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Golden Colorado, what is Krakalak? And hardly not Listeners. I am Dan
Pavalley coming at you without my fantabuloust co host Adam Prommel. I am,
however, super excited to be joined by Yasmin Duale, who covers the Toronto
Raptors and NBA at large for a couple of different places. She is the
creator of the basketball and culture journal The Neon Playbook. Follow that on Twitter
at the Neon Playbook. She's also a co host of the Dishes and Dimes
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Patreon. It is among the best ten dollars a month I spend. She
also writes for Yahoo Sports Canada and The Basketball News. She's great at what
she does. Definitely make sure you're following her on Twitter at Carmelo Drama.
That's at cr M E l O H d R A m A. We
talk about a bunch of stuff pertaining to you. Guessed it. The Toronto
Raptors who seem to have turned a corner, and they were among the teams
that we did not cover leading into the preseason when we did our singular team
deep dives. So we're going to start throwing covering those teams a little bit
more in depth over the next few weeks and months. Here we also talk
about some teams other than the Toronto Raptors that are going to be fascinating to
us moving forward. We hit on the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat,
the Brooklyn Nets, and the Philadelphia seventy six ers. There it's a great
podcast. Hope you enjoy it. Before we get started, just a usual
reminder to pretty pretty pretty please rate, review and subscribe to us wherever you're
getting your podcasts. If you do not use iTunes, please head over there
anyway, Sir Hardwin Knox, throw us that five star rating right review helps
us out a bunch. Definitely make sure that you are subscribed in downloading all
our episodes on your podcast player, though you can also follow us on Twitter
at Hardwood Knox and go to YouTube and grabuary YouTube channel YouTube dot com search
Hardwin Knox. You will come up subscribe. Now that all of that's out
of the way. Let's get to talking some Toronto Raptors and teams that will
be fascinating to us the rest of the season with Yasmin Duali. Yasmin,
welcome back to the Hardwin Knox Podcast. Thank you so much for jumping on
with me today to talk some Toronto Raptors. How are you doing. I'm
well, Thanks for having me. I'm always down to talk Raptors, which
is good because it sounds like you're on a little bit of a podcast marathon
to talk about the Raptors. Need to get out of the way. They
are forever fascinating to me, at least because I like so many of the
players on their team. But this season they've been probably more polarizing than people
expected. They struggled to start out the gate. But I guess my first
question to you would have to be have they turned a corner? Just based
off you know, they've won seven of their their last eleven. The half
court offense has been sort of clicking during that time, the defense has been
good. Do you think that this stretch is a harbinger of things to come?
What are you noticing about it? Is it something that might be a
little bit fleeting. What are kind of your thoughts on them. I think
that you're right, they definitely have turned a bit of of a corner.
I think I'm not sure it's sustainable. I think that they have some real
issues down to the current roster. I feel like playing in Tampa out of
Toronto's a a bigger variable than people are crediting it. Not being able to
play in your your home. I think players are still living in hotels,
a few of them, So I feel like that's significant, not having your
regular training facilities in your home buyer home court and everything. And I think
that they would be playing a little differently if they were in Canada right now.
But so I'm not sure it's sustainable. I think that this was going
to be a tough season regardless once they had their request to play in Canada
denied by the federal government. So but yeah, there's some real issues as
it stands with the center rotation specifically, because outside of that, the team
is otherwise the same. So I'm not sure I buy that they've fully turned
a corner. But I do think that they're finding a little bit more chemistry,
and I think that Bain's has been playing like his normal self rather than
being an active minus out there. The Tampa thing, I feel like is
something that should be so obvious to discuss more, but it's kind of become
I guess, just amid this season that's just so abnormal to begin with,
it feels like it gets swept under the rug more. And even when you
know fans clearly shouldn't be at games, when they've mentioned like, could there
be you know, fans at one point or more fans in Tampa Bay,
and it's like, well, who cares, Like the Raptors are in Tampa
Bay, it's not Toronto. I don't know what that would do. They
had fans to start the season. I think they changed that, but when
they were starting the season with fans, they like, it wasn't Raptors fans
because all Canadians are in Canada, right, But you know, I'm sure
they would have made the trip if those regular border restrictions. But with the
way everything's set up, like you have to quarantine for two weeks if you
enter the country, and once you come back, you've got at quarantine another
two weeks. Like it's ridiculous. Yeah, And look, to be honest,
if you are going through all that the place to go is definitely not
the United States anyway. So, yeah, is there anything you've noticed sort
of about their half court offense during this stretch that encourages you because it was
struggling for the most part this season, which I think was predictable, but
it's been I looked it up on Cleaning US. It's sixth inefficiency again eleven
games. Eleven games, but eleven games is also more than half the season
right now. Yeah, that's interesting. I didn't know that, but I'm
not surprised because I just think that perhaps it was the last eleven games or
so. His stats may not indicate it, but just beans looks better around
the court. I think that his screening has really helped the Raptors backcourt,
which is pretty pretty bite sized as it stands with Fred and Kyle, so
having a big body Bans is one of the best screeners in the NBA at
his position, So just having him free up talented guards like Kyle and Fred,
I think opens up a lot for their half court offense. And also
I think the post up has been like really good for Pascal. I know
it's something that he was struggling with last season. He got most of his
points in transition or he was spotting up from the perimeter. But this season
I'm seeing him used in the half court far more often. If the Raptors
since an advantage at his position, they'll have him post up and draw the
double, which he has done very well. He's really good at finding the
most opportunistic pass, so I think that's just really helped them since he's bringing
forth a skill set that he didn't have last season. When it came to
the half court, it was usually like split cut action led by Gassoul.
