Raptors outtank the worst team in the NBA… again?

Raptors outtank the worst team in the NBA… again?

How is your back feeling we all good everybody dealing with something we going out here to try to get wins that’s our goal that’s our Focus um just in terms of what you guys saw tonight it felt like you guys really battled especially through like the first three quarters then some mistakes

Were happening a little bit in the fourth what did you see out there we just went out there we tried to fight tried to you know come out with a win on the road you know it’s not tough to win it’s not easy to win on the road and you

Know we tried to put everything we could together you know we end up coming up short at the end missing a little couple possessions missing a couple open shots you know just things we got to hone in on how are you able to kind of switch your game up because the three ball

Wasn’t falling today but that’s okay because you’re able to get some layups in as well how are you able to do that still just trying to you know get downhill still have impact on the game again whether you making threes missing threes you still need to play defense

You still need to rebound you still need to you know play basketball so this just part of the game continue figuring out just keep going rolling with the punches of course nobody wants to you know lose that’s not part like that’s not part of it but we talked about this earlier that

They were trying to build habits in games like these where do you see that habit building just in a little things again when we’re going back and forth you know you’re building them habits when there 3 minutes left when it’s when it’s almost like a playoff atmosphere the fans get more into it

Every possession is magnified everything matters everything’s important and that’s what comes in the long run you know down in June when you know you’re going against the best two best teams that’s left it’s the little details that separate them obviously they both good they’re there for a reason they have

Great players just the you know little things that you went through through the season that helps you and then you talk about these young guys and new guys making most of their opportunities and this kind of unprecedented uh scenario that you guys have been facing over the

Past month with injuries what do you make of what you’re seeing from the guys like uh Freeman Liberty and Ramsey yeah everybody just coming out you know trying to hoop and play they get an opportunity you know opportunity of a lifetime you know he Rams got the

Opportunity to start tonight if I’m not mistaken so exactly so you know they get an opportunity of a lifetime to start in NBA you know they should H in on this opportunity be appreciative this opportunity and you know try to take it as far as they

Cano coach what did you what did you see from your team tonight um I saw a lot of fight uh we struggled with rebounding the ball I thought we did a pretty good job uh in in half court offense just moving the ball and uh scorting off off

Of cuts I thought that uh Kelly did really good job of connecting with teammates he ended up with uh 10 assists tonight and uh we get gave a lot of fight uh we we missed a couple of posss there at the end of the third quarter uh

Start of the fourth quarter when we hit that nice lead and uh we were not able to to sustain it and make uh those 10 11 points to to bring it to 15 or 20 I know how tough was it to see some of those mistakes down the stretch a couple of

Those those giveaways late after being pretty good through the first three quarters yeah I mean uh we missed a layup we missed wide open shots uh we missed a dunk uh obviously guys they they want to make those shots they want to make right decisions there uh uh did

Not go our way tonight I thought they also that they scored some uh timely baskets and then tough contested shots uh but as I said I think that the B main difference in tonight’s game was uh uh rebounding and then just in terms of Gary what did you see from him because

He was obviously a big leader offensively but in more ways than one um Gary uh he he found a way to be effective without making threes tonight he went 1 for7 from the three-point line but uh he did good job of uh cutting and being active and and touching the paint

And making decisions from from there uh I wish that he he made couple of more layups there uh but he didn’t but and it’s going to be good opportunity for him to grow in that area as well um and I I thought that on defensive end that

He did a really good job uh having active hands coming up with a couple of steals for us thank okay so tronto Raptors lose somehow by some Divine Miracle to the Washington Wizards and if you’re expecting a negative show you’ve come to the wrong place this is not negative at

All there’s no negative Vibes here at all um I’m a little surprised they lost this game to be completely honest with you because at the start of the third quarter it looked like the Raptors were going to win this game like to be honest most of the game it

Felt like the Raptors were going to have a hard time losing this game because I just hate the way the Washington Wizards play like really like apart from Denny OFA on that team I’m not really sure who I like on that team you know um and you

Know you could say Cory kispert sure like he has some utility and you know but Daniel Gafford was a guy that I really liked on that team and he’s he’s Dallas now and Kyle kusma and you know Jordan P are the absolute epitome of empty calories guys right and they’re

Their two guys and I got to tell you it could the game could have gone one of two ways when kman commits that flagrant foul in the third quarter and you know luckily for the Wizards and I guess luckily for the Raptors it goes the way

It did there were some heavy heavy tank implications tonight number one this was going to be a really difficult game to lose it’s one of the harder games if you want my honest opinion in terms of what uh what comes forward for the Raptors over the next 11 games the Raptors of

Course lose their 10th straight game this is unprecedented territory for the Raptors they haven’t been here in 14 years but they’re here now they’re here now desperate times call for desperate measures and tonight you know you you do get Gary Trent Jr back which is you know

Welcome news because he scored 31 points but you miss a guy like uh a jonte porter who who I think might have just tilted the balance in this game like it’s it’s so close right this Wizards team is so bad they they have earned everyone of their 58 losses uh so far

This season uh they are six and 28 at home uh tonight they turn the ball over like recklessly right and um in in all honesty this is the way you want to lose you want to lose like this do you want to lose with Bruce Brown taking a tested

Three-pointer with the game on the line do you want to lose with Gary Shan Jr you know taking 26 shots is this how you want to lose or do you want to lose with Grady dick taking those shots or oai abashi taking those shots because those guys are more probably permanent

Fixtures in your program I don’t know I don’t know I think it’s difficult to get buying at this stage you know and you are seeing a lot of buying you’re seeing a lot of buying from the guys you aren’t seeing guys just going going out and

