Will Lou and Blake Murphy start with Raptors guard Garrett Temple, who chats about how Darko Rajaković approaches lineup decisions and more! Raptors Community Ambassador Jamaal Magloire previews this weekend’s Tournament of Stars charity game which he will suit up in. Andrew Schlecht of The Athletic tees up tonight’s matchup against the OKC Thunder.
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0:00 – Garrett Temple on Darko’s Rotations and More!
40:16 – Raptors Media Game Review
49:11 – Jamaal Magloire on the Tournament of Stars
1:17:42 – Andrew Schlecht on Raps/Thunder
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#NBA #Basketball #Raptors #Thunder
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 you listen to podcast please R to view the program I’m your host L can to be joined by co-host
Blake Murphy what’s going on Coach what’s going on Coach Murphy how you doing man I’m uh I’m good yesterday was a lot of fun media game down at uh at Scotia Bank Arena it was uh it was good you can talk your talk it’s okay no no
No no we’re going to get to that in segment to actually because but I I did want to say first and foremost a big thank you to Amit for stepping in hour or two uh holding it down as well that was the first time we’ve seen our boy
Fly solo you know I know you’re in the booth right now smiling but I appreciate you for for doing that so that me and Blake can go down to the media game and um yeah and then you know alond of course texted us later that night he was
Like hey guys how’ you guys do and I thought about it and I was like you know what the Raptor show officially in this game kind of went 0 for two because for me personally I didn’t get a bucket I was like 0 for four and Blake didn’t get
The win so yeah you held down the show and the show didn’t really hold it down I guess for the show ow and two as a coach in these events this year yeah has your team won a game yet my goodness yeah oh my goodness back to back to coaching baseball and hockey
I go much much more track much longer track record of success though yeah well I mean it was um it was a really close game and this is all I’ll say before we get to it more in depth in uh the second segment and at one point I did have the
Urge to turn to coach Pat Delaney who was um the Raptor’s assistant coach and he was coaching our team um and I did have the urge to say coach this is going to be the last close four quarter you’ll see at sco this year yeah uh but then I
Realized where I was and I stopped short of doing that uh and also shout to pet he’s just great Energy Great uh great job and honestly great patience CU When you get the media to come together and play basketball rather than covering and talking about basketball writing about
Basketball uh it looks like a joke because we couldn’t even get our layup line right we couldn’t even do simple passing drill so I was late for the I didn’t get there in time for much of the warmups because I I did the one extra I
Did one lay work and I was like no layup lines and I was like what okay yeah you’re not doing three man weave and stuff like that we were not three man weaving trust me also the other reason you don’t say that is because the Raptors do still have home games against
Brooklyn and Washington so there will be a close game it certainly won’t be tonight tonight is the largest spread in the history of Toronto Raptors basketball at bank arenac they’re 16-point dogs they’ve never been that big an underdog at home before yeah this franchise has had some dark days they
Have never been this heavy and Underdog in a game at home the only thing I would say to separate that is obviously this is a very unique circumstance in the current moment I wouldn’t say the overall Talent of the franchise it’s like no even near the it’s it’s Nader
Basically they’re also playing the second best team in the NBA by record and net rating yeah exactly also a team that I I have this in here somewhere I think they’re 20 and four yeah 20 and four against the bottom 10 teams in League the Thunder do not play down to
Competition this will be this will be an incredible win they said this would be an incredible win but we all know that it’s not going to be one tonight you know will want it to Shay getting presented with the Northern Star Award earlier today Sho around as Canada’s
Athlete of the Year Lou Dort was also there and spoke U nothing too noteworthy from those availabilities other than Shay getting the award and continuing to yeah be kind of the the face and the voice of the player side of the Canadian Senior Team uh he did decline to comment
On the hey would you what about if other guys come out who weren’t a part of the core 14 he did the uh the I will leave that decision to Rowan Barrett he’s done a great job I’m sure anyone who’s there will be deserving I do get the sense
That in terms of who’s the you know we always talk about who’s the vocal leader for the groups stuff like that I feel like Dylan Brooks really does that for the group like Dylan’s on record being like yeah we we did what we did last
Summer but we need to get even more we need to get even better all the time so get Andrew and that’s what he does he talks exactly you know what I mean and then he backs out that talk with 39 against the Team USA yeah or last night
At least does enough talk to this is like more of the hockey mentality like if you get in a fight and you take a better player on the other team off the ice for five minutes as a win for your team Dylan gets tossed with dear last
Night uh that’s said look hey Dylan’s a good player but if you could take dear away from the Bulls that’s a that’s a win for your team I mean Bears man D’s ready to go today we got a lot of Dylan Brooks content because we covered a lot of the playoffs the last
Couple years and uh Dylan has certainly been a prominent part of those playoff matchups um but yeah I mean yeah I you know I I I did watch the fight well not even a fight it was kind of like a like a a scuffle scrum whatever you want to
Call it um and I was watching I was like did did did Fred fight thear or was there any sort of interactions there cuz I don’t want to see former Raptors fight and there was none of that Fred was just like pulling us away from the scuffle
Fred was also uh I mean he only had nine points but he had 12 assists in that game he was quite good he’s been pretty solid that was a good win Houston’s like back up to 500 too by the way they kind of bounced back yeah which I think a lot
Of people were not expecting this especially when shenon got hurt they’re only two and a half games out of the play like like they’re probably not catching that up with they have 13 games to go but like the Warriors and the Lakers like Houston is kind of back on
Their tail yeah wow um they won seven in a row they do yeah they they they they play incredibly hard for a team that right now is just like genuinely short on talent but they’ve also done a good job of getting young guys to contribute yeah as well and um yeah Thompson looked
Really good again since they kind of slid him back in the starting lineup and moved Jabari Smith Jr over to pseudo Center to to kind of take the shenon spot so and Jac lale huge off the 171 12 and five last night cool yeah ja landale comes I was reading flagen mag okay
That’s the FL mag shout out the FL um and and yeah that’s when I learned from the latest issue that uh Jack landel works a lot on his family farm okay and his family has had a farm for like 170 years or something I don’t know 170
Years something like that yeah I was flipping through the magazines I was had issues last night just like rural Australia yeah basically nice um yeah shed up the flag though I got I just actually it just arrived not long ago I got a pair of their shorts ahead of the
Summer yeah the like kind of like boxing style it’s got the like the sheen on it so it’s more like if you remember when the Raptors wore the Husky uniforms that had like the CER Bund on the like like the kind of thick waist shorts so it
Look kind of like a c Bund um yeah so the the flagrant shorts are kind of like that great great magazine could you tell that we’re burning time until we get G temple on the line I mean he’s there we’re just framing him up so uh sometimes uh sometimes you have to spin
Your wheels something you tread water a little bit you know we are certainly we’re doing egg beaters yeah we can’t get too deep into a conversation if 30 seconds from now we’re going to be like okay hey it’s Garrett Temple now and hey it is Garrett Temple now thank goodness
Garrett welcome back to uh the Raptor show uh we were actually just talking about it we saw the line for tonight’s game and you know whatever that’s a separate conversation but we also saw that Garrett Temple or not gett Temple we saw that Gary Trent Jr is a little
Questionable you got a little back stiffness are are you ready to play tonight is the question man I’m ready I’ve been ready the entire season um okay yeah I’m very ready to play always ready to play uh this is what they you know pay to pay
Get paid to play basketball so I’m I’m definitely ready man do you get a sense from Darko and the staff if it’s going to be a night where you’re going to get used like like tonight you guys might only have nine or 10 players um you know
It was the same thing kind of against Cleveland the other or against um Sacramento the other night but you didn’t get used in that one what are those conversations like they give you a heads up hey Garrick be ready you’re probably going to go in tonight or you finding out on the
Fly yeah um the game that I did play that I was actually in the rotation for a little bit it was in the first half in the and laa against the Clippers my coach who was James uh coko at the time he told me prior to the game that
There’s a chance I might play and um you know and before the games coaches will let you know before definitely that if there’s a chance that you may get in you know Darko was one of the guys that the first coach I’ve ever had that told me
That told guys you know during shoot around this is the 10 guys we’re going to play tonight these are the nine n guys or the eight guys we G to play tonight in the first half that may change in the second half or it may change because of foul trouble but that
Was the first coach that was very definitive on what the rotation would be like to start and I really appreciate that wait why don’t other coaches do that that’s a great question I don’t know a lot of coaches have a mindset of okay you know everybody needs to be
Ready regardless and uh but I think it really puts people in the right FR mindset that you know I know when I’m coming in I know when I’m going out I know I’m going to play tonight or I know I’m not in rotation if we’re down by 20
In you know in the first half he may change it up right so I really I really appreciate him for for how he does that so in a game like the the one against Sacramento where you guys got down I think you were down 38 at one point um
So you know you haven’t been told hey you’re going to be in the rotation for that game what is that process like for you like how are you staying ready once it hits a spot where hey the rotation plans might change I might get called in
Here no question so again when he tells us that he’s reiterated that it’s only for the first half uh when it gets to a you know blowout situation I’m always getting my body ready um you know regard whether he wants to put me in or whether
He wants to just go with the young guys and just let them hoop um mentally I’m like okay if we’re up by 30 down by 30 there’s a chance I may play and I may get some cold some some hot packs and get these uh get my my muscles ready
Luckily at home we have seats that heat up um on our Raptor’s bench so we don’t have to I don’t have to use the high packs as much but uh it is a little cooler a little colder in our gym so um maybe for my hands I might get the high
Packs but Mally you know it’s Common Sense we’re down 30 the starters are going to come out um you know with with a decimated team like we have I probably will play if it’s a blowout um you know one way or the other uh in most situ so
Uh I just have a mindset of be ready so what do you what do you tell the the guys um in a difficult game like that like against the Kings right like obviously it was kind of one-sided the whole time and you know but we always
See you up and talking to people what do you what do you say to the younger guys in those moments yeah and I would disagree with you it was one-sided like at the end of the second quarter like yeah you guys bit yeah we just just let go of the
Rope and with a team that’s that you know potent offensively when you let go of the rope with the the the um lack of margin of error that we have because of who we you know who we have on our team right now is very difficult so um
Throughout the game just telling the guys continue to play continue to do our thing you know stick to the game plan and once you know the game got to got out of hand to 20 20 30 you talk about why it got out of hand you know um we
