Jacked Ramsays Live: Brandon Sprague Returns!

Jacked Ramsays Live: Brandon Sprague Returns!

Hey, [Music] [Music] hey, hey. [Music] What’s going on everybody? Welcome in to Jacked Ramsay’s Danny Morang and oh my god, out of nowhere, Brandon Sprag returns to the show. And let me make sure your volume is actually up because this thing is completely resetting on me. Let’s check. Let’s do a little live test. You there, buddy? Yeah. I can’t I You can’t quit me. You can’t quit me. I I try. I try. Yeah. Uh, welcome into Jack Ramsey’s. Like, views, subscribe, do all the things as usual. It is a uh I’m not saying it’s a one time only, but it’s a it’s a rare uh spray sighting in the wild. Uh going going sleeveless, not shirtless this time. I had we got a bunch of questions about you ripping your shirt off on the radio that we’ll get to eventually. Um but we just want to dive right into it. Uh it’s been a while. Uh the Blazers have been busy. Let’s kind of walk through uh where things are because it’s been a little while. Uh we’ll go through Aunt and Drew drafting of Yon Hansen, Dame coming back, and then we’ll get through all of the 40 or 50 so questions that we have here. We’ll get through as many as we can. Sound good? Yeah, sounds great, man. All right, let’s let’s start from from the top. Where where where do you kind of fall in the transaction tree, the trade grades, the feel of uh Anthony Simons for Drew? Well, I mean, first of all, I I you know, despite what the opinions may be and how maybe we differ on some things to a certain extent, I I just want to say like thank God. Now, did we all kind of think or hope Jeremy might be gone? Sure. But understand the contract situation. I’m just glad they’re active. Um I don’t know if there’s anything less exciting as a fan or somebody covering a team than when the team is trying to build to be good but not quite there and sits on on their hands like right outside of an Oklahoma City roster situation. I at least applaud them for being active, being creative, thinking outside of the box in some of the things that they did. And so start right there. Now, the the ant trade. Um, you know, I had to think about that one for a while because I didn’t Here’s a funny story real quick. I’m in my driveway. Uh, I have partaken with end of the day uh, how could I phrase this? Mellow out medicine is how I will phrase. And so, I’m sitting in my driveway and a neighbor of mine are in my back. Did I freeze? Yeah. No, I’m just laughing as it keeps freezing on your face randomly. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. It’s just catching every like little frame frozen on your face. I’m I’m active. You’re frozen. Yeah, it’s annoying. I don’t know why my internet sucks. It’s really frustrating. Anyways, a neighbor tells me as I’m in the driveway just like car pulls up, window rolls down, they traed in. And I’m like, what? They traded and Shams just had it. And I just looked over and I was like, “For what?” And then told me the deal. Look, Drew Drew was a good player. There’s no doubt. Uh I didn’t expect the world for Ant. I didn’t think Ant really had a great year for himself. Ant’s going to what seems like I think a pretty good situation in Boston. A really good opportunity if he stays in Boston. And we’ll see where he goes from there. But I just thought it was time. Uh it’s not fair to Ant, but I think the thing the nature of this beast is you kind of look at the way their depth chart was lined up. They needed to make a move. Now you can certainly say, well, why’ they go get a point guard? I think Drew is kind of a combo guard. Like he can absolutely play point. We know it, but he just easily play the two. The injury stuff. Is that going to linger? Is that going to carry over? And the contract is very expensive. Um, but that’s if he’s here all three years. Overall, I’m kind of glad that Ant gets to kind of get a fresh start. It got a little toxic, I think, at times here and they’ve added some leaderships, some stewardship, I think, within that locker room to help a guy like Scoo. Uh, I agree for the most part as far as like the um the style. Again, I I I said it over and over again. I think I told Dirt the day before Ant was traded, I’d be more surprised if he was traded than if he resigned because that was what I was hearing from both sides. And so for that transaction to happen, I was like, well, damn, that was a surprise. Um, I’ve mentioned it before, it definitely caught a by surprise uh to say the least. But the trade itself, number one, Drew’s been one of my kind of favorite, you know, just basketball players for years. I mentioned this that one of the first things I ever wrote like long form uh was Dame’s rookie year. I think it was game four or five they took on the Sixers when Drew was there. And I was using Drew Holiday as kind of a measuring stick against Dame because even early in Drew’s career, he was very good defensively, 6’4 guard, crazy long arms, just had a basketball IQ that was through the roof. And offensively, I don’t I didn’t really care about I was like, “This is going to be a good test for him defensively.” and and Drew ended up being kind of basically the biggest thorn in Dame’s side post CP3 like peak. So Dame’s like first three years in the league after that it became Drew and obviously the the the playoff series against the Pelicans, Drew and Rondo and AD just made Dame’s life a living hell. I would love to hear those guys’ discussion on that as they’re sitting in the locker room together um kind of going through that series again. But you hit on one point there, the um mentorship as it were for Scoot. You know, uh I heard Zack Low, he had Howard Beck on uh today or last night or yesterday morning, I can’t remember, in the last 24, 40 hours. And Lo basically said some version of if you can’t figure it out with Dame, Drew, and Chanty as your coach as your like mentors and coaches, you know, like this is like this is the best mentorship a point guard could ever have. You you have very likely three Hall of Famers in Drew, Dame, and and Chanty. Chanty already in Dame assuredly. And uh Drew very likely to be a Hall of Famer. He’s got, you know, uh, two titles, gold medal, multi-time uh, defensive uh, all defensive team, two-time all-star. Like, he’s he’s got all the bonafides. And so, you’ve got an offensive point guard, you’ve got a defensive point guard, you’ve kind of got a hybrid point guard. So, I I think those are all good. And I I I don’t want to beat on the mentorship part of it too much because the idea that Drew is just going to come in and be like, “Here you go, Scoot.” is not going to happen. Like, that’s that’s not a thing. Drew is not in the part of his career yet where he’s like, I’m moving to the bench and I’m going to be um just fine here. You know what I mean? Oh, I think I think I I agree with you, but I actually think it has to be reversed. I said this about when they got Dame back. It has to be the reverse. Like, it’s not that veterans aren’t willing to teach or give advice or give thoughts or whatever. Like, Dame’s obviously going to help this year, but like Drew wants to ball, right? If if Drew is here for all three years of that contract, then cool. But like, he also probably is open-minded and saying, “I might still get another chance to compete on a on a title contender at some point.” Either way, though, if if Scoo goes up to a Drew Holiday and picks his brain, Drew Holidayiday is not gonna be like, “No, he’s he’s not that guy at all.” No, no. He he will help him a ton. Yeah. So, I said this when they got Dame and we can we’ll get into that obviously, but like that to me, this is about scoop. Uh, now you can talk about fit and where it’s going and what’s going to be and all that. Like that’s fine. But like on the mentor side, I always thought that was an overrated thing. Like they traded for him to be a a mentor. Like they traded for him because he’s a good player. He plays defense. He gives a damn on that end. And that’s clearly their mo. But if Scoot goes up to him to pick his brain as like somebody trying to learn the game and the ins and the outs, Drew will give him that advice. But Drew’s not actively here to be like, I’m here to be Yoda. That’s not I don’t think that’s what that is. So that’s on scoop both with Drew and Damon in my opinion to reach out and say like, how can I get better maybe on the mental aspect, seeing some of this stuff, understanding some more of this stuff while I also play. Yeah. This isn’t going to be a Brett Favre of Aaron