Local Hour: Keep Your Powder Dry

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode Title: Local Hour: Keep Your Powder Dry
Date: February 6, 2026
Location: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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Episode Overview

In this episode of the "Local Hour," Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Zaslow, Chris, and Jeremy gather at the Elser Hotel. The crew dives into the intense Florida Panthers–Tampa Bay Lightning hockey rivalry, rants about Miami Heat’s NBA trade deadline inactivity, and launches into classic tangents about sports media, algorithm paranoia, and internal show banter. With plenty of spirited debate, local insight, and trademark humor, the panel explores what it means to "keep your powder dry" and if the Heat’s cautious approach pays off amid fan frustration.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Florida Panthers–Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Rivalry

(04:32–13:29)

• Intensity of the Rivalry: The cast passionately argues that, right now, no active rivalry in sports is as heated as the Panthers-Lightning.
  • "Go ahead and name all the teams that hate each other more than these two teams hate each other." – Zaslow (04:34)
• Penalty Chaos: Recounts of wild penalty minutes, fights breaking out immediately—even in preseason games. The hosts break down the specific officials (Garrett Rank and T.J. Luxmore) and their recurring presence in heated matchups.
  • "Both games were terrible and it was a show last night." – Dan Le Batard (06:28)
• Rivalry’s Unique Culture: They note how, unlike in other sports, the NHL’s culture allows players’ emotions to represent their fanbases with actual animosity and fights on the ice, unlike NBA or NFL.
  • "When you put on that Panther sweater... you hate the other team." – Jeremy (09:43)
• Local Sports City Dynamics: Brief discussion of Tampa and South Florida as hockey towns. Praise for Tampa’s transformation into a hockey-first market, with lightning flags noted as a local symbol.
  • "I'd say Tampa is more of a hockey town than it is a football town..." – Zaslow (12:10)

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2. Miami Heat, Trade Deadline, and Organizational Philosophy

(13:45–36:17)

• Trade Deadline Inaction: Frustration surfaces as the Heat make no trade deadline moves while other contenders reshape their rosters. Exhaustive, often humorous arguments about why certain hypothetical trades (e.g., for Ja Morant) could or couldn’t have worked.
  • "The Heat are the only team in the east to not make a trade. I don't think that's totally fair..." – Zaslow (14:42)
• Missed Superstar Acquisitions List: The Heat’s recent failures to land big names (Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Mitchell, Harden, Beal, Lillard, Chris Paul, Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan, Morant) are debated, with each host taking or rejecting regrets for each player.
  • "I'm gonna say it again because there are a lot of things here... If they got Kyrie Irving, I think they'd be happy. Kevin Durant, I think they'd be happy..." – Zaslow (18:15)
• Philosophy vs. Reality: Reading and dissecting Barry Jackson’s reporting on the Heat’s "10 Commandments" (29:45–31:10), including not trading good players for picks, never giving up on a season, Bam Adebayo as 'untouchable,' and always being “selective.”
  • "Number eight was odd." – Chris (30:51)
  • "It's not working." – Dan Le Batard (30:48, 30:52)
• Fan Frustration: The Heat’s tendency to “keep their powder dry” is dissected. The hosts debate the wisdom and origins of the phrase—tangentially leading to a PSA on grease fires.
  • "Can you guys find out for me why powder is kept dry? Because I don’t actually know..." – Zaslow (22:59)

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3. Social Media, Algorithms, and Billionaire Paranoia

(17:10, 24:34–25:01)

• Algorithm Angst: The crew jokes about social media algorithms, targeted ads, and whether devices are listening to them, with classic “old man yells at cloud” humor.
  • "I'm telling you, the other day, I just thought about a product... 10 minutes later, see it on my Instagram." – Chris (24:43)
• Billionaire Blame: Quick fire rants about "robber barons," referencing Jeffrey Epstein and government coverups in connection with tech titans.
  • "I hate billionaires." – Dan Le Batard (24:59)
  • "It's not enough for them to screw everybody and have everything. Now they gotta screw kids, too?" – Zaslow (25:01)

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4. NBA Media, Giannis Drama & Shams Criticism

(25:24–28:37)

• Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Trade Drama: The hosts are incensed about the never-ending "will-he-won’t-he" NBA news cycle around Giannis, emphasizing how nothing ever actually happens and how media members like Shams are “PR agents” for teams and agents.
  • "This tweet where he says, legends don't chase, they attract." – Chris (26:53)
  • "This type of... tweet could have been two weeks ago, rather than this dog and pony show... I feel insane." – Jeremy (28:01)
• Doc Rivers, Milwaukee, and Media Games: Brief mocking of Doc Rivers’ dry humor about trading Shams and the media’s role in stirring up drama.
  • "He did inform me that he's going to put Shams on the trading block today..." – Zaslow (25:55)

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5. Self-Referential Show Banter & Producer Shoutouts

(36:17–40:17)

• Podcast Production Flubs: A lighthearted, self-deprecating sequence as the crew replays and jokes about on-air bloopers—Chris’s trouble pronouncing “incentivizes” and Zaslow’s struggle with “matriculate.”
• Matthew Koka Appreciation: Celebrating the producer from another Meadowlark Media show, lauding his technical and organizational skills.
  • "Matthew Koka is truly exceptional." – Zaslow (36:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hockey Rivalry Intensity:
  "[Hockey] does such a great job. Those teams, and not just these two teams, but all the teams in that league, they represent the fans so well... Where the fan bases who hate each other... Well, guess what? These teams hate each other too." – Jeremy (09:43)

• On Heat’s Organizational Arrogance:
  "May I speak to a general earned arrogance that the organization and Heat fans also have... I think it would have worked out differently in a lot of those cases here in Miami." – Dan Le Batard (19:23)