Can’t turn the ball over and not run back that looks bad on everybody um and and a lot of the guys that are playing now are playing for contracts uh playing to stay in the NBA um whether it be playing for a contract next season or
Playing to stay in the NBA next season everything shows up people watch everything so there’s never a situation where we should not ever turn them allall over or one of our teammates turns it over and we don’t Sprint back on defense first and foremost that makes
Us look bad it makes the team look bad it makes the product look bad and especially the fans that we have this is something that we definitely should focus on and it’s all pure effort it has nothing to do with skill nothing to do with you know the talent level that we
Have it’s all about giving effort and that’s something that we can’t have so G in terms of those guys who are playing for their next contracts or their you know their spot in the NBA you I I know you’re a leader who’s available to everyone on that team but when you have
Guys who are coming in off of 10 days like jamas a couple of guys before that you turned a handful of 10 days into a very long NBA career at one point how much are you trying to talk to those guys and help those guys through that
Cuz I imagine it’s a tough balance for a guy like jamas for example of you got to come in and you have to fit the role the team’s asking you to play but you also want to show out a little bit and show what you can do because you might only
Get into two or three games uh what’s that like H have you been a year for those guys definitely I mean I think I think I’m I’m in a unique position to be able to tell them this is exactly what I’ve been through I’ve been exactly
In your position what’s up to that’s my son um I’ve been in your position brother like there are not many people that can look at you in the eye and say I know exactly what you’re going through so for me to be able to have the opportunity to talk to guys like jamas
And DJ when he came on before he got the two-way contract and tell him it’s not about you shooting the ball you know jamas was upset he’s not making as many shots I’m like bro it’s not about that you’re affecting the game in a way where everybody can see it with your defensive
Tenacity your ability on that end of the Court the shots are going to fall um and just having that mindset of not doing too much don’t don’t be somebody that you’re not you’re not expected to be here and average 20 points a game you’re expected to be here cause Havoc
Defensively and run back when a turnover happens um be in the right position defensively uh you know do whatever coach asks of you and they’re they’re not going to ask anything that you cannot do so I’ve definitely been in his ear uh a guy like Javon I’ve been you
Know I’ve been in a situation where I’m guaranteed for the rest of the season but who knows what happens next um obviously like jonte so I’m definitely in those guys ears to remind them that it’s not about having 15 points it’s not about having you know um nine assists
It’s about doing the things that you’re supposed to do at a high level and that will show teams that you are very coaching and you can be a rotation player in this league can guys hear that the element of that of trusting that the shots are going to drop like obviously
We know you know if you get 20 even if you get 2 threes up over 21 days like that’s a tiny sample right like that’s not enough for you to show hey this is what I can do as a three-point shooter obviously we have the g-league stats we
Know jama’s you know shooting 40% down there but you had some of that when you were on your 10 days as well like the the three-point shots didn’t drop or whatever how hard is it for those guys to to hear that and do you think they are hearing it
Right it’s very hard you know um as you stated when I was coming in I shot 39% the G League I think and then got here got to the I think I should like 15% when I got when I got my call-ups and um it’s tough because you ex it’s 10 days
You have 10 days to make you know to make an impact and to make an impression and um it’s it’s difficult to hear but that’s why you continue to continue to tell them you know if if you weren’t doing your job they would not continue to play you they would not continue to
Put you on the Malik monks the dear foxes um they would find you know they don’t need much of a reason not to play you you’re on a 10day so at the end of at the end of the day you must be doing something right and just you know I was
So happy to he that three at the top of the key um last game in the second half J I’m talking about just getting a feel getting a comfortability uh to be able to be yourself on the offensive end that’s probably the most difficult part
Of being on the 10day not to mention you don’t know many plays and then if you have to play point guard that’s a whole another thing being able to get people in their spots so um I’m happy with how he’s been able to play on the defensive
End and I think offensively it’s going to be it’s going to be easier and easier for him as it as the game’s go on Hey Garrett um earlier this week um the Raptors held their uh annual open coaches practice right you got to get coaches in and some media got to go as
Well so I I got to watch you guys actually work and what you guys do behind closed doors and and one thing I mean you guys worked on a ton of things as always but uh one thing you guys worked on a lot that I thought was interesting was you
Guys worked a lot on fundamentals things like boxing out closing out pressuring the ball uh you know you go down the line um how unique of a situation is that is that because like you know the team is Young like you’ve been in a lot of different places like how often are
Coaches devoting uh practice time towards these type of things um I I think it’s a lot of it has to do with the the Youth of our team um you know every team is different um and a lot of times you know darkle this is his first year as a head coach
So he has to get a sense of the players not to mention we’ve had a different team every single you know every quarter of the season has basically been a different team so you have to get a feel for your team and and a feel for your players and understand where they’re at
Um you know talent-wise skill level IQ wise um so with a young team you know a lot of times the the fundamentals you know you can’t take them for granted nowadays because the league is so young um you know boxing out the right way not boxing out with your the old school back
To the basket Bo out box out that’s null and void now people are too athletic too quick jump too high it’s a whole different way that you have to box out nowadays and um you know pressuring the ball understanding when to pick up the ball where to pick up the ball all of
These things are something that has to be taught at a professional level um it’s very different in college it’s very different in high school uh so I think it’s just and every team is different so I think just having a coach that’s very um you know detail oriented is great uh
Especially for a young team and uh it’s you know we have guys that that are sponges and soak it all in and that allow that will allow Darko to put the product on the floor that he wants to to have on the floor yeah I that that makes
It makes a lot of sense really because you got to standardize a lot of it right when you go from Team to team even understanding you know um different terminology on defense things like that for for newo guys to join different programs I am I am curious in terms of
Obviously you’ve been in darkos practices all season with the team do you get a sense if he spends more time working on offense versus like working on defense I’m sure he you guys spend lots of time on both but it kind of leans one way or the other what would you say
Um n um I would I would I would venture to I would say probably more defense um if we have shorter practices it probably would be like a 15 minute segment on defense and maybe a 10-minute segment offensively um because at the end of the day defense is going to win defense is
What you know our team especially when when we’re healthy from the beginning of the Season till now you know transition offense is the best way to score in the league I don’t care what team you’re on yeah you know you look at all the analytics and just the eye test
People are going to score more in transition perod Point Blank so how do you get in transition you defend rebound the ball and you push it or you defend get Steals and push it uh create turnovers and push it and so you know from his standpoint defense is the key
To allowing us to get in our best offensive sets which is transition um and on the flip side we need to keep them out of transition offense so we can you know that’s what we harped on about the way the reason the Kings went on that run is
We never got back on defense with the turnovers and the bad shots we take so you you you get back so you can set a defense so you can then in turn defend rebound and get in transition to to try to score yourself it’s it’s pretty
Simple when you think of it that way but it’s a it’s a mindset that you have to obviously get guys to understand to try to go go go that way and and have that mindset when we’re on the court so I wasn’t at this open practice but one of
The things that will filled me in on from that was it seemed like Scotty was pretty involved even though obviously physically he can’t be super involved right now he’s still got the sleeve on his hand have you noticed since Scotty’s been on the sideline a little bit any
Sort of changes or development in terms of what he’s contributing from a a leadership and teammate perspective since he can’t on the floor that’s a that’s a great question man um I have noticed a lot you know he’s I got to get on him he needs to get out there right
When a tip off happens he comes a little later but um but no he’s talked we’ve been talking a lot you know we sit right next to each other now we did wi after the G you know during the games when he was playing as well but he’s definitely
Being a little more vocal um for example you know we talk on the bench about you know we got to get on the guys because we let go of the Rope uh Le going in halftime and it’s a situation like okay yeah you know Scotty we get on him then
You talk about what you saw you know talk to him about what they they should have done um and I definitely have seen him become more vocal have a mindset of more of a leadership mindset vocal leadership uh because he can’t go out and show them how to push the pace how
To be in a shift defensively how to use your length defensively um you know when when you’re playing it’s easy to say I don’t have to tell them I’m just going to show them but when you’re not playing then you have to use your voice more and Scotty
Has always been a person that showed he’s never been a a talker and not a shower he’s always been a shower so this is going to help him I think it’s going to help his growth leadership Wise by being able to be vocal and and uh and
Talk to guys about what he sees and not that he’s ever Shi away from that but I think this will even enhance it even more do you feel like like there’s been a change in him too especially because of all the traits that have happened pretty much everybody who has been on
The team longer than him is gone right has he taken more ownership of the team and and sense that there needs to be somebody who takes more ownership of the team since those traits were made yeah yeah I think that goes with it I think
That goes with I was saying um for sure he uh you know he set up a dinner for us when we were in Phoenix um you know he he’s he’s taking on that that okay the Toronto Raptors you know you know what what that means to be the leader
What that means to be the you know it’s crazy this I’m about to say this the Elder Statesman in terms of years here obviously Chris bu is the has been here the longest but um wow besides that like it is Scotty and that’s that’s amazing
To say so I think Gary hasn’t beat by a few definitely Okay g Trent okay they were here together G Trent got here before the draft okay got you so n he he’s definitely taking onus of that and um I’m I’m excited to see his growth in
That you know for the rest of the season and then obviously beyond all right um I I wanted to Pivot too because I was thinking back on the interview you did last week and you mentioned that you roomed with kyar in high school and you guys have pretty much been friends ever
Since then um first off I mean like why were you guys rooming together in high school like what what brought you guys together and and what was he like at that time it was a um an Adidas All-American Game uh in Tennessee so our senior year in in Knoxville Tennessee because we we
Were playing at University of Tennessee and they had a woman’s game a girls game and a boy’s game and I had I had ever known about it you know I knew about the McDonald’s game I knew about Jordan brand but I never knew about this and um
