Blazers vs Atlanta Hawks Preview Special Episode | Trail Daddy: A Trail Blazers Podcast Hosted…

Blazers vs Atlanta Hawks Preview Special Episode | Trail Daddy: A Trail Blazers Podcast Hosted…

hey sports fans if you want to stay in the know with the latest news surrounding the Oregon Ducks you need to listen to the weekly webfoot review podcast on iTunes and Spotify I’m Jordan Schultz and every week I’ll be here breaking down what’s going on in Eugene and how it affects Oregon’s football and basketball teams so if you want unfiltered news and opinions delivered by a lifelong Ducks fan subscribe to the weekly webfoot review on iTunes and Spotify God ducks hey what’s up laser fans this is Tara here with a special preview edition of the podcast we’ll be doing this periodically throughout the season today we are lucky enough to be joined by Jeff seagull of peach tree hoops and early bird rights Jeff welcome how are you doing we are uh doing good here in Portland well I’m doing here good here in Portland I’m definitely not going to speak for everybody at this point um but uh how are you doing uh and how are the Atlanta Hawks doing this year uh the Hawks are having some ups and downs uh we are recording this literally minutes after they just lost to the Kings on Friday night um and they were mostly really bad throughout that game and then had one really good run to cut the lead to one and then got blown out the rest of the game it was not you know it was a decent performance and that at least they had a stretch of time that was good because against the Bulls on Wednesday night they had no no no minutes that were any good at all uh so it’s been a rough couple games but before that they were they were doing a little bit better I think they’re now three and four on the season probably you know right around where they’re where where they should be based on the the level of talent that they’ve got well I’d love to take it back just a little bit to preseason expectations for this team and have you kind of explain where you were coming in thinking how the team was going to do and then if they are sounds like you think they’re right about about where you thought they would be yeah I think so I mean they’ve had some some better moments I think that they’ve had some particularly strong luck in in in terms of opponent three-point shooting that was not the case against the Kings on Friday uh the Kings shot 18 for 31 from three but before that they were holding opponents to like 29% three-point shooting which is you know ridiculous and obviously you know they people have shown smarter people than me have shown that that’s not something that defenses can really control and so it was a it was a sort of a a lucky first you know six or so games for for the Hawks in that department so you know I think that a little bit of their start with some some smok and mirrors Trey young looks fantastic John Collins looked good and then got suspended for 25 games so that wasn’t great um you know I think that my expectations were lower for them than you know a lot of the fan base was I think I was not thinking of them as a playoff team at all I really was you know if they could win 30 to 35 games that would be a nice little step forward and then they can sort of reassess where where they are next year so you know I was not expecting them to get into the 38 to 40 win range and so you know a three and four start with some good moments with some bad moments I think is is a positive a positive outcome for me what are the main strengths of the Hawks and what are uh some of the most noticeable weaknesses I mean the biggest strength is is Trey young of course like he’s just he’s ridiculous he can he’s maybe one of the five best passers in the league you know he’s certainly up there with with you know you know among Ben Simmons LeBron James Luca donic is in that conversation too just you know the the Nicole yic just there’s no reason to keep naming people but yes Trey young very good passer can shoot the ball very well in bursts like he has times where he just knocks down three 30 Footers in a row you guys are very used to that with Damen Lillard he’ll have some of those kind of moments where just is unguardable and you can’t do anything about it young will have moments like that not quite as often as Damen Lillard but of course it’s only his second year in the league he’s got lots of time to to get to that level if he is ever going to get there so you know I think he’s their biggest strength John Collins would have been their biggest you know their second biggest strength but he’s you know going to be out the the Portland game will be his fourth game out you know of the 25 game suspension he won’t return until late December so that’s uh not going to hurt the Blazers in any way you know I think outside of that there’s not a whole like they’ve got they’ve got a lot of depth but the depth isn’t unbelievably great that’s kind like they play a very deep 10 11 man rotation every night you it would I think it would even be 12 man if if Collins was available they’re playing 11 man an 11 man