The NBA Finals and Team Canada – Confederacy of Dunks
[Music] confac adults ton [Music] rap [Applause] baby what’s up everybody and welcome to the Confederacy of dunks basketball podcast I’m your host Freddy Rivas I’m here with my co-host and producer Andy Hull and special guests Orin Weiss fell from the Star and actually many other things but uh my brain’s just thinking the star right now so uh what’s up how you doing thanks for joining what’s up guys yeah thanks for having me always enjoy doing the Pod love love the intro music got me going right here so I’m ready ready sick and uh how you doing Andy ah doing great doing doing great we have an NBA Finals set we know what’s happening even though we’ve pretty much known this for maybe like half a like a little over half the week now we’ve known what the finals is gonna look like but here we are we got a lot of stuff uh a lot of stuff going on though in addition to that which is great yeah and and I just want to touch Bas quickly Andy I saw you tweet earlier uh that you’re absolutely rattled by connections New York Times so listen the New York Times connections today was as I said in the Tweet rotten okay uh I don’t like to spoil these things so if you if you do the connections and you haven’t done them and you’re listening on the exact day that we record this and you haven’t done it somehow skip ahead for 30 seconds here’s the thing about Connections you guys know how it works yes play the game yeah okay so a bunch of words you got to try there’s four groups of four you got to find what it is got it today today the thing was uh there were four of the words in the thing were uh Fuji okay Olympus uh C Canon and polaroid so cameras pretty easy okay camera companies Olympus is a camera company right Fuji blah and and a lot of times in the thing they’ll throw a couple of like Olympus and Fuji though are also mountains right so like they’ll throw a little like curveball at like Japan maybe there’s like Japan yeah there could be some stuff in there as well but absolutely if they give you four that fit like that’s supposed like they won’t give you four that fit it’ll always be three and you’re like where’s that fourth one that’s how they trick you right but sometimes they screw it up and they give you four or they’ll give you five that all fit in one thing and you’re like this is not fair this is wrong and and the camera thing was wrong it’s not right but they give you four camera companies like what are we supposed to do with that New York Times connections people there’s a girl on Tik Tok there’s a girl on Tik Tok who who go who like makes videos of like the worst ones for like the last week and I guarantee you this will be on it that’s why we to sports yes exactly let’s only do Sports from here on out yeah we got we got to stay in our in our lane here and sports connections would be a good game maybe we should work on that app together yeah who whoever did the purle thing yeah yeah most people get in there yeah um yeah connections I often lose Wordle nasty so no worries there um it’s a good starting word nasty nasty uh okay um Let’s uh yeah let’s just go to Orin first since you’re the guest here um I love I love story lines in the you know in the playoffs obviously in the finals so there’s there’s often like a big obvious storyline and then there’s these like kind of like beneath the surface story line so I thought it’d be a fun thought exercise to to try and figure out what like the a storyline is the B story line is H and the C story line is I I don’t know if it you know how far down the alphabet it’s going to go here but what’s your what’s your ABC story lines for Mavs versus Celtics let me start with my M story line whoa okay um okay for me personally I don’t know if this is going to be what’s like leading ESPN but I think for me the a storyline is Luca versus defense um in the sense that like you go back to the OKC Series and Dort I thought really gave him some problems and I thought that was probably the biggest reason that series was as close as it was and dord is just the type of Defender that I think we learned really bothers Luca it’s not necessarily length but it’s it’s strength and it’s also just like physicality and just hitting him again and again and again fighting over screens um I thought that got to Luca and the the Wolves weren’t able to replicate that with any of their guys but you look at the Celtics and they have drew holiday so Drew he looks like Dort in a lot of ways but I wouldn’t say he’s quite as big or strong and I’m just kind of curious can Drew and those guys give Luca the same sort of trouble that that Dort did or is it going to look kind of like this Wolves series where you know of course it’s not a one-on-one thing of course there’s schemes that come into play but if you don’t have a base defense if you don’t have one guy to give Luca some problems I just think there’s no coverage that is going to really bother him and so I’m I’m kind of curious especially if Drew holiday can kind of give Luca some problems or if it’s just going to look like this series where Luca scores uh 30 points in the first half of of the final game and and sends them home um yeah I think the you I didn’t have it necessarily like Luca versus defense but I kind of had it as like is this is this Luca’s arrival you know he hasn’t won an MVP but I think everyone feels like he will win an MVP at some point and for him to be in the finals so young if he wins then you know the I think the conversation’s already going to like the summer conversation is going to be how great is he how great is his career going to be and even if he loses I think in a lot of ways this finals is going to be about him even though I will say the Celtics are such you know Celtics media is such a thing