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Speaker 1: What is up, Fellasikos? I am Dan Valley coming at

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you with our final twenty twenty five twenty twenty six

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NBA season look ahead. We're up to the Toronto Raptors,

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which means I have the distinct pleasure of being joined

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by the one, the only Samson Folk of Raptors Republic

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and also basketball. She wrote, follow him on the social

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machines at sam Folk. That's at sam fo kk Samson

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year three. Thank you so much for coming back a

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third time. How the heck are you doing? Man?

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Speaker 2: Doing good social machines is a pretty good shorthand for

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like the the conglomerate of things you have to plug,

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you just say the social machines is That's a nice

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little way to do it.

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Speaker 1: I also don't know, but this kind of undermines what

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I was just doing. I don't know who I anger

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by calling it Twitter or X, and I don't know

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what to call the things anymore. So I figure like

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just looping in under the umbrella. Everyone knows like whatever

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social media thing they're on, they will be able to

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find Samson Folk most likely at that handle.

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Speaker 2: So I'll take the I saw a tweet the other

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day that said there's a certain percentage of the population

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that calls it Twitter instead of X. And then somebody

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quote tweeted and said it's because we're the indigenous population,

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and I thought that was so funny, man, I thought

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that was such a funny way to do it. I

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call it Twitter. The people who call it X, it

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seems like it's mostly like front facing news people who

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obviously have some sort of thing where they have to

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call it X. And then I think people who just

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I don't know why you'd call it X. It's it's Twitter, man,

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It's definitely Twitter.

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Speaker 1: It's I came up when it was Twitter, and it's

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not really I guess X would be like you could

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shorthand it. But even when you see it written in things,

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it's like on X and in parentheticals formally Twitter, and

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so it becomes like this longer thing. So go follow

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Samson everywhere. How about that basketball? She wrote, Raptors Republic, Twitter, X,

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the whole nine. I'm excited to talk to you about

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this team. I'm notoriously high on the Toronto Raptors relative

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to consensus. Almost each and every year, after listening to

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a bunch of things like national stuff, I don't think

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that that's gonna change this year. I recognize all the concerns,

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but we were doing our over runners before and I

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was like, I think seven wins higher than my co

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host or something like that.

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Speaker 2: So what did you come in at?

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Speaker 1: I think I was at forty two. I could double

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check I had them above five hundred.

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Speaker 2: Forty two is that's probably roughly where I am too.

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It won't surprise me if it went higher, but we'll

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get into it. Preseason didn't dispel the worst of my worries,

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I'll say so.

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Speaker 1: The first question I wanted to ask you, though, has

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to deal with how the offseason kind of started with

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the departure of Massiu JII. I think the timing was

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kind of hysterical just right after the draft to do it,

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even if it was overstated, but what type of We

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have enough evidence now that it feels like it was

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mostly financially driven because you get rid of him and

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then change nothing about like his vision. So what is

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just your read on that entire situation and how it

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played out?

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Speaker 2: So basically, when you get rid of MASSI, not only

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do you lighten the pocketbook because he was making a

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lot of money, and you know what, deservedly so, especially

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for his the scope of who he is in Toronto.

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He brought them their first championship, he built the team,

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but maybe his value as a president was not at

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that level anymore. Maybe they felt that it wasn't quite there.

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I don't know. And then also you get to create

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more like corporate overreach on how the Raptors do things

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by removing a president. Bobby Webster is the head of

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basketball operations, but he is not the president, so there

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is less oversight he has and less total power. So

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with the new emerging money that's invested in the Raptors,

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I think there's going to be a little bit more

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corporate control. And they save money on MASSI and they

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get more corporate control, and that's probably exactly how they

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wanted it. And Bobby, I mean, if you liked the

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direction of the team, he's part and parcel of what

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the Raptors were doing. He's a huge part of how

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everything was built. So that's kind of where we're at.

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I think.

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Speaker 1: When you move from that and then look at this roster.

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Having listened to a bunch of your podcasts and some

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other Raptors stuff and then some of the national stuff

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on the Raptors. It does seem like fans of the

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Raptors and people cover the Raptors have higher expectations or

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recognize that this team is under more pressure than I

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think a lot of other people do, where they're just

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penciling them in as shure, oh, this is going to

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be a disaster. Look at the ill fitting talent. Where

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do you land on that? And ultimately how much pressure

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is this team under to do something? And what is

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a successful season? What does that look like?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? It when this offseason first started and I saw

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like over unders were like thirty two and a half,

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that was the I was just like, there's no way, man,

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it's this team. There's no way they're losing less than

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or winning less than thirty two games.

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Speaker 1: It was.

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Speaker 2: It was very easy and to the point of like,

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this team has to win if people don't know the Raptors.

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They have an extremely expensive starting five, They have guys

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who are going to be coming up for extensions. They

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have paid everybody. Gaca Purtle is paid and I know

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Quickly is paid, Brandan Ingram is paid, Scottie Barnes is paid.

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This team is completely entrenched in itself and the only

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way for them to carve a path forward for themselves

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as a unit is to justify the money that's been spent.

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There is no more wiggle room for oh, well, you know,

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we're rebuilding. The expectations might not be that big outside

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of market because why would you care about the Raptors

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or pay attention to them the past few years? Like

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not even really just as a team, who oh who

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can we nab from them during the trade deadline? Maybe

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and then have great success on elsewhere. But this team

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has to win to justify itself. If they don't win,

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it'll be torn to shreds and starting a new probably

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still with Scotti Barnes in the folds. But it's they

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have to win. They've spent for it, and they the

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back end is young, but god, they've paid and so

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you better win some games. Man.

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Speaker 1: What happens? This is like I'm asking you to, I guess,

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envision what failure would look like. But if you're going,

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if you're resigned to keeping Scottie Barnes, then it's how

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do you do out the blame for an unsuccessful seat?

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Like if a Raptor season goes wrong, do you like,

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what do you look at as the development that may

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be undermined at all.

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Speaker 2: So I think there'd be maybe three or four main

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things right. One would be brandon Ingram's health, which has

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always been and you don't blame guys for health, you

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simply just chalk it up as like, damn, that sucks.

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It would be a huge, damn that sucks thing if

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brandon Ingram couldn't give you like at least fifty five

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sixty games this year, hopefully more. Number two is they

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paid a manual quickly, a lot of money, and while

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it's a flat contract, so it doesn't ascend and it

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gets a smaller and small portion of the cap every year.

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He's really not a lead guard. I did not think

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it when the trade happened. I'm not convinced of it.

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He can be a good guard, but spending on him

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as the lead guard of the team I thought was like,

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I'm not sure r. J. Barrett is less. It doesn't

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matter as much because his contract comes off the books.

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There's a decision there. But he's not even expected to

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carry anything or do anything. He's not prioritized by the

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team and hasn't been the whole time he's been here.

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But all that stuff, Scottie Barnes has not delivered on

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the offensive promise that he flashed for a moment in

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time at the start of year three. And if he

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is a guy who is not able to curb the

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warts of his offensive process and fit in a little

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bit more and kind of adapt to being, of course

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a forward who can run these big, small pick and rolls,

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and a guy who is a tremendous passer but kind

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of gears his game a little bit more towards screening,

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catching on the move, finishing, and garbage manning to really

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utilize what he is. If none of the if all

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those things happen, all these wards show up, it could

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be like a thirty three or thirty four win season.

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And it could and it would be nasty business over here.

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I'm telling you, Dan, it'd be crazy over here.

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Speaker 1: So I'll say Scottie Barnes for later. But since he

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kind of is the fulcrum of that, what is So

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you kind of laid it out and you were doing

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a podcast I think it was camera which podcast you

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were doing, but we were talking about the need to

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get him in more of a this isn't what you

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called it, but like a play finisher role rather than

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necessarily a play starter role. Is that a tough sell

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to someone like him? Or just having brandon Ingram on

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the roster now in addition to okay, if Quickly's healthy,

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if RJ. Barrett's there, does it make it a little easier.

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Speaker 2: I think brandon Ingram is one of the most respected

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players in the league who isn't like a perennial All Star.

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He is beloved. Guys will love his skill out and

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his presence. Definitely, there was going to be anybody who

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kind of makes Scotty think like, Okay, I'm not number

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one on the totem pole. Brandon Ingram helps a lot,

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but there has been this weird undercurrent with Scotty where

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you know, it's it's important for him to be listed

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as a point guard. It's important for the team, even

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in the media stuff they put out to list him

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as one. There's all he's very clearly leaned into, like

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this Paul George aspect of his game that his skill

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set is not yet ready for. He was one of

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the highest volume non paint shooters or like non paint

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two point shooters in the NBA last year. Is because

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he fell in love with a jumper, really fell in

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love with it. It's it has to come from the organization

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at some point, the coaching staff to kind of say like,

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we need you to adapt a little bit more, I think,

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And it's not his fault, man. Every player is allowed

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to envision themselves as the exact star they dreamed to be.

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And Scottie Barnes has had a year and a half

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two years of a lot of possessions trying to be

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like a full on initiation wing who kills it offensively,

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and the return has been not ghastly, but it's been bad.

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He has not shot the ball well, he does not

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create a lot of rotations in the defense, and while

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he is a tremendous playmaker and a very strong player,

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he's not been able to play to his strengths. The

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hope here is that he returns to a lot of

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them this year. My fingers are crossed like with oooh,

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there's tension, I'm pulling hard.

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Speaker 1: What have you made of? I guess the read on

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him taking so many pull ups last year, I think

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the highest you meant, the highest share in his career,

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like those out of the paint twos. Those pull ups

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came last year, but the efficiency was just sort of

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whatever people have viewed it as well, like, look, he's

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getting to his spots and he's getting those shots off.

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And I do remember I think I was talking to

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you about this last year going into like this past season.

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Look at the splitz he hat on, like the pull

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up jumpers, Like at this point through the portion of

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this season, where are you just sort of on that.

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Is that a tool that should just be like extricated

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entirely from his belt or is there something there?

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Speaker 2: There's something there. He's a guy who he does not

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have manipulative handle, He doesn't have a quick first step.

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How will he end? But he is talented enough to

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justify getting possessions and he can't just be a guy

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who operates as a screener and a finisher. There's going

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to be some stuff on ball. How does he beat

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a flat defense sometimes? How does he catch middle or

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at the elbow and reverse pivot and make something happen?

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How do you exhibit control in the middle of the

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floor so that your playmakings can spray to all areas

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if you get doubled or whatever, you need to threaten

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with something. And while he doesn't have the pull up

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three or even the catch and shoot three to create

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this like Anthony Edwards analysis where you say, well, the

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middle just has to come or the floater plus lob

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just has to come. He's building out his offense to

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try and have counters. And my hope is that he's

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built a counter here and put it at the forefront

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last season and that it'll be more of a counter

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this season. But it's real. He's good enough at it

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that it's a real part of his game that teams

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will respond to it. But it was just entirely too

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large a piece of his game. But his limitations as

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an athlete and as a ball hendler dictate that he's

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going to end up in that spot more often as

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a driver and so being a shot maker from there

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instead of a guy who has to get all the

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way to the paint or just moves the ball on.

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It's a decent development for him, it just occupies so

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much of his shot chart right now.

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Speaker 1: When you look at the landscape of their offense with

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Brandon Ingram, then I do feel as if people have

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decided RJ. Barrett is the one that will need to

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adjust the most or the ill fitting piece. Is there

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an argument to me that Scotty Barnes not ill fitting,

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but needs to make the most adjustment amount of adjustments

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to his game to make this all work.

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Speaker 2: I think that's accurate, not because Scotty is like the

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least talented or something like that, but because Scotty is

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the one who can, you know, assume a different role

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and elevate everybody. You know, it's not like r J. Barrett.

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If you make him this super high volume pick and

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role player, it doesn't necessarily elevate everybody else. Scotty if

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he starts being a guy who runs out of delay action,

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who sets a lot of screens and like pushes and

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prods teams and creates seals, and is a guy who

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like gets a seal from setting a screen twenty two

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feet from the basket, catches on the move and makes

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these short roll passes or something like that, that's going

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to benefit everybody. And RJ. Barrett can't do that. Brandon

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Ingram can't do that, and I who quickly can't do that.

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And Scotty is he's more talented than a lot of

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the names there, but he's also the only one who

276
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can kind of do this facsimile of power forward stuff

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that the team desperately needs and Rjie Barrett. If he's

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you're going to make the reference to him. All he's

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done since he's joined the Raptors team is just like

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adapt to whatever they want him to be. In preseason,

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he shot a lot of threes. He shot fifty percent

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from downtown, a lot of them above the break. The

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team wasn't getting enough paint touches. He would start taking

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second side actions and get paint touches. He just he

285
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doesn't need you to call plays for him. He's just

286
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out there playing basketball. And he had a much easier

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time adapting to the new style than Scotty did. But

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it becomes very hand and glove if Scotty becomes not

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a big time initiator but a guy who's greasing wheels,

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which maybe he doesn't want, which is the tough thing.

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Speaker 1: You know, you've also been a big proponent of Scotty

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Marns's defense. What do you think we're four years into

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his career that people miss the most about his impact?

294
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Speaker 2: That's a good question. I think his defense is rated well,

295
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what do you sit on his defense? Just quickly?

296
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Speaker 1: I don't know if I could see him being an

297
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all defense guy. Like if I look back in a

298
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season and say, oh, that was one of the top

299
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ten defenders in the league. But I think when I

300
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look at the stuff that he is able to do

301
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away from the ball, and as like some of the

302
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like the rotations that he's able to make, and it

303
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just feels like you could watch a possession and he'll

304
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blow it up, like from a bunch of different points,

305
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I think like he could be fringe on that. I

306
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don't know how to put a word to it, but

307
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I would call him right now to me a decidedly

308
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above average defender. I just don't know if I can

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go into elite territory.

