OG, Quickley, RJ Analysis + Trade Grades & More w/ Samson + Knicks Analyst

OG, Quickley, RJ Analysis + Trade Grades & More w/ Samson + Knicks Analyst

Hey everybody Welcome to a podcast where we’re talking about the Knicks and the Raptors after the huge trade between obviously both teams legal opponents as well crazy that they were able to connect on that I can’t remember who said that they thought this was the first trade made between someone who was

The plaintiff and you know like the the legal jargon but anyway we’re here ojan anobi is a Nick precious suchu is a Nick Malai Flynn is a Nick and the Raptors get a second round pick a really good one it’s the Pistons um probably going

To be 31 or 32 one would assume and they get Emanuel quickley who for many people they hope and dream that is the point guard of the future they get RJ Barrett who I think a lot of people the optimistic point of view is that he will provide you know solid starter level

Wing play end at 23 and a fairly sizable contract can grow into a larger role with meaningful additions over time that’s the optimistic stick take and obviously there’s lots of stuff to talk about from the Knicks point of view this is Ariel peo my favorite Knicks writer

And talker I find him to be incredibly insightful especially like a lot of guys talk about the offensive side of the basketball it’s easier to get by with that stuff because you can just look at numbers and pretend you watched and you’ll be able to kind of like fake it

But defense there’s no fake in it I don’t find anyway a lot of people have a tough time uh nailing that down here to talk about it all with me Ariel how you doing man doing good man doing good um I think that was kind of like a little

Great segue talking about defense because OG and quickle are like two very impactful defenders in two very different ways um they both bring a tremendous amount of value on that end but they do it so differently that like kind of seeing how that’s going to affect both squads in

The long run is so interesting to see yeah especially since the they’re both expiring in a way right and the hope for both teams is that they resign these guys to sizable contracts ogs will be larger even just in the proposed asking price that they’ve both spoken but you

Know the future for both teams are is being shaped by this trade now I will be on a Strickland podcast either next week or the week after to talk like all of the Nicks stuff first and foremost but since I have you here this is the

Raptor’s podcast we are going to keep it with the incoming Raptors that’s where we’re going to start first manual quickly that’s that’s what we’re doing if you can just give me the elevator pitch for Raptors fans who haven’t read leis Satan’s fantastic piece on Raptors republic.com if you just want to know

Like from somebody who covers the Knicks and has a really great eye for analyzing basketball what’s up give me the story I think the inkling when you see Emanuel quickly is think small guard spark plug kind of come off the bench kind of like your typical like the the famous one

When he was coming into the league was like comparing him to L will and like I think he is capable of doing all those things and and like but I feel like it’s missing the story right like you’re missing like a lot of what he actually

Does do and brings to the floor um he is a spark plug but he’s not a guy that’s going to you know hurt you on the defensive end in fact he’s going to bring a ton of impact there um and it’s not going to be anything that’s

Necessarily loud right like he’s not OG anobi and that like you’re putting him on the best opposing um ball handler or Creator you’re you’re putting him off the ball and you’re going to see that he’s going to nail these like stunts and help and he’s going to like jump and

Lunge at the at the ball handler at the perfect time and maybe he doesn’t get the steal but like maybe Scotty Barnes on the weak side gets the steal like he’s just a very like he’s a definition of an amplifier and a connector and that’s on both ends of the floor right

Um I think you hear a lot about offensive connectors but he’s genuinely like what I like to call a defensive connector right like he when he plays with like Julius Rand and when he played with uh Jaylen Brunson and he was on the floor you can see that the mistakes they

Drop off a lot right like um Julius randle’s job is is a lot easier because now he just has to you know tag and recover back to the corner that’s all you’re asking Julius to do here but if when Quickly’s like off the floor now you know there’s maybe more

Responsibility on those guys hands so with with quickly like the offensive stuff is going to be loud and it’ll be fun because like pullup threes are fun and everybody loves it and and he can get into the lane now he gets to the rim now um but where he’s really going to

Like wow you and get your attention if you’re paying close enough attention is to is to watch him on the defensive end and see all the fun little like quirky things he’s able to bring there the term that I use for defensive connector I think I would use insulator as in when

He’s out there you are able to insulate teammates from mistakes and also insulate them to the point that they get to be perhaps like a little bit more advantageous as a Defender a little bit more adventurous let’s say and he certainly does um Raptor fans should be

Well aware of they’ve seen you know between Kyle lry and Fred Van vet over some of the their years a lot of really really intelligent off ball guard play and both of those guys also kind of similar to quickly are more impactful as the off-ball defender than they are as

The enbal defender and quickly Fred Van vet and Kyle lry all sub six4 all have been part of elite defenses and all nail rotations all over the damn place we’re going to keep it not with defense we’re going to change it over to offense so there is expectations because of that

Pop the loud parts of his game Emanuel you we didn’t really see it in his debut but when you go through the film like I’m currently watching all of his pull-ups throughout his career that’s the every possession thing I’m doing for him and then I’ll at the end of the

Season I’m sure I’ll have something where it’s every Raptor possession but the thing is it is loud but also there are limitations I think coming into this he had only eight assists to the roller in the pick and roll all season he now has nine because he hit yakob on a nice

Little bounce pass pocket pass I think that the skip isn’t really a big part of his game the when he’s able to take advantage as a passer in the pick and roll it’s when he gets a switch or like a really hard hedge and it’s like hartenstein diving or yaka purle diving

