Trail Blazers’ Courtside With Chris Burkhardt
that’s why I got See Brendan’s back there he’s probably smiling he’s like “Please talk Beaver baseball please go Bees.” He’s He’s a hardcore Beaver fan for those of you who don’t know but you all know look at what you got Brendan oh I was just say you know honestly Chris I’m ready for some Blazer talk man i’ve been a lot of Beaver baseball the last couple days my man that’s right some need to mix it up but no all good man good to see you good to see you we are going to have some fun Blazer talk today as I’m joined in studio by a friend of the show you guys know him his name’s Tori Jones he’s awesome he’s he’s he’s my guy i told him hey I was like “Hey Tori you did great last time.” I gave him the pat on the back right i was like he’s like “Really i did good.” I’m like “Yeah you did you did.” I said “I’m going to bring you back though because you you like to do the dive right tori likes to dive into to draft prospects.” People ask me all the time i’m like “I’m just going to be honest with you i’m not going to fake it i’m not going to fake like I know all the best prospects because my focus is just the NBA and it takes up all my time.” I do do the dives as we get closer and we’re getting closer so we brought Tori on today you guys can follow him on on X Twitter whatever you want to call call it tori Jones YT because uh he’s doing some great stuff over there with Blazers Uprise i am stealing his thunder though because I was I was asking him questions he’s like I haven’t even had a chance to record a new episode of my stuff yet so I’m going to get some stuff off your chest but Tori thanks for coming in as always man yeah man it’s a beautiful day and I’m happy to be in here yes and you you and Chad were talking traffic you must really enjoy being in here if you you you brave the traffic down and have to brave the traffic back up like you’re you’re swimming upstream both ways this time of day yeah it’s absolutely worth it though well Tori we got some NBA basketball going on obviously the NBA finals they’re going back and forth i thought that game four I thought was it was interesting i text Chad in the middle of the game i’m like you and I both said on air our reputation’s on the line that’s I’m exaggerating uh but it felt like Indiana was kind of dead in the water after game two right they stole game one is what it felt like felt like Oklahoma City was still going to win that thing and then I felt like the last two games Indiana’s been a much different team and now we’re sitting here game five uh all knottded up at two apiece oklahoma City with the early 23-6 lead 350 left in the first quarter so before we dive into all the other happenings what’s your take on the NBA Finals and who you think is going to win this thing first off I just think it’s really cool that you have two small markets in the NBA finals Indiana and OKC and it’s also just an interesting contrast in terms of the way these teams have been built oklahoma City they did a full rebuild had multiple high draft picks made the trade for SGA meanwhile Indiana was was uh they never fully rebuilt they’ve rarely drafted in the top 10 over the past couple of decades instead they just made really shrewd moves uh put together a really cohesive team around Tyrese Hallebertton and Pascal Seakum um former Blazer general manager Kevin Pritchard has done a great job down there and the Thunder were heavily favored coming into this series but you can never count against Indiana the stuff they’ve done during this playoff run the multiple game winners the multiple comebacks it’s been one of the most fun playoff runs to watch in the NBA and then this series has just been incredibly hard fought and it’s been a joy to watch yeah I feel like I feel like they’ve been like a one of those Hallebertton monster games away from just really putting together because he’s he’s been good but he hasn’t been great in a handful of these games seakum’s been good i thought Nebart’s defense all game long in game four was incredible he started to get tired sga got his foul shots because that’s what he does i’ve been saying this since we knew this was the pairing Tori and that was uh the talking heads who want to tell you that only big markets matter are going to have a heyday because they’re going to tell oh the lowest rated final since yada yada yada but I think basketball junkies are going to love it because the basketball I think been phenomenal oh absolutely i mean if you’re a fan of basketball why do you care about the market size i just want good competitive games we’ve had some good competitive games so far this one looks like it might be getting a little out of hand for Indiana but I’m hoping this series goes seven because yeah it’s been been really fun really competitive too both teams got chippy in game four which I think is always a fun element of a playoff series you play the same team over and over and over again and it ends up building some animosity so I’m hoping that Indiana can can claw their way back into this game we’ve seen them do it plenty of times before so I’m expecting them to get this game close here absolutely hey what’s your take on Rick Carile because I brought this up a few episodes ago but when everyone talks about the great coaches in the NBA or the best coaches it’s like okay Pop who just recently retired or Spolstra or Kerr and like no one ever really talks about Carile despite the fact that pretty much everywhere he goes he finds a way to turn that team into a winner and here he is doing it in Indiana yeah I think he’s been really interesting to pay attention to because of course he won a championship as a head coach back in 2011 with Dirk Nitzky but that offense was a bit slower they slowed down played through the half court played through Durk this Indiana team that he coaches is a lot different they play super super fast and I’ve always said this good coaches adapt to their personnel and find the best way to get the most out of their personnel i think some coaches struggle to adapt to an everchanging NBA we’ve seen this league trend more towards three-point shooting playing out in transition playing five shooters at a time and the coaches that have been able to keep up with that have had more success and I think Carile’s a perfect testament i think he’s adapted very very well and this Pacers team they play super fast they play five shooters they all play off each other well and I think he’s done a great job with them yeah absolutely i think that that that’s it right there and it’s the ability to adapt to what you have because if your roster can’t play the way that you want to play and you don’t make an adjustment you’re just going to put a terrible product out there man you got to be able to adjust i I like that and yeah I think Carile man he’s one of those guys that I give him his flowers now he deserves them i like him i absolutely like him but yeah the series is great indy’s trying to claw back 29-22 with a minute left uh in the first but what’s crazy is that in the NBA you would think that the off seasonason would start in the offseason but there’s still the NBA finals are going on and there’s still Steven Adams has agreed to a contract with with Houston three years i love Steven Adams uh I I I would take him on Portland on the all like I just want him on my team team right i’m not saying he fits in Portland don’t don’t get don’t start tweeting at me Tori i’m just saying if I could put together a team of like I just want that guy for the vibes steven Adams might be the top of the list he’s signing deals staying in Houston so good get for them but then the big news and you and I are probably going to spend some time talking about it this show not just this next question but moving forward was the Desmond Bane trade with Orlando because I think if you’re a Blazer fan I’ve been saying it a lot i I’m sure you have and everyone else orlando just seemed like a perfect fit for Anthony Simons because the one thing they’re missing is that just pure shooter just to alleviate some of that pressure off of Fron and Paulo and they went and got their guy with Desmond Bane what’s your initial thought on that uh four first round picks they got more picks for Desmond Bane than Dallas did for Luca and that’s wild to me i know they’re not completely equal but you get what I’m saying what’s your take i thought it was interesting because you saw the New York Knicks last offseason trade five first round picks for Male Bridges and he’s never been an all-star before and it I thought it was going to be interesting to see this off season especially with the East being wide open if another team was going to make that same type of move where they trade a bunch of future draft capital unprotected picks for somebody that’s a really really good player a really good starter but not a star and that’s exactly what Desmond Bane is I think with Boston being uh in trouble this off season they’re going to have to shed some salary might trade Porzingis might trade Drew Holiday jason Tatum is going to be out for a while as he tore his Achilles of course in Milwaukee it sounds like they’re going to run it back but they’re not going to have Damen Lillard all season because he tore his Achilles so they’re uh off the map there and then Cleveland dominated the East last season but then lost in the second round to Indiana in five games so how good are they really there’s been some trade uh rumors around Darius Garland so the East just seems completely wide open right now and I think Orlando is seizing the moment seeing an opportunity next year to potentially make a run to the finals we just saw Indiana do it and I almost wonder if Indiana is emboldening some teams to think that maybe they can be the next Indiana Pacers make a four seed upset uh a Cleveland Cavaliier team or somebody else in the second round and ride a magical wave to the finals so I think the Magic are going to be one of the top three or four teams in the league this upcoming season last year they were very injured and they lacked the shot creation and shot making that Desmond Bane provides so I think they’re going to be a really fun team to watch because you got some young talent on that team they have some depth so they were in