Mailing it in you know there is some still some serious energy you know being spended on the defensive end and that’s a good thing they’re playing the guys who want to play they’re playing the guys who need the opportunity tonight jamus Ramsey gets this jamas Ramsey gets the start over Javon freem

And Liberty over Bruce Brown very interesting um everything is new right this is ethical tanking this is the Frankenstein of tanking man because you got to understand jamas Ramsey is the tank move playing him in the starting lineup when he has never started when he has not

Played with those four guys for more than two minutes probably in his life even if you can say in play groups practice groups whatever putting him in that starting lineup tilts the balance in favor of Washington not starting a guard not starting a point guard tilts

The balance in the favor of the Wizards and man with the way the Wizards play tonight you have to give them every Advantage possible to somehow lose this game the Toronto Raptors show up into Washington at 3:00 a.m. they didn’t show up until you know they got to their

Hotel room at 3: am right you’re playing a late game on a Saturday night on a backtack and to be completely Frank it still looked like the Raptors are going to win this game and then of course you know Kyle kumma does his thing and he’s he’s looking like he’s trying to get

Tossed out of the game like straight up he is just he’s being you know a total dick um frankly on the court uh and uh I twe I tweeted out I was like I hope he sees this and just gets really motivated and starts to dust the Raptors because he

Was by far uh capable of being the most talented player on the court right and I tweeted um at this point just don’t be that team I was hoping that that would be enough of a troll and I was hoping that he would see it somehow at halftime or whatever and um yeah

Kusman was was a really big part of what went right from the from from that perspective and also you know Jordan P like I really wondered in the first half you know I don’t watch a lot of wizards games this year I was like is he one of

The worst 100 players in the NBA right now honestly man his man cuts his reaction to that cut is like two seconds late if you play against a good team he’s unplayable like he will get you destroyed the way he’s playing right now to me it’s like guy got paid guy doesn’t

Want to you know all the attitude stuff it’s like when Draymond punched him in the face it was like he punched every ounce of talent and IQ that this guy had right out of his [ __ ] body insane to watch just how terrible this Wizards team is and you lost and you lost to

Them it’s like it’s like a miracle it’s like a Christmas miracle like four months later unbelievable um the implication of course is the Raptors also own the second round pick for the Detroit Pistons and that pick now um is more solidly 31 than 32 is that going to matter I don’t know

But with the Raptor’s luck there’s probably G to be some prospect that everyone wants at 31 and he’s going to go at 31 and then we’re going to end up with the 32nd pick so I just want to get as high as possible I realize to a lot

Of people 31 32 65 you know 23 wins versus 24 wins these details though do matter um King Kylie saying is Brown’s option before draft or after it’s after so that is what makes him still somewhat valuable as a contract um I W to I W to okay let’s talk about

The game a little bit here uh this abysmal abysmal game and we will definitely talk about this other thing which was a really cool real GM post now I did not get a chance to attend this and I would have if I had known about it

I definitely would have um it was a coaching Clinic and there were some very interesting notes that came out of the coaching clinic in regards to the coaches on the team and various observations about certain players and I thought it was really cool um because I

Have I have a friend who attended it and he was telling me somewhat very similar things so it’s written out and we’ll go through that and I think it’s really interesting um because again like the inner workings of who’s working with who which coaches seem to be like really

Connecting with which players how certain players are in practice Etc and maybe towards the middle of this if there’s a caller I mean you can definitely call in if there’s a caller um hold on we just don’t have enough juice and rookie coach injures injuries the way the shirt storm goes boys and

Girls this Raptor team is like effing my life now right now falling apart but on the come up okay okay well I hope your I hope your life is on the come up and that if your life is on the line that you are not having Bruce Brown take a freaking

Three that was crazy to me Gary Tren Jr dribbles the ball out the court first of all why is he initiating your offense cool he passes to oai abaji aaji swings it over to to Bruce Brown for the three and I was like if I had to draw a play to lose a

Game that’s the play I’m drawing first of all have the least skill ball Handler in that group bring the ball up the court and have the least skilled shooter take the shot on the contest from the least skilled passer perfect like perfect okay like that’s awesome smart

Move okay um in terms of you know what the Raptors did right and wrong whatever they didn’t do a hell of a lot right they protected the basketball which is pretty interesting because Kelly lenck was effectively Point centered tonight he had 10 assists uh the Raptors get crushed on the glass

Um guys got to the front of the rim a lot um K kusma I think got on the glass A little bit um ran Holmes was crazy 14 rebounds including seven offensive rebounds um Denny OFA uh one of my favorite young players in the NBA right

Like he is he is a homeless man Scotty Barnes is the best way to describe Denny and really it’s no shade to Scotty and it’s no shade to Denny it’s just he does all that stuff that helps you win win he’s a winning player on a losing team I

Think Bal kulali is also a winning player on a losing team and again they they’re just certain players that they have winning habits and they do winning things I was actually pretty impressed with Johnny Davis I’ve [ __ ] on him a lot you know uh based on his jumper and

Based on his draft status and based on the fact that he’s just been so abysmal the last few years um but he he actually sparked a really positive run for uh for them he was part of a very good stretch of basketball for their for their team

Um the Raptors if you believe rumors actually were very very deeply interested in Ran Holmes before he signed with the um Sacramento Kings I believe I heard that on on an inside track so that was very interesting to see how his contract value has played out over the last three four years given

The Raptors were super interested in him I thought Corey kisper was was good for them I also thought it was really interesting because a lot of people compared Grady to Corey he took him couple times but the one play that I was like oh he got him was that self-generated turnaround jumper

