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How Deandre Ayton Can Continue His Solid Play as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Miami Heat



How Deandre Ayton Can Continue His Solid Play as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Miami Heat

In today’s show DeAndre Aton Remains the Blazer’s brightest spot plus the injury updates you need to know and we play a game of you’d love to see at Miami Heat Edition welcome to lockdown Blazers let’s get into it you are lockon Trailblazers your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast part of the locked

On podcast Network your team every day what up world it’s your past first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond you’re listening to another episode of Locked on Blazers part of the locked on podcast network available wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube thanks for making this

Show your first listen coming at you each and every weekday Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make it your first listen tell your friends to do the same as lockon Blazers your team every day little bit of housekeeping before we get into it

Actually let’s talk about what we’re getting into and I’ll do the housekeeping uh DeAndre aen has continues to be a bright spot for the Blazers um last time I talked about him he had a really bad game but I’m going to I’m going to fight the Jinx I want to

Talk about him early in the show cuz he’s been he’s been better lately and I I I dig into the numbers a little bit about how he’s gotten better uh injury updates to know a nothing Burger on Malcolm Brogden but uh but what you need to know about the Blazers short-handed

Blazers remaining mostly still short-handed and then we’ll play a game at the end of the show you’d love to see it where we talk about things that you indeed would love to see when the Blazers play the Miami Heat on Tuesday February 27th that’s Today’s Show you’re listening to Tuesday February 27th show

Um here’s the housekeeping news boring Tech stuff that you don’t really need to know the details of but um we’re doing some Network wide across the whole locked on podcast Network migration of where the podcasts live um that doesn’t matter what matters to you is that they arrive in your podcast

Feeds and they don’t they haven’t they’re just they haven’t been in your feeds and I’m sorry about that um it’s something that’s out of my control the the you on Monday’s show never just never showed up it was supposed to show up around 9:00 10 in the morning uh

Pacific time which is a little late if you’re if you’re in other parts of the world but it just didn’t it is busted so it’s only available on YouTube right now I’m hoping by the time this episode launches this won’t be a thing we won’t be talking about it they’ll be over

It’ll be out of our hair and it’ll just be fixed this is a short-term thing it’s probably going to be happen for a couple days and then we should be fixed and we will never have to talk about it again but if you’re an audio listener I’m

Sorry I’m sorry go listen on YouTube and if you’re a YouTube listener and you have a friend or a YouTube viewer and you have a friend who’s like hey what happened to the podcast where the heck is Mike Mike’s trying him still making shows and they’re going to show up in your feet

Eventually but I apologize cuz they are they are not there now okay let’s let’s and I I didn’t mention this on Friday’s show or on the show I recorded for Monday because I thought this was going to be taken care of you know what happens when you assume uh I guess I

Learned that the hard way um in any case let’s let’s get into the actual basketball part of the show because that that’s probably why you’re here right that’s the fun part is the basketball part deandre’s been good recently I I I think that’s that’s the headline here um

I will say this and I I want to be I want to be fair I did this before I talked about DeAndre and finding his rhythm and he had two points and fouled out with like 10 minutes to go in the game against the t-wolves right before

The All-Star break he he he got me he got me I tried to I tried to uh offer some positivity to someone who I’ve been admittedly kind of down on throughout the year but but um he came he came back and had a stinker but he hasn’t had many

Stinkers recently he’s had mostly good games and one of the things I was curious about is kind of like what changed for DeAndre Aiden because um he’s just been better recently like he’s just been better he started the season uh prior to uh prior to the injury of of

Just you know and he missed a month and it’s like prior to that to heading into you know middle of December end of December it’s like he was just having the worst season of his career and um there wasn’t any other way to put it other than that he was having

The worst season of his career and and whether that was his fault or the Blazer’s fault or a combination because it’s always a combination of coaching staff and and his co-workers and his own um sort of and and his own motivations and his own his own execution it’s like

All of all all of it baked into the same thing he was having the worst year of his career and he’s come back since then and since he’s returned um in the middle of January he’s been solid came back and has played 15 games uh since returning

From injury on in uh January 19th and he’s just been good and so I was like hey you know he’s had some obviously he’s had some it took took him you know three games to kind of get going and then I talked about him on the podcast

