'Heat Check' — Silver Medalists, the Draymond Green Award, and LeBron vs. New York (Ep. 161)

The Ringer’s Juliet Litman and John Gonzalez deliberate on who the second-best team in the league is (0:17), analyze the implications of the Rudy Gobert injury for the Utah Jazz (10:08), and debate the most essential players for each team (13:36). Then, they play "Real or Not Real?" with LeBron James’s comments on Dennis Smith Jr. (17:06), Lonzo Ball’s apathy toward his triple-double (19:43), and Rick Carlisle’s apparent dislike of Nerlens Noel (21:33). After, they heat-check Jordan Clarkson and the new-look Milwaukee Bucks (24:14) before running through the most intriguing games of the week (28:27). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices