Host of the "Locked On Heat" Podcast Wes Goldberg joins the show after the Miami Heat close their depressing season. Wes recaps the season, exit interviews and their offseason plans.
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00:00let's uh talk to our guy wes goldberg from locked on he go check out the lockdown heat podcast on
00:04youtube him and david real go subscribe to their channel and all of their podcast platforms they
00:11do a great job one of the best daily heat shows out there wes joining us on the toyota of hollywood
00:16guest line shop over 2 000 toitos on sale at one location at toyota of hollywood on 441 between
00:22hollywood and sheridan toyota of hollywood.com hello wes how's it going it's good buddy thank
00:28you for uh for joining us i guess i'll piggyback off of marcos's question was there anything that like
00:34made you recoil a little bit yesterday at exit media day or did you find it to be uh you know
00:40did you find everything anything that stood out the most uh that that that perked your ears up from
00:45from anybody pick anybody that was there um just of the events of yesterday yeah definitely no recoil
00:52because i think anybody that's been in that heat media room uh the standard is pretty high after
00:57jimmy butler came out on january 2nd and said he basically didn't want to be there anymore so
01:03um yeah nobody hit that level uh no i think what stood out was some of the candidness about the
01:10jimmy butler situation uh from eric spolstra from bam from tyler and all these guys you know they kind
01:16of just ignored it it felt like all year long we know that eric spolstra won't say jimmy butler's name
01:21in these press conferences and you know they kind of just had this let's put our head in the sand and
01:25keep forging on approach to the whole jimmy butler thing and now that the season is over they can kind
01:30of reflect and i think that they need to just because the season is over and um jimmy butler's
01:37not here anymore i think it's really important for this team to kind of uh digest what happened
01:42reflect on what happened in order to move forward i don't think that they've completely moved on even
01:46if they say they can um or say that they have but i think it was good that they were honest about it
01:52and said yeah it impacted the season it kind of threw a wrench in things and i'm paraphrasing
01:55obviously but i think that was really important and then you know there's a bunch of other stuff
02:00that we can get into about bam you know doubling down on his comments about you know wanting to win
02:06and basically suggesting that changes have to be made to the roster and um tyler hero talking about
02:13his extension davion mitchell talking about whether or not he'll be back i mean there's a lot of things
02:16that you could take away from it yeah i wanted to get into the bam thing because you asked him about that
02:20after the game and it was an interesting answer where he's like i expect a lot of changes based on
02:24you know knowing what pat riley's gonna do and then he's asked about it yesterday and i thought it
02:29interesting just because one of the things that has been missed with all of these you know targets or
02:36people who were tied to the heat a lot of them wanted to play with him like that was the thing you
02:42know as much as people love jimmy and he's the guy and the dog nobody will dispute that the tie-in whether
02:47it be spider dame whomever a lot of them wanted to play with bam and they either didn't do enough
02:54or just misplayed the media game with some of them and i gotta imagine for bam who's got all these
03:01relationships around the league and maybe has convinced guys hey like this is the place for you
03:06now you're at this point like do you feel like that that level of frustration is getting there for
03:11him that they haven't taken advantage of that i don't think it's a level of frustration i think it's
03:16an acceptance of the responsibility that he's feeling now that jimmy butler is not here this
03:21is bam's first off season as the star of the team if you think about it right because jimmy comes here
03:26and he wasn't the star of the team he was he was basically a brand new starter in 2019 when jimmy
03:31butler arrived this is he's the team captain and um i think that there is a comfort and a sense of
03:37security that bam has in other words i don't think he thinks he's going anywhere and what i found
03:41really interesting about um when he was asked to clarify on those comments at the exit interview
03:46was talking about how he's going to have a conversation with pat riley about it
03:49and that is the thing that the star of the team does and i would imagine maybe this is the first
03:55time bam has had this kind of responsibility so i don't know that it's frustration but i do think
03:59that he's looking at the landscape of the league and seeing how hard and he kept saying how hard it
04:04is to win a playoff game and knowing that this roster needs major upgrades um so yeah i think he's out