And he had a an awful game but like for the most part he’s been solid and and one of the things I was curious about is like what are they what are they doing to get him going so I was looking at where he’s shooting from how he’s

Shooting kind of diving deeper into sort of the granular stats and the real truth is that he’s just making more shots sometimes someone like me doesn’t want it to be that simple I want to be able to be like well now here here’s what they’re doing and it’s it’s opened

Up the world for DeAndre and like that’s the nerd in me that wants to get excited about that but sometimes not it’s not really it’s not it’s not that like you gotta you kind of just got to accept what it is the shots are going in that’s

What’s changed uh his usage rate is pre-injury 16.7% his usage rate post injury 16.9% it’s basically getting the same number of possessions to soak up uh usage rate is possessions you finish either with a shot or turnover um or or Tri free throw line but like his it’s

Like uh it’s not like he’s it’s not like he’s just like his sort of like actions are a a lot heavier right it’s not he’s just shooting a bunch a bunch more and and um you know and and getting a lot of chances to sort of play through them

They have anecdotally they’ve played through them more but it doesn’t show up in sort of the raw usage rate stuff what’s changes that he’s making shots um post injury he’s he’s you know in the he’s kind of just like a below average efficiency for for a big man but but

Prior to that he was like truly truly bad and the real difference is shot making 55 55% effective field goal percentage before he before he got hurt uh then he comes back from injury and he’s shooting 60% effective field goal percentage that’s just the simple it is

His his attempts at The Rim almost identical still hasn’t attempted a three all year it’s kind of driving me nuts maybe he’ll shoot one but um I guess him and the coaching staff are cool with how it works he certainly doesn’t not it’s not going to

Um and like at some point kind of just got to let dudes would cook how they want um he shoots mid-range jumpers he does all of his damage between four and 18 feet that is where he’s that is where he’s living I I wish he did more at The

Rim he’s incredible around the rim his finishing is really really solid like he’s he’s he’s an elite finisher when he gets there he just doesn’t get a lot of opportunity the frequency is low where he does his damage and it’s about as high as frequency and as high as

Accuracy as you’re going to see in the league is just in that mid-range area that 4 to 18 ft for to 20t range um and he’s making shots I I think like the numbers maybe I was looking for them to be a little bit be like you know tell a

Tell a deeper story or whatever it might be but I I think the real truth is that the Blazers have kind of found a better rhythm with him da needs da needs a little bit of time I think um he he he wants to catch it in the middle of the

Floor right he wants to catch it right around the foul line and he wants to jab and he wants to and he wants to shoot and he wants to like he’s had a couple this week where he’s like gone behind the back on the catch cuz he’s like he

Is like a very skilled big guy um but he like he needs a little bit of space and more importantly a little bit of time to operate because he wants to jab jab jab and then and then take a jumper he wants to stare you down and say get kind of

Find his rhythm and play on his time um and I think early in the year he never found that Rhythm and then it was things were getting crowded and the Blazers have done a better job of kind of like getting him a chance to to attack and I

Think deandre’s kind of found that Rhythm and I think honest to goodness the real Secret to DeAndre playing better over the last 15 games after a pretty Rocky start to the season is that he’s making shots sometimes it’s that simple um it is indeed a make or Miss league for

Nearly every player and it’s really that for DeAndre that’s I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here like what he does shows up in the Box Score um so like he’s been the bright spot for him it’s been a little bit it’s been a little bit spotty um recently for this

Team it’s been it’s been pretty Rocky obviously Sunday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets was about as bad as it gets and you know who was good in that game was DeAndre Hayton like he was he was good while everyone else was pretty much horrific um and and he has a chance

Against Miami to have three straight games in the 20s for the first time all season long he hasn’t scored 20 plus in three straight games all year this is his opportunity to do so he’s been the bright spot he’s been the bright spot and I’m I’m I’m not afraid of the Jinx

I’m not afraid of it um it can it can come for me I’m not worried uh last time I talked to about I said he was finding his rhythm and you could obviously see it he decided to be not good so I’m just going to go out and on a limb and say

