The RJ Barrett-Immanuel Quickley Era Begins! | Raptors Show Full Episode

The RJ Barrett-Immanuel Quickley Era Begins! | Raptors Show Full Episode

Good afternoon welcome to the Raptor show on the sports Cent radio network and sports at 360 presented by Kors light go from fulltime to game time Kors light made to chill make sure you find the Raptor show wherever you listen to podcast And subscribe please rate review

Our show I am your host Blake Murphy today uh little bit of a a change in plans a lot over the last week or so of course all of your New Year’s weekends were interrupted by the news that the Toronto Raptors had traded ogn and Obi precious atua and Malachi Flynn to the

New York Knicks for Emanuel quickley RJ Barrett and a 2024 second round draft pick that originally belonged to the Detroit Pistons so that’ll be in the early 30s we had an emergency version of the show on Saturday will Lou joined me from Montreal for a little bit of that

And then we rolled right into hey New Year’s Day 10: a.m. get to oio Athletics Center Manuel quickley introduced RJ Barrett introduced a lot of fun and then that rolled into last night’s game where the Toronto Raptors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 124 121 it was the debut of

Barrett and quickley who both started so obviously we have uh a lot to get to today Michael gra is going to join us a little bit later to you know get into some of the background on the reporting maybe what comes next for this Toronto Raptors team Fred Katz of the athletic

Whose podcast the cats and shoot podcast uh I joined a little earlier today we’ll get the Nicks perspective of this trade see how OG anobi fits there get to know Barrett and quickly a little bit better and for this first segment and then again in the fourth segment uh live from Montreal because

His flight was cancelled it is the regular host of the show my co-host William Lou Who joins us now bonjour will come on Sava uh savan savan that’s about as much French as I can say that’s all I’ve got too I’ve had a lot of these interactions

Here the last couple weeks but um yeah appreciate you play thank you for holding it down uh no thank you to Porter Airlines for canceling a flight last second uh which completely derailed my day but you know we’re here we’re here through the magic of zoom and uh we

Have I mean it was a pretty exciting game Raptors winning 124 121 last night um Blake I wanted to know from you just what was the atmosphere like down there because that was uh it felt like watching the TV that there was like a real renewed sense of optimism yeah it

Was it was the best Buzz there’s been at a at a home game in a little while here and and we’ve talked about on the show how in addition to the losing you know the particulars of the losing who they’ve lost to the style that they’ve

Lost in um you know some of the fanbase I guess frustrations or at least lack of clarity in terms of what the plan is here and what the direction is that had started to bleed into games crowds arriving a little later certainly crowds that are quieter than we’re used to

Attendance that had been a little below 100% for the first time in a long time uh it was a lot of fun yesterday it wasn’t you know it’s still a holiday game so you didn’t have the like hey everyone’s there at 6:30 in their seats but by the time there was tip off

There’s a good crowd RJ barck got a really nice Ovation uh when he was introduced with the starters and then yeah to close that game out that game was uh very very close and the crowd was into it every little bit I would say you maybe on I’m missing one but I think

You’d have to go back to the early blowout of Milwaukee and maybe even the opener against Minnesota that came down to the wire for the last time the sco bank arena crowd was that strong um will I’m sorry that uh that Porter did that

To you Craig Porter Jr Goes 0 for two in six minutes and cancels your flight with a minus 11 there do we have all three Porter juniors in one game yes but uh well I guess jonte is not a junior oh he’s not a junior right right

Okay yeah and he didn’t play an auto didn’t play we actually we also missed out the Raptors have a a very rare thing in the NBA right now they have three lefties on the team now with Thad jonte and RJ Barrett um look obviously there’s

A lot to get into here will I can cover off the the you know energy aspect of it and again I think it was really strong RJ certainly appreciated it he was pretty you know not emotional because RJ doesn’t he’s not really like an emotionally expressive guy after game

But it clearly meant a lot for him especially to hit those couple free throws uh late what what did you make of this one I know you obviously weren’t there but we cover a lot of games remotely anyway uh what were your initial takes before we get into some of the

Specifics yeah I thought the I mean the Raptors looked really good um they were in control pretty much the entire way uh the Cavaliers make a bunch of difficult shots and the Raptors Miss like six or seven wide openen open threes and and a bunch of free throws as well in the

Fourth quarter and that allowed them to briefly Take the Lead but I thought for the most part yeah the Raptors had control for a large part of the game it’s great to see them score 41 points in the first quarter um you have a lot of curiosity obviously over uh RJ

Barrett’s debut Emanuel quickley debut they both enter the starting five how are they going to look and I think my biggest takeaway after watching it about for like a few minutes was just like wow the Raptors actually have multiple like offensive initiators you know like the offense doesn’t just like stop and

Stagnate and have to reset all the time um you know it felt like we had four players in the starting group that could initiate offense obviously Scotty still running a fair bit of point for that group which is nice Emanuel quickle is able to play off the ball which was nice

Hit two threes in the first quarter RJ Barrett I think there’s still some thought as to like what his role is going to be I thought he was fairly aggressive yesterday initiated a lot of offense we’ll see if that’s the case going forward I mean he is definitely a

Player who is pretty involved offensively he’s always had a high usage rate and then Pascal’s Pascal who was the Raptor’s best player last night and and knocked down three threes in the first quarter so it it got off to a great start and I think that it just

Kind of propelled them forward I felt like the second unit when dark was able to make some adjustments they had other players who can handle the ball and create and I just feel like you know it’s been a while since the Raptors have had so many ball ball handlers and it’s

Not even so many it’s just like they’ve now reached like a League average amount of ball handlers we were just in deficit for quite a while so uh it was a nice change of pace what what did you see from the starting five yeah and I’m with

You man I I think that not only starting four guys who you can run through a little bit and R.J hasn’t run like very much lead guard at all in New York but you know he’s a guy who two years ago averaged three assists a game like he obviously has that secondary playmaking

In his package and can create for himself one-on-one when given enough space now we’ll talk more about how to make that a more efficient version of what RJ’s done in New York and we saw little bits of uh a lot of good and and little bits of what

Has uh rubbed Nicks fans uh wrong last night that that we can get into but in terms of starting lineup I thought it made sense you know you mentioned how the bench looks we’ve talked a lot even before this trade about what it could look like with Dennis shuder coming off

Of the bench and how those bench units can just get organized a little better that way someone to feed Gary Trent in his spots rather than Ask Gary to create those advantages himself and the benefit of having four guys who can handle a little bit or create a little bit in the

Starting lineup means that Dennis is never going to be asked to do it alone either right like you’re going to stagger those so one maybe even two of those guys are on the court I just think when we talk about what a bench lineup looks like the way the Raptors are now

Structured is I think you could consider five players on this team instead of maybe three players on this team guys who you have to cons who you can consider well they can share the cre of the offense and that’s not a knock on o anobi who is a tremendous player and at

This stage better than either of the players that the Raptors got back big picture but that’s not his game and so what I thought from the starting five and the rotation overall is that things just made a little bit more sense offensively um and in terms of that

Starting five it was the one kind of question mark heading into this one and Darko even said pregame when we asked him like don’t read into it uh whatever I end up starting with so I don’t know if that was him just being you know a little Nick Nurf style cheeky if they

Actually hadn’t decided what to do yet um but I think that that is the starting five that I anticipated eventually I think you know RJ Barrett versus Gary Trent in that spot you know Barrett’s a better player you could make an argument for the extra spacing whatever but it

Was really important to me that you know by the maybe third game of this Emanuel quickly was starting because Quickly’s fit with Barnes and sakam is probably and especially Barnes is probably the most important thing we’re going to be getting a look over the remaining course

Of the Season uh so I was glad to to see it out of the gate here will before you saw the starting five was this your uh preferred five is is this the five you were hoping they would eventually get to oh yeah totally I mean I think that

First off Dennis has looked really comfortable coming out the bench and I thought yesterday he picked his spots really well uh made very few mistakes had eight assists against one turnover and even the shots that he took I mean the only four shots he he missed were

Like wide open Catch and shoot threes we know that that’s going to be an inconsistent thing for him and basically outside of pasc out nobody really shot the three that well which is a rare thing to say uh but he’s been able to get downhill and I thought yesterday he

Did the best job of getting into the paint and then making the right reads to pass out of those um but yeah in terms of the starting F I wanted to see RJ and Emanuel in there immediately like I I think that um I like that decision by

Darko I think that you know again having four Playmakers in the starting five along with yakob who can then mostly Focus on screening and rolling and making a couple extra passes by the way I don’t know why the Cavs double team yaka Perle so many times in the post

Yesterday uh it did lead to some really nice dimes for yakob which is another thing he can do um but yeah I mean it just felt more like you know the Raptors were able to run closer to I suppose 0. five offense which is sort of what Darko

Uh pitched coming into this team I don’t think he had the tools necessarily to run that style of offense with the the previous roster makeup and I don’t think they have the perfect tools right now um either but I think they’re closer towards that goal and it was great to

See like just how Dynamic immediately those two guys were um you know we’re not talking about like the biggest games in the world like arj had 19 you know quickly had 14 like that’s close-ish to what their averages are on the season so these are closer to suppos average games

Uh than like exceptional ones but you could tell definitely tell that there was an immediate amount of comfort uh for quickly I I like the idea that he’s able to play on the catch uh play off the ball um there’s obviously going to be lots of opportunities we’re going to play more

And more on the ball but especially given that that was his debut and that it was a game where he only basically had a walk through with the team a shoot around with the team like you know I can’t expect him to have the ball all

The time and make all the decisions in the world you got to come in and actually learn and and and get the sense of how the rest of the teammates like to play but him playing off the ball is an immediate thing that you you you can notice because you know Raptors

Obviously play a lot out of the post whether that’s through Scotty whether that’s through Pascal even sometimes yaka will get it at the high elbow and stuff like that you’re going to need guys to be able to cut and move off ball and I thought quickly did a great job of

Just relocating himself getting himself open opportunities and when the passes came to him I thought he was quite decisive whether he was going to immediately you know one two hop into that three uh or he was going to uh try to put it on the deck and and get a

Touch in the paint and I think that that level of like quick firing decision making is something that we haven’t necessarily seen since like Norman Powell was here for example I think Norm was obviously great at that now Norm does it differently where Norm’s able to

Explode and get all the way to the basket for a layups it seems like quickly loves to go to the floaters uh especially with his right hand and so he’s not getting all the way to the paint and we did see him miss two of those late in the game but generally

