Trade Updates for Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant | Blazers Uprise Live

Trade Updates for Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant | Blazers Uprise Live

e e e e e e what’s going on everybody welcome into Blazers uprise live here on a Monday night it’s been about 5 days since we’ve streamed we last streamed on Wednesday unfortunately did not have enough to justify a stream in that time but we’re still going to update you on the anony Simons and Jeremy Grant tradem Market if it exist also the stream should be a little bit shorter because Eric it’s freaking hot man yeah it’s hot no AC we’re out here struggling but still glad to go live glad to join you guys for this stream we’re going to be streaming a lot in the next couple of weeks we’re going to be streaming summer league that should be a lot of fun Blazer’s first game is on Saturday on Thursday we will preview summer league for the Portland Trailblazers uh and oh man Eric that background is it’s loud bro all right it’s yeah oh man anyway chat hopefully you guys are having a good day uh you can see what we’re going to talk about on the left we got some names to talk about we got a Blazer that was introduced today we got a 17-year-old looking good against future Hall of Famers we got summer league free agency we’ll talk about the deardo r Ro signing with the Sacramento Kings and then at the end of the stream we will update you on Anthony Simons and Jeremy Grant that’s going to be today’s show We’ll Be Live good on Thursday then Saturday what Saturday Tuesday Wednesday Friday I think is the summer league schedule for the Blazers that should be fun and we’ll see if things are better Eric yo how’s it going is that better uh not really um yeah well uh I might not be able to stream then cuz I can’t turn the AC off for the rest of my family yeah well we’ll make it work uh we’ll make it work like I said shorter stream today um just m in between talking that’s fine that’ll do for now um back to the old setup as well I need to figure out something to do with the bottom ticker cuz obviously the NBA season’s done so that thing is kind of pointless now um it would be sick if it showed Summer League games but unfortunately it does not uh anyway Eric uh let’s just jump straight into the first topic Den he have don’t don’t unless you have an intro lead well what is the lead we didn’t talk about uh meeting up play basketball on Saturday oh yeah I mean we have to talk about our own Hoops Glory right yeah yeah you know I’m sure people out there will love us starting off a stream with this um I’m just kidding but we had a we had a good turnout had some fun games if you’re interested in playing in the future come join us let me know on Discord or Twitter yeah yeah it was good times decent runs um enjoyed it anyway let’s jump into the first topic of discussion which is Danny avdia introduced today by the Portland Trailblazers that trade is official I still don’t know the exact 2028 second round pick that the Blazers gave up maybe Eric can correct me uh or or well he’s not even here so but 2028 second 2032 14th pick the right stub Carrington as well as a 2029 first round pick the best of or the second best of Boston Milwaukee and Portland headed to Washington along with Malcolm Brogden pleas get back to D AIA introduced him today he said the trade was a bit of a surprise uh but he’s just coming in ready to work ready to make his teammates better um he he’s a guy that I think will be good for the culture of this team that’s why I liked the Donovan kingan and Denny avdia pickups both smart players both hard workers both willing to do what it takes to win basketball games both willing to defend uh and it was cool to hear him talk to Blazers reporters today yeah both uh the number one takeaway I hear when I hear both of them talk is just how much they like to win and how much they like to impact winning and I think it’s cool to have a couple players that are like that cuz uh quite frankly I think that’s something that has been missing from this team is that winning attitude um I don’t know if it’ll trans late to winning immediately probably not um or in a lot of our cases maybe hopefully not um but uh it is good to have players that know how to win that play the game thinking about things in a winning type way and uh we we’ve uh been missing that I think in the past few years um just having an overall High team IQ type type players yeah especially that can defend like it’s it’s a combination I like offensive IQ plus defense passing ability maybe shooting ability with both both those guys just well-rounded hard-nosed will play hard and uh we’ve been missing that uh guys that can do little things well and that’s what both these guys are so super excited to see Donovan kingan um Blazers have already started summer league practices we’ll talk about that in a bit um but Eric uh the capture the flag sweep sticks are already in full swing because Cooper flag got invited to play on the select team at Team USA Camp preparing for the upcoming Olympics if you don’t know the way it works you have the Olympic team for the US that’s the team with LeBron and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant bam out of Bio Devin Booker right a bunch of big names players Anthony Davis is on that team Drew holiday Tyrese halberton I’m forgetting a couple of names but basically the Star studed team that you’re going to see in the Olympics is Team USA but then when they practice when they prepare for the Olympics they compete against a select team that is made up of a bunch of younger players young upand cominging Stars guys like amen Thompson are there you even have some older kind of lesser known players such as pton Pritchard uh and usually it’s guys that are already in the NBA Cooper flag at only 17 years of age the number one Prospect in high school was supposed to be going into his senior year of high school this upcoming season but reclassified up a grade he got invited to the select team to participate in practices against Team USA against all these future Hall of Famers and by the looks of it some of the practice footage we’ve seen he is holding his own and that’s impressive for any young upand cominging NBA player let alone a dude that has not set foot on a college court yet Eric how impressed are you by the little bit of footage we’ve seen from Cooper flag is it an overreaction to be impressed by him just having plays in general where he’s holding his own because my goodness man he’s the number one pick next year for a reason but I didn’t expect him to be able to actually like look like he belongs on a court with future Hall of Famers right now yeah I guess one NBA coach said he was the best player on the floor at times uh that’s crazy man uh I like that he seems to not be phased at all playing against some of these Superstars uh he’s going right at them um you know he’s not going to be perfect or anything it be ridiculous to think he would be but uh you hear uh like Ron ESS back in the day said at one of these that LeBron when he came came in uh was showing up guys like Michael Jordan and stuff like that um or Kobe or I forgot who it was but like um you just you hear Legends like that of of these kind of things um for us Blazer fans it was always that Germain O’Neal was the best player in some of the practices and that was on a team with Scotty Pippen and Damon Sodom Vita sabonis rashed Wallace all that kind of stuff yeah it was Germaine O’Neal that dominated practices and stuff if you can ball man you can ball and uh Cooper flag I think he’s just cuz there were a lot of it was weird a few months ago right before the hoop Summit there was all these people who were like starting to like question flag a lot um like his jump shot was being criticized uh some of his like people just thought that his game wasn’t translatable to the NBA for some reason and I think he’s just completely putting all that to bed and uh unless something drastic happens or someone like Ace Bailey Just falls out completely better than flag uh which would be surprising considering how much Hy flag is getting I think um I think he’s pretty much solidified himself as the number one pick and it’s like going back to when in Lebron drafts and stuff like that where it’s very rare that you know the number one pick for sure ahead of time you know yeah and he is the number one pick for sure in next year’s draft Ace Bailey is not good enough to hold a candle to him Ace Bailey’s good but has flaws man Ace Bailey would not be holding his own out there against Team USA right now Cooper flag is and that’s for a reason High feel shot making ability uh 68 69 athletic long arms can defend can do a at all man and that mid-range shot like is is butter uh and he’s athletic enough to finish with the rim like it’s just the feel on top of all that is the only reason why he’s able to hold his own because most times you don’t have guys that young that actually know how to function on a floor at that level and that’s just a testament to his feel for the game um you know I don’t know if he’s ever going to be like a six seven8 assist per game guy like high IQ in terms of being able to make super Advanced reads but just his feel for the right play to make is already there and that’s impressive yeah for sure and uh and then on top of that you hear that he can get switched on to guards and just