that that whole Pacers series anytime the Pacers did anything it was just if you watch those like TNT broadcasts like Joel Lake up like everyone it was always somehow about the Celtics right and their performance but I feel like Luca is that level of star that can kind of he might dominate The Narrative regardless maybe not I don’t know uh I think for sure what will happen is if they win people will say is he the is he the greatest player in the world that’s what happens and I think he’ll have a legitimate argument for it yeah and I think if the Celtics win everyone will rightfully so recognize their depth and I don’t think people will be saying that you know is Tatum the best player in the world like I I don’t really think that yeah I think Tatum’s like a worthy top 10 guy but I feel like most people would agree that he’s not you know he’s he’s not in that MVP conversation nor should he be uh he’s know he’s kind of close but uh Andy is that your is Luca your a story line Luca was Luca was on my my list Luca ascends I said Luca ascends and it’s the B story line for me yeah yeah yeah to that like that’s my B that’s my B and here’s the thing I do think you guys have gone mad a little bit uh because this is the United States of America we’re talking about the a story line the a story line is all like you said it’s going to be all Celtics the Celtics can the Celtics break the curse can they not choke is jatum an M it’s going to be like 10 different Celtic storylines like that’s they love talking about the Boston Celtics and and oh know are they better than the kg2 all this it’s going to be endless and like put everything up there porzingis coming back you know what’s he going to do the depth you know all Derek White well is he the best uh guy we didn’t know who he was before this you know like it’s going to be that all finals and uh yeah it’s just going to be green and white in your face non-stop is he the best guy we didn’t know before this is he the best bald American yeah exactly whatever category you want to put him into that they’re GNA be like is he the best ever at this best forehead in the game yeah exactly I thought at first you were saying this is a America and and we don’t talk about slovenians we need an American superar well I mean honestly that’s probably part of it too uh yeah that’s how America rolles America yeah exactly three three Canadian basketball fans the the Republicans are going to be distraught if if ant and then Tatum gets lock knocked out by Luca they’re just gonna where’s the next American Superstar what has happened to our country yeah first Trump gets convicted on 36 counts or whatever and then it’s like and Tatum’s not winning meanwhile Kyrie is right there but um they don’t claim him anymore no they don’t and perhaps rightfully so uh but yeah that’s it for me it was Celtics number one it was it was Luca his like Luca’s greatness where he falls on the list because people again we all love to do that everything is either the greatest or the worst right so like we and and it feels honestly it feels to talk about both people love talking about both so that’s why it is that way so I think like if we’re going to look at who’s the the greatest spe that’s going to come out of this it’s going to be obviously all sener red LCA like you guys said yeah wait so that’s my amb a Celtics b l yeah so Orin what’s your what’s your B storyline yeah it was also about the Celtics I I think again I’m looking at it more so um from like a I guess like X’s and O’s perspective and I think the Celtics offense and um what typically happens to them at the end of games is just like horrible and they bog down and they go oneon-one and they slow everything down and and I think that’s led to a lot of their collapses so yeah it’ll be a question of if the Celtics offense can actually make sense or if it’s just going to turn into a one-on-one game uh at the end of games because I think if it does um they really have no chance against against Dallas in that situation but if they can continue to kind of play fast and and with purpose and and I hate when they just mismatch hunt and that’s all their offense does I like when they actually just keep moving the ball and and side to side and get in the paint and it feels a lot different than when it’s like okay I have a mismatch everybody clear out let me oneon-one so yeah I think uh Celtics offense and how it looks at the end of games would be a big one yep um this is a I thought about this as my C storyline but I feel like we all need drama and it’s going to get more attention than it should he’s been quiet for a long time sort of going under the uh radar as a like a disruptive force in the NBA but I do believe that starting from game one Celtics fans are going to be so furious with Kyrie Irving and I don’t think he’s going to be able to be chill about it and I’m not sure if he’s going to Sage the court or step on the logo or I don’t know what it is but something’s gonna happen he’s gonna do something is you know there maybe it’s a photo maybe it’s like he enters the building wearing his old Celtics Jersey or something like I don’t know something is going to happen and it’s either going to be legit or blown out of proportion but I really feel like there’s yeah that energy especially in the first quarter of the first game there’s going to be just thunderous booze for Kyrie and who knows maybe he’ll just be awesome and that’s like that sort of like drives that but I yeah Kyrie period is is my is my B storyline that that was my C I wrote Kyrie merging Spirits obviously reference to the saging but also how many crystals is he going to bring that’s a big I mean that’s a big question for me he’s gonna walk in bet 365 over under exact over cryst get the props every single every like game he’s