William Lou and Blake Murphy do a rumour round-up of the latest around the NBA. Afterwards, they speak to Steve Jones Jr. and Marc Stein about the looming trade deadline and potential moves on the horizon. To close out the show, Will and Blake discuss the confirmed participants for Saturday’s event during NBA All-Star Weekend.
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0:00 – Rumour Round-up
26:11 – Steve Jones Jr. on the Jazz, Celtics and more…
48:40 – Marc Stein on Bruce Brown, D’Angelo Russell and more…
1:20:10 – Around the NBA
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#NBA #Basketball #Raptors
Hello and welcome to the Raptor show on the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup it’s time to get fired up make sure you find the Raptor show wher we list in a podcast And subscribe please R to viw the show I’m your host way L I’m joined
By co-host Blake Murphy um yeah great event last night for everyone who went out to rapor public um the live show big thanks to zerar um you know Samson Lewis guys like that for putting it on and yeah it was a great time yeah I had a
Good time I mean great turnout at at the rivy which is uh you know the usual spot for for our stuff it is definitely the go-to yeah yeah uh it was good it was a lot of fun I I thought your guys I mean our panel that went on a little later
Was good it was like like very Player Development Focus we had Brandon lewit who’s an assistant coach for Raptors 905 he was a great speaker great speaker and like really fun getting him going so he was recently playing college ball um so like he’s played against like Maxi and
Quickley Kentucky teams oh yeah um so he he was he was telling I I said I knew damlin Andrew damlin of raptor Republic and who also calls the 905 games on on Miss Saga Radio sometimes I knew he wanted to set him up for it at one point
But I could tell like Andrew had asked him about his playing time questions in college and then like the conversation steered elsewhere and I tried to like hard turn it back I’m like no no set him up for the Kentucky set and left Wich was like rubbing his hands ready to go
Talking about how like um like broken Play Down big he yammed on Tyrese Maxi oh yeah wow um so he has that he has that but it was cool like like he’s 26 so versus um you know other coaches we’ve talked to in this space and other
Coaches I’ve talked to in the g-league space before you know he is fresh from playing like he played against Maris noell in high school like in the New York High School scene he played against some of these guys in college so for him to have that level of Youth and energy
And positivity and stuff like that and connect with these young guys at that level versus where you know older coaches have to come at that differently and maybe it’s less a personal connection more purely bad it it was cool to talk to him about um but I
Thought your guys panel the earlier one with you and S and Trey Iman and Samson was you know like that that could have been an hour if we had the uh if Derrick had a a sensor button ready for you that could have been an hour on this show we
Should have just recorded it I was so happy that a wasn’t recorded and that b the the the audience wasn’t like live tweeting anything that anyone was saying cuz it’s like you could just actually you know not let the chopper fly but just like you know speak more open ly
Candidly about things well yeah you don’t you don’t have to worry about like oh if I word I need to word this a specific way because what if the aggregation you know misinterprets it or misw it or whatever um it was a lot of fun there’s also like like I saw some
People asking like why isn’t this release as a pod or like can you guys record it and release it yeah first of all it’s not up to us but also like this also creates a benefit to doing a live event and like having the community
Around it and like I don’t know when you guys did the live event last year that that Bobby Webster went out to did you record that and release it as a pod no we didn’t that was actually a specific request from the pr staff okay yeah yeah
This was sta I see you Josh Su thing this was a specific request from the Raptor 905 PR staff to not let left witch cook in recorded fashion uh no it was a lot of fun and you guys did a lot of trade deadline stuff did um do you
Want to start with there I got some rumor roundups ready for you what you got what you it is uh it’s pretty quiet today it is obviously the day before the trade deadline uh I went back and I looked at some prior trade deadlines to
See you know how quiet is this right now versus prior years well last year there was one trade on the Monday of deadline week zero on the Tuesday one on Wednesday and then 12 on the Thursday okay uh the year before that there was a little more action there were five
Trades over the Monday Tuesday Wednesday and then 10 on the deadline um the covid year like the the restart year where the deadline was late in March um there were 16 on Deadline day so kind of everything waited until that um and then if you go back historically there has always been
At least one trade today mhm we got that Simone fonio yes uh to the Detroit Pistons for uh the draft rights to Gabrielle PCA a 2024 second round pick and uh Kevin Knox who I’d imagine will be waved or just sit on the bench the
Rest of the year or whatever so we did get that one today um but rumor wise it feels quieter than usual and before we get into the specifics that are out there there aren’t a lot so I’m not burying the lead or anything here but
How much of this do you think is based on the fact that OG and Pascal and Terry roier to be honest I I don’t want to include him with those two guys but but in terms of who’s going to get dealt at the deadline like three of the biggest deals already happened yeah
I mean this is that’s not the norm like the norm isn’t that you have those type of big deals earlier in the deadline U the norm is that you get all of them you know in a glut tomorrow which by the way we will be on air from 1: to 400 p.m. uh
There’s also talks that there is going to be a availability with a member of the Raptor’s front office if I had to guess probably Bobby Webster who knows maybe msage show well there there will be an availability we’re just not sure it’ll happen during our hour exactly
Yeah it’s tally scheduled for the 3 p.m. hour but I mean who knows uh again things got you know wrap up a little longer deadline days is a little unpredictable but yeah we will be on from one to four but yeah typically that’s one of the deals to get done so
Um I think from the Raptor side the og1 seemed like he was pretty much going to New York anyway because the agent change and things like that so you got that deal done you got the you know a pretty good return from it RJ and quickley um
They’re now two pieces of your young core and then the Pascal trade I just felt like they had hit a point where it’s like okay clearly he’s going to get dealt clearly you’ve looked at the whole market and Indiana is the one place that has the right conditions he’s going to
Resign there they have things that they will trade you for him and you may be able to squeeze them for more and I would have preferred if you know again we’ve already gone through this but they took the deal that was on the table and then they left himself this window where
You can now try to move Bruce Brown so I’m sure you have some Bruce Brown rumors for me at some point yeah uh let’s start with Bruce Brown by the way I do want to if we have time in this segment or at the end of the show in the
Around the NBA do you remember so we worked together at the score uh I was there 2013 to 2015 you were I think 2014 to a little later 19 until 19 the 2015 trade deadline is the one we got to work together with the giant whiteboard and
The war room and everything and nothing happened until 2:30 and there were 12 trades involving 43 players in the last like half hour of deadline day I want to go back through some of those with you after um but right now we’re going to look at the the rumor Roundup here so
Okay Adrian rooski of ESPN was talking on the W pod and he didn’t get too deep into this but he used the term very good chance that Bruce Brown moves um the specifics were light he mentioned some of the teams we’ve we’ve heard pretty regular Lakers Nicks bucks um Jake fiser
Our pallet Yahoo sports also included a note that um the Knicks have been more focused on Bruce Brown than other options like say they’ve been attached to PJ Washington at one point that the focus seems to be more on Bruce Brown um and the Raptors were looking for in the
Range of a first value-wise so if not a first you know a high second and a prospect or something like that is the way I interpret that now Michael gra has a piece up at sports at.ca today that is mostly talking to Chris bue and Bruce Brown about their different kind of
Perspectives on sitting here at trade deadline day and we’ll talk bu stuff in a second Bruce Brown’s basically like I don’t care man like like I I know the game I I’ve been traded a bunch of times uh I I didn’t sign a lease but within
That gra says not only are the Raptors asking for a first they have been offered at first for Bruce including in there like now we don’t know the specifics you know he kind of he didn’t report this he kind of this was editorializing or him reading between
The lines that maybe a 2024 first was offered and given how many picks the Raptors could already have in this draft they’re trying to get a future first and then who knows maybe maybe you’re arguing protections and stuff like that beyond that but gr’s article does
Include the note that a first round pick has been offered for Bruce Brown so um that is I think the firmest we’ve heard on what the Raptors have actually received in terms of brown interest versus what they’re just asking for um don’t know if you saw that note or this
Is the first you’re hearing it but how encouraging is that to you to hear that a at least some first has been on the table oh first off I voraciously consuming any piece for Michael gra our our teammate here at sportset no especially around trade deadline because
Like yeah you want to know every Insight I’m listening to every pod right now it’s it’s sick man I’m not even listening to music all listening is Brian windhorse maybe he’ll say the words Bruce Brown my ears will perk up I’m listening to W pod he’s he’s
Bringing out daily with uh him and Bobby marks for this week you know listen to low post etc etc right um yeah look I think that that’s that’s great and I think um for the rappers purposes like if you have that one firmly in hand now
You can go around the rest of the league and say okay can you pop this offer yeah and if you can’t then we’ll go back to it I think the only concern I suppose is like if that somehow slips from the table but again like this is this is I
Suppose typical trade deadline negotiations and they’ll be making lots of phone calls between now and then but yeah if you can get a first round pick for Bruce brown right now I’m pretty happy there will be firsts that get traded and assuming the Deon Murray and you know Zack lavine’s heard at this
Point but after Deonte Murray like Bruce Brown’s close to the top of the terms of names we’ve heard are avable could move like like the reporting and we’ll talk to Mark Stein at 3:00 the reporting seems like K’s probably not going anywhere the way the the latest he seen
Maybe someone has to come back over the top but in terms of guys don’t break upma please it’s the best nickname we’ve had in sport you gotta free Delon though yeah fre get D to Denver D to Denver would be nice that they’ve always done well with like longish point guards who
Don’t necessarily need to handle the ball all the time yeah kcp I mean kcp can shoot a little bit more but Monte yeah Bart Monte assist the to I see that’s a bad name yeah um okay so the the thing that would follow from and who knows you know this Bruce Brown
Theoretically for a first maybe it’s the Evan forier salary and that’s off the books and you’re good to go maybe it’s a more Davis bons type where you’re taking a little bit of money for next year who knows maybe it’s even you got to eat a
Salary for next year but it’s a better first who cares we we can see that when it comes just looking at it as Bruce Brown for a first yeah would that like we sat here when the Pascal news came down you’re pretty disappointed with the return yeah totally if if it turns out
You turned around and swung one of those pieces for a fourth first round pick and it’s more like Pascal for four first do you feel a little bit better about it uh for sure for sure because I think the Bruce Brown piece was definitely going to be like your holding value for like
In like an intermediate kind of uh time frame but I think for me the question is you know which direction do you want to go do you want to specifically get the first or do you want to get a prospect you know and I think that that’s
Something that was actually posted to us last night um at the R panel so I’ll POS it to you would you rather get a first for him or would you rather get a prospect for him I mean it depends the level of prospect like I would say like
To use lowest Prospect you would to use an example we’ve kicked around okay if you could and this is this is a not the best example because Milwaukee salary structure makes Bruce Brown kind of difficult to to work out but bear with me here sure I would value Andre Jackson