And he gets to like because that pull-up is so deadly he can drag the big for longer before they get back before that recover happens there’s a lot of stuff that he’s only 24 he’s a Kentucky guard people are saying latent startup I kind of want to get your idea on the

Lat and stardom aspect of it from an on ball point of view what are your thoughts on Emanuel taking on a lot more possessions creating looks all that stuff um we can kind of start with the playmaking because I think that’s his skill that like if he ever made a big

Leap in that area like the stardom will probably come and and it’ll probably come quickly after that point um I think him as a playmaker I think last year um the previous season was his best season as a playmaker I thought he made a a pretty noticeable jump in that endend

And I think coming into this season it’s kind of like tailed back a little bit he’s kind of when he was with the Knicks he was kind of more focused on like being a scorer Off the Bench this year and I think part of that is just trying

To play for a new contract it always helps to have like some point for game numbers you know um but just in terms of like you mentioned the skip pass isn’t always there for him I think that’s very true I think that’s probably one of the limitations you’ll see like

With his size it’s a lot harder for those small guards to to see those passing Windows because they’re a lot tighter they’re a lot harder to see um and then I think some of the things with the roller you mentioned I think yakob is going to be really good for him just

That kind of craft as a screener he has um and I think having that little float of that yaka pass he loves to hit those little pocket passes when it is there um one of the things I noticed with um quickly when he was with the Knicks is

He has two very kind of different kind of centers right you have Mitchell Robinson who’s this like lob threat but if you give it to him anywhere outside the perimeter he’s giv it right back to you um but when he played with artenstein you see a lot of more like

Playing like off the dribble handoffs they’re playing like catch and flipping the ball over to each other and I think yakob is going to be able to do that like wonders for him and also his screening is going to help free him up for the pullup so I I think there will

Be more windows available to him just in terms of finding the roller there um and I actually think that like I was high I’ve been high on quickly from the jump his rookie year I remember saying that like this guy has All-Star Potential from the jump and maybe that was a

Little bit Brave to say during his rookie year but um I I still kind of I’m still kind of there um but I don’t think it’ll be in the sense of like oh he’s gonna average 25 points per game and give you eight assists per game I think

A lot of it is going to be like the impact stuff like like kind of Derek whitish is what I kind of liken him to um maybe he’s not all the way there to Dereck White’s level but I definitely think there like he can be there in a

Season maybe two and putting him alongside a guy like Scotty a jumbo like big initiator that’s kind of like the ideal role for for quickly right where Scotty’s going to take on most of the primary initiation stuff but you still have quickly who can toggle on and off

The ball and then he kind of helps insulate Scotty’s like lack of a pullup shooting even though he’s greatly improved this season and and you can see the jump shot increase um Improvement um I think that those two are going to play each off each other so well like for

Quickly I think this is like an amazing fit like if he’s gonna pop this is where it’s gonna be yeah I think that was the you know the consensus from analysts all around the NBA I think it was like the the guys I know in Toronto who really

Like quickly and liked him before the trade said like yeah this is a big one and then you have guys like Nikas Duncan you have guys like Kevin oconor you know the the invogue analysts and like the big mainstream analysts are all coming together to say this works you know Sam

Vini he he wrote a big piece on it too and did video as well um the thing that I’m interested in with quickley and you made the Derek white comp the the interesting thing is that quickly is smaller and probably won’t have some of the more Danny Green type of defensive

Impact that I think Derek white has been able to have but quickly as far as the difference in uh jump shooter is like just a million miles away when I look at quickly and I see a lot of stuff that works immediately toggling on and off

Ball he has a really great knack for you mentioned being able to like all the pitch plays and get actions with hartenstein and trying to like spy and look for Mitchell Robinson if he can Gary Tren Jr and Scotty Barnes among the high volume dribble handoff tandems last

Season were the sixth most efficient you imagine that you can ratchet that up even further with quickley and Scotty Barnes and there should be I mean into the future there should be a significant dynamism between those two there’s just a lot of things they should be able to

Play off of one another as you mentioned that purle should be a guy who is an above average playmaker at his position is a really talented roller and is one of the best finishers in the league if quickly is going to make those steps and

Get those reps this is the spot to do it and then on top of that too quickly is a Above All Else a bucket getter you also have still on this team Pascal cakam who he doesn’t necessarily screen to free up guards he screens to initiate switches

Because he kills switches because he’s a guy who can go for like even just this season he’s at like 22 and a half he’s scoring like almost 60% inside the arc he’s abusing switches it’s not such a bad thing if he’s initiating switches that also means that quickly is going to

Have some slower footed guys to Boogie on all this stuff could coales into higher Rim fre frequency because it’s been quite low over the course of a season getting into the teeth of the defense where he has been one of the best I think he’s the sixth best player

On hitting folds I think he’s at like 59% this season on the high usage guys which is I think there’s 60 guys who qualify he’s sixth his touch is insane and then also you’re looking at a guy who getting into the middle of the defense continuously via a diverse of

Screeners and Playmakers to work off of you’re going to get a bunch of reps with passing reads to try and make steps that you haven’t before he’s in a spot and a good one to kind of like try things out and he also he’s playing for a team that

Has been starved for you know uh guard creation particularly rapid guard creation for some time so the fan base is just like they’ve been taught it’s kind of like I don’t know if you watch do in a red Dune but you know the Ben Jer they had done you know propaganda to

