if anyone here has any objections that they have shared about Ali?
Because Ali seems lovely. First words. I mean. It's remarkable. Oh, my God. Your first words trying to get people in the office to fight.
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Chapter 2: How does the presence of Trista's dog impact the podcast dynamics?
And I was worried you might miss a step coming back. We have a guest in this week, Trista. It's like, someone say something bad about Trista. I'm not saying for anyone to say anything bad about Trista. Put the dog climbing all over you before the show. Do you like that? That's weird, right? Not what I said. I didn't say any of that. You guys are putting all these words in my mouth.
I'm pretty good with words. The words that come out of my mouth, I'm generally aware of what they are, what they should be. Are you an inflammatory guy by nature? Yes. I mean, look at him. He's inflamed. I just want honesty. I want honesty in the workplace. You're like that little girl where she's smiling and the whole house is on fire behind her. That's you. Juju always gives it to me straight.
Juju, what is the appraisal here? Have you heard anything? What kind of feelings have you gotten from the room in general about the appearance of Ollie the dog? Silence works typically in an audio format. In Juju's defense, he pressed on. It wasn't his problem. But is the fader down? That's usually where I would look first.
If someone speaks and the microphone's on and the fader's down on the board, there's probably... No? You look like you're all over it. The fader's up. All right. Good. Good start. So Juju's not going to be able to speak for the whole show or what? Yeah. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stukas Podcast. So I go away for a few minutes, and we're at war with Iran.
Stephen Hawking is in the Epstein files with photographs. The U.S. hockey team has given up all of its goodwill in five minutes. Reuben Bain's arms are too short. Tyler Van Dyke's career is over as a quarterback. What else did I miss? What else do you guys have for me that changed while I was gone for a week? You were gone for a week. Are you just going to list everything?
Like, things happen sometimes. I know things happen, but these are some substantive things that have happened.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Bam Adebayo's comments on Khalil Ware?
I appreciate the appraisal that things happen, but I didn't have Reuben Bain's arms being too short. Like they were the same size. They were the same size all of last season is what I'm saying. I saw him in the backfield all the time with those short arms and they didn't get any shorter.
You wouldn't put them as too short, but you would put them in the same tier as that's as big a story as war with Iran. Yeah, all of that is in the same class of stuff. I put all of that in the same place, especially Tyler Van Dyke's career being over. He went straight to coach. When I saw SMU gets new assistant, former University of Miami quarterback, I thought it was Ken Dorsey.
I didn't think it was going to be Tyler Van Dyke. They actually have De'Ara King on staff as well over there, too. Yeah, Tyler started a game for Wisconsin against Alabama, was actually moving the ball quite well against them in his first drive, and then he just totally tore up his knee. And you thought, OK, this will be the standard ACL thing.
And then photos came out of his knee and recovery, and it looked jacked up. I know they usually say Tyler Van Dyke had a successful surgery. This, I mean, his knee looked bad. There were photos of him smoking cigars from the SMU locker room. after they had defeated Miami last year, and it looked pretty jarring. So I'm not surprised that his career is over.
He was basically on the staff as a coach in uniform for them. I imagine you guys talked plenty about everything that happened with the U.S. hockey team, but how are you guys feeling about Inter-Miami going to the White House? Because now Inter-Miami is going to do that, right? Lionel Messi gets knocked down on the court, or on the pitch, I should say. in Puerto Rico, and now they're headed.
These things cannot be done quietly anymore. They're not just photo ops anymore. It's side taking now is where it is that we've... For the US Olympic hockey team to do something it hasn't done in nearly half a century, and I remember what it was like the last time they did it, and to give the goodwill away that quickly, it's rare that I've ever seen a sports team of any kind do that.
Give away that kind of goodwill, the best goodwill, patriotism. It's the easiest goodwill in sports. The easiest. Everybody, no matter how they feel about the flag, they can wrap themselves in it because something silly happens in sport. Now enter Miami. You're champion here locally. You've got locally, you've got the Panthers are finished. That's a quiet end to a two-time championship reign.
Man. The Heat are arguing with former legends. Dwayne and Bam are arguing about whether they are or aren't a play-in team. They are. Thank you, Tristan. Technically for now. They are and they have been the last couple of seasons, but Dwayne and Bam are arguing about it. Bam is saying... that Khalil Ware doesn't listen to Spoh, but he does listen to me. That's something that just happened.