Speaking you need a guy who can play on the catch and I think that that’s something where you know the Raptors wanted to see more and more out of that from OG OG can definitely catch and shoot from three uh but then when he was

Asked to put it on the deck it was it was less dynamic than a guy like quickly so I thought he came in and fit well the only thing that was unfortunate was the foul trouble which um yeah I mean he had like four fouls and what was

Disappointing watching the film back was he picked up two fouls in the first quarter whatever that’ll happen but when he came in the second quarter within four seconds of checking in he was pressing I think uh Craig Porter Jr just bring the ball up and he committed his

Third foul just trying to bump uh the ball handler come here across half court like that’s a needless foul that you don’t need to give up cuz now of you’re in three fouls and then you make one more play defensively which was to try to help against Donan Mitchell he has

Four fouls in the first half and that completely threw up the rest of his game but thought quickley was nice um wanted to hear your thoughts on what you saw of Emanuel quickley both in this game and also his fit long term with this uh with

This at least starting five yeah the the foul stuff I’m willing to chalk up to it’s your first game you were maybe a little geeked up and you were trying to do a little bit too much I agree that they weren’t great fouls in in the big picture even if they understandable he

Has um you know this year and last at least been a pretty low foul guy so I don’t think that this is something to worry about or that’s a part of him I think that’s probably mostly um you know hey it’s my first day and I don’t know

All the offensive sets how am I going to make an impact let me get into Donovan Mitchell’s Jersey let me try to pick on the backup point guard and stuff um you know offensively there’s a lot to be excited about here we had talked about quickly leading up to this trade we

Didn’t realize the trade was going to happen this early but he was one of the guys that I identified in that piece that I did of hey who’s who are some guys around the league that you could try to buy on before they take that leap

And I like quickly because the reason he hasn’t taken that step yet in New York really doesn’t have anything to do with Emanual quickly has everything to do with the fact that they have an All-Star point guard ahead of them in Jaylen Bronson and both of those guys are a

Little undersized so a defense first traditionalist coach like Tom Tibido is just not going to play those two guys together very much um we’ve seen quickly on a per 36 minute basis produce really well when Jaylen Brunson has been out produced really well now within that I

Think there are going to be some adjustments here for a manual quickly the first one of those is you know had he not been in foul trouble last night you’re probably going from 24 minutes a game up to maybe 34 minutes a game how do you manage yourself around that how

Do you stay out of foul trouble how do you maintain your energy and things like that that’s a challenge for any young player taking on a bigger role um and in talking to him at shoot around one of the things he is focused on or at least

You know a Ware of in Toronto is in New York the style that they play and especially the way their bench units are structured he was technically the point guard but he played like a scoring guard like they needed him to shoot the three a lot off the dribble they needed him to

Get into that floater package and something he sounded excited to get to do more of is be more of a Creator and we saw some good creativity in the passing whether that be you know the pocket passes to yaka purle finding a a lane over top instead of through the

Pocket even some more aggressive um you know those kind of jump passes to the second side when the defense thinks you’re going to the role man um there’s a lot of potential there now it’s going to take a little bit of time he’s going to have to build up to that build the

Familiarity with people we saw a couple times whether it was him or RJ you know when the first action in a raptor set broke down you know guys are kind of on top of each other there was one play where I think it was and this was

Actually more on Gary than quickly I think but Scotty Gary and um and quickly all ended up in the same spot basically in the high corner on on one side of the floor and nobody knew who was screening for whom and it it kind of devolved that

Way um but I I really like the fit like I said we identified it as someone who could be a fit alongside Barnes a couple weeks ago nothing to suggest that that won’t be the case here um I think probably the one thing I’m looking out

For whe other than you know can he expand the playmaking and he’s not going to be a true point guard in Toronto either he might run point in some bench units and stuff but he’s going to have Dennis on the floor with him in those bench units he’s going to have Scotty on

The floor with them and probably Pascal on the floor with them in those starting groups he can be a kind of co-o guard um and you know maybe the assist bump up to four and a half you’re not asking him to be like a eight n assist guy with the

Way the Raptors are structured um from a scoring perspective the biggest thing I’m curious about is that float of range stuff I I’m a fan of it I like it like Ian Mo was like my guy um for for having that in the B and I think it like it

Speaks to your ability to manipulate speed and manipulate space if you have that in your game but Emanuel quickly the one probably concern you have when it comes to taking what he does and scaling it to a larger offensive role is he doesn’t get to the rim a lot and he’s

An okay finisher there when he does get there but he picks his spots really selectively so for me you know the pick and rolls are going to have him run he wants to find yaka purle he wants to find a weak side shooter um and then he

Can get into that floater range game but if you’re going to be a lead guard in the NBA you’re going to have to find a way to pressure the rim a little bit more than he does right now and I think that’s probably the one skill

Development that I I have my eye on most closely is can you start getting to the rim a little bit more can you can you you know a defense is going to give you the floater range stuff to keep you away from the rim can you say ah you know

What I’m I’m getting there anyway and I’m going to finish through it that that’s probably my biggest question mark with him in terms of hey what is what is the difference between quickly being a starting point guard in the NBA and you know a borderline Star level point guard

In the NBA eventually does that if that makes sense yeah and I think you know this is why I don’t necessarily like the comp of like you know some people made the jump of like another Kentucky point guard you know Tyrese Maxi yeah you know

It can he be like another Tyrese Maxi I think that’s the key difference Maxi is able to get downhill with this like ridiculous amount of pace and he has this like incredible touch on the little floaters which he hit like at 105% clip against the Raptors it feels like every

Time the Raptors play them quick doesn’t have that as much quickly is going to you know he’ll shoot longer floaters for example you saw a couple of those where it was like literally from the elbow um and yeah I would love to see him sort of

Like almost have a change of speed at at certain times or even just keep the dribble alive like look listen like the floater is obviously There For You especially when you’re that quick and you’re that um long he’s got such long arms that he can get to that shot a lot

But can you keep the dribble alive can you probe into the paint drag Defenders out of position and then create more opportunities um that will be a curiosity of mine um but I mean honestly quickly was not even the biggest debut I thought RJ’s debut was even more

Noticeable impactful I think R.J was more involved obviously played more minutes because he wasn’t as much in foul trouble until the end of the game but um yeah I mean I I love the fact that we have a player who is super aggressive offensively and um you know

There are going to be nights when you take this approach that RJ took uh where he is mostly burrowing into the lane and trying to create opportunities to get to that left hand which he’s obviously great at but what that leads to is a lot of foul

Shots and he shot eight last night including two clutch ones at the end there but it feels like he can get to his own shot uh a lot more than let’s for example compare to to OG I don’t want to always make a comparison to OG

But you know it is a direct sort of positional comparison um I I liked RJ’s shot creation and his his aggression last night what did you see from RJ in his debut yeah I like that element of it certainly in transition he has a real nose for getting to the paint and there

Were a couple times where he sized up whether it was Dean Wade or Georg Yang and was just like like right away like this is where I’m going I’ve got this mismatch and neither of these guys are going to be able to you know stop me without fouowing me because I’m strong

And because I I’m you know pretty good with a head of steam and transition and then I thought a couple times the Raptors put him in bad positions where he got kind of those four five seconds left on the clock grenade passes where you know there were I think there were

Two where he was in the short corner he gets the ball with like four or five seconds left has to quickly create in the post and I think on one of those he got to the free throw line and on another he missed but got his own

Rebound so even just having someone else on the floor who can late in the clock create something out of nothing when normally you know obviously no offense wants to get down to four seconds on the clock and you make a pass and it’s a you

Know ticking Time Bomb but he can do a little bit out of those having said that you know 12 field goal attempts is one thing but when you include the trips to the line when you include that he had five turnovers this was 19 points on 20

Used possessions so he’s going to have to be a little bit careful and this is one of the concerns with him in New York was that yeah he can get his 20 points a game he he’s been a 20 point a game scorer he’s a decent rebounder he can

Add some assists and things like that but he’s never scored at the 20o a game level with efficiency and that was true even in his Seasons where he shot the three better which he hasn’t the last two years now you can I I think jamama malala’s probably going to get to work

With him on some stuff with the three-point shot um we you generally don’t see a lot of retooling of a three-point point shot live in the season unless someone’s really struggling so you know let’s assume that’s going to be kind of a low to mid-30s weapon for now he can still be

More efficient by you know a not forcing it as much in kind of earlier clock one-on-one scenarios I think maybe that was a product of the system in New York where there’s so much ISO ball that you kind of got to kind of identify your one-on-one situations and go um but we

Saw in transition a couple times too where um there can be a little bit of tunnel vision um it’s maybe not the best decision- making there was a four on two situation late where he tried to make just too risky a pass and it ended as a turnover um five turnovers five

Turnovers I think some of that is going to be hey your comfort level your familiarity and things like that but there is room here for RJ to become maybe it’s it’s not as high usage as he was in New York maybe it’s not as High Point per game but there is definitely

Room for RJ to just kind of prune his shot mix and how he gets his offense and be a more efficient version of a himself without changing all that much yeah I I think you know RJ watching him yesterday reminded me a a little bit of like what

It felt like to watch a younger version of DeMar rosen where it’s like you really appreciate that this guard um has an ability to get to his own shot has an ability to to get downhill is fearless around the basket routinely finishes around bigger players but then also

Struggles with the idea of like because I’m so aggressive because that’s such a big part of my game you often fall over the other side of being over aggressive and taking bad shots like even the six baskets that he made they’re all like fairly contested shots even the the

Catch and shoot three was contested the he had back-to-back plays where he scored one on two in transition that’s by the definition a contested shot his first basket as a raptor was on a cut he’s under the basket and Jared Allen’s right over the top of him and he found a

Way to get around Jared Allen to score which was really nice to see but you know I I think that that aspect of his game it’s always going to be a tricky balance to so to get into I think what dear was able to do is add more Pace to

His game most importantly add playmaking to his game cuz when you are that aggressive you are almost always drawing help and that’s where other guys are going to be open so I’m looking to see if that aspect catches up with him as for the turnovers like I’m not even I

Think that’s part of the like the you he had basically five forms of driving and traffic type of turnovers so whether that was a charge whether that was driving into a lane and getting the ball ripped out of his hands whether that was seeing a a crowd and jumping and passing

And getting picked up Don Mitchell like or lifting a pivot foot on a drive like it it’s all kind of the same idea but I think that that’s that’s actually okay with me to in the extent that like I want to see him play more and more uh in