Prepare this whole this whole planet to think that this guy was their Messiah and that’s like quickly IQ God’s Son bro he had been prepped to walk in and say I have all these talents that haven’t been represented on this team you like him because I like him he’s he’s in a he’s

In a tidy little spot that’s the end of my Soliloquy you let me know what you think that was that was that was great that was great I wish I I had the type of wisdom with the words that you do but I wanted to mention like you touched on

The yakum kind of uh posting more I mean screening more to get the the mismatches same thing with Julius Randle that quickly like this isn’t something quickly hasn’t played with you know and um it was kind of sad because the very last game quickly played with the Knicks

Was against the magic and Julius Rand and quickly probably had their best Synergy that I’ve ever seen them two have like um they were like the only two Knicks who played well that entire game and it was just because they played off each other I think you can see it with

Seak and see it with Barnes quickly is a very good screener for his position right he’s able to if you’re screening Barnes and with quickly and vice versa like usually most teams don’t have the Personnel to be able to like switch that comfortably one of one of those two are

Going to get a mismatch there and this was the same with Julius and what you see is a lot of miscommunication and then quickly so frenetic and I mean that in like a positive way he’s so frenetic that he sets like a bunch of like impromptu screens in transition um I

Watched the first three quarters of the Raptors game yesterday in his debut and I could see him like setting like kind of screens that I’m like he probably it’s probably just him like it’s a feeli thing um and and he’s just such a Highfield player that like I I can’t

Wait to see like how he builds that chemistry with SE yakum if he is there long term and then Barnes um and I think another thing is just the pace he’s he’s he loves to push the pace like he plays quickly I didn’t even mean to do that no

Pun intended but it’s just like I love this fit for him and and I think this is the place where he’s going to like if he does make that lead like this is this is where it’s going to happen I do wonder what allows him to if he gets to

Start him what allows him to access that because you know a really cool stat that Lewis wrote in his piece was that Emanuel quickley the points per chance which is how second Spectrum tracks it it’s not points per possession because you can have multiple chances in a possession so typically points per

Chance are lower than points per possession but on a drive for quickly it was over one point per chance which is quite high and he was higher than everybody on the Raptors including Scotty Barnes including Dennis shuder including oan noi he except for Pascal sakam Pascal sakam is one of the best

Drivers in the NBA quickly getting downhill as a scorer is a big deal he has a lot of things he can go to and I’m really interested to see how his you know his scoring repertoire and playmaking repertoire grow in the new system and what his Avenue to stardom is

Uh I’ve talked to a few people some people have an idea of quickly as you know he he does everything already he’ll just start doing it I don’t think I’m quite of that mind I think that he has to grow in a couple areas for stardom I

Just wonder if he’s one of those guys who if he does access stardom does it via insane pull-up shot making that allows him to bend and screw with defenses in like a myriad amount of ways right or if the pull-up shot making is more so like it’s where it’s at

Currently which is you know well above average not NE necessarily great but well above average and he starts making more playmaking reads to have different Avenues to start him is a really big deal most people only have one you know they call it a swing skill he has

Multiple and he doesn’t depend on any one thing really which I think is a really exciting place to be as a new player coming into a new team to try and like spread your wings I don’t know what the contract situation is going to be but he’s restricted Raptors fans he’s

Going to be here next year you know we have a a comment from in chat from Sharon baxer says quick and Kyle are a good comparison both stuck behind other guards handed the keys to the team when they got there it’s totally up to them

To make it work what do you think about that Ariel that’s literally like perfect um and I think I think they both are like both like to like slide into the lane they like contact they both they defended and Kyle and his prime was was a great defender above average Defender

Despite his size limitations like I think it’s a great comparison so shout out what was his name shout out to him Sharon Baxter shout out to her so oh her sorry we have a we have um uh a listener question from Andrew Livingston which I think fits into this part of the

Conversation says what may be the frustrating part of Quickly’s game that Raptors fans needs to know only from a perspective of understanding him as a Hooper so patience can be given to him I noticed a few things first like first game in we’ll talk about like the

Similar look inside when it comes to OG but what what are some of the limitations that you think could show up where Raptor fans you know they’re kind of like ringing their fist maybe um I think he can over dribble at times um I think there are some possessions where

Like he spends like literally like 16 seconds just like probing and probing and and like in the end he might draw a foul with like two seconds left but it’s like an ugly possession because he kind of dribbled it all out um I think those are the possessions that a lot of Nicks

Fans was like why isn’t quickly passing the ball um but it’s not I don’t think that I think that was also partly just like the way the Nick were set up with him and when RJ was there as well like there were four guys on the team who

Were tasked for creating and everyone else was like supposed to just play off that and I think in Toronto it’ll be a little bit different than that um I don’t think it’ll be as strict um just from what I saw yesterday um it’s felt a lot more free flowing um and even then

Quickly wasn’t doing too much dribbling um which I thought was was noticeable um and then other than that I think sometimes he can miss some easy pretty easy passing reads um whereas like he kind of can like get a little too aggressive especially I saw a little bit

Of that this season um but again I I do think that was some like contract related thing because it was something I hadn’t noticed the three seasons before um so yeah that’s kind of I think the two main things where it’s like I see a lot of frustration when it comes to

Quickly from other um like other Nick fans when he was here um I’m curious to hear what are the things that you noticed that were like kind of like could be annoying so what I noticed firstly is that taking in the game making different reads going to different strengths um he killed his

