The Good, the Bad and the Injury | Trail Daddy: A Trail Blazers Podcast Hosted by Dave Deckard
hey sports fans if you want to stay in the know with the latest news surrounding the Oregon Ducks you need to listen to the weekly webfoot review podcast on iTunes and Spotify I’m Jordan Schultz and every week I’ll be here breaking down what’s going on in Eugene and how it affects Oregon’s football and basketball teams so if you want unfiltered news and opinions delivered by a lifelong Ducks fan subscribe to the weekly webfoot review on iTunes and Spotify go Ducks hey what’s up Blazer fans welcome to the Blazers Edge podcast I am terab and bigs joined as always by Blazers Outsider Danny merang oh hello this is a this is the two in one edition of the Blazers two in one what do you mean by that the Blazers are two in oh the Blazers are two in one I thought you meant like two in one like you’re GNA get two plays in you know in one shot clock or something like that and one get it the Blazers are two in one and we off rousing and we are going to tackle this podcast with the same effort and energy we want to see every night from Hassan Whiteside can we do that Dan there we go I like that all right okay I I I like it even better if it’s like an all four quarter Kent basore podcast well we’re gonna we’re gonna T tackle this one at a time peie by piece so we have real basketball to talk about we have actual uh season games to talk about three games have Tak place so far the uh the Denver Nuggets came in it was a tough team to my eye it looked like a team that was used to Playing Together playing against a team that wasn’t used to Playing Together uh Blazers dropped that one uh 108 to 100 then they bounce back against Sacramento and then just tonight they squeaked out a win in Dallas so with three games under their belts what are some of your observations about what you’ve already seen uh I I want to be nice about this but I’m like I can the three-point defense is awful like not like H well they’ll figure it out and hopefully they’ll get it I haven’t seen much change through three games um so what exactly is happening that you see they’re getting beat in transition a lot uh they’re losing guys in transition they’re not picking up the guys that matter the most um against the Mavericks tonight for for example like losing Seth Curry like let’s say it’s a three on four and Mavs have numbers there’s certain guys that you can you can give a little more room to the 45% three-point shooter is not one of those guys and it’s it’s a mixture of certain things obviously scouting reports play into it but I don’t think that’s necessarily it I think it’s more of guys just not knowing who’s going to be where who’s picking up what how much you can trust somebody and throughout these these couple of games I’ve seen uh a lot of when a guy blows an assignment not a not a kind look to a teammate it’s it’s it’s not the my bad we got mixed up we got crosswires we’ll pick that up next time it’s more of a man what the hell are you doing like Palms up in the air like you’re supposed to be out there and to his credit Zach Collins when those situations have have appeared has looked around and been like you know if he finds somebody open nobody’s closing out he’s like screw it I’ll be the one like and he runs the clothes out on W and that kind of effort is is wonderful to see from him because he’s kind of like he’s kind of the defensive Lynch pin now right and after tonight’s game we’ll have to we’ll discuss that in a few about what’s going on um what’s going on with Zach and also in general I would like to talk about some of the individual performances but as a team so you say that what you’re seeing is uh I believe you had talked about earlier if not tonight you talked about uh missed you know just missed assignments um you know uh uh miscommunications on screens uh like like who’s like when you’re supposed to fight over when you’re supposed to fight through um switching when the other gu thinking you’re switching um I think a big part of it is is um whes side is reluctant to step outside the paint and and again I don’t have any insight into what coach do is telling the team to do specifically so it’s hard to pick those things apart who’s supposed to be exactly where um but I don’t think that they necessarily want him dropping to inside the paint when the pick and roll action is significantly above the three-point L like that’s going to leave a lot of space so um feeling it figuring out how and where those those things need to change is a little bit difficult but the end result is there’s been a lot of open threes I mean the Mavericks tonight took 50 Threes And if they had hit a lot of open looks and the same was true of the kings in the first half of that game those games could be wildly different but let’s not forget the first part of that that Kings game the Kings looked like they they may have done some things and if they were able to hit those open transition threes could have been an entirely different result yeah I want to talk about the first part of that Sacramento game but not yet because I want to talk about the uh three-point defense yeah it’s pretty obvious that some things need to happen I don’t know how much of it will be just them getting used to each other and being more effective and faster in their Communications uh building that trust that you’re saying like you know like everybody knew where Chief and aminu were going to be because they played together for so long it takes a while to build all of that up um I went to go see like just how bad the Blazers three-point defense was because when you know watching the last few games it feels like they’re like the absolute worst good news not the absolute worst they are uh 23rd in how many um what they are the percentage points they are allowing from three for their opponents so you know opponent three point percentage is 38.7% that’s number that’s 23r big number though Shar yeah 30 that’s 39% you want to know who’s the worst y yeah no it’s wonderful and they are getting Tor Golden State Warriors are allowing 51 .6% on threes should we just end the podcast there because that I just I feel like that’s I dro the mic walk away moment yeah no 51 for a team that has in your words torch absolutely torched the league from three for them to be getting let allowing 51 6% 51.6% is just I don’t know what it is but it’s a thing I’m going to just sit here and grin about out and it’s only been three games so limited size Pace but to your point earlier they’re also allowing a lot so they’re 26th in the lead and in just three points attempts allowed 39.7 so the Blazers are allowing 43s a game they’re allowing 39% converion not sustainable like that’s not they’re returning to the finals yeah no like that that that’s a thing that I mean those numbers need to each come down by 5% so what do you see what can they build on that you’ve seen I wish I could say um getting back in transition is a big part of that um and that’s kind of a strange thing because the Blazers as we’ll talk about here in a little bit have been a very poor offensive rebounding team um that and that’s kind of you know you heard shots kind of coming this season and talking about whti side and playing Collins and wh side together being bigger and that being and they they haven’t been able to really get on the glass so if they’re not getting on the glass and they’re not getting in transition that’s like that’s like a double whammy um the other part of it is they just got to build that chemistry and obviously the Collins injury is going to force guys to be in different positions and be in different places um that they wouldn’t be otherwise uh and me the thing is like if you’re counting on pow to kind of correct that that’s kind of problematic right um yeah it’s it’s going to be tough for this team and we talked about this coming in the season like the whole the whole bonding thing and growing together the the the big part of that is understand not only understanding where guys are going to be but trusting that guys are going to be where you understand that they’re going to be right and I haven’t seen a a long stretch of that yet and building towards that is it it may take a while the the best thing that I have seen that the Blazers can build on is I guess more of a soft skill or more of the intangibles energy energy and just the willing to gut it out like that for we talked we brought up that Sacramento game a minute ago that first half of that Sacramento game I didn’t even know what I was watching I didn’t it like it didn’t it wasn’t the same players I was used to I wasn’t seeing any plays that I recognized the spacing on the floor was completely different I mean they were doing the same dribble handoffs that they always do except for out of those dribble handoffs they were getting nothing like getting no they weren’t even getting an extra inch and it was I was just like where’s all this space coming you know that all these shooters were going to make all this space and it just felt so crowded in there in that first half but to their credit they stuck it out and they tried some different things they were open-minded about who was going to be on the court together and they they worked it out well enough to uh you know come back get in control of that game and they had