React Pod: Collin Murray-Boyles carries Raptors to 4-0 finish and advance to semifinals

React Pod: Collin Murray-Boyles carries Raptors to 4-0 finish and advance to semifinals

Hello and welcome. You are listening to the Helen Walcon podcast presented by Bway. I’m your host Wayne Lou. I’m coming to you live after the Toronto Raptors take down the Golden State Warriors by a score of 81 to 69 to finish a perfect 4-0 in the group stages to finish number one in all the summer league teams in the regular season, I suppose, uh to advance into the semi-finals. So, a reminder, only four teams out of all 30 that participate in summer league get to go into the semi-finals. And the Toronto Raptors have been playing like they have one thing on their mind all summer, which is that they want to get this championship ring. Uh that they want to play hard, that they want to compete. They brought together a lot of their players who I mean, some of these guys will feature on the Raptors rotation, no doubt. I mean, Jamal Shed, Jacobe Walter, Colin Murray Boils, etc., etc. I mean, a lot of rostered players. And so they came into the summer league with a focus and I expected nothing less from these guys. If you’ve watched uh the first three summer league games, you knew the deal with the Raps. Like the Raptors have established a defensive identity, especially with their young group and they have been going after they have beenounding players. It’s almost funny to me when I watch um you know these teams like take on the Raptors. It almost feels unfair to some degree. It really does. Like I I think that most summer league teams are like, “Okay, you know, we’re mostly randomly throwing together a bunch of strangers. We have some, you know, mismatch priorities in the sense that some guys are just trying to make the league. Some guys are trying to make other leagues. You know, there’s uh, you know, some rookies are trying to get featured even though they’re not necessarily the best players. Like summer league is always a mess, you know what I mean? And then they come up and they have to play the Raptors. And the Raptors are just this like this this this this bully ball team that just comes after you defensively and and I think the number one reason first off the Raptors are 4-0 in summer league. It’s not like they’ve had dominant performances. It’s not like they’ve had one guy carrying their team and he can’t stop scoring. I mean the closest thing to that will be AJ Lawson I suppose but you know even AJ hasn’t really been scoring that much in this game. He has a little cold game 12 points or 412 shooting. Although honestly in this type of game, 12 points on 412 shooting is actually perfectly fine. Um considering that the Raptors shot 32.5% from the field and that the Warriors shot 32.8% from the field. But the number one reason the Raptors have been winning all these games is because of their defense in particular. Not just their defense, but the way they’re able to force teams into turnover. Toronto, they couldn’t even score really off of Golden State’s turnovers tonight. But if you just look at the official count, 34 turnovers against the Chicago Bulls in game one, 29 against the Atlanta Magic in game two, 24 against Denver in game three, and 27 turnovers forced tonight here against Golden State. That’s over a 100 turnovers forced in four games. It and keep in mind these are 40-minute games. These aren’t even like the full 48minute games. Like these have just been master classes in defense. And obviously there’s there’s a lot in terms of the defensive scheme. The Raptors have played a super aggressive, more aggressive than they really would play in the actual regular season because you’re seeing the Raptors swarm the ball. You’re seeing them pressure the full court and you’re seeing them double the ball quite a bit even against guys who aren’t great in terms of uh uh you know just uh you know handling or even just offensive threats. Typically you would double offensive threats. The Raptors are kind of doubling the ball um as much as they can. They’re also rotating and sending a third guy um to the first pass out and they’re trying to gamble for steals there. So, it is like pretty much the most aggressive defense that we have seen from the Raptors basically since uh the 2020 season, the championship defense season. That season obviously they were playing really aggressive defense as well kind of as a vestage of uh what they did in the the run to the championship. Um but yeah, like that is the reason why and I think that that is one part which is obviously the tactics. The other part is just like how much these guys from top on down have all just been absolute dogs on the defensive end, man. Like I I can’t stress enough seeing Jacobe Walter like, you know, have a terrible night offensively. Like just absolutely terrible. Couldn’t buy a bucket. The one basket he made was like a buzzer beater. He just threw the shot up and it went in. Thought that would open the buckets for him. But no, it did not. Um but defensively it’s like, “Okay, fine. I can’t score.” You know, last night at 26, this time I can’t score at all. Fine. I’m just going to get it back on the defensive end. You’re seeing him force 8second violations. diving to the floor. You’re seeing him, you know, get shoved off the ball and force offensive, you know, fouls and get into the face of the opponents and and frustrate them mentally. You see Jamal Shed once per game he falls over on a screen and they give him the call like basically, you know, like this is this is that DaVon Mitchell style of defense that started the season for the Raptors last year or or more popularly a Lou Door um you know for OKC like he he keeps buying those kind of fouls. Uh you keep seeing the Raptors bigs like press out to the perimeter and crowd the paint and you know you you see you know all Shamshshire I thought did a good job of protecting the basket for the most part but realistically this had to be a huge game from Colin Murray Boils and he was amazing. I know he only gets credited for four steals. I swear this guy had like 15 deflections. Like it it was incredible watching him on the defensive end. you know, Jameson Battle, I thought he had a lot of great rotations at the basket coming over at the rim. And even though the Raptors bench by by and large, really struggled in this one, I thought Elijah Martin made a couple really big plays in the second half. I thought uh you know, Chucky Heburn, even though he couldn’t get anything going offensively, was also able to come over and create some havoc defensively. And again, like that’s the only reason the Raptors won because like the Raptors offensively continued to struggle. like you don’t know which night, you know, somebody’s actually going to score for this team. The Rapids just don’t have that. Um, you know, I think that Jamal’s probably their most consistent offensive player, but you know, he had a really cold game here tonight. I thought that it might be similar to the Denver game where he had a really bad first half, but then he would come on at some point and swing the game like he did against Denver to spark a 19- nothing run, which flipped the whole entire contest. This game, Jamal never got it going, right? So, you know, that never happened. Jacobe never really happened. And you know, besides the defense, the number one guy who was the Raptors um who was the Raptors like bedrock here tonight was Colin Murray Boils, who I thought first off, so in this game, Jonathan Mobile um was ruled out with the right hand sprain. So, uh that’s really unfortunate cuz Mobile had been having a really nice summer league. he had been one of the biggest reasons why the Raptors were so successful as well. Not only on the defensive end where we know he’s already really good, but I thought he finished a lot of transition opportunities for the Raptors and also just was a big body, was able to um you know, crash the paint, was able to get offensive rebounds, was able to you know uh just finish in the paint just in general. Uh I just thought he was a you know, he’s been really efficient. I feel like he’s shooting like 70% or something. Um, so you you had no mobile, so that already put more strain onto Colin Murray BS to sort of hold it down. But I also like the way the Raptors opened this game, which was featuring a lot of CMBB, you know, like they they ran I think the first five possessions, one of them was a transition three that uh, you know, Jacobe Walter tried to take and he missed it. But um the first four halfcourt possessions, they all flowed through Colin and I really like that ability for him to facilitate some of the offense for the Raptors. Also just play in the pick and roll for the Raptors. He had a finish on that end, had a