Rogers situation where like I’m not going to help you. That’s not how Drew is wired and neither and and Dame either. Um but for Scoot, he’s got to go out and and kind of take it. Uh we’ll we’ll get back to that when we talk about Dame a little bit more like you said, but uh the Blazers probably had the surprise of the NBA draft. Not probably, they had the surprise of the NBA draft taking Yong Hansen at pick number 16. uh after now summer league you to see four games of him out there and and his production, how he looks, the style of basketball that he plays. Walk us through draft night to the end of summer league kind of where you were where you ended up where you are now. Uh I mean draft night I was like everybody else that had a brain like who what you know what I mean? Like I I had mentioned I think said this to my co-host. I was like I I had seen the name on the workout list. Like I I have heard the name on like you know first second round mocks but I didn’t do any deep dive. I didn’t know anything about him. Just like a Chinese name. And quickly you do some research. Now I wasn’t one of the sickos that did the the YouTube dives and I’m like it’s going to be this like I don’t know. You know what I mean? Like it might be some version of a yic which is great. So, I had to wait for summer league and I watched with my brother-in-law in my garage and he is a sicko. He’s a sicko to the, you know, like Victor Creappa just didn’t get the proper chance. That guy was an all-time legend type sicko. And when he made that first back cut at the top and it was a perfect little bounce pass, my me and my brother-in-law both got out of our like launchers like and like we were hooked from that point. It It was no offense to Caleb Love. the only reason to watch summer league because I think summer league largely doesn’t tell us a whole lot and I know that’s a little unfair to Ryan repair but he was the interest he was what was interesting about those games and even in the games where statistically it wasn’t great I still thought he performed well he had some moment sure but I have a question mark of like what is that depth chart because me I don’t want Rob Williams playing like I already feel like they’re a year past when they should have moved him I understand what they see in him we all agree the players he is. That’s not what the debate is. It’s just if he’s not gonna be here long term and that’s a trades option like I I don’t want him to play. So is your depth chart Donovan then Yangu or is it going to go Donovan or is it Rob? Is you know what I mean? Like I have questions of their depth and how that works. But I’m looking forward to seeing Yang in the G- League and whatever the six to eight minutes starting the season end up being and hopefully he can develop from there. It’s outside of the box thinking. The intel basically is that like two or three other teams clearly wanted him or was interested in him. They didn’t want to lose him. They like him. But I think we also have to acknowledge it’s a little bizarre back-to-back drafts drafting centers when you had two other starting caliber centers on the roster and they handled the DA thing. But it was a little like wait another center. Uh and jokingly I was like what if they just played five centers at one point like at that point because they had five guys you know you could actually make it work. Young at the point, you got Wap at the two. Okay. Then we’re going DA maybe at the three. Uh Donovan at the five, and then Rob will at the four. We’ll figure it out. But like overall, wondering about the depth with it. Interested to see where it goes from here. Uh overall, I I thought I I made this joke. I I think I said it on the show after his first half. I had uh a couple scouts that came up to me were like kind of look at me like, “Yo, this is pretty interesting.” One of them was one of the teams that was rumored to um have a lot of interest and he reinforced that they had him very high on their board. Uh had he been available when they were picking that he was definitely in the uh group of guys that would get taken, but I I we were kind of talking back and forth. I was like I think I’ve seen enough in this first half. They could like shut him down right now and I’d be perfectly fine with it. Like that was the like bigs at summer league don’t ever look good unless you’re like a WBY and even then in game one WBY did not look good. You remember everybody’s freaking out about WBY not looking good in game one then game two he was a complete monster. It was like yeah that’s not surprising but most bigs they just don’t really look good. Now Donovan looked good defensively. He looked absolutely horrid offensively. Remember all how bad that was defensively. He was blocking everything, grabbing every rebound. I thought Yong did stuff that you just don’t ever see bigs do in summer league, particularly from the playmaking and just his processing and being able to pass guys open in summer league where the spacing is basically a 4ft hallway. Like there’s just no no there’s nowhere to move. And I I’m very interested on the on the depth chart part of it. I’m not really worried about that per se. Uh one of the things I was talking to to uh let’s say decision makers at summer league is like look at the Western Conference. everyone’s got at least two like starting caliber bigs and usually a third that you know you could spot start and that’s just the nature of the beast where the NBA is going. I think we’re certainly the three ball is still here and it’s not going anywhere but I think you’re seeing a more a bigger stronger more physical brand of play where you’ve got to have the ability to number one absorb injuries but number two have like different styles to play and Donovan and and Hansen are so different offensively. They’re just completely different looks. I I’m I’m really interested to see how that works. And if Rob’s a guy who’s a not doesn’t play back tobacks, gets spot minutes here or there, and keeps guys fresh, I’m I’m totally okay with it. Now, is Rob going to be good with that mentally? I I don’t know. You know, he’s at a point in his career where he’s supposed to be kind of at his peak, but obviously the injuring concerns are a real problem. So, it’s kind of like it’s a good problem to have. Oh, no. We have too many good big guys is the Blazers are kind of looking at it, right? So, uh, I get what you’re saying, but I I look at that and I go, it’s a good problem to have. Five bigs, too many. Three plus doop. I’m okay with it. Well, we know DA’s gone, right? And then W is like in and out every once in a blue moon. And I just I I Dude, I I don’t say this like in any kind of meanspirited way. I just zero faith Rob’s gonna be healthy. So, I think work itself out. My thing about Yang is uh I had to like balance my thoughts on him. Like I I have absolute evidence seeing him make passes and reads. And what I really loved is how like directional he was getting the ball at the top and kind of like forcibly moving guys and telling guys to move and like going up to him and not be afraid even with that language barrier and being new to kind of like say something very quickly that they could understand. And I I love the competitiveness. I love the FU attitude he had with some I think it was Memphis was like active. Memphis and Golden State were were both just he was driving them crazy. He smiled and laughed about it. So, he’s he’s obviously a little bit of a psycho. The other part though, I had to balance myself because I didn’t want to get over the skis. Uh, we always have to remind ourselves and I had a nice reminder of this. his first game happens and the next day I’m not paying attention to the earlier summer league games and I go to look at the box scores and it’s like man they were two names I hadn’t even heard of and it was like 19 points and 21 points and I’m like yeah that Golden State team is probably the worst summer league team I I he showed enough flashes for us I think collectively to go I see some stuff here and it’s just on him now to develop that and we’ll see how it kind of rolls out as the season goes on. Depth Chuck figures himself out. All right, we had our dessert We had our dessert first main course. Damen Lillard comes back to the Portland Trailblazers. What What was your your thought process on how where where were you? What happened? How’d it go? And then kind of where you are now. Uh holy ass. Um, funny thing. So, you and I are part of the the fan sports network and we had a mighty big week