1
00:00:15,199 --> 00:00:16,640
Speaker 1: What is up, fellows?

2
00:00:16,679 --> 00:00:19,000
Speaker 2: That goes Imdan Valley coming at you with another twenty

3
00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:20,359
twenty twenty five.

4
00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:21,239
Speaker 1: NBA season look ahead.

5
00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,920
Speaker 2: We are nearing the end. This is number twenty six.

6
00:00:24,039 --> 00:00:26,960
We're onto the Toronto Raptors. I have the distinct pleasure

7
00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,079
this year being joined by Samson Folk of Raptors Republic.

8
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,759
Follow him on the Twitter machine. It's at Sam Folk

9
00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,799
with two k's so spelled exactly as it sounds, sam

10
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,000
fol kk. As a quick note, there won't be like

11
00:00:41,039 --> 00:00:43,439
a preamble intro. I had to wind up cutting that

12
00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,079
for certain like quality purposes. So anyone who's a fan

13
00:00:48,119 --> 00:00:50,560
of just getting to the point and not hearing that conversation,

14
00:00:50,759 --> 00:00:51,799
you only have to hear this intro.

15
00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:53,000
Speaker 1: We dive right into it after this.

16
00:00:53,359 --> 00:00:55,200
Speaker 2: Just a quick reminder, as always, go check out the

17
00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,840
other look aheads, bounce around, have a good time with them.

18
00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:59,320
Speaker 1: There are a lot of work. We've done a really

19
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:00,000
good job this year.

20
00:01:00,119 --> 00:01:01,520
Speaker 2: I say that every year, but I think they continue

21
00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:03,600
to get better and better every year, and that's we

22
00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:05,719
owe it all to guests like Samson.

23
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,200
Speaker 1: And if you haven't already, why haven't you.

24
00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,239
Speaker 2: Subscribed Apple Spotify YouTube at that sub button turn on

25
00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,439
post notifications, comments, leave lots and lots of comments on

26
00:01:14,519 --> 00:01:17,480
videos our shorts as well. The likes to that helps

27
00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,319
the algorithm love us back and gives us some exposures.

28
00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,200
We appreciate that. Ratings and reviews on Apple even if

29
00:01:23,239 --> 00:01:25,280
you're not using it or Spotify as well.

30
00:01:25,159 --> 00:01:26,000
Speaker 1: Those go a long way.

31
00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,400
Speaker 2: If you've done all those things, join our discord. Continue

32
00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,000
to tell people about us, and you should join our

33
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,840
discord because we are going to run our over under competition.

34
00:01:32,879 --> 00:01:34,760
Speaker 1: I'll be putting out the doc for.

35
00:01:34,719 --> 00:01:37,799
Speaker 2: Everyone to fill out for that in discord probably later

36
00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,920
this weekend. We're recording this on This is releasing on Friday,

37
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,599
October eleventh, So join our discord. You can be a

38
00:01:43,599 --> 00:01:45,239
part of that. There's a lot of great discussions that

39
00:01:45,239 --> 00:01:48,040
happen in there as well. That's enough out of me, though,

40
00:01:48,079 --> 00:01:51,439
Let's get to a boatload of Toronto Raptors talk in

41
00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,680
advance of the twenty four to twenty five NBA regular

42
00:01:53,719 --> 00:01:56,280
season with the one, the Only mister Samson.

43
00:01:56,359 --> 00:01:56,680
Speaker 3: Folks.

44
00:01:56,959 --> 00:01:59,120
Speaker 1: Let's start here with the Raptors.

45
00:01:59,599 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 2: What did did you make of how they went about

46
00:02:02,719 --> 00:02:06,200
their off season where it was just basically about talent retention?

47
00:02:07,799 --> 00:02:11,439
Speaker 3: I think it made sense. I think especially when you consider,

48
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,960
like we're a long way from Massai Zieri saying believe

49
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,199
in this city, believe in yourselves. After Kawhi left, uh

50
00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,080
free agents didn't start pouring in because the Raptors had

51
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,919
won a championship, the vaunted G League pipeline that they

52
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:32,199
had built crumbled as a musk pipeline as it were,

53
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,560
something like that. I mean, it just things didn't pan

54
00:02:35,599 --> 00:02:37,159
out the way that they thought they would. So it

55
00:02:37,159 --> 00:02:39,560
makes sense. Like you trade for Manual Quickly, you have

56
00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,280
to retain them. You trade you like you get guys

57
00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,280
in house, even if you're overpaying relative to the market

58
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,439
or whatever it might be counting numbers, you have to

59
00:02:48,479 --> 00:02:50,240
retain guys. You have to keep talent on the roster.

60
00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:53,919
And also I thought, like getting in Davion Mitchell especially,

61
00:02:54,439 --> 00:02:57,240
we'll get more into this, but with his success playing

62
00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,479
off of Fox and Sabonis in those more limited minutes,

63
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,199
I think you could probably act to you know, maybe

64
00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,400
there's a fact simile there between Quickly and Scottie. Maybe

65
00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,439
there's room for that to work out. You get a

66
00:03:08,439 --> 00:03:11,439
couple extra Trizit guys in the second round. They're trying

67
00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,960
to build it back up after they didn't get to

68
00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,800
for a few years. So retain the talent, see what happens,

69
00:03:18,319 --> 00:03:21,120
play some good basketball once everyone's healthy, and we'll see

70
00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:21,759
where it goes.

71
00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,120
Speaker 2: I know they're banged up, even by like the preseason

72
00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:27,360
injury inundations that we've been hit with.

73
00:03:27,439 --> 00:03:29,159
Speaker 1: That's super unfortunate.

74
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,120
Speaker 2: You've mentioned that they're pretty clearly building back up. I

75
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,800
think everyone agrees that they're rebuilding. But they're fascinating to

76
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,240
me from the perspective of most teams that are kind

77
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,400
of beginning or in the early middle stages of a rebuild,

78
00:03:40,719 --> 00:03:42,800
don't have all these guys that have agreed to their

79
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,840
second contracts starting their second contracts, maybe on their third contracts.

80
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,560
What if anything, or how if in any way do

81
00:03:50,599 --> 00:03:53,840
you think that impacts their direction is at all? Does

82
00:03:53,879 --> 00:03:56,879
it increase the likelihood that they're trying to make this

83
00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,400
more of like an accelerated build?

84
00:03:59,439 --> 00:04:01,879
Speaker 1: Am I just reading too much into the contract situation?

85
00:04:01,919 --> 00:04:03,159
Could they also I framed it?

86
00:04:03,159 --> 00:04:05,520
Speaker 2: They seem like they're built to react to how good

87
00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,719
they are, aren't more so than like, oh, we're proactively

88
00:04:08,719 --> 00:04:09,439
heading down this.

89
00:04:09,479 --> 00:04:12,919
Speaker 3: Path bang on? I think built to react to what

90
00:04:13,039 --> 00:04:16,639
they are. They don't know what they are. And you know,

91
00:04:16,879 --> 00:04:19,759
in years past they've used the term give these guys

92
00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:22,319
a platform. It was something that you know, Massign Bobby

93
00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,160
would say about Kyle and Damar, And famously, Kyle and

94
00:04:26,199 --> 00:04:29,360
Damar had signed onto their second contracts too before that

95
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,319
team really took off. That team was an older team

96
00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,560
relative now, of course, it's not all the same because

97
00:04:35,639 --> 00:04:39,079
Kyle Lowry was famously like the most underpaid elite guard

98
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,160
of his ten years where he was incredible, where he

99
00:04:42,199 --> 00:04:45,000
was giving you roughly all NBA impact year in and

100
00:04:45,079 --> 00:04:48,079
year out. The Raptors have not struck that same gold

101
00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,839
mine here. But they're just they've built a team where

102
00:04:51,879 --> 00:04:54,759
they retain the talent they can't lose it. Especially after

103
00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,000
you look at like what was happening with Og and

104
00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,480
Pascal towards the end of their contracts. Everybody start looking

105
00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,639
and wondering like, oh boy, and especially with Pascal, maybe

106
00:05:03,639 --> 00:05:06,759
things didn't come back in a very great way, Like

107
00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,439
we didn't get a good trade out of this. It

108
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,600
wasn't the best scenario for us. So keep guys on contract,

109
00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:14,480
believe in the guys, give them a coach who believes

110
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,680
in them, give them a young team, give them from

111
00:05:17,759 --> 00:05:22,040
the upper the front office, not that much pressure. Just

112
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,959
see what happens. If Scotty is an out and out superstar,

113
00:05:27,079 --> 00:05:29,639
things get pretty simple. If our j Barrett is a

114
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,199
twenty two six and four on sixty one percent true

115
00:05:32,199 --> 00:05:35,720
shooting guy, that's pretty good. You can work on defense.

116
00:05:35,759 --> 00:05:38,000
You can learn how to hide him. If Emmanuel quickly

117
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,839
gets up over eight three point attempts per game, let's

118
00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,240
a gun. If the extra probe dribble in the lane

119
00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:46,720
sticks around when games are a little bit more tense,

120
00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,759
these things can project well. And of course there's young

121
00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,319
guys on the roster two who have yet to prove themselves,

122
00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,160
who pick any number you want. Maybe a couple of

123
00:05:55,199 --> 00:05:58,800
those guys hit. I guess we'll see.

124
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,240
Speaker 2: This question because I know this is actually your first

125
00:06:00,439 --> 00:06:02,279
look ahead that you've done with us. But I dictate

126
00:06:02,319 --> 00:06:03,800
too much of the terms of this podcast. So I've

127
00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,360
been asking everyone, and this team fascinates me from this

128
00:06:06,399 --> 00:06:09,040
professor perspective, because I don't know what your answer is

129
00:06:09,079 --> 00:06:10,800
gonna be, and I pride myself from kind of like

130
00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:12,920
being able to telegraph what the answer is gonna be.

131
00:06:13,199 --> 00:06:15,959
What is the Raptor's biggest storyline that you're going to

132
00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,680
be tracking throughout this season.

133
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:23,680
Speaker 3: Hmmm. So I think initially, when I'm gonna cheat, I'm

134
00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,040
gonna talk myself into the answer, and I'll give small

135
00:06:26,079 --> 00:06:29,120
answers until I figure it out. So I think the

136
00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:34,160
initial first one is like the fifth starter because they

137
00:06:34,199 --> 00:06:37,480
pay a lot for their starting lineup. Yakapertle has a

138
00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:41,920
full contract, a full fat contract, Emanuel Quickly full fat contract,

139
00:06:41,959 --> 00:06:45,519
Argieberratt full fat contract, Scottie Barnes not yet, it's like

140
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,399
ten point five this year, but it becomes full fat contract.

141
00:06:48,399 --> 00:06:55,560
It's fine, you sealed deliver Grady Deveon, Oh Chai. It

142
00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,439
leans one way if you're you want to be future facing.

143
00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:03,120
And I've watched camp. I was in Montreal with them,

144
00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,639
I watched the preseason game. There's a lot of things

145
00:07:05,639 --> 00:07:08,800
that have been going well for him, and his teammates

146
00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,879
are allotting his effort, but he's the defense is not

147
00:07:12,959 --> 00:07:16,600
really there yet, so there's things you could go another way.

148
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,720
That's the first thing. But the overall storyline is I

149
00:07:21,759 --> 00:07:26,040
think similar to what a lot of superstars, not stars

150
00:07:26,439 --> 00:07:30,560
superstars go through. Is year three, Year four, you start

151
00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,360
seeing how far cisfis can push the boulder up the hill.

152
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,079
And that's kind of what I'm focusing on because I

153
00:07:37,079 --> 00:07:40,279
think Scotty determines the ceiling of this team right because

154
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,000
you look at it like RJ Emmanuel, you'll get Grady

155
00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,160
the guys who are considered have higher potential on this team.

156
00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,399
Which of those guys could take the number one spot?

157
00:07:51,839 --> 00:07:54,800
None really and I hate doing the number one, number two,

158
00:07:54,839 --> 00:07:57,000
number three things, but which of them could take the

159
00:07:57,079 --> 00:08:01,600
number two spots? That's also pretty key. Yeah, So Scotty

160
00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,839
solidifying that ceiling is like, Okay, we have a one,

161
00:08:05,839 --> 00:08:07,959
where we have a two, and then we can build

162
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,279
up from there, easy pasy. That has to be determined.

163
00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,879
That helps set the ceiling and the floor of this team.

164
00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:15,920
And it's by far the most important thing that can

165
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,959
keep happening because stars are important in the NBA. As

166
00:08:18,959 --> 00:08:20,639
it turns out.

167
00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,480
Speaker 2: You know, I haven't given that much thought because I

168
00:08:22,519 --> 00:08:24,519
just assume I try to find first, I try to

169
00:08:24,519 --> 00:08:26,240
find synonyms so I don't have to use the best

170
00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,079
player on the best team. Like the guiding light for

171
00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,720
this rebuild feels like it's clearly Scotty Barnes I haven't

172
00:08:30,759 --> 00:08:33,440
really thought about, well, do they have the number two

173
00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,200
in place? And so if I'm forcing you to choose,

174
00:08:37,759 --> 00:08:39,840
do you one think that they do potentially have the

175
00:08:39,879 --> 00:08:42,120
second best player on the next really good iteration of

176
00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:44,600
the Raptors. And if they do, is it more likely

177
00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,600
to be RJ Barrett or Manuel Quickly? Is there a

178
00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:49,600
dark horse in there? We're not talking Jamal shed is

179
00:08:49,639 --> 00:08:50,240
coming in hot.

180
00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,159
Speaker 3: Jamal Shedd is coming in hot, but not for the

181
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,639
not for the second best player on the team. Actually,

182
00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,240
I think I go against the grain here because because

183
00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:04,360
everybody was really excited for IQ right after the trade,

184
00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,440
and I held on to like the RJ thing and

185
00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,639
it went really well, and IQ the defense didn't really

186
00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:13,840
come out in the wash that everyone ooh, he's clever

187
00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:17,480
off ball. I've completely I don't care if anybody ever

188
00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,159
tells me again that a guard is like a clever

189
00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:24,519
off ball guy, I don't care anymore. Like it doesn't

190
00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,600
I feel like that people just say that hoping that

191
00:09:27,639 --> 00:09:30,879
you haven't watched the Guard and that you know.

192
00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,039
Speaker 1: Are you anti shake gilich Is Alexander? Is this like?

193
00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:35,080
Are we unwilling?

194
00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:38,519
Speaker 3: Because Shay does a lot of other things He scores

195
00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,279
thirty points per game. You know, he can be overrated

196
00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:45,159
on defense. That's fine or underrated, it isn't it doesn't matter.

197
00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,320
But IQ the defense didn't come out in the wash,

198
00:09:48,639 --> 00:09:52,600
the lower pickup point on the jumper, the slower release,

199
00:09:52,799 --> 00:09:56,720
the want to always go right into a jumper. I

200
00:09:56,759 --> 00:10:00,720
think that kind of stuff limited his ability to scale.

201
00:10:00,879 --> 00:10:02,960
We'll see if he's able to overcome that stuff. But

202
00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,120
RJ just started scaling, like he climbed the wall. He

203
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,200
was like, yep, I'm first man over boom. He went

204
00:10:10,279 --> 00:10:12,360
for it. And RGIE, I think there's a lot of

205
00:10:12,399 --> 00:10:15,159
stuff that he can clean up, and I think there's

206
00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,200
still a lot of stuff he can add to his game.

207
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,120
And he has a willingness you know, I wrote this

208
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,519
in the piece where I talked about his cutting, you know,

209
00:10:22,639 --> 00:10:25,759
to punch the a gap like a full back. And

210
00:10:25,919 --> 00:10:29,080
I love his willingness to get in there. And it's

211
00:10:29,159 --> 00:10:31,200
kind of like that that power forward thing where so

212
00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,639
many power forwards of the past who used to chip

213
00:10:34,639 --> 00:10:37,519
in like twelve or fourteen points a game just by

214
00:10:37,879 --> 00:10:40,399
being gritty, being in the right spot, and being comfortable

215
00:10:40,399 --> 00:10:42,799
with physicality. Arje kind of does that from the two

216
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,200
or the three. So he finds his way to impact

217
00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:47,080
and they have to figure out how to make it

218
00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:48,799
easier on the other side of the four for him.

219
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,720
But Emmanuel wasn't good either, So I think, very long answer.

220
00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,320
I think RJ is more likely to be the two. However,

221
00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,919
I think it's more likely that RJ is a three.

222
00:11:00,879 --> 00:11:02,799
Speaker 1: So then your assumption would be, like this team probably

223
00:11:02,919 --> 00:11:04,720
to go out and find at some.

224
00:11:04,799 --> 00:11:08,600
Speaker 3: Point, Yeah, at some point. What so if guiding light

225
00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,080
is one, what is the synonym for two? Supplementary light.

226
00:11:14,039 --> 00:11:15,759
Speaker 1: Like the backdrop?

227
00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:17,440
Speaker 2: I have no idea we're really need to sit in

228
00:11:17,519 --> 00:11:20,519
him for the number two. Let's let's stick with RJ.

229
00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:22,960
So we talked a lot about the stuff he was doing,

230
00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:24,960
and I think being in the raptor's motion offense, being

231
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,039
in transition more that helped him a ton taking like

232
00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,399
following all the way to the basket on his actual drives.

233
00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:32,279
Some of the stuff came down a little bit, a

234
00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,600
little bit of the efficiency from the perimeter after we

235
00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:38,039
recorded what are you specifically looking at to see? I mean,

236
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,080
at this point it does feel well, actually, let me

237
00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,039
start here. At this point, it kind of feels like

238
00:11:42,039 --> 00:11:43,559
the finishing stuff just might be real?

239
00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,600
Speaker 1: Is that? Would you so real?

240
00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:49,240
Speaker 3: Man? Okay, it's you know, egg on my face if

241
00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,200
it's not. But I think it's real. You. I watched

242
00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,279
like before he came well after he came over. I

243
00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,440
had watched the decent amount of RJ in New York,

244
00:11:58,879 --> 00:12:01,240
and then I watched MOREE in New York. There's a

245
00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,720
lot of tough finishes there. But also he flubbed a

246
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,159
lot of stuff, and I don't know if that became

247
00:12:07,279 --> 00:12:08,919
like a mental thing. I don't know what happens. But

248
00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,039
he's very strong, and he's he's very good with his

249
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,679
left hand, and so I kind of wanted to dispel

250
00:12:15,759 --> 00:12:19,080
the notion that he only goes left because he actually

251
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,440
is a more efficient and more voluminous driver going right. Now,

252
00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,879
he still finishes left, but he's so strong at his position.