completely stay in front of him no problem like he’s not getting burnt at all like that’s it’s like crazy um so so sorry comments in chat Eric I just got to shut this down right now this time last year Ron Holland was a lock just saying Cooper flag is 10 times the prospect Ron Holland is I’m sorry okay come on okay there’s a difference between cuz someone has to be number one every year right going into the year yeah uh so there’s a difference between oh a lot of people had this guy number one and this person is for sure the number one pick next year like a lot of people had Ron Holland as the top prospect but there weren’t many saying that oh he’s an absolute lock Surefire number one pick like no doubt about it type player and it’s those are very rare and I’m trying to think of an example in my head of a guy I mean maybe like if you’re talking about like a Mikey Williams that’s like years away from being drafted those guys sometimes don’t pan out but this close to the draft a year away with this much hype on a guy being a number one pick how often does that guy like Bust or be like not be good you know like I’m trying to think of an example of someone who got that much as like a number one pick and then didn’t end up being good I know yeah there really there really isn’t um that I can think of like he I don’t think he’s wemi level I don’t think anyone May ever be wemi level cuz wemi is insane but Cooper flag man is the number one pick in next year’s draft and I feel like if you’re trying to say he might not it’s just to be contrarian um because he’ll get compared to Ace Bailey Ace Bailey’s a little flashier like little flashier dribble moves Ace Bailey doesn’t get to the Ace Bailey doesn’t defend like Cooper flag Ace Bailey doesn’t pass like Cooper flag um Cooper flag is more athletic a more functional athlete and his his ball handling dribble moves are more productive at getting him downhill like Ace Bailey is like pull off some dribble moves shake his Defender shoot a pull-up mid-range shot like Ace Bailey like Cooper flag is more LeBron James Ace Bailey is more Paul George right um obviously not perfect comparisons but like that’s the difference in terms of players to me yeah so Landon says F could very well get there but I don’t see him being a number one on a contender he can uh he can be that second option who scores 20 and plays Elite defense but I see it way more potential in Ace Bailey being him um it’s okay if you like see something in Ace Bailey I mean it’s a lot of people think it’s close or whatever but like I don’t see how you can hear these stories and see these clips and say like oh I don’t he doesn’t look like a number one option to me yeah like I don’t know I don’t know what you’re watching if you’re not seeing a number one option cuz he looks like dominant in some of these and he can handle the ball like a point guard he’s bringing the ball up against Drew holiday and then switching like Anthony Davis is switching onto him and he’s hitting stepback threes on him like I don’t like I don’t know how that’s not a number one option or how that’s like a secondary player I know man like I love Jason Tatum in high school like that was one of the like his junior year I was in on Jason Tatum Cooper flag has all the scoring potential that Jason Tatum had I I just don’t understand like I feel like it’s just because he has so much hype people are going to micro analyze them and find any weaknesses and make them out to be something bigger than they are um and some of it’s just hot takes contrarian stuff um people did it with wemi bro so people are going to do it with Cooper flag how many people people did we hear say gweny such a big risk somehow drafting a future top five player of all time is such a big risk Eric I mean so that’s that’s basically what we’re going to hear as far as Cooper flag but Cooper flag is the number one pick in the draft if the Blazers can get him that’ll change the fortunes of the franchise in a way that only wemi could change them unfortunately Dame’s gone but it changes the complete trajectory of this franchise being able to get a prospect like that he is he has the potential to be a generational in a way prospect it’s kind of weird to use that term two years after Wy because he’s truly generational um and normally you don’t get two guys like this in three years Cooper flag would have went one last year um I think he would have he would have went one not last year this year he would yeah the last draft I mean last draft he would have went easily number one in this past draft he would have went number two easily in my opinion behind wemi and then he would have went number one over Beno like I think he’s a better more functional player than Beno kuer flag is going to be the real deal he’s going to be a future star like there there’s no doubt in my mind um and normally that’s rare uh the I have not been as confident in a prospect as Cooper flag at other than W Bama and Cooper flag at 17 years of age doing what he’s doing at TV USA Camp against future Hall of Famers is insane and that’s the thing is like people are people are analyzing him as if he’s like going into his second year in the NBA he hasn’t even played college yet you know how much growth he’s going to have between now and when he gets in the NBA you know how much better he’s going to get yep well also I mean people are bringing up other players in this draft and stuff that’s what’s cool is you could be right people in chat who like other players and we have a chance of getting even if we miss out on flag which would be disappointing uh but we only have a 14% chance no matter what happens at best um but there are a lot of good players that you could also maybe by this time um in a few months like we’ll we’ll be saying oh this guy would be a good consolation to have because he’s better than any Prospect we could have had in this past draft as well yeah comments saying it’s just a scrimmage you just don’t get it you just don’t get it you can tell that this kid has it I mean it doesn’t matter what it is you throw a 17-year-old up against future Hall of Famers in their Prime I don’t care if it’s a scrimmage I don’t care if it’s one-on-one if they’re competing against them that is a really really good sign and downplaying that is just silly he’s 17 bro what were y’all doing when you were 17 years old I mean come on 17 years of age he he’s going to be legit like here’s the thing Eric I talk about like people overreact to summer league and people overreact to like a player’s rookie season I think negatively like I don’t like that because players can always transform themselves from their rookie season to like year five players can look completely different so I don’t like overreacting negatively to stuff like this sometimes you could just tell that a dude is special like immediately and watch just seeing these is like bro he looks like he belongs against NBA Hall of Famers at 17 so yeah well yeah he has it it’s just that simple it’s don’t even need to overthink it right and it’s I mean I’ve been hearing this like oh he’s playing in Maine there’s no competition there so then he goes to these aou tournaments and just freaking dominates everyone like it’s not even close he just like outshines everyone and then people are like well wait till he does it in college or against like NBA players or whatever now he’s doing it against NBA players and you literally have people saying he looks like the best player in these scrimmages and you’re like I don’t know at some point you have to start saying or stop saying oh he’s got to prove it he’s got to prove it he’s got to prove it like like you said you can just sometimes you just have that it factor and and I I uh I think he’s got it man I I I’d be surprised if he’s not um like at least a fringe All-Star player like at minimum I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a top 10 player one day like that’s that’s how high I am on him um he’s yeah it’s it’s simple and all the people that were pumping the brakes on wmy are the people that I guess will pump the brakes on Cooper flag too mhm So and I’ve been watching the uh the under 17 um USA team just won I I don’t remember what tournament that was but uh They just won the championship for that and uh man watching uh daona and uh and Camp Boozer those guys are super impressive too uh they’re a year behind uh neither one of them qualify to be able to reclassify so they’re stuck in another year of college uh but uh or in high school I mean um but man there’s some freaking talent coming up in these next couple drafts that’s why it doesn’t really make sense to be good I think I think the Blazers recognize that as well yeah like and we had somebody come in Russell said have fun blowing it up some more how many years do you guys think Blazers will be back in playoff contention if ever so I assume that comment is coming from a point of frustration with this organization continuing to rebuild and lose but guys let me let me answer this let’s get something out of this you like if we got out of rebuild mode and got stuck right back in mediocrity you would complain we all would complain if we were stuck in the middle with no hope to contend but like weren’t bad enough to have a chance at a guy like Cooper flag or have a good draft pick to draft somebody that could make a difference we would all be complaining you guys like for the people