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Speaker 2: Sure, that's that's fine. I think if you're saying maybe,

311
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maybe I would push back and go like, definitely stronger

312
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than above average. But as far as if you're saying fringe,

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I mean, there's what like twenty twenty five guys who

314
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should be in contention for like spots seven, eight, nine,

315
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ten on an all they should have three All defensive

316
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We need.

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Speaker 1: A third All defense team. I think, I know what

318
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can we do a way I don't I only need

319
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,159
one all rookie team. If I'm being honest, If it's

320
00:15:50,159 --> 00:15:52,000
a matter of count like, let's just do first team

321
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All rookie and give me a third team All defense.

322
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Speaker 2: That's I'd love that trade. But to your point, it's

323
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a scott You can have a great defensive season to

324
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,759
not be all defense. I mean, we've seen that happen

325
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to many different players. Scotty might not be all defense

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ever in his career. I think he will personally and

327
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largely because, as you said, the ability to blow up

328
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plays away from the ball as a weak side rim protector,

329
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he's very strong. He actually improved a bunch last year

330
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at the on ball stuff. He was better at not

331
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engaging live ball handlers up at their hip and getting

332
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,080
blown by. He was letting his length do more of

333
00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,559
the work. His denied defense was really really impactful against

334
00:16:32,559 --> 00:16:36,039
other initiation wings, and it gave him this multi purpose

335
00:16:36,039 --> 00:16:40,159
aspect of his defense that just it improved the Raptors immeasurably.

336
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They for the second year in a row, I think,

337
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or at least last year, they teams shot worse with

338
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him on the floor. They took worse shots with him

339
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,200
on the floor, They turned the ball over more, they

340
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,399
got less offensive rebounds, and they got to the line

341
00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,840
less Like Scotty had across the board when he steps

342
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,320
on the floor. The Raptors are better at everything. And

343
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I'm a film guy. I love doing film. But if

344
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you go to the analytics, he's also very well liked

345
00:17:07,279 --> 00:17:10,599
by all the stuff because he's a defensive playmaker. So

346
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I'll probably by the end of the year be trying

347
00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:15,319
to make the case that he should be on an

348
00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:17,680
all defense team. I'd be happy to be doing that.

349
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But if he doesn't make one, I mean, boo, there's

350
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only ten guys. There's like four day leade defenders. Yeah, yeah,

351
00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:24,640
there you.

352
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Speaker 1: Go, brandon Ingram We've red. Weent seventeen minutes without me

353
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asking you specifically about that is terrible podcasting. Got my part. Yes,

354
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here's the thing. I think people recognize that what the

355
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value he brings in a half court, just as ability

356
00:17:39,519 --> 00:17:41,559
to get to a spotch to make tough shots is

357
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actually important for the Raptors. They look at all the

358
00:17:45,039 --> 00:17:47,279
other stuff and his fit there. What do you think

359
00:17:47,319 --> 00:17:50,400
has been the biggest misconception about his potential fit on

360
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:51,319
this team?

361
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:56,000
Speaker 2: Just that the Raptors aren't building a contender right now.

362
00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:58,799
They're building a team that wins some games during the

363
00:17:58,799 --> 00:18:01,839
regular season and they'll see what happens if they reach

364
00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,640
the playoffs, and brandon Ingram is very essential to that.

365
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:07,799
I think a lot of times when we view a

366
00:18:07,839 --> 00:18:10,880
trade for a star or something of that sort, a

367
00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,920
lot of times we view it from like the ultimate outcome,

368
00:18:14,319 --> 00:18:16,480
And I agree it's tough. Like you look at this

369
00:18:16,559 --> 00:18:19,079
Raptors team and say, how do they build this into contender?

370
00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,079
That's really hard, man. I don't see it personally, but

371
00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:25,640
I didn't see it when it was Kyle Auer and

372
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,000
Demarta Ro's and then it was lateral move Tarreence Ross

373
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,759
becomes Sir Jebaka, Jonas Valentunis becomes Marcasol. There's a Kawhi

374
00:18:33,839 --> 00:18:36,400
Leonard trade in there somewhere that matters a lot. But

375
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,799
the Raptors are trying to put themselves in a stronger

376
00:18:39,839 --> 00:18:42,960
position to pivot, and they want to do it while

377
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,400
winning basketball games, and brandon Ingram is definitely going to

378
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:48,680
help with that. I think the initial reaction to the

379
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,400
trade was that, well, how does this make them a contender?

380
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:52,920
How does this you know, how do you build a

381
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,920
contender with Brandon Ingram? And they're just not trying for that.

382
00:18:56,759 --> 00:18:59,000
They want to win more games, and Brandon Ingram is

383
00:18:59,039 --> 00:19:02,680
going to with his very strong half court offense. The

384
00:19:02,759 --> 00:19:06,039
Raptors were thirtieth, that's right, dead last in the NBA

385
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:10,160
last year in points per possession in on ball creation.

386
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:12,519
That means if a guy had to dribble and create

387
00:19:12,559 --> 00:19:15,240
his own look, guess what they're the worst at it.

388
00:19:15,519 --> 00:19:18,319
They were terrible as pull up jump shooters. They were

389
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,640
terrible at anything that required a dynamic, live ball guy.

390
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,119
And Brandon Ingram just is flex tape on the water

391
00:19:26,319 --> 00:19:29,119
or I saw this boat in half. He helps that,

392
00:19:29,759 --> 00:19:32,039
And not to the point that the Raptors are world beaters,

393
00:19:32,039 --> 00:19:34,920
but to the point that they're shoring up these huge

394
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:39,680
weaknesses into maybe marginal weaknesses, and then you probably have

395
00:19:39,759 --> 00:19:40,799
an okay team there.

396
00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,920
Speaker 1: I think, has there been anything through the huge preseason

397
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,799
sample size, has there been anything about him, how he's

398
00:19:49,799 --> 00:19:51,720
being used as fit, what he's done that stood like

399
00:19:51,759 --> 00:19:52,400
surprised you.

400
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:58,599
Speaker 2: Honestly a little unimaginative from the Raptors. I don't know

401
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,480
if they're keeping things tuck the way. I didn't find

402
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:07,480
the way they were placing guys while Brandon is running

403
00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:10,920
pick and roll, for example, I did not find very inspiring.

404
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,519
I thought it was very like ho hum. The best

405
00:20:14,559 --> 00:20:17,400
looks that he was getting were out of catching the

406
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,200
ball on the move and being used as a guy

407
00:20:19,279 --> 00:20:23,279
kind of running through screens, surveying while on the move,

408
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:25,960
catching and attacking a point that he thinks he can

409
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,480
get to. And Yakaperle not being healthy for a lot

410
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,119
of the preseason affects the screencraft stuff a bunch. But

411
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,519
I thought that was like, damn, they're probably not using

412
00:20:36,599 --> 00:20:39,599
him as well. But again it's preseason. You never know.

413
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,119
The Raptors run a lot of plays that I like.

414
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,400
But that was the big thing, probably that I wasn't

415
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:48,920
super inspired by how the team looked when he was

416
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,880
on ball. And of course he's great at creating something

417
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,599
out of nothing, it's perhaps his greatest skill relative to

418
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,440
the NBA. But they didn't get him a lot of

419
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:00,920
easy looks, and they certainly didn't get a lot of

420
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,160
low offense out of brandon Ingram at the point of attack.

421
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:05,960
I didn't think it was his fault. I thought it

422
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,519
was that the the spacing of the team looked truncated.

423
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,079
Speaker 1: Is that a problem? Though? That they could run with

424
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,680
Yako perto playing more, you'll get better screen connection. But

425
00:21:15,799 --> 00:21:17,640
is that a problem they could be battling all season

426
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,279
when you look at the makeup of the roster.

427
00:21:20,039 --> 00:21:24,279
Speaker 2: I think, especially since Brandon shot over fifty percent from three,

428
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,599
RJ shot over fifty percent from three, I think quickly

429
00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,960
did Grady was at thirty nine percent. They shot the

430
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,240
three ball decent, and they still had the twenty seventh

431
00:21:34,319 --> 00:21:38,160
ranked half court offense in preseason and they had they

432
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,920
had the uh this they played six preseason games too, right,

433
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,559
so they a little bit big. It's way dude, Oh

434
00:21:45,599 --> 00:21:48,160
you're preaching the choir man, it's way too many. But

435
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,240
I think it's something they'll be fighting all season. And

436
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,319
you know, I did this video where I talked about

437
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,319
the plays that the Raptors were running, and a lot

438
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,000
of times what they're trying to figure out is how

439
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,839
to use Scottie Barnes who's being guarded by a big

440
00:22:00,839 --> 00:22:04,240
and all of their sets revolve around switching a big

441
00:22:04,319 --> 00:22:08,000
onto quickly or RJ and working from there because they're

442
00:22:08,039 --> 00:22:09,920
not really sure how to navigate stuff at the point

443
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:14,400
of attack, and that's where Brandon Ingram exists. So I

444
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,559
think they will fight it for a while, but by

445
00:22:17,599 --> 00:22:21,680
December I would expect them to have it sorted at

446
00:22:21,759 --> 00:22:25,400
least like seventy five eighty percent. That's my expectation. But

447
00:22:25,519 --> 00:22:27,799
if I'm wrong, it might not be that fun to

448
00:22:27,799 --> 00:22:28,880
watch him play this year.

449
00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:33,160
Speaker 1: When I was considering the way that RJ. Barrett's game

450
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,000
had changed when he came over from New York, I

451
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,799
had wondered if Ingram going to Toronto would get him

452
00:22:37,839 --> 00:22:40,039
like all the way to the basket more and his

453
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,359
rim pressure relative to what he did in New Orleans

454
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:44,359
A lot of the time was up during preseason, but

455
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,240
given the way that they were using him, as you

456
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:48,079
just said, I probably would have hoped that it would

457
00:22:48,079 --> 00:22:50,000
have been a little bit higher than that. Is that

458
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:51,799
just not I know, his first couple of years in

459
00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:53,799
the league, it was fairly high for someone his position.

460
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,160
Is that just not something he's able to do, or

461
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,200
is it something we should be kind of tracking leading

462
00:22:58,240 --> 00:22:59,759
into the regular season.

463
00:23:00,039 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 2: It should be higher, especially since the Raptors are a

464
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,640
team that they run a lot of off ball actions,

465
00:23:06,039 --> 00:23:08,119
and a lot of off ball actions actually were able

466
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,720
to get Brandon downhill and putting him in motion as

467
00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:14,559
long as he dedicates to it, like running off an

468
00:23:14,559 --> 00:23:17,880
iverson cut. If you are a good shooter, and you

469
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,440
have a guy like Keegan Murray in trail position or

470
00:23:21,559 --> 00:23:24,640
Jalen Brown, it's like, yeah, turn it downhill, attack with

471
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:26,119
the guy behind you, and see if you can get

472
00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,160
all the way to the rim. He was able to

473
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,160
do that attacking Like the Raptors. What they were doing

474
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:33,960
a lot of times was preoccupying the strong side with

475
00:23:34,039 --> 00:23:37,799
a decoy action and then running Ingram off of Ammu

476
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,640
or Yakab pinned down and letting him work from there,

477
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,880
curl and get into space. He loves the mid range jumpers,

478
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,079
so a lot of times he's gonna stop short and

479
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,000
take that, which isn't all the way bad. But I

480
00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:52,000
would think that the rim pressure should be higher this

481
00:23:52,079 --> 00:23:55,240
year than we've seen in quite a few years, and

482
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,680
we might see a smaller percentage of it relative to

483
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,279
other years in New Orleans coming off his own dribble,

484
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,000
more catching GHO stuff. He also cut not that bad

485
00:24:04,039 --> 00:24:07,440
in preseason. He missed some of their scripted cuts. They

486
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,880
do some of the same wheel action as Cleveland did

487
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,119
last year, you know, moving into circular emotion around the

488
00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,000
pick and roll. He didn't quite pick it up immediately,

489
00:24:17,039 --> 00:24:19,119
but there were some interpretive stuff he did that was

490
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,720
really good, like I Cory cut, the mcghetti cut, that

491
00:24:21,759 --> 00:24:24,000
he was famous for lots of great stuff.

492
00:24:25,039 --> 00:24:27,279
Speaker 1: You mentioned before that you think R. J. Barrett was

493
00:24:27,319 --> 00:24:29,839
having an easier time adapting, at least early on than

494
00:24:29,839 --> 00:24:32,319
Scottie Barnes. You've been pretty high on just what I

495
00:24:32,319 --> 00:24:34,039
mentioned before. People think that he's the one who's out

496
00:24:34,079 --> 00:24:35,960
of place. You've been pretty high on. No, he can

497
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:38,359
make this work. You'll be able to elaborate on that

498
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:40,720
stance and also how much of it comes back to

499
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:42,720
I don't know that I would call him a caps

500
00:24:42,759 --> 00:24:45,200
lock shooter, but he is shooting thirty seven point three

501
00:24:45,279 --> 00:24:48,000
percent on spot up three since coming over like from

502
00:24:48,079 --> 00:24:50,079
like over the past season and move in Toronto.