last week. We launched on the FM signal, which if you just look historically, it’s easily the biggest sports radio moment in Portland history. Um, that meant a lot. And I don’t know if there could have been a better first day than Dame Lillard audio press conference. He’s back. We get to talk about it. I was listening to your show and I was in my garage gym, Aries as I like to call it. There you go. Getting getting my lift on. And I just happened to have a break in between reps and I do this thing like when I go on social media, I check for 20 seconds. I open it. I just scroll. Any breaking news kind of thing. Yeah. I I do the same thing. Did I miss something? And if I don’t, right back to it. Yep. It’s a waste of my brain. And I just happen to open, boom, I see Zack Low. There’s interest. And I went, Zack Low doesn’t break player movement news. And maybe a second and a half later, I scroll up. Bill Orum, Blazers, and Dame are finalizing. And two seconds after that, Sham Shirania, Blazers have agreed to a three-year deal. And I remember just like being Lord. I like dropped my phone. I’m listening to your your show on my stream and I could tell you hadn’t looked at your phone because it was in the middle of a segment and I’m listening and I’m like, “Oh my god, they’re talking about baseball or something. He hasn’t checked his phone. You guys went to commercial break and the funniest thing was you came back and you just stepped you bulldozed Patrick out of the way like we got breaking news.” Yeah. I was like, “Nope, nope.” I looked at him. I go I go, “Nope. I got this.” What’s funny is I got a text a couple minutes before the the news came out and you’re right, I hadn’t checked my phone and u we don’t actively do a radio show and go, “Oh, uh-huh. Uh-huh.” Yeah. If you watch If you ever watch the YouTube feed, I’ve got my phone next to me face up. So, if something crazy like that happens, I see it. But I had put my phone back down face down for some reason. And so it it’s buzzing and I get a little thing on my wrist, but nothing the text message sometimes doesn’t pop up. And so I didn’t see the text of what was coming. And I was like went like this during the break and I went, “Oh crap.” And I just start I told I told him as we were coming back, I got this. That’s how I found out. That was how the it all went down for me when it was announced that he was signing back here on Reader. Where do you kind of fall on it after hearing Dame’s presser this year, next year, the future? Where are you kind of going? I mean, look, I trying to be as level-headed about all this as I possibly can. Don’t I mean, look, no, there’s absolutely an emotional side here that I would say I mean, I feel stupid saying it. think I underestimated it somehow. And I I’m not somebody who takes it lightly and what it meant and and how much he’s impacted lives and fans and like I’m not somebody that’s like ah it’s overwritten, but like legitimately a text crying emojis and holy cra I can’t I’m stunned. And you know, I had a couple people, not on my text, but I talked to in person, uh, one diehard Blazer fan, like diehard fan, like talked about how hard it was for him and his wife because they had felt like, you know, a lover had left them and now was trying to. And I’m like, well, I mean, we can get into the weeds on that if we want, but okay, I think you’re going to view differently in about a week. Overall, man, it was just like such a cool moment, right? like you and I, we could we can debate uh you could yell at me, we can disagree on some roster fits, but there is no doubt that in this climate where it’s constantly like championship or you’re a boss or how good is this like constant debate and and and quick to be angry, dude? All time cool moment in sports like how often I’ll challenge you this. I know he’s injured, so that obviously plays a factor here. How many times does the guy even come back with years to play, right? Like I’m a big Niner fan. Jerry Rice didn’t come back a Niner. He was a Raider and then he was a a Bronco and there was a Seahawk era in there and like I choose to disregard almost any of it. He didn’t come back and play like four years for the NerS. Like this is a real historically unique thing of Guy clearly didn’t want to leave. We all knew it. He basically said as much through media and he didn’t get a clean opportunity with Giannis. They didn’t play that many games together. Suffered the worst injury at his age and it just it just lined up. And and I’ll say this and I’m I’m not there’s no sourcing here. I did reach out to a team official and I text, “You guys did one of the cooler things you could have possibly done.” And I hope you’ve heard enough compliments about how special that was to people. And you know, I I just I thought that was necessary. But the thing about Dame is the impact of the press conference having him back just talking in the Dame like Portland’s cool and I’m being here and I I just kind of thought like great moment also just my two cents. I understand it’s not a lot of money per year. It’s what 14 million mid-level. Uh I thought a little because I had a couple people asking me like 42, huh? I had Milwaukee people text me 40s too and I went little bit of a miaulpa. They didn’t want to trade him. He didn’t want to ask for a trade. It got to a weird spot and I think they give him a deal that works for everybody. Not only that, there’s some language in there that’s going to be interesting when it comes out. So, um, care to elaborate on that or you just going to be a little dirty contract? Little contract tease. Um, but like teases the There’s people go to the Acropolis for steak nights and tea shows. There you go. Let’s see how it goes. Little tassels. I give you a little tassel. Why don’t you be a Why don’t you be an Acropolis and give us There you go. Um, you know, we we had the reaction show where I told everybody that uh that was uh upset about money or this that or the other or uh frustrated or had these questions. I’ll say it again. Go [ __ ] yourself. Period. Point blanket. [ __ ] your feelings. I don’t care. I don’t. It’s cool as [ __ ] Period. Point blank. It’s amazing. It’s awesome. There’s nothing about it that’s not good. And being in the room for Dame’s press conference, all of us who have covered Dame’s career, you know, for the most part, we were there. You know, it’s me, it’s Hiken, it’s Casey, it’s Richmond. Like, the guys that have been there for a long time, we’ve been around Dame for a long time. We all had the same thoughts. It’s like, “Wow, this felt normal. This felt the same.” Like it was there was just something about it where you’re like, he got up there and did a 20 plus minute press conference like it was nothing. Like there’s no there’s I mean, I’m sure, you know, Blazers PR did their usual thing about, you know, doing prep or whatever, but you don’t need to prep Dane. You don’t need to prep Joe. You don’t need to prep CB. Like, you just don’t need to do it. and he got up there and he answered the questions the only way that he can answer them like there was just something about that and you know we were talking after the press conference and I was like this this feels right and he’s like it’s perfect it’s perfect like he the man could not stop smiling like he was just grinning from ear to ear the whole time you know it was just you could tell everything about it he like and even even now like you know a speak to remove from it. He’s still the same way. Like he’s he’s genuinely excited to come home. He’s excited. He’s genuinely excited about this team. Like I’ve told you for years that the team that he wanted to play is kind of play with is the the team that they’ve been building. And I think there’s a lot that could come out of this. And obviously he’s not going to play this year. And you know, we can get into that. But everything that’s this like what this is and what this means. I’ve seen people like, “Oh, they’re just doing this because they’re selling the team.” It’s not doesn’t impact that. They only drafted Yong Hansen because of the value of the Chinese market and what it adds to the team. It doesn’t affect the bottom line. Like those things don’t affect bottom lines. Not not at that scale. Will you move some more jerseys? Will you get some more sponsorships in the meantime? Probably. But in the grand scale of thing, players come, players go. Like if you’re talking about like Cooper Flag or Luca Donuch or Victor Womenyama, like one of those kind of guys, they can maybe move the scale of