It’s time for the Raptors to win again

It’s time for the Raptors to win again

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the pull-up tray podcast. The podcast where in I Samson folk co-host alongside of course the tray that pulls up my neighbors. I’m yelling, but I gave them my old mattress the other day for free. Okay, I buy it off you. I was like, take it, man. It’s all yours. Mostly because it was sitting in the garage. You say garage or garage? People say garage. I think that’s American. Gratch. Sick twisted people would say something like that. I think Americans we should we should ask Kai about that. Yeah. Grudge. Okay. I shouldn’t be doing a Kai impersonation on here. Anyway, we’re doing Trey. How you doing? You’re the Trey that pulls up. This is the Pullup Trey podcast. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe, everybody. Maybe that’s the earliest we’ve done it, but it really helps out the channel, helps out the show. How you doing, man? Doing good. Every every day that the Blue Jays are leading in the AL East is a good day for me. I’ll tell you. They told us they couldn’t do it. The point differential. They’re not winning by enough. It’s all going to come back, man. They’re a fun team, man. Nonsense. Yeah, it’s good. Sometimes Moneyball Moneyball works, dude. Singles. Singles. You get on base. That’s all all that matters. Once we started seeing the like the Twitter threads about they make the pitchers like they face more pitches per at bat than anybody else. They don’t strike out. I was like, “Oh man, it’s not my favorite type of baseball.” But watching winning is pretty fun. Uh I guess to start things off, uh this is a mailbag episode, so we had a whole bunch of questions. We won’t be able to get to all of them, but we’ll try and get to a decent uh amount. and it’s the dog days, so we are just kind of turning to the listener base and saying, “What do you want to hear us talk about?” Of course, we have other things planned for the future, but this is where we’re at. Alex Golden, who I had the pleasure of meeting when I went down to cover the finals in Indiana, uh asks, “How intriguing would it be to have one of Kevin Pritchard or Chad Buchanan run the Raptors since there are so many rumors around them being potential GM candidates? Also, what types of moves would you like to see the next Raptors GM make to balance out this roster? That goes into another one from Mack that says, “What’s one realistic move you would make to this roster before the start of the season?” So, I’ll start off with since, you know, if Kevin Pritchard gets hired by the Raptors. I think finally I’d have to give him the follow back on Twitter. Of course, he hasn’t gotten it yet. He hasn’t gotten it yet from me. I met um I met Chad when I was down there as well. I got to you know talk to everybody and all that kind of stuff. He was nice in the short little time. But I tell you one thing that Indiana has done exceptionally well and I don’t really know whether to pin this on Chad or on Kevin, but they have traded like nobody’s business. We’ve talked about this as like an alternate path to building teams. We’ve discussed this in the past, but as far as that, that’s like a great thing, being able to work in the trades. However, the Pacers have had this really funky thing outside of Andrew Nemhard, and it may creep up with Benedict Matherin. Their rookies, rookie scale contract guys, guys they draft do not resign and are oftentimes traded or just leave after year four. It’s a really interesting wrinkle of their team building that they’ve they’ve hardly drafted anyone who’s in the thick of it. You know what I mean? They’ve just had unbelievable trade identification. Now, if we’re pairing these things together, take whoever Kevin, Chad, I mean, Chad and Kevin have kind of the same relationship in the front office, similar at least to what Bobby and Messiah used to have. So, from Bobby’s perspective, I don’t know. And Bobby is also friends with Chad, so I mean, who’s to say? But having Kevin step in, maybe, or having Chad step in, maybe. But if the Raptors really do believe in the Bobby Webster, Dan Tolsman, slew of scouts draft process and they love that and they get, let’s say, the decision maker at the top to pull the trigger on trades, maybe that fits really well. Maybe that’s fun. However, there are decision makers at the top, but identifying the correct trade and identifying the correct player. There’s like giant teams of people who do scouting, like pro scouting. We have friends who do pro scouting in the NBA and and prospect scouting. It’s just uh teams take a lot of opinions into consideration. So, one person at the top, it’s important and I think both Chad and Kevin are great, but I my suspicion is that it’s going to be Bobby, but that’s kind of where I’m at. Do you have any takes on the fellows from Indiana? Great guys. I love them. Yeah, I I I was going to say similar. Um, I think the Raptors organizationally, their strength throughout the Messiah tenure, even still to this day, is their drafting. They’re uni, very unique in the sense where they’re a big market team that has to operate like a small market one. So getting a front office guy that comes from a small market that has to win trades, can’t rely on free agency, um, makes tons of sense. And I believe you correct me if I’m wrong, Chad has a connection to to Bobby. Yeah. Yeah. So having him in with Bobby would make would make sense and ideally less tension if Bobby doesn’t get the job. But would you think Bobby would be more receptive to his buddy getting hired in his spot rather than like some old older savvy gentleman? I think if I only spoke if it was me anyone gets the job I’m out of here. Is Andrew Scholes get going to be in the Raptors front office, man? After being there for so many years, being a part of a championship team, and apparently from what I what I’ve seen, Brandon Ingram trade wasn’t wasn’t on him, he picked CMV. He didn’t trade away Pascalakum. So, there’s no blood on his hands. So, I fig I’d much rather him get the go for the remainder of his contract and keep this energy that they have organizationally and see what he can do rather than this half step of having the decision maker but keeping the orc the same because those those guys were also part of the decision-m in all the bad things that happened over the last year. Well, and yeah, you’re definitely like you had big reactions to some of the missteps from the Raptors. It’s like immediately you’re like falling to your knees. No. And also from Indiana’s perspective, obviously next year is a loss season in the way of they’re not going to contend. It won’t be a loss. They’ll learn things next season. They’ll compete, but they’re not going to vive for a championship. However, they’ve been adaptable in getting Tyrese and building around him. Like Pascal it turned out was the perfect guy to get the price they paid the out like the impact they’ve gone from that was like the perfect trade Smith trade ended up being unbelievably sublime to rebuild and retool around Tyresce Hallebertton who will be like a top five point guard for years and years even still coming back from injury you want probably to sustain the front office so I think it would probably be tough to pull those guys away from Indiana but to the other part of the question is like a sensible move which Alex asked about And also what Mac asks about, I asked you to go look this up to put your mind to work. What did you come up with a rebalancing trade? Because everyone looks at the Raptors is like just the construction is kind of funky. What what are you trying to create? I think there’s there’s two trades I think that make the most sense. Uh I think the first one’s the obvious one, a guy that we really like. It’s all these trades revolve around RJ Barrett. He’s the guy whose role will be significantly impacted by the Brandon Ingram trade. um is RJ Barrett to the Kings for Malik Monk and additional salary. Sour that’s included as a guy’s name I don’t want to say but that helps us get the trade done. Who is he? TD he’s the only money that works. Yeah. Wow. That’s funny. That’s funny. Hilarious. Well, we can release him after. It doesn’t matter. Um I think I think from watching some really and I don’t want to overreact but what they’ve put in place at nearly every single position is competition and right now at the the backup point guard spot. There is no competition. That’s going to be Jamal Shed’s role. He’s going to play 20 minutes and I’m unsure currently if you’re trying to win games if he’s the right guy in that spot. And I think that’s total that’s totally fair. Entering his second year, I think Malik Monk would for games that IQ isn’t playing or or or Messi isn’t playing, he can swap and fill within that role of what they’re going to ask him in bunches and score a ton. And then also coming off the bench as a role he already does, he can provide the Raptors that extra punch, extra boost, and additional shot creation and play making a across the board. And it gives you that skill set from between IQ and Malik for 48 minutes. And like underratedly he gets downhill a lot more than than people would suspect. Very underratedly very but um so you are gaining you aren’t losing that skill from RJ Barrett as much as you think you are. So I think it’s the perfect role in balancing out the roster and also reducing their their salary hit as well. you probably have to throw in additional picks. I would I would throw in a few seconds to get to get that done, but it allows them to have a younger guy that a young guy that still fits Scotty’s timeline and also balance out the roster um and add additional shooting. after planning for Malik Monk for so long, you know, as a bianual exception guy, as a minimum guy, as a mid-level exception guy, as whatever, this, that, and the other. Our our friend group has just been like, Malik Monk is awesome. The Raptor should try and get him. Him finally coming back would be pretty crazy. I do think that he’s he’s obviously he’s a marginally he’s a more dynamic shooter than RJ, but his shot did not settle at the place where I thought it might. He shoots the ball worse than I thought he would at this age. He is a better driver, I think, than RJ. Not by a ton, but I think he is a better driver. And I think he has a higher ceiling defensively, even though I think R.J. has performed better on defense over the past couple years. He and he makes I guess like $10 million less. and then for another year or something. So I I don’t know if the Kings would do that. They’ve surprisingly been like we’re out on Malik Monk. I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell the Kings are doing, man. I have no idea what’s going on over there. That is just it’s a window into how difficult it can be to have like the clarity up top to run a franchise the proper way because I have no idea what the hell is going on in Sacramento. the pi they pivot pivot pivot pivot like six times and now the team is you can’t recognize it. It’s it’s nonsense. Uh anyway, Malik Monk, I would I’d be happy to cheer for him. He adds more guard skills, let’s say, to the the roster and it would obviously impact uh how, you know, a wide number of players play on the roster. I think it would be really interesting. Although, I’ll be honest, I kind of want to see Chalk. Like, I know everybody, and this is this is just me wanting to see stuff, but and everybody in their mom has the trade that they want before the season starts. I kind of want to see them go in with this rotation, and I want to see how it works. I’d like to see that. I I think so too because it’s hard to make a trade happen, but I there’s a little bit of a coward. I kind of want to just Well, you got these guys here. They play together all summer. They get a training camp together. Let’s see it. That’s kind of where I’m at. And also, as a as an RJ optimist, I would like to see him play in a talented starting lineup and see where his skill set falls and how he finds his way to points and creation. And that’s the R.J. optimist in me, but there’s obviously a whole bunch of whole bunch of people who are not RJ Optimist. Can I also say had a big big Jamal shed feature that came out. So, the comments under that piece because I always go look at the comments. Of course, there was Jamal shed the expectation at least from the comments and we see this a lot is that he will not only like equal Fred Van Vleet but surpass him. expectations, not like hopefulness, but like, oh yeah, he’ll get there. That is an allstar guard. Yeah, that is a guy who’s made probably what, like $250 million in his career. All time rafter to be honest. That is that is a guy who was injured and god did he get a lot of thrown his way, man. Like I understand that I think it’s Oh, here I am again. And again, like when when Fred was here, Lewis was probably the most common guest on the podcast and Lewis would always be very like Fred is so good at all this. And I’d be kind of a Fred like h he’s not that good, but he he’s still a good player. And now in the retrospect, I’m always like, who do you guys think Fred Vanley was? Like he he was really unhealthy. He had a bad year defensively, one, and then he went right back to being elite defensively. Of course, the shootings are where you want to be, but like he doesn’t grow on trees, man. Jamal shed to get to Fred’s level defensively would have to be orders of magnitude. Like just so much better. I I think it like look at the league. How many guards at his at Fred’s size has his skill set? I I can’t name one. Like maybe like Keon Ellis can’t dribble. He can’t run he can’t run the point. Like he has offguard skills while also being able to operate as a point guard. even while limited at his size and he’s like one of the first 10 Raptors you list on like an alltime team. So that’s Jamal Shed is as good as Fred Van Vleet. Dude, I’m so gassed. Yeah. And also like Fred, he wasn’t good in his rookie season. It was just kind of like a flash in the pan like boop in and out. But by year two he was excellent. Truly excellent. So I if Jamal Shad has a truly excellent year, I’m so gassed. We get to watch just like such a strong point guard. But that’s that’s like the the point of the piece I wrote was, you know, Jamal is expecting like I want this year to be well, he never talks about him like what I want to do. He always talks about team first. He wants the team to win. He wants to be a big part of it. I I don’t know how that’s going to look for him, but he’s getting minutes for sure. It’s interesting. It’s interesting the the fervor around Jamal. He says all the right things. He’s so he’s so likable. Like how many guys are like, I want I’m gonna get a Canadian passport. It just doesn’t happen that often this way. It definitely Which was the next one we want to ask? Oh, I was going to get give you another trade. This one’s more risky. Give Give me another trade. Um Chicago this time. Um Patrick Williams. Ao D. Enough of the Patrick Hey Dugi and a and a first round swap in next year’s draft for RJ Barrett. Oh, you were this was you were workshopping. This is you were workshopping. Okay. When do I ever just ask everybody about trades? I didn’t I didn’t scroll up. I literally just saw a reference to Chicago first round pick and I I assumed it was key just doing like trade stuff, but okay. you were doing work. H that could be a pretty good first round pick. That’s what I’m saying. It gives you the added upside of if the season doesn’t go well, Chicago also doesn’t make the playoffs. You now giving yourself two chances to win the lottery. You are eating Patrick Williams’ contract, which is four more years, but he has a skill set that fits the Raptors. He’s a 39% three-point shooter in his career. He he’s shown that he’s been able to defend in the NBA over over his career. Last year wasn’t very good, but I think similar to Ochai, he could fill in within a role where he isn’t asked to do anything else but defend, hit threes, and be an active cutter and be fine in that spot. And then you also add a backup point guard with that as competition to Jamal Shed and you’ve given yourself a hedge with the swap if anything goes bad. Yeah, I think I’m saying no. I’m a no on that one. And like I I would be let’s say they pitch this at the trade deadline or something and they they love R.J. for some reason, right? They love R.J. and they’re like, we’re going to sign him to an extension after we trade for him. Something like that. Maybe then because I then you get to assess your season on one end and you get to see what like 60% of theirs equaled for their lottery odds. But before the outset of the season taking on Pat Will. Oh brother, I I don’t know. I think that would be Yeah, I like the other one better. It’s a better trade, I think, for the Raptors. But I mean, are you are you happy about that? Would you would you do it or were you just kind of like kicking it around? This was a kick around. But I I do like the hedge with the the first round swap cuz it if things don’t go well, you have you have the extra opportunity and even if you it I think that one of the issues with the Raptors and I guess like people outside is like the ceiling of this team. Even if things go really well, it’s probably a first round out, maybe a second round. you also have the opportunity to potentially add more young talent to this team if things don’t go right for Chicago. So, there’s that added that added thought process because I do think they they can’t just let R.J.’s contract for the next two seasons. They do need to replace it with with a with a player and ideally maybe additional more depth. And I find it hard to find that one forone trade for for him outside of like the Malik Monk one I mentioned. Yeah, it speaks to how hard it is to make trades work because R.J. has a I think an easy contract to trade, which is why he’s involved in like when Blake and I talked about this, the reason why R.J. gets thrown in so much stuff is because he has like a well-sized contract that helps facilitate a wide array of trades and, you know, it’s still hard to make that trade. Um, more teamwide stuff and really projection stuff. Trevor Norlander asks, “Will the Raptors have a better offense or defense this year? And what do you think it will take to get either of those in the top 10?” I don’t think they have a chance at top 10 offense. Like, not a lick. And if they did, I got to shake Darko’s hand, man. Like, I got to be like, “What the hell were you cooking up in there? That would be incredible.” But, uh, I’ll I’ll start by saying that I think the defensive rating will be higher than the offensive rating. And then how do you feel? Agreed. I think their defense has a chance to probably be within the top 12. Like their their front court defensively, especially the bigs, should be among the best in the NBA. And I think the beauty about their back end of their defense is you’re swapping you there’s a good chance you’re swapping out your your starters for two other very strong defenders. CMBB from from everything we’ve seen in the in summer league looks like the defense is really going to translate. And then Jonathan Mo is already one of the best defensive players on the team. So, I think even like with their perimeter um deficiencies, especially within their starting lineup, they have guys are going to be able to like wreak havoc in the back end and still deter people from the rim. So, I think their defense is going to be good. I think their defense is going to be strong as well. We talked about this on the the RR and hello and welcome round table at Vegas, but you know last the the only push back against the defense is one that the run towards the end of the season was fool’s gold which it could be to differing degrees. It could be fully fool’s gold. It could be somewhat true and it could be you know marginally marginally true or something like that. But as far as who’s coming in in now, they did have guys like on the one hand during their hardest stretch of the season, DaVon Mitchell was taking a ton of possessions as a defender. That helped them just in the numbers, right? And then once he’s gone, you know, they they’re playing better as a group. The falloff wasn’t as much as people thought it might be defensively. Credit to the Raptors. And they’re they’re playing Grady was out since March, which helped the defense, I think, to some degree. It’s just guys came back healthy, then they sat everyone and they’re just busting their ass in games where sometimes the other team wasn’t. But Brandon Ingram probably doesn’t elevate the defense. He’s he’s entering the starting lineup and he’s entering instead of I guess Oi or Jacobe or Grady. Now depending on who you select, he’s I think he could be roughly as good as Ochai was defensively quite frankly. And I know I know that I this is everyone. I am diametrically opposed on Oi’s defense to what a lot of people think. Diametrically opposed. He plays an important role defensively for the Raptors. That point of attack stuff. I like that he has the gumption to get out there and give it a go. BI isn’t going to be the same level uh of like utility there, but his size on the court I think will be of far more utility than what Ochai uh in rotation if I had to guess. I their defense should be good, man. They’ve got a lot of positive defenders. IQ has dis he’s really disappointed defensively as as we’ve talked about. There’s so many things there’s so many things that limit him as a point guard, but he’s just a great shot maker. So, the road to him being a good player offensively is just so easy. Just walk that road. And defensively, if he is a guy who plays like elite ball pressure defense, or maybe not even elite, is just like a present ball pressure defender and is aggressive off ball, he can grade out as a positive defender. He hasn’t been close to that as a Raptor, but he still has the route there. Positive on defense, positive on offense. It just the road to them being a good defense, I think, is pretty straightforward. The road to them being a good offense requires a lot more ingenuity, whereas like their the culture, the style, everything they want to do defensively has already been planted there and needs to be built upon from 14th ranked last year to top 12, top 10 this year. It’s possible. I don’t know if it’s a strong likelihood can happen. And then offensively, they have to juggle and perfect the sequencing of a lot of like not exactly perfect fitting offensive talents. And if they if they hit it, then they’re playing a really fun, zippy brand of basketball. And a lot of guys are shooting the ball much better than they did in years past. All that stuff can happen. I would choose the defense is more likely. I think offensively they should be a very good like transition team, but I even with with Brandon on the team like in the half court they’re going to struggle. They um they don’t have a lot of shooting out outside of I guess IQ if he if you look at the starters and in terms of like um dribble penetration there isn’t one particular like BI can do it but that he also has hasn’t shown in his care flattens out is the thing. Yeah, he’s not committed to doing so. And the Raptors outside of them were literally the worst at at doing so. So, I think in the half court, they’re really going to struggle. And that’s going to be the reason why like the goal for them should probably be like the 17th to 18th 18th best offensive team in the league. I was going to say, man, if they’re 16th, I’m hooting and hollering because I don’t even think they’ll be a super strong transition team as far as like points per possession, but I think they will be in frequency, which is important cuz just getting out and running and and honestly like having a litany of players who after they get the rebound like to push all that stuff is important. You know, R.J. is important to that even. You know, it’s it’s important to have those types of guys and to get that type of offense because bad transition offense is still better than good half court offense. So, their overall offensive rating, I think, can be in an okay spot. Their half court offensive rating, I think there would have to be a huge step from Scotty. Real clarity of role for IQ and RJ and some sheer wizardry on ball from Mr. Brandon Ingram. Not to mention guys like Grady and Jacobe really getting in and stepping into the roles and feeling awesome in them. It’s it’s tough to see that. But they’ll be able to play, but they’ll lead with defense first. That’s that’s my feeling, I guess. Yeah, agreed. from camouflage coconut tree faller out of the Raptors have some roster crunch in terms of both total rotation level players and players in the same position or role. Are there any unconventional lineups or roles that you guys think could mitigate this and help make the most of the talent? Now, I think this is mostly up to the two guards quite frankly. Yep. Because, you know, it’s up to RJ to be a guy who in transitional lineups can take that burden of creation, do it against bench players and really allow lesser offensive players to thrive so that guys like Mo can spend more time on the floor and guys like Jacobe and Grady, especially Grady, who is like a more dynamic offensive player, the ability to bend a defense and create for others. That’s what the Raptors are really looking at is having guys who can open up seams for guys like Mo, for guys like CMBB, for guys like Yaka Purle to finish at the rim, to get downhill to create the collapse afterwards so that they can push the ball out to shooters that so that Jameson Battle can come in and play in some lineups, right? So, like there could be a funky lineup where it’s like CMBB, Jameson Battle, J Mo, uh, Jacobe Walter, and Jamal Shed or something like that, right? Like these these types of lineups, it depends on if anybody can handle a creation load because the Raptors have built a team with more limited offensive players who can defend rather than the inverse. And so, that means that they need somebody to carry. And obviously you can if that archetype goes from Luca to Trey Young to whatever the Raptors will getting. That’s why Malik Monk is such an interesting piece on the team because he’d probably be able to do that really well. But they’ll be getting it peace meal and how much how big the pieces of the meal from guys like Grady, guys like R.J. Jacobe creating would shock the hell out of me probably. It wasn’t there at least this this year. I mean, you’d never want to say no to it in the future, but yeah, Jamal Shed also, I guess you should there’s room for him to especially if the pullup three comes along. He wasn’t there in summer league, but Ochai made me realize like what the hell is that tournament anyway, you know? Um, but I think it’s up to those guys to convert that kind of stuff or Scotty Barnes superstar is also in the mix. like they just need a guy who the Kyle Lowry effect. Lucas Ngera is the most impressive and compelling player on the floor. Why? Because he can run in a straight line and catch the ball and Kyle Lowry knows exactly how to make that type of play happen. Right? There’s so many players who benefited from playing next to Kyle. And this is also like a a very low-key thing about the NBA is that role players are so context dependent and and like stars are becoming more context dependent because the level of play is reaching a certain height but role players are so context dependent and it’s like how easy is your job and the Raptors just nobody’s job was easy last year. OI’s maybe because he really was very like I’m taking these shots transition layups, back cut layups, corner threes, and then started to creep above the break. But they they need guys who break down the defense and make things easy. Then you can start playing plus defenders. Then you can have a top eight defense. Then you can do all that kind of stuff. But it requires heavy lifting from their big names and then a little bit more from a guy like Grady, I think, personally. Yeah, I I agree. I think a a real big key, especially in like their lineups, is how they operate like transitionally after the starters are are broken up. And I think that’s going to be staggering Brandon Ingram and and RJ. Um it allows R.J. to be in lineups whether he’s coming off the bench or whether he’s with the starters and and be that and be that dribble creative for other for others around him so that they can play better defensive lineups and then and allow a guy like Jacobe to have a very simple job if he’s with the bench and just be a catch and shoot guy. Um, it allows Grady also to play with the starters in in some other sense cuz they can put better defensive talent around them and um it makes the roles I think around the team and the defensive lineups that they can play significantly easier because right now the defense that they want to play or for what we’ve seen in summer league they can’t necessarily achieve that with Brandon but but if that’s OIa in that spot or that’s Jacobe in that spot 5 minutes into the first quarter everything becomes a lot easier. year and if a guy like Jacobe and Oi are consistent shooters throughout the whole their next season um it makes most of their lineups a lot more tenable because IQ can be