that are tired of losing and just want to be back in the playoffs you don’t want that as badly as you think you don’t because it’s basically you missing being in the playoffs once you get back in the playoffs and get your ass whooped by a one seed you’re not going to be feing for the playoffs anymore you’re not going to be desperate for the playoffs anymore it’s going to be okay what next we just lost in four or five games to the one seed we aren’t even on the same playing field as them how do we get to the same playing field as them that’s a whole another set of problems that’s suffering too maybe it’s a little bit more fun throughout the season and then oh yeah we get to talk about a playoff series maybe we could shock the world we win game one oh maybe we can do it and then we lose the next four we’ve seen that before they did that in the bubble against the Lakers okay that was miserable that sucked game one was fun but is years of struggle really just to win one playoff game no hell no so let’s get something out of the struggle and rebuild the right way and have a little patience because patience pays off and patience will pay off with this team if they trade Grant trade you know maybe eight I don’t know like trade Veterans for picks have a bunch of draft picks in the future and capitalize on the next two drafts that’s the only way they’re going to get to contention I know it’s not the most fun thing over the next couple of years but you’re focused on these young players developing at least they have some fun young players for you to watch next season and then hopefully they can actually find their next superstar in the next couple of drafts and maybe scoop or sharper or someone yeah I don’t know maybe they can be a star top 20 player as well okay then that’s when you will have fun is when that comes to fruition but getting tired of the rebuild now to the point where it’s like oh we just need to stop losing okay you would also be complaining about mediocrity and nobody likes that yeah I mean I’m not gonna we went through this last summer I don’t I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s wrong to want to make the playoffs if that’s what you want that’s what you want so that’s fine um and some people people are fine with that some people just want to see a competitive team fun games or whatever um it’s just I would like to know from the people who don’t want to rebuild or don’t want to tank again um like in your mind what would have to happen for this team to be good enough to not need another good player added to them um so I I guess if scoot becomes like the player we all hope and thought he would be sharp pops into like a top 10 to 20 player um you know kingan’s a top five Center or something abdia is the perfect fit at forward and continues growing um like maybe this team can get to contention I just I don’t understand how we get there just by like not tanking though you know what I mean like I don’t understand how how you make that leap from where they are and now if there’re this is this is another interesting question maybe you could do a poll if they’re like in playoff contention like halfway through the season next year like if they’re the eight seed or something 50 games into the season season around the All-Star break do you think they should pull the breaks cuz there’s going to be some teams that have already pulled the brakes long long before that um or do you think you should just let this team be what it is this season if they’re if they’re that good and I’m not even saying they they will be it’s just a hypothetical okay hopefully this question makes sense because I worded it like you it that’s but hit the breaks or let them go for it if they’re the 850 games into the season what should they do uh oh makes sense I Eric my answer is I don’t give a flying F about no eight seat so you’re sitting scooting sharp and stuff the last 30 games they’re going to come down with a random hamstring or what it what’s their it depends on like if they if they’re if they have a 10 game lead on the N Seed like you might as well just embrace it right like you’re not losing that lead most likely but if if you’re like eighth but you’re like three games behind the team with fourth best a a Cooper flag bro I don’t want to get my ass whooped as the eight seed over having a 10 to 14% chance at a generational Prospect because guess guess what that 10 to 14% chance at a generational Prospect gives you a greater chance to ultimately win a championship than getting your ass whooped in the first round and I want championships or I at least want to talk about us having a chance for championships not man we have no assets can we please add someone to give us a chance to get to contention oh Kent basemore come on down maybe he’s a Evan Turner upgrade oh son Whiteside come on down man at least you’ll make good memes but can you help win games no I want championships simple I understand if you want to let young players go for it blah I want championships and what literally everything literally every move no matter what should be to maximize this team’s chance of winning a championship in the controllable future so scoot Henderson thank you rip city for uh reminding me what this is had will’ll have left tendi opathy and uh Shaden Sharp’s going to have his right adductor soreness flare up right and uh they’re gonna they’re going to sit out the three games for you TOR yep who’s gonna who’s gonna need the core surgery this year it’s a great question do Donovan kingan’s gonna because he’s a Blazer yeah yeah if they are the eight seed 50 games into the season it’s probably because scoop made major steps sharp made major steps like there’s some good things behind that right if you can also take that if you can take that and then tank that then that’s the best of both worlds young players develop took bigger steps than you assumed and then you tank in a loaded draft now you’re cooking now you’re cooking I’m liking everyone’s answers it’s it’s fast different crosio logic says then next year you’ll want to get another Prospect year after no Championship only prospect there’s always going to be a better Prospect each year I don’t we don’t have a we don’t have a good enough roster going forward to contend unless every single thing breaks right we the Blazers need more upside they need to find their future Superstar that’s why they need a another really good Prospect or two so that they can find their next Superstar they can find their Anthony Edwards right they can find their Luca donic their SGA the Blazers need to find a guy like that unfortunately I’m not super confident in that guy already being on this team so if you’re just scoffing at potentially getting that guy just to maybe make an eight seed in the next couple years or maybe you can get a play and win and then get a play and loss like why why what for I it’s just no perp it has no purpose to me I think people just don’t want to limit the young guys this year and I me you let r i see that I see that point here’s the thing you know what limits the young guys having Jeremy Grant DeAndre Aon Robert Williams potentially that limits the young guys so you trade them away and you’re worse but you let the young guys Run free and you see what the hell happens and you probably suck and then you got a chance to get a really good player and it’s not just Cooper flag there’s a lot of really good players at the top of this next draft and that’s what you do and you let the young players play a ton of minutes and let them develop let them free Eric I agree oh NBA won’t give us Cooper flag says Caleb Wilson yeah good point man Lottery is not rigged anyway fun discussion kuer flag looks great 61% said hit the braks 39% say let him go for it good conversation and reading chat is f is fun right now shout out to you if you’re watching the stream participate in the live chat let us know what you think feel free to argue with anyone who thinks differently than you in the in the live chat just be respectful anyway summer league underway Eric we got California games everybody’s freaking out about bronny he goes two for9 in his first game people like see he sucks like bro he’s a freaking fouryear project why are we like you should expect him to struggle early on I don’t even want to talk about bronny you and Rich on the last episode of Rip City retro if you guys haven’t checked that out go check it out you and Rich went into the whole bronny thing and um I thought I thought it was a pretty good conversation I pretty much agree with with both of you guys um ultimately like people are going to pay attention to bronnie the attention is going to get annoying ultimately you don’t have to buy into the attention he’s a long-term project he’s probably not going to play at all and people are going to forget about him being on the team like halfway through the season except for Laker fans and I just don’t understand making a big deal about it whether you love bronny or hate bronny because you think he got into the league off nepotism like it just it truly does not matter actually Eric yeah um I mean I don’t know how much of this is just teams thinking they were going to get LeBron but I mean there were there had to have been other teams considering drafting him if Rich Paul had to threaten them that he wasn’t going to play and go to Australia right there there had to be some teams at least