Jr who is toward the end of year one of his rookie contract and was a recent U late first round pick and has shown he can play contribute in the NBA I would value that more than some or I guess sorry he was a 36th overall pick last
Year not not a first round pick but e either way um I would value that a little bit more than some generic late first now obviously like if we’re talking about a pick that’s 2029 un completely unprotected that’s a little different but if we’re comparing say an
Andre Jackson Jr who has three more years left at basically the league minimum Beyond this year has already shown he can contribute in spot it’s to a very very good team and has some of the skill set that fits what the Raptors are looking for if you can get a guy
Like that I value that more than another late first in 2024 probably even more than a late first in 2025 um you know he’s 22 so he’s the same age as Scotty he’s not he needs a couple years to reach the type of player he’s going to
Be but there’s a lot more certainty to me in even though he was only the number 36 pick the fact that he is first of all locked up very very inexpensively um but also like has shown hey I can play minutes on a really really good team
Already that to me is more interesting than a a guy who with the 28th pick this year next you’re gonna hope can become Andre Jackson Jr can I pop quiz um since Doc Rivers took over five games ago how many minutes you think Andre Jackson Jr has played eight total 37 seconds yeah
He’s been at DMP in four of the five games and then the one game they lost Utah by 15 so he played 37 seconds of garage you have maybe you don’t have this handy how how many is Maron Bam play I think it’s actually the exact
Same number I think it’s the exact same number cuz I saw the stat come around and I couldn’t really believe it until I played only only in that Utah game since January 27th so no doc has literally not played a single guy under 27 since taking over which is not that
Surprising I guess it’s like okay veteran coach wants to like you know make that push whatever but and he wouldn’t be the first guy to just lean on the older guys but yeah I mean they’ve also had some like guys in and out the lineup too and like Dame for
Example didn’t play last night but I mean listen if you could snipe those guys I’d be pretty happy with it you know I would say it is a little bit surprising because Jackson’s been obviously he’s not like you don’t play him in your top eight in a playoff
Series when you’re a title Contender yet but he’s been good for them and then Bo champ has hit like 40% of his threes this year like I like Maron too yeah like that like he’s not he’s not the greatest sophomore of all time or anything like that but like he can hit a
Three he obviously has uh some good length there we actually talked about him a little bit last night with r and left wi because we were talking about the g-league ignite experience and he had worked with Maron bamp uh last year as a rookie when when left wi was with
The Milwaukee uh the Wisconsin herd rather and just kind of you know how much more Pro ready he seemed than a rookie maybe coming out of one year of college um yeah you know we need to see see more there but that’s if you’re a team talking to the Bucks and Mar bamp
And Andre Jackson Jr aren’t playing much the Bucks have no first that they can offer they’ve got a high second from Portland this year um but that’s about it like those two guys are interesting to me not not just for the Raptors for anyone so you you said earlier that
Bruce Brown for the Buc still BR to be pretty difficult contractually why is that like who would they have to give up in that context so they would have to give up Bobby poris and or Pat conon um and or like if it’s only one of those guys multiple additional players so
Bruce Brown makes 22 million um the Bucks are you know they got to be at least mindful of the tax impact taking on extra salary and stuff like that and basically they have Giannis Dame Brooke and Middleton who make a ton of money everyone else making the minimum and the
Only guys in between are Inc so if you remember 2016 the year the Raptors went to the Conference Finals everyone wanted them to add at the deadline this is a good team you’ve got a chance here let’s make a run and their contract status was set up so that
Patrick Patterson was the only guy with a mid- tier salary so every single trade scenario was Patrick Pat it was our own hbap yeah Pat and a pick uh for whatever you know like people were talking themselves into Marie Morris who probably at that time was still than
Patrick patters but not for very much longera probably for years so that’s the situation they’re in where okay if you have to pair Bobby poris and Pat hon to get Bruce Brown yeah that point you’re taking two guys out of your rotation yeah and this is already a fairly thin
Team um so maybe Bruce Brown’s not the target for them maybe it’s like uh we heard um I think Mark Stein had mentioned that it the idea was at least floated but it it doesn’t have traction that like okay what about turning Bobby Portis in like Grant Williams or
Something like that and that’s more of a challenge trade like a win-win but if you’re a team that’s selling you know you’re you’re probably you’ve got to have a better player than Bobby poris from Milwaukee who also makes like less than 15 million yeah which is tough it
Is tough okay so maybe that deal is not there but I mean I don’t know maybe you swap it out Gary if like if they’re like Gary for example yeah Chris I suppose I don’t know you know G yeah Gary’s a little easier to make the the C math work he
Makes three and a half million less than uh than Bruce brown but you’re still talking like he he has to be enough of an upgrade on pack hton and all the depth pieces that you’d have to use to make the salary math work it sounds like they really want to swing for Deon
Murray but again I don’t really see how they can get it done they have to put Middleton in the deal yeah oh you saw Middleton um left the game yesterday yeah ankle spr yeah KD uh contested the shot and had the foot underneath I mean it was not like it wasn’t Zaza sliding
The foot underneath he was just Eric on the contest but actually sorry I misspoke deante Murray’s contract is still light enough that they could do it with poris conatin and extra but they don’t have a first they don’t have a first that’s so uh Atlanta reportedly wanting to First
There so that’s the Bruce Brown latest yep what else do you got for me so there’s not a lot of buzz on Chris bushe right now I think at this point every Toronto Raptors person has written like yeah Chris Bush is available uh not me Chris remember that when you’re still
Here at the deadline yeah um look you’re not going to get a lot for it um but gra had what I thought was an interesting quote from from Chris bu read to you um so first of all gra said bush is pretty resigned to it and this is bue now I
Mean everything has to end right so if that’s what’s going to happen then cool hopefully it will put me in a better position you never know what could happen with what’s been going on this year obviously I just got to wait my turn I guess if a better situation shows
Up and they decide to send me somewhere else so be it he later went on to explain to Grange that like maybe earlier in my career like these dnps I’d be out here complaining to Media or whatever but he just he knows the business at this point he knows what it
Is it was kind of like it’s a little sad to hear him talk about that like I used to St the other day that like bu has been like like by far has contributed more Off the Bench than any Raptor ever at this point he’s been a staple of
These teams in the same role for a long time and is obviously a guy we like a lot personally we’ve all enjoyed as a player um obviously his his backstory and his story to this point great guy in the community and stuff like that so to
To see him you know be at this spot where he’s like I get it DMP CDs hopefully I end up in a better situation if I go it’s a tough part of this whole thing okay so how do you think Chris got to the situation because for me if you
Asked me why Chris is like essentially getting pushed out it’s not really like salary purposes cuz the Raptors do like it’s it’s not an issue for the Raptors to hold Chris for like 10 million next year um it’s not necessarily because he doesn’t have the quality to play on this
Team because we see the quality of players who play on this he better than guys who are playing come on man like McDaniel play over top of him is just crazy the I think the the real thing maybe to me is just like Darko wanted to implement this this style of ball
Movement and Chris’s biggest weakness is moving the ball and making the right reads offensively um and if he’s going to play as a big I guess you know it’s a little bit difficult cuz look at the bigs that they like to play right it’s like yakob jonte Tha they’re all the
High elbow they’re throwing like nice little high low passes and stuff like that even precious before the trade you know they would try to use him that way yeah so and I think that like it’s just it’s difficult to Envision seeing Chris do that role is is it just like the
Coaching change happened and all of a sudden he’s not as favorite because I do feel like for Chris best Cas scario for him in terms of how he can contribute to a team is if he ends up on a team with like a heliocentric player somebody
Who’s going to have the ball all the time controls all the action and then he can crash around that would be a great fit with Dallas’s second unit for example because those lineups are either dunic focused or Kyrie focused and you can be an offensive glass Crusher a
Transition Runner um and they’ll they’ll play like an actual center next to right and and I think under Nick it was like well we’re pretty much GNA play like Fred and pascow they’re going to operate sometimes Scotty’s going to operate but genuinely speaking it’s like more isolation heavily more roll heavy you
Know Ball’s not going to swing nearly as much and then yeah I mean we just want to send everybody to crash the glass as much as possible like I think when you change the system over to me it felt like okay it didn’t actually change in Chris’s favor but do you think there’s
Any other reasons why they want to push Chris out I mean I think he’s kind of been like just wrong wrong place wrong timeline I guess where like okay he is I think people still think of him as like a younger guy but he’s 30 right like
Like them damn them resigning him on his last deal was very happy for him to get that you know three-year deal and get that full money but it was a little bit more money than we expected I don’t know that we expected him to get three full
Three years fully guaranteed um at that point that was like basically the full midlevel fully guaranteed uh for three years there so um that’s part of it and and so I think they do that thing they do that contract because they were still in that mode of well we could win or we
Could develop and Chris was a good piece for that because like he could help you win now but also is a good culture guy and maybe had some upside left and now that you’ve moved off of these other pieces you know his meme about like being Will Smith that you’re the last
One left in the Fresh Prince house like that is kind of how it feels like it feels like this has less to do with Chris the player and Chris the contract value as it does like they have tried to turn the page and there’s just an edge
Of the page catching uh and and it just like it’s more I guess symbolic than anything it’s also just I mean these things there’s a reason Chris has so many more bench points than anyone else in history it’s that you just usually have a lot of turnover in those roles
Like it’s it’s not normal for a guy to last six years as your you know fourth big it just doesn’t happen that way um so I don’t know I hope he gets moved because I think he’s better than he’s gotten to show this year and I think
Chris in a in an environment where he can be himself a little bit more and kind of and part of the issue this year too has also been like him playing with players who have um redundant weaknesses with him like those lineups where he’d play with Daniels and aa oh God like you
Can’t you can’t do that that’s not going to get the best out of any of those guys so um so I hope he he finds a a new spot here damn I’ll miss uh if Chris does move I I’ll miss his uh um just openness honestly yeah in general yeah come on
The show and air it out listen Chris we’ll maybe have to call you tomorrow as well uh okay so last one on the rumor Roundup um we can revisit the Dennis shudder uh the Wolves monitoring in on that Michael gra talked to a league exec who said if they move
Dennis you would be looking at at best um so like I I tried to warn people in my mailbag like you’re not getting as read you’re not getting you gave me the second and what would you what would you get it was the second and a bunch of
Pieces to make the salary math work Shake Milton or something like that yeah shake Milton Troy Brown Jr and Jordan mclin make the salary math work but you’d also you’d also unload McDaniels in that deal so you’re out of his deal for next year right um wait he has a
Player option for next year he has a fully guaranteed next year he a fully wow yeah um so the the one thing I wanted to revisit with you on this is I don’t I don’t know that Minnesota’s this desperate for a backup point guard but when I was looking at the salary