one of the best shooters in the world if he’s if he if he’s able to put up the actual attempts to get get to to where he needs to be and those other guys can make up defensively for his lack of ability to defend at the the point of attack. So, I think that will be a major key of like synergy and and fixing some of the deficiencies they have throughout the starters. Yeah, that was that was what uh Abdell and I were talking about with the CM when we were doing like what are the interesting duos. It was like CMBB and Grady is really interesting because Grady might have the dynamism to make CMBB’s keeper plays and dribble handoff stuff like more compelling on offense and CMBB is also the type of really proactive rotational defender who can protect Grady if there’s a blowby or if he’s getting like burnt out, you know what I mean? Uh that kind of stuff always matters really. Um, Pz asks, “Would you be a believer in the four bench players plus one starter lineups with this team considering the improved depth?” The depth has improved, but like it has improved. It will have to improve, but by what amount? Like that was Jamal. What he said is like the last quote I used in the piece was, you know, we’re not rookies anymore. We want to be a piece of this. We want to help supplement and support those guys. But the improve the Raptor’s depth is better than it was, but I still don’t see a reason to say it’s like good and I’m I’d be very happy and people can tell me if it’s like 30 games in the season and they’re excellent depth, come back and be like, “You were too low on the depth and say it to me because I will have been.” But I don’t see I don’t see an argument right now to assume that the depth is really strong. I look at a fourbench one starter lineup as this team is currently constructed and I say how good is the starter to help transform that lineup and I don’t I I don’t see it being super successful as currently constructed. Agreed. Especially because the depth on the team is super dependent on having that like star creator. Um guys like Jacobe, guys like Oide super stationary players. This team was 30th in on ball points per possession. This team exactly. So you you’re going to need multiple guys. Like I think the bench lineup how I how I view it is that a lot of those bench lines is probably three bench guys with like Yakoba Purle and RJ Barretts where you can run that pick and roll which was super successful last season and allow everyone else to be stationary players and it makes things a lot easier. And when YaKob is on the court, they probably will experiment with like how Scotty and CMBB looks, how Scotty and and Mobile looks defensively and and if he is the star that they think he is, can he carry that off offensively? But the the current while I do think summer is obviously fun, if the Raptors are trying to win games, I I’m unsure they have good depth for for that. Currently, we we think Jam Battle obviously very fun player, but is he going to be in your rotation when you want it? If you’re edging to edging, I’m crying. Uh if you’re trying to get to the top a top five, top six position, pro probably not. So you I think clear guys like in the rotation is like Jacobe, Grady, CMBB, but like most of those other guys like within within that like rookie mob last season I don’t think is a a sure bet of being an NBA rotation player. Oh, this actually wasn’t asked under the tweet, but since you didn’t put mobile in that conversation and since we actually forgot to discuss mobile when we were talking about the future, where will you be in 5 years? I think um a listener asked about Philip Powski versus Mo because they’re they’re one after the other, right? And Philip Powski just won summer league MVP. He had his offensive numbers are very strong for a rookie whether he was drafted like 14th as a big or 32nd, right? and using it as like a to discuss mobo. Just as a quick aside and again to reiterate this, Jameson Battle could play on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the regular season and he could be part of that rotation offensively because they make it so simple for his style of play. Derrick Jones Jr. likes to play off of heliocentric players because it’s really friendly for his style of play. The Raptors players, nobody has been done a favor on offense in a couple years. It’s like last year, nobody’s job was easy. So once and some of this is like the guys you paid go be good and make things easier for the younger guys and and the younger guys like you have to win the the Nets. Why were they so much better at the start of last year than the Raptors because Jordy Fernandez who we both really like was lapping Darko as a coach? No, not necessarily. Lucas Kaplan told me this when we did our first preview of the season. He’s when I was like, “Are the Nets going to be one of the worst teams in the league?” He said, “No, they have too many NBA players on the team.” The Raptors depth, not everyone has proven that they’re going to stay in the NBA. Just keeping NBA players on your team, even if they’re unpopular names, helps you win games. And the Raptors have to prove it in the depth perspective. And their stars have to be stars, man. Go be a star. make it easy. You You also saw that like in the in their little run, I think it was I want to say late November, early December, give or take, when they just started playing Kelly Olen, Bruce Brown, DaVon Mitchell, they started winning games because those are NBA players. They know how to play and you aren’t just getting those green mistakes that you that would happen most most of the time with a guy like Jacobe, guys like Jamal. Rookies have such high variance of of play that lose you minutes and the a team like Detroit, they become instantly better adding Tobias Harris. Adding Don’t talk down on my Tobias now. Okay. He’s a quality player. I’m one of the best players in the league. This team would trade me for a crumble cookie. Not many 6ix9ine players can defend. But like they just added NBA players and they got really good because of that. Yep. This this leads into a good question from Spence Bell. With a shift towards winning over development next season, what are some of the biggest changes we should expect roles usage, bench hierarchy, etc. We’ve kind of been kicking this around. Also ask, if we’re hitting the gas on winning next season, what exactly does that look like? I’ll answer that really quickly. It looks like a very ardent uh defensive identity. It looks like an impressive season where both Scotty and BI put their names in the hat of allstar status. I don’t know like I don’t know if they’ll have the juice for two. I don’t know if BI will be healthy. Like I don’t really know. But the the shift as far as roles, usage, bench hierarchy is that when the when it doesn’t really matter, everyone kind of gets their shot. But this is kind of what I’ve been talking about and you know, we had a bit of feedback that was like, don’t pit the players against one another, but it’s like no dude, they can both be on the team, but they’re these guys are battling for that top of a perspective role. The looking good means that on most nights, one of Grady or Jacobe is playing more minutes than the other. It wouldn’t be toggling a lot. It means that somebody found that foothold because winning teams are consistent. They know what they’re expecting and they it can shift a little bit. But it also looks like if Jame Battle hangs in on defense and the Raptors, they get what they need defensively from a guy like RJ and Jamal Shed is doing a decent enough job creating that Jonathan Mobile might fall out and Jameson Battle might be like a deep bench shooter who actually plays a little bit more and is important as a shooter. Like those are the types of things. Or if they’re like their wing creators are just busting things open non-stop and they just need somebody to shore up the defense and the offense is going better. Jonathan Mobile could emerge far before Jameson Battle does. Those are the kinds of decisions that will be made and last year none of those decisions were made. Everybody got their shot. Everybody had a look. Yeah, I I I agree. Like a clear example is like the Jamal shed, Da’Von Mitchell situation. DaVon was in most of their positive minutes throughout the year, but they obviously had a very clear plan of Jamal and wanting him to be their backup point guard of the year or backup point guard of the future and he got those minutes. I think next year it’s very similar to like the Houston Rockets of like a year or two year year or two ago where you have this glut of this young talent and you’re seeing who’s going to be a part of the solution and who’s going to win out because the Raptors need to be able to make clear decisions and pivot on who they want to keep and who they want to stay on the team like Amen Thompson of that group clearly won out. They started him. He played tons of minutes. They traded Jaylen Green. they getting to a championship team, you you you typically aren’t keeping the entire core of your roster one through nine. You you need to understand who are the five or six guys that are going to be a part of the situation and then utilize the other guys to fit to create trades and fit the holes that the other five or six guys have on the roster. Yep. A great Houston is a really good example because Reed Shepard got nothing. They’re like, “Listen, man.” Uh Cam Whitmore out of the picture. They figured it out. They they found they found what they wanted. Aaron Holiday. Yes. Some because we don’t really have Reed where we want it now. We need extra possessions elsewhere. Like Jan Tate out of there. They figured it out. They found out what they wanted and what they needed. And that doesn’t mean other players careers