He was really their half court maestro, which is surprising. But people are
seeing how he's playing on the Lakers like he's not. He's struggling right now,
but they see the extra wrinkle in the offense that Gasol brings with his
bounce passes and everything has the national discourse veered too far away from reality at
this point. I feel right and this is me from Afar, but ignoring
it, I'm not gonna lie like I'm not up to date with it.
I think that he will always be a bargain for the Raptors, just considering
the pick that he was what he's turned into. I think that Pascal is
really a viable franchise cornerstone along with another star. I think we know kind
of his limitations. We know how excellent he can be when he's paired and
allowed to flourish as a number two option, and there's no shame in being
inadequate as a number one. There's only a half a handful of guys in
the NBA. But I think that coupled with the long break prior to the
Bubble season, his conditioning suffered. From what I understand, he was dealing
with the visa issues that where he was in Canada throughout the lockdown, and
we have pretty restrict restrictions here in terms of congregating and renting spaces to exercise
and stuff like that. It's very difficult in Canada. So I guess when
he came back to the Bubble his conditioning was shot and it kind of led
to like kind of a monumental collapse against the Celtics, which came down to
one possession. Considering how poorly he played, and this season, I think
that he's been great. I think that his three point shot has been slumping.
If there's anything that he could improve, it would be that I think
he would be exceeding last season's regular season numbers if his shooting comes around.
But yeah, I think that the discourse around him is kind of framed by
how shocking his play was in the bubble compared to how good he was in
the regular season, and it kind of just shows you the opposite side of
the coin, Like you had players putting up numbers that made no sense,
like Jonathan Mitchell and Jamal Murray, and then he had other players putting up
numbers that made no sense, like Pascal Siakams. So I think he'll come
around. I think that once they have a normalized season, hopefully next year,
we'll get to see him at the best of his abilities. But I
think he's, you know, doing his best with what he has at the
moment. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned the shooting he's at on wide
open threes, and that's obviously concerning, But I think he's shot well enough
on those for the past two seasons where you could think that there will be
some progression to a mean, yeah, ahead, great, Yeah, yeah,
I was just gonna say that. Yeah, you bring up a good
point, because it's he has, like the history of shooting well on wide
open shots, and I believe he started the season really hot from three,
and even in preseason he was really hot from three. So I think that
this is kind of a natural sharp aggression over the course of the last I
think dozen or so games where he's really struggled. But I wouldn't be surprised
if like a hot streak was coming out to normalize those numbers. But we'll
see. And the other thing you kind of alluded to is even if it
and I do think there's legs to the thought that hey, maybe he can't
be the single best player on a championship team, but he's like not really
an insult, and so I don't necessarily understand. It feels like people looked
at the Celtics series last year specifically, and then maybe like the first three
or four games of this season and then just like pass this or reversed a
verdict from before. And I don't quite get it, because he's been so
good since then, and you know, the shooting is a concern, and
I think his passing is just it is a lot better this year. I
still think, just from what I've seen of him, that he could at
some point would be nice if there was like more directional variants on his drives,
but he's still just a monster on those two even if he still doesn't
have the best handle. So I'm I guess perplexed just someone like being so
far removing the situation that the discourse still feels like he's somehow underachieving the season
or that if he's a number two on a title contender that's somehow a failure.
Yeah, it's it's it's like, it's very hard for me to understand
it. I'm just I'm not gonna bother trying. I think that the best
way the Raptors can respond to him, just to be would be to simply
build another championship caliber team so people can be reminded of how talented he can
be when he's in his optimized role, when he's maximized. So, I
you know, it's a wait in sea scenario. And honestly, like the
only response to any critique is like they want a championship with him as the
second score. You know, so we've seen him succeed in his best position,
so you know that's the That's the only way you can look at it.
Can you explain the brilliance of Fred van Fleet when it doesn't feel that
like he's when you watch him that he's like actually changed that much as a
player aside, I guess from he's I only looked up a couple of day
so he's bombing like eight threes from twenty five plus feet this year, and
like that's the most noticeable difference in his game that I can find. Yeah,
the thing is with Fred, I think that he's made the same amount
of crazy strides as the outcome, but it hasn't been as like exponential on
a season to season basis, so people hadn't noticed it. So I kind
of got caught up in that shadow. But he has really really improved his
game. I think that he has. He's easily like any Raptors fan would
agree with with this, that he is probably like the most polished player on
the team. I feel like Larry's more cerebral, so a lot of his
skill sets aren't really like, oh, he has like the best handle or
he is, you know, the best shooter. It's a little more of
a gray area that he covers on the court, which is why he's so
effective on advanced that's specifically. But with Fred, I think that he's he
has a ridiculously tight handle. He is not turnover prone. He is more
of a scorer. He's not really a pure point guard, but he has
kind of masked a lot of his deficiencies as a point guard this season.
