The Raptors New Era Has Begun

The Raptors New Era Has Begun

Okay, everybody. It’s been a very busy week of Raptor stuff. Trey and I recording almost on the perfect day at the tail end of everything. Of course, I talked a little bit during the middle of it, but Trey has a real job, not something like me. And so, he’s calling up people to come catch up on everything to help project not only, you know, where the Raptors are going in the long-term future, but in the short-term future to Vegas, where we will be credentialed in covering the Raptors. is the pull-up trade duo. It’s powerful stuff. I’m Samson Folk for those who don’t know. Travon, how you doing? How you feeling? Mixed feelings. I like I guess like the last week is probably like the most shocked I’ve been like receiving Raptors news since like Kawaii. It’s sim similar factions too. Like I wake up in the morning. I’m I’m with my lovely wife. She’s like, “What are you doing today?” I’m like, “What?” And then I jump out of I jump out of bed because I think it didn’t think it was real.
Almost woke me up. I was I was sleeping. My phone’s going off. I go, “Hello.” He’s like, “Do you see the bomb that dropped?” And I was like, “Did Iran hit America or something, man?” I was like, “What happened?” And then I look and he’s like, “Messiah got fired.” I was like, “Whoa, nuts, man.”
It was um Yeah, crazy. I I How do you Well, okay, we’ll table that. We’ll table that because most people have already heard all the conversations. Although your opinion is important, but we will put it towards the back end of the podcast. What I want to get you on first is white men have getting paid been getting paid on these Raptors. Uh Mamu and Mamu and Purle both got paid. Do you feel positive about either one? I’m curious where you sit there.
Like Yakob, I think it’s a it’s a positive contract. like they’re for a team that hasn’t had really any positive contracts like
Yakob is an above average above average centers the top 15 at least and you you protect like they protected themselves in the last year of the deal with like the guaranteed money being tied to incentives I think it’s only roughly so far like $5 million of the the last year is is guaranteed so like it’s good to have good players and like Yakob is like a important fulcrum of their offense and defense and like if they’re going to make the playoffs, he’s going to be one of one of their driving factors. So, I was totally okay with it. It’s surprisful hot tub conversation we had where s placed Cavon Looney above Purle. I’m surprised. I’m surprised he didn’t get the paycheck. What I’m not really sure on quite frankly, and I’ll I’ll tell people my understanding of the deal is we’ll have two more seasons of Yakob at 19.5 million or around that and then two seasons after that of around 26 27 million. Now, the 5 million guaranteed of the last year on the deal thing, I I don’t know if that’s like a straight guarantee that either an option that the Raptors can say yes or no to. I’ve heard it reported that there’s like incentives around that. I don’t know if they’re likely or unlikely. I’ll leave that up to Blake who can text Bobby or something for all that information or Grange or whoever the hell has that info. Not me. But YaKob accepting his player option, that’s a good deal. Like Yakob, as you said, a top 15 center, I think. Yeah, I think he’s, you know, probably 10 to 15 somewhere in there. Top 10 guaranteed. Maybe that’s why my side doesn’t have the job. No, I’m just kidding. Uh 19.5 is perfectly good. 26 27 maybe it’s a bit rich but it’s all
it’s all there. The only thing is like Yakob will be pretty old by the end of that contract. And that’s where I wonder how do you think his
cuz on its face Yakob’s production if you could just tap that in for 1919 26 27 like around that that’s probably great. But how do you feel about his game aging? He’s he’s pretty groundbound already,
but will he be quick still? I I I don’t have much worry about like him aging just because like like you said like he already as a groundbound player like everything that he does even on defense like has a lot to do with like his feel and like utilizes his length and size. Like he’s still going to be able to be like a fulcrum at at at the mid post and be able to make tons of reads that that Darko has. And defensively, like maybe he he has to be like a straight drop player, maybe at like 32, 33, but like I think with like his size and and defensive skill, like he still could be a positive defender in that range. And we’ve seen like guys like Al Horford is going to sign another contract this year, he’s a dang fossil and played great in the playoffs this year. So, it’s just like I I don’t think he’s like a a risk. Not like not like a massive risk. I think there’s worse contracts on this team, honestly.
Yeah. Mamu Kellishvey coming in. I think I That was a banger of pronunciation. Dude, it’s so easy for me. It’s too easy. He’s coming in at the back end. We’ll get to him in a little bit. The thing that makes me worry just a little bit is that Yakob is actually been his feet have been awesome defensively for like his whole career. He’s had very quick feet for his size. I wonder what it looks like as they get a little bit slower. they’ve already gotten a little bit slower, but I agree with you completely. The offense I don’t worry about at all.
Physicality and like that kind of stuff is important to his game on the boards, but there’s so much finesse and just like understanding of his own motion and it’s not built out of quickness. It’s not built out of like explosive athleticism. He’s just smooth and he should be smooth until 34. What’s the saying? Uh slow is slow is smooth, smooth is fast, right? That’s like a That’s like a saying
you’re in business. You probably heard that a million times. It’s in the pitch deck. Uh and
in the pipeline.
Yeah. Exact. Yeah. Yeah. Building out the When you’re building out a pipeline, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Um
but I do wonder about the defense by the end of it. But I think
on on its like the AAV or AAV, like average annual value, it’s fine. And they have the center position there. If Shamshay pops off, if they are able to get somebody else in house, if whatever happens, it’s fine. It’s not it’s not a death sentence by any means. It’s not a bad thing. I think it’s perfectly fine. Now, Mamu Kelli Sandro Mamu, you can just call him and people will probably be happy, but um you’re on the hot seat. I need the pronunciation of the last name. You are famous for thinking every white person that is west of like Kingston, Ontario is is Croatian or whatever.
