Miami Heat Eyeing Former First Round Pick | Simone Fontecchio’s Future | Lessons From Warriors

Miami Heat Eyeing Former First Round Pick | Simone Fontecchio’s Future | Lessons From Warriors

With the preseason still weeks away, we break down the latest news about the Heat before asking, “Can a very recent NBA champion be a model for Miami this season?” The answer may surprise you on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Lock on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg here with David Romel. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day for daily content on the Heat. Join more than 17,000 Everydayers and click that subscribe button on YouTube. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Have a great show for you today. We got some mailback questions I want to get to. There are rumors going around about a creative way that the Heat can get under the luxury tax, but it might uh involve waving one of their players. Plus, what can the Heat learn from the Warriors? But David, before we jump in at all into all of that, are you excited about Kai Jones? [Music] No air horn. Is that is Kai Jones air horn worthy? Not anymore. Not anymore. All right, there we go. Now, now I’m excited. pumped up like um it’s an opportunity to bring in another big man. Um 610 611 um you know I first round pick from a couple years ago. He’s played three seasons in the NBA. Uh spent some time with uh was it Dallas last year and the Clippers and the Clippers. Um, so he’s a guy who can be a pseudo rotation player, especially for a a front court as thin as Miami. I don’t say I would say that he just doesn’t do anything particularly well. I I mean, he’s not overtly explosive. Um, he’s got some nice hops, but I think he’s got a little bit slow uh as far as his his jump is concerned. He’s not a great rebounder. He’s not a passer. He’s not a good screen setter. Um, but he he runs the floor and he tries hard and he’s kind of still just a G-League guy. He’s a very young player, still just 24 despite uh being drafted four years ago. And uh just a guy with some potential and maybe Miami might be able to mold him into something productive and and kind of instill their work ethic and get him to stay focused on one particular thing. But, uh, I think it’s just a basically a somebody to bring in for camp, you know, and that sort of idea. I don’t think he has a chance of really being an impact player on the roster. Yeah, let’s be clear. The Heat have not signed Kai Jones. They are simply working him out. So, they haven’t signed him even to a training camp deal. They This is from Chris Haynes on Monday afternoon reporting that Miami is working out Kai Jones. You mentioned the talent there. The talent is there, right? He’s big. He’s athletic. 19th pick um uh in 2021, 19th overall pick. And he was a guy that I think a lot of people thought might go higher in that draft. Uh there was a he was one of those measurement combine gods, right? Like he just like the wingspan is huge and the jump the vertical leap is great and the hand length this and the body fat that and all these things and uh it just never materialized to anything on the court. Uh he basically played his way out of the rotation in Charlotte which is very hard to do. uh played overseas for a year, came back last year, uh signed with the Clippers, played 28 games there, ended up on Dallas by the time the season was over, played 12 games with them. Uh I remember in the draft there was conversation about, hey, is this guy like a stretch big type? That was sort of what he’s projected as, but he’s taken 26 three-point attempts over his entire career and has made six three-pointers of those 26. he the the free throw percentage isn’t really there. Uh but like again it’s not like it’s a very small sample from what we’re going with just because the the playing time has been so little, but the playing time is little for reason. Look, if you can’t break into the center rotation in Charlotte, you can’t get on the court for the Hornets. You’ve got, you know, there’s some concerns there. You know, got on the court a little bit more for Dallas, an injured Dallas team last year, missing Anthony Davis and Derek Lively and things like that. So, I you know, I think it’s a worthwhile gamble to just Yes. If you’re going to sign him, the Heat have four training campree roster spots left. You mentioned how thin they are in the front court. It might you might as well get get some eyes on the guy, bring him into camp. Um they are the one thing I think you could take away from this whether or not Kai Jones makes the training camp roster or not is that um the Heat are now more like they they they’re starting to gamble if gamble is the right word here because it’s literally low no zero risk here but they’re starting to look at former first round picks more often like you think about like