transition finish, he was setting guys up. I just thought he he played a really really, you know, important game on the offensive end where again like most of the Raptors couldn’t get anything going. Um their their you know, their main source of offense should be their back court. Jacobe and Jamal combined for 2 for20 shooting, including 1 for4 from three. Luckily, those two guys were able to finish their free throws. Jacobe goes four for five, Jamal goes six for six. So, that’s actually more than half of their scoring. But seriously, when their back court goes two for 20, you shouldn’t be able to score much, especially considering Colin Castleton continues to really struggle as the starting center for the Raptors. I mean, I I I see a lot of people are already out on Colin Castle that I totally get it, but I mean, like, damn, bro. He’s just a summer league guy. Anyway, my point is nobody else was really playing well and it was Colin Murray Boilles who, you know, between his facilitating and running the offense in this the first quarter or just him getting some garbage buckets or him getting a pick and pop three again, which was really fun to see him knock down a three, he went one for three today. I think that was actually a really healthy amount just based on, you know, the type of shots that were open to him. He knocked down the first one, missed the second two. Um, but him getting on the offensive glass, him finishing in transition, him being able to push the break a couple times and also just like I I it’s weird because you really have to watch the game to appreciate this, but this guy is just always in the right defensive position. And so he’s always like getting a hand on the ball. He’s always like bumping somebody and and not really fouling either. I thought he did a really good job of defending without fouling, which I think he might have been the only guy in this game who wasn’t fouling all that much considering there’s like 60 fouls combined as well. Um but he just kept getting these buckets and you know it it was putbacks, it was like you know rolls to the rim, it was transition. Um you know second half it was some some steals as well. The Raptors you know um first off they they they really should have been down more than they were at halftime. Um just considering the fact that the Raptors offense wasn’t going at all. They only had 36 points at halftime, but their defense kept them in it. um they were only actually down one going into half because of the fact that they were able to defend so well and then in the third quarter the Raptors actually took the lead with their starters making a good push but then their bench came in and gave up like a 10- nothing run and so the Warriors were back right in the game and then James Wade decided to actually play a lot of his starters mixed with a couple key bench players. I thought the guys who played well tonight off the bench already Shamsh who actually got the start in the second half over Colin Castleton and then Elijah Martin who I thought was just really steady throughout the whole game. uh very underrated role for him tonight. But like a combination of those bench guys were able to really, you know, create another big run by the Raptors in the the third quarter and the Raptors used a 16 the Warriors went on a 12 nothing 12 nothing run in the third quarter. The Raptors brought in some of their main guys and then finished the quarter on a 16-2 run uh to take a nine-point lead into the third quarter. And a lot of that was just their defense, man. I mean, again, like the all game the pressure was there. Um, I thought actually the Warriors at first handled it well by making a couple extra passes. Uh, and that created open threes or open, you know, just, you know, two-on-one opportunities at the basket and they were finishing some of those, too. Um, but that third quarter, like I felt like the Raptors got through to them and they broke them, you know, like you had Colin Marosa three straight baskets, a dunk, another steal where the Raptors splits the ball and then got the got the loose ball in the front court and CNB dunked it. Then another putback where I think Elijah drove to the rim, missed it, but then Colin was right there for a putback. In that same stretch, Jacobe Walter was really really leading the charge with his defense where he like dove on the floor to create a deflection where he was just guarding, you know, just pressuring the ball handler one-on-one in the back court. And that deflection, even though he didn’t get the steal, that delayed the ball handler enough that he couldn’t cross half court with 8 seconds left. So that became a turnover. That was right in front of the Raptors bench. Seeing everybody just scream and pick him up was awesome. And then a next play down, the Warriors did get it into the front court at least, but then Jacob’s guarding the ball and you know he he and this other guy number 18, I don’t even know what his name was for the Warriors, but he he got into like he was just frustrated and he like hit Jacobe with the off arm when Jacobe went back flying and you know there was another turnover forced in that stretch. I thought Jameus Sebattle also did a great job in terms of you know you don’t usually think of him as defense. You know I think last year even the concern was okay maybe he can shoot but can he defend? I thought tonight he did a really good job rotating at the basket. Um, also guarding out the perimeter at the top too. Just just the Raptors like sustained pressure. You know, I think at first the Warriors I think they definitely came in with a scouting report like look the Raps are going to do this to us. They forced like 80 turnovers coming into this into the last game. Like clearly they’re going to do, you know, to us what they’ve done to the other teams. And I thought first half they did okay with it, but that third quarter, man, they just broke them. It was a stretch of turnover after turnover after turnover. And I think the other big thing is just the Raptors started finishing on those because like Raptors had lots of chances to blow this game or at least like even just take the lead earlier, but they just weren’t finishing in transition. They weren’t capitalizing. They couldn’t hit the threes. I mean tonight the Raptors shot five of 35 from three. That’s 14%. Like you really shouldn’t even be able to win games in the modern NBA when you shoot 14% from three. But again like defensively they were just at such a high level. And again, like a lot of that was Colin Murray Bole’s current Colin was like by far the best part in this game. Like honestly, like I don’t even know who was a close second in terms of just the effectiveness cuz it was the offensive end and it was the defensive end for Colin. I think that you know um my my one of my concerns might just be like his fitness right now. It’s just like can he play more effectively in terms of just playing more extended minutes. He only played 25 tonight and he still looked quite gassed at certain points of the game. Um, obviously he had missed a lot of time due to the injury. So, like I’m not even questioning his condition. I’m just more so the fact that he had just come off of injury. Um, but like yeah, I mean, you know, he was he was absolutely vital. Like he he basically played Mo’s role for him while also playing his own position and and he was just extremely productive. Like 20 points, nine rebounds, six offensive, two assists, four steals, eight of 13 shooting, knocked down a three, went three or four from the foul line in 25 minutes. That was absolutely huge. But again, like the Raptors also had to really find their way through this game. And this is where, you know, it’s funny because like a lot of teams I’m watching them like I’m like, “All right, like tonight, for example, there were several teams that were 3 and 0 coming to the tonight, but they were still resting their guys.” Like the Spurs, for example, they were 3 and0 with a chance to obviously advance to the semi-finals. And then I’m like, “Yeah, screw it. We’re not really even going to play uh Dylan Harper. Like, we we’ll we’ll we’ll still put like our number 14 pick like Carter Bryan in the game, but like realistically, we’re we’re just going to shut him down.” Right? There there’s like several instances of this across the league where guys are in good position but they’re like you know what we’re okay like on summer league on the Raptors front like they’re coaching and competing every game to win. In fact, I think honestly not that this is the most important thing, but if I were like these other guys on the team like Tyson Denhart or like uh anyone Tate Jones or Clifford Omar Rui or Tyreek Key although he got in the game a little bit today uh or like Jarkeel Joiner or like