that game well under control then again against Dallas they stuck it out they were down 19 points and they you know could have been like you know it’s early in the season we’ll you know we’ll figure it out D you know then Z Zach goes out gets injured they could have given up and they didn’t so for a team that like is going to need So Much Chemistry building you know the fact that they were able to gut it out I think is an intangible that we can hang on to even if it’s you know intangible no no I think it’s it’s a good point we talked about continuity a lot and the continuity of obviously stots Lillard Mom right like that’s that’s the foundation that’s the building block and what happened tonight who carried this team tonight Dame had two points in the first half has 26 in the second CJ had a a rough like first five six minutes and then they just kind of got going but their they had energy guys like you were saying earlier yes they had aonia uh they had basemore Hood like they the hood sustained him in the early going and then had a couple of other you know contributory plays that were just that’s what they needed basemore taking the charge you had these plays that just kind of popped up and just enough like they had the big run to to get the third quarter after that it was just kind of just good basketball they were just not really trading baskets but 5 40 60 you know little tiny spurt runs that kind of got them in and they never let the Mavericks really put it together every time Luca or KP hit a shot down the closing stretch Damon Whiteside came down and hit the pick and roll and got it right back for him they just traded and traded and traded and traded and their offense and the literal MVP level production that they’re getting from their leader has been enough to sustain them against the kings of the Mavericks now against the Nuggets it’s not there because they have the continuity they had the star power they they were able to expose Whiteside in a position with jic because he can make him come out right and and the Blazers don’t have necessarily all their counters in play because they’re still working through those things but it’s like it’s the old Avengers line you know you know we have a Hulk well we have a Damen lill and and he can cover up like he is the one of the more like ultimate popar in the NBA like he can cover up a lot of stin and that’s that’s just something you just can’t so are you worried about it all I mean again early in the season but are you worried at all about like especially in that Dallas game you know it’s such a you know we we’ve talked about you know the Blazers low assist numbers and how CJ is an isolation player he’s an excellent isolation player Damian Lillard isolation player excellent isolation player you know and we’re right back to where the Blazers have always been with you know a low assist rate and well the thing I always say is we don’t want them to get assist just for the sake of getting assists but if they have to carry the team how long is is that going to be sustainable but what I’ve seen in these few first three games are flashes of other guys like you were saying Rodney Hood was able to carry the team during that first half while everybody else was struggling do you see the potential of of a greater potential than you’ve seen in the past of having other players who can carry them when uh Dame or CJ need a a break or are not able to do their regular thing yes and and we talked about this when it came to hood that was that last week or the week before where I said the Baseline for production before important has been low well Hood’s going to exceed that regular I just take it personally every time he does something good I’m just so happy for him I just like my heart grows just a little bit every time he like just has one of those suky silky smooth just goes in perfectly perfectly especially because he like jumps and turns at the same time and it just looks so good I’m sorry I just I love it when that happens no and and that’s the thing like it’s fun to get excited about production outside of Dame CJ and and Nerf you know like like that was 75% of the Blazers offense 80% of the Blazers offense and if one of them had a had a sideways night somebody else had to have a heroic effort well now you’ve got that true third option when we were talking about the pecking order a couple weeks ago I said obviously it’s Damon CJ and then it’s likely Rodney like wh side’s going to get his touches within the offense but Rodney was the guy that I pinpointed I said it it shouldn’t be out of the question the expectation should be that Rodney average is 12 and five you know what he’s at right now something close to that 14 and five like that’s what he should be doing he’s perfectly capable of giving that kind of production night in night out will he have a low uh a low Point night every now and then where he has 78 n sure but the the likelihood is that somebody else is picking that up MH and it it’s not like Rodney’s in a place where he’s trying to endear himself to the team he knows that his role when he’s out there and he gets the ball in his hands is to shoot he’s not walking on X shells and have you seen Rodney hesitated all in the first three gam no no and that’s he’s free and they’re spinning too I just love it yeah and having a guy who can get his own shot we saw it tonight you saw him get down in in the mid block against the the Mavericks and it was like oh that’s two points mhm like he’s got the mismatch like you just you just know that and outside of Damon CJ in the past when somebody gets there in a midl la situation like you know you’re get a little worried and with Rodney you’re like oh this is a good this a good possession like let’s make let’s make this happen I think and that’s that’s nice to count on Brodney hitting that shot in that four overtime game I think just like cemented him in Dame and CJ’s mind as some that you can count on for a bucket too you know what I mean I mean that was such a crucial bucket that like that’s going to go down in history is one of the best I think but so we’re talking about uh individual players I want to talk about the uh the first few games of Hassan Whiteside um I wrote about him today in the in my mom’s favorite not because I think he was perfect at all but because I think that in the first few games at least um I had written when I wrote about it he played the two games I thought he showed that he had the capability to do all the things that the Blazers needed him to do and uh I was worried that you know be because of all the chatter in the background you know and I you know from Miami or whatever I was worried that maybe he wasn’t even going to be capable of those things that we need we need him to guard the paint we need him to get rebounds and he did those things um what are your impressions of Whiteside so far and and his ability to just and I’m not saying that like you know he’s going to be this we know he’s not going to be the center of the Blazers future that’s not what the plan is but as in so far as his role right now is to hold down the fort how do you think that’s going to go so there’s a couple points of this the the big one obviously is the rebounding like the dude is going to of rebound like there’s no tomorrow and I think one of the undersold points of losing Chief and Harless those were guys that they rebounded very well for the position uh and they could come in and fill those spots pretty regularly uh whti side right now is a rebounding rate of 27% more than a quarter of the rebounds yeah he is gobbling up everything his defensive rebound rate is 37% that is otherworldly he is grabbing everything and he’s finishing around the rim he’s he had the little uh pass over the top cutting cutting Lillard uh against the kings that was probably the best pass from him I’ve ever seen that’s not hyperboy it was a pinpoint Precision pass to a cutter in the right place at the right time in the right spot like it was very very very good um he’s done a good job protecting the paint he’s he’s a he’s a little jumpy on we saw Luca get in tonight with a pump fake kind of Step through I mean it’s Luca he’s gon to make plays uh he’s he’s gone to chase a few blocks uh nothing nothing crazy I think he’s played within himself for the most part but again you’re seeing Denver with joic and Dallas with KP um bigs that can pull him out stretch the floor he does not want to and again Yousef durish doesn’t want to do that either but because he doesn’t have that familiarity with the guards or with the wings of what they’ll do what to anticipate what to expect he’s pretty pretty darn deep and he’s kind of is that why teams are getting so many threep points is that because because he’s just not going to leave the basket so they’re like oh we have all this extra room here out here yeah you you saw for an extended stretch where they were running that pick and roll uh right above the break Dead Set Luca and and clar uh for the mths tonight um where they got whight come up a little bit and they would penetrate to maybe the free throw line and then the the popper would would come out and even if they went to clar on a short roll it would kick right back out to Luca and thank God Luca and KP weren’t hitting from three tonight neither one of those guys were that was the only place