rotation and so they’re they’re pretty deep they’ve got a lot of different kind of guys who can come off the bench and do some different things but not you know no nobody who is you know a world beater outside of Trey Young Who who has had s the most success guarding Trey young what’s the uh what’s the most effective way you’ve seen teams so far uh slow him down I think the biggest thing is to push the ball out of his hands immediately you guys again are going to be very used to seeing that because that’s what the that’s the sort of the scouting report against Damen Lillard as well teams who have lots of length and will Blitz out on young will be able to bother him a little bit he’s only you know 60 one like he’s not a huge guy if if a defense has a ton of length we saw this against the Bulls on Wednesday where they had Tomas sansy who’s like six foot seven and then they had low Markin in who’s a seven-footer just trap all the way out beyond the three-point line and Trey had some issues just navigating those uh you know just navigating all that length in terms of getting passes to to his teammates the teammates are not unbelievable passers they don’t have a ton of big men who can pass you know on that short roll the Alex Len Damen Jones Bruno Fernando is their Center rotation right now it’s not very good it might be the worst in the league it’s really really really rough for them at the center position John Collins is a better playmaker but again he’s suspended so now it’s Javari Parker in that role Parker is a better passer Than People sort of give him credit for as sort of a his reputation is that he just gets buckets he can pass a little bit he’s decent in that department but uh really it’s just all about getting you know getting the ball out of Young’s hands blitzing on the perimeter and and playing four on three On The Backs side teams are having some success with that Trey has you know brought some different tools to the table this year in terms of you know his ability to break those traps but it’s still a a particularly strong def defense against what the Hawks like to do you uh brought up John Collins a couple of times for people who might not really be familiar with happened I think most people know that he got suspended but can you give us a little bit of the backstory and what went on and uh you know sort of what the fan base was saying uh about his suspension and how the team is feeling it uh I mean it’s it was pretty interesting to hear what the what the team what the team’s response was so he got suspended for some sort of human growth hormone I know there’s like a very official name for it that has a number in it and all this stuff but it’s basically HGH performance-enhancing drugs type of thing it was not the same as DeAndre aton’s suspension which was like for a diuretic which is a diuretic sort of masks steroid usage or can mask steroid usage and so the NBA suspended Aon for using something that might be a mask for steroid usage this one was just straight up this is a a human growth hormone pill or something of that nature I’m not entirely sure how he ingested that but the response from the team was very much a we’re going to support John when he returns to the team we are you know he’s obviously very you know not ashamed I don’t think they us that word but I think he they did not fight it is what is sort of the point of what I’m saying they did not say we’re going to help J with his appeal they were like yeah this happened and he’ll we’re we’re going to be happy to have him back whenever he’s back but for now we’re just you know going to support him and try to get through this period without him so I thought it was it was notable only that the team was not particularly defiant of the League’s uh ruling they were very much like yeah this yeah he got caught we’ll we’ll see him in in a couple months and that was kind of the end of it it was it was a little bit weird uh we haven’t heard from Jon at all since you know the players who are suspended like that usually don’t talk to the media or don’t make any you know real um statements or anything like that so we haven’t heard from him we won’t we probably will not hear from him for the next like six weeks or so but he’ll be back in late December I think December 23rd will be his first game back after that’s full suspension and you know at this point it’s just about next man up Javari Parker Vince Carter are now the the power forward rotation in Atlanta so who are some players that the Blazers fans might want to keep an eye on you know who think think are interesting to watch or who you think are interesting to watch I mean I really young obviously not named Trey young of course because that’s obvious um but yeah I mean Kevin herder is the might be the starting shooting guard so he has not started most of this season because he was injured in the in preseason cam reddish has been starting but then the second half against the Kings uh herder was the starting shooting guard he may be the starter against Portland certainly if I were in charge he’d be the starter but he would have been