the perfect position to take a swing like they did for Desmond Bane yeah absolutely i agree with you and there’s a lot of people who will look at that and want to say that well it’s an overpay but I do think sometimes when you have a guy that you like and you that’s that’s the one you want sometimes you just got to overpay because I think if I think if the rest of the league found out there was any inkling that Bane was available then you get into those bidding wars and you just put that to bed right like that’s the guy I want and then you also get the arguments from local fan base you’re like “Oh that could have been Ant.” And of course that is the that is the problem with every fan base it’s the I’m not I’m not dogging Blazer fan because I’m we do it as fans in fact I’m I’m over here very upset in my sports fandom Tori because I’m a Red Sox fan and apparently you can’t have nice things every time you have a a guy who’s a stud you’re like “Hey we don’t really want him anymore.” You know RIP Xander Bogart Smooky Betts and now Rafi Des pain is pain it sucks all right but my point is sometimes you overvalue your guys right right and I think sometimes you might get into that with with Anthony Simons because you can look at what they did in Orlando and go “Oh Desmond Bane scores and so does Anthony Simons.” But there’s a difference one of them you know is going to bring it on the defensive side of the ball one of them is not great on that side and that’s where that value comes into play and the one who brings it on the defensive side of the ball is not the one who plays in Portland yep it seemed like we dreamt of Anthony Simon’s trade packages to Orlando for 10 years right and he made a ton of logical sense for them to pursue the Magic needed some point guard play somebody that can also play off the ball off of Benuro and Vagner and knock down three-point shots and a is that type of player also Anthony Simons is from Orlando so it would have been homecoming for him and then also they have a ton of really good defensive players they have Anthony Black who’s young but he’s a terrific defender they have Jonathan Isaac as well jaylen Suggs they had the defense to absorb a player like Anthony Simons play Simons to his strengths and still be a good defensive team for whatever reason it seemed like Orlando just did not value Anthony Simons and I think that’s apparent when they trade four first round picks for Desmond Bay when maybe they could have had Simons for half the price depending on what the Blazers wanted to do so that dream is is gone i’m kind of happy for that dream to be gone because we’ve talked about it for so long so we we’ll we’ll see we’ll see if the Blazers move Anthony Simons this off season still but Orlando is definitely not a destination for him anymore yeah absolutely and the thing with Orlando too is you gota you better hope Desmond Bane is the guy that you want him to be because if you you do what like New York said well if New York decides that uh you know they want to retool at some point have fun retooling when all your draft picks reside elsewhere right and same with Orlando who’s been kind of historically a team that just is just kind of middle of the road for the longest time which despite the fact that I mean I like Orlando I always have maybe it’s because I grew up when they had some OP jerseys that they tried to replicate with their new release but you know that they missed on the black ones i’m sorry it I get it they’re trying to look like the old jacket but no it just ain’t it but yeah Orlando is not a team that always does has the success with the rebuild so this better hit otherwise they’re going to be struggling as well tory Jones joining me in studio today follow him on social media at Tory Jones YouTube also make sure go on uh YouTube as well and make sure you’re following Blazers Uprise he’s doing some great stuff over there we’re going to take a quick little break when we come back we’re going to talk more Anthony Simons i want to see what he thinks the future is for Ant where could Ant go if he is traded now that Orlando is off the table and then in just over a week that’s how quick this offseason’s going it’s NBA draft time and the Blazers have the 11th overall pick what are they going to do with it i’m going to ask Tori when we come back here on Courtside Monday on your home of the Blazers Rip City Radio 620 heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat up here oh man Brandon Slaughter with another Metallica pool i love you the more Metallica the better i have been on it with the music game today chad Chad had some good ones too so yeah it’s uh sometimes you got to roll with it tory Jones joining me today you can follow him on social media at Tory Jonesyt i said Tory Jones YouTube a second ago assuming YT stood for YouTube does it stand for YouTube it does stand for YouTube okay i just I figured because Uprise that is where you guys get all your pub there and so make sure you guys are following them liking them i I I’m a big advocate um of treat treatbers postgame coverage like March Madness right where you have every game you can you