This aggressive fashion just being able to trim down some of the errors and some of the mistakes I don’t mind the fact that he can run more pick and rolls too I think that was the first play he was able to set up quickly for one was off a

Pick and roll it’ be nice to see just more pick and roll actions in the Raptor offense in general that was something that’s been kind of absent for the last couple years um but yeah I mean ultimately a guy who can get his own shot especially for a Raptor’s offense

That isn’t necessarily that good to be honest uh is is a welcome thing so it’s about finding the right balance for him I guess the last thing like I wanted to ask you about was just like what did you make of darko’s decision to use Scotty

As the the main on ball Defender against donin Mitchell because you trade OG all of a sudden you now have to think about who’s going to be your huge primary stopper each game and this one he chose to go with Scotty yeah it’s it’s going

To be a tough thing and we saw it in the last Cavs game too and talked about it a lot where OG was obviously on Donovan Mitchell and turning that off for Mitchell but Garland was available in that game and Scotty stayed on Garland instead of making the swap with Pascal

And we talked about that a bunch uh after that game so I get it it’s a tough decision because Scotty is probably the best individual defender in your rotation right now um you know maybe maybe quickly quickly is generally a pretty good Defender but some of the on

Like he’s a he’s a very good off ball on like system Defender point of attack the the reviews of him aren’t quite as strong so um I think eventually quickle is going to have to be that guy and has the potential to be that guy but right

Now dark Go’s looking at well Scotty Barnes is probably my best individual Defender and Scotty Barnes is my best like helps side SLC create chaos free safety out of the corner Defender so where is the most important place to deploy that um I personally would probably prefer Scotty

In the lower half of the floor being able to come across for those blocks be a huge Factor on the defensive glass and and he pushes so well off of those makes I just I really like the defensive role that Scotty’s been in this season um but

I get it because you don’t like the defense has slid even with Scotty being good in that role and OG being who OG is defensively last four or five weeks aside maybe for OG’s individual defense um you know even with that the defense has been really bad so um I get wanting

To to try something a little different there I think probably medium term you’d like Scotty to be back in the role that he was in before and either you know RJ takes a step defensively or quickly shows you he can do it against lead point of attack

Guards or even you know Pascal you just use on the perimeter a little bit more where he’s a little bit better perimeter than he is kind of lower third Defender uh what did you make of it obviously like this defense was bad before and they just lost their best defender

There’s going to be a lot to make up here yeah I mean look I don’t think dark has like a perfect answer here because um you know all the reasons you just listed I just think that like the Raptors in general for me like their help defense is you don’t feel the

Impact of the help defense as much you know what I mean like rapid is not a team that takes a bunch of charges not a team that comes over and blocks your shot a ton um maybe they get in the passing Lanes but that almost sometimes

Feels like bad passes or even gambles at times um but the Raptors aren’t consistently solid in the way that like even the cavers there I thought did a really good job of protecting the paint helping each other stepping in for a char chares um and trying to protect the

Rim the Raptors just had more offensive weapons to to overwhelm them which is nice actually that’s a nice change because of this trade um and I think that yeah Scotty has been you know one or two with along with yob as your best help Defender if not better than him in

Terms of just like the Steals and the blocks so yeah I would try someone else on that in that role more often to be honest um again it depends obviously on the opposing team if they have like a dominant guard i’ probably go with more

Quickly um and if they have like a more dominant Wing I try RJ a little bit more just cuz I think that like yeah Scotty as a help Defender is better than him as a non-ball Defender and so I’d rather use him in the best way to use him and

To sacrifice someone else um in in that role but I mean look the I mean you’re gonna have you’re gonna have uh actual issues when you when you lose OG like it was a great luxury to have of just being like yep all right this guy’s a top

Player we’re going to throw him on there you know so um that’s going to be a work in progress but uh yeah I I don’t know I mean I think offensively you do see an upgrade at least and even just having two guys for one guy right like like I

Know precious and Malachi were in that trade as well but they’d fallen out of the rotation like you turned OG into two starters basically that’s that’s obviously going to feel a little better offensively in the way uh the rotations work speaking of rotations will we’re

Going to let you go to bring in Michael Grange and then we’re going to come back to you uh around 3:30 here so uh I don’t know go get a Quant or something like that and we’ll talk to you in about an hour man Sal mon all all right that was

William Lou my co-host on the Raptor show Alex Wong out today as well we’ll talk to will again later in the show um just a little tough to do multiple people on Zoom at once so we’re going to take a break when we come back we’ll talk to Michael grch sportset Insider uh

We’ll get a little behind the scenes of how this deal came to be you know in talking to some people yesterday myself seemed like really the the skeleton of this deal or or the framework of some OG to the Knicks deal has really been going on for like two years like like back

Back to the start of last season maybe even the offseason before so uh these things this is the way it works a lot of the time and you’ll hear this again over the next five weeks before the February 8th trade deadline is that uh yeah teams have conversations and they have maybe

Rough ideas of what could work and then something just has to nudge you over the line to get it done in this case for the Knicks um I mean Emanuel quickle is a really good trade asset and if they wanted to shop that around at the

Deadline he was probably one of the best Prospect style guys that would be available um the Knicks needed center help right now in terms of even though precious suu only played 9 minutes yesterday and and been in and out of the Raptor’s rotation um you know they

Needed some help there as well in addition to now they’ve got 50 games to get OG up to speed uh we’re going to take a break we’ll find out a little bit more about how this all can to be and how much this means to RJ Barrett uh

Michael granch joins the Raptor show as we continue on the sports ENT radio network welcome back to the Raptor show on the sports at radio network I’m your host for today Blake Murphy William Lou was with us last segment he’ll join us again a little later in the program lots

To talk about of course the Toronto Raptors starting 2024 off 1 and0 with A4 121 Victory last night against the Cleveland Cavaliers it was the Raptor’s debut of Emanuel quickley it was the Raptor’s debut of RJ Barrett joining us now to help us break down the trade and

Those debuts is Michael Grange Insider at Sportsnet gra how you doing man how you doing Happy New Year Blake Happy New Year to you as well did see you twice yesterday I had that pleasure uh as well down nice early New Year’s feel like publicly it needs to be known wish Happy

New Year we had a nice New Year’s Day 10:00 a.m. call time for OVO athletic center uh which Le let’s start off here Alex Wong is not in today but he did have a conspiracy theory and wanted me to run it by you um Messi Jeri makes

This trade on December 30th so that we all had to work New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day you buy it um I think yeah Alex laid that on me the other day I would counter and say it’s more likely he did it to kind of make that whole

Detroit thing sort of disappear in the fog of War so to speak um I don’t think he was actively to the extent there may have been an conspiracy I don’t think he was actively trying to ruin anyone’s I mean I was going to work New Year’s Day

Anyway so on a personal level I don’t think he it was an issue but um but no I think I think maybe you know like if you were going to do that trade getting it done uh the Friday before he about to go to Detroit and play him on the second

Night of a backtack and third night for and you know that that that one that one might stand might hold water a little better maybe yeah I think so and they make us all work one it’s it’s funny but then you realize he would have had to

Make all his employees work as well because people had to do physicals and and things like that uh maybe it wouldn’t have been all that popular so before we talk about last night let let’s quickly touch on the Detroit game because we obviously haven’t had a show

Since then I I did the emergency show on Saturday but we didn’t really talk about the Pistons game cuz it hadn’t happened yet um and then the Raptors lose they helped Detroit snap the longest losing streak in the history of North American team sports and you’re right it has been

Kind of lost in the fog of War they got dunked on a lot figuratively and literally um they were kind of the butt of the joke the Hornets also haven’t won since they last beat the Raptors by the way uh so there is all of that but you

Do Turn the Page pretty quickly for that I don’t know 24 hours or so there where does that rank for you like like losing that game to the Pistons this Raptor’s franchise has had some low moments I went down to I was trapped in a Tampa

Bay hotel for Christmas and New Year’s a couple years ago there have been bad moments even in recent history for this franchise but in terms of uh tough game Rock Bottom kind of moments where does that one rank for you you know I to me maybe just because I was there and uh

You know you know they actually had the Courtside seek for in Detroit which is really nice um and not really all that low like I mean I I think I think the the schedule was a factor you obviously had to factor in the the trade that happened and you’re

Looking at Detroit and you and if you kind of were paying attention like they’ve been trending positively and now they went and you know they they went right back the other way against Houston the other night but um but I I kind of looked at that game and and just being

Having that Vantage Point seeing how hard I thought Toronto played but in particular how hard Detroit played and look when Kevin Knox is banging threes and uh you know you got Trey Burke coming off the bench for whatever 16 points in 12 minutes or whatever it was

Like it’s going to be a tough night and and I thought really it was a I’m not copying out it was a case of uh you know I think Detroit got a win they deserved and in terms of low points for the Raptors I mean I don’t know I’m a bigger

Picture guy I just I just sort of see more they got they got bigger issues than that that one loss so I could see why from a fan point of view it might have been you know a little bit added exasperation but to me it’s just uh you

Know it’s just one more and the same yeah not not remotely close to the most the Raptor Raptors fans have been made fun of on Twitter or anything like that like we’ve you know you live through back-to-back sweeps to Lebron and uh the spinning of the ball and the drinking of

The wine that there there’s a lot um so I I’m with you it didn’t register a ton uh and you know maybe it’s a nice little cherry on the 2023 Sunday the the way that year went um but you’re right there was not only the schedule but this trade

Factor because this trade happened um earlier this weekend it is ogn anobi precious sua and Malachi Flynn headed to the Knicks RJ Barrett Emanuel quickley and Detroit’s second this year coming back to Toronto so gr we saw them debut last night um we can get into some of

The fit the fit um you know how how we saw that play out and and how we project that play out but I wanted to ask first about RJ specifically because I know look a lot of us have gotten to know him over the years through Canada basketball

But you know the family was you you’ve had a professional relationship with Rowan for a long time you’ve had a professional relationship with RJ since he was pretty young and on the way up um he talked about it a little bit yesterday got that nice Ovation to start

The game hit the clutch free throws to a good Ovation seemed pretty happy after the game how much do you think this really does mean to him and the and the Barrett family to play for the Toronto Raptors I I think it’s a I think they

Look at it as a great opportunity you know I know for a fact they appreciated and really enjoyed the chance to play in New York and you know there’s no hard feelings there I mean it you know it was a it was a good relationship and and you

Know by and large to the extent RJ had challenges there it’s you know you’re a number three pick and and people always want more but um you know I think um coming here at this stage is perfect for him and and I really think you know the