In particular, like he used to have an issue where he would just dribble
up clock, but that has happened so rarely this year. He's making point
guard like reads and he's also improved as that score that he probably truly is.
I feel like it. We always joke that if Fred was like six
three or six four, he'd be a shooting guard. So he's not.
He's not a classic point guard. He'symore like in the Kyrie ILK rather than
Chris Paul Ilk, so it would that's definitely what changed for him. I
think that he's just become a smarter player, and he's realizing how he's taking
the one skill that he truly has over a lot of the NBA, which
is his shooting ability, and just you know, maximizing it. And it's
really really fun to see. And I was a little bit surprised because I
don't know that he's definitely not the most trustworthy finisher when he is attaching,
but he is shooting a career high from two point range. It's only forty
six one percent, but I didn't realize it was a it was a career
high, career high. And there's something about even though he's not maybe the
best creator with the ball in his hands, there is just watching him like
you trust him with the ball like and so I guess there's something intangible there.
But it is just interesting that it feels like I guess, as you
point out, it's more incremental improvement from him. It's just he's so he
probably should be an All Star of the season, and it just doesn't feel
like his game is exploded in any one area. Yeah, and with this
finishing, like I even wrote about it where I was just saying that if
he just takes more mid range shots, we already know that he has,
you know, excellent mechanics. If he just takes more mid range shots,
it'll force defenders to stop roaming at the rim, because before I think shot
profile is just threes and finishing right at the rim. So when you fill
in that gray area on the court, it kind of forces defenders to get
closer to you, which would give him the you know, the upper hand,
getting a step on them. Since he's not crazy athletic, he can't
always get that space required. He'll get blocked at the rim a lot.
But when he takes those mid range shots, kind of like what twenties I
want to say, twenty fifteen or twenty sixteen Lowry realized was if he starts
utilizing that mid range area, it will just kind of give him the upper
hand. So I think that's what we're noticing. It seems that he's probably
shooting like over sixty percent from the mid range right now. It's been ridiculous.
You mentioned Kyle Lowry before that he kind of covers this. I guess
a measurable gray area was the best way to put it. Is he like
just watching him this season and on all the different iterations of kind of the
raptors that he's been on and how he fits it seems so seamlessly in basically
any version that they're trying out there. Is he the most scalable star in
the NBA, and like more so to the point of I think a lot
of people think, oh, Stephen Curry is basically the most scalable star in
the NBA, But you still kind of have to change the way that others
will play around Stephen curry to optimize him or cater to his startom, which
is totally fine. I feel like Kyle Lowry just takes on whatever identity that
you need him to be. Yeah, yeah, he just I feel like
he has enough of every skill set to kind of just seamlessly feel fit in
anywhere. I feel like Kauai was similar where you could just kind of plug
him into this Raptors team and he was able to become what they needed,
which was kind of a little different from what he was on the Spurs.
So I feel like Kyle's the same way. He's great off ball, he's
great on ball. He can finish, he can shoot, he can kind
of do a little bit of everything. He's a great playmaker. He has
instant chemistry with big men, and yeah, I feel like that would fit
on every squad. It's actually what makes the office he's in coming up more
the most interesting, which is yeah, I mean because he's, yeah,
he's gonna be older. In a free agent I still think he'll just be
like it's the higher I mean, he's probably highly sought after on the trade
market right now, So yeah, it's the player you want on your team.
Nobody builds five G like, Verizon builds five G because we're the engineers
who built the most reliable network in America. And the more you do with
five G, the more building it right matters, the more your network matters,
the more Verizon engineers going the extra mile matters. It's us pushing us.
It's Verizon versus Verizon five G built right from America's most reliable network,
most reliable based on rankings from Metrics second half twenty twenty US report of three
Mobile Networks. Results may vary. Award is not an endorsement. What happened
with Chris Brouche that he went from clearly the MVP favorite too but that maybe
a most of the prow player favorite. And now he's you know, his
minutes are down, he's he's not shooting as well, Like, have you
noticed anything there? What what's going on there? Do you have any gauge
on what his actual value is to this team. I think that his shooting
has improved drastically, which I think was the biggest change. He's really good,
He's really improved as a roller, Like he's incredibly good as a roller,
but he's not the best when it comes to like you know that pass
that short role pass, he won't always make the right weed, he'll hesitate
for a split second, which will kind of deconstruct the play, and I
also think a huge issue. Not a huge issue, but the reason for
his The most recent decline was the improvement of Aaron Banes, which probably shrank
Chris's minutes, and the Raptors often opting to play Stanley at the five sometimes
kind of messes with things. But because of the fact that Bouchet is undersized,
he will oftentimes only match with bench bigs because that's usually where he could
find the advantage, and that just kind of limits the rap There's versatility,
especially when the opposing big men are talented. So if you're dealing with some
teams, that five position isn't an emphasis at all. But for other teams,
they have a Vusovich, they have an Embat, they have a Brook
Lopez, you know. So when that happens, which I think has happened
over the course of the last several games, dealing with you know, bem
or something at that position, it's created an issue for Chris where I think
it's affected as minutes, so I think it is most effective. He's probably
matching up against the team with the weaker big rotation, like perhaps the Celtics
or the Nets are where he could find advantageous situations, but he hasn't had
that lately, and so do you think that kind of inherently caps his ceiling
or his value to the delly. Yeah, and he's on the older side.