Dribble a lot and he was kind of getting stuck in the middle of drives with the Raptors but also it’s his first game the Raptors have a lot of reads they have a continuous motion offense that Darko likes to run he could just be like killing his dribble because he’s

Expecting like continuous to get to this point he thinks he’s about to make a pass or make a read and the timing just isn’t there um but and I I didn’t necessarily see that with the Knicks like I’m not the Nicks guy you’re the Knicks guy but I didn’t see him like

Killing his dribble unnecessarily above the break lot that was an issue for him in season’s past I think he’s gotten a lot better with that actually um as his ball handling has gotten better and quick point on the whole Rim pressure thing which is a great point he used to never

Get to the rim like his rookie season he was pull up three and floater or nothing and the floater was like from the free throw line because he just he didn’t have the strength he didn’t have the skill to get to the rim and one quick point is just the amount of like

Improvement he’s done since his rookie season is very encouraging because usually a great sign for knowing if a guy can SL will improve is previous Improvement and if you look at his where he shot like where his shots were coming from his rookie season to now it’s not a

Completely different player but you see the Improvement and even in the he’s not just raising like oh he’s not just more shots at The Rim he’s more efficient at The Rim um he’s not just straight floaters around um you know that little mid-range area he now takes pullup

Mid-range jumpers he used to never do that so I think he also kind of struggled with um kind of balancing all that out for a little bit especially at the start of last season um where he his first month was a little um shaky but once he figured it out it all clicked

And that’s when he made that real push for the Sixth Man of the Year award so I will say that quickly is someone that whenever there’s been a question mark about him um he has found a way to like improve it and I think again like I’m

Not saying sky is a limit for him because I think they are some like real limitations but I I think that if you are going to bet on someone you bet on someone who shown that I will improve in this area and not only will I improve at

It I’ll be legitimately good at it so yeah Raptor fans have seen you know s Demar de rosan who used to only early on in his career everybody talked to him from the point of view of like just his limitations limitations limitations limitations and while he never truly got

Over the three-point hump he was a guy who got so clinically incredible at the things that he was that he genuinely whether it was like footwork mid-range interior passing to exterior passing he became like a top 10 guy in each of those things just through hard work and

It allowed him to create like unique advantages for offenses it obviously hurt a lot of his offb stuff but if you want an example of like a guy who can just like keep working adding value because they work hard and they understand their game that’s Demar and

That’s you see that with other players too hopefully that’s what happens with IQ just to a statistic to mention he he gets to the rim like his frequency is twice as often now than it was in his rookie season and this is also like on a

A Knicks team that has been in a similar fashion to the Raptors been like searching for spacing this the Knicks are a good team but they’ve mostly done it like on defense and the heroism of in order Brunson Randall and quickly as far as like offensive creation there is

Contextual room for him to get to the rim more um from Joe wolfond another listener question and a really good one he’s a fantastic writer for the score he says is emanuel’s floater dependency a feature or a bug does need to bump up his Ren frequency in order to make the

Leap I’m curious what you think about that I I definitely don’t think it’s a bug um I think it’s a central part to his game um you mentioned the stat earlier that he was like sixth ranked sixth out of 60 in terms of his floater percentage um it it’s it’s so integral

Integral to his game if you shoot if you shoot 59% on any shot any shot y That’s a feature yeah yeah for sure exactly yeah yeah yeah um it’s it’s it allows him to kind of he likes to play in the middle like he’s very much like he kind

Of dribbles around and he likes to like find that one scam and there was one play specifically yesterday where he kind of had an open three from the corner um and he attacked the closes out instead and he got to the and he got an easy floater which is like money for him

Um the thing is he’s not too dependent on it like he used to be in his rookie season like earlier in his career he was very dependent on it and and a lot of people me included thought it was maybe more of a bug than a feature it was

Something that he went to it was kind of like he default defaulted into it it was like I have nothing else I can’t get all the way to the rim let me just toss up a floater because this is what I feel comfortable doing but now it’s a shot

That he’s getting to because he’s dictating the terms of of the floater as opposed to it being something like I can’t get all the way to the rim now or you know I didn’t create enough space for the for the mid-range here so I definitely think it’s it’s going to be a

Big part of his game going going down to like the end of his career probably I want I’m going to ask it very specific question so you know how the floater lob is like the NBA’s version of the read option you you could say it’s keeper DHL

Plays which is a little bit more applicable but it works the same way right like you see James Harden probably popularized at most is that this guy is leaping and could it’s 5050 he could lob it to Capella or Dwight Howard or he could just as easily like float the ball

In and that ability to make that decision in air is like really incredible has quickly ever been able to particularly not with hartenstein but with Mitchell Robinson who is the vertical threat has he ever been able to like walk that line between you know occupying the dropping big with his

Floater and being able to lob it to a you know a big man or going the opposite way if the pressure doesn’t come I think um reminds me a lot of Trey young as well Trey young is probably one of the best ever to get that um yeah he’s

Incredible man yeah it’s it’s insane um but with quickly I don’t I don’t think so I don’t think it’s ever been even like close to those guys level um obviously those are like the best ever at that but I think he’s definitely has more of a scorers mentality once he’s

Around the basket um he’s never been a good like I’m not gonna say good that’s not that’s a little harsh he’s never been a consistent like oh yeah you can count on him to throw a lava game or a laoba every two three games um it’s a