04:10there and and you're totally right he's the guy that stars want to play with he's got he knows
04:15them from the olympics he's the kind of star who doesn't even need the ball right so he's the kind
04:19of star that other stars be like oh i can go in there i can still get my 20 shots per game and bam's
04:24gonna hit awesome screens and he's gonna play great defense and he's gonna make my job easier as a star
04:29player so yeah i think bam is feeling all of that kind of responsibility now well you think like when i look
04:36at this team and i look at over the years they've always had kind of enough depth to where they could
04:43play and and and spoke and say hey this guy earned his minutes and you could play all these games
04:50with you know the bench um this year i found it almost necessary that some of those guys get their
05:00take their lumps early so they won't have to deal with it either at the end of this year or in the
05:06future and there's a couple of guys that i feel like no we just let this go on until next year and
05:13we're gonna have the same conversations next year like the team was 37 and 45 should he just put those
05:20guys out there and let them take their lumps now when they only had 37 wins versus wait next year
05:26where you think you're probably gonna you know have a better team but now you still got to figure
05:32out some of these young guys yeah i think trying to find the balance between the youth and the guys
05:37like bam and tyler hero is going to be really interesting because spolster kept talking about
05:42a couple different times hey like these guys 20 21 22 23 years old we kind of need them to be 26 27 28
05:49years old um and obviously you know he was the quickest though i i think what's interesting about
05:57it is do they have the patience to do all of that because ben's 27 tyler's 25 do you just trade these
06:05guys for people who are 26 27 28 29 years old um i think that's going to be fascinating and i don't
06:11know that the heat even know the answer to that right now to be clear i think that really does matter
06:16how the offseason plays out can they go get us a third star to add to bam and tyler i think that is
06:21the intent um but as the heat know and as we know easier said than done but yeah i i think that this
06:28this heat team is at a crossroads here and if you look at the roster it should be like parts of it
06:34should be patiently built but then you look at what this heat what the heat are saying and what pat
06:38riley and eric spolster are saying and bam out of bio are saying and they're saying no no we don't have
06:43that kind of patience we're not willing to wait to win we want to win right now and the standards
06:47are really high and frankly those two things don't work together like we've seen teams try to take
06:54the two timeline approach i don't know why miami would want a two timeline approach to a 500 team
06:59right now right from your standpoint uh tyler yesterday some thoughts on the contract and his
07:04and his year what was uh the most interesting thing that stood out to you about boy wonder
07:08yeah i guess the contract extension talk um talking about how you know it wouldn't be a big
07:15deal if he didn't sign it this year which is true it it almost makes more sense for tyler here to wait
07:21until next summer because if he made an all nba team next year which is it used to be impossible
07:26but with the 65 game rule not impossible anymore right enough injuries and he could he can end up on
07:31third team all nba no problem especially if he takes one more leap into next year so it makes a
07:37little bit more sense for him to wait but then at the same time it makes more sense for the heat
07:40to sit to offer it now and say hey you're our guy we want to offer you that stability so we'll see
07:43what happens on that front but i also thought it was really interesting how he talked about his
07:47approach coming into the season how he imagined playing off of jimmy butler and terry rozier
07:52and he was going to be more of a glue guy that was his word he's gonna be more of a glue guy
07:56and be more off the ball and then you saw all of that kind of start at the beginning of the season
08:02and then when it became clear that rozier or whatever happened i guess nothing became clear with
08:06but it just became clear he couldn't play anymore and then and then the whole jimmy butler fiasco
08:10he was put back into that number one scoring option but then learned how to do it while also adding all
08:16these new things that he prepared for in terms of three-point shooting getting to the rim uh playing
08:20off the ball more screening more off the ball all that kind of stuff i thought was really interesting
08:24and i think it speaks to tyler's overall approach and i don't know that you would say this about a guy
08:30who's you know six years going into his seventh year in the nba where it feels like he kind of
08:37opened up a new door into in terms of like the kind of player he can be because he was willing to