Maybe it was the first year they did it it was like a like a 2K I think it was sponsored by 2K maybe um and I was invited Kyle obviously um Dwight Howard Josh Smith a bunch of big names um played in it and uh you know we all knew each
Other from summer basketball and I never knew Kyle like that though we had never really you know run across each other so I’m roing with this short stubby guy uh from Philly and we got we got we got to know each other really well uh we got tight got really cool and um
My there’s always a story about my I was supposed to leave at like 4: or 5 a.m. and um I didn’t I wasn’t in the in the room you know my parents came to the room my dad came to the room knocked on the door I wasn’t in the room it was at
The night after the game or something and uh Kyle always talks about my dad coming to the door my dad was you know 68 my dad 68 about 280 um and was like where’s Garett and he’s like sir I don’t know I don’t know it’s 4 4 4:15 in the morning and uh
Still to this day he talks about how scary he how scared he is of my father because of because of that encounter um yeah so yeah we’ve been close ever since I think he had just turned 18 because it was in March and I was about to turn 18
A couple months later but uh you know we played together obviously in Houston my first couple of 10 days we were in training camp together my rookie year um and uh we’ve been been tight ever since tight ever since uh throwing caution in the win where was Garrett at 4
Am I was at a friends I was in a friends room got you got you all right got you uh by the way uh okay we’ll leave that as it is um I found the rosters for this event by the way as you were answering
There um so do you remember so this is like think of is 2004 Adidas so do you there was two there were two superstars there was like a team this guy and a team that guy do you remember who the teams were who I know it was Dwight I would
Imagine Dwight no sorry that they were like uh the teams were named after um after NBA guys at the time players yeah okay wow dang that really um for some reason T-Mac is popping yeah you were on team T-Mac you Kyle Al Horford y te Noah is a loaded roster a
Really good roster fire roster Jos Smith yeah and then I hope you lose I I don’t have the results I only have the press release of like like some local newspaper of like here’s what’s going on yeah the other team was like Dwight Howard um Sebastian telare was on that
One that was team kg was the other side of it kg okay okay doe it was it was a it was a stack stack stack game for sure for sure for sure the girls game had a bunch of McDonald’s McDonald’s all Americans as well yeah yeah going back to Kyle actually so I
You obviously played with Kyle as you mentioned in Houston um but you guys most notably played against each other a lot 2015 2018 two playoff series um actually I guess 2020 as well the Brooklyn series Kyle was for there for that one in the bubble right yeah the
Run the run a back uh what was the scouting report on Kyle Larry at that time cuz I’m sure that was a big item was you know k how you guys supposed to cover Kyle what was the coverage against Kyle he’s he’s gonna run into you and
Flop and just throw his body not try to score and just throw throw the ball up uh to get foul first and foremost um uh don’t go under the screen because he wants to shoot threes if you go under he likes to shoot off the dribble um and
Hands quick hands defensively you know and then he’s the biggest charge taker in NBA watch out he’s G no matter where he is he’s gonna he’s like the guy off Mr de he’s going to find himself in front of the person driving the ball he could very sneaky he could have fell
Down with a layup which he does shooting the layup on the other end we get it out take it somebody can be driving and he’s gonna be there to take a charge like what how how do you get there even so he has more charges this year Garrett than
Four entire teams no question yeah no question he’s amazing with it he already leaves us he already leads the Sixers in uh in charges too even though he’s only been there for like less than a month uh and that’s incredible that’s crazy well now I need to know that the scouting
Report on kyar on the golf course too because I’m sure you guys did a lot of golfing in your time we we did we did do a lot of golfing um he hit to well now he said he’s changed but he hits a he hits a little power
Fade uh goes about 275 280 now he’s saying that he’s hting 300 with the new Tailor Made Driver so I gotta I gotta check him out this summer yeah we’ll see we’ll see but uh um pretty decent as an as an approach you know he feels I think
He thinks his short game is his best attribute so I think he’s about a seven handicap right now maybe a eight that’s pretty good so we’ll see if we look at like the list of NBA players who at least like post a lot about golfing or
Talk a lot about golfing it seems to be like like guys who really shoot the three well are good at golf like Ray Allen’s a big golfer Steph’s a big golfer J.R Smith’s a big golfer do you like obviously there is something to the hand ey coordination having good touch
Is that all it is is there something else that makes three-point Shooters good golfers man that’s you the I’ve been mentioning that the longest it’s something about the touch I don’t know what it is Doug mcder great golfer um Matt Thomas mat th great golfer um Mike
Piny that’s a name that yall may not know that’s a deep cut right there all right Mike penberthy from the Lakers old school Lakers okay number 12 the champ one of the championship teams with Kobe and sha he’s a plus two plus three um no this is just Alex cruso before he went
Bald that’s all this photo is um Alo Great Golf yeah you know maybe not the best three-point shooter but a great golfer Dylan Windler great golfer so I think it has something to do with touch feel um I don’t know I think it I think it probably does have something to do with
That uh but who knows Dale Curry obviously great goer right Seth is pretty good as well too I imagine this is like primarily what you guys did in the bubble man me and Kyle played about we probably played at least six rounds together five or six rounds together I
Played 18 total rounds wow in the bubble and I was there for like a month a month a little over a month you guys did it get awkward when you guys were playing each other in the playoffs and you guys we didn’t we I don’t know if we
Played played golf while we played okay while we were in the playoffs got you we y’all swept us so it was only four games um that team was really good I don’t know if we played before but I I know for sure we played right before because we were talking about playing
Each other yeah um yeah yeah yeah y’all had a great y’ had a great Squad man yeah y had a great Squad that year and we were decimated by people not coming to the bubble so sure yeah um it was it was all right though yeah there was the
One game in that one where the Raptors the bench scored 100 points it the first time it ever that was game four that was game four yeah I couldn’t believe it but we were bringing guys like Serge and Norm Off the Bench like come on man yeah y had a
Squad a squad yeah what could have been game two game two we should have won I think I had something going into the fourth and I got like two shots after that wow I turned it over at the end on like a handoff that’s hey it’s tough but you
Know at the same time you know Raptors uh yeah I think back to that Squad a lot quite frankly but you know um that’s more of a painful memory cuz I felt like we could have really done something you know we we we took it to game seven Kyle
Was amazing in that that whole run Kyle was amazing man so yeah it’s tough it really did feel like that could have and and like on top of the element of like if Kawai stayed the Raptors are probably winning the Raptors probably but then even without him even without him
Staying to take the Celtics to seven games in the bubble in the second round and stuff it’s uh it’s tough uh Garrett I got one more ex teammate one for you before we let go here um you played on Pelicans the last couple years these last couple weeks probably I I know
Brenon Ingram had the knee injury last night hopefully that’s just a shorter term thing I don’t know how much you get to pay attention to to other teams like this um on the day-to-day but what have you been able to pick up from the Pelicans kind of finally finding that
Stride it looked like the Ingram Zion core has been looking for the last little while yeah can y’all hear me yeah you’re back oh we might have lost them I’m frozen okay I’m I’m frozen over here fellas y’all got me okay bi um I think they’re just understanding
What each of them do well and they understand how to lack of a better term allow like get out of each other’s way and allow them to do that and you know and I mean when I say all of them bi Zion CJ um they kind of take turns in
Terms of being the playmaker and defensively you know herb Jones is Elite um bi has upped his defensive uh his quality of defensive play I I I think and that they’re they’re learning to mesh and at the end of the day they’re so talented offensively that it’s very difficult to to outscore
Them uh so I mean I just I actually watched the game last night when they were when bi got hurt and uh it was I was a little you know sad for that obviously but just them understanding and being having enough time to play in you know all three of them play together
To find their stride has been great to watch I think it’s a matter of just them understanding each other games learning where they want the ball where the other player needs to be when they make plays and um they mesh really well together like the buil the team was built around
Zion at the end of the day uh Zion be so having a guy like CJ McCullum that can spot up shoot and create a little bit when need to obviously Zion is a monster in the paint b is shooting a little more threes we shot a lot against us that was
Crazy and I told him why W I needed you to do this all the time the last two years like you have to shoot more threes that’s what create that’s what allowed Jason Tatum to go from here to here right you know four three-point attempts to eight or nine and be has that
Capability of being able to shoot at a high clip he needs to shoot more of them um so I just think them knowing each other is really the the biggest reason why they’ve been able to um do what they’ve been able to do and you know I
Credit Willie for um you know he’s had a rough time with injuries and not having guys all together I credit him for keeping that together and then allowing them to mesh when they got together gotcha all right Garrett appreciate your time um hopefully hopefully we see you
In the game you know in a couple hours because it’s uh OKC is a tough they’re tough man man yeah very tough yeah sh Shay gild is my he’s my MVP vote for sure oo nice that that was going to be segment four today but you already set
It up for us that’s great this is this is a great addition to the show he’s previewing later segments for us this this perfect gotcha all right thank you Garett all right thank you all there you go Shay gild just for yeah MVP yeah him Michael gra also Michael
Granch has a great piece up at sports at.ca today kind of making the case for Shay as MVP we’ll you want to see players vote on these things too I mean I want to see players have a share of the vote if they take it seriously and I
I don’t like obviously like the all giving players a share of the All-Star vote was supposed to be part of that but then like every year you see like a bunch of two-way guys or guys who don’t play get a whole bunch of votes like they don’t take it serious I guess what
They would have to do is the league would have to distribute a ballot where you can only vote for certain players you can’t just do like you can’t be giving like like bow Bowl MVP votes like people will do at allar time well I
Think one way to do that is just to make it fully transparent I want to see every player’s ballot okay you know how good of the content it will be yeah I mean first off I’m sure it’ll damage friendships yeah but that’s not my
Concern yeah I want to see I want to see everyone’s ballot I want to see the players get a say because again a lot of the conerns concerns I have is like you know things like all NBA like U contractual details are tied to that so
Yeah I mean that’s a separate thing that I think we need to probably find a way to do away with outside of this voting but yeah something similar to the allstar model where you know it wouldn’t be 50 25 25 but fans get 50% of the vote media get 25% players get 25
Maybe there’s a way to do so there’s you know there’s a player voice in there or I mean maybe each team has one representative to fill out a ballot yeah you could also like NHL style where like there’s a player Union voted on MVP and a regular MVP or NBA NBA coaches style