already so I don’t know exactly how uh head coach Lloyd Pierce is going to assess that situation and and decide whether he wants to go with herder or reddish but herder had a really great game on Friday against the Kings was you know he’s a strong playmaker strong shooter very much the CJ McCollum to to Trey Young’s Damen Lillard in that sense in terms of the two of them being the offensive engines for the team and he’s not necessarily the sort of iso bucket getter that that CJ McCollum is but he’s he can run a secondary pick and roll he’s a really good passer great shooter you know 67 at the two guard like so he’s a big guy you know I think he’s he’s really interesting to watch the I mean really the second best player on the team all season has been Jabari Parker which is you know kind of astounding to think about based on what we know of Jabari Parker’s career so far but he’s just been great offensively he’s just I think he’s fourth in the league in total dunks and he’s not even up until the last couple games he wasn’t even starting because John Collins was starting ahead of him he just he works really well with Trey young works you know is a great role man gets right under the rim and is just always open for for those little dump off dunks he’s shooting threes a little bit more which is nice to see but really it’s it’s all about him being able to roll to the rim and and get up for for you know cut Ducks dunks off of little dump offs little Cuts around the rim he’s done really well in that department um I mean defensively there’s not a whole lot to say about the Hawks I mean certainly where you know how Trey young defends anybody on the tra on the Trailblazers is going to be really interesting because the the team that they usually will put out there Portland with Damen Lillard and CJ McCollum and Rodney Hood as sort of the starting perimeter players I have no idea who Trey Young’s going to guard he’s not going to be able to guard any of those guys so that’s going to be the biggest thing that I’m looking for from the Hawks perspective going into this game on Sunday they just don’t have a place to put him usually there’s at least one offensive player among the the point guard shooting guard and small forward who Trey can sort of hide on but there’s I mean if you put him on Dame Dame’s gonna kill him you put him on CJ CJ’s gonna kill him you put him on Rodney Hood Rodney Hood’s gonna just shoot right over him just like he did to jbal Murray in that in that Playoff Series last year like it’s it’s going to be an issue for for them in terms of how they’re going to uh handle those matchups you you know bring up a lot about the guards both teams right now are relying a lot on their guards to do a lot of the work you know Portland has a very thin uh front Court rotation you mentioned that uh in Atlanta things are uh things are thin too how do you see the uh front courts matching up in this particular uh uh game I mean it’s just going to be kind of ugly I mean it’s it’s not it’s not great I mean I would expect that maybe this would be an interesting opportunity for both sides to to try to go a little bit smaller and play some some interesting smaller lineups I know the Hawks have toyed with even in the the wake of cins suspension they’ve toyed with going with like Jabari Parker or Vince Carter at the five it’s very those are very short very you know very short stin very small samples at this point but they’re at least kind of interesting and so if wanted to do some sort of like Vince Carter Jabari Parker front court against like Mario honia and Kent basore like that would be kind of fun I mean I’d be interested in watching that I don’t know that either side is going to commit to that and then if they do is the other side going to try to go big or not like it’s it’s you know there’s a little bit of cat and mouse there between the two coaches but I think that would be an interesting uh an interesting set of lineups to to see on Sunday the Blazers have definitely thrown at least three guards out several times and and we’re just all waiting for them to throw a fourth out there and possibly even a fifth yeah I mean it’s I mean certainly for the Trailblazers just based on you know the injuries that they’ve had and the in the thin front Court rotation the Hawks have three centers who are playing like consistent minutes they’re just not any good so it’s like they don’t play a ton of small ball just because they have three centers that they want to work into the rotation with Alex Len Damen Jones who they just traded for and Bruno Fernando who they just drafted they want to get those guys in and so for the most part they do play with a center at you know almost at all times but I mean none of those guys are are particularly good at basketball right now so you know it’s it’s not something where they they should be you know totally married to to playing those guys you know significant minutes are you a Netflix person are you more into Hulu you got that HBO now thinking about that whole Apple TV plus Disney Plus Peacock Showtime CBS it never ends so on today