08:43embrace that off-ball role he's not just a primary on-ball guy anymore he's not like a super six man
08:48anymore it feels like there's another level for him to get to and i thought that was really interesting
08:51you think we've been like to criticize tyler based on this season is even though you made an all-star
09:01or whatever a lot of people saying he's not that guy is it a bit unfair based on what he said and
09:09what he thought he was going to do versus what he had to do and in fact it shows a lot of growth that
09:15he was able to just switch roles like that and get acclimated relatively quickly because remember
09:20we tried it with uh josh um oh yeah josh richardson remember he same thing uh early on in his career
09:27right we tried to take him that guy a little bit different because josh richardson was what a four
09:32year player and a second round pick uh coming into the league so i think expectations are a little bit
09:36different for tyler who was a one-year player and a lottery pick but look i've been accused on
09:41locked on heat all the time of being a tyler hero apologist so just take that for what it's worth
09:45but i do think that we've been very unfair to him he could go out and say i want to be in the
09:48conversation with luka dodgy and trey like whatever like who cares what what he's an athlete
09:53have you been around an athlete before this is the kind of stuff people say you know um i've had
09:58conversations with players who aren't even the league as early as last year who think that they
10:02were the best player on the team like it's not just not the heat necessarily but it's like this is
10:07what athletes say all the time put a microphone in front of them see what's going to happen
10:10um but at the same time he outplayed trey young every single time they were on the court together
10:18this season you know he had an awesome year he said he wanted to be an all-star he was an all-star
10:23like this is a guy who's accomplished a lot of things in the league despite the fact that he's
10:28been a little bit of a lightning rod for this team and i think during the jimmy butler years he was put
10:32in a tough spot because there was games where jimmy butler was the number one option and then there
10:36was games where jimmy butler decided he didn't feel like being the number one option you didn't
10:39know when in that and tyler hero had no idea when right exactly and so i think it was always
10:44tough for him but look i think he stepped up to the degree he could step up no he can't be the
10:50number one option on a championship winning team so what how many guys are he's a really good
10:55basketball player and if he had to know if he had a real number one option to play off of i think
10:58everybody would appreciate him a little bit more the other thing too is i mean you know like we saw
11:03last night like even luca got attacked defensively reeves had a tough and these are guys that he's
11:08put either put his name with or is compared to all the time but man west they got zero from
11:13kalal because he's so young and they got zero from andrew wiggins in this series and i it it was hard
11:20not to notice that andrew wiggins did not show up yesterday or decided not to to speak not that he
11:26ever says anything that enlightening but it to me man it feels like this guy never wanted to be on
11:31the miami heat he did not decide to be traded to the miami heat he was kind of just the salary match
11:36uh know that there was you know him having a kid in the middle of the season but like do you think
11:41this is a marriage that can work because he's got a couple years at a pretty hefty price the next
11:46couple years or do you feel like this is somewhere where like maybe they got to find another destination
11:51that he likes better because it did not feel like uh the andrew wiggins experiment worked too well for
11:56them yeah the wiggins thing was not great the lack of availability was a big reason for that the guy
12:04never got really a chance to practice with the team um i don't know i don't know that he doesn't
12:10want to be in miami i do know from talking with him he's not a fan of big cities like even when he
12:15was playing in golden state he refused to live in san francisco he lived in a suburb um so i don't
12:21know where he's living now but i he doesn't like cities i don't know whether that has any part of it
12:25but also you know he was kind of feeling some type of way he literally just had a baby girl and
12:32then got traded and and i think it wasn't so much that he was not wanting to be in miami it was more
12:39of he didn't want to leave in that moment and i i think he was maybe a little bummed out after that
12:44and then you compare that you you combine that with the injuries and i think you see what you got
12:48that said it's not an excuse you know i just think you know you're trying to find reasons for stuff
12:52but you know it was half a year he's i think he's a movable contract in today's cba i think there's a