Yeah, they’re Slavic, bro. Well, he’s Georgian, so let’s hear it. Hold on, hold on. Let me look at Let me look at while you while you look this up, I’ll just I’ll give a quick in introduction on him. So, go ahead. He is a very smooth mover with the basketball at his size. I think he’s I I don’t know if I’d categorize him as an above average shooter. He he does fling it a little bit, but he definitely has good feel and the stats don’t say he’s an incredible shooter, although he can definitely get hot. Um the worry is defensively because I think offensively he has a lot of tools like he’s he’s crafty around the rim with either hand. He can take off from outside of the paint and like find his way to to finish at the bucket. He can put the ball down. He can attack close outs. He can shoot it well enough that he’ll draw those close outs. That’s an interesting facet of a player to have at your center position. It’s certainly not one that we like
when Precious Aua was banging threes. It was like it was the craziest thing of all time cuz he could pump and put the ball down, swerve, and hit like a a jelly layup. you’d be like, “Whoa, what the hell’s going on?” Mamu actually can do a couple of those things. And the defense though, there’s something at play here with him like replacing Wemi and then that exacerbating how bad his defensive onoffs and his defensive numbers are. But I don’t think he’s a strong defender. But I think he’s a little bit better than people think at first blush or if you’re just looking at his analytics, let’s say. And he’s two years, 5.5 million. It’s It’s also what is it? A player option, right? Yeah. I mean, this is a prove it contract, I guess, is what what people call it. We’ve called these types of things in the past. It’s hardly any money.
And he’s he’s a skilled player at his size. The Raptors are a team that is going to attack dribbles. They’re a team that’s going to dig hard in the lane, and they’re a team that’s going to have a lot of size on the floor. He might fit in pretty well defensively relative to other places. I think it’s a it’s a cozy fit. Say his name. Mamu. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I thought I was confident. I said in my head like three times. Mamu Kalesi.
Hey, that’s pretty good. If you get that every time, you’re so good. Like, you’re clearing the bar for sure. Um, now that I said all that, I’m curious what you think. How how many of his 61 Spurs games did you did you see last season? I saw like maybe six.
I was going to say like five. Five to six. I did watch a 34-point game though cuz I was laughing at all my my Knicks cousins cuz they really needed to win that game if I’m not mistaken. Um I I think like overall fit like it makes sense like the Raptors are really pushing on having all five guys be like dribble pass and shoot guys across the board. He fits that. He hit tons of above the break threes last season which will help their Raptors offense like as a as a whole.
Yep. And I think um defensively like this would be putting a lot on some of like their the fours that they have like him and mobile together like is an obvious pairing. That makes that makes sense with some of the feel and passing that Mamu has and the defensive feel that mobile has especially CMBB if he’s a positive defender as a rookie that would be massive for him like being tenuous on the team.
I think he should be I think he should be
if he is then the Raptors are going to be very good. Mobile was a positive defender year one. CMBB CM If CMBB is not a positive defender year one, I think we that’s trouble.
You think so? I think the offense is gonna gonna be good enough where you’re like he does so many cool things that like if the defense isn’t great that’s fine.
Yeah. But if the defense doesn’t come I’m kind I’m kind of like what the hell is going on?
That’s why they drafted him. That’s
it’s like it was kind of like when Grady was shooting like 30% and everyone’s like, “Hey man, what’s what’s this all about?” You know?
Yeah, that’s true. But like Scott I look at it like Scotty’s rookie year it’s like all right he isn’t like Draymond Green but like he’s doing way more on offense than I ever thought he could.
People just like the story on Scotty was just wrong. You know what I mean? like coming out. That’s why I think CMBB now, you know, I might look like a jackass, but I thought CMBB should find his way to scoring decently at the NBA because he he has quite an expansive offensive game despite the jumper limitation to find his way to points on the floor. Uh, and obviously Scotty was exactly that. I mean, he scored 15 points per game in his rookie year. People had him at like they thought he was going to be six or eight points per game, you know what I mean? And then he just ran the break and it was like, “Oh, oh, he’ll score.” But uh
the type of defender people talked about him being the Gardener Web point guards were not the NBA point guards. Although, yeah, I’m not to derail, but CNB I hope he’s good on defense. I’d be pretty disappointed. But like if he’s paired in lineups where he’s playing with mobile, playing with CNB, Scotty, even Yakapurto, like defensively, like for the regular season, they they should be fine. Like I view the sighting similar to Orlando putting a flyer on like go Pataz and he ended up being a positive asset for them. Started tons of games for them as as well. Like I don’t foresee him starting over Yaka. But the Raptors have severely struggled in like finding like diamonds in the rough, which was something they did super well in the I guess you damn the Messiah Jerry era. Oh man. Okay. But something like they did so well in the past and like finding guys who weren’t getting looks around the league. So he he’s a guy that I I’ve talked to Spurs fans. He was beloved by by them as well, which is cool to see. He fits the ethos of their offense and like defensively I think they’ll be able to make up any lack of like rim protection that he gives away with his size.
What what it was called and the first person to coin it was he now works for the Grizzlies. But uh Hank Ward, I used to do podcast with him. He’s good. I’m going to talk to him when we’re in Vegas. I talked to him last time we were in Vegas.
Good ex excellent basketball player.
I think he’s probably the best player on the floor. His team still lost. his team still lost, but he was the best player on the floor. Um, and he he would call it democratic rim protection. And what he talked about on my podcast way back when is kind of what
the Thunder ended up doing on their way to a historic defense is just attacking in so many places that you make teams pick up the dribble earlier and make them make decisions and cover ground on spray passes so that roaming uh you don’t have to have as strictly like a stalwart big to swat things. Of course, they had Chet, but they didn’t need Cadet necessarily. He did help, of course. He’s an excellent defender,