He started playing basketball super late. I think he was even later than
Siakam probably, I think he was nineteen or something when he started playing organized
basketball. But you know, again he's undrafted, but he's become like a
viable rotation player, which is in of a selfless success story. Yeah.
I mean everyone wants or teams want, the shot blocking big who also spaces
the floor, and that's what it does. And as you mentioned, he
he feels like he's moving really well off the ball this year, even independent
of like you know, actual screens, like if he's just trying to cut
baseline or something. So, but I looked up, you know, when
he plays with Siakam, like the Raptors just can't grab defensive rebounds either.
Yeah, those tend to be I think the games where Siakam grabs like fifteen
boards or something, because Chris just gets blown away by box outs. Like
he literally looks like just kind of a leaf floating because of the wind or
something. He gets tossed aside really easily with box House, which forces Pascal
to grab most of the rebounds, and then uh, Adobe has been absolute
lately. I think he's I haven't even checked what the injury was. I
thought they were arresting him or something, but he's been out lately, which
reduces the rebounding even more in those cases, Like for the Raptors, whenever
they'd go smaller when they had Kauai Kawai would have to make up for that
dip and rebounding. So the Raptors forwards with Og and Siakam kind of have
to pick up the slack whenever Chris is on the court. Is that why
we don't see more Siakam kind of as the loan big then, I mean,
I know an Anobi isn't available right now, and I think it was
a left calf injury if I'm not mistaken that he's been out with for over
a week now, I think, But ye season, I was just looking
at like just surprised that they haven't gone to Siakam at the five more or
even when at Anobi's healthy is there like and I'm sure this has been talked
about it, but like, what is that? There's definitely a reason for
it. Pascal Ken play the five, but the thing is he actually plays
better when he's moved down a position, Like when he's at the three,
he's even more effective than if he was moved up to the five. And
for the Raptors, Og is absolutely like their best small ball big he is
he can stretch the floor. He's an excellent defender of big men. I
think the only big men that I haven't seen him effectively stop was Indeed,
who's just offensively like a monster, but he's successfully slowed down Yo Kitch Jannis
like he's a He has like a stronger base and balance I think than Pascal,
who tends to be more fluid. He's I think that Pascal is better
at defending point guards than Og, so i'd see he can seamlessly transitioned between
you know, guarding Kemba and then Jalen and then Tatum on one play,
which we saw frequently through that playoff series, Whereas I feel like Og can
move up from the three to the four to the five in terms of defense
and the Raptors. They they absolutely emphasize on defense prior to any you know,
offensive play. So to Nick Nurse, I think his first state of
mind is okay, who defends this position better? And it's hands down Og.
As we already mentioned, OG's been out, But would have been your
impressions of year four? And the one thing I'll preface it with is,
I kind of I think I asked you about this when you were on over
the I don't even know if it was the off season or the unscheduled off
season during the pandemic, whatever it was, but whether they might give him
a chance to like explore more self creation in this game. And I feel
like there was that matchup with the Pacers where it felt like he really did
that, But I also feel like that really hasn't been a focus for him
this season. M I feel like OG kind of for me, like,
I think that his ceiling is I think that he can perhaps become kind of
a jack of all trades, kind of three and D guy. That's I
think his ceiling. But I couldn't totally be wrong. He's only twenty three
years old, so it's hard to say, but I think that this season
I've noticed that there are allowing him to post up far more often. That's
something that would come out maybe in pre season last year, but it's something
that he does regularly a couple of times every single game. He's kind of
perfected the three and D role. So I think that they're perhaps allowing him
to kind of dipotot into other, you know, forms of offense. But
I think that they're easing him into it because you know, when of playerst
this age, you could totally over expose them and they become overwhelmed and they
kind of just stopped doing everything well. So I think that the they're trying
to kind of allow him to fill this role that he's comfortable in that he's
kind of nailed for the past three seasons, and then allowing him to attempt
other things. And yeah, he's definitely attempting far more self creation than he
ever has. It's not going to be a lot in comparison to you know,
Pascal or Kyle, but it's definitely Farmer has gone beyond just catch and
shoot threes for him. Yeah, I was I was just kind of hoping
they would try more of it, and there's probably you know, you mentioned
his strength before that. I don't think there was a better example of you
know, him going against Sabonis on the block against the Pacers and in the
game that they want against Indiana, and like Sabonis just couldn't even keep him
there. He's not slight exactly, Yeah, he could. He just kind
of effectively removed Sabonis out of that game in that matchup, and that's what
exactly what I mean. Like his just his strength against big men is outrageous.