City is nice I think the the the fact that you’re in a um you know comfortable environment is nice I think um you know I think that RJ being a person he is I think he’ll be perfectly able to manage some of the complications I’ll say or or

Sort of added um you know demands that maybe get get put on your plate when you’re playing at home but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue but I really and I mean this I think the biggest single factor is he’s going to be playing for Darko rakovich versus Tom

Tibido and you know I don’t think you know I think RJ understands that playing for Tibido was a great opportunity for him his career I think um really introduced him to what the NBA is about and what real expectations are and uh you know what kind of performance is

Expected and very little um excuses are allowed and not that RJ was ever looking for those but I think I think that’s a to kind of go into that environment in that City and people forget the first couple of years in New York were complete chaos as well so um he’s been

Through a lot in a short relatively short amount of time as a pro so I think he arrives is still young we all know is 23 but he’s ready to kind of um absorb maybe a different environment and I think you know Darko is probably one of

The most opposite coaches in the league to to tibs just in his willingness to embrace people in their whole you know the the wholesome the the fullness of a person I guess and uh that’s probably the right time for arj now and I think um it’s really interesting I mean you

Look at the swing skill for him for sure is going to be a shooting and I kind of I’ve kind of known this intuitively Blake and you I’m sure do as well but you know RJ’s just had this incredible uh trait of you know for a month or six

Weeks he’ll shoot it great and then for maybe six weeks or two months he won’t and and it’s it’s it’s un I I actually suggest if you go to his uh his career splits you know year by year and you know you know toss out his rookie year

But his last three years plus um these months is of this season and you know I think it adds up to about 22 months and in those 22 months he’s had like nine or 10 months where for the month he shot 38% or better he’s had several months

Shooting over 40% or better from three and then there’s the other months and so I think if he can kind of arrive here I think you know to your point it’s it’s a I think it’s a really really big opportunity for him to both Thrive as a

Player and then if he can do it here I think he he has a chance to really become the fabric or become part of the fabric of the organization and of course he’s already part of basketball in the country but it could be a really neat situation that we haven’t seen a

Canadian player kind of have the opportunity to embrace yet yeah certainly the potential for him to be the best Canadian Raptor while on the Raptors you know like like the Raptors have had Canadian players and Chris Bush’s had a really nice career here but primarily as a you know a bench piece in

And out of the rotation this year even uh Cory Joseph came here while he was still kind of at the peak of his career but has a backup point guard so there’s you know room for RJ to grow here and now look RJ’s in year five he’s still

Only 23 I think big picture we have an idea of what RJ’s game looks like and like you said the three-point improve shooting can improve maybe some of the you know efficiency can improve inside the arc as well just with decision-making maybe he can take a

Small step as a Defender to be a little bit more solid there but we have a good idea who RJ is on the Emanuel quickley side this is I look I have a good idea of who I think he can be I I really like Danel quickley as a prospect um was

Excited to to see that be a big part of the return but he’s the piece in this deal that is going to see the biggest role change OG’s going to play the same role New York he played here RJ’s going to play a fairly similar role where

You’re trying to just get the best version of him Emanuel quickle is going to go from a 23 minute a game backup point guard to not running the show because Scotty Barnes and Pascal seak are still going to have the ball a lot but kind of co-running the show

Certainly playing an extra 8 nine maybe even 10 minutes a game uh where do you see quickley fit and and where where do you see you know that next level for him needing to come if he is going to step into you know I I think he’s already a

Starting caliber point guard but can he be higher than that can can he return on this uh kind of bet the Raptors are making here that he can reach another level I mean I think he can and I think for this trade to to really be I don’t

Want to say a win but I to to kind of get the Raptors where they want to go he’s got to be sort of kicking at the door of Allstar you know and I think contextually um you know Fred van Le was a point guard here before that Kyle low was a

Point guard here and you know just sticking with Fred as an example well that’s they know you know as as Scotty Barnes has evolved you know to have a point guard who can spread the floor from Three Can Play on and off the ball like that’s a perfect fit along that

Alongside Scotty Barnes and so you had one uh you you know for whatever reason he didn’t stay and so you know it was imperative for them to to replace him with something like that to with a similar type skill set and I think um you know

For I think Emanuel cookley has a chance to be not he does have a chance to be you know that kind of player but I think he needs to be that kind of player and you know and then I think this trade will be looked at as a success because

You’re giving up an all NBA recognized talent in in anobi um so I think this trade will be long-term at as success if uh Emanuel quickley is under contract and if the potential that I think they’re projecting for him and Scotty Barnes as a pair uh is realized over not

Only over this year or next year but over a long period of time that’s that’s the get the the the bet the Raptors are making that’s the move that they hope will this will materialize into um and I think you know I think to to have a guy

You know the the Maxi comparison gets thrown out there and it’s I don’t know it’s you know maybe it’s their hair or something there is a kind of similarity to the way they play he doesn’t have exactly the Rocket Field of Max he has but you know what they do have is the

Ability to play the game with Pace with the ball and in a controlled manner get into pull up deep threes and that is a skill I think we’re going to see see more and more in the NBA as it becomes emphasized with younger players as they train but you know it’s it’s devastating

And you know you can see on film he saw a few hints of it last night and then that combination with him getting being able to use the threat of that to get into you know High consisten consistency floater game that he has um it’s you know that’s an impossible uh combination

To guard and I think for him to really put himself over the top he’s got to prove that he can do it for a lot of minutes under a lot of stress against a lot of good players as a starter and I think he’s got to add that little uh

Kind of flavor of playmaking where he can kind of Leverage all those threats to create some Advantage for some other guys but make no mistake I mean this trade is about uh having Maxi here it’s about getting him under contract and it’s about um you know creating an

Environment that he can become you know you don’t want to say he has to be an All-Star but he’s got to be that kind of player somebody that that is knocking on that door that gets kind of talked about as a potential type All-Star player if

He’s just kind of an ordinary guard and you know well then you know it probably wasn’t a great use of of ojan noi as a trade asset yeah and I look I think he can he can get there but we’re not going to see

It day one we’re not going to see it day two he’s got to kind of keep growing into that um the other thing that could change how we’re evaluating this is the trade deadline’s still five weeks away this is the first trade that’s happened in the month of December in the NBA and

Like forever they just don’t happen this early at that point most teams just grinded out to the to the last minute here um I’m sure this is one the Knicks were kind of like hey if we’re giving you quickly we’d like to get this done

Now let us get 50 games with an anobi let let’s move on here um from the Raptor side though have you and I know this is a quick turnaround so I I understand if you haven’t been able to have these conversations yet but in terms of what this signals to you about

What the next five weeks could look like specifically what February 8th could look like um have you been able to to sus out any kind of ripple from this deal I mean I I still think that there’s an appetite um to see if you know p SC

Cakam is a is a long-term fit alongside uh this new look lineup and um you know so I think they’re going to be looking for that but you know I still think that they’re going to be proceeding on multiple streams and and if they can find a decent return for Pascal seak

That you know they kind of tip their hands in terms of what they’re looking for in terms of young players with upside that you know give them some controllable you know future contracts you know I think that they obviously would would consider that very seriously

I know they’re working on a lot of stuff um so it’s not like they did this trade and said you know we’re good for now I think it’s you know I think these conversations are going to be going ongoing for quite a while but you know the the Pascal situation is it’s it’s

Kind of complicated like there’s a lot of um there’s a lot of varying points of Leverage you know as you kind of game theory this out right out to next summer and um you know so I think to try and predict exactly where it’s going to go

And and and how each side is going to emerge kind of kind of satisfied you know because I think it is a situation where um you know whatever move they make if they do decide to make a trade it’s going to be have to be something that’s satisfactory to Pascal cakam in

Terms of where he ends up and similarly you know obviously the Raptors are going to be looking for something that that complements them so it’s um you know the short answer to all that is is is I just think it’s it’s a it’s a moving Target

At all times and but it’s you know that clearly there’s a lot of momentum that’s building towards um some kind of resolution between now and February 8th and not just with him with some potential other spots on the roster as well the Raptors do have a couple

Veterans who you know hey maybe you’d like out of the the contract Years or or there’s just a market for those guys around the league as these contending teams try to kind of round out their their bench units and things like that um Michael Grange you are headed out on this six

Game West Coast trip yes not going to Memphis but I’ll be there in Sacramento and the rest yeah only have you for a minute or so left here um what are you looking for from this trip and you know do you care so much about the record

Because it’s six very very tough games Memphis is playing better now all these teams are really good is this more of a what you’re seeing on the court from this group rather than hey they went 4-2 or three and three against the Lakers and Warriors and Company well I I think

They really want to avoid going 0 and six and when you look at the I’m not joking I mean when you look at the schedule when they come back I think they got a Miami they got a Boston they don’t play a bad team until February 7th

The day before the trade and um and so uh yeah so I think that they wantan to I think they want to just keep breathing you know what I mean and and I just don’t think for anyone’s it does anyone any good if they end up really

Kind of just scraping along here the last the next month and the season gets away from him completely so yeah they got to find a way to be competitive hopefully he can steal a couple of wins here and if I’m looking for a single thing it would be really good to see you

Know Emanuel cookle climatize in good order and and kind of Flash the potential thatone thinks he has it would be uh it would be nice to see get that uh quickly and Barnes chemistry building a little bit here uh Michael Grange have a great time uh on the road trip outside

Of Wednesday’s game I appreciate you taking the time out today thanks B Michael Grange uh sportset Insider you can keep up with uh the non- Memphis parts of this road trip uh through gra by the way if you are looking ahead to this road trip which starts tomorrow the

Raptors play Memphis Sacramento Golden State the Lakers and Clippers on a back-to-back and then the Jazz um the Grizzlies obviously don’t look great in the standings they have played much better basketball since getting John Morant back this is a jazz team that even though you know they’re not in

Necessarily win now mode they’re only two games out of a play in spot in a very competitive West so that is a tough tough six-game slate we’ll see how the Raptors do with that one jonte Porter on the trip with the Raptors by the way if you looking for some two-way action

We’re going to take a break when we come back we’ll talk to Fred cats of the athletic to get the Nick side of this see how OG and and obi’s debut went there Fred Catz cats and shoot joins us next as the Raptor show continues on the sports Cent radio

Network welcome back to the Raptor show I guess I don’t have playback music today I’m Blake Murphy uh will Lou uh joining us earlier and again a little later in the show we’re having a problem that will could never have uh we have no cat right now we’re we’re still waiting