253
00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,879
He's so willing to you know, box guys out of

254
00:12:29,919 --> 00:12:34,200
his space and go up there uncontested, and like, if

255
00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,039
you're not over six foot eight and two hundred and

256
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:41,399
thirty pounds, RJ probably can you know, evacuate you from

257
00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,519
the space and finish. And also, you know, I wrote

258
00:12:45,519 --> 00:12:47,919
about it at the end of February, the higher pass

259
00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,639
percentage that he's introduced into his drives. When I looked

260
00:12:50,639 --> 00:12:53,960
at how many advantage assists he gave as a raptor

261
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,840
versus Nick, the percentage went it almost doubled. It was

262
00:12:56,879 --> 00:12:59,519
like twenty six percent versus forty four percent. He was

263
00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:02,080
making that reads he's a little bit more patient in

264
00:13:02,159 --> 00:13:04,960
the lane. He's a little bit more confident finishing. I

265
00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,240
think all that stuff manifested and it sticks around. And

266
00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,200
the piece I just wrote yesterday about his cutting, he

267
00:13:10,519 --> 00:13:13,279
was cutting twice as often in Toronto as he was

268
00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,080
in New York. He scored almost on three times as

269
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,159
many cuts in Toronto as he did in New York

270
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,720
in just six more games. So this kind of stuff,

271
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:27,200
the motion offense, you know, the blade cuts, the forty fives.

272
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,799
You know we talked about Caitlin. The Pacers always used

273
00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,759
funky guys in the dunker spot guards. RJ is a

274
00:13:34,799 --> 00:13:38,039
pretty like nifty dunker spot guy. There's a lot of

275
00:13:38,039 --> 00:13:40,240
stuff trending in the right direction for him to score

276
00:13:40,279 --> 00:13:42,639
the ball. Darko the other day told me I could

277
00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:45,120
go a full quarter, wouldn't drop a single play for RJ.

278
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:46,120
He'll figure it out.

279
00:13:47,279 --> 00:13:50,559
Speaker 2: It's good stuff, just night and day from the stuff

280
00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:52,639
he would think about him while he was in New York,

281
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:53,720
and you think a lot I had to do with

282
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,559
personnel overlap in spacing, redundancies. But it's wild to hear

283
00:13:57,639 --> 00:14:01,360
Darko say something like that or felt complete opposite.

284
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,159
Speaker 3: In New York, they don't run a lot of stuff

285
00:14:04,279 --> 00:14:07,000
for RJ. Like a lot of it is him just

286
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,120
being garbage man. And usually garbage man isn't like the

287
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,440
two or the three as far as like the position

288
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,720
on the court. But I mean you pick up garbage,

289
00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:18,279
You pick up garbage.

290
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:21,000
Speaker 2: Glittery sanitation worker. Maybe that's what we refer to the

291
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,559
number two. Sticking with then synonyms rather than asking where

292
00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,879
you think he should develop, what's the next frontier look

293
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:29,360
like for him, or that you'll be looking at, Oh

294
00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,320
can he add this or can he polish this off

295
00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:32,039
a little bit more?

296
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,000
Speaker 3: It is defense. Now RJ has a little bit more size.

297
00:14:37,039 --> 00:14:39,159
Then you know, I was maybe a bit of a

298
00:14:39,279 --> 00:14:42,120
hypocrisy here where I'm saying I don't care if a

299
00:14:42,159 --> 00:14:45,840
point guard is clever offball. I care if RJ is

300
00:14:45,879 --> 00:14:48,080
clever off ball because he's strong enough to stick in

301
00:14:48,159 --> 00:14:53,600
against seals and post switches, and he's also not that

302
00:14:53,759 --> 00:14:56,639
fleet of foot at least going sideways and like letting

303
00:14:56,679 --> 00:14:58,840
the barn door swing open and stuff like that. So

304
00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:01,559
being able to be gritty in the lower half of

305
00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,399
the defense with digs, with being attentive with making sure

306
00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,440
that like you're efficient in your steps to dig, you're

307
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,720
efficient in your steps to get back out to the corner.

308
00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,519
And it's like, I know, the Raptors haven't fully adopted

309
00:15:13,559 --> 00:15:17,519
the run and stop type of close out. They like

310
00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,519
the stutter stop close out still, but there's a lot

311
00:15:20,559 --> 00:15:22,159
of stuff that he can clean up on that end,

312
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,120
and how the Raptors use him to kind of protect

313
00:15:25,159 --> 00:15:28,639
against his foot speed weaknesses on the perimeter, and how he,

314
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,679
I guess takes to their new approach. That kind of

315
00:15:32,679 --> 00:15:34,679
stuff I'm really interested in. I think that is the

316
00:15:34,679 --> 00:15:40,000
next frontier for Archie Barrett is becoming survivable on defense.

317
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,240
Speaker 1: Mattuel quickly, you mentioned him already. Where do you sort

318
00:15:44,279 --> 00:15:46,720
of land with his playmaking? I thought there were a

319
00:15:46,759 --> 00:15:49,600
lot of nice flashes in Toronto when Yaka Perto was healthy.

320
00:15:49,639 --> 00:15:51,799
That certainly helped. And I think even just having guys

321
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:53,480
where you don't didn't see as much.

322
00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:55,480
Speaker 2: Of this New York it felt like anecdotally of just

323
00:15:55,519 --> 00:15:57,159
even lifting or just kind of moving off the ball.

324
00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:58,879
Speaker 1: It served him well in terms.

325
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,000
Speaker 2: Of his options, and maybe simple are just making more

326
00:16:01,039 --> 00:16:03,600
available reads for him. But do you they paid him

327
00:16:03,879 --> 00:16:05,879
forget about the number two stuff. They paid him like

328
00:16:05,919 --> 00:16:08,799
someone who should probably be able to run the offense

329
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,080
like an actual for General. Do you see that level

330
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,440
of playmaker in him and what still kind of needs

331
00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:15,480
to happen for him to get there?

332
00:16:15,879 --> 00:16:20,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's paid like an All Star guard and it

333
00:16:20,519 --> 00:16:23,679
starts this year, and you know it's it's not the

334
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,200
most fun way to get basketball, but it's a consideration

335
00:16:26,679 --> 00:16:29,759
as far as being like a de facto for General.

336
00:16:29,919 --> 00:16:33,320
I actually don't think he's fully that guy. I do

337
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,039
think what you said that he showed more playmaking jobs

338
00:16:37,399 --> 00:16:39,559
in Toronto than he did in New York. There's some

339
00:16:39,879 --> 00:16:42,919
like the assist to usage stuff didn't go crazy, but

340
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,320
the assist percentage went up and the assist numbers went up.

341
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,279
The Raptors are a little bit of an assist farm,

342
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,440
though they like they had over twenty five assists in

343
00:16:51,559 --> 00:16:53,879
like thirty straight games or something like that. They broke

344
00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:57,120
a franchise record and they were terrible. This is a

345
00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,360
bad team. They lost sixteen games in a row. But

346
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,120
a manual I think did a much better job of

347
00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,359
getting deeper into the lane with a live dribble. I

348
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,880
think that having Yaka Peardle is really like Yaka Purdle

349
00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,240
is a very underrated pick and roll big man. He's

350
00:17:13,279 --> 00:17:15,000
one of I think the best in the league at

351
00:17:15,039 --> 00:17:18,759
laying down the screen providing the simplest pass, which isn't

352
00:17:18,759 --> 00:17:21,839
the lab, which isn't the over the top, it's the

353
00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,480
pocket pass. Most guards have it in their bag, and

354
00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,759
especially for a manual, going right, the pocket pass is

355
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,200
very easy. Purdle the catch, the twist and the pivot

356
00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,880
through and the step through. He finishes like seventy eight

357
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,400
percent of his field goals there. You're gonna get your

358
00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,000
numbers juiced. That's great for a manual. As far as

359
00:17:41,079 --> 00:17:45,279
like really manipulating the defense far into different spaces, I

360
00:17:45,279 --> 00:17:46,640
don't know if he'll do that, and I don't know

361
00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,160
if he can do it like possession in possession out.

362
00:17:49,599 --> 00:17:52,279
But I think the cool thing is a manual is

363
00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:55,960
a tremendous catch and shoot operator. He moves off the ball.

364
00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,319
The Raptors run a ton of shallowed double drag for

365
00:18:00,599 --> 00:18:02,960
Scotty Barnes running a pick and roll and guess who

366
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,480
the shallow cut is. So many times Emmanuel quickly going

367
00:18:06,519 --> 00:18:11,839
out to the left right, So he is not He's

368
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,680
not a de facto for general I do think, however,

369
00:18:14,759 --> 00:18:18,839
though he does enough for general ling, he does enough

370
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,039
light guiding that he can also step into a lot

371
00:18:22,079 --> 00:18:25,920
of supplementary lighting for Scotty Barns, and he can do

372
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,440
so very easily in a way that not every point

373
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:29,039
guard can.

374
00:18:30,519 --> 00:18:33,119
Speaker 2: You also mentioned him taking the extra dribble getting deeper

375
00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,119
into the paint. Is there, like do you see the

376
00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:36,839
ability for that.

377
00:18:36,799 --> 00:18:38,079
Speaker 1: To go even further?

378
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,160
Speaker 2: Like do the raptors want to have the spacing to

379
00:18:40,319 --> 00:18:41,839
encourage it if he's going to be.

380
00:18:41,799 --> 00:18:43,240
Speaker 1: On the ball to start those possessions.

381
00:18:43,279 --> 00:18:46,079
Speaker 2: Because I think his rim frequency in Toronto was eighteen percent,

382
00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:47,839
which was a pretty big uptick from where he was

383
00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,119
in New York, which I think was twelve percent last season.

384
00:18:50,799 --> 00:18:53,319
But that's still not like a super high number. And

385
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:55,720
he does have a tendency. You know, it's fine when

386
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:57,559
the floaters kind of fallen, but like the kind of

387
00:18:57,559 --> 00:18:59,519
bailout on a dime and chuck up the floaters when

388
00:18:59,519 --> 00:19:01,759
you're in the lane, and that's not necessarily always good

389
00:19:01,759 --> 00:19:04,000
to flying. So is there like, do you see the

390
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,440
potential for that sort of rim pressure supplementary rim pressure

391
00:19:08,519 --> 00:19:10,160
to continue to uptick.

392
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,880
Speaker 3: I think it can a little bit. But as far

393
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,720
as like becoming a big time rim pressure guard, no,

394
00:19:17,799 --> 00:19:21,559
I don't think so. I think that he's not able

395
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,119
to finish through contact very well. And when I say contact,

396
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,839
I'm not saying like free throws and one. I'm saying

397
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,480
when the defense is legal, when they've beaten you to

398
00:19:31,559 --> 00:19:33,920
the spot and you either have to like kind of

399
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,839
blow through somebody's shoulder to get around them and keep

400
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,079
your line, drive straight, don't let it wideen your angle

401
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,400
so that you step wide, and so that you know

402
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,319
the weak side rim protector is actually on you by

403
00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:48,160
the time. You have to be able to blow through

404
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,839
that shoulder and stay on a straight line or go

405
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,319
up and bounce off a guy and finish in there

406
00:19:53,599 --> 00:19:57,200
like that. That part of his game is not super strong,

407
00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,160
and you see that represented in a lot of the

408
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:04,160
best rim pressure guards. He is, however, like he got

409
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,680
better at it over his time with the Raptors, and

410
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:08,920
it was something that a lot of people were paying

411
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,200
attention to, like, as you said, eighteen percent versus twelve

412
00:20:12,319 --> 00:20:15,960
or thirteen percent. This is still low rim frequency, even

413
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,279
even for a guard, right right, And he still like

414
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,079
is around thirty percent in the short mid range, which

415
00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:26,559
is high frequency even for a guard. Being the free

416
00:20:26,559 --> 00:20:28,920
throw line is something that I thought he got a

417
00:20:29,039 --> 00:20:32,319
very friendly whistle in Toronto. I wonder how it goes

418
00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,039
over a full season. If he'll get the same trips

419
00:20:35,079 --> 00:20:38,799
to the line, I'll be interested. But you know, there's

420
00:20:38,799 --> 00:20:41,720
something to say about like, at some point you are

421
00:20:41,759 --> 00:20:44,720
the player you are, He's he Before he made the

422
00:20:44,759 --> 00:20:47,680
trip from New York to Toronto, he was fourth in

423
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,279
the NBA in floaters made, and he shot like fifty

424
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,680
nine percent on them in half the season in New York.

425
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,480
That's great. A fifty nine percent is good on floaters.

426
00:20:56,559 --> 00:20:59,119
It's not really great on layups. Typically you want to

427
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,279
be over sixty percent. But he has a talent. He

428
00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,039
has to be able to use it. I think the

429
00:21:04,079 --> 00:21:06,359
most important thing is probably how he play makes out

430
00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,160
of those packages rather than expecting like big rim pressure guy.

431
00:21:10,319 --> 00:21:13,599
But we're splitting hairs a little bit. You know, there's

432
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:15,920
things he can improve on, for sure. But he is

433
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:17,400
a slight guard.

434
00:21:17,839 --> 00:21:18,680
Speaker 1: Yeah.

435
00:21:19,039 --> 00:21:20,960
Speaker 2: Is you mentioned that you thought he got a friendly

436
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,559
whistle in Toronto, which is kind of funny because his

437
00:21:24,039 --> 00:21:26,880
entry there kind of coincided with the game shifting and

438
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,119
how it was called, and we have I don't know

439
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,079
if it's confirmation, but it seems like, okay, that's going

440
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,279
to continue to be an emphasis moving forward. Is he

441
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,200
someone then if you're worried about his ability to finish

442
00:21:37,279 --> 00:21:40,559
through contact, could that adversely impact him in ways that

443
00:21:40,599 --> 00:21:42,599
we haven't really seen manifest then Yet, if you thought

444
00:21:42,599 --> 00:21:44,519
he got a friendly whistle last year.

445
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:49,880
Speaker 3: I think if more physical defenses introduced were allowed that

446
00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:54,000
Emmanuel Quickly is one of the players who will struggle

447
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,200
with that like and that doesn't mean he's not a

448
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,440
good player. Emmanuel Quickly's good. He has a lot of

449
00:21:58,559 --> 00:22:03,000
really great NBA level bolence, But physicality is something he

450
00:22:03,039 --> 00:22:06,039
struggles with. It's why I'm sure you've seen him in

451
00:22:06,039 --> 00:22:11,400
the playoffs. Guards who struggle with physicality typically they get

452
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:13,720
leaned on during the playoffs and use Typically he a

453
00:22:13,759 --> 00:22:16,319
big dip. Guys who are a little bit more reliant

454
00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:17,880
on free throws. Guys who are a little bit more

455
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,599
reliant on not having guys kind of like get into

456
00:22:20,599 --> 00:22:24,200
the hips, get into the waist. I think it would

457
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:26,400
have an adverse effect on him. You'd have to figure

458
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,200
out counters. Maybe that means he shifts If that sticks

459
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,440
around in the NBA, I don't know. The reffing kind

460
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,839
of goes everywhere sometimes. If that sticks around, maybe that

461
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:40,279
means he transitions more into off ball stuff for the

462
00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,039
long term look of his future. And maybe that means

463
00:22:43,039 --> 00:22:46,279
that Scottie Barnes, who is extremely physical, gets to be

464
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,240
extremely physical towards his defenders, and maybe that means he

465
00:22:49,279 --> 00:22:52,200
can take on more of the like initiator stuff. I'm

466
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,759
not exactly sure, but I do think that would damp

467
00:22:54,759 --> 00:22:58,119
in a little bit of his let's say creation stuff.

468
00:22:59,319 --> 00:23:02,640
Speaker 2: And what what if you recalibrated his defense too, Like

469
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,000
what is your expectation or hope for what he can

470
00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:07,039
turn into defensively for this team?

471
00:23:07,079 --> 00:23:11,799
Speaker 3: Then geez, that's a tough question because we haven't we

472
00:23:11,839 --> 00:23:17,880
haven't seen it like we it was bad. It was

473
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:22,160
really bad in Toronto. Every time he played a good

474
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,839
point guard it went really poorly. He wasn't sticky, he

475
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,839
didn't offer much resistance, and the off ball stuff when

476
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,359
the defense was already bad and the Raptors were bad team.

477
00:23:33,559 --> 00:23:38,039
It doesn't really ask players to like be the best,

478
00:23:38,279 --> 00:23:41,519
you know, be the best off ball defender. You can

479
00:23:41,599 --> 00:23:44,960
be like guys are less engaged. We'll be honest. That's

480
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:46,880
why the G League looks the way it does. Like

481
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,160
you know, ball pressure guards look great in the G

482
00:23:49,279 --> 00:23:52,599
League because you know that's one thing you can control.

483
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,480
But the team defense, the scheme at large is just

484
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,359
like cobbled together. The Raptors were half a G League

485
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:02,799
team from lots of h so there's lots I'm waiting

486
00:24:02,839 --> 00:24:06,200
to see from quickly. It wouldn't It wouldn't surprise me

487
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,119
if he was like an above average guard defender, but

488
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,440
only slightly. But if that happened, I would be overjoyed.

489
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,400
I'd be like, oh, this is great, this is awesome.

490
00:24:15,519 --> 00:24:17,559
I wouldn't be like, wow, I never saw this coming.

491
00:24:17,799 --> 00:24:19,920
But I think it's more likely he probably is around

492
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,559
average or below average because he really does have I

493
00:24:23,599 --> 00:24:25,480
saw him struggle a ton at the point of attack.

494
00:24:26,599 --> 00:24:30,839
Now there's room for him to be really good, you know,

495
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:35,759
not toothless, but toothfull, you know, on digs and he

496
00:24:36,079 --> 00:24:39,839
you know, wingspan plus size. He's not a short guard either,

497
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,319
especially at the point guard position, so to be in

498
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,119
lanes to make sure that passes out to the corner

499
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,440
of the wing have more arc on them, they'd go

500
00:24:47,559 --> 00:24:50,279
less direct. Like that kind of stuff can always be there,

501
00:24:50,559 --> 00:24:55,079
you can deter, but really the point of attack there

502
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:56,680
so much remains to be seen.

