JA TO THE RAPTORS? BBQ NO MORE? NBA FINALS!

JA TO THE RAPTORS? BBQ NO MORE? NBA FINALS!

welcome to run it back on the raptors republic network i am ky raman joined by my boy here cody wells no zie today he unfortunately got the flu but we will hold it down as we tag team swap in and out me for zie but cody how you doing man how you doing yeah doing great um lots of uh lots of like conflicting reports uh surrounding the toronto raptors um uh that we’re going to get into and then u but i’ve also been having fun watching the nba finals so wrapping my head around it all but um uh we’re just like passing the flu around to each other i swear but um uh yeah i’m doing good and healthy that’s that’s great you know like hopefully again you know zie zie gets better wishing him the best over here and yeah man like i said tagging in for zie this week we’re hopefully again we’re starting up the trend of hopefully all of us can be back on the show again but you know just getting into it first like you said you know a bunch of conflicting reports and this is what it’s been kind of confusing me because i’m seeing from some reports that trade destinations for kevin durant or the houston rockets the spurs and they’re listing teams that aren’t the raptors but then we’re getting some reports saying durant is might be traded or toronto’s interested in durant and i don’t know what’s going on just today we’re seeing the raptors are interested in trading quickly uh rj barrett and yakob i believe um so what are your what are your thoughts on just the back and forth going on right now yeah so i’ll i’ll read the whole quote from jake fischer here today uh sources say that the raptors would be willing to part with either rj barrett and emanuel quickley for a significant roster upgrade several league figures with knowledge of the raptors thinking have likewise asserted that they could show a willingness to move center yakoba purle as well provided that the trade in question brought back durant so yeah u i mean it’s kind of what we had all really suspected without it coming to light like if you just look at the contracts if they were going to go to try and get somebody who who’s really good and makes a lot of money these are the contracts that have to be traded so you could kind of piece it together yourself um but yeah it’s i guess it’s nice i don’t know to see the confirmation um yeah it’s so it came out like this is like the third week in a row we’re talking about trades it was like the the first week zulfie and i really dug into giannis and then like by the time the next pod came uh like it just seems like giannis is going to stay now last week we did a whole whole thing on kevin durant and it seems like he was not going to come to toronto but like as of like literally like yesterday today like it’s like i believe brian winhorse said that the uh the toronto raptor and los angeles clippers are also lurking in the kevin durant sweepstakes so they’re still there it seems like they’re trying to force their way in even though it’s not one of kd’s preferred destinations um and we talked about it i asked uh zofi the same thing last week so i’ll ask you it right now kyle uh i piecing it all together um the suns want a center back so it would be yaka purle most likely in the deal and rj barrett seems to be the likely candidate to also be in there so would you do rj barrett yaka purle plus whatever to get kevin durant that’s what i was thinking because it like it depends like are we throwing in the ninth pick are we throwing in the 39th pick or what depends what else is included because i will say like you know i haven’t been here for the last two weeks so i didn’t really get to like dig into the trade but if we’re making a move for that’s why i was more on the giannis side but if we’re making a move for durant i don’t know how to feel about it because again he is 36 he is 36 going on 37 and i feel like if we make this move you’re basically signaling we want to win now like i know zfie touched on it we’re not just going from okay our goal this season is to make the playoffs our goal of the season is to contend to make a deep run because we will probably have maybe two to three years if we’re lucky of durant left in his career unless he has the lebron longit longetivity but i don’t know like i i wouldn’t be against it i wouldn’t be mad if we did do it but it just means you know we got to pick up the pace here we can’t just be relying on the rookie development we can’t just be relying on you know guys like you know grady to snap into in three and four years momo to develop all these guys we have it’s i don’t know how to feel about it especially with durant’s age because again we’re giving up we’re giving up rj we’re giving up yakob we’re hopefully we can draft a better center because we still need an upgrade at the center position if we give that to the suns and i just feel weird about it like i just feel weird overall because again i know that means we have to win now but i don’t know if we can win now immediately with that season and i don’t know how much longer durant’s got left knock on wood like if he does come here he’s healthy yeah it’s it is a bit weird because i mean well it’s also like mark stein saying the rappers are willing to gamble on kevin durant um because he only has one more year left at 55 million so again there’s no um certainty