What is krack Alaki and Harvard Nocks listeners, I am Damp Valley coming at
you out my fans havebulous co host Adam Promo this time. I am,
however, super pleased to be joined by Uman Adden from the Dishes and Dimes
podcast. Great podcasts, you should check them out. She's also over at
Yahoo Sports Canada and Basketball News. Be sure to follow her on Twitter at
Amon Underscore Adden. That's at im M A n Underscore a d An.
She's a great follow on Twitter. We get into a lot about the Toronto
Raptors, one of the teams that she primarily covers, but she also covers
the entire league at large, and so we just we run through the rest
of the Eastern Conference, talk a lot of heat bowls, some Celtics Bucks
nets, we go, we go around the horn. There even some cabs
sprinkled it in addition to the Raptors. There's a lot of fun. So
I hope you enjoyed the discussion. Before we get started, just the usual
housekeeping notes, Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast,
especially if it's your first time checking us out. Consider throwing us the
permanent sub and whether you use iTunes or not. It helps us out a
bunch if you go over there, throw us a five star rating and write
a review. Both those steps assist us a ton. As I said before,
be sure to check out and join our discord. We have a bunch
of people in there now. We've run one live game conversation so far that
was a bunch of fun as well. The link is in the podcast description,
so join us on discord. Also follow us on YouTube, YouTube dot
com search Harder Knox you will come up. Throw us a sub there,
follow us on Twitter at Hardwood Knox, and follow us on Instagram at Hardwood
Underscore Knox. Our personal socials are also in the podcast description. Without further
ado, though, let's get to some Eastern Conference basketball talk with m on
ad Co'm on, thank you so much for hopping on the Hardwood Knox podcast.
Is the first time I bothered you and you said yes, So I
am super excited to talk some hoops with you. First and foremost, though,
how are you doing? I'm great? Thank you so much for having
me on the raptors. I feel like we're gonna They're not They're not doing
the best right now when my mood kind of works with how well they're playing,
but you know, beyond that, I'm pretty good. I call myself
a debtingly disenchanted Knicks fan, and so if I allowed my mood to be
tethered to how they were faring, I think I would just be perpetually depressed.
So there needs to be some separation there. The actual first question I
have from you is I think I saw it. I think it was you
on Twitter a few weeks ago. Our fellow listens to podcasts at two time
speed. Person. Yes, people think I'm I'm bonkers for doing that.
I can't do it any other way. Okay, two times might be like
if I'm listening to Tim Bontems, I'm not listening to him at two times.
I don't know if you can do that. There are certain people that
speak a little quick, I talk fast that I can't do at two time
speed. One point five is a minimum for everybody, and then two time
speed is is generally what I do. Have you ever I listened to basically
everyone at two times speed. There's like some people, including myself, if
I listen back one point five speed a lot, and I've been told some
people can't even listening on that because I just ramble and ramble and ramble.
No, but you're a quick talker, so it's just like it's it's hard
to keep up. Sometimes it might be a gem in there that I miss
listening to it too quickly. Have you ever gone back though and listened to
anything at like regular speed and how slow it sounds? Yeah, I feel
like something is wrong with my foot, like because sometimes I don't know if
it like resets to the default or something. I also listened to a lot
of true crime podcast and so sometimes I'll slow them down to one time speed.
But if I switch over to like a basketball pot or anything else,
I'm like, what has happened? Like why is this taking so much of
my time? Why am I only a quarter in? Why is everyone talking
so slow? And then I realized what the problem was. Yeah, and
when you've listened to so many podcasts too, it's like who just has the
time to sit there and listen to it at regular There's too much good things
out there to consume that I'm not going to listen anything at one time.
See, but I don't know if this has happened to you, And we're
probably going on too far of a tangent on this, but I don't know
if this has happened to you. I listen to spaces sometimes, or I'll
have real conversations where I'm just sitting in listening to people talk, and I'm
like, I can't, for one, go fifteen back what I just missed
as I zoned out. I can't do that when my boss is talking to
me, and it's but then I also like, can't sit into spaces and
speed anyone up, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, my brain
has been broken because of podcast. It's spaces specifically, or like any of
the many just like chat room maps whatever out there. Now. When it's
not, I guess someone who does it enough or talks even like and I
say, like a lot, I have my stammers, my eyes. But
if it's someone who likes get a teacher, I have a light counter for
me in class when I was in high school. That's how bad I am
with that. So you would think I would get better at it, at
least after podcasting for like five, six, seven years whatever long it's been.
A No, it's bad. But if it takes someone a while to
like spit out a point, that's where I'll I'll lose a train of thought.
The one thing I can't do. And I think the reason I saw
that you listen to podcasts and two time speed was because I saw a follow
up tweet from you that says you watch stuff at like one and a half
speed. Now, okay, not like a TV show, right, not
like like I'm not watching The Office at one point five speed, but like
like I watched Love Is Blind. I have like a lot of reality TV
guilty pleasures, and I watch a lot of documentaries too. I can't for
the life of me, because it's a similar thing where people are trying to
get their point across and they talk around the point before getting to the point.
I just need to hit that one point five on that or one point
two five. I tried it in advance of this podcast because I've never even
thought about doing it with something I'm watching, And I did it with a
random episode of New Girl on Netflix at one point five speed. I lasted
maybe a minute. I can't do it. That's going through that. I
don't know how possible that I can't. I can't do like I can't watch
New Girl. I can't watch like a scripted TV show. But it is
a documentary or even the reality TV like if you're gonna watch Love Is Blond,
if you're binging it one point two five, it like it makes trash
reality TV so much more enjoyable. I'll give that a shot. I don't
watch too much reality TV, but I guess that makes sense. I was
just thinking, like, how am I supposed to enjoy this? Oh no,
you can't. You can't do that. I can't do that. I
can't watch like a comedy, like I'm not watching Community or a New Girl
at one point five. I can't do that. Sam Hanky definitely is maybe
even at like two points. There are limits to my insanity. I did
bring you on to talk about basketball, specifically the Eastern Conference, but more
specifically also the Toronto Raptors, who anyone who listened to this podcast knows that
my coast and I have this mega ultra sauce spot for them this season,
and they are twenty and ten since they fell to like their worst record or
whatever it was this season, top ten defense during that time, top ten
net rating. Aside from getting healthy and Nick Nurse playing his top players like
a bajillion minutes, what has been like the driving force behind their sort of
turnaround. It feels overly simplistic to say, but that's kind of it.