end. It doesn’t mean, you know, it has to be stand versus stand fighting. It doesn’t mean it’s boohoo. just means like damn, one guy’s hooping, one guy not so much. That is the nature of this league. That’s why they have guaranteed contracts whether you’re sitting on the bench or otherwise. You get paid, you get looked after, but these guys are competitors. They’re going to go out there and bust their asses. It’s a good thing. I think that’s an exciting thing to look forward to. We’ve already seen the bench mob didn’t play on the Raptors for five or six years. They stole Don’s chain, man. Don was next up. He was supposed to be that guy. Yeah. And he and he he got traded. You you trade you trade um Jonas Valenunis as well to get other guys. They traded Jako Purle for Kawhi Leonard. You It’s pretty good. You you you need having a lot of good players is a is a good thing and ideally them being young and it allows you to make to make trades and make trades a lot easier. the one of the reasons why the Raptors really struggled during the the Pascal and Fred like era of the team is that they didn’t have supporting trades that they could make because they missed on so many guys. Malachi Flynn doesn’t work out. Nobody stepped up. Yeah. And it makes things a lot harder to to make trades and add support to those other guys and they became a very topheavy team. You want to have depth but you also want to have um guys that can make that you can trade eventually. Yeah. Like another great example is Norm had popped into the league way better than people thought and then that he had that against Indiana, right? Like things were trending. OG it took like 20 games, it was over. OG never relinquished that role to Norm Pal again. And Norman Pal damn near made the All-Star game last year. It’s just like there are winners and there are losers. And if you’re a loser, you can lose for the time and win later. But like that’s what winning does. When you win, you have to make choices. And coaches find who they like. They know what they can depend on from that player. That’s why that’s what it’s going to be. And I’m really excited because we like Jacobe and Grady a lot. It will be very interest. And they’re very different players. It will be very interesting to see both these guys bring their best, especially with that added pressure of like we’re not screwing around, man. Like we’re trying to win games. Attention to detail like lock in the things you do really matters. It can’t just be hoham. And there’s been a lot of hoham. There’s been a lot of hoham in this Raptors. This we watch a dude. Oh god. I’m so ready to watch winning basketball. It’s been so much hoham. I talk about every game. I write about every game. All this and like listen, I like development and I like talking about that kind of stuff. You know what’s way more fun? I did I use this as a reference piece all the time. RJ Barrett 85th percentile in creating points out of the pick and roll. It was really cool. He did develop as a playmaker especially. He took leaps. Here’s what’s happening playbyplay. Break it down. Here’s what they’re running. 600 people watch it. Are you kidding me? Nobody cared because they were losing. And and not just from like that point of view, but it’s like when guys win, everything’s more interesting. Like you could say, “Ooh, this this play they ran worked six times.” And if it’s during the losing season, everyone says, “Shut up, nerd.” But when it’s during the winning season, everyone’s like, “This is interesting and cool.” It just it’s the nature of the beast, man. No, it’s tough. Like even beginning of the season, we’re like, “Wow, the Raptors, they’re they’re about 2 and 12. They’ve been one of the most competitive teams in the league.” So many schmucks. They we they’ve pushed this team. I remember I think that’s when Grady had like 28 or 29 where they pushed Dallas. They lost by five. We were reacting like they they were going to be a playoff team. Like just wait till Scotty comes back and then Yeah. IQ’s elbow goes. Yak has a hip thing. That whole deal, man. Um, a quick fun one from Goose. Where would team Jamaica rank in the East? I’m I’m going to I’m going to create the starting lineup first and then we’ll agree. I’m I’m adding Jaylen Brunson to Team Jamaica. I’m just letting you know. Okay. Okay. Jaylen Brunson, Norman Pal, and we have a a men Thompson, Scotty Barnes, Nick Richards. I’m I’m saying one of these things is not like the other. Poor Nick Richards. There wouldn’t They’re the one seat in the East. I’m I’m going to say this right now, dog. What do you mean the Cavs? Better than the Cavs. I’m assuming the Scotty Leap here. Jaylen Brunson’s one of one of the 10 best creators. Does Jaylen get stolen from the Knicks or are we cloning him in this? Let’s clone him. Let’s clone. Clone. Okay. They have a chance him a men a men and Scotty both have the chance to both become all NBA players next season. I wouldn’t be shocked if either or made it. Honestly, you you’re a men can make all NBA for you. I think so. Whoa. I don’t think he’s there yet for me, but I I like that in a Ben Simmons way where he’s a candidate for defensive player of the year. He’s he’s one of the best had this thing where it was like dudes were just gassing him for no reason. I remember and I was keeping tabs when everybody was like who do they pick Joel or Ben? I was like this is the most unserious conversation of all time. You pick Joel. It’s Joel man. And Houston is going to win 55 games probably. It’s not anything. Fred Fred is not getting selected to anything. Oh actually yes. I because Katie will get selected and if they have to pick another player, I don’t want that damn center making any list for you to shove in my face. Yeah. Okay. Amen. Thompson all NBA sure. I’ll buy it. At some point he’s going to be there. That team could be very good defensively with him both him and Scotty. And I He has to be. I think Scotty’s going to be very good next year. He He show He kind of has to be. He should. Well, he has to be. But also, I don’t see I don’t see a reason why Scotty would be bad. I don’t I like it’s hard cuz I know and you and I got in a bit of like we got push back for like why are you critiquing Scott? He’s just trying things out. It’s like what what do we talk about then, man? You know what I mean? And there’s good process and there’s bad process. It happens. But there was a lot of bad process last year, but he’s just too damn good at too many things. He also was all defense last year. You don’t have to be selected to be around there. People watched OGN and Obi know there’s only there should be three alldefense teams. Only being two was silly. He his impact was there. And yes, I understand he his jump shot was not good, but like come on, man. This guy is an elite elite passer. He is a can play bully ball, can finish all defense defense. For Scotty Barnes to have a bad year of basketball, I think like a comet has to hit him or something like that. It’s just too much is working for him. Way too much. Okay, maybe you talk me into this. You pair all You pair a top 10 defense next to Jaylen Brunson. It’s possible. I give me Give me number two. I’ll take two. I don’t I don’t think they’re better than the Cavs. That’s That’s totally fair. Yeah. I I feel uh a bit of uh uh loyalty towards the Cap. Ah, that’s funny. Um okay, one seed for you, two seed for me. That’s that is a very compelling team. The Jaylen Brunson angle helps a lot. Norm would be very comfortable in that. Scotty Amen. Like Nick Richards is a big drop. You guys can’t get a better center. Yeah, you can’t bend the rules. You can’t twist somebody’s arm. Dominating. We need dominate to to wear the green. Oh, where where is he from? He’s from another Basam Bamas. Yeah. H that he would he would be meaningful. Well, it’s the Greater Jamaican Islands. All of it, isn’t it? Pretty much. What would that team look like? Oh my days, man. A Caribbean team. I think VJ Edcom starts on that team. Honestly, you put him ahead of Norm. Yeah, I think I would just surely not yet because of the skill set. You need you need defense. That’s Yeah, Brunson VJ, I would probably still keep a men’s Scotty and then you start Aton. Damn. Okay, we’re going to use this next one as a like a teaser for there. T D T D T D T D T D T D T D T D T D T D Tre and I will research and we’ll have like 30 minutes of going to bat before the season. He’s going to represent the Jacobe camp. I’m going to represent the Grady camp. We like both players, but we have to pick we have to pick a side and we’re going to go to battle on like who’s going to be better. It’ll be a fun little exercise, but this is a good this question is a good teaser for it. Um, which do you guys think is most likely to happen for this upcoming season? Jacobe shooting 40% from three, Grady being a slightly below average defender, or CMBB averaging more than 12 points. Now, this will allow us to discuss these players games. I will say one of these has a like a much stronger likelihood than the rest. I think you know what I mean? It’s when I was carving out the discussion on the on again on the round table and I said like CB could go north of 11 a game. I don’t think that’s the likelihood but he he could depends how things go but it’s not the likelihood. Grady being slightly below average. God, I wish I could say it’s a because if you Oh god, he just struggled so damn much last year. And if Grady coming into this season and putting to bed the worst defender stuff, I the monumental leap that would be for the team and himself. I can hardly begin to state it. He has a lot of work there. and Jacobe to shoot 40% from three just needs a bit of luck and an easy roll and like he it could happen. Jacobe is by far the most likely especially on