Matching stuff one name that I didn’t mention who maybe I should revisit Kyle Anderson makes a little over $9 million he’s a pending UFA oh yeah he has not fallen out of the rotation yet but he hasn’t scored double digit points since January 14th and his minutes have
Dropped off significantly he’s he hasn’t played more than TW more than 19 minutes in a game in the last like eight games he got a tech Off the Bench last night for just like whining to the refs that like border line cost him the game um it
Is I don’t know how much of this is like wolves fan sentiment on Twitter is sour on Kyle Anderson but the minutes are down the scoring is down the role appears to be down he’s obviously still a good defensive piece do you think Minnesota would swap out someone like
That and I’m not I’m not framing this because Kyle Anderson is interesting to me as a raptor it’s just to find uh something that works for a dentist trade where yeah maybe it’s maybe it’s not Troy Brown Jr Shake Milton then Jordan mclaughin that you’re getting back maybe
Can attach a draft esset to Kyle Anderson it’s still probably only like a some sort of second but yeah okay so I think there’s two parts number one from the Raptor side if you don’t have Dennis who’s running back a point for you Kyra Kyra Lewis give JFL some touches okay all
Right Scotty back in the true point guard role a little bit more I I feel like darko’s been resisted maybe you asked for Jordan mclin back in that deal still just so you have a backup point guard okay okay whatever so I I think you know that will open up something
Where it’s like you got to address who’s going to run your backup point to the point that KY Anderson has returned the only thing with that is like I like KY Anderson as well you know what I want the only Chinese uh NBA player in the league to to come on the Raptors
Absolutely come to the Raptors Lee higher uh but I think the other part is just he’s he’s sturdy so I I just it doesn’t really fit the timeline it’s like the same kind of issue you already have right now with Dennis and Chris on the roster but he’s expiring is the is
The thing where those guys aren’t so you’re you’re out of the money um it’s not like look again it’s not about Kyle Anderson on the Raptors it’s just about I I I wanted to rebr it up because I feel like I dismissed that as a as a dentist option yesterday when we
Talked about it okay um so just wanted to to hit on that but that’s about it for the rumors that are out there like I said it’s quiet it’s it’s quite right now but you know hopefully things will come up um you know it’s you know it’s
Bad when even like so the way these things work at this time of year obviously W and Shams aren’t going with stuff unless they’re very very certain of it Mark Stein who’s going to join us at three isn’t going with stuff unless he’s very very certain of it then you
Get there’s like the next tier down who will maybe be a little bit more aggressive with rumors um versus it being an actual thing and then you’ve got like the lower tier down where like it’s throw anything at the wall because it doesn’t hurt me if I get something
Wrong but maybe I can even those ones are quiet yeah it’s oh so quiet creepy Derek I’ve worked with you three years now I never heard that before man he got new wrinkles in his bag all right well you know if it’s quiet then let’s actually just talk
About the actual basketball stuff okay you want to take a break first so want to take this break been your host will you’ve been listening to the rap to show on the sports radio network brought to you by chunk new or Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup uh when we come back
We will get Steve Jones Jr in here to talk actual hoop instead of just trade rumors welcome back to the Raptor show on the sports radi Network I’m your host from Lou Blake Murphy to my left and we’re going to bring in through the magic of Zoom um Steve Jones Jr of the
Dunker spot joining us on the program once again Steve what’s going on man ah not much uh happy to be here excited to be here uh the first Domino has fallen Simone fonio that’s what we’re here to talk man yeah break break that down for us the Pistons Loki add more shooting
Around Cade the the funniest part about the Pistons season the subplot of just more shooting over and over and over again like hey this kind of works yeah muscala Gallo Pono yeah let’s do it more shooting let’s let’s get it done add to that core they do give up uh the draft
Rights to Gabrielle p though so you know he’s averaging n points a game in the Euro league so you know there’s a there’s a real cause here um Steve look we’re we’re joking around a little bit here but you did have an interesting tweet about kind of the kickoff to
Deadline season here and I wanted to ask you to to expand on a little bit um so you said you wonder how much of the shift to acquiring Talent via trade in the off season has changed the trade deadline now we still see a lot of Trades at the deadline every year it’s
Been double digits every year for as long as back as you can track but it does seem at least anecdotally that a lot of the leg work is done in the offseason there are fewer teams maybe willing to go into the season and have big holes to address this time of year
How do you feel about like you kind of you kind of asked it as a as a philosophical but I would like your take on your own on your own question there H well it it was just a thought I’ve been sitting on for a little bit uh obviously
The CBA and the second apron have an impact I I trust all the fine cap folk people to break that down for me personally it’s just felt like teams have wanted to keep their assets and it’s felt like the trade market is stronger in the off season and that cap
Space and those players they have might be more valuable for them from a flexibility standpoint than just pure free agency and it feels like there’s just a little bit less desperation in the air now I it’s the trade deadline so we’re going to see movement I wouldn’t
Go that far but it’s just okay even I go back to like when the Zack LaVine trade talks or discussion first started it was no shot at Zack LaVine who has Premier talent but I I was wondering what context is he going to elevate a team to in this specific season where this
League is so competitive and I I just think it’s it’s it’s tough for me to understand I’m trying to balance the shift and realize okay maybe teams really believe in what they have and they just want to add to their core and we can shift later if we need to but we
Want to find out what we have now so uh we don’t get to do this very often um but let me throw this at you as a purely hypothetical what if the bosses Celtics gave up two second round picks for Xavier Tillman right now it just
Happened according to W what do you uh what do you think of that ad for Boston as a as a depth front Court move oh wow well that’s fun yeah Simon fono for uh Hey and Xavier Tillman I think that’s the that’s the kind of move they’re
Looking for to where we can bring someone that has a talent that addresses a potential need but doesn’t take away from our core we don’t have to give up pieces of our core to add to it so Xavier Tillman should help Boston context wise how much opportuni is he
Going to get that was always my question with Boston to where yes there may be gaps there maybe things you need to fill but does it change the fact that we are rolling with KP we are rolling with Al Horford these are the lineups we’re
Going to play we just kind of need you to mix into it I I actually now that I think about it it kind of feels like last year for boxton where they just had like a bunch of bigs and it’s like wait now Blake Griffin’s playing but but X
Should he should help him that’s a a strong move I think it’ be interesting because I I I don’t think Boston was ever fully comfortable with like Nam or L corette Portuguese Legend Nita yeah yeah D derck BR our technical producers favorite player without knowing it for
Sure for sure um no but I I I do think it’s yeah I mean Boston has been looking for that like one extra big I think maybe they were like linked to like Chris bu but like Chris realistically could not have they also didn’t have the
Cat math to make it work so yeah yeah all right interesting makes the minimum so I love this man and no other context will we have asked you about Xavier Tillman um we did okay so let me ask you this then this is an Xavier Tillman specific but you’ve been on the team
Side you’ve been an assistant coach a video coordinator things like that this week or or this kind of chunk of weeks here what is that like for someone in your role who’s on the team side and is now responsible for yeah I’m sure you’re watching the rumors and having fun with
That but like you got to onboard Xavier Tilman now if you are the Steve Jones Jr of the Boston Celtics right yes you are going going right to work as far as making sure I have everything ready offensive Playbook wise here are the calls here’s the sets here’s what we run
Here’s what you need to do specifically and then you have the defensive side where hey this is our scheme this is the calls for it this is our language here you go and that part of it is weird there’s also the human element where it’s like you know there’s a person that
You’ve like seen every day for the last few months and they’re just gone and here comes someone’s new and you’re trying to integrate them while still doing your job and trying to win games and get better it it gets tricky it gets tough but yeah you absolutely are like
As soon as a trade hits It’s All System go probably get a few emails few text messages hey can we get this ready and then you just got to you got to go get it done cuz you don’t know when someone’s going to pop in your office
And be like hey you got that done you got that done right bud so for the for okay hold on take us through from the the the new incoming player side like so what they just got like a two giant PDFs in their email and then they just got to
Go through and learn everything in the playbooks the best example I can remember is when I was in Memphis and we got taan Prince okay and we had I had like five edits I had to get ready specifically for him and so it was offense defense it was
Personnel it was our guys what what they like to do our spots our language our terminology so it was just the plays the little corner had the text on it like hey this is what we’re doing obviously you got PDFs playbooks all this good stuff that you just have to have ready
On Deck to hand over m be like here you go interesting I like this you know we don’t talk enough about like the I don’t know the logistics of how an NBA team works and all that kind of stuff yeah I mean it’s cool it’s one of the great
Things like obvious is taan enough of an old head where you got to hand him like print outs and stuff that back in the day we did a lot of lot of paper I am so sorry yeah don’t worry you and Taylor Swift you you’ll be next uh uh sorry
Sorry swifties um what else did you want to talk about yeah I mean okay I have one other before we get into some specific like team stuff this this is more this isn’t really you from the coaching said but this you as a basketball analyst what if
You’re on a contender right now what is front of mind for you like obviously you just kind of laid it out the the way you feel about this trade deeline well there’s no like even a Zack LaVine level Talent how do you figure out the fit and
The context so we’re looking at guys a little further down is your priority right now if you’re in a GM chair hey it’s got to be fit first they have to fit what we do they have to fit with the guys we have or are you just trying to
Upgrade talent wise of like Hey we’re only going to play Eight in the playoffs we got to make sure that eight is as good as possible or is it more the Celtics style where like yeah I mean Xavier tomman probably not playing big minutes in a playoff series but they got
To get there and make sure they get there healthy what’s front of mind for you if you’re running one of these ships to me it’s fit and I think when you talk about in the contender lens if you’re already at that level of success and you have guys that have bought in and
Understood the mission and you’re on the right track you don’t want to disrupt too much of that so it’s kind of like that insurance Zone where someone could Elevate into that top eight if needed but we’re not necessarily disrupting what we already have trying to patch something up to where you feel better
About like the archetype of the player like for Tillman for example you probably feel better about him defensively to a degree you probably feel better about the versatility offensively so okay that could help us when we need a big to do this and maybe player X is out or something is
Happening there so for me it’s more like find the person that would fit what you guys do and will help Elevate you even if they’re not going to get all that run unless you can just get like a crystal clear upgrade where I know this is going
To be a smash and it’s going to really help Elevate our team but I think just in these days you don’t want to give up too much and now you’re really back in the reintegration progress process all right so let’s uh let’s let’s talk about the a couple teams um Phoenix big win