Where there’s the coach of the year and the coaches Union votes I’d rather just do one so there’s one MVP but maybe there’s a way to you know have it where hey I don’t know 25% is players I don’t know if you want to do a fan because
Then the fan one’s just a popularity contest not an MVP one well that’s the thing I don’t necessarily need the fan one but I would love to see what the players opinions are on these things maybe you know cuz you know how Tim bonb does the straw pull you’re part of it
Right where they they pull all the uh I was going to say relevant media members that’s a little rude uh participating voting yeah you know they yeah not relevant media members because I don’t have actual I don’t have an actual vote and I get to vote in Tim B one every
Single time you’re so relevant that even without a vote they’re still pulling you but like you know he he he samples a lot of the writers who would also have ballots and great who the MVP or whatever award win is going to be year somebody should also go pull the players
As many players as possible so this is like obviously logistically what we would need to do is like as the nbpa we need to have like one person in each City kind of trying to collect that but we’ve run into this a little bit before like we’ve tried to
Do this at the athletic before not about MVP but when I was there you know there was like hey someone Sam amch Maybe is putting together this piece could Blake or Eric could you go ask as many Raptors as you can upis like obviously you know how try get
All or all 18 Raptors is tough you would have to have like it would have to be like five players from each team yeah or or it would have to be like a league thing where the league sends it down to the team’s media relations reps or
Whatever and they have to go and like hey you have to answer this because we need an answer if you go through the pr route I don’t think there’ll be transparency but we’re going to take the break uh and talk about the day after the media again talk about how lovely
The pr staff was to us yesterday uh but anyway we’re gonna we’re gonna take this break one not before break Mike pen penury the shooting coach on the Nuggets now interesting so good PLL by G no idea who he looks like or what what he is he
Looks like Alex cruso before sh looking up at yeah looking up at the break all right we’re taking that break I’ve been your host will you’ll be listening to the Raptor show on the sportset radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup welcome back to the Raptor show on
The sportset radio network I’m your host you know it’s a good day and probably a Friday when we come back from break mid laugh oh yeah yeah yeah um so damn shamee what happened to Kentucky in the tournament anyway yeah Coach Cal should I should I we’re going to talk about
Yesterday’s media game and I’ve been going back and forth on if I want to do like good coach thing or if I want to go Coach Cal and just completely throw all my players under the bus and push all the blame to them for us coming up four
Points short yeah this is the Raptor show but this is the Raptor’s media show right now okay all right for the next 10 minutes and allow us this one moment of indul self-indulgence to just talk about the fact that we had quite competitive very spirited competitive match amongst
Media members yesterday which is why obviously me and Blake dipped the show a little early um yeah Blake go ahead your team under the bus man so first of all uh big thank you to Raptor media relations staff as well as a couple of the stats crew who helped with the uh
Scorekeeping and the clocks as well as being our our referees thanks to Jama malaa and patane for coaching the two respective teams I couldn’t play because of the recent surgery um but I got to be an assistant coach instead and yeah my side my side came up short I believe you
Guys canot play with him cannot win with him cannot coach with him can’t do it okay uh believe we lost by four so as per our agreement I do owe a three stars and a Gerald Henderson award here yeah um so from a three stars perspective Gavin Barry who’s producer on the TV
Side he won the MVP that was decided by the coaches patania and drama malaa I I think they put a lot of thought into that one AKA just 10 seconds so he’ll get in there as one of the three stars I’ll put Savannah as second star she was
The best player on our team the main source of our offense um had we won the game I think she was headed for the MVP but we couldn’t Jerry West it Savannah gave me Buckets I’ll just say that much okay there is a very big difference she’s got that one between people who
Played and who didn’t play oh man she has one very nice move like oh you think she’s driving to PO like d like a drive to post to get you in position but then she’s got that like one evasive step um that protects the ball and yeah I think
She got a couple and ones off of that same move I was good believe you got three buckets on me savah Savannah gets second star Dwayne Watson gets third star okay we we could go a couple different ways with that but there was a chunk of that game where Dwayne was the
Whole offense for you guys Dwayne was a lot of the offense for us I mean he was I want winners he was a winner man honestly Dwayne I mean even at his big age was hitting the was hitting the deck for and ones you know knocking down key
Free throws doing great defensively yeah I think his plus minus if he might been a plus 20 I think it was a minus 20 I probably a Min -5 okay that makes sense if you one by I was something for him but I I I had nothing to to continue the
The domination of Dwayne Watson so yeah I got my biggest I got my biggest uh coaching lesson from that where like you were on the floor and you were guarding Eric green and we were coming out of a timeout and Jama gave me the clipboard I
Was like drop a play coming out of the timeout and my intention was to make you move laterally put you in space it was a screen the screener action where Lebon was going to like Karine was going to come up and set the screen and then
Lebon was going to backpck you um and I’m like there’s no way Will’s going to navigate this and then we come out of the timeout and youd subbed out for Dwayne I’m like trying on the fly to like change the I like I don’t I don’t
Want to put Dwayne like I’m not trying to isolate Dwayne defensively he’s too solid um so that one didn’t didn’t quite work out it’s also just it’s hard to design plays um when like not everyone it just there not an NBA Talent level also like there’s not even basic gym class Talent
Level players be hon the biggest thing about like how you would draw a play when you watch a ton of NBA ball and then you get into a gym scenario like that is like how you space around an action is funny because like in the NBA obviously if it’s a three-person action
At the top of the floor you’re probably going to space to the corner maybe you empty out one side and have have everyone the three spacers on the on the weak side in this case like we did that and nominally that’s spacing but if the defense doesn’t respect it at all and
The people you’re spacing to the corners have no chance of making those three-point shots uh it kind of changes up your spacing um so yeah I was actively telling me because your team was basically Samson and Savannah and ail and ail of course no no disrespect
To the number one pick um DeAndre bani of this draft um but when we was Samson in Savannah we I was yelling on my team like every the three other players just come and help we don’t care about these other three media members double team them all
Man we want to go triangle on two eventually yeah and we kicked around a little bit like should we Zone up and dare them to shoot and I was like No just like help off of help off of them really really aggressively um yeah and disrespect them honestly yeah exactly
Like LeBron did a good job of that against Orin got in orin’s head a little bit um it was good radon no less man yeah he’s playing fast and he’s on that Kyrie he was man um yeah I guess Gerald Henderson award I don’t know just to
Balance it out and spread some love around I’ll give it to Joe wolon he was uh he’s a very good hustle guy there was a key play late where we didn’t come up with the bucket in I think we were down two possessions and then he got the
Chase down block he got the transition block to get US possession back really really quickly lber huge play that gave us an opportunity in the game uh we obviously didn’t didn’t come through um but it cool what what were your like the Highlight for you obviously playing on
Scotia Bank floor um what were the highlights for you uh the Highlight for me playing basketball is always after the basketball game is over and I just go shoot around thanks to you when I’m just feeding you passes for 15 minutes gu was just rebounding for me for 15
Minutes and feeding me very crisp uh you know chess passes but no I think the the best part was actually getting to see um just how the coaching kind of worked and like maybe even appreciating to some extent like how difficult it was to coach this particular say Pat was like
All right let’s get into a layup line and then we were like how does that work not me in particular but I mean ultimately it was difficult to even set up like a very very basic like pass the ball to the person diagonal to you and
Then reset and then the line like and then chase the pass like something very simple like that we trust me the media we were not executing on basic things one of the first times he called a play he was like well you’re going to be the
Floor and you’re going to set a you’re you’re going to send a little pin down for somebody on the opposite side to come in and then as soon as we start running the play the person passed me the mdle of the floor I’m like what am I
Supposed to do with this that is not the play but I have to give it up to Pat because he actually dropped some really good ones he did drop a one 14 flat which you did pick up on where our best ball handler had the ball and we had
Everyone else line up on the Baseline and his play was you come up and then you cut opposite so that we had all four person lift up and if the Hope was that it actually would clear out the paint so the person with the ball can just
Ultimately Drive in which I think we actually score off of that and then at one point we did run a lot of empty side pick and roll towards in the fourth quarter and it was for our two best players which was was this for Randy and
Gavin yeah we deserved to be played off doing this um and and yeah I I i’ called that play the hour back pick and roll because we haven’t seen a white white pick and roll since this 1960s yeah w wow oh the Celtic second unit now it’s
Just that’s the all white lineup right Derek white and four white players maybe that’s the moua pick and roll then yeah um but it was working though it was working they tried a little bit of stuff we did that screen the screener stuff to at a at a timeouts um you know bringing
The ball up we were trying to have some double drags but we were at like a big size disadvantage that was the main reason yeah so like Sav can screen obviously but then like you know we’re picking one of kashar or wolf on to set the second screen and are you going to
Get the separation on that stuff um the big play was like down four with a sideline out of bounds in a couple seconds left we tried the OG play the game seven don’t shoot trying to miss um terrible pass man that pass did not make
It far enough turns out kyar is not an easy person to the coaching staff will take the blame for that one we maybe shouldn’t we should have done a variation of that to have Samson backpedal up above the break maybe to make that pass that’s a very difficult
Pass I did hit you with one when we were shooting around after the kind of over overhead see see if you can do it um but yeah it was a lot of fun thanks again to Raptors media relation obviously to everyone who who played and to Jama and
Pat for helping us out on the coaching it was a really fun day it was it was an incredible time and uh hopefully we Mak it an annual tradition no injuries most importantly W that with a bit of a black eye about it from headbutting ail well
Our team saw it the other way I think aille might have headbutted him but anyway we’re going to take that break I’ve been your host Wu You’ been listening to the Raptor show on the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunkies by su when we come back a former
Raptor welcome back to the Raptor show on the sports radio network I’m your host Luke Contin me join my co-host Blake Murphy uh programming note for next week the Raptor show will be changing time slots we will be going from well first off Monday it’ll still
Be the same 2: to 400 p.m. as people have become accustomed to all season but from after Monday Tuesday onward until the end of the season which let’s be honest will be at the end of the regular season um we will be on at 11:00 a.m.