The Raptors are built a lot like a house of cards, and we take
one piece out of it and they all come tumbling down. And I think
that that's been more apparent this last few weeks more than at any other point
in the season, because you just mentioned it. Twenty and ten, since
their poor start, they've lost before beating the Nets. We're not even gonna
talk about that because that's about kind yeah, yeah, we're not going to
talk about that. Before those two back to back wins earlier this week,
they lost four to five games, and they were not losing it like they
had one where they lost right at the buzzer to the Nuggets, which was
a great game and a very Raptors esque game. Outside of that, they
were losing the thirty points, the Hawks, the Pelicans, and the Hornets
thirty points, like each of those teams who are teams with the Raptors have
comfortably be before. I feel like they're better than you know, have had
wins. But you look at it and you're like, Okay, you're taking
og and and Oobi out and you're Pascal Siakam is dealing with the sickness,
and Beavmbley is clearly hurt and has missed a couple of those games, Like
it kind of makes sense that one or two of those pieces come out and
everything comes tumbling down. And I've I've really been trying to sit with it
because ogn and Noobi is not the difference between beating the Hawks comfortably and losing
by thirty points. He's not worth that. But it feels like every single
person on this roster is worth twice as much as they are, and someone
like og, who is arguably the defensive anchor of the team and one of
the only floor spacers on the team. Is really difficult. When you have
fourteen fifteen guys on the roster and only three of them are abovely gaverage and
three point shooting. You take one of those guys out and really the offensive
defense absolutely crumbles. And the Raptors have had I mean, if they're twenty
and ten and have just lost four games by like thirty points collectively to teams
under five hundred, they had been doing really well before that stretch, and
that's because they were healthy. Does that ever worry you though? When you're
looking at like specifically the top four or five guys at how many minutes theick
nurses playing them right now? Even with Fred van Fleet being banged up and
o g miss Bolt their games against the nets too, right, Yeah,
So like does that concern you at all? Even like when they got fat
Young, I was like, oh, a seventh guy in the rotation basically
that's kind of huge. Yeah, No, that's exactly it. It does,
especially because what's going to happen is you're overextending Pascal Siakam and Scotty Barnes
when Og and Fred are hurt, and then one of them is going to
get injured, and then you're overextending Gary Trent. You know. It just
it feels like a cycle that's never ending. So that's why it was so
necessary for them to get a seventh guy in the rotation, and Nick finally
has kind of gone a little bit to the bench. Part of that is
because they were playing the G League, the Long Island Nets, but it's
certainly a concern. It's probably why I don't have them with, you know,
even the Cabs and the Celtics. I probably put them just like a
rank below those teams only because they just don't have the guys. Yeah,
there's something like Thibodonian about some of the stuff Nick Nurse has done this year
with the minutes. And then I think he even said with Malakai Flynn because
as you said, he started playing and he was just basically unless I'm misquoting,
and was like, well he just wasn't showing it in practice or something
like that. It was like, dude, you need your bodies in the
court at this point. Yeah, exactly if you're not. And the leash
on these guys is so short on the court as well, like you've time
makes one mistake or Steve misses one three, and it's like you're pulling them.
It's like, please, we just need a body, just like two
minutes a time. And then Nick does his thing where he like plays all
of the bench together and it's like, well, of course, if you're
having these hockey rotations, the bench is going to look bad because they're just
not there's no mixing out here. So it's interesting Nick has a very a
couple of years ago Bubble Year, so the year after Khi left, the
Raptors got Stanley Johnson and who am I forgetting? Who did they get,
who do they get Ronnie Hollis Jefferson, two guys known for their defense.
They couldn't crack the rotation ahead of like guys like Arrence Davis and things,
and everyone was like, Raptist need bodies. They're so thin, Like you
have Stanley Johnson and Rondey Hollis right there, and he's like, their defense
isn't up to part with what we do here in practice, so we're not
going to play them, and they're like, what like plays? But then
that's what happened, and until you know Stanley and ronde started playing defense.
Well, Nick Nurse didn't play them and he ended up you know, they
played plenty of minutes towards the end to the latter half of the season.
So I guess the Raptors just feel like, hey, we're a championship team
regardless, and if you're not playing championship level defense, you're not seeing the
court. I think part of my emotional attachment to the Raptors is I have
a soft spot for players where I feel like there's this perception of them and
it could be negative for some reason, and it could be overwhelmingly positive turned
to negative and then never shift back. It feels like Pascal Siakam league wide
has been at that point for a while, and he has quietly had he
would have made my All Star team if I had like any power over that.
Going through my All NBA teams quickly, I'm pretty sure he's gonna make
one of my three. What has most impressed you about him this season?
But also do you have like any sort of theory or explanation for why he's
I don't want to use the cliche word underrated, but why the perception is
the way it is of him. I have that same thing with you,
where those are my favorite guys, Like there's a reason why I really like
Rudy Gobert, probably more than most people, because I'm just like, no
one is appreciate you. I recognize, I recognize that, but it's more
so like and it's it's why I became a diehard Kyle Lowry fan. As
Raptor fans were telling me DeMarco Rosen was better, and I'm like, what
are we watching on the court? Anyway. Besides the point back to Pascaliakam,
it, I think one of the things that really bothers me that people
do really quickly is anoint guys. I think that he was anointed fairly early
on, and he was the most improved player in twenty nineteen, and he
was the number two scoring option on a championship win team against guys like Jonathan
Isaac, Rudy Rudy go Back, Jonathan Isaac, Gianni's Attatakumbo, Draymond Green.
Who else did he play? Joe Ellenbid. Those were the guys guarding
him, which could field an All NBA First defensive team right like right there.
So he did deserve a lot of the praise, but I felt like
a lot of that was given to him a little too quickly, a little
too early. How much praise was he found him? I still think Kyle
Lowry was the second best player on that team. I still think Kyle Lowry
was the best player on the team the following year, although he didn't make
an All NBA team ahead of Pascal Siakam, So I think that's part of
it. And then also the bubble came, and I'm not like people don't
watch the Toronto Raptors like I recognize that they're the Canadian team. They don't
get nationally televised games in America because we're in Canada, our TV ratings don't
count for us, right, so I recognize people don't watch him. And
then the bubble came and that's where everyone started to watch everything because it was
just twenty four seven basketball with nothing else going on in the world, and
he was coming off of a groin injury. He was an All NBA player
and All Star started that year, and what people saw was the worst version
of Pascal Siakam that we've ever seen. And so the narrative changes just as
quickly as if again for him, and so I think that's part of it,
at least that's my understanding of what's happening. It changed in Toronto as
well. It felt like rafter fans were really quickly dismissing him and wanting him
off the team. But this year I think he asked, like how he's
improved as well. It feels like every point of his game, I mean,
his handle was so much tighter than it's been. He's got an in
between game, which was a thing that he didn't really have before, where
he does have that floater. Now his touch adound the basket is so much
better because he's so much stronger and can finish with through contact. Now he
leads the team in free throw rate, which I mean is not very high,
but still he's the only really guy that can really draw contact and finished
through it consistently. His playmaking is probably the number one thing that you would
say has improved this season, where even Fred van Vleet has Fred Fred has
never really been better on ball as he's been off ball, and with the
emergence of Pascal Siakam is a guy who we've seen play point power forward so
often for this team he is the point guard quite often even when Fred shares
the court with him. Has allowed Fred to unleash his games as you know
an off ball shooter. So the playmaking, the handle being tighter, the
ability to finish through contact, the end between game, being able to hit
that float of that mid brain shot that he hasn't really had in the past
has taken as the game to another level. This is the best Pascal Siakam
that we've seen, and that's not even mentioning his defense. And I think
for a good chunk of that, you know January run where they had a
seven or a game win streak, it was Pascal Siakam playing some of the
best defense that we've ever seen as well. That was one of the first
things that starts to me was the passing, because to me, the mark
of a good player is if you were making decisions that I can't understand in
real time. And when you go back and watch him and it seems like
he's seen like two or three different passes he can throw. And then you
mentioned the handle, which I think has really just also helped him become like
a little bit more unpredictable with his directionality on drives, where if you go
back like two years or something, but it was a straight line almost and
now it's just like he can be all over the place and is better through
traffic. So those are the things that stood out to me, and that's
I think you're probably spot on with the anointing. Like that rush to coordinate
definitely skews how we view players as well. And I don't know that he's
ever recovered from it, but his players recovered from it. And yet the
perceptionist and so and we're at the point where people just thought he was on
this terrible contract, and even even the people that watch him and you could
see it more religiously or closely, we're criticizing him for not being number one
material on a title team. That's like, if we're being honest, that
might be ten guys in the league. And so I think that's I think
that's generous. I think ten guys as a number one player on a championship
team is generous. There's so few, right, And if that's like the
criticism, if that's the bar to which we're holding him, there's real value
in being the two or the three on a title team, like the Knicks
are seeing that now that Julius Randalls imploded, or he doesn't even look like
he could be the number three on a really good team. So that's the
part I never understood, is you there are people commenting, who you know,
watch him, and it's just, oh, he's not a number one.