503
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,400
Speaker 2: I think he can actually be a lot better. And

504
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,160
I'm wondering if you mentioned one the talent around him

505
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,400
with the Raptors, a fielding and G League roster. There's

506
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,319
also and you would know more about this just being

507
00:25:09,559 --> 00:25:11,599
you know, being more in tune with the games in general,

508
00:25:12,039 --> 00:25:14,519
having that mid season switch, like going from one team

509
00:25:14,559 --> 00:25:16,000
to the other. I don't know how much that impacts

510
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,880
your ability to then like grasp everything that's happening and

511
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:20,279
the stuff. A lot of times when I would see

512
00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:22,119
him in Toronto where he's getting burned, it felt like

513
00:25:22,599 --> 00:25:24,559
this wasn't that stark. But you remember that Chris Paul

514
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,359
meme where like Steph Curry has him on Twister, it

515
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,160
just felt like Emmanuel quickly was operating from his back

516
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,480
heels too much, like he was almost ready to fall

517
00:25:32,519 --> 00:25:35,680
over in space lot And I'm just wondering if better

518
00:25:35,759 --> 00:25:38,319
talent around him, for sure, but if just more familiarity

519
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,559
with the Raptors in general, if you see, I hate

520
00:25:41,599 --> 00:25:42,720
using the phrase lot.

521
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 1: We're just trying to come up with synonyms for everything.

522
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,799
Speaker 2: But like a more effective a man, like a more

523
00:25:46,839 --> 00:25:50,240
consistent version of Emmanuel Quickly this year, because I never

524
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:51,799
watched him in New York, not once, and maybe so

525
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,480
like three seconds of his games. But I really do

526
00:25:55,519 --> 00:25:57,279
think like that is someone who I always looked at,

527
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:58,960
and he has the aesthetics like, oh he was It

528
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,519
wasn't even the off ball stuff. It felt like he

529
00:26:00,599 --> 00:26:02,440
was feisty and that he would be able to hold

530
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,160
his own in a lot of the point of attack situations,

531
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,039
whe even if it came to navigating screens. So I

532
00:26:08,039 --> 00:26:10,000
would still hold out hope that I think he could

533
00:26:10,039 --> 00:26:12,240
be better than what you were seeing in Toronto. But

534
00:26:12,279 --> 00:26:15,880
he is, like I wouldn't describe him necessarily as super strong.

535
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:17,759
It's like he has good size and we've already kind

536
00:26:17,759 --> 00:26:19,799
of mentioned it, so that's certainly a concern too.

537
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, if you're worried about him, or if you

538
00:26:23,519 --> 00:26:27,480
think being on his heels was a problem, the Raptors

539
00:26:27,839 --> 00:26:30,039
at Media Day Darko has talked about it a lot.

540
00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:32,799
They have DJ Carton, who is a great ball pressure

541
00:26:32,799 --> 00:26:34,759
guard at the G league level, remains to be seen

542
00:26:34,799 --> 00:26:37,799
at NBA level, Jamal shed who is like a prodigious

543
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,039
ball pressure guard at the collegiate level, and Davion Mitchell,

544
00:26:41,079 --> 00:26:42,960
who is one of the best ball pressure guards in

545
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,279
the NBA. The Raptors said that the most important defender

546
00:26:46,319 --> 00:26:48,519
on the flour for them is no longer the low man.

547
00:26:49,039 --> 00:26:51,559
It is now the ball pressure the guy who is

548
00:26:51,559 --> 00:26:55,000
applying it. They're making a big change. I think so

549
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,440
Emmanuel as the head of the snake, defensively should be

550
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,400
on his toes, so hopefully being feisty and fleet a foot,

551
00:27:04,519 --> 00:27:06,839
you know, hopefully that that works out. I mean, if

552
00:27:06,839 --> 00:27:11,440
he was good defensively, it changes everything, like it really does.

553
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,160
But if he's bad defensively, it's like, well, damn, this

554
00:27:14,279 --> 00:27:17,640
is tough to work around now because Emmanuel RJ. Grady,

555
00:27:18,759 --> 00:27:21,200
that's like one of those guys as to guard.

556
00:27:21,559 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 2: I do recognize that there could be kind of the

557
00:27:23,559 --> 00:27:26,960
played in New York inflation here whereas they do one thing.

558
00:27:27,039 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, he's in the garden man, he's gritty.

559
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,039
Speaker 2: Like I don't think anyone ever thought he was an

560
00:27:34,079 --> 00:27:36,359
all defense defender league wide, but I'm sure there were

561
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,279
like Knicks fans or media that would have made the case.

562
00:27:38,319 --> 00:27:39,079
Speaker 1: I even think r J.

563
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 2: Part was probably his best defensive season. I think was

564
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,880
as a sophomore and he was like he was good,

565
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,000
and it was portrayed and I'm not calling out Knix,

566
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,920
Fens or anything, but it was portrayed nationally as like spectacular,

567
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,759
and it almost takes away from yeah, you did say something.

568
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:56,400
I didn't send this to you on the outline. It's

569
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:57,799
not even necessarily raptors related.

570
00:27:58,000 --> 00:27:58,759
Speaker 1: Are you noticing it.

571
00:27:58,839 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 2: Changed at all on how NBA team seem to maybe

572
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,359
be building their defenses where it feels like typically it's

573
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:06,839
you kind of start from the inside out as your base,

574
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,880
And it does feel like when you look at certain

575
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,000
teams the Pelicans could be won, even maybe the Rockets

576
00:28:12,039 --> 00:28:14,240
last year, it feels like teams might be more apt

577
00:28:14,279 --> 00:28:16,319
to build it from the outside end, where you're talking

578
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:18,640
about using the head of the snake or like ball

579
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,240
pressure more so than like trying to rely on like

580
00:28:21,519 --> 00:28:23,960
not not even funneling towards room protection, but necessarily building

581
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,119
around and it doesn't have to be an elite big man.

582
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:27,799
Speaker 1: But we see so many defenses.

583
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 2: Try to build their bases around bigs in general.

584
00:28:30,839 --> 00:28:33,599
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the reason for that might be that

585
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,920
the best offensive players. Like, for a long time, there

586
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:43,559
was a certain level of speed and influence a defense

587
00:28:43,599 --> 00:28:47,359
could put onto a player driving downhill and players driving

588
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,839
downhill it was very It used to be pretty roped.

589
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,720
There wasn't like that creative playmaking or scoring out of it.

590
00:28:53,799 --> 00:28:55,880
Like guys wanted to get to their spots. They know

591
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,319
what it looked like. And if you see this counter,

592
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:03,359
you get it. Now you have, like, on average, at

593
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,279
the point of attack, like a guy who's like six

594
00:29:05,359 --> 00:29:09,799
for four with a six to eight wingspan, blindingly quick.

595
00:29:10,519 --> 00:29:11,680
Really can I curse?

596
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 2: Yeah?

597
00:29:12,839 --> 00:29:16,759
Speaker 3: Really gives a shit on defense. And not only do

598
00:29:16,799 --> 00:29:21,039
you have faster bigs and bigs who have their head

599
00:29:21,039 --> 00:29:23,799
on a swivel for a law of opportunities for a laydowns,

600
00:29:23,799 --> 00:29:26,440
all that kind of stuff, but the rear view can

601
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,000
tests and the way that teams play the lanes now

602
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,079
is they're really trying to catch up to guys who

603
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:38,119
operate just on a different cerebral level going downhill and so,

604
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,960
and this is kind of a Celtics thing. If guys

605
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,880
are so goddamn good at once they get past their

606
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:51,240
first defender, Like it's it's insane to me how many

607
00:29:51,279 --> 00:29:55,160
guys turn five on fours into like sixty five percent

608
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,440
field goal. They just like it's it's there every time.

609
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:03,680
They're like, Okay, Derek White, Drew Holiday, Jalen Brown, Jason like,

610
00:30:03,839 --> 00:30:08,279
let's just fucking form the wall. Make sure they can't

611
00:30:08,319 --> 00:30:10,880
get to that point, Like we have to keep the

612
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,200
guy in play, and that requires more of that outside

613
00:30:14,279 --> 00:30:17,400
in building. And that's why, you know, and Jason Tatum's

614
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:19,440
rebounding is really underrated, so they can get away with

615
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:23,319
him at the four. But you know, guys are too

616
00:30:23,359 --> 00:30:26,079
good at passing. Now, guys are just too damn good

617
00:30:26,079 --> 00:30:28,319
at passing, so you need to keep them farther away

618
00:30:28,319 --> 00:30:31,599
from the basket and hope that they shoot a lot

619
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:35,559
because and I think that might be informing the defensive change.

620
00:30:36,039 --> 00:30:38,319
Maybe maybe this you should ask Caitlin this question. I

621
00:30:38,359 --> 00:30:39,799
bet she has a really insightful answer.

622
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 2: I'm happy I got to ask you, because even the

623
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:44,559
nick seem like they're trying to do it, like they're

624
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:46,720
like at least a facsimile of it. So it's something

625
00:30:46,759 --> 00:30:49,279
I've thought about a lot over the past couple of months.

626
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,119
But you did mention the Raptors defense. And so after

627
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,039
playing all that time under Nick Nurse Forresa, seeing just

628
00:30:55,359 --> 00:30:58,680
hyper aggression from them, they were definitely more conservative last year,

629
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,039
And now you're mentioning that they are talking about kind

630
00:31:01,039 --> 00:31:03,480
of making the most important defender the ball pressure guy.

631
00:31:03,559 --> 00:31:06,319
So as if fair, now we're gonna see a more

632
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:08,240
are they gonna try and strike a medium like what's

633
00:31:08,279 --> 00:31:10,599
gonna be Toronto's defensive identity this year?

634
00:31:11,319 --> 00:31:15,119
Speaker 3: God, I don't know, because you say things. We all

635
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,920
say things, you know, everybody says things. When the Raptors

636
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,880
were hyper aggressive, it was before Pascal's defense took like

637
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,720
a downturn. It was when oj Ananobi was still you know,

638
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,160
he playing very hard on the Rappers, still an all

639
00:31:31,279 --> 00:31:36,519
NBA level defender. Fred van Vliet, who had one kind

640
00:31:36,559 --> 00:31:39,200
of down year defensively in Toronto but immediately became like

641
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:43,519
an insane pest once again in Houston. They the wonderful,

642
00:31:43,599 --> 00:31:47,920
beautiful half season of precious at you. I mean when

643
00:31:48,039 --> 00:31:49,400
they play by the way.

644
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,599
Speaker 2: Following that half season, that offseason, I picked him to win,

645
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:54,920
So I think we're talking the twenty two offseason, right.

646
00:31:55,319 --> 00:31:59,200
I picked him to win Most Improved Player in twenty

647
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:01,759
not work out so well for me.

648
00:32:02,279 --> 00:32:05,839
Speaker 3: We're a Precious believers, brother, I still believe in it.

649
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,079
There's a lot of latent stuff going on there for Precious,

650
00:32:09,119 --> 00:32:11,759
but they had a lot of defensive talent on the

651
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:18,599
roster and they were just a better team. Now I

652
00:32:18,599 --> 00:32:21,240
don't think they have the same like definitely not on

653
00:32:21,319 --> 00:32:24,200
the wing. Wings are important to ball pressure. As it

654
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:26,920
turns out, they don't have the same level of wing

655
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,240
defenders and we probably won't even get to see exactly

656
00:32:30,279 --> 00:32:33,119
what they want to do early on because they still

657
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,519
have so many injuries. Like RJ is injured, Bruce Brown

658
00:32:36,599 --> 00:32:40,559
is injured, Emanuel Quickly is still nursing his thumb. Jacoby

659
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:46,640
Walter and RJ both a chromio clavicular joints stressed and strained.

660
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,759
We'll see what happens once they're fully healthy, but at

661
00:32:50,759 --> 00:32:55,880
the very least they have Davion Mitchell, Emmanuel Quickly, DJ

662
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,799
cart and Jamal Shad and Scottie Barnes and Yaka Purtl

663
00:32:58,799 --> 00:33:02,359
in the back line. Also, it wanes from game to

664
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:04,400
game but he can have some pretty impressive ball pressure

665
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:06,960
games too, So we'll see all that shakes out. Yeah,

666
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,240
I don't know, like because words are words.

667
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,079
Speaker 2: Has Yaka Purdle at all? I've never been with the

668
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:14,960
quip peers. I've never been a super Just like, Oh,

669
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,960
Yaka Purdle's like this amazing NBA center. I wasn't thrilled

670
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,640
with the contract the Ractors gave him. I didn't think

671
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:23,960
it was backbreaking. Has he become a little underrated on

672
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,000
the defensive end at all? I think the raw rim

673
00:33:26,039 --> 00:33:28,359
protection numbers are throwing people for a loop because they've

674
00:33:28,359 --> 00:33:30,519
slipped over the past couple of seasons. But if you

675
00:33:30,559 --> 00:33:32,160
want to dig into numbers and you look at like

676
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,839
teams get to the rim less when he's on the court,

677
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,039
and they shoot worse overall when he's on the court,

678
00:33:37,119 --> 00:33:38,960
especially last season. I don't know if it's because the

679
00:33:39,039 --> 00:33:41,279
Raptors were just working from such a low baseline, But

680
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,839
for the stuff that he's able to do, is it like,

681
00:33:44,279 --> 00:33:46,680
what is the actual value of Yako pertl on de Like,

682
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,559
what is the proper way to evaluate Yaka Purdle through

683
00:33:49,599 --> 00:33:50,640
a defensive lens?

684
00:33:51,079 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 3: I think that he was overrated defensively for a long time, okay,

685
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:02,319
and underrated offensively because for too long everyone got so

686
00:34:02,519 --> 00:34:06,720
goddamn comfortable thinking like, well, if he doesn't shoot, it's

687
00:34:06,759 --> 00:34:10,960
not super offense. But Yaka Purtle is a very good

688
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,199
offensive center for greasing the wheels for everything you want

689
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,599
to do, for screen setting, for finishing everything around the rim,

690
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,440
and you can operate a lot of elbow basketball with

691
00:34:20,559 --> 00:34:25,119
him as the hub. The Raptors, they really benefit from

692
00:34:25,119 --> 00:34:29,360
what he provides offensively. Defensively, things have slipped. I think

693
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,920
some of that is to do with, like, I don't know,

694
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,480
you've probably felt it in your own life at general

695
00:34:35,559 --> 00:34:37,960
malaise when you're going through like a patch of life

696
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,440
where you're like ho hum, you know, when you're not

697
00:34:42,519 --> 00:34:45,800
playing on like a super good team, and Zion is

698
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:50,159
coming down the lane, less impetus to like put your

699
00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:55,960
body between the you know, the unstoppable force. And I

700
00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:01,039
think he does have trouble on the perimeter now more

701
00:35:01,079 --> 00:35:04,360
than he used to, and so that and it's not

702
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,679
a whole bunch, but I think he has a little

703
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:08,559
bit more trouble on the perimeter than he used to.

704
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,519
I mean, the open practice I just went to at

705
00:35:11,599 --> 00:35:15,039
McGill University, Kelly Olinic took him for all he was worth,

706
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,519
Like Yakub had a lot of trouble with this point

707
00:35:18,639 --> 00:35:23,360
forward Kelly Olinik, who was thirty three and was shredding him.

708
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,079
But his room protection stuff, I still think is good.

709
00:35:27,679 --> 00:35:32,039
And big bodies are big bodies. Big bodies good in basketball.

710
00:35:32,119 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 2: I think in theory, if there's going to be a

711
00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:38,719
boatload of mall ball pressure in front of him, how

712
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:42,760
does that impact his job? Then defensively for Toronto, doesn't

713
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,159
that in theory could leave him kind of needing to

714
00:35:46,199 --> 00:35:48,800
do too much on the back line.

715
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,199
Speaker 3: Then you're asking the right question. And I'll tell you Dan,

716
00:35:52,559 --> 00:35:56,599
this is the exact question I asked Yakam and he

717
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,639
refused to answer it. I said, hey, we're talking about

718
00:35:59,679 --> 00:36:03,599
a whole bunch of ball pressure. How does that impact you, Yakub?

719
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,800
And he was like, it doesn't really And I was like,

720
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:11,000
surely that can't be true. And he did the thing

721
00:36:11,039 --> 00:36:13,639
where players are like, well, it depends on schemes. I'm like,

722
00:36:13,679 --> 00:36:16,519
I know, it depends on schemes. Yeah, but I would

723
00:36:16,599 --> 00:36:18,400
just I love for you to like go a little

724
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:22,079
bit deeper on this for me. But he refused. I

725
00:36:22,519 --> 00:36:27,440
think it will require him. It depends on how especially

726
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,360
since their ball pressure guards will be smaller a lot

727
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,639
of the time, you know, crowding from behind won't be

728
00:36:33,639 --> 00:36:38,559
as big a thing. I assume Yakub will be stepping

729
00:36:38,639 --> 00:36:42,800
up a little higher in the defense and that might

730
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:47,599
be trouble. But since Scotty, it could effectively turn Scotty

731
00:36:47,639 --> 00:36:49,719
into the back line guy A lot more often is

732
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,400
that Yakub is the big man who steps up. Then

733
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:55,440
if he allows the blowby or if a guy kind

734
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:58,000
of gets around him, they have to widen their drive.

735
00:36:58,280 --> 00:36:59,960
That means that Scotty is the little man. He has

736
00:37:00,079 --> 00:37:02,360
more time to come over, and that Yakub can trail

737
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,480
back into the paint for boxing out, for rebounding, or

738
00:37:05,519 --> 00:37:07,719
for laid down passes, to guard that kind of stuff.

739
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,840
I think he's capable of doing it. I wish I

740
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,000
had a quote from him saying this kind of stuff.

741
00:37:13,039 --> 00:37:15,480
But you know, they don't have to They don't have

742
00:37:15,519 --> 00:37:18,920
to give us anything. Honestly, it just doesn't matter what with.

743
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,079
Speaker 2: These raptors guys kind of Styny and you were talking

744
00:37:21,159 --> 00:37:23,239
last year, and I'd read your piece before we recorded

745
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:25,719
that pod about you asking r J Barrett to kind

746
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,079
of like what's changed or how he's changed. He's like busy,

747
00:37:28,119 --> 00:37:30,239
he says, I haven't changed. I'm so RJ or something.

748
00:37:30,679 --> 00:37:32,199
They don't want to elaborate for you.