just you know Quincy Gary these guys who like signed up like they’re not getting any burn. Like it’s almost worse to be able on a winning team um when you are one of these guys hoping to make the league because you’re just just in general not getting a chance to play. Um, but I also appreciate the fact that the Raptors have come in with a clear and, you know, definitive goal. Like, you know, I was in those scrums with uh James Wade after game one where he was asked about if if guys get shut down, what do you want to do? And he’s like, “No, I want them to keep going.” Like, if it was up to me, I want them to keep competing. And Jacobe was kind of saying the same thing. And Colin Murray Boils was asked, you know, postgame by Nabil Kareem uh on NBA TV like, “Yo, like, have you seen these summer league rings?” and he’s like, “I’m not trying to see nothing but trying to compete and win the next game in front of me.” Like, these guys are really serious about winning and and I think the atmosphere even though it is summer league and even though it is a lower level, like they’re taking this thing absolutely seriously. So, in that front, I actually really do appreciate the coaching that has been done by coach James Wade because you know what, a lot of coaching in summer league I’m not going to judge cuz like these are just random guys. Like for example, the Clippers summer league team is getting coached by Jeremy Castlebury who uh is largely just Kawhai’s guy in terms of just his, you know, his his go-to trainer that he’s brought, you know, from San Antonio to Toronto to now going to the to the Clippers. Like, you know, you know, whatever. I’m not going to judge most of the coaching in the summer league setting, but I’m watching like the Raptors and they want to compete and they want to win. So the coaching decision in terms of who plays, who plays when, what type of style we’re playing, what type of endmount plays we have, like all those things start to matter because the Raptors are actually trying to make these game matter. And I got to say James Wade, I think he’s done a good job. Obviously, you know, he came into the summer league. Colin Castleton is a guy who’s experienced, who’s, you know, not only older, he’s played more time in the G-League and then obviously half a season with the Raptors last year when the Raps were tanking. Um, so he comes to the summer league and he gets to start. I really have no issues with that, right? But as the games go on, it becomes more apparent that like you know what, he’s probably not the Raptor’s best option. And so you’ve seen the Raptors switch up their rotations in the second half. You saw tonight all Shamsh getting a start in the second half. Of course, that means you got to readjust your rotation on the fly. And by the way, you know, one thing that makes the coaching even harder is that the halftimes are like 8 minutes. So it’s like half the time that you usually have for halftime. I don’t even think you barely even get time to go downstairs to like, you know, talk your team and then come back up. Like most times I’m pretty sure you’re not even doing much of that. And so, um, making these rotations, uh, I guess adjustments to your rotation on the fly, I think has been really good. I think he also had to find like some sort of steady balance between, okay, I want my guys to play all out defense and they’re pressuring full court. Well, that means I can’t play any of my guys 30 minutes because realistically, it’s just too much energy to try to expend. So, that means I need to trust certain guys off the bench to do some some things for me. And so, tonight he trusted Chucky Heburn. Tonight, I thought he got a great effort from Elijah. So, he played Elijah a little bit more. AJ Lawson, you know, he’s been uh he’s been really hot tonight. He was missing a lot, but you know, he stuck with him long enough and AJ started catching fire in the second half. AJ also continues to be really disruptive and force a lot of turnovers in transition and so he’s finishing those as well. And I just thought in general he managed the rotation well enough where ultimately nobody was nobody was too gassed towards the end, especially considering the fact that the Raps will have to play at least two more games now now that they made the semi-finals. You know, I I think that uh the rotation was Melo managed in a good way. And again, like I also thought that it was a good decision not to dial back the defense, you know, cuz in the first half I thought the Warriors genuinely felt like they knew what the Raptors wanted to do to them. And so they were like being able to pass around the double teams and, you know, the Raptors got caught like, you know, giving up wide openen threes in the corner, which is obviously the hardest place to rotate to. Uh or they were giving up like just a odd number, you know, rushes in in transition. Um, you know, like I think another coach might have just decided, okay, let’s ease up a little bit. Let’s play a little more straight out. But honestly, I’m happy they didn’t do that because number one, their half court offense was never good at all in this game. So, they needed those transition points to continue playing. But also, the second part is just like if this is your identity, you stick out with your identity, man. So, I love the fact that like they were able to um they were able to just come in and and and just like press their advantage and you eventually saw like the Warriors were either going to figure out the Raptors and just pass around them and ultimately, you know, outscore the Raps or the Raptors were going to break the Warriors with their defense. And that’s what happened. The Warriors in the third quarter towards the end there broke down. The Raptors, you know, hit them with that punch and eventually the Warriors just did not have enough to come back with. And again, like, you know, I I think there’s so much room for improvement on the offensive end. A lot of that has to do with their guards. I mean, like, look, the Raptors don’t have, you know, these dominant bigs that you’re going to be able to run offense through. Like, this isn’t like you have Henson Yang getting the ball at the top of the floor and then running split cuts and letting him throw passes like Joker. Like, they don’t have that type of player. And so, they largely need their guard to sort of get them going. They also don’t have a big wing either, like a Scotty Barnes, for example, like a Brandon Ingram who can run a lot of their offense and sort of get theirs no matter what just based on their size and be able to shoot over the top. But that means that they need their guards to be better than this. And I think that Jacobe and Jamal, I mean, literally look at last game against Denver. They were awesome in that game. And then tonight, they come back with seven points and eight rebounds. Now, seven points and eight points a piece. Now, granted, I thought their defense was still really strong. I think both of them were really, really good defensively. Don’t even look at the fact that Jamali had one steal and that Jacobe had zero steals and zero blocks. like those guys were really disruptive on the defensive end. They forced a lot of turnovers just with their hustle and their energy. But I think offensively that’s where you know can Jamal get to his pick and roll a little bit better. You know I think part of that comes down to just getting better screens from all Shamsh in general. Um I thought didn’t always present himself as as a as a great option on the roll and sometimes he was fumbling a couple passes on the roll more than anything else. So can you create enough space for Jamal to you know hit that quick crossover get into the lane and then shoot that little floater that he’s been so good at. You just didn’t see a lot of those tonight from Jamal. Granted for Jamal, I think he needs to hit that pull up three. A lot of times you see all the Warriors go under on these screens. Uh and of course they’re worried about, you know, Shamshay rolling to the basket and catching a lob. I mean, he definitely can do that. So, they were going under on some of these screens and um Jamal had to just knock those threes down and he just wasn’t able to convert on those threes which I think that uh you know that’s just a key part of just you know him being able to play effective in the pick and roll game. And then Jacobe, I just thought his legs weren’t really under him tonight. Like he was short on most of his threes. The one shot that he made out of the 11 attempts, including nine of those from three, the one that he actually made was a buzzer beater where he just kind of flicked it up there and it went in. Um, but I felt like at least six of his threes were short. And so I think more than anything