going to have a different number of crystals that he’ll have to reveal to us um but that yeah that that’s that’s exactly it uh uh Freddy that could end up being that could end up being the main main storyline though like I could easily see Kyrie being that I mean just look I mean he does it all the time but like just that big of a I don’t want to say distraction because he’s front and center he is obviously one of the main guys we’re looking at for the series but like uh I don’t know storyline I suppose is just the right word he he could end up being this this big factor this big thing off the court with all of you know with the return to Boston and even though he’s already been back right obviously so like but like this this in under much pressure in this you know obviously in the finals here this is this is just absolutely huge I think he’s going to I think they’re going to boo him I think they’re going to hate his guts and he’s gonna love it I think he’s going to really I think he’s gonna absolutely respond just like just seeing him what he did to to to Ant-Man like in in Minnesota after like people keep calling in a call out like did Antman call him out or did he just say he’s going to be my defensive matchup which you know I mean like people keep saying like he called him out and like Kyrie to his credit like didn’t like say that it was bad or anything but he was like yeah you know like whatever I I respect him and all this so people really trying to blow that out proportion of it wait till you get to this stuff with Boston it’s going to get nuts I think it’s going to be really fun to see well could you imagine if they win the championship on Boston’s home court and he steps on the leprechaun like that’s best case scenario the the amount of uh again the Republicans would just be going crazy with that one yeah but then he like he pulls out like of his backpack like a vaccine that he never used and the Republicans are like oh [ __ ] wait wait is this our guy he sort of our guy a bit yeah yeah he’s back we’re so back we’re so done uh yeah and on the other side is kristof’s porzingis versus Dallas like less of a storyline but also a good one is is that your C story line well yeah that and the Kyrie one I think together just old teammates not foes whatever um okay this is my C story line but it actually feels like I I should have chosen something better because it’s yeah it’s way further down the alphabet like I actually am now wondering if anyone will talk about this but it’s uh Al Horford’s uh birthday what no this is a joke one joke one this is a joke one right not just his birthday okay so uh my birthday is next week his birthday is June 3D hey that’s my that’s Harry’s birthday hey that’s my kid birthday he’s 37 1986 same same ages me turning 38 and I think they this already happened it was like get a ring for Al with Boston and it didn’t happen then he got traded to the Thunder and um you know now has made his way back to the Celtics so I think it’s it’s going to be like uh we really do need to get a ring for Al Horford because he’s about to just he’s about to stop playing basketball and uh last time he was in the finals they even did a they even like did a a piece where they went to went to Dominican Republic where he was born and they you know filmed a bunch of people got a bunch of interviews and they were like what does this mean to you so I feel like those people might say should we go film that video again like should we just play it again we don’t need to go down there again right we can just show the same one like we can definitely play the same one and get away with it so that’s my C storyline but I’m just I think it’s way further down the line so let me just throw in a wild card um Mark Cuban does something just I don’t know what maybe he there recently though what’s that he’s been chill recently kind of out of the spotlight for a while actually yeah I think yeah he he’s got a lot of rightful what’s he cooking what’s he cooking what’s he cooking he’s been cooking up something he’s got something coming for the for the finals really held off it’s too late to run for president so that’s not happening um Shark Tank 2 I don’t know uh cool um let Shark Tank 2 an actual Shark Tank yeah an actual Shark Tank it’s just he opened an a small aquarium what’s that what were you saying you guys have predictions for the finals uh yeah I hate mine though okay it’s Boston isn’t it B five five no I’m GNA go Dallas in seven woo I want that I I kind of I AR I’m kind of with you I I at first I came into this thinking about it thinking like yeah I think it’s actually going to be Boston they just the depth and everything but I don’t know if that’s what it comes down to when you’re in the finals I think it’s kind of like best guys on best guys and you could still make that argument in Boston’s favor I think uh um uh again if you include some other players down the line but I think it’s going to be I think Luca and Kyrie are just going to come alive here and I think they’re I don’t know the the the does does Boston have it which is kind of like what my a story was like do they finally have it does this version of the team you know is this the best version they’ve been so far are they going to do it and then I don’t think I guess the answer is no for me so I’m gonna say D7 yeah I don’t trust them I have’t all season so I’m kind of just sticking to that and I also never trust when guys are coming back into the rotation after an injury in the playoffs especially this deep in the playoffs like the history of that happening isn’t good so christof’s coming back at this point it’s a little risky if Boston loses it’ll be weird because well actually you know for both these teams there isn’t really going to be a narrative of if they lose