• On Social Media Ads Paranoia:
  "I’m telling you, the other day, I just thought about a product... then 10 minutes later, I see it on my Instagram." – Chris (24:43)
  "I hate billionaires." – Dan Le Batard (24:59)

• On Giannis & NBA Media Rumor Cycle:
  "He’s constantly doing this... it feels like every year for the last several years, we go through this same cycle of Shamstrania..." – Jeremy (27:54)
  "Shams doesn’t know anything that’s happening before it happens." – Chris (28:01)

• On the Heat’s “10 Commandments”:
  "Bam Adebayo is essentially untouchable. It is weird to have in the comp. It's just as weird as if I found it in the actual ten Commandments." – Zaslow (30:54)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Hockey rivalry/games recap: 04:32–13:29
• Heat’s trade inactivity and philosophy debate: 13:45–31:10
• 10 Commandments of the Miami Heat: 29:45–31:10
• Giannis media drama, Shams criticism: 25:24–28:37
• Producer celebration and bloopers: 36:17–40:17

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Closing Thoughts

This hour of The Dan Le Batard Show is Miami sports radio at its finest—opinionated, self-aware, unpredictable, and local at heart. From the ice brawls in Tampa and Sunrise to the front office chess match (or stalemate) in Miami, with a dash of tech-paranoia and inside media jokes, it’s the perfect blend of sports nerding and comedic therapy for frustrated fans or anyone fascinated by South Florida’s sports psychodrama.

Transcript

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[Jeremy]

Yo you see Ryan Rosillo's Instagram story?

[Zaslow]

I'm not on Instagram.

[Jeremy]

You want me to show you?

[Chris]

I'm curious.

[Zaslow]

What, what is it about? I I all the time people are sending me Instagram stories or information and anytime I click on it it says I have to download the app. I rarely, not always, but I rarely get just get the Instagram story the way that you get it. So I don't know what you're talking about.

[Jeremy]

Oh, you want to download the app?

[Zaslow]

Are you going to tell people or are you just going to keep them in the you're going to just keep it in the shadows during the shadow show?

[Chris]

I do like the idea of not saying it and people going right now and learning for themselves.

[Dan Le Batard]

Given what I know about your algo.

[Jeremy]

Oh, it's my algo, baby.

[Chris]

You're like, why is Rosello popping up?

[Zaslow]

So you're not going to tell people? You're just going to tease them? You're not going to tell me? You're just going to tease me? What? You're not going to tell me what it is?

[Jeremy]

I just, I like the surprise for people listening. You go and you see for yourself. And then you're like, whoa, I'm so grateful that Zaslo told me to do that.

[Dan Le Batard]

You should not do it at work, listener.

[Zaslow]

Really?

[Chris]

And do it quick, because it'll probably be deleted soon.

[Zaslow]

What time did he do it?

[Dan Le Batard]

Local.

[Zaslow]

Was he out?

[Dan Le Batard]

4:30Am was.

[Zaslow]

So wait a minute. He's at the super bowl, prowling the streets the way that he did that night that he ended up in a stranger.

[Dan Le Batard]

Come on, come on, come on. What are we doing?

[Zaslow]

Well, I don't know what we're doing.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know what you guys are talking about before the man's from Grace.

[Zaslow]

But Grace for what?

[Dan Le Batard]

You know, just having a good time. It's super bowl weekday.

[Chris]

We've already said too much.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, I'm not comfortable with it.

[Jeremy]

I think we haven't said enough.

[Dan Le Batard]

I will say dislike him less.

[Zaslow]

I'm with Zaslow on. I don't think we've said enough because now you're teasing the audience. And I suppose it doesn't matter because all of them can just go to Instagram and see for themselves. I assume very few of the people out there are like me. Not on Instagram. Can we get Instagram, please? I'm now interested in Instagram when I've never. I never really have been. And I've just generally checked out on social media altogether.

[Chris]

I am checking our YouTube chat right now, and people are looking. People are seeing it. I'm seeing a lot of laughing face emojis that.

[Jeremy]

Are anyone thanking me yet?

[Dan Le Batard]

You don't have ig, Man, I sent you such a great Novak Djokovic interview. I thought you'd want to talk about it all week. No wonder. It's like, one of the most introspective, amazing answers to a question ever. I'm like, all right. I guess they didn't like it.

[Zaslow]

Actually get me that sound, because I have seen the sound you're talking about, but I couldn't get it. One of the times that Instagram hasn't worked for me and you're sending me something and I'm trying to get it and can't get at it, made me go find the sound. I had to go search through an assortment of Djokovic sounds in order to do it. But once I did find it, I imagine that it's like, what do you mean? I'm chasing people. I don't chase anybody. They chase me. Right? Like, that's. Is that. Is that what the sound?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, that's the one. And you're always like, he's chasing these monsters over there. And Djokovic is like, do you know who I am? Yeah, it was a great sound a week ago.

[Chris]

All right, Zach, show Dan.

[Jeremy]

There it is.

[Zaslow]

No.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats podcast.

[Zaslow]

Vasilevsky again. I thought that they were dead. I thought that the haunted remains or the haunting remains of the lightning were done. They're 1911 in their last 21 games. And the question I wanted to pose to you guys before we get to Giannis talk and just how unreason reasonably mad Zsas and Jeremy are at Giannis, like unreasonably mad. I want to present to you guys as a serious question. I know there are rivalries all throughout sports that have a ton more history than the recent one at the top of hockey. I can't believe I'm saying that, but Tampa and Florida at the top of hockey. But go ahead and name all the teams that hate each other more than these two teams hate each other. I know you've got rivalries and fan bases and everything else, but not every time they get together, they want to fight. And the penalty minutes are out of control and the refs can't control anything. And you get into one of these situations where the ref is stumbling all over himself trying to say all the penalties, he can't do it because there are too many of them.