explained vox’s Daily News podcast we are going to talk to vox’s critic at large Emily [Music] come out of the streaming Wars and also she’ll criticize some of the Lesser shows that have come out of the streaming Wars you will know everything you need to know you will know which service you should be subscribing to and which ones you should Skip and you’ll know if you’ll ever have time to do anything else in your life other than watch TV ever again check out today explained wherever you listen to your podcasts you can find our episode on the streaming Wars right now is Trey young like the Heart and Soul Leader of this team like you know like Damien has been for the Blazers uh no no but like there’s nobody in the in the league like Damen Lillard like there’s no I mean he Lillard is just like the guy in in Portland I don’t think Trey is is at that level quite yet I think Vince Carter has played a massive role in the leadership Department over these last couple years as he’s been in Atlanta Kent basore was a huge leader for them last year of course he’s now in Portland Evan Turner an old Portland Trailblazer is doing a little bit more of that leadership in uh in Atlanta but of course since Turner’s not playing right now with the injury it’s a little bit more difficult for him to to step into that role I mean certainly on the court Trey is the the engine the the sort of stra the the straw that stirs the drink in that sense but he’s not I don’t know that that the team necessarily like Falls in line behind him emotionally in the in the same way that they that the Portland Travers do with with Damen Lillard it’s so it’s interesting because it’s been so long that Damen Lillard has been the heart and soul of the Blazers that I forget that everybody doesn’t have that same situation and I started to make a habit of always asking people from other fan bases who’s the leader just partly just because you know to remind myself how lucky and how fortunate we are with Daman and the Lord because I never ever ever for a second want to take him for granted but it it just it does kind of surprise me sometimes that uh a lot of locker rooms are led by committee you know kind of yeah different roles well before we go I wanted to make sure to check in on a couple of Trail former Trailblazers who you brought up uh ET has played a few games I understand and then Alan Krab was uh joined the team this summer but hasn’t played I understand because of knee issues so uh any like reactions from the fan base to the arrival or opinions on these players like what was the what was the reception like I think the reception for crab at the at the time that they made the trade in June or the time that they agreed to that trade in June was relatively positive he was going to come in be able to shoot the ball be you know be able to sort of give some spacing to that second unit once they decided to go with you know like Evan Turner and Jabari Parker and and A Center on that second unit it was sort of clear that they were going to need some sort of shooting uh Off the Bench and so crab was supposed to play that role he has not played that role yet he hasn’t played at all and so that’s you know been a little bit uh not frustrating for the fans I don’t think because they’ve got so many guys who are playing right now that they’re trying to give minutes to so you know I’m not totally sure how a healthy crab would have fit into to this rotation at this point he’s he he practiced I know on as we record this on uh yesterday with the uh g-league team in college park so he’s ramping his activity back up he was not active against the Kings but he is at least you know he went through a full practice with the College Park Skyhawks is trying to get back on the floor I think he’s the closest of the injured guys to getting back on the floor in terms of him Chandler Parsons and Evan Turner Turner played 34 minutes over three games is really just the backup point guard behind Trey young Tre is gonna play you know 32 he played 39 minutes against the Kings he’s gonna play a significant amount Turner’s been in and out of the lineup with this Achilles injury that he’s had and so he’s not he hasn’t been as effective as I sort of thought he was but I’ve been I’m sort of more of an Evan Turner guy than a lot of people are I think a lot of people just sort of not just totally write him off but don’t think of him as somebody who can be valuable on both ends of the floor I I like Turner a little bit more than that I’m somebody who likes his passing ability certainly his ability to play with Trey young would be interesting like the fact you know what we were just talking about where Trey gets trapped on the perimeter and Turner can be that outlet at the free throw line to catch and make a good decision it was something that I wanted Terry STS to run a little bit more in uh in in Portland over these last couple years I wrote about it I think in the 2018 playoffs you can go back and find that on Blazer’s Edge about why Evan Turner is not more involved in the playmaking duties for uh for the Portland Trailblazers I thought