And we are also dialing back from two hours to one hour uh everything else will be the same you can still listen on radio you can still watch the full episodes afterwards on YouTube you could still watch it on TV as well you can always catch the podcast which is
Probably the best way to catch it um but yeah Blake what do you think man we’re going from two to one yeah um I mean it’s a big change for me as well because uh Jay’s Talk Plus is kind of back next week it’ll be a couple podcast
Only episodes this show won’t be on on opening day we’ll be doing a j Talk Plus in in that time slot instead on opening day there’s a day coming up where I’m going to do both we’ll do Raptor show right into Jay’s Talk Plus because the
Jays play at 1 o00 um so yeah I’m fully like as of Monday like I’m in I’m in both roles at the same time so um yeah I don’t know it’s it’s it makes sense baseball’s back where we’re heading into uh obviously if you listen
To KI and Bourne after us you know it’s a it’s a pretty high leverage time coming up for the Leafs as well and yeah I mean we’ll probably we’ve continued to shift more into like an NBA wide lens at time I think that’ll had no choice I
Think that’ll continue even if we go down to one hour okay yeah well in any case I think for long time listeners of the program the season one and two of the Raptor show that’s what we did for the mo the whole time was you know one
Hour shows and it’s a different flow to it but at the same time I’m uh also looking forward to as well again it’s just really it’s because of the circumstances of the Raptor season yeah like like if we were in a playoff chase this would never happen yeah if they
Were heading into a Playoffs series we probably like I probably wouldn’t be moving over to Jay stuff yet and we’d probably be doing two hours but uh this is what it is and yeah it’s high urgency season for the for the Blue Jays coming up and on the leaf side playoff bound on
The Raptor side it’s uh right you know it’s it can go down to one hour it I I’m will be thin on jamas Ramsey takes by you know April 14th right yeah well listen somebody who was here for a lot of the good times of the Raptors and
Honestly a DieHard Raptor fan a torontonian through and through uh the pride of Scar brro Jamal mlora is joining us on the program what’s going on Jamal good afternoon man how are you guys doing we are doing we are doing really really well we’re doing really
Well um actually I wanted to start here and ask you we we still see you at the raapers games not as much as before but what what’s your role and your involvement with the rappers these days uh my role is continuing to support them continuing to encourage WIS development
Uh but my title is actually being the Ambassador and um showing my face and representing our team you’ve also got uh this weekend uh the fifth annual West Park Foundation Tournament of Stars celebrity basketball event in support of West Park healthc Care Center uh that’s today and tomorrow people can go to West
Park Tournament of stars.com you guys are doing over at West Park uh very excited about this weekend I’m going to see a lot of my old teammates guys that have played against guys that have also played with uh Keith Bogan Baron Davis the name a few uh
Actually one of my friends sent me a clip of me and Baron Davis playing in the allstar game in 2004 that’s right so it really brings back memory so to have an opportunity to play with him tomorrow uh is something that I’m looking forward to but talking about the fifth annual tournament
Um it’s raising money for West Park Hospital raising money for West Park Foundation um they’ve dealt with a lot of different situations I met a young man yesterday named Kyle that um had his leg amputated uh so it’s a rehab center that really um patents thems um for
Taking care of patients going above and beyond the Call of Duty and um give giving them exactly what they need so uh we’re collaborative coming together to raise money they’re opening their facility in the next two week uh the new West Park uh hospital and uh that’s why
We’re here you know just to try and give back and make sure that um these people are not uh their voices are being heard and they’re being helped and So that obviously for a very good cause and and if people you know you just mentioned a couple names if you go to
The website uh the the the roster for this event is crazy like you you mentioned a couple names there Baron Davis maybe the headline item but there’s some x-raptor in there we got Jose Calderon Ricky Davis probably hunting for a triple double with the uh
The fake rebound at the end of that game um Jamal in your experience I I don’t know how much you get to see these guys play or how many played last year but who of these guys can still really hoop like who’s going to be the best player
In this game do you think well we’re all very competitive right like I even though I haven’t played in the last 12 years I still everything I do whether it’s basketball or not I want to win so I could just imagine guys like Baron Davis uh Ricky Davis some of our ex
Raptors cder Ron Michael Bradley uh just to name a few everybody’s going out there to win and everybody’s going out there to raise as much money as possible uh these guys haven’t played in a while we’re all a little shabby but we understand the importance of this
Hospital getting on its feet and getting it going and showing our support and if it means you know I twist an ankle over the weekend heaven forbid um I think relatively speaking from some of the experiences and the conversations I’ve had with some of the uh patients in this
Hospital it is uh very minuscule so I’m looking forward to playing I’m looking forward to dunking again first time in a long time and I’m looking forward to raising money for this hospital that’s why we’re all here yeah Jamal I mean I I got to commend you because you have
Always made made yourself a really active participant and doing things in the community obviously you’re from Toronto you’re from right here um but you make a lot of time of your time and of your life available towards you know giving back in whatever way you know it
Doesn’t AB had to be this you’ve done camps I know carabana you always you always got a squad too like tell me about that Pride you feel um uh of being from Toronto representing Toronto always and and always looking to get back to to this place what a great question and that goes
Without being said I think for me uh the biggest thing is giving back to the community and giving back to the city that has given so much to me I remember some of the pitfalls I went through throughout my career whether I wasn’t playing uh whether I was averaging zero
Points I remember some of the shortcomings I’ve had in college some of the challenges I had and throughout that everybody um continued to support me and I I think now it’s like it’s reciprocal and um it’s more of an obligation than anything else is to get
Back to the people that have given so much to me whether I was good or whether I was bad or whether I was ugly that’s just the support the love that this town gives and I think um it goes without being said and this is a lifelong
Journey for me and I’m going to continue to do it for as long as I can so as much as you have given back to the city and the city supported you you you also you know making it to the level that you did getting to a major program winning a
National championship being an NBA Allstar coming back and playing on the Raptors you have helped do your part growing basketball in this city as well and in these communities how much of a difference do you notice now I I think of something even like you coming through Eastern Commerce and getting
Recruited by a big program like Kentucky how different that must be for a guy who comes up and you know when Jamal Murray was getting and Jamal’s maybe not the best example because he did Orangeville prep and stuff but the other guys who go the US prep school route and things like
That um how much change have you seen in terms of the basketball level in the city obviously the talent but also like infrastructure wise and like how much e how much easier it is for this generation to kind of get notice the way that you did well I think first and
Foremost I have to pay homage to uh my predecessors I look at guys like Steve Nash Rick faul Bill Weddington I mean they really laid the groundwork for me Todd Mulla and so on and so forth so I think um I had a good uh foundation in
Them uh and watching what they did you know Bill Wellington was a world champion many times uh Steve Nash multiple MVPs champion in my heart um but I think uh it starts with them and then we just continued it you know they pass us the torch uh continue to
Work hard continue to represent uh I had a lot of people in support in my corner I couldn’t do it all by myself uh you know being a 200 all 2004 Allstar stemmed from Paul Silas which was my first head coach I think about guys like
Um Simeon Mars which was my high school coach then went with me to Kentucky for four years and then went on with me to the NBA uh if it wasn’t for guys like that keeping me on the right path teaching me the right way uh the values
The morals uh what work ethic means what it’s about uh none of this would have happened so I think um you know paying homage first uh is important but looking into the future you watch guys like uh Murray you watch um my boy Shay tonight that’s coming into town we they they
Have just taken the torch and we were jogging they’re sprinting yeah and I’m so happy to see where uh Canadian basketball has gone I think about Michael Bartlett with Canada basketball Mike Morales with the CBL CBL um they are really setting the tone and making sure that uh our Canadian
Content stays rich and uh is preserved because basketball started here in Canada I mean despite uh the Americans having um you know the precedent right now I think it was born here and it’s going to stay here and it’s going to continue to improve and I’m just happy
That I was a part of that journey and my lifelong dream is to continue uh teaching continuing to give back where I can and helping people uh in any way that I can because like I said if it wasn’t for a lot of people in my corner I think I would have
Been I don’t even want to think about where I’ve been or where I would have been so I have a lot of um thanks to uh give out yeah well I mean that’s that’s really well said it it does take a whole community and I think that you know um I remember when
You join the Raptors I think the decision was like you were on the heat right and and you guys were just gone to the finals that was the first big uh the year The Big Three you were with them on that year and obviously you guys fell
Short uh you know to the mths but there were I think there was a chance for you to go back to that team but you also had the decision and you chose to come to Toronto instead and of course Toronto was a different program at that time
Nowhere close to making the finals but you made that conscious decision of like you know what this is probably my best chance ever to get this ring with this historic team but also on the other side I want to be able to make sure I can say
That I came back to play for the Raptors and this might have been your only chance to come back to that take me through that decision at that time you’re actually really speaking like if I would have spoke uh you really know your homework it you’re absolutely right
You know like U Miami Heat is um really really is a great or organization they take care of their players uh it’s a family atmosphere uh it’s somewhere that you would never want to leave um I would still say that to this day uh you know
Props to Pat Riley and Eric spoler and the Gang uh but you’re right I had a choice to come home or stay in Miami and I didn’t have to think twice to come back home uh it was an opportunity of a lifetime it’s something that even in the inauguration in
1995 I was a senior in high school and when the Raptors came to town I always dreamed from that point on that I wanted to play here forever more uh it didn’t happen I was drafted 19 in the year 2000 um and the Raptors had the 21st
Pick oh wow and even back then I wondered about what would happened if I Dro to number 21 but I’m very happy to get drafted by Charlotte and play with the you know one of the best coaches in the world a world champion and Paul
Silas uh God Rest his soul um but again I always watched our home team from a distance even though I was playing against the opponent like I would not let up on them I probably play 10 times harder but at the same time I would always have that um Love From Afar and