Little more sparse for him um I don’t know if that has to do with the size I think it’s just more so usually when he gets into the tee of teeth of the defense it’s because like he Advantage has already been created for him um he’s

Already there to like go up all the way at the basket or he’s just going to take the floater um and again 60% is probably a good decision to just go up with it anyways um maybe that’s something that opens up a little bit more for him going forward um but it’s

Definitely he and RJ were like the only two Lop throwers on the team in general um RJ was I think the best Lop thrower um so that’s a little Quirk for him but I think quickly was a little more scores mentality with with when it comes to

Getting into the teeth of the defense there okay do are we leaving anything on the table regarding Emanuel quickly before we talk about OG for all the the Knicks fans who are watching right now um I guess a quick little thing to touch on is just the off ball movement the the

The smarts like again the feel of like knowing if I cut here this guy’s going to sink in and now I’m not getting the three but maybe RJ behind me will like he’s just he’s just such a smart heady player um and I think it’s just worth

Mentioning maybe not diving too deep on but yeah look well that’s no that’s a good point is like good Cutters not only do they cut to score points but they cut understanding their gravity to drag and put the defense in tough positions um people who watch this podcast or watch

Some of my breakdowns like you’ve seen me break down how the burn cut is important and how like beating the weak side Zone with a cut to open up your teammate is you know Paramount to success and even his first three his first bucket as a raptor was there’s a

Pick and roll on the other side he lifts to create the perfect angle and he cashes a triple I one of the coolest things is that he isn’t an all or nothing like for all of the stuff about Fred Van who is still a good guard who is obviously having a tremendous amount

Of success with Houston and that team is playing really well he has a little bit more of Trouble toggling off ball at this point in his career uh quickly I think will be more willing to do that and in a more Dynamic fashion that’s my expectation um so really excited for

That okay we’ve got ogan and Obi the newest Nick um just give me your thoughts on game one because you had a tweet that said OG anobi is as expected if I’m quoting that correctly yeah my very first impression and it was very it’s very noticeable with the Knicks

Because the Knicks kind of had no like real Wing 68 like your typical like you look around leag guys like OG in the league he’s very exactly he is huge like he is huge and like he’s like as big as Randle and randle’s is a monster um so

His size just just stood out and I just thought like it’s not even like the point of attack defense is Elite right like we know that um I thought was what was cool to see and notice was like which I I don’t know why I didn’t put

The two together when the deal happened but just like when he’s off the ball and like when it’s a difference when the guy helping to rotate at The Rim is OG an anobi versus if it’s like RJ Barrett and and that’s not even talking about the quality of them as Defenders just the

Size like just the sheer size it makes a big difference there was a couple play’s big block from behind on go was because OG went up first you know exactly yeah yeah and it’s just like it makes a ton of difference he had a possession where

He like he’s boxing out goar and he’s like out muscling it goar and like it’s just that kind of thing really jumps um and when I tweeted OG as as advertised it was like knock down his Corner threes um very simple reads attacking Closeouts um The Cutting really popped yesterday I

The one thing I didn’t know that was like advertised or or maybe I just didn’t see it was how like easy of a leaper he is even when there’s a little bit of traffic and there’s congestion yeah haven’t been reading enough Samson folk man I’m slacking I’m slacking man

I’m slacking um standing dunk is on a 99 99 yeah yeah like um he had four dunks yesterday and like I I’m not trying to make this a one for one comparison but like he is quote unquote taking RJ spot in the starting lineup RJ has 10 dunks

All Season not just and I think three of OG’s were in the half court so like it was just like it was like a dramatic difference like it really popped um um a fun stat just quickly I don’t remember I think it was during his second season

When OG you know he had a really great first season but I was looking at the amount of like halfcourt possessions he ends with a dunk like a dunk percentage and OG whose very first Basket in the NBA catch on the wing attack a close out

The gu’s off bals trying to keep up with him spun put the guy in a grave and then dunked on top of him that’s his like he’s a what 20 at that point he had dunked a very similar percentage of his points as Yannis s kmo did that’s not a

Giannis comp but that is just OG dunks everything he’s incredibly strong he can go up whenever he wants he’s a lob threat he is I’ve been calling him one of the best Cutters in the Eastern Conference for like a long time he has a great sense of when like whether it’s 45

But most commonly like he he creeps the Baseline like a shadow C he’s impressive there um you’re he’s gonna get a lot of that like scavenger stuff that is just because when you dunk everything you know hello Mitchell Robinson hello Nicks fans you you finish a high percentage of

Your own stuff you know so yeah he’s he’s an incredible cutter I find there’s the reason he’s so like highly highly efficient 17 points per game on like 60 true shooting like you do that by like you get easy ones you know and and you

Take advantage of them so I mean it just a lot of fun to see that kind of dynamic from him yeah um the shooting what’s your expectation for him as a shooter is it just the Corner stuff or what’s how do you feel about that um this is this

Is the inkling I got from watching a handful of games before he played with the Knicks um he doesn’t is am I did I just not watch the right games or like is there not a lot of movement threes is it mostly just spot up is it is it just

C shoot like purely I the one before last season I watched every single pin down or wide pin that he came off of and he just can’t he just doesn’t um the movement threes are not a facet of his game the pull-up three there were a couple Seasons where on really low

Volume it seemed encouraging because the stats would be there but it’s so truncated in his transfer right that it’s just not that was why like for example Mel Bridges and OG were compared as like three and D guys you’re waiting on the jump Mel who obviously doesn’t

