Nick Ashooh and Denton Day debate if they would rather have the future of the Pacers or the Heat right now
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00:00So, I ask you, Nick Ashton, which future would you rather have, the Indiana Pacers or the
00:04Miami Heat?
00:05Listen, I know, I know what you want to hear.
00:09I know why you put this question out there, and I get it, and I can't fight it.
00:13The Pacers have a really good young team.
00:15The only thing that would give me hesitation would be that as long as Pat Riley is in that
00:19front office in Miami, they always find a way.
00:22They always find a way to build up that roster in a way that is competitive, but Pacers have
00:29a lot of talent, man, and if Tyrese Halliburton can stay healthy and they can build around
00:34what they've got now, it's all just about them affording it at that point.
00:40So are the Pacers going to be willing to get into that?
00:43We start talking about the aprons and how teams can stay away from a hard cap and all
00:47this stuff, and most people don't care about that.
00:49Their eyes glaze over, but the reality of it is that's part of the business of the NBA
00:53today.
00:54If the Pacers can find a way to afford this roster as it continues to get more expensive,
01:00let's say over the next just three to four years and throw that out there, they're going
01:04to be in a really, really good spot, but Pat Riley always gives the Heat an opportunity,
01:10and so does Eric Spolstra, but I got to take the Pacers given what that roster looks like
01:14right now.
01:16The Pacers are the correct choice.
01:17They are the correct choice here because the Heat seem to be in a bit more of a free fall
01:22at the moment.
01:23The problem with Pat Riley is he will get his team to where it needs to be, but if you
01:27look at the history of the Miami Heat, there have been some downfalls, right?
01:30It is very much a roller coaster or rolling hills, if you will.
01:34They have the heights, and then they take a dip for a little bit.
01:36To me right now, they're in a dip.
01:38I don't know if Jimmy Butler wants to be there.
01:40He wants his money.
01:41I can't blame him.
01:42He deserves a little bit of money.
01:43He is the reason they have been primarily as good as they have that they have reached
01:48the heights that they have reached over the past couple of seasons.
01:51It's almost been exclusively, not fully, but exclusively on his shoulders, and now
01:57they're not that anymore.
01:58I don't know how I feel about Bam Adebayo as a superstar in the league.
02:03I think he's a really good power forward slash center, whatever you want to consider him.
02:07Maybe we're positionalist basketball, who cares?
02:09But he's really good at whatever he does.
02:11He's not a superstar, though.
02:13They don't have a superstar, and I don't know if you've noticed, Nick, Miami has been in
02:17the running for every single superstar that has ever moved over the last 15 years.
02:22Just ask them, and they have come away with Jimmy Butler, and that's it.
02:26And LeBron James.
02:27In the post-LeBron world, they have come away with nobody.
02:30I don't love the direction they're going right now, comparing that to Indiana, who they're
02:34getting better.
02:35They are built a roster in a way that I think is the proper way to do it, mostly through
02:40the draft, but supplementing with trades and free agency.
02:43I think their future is very, very bright.
02:46Let me say this, though, when you talk about the heat and the stars and only coming away
02:51with Jimmy Butler, they've also been up against cap hell for years.
02:57So the fact they were even able to get Jimmy Butler, and I know we maybe laugh at it now
03:00because he's not the player that he once was, but Kyle Lowry, that was a big get for them
03:04at the time as well that cost them a lot of money.
03:07Again, not a superstar, I understand that, but what makes Miami always still so intriguing
03:12is they find a way.
03:14They do find ways to work around whatever cap hell they're currently in, but at some
03:19point we know you eventually have to pay that bill.
03:22We've seen it now with the Saints, where Sean Payton knew when that was eventually, that
03:27was it.
03:28They were kicking the can down the road, and eventually that was going to be it.
03:31They're like, we're going to have to pay this.
03:32We keep pushing all these salaries down to the bitter end, and now, so that's what concerns
03:37me the most about Miami, is if they had more cap space and more picks, they might be in
03:43a better position.
03:44But you're right, Durant's been thrown around, Bradley Beal was thrown around, and you can
03:48name like five other guys on top of that, and that's just kind of the way that thing
03:53works with them, but they've done enough to show you that they at least can find ways
03:59to do it, right?