they should make some major changes because I think Dallas kind of clicked near the end of the season and has had obviously an amazing run and Boston has just sort of cruised through the season so maybe the narrative would be that Dallas was there for the taking and they really should have beat Dallas but if you’re Boston just so many things are headed in the right direction I you know I can’t I think it would just suck and there’s no real adjustments from from either team has there been a team with an easier row to the finals than the Celtics like this has got to be up there right at the very least oh for sure so like so fact that they would lose if if they lose in like real like if they absolutely choke and lose in like four or five games like does that make Boston go H if they got swept I think that would be that would that’s where yeah that’s where the conversation kind of would start but even I think even if they go if the series goes the distance six seven games you can’t be upset about that you can’t I mean you basically do run it back right like you were the best team in the regular season and you made it to the finals and because of one or two games you know what I mean like it’s really tough to be like oh we got to make some major changes like no you did really good it’s a that’s that’s the variance of sports so you know maybe a coaching change would just just that’s like obviously the typical answer when teams underperform but I I agree I don’t think there’s much either these teams could do Brad Stevens fires himself Brad Stevens goes downstairs gets back in the coaching chair I mean go downstairs the basement gets a few cokes from the basement fridge brings him up that’s what going downstairs means to me yeah yeah yeah I I thought you were I thought you were like doing a whole thing where he’s bringing him up then he starts to co just gets the cokes no just gets a couple Cokes brings him up to the team goes back upstairs good nice guy um okay let’s uh let’s move on to question two here um yeah I I wanted to talk about uh Team Canada rotation stuff but I know um you know you you you interview players and you know kind of like have yeah a decent amount of inside sources Orin so I feel like I wanted to throw some some team candidate questions at you uh if you know you know uh and if you don’t all good but um and you Andy feel free to jump in here but I’ll just come in with some wild speculation yeah yeah come in with some more coke stuff yeah and my a lot of my answers are going to involve bill wennington I think he’s coming okay cool yeah from the elbow let’s go um well here might here’s this is sort of like something I’ve always wondered and you know I feel like you might know so is there an instance of you know people talk about the Loyalty with Team Canada and being in the system and in the pipeline you know especially with this era with the with with uh you know Ron Barrett and everything is there an instance where a player has chosen to play with Team Canada when they’re in that weird contract space like when they’re in in the first contract and they really want to make that they really want to get that second contract and a bunch more money but they they still play anyhow and risk injury oh yeah many times like so I am writing a book on the subject I don’t know if you guys know that but I am writing a book about uh Canadian basketball and specifically centered around uh Team Canada and the men’s program so I hope I have some of the answers um okay good before this era of the NBA where now guys there’s so much money to be made teams are that much more careful there’s so many more agents involved there’s so many more people involved like before this era it was pretty common for guys to play on their rookie contract Corey Joseph and Tristan Thompson are guys who like Corey Joseph played every summer even when he didn’t have like a contract for the next year in certain cases and those guys are are both examples who played on their rookie contract before anything was guaranteed and that wasn’t even that long ago that was like 2015 2014 that era but the new generation we see Shay Jamal RJ Brooks these guys like yeah they’ve typically taken a safer route where the timing was right last summer but up until then like you’ll remember like the 2019 World Cup was when a bunch of those guys were expected to play but they were on their rookie deals and they kind of dropped out one by one because like any little injury or complication it was just like No And and it’s coming from all sort of directions whether it’s their NBA teams whether it’s their agents whether it’s you know themselves like guys are just so much more careful now because there’s that much more money on the table to make in the NBA but in the past like even like yeah definitely Steve Nash’s day um it was pretty common right yeah okay that that that’s some good context because I feel like I might be operating on on some recency bias you know I I it seems to me also like Wiggins in general like that that the his relationship with Team Canada it seems like more of like an outlier than than the main crew of guys now is that would you say it’s fascinating I think his relationship with Team Canon and how it’s portrayed within the media and the fan base like I actually don’t think it’s that big of an outlier but it’s spoken about as if it is and I think the reason for that is yeah the context is important like you have to remember Wiggins with he was coming up was seen as the savior of Canadian basketball right like when he was in high school I don’t know if you guys remember the days but like he was packing gyms everyone just wanted to see Andrew Wiggins because he was this athletic freak who was supposed to be the next best Prospect since KD whatever like LeBron