[Jeremy]

More to penalty.

[Zaslow]

Number 77 and number 19, both guys have two minutes for interference. Number 23, number 9 and number 6 have a 10 minute minute misconduct. And Florida, number 42 has a five minutes for fighting in a game misconduct for the secondary altercation. And number 19 has five minutes for fighting in a game misconduct. Sorry, no. Game misconduct to number 19. Tampa penalties, number 95 in a game for fighting. Number 38 has five minutes for fighting. And number 86, 37 and 59 have a 10 minute misconduct. Tampa Bay will have a four minute minute. Sorry, two, two minute power plays.

[Dan Le Batard]

Those two officials, Garrett Rank and T.J. luxmore, are the worst in the National Hockey League. And they followed the Panthers. They did the Panthers game versus Boston on Wednesday. They followed them to Tampa. It was. Both games were terrible and it was a show last night.

[Jeremy]

I don't understand why they had such a hard time with sorting out the penalties. Dan there. I mean, I didn't look at the clock, but my guess was it was probably about a 20 minute delay.

[Zaslow]

Well, I'm. I want to get into this with you guys because I know the national people listening are like, get out of here. That can't be the two teams that hate each other the most in all of sports. But go ahead and give me the two. You've got to rival it. Because I know there are rivalries throughout sports. I'm not talking about historically, I'm not talking about fan bases hating each other. I'm talking about right now. These two teams at the top of the sport have shared the top of the sport for what is it now?

[Jeremy]

Six years.

[Zaslow]

The last six years, these are the two teams Florida's dominated candidate hockey. Florida's taken hockey from Canada and Tampa gave away the title begrudgingly and now they're back. I'm going to say it again. 19 one and one in the last 21 games. And I know that the hockey fans in this room have been walking around haunted the last few days because they're like, man, Boston's going to eliminate us or Tampa is going to eliminate us. And it's been great fun fighting these teams and getting past these teams. But go ahead and give me.

[Chris]

And not just in the more heated rivalry.

[Zaslow]

Yeah, locally the only thing I can think of is Knicks Heat ever like.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, locally, yeah, in the pro ranks for sure.

[Chris]

I think in this, in the stands, Dolphins, jets still has a thing.

[Zaslow]

I'm not talking about stands though. I'm talking about the players just hating each other.

[Dan Le Batard]

Celtics when Rondo got hurt, that one had some juice. I think right now in the league you definitely have historical rivalries, but in terms of active hate, Calgary Edmonton has juice. Like those teams do not like each other.

[Zaslow]

That's history too though, right? That's.

[Dan Le Batard]

Did you see what Hubert did? He delayed hip surgery just to play in that game on Wednesday. He scored a goal. Yeah, he scored. Vancouver Edmonton also has some juice right now. There are some teams that don't like each other, but nothing quite like this. I mean this spills out to the preseason.

[Chris]

I don't think when they're allowed to other sports you can't do this in the middle of the game. So I don't think you're going to beat hockey rivalry.

[Zaslow]

Can you please look up for me the number of penalty minutes that happened in the preseason? The moment they both, they both took the ice and then it just started being a whole bunch of, of fighting all over the place.

[Jeremy]

And also for context, just to show you how heated this rivalry is in that preseason game with all of those penalty minutes, Tampa Bay, they fielded an ah, like it was an AHL team. They had. It was not their regulars and they did that so that they can actually fight The Panthers with no actual repercussions. Like what other sport does that happen?

[Dan Le Batard]

In every single matchup that Lightning have had against the Panthers this season, they called us Scott Sabrin every single time. He's a goon. Now this is the Brendan Hagle revenge game. He scored and ended up fighting Magicachuknak. Yeah, they fought again. They famously fought at the Four nations and Matty came back around for seconds there. Ottawa, Florida also randomly has cause the.

[Chris]

Brothers, the Chuck brothers.

[Dan Le Batard]

Those games get really violent and messy the way that last night did.

[Jeremy]

To me though, like last night is such a great example and I know for us Panther fans, like last night kind of sucked obviously, but last night is such a great example of what I love about that sport. That sport does such a great job. Those teams, and not just these two teams, but all the teams in that league, they represent the fans so well. Where the fan bases who hate each other, Tampa fans, Panther fans, they hate each other. Well, guess what? These teams hate each other too. I hate the the New York Knicks. I hate the Boston Celtics. Like the players on those teams, they don't hate each other. You go to the NFL, packers and Bears like those fan bases, the longest rivalry in all of sport, those players don't hate each other. But the moment you put on that Panther sweater and the moment you put on that lightning sweater, you hate the other team. And you know, like that's not a coincidence that they were all fighting last night there we knew there were going to be lots of fights because these teams hate each other. And that league, those teams in that sport represent the fan bases the way that the other sports don't. Where the fans care. And guess what? So do the players.

[Zaslow]

Chris is so right though about how weird it is. Even though it's normalized that any of this is allowed. I think I don't even have to tell you that if this happened in an NBA game, the Marines would be sent in, the Coast Guard would be sent.

[Chris]

We do a livestream.

[Zaslow]

Fighter pilots would be over the the game like there would be so the National Guard, everybody that it would become a military event. If a basketball fight broke out that was half what what what these fights are in hockey.

[Dan Le Batard]

Paul Maurice got a game of Scandinav last night. Wow.

[Jeremy]

That never.