503
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, the he is a guy who the reason why

504
00:24:54,759 --> 00:24:58,200
his shooting numbers go down is because he took a

505
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:02,559
lot of pull ups last year and his mechanics are

506
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,720
terrible for pull ups. His top half and his bottom

507
00:25:05,759 --> 00:25:09,200
half are completely disconnected. The elbow tuck and everything gets

508
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,640
way out of sort. So as soon as you incorporate that,

509
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,799
his shooting numbers are going to tank like crazy. But

510
00:25:13,839 --> 00:25:17,119
as a catch and shoe guy, he's perfectly fine and

511
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,519
he's willing to take them, and so I think he'll

512
00:25:19,559 --> 00:25:21,839
be fine, and he's going to get open shots too,

513
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,160
because he doesn't get respected as a shooter much. Brandon

514
00:25:25,319 --> 00:25:29,680
Ingram said that he thought that RJ was just a

515
00:25:29,759 --> 00:25:33,960
gunner until he arrived in Toronto, and RJ actually he's

516
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,000
a pretty decent passer. The best outcome of an RJ.

517
00:25:38,079 --> 00:25:40,440
Barrett drive is if he makes the spray pass that

518
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,359
he's gotten quite good at with the right hand or

519
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,559
the left hand. And he's a guy who's going to

520
00:25:45,759 --> 00:25:48,319
hit an okay amount of catch and shoe threes. He's

521
00:25:48,319 --> 00:25:50,279
a guy who's going to touch the paint as a

522
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:56,160
driver on second side actions or attacking closeouts. And Brandon

523
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,519
said that he attracts the ball. Darko has said for

524
00:25:59,559 --> 00:26:02,079
a couple of years now that RJ. Barrett is one

525
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:03,799
of the great players in the league who you never

526
00:26:03,839 --> 00:26:06,039
have to call play for and the ball still finds him.

527
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:10,559
He cuts, he attacks, he shoots the ball. I never

528
00:26:10,599 --> 00:26:14,440
worry about RJ. Offensively. He's pretty intuitive there. It's why

529
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,960
he's also good in FIBA basketball. It's the defense, of course,

530
00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:20,880
and particularly the way the Raptors want to play defense

531
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:25,119
that makes it tough, and Bob's your uncle, Becky's your aunt.

532
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:26,599
When it comes to the defense, it doesn't look that

533
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:27,119
good to me.

534
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 1: What is it that he's struggling the most with?

535
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:30,200
Speaker 2: To you?

536
00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:32,920
Speaker 1: He really had and like in New York he had

537
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,920
one I think stand out defensive season. I can't remember

538
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:37,960
that was year two or year three, and it felt like, oh,

539
00:26:38,039 --> 00:26:40,680
like this might be something here, and then it just

540
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:42,200
since then it feels like it's trailball.

541
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,799
Speaker 2: Well, year two was good defense and shot what thirty

542
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,200
nine percent from three talk about yeah, and then everybody

543
00:26:49,319 --> 00:26:53,519
was like, oh, we might have something here. So RJ

544
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,279
has really slow feet, really slow and when you have

545
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,440
slow feet, basically what you have to be able to

546
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,119
do is meet players higher and make sure that they

547
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,680
can't flip your hips so you don't open the gate

548
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:12,599
with your slow feet. RJ is not typically doing a

549
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,119
great job of dictating where guys go so that he

550
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,519
can slide with him. He gets his hips flipped, he

551
00:27:17,559 --> 00:27:19,759
gets stuck, and he gets behind the ball a lot

552
00:27:19,839 --> 00:27:23,359
when he's guarding it. His attention to detail and effort

553
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:27,319
has been better off ball, but the limitations of his

554
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:33,000
feet and his coordination, his quickness really sticking with guys,

555
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,960
especially at his position. He's playing the two this year.

556
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:38,440
You know that means you're guarding ones, twos and threes.

557
00:27:38,559 --> 00:27:42,640
These guys are pretty quick in the NBA. He's probably

558
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,000
in trouble a little bit and he can't He's not

559
00:27:46,079 --> 00:27:48,400
been able to get away from it. Really, it's it

560
00:27:48,799 --> 00:27:52,160
shows up. And he's a little bit toothless off ball

561
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,480
sometimes like they're him with a dig. There's not a

562
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,359
lot of he doesn't shake the ball loose very often.

563
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:00,960
He doesn't make a guy stop but drive very often.

564
00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:05,519
Him jumping a passing lane okay sometimes, but a lot

565
00:28:05,519 --> 00:28:08,160
of times he's missing there. This stuff could get good.

566
00:28:08,559 --> 00:28:10,519
I mean, guy's turn it around mid career all the

567
00:28:10,559 --> 00:28:12,880
time with this kind of stuff. But the on ball stuff,

568
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,759
I don't have big hopes for it.

569
00:28:15,759 --> 00:28:18,119
Speaker 1: It does seem based on what I saw in preseason

570
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,359
that he's going to be him and Scotty Barnes when

571
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,640
they do their staggering patterns will play together. What do

572
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,640
you like or think about that pairing? And I know

573
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:27,279
last year I was looking at the number like RJ

574
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,000
was super efficient during a lot of his Scotty Barns minutes.

575
00:28:30,759 --> 00:28:36,279
Speaker 2: Last season Yeah, the big thing is that Scotty helps

576
00:28:36,519 --> 00:28:38,920
connect to both sides of the floor when another guy

577
00:28:39,039 --> 00:28:43,759
is leading the offense, if he kind of adapts to that.

578
00:28:44,319 --> 00:28:47,319
And RJ is a guy who is really strong running

579
00:28:47,359 --> 00:28:50,240
second side pick and rolls. He's a guy who's really

580
00:28:50,279 --> 00:28:54,839
strong attacking off of players who have gravity. And Scotty

581
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:59,960
has gravity. It's not the typical initiation wing type gravity

582
00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:03,240
we see, but Scotty has great vision. He's a very

583
00:29:03,279 --> 00:29:08,079
strong passer. And so RJ a guy who struggles most

584
00:29:08,279 --> 00:29:11,759
when he has to finish over a rim protector who

585
00:29:11,799 --> 00:29:14,519
gets to rotate and meet him at the rim. When

586
00:29:14,559 --> 00:29:16,720
he gets to work off of players who have gravity

587
00:29:16,759 --> 00:29:19,240
and he gets to just beat his man to the rim,

588
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,079
he's actually very strong. He's so good at finishing on

589
00:29:22,119 --> 00:29:24,880
that last step, just not when there's a rim defender there,

590
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,359
so when he's able to work off of other guys.

591
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,839
Last year, the best player obviously was Scotty. This year,

592
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,640
I think his pairing with Brandon has been pretty strong

593
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:39,839
so far. He's a very intuitive offensive player. He'll benefit

594
00:29:40,599 --> 00:29:41,839
playing off of those guys.

595
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 1: Certainly, you mentioned Emmanuel quickly before and how he's not

596
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,599
a league guard. It does still feel like he carries

597
00:29:50,599 --> 00:29:53,079
an outsized importance for this team relative to how many

598
00:29:53,079 --> 00:29:56,640
minutes he hasn't played for them. What is it? I

599
00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:58,920
like the shooting stuff that he brings on the ball,

600
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,400
off the ball, from beyond the that feels like kind

601
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,240
of a given. But what else are you really looking at?

602
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:05,920
What does he need to do for this team to

603
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,400
be worth his contract worth? Just the amount of feels

604
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,720
like court equity they have invested in him.

605
00:30:12,039 --> 00:30:16,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they use him as a screener a lot because,

606
00:30:16,359 --> 00:30:18,480
like well, as you said, the shooting, so we can

607
00:30:18,519 --> 00:30:20,799
skip over that shooting is really important in the NBA,

608
00:30:20,839 --> 00:30:23,160
and a manual quickly is a great shooter. He needs

609
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:24,839
to be a little bit more active as a guy,

610
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,240
forming up off ball and leveraging his catch and shoot stuff.

611
00:30:28,559 --> 00:30:31,240
He does have a pretty slow and low release, so

612
00:30:31,319 --> 00:30:34,000
his volume naturally will never be as high as some

613
00:30:34,039 --> 00:30:36,200
of these other guys. He doesn't get as many open

614
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,720
threes because he's a great shooter, so people care and

615
00:30:38,759 --> 00:30:42,079
they run him off the line and he doesn't finish

616
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,799
that well at the rim. There's tough things there. But

617
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,000
the Raptors want to play with pace like a lot.

618
00:30:48,039 --> 00:30:50,359
They want to play with pace. They have a great

619
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:57,000
rolling big in Yaka Perle, and they like guards move

620
00:30:57,039 --> 00:30:59,920
the ball of court way quicker than forwards. Caitlyn and

621
00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:02,440
I just talked about this in the podcast Steps, so

622
00:31:02,519 --> 00:31:04,640
we did where we were talking about Geris Walker's initiation.

623
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,000
When you have a forward bringing the ball up the floor,

624
00:31:07,759 --> 00:31:10,880
plays go slower. I don't know why forwards are just

625
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,880
they don't care about injecting pace into the offense as much.

626
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,759
It is what is. The Raptors coach Starko loves point guards,

627
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,400
loves starting possessions there, wants to move up the floor

628
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,200
work through a couple actions. A man who quickly is

629
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,920
incontrovertibly tied to everything the Raptors want to do, even

630
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,160
if he isn't viewed as like a top definitely not

631
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,000
top two, but a top three talented player offensively on

632
00:31:35,039 --> 00:31:39,839
the team. And Davion Mitchell and Yaka Pearl when Davian

633
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:41,519
was on the team, we're one of the ten best

634
00:31:41,519 --> 00:31:45,440
pick and roll partnerships in the NBA because Davion Mitchell

635
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,240
had no ego and was like, I will make the

636
00:31:48,319 --> 00:31:52,200
pocket pass to you, brother. You need somebody to handle

637
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:57,079
the ball with Yaka Pearl a yaka Pearl Scottie Barnes.

638
00:31:57,079 --> 00:31:59,519
Pick and roll is disastrous because it's just a switch

639
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,240
or a push switch and it goes nowhere. This is

640
00:32:02,279 --> 00:32:05,400
we have years of data on this. Brandon will see

641
00:32:05,839 --> 00:32:09,119
but quickly, you know, he shot over eleven out of

642
00:32:09,119 --> 00:32:12,400
the pick and roll in the preseason, which wasn't great,

643
00:32:12,799 --> 00:32:15,079
but on his passes out of them, the team shot

644
00:32:15,119 --> 00:32:18,839
seven to twelve. So as far as just facilitating normal offense,

645
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,960
because he's like the only guard who can do it,

646
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:22,640
he's a big deal.

647
00:32:24,279 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: If he can't, how much of impact does that end

648
00:32:27,799 --> 00:32:30,279
up having on this team entire interjectory?

649
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:36,119
Speaker 2: Oh man, if he can't. Given how good Yakub Pertle

650
00:32:36,319 --> 00:32:40,319
is as a roller, If Emmanuel quickly isn't able to

651
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,759
run like above average at least pick and roll offense,

652
00:32:46,319 --> 00:32:49,319
the Raptors are missing out on a lot. They'd be

653
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,599
missing out on a lot and they would be just

654
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:55,599
there would just be a portion of points per game

655
00:32:55,759 --> 00:32:57,759
that they'd be like, how do we craft this? How

656
00:32:57,799 --> 00:33:00,079
do we achieve this elsewhere? If we're not getting it

657
00:33:00,119 --> 00:33:04,759
here and I know not every like coaching staffs actually

658
00:33:04,759 --> 00:33:07,640
think about that. They're like, no, we typically get like

659
00:33:08,039 --> 00:33:10,759
twenty two points per game out of this if we're

660
00:33:10,799 --> 00:33:15,279
getting you know, eighteen because of efficiency or because people

661
00:33:15,279 --> 00:33:17,839
are able to knowify it, like we have to get

662
00:33:17,839 --> 00:33:20,720
four somewhere else. Like that's a real thing coaches talk about.

663
00:33:21,079 --> 00:33:24,640
And if the Raptors can't expect above average pick and

664
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,440
role play, especially with Yaco Purtle as a screening partner,

665
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,920
especially with Emmanual Quickly as a second screener in like

666
00:33:32,359 --> 00:33:36,359
you know, these staggered actions to help move offense out

667
00:33:36,359 --> 00:33:38,440
of the nail or defenders out of the nail area,

668
00:33:38,839 --> 00:33:43,119
they're in huge trouble. He more than anybody else, you know,

669
00:33:43,519 --> 00:33:46,880
Scottie Ingram RJ. There's an aspect of what they're doing

670
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,200
where it's like offensive churn, just create and get us

671
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,839
some numbers. Quickly is one of the guys who they're like,

672
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,680
we need efficiency from you because you have an easier job,

673
00:33:57,039 --> 00:33:59,799
you're going to be facilitated. We actually need you to

674
00:33:59,839 --> 00:34:02,240
be efficient. This is where we're looking to gain back

675
00:34:02,279 --> 00:34:04,640
some of that efficiency that we lose through some of

676
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,839
this forward initiation. I think how.

677
00:34:07,799 --> 00:34:11,119
Speaker 1: Much of yakub Perl's utility is tied to the pick

678
00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:14,159
and roll chemistry with Emmanuel quickly and or brandon ingram

679
00:34:14,159 --> 00:34:15,920
working at this point, since we haven't seen too much

680
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:16,719
of the latter.

681
00:34:17,039 --> 00:34:20,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot. They of course are going to be

682
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,079
a team who enters the ball at the elbow. Yakub's

683
00:34:23,119 --> 00:34:25,280
going to get a lot of those touches. I expect them.

684
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,519
I just did it in my breakdown of the Raptors plays.

685
00:34:28,519 --> 00:34:31,440
But I expect a lot of pinch post actions where

686
00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:35,920
for listeners of pinch post is where basically whoever a

687
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,719
big o wing a guard even catches on the block

688
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:40,840
and the four other guys shift to the other side

689
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:42,880
of the court, basically trying to create an empty side

690
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,800
post up. And what teams will do is they'll space

691
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,440
out above the break on those with shooters, and they'll

692
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,599
try and create like these rub screen actions. The Raptors

693
00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:55,119
in particular would do it with Pascal and Scotti to

694
00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:58,920
create these seals for post entries from Yakub to them.