749
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:32,800
Speaker 1: What's up with that?

750
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:37,960
Speaker 3: Well, sometimes they do. It's just it's just if you

751
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,199
get them on a certain Yakub never wants to, Like

752
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,000
Yacub never wants to elaborate for me. A lot of

753
00:37:43,039 --> 00:37:46,920
players do. And RJ has actually been really good, uh

754
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,599
and really great this season to start. We'll see how

755
00:37:49,599 --> 00:37:53,760
that kind of shakes up. Scotty will not elaborate anything ever,

756
00:37:55,559 --> 00:37:59,199
which is unfortunate because like he'll go do it on

757
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:02,440
Twitch or something. But I'm not digging through a Twitch

758
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,519
stream for quotes. I just said, God, I couldn't put

759
00:38:04,559 --> 00:38:05,079
about Kick.

760
00:38:05,199 --> 00:38:06,519
Speaker 1: I just heard of Kick. What's kick?

761
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,679
Speaker 3: Is he on? Kick? Oh? I think Kick is a

762
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:09,199
hell hole.

763
00:38:09,679 --> 00:38:11,119
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense.

764
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 2: I just I didn't even know it existed until a

765
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:14,039
few days.

766
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:18,760
Speaker 3: Ago, So I'm pretty sure Kick is like the debaucherous

767
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:20,199
streaming site.

768
00:38:20,559 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 1: All right, he's not on there.

769
00:38:22,559 --> 00:38:22,920
Speaker 3: Okay.

770
00:38:23,119 --> 00:38:25,280
Speaker 2: I only saw because there was a social media influencer,

771
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,360
because Twitter is a mess now with the algorithm.

772
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,039
Speaker 1: I crashed his uh.

773
00:38:29,159 --> 00:38:31,199
Speaker 2: McLaren and film the whole thing and he got kicked

774
00:38:31,199 --> 00:38:33,559
off Kick for doing it. Was the the tweet reporter.

775
00:38:33,559 --> 00:38:34,800
Speaker 1: I was like, the hell is kick.

776
00:38:36,199 --> 00:38:39,039
Speaker 3: If if? Now this is just a cursory glance into

777
00:38:39,199 --> 00:38:44,599
if my brain remembers from passive information. I think Kick

778
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:51,280
is funded by Steak the crypto casino, and I think

779
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:55,199
they have like so much money because they get kids

780
00:38:55,199 --> 00:39:00,599
to gamble like I think, wait wait wait. But also

781
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:05,519
allegedly in case I don't know alleged everything alleged, I don't.

782
00:39:05,599 --> 00:39:08,320
I don't know well enough. Anyway, We're we've gone far field.

783
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,639
But anyway, sometimes you get stymied. Sometimes you get really

784
00:39:12,679 --> 00:39:15,400
good stuff. I'm hoping that this year I get really

785
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,480
good stuff. And thank you to Darko, who is usually

786
00:39:19,119 --> 00:39:22,679
very forthcoming with me, and that's I really appreciate Darko

787
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:27,920
for that. But yeah, players don't have to say anything.

788
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,000
They don't owe us anything. They just have to be there.

789
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:32,559
Speaker 1: They don't. But uh, I kudos to you and the

790
00:39:32,599 --> 00:39:33,000
other people.

791
00:39:33,039 --> 00:39:34,519
Speaker 2: I say this all the time in the podcast where

792
00:39:34,679 --> 00:39:37,559
I stopped doing on site work like him pushing for it,

793
00:39:37,639 --> 00:39:40,119
like right around the pandemic. Obviously, I never tried to

794
00:39:40,159 --> 00:39:42,679
go back because I hated the logistics and the like,

795
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,840
not the politics of it. But yeah, well there's politics

796
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:48,400
of it, and I'm not willing to play that game.

797
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:50,960
But so kudos to you for continuing to power through

798
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:52,480
the what could be bland answers.

799
00:39:52,519 --> 00:39:55,199
Speaker 1: Although yakab to his credit, I saw him getting the

800
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:57,400
oh you can't say the koy port out loud.

801
00:39:57,119 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 2: Type thing when he said that was great, we're not

802
00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:02,000
a attacking the championship. I was like, hell, yeah, like

803
00:40:02,039 --> 00:40:03,880
that's the case we claim to want candor let him

804
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:04,199
say it.

805
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,599
Speaker 1: I liked it. It's sorry to take us on that tangent.

806
00:40:06,679 --> 00:40:10,920
Speaker 2: But they're big man rotation because we're talking about yakub

807
00:40:11,119 --> 00:40:12,679
When you look at kind of the primary bigs on

808
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:15,440
this team, they don't have like a like we're talking

809
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:16,320
about how they might defend.

810
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:17,599
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like they have.

811
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:19,599
Speaker 2: A type of big man rotation where they could even

812
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:22,760
like have an identity that's consistent across the board with

813
00:40:23,079 --> 00:40:27,519
yakub Ko, my guy Chris Bouchet. So what do you

814
00:40:27,559 --> 00:40:29,679
sort of make of the big man rotation? Is there

815
00:40:29,679 --> 00:40:31,440
one of I guess if Kelly Olinic is cooking like,

816
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,679
you know, Utah Jazz point center Kelly Olinick. He's not

817
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,320
gonna fall by the wayside, But is there the potential

818
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:39,159
for Chris Bouchet to kind of fall out? Or like

819
00:40:39,159 --> 00:40:42,239
what do we sort of make of that primary Raptors

820
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:43,440
you know, big rotation.

821
00:40:44,079 --> 00:40:49,400
Speaker 3: So this is flex tape. The name Scottie Barnes is

822
00:40:49,599 --> 00:40:52,679
crudely drawn over it when he slaps it in front

823
00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:56,480
of the big leaking hole and it's like, hopefully this works.

824
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,960
I think Scottie Barnes does a lot of heavy lifting,

825
00:41:00,079 --> 00:41:03,000
and so does Yaka for that that big man rotation.

826
00:41:03,519 --> 00:41:08,440
Kelly struggled a lot at the Olympics. I was crestfallen

827
00:41:08,519 --> 00:41:11,000
by Kelly's performance at the Olympics. To be quite honest

828
00:41:11,039 --> 00:41:14,320
with you. He was not good offensively or defensively, and

829
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:17,360
I thought both of those I thought that context, that

830
00:41:17,519 --> 00:41:21,239
environment should benefit his game on both sides of the floor.

831
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:24,360
Maybe he has a really good season, but he was

832
00:41:24,639 --> 00:41:29,039
really bad defensively last year. Again, everybody on the Raptress

833
00:41:29,159 --> 00:41:32,039
was really bad defensively last year, especially when the team

834
00:41:32,119 --> 00:41:36,599
was so injured. So who knows, really, maybe they find

835
00:41:36,599 --> 00:41:39,519
different ways where they can kind of like keep things

836
00:41:39,559 --> 00:41:42,440
a little bit more penned in I'm not exactly sure.

837
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:48,840
Chris Bouche is a positive bench player in the NBA

838
00:41:49,159 --> 00:41:53,639
and he got it. Yeah, and he got sat a

839
00:41:53,679 --> 00:41:57,639
lot last year, a lot of did not play coaches decision.

840
00:41:58,679 --> 00:42:02,480
I gotta be honest, man. You know you talked about politics.

841
00:42:02,639 --> 00:42:07,880
We talked. I said politics. There's politics here in the

842
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:13,519
Chris Bouchet thing. I don't know anything confidently enough to

843
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,760
speak on it, but I can simply point to like

844
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:23,039
the cloud of politics and be like, happening, something happening,

845
00:42:24,519 --> 00:42:28,920
something is and has been happening with Chris Bouche, who

846
00:42:29,519 --> 00:42:33,880
is on merit like, definitely you have to get minutes,

847
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:37,800
and he just didn't. And this year it's like you

848
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,079
still can't get a quote being like, yeah, Chris is

849
00:42:40,199 --> 00:42:45,119
part of the rotation. This guy is definitely good enough

850
00:42:45,119 --> 00:42:47,719
to be part of the rotation, and yet we dance

851
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:52,400
around it. So I'm not again politics Chris Bouche. He

852
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:56,079
might not be as good as he once was. And

853
00:42:56,119 --> 00:42:58,280
again it's hard to tell. Because the bench player on

854
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:00,840
a bad team, things change. A lot of this stuff

855
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:05,039
is contextual, but that's an interesting thing. I'm paying attention

856
00:43:05,079 --> 00:43:06,880
to It's like, what the hell is happening with Chris?

857
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:08,639
Speaker 2: So do we need to have some sort of a

858
00:43:08,639 --> 00:43:11,119
who gets more minutes this year? Bruno Fernando or Chris

859
00:43:11,159 --> 00:43:13,400
Bouchet type discussion? I really didn't think we needed to.

860
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:19,519
Speaker 3: It will be Chris okay, good, but maybe not as

861
00:43:19,559 --> 00:43:22,280
big a home runs as you think. I don't know.

862
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:24,960
It was so weird last year. We'll see what happens.

863
00:43:25,679 --> 00:43:28,119
Speaker 1: He will remain one of my siren songs forever though.

864
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,159
Speaker 2: This is either terrible podcasting or fantastic podcasting.

865
00:43:31,159 --> 00:43:33,000
Speaker 1: But I haven't I asked you a specific question yet

866
00:43:33,039 --> 00:43:36,079
about Dotty Barnes. Let's return to that synonym.

867
00:43:36,119 --> 00:43:38,039
Speaker 2: So he didn't really play much after you and I

868
00:43:38,119 --> 00:43:40,000
last talk, so anyone should go circle back to that

869
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,639
discussion we basically talk about there was across the board

870
00:43:42,679 --> 00:43:45,239
improvement from him, Like I feel like you seldom see,

871
00:43:45,519 --> 00:43:48,079
even at that point in your career where we expect

872
00:43:48,079 --> 00:43:51,800
improvement from a player, such comprehensive improvement. What is the

873
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:53,199
next front tier for him?

874
00:43:53,199 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 3: Though?

875
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,760
Speaker 2: When you look at where arenas in which he could

876
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:56,719
still improve.

877
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:03,599
Speaker 3: I think the free throw line is the I'm writing

878
00:44:03,599 --> 00:44:07,119
a piece. I'm going back over all of Scotty's picking

879
00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:11,719
roll possessions so I can have a more definite because

880
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,039
when I looked at him last time, it was not good,

881
00:44:14,519 --> 00:44:17,480
and I didn't feel good saying that in you know

882
00:44:17,599 --> 00:44:20,039
the coverage I gave, which was like, hey, things are

883
00:44:20,079 --> 00:44:22,760
not going well. He's having trouble beating the push switch.

884
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:26,039
But now, and this is a bit of the piece,

885
00:44:26,159 --> 00:44:28,880
is like, well, he's more confident in his handle. He's

886
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:32,679
more patient against switches. He's such a talented passer that

887
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,320
when teams kind of wall up at the start and

888
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,320
you look to seal and get in behind that sealed

889
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,239
drags a guy, he flings it to the corner. If

890
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,800
there's any type of hesitation on the defense's half that

891
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:48,119
they kind of want to Okay, we we showed aggressively,

892
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:50,079
but we want to get back. Now he attacks that

893
00:44:50,159 --> 00:44:54,480
more readily. It's led to less switches against him, and

894
00:44:54,519 --> 00:44:57,480
in the same way that you know, second spectrum says

895
00:44:57,519 --> 00:45:01,920
Scottie went from getting like no stop short closeouts as

896
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,719
a shooter to getting like more and more long closeouts.

897
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:08,599
He affected change in the defense both as a shooter

898
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:10,840
and as a pick and roll ball handler. And I

899
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:13,519
think the pick and roll if he's able to keep

900
00:45:14,159 --> 00:45:19,599
weaponizing his insanely tremendous passing, then I think that can

901
00:45:19,679 --> 00:45:22,280
be such a massive weapon for him. And I still

902
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:24,800
like at the top, top level, he needs to score

903
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:26,239
the ball better out of the pick and roll. It's

904
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:30,039
still not a great aspect of his game, but I

905
00:45:30,039 --> 00:45:32,239
think the pick and roll can be a huge avenue

906
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:35,679
for him to get downhill, to get to the line.

907
00:45:36,159 --> 00:45:40,920
And that's as far as like a few told people

908
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:44,360
by year four that Scottie could like be around like

909
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:47,519
twenty two nine and six, twenty two nine to seven,

910
00:45:47,639 --> 00:45:50,320
something like that. I mean, people would have been like,

911
00:45:50,519 --> 00:45:53,360
what the hell is going and all NBA level defense

912
00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:55,599
for the you know, before he got injured, and while

913
00:45:55,599 --> 00:45:58,719
the team was still competitive, people would be like, what

914
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,360
the hell did Like did they draft draft the best

915
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:04,280
guy from the draft class? And but that's all well

916
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:08,199
within play. So you know that uptick and free throws

917
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:10,639
could could get you closer to twenty three twenty four.

918
00:46:11,199 --> 00:46:13,519
And I know Julius Randall put up like twenty five,

919
00:46:13,599 --> 00:46:16,320
ten and five and everybody said he wasn't good, which

920
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:19,800
was silly to me, but like that's well within the

921
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:22,519
realm of possibility. For Scottie Barns in these next couple

922
00:46:22,559 --> 00:46:26,119
of years, but with more assists and more positive, you know,

923
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:30,440
defensive play and probably a little bit more team friendly style.

924
00:46:31,639 --> 00:46:35,079
He's good, he's great, great at basketball.

925
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:37,960
Speaker 2: Actually I had to file I don't know if it's

926
00:46:38,039 --> 00:46:41,360
live yet, a prediction like bold prediction you actually believe.

927
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:43,199
For Bleacher Report, we did a round table and my

928
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:44,800
pick was I had to do too. One of them was,

929
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:46,599
I think scott he's going to clear twenty five points

930
00:46:46,599 --> 00:46:47,800
in eight assists this year.

931
00:46:48,199 --> 00:46:50,559
Speaker 1: I think the which for his age.

932
00:46:50,679 --> 00:46:53,719
Speaker 2: I was looking this up before your twenty fourth birthday

933
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,000
or by your twenty fourth birthday. There's not a whole

934
00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,079
lot of people that's done it. Luca and Shrey have

935
00:46:58,119 --> 00:47:00,840
done it a bunch. Then you have Oscar, Robert, Tiny

936
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:02,480
Archibald and John Morant and that's it.

937
00:47:02,519 --> 00:47:04,320
Speaker 1: So he would be the fifth or sixth player to

938
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:04,599
do it.

939
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,519
Speaker 2: With that being said, I don't know if I have

940
00:47:07,559 --> 00:47:10,280
as big a hope of him getting the line more

941
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:12,239
frequently as you do. I'm really hoping that some of

942
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,559
the difference can come, Like we're gonna get that pull

943
00:47:14,639 --> 00:47:16,239
up too, to go down at more than a thirty

944
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,679
seven thirty eight percent clip where if defenses are going

945
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:20,519
to defend him in the pick and roll a certain way,

946
00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:22,159
but I think he can do it. And we saw

947
00:47:22,199 --> 00:47:24,360
the not that this is a harbinger for that, but

948
00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:27,039
the improvement from above the break three point shooting last year.

949
00:47:27,079 --> 00:47:28,159
I know it dipped a little bit, but he was

950
00:47:28,159 --> 00:47:30,000
still close to thirty five percent for the season and

951
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:32,960
on above the break threes. I'll take it. Also, I

952
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:34,599
think someone on this team just needs to put up

953
00:47:34,599 --> 00:47:37,079
assist numbers. And there's him, and there's kind of IQ

954
00:47:37,159 --> 00:47:38,760
and I know you said the Raptors are an assist farm.

955
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:41,119
And there's Perdle, which, by the way, I tend to

956
00:47:41,119 --> 00:47:44,000
just discriminate against Biggs. Warn't Jokic that like to operate

957
00:47:44,039 --> 00:47:44,760
against the elbows?

958
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:48,800
Speaker 3: A pit's so fake. I'm so glad you brought this up.

959
00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:51,360
And this is always a pet peeve of mine. Dan,

960
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,239
and he trickles down to pick up ball where a guy,

961
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:57,360
you know, the one guy who's like six ' three,

962
00:47:57,400 --> 00:47:59,400
he's not a very good player, but he's six threes

963
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:00,840
on the COIs lite. Yeah, give me the ball, and

964
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,559
they're always like, you know, they just nod their head

965
00:48:03,599 --> 00:48:07,519
like cut cut it is such Oh my god, a

966
00:48:07,599 --> 00:48:10,400
big in college or in their first couple of years

967
00:48:10,679 --> 00:48:13,239
makes a high low read and guess what, a high

968
00:48:13,239 --> 00:48:15,199
low read is not a tough pass to make. And

969
00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:20,079
suddenly everyone is like, oh, is this an elite passing big? No,

970
00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:25,119
when did we like start saying that that's elite passing,

971
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,920
that is bottom of the barrel passing. Every big can

972
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,559
run a high low When did this become like a

973
00:48:31,599 --> 00:48:34,719
special part of playmaking. It's so fake, Dan, I'm so

974
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:37,159
glad you brought this up. It's a pet peeve of mine.

975
00:48:38,599 --> 00:48:40,960
Speaker 2: So yeah, I feel like he's just gonna put up numbers,

976
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:42,840
and I'm wondering if we could see some sort of

977
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,320
I'm glad I'm kind of anecdotally then my me being

978
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,760
biased against biggs who aren't like superstars that operate at

979
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,119
times from like diebos that it's not completely unfounded. Then

980
00:48:53,119 --> 00:48:54,960
maybe maybe that's what it is. I'm thinking at a

981
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:57,480
lower level. But it's really this, just this high level

982
00:48:57,519 --> 00:49:00,199
that that's being masked by me not enjoying watching that

983
00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:01,199
stuff exactly.

984
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 3: Well, everyone thinks it's the passing. It's not the passing.

985
00:49:05,159 --> 00:49:07,360
What makes you special at the elbow is a big

986
00:49:07,599 --> 00:49:10,480
is your ability to set screens and your ability to

987
00:49:10,559 --> 00:49:12,840
bully drive. If you can do both of those things,

988
00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:14,760
it doesn't matter if you can make the high low

989
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,159
read or whatever. How many high low reads come open

990
00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:21,119
the game three? Maybe how many? How many dribble handoffs

991
00:49:21,119 --> 00:49:23,320
can you run that get somebody an edge, that filter

992
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:25,960
into a corner three or you know, a roll into

993
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:29,760
the lane or a layup countless and bully drives when

994
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:32,320
it breaks down. This is the Emir Johnson stuff that

995
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:35,320
made him so special. He needn't make Hilo pass. There's

996
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:38,239
no pomping frill in his game anyway.