else is just, you know, finding a little bit more strength in in his base and and in his gather to sort of like go up and shoot it. Um, you know, you just he was just really short tonight. because outside of those guys, I’m not really sure who else can give me that consistent offense. I think Colin obviously is a guy who can score for you. I thought tonight he, you know, I like the balance between his own individual creation and also his ability to, you know, just play off of others, whether that’s in transition or whether that’s off putbacks of that. He had six offensive rebounds. A lot of those were turn converted into putbacks, but like who else can really get you a bucket? Like AJ Lawson has been good at catch, you know, playing on the catch and shooting or or or just like driving off those turn those close outs. That’s fine. Elijah Martin, I thought he did a good job. Actually, he was probably the guy in the second unit that actually created his own offense. And it wasn’t a lot of it cuz he he went four of 10 from the field and five of five from the foul line. So, it wasn’t like he was creating a ton of offense, but at the same time, I’m I’m watching and I’m like, in a game where it was really dire and guys weren’t really able to score, seeing, you know, Elijah just tuck the ball under his arm and just attack guys off drives and, you know, try to get to the basket. Obviously, he’s smaller, so he’s having to finish, you know, over more size than he did in college. Uh, he also had to, you know, sort of improvise a little bit and use his strength, but I like the way that other guys bounce off him. He’s still able to create just enough uh shot to like go up with relatively normal shots. He’s just has to play the glass a little bit more, maybe use either hand, but also his strength in going to the basket allowed him to get fouled. And his some of his straight line drives were really able to create offense for the Raptors in a way that, you know, just didn’t see a lot of. And so you you need your guards to sort of just be better for you just in general. Um you know, maybe I would love to see a little bit more playmaking from the bigs. Actually, probably the best pass of the game was actually from Alwards Shamsh, who caught the ball at the elbow and threw a back door pass, little bounce pass to Elijah Martin, who finished a very acrobatic and one. Um, you know, that it was a great pass. It was even better finish. Uh, it was funny cuz after that play, Alish just kept trying to throw bounce passes in the lane like non-stop and I’m like, dude, you can’t just go back to the well every time on that. But still, like, you know, just just finding something else on offense because I’m not gonna say that like winning on defense like this is is not, you know, valuable. Like, it absolutely is, but it can be a little bit gimmicky because I think that like outside of you being able to just dominate your opponent defensively and win the possession battle by a landslide, you still need your offense to get going to some degree. And and really we’ve only ever seen that in game one where the Raptors won that first one by like 100 I think 114 to like 97 or something maybe less. I don’t know. I think that was like a 40point win. So in any case, so game one obviously everyone was scoring and it was feeling great. But like you know you just need to see more consistent offense especially considering the Raptors need to win two more games to actually secure the summer league title. And you know I don’t think you could only do it on the defensive end. But again like tonight I thought it was a really really gutsy effort. they were in it for a, you know, a real fight. Honestly, the Warriors looked decent at the start, but when you look back on it, you’re like, damn, bro. Like, the Warriors leading score was Chris Mannon at 14 points. Nobody else scored more than eight points, man. Like, that’s actually kind of unbelievable to look at a whole game played by a whole other team and nobody scored more than 14 point. Only one guy scored 14 points and then nobody else scored more than eight points. Man, I’ve never even seen a box score like this. like that it’s like 068714534855 like that is that was the box score scoring lines for the Warriors and again like I think it just speaks to the overall pressure on the defensive end but again like they need to figure something else offensively. I think Jamal just I I mean the pick and roll game I I think is the main thing that he does and so I think maybe at the start of next game they involve him a couple more pick and rolls. I would say use him with in a pick and roll with Colin a little bit more than than let’s say the pick and roll with like um Colin Castleton or or or Shamshi. Like let Jamal work the pick and roll with Colin Murray Boils or let him work it with Jonathan Mobile when he’s back. I think those probably have more just like juice in terms of like there’s more playmaking opportunities where he can throw like tougher passes. Colin has great hands by the way. And by the way, when I say Colin, I mean Colin Mur Castleton can be Castleton. Um no, but like Colin has really good hands. So like you can throw him like tougher passes. he’s able to just like, you know, just, you know, velcro those passes right in. Um, and then Mobile has just been finishing everything around the basket. So, hopefully he’s back actually for the semi-finals and beyond. Um, but yeah, I mean, and then Jacobe, I mean, you know, part of that tonight was just he couldn’t get the three to drop. He took some good shots. He just couldn’t make them drop. Um, but, you know, ultimately, you would like to see him, you know, be more of a consistent score and, you know, he can drive it a little bit. You know, he can like, you know, fade away and draw fouls. He did one of those in the fourth quarter, which I thought was good. Um but ultimately you just need a little bit more offense from them. But again like defensively literally have no complaints. Like actually I tweeted this out um towards the end of the game as the Raptors were winning. Uh but I’m just like look I hope that uh let me put up my tweet. My hope is that the Raptor starters play with this much energy on defense as well. These young guys can score reliably but they’re all dogs on defense. And I think that like if the Raptor starters even played with a semblance of this level intensity on defense, and I think Scotty does, but the rest of the guys, you know, not as much. If the Raptor starters can replicate this level of energy and def intensity on the defensive end, I think that like the Raptors actually have the chance to make the playoffs next year. I think that those hopes are actually realistic. And I also do think that like based on watching the Raptors bench struggle to score, I’m like, okay, that’s where you take one of those guys like a Scott. Well, not well not Scotty’s not going to move to the bench, but like you know when when you play with your rotations like make sure you have one of Brandon or RJ or Scotty or Quick with the second unit uh when they’re out there because yes, their defense is going to be really good in terms of the pressure, but you also need somebody to sort of help them score and those guys could all kind of give you 20 on any given night with no surprises. So, um hopefully they find the right balance there cuz I like low key like the Raptors, you know, their depth is starting to look a little bit better. I mean, you know, I I was talking to I was talking to Bobby during the course of summer league and um one of the things he was just saying is he’s like I I think he feels like there’s 12 guys on this team that can play. And so, you know, obviously you don’t see 12man rotations around the NBA, but I think the good thing is number one, it helps you a little sustain injuries a little bit better. Obviously, we’ve seen injuries really hurt the Raptors over the last two seasons. Um, but then the other part is just like, you know, you also can sustain a higher level of defensive intensity if you play a deeper rotation where everyone’s able to come in and give more effort per minute and then you spread out some of those minutes along more players. I I think hopefully that’s sort of the case as well. But ultimately, yeah, like this is uh this is really fun. I’m happy to see the Raptors go 4 and0 and advance in the semi-finals. Uh we’re going to take a quick break, hear from our sponsor. When we come back, we’re going to take your questions. What’s going on everybody? The Hello and Welcome crew is officially headed to Las Vegas summer league this week. What this means for the show is as follows. Officially on the record, we’re really excited to bring you the latest in the next generation of the Toronto Raptors and also