695
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,559
They're going to use his playmaking and passing a lot.

696
00:35:01,639 --> 00:35:03,960
They're gonna use his handoffs a lot. With guys like

697
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,679
Grady rj any number of players. He is so utterly

698
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,400
essential to facilitate and grease the wheels of what they

699
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,400
do offensively. Defensively, he obviously matters, but I don't think

700
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,000
it's nearly as much as his offensive utility, which kind

701
00:35:17,039 --> 00:35:21,079
of connects everything. And I'm very excited for how CMB

702
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,480
is able to be affect similar of that. But Yakub

703
00:35:24,519 --> 00:35:27,000
matters a lot, and if he doesn't matter that much

704
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,239
this season, it means that they've figured something else out,

705
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,960
which I'd be very excited about. But he matters a lot.

706
00:35:33,159 --> 00:35:35,719
Speaker 1: How does he matter to their defense or what has

707
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:40,000
been like what has been his biggest defensive impact ever

708
00:35:40,079 --> 00:35:41,719
since he's come back to Thrownox. I think some of

709
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,519
the rim protection numbers have slipped, and I've wondered when

710
00:35:44,519 --> 00:35:46,679
I've watched sometimes if the way that they can play

711
00:35:46,679 --> 00:35:49,960
aggressively almost does him a disservice at points, because it

712
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,079
feels like things, if things go wrong, they kind of

713
00:35:52,119 --> 00:35:54,159
implode on a dime. And I don't know if he's

714
00:35:54,199 --> 00:35:57,159
like the big that you want there to cover that up.

715
00:35:57,159 --> 00:35:59,920
But I don't have a great feel for what yah

716
00:36:00,199 --> 00:36:02,000
Pertl is defensively these days.

717
00:36:02,599 --> 00:36:05,320
Speaker 2: It's a great question and one I've been harping on

718
00:36:06,599 --> 00:36:09,599
when he was like twenty six on the Spurs. He's

719
00:36:09,639 --> 00:36:14,440
incredibly fast feet, like a really strong mover out you know,

720
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,039
above the break. I thought he but he's slower now

721
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,559
it's not his fault. I mean he's older. In the NBA,

722
00:36:19,599 --> 00:36:23,760
he's a big man. I think oftentimes the Raptors, just

723
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:28,280
as a team, are asking a few guys to step

724
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,039
a little bit too high on the floor, and I

725
00:36:30,039 --> 00:36:32,400
think Yakub fits into that. But the thing too is like,

726
00:36:33,599 --> 00:36:37,239
even though Jamal shed is like very rabbit, at the

727
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:40,000
point of attack, he gets beat a lot, and especially

728
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,280
if you ask him to pressure like eighty four feet up.

729
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:44,920
If he gets beat, guess what, there's like a walkway,

730
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,000
and so what do you do? You send the bigs

731
00:36:47,079 --> 00:36:49,440
up to help support this kind of stuff. Yakub is

732
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:53,840
not that strong at that, and like God forbid, that's tough, man.

733
00:36:54,159 --> 00:36:58,519
It's a really tough job. The biggest thing he provides

734
00:36:58,559 --> 00:37:03,320
defensively is stability in the half court, just that he

735
00:37:03,519 --> 00:37:06,159
is a consummate pro defensively, he has a lot of

736
00:37:06,199 --> 00:37:09,000
functional size and while he's not everything he used to

737
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,159
be is in terms of rotating to the rim or

738
00:37:11,199 --> 00:37:13,719
being able to step out and kind of gum things

739
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,400
up with a really strong hedge and length. He does

740
00:37:17,519 --> 00:37:21,840
a really great job of helping to locate box out

741
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:26,400
close defensive possessions. Even though his rim defense is not

742
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,519
as good as it once was, it's still there. And

743
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,480
the Raptors struggled without his stability. And part of that

744
00:37:33,599 --> 00:37:36,960
is like, hey, it's Colin Castleton, It's you know, there's

745
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,280
a lot of guys running through that spot. But the

746
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,280
stability of a center is a huge thing in the NBA.

747
00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:47,000
Is even even if you're playing kind of like a

748
00:37:47,039 --> 00:37:50,039
new wave form of basketball, all of these players grow

749
00:37:50,159 --> 00:37:53,920
up playing with traditional centers, and so there's a familiarity there,

750
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,559
and you know, players it deepened the recesses of their mind.

751
00:37:57,639 --> 00:38:00,679
They like having a Yaka Purtle or effects of him

752
00:38:00,679 --> 00:38:01,519
somewhere on the court.

753
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,880
Speaker 1: I actually, I've been thinking more about this, and we're

754
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,920
recording this as the NBA's extension deadline is coming in

755
00:38:08,159 --> 00:38:09,800
and when you look at most of the bigs that

756
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,760
aren't going to get extensions in a Walker Kessler or

757
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,000
a Jalen Duran, and how some of the contract situations

758
00:38:16,039 --> 00:38:18,119
have played out, even with some of the veterans, I'm

759
00:38:18,119 --> 00:38:19,800
starting I know, Yaka Purl is just going to get

760
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,599
extended until the end of time in Toronto. But it

761
00:38:22,639 --> 00:38:24,840
feels like the league might be struggling to wrap their

762
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,960
head around the value of certain types of traditional bigs

763
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,639
to where if you're not in the the Jared even

764
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,719
Jared Allen, like before he signed his extension latest extension,

765
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:36,719
people were confused by, but it feels like he's sort

766
00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:40,199
of the billboard for oh, we understand, like this is

767
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,800
the traditional big man that we know how to pay,

768
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,760
and then everybody else that falls like below that line

769
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,320
or above that line, nobody has any idea how to value.

770
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 2: A lot of okay, teams will have centers paid in

771
00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:01,079
the in between the aka Purl, the Miles Turner, the

772
00:39:01,159 --> 00:39:05,480
Jared Allen range. A lot of the best teams will

773
00:39:05,519 --> 00:39:09,039
have really paid a big who they're like, oh yeah,

774
00:39:09,599 --> 00:39:13,599
big time Max, or they will have really yeah Chrismuschet,

775
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,920
or they will have really not paid a big the

776
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,880
it's just you look at even like drafting bigs, basically

777
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,400
it's one of two things. It's like you bet the

778
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:28,719
farm you found the guy, or take a flyer later

779
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:33,440
on the middle ground bigs is like it's very hard

780
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,559
for team building, which creates obviously this idea of like, well,

781
00:39:36,559 --> 00:39:40,000
how do we spend? How do and does middle ground

782
00:39:40,039 --> 00:39:43,719
ever become top tier? Does you know middle ground ever

783
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:48,280
become bottom tier? It's scary hours and there's a dependability there,

784
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,360
but bigs can be very boom or bust. And it

785
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,519
also depends on if you have a point guard who

786
00:39:54,559 --> 00:39:58,119
can make water into wine or something there. But it's

787
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:04,559
a very tough position to you analyze because a lot

788
00:40:04,599 --> 00:40:07,079
of what you're analyzing with a big is like what

789
00:40:07,119 --> 00:40:09,599
they do at the level, and so much of that

790
00:40:09,679 --> 00:40:13,239
is informed by how good you think his partner in

791
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,039
defense is doing at the level too, because like bigs,

792
00:40:16,039 --> 00:40:18,119
they get hung out to dry all the time. Yeah,

793
00:40:18,119 --> 00:40:20,119
and even if you're a pro scout, like let's say

794
00:40:20,119 --> 00:40:23,440
you're a pro scout for the Memphis Grizzlies, you're watching

795
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,719
Voots or whoever and wondering if he can survive, Like

796
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,400
you have to know what Scottie Pippens Jr. Is supposed

797
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,800
to do every time to know if like or sorry

798
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:36,440
on the Grizzlies. So you have to know what Kobe

799
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,400
White is trying to do every single time. You have

800
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,719
to know what Josh Gitty is trying to do every time,

801
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,840
and only then if you know everything and know everyone's schemes,

802
00:40:44,159 --> 00:40:46,760
you're like, Okay, this big is right. They're doing the

803
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,679
right thing this percentage of time. Now are they good

804
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:53,760
at it? Like bigs are just so reactive in some sense,

805
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,000
they're so reliant on everything else happening there touches, they're

806
00:40:57,039 --> 00:41:00,639
reliant on where they're placed. They're relying on. Bigs never

807
00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:03,880
get to dictate anything, which means that which means that

808
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:08,119
they're very reliant on scheme and structure and how they're prioritized,

809
00:41:08,119 --> 00:41:11,159
which means you can have a guy like I was

810
00:41:11,199 --> 00:41:13,519
doing a podcast. Blake literally just texted me I was

811
00:41:13,559 --> 00:41:16,280
doing a podcast with him in like twenty twenty where

812
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:18,599
we Hartenstein went to the Nuggets were like, wow, I

813
00:41:18,599 --> 00:41:21,559
would have liked to see Hartenstein on the Raptors. And

814
00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:24,480
then every time Hartenstein was available, I said, this guy's

815
00:41:24,559 --> 00:41:27,400
really great. The Raptors should get him. And he just

816
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:29,400
kept getting paid a little bit, a little bit, a

817
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,599
little bit, four years of being really strong, and then

818
00:41:32,639 --> 00:41:35,920
the thunder like, this guy's a thirty million dollar player,

819
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,679
bring him here. We have the money to spend. Look,

820
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,360
championship time. It's just bigs are tough man it's a

821
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,880
great like you're right on the money wondering about this.

822
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,719
Speaker 1: It's it's tough your point to about how they get

823
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,920
hung out to dry because Alpern Shanghun would be a

824
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,559
perfect example. You put like a more consistent rotation of

825
00:41:53,599 --> 00:41:55,519
players that can contain the ball or defend on the

826
00:41:55,519 --> 00:41:57,400
perimeter in front of them his job. So we got

827
00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,800
a lot better defensively, even jayeen duranlast year for points.

828
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:02,320
I know he was inconsistent, but a lot of his

829
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,400
problems are kind of rooted in space. It's when he's

830
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,840
in the lineups. Kay gets better defensively. Osar Thompson's available,

831
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:11,559
oh Jelenger and got better defensively. So I'm guilty of

832
00:42:11,559 --> 00:42:13,639
it too, is that we don't provide the context of

833
00:42:13,679 --> 00:42:16,159
just like, well, who is in front of these guys,

834
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,519
mamish Kavili or Sandrew mamish Kelavilli.

835
00:42:20,559 --> 00:42:22,719
Speaker 2: It can't pronounce the name, Mamu Kelishvili.

836
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,159
Speaker 1: It's it's a lot kaylish Viely, it's a lot more.

837
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,119
Jensen will kill me. He's on the podcast a lot

838
00:42:27,199 --> 00:42:29,559
less to say say that name. Is there a chance

839
00:42:29,679 --> 00:42:33,559
if the Raptors are intent on playing RJ Ingram and

840
00:42:33,599 --> 00:42:37,079
Scottie Barnes a lot together, the shooting and driving at least,

841
00:42:37,119 --> 00:42:38,840
you know, I know he's four to seventeen from deep

842
00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:42,440
in the preseason. Does that become sneaky important to this

843
00:42:42,519 --> 00:42:44,039
team on the offensive end if they want to play

844
00:42:44,079 --> 00:42:45,000
those three together.

845
00:42:45,639 --> 00:42:50,239
Speaker 2: He looks way more important than a minimum contract big

846
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:51,840
should be. Or maybe he got a bit of them

847
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,000
for the minimum. I can't remember. I think maybe the minimum.

848
00:42:54,039 --> 00:42:57,280
He looks really important to the Raptors. And when I

849
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,480
went and looked at his film right after they signed him,

850
00:42:59,519 --> 00:43:02,280
not having seen that much, of course, and of trying

851
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:04,159
not to look at the thirty four point game that

852
00:43:04,199 --> 00:43:08,559
everyone was citing, I saw a guy who was I

853
00:43:08,599 --> 00:43:12,519
thought better than a minimum big, And I wondered how

854
00:43:12,559 --> 00:43:15,360
the defense might work, and I wondered if the Raptors,

855
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:17,199
with more length on the floor, might be able to

856
00:43:17,199 --> 00:43:20,840
protect him and keep him in stronger positions. Kind of

857
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,280
exactly what we were talking about with big men. His

858
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:28,280
ability to drive the ball. He's probably one of the

859
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,360
better front court drivers in the NBA. He's very composed,

860
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:36,000
he's very coordinated, he has soft touch on finishes, and

861
00:43:36,159 --> 00:43:38,960
he's also not a star, so he doesn't see a

862
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,360
lot of rotation, which means that he gets to be

863
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,039
very linear in his decision making. He's been very impressive

864
00:43:45,119 --> 00:43:48,880
driving the ball. He plays through delay action, he helps facilitate

865
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:53,039
space for everybody. He makes quick decisions Defensively, he wasn't horrible.

866
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,519
I think he's going to factor majorly into a great

867
00:43:57,599 --> 00:44:02,159
many of the Raptors' lineups. And it's like Darko clearly

868
00:44:02,199 --> 00:44:06,000
loves his game. The Raptors won the minutes with Mamu

869
00:44:06,119 --> 00:44:10,400
by some measure in preseason, and he's a great measure

870
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,360
of like play style and skill set are very important

871
00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:17,880
and you need like sometimes bigs who do what he

872
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:20,840
does can really just facilitate lots of different lineups because

873
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,639
sometimes it's really hard to think about how you're gonna

874
00:44:24,639 --> 00:44:28,000
space Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett when Yakaperto is out there,

875
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,360
But then you just don't care about it, and the

876
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:32,519
ball just kind of moves easier and there's more space

877
00:44:32,559 --> 00:44:34,880
on the floor if moms out there instead bringing a

878
00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:39,920
guy up and he looks good, he matters for this

879
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:40,760
season big time.