Over Cory kisper now Cory kissper is nobody’s idea of a great defender so you know whatever maybe against a better Defender that shot doesn’t go in but it’s still not something we’ve seen a lot from Grady dick where Grady just like s sauce dribble size up his guy turn around pull up jumper

Self-generated we’ve seen a lot of assisted stuff for Grady you know he’s cutting he’s curling he’s you know spotting up Etc we’re not seeing a lot of Grady just grabs the ball and just like breaks his Defender down and puts him in the post and does a spin and I’m

Like oh this is coming now man if that comes and and expect to see that in summer league that’s probably going to be a really big part of Grady’s uh shop package in summer league so if that comes he is big enough that if he gets a

Guard on him that he can take him in the post and if he’s strong enough to actually take advantage of that oh my God that’s going to be very interesting um in terms of the Raptors um not a great game for Joan Freeman Liberty I’m really pulling for this guy like really

Hardcore Jay McDaniels does not get off the bench Hallelujah that was great I mean if you’re trying to lose games I I really would start him at point guard to be honest but okay sure um by the way I’ve lost my voice something kind of crazy happened um earlier in the day and

I can talk about that right after I’m done this but yeah I’ve lost my voice almost completely because I I I screamed the loudest I think I’ve ever screamed in my life um really scary moment earlier today but yeah um G Temple was awesome I I loved his minutes uh he’s

Been solid the last two games and really makes you think like when the Raptors were struggling uh for any any help Off the Bench if maybe he was worth a look over thus young I know they don’t play the same position but I’m just saying in terms of the shooting and just overall

Defense I me he stripped Shay gild Alexander last game like like I thought he was really solid and you know what a what a testament to to being a pro you know he hasn’t played pretty much all year he’s been you know he’s making a minimum contract he don’t need to be

Here I you know at this point he’s made quite a bit of money in his career he doesn’t really need to be so bought in but man like what a what a dude like I I have such a tremendous amount of respect for Garett Temple throughout I’ve I’ve

Respected him for a while I made a video um you know when the Raptors signed him that it was just such a great um great addition which is it runs counter to um God damn it who did they sign last year where I was just so against it they’re

Very similar in age and I’m forgetting his name right now but um I am forgetting his name he was from Washington [ __ ] anyways so I I just thought it was a good it was a good solid you know 14th 15th guy on your bench and just a really stabilizing

Force and look like if you talk to a lot of young prospects they’re telling you they really really relish this opportunity to learn from vet at the next level guys who can really teach them how to take care of their body guys who can teach them how to be Pros guys

Who can teach them how to deal with the media guys who can teach them how to rest recover Etc so he has been a really stabilizing force and it’s very interesting that you know it started with three you know which was Auto and fad and and and Garrett but Garrett

Became the guy who was pretty much indispensable he was never waved you know um he could have been waved at any given point you know not like he was serving some serious long-term you know value it’s not like it was a major major hit to your books but the Raptors chose

To kind of keep him around and I wonder if at some point you know down the line I’m sure he has plans beond basketball but I wonder if at some point you know he’ll he’ll wind up on darko’s coaching staff or something he’s a really solid

Dude um yeah Jordan no uh I mean you know solid that that that block that chase down block just kind of gives you a glimpse into who he can be if he could just put it together for you know 15 minutes straight but he doesn’t put it together for 15 minutes straight there’s

A lot of dumb decisions there’s a lot of like inconsistent motor plays and stuff like that when you’re at his talent level right now you cannot be this inconsistent uh Mohammed ugay I think um you know struggled a little bit in terms of you know his lineup but I thought he

Provided a lot of activity a lot of length and that block that he had was also very impressive um in terms of the starters again uh jamas Ramsey has made a Believer out of me really throughout these games you know I know he only played 18 Minutes tonight but he gets

The start his first NBA start ever big moment for him congratulations young man you know he had eight points uh four rebounds and he just played like this really pesky energetic defense and I find like with him on the court I find myself uh enjoying raptor games more you

Know um he’s very energetic he’s he’s very strong you know for a guard he’s 6 fo three but he’s got that stocky sort of Fred Van vet Kyle Lowry OG Obi build like where he’s solid you know like you know if you bump into him you’re going

To feel it tomorrow that’s solid you know and he’s active and he doesn’t he doesn’t take plays off and I really like that about him I also like that about oai and and and Grady you know like I mean these are two young guys in that starting lineup right that that you call

It like development prospects right I mean you could really say all of these guys are development prospects to some degree jaon Freeman Liberty and jamas Ramsey but obviously like the two guys that you could say okay the Raptors have some really longterm vested interest in these guys

Panning out that would be Grady and oh Grady and oai and you know they both make six field goals tonight Grady had some really cool three-pointers uh especially early on uh he had a pretty cool finish near the paint like I think he was and of course he had that

Turnaround jumper he had a really nice pass like I mean he had a couple really nice passes actually um I thought he was really good um Kelly of course you know High turnovers again but better better than six better than seven so I thought that was good and you know uh again the

Paint defense remains a mystery to me keeping guys off the glass is hard um he’s just not capable he’s not capable he’s massively overleveraged in that in that paint protector role and you’re going to continue to see centers get to the front of the rim at will literally

The first play of the first play of the game was you know I believe a ran Holmes dunk so it’s just there’s no resistance in the paint the paint is is open other teams know it they’re setting up their game plan to just get to the rim and

Basically if your perimeter defense is compromising tonight I think the Raptors Defenders did a decent job like I think Bruce Brown did a pretty decent job Gary Tren Jr had had had his moments uh Grady got sized up and tested a lot by guys like Jordan p and and you know Kyle