that he would i mean it’s toronto isn’t one of his preferred destinations so who’s to say he would even stay so is it is rj and yak plus worth giving up a one-year for a one-year rental in durant who your team might not even be ready to you know compete for an nba championship even with durant coming in it’s definitely a weird uh situation he is eligible to sign a two-year contract i forget how much money it is um but he is willing to extend to that and i think uh from what i saw that he was willing to do that to one of his preferred destinations but yeah it’s a really it’s interesting like okay would you do rj barrett and yaka purle straight up i i think i would i would i take the gamble on that i just don’t like the idea of potentially including one of our picks especially a ninth pick in there with durant’s age if durant was a year like two three years younger obviously but being 36 going on 37 that’s what makes me hesitant right i know he’s still a killer but that combined with our upcoming core right now that still has yet to develop and doesn’t have the experience that durant does it just kind of like that’s what the tipping factor is for me like i would do it if it was just yakob and rj but if we’re including something else it that’s what makes me hesitant i mean to me like if you throw in yak and nine then i don’t know you got to get a center back deal or because then like it would be tough i feel like that would be a little bit of an overpay mhm i mean it’s i don’t like again i i’m right with you where it’s like is it an overpay for kevin durant like maybe maybe not it’s just but when you look at in the context of the toronto raptors and what age this group is at and where they’re at in their development curve it might might be an overpay for where they’re at you know what i mean because i think katie’s in the position of his career now to you’re adding him on to an already wellestablished core i feel to really take you over the top um i don’t know if katie is gonna single-handedly drag uh the team yeah and like but i said this to sophie last week as well like how fun would it be to see katie and bi together like yeah you know the raps the raps half court offense would go from miserable to like elite it would be it would be very fun it would be it would be such an entertain entertainment team to see like i’m not against like if they do do it i’m not going to sit here and be upset about it or whatever i’m just going to say “okay this is a gamble let’s see where we go from here maybe i’m not most the most keen on it but you know seeing seeing brandon ingram seeing kevin durant seeing scotty barnes all play together because obviously i’m pretty sure scotty would not be included in this trade considering you know durant’s age and like him just lowering like his kind of value that way but you know with these three men’s three boys playing together it’d be it’d be it’d be it would be fun to see like i wouldn’t be against it whatsoever i i’d buy durant for sure i’d buy dante 100% um and you know like yeah maybe might not agree with the trade but i will have a lot of fun watching and covering kevin the ram for the toronto raptors that would be really fun um i i also saw reports i don’t have the name who uh reported it i apologize but that uh it might have been fiser uh that the raptors the ninth overall pick is like the most likely to be dealt in the top 10 or something i’m paraphrasing something like that so um which is which sucks because i’m just coming around if they do deal that pick like i’m just coming around on like five of the 10 guys in the top 10 but have you have you this is kind of a question out of left field but have you come to a name you like at number nine not 100% like do you are have you landed on who you want not particularly cuz like i just don’t know who what direction we really want to go in and especially because of everyone’s futures being so up in the air like i’m leaning towards more they might really end up trading this pick cuz everything i’m reading like the raptors are in such a a unique spot where they have a good team at developing team and they can afford to kind of trade that pick to get something to help further along this team they’re not in full rebuild mode anymore so i saw the report too and i i think it might just be rumors um the like i think the raptors have the best odds right now at trading for john morant how would you feel about that i i mean yeah we talked about it um two or three weeks ago with zulfi as well yeah it would be i mean he would solve a lot of the rim pressure issues that toronto has and um would bring some athleticism to the raptors back court that would be really great and he i feel like he would fit in in uh you know how toronto wants to play transitionally uh he would be a monster in transition with the toronto raptors i mean obviously the injuries are um a concern the misplaying time the three ball also is a a bit concerning as well which would uh would hold me back on that but i mean i don’t know i i mean depending on what the cost is yeah why not like toronto uh i think could take a swing on him why not if if he was even available yeah so i don’t know where exactly the report came from i don’t know why like people are speculating but if they are willing to deal it like personally i thought with emanuel quickley like i love iq’s game but i always