considering drafting him yeah Rich Paul didn’t know and just wanted to make sure yeah um I mean there was rumors that like Minnesota they had like the 37th or 38th pick was like interested in taking him um I don’t know it’s just it’s weird I his shot didn’t go in um and this is going to sound stupid because like I saw so many of these like stories after the game like LeBron shows he’s or bronny shows he’s NBA level worthy and all this like crazy stuff but I didn’t think he looked that bad outside of missing shots like obviously didn’t shoot well but like pullup jumper looked pretty nice just wasn’t going in yeah he he looks like he belongs on a summer league floor just didn’t play too well like he he’s good enough he I legitimately think he has enough potential where in a draft like this like if he wasn’t LeBron’s son maybe you could have Justified taking him um which I was not saying that but the more I looked into a man like he had a rough season this last year card all that stuff he was a McDonald’s allamerican Prospect he plays defense he can pass the ball a bit and shot wise like he looked like a decent shooter until college and just struggled but his form’s fine so if you can develop that shot you got a three and D point point card like if he can have a Javon Carter roll that wouldn’t Shock Me Maybe he’s not quite to that level but I think he he at least has a very realistic chance of being good enough down the line to be on an NBA roster or at least on a two-way and that’s the case for most 50 55th overall picks we’re just paying a ton a ton of attention to this one because it’s broy I get it it’s that’s just why just do not think it really all the attention and all that stuff matters because he’s a 55th pick to me yes he got a contract probably because he’s broy but who freaking cares what the Lakers do with their last roster spot yeah well I mean Cooper Flags 23 is supposed to be or like I think both you and I agree should have been one of the most ready to go players in this draft flag 23 I mean uh dton connect sorry I don’t know why I on Dalton connect sorry uh so like I’m not saying the bringing this up to like be over reactionary about don’t connect but like he struggled too it’s not like players don’t struggle in summer league sometimes so I don’t know yep it happens of disappointed that he sat out with n swelling though um hopefully he can play other Summer League games cuz it is kind of fun to to watch him play yeah it is fun to watch um just after last year Brandon Miller was terrible in summer league and he Tor torched teams his rookie season okay like I I don’t overreact to Summer League struggles if somebody comes out and dominates summer league I think you can read more into that than somebody struggling if they’re like 1920 like like Dame came in dominated summer league and you could tell like yeah he’s going to be good okay somebody like Nick Batum was terrible in summer league and then started his rookie season was fine uh so it’s a completely new team like these guys are playing on a completely new team new context new three-point line new shot clock um new system like there’s so many different things that they are not yet comfortable with playing on a summer league team with like you got guards Off the Bench that think they have to Chuck 20 shots to make it to the NBA um and guys like connect it’s like he’s going to be an off ball guy mainly off of LeBron off of AD off of the stars of that team he’s not going to be a number one like he’s going to be used in summer league so there’s so much context that goes into summer league strugles this why you can’t read into it at all and I already know if kinging comes in and struggles like people are going to be reading into it I wasn’t the highest cling kinging guy but I will not roast him if he struggles in summer league like he may look a little slow okay he needs to work on his foot speed a little bit or maybe recognize things faster like simple he’ll work on that he’s a rookie and I just think after last year with the way people treated scoot Henderson and overreacted to scoot Henderson like I I’m just I am not going to enjoy any overreactions and they’re sure to come after summer league men I’m curious how many people in chat watched that game that was on right before we went live with uh Utah and uh Memphis that was a that was pretty pretty interesting game a lot of players on both rosters playing in that game um that I was just curious how what your guys’s thoughts were Edy Edy looked okay um kind of showcased some of the things that made him successful in college but also showed why he could struggle at times in the NBA but uh thought overall he had a pretty good game and uh this ties back into the bronny thing but uh I’ve mentioned this several times back in December I went to a game at Oregon State and watched USC play and uh I don’t know I just both Brony and Isaiah CER had that like I don’t know they just have that like aura about them you know like I I hate to use that word but like you know they just I don’t know they just feel like they’re they like know the game and they like understand it and they’re they play like they’re good players you know that’s kind of what I saw on Brandon Miller last year um but like I don’t know it just kind of jumped out of the out of out at me that like these guys are both like NBA players at the time um now I I did think they both look smaller than they were listed and that turned out to be correct but um yeah I just watching Collier and his burst and passing vision and stuff in that game like stuff like that I think you can take from Summer League like if dudes can play like you can notice it kind of like what we were saying about Cooper flag earlier yeah yeah like you can notice somebody’s good traits and the thing is is is like maybe the windows they’re making these passes aren’t there in the NBA and they turn over the ball lot you know what I mean like there is obviously differences between summer league and NBA um so you know can’t fully read into it it’s just if somebody has good traits Summer League rookie year like gives you confidence that okay they’ll get that up to the NBA level given some time um so I I just it’s funny because people say Blazers uprises just hot takes and clickbait and rage bait how much have I had to how much have I had to tell people to have patience and not overreact the last year in change especially regarding scoot so just just funny funny how that works Eric um anyway let’s move on to free agency only one move I really want to talk about unless we’re not going to break down a Donis arms game for the Sacramento Kings no that’s quite the name though it’s a pretty cool name um we’ll break down more summer league once I actually watch summer league once it’s in Vegas yeah once it’s in Vegas um or if somebody like dominates you know but I have not watched a single minute of Summer League so far free agency DeMar fren to the Kings Eric uh I think it’s a move that doesn’t change anything for them I yeah it’s kind of weird I mean let let me just say this and then I’ll let you I’ll let you go Demar D roen is that archetype that I’ve talked about a lot where he’s not good enough to be the number one player on a team but he’s not good enough off the ball to be like a number three player on a team he’s skilled and talented and can put the ball in the hoop but he does not have a productive role to on a winning team unless the team like is maybe a number one defensive team that can really shoot the ball but like has no creation and no Rim pressure it have to be the perfect situation for him to have like a productive productive role on a winning team or he’d be having to play with like Superstars that can just get it done anyways the Kings he doesn’t help their defense he not gonna play Super well in my opinion off of sabonis and fox um so I don’t think that move makes him any better even though it’s like the Splashy move anyway the only thing I’ll say to counter that is uh sabonis has struggled in times offensively um especially in playoffs um like just trying to create and score um his shot gets a little flat when he’s tired um Fox is uh obviously ly a good scorer and and can control the game but like Keegan’s more of just a shooter um I don’t know if he’s necessarily going to be like a top-notch Creator ever um maybe you got that in Devin Carter in the draft but um he potentially could space the floor as well so they have a couple of Shooters to go along with the questionable shooting of fox and sabonis but I think D rozan is the type of guy who can in those playoff series maybe just get you a bucket um and uh I don’t know I think Fox is I’m I don’t know it’s hard to say he’s better than Lowry was because obviously Lowry won a championship but like just like scoring wise he’s better I guess um I don’t know I kind of I don’t I I agree that it doesn’t really it doesn’t make them contenders or jump a tier or anything but uh I do kind of like them not just sitting around and running it back yeah I just think if Fox and sabonis are struggling they’re screwed because Demar D rozan is not good enough to like carry that team if those two guys are struggling yeah so yeah at least they did something though they’re not the Lakers I mean he’s been like an Allstar like in the last couple years and like he’s still averag that 24 or 25 last year he’s good it’s just the archetype