but the the the process, I suppose. Um, Mamu, the Bataz is a
if he pans out like Bataz did for Orlando for like 2.5 or whatever the hell, like a minimum player, then then you’re that’s house money. That’s like a huge win. I do think I think he pairs quite well with the Raptors overall. Not only in that there’s some stuff he’ll be able to do to replace the harmony of, you know, catch, release, screen stuff that that YaKob does on offense, but also I think we’re looking at a guy who will be protected a little bit more by the Raptors defense. Maybe that’s a little bit hopeful. I know S got a bit of uh everyone was poking fun because the title, and here’s the thing, titling on YouTube is it’s cannon fodder, man. It is what it is. But he said, “Did the Raptors just find their secret weapon?” This guy is a pro. This is a pro.
And I I don’t think he’s their secret weapon, but I think this is a great little signing.
Yeah,
that’s how I feel. I said the same thing about Auto Porter Jr. His toe was lost for a year. He had a kid. Everything went sideways and that didn’t turn out. But I do feel good about this one as well.
I think like considering the options like the Raptors had like very few cuz they’re so tight up against like like both the apron and both attacks which is honestly just
because of unlikely incentives as Blake sat down and taught all of us. Yeah.
Which is insane. But it’s it’s a flyer and fits like the timeline of the the current team as well. Like if he if he hits and you hopefully like he plays well and he opts out of his his contract and you sign him to a longer term deal. Like it fulfills another spot that the Raptors don’t have to to worry about and can build on some of their perimeter guys. So I’m I’m for the deal. Like I would have preferred I prefer this over like taking like a veteran big where you know that there isn’t any upward ceiling projection. It’s and also if like as an organization if you believe in Shamshay this is another year stop gap allowing him a it’s peaceful do your thing progress at your own rate kind of work for it maybe get some spot minutes maybe you don’t I don’t know and if Mamu plays awesome and then gets to get paid then you’re like hey we had a year wherein we’re trying to make the playoffs and cuz they are and we have a year wherein and we’re paying guys and we want to go somewhere. And Mamu helped us helped move us through an 82 game season. I wonder what he’d look like in a playoff series. Who knows? But it would just be it would be great for both sides if he bowled out to the tune of like 15 17 minutes per game and was like awesome. That would be great. And that’s not that’s not lifechanging, but that is the stuff that you have to be able to hit on and that’s the stuff you have to be good at to, you know, walk things out as a good successful NBA franchise. Now, I do want to kind of now that Yakob is on under contract, Garrett Temple signed his 3.6 6 million minimum contract. Uh Mamu is under contract. They cut Jared Rhoden so they could put two-way uh so they could use the two-way. We’re looking at a team that’s pretty much filled. They look they look static. I want to kind of talk about and it’s what I tweeted about the Raptors. Although I did get push back on Ochai, which looking at it, I probably should have given it more consideration although I don’t think it’s a super big home run. Outperforming their contract. How many guys in the Raptors are doing this currently? Did it last season? How many guys are we hoping do it next season? I know this is a little bit like Nate Duncan, Danny Laroo, you know, but I think it’s an interesting conversation. Um, and again, these guys, they make their money. You you you have the leverage to get the money. Good for you. All good. But do the Raptors have anybody who you look from the team’s perspective, you’re like, “This contract rocks so hard. This is incredible.” I think it’s last season would probably be only Yaka Berto’s steel and that’s like I think like barely to be honest. Let me let me give you the push back that I got that made me think.
Now part of the push back was I think people think far too highly of Oai’s defense but it was like he’s giving you 10 10 points per game
on north of 50% shooting. He shot the three ball well. He did take the easiest shots on the four all year, but he he hit them and that was important. He did not defend that well, but he had a he had hard matchups and he made like four million four and some change. I think probably Ochai
when I was when somebody gave me this as a response, I said meh. But I probably should have given him more consideration. Ochai probably I like I would say outperformed his contract this past season.
Yeah, that’s fair. I I think when I look at his contract situation, it’s like he was taken a what the 14th 15th pick under the
14th lottery. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, that’s under the guise of being a a lottery pick and he’s he hasn’t performed at a lottery picks level because we’re his second team that I guess there more positive feelings towards that but like he isn’t like a guaranteed guy that you extend. I think they probably will but we’ll see. Yeah, I think it’s a Gary Trend situation where like you you’re because you’re so close to the tax and you’re you he has to probably perform again at this level or if not better to like be a for sure guy moving forward with the team.
It’s also he doesn’t have the same cache as Gary did. Like Gary got traded for Norm, you know what I mean?
And Gary also had to get paid then and they’re like here’s your money. This is what it looks like. and every we all went like
that’s kind of expensive for Gary
especially and it just it was what it was. Um Ochi Oi I don’t think the it’ll shake out the same way. He’ll probably be on a fine enough contract when he does sign it but
I don’t know if he’ll be around like MLE. I don’t know if he’s going to push for that like 17 18. I don’t know what it’s going to look like. But yeah, Ochai I guess we’ll table Ochai. I say yes. This upcoming season he’ll be making six. I say it’s a possibility that he does. Um, who else? I mean, YaKob at 19.5 probably. Will Scotty take that leap. Will he will he make it look great?