[Chris]

I didn't hear that in the happens.

[Jeremy]

Coaches getting thrown out of a hockey game never happens. I can't tell you the last time.

[Zaslow]

I saw that hatred between players. I'm trying to think right, because a lot of the complaints about today's player is, oh, they help each other up. There's fratern. I don't like what's happening there. I'm trying to think. You're right when you say that, Rondo. And this is a product of playing at the top of the sport. Right. You're fighting somebody for a thing that both teams want. And Florida took it from Tampa. Tampa had it for a long time. Tampa still got some of those players who remember what it was to be champions. And they've had to watch the Panthers celebrate two straight seasons with what they believe is their thing. Tampa made hockey matter in Florida before the Panthers did. Tampa is a hockey town. I'd say Tampa is more of a hockey town than it is a football town because of the way that they've won and because the way that region has fallen in love with its team. Furthermore, I'd say that the Tampa Bay Lightning are the most popular thing in the history of that sports market because the Buccaneers have done so much, losing 1,000%.

[Jeremy]

It's a great hockey city.

[Dan Le Batard]

It is incredible hockey city. And if you. I've been to Tampa several times. All the front porches have Lightning flags like that. That is a hockey town, first and foremost. It's crazy because they've won two Super Bowls. Tom Brady won one very recently.

[Zaslow]

The hatred, though, give me players who hate each other. Memphis and the Lakers were doing it a little bit there for a minute when Shannon Sharpe was coming off of the sidelines, but that seems to be a bygone age. The players hating each other on a.

[Dan Le Batard]

Memphis and Golden State in the NBA hated each other.

[Zaslow]

That's a good one.

[Dan Le Batard]

Those were good.

[Zaslow]

But none of those end up in fights, right? And if they did, back then, you would have had Dylan Brooks and Draymond Green, people who have these reputations. I'm not sure the Panthers. I mean, Kachuk's got some of this, but I'm not sure the Panthers have reputation of being hated and wanting to fight everybody. They're irritants and they've got. They play a style of hockey that bothers people, but I don't know that everybody wants to be fighting the Panthers.

[Jeremy]

Gustav Forsling is not that kind of guy.

[Chris]

I've never seen him like that.

[Jeremy]

He was on the ice just delivering body blow after body blow.

[Dan Le Batard]

He did not want to fight. He was actually finished.

[Chris]

He was getting punched with the glove on for, like, 30 straight seconds. It felt like.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. And then he found.

[Jeremy]

And then he, like, spazzed out. He's like, all right, you know, so.

[Zaslow]

Let'S get to what it is that happened yesterday because the reporting is that not only is Giannis not coming here, but Wendy is saying on John Morant not being traded, quote, I think he's got what they call in the league negative value. What that means is teams were not willing to take John Morant unless the Grizzlies also attached draft compensation. The Miami Heat could have had John Morant, it would appear for either Jaime Haquez or Khalil Ware. Would you guys have been satisfied if we came into work today and the trade had been Khalil Ware for Ja Morant or Jaime Hawkez for Ja Morant? It also would have taken a first round pick and Terry Rozier's expired contract. Yes, that's right.

[Jeremy]

A terrible trade for the Heat. If they were.

[Chris]

Yeah, I would have been fine with Jaime going.

[Jeremy]

Terrible. I don't even know that I would have. I don't think so.

[Zaslow]

You would have been excited though, just like.

[Chris]

Yeah. Side of Morant.

[Zaslow]

Because a lot of people are pointing out, right, that the Heat are the only team in the east to not make a trade. I don't think that's totally fair because it's not like you would have been happy if they got Jose Alvarado. Like a lot of teams in the east made a lot look that day is what I told you. It was like. There were a couple of trades, but it was a bunch of George Hills being shopped around on trade deadline day. We didn't actually have the giant shape shifting monster that's going to change the way a conference title odds are going to change.

[Chris]

We had a shape shifting deadline in general in the 48 hours around it. Like there were more massive trades made in the last two or three days change ever around James. James Harden going to Cleveland changes the landscape of the Eastern conference. The only 100% for next season. Toronto not doing anything.

[Dan Le Batard]

Zubot, zubat for Indiana.

[Zaslow]

100% better than miles Turner.

[Chris]

Oh yeah. Massive moves.

[Dan Le Batard]

That is a hugely impactful.

[Jeremy]

They gave up. They. They gave up a lot for him.

[Chris]

Yeah, no, that's a big deal. And the Clippers are full on starting a rebuild while still keeping Kawhi Leonard there.

[Jeremy]

Which interesting good guy to build around.

[Chris]

Well, there's some. There's some future things probably happening there as to why they would want to rebuild, but they were able to do it by acquiring guys in Matheran and Darius Garland. Like there were some interesting trades made yesterday, but it is more about the trades that weren't made.

[Jeremy]

Dan, you think, you know, we spoke to Rachel Nichols about this yesterday and she really echoed what everyone else was saying about John Morant and that there is just no demand. And considering they didn't move him and they're a team that's clearly rebuilding it would, I would be convinced as well that there was no demand. Like you believe that that Memphis was asking for Kella Ware and a first round pick when there was no demand. I don't think I believe that.

[Chris]

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[Zaslow]

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[Jeremy]

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[Dan Le Batard]

Stugats.

[Jeremy]

It's a good algorithm. This is the Don Levatar show with the stugats.

[Zaslow]

Okay, well, that's what the reporting is and I want to cover some of this with you guys. So here is in terms of what it is that the Heat front office faces in terms of what I believe is fair criticism when they have missed the players are named Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan, John Morant.

[Chris]

Have any of them won anything since they missed?