Kusman anytime they saw him on them they’re like okay eyes light up rooky you know I think he did an okay job even gu scored on a couple times um but yeah if those guys don’t guard there’s nothing behind them there’s no nothing behind them so hey you know uh here’s

Another development uh you know idea to put in your put to smoke you know that you don’t have help behind you so you have to guard right there’s not there’s not a lot of scheming and a lot of zones and a lot of help going on right now

It’s basically like okay you get sized up by Jordan pool you’re on your own do something about it you know and and yeah like occasionally the Raptors will send help but there’s no like aggressive you know schemes and trap doubles and stuff like that but I thought the the post

That I referenced earlier about the Raptor coaching Clinic it talks a lot about how the Raptors really aren’t working on their defense right now which which I found really interesting because I’m like that that shows it really shows um anyways uh let’s let’s move on here

In terms of overall team stats um the Raptors of course shoot horribly to oh gosh Gary Trent the the the man of the hour Gary Trent honestly this game might have just swung me a little bit on him in a good way um I have had issues with his paint finishing pretty much

Consistently for the last two and a half years I also have a lot of issues with his defense shot selection passing Etc so there have been Spurs this season where his playmaking has been just good enough where I’m like yeah I could see him contributing um in a winning lineup

Like I could see him contributing to winning basketball because his playmaking and reads and stuff like that are just getting just a little bit better and his defense has been a little out of control at times but also like there have been like more good moments than bad moments lately so that was

Really cool too but I’ll tell you that tonight I saw Gary trying to do things that I didn’t think Gary TR was ever GNA do like in terms of paint finishing like the number of layups open layups contested layups one-on-one layups and transition transition layups half court

Layups Etc that I’ve seen this guy just point blank botch like not even close just throw it up at The Rim fall out of bounds like he is just not a talented finisher around the rim like there’s no dynamicism there’s no left hand right hand like there’s nothing like there’s

No floater package turn around like he do have it like he’s just getting close to the rim and throwing [ __ ] up and praying and that was pretty much him last year and I was like man for a for a guard who does not create very well does

Not finish finish uh at The Rim very well like this is not a player you can win with because he’s not a three- LEL scorer but tonight you saw him be very patient very patient he pump fake a guy get him in the air a little bit now

Granted this is one thing to do this G ran Holmes and and Cory kissper is another thing to go do it against Victor wanyama and he’s probably never going to do it against Victor wanyama because he has physical limitations that are just not going to be something that he’s

Going to erase in this lifetime however still very encouraging to see some of the creativity on the finishes same thing I referenc with OG same thing I referen with grd dick what is the common denominator they all play for the Toronto Raptors every single Toronto Raptor that I can think of from the

Guard position from RJ Barrett to manual quickley to uh even you know if you think about wings like uh OG anobi Scotty Barnes um Gary TR now they’ve all gotten better at this thing which is angles at the rim and finding angles to finish when you look at really great paint finishers you’re

Seeing changes and subtle changes and reactions to how the defender is coming at them and they’re able to put it around put it through put it like they’re able to like kind of change the pace a little bit to disrupt the defender and then put it up uh they have

A bit of a floater game they have a turnaround floater like they can they can do a little bit of a hook shot like there’s just things to go to when teams try to take away and with guys like OG you know uh Gary last year it was just

If these guys weren’t going up for a straight layup they were going going up for nothing and they often got blocked they often missed they often Drew charges they often just smoked just point blank layups and I’m just not seeing a lot of that lately so that has

Been very very positive very positive overall okay I got to find that real GM post because it was super interesting I’m G read it out for you guys because it it really was where’s it okay here we go perfect Perfecto so this is a post from the it’s a forum moderator High

Jinkx okay so you know it’s not [ __ ] I attended the Raptor coaching clinic and open practice some takeaways so one jayen McDaniels can’t even shoot well unguarded in practice very streaky awful shooting mechanics he just needs to gain strength badly I would agree with this assessment 100% I

Also would like to say as someone who’s attended quite a few practices in my life and stuff you don’t want to read too much into how guys play in like a shoot around setting you know some guys mess around a lot they’re not really you know whatever like I’ve listened to I

Don’t know not to name names but I’ve listened to Toronto media members be like oh I attended prors and this guy missed like 16 Corner threes and I’m a better shooter than him like shut up you know like you’re not like I have also seen a I’ve seen an open practice where

Chris BOS has hit like 35 threes or you know out of 40 or Andrea barani has hit like 17 threes from half court and then I’ve seen him go one for 10 that game like that night so just whatever right um number two noira is as lazy on

Defense in practice in fact I don’t think it’s laziness I think he fundamentally doesn’t know where to be Darko is exasperated with him at one point for not knowing where to be in the system number three this whole season about teaching the fundamentals of how to play as a team and they’re basically

Spending 75% of the time working on the offense the things they work on look amazing it’s no wonder we generate so many quality looks a reference to of course uh shot quality uh being top three in the NBA for pretty much the entire season so far for the Raptor so

That’s hard to do by the way because shot quality is absolutely absolutely 1,00% related to uh not only the quality of the offense and the sets that you’re running but also the quality of the players that you have and no one in the world could argue that the Raptors have

Top 15 talent in the league right now no one especially with the number injuries they’ had for them to be top three in offensive like process basically in terms of the looks they’re generating minus the talent that usually generates that process like like basically like

Put it this way if I coach a team with LCA donic and Nico yic and Shay gild Alexander let’s just say me novice never coached in the NBA ever that team is going to be top 10 in looks in terms of shot quality I guarantee it cuz I’m not