That deandre’s going to have a third good game he’s going to he’s going to he’s going to score 20 points for this in three consecutive games for the first time all season and he’s going to do it by operating in his office somewhere between 4 feet and 20 feet from the rim

Making jumpers taking his time on those jumpers jab stepping and shooting them um he can like the dude’s really skilled um the the the part of his game that bothers me is not his lack is not his skill set is not skills like he’s he’s has great touch and is very skilled um

And he’s he’s kind of finally putting it together and and in a season where injuries have have kind of sapped the Blazers of chances to find some other bright spots no Shane sharp and no scoot Henderson we’ll talk about that in the the second segment but it’s like you’re

Kind of looking for something to be like why would I watch this game um like why what is going to make me feel good about watching this team I think da kind of figuring it out putting it together and being someone who shoots you know is shooting 60% from the floor and like

Finishing at a high level like he has for most most of the last four seasons he’s your bright spot okay let’s talk injury stuff uh no scoot Henderson an update on Malcolm brogon we’ll talk about that in the second segment first let me tell you about Nissan our good

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Armada and go find your next big adventure shop nissanusa.com All right da is the bright spot how I mentioned it’s kind of it’s kind of kind of a little dark out here for the Blazers part of that is just the injury report it’s been it’s got too many names on it it’s got too many names on it it’s

Going to have scoot Anderson’s name on it for um at least one more night he has been officially ruled out for Tuesday’s meeting with the Miami Heat as he continues uh to work his way back from an abductor trrain you know he played in uh you know very briefly play like 11

Minutes in uh at all-star weekend he looked fine comes back and you know probably just ramping up tweaked tweaked is groin and um he’s now missed he’ll M miss the first three games coming out of the break it stinks cuz he’s like the reason to watch this team is cu he’s

He’s what’s next um and without you know without Shaden sharp and Scoot was going to be the guy that you kind of he was going to be the appointment TV for the remainder of of the Season he’s not going to play on Tuesday unfortunately which is just like legitimately just a bummer

Um I don’t think we need to get too much too deep into it it’s just you want him to play and he’s not going to play uh the chony bips did tell the media prior to prior to the game against the Hornets on Sunday that that uh scoot got MRI and

There’s not like concerned this a long-term thing but also didn’t didn’t give an update on when he might be back right so um if long-term means months but shortterm means month like you know if it’s just the difference in an S we don’t know the Blazers don’t really do

Timelines um but typically if something is bad they’ll give a timeline like they’ll send out a PDF that that you do not want to see your name in a PDF that that’s the real truth um from the Blazers but it like scoot is scoot’s not going to play

Tuesday but there’s hope that we will see him on the horizon in the future although no no substantive update which stinks uh means we’ll probably get to see more of Delano Banton a little more Ashton Hain um I think it’s pretty clear that the Blazers prefer Hain as the

Backup point guard and they see Banton as more of a wing type because he’s like a he’s just going to go get his own Buck it’s like he’s a slasher that’s what he does he’s he’s more slasher than point guard um although he has some guard

Skills but he’s not like a he’s not a this like elite table setter playmaker type and then clearly they they view him that way because haens is is getting getting some minutes and we’ll we will we will see what that looks like because you know maybe they go back the other

Way and um you know and they they they kind of lean on lean on ants a little bit more and lean on maybe some Jeremy grants uh initiating which they have done in the past the other name that you need to know on the injury report Ryan

Rer who missed a couple games with uh with a sprained ankle he’s back upgraded to probable which means that almost certainly he’ll be on the active list he’s probably not going to play I think we’ve we’re deep enough into this thing to know that Ryan ruper is not going to

Get an opportunity to play uh but I think you just want him to have you know even if he’s a break the glass in case of emergency type of opportunity you want him to be that if the game gets out of hand you want him to get in the game

And just like see more of him and you want like what you want is the bips to have the chance to play him right like I don’t think he will play I think he’s he’s clearly they’re just they view him as a deep developmental piece and there’s players ahead of him that like

Banson and and Justin manah that that bips trusts more than than ruper uh you know whether that’s whether you think that’s good or not it’s kind of Choose Your Own Adventure I’d rather see ruper fail than than others but um it is what it is right