[Zaslow]

Well, hold on a second.

[Dan Le Batard]

Let Dan Cook.

[Zaslow]

Hold on a second. Defensive propagandizing jumping right in there.

[Chris]

Just saying.

[Zaslow]

Yeah, I know, but we could have waited for you to just say it a little bit later once I got it off the ground.

[Dan Le Batard]

Learn from my mistakes.

[Zaslow]

I'm gonna say it again because there are a lot of things here and contracts here and injuries here that if the Heat got stuck with Westbrook, if they got stuck with Beal, if they got stuck with Lillard, I think Heat fans wouldn't be happy with those contracts and those players. If they got Kyrie Irving, I think they'd be happy. Kevin Durant, I think they'd be happy. Donovan Mitchell, I think they'd be happy. James Harden, I think they'd be happy because he plays all the time. Chris Paul, oddly enough, I think they would be happy. Derozan Meh. But right, right in the middle. And John Moran, I just heard you guys say, like, this is one of the big stunners of my sports lifetime. I know. Rachel told us yesterday during the live stream. Well, we've seen players before go in a couple of years in their prime, this young from face of the league, possibly to discount been have. But I don't have a lot of recollection of both injury and attitude. Yeah, Ben Simmons here and there, but I don't have a lot of recollection of somebody having the particular dissent that John Morant has had over the last couple of years.

[Dan Le Batard]

May I speak to a general earned arrogance that the organization and Heat fans also have in all those names and all those superstars that didn't work out. You're talking about a Miami Heat franchise that also acquired Kyle Lowry and made the finals with that bad contract. I think you can make an argument for damn near every single one of those guys. Like, yeah, I know how it ended up working out on those other. At those other destinations for those players. I think it would have worked out differently in a lot of those cases here in Miami.

[Zaslow]

Okay, so you guys have known that I have loved the Clippers for the last few years and thought that they could win a championship if they didn't have James Harden screwing some things up in game Sevens. Okay? It is unfair to say that he'd have done nothing because they got an All Star for nothing in Norm Powell. Like, that's not fair. Like, you cannot show me a whole lot of trades in the league where people get an All Star for nothing. But when Norm Pal is your fourth best player, you can win the championship. When Norm Pal is your best player, you're what the Heat have been this year.

[Dan Le Batard]

You're going.

[Zaslow]

You're going to be a team that's a playing team. And so we all understand that the game has to be getting somebody who's better than Norm Pal so that you can allow your other All Stars, Bam and Norm Powell to be complimentary pieces. But I thought that Clippers team with Norm Powell as the fourth best player, I really did think that was a team that could win a championship.

[Dan Le Batard]

So Barry Jackson put out, correct me if I'm wrong, Zaz, that the Miami Heat had internal Discussions kind of lengthy and decided that they weren't going to pursue John Morant and Barry Jackson says that he'd like their squad to potentially make noise in the playoffs. They're not going to make noise in the playoffs and this is part of the problem.

[Jeremy]

That's their general attitude.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is part of the problem. And yeah, I know it was a less than 1% chance that they'd end up with a number one pick, but that pick did end up going to Dallas and it did end up turning.

[Zaslow]

Yeah, but that pick ended up with the Heat in the Finals too, because they got from the play in round to the finals like they, the reason they think that way is at least in part because they did it.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was a Wemby year. That was the Wembiana. I'm talking about last year where they, their, their big prize for making it to the playoffs was getting swept out of the first round in an historic clip. So, all right, we're not going to get Ja, we're not going to get Giannis. We're going to keep our, our, our powder dry for June. Well, all the other teams in the Giannis sweepstakes maneuvered many of them accrued assets to put themselves in better position. This is a team that is going nowhere. No one thinks this is a team that is going to make a deep run in the Eastern Conference. So why aren't you getting more assets? Why aren't you getting rid of Andrew Wiggins? Why aren't you flipping Terry Rozier for something? Why aren't you getting more draft picks? Why aren't you getting some young players that you think can work at a nice contract around superstars in the future? Where is the vision?

[Jeremy]

That's the part that's a little bit tough to swallow with the Rozier and the Wiggins contracts. Like they now can't use them. They're just going to walk in the off season. The Heat are getting nothing in return, which by the way, we've seen several times over the last few years with guys like Max Stru.

[Zaslow]

The explanation for that is very simple. At this point in Pat Riley's life, he wants to win every game. And you don't have to like that. I understand why you wouldn't like that. But he wants to win the next game and that may be shortsighted. It may be the opposite of vision. Can you guys find out for me why powder is kept dry? Because I don't actually know why powder is kept. Like I know powder to be dry, but do you use powder and Then you wet it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Like, no, you can't wet the powder because then it doesn't work anymore.

[Zaslow]

So you keep your powder dry because as soon as it gets wet. When would powder get wet?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, like, think about the old Looney Tunes cartoons where there's, like, a trail of dynamite powder and someone lights a spark. What gets rid of fire water? You want to keep that powder dry, Dan.

[Zaslow]

Okay, didn't know where that expression came from.

[Jeremy]

If there's a fire you put water on, it goes away.

[Zaslow]

That part I knew. I just didn't know.

[Dan Le Batard]

If you have a flammable powder, you put water on, it ceases being flammable. Unless it's a grease fire. We're not talking about grease.

[Chris]

Correction.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, it's not.

[Jeremy]

Dust fires can be really dangerous.

[Chris]

It is.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, he mentioned fire, and you wanted to talk about grease fires. It's not an important correction.

[Chris]

All of a sudden, we're telling people, put water in a fire, they have a grease fire.

[Zaslow]

No, it gets worse. It gets worse.