A complete idiot and because those three players are just that good that you know a lot of the gravity that they’re going to create is going to create open looks for other people and open looks are obviously going to invert you know they’re going to pop up shot quality to

Create open looks without great players requires Great system so here’s the thing a lot of people think about system you know overcompensating for talent but in my opinion when great system meets great talent you get championships right you think about Steph Curry and Kevin Durant and you know the Golden State

Warriors did they have top five Talent they had top two Talent they had top one talent but they also had a great system you think about Michael Jordan and the triangle offense in Chicago or you know the triangle offense even you know when they ran it in in La like you look at

The Spurs motion offense like all of these systems were incredible systems I feel like coaching coach chiz are important coaching and coaching philosophy and system and you know optim izing that system for the roster is probably the most important thing and if the Raptors are generating if they’re top three in

Terms of offensive you know shot quality then I only shudder to imagine what that will be when these players that they’re developing actually develop you know what I mean because when Gary Tren Jr or Grady dick are better players they naturally will draw more attention which will naturally affect shot quality I

Think this could be a really good thing for the Raptors going going forward so just want to say that um number four it was obvious that there was a clear emphasis on IQ dick oai and their development almost every play random practice was for one of them number

Five Garrett Temple is a great influence on the young guys and has a nice rapport with them he he played with the young Squad the trio I mentioned earlier along with uh Kelly oin and Trent yeah I could see that Barnes number six Barnes wanted to be involved

With everything he was with the coaches as they were talking as they were walking the team through actions just trying to soak up knowledge and be a leader very positive energy it’s good to hear um number seven bue is a real hoods man ha haa uh much more outgoing away

From the cameras seemen like the most fun personality on the team along with Scotty they’re clearly friends yes they are number eight purle is a very serious worker and even with one hand was working on his push shots it’s that Austrian work ethic bro number nine Bruce Brown was running with the g-

League guys and not as a mentor bro bro has anyone’s doc taken a bigger hit than Champion Bruce brown with the Denver Nuggets at the championship parade and then like a year later he’s running G League g-league reps with the Toronto Raptors who just lost to basically another g-league team with the

Washington Wizards as he missed a shot that’s hilarious oh my god um Bruce is better than what he’s been for the Raptors man it’s just been it’s been a sad sad [ __ ] to see anyways um he’s he’s clearly had trouble picking up on our offensive schemes the gague

Guys working solely on learning the schemes in the entire practice this explains why he so frequently seems out of sync and doesn’t seem to know what the hell what to do with the ball once he gets gets it he’s basically freestyling out there number 10 Pat delane’s principles on defense are

Strong we just don’t spend a lot of time with them in practice the focus this year seems to be the offense honestly man I don’t know a lot about patalan but I’m inclined to say probably not like I feel just I mean again uh who the hell

Am I to disagree right now but I feel like they’ll need an upgrade on the bench uh in in that in that regard within three seasons for sure I don’t think he’s a long-term fit as a defensive coordinator for the Raptors uh number 11 Grady dick has his own

Individual development program run by IO simovich uh and a lot of it apart from the physical development stuff has rooted in the most basic fundamentals mic and drills form shooting shot preparation bumping your Defender before using a screen Etc very little things that make a huge difference and that

Work has shown for sure and and actually when I was listening to live last night because I had known about this thing um that they were running up um with with him and with him and Grady like three four months ago and I remember like listening to my live yesterday about

Like all the people that deserve credit and I was like [ __ ] I left out the one guy who deserves a lot of credit my bad bad I I said assistant coaches but I should have named him by by name he has had a really huge part in this for sure

Um number 12 now here’s the biggest one for me with more Talent Development this team is going to be very good soon probably the the year after next like 50 wins good and people will change their minds about Darko he’s an inspiring leader has strong attention to detail

Holds players accountable and is a great teacher the offense looks incredible and I can see why they want to do what they want to do on D they’re just not there yet everyone from the coaching staff to the players respect him and are fully bought in his coaching style is very

Hands-On and communicative frankly he’s less about Authority and more about collaboration which prob which probably was for a lot of players and even the media uh difficult to adjust to he’s different in that regard but they really listen to him oh and he’s not soft he’s

Not a soft pushover either far from it he’s just very respectful and talks to his players without yelling or berating them I like him much more than I did before after seeing him in action oh he was also very open and saying that being an NBA head coach is still surreal and

Unbelievable to him and that he’s still learning a lot really good guy High character person clearly still getting comfortable with the position as a guy but it’s coming he’s going to have a long career in this league even if head coaching doesn’t work out I have no

Doubt that head coaching is going to work out for him just to be fair um to follow up on the above Point winning is not the Raptor’s highest priority this year it’s about Learning and Development everything they’re doing right now is about teaching everything and it’s wild

How most how little most of the guys on the team seem to understand about playing on a high level team chemist uh Team Basketball KO purle and Temple seem to have the greatest grasp of how to play oai is very novice in that regard

So is dick but he is so smart that he finds a way to do stuff coaching staff lotted Dick’s cutting ability and defensive anticipation they think he’s going to be a good Defender IQ is about halfway there but he is learning the point guard position how to manipulate

The defense to create passing lanes and deliver the ball though ball through seams with good timing TR seems to understand a lot he just has physical limitations but they are working on his passing haha number 14 Darko spent a lot of time sitting with Bobby for the first two hours of

The event where the other coaches were talking giving clinics take that what you will number 15 Jama is what everyone thinks Darko is just a great cheerleader and culture Setter he radiates positivity probably has the least amount of quote basketball responsibilities on the team but he is there to keep folks

Energetic and engaged amazing person to be around I bet he’s all about the intangibles it’s really interesting uh um so yeah kudos to to um H Jinx from from real GM for writing that up that’s like really cool and yeah um overall like like man I’m