Josh Christopher last year Kai Jones now I think they’re interested in using their player development program to see what they could do with these sort of big talented athletic balls of clay to see what they can get out of them. Uh, and then the other thing is that they’re looking obviously to address the big man spot um potentially in some way. They want to get eyes on on some more big men here. That’s what I’m taking away from it. I I mean the uh the fact that they’re taking on younger talent that might not reach their potential. I mean, we saw how it played out with Christopher and he just didn’t get the opportunity for as talented as he is and as much as we had hoped that maybe he might be able to pop or impact the game at some point or you got out there and play some, he just never really did. And uh it’s unfortunate because you know these guys get drafted early and then they have a bright career ahead of them until you know what there’s only so many spots available. You’ve got to be able to go out there and play consistently and play well. And uh Jones seems like he’s this might be his last best opportunity. I know from here you never want to say something necessarily negative about somebody, but it it seems like he’s in that kind of he’s going down that path where if he can’t find a team that sticks with him and sees something worthy in him, then he might just wind up playing in Europe or Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he already did it once, right? He played overseas once and you know you could you see guys former first round picks end up you know like wow you know you’re in Vegas for summer league and you know he’s on the the Pelicans summer league roster you’re like what what happened I forgot about that guy that’s crazy I don’t know if that’s where Kai Jones is going but uh the heat are working him out. We’ll see what happens there. Let’s go to our mailback questions. We got a couple that we want to get to here. Max writes in. Have you guys heard anything when it comes to the heatwaving Simone Feekio for cap relief? So that was a rumor that was kind of floating around last week. Uh I I I I’m sorry that I don’t remember the name. It was uh it was like a European reporter. Maybe it was an Italian reporter. I don’t know. There was a European reporter who had obviously been around Fonteo, I guess, during Eurob basket preparations. And um had reported that Miami was considering waving and stretching Simone Fenteo, which would be the only way that this would work in order to create that cap relief in order to get under the luxury tax. So, Max is asking us if we had heard anything about that. Um, that has not been reported locally uh or by an American reporter. I have no idea. I’m not trying to take away anything from this reporter. I just can’t vouch for this reporter. I’ve never heard about this. I’ve never heard of this guy. So, I have no idea whether or not it’s trustworthy or not. So, um I’ll say this, I think the Heat are considering everything. They need to get out of the luxury tax. I think they’re I think they are considering everything. and they are legitimately intrigued by Fonteo and I think they want to see what he can do in training camp and preseason and stuff like that, but they have to get under the luxury tax and if push comes to shove and they have to wave somebody, you know, I I think there could be any number of guys who fall into that category and and would certainly provide that cap relief. But yeah, I don’t I don’t want to go out on a limb and vouch for like, yeah, there this is definitely like something that is going to happen. I don’t think there’s any indication that that’s the case. No. Uh neither would I. I think it’s a possibility. It’s like if you’re looking at it from a bigger angle and say this is something that they probably need to do, this is one avenue in which they could get to that point. It’s like, okay, well, I mean, if you take that in consideration, um, sure, it makes sense. But, uh, look, it’s not to dismiss European reporters like this. There sometimes are a little plugged in, but then sometimes when those reports get translated to the United States, there’s something almost invariably lost in translation. the Yovich stuff from a year ago, right? It’s like it get you know the translation isn’t exact and it kind of gets blown out of proportion and you know the way that a lot of this stuff well yeah I don’t want to go too much deep into it but um look there there’s something I call and this this is has nothing to do with this reporter this is some there’s something I call no duh journalism right where it’s like you you could report something even without having talked to anybody knowing that it’s true and I’m not again not saying that that’s the case here but it it kind of feels like it could be if you if you wanted it to be where it’s like, yeah, the heat are considering everything. You could say that the Heat are considering waving and stretching name fill in the blank. They they to say something has been considered is kind of saying nothing but and saying something true even if it’s not going to happen at the same It’s just sort of no duh. It’s like, yeah, of course they’ve probably considered it. What does that mean? They’re considering wearing jerseys out next season, you know? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Tyler Herro is considering no socks with his sneakers. Bold move. Bold move. Uh, he’d probably have blisters. I wouldn’t recommend it. Um, all right. We got another mailback question coming up about whether or not the Miami Heat can learn from the Dynasty Golden State Warriors, the team that started their dynasty. We’ll talk about that next here on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. We’ve all been there. Logging on early, waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale, only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. 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And if you’re worried about what happens if plans change, well, you know what? This is the world we live in. Sometimes plans can’t change. The game time guarantee has your back with cancellation protection and much, much more. So take the guesswork out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use the code locked on NBA. Get $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but again, create an account and redeem the code L O C K D O NA for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Our next mailbag question comes from my Ed who writes in, “Hey, I’ve got a question for y’all. Maybe more on the Wes’s on Wes’s side since he covered the Warriors. Could the Heat’s play style be inspired by the Championship Warriors?” Tyler Herro is Steph Curry. Norm Pal is Klay Thompson. Bam is Draymond Green. Is there anything they could look to there that could make them contenders in a depleted Eastern Conference? We have Wiggins. So that could be modeled after the 2022 championship team. I’m wondering who our version of Iguadala and Harrison Barnes are. So the general idea that Miami, if Eric Sper is trying to devise a new scheme based on this roster, what we have right now. Yeah. What do you think about looking back at those Warriors and saying what worked for them might work for us? Uh, I have questions. Um, I think obviously the fit it doesn’t seem like an exact one. Uh, and I think Steph Curry is so uh, you know, impossible to duplicate what he does and what he has done throughout his career. So it seems like that’s it. That’s the biggest difference. Yeah. I mean, one day people are talking about Tyler Herro not even being NBA worthy basketball player, like he shouldn’t be on a Heat roster. Now we’re asking, oh, can he be Steph Curry at his peak, you know, and that’s that’s a pretty huge gap for anyone player to cover. So, yeah, I have concerns about that. And I just I don’t think it’s the way the roster is built necessarily. I I think they can go different versions. Maybe the death lineup is that is that you take Khal off the floor and you put Bam at center I guess you know but that’s um that’s fine but that’s where Bam has played for the majority of his career so it’s not like it’s it’s this huge change that we haven’t seen coming in we’ve just we’ve also seen him at center and it hasn’t always worked uh without the three-point shooting and the elite historic three-point shooting that Thompson and Curry provide. So the Heat took 37 three-point attempts per game last year. It’s about the middle of the pack three-point volume. The Warriors in 2015 16 took 31 three-pointers. They took just a hair fewer than that the year prior when they won the championship in 2015. So, it’s a different era, right? Even kind of going back 10 years, doesn’t feel like that long ago, but it was. And the Warriors and what they were doing with Steph and Clay uh did change things. Uh it it it kind of helped push us in this three-point shooting direction in a big way. And a big part of that has been teams trying to find their version of Stepher, trying to do this, trying to find, okay, what what is the Warriors formula that makes sense for us? How can we retrofit our team uh and make it so that we could play and keep up with that team, that dominant dynasty team. Uh and some teams have failed and most teams have failed. Some teams have succeeded, right? you think about the Boston Celtics, even I would argue the Houston Rockets, they never won a championship, but man, they got far and those were some good teams with James Harden and and some of those teams. So, uh, some teams figured out their version of it, others didn’t, most didn’t. That said, you know, I think there could be something in terms of schematics, X’s and O’s that they