880
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 1: How much value do you assign to over the basically

881
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:47,760
half of last year their second in points loud per

882
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:51,800
possession on the defensive end versus well, look who did

883
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:53,880
did or didn't play during that time and I think

884
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:56,199
they ended up playing eight or nine top ten offenses

885
00:44:56,599 --> 00:44:58,400
during that stretch off. How much do you take away

886
00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:00,320
from just that pocket of time where they were league

887
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:01,320
second best defense?

888
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,159
Speaker 2: Not a lot, not a lot. And you know, you

889
00:45:06,199 --> 00:45:08,440
listen to the podcast Caitlin and I did on the Raptor,

890
00:45:08,519 --> 00:45:11,280
she had that stat where when Scotty was healthy, they

891
00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:14,639
were still ranked twentieth against the best defenses in the league, Right,

892
00:45:15,039 --> 00:45:19,199
and like that matters, that's important. And on top of that,

893
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:23,960
I mean the end of the season, like or just

894
00:45:24,079 --> 00:45:28,960
that second ranking. I don't think that's an accurate reflection

895
00:45:29,159 --> 00:45:33,159
of their momentum. They finished fourteenth last year per cleaning

896
00:45:33,199 --> 00:45:35,239
the Glass. I don't know what NBA would have them at,

897
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:38,000
but per cleaning the Glass, they were fourteenth in defensive rating.

898
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,199
I would expect them to be around at this season,

899
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:46,159
but the top ten stuff. When I look at this team,

900
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,679
I'm not so certain I see that there.

901
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,320
Speaker 1: Do you expect to see their defense of approach evolve

902
00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:55,639
at all this year, especially with the integration of Brandon Ingram,

903
00:45:55,679 --> 00:45:58,440
do they have the personnel to play ultra aggressively to

904
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:00,719
pick up full court. We're you sort of add on

905
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:01,159
all that.

906
00:46:01,679 --> 00:46:06,400
Speaker 2: I expected to see it evolve a little bit. The press,

907
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:10,159
Like there's a difference. There's press and there's press zince

908
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:13,960
and you know when you bring guys up the flour

909
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,559
or when you go meet the ball. The Raptors were

910
00:46:16,599 --> 00:46:19,400
pretty good defensively when they go meet the ball and

911
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,679
then back up with it to inform pace instead of

912
00:46:22,679 --> 00:46:25,880
trying to create these you know, defensive playmaking opportunities in

913
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:28,480
the backcourt. Maybe they'll be able to ratchet that up

914
00:46:28,519 --> 00:46:31,559
when they have guys like Colin Murray, Boyles, Jacoby Walter

915
00:46:31,599 --> 00:46:33,280
and Jamal Shit out there, you know what I mean.

916
00:46:33,559 --> 00:46:36,119
But there are a lot of possessions where you see,

917
00:46:36,199 --> 00:46:38,159
like maybe Mom moves out there, and Grady Dick is

918
00:46:38,159 --> 00:46:42,679
out there, and Darko's like, yeah, go tack the ball, fellas,

919
00:46:43,039 --> 00:46:47,039
and you're just like, oh my days. It just doesn't

920
00:46:47,079 --> 00:46:50,159
go very well for them, and it's a huge it's

921
00:46:50,199 --> 00:46:52,440
just trouble. It's tough for them to navigate. So I

922
00:46:52,519 --> 00:46:54,880
expect them to have more of a less of an

923
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:59,559
all out approach in terms of their defense and try

924
00:46:59,599 --> 00:47:01,320
and modern rate it to some degree.

925
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:05,280
Speaker 1: Knowing everything about their approach, whether ups on defense or

926
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,519
what they're trying to do on offenses, their weakness and strength.

927
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:12,079
Who is the most important reserve on this team?

928
00:47:12,679 --> 00:47:18,079
Speaker 2: I think pro there's two really fun answers. There's one

929
00:47:18,119 --> 00:47:22,199
boring answer. Actually there's two really fun answers. There's two

930
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:26,039
very boring answers in actuality, like if this season isn't

931
00:47:26,039 --> 00:47:31,559
as exciting, it's probably either Mamu Kelishpheeli Mamu or Ochaibaji.

932
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:35,480
Both those guys they step in and they kind of

933
00:47:35,559 --> 00:47:38,000
simplify a lot of stuff that they're averagely doing. But

934
00:47:38,079 --> 00:47:41,719
then also there's like an upside answer. And the upside

935
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:45,280
answer is Colin Murray Boyles, who looks about as NBA

936
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:49,840
ready as a lot of players I've seen. Defensively, he

937
00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:54,079
is a jugger, not dude. He is incredible. His physicality

938
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:57,480
has been more than enough for about ninety eight percent

939
00:47:57,519 --> 00:48:00,519
of the players I've seen him play. And the two

940
00:48:00,519 --> 00:48:03,360
guys who it was not able to, you know, Fester

941
00:48:03,559 --> 00:48:06,639
and bug as much was Demonsta, Bonis and Jokich, who

942
00:48:06,639 --> 00:48:10,360
are obviously very comfortable with physicality and then also Grady Dick.

943
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:15,000
Grady Dick is so fun on offense. If the shot

944
00:48:15,079 --> 00:48:19,519
making ever catches up to the motion, his utility is

945
00:48:19,639 --> 00:48:23,639
just like incredibly high in making something out of nothing.

946
00:48:24,159 --> 00:48:27,320
He makes the defensive line step up so much higher.

947
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:31,599
He he allows so much more room within the confines

948
00:48:31,639 --> 00:48:35,239
of the paint to you know, rub screen and seal

949
00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:38,320
and just create and carve out room for guys who

950
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:42,679
need to get the ball down lower. And uh, I

951
00:48:42,679 --> 00:48:47,440
gotta settle on one guy. Probably, I would think, Mamu,

952
00:48:47,639 --> 00:48:49,880
he's been really important so far. Yep.

953
00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:55,079
Speaker 1: What is the path or the context of cmb's role

954
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,079
or like path to actual plan, Like what do the

955
00:48:57,119 --> 00:48:59,039
lineups have to look like? Where is he best suited

956
00:48:59,079 --> 00:48:59,719
to be deployed?

957
00:49:00,599 --> 00:49:03,840
Speaker 2: I think, honestly my early returns and I loved him

958
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:05,840
as a prospect. I thought he was a top five

959
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:06,639
player in the draft.

960
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:09,840
Speaker 1: There's a video him. I didn't love him on the raptors.

961
00:49:11,039 --> 00:49:15,239
Speaker 2: I also was like, the fit isn't as easy here

962
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:17,639
as maybe some other places. I was surprised they took him.

963
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:21,679
I was very happy they took him, because fit is

964
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:25,360
one thing, but also like if you're good enough, like

965
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:27,280
if you're good enough to warrant the top ten pick,

966
00:49:28,039 --> 00:49:30,079
you got to be able to find it anywhere, man.

967
00:49:30,119 --> 00:49:32,159
And if you can't find anywhere, like maybe you have

968
00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:34,480
that second act of your career where you find your footing,

969
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:36,960
but you probably didn't justify that pick, then it's rare.

970
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,920
Good players they find their way. And my hope, at

971
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,719
least in my analysis, that CMB is good enough. And

972
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:47,960
it looked very easy in preseason. I mean defensively, he

973
00:49:48,039 --> 00:49:50,039
fits everything they want to do. He is a wrecking call.

974
00:49:50,079 --> 00:49:54,800
He is an absolute terror. Not only was he like

975
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:58,599
sticky and guarding and turning Demarto rosen over in isolation.

976
00:49:59,159 --> 00:50:01,360
Not only was he up pick and rolls as the

977
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:05,519
guy stepping out. Not only was he wrestling somewhat successfully

978
00:50:05,519 --> 00:50:08,480
with Sabonis and Jokic, but his ball pressure in the

979
00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:11,760
back court is Guys are like, what the hell? Why

980
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:14,480
is this huge man stepping with me? And perhaps even

981
00:50:14,559 --> 00:50:20,039
quicker and his hands these big hooks of disruption. But offensively,

982
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:24,000
he was excellent driving the ball. He's not afraid to

983
00:50:24,039 --> 00:50:26,679
take the three point shot. I actually think it'll come around,

984
00:50:27,519 --> 00:50:30,679
not as like a big thing, but it'll come around.

985
00:50:31,159 --> 00:50:36,679
And he offensive rebounds, He screams like the Dickens, and

986
00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:39,000
he moves the ball on He plays really well out

987
00:50:39,039 --> 00:50:41,480
of delay action. They were playing five out with him

988
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:44,079
out there and it looked good and it worked well.

989
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:47,199
He just wants to He's a ballplayer, man. He's just

990
00:50:47,199 --> 00:50:49,599
going out there and doing stuff and that's why he

991
00:50:49,639 --> 00:50:53,199
fits despite his limitations. He does a really good job

992
00:50:53,199 --> 00:50:55,199
of reminding you of his strengths and that's what this

993
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:56,000
league is built on.

994
00:50:56,559 --> 00:50:59,119
Speaker 1: So is there a chance we see maybe a Scottie

995
00:50:59,119 --> 00:51:01,519
barn CMB from CORP will come at least a semi

996
00:51:01,559 --> 00:51:02,559
staple this year.

997
00:51:03,599 --> 00:51:08,800
Speaker 2: There's potential for it, but I think Darko probably will

998
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:11,920
because they want to win games this year. Probably a

999
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:16,920
higher percentage that those guys are with MAMU just for simplicity,

1000
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:21,519
because as much as the defense, Scotty and CMB can

1001
00:51:21,559 --> 00:51:24,159
definitely make ORG defensively, the other side of the court

1002
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,079
is where you wonder about how things fit, so there's

1003
00:51:27,079 --> 00:51:30,519
always that two sided consideration. So I think it'll be

1004
00:51:30,519 --> 00:51:32,920
more likely that they'll stick with MAMU with either one

1005
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:35,360
of those guys, But I mean, I would love to

1006
00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,480
see Scotty and CMB play a heap of minutes together.

1007
00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 1: We had done a video on this podcast last year.

1008
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:43,800
It was like fifteen or seventeen games of the season

1009
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:46,400
about Grady Dick and just all he was doing and

1010
00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:48,559
the pressure he was putting on defense. Is his role

1011
00:51:48,639 --> 00:51:51,440
was pretty complex and he was just killing it. Peters

1012
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:54,280
out by the end of the year. How much easier

1013
00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:57,119
you had mentioned him before, But like how much is

1014
00:51:57,119 --> 00:51:59,239
it being undersold? Like how big it is that he

1015
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:00,960
has so many people in front of him in the

1016
00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:03,559
packing order now relative to like his best stretches last

1017
00:52:03,599 --> 00:52:05,400
year to where it was, Oh, did he gas himself

1018
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:07,079
out during that first quarter of the season.

1019
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:12,440
Speaker 2: He definitely gassed himself out. The metrics that measure like

1020
00:52:12,519 --> 00:52:14,800
he was one of the top ten players in the

1021
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:17,000
NBA when it comes to how fast he was moving

1022
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:20,360
on average, he was towards the top of the league

1023
00:52:20,360 --> 00:52:23,559
in miles traveled during that portion as well. And something

1024
00:52:23,639 --> 00:52:27,320
that none of the tracking data measures is that he

1025
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,639
is in you know, a jiu jitsu match, trying to

1026
00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:33,760
get over every single screen. And also the raptors are

1027
00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:35,559
asking him to be a ball pressure guard on the

1028
00:52:35,559 --> 00:52:39,719
other side, Like the requirement of being Grady Dick is insane.

1029
00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:42,440
They ask him. They ask him to do a lot

1030
00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:46,800
of stuff. He was number one in off ball screens

1031
00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:50,079
used in the NBA during that stretch too, because they

1032
00:52:50,079 --> 00:52:51,920
were just like, well, we need him to use a

1033
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:54,079
screen so we can drag a player and a half

1034
00:52:54,079 --> 00:52:56,400
to this side of the floor. Maybe he touches it,

1035
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,800
maybe he doesn't, but we need him sprinting. Him not

1036
00:53:00,119 --> 00:53:02,239
being like the Moon and the Stars, I think is

1037
00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:06,760
going to benefit a lot, and they're are still all

1038
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,760
the upside of his offensive stuff is there where he

1039
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:14,440
can playmake out of close out situations. He attacks fearlessly

1040
00:53:14,599 --> 00:53:16,960
to try and get to the rim. He can make

1041
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,000
the pull up MIDI, he can take it all those

1042
00:53:19,039 --> 00:53:20,800
to rim. He shot ten to twelve at the rim

1043
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:23,320
and preseason, nice little sign four or five and a

1044
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:26,360
half court. I liked it. When I sat down with

1045
00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:28,159
him for our one on one, we talked a little

1046
00:53:28,159 --> 00:53:30,280
bit about getting jacked and how hard it is to

1047
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:32,840
eat enough to get jacked when you already are such

1048
00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:37,840
a huge man. And it's him not being a guy

1049
00:53:37,880 --> 00:53:39,480
who has to go out there for like twenty seven

1050
00:53:39,519 --> 00:53:42,960
percent usage is pretty big deal. I think because they

1051
00:53:43,039 --> 00:53:46,159
ran him, he must have lost fourteen pounds to open

1052
00:53:46,199 --> 00:53:49,039
the season. Man, they ran him ragged. He was who's

1053
00:53:49,079 --> 00:53:51,960
at Kipchoge, like the best marathon runner in the world,

1054
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:54,840
the guy who owns all the records. They're just setting

1055
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:56,960
him out there, man, They're just like, go sprint for

1056
00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:57,360
an hour.