Not okay two things number one uh I watched this game on delay um we finally got the new cable box that I’ve been putting off forever so now I have this ability to watch things on my time so I can rewind and go forward which is pretty cool it feels like people have

Been doing this for the last 15 years and I’m just catching up right now but hey you know whatever better late than never I was like watching everything live and I had to watch it live or or else my TV was not going to let me watch

It later so I was basically living like kids in the 90s but now I have a box that can record stuff and I can go back and forward and fast forward and Rewind and it’s it’s like I don’t know it’s it’s very surreal but anyways I’m not very technologically

Advanced so this is hilarious for me uh number one so I have that so I ended up watching um I ended up watching the Oakland game instead Oakland versus NC State and I thought it was a freaking fantastic game and it came right down to the wire and then went overtime and it

Was Insanity so that game was very interesting and there was a lot of really really interesting basketball today when it t when we’re talking about uh March Madness it’s been really cool um so so yeah in terms of you know why I lost my voice I’m building a new studio finally

Um it’s really cool I don’t want to be in this room anymore um and I just wanted to have like a really cool space to create these podcasts because I’m doing more and more of them and I’m showing up on other shows and in this room there’s a window

And that window sometimes um it’s just it doesn’t block out for whatever reason the sun is so powerful it’s a very east facing condo so like when the sun comes in the entire thing goes blown out and then I was on when I was on Player’s

Choice the panel the other day like I just started like noticing like my light just kept changing and it happened it’s happened a few times so I was like you know what I need to get out of this room or I need to get blackout blinds um I

Really don’t want to be doing podcasts in this room it was supposed to be like a very temporary fix uh because my laptop broke but anyways so I’m finally finally finally setting up a studio which is going to be really cool and it took a lot of courage to try and tear down

What was initially in there so there was this huge 120 pound Hutch it’s like sitting over the desk and this Hutch basically makes it impossible for me to have my uh computer monitor on because the computer is bigger than the hutch it’s a really weird you know thing I I

Made it with by you know I designed it myself you know 10 years ago I wanted a lot of vertical storage um you know small living you want like vertical storage you want you know place for all your books and stuff so it was like basically up to the ceiling so you

Imagine like 9 and a half feet 10 feet up in the air this Hutch is right up to the ceiling and I had to get it down and I’m not Hercules you know what I mean and I didn’t realize how heavy this thing was so as I’m trying to take it

Down I’m realizing I don’t know how I ever got this up and it starts to fall and it does Fall and it falls over onto a bookshelf so now I’m like in a freaking comedy movie and it’s leaning halfway and it’s like pressing up against a whole bunch

Of papers and folders and and and a bookshelf and so it’s just it’s just I’m like okay what do I do here you know what I mean because if I go under it it could fall on me and if I continue to nudge it I could like possibly like get

My arm trapped it was just like oh my God I didn’t think this through like there’s just too much [ __ ] in this room and this thing is now leaning half the room I don’t know if this makes sense to anybody but it’s just a very very tall

Piece of furniture that was leaning over half the room it’s a very small uh Studio space and right as I’m trying to figure this out my dog runs into the room and sits right underneath this thing and I seeing him and almost like a parental Instinct kicked in he’s a

15-year-old you know he’s he’s been my dog for 15 years I love this guy and I just imagine this 120 pound thing just crushing him and I freaked out I’d never thought in a million years that he would ever go in there and I screamed so loud

And the problem was when I screamed so loud to get out he got scared and he just sat there and he decided to go further in and I started to see it move I felt like I’m going to like I’ve never screamed so loud in my life I think my neighbors might have

Thought like I that I died um really scary really scary moment really good learning experience to never do this [ __ ] again um man that was tough he must have seen like the fear in my eyes and he must been like what’s going on and he couldn’t he doesn’t

Understand get out like he I mean I guess he does but then also like I’m super angry so he’s probably like oh my God should I go past him should I go towards him I don’t know it’s really hard to explain but yeah like holy [ __ ] that was crazy anyways he didn’t nothing

Fell in him he’s perfectly fine um I found a way to break the structure underneath it that was holding it up so that the whole thing kind of fell together in a uniform way and nothing was harmed and nothing was broken nothing was damaged but yeah now I need to repaint that

Room and I want to design it so that it’s a really cool Studio space again I mean like there’s so much of my work that requires Studio stuff like I might do a podcast I might do an interview I might you know whatever it’s good to

Have a studio space in your apartment if you’re lucky enough to to have a small room in your apartment that can be designed into a studio space it’s good to have one because you never know right like in the middle of the day you might have to record something or you might

Have to do a job interview or whatever and it’s just nice to have a space where you know things are set up and um this space has just been so crammed I don’t know if yall remember like some of you are OG’s you don’t you remember like

What the place I used to record that place but I didn’t want it to be all book shows and stuff like that so anyways it’s taken a lot of time and courage to just get around to just dismantling it and I’m just realizing like oh my God it’s so much stuff so

Yeah the next uh the next week of my life is just going to be devoted to painting and renovating and you know uh getting that place set up so hopefully hopefully by the time we’re doing draft stuff it’ll be in a new place with hopefully um new camera I don’t know

Maybe um everything set up and and looking nice and a little bit more polished I feel um I’ve been saying for for a long time that I want to do so many things with this Channel I want to take it to patreon I want to put it on

Spotify I want to get sponsors I want to do this not and not not and that and I’m just like hey why not now why not now you know do it so yeah so tomorrow is going to be spent like lugging like some very very heavy [ __ ] down to storage and