this team. He probably won’t have to do that much. It’s just like hit the catch and shoot threes, brother. Make it happen. Agreed. that that’s what Oiabaji did and his his three-point numbers went up significantly cuz the role became so easy and it’ll become even easier this season because they have define ball handlers on the team now at least with Brandon Ingram and the if his if his three-point attempts aren’t at at bare minimum 40% of his shot diets and and majority of them being wide open threes like something really bad happened his he has one of the easiest roles on the on the team so like him shooting 40% % from three is the most likely. I think I think if we say a second, I would say CNB averaging more than more than 12. I think there’s a there’s a world where that where that happens. And he because he’s just so good defensively, he steals he steals minutes from a guy like RJ, steals minutes from a guy like Grady and in some of the more important lineups with Scotty Jakob or Scotty and BI just because the defense is so good and he wins as a finisher, wins in transition, does all the dirty stuff and and gets the 13 or 14. I actually think the the perception uh of number two and three there, CNB scoring and Grady being a slightly below average defender, those two kind of operate in in maybe the same world is if Grady and again this is the duo’s aspect of it. If Grady He should improve defensively from last year. Yeah, he should improve. He has a he willingly defends like he he his miles traveled on defense were insane. Go watch S’s video by the way for listeners. S has a video on Grady’s conditioning. His miles traveled on offense are nuts. His miles traveled on defense are nuts. They threw him at the point of attack. They asked Grady to press and he willingly went after it. He took difficult matchups. He tried to take charges. He threw his body at it. He clearly wants to defend. He’s not a lazy guy. He just was not having a good time. He should improve. But as Darko has said, he thinks that the most underrated skill set of Grady’s is the passing. Grady has always had passing upside. He hasn’t looked to the pass very often because he’s been so hyper. Because again, the Raptors are last in on ball creation. So when Grady catches the ball in motion, they say like, “Please shoot it. This is what our offense is trying to create. You running and shooting, so shoot it.” So he’s not looking to pass. He passing, CNB cutting, that kind of stuff. It could fit together. CMBB being on the court, like how the hell did Emanuel Quickley get a reputation as an elite point guard defender through sheerely through being like a clever offball guy? One, New York media. Two, insulated by good defenders. Boom. There you go. And also being protected. if the Raptors try at all to protect Grady. And they didn’t care. And this is another thing about like what will change. The Raptors didn’t care about protecting Grady. They’re like, “You’re going to go guard the Aaron Fox, loser. Get up there.” Like they did that. They didn’t pre-witch him. They don’t switch him out of anything. They say, “Go a 70 foot press right now. Get after like CNB will help him. Mo will help him. Scotty will help him.” him like these types of coverages they can run to like hedge and recover would miles would do miles of work for Grady. And when you exist in a better scheme, people focus less, but people will always pull up like what’s his defensive darko rating? Not the coach, but the metric. What’s his EPM, bro? EPM EPM. So like they could exist in the same world roughly. Although that would be this podcast is I’m I’m gonna start drinking man. We’re toasting toasting to what the hell is the Drake? Toasting to something. He does something because he drinks to his accomplishments. It’s [Music] Oh god. uh floating in and out of consciousness. Right. This is what the song headlines. Headlines. Yes. This played when we we were at a tournament in grade 11. Oh my god. And uh there was a school. It’s called Middle Lake and it was a small town school, but it was right beside um an indigenous reserve. And every night, dude, the in uh like the indigenous dudes would come in and hoop like all night long in the school gym. And so we were staying the night at the school and we just go we just went and played and they were just headlines on repeat, dude. It played it must have been like 20 26 times in a row was just like the whole night and we’re just playing basketball in our pajama pants. It was sick, man. I wonder if the kids listen to a lot of Drake in Saskatchewan when they play basketball now. H think I think you’d have to. It’s kind of Yeah, he’s a big name. He’s kind of a big deal. And it what was what song played the most for you when you played basketball? What do you remember as like a song that during warm-ups or whatever? Uh the warm-up song for us in in high school was uh Stay Scheming by Rick Ross Rick Ross Drake and and Fresh Montana. Fresh Montana’s verse horrific. We would always cut it off right before because he goes Dwight Howard in the post dog. Terrible post stuff game. Akim Ak can we talk about how Akiman has been stealing money from NBA players? I’ll let you listen. You take the charge on this one. All right. Since since Kobe Akiman for anyone doesn’t know does like a a week a little workshop of postm moves and he teaches you how to do the dream shake, how to do a drop step up and unders all the moves that got him into the Hall of Fame. He’s taught LeBron. He’s taught Kobe Bryant. He’s taught Dwight Howard. He’s taught Giannis Anu Takmpo. If you guys are thinking, I haven’t seen any of these moves. You are 100% right because none of these players end up doing the dream shake. And he takes money from them for this week of training. Dwight Howard’s post-up game never improved. He still sucked at it. Giannis is trying to teach kids moves. I see him teaching CL. He never he never does any of these moves. I I don’t get it. Giannis’s greatest skill in the postup is to slam his shoulder into somebody and then dunk over them. And he is better at that than almost any player has ever been at. Is he the best at that ever? He maybe Shaq obviously Shaq. Yeah. Yeah. Shaq from a post up. Giannis overall I think is better at it because Giannis did it like Giannis li everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Bro, that’s you. Like, you don’t finish it with a dunk. But you literally do the Giannis step every goddamn time we play basketball. And when you’re when peak Travon is grumbling down the damn a lot of length to contend with, man. Yeah. Giannis definitely the best at it. But Shaq, God, that the dunk and then the point and then the col Collins, I think his last name was. And then you just see his face. you. Oh, incredible. Um, we got one more question for a a fun one, which is uh somebody asked this about food. Let me see. Oh, yeah. Frederick asks, “What’s your go-to snack/meal when you’re out and about? Example from cafe, fave, local spot, etc. Can’t go wrong with a bather station beef patty.” I’ve never had a Bather Station beef patty. Have you? Is Is this not good? No man. No man. Put it Put us on game. Put us on game. Al unless you’re you’re going to like obviously little Jamaica’s far for a lot of people that’s on the west side of the city. But Ry’s Patty’s now now is in eat in the Eaton Center. Warden Station classic Warden Warden Station is gone man. What? Oh wow. I’m out of touch. They closed them down. I had a tweet about this because when I was still going to B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B Boulder Park with Josh. Yeah. And they closed down the restaurants, I was like, “What’s going on?” And they they’re gone. They’re out. I I when I was going to like school, I would you I would hop off the train to go get something to eat and be like, “Fuck it. I’m just going to be late today.” And just grab a patty and then go back go back on the train. That’s Warden Station. The first time I was there, I was like, “This is the peak of civilization.” Because one, where I grew up, there was like hardly anything. It’s just fields, you know what I mean? I grew up in a town of 700 people for anyone who doesn’t know. And then two, there wasn’t there’s not like transit in Saskatchewan. Not really. And I lived in Mexico where there’s like not much transit either. It’s just I didn’t have a lot of transit in my life. So when I moved to Toronto, and I love transit, obviously my political leanings, they fit very well with public transit, you know what I mean? And so when there’s transit here and like Toronto or Montreal are the only two places where there’s like transit or robust transit relative to Canada, I was like, “Oh my god.” And then there’s the Warren Station with all the stuff going on. I’m like, “This is the Mecca. This is the best thing I ever seen.” But they it was like 3 months later they took it all out. Oh man, I’m out of touch. You are out of touch. Sit sit with that emotion. Damn. Damn. Dude, in just a couple months, I’m joining the uncction with y’all. It’s kind of crazy. 