they weren’t affected that could have instantly turned the tide so that’s one of those things obviously we talked about with the three-point defense they’re gonna need to figure out they’re gonna need to clean up somehow um but at The Rim he’s been pretty damn good uh that in between spot though obviously there was that clip that floated out there of him against jic where he just kind of stood there and looked at him me just shot over him in the mid post I thought it was so unfortunate that that’s what you know the national NBA audience took from reputation took from his performance because I thought it was so much more than that and and and also one of the things I I went and looked at was um how how much he was playing because really and it’s not an excuse it’s just an observation he looked super tired you know well he’s not in game shape he didn’t really get the planon he’s got the bomb anle and he’s a huge human being and he had played some pretty long shifts and if you’ll remember like those first two shifts he was chasing uh jokic and playing him one on one like very intensely and I thought a lot of it was he got tired and I could tell that got tired because he stopped putting his arms up cuz for a lot of the time he put his arms up but by the time that you know it was over like his arms were down and I was like oh he’s tired I’ve seen that before no yeah no and that one play doesn’t personify but because of the reputation that precedes him whether fairly or not um those things are going to be highlighted they’re going to be exacerbated and because the Blazers count so much on that one big being so valuable at that position position defensively when he’s not where he needs to be or if he’s not contesting a shot or if there is a stretch big that’s really forcing him to be pulled out it’s going to show and it’s going to show drastically and this isn’t like necessarily you know a a sin that’s just you know for him we’ve seen Terry STS pull you nuring games where guys are pulling him out regularly because guys that are that big it’s very difficult I need to underscore this enough it’s very difficult for a true 7 foot nearly 300 lb human being like Yousef nkit or H Whiteside to get out there and contest the Unicorn Chris poring he’s 7 foot three he can pump it and put the ball down and go by you or we saw him do it to Zack Collins tonight he went to the right to left SEI steep Back Fade Away three like that’s a hell of a cover for a guy that’s that big I mean legitimately porzingis is giving probably close to 100 pounds to to whs side n it’s like it it’s that different it’s going to be uh real interesting considering um the some of the centers who are coming up next week but let’s turn to another big man and uh his performance and also the uh the injury that Zach Collins has suffered so your thoughts on Zach I thought Zach was L looked great at the beginning of the season I thought he um you know we’ve talked pretty extensively about his is shot looking smooth and easy and you know not hesitating I think he’s moving around great I thought with the first few game the first two games against Denver and Sacramento uh I was I was on the one hand I was impressed by the fact that people weren’t crashing into each other under the basket but then tonight people started doing that a little bit more and I started to realize that uh when guys are crashing into each other into the basket it’s cuz they’re hungry and they really want it and so I was kind of like maybe like it’s not that we don’t want to see any it’s just we don’t want to see them like knocking each other out um so how do you think uh in particular Whiteside and Collins have looked together and uh what do you think uh the options are now that we know or assume that with his uh separated shoulder Collins is going to miss at least a little bit of time yeah so a couple things Zach’s defense up until his injury has has been as advertised defensively he’s been great against Denver he was a oneman wrecking crew uh taking charges blocking shots altering shots rotating getting out to guys he was the one pointing and yelling and clapping and just being an absolute nightmarish pest I loved every bit of it Sacramento a lot of the same although not to the same level because the the Personnel that they use obviously he’s he’s spending more time on the Trevor Reas and Harrison Barnes of the world but he acquitted himself this well um what’s what’s been strange offensively is his shot has looked good inside that mid-range his three has been make or Miss by a mile it’s been B been really weird it’s a real nice splashes too you’re right yeah tonight he had a he had one that missed by like three feet and then the next one he takes probably 2 3 minutes later and cans it and the thing was the one that he missed wildly in the past you can usually see it I’m sitting there with with Joe in the control room tonight he caught the shot the kick out on the wing and I looked at Joe and I go that’s a good-looking shot he’s got his feet right everything looks good and he missed it horribly and we just kind of looked at each other like that’s a little weird like normally you you you can you know when Zach lets it go it’s like that’s either a make or a miss so it kind of had me scratching my that one tonight was so off that I was we had a women’s hoops and talks meet up tonight and the person that I was sitting next to Lisa was like she thought that maybe somebody may have tipped it just because it was it was so off and and that’s that’s kind of weird for him to have like a good base and the follow through everything to look good and for him to miss likee I can’t recall a time so that was a little little strange he had one of those against Sacramento as well it was like uh the other part of it is I haven’t really seen him working that mid-range that we saw like there hasn’t been a lot of that uh I think part of that is the Blazers are trying to play a little bit faster and they’re not necessarily getting in the half court to look for Zach or they’re not giving Whiteside like post up opportunities things of that nature um so I I think that might have partly do it and we talked about this going into the season like where Zach was in the offensive pecking order he’s going to have to be an opportunistic score like they’re not going to run anything for him uh did you know Zach have five assists against Sacramento yeah working that as that Pivot Point making that extra pass and I think having that famili with where where guys are supposed to be knowing the Playbook better than other guys uh that that’s a good thing for him to be in in that position um his screening is better it’s still needs work uh obviously he picked up the the the the the moving screen foul the night uh he’s been better about that his fouling in general has been down for the most part the three that he got against Denver were a complete joke um those were obviously the Will Barton one stands out where literally Zach was just standing there there and will jumps over his pack and Zach rightfully looked at the ref like what the hell yeah I’m not sure how he fouled anybody with yeah Will Barton on his back I thought that the coaches challenge that STS did on in Sacramento meant everything even though the one against Dallas like was pivotal to the game I thought sa uh STS challenging the call against Zach meant everything in Sacramento I think that was just a Hu a huge boost for Zach a confidence absolutely uh you know coaches kind of got his back and I don’t think Zack has been too Reckless like he has been in the past tonight against Dallas he he had a handful that were like come on buddy like jumping at a jump shooter um ear earlier in the game uh Seth Curry got him with a pump thck and instead of jumping into him he passed it over and I looked over Joe go if somebody gets him like that again they’re gonna they’re going to get him with that he’s got to he’s got to close out under control on those guys and uh obviously Luca gets him and it’s that call where it’s when it’s against you you’re like I hate that call then when when Dame does it you’re like ah three and one that a boy Dan you know um but for the most part he’s been very good with his verticality he hasn’t really brought his arms down anybody uh he’s not reaching for those steals or or those pokes that you know that that kind of got him in trouble last year um overall I I’ve been thrilled with his production particularly on the defensive end I think he’s been in in a great position pretty much all times and like I said earlier the the big thing is when somebody has made a mistake you know um Zach been the one who’s trying to cover up for it what for For Better or Worse even the guy’s been trying to cover up for it and that’s there’s something to be said for that about the hustle um that that you’re getting or you you were getting from them obviously before the injury yeah uh that’s a real bummer yeah so you know that the way you know when they grab their shoulder like that you just know that’s just like there’s that only means one thing they grabb their shoulder like that it is out but it sounds like they they’ve popped it back in and they’re going to find out on Monday like if there was any other damage but even that you know he’s gonna miss some time so what are your thoughts on how dos