997
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:42,480
Speaker 2: Grady Dick, who really we talked about this when you

998
00:49:42,519 --> 00:49:44,320
were kind enough to have me on the Raptor Show

999
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:47,000
at one point last year to go from whack we

1000
00:49:47,039 --> 00:49:49,639
started the season to how he finished the season to

1001
00:49:49,679 --> 00:49:52,360
then just even like hinting at different layers other than like,

1002
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,239
look at this value as a shooter. I really try

1003
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:58,280
not to watch a ton of preseason because I don't

1004
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:00,800
want to, Like, I just don't want to buy into it,

1005
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:05,679
and most of the time you shouldn't. But Samson, I this, dude,

1006
00:50:06,199 --> 00:50:08,119
if the one like the one game I saw from

1007
00:50:08,159 --> 00:50:10,320
was any indication like is he gonna just have like

1008
00:50:10,599 --> 00:50:13,000
a ton more layers inside the arc and even just

1009
00:50:13,039 --> 00:50:15,440
more agency with the ball in his hands this year?

1010
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,360
Speaker 1: Then I was especially ready for.

1011
00:50:19,119 --> 00:50:22,760
Speaker 3: So you you watched my Kansas probably a little bit,

1012
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:23,280
I'm sure.

1013
00:50:23,679 --> 00:50:26,119
Speaker 2: No, I've all my college film work is done like

1014
00:50:26,159 --> 00:50:27,480
a crash course before the draft.

1015
00:50:27,519 --> 00:50:29,159
Speaker 1: I won't pretend to watch college basketball.

1016
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,639
Speaker 3: That's no, that's I'm the exact same way, except when

1017
00:50:32,639 --> 00:50:34,760
the guy gets drafted. That's the only like I watched

1018
00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:37,599
a little bit going in. You talk to your scout buddies,

1019
00:50:37,639 --> 00:50:40,559
say is this guy good? Is this guy bad? It?

1020
00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:44,400
Keep it pretty people, pretend you know people about how

1021
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:45,199
much they watch.

1022
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:45,920
Speaker 1: Let's be honest.

1023
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,480
Speaker 2: I haven't watched an NBA game since like twenty twelve.

1024
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:50,719
I've smart people like you on the podcast that's able

1025
00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:52,880
to ride the coattails of exactly.

1026
00:50:53,039 --> 00:50:59,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's funny. So I tracked all of Grady's shooting,

1027
00:50:59,159 --> 00:51:01,039
like I watched all his jumper so I can track

1028
00:51:01,079 --> 00:51:05,199
it because I thought that the catch and shoot versus

1029
00:51:05,239 --> 00:51:09,280
pull up was a little bit too simple at NBAA.

1030
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:11,719
I love it. It's great that they track that, but

1031
00:51:12,039 --> 00:51:15,800
a pull up can be a catch one dribble, standstill

1032
00:51:16,159 --> 00:51:19,840
in transition and make that it doesn't exactly it does

1033
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,039
for the most part, but doesn't exactly correctly be you know,

1034
00:51:23,119 --> 00:51:25,800
belay the info of how difficult a shot was. So

1035
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:29,480
I counted all of his movement shots, and once he

1036
00:51:29,519 --> 00:51:31,239
came back from the G League, after he went on

1037
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:36,079
the muscle plan, he came back and over the rest

1038
00:51:36,119 --> 00:51:38,079
of the season he was twenty three of fifty one

1039
00:51:38,199 --> 00:51:41,840
for forty five percent on movement threes, sprinting off of

1040
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:46,440
pin downs, wheeling off of a flare, sprinting into space,

1041
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:51,480
fading twenty three or fifty one, that's absurd, and from

1042
00:51:51,559 --> 00:51:54,519
mid range twenty two of fifty one. These are those

1043
00:51:54,679 --> 00:51:57,800
catch you know, maybe a side pick and roll, throw ahead,

1044
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,320
dribble into the middle, go run into it, throw it

1045
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:07,079
up like great numbers, really really impressive numbers that agency.

1046
00:52:07,159 --> 00:52:09,559
You know. He and to go back to the original thing.

1047
00:52:09,719 --> 00:52:12,039
At Kansas, he ran a lot of side picking roles.

1048
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,239
Was capable of making the checkdown pass when two guys

1049
00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:17,960
came up, was capable of making the mid range, was

1050
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:21,079
comfortable getting into like a little post fade if things

1051
00:52:21,079 --> 00:52:23,880
slowed down. He made one on Joe ingles. Last year,

1052
00:52:24,039 --> 00:52:27,440
there was some interesting stuff that happened. He has the

1053
00:52:27,559 --> 00:52:31,639
skill if he gets his feet past his man to

1054
00:52:31,719 --> 00:52:34,480
kind of like make things work. As of right now,

1055
00:52:34,519 --> 00:52:38,280
he's not that athletic, and he's not as strong as

1056
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:40,920
he will be when he's like twenty four. I think Grady,

1057
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:42,800
if he fills out, should be able to like muscle

1058
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:44,880
and because he's a big guard, if he plays the two,

1059
00:52:45,159 --> 00:52:48,280
should be able to like muscle his way to places

1060
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:50,719
and shoot and play make out of so many different packages.

1061
00:52:51,039 --> 00:52:54,239
Right now, he's still having trouble so the agency I

1062
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:56,119
think he will have. I don't know if the efficiency

1063
00:52:56,199 --> 00:52:58,480
comes this year. He's still going to get bumped off

1064
00:52:58,519 --> 00:53:01,039
of places a lot. But you're picking up on something

1065
00:53:01,119 --> 00:53:04,440
real that the raptors like putting him in different areas

1066
00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:06,679
and being like, let's see what you can do. He's

1067
00:53:06,679 --> 00:53:09,920
a thirteenth overall pick. He's a lottery pick. The raptors

1068
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:14,000
are not like overflowing with young talent. I like that

1069
00:53:14,039 --> 00:53:17,920
he has room to try things. He is a streakier

1070
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:21,000
shooter than I would have expected. But there's a lot

1071
00:53:21,039 --> 00:53:24,159
of good stuff happening with Grady, especially on the offensive end.

1072
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:27,920
Speaker 2: I wonder if there's just like he threw the throw

1073
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,719
a pass in transition, like just he wants you to

1074
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,159
know that he just threw this one handed bounce pass

1075
00:53:33,519 --> 00:53:35,360
in transition, and so I'm just like, is there more

1076
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:38,480
is kind of this supplementary word of a podcast like

1077
00:53:38,519 --> 00:53:40,880
playmaking from him than I would have foreseen.

1078
00:53:41,239 --> 00:53:44,719
Speaker 3: So that's real. You can also go to my twitter,

1079
00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:48,400
like when I was I caught the really put like

1080
00:53:48,559 --> 00:53:51,719
great three point to rim push lob over a defender

1081
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:55,159
to Jonathan Mobo in their preseason game. He's a pretty

1082
00:53:55,239 --> 00:53:59,679
damn good passer. The baseline skip. He has the rap

1083
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:02,159
on a baseline out above the break, whether it's a

1084
00:54:02,239 --> 00:54:05,480
three point shooter or a forty five cut, like, he's

1085
00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:08,719
pretty good at that stuff. He's still overwhelmed by the

1086
00:54:08,719 --> 00:54:12,440
speed and physicality a little bit, but the skill of

1087
00:54:12,519 --> 00:54:15,800
Grady Dick's game remains really high and the work rate

1088
00:54:16,519 --> 00:54:20,000
to use like a footy term is also tremendous. He

1089
00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:24,000
finds spaces, he gets himself in the mix. I have

1090
00:54:24,039 --> 00:54:26,440
a couple quotes from his shooting that will make it

1091
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:29,039
into or quotes about his cutting that will make it

1092
00:54:29,079 --> 00:54:30,679
into a piece. At some point, we had a good

1093
00:54:30,679 --> 00:54:34,719
conversation the other day. But Grady's fun. I hope everything

1094
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,400
goes well, because if things go well with him, he's

1095
00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:38,840
a very unique player in the NBA.

1096
00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:42,559
Speaker 2: I think is there something he can do defensively to

1097
00:54:42,679 --> 00:54:45,599
ensure his minutes don't kind of wax and wane.

1098
00:54:46,079 --> 00:54:51,679
Speaker 3: This year, he said he put on thirteen pounds of muscle.

1099
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:55,239
Everybody was making fun of him like that. He was

1100
00:54:55,559 --> 00:54:59,000
in the scrum and manual quickly and RGVT were standing

1101
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:04,239
outside of it mocking him openly, which wasn't They're saying

1102
00:55:04,239 --> 00:55:07,199
he didn't put on that muscle, but I think he did.

1103
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:11,719
He has to be stronger because if you saw this

1104
00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:15,039
guy's calves, it's like, did you ever I don't know.

1105
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,400
I grew up in a small town Saskatchewan. There's like

1106
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:21,719
a farmer who wore rubber boots to work in the field,

1107
00:55:22,199 --> 00:55:24,960
and his calves were just so massive that they like

1108
00:55:25,119 --> 00:55:30,000
maxed out to the rubber boot entry. He has farmer calves.

1109
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:32,960
Speaker 1: All right, already, Dallas, then.

1110
00:55:33,199 --> 00:55:37,400
Speaker 3: He has farmer calves. He does, not, however, have farmer

1111
00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:42,719
thighs and farmer upper body. So if it's like if

1112
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:44,960
he saw a kid who was wearing like six pound

1113
00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:47,119
weights on his feet. I think that's kind of how

1114
00:55:47,159 --> 00:55:50,199
he moves his His calves are so big. He's not

1115
00:55:50,320 --> 00:55:53,159
fleet of foot, so he has to get bigger everywhere

1116
00:55:53,199 --> 00:55:56,159
else to be one of those like strong guards who,

1117
00:55:56,239 --> 00:55:59,199
as we talked about before with Emmanuel, quickly kind of

1118
00:55:59,239 --> 00:56:02,159
like exploding through a guy who's in a llegal guarding position.

1119
00:56:03,079 --> 00:56:07,239
Grady gets exploded through in legal guarding positions because he's

1120
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:10,039
really great at reading where the offense wants to go,

1121
00:56:10,280 --> 00:56:13,480
beating guys to spots. He's just too frail at this

1122
00:56:13,599 --> 00:56:16,880
moment in time, and he's not as frail as he

1123
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:22,400
once was. He's just left his teenage years. God, young people,

1124
00:56:23,199 --> 00:56:25,639
is that funny? Eventually you reach an age you get

1125
00:56:25,639 --> 00:56:29,519
to say that. But getting stronger will do a lot

1126
00:56:29,559 --> 00:56:32,000
for Grady because he reads the game so well. He's

1127
00:56:32,119 --> 00:56:36,800
just so small right now that his presence does not

1128
00:56:37,679 --> 00:56:38,880
act as a big change.

1129
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:42,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's the sense of where this organization is on?

1130
00:56:42,679 --> 00:56:45,119
Speaker 1: O chai Akhbaji is there?

1131
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:47,840
Speaker 2: Like, I guess the way they want to defend he

1132
00:56:47,880 --> 00:56:50,599
makes sense, But you probably want someone who's not what

1133
00:56:50,679 --> 00:56:53,360
is he a zero level scorer still at this point?

1134
00:56:53,519 --> 00:56:56,280
Speaker 1: So I just I don't kind a f I liked him.

1135
00:56:56,320 --> 00:56:59,039
Speaker 2: I saw flashes of just like his initial stint in

1136
00:56:59,199 --> 00:57:01,599
Utah Effre he was traded from Cleveland.

1137
00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:03,199
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, like I kind of see the.

1138
00:57:03,119 --> 00:57:05,079
Speaker 2: Theory of mirror, and ever since then, I haven't understood

1139
00:57:05,079 --> 00:57:07,039
the theory of ak Baji and so like.

1140
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:08,960
Speaker 1: What's the hope for him? What are your general impressions

1141
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:09,679
of him so far?

1142
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:13,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have been and I like O Chai Oh

1143
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:17,360
Chai is I think a kind man. He's also what

1144
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:20,079
he was, he the most handsome man in the NBA.

1145
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:23,760
He's handsome, man, He's really handsome. Not a good thing

1146
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:26,880
for his basketball game. Then I'm talking about this before that.

1147
00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:30,880
But I've been pretty hard on his game because, as

1148
00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:33,800
you say, zero level scorer, he was one for twenty

1149
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:36,880
two in the short made range as a raptor. He

1150
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:40,639
shot what like twenty four percent from three at twenty

1151
00:57:40,679 --> 00:57:43,320
two percent from three as a raptor. This is a

1152
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,840
guy who was an absolute burner at Kansas two straight years.

1153
00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:51,960
Massive volume, great percentages was the defining feature of that

1154
00:57:52,119 --> 00:57:55,440
championship run for them, and of his game that got

1155
00:57:55,480 --> 00:57:59,639
him drafted in the lottery. I understand why the Raptors

1156
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,719
wanted to bet on him because it came with Kelly

1157
00:58:04,719 --> 00:58:09,119
Olnik and they didn't want to have six draftees from

1158
00:58:09,199 --> 00:58:11,119
this year, which because they ended up with like four

1159
00:58:11,159 --> 00:58:15,239
or five. Right o, Chai has a pretty good nose

1160
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:18,920
for cutting. He gives a shit about setting screens as

1161
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:23,360
like a guard slash wing that matters. He understands a

1162
00:58:23,440 --> 00:58:26,960
seal to find space, all this kind of stuff he's

1163
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:29,519
doing so much of the in between work. He just

1164
00:58:29,519 --> 00:58:31,960
didn't finish anything at the rim. He didn't finish anything

1165
00:58:31,960 --> 00:58:33,960
in the mid range, and he didn't shoot well from three.

1166
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:38,000
Guess what. You can't be good if you do that.

1167
00:58:38,639 --> 00:58:43,440
And so the hope is that some of that stuff

1168
00:58:43,519 --> 00:58:47,960
ends up hitting in the preseason game. At the open practice,

1169
00:58:48,519 --> 00:58:51,760
the cuts he made were rewarded with makes at the rim,

1170
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:55,880
even a couple end ones. He's strong, he's very athletic.

1171
00:58:57,360 --> 00:59:00,639
Hopefully the touch translates to something. And if he starts

1172
00:59:00,679 --> 00:59:03,480
banging triples like he did the Kansas, then like there's

1173
00:59:03,519 --> 00:59:05,960
a good three and D player there and a three

1174
00:59:06,039 --> 00:59:10,320
D player who will cut, who will scream, who will

1175
00:59:10,400 --> 00:59:14,400
provide ball pressure? Now I don't I didn't find him

1176
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:17,199
to be very effective away from the ball. But if

1177
00:59:17,199 --> 00:59:20,519
he hits shots, it was a big if in the NBA, right,

1178
00:59:20,599 --> 00:59:23,599
like that's that's one of the foundational principles of basketball,

1179
00:59:23,639 --> 00:59:26,559
is like make shots, score the basketball. But if he does,

1180
00:59:26,599 --> 00:59:29,519
there's so much others good stuff. But right now he's missing,

1181
00:59:29,559 --> 00:59:32,599
like the thing, the thing is what he is missing.

1182
00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:36,280
But I do like Ochai. It's just been tough, and.

1183
00:59:36,199 --> 00:59:38,159
Speaker 2: He did when Utah blew up their team when he

1184
00:59:38,199 --> 00:59:40,360
was eventually like traded away at the deadline. Over the

1185
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:42,159
latter half the season, he shot like thirty six percent

1186
00:59:42,199 --> 00:59:44,440
from three, not astronomically high, but you know, not in

1187
00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:45,840
the twenties, which that was.

1188
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:48,159
Speaker 3: Also what I like to do is when you want

1189
00:59:48,159 --> 00:59:52,920
to like understand a player, go watch their career high

1190
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:57,519
and scoring and see what it looks like. And Ojai's

1191
00:59:57,559 --> 01:00:01,880
career high and scoring was just catching shoot threes and

1192
01:00:02,159 --> 01:00:06,960
very easy ones and like transition layups or dunks. And

1193
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:11,239
I was like, if this because he doesn't shoot it

1194
01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:14,760
well from three, if this is like there's no variation

1195
01:00:14,880 --> 01:00:17,159
to the game here. And also in Toronto he got

1196
01:00:17,199 --> 01:00:23,119
reps to try and create bad news bears, So yeah,

1197
01:00:23,239 --> 01:00:25,599
he just needs to make shots. Man, it sucks. I

1198
01:00:25,639 --> 01:00:29,800
hope that I'm providing enough nuanced and in depth analysis

1199
01:00:29,840 --> 01:00:32,079
around the rest of it, because at the end, I'm

1200
01:00:32,119 --> 01:00:33,840
just saying he has to make shots, which sounds like,

1201
01:00:33,920 --> 01:00:37,519
you know, shit Henry analysis, But it is what it.

1202
01:00:37,440 --> 01:00:40,480
Speaker 2: Is for two degrees away from he needs to want

1203
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:43,760
it more. That's what that'll be the next Yes, exactly.

1204
01:00:44,199 --> 01:00:45,920
So I'm wondering if I could just ask you any

1205
01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:48,159
early impressions on how they fit with this team, what

1206
01:00:48,159 --> 01:00:49,440
they do well, or what type of role they would

1207
01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:51,840
play on some of the newcomers slash young young guys

1208
01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:55,519
on this team. Let's start with Daveian Mitchell, who I've

1209
01:00:55,599 --> 01:00:58,039
become progressively lower on as time has gone on, but

1210
01:00:58,119 --> 01:01:01,679
I will acknowledge he will he wear opponent skins like

1211
01:01:01,719 --> 01:01:03,199
a like a second skin. That's how he wears his

1212
01:01:03,199 --> 01:01:04,159
opponents on defense.

1213
01:01:04,519 --> 01:01:08,320
Speaker 3: So if a Sirens song is playing for Chris Bouchet,

1214
01:01:08,760 --> 01:01:13,760
what what what is the Davion Mitchell situation for you? Uh?

1215
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:14,440
Speaker 1: What's that?