[Dan Le Batard]

You guys are having a different conversation.

[Zaslow]

While we're having a conversation about a grease fire instead of a Don't want.

[Chris]

To paint with a broad brush regular.

[Dan Le Batard]

Did you just. You just felt like doing a psa?

[Jeremy]

The conversation is advanced smokey to bear.

[Zaslow]

Look, somebody's gonna be thanking us later in life if they get a grease fire. And in that moment of great panic, they're like, wait a minute. The guy, Roy. I remember Roy saying, don't throw water on this. Yeah, it'll make it worse.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's why bacon soda. I have a fire extinguisher. You don't want to do water in the kitchen.

[Jeremy]

You ever think about getting that blanket that they advertise like that infomercial?

[Dan Le Batard]

I have thought about it. Yeah. I have thought about it.

[Jeremy]

It.

[Zaslow]

That's all you guys have done is thought about it?

[Jeremy]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

I haven't. I haven't purchased it. Right, but.

[Zaslow]

So basically, all you've done is watch the commercial.

[Jeremy]

Consideration.

[Chris]

Now. We're all going to get that ad.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm just answering the questions. Algorithm.

[Zaslow]

Well, this bothers me. Like, do you. Are we going to get that ad? We are. How are we? How are we. How is anybody listening to this? Okay with the idea that your devices are listening to you?

[Chris]

I'm telling you, the other day, I just thought about a product.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I'm telling you, I didn't say it to anyone. And then 10 minutes later, I was like, I almost just THREW My phone set 5G. I'm telling you, I just. All by myself. Thought about a product, 10 minutes later, see it on my Instagram.

[Dan Le Batard]

I hate billionaires.

[Zaslow]

I mean, they're terrible, these robber barons. Like, it's not. It's not enough, by the way. It's not enough for them to screw everybody and have everything. Now they got to screw kids, too? With everything you're reading in the Epstein files, like, it's unbelievable.

[Dan Le Batard]

Why are these names redacted? Why are we protecting these people? Like, all this stuff comes out and the most powerful person on the planet's like, I don't know how Maxwell got a puppy.

[Zaslow]

What? Jeremy, your anger. I'm not used to seeing you this way. I want to get to Doc Rivers here. They're mad at Shams in Milwaukee. Evidently they're taking a victory lap with their 18 win team because Giannis is staying in Milwaukee. Can we get the sound, please, of Doc Rivers pissing you guys off by saying that Shams is somebody who is in his sight line. You guys want a Giannis update? All right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Doing any court work or anything?

[Zaslow]

Oh, no, I was just talking about, you know, he's going to coach the celebrity game, right? You guys see that? No, no. He did inform me that he's going to put Shams on the trading block today, and he's just going to listen to offers, so I'm just going to go make that announcement right now.

[Jeremy]

Good one, Doc.

[Chris]

It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

[Jeremy]

He should be embarrassed. Doc Rivers. I mean, the season that. Forget the season.

[Dan Le Batard]

The.

[Zaslow]

The.

[Jeremy]

The two plus years that he's had since the Bucks hired him and fired 30 and 13, Adrian Griffin and. And he. He's a jokester.

[Chris]

Coached them into the ground with one of the greatest players in the league.

[Zaslow]

Who wants out with an immortal. Yeah.

[Chris]

Who wants out? Who refuses to demand it? Who. Now he's doing the staying. I'm staying. I'm never effing leaving. It's ridiculous. This. This tweet where he says, legends don't chase, they attract.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's a bar.

[Chris]

Who has he attracted? Kevin Porter, Jr. Lillard. This is outlandish, broke, Jeremy. No, this. This type of, like, you know where that tweet could have been two weeks ago, rather than this dog and pony show where Giannis and his agent are absolutely sending people out there to try to influence the narrative, to try to make it so that Bucks fans aren't pissed off. Hey, I want a trade request. I deserve a trade request, but I'm not going to make it publicly. I love Milwaukee. He's constantly doing this and yet it feels like every year for the last several years, we go through this same cycle of Shamstrania saying, oh, Giannis wants out and they're going to have discussions so that they can have two and a half weeks of conversation on ESPN where Shams doesn't update any of the information. From the very first thing that he said, it's, oh, here are the four teams, and then nothing changes. And he says there are counteroffers, but there are no counter offers because now he's showing up and saying, oh, the Bucs say they were never serious and they wanted six first round picks. Hey, you know where that information would have been useful before the trade didn't happen. Shams doesn't know anything that's happening before it happens.

[Zaslow]

He just.

[Chris]

Just. It releases a PR statement from the agent or the team that tells you that the trade has finally happened. Did he warn us about James Harden? Did he warn us about Ivika Zubots? Did he warn us about any of the trades that were going to happen? No, he told you after they already happened. And the Giannis thing, he gave you a bunch of information and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing. Over the course of several weeks for Chris Haynes to now say, well, Giannis never wanted to leave. He's happy in Milwaukee. This is ridiculous. I mean, it's a. It's a ridiculous exercise that we're doing over and over and over again. I feel insane.

[Dan Le Batard]

Don LeBatard, you're a big disappointment. Paul Pierce, my. I'm only upset right now that I don't get to do this in person. Paul Pierce, how disappointed is it to.

[Zaslow]

Be a Miami fan right now?

[Dan Le Batard]

Stugats, brother. Actually, you make a really great point. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

[Zaslow]

Okay, I'm gonna need you to just basically calm down and just.

[Chris]

No, I get it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Minor penalty, two minutes.

[Chris]

Rambling.

