Breaking Down Last Night’s Game | Raptors Today – Jan 29, 2023
Welcome back inside Raptors today ke Austin Ashley docking the Principal Paul Jones and we’re going to talk about dnp as I’m calling them or the NDP as some other people are calling them we’re talk about the other guys who played such a huge role in that game against Atlanta
Raptors obviously you got to explain the initials developing the talent of Grady dick jonte Porter which is the p p okay and then we got Jordan wara which is the n even though silent in his name um I want to start with Noir cuz he was or
War is he was kind of the star of that game this is a guy who I was really disappointed that we hadn’t seen a lot of him as of yet and we didn’t really know what we got in that player in the trade and now we finally seen extended
Minutes Jonesy I know you’ve spoken to Jordan you knew his dad who was the coach of the Nigerian national team talk to me about what you understood about this guy before you saw him last night CU I’m impressed I knew when he was at Louisville like you watched the kid and
Again I go back to it all the time certain types of players come from certain programs like you know when you get a Marquette kid you get a grinder when you get a Louisville kid you get an energy kid like it just just certain programs give you those things and
Jordan lived up to that billing like he played um with tremendous heart tremendous energy and I I saw that in him I expected that from him and he got his opportunity and going back to what I said earlier it’s all about time and touches yeah and kind of running him
Into him in in the tunnel after the Clipper game and you know a brief chat and I I heard him over say that like I’ll be okay I’m going to get my minutes when I get my minutes I’m going to be okay and he showed you that on on Sunday
Against Atlanta I he can shoot it I put points I I like the way he plays like everything about him just there’s an energy about him and a and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win and that’s never a bad thing he put up 25 in
One quarter with the Pacers when he was still with them that was a franchise record since like the 96 997 season so when he gets the opportunity and he gets the looks he can score as you said we saw the highlight tape he’s hitting from the corner I thought he had a really
Good command on the ball with his handle he had a couple moves in his bag little spin move crossover hesitation whatever the case may be so I think that he seems like he’s very well-rounded and of course there’s opportunity to develop for all of these guys that you talked
About DMP but he seemed like he was more seasoned than maybe some other bench players that we’ve seen in the Toronto lineup this year and that was nice to see because when things are as hectic as they can be with this Raptor group and when you’re playing a game where the
Pace is important when you’re in transition and you’re running as much as you can and that’s how you’re going to get a lot of your points it’s nice to have players that are going to be able to pull it back when they can or move quickly but not fast as the old analogy
Goes right and I think that war is that guy and uh another a guy that was really good let’s talk about Grady dick an important outing for him yeah much maligned at times um spent some time with the g-league 905 but last night we saw 15 points not a career high 16 he
Got in the third game against Philly but Ashley I’ll start with you how impressed are you with what you see of Grady knowing that it’s taking a lot of resilience for him to maintain you know the the Mind state of a young Prospect especially when um you get sent down
Well the whole thing now is that they’re working on his body right like they’re working on I I saw a little I saw a little a little tricep moment Grady okay I see the Kickbacks coming through but I think he’s one of those players for the Raptors like you know the old analogy
Like watch putt never boils like the more that you are going to harp and stare and hope for like an instant reaction to the program the Raptors have him on the more frustrated you’re going to get he’s a good player okay the Raptors have a really good scouting
Program they have a very good history of drafting guys that come to fruition maybe the timeline’s a little different for Grady but I thought yesterday he was good I thought he was very energetic I thought he took the opportunity where he could I thought I saw him crashing the
Boards I saw him spotting up in the corner um so there was a lot of positives to his game and I think the more he plays obviously in those environments the better it’s going to be and I think when you’re going to play a game against a team like Atlanta that is
The perfect opportunity to get a ton of run because they’re not necessarily A team though that’s going to be clinical and make you pay for every mistake that you have and so I think it Tak they’ll keep you in the game they’ll keep you in the game exactly so I think it takes
Some of the pressure off where you’re like okay cool I can play a little bit more free not trying to give turnovers obviously but it’s not as much of a killer if won’t stand out as much on the court it’s kind of already happening although disrespectful they had Trey on
Them if I was him I would have taken that very personally I I think your your point is well taken about the timelines Ashley it’s it’s patience like everybody and I and I say this like two years ago Grady was getting ready for the prom like he’s yeah he played Varsity a
Season ago yeah it’s like it’s it’s you know aaou one year at Kansas now you’re playing with grown men best in the world that are that are like the serious business these cats are playing for money this is not this is not oh you know there’s time here and it’s it’s the
Old Charles Oakley line who said you can come to the league young but just realize we’re playing for groceries here like this is this is money time that said Grady you got to be patient with him but he was able to play through mistakes yesterday yeah right we know
The worst thing is to make a mistake and be running back and look and see somebody coming to the scores table for you right killer it is the worst and with limited resources yesterday and being put in the game he knew that I got some Runway here I can it’s not
Necessarily going to be a quick hook if I make a mistake our philosophy in terms of this game or maybe going forward has changed a little there is no RJ Barrett there is no Emanuel quickley there is no yakob purle like things are very different here so let me relax and go
Out and play and I thought he did some really really good things quickly actually I don’t think I’ve talked to you about jeante Porter finally back from the eye injury and it looks like his vision’s perfectly fine because he’s shooting the ball he’s sniping it from distance I think he’s similar to wara
When I’m talking about someone who’s been marinating a little bit longer right and he’s been waiting for this opportunity so I think the Poise is there I feel as though the maturity is there you see a little bit of everything which I like three out of four from
Three he has some points he’s going to crash the boards and get some rebounds he feels like the kind of guy who you can give a role to on any given day and he’s going to execute that in that moment he’s a good ball mover too you
Know what I mean like he’s not he’s not going to be necessarily a specialist where it’s like I know that you can shoot the three and that’s all you can do it’s like okay I need some three-point shots today cool I need you to get on the board today okay so he’s
Going to be able to kind of spread his expertise around maybe he’s not going to be top of the class and everything per se but he doesn’t need to be exactly he can do what you need in that moment and that is super valuable in the NBA that’s
Super valuable if you’re coming off the bench in particular all right let’s check in with the rest of our Toronto Raptors right now uh walk me through the final two possessions the one that you had the assist to Scotty and then the last play I mean it was crazy you know
It happened so fast um a game like that where you know both teams are so competitive you know those those the fun moments you know of a season but I mean all I remember is going up for a rebound I probably should have you know grab it
With two hands um came off and running back you know I kind of thought at that point um good chance of being over right then but um Scotty was able to you know create another um chance for me to get and throw it to him and um just happened
You know in a Flash so it’s a lot but um know not a way we wanted to end it but at the same time super competitive game and it was a good good time thanks for watching the Toronto rappers YouTube channel check out our latest video And subscribe for more lead pass here’s
McDaniels in a crowd wide open three here come the RoR that was great
A strong bench performance was not enough as the Raptors narrowly fell to the Atlanta Hawks. Akil, Jonesy and Ashley join the show to give their thoughts.
0:00 Introduction
0:32 Jordan Nwora
2:58 Gradey’s Best Game as a Pro?
6:05 Jontay Porter
7:03 Gradey Dick Postgame
7:45 Thanks for Watching!
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