1216
01:01:15,079 --> 01:01:18,280
Speaker 2: Probably the fail drum, Like it's just kind of starting

1217
01:01:18,280 --> 01:01:20,199
at an apex and then slowly declines where it's like

1218
01:01:20,199 --> 01:01:21,880
oh and then oh, it's like a sudden and then

1219
01:01:22,079 --> 01:01:24,800
into a subtle oh no, or the wat wat Watt song.

1220
01:01:24,800 --> 01:01:26,960
Speaker 1: I don't actually know if there's a real name to it, but.

1221
01:01:26,880 --> 01:01:28,199
Speaker 3: That's where the slide whistle.

1222
01:01:28,599 --> 01:01:31,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's the car, the cartoon slide.

1223
01:01:31,880 --> 01:01:33,000
Speaker 1: That's the song that's playing.

1224
01:01:34,079 --> 01:01:37,639
Speaker 3: Okay, So Damian Mitchell I just wrote a piece about

1225
01:01:37,679 --> 01:01:45,360
him today. Uh he like ninety eighth and ninety seventh percentile.

1226
01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:49,239
I think it was ninety eighth percentile the lineups where

1227
01:01:49,239 --> 01:01:53,119
he played next to Daron Fox, ninety seventh percentile when

1228
01:01:53,159 --> 01:01:57,360
he played next to Fox and Sibonis. When Mitchell is

1229
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:01,639
allowed to just vacate all responsibilit he's on offense and

1230
01:02:01,719 --> 01:02:06,320
just be like the most annoying, pesty guy on defense,

1231
01:02:06,840 --> 01:02:11,280
things go well, only you know, the Kings wanted a

1232
01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:13,960
more diverse look. They wanted guys who could do more,

1233
01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:17,599
and there were guys who merited looks ahead of Davion,

1234
01:02:17,719 --> 01:02:22,079
and Davion saw not only his responsibilities on offense paired back,

1235
01:02:22,559 --> 01:02:24,519
but which is what they wanted. They're like, well, he

1236
01:02:24,519 --> 01:02:27,119
doesn't really turn the ball over, he moves the ball.

1237
01:02:27,480 --> 01:02:30,280
He shot thirty six percent from three. Just like keep

1238
01:02:30,360 --> 01:02:33,760
everything so simple, dude, And like you watch his seventeen

1239
01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:37,360
assist game. None of it is very inspiring either, Like

1240
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:39,880
it's like, what is the diversity of passes being made here?

1241
01:02:40,199 --> 01:02:42,960
He's never in any of his pick and roll plays,

1242
01:02:43,039 --> 01:02:45,760
never put more than one point per possession in any

1243
01:02:45,760 --> 01:02:50,239
of his seasons, including passes as well. So this kind

1244
01:02:50,239 --> 01:02:52,840
of stuff, the creation stuff has never been real. The

1245
01:02:52,880 --> 01:02:55,440
scoring has never been real. But if it's just you

1246
01:02:55,480 --> 01:02:58,239
sneak him out onto the floor and just say, like,

1247
01:02:58,719 --> 01:03:02,320
let's hope it goes well. That's with the Raptors. We're

1248
01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:05,760
talking about the fifth starter thing and r J a

1249
01:03:05,880 --> 01:03:10,280
chromio clovicular, the AC joint there. I love saying it.

1250
01:03:10,559 --> 01:03:13,519
There's stuff there. So the Raptors don't get to go

1251
01:03:13,519 --> 01:03:17,199
into the season I don't expect with their starting lineup,

1252
01:03:17,239 --> 01:03:22,440
but a good closing lineup potentially for this team, and

1253
01:03:22,519 --> 01:03:25,760
maybe this will Maybe there's a candle in the window

1254
01:03:25,880 --> 01:03:28,760
for Davion. After you listen to me, say this is

1255
01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:32,599
Emmanuel Quickly at the one, Davion at the two, RJ

1256
01:03:32,719 --> 01:03:34,920
at the three, Scady at the four, Yakub at the five.

1257
01:03:35,199 --> 01:03:39,800
If Grady is struggling defensively still, that could be a

1258
01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:43,360
pretty good closing lineup. I suspect. Now, the Raptors are

1259
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:46,760
also a team that will need significant reps in creation

1260
01:03:46,880 --> 01:03:48,960
from a backup guard, or at least you would think

1261
01:03:48,960 --> 01:03:52,360
they do. And that is where you start worrying about

1262
01:03:52,400 --> 01:03:55,960
what it looks like with Davion. Yeah, but if his

1263
01:03:56,159 --> 01:03:58,880
role is because how do you let a guy close

1264
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:03,559
games if his role is so small. If you're like, well,

1265
01:04:03,679 --> 01:04:05,960
we can play this guy. He just has to be

1266
01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:08,559
protected by all the best players on the team, and

1267
01:04:08,639 --> 01:04:10,360
we can't ask him to do too much. How do

1268
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:11,920
you go to the other players who are asked to

1269
01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:14,159
do more and be like, yeah, so this guy gets

1270
01:04:14,199 --> 01:04:21,480
your minutes. Actually it's a tough thing. But there's hope

1271
01:04:21,679 --> 01:04:26,280
springs eternal I've heard, and things can always go better.

1272
01:04:27,079 --> 01:04:29,719
He has an elite NBA skill and that is a

1273
01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:33,000
whole side of the floor that is meaningful. That is

1274
01:04:33,039 --> 01:04:35,280
why the candle is in the window. I am excited

1275
01:04:35,320 --> 01:04:36,920
to see how it shakes up.

1276
01:04:37,679 --> 01:04:39,960
Speaker 2: Well, based off what you say, how they want to defend,

1277
01:04:40,079 --> 01:04:42,440
it would seem like he will play it important role

1278
01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:43,679
and will actually be impactful.

1279
01:04:43,719 --> 01:04:46,960
Speaker 3: It's almost like they retro like they traded for Davion Mitchell,

1280
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:50,800
they drafted and they're like, guys, we actually have the

1281
01:04:50,840 --> 01:04:54,320
best media day talking point because we can really point

1282
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:56,599
to two guys. Yeah.

1283
01:04:56,840 --> 01:04:58,920
Speaker 2: Uh, I know he's injured, but I'm still thinking about

1284
01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:02,000
his gy rating step back in summer League.

1285
01:05:02,199 --> 01:05:08,039
Speaker 3: Jacoby Walter, He, man, this was what I thought as

1286
01:05:08,159 --> 01:05:11,920
we talked about before taking a cursory glance at prospects

1287
01:05:11,960 --> 01:05:14,880
and then a deeper one. My cursory glance at Jacoby

1288
01:05:14,880 --> 01:05:20,960
Walter was like, oh man, this guy is really there's

1289
01:05:21,039 --> 01:05:25,360
no floor. There's a ceiling though. That's when I watch

1290
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:28,679
his game. I'm just like, fuck, dude, this guy is

1291
01:05:28,719 --> 01:05:31,800
boom or bust. Like I like, it's really hard to

1292
01:05:31,920 --> 01:05:35,719
imagine him just being like an eighteen minute per game

1293
01:05:35,840 --> 01:05:37,880
guard or like a twenty four minute per game guard.

1294
01:05:37,920 --> 01:05:40,639
It's like, man, it's the gap the pedal is on

1295
01:05:40,679 --> 01:05:46,199
the floor or is not being touched. He gyrating jitterbug stuff.

1296
01:05:46,559 --> 01:05:51,159
He will shoot anything he will, and like his step

1297
01:05:51,239 --> 01:05:54,360
back will he will have his back to the rim

1298
01:05:54,599 --> 01:05:57,159
and he'll turn an air and shoot it after like

1299
01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:00,679
running forward into It's just the way he goes about scoring,

1300
01:06:01,119 --> 01:06:03,360
and he's slight. It's just like I'm just gonna get

1301
01:06:03,360 --> 01:06:08,360
shots up and there's a hope and a prayer that

1302
01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:12,519
he fills out and that that jitteriness can benefit him defensively.

1303
01:06:13,079 --> 01:06:15,719
The way they talk about him is that he's quite willing.

1304
01:06:15,800 --> 01:06:20,000
But again, he didn't get to do camp a chromio curvicular.

1305
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:25,920
The AC joint went for him, and and so a

1306
01:06:25,960 --> 01:06:28,039
lot of this is just like Summer League where he

1307
01:06:28,159 --> 01:06:32,719
wasn't very impressive. This is what it looked like, you know,

1308
01:06:33,079 --> 01:06:35,800
in colleges, like he's getting bumped off his line when

1309
01:06:35,800 --> 01:06:39,119
he drives. He like guys make him take wider roots.

1310
01:06:39,119 --> 01:06:41,639
It makes shot making more difficult. Off of drives. It

1311
01:06:41,679 --> 01:06:45,239
makes you go less into the forward facing like momentum

1312
01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:47,760
floater that can also be like the read option into

1313
01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:50,440
a lab. It makes you take the floater stepping and

1314
01:06:50,519 --> 01:06:52,920
leaning to the outside where it becomes like a bank

1315
01:06:53,039 --> 01:06:55,960
or something like that. And and you know helpside defenders

1316
01:06:56,000 --> 01:06:58,920
are way more capable of like cleaning that off the glass.

1317
01:07:00,199 --> 01:07:02,960
He took a lot of hard shots and I think

1318
01:07:03,199 --> 01:07:05,239
he will continue to take a lot of hard shots

1319
01:07:05,239 --> 01:07:08,760
in his career. The thing is, and you can you could,

1320
01:07:09,079 --> 01:07:11,920
you know, make yourself believe it. He might make a

1321
01:07:11,960 --> 01:07:15,960
lot of hard shots and that will allow him to

1322
01:07:16,280 --> 01:07:18,400
get enough reps so that he can start to make

1323
01:07:18,440 --> 01:07:21,199
them a little bit easier over time. But God, he

1324
01:07:21,280 --> 01:07:24,239
makes basketball look difficult, but he also makes it look

1325
01:07:24,320 --> 01:07:25,159
like kind of amazing.

1326
01:07:25,199 --> 01:07:28,360
Speaker 2: Sometimes there's a chaotic energy to the way he plays.

1327
01:07:28,440 --> 01:07:30,760
But and I felt the same way a little bit

1328
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:33,719
about jail and Tyson of Cleveland. But like, when I

1329
01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:37,639
watch him, I see someone whose role can be scaled

1330
01:07:38,119 --> 01:07:40,639
to a larger context. And I just don't see that

1331
01:07:41,320 --> 01:07:43,639
with Jacoby. And again I've watched I didn't watch him

1332
01:07:43,639 --> 01:07:45,840
in college. This is I'm basing this off like the

1333
01:07:45,840 --> 01:07:48,400
film work after the draft and then Summer League. But

1334
01:07:48,559 --> 01:07:50,719
I don't see you're making a face. But I just

1335
01:07:50,760 --> 01:07:53,599
don't see a way like Jacoby picturing him and like,

1336
01:07:53,679 --> 01:07:56,679
oh he's he's thriving, as like a complimentary score. It's like, no,

1337
01:07:56,760 --> 01:07:59,719
he needs to be doing this, you know, batshit ridiculous stuff,

1338
01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:01,199
other wise he won't be effective.

1339
01:08:01,800 --> 01:08:05,400
Speaker 3: I did a podcast with Trey. We talked about Jacoby

1340
01:08:05,440 --> 01:08:09,039
and Jalen Tyson. On the same episode. I literally made

1341
01:08:09,039 --> 01:08:12,360
the exact case you just made, Did you really? I

1342
01:08:12,360 --> 01:08:14,159
said the exact same thing. I was like, Jalen, it's

1343
01:08:14,280 --> 01:08:16,560
very easy to see role. It's easy to see where

1344
01:08:16,560 --> 01:08:18,560
he fits. A lot of it makes sense. It was

1345
01:08:18,600 --> 01:08:21,000
like Jacoby, not a lot of it makes sense, but

1346
01:08:21,039 --> 01:08:23,199
there's a ton of talent, and you wonder what it like,

1347
01:08:23,279 --> 01:08:25,760
what it looks like, how much, how many possessions he gets.

1348
01:08:26,439 --> 01:08:28,479
We made the exact same point. We just made it

1349
01:08:28,520 --> 01:08:29,439
like four months apart.

1350
01:08:30,520 --> 01:08:31,159
Speaker 1: That's wild.

1351
01:08:31,399 --> 01:08:33,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I just it was because Jale and

1352
01:08:33,800 --> 01:08:35,439
Tyson everyone was talking about what he could do for

1353
01:08:35,479 --> 01:08:37,800
Cleveland immediately, and everything I knew about him was he

1354
01:08:37,840 --> 01:08:39,399
does all this on ball work, like they don't need

1355
01:08:39,399 --> 01:08:43,079
another Karrislvert type necessarily of Kars Lvert's already there. And

1356
01:08:43,119 --> 01:08:44,199
then when I was watching, I was like, well, like

1357
01:08:44,239 --> 01:08:46,560
I could see him playing a smaller role, and I

1358
01:08:46,600 --> 01:08:49,399
thought maybe Summer League was clouding because players in Summer

1359
01:08:49,479 --> 01:08:51,199
League and even in the G League, I think I

1360
01:08:51,239 --> 01:08:53,960
always have tough time envisioning if their usage is going

1361
01:08:54,039 --> 01:08:56,159
to be starkly different in Summer League and G League

1362
01:08:56,359 --> 01:08:58,600
sometimes how they translate to the NBA. So I don't

1363
01:08:58,600 --> 01:09:00,239
know if I was running into that with your Kobe

1364
01:09:00,239 --> 01:09:01,800
where he's like, well, he's not going to be given

1365
01:09:02,239 --> 01:09:04,000
that at least I don't think that type of license

1366
01:09:04,039 --> 01:09:05,600
in Toronto with some of the shots he was taking

1367
01:09:05,600 --> 01:09:06,520
in summerly.

1368
01:09:06,680 --> 01:09:10,319
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe at some point, like they're definitely hoping. The

1369
01:09:10,359 --> 01:09:12,840
hope with Jacoby is that he can be a demon

1370
01:09:12,880 --> 01:09:16,199
out of like dribble handoffs. Like you look at his

1371
01:09:16,239 --> 01:09:17,920
game and you try and project what it looks like

1372
01:09:18,039 --> 01:09:20,760
is like a twenty three twenty four year old. You're like, oh, yeah,

1373
01:09:20,800 --> 01:09:23,600
this guy should be. Like he can bounce to either

1374
01:09:23,640 --> 01:09:25,960
side of the handoff, he can find a lane, like

1375
01:09:26,000 --> 01:09:28,920
he can squirt through a crack, get to like an

1376
01:09:28,960 --> 01:09:32,880
inside hand lay. He'll shoot whatever the hell, Like the

1377
01:09:32,920 --> 01:09:34,840
guys who can bounce over the top of a dribble

1378
01:09:34,840 --> 01:09:36,960
handoff and take the shovel pass and immediately hit a

1379
01:09:37,000 --> 01:09:41,680
three duncan. Robinson is one of those guys. It's extremely valuable.

1380
01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:43,760
We've seen countless guys do it on the heat if

1381
01:09:43,760 --> 01:09:45,880
you have a good dribble handoff. Big that yaka purdle

1382
01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:49,000
is that Scotti Barnes will probably develop into at some point,

1383
01:09:49,199 --> 01:09:52,720
depends if he goes wingy or big manny. I guess

1384
01:09:52,800 --> 01:09:56,079
we'll see Jacoby. You can see him doing that kind

1385
01:09:56,079 --> 01:09:59,399
of stuff, but like that's not everything. Malik Monk does

1386
01:09:59,399 --> 01:10:02,279
it but he's also an awesome pick and wool ball handler.

1387
01:10:02,399 --> 01:10:08,279
Jacoby is not. There's stuff, but yeah, we were like

1388
01:10:09,239 --> 01:10:10,800
right on the same track here.

1389
01:10:11,960 --> 01:10:14,880
Speaker 2: So Jamal's dad would be another rosand of this team.

1390
01:10:15,319 --> 01:10:17,560
And I guess you can tie this into Jacobe too,

1391
01:10:17,640 --> 01:10:21,119
like when they're healthy, how much of a rope or

1392
01:10:21,239 --> 01:10:24,319
like how much how much exploration is Toronto going to

1393
01:10:24,399 --> 01:10:27,079
give these guys in year one?

1394
01:10:27,800 --> 01:10:31,760
Speaker 3: Jamal is interesting. He looked so good in the preseason game.

1395
01:10:31,840 --> 01:10:33,960
Speaker 1: I thought it was the Raptors. Fans were undided. I

1396
01:10:33,960 --> 01:10:36,239
saw the clips going around he.

1397
01:10:36,319 --> 01:10:42,199
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, he made a difference and he hardly he

1398
01:10:42,279 --> 01:10:44,319
hardly had to work out of the half court. He

1399
01:10:44,439 --> 01:10:46,960
just like got steals and pushed the ball and he

1400
01:10:47,039 --> 01:10:50,479
was a lot quicker than people anticipated. And so when

1401
01:10:50,520 --> 01:10:53,399
I talked to Alex Saar, ale Sara was talking about

1402
01:10:53,439 --> 01:10:56,000
the speed of the NBA game and getting adjusted to

1403
01:10:56,039 --> 01:10:59,399
it and asked Jamal shed that question. He was like, no,

1404
01:11:00,000 --> 01:11:01,640
I had to slow down a little bit because I've

1405
01:11:01,640 --> 01:11:05,600
been playing davy On Mitchell in practice and which you know,

1406
01:11:05,640 --> 01:11:07,520
there could be some truth to that. He was like,

1407
01:11:07,640 --> 01:11:10,840
so this turns out Jordan Poole is not as good

1408
01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:16,399
as defender as Davian Mitchell. We're learning. So that that

1409
01:11:16,560 --> 01:11:19,520
was he was great in his preseason game, but a

1410
01:11:19,520 --> 01:11:22,199
lot of it was unbroken plays. A lot of it

1411
01:11:22,239 --> 01:11:25,880
was like push pace quick, and the Wizards are not

1412
01:11:27,119 --> 01:11:28,279
the Wizards are not great.

1413
01:11:28,479 --> 01:11:29,199
Speaker 1: You know who.

1414
01:11:30,640 --> 01:11:34,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, So Jamal, it was great to get excited about him.