thought he wouldn’t be our point guard of the future like in maybe like one or two years i think going forward we could have used an upgrade at the point guard spot and maybe jaw would be that guy to do it like the same same worries as you as well like the three-point shooting would take a hit and you know that’s kind of why we traded for iq in the beginning because of his three-point shooting helped that helped their perimeter offense as well so unless john becomes like really good at the three ball we’re going to have to rely on like hopefully brandon ingram you know ups his game from the three grady dick you know oh jameson matt all the guys we got going on right now can help surround him and maybe he like flows into more like a athleticism playmaker role but i don’t see like it it would be an interesting fit for sure and i think he would definitely help lead the team to the playoffs a deep run i don’t know um i don’t know if we’d have that like memphis miracle run that they did but it would be a definitely interesting like interesting core for sure i’m going to assume we would trade like if we did this trade we would trade iq and rj i don’t know if we include a picker there but i’m assuming we’d still have scotty and bi so just having that core of bi scotty and sha would definitely be interesting for sure i think think that could be a top five team in the in the east honestly if we played to our full potential yeah i haven’t even really thought about what a potential package would look like what even what even is john’s value i feel like he’s one of the hardest guys in the league right now to kind of gauge what his value would be and yeah who knows if memphis even wants to um let him go per per sham shirani they want to continue to build around him and jiren jackson after the wild desmond bane trade so uh how about that hey that does what did you think of that the four what is it four unprotected first rounders which is which is crazy to me cuz i don’t like i i saw the piece the other day on raptor on on the website of how this you know affects like the raptors going forward with our trades and what we’re going forward here that was that was insane to me because we’re we’re dealing that for desmond bane and things like that so what what are the what do the raptors have to deal out to you know kind of land their big fish and i feel like you know giannis is out of the picture now like we he’s staying i feel like they’re going to try and build around him or try and get something going there so what does this mean for trading for someone like a kevin durant or like a john morant are they going to ask for more i feel like the memphis would ask for more from us at least for their star player kevin durant i’m not so sure but maybe they’d ask for the 39th pick you know maybe they ask for dakob and the ninth pick cuz they want to start rebuilding if you trade away kevin durant you’re obviously going to go into some sort of rebuilding mode around devin booker so seeing this pick and seeing how i don’t know i didn’t know desmond b just had it like that had motion like that to just command for unprotected i you know what i think it was more so like orlando identified who they wanted to go get who would fit perfectly and i think the fit is like really good right like obviously they can’t hit a three over there or down there in orlando so he desmond bane’s obviously been one of the best shooters in the league since he’s came in uh he can play on in off the ball he’s really developed uh that on ball stuff but he he slots in perfectly uh next to paulo bankerro france vagner jaylen suggs as you’re not taking the ball any of out of any of their hands really with bane being inserted but you can run bane off actions uh he’s tough he’s hard nose i mean him and suggs defensively is also going to be uh really fun uh i mean the team defensively as a whole is obviously still really good so i mean that’s i mean hey they’re making a run at it and that’s all all these east teams are doing it so we’ll see what toronto does uh obviously they want to be one now they went and acquired brandon ingram it’s going to be interesting to see if they make another move toronto in general i mean there’s so much buzz so like you know when there’s smoke there’s a fire to me uh they’re clearly trying to get something done i worry if you know they’re gonna if messiah is gonna be a little too overaggressive and really try to force his way into this kim durant thing and get it done i mean i think if you do that you got to hope or i think i would only do it if he’s going to extend because it’s different than the kawawaii situation you already had a 59 win team when you went and got kawawaii so and again like like i was just saying like he was the one that was going to take you over the top yeah right uh kd like if you’re not getting a a longer term commitment from him then it’s like a it’s a rental and you’re giving up a i believe barrett’s only 24 years old you’re giving up like your only legit nba center in the deal as well um so that would oh it would be um it would suck back it’s like if he was to leave yeah yeah it’s like you said like he if this is a one-year rental this is definitely different from the kawawaii situation cuz you know like we tried our best with d rozan we had we were in the playoffs we were actively contending but we just knew we