right like it’s just it’s just the archetype like he’s a stats guy when they had like LaVine healthy and you know vich isn’t a good defensive Center and that like they they had their moments when they they were a playing Team okay I mean they were there was parts of the season I think it was two years ago where they were a little higher than a playing team for a while and then they fell off once theine started having injury issues but um I don’t know they they have their moments they they are that team is not good enough with d rozen’s number one to like consistently stay above playing level right um and if you had a better team DeRozan’s GNA play off ball more which isn’t his best role so you know it’s it’s contradictory um to winning basketball for me when uh I Mark gou was a good passer when he was in Toronto but that was after never mind that was after was gone um yeah they get rid of D rozen bring and qu Leonard go from like they can’t win anything in the playoffs and then they win it all yeah I mean that team I talked about this with uh Samson folk one time like uh like I wonder what would have happened had SE yakum had that jump that that he had but they kept the team mostly together and added marcool and those type of players um with the Rosen and stuff you know yeah do you remember though the way D rozan would fall apart in the playoffs back then I mean I don’t brutal series and the thing is is like that that type of player Russ was the same way where he’d fall apart in playoffs like when you can’t shoot threes and you’re relying upon like slashing without the ability to knock down threes it’s tougher in the playoffs because you can be more physical on drives so if you can’t like cleanly beat your guy off the dribble because they’re not respecting your shot enough you’re going to get bumped more in the playoffs it’s going to be harder to get to the rim and that’s why guys like Russ and Demar in to a lesser extent Josh Kitty last year like those types of guys always seem to fall apart in the playoffs yeah sh yeah for sure sorry go ahead if you want to wrap up that yeah I I agree I just I wonder uh cuz he I’m trying to think if D rozen’s played with a a passing big like like sabonis maybe you know can kind of pass he’s not sabonis kind of but he’s not he’s not like he doesn’t have Vision I I’m just trying to think of like Aaron Gordon right goes to Denver and becomes a good cutter and plays off ball better than he ever had because of the vision of the big man I know that’s an extreme example because of both of those players and obviously yogan is the MVP I’m just wondering if maybe D rozan at this point of his career can learn how to be more of a a cutter off ball with if you get him with a good big man passive I’m not saying it will happen I’m just curious if that if maybe he finds a way to make it work yeah I just Aaron Gordon made that change when he was 25 D rozen’s about to be 35 so um not much not much confidence in that uh and the thing is like Aaron Gordon defends as well so so like offensively cutter type like okay he’s GNA give you value on defense and then he fills in the gaps on offense and that’s a good player dzan doesn’t really give you anything on defense so to be I fill in the Gap sky at 25 million is kind of strange especially for a for a non three-point shooter like Gordon’s a little bigger a little more athletic like from a stand still you know D rozan ain’t the same athlete he used to be so that’s just where like I just I don’t know I don’t see it going that way for Demar I think Off the Bench he could be a good like bench piece but they’re going to start him and he’s going to probably play 32 to 35 minutes a game well the rumor is they’re still trying to get kozma as well we’ll see if that happens I like kma better for them believe it or not but still it’s is kind of weird to that’s your up that’s that’s your upgrades kma and D rozan huh yeah kma’s only a kma’s a sub 34% three-point shooter 33.6% last year 33.7% for his career that’s where it’s like the Lakers talking about and we’ll segue this the Lakers talking about oh maybe maybe they don’t go after Grant maybe they go after kosma the last two years Grant shot above 40% from three kma’s been at 33% that’s a seven percentage Point difference that’s a drastic difference yeah kozma’s a little better passer but you don’t need if you’re the Lakers you don’t need that player to be a really good passer you got LeBron like Austin Reeves can make the right play like I don’t know kosma handled a lot of playmaking Duties in Washington that he probably wouldn’t handle in La if he returned to the Lakers it’s funny cuz you look at his he averaged 1.9 his final year in La then he went to Washington and jumped to 3.5 I would expect it to jump back down you need a guy that can knock down threes cut attack close outs well get downhill attack you know finish at The Rim off of plays like that and then play some defense and Grant to me is just a much clearer fit than kusma especially when you look at the reports Eric that the Wizards want two first round picks for Kyle kosma just like the Portland Trailblazers want two first- round picks for Jeremy Grant yeah the only thing kuzma has a clear advantage on Jeremy is rebounding I mean that’s like easily a much better skill in rebounding um but what were the what were the Lakers ranked rebounding wise last year yeah that’s what I was going to say is like with LeBron and Anthony Davis do you really need rebounding that much um or is it more important to space the floor and I think it’s more important to space the floor I will say the Lakers were the worst offensive rebound rebounding team uh defensive rebounding they were 12th um but you’re not you’re not making a trade for a small forward power forward type for their offensive rebounding you know you’re not giving them two first round picks for their offensive rebounding um so ultimately like I still think Grant is the better play for the Lakers Grant gives them a better chance to win but Eric we haven’t streamed since Wednesday because there’s just been nothing regarding the Blazers have you heard anything like is there anything we can talk about new that we did not talk about last Wednesday well before I answer that Pim Rose had that $20 donation that I cut you off from Reading earlier he says it’s summer and it’s hot in the Pacific Northwest with a cactus desert Emoji uh thank you so much man really appreciate it hot man thank you for the donation it is very hot how hot is it supposed to be tomorrow Tori and there idiots and played basketball when it was like 97 out we started at uh at 7 hopefully it was going to be cooler tomorrow it’s going to be 101 yeah I saw it could be like 104 105 in some places yeah it’s pissing me off I I don’t have AC at least you have AC I know you turned it off I just have like a like a yeah like a portable unit it’s better than nothing yeah cuz it’s like 90° in here bro it’s still hot even with that that’s why like cooking now I’m like I’m like I’m like sitting here having to like internally like like relax myself so I don’t sweat you ever do that when it’s hot but you like mentally stop yourself from sweating or is that just a me thing uh I can’t mentally stop myself from sweating but I don’t I don’t know if that made any sense to anybody watching the stream but hopefully at least one person in chat can be like that makes sense that’s like heard uh the Ducks coach Dan Lanning um he I heard him once say that being sick is a choice and he chooses not to get sick so he doesn’t that’s kind of like same oh God man I got told today that my uh my flight anxiety is a choice oh what kind is a yeah I was like bro if I could choose not to have fight anxiety I freaking would I would in case you guys don’t know I I airplanes like heists I’ve struggled with them the past like 10 years of my life hey I will say this I will say this coming back from my run I did drive across the 405 Fremont Bridge which normally is a struggle for me because I don’t like being up that high especially on a bridge handled it pretty well so maybe I’m ready to to like fly to Seattle or something but yeah uh anxiety not a choice I’ll just say that me dying to heat right now not a choice just don’t have AC mhm sound like you need to go skydiving T yeah no I think that’s a terrible idea especially given Eric especially given my life’s background we won’t go into that hey rosed USA says you all see Cooper flag giving USA the business today we need that kid facts facts some people in chat though you see Cooper flag on the left some people in chat were saying Ace Bailey’s better though and that Cooper flag it’s just a scrimmage he’s just 17 competing against Hall of Famers and holding his own but it’s just a scrimmage so you would enjoy that uh segment of the show anyway Eric are or is that just me uh you’re lagging wow or am I lagging no I don’t think I’m lagging dang it what’s wrong with my internet uh you can still hear me though right yeah I can still hear you um okay so back to your question of whether we’ve heard anything uh since the last time we talked um well first let’s set the stage what did we say last time that was the Blazer stance they want two first round picks for JY Grant and they’re not going to budge according to things right now right correct well since we’ve said that uh both uh super duper Blazer reporters Sean hien and Danny mering