So it's just that's a problem, like Kawhi Leonard guys like And also
it's just like, well, you need a number one to win a chip,
you need a number two to win a championship team. And what happens
when you trade your number two for just I don't know, scraps and then
you're looking to get that guy because you're wasting your number one's prime because he
doesn't have that pip in his Jordans, and there's been no like steadiness in
the hierarchy of the Raptors because you go from like having de Rosen, then
you add Kawai, then Kawai is gone, and now Kyle Lowry is gone.
And so it's just been like this. He's been like shimmied between these
different roles and arguably was probably just like promoted or shoved into a little bit
of an outsized role more so than he was ready for. And now he's
just clearly ready for it. I don't think he's perfect, Like if you
were naming half court options and creators, no, you don't. Necessarily he's
not going to be. I don't know where he ranks in that. But
he's been so good this year, and it was just I was shocked he
didn't make the All Star team, especially why Jared Allen was great this year.
I would have put Siakim Overround. I would have put him over Chris
Middleton who made it as well too. He's just been absolutely spectacular. He's
been Yeah, he's been so good. And I think you know, we
talked about just the lack of Raptors death, but you just mentioned it right
there, like just to point out why the Raptors are so thin, Fred
VanVleet, And you know that the Rosen team that won fifty nine games first
in the East, Yadi YadA, that team had Pascal Siakaman Fred Vanvley coming
off the bench. The championship team had ogn and nob coming off the bench.
And now all three of those guys are starters. Norman Powell was traded
for Gary Trent. He's been a bench player of the entire times enough he's
a starter. So literally, your entire bench for your run where you were
winning fifty nine to sixty games every single year, is now your starters.
And so you don't elevent. You have to sort of refill those guys.
And that's kind of what the Raptors are trying to do right now with the
Malachis and the Preciouses is hopefully build that next iteration, the next up.
And yeah, for the time being, they're just gonna be really thin.
That's an interesting and right on frame of I didn't really consider like all these
guys are basically on the bench for them just a few years ago. That
is wild. Fred VanVleet, I'm excited you're here. Because and especially because
I watched him a little more closely in advance of this discussion, obviously not
pre All Star Break. How has he leveled up his game? I feel
and the way I put it in the outline sit you said, I feel
like I'm just always continuously watching a better version of the same player, which
just doesn't even make any sense. Yeah, I mean, but that's exactly
what it is. It's so so okay. So I have never been the
biggest Fred van Vleet person until the last couple of years. And part of
that it was I knew that he was, like I said, all the
bench guys for now the starters, and he was sort of taking over that
Kyle Lowry role. And he has never really profiled as as a point guard.
He is much better off ball than he has on ball, and part
of that was his decision making with the ball. Part of that was his
playmaking. He when he first came into the league had such tunnel vision where
he would just if he had the ball, he was not no one else
was gonna see it. It was gonna be then bleed show. And he
would drive right into a seven foot or right at the basket for no reason.
Like fast break fredn Blea, it was gonna be a turnover at any
given time because he's just gonna like run into I don't know, the rim,
might blocket shot. It's it's really difficult when you're a guard that's barely
six feet tall to really try to finish around the rim, and that's always
going to be a bit of a struggle. But the game has slowed down
for him, the amount of doubles that both he and Pascal c Or get
daily in every single game, and his ability to just make the reads and
make the pass at the right time. His playmaking has improved tenfold. Not
to bring up some some harsh memories, but back to the bubble. The
Rafts had a Game seven against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and
it was game seven. It came down to there was under a minute left.
There was it was a three point game. I think the Raptors were
down three was under a minute left, and Kyle Lowry fouled out and that's
when I was like, Okay, well that's it, go home, it's
done. And part of that was I did not trust Fred Bensleet's decision making
and what ended up happening. It's been a while since I've watched this,
but I feel like I'm pretty sure Fred just almost dribbled out the clock like
he had jail in on him. Grant Williams got switched on to him,
and he ended up taking this highly contested three from like ten feet back,
it felt like, and it didn't even hit close to him. I feel
like it was an airball. And that's what the Raptors final possession was on
a game seven, like the potential tying basket, And that was what Fred
VanVleet was just two years ago. And so where he's gone to now where
he is a playmaker. His on ball is phenomenal. He takes like ten
three's a game and really should be taking fifteen with just how deadly he is.
His defense has always been superb. That's never like, you know,
that's why he's in the NBA for starters. But his decision making, the
way the game shows for him, the way that he sees everything, the
way that he's able to get everybody involved. He's just truly changed entirely as
a player what he was just two years ago to what he is right now
with s Night and Night feels like, yeah, that's a good point.
So he definitely does feel like more of a point guard. I always think
too, because you mentioned now he's so much still so much better off the
ball than on the ball. Yeah, I tend to think about like,
and this is a pretty big part of your game and just come along.
But he is shooting better from a range this year. If he hit like
off the dribble threes at even a close to league average rate, like we're
probably looking at like an All NBA type of lock at that point, because
that feels like, yeah, there's the finishing a little bit. But when
you look at what he does defensively, how far he's come along as a
as a passer, and now he has like the in between game or at
least accuracy on it a little bit. If he's like hitting off the dribble
threes or just pull up jumpers in general more consistently, that's just like an
incredibly complete player. I understand that's sort of like a big what if though,
to just pose, especially at this point in his career. Yeah,
yeah, but honestly, like it's I don't not see it for Fred ben
Leed. I think there have been games where it's like wait, what,
like he can do that off the drip Like, So there have been moments.