couldn’t get over that hump with that current team and it was no fault on d rozan we just needed someone like kawawaii right now it’s different because this team is still kind of on their they’re young they’re developing they’re still getting their experiences they didn’t have the experience of you know a kyle lowry of like a marasal of a sergy baka of the guys on that team if you trade durant on here too he is the vet of this team helping to lead them into these situations and like i feel like you know the pacers are great all these uh the east teams are great but the west is if we had a truly stacked team the west is wide open right now and i feel like you know we this would be a blockbuster trade for durant i feel like it’s going to be involve iq it’s going to involve rj maybe even jakob whatever it’s going to be a big package and you know if durant leaves that kind of just guts our team we lost our we lost our point guard we lost to rj we lost our center and now we’re kind of back to square one and then you got to think what does that do to scotty’s mental does scotty really want to be here especially to another rebuild you know does he want to stay here like as much as he loves the city he is getting older he’s going to want to start competing he’s going to want to start getting awards accolades things like that because he is a talented player so if durant leaves that that might bode horrible for toronto for our entire team yeah you’re uh yeah that’s worst case scenario obviously for you you just projected some fear into me but yeah um it would yeah like i understand it’s wide open and i understand they’re trying to make win now moves but it’s again it’s a really good 2026 draft class coming up as well like i’m thinking of doing a piece on it in general and why maybe toronto shouldn’t be as aggressive just because it is wide open but it still might be wide open in 2026 as well so maybe not going all in quite yet especially when you’re not quite there let everybody develop again i mean you got to make decisions on like rj barrett and yakapurto’s contracts anyways yeah um i just don’t know if kevin durant is the guy to cash in with those contracts just given his age um all right uh just to end it yes or no uh do the raptors make like a do they get their big fish uh i’m going to say i’m going to say no i’m going to say no they don’t get the unless they throw out some some big trade package i don’t think they do and you know what i’m not mad at that if we don’t get our big fish we still have our core we’re developing we still have our plan of you know develop these guys make the playoffs at least and we’re on a slow and steady pace and we’re just back to business as usual so i would i wouldn’t be too upset if we don’t end up landing our big fish or whatever yeah i i don’t think they get them but if they do it’s going to they’re going to pay quite a bit and i think it’s going to be kevin durant i don’t think it’s really going to be anybody else um even though i would love like a darius garlander or what you have it um all right nba finals nba finals game five is going on as we speak so uh yeah that is true that is true uh so kyle you haven’t been on in the last couple of weeks what uh oh what have you made of this series so far tied 2-2 um yeah what have you made so far bro i was ready to raise the flag for the pacers last game when i was watching that game it’s crazy how i missed the first four games and it’s only been like two weeks but it it’s it’s incredible to me like if you if you are a basketball purist if you love the game this series is for you it’s just a chess match between these two games between the coaches between them running you know new lineups running a double big lineup responding to one another like i feel like you you can’t get a better nba finals than this like you have the close games you have the comebacks it’s not blowouts it’s great defense you know teams are just reading each other overall but last game you know the thunder pull the pacers on the pacers they would not quit you know i think what is it sga came into the fourth with 20 points and he he did his thing you know it was it just wasn’t a good shooting night for the pacers as well like just looking at right now seakum 6 for 15 two for six from three miles turner 3 for 10 hallebertton was 7 for 15 1 for seven from three so you know they kept it slow and steady and but i will say though my thought is whoever wins tonight i think they just end up i think they end up winning the series i just because of the way the coaching is going and how they’re responding to each other i feel like tonight is the the series deciding game like i feel like overall this might go to seven games i’m fairly confident this this will go seven games but tonight will be who ends up winning the series in the long term yeah the percentages would say that too winner of game five in a two- two series tie is more it’s around 60 to 70% will win the series so you you hit the nail on the head there yeah sga 35 points last game um game three was even a a fun one too um with indiana’s bench really boosting them uh to the win it’s been it’s been really fun and the ratings have uh the ratings talk has again surfaced again but um the ratings have been good too the first four games of the nba finals are uh the four highest rated programs in prime time in may and june uh per