13:00lot of teams in the league that can talk themselves into six eight wing definitely can score plays a
13:06little bit of defense can rebound a little bit play make a little bit like he just fits he's not
13:09going to be the answer to everything but he could be a puzzle piece for us so if he wanted to try to
13:13shop him around i'm sure they could find some takers for him absolutely um but at the same time i don't
13:18think you're just trying to get off of him because of how the season ended he was here for a
13:21couple of months i think if you had to go into the next season with him that would be okay and
13:26you would hope that you would get a better year i mean remember andrew wiggins got traded to golden
13:30state in the middle of the year it was kind of weird it was also covid happening and all that
13:34kind of stuff and then he came back the next year and they won a championship and he was the second
13:37best player on that team you know after in his first full season with with the warriors so
13:41i think you can hold out hope but at the same time i mean the book is out on andrew wiggins like
13:46fans are just learning what minnesota and golden state fans knew all along about and kansas fans
13:51even going back to college and people who would watch him in high school you know i've i've talked
13:55to his high school coaches his college coaches i've talked to people i've been around him like
13:58this is just the wiggins experience um so you know as long as you're not asking him to be the
14:04number one two or three option he's really good but then again that's an expensive number four
14:07yeah it is uh best guess before we get you out of here west i'm doing this without i understand pat
14:13speaking so i think that'll probably always change our thoughts as long as you don't talk to him we're
14:17good it's not my fault he's responsible for his own words it's your fault it's not my fault
14:23yes the mush less it is ridiculous every time he talks to somebody he talked to jimmy he talked to
14:34pat i walked into the exit interviews yesterday and i was just glad tobin wasn't there
14:38man you're being called out you're being called out i think that's it see what what when it's me
14:45because you're just that's what you say you are what about west you're influencing him
14:50with uh without hearing from pat what if i had to handicap it for you if you if you had a thought
14:58he nail a whale he get a guy with baggage but is very talented or they take kind of a step back year
15:09and maybe you know play for a better pick next year what do you think is is the path they would
15:13choose after a year like this the path that they would choose is to go get that whale go get that
15:2027 plus point per game score who can make all the things click into place that would be the path and
15:26then that is what they're going to try to do we know that pat riley there's not they don't want to
15:30wait five years between stars again right between lebron leaving in 2014 and jimmy coming back in 2019
15:35there's no appetite for that they want to go get a star they'll be calling and they'll be calling the
15:40teams with the players with the names that we're everybody is speculating about you know no there
15:45are no secrets right now in the nba everybody knows who is and could be available so um yeah
15:51i think that's the path but look if that doesn't happen then the decisions get a little bit tougher
15:59at that point we appreciate the time man go check out wes wes wes goldberg locked on heat podcast
16:06you guys go subscribe to their youtube channel all podcast platforms as well him and dave emil do a
16:11great job you're doing a lot of other shows wes anything else you want to promote for uh for the
16:15nba playoffs because i saw you're doing uh some national stuff as well yeah thanks for the the
16:20opportunity yeah uh real gm radio on youtube wherever you get your podcast recording uh twice a week
16:25covering the playoffs with some really great guests oh can i just ask you one before we get out of
16:30here yeah what did you think of the jj reddick meltdown before the game yesterday
16:33oh it's great i saw somebody say it was like i guess he's a cancer or something like that's his
16:39sign and that's like what cancers do like that zodiac gm guy which was amazing yeah dude like
16:45the jj reddick press conferences they're just gonna be a show we like if you just listen to him on espn
16:50and on his podcast you kind of know his deal i don't want to get in trouble or anything but
16:55you gotcha all right man thanks for the time appreciate you thanks wes thanks guys there you go
17:00go check out his work he does fantastic uh stuff i don't like i don't like i don't know i don't
17:05like what you did i didn't do anything i don't like what you did he you wait wait just like you
17:11said pat and jimmy use their own words he used his own words he said you're a mush he said it was my
17:20fault you said i was the mush your fault the mush sings he's