might cover that up so first thing I hope Zach’s good I hope it’s good news um obviously he says he’s feeling better after they popped it back in we can all hope that everything’s good everything you know is is is kind of a good news I talked about the show tonight this is the kind of the same situation that that Myers F found himself in a couple years ago um and Myers opted to kind of play through it and keep it quiet um I I hope that’s not the case with Zach I I hope that they just take the time and make sure everything’s good everything be this this isn’t like an a knock against the organization this this is a Myers’s decision um and I I hope Zach doesn’t feel like he has to rush back and put himself in a position where you know he needs surgery in the offseason kind of deal you know um so on that front I hope everything’s good um how the team goes from here is gonna be different right so I mean I’ve been hearing toer you talked about it on your show tonight but you know who my vote is for um yeah it’s it’s right not that I would ever have wanted you know scowl to get starting times due to somebody else’s injury obviously um but we talked about this but he’s been looking great if a big got hurt yeah no you’re absolutely right when he’s got out there in his in his limited minutes he’s been productive there’s no doubt about that um I don’t know if I remember if I mentioned this on a over the last couple weeks but the Blazers had toyed with the idea this season of starting toer and and having Zach come off the bench just to give that no doubt floor spacing now obviously toer hasn’t hit the threes yet this season um so that probably sounds a little bit weird but that was something the Blazers had looked at so if Terry sto doesn’t want to disrupt the rotation that’s probably the easy play uh is to plug in toer now I don’t know how well that’ll go over against the San Antonio team that’s one of the best rebounding teams in the league or a 76ers team that I believe is the best rebounding team right now um obviously guys a guy like scow would make a lot of sense there um but it’s not like he’s going to toy with this like he could start honia he could start toer he could start pal I mean he can go a lot of different ways with it but for a Blazers front Court that’s already paper thin you’re just sitting here hoping like oh please God pal get back soon because I mean realistic right now they need it and if let God please no I’m crossing myself right now if they get bad news with Zach they’re going to need to fill that empty roster spot they’re going to need to go get a big they’re going to need to go get a four five kind of hybrid guy to fill that role yeah it’s not the kind of uh role that Moses Brown is ready to take on just yet no and really they need somebody that’s a little more for it right well let’s talk about uh a four let’s talk about honia and your thought he honia is a guy that I’m kind of surprised to find that I am perfectly happy to have the ball in his hands um you know this is coming from someone who used to you know enjoy the aminu adventure just because of the chaos that it created uh honia creates another kind of kind of chaos but his chaos is at the end of the play like you know he’s going to be able to get it down the court but my you know after that my thought is if Mario has the ball be ready it doesn’t matter if you’re sitting on the bench or if you’re underneath the basket Mario has the ball hands up be ready yeah and it’s weird to say that I think statistically Mario has been a disappointment because he’s only putting up four points and what five rebounds and his assists and mean the blaz is in general assist dismal um that kind of points to what we were talking about earlier with the isolation one on one stuff that we’ve seen um I think Mario’s been effective in certain spots um and he has had some very nice passes and assists that were part of some of the nicest basketball that they’ve played so far yes and and I think when he’s involved and they are pushing the pace and getting getting things going um he he’s been good tonight he only finished two of seven against Dallas but uh I thought his uh attack off the bounce getting to the rim obviously there’s not going to be a 7 foot three fors is waiting for at The Rim every game after you beat three guys uh KP got him at The Rim twice Bost twice but he also had two other finishes that were the pullup dumper off the pick and roll and the Euro Step that he did finish yeah that was nice um but they they were they were huge plays and the thing I I really like from Mario so far is has been his headiness has been his aggressiveness I thought the play where he overplayed Luca tonight against Dallas in the closing seconds was a massively massively underrated play because that took them out of what they wanted to do and allowed B more to get in there and go for that steal it got them off Rhythm and got it got them completely out of what they had hoped to accomplish there and I don’t know if that’s a freelance to Mario there and gambling a little bit or if that was an instruction to overplay that picking role but those little subtle plays Mario’s had a few of those already that have been very very good um in certain positions and and it’s nice to see him kind of continue to keep his head up and stay involved even though his shot isn’t Fallen how do you feel at least in a temporary way about him alongside wh side I mean it can work against certain teams certainly uh and it could put other teams like let’s take the 76ers for example if they have Horford and and beid out there at the same time um tough cover for Mario on the defensive end but it also puts Horford who he’s a good Defender but it makes it’s going to force Horford to have to cover in space on another guy who can legit tack off the bounce I haven’t I haven’t seen enough of Tolliver to really know uh what his defense is like but honia seems like he has more potential to be like disruptive oh certainly toer is playing within himself he moves his feet really well he anticipates really well he’s a guy who takes a ton of charges he just he has a A Pretty Natural Instinct instinct to kind of get to where he those guys are trying to get to before them uh and on the weird thing is that that guy this year seems to be Simons he’s drawn I think two or three charges already which has been really impressive for a young guard like it’s one thing for a big to do that it’s another thing for a guard to make that rotation to get there to that spot and make that play and obviously he had very limited minutes against Dallas tonight but that’s something obviously from Simons I think that maybe being around toer rubs off on him a little bit so but as far as theia goes his activity is certainly going to be higher on the perimeter and more kind of aggressive and Gam ging in nature than to okay let’s talk about another energy player who has just been so much fun to watch obviously I’m talking about the Energizer Bunny was that Isaiah or Nate that was Isaiah he came up with that right that was Isaiah yeah yeah no and we uh we brought that up on the show the other night and asked Chad doing what he thought of the Nick game he’s like that’s awesome we’re going with that so we I think we’ve spawned we spawned two so far this year with the COO and the Kizer bunny and we’ve got the ant colony going uh as as Brooke interviewed Anthony tonight and was endorsement of the uh the ant colony so we’re doing good here the name generation on the Blazer dead team is doing very very well well uh that is quite excellent but let’s talk about how he’s been playing he is just a joy to watch and he’s happy he is and he’s fast and he has those long arms and he has those long legs and he has timing and he just looks so ful every time he comes out although I do love it so much when he does mess up and he slaps his hands together and gets mad at himself it’s just so endearing it is he’s just that’s the that’s the word for him he’s so endearing um but like try to like you know um take away just like how Charmed I am by him the basketball that he’s been playing seems to be uh seems to be effective again disruptive on the defensive end and then I think was it tonight where he was starting to things were starting to fall yeah yeah I think we saw a little bit of that against Sacramento obviously the one of seven that he had against Denver I think of those seven shots three or four might as to go back and watch tapate where end of shot clock he had to create the the offense was stagnant he’s like all right I’m the old guy on the floor I’m the vet I’ve got to make sure I find a way to make something happen here and uh it didn’t fall yeah say that but he he he knew what his needs to be in that situation I was thinking that I would love his energy with the starting lineup but then I didn’t know who I could take out of the starting lineup I don’t know right now you cannot take Rodney Hood out of that Hood’s not tall enough to play forward he’s not a he’s not a power forward option no you no you couldn’t SL although he probably say had something to say about that tonight after you know jumping with Christ yes that was impressive he was only two in or so off of of getting that and that’s Rodney 66 like and he’s got a decent Wings span but kp’s 73 with a wingspan from him like