whatever um he played though for Team Canada I would say very similar to a lot of these other guys when he could when he was comfortable with it and he did didn’t play when he had a contract or when he needed to have a big year in the NBA or when he had family issues um but he’s talked about in a different way and I think that just has to do with the expectations he was expected to save the program he was expected to play every year he is Canadian through and through and I think um yeah I think he’s just talked about in a wildly different way even though if you actually look at his track record compared to like Tristan Thompson for example I don’t know like yeah he he shows up some years than he does in other years right and I mean he also a lot of people forget that when we had that heartbreaking loss to was it Slovakia uh Czech Republic Czech Republic he killed it Wiggins was amazing in that game yeah it’s kind of funny like people will say like I see it on Twitter like no Wiggins can’t play he’s not loyal and then they’ll say like a guy like I don’t know even like um Dylan Brooks or Andrew nard should and I’m like Wiggins has played more than them for Canada for the senior team like Wiggins played in 2015 and then he played again 2021 which was the Czech Republic game so I don’t think Wiggins was perfect and I think yeah he has had a bit of a up and down relationship with Canada basketball but um it’s more so the expectations are the reason we talk about him like we do yeah no it’s it’s really fair I feel like the like you know when you’re drafted your hype and you know just sort of going back to the uh packing gyms thing I I remember you know a big part of that era honestly it was the last time that I W as as a raptor fan you know I’ve accepted where we’re at now but it was the last time I was Pro tanking as a strategy I was rigging for Wiggins until we didn’t and you know eventually won a championship but uh before that time I thought that that was the way that you grow a team and you just you need a guy like that and you know etc etc um you know the year they traded Rudy Gay it was yeah um I have a question uh or how important is it on a team like this one to have like like to like prioritize loyalty or or you know tenure on previous versions of the team than it is to have like someone who is like younger and maybe maybe actually better maybe not like depending on the players obviously but like how important is to have somebody who like like to have a Wiggins over some somebody newer like a nart or or even some of those other guys who like this guy’s been on the team for like 14 years and he deserves a spot it’s like isn’t someone going to be better than him that’s playing more minutes in the NBA though like I think it’s a really good question and it’s it’s tough to answer um Corey Joseph and TR and Thompson are probably the best examples of that if you want to reward loyalty those guys have played with the program since like 200 10 2011 and I I’d say they’re like bubble players where there might be a couple guys slightly better than them but yeah if you want to reward loyalty those would be the guys you go to but I think like ultimately you do have to take talent I think your your top 10 spots for sure should be the most talented guys but yeah like if you want the 11th and the 12th spots to be more so like leaders guys who have institutional knowledge guys who know how International tournaments work and what you can and can’t do on them and know FEA rules better than some of the other guys like Melvin eim is a good example of this who was on the team last year didn’t play a whole lot but is is kind of a leader of that program I think for those kind of final spots it does make a lot of sense to reward loyalty but yeah for the most part um it’s hard to turn down talent in a in a tournament like this and I think um that’s why you hear Andrew neh Hart’s name brought up a lot like he chose not to play last year that was a decision he made but at the same time he’s so good kind of at a position of need that you probably throw everything out the window and just say like we want to get the most talented guys so what I’m sorry sorry uh like like who on like I know the the USA is obviously like they’re kind of the the one everyone knows about and looks to and obviously their team is absolutely stacked and is every single year but like who is it on that team uh that’s like we know the FBA tournament or like or does it just not even matter just because they’re that good on USA yeah well obviously LeBron’s played for a long time but do you think is is LeBron really out there being like here’s how the Fe here’s how feeo works or is he just like let’s just go Crush these guys well I guess the answer is like we’re going to see like when you talk to like the Canadian program they always say like we’re not building an All-Star team we want to build a team that makes sense like the USA has completely gone in the other direction and like this is an All-Star team and the talent is probably so good that they could win gold anyways this year but I don’t think the model USA Basketball is going with is at all sustainable especially when you look at like the next generation of American Superstars they’re just not as good I think they’re going to have to develop more continuity and experience with the FBA game but this year I think is kind of their last run just going with talent and yeah they have so much talent that man it might not matter but it also might like these are win or go home games you just need to have one bad game and you’re out of the tournament and when you’re playing teams like Canada when you’re playing teams like Serbia Germany like those teams can give USA a run for the money I think yeah and you know I think that that