I’m going to I’m going to say yes. If he doesn’t like there I think next year is the year where you can finally be concerned of like how things things are going. Last season like the team riddled with injuries. He’s put in a role that probably doesn’t best suit his his skill set. And now they’ve they’ve acquired a $40 million player to take over that role from him. So next year’s you want to see him what what he does or other than scoring lead to actual winning and like pushing the ball up the the I guess the proverbial hill. I would say him um and I’d say Grady as well. Like if Grady plays like how he did in the first like 20 25 games of the season, that’s surplus value on that contract. That’s a guy that’s in the rotation for a a long period of period of time and like is like pushing and edging to like get starter minutes. He’s shown that he’s capable of doing it. He’s in his third his third year. So, I’m expecting that that leap to finally happen and come and that if they’re going to be like hit a top five, top six seed, they’re going to need one or two guys that hit upper upper threshold of like their ability to get there. Well, do you want to since Grady’s not going to play at summer league and I didn’t think he was going to, but I’m a little disappointed we don’t get to watch him. And I know you can make the case that those minutes are more important for guys like Elijah Martin or more important for guys like Jamal Shed, Jacobe Walter. I get that. Um, I would have liked to see it honestly, especially since OI kind of introduced this this thing where it’s like a third year player can go and a third year player can then have a good year. But
Grady, let’s have the conversation. Is the is the clock ticking for you? Like what are some non-negotiables from your point of view as a fan, as an analyst that you’re like, Grady, I gotta see it this year? Yeah, he he’s got to be able to stay on the floor. like he in the second half of the season like he he struggled like mightily defensively and that might be because of like the task that he had off offensively like when the team was like severely injured but like and and it was and it was kind of strange like Darko I think in terms of like who he had a short leash with like Grady’s was very short throughout the season comparatively to other players and he has in order for the team to to to get to where they need to be he has his offense is super vital for them to to become lethal and he has to be able to stay on the floor defensively. I think he has the size and he has the size and willingness to like to do that. So, I’m the defense is the big thing. I’m not worried about the offense. I think he’s going to be a big time score. I think he’s going to be able to shoot the ball and he’s probably his catch and shoot numbers will probably go up by like a fairly decent mark now that they have BI on the team. Also,
there’s a bunch of stuff that made it tough on him. Like, you’re totally right. It’s why you know people because well you and I are both big Grady guys. We’re both really happy when they got drafted. I’m big mobile guy. You as you well know that will not stop any criticism.
Like just cuz I just cuz I like the guy out of the draft doesn’t mean I cape for him his whole career. If Grady doesn’t sort out his defense, it’s scary hours. If Mobile doesn’t sort out like at least some things he can do on offense. It’s scary hours. That doesn’t mean they don’t have parts of their game that are hard to achieve and like important. They each do really difficult things elsewhere, but like you have to be on the court and you have to be a positive feature of what the team is doing. And Grady, you’re so right that his skill level is incredibly high for a player who’s provided as little impact as he has.
His route to being like a scorer in the NBA is conditioning basically and a bit more weight. And so if he’s competing on defense, then I think the offense is coming very easily because the thing that holds him back offensively, the finishing at the rim, the the fatigue, all that kind of stuff, the fact that he lost weight during the season, it’s just like this guy was running ragged. He was using more screens than anybody. He was like top five in Miles Run. He was going, going, going. So much usage. He lost weight. He got small. And he just hit a massive wall at the end of the season. He’s been sitting on what he missed the last like almost third of the a quarter of the season probably.
Put on weight, get the body right, see what that looks like. But it does have to look good.
It it just it has to look good. And while I wouldn’t expect uh a strong defensive season, as you say, sticking on the floor, not getting the yank, and if the body’s right, I think the movement shooting looks better. If the body’s right, I think the finishing looks better. And if the body’s right, he has he has the skill of like a top seven pick
to really reward all this stuff. and his motion on offense would be unbelievably important for a team that features Scotty, Brandon Ingram, Yakob. Like, it’s just you need movement around those guys. I But we got to see it, man. Because if we don’t see it, I sw and we won’t get to see it at summer league. It’ll just be nothing. Which How do you feel about that? Grady not going to summer league. Probably fine, right? Yeah, that’s to I wasn’t expecting it, so it’s it’s totally fine. Um, and if anything, like o like the minutes Ochai played, like I don’t think were super conducive to like his game and how he and how this next season ended up working out. Like I was I was nervous that he didn’t he didn’t like excel at summer league, but like those minutes like aren’t usually the greatest for offball players anyways. So for for me in summer league like I think like biggest priorities and what you want to see is like can or Shamsh be like a a professional player? Can he stick on the floor and know what to do? C can Jacobe Walter look like he’s above this and we pull him two games out and like has Jonathan Mo added a couple things but like other than that like Jamal Shed I’m not expecting him to drop 25 points a game like that’s not his game and that’s totally fine. Jameson Battle, too. I think they’re going to be really good, though. Much better than the team we saw two years ago. I’ll tell you that.
Yeah. As far as like the Grady stuff, I expected him to be at this point in his career defensively like a negative still, but like Yeah. Know, it’s fine. And honestly, the reason why summer league is still interesting to me is by this point in his career, I wanted Grady taking some reps on ball.
It’s what Messiah and Bobby said when they drafted him, right? like he’s a guy that we can hand the ball to to make plays and he’s been catching up on so much other stuff and doing so much of the offball stuff and he’s been so far behind the eightball defensively that we really haven’t gotten to pay attention to that. At the start of last season, Darko says Grady’s passing is the most underrated facet of his game. He’s too busy scoring the ball like non-stop at the start of the season to even take a wink at it. So selfishly, that’s what I hope for at Summer League, but obviously I mean it didn’t happen. So
yeah,