On Fred cats of the athletic of the cats and shoot podcast will L flush with three cats we’re of course breaking down the Raptor debuts of RJ Barrett and Emanuel quickley yesterday uh OG and iobi also debuted for the Knicks yesterday in a nice bit of scheduling

That game took place at 3M so I was able to watch that it ended basically right as dark or rakovich started his uh pregame media availability and OG looked good I mean you guys all know OG at this point over seven years as a raptor um

What he brings to the table was very evident for the Knicks right away Anthony Edwards when guarded by Og anobi had a tough time had a tough time getting into his spots had to pick up his dribble early had a clutch turnover that that was forced by well not clutch

But like with five six minutes left in the game um you know OG force him into picking up the the ball and making a ill-advised swing pass that ended up in a turnover um Edwards had a very very good game but a lot of that came when

Anobi was off the floor uh OG did foul out with a couple minutes left the last two of those were I don’t know we’ll call them Toronto calls since he’s a New York guy now and surely he’s going to get more all defense and defensive player of the year buzz and things like

That uh now he was really good he he was good defensively had 17 points on 7 to 12 shooting three ass six from threes we know what he can do from the corners uh good basket as a cutter some plays in transition even ran a little bit of pick

And roll with Isaiah hartenstein which uh you know you’re not going to see anobi do a ton of but it was uh fun nonetheless he finished that game which the Knicks won by six a plus 19 in his 35 minutes so pretty good debut there

For OG an anobi uh if you were looking to the Raptor side of this um a little bit of news or non- news really uh headed into this uh road trip so I mentioned before it’s the start of a six-game road trip the Raptors leave today it starts

In Memphis tomorrow um Grady dick is not going to be with the Raptors for this trip this was the other news item to come out of yesterday so if you miss it I’ll fill you in basically the Raptors over the last couple weeks have told Grady dick don’t worry about the games

We are going to kind of um you know get you into a conditioning program that makes you a little more physically capable on the court now what specifically that is the team isn’t going to share with us necessarily but basically the idea is hey don’t worry

About are you going to play 5 six minutes tonight are you going down to the 905 tonight let’s take a couple weeks to get you into a better place when we do put you back in a game part of that now is that Grady dick is

With the 905 so he’s not on the road with the Raptors he’ll practice for a couple days here with the 905 the 905 play Thursday and Saturday in College Park uh where hey he’ll go up against Kobe buffkin who uh is back from injury now and playing really well in the G

League I know a lot of raptors fans were interested in him so that’ll be a fun matchup the 905 then play at home twice next week so Grady dick could conceivably get four games with 905 in before the Raptors are back off the road um so that’s a good good little Runway

There for him to maybe get his feet back under him the earlier 905 stints have not gone super well but they actually have point guard play and things like that now so the situation should be a little bit more you know plug andplay for him so it’ll be really interesting

To see how uh those go the other note from the uh sorry the other note for this road trip is that a two-way player Jonathan geez I’m having a tough time sorry guys uh two-way player jonte Porter whose name I know very well because I’m working on a big feature him

Is on the road with the team so this is the first time this year we’ve seen one of the two ways go on the road Maris Noel and Javon Freeman Liberty are staying back with the 905 but jonte Porter who could potentially see some mix for Center minutes here uh is going

To be on the road with the Raptors he’s been very very good for the 95 he had been good in Detroit’s g-league program earlier in the season before the Raptors signed him he’s someone who can offer a little bit of shooting a ton of passing from the center position um and pretty

Solid defense as well at least so far with the 905 so when you see Thad young come into a game last night when you see them play some of these centerless lineups I wouldn’t mind getting a look at jonte Porter at least in uh in small

Minutes the Knicks got a look at their new backup center yesterday precious auua who is why there’s a Jon Porter hole in the Raptor rotation uh let’s bring in Fred cats of the athletic host of the cats and shoot podcast which I was a guest on earlier today uh Fred we

Haven’t talked in hours and hours man how you doing I don’t even know if it’s been hours and hours I think it’s just been hours that’s it I’m great I’m live in front of a door I’m doing I’m doing fantastic I’m ready to go excellent uh that’s good so

Yesterday was a fun day obviously a bit of a chaotic weekend ogn and Obi makes his debut for the New York Knicks in a in a really good win against the Minnesota Timberwolves um your initial impressions of ogn and Obi and how he fit in there for New

York Raptors fans will understand what I mean when I say this he looked like OG anobi he looked exactly like what you would expect from o giobi he was fabulous defensively I thought his best defensive game that I’ve seen him play in in a little while I know like you

Mentioned on my podcast earlier today that his defense kind of hadn’t been at the level that you would expect it to be at to by his standards over the last month five weeks whatever it’s been it did not look like that in his first game you know they played Minnesota who has

Been one of the best teams in the league all year he guarded Anthony Edwards he guarded Carl Anthony towns in spots and the dude just looked like an all defense caliber guy you couldn’t back him down he was getting out in front of guys he was getting out in transition he was

Cutting he was fantastic in terms of movement uh he said to Jaylen Brunson before the game he walked up to Jaylen Brunson on the court before the game he said to him I don’t really know what I’m doing so I’m just GNA keep cutting and it really looked like that the second

Part not the first part where he really did just keep cutting this is an offense that historically is not had with the current roster that they have they haven’t had a ton of cutting they haven’t had a ton of a movement it really looked different on both sides of

The ball and you know he goes for 17 points and six boards and and plays fabulous defense along the way yeah which is uh you know we we knew we we knew the book on ogn and Obi um when you look at this move from the Knicks perspective obviously they’re giving up

Two pretty good pieces here in RJ Barrett who you know I know Nicks fans were a little up and down on people around the league are up and down on him but he’s a starting caliber player and you give up Emanuel quickly who has the potential to be even more than that um

The Knicks kind of do I know precious auu and Malai Flynn are in the deal and and precious is probably in the rotation here with their need at Center but kind of a consolidation move and turning two high-end rotation pieces into a starting lineup upgrade in ogn and Obi how much

Does this say to you hey the Knicks are focused on what this rotation looks like in the playoffs what a Knicks playoff game looks like versus you know winning 45 48 over 82 I think that’s what it’s all about to be honest it’s about getting more shooting into the starting lineup OG is

A superior three-point shooter to RJ Barrett especially from the corners he’s a 44 45% three-point shooter basically every single season from the corners and that’s huge for the way they’re going to use him on offense they’re going to keep them out there the Knicks have they’re actually shooting pretty well percentage

Wise this year from three but they don’t have a ton of guys who actually shoot the three that well and when they have Barrett out there or they have Josh Hart out there and they have Isaiah hartenstein and Julius there are just a lot of people who defenses feel comfortable helping off of

And now there’s one less guy who defenses are going to feel comfortable helping off of and defensively he just completely changes their Dynamic the Knicks have been a big Wing away from being not a contender they’re certainly not a contender but from being a step above where they’ve been for the last

Year and a half they’ve been a big Wing away from it for a little while and I think they got even farther away from that earlier this year because the roster was basically a bunch of guards Julius Randall and some centers and that was their rotation and they needed that

Big Wing somebody who could shoot somebody who could guard especially if you’re going to build around a core of Randall and Brunson both of whom you can take advantage of on the defensive end and anobi is just that perfect fit it’s why they went after him for so long I

Mean they it’s not like they woke up last week and we like huh wonder if oan anobi would fit they they’ve been after him for a long time and and it finally ended up happening this weekend so in terms that’s OG’s onc Court fit and yeah I’ve heard the same thing this is

Something they’ve kicked around a framework of or different Frameworks of for for a little while now um the fit is pretty exciting on the New York side how do you think ogn and Obi the character is going to fit in New York with with you guys around the Nicks beat we saw so

Like obviously we’re very used to it here in Toronto and he’s grown as a quote and a lot of us have learned uh how to get more out of him as a quote but it’s also like it’s a bit that he’s he’s like he’s aware of what he’s doing

Um the Dead Pan humor the uh like very intentionally short answers at times I have a lot of fun with it especially because like you can get good answers out of him as well um how do you think he’s going to fit from that perspective it is yet to be seen uh you

Know there there I have covered a lot of guys in my career who say nothing when you ask him even the most specific fantastic questions you could ever think and I’ve covered a lot of guys who say a whole ton of stuff even if you ask the worst question ever you might just

Completely mess up and they’ll basically do your work for you so you know whatever whatever I got in front of me that’s that’s what I got and uh you know what I what I care about more is that somebody just treats people with with respect and and at least understands how

How the dynamic is supposed to work from a professional standpoint and that doesn’t seem to be an issue so I’m I’m good I’m good regardless I get to I get paid to watch basketball man last thing I’m going to do is gripe about a guy is

Saying that oh I think it’s a positive not a negative like I this is a feature not a bug to me uh that I like I find it entertaining and and you know I I got along with OG pretty well so I think I think that’s a feature not a bug

Especially for someone like you who has like built relationships with a Russell Westbrook in the past uh who is not has attempted to build relationships with a Russell westbr yeah look I think Russell my read from afar is that Russell Westbrook was kind of like Kyle Lowry

Where if it reached a point where he would try to dunk on you that was a sign of respect begrudging maybe but uh he isn’t picking out nobody to uh to have fun with yeah that’s that’s how I feel about Alex Wong okay you know that’s that’s basically how I feel about him

Similar sort of dynamic yeah I yeah I could see that for sure uh okay begrudging respect very begrudging begrudging yeah I don’t know if you bought a copy of his books then you’re uh you’ve got the respect from him for sure uh all right Fred so there you go

Prehistoric uh in stor now in paperback as well so make sure you get it and Alex will sign yours personally probably Alex is writing in Chinese now for some of the uh for some of the book signatures anyway let’s move on to uh what is actually happening here um okay so

That’s the OG side of things the Nicks also pick up precious auua in this deal they lost Mitchell Robinson for the season Jericho Sims is banged up and and when he’s played it’s been a little up and down you see a pretty clear role for precious sucha in New

York in some ways yes yes because he’s going to stand in as the backup five Mitchell Robinson is out for possibly the entire season Isaiah hartenstein is gonna start and the Knicks are really thin at backup Jericho Sims had gotten some minutes but he really struggled especially when he had

To go against starters he just really got pushed around Taj Gibson is there you know even Taj Gibson was joking about the fact that he was getting minutes uh you know Taj is is there to be a locker room leader a cultural leader maybe going for defense when they

Need him but his purpose is not to be a 15 to 18 minute a game guy behind hartenstein so in some ways the fit is obvious he comes in he gets back up Center minutes he plays 15 minutes 18 minutes maybe on certain nights where