have both said that as well that the Blazers are going to be patient they are not going to cave in unless someone meets their demands uh and they will simply not trade either of those guys unless a team gives in and I think right now that’s the correct approach to have like just wait for a team to Cave now if it gets closer to the season maybe start to rethink that theory um but I think right now there’s no reason to rush into a trade or give up leverage just CU you don’t feel like waiting there’s no point not waiting right now yeah 100% we’ve been saying that that is the case um and then on the Anthony Simons front actually there is something to talk about because there’s a tweet on the 4th of July a dunk Central tweet quoting a hikin article that said infy Simon status is worth keeping an eye on on draft night Cronin said the Blazers are committed to building around scoot Henderson and Shaden sharp and didn’t mention Simon’s name Simons also appears open to a move at at his end of season xit interview in April he said he wants the opportunity to win which is very plainly not where the Blazers are right now or will be in the next few years all I’ll say is this um hopefully you picked up on the hints before that report that I gave about Anthony Simons okay that’s all I’ll say uh because sorry go ahead you didn’t see that today then I guess no both have clarified that there has absolutely been no discussion between Anthony and the team regarding trading him there which is what I would expect them to say no trade request that’s what I would expect them to say if he’s not going to get traded that’s what I would expect him to say Eric that’s all I’ll say okay okay because they are not going to sit here and say yeah we’re keeping him but he demanded a trade they’re not going to say that so you know I mean I am not 100% certain of stuff that I’ve heard leading up to that but basically that whole report from hi was basically in lock step with like some of the weird things that I was hearing about Simon’s like being open to a move and maybe I heard where it was worded A Little Bit Stronger ultimately he has no trade market they’re not going to trade him they’re not going to trade him so he’s going to be back and they’re GNA play it cool and you know maybe that truly was the way it was I’m not 100% sure but I do think it was interesting that hiken was teasing that hiken said that multiple times hiken said that was his interpretation of both press conferences that had nothing to do with we’re talking about a dude that is cool with Cronin yeah I know I know anyway and a dude that doesn’t usually speculate record before all this they said that I’ve heard the exact opposite of what you’ve heard just just for the record um like so I don’t know I’m not saying either of us are right or wrong I’ve I’ve heard that there’s there is tension in the sense that this is what hiken brought up is that Anthony that question we posed earlier 50 games into the season we’re fighting for a playoff team or playoff seed we pull the shoot Aon is going to be pissed off he is not going to be happy and might demand to trade then uh but everything I’ve heard is that there has been absolutely zero talk between Anthony and the team about requesting a trade or demanding a trade or anything regarding a trade this off seon yeah it’s just funny how I heard the compl offic we’ve never had competing Intel before and listen listen my Intel’s been wrong before but I trusted and it was also like two different places so I I don’t know it it was strange stuff um it’s just complete opposite so I don’t know I don’t know if there was tension and maybe aunt was open to wanting out I would expect them to patch things over and act like that wasn’t real okay so who knows but I’ve been hearing this the whole time you’ve been because I’ve been asking the same thing to I don’t know it’s kind of weird it is very said it’s never it’s never been exact opposite before yeah it’s first time has happen May maybe it’s not the last time I don’t know but ultimately I have a start pump the brakes on it because Orlando was the team I thought was going to go after him and ultimately if you’re the Blazers and you got sharp you got scoot you got ant either you think all three can work or you’re wondering if you have to trade one of them down the line it’s either or like and maybe part of it’s like oh we need to find out if they work okay well then what if they don’t ultimately you’re going to have to trade one and that’s the point they’re at right now so I don’t can I go ahead never mind I lost my TR thought go ahead oh going to say I don’t think it has to be that either you know it’s going to work or it’s not or you have to trade one I think you can go into this one season seeing giving it one more year if it work yeah that’s what I just said and that’s what they’re going to do because ultimately it does not make sense to trade any of the any of the three I thought Orlando might put together a package that could have been good enough for ant depending on how you feel about Anthony black because it just logically made sense to me not hearing anything like there’s no there was never actually even a rumor a tied to Orlando but for a while now it’s been like okay well an from there like every single person what does Orlando need they need shot creation and shooting they have a really good defense they have ball handling at forward spots so they don’t even need a pure point guard they don’t even run a pure point guard so that takes some of the playmaking responsibilities off of Ant and ant gives them exactly what they need which is shot creation they don’t have enough shot creation they had some awful offensive games against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round in that four five series awful offensive games and you know Cleveland matched up pretty well with them when you have Jared Allen Evan Moy to deal with a guy like Paulo um It’s just tough especially with him being in the second year uh needs some experience ultimately everybody agreed they need shot creation they need shooting and in my opinion was the perfect player for a multitude of reasons for them to go out and get and they elected to go for guys that are Shooters but not Shock creators they went for kcp and then I’m blinking on the other name who was the other guy they went after who’s the other guy they signed they just resigned a bunch of their own guys didn’t they yeah I thought they signed someone else though I’m blinking oh yeah they brought back Gary Harris I think that’s who I’m thinking about Gary Harris yeah Gary that’s who I was thinking of though those guys aren’t shot creators those guys are like three and guys which is good to have but they don’t have a single guard they can rely on for shot creation well sugs takes a leap or something unless I mean I would love that as a Gonzaga fan so ultimately it was like okay Orlando’s the spot for an Sims they didn’t go after him I heard they didn’t even they didn’t even call Portland about anony and it’s like if a team like Orlando doesn’t even call Portland about Anthony what team is willing to give up good value for Anthony it’s not out there he has no he does not have a market that’s suitable for his talent he’s far better than his trade market ultimately that leads to no matter what potentially happened he’s saying yeah because I think I mean is he really that much different than like aanuel quickley last year going to Toronto and getting a big contract there and I I don’t know not I don’t think it’s that that much different what do you mean different in what way like in terms of how we could go to a team and be their league guard or whatever like Toronto feels like they found in a mano quickly yeah yeah but like Toronto I don’t think was willing to give up much for Emanuel quickly no yeah listen if ant gets traded it’s probably a team like Portland just like oh we want to move forward with Scoot and sharp and we’re just going to trade ant because we don’t think the three guards can work and we like scoot we like sharp so they trade ant to a team that gives up a bargain for him and then ant goes there and is their lead guard and averages like 23 and five that is the most likely trade scenario which that does not make Portland look good at all no so I said going into the offseason I did not think ant would get traded I heard some things I thought okay it might be likely I thought Orlando was going to be the team and then they just didn’t freaking care so his trade market is even worse yeah well his trademark is even worse than I thought and I thought it wasn’t that good to begin with they they’re stuck with the three guards Donan Mitchell yeah they’re stuck with the three guards even if they don’t work they still might have to try and make it work because I don’t think they can justify trading one of them for the return that they’d ultimately get back mhm yeah okay so let me ask you this if if La gave us connect both first and a swap for both Jeremy and and for you taking it connect both first and a swap yeah or just maybe just connect them both first because that’s a lot no no you said swap I’ll take it with the swap yeah so you’re not doing it without the swap no I’m taking with the swap well it depends on what year the swap is too yeah if it’s like if it’s like 2029 swap in 2030 and 2031 and connect I mean how do you say no to that then