So, you know, I think that his I think that the offense
will come along for him. He's already shown him like a capacity for gaining
skills that he doesn't otherwise have. He wasn't a shooter in college, and
he's become an excellent catch and shooter. So it'll just be it'll be interesting
to see him kind of just like one thing that I love about mckill bridges
is how he can kind of do a little bit of everything. So it'll
be really cool to see if he can not only expand his offensive skill sets
as a scorer, but also as a distributor, you know, besides interior
passing. I want to see him, you know, try other things out
of the pick and roll at whatnot. Yeah, if he develops like the
type and he's better at other stuff than Michael Bridges, but if he develops
the type of like passing on the move when he's attacking downhill that Michael Bridges
can do, that's kind of game over for everybody else. And I still
he could be the player that he is right now. And you mentioned the
shooting. It is kind of just ridiculous that he's shooting forty three point three
percent from three on almost six at tenths per game. And I don't even
know if that gets talked about enough. But that extension he signed, I
was four years and seventy two million dollars. I was flabbergasted that he's been
that cheap. I was shocked. Yeah, I had them paying Fred Benvley
and Og more money than the ended up doing. So both were secured on
pretty excellent contracts. And to have Og during his you know, as he
enters his prime for the next four years, that's just a really really solid
signing. Yeah, And I do think it'll get driven home how much of
a bargain he was when we see either what Michael Bridges gets in his extension
or if he gets to restricted free agency in twenty twenty two, we'll be
able to look at me like, wow, the Raptors really correct. That'll
be very interesting there the so some small sample question here, who do you
Whose performance do you view as you know, more impresses you or just more
meaningful to this team, Stanley Johnson or Utah wants An Nabby. I think
both have been really really awesome to see. On one hand, you have
Styley Johnson, who's like this lottery pick who's just you know, been thriving
in his super limited role on the Raptors right now, and he seems,
you know, happy with it. Is just showing like a lot of humility
to reduce, you know, to go from this superstar from high school and
college to kind of just swallowing his pride and trying to improve within the offense
that he's been that he's in right now. So on one hand, that's
really great to see, and I think that he perhaps has the higher ceiling
just based on his skills as a ball handler and passer versus Uta Watanabi.
And then on one hand, I think with Utah it's been more impressive because
I had literally no expectations after they signed him. I wasn't really familiar with
him. I know that he didn't get much playing time on the Grizzlies,
so but then he just ended up being like I think the best way to
describe it is kind of Covington esque in the sense where he's nailing his threes,
he's an excellent defender, and he's also just making like every right read.
He just has like this feel for the game you can't really teach.
He's always in the right spot for rebounds, he's always in the right spot
for deflections and seals and you know, just things that you can't really teach.
And he always seems to be a part of every comeback, you know,
or every run. He just seems to be in the middle of it.
And those are like my favorite kinds of players. I think that every
you know, decent team needs a couple of those guys. You know,
the Raptors, you know, their championship t is in every position. Was
that kind of guy, you know, so you can't They're just kind of
an invaluable role player position. So I think that Utah has been the more
impressive played the season, but the most impressive pressive player this season for them.
End of bench wise but Stanley, like, that's you know, it's
no small fee for him to start to put things together and figure it out,
because you know, it wasn't looking so good for him over the course
of the last season. I was shocked he wasn't getting getting any playing time.
But it seems that they've been just putting him in the lab and working
on having him reduce his bad habits and everything. Yeah, I didn't nick
Nurse like not by name, but basically call him out once last year all
the time. And so he's done, like his usage rate is sub like
eight or sub nine, whatever it is, and so he's doing everything without
looking for a shot. He probably still turns the ball over too much.
But he's been a revelation, I think to me just because of what I
knew about him already, and this just feels like a pretty big departure from
that. But I had zero, sub zero knowledge of of who who you
that was and what he could do on the court, and so seeing a
few games that he's played, and it feels like he plays bigger than he
actually is while still moving like someone who's six nine when he's defending off the
balls verticality around the rim, so he is, Like, I don't know
if it ends up being more meaningful. I think someone like Stanley Johnson,
what he technically brings is maybe what teams might want a little bit more.
But just because again I don't know what you're anyone's expectations could have been for
him this season, he's just been an absolute shock. Yeah, I wouldn't
be surprised if the Raptors, you know, gave him a position on the
roster. Beyond I think he's a two way right now. I wouldn't be
surprised if they boost Utah just to retain him, you know. So looking
more big picture with this team, is the absence of that player who can
put you know, consistent, more effective half court pressure on the rims still
like their biggest missing piece or is there something else that you look at them
and say that they need. I think that they've kind of mended their issues
with getting to the rim. That was a problem, I feel like for
the first several games, but then you know, they've started to play more
aggressively lately. I feel like they you know, match the opposition's rim paint
attempts pretty frequently nowadays. But to me, like the missing the ideal piece
to this team that I think would take it from being like just you know,
middle of the pack, the low middle of the pack, to being
a contender. It's just having that versatile wing score alongside Siakam with average too
above average playmaking abilities. You know, there's a few players I feel that
kind of spot in the NBA. I think that Victor Oladipo would be a
really good get for them, even potentially like a I'm not really sure which
player would fill this role, but a big man that can do something similar
like with the average to above average playmaking ability, defensive, defensively tough.
You know. I think those those two spots are the weakest for them.