That's strange, is it not? Do you guys want to see Ware playing with Bam? If Ware doesn't play, they're not very good, like statistically. I like the idea of Ware playing next to Bam, especially when Bam comes out and says that Ware listens to him. So I like that dynamic. If Bam is supposed to be a leader, he is the captain. I like the idea that they're next to each other if Ware listens to him.
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Chapter 4: How does Dan evaluate the Heat's performance against their competition?
He can get a double-double with his eyes closed. And when you have that type of talent and he's activated, you know, he doesn't do anything but help our defense, help our offense. And big fella can make plays. He also said he doesn't listen to Spoh. He listens to me. That sound's not there, but I was surprised to hear that sound. I go to the workouts with him at 6 a.m. What is that?
Saying out loud, I don't listen to Spoh, or he doesn't listen to Spoh, he listens to me. I think it means that Spoh is really tough on him. probably the same way that he was really tough on Bam, you know, seven, eight years ago. Spoh's been talking smack about Khalil Ware since Summer League, Khalil's first Summer League, and just burying him over and over and over again.
At a certain point, I think talents need to be led in different ways, and Spoh does not care. He is going to continue to give Khalil a tough love. And Khalil went to Oregon, transferred out of there because he didn't want Dana Altman in his year. So this is not new, I think, for Khalil.
Well, I remember the very first time I ever spoke to Spoh as the head coach, what he made clear right away is, I do not care if the players like me. It's no part of my job description. Do the players like me? However... When I hear the leader of this team, for better or worse, that's the leader. It's not Tyler Hero. The leader on the court of this team is Bam Adebayo.
When I hear him say flatly, young player doesn't listen to coach, I've never heard a Heat player say it about their coach. And I don't think that's good. I don't think there's a way to frame any of what's happening between Spoh and Khalil Ware She could file it under tough love. That's the most generous assessment. But if he's tuning out tough love, then it stops being love and it's just tough.
Is him not listening to Spoh, is Bam saying that as something that, like does that make Spoh look bad or does that make Ware look bad? I think it makes Spoh look bad. Honestly, like, at a certain point, you have to change the way that you coach. If somebody is tuning you out and it's a talent who is to the point where Bam is saying, like, this guy makes plays.
Yeah, the mistakes he makes sometimes are crazy, but he's a young player. He's very talented. He has all the tools. He's a seven-footer who can do all these different things. It behooves Spoh to adapt to a certain point if you want to get the best out of your talent. When he's listening to Bam Adebayo more than the coach, I think that's a bad sign.
So this is an interesting thing that she's bringing up here because I have talked to people who are now in their 50s in charge of things and they don't understand how the young people in meetings are always in their phones. The young people, when you're having meetings about important things, they have no reference point for these people who are 30 years younger than me. They're in their phones.
And their choice is to either ban it and lose them or adapt. I think most people listening to this are probably saying, SPO doesn't need to adapt. Kalilware needs to learn. The entire pressure of the entire system is falling on Kalilware to get better, no matter whether the environment is supportive or not. But the best executives I know...
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Chapter 5: What are the concerns regarding Pat Riley's management style?
And then he later on says, I feel like he gets better when he's out there with me. These are semantics here. Yeah, right. Like, well, but I think I'm going to take the opposite side of the semantics than it sounds like you are. It feels a little bit like a throwaway line, to be perfectly honest, what Bam is saying there. Like, does he not listen to his coach sometimes? Definitely.
Like, I think it's why he slipped in the draft, and he's such an incredible talent. Like, there was a reputation that he had when he was in school, and I don't even know the part that Trista just said about Oregon, okay? So clearly there was a reputation with the player. Kind of feels a little bit like a throwaway line from Bam.
He's never offered that in the way of a throwaway line before, and I've never heard someone say that about someone who's coaching the Heat before. Going back to Kevin Lockery, I've never heard it say, he sometimes ignores the coach, especially a player who's sitting there fighting for minutes.
Well, but I think while maybe it wasn't said out loud, I think we can all agree Hasan Whiteside was likely not listening to Spoh all the time. Okay, and Bam didn't say so. Right, but maybe he's a more tenured now. It was understood. We all understood that he wasn't listening to Spoh. I want to get Mike's reaction to this Barry Jackson tweet right here.
Spoh said recently the Heat is simply better than its record. Riley said the Cavs playoff series isn't reflective of what this roster is. For several years, Key Heat people have felt the roster is superior to the record. One reason they've stuck with it.