as you said, and we’ve said this every year, that the Raptors that the Raptors have a good summer league team, and we’ve not really seen it rewarded. How do you feel about their their championship aspirations down at the down in Vegas?
We’re going We’re going to the chip. I’m confident in this team.
We’re going to the chip. We’re going through the
We We have the the leading the leading block in block percentage in the entire G-League. So, the summer league should not be an issue.
CMBB best defender in in the draft. Who do you think starts? Actually, Bobo,
that’s a good question. I Sorry, I thought you were priming me for the fourth in assists off the bench in I thought that’s I thought that’s where you were going. Defensively, we’re going to be a tear. You put
Jamal and Jacobe both get after it. Elijah gets after it too. I surprisingly like he was one of the picks that like if they picked him like I have no idea who who the like how much he’s played. Only I’ve only seen like the Walter Clayton stuff, but like I like the pick. Like he’s the dog. I watched every make he did every make he had of the entire season and like a lot a lot of Norman Pal in in in his game which is super cool.
I’ve seen that comp a couple times. I mean he pops
like he definitely pops.
Um okay so as far as like the guys who will probably be awesome in their shorter minutes but won’t start, Jameson Battle and AJ Lawson will probably be pretty cracked off the bench. Like I think I think they will like the Raptors bench units might make a killing, but I think those guys probably don’t start.
So if I had to guess, I think we’re getting quite weird with Jamal Shed, Jacobe Walter, CMB, Mobile, and I think Castleton.
What will come? That’s my guess. Does that sound Does that interest you at all? Would you kick somebody off? Are there other guys you want to see?
See, I want to win. I I I think I think I’m putting Jonathan Moble on the bench and I’m starting Jameson battle just just for the extra floor spacing, but like the again like winning isn’t necessarily objective. His like his reps that he gets from here isn’t going to be like conducive to anything that he does with the Raptors. It’s going to be pure catch and shoot. I I do want to see like what it looks like like with CMBB like playing the perimeter and getting the ball because I do think he has a really underrated handle and actually was a good driver in college. Like how does he handle that with like size and and length and like Castleton like starting makes sense for like the continuity of like the offense and like knowing what to do like Chamchi is all chaos which I do love but it is tough to start.
I Yeah. And but I do think like a second unit of like Elijah Martin, Chucky Heburn, and you have guys like Jameson and AJ kind of lifting up the shock creation maybe a little bit
that probably, you know, and one of Mobo or CMB will probably be in there. I guess Amorier will be in there too. Um,
Ani Waniwa, Tate Jones, that’s a cool name. I don’t know if I’m saying it right, but Aniwaniwa is a cool name. Um, I do wonder. I bet they have the Oh, the pronunciation guard. Aniwaniwa. Aniwaniawa. That’s what it is.
Okay.
Oh, there you go. Do you want to know how anything else is said? Are there any Quincy Gurier? Okay.
Okay.
Clifford Amorei. Oh, so I said it wrong. Okay. Tyson Dagenheart Shamsh. [ __ ] Start
Bobo Shed. They have that on there, I guess.
Yeah.
Jarkel Joiner, Elijah Martin. Yeah. So, for anybody who’s wondering now, you know. Do you think Do you think Jacobe Walter plays like more than two games? You think he you see him next week, the week after the initial weekend?
I maybe not.
I don’t know. Honestly, it’s two games. How much did Grady played?
I think that’s three. Yeah.
Yeah. In his first I think Grady played two last year.
I can’t remember. I think he played two. Jacobe probably plays two. Yeah, which is fair. I I want to see him kill it. I want him to
He’s the one guy like I have expectations for, especially on the ball, cuz I was fairly high on him coming into the draft. It is a really good opportunity cuz he I think Jacobe last season like showed he had more to offer definitely defensively and getting to spots, but like finishing in the lane, putting the ball on the floor, that was kind of like non-existent for his game. And if he can put some of those stuff together, that’s like him having potential to be a starter. And the Raptors like severely need a twoman that can start with Emanuel quickly like longer term.
Yep. It’s if if Jacobe develops like his offense alongside how his defense looks, then he is will probably end up being a twoman who really helps cover a lot of deficiencies that point guards across the NBA have which is i.e. I don’t defend the other players best player very well. And Jacobe given his chops in he wasn’t that good in the pick and roll but in isolation he showed the ability to stick with guys high pickup points. you think like, well, maybe there’s something there.
Um, his his handle I think is objectively pretty limited or was last season. Yeah,
I want but also
there was definitely some of that like I’m new in the league. I’m not sure how to be how audacious to try and be because he was a very audacious player with, you know, in college,
but he was not very audacious with the Raptors. Very subdued, very like I he was just a worker, man. Just a grinder. So, I wonder Yeah, I wonder if there’s some like let me boogie on him at at at college. Who do you Who do you think will be like the big pops the hell off player?
I think it’s going to be Elijah Martin, honestly. He’s like he’s an older player. He’s super physical. He’s going to play the the entire time also. So, like
he’s going to be talking crazy to the other guards, man.
He’s going to be in their ear.
I can’t wait for for Shed and Elijah Martin lineups. just like that’s literally if you’re a 19-year-old guy, this is your worst nightmare trying to dribble ball up the court to these two guys. So, I think he’s going to have big potential there. Do you remember? Well, well, of course you do, but the the audience may not even though we did talk about it
when we were in Vegas last time, 2023. Yes.
And you got asked,
you do a podcast about Pascal Seakum. Oh, [ __ ] What what do you what do you think the odds are that you get a redux of that but with like Scotty Barnes? Or does Ingram help juice it enough that like the Raptors have enough interest? Cuz Ingram is a pretty like for casual watchers, Ingram has some name value there.
He does. Yeah. High pick too. I don’t I don’t think it juices enough enough cuz the cuz the Raptors like haven’t been good for for for a few years. Like I remember I was sitting good friend Josh Codinire and they were like so like you you come up with like segments for like they were from New York too. He said for OG and Anobi. I was like yeah man but I think they had more name presence than they’d had two years ago though for sure. Maybe I don’t know Brandon Ingram high pick Scotty Barnes rookie of the year. He was the year four years ago though, man.