Last night over Milwaukee uh one and four start for for Doc a little awkward I mean he’s had some injuries he’s had some like difficult schedules to play but you know still the banter must must flow apparently um but yeah Phoenix they they look like they’re starting to
Figured out a lot more they get the guys back on the court healthy first and foremost which took a while for those guys um but they look good 16 and six since Christmas what are you seeing from the Phoenix Suns and why is their offense working so well look I I get the
Concerns with Phoenix I understand pointing to the record and some of the wordss they’ve shown this season if you want to raise your hand and talk about the defense I totally get it but man every time I watch them the high notes that they can hit offensively the type
Of shots that they can generate the pressure they can put on defenses it’s tough like I If you put your coach’s head on having to deal with Kevin Durant Devin Booker and Bradley Bill in a playoff series not a lot of fun so for me you talk about and you think about
Like spacing we talk about spacing a lot we joked about the Pistons we talked about it with the Raptors earlier think about how many teams have to empty a corner to try and simulate or create some of that pressure think about how Phoenix can have one of Booker Durant
Beal run a pick and roll with the other two on the weak side that’s our pressure we can put both those guys over there and I think for me they just make you make decisions when you have to send help when they involve those guys together it’s tough
If Kevin Durant has the ball and Bradley Beal’s one pass away and Deon Booker’s in the corner and you show help because oh no Kevin Durant has a mismatch the ball is quicker than the man and that’s a swing to Bradley Beal that’s an extra pass to Devin Booker and now it’s an
Open shot so when they can go ahead and create those kind of moments where they make quick decisions that’s when it gets really tough for a defense and that’s when it gets really fun for Phoenix so where would you like to see that continue to grow because I I know even
In a couple of your live tweets of the game last night you know they seem to be couched in a little bit of like well Phoenix is still really figuring this out also like it’s really good right now it’s really difficult but these guys you
Know for a big three who have to they all have a little bit of maybe Booker lle but like F’s played alongside John Wall Kevin Durant’s played alongside everyone cuz he gets lonely and wants to play with other stars but like this is a big adjustment for Booker this is a a
Bit of an adjustment for for Beal um where do you see even more offensive growth coming for this group or or potential for for that Trio particularly uh the biggest thing for me with Phoenix is just balance can you keep your Tempo up in the half court can
You lean into the versatility of your top three players keep the movement up I think let’s lean into Bradley Beal playing two-man game with nurkic pass and cut and make the defense react that way we’ve seen over this whole Phoenix stretch what Devon Booker can do flying off screens getting dribble handoffs
Kevin Durant mixing in option screens where hey I can go off one way and go to the post or I go right to the top and we can keep playing out of it they can always get to pick and roll or they can always get to one-on-one or ISO type
Shots and that’s going to be part of the package because of the talent they have but if they have that balance where the blend of these guys have it going we have to send more help we have to send more pressure they can make those type
Of shots but we also aren’t sure how they’re going to get them because of the movement because of the P the pace hey throw it into nerk let’s throw a split action let’s get some movement around it that’s the biggest thing for me when they play with Tempo and they are moving
The ball moving their bodies usually good things happen when it when it gets a little sticky or it’s they lean too much in the pick and roll and try and generate it that way which I understand why that’s where it can get kind of tough so I feel like for the starting
Five I mean it’s probably not going to change much I think nurk is settling nicely he’s giving them something different than what Aon has given them but um I think overall he’s been pretty good Grayson Allen has been better than expected I know it’s it’s it’s nasty to
Think about but Grayson Allen has been decent um took pretty good honestly some games I just feel like nobody off their bench changes anything other than downgrading the talent on the court so I guess if you’re going into playoff series are there like three guys at this
Bench that you feel confident in and if not then should they go out and get you know one or two more of those kind of guys because you can’t just go only with the starting five and be sustainable that way I I think that’s been the
Tricky part that was part of my hope for when they were not healthy that hey more of these guys going to have these opportunities to Showcase what they can do get more comfortable but I think that’s kind of why you need some more of that movement so those guys can do good
Things I think the tough part is with the bench Point you’re always going to have talent on the floor but if you’re a defense that does signal we’re helping off this person and the task has to be those guys have to make them pay so if you’re if you’re talking three I could
Probably get to three but if you’re in a playoff context because of what they have Josh aogi beat us yeah Le beat us you know that’s that’s the part of the program where those guys are going have to make enough shots or enough plays even if it’s via Cuts via drives to
Where okay we’re outside of the liability Zone offensively to where we at least can punish you for what you’re trying to do this isn’t uh specific to the Suns the rest of the way because but I I ask you this because he’s the one guy look the suns are leveraged to the
Tilt in terms of like how much extra money they can take on and these incoming P extra penalties and stuff like that if they’re going to make a move at this deadline it probably involves the little um he makes 6.3 million he’s got three more really affordable years left but he’s basically
Not playing at all he’s still just 23 he was a guy that I I know people liked enough that it seemed like a reasonable bet on on that four-year extension in Portland um if a team were to have something that Phenix lik they could maybe spruce up their bench you know
Someone in the like $7 million range um is nir little a guy that you like as kind of a new environment flyer for for one of these selling teams yes I feel like n little would be the piece to get the piece I think the problem for nir little is just the
Context of this Suns team okay to where I think they believe in the talent the problem is we need the consistency portion and we need specific things from people that are out on the floor and it’s not to say he can’t do it it’s just we’re going for a championship and
Sometimes when that happens for a younger player it can put you in a different place mentally if you’re not performing doing X Y and Z well let me throw this person in I know they’re going to play defense at this level or let me put this person in I know we’re
Going to get drives out of that and so that’s where I think it gets tricky for little and Phoenix but yeah if you’re another team that’s a young guy on a good contract who you probably could grow and uh allow to spread his wings a little bit more in a different context
So I’m totally with you there yeah I I think the reason I the bench question popped in my mind is um watching the game last night I’m like man it’s a lot of uh jannis dunking over drewy Eubank man is that is that bull bull and I’m
Like these guys should not be what what happened to Utah I was like yeah first of what happen to UT but like I mean I kind of also know but like these guys shouldn’t feature for a team that good you know what I mean like the starting
Lineup is so good and then yeah you just get worse and worse when the bench comes in um the Jazz very deep team now that’s a team that has a lots of depth they might even move off some of the pieces we’ll talk to Mark about that in the
Next hour but um big win last night they beat the Thunder which is always impressive Chris Dunn giving Shay gild just Alexander Trouble Is it is it time am I just gonna do I have to clear out so you guys can nerd out about Chris Dunn yeah like bl’s favorite later in
The year Steve I really do want to do the Chris dun Allstars with you which is guys defensively and are just good enough offensively to stay on the floor but barely but day yeah sorry sorry I had to chest out about Chris dunwell you did
You did yeah what did you want to what did you want to ask about the Jazz yeah I mean mostly um I’m curious from a from a Player Development standpoint and how the Jazz function offensively Larry marinan has obviously been a really nice story the last two years he’s going to
Continue he makes like no money next year to um trade stuff aside how a guy like that has been able to turn himself into such a versatile score where among forwards he’s near the very very top in three-point percentage twoo percentage ability to get to the line and and
Convert his free throws but one thing that stands out is there’s not a ton relative to other stars of self-creation Will Hardy and the Jazz have created this environment where Lowry marinan has basically become a super Elite play finisher but they don’t have to ask him
To create a ton for himself how do they how have they been able to get that out of lowry marinan um it it’s just like it’s kind of contrary to how we normally think of like 22 23 point a game guys I I think it ties into the offensive
Versatility of the Jazz and the way that they use their personnel like you mentioned Chris Dunn the fact that they can use him as a screener off ball or use him as a hub guy is huge I think what will hardy does such a great job of as he takes his personality he
Understands okay you guys can do different things let me allow you to do those things you look at the play of Colin ston but tying it back to lri marinin it’s fun to watch how they’re able to use his skill set in different ways like Utah overall does a great job
Of spacing the floor they use guys in different positions but their the way they run their offense is unlock that versatility of Markin and so you can play two bigs you can play one big you can play him at the three uh he can fly around off screens I think that’s a huge
Part of their offense and his success um it can be a big that’s screening for him it could be a guard that’s screen for him he could be spaced you know he can knock down shots but he can drive Closeouts cut but he uses a screener I
Think it’s the fact that he’s just a little bit of a moving Target to that degree to where his scoring doesn’t just come in one way and defensively you can’t completely lock in on one aspect so if he’s in the corner and they’re setting a pin down for him is he coming
Off this screen is he going to cut back door is he going to flow into setting another screen now is he going to slip that one is he cutting to the post or is he coming off another one when he does when he catches it off these screens he
Does a really good job of you know getting momentum so it’s not necessarily always him at the top of the key trying to generate a shot he’s able to get downhill most of these times and now get a paint touch or I can kick it and move
And get another one that’s the fun that’s where I think I credit Utah understanding what lari Markin does well and just enhancing that yeah well I think this flows to my question because a lot of times I watched the Jazz like last night I’m watching The Jazz and I’m
Like man this team is just so well coached and and there’s clearly an identity and a system of play and they’re just plugging in you know various pieces into this but then I’m trying to quantify like specifically what makes what is the Hallmarks of a good coach in this instance like why am
I feeling that he’s a good coach so you know I’m going to ask somebody who actually coached like what what is it that you see from a coaching perspective that makes this whole thing feel like it’s working way better than what it is on paper buying buying will be the
Biggest indicator okay when you see you when they cut what does it look like how hard do they work defensively how well do they move the ball those are going to be Hallmarks of okay everyone understands what the objective is and everyone is bought into it and playing their style I think
That’s why you have to develop relationships and earn that trust so guys know okay maybe it might not be my play here but I’m going to get a touch or coach knows who I am so I’m going be used excuse me to the best of my
Abilities you know you a guy like Colin ston or Jordan Clarkson you probably have a traditional mindset about what they are as players for sure but because of the context that Utah has given them just go do that go score go penetrate go drive go play your game and these shots
Are acceptable this will work as long as you’re doing this we’re good to go I think that’s probably the Hallmark of the well coached teams the buying okay that’s the that’s the thing because it’s hard to see that you know what I mean like people always talk about tactics or
Whatever it’s like if you don’t get them to buy in and really like try to run the stuff that you want to get to you know it’s almost impossible to evaluate the other thing that I I think you can very easily evaluate based on this even just