your of your franchise that much if they were to be sold, but even then it doesn’t really impact much. But I did ask Dame uh I’ll give you the credit here. You you gave me the question to ask um about being a flag bearer for the city of Portland. And I think that’s a huge huge deal because it was you know what what are we two days removed from Adam Silver talking about his preference for Portland uh for the team staying in Portland. I again I don’t believe for a second this team is going anywhere or will it go anywhere but having Dee here at least optically does act as a as a sense of an anchor and an advocate for the city in a way that nobody else maybe in this roster or this franchise’s history could do. I mean, it’s uh first of all, like obviously he’s here. The family thing was massive for him. $70 million to not play basketball for you. He was nice, too. Ain’t bad. The Milwaukee money spends the same. I don’t know if there’s a world that exists where I’d be miserable making that 70 million that first year. Um, you know, I’m very curious to see how this unfolds this season because you mentioned the low thing. I mean, when him and Howard Beck are talking about players, it and they mentioned, you know, a player from the city you’re in. Scoot being one of the more intriguing players is absolutely on my radar. And I I’m so curious to see what it’s going to be. I thought he had some real moments of growth where I’m like, I can see this now. to their point, man, if he doesn’t shoot a certain percentage, like he’s ultimately always gonna kind of tap out and he’ll kind of just be a really good physical distributor of the basketball who really can’t be trusted. So, I’m hoping that that shot can kind of get that consistency and continue to grow the way we saw it grow last year. I just the only I don’t even think it’s a negative. I don’t like I can acknowledge how awesome and unique and special it is. What I would counter though is is just like I I don’t know what if Scoot has a great year and Dame is on track. He’s they’re doing the right thing with him. He’s not forcing it. He’s not going to come back at his age. The best thing to do is be gone for more than a year. Have those extra months. Carry it over. Be in shape. Be ready. And the world is Drew Damon Scoot. And you know, like if Scoot does have that nice leap year, is is it clear-cut that it’s Drew off the bench? Cuz I I I have a person I have a hard time seeing Dame Lillard in a Blazer uniform come off the bench. Unless he’s like voluntarily saying, “I want to be the six guy. I want to give those buckets of death when I get out there.” Great. Then we’ve solved that problem or problem, whatever you want to call it. Sure. That’s just the thing that lingered in my mind after the Dame presser was what if Scoot does take that step and Drew is fine and Dame is on that track to play at the start of next the next season how that all works because I just I have a real hard time mentally seeing Dame Lillard in a Blazer uniform not in a starting line. Not unless he doesn’t have it and which I have no reason to believe that he wouldn’t have some of it. Like I I’ve I’ve said at worst he probably comes back at 70% of what he was. He believes he’s going to come back at 100%. Uh I don’t really think there’s a a guy that’s come back 100%. With that stuff, number one, I don’t wor scenario is is he’s 70 because I think the worst case scenario is he’s like 60, maybe 55 just because the injury game just I mean we’ve seen this before with other guys and they just they don’t take that much of a hit. Not now. Well, but the other Yeah. The only thing I would say about that though is the other guy I Well, you’ve got Clay KD like I mean did Klay take a hit? Yeah, but you didn’t see him take being physically. Yeah, it’s it’s just a different way you navigate it. And for Scoot, if he does take the leap, he better take one hell of a leap because you’re not going to un unseat a Hall of Famer without taking it from his cold dead hands. You know what I mean? And that’s a good problem to have because if if Okay. No, I I agree. I I was going to ask you, give me like a give me numbers in your mind that’s like take the hell of a leap. What’s the hell of a leap for you with He’s got to be at least 18 a game. He’s got to be at least a 37% three-point shooter. The finishing at the rim has got to at least be passable. Like he’s got to be around probably 60% at the rim, which he did improve uh to at least what was it 56 last year, I think is what it was. Um the turnovers has got to go down. Uh, and the playmaking has got to go way up if he’s not going to be a 20 plus or 24 25 a game guy. Like there’s a there’s kind of a slider effect of like if you’re not going to score, the assists have to be up. If you’re not going to have as many assists, the scoring has got to be up. If you’re going to be a lead guard in the NBA, unless you’re Drew Holiday and you’re the best defensive guard in the league, you’ve got to have something else that you kind of bring. So, like I’ve I’ve said for a long time I think Scoot’s kind of I don’t want to say ceiling, but like most likely outcome is some version of like 18 and seven, which is it’s a really good player. Like if you look at the guys that average 18 and seven, you’re like you’re looking at, you know, the upper echelon point guards, but he has to take that lead. I’ll put it this way to you. Is this a make or break year for him? Yes. I don’t How is there a different answer? I I’m with you there. There are people like he’s 21. How is it make or break? It’s like well he’s going into year four like well like this is like make or break make or break here. I I I tend to believe I my my fundamental belief is that like age be damned. I think we lean on the age too. Like if you are a certain thing by year four I you’ve got to show something more. Yeah. And like you can you can give me those rare examples like Norman Pal at 31. Yeah. Or Chanty Mills, you know what I mean? Like you can give me an example. Those are exceptions, not rules, right? And so to me, the rule like Shaden this year, we’re going to find out. Like I I kind of think that the interesting thing is obviously Dame’s going to get the biggest ovation in street clothes game one. That’s like not even close. When they do the entire team announcement of the starting lineup for the season, it’s and Mace is going to call him out last and let the place blow up. It’s going to be Thunderdome and I’m I’m trying to buy tickets to that game just to hear that ovation. But there is not another answer that exists in my head of this is make or break for Scoot and Shay in a blazer uniform. I can’t talk about Shay’s going to be in four years if he’s not here. I don’t even want to try to guess what Scoot is in four years if he’s not here. I just think when I look at them, this is their make or break season. Dame’s not playing. Drew’s here. There’s some defensive help. Denny two, right? You’ve got Donovan. Uh, we’ll see what Jeremy’s going to be. Really bad year. We’ll see how that, you know, goes again this year. This is They need the scoring from from Shay. They need Scoot to be a little better than he like they need these to happen. And if they don’t, I I think it’s a make or break year for both of them in a uniform. Yeah. as as it pertains to Shaden. Shaden, it’s it’s even more kind of a make or break situation because he’s going into a contract here. And I I got a question last show about and I think it was popped up again like do I think that that uh Sheay or two will get contract extensions this summer? No, I don’t think they will unless they’re willing to take pretty I don’t want to say discounts, but take a very teamfriendly deal. Um I wouldn’t be mad at that 489 for two though right now just to see. Look, that’s the thing is like the Blazers want those guys to be like to be worth that. You know what I mean? Like they want to pay guys their money if they’re good enough. for two the 489 like I think after next year if he continues on the path that he’s already gone down and adds a little bit to his game let’s say he’s like a 16 15 16 point a game guy while being one of the 10 best defenders in the NBA while being 6’8 and adding all the things like being the best in the league taking charges being a plus rebounder just like all of the little intangibles that pop in there. Yeah, you want to pay a guy $22 million a year to do that because every team in the NBA would kill to have that guy. With Sheay, he’s got to go from 17 18 a game score. He’s got to