Wins like this against Houston in this season versus OKC Denver, two versus the Knicks versus Detroit fuel the continued internal belief in this roster. I have no doubt that the Miami Heat believe in themselves. No doubt whatsoever.
And I have no doubt that it will play out the way that it has recently in which they're wrong about the roster construction and they'll try to get an impact player outside of the lottery and we'll swing for the fences yet again in the offseason. And hopefully this time, like we've been saying far too often recently, hopefully this time they'll get it right. Hello, friends. Hello, listeners.
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Chapter 6: What does the team need to do to improve their playoff chances?
All these high-paid analysts. I don't want to mention names. TNT. ESPN. You know, oh, yeah, they are dead. They're not going to make it, you know. Even if they win in, if they lose in Miami. I need to calm you down. That's right. If they lose in Miami, they don't got a chance in Boston. Oh, they are going to have their ass, you know what, in Boston, you know. Stugatz. They were wrong.
Are they going to lose their job? No. Are they going to get a cutting pay? No. What are they going to do? Keep predicting what is the obvious. They are going to say, oh, the Nuggets are going to win. Oh, Denver, the Altitude. And you know what? The Heat are going to win it all. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugats.
See, that's the kind of stuff that bothers me, is that, you know, sourced quote. Because, man, back in the day, the Heat have a bad loss, team looks like it's not a championship caliber team, and Pat Riley goes in his office, he trades everybody. It's like, this is not acceptable, okay?
And now it's, nah, for the fourth year in a row, we're going to be a playing team, but we think we're better than our record is. Like, that's... That's not Pat Riley. That's an old man getting soft in his old year. What happened? I'm just listening to some of the same stuff that we're never really talking about. Man, Kahlil Ware was outstanding last night.
Usually all our Kahlil Ware conversations are like, hopefully this guy can put it together. That's how I know about Kahlil Ware because I haven't really watched much of him because I'm not watching much Miami basketball these days because I don't think the team's got a chance in hell. Everyone can see it, though, Mike, when he's out there.
Everyone can see both sides of it, the extremes, that he's a unicorn athletically and he does a lot of dumb stuff. Well, that's Kaminga. That's the same situation as Juju was saying about Kaminga, and now we see him thriving in his role where you've got Dominique Wilkins screaming on the broadcast, like, thank you, Warriors, for gifting us this unique talent.
And I'm going to tell you this, I wouldn't be surprised if this happened with Cleo Ware and he thrives somewhere else. I'm surprised it didn't happen, which is, I hear this, I'm like, that should have been Phoenix's problem. It should have been Milwaukee's problem. I mean, Eric Spolstra is one of the greatest coaches of all time.
When it comes to Kal-El Ware, I'll side with him on how to manage this talent. You look back at this and wish that they traded Ware for Durant? Yes. Yes, I do. I mean, I was saying that. Yeah. I'm not as bullish on where. I understand why there are aspects to his game that you're like, man, if this guy can put it all together. But there are guys like that in the league.
Look, if there was ever an instance for Miami to kind of change its ways and adapt to a certain talent that... Michael Beasley had a lot of tools. Michael Beasley is a tremendous scorer. They had him number two. They did the rare thing where they tried to lose intentionally for a shot at him, and they capitulated on that too. So I don't see Kahlil Ware's ceiling being that kind of level.
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Chapter 7: How does the conversation shift to Chris Bosh's impact on the Heat?
young people. It's not Khalil Ware young, but does Tyler Herro look to you in any way like something that represents Pat Riley? Is there anything that Tyler Herro is giving off to you that suggests to you that Pat Riley understands load management and understands players not playing all 82 games and is just looking at Tyler Herro and saying, yeah, that looks like Magic and Kareem to me.
That looks like Larry Bird to me. Let's listen to Tyler Herro here. Talking about the back and forth with Kevin Durant, where they were just calling each other names during the game. Nothing crazy. I know Kev a little bit. Just competing. I feel like as a team, we didn't have an edge to us in Milwaukee or Philly. So I was just trying to bring a little edge to it. I mean, we won.