[Zaslow]

Just go and cool off and take care of yourself, because you're not necessarily being unreasonable, but you're very, very emotional. The dog and pony show needs to be extinct, right? I know there's a western dog show, but those don't have ponies. There's no such thing anymore as a dog and pony show. Right? That's no longer something that you can go anywhere in the world and see a dog and pony show. Correct?

[Dan Le Batard]

There are places.

[Zaslow]

Amsterdam, Guadalaja. Do you know that the Miami Heat, Mike Barry Jackson has put this out to the anger that you guys are talking about? They have ten commandments. You guys aren't going to like them.

[Dan Le Batard]

What did they tell him to say?

[Zaslow]

Number one, never trade good players for future draft picks. Number two, never give up on a season. Number three, do not accept taking a step back with the hope that it could lead to better days ahead. Number four, go all in for an all time great player, but be very selective about pursuing other good players. Number five, do not make a trade simply for the sake of making a trade. Number six, do not give up on a roster prematurely. Number seven, don't try to sell high on players. Number eight, bam. Adebayo is essentially untouchable. Number nine, maintain roster payrolls, flexibility if possible. Number 10, don't worry about losing a free agent for nothing.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, all right. They're always in the plane with the Hawks and Bulls.

[Zaslow]

But the things you guys are complaining about go against their core principles as just released as commandments by Barry Jackson.

[Dan Le Batard]

I get it. It's not working.

[Chris]

Number eight was odd.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's not. It's not working.

[Jeremy]

What was number eight again?

[Zaslow]

Bam. Adebayo is essentially untouchable. It is weird to have in the comp. It's just as weird as if I found it in the actual ten Commandments. I'd be like, wait a minute. What is the this mean?

[Dan Le Batard]

Why?

[Chris]

Doesn't fit with the others.

[Zaslow]

This is not his source. This is not philosophical. This is just the guy who's on the roster now.

[Dan Le Batard]

They very much feel rightfully so that they know better than me and they think that they're. Of course.

[Chris]

Who knows better?

[Dan Le Batard]

Like, that's. All right. Cool. I think I've accurately predicted their seasons over the last three years better than they have.

[Zaslow]

Not. Not the one that didn't end in the first round against Giannis. That got to the finals with Jimmy Butler.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, I wanted one of the. I wanted Wemby also Treetop view on that. I still might be right. Even though they. But beating the Celtics was awesome.

[Jeremy]

Wembanyama. What's he ever done?

[Zaslow]

Well, but. And they could have had Cooper flag too, right? If. If.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, if they didn't win the play in for the esteemed privilege of getting the doors blown off of them.

[Jeremy]

I don't like that argument. The Mavs had that pick, not the Heat. Like to say that the Heat would have then gotten Cooper flag.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay. I just know that in that sport there are ways to get better and it's usually not just tread and water. In fact, their own core principles, their ten commandments. There was one time they did give up on a season. There was a couple times they gave up on a season. One of Them netted Dwyane Wade. The other one netted Michael Beasley. So I can understand why there's some PTSD there. But three banners are up there, and it's because you guys decided to take a step back and give up on a season.

[Zaslow]

Let me put in front of you again those names just to see you regret not going after Kyrie Irving. No.

[Dan Le Batard]

At the time, that one was probably the one that made the least sense, and it was a huge gamble. I understand everything, especially with Mickey, but Kyrie would have helped.

[Jeremy]

Before or after he linked to the documentary?

[Zaslow]

Yeah, it was after.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. No, I understand why they didn't. And I wasn't pounding the table to say go get Kyrie. But it is yet another name in terms of, like, a player that could have helped.

[Zaslow]

But even on that one, you and Zaz don't agree. So let me. Let me go through all of them here. Bradley Beal.

[Jeremy]

Don't regret.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Zaslow]

Damian Lillard.

[Dan Le Batard]

I regret.

[Jeremy]

Regret.

[Zaslow]

You do both regret. Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

I regret. There was a lot of stuff going on in Damian Lillard's personal life. He showed up fat. I think it would have worked. Yeah.

[Jeremy]

Just because it didn't work on that team. That has nothing to do with the.

[Zaslow]

So wait a minute. You guys think they could have protected him from injury here?

[Jeremy]

We don't. We don't know.

[Zaslow]

I don't know.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know.

[Zaslow]

Okay. I. Because I think they dodged a bullet there, but okay. James Harden.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think it certainly would have helped. We were talking about Tyler Hero for James Harden. Wait a minute.

[Zaslow]

Zaz doesn't agree with that one.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, I'm a no on that one for Hero.

[Chris]

He played the same amount of defense.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm not the biggest James Harden fan, but I think he's better than Tyler Hero.

[Zaslow]

Wait a minute. I'm not getting any consensus on some. I thought were easy. Durant. I'm going to get consensus on. You both wanted Durant, correct?

[Dan Le Batard]

Durant 3X.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Three times.

[Zaslow]

Any of the times. Any of the times. Donovan Mitchell.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Jeremy]

Clearly, I was a no at the time. But.

[Dan Le Batard]

But.

[Jeremy]

But that was obvious.

[Zaslow]

Russell Westbrook.

[Dan Le Batard]

He. He. I ended up being an All Star for Houston.

[Chris]

That would have been fun.

[Dan Le Batard]

The year that Russell Westbrook, like, he had, like, one great year left in him and he ended up having that.

[Zaslow]

That's a hard no for me on Russell Westbrook.

[Jeremy]

Yeah. No.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right. I do believe he was an all star that year.

[Zaslow]

DeRozan.

[Jeremy]

No.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think DeRozan could have helped.

[Chris]

I'm with Dan.

[Dan Le Batard]

Meh he could have helped.