can listen and watch the fifth quarter and Blazers Uprise at the same time it it is possible people can do i’m just throwing it out there okay maybe I’ll have to find a way to call into the fifth quarter for my my own postgame show we can make it a segment hey 5032480620 is that telephone number we could totally do that now live on both Uprise and Yeah see help me help you we’ll Jerry Maguire this all right but yeah follow him over there he’s been doing great work forever and he and I had had some conversations offline before when we were just kind of I was gauging the water getting to know him and it’s like one thing one thing I respect about you Tori is boy howdy everybody thinks that oh I I got a webcam and I I got I got OBS i can go live i could It takes a lot of flipping work to get a YouTube channel off the ground so again kudos to you i like the like what you guys do don’t always agree with you and your guy Eric but you know what no one always agrees with me either it’s just part for the course and you’re a talking head my man but I love what you’re doing over there there so big shout out again blazersuprise.com blazers Uprise on YouTube and again Tori Jones YT the YT stands for YouTube and uh yeah that is always part for the course i I I never take it personal it’s like oh your take is terrible yeah like 50% of my takes are bad i get it i get it tell me i remember I remember one time Tori oh my gosh I made the mistake of um you know how they say you don’t like you don’t kick Beyonce Beyonce you don’t kick the beehive right they’ll come after you well I kicked the uh Carmelo Anthony Stan Beehive when I said that uh Gary Trent Jr should be playing more minutes than Carmelo Anthony who’s just sucking them all away oh boy i don’t think I’ve ever had more internet hate in my life from Carmelo Anthony stands oh they they hated me man they despised me and and the thing is with our shows too is there’s you know the live chats you know go on YouTube there’s the live chat so just it would always be the same like five people they were a crew and they’d come in and tell me how terrible I am because I was not nice enough to Carmelo Anthony oh man I’ll tell you this man when people tell you how bad you are just have the courage to get a mic in front of your face and spew your uh your take too i want to see how good it is it’s tough it’s tough this is all my long way of saying Tori is doing great work over there now Tori enough enough of just just telling you how good you are okay let’s get back to business here anthony Simons we were talking about him before we went to break okay and you said you’re happy that it’s the the the Desmond Bane trade is over it’s done because now you don’t have to talk about Orlando but guess what you still have to talk about Ant because there’s still some teams out there who who might use him and then of course the the the more you start talking about it I mean I I wouldn’t be surprised if they extend him the Portland Trailblazers so what’s your take on Ant do you see any teams out there that he’s still a logical fit for and do you think that his future might just very well still be here in Portland i think it’s more likely they extend them this off seasonason than they trade him i think it’s tough to find trade packages that the Blazers would be interested in on the open market because after winning 36 games last year the Blazers uh they’re not going to trade Anthony Simons for draft picks I don’t think because they want to be competitive next season they want to build upon the progress that they made this past season unfortunately that doesn’t lend itself to many deals that make sense for the Blazers no team is going to trade a much better player straight up for Anthony Simons and that’s why I do think it’s more likely he gets an extension now what an extension would mean is the Blazers would not be able to trade him for six months but they could if they extended him let’s say at the start of free agency in July they could then trade him at the trade deadline if a package came along maybe if they were struggling next season or Scoo Henderson breaks out to the point where the Blazers are ready to move off Anthony Simons that is a possibility but I think the Blazers are going to continue to remain patient with Scoot patient with Shaden Sharp even and I don’t think that they’re just going to trade Anthony Simons just for the sake of trading Anthony Simons i think one of the biggest needs they have right now is shooting trading away Simons hurts in that regard so unless you have a plan to replace that shooting loss because Simons is probably the most talented three-point shooter on the team well his percentage last year was like 36 37% well that’s not super impressive he takes a ton of threes high volume tough looks he spaces the floor so I it’s gonna be interesting to see how much talk there is around Anthony Simons because Orlando was the destination that I thought made the most sense for him and without Orlando being on the table there could be other suitors that are calling about him maybe it’s a team like Dallas who is going to be without Kyrie Irving