that’s to be able to get up in the air with him and it was kind of funny because you’re sitting there like because the Blazers can’t Sub in that situation so they’re trying to discuss who’s going to make this jump ball they’re like this was not a good time to go small Mario or Ken and they all were like Rod you got this yeah like that’s that mean you got to feel good about that yeah um but as far as Kent goes like just right place right time um just talking to a few people about Bas Mor defense um the idea of what does his gambling defensively his aggressiveness what kind of impact does that have on the Blazers because they haven’t had a guy like that in years Wes was probably the closest they had to it even he played within the system I’m not saying Kent is out there just freelancing all the time but he’s he’s stunning he’s getting up high getting into the guy chest uh getting through screens that other times I think the Blazers would probably just switch he’s sticking with I think it takes and I think a lot of times that’s catching some guys off guard um and not and maybe throwing a little bit of a wrench in the in the plans as far as rotations and stuff like that but I think St will live with that because of the disruption that he does cause and and this is going to be a complete Dil here but we talked about his happiness and how happy he looked on the floor and now we hear about all the platitude about oh I’m just happy to be here and all this kind of stuff talking to these guys and hearing the guys that are around the team all the time he’s genuinely thrilled to be here like he’s he’s like I’m out of Atlanta where the rebuild situation I want to play with the game I want to play with CJ I want to endear myself and he’s just a a good dude naturally and he’s just kind of ramping that up to 11 and it’s becoming contagious not just with his energy but his attitude and I think that’s contributing to some of these kind of like you know quote unquote winning plays that we see MH uh where guys are hitting the floor selling out going after loose balls and getting aggressive I think Kent’s a big big part of that you know CJ’s a guy who goes to the floor too and did it tonight yeah it was H you know SE hashtag season of CJ seemed like it was gonna be off to a slow start um but it’s starting to burn and tonight against Dallas he had a real nice tonight putting up 35 and I would also add that he was eight of eight from the free throw line so he got to the free throw line um did not originally in uh in the first game um and I was like oh no has all the stuff that I’ve said just sound absolutely ridiculous I was very gratified not again that he made it to the to the free throw line and he made his free throws because he did struggle with that at the end of the season so uh you know we’ve seen this before from DJ that it takes him a little while to get in the Rhythm at the beginning of the year so nice night for him and he uh but he does like I was saying he does go down on the floor he does um uh you know seems like he spends a fair amount of time like on the sideline you know and then they have to clean up after him yeah he almost got that pick when uh he got switched on to Luca early in the clock and Luka tried to take him off the bounce and CJ saw that Luca left it out there poed it free do for tried to get it it was uh it was a heck of an effort play and kind of touching on on CJ’s kind of offensive game to his credit like you touched on with the free throws his three-point shooting has not been there neither is Dames they have they’re shooting 29 and 33% in three respectively but after CJ had a rough start kind of getting to or not getting to the rim but finishing at The Rim tonight against the Mavs with KP in there he got in there and finished at The Rim over KP 34 four five times and and it the reminiscent of Daman l l didn’t have a three-point going against the Kings so what did he do he got downhill and attacked and attacked and attacked not just the mid-range but the rim and got himself to the free throw line and finished in traffic those are things that we don’t normally associate with CJ and so for him to be able to shift that gear and be like okay I don’t have three ball going I I gotta hit him with more than just a mid-range and getting to the rim and finish him that that could be a Big Boon if that’s something that’s their consistent well they did uh talk at the beginning of the summer I think Jason quick wrote an article about how Dam and CJ were sort of trying to add each other’s skills to their uh to their skill sets and getting to the rack like you just said is one of the ones that uh the Dame has but if we’re going to talk about free throws we also uh need to uh say that whide has been excellent from the free throw line he’s shooting 80ly h 83.3 even though every single shot looks like it’s never going to have a chance in you know what to go in it goes in like that he has the weirdest more hitches there yeah no there’s more hitches there than Barkley’s golf like he like he holds the ball like way out in front of him and then pushes it out it’s like he’s pushing it out it’s look you know what it looks like the little um the little basketball game that they have like a spear of 77 where you just like lean over the thing and just like push it in like that that’s how it looks like that he’s shooting it but it’s in and for someone who’s as long as that keeps as long as that keeps up I don’t care what it last year he was 44.9% so uh so far 83.3 so uh we shall take it yeah can I go back to CJ here as far as like finishing at The Rim the first three games he’s shooting nearly 60% at The Rim wow that’s yeah but here’s the thing that in between game the CJ floater game he he’s he’s four or 16 h yeah that’s not typical he’ll get that back no and that’s the thing it’s like can we keep the interior finishing and also bring back the delicious Flo yeah yeah he’ll get that back he’ll get that back one of the big differences that I’ve noticed between Whit side plays and nishes plays is Whiteside doesn’t do the little flip it up thing Whiteside when he is putting it back or when he is anywhere near it at all he is going with it with all of his however many pounds he has he’s taking it all and he’s not flipping it in yeah the the thing about wh side when he does finish he does was something we talked about with n his development right is nerkish would sometimes lean away from the basket wh size size body momentum all that kind of stuff it’s always going towards the r uh the finishes he had against Sacramento uh he had Dwayne deadmond in the post and he did that little drop step into him and then went with the hook over the top like he’s dipping that left shoulder into Deadman’s chest to clear the space for that massive paw his to come over the top and when he throws a hook it’s not a Kareem Abdul Jabar sky hook it’s a line drive into the back of the rim and straight down yeah it’s a smash yeah like everything he does has Authority aggressiveness behind it when he commits to and and that’s the thing that you want to see um so I guess about the only person that we haven’t really talked about I think right now is ant I mean we we’ve talked a little bit about Damen but it just goes to say Damian is you know fantastic MVP let’s leave it at that right now fantastic kind of gloss over it but he’s been he’s found a way to just dominate entire half of the B I’m worried that we’re just so used to it and it’s just it’s it’s grown so organically that nobody else in the nation is going to take notice of it if the Blazers win games we were talking about this a little bit tonight is if they win games and they finish the top four three two seed and Dames averaging near 37 and you know four they’re gonna have to look at him because the thing is like the narrative will get behind him and everybody will kind of have this new story and nobody wants to give it to LeBron again everybody’s completely tired of James Harden um and unless somebody else really goes nuts uh on a winning team like cat’s numbers right now are yeah he’s out of playing out of his mind he’s just incredible right now but are the Timberwolves going to be there in the end I mean that’s that’s going to be the question right um maybe this is finally the year of the Timberwolves oh God after all those years of us always thinking that it was going to be the Timberwolves and them never doing it and now that we’ve like watched the other way okay we’re done yeah but Dame’s gonna have the narrative and and the box score numbers behind it to look good as long as they’re winning um but just get shift gears to ant uh game one had a bit of the Jitters that he admitted didn’t look great defensively he’s been good in all three games I think he’s like I said he’s taking charges he’s gotten a few steals he got the steel where he got in the in the transition for his first dunk um there there was a lot of things that were I like to see on that in the lore uh game two Sacramento he helps them win that game yeah that was beautiful his 15 points or he had 12 and a quarter yeah he just went Bonkers in a FIV minute period and and that’s when we talked about com this season I said who’s the who’s the guy’s most likely to have a takeover him outside of get CJ it’s him because when he gets hot he is like Dame and CJ and and