To be able to have that opportunity to come back and play here I did not have to think twice I had so much respect in Brian Colangelo and Dwayne Casey which is a fellow Kentucky Alma out of mine uh that it was a match made in
Heaven and then the rest is history and when Messiah huu and Bobby Webster came in town it was like it was like um I don’t know you don’t get these opportunities so often you know like when you play the lotto and you’ve been doing it for 20
Years and you get the best GM and you get the best president in the business and uh give us an opportunity to not only make the playoffs every year right since they’ve been there with the exception of one or two but to actually uh win a world championship in
2019 is just uh an experience that’s so real um you know starting leaving at 18 years old going to the University of Kentucky where I knew nothing about anything probably went to America one time or twice before that and then coming back home as a 35 year old man uh playing for
The home team being the first Canadian to play on home soil uh working as an assistant coach for you know 11 years and having a world championship it just um it’s a it’s a fairy tale for me I’m so so humble and grateful and it goes
Again back to the city of Toronto and the support I’ve gotten uh throughout the years whether played good or played bad or coach good or coach bad and and I remember that year that you played with the Raptors the very last game of the season I know some Raptors fans
Remembered as the Beno game Beno gets a triple double and you know the the lottery odds changeing and things like that but that was also the game you got to start and I remember being there and you getting introduced with the starting lineup and you know you could tell a
Little bit there’s a level of emotion there and the reaction that you got from the crowd um also I looked up the stats what you’re were talking you averaged more points and more rebounds against the Raptors than any other team so it wasn’t it wasn’t just a feeling you
Actually put up better stats I told you I was I was I was always um gunning for the Raptors only because I wanted to show uh I wanted to come home like I wanted to be a part of the organization I wanted to do it probably far more
Before it’s time but I I had a chance to do it in the in the end end and uh I’m very grateful very grateful so when you at the end of that season so you get that start it’s the last game of the season very very nice moment and then
After that you end up joining the Raptors organization in this you know Ambassador role and then as a eventually as an as a developmental coach and assistant coach um what was that transition like and you know did you did you consider still you know trying to
Play at that point or were you like no this is this is it I want to be a part of the Raptors organization and the playings behind me how did that transition happen for you uh well the transition was very difficult you know like you always feel like you could play
And you want to continue playing um I couldn’t play that was the reality of it you know the way the game has evolved the speed the cutting the turning it just um passed me to be honest uh but I think at the end of the day um you
Always want to play like I I felt like I could play 14 years instead of 12 or 13 uh but the transition was hard the first few weeks um being an NBA basketball player and not having anything to do was definitely a transition uh thank goodness and thank God to the
Organization of the Raptors they gave me an opportunity to coach um develop young players and um also work in the community so uh I’m very very grateful for that and um it’s something that I’ve taken very seriously even past coaching and it’s something that I’m willing to
Do and I want to do for this organization and for this city for the Far Far Future yeah I mean the way you described earlier like a fairy tale like the fairy tale is 2019 man and I remember um going in and and watching all the warm-ups and things like that
And if I if I’m not mistaken you you warmed up kawhai quite a bit you know kawhai loved to shoot those little mid-range jumpers that he made at 100% clip I I never I I swear this guy would not miss but you would always put the
Hand up you would always yell no you know no like you know you hear anytime you’re in the gym and everyone can hear you yell no or work and things like that talk me about how special that was especially coming from your background literally from here 2019 man absolutely
I’m very uh emphatic uh I know what it was being an NBA basketball player I know uh what pissed me off I know what distracted me I I know all the tricks of the trade so when I work with these guys um you know people may look at me
Sideways they may think like this is a little bit different unorthodox but all I care about is winning right like and I’m trying to put them in game like situations so me saying no actually sometimes they miss or more likely they miss shots nobody’s yelling in their
Face when they contest the shot so not only are we contesting the shot we’re also yelling and trying to distract them and I feel like if they can make a shot under those pretenses in a game like situation in the fourth quarter when their opponent’s tired and their legs
Are heavy and they’re not able to run right up to them or contest their shot or even yell they’re going to be able to make these shots so uh everything I did as a coach uh was based on what I went through as a player and wanting to win
MH so a lot of times people be like you know why are you yelling or why are you jumping I have to jump yeah oh yeah like I have to guard these guys as if uh they’re playing in a game because that’s the only way they’re going to be
Able to um perform so that that was my thing and it worked for us as you saw we won and this organization will continue to win yeah uh we’re obsessed with winning yeah well I was going to say you got to give Jamal props because you got
More stops than I’ve ever seen from any assistant coach cuz when you talk about the contact the physicality because a lot of the drills was finishing drills right and you know you worked a lot with the bigs we you were jumping into these guys you were giving them proper
Contests you know what I mean like these weren’t like the just get get your layup or whatever no no you was real contest yeah one thing I got to say like we used to have coaches three coaches versus three players and more than not the coaches would beat the
Players you know what I’m saying so it was competitive even for us like we want to make sure that we’re developing them and we get them better because a lot of the time the young guys don’t play yeah right they’re the ones sitting on the bench watching the
Veterans on the court so when is their time to get better and develop is before the game and they’re not going to play against the guys that are going to play 40 minutes a night because because they’re just taking a couple shots getting ready for the game so it’s our
Job to get them better it’s our responsibility and if you look at guys you look at Pascal you look at Porto you look at JV you look at bomo you look at this goes on and on these guys came here as babies yeah and they left as men why
Do you think that is starts from the president the GM the coach the assistant coaches is all hands on deck yeah that’s a beautiful thing aspect I think um yeah you know we’re we’re we’re in a good place even though our record doesn’t say so right now yeah you watch okay no I
Mean because that’s the thing with the Raptors like in the past I remember like this is before again all the changes happened the last decade or so like players used to come to Toronto and like the careers wouldn’t go that much further from Toronto or it’ll be like a
Little stop or whatever but now you’re starting to see these like Toronto players go to other franchises and they continue to have success you know what I mean and that’s why you see all these reunion games now it’s like OG’s over there doing his thing Fred’s doing his
Thing nor bisc came here as like almost a minimum and got like $70 million when he left cash out but he deserve it though he was amazing that conference final run some of our guys played in g-league yeah yeah it’s it’s a testament to Jim Sans is a testament to all
Everybody everybody works every single day and gives it the their and if you do that you give yourself a chance every game every season every year yeah all right uh big cat I don’t want to end this on a a down note but it is March Madness you are a former
National champion from your time at Kentucky also had another went went to the national championship game twice I just want to know how I don’t know how locked in you are to Kentucky you know day-to-day season to season now but you’ve got a national championship with
That program and made a handful of deep March Madness runs how you feeling about the progr right now I was uh distraught last night I watched the game from the start to the finish uh we gave them so many chances to win I I thought that they
Were the better team last night to be honest and again I just really really disappointed I I went to Kentucky two weeks ago um they had a alumni day and uh I watched them beat Arkansas and uh since then they lost their first game in the SEC tournament
And then the first game in the NCAA tournament last night and you know it’s just kind of uh not Kentucky right like we’re the winningest School in NCAA history if I’m correct uh which puts us as the best school in the country of all time so for
Us to lose in the first round not only in the SEC tournament but also in the NCAA tournament I thought um was uh disappointing to say the least well I’m sure there’ll be better days ahead and Kentucky fans can just bring up the 1998 Clips uh if if they need to feel a
Little better today you guys like the come back cats yeah I mean National Championship the year before and come out the OT lost to to Mike Biby and Jason Terry but then you come back win the national championship six guys go on to the NBA including Michael Bradley who
Who’s playing with you uh this weekend again that’s the the fifth annual West Park Foundation Tournament of Stars celebrity basketball event West Park Tournament of stars.com man I appreciate you so much um not just as you know a guest of the show not just for what you did with the
Raptors but as a Tron tonan as well you know you care for the community and I love that that’s beautiful man thank you thank you and I appreciate all that you two do uh I would love to come on your show again and and let’s not lose sight
About why we’re here today yeah it’s about this weekend West Park Foundation we’re raising money for the hospital uh I’ve seen some of the patients there and we need everybody bu support I think it’s $25 uh food and drink included and it’s a family event so please Toronto come
Out and support not only the ex players not only the ex Raptors but uh support this hospital because it’s very very important thank you all right we’ll do thanks Jal West Park Tournament of stars.com man it’s that’s inspirational the way he was recounting everything and
Dude like I I guess I didn’t really when when he was around I was just like that’s just m glore we’ve seen him in the NBA Allstar came from Eastern Commerce you remember the whole story but then when you hear him tell it I’m like damn like on an emotional level
Like this is a guy who has dedicated so much of his life his existence to just be the Tonto community and basketball in particular and so and man a Big C like for me um you know as someone who came to basketball around 2003 is like the
The later part of the Vince thing when I was in high school you know that coincided with Jamal being uh an All-Star player and like being the Canadian guy and you know you’re looking like obviously Eastern conf Eastern commerce was still a Powerhouse at that time so you know when you’re you’re in
High school ball you’re like looking on the whatever version of of forums standings page and stuff like that is now you you like almost you almost kept tracking the Eastern Commerce progress because you were like hey what who’s the next J what am I looking for here who’s
The next guy you know is it denim Brown is it I can’t remember if denim was Eastern Commerce or or another high school but like all I remember was 111 yeah you’re looking for that next Jamal mlora and he was I don’t know man as a Canadian basketball fan who got into no