be like a 23 24 a game score. Like he’s got or at least show that he has the capability to do that more consistently if he’s if he wants to get paid paid because his path to getting paid is not the same as twos. I don’t ever see a world where Shay is a plus defender. Can he be passable? Yes, absolutely. But a plus defender, I haven’t seen enough from him to to make me think that that’s in the cards. Do do you think you didn’t catch Tim Legler on the broadcast in summer league, did you? I got feedback on that and I was like, I love legs. He did not watch Shaden Sharp play. He did not watch the and he was like, he’s more than just a highlight player. I’m like, I don’t know, man. I think he was a 31% three-point shooter. Like, and I had somebody the other day reach out like, well, you know, he had that one year where he was 36. And I was like, “Yeah, well, the rest of his career, he’s like, again, the exception, not the rule.” Like, you’ve got to go, he’s got to be a plus shooter. He’s got to improve his handle. He’s got to be more aggressive. He can’t kind of disappear, meander through games. Like, he’s got to find other ways to impact it. Like, he has the talent. There’s there’s no doubt about that. My thing with him, my thing with him, and like I loved doing the baby Kobe thing when he got in the league. That was fun. My thing with him is like I’ve thought for over a year now and having watched that season, I just don’t see a dog and and I I know that’s so corny. It’s so cliche. It’s not really a basketball breakdown X’s and O’s, but like when I watch him, I don’t always feel him. And he has moments certainly has games and moments where I’m like, “Yes, yes, let’s go.” And then he has another game and it’s like seven points, one free. And I’m like, did you play? And that like that’s been my thing. I don’t need you to be Mr. Rah vocal guy. We have a lot of history in players in the league that don’t do that. But man, when you’re kind of drafted and looked at and talked about as like this high ceiling dude who is explosive as an athlete and has this ability, it’s like when I can’t identify your voice in a voice lineup, there’s a little bit of like and then I watch you play and it’s like sometimes it just looks like you’re about to yawn. I like I feel like sometimes I watch him and he’s about to have a yawn and I’m like I don’t want to feel that with a 65 46 inch vertical lead player. I I I want to be like, “Oh, he’s in. Here we go.” Like I want more of it. And I get it from Denny. Certainly get it from Tumani. Had moments of it from Donovan. Hell, I had a couple moments with Scoot even like in moments and games last year. I just don’t feel it with Shay. and and I’m not abandoning, but I’m I’m not going in with a lot of like optimism. This is going to be some crazy leap from what he largely has been. It’s it’s going to be interesting to kind of see how he comes out because again, it is truly make or break for him in the sense of the contract world because if you’ve been paying attention, Jonathan Kaminga, Josh Giddy, Cam Thomas, Quinton Grimes, the RFAS, they can’t get money unless they’re going to take significantly less. And this was the thing that I talked about with the CBA was that I I thought this was going to come. We, you know, we talked about this, you know, I say a year, 18 months ago about what it was going to look like when we got through a full cycle and all of a sudden teams started looking around at their cap sheets and went, “We can’t continue to just hand out max contracts because a guy’s good and young. You have to be great and young.” The league needs to change a second apron. It’s ridiculous. It’s not going to go away anytime soon. Dude, it’s just like for a league that loves to tout how many viewers they have on Spider-Man basketball digitally, you need to you need to take your head out of your ass. And you need to say, “All right, is this good?” Like, what do we like Oklahoma City, they took care of the guys, they did the right thing. They won a championship. In two years, are they gonna keep all those dudes? Probably not. Like, you can’t keep three guys anymore. And it was fun watching CJ try to uh sidestep those landmines on the uh Old Man in the Three podcast last week. I was like, “Oh, buddy.” I I think I think fans lose, man. Like, it’s not that owners get to save money or uh it’s good for parody in the league and whatnot. Like, I think fans lose with this. It’s I I think it is good for parody. I do think it is good for parody. I but see like this is where I slightly dis I think you can keep these great teams together and still get different outcomes like uh I don’t have to feel like Minnesota in a year has to break up uh I or or or Oklahoma City or fill in the blank Eastern Conference team that is healthy again like I don’t like to see that and I still feel like if you have these teams and they’re healthy and I know the East is de decimated right now I I think you can get different outcomes even with retaining these contracts, these players, and unfortunately, the league in the situation has these teams going, I can’t pay that third guy. Well, the other part of this is, and again, I’m I’m pro labor in in this instance in a sense, but like if you’re not a max guy, you shouldn’t be asking for max money. Like that that world needs to go away. Like SGA getting his contract, great. Uh Cadet got all that money. He took a little bit less than the max, but it’s also it’s like are you on the same level as insert player here? It’s like, “No, you’re not because you can’t stay on the court.” Signed him to that deal cuz he’s 71 and he’s like already this and he’s already missed, you know, basically two seasons. So, it’s like, you know what I mean? Like there’s I’ the the argument and discussion, whatever you want to call it, that I’ve always had with people. If you take LeBron James in uh at peak Miami and you say that’s a number one player, that’s a max player. to me there shouldn’t be another player in the league that makes more money than him and everybody everything should kind of slot off that you do you understand what I’m saying like yeah I get it’s baseball yeah like that’s kind of how I look at it how I think it needs to go and I think if that happened like if the 40th best player in the league was making 40th best money as opposed to well this team has more money so I’m going to go there or I’m going to stay here and that’s going to cost us you know again I’m I’m pro player getting their money, but like you have to kind of fall in line if you want the middle class to actually be the middle class because right now there is no middle class in the NBA. CJ said something about the middle class is better. It’s worse off than it’s ever been. I will argue that until I blew in the face with him. The middle class is not the best it’s ever been. There is a sizable gap of players that are not getting that the in the 25 to $35 million contracts. That doesn’t exist anymore. you’re either getting paid or you’re getting an MLE or less unless you’ve you’ve like worked yourself into this weird little area. You know what I mean? It’s the one and done to me. It’s it’s like ultimately it’s about protecting these people from being stupid. And I I hear you, but I just I dis like if a guy wants to give damn near max money to a player that we all go what that’s on him. Like be be smarter. Have smarter people around you to make better decisions. Yeah. The Bulls and the Pelicans exist for a reason. Well, so do the Raptors because Ingram got a what? $120 million. They gave him $40 million a year because they traded him ahead of time and they went, “Oh, I guess we should spend the money.” And it was like, “Yeah, I mean, let teams do stupid things.” I I’m not pro like stop these guys from making But that’s the thing is I think it it’s more of that than anything else. Teams are stop they’re done being dumb and because the second forced them to not be dumb. Because if they don’t if they don’t have a mechanism in place that keeps them from being dumb, the vast majority will be dumb. I mean, it’s no different than teams in the NFL drafting quarterbacks that aren’t worthy of being drafted or traded up for. You and I grew up in an era where there was player mobility. The idea that like that just started when LeBron was in your dumbest narrative to exist in sports. But like we did grow up with teams that didn’t win championships and just said like we’re running it back with mild tweaks here or there. Yeah. Minor tweaks like hey, how can we make the