The team responded. So we were down 14-4 at the time, I believe. I was able to just get some fire going. I feel like we're at our best when we got guys in here that are on edge. I think that's stuff that you have to say 60 games into a season, that you're going to win some of these home games when Houston is tired and traveling all over the place all
Oh, Jeremy, yes, give me faces after you said you were going to sit it out after their two losses, and now you've got a lot of opinions. You know what you did last week. Yeah, I know what I did, and I lied. I lied. This team is number one in the East in points per game. They're number one in the East in defensive rating. They're number one in the East in rebounding. Aren't they better?
And that's because you have been able to spread out the minutes between Kalawa and Bam Adebayo. Now, while the two guys play together, you're playing really well, which unlocks a different level of ceiling for these guys because you have Bam Rome on the wing. You have Andrew Wiggins playing the best season of his entire career, and he was locked down over that stretch on Saturday.
This team has potential to be better than what their record says there is. And I think it would be wrong to just dismiss it because we're talking about quotes from Spoh on Bam from a month on Kal-El from a month ago rather than what he's been talking about lately, which is that effort is there. The going and getting rebounds is there.
Playing on the defensive end and having awareness and communicating in the zone is there. This team is playing better. Okay, but potential to be better than their record is, what does that even mean? So they're going to face Detroit in the first round of the playoffs. How do you think that's going to go? They're going to get smacked. That's what I told Jeremy before we started this show.
And by the way, Detroit has the number one defensive rating in the East, not the Miami East. Not the Miami Heat. It's a rating off. Yeah, it's a rating off. I just want to be accurate because Jeremy is an accuracy guy. He says things. So I just don't think that this means anything. You take the Heat, who are basically the play-in team.
You know, talk about Draymond is like, oh, it's the Golden State Warriors Invitational. That's what the Miami Heat should say about the play-in tournament. And you'd also know the thing about the old days is them the old days, bruh. Welcome to the new century. Back to you, Dan. Thank you, Juju. In this new century, I didn't realize that there is an ability to unlock a new level of ceiling.
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Chapter 8: What conclusions do the hosts draw about the Heat's future prospects?
Spoh knows less than us. And I'm like, I don't think that's right. I think he's got more information than we do, and I think he probably knows a little bit about what he's doing, and I think maybe there's something here we're not understanding. Is Kahlil Ware worth any of this? And I include the 20 minutes we've discussed.
They could have had Kevin Durant for him and decided not to trade for Kevin Durant because they wanted to keep him. So they think so, but they don't play him. Right. So clearly they were wrong about that in the offseason, which means that ā That goes back to the original point. It's not even like the superstars that they're missing out on.
It's guys that can help your roster and just dig yourself out of this weird purgatory that Miami finds itself in. They'll play hard. There'll be a couple moments in the season where Jeremy thinks we can win the East, and we'll get into the play-in. Hell, we might even get into the playoff. And then what happened last year?
They got swept in historic fashion in the biggest beatdown in NBA first-round history. What? And I think that's kind of their fate here. We know that they're not good enough. We know that they're not going to be bad enough. And we're just going to keep with this plan, and hopefully we can get the whale in the offseason. Rinse, repeat. What I remember about the last postseason...
is that that is where Zazz got a job with us. Because it started not with the historic beatdown by Cleveland that represents a greater beatdown than any that there's been in the playoffs. And the last one was by 60. I think the last game they lost by 60 and just started their vacation. But right before that, they beat Atlanta in a game that ended up with Zazz securing this particular job.
And Pearl Jam tickets. But the thing that I want to get to that Jeremy just did there, and I don't know if he's trying to trick me or he's trying to trick himself. I don't know what he's doing because it's one thing to say last week after they lose two in a row that he's not talking about him anymore. And then they beat Houston at home and he's like, they're back in the game.
No, but this is what I want to know. When you say, because Trista corrected you on the defensive rating, but when you say they're number one in points scored and you're using that bogus stat of points when their pace is faster than everyone and they're about 14, 15, or 16 in offensive efficiency, you know better about which number to use. Why are you using points instead of efficiency?
Is it to trick me or is it to trick yourself? It's to trick you, and the pace being number one is maybe more noteworthy. Yeah, but I can't trust you on any stat now. Because that's what has changed this team from last season. What a liar you've turned into. Number one in points, fifth in defensive rating. They know how to slow down overall. They know how to slow down other teams.
They rebound as well as anybody in the conference. I'm just telling you, those underlying numbers, when you ask why do they believe those things... That's why. Because you could see a team that's different in terms of what it was from last year. I'm not saying the result is going to be any different. They might lose in the first round. But it's a different roster in terms of who's playing.
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