30 That’s But here, I’ve said this before, and for anybody listening, if you’re balding, one, listen, man, you can just come home. But two, if you’re balding early, I feel like you go through the aging process or like the insecurity of aging quicker. Like when I was 25 and my hairline was going, I was like, I feel really old because my hair is gone, dude. You know what I mean? I didn’t have to hit 30 to be like, oh no, what’s happening? It happened to me at 25. And I, you know, and when you’re bald, everyone makes fun of you for it. It just is what it is. Like, you got it hits you in the face. You got used to it. So, I don’t think turning 30 is going to bother me. You know what I mean? Do you have any wisdom words for me? stretch. You need to You need to have a a good stretch routine. You’re not new, dude. Every You need to have a good I I We went to the gym in Vegas. Josh was walking you through the little stretch routine. You You look like you were above it. You were That’s That’s 29 thought process. You You need to get your nice little stretch in. Get open up your hips. Make sure you’re fine in the morning. My hips Oh, they fly open, brother. My hips fly open. I know. Like, so you know the the type of climbing where I’m like up against the like it’s not so much overhung, it’s called slab climbing. Dude, my my hip mobility, dude, these things they open like handicap doors, dog. Straight as big as possible. My my flexibility, one has improved because of climbing. But two, it was only once I started climbing I realized I was like, damn, I can bend these things going any which way. And this so I like my hip my hip motion elite got I got tons of range of motion in the you know the Anyway, uh wait, what are you eating though? Did you say Oh, I guess Ry’s patties. I I do love a patty. There is a place out in Scar Bro called either Desi time or Desi Taste. I’ve had it twice. Unbelievable brani. Unbelievable brani. So good. And there’s like a ton of places you could choose that are like good in Toronto. Um I went to Mahas. That was I think it has like it’s either like up for a Michelin star or is on a Michelin list but not a star. That food I wait like waited an hour for it to get in but it was unbelievable. Yeah, that Mahas I know it’s obviously popular so I’m not putting anybody on but it’s a like it’s popular for a reason and Sumac our dear friend who shall not be named he had such a wonderful time there he was documenting the process I cuz I didn’t stay with you guys when we when we left I was literally driving in the car like damn near shedding tears eating my ve oh man and that was you know Keith Lee put uh put that one on. Yeah. But obviously it was like a major staple before then. Yeah. Yeah. I’m curious uh also I I had a tweet about this, but ND Talks Ball, just as a final night cap for this podcast, asks, “In your time as a media member, have you noticed any changes in the way Raptors fans act slashpersceive themselves?” I want to ask you first, have you noticed anything? Because I’m obviously gonna get into my stupid little bag that I love to get into. Um, I think the the I think for me I’ll only speak for myself. Like for me, I think the major difference obviously is the media now is my friends. Yeah. You’ve met like you met Raptors PR man like at at summer league. You know, this is so like that’s a major difference from like five years ago from knowing from knowing you guys. five or six years ago I guess now. So that’s you talking mad about the media. No, I never was. But like there has to be a Doug Smith tweet, bro. There [Laughter] definitely is. Um but I think for the Raptors like the whole notion like I think I think 2020 is a good inflection point to look at. There’s this like this gumption and this thought process of the team is like the in the weed to north movement of like nobody cares about us. We’ve been this good team for years. No one ever is going to help us. It is us against the world. There there’s that sort of sort of feeling amongst the team and the fan base. And that also leads to like this level of like disdain and sometimes like attacking level of like presence that Raptors Twitter has. Like what do you mean OG anomi isn’t the best defender in the NBA? You’ll get 30 people with with OG Anomi Aby’s saying are you stupid? Are you dumb? And look and look at look at all the amazing thing and have all his stats laid up why he should have made over Matis Style. He should have, but he’s such a scammer, dude. Tyal. Oh. Oh, it was just horrible. But I think now that still exists in the same slight, but I think it’s more fervor towards like singular players than the the the entire team. Like there’s from what you see online there there’s Scotty fans, there’s Raptor fans, but there’s like a heavy heavier presence on the individuality of like a Scotty, a Brandon Ingram. Jacobe has stand fans. Grady Dick less so I would say than the others. But Grady Grady I think a lot of his the people who really like him are just Raptors fans whereas like some of the other players have like it’s pretty clear that they’re it’s that player they like rather than the team as a whole. Yeah. But like five years ago they’re five or six years there’s like obviously there’s Demar fans, there’s Kyle fans, but like generally they’re mostly just Raptor fans that are like this big ugly Giant in Cleveland. We’re going to go take down this team. And it’s not the same anymore. Yeah, I was gonna So, as you point out, like stand and here’s the thing, like as far as like evaluating a fan base, I’ve been inundated with fan base opinions every day. Like my mentions are fanbased opinions. The live chats are fanbased opinions. Comments are fanbased opinions. People talk about me and talk to me constantly about this team. I understand this fan base like extremely well. It has fundamentally changed and shifted a lot since I first started. And like I’ll say, stand is a huge part of that because stand fractures fan bases big time. Yep. And stand is a phenomena that is growing in popularity and becoming one of the more common ways to interact with something. Whereas in the past, it was one of the least common ways to interact with something was through stand. But people in, you know, in a polarized society, which we have, uh, a lot of things get funneled to one place and a lot of people, they funnel it towards one player. Like have being like 30 tweets deep every day about one guy is that’s just news to people. That’s just like, wow. You know what I mean? Standem is a new thing and it’s cultivated more for younger fans than it is for like young millennials and up. And that’s the the big change I’ve seen is like when I first started, young millennials were obviously the main voice. Young millennials and millennials were the main voice of the Raptors fan base, at least online, right? But a lot of people that I talked to at the arena or whatever, a lot of people who show up in street interviews, young millennial big time, and it was like this, the Raptor’s fan base was, yes, very defensive of their players, but it’s very sentimental, very like, oh, sweetie baby about players. And that has shifted because they won a championship, which brings in like if you’re 14 when they win the championship, that’s the team. These guys kick ass. And then the first big player who gets drafted, it’s so cool when you’re first like a fan of a team and they draft somebody and he’s good, that’s your guy, Scotty. All these championship fans come in. So many new fans. Team underperforms a bit. All of a sudden, Scotty Barnes is there. He wins rookie of the year. That has to be your guy. Yeah. With the trend of stand, Scotty gets this huge bubble of like fans who are there for him. Also, there’s a bunch of fans who are now here for Brandon Ingram because he’s also huge pick for the Lakers. There’s a lot of stands for him, too. Obviously, we talk about Jacobe, but it definitely like the fan base and who interacts, whether it’s like people who inter see me in person and say hi at the arena, who engage with all this kind of stuff. Big shift towards Gen Z. Huge shift towards Gen Z. And I think some of that is like young millennials aged out or millennials aged out of wanting to be online. But also the posting style changed. It’s a bit more combative, a bit more like wild. And if you’re like a 36-y old man and like, you know, like a 21-year-old is calling you a slur online cuz you’re like, I like this guy better than this guy, you probably tap out. You know what I mean? Yeah. And also, since we see it on Twitter, it’s like we know Elon has been cultivating a certain style on Twitter, too. So the the cultural shifts that have been happening, Raptors fan base not immune to it. This has been happening in so many other fan bases. It’s just an overall like online trend. Yeah, that’s what’s changed. It definitely because when I first came along, it was very like very sentimental, very young millennial is very like, you know, like well-meaning. Also, when I started doing this job like permanently, it’s on the back of like a huge se like social movement and all that kind of stuff. Now, obviously, as we know, that has evaporated completely and rubber banded the other way. It’s just and the reason why I talk about this and why I don’t shut up about this stuff is because I’m a public facing person and I’m subjected to it all the time. So, it like I’m I think about this all the time. other people probably see this stuff, but like yeah, I just I have a microphone, so hey. Oh, it makes sense. Like even how the team markets itself and presents presents itself caters to this new style and and fandom. Like the Raptors were one of the best Yes, Demon. Yes, Demon. The Raptors were one of the best teams for the for the for 10 years in the 2010s. And the way the team was presented, it was in far more collectivist style. Even though they had two guys are going to probably one for sure are are going to make two for sure, man. Two for sure. Just joining, but are going to make the Hall of Fame. Whereas this team now, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but this is clearly Scotty’s team. The team and vision is put within him. And we probably haven’t seen this. We never saw us cuz we were probably too young. But like since Vince Carter, which is probably cool for for for younger people to experience that cuz they there hasn’t been a Raptor that stayed with the team for a longer period of time from from getting drafted and be becoming a