1057
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:01,119
Speaker 1: Last year we had talked about because I'd seen my

1058
00:54:01,159 --> 00:54:02,800
notes when I was putting together the outline for this,

1059
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:05,800
I asked you whether you thought Jacoby Walter had the

1060
00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:09,360
ability to scale down based off Toronto's personnel. I came

1061
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:11,719
away last season from his rookie you're feeling a little

1062
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:13,519
bit better about him being able to do that, and

1063
00:54:13,519 --> 00:54:16,039
then kind of being blown away by, Oh, this is

1064
00:54:16,079 --> 00:54:19,239
someone who holds up better defensively than I was ever

1065
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:22,960
kind of anticipating where are you at with Jacoby Walter?

1066
00:54:23,119 --> 00:54:25,039
His role in this team is future that that whole

1067
00:54:25,079 --> 00:54:26,320
thing would do?

1068
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:29,320
Speaker 2: You remember what my answer was to the scale down thing.

1069
00:54:30,079 --> 00:54:32,400
Speaker 1: Didn't we both I think we both talked about or

1070
00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:35,400
I had mentioned Karros Lavert or something and you had

1071
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,280
said that that was like sort of what you envisioned

1072
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:39,320
for him too, and.

1073
00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:44,199
Speaker 2: We were both wrong then for sure. Uh, Yeah, Karris Lavert,

1074
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:46,639
you look in the body and it makes sense, and

1075
00:54:46,679 --> 00:54:49,199
you look at the Baylor stuff and it makes sense,

1076
00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:51,519
and then you look at your one and it makes

1077
00:54:51,639 --> 00:54:57,760
no sense. He he played so little like how we

1078
00:54:57,800 --> 00:55:01,639
did in college with the Raptors. He was basically had

1079
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:05,199
no ability to create anything off the bounce. I think

1080
00:55:05,199 --> 00:55:07,639
it took like six weeks into the season for him

1081
00:55:07,639 --> 00:55:10,280
to register his first blow by without a closeout or

1082
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:13,639
a screen, Like, he just couldn't. He just couldn't beat guys.

1083
00:55:14,159 --> 00:55:17,480
And he, like Grady, obviously struggled a lot at the rim,

1084
00:55:17,519 --> 00:55:21,280
but Jacoby was even worse. And Grady is, you know,

1085
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:24,000
a year older, so people, and he had higher usage

1086
00:55:24,039 --> 00:55:26,760
so people he was and there was some graphic that

1087
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:29,239
listed him as the worst finisher in the NBA, so

1088
00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:32,360
people folks on that. But Jacoby had trouble too. And

1089
00:55:32,639 --> 00:55:34,840
also the first like two months of the season he

1090
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,960
shot twenty percent on wide open threes, just like weird

1091
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:39,800
stuff going on. And then he had a.

1092
00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:41,719
Speaker 1: Lot open threes in the preseason this year though he

1093
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:42,760
shot pretty bad too.

1094
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:47,320
Speaker 2: He has funky mechanics a little bit like I was

1095
00:55:48,079 --> 00:55:50,960
thinking about this, that he anchors with the opposite leg,

1096
00:55:51,039 --> 00:55:53,400
that a lot of right handed shooters anchor with everyone

1097
00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:56,079
anchors with their right leg, you bring it down, you know,

1098
00:55:56,119 --> 00:55:58,800
you stack on your left side, the non shooting side.

1099
00:55:59,199 --> 00:56:01,920
You get that toe tap or you bring that right

1100
00:56:01,920 --> 00:56:04,239
foot in and then you align on the same side.

1101
00:56:04,280 --> 00:56:06,440
He's circling up a lot of times. See will stack

1102
00:56:06,519 --> 00:56:08,400
on the right side and anchor on the left, which

1103
00:56:08,440 --> 00:56:11,639
I think leads to some crossfiring for him. Anyway, this

1104
00:56:11,719 --> 00:56:15,639
is audio. Nobody cares. He's got a function a little bit.

1105
00:56:17,559 --> 00:56:21,599
He was awesome defensively, his ball pressure is good. He

1106
00:56:21,639 --> 00:56:24,920
struggled navigating screens. You know, he had this great answer

1107
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:28,079
when I asked him last year at the end about

1108
00:56:28,159 --> 00:56:31,079
navigating screens, and he was like, yeah, it's the play

1109
00:56:31,159 --> 00:56:33,920
is called Skips seventy seven. The Pacers run it where

1110
00:56:34,159 --> 00:56:37,000
it's basically a double drag screen. But Tyrus Haliburton, since

1111
00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:39,960
he's a much better passer than he is dribbler, just

1112
00:56:40,199 --> 00:56:42,599
pings the ball to the lower screener and goes and

1113
00:56:42,639 --> 00:56:46,480
sprints off of it. And Jacoby Walter the first time

1114
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:48,840
they played, the Pacers kept getting put in that action.

1115
00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:51,079
He was like, how the hell do you gut Tyrus Alburton,

1116
00:56:51,159 --> 00:56:55,039
This is impossible? And he graded out as an incredible

1117
00:56:55,079 --> 00:56:58,360
isolation defender. He graded out as a truly terrible picket

1118
00:56:58,440 --> 00:57:02,079
roll defender that complex and also like he played a

1119
00:57:02,079 --> 00:57:05,360
lot of minutes with Kelly Olinik. Well, you know, it's

1120
00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:07,480
not a bunch of help in the pick and roll.

1121
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:11,760
There's a bunch of stuff happening with Jacoby. Clearly, to

1122
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,599
answer the question, he was great at scaling down the

1123
00:57:14,679 --> 00:57:20,199
low usage fit him very well. I think this season

1124
00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:23,360
is going to be a year four because I haven't

1125
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:25,760
seen any of the Ochai news. I think Ochai is

1126
00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:28,360
going to get paid in the summer. I think Grady

1127
00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:31,360
Dick is year three. There's a lot of talent there.

1128
00:57:31,400 --> 00:57:34,320
He's going to get a lot of minutes. And CMB

1129
00:57:34,599 --> 00:57:37,000
was just pick number nine. Mom's going to be very important.

1130
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:39,840
This is not the big year for Jacoby Walter. I

1131
00:57:39,840 --> 00:57:42,480
think Jacoby Walter will get a huge opportunity when I

1132
00:57:42,519 --> 00:57:46,880
think o Chai Abaji goes somewhere else. Although if Jacoby

1133
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:50,199
Walter beats some guys out, maybe it's Grady, maybe it's Ochai,

1134
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:53,239
maybe it's whoever to get into the rotation. I'd love

1135
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:55,239
to see what that looks like. But I think this

1136
00:57:55,280 --> 00:57:59,079
is a smaller year for Jacoby before he adds in

1137
00:57:59,159 --> 00:57:59,880
his career, going for.

1138
00:58:01,400 --> 00:58:03,320
Speaker 1: My hot take, and it's not more of it's more

1139
00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:06,679
of amusing. I'm not confident to predict it. Sure, I

1140
00:58:06,719 --> 00:58:09,639
could see him becoming the most important reserve because if

1141
00:58:09,679 --> 00:58:11,360
you look at the way the Raptors want to defend,

1142
00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:13,760
and let's look at let's look at the starting lineup

1143
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:16,000
for a second. Yeah, who do you You probably don't

1144
00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:18,119
even trust Manuel quickly to defend this way, but who

1145
00:58:18,119 --> 00:58:21,119
aside from Emmanuel quickly do you trust to defend like

1146
00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:23,840
to press or like If Jacoby Walter can do that

1147
00:58:24,079 --> 00:58:26,360
and you play him next to Emmanuel quickly, you're a

1148
00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:28,480
little smaller, but you're built to be more aggressive. I

1149
00:58:28,480 --> 00:58:30,880
don't know now the name there, because you're not pulling

1150
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:33,039
Scotti or Ingram out of that. It's oh okay, let's

1151
00:58:33,239 --> 00:58:35,480
we're gonna pluck out R. J. Barrett and Jacoby Walter

1152
00:58:35,599 --> 00:58:37,760
is going to be that first sub. I could just

1153
00:58:38,119 --> 00:58:39,920
I would want to see it. I'm just not confident

1154
00:58:40,039 --> 00:58:41,880
enough to predict it.

1155
00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:45,840
Speaker 2: It's your bang on. In my estimation, he is the

1156
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:50,000
best press defender, not just of the reserves on the roster.

1157
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:54,800
He's he's better than Jamal Shed by some measure, I

1158
00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:59,159
think he's better than Quickly, He's better than o Chai.

1159
00:59:00,239 --> 00:59:03,599
He's he's a damn good breast defender. He's very good

1160
00:59:03,639 --> 00:59:06,880
at sticking on guys. The screen now stuff is a

1161
00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:12,599
whole other thing. But what you're seeing and the basketball

1162
00:59:12,719 --> 00:59:16,079
hypothesis you have going on, it's there. It just depends

1163
00:59:16,079 --> 00:59:18,760
how much the Raptors need offensively from their guys. And

1164
00:59:18,800 --> 00:59:21,599
then we got to revisit hitting open shots type thing.

1165
00:59:22,079 --> 00:59:27,400
But Jacoby, what he does defensively fits perfectly with what

1166
00:59:27,440 --> 00:59:29,960
the Raptors want to do. So this is you know,

1167
00:59:30,079 --> 00:59:33,719
my co host Trey, we had this. We contrived because

1168
00:59:33,760 --> 00:59:36,199
we both really liked Jacoby and Grady, but we contrived

1169
00:59:36,199 --> 00:59:39,320
a debate over the two, and basically, the whole pitch

1170
00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:42,800
for Jacoby as the better prospect going forward revolves around

1171
00:59:42,840 --> 00:59:46,559
the idea that like he's damn good on ball and

1172
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:49,400
what you're seeing, you're correct, Dan, he's good.

1173
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:51,559
Speaker 1: Does he have the ability to be better with the

1174
00:59:51,599 --> 00:59:54,239
screen navigation? Then? So I had listened to the podcast

1175
00:59:54,280 --> 00:59:56,079
I think you did with Trey where you guys had

1176
00:59:56,119 --> 00:59:58,360
noted his on ball defense and all like the bad

1177
00:59:58,400 --> 01:00:00,920
screen navigation, But I don't you calling him the best

1178
01:00:00,920 --> 01:00:02,880
on ball defender that you think this team has, which

1179
01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:03,760
is kind of insane.

1180
01:00:04,239 --> 01:00:05,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, not that you're wrong.

1181
01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:08,119
Speaker 1: I just think that that's like incredible praise to keep

1182
01:00:08,199 --> 01:00:08,760
upon him.

1183
01:00:08,880 --> 01:00:12,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just because, you know, maybe Scottie

1184
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:16,599
is better lower cmb's a rookie, but I think it's Jacoby.

1185
01:00:17,199 --> 01:00:19,320
Does he have the I mean, of course he could

1186
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:22,719
definitely get better at screen navigation. So much of screen navigation,

1187
01:00:23,559 --> 01:00:27,840
it really is the guile and the understanding that rookies

1188
01:00:27,880 --> 01:00:32,559
barely ever have because you go from college offense, which

1189
01:00:32,599 --> 01:00:35,840
is much different to all of a sudden, you know,

1190
01:00:36,159 --> 01:00:40,280
you're you want to guard Trey Young and there's a massive,

1191
01:00:40,400 --> 01:00:44,159
hulking man who's actually has like seven years of screencraft

1192
01:00:44,199 --> 01:00:46,679
at the highest level, and he's going to try and

1193
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:49,400
pin you, you know, thirty nine feet away from the rim,

1194
01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:51,960
and you're like, oh, Jesus Christ, how do I navigate this?

1195
01:00:53,039 --> 01:00:57,280
It'll come around for him. I think he's strong, He's

1196
01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:01,480
very that tenstyle strength. He can get skinny and uh,

1197
01:01:01,639 --> 01:01:03,719
he's sticky. So I think it'll come around. I don't

1198
01:01:03,719 --> 01:01:05,480
know about this year, but in the future I expect

1199
01:01:05,519 --> 01:01:05,760
it too.

1200
01:01:06,199 --> 01:01:08,519
Speaker 1: So it's not just he's dying on anybody's screens like

1201
01:01:08,519 --> 01:01:10,079
you think. It's more of like attacked thing.

1202
01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:14,480
Speaker 2: I think it's attacked thing. And he sometimes he dies,

1203
01:01:15,119 --> 01:01:17,360
but you know what, everyone dies.

1204
01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:20,599
Speaker 1: Sometimes he's not like dying on a tray young screen

1205
01:01:20,679 --> 01:01:21,760
or something along those times.

1206
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 2: No, no, no, I don't Yeah, it would it would

1207
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:26,199
be he he had trouble with bigs mostly.

1208
01:01:27,960 --> 01:01:29,920
Speaker 1: The final question before we get in the lightning round

1209
01:01:29,960 --> 01:01:31,199
I have for you this is I'm looking at the

1210
01:01:31,280 --> 01:01:34,639
roster and I feel like they could struggle to field

1211
01:01:34,679 --> 01:01:36,320
what would be a two way lineup to where its

1212
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:38,920
Oh this lineup was really good on defense and of offense,

1213
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:41,480
so why not? Okay, One, the question was is that

1214
01:01:41,519 --> 01:01:44,000
accurate or am I being an alarmist? And two, what's

1215
01:01:44,079 --> 01:01:46,480
the best possible combination you could build that has a

1216
01:01:46,599 --> 01:01:49,039
chance of kind of straddling that two way line?