Then not storage to the to the dumps um in the back and of course the snow is not going to help with that but we shall drag we shall figure it out um uh Leo is saying I remember the Batman yes I too remember the Batman um

Yeah it’s just it’s just I wanted to redesign it I didn’t want to I don’t want to live in a tomb of past decisions I think a lot of us do you know I’m looking around right now like I mean my question is if I guess what I’m trying

To say is let’s just say I had to move to a completely different country and I couldn’t bring anything with me like let’s just say I literally could bring one suitcase full of like documents and momentos and childhood photos but that was it I couldn’t bring anything else

And now I’m in that new place what would I put in that new place that’s even in this place right now and it’s is like to be honest I wouldn’t put a lot I would have a single desk I would have one chair I would have one couch I might

Have like a couple of bar stools and I have a bed and have a closet like I I would be super straightforward like there’s like probably seven pieces of furniture that go into my apartment and I’d have a bookshelf that’s it but I have so many

And the truth is like when I was younger when I was younger because we were so poor we didn’t have a lot of stuff so I ended up getting a lot of stuff so when I started working I got a lot of stuff and then you know it’s it’s

Hard to let go of stuff sometimes you know so no matter how much I’ve tried it feels like there’s always more stuff and yeah it’s a Prett I mean I I know I said this is a pretty small space but it’s it’s not that small right it’s like a 8

It’s about 950 square feet that’s a lot of space you know I know a lot of friends of mine that are living downtown with 500 square F feet and they’re and you know and they’re and they’re living quite you know clear and it’s weird cuz

Like people don’t tell you um but like I remember when I started really really throwing stuff out like really like uh this is about 3 and a half years ago 3 years ago in the summer when I really started throwing out like bags and bags

And bags and bags full of like [ __ ] and I was just tossing out tossing out tossing out I remember a friend of mine Spence saying to me he’s like yeah like when I visited your house like six years ago it just felt like there was stuff everywhere and it’s interesting because

It’s always like an anchor to be like I don’t know looking at somebody else being like well they have more stuff than me or they have way more stuff than me you show up to these houses with like people people who have bookshelves to the ceilings and you know they have

Knickknacks in every corner and you’re just like okay well my place isn’t as bad as that um but the truth is um I’m tired of thinking of it better and worse I just want to be good I want to be good with myself you know I don’t really care

What other people are doing I just want to um also introduce a cool thought for you guys uh as a parting note since we don’t have callers because we did uh we did the live so late um something I was oh God my voice really is cracking it’s it’s gone

Shoot Okay so we’ve all heard of a bucket list um so um I was reading last night about a [ __ ] list which is pretty cool so a bucket list to those of you who don’t know is obviously a list of things that you got to do before you

Die uh a [ __ ] it list is the opposite it’s a list of things you will never again do as long as you live I have a pretty long [ __ ] it list and I was thinking about it I was like that’s a really great idea like let me

Write all this stuff out so that I understand like where I’m coming at from and I think one of those things is I’m never going to compare myself um to people that I do not respect so when it comes to you know success money you know relationships

Happiness I’m not looking down at people or I’m not like I’m not going to look at somebody who I don’t respect their standards and be like well at least I’m better off than that person I cannot that’s one of the things on my [ __ ] list I will not do that um so

Yeah facts that’s huge I agree yeah anyways guys and keep this one short nice and condensed uh overall a win for the tank let’s just take a quick look uh if we can uh for the tank ofon and then we’re out of here um okay let’s just okay so in terms of

Tanasan the Raptors are firmly sixed they are now one game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies uh who have one-1 I mean do you see this like they Bridge the four game gap here that’s pretty cool they needed to be unbelievably bad to do it and look at

This the Washington Wizards have one two straight this is incredible um I don’t know like let’s see you know maybe the Wizards are probably going to start shutting down guys but I’m not really sure who else they can shut down I mean they’re playing some pretty scrubby players but like you know below

Kulal is done for the season I mean there are a lot of teams and of course the trono Raptors are facing this team next which is going to be really really tough really tough uh because Brooklyn has been abysmal but I feel like Brooklyn is a lot better than Washington

And you just managed to lose to Washington so hope hopefully you break Brooklyn’s losing streak um I believe their pick is going to Houston regardless is it not [ __ ] it’s unprotected oh my God so they have no incentive to lose at all Brooklyn is oh my

God that is hard and also like wow geez okay cool um okay so Portland Trailblazers would have owed this pick if it was Lottery protected if it was outside of the lottery uh the Charlotte Hornets also owed this pick if it was not in the lottery the Wizards would have owed this

Pick what this pick is currently not traded because it is protected 1 through 12 13 through 30 what a weird protection okay and the pick is not traded because it is protected 1 through 18 that is interesting okay so let’s Sim the lottery one time as a interesting good

Luck do the Raptors keep it yep Raptors keep here we’re going to do it 10 times let’s see if they lose it ever just fun okay boom so lose it once so we’re one for two they move up they move up again so we got two move

UPS one stay still one you lose it o you really lose it so two Los itss two move UPS one stay still three Los itss the Lakers get oh wow okay stay still you lose it stay still you lose it you lose it you lose it oh my God you lose it

Badly you lose it again and you get the first overall pick let’s let’s pray for this outcome oh my God that that was okay this is purely based on math and it does look Grim uh you saying it looks grim yeah Lottery Knight is not going to be fun for the

Tron Raptors unless they somehow manage uh to get to now is this is Portland catchable I don’t think so like they’re also on an extended losing streak they lost six straight so it’s like at this point your best case scenario literally your best case scenario okay let’s just