1415
01:11:34,680 --> 01:11:38,119
Lewis Zatsman is writing a big piece on Jamal right now,

1416
01:11:38,199 --> 01:11:40,760
I know Blake is also writing a big piece. There'll

1417
01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:44,359
be lots of fun Jamal stuff. We're in a lot

1418
01:11:44,399 --> 01:11:48,479
of fun information about like you know, the the dog

1419
01:11:48,680 --> 01:11:51,359
corollary and all that kind of stuff will come out

1420
01:11:51,359 --> 01:11:55,640
like Jamal is he's the he's like the governor, he's

1421
01:11:55,720 --> 01:11:58,319
the mayor. He's like the best man you've ever seen

1422
01:11:58,319 --> 01:12:02,279
all the well maybe politicians anyway, So stuff will come

1423
01:12:02,279 --> 01:12:04,039
out about Jamal and people be like, this is great.

1424
01:12:04,079 --> 01:12:06,439
I love this guy. However, he still has to be

1425
01:12:06,439 --> 01:12:08,920
able to set the table and create in a half

1426
01:12:08,960 --> 01:12:11,319
court setting. I don't expect that to be a strong

1427
01:12:11,359 --> 01:12:14,439
part of his game immediately in the NBA. I think,

1428
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:19,680
true to the Raptors form over the past few seasons. Anyway,

1429
01:12:20,279 --> 01:12:22,600
the young guys will get looks early on in the year,

1430
01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:25,279
then they'll go to the G League for extended time.

1431
01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:29,039
I think that's what's gonna happen with Jamal shed But

1432
01:12:29,159 --> 01:12:34,119
if he exceeds those expectations, something very good is happening,

1433
01:12:34,279 --> 01:12:37,239
although I don't know exactly what because everyone says, well,

1434
01:12:37,520 --> 01:12:40,079
you just shoot the ball better and suddenly everything works well.

1435
01:12:40,159 --> 01:12:43,079
But like Davion Mitchell had his best three point shooting

1436
01:12:43,119 --> 01:12:47,319
year and his minutes dipped, and you know, shooting isn't everything.

1437
01:12:47,520 --> 01:12:51,000
It's a lot, but there's different places to shoot from

1438
01:12:51,039 --> 01:12:54,319
on the floor, different places to get two. That's my

1439
01:12:54,600 --> 01:12:55,840
expectation for Jamal.

1440
01:12:56,800 --> 01:12:58,359
Speaker 2: Are there any of like the other kind of non

1441
01:12:58,399 --> 01:13:00,000
core guys on this team that you'd like to touch

1442
01:13:00,079 --> 01:13:02,760
upon before I foisd you into the Lightning Round? If

1443
01:13:02,760 --> 01:13:05,239
you have any uldra sham takes, I will. I'll be

1444
01:13:05,279 --> 01:13:07,119
here for them. But anybody else.

1445
01:13:07,520 --> 01:13:13,039
Speaker 3: Chamsha nothing yet. And the Raptors even are kind of like, yeah,

1446
01:13:13,039 --> 01:13:15,720
we don't know what the hell we're just we liked

1447
01:13:15,760 --> 01:13:19,039
him and like he went out there for like two minutes,

1448
01:13:19,079 --> 01:13:22,640
got four fouls, you know, speaking.

1449
01:13:22,359 --> 01:13:24,439
Speaker 1: Of defensively active. I like it.

1450
01:13:25,520 --> 01:13:30,439
Speaker 3: This is a thing. Jared Jackson, Junior Rudy Gobert. These

1451
01:13:30,600 --> 01:13:33,920
monstrous defenders. What did they league the lead in? What

1452
01:13:33,960 --> 01:13:35,720
did they lead the league in when they first came

1453
01:13:35,720 --> 01:13:39,760
in foul rate? You gotta want to hit guys to

1454
01:13:39,800 --> 01:13:44,159
be a good defender. He meets the moment. He's perfectly

1455
01:13:44,199 --> 01:13:50,439
fine hitting guys. But Jonathan Mobo, I actually, believe it

1456
01:13:50,520 --> 01:13:55,399
or not, had the Mobo and the Sham picks for

1457
01:13:55,399 --> 01:13:57,039
for anybody who wants to label.

1458
01:13:56,880 --> 01:14:00,079
Speaker 1: Did you, Yeah, well you had them like oh.

1459
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:04,399
Speaker 3: The no no. I was like, I'm hearing things. I

1460
01:14:04,640 --> 01:14:10,680
can never break something, though not not truly. So Mobo

1461
01:14:10,800 --> 01:14:14,439
I think is very interesting. He was smaller upon arrival

1462
01:14:14,479 --> 01:14:17,880
to the NBA than as advertised a little bit, and

1463
01:14:17,920 --> 01:14:22,079
he has struggled immensely. He's been given a lot of shots,

1464
01:14:22,560 --> 01:14:24,920
but there's some you know, it's kind of like that

1465
01:14:25,000 --> 01:14:28,880
Ochai thing. He's bigger than Ochai. And it's funny. I

1466
01:14:28,920 --> 01:14:31,640
said Ochai's game would be so good if he was

1467
01:14:31,680 --> 01:14:34,079
like six foot eight. I remember saying that last year.

1468
01:14:34,760 --> 01:14:38,279
And Mobo is like six ' six And on offense,

1469
01:14:38,319 --> 01:14:41,319
he plays a lot like Ochai because neither of them

1470
01:14:41,399 --> 01:14:44,560
can shoot the ball well, and they both seal screen

1471
01:14:44,600 --> 01:14:47,279
and cut really well and they both struggle to finish

1472
01:14:47,359 --> 01:14:50,399
at the rim at the NBA level. I wonder if

1473
01:14:50,439 --> 01:14:53,319
something clicks for Mobo because he's really interesting, Like he

1474
01:14:53,359 --> 01:14:57,199
has a really great hang, dribble and spray pass and transition.

1475
01:14:57,640 --> 01:15:00,159
He pushes the ball really well, he has a eight

1476
01:15:00,239 --> 01:15:03,720
sense of when to cut, he's a quick jumper. He's

1477
01:15:03,760 --> 01:15:06,279
just kind of up against it. Like Jason max Seal

1478
01:15:06,359 --> 01:15:08,159
when you watched him battle in the paint, You're like,

1479
01:15:08,199 --> 01:15:11,439
this is a small guy who is winning on occasion.

1480
01:15:11,880 --> 01:15:14,279
I hope that Mobo wins more than on occasion.

1481
01:15:14,399 --> 01:15:18,119
Speaker 2: I suppose are you ready to enter the Cookie Cutter Lightning.

1482
01:15:17,920 --> 01:15:19,079
Speaker 1: Round portion of the look Ahead?

1483
01:15:19,199 --> 01:15:20,119
Speaker 3: Hell yeah?

1484
01:15:20,159 --> 01:15:22,600
Speaker 2: Is there anything flying under the radar about this team

1485
01:15:22,640 --> 01:15:24,960
that we have discussed that you think deserves more shine?

1486
01:15:25,119 --> 01:15:28,439
Speaker 3: When healthy? Their starting lineup will win a lot of minutes.

1487
01:15:29,640 --> 01:15:31,319
Speaker 1: They want a lot of minutes together.

1488
01:15:31,399 --> 01:15:33,439
Speaker 2: Those four guys at least together, they won a lot

1489
01:15:33,479 --> 01:15:34,359
of their minutes together.

1490
01:15:34,479 --> 01:15:37,199
Speaker 1: Well, what a few minutes they played. They won those minutes.

1491
01:15:36,960 --> 01:15:40,600
Speaker 2: Together last year, So that is that like creates like

1492
01:15:40,640 --> 01:15:43,319
an interesting duality with their direction though to where it's like,

1493
01:15:43,319 --> 01:15:46,079
if you're winning those minutes, you might win more games

1494
01:15:46,079 --> 01:15:47,920
than you were expecting, and then it's got like, do

1495
01:15:47,960 --> 01:15:50,119
we have to break this up in terms of rotate,

1496
01:15:50,239 --> 01:15:52,960
Like I just that'd be fascinating. If they're starting five

1497
01:15:53,039 --> 01:15:55,000
whoever they slot in as that fifth starter, they're just like,

1498
01:15:55,199 --> 01:15:57,640
oh youah, Like we're plus seventeen per one hundred and

1499
01:15:57,640 --> 01:15:59,479
they're all healthy and they're playing a bunch together. I'd

1500
01:15:59,520 --> 01:16:01,920
just be curious, is like, what's the Raptors record twenty

1501
01:16:01,920 --> 01:16:02,960
five games into the season.

1502
01:16:02,960 --> 01:16:04,359
Speaker 1: Then if that's what's happening.

1503
01:16:04,359 --> 01:16:07,079
Speaker 3: And so the start of their I don't really like

1504
01:16:07,159 --> 01:16:09,720
doing schedule analysis, but the start of their season is

1505
01:16:09,920 --> 01:16:13,039
pretty brutal. They play like really tough games and RJ

1506
01:16:13,239 --> 01:16:17,399
might not be there for it, so that changes things.

1507
01:16:17,840 --> 01:16:21,279
Maybe maybe people bring the ewing theory from New York

1508
01:16:21,359 --> 01:16:27,760
over to Tonto if they do well. But yeah, I

1509
01:16:27,760 --> 01:16:31,159
think their starting lineup is and again it should be.

1510
01:16:31,720 --> 01:16:34,439
It's not a cheap starting lineup. Like everybody there is.

1511
01:16:34,840 --> 01:16:38,560
Everybody there is good and paid well and they should

1512
01:16:38,600 --> 01:16:39,920
win minutes and I think they will.

1513
01:16:40,399 --> 01:16:41,800
Speaker 1: It's funny when you frame it like that at the

1514
01:16:41,800 --> 01:16:42,479
top of the podcast.

1515
01:16:42,520 --> 01:16:44,159
Speaker 2: I've thought about it in terms of these guys are

1516
01:16:44,199 --> 01:16:46,359
on their X number of contracts. When you think about

1517
01:16:46,359 --> 01:16:48,560
how much they make together, it's yeah, it's not a

1518
01:16:48,560 --> 01:16:50,119
rebuilding team starting five.

1519
01:16:50,520 --> 01:16:54,319
Speaker 3: Really, No, they like they they're good players who get

1520
01:16:54,359 --> 01:16:56,840
paid well. They like they walk around. They're like, we're

1521
01:16:56,880 --> 01:17:02,840
supposed to be winning, and Massiah and Darko are like, yeah, yeah,

1522
01:17:02,880 --> 01:17:04,760
yacht cubs, Like I've seen this before. He's like, I've

1523
01:17:04,760 --> 01:17:06,560
played with the John T. Murray. I know, like, I

1524
01:17:06,600 --> 01:17:07,560
know what this looks like.

1525
01:17:10,279 --> 01:17:12,800
Speaker 2: So without having seen any games that matter just yet,

1526
01:17:12,840 --> 01:17:15,640
what do you view? Is this roster's single biggest.

1527
01:17:15,239 --> 01:17:21,319
Speaker 3: Need a wing defender?

1528
01:17:22,560 --> 01:17:24,520
Speaker 2: Such a weird thing to say about the Raptors if

1529
01:17:24,520 --> 01:17:26,239
you like brew Wind two years, we never would have

1530
01:17:26,239 --> 01:17:27,279
thought would be talking about it.

1531
01:17:27,319 --> 01:17:29,319
Speaker 3: They have like seven of them, no zero.

1532
01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:32,239
Speaker 2: What does the when they're at full strength? What does

1533
01:17:32,279 --> 01:17:35,039
the top ten rotation look like? Not necessarily we need

1534
01:17:35,039 --> 01:17:37,680
a minute's breakdown, but like who is who is playing?

1535
01:17:37,720 --> 01:17:38,079
Speaker 1: You have?

1536
01:17:38,760 --> 01:17:40,640
Speaker 2: I'll go through what I think are locks, Like when

1537
01:17:40,640 --> 01:17:43,840
you have him iq RJ, Grady Dick doesn't matter when

1538
01:17:44,000 --> 01:17:47,640
he starts, Scottie Barnes, Yaka Perle, and then I have

1539
01:17:47,880 --> 01:17:50,880
like Ko and Davion Mitchell as locks. So I feel

1540
01:17:50,880 --> 01:17:52,560
like there are seven locks on this team and then

1541
01:17:52,600 --> 01:17:55,119
they could get pretty experimental there after.

1542
01:17:56,399 --> 01:18:02,560
Speaker 3: Yeah. So yeah, IQ RJ, Grady, Scottie, Yakub Kelly is

1543
01:18:02,600 --> 01:18:07,880
a lock. I think Davion is a lock unless things

1544
01:18:07,960 --> 01:18:13,760
go way south. Bruce Brown is a lock if he

1545
01:18:13,800 --> 01:18:17,399
doesn't get traded like they like Bruce. Bruce is really likable,

1546
01:18:17,479 --> 01:18:22,479
like truly, Like was he openly discussing being traded from

1547
01:18:22,520 --> 01:18:25,399
the Raptors during the season last year. Yeah, he was

1548
01:18:25,880 --> 01:18:29,119
where the Raptors entertaining a lot of different conversations from

1549
01:18:29,359 --> 01:18:32,399
the Knicks. For example, Yeah, the seventy six ers didn't

1550
01:18:32,439 --> 01:18:35,079
get reported, but they were in there too, asking about him,

1551
01:18:35,119 --> 01:18:38,600
like their stuff. We'll see if he's on the team,

1552
01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:42,479
but he's in there. The rest of it is like

1553
01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:46,079
very There's a lot of names on this roster that

1554
01:18:46,319 --> 01:18:50,680
like are two ways or Jillie g adjacent or I

1555
01:18:50,680 --> 01:18:53,520
think it'll be a revolving door. And I know maybe

1556
01:18:53,520 --> 01:18:56,239
that's not an exciting thing to say, but I think

1557
01:18:56,279 --> 01:18:58,640
a lot of guys will get looks at those those

1558
01:18:58,720 --> 01:19:03,079
final positions, like Brandon Carlson probably gonna see a few games,

1559
01:19:04,199 --> 01:19:08,359
Jamias Ramsey probably gonna see a few games, Jamison Battle

1560
01:19:08,760 --> 01:19:11,600
I don't know. I'm less, I'm less high on him.

1561
01:19:12,319 --> 01:19:15,880
Garrett Temple is on the team. He's gonna play, He's

1562
01:19:15,880 --> 01:19:19,760
gonna play some games. They love Garrett. Chris Boushe is

1563
01:19:19,760 --> 01:19:22,319
gonna play a little bit o Chai he's in there,

1564
01:19:22,359 --> 01:19:26,239
man like Ochai is definitely in there. And anything else

1565
01:19:26,279 --> 01:19:28,680
you're just looking at like a you know, it's like

1566
01:19:28,720 --> 01:19:32,960
Brandon Carlson, Jamias Ramsey, Jared Roadin, Jamison Battle or Shamsha

1567
01:19:33,159 --> 01:19:37,079
Jonathan Mobo, Jamal Shed these names a lot of them.

1568
01:19:37,560 --> 01:19:39,640
For people who are listening in a Raptors fans, they're

1569
01:19:39,640 --> 01:19:41,920
probably like, I don't know who that guy is for

1570
01:19:41,960 --> 01:19:46,239
a great deal of them, and it's up to them

1571
01:19:45,560 --> 01:19:49,319
to remember the name to make sure you do this.

1572
01:19:49,479 --> 01:19:51,079
Speaker 2: I don't want to say, not a compelling question for

1573
01:19:51,119 --> 01:19:52,880
this team, but you could take however you want, whether

1574
01:19:52,920 --> 01:19:54,119
you think they're going to be trying.

1575
01:19:53,880 --> 01:19:56,159
Speaker 1: To lose close games or win them.

1576
01:19:56,479 --> 01:19:58,840
Speaker 2: And I know it's to some extent matchup dependent, but

1577
01:19:59,119 --> 01:20:01,560
what do you think will wind up being their most

1578
01:20:02,119 --> 01:20:03,680
used crunch time lineup?

1579
01:20:04,159 --> 01:20:07,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is such a good question because it really

1580
01:20:08,720 --> 01:20:14,800
I think if they want to win games early on,

1581
01:20:15,560 --> 01:20:21,199
it means Emmanuel quickly, Davion Mitchell, RJ. Barrett, Scotty Barnes,

1582
01:20:21,319 --> 01:20:25,680
and Yaka Peertle. I think by the end of season

1583
01:20:25,960 --> 01:20:29,800
it has to be. And if there isn't, you're asking questions,

1584
01:20:30,239 --> 01:20:35,720
why isn't it? I Q Grady RJ, Scotty, Yakub and

1585
01:20:37,239 --> 01:20:40,840
I just because like Grady, he cares on defense, but

1586
01:20:40,880 --> 01:20:42,560
there's a he still has to catch up on a

1587
01:20:42,560 --> 01:20:47,239
lot of stuff. I wouldn't delude myself because you can

1588
01:20:47,239 --> 01:20:51,000
trick yourself on defense pretty fast about guys like reputations

1589
01:20:51,039 --> 01:20:55,399
swing wildly because we don't really have numbers like that,

1590
01:20:55,960 --> 01:20:57,720
and the numbers that we do have are a little

1591
01:20:57,720 --> 01:21:00,880
bit superficial. But I think it's.

1592
01:21:00,680 --> 01:21:03,119
Speaker 2: Crazy you don't like you don't like citing defensive rating

1593
01:21:03,159 --> 01:21:04,000
is an individual to that.

1594
01:21:05,920 --> 01:21:07,720
Speaker 3: That's always funny when people do that, They're like, yeah,

1595
01:21:08,159 --> 01:21:10,079
did you know Davie Mitchell has one hundred and eleven

1596
01:21:10,119 --> 01:21:10,800
defensive rating.

1597
01:21:12,000 --> 01:21:14,800
Speaker 2: Okay, I've been battling. They're gonna catch strays right now.

1598
01:21:14,840 --> 01:21:17,439
I've been battling not all Kings fans, but citing tomart

1599
01:21:17,560 --> 01:21:20,279
Rosen's defensive rating is evidence that he's better defensively than

1600
01:21:20,319 --> 01:21:21,439
Harrison Barnes.

1601
01:21:23,760 --> 01:21:26,520
Speaker 1: Of the battles of the offseason. The argument, it's not

1602
01:21:26,520 --> 01:21:28,479
that Harrison Barnes was great, just that you.