Finish like OG and but he’s been able to make more of a creation jump because he’s comfortable pulling up it’s very smooth transfer for him and OG like that I would say is his biggest limitation is the fact that his three-point shooting doesn’t really incorporate movement but

He’s fantastic without it so and like the Knicks while everybody loves a guy who can do it on movement as far as like creating standstill three-point looks uh Brunson and Randall create just like heaps Heap that’s what they do yeah I will say is and this is something else I

Noticed he seems more comfortable after like let’s say he pump fakes Defender FL he seems more comfortable like pulling up for the two instead of like side stepping and knocking that three down Am I Wrong off that or uh I think both are in his bag I think that he’s actually more effective

Doing like pound dribble into the like find space on the side I think that’s a better look for him I think that’s actually like not a great like because he Fades when he goes in and I don’t know I like it better when he searches for space on the three-point line rather

Than going all the way in but also he is such when he can keep his driving line straight he can all like he can finish over help defense he can like go shoulder-to-shoulder with somebody and it won’t affect his driving line right um as long as he doesn’t have to detour

When he puts the ball down he’s very effective on straight line drives so if a team is really keyed into let’s say Brunson and Randall and they don’t want to send like or they’re not very help oriented I think that he’ll um he’ll have a lot of success as a driver on the

Weak side but if teams pay more attention you might get the charges their turnovers all that kind of stuff but he’s not a star he is just very very good at what he does and uh the standstill shooting is of course very very helpful even if he’s not able to

Ratchet it up with movement you know there’s very few doing like there’s very few that fit into his archetype that are better than him if any um he he’s very good another thing that I appreciated yesterday was and a little bit of the film that I saw beforehand was the

Simplicity when he attacks closeouts um in terms of the reads he makes there’s nothing that like he’s not trying to hit a home run when he when he attacks a close out right he’s either going up for the rim for the dunk or he’s gonna like find this little dump

Off or if he doesn’t have it he just kicks it right back out um line decision maker exactly yeah yeah very Quint Grimes is the same way um from what I’ve seen from him in his career so it it in comparison with like R.J who RJ was sometimes it’s an adventure when he’s

Driving um the decision making is very inconsistent saw that night yeah yeah from possession to possession he the decision making is varies a lot um but with OG it it felt very like oh I know what I’m doing like if I don’t have it

Then I’m just going to get rid of it um and that was like I appreciated that the Simplicity of it and like not everything has to be like crazy for it to be like impactful and and that’s like the OG story to me I think like especially on

The offensive end at least yeah OG is like quietly a very helpful offensive player and loudly you know just like one of the best defenders in the NBA um I reckon if he has a really strong finish defensively with the Knicks nobody will care about

The month and a half he spent kind of you know use the term before we started recording quiet quitting on the Raptor defense he’s got a shot at a second year certainly of um you know all defense Accolade something like that uh defensively he’s very impressive to me

In like lock and Trail defense he is extremely impressive to me like you you saw a ton of it against Anthony Edwards he like he was fantastic against Edwards in the season opener with the Raptors you probably notice like that lock yeah he keep he keeps the hand up

Right like he’s able to keep it up if if you want the pick and pop pass the lane is obscured he also sits on the hip and he can contest whether it’s like you’re shooting hip or your non- shooting hip he can get there he stays on balance he

Matches Pace he like he has pretty good like sometimes it’s a stab step to get around the screen but like really good technique obviously incredible measurables and athleticism for it he really plays that strong ice defense he’s really great um when you get like that isolation defense he can really

Lock a guy between his knees like you you’re trapped you need Escape dribble and you throw that overhead pass like above the break to get out of there he is really impressive on that end and also like else yeah go ahead just another thing that popped I watched the

Game Raptors against the Suns earlier this year and the one thing that popped was like how high he gets on like shot contest like he was up there with KD contesting that dein Booker he made him like like Breck a few like not even touch Rim just because of like the

Quality of his shot contest like that that’s another thing that like watching the Knicks it’s like Quint grind’s great point of attack Defender but his size kind of limits how high up he gets on those contest so sometimes he he Aces every part of the test but when it comes

To like actually getting up to the shot he does as well as he can but like when it’s against a Deon Booker sometimes it just doesn’t matter yeah OG is a guy who for Nicks fans listening has reliably not only been able to force Superstars to shoot worse against him but he’s also

Been able to reliably suppress their shot attempts which is and he’s been able to do it some you know the Raptors used to be like extremely help oriented and that would be partly the Raptor’s game plan is like it’s OG plus the team concept but sometimes he’s able just to

Do it on his own like a guy who will suppress shot attempts completely change how a team wants to attack offensively he’s done it against some of the best players in the NBA and I really look forward to some of those big games in the garden especially in the playoffs

Because you guys are going to be there just to see how good it looks and growth offensively I’m not so sure it’s coming that has been something he’s reportedly you know said he wants I don’t think New York is the team for him to get those

Reps but I do think New York is the team where he gets selected to all NBA defensive team where he probably gets like a healthy amount of cash and depending on how they build the team going forward they might have a shot at it being the chip it’s that fourth guy

They bring in but like they currently are in a very tidy spot to try something um I’m I’m excited for what his game is like he’s he’s a limited player he’s 26 now the stuff he can’t do is objective but the stuff he can do has always uh