Like he’s not he’s probably not going to get that chance so don’t don’t get too bent out of shape about it but um him probably is good news for the Blazers injury report here’s the latest on Malcolm brog I’m going to read this verbatim from Blazers injury report uh

Or from Blazer’s press release here’s the thing I told you you do not want to say see your name show up in a PDF the Blazer sent this to me in an email that includes an attached PDF as always bad news and I quote February 26 20124 released from the Blazers Malcolm

Brogden Medical Update Malcolm Brogden was re-evaluated today for his elbow tendinitis and is making good progress in his recovery Brogden will continue to ramp up with an anticipated return to action what what the last sentence there says Brogden will continue to ramp up with an anticipated return to action

Okay well that’s not any information whatsoever um you know I I kind of do this sometimes I like to read the Blazers press releases on injuries because they they they have so little substantive information it’s almost an art form and how little information they provide to you the the fan of this team

What I think that means is that Malcolm brogon will play basketball again at some point end of end of thought Malcolm Malcolm Brogden continues period um chony bips told reporters prior to the game against the Hornets on Sunday that that Brogden had received PRP uh injections I believe that’s platelet

Rich plasma which is where they like um take some blood out of your elbow and then swirl it around in a little thing someone who’s a doctor is going to get mad at me for explaining this way I’m sorry doctors they swirl it around in a

Little thing so it gets um so you get more white blood cells and then they put it back into your elbow that might not be it but what it is is like he received injections to kind of help himself heal a little bit um faster or better um the

You know no timeline from bips there no timeline in that um again I’m going to read the sentence to you again Brogden will continue to ramp up with an anticipated return to action so his his we have definitively his career is not over at this point has

Not retired he anticipates to return to action sometime down the road um okay I’ll say this and then we’ll stop talking about this stupid press release it doesn’t put chony bips in a good spot to release information like this bips wants to tell the truth it’s the thing I

Like most about him is that he’s pretty honest with the with the media like he’s sometimes a little deflecting after the game and will say like I thought we played well when you know that he doesn’t think we played well but he we doesn’t think they played well but like

He he just wants to keep it moving right like he doesn’t want to get he doesn’t want to call his his team out necessarily when he knows they’re a little underman or he just doesn’t want to kind of like what’s the value and being like yeah we sucked what are you g

To do about it um and so sometimes he lies in in those post games but mostly like pregame incredibly forthcoming and like he’s I’ve said this before like I don’t think he’s a very good coach but I he’s a dream to cover like if I did this

Every day he would fill a notebook um I do it do every day but like in the writing format is what I should say if I was like truly um uh on the beat in a more traditional sense like he just fills the notebook he’s incredible um

But chony will tell the truth it’s not a good spot to put him in he’s going to tell the truth what happened with the what happened with the Gary pton Saga last year is that the Blazers handled it really really terribly in terms of like making Gary pton talk to the media

That’s why they should have done and then it would have been him saying I’m not ready to play and then it would have been like hey Gary Pon not ready to play and hey that’s we weird but it like it would have come from him but instead it

Ended up like because he didn’t talk to the media and the blaz never made him it ended up being like chy B up saying like yeah he’s ready to play pretty much whenever and that’s messy that’s messy you don’t want like then it’s like huh the Blazer say he’s ready to play and

And pyton says he’s not like ah then it became a whole thing because bips will tell the truth so like my advice to this is like if Malcolm Bron’s injury is like a long-term thing and he’s not going to play until April and then when it gets

To April it’s like a thing that they don’t want to play cuz him at all because there’s seven games left in the season and kind of what’s the point or three games left in the season what the point um I think the blaz will be better off just saying he will be re-evaluated

In March March is Friday just do that give him a week he’ll be reevaluated next week um I think um because bips is eventually going to tell us the truth and it’s all going to be weird but that’s your injury report no scoot maybe Malcolm brogs in

Or no scoot maybe Ryan rupair and no Malcolm brogon the rest of the injury report is how you remember it’s with Shaden sharp and Rob Williams still chilling on there um let’s talk about let’s play a little game uh in lie of a traditional preview to close the show I

Want to play a game of youd Lov to see it Miami Heat Edition where we talk about things you would love to see join me in that third segment but first I want to tell you that this episode is brought To Us by better Help Therapy can