I think it's just consistent to see with everything and with everyone and hopefully
just like getting healthier. But I'd love to continue to see Scottie and Pascal
be the guys that have the ball in their hand moving forward and unleash your
shooting guard. Fred Van Wait I was not a Scottie Barnes over Jail and
Sugs guy, But once the Raptors made that decision, I immediately rethink everything
because it's, oh, Messiah Jerry spearhead of this decision, Like I'm missing
something. What is most surprised you impressed you about rookie year Scotty Barnes,
who is playing even if you expected him to play regularly, it's playing a
lot more than I ever saw him playing. Yeah, I mean, especially
like considering you know last year or was a COVID year for college. I
don't watch any college basketball. I don't know how any of it works,
but I imagine there weren't as many I don't know he was coming off the
bench. I'm assuming not a lot of practices for them. I know,
I know that for a fact. That they didn't really have practices because of
COVID, and the games must have been sort of, I don't know,
a condensed season. So for him to come from that to this where he's
like playing forty minutes a night and like the rookie wall like comes, but
he's just been able to push past that. He just had a game where
he was what ten for ten in the first half and just like grabbing up
every single offensive board. I think what surprised me the most is I,
as someone who does not watch college basketball, I take everything that I know
from like other people who're just talking to people and hearing what they have to
say. And I was told, you know, Scott is a zero level
score, Like he doesn't have any finish around the rim. You know,
there's no midwright, he can't shoot at three, Like he's literally a zero
level score. It was what I heard coming into it. And then his
first basket in the NBA was this lefty skyhook, and I was like,
excuse me, Kareem, Like what do we like? So for one,
I think it's I didn't think that he would have much touch. I mean,
anyone who watched Friday Night Allstar Game was gonna say that he doesn't,
but but he does. He's been He's been absolutely fantastic. One of my
favorite plays of his this year was just him grabbing the ball directly out of
Kevin Durand's hands, like he was just like, yoink, I'm the adults
and you're the skinny child's here. Which surprises me every single time is his
strength and his size, like he's just so big for rookie, and his
ability to just not even see contact, being able to fit into this team's
defensively, Like I think he's probably the starter that has the most sort of
like moments, but the Nick Nurse plays a very aggressive style defense and the
Raptors are able to lock down with him there. He's been absolutely superb with
his size. It's his size, it's his strength, it's the fact that
he's not as year a level score but can actually score the ball. He
just is coming off of a twenty twenty eight point game. There's not enough
good things I can say about Scotty Barnes. I've been a big proponent of
like wanting him to come off the bench a little and that's been met with
a lot of like ire from Raptor fans. Just because there's this title of
being a starter, and it feels like a demotion for a guy to come
off the bench. But when he plays alongside Pascas Yakam, Frednley Odian and
Obi, those are your top three guys, you know, your first second
in tertiary option, and that's not even mentioned Gary Trent Junior, who's had
you know, five i think straight thirty plus point games, like he factors
in so much to this Raptors offense. I think that's a franchise leading record,
tied with Demard Rosen. So that makes Scotty the fifth option, and
that means the ball is rarely in his hands. That means he kind of
is playing a garbage man role. So I'd like to see him run a
little bit with the bench so we actually truly sees what he has in terms
of, you know, handling the ball a little bit playmaking because he's able
to see the court in a way that like Fred just can't because he's a
foot taller than him. And so I'm I'm interested to see more of that,
hopefully next season and maybe even in the latter half of the year,
just getting him or run with with the bench. Guys do you see that
as like being the end game for him is where you they want him to
be more of like sort of a from scratch creator, whether it's for himself
and or others. I hope so, because how crazy would that be if
that guy's six to nine with the seven swings fan Like, how insane with
this Raptor's team. Look if that's the case. So I hope so.
And I this guy's a limit with the kid because every limitation I've heard about
his coming into the season, he's just absolutely smashed. Yeah, I just
absolutely floorida. Like even him just moving through like super tight spaces in the
half court, and he's he's made like catching shoot like floaters, hooks or
just mid rangers of thing. Again, which if it's like it doesn't look
like you're watching nineties meathmall, but he's like that's part of his touch is
it's not like he's pounding the ball and getting to these spots, but he's
just like he's moving, he's getting through the defense. Then he just has
his touch like immediately off the catch. And it's just pretty much everything about
him this season is for me based on I don't watch any college basketball in
real time I will do a crash course before the draft and try and watch
film, and like you said, you rely on people who are actually smart
when it comes to college basketball. I was just like, I don't see
it, and he's just he's blown away. Literally, Like even the Scottie
Bond's optimists don't even seem like they saw this coming. Yeah. The one
person I will say is coach David Thorpe. He was just like he had
mobile and Barnes is number one and two and I think that that's what the
Raptors had on their draft board as well. And he he came onto our
podcast, I think even before the season started and said, like, the
kid, like MVP level in ten years is what we're talking about. And
I was just like, what, I don't know what ten years and he's
out the five but I was like insane. So so he's brobably a little.
It's very optimistic. I don't want to call a twenty year old the
potential of VP in five years, especially considering all of the limitations in his
games. Still, but he's just been super. What have you thought about
Sad Young's fit so far? And just as a follow up to that,
like, so there's him there's Bouchet, and then all of a sudden,
like that's your top seven guys and the roster. Basically, who intrigues you
most long term? Beyond those top seven guys on this roster, who intrigues
me the most is Precious, Precious Situa. Precious Situa is the most entertainingly
or like it. It's so fun Like he's an enigma because sometimes you watch
and play basketball and I'm like, all right, let's let's call the league
up. I have a future Hall of Famer on deck, Let's write him
in. What is this man? How is he? How can someone his
size even do this? And then sometimes you watch him and you're like,
has he ever played basketball? Is this his first time on an NBA chord?
Like talk about his zero level offensive players sometimes, but his defense is
just a superb. But but his like when he right now, the Raptors
kind of you just mentioned it, Chris Buche bad Young is sort of the
top seven. Both those guys are what six nine and then presses it to
another six nine guy. That's kind of entirely what the Raptors are made of.
So Precious sometimes, as you know, most six nine guys are do
when you play all of them together, stands out in the corner and he's
just been lights out from there, which is so weird because he was not
a three point shooter. I've never seen him take a three or make a
three with the with the heat. Uh. He's he's intriguing only because like
he's such a project. I'm not like, he's nowhere close to being what
the Raptors want him to be. He's got these flashes though, where he
just looks absolutely insane, and they come once every other ten, you know,
games or so. So he's by far the biggest project on the team.
But defensively he's it for them, Like he's so so good. He
knows exactly where he needs to be. Even though you have kind of those
rookie moments with Scotty at times, I don't feel like when Precious is there
that that happens. He's like him, Him and Bouchet together, the chemistry
that they have is actually like just so much fun to watch. He's also
a high energy guy. It's honestly Precious just because he is the most work.
But he's so young. He's only like, what twenty one, this
is his second year, and sometimes it just doesn't feel that way. So
I'd like to see what they can turn Precious into, if they can do
anything with him offensively, because he's still so incredibly row. Yeah, some
of the lineups that and I guess he has to through them up. But
it was I think it was that Young's first game where it was like Bouchet
Young, Siaka Matua and Banton were on the floors. I haven't seen the
lineup, but I should see that. That's that's a weird that's a weird
lineup. I didn't know you were gonna say bansion in the end, so
it's like, okay, you're not gonna have a single guy who can space
the flour. That's part of why o g Nnobia is so important because he
factors so much into those like all six nine line up. So as the
Raptors can field six nine players one through five, and they do that,
that's like usually their lineup to I think start the second and possibly even the
fourth. I think I think that's what they do. They start the second
and the fourth and it's just all six nine guys, and Precious features heavily
into that. You need odn and Obi's four spacing. But you also need
precious were facing sometimes in those lineups, which is hilarious to say in the
oddest ways, but yeah, the Raptors are a weird teen that's kind of
the That young thing was so odd because everyone was just like, well,
what does the Raptors need? And it turns out to just be bodies.
But it was like, you know, should we get a big should we
get you know, four space or should we get like what do we need?
And Nissa I was like, we're getting out what we have at home
already, Like we're just gonna get more of the same. It's like it
felt like you know a cartoon characters closet where like you open up their closet
and it's the same thing all the time, because like, I don't have
you ever seen that kind of like the joke in cartoons shows, that's exactly
what the Raptors are. You open their wardrobe and it's like, oh yeah,
six nine and foot wingspan can defend play make a little bit, that's
what they're gonna get more of it all times. It's fun like a Doug
Funny going through his closet and it's just a green exact letter vest with the
white T shirt. Yeah, exactly. There was something that offended me about
that lineup in Dad Young's game though, even like the Raptors, like,
I know that's been sort of their thing. But whatever it was, and
I'm probably misnaming one of the names, I'm just like, what is this.