Always really impressed me and it it’s really important and impactful stuff I have one quick question about OG’s defense and yeah his stocks are really down this season and I would love to hear your opinion if that has more to do with the whole quiet quitting that I

Mentioned or we mentioned it earlier or is that more so with the shift in like the defensive scheme where under Nick nurse it was a lot more like pressuring the ball and like getting out and like forcing turnovers and playing that kind of style which and then as opposed to

Now with like Darko where it seems a lot more like I don’t know if safe is the right word but it’s not as um like jumping out and and forcing those kind of stock so love to hear your thoughts on that a lot more of the Raptor’s

Steals this year come below the break than above the Break um being advantageous inside the arc and that’s why you see Scotty Barnes really jump up OG and Pascal their steals have gone down and the blocks have gone down because they’ve been more perimeter oriented but also OG just quite frankly

The defensive intensity was not the same this season which it over the course of a career it wains for guys and we see it happen all the time it is what it is OJ wasn’t playing as well defensively as he could towards the end of his Raptor

Tenure and he flipped the switch in about 05 seconds and was like I’m on the Knicks we’re a playoff team and like no shade to g a ton of players do that it’s like his defense being really good this year wouldn’t have made the Raptors not

A bad team to this point so alls well that ends well he won a championship there he’s been like a truly truly impressive Defender he it’s like he and Doug chrisy for the best stretch of Defense over their time with the Raptors he’s been

One of the best to ever do it on that end of the floor for the Raptors so I’m excited for what he does in New York I’m excited to see how big that number is in free agency and if there is any you know projection or if there’s any

Progress for his offensive game going forward I think I will be slightly surprised but of course uh you know super happy for him he’s he’s just he’s damn good at basketball like that’s yeah that’s basically I’m a lot lower on the on the possibility of offensive growth but the the weird thing about

Opportunity and this applies to all Five Guys on in the deal is just the weird thing about opportunity sometimes different aspects of your game pop in one area in one in one team than another so you know it’s all projections and stuff but if these guys pop it it would

Not surprise me in the slightest for any of these guys yeah uh RJ Barrett you interested in the conversation about him that’s a tough one he had he had a a good introduction to the team I would say I think that some of the Hal and you talked about how

Doing different things matters like there’s impact to some things contextually on some teams like RJ being able to on two separate possessions understand the defense is maybe not super set at the backline push through that backline for like a left-handed finger roll there’s two guys that could do this that on the Raptors

It’s Pascal and Scotty no nobody else was doing it RJ immediately has a skill set That’s Unique in that aspect and then even when he missed it to go out for his own offensive rebound on two different occasions it’s just like that pressure he’s strong getting downhill there are obviously warts about his

Driving game that I think everybody’s well aware of a lot of Canadian fans saw it in feba as well inconsistencies but he’s in a position I think with the Raptors where contextually he has a chance to be like a guy who is better defensively than some of the guards we’ve seen the

Raptors playing he has a chance to be to provide a little bit more driving pop on the Raptors and especially in a continuous motion offense especially playing out more in transition he has it’s more intuitive for him to be able to pick his spots and we’ll see where

The jumper ends up he is paid a lot of money but he’s 23 he’s not the third overall pick for the team anymore he’s a guy who came over in the trade for OJ anobi I think Hope Springs Eternal there’s room for RJ to be like a good

Starter on the Raptors and if not like maybe a good bench player or maybe a neutral starter but any any one of those things is just like maybe that’s how it ends up I know some people you know everyone’s really optimistic when you a guy first joins your team some Raptors

Fans still believe in that stardom um I got to get your take on RJ with the Raptors first and foremost um RJ is is he’s so interesting he’s he’s such an interesting player I think a lot of the frustration that Nick fans had with RJ in his time in New York

And why some people still believe in that stardom being being real um is that a lot of it is low hanging fruit for him right if he he gets to the rim at will like he averages I think like 10 drives a game and if he was just a like if he

He doesn’t have to be an elite finisher to be like for his impact at The Rim to really be felt right if he’s just League average but he gets there all the time like that brings a tremendous amount of value the issue is he’s a poor finisher

His touch around the rim is very wonky um there are some ugly shot attempts that you’re going to see and he struggles when there’s like Elite rim for protecting bigs cuz like he doesn’t jump he doesn’t leap off the floor very well no no vertical pop yeah yeah

Exactly like it’s the antio in terms of like the leaping and traffic and and the standing dunk for example um that we talked about um and like again like with the drives as well it’s like a lot of times he forces a lot of drives right

You’ll see him draw charges I saw a little bit of that yesterday especially in the third quarter where it was a couple of drives where he kind of forced it up um and like if he just kicked it out a little bit more on those drives

When the best version of RJ in his career has always been when he’s driving and kicking not when he’s kind of like driving with with like the tunnel vision to like oh I need to score here like the team needs this when he’s kicking out to Shooters like the very first quickly

Bucket um you even talked about it earlier it was the RJ it was R.J coming off the screen on the right side when quickly lifted on the left and it’s like that’s exactly what you want to see from RJ um the the issue is it’s very inconsistent like there are there there

Will be a five game stretch where you’re like is RJ doing the thing and then there will be another 10 game stretch where it’s like oh man what is this like like this is one of like one of the like most negative in terms of like how often

He the usage and all that like it’s one of the most negative starters in the league um and the defense is it’s like the defense is like fine right like to me if you have existed in the Knicks defense you’ve been passable at the very least for the most part like it’s it’s