They need something to fill out that forward spot, like another scoring wing,
and then they or if they can't get that, they just need another punch
from the five spots. So we'll see how it pans out. I think
when you watch them enough times, you see where they're where, what they're
missing, and you'd often find that, oh, this is a team that
can use like a another punch, like a Clay Thompson or something. You
know what they mean. And it's funny because I was watching the Warriors the
other night and I'm like, Wow, the Warriors need like another wing score
and they're golden and I kind of just forgot that Clay is injured right now.
So that's how I feel with the watching Toronto, I'm just like,
oh, they need like they need this spot filled out. And you know,
on the bright side, they have like their core locked up. They
have the Siakam locked up. They have fred Og you know, locked up
at their position, so they have the chips required to you know, make
any traces. They have the chips required to you know, do what they
need to do. And you know, I think it was yesterday that that
that they secured Bobby Webster, which was like a huge question mark GM of
the Raptors. So they have one half of you know, that front office
duo between Bobby Webster and Massia Gerry locked up. So if they lock up
Massia Gerry, anything is possible. In my opinion, I will say,
I don't know that any team's front office situation is more like tantalizing to people
who root for other teams or just covered the league in general than Toronto's because
it feels like every time, like Messia Jerry's contract situation is an issue from
the moment he signs every single deality signs like everyone's waiting for it to expire
or the clock has always taken. Oh. Absolutely, yeah, he's like,
uh, you know, sought after free agent for his for front office
positions, like if he's like every day there's an article about how he may
not stay or how you know this organization is looking to lure him. But
in my opinion, if he ends up leaving the Raptors, which is very
well and within the realm of possibility, it would end up being for an
opportunity outside of the NBA or outside of basketball, perhaps in another league,
perhaps in another country. Like I don't see him just leaving to go to
another NBA team. That wouldn't make much sense to me. He's definitely not
going to Washington if he does, at least not the team no man Biden
won he might want, like he might be interested, like someone brought up
like it's not looking like if the election season doesn't look too good for Justin
Trudeau, he might dip. I didn't even think of that. So the
whole dual roles in the Wizard's front office and then the actual White House that
would be that'd be interesting. So what is this team? So I guess
this is twofold one. The Kyle Lowry vultures continue to circle, and I
find it funny. We're not funny. I find it odd that he's viewed
as like such a common trade target when I don't know that. You know,
there's the sentimental stuff where Kyle Lowry's the best raptor en franchise history,
He's want a title with them. He is their culture, it feels like.
But they're also just not bad enough to be like, well, we'll
entertain Kyle Lowey trade offers, and I've seen just the discrepancy and the like
the value of hypothetical package. Thestead have been picture, don't I think the
variance there is huge. But my actual question would be, like, what
is more likely for this team insofar as they would do anything major this year?
Is it that maybe they do something where they pivot more towards the big
picture and they do deal Kyle Lowry? Or is it they go I don't
want to say all in, but you know, maybe they go after a
Victor Oladipo. Where So what's more likely? Like which side of the spectrum
do you think they would fall on? If they were to make a major
type move like that. Honestly, I don't I can't say anything definitively because
I feel like strategically would totally make sense to trade Kyle and without risking him
leaving for nothing. If they don't deal him, I think that is clear
You're the intent is to extend him and perhaps have him, you know,
go for another run with the core and add another piece that's missing to the
team and just kind of go into you know, that Raptors tradition of just
kind of being among the top of the conference and seeing how things go in
the playoffs, you know, just nailing the regular season and then waiting just
kind of waiting in the in the waiting for in the background, for opportunity
to pounce. So I can't really get a read on the situation. It
seems that Massi is you know, the biggest Kyle Lowry fan, Like he
talks about him being a Hall of Famer, how he wishes he could play
for ten more years and all that, and you know, he seems to
have a hold on the coaching staff and on the front office. Like I
feel like Kyle has a foot in everything for the organization. He's contact did
for decisions, he represents the team and meetings of everything. So perhaps he
enjoys that kind of role that he holds on the organization. And if he
doesn't, you know, if they don't insult him with an extension offer,
he'll He's totally fine with his position. He's fine with, you know,
handing the keys to Fred van Vleied and perhaps taking a more background role,
as you know, perhaps it's a two year deal or a three year deal
or something that allows him to kind of fade to the background, you know,
with dignity on a singular team that he's been holding the rain the rains
for the past decade or so, So that would make sense to me.
But it's hard to get a read on the situation because if he perhaps just
wants to win another ring, you know, I'm positive there's a spot for
him on the Philadelphia seventy six ers. I note that he has a relationship
with Maury and that's his hometown and he's friends with him beat, so I
wouldn't be surprised if he facilitated a trade there, or if they were able
to lure him in free agent. See, I wouldn't be shocked and the
Raptors themselves, and just independent of Massis future. They're just in this interesting
approaching another interesting offseason because you know they were build as one of the Janis
destinations and not only off the board, but basically every single star player that
was going to enter twenty twenty one free agencies off the board, and so
they'll still have cap space to work, right, And it's like, that'd
be really funny. I would like, like hilarious, that would be the
most hilarious. What does that say about Paul George as a teammate though?