for the majority of next year and could use some extra ball handling they want to be competitive after making that weird Luca trade and of course they’ll have Cooper flag as well but at this point it’s just it’s just guessing on my part so it’ll be interesting to see what teams get wrapped up in Anthony Simon’s trade rumors or if the Blazers just outright extend him yeah absolutely and Dallas is one that just comes to mind too because I think even on a fully healthy uh fully healthy squad if Kyrie’s in there that shooting still helps them out a ton especially with a guy like Kyrie you never even have to give the put the ball in Ant’s hands unless he’s shooting which I still think is a is something he’s great at um so also though it kind of to the point you were making there and I know people hate to hear it but I think the worst thing that you can do as a GM is just trade a guy to trade him because there is still value in if if he does sign that extension finding that right partner down the line at some point too um can can be beneficial as well and I do think I I think what’s going to be interesting is what is his his true open market value because he’s at what like 27 right now i personally think his open market value is like the 22 to 25 range does he take less may maybe he does and I do think if you have a a a shooter of Anthony Simon’s caliber and you’re getting him in the low 20s the value there is not terrible it’s not always just the the main number especially with how the the cap just continues to expand and expand and expand so there’s still value there the only thing is I still want to see the team move forward and say this is Scoot and Shay and two and Denny and DC in the long run and this is our team we’re building around you want to be a six-man great with me if not sign the extension we’ll still try to find a place for you but I still want to see the team kind of pick a lane so to speak yeah I absolutely agree with you and the only reason why Anthony Simon’s trades are a conversation is because the Blazers have both Scoo Henderson and Shaden Sharp and uh you could argue for other guys but I think those are the two players on this Blazers team with the most upside going forward and I believe we talked about it the last time I was on with you the Blazers ultimately will need to find their number one player they’ll need to find their star even when you look at this NBA Finals you have the Indiana Pacers and they play like a really really functional team they play really well off each other but they still have Tyresese Hallebertton to initiate everything set everything up uh make all the plays that he does who’s going to be that star for Portland you know maybe not their next Dame but who’s going to be that guy that uh can run the offense and carry the offense on his back and I think Scoo Henderson and Shaden Sharp are hopefully going to be able to take that responsibility over that’s why I would prefer the Blazers to see what’s out there for Anthony Simons like you said you don’t make a trade just to make a trade but Scoot Henderson Shaden Sharp they are the future backcourt in my opinion of this team right i think they can work really well off of each other i like the defensive strides that Scoot Henderson made last year and then his playmaking with Sharp’s athleticism i think the fiveman group that you brought up with Scoot Sharp Denny Aia Tammani Kamar Donovan Klingan I think that’s the best defensive lineup for the Blazers next season and that’s the identity they’re also trying to build and they also want to play fast and I think having Scoot and Sharp in the lineup will help them with that so I think that young core is is the way moving forward as they continue to try and build this identity that they’re trying to forge yeah also shout out Kirk who watches every episode of uh Courtside Fifth Quarter all that also says “Uh oh I love Tori and Uprise.” So he’s I love him now uh you know what’s interesting is like like if you took if you took money out of the equation for a second right every single player in the NBA makes $10 a game it doesn’t matter everything’s equal right and you take out the fact that it’s hard to take a guy to go from a starter to a bench player on a team that he’s been with his entire career the question I asked you a second ago is what teams do you think Ant would fit on if you took all the the stuff out of the equation that makes it hard to believe Portland is a team he would fit on if it’s like hey you’re the you’re our sixth man you’re this everything else is out of the equation he does make logical sense in that vacuum which is tough yeah like that like that’s the tough part because then it’s all the other stuff that you have to factor in because that’s the reality of it how much is he getting paid he has been a starter for the last x amount of years does that guy want to go from being a starter to being a bench guy but that is the tough part because all that out of the equation Portland makes sense for him yeah yeah and he’s seemingly embraced this city and he’s been very professional since he’s been here and that’s what also makes it tough