Sonics what if we added Sam Perkins? You know what I mean? Right. But you had a much more stringent salary cap and owners weren’t spending. Well, yeah. I mean, so it’s kind of it’s kind of operating as that in this era. I’m just saying like we grew up with a lot of continuity and I think what’s tough is the league is so driven by the buzz in the idea of breakup and trade that I don’t know. I just as itself I love Yeah, exactly. opposed to the game itself. I just love to see nucleuses together and grow because not everybody’s gonna win title year one. So, I love to kind of see the growth and the development. I’m with you on that. Let’s bang through some of these questions before we get you out of here. Uh DJ Wilson, who among the Blazers roster do you believe will have the most technical fouls next season? I I think it’s a great question. Like, who’s who is the the red ass on this team that’s going to write a check? Are coaches allowed to be an answer? I mean, sure, you could say I don’t think CB’s going to be on that because he doesn’t like writing checks. Uh, okay. Let me think of a player. I think um I go Donovan. That’s a good answer. That’s a good answer. Sneaky Donovan. Little FU energy. You’re too I’m here to dominate. I’m in better shape. Like you’re not bullying me around anymore. I’m gonna go Donovan. I’m going to go same position group, but I’m going to I’m going to go wild card. I’m going to go Young. I like the G. I like the guess. I just don’t know how many like I don’t know what that minute distribution is going to be. I think he’s going to play 18 minutes a game. Donovan can’t play more than 28 a game consistently over the season. Like he Young’s like Young’s gonna play You think Young’s gonna play 18 minutes? I think he’s play 16 18 a night like to start the season. Uh I would say probably early 14 16 bumps up to 161 18 finishes probably right around 20. Wow. See I had that at man like six to eight to start and then work your way into I I think once he finds his footing he’s playing 20 a night his first year. Wow. Donovan’s 73, 290 pounds, man. He He can’t play 30. He can’t play 39. Down to summer league. He on that Luca Donuch diet right now, buddy. Uh, somebody told me he was at like 282, I think. Oh, yeah. Let’s go. So, like, but he’s just so big. It’s just he’s massive. Massive. I brought this up so many times I can’t even count. I think I was like, it’s guys that are over 7 foot2 in the NBA since like 1970. 14 total players have played more than 28 minutes a night. just it just doesn’t happen. Like when you’re that big, it’s just there’s no Rob Wills, you’re gonna have to play Young that many years. Yeah, that that’s what I mean. Like it’s like I think he gets the most keys. I So here’s the thing about Young. I worry about the China part of this. He number one, he’s for all of like the guy that gets technical like doesn’t want to be that guy you want. Well, here’s the thing. I was watching him very closely in those those two summer league games I was down there for, Golden State Memphis, and he was right in front of me. He doesn’t speak English, but he knows how to talk [ __ ] He does. And I will tell you this, when he spins that elbow, there’s a little chicken wing. It is up there. I was talking to one of the coaching staff. I’m like, y’all need to like let him know that if he does that to a Morris twin or, you know, a guy like that, he’s going to get hit. Like he’s he’s got some instigator in him. Like he knows how to do the little hooks. Like he played the CBA. Like there’s some stuff over there like he said that the the NBA is more civilized than the CBA. So he’s got some [ __ ] to him where he knows some of the tricks already and how to get under guy’s skin and how to just like not even when he’s posting up like just kind of get under a guy, grab his shorts, hook him a little bit, throw a little elbow here, smile after he hits a bucket on you and hit you with a little something. Like uh my overunder, if you want to go real psycho bet, the person most likely to hit somebody with a too small, the first person to do it this season is Hansen. And I love that the camera is frozen on your face with your eyes closed right now. Just truly perfect stuff. Do we still have you? Oh, we lost him. Check one, two. Check one, two. He Well, it looks like the internet crapped out on him. All right, so I’m going to bang through a couple more of these questions here. Oh, you back? I’m back. You froze at the funniest moment. You were like, “Somebody get hit with a too small.” Oh, see it was You’re the one actually freezing because it I know. I know. But you froze like this. So yeah, that one. Hold that face so when it freezes again. All right. By the way, if it’s a Morris when he hits with an elbow, it was gonna be a fraudulent response to that. You’re not wrong. Um we’ve already kind of asked some of these uh in one way or the other. Oh, here we go. One from Nick Coler. With Simon Zay and both gone, who do you see picking the most scoring load? Do you see both Denny and Sharp averaging 20 or more a game next season? Dude, I that’s kind of my point. I know we talked about it like the defense is going to be good. Um I know how you feel about where it can be like topend wise. This is my my concern with the team uh without Damon this season. Um and I’m a little worried. I don’t want the Drew injury stuff to carry over. A little worried about it. It has to be Shaden. Like Shaden has to give you 20 or more a game. I think Denny can definitely get there. Tammani can give you a couple more, but I don’t have a lot of faith that that offense is going to grow to that extent. And then who is it? Like that’s that is my if the Blazers season isn’t what people think or hope. Why is that? It’s that reason right there. It’s the scoring. Absolutely agree with you on Orlandoish like be long and defensive and athletic. Part of Orlando’s problem though was the injuries with Fron and uh Paulo happening like backto back, but also they didn’t have a lot of bucket getters which is why you get uh Bane. So that’s probably my biggest concern is where that offense comes from because it has to be Shaden and if Shaden doesn’t do it danger territory. I think you’re probably looking at Denny leading the team in scoring. I think he averages 2122 a game. I I’ve mentioned this before. I think the offense is going to be very Denny centric going forward. Uh I was talking to somebody with the Blazers at summer league and just kind of how things are shaping up and how we’re lining up and I was like yeah offense you know shooting is a little sparse and he’s like yeah well you know it’s we don’t have a guy who’s going to bomb away from three but you’ve got like five guys who are going to take between four and five threes a game plus a couple here there plus a couple here there couple here there and he goes ultimately it’s going to come down first to 100. It’s going to be Lawler’s law. Like they’re not going to score 115 points a game, but if the defense is as is as advertised and they’re a top five, top six unit in the league and you have efficiency with what you play with and you’re better in transition, like the Blazers were great in in creating transition opportunities. They were horrid at converting them. Like you couldn’t be much worse if you tried to convert them. If they can find ways to do that, that’s helpful. I don’t know how much implication that has on like future like playing in the playoffs, but this past year, we saw teams in the playoffs for the first time in a long time get out in transition for the first for and actually score. It was actually kind of weird. Like that’s weird. Even though the Pacers and and Thunder played at a slow pace, it was like a 107 pace, which is glacial by today’s standards, there were still transition opportunities. like the games the Pacers won, a lot of them they were just like beating them in transition and getting easy baskets. If the Blazers can be that kind of team, I’m at least optimistic for their their total output. And this we’ll leave this in with the last question because we’re running a little bit late right now. Lincoln asks, “Do you think we’ll have a good idea what this team will look like long term after year after this year?” And then follows up with and what should be their goals in the tough tough Western Conference in the next few years? Well, will we have a good idea of this team long term after the year? To answer that question, in my opinion, no. I think we have an idea, but like, no. No, because I think