you know as we saw last summer just knowing your role and and being in sync and chemistry are such huge huge things which is why you know based on what you’re saying I’m hearing first two guys on this team got to be the Dorne Camp Brothers probably shout out to those dudes uh but um yeah okay let’s let’s talk a little bit about kind of like ideal rotations but my my last kind of question you know before we get into that is what Canadians that people are wondering about like who’s a who’s a for sure out you know people always throw names like why why isn’t you know like what’s going on with bue like I know it’s like he’s Haitian and and Canadian but also he’s publicly said that he would play for Team Canada uh is he like totally not in the running to just even like get an invite to Camp um but maybe Talent you know um there’s obviously Leonard who’s is a rookie but you know won’t make the team but like you know I’m sure that like they have him around yeah so what they did last year was they inv any of those young guys who wanted to come to camp and watch to watch and Leonard Miller was the only one who took that opportunity and and sat there and watched wow I think they’ll do something similar this year I think there’ll be a lot more guys who take up the opportunity and watch because um now that they’re in the Olympics everybody wants to play Yeah you mentioned Chris bu I just talked to you know his people and and they are pushing for it they want to play but at the same time he hasn’t played in so long that you know it’s I’d be surprised if all of a sudden he makes the team so there’s a lot of that like in terms of who’s for sure not going to be there I don’t know the players don’t know like I was saying um the list hasn’t even gone out yet players are still waiting to hear if they’re going to be invited to camp but yeah like if I were a fan of this team I would not expect to see a bunch of uh young guys there maybe with the exception of Andrew nard and he’s exception because he’s played with Team Canada his whole life he’s played with RJ Barrett his whole life his family is is very interconnected there and and he knows Rowan Barrett very well and and he had a breakout playoff so it’s not like he’s a nobody but if you’re talking about guys like you know shanon sharp or Benedict Maan or these other young guys like I’d expect them to be a part of the 2028 core but yeah maybe they’ll be at Camp maybe they’ll be there for the first couple days just to see what it’s like and and maybe they’ll even get to participate a bit but I’d be shocked if any of those guys are in Paris just because you’re not it goes back to what we say about like the balance of rewarding loyalty and experience and talent and if Shaden sharp is a smidge better than nikil Alexander Walker which I don’t think he is but let’s just say nil’s still going to make that team because he’s been part of it for the last three years right and what what about you know I think a lot of people are wondering about Zach Edy yeah it’s a good one so like Zach is going through the draft right now and typically guys who get drafted don’t play that same season what we just went talked about like their teams want them in summer league uh they he wouldn’t be able to play Summer League if he goes uh to Paris because that’s when their exhibition games are so typically it doesn’t happen and I think maybe Zach’s a bit of a of a maybe he could push for it because he is going to be a first round pick and he will have a bit more security I also just think based on Talent though and the combination of the NBA stuff I would be surprised if he make the team person um more just because like we saw what happened last year like he wasn’t ready for that tournament I don’t think and I think if you are choosing between a guy like him or a guy like Tristan Thompson or Trey or Chris bu I think you probably go with one of those more experienced guys yeah very fair you know it’s such a Speed game too and I think one of the concerns with Ed is his his speed although I mean seven is it 74 75 how tall is he yeah he’s 74 yeah that that is yeah he just huge you know last tournament at the World Cup I just didn’t think he was kind of ready for that level of you know a high and the Olympics are going to be even higher level and even though he’s improved like so has the teams around them so yeah yeah uh okay yeah let’s let’s uh let’s talk rotation a little bit um what what makes sense here should we see if we can kind of like agree on like a starting five and then go from there because I there’s there’s a place where I’m getting really stuck and how how about I’ll I’ll sort of kind of um I’ll blaz through it and then you you guys you guys correct me yeah yeah yeah so here we go [Music] um uh you know one and two is Shay and Murray um three is RJ four is Brooks five is oin no who so who who’s who’s the starting five then or or I think Dwight pal is the starting five Dwight pal yeah like my opinion is what you just said but Dwight Powell starts just cuz like you’re you you need a little more size if you’re going to be that small in like the wing position Kelly is a great player but he struggles like against bigger fives and and I I think he would be more better off the bench in that role and I just think Dwight Powell is like massive underrated by Canadians like he’s been our best center like Center defensively especially for many years now and like people are always like is Dwight poell gonna be on the team I’m like yeah he’s gonna probably start um I think he’s pretty important like rebounding defense all that stuff um okay that’s that’s I think I think that’s like fair but I feel like what I was unsure of is if we’re going to go small and I I think that we kind of have to for Speed and defense right yeah