Rookie season Keon George man I I need your thoughts on keontay George man this guy looked very comfortable in this game is’s a rookie but he’s knocking on huge shots pull up threes uh honestly a surprisingly good passer as well too I think maybe coming in The Scouting
Report was he’s not that good of a passer he’s mostly a score that dude looks really good and uh yeah I’d love to hear thoughts on K Georgia is he a future starting point guard in this league yes every every time I’ve seen him play even going back to Summer
League I was like hey this kid’s got some this guy can play I don’t I don’t mean basic but like he can hoop yeah and you kind of see that pop more and more uh it’s not just the it’s the comfort for me that he’s developed over the
Course of the season to take these shots make these shots make these plays and I think a big key was he played his way into the starting lineup you kind of felt the pressure that he had in that starting line lineup yeah and then he
Moved back to the bench and he now it’s like go play go play your game and now you can close games I think that little subtle shift was huge but he’s a Hooper yeah no I was going to say that was one of my favorites for who the Raptors
Could have taken a 13 but we don’t want to relitigate this today but uh Steve we apprciate not coming off Grady’s career high uh you don’t want to hear about some of the other career highs of the rookies in this class that were available at 13 but uh we’re going to
Let Steve go so we can argue in the next five minutes there this break appreciate you man and uh yeah thank you for for always taking your time um we’re going to take another break here been your host will you’ve been listening to the Raptor show on the sports radio network
Brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup when we come back Mark St on trade rumors let’s go welcome back to the Raptor show on the sports radio network I’m your host swim Lou I’m joined by co-host Blake Murphy and as we do pretty much every
Wednesday uh Mark Stein joins us on the Raptor show Mark I hope you’re feeling a lot better man are you all right honestly I am guys I appreciate that I finally got myself to some medical care that Ed me with some very I do feel a lot better okay that’s
Good that’s good because I could tell you’re feeling a lot better because you’ve been you’ve been really hard at work man every single day in my inbox is a new daily uh newsletter from you for at the Stein line and um on substack and yeah I mean it it’s been great we
Literally had like what four newsletters since the last time you came on and there’s lots of details in here about pretty much every single team is is mentioned at some point so uh we might just have to run down up man I love it we’re a great hype man yeah well no I’m
I’m not even kidding man it’s every single day and I feel like if I just wanted to keep track of just trade rumors in one spot this is just place to for it um and so I’ve collected a lot of them I’m just going to run through a lot
Of that obviously we start here in Toronto uh the Bruce Brown thing I mean it seems like the latest reporting from Sports very own Michael Grange is that the Raptors do have a first round pick offered to them on the table I’m guessing that it’s from New York um but
Yeah I mean I think the Curiosity from this week is could the Raptors potentially be the landing spot for like a d’angel Russell if there was a three- team trade possibility out there because I think Dave McManaman brought that up this week that uh obviously the Hawks
Don’t really want Russell back uh in the if they were to make a dejonte Murray trade could D Russell land in Toronto I want to start there for you before I go any further I do feel the need to mention I am hearing an echo so our producer Pals can do anything to
Remove that we we might just need to reconnect with you Mark is uh is all if that’s okay with you it’s fine with me I’m happy to if you guys want to try that call you right back yeah wow on a cliffhanger yeah um you want DeAndre
Russell by the way I mean we talked about a little bit yesterday he’s got a pretty game and obviously I know he’s got ties to the city he’s got a pretty game yeah he he has a nice looking game I you know I I don’t see what’s by the
Water his ties to the city can you mention them yeah his girlfriends from Toronto right Oakville Oakville okay that’s Oakville man we got we got we got Mrs sag representing we got Oakville representing what’s next man a Milton connection damn Cambridge yeah I mean Pascal’s got family in the region y
Listen man um Jamal Murray for the KW connection there go that be the dream it would be the dream for me personally Shay for Hamilton yeah we just connect the whole like lak Shore go line get Michael Moulder back in the league for Windsor yeah oh yeah yeah there you go
Cool yeah it’s like weo like playing risk yeah a guy you remember and no Michael Moulder no he played uh did he play for team count that one year yeah he played for the Warriors for a little bit too yeah um Ser like Russell the the
DLo side of things he he does have a pretty game um it’d be it’d be one of those ones where like you’d almost have to wait until the offseason to really know because like he does have that player option and if I were him and I got traded somewhere that I I didn’t
Really want to be I think you could do pretty well opting out of that and then signing a new deal but it is almost $20 million so it’s not out of the world that he would pick it up so I need a little bit of clarity on that he doesn’t
Like ideally fit you know the timeline and what the Raptors are here but he’s a good player who has like a really aesthetically pleasing game for a couple months at the end of the year I I could get behind it it’s just you know you’d probably I need to know what the other
Asset is here because I don’t think turning Bruce Brown into D’Angelo Russ like I think it’s you’re you’re in the same spot as the Raptors then it’s like okay what are you doing with D’Angelo Russell next right okay let’s hear from markstein take two yeah are can the Raptors get in on
Dowlo well first of all uh than damn the echo is still here so I guess I am gonna have to hear myself twice which is really painful so I don’t even want to hear myself once oh maybe it went away finally maybe we got rid of
It all right good uh listen I don’t want to give you I I cannot say that I have directly heard Raptors as a potential third team in a dejonte Murray trade because honestly I what I would say about that scenario is Atlanta’s trying to get two first and does if that does
That scenario furnish them with two first I think that’s really the bar that has to be hit first for the Hawks to want to go ahead with the dejon Murray deal and to this point there hasn’t been a scenario where they come up with two first and the Lakers only have one to
Play with right now so I can’t sit here and tell you that I’ve heard that scenario because I genuinely haven’t I did see the grain report about if Toronto indeed has a first round pick for Bruce Brown then that will come I think as a relief because it there
Hasn’t been a lot of noise in The Ether suggesting that that is looming so if that’s true um I’m sure they’ll be thrilled because it’s harder to generate first in this Marketplace than anticipated I think you guys probably saw the stat last week where Bobby marks
From ESPN tweeted out about how 11 teams hold 75% of the tradable picks right now so it’s just not that easy to get a first um but you know the deal isn’t done yet so they haven’t gone through with it but um there by the way I do love when uh
When msai does a press conference and he just does gra like five times in each press conference I bet is one of the highlights but um look I I have not I I can’t say that I’ve heard they have it but okay we will we will soon see we
Will one thing I did Cover one thing I did Cover today which I you know I think I think what what you’re seeing this week where we we’ve only seen two trades today and they were very small moves fonio to Detroit Xavier Tillman I reported about a week ago that Memphis
Was going to trade him and they have now traded him into a trade exception in Boston those are really small moves though and I think with what you’re seeing and how the action has slowed considerably I think Toronto does have to feel pretty good that they did the
Pascal deal when they did I think they read it right in mid January that do this now because the offers for cakam are not going to get stronger three first is the most that they were going to get at that point and they were able to get Bruce Brown they’ve been trying
To trade him ever since maybe they will succeed maybe they won’t succeed but I think I think they maybe happy is the wrong word but reliev to a degree that they’ve at least had this opportunity to try and if if Mr gr’s report proves correct and they’ve
Got the first then we will see them cash that in between now and 3 p p.m. tomorrow yeah that’s the hope well um elsewhere in the Eastern Conference uh Milwaukee so so clearly they’re on a win or go home kind of like pressure they’ve already you know dismissed Adrian
Griffin midwe through the season brought in Doc Rivers um I think they probably want to upgrade their roster as well um what are Milwaukee’s plans because you’re seeing you know Bobby Porters and Pat KH them come up a lot now in terms of you know pieces that could move for
The bucks to get the upgrades that they clearly want for this year yeah they’re definitely being very aggressive they’re as aggressive as any team in the league right now I report Ed earlier this week that there were some exploratory talks between the Mavericks and the Bucks that
Would have featured Bobby ptis and Grant Williams switching teams but swiftly after I published that it was relay to me that the Bucks would not do that as a straightup deal they would only trade look Bobby to do something substantial Milwaukee has to trade poris which I
Don’t think they want to do obviously Portis played on their championship team he’s a really well-respected veteran there he’s got a pretty sizable locker room presence I don’t think the Bucks want to trade Bobby poris but there are only substantial salaries to trade it poris is making shy of 12 million Pat
Conon makes about nine and a half million they’re gonna have to trade them if they want to get something in terms of a significant salary back um again in the Dallas talks they would have wanted more than Grant William and I don’t think the Mavericks were amenable to
That so I don’t see that progressing and becoming serious but just the fact that Milwaukee has been willing to entertain some Bobby poris discussion I think that tells you kind of how seriously they’re canvasing the market to try to find upgrades they need they know they need defensive upgrades and the reason maybe
Grant Williams would have made sense even though Grant Williams has had a very disappointing year one in Dallas but he does have the potential to to guard a wider variety of positions and I think that’s why he would have held some Intrigue but again the Bucks are not
Doing that one for one but the Bucks have no firsts to trade and so I think the Bucks would be a Bruce Brown team the Bucks have interest as well and Dorian finny Smith but if you don’t have a first not getting those guys and the
Best pick that Milwaukee has to trade is Portland is a Portland second round ER which is you know projected to land somewhere in the 35 range when it comes to prospects who were recently picks how how much are we talking like once the car comes off the lot the the value
Drops kind of scenario because I look at yeah the Bucks don’t have any picks but to me you know number 36 pick last year Andre Jackson Jr four-year affordable very very affordable and team flexible contract has given them a little bit like how much does the value on an Andre
Jackson Jr differ from one of the you know say the Bucks had their 2024 first which would obviously be very very late in the first round what what is the value on guys like that this time of year I think it’s a team by team Eye of
The Beholder kind of evaluation I think you know you guys brought up Dallas I think the Mavericks are in the same position the Mavericks only have one first but they have Jaden Hardy in his second year they have omx Prosper who has barely played this season but in
June was the 24th pick how do teams feel about those guys I think I think pretty much we could go through rosters all over the league and identify guys like that and then it just really just becomes how each individual team and their front office rat that player um
But yeah I mean look you know again this is all it all feeds into this scarcity of first round picks and like you know the Lakers and dejon Murray that’s probably been as big of curiosity in the past three four weeks as any trade topic since p was traded to Indiana and and
What has largely settled that is if the Lakers right now they only have one first round pick but if they show patience and they have three at the draft it just increases their optionality and the Lakers are by no means the only team in that position and so I
Think that’s why like if Toronto gets the first for Bruce Brown by tomorrow at 3 pm I think they’re going to feel pretty damn good because it’s just not easy to generate one in this Marketplace I I would have thought when when they when they made the trade when the SE