I don’t know. Like I definitely
I feel That’s a good question. Do you feel better about this team now than you did after the 2023 season? Like Fred just left. We’re at Summer League. Grady’s on the team. Dennis Shruder is a Raptor. How do you feel about that versus going into the season now? I think this is a better team. Yeah, there’s the I think the challenge with the
Yeah, the Raptors like two years ago and like just the post championship era is like lack of direction and like intentionality. They tried to hedge both sort of situations, both timelines of like going for it also building for the future over several years and like put themselves in situations where they had to get less for other players which is a a travesty honestly. But And also, just as a quick thing, at summer league last year, we were hearing it. It was like we’re hearing about the Hawks kicking around on Pascal.
We’re like, not even stuff we talked about on the podcast, but it was just like conversations were happening. We heard about the Pacers stuff and then obviously, you know, down the line.
Brutal. So, it’s just a weird weird way to have a team for like two or three years and like the players have who’ve left have kind of touched upon it. Pasco said literally his darkest days with this team the last two years Fred Van Bleet was posting was posting antagonist tweets telling people I’m going to [ __ ] win and that he did he did he showed us wrong
both Pascal well actually all three Pascal OG and Fred they made out like bandits manit
all of them all of them immediately went to extremely successful teams Like I I wonder what I would have loved to see Tyrese after nine points in seven minutes. I would have loved to see him have his game seven and see where that game went.
But Pascal was just in a game seven for the championship against a historically good team and he got an Eastern Conference Finals MVP or Eastern Conference MV or whatever the hell. Anyway, and OG was like one of the was probably the second best player. Well, I don’t know if he was better than Cat. Defense matters. I don’t know. He was really important for an ECF team. Fred, the Rockets didn’t go as far as they wanted to, but he got paid, which was important. And then Kevin Durant is on the team, and then he got paid again. It was just like, wow.
Yeah,
these guys have blessings.
It’s crazy. But like this team now, like although expensive and may not have like championship ceiling, like they’re they’re going for it and they’re and they’re trying to to do something. So like I’m for with the direction in the future and like at least they’ve put their chips on the table. like if they’re not good this season like obviously major changes will happen across probably the entire organization. So I like I like the stakes to be honest.
The stakes we have stakes that’s for sure which allows us to pivot and and I think this team is better than that team. Like I you and I were not super confident about the the Fred Vanley to Dennis Shruder. I know a lot of Raptors fans were like he’s much better than Fred because Fred is sneaky and anyway there there’s a lot of stuff but but uh it turns out Shruder is not better than Fred Vample. The drop off really and then everything fell apart. This team I think will make the playoffs. This team I feel pretty good about and this team if nothing pans out they do have the ability to pivot both in the front office and the roster. And that’s where I want to take this. Messiah Jiri got fired, man. Insane.
The floor is yours.
It It’s rough. Um like first like I think like Messiah Jur is like obviously the greatest like president/GM the Raptors ever had. But honestly like over the last 30 years the best in like Toronto sports. The Raptors have been the most successful team over that that period of time. And like the city itself has transformed into like the Raptors used to get sold in a package. I remember you’d get your report card and be like here here’s 30% off on Raptors tickets. You you used to be able to sit in the sprite zone for 10 bucks when the Raptors weren’t good before Messiah was here. like it’s a a legitimate basketball city because they’ve had success for like 10 to 15 years now, which is all
as a quick thing too in this modern era of what like a president slash of basketball operations GM looks like.
He’s been one of the best in the NBA.
Yeah, I I feel pretty comfortable because he doesn’t have any of the advantages that a lot of the other like greats have. Of course, like San Antonio is its own thing, but as far as like LA and Miami and teams that have those historic and like big the leaders of men who make signings, the Raptors just don’t have the advantages to bring those guys to a Miami to an LA. Like I think just like pound-forpound, he’s been one of the best. Obviously, not like lately there’s a lot of misses, but his his resume overall deserves
which which which is like the last few years and like the firing I don’t think it’s like crazy or super it’s shocking at the timing but isn’t crazy. Like the last few years haven’t been successful. They’ve made obvious bets and pivots that haven’t worked out. They they kind of tow the line for several years. I think 2023 is like the deadline is kind of like, all right, they’re in a bad situation now where they there was very clear that they wanted to pivot. They made a huge bet on Yakob who’s still a fine player, but then you lose to the Bulls in the play and you give away a first overall pick. That that was really like the TSN turning point probably for like for me at least and most
when you’re like 68. Are you going to say TSN turning point?
It used to be crazy. I you come back, you’re you’re 12 years old, you’re walking, you’re like, “How did this game turn out?” And the Blue Jays
and they’re like, “It’s Vernon Wells with the He banged a homer and won them the game. Oh man. Yeah, that’s good.
I I think for the level of importance for the franchise and how he is, I don’t think it was handled the greatest. Like if you’re going to fire him, it should be a it should be a sendoff. Like he should he should have been there at the press conference giving his goodbyes to the team, the organization, the city, talking about his greatest moments instead of all this uncertainty, all these like non-answers about what happened. And I think the weird thing with the situation is that like it’s hard to point that point out that it’s basketball because like the current regime is still there and got extended and they’re all a part of those those decisions those decisions as well. And if you’re looking for a new president ideally they probably want their own staff. So I don’t know Bobby Webster is going to end up being the president. I know it’s been reported he’s he’s gonna get a look at the job as well which I think I probably would prefer. I think it would be weird to just hire a new president and then have Bobby Webster still there honestly. But I just think would be weird would be weird for Bobby as well.