because I think those four guys you mentioned have to be in the starting lineup yeah um okay and then you know it’s some amount of like let’s say like you know I don’t know oh then o linck Off the Bench nart Off the Bench um Dort Off the Bench and then we’re already at eight yeah uh and then that’s is that basically the rotation because then yeah I would throw like one more big in there because again I think Kelly you don’t always want him playing the five you want him playing the four so if there was if there’s one other big who can like Tristan Thompson I think would be a great guy yeah you can have coming off your bench yeah oh you know who I didn’t ask you about but uh I’m curious about what’s going on with H Clark from Memphis Yeah so he won’t be there like I’ve talked to him about it he said maybe next cycle he would play but uh yeah it was one of those things where like when they made the three-year commitment he just didn’t have like a long-term contract in place now he does but um he’s also coming off injury I would be shocked if he played fair enough um there you go Andy any Trey ly is a wild card though he he I could see him being a camp he knows Jordy well plays for Sacramento uh played in 2021 he’s a maybe Jord jordy’s uh for sure right he’s not gonna pull a Nick nurse on us that’s right Jordy has it like baked into his Brooklyn contract that he uh that he can can coach this summer for Canada okay thank you um we love Jordy [ __ ] the Nets as well um okay let’s uh let’s let’s finish this with a with a Raptor’s question um oh okay I have a quick question before we get off of Team Canada yeah yeah uh okay I didn’t know this before uh like last year I’d say uh but there is three onree Olympic basketball this year yeah uh and let’s like I mean I know it’s like the it’s not the realm of NBA players um but like is there anything going on with NBA 3 on3 basketball how is Team Canada are we good I saw that um oh man I just looked at this what’s the guy in the states that’s playing uh Magic for in college no NBA anything oh for Jimmer Jimmer I saw that J there Jimmer’s playing on the three the three on three over for the states um uh but yeah like like I don’t know this this looks kind of this to me this seems like a really fun thing to watch like I love watching weird Olympic sports and this one is like three on three tournament I’m in it is so like Canada’s men’s team is not good they did not qualify the women did they’re the best team in the world and they have a chance of medling so the women though they had to go through a qualific in process to to get there and and it’s to your point about it being an amazing sport they lost the semifinal game on like a rebound throw it behind my back prayer that went in at the buzzer no yeah but then they won the bronze medal game so they’re they’re going to the Olympics but it was wild um so yeah that the women’s team is is a real medal Contender I’m excited I will be watching that definitely I’ll that’s in my schedule for the Olympics for sure um I mean hey all I’m saying is any NBA players out there listening if you’re like hey let’s get on Team Canada and you’re like oh it’s not really working out for me take a look at this three on three thing because it seems like you guys can get in there pretty easily you know what I mean yourself a metal Sam Samuel dber still hope for you hey let’s go big SD uh uh but like I don’t know it seems like the general feel of this is like like guys who play these tournaments all the time like they got a team mentality they know what’s going on you know um but like who’s to say if any three random NBA players coming together wouldn’t do better than everyone in the tournament that’s all I’m saying yeah I’m not saying it’s guaranteed I’m just saying try it out it would be exciting it’s a good point I don’t know what the rules around it are because like the qualifying windows are during the NBA so I don’t I don’t think they could qualify but I think I did see maybe if you can just qualify and then completely change out your team that then that would be that would be hilarious if it was just like B Ma and shade and sharp like that’ be great three on three yeah uh I mean major burn on the guys who do the qualifying yeah like major major burn tough tough for you guys but hey you know you get in that system and maybe that’s maybe that’s the thing there yeah and you could still watch from home like yeah you can watch we’ll give you tickets okay yeah let’s uh uh let’s finish with this last question here um and you know we’ll be talking about stuff like this all summer but just uh I was looking at some of the some of the stats from from the last Raptor season which is wild when you look on basketball reference because there’s like a hundred players that play played for the Raptors last year but um you know from from who we know that’s coming back uh Orin I’ll go to you first who who do we think is g to have the biggest biggest statistical jump from last season yeah I was thinking about this earlier I think um I think the answer has got to be Grady dick the dick Andor yeah um dick Andor wow seven points seven points and 1.8 assists a game I think it’s pretty easy to see those both those numbers go up because like the points I just think he’ll play more and and as he got at the second half of the Season his his shots started to go in and the assists I just think once defenses start to get a little bit more scared of him and run him off the line his assist number should just you know it should open up a lot of stuff for for him getting off the ball and and especially passing to Big so yeah I think Grady dick is probably like the biggest guy even like depending on what kind of moves they make uh at the deadline sorry that was that’s eight points and 1.1 