Yakum trade went down didn’t think it was going to be as much of a struggle as it appears now maybe maybe they’ve played it out maybe they’ve wanted to make it look like a struggle you know we you know we’ll we’ll be a lot smarter on Friday
When the deadline sounds and then we we we get more reporting that is not being made available right now but it’s you know I I I thought Bruce Brown would have been traded by now to be to be completely honest with you yeah well I mean it’s it’s made for great
Content because uh never said his name so many times in this program until that trade happened and now it’s a daily fixture um okay over you know in terms of the other contenders now obviously Philadelphia has a huge huge question as to how long is MB going to be out for
You know this is the most I’ve learned about meniscuses in the last week it’s uh is he going to have it removed is is he going to have it shaved it’s it’s a it’s a whole thing but in any case maybe he comes back maybe he doesn’t come back
For the rest of the season uh and if if he does come back there going to be a huge variable but um yeah the Sixers obviously always can be very aggressive under Daryl Mory he’s always been a guy who has made trades at the deadline uh what could the Sixers look to
Do I reported today that they are one of the teams pursuing on Andre Drummond that’s a long line right now though I think there are a lot of contenders that would love to get Drummond his rebound numbers particularly at the offensive end have just been Sensational limited
Minutes he’s not even playing 20 minutes a game but he’s really inhaling rebounds right now so Philly obviously Drummond would help them in the short term with embiid presumed to be I mean there’s no specific timetable yet on embiid but you have to think just common sense wise
That you know six to eight six to eight weeks just seems like a safe assumption if we’re allowed to assume such things from the outside but the Sixers also want a shooter and boan bogdanovich is a guy who’s off mentioned I don’t know man the Pistons though just the Pistons continue to send
These signals that they’re not trading boan bogdanovich which I mean if he stays there two deadlines in a row I mean that’s just you know I am I I I find it baffling Jake fiser reported last night that the the Sixers are looking at buddy heel too and you know
Buddy hee is another guy in an expiring contract and and frankly the Pacers have been you know I think pretty open to heel trades all season but increasingly so in recent days and weeks because heal’s role has been diminished somewhat so um yeah I think I I think we can
Expect Philly to do you know to make a move or maybe even two around the edges but interestingly the the Sixers also have tax concerns so they’re trying to dodge the tax but um Daryl myay has never had trouble being active at the deadline so with uh with the Sixers
Always expect action speaking of uh tax situations and you know I I appreciate the Golden State Warriors every new CBA basically teaching the entire NBA fan base about hey how do the very upper echelons of the luxury techs and aprons and things like that work um so they’re
Looking at a situation where they’re trying to continue to win now they have these astronomical tax bills further complications to building your roster are coming uh to where you know it sounds like they’re leaking that there’s actual interest in Andrew Wiggins out there given his despite his contract
Status um man what do you have a read at all on where the Warriors are going to go here that this is a this is a weird situation competitively financially and emotionally with the way this season’s gone for the Warriors I mean look on Wiggins I can only talk
About my reporting and yesterday I reported that the Maverick’s reported interest in Andrew Wiggins has been overstated after I published that report word was relate to me that the same holds for Milwaukee I don’t believe the Mavericks or the Bucks to be in on Wiggins at this point what I have heard
Is you know golden state has obviously been exploring every conceivable trade option with Wiggins for at least a month month I think that will continue up to the deadline but I think the Warriors also understand it’s year one of a four-year deal and Wiggins since the
2022 finals it’s more than a season now that he’s been well shy of that level it just doesn’t make for ideal circumstances to try to trade him at this point and so I think I I think you could also if you analyze it you look
That um sorry I lost my train of thought there he’s with with kuminga kuminga has just been a monster lately and I think has validated how many times that we heard finga is Untouchable the Warriors won’t entertain it don’t even try I mean he’s been Sensational since the calendar
Flipped to 2024 and Draymond Green has played very well since he came back from suspension and I think Gins playing with the both of them it has gone better here lately do the Warriors is is their best option at this point just trying to keep Wiggins for the short term get through
This season reassess when the offseason comes I would argue that that is probably better than what they’re going to be able to get in a trade I don’t think it’s reached the point that they have to like throw in a first to trade him but you’re not trading Andrew
Wiggins without taking back contracts that you probably don’t want so why do it like what is what is really the appeal there yeah well I mean that’s the thing my my thinking of all this is is he a negative asset because I mean the last time wiggin was traded he was a
Negative asset that’s how he got on the Warriors and of course he played a lot better you know won the championship all that kind of stuff so that that clearly will change some things but his career kind of goes ups and down like that um a team I’m curious about is Utah because
When I watch Utah they have so many productive players and a lot of them don’t necessarily fit the right timeline and of course Danny a has already been you know a guy who is was kickstarted that rebuild by making those two big moves with Mitchell and gobear um is is
Utah a seller or are they a I guess they’re not a buyer are they a seller at this deadline right now because they’re 100% a buyer it’s just I’m sorry sorry sorry 100% a seller at this point I misspoke and I’m quite happy with the Jazz because I reported when I posted my
Story today that you so beautifully hyped up for me and the check is in the mail uh I said Utah is guaranteed to make at least one trade this week and about an hour later they traded Simone fono Detroit so the Jazz are in my the
Jazz are in my good graces as we speak but yeah no it’s it’s really interesting because Chris Dunn is such a good defensive guard multiple teams would love to try to acquire Chris Dunn Kelly o linck we’ve been talking about his availability for literally weeks I mean
He’s a floor spacing big man a veteran who’s been around the block you know he has no shortage of teams that are interested in him I still think there’s a level of interest in Jordan Clarkson around the league although this year you know Clarkson’s contract it’s really
Next season when it when it dips below 15 million and becomes much more attractive so is a Jordan Clarkson trade gonna happen by tomorrow or is it going to have to wait until the draft but yeah I mean I honestly I think the Jazz I think Utah’s phone is is literally
Ringing off the hook they have multiple play players who a lot of good teams around the league want and it’s it’s really interesting because they you know they’ve also got you know the the the various young players that they’re going forward with and building around not
Just Lowry marinin and Keon George and I mean they’ve got they’ve got some really good things happening there Colin Fon is another one where I think in the summer it was assumed that Utah was going to look to trade him his numbers as a starter have been fantastic fastic so I
Don’t I I I would imagine that you know the the the price point on a Colin seon trade has risen I mean again Utah is truthfully as fascinating a team as there is at at this deadline okay um I also wanted to ask about uh
The Nets cuz the other team do a little confusing to me is are like what are they doing I guess are they Sellers as well because skepticism the Raptors will get a first for Bruce Brown they think they’re going to get a first for Dorian finny Smith yeah Dorian FY Smith’s only
In year two of a four-year deal and I you know what I think they I think they will be proven now when it was too you know the talk was to First for Dorian finny Smith I think that was out man come on but but do they do they do they
Get a first now for Dorian finny Smith or do they wait and trade him in the summer or at the draft I actually think that is uh defensible and believable stance Royce O’Neal the talk is more that okay will they relent on Royce O’Neal and trade him for two seconds
Rather than a first or you know multiple seconds whatever it is depending on how serious the bidding I think Royce O’Neal and Spencer Den witty are more likely to move than dor and Finny Smith at this point but you I mean to me Cleveland you know so much talk is can they resign
Donovan Mitchell you know can they keep Donovan Mitchell you know Royce O’Neal is one of Donovan Mitchell’s best friends on Earth so if I’m the Cavs I’m I’m trying to get Royce O’Neal by tomorrow that’ll be smart I mean he would fit nicely into their what they
Got going on I mean they’re also they need a I mean they want a three and D player anyway why not get a guy who’s gonna make Donovan Mitchell happier about where he plays yeah also no the Cs are 14 and one and last 15 it’s the one
Of the biggest surprises of the Season especially given all the injuries and then the last question I guess maybe bigger picture if we step aside from all the teams it’s like is do you feel like there’s if there’s like is there one potential player that’s like quote
Unquote holding up the market in terms of once that trade is done the other trades will kind of fall uh the rest of the Domino will fall is is that kind of a scenario that be playing out or no no I I I think the truth is it’s just the
Answer that we we don’t want to I’m pretty sure we covered this ground the last time I was with you guys but I don’t totally remember but look this is my 31st trade deadline in the NBA and I know how it goes if today and tomorrow don’t deliver fireworks everyone is
Gonna say this trade deadline sucked yeah and on Friday everyone’s gonna say it was a dud wasted our time blah blah blah blah how can you say that though when we we we’ve had before today to put today aside we’ve had six trades before today included in those six trades James
Harden on Halloween OG anobi and Pascal seum and Terry roier all trading if we rewind just two not even two weeks before the season started Damien Lillard was traded to Milwaukee Drew holiday was in that deal and then Portland turned around and traded Drew holiday again so we’ve we’ve
Actually seen a lot of stuff and that to me is the factor like you you you’re just inseason trades are harder than offseason trades but we’ve already seen a bunch yeah and so we’re not just going to get infinite trades because we all love the transaction game and that’s
What we want and then remember if you go back a year I mean a year ago Kyrie and Kevin Durant got traded in a four day span right before the deadline oh yeah that was fireworks and we talked had we talked a week before that nobody would have projected either of them getting
Moved so I mean I think a dose of realism is needed here we we’ve seen a lot of trade mov yeah but you know Mark this is this is you’re absolutely right like for sure that’s all reasonable but you know like this is like July 4th I suppose for NBA
Fans it’s like trade deadline all we want to do is sit in front of our laptops or our phones or whatever uh our vision Pros I guess if you can do that now all you want to see is fireworks on the time like we want to see you tweet
About transactions Wes Shams like always just want to be like oh wow this happened this happened you know it’s like it’s like watching a fireworks display it really is I always tell the story that NBA life for a media person as I knew it it changed I wanted I’m
Doing this off the top of my head and I always it was either 07 or 08 I was at ESPN and Earl boyin got traded and I broke the story and it was I want I can’t even was it ear boyin 2 Denver it was a January trade all right
Earl boyin was the headliner and my editors at ESPN came to me and said you will not believe the traffic that that story just did really okay and and from that and really from that moment is when like I really started tracking it that just like yeah in this league the
Transaction game it’s just it you cannot we we can not deliver enough and talk about it enough and it just it is what fascinates people yeah that’s why you got to listen to hashtag this league uncut it’s another promo it’s another promo but uh Mark we appreciate you
Thank you for coming on to you know go through the the trade landscape as it is and uh we’ll see what happens tomorrow because we will have a three-hour show so NBA Executives please make as many trades as you want during that 23 hours
To go to see if the Raptors get a first for Bruce Brown I can’t wait it’s a great it’s a great Saga five night there you go Mark Stein uh appreciate the promo back yeah um by the way that trade he’s talking about Earl boyin traded to Milwaukee in ‘ 07 okay