They want to go a little bigger or they want to shake up rotations or somebody’s in foul trouble or whatever maybe he ends up getting minutes at the four there I could definitely see that being a possibility in other ways I think his role is a little bit more out there

Because conventionally Nick’s head coach Tom Tibido really prefers to have size in the middle he builds his defenses from the paint out that’s like that’s not a habit that is his ethos that’s his identity he wakes up in the morning and the first thing he thinks about is not

Coffee it’s Rim protection that’s just what he wants it’s what he needs that’s what he craves that’s what he breeds it’s everything and so I’m getting so animated I’m knocking my computer talking about tips’s obsession with the griim protection and so with aoua he’s an undersized five

He’s 68 and I’m wondering exactly how tibs is gonna go about using him I don’t think his initial game against Minnesota is a great example of either what he’s gonna be like with the Knicks or how the Knicks are goingon to deploy him because Minnesota is so huge down low that it

Was just just a bad matchup for him whether he’s got to guard Rudy Gober or Carl Anthony towns or Nas Reed like there’s just so much size with that team and you can’t really use a switch ability because you’re not going to switch a small on to goar who he guarded

For a lot of that time so it becomes difficult to see exactly what the vision will be for him so I just kind of chocked that up as like yeah he didn’t score in his debut he played nine minutes it’s it’s that’s like his worst possible match up in the league

Potentially I’m really curious to see how it moves going forward I think it’s very possible that tib switches with him a lot more on defense than he does with his average Center because that’s kind of his strength defensively the ability to go out and guard other guys on the

Perimeter who aren’t necessarily centers uh I’m really curious to see how he uses him offensively in that second unit are they going to try to get out running with anobi who’s really good in transition and seems like he’s going to be playing with the second unit similarly to how he did with Toronto

Josh Hart who loves to get out running in transition as well are they going to use him as a screener are they going to let him initiate it all are they going to let him handle pass whatever else I I I I really wonder what the leash is

Going to be because as you know a Chua can have a moment where he just looks so good and then can have a moment where he just looks lost and I’m curious to know what the leash is going to be I’m curious to know what the schemes are

Going to be what tibs really settles on as being the best ways to use him and for now I I am not 100% sure but I am very curious to watch him find out yeah it’ll be a lot of fun to track and certainly some Runway here uh to to

Carve out a roller earn some trust from Tibido um when we look at where this Nicks team is now like look there’s a there’s a need for some scoring punch Off the Bench but you know that’s something that is not particularly expensive at the deadline if if you’re

Targeting a bench level player bigger picture whether this is deadline or this offseason or just how the Knicks have have operated wanting to keep the possibility of a big star open this is a Knicks team that is at a pick Surplus for the future how important do you

Think it it was for them to get this deal done yes they lost quickly in Barrett those are those are big assets but to do this with only one second round pick going out how important to getting this across the Finish Line do you think that was for the

Knicks it’s absolutely massive and I’ll say it’s not like the Knicks were thrilled to lose RJ Barrett it’s not like they were thrilled to lose Emanuel quickly the thing with quickly was that he’s an upcoming restricted free agent they weren’t able to come to agreement with him on a contract extension before

This season and the reality was no matter how good they thought he was he was in a role where he was playing 24 minutes a game and it’s really difficult to justify 2527 million a year to a 24 minute a game player no matter what the

Talent level that you believe to be and I personally think there is massive room for growth with him I I think we could easily see a huge breakout with him in Toronto as a matter of fact not could easily see that probably under sells it I think a huge breakout for him with

Toronto is probably the most likely scenario of what we end up seeing happening considering how good he was basically every time he took the floor with the Knicks but they weren’t goingon to pay him and they they didn’t want to pay him an exorbitant amount to come

Back because if he was going to back up Jaylen Brunson it just made roster building really difficult and what the Knicks are is they are a team looking for a Star to add to the mix to add to Jaylen Brunson probably to Julius Randall and now to ogan noi and Mitchell

Robinson and the rest of the guys in that roster Josh Hart Dante Devan chenzo and the fact that they retained all of their own first round picks is so huge because now when somebody pops up they’re going to be able to offer up to four unprotected firsts if they want to

Up to three unprotected swaps if they want to and they own four other first round picks from other teams they’re heavily protected none of them are going to end up being the number one or the number four overall pick they’re too protective for that but most if not all

Of them going to convey and they’re all worth something it’s a Dallas pick that’s late late first this year in all likelihood it’s a Milwaukee pick that’s late first in 2025 in all likelihood it’s a Detroit pick that’s heavily protected and Detroit’s not good but it’s also protected until the sun is

Expected to expand and engulf Earth and then Earth and then and then explode that’s how long that pick is protected out until eventually there’s a better chance that not that pick is going to convey and end up being the 11th pick or the 15th pick or whatever there there’s

A there’s a decent chance that these are coming over and these picks have value they could still make a real offer and they have Quinton Grimes to offer up in a trade and if you throw Quinton Grimes salary filler up to four unprotected firsts some swaps some protected that’s

A massive offer that’s a real offer I don’t care what kind of player we’re talking about that’s a real offer for that player a a and so if they can bring somebody in I think that’s obviously what has been their goal all along and that’s part of the reason why they won

An anobi because he’s one of the best players in the league who’s just plug in play you know like when you talk about the best players in the league Stephen Curry for example is obviously one of the greatest players of all time and not at the level of oan anobi but you get

Stephen Curry he’s going to change your ecosystem for good reason you’re GNA change your offense to fit Stephen Curry and anobi is one of the best players in the league who you can acquire who will help you on both sides of the ball and who you don’t have to change your

Ecosystem to accommodate on either side of the ball and that is so important when you’re looking for another star but having gotten that star because whether that guy is another Wing whether that guy is another guard whether that guy is a big he’s going to fit with anobi because he’s just plug-and-play

Stylistically with everybody he has all these accommodatable traits and that’s part of why they wanted him so badly because no matter who they go and get they don’t have to think oh well we got ogn and Obi so it doesn’t work so that’s obviously look the Nick’s side of this

Is is pretty clear right they keep a lot of that draft Capital together OG like you said Plug and Play we’re all very fond of them here in Toronto it’s going to be a good fit and it keeps the Knicks agile to make subsequent moves they did

Give up a manual quickly and RJ Barrett and like you said they weren’t exactly eager to give those guys up but you got to trade something to get something um we’ve done a lot of talk on the emergency show and so far today about you know Emanuel quickley game and the

Upside side there RJ’s game and maybe where he needs to you know massage around the margins to become the best version of RJ from a cultural and locker room and personality standpoint even for the fan base side what is Toronto and what are the Raptors getting in quickly and RJ Barrett the

People two hard workers two High character teammates two well- like guys you know quickley was really like the fan favorite with the Knicks because he can be really fun to watch he plays with such energy and especially with the role that he was playing he would come in and

Just Infuse energy into the game now that he’s starting in Toronto it’s a little bit of a different Dynamic but he’s really become a really good two-way player he was not a good Defender his rookie year when he first came into the league he was he was smaller he was

Skinnier he wasn’t as strong he got pushed around he gambled too much on defense way too much went after passes left you know driving Lanes vulnerable because of it he was not the defender he became really obsessed with Drew holiday he became really obsessed with be obsessed with great guy to be

Obsessed with he’s his favorite defender in the league to watch Quick Quick’s favorite player overall to watch is Stephen Curry but his favorite Defender to watch is Drew holiday and his favorite I’m gonna put words in his mouth and I’m gonna say I feel like his favorite guy to really study is Drew

Holiday because I I I’ve talked to him about Drew holiday a number of times and he notices all of these ticks in holidays game defensively that he’s added into his and he’s become this very dedicated very smart Team Defender who uses his combination of pun intended I guess incredible

Quickness and pun intended again really good IQ and he is he is able to put together this fantastic mix where he’s become such a good helper he’s become such a good Rotator he’s become such a good signal caller Mitchell Robinson the next Center has joked to me before about

How he has to tell Emanuel quickly to stop talking so much on defense because he’s the center and it’s his job and he’s making him look bad man the Raptors need that though like that that level of communication we saw it on offense a little bit last night like he called a

Couple cuts out for Gary Trent Jr in you know situations the Raptors don’t normally cut but it was available there and you you kind of felt it right away the Raptors have needed that defensive communication so badly this year yeah totally I mean look what team couldn’t

Like you gotta talk as much as you possibly can when you play I I think it was Kevin Garnett right who when Kevin Garnett would work out when he would do cardio on the treadmill he looked like a crazy person because he would have his headphones in and he would sing as he

Ran right and when people asked him why do you sing at the top of your lungs while you run you’re disturbing everybody his answer was well I’m training for basketball not for a marathon and in basketball in my job I have to constantly be talking so why

Would I not be mimicking that when I’m when I’m running it’s honestly it’s I that has stuck with me for so long it I think it’s genius I think it’s absolutely brilliant way to think about training for the game quickly is always talking his mind is a tremendous trait for him

It’s an incredible asset and defensively you don’t really see his stuff on the ball in the way that you do a Marcus Smart type he’s he has put on weight he is stronger he does have good hands he is handsy he’s not bad on the

Ball he’s he he can be he can be good on the ball if you put him in the right assets and he’s good getting around screens and all that kind of stuff and he plays his behind off regardless of what position he’s in but sometimes he’s just going to get muscled that’s just

Kind of who he is but his best traits are as a Team Defender the Nick so rarely used him on the other team’s best perimeter player they like to keep him in the the corner almost as a director as a second set of eyes as if he was

Like the you know he was like the quarterback of their defense in a lot of ways and he’s really good also at recognizing other teams plays I mean there have been there have been times where he’s just at the top of the key and there are like eight players behind

Him you know of his teammates and the other team and he notices from an action he sees at the top of the key he’s like oh okay this is the play they’re running and he’ll start calling out the play normally something that a guy in the backline will do because he’s got the

Sight line to see every body and notice it but he’s he’s noticing it just from the top of the key just from a way a guy is slanting or something because he’s he’s that studied uh it’s really important for a team defense you look at the numbers they all reflect it whenever

He is in the game consistently every single year now the Knicks are just way better defensively and it’s it’s just not a coincidence and they’re better offensively too he’s a very good player and as for as for Barrett for him people talk about the shooting all the time

He’s got the inconsistent jump shot and he’s been in a slump for the last month and a half after getting off to a really really good start and having a really good playoff run for them and the thing with Barrett is just to me it’s never