those kind of guys he’s got a lightning quick release that he can get off from anywhere um tonight I don’t think necessarily that it was any fault of his own although the full court pressure pickup where he turned the ball over to start the second half wasn’t great um obviously when he when he came in in the second half um but I think think CJ and Hood were cooking so much and Dame obviously is Dame that his minutes got squeezed in and he’s not a veteran where you get go you know what I got to find a way to get him on the floor yeah it kind of seems like sort of due to his Youth and inexperience if the Blazers are playing a team that has superstars it’s going to be hard for him um it’s it’s going to be a little overwhelming for him to figure out all the things that you have to keep track of all at once um if you’re still knew at it yeah these are his first rotation minutes but here’s the thing we talked about this with ant you’re gonna get the variant you’re going to have the nights where like ah a really play t night but on the flip side of that you’re probably going to have basemore or hood or heronia or one of the other guys step up and have a a decent enough night or when ant’s getting minutes it’s because he’s out there getting buckets and that’s why it’s like it’s not hard for me to be able to see him be a guy who averages double figures off the bench because when he does get out there he’s going to get looks he’s going to get opportun and he’s gonna knock him down yeah what have been your take well you know I I saw what you said about him being able to just heat up and there will be games where he goes off for 20 and then there will be games where he’s not really um you know impacting the box score um but he he never looks lost sometimes he looks a little hesitant like he’s not sure which way to choose but he never looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing you know it’s just it just I I think you have to make so many decisions I can’t imagine how many decisions you have to make you know simultaneously out there and he’s just not used to it he just doesn’t have those muscle those like thinking muscles developed yet and you know not having played in the High Press College situation you know it’s I think that’s probably going to take a little bit of time for him to catch up to everybody but I absolutely think he will and I think everybody on the team knows that he will as well the thing that I worry about right now is you know what Dame and CJ are getting minutes wise per game I’m gonna guess a lot high 30s 37 high 30s okay both of them are 37 this is and you wonder why they need to give Anthony some more they do and not just for ant’s sake for Dam CJ’s sake and and this is we talked about this often the idea of declaring a championship team the pressures that come with that the the little things that come with that you don’t allow your yourself you know hey we need to give Aunt some more minutes here because you know we need to get D CJ off the floor they’re they’re getting some heavy heavy minutes but when you say hey we’re a championship team and you don’t necessarily have the depth that you can truly commit to then you have to sit there and go well you know we have to win this game and every game’s a must win you know in the NBA but that that external SL internal pressure of hey no we are this team and we’ve declared this we need to back this up I think that’s where it can get a little bit dicey uh as far as um how the minut sitution kind of comes out and not just for for ant because right right now um basemore is getting 26 that’s a few more minutes that I thought he was gonna get U but still kind of about what I expect but Dam and CJ both being at 37 seems awfully yeah you know I feel like with the especially the last two games you know Sacramento and Dallas it’s early in the season but they know they have to come out strong because the West is going to be so tight I feel like with anony and also honia you know the last couple of games you know they I think that there’s still time for them to develop so that they could potentially take on some more of those minutes from Damon CJ I don’t think it’s going to go down to like 32 but maybe it goes down to you know 34 35 what would you prefer to see them playing I’d like to see Damen CJ 3 I I’d like to see him right about that I mean because here’s the thing like Dame works damn near hard on anybody in the league to get his own shot and and that’s kind of been true throughout throughout his entire history in the league um he doesn’t often get the um Elite athlete you know quick twitch deer and fox explosive Dame’s first step is probably one of the five fastest in the league like he’s an explosive athlete and for him to not not just that his ability to decelerate we’ve talked about that a lot like coming off a pick and coming to complete stop like those kind of things that he makes Look So Easy that’s a ton of effort and when you’re doing that for extended minutes over these long road trips the start the season I’m like oh man and you’re right the probably minutes probably do come down but as as good as the kings are or were pegged to be and the Mavericks are looking better these are the kind of opponents that you’re hoping maybe you can get those guys to rest a little bit right I I just don’t know at the beginning of the season if you can count on that for anyone because just nobody knows what these teams are going to be like I mean look at Phoenix I mean there’s there’s no Phoenix in mines there’s no teams right now and there’s there’s no games where if you can taste the win you can’t be like well but we got to play our guys you know you you have to go for it you have to uh you have to give it your all but once you know there’s more tape to watch on teams there’s more chance to you know get to know the playbooks and there’s more time for strategy I think that’s where maybe we can get a few minutes shaved off of those guys I don’t know but we should we should uh preview the games that are coming up and then wrap it up here it’s so fun to talk about basketball oh my God I’m just so glad just we were um we had uh like I said we had the women’s hoops and talks meet up last night and just like the overwhelming feeling is it was just like we were all just so glad to be back there and um I want to shout out we had one of our listeners was there uh John his wife Michelle and their baby Moby came and mo Moby had the cutest little blazer booties that you’ve ever seen in your life and we all just CED over him and his booties and I I put a um a picture of him he was crying because he was very upset about the Blazers de Defence um but it got better and I will tell you that Mobi also cheered up after uh the Blazers got their got their defensive act together as as any good Blazer fan should and and on the Blazer booty note uh obviously Travis the M the voice of TR now he’s got a young son Lincoln he got him um baby Jordans which might be possibly the cutest shoes I’ve ever seen in my entire life they’re they’re all black with with a they’re black and silver colorway and like they look so so good that Trav look like where can we find like I want these in my side well uh Dame Junior’s shoe collection is amazing he has an amazing shoe collection actually the kids the Blazer kids are um a pretty adorable group I mean the the kids at Rodney Hood’s party were like going off and having a great time you know basemore little guy with his little basemore coat oh my gosh MH yeah yeah no it’s an adorable group there’s no doubt about yeah but the Blazers next game uh they they welcome a familiar Nemesis uh LaMarcus Aldridge who uh has been uh really good to start the season man that guy is just 25 and nine just remains absolutely solid he’s shooting like 60% from the floor like he’s yeah no I I the the people who uh when it was talked about this summer of Lamarcus possibly back to Portland he’s like a he’s he’s I don’t know if he’s still got it folks he’s going to have it for probably five more years he’s gonna be one of those guys that plays till he’s 38 39 he’s gonna be just like Durk in the sense like his game isn’t gonna age he’s still gonna be able to take anybody he wants down to the block and go get bucks and shoot over the like that’s that’s never going to change Demar R Roan is doing his thing but the big story here and is probably going to be the story of the season for the Spurs is Deonte Murray obviously he he shreds his knee opening night last year is out for the year um I I had him pegged as as a breakout player last year and it’s not going to change this year he is a defensive stalwart uh an elite level athlete prer natural defensive instincts he’s he’s legitimate all-nba caliber defensive player in the Mak um but he’s also averaging 19 a game and shooting 60% start the season Dam so he’s uh he’s back he’s not easing back in he’s back no no and he’s not a shooter and here’s the thing he’s averaging 19 a game and he’s only playing 23 minutes and granted it’s only been two games uh this will be the third that the Spurs have obviously against the Blazers so um but he’s a guy that’s that’s very good uh and I have him in my my ladder for most improved players I believe I picked him second um this year he he’s he’s a stud um Brin who Damen lard loves to see remember last year