Remember that he was in Denver for a while um and then he went to Milwaukee I by the way I don’t know if it’s because Earl Bens is like obviously he like famously like a very small player who played in the league I don’t know if it
Was because he was small or because he liked to wear baggy shorts but the shorts to the shorts to leg ratio was never more uh yeah anyway yeah he just L like he was wearing gigantic Capri every single time yeah any I mean that was the
Style at as was the style at the time as they as they say I feel like Earl borin had like a big game against the Raptors one time I ever watching it just like in like complete you know disbelief I’m like how is he doing this he’s 5’6 yeah
And he’s cooking us that’s uh yeah I mean I don’t know man there’s a lot of bad player or I guess not even bad just yeah yeah there have been some moments in in the franchise yeah I’m going to look for that during the break but I
Think one thing I should want be on Earl boyin mixtapes honestly I might look it up um that’s like a 240p error of YouTube is ear boy’s mixtapes um one thing I want to ask you too because I was thinking about Utah and I guess we talked about Utah in two segments here
With Steve and with with Mark Utah looks like the best case scenario in terms of like if you pivot towards a rebuild and you want to just Rebrand the whole idea what it would look like in terms of just like right now they’re only 5 00 but they’re a very competitive 500 right
Right um they got a new coach to come in he clearly gets an identity any player that he put essentially any player he puts in the rotation whether they’re young whether they’re older whether they’ve played you know in a different role position before they come here to Utah and then they actually start
Becoming quite productive like I even don’t mind what John Collins is doing for them for example right yeah and and you know uh Colin sexon they’ve got to many different the big example of that is Lori Markin and um they turn him from like a a starter guy to like oh wow he’s
Like a you know All-Star level player um that’s kind of what I wanted to see from a rebuild of course they also timed it right they they hit the market right they got the most they could get from Mitchell they got the most they could
Have got for gobear um but I think on the coaching side too that’s what I would have liked to see from Darko maybe not just this year but maybe going forward as well is like you bring in a system you bring in a style of play you
Get that buy in as Steve Jones was talking about and all of a sudden you get to a position where everybody you bring into to the doors in Toronto looks good and then you give yourself that position where you have the flexibility to the trade deadline to say okay we can
Move these other guys for more more assets because if I had to guess who was going to be the next like OKC style of Team probably be Utah yeah it might and look they’re doing the you know yeah marketing is not Shay but that kind of like Hey we’re gonna rebuild but you
Don’t have to sell every single piece because eventually you’re going to be searching for a guy who’s as good as lry marinin or as good as Shay gild just Alexander like like there were people who wanted OKC to trade Chay away as part of their tear down because it was
Like oh he was a couple years older than these picks are going to be and like how crazy would that have looked now yeah um because you think the hcap between Shay and Chad is bigger than the hcap between Pascal and Scotty no it’s smaller but it’s uh it was a conversation that
People had that’s wild man yeah and I had that conversation too but it was purely to try to get sh every sh conversation is fous on this show you know that yeah yeah I have no shame when it comes to comes to Shay yeah no but seriously like they they
Bring in guys and guys who didn’t even feel like they had that much value they bring them in and all of a sudden they rehab their value and now they’re about to move them out for more yeah it’s it’s a very it’s perfect Synergy between the front office and the coaching I’m saying
It’s a very like Tampa Bay Rays baseball style thing where it’s like okay you know there’s a running joke of like oh I love this trade for the Rays who did they give up who did they get it’s like you just love it for them because you
Know they’re going to net value on it now I wouldn’t go that far with the Jazz but like yeah that’s a team that like if you looked at that team on paper three years ago like yeah they’re bad bad they’re not no and like will hardy obviously we we’ve given him you know
Shout outs on this show before he’s coaching a really good uh a really good team um there this year but yeah I don’t know it’s what you want to get back to organizationally because it’s like like obviously you develop you create value by hitting on draft picks finding guys
Below the draft slot finding good free agents you know below their value or whatever or young players before they break out but the other thing is you can manufacture extra value on your build and like that’s not to say that if the Raptors had done the same thing with
Jordan Clarkson Jordan Clarkson is a part of the future but if you pay a second for someone and then turn around and a year later trade them for 3 seconds say you just magically created two seconds yeah um and that stuff adds up over time even if no single one of
Those moves is really going to uh you know like them turning around and trading Chris Dunn right now in addition to getting me to not not watch the Jazz anymore um it wouldn’t be like oh my God this changed the direction of the franchise but it would be you took a
10day guy and turn him into a good enough player that you could turn around and trade him for something exctly exactly and the infamous words are Prop Joe buy for a Dollar sell for two that hit I don’t it’s hard to do the btim yeah I know it’s it’s impossible
This week like try it we’re through the last break for today I’ve been your host Willow you’ve been listening to the Raptor show on the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy suit when we come back around the NBA welcome back to the Raptor show on
The sports radio network I’m your host swim Lou me and Blake Murphy are going to go around the NBA and of course I forgot but there’s a Raptor game tonight Raptor Hornets that’s right excited um so in preparing this segment not only did I remember that there was a Raptor’s
Hornets game tonight which because of so for okay let me rewind here so yesterday we’re at rivy for this Raptor Republic event and I see the news that Fred’s not going to play this week against the Raptors he has strain he’s going to be out a handful of games this isn’t just
Toronto but he’s not going to play on Friday although he he did he was in Indiana yesterday um oh I imagine he travel I don’t think it’s like that big but he’s not playing yeah no he he had a he had a nice little hug with with
Pascow nice after the game pasc played great by the way yeah almost a 30-point triple double and uh yeah they needed all of it in a very close win over Houston yeah some some fun games last night was kind of like zooming through to try like I once I left the event I
Locked in on OKC Utah CU that one was in the middle of the third quarter at that point and then yeah try to catch trust listen to this man’s dedication he left the event with friends and went straight home to watch uh Utah I walked home it’s
About a half an hour walk and I was do I looked like one of those guys with the VR headsets that were seen videos where they’re like walking into traffic and stuff that V heads for leap pass though oh cuz I was walking home like this there’s no difference really I’m walking
Home like this with headphones in like yeah like oh locked them up locked them up people on the street like what what does that mean you’re like you’re talking about Chris Dunn the whole time yeah um so anyway uh the Fred news comes down and this was how I remembered that
Yesterday was only Tuesday because I thought the Rockets game was today um and somehow the deadline was still tomorrow anyway um don’t worry man we’ll talk Bruce Brown again tomorrow somehow of this the other thing they play the Hornets again still yeah they just man I guess it’s nice cuz the only chance
You’re going to get to to win a lot a lot down the stretch here but they’ve already played two pretty ugly games against the Hornets and they have them again on March 3rd after tonight yeah see this is the first time all year I’m pulling up tank aon.com for the reverse
Standings because yeah Raptors might need to lose this one against Charlotte cuz uh you know the standings at the bottom are are quite tight yeah Charlotte is at 10 and 39 I mean okay Toronto’s already had 17 wins do you think charlot finish with 17 wins no
Okay so maybe we don’t have to pull Theon but you can at least catch Portland for fifth last is like if you are someone who cares about these things uh Toronto is currently in sixth to last which will give you um assuming no TI Breer about a 46% chance at keeping your
Own pick if you could catch Portland for fifth to last that would I don’t have the numbers handy but it would bump you up to about a 65% chance roughly um don’t don’t quot me on those numbers um but it’s it’s something like it jumps
From like 46 or 47% to like 60 something in the mid-60s percentage wise um yeah I’m looking at it right now um yeah you’re you’re you’re about you’re slightly over 60 almost 65% okay yeah versus uh you know being just just below 50% so that’s a big swing spot if you
Could catch Portland see but the thing okay maybe this is if you want to keep the pick is the other thing that’s the thing if you want to keep the pck which is one discussion that’s mostly based on how much you feel like uh the quality of
The draft is going to be this year um the other part to me is just like I don’t think the Raptors are like explicitly trying to lose every individual game in the way that’s it’s like the the true tanking I think what they want to see is like okay you got
You got to this point where it’s like clearly this not an ideal spot but you still want to use the rest of the season to see how these young guys take their opportunities how they grow together and like if they if if they start winning if they actually pull together like really
A good string of results like I don’t think their front off is going to come in and like essentially certain guys or whatever like they actually this is a very important time for these young guys to actually take their opportunity and whatever if it doesn’t happen if it
Isn’t taken and they lose fine you probably benefit from It Anyway by increasing your lottery odds but I think in general what they really want to do is just like see these young guys actually take the team over and like build it towards something that I can
Actually win you know a Utah situation yeah front office is tank players don’t tank and like once you’re on the court no one is trying to not win that game do you feel like the front office is tanking I me yes of course like the way these things Cascade is
Like yeah the front office is reorienting around a future timeline if you prefer that that framing um and then yeah I think like if a guy is on the borderline of being able to play you be extra cautious and that’s not because you’re tanking that’s because there’s
Not as much incentive to push those things but the more important thing and you know I know some people just like reply to injury updates with the tanking stuff cuz they it’s fun or or whatever that’s where the rooting interest are but like in reality grd dick is 20 years
Old Scotty Barnes is 22 years old those guys are in there every day anyway but like RJ Barrett as a 23y old playing a new role in a new system is not being sat to tank like that the value of that is not as high as the developmental
Value of RJ playing and building the chemistry with Scotty or quickly building the chemistry with Scotty seeing exactly how much quickly can expand the scoring low before you have to pay him this off season those things matter more than like we have a 0 1% less chance of winning this game which
Gives us a 0 1% better chance of keeping our pick like that’s not the stuff that happens like if you yeah talk to me if like yakob sitting out games at the end of the season for rest or whatever um but it’s not happening with the guys who
Are like 24 and under yeah I think for example that OKC game they wanted to win that game absolutely and it wasn’t like we want to win it and it might affect our Lottery odds or whatever like they’re not being like damn we won that game and then they’re they’re not being
Like yay we lost the Pelicans game like they want to see competitive basketball from these young guys and if they can find a way to win cuz if the struggle is not right now it’s going to be next year and Beyond um so they’re going to get to
That point eventually but anyway you want to do around the NBA uh yeah yeah let’s do a little bit of around the NBA before we Circle back to that game um okay let’s save the PJ Tucker stuff for tomorrow in case we need trade deadline stuff but him saying I’m actively trying
To get traded is a really funny thing um okay we hit the Fred thing let’s do Allstar stuff because we found out who the done contest group is yesterday yeah um reportedly so Shan has put this out there and other people have reported the names individually but the class appears