Been about the jump shot it’s it’s about the decision- making because once that decision- making gets better the efficiency will get better too he’ll hit the lane he’ll notice those three guys around him and he’ll kick out to the corner three-point shooter every time as opposed to only doing it sometimes and

Then throwing up a bad shot out of a triple Team every once in a while he’s going to eliminate those bad shots as the decision- making gets better and to me that would be the biggest step for him just getting that up there because he’s so strong and his ability to get to

The paint basically whenever he wants is such a tremendous asset for him and it’s something that he can really rely on as long as he makes the best decisions while he gets there and he’s been good defensively this year for the Knicks too after having a down defensive year last

Year he’s he’s really brought his defensive game back up I think and and that’s something also that I think will help the Raptors as well yeah it it has to because they’re losing the best individual defender in this trade and they weren’t a particularly good defense

To begin with this year so uh that’s going to have to be kind of everyone chipping in by being a little better uh Fred before I let you go here Alex and will did have a question for you and they would like you to explain how look

There are raptors fans who in my mention sometimes get frustrated that msii and Bobby Webster basically trade deadline end of season draft maybe once at summer league and then start of season press conference Leon Rose the president of the New York Knicks has not spoken to

Media since I think early 2021 H how is this still going on if I knew I’d get an interview if I knew the answer to that question how’s it going on uh it’s not normal uh it it’s going on because there is no technical rule in the league that

Says that it can’t go on and the Knicks would like it to continue you know I I I put all I can do is put in requests for interviews and see them denied and that’s about it I would love to talk to Leon Rose I would love to ask him about

A million questions that I’ve been wondering about this team over the last three years uh not just Leon Rose anyone in their front office you know no no one in their front office has done an interview in in uh about three years now and and no one has done a solo interview

In their front office no one has done like a solo press conference of just that person up there holding a press conference ever since the front office took over in in April of 2020 almost four years ago so they’ve never really had a real press conference since taking

Over with Independent Media obviously I think that’s important because gives you an opportunity to talk to the fans and like I’m a huge Yankee fan sorry Blue Jays fans who are listening I’m from New York it’s just what I am you have to deal with it whatever wo’s going to

Leave for Toronto next off season whatever well I’ll tell you what he’s not on a flight to Toronto right now I can guarantee that to you right now uh but you know if Brian Cashman never spoke I would just it would upset me just because I’m a huge Yankee fan and

I’d want to hear about the plans and I’d want to hear about what was going on with the team and and to me it’s the media’s job to remember that we’re just a conduit but it’s also on the media and this is a thing that I think about a lot

To um find ways to tell the story even if it’s not being handed to you so if we’re presented with walls all the time and we have two options we can Sprint into them and try to Barrel through them which often lends us with a ginormous

Headache or we can go look for a ladder so I spend a very large amount of my time looking for ladders and trying not to complain because let’s be real nobody gives a crap about my job being more difficult or more frustrating they just just want to see fun cool Nick stories

So that’s what I spend my time trying to do and uh I’m s I’m just a ladder Searcher it’s all I Am Blake I’m a ladder Searcher and I’m a begrudgingly trustful Alex Wong book buyer absolutely I mean hey at least one of those things is working out because prehistoric is

Such a tremendous book I don’t know about the latter searching who knows maybe instead of Leon Rose you you can get Sam Rose who is uh his son and OG and an obes agent um funny how that all clicks into place with Jaylen Brunson and a bunch of New York Knicks as well

Uh that is probably a discussion for a different time or book probably uh Fred cats of the athletic of the cats and shoot podcast thanks so much for taking the time out uh both as host having me on earlier and as guest with us today yes well thank you for having me

And uh by prehistoric it’s it’s just a it’s a hell of a read and Alex needs it he’s totally broke so he could really use the support I will not tell him you said that part I’m sure he’s not listening Fred cats thanks so much buddy that was Fred Catz

Of the athletic uh make sure you check out the athletic for all of the Nick’s side of things he had a couple good pieces up including OG on ogan and obi’s debut as well as a piece with Eric Karine uh right when the trade happened kind of going deeper on Emanuel quickley

And RJ Barrett their potential fits what they need to do to take the next step uh in their individual games he also hosts the cats and shoot podcast which I was on earlier today uh kind of just rolls reversed there which has made it uh for

Kind of a fun day we’re going to take a break when we come back we’ll tag William Lou back in from Montreal uh to round this thing out some final thoughts on the debuts of those players a look ahead at this six game Road Trip uh and maybe

Learn a little bit about uh Emanuel quickly and will lose content plans for him all that’s next as the Raptor show continues on the sportset radio network welcome back to the Raptor show on the sportset radio network and sportset 360 I’m Blake Murphy your usual host William Lou joins us once again

Again now from Montreal uh will we just spoke to well Michael gr a little earlier and Fred Katz for the Nick side of things um seems like we’re getting a pretty good pair of guys to cover in terms of their how how much they like to talk to Media Emanuel quickly

Particularly on the X’s and O’s side um when you hear and I don’t know how much of that Fred cats interview you caught but one of the ways Emanuel quickley has been able to improve defensively and I mean he Fred was also talking about what a great Communicator he is which

Obviously has been missing on this team a little bit but when you hear that a point guard has helped himself Get Better by studying Drew holiday like obsessively what does that tell you oh yeah I mean that tells me his head’s in the right place um because as

Far as point guard Defenders would go um Drew is the one that you will go to now I think the difficult thing is Drew holiday is like ridiculously strong as a guard um and so I I think in that sense uh I don’t know if quickly can replicate

EXA exactly the way Drew holiday defends but I mean at the same time like yeah fundamentals wise um you know that is definitely somebody that you know you would want to see and I think that’s probably one of the more underrated aspects of the deal is sort of getting

Back a pretty strong Defender as well um there’s been a lot of focus on what the Raptors need offensively from him and um that’s where most of the excitement has been but you you’re getting a two-way player here um so yeah no it’s great it’s great you know it’s like if I told

You I was studying like I don’t know low tape as a podcaster you you would feel pretty good as a listener look there are like 50 of us in the blog I guess I’m not in the blogosphere anymore but there is like just like there was a wave of

People who obviously read a lot of Bill Simmons there’s a big wave of people who obviously read a lot of a lot of Zack low too so that’s uh you can find that out there uh the other thing we learned about Emanuel quickly via the Raptors excellent get to know you social teams

Is that um his favorite food is Chinese food that’s a little bit of a vague answer um and for anyone I’m going to reveal something about will here he refers to himself in the planning dock in the third person um so no no no no no

No no no this this to be clear this Alex put this one in okay okay um anyway so so are we going to try to Target Emanuel quickly as the new UT watab like like this is who you’re going to try to break bad with for Content uh absolutely um I

Have uh lots of Chinese restaurants in mind in in the GTA it’s one of the best things about living here I mean he’s he is also coming from New York so the competition is quite high but uh yeah let let’s let’s make that happen but uh yeah salute to salute to Emanuel man

Clearly a very bright guy yeah he seems like he’s uh he’s going to be a lot of fun okay so we talked about the debuts and some of the fit here um look we could go deep on on quickly and RJ s more what they need to do

Developmentally to take the next step uh we can see if we can fit that in but we can maybe do that tomorrow as well um I I think one one of the questions I’ve received most on Twitter after this trade obviously there’s the excitement of the trade I write a bajillion words

About here’s what the cap situation looks like here’s what the cap situation looks like if Pascal goes if Pascal stays Etc a lot of people quickly move to okay what’s next um this is we’ve had a couple days for this to to settle in

Now do you have a a lean on which way you think the rest of like these next five weeks are going to go like do you does this deal push you in either direction in terms of what you think might happen or or even what you’d prefer to happen from here

Um I think honestly what I prefer to see happen is for pascow to sign an extension with the Raptors and we play out the rest of the season and look at what this group looks like I think that’s probably what’s going to happen regardless in the next month or so is um

That Messiah gives this at least in group a chance to sort of breathe it reminds me a little bit of when the Raptors made the first trade back in the day for Rudy Gay traded away Rudy Gay and they’re ready to move out kyari in the next move

Uh but you know obviously the Knicks whatever Nicks that and also the Raptors kind of saw that the group really found some momentum and kept going that group was also six games under 500 um at that time of the trade so you know the Raptors are coming out of a similar hole

I suppose but I mean look ultimately the front office probably won’t move in that fashion I think that if they have decided to make these kind of Trades you know these things don’t just happen in a very short time frame they don’t move in a reactionary way I think they move much

More decisiv um but my personal preference would be to see how this group looks cuz I I I rather enjoyed watching the Raptors offense last night and I don’t think I’ve said that marry of the last couple of years I I’ve I’ve seen great defensive performances from the Raptors

Great creativity on that front but offensively I really like the way it looked and so um you know that’s my own personal preference but my my like I I think my suspicion is still that uh they will continue to solicit trade offers and um make a decision that you know

Benefits the team long term uh okay yeah and I think so and part of why you’d look at these next five weeks is look I know some people might not like the like oh well we’re waiting to to see because Pascal sakam has been here as long as he

Is and you know who he is and what the market for him is um however you might also want to learn more about these other guys and and maybe this is the most important piece if even if you say are a person who wants to trade Pascal

Seaka by the deadline or wants to extend him with the idea of trading him in in the future figuring out what type of player fits best with quickly Barnes even RJ to to the amount that you’re you’re factoring that in um could be pretty important too now we can judge on

Paper what that would probably look like um but you might be able to see oh yeah this is missing or or this would fit really well with that um what what is what strikes you there will if you look at what we saw the other night and what

This starting five now with Dennis and Gary Off the Bench look like um what strikes you as something that this team could still use and could maybe address via trade at the at the trade deadline obviously you’re not going to fix the entire long-term picture in one deadline

But if you look at what’s here now and what went out um you know what what would be the next kind of thing you Target because we all kind of thought like a quickly type some sort of guard who could take some of the responsibility off of Scotty’s shoulders

As needed get into the paint a little bit add some three-point shooting um what what would the next kind of Ripple be if you’re if you’re building out this quickly core do you think yeah um I I think for me I would love to still see uh a floor spacing

Five as an option um I think that uh that’s something where you know it’s obviously not going to be cheap it’s obviously difficult to find you know players who protect the rim and also space the floor well um but you know ideally it would love to see in that

Direction even to have a small ball five option you know like I I suppose that we kind of had that with like fad Young or Chris bu sh Off the Bench but we know neither of those guys are really true answers at Center um they have their