See if Memphis moves up hold on Memphis moves up once Memphis moves down Memphis stays still Memphis moves down Memphis moves up Memphis moves up Memphis stays still Memphis moves down down first overall pick so really at this point it’s like [ __ ] like you could lose it you really could I mean of

Course the math on this is obvious but of course seeing it play out it’s one thing to say 44% I think people are like pretty I say no offense like bad at understanding what a 37% chance at a top four pick is but like when you

See it play out in a simulation a 100 times you get an idea of how bad it could get in the in the off chance right so really at this point we are we are just praying on on luck and you know of course uh we’re it’s top six protected

And we’re sixth right so yeah it’s it’s I don’t want to say it’s 5050 it’s definitely not 5050 but it’s a solid chance even at six you’re losing this pick um which is sad given all the [ __ ] that we went through this season to lose this pick

Would be abysmal um think of it another way it does free up your next year’s pick to be traded no losing this pick uh would free up your um number one it would free up your second round picks um for subsequent years that were the conversion I believe and it also frees

Up your 2026 first round pick and 2028 first round pick so you can suddenly you can suddenly trade those those those uh those picks if you wanted to which is interesting um you know also uh worth noting the Indiana pick with which was at one point 15th is now firmly 17th and

Could be could be moving towards 18th or 19th if you think about where Indiana is relative to Sacramento and Dallas and their strength of schedule Etc um yeah this is tough I mean I would have really liked for the Raptors to get the 15th overall pick in this draft uh

Personally I would have liked the the Indiana Pacers to be in the in the playin so that they could potentially give us a lottery pick that would have been great um in my estimation so far looking at this draft there’s a pretty big gap between 12 and 18 so prayers up that

Indiana Falls a little bit I’m not rooting for them right now even though one of my favorite players plays on that team and tyres halberton um they have been pretty good over the last 10 games they’ve been six and four that’s relatively decent um it does not help

That Philadelphia is in complete freef fall at all and it does not help that Miami is not playing well so yeah it’s really not even that they’ve been good it’s just the teams that were ahead of them have been really bad okay all right I’ll talk to you guys

Later and um subscribe if you haven’t already like this video on your way out appreciate it and hey it’s 1:47 a.m. and you got 145 people here that’s pretty cool um Alexander B saying favorite part of the game was Gary getting stuffed at the rim and Alvin losing it in the background

There was a moment of silence and the devil and tried to talk but bursted out of laughter um yeah did I talk about that I didn’t yeah I was trying not to be cruel but yes that was uh that was an embarrassing moment and and kind of highlights let’s say Gary’s limited F

And UPS you know he’s not a bouncy you know athlete and you know when you see a guy like like Malik monk or even Jordan noara you know when you see these when you see these guys sort of take off for a dunk um their combination of length

Size athleticism burst vertical leap Etc really shows up and you you do wonder what what Gary could have done with a little bit more vert and a little bit more length and a little bit more size um back stiffness yeah that’s fair yeah anyways talk to you guys later peace

The Toronto Raptors made the headlines for losing to the Detroit Pistons the day they traded OG Anunoby. There were no headlines today. They were expected to lose to the Washington Wizards, and lose spectacularly they did.

call in show: https://streamyard.com/8tgxjkkrmh

Deni Avdija scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Kyle Kuzma made some big baskets down the stretch to compensate for a rough shooting performance and the Washington Wizards handed the Toronto Raptors their 10th consecutive loss, 112-109 on Saturday night.

With just their third two-game winning streak of the season, the Wizards kept from falling below Detroit for the worst record in the NBA.

“It was a good win for us,” said Jordan Poole, who scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to spark the rally. “It was a scrappy game. Both teams played good. We both struggled for periods of time, but we managed to stay together through it all.”

Bruce Brown missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have forced overtime, and the short-handed Raptors have not won since March 3.

This was arguably their best chance to end this skid — by far their longest of the season — especially after cutting down on the turnovers that hurt them in a home loss Friday night to Oklahoma City. But Toronto, playing without its top three leading scorers and down to just eight healthy players available, made some costly mistakes and faded late after leading by as many as 11.

“I saw a lot of fight,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We missed a layup, we missed wide-open shots, we missed a dunk. Obviously guys, they want to make those shots. They want to make the right decisions there. It did not go our way tonight.”

In addition to Poole’s late contributions, Kuzma heated up and went 4 of 6 from the floor in the final minutes after starting 3 of 12 and finished with 16 points.

“That’s what good players do,” Wizards interim coach Brian Keefe said. “You find a way. He was missing some shots early that he usually makes, but he put his head down, got to the rim, made some big plays for us.”

Richaun Holmes also grabbed a game-high 14 of the Wizards’ 55 rebounds to Toronto’s 42, along with 15 points.

“We struggled with rebounding the ball,” Rajakovic said. “They scored some timely baskets and tough, contested shots. But the main difference in tonight’s game was rebounding.”

They also struggled to contain Avdija, the ninth pick in the 2020 draft who’s making the most of a bigger role.

“I have trust in him, so we’re definitely putting the ball in his hands more,” Keefe said. “Some of it’s also his rebounding: It leads to him pushing in transition. But his ability to get downhill, get to the rim for himself and for others has been terrific.”

Gary Trent Jr. led the Raptors with 31 points, rookie Gradey Dick scored 17 and Kelly Olynyk had 14 points and 10 assists.

Tristan Vukcevic, a second-round pick in the 2023 draft, played three minutes and had a rebound in his NBA debut for Washington after signing a two-year deal last week. Marvin Bagley III returned to the Wizards lineup after missing the past nine games with lower back spasms and scored 10 points off the bench.

#Raptors #WeTheNorth