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NBA still a pass first point guard I’m still Mike Richmond and you are still listening to locked on Blazers sometimes we do a straightup traditional preview on the show where I’m just like the Miami Heat are blah blah blah blah blah blah blah here’s what I’ll tell you the Miami Heat are

Kind of rolling in February they’re kind of rolling their defense is number two in the league in February um they’re just good again their offense is still not very good although it’s been really good post All-Star break but like that’s not many games but the defense is rolling again they’re good

They’re one of the hottest teams in the league they’re good again unfortunately you know the um depending on some injury stuff you know they’re playing as I’m recording this I’m um I was literally just watching before I hit record uh the second half of their game against the

Kings no Tyler hero and Notaro Zer in that one Jimmy buter out with um serving the suspension from a fracus he got into um but like they always seem to get Hayward heith and to play well and when they need need him and haime AZ has is is a

Really good rookie and they’re just they’re good right but instead of like focusing too much more on them that’s that’s your that’s what’s what’s about the Heat this is about things you’d love to see from the Blazers um I think we’re at the point in this season when talking

About you know I think we’ve been at the point I really haven’t talked about this all year but I but to be clear I think we’re at the point of the season when talking about like here’s what they need to do to win is kind of like some of

Your friends are rooting for the Blazers to lose some of your friends are counting pingpong balls you know what like so like personally I I think it’s a little bit it rubs me the wrong way to say like I can’t wait for my favorite basketball

Team to lose I think that’s a weird way to be a fan but like the NBA has incentivized you to do that and the Blazers have conditioned you to do that over the last two seasons so like go for it um so I don’t necessarily want to

Talk about the keys to the Blazers winning but I do want to focus on something that I mentioned coming out of the All-Star break as one of the three most important things I was going to watch Scoot and ant ant and Scoot deandre’s consistency we talked about D

At the top of the show and then the Blazers quartet of wings differentiating and separating themselves those gentlemen just haven’t been very good recently you know tamat kamaro’s probably been the best of the four he had two pretty solid games against Minnesota um followed by some

Quiet Ones against Denver he hit six and six against Denver and they went scoreless against the Hornets the Blazers scored 80 points there W there weren’t a lot of points to there weren’t a lot of points to go around they weren’t scoring many points so like you know when you go 10

And 10 minutes and 53 seconds of of game time without scoring any points like it too money Kamar was involved so there weren’t a lot of points to be had but you know scoreless against against Charlotte but I think he’s been the best of them and he’s kind of moved back into

The starting lineup and has has won that job or been rewarded that job from from Jabari Walker for for whatever reason um I thought it was a matchup thing but it’s clearly bips just decided to go back in that direction maybe he thinks he gets the most out of his players that

Way I thought they kind of figured something out with jabori Walker in the starting line but then they went away from it um but whatever it’s a small deal it was more surprising than than I think like um infuriating or whatever but tanii of the four of the tumani Kamara Chris Murray

Jabari Walker matis thel quartet he’s been he’s been the most consistent recently over the last handful of games Jabari Walker just has stopped you know he had he had a big double double with 17 and 11 and then those last five game six points Four Points 8 points 2 points

Six points like hasn’t gotten back into double figures has dropped out of the starting lineup the last handful of games um yeah like Jabari is struggling to shoot this year and I think the struggling to shoot means sometimes he passes up shots he should take when he

Passes up shots he should take he sometimes dribbles into trouble because it’s like if you don’t take that three like the modern NBA just needs you to shoot threes three-pointer kind of bastardize the game a little bit because like every single player is supposed to launch from three sure I I totally

Accept that but like it’s how it works for now and particularly for guys who play forward like like if you’re a spacer an off ball guy if you’re not setting a screen you kind of need to space to the three-point line and be ready to shoot it’s just it’s how the

League works for right now and and and Jabari and he just he hasn’t connected on threes and now he’s kind of passing up some shots and I think that’s um that’s a little troubling that because sometimes so pass up shots like I said I just dribble into a bad spot like okay

I’m going to attack this close out when he attack close out he does you know he’s he has that little Shuffle step Euro that he does but sometimes guys sit on it and it’s not like this crazy explosive move it’s like a nice little Shifty cut move that he has and it’s