you just clear the books you clear the books next season whatever salary you get back you try and flip it for expiring and you go into next off season try move off eight and for an expiring and whatever value you can get you go into next off season you got $70 million in cap space and all of a sudden then you can trade for unprotected swaps from other team just for taking on like guys like Devonte Graham or whoever or Harrison Barts the Spurs literally got an unprotected swap in what 2031 with the Kings for taking on Harrison Barnes 18 million stupid I would I would love for the Blazers to be in that position position if they can get back justifiable pick and young player value for Simons ant Grant and then just move forward with Scoot and sharp and then be in that position to just accumulate assets on assets while also being worse and probably having a better pick next year to me that is improving the odds that one day they win a championship I understand if people don’t want to do that to me I would do that because I feel like it improves our chances of winning a championship in the controllable future yeah Graham wasn’t a good example I was thinking Spurs players yeah cuz Spurs traded unprotected first or Spurs got an unprotected first round pick swap for simply taking on Harrison Barnes the Hornets got Josh Green who’s a good player for like nothing because they could absorb his salary and under the new CBA you’re going to have a lot more opportunities to take on salary with assets attached as teams try and stay under these aprons M yeah well I would say also Charlotte got three seconds for taking on Reggie Jackson’s $5 million contract which was a pretty good deal but then we just trade those seconds for cash so it wouldn’t matter anyway facts still still like I know people say oh why do you care s pick it still pisses me off that we turn the 40th cash it pisses me off cuz Cronin said at one point and you said this in the Rip City retro podcast it’s the Curren the new currency of the NBA or something like that well okay don’t trade that NBA currency for currency in Jody’s pocketbooks then because how does that help the NBA team yeah I mean look at all these deals that got facilitated basically just using second round picks like almost every signing turned into a second round pick swap with uh with signning trades you know because teams are getting smart about how to manage their cap and stuff yep man anyway that’s the latest update I think the Blazers are done Eric unless sorry go ahead Anthony and Grant would be dang good man don’t make me root for La I wouldn’t root for him that’s the wrong word don’t what you say Z religious oh my goodness someone clip that crap uh clip it chat yeah I I deserve that one um but no I just I don’t want to have to I don’t want to have to like check in on my boy playing for La God that would suck at least we’d have connect D they’d be so good aony and Grant with LeBron and AD oh yeah I mean I I don’t really want to see ant in a Lakers uniform man that would kind of hurt um in a way but you’re right they’re not getting and I have uh what is today’s the eth so I have uh what 20 wait how many is there 31 in yeah there’s 31 in July right 31 days yep um so I have uh 24 days until Kyle Neely owes me 20 bucks this is why you feel so strongly about that I wish I got in on that bet too at the time I would have felt a little worried about it a ago but I was dude you have me so worried I was like I was like bugging this person like every day for like weeks like please tell me this is the true like dude like it was the most legitimate sounding thing I’ve heard yeah because I don’t hear much I don’t really I don’t like start a branch sh but was the most legitimate silent thing I’ve heard but at the same time it’s like just no Market just no market so that’s the that’s the thing I wonder too is like which one of the three guards are they lowest on or are they like children where we love all of you equally they have to be lowest on one of the three right yeah I mean it’s normal I mean this ain’t this Ain Parenthood so I I don’t know I don’t know um I just the Blazers are done I guess they had one day Eric one day where they have a little flurry and then it’s just nothing I’m ask I still think Grant could be who are you bringing off the I just okay the Kings strike out on kozma and feel like they still need to do something maybe Lakers good CH I think the Lakers would have done it already I think the Lakers would have done it already the Denny trade leaves me believing they’re lower on scoot how does the Denny trade relate to scoot at all Den he’s a small forward power forward scoots a point guard I don’t really understand that um you there yeah sorry my dog was drinking so I was muted we like that type of ASMR um it’s weird because I think if you well they were definitely hoping scoot would be their best player last year and just hit the ground running obviously with Joe’s comments but I think they clearly thought Anthony was their best player last year but now I don’t know if that’s just they don’t want that to be true or whatever um they’re just hopeful that uh I still think they think sharp is going to be the best out of the three but uh yeah I don’t know you know what’s funny too about that is like sharp had some really good moments last year and there’s some CLA TS going to like he just kind of being ran to the ground when he struggled statistically you can make the case that he wasn’t much better than scoot I was comparing their stats the other day you’re very silent after that statement nice what I mean I just it’s hard to compare like I’ve been saying all along the defensive attention both of them received yeah well 100% like I said there’s context that goes into that there it’s just I forgot I forgot sharp stats because you know I haven’t really been thinking about stats at the top of my head and I looked back like there were moments where he looked like a star he has some real real rough moments where where is he truly CU I feel like we just did not get a good gauge for him last year I mean his efficiency was not there last year it was pretty bad he was 33.3% from three people say scoot can’t shoot he was 32.5% he was within his percentage Point scoot no I know scoot that can see actually had a higher percentage when he started wearing Contex but teams are leaving him open and teams are guarded sharp like that’s the difference but what were you saying what was Sharps the year before 36% yeah 36% 80 games three and a half a game it was good volume it was good volume um but that’s just where it’s like we don’t know where sharp is as a three-point shooter because a lot of that was like catch and shoot stuff but the best version of sharp is like hitting threes off the dribble how far away is he from being efficient enough hitting threes off the dribble to where it’s a strength yeah because if you’re shooting 33% it’s not good enough so I think he’ll grow to that it’s just man like scoot at the end of the year was hitting threes off the dribble so what is scoot next season from three assuming he’s improving his shot this offseason I don’t know I think there’s a world I think there’s a world where scoot could have a three point percentage next year than sharp which sounds wild to say but I wouldn’t be shocked I would bet on Sharp having the higher three-point percentage Eric but I don’t know there was also there’s also a very logical explanation that his core injury affected him the entire year and then when he got ran to the ground it just made it worse and now that’s cleared up he should be better and hopefully not playing 42 minutes a game yeah I mean we complained about that I complained about that a lot last season 100% and that’s why it’s like I don’t know what he is he might shoot 38% from three next year like oh he’s healthy and he’s not being ran to the ground and he’s this caliber shooter like okay I wouldn’t be shocked or it’s just off the dribble shooting some of the three point attempts that he did last year he’s like a 33 34% shooter so I don’t know like that there’s there’s a range there’s a range for Sharp um I’m hoping he shoots above 35% from three off like some of the off durble jumpers he was shooting last year I hope just his efficiency improves as he shoots some of these tough tough threes because that is what would make him a really good player because then how do you keep him in front if you have to respect every hesi he throws in every step back you know he he step backs doesn’t pick up his dribble like you got to chase him off the line if he’s hitting those you’re forcing Defenders to go over screens every time even if they’re maybe deeper threes like they can’t slide under so that gives the pick and roll more room it’s all the stuff that Dame was really good at that made him really good shooting some of the threes that he shot and made can sharp be that type of shooter and how far away is he hopefully he doesn’t get hurt next year because I think next year we will get a much better gauge on that than we were able to get last year unfortunately what if Spud improves his three off the dribble so much that teams want him to drive because his finishing is so bad then I think that would be so weird like I think his finishing would get much better than I know I know just like that would be that would be fascinating like and that’s the that’s the fun part