the nba itself and uh the finals have generated more than two billion views globally and counting across social media uh a record through four games i think it’s been really fun to watch i mean there was all that talk of coming into the series of you know what would you have it um but obviously it’s been really fun two fast-paced teams stars on both sides and then as like raptors people like obviously and then as canadians as well you got canadians really hoping too like really playing well uh plus seakkum uh doing his thing so it’s it’s been fun like i’m having fun watching this like i’m try paying attention to game five as we talk here but uh yeah it’s fun yeah it’s like overall the series has been great like i would never just looking at the indiana team it’s not like i was talking about this with one of my friends too you wouldn’t see it’s not like one person dominating it’s everybody getting involved you see multiple people in double digit figures it’s not like somebody got a had a 40 bomb and just completely dismantled okc you have seakkum scoring 20 halleurn has 15 and 10 you nemhard has his 15 over there like everybody’s contributing it’s really team ball basketball at its finest here this the pacers are playing the quoteunquote right way as a lot of people like to say the ethical hoops but you know it’s just it’s so refreshing to see overall just two small market teams going at it competitive games you know the defense has been great they’ve been reading each other the overall like the offense on the pacers side as well like it’s it’s been it’s been great man it’s just been fun to see and i know some people will say you know like it might not be the the most entertaining finals from like casual point of view cuz you’re just seeing okc and the pacers but if you really lock into these games it’s never no one team always runs away with it they’re always on each other’s heels and it’s it’s just what you want to see from a finals overall from a finals matchup i don’t think we could have really asked for anything better and whoever wins here i wouldn’t even be mad on one side you got seakkum and hallebran getting a ring on the other side you have sea finishing off his mvp season with a ring so either side it’s just it’s just a w man if the thunder do close this out like this could be the start of uh of like dare dare i say dynasty like they would be before they like i know they’re going to have some money crunching roster issues coming up but i mean they would be primed to um get at least a couple more so um i’m trying to think what else uh has happened here lately uh canadian will riley invited to the green room um not sure how familiar you are with his game but from kitchener ontario uh looks like he’s going to be a lock to be in the first round offensively skilled player um trying to think what else has been in the news anything else you want to bring up today let me think nothing nothing too crazy besides you know game five going on currently tonight and you know i think we addressed all the rumors surrounding the toronto raptors trade potentials yeah it’s it’s been like just pretty stagnant overall like usual trade rumors and nba finals overall like i think i think we hit everything on the head right there man draft is coming up uh it’s i can’t it’s it just stinks up on you nine days away as of recording going to be eight almost a week um when it comes out so did you say you haven’t landed on somebody at 9ine yet no i’m always going back and forth because i just there’s it’s like do we need a big who are you thinking of who are you thinking of which big do you like derek queen common malawash who’s uh who’s your guy if you had to pick one if we can get malawash i would i would i would have chose i would choose him but i was i’m kind of afraid he might go earlier than expected that’s what i’ve been reading so but if we can i’ve been settled on him for a while too but then like i was saying i think earlier in the weeks like if we do end up going with like a wing or someone like that i wouldn’t be mad as well but who knows we can even end up trading trading the ninth pick like out of nowhere if i if i see that screen pop up where we’re trading the ninth pick i’ll go crazy like it’s i need to see something here i need i need these trades to start going i need free agency to kick off soon but overall you know it’s it’s been it’s exciting times right now to be a raptors fan at least like that’s like really i’m really feeling the optimism here about the future of the team and where we can go yeah again like it’s uh it’s it’s so funny they they acquired bi and it was like okay next year like we’re building all this and now all of a sudden like they’re already willing to cash in like i get it they have a lot of assets to consolidate as of right now but i mean i would say just keep stockpiling i’ve actually come around on the idea of trading back a little bit um i i i’ve i think i’m starting to come around on that idea with you know atlanta has a couple of firsts at their disposal okc has a couple of firsts at their disposal if toronto feels like they can still get a guy they really like at i believe atlanta’s at 13 and okc’s at 15 plus pick up an extra first round pick like that’s also one route i would yeah i i i think i’d almost rather prefer them to do that than to throw in nine with rj and yak to go get kd i