I don't think I've seen it again, So maybe Nick Nurse are enough
of it too that Yeah, look with Delano in there, it feels weird.
I don't know. He guess he has played that. It's a mix
of names. They can feel so many different five nine lineups, like there's
six nine lineups. It's it's just it's odd. It's sometimes really bad.
Sometimes it works. And the one with with O G. Siak, I'm
precious Bouchet and it's not Scotty. It might be Delano, that might be
the Lant. There's just something like that. They have broken your brain with
their roster setups. They really have. This is out of the lineup now
that you mentioned this already, and I have an agenda here because for the
past two years it's been the Raptors need a big, The Raptors need a
big The Raptors need a big My belief has been that I think they need
more Like I don't want to say someone like you lost Kyle Lowry and you
just didn't replace him. I don't want to say you need the next Kyle
Rowley, but to me, it feels like they still kind of need that
point of attack half court, off the dribble jet fuel. I guess the
pushback would be and you not, but you sort of alluded to it is
if you think that Scottie Barnes is going to be that guy, if you
trust o Gianna Noby in certain minutes to do more on the ball, maybe
you're okay operating outside of that. What is the biggest need then for this,
like in terms of player, archetype or whatever moving forward. I'm I'm
with you on it probably not being a big only because it would be nice
to have a backup big book. I was really big on the you know,
if you can bring Jack of Peurtle as a starting big on the team,
but I think the price would have been too high for that. The
other the other thing that I really or the other player that I really really
wanted was Gordon, where I was just like, the Raptors just need to
like it's it would be so nice to have you know, like a vet
to come off the bench that can just space the floor. The bench need,
the starters need it. Like it's just more floor spacing. I think
is number one what this team needs. I think it unlocks the offense in
a whole other complete way. I do think that they're hoping that Og can
take that next step, Pascal, that you have enough with. Maybe even
Gary Trent. He's not much of a cutter and he's not much of a
finisher. He kind of just operates in the mid range or or out from
three. But he's also twenty one, like some of these guys are just
so. But he's probably twenty two now. He's younger though than I whatever.
I look at Gary Trench and years age, I'm like, oh,
he's only that. It's twenty one the youngest player on the Raptors. Last
season was so odd to me. Now they've got a bunch of young guys
with with Delano and in Scotty coming in, but I think he's still it's
Delano, Scotty and him playing for the Blazers must aid you. Perhaps that's
because it feels like he was there for like ten years for some reason.
Probably that's probably it and so so Yeah, so I think I still think
it's worth facing. I think if they could, if they could have gotten
a guy like Eric Gordon, that would have been phenomenal for this team,
but just more shooting, Like just sometimes you watch this team and you're just
like, oh my gosh, because yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna say
that, because I think they're hoping that everybody else kind of develops and takes
that next step, that you could maybe have Gary Scotty, like someone with
a Facebook game would be nice, someone who could kind of I think they're
hoping that Gary maybe or Scotty Laric Gordon would be like a nice bridge,
just because he's also like it's not he's not creating off the dribble, but
he's rim pressure off the dribble, like he will just barrel through guys,
and that would be something I think they could use as well too. Yeah,
for sure, for sure. Is there anything before I ask you a
big picture question about this team, anything that we didn't touch upon that you
think needs to be on court for the Raptors this season? I feel dirty
not asking an Ogna Nobi question, but that might just be what's that we
talked about him? A lot. I think he got he got his love.
But yeah, no Og is so integral to what the Raptors do.
I really do feel like he's the glue of this team. I think he
kind of old all of the pieces together and his ability to just be unlocked,
like when the Raptors were rolling, because like from December to like the
middle of January, before everything kind of fell to pieces, they were a
top eight offense, a top eight defense in the league, which I mean
their offense being top ten or top eight or whatever it is right now is
a lie. They're like twenty seventh or something in field goal percentage, Like
it's it's a lie that I can get rough in the half court if they're
not like cleaning up their own missus, and if they play a team that
keeps them out of transition like I don't, they don't necessarily have a bunch
of answers. Nope, it's gonna be it's gonna be a problems. It's
yeah, they're just not there yet. But but Og being able to be
unlocked a sort of the tertiary option, especially because Fred and Pascal gets so
much attention and because they've just improved so much in their playmaking, that they're
able to make the right reads. Og and Gary are unlocked and have been
unleashed and have just been rolling because of it. It's been so much fun
to watch when all of the guys are healthy. The only problem is you
take one guy out and everything crumbles and they lose to thirty thirty points of
the Ona Hawks. So with everything, I just passed you bad in mind,
we predicted on this podcast that the Raptors are going to win a playoff
series. Are they an actual sleeping giant in the East or are we just
a year or two early there. I think we're a year or two early.
But I also look at this Eastern Conference, and I know everyone's talking
about how great they are. It feels like the Eastern Conference is good,
right. It's like they have a lot of good teams. There's no team
that feels like they can't fail in the playoffs right, Like there's no available
teams. FOLLOW don't know words, I can't speak, but it just feels
like every single team is flawed. Where if the Raptors get them right matchup,
sure they can win a playoff series. I think they're going to be
a hard out for any team. They're not a team that gets blown out
very often. I know I just talked about you know, three of their
last four games have been blown up blowouts. But if they're healthy and they
have their guys there, they're going to be a hard out for any team.
It's flocking shaky. So some of those teams I certainly think that they
have a chance of beating because I don't think that they're particular world beaters.
But I don't think it really speaks to the Raptors being there just yet,
And I think it speaks to more of the top of the East getting a
lot of love despite being very flawed. Yeah, that's a good point where
it does. Based off the way at least Milwaukee has played for most of
this season, they look vulnerable. I mean they're super just talk about shallow,
like they're shallows the Bucks this season. Yeah, I mean the Milwaukee
goes out and just like beats Miami without playing like that grade of basketball.
So there's like that is the team and the six. I'm trying not to
read them a lot. I feel like am I watched the fourth quarter of
that game, and I know Miami was shooting like lights out part of that,
but Miami lost that game. It felt like my Milwaukee did a phenomenal
job on Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler was completely out of it. And I
also think that Miami's offense without Kyle Lowry just is a problem. Like they
don't have much half coard offense as is, that's probably their biggest flaw.
But without Kyle, it was just it really sort of like I don't trust
the ball in Tyler Heroes hands as we saw it. We probably shouldn't at
all times, as great as he is when it comes down to it in
the final moments, it's not really much of what I trust. So I
kind of just look at that and I'm like, oh, I don't know
that Milwaukee should feel great about that win as much as like Miami should feel
terrible about it. So I'm trying not to read too much. I'll jump
around here with this. I'm trying to read too much into what the Sixers
have done in the three games with Harden, because it was it was the
Timberwolves there, like they're fine, but the Knicks are just awful. So
you beat them twice and you were trailing by a zillion to them on Wednesday
night, but between Miami and Philadelphia, who do you viewers more of the
seriess Tor had to come out of these because those are Miami's just been really
good and I'm watching the Sixers with Harden and how wide open Tyrese Maxie is
just all the time now and I can't help but shake the feeling that I
might be prepared to pick phil And I've been banging in Miami drum all year.
They were like never healthy. I was looking at it the other day.
Lowry Butler and Bam aren't even a top five hundred used trio in the
league this season because of just availability. But who do you think is like
the bigger threat to come out of the conference between those two right now?