the league is constantly evolving. I think player roster moves and player uncertainty in some regards with contract stuff. I I just I think this team’s a big mix of you have some vets you can absolutely rely on. And by the way, I put Denny in that conversation. Like I know he’s age-wise young, but he’s played enough years in the league in my opinion to like that’s a bet that you could it’s like it was the same thing with situation with Ant. Like yes, Aunt was young, but like you know what he is, right? Tammani Growth massive. Donovan Growth massive. We’ll see what Yang’s going to end up being if he’s playing 25 minutes a night, whatever it ends up being. But you got two old guards on this team. one’s coming back from Achilles next year and the other one uh you know they had to do medicals to rescend the two second round draft picks before they cleared that and then there’s a lot of scooting uncertainty. So I think there’s a world where they’re better maybe they’re a nine or 10 seed and they get into that play in which I think is the bar they’ve kind of set for themselves after Joe said it’s winning time for the Blazers but I don’t know if you can clearcut say you know what this team is after this season. And I still think there’s some moving parts to be had uh to try to figure out because right now it’s kind of in that middle ground of some young guys with question marks but some vet guys that we know what they’re capable of. How does that all kind of mesh together and work? I think you’ll have a pretty good idea of what what the foundational kind of core is going forward. Whether it’s Scoot and Shay or Scoot not Shay or Shay not Scoot. I think you’ll have an understanding at least. And then year two of Donovan, you’ll kind of see like, okay, is he gonna be kind of Rudy Gobarish where yeah, you’re hoping to get something from him offensively, but defensively he’s one of them ones and he puts himself in the conversation for being on the US Olympic team in 2028 in LA because he’s just so good defensively. You have to have him. Denny, and I think this is kind of where this this part of it goes is like you understand he’s very good now. Can he be great? and great doesn’t mean he they average 25 a game, but if he’s a guy that averages like 21 and eight, 218 and five, he puts himself in the all-star conversation. Now, is he a first team, second team, all NBA? No. But if you project forward a couple years and he’s doing that on a team that’s winning 45 plus games, you could see him sneak in and get a third team allNBA guy. Is that the best player you want on your team? Probably not. But if you’ve got an alldefensive team member in Tummani, you’ve got a fringe all NBA guy and one of Scoot or Shay pops and Donovan looks like a defensive anchor. I think you start to have at least a clear understanding of like right now you have two guys that you know for sure are dudes in like going into their primes and two and Denny. Beyond that, Shay, yeah, he could be great. Scoot, yeah, he could be great. Donovan, yeah, he could be a great defender. Dame, like what version of him do you have when you come back? Drew, when you talk about the medicals and stuff like that, I was able to confirm that it that it had nothing to do with lower body stuff, which is always the thing that I’m worried about. Like if it’s if it’s if it’s lower body related, I’m like, not at that age, you know, which is why the concern for Dame. Um, you know, does Young pop this year? And pop doesn’t mean he’s rookie of the year, but like you’re like, oh no, he’s going to be a player. uh Adam Morz uh when Joic was drafted, even when Jokic averaged eight and four in summer league, Adam could not shut the hell up about how great Nicole Jokic was going to be. He’s like, “No, you don’t understand. This guy’s different. This like this is after eight and four at summer league, you know what I mean? But there was just something there where you’re just like, “No, this dude’s good.” I’m not saying that that Young is Joic. I’m just saying just talking to guys around the league, they’re like there’s some stuff there. Now, what level do those things get to? We’ll see. And I think that’s going to be like the interesting thing is like and it’s not make or break in a year for Young or any young player, but like you typically tend to see the markers of like where those things are, which is why Scoot’s rookie year was kind of one of those yikes, that’s tough. There’s not a lot to go off of there. You know what I mean? And so I think after this year I don’t think you’re like okay we know but I think the window goes from a big window to a much tighter window of like understanding who you are. I think the window part of that question though in the west is I I it’s impossible to answer. I tend to lean no because until they find a true number one you’re always kind of just saying well they have they have the pieces. It’s just like you don’t have that main piece. And so until you answer that question or get that piece, you can say like this piece is nice and that piece is nice. Yeah. But there’s always going to be a limit on it because you got to have that one because you got to go up against WB and SGA. Yes. Yes. And Annne Edwards. Yeah. And Luca Donuch. Yeah. Lot of talent in the West. Clippers. Cannot work for the Clippers. I still mean Clippers are always going to find a way. They’re going to win 48 to 50 games. And like the the I can’t remember who reported it, but this was like the number one thing going around summer league other than the rookies was LeBron getting out of LA and Giannis going to the Clippers. So you got Dallas too, by the way. Kyrie’s going to come back. Cooper Flag is there now. Houston just out of kept like you have such a gauntlet and I just you know you need that one. You get that one then great. we can start to solve some of that stuff, but otherwise like, hey, got some nice pieces and it’s nothing more. How many games do you think they win this year? They won 36 last year. I’ve gone back and forth on this. I I’ I’ve had scenarios in my head where I think some things go against them and I’ve said like 34. So, I’ll say this, I strongly believe that the roster is where it’s going to be going into the season. Yeah. Yeah. No, I Yeah, I tend to agree with that. Um, I’ll say they get to 39. Okay, that’s fair. And I I think they I’m pretty confidently saying they get in the play. I don’t know if that’s enough to get in the play in. I think it Well, they were 36, right? And last year, wasn’t Phoenix 10 and they were two games back? Uh, 38 or 39. But again, it all depends on kind of how things shake out. Like, it’s such a gauntlet, though. That’s my point is like, damn, dude. like who beats who and who gets hurt and who doesn’t get hurt. Like that’s ultimately what’s going to drive most of that stuff. But I think even if everybody’s mostly healthy, 39 I think can get you into the play. It might. It might. Uh let me let me confirm that real quick. Keep going. I’ll just say I I’ve said I think they’re going to win the same number of games. And I don’t Yeah. And I don’t say that as like a negative. I just think that they’re not going to be complete dog water for the first two and a half months of the season and then go on, you know, win 11 to 13. I think it’s could be more balanced. Yeah. Correction, Dallas. It was Dallas is the 10 seed. I forget. Not Oh, that’s right. They ended up winning and it was uh they were 39. Yeah. So, could that get them in? Yeah. Could it be a tiebreaker situation? You know, you just don’t know kind of how that’s going to shake out. I think 10 11 is kind of where they’re going to end up. But again, the 36 wins is like I think it’s just again, knock on wood. Um, it’s health dependent as always. If they’re as healthy as they were this past year and they get some more developments and they make more sense, they’re just not going to get their teeth kicked in like they did to start the first half of the season last year. And it was like, well, if they’re better in the beginning of the season, then they’ll be great. It’s like, well, I don’t think they’re going to win the way that they won down the stretch. You know what I mean? like where they’re not going to pile up wins in two months where they basically won 10 of 11 and go, you know, they won 20 something games in like a you know a 30ame window and you’re just like I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think you’re probably looking at probably like 18 to 20 wins some version of that in the front and