1217
01:01:49,519 --> 01:01:53,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, this it's I think it's accurate. Now, of course,

1218
01:01:53,599 --> 01:01:57,519
like these things can always be proven wrong, but it's

1219
01:01:57,519 --> 01:01:59,719
hard to predict things. And as far as like looking

1220
01:01:59,719 --> 01:02:01,440
at the look at all these players on the roster,

1221
01:02:01,519 --> 01:02:03,440
it's like, hey, build a two way lineup. That's not

1222
01:02:03,679 --> 01:02:08,000
easy here, especially if you're just because of what the listeners,

1223
01:02:08,400 --> 01:02:11,840
not everybody listening is like in they're probably learning about

1224
01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:15,000
Jacobe Walter's defense right now when you think about this stuff,

1225
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:18,039
A lot of his reputation. How many reps of Brandon Ingram,

1226
01:02:18,159 --> 01:02:20,639
you know, getting skinny over screens have I seen not

1227
01:02:20,760 --> 01:02:24,719
that many reputations year, that's for sure, exactly not a

1228
01:02:24,719 --> 01:02:26,599
lot last year. And you know, he didn't do a

1229
01:02:26,639 --> 01:02:28,679
bad job when I did the film breakdown of his

1230
01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:33,400
defense in the preseason, but it's just pre season regardless. Uh,

1231
01:02:33,719 --> 01:02:39,679
probably I'm thinking the manual quickly. O Chaia Baji, Brandon Ingram,

1232
01:02:39,920 --> 01:02:47,400
Scottie Barnes, Sandrew mamukelish FIELI that if Scotti is playing

1233
01:02:48,360 --> 01:02:54,039
the five out big position and Sandraw is roaming, attacking, replacing,

1234
01:02:54,039 --> 01:02:57,280
and those guys can kind of do they can both

1235
01:02:57,280 --> 01:03:01,639
operate as the big with Brandon iq creating in space

1236
01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:05,239
and o Chai as the connective piece. I think it

1237
01:03:05,280 --> 01:03:11,719
can be passable offensively, and I think defensively having o

1238
01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:14,400
Chai there, well, I don't think he's as good defensively

1239
01:03:14,400 --> 01:03:19,719
as some people might think. He's above average slightly quickly

1240
01:03:20,360 --> 01:03:24,000
has definitely had more effort early on this year's conditioning

1241
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:25,800
has been really great. That means you get effort at

1242
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:27,880
the point of attack from two guys who can switch out.

1243
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:32,199
Scotty helps a bunch, Brandon has size and you can

1244
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:34,480
keep him out of a lot of the actions, and

1245
01:03:34,519 --> 01:03:40,599
Sandro has feet, and that's that's gonna be an okay lineup. Defensively,

1246
01:03:40,599 --> 01:03:44,119
I think that lineup might have some to it as

1247
01:03:44,159 --> 01:03:46,760
a name between one, but I don't know. This is tough.

1248
01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:49,760
Like I was talking to Caitlin because Lewis and I

1249
01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:51,719
got asked this as a male bait question, which was

1250
01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:55,039
like predict the Raptor's best lineup. It sounds like a

1251
01:03:55,079 --> 01:03:58,159
simple question, and I talked to this about Kailyn. That's

1252
01:03:58,239 --> 01:04:02,280
one of the hardest questions, like in actuality, because that's

1253
01:04:02,320 --> 01:04:05,079
the that's the question that coaching stabs get paid million

1254
01:04:05,079 --> 01:04:07,840
dollars to find out. It's it's really hard. It's a

1255
01:04:07,880 --> 01:04:10,960
really tough question. Unless you're the Nuggets, then you just

1256
01:04:11,000 --> 01:04:13,519
say it's like, oh yeah, it's like Jokic and the guys.

1257
01:04:13,880 --> 01:04:14,400
That's great.

1258
01:04:14,599 --> 01:04:16,840
Speaker 1: You know, there's some teams where it's easy. If we

1259
01:04:16,840 --> 01:04:18,800
were to go through and didn't exercise of what do

1260
01:04:18,840 --> 01:04:20,679
we think every team's best lineup is going to be

1261
01:04:20,679 --> 01:04:23,280
I would imagine the Raptors would be in the top

1262
01:04:23,320 --> 01:04:25,639
five of difficulty to figure that out.

1263
01:04:26,679 --> 01:04:29,400
Speaker 2: It's not easy with and you'd think, because it just

1264
01:04:29,719 --> 01:04:31,280
a lot of teams, you're like, Okay, look at who

1265
01:04:31,320 --> 01:04:34,599
gets paid and then, but it didn't always work out

1266
01:04:34,639 --> 01:04:36,800
that way. Sometimes there's a key On Ellis in the mix,

1267
01:04:37,039 --> 01:04:40,000
you know, right, don't have key on.

1268
01:04:40,039 --> 01:04:42,480
Speaker 1: Though, well they might because I'm sure the Kings will

1269
01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:44,960
trade him for two seconds. They have no idea what

1270
01:04:45,000 --> 01:04:48,800
they're doing. Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter

1271
01:04:48,840 --> 01:04:52,440
slash lightning round portion of the pie? Looking at their

1272
01:04:52,519 --> 01:04:55,480
roster just on paper, Well, and you've seen preseason obviously,

1273
01:04:55,559 --> 01:04:57,880
what do you view as their single biggest need and

1274
01:04:57,920 --> 01:04:58,760
biggest strength?

1275
01:05:00,079 --> 01:05:05,440
Speaker 2: Their single biggest need is Derek White slash Derek White

1276
01:05:06,239 --> 01:05:11,880
impostor that that player. And it's why I believe I

1277
01:05:12,000 --> 01:05:14,159
believe it. The reports that came out that they tried

1278
01:05:14,159 --> 01:05:17,760
to get them, I believe it. I didn't hear anything personally, Uh,

1279
01:05:18,159 --> 01:05:20,079
there's lots of trade stuff that I've heard that turns

1280
01:05:20,079 --> 01:05:21,920
out to be true. I didn't hear anything about this

1281
01:05:22,079 --> 01:05:24,800
except the reports. I was like Yep, Derek White would

1282
01:05:24,800 --> 01:05:27,559
make so much sense on this team, especially when everybody's

1283
01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:33,119
already paid and the Celtics are clearly deconstructing to some degree.

1284
01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:37,599
That's the biggest need. And what was the what was

1285
01:05:37,639 --> 01:05:38,480
the second part? There?

1286
01:05:38,719 --> 01:05:40,599
Speaker 1: Biggest strength, the biggest.

1287
01:05:40,239 --> 01:05:46,320
Speaker 2: Strength, their biggest strength. Jesus, it's probably a problem that

1288
01:05:46,360 --> 01:05:51,320
this isn't inherent to me. Uh, the big their biggest

1289
01:05:52,199 --> 01:05:59,039
that's really funny. Their biggest strength offensive rebounding. I expect

1290
01:05:59,039 --> 01:06:00,239
to be really strong here.

1291
01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:09,920
Speaker 1: That's like, that's the second time we've gotten this answer.

1292
01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:11,920
But I asked it about the biggest strength of someone's

1293
01:06:11,920 --> 01:06:14,679
front court. It was the Celtics, and Bobby Manning gave

1294
01:06:14,719 --> 01:06:17,880
the answer of their biggest weakness is defensive rebounding. Their

1295
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:22,360
biggest strength is offensive rebounding. Offensive rebounding strength is an

1296
01:06:22,360 --> 01:06:25,679
overall thing. It's like the good job, good effort of

1297
01:06:25,800 --> 01:06:27,519
compliments to throw out there.

1298
01:06:29,639 --> 01:06:31,760
Speaker 2: I'd love to be wrong about this, but I'm trying

1299
01:06:31,760 --> 01:06:36,519
to think of like what they're good at, and the

1300
01:06:36,519 --> 01:06:38,719
defense I'm not sold on as being great, but they

1301
01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:41,519
do tag up, so they are going to increase their

1302
01:06:41,559 --> 01:06:45,119
offensive rebounding. Presenters, you have yakabat. There you have Scottie.

1303
01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:49,400
They Brandon is not so bad. There's potential here.

1304
01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:52,280
Speaker 1: Could it be? Could you turn the I'm sure some

1305
01:06:52,320 --> 01:06:56,320
people criticize they lack a primary playmaker, but they just

1306
01:06:56,360 --> 01:06:59,480
have all these secondary guys, so depth of advantage creation

1307
01:06:59,639 --> 01:07:02,039
or something you could spin it into into that.

1308
01:07:02,639 --> 01:07:06,320
Speaker 2: This would be true if they weren't thirtieth last year.

1309
01:07:06,639 --> 01:07:11,159
So like, while they have they have depth to some degree,

1310
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:14,320
like every like quickly r J. Scotti, all these guys

1311
01:07:14,320 --> 01:07:17,320
can do something after the catch. The problem is, and

1312
01:07:17,400 --> 01:07:19,239
the problem was last year. It is just that they're

1313
01:07:19,639 --> 01:07:24,440
not that inspiring before the catch. And while Brandon is great,

1314
01:07:25,920 --> 01:07:28,039
they will have to multiply advantages. They will have to

1315
01:07:28,079 --> 01:07:29,599
do that stuff. But I don't expect that to be

1316
01:07:29,639 --> 01:07:33,639
their greatest strength. But let's go offensive rebounding. But again,

1317
01:07:34,280 --> 01:07:35,719
I think that they're not going to be a team

1318
01:07:35,760 --> 01:07:37,679
of great strengths. They're going to be a team of

1319
01:07:38,159 --> 01:07:42,119
hopefully not that many weaknesses, because yeah.

1320
01:07:42,239 --> 01:07:47,599
Speaker 1: Sticks to landing. Is there something about this team that's

1321
01:07:47,599 --> 01:07:50,119
flying under the radar on a national level that you

1322
01:07:50,159 --> 01:07:51,239
think warrants more attention?

1323
01:07:53,199 --> 01:07:56,440
Speaker 2: No, it's like that might be a boring answer, but

1324
01:07:56,880 --> 01:08:01,159
this team has to prove itself. And I thought the

1325
01:08:01,159 --> 01:08:04,079
team when everybody's thinking they're gonna win thirty three games

1326
01:08:04,159 --> 01:08:07,239
or something, I was like, Okay, well, people just don't

1327
01:08:07,280 --> 01:08:10,679
understand this team functionally. But now that everyone is kind

1328
01:08:10,679 --> 01:08:13,159
of expecting them to win above forty, I feel like

1329
01:08:13,159 --> 01:08:15,079
people generally understand this team.

1330
01:08:15,280 --> 01:08:17,760
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, everyone's expecting them to win above forty.

1331
01:08:17,840 --> 01:08:20,319
I don't. I think if you polled people, not just

1332
01:08:21,199 --> 01:08:24,680
in the market, if you polled, I think ninety percent

1333
01:08:24,720 --> 01:08:26,359
of people would pick the Raptors to win fewer than

1334
01:08:26,359 --> 01:08:29,520
forty games. Maybe I'm just disconnected from the NBA take

1335
01:08:29,640 --> 01:08:31,640
machine at the moment, but what.

1336
01:08:32,000 --> 01:08:35,840
Speaker 2: See, I thought that they're over under moved to like

1337
01:08:36,039 --> 01:08:39,479
thirty nine or thirty nine point five, So that's like

1338
01:08:39,520 --> 01:08:42,279
where the money is. So I'm thinking about like where

1339
01:08:42,319 --> 01:08:43,039
the money is.

1340
01:08:43,920 --> 01:08:44,319
Speaker 1: Uh.

1341
01:08:44,359 --> 01:08:46,920
Speaker 2: And as far as I now analysts, a lot of

1342
01:08:46,960 --> 01:08:49,840
analysts I've seen who are like and keep in mind,

1343
01:08:49,880 --> 01:08:53,039
I pay attention to the avant garde analysts. You know,

1344
01:08:53,079 --> 01:08:54,119
I'm not really Steven A.

1345
01:08:54,199 --> 01:08:55,920
Speaker 1: Smith, Kendrick Yeah exactly.

1346
01:08:56,039 --> 01:08:58,840
Speaker 2: I don't think Stephen A. Smith or Kendrick Perkins would

1347
01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:01,600
pick this team to win more than four. But yeah,

1348
01:09:01,600 --> 01:09:03,560
this is a good question. This to make me investigate

1349
01:09:03,600 --> 01:09:06,119
where I get my news from. What did what did

1350
01:09:06,159 --> 01:09:07,920
CNN think of the Raptors over?

1351
01:09:08,800 --> 01:09:10,880
Speaker 1: Well, it is we've had my coast. I've had this

1352
01:09:10,960 --> 01:09:14,640
conversation a bunch is that sometimes you're in when you're

1353
01:09:14,680 --> 01:09:18,039
not there getting mad at what analyst X said. You

1354
01:09:18,079 --> 01:09:20,760
built your own silo of just this coverage is the type.

1355
01:09:20,840 --> 01:09:24,039
It's not just not that you're following raw, raw Raptors coverage,

1356
01:09:24,039 --> 01:09:27,079
but you're following maybe more nuanced coverage that are going

1357
01:09:27,079 --> 01:09:30,079
at people like yourself, so you're not as connected to

1358
01:09:30,239 --> 01:09:33,159
the Sometimes I'll see people are mad about what ESPN

1359
01:09:33,199 --> 01:09:36,479
said about this, or Bleacher Report company I work, we're

1360
01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:38,960
said about that. I'm like, well, I didn't like see

1361
01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:41,840
this take being floaded around out there, So I built

1362
01:09:41,840 --> 01:09:42,479
my own silo.