assists yeah I was looking at Javon Freeman but um he could start too like if they don’t make any big moves and they bring gr Grady back and Gary Trent Jr back I could even see Grady like earning that starting spot um pretty quickly so I think uh Grady would be my pick yeah I think Grady definitely is like the opportunity candidate here uh Andy who’s do you have like a a non-g Grady selection I’m going way off the the beaten path there at jonte Porter he’s coming back somehow I knew you were going to say that for some uh the we’ll never stop making jokes about him uh okay um yeah I also noticed yeah Grady is obviously a great great potential for this especially with just expectation wise what we’re looking for to get out of him um you mentioned Gary I think he could see a bump from Gary if we have if something happens with him I don’t know this is tough why not Scotty though yeah right Scotty finishes the year at 20 uh points per game average I mean we could see a he could definitely Elevate that in a big way and just just in general like I mean obviously he’s just a great well-rounded player so to see any specific stat like bump up I could easily see that tough for him to to get more Blocks he’s I love Scotty’s blocks uh averaging one and a half a game was pretty sweet but um yeah I don’t know I could see I could see just Scotty just taking the next step basically and and therefore that be that sort of ends up being the biggest statistical jump so I’m gonna say Scotty yep Grady Scotty um uh a guy I have sort of in there just as like a kind of I don’t I don’t really see it to be honest but you know there is some opportunity there I feel like IQ is you know you know is gonna have in his head that he is you know the the number two guy and he’s gonna there’s gonna be a lot of possessions where he is stuck with the ball and I feel like he you know he took 14.7 uh field goal attempts a game last year that could be like 19 or 20 shots a game so I could see him really taking a big like Point jump maybe not really I don’t see a huge assist jump but you know maybe a big Point jump and a big efficiency drop uh hope not I sorry I also hope not a big efficiency but I mean his efficiency is insane so I feel like if he is taking 20 shots a game there’s going to be yeah oh he froze but um yeah I was looking it quickly too and I don’t know like he was in a contract year and so many guys were getting injured that he had a lot of responsibility and I actually think if this year is a little bit healthier and and a little bit more equal opportunity offense I I don’t think his um his numbers are going to go up I was thinking um Oak baji is kind of a wild card for me I think he figured some stuff out towards the end of the year so maybe if he really cements himself in the rotation I could see him being a real contributor this season yeah I feel like there’s going to be a modest bump for o like uh Freddy you’re back love it um uh but yeah I was thinking I was looking same thing it’s like oh there’s some room there for sure depending on you know the role on the team and if it expands or whatever um yeah I guess it it’ll also depend on who they draft what kind of Trades they make because like the team will probably look quite different yeah for sure yeah uh we we we’ll uh we’ll wrap this up but uh my last sort of just joke stat bump here is uh Darko is gonna have a big statistical jump in the winds Department in the winds Department in the pizzas ordered Department in the pizz order Department we hope eh I hope so yeah in the uh espresso’s drunken Department espresso Mar season for dark Martini baby love it celebratory Martini’s all around let me just throw to you before we leave Orin um do you have like a working title for the book like you know is there is there anywhere I don’t want to put too much pressure on you but like listen how do people support this process and you know get behind your work thanks yeah the working title is uh the golden Generation Um and how did how did Canada become a basketball Powerhouse that sort of thing and no official way to order it yet it’ll come out at some point in 2025 but um follow me on Twitter at Oren weisfeld if you want to keep up to tabs on on all book related stuff I I’ll be posting there um you mentioned the Dorne Camp Brothers actually had a great conversation with Aaron Dorn Camp uh a couple days ago um amazing it was great because yeah I don’t know if you remember 2015 versus Venezuela he was called for a really controversial foul at the buzzer that was the last time yeah that was that was like uh the the last time everyone thought Canada was going to the Olympics um you can read you can buy the book if you want to learn about that but Aaron is like still feels bad about that foul and it was it was crazy to talk to him all these years later and just kind of like the emotions of like you know that he still feels about that yeah you know a lot a lot of people have taken hits for this team to get to the Olympics so I think that’s the cool part about the story and yeah you can follow me on Twitter for bookup stes amazing well yeah it’s a huge time for Canada and I uh I couldn’t think of someone better to be be collecting these stories and writing this book and congratulations and apprciate I’m pumped and thanks for doing the podcast thanks for having me guys it’s fun as always yeah man um support Raptor Republic subscribe all that good stuff go to Andy’s quiz shows on Wednesday uh uh La fourth Wednesday of every month let’s go Smith house let’s do it and uh that’s it that’s it thanks everybody
This week we welcome back Team Canada Basketball expert Oren Weisfeld and talk about the upcoming NBA finals matchup as well as the upcoming Summer Olympics!
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