To be Jaylen Brown haime hawz Jr Jacob toppen the brother of I I have to looked it up just to be sure but yes Westchester Nicks Legend and uh M MCL how you feeling is Jaylen enough star power to have one like the format of one star one cool rookie that people know
And two fringy guys is that enough for you I I feel like um okay I’m not trying to disrespect that GG Leaguers um but like the the dunk contest Allstar Weekend should be largely for the NBA players like there’s so like there should be a delineation you know what I
Mean yeah and like I know Mack did a good job last year he should be invited to to repeat I I have not seen Jacob top and dunk so maybe he comes in and just Wows everybody but like yeah like we this the NBA Allstar
Weekend man two of the the four are G Leaguers so when there was the actual G League also and there’s a g-league next up game this year but back when it was in Toronto and there was an actual g-league allstar game and a g-league dunk contest I really like the idea of
The g-league dunk contest winner gets the fourth spot in the NBA dunk contest okay I’m fine with that like it helps build the G League a guy has clearly earned his way in there two or four two of four and like the third one like haime Hawk is a very good player and
Like cool story on the heat and stuff like that but like he doesn’t have the like there’s not a ton of name value and we talked about this the other day going through some old Dunk Contest like it is hard to strike the right note if you’re
Trying to build future stars but also have some star in it and also make sure the dunks are really good like I think hawaz being in it is cool it just I agree the Jacob topping I had to triple check that they weren’t like you do you mean Obi topping
Again yeah that’s I mean listen I mean look I I’ll watch it you know I’m going to be there no matter what I I also like with these g- League guys being in it I do feel like the Wesley Snipes crying shooting meme where I’m like too many G
League guys in the dumb context oh if BL even say that you know it’s too many yeah like like jaob toppins played Four NBA minutes this year that’s yeah well it’s more than what Mac did last year but um jayl Brown though I think he’s the first Allstar since 2017 okay or
Maybe uh yeah I think while Mitchell was in it but maybe this was before Mitchell even made Allstar yeah but yeah it’s been it’s been a minute that part of it’s cool I’m excited I mean what do you think Jaylen Brown’s gonna do dribble with his left hand oh that’s not an
Original original joke it does feel uh a 10 right now man Iceberg um here’s a question for you how do we get back to the r because for a long time the Raptors were like the dunk contest team right like you had Vince you had T-Mac
You had dear in it Terence Ross won jario moon was in it Donovan Mitchell throws the Vince Jersey on to do his it feels like it’s been a while and then like in the Kyle Demar era like dear did it early in his career and then Kyle did
The Three-Point Contest but those did not go particular not do not mention what Kyle L got in a Three-Point Contest one year please how do we uh he turn that six upside down it’s a nine now yeah oh um oh that was tough that’s a tough one yeah apparently those money
Balls you know the scuffs on the balls after uh after Kyle shoots around with them no good um how do we get back to the Raptors having a bit of a presence here DK contest or Three-Point Contest uh that’s a good point honestly because yeah as you mentioned there’s a there’s
A great lineage of great Raptors dunkers and like when you look at the Raptor current roster like who would you say is the best dunker like if War had actually thrown out that dunk against Atlanta I think one of those games um that would have been cool but like I don’t know
Every every team’s got a war level dunker I think like you know yeah Scotty Scotty your best dunker he’s a power dunker no one is GNA want to hear this right now why it’s probably McDaniels McDaniels is your best dunker okay all right well well well we’ll see if he’s
Able to get the dunk off around Jose Alvarado with the steal yeah that should be the dunk contest D cuz Jos Alo pops out from the corner and steals the ball yeah all you have to execute is a baseline out of bounds like cut to the
Rim and just like dunk it for 10 and you get 10 points if you do it but hos Alvarado’s around you think you think Maris could dunk if if Maris could pull like some SW stuff I don’t think he can I think I see footage of him dunking
Really yeah okay like somebody threw I think um Ron Harper Jr threw him a lob in like uh you know where the where the shooting stars play I forget the facility but um in Scaro but yeah things I’m thre him a l but it’s not like Spud
Web where he was able in a game no no no it wasn’t like a open triy out well not me open triy I don’t know open practice type of setting okay yeah um that’d be cool to see it would be cool to see always love short guys dunking too yeah
Uhin second shout out today yeah um so yeah I guess I mean quickley could definitely do the Three-Point Contest with his three-point percentage right yeah aitm has put in our producer Alit has put in the chat Maris can dunk in capital letters all right like I find I
Just YouTube searched Mary old dunk and nothing comes up so this is like like it’s weird that I had that this has um not like been on my radar and nothing comes up on YouTube okay so I mean I believe you guys have you ever
Seen Fred dunk have I seen it um no but I believe it I believe it ex if I have seen Kyle dunk um so yeah we see we all see K KY used to go up there and actually you know do some things but oh has actual video yeah yeah yeah this is
The exact facility okay um good good we have we have on the record that Maris Noah can dunk um any other allar details um oh so there there we don’t know the specifics yet but the skills competition stuff is going to be in a team format
This year where one of the teams is three Pacers so uh we have a little can con with Benedict mat uh I think Miles Turner and Tyrese are the team did I see that right am I remembering I should have researched you tell me Miles Turner
Can’t go to like the Bahamas for a week cuz he’s going to do it the skills challenge yeah no he’s got to big he’s got to build a Lego for someone to dunk over um and then another one of the teams is uh is three number one picks oh
Okay uh it’s B Caro wemi and I don’t know uh oh and Anthony Edwards are going to team up as uh you could tell my excitement level here I don’t know I was just say like it is halberton Turner and Maan by the way and then the three
Number one pick we don’t we don’t know the what the format’s going to be or what the other teams are but they’re at least trying to mix that event up how can they make the skills challenge cooler like or or harder it with something else like no no no okay
Obviously you’re you’re right ideally they don’t have to just do this like dribble Park the NHL runs into this too where like we just had Allstar Weekend here and the skills like it’s it’s cool when you can really like sitting there and being like Oh that’s a really
Talented thing to do that’s hard but like when eight guys do it in a row is where it’s like okay this this has lost so the NH Allstar Weekend is a good example of this week because like they have things that I even me as someone who doesn’t me like hockey like I
Genuinely find fascinating like oh when they do the hardest that’s cool like I want to know who has the hardest Slap Shot or when they don’t they do the thing where they go one-onone against like a penalty shootout and they P some creativity and like that like I I don’t
Get a sense of a a player’s skill when I see their skill challenge you know what I mean like I don’t see oh man he did that thing he was so skilled like when I see a guy win the Three-Point Contest I’m certainly like yes that’s a skill
That he’s demonstrating but like let me do some let do something in that skills challenge that actually demonstrates like a breath of skill you know what I mean this is where like I think I think the only way to do it would be like you have to have random obstacles like you
Have to have Jose Alvarado is behind one of these things and bursts out at you or like yeah I don’t know like like a stationary Crossover with nobody around doesn’t doesn’t wow us right a ball throw a hoop like man this ain’t summer camp man the honestly the funnier thing
To do the better thing to do with the skills challenge make all of us do it okay well the med out there it would be a challenge for all is going he can do it he could be Toronto’s representative I’ve seen how challenged the skills were in a recent commercial yeah airball yeah
Airball um all right time now for between the lines brought to you by bet Rivers take a chance we’ll save some of the other NBA we got a three- hour show tomorrow it’s 1 4 p.m. so we’ll save some of that uh for tomorrow the Raptors
Are S and A Half Point favorites tonight which was pretty surprising so this is the biggest this is the heaviest favorite they have been in a road game since April of last year when they played the Hornets twice in a row and they were 15 and a half Point favorites
In both of those and covered in both of them that’s Fred’s 2020 against Bryce mcgow there you go um Bryce mcow who came up at the event last night um so little injury report Gary Trent Jr left last game with low back tightness he’s probable for tonight jont has been
Upgraded to questionable with the back spasms he’s been dealing with um the the G League guys except Maris Noel are all up Noel’s still dealing with the hamstring issue on the Hornet side the Melo ball remains out obviously Mark Williams remains out with a back injury
So two big losses there um Kyle Lowry is not with the team Gordon Hayward Cody Martin and Frankie smokes are all questionable as well so in addition to the hor Frank smokes is still there yeah wow yeah he’s got a right hip impingement wow I didn’t know he was
Still in the league for him man yeah he’s man James genuine surprised to me James Herbert had a great piece up at CBS sports day talking to Garett Temple about being on who he played for so often um Frank Nina would be a sneaky one he has played five games this year
Uh for the Hornets around injuries so that’s the injury report on the Hornets look wednes night before trade deadline it is entirely thate with these two te there’s a mystery scratch later tonight we just don’t know it yet uh Raptor’s seven and a half Point favorites right
Now before I ask for your take here yeah last game this is who the Hornets started oh I actually yeah go ahead please please go ahead Brandon Miller yep miles bridges yeah we don’t need to talk about yeah ish Smith yeah the only guy in the league who’s played for more
Teams than G Temple by the way yeah uh Nick Rich former Kentucky teammate of Emanuel quickley so so that part’s cool y you have any guessed who their fifth starter was so here’s the thing I actually did this exercise with our producers upstairs uh yesterday it’s leaky black yeah yeah
They they could not they could not get for the life of them leaky black and is Smith yeah they like who plays point guard for the for the Hornets and I’m like you’ll never guess yeah it wasn’t lamelo uh they tried they didn’t want to go to Leaky black so they tried Bryce
McGowan in that spot the other day if if Cody Martin plays he he absorbs that that spot spot uh but these are not good players the Raptors have obviously lost to the Hornets in an ugly one 119 116 and they beat them 114 99 this year how you
Feeling the line’s way too big for the Raptors at this current time so could the Raptors beat a team like this by eight sure but uh last game on the road trip I don’t know I I feel like I might actually bet the horn it’s it’s sad that
Was between the lines brought to you by bet Rivers take a chance did that one sound like it hurt you man no it did man but I mean even the last game against the they only lost by six points you know and the Lakers had LeBron and AD I
Don’t see LeBron and ad on our side yeah but that was probably like they were probably trying to get darham fired or D traded or something like that I you know what I want to see Scotty just show out tonight man I want to see like a 30 10
And 10 type of game cuz this will be the type of opportunity to get it for sure but uh F this team statement after the allstar announcement as well so it’d be cool anyway that does it for us today I’ve been your host will you’ve been listening to the rapor show on the
Sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup it’s time to get fired up once again we will have a three-hour show tomorrow starting at 1 pm Eastern so tune in then we will carry you through the trade deadline hopefully there’s a lot of action we’ll see you tomorrow
5 Comments
Chris is being pushed out because Darko has 0 interest in people not named Schroeder, people over the "old age" of 26, and people who have very little experience on winning NBA rosters. This team needs some veteran leadership and mentoring around. Oh well. Who cares. Let's see if things turn around in 5yrs…..
Norm was the best off the bench
Steve is an elite guest
you want to lose this year’s pick.
Did these two just say they wanted Deangelo Russell in Toronot? Literally no one in the loeague wants D. Russ but these two think it's a good idea. "He has a pretty game" Cmon man