about possibly trading him is is uh he’s been here what seven years eight years and he’s still 25 26 years old he fits the timeline of the core it’s not really a timeline problem he gives this team what it needs but how are you going to figure out the back court with Shane Sharp Scoot Henderson and Anthony Simons i think at some point the Blazers are going to have to choose two of the three right and I I kind of feel like they’re just going to prolong that choice as much as they can see what Scoot does in year three see how much he improves see if Sharp can take that leap in what’s going to be a contract year as well well the perfect the perfect answer to all of our problems would be you go through camp you go through the preeason and Scoot Henderson left no doubt and he’s the starter because he’s better than Ant and if he does that then you’re whatever like that that’s what you want right that’s exactly what you want but yeah I’m with you i think I think there’s so many unanswered questions with Ant and I’ve been asked this is it going to be traded yes are they going to excite him to an extension yes because I just wouldn’t be surprised uh either way I still think as we talked about a little bit with Chad um you know he he mentioned Dave Deckard believes this team will probably be the same moving forward i still think that they’re you need to get rid of Jeremy Grant i like I just I I think I thought his exit interview was telling like you know oh yeah that’s up to my agent and this and that that okay well you basically said we’re going to have those talks without saying we’re going to have those talks obviously you need to open up that door uh for Denny to just get as many minutes as possible but all I know is I don’t envy Joe Cronin because I don’t know if I’d want to be an NBA GM man yeah man the the grand situation is tough because I think it’s best for both parties that he’s somewhere else next year on a on a team that might start him and might be a solid playoff team the Blazers aren’t that team because of Denny Odia and Tammani Kamar so just like we talked about the Blazers having three guards and they’re going to have to decide between two they have three forwards and the two are obviously Avdia and Tammani Kamar so I I think the Blazers will heavily shop Jeremy Grant this off seasonason the question just becomes do you have to attach an asset to get rid of him because he’s paid a lot of money yeah all right now enough about players who are currently playing in the NBA okay let’s focus on some guys who are going to find their NBA home in what nine days now next Wednesday the 25th NBA draft Portland uh unfortunately fell back yeah worst case scenario i remember we were doing that show live and Chad goes “What’s the worst case scenario in your mind?” And I go “Dallas gets the number one overall pick.” And then about 15 minutes later that’s what happened cuz now Nico thinks that he’s God’s gift to general management see look what I did yeah you had nothing to do with it now though the Blazers do have the number 11 pick because of everything that went down now it’s interesting because they’ve been holding their pre-draft workouts most of them have been with guys who are either projected second rounders or undrafted also a good problem they have is they do have a G-League team that they have to fill out so that’s part of it now they have started to hold some uh you know quiet workouts i think Eigor came in and did one the other day uh what are you feeling you’ve started to do your dive and looking at prospects like if you’re sitting there at 11 who you think the Blazers want or who do you want oh man so there is so many potential options for the Blazers on the board they’re at 11 and every draft is different sometimes there’s kind of like two or three guys that you expect to go late in the lottery you know 11th 12th 13th and sometimes there’s just so many good options at that pick which is a good problem to have but there’s so many options i could see them potentially going in a number of different ways so I think for for Portland it’s do you want to draft the best player right now the best player available do you want to draft the player with the most upside that you might have to take some time to develop or do you draft somebody that fits a need which is I think the biggest need is shooting three-point shooting and maybe you can get a guy that fits two of the three i I think Jaor Deman is the most likely pick at 11 jonathan Gavone who does mock drafts for ESPN worked in the past with Mike Schmidtz who of course leads the scouting department for the Blazers and they started Draft Express together so I I assume those guys still talk to each other defon has been on the mark with his mock drafts for the Blazers the past three years he had them getting Chris Murray at 23 he predicted that he predicted Shane Sharp at seven he predicted Donovan Klingan at seven he’s been predicting Jaor Demond to the Portland Trailblazers for the for the past like four or five mock drafts he’s dropped so it’s tough to ignore that because obviously he has a connection with the the Blazers front