about next season I know some people don’t want to lose but we’re going to learn a lot about scoo and sharp next year um which I said we’re going to learn a lot about the team going into last year like that’s the thing in rebuilds is you have players that should improve a ton and you should you don’t know what you have going into the season necessarily whereas like when we’re running and back with a veteran Laden Team without making many changes like we knew what we had going into each season 2016 2017 like at most it was like maybe Evan Turner can be a Difference Maker okay cool um great so that’s the thing that’s the fun part of a rebuild of losing is is Denny a a legitimately a 37% three-point shooter that’s what he shot last year but he was like 29 to 31% his first three seasons so was that an outlier year or was that Improvement who knows I think it’s Improvement hearing him talk he talked about that today in his interview I think it’s just legitimate Improvement and just the mental side of shooting um but you know it would make me feel a lot better about his shooting to see him first like 105 games knocking down threes at 37 38% because he was not a three-o shter until last year I me I really hope that’s who he is fingers crossed man we need we need some of these guys to like be good Shooters and I have hope that like one sharp scoot or Denny I have hope that at least one of them is going to shoot 37% from three it’s probably sharper Denny but I don’t know which one and if it’s scoot then that’s a really good sign yeah I bet anyone that it’s sharp is the highest out of those three but I that’s not stret I I just people say like scoot can’t shoot and that just drives me crazy the the scoot like 32.5% isn’t great but for him as a starting point especially like he started the year two for 24 then started wearing contacts shot better and then he shot some tough off the dribble threes like step back threes at the end of last season and had that game he was six for six from three like you saw him grow from the three-point line and he was like a capable shooter the last what month month and a half of the season it’s like there there’re still F has to talk about him like he can’t shoot like let him build off of what he did last season let him build off his improvements last year because he definitely did improve same thing with finishing like he struggled pretty much all year he was dealing with a packed paint his Defenders didn’t really respect the three-point shot the three-point shot improves it’s going to be easier to beat him off the dribble hopefully he can have more spacing this year it’s going to be easier around the rim and then he has to work on things he has to get better with his left he has to know when to like jump into the body of the shot blocker he got to the free throw line quite a bit as a rookie if he can just become an average finisher and get to the free throw line regularly off his drives and then collapse defense make kick out passes of that then he’s a good driver even if his finishing isn’t good if it’s just okay because he’s make he’s getting to the free throw line that’s a super efficient play he had some really impressive kickout passes last year and despite his lack of room finishing he could still collapse defenses so that’s my hope is the three-point shot comes along is just average makes it a little easier for him to drive and then um he can get to the line make the right kick out passes and then just be like a 50% um guy 52% guy at The Rim like that’s still not efficient but if you get into the line a lot like I’ll take that Improvement you know what I mean it’s still needs work but it would be good Improvement for year two from a 20-year-old for sure I really hope you’re right you don’t think that would be good no I mean I’m just saying I really hope you’re right that his shooting is something that wasn’t just like a good stretch or something you know we will have to do a stream before the season where we predict stats for every player oh yeah my favorite thing and then we look back at at the end of the season yeah all right Chris Murray 19% from three just kidding just kidding I’m I have an open mind on Chris Murray now okay until he ruins it SC is going to shoot 34% from three you’re going to say I’m a hater or something no no I’d actually be surprised that you went that high 34% your two is fine he’s on his way to 36% if he can be 36% I think that’s that’s like my goal for his career getting to that point I see Chase in chat we uh both had the opportunity to meet Chase he came out here from Florida and uh so it was cool to meet you chase yeah yeah it was dope Chase has a nice beard also he hates Houston’s airport or something I was reading today yeah never been there let’s watch our uh game footage live on there it’s too hot for that bro you’re going to remind me of how hot it was when we played I’m going start feeling the heat in here that I have been consciously ignoring yeah so that I don’t sweat yourself yeah anyway you’re making yourself cool this has been a fun stream appreciate you guys guys hanging out anything else Eric um thought I had something else but uh yeah anyone have any quick questions before we go we haven’t really answered too many things from chat true I’ll put my shoes on while chat asks these questions because I’m not staying in this hot ass room and as Tori’s mentioned a few times there’s a new Rip City retro uh if you’re not familiar with that go check out Rip City retro page uh Rich Finley and I did an episode and then also on our second Channel Blazers uprise podcast there was a new Hoops Crush episode as well today are you guys still in panic mode about trading ant and Grant there’s a comment in chat that’s that’s the voice I read in uh we’ literally talk no Eric we’re freaking panicking bro we’re freaking panicking I’m freaking out man I guess Panic anymore if they don’t trade if they don’t trade Grant I’m a freak out bro just letting you know full panic mode that TV behind me that’s like on on the thing behind me I’m throwing that if we don’t trade him I’m throwing them I’m throwing that at the camera and then I’m shutting down the channel can’t stand for it I got so much crap for saying it was time to panic about Gary P the second and look what end up happening yeah the only time Mr Cool Eric Brandt panicked it was justified because of GP two weeks and everyone freaking killed me for saying that so if Eric panics you better Panic too that [ __ ] and with that and with that man I what okay final what is with panic mode being like a new phrase where like if you ever talk about anything being a potential issue it’s like quote unquote panicking is that like some new gen Z way of talking like am I just not I I don’t get it it’s just like with everything you know it’s goat or trash it’s like the best or the worst so like if you talk about something you would either like freaking you’re like super negative like Tori you were negative this whole episode uh so you either love that Jody’s in the tax or you’re panicking about it is that how it works I guess you can’t mention that the Blazers are in the tax because that’s panicking yeah you can’t talk about it being a potential issue if they don’t solve it or iing a problem if they cut somebody and take on dead money no that means you’re panicking and then when they find the perfect trade that means you got proven wrong Eric yeah I love narratives I love arguments it’s summer though it’s summer though we don’t we won’t have much of those for a while thank goodness I get tired of them what uh comment I’m losing my mind it’s hot comment says just got here what did they do who why is that comment P panicking about whoever they is anyway I can’t even talk straight Eric anything else well thanks everyone for watching have a great day hope you all stay cool if you’re in the area um yeah uh Kevin we we answer that at the beginning of the show I have none bro I’m suffering I’m suffering out here so I I’m going outside I got my shoes on already I’m going outside you’re going to go touch grass might touch some grass bro might touch some trees or something just it’s about time right so anyway shout out to those of you going to rewatch The Stream it’s been a fun stream we’re out of here we’ll catch you guys live again on Thursday unless the Blazers do something probably not so we’ll probably see you Thursday but summer league stream on Saturday that should be fun we will live react to Summer League game number one hopefully our lottery pick cling Kong can play through the whole game yeah because the last two years that has not gone well bro I swear we will never do a summer league game again if Kling Kong gets like banged up in game one because it’s just bad luck Eric Ed went down tonight with an ankle injury and then like he was being taken to the locker room and then was like no I’m going back to the bench and came right back in game what is Portland Blazer summer leue game on ESPN uh no Blazers uprise that’s where you can find the game we will uh we won’t actually stream it but we’ll live react should be fun anyway right here check out Rip City retro sh check out Hoops Crush new podcast that dropped in the past few days check them out shout out to you guys right out here thank you to pimp for donating and until next time as always peace out go Blazers

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