back half. Now, could they be the team that does better in the first half that tries harder, so to speak down the stretch run where some of the older teams maybe are resting or some of the more secure teams are resting and they get a couple wins here or there? Sure. And that’s why I think you saying 39 is not out of the question. I just think that they’re not going to have to have a, you know, just crank it on level of effort to to get it done. So 36, by the way, like I think people would say disappointing largely. I think that would be a majority, but like technically hit the over. That’s what I mean. They’re 34 and a half. Like I I I I don’t think that’s crazy. I’ve seen some people like, “Oh, I think they’re going to be a seven seed.” And I’m like, “I don’t know about that. I don’t, you know, because like once you get past the top three, you’re just basically looking at like seven teams that you’re just like, you need injuries to really kind of go your way to get I think that look.” Yeah. And if they if that happens, that’s probably that’s probably the most likely outcome is that, you know, Memphis continues to just be saddled with injuries and Jaws just unplayable. Weird, which we all kind of know. But I I Suns are Deon Booker and nothing else right now. Like there’s s Utah is going to be dog crap. Like they’re actively trying. Utah’s probably going to be the worst team in the league by a prettyiz margin. To get not Deansa. Like I’m so rooting hard against had the worst record league in pick fifth. Yeah. Like I understand what they’re doing here. They’re playing the math but like the demands of thing is it’s just so obvious. It’s a little too on the nose when Ryan Smith and Danny Aer are sending money to BYU. Yeah. It’s a little We’re gonna take Yousef Nerkage on like, “Okay, clearly we know what you’re doing.” So, all right. Anything else you want to put in here? No, man. Just uh thank you to all listeners um that were tuning in for the week for the shows on the FM dial. We’re so pumped to be there. Obviously, it’s a little bit of a dead spot with Blazer conversation right now and football season’s around the corner, but Blazer season’s going to be here before you know it. And I know Danny’s going to have a ton of coverage of it. Uh, as much as Danny may hate me at times, we’ll talk basketball. Look, I was very hung over. I’m sorry, Danny. You were so angry. I was very angry. Great conversations. Hoop season’s almost here. I know you guys are going to continue to follow what Danny’s doing on the Patreon and on the podcast. We’re just jacked, man. The FM dial is great. It doesn’t happen without great listeners. So to everybody out there that does, you know, dabbles in both Blazer podcast and sports radio in Portland, even you Reddit sickos who seemingly hate me now because of a tweet you misunderstood. We love you. We How does it feel? How does it feel? You know, I’m going to tell you something. Uh Trust Tree, is this Trust Tree? Yeah. So I saw that they aggregated that tweet when I was like wild that Tibs gets fired and Chance got an extension. And that wasn’t to say that like I’m lacking context. I just coached my daughter’s basketball team and like coaching is nerve-wracking whether you summer ball whatever like it’s got to be such a brutal profession to achieve what Tom Tibido did and be told you’re not good enough. Yeah. Well, seemingly the other side was like, “Hey, Chanty, great steps. We loved what we saw. Extension 36 wins. That’s all.” It was just like a how crazy that job’s got to be. And of course that meant I had no context. I’m an idiot. I responded. somebody pointed out to me and I jumped in the chat and I said, “Yo, way to take everything out of context, losers.” And you know, nobody responded to the to the comment, but I was like, “Why did I respond to this? It’s ridiculous.” And as Brandon mentioned, we are on the FM dial now, 1051. And not only that, Brandon is also an hour longer now from not longer 6 to9, 6 to 10. They still don’t know what they’re doing in that hour yet. And they We’re having fun. Yeah, you are having fun. It’s great. We are having fun. Perfect time to have fun. And the best part is I get to come in there and see you guys every day now and uh rile up dirt. You’re very good at that. It’s uh what USC get. I go I don’t know, man. It’s fun. It’s fun. Uh but you know, I don’t get to see Isaac and Suk anymore, but now I get to see you guys every day. Absolutely, man. Yeah. So, we’re rolling on and uh thanks everybody for supporting and following along. It’s been a ton of fun this past week and uh we’re just getting started. So, you and Patrick sound great. We’re excited for what the fan is kind of heading into going into football season and basketball season and so hopefully uh only positive things from here. Yeah. Uh like Brandon said, you can catch us on 1051, the Fan Sports Network, Simocast on 1080 live and local coverage from 6 a.m. until 700 p.m. 13 straight hours of coverage now on 1051 FM. Uh thank you all for everybody who supported us during the change. It’s been something we’ve been working through for literal months now. And it was not easy to keep quiet. And for us to be able to do this as quiet as it was, uh to one day uh have all of the moms and Taylor Swift listeners now all of a sudden have to listen to us um has been interesting to say the least. But uh thanks to everybody that’s made this this switch successful and we’re really we’re really excited about where it’s going to go going forward. Uh I will venture to have Brandon on again as we get closer to the season. And somebody was like, “Is Brandon gonna be on Rip City wrap-up?” I’m like, “Even on an East Coast game, Brandon is has been in bed by 4 hours by the time I get on air.” I saw that question. I’m like, “Dude, what do you know what I wake up at 3:45 now? It’s insane. I get on air on average like at 11:00. I I’m not kidding. I w I’ve been waking up at 3:45 lately. About a month ago, I was trying to start for that and I woke up and I like rubbed my eyes and I just opened my phone because it was right in that heart of free agency and I’m like, did I miss anything? And I open the phone and I look and it says Danny Merang two hours ago and I went, “Dude, this guy’s tweeting two hours before I wake up. It is nuts.” And now obviously your time slot’s different, but which is which has been a change. Which has been a change. Yeah, I would say I I made it in with about 10 minutes before today’s show. So, I saw that. Yeah, it wasn’t on purpose. I uh I may have made a mistake with my phone and my alarm. So, with that, uh like, rate, view, subscribe, help us grow the show, do all of the things. Uh the plan is to have the Young Hansen uh video, summer league party, watch party thing on the Patreon this weekend. I will send an invite out for that in the next couple days if you’re a Patreon member. I also have a couple more writeups coming up uh on a couple different players that’ll be hitting that soon. So, if you want to check that out, patreon.comjacked Ramseies. Uh, and as always, you can find this podcast wherever you get podcast. Brandon, thanks for taking the time, man. We ran late as we always do. Uh, we’ll catch you the next time. And then, uh, if you want to catch either one of us on air, Brandon from 6:00 to 10, and then Patrick and I uh, from, uh, basically any of us from 6:00 to 1 p.m. makes it easy. 10 to one. 10 to one. Well, I said 6:00 to one where between both of our shows. I made that as difficult as humanly possible. There we go. All right. All right, everybody. Take care. Have a wonderful night. Talk soon. Bye.

It’s Jacked Ramsays live – with the return of Brandon Sprague (for at least one show) where we’ll dive into the Blazers offseason, trading away Anfernee Simons for Jrue Holiday, drafting Yang Hansen at Pick #16, re-signing Damian Lillard, what each of those moves mean for the Blazers now and in the future, a make or break year for Scoot Henderson and/or Shaedon Sharpe, year 2 Donovan Clingan, Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija as the anchors of the franchise (for now), your questions and a lot more!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jacked-ramsays-a-portland-trail-blazers-podcast/id1578314007

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3KQ8g9JYJCSvxng0WoIFoI?si=M8ZTALHSTwy950r7oLtb9Q&dl_branch=1&nd=1

YouTube: https://youtube.com/dannymarang

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLm1lZ2FwaG9uZS5mbS9CTFU3MjAyODAwNzM1

Discord: discord.gg/t8TkEJ7wUT