Just sometimes he gets himself into more challenging situations than if he just like just shoot it dog just shoot it uh he is shooting like 25% from three in 2024 so I understand why he’s not you know you miss 75% of him you’re going to

Take less but they need him to get going so something you’d love to see toone Kamar get back on track jari Walker get back on track this is a this is a general you’d love to see it uh let’s go Chris Murray next Mur has

Started the last two games um I kind of like him in the starting lineup as a a theoretical idea I like the idea of starting ay Simons next to the Wings play him next to Big players don’t play him next to guards I don’t really have that many healthy guards right now but

Like play him next to the wings I I like the Chris and tumani and and Jeremy and DeAndre and like I like ant with size right like I think that’s an intriguing idea some of it is that they just the lack of shooting is a problem and the defense

Hasn’t been able to carry them right um for the lack of shooting and and and and and an has had um just really bad against the Hornets but Murray in that starting group in that starting last two games 0 for four from three in Back

Toback Games 0 for eight but 0 for four and 0 for four against Denver and Charlotte um yeah I some of them are wide open and I think that’s what concerns me with Murray is that um he was you know he’s he’s he played three years in college and he came into

The league at 23 supposed to be a little further along didn’t shoot great his final year in college like he shot Seven threes a game at under 34% but like he was in in theory he was going to be like capable of being an NBA shooter um and

He’s not like he’s like 19 or hasn’t played a ton of you know like he played three years of college basketball he play he was like the featured player on a on a good Iowa team his final year in college like he’s he’s he’s he’s he I

Expected him to be a little further along and the misses that he’s had on like truly unguarded like practice level 3es um they’re Troublesome in the grand scheme if if he figures it out I probably won’t remember a couple games in February of his rookie season when he shot bricks I mean I

Might because I’m a freak but like I won’t bring it up um but like he’s he just struggled little bit bit they needed him to make some shots not anything crazy they need him but like when you get unguarded threes to make like 45% of them right if you if

You’re taking like un like truly like daring him to shoot type threes you need to you need to make like 45% of them on on like practice level three-pointers in the league uh and I I don’t think I I’m not ask I I’m not like I think Chris

Murray does some good stuff on defense I think he has plays pretty heady basketball on offense like he kind of makes good decisions makes him a little slow and he’s not like he doesn’t always attack with Force when he does occasionally getting to his left hand

And attacks with Force it’s like oh he’s pretty athletic huh but like he doesn’t always play that way um but the shooting it’s just like make your open threes I I feel like you’d love to see that from Chris Murray matis thel has just basically forgotten how to shoot uh he’s

Under 30% since Christmas he’s over his last four games matis thel has three points he’s one of 17 from the floor and the one he made was a banked in three-pointer from the right wing he’s been he’s in a rut he’s in a real rut right now so what you’d love to see

So I’m it’s like I’m kind of like I’m beating you over the head with like the dudes on the this team stink which is like not I mean I guess it’s my intention to be honest or whatever but like these this quartet is struggling right and some of the Blazers what

They’re trying to figure out this season is like who amongst this this quartet is like part can be part of what’s next the part of the good Blazer team you know Tani and Jabari walk Are Young Chris Murray’s playing his first season mop was 2 about 26 but like excuse me about

Turn 27 I believe in early March but like you know he’s like kind of he he’s like the furthest along and sort of is what he is type of type of guy but like this stretch doesn’t Define them necessarily but it is like we’re getting into a point where it’s been enough

Games where it’s like hey these dudes are bad on offense what’s the deal not really Chris but the other three so what you’d love to see in against the Heat is just one of them break out of this Jabari have scoring double digits uh tumani kind of finded he play played

Fine against the t- Wolves shot like 10 of uh 10 of 12 or something in two games against T he’s fine and scoring double figures in both games um like but have him you know have another one of those games Chris Murray just make open threes and matis label just

Have a night where he makes a couple threes and so you can kind of just say that’s over with um and you know it won’t be but it will it’ll feel like a real exhale thing you’d love to see any one of this quartet hopefully two but