Just the point about the Timberwolves is not being great and how it talked about
the Raptors being losing envelope fashion three to the last four games. The one
game that they didn't lose was against the Timberwolves, the team that like so
so that's where the Timberwolves are no disrespected to them. They're having a great
season for them, right but I mean pleasantly in the bottom of the middle.
Yeah, definitely, yeah, which is which is great for the Timberwolves,
considering they've made the playoffs once in my lifetime, so uh uh,
it's it's really tough because I mean, Tyrris Maxie looked it must be so
happy becoming the tertiary option with Tobias Harris. My goodness is your fourth option
right there? You probably live in life too. I think part of like
why the Sixers have been shaking in the past is their crunch time offense,
like when when the game slows down a bit and b post ups is their
offense? Like what what do they really have outside of anything? So having
and Jimmy was great for them in twenty nineteen, like the ball really went
to Jimmy, and I don't I don't know that Jimmy Butler has consistently been
a guy who can do it for the first forty four minutes of a game
every every night. But he certainly can throw the Maya throw the Milwaukee game
out, but he certainly can when it's close in the final few minutes.
And that's what he did. That's what he did against the Raptors in that
twenty nineteen series. And this is the first time they really have that guy.
But they have a superstar version of that guy at all times. So
just James pardon ability to create in James built the James James did I call
m James Johnson because I've been thinking about the nets so much. James Harden's
ISO ability, James Harden's ability to create for himself, James Harden ISO especially
when the game kind of gets down or the wire. Also, Joel Embiad
has really just never played with a guy who can get him the ball.
Sometimes I watch the Sixers collapse in the fourth quarter, which has kind of
been their calling card for most of that time, and it's like, why
is no one getting the ball to James Harden. It's like they don't really
have very many playmakers. They don't have that guy who's gonna be able to
do that. They also don't have the floor spacing, and right now they
have all of that, right They have a guy who ISO buckets, he
can get that for himself. You have a guy who can't see Joel Embiid,
You have a guy who can provide floor spacing, like he kind of
can do everything for them, So their offense just improves tenfold, where I'm
just like, this seems like a really difficult team. To beat. And
also in watching their games, Oh my gosh, they live at the line
and it helps everybody because now you just like kind of brush up on tire
SNAXI Well, they're in the penalty, so he's gonna be shooting free throws
as well. So it's just like it's it's like annoying watching Sixers games now
because they're gonna be like a hundred free throws for everybody because Joel Embiid and
James Harden's gonna put the team in the penalty in every quarter. So they're
just they're so difficult, and it kind of feels like a honeymoon shine where
I'm like, I don't like it went until you see something bad. It's
like hard for me to be like, oh, that's gonna be a real
problem for them. Their bench is still is still worriessome. But in the
playoffs, sure, I mean I keep talking about the Raptors. I center
them in every story. But back to that sort of twenty nineteen playoffs run,
the Sixers were plus ninety with Joel embid in that series. That came
down from the possession of a game seven, right, So like they need
a backup guy and trading Andrew dumb and I think is definitely going to hurt
them, and signing DeAndre Jordan's definitely not gonna help them. Nope, nope,
nope. I definitely don't think that that's gonna help. So I'm sure
that they have some weaknesses. But like when we see a team just in
their honeymoon phase, it's kind of hard to pick it. It feels like
Miami is the more complete team of the bunch, So just in terms of
like completeness, I would say Miami. I still maybe put my money on
them, And part of it is I just love Kyle Lowry so much,
But like the Sixers, I mean, Joel Embiad and James Harden is just
a ridiculous thing to beat. It's tough. I just think that those two
are the two best teams in the East, and who it comes down to
in the end, I might put my money just on James Harden and Joel
Embiid because of who they are and how difficult that offense looks like it's going
to be to stop. I love how people were so worried about Ones a
pick and pop big and ones are picking like who it's James Harden shut up,
like everyone was so scared about that, who cares? And so yeah,
So I don't know. I think it's gonna be the Sixers, but
I think it's going to be the Heat, And that's my answer is not
picking because I love both of them, and those are the two best teams.
Every other team in the East I don't care about. I think with
the Sixers there's a chance that I just might be like shocked at seeing James
Harden give a damn again, like we were watching him so long in Brooklyn
this season, so maybe I'm still getting used that. But I'm with you
on the fit with him, Bead is like James hordesn't even have to like
drive the ball anymore because Joel embiad pops or he can actually catch it like
in the middle of the floor. And I think that's gonna work with Miami
though. My thought there is Kyle Howry himself, and he is a perennial
when we do our all follow them to Helen back and then back to Hell
again teams on the podcast. He's like a staple in that he hasn't it's
amazing that he hasn't even had like one of his better like more efficient seasons,
and he still just seems so damn important to what Miami does when you
look at what he's doing away from the ball on offense to how he defends.
And that's the that's the not the only reason. But when you look
at sort of the top of those rosters where Okay, you have Jimmy Butler,
BAM and Kyle Lowry, like those are just three entrenched stars, and
so Philly's top end talent at this point is better. But to have Kyle
Lowry is your third best player, maybe you think he's a little bit better,
more valuable to them than Bam whatever, that's that's fine. Uh,
they might just be better built for playoff basketball especially you know you mentioned the
free throw parade. I don't know how that's going to translate for Philly.
Yeahs, you know what you've You've sold me mentioned Kyle Lowry as many times
as you did, and I'm you could sell me a car with that.
I don't, I don't, I'm all five, But no, I think
I think that you're entirely correct. And the thing about Kyle's efficient, so,
uh, we've had like heat heat fans on dishes and dimes and I've
done a bunch of heat pods just talking about Kyle Lowry, and one of
the things that they were so surprised by was just the run that the bench
had when Jimmy Butler and Beam Aebaio were out for so long, and they
were like, I don't know, they were had eleven in two or four
or something, record, Like the record was insane without those guys, And
I'm like, that's what Kyle does. What we're seeing right now is Kyle
plas bench, which has been my favorite, my favorite lineup of all time
is just bring four guys from the YMCA, doesn't matter, put Kyle Lowry
on there, and that's going to be a positive net rating any given time.
But the point about Kyle not having his most efficient season, and I'm
hoping it's that if you look back to the twenty nineteen season where the Raptors
won a championship and Kyle Lowry sorry Kawhi Leonard was traded to the Raptors,
Kyle took such a back seat that most people were like and even the year
before when Demardarozen kind of emerged as a playmaker and a guy with a ball
in his hands, Kyle took such a back seat in both of those years,
and it was just like, it's kinda hurt is he Like is he
washed? Can he just not do it anymore? Like Kyle used to be
a guy who could attack the basket at will, and he even did that
in that you know, post championship team, he was doing that quite bit
for the Raptors, and he just did not do that. And it was
like, oh, he can't draw, like he doesn't have legs, Like
he just he can't get inside anymore. If he gets a free throw line,
it's because guys are following him on a jump shot. Like he's just
not he can't do it. He has literally just regrets to just being a
perimeter player at this point in his career. And then the playoffs came around
and it was like, oh, never mind, Oh okay, Oh he's
averaging like twenty plus points a game versus the Milwaukee Bucks. Oh he's like
doing this against the Warriors. He was just saving his legs and picking his
moments and allowing like pascality get going. Like that's the reason why Pascal had
his most improved season. Was Kyla really taking that sort of back seat.
