- 5/2/2025
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.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
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
Recommended
13:45
|
Up next