He was West Hill uh denim brown but as a Canadian basketball fan who got into basketball around the like the tail end of the Vince boom having Jamal mcore as kind of the Canadian basketball player before the Steve Nash MVP rise came about uh was really cool really
Meaningful for sure for sure and I think that you know your your question about um what’s changed in the basketball infrastructure like what’s changed is Scouts come up to Canada all the time M you know what I mean and and it’s kind of unbelievable that like you know um
That wasn’t necessarily the case before but it’s been recognized now as a pipeline I mean when you see like the back toback number one overall picks I don’t know it’s like Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins aren’t like the most decorated number one picks you know but still back-to-back number one picks
Coming from Canada like it just shows you how much more um the infrastructure of like coaches here who who do a lot of great job of organizing putting on these tournaments you know you know putting together these organizations so they can go travel against the states get seen by
Scouts but Scouts come up here all the time now you know and Canada is starting to build its own scouting Network as well to continue to sort of just push the you know the the men’s and women’s programs forward and you know um before that though there was a there was
Certainly a lot of guys who have really put in a lot of work and Jamal is certainly one of those guys so big thanks to Jamal for uh coming on the program and we’re going to take a last break of the week 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 soup welcome back to the Raptor show on the sports radio network I’m your host uh Contin be joined by co-host Blake Murphy once again big thanks to Big Cat Jamal mcore for joining us on the
Program and uh I very happy to report actually that the they have raised their their goal 600,000 towards the hospital and um that’s awesome to see it’s at the the gold ring high performance center tomorrow tickets are only 25 bucks so it’s kind of an all day thing tomorrow
If you wanted to uh stop in and check that out see if Jamario Moon could still could still throw down I’m sure he can I was very delighted to see jamaru on this list look if Vince can just like walk up in a suit and dunk I I would bet Jamario
Moon uh can still throw down to well for one from one big cat to another actually I don’t know this is a terrible transition another Kentucky player uh sh go Alexander and the Thunder play the Raptors tonight we’re going to bring in front of the program Andrew schle of the
Athletic uh and of OKC Dream Team um yeah I mean appol name this is a dream team for OKC right now it’s last time we called you everything was good and then we called you again a couple months later and everything’s arguably even better Shay has like more 50 point more
30o games as a thunder than even KD did during his MVP season I I couldn’t believe that thatat when it dropped um Andrew how you doing man I’m doing great guys thanks for having me again yeah yeah I bet you’re doing great uh you you talk about the
Oklahoma City Thunder every day um all right I guess so look the Thunder are and we can talk playoff picture stuff they’re at the top of the western conference table right now tied with the Nuggets um things are good they strong underlying metrics strong performance against good teams strong performance
Against Bad teams which is unfortunate for the r tonight um but the headline item and this came up a little earlier um Garrett Temple was on the show with us he said Chase is MVP Michael gr Sports at.ca had an article out today that said hey Shay’s his MVP and why
It’s going to be a close vote Nicole Le yic is going to get a lot of votes Luca donic is in the mix there um is Shay your MVP and what is the case if that is uh if that is the case yeah I I would vote him MVP I’ve
Got I get this see him up close all year I think what he’s done on both ends has been really impressive the fact that he’s carried really the second youngest team in the NBA to the top of the Western Conference in a year where the
West is just insane and not only is he an amazing offensive player but defensively he’s been so good in his role he may not be the best defender on the Thunder but he’s the best player in his role maybe in the league where he gets to kind of play free safety with
This squad they have really solid defenders in Chad and Dort and then you look at what Shay does he like he’ll pick up a good perimeter Defender but he also knows how to pick apart defenses because he studies these other teams so well and he’s not necessarily like going
For steals or like selling out to get steals he just knows where the ball is going to go and he just goes and gets it and he helps his team play fast so top five offense top five defense second in net rating second best record in the NBA
And he’s the best player on a team that I think should be maybe more and I know it’s been a big story but it might even need to be a bigger story what they’ve done to go from 20 wins to 40 wins and now upwards of maybe 58 wins this year I
Mean the jumps are insane that they’ve made all season and Shay is the reason for it he’s not only the leader on the court but off the court these guys just kind of look to him on what to do he brings a really like fun tone to the
Locker room on a nightly basis so I think he should win the MVP I think it will come down to who’s at the top of the West at the end of the season okay and these next two week these next two weeks for the Thunder are going to be
Really tough they have an East Coast road trip that is really difficult and then their their week next week is going to be really tough as well so if they can come out and only maybe lose one or two games over the next two weeks I
Think we could start to see that see that narative shift a little bit in favor of Shay well we have some good news about how this East trip is going to start uh it starts tonight Toronto F Shay will get us 30 and and finish night with 20 minutes played Shay
Also has the uh for for anyone who votes this way or cares about these things on the kind of analytics or catchall metric side he is even though Nicole yic Giannis Luca all those guys grade very very well based on estimated wins added which takes into you know all your box
Score contributions who you’re playing with who you’re playing against all those things Shay’s kind of way ahead of everyone in that particular stat so the the more analytically inclined or more advanced stat inclined voters are are probably leaning Shay even though joic has a million stat lines we’ll never see
Again too yeah I mean look I this is a this is a year where it shouldn’t just be like everybody votes in the same direction you know what I mean like I would love to see where the preferences of the greater voting block is this is what a democracy is okay everyone’s got
Their own opinion and own preferences and then you come together and you decide you know hopefully on a you know majority kind of basis but I think Shay has a really really appealing case and as you mentioned if they win uh the West I also think again like
There’s only been if yic wins it again what’s stopping him from winning the next year as well and then we’re going to have what a four time MVP like you know what I mean like it’s just it’s just going to keep going man it’s never
Going to stop I yeah but I I I’m of the mind you can’t not vote for someone because of what if happens in future years um but there’s like four guys who have done like four like four whoever’s the MVP is the MVP to me if it if it
Ends up that it happens four times but the the nice thing here is that you could just give the MVP to Shay and it’s very very deserving and we’re all uh we’re all on the same page so Andrew there’s also a scenario here where you know let’s say shay comes second in MVP
And then you look over at Rookie of the Year race and C comes second and Rookie of the Year and Jaylen Williams comes second and most improved player and Mark dagno comes second and Coach of the Year um of all of those of all of those
Awards um I guess which do you feel most confident in a thunder player or coach actually coming away with I think Mark degn is gonna win Coach of the Year okay I think just the the storyline of this team making such big improvements over the last two
Years he’s getting a lot of positive publicity as well and has done just a good job schematically the thing about this other team is they’re just different they play differently than most teams offensively they’re different their defensive schemes are a bit different and a lot of that comes from
Him and so it’s hard to argue with a coach who is doing things differently and has his team at the top of the West Second and net rating they’re consistent they bring it every night so I think I think Mark’s going to win coach of the
Year can you actually explain to us like what is particularly different about the thunder yeah defensively they love to swarm the middle because they’re small and so you’ll see them have to recover and this is it’s interesting because and we make we we’ve seen this a few times against teams that aren’t
Playing well and we may see it tonight when the Thunder are bad on defense it sticks like a sore thumb because they have to pack the middle and then recover to Shooters and so you’ll see guys kind of scrambling to the perimeter they actually give up the most Corner threes
In the NBA and have all season and that’s because they do like to pack the Middle with everybody because they don’t have like some defensive anchor even though Chad has been really good they still play the same style of Defense that’s kind of scramble and then recover
Out to the perimeter and when it’s sharp they can shut down everything yeah but whenever they are just like a tinge lazy you can see it and so tonight will be it’s an interesting case because like they lost in Detroit on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago and it was
Because their defense was really lazy and so um that’s different and then offensively I mean they have to have the most guard to guard screen action in the entire league yeah I mean there’s nobody that does it like them and it’s cool because Shay is like so much a part of
That you’ll see Shay screening for Jaylen Williams at the end of games to get him free uh they love to play five out they love to spread the court they love to run it’s an extremely fun offense and they love and they love to share the ball so they’re going to drive
More than anybody they’re going to share the ball and they just love to find open Shooters and they have shot the ball so well this season mostly because they get so many open shots from Shay and J up drive yeah I think that’s the sign of a
Really good coach is you amplify the best strengths of your team and then you hide the weaknesses and I every time I watch the Thunder I’m like this team does exactly that you know what I mean and so um yeah and I think again that’s mindblowing that they’re the
Second youngest team too like it’s just really impressive yeah I mean you can trace it back to last year as well and when you’re talking about minimizing the weaknesses that team last year was even smaller because they didn’t have Chad in the middle right and they were still a
Very good defense you talk about giving up Corner 3es as a means of taking away the pain a comparison I made on our on our show last year was the Thunder were basically doing a a good job of what the Raptors were on paper where the Raptors
Are super aggressive take away the pain we’ll surrender Corner threes but hey the biggest guys on our team are 6′ n we don’t have a center until you know the yakup Edition at the trade deadline that’s what they were trying to do but the Thunder actually did it really well
At a top 10 level last year and now a top 10 level again this year um when it comes to Chad I I guess comparison is the thief of Joy here in general but we’ll we’ll do a little bit of it here when it comes to who is the second most
Important player on this Thunder team after Shay does it lean to chat because of the defensive value or is Jaylen Williams ability to be that number two scorer at such an efficient level um you know obviously it’s like a 2 A2B situation but but who is kind of more
Pivotal to supporting Chay as that number two right now I think it’s Jaylen Williams I think he’s been consistently the second best player on this team there’s been kns like against Utah the other night I think I think chat was the best player on the court for the Thunder that night