That's you know how Kawhi Leonard was really able to fit into this team,
and you get Danny Green going and all these other guys going, and I
feel like, and I know Zach Lowe has talked about this as well,
I feel like that's probably what Kyle was doing on this team too, fitting
in and like making sure Jimmy and Bam and you know, Tyler Hero and
whoever else get their own and really take the back seat. I think when
the playoffs come around, we're gonna see him turned the dial up. He's
learned to do that ever since getting swept in the twenty fifteen playoffs. That
like, he just can't He's not Russell Westbrook. He can't go all out
every single game like it's a playoff game. He's got to pick his moments.
And I'm hoping that that's the case. And so, yep, I'm
sold Miami winning the East. Moral of the story, if you've the option
of trading less to get Kyle Lowry, you're waiting and then giving up way
too much for Russell Westbrook. You should go at the former. There's a
little lesson for the Lakers purnt office for the future at so mad at Them.
So two of the teams that I think by saying Philly in Miami are
the two best teams in the East. And I actually don't disagree with you.
I think I'm still a little bit higher Milwaukee than you. But what
do you view Milwaukee is just actually vulnerable? And is that because of is
there anything you're seeing or you're also just looking at the roster and it's like,
oh, they run out of dudes that you like pretty quickly. It's
that they all out of dudes that you like very quickly. Where I'm just
they rely on so many guys where I'm like, oh, it's gonna be
dicey if this guy's in the in the league next year. Sorry Jordanore,
but so confidence is aspirational. I want to have Jordan Wore confidence. But
no, beyond that, I keep bringing us back to the Raptors. It's
it's it's it's a talent, honestly. But one of the things that I
remembered from the Raptors going up against the Bucks as many times as they do,
was how terrified they were of getting inside. Kyle wouldn't do it.
Fred, even though Fred would go up against Rudy Gobert. If you put
them right there, because Fred has a rational confidence wouldn't do it. No
one would do it like the rap in order for the Raptors, in order
for the heat. In order for any of these teams to beat the Miami
or the Milwaukee Bucks, they needed to beat I like hot from from beyond
the arc. That's that's how you beat the Bucks. Is the Bucks play
a drop defense, and so you're going to be left open, and if
your guys can hit their shots, you have a chance of winning. And
if your guys can't hit their shots, then you're going to lose. That's
been the calling card and beating the Bucks for years. That's why the Raptors
traded from our Gasol was to improve their their flour spacing to hopefully beat the
Bucks in the playoffs, which happened. Then Miss Year came and in each
of the games the Raptors played against the Bucks, they won points in the
pain battle. And that's what's sort of terrifying too, because it's like the
defense is still the same. It's still guards funneling guys inside to be met
with Bobby portis not mis Lopez. That's the difference. We're like, no
one is scared of that. So to me, that's like the biggest thing
is like they're like people keep saying, oh, you know, they were
kind of like this last year where they took the foot off the gas and
they you know, it's completely different. They're they're seventeen and sixteen against teams
above five hundred. They're not They're the thirteenth running defense. Like they're not
doing well at all. And part of that is you have Bobby Portis inside
who's not staring anyone versus Brook Lopez, who was an absolutely terrifying force inside.
And to me, that's going to be the difference. Whereas if teams
can still get hot because you're sti playing the drop and we saw with the
Miami game against Milwaukee, Miami was like was hitting every single three and that's,
you know why they had a chance to win a game in the final
minutes. If teams can still do that, but then inside they're being met
with Bobby Portis, they can get inside as well. And so like,
I'm just not concerned with them because one their bench is non existent, so
they don't really have that sixth or seventh guy that I'm worried about. They
can't get healthy at any given point, there's like two or three guys out
of their lineup, and beyond that if Brook Lopez isn't healthy and back,
and there are reports that he's practicing, but he's also a guy that's above
you know what, what is he like thirty four or something like at this
point, and yeah, like he's coming back from like a serious back thing
as an older guy. I just don't know that you can slot him into
the playoffs, especially because I didn't mention that the top of the East is
weak, but like, I mean, they're still good and the bottom of
these is good. And that's kind of why the East is so scary right
now, is just that you have like seven or eight teams that are actually
just good. So the first round matchup is going to be against a good
team, and I'm not gonna lie. I would not be, you know,
too upset to draw the Bucks in those those games because the Raptors have
just looked phenomenal against them. The Bucks have a lot of guards, and
the Raptors have a lot of guys that are six nine, and they could
not see you know, the Marta Rosen too small. That's what the Raptors
did to every single guy on the Bucks outside of the honest I was probably
less in lockstep with you until the pat Connaton injury because I the Yannis at
center minutes have been that good, but now you're running out of bodies to
build out those lineups where you know you have Middleton, you know you have
Drew, you know you have Yannis. Pat Conaton is not PJ. Tucker.
I want to make that clear, but it was just like, Okay,
that's a properly sized body who can work in that unit, and then
you just fill it out with whoever. Those lineups get tougher now and I
don't know how much you want to play him at center in certain matchups,
which really hurts them. And Sergebaka is not like Sergebaca from like even eighteen
months ago. At this point, he was dealing with his own back stuff.
So the Brook Lopez the injury looms definitely large in the East. So
that's a great point there. The other team. I've said for like probably
the past months and a half that I don't consider the nets of viable threat
anymore to where they're good. And I don't even mean to be like,
you know, incendiary with that. It's just maybe Kyrie's playing full time by
the playoffs, maybe Kevin Durant's body holds up, And at this point were
like, well, maybe Ben Simmons has come back and actually looks good.
I'm also a little bit lower on the offensive fit with him than I think
a lot of other people. We can mention how and I'm sure you've heard
this because of the Raptor Sixer's history, like use Ben Simmons as the screener,
It's never really been done, and he's never really been good at it.
When he does it, is he comfortable doing it? Is he gonna
be okay hanging out in the dunker spot even more than he did in Philly?
If that's what? If he's not going to do that in Brooklyn.
I have so many questions about them to where I'm like, well, let's
see what happens with Kyrie's free agency and we'll look at and Kevin Durant's body
and we'll look at this team next year. Is that unfair? Do you
still see them as the team that has the they could totally come out of
the East ceiling. Well, Ben Simmons will definitely be fine just hanging out
on the dunker spot because he did that for the entire Raptor six or series
and still founded in him to criticize and be for that series of all series
to use too though, just like so on like you you were parking the
dunker spot for seven full games. Sorry, So then it's so weird like
if the next even if like Kyrie can play full time, if they face
the Raptors in the first round, or they placed the Raptors in a playing
game, He's not playing in that one because he still can't come in Getada's
right. Uh so, uh that's number one. I My general rule in
life is to never bet against Kevin Durant, and so as long as Kevin
Durant can come back, I just I can't bet against him. So for
that reason, Yeah, be terrified. Everybody be terrified. But it's we're
getting down towards the end of the season, and if Benjamin's really does have
back issues, and you know, if Katie isn't ramping up to start playing
anytime soon, and if New York laws don't change, we might just run
at a time where it matters. Yeah, And the other thing he coming
back to is just like the randomness of injuries that could happen. I had
seen someone say that, like, why would Harden want to play alongside and
be given all his injury history over the past three years, and Bead has
played in about as many games in the regular season as Kyrie and Kevin Durant
have combined now, so he traded up in So there's always just in my
head now that something could still go wrong even if they're all available. And
that's just where I'm at for them this season. The Bulls are fascinating because
they've dealt with a bunch of injuries and absences. Now they're second in the
East. Demarta Rozen has been fantastic, Zach Lavine for the most part,
has been fantastic. Vouch is picking up I would assume it's just been incredible.
