What’s behind the Raptors’ improvement this season? + Rookie Rankings
Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni, and Sam Vecenie talk about this year’s rookie class, Sam’s rankings, and Cooper Flagg as a point guard. Then, Eric Koreen joins the show to breakdown the Raptors big win over the Cavaliers, Scottie Barnes start to the year, and how the bench has been boosted.
Host: Dave DuFour
With: Es Baraheni, Sam Vecenie, and Eric Koreen
Executive Producer: Andrew Schlecht
Audio/Video Producer: Grayson Moody
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/
Full Episodes Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEuhZTLf0SW9N9etjaRh-KK7zRgKUOQ9l
Shorts Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEuhZTLf0SW8NBkdA2krD_sHQfI7Uhn4r
Timecodes:
00:00 – Intro
01:08 – This year’s rookie class is special
01:59 – Why Derik Queen is Sam Vecenie’s favorite watch
04:20 – The questions over Derik Queen
05:27 – Why Will Richard has surprised the most
07:00 – Time to end the Flagg point guard experiment?
10:43 – Charlotte building with three top 10 rookies?
14:04 – VJ Edgecombe too good not to build around?
18:44 – Raptors look serious after beating Cavs
20:58 – Scottie Barnes impressive this season
23:26 – What are the Raptors doing differently?
25:02 – Jamal Shead important on and off the court
26:56 – Mamukelashvili with big impact off the bench
30:33 – Shoutout to Brandon Ingram
31:35 – Can the Raptors get 47 wins?
Thumbnail: Sarah Stier / Staff via Getty Images
#philadelphia76ers #goldenstatewarriors #charlottehornets #torontoraptors #scottiebarnes
28 Comments
San Dro MAMU Kell ish Vaylee . Now that I know how to say it , I can't stop bringing him up 😂
If there was a chance San Antonio was interested in any of players in Dallas, I would ask for Harper to join Flagg and Lively as the foundation of the Mavs rebuild.
MAMU MENTIONED
Just realized I said 5 assists for Scottie when I meant 5 blocks
Sometimes I wonder if Eric Koreen actually likes the team he covers
I've never heard Koreen speak before. My god, what a charisma blackhole. Guy talks like he's reporting wheat prices on the radio.
eric koreen sucks
beating the hawks on the road twice was expected? koreen is out to lunch lol.
Hearing Eric hate the team he covers is annoying af
Wtf Eric, Raptors had the most difficult schedule in NBA at the beginning of the season and now 7:5 . wtf he talk about ?
Koren or whatever his name is, you are a moron, 5th in the east is not middle of the pack. And were they supposed to win against the Bucks and the Cavs?
I am a very long time fan of the NBA going back to the hey days of the Buffalo Braves who would play games in Toronto at the Iconic Maple Leaf Gardens.
Eric Koreen to me is not representative of someone who is knowledgeable enough to be a representative of the Raptors. Aside from an annoying lack of emotion in his voice, his insight towards the team is very amateurish in general.
To the Athletic please find someone who is much more interesting similar to the hosts of this show who display enthusiasm.
Eric sounds like someone who has had has spirit ripped away from him after covering the Raptors for the last few seasons lol. These are exciting times for the Raptors and there is plenty of room for optimism despite his subdued downplaying of the team’s play so far.
I can't stand Eric. He comes across so snooty. Go cover a different team. I hate hearing all of his negative takes
Let's see now , Brandon Ingram joined the Raptors in the off season. Wonder if that has anything to do with there improvement.
Brandon Ingram = MVP
Eric needs wellness check
Who is this Eric guy?! Definitely doesn’t represent Toronto
So Koreen expected them to be 7-5 after the first 12 what a tool….
Koreen's the grinch of Raptors media.
What an awful take, and inaccurate, "they won the games they were supposed to win and lost the games they were supposed to lose??" lol tell us without telling us you haven't been paying attention to the Raps season so far. 1. Jacob was injured for half the season so far 2. Raps don't have a back up center 3. Tough schedule for first 12 games 4. more away games then home games so far 5. Beat the Hawks twice so far 6. Beat the Cavs last night with bad shooting from BI and RJ…… Its impressive that they are 7-5 !!!
Eric has no business talking ball, fuck this idiot, go to the bath house moron, the new Doug Smith, disgusting, you don't represent the Toronto basketball community, fucking know nothing
Koreen is just terrible. Find someone worthy of covering the Raptors. Doesn't even seem like he enjoys covering the team.
@19:34 Holy crap it's SCREECH!!
Who's the nerd at the end talking raptors. He looks like he never touched a basketball in his life.
Eric Koreen is a moron. Not sure what happened to him, but he sucks now. How was the schedule easy to start the season? Ridiculousness. He used to be pretty tthorough but he seems lazy and pessimistic these days.
Seeing the comments I was expecting serious Raps slander but Koreen is just skeptical and reserving hype for… idk probably end of the season to fully reflect. If we played well by ASG he'd probably say "well let's see how the 2nd half goes", that's just a different perspective I'm not mad. He didn't say these guys are shit, he said "eh I don't see 47 wins, but i'm glad we're not talking about tanking anymore"
The rest of Raps media are pretty hyped so we can hear all the positives and optimism from everyone else, and if someone has a different opinion than you then either hear them out or accept not everyone thinks the same
Jamal Shead, Sir, the real deal. …..period.
Erik Koreen, the Troy Horse…….get the hell out….🤡🤡🤡