If that happens, So they're like kind of don't there's no like next obvious
move for them. And so do you do you like view them as a
team that would be bold enough still to maybe go after Bradley Beal should he
become available, or do you think this is going to be something where they're
more likely to try and organically build themselves up from within. I don't know
if I see them trying to build organically because the issue with winning for so
many years is that they haven't really brought in any lottery picks them too the
fold of their roster, so they kind of just have a bunch of guys
who have exceeded expectations, with you know, Fred being undrafted and you know
Siaka being the twenty seventh pick and Og being I don't know, the twenty
third pick or something. It's just a bunch of guys who just exceeded expectations
and just have incredible work ethics. So and another thing is that their core
is on the older side. So you know, I think Siakam's like twenty
six now and OG's twenty three, and Fred is same ags Siako. So
I think that they they'd want to be in a situation where they're prepping for
another run, or they have a perhaps like a a two year plan or
two year window where they're looking to optimize the prime years of their core.
So I don't see them trying to go into like a rebuild. A lot
of people are suggesting that they trade, they look to trade Og, that
they look to trade Pascal and stuff, and I just don't see how that
benefits them. Masside doesn't seem to be a rebuilt sort of guide. It's
not something that he's ever attempted in his tenure here. So you know,
I'm not going to put anything out of I'm not going to throw any options
out the window. I wouldn't be surprised with any approach but that they take.
But you're right there in like a crossroads situation with a lot of decisions
to make, and I'm just glad they secured Bobby Webster because it makes that
process a little more a little less than anxiety inducing. Yeah, I mean,
making any big trade unless you are planning to reset and moving Siakam kind
of feels like counterintuitive. I guess maybe if you were into like the James
Harden scenarios, But it's with OG is the one that I think you look
at like they would have to give up a blue chip asset and any big
deal that they make. And so it's if you went after a Bradley Beal
or I don't even know what the next superstars that might request a trade,
you're probably guaranteed to lose him and you have to figure out whether that's worth
it because he is like your actual younger cornerstone piece. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I can That's the thing, Like I can see, you know,
between the two, Like I feel like OG's skill set, despite being
so vital for the team and their system, is probably more replaceable than Siakam,
who's a bit of a rare kind of player in terms of just be
having a six nine six ten do that can dribble and who can play make
to a degree and who can get to the rim and everything. Like,
I feel like that's probably tougher to replace for them than moving on OG and
perhaps replacing him with the player that's may be older that can do the same
thing. But yeah, we'll see, like they that's the thing, they
do have options. I think part of me wants to see them stay,
like make almost zero changes. Maybe if there's a small on over with the
deadline where if you can get an old Depoe it doesn't cost you OG.
I won't even like, it doesn't cost you lowry, doesn't cost you OG.
Like if you're able to take that type of flyer, that would me.
I mean, I'm like so detached to Norman Powell, I don't know
about you, Like he's just someone who doesn't move the needle for me at
all. No, he's yeah, he's a he's not as skilled as Derosen
but he's the same kind of I wouldn't say to rosen Now. I think
de rosen Now is net positive on the floor in comparison to past years.
But norm is the same in a sense where he kind of like ends up
being a zero on the floor, but he takes up usage, which is
like underrated skill. You kind of need someone who will take the ball and
do something with it, Like he may give up the same amount of points
he gives you on the offensive end. But and he's not even like a
terrible defender. It's just that he's so bad off ball despite being decent on
ball. So you know if he But the thing is, he can get
buckets, like he can score twenty for several games in a row. So
they would need him to boost his value and perhaps even extend him and do
some sort of sign and trade situation with assets if they were going to go
for an Ola depot. Oh, I was about to If they give Norman
Powell a new contract and keep him, I'll be terrified for that would be
scary. Is there anything I didn't ask that you wanted to cover about this
team? No, I think we talked about everything possible twenty or so games
in that you can analyze from twenty or so games in. Yeah, they're
they're just one of the teams that I'm gonna be fascinating watched moving forward,
And like I said, I would like them to keep the crux of the
core together because I still feel like there's something there in the East where they
and this year in general is just so you know, should basketball even being
played is like one of the questions we have to ask or just under all
the circumstances, I guess anyone could, anything could happen. There's that element
there. But looking at the Eastern Conference power structure amid all these circumstances,
it still feels like there's like an opening there for another team to get in
their Aside from I think Philly and maybe Milwaukee have been the most convincing teams
and neither of them feel unbeatable. So yeah, they seem like the most
consistent. I wouldn't say they're the most convincing, Like I feel like they
have an established system and they have like some sort of continuity continuity. Their
best players have remained on the team for you know, several years now.
So I feel like those team, those two teams are just feeling really confident
and in rhythm right now. But yeah, there's it does it doesn't feel
as clear cut as the Western Conference, Like I feel like in the West
is kind of like, oh, hopefully this is the year that we get
our LA versus LA Conference finals. Yeah, and I know the Western Conference
is worse, but I still would just not want to be a part of
that middle class. It feels just so hopelessly exactly. Yeah, like the
East is stronger, but like at what cost? You know? And yeah,
it's it's it's it's it's a it's it's funny how the tables have turned.
The last question I have for you is is there any couple of teams
that you're going to be, aside from Toronto, particularly fascinated to watch as
as we move through the rest of the season. Uh, Brooklyn, definitely.