that that he would be a a good that would be a good role for him I think it could be a good role for him in Atlanta if he’s you know assuming that he can be on the floor at all he hasn’t really been able to to play that much with this Achilles pain and so you know hopefully they’ll they’ll get him back relatively soon I think crab is sort of closer to coming back but he hasn’t uh hasn’t featured for a minute even in preseason for the Hawks at this point so it’s hard to say exactly where his spot in the rotation would lie if he uh if he were fully healthy well Jeff thank you so much for coming on tonight and letting us know how things are going in Atlanta is there anything else you want to add about the team or any observations about the Blazers before we sign off uh not uh I don’t have anything really extra just you know the Hawks are a young team they’re fun to watch at times they are not fun to watch at other times I would think that you know the Trailblazers should be heavy heavy heavy favorites as uh as the Hawks start their their West Coast road trip and you know you would think that the the matchup really does favor Portland pretty heavily but you know you never know what you know if Trey young is going to have one of those nights where he’s you know eight for 13 from three and just you know lights the lights the court on fire those happen from time to time uh and so you know that’s sort of what the Hawks like to do is you know they they’re going to put the ball in Trey’s hands a ton and they’re going to try to run you know a ton of pick and roll and let him let him operate out of those out of those spots and so you know it’s going to be really interesting to see you know how Portland defends that how aggressive they are we know that Portland likes to lay back in the paint they’ve been doing that for years it’s been very effective this year not totally as much because use of nkit is out but they’ve you know they’ve had they they have a very distinctive style and that distinctive Style can feed right into what Trey young wants to do if they switch that up how they switch that up or whether Trey is able to get going against that kind of defense is is one of the uh one of the many big things to watch in this game on uh on Sunday you you know have written about the Blazers done guest columns for Blazers Edge for years and uh while you haven’t I don’t think written about them this year I are you still keeping an eye on him have you been watching a few games oh yeah I uh I to keep up with all 30 teams for for my other website early bird rights just to to have a a sense of the league in terms of both the salary cap management and just sort of everything that goes into how these guys play on the floor and you know I definitely have a uh soft spot in my heart for for Damen Lillard and the Blazers they’re one of my favorite teams to watch just he’s he’s awesome he’s so much fun and so you know I do keep up with their games as much as I can I am on the west coast so it helps that uh that they’re on at a reasonable hour that everything is on at reasonable hour out here so that’s really nice uh but I do get to see them fairly often I think I’ve seen four of their games this year right on well you should come up to Portland for a weekend and and take in a game at the Mota Center you’re invited anytime yeah I need to get up there I’ve actually never been to to Portland never been north of of San Francisco here in California so I’ve never uh never gotten all the way up there to Portland Seattle Vancouver all of those places would be a lot of fun to see up in the Pacific Northwest oh my gosh yeah you should totally do it for the 50th Anniversary because there’s some really fun stuff going on around I need to get up there when they’re H when they’re wearing the the vertical Bill Walton uh jerseys because he’s he’s a San Diego native I live here I’ve lived here most of my life I love those jerseys I would I would be very happy to have a a Damen Lillard Bill Walton style Jersey I think that would be really cool um but yeah so it’s it’s something that I hope hope we’ll be able to do someday they look they look real nice I believe they said they were going to wear them every decade night they’re having a a a night to celebrate every decade of the Trailblazers they already had 70s night so you got 80s night 90s night 2000s and then the 2010s night that that you can come up and get to see those live and in person but until then uh you want to tell folks how they can find your work and tell us maybe just a little bit also about early bird rids uh you can follow me on Twitter at JG seagull early bird rights on Twitter early bird rights is your home for a bunch of different salary cap stuff if you’re interested in in the cap and in sort of the the different ways that how teams build their team build their rosters I think that’s a it’s a really good resource for a lot of people they I have full cap sheets for all 30 teams as the Blazers move into the summer and they finally have cap space for the first time in a little while they’re going to be a little bit active