1603
01:21:28,439 --> 01:21:29,840
Speaker 2: Could do more things with him on defense than you

1604
01:21:29,880 --> 01:21:31,840
could do with tomart Rosen, and he didn't get to

1605
01:21:31,840 --> 01:21:33,720
play with Alex Caruso last year.

1606
01:21:33,760 --> 01:21:37,520
Speaker 3: That's my that That is a thing. This is like,

1607
01:21:37,720 --> 01:21:39,600
this is maybe an r. J. Barrett thing too, is

1608
01:21:39,640 --> 01:21:42,359
that if you score the ball well, it happened with Damar,

1609
01:21:43,000 --> 01:21:46,119
it happened with Harden, it happened with like every guy.

1610
01:21:46,199 --> 01:21:48,760
It happened with Luca, It happens with every guy who

1611
01:21:48,840 --> 01:21:51,039
scores the ball really well and gets to stay on

1612
01:21:51,119 --> 01:21:53,840
teams and be featured. Part is like eventually they land

1613
01:21:53,880 --> 01:21:57,000
on a team that is able to protect them on defense,

1614
01:21:57,439 --> 01:22:01,399
and then suddenly, like everybody says, they turned corner. He's like, yeah,

1615
01:22:01,399 --> 01:22:04,000
he turned the corner at thirty two, did he at

1616
01:22:04,039 --> 01:22:04,520
thirty two?

1617
01:22:05,640 --> 01:22:06,960
Speaker 1: At thirty five? Good for him.

1618
01:22:07,720 --> 01:22:09,560
Speaker 3: It's it's just like, yeah, they put on a better

1619
01:22:09,600 --> 01:22:14,520
defensive team, you know. But yeah, anyway, Uh, I guess

1620
01:22:14,560 --> 01:22:15,479
we'll see what happens.

1621
01:22:15,760 --> 01:22:18,840
Speaker 2: Is there a weirdo, offbeat, funky lineup you would like

1622
01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:20,439
to see Darko try this year?

1623
01:22:21,520 --> 01:22:29,399
Speaker 3: Yeah? I want like I would really like to see Iq,

1624
01:22:30,680 --> 01:22:37,119
Davion Grady, r J, Scottie, Like, what the hell.

1625
01:22:37,319 --> 01:22:40,479
Speaker 1: Just Scotty at the five? Basically, yeah, yeah, I like it,

1626
01:22:41,399 --> 01:22:45,279
just what happens. I want to see what Scottie and

1627
01:22:45,359 --> 01:22:48,319
Chris Bouchet look like with three guards. So give me Iq,

1628
01:22:48,560 --> 01:22:49,600
Jamal Shad and dave On.

1629
01:22:49,680 --> 01:22:52,000
Speaker 2: You've talked me into Davion Mitchell again, this isn't okay.

1630
01:22:52,039 --> 01:22:54,880
I don't like this is My priors are being shifted

1631
01:22:54,920 --> 01:22:57,000
without having watched him extensively in Toronto.

1632
01:22:57,720 --> 01:22:59,079
Speaker 1: That's a lineup I would like to see. I don't

1633
01:22:59,079 --> 01:22:59,960
know what it would offense.

1634
01:23:00,279 --> 01:23:01,920
Speaker 2: I feel like there's a chance could be a little rough,

1635
01:23:01,920 --> 01:23:03,680
but I feel like it could cost some havoc defensively

1636
01:23:03,760 --> 01:23:04,279
those five.

1637
01:23:04,760 --> 01:23:09,199
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's also to go back to an underrated storyline.

1638
01:23:09,319 --> 01:23:12,319
I think the Raptors scored the basketball this year pretty well.

1639
01:23:12,520 --> 01:23:16,760
Oh that's that's a bit of a hot take, I think.

1640
01:23:16,840 --> 01:23:18,359
But I think they'll score the ball.

1641
01:23:18,800 --> 01:23:20,840
Speaker 2: You know what, it's it's the more the bet. It's

1642
01:23:20,880 --> 01:23:24,239
really not if you believe in what RJ showed last year,

1643
01:23:24,439 --> 01:23:26,760
and we should all just believe in what Scotti showed

1644
01:23:26,840 --> 01:23:28,720
last year. To me and you have IQ, who's just

1645
01:23:28,720 --> 01:23:32,439
a fantastic offensive player. Grady Dick turned a corner by

1646
01:23:32,439 --> 01:23:34,920
the end of last season. Sampson always turning corner before

1647
01:23:34,920 --> 01:23:37,479
he was thirty five. Congratulations to him, Like they have

1648
01:23:37,600 --> 01:23:39,399
a lot, and Yaka Pertl is one of the better

1649
01:23:39,720 --> 01:23:42,800
offensive centers, even though people think he's not dynamic because

1650
01:23:42,800 --> 01:23:45,359
he doesn't shoot threes more free throws all that well

1651
01:23:45,359 --> 01:23:47,520
for the most part, So like I could see it.

1652
01:23:48,399 --> 01:23:50,039
I was more focused on, like, what does this team

1653
01:23:50,079 --> 01:23:51,920
look like defensively than like offense.

1654
01:23:51,960 --> 01:23:53,840
Speaker 1: I could see them being above average for sure.

1655
01:23:54,359 --> 01:23:57,840
Speaker 3: Defensively, God, I had no idea, but there's a lot

1656
01:23:57,920 --> 01:24:01,159
that has to remains to be seen.

1657
01:24:01,439 --> 01:24:04,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, as we record this, Samson, their win total is

1658
01:24:04,640 --> 01:24:06,039
set at twenty nine and a half.

1659
01:24:06,800 --> 01:24:08,319
Speaker 1: How many games are they winning this season?

1660
01:24:09,159 --> 01:24:09,880
Speaker 3: More than that?

1661
01:24:10,199 --> 01:24:13,000
Speaker 2: Let's say we are in lockstep. We just published our

1662
01:24:13,039 --> 01:24:15,800
win predictions pods. I think I had them at it

1663
01:24:15,920 --> 01:24:18,560
was thirty three or thirty four is where I ended

1664
01:24:18,640 --> 01:24:21,079
up with them. I think that they're just I mean,

1665
01:24:21,199 --> 01:24:22,920
whether they steer, I just don't leave them as a

1666
01:24:22,920 --> 01:24:26,600
team that's necessarily prepared to steer out of winning hard enough,

1667
01:24:26,640 --> 01:24:29,039
at least at the beginning of the year pre trade deadline,

1668
01:24:29,119 --> 01:24:30,479
I thought twenty nine and a half was low.

1669
01:24:30,520 --> 01:24:32,800
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie it is low.

1670
01:24:33,119 --> 01:24:35,359
Speaker 3: They would have cleared that last year really easily. But

1671
01:24:35,520 --> 01:24:41,359
everything blew up like family members of you know, players died.

1672
01:24:41,680 --> 01:24:44,600
Everybody who was important got injured. People sat out for

1673
01:24:44,760 --> 01:24:50,279
extended periods with like soreness, you know, like that all

1674
01:24:50,319 --> 01:24:53,880
that kind of stuff. I think north of twenty nine

1675
01:24:53,960 --> 01:24:57,119
even though, and honestly, because this start of the season

1676
01:24:57,199 --> 01:25:01,079
is so difficult, you get to really test and because

1677
01:25:01,119 --> 01:25:03,239
our Jay will be injured for I think at least

1678
01:25:03,279 --> 01:25:06,159
a portion of it because he's fully out for the preseason,

1679
01:25:06,199 --> 01:25:09,239
will be reevaluated at the end of the preseason. So

1680
01:25:10,079 --> 01:25:13,159
and like Jacoby being injured, that doesn't affect win totals.

1681
01:25:13,239 --> 01:25:14,560
When does the rookie effect win toal?

1682
01:25:14,600 --> 01:25:16,399
Speaker 1: Maybe for other teams it affects their win totals a

1683
01:25:16,439 --> 01:25:18,520
little bit, but maybe for other teams.

1684
01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:24,760
Speaker 3: Yes, I think the Raptors, especially starting off maybe in

1685
01:25:24,800 --> 01:25:26,720
a bit of a hole because of the difficulty of

1686
01:25:26,760 --> 01:25:30,680
the schedule and RJ not being there, because like it's

1687
01:25:30,680 --> 01:25:32,960
not like RJ is the greatest player in the world,

1688
01:25:33,000 --> 01:25:35,239
but it's like who is stepping up behind RJ. That's

1689
01:25:35,279 --> 01:25:39,399
a big drop they It might be closer to twenty

1690
01:25:39,479 --> 01:25:40,720
nine than it should have been, but if they were

1691
01:25:40,720 --> 01:25:42,840
healthy from the start of the season, I probably wouldn't

1692
01:25:42,840 --> 01:25:45,039
have any problem going between like thirty eight to forty.

1693
01:25:45,600 --> 01:25:47,239
But we'll see how that shakes out.

1694
01:25:47,920 --> 01:25:49,560
Speaker 2: I will say it does feel like one team in

1695
01:25:49,600 --> 01:25:52,319
the Eastern Conference is going to accidentally, on purpose make

1696
01:25:52,359 --> 01:25:54,920
the play in tournament. And I'm kind of going between

1697
01:25:55,000 --> 01:25:57,560
Charlotte and Toronto for for mine because I really do

1698
01:25:57,640 --> 01:25:59,920
believe that Toronto's rebuilding, but I just look at kind

1699
01:25:59,920 --> 01:26:02,439
of top of the roster, I'm like, are they But

1700
01:26:02,479 --> 01:26:04,079
I guess that, But I'm also like they need to

1701
01:26:04,079 --> 01:26:05,800
get off to a really good start to buy into

1702
01:26:05,840 --> 01:26:08,920
the fact that they're not rebuilding. Their direction, like their

1703
01:26:08,920 --> 01:26:11,520
real time direction is so fat I throw that word

1704
01:26:11,520 --> 01:26:13,560
around too casual, leave about all the teams, but their

1705
01:26:13,560 --> 01:26:17,479
real time direction is so fascinating to me because it

1706
01:26:17,520 --> 01:26:19,600
feels it just feels so fluids where it's like you

1707
01:26:19,600 --> 01:26:21,680
can look at give me any team and I could

1708
01:26:21,680 --> 01:26:24,880
probably tell you, like this is what they're like one

1709
01:26:24,960 --> 01:26:27,439
year to three year plan is. I can't tell you

1710
01:26:27,479 --> 01:26:29,399
what the Toronto Raptors two month plan is I don't

1711
01:26:29,399 --> 01:26:29,680
have it.

1712
01:26:30,199 --> 01:26:35,880
Speaker 3: They they're they're reactive. You know this is this is

1713
01:26:35,960 --> 01:26:40,359
not exactly like they were proactive in some sense proactive

1714
01:26:40,359 --> 01:26:45,880
team building is you know, signing Scottie Barnes and and

1715
01:26:46,199 --> 01:26:48,880
kind of believe and even that wasn't that proactive because

1716
01:26:49,439 --> 01:26:51,800
that where this team is going. Like they made the

1717
01:26:51,880 --> 01:26:54,920
decision on og In Pascal pretty late, and that was

1718
01:26:55,199 --> 01:26:58,680
I think that's what people objectively thought and honestly, like

1719
01:26:59,279 --> 01:27:02,319
there was one offseason where the Raptors didn't talk about

1720
01:27:02,359 --> 01:27:06,720
trading Pascal. It was after he made All NBA and

1721
01:27:06,920 --> 01:27:08,920
after they went to the playoffs against the seventy six ers.

1722
01:27:09,000 --> 01:27:11,920
He wasn't But the season before that they were in

1723
01:27:12,000 --> 01:27:14,439
talks about the Raptors were trying to move up to

1724
01:27:14,520 --> 01:27:17,119
number three and get one of Mobile or Green. They

1725
01:27:17,159 --> 01:27:20,279
thought it was a three player draft. MOBILEI, Green, Cade

1726
01:27:20,880 --> 01:27:23,479
Scotty fell to them. They thought Scotty was the best

1727
01:27:23,479 --> 01:27:25,840
of the rest. They took him. You got the best

1728
01:27:25,880 --> 01:27:29,239
player in the draft. Maybe, hell yeah. But Pascal was

1729
01:27:29,239 --> 01:27:31,680
talked about in that trade with Cleveland. Pascal has been

1730
01:27:31,680 --> 01:27:33,600
talked about in trades with a bunch of teams. He

1731
01:27:33,680 --> 01:27:37,199
was talked about. The package with the Indiana Pacers was

1732
01:27:37,560 --> 01:27:41,520
nemhard healed and two first round picks. The Raptors wanted three.

1733
01:27:41,560 --> 01:27:44,479
Like a bunch of stuff was happening around Pascal and

1734
01:27:44,479 --> 01:27:46,760
they finally pulled the trigger near Well, I guess it

1735
01:27:46,800 --> 01:27:50,920
was what January nineteenth or something like that. But this

1736
01:27:51,079 --> 01:27:54,439
is reactive now having RJ and him being better than

1737
01:27:54,840 --> 01:27:56,720
a lot of people thought. Maybe the Raptors thought he

1738
01:27:56,800 --> 01:27:59,600
was this good. I haven't got any word on that yet,

1739
01:28:00,199 --> 01:28:02,359
IQ and giving them thirty five million dollars a year

1740
01:28:02,640 --> 01:28:04,199
is reactive. It's like, Okay, we got them in. We

1741
01:28:04,239 --> 01:28:08,319
got to sign them, retain the talent. Oh. Trian Kelly

1742
01:28:08,399 --> 01:28:10,079
is kind of like, hey, what are we doing here?

1743
01:28:10,319 --> 01:28:13,199
You know, it's they have a lot of picks. They

1744
01:28:13,239 --> 01:28:15,760
just took. Guys. They're like, we'll see what happens. They're

1745
01:28:15,880 --> 01:28:19,239
just looking for stuff to happen. They want stimuli to

1746
01:28:19,319 --> 01:28:24,479
react to Grady and Scotty. I think is proactive decision making.

1747
01:28:24,760 --> 01:28:27,039
So much else is kind of like, oh my god,

1748
01:28:27,119 --> 01:28:29,439
what's going on. We got to make decisions, and some

1749
01:28:30,079 --> 01:28:32,159
of the best decisions are made on the fly like that.

1750
01:28:32,640 --> 01:28:37,359
James Dolan, he said no to Kyle Lowry for Emmon

1751
01:28:37,479 --> 01:28:42,079
Shumpert and j R. Smith reactive. Sometimes the best things

1752
01:28:42,119 --> 01:28:44,680
happen on the fly. You know, you can plan as

1753
01:28:44,760 --> 01:28:47,439
much as you want. I've been rewatching prison break. You

1754
01:28:47,520 --> 01:28:49,000
plan as much as you want, but you got to

1755
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:51,359
get in the prison to break out of it, and

1756
01:28:51,399 --> 01:28:53,279
then things change.

1757
01:28:53,560 --> 01:28:57,319
Speaker 2: Is there anything anyone related to this team basketball and

1758
01:28:57,399 --> 01:28:59,279
bat large did not ask you about that you would

1759
01:28:59,399 --> 01:29:01,680
like to discussed before I let Uskadado.

1760
01:29:03,680 --> 01:29:07,760
Speaker 3: I think, as is, this is what we do every time,

1761
01:29:07,880 --> 01:29:10,000
but I'd like to hear your thoughts on Chris Bouchet

1762
01:29:10,039 --> 01:29:10,920
before we get out of here.

1763
01:29:11,520 --> 01:29:13,359
Speaker 2: I don't have any additional thoughts from last time because

1764
01:29:13,359 --> 01:29:16,000
they didn't play them enough for me to expand upon them.

1765
01:29:16,279 --> 01:29:18,119
I think that if you're worried about their rim protection,

1766
01:29:18,600 --> 01:29:20,920
I think Chris Bouchet could potentially just be the answer.

1767
01:29:20,920 --> 01:29:22,840
I think that's in him that year where he looked

1768
01:29:22,880 --> 01:29:25,800
like mini Unicorn, where he's hitting threes, and the rim

1769
01:29:25,800 --> 01:29:28,800
protection numbers are good, and there's all You have to

1770
01:29:28,840 --> 01:29:31,760
appreciate the anarchic energy. It's always going to be being

1771
01:29:31,800 --> 01:29:33,399
there and I'm here for I don't care if they

1772
01:29:33,439 --> 01:29:35,479
end well or not. I like closeouts that could potentially

1773
01:29:35,520 --> 01:29:36,279
end in the fifth row.

1774
01:29:36,359 --> 01:29:37,520
Speaker 1: I respect it.

1775
01:29:37,520 --> 01:29:41,399
Speaker 3: It's elite, it's a very fun style of basketball. I

1776
01:29:41,439 --> 01:29:42,439
appreciate it as well.

1777
01:29:42,600 --> 01:29:45,199
Speaker 2: Samson, are you able just to tell our listeners watchers

1778
01:29:45,239 --> 01:29:47,439
whatever they call themselves, subscribers where they can find you

1779
01:29:47,520 --> 01:29:49,000
and all the fantastic work.

1780
01:29:48,840 --> 01:29:51,399
Speaker 3: That you do. You can find me, I guess on

1781
01:29:51,439 --> 01:29:55,960
Twitter this is a video podcast. Yeah yeah, so bottom right,

1782
01:29:56,720 --> 01:30:00,319
Sam Folk with two k's and that will I put

1783
01:30:00,359 --> 01:30:03,199
all my stuff on Twitter, also my thoughts. If you've

1784
01:30:03,359 --> 01:30:05,920
liked me as a person, there's there's more stuff there

1785
01:30:06,239 --> 01:30:09,199
and then raptors public dot com just for all the

1786
01:30:09,279 --> 01:30:12,119
work podcasting, videos, written, work, et cetera.

1787
01:30:12,520 --> 01:30:15,039
Speaker 2: Thank you for giving me so much of your time,

1788
01:30:15,039 --> 01:30:16,359
more than I told you I was gonna take up.

1789
01:30:16,399 --> 01:30:18,760
Speaker 1: So I'm super appreciative of that. And as you know

1790
01:30:18,840 --> 01:30:21,079
by the half, I'm sure having your dms to come

1791
01:30:21,079 --> 01:30:21,960
back on in the future.

1792
01:30:22,000 --> 01:30:24,720
Speaker 3: So thanks Chain as you learned the king of podcasting.

1793
01:30:25,239 --> 01:30:25,600
Thank you