Qualities but just not as a center so I think that’s a pretty clear weakness obviously that’s what you traded away precious precious is supposed to be that for you you ultimately have to get rid of him to to make this deal happen so I I think you know you would want to see

That I would love to see some more defensively oriented kind of like um perimeter players is just sort of like at least as backups just to sort of spell uh quickly or spell um even Dennis I I I just feels like there is a bit of defensive weakness now on on the roster

Not just from now just now well I mean I feel like before it was a lack of togetherness and a lack of execution and now it’s like okay personnel-wise we’re actually a little bit short which is like I mean yeah you just traded away OG and precious so like you’re kind of

Looking to replace some of what they did um and it’s difficult to see how they do that maybe they use Gary and turn that into like another two pieces in the rotation I mean if they could do something like that I would be interested but I also think at the same

Time you have to allow at least some room for some of the younger guys to step in there because um obviously down the line Grady will be a factor Grady dick will be a factor into the rotation right now he’s clearly not um but in this next season going forward hopefully

He will be and then even a Christian Koko which is like look if you want at least a rim protecting five which I think the second unit could really use right now ideally a guy like Christian could really fit that but we have actually no idea in terms of when he’s

Going to be able to come back if he’s able to come back anytime soon so uh you know I guess you have to have Clarity there but I also do think that you have to keep those kind of spots in mind that you’re not just completely blocking off

These two other prospects that you hopefully will you know have be part of your team long term so um yeah that’s it’s it’s a lot I mean obviously the biggest question is whether they going to move Pascal or not but I’m sure you already discussed that so so we’ve got

Uh like nine minutes left in the show so let’s do a couple quick hitters then you mentioned the backup center position I had informed people a little earlier jonte Porter’s on on the trip he’s going to be on the six game Road Trip they’re going to use some of his active days um

The Raptors have used their two-ways so so infrequently that you’re basically fine you could use all three of them the rest of the way and you’ll be mostly fine so it’s it’s not a big deal uh with regards to that um we’ve seen jont Porter with a 905 he’s been active twice

For the Raptors hasn’t got into a game is that something you’d like to see instead of going to the Thad minutes or you know they even played a couple yesterday where I don’t know whether you call bu the five or the four they they were just playing without a center would

You like to see jonte get a look yeah I don’t mind I mean I think um like the two minutes that we thought of that yesterday and it was literally two minutes what a shift that was but like I just think that there’s not as much upside there because you know that

Defensively teams look at that young and they go straight to the basket and I don’t even blame Thad for that like he’s never been a center in his career um you know he’s always been 6’8 and now he’s like you know at the tail end of it so

Realistically that’s not a rim protector um leonte has pretty good block numbers throughout the G league so you know um you could maybe try it out there just to see what you got um he also brings an element of floor spacing as a big which you know you would IDE like to see

Biggest thing with him is just as you’ve you know you’ve literally talked to him uh directly which was a great interview a couple weeks back you know he’s had an injury history um uh which at one point even comp for him he contemplated to end his career at a very early age luckily

He stuck it out and now he’s back in this position where he’s on the CP of making you know the league Again full time so you might as well see what you got and um yeah I think you give at least a little bit of that opportunity

Um you know I think the other thing too is just like I would love to see like more deals made uh to get more and more prospects so I thought like one of the nice things is you turn OG into two playable starters good starters now all

Of a sudden I want to see just even more of that for the second unit you know what I mean like it felt like I mean the last couple years Nick Nur was playing like a six seven man rotation sometimes even yesterday that was eight man and bu

Only played 11 minutes yeah exactly so what do you have to lose to to to see what you got in the guy that’s already in house um so one of the guys we thought would maybe be a part of that and he is not on this trip he’s switched

Spots with jonte Porter is Grady dick uh they revealed yesterday that grd’s kind of been told hey for a couple weeks here don’t worry about playing spot minutes for the Raptors don’t worry about 905 let’s let’s focus on your ENC Court work your body work your conditioning work

And then we’ll get you back in games um and you know hope you can find a better level than you did before he’s not on this trip he’s going to stay back with 905 they’ve got two games this week in College Park they’ve got two games next

Week at home so he could possibly get into four games before the Raptors are back off this six game Road Trip um when you saw that yesterday what is your reaction to that what what do you think obviously we don’t have a lot of detail on what the actual activities he’s doing

Are but a guy who 6 months after being drafted is kind of being go going being pulled out of action and going into a redo of the offseason program it kind of sounds like what what do you make of that um I think it’s just an acknowledgement of where he is I don’t

Think we should have too many expectations of what he can contribute this season um and then we can also separate that idea from what he might do long term but you know I did go back after this decision was made I went back to listen to Bobby Webster’s words after

The the the draft the night of when he selected Grady 13th overall and Bobby was asked about you know do you expect Grady to come in and and contribute at certain times and his quotes were we hope that he can come in Off the Bench make some shots and not make too many

Mistakes and that the coaches trust him we do have expectations that he can probably come in now of course that’s not like a hard commitment by any means it wasn’t like he’s going to start from his day one but I did think that the front office felt like there was a level

Of preparedness uh in terms of ready to go for for a guy like Grady what we have seen in summer league what we saw saw in preseason what we saw over the short stin that he came into this year whether that was in with the Raptors or with the

Raptors 95 there’s clearly more things for him to sort of work on I mean you know you and I are are true sickos and that we go to the game three hours beforehand and watch all the warm-ups and I’ve described this already but Grady’s warm-up is different than most

Other guys a lot of guys come in they do their set shots they do their Corner threes they practice a couple driving layups and then they shoot some free throws and they wrap it up um for Grady he comes out super early and he’s always out there with like two or three

Assistance and they’re working on things that are fairly rudimentary like dribbling um making the right making passes like practicing making the same jump pass um practicing closeout drills um you know in addition to the usual shooting so I think that what that points to is that they feel like this is

Going to be a longer term developmental thing and honestly for Grady you know at least right now there isn’t like an immediate pressure for him to play now that you have more U depth in the back court all of a sudden you know there isn’t as much of a pressure for him to

Immediately contribute so hopefully he’s able to reset I think one thing for me you know just being around the arena is you see his parents around a lot like his his parents have been with him you know for a decent amount of time in his rookie season and you know to me that

Just hammers in the idea that he’s really really young like you know so um yeah I I just don’t think that you know their initial assessment at least what Bobby said about him probably coming in after draft night you know I don’t think that’s being fulfilled but that doesn’t

Necessarily mean that long term uh you know it can happen but uh yeah for him too it’s just obviously strugg I think there’s a struggle with the the NBA range too which especially him coming in as a three-point shooter um yeah I mean if he can’t shoot the three then he’s

Not going to have a career basically so he’s going to need to adapt to that anyway whatever time he needs to develop that’s fine I don’t think that there’s any immediate need to uh to play him and the more that he gets 905 action the

Better uh two of those games by the way going to come head-to-head against Kobe buffkin who’s back now and looking pretty good in the G league so uh I’m sure everyone will react completely rationally to those games well we’ll talk about this more tomorrow as we tee

Up the Grizzlies game but the Raptors start a six game Road Trip they just left today Memphis Sacramento Golden State the Lakers and Clippers on a back-to-back and then Utah so that is you know Memphis is playing much better since they got jaw back Utah is not a

Playoff team but they’re not far out of the play and and they’ve had some Jordan Clarkson is getting triple doubles now um what is a reasonable expectation do you think for for this six game trip or or do you even really care and you’re more looking at the you know how does it

Look how does it feel kind of thing I mean I’m going to lie I can’t lie to you and say that I don’t care about wins and losses like I I think anyone who has heard one episode of the reaction podcast understands this uh but

No I mean I think the bigger thing is just how did this group sort of gel what else do they do I mean I think it’s fairly important for this group to if they want to stay together and sort of keep this as that group they need to

Actually rack up some wins um I mean again going back to the Rudy Gay trade a decade ago now but they were also on the west coast when when the trade happened right that there was they were in La uh when they ultimately moved Rudy and in

That trip they had some very memorable wins I remember over Dallas uh over OKC um you know and of course the Lakers the first game as well so you know s similar kind of do you sink or swim you know and and and I think dear’s analogy then was

You know it’s Sinker swim and you know we’re out here like Michael Phelps so the rappers got to be out here like Michael Phelps on this West Coast road trip if they have any chance to sort of keep this current group together so yeah I mean it’s certainly a very difficult

Schedule um and if the Raptors played defense I guess relative to what their talent level should be then they actually have a chance to compete in some of these games but right now we haven’t seen that defensive solidity so you have no idea who they might lose to

Like they lost to the Detroit Pistons in their last Road game so like I’m not going to be out here being like yeah they’re going to go like five and one on this West Coast Road Trip like that’s no one can tell you that especially considering how many tough teams are on

This trip yeah and two weeks ago we would have included the Utah Jazz in uh as one of the easier teams but then the Jazz did the 17-point comeback and they look pretty good again now that they’ve got their pieces back and yeah the Clarks and triple double nonsense asside

Their first one since Carlos Boozer by the way in the regular season it’s crazy every te the every team in the NBA had at least 10 triple doubles in the regular season since the last time the Jazz had won crazy wow all right uh will

L we got to go I’ll see you tomorrow buddy fly safe all right we’ll see you tomorrow like in in studio and stuff I appreciate you Blake for holding it down all right uh that was William Lou that does it for us today I been your host Blake Murphy alongside William Lou

You’ve been listening to the Raptor show on the sportset radio network and please make sure you find the Raptor show wherever you listen to podcast subscribe rate review Thanks again to will for hopping on to Michael gra for joining us to Fred cats of the athletic and the

Cats and shoot podcast to producer and co-host Alex Wong feel better buddy uh my name is in the rundown as well so thanks to me thanks to Andrew Adams Philly in for Derrick bro to Jennifer rolnick David CIS and J.R manatad for helping us behind the scenes we will be

Back to talk to you guys tomorrow break down more of these new fits talk to Mark Stein talk to Steve Jones and more have a great Tuesday and happy New Year

Will Lou and Blake Murphy recap Toronto’s New Years Day win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Michael Grange joins the program to chat about the team’s embarrassing loss in Detroit this weekend and whether more roster changes are coming. Fred Katz of The Athletic breaks down OG Anunoby’s Knicks debut. Finally, Will and Blake chat about other roster upgrades they would like to see.

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0:00 – Raptors-Cavaliers Recap
29:49 – Michael Grange
48:41 – Fred Katz
1:19:43 – Roster Upgrades

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