I think I’ve got them projected about 1718 million in cap space next year so got an interesting summer you know ahead of them and so I’ll have different uh different salary cap based articles we’ve got another thing coming that I can’t talk about yet because it’s not done but that’s coming in the next it was supposed to be this week it’s not going to be but hopefully it’ll be next week by the time we we get that up and so we’ve got something new coming to to early bird rights in the in the very near future which is going to be really cool and hopefully will um be used by a lot of people who are are interested in sort of deep diving into do various salary cap and onc court stuff and so you can find all of my work there you can find my Hawk stuff over at Peach Tree Hoops which is uh the the SP Nation site for the Atlanta Hawks so if you’re interested in you know how the Hawks are are getting on the rest of the season you can find all of my work over there awesome yeah put I want to put in a plug for early bird rights because I use it all the time I find it super easy and not overwhelming sometimes those uh sites that you know have all of the salary information can just be like way way too much information you’ve got it laid out in a really nice easy uh to navigate format so I would suggest people who are looking for that information totally go over to early bird rights let’s see to to wind it up today you can find me at TCB bigs on Twitter you can follow Blazers Edge at Blazers Edge on Twitter you can also follow the hoops and talks podcast at hoops and talks if you subscribe to the Blazers Edge podcast in the podcast feed you’ll get the weekly podcast you’ll get the women hoops and talks podcast and any other extra podcast that we drop like this one which is just going to be a little bit of extra one in your feed just a programming note to remind folks because we have a game on Sunday Dan and I will be putting out the weekly podcast one day later than usual so that will be out on Tuesday morning and after that we’ll be back on our regular schedule Jeff thank you so much for joining us it was a pleasure talking to you and uh hope you all have a great night and we’ll talk to you soon hey sports fans if you want to stay in the know with the latest news surrounding the Oregon Ducks you need to listen to the weekly webfoot review podcast on iTunes and Spotify I’m Jordan Schultz and every week I’ll be here breaking down what’s going on in Eugene and how it affects Oregon’s football and basketball teams so if you want unfiltered news and opinions delivered by a lifelong Ducks fan subscribe to the weekly webfoot review on iTunes and Spotify God ducks

Tara talks to Jeff Siegel of peachtreehoops.com and earlybirdrights.com (and formerly on blazersedge.com) to preview the Portland Trail Blazers upcoming game against the Atlanta Hawks. Follow him on twitter @jgsiegel, @earlybirdrights.

00:30 The Atlanta Hawks have had an up-and-down season so far. For most of the season they have had pretty good luck in opponents three point shooting but opponents are starting to shoot well from beyond the arc now. Trae Young has looked good and John Collins did too before he got suspended for 25 games.
3:00 Biggest strength of the team is Trae Young. He is one of the top passers in the league and also has good shooting streaks. They have depth and play a deep rotation but the players are not high caliber yet.
4:30 People who have length and can blitz have the most success against Trae Young. Once you get the ball out of his hands there are not too many other options.
6:30 The team did not fight the NBA about John Collins’ suspension. He will be back in December.
9:00 Kevin Hurter may be the starting shooting guard, Siegel wishes that he was. Jabari Parker has been the second best player on the team, he’s rolling and dunking and shooting some threes. Their defense is shakey. He has no idea who Trae Young is going to guard.
12:00 Both teams are relying on their guards because they are thin or underwhelming in the front court. The Hawks have three centers but they are not very strong.
14:00 Trae does not seem to be the same kind of leader as Lillard, although he is very good leading on the court. Vince Carter and Evan Turner have been solid locker room vets.
16:00 Checking in on Allen Crabbe. People were looking forward to him coming in to provide shooting off the bench, but he’s been out all season with a knee injury. It will be interesting to see how he fits into the rotation when he comes back because the rotation is already really deep. Evan Turner has been backup point guard but he has only played three games due to achilles soreness.
18:45 Blazers should be favorites, Portland’s defensive style should be effective against Trae Young.

Find Jeff’s work at earlybirdrights.com and peachtreehoops.com (and formerly on blazersedge.com). Follow him on twitter @jgsiegel, @earlybirdrights.

Follow us on Twitter @blazersedge, @DMarang, @tcbbiggs

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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/30534?utm_source=youtube