could take from those Warriors teams. Like having Norm Pal and Tyler Herro running split cuts off of a BAM post up or a BAM dribble handoff, that to me is really interesting. The way like to me when I think about the Golden State Warriors, there’s two plays that I think about. It’s either Zaza Pulio or Andrew Bogat in the post with the ball with Steph and Klay Thompson running split cuts and just making the defense make a decision on who they’re going to stay with and then that center kicking the ball out to that open shooter and then just them wreaking havoc in that way. So, that’s the other that’s one that’s the number one play. The second play I think of is Draymond Green on the roll with a with a numbers advantage lobbing it up to Andre Iguodala for a back door lob. Yeah. With shooters all around them with Iguodala just wide open on the baseline. Those are the two plays that I think about all the time. What would Miami’s version of those plays be? Well, it’s pretty obvious, right? You can do split cuts Bam uh in the post or Khal Wear in the post, right? I think he can make that read. You know who could definitely make that read because we’ve seen him do it before? Himeakis Jr. Yeah. But him in the post and then you have Norm Pal, elite three-point shooter. Tyler Hero, elite three-point shooter, running split cost cuts off of each other. I think that’s something you could see them do potentially, especially if Pal and Hero can stay on the floor together. If Pal is what the Heat think he can be defensively this season and they can stay on the floor together. Um, so that’s one thing. And then Bam playmaking. Does is there a lob threat there? Is there a version of Bam who could do a lot of play doesn’t have doesn’t necessarily have to be Iguidal in the lob, but just a version of Bam who can playmake a little bit more the way that Draymond playmakes for those Golden State Warriors teams and kind of unlocks a lot of these different things. If we can kind of get into more of a Bam back to like four or five assists per game, I think that’s interesting. Yeah, I I like you mentioned a player there that I think could make this happen and it’s Hakeis. like um I think he’s got the the savvy, the IQ to kind of fill in that igua iguadala-esque type of role. Um athletic. The problem is that the defense certainly is is such a huge disparity. Um yeah, and the three points. Can we combine Heywood Heismith and Hakas Jr. into one player? Yes. And get late career Andre Aguidala. That’d be great. Uh because I think that’s he’s got the potential there. Like I I that’s just the problem with this heat roster. Sometimes you look at these players even as you’re making comparisons to past teams. It’s like you have players that they might have the potential to do something well, but there’s just such a glaring weakness on another facet of the game that makes them virtually unplayable. And so it’s uh it’s finding a way to get these two-way players and develop them and be able to add them to the roster. And right now Miami just doesn’t have a lot of options that way. So can I ask you a sort of followup on all of this? Yes. So, I mentioned the three-point shooting numbers there and the I guess the big difference is that when the Heat shot 37 three-point attempts per game last year, they were in the middle of the league. When Golden State was taking 31 32 three-point attempts a game 10 years ago, that was the number one mark in the league. They So, can the Heat be near the top of the league in three-point shooting volume? And do you think that they should be? Because that doesn’t work for all teams. Not all teams should be taking that many threes. Like the Denver Nuggets should be taking a bunch of, you know, shots in the paint. The Milwaukee Bucks should be taking a bunch of shots in the paint. The Oklahoma City Thunder should be taking a bunch of shots in the paint for the Heat. I don’t know where their hot zone is in in the half court. Maybe it is. Maybe it is from three cuz you know again considering you’ve got Tyler Hiro Norm Pal Bam has extended his range especially at that power forward spot. He’s able to shoot from the corners a little bit more often. KL Wear we know is willing on on those pick and pops and trail threes in transition. I kind of think yes. I think the Heat should be aiming to be near the top of the league in three-point shooting volume. I agree. I really do. I think there’s a lot of opportunity there for transition basketball. A lot of great chances there if they just uh find ways of of moving the ball effectively and and unlocking some additional playmaking from guys like Bam and Wear. So, I I think I mean, we saw Wear make smart passes. So, I think we could do something with him as a, you know, he’s not going to set screens to the same level there, but he he could you could run him in the post and he could find some