Yeah, it’d be super weird. Like he’s been in the line for the job for several years and it looked like Messiah was going to fade out.
Yeah. What like what you’re you’re in like business. Isn’t there a rule that you want to like change jobs every however many years to look dynamic or whatever?
Yeah. you want to change jobs every two or three years cuz you cuz then people look at you and like why haven’t you gotten that the the big gig
which I guess you could look at him in that in that sort of sense too. I just think
he’s the GM of the of an NBA team and people are like
he’s not
you haven’t done anything terrible. I I just think you enter I understand like the draft period. I think the first day after the season you let him go. You have a direction and pivot and you go towards and have intention of how the team is going to like move forward and like to to have that weirdness and like he’s on the phone with CMBB as he’s getting drafted and he’s gone the next day. It’s like
well that’s why we we didn’t get to meet Colin.
Oh yeah. We we didn’t that’s happened. We go and meet the guys after they get drafted. They come to Toronto and they talk to me the whole thing.
We didn’t get that cuz everybody’s like Messiah’s gone. So they it has to be this whole other circus. It affected things.
It’s so it’s just been like terribly managed o overall. It’s just been a [ __ ] show honestly.
Did you Did you like Keith Pelly’s uh conference? Did you see any of that?
I I watched it. I was like, clearly like they’re going to announce a new president and they’re going to announce like Bobby Webster’s new president. This is more like a mutual thing. A Messiah is going off to do his charity stuff. I’m like that is the only way that you let him go one day after the draft. And I know like he kind of I think it was pointed that he asked for them to wait till the draft process was over, but like this is a thousand times worse honestly. And it creates it creates more confusion as as a fan personally and it looks like as a front office of how they’re going to structure like moving forward. But that’s
I I’m I’m glad Messiah was here and he saved us for a time.
That’s kind of how I feel too. Like as far as on its merits the last few years, I think it’s easy to say if if other guys had that resume that they would be at risk of their jobs and Messiah was. However, there Messiah is not other decision makers. He has more cache for a reason. He’s seen differently for a reason. And I also even if he was infallible, the thing I liked is that he very clearly would go to bat for winning
and like what that meant
and that isn’t a guarantee. And I know there are a lot of people who you definitely can critique Messiah his decision- making, but it isn’t strictly a guarantee that decision makers who are close to the owners will make decisions about winning. Some decision makers make decisions about money. It just some some teams have the luxury of just like we’re trying to win. We get to try a lot of stuff and some teams don’t have that luxury. Anybody watch Moneyball? You know that’s and that’s that’s something that Messiah while very expensive had the cache to push back and try and make those decisions. And I wonder what it looks like going forward. It’s weird that it’s still Bobby and them. And it’s weird that there are, you know, discussions about like, well, who’s it going to be? And it could not be Bobby. and and just it also it brings into question, you know, like how close were Bobby and Messiah? How much of the team is Bobb’s decision-m? How much is Messiah’s decision-m? It’s always interesting. Even covering the Pacers, like there’s
like how much is Chad? How much is Kevin? What does that look like? That relationship is a really unique one. And then you afterwards you have like Graange reports that Bobby wanted to sign Pascal back, but Messiah said no. You have Mark Stein who says
You have Mark Stein who says that uh Messiah was a Mwatch fan but Bobby and Dan wanted CMBB. It’s like, but this is just words I don’t know.
Like, like, was Bobby like banging on the side door like, “Call him, man. Get him on the phone. Give him the money.” Like, I don’t know.
It’s It’s odd. And the Raptors front office situation has been the opposite of odd for a very long time. So, it’s just new and we’ll see. And do you have any I I don’t give a I don’t give a [ __ ] Like a Bob Myers or Seratus? I don’t know. Like there’s there’s literally as as a as as a fan, there’s literally nothing you can point to and go like he’s going to be the guy. He’s gonna do it. Like Bob Mars, he didn’t even draft Steph Curry. It’s just like what what am I going to say or point to like that he done or that I know personally that he’s going to do? Draymond is the one who got KD to Golden State anyway.
Exactly. It’s just like all this like randomness and like even with like the whatever president that they do hire, Bobby or not, the team is locked in. The team is locked in at least for the next year. There’s no there’s no physical change that is going to happen from now.
12 minutes on a guy who makes $2.6 million a year. That’s where we are. This team has not changed. So like it’s not going to have an effect on winning. Like obviously if the season doesn’t go right or it goes really well like they’ll have impact on on that. So like for me like the Raptors have always drafted really well if they as long as they continue to keep doing that and they get better at winning trades which is odd used to win at such like a high level but winning trades especially those smaller trades in the aggregate. It’s like the Pacers is such a perfect example because like they Pascal was a home run for them, but like they they got most of their starters in in deals that didn’t look like home runs initially. Even like getting Tyrese for Sabonis wasn’t like a a perfect home run deal initially. Like the Kings made the playoffs, Sabonis has made the AllNBA team, but like they won that deal, they won Aaron Nith, they’ve drafted um Andrew Nehard. It’s just like those little wins is what the Raptors have been missing out on.