1363
01:09:42,920 --> 01:09:45,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely have a silo, and mine is very

1364
01:09:45,840 --> 01:09:52,039
small because I actually I don't take in basketball coverage,

1365
01:09:52,079 --> 01:09:53,960
like I just don't read it, I don't listen to it.

1366
01:09:54,399 --> 01:10:00,119
I my free time is like not basketball at all.

1367
01:10:00,159 --> 01:10:04,000
So I know very I know very little. This is

1368
01:10:04,079 --> 01:10:06,039
just what I've been picking up from people who like

1369
01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:09,079
talk to me, not even in like hearing a podcast,

1370
01:10:09,079 --> 01:10:11,600
but just talking to a writer from like Memphis, or

1371
01:10:11,640 --> 01:10:14,520
like a scout from like Cleveland or something like that. Right,

1372
01:10:15,880 --> 01:10:18,159
So I could be way off, but I think the

1373
01:10:18,239 --> 01:10:24,279
Rappers after a preseason are understood to some degree. And

1374
01:10:24,439 --> 01:10:27,720
if they're not understood, that's a good thing because it's

1375
01:10:27,800 --> 01:10:29,920
up to these guys, who have played so little together

1376
01:10:30,000 --> 01:10:32,880
to prove everyone wrong. It's not a bad position to be.

1377
01:10:33,520 --> 01:10:38,239
Speaker 1: They got six whole preseason games of partial strength basketball, Samson.

1378
01:10:38,279 --> 01:10:40,000
I think we've seen enough time together. We know what

1379
01:10:40,079 --> 01:10:43,760
they are. I'm asking you or forcing you to build

1380
01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:45,960
a ten man rotation for this team. We know the

1381
01:10:45,960 --> 01:10:48,279
five starters who are going to be the five most

1382
01:10:48,319 --> 01:10:51,760
used reserves.

1383
01:10:50,359 --> 01:10:57,760
Speaker 2: Uh Oshai Baji, Grady, Dick, Colin, Murray Boyles, Mamu, Kelshvieli

1384
01:10:58,960 --> 01:11:01,199
and Jamals.

1385
01:11:01,800 --> 01:11:03,439
Speaker 1: So who's the one we got because I don't think

1386
01:11:03,439 --> 01:11:08,960
I had CMB in mine. No, Jacoby Walter not in there.

1387
01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:10,600
That's right. That's where that breaks my heart. I went

1388
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:12,479
from calling it the most important reserve to do can't

1389
01:11:12,479 --> 01:11:13,039
get minutes?

1390
01:11:13,119 --> 01:11:16,199
Speaker 2: Well, but that but that doesn't matter, right, Like it's

1391
01:11:16,239 --> 01:11:19,760
like maybe it's wrong. Oh yeah, like maybe maybe it's wrong,

1392
01:11:19,800 --> 01:11:22,359
but also maybe it's right because the the.

1393
01:11:22,359 --> 01:11:24,760
Speaker 1: Raptors, right, I would defer to you. I just assumed

1394
01:11:25,079 --> 01:11:26,279
I'm thinking in my own brain.

1395
01:11:26,960 --> 01:11:29,920
Speaker 2: Well, I'll give you some insight the Raptors when they

1396
01:11:29,960 --> 01:11:35,239
started out in training camp. This was my rotation before

1397
01:11:35,279 --> 01:11:38,000
training camp. But in training camp, like Jacoby, Walter was

1398
01:11:38,039 --> 01:11:42,239
with the third stringers, and the five that actually ended

1399
01:11:42,319 --> 01:11:44,720
up being their second string was the five guys I

1400
01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:48,840
just named for you now. But Grady and Jacoby played

1401
01:11:49,239 --> 01:11:52,399
the same amount of minutes, almost like to the number

1402
01:11:52,680 --> 01:11:55,720
in preseason, and Jacoby got a lot of minutes stepping

1403
01:11:55,720 --> 01:11:58,479
in with that starting lineup. Grady was asked to carry

1404
01:11:58,600 --> 01:12:01,439
lineups a little bit more with his off but uh,

1405
01:12:01,560 --> 01:12:05,039
Jacoby could easily get in there. He's a big swing.

1406
01:12:05,479 --> 01:12:08,560
He could be big, could be a good year for him.

1407
01:12:08,680 --> 01:12:11,159
Speaker 1: Is there a wack of doodle lineup you would like

1408
01:12:11,199 --> 01:12:13,840
to see dark ar Rakovich roll out this season?

1409
01:12:14,520 --> 01:12:18,359
Speaker 2: Yeah. I would love to see some combination, just for

1410
01:12:18,520 --> 01:12:23,720
two minutes one time, Emmanuel Quickly, Grady Dick, Jonathan Mobo,

1411
01:12:23,880 --> 01:12:26,960
Colin Murray Boyles, and Scottie Barnes. I'd love for it

1412
01:12:27,039 --> 01:12:28,600
to be this freak as lineup.

1413
01:12:29,359 --> 01:12:32,520
Speaker 1: I love John, I love like the anarchy of Jonathan Mobo. Yeah,

1414
01:12:32,560 --> 01:12:33,399
I would sign up for that.

1415
01:12:33,760 --> 01:12:36,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he could be your new bouchet over here

1416
01:12:36,880 --> 01:12:37,520
in Toronto.

1417
01:12:38,760 --> 01:12:40,159
Speaker 1: I don't know if I want to see him, shoot

1418
01:12:40,319 --> 01:12:42,119
like yeah, no.

1419
01:12:41,960 --> 01:12:45,560
Speaker 2: No, no, no, god no, yeah, what.

1420
01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:48,560
Speaker 1: Is this weird enough? I want to see Mamu, Scottie Barnes,

1421
01:12:48,880 --> 01:12:50,720
Ingram Barrett and Jacoby.

1422
01:12:52,439 --> 01:12:56,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I think you will see that. And uh,

1423
01:12:56,920 --> 01:12:59,880
because there's gonna be some lineups where they say, you know,

1424
01:13:00,039 --> 01:13:03,279
Scotti is the nominal PG and RJ is the Nomogill

1425
01:13:03,520 --> 01:13:07,239
nominal whatever two and we're seeing what else we get.

1426
01:13:07,319 --> 01:13:09,319
I think I think you'll see that lineup within the

1427
01:13:09,359 --> 01:13:12,960
first seven or eight games, if I had to guess so, since.

1428
01:13:12,720 --> 01:13:14,319
Speaker 1: That's not a feeling would be weird. Of what if

1429
01:13:14,319 --> 01:13:17,279
we pulled r J Barrett and put it put in CMB.

1430
01:13:17,079 --> 01:13:20,760
Speaker 2: There, Okay, now it's now. I think it's not as

1431
01:13:20,840 --> 01:13:22,880
likely to see it right away, but I love it, dude,

1432
01:13:22,920 --> 01:13:23,840
that would be very fun.

1433
01:13:25,199 --> 01:13:29,000
Speaker 1: Uh. Is there anything else that you think warrants attention

1434
01:13:29,079 --> 01:13:31,199
about this team that we haven't discussed before? I ask

1435
01:13:31,239 --> 01:13:33,000
you make a couple of predictions.

1436
01:13:33,279 --> 01:13:36,880
Speaker 2: Uh. No, we We're pretty in the weeds here. I

1437
01:13:36,880 --> 01:13:41,000
think we've we've well covered most of this stuff around

1438
01:13:41,039 --> 01:13:42,920
this team, I think, dope.

1439
01:13:42,960 --> 01:13:45,399
Speaker 1: So how many games do you have them winning Samson?

1440
01:13:45,479 --> 01:13:52,239
Samson hmmm, let's let's say forty three.

1441
01:13:52,760 --> 01:13:54,279
Speaker 2: I'll go one above you.

1442
01:13:54,319 --> 01:13:56,000
Speaker 1: No, you didn't. And I looked at the dock when

1443
01:13:56,000 --> 01:13:57,800
we were recording. I'm at forty three and thirty nine.

1444
01:13:57,840 --> 01:14:02,039
Speaker 2: Oh okay, the today it's where the same guy forty three?

1445
01:14:03,560 --> 01:14:05,920
Speaker 1: I think that's and I remember saying that point is like,

1446
01:14:05,960 --> 01:14:07,680
it just wouldn't shock me if they were and we did.

1447
01:14:07,680 --> 01:14:09,479
When we were doing our awards picks, we did who's

1448
01:14:09,520 --> 01:14:12,039
a dark horse that you could come seeing out of nowhere?

1449
01:14:12,079 --> 01:14:14,720
Not nowhere, but oh they finished. No one would have

1450
01:14:14,760 --> 01:14:17,359
them on their top ten MVP ballot right now, but

1451
01:14:17,399 --> 01:14:19,840
you could see them finishing there. I picked Scotty Barnes.

1452
01:14:19,880 --> 01:14:22,039
It was like, what the Raptors just won forty eight

1453
01:14:22,079 --> 01:14:25,199
games or something. It's probably because Scotty just went absolutely nuclear.

1454
01:14:25,359 --> 01:14:27,560
So you heard it here first. If he finishes in

1455
01:14:27,600 --> 01:14:29,319
the top ten at MVP, vodick.

1456
01:14:29,399 --> 01:14:33,840
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, it's uh. If they're a really strong team,

1457
01:14:34,239 --> 01:14:37,720
the analytics are probably going to adore Scotty season, They're

1458
01:14:37,720 --> 01:14:39,880
probably gonna point towards like this guy is doing a

1459
01:14:39,880 --> 01:14:42,760
lot on the floor. Even if he's scoring like nineteen

1460
01:14:42,800 --> 01:14:46,039
point three points per game, the catch all stuff will

1461
01:14:46,079 --> 01:14:49,600
probably vaunt him as a big time hero for the season.

1462
01:14:50,520 --> 01:14:53,039
Speaker 1: Is there a prospective playoff team in the East that

1463
01:14:53,119 --> 01:14:55,119
you think if they made it to the postseason and

1464
01:14:55,119 --> 01:14:58,119
found themselves in a series against at this moment that

1465
01:14:58,239 --> 01:15:01,720
they match up particularly well against, would be a fascinating play.

1466
01:15:01,600 --> 01:15:06,079
Speaker 2: For Pistons, just because I know that Caid fans and

1467
01:15:06,079 --> 01:15:10,920
Scotti fans argue a lot, and they've been entrenched in battle. Yeah,

1468
01:15:11,000 --> 01:15:13,840
oh yeah, they've been entrenched in battle. I mean, Kate

1469
01:15:13,960 --> 01:15:16,520
is winning so far. His season last year was incredible.

1470
01:15:16,800 --> 01:15:19,640
They've been entrenched in battle for a long time. And

1471
01:15:20,640 --> 01:15:23,840
I also would love to see because like I think

1472
01:15:23,880 --> 01:15:29,560
Scotty would guard Kate, you know, and because like who else,

1473
01:15:29,680 --> 01:15:32,800
like o Chi's gonna guard kid rj oh Jesus Lord,

1474
01:15:32,960 --> 01:15:37,119
Like no, probably not Scotty Guard's cade, which creates a

1475
01:15:37,239 --> 01:15:42,359
huge ripple effect defensively down the line, And I would

1476
01:15:42,399 --> 01:15:44,880
love to see that. And also Detroit, I don't know

1477
01:15:44,920 --> 01:15:48,000
if they got like much better, but they're in the

1478
01:15:48,039 --> 01:15:51,479
thick of everything, and I don't think they'd be good

1479
01:15:51,560 --> 01:15:55,079
enough to just like easily dispel the Raptors. I probably

1480
01:15:55,119 --> 01:15:57,600
picked Detroit in that series, but I think it would

1481
01:15:57,600 --> 01:15:58,399
be good basketball.

1482
01:15:59,239 --> 01:16:01,800
Speaker 1: I would probably laugh at Jylender and not being able

1483
01:16:01,840 --> 01:16:04,239
to defend Mamu just because he's had so much against

1484
01:16:04,239 --> 01:16:07,119
the force base. So Samson, this was great. Thank you

1485
01:16:07,119 --> 01:16:09,159
for me so so much of your time. You're able

1486
01:16:09,199 --> 01:16:10,880
just to tell our audience where they could find you

1487
01:16:10,920 --> 01:16:12,560
and all the fantastic work that you do.

1488
01:16:13,399 --> 01:16:16,720
Speaker 2: Uh just rapt the Republic for all the Raptor stuff,

1489
01:16:17,520 --> 01:16:20,920
written work, video work, podcasting work, all that good stuff.

1490
01:16:21,960 --> 01:16:24,600
We were one of the most popular in Canada. We're

1491
01:16:24,640 --> 01:16:28,159
trying to be the number one and we're competing against

1492
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:34,119
billion dollar telecom companies, so we're making headway. So if

1493
01:16:34,119 --> 01:16:36,279
you want to support hell yeah. And then also for

1494
01:16:36,359 --> 01:16:39,680
Pacer stuff, it's not as much about me. I work

1495
01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:44,159
with the greatest living at like public analyst in Caitlin Cooper,

1496
01:16:44,479 --> 01:16:47,920
and that's on basketball. She wrote, that's via patron, that's

1497
01:16:47,960 --> 01:16:49,479
my stuff. That's where you can find me.

1498
01:16:50,479 --> 01:16:53,079
Speaker 1: Do great work. So does CC and I'll include the

1499
01:16:53,119 --> 01:16:54,920
links for everyone wants to find your stuff in the

1500
01:16:54,920 --> 01:16:57,840
podcast and YouTube description. Thank you so much, Sampson, and

1501
01:16:57,880 --> 01:16:59,640
as you know by now, I'll be pestering you again

1502
01:16:59,640 --> 01:17:01,920
down the life. Thanks Dead