guys from the three-point spot there. I I think he’s got the potential. He’s got the size, the vantage, you know, point there where he can make those plays for somebody on the perimeter. So, I I think there’s chances there. Um, it just it doesn’t seem like he’s so intent on scoring whenever he does get the ball. So, I I think he’s just kind of locked in in that regard, but maybe for Bam. hanging out on the in the dunker spot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly a possibility there. I don’t know. I I I like the idea of, you know, anything. To be honest with you, at this point, I’d be happy with just them being implementing that kind of change, picking up the pace, shooting that many three-pointers. Uh it kind of feels like they have to, right? Like they don’t have superior offensive talent. So, how do you make up for that? You make up for it with math, right? And if you can win the math battle, even if you’re not winning the offensive talent battle every single night, if you’re winning the math battle, that keeps you in the mix, right? That’s keeping you in stuff. And that’s been Miami’s biggest problem over the last couple years is with or without Jimmy Butler, right? Like they just never were winning the offensive talent uh part of this on most regular season nights. And they definitely weren’t winning the math part of this because they were playing at one of the slowest paces and they were just sort of average to below average in terms of three-point shooting. uh volume. I think you almost have to play like a college team where it’s just like, okay, like we’ve got pretty decent talent, we got a bunch of three and four star recruits, but if we’re winning on pace, if we’re winning the possession battle, and we’re winning uh on three-point volume, then that math kind of breaks our way. And that’s the difference between 40 wins and maybe 45 or 46 or 47 wins in a season. So, yeah. Um yeah, we’ll see. Uh we’re going to take a quick break here. Locked off heat is next. back here with Locked on Heat. David, I know you were putting together um some sort of ranking or something here uh for our Locked Off Heat segment, which is our uh our new offseason segment where we talk about anything but the Heat. Yeah. Uh you know, a little hastily put together perhaps, but trying to think of something that would be fun and interesting. And uh it’s another blind ranking here. And uh we’re going to do blind ranking of uh just fast food restaurants there cuz I don’t know, you don’t eat them ramen. And you’ve got a reputation, one that you admire and you kind of cultivated of being a little bit of a a food snob, but that doesn’t mean that you haven’t been to fast food places in the in a long time. I mean, longtime listeners will recall a deep affinity for lemon pepper Winktop. I mean, that was that was your go-to. Different time. Uh that was little different. You’re a little more mature now. You changed your palette a little bit. Well, that’s when I lived in California and I remember I the first year I moved to the Bay Area. Um I love chicken. I I still to this day love hot wings. I love going to a sports bar with like a dozen hot wings in front of me and a beer and watching the game. Like I love that. Um and I remember when I first moved to the Bay Area, I asked my old boss at the time. I was like, “Hey, where can I get good wings?” He looked at me like I had a third head. Like he was like like I was like, “What do you He’s like, “What do you mean chicken wings?” I was like, “You don’t eat chicken wings? Like this is crazy. Is this not a thing you do in the Bay Area?” And the only place I could find a sports bar to eat wings was Buffalo Wild Wings. Okay. Which is objectively terrible. Yeah. And so I was like, “Well, that’s not a great option.” And then I found Wingstop, which is you can’t sit there because there’s no it’s a fast food joint. So, you just pick up your wings, but you know, you end up picking up the wings, bring buying your own six-pack and watching the game at home, which wasn’t the same thing, but it’s the best I could do. And even Wingstop, it wasn’t the best, but it was the best option for me at the moment. But now that I live back in Miami, we’ve got Flanigans, we got Sports Grill, we got all these places that are are way better. So, uh, yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know if Wing Stops on your list, but how many how many are we uh doing here? Uh, I’ve got 10. Okay. So, I’m going to blind rank 10 fast food restaurants. Number one being the best, 10 being the worst out of this group. Correct. Okay. Here we go. All right. Uh, Taco Bell. All right. I’m going to put Taco Bell. It has to be top five. I’m going to go ahead and put it at three. Uh, I think consistency wins. The menu is always great. There’s always surprises there. It always hits the spot. That chicken quesadilla has