office so Jieor Demond is interesting because he’s a 6’8 point guard probably the best passer in the draft and a really intriguing prospect he really struggled shooting the three ball last year at BYU but supposedly he’s a better shooter than what he showed his shot form is fine apparently he really lit things up at the draft combine and organizations were impressed with him so uh if you can bring in a guy that’s 6’8 6’9 can handle the ball a little bit can pass and might be able to shoot that might be worth the gamble just because it’s hard to find 6’8 6’9 point guards now given that shooting is the Blazers’s biggest need and Demond shot I believe under 30% from three in college I don’t really know about the fit and he’d take some time to develop meanwhile there’s other guys on the board a guy I like is Cedric Coward who played at Washington State i think he’s uh in NBA ready 3 and D guy he has a 7 foot2 wingspan he’s 6’6 um can pass a little bit um so there’s some well-rounded players in that range as well that could fill the shooting need the Blazers have off the bench but I really do have a gut feeling they’re just going to swing for the upside with Jagor Deon all right and that’s a name I’ve been hearing a lot as well and and there’s versatility in that pick and a team we were talking about earlier uh in in Orlando like look at look at how versatile of a player Anthony Black has started to to develop into and a lot of that is because 6’7 a guy who can play multiple positions even though he’s your guard but you can kind of put him anywhere when you’re 6’8 you might be listed as a guard but guess what if I need to put you a small forward for defensive purposes I can you’re going to be able to do those things so I like that another name that intrigues me I want to get your thoughts uh on this and I apologize I’m putting you on the spot but another name name that intrigues me because I think if if the pieces move in the long run like the Jeremy Grants were talking about they’re going to need that depth uh is Derek Queen and there’s some who think that he’s going to be uh you know drafted that maybe 67 some of them thinks he falls a little bit i think if he’s available at 11 that’s a pick that I don’t know if I’d be upset with because very versatile big good ball handling skills for how big he is listed as a center probably can play the four and the five as well gives you that versatility what are your thoughts on him so I first watched him before he even got to college he was playing in a high school all-American game and I was immediately just impressed with some of the post moves some of the footwork he had he kind of reminded me of a little high school version of Jokic he can pass um he’s crafty he’s a very polarizing prospect because he has very clear unique strengths for a big man um being able to put the ball on the floor um some of his post moves his passing is just very unique at that size but then he also has very clear red flags um the defense is a major major question mark um he’s kind of like a small center um I think the ideal version of him is somebody that can play the four but in order to do that he needs to be able to shoot so he would be worth the gamble with the hope that he could back up Donovan Klingan long term and be a bit of an offensive hub off the bench and then if he can develop his shot maybe get a little quicker he can play next to Klingan in some lineups and he provides you with a really unique player and I think that’s kind of what this pick comes down to for the Blazers do you draft somebody with a unique set of traits that are hard to find or do you draft somebody that you’re not going to have any questions with fitting in i would not mind them taking a swing on a Derek Queen just because of the things he can do it’s not easy to find absolutely especially when the guy who you’re trying to open the door for at the four and Denny is a guy who can play the three and the four and two can play the two you get there just that that roster versatility and you have gone through we we talked about this last time I had you on about being a a college basketball player and going through all that and so you know you know this very well but I have always said that the thing that always worries me the least about a prospect is their shooting because I find that to probably be the easiest thing to fix because anybody can walk into a gym and grab a basketball and work on their shot i can’t really work on my passing by myself can’t work on my defense solo y you got to have another person right but shooting conf and we’ve seen guys like Nir Little who came in to the NBA with that shot now granted you know he’s bounced around but the shot was reliable by the time he left Portland wasn’t when he got here right uh you even saw guys like Myers Leonard who if you looked at him in college he lived around the rim in college and then he became a pretty darn good three-point shooter because you know that was the changing way of the NBA uh I’m just saying shooting I’ve never worried about if the mechanics are there like you said with with with Demon they are i don’t worry about