Uh, he guards like eight of the five positions on the floor one
somehow, I don't I don't know how he does it, but he does
it. Why does it feel like they're not viewed as like one of the
three or four best teams in the East were most likely to come out?
So I saw this tweet and I wish I could give the person credit for
it. Do you know what the Bulls record is against teams that are above
six hundred, above six hundred, above six Yeah, got a little two
and twelve that's not great, so uh so yeah. So so that's that's
part of it. And like I was sitting here being like every single like
Demard Rose in game winner and like, as someone who loves Tomorrow, I'm
I'm always gonna I'm always gonna be a little a little you know, rose
colored glasses as they talk about any of Demorrow Kyle's teams. But it I
was just like, how do they keep squeaking out wins against the Pacers and
the like, why is every game winner against the sub five hundred team?
Like what is happening? What is no one talking about the quality of opponent
that they keep hitting game winners against. So that's part of it, is
they just keep squeaking out they're they're they're not convincingly beating good teams. In
fact, they're losing against good teams, and the bad teams that they're beating,
they're doing it at the buzzer. Like their net rating since December one,
the last time I checked, was like point five, So it's like
they're not winning convincingly at all. So I think that that's part of it
also, like their their defense without I mean you're hoping that like it's hard
to talk about, Oh, their defense is bad. Well, their two
best defenders have been down for the two best permitter defenders have been down for
you know, since December. But it just kind of feels like they're a
good regular season story. I don't. It doesn't feel like and that's because
they, like I said, two and twelve against teams that are above six.
I knew they're bad. They're I think they're twelve and they're like five,
they're like seven ers, they're whatever on against five hundred teams and better.
That is like you didn't even or the whoever found that's that like they
didn't tick up the winning percentage that much and it just it just craters,
right, which is like it And it just feels like every game I watch
against like sub five hundred teams or even five hundred teams, Yeah, they're
coming out with the wind, but they're coming out with the wind because Demarto
Rosen is unstoppable in the fourth quarter, not because like they're convincingly beating any
of these teams. And I feel like it at one point it stops being
like you know, a coincidence and is a pattern that they're just not really
beating teams convincingly enough for me to peg them as a top team. There's
like the cadence to their offense feels like it can be solved in the postseason.
I think that's a lot of it with Demarta Rosen's game, and even
the fact that he the way he draws shooting fouls is incredible, but it
feels like the way he draws fouls is harder to translate into the postseason than
it would be for someone who's just like throwing there and hurling their body at
the warning before you talk about de Margo rosen anability to draw fouls in the
postseason here, I'm a Raptors fan. I need a freer warning before that.
Sorry not didn't. I should have thrown up the PTSD signs here.
But then also, it's just like they need Lonzo and Caruso back to like
their defense has slipped a ton, even with Io playing out of his mind.
So I'm with the group think of I don't it's not that I they
feel like paper Tigers. I don't mean they've had a great season, but
I would pick Milwaukee I would pick Miami, I would pick Philly over them.
What I pick Boston over them? So you're really hot. That was
gonna be my final question you since I know you won't choose between Miami and
Philly, which is fair to come out of the East, you have who's
more likely to come out of the East between Boston, Cleveland, and Toronto.
If you're ranking those three teams, Boston number one, their defense is
just superb and I just think that they have more than torontod they have more
bodies, they have more shooting, They just have more than Toronto. I
think Toronto's hoping that next year they can whereas like this is the first year
of Toronto's building towards this where in like year a thousand for the Celtics,
it feels like so they're just they're ahead of only nineteen so they have plenty
of time. So so in Boston. As as number one Cleveland, if
I don't know what's in the water in Cleveland and why it's hurting all of
their cards, but it feels like every single guard that Cleveland has seems to
go down. I honestly I this my hot take is if the Raftors can
get healthy Boston and Toronto are the top six teams in the Eastern Conference.
Oh that's not well, at least not for this podcast. I said Toronto
was gonna have a four seed by the end of the resolue season. So
so so that's okay. So not my my lukewarm take, then are my
my freezing cold take is that the Toronto Raptors and Celtics are probably going to
be a five six seed if the Raptors can get healthy, If the Raptors
continue, I mean losing four of their last five, if they if they
just had if they beat the bottom of the sub five hundred teams that they
should have last week, we would be talking about them as probably the sixth
seed along like they might have even surpassed the Calves at this point because the
Calves have slowly been losing games as well. I think the Caves are like
five hundred in the last ten, So we could have been talking about the
five six Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors at this point, But the Raptors haven't
been able to get theirs together either, So I think it's Boston Cleveland versus
Toronto. Cleveland just feels very inexperience to me, whereas Toronto as young and
like I mentioned, this is sort of the first iteration. They still have
guys that have been there and done that in the playoffs multiple times. Like
I think people forget outside of the Kawhi year, they had a better right,
Like, they were a better defense the following year, they had a
better record. The following year, things were looking great for them, and
then Pascal Siakam gets hit with the groin injury and everything kind of comes tumbling
down. But that Raptors team was really really good post Kawhi Leonard, and
I don't think that's something that people truly remember. So I kind of I'm
giving the Homer edge to the Raptors, and then I'm putting the Calves there
because the Calves kind of feel like we're happy to be here, like thank
you for allowing us to see that. The Tables kind of sell everybody in
Cleveland Fields, whereas I think the Raptors they've been there, they've done not
at least the top guys in the rotation house. Yeah, I mean Cleveland
just their offensive hierarchy just runs out pretty quick. Now you know you're not
getting Sexton back and how healthy will Garland b I probably have the Raptors a
little bit ahead of the Celtics, and I know Boston's been surging. I
think you can make the case that as good as Boston's defense is that Toronto
has the two best individual defenders in that series when you're looking at Siakam and
o Gianna Noby. The shallowness is a good point because I am lower on
Boston's depth in general, I think than most, but like they added Derek
White, like there, they are deeper than Toronto. So that's a tough
one. This might need the trigger warning. This is the last question.
If it's Raptors Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, who's winning that
series? The Raptors. All right, no hesitation there, I'd agree with
you, but that was the Bulls are very sha to me. The Bulls
have been shaky to me since the first week when everybody's like, what is
happening with Chicago. They've won like their first four games, and it's like,
yeah, I gets the Wizards, like everybody's on that, Like,
look, he told me, I'm ready, I'm taking them for the lottery.
They're not gonna be in the playoffs. Come on. Thank you so
much for hopping on. This was great and thank you for giving us so
much of your time. Are you going to tell our listeners where they can
find you on social media and all the work that you do? Uh yeah,
So I was about to say no name. I've changed my Twitter handle.
It's Iman underscore add in a d A and my first name is i
amm A and underscore Addin on Twitter, and I tweet a lot. It's
gonna be a lot of raptors takes as well. And I can find my
work on Basketball News and you can check out my podcast this or some Times
and the Friday Views podcast on Yeah, Who's Perth Canada? Uh? Dishon
Times podcast is fantastic. You all do great work over there, and you're
a great follow on Twitter. I know you say you tweet a lot,
but aside from watching like movies or shows at one point five times speed,
you've been a fantastic for Fallow So I echo everything you said. Thanks again
for coming on and rest as short. I'm sure I'll be pesturing you in
the future. This is fun. I we will be pesturing you to come
on this ship and Times