they they played fine Brin Forbes and Dame just continued to torch him um is also shooting lights out right now shooting 50% from the field almost 50% from three on 18 points a night so what are going to be the Blazers keys to beating these guys this is a weird Spurs team um they they’re averaging 122 points yeah so you got Lamarcus at 25 dear at 20 Murray at 19 uh Forbes at 18 gay and white are both averaging 10 and little old Patty Mills is is only getting 17 minutes a night because he’s getting pushed down the lineup by Murray Forbes and and Derek white Dereck White’s a bit of a combo guard forward who is obviously with his time with Team USA and and and pop being involved there is you know they he he was spectacular for the team this year even though they they underperformed um white was kind of a bright spot so this is a team that everybody just kind of looks at and they’re like oh they’re they’re seventh in the west it’s like this is a team that can easily be fourth or fifth like the Lakers don’t have depth the Warriors are awful uh the Jazz are struggling to everybody’s sures like not just struggling struggling um don’t say everybody not included okay I know you were sick of the Jazz before the Jazz all right hipster Jazz hater Terrio and big thank you thank you very much I’ll take all the credit but but but keys to beating San Antonio not where they’re going to finish how are the boers going to beat I get it but this is it’s a it’s the same as San Antonio as ever it’s like you just all you can do is just go in and do your best and cross your fingers and hold your breath and hope that it gets over with quickly yeah like it’s it’s a Greg POA with an Allstar power forward an All-Star wing and a hell of a Supporting Cast like it’s it’s just God so sick of these guys like for love of God can you can you draft a bust once in a while please um but yeah they’re goingon to put a ton of pressure on the Blazers back courts it’s going be interesting to see how Damen Lillard does against Deontay maray um I I think this is going to be Jamal Murray is a speed bump to Damen Lillard in fact the the Nuggets tried not to let Jamal Murray guard Damen Lillard at all costs dear Fox took on the challenge but that’s that’s even match up so far San Antonio has played Washington and the New York Knicks so let’s not worry too much just yet all those things that you’ve said doesn’t mean that they’re not true but also they haven’t played the most Stellar competition yet no but do you think that the Blazers particularly missing Zack Collins are going to have a great answer for Lamarcus ald I don’t know I haven’t seen enough yet I and I know you’re optimistic and I love Scouts Lamarcus is a Hall of Fame power forward toam get bu there isn’t a whole lot you have to or maybe they yeah maybe they just let him get as many buckets as he gets and they just block off everybody else for the other and you force the other guys to beat you certainly that’s something the blers can do it be interesting yeah that one that’s the the the the Damian lard Bugaboo right I Paul I think that Damen Lord’s going to be able to exercise that that one please so love of God I’m tired of it cuz CP3 has been the one thing that Dame just hasn’t been able to conquer like and this isn’t just me like oh Dan with a hyperbole just go look at the head-to-head matchups if it’s just if at this point Damen Lillard can’t defeat Chris Paul in a one-onone matchup from here on out if he can’t do that then he is not what I’ve always thought he was no every player has one of these guys okay well it can’t be Paul anymore maybe it was him in the past but it can’t be him in the future let’s let’s hope so the the the flip side of this is uh they’ve got Gallow who is a guy who’s notoriously done very well against the Blazers Stephen Adams and Shay guildas has has been fantastic with a thunder so far perhaps the Thunder are one of those teams that we all kind of counted out and was like you they may not be a playoff team but they may not be like a 253 win team um well so it’ll be interesting to see how that kind of plays the beauty of the beginning of the season is you can’t uh count anybody out you have to you have to do your best to what’s ahead you know all you can do is play who’s in front of you if if he the Nixon wizard you can you can go yeah and that’s who San anio just played uh so but OKC without um I mean they’ve so do you think you know Whiteside versus Stephen Adams will cancel each other out how do you think that’ll look with the center matchup that’s the one I’m kind of most interested for all of these well honestly I’m interested in both these games for whites side because now we’re not necessarily dealing with that five that’s going to step out and pull you out the entire game Adams wants to be at the leag on both ends um will Stephen Adams set picks and and roll yeah that that’ll put wh in a comfortable position same with Lamarcus larcus isn’t going to step out and knock down threes all game he may occasionally step to the corner like no well then he kind of creeps in like I want to go to the pole just let me go back to my Cy place let me get to my left blck and let me go to work man um so I I think those are going to be I think the the the extremes for Whit side obviously are are Denver and and B I think those are are bad matchups in that sense of yoke going you know what I don’t want to bang with you I’m gonna stay out here you come out here uh KP the same way um and so if Whiteside performs well in those situations you’re like okay well we’re just G to have to figure out this whole stretch by then right uh or you know don’t and live with the results and make sure that the the strict five is the one that beats you night um but uh the spurge game to me is the bigger one as far as the measuring that goes overall because they’re the most complete team that I think they they’ve played out of than Den top to bottom they can beat you in multiple different plays uh multiple different places they they’ve got a lot of different personal they can kind of plug and play in different spots it’s a lot of roster flexibility uh the Clippers Clippers the the Thunder God I said clippers because of Chris Paul wow you’re two team behind two teams ago um but the uh the Thunder um their team that’s also trying to come Chris Paul Shay Gallow trying to integrate that you know with what’s left yeah just kind of like John Travolta in in pul fiction looking around like uh yeah it’s it’s hard to know what to make of them because it’s hard to know what they’re going to look like by the end of the year where they want to go they have that you know huge stash of stock pile of yeah of uh draft picks to use like how well do they want to be doing have they decided yet is Chris Paul just going to sit there and just be mad no matter what kind of decision they make who knows but the final game who breaks first Chris Paul or Draymond who what who breaks oh Chris Paul when it com when it comes you seen Raymond’s interview today um I have not watched it oh boy he he looks like he’s about three days from working yeah it’s his exact his exact phrasing when they asked him you know you know how does it feel to be on the other end of this look this sucks and I didn’t know it was going to be this bad he had this look on his face like haunted somebody save me get me out of here save me now this is terrifying um I don’t know if Chris Paul’s reached that level yet but then again he hasn’t been that successful in his career so yeah hard to know the last game that we should uh preview briefly before we head out is uh Philadelphia big one I’m looking for to that one that’s the the blazes will be back home for Philadelphia so they’re on the road for San Antonio and OKC they’ll be back home for Philadelphia think be really interesting to see how Whiteside looks against embiid uh hopefully pow’s back then because it’s embiid and do you think that PO have you heard anything about him being able to be back soon after the road trip so the the the the the Scuttle butt all that is Po’s on this trip and going through warm-ups trying to get kind of get a feel for things in hopes that by the end of the trip he’s ready okay um so obviously that’s what a week out next Saturday yeah so it’s a little less than a week out um st’s rule has typically been you got to go through a practice before you uh before you get one um I it’s with pow does that qualify like does he have like a limited amount of minutes in his basketball career you want to you want to run him through practice or you know do you trust him to kind of go out there uh I they need the body they need the big body particularly for that game uh it’s a it’s a big team um yeah I guess we’ll uh that’s a tough one because we’ll know more tomorrow after the MRI we’ll have a better idea of I mean although the Blazers you know don’t usually give a lot of information but perhaps perhaps we but perhaps we’ll know whether or not it’s a three- week versus 8 to 12 weeks you know what I mean it could be and here’s the thing it could be either it’s going to be a couple weeks at least like like the shoulder came out of the socket it had to be reset do you things have been stretched that need to heal like can you think of anytime anybody’s come back from something like that in less than two weeks well I mean I’ve