other young NBA stars from across the league. But of course, unofficially, this being Vegas and all, we are really looking forward to crashing a few exclusive NBA parties, rubbing shoulders with some of your favorite media personalities, and of course, catching up with all our dear friends from across the league. And when it comes time to be reaching for a beverage, you know, we’ll be asking for a Simply Spiked for us and the whole crew. And here’s the thing, the fine folks at Simply Spiked have been really kind to send us cases to try of their new beverages. And let me tell you from firstirhand experience, these are very crushable drinks. Uh the limeade flavor is a very refreshing take on the original. The blackberry flavor has a nice tart twist. And of course, the cherry one, you already know that’s the bomb. At 5% alcohol and made with real fruit juices, they’re perfect to bring to any summertime outing, whether that’s rubbing shoulders with NBA people or just having a nice little picnic in the park. Pick up Simply Spiked at your local store and try some for yourself and we’ll catch you when we’re back in Toronto. There you go, baby. Don’t forget must be a legal drinking age and you got to celebrate responsibly. Man, we going to crack some safely spiked when the Raptors win the summer league champ, aren’t we? Are we going to pop it like champagne? That’s Yeah, we should. Maybe. Let’s Let’s see if we can spray them a little bit. I think I think we can maybe spray them just a little bit. We need to update that ad cuz we’re back home. Oh, I can’t wait to record another ad. You can tell how I’m I’m basically Don Draper the way I’m recording these ads. Oh my god. No, no, you’re cooking with these. Um to start things off, uh you know, what’s the chat saying, man? Well, the chat is saying a couple stuff, but before we get to that, I mean, the first thing that we’ll say that the chat is saying is Koki here says, “Simply spiked slapped.” That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. And this is the new uh soup ad. Um it really is. But to kick things off, I mean, Colin Murray Boys was interviewed uh postgame and he was asked like, “Have you seen The Ring?” Mhm. And he said, “I’m not worried about that right now. I’m just worried about wins.” But let’s take a look at The Ring. Oh, okay. Here we go. This is the ring that like they’re going to be winning. Uh, whoever wins, they’re going to be I’m going to say they as in the Raptors are going to be winning at the end of course, right? We’re going to force 86 turnovers in the finals. What do you think? What are your thoughts here? It looks like there’s no places to engrave. I mean, like, I’m still holding uh, you know, our boy Phil to getting you one of these. I I think it’s only fair that way. That’s right, Phil. It’s on record. It’s on record that you told me after the last game I was there at the Denver game, he said, you know, you earned that. You should you should get a summer league ring if we win one. So, no. I mean, it it looks great, man. It looks great. I I think it’s funny that it says summer league at the top. I don’t know. Like, it should say Raptors. Uh but I suppose there’s going to be things that are going to be changing. Oh, actually, yeah. Are they customizable? They They must be, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think so, too. But that’s kind of tough though. Like, legit is kind of tough. I mean like look let’s I mean realistically we know that like other teams don’t take summer league nearly as seriously but if the Raptors want to take it seriously and they want to fight and play defense like it’s serious then who are they not to celebrate man you you work hard and you celebrate your hard work that’s the window to win a summer league title is much smaller than to win an NBA title in an NBA career oh man you know then then the Raptors can say you know we’ve won a summer league title we want a G-League title we want a NBA title how many franchises can say that man goodness My goodness. Um, first thing here is just a comment to you. Hope you’re feeling better, Will. Uh, Will, honestly, you have you’re at what, like 3 and 1/2 hours in of potting today at this point easily. Yeah, three and a half hours. Um, what’s really carried me are these uh life uh cold and sus daytime and night time. I’m actually going to pop two of these nighttime right now cuz I do plan to go to sleep as soon as this thing’s done. But uh yeah, I mean, you know, like it it’s not ideal. Um, I think summer league definitely kicked our asses in terms of just like my my healthwise, but you know, I mean, and you had to do the most talking like with all of course, but I mean, you know, number one, I love to yap and number two, like um, you know, I really wouldn’t have it any other way. So, it’s kind of crazy. This you actually sound way better than like points that I heard you. There was one of the days you absolutely sounded exactly like Doc Rivers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, that’s tough. Um, question here from X. May I ask, why did you and the team uh leave Vegas a game early? Listen, we were there for a week. I would have died if I if I if I There’s no way we would have survived. Like there’s if anyone that was watching the game, like there are only a handful of people that are still there. We uh saw a little bit of our boy Jeremy out in there, but Jeremy just arrived as we were leaving. Hey, big shout outs to Jeremy. He actually got the photo of tonight’s game, man. Thank you for the thumbnail, Jeremy. Yeah, we saw a friend of the show, Katie Hindel. Uh Katie is out there though with the sports business classroom. So, um ended up Oh, is this the pitch? Woo! Look how nice this picture is. That is a nice photo. Thank you. You know it’s this game cuz there’s a warrior in the front in the foreground. There you go. Yeah. Um but yeah, uh yeah, Katie who’s there because she’s working the whole time, but literally there are no there’s no media. We were the last to stay there at that point, which is why you might earn yourself a natural ring. So, this is how it goes with summer league, right? Um, the main focus of summer league is a work conference. So, everybody’s there for the first weekend. Um, you know, that’s when all the parties are like the big media party, you know, like the different agencies have parties, you know, I mean, like that’s that’s what largely people are there for. There’s like dinners and stuff like that. So, you know, people are usually there for, you know, the first 4 days. I mean, it’s a it’s almost a mass mass exodus on that following Monday, uh, typically from the airport. We actually decided to leave on Tuesday. I mean, we had initially just decided the dates ahead of time. Like, you know, we only have so many dates to we can’t spend infinite amounts of money on this something like this. Um, but then I just kind of on a whim decided to book the overnight flight on the 15th just in case Raptors were playing on the 15th. Then it just turned out that dedication. Yeah. Uh we were in a chat like we were in our group chat together where you pointed out once the uh schedule dropped like hey guys just to let you know um because we did make our return flight of flex so we could adjust it if we needed to but you were just like noting that like yeah just to let you know um there is a game on the day that we’re leaving. You’re on the red eyee and kind of like a bit of a Alex Jerome if you want to change your flights and zero budging. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. No, I mean and and totally fair because it’s actually really funny because the last press conference uh that was against Denver, if you actually go listen to the the two videos we uploaded on Jacobe and James Wade, if you listen to the questions, it’s just me and me and uh Leven Osman asking like 10 questions each. Nobody else was there, man. By the way, if the Raptors win the summer league title, I don’t even think the rap there’s not even one reporter there from Toronto. I’m just telling you that much. Right now the people who are asking questions in post game this is uh the intel I got is students from student uh sportsman’s classroom who are getting to like practice uh their craft. Uh Katie is organizing it and other friend show Dwayne Watson is filling it for the full experience. Wow that’s wonderful. Uh oh busting out the PWA hat. Look at that. Once once I start sweating I just like to wear hats. There you go. Yeah. This one doesn’t fit my head as much but shouts to PWA. You know big friends of the program. Yes. Yes. Seaw wall in Berlin. Um, this is just a comment. I think you just like flagged it right now. How many times has Will picked up his water bottle and not drank it? Well, you know, it’s funny because on a solo pod, I guess I have to decide when I’m going to drink water, when I’m going to take a pause. Sure. Um, and so I did realize at one point like am I recreating the Anthony Edwards Gatorade meme where I’m just like I’m just not actually gutting to the drinking. Yeah. So I kind of like an actor in a show where because they have to do so many takes at a dinner table. They never actually eat. They’re just always playing with food, right? I’m I’m I’m I’m Brad Pitt in Oceans 11. Shouts to Rusty. I mean, that man’s definitely eating each uh take. Yeah. Um Okay. Well, as for stuff around the game or around the team, uh to be honest, like the chat has been very divisive on a lot of things. And to be honest, it is way too late at night and way too in the middle of the summer to not just be genuinely happy for a 4 and0 team. You never know people killing Colin Castleton is killing me. I’m like, yo, that’s necessary. That’s just a random guy. Like, just please. It’s just a dude who’s just trying to play some basketball. But I just have a bunch of like excited uh comments which I think I’m a big fan of. So, first off, all caps right here. We going for summer league chip. Woo! That’s right. Yeah, we are. Let’s go. Let’s go. I love this energy, man. The Raptors are making summer league overreaction of playoff basketball. We’re back. I mean, summer league playoff basketball. We’re back. There’s that. Come on, man. This is the first NBA playoffs we’ve been a part of since 2022. I love it. Oh my goodness. There we go. Wow. You think everyone’s playing so hard because, you know, there’s turmoil in the organization. They’re like, “We better all show our worth to the new president/organization.” You think it’s one of those? You think it’s like one of those like new boss out? And I actually don’t. I actually don’t. It’s just kind of funny to speculate, but no, they’re playing hard because they they want to play hard. And I think that like team culture is very important. How many honestly like players that are like on the summer league team are like keenly aware about what’s going on? I don’t know. They don’t give a man. They just need to get like a job on a team right now. They’re like 21 year olds, man. They don’t care about anything other than Tik Tok and basketball, apparently. Yeah. Not even the Backstreet Boys. Um, they definitely don’t care about that. Mill says W’s in the chat. Many exclamation mark. Let’s go. Hell yeah. Raptors. Hell yeah. Um, here’s some pettiness for you. Malawak 0 and4. Oh man, I’m not gonna lie. I did not watch any of Kaman Malawak or the Phoenix Suns in summer league, but I The most we watched him was at the clutch party when he was across the room. The one time we saw him was at the clutch party. I do remember uh your agent Ike just be like, “There’s Malawok.” And we were just like, “Oh, yeah. Alex is in jail right now.” Like we’re like, “Hey, man. Uh bigger story here.” But uh yeah, I mean, you know, look, Malaw, I just looked up his box score had two threes. That’s cool for him, you know? I mean, like the thing is I with with prospects, I really don’t get attached. Like, first off, I trust the Raptors to the one thing I trust them to do better than anything else is just draft. They’re they’re freaking good at drafting. So, like whoever they end up picking, I’m going to be fine with it. And then number two, I’m just like, you know, like look, you know, I feel like CNB also just is a straight up better player in terms of just the all-around game. I think more than anything else is just like maybe the fit’s not there. But again, like who really cares, man? I people who use summer league to justify their agendas. It’s just kind of funny to me, man. It just absolutely It’s a little too much. That’s all. It’s a little It’s a lot going on. Um yeah, shout an agenda I could get behind. Get your cigars ready for this weekend. Yeah, maybe like a little cigarella, man. like like a whole cigar like for some really. You’re not you’re not bringing those Kubanos out. Well, first off, my my my throat is already on Doc Rivers as you mentioned. So, I probably shouldn’t be hitting those cigars, but maybe maybe like a maybe I don’t know like maybe a little like uh one little thin sigs or something, you know? Maybe. Yeah. Actually, we had this idea to draft the the best cigarette situation power rankings, but we can’t do that because of a specific guest that uh can answer those questions for us, but we will talk about that some other day. Yeah. So, yeah, Tala said we’re hitting the vape pen for this one. Honestly, I feel like that’s appropriate. For some reason, you should hit the vape. That’s it. Yeah. Um over here, we got dog show. Uh for all the dogs out there on the bark, bark bark bark. Chuck I mean Chucky Hepper in the interview that we’ll eventually release like he said that I think multiple times in it. It just be a dog out there. Oh, you know what? Actually, that would be a good clip of just you clipping out the eight different times he said were dogs. Dog. Yeah, we’re just honestly No, cuz maybe a 10-minute sit down, I think. And I think he said dog like 15 times. I’m not even kidding. Like he just kept bringing up the I think we have to do the dog compilation. There you go. Sick. Uh all right. Summer League Champs trophy emoji. Love that Benchmob is back. Three flame emojis. Yo, listen. The one thing with the Bench Mob, too, cuz I, you know, we ran into a friend of the program, CJ Miles, when we’re out there. CJ continues to try to become a photographer, and I think he’s actually being a photographer. That’s not Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. He is now switching over to becoming a photographer in his retirement. Actually, he’s a Fuji man. Respected that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, is he? Yeah. He uses Fuji products, right? Oh, wow. This guy’s This guy’s Mr. Fuji. Shuts up a Pokemon. Um, but no, it’s Mr. Is that Mr. Fuji or is that Mr. Fiji? Oh man, might be Fiji. Yeah, it might be Mr. Fiji. The guy who gives you the flute to wake up Snorlax. Um, and so we keep running to CJ at all these events cuz we ran into an all-star as well. And he came around to Raptors practice and he was, you know, snapping pics of like the Raptors team and I I kept posted it on the account. Yeah. And I kept ask I kept asking I’m like, “Yo, do you see this Raptor Benchmob 2.0 happening?” Cuz like you were part of Benchmob 1.0. Um, and it was funny because CJ’s role for that benchmob was just to be the older head who can really shoot the three at that time, similar to this benchmob, like that group just was not really good offensively and especially because they couldn’t really shoot that well uh just as a group and they just kind of like spammed a lot of threes to CJ Miles in the start of that. And so CJ was really important at the start of the season. But as CJ himself will tell you, and I’ve asked him multiple times about this on air. He was just like telling everybody, “Yo, have the confidence and just shoot the damn ball when you’re open. Just shoot it. Doesn’t really matter. Just shoot it.” Right. And over the course of that season, you saw his importance drop because other guys were starting to score a little bit more, but that was okay because he was instilling confidence in them to actually Exactly. So, I’m hoping that there’s somebody who can play that CJ Miles role for this benchmop 2.0. Yes. Love that. Um, what’s better than the Raptors going 4-0? That they’re doing it on someone’s birthday. Happy birthday, Devon 7 Landry. Grateful for the win on my birthday. Happy birthday. Oh man, you you had a birthday. AJ Lawson had a birthday. My boy Josh Hart had a birthday. You know, a lot of birthdays like floating around. Lot of birthdays around my boy Shay earlier in the week. See you at Garden Garden this Sunday. Sick. Happy birthday to friend of the show, Jess. ran into them yesterday while wa uh heading to the theater to watch Jiujutsu Kaizen. Um yeah, I love it. Uh hey, let’s talk about free throws. Shamchce hitting some free throws. Heart eyes emoji. You know what I feel like I feel just pleasantly surprised watching Shamcha every day. The fact that he’s already coming in here and outplaying Colin Castleton, which I know no one rates man feel so bad for Colin Castleton. All this guy’s done is just come to summer league with the Raptors. But if you Colton Castleton, so like he he played like I believe he was a senior um in college. He played two years in Michigan. Then he played three years at Florida. So he got the extra year of co ed eligibility, but like was a very very experienced player in college. Um then he’s since played with the Lakers kind of on a two-way Memphis and then Toronto as well. He also played like five games in Philadelphia last year after Toronto released him, but then the Raptors were signed him back. My point is though, like that’s actually a decent amount of experience, right? Like when you look at Colin, he’s already 25 years old. Um and you know, he he’s played a lot of basketball in his life. Rashamsh is he’s got to be cheese. Look at all Shamshi being like this guy’s 19 years old. He started playing basketball um like four years ago. Uh decided to just drop farming and become a basketball player. And now he’s better than me. Like yo, I would be so pressed if I was calling. I’d be annoyed too, man. Like, yo, this guy doesn’t even know how to play ball. Oh my gosh. But he’s actually already doing better. So, no. Oh, he he’s looking so much better after last year. Uh, okay. Here we go. Um, is it wrong that I am excited about the fact that this team shot 80% at the free throw line? You could be happy about whatever you want at summer league, my guy. Yeah. Well, there was that one game where they just kept smoking free throws. I think that was the Orlando game and that’s what made that game close towards the end. Sure. Uh, but yeah, I mean it’s I mean it’s that’s the one thing the Raptors did well tonight offensively was at least make free throws. There you go. It was a brickfest, man. It was a definitely a breakfast. It was It was not pretty. Um, hey from Devon wants to share the day. Also, OG Anobi’s birthday today. Shout out OG Anobi. Um, who shout out you for dapping up Will. Totally unforced. Unpro the person’s head wasn’t just hanging out there the whole time. Yep. Yep. Yep. You got to earn that. You you I mean you you have I think the number one thing with summer league is you just have to like be you just got to put yourself out there, you know? You just have to put yourself out there. And and typically I’m not really good at that in real life, but in a basketball setting, I don’t know. Like I’m just like, “All right, OG.” I mean, you know, it’s also OG. Like, you know, it’s not the first time I dab up OG. Relax, guys. There you go. Yes. Yes. It’s happened. We had photos with OG like from the previous summer league. We did. We did have photos with OG in the previous summer league. This guy loves wearing a hoodie. Just always has a zip hoodie. I’m always so impressed and intrigued by him wearing hoodies in like the hottest weather possible. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I think he’s trying to be like discreet or like uh like a It wouldn’t be like very famous, you know? I think I I can see him doing that more or less as a bit anyway. You know what? He he does feel like he’s doing a bit. Yeah, he probably I feel like he’s doing less bits in New York, though. It feels like he’s more serious. Yeah. Well, I mean, he’s winning. Uh, we we the North says, “Our bunch bench has been awful for a few years, but now winking emoji.” Well, I I do want one of those guys to be able to score. Sure. Um, maybe on a more consistent basis, but again, like I guess we also have players on the current roster that will probably be on the bench as well with them like this as like we’re looking at players on this team that will like make up part of the bench. Like obviously for all the excitement that we have like I I remember seeing a comment on there in the chat about like these people these players will probably amount to at most about 10 to 15 minutes of a game actually in season. Um but nonetheless uh everything feels promising and it’s nice to have all these options to explore. The way also the way that Colin is like his body is like size. Like I actually think for a lot of rookies like one of the reasons they can’t play a lot is just like they’re physically unable like they they start breaking down or like they’re just a little too skinny. Um I think Colin might actually be able to stick from day one which is going to give them a huge leg up, right? And I’m looking forward to seeing him and and Bobo playing in a twoman kind of like small ball four five combination in the backward because they both have pretty good basketball IQ, man. And I really like the uh the way he’s playing. Yeah. Um final comment here from Tala. That hand makes you look like a lion cook. Lol. Tala. Guess what? We also know what you look like. So no, no, no. It’s okay. No, it’s a good one. It’s a good one. It’s okay. I’m going to wear it backwards now, guys. There you go. Oh my god. God, this is worse. This is worse. I’m going to go with the front. Go with the front. Go with the front. God damn it, man. Oh my goodness. All these pills and sweating is crazy. Anyway, uh great win. um had a great time with this one. Um you know, we we were gonna talk Dame, but realistically, you know, I really had nothing more to say about Don and I’m just happy he chose not to chase a championship and just go home to his kids. Like, you know, not enough NBA players just choose to go home to their kids, right? Like, I’m just going to say that. So happy that Dame did that. Yeah. Um you know, technically got a bag out of it, too, which is nice. But also, it’s not even about that, man. I mean, him going back to Portland. Portland’s actually a really fun team. And once he gets healthy, I mean, him and Hansen. There you go. By the way, Hansen these days, Hansen looking good, man. Hansen looking pretty good. Hansen is looking pretty good, guys. I’m not going to lie. I finally got to watch a little Hansen tonight cuz uh the Blazers game was up before the Raptors one. By the way, the summer league like they don’t I don’t know. Like the gym is like too packed or whatever. So, like they all keep running late, especially in Cox Pavilion. So, when people like, “Oh, Raptors are on at 10.” They’re they’re turn on the TV at 10:00. There’s like the whole fourth quarter to go within the Portland game and Houston. But no, the Hans Hansen’s been looking good, man. Hansen’s been looking really fun. And uh we’re going to have to figure out a way to make it out to Portland maybe this year. Absolutely. And when Portland’s here, my goodness, man, the amount of Chinese media here is going to be nuts. But like, no, I I just think that um you know, I think back to that, you know, that that fateful dinner we had with Bobby after that uh after that, you know, lovely whole runrough interview that we’ve referenced 28 times since we’ve done it. But I was at that dinner and I was begging him across the table. I’m like, “Bob, let’s get let’s get Hansen. Let’s get Hansen on the Raptors.” You know, we didn’t get Hans, but we got Backstreet Boys tickets. You know what? Actually, got something out of that dinner. I I can’t hate. I can’t hate. I can’t hate. But what was straight up begging this man cuz he would have changed our careers, man. Not only just as a great player, but damn, just as a Chinese player in Toronto. You understand? You don’t understand how much we would have. The headset interview wouldn’t even be a request. They would be requesting you like, “You’re the only one that can do this, Will. We need you for this interview.” For sure. For sure. Yeah. One more comment. Damn. Jerome picking up half court in defense of Will’s hat. That’s right. That’s what a Scorpio does. They are protective. That’s right. That’s right. But I also vibe with this comment. Just breaking a fever and vibing on stimulants will returning from Vegas like a degenerate. Honestly, I was far from the number one degenerate in Vegas. We all know that was Alex. Now, now that he’s not here and now that the Vantod is over, we can truly say Alex was on one the whole trip. Alex, congratulations on winning your betway bet tonight on the Raptor. That’s right. I think he got a $10 return on He was at Earls, I think. He said it was Earl on King. He was at Earls on King. Yeah, this guy was at Earls on King watching the Raptor summer league game, man. Shouts shouts to Alex for doing that, man. Man, uh Alex, uh in the chat post game, uh City boys backup. [ __ ] I’m hyped. Let’s Let’s go, baby. Let’s go, baby. Hey, those those I mean, yeah, he he stopped down five bucks on the Raptors after seeing the first quarter, and the Raptors only had 13 points in the first quarter, by the way. Oh my god. They still won, though. They still won, so it’s all good. Um, but yeah, uh, shout outs to everyone in the chat. Thanks for hanging around. Uh, shouts to friends of the show, Ingred and Akquila, who are working the night shift right now. So, they’re working till 6:00 a.m., so we’re keeping the company over here. So, let’s go salute. Just listen to Mantod twice. You’ll get through your shift. Yeah, just get Yeah, you’ll be there. you’ll be all set. Uh Will, do you have some three stars for us? Three stars from tonight’s performance. Number one star is Colin Murray Bole. CMBB 20 points, nine rebounds, two assists, four steals, eight of 