Yeah. And it’s just like and the guys like Ben Shepard hasn’t been incredible. I don’t know if he’ll be on the team after his rookie contract, but he gave them minutes and he allowed them defensive versatility. I mean, Benedict Mathin is both giving them like a lot of production in some sense, but also as a six overall pick is not a like he’s heading into year four. We don’t even know what a six overall pick looks like because it m like four and six is pretty close. If Scotty Bonds was having the career that Matherine had at pick six, we’d be like,
“Man, I wish this was better.”
And Jarus Walker right at at seven or eight, I can’t remember which one. I think seven. Like Jar, I like both those players. They have careers ahead of them, but it’s not like Indiana knocked everything out of the park. They got an M Hard, but everything else was like trades. And Miles Turner just left and he was a guy they drafted and capped. But Miles Turner, boy, did he limit a lot of what they were able to do in the last two like against the Celtics the year before against
just really struggled as they were trying to play high level basketball. So, I mean, winning trades is important. identifying those guys. Not there’s not everyone’s Brian Kangelo bringing you Kyle Lau, you know, just like
I read I read that Zack O report. They said, “Oh, the Raptors analytics team said he’s a top 10 point guard hiding in plain sight.” Oh. Oh, the Raptors championship was built on built on trades and winning those ways like getting Zerbaka, getting getting Marcus, having Danny Green as the filler, which is insane. The filler for Kawhi Leonard. It’s just
Grievous Grievous Vasquez became Norm and OG. Yeah. It’s just like winning on like those like micro trades is what the Raptors need. and they’ve made everything has been like a big bet, a big splash like trying to like resurrect what that championship team was and like it hasn’t panned out. Like the Pascal trade, we’ll see with Brandon Ingram OG and Anobi trade is is a loss sadly and and like Fred Vanble that that I don’t blame them for that one. Like I never foresaw him getting $40 million and it working out like that. I bet when they saw it come down the pipe that he got 43 million a year, they were probably like, “Damn, cuz wasn’t it rumored that they went to 36?” And they’re like, “We can give you 36.”
And they were probably, and we did our mock negotiation where I can’t remember who was who, but we settled at 28. And we’re like, “Well, he’ll probably be pretty happy with that.” He got 15 more million a year. That’s crazy.
Head on yourself, man. And he and like he Fred is just navigated. He went to the team that was ready to make a leap and was overly dependent on his skills, like overly dependent. And then that same team kept building a team that was still overly dependent while they became the two seed. And then they got Kevin Durant while still being overly dependent on his skills. He played this. Ooh, the dice roller man. The dice man. a nice man.
What a W. But I’m I’m excited. I’m excited for the season. Like the Raptors have a team that they’re they’re trying to make the playoffs. It’s odd that they said that they’re still in a rebuild because they’re so expensive to be honest, but I guess we’ll we’ll see how the rest of the year goes.
Yeah, we’re like I know it’s like four and a half months away this season. I I guess you got NFL coming soon. There’s that. Yeah,
Love Island’s chewing endings for me. I’m I’m pretty happy.
And how happy are you that this is the one night we’re recording that it wasn’t on?
Oh, it that’s actually elite Love Island. Like I’m in I’m in my house and like me and my wife are like Stephen A and Skip. I’m like he he doesn’t like her. And she’s like of course of course he does. Of course he does. And we’re debating back and forth. Two epo episodes later, you see the guy goes, “I don’t really like her like that’s and I I lose it. I lose it like like Tyrese hit the shot in game one.” Riveting. It’s a shake It’s the Truman Show meets a Shakespearean play. Wowers. Wowers. Um, that’s probably where we can leave the podcast at. I I’ll be here on Saturday to talk about something, the Raptors, I presume, and then we’ll be we’ll be talking to you from Vegas. So, we’ll we’ll have podcasts and written work from Vegas and we’ll we’ll go from there. Trey, anything you want to say to the people before we get out of here? Hopefully the two weeks from now, we’re we’re carrying a chip. We’re we’re shooting champagne at Orchet and they they bring it home. Fingers are crossed. It would be cool if Shamshay was like the guy who popped the hell off because I saw so little of him, but quite a few people who had seen him kind of raised their hand up and were like, “Just wait on this guy. He’s going to be special.” Which happens with every player. There’s always check your email the summer league credentials. They just they just approved mine. Did you get any Let’s see. Wow.
You got I got approved. Wow. Wow.
Wow.
Heath credentialed for summer league. Let’s go, dude. Oh, man. That’s a hell of a finish. Stravon will be sidelined at the game, seated right next to me. This is special, dude.
Wow. Jesus.
Hell yeah. We dude,
we made it. Give me a little bump.
A little bump right there.
Hell yeah. We made it. All right. That’s That’s probably That’s special. That’s a little keepsake you get to keep forever. That also goes on the resume, too. Yeah. Every once in a while I cover the NBA, you know. All right, everybody. Uh, thanks for hanging in with us. Uh, we appreciate you very much. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe. It helps the channel. It helps send us to Vegas to do things, of course. Um, and it Yeah, it’s just good. We like it. S is grinding away on videos as well. So,
subscribe and stay tuned. He has a video for damn near everything, and I imagine he’ll keep doing it. Um, looking forward to Summer League. Thank you for tuning in from myself and Travon. Whether you got into this in the morning or at night, have a blessed day and goodbye.

Samson Folk & Trevon Heath discuss the latest in the Raptors realm.

0:00 – Introductions

1:40 – Tre likes the Jakob extension

6:35 – Mamu, the Raptor

10:20 – CMB a good defender yr 1

12:00 – Mamu again

16:55 – Raptors contract performance

21:35 – The Gradey Conversation

26:07 – Summer League Expectations

35:30 – The teams direction

39:00 – Tre’s thoughts on Masai getting fired

53:05 – Tre loves Love Island

54:43 – Tre is a credentialed NBA media member

Don’t forget to like, comment and share the video.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/38IlV8U
Read our articles: https://bit.ly/38FCq5B
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3jKJnsg
Twitter: https://bit.ly/2WOyTiy
Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/38FDlTB
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kQXVG6
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2X15aDk

#raptors #scottiebarnes #brandoningram