think i’d rather prefer a trade down um in my opinion but um here’s one more thing i want to ask you i’m afraid like i’m just throwing all these out kyle we didn’t even talk about all these i’m just asking i haven’t talked to him in two weeks asking you all these questions um i con canpple um is a name that i’ i’m seeing his range seems wild to me like i’ve seen maybe that he could be available uh for the raptors at nine so i wanted to ask you what do you think of adding another two guard who shoots the three but might not be u the most stout defensively um even though he might be the best player on the board do you think it’s a little too much like talent overlap with grady dick jacobe walter i mean oag baji’s pro is his best position instead of two so like do you think khan could if they were to take him would you just do best player available or do you think there’s it’s a little too um redundant i think like it like again if like say like malaw is already drafted or whoever and we get to that point where it’s best player available and he’s there i wouldn’t be mad at taking him but like it’s what i’ve thought about too if we do draft a two guard or another wing we’re going to have the overlap with you know with grady dick with jacobe walter with whoever else on the team and that’s what kind of like and again we still have not seen this team play with brandon ingram we still have added brandon ingram to the team as well so assuming we don’t tra like say we don’t trade for katie or whatever we still have r.j and iq at that point as well so just i feel like it might be a little too much talent on the team but if they do go ahead and say you know okay best player available let’s pick him up let’s see what goes on and best case scenario he develops into something crazy and we end up trading rj down the line then we have him to fall back on i wouldn’t be mad honestly like i trust in messiah you know we’ve all been saying it over the years trust in messiah so if he sees something there with him i i i i wouldn’t be against it but i honestly see in the future if we do develop our team going forward i could see grady coming off the bench and providing a spark off the bench like with the three-point wide scoring wise if we say we are contending and we have a fully developed team i always saw grady kind of taking on that six-man role um and maybe again this is how we’re shifting around because again we still don’t know what this team offense looks like with bi we don’t know if it’s going to flow if it’s going to be too kind of who’s getting the ball over here here and there but you know i wouldn’t be mad i would i would i i would end up taking him you know if if he is the best player available yeah i mean whoever they take i’m gonna feel pretty confident in them being a contributor like if you look at messiah jerry’s picks um with the toronto raptors since he’s been on the job he’s really only had two misses in the first round um brut kaboklo which was his first year on the job in toronto his first draft uh and again 20th overall pick so it like was a miss but like it hurts a little bit less and then uh in 2020 malachi flynn um the covid class so and again 29th overall so not that i’ve like making excuses for those picks but they were late late in the first round and it was his first year on the job and it was the co class which a lot of teams messed up their picks in the co class uh golden state warriors james wiseman is a prime example uh but i mean looking at the rest of the his first round picks don wright pascal yakam jakob purle ojanobi scotty barnes grady dick and jacobe walter obviously jacobe and grady are still to be seen but i i’ve liked what they’ve brought so far and i think they’re on decent trajectory so i mean i’m happy with uh whatever they do with khan specifically i think he can do more point guardy things than jacobe and grady can um jacob’s probably the best defender of the bunch i mean khan would arguably be the best shooter of the bunch grady is probably a bit better off movement but i think khan’s the best with the ball in his hand so maybe he could even play a little bit of a point guard i don’t know just something i’ve been seeing lately wanted to get your thoughts on i wanted to talk to him about him a little bit but yeah i i think that’s uh i think that’s a podcast yeah i think that’s it cuz you know we again we addressed everything maybe we’ll come back next week and durant’s on the team who knows um because it seems like every week something crazy is happening after we do this pod but uh overall it’s been great you know it’s been great you know uh talking the talk for the raptors and i’ll be locking into the pacers and okc as soon as we uh hit the end record here yeah me too me too but i want to i want to thank everybody for watching and uh joining us on another episode of running back and listening if you want to find more content like this you can always check the raptors republic youtube channel or our website we have a bunch of great writers on there shooting out articles every day great content on there as well remember to like comment and subscribe and we will see you guys next week as we run it back peace

In this episode of Run It Back, Coty & Kyle discuss the recent NBA trade rumours surrounding the Raptors, the NBA finals and more!

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