Brooklyn is just I think fascinating, Like to be a Brooklyn beat writer
right now. It's probably like fun as hell to have three superstars on one
team who you know, every night is like a highlight reel of you know,
excellent basketball or just like I feel like highlightworthy mixtape basketball, which seems
really fun. So I'm definitely going to be watching a lot of Nets games.
I think there's Nets Raptors tonight. I'm going to be watching a lot
of seventy Sixers games. I always watched the Sixers. They're kind of like
my surrogate team aside from the Raptors, and Yeah, I think those are
the two teams i'd definitely be watching. Yeah, Brooklyn, it's going to
be entertaining for obvious reasons. I'm interested to see, like people definitely overhyped
how the offense was going to work. If the answer is it's going to
work, it is working, and it's going to be terrifying that. There's
real questions on defense though with that team where it's like, oh, is
Kevin Durant their second best defender now behind Bruce Brown, that might be a
problem. I've bought you know. You said that maybe Philly and Milwaukee have
been convincing. I'd agree with you. On Milwaukee. That's definitely the wrong
word to describe them. For some reason, I'm like, I'll buy all
the Sixers stock. They're a team that I just fully trust now and that's
probably wildly dangerous and reckless of me. The other team that I'm I'm sort
of intrigued by because I think that they might have a lower floor than people
were talked about before the season is just Dallas where oh yeah, it's yeah,
I mean there's the criticism of Luca. I do think it's fair to
be like, hey, if you're gonna take this many difficult three pointers at
some point, you need to make more than thirty percent of them. That's
a real issue. But the bigger conversation is and maybe it's about is he
a terrible human being as well, but we have to have a real conversation
about what Christops porzinkis is on the basketball court at some point and whether he's
a viable number two and if he's not, and I know he's only you
know, played like five games or whatever it's been since coming back from his
injury, but that team is like, I don't I wouldn't expect them to
remain in the lottery territory all season, but it feels like there might be
a lower floor there than people expected, unless they make some type of a
move at the trade deadline. Yeah. Yeah, for me, Like,
I've never been high on Chris Stops, I think that, like it sounds
crazy, but I think that his just his height and his play style is
going to leave him injury prone his whole career. I feel like, you
know, just being a huge guy that requires like you know, jab stepping
and all of these things, Like I'm not sure how sustainable that is for
him just being so huge, you know what I mean. So I've always
had I've always been reluctant to be like, oh, this is a guy
I'm going to turn into like a franchise cornerstone or something or and I think
that his reliance on jump shooting, despite like his physical attributes is also kind
of suss. So you know, like I'm not sure how it's gonna turn
out for them. But they're also another team that was supposed to be like
you know, potential Yannis suit or dark Horse Janna Suit or fuelil so to
see you have the heat too, who also don't look so great like Yannis
really messed up. I would like to think that Jannis did that on purpose,
by the way that he was like, let free agency play out and
then I'm going to sign, so that all these teams are left bag holding
all their caps. But he's for next year. Feels really about it.
He should have waited like till twenty twenty one, like to truly like to
that during this off season to sign anything. I floated that too, I
had someone who covers the Bucks on in the off season. I said,
what if you honest just did this, because then he ruins two seasons for
these teams. And their response was, I just don't think that he wants
to go through the drama of not being signed for this year. And I
was like, that's the reason that he actually gave, and I believed him
when he said that. Yeah, I mean, it has to be exhausting,
but at the same time, like you could have put Toronto's, Miami's
Dallas is how many other teams futures on hold for like two more years is
just incredible, And yeah, Miami, I don't know what to make of
them. They've been so banged up that I kind of give them the benefit
of the doubt, and maybe I should be doing that with Dallas. But
I kind of agree with all the things you said on Chris stops whereas I
might trust his outside shooting more than you do, but I don't like he's
not someone who's just gonna go out there and get his own shot. I'm
not even talking about his post ups, where he's probably been better there this
year than in seasons past. But for someone built like him, he should
be able to do more face up stuff and attacking, and just the sheer
injuries that piled up, mostly on the left side of his body. To
this point. He's built like a like a spaghetti noodle, like the structural
stability of a of a cooked spaghetti noodle. So again, I don't want
to say I'm so low on the matters, but I don't think it was.
Everyone just assumed, like, oh, and probably including myself, that
you have Luca, you punched your ticket to fifty wins. Yeah, and
another year with all of these role players and you know, we know how
much chemistry. But you know, I have never thought about this, but
we know last season where they had the most efficient offense in NBA history.
What if this season is just kind of like a sharp regression that lighter year,
that would be really unfortunate, But you know, we'll see how it
pends out. I assumed as well, that you know, another year with
all of these role players and stuff would end up, you know, resulting
in better chemistry and Luca would be kind of unlocked with another season of experience,
but we'll see. Yeah, so that they're the team areem And then,
like you said, Brooklyn and Philly are both teams to watch. Yasmin,
thank you so much for coming on and giving me so much of your
time. This is a great conversation. And if you guys are not following
her on Twitter, remedy that immediately. You can find her at Carmelo H
Drama where Carmelo Drama just said, but cr M E l O H d
R A M A fantastic writer, fantastic podcaster, fantastic Twitter followers, So
so go hit her handle. Yasmin, thanks so much again, And I
think you know at this point I would be pestering you down the line,
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