But for the most part it’s Jaylen Williams he’s been at the top of the league in fourth quarter scoring so Shay comes out at the end of the third quarter he’ll play the whole first quarter he’ll play the whole third quarter and then he sits until about the
Six minute Mark of the fourth quarter in every game and in most cases it’s sometimes unnecessary for Shay to come back because job has kind of LED this group in the fourth quarter and kind of slam the door and so that’s been a consistent theme with them and not only
Is Jaylen like a great scorer and a good passer and a guy that gets downhill but he’s a really really solid Defender as well they put him on some of the tougher guys like the Thunder play the Pelicans this week he will guard Zion Williamson this week you know he’ll guard point
Guards at times like he guards a lot of different kinds of guys so and he’s also just has a really mature game for like a young you know Wing slash guard he has such a mature game he knows what shots are efficient for him and he’s able to
Get to those spots you know his pull up mid-range if he’s going left it’s going in like almost every time for him he can get to the hoop he can finish he’s got really his core strength was one of the things that improved the most over the
Summer because he’s he can make these acrobatic finishes at The Rim that you’re just like it’s just kind of boggles your mind what he’s able to do as he gets to the hoop so I think it’s him that could flipflop over the summer you give Chad an entire offseason to
Improve I mean a seven foter that can shoot like Chad does that can I mean his handle has been something that’s impressed me this year it could change because Chad is that unusual but this year I think it’s definitely Jaylen Williams yeah well what a luxury to have yeah very nice so
Jealous um well I mean I think you know I guess a concern going to the trade deadline and obviously that’s a long pass but was like okay who are they going to add to this group right you can see a young group going into the
Playoffs you know as as a group for the first time time how are they going to look uh collectively where the strength and weakness is going to be and I know for myself I’m like okay I would love for them to add a big um you know just
Get a little bit more size to handle some physicality ultimately went with Gordon Hayward I mean I guess like how has Gordon fit in um and also yeah I mean when you look ahead to the playoffs I guess like how would he help address some of the things that may come up for
The Thunder yeah it’s been a process for Hayward he’s not been great for them he went like seven games before he took a three for them uh it was just it’s been strange and I’ve kind of been poking around a little bit trying to figure out like what’s the
Deal here with Gordon haward and like an answer that I keep getting is that Gordon Hayward has never been a role player maybe in his whole life you know he’s never had to experience like the the coming off the bench playing 15 minutes maybe taking two or three shots
And like that that’s it and so I think it’s really taken him a while to get comfortable he also I think came into this team and didn’t want to mess anything up and like like knows this is a successful team that is doing things the right way and you can almost see him
Like just passing because he feels like he doesn’t want to intrude on what they’ve created now he’s gotten more comfortable over the last like five or six games he’s looked pretty good he looked pretty good against Utah made a couple above the break threes and honestly what they need from him is to
Come in Off the Bench make good passes make his threes provide enough defense and play maybe 15 to 20 minutes you know that’s what they need from him they have enough other guys where if you are worried about Josh Giddy and a lineup in the playoffs they have other guys they
Can rely on for heavier minutes if they need to Aaron Wiggins is somebody who’s really emerged this year as a solid role player K Wallace is somebody that’s been really really good as a rookie for them so they have guys off the bench that they can utilize even kenrich Williams
Is GNA play a lot in the playoffs and so if you need a little bit more size I think they’ll go to kenri but I think they just wanted to have one more veteran that could shoot it and kind of play the way that they do and Gordon
Does that it’s just taking a while for him to get comfortable when it comes to that depth so hayward’s in there you mentioned kenrich who who didn’t play the other night but this team goes probably 11 deep Isaiah Joe Jaylen Williams Aaron Wiggins case Wallace all come off the bench for this team
Normally we look at teams it’s like okay well the rotation is going to shrink in the playoffs most teams cut it down to nine maybe even eight is that something you could you think Mark dagnal will do or or is this a team that because they’ve leaned on that depth the ability
To go 10 or 11 deep they’re going to want to keep that as a strength come a playoff series my guess is that they’ll stay 10 or 11 deep but we also have not seen Mark deal in the playoffs so I honestly just don’t know um I I think that he
Will the thunder love to kind of stay consistent and kind of stay true to their identity and don’t want things to knock them off they don’t want like a a bad three or four game skid to kind of knock them off their plan you know they really Pride themselves of just like
Staying the course and so my guess is that they’ll stay the course in the playoffs but we also haven’t seen what Mark can do in a seven game series which is just totally different you know it’s it’s good to stay consistent through the regular season because you just are
Getting things thrown at you over and over again and you want to see what that looks like I don’t I don’t know the answer to that my guess is that they’ll stay consistent but I honestly have no idea well looking Ahad to the playoffs and there’s uh still a lot of
Uncertainty to go you know you know what OKC is going to end up at obviously you know you don’t know who’s going to come out of the playin most likely they’re going to play somebody from the playin is there one matchup that like maybe based on how they play and fair each uh
With each other this year or just maybe on paper that like you’re like oh I I prefer if OKC didn’t have to see this team yeah I mean Anthony Davis has just been a monster that the Thunder had not been able to figure out this year yeah
And that’s true for a lot of teams but the way that he is able to play on the perimeter and recover he takes away the mid-range while also taking away the rim which I think is like the biggest challenge for OKC when they play the Lakers and then it’s basically maker
Myth like how are your perimeter Shooters doing the Thunder have beaten a lot of teams while not shooting it great from the perimeter just not the Lakers and so I I think that Thunder would beat the Lakers in a series but I think it would be a tough one for them gotta yeah
That is a a large large team is there any I guess this is uh this is no team would ever answer this cuz it’s too risky but you’re not on the team we can ask you is there someone that you think the Thunder match up particularly well
With it and you’re like yes that’s the hey that’s the 1 18 or 27 matchup to get this young group their first playoff experience and hey it’s winnable but you can also kind of go through some of the growing pains that might be there yeah I think Sacramento is one
That the Thunder this that’s a team that I think they might even change their starting lineup for I think they may sub out Josh giddy for the other Jaylen Williams to kind of like stand with sabonis and just body him and let Chad be kind of a RoR for them kind of
Similar to what Giannis is yeah right for the bucks at times and so I think it would really work I think it’s something that the Thunder have used in Pockets this season and they know it works and they’re kind of saving it for like if that does if they do play Sacramento I
Don’t know if they would necessarily start the series that way but I wouldn’t be surprised to see like strategy shift to like hey this is how we beat Fox and sabonis is have these two on the court instead of Josh and then have Josh kind of control the second unit I think
That’s a series that they could you could feel more confident going into you know they haven’t had a ton of playoff success themselves and so I think you could you could feel a little bit more confident with that team Yeah well yeah I mean that is the team that every West
Team is looking at it hopefully we match up with Sacramento but Andrew I appreciate you and uh yeah we’ll look forward to watching the CER team tonight sco Bank Arena thanks guys appreciate it yeah Andrew schle of the athletic of OKC Dream Team it’s uh time now will for
Between the lines brought to you by bet Rivers take a chance I mentioned this off the top this is the largest Underdog line the Raptors have faced in the history of the franchise when at home in the history of the Raptors yes and this is including the
Tampa year I included the Tampa year this time they have never been 16-point underdogs in a home game uh before they are tonight you’re saying nobody believes in us no nothing uh Emanuel quickley RJ Barrett Scotty Barnes yaka purle Chris bu DJ carton all remain Out Gary Trent Jr is also questionable with
Midback stiffness um on the Thunder they’ve got a clear injury report other than a couple guys being down in the G League OKC is second in the league in record second in the league in net rating third in offense sixth in defense first in forcing turnovers second and limiting turnovers they’re the number
One offense against bottom 10 teams they’re 20 and4 against the bottom 10 teams in the league their only weakness is that they’re 29th in rebounding wow we’re countering with Kelly olick at five and four guards yeah if we see Jaylen McDaniels at the five again I I think the rebounding Advantage
Is going to be neutralized so so tenacious that Jay get those boards Moji that’s so he’s so so uh gets after it anyway um yeah I mean I don’t know how you can not pick the Thunder and it doesn’t matter how big the line is like I mean
You know sh how much Shay gets up to play for against the Raptors I even remember when the Raptors going back to that 2020 team the the team trying to defend the championship that was a really good team okasi came in Shay took over down the stretch hit the gamewinner
And that was a much better team for the Raptors and that was a much worse team for OKC so yeah I mean it doesn’t matter what this line is I’m picking OKC it’s funny we talked about all these guys on OKC and oh by the way Lou Dort is a 40%
Three-point shooter now with reliability that was between the lines brought you by bet Rivers take a chance should be a fun game down there regardless because we get the watch sh in a potential MVP season but it might not be the most competitive of games well let’s let’s
Get down there let’s give Shay and Lou their their Ovations and you know just enjoy the rest of the night otherwise you know it’s a bit of a snowstorm here in Toronto uh stay warm uh and otherwise enjoy have a come pick us up J.R I don’t
Want to walk through the subway no come on man but seriously though uh that do for us today I’ve been your host will you’ve listening to the Raptor show on the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new Chucky spicy soups time to get fired up make sure you find
The Raptor show or listen to podcast subscribe please R review the program thanks again to producer I’m on producer der Bale Jennifer Nick Davis says manit for helping behind the scenes Big thanks to Our Guest today Garrett Temple Jamal MCL and Andrew schle and uh thanks once
Again to wapt this PR as well for the game and we will talk to you next week
2 Comments
Raps about to suffer one of the worst most humiliating losess tonight. Instead of being a competitive tanking team 2 years already into a rebuild. We about to be the new pistons for at minimum the next 2 seasons. Thanks trash masai for your lack of direction and reluctance to trade players and pick a direction and then blaming it on your "patience" him and boy toy bobby need to go at seasons end.
Love SGA, but Jokic not getting MVP would be wrong. I’m tired of not giving it to the best guy, and then in hindsight saying “he probably should’ve gotten it”. If the argument for him not winning is that he already has 2, then you’re admitting that he is the most valuable player.