watched Lethal Weapon a number of times and Mel Gibson everybody keeps talking about Mel Gibson well he can just slam his his thing back into the wall and then get back to beating bad guys so I don’t know why Zach Collins isn’t there but whatever I guess they have to protect the investment I didn’t mention on the show on the show because I didn’t want to get completely roasted I did kind of the same thing playing lacrosse and I fully channeled Lethal Weapon I in taking a shot I got my arms caught up in between two other sticks the stick kept going my arm fell down like left shoulder completely limp and I kind of played it off I was playing indoor lacrosse I went over to this big steel support beam in one of those indoor buildings anybody in Portland the the middleman Jewish Community Center never been in there this indoor field these big steel support beams and I went up and like Shel like pull and reset and slam my shoulder into it didn’t work didn’t work one bit and it just hurt like hell oh my God I’m like why why did I think this would work my God I can’t stop laughing it was so bad and I was like that is one of the worst life choices I’ve ever made screw you Mel Gibson and like I think I just made it way worse and I was like oh dear God and one of it was an adult men’s league I was home on leave and uh I had thankfully one of the the other players is also a physical therapist and he’s like what the hell are you doing and I explained to him he’s like you’re a dumbass he pulled me to the side he’s like you’re sign you’re like verbally signing a waiver I’m like dude just do it and he helped reset it then and there and he’s like you need to go get this looked at and then he’s like don’t mention the part where you triy to put it back in by slamming it’s a steel because you watch Lethal Weapon okay so everybody who’s listening to the podcast can go ahead and roast you for this and I so hope they do it’s it’s if anyone’s still listening we’ve gone on quite a while tonight but you know what we’re just so excited basketball’s B we’re so excited but we should wrap it up here anything else you want to say about Philadelphia before we close this out no I I I think that’s it this like I’m not for all of the negatives and all the positives I’m not getting too high or too low on a lot of things I’m giving I’m giving things time before I go okay that’s a real problem like there are certain things with this team right now defensively that being fully honest I’m I’m worried about but I also need to see them get through a month of basketball and kind of that’s that’s kind of like the the prerequisite that that that I went into the season with you get a month after a month then it’s like okay we we need to start figuring things out so uh I’m not too high I’m not too low but um I have concerns MH I don’t know I don’t know exactly where you’re sitting but um there are certainly some questions that I have uh pertaining to where this team is at right now and where they need to be well I would have concerns if you didn’t have concerns I mean this is a team that is integrating you know a ton of new players yeah you know the people who had the most minutes Dam and CJ are there but everybody else is brand new I mean we KN we all knew this was going to happen but what we kept saying did we all know well not that you didn’t know I’m saying it a general consensus te been trying to get rolling real quick well I’m not sure about that but um realistically kindest way i’ been told to shut up and people people did know that this was going to be quite a different roster and after years of continuity you know we could you know hope that there was going to be some miraculous oh my God this was the Perfect Chemistry you know everybody’s going to get it from day one but that was not ever probably seriously a you know huge possibility but the one thing that we have said is that it’s going to be interesting and the one thing that I can say that I have enjoyed about the just three games that I’ve seen so far is the energy around it you know we had gotten used to what the Blazers were supposed to look like and they look different right now the basketball looks different the plays look different I don’t know you know the players who were doing the plays I don’t know what play is going to come next because they haven’t had this combination on the court before but it’s interesting and it’s energetic and you know if BAS is going to go to the floor and come up with a smile on his face if Rodney Hood’s going to be hitting shots and if all these things are going to happen while the rest of it is working itself out I am like totally fine with it I am just so glad that it’s back yes okay that’s fair what else you got anything else no I think let’s go ahead and wrap it up there um like I mentioned earlier we just had our first women’s hoops and talks and our second women’s hoops and talks is going to come actually really soon so if anybody wants to uh get in on that Ohan shoot I don’t have the date in front of me so I’m going to look it up while you talk um about what you’ve got coming up so you go ahead and then I’ll come right back that works for me no uh as always folks you can find myself Joe Simons on NBC Sports Northwest following every game for the hourong postgame show on Blazers Outsiders on social media at dorang DM and as you’ve noticed uh the show is just Joe and I now um so when we are we don’t have Facebook live that’s something that’s corporate entity stuff we have to go different Avenues so we’re trying to to keep that same energy as far as getting you guys all involved and we we we love having um questions comments anything kind of come into the show so when you see those tweets come up from NBC Sports no West that that Joe and I are retweeting if you have questions if you have comments please reply to them because like we want to get them into the show we want to get your feedback the the part of the show is is certainly about engagement and and getting the pulse of the fans so um we we’ve had a a good a good push so far uh and please keep that up um other than that uh we will be heading out to the Rialto here in December so if you guys want to come uh on location we’re getting kicked out of our studio because of the KGW toy drive so we’ll be doing that again so if you guys want to come down there and hang out and watch a show with us uh pretty much for most of the month of December we’ll be down at the Rialto again but other than that that’s all I got uh you got a date I did I found it like five minutes ago so our women’s hoops and talks Meetup is going to be on Tuesday night November 12th that’s going to be uh against Sacramento and if anybody wants to look at all of the dates that we’ve got scheduled for those meetups they are pinned to my Twitter profile which is TCB bigs so you can follow me there you can also follow the hoops and talks podcast we’ll have another episode coming out on Thursday you can follow Blazers Edge at Blazers Edge and you can find both the weekly podcast this one that we’re doing right now and the women’s hooks hoops and talks podcast in the Blazers Edge podcast feed so please if you haven’t already subscribe using whatever podcast catcher you use rate US review us do all of those wonderful things and I think that is going to be about all so thanks everybody for listening and we’ll talk to you next week go Blazers bye hey sports fans if you want to stay in the know with the latest news surrounding the Oregon Ducks you need to listen to the weekly webfoot review podcast on iTunes and Spotify I’m Jordan Schultz and every week I’ll be here breaking down what’s going on in Eugene and how it affects Oregon’s football and basketball teams so if you want unfiltered news and opinions delivered by a lifelong Ducks fan subscribe to the weekly webfoot review on iTunes and Spotify go Ducks
On this week’s episode of the Blazer’s Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang take a look a the first 3 games of the Blazers season to find themes- both good and bad, points of emphasis, discuss the defensive woes from the 3-point line, how the new players are fitting in, Rodney Hood’s possible emergence as that oft-discussed “3rd option,” Zach Collins’ shoulder injury and what Coach Stotts may do with the lineups, the next 3 upcoming games and more!
Intro
Opening Comments
Early trends 2:00
What’s happening on defense? 3:00
Small sample size theater! 5:00
There’s good news, promise! 8:20
Do the Blazers finally have someone to count on beyond Dame & CJ? 13:00
Early impressions of Hassan Whiteside 16:30
Whiteside needing to step out of the paint defensively 21:00
How has Collins looked…before the injury 22:00
How will Stotts deal with Collins’ injury 28:00
First thoughts on Hezonja? 31:00
Could Hezonja start in Collins’ place? 34:00
The Kenergizer Bunny makes his appearance 37:00
CJ McCollum finds his shot and his finishing boots 41:00
The highs and lows of Anfernee Simons through 3 games 44:40
Heavy minutes for McCollum and Lillard early on 49:00
Looking at the next 3 games 56:00
Spurs keep Spursing – LaMarcus Aldridge and Dejounte Murray
OKC and conquering Chris Paul 1:00:00
Danny tried to Mel Gibson his shoulder back in once upon a time 1:07:00
Closing Comments
Outro
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/22817?utm_source=youtube