[Zaslow]

And then John Morant. No John Morant cheap for Jaime. John Moran cheaps interests me. It's not just Hawkes. It's not. It does. It's Hawkes. A first round pick pick. And that Rosier contract has value and gives you flexibility in the off season. It doesn't necessarily take you that trade out of getting Giannis, but it might not be JA and Giannis if you trade too many things that have value for ja.

[Dan Le Batard]

Is it important to note that every time that Miami didn't end up acquiring the illustrious list of names, the argument against it was like we get to keep our assets to go get the next one and they. And they don't.

[Chris]

This is the one time they actually have had good young players. Like we've been making these arguments in years past where it was just Tyler Hero and a whole bunch of other random pieces. Whether it was Kendrick Nunn whose name was evoked before the show like these are real valuable young pieces. Jaime Hawke is. Is a 24 year old 6 man of the year candidate. Like that's a very good young player. Kalawe, we've talked about in nauseum of what his ceiling is asking for that. That plus the expiring money plus a first round pick because that's not just one asset for a future deal. That's multiple assets and clogging up your books for next year where at the moment, even if Andrew Wiggins ops in which actually you may want because then that's a tradable $30 million contract, you'll have $60 million in cap room coming up this off season. That's not just for signing free agents. That's for having all of your assets and being able to bring in a lot of of money. Norman Powell expiring as a contract could be a sign and trade or could be extended depending on what else you move. They didn't. They may not have positioned themselves by acquiring any more assets for those trade those players this February, but all of the guys they didn't move will still be able to be a part of what's going on into next year outside of maybe Terry Rosier because he could be, you know, suspended from the league forever.

[Zaslow]

Zaslow, have you heard or watched Nothing Personal. Are you aware of what Matthew Koca does for Nothing Personal and how he routinely makes it better?

[Jeremy]

Yeah, he runs the show.

[Zaslow]

Yes. He's the producer for David Sampson and he does an exceptional job. They have an incredibly streamlined show that does very difficult things that not a whole lot of people are doing. And we've never played Matthew Koch talking on our show. So let's do that now, shall we, to celebrate one of the great producers at Meadowlark Media, because Matthew Koca is truly exceptional.

[Chris]

Media has done this right. And YouTube does this and Twitter and Instagram and TikTok. It's it. Incentive. Incense. Jeez. Incentive. You got this even. No, I lost it right there. I watched Sensitivities and now my guess is can't finish. Yeah, no, I can. I can finish. It incentivizes stealing and stolen content 10.

[Zaslow]

Look at how Chris Cody's laughing. Chris, I heard the read you submitted to Cynthia yesterday. I heard how much editing that you reading these ads require.

[Jeremy]

I was in the room.

[Zaslow]

You shouldn't be laughing at anybody about this.

[Chris]

Please. As yours was bad too.

[Jeremy]

I do all of my reads. One take. Send it in.

[Zaslow]

You kept stumbling and just not.

[Chris]

That was nothing. That was child's play. I think I had like one slip up in that one.

[Zaslow]

I can show you some doozy. Do me a favor. Find the sound of me doing matriculate and getting stuck. Also find the sound of that time we heard you in another room reading and you didn't know that we were listening to you and we. How did this go on me? Because of the amount you were laughing. Mike was pointing at how much you were enjoying Coca stumbling on that because it was somebody other than you.

[Chris]

Like Mike love that around here.

[Zaslow]

Mike was point. Yeah, but you particularly loved laughing at the first time coke has ever had a soundbite on this show. So start over. I want you to start over before you look at everything. Play again. Just the Coke up. Coca getting stuck. That is a tough word. This happened. This has happened to me.

[Chris]

Incentivize. Not that tough.

[Zaslow]

This is linoleum.

[Dan Le Batard]

Got me one time bad. This is 10 years ago and I've never made a mistake since. But linoleum.

[Zaslow]

Go ahead and play.

[Dan Le Batard]

Nobody dig up that tape.

[Zaslow]

Coca again on nothing personal.

[Chris]

Social media has done this right? And YouTube does this and Twitter and Instagram and TikTok. It's it Incense. Incentive. Geez. Incentive. You got this even. No, I lost it right there. I watched Sensibilities and now my guess is can't finish your thought. No, I can. I can finish it incentivizes stealing.

[Jeremy]

I was in the room yesterday when Chris is doing this and it's not even like when he screws up the word. It really took me aback. It's not even like when he screws up the word that he then starts over. No, no, he. He's laying down like multiple tracks.

[Chris]

It's called a pickup.

[Jeremy]

And then sends it in and it's really just like the person on the other end the piece it together.

[Zaslow]

I feel bad for sitting when I heard you doing that. I felt bad at the amount of editing that that was going to require. Regardless. Play the sound of me stumbling short circuiting on the word matriculate. Matric. Matriculate the ball down the field. It is unbelievable. That is a scratched record is what that is. Do you have the sound or are you having difficulty finding the sound?

[Chris]

First? I want to find the one I did yesterday because I don't think you guys are overselling how bad it was. But no, I. You do a matriculate. We are efforting to find me messing up the sheets and giggles reads.

[Zaslow]

You were in another room and we were watching you and you didn't know that we were watching you and you were just. You were cursing at yourself because you were struggling so much to read it. You got. You were by yourself in a room and you were mad at yourself and punishing yourself. And you wonder why it is that Mike points at the back of your head while that coca sound is playing and just laughs at the amount you're enjoying.

[Chris]

I'm trying to build up nothing personal. We are building up nothing personal.

[Zaslow]

Tear down is what we're.

[Chris]

No, that is. People are going right now. They're like, I gotta go check this out.

[Zaslow]

They're going to Rusillo's Instagram.