13 from the field, knocked down a three. Uh just was excellent on both ends of the floor. Really all that in 25 minutes, too. I thought he played a great game for the Raps. Uh number two star, I’m going to give that to Elijah Martin. I thought he did a great job for the Rapids in the second unit, especially in the third quarter there. The the whole game was basically the starters will play okay and then the bench will give it up and then the starters will play okay and then the bench will give it up, right? That’s why the Raptors bench is all minuses and then the Raptor starters are all big pluses outside of Colin. Um damn, another straight by Colin. Damn it, man. Sorry Colin Castleton. Um but yeah, like when the starters gave up, pushed the lead in the third quarter and then the Warriors came back with a 14 nothing um punch in return, I thought it was really important for the Raptors bench in their final shift in the fourth quarter to do well and I thought Elijah did a lot of great things in that stretch. I thought he rebounded the ball really authoritatively as well. Again, he’s only like 61, 62. Like when I interviewed him, we’re like eye level, man. So, um, yeah, 13 points, seven rebounds for Elijah, two steals. Uh, got himself to the line five times. A lot of those are just driving finishes. Had that really nice finish cutting back door from always Sham Shen who finished with the reverse layup. Uh, but I really really liked Elijah’s performance off the bench. You also saw like first half it was a lot of Chucky Hepper running offense for the second unit. He did have five assists, but he just wasn’t really a threat to score at all. Second half, you saw a lot more Elijah running it. So, um, yeah, good for for good for Elijah, man. You know, you you already know I really am a big fan of his story. And then your third star, it’s tough to pick a third star in this one. I’m going to give it to Jameson Battle. 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, a block. I like Jameson’s ability to rotate at the basket and make a couple plays. You just don’t usually see that from him. Um, and I guess maybe you shouldn’t necessarily from him because he’s not that athletic and he’s not that big. Uh, but I thought his defense was is noticeably better than it was a year ago. A lot of that I think is just experience more than anything else. But I thought he played a really good game. couldn’t even knock down the three that much tonight, but he still went four of eight from the field, one of five from three, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, a block. Uh, plus 11 and 11 points for for Jameson Battle. Um, who, you know, just continues to be steady just like last year in summer league. You’re Gerald Hennison award winner. I I don’t even know how you could pick one when every single player is in single digits. Um, let’s just give it who who am I going to give this to? Actually, I’m going to give this to Isaiah Mobley. Um, just as an extension of my slander for the Mobley family, um, there’s one point in the fourth quarter where Isaiah Mobley was like compl he was like turning to the bench and he’s like, “Review, review, review.” And the they just did not review for him. They’re like, “Oh, you thought you were Evan Mobley the way you were begging for that review.” In fact, he was begging for the review so long that he was called for a delay a game. And it was the second delay a game for the Warriors, which resulted in a free throw for the Raptors. I was crying, man. I’m like, “No way. Isaiah Mobley is begging for the review, brother. It’s not happening for you, man.” But in any case, uh, three points and three rebounds for uh for for Isaiah Moley. Chris Bennon did get the one double digit scoring, right? 14 points. I I just wanted to slide in a little extra Mo. I think it was the right call. Yeah. Yeah, that was crack I was that was cracking me up so much. He’s like, “That was off of Aish.” I’m like, “Yo, shut up, man. The game’s over.” Uh, anyway, uh, really fun game. appreciate you guys. Um, Raptors will play. When is the schedule actually going to be announced? I don’t even know. They’re going to be playing Saturday, I think, is what they said at the end of the broadcast. Oh, yeah. But I don’t know the specific thing. Like I think the um whatever you call it, the playoff round, the semi- round starts Saturday. Okay. Um, we could Are you looking it up right now? I’m I’m sure there’s like an NBA summer. I’m hoping it was actually announced somewhere. Um, maybe the NBA official account. You would think that they would announce something like this. Well, are there still games going on right now that they need to finish up before they can set that? Is that why? Well, there’s definitely like just cuz every other team like every team is guaranteed to play five games. Okay, so here it is. Raptors will play Saturday at uh 400 p.m. Eastern. They’re playing the Sacramento Kings. Okay, there you go. So, that’s one of the semi-finals. The other semi-finals is OKC versus the Charlotte Hornets. Uh Kanipple, by the way, have not seen this guy miss um in summer league, so he’s been killing it. But of course, OKC has AJ Mitchell, they have Nicola Topic. Um, but yeah, Rap’s Kings. Wait, if they make it, does that mean they’re also going to be playing on the 20th right after for like the final? I think so, cuz I do have like three slots here uh for uh TBD, right? Um, so, okay, the championship game, if the Raptors do win uh on Sunday against the Kings, they’ll play in the championship game. That’ll be Sunday at 1000 p.m. Eastern. Why, bro? Why is it so late? Oh, boy. I Okay. Well, yeah. So, maybe we’ll work both nights of the weekend then. Goodness, man. Uh, we’re going to definitely have to record a new Simply Spike for the next two. Yeah. Uh, we might have to do the championship uh Simply Spike celebration. We will promise that if we win on the on the 20th on the Sunday, man, maybe we should just fly back out to Vegas for the weekend, man. Goodness, man. Somebody’s got to cover this team. They We just have students practicing covering the team right now. There’s not one reporter in Vegas for Toronto. I’m telling you, I will give you this one, Will. If you you just said that message in Slack and put the feeler out there. And if you somehow do convince them to put you in for two more days, I could probably do it. Honestly, I could probably do it. But will I will fly with you. I will make that promise now. Don’t do it, man. Guys, I No, I’ve seen I’ve seen you try to set up a stream of your own down there. I I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m ill. I’m ill at this point, man. I know you are ill. I’m not going back out to Vegas, bro. That place also why uh that’s also why I want to be there by your side to support and care for you, buddy. Hey, we’re more than happy to just cover the games from here, too, man. You know, like after after giving our all out there, like, you know, that’s why I need to go back out there for a weekend. My god, it’s Dubby’s in the chat for will go back this weekend. No, no, no, no. Please, please, please don’t do that. Don’t make him Don’t make me do this, bro. I don’t Oh my god. Look, look. In the grand scheme of how much of a Raptors an NBA you are, sometimes we just have to call Bet. We just have to push you to your limit, you know. God, you know, going to Europe soon, man. I’m not trying to go to Vegas twice in a week. Let’s stay Let’s stay really close to the Thomas and Mac. Let’s stay like the How disappointing How disappointing would it be if we actually did fly out and they lost? That’s what I’m saying. No, no, no. We’ll watch it from home, guys. We’ll watch it from home. We’ll all watch you again from home. We’ll go live right after the game. It’ll be great, guys. Don’t you won’t miss. You won’t miss a second of coverage, man. Stop sending W’s in the chat to send me to Vegas, man. Don’t you care my view? You see me taking LV’s in the chat, everyone. LV’s in the chat. Goodness, man. Goodness. All right, that’s it for the pod. Thanks everyone for listening. Wraps uh advance to the semi-finals. We will see you after the semi-finals game against the Kings. Uh, that will be on Saturday at 400 p.m. Clear your weekend, Raptors fans. We are watching a championship team in the making. This has been the Hill Welcome podcast presented by Bway. We out.

Will Lou goes live after the Toronto Raptors’ 81-69 win over the Golden State Warriors game in Las Vegas Summer League. They advance into the semifinals and will play on Saturday at 4pm ET.

Three stars: Collin Murray-Boyles, Alijah Martin, Jamison Battle
Gerald Henderson award: Isaiah Mobley begging for a review

#raptors #torontoraptors #nbasummerleague

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