star. And hopefully that is that is him. But people want to see like a star pop off and be the have their own LeBron across across the league, which is I don’t necessarily Pascal Pascal gave a taste. He wetted the appetite for Scotty Barnes. You know what I mean? Because Pascal never reached the the place where people clearly wanted like the place he reached was unbelievable and it’s still ongoing for where for where he was but for what people want especially new fans. You step in and you’re like they just won. Why did they win? The guy who got MVP left. Okay, who do I like now? Who do I like now? And then I mean Scotty comes along and he’s fun. He Twitch streams, you know what I mean? like yeah I there’s a huge faction of the online fan base is like Scotty above many other things and that’s that’s like a new phenomena I think not not stand in itself but I guess like the the volume of it when I first came on there was like I thought I saw like three stands like three and now I think it’s the majority of the accounts that I see interacting with things is like this is my guy you know like even uh it was like the Aaron Baines fan club. Remember that? That was like a That was like a novel thing. That was like a unique novel thing. It’s like I can’t believe. And then DJ Carton was a raptor for two days and there was a DJ Carton muse, you know, and I like DJ. I know DJs like but like this guy had not played any minutes. He was just on the roster and somebody was like, I have to be a stand of this guy. There’s literally the Raptors logo was NBA paint, right? Who was at the behest of that? The Sandro Mamu Kelli stand being like super and why he’s like I like this guy. He ain’t played a minute. You know what I mean? And and I don’t like the Aaron Baines fan club was that guy came he followed Aaron around but the Sandrew Melvey fan was a Raptor fan who just was like this is the guy I’ll latch on to. It kind of not to be too big brain. It kind of leans more into like how players are not seen as humans but more as brands now. You know what I mean? Like because you’re constantly cheering for the elevation like oh no like they constantly cheer for propaganda in in favor of they latch on to with an expectation of upward mobility or at least social mo. Yeah. It’s like the brands thing. God, that’s why I love Wyama. Yeah. Yeah, it’s kind of like a stock if you when you if you think about it. Like the how well a player does. Yeah. How well a player does obviously elevates your your overall account and like notoriety and and like Mamu is a clear example like he’s a player that just got signed and has more attention because the Raptors did nothing in the off season and so that makes that makes sense. And there’s like a meme sardonic aspect to it. Yeah, it really is like people because we didn’t grow up with this with the social currency of like tweeting online, but I think about like all the things I want. God, we’re old right now, but like relative, but I think about like how important it is to be doing something that’s cool when you’re young and like if social media is such a big part of your life, which it wasn’t huge for us, but imagine like what what young people now it must it’s everything. So it’s like if you can be like a if you can get like 2.6,000 6,000 followers on Twitter because you’re like doing a bit. Uh you must be so gassed, dude. Yeah. Unbelievable. When I had Twitter when I was young, you just tweeted your friends. You like you you didn’t follow you didn’t tweet at anybody you didn’t know. I don’t think. Did you? I don’t think so. No. And it more so like operated as like a diary than like a network initially. That is but now you for some people that’s like their easiest point of like connection. and hearing other people’s ideas or thoughts. Whereas like before you you would hear that from like interacting in real life and being around your friends, but this is how you interact with your friends now. That that was the interesting like Instagram is so much that way. Like Instagram is so just like it’s branding. It’s branding. And Twitter was the one social media that kind of resisted that. I think it’s losing some of that. Like Twitter used to be it was like I’m going to see somebody who’s genuinely unwell tweet six funny things a day. You know what I mean? Like this this doesn’t reward my social standing or networking or anything whatsoever. This is merely I’m looking at this and this is nonsense. You know what I mean? And and now I think it is definitely like people well I mean it’s it’s a gold rush. I mean so many like content creators talk about they’re like this is a gold rush. Post now. This is a rare opportunity and you can buy my I have $40 sent to me and I will teach you how to post on Instagram and get 18,000 followers. But yeah, branding I get but you this is probably what you talk about all damn day. Marketing. Yeah. Yeah. Things things things have shifted. There’s like just in the world like there’s more individuality than there’s ever been. So every every all content and how you perceive yourself is through that individuality and making sure that your your social currency um is as high as possible. Not a fan. I don’t think not a fan. Anyway, this I think there will be there will be like a an okay amount of people who really liked us going long at this at the end and I think there’ll be quite a few people who are like ah right and then clicked off. Okay, my I don’t know what their cut where the cut was in the podcast, but my mic was messing up and now here here we are. This um Yeah. Uh anything you want to say before we get out of here? What do I want to say? Um we need we need to go to another Blue Jays game before the end of the summer. Yes, we do. And um I guess just heading heading into the the season, I think I’m just really excited of like not thinking like the next next year’s draft is supposed to be incredible. And I have no thought process of this. I haven’t thought about the prospects and how they could be good to how the Raptors need to position themselves. It’s all about winning. And that’s probably the the first time I’ve had that thought process since like 2021, which which is like so long ago. So it’s refreshing. I guess like we didn’t we didn’t think about it. For me it was like 2022 23 because they were supposed to be good you know cuz they 202122 we were thinking about like oh man I don’t know how this is going to look necessarily. Scotty just got drafted. The Raptors were supposed to not be they had tried to trade Pascal right before the draft and we weren’t really sure how it was going to go. Pascal makes all NBA. Fred makes an all-star team. They go and play six games against the 76ers. But I was expecting to think about the draft a lot that year. And then the next year I was like, we won’t have to think about the draft. And then they lost in the playin and that was terrible. And then they drafted Grady 13th in the lottery. And then the next year it was like they’re running it back but I don’t think this is going to work. Everyone’s going to get traded. Yeah. Jacobe, they didn’t have their pick obviously because of getting Yak. Just basketball, man. And like when players play bad, you say like this needs to be better. And when they play good, you’re like this means something. You know what I mean? Like like Bruce Brown and like winning in December like this is fun. Everyone’s like no, no, you can’t do this to me. Stop winning games. Like don’t no. Yeah. a little bit more linear in the process. That’s a fun place to be, I think, especially at the outset. If you’re on like year four of like we’re winning, we’re trying to get over the hump maybe then. But year one, you’re like, let’s go win some games, fellas. Feeling. That’s all I need. Yeah. All right. BJ’s game coming up. S has been badgering us. I don’t know if he’s been doing it, too. He’s been You can feel his anxiety. He’s he will send the dates of all available times. He’s asked like me three times this week and I’ve said yes every time. You and I do not show anxiety over text message. No. I I can I can show uh like annoyance probably or like a dismissiveness, but S shows anxiety. P shows anxiety as a texture big time. Yeah. Um yeah, BJ’s game. I wonder if he’ll be an hour and 20 minutes deep into this hearing us discuss that. Oh, by the way, met Spencer today at the climbing gym. Nice to meet you, Spencer. Uh, all right, Trey, thank you for hopping on with me. Listeners, thank you for listening. If you stayed the extra long bit, just make sure to like, make sure to comment. Let us know what you think about the changing aspect of of fandom and people in this day and age. or let us know if you think Jacobe or Grady is better, why, all that good stuff. Thank you for tuning in. Whether you got to this in the morning or at night, from myself and Travon, have a blessed day and goodbye. Okay.

Samson Folk & Trevon Heath get together to answer listener questions.

0:00 – Introductions

2:05 – Will the Raptors hire a Pacers FO?

7:45 – Malik Monk to the Raptors?

13:00 – Jamal Shead vs Fred VanVleet

15:55 – Tre cooks up a Bulls-Raptors trade

19:35 – Will the Raptors offense or defense be better?

26:25 – Any unique lineups for the Raptors?

35:10 – Stars elevate their teammates

38:20 – What will the Raptors sacrifice for winning?

46:30 – Would Team Jamaica win the East?

51:15 – Ja’Kobe vs Gradey vs CMB

57:05 – Drake sidebar

58:49 – Tre thinks Hakeem is a scammer

1:00:35 – Food in Toronto

1:02:50 – Samson getting old

1:05:02 – Food again

1:06:20 – Fandom changing, the rise of standom

1:16:10 – Players seen as brands instead of humans

1:18:35 – Social media changing

1:20:55 – We can finally ignore the draft

1:23:10 – Goodbyes

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