been really consistent. The Crunch Wrap Supreme is a GOAT fast food item. Taco Bell number three. All right. Nice. Uh, Burger King. Uh, I haven’t been to a Burger King in a really long time. Okay. I can’t put it in the top five. Then I’m gonna go ahead and There’s some really It’s not bad. I just haven’t been in a The Burger King in Bickl I think has to be the highest grossing Burger King on the planet. It’s always busy. Always. And I have my wife and I have talked about this like before we move, we have to go to this Burger King. Like we have to make this happen. We’ve lived here for six years. We’ve never been to this Burger King. That said, uh, so it could be higher after this, but I’m going to go ahead and put that at seven right now. That makes sense. It’s just I don’t know why people are so determined to be it has to be either McDonald’s or Burger King. There could be room for both. I Yeah. Why do we We don’t It was like It’s like gang affiliation between the two. It’s like no, you can have both. It’s okay. All right. Subway. Uh Subway I’m going to put it nine. I think Subway sucks. It’s not a good sandwich. Um we happily sponsor have them sponsor the show. Yeah, of course. You know, if they if they wanted the $5 foot long or whatever it is Gilmore, I feel like Happy Gilmore, you know, it’s like, “Oh, delicious foot long.” Sub. Yeah. No, the Italian’s not bad there, but uh Subway is an aggressively bad sandwich, generally speaking. All right, I hear you. Uh raising canes. That’s the chicken. Those are chicken tenders, right? That’s the Louisiana one. Um up a couple places. I don’t know that I’ve had raisin canes, but I know it’s fried chicken tenders. I might have had it. I can’t remember. I know it can’t be that bad. So, I’m going to go ahead and put that at six. Okay. Understanding that it should probably be higher because people who like it really like it, but I can’t speak to it. Okay. KFC. 10. 10. You hate KFC? Not a fan. Too greasy. Don’t like it. I haven’t had it in a long time, but uh that was last time I had it. Yeah. Specifically, I know exactly where I was and what happened and what I ordered. I had there was they used to do like this mashed potato bowl where it was essentially like a chipotle rice bowl, but instead of rice, it was just like four lbs of mashed potatoes and yeah, just chicken corn. I think there was like macaroni and cheese on top of it. Just insane carbloating, zero nutritional value thing. And I had it after I used to coach flag football up in uh up in Sunrise. And I remember get there there there used to be a KFC. Maybe it’s still there uh over there on the corner from the park in Sunrise. And I went there and I got that and I just remember being like I will never eat at this restaurant again. This was I felt so bad. I thought I was going to be like the the three-eyed fish on the Simpsons afterwards. I thought I like I thought I ingested something poisonous. No. No. It’s Scarlet Hair at the end of God of the Wind, you know. God is my witness. I shall never eat KFC again. Throwing the bowl down. Kids around the park going, “What the heck is wrong with this guy?” You know, lightning strikes in the background. Yeah, I can see it. Very dramatic scene there. Um, let’s see what we got here. We got Wendy’s. What? What? What? I still have my top. I have one, two, got five so far. You got seven, three, six, 10, and nine. All right. 3 6 7 10 and nine. 36 710 and nine. Um, and what did you just tell me? Wendy’s. Yes. which that was a kind of a trick there because Wendy’s I think sucks. But I think you know you now you’re kind of forced to put them in top five. Yeah, I kind of have to. I got to put them five. You still have the the junior bacon cheeseburger is not bad and their chicken nuggets might be the best out of the big three. I’ll say that. Interesting. They have the spicy chicken nuggets. Those are good. Uh Chipotle. All right. Now you’re putting me in a really tough spot. So I need to I know who I need to keep at one. I think you’re going to have them on the list. So, I can’t put that one. Um, I think I can get away with going number I think I I I can get away with two with Chipotle. I think I actually prefer Taco Bell. Chipotle. Chipotle is objectively better. I just enjoy the uh the Taco Bell experience a little bit, but Chipotle is like lunch during work hours. It’s nothing. It’s not exciting. Yeah. Gets the job done, though. It’s delicious. I love Chipotle. Uh, I’ll go two on Chipotle, but I I feel like I’m going to get screwed with who who I’m going to have to put an eight here. Uh, McDonald’s. Number one, easy. With a bullet. Okay. My favorite restaurant. Wow. Quarter pounded with cheese, no pickles, diet coke, medium fry, four piece chicken uh McNugget with, uh, sweet and sour sauce. That’s my order. All right. You got two more then. Um. Oh, wait. Two more. What numbers am I