Any one of this quartet just kind of shake out of it and have a nice night that’s what you’d love to see um if the Blazers get thrashed they get thrashed heater on the second night of a back toback the Blazers have had a real run of playing teams at home on rest

Advantages hasn’t worked out very well for him and I don’t know if it will against the Heat because they’re playing pretty darn good basketball right now but what you would love to see as one of these four forwards just have a nice game just have a nice game so you could

You know listen to your one of your top 250 podcasters right here in the lock on podcast network uh say like hey doar had a nice game you can listen to me talk about someone who played well and you could talk about it with your friends too I

Think like we’re at that point in the season where you just want to one thing you can point out in the box score and say hey matis thy made some threes how about that Chris Murray knocked down the open ones how about that Jabari walk back in the the double double column 10

And 10 Off the Bench what a game for Jabari all of those things any one of those four you’d love to see it all right that is going to do it for today’s show uh again a reminder if you are have a friend who is like hey what happened

To the audio feed where’ Mike go uh hopefully this will be taken care of but if not um it’s on YouTube right now it’ll be waiting there for you at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning and hopefully the audio stuff takes care of itself and this will be uh we’ll remember this like

Like Chris Murray missing those three pointers in February it’s like remember that time Mike’s thought Mike’s podcast didn’t show up in late February of 2024 but it’s going to be back it’s going to be fixed no worries so do me a favor tell your friends about the podcast tell

Them that’s we do this five days a week wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you Soon

A little Deandre Ayton appreciation, injury non-updates and a round of You’d Love To See it featuring the Trail Blazers young wings.

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26 Comments

  1. I have frequently referred to Ayton as Frustrayton, but would be quick to change my tune if he proves he can play at a high level consistently

  2. Consider that Ayton is playing under an anemic CB scheme without transition, opponents are always set, no cutters, minimal lobs, low shooting percentage ball hogs and young team mates.

  3. Ayton is a rare 7 footer that has normal body, arm, legs proportionality. No hump back, nor sloping shoulders, no short upper body and extra long lower body, no tiny nor huge head, crazy large palm nor long arms which allow him to have a normal and more smooth shooting form and release. He just needs to be more assertive and aggressive especially on the defensive end. The low block shots for someone at that height, has such feathers like mobility and light on their feet is so underwhelming to say the least.

  4. Once Chauncey realizes that Ayton is the best player and not Simmons the team will get much better

  5. 17:17
    I just regained some respect for Billups (i still think he should be fired, but unlike Kliff Dinglebury and Todd McChockan with the Cardinals and Kings respectively, I'm not gonna just be all negativity all the time until my demands are met)

  6. Ayton could be a poor man's Jokic with Blazers running the offense through him. He's not the passer but a rare big man consistent from the elbow shooter. Yes, needs more quality lobs too.

    I don't know what Billups is doing. Should have been fired after the last game as a final nail in the coffin

  7. Bro Ayton could be one of the best centers in the league if he would put the work in and take this seriously. You can see it in him!

  8. He needs to either get to the free throw line more or shoot 3s .

    He definitely feels like a guy who would be great at 20 million, but he takes up a huge percentage of our cap for a guy who I worry about.

  9. Maybe Deandre was the kid in the commercial with Elvin Hayes back in the 70s or 80s:

    "Get that rhythm now. Get that rhythm now. Shoot the ball! That's my man"

  10. Maybe Kris Murray needs to change and shoot right-handed like his brother. LOL! If he can't shoot better fast, he'll be out of the league fast. First round pick or not. See Keon Johnson.

  11. If you guys get to keep Ayton, which you would have in a trade w Miami, would you rather have also have Jovic and Jaquez Jr ??? …

  12. It’s hard for me to see Matisse in the team’s future. Bad on defense, worse on offense, older + smaller + more expensive than the other wings… I’d rather give his minutes to the other 3 and Rupert to see what they have with the young guys. Love his thoughtful and introspective personality, but watching him play is absolutely brutal

  13. For me I am looking forward to seeing what Scoot can really do with somebody like Ayton. Would love to see some quick hitters to Ayton for Layuups and dunks. I think Portland just needs to get him to stop worrying about clogging up the lane…someting I am sure that Monty Willams and Chris Paul constantly bitched at him over.

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