that because those things can be fixed all right we talked a lot about the Blazers but I’m going to throw another uh AllNBA question here at Tori about another superstar who wants out and what will that look like come next season we’ll let you know when we get back here on your home of the Blazers River City Radio 620 thanks man heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat hey hey hey heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat up here welcome back into course side we’re running up against the clock okay we got about five minutes four minutes i was going to ask Tori about Kevin Durant so this really quick is Kevin Durant gonna be a rocket is he going to be a spur is he gonna Where’s he going what’s the value for a guy at his age who’s still really good but you know that you only have a short window with him my gut has said Spurs this entire time but uh he’s trying to dictate where he’s going but Phoenix is just going to take the best package a darkhorse team to watch out for for him Toronto i like that and that would help them tremendously oh him and him and Scotty next to each other i like that they traded for Brandon Ingram as well yeah that’s that’s going to be a big lengthy team oh yeah houston makes a lot of sense if he goes to Houston though then he’s never going to be able to dodge the frontr runner accusations that he already gets right it might already be too late for that it might It might be it might be we’ll see what happens but yeah Phoenix uh Yeah the Nerkage wasn’t the answer sorry guys but they’re going to figure that one out now I I you and I were just talking during the break about Zack Collins uh who I I love Zack Collins i would take him as my rotational big any day of the week still good defender uh I like him and it made me think of the Spurs for a second i want to get your thoughts on this because it’s kind of flown under the radar personally I love the hire of Thiago Splitter i think Thiago Splitter is a very very smart basketball brain he’s up there with some of the best that I’ve had a chance to to see in my time i still think the smartest basketball player I’ve ever talked to was Manuj Nobly in a postgame locker room that guy when he talked you would have thought that he sat in on Blazer film sessions because he knew everything so smart but the fact that the Blazers went out and hired Thiago and a guy who has NBA big man experience in the trenches I I think this guy might be able to unlock guys like Donovan Klingan i think this is a great hire maybe I’m wrong but I want to get your take on that i don’t think you could come up with a better assistant coach hire for Donovan Klingan than Thiago Splitter i I’ve loved the hirings that the Blazers have made so far for their assistant coaching staff they turned it over a bit last off season turning it over a bit again this off season i think they’ve hit home runs with with multiple guys but Thiago I think is perfect for cleaning i mean I I granted you only know so much about an assistant coach as guys you like just on the outside looking in i mean I we we liked what Scotty Brooks just because the the the NBA experience there but when it just comes to an assistant coach just to I mean Thiago just might might be the best one that’s come through on on his staff outside of a guy like like Scotty who had NBA head coaching experience i just I like this hire a lot i think Thiago is I think he’s going to be great for guys like DC man i love this yeah absolutely agree and then Patrick St andrews another hire they made coming over from Memphis memphis did some creative stuff offensively last season i think the Blazers could use a little bit more offensive creativity so I’m hoping he helps bring that as well and I believe he was he was Jenkins like right-hand guy like he was he was the guy i also really really like it’s not a demotion i really like the move of Jonah Herscu for the Rip City remix because the reasoning for that is you have a guy who’s been with uh with Bilips under Bilips’s umbrella and now he goes down to the Rip City remix where now you have that continuity there wasn’t that continu continuity between Moran and the and the the Blazers i mean Moran was a stocks guy right you still tried to do your best but the moves this year hopefully they can put it together but yeah just random brain bounce thiago splitter love the hire all right music means it’s time to go we got about 45 seconds once again thank you so much Tori you’re welcome back anytime i’ll hit you up in like another month or so you’ll become a recurring uh guest and we’ll definitely find a way to get Uprise integrated into the Fifth Corner at one point again you can follow Tori over on social media Tori Jonesyt and make sure you give Uprise a like a share a subscribe over there on YouTube my wife has text me though she’s text me the image of the bow there you go YouTube you can see it that means it’s time to put a bow on it and get out of here we got to end this bad boy and as always there’s only one way to end a Courtside Monday until next time Rip City I love Yeah
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