missing? One, two. You got four. Oh, I forgot I had four open. Okay. Interesting. Four and eight. Four and eight. All right. Let’s go. In and out. Tricky. This is tricky. Bit of a reputation here and uh for being very good but not actually all that good. Right. I’m going to go four. Oo. It’s too good to put eight. I can’t put it eight. I might get screwed at what I have to put at eight here, but I’m going to go four. The the burger is legitimately very good. The fries are the polarizing part. I don’t mind the fries. They’re not McDonald’s fries, but I’d probably put them over Wendy’s f definitely over Wendy’s fries. Wendy’s has the worst fries. Over Burger King fries. The fries are fine. The burgers are very good. I enjoy In-N-Out. I got Chick-fil-A last. Yeah. See, that’s I knew it. I knew that’s what was going on. Uh I have to put them at eight, unfortunately. And I know that’s wrong. I needed to That needed to be higher. I put Wendy’s too high. Yeah, I forgot that I had eight available. Yeah, I put I put Wendy’s too high. Otherwise, I feel pretty good about the list. It’s a good list. I had Jack in a Box there as a wild card. I think that would have been on a scale of 1 to 10, that would have been like 20. That would have been uh so we can end on this story, but a buddy of mine uh messaged me like some meme about Jack in the Box or something and he goes, “Yeah, um when I see Jack and he lives uh he lives in Orlando, so they don’t have Jack in the Box up there. They don’t have Jack in the Box down here. They It’s a West Coast. More of a West Coast thing, I think.” Oh, absolutely. And he goes, “Every time I see a Jack in the Box, I think of that time where I threw up Jack in the Box in your front lawn in California.” And I said, “I don’t remember that. I have no memory of that. I don’t think I threw up, but I had zero memory of that, which is probably why he threw up.” Um, that’s how you end up at Jacks in the Jack in the Box. You usually don’t remember it unless you throw up. Pretty much. Pretty much. Uh, yeah. Not a not a great choice there. But definitely I remember getting League Pass for the first time almost a decade ago and seeing the commercials and being like, “Wow, they look amazing.” And the variety. Was that the box that rocks with Charles Barkley? Uh, no. It was after that, I think. Um, but there was also like Pizza Guy with uh what’s Ben Ben McLemore. Is that was Ben Mlemore? Remember him? He’s like pizza guy for a while with the Sacramento Kings. Oh my god. Pizza way back there. I don’t remember that at all. Yeah. Yeah. He was a pizza guy. And there was a place in Sacramento called Pizza Guy with Ben McLemore. Oh, wow. Yeah. But those uh those Elite Patch commercials back in the day when you could watch the games and and see all the commercials. The local commercials were fun. It’s way better than just like the blank screen that you get now. You get those great HB commercials from San Antonio. Oh, yeah. Yeah, those are Menards. You remember Menard’s? I don’t even know what a Menards is, but I think it’s a grocery store. Yeah, I think so, too. But yeah, so many different uh League Pass commercials there. Now it’s just kind of like the the view of the the court, right? And you’re watching the in-game entertainment and stuff like that. It’s like, “Yeah, now I get to watch a dumb kiss cam instead of a of a of a well produced commercial.” Well, you know how much you love that. Big fan of Kiss Cam. Well, hopefully Coldplay ruined all voyeristic cameras in general at events. No, they still did it. They come They came down here and they were still doing the whole thing. I mean, so I I think it’s still a thing. Hey people, mind your own business. How about that, Arena Cruz? Just mind your own business. Uh, thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen today. For your second listen, find the Locked on NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to the podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day.

Miami Heat Roster Moves: Kai Jones Workout Sparks Intrigue.

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil dissect the Miami Heat’s recent workout with Kai Jones, exploring his potential fit in the team’s thin frontcourt. The duo tackles burning questions about luxury tax implications and possible roster adjustments, including rumors surrounding Simone Fontecchio.

They analyze how the Heat could adopt strategies from the Golden State Warriors’ championship playbook, with a focus on unleashing Tyler Herro’s offensive potential. The hosts also debate the merits of increasing three-point volume to compensate for offensive limitations.

0:00 Intro
1:30 Analyzing Kai Jones workout with Heat
5:30 Waiving Fontecchio to get under tax
11:21 Can Heat learn from Warriors’ playstyle?
22:45 Blind ranking fast food restaurants

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