Important that’s the I had this conversation with Lewis about Steph Curry I was like you see Steph Curry his defensive onoff whereas like defensive impact is like completely tied into the Warriors whether they’re Elite or not and it’s impressive that Steph Curry can exist within an elite defense that means

He’s made huge strides that means he’s making like good decisions as a help defense guy that means he’s like his technique and he’s sticking on scheme when he’s playing point of attack stuff but don’t get it twisted and think that he’s Elite you know like it’s important

To exist in that framework but it doesn’t uh it doesn’t mean that you are like the same as like you’re not great because the defense is great but it’s meaning yeah exactly yeah yeah RJ is not a driver of like positive defensive impact um but he can definitely like

Hang there I think again like the low hanging through with RJ on that end is like we’ve seen him be a good Defender right his first two seasons in the league that was like kind of a thing um I had a lot of High Hopes I remember one

Time doing this really long thread on like his screen navigation against like Prime Bradley Beal and like how Elite he was in that one game where he was getting around everything and like since then it’s kind of just maybe there’s a game or two where it pops again but

Since then it’s been very up and down um as with most of his game um and then the three-point shooting I think a lot of people are aware of that um very inconsistent he started off the season red hot I think he was over 40% um then

He had like a migraine came back from the migraine and the shooting was was pretty awful since then um the thing is with with RJ when having a poor shooter who’s also like an inconsistent decision maker and not a good finisher um there’s a lot there’s

Going to be a lot of like ugly moments but when the the moments do click you will see the vision like when he’s got it all together you see this kind of Jack of all trade wing and yeah I think that’s always been the vision for me not

I’ve never been on the like stardom RJ’s a star but I think he can be a really damn good starter um on a really good team um it’s about figuring it out and grabbing that low hanging fruit and kind of just like understanding like that maybe the player he wants to be isn’t

The player that’s probably the most realistic for him and I think being in Toronto where he’s not third pick anymore and he doesn’t he’s not g to get fed like 28% usage or 27 whatever it is in New York I think I think this is a

Good good chance for him even if the fit is offensively is kind of similar to what’s he’s had in New York yeah I think the he is a bully getting to the rim when he’s doing it well similar to Randall but that isn’t similar to Pascal Pascal is like this live water running

Down you know a jagged Mountain Pass like he’s sifting through different Health rotations he’s very fluid and RJ is a guy who if you’re like whether RJ is finishing at The Rim or not if you’re not a guy who’s going to like meet the moment from a phys ality point of view

He’s going to like you’re going to end up in the restricted area and because he he can really press you down there he is slow footed in some respect he is like lacking that vertical pop but if he picks his spots better when there isn’t as much help defense available and

Hopefully with like quickly Pascal and Scotty and even yakob who draws tags and does all this kind of stuff and has you know gravity as a dump off guy if he picks his spots better where he can dominate his check without worrying about you know that helps side stuff and every

Once in a while you are going to have to make it over the helps side guy there is an Avenue to more efficiency as a driver and hopefully you know in the continuous motion offense that the Raptors run there’s more opportunities for stuff like that as they kind of filter in more

Of this occupied weak side pinin stuff that should work for like Emanuel quickley that can work with Scotty and Emanuel as like second side options all that kind of stuff who knows I also was impressed and then a gas that’s kind of like the decision-making we talked about

Emanuel quickly not being able to like throw the skip really RJ can throw the skip this happens with a lot of left-handed players because left-handed players are so ungodly strong in their left hand that RJ if it’s sitting in that left palm he can kind of spray it wherever

And he throws it hard and he’s not short he made a couple passing reads like last night that I was like that’s nice I like that but then he made a few more and then he ended up with five turnovers and one assist and I was like what the hell

Is this guy doing because he’ll make a read where I’m like that was a genuinely inspired read I’m really impressed he was able to make that and then he kind of like blew up a four-on-one of his own valtion because he wasn’t sure what to

Do and it wasn’t like a missed shot it was like he actually turned the ball over which to me is crazy there’s a lot of holes there but you wonder you know under a different context different framework is there maybe room to like Elevate the decision making um and

Really interesting that he has with the Knicks a higher usage percentage than either Pascal or Scotty have on the whole season 27% Pascal I think is at 25 Scotty I think he at 24 quickly is a guy who’s hung around like 21 or 22 we have a listener question from Bobby Webster

Loves yoga that says how will these players usage scale on the Raptors and will slash can they be effective says ideally RJ usage should be lower than Scotty so 22 23% IQ should be around the same as Scotty 25% um I don’t think IQ gets that high

Probably I’d be surprised um if he does I think you see a big uptick in assists rather than like just insane incredible shot making RJ needs to be below 23% I’m like very certain of that um he there are better tough shot makers on the roster there are better shot creators on

The roster there are better Playmakers on the roster I hope that he adheres to that to some degree but also we saw last night in a lineup where Scotty was on the floor and Pascal wasn’t Scotty like wasn’t being super aggressive and RJ was he was taking a lot of possessions and

He was just kind of like trying to eat the usage yeah there is value in that in the correct lineups that is that is something that RJ can do positively that other Raptors bench players haven’t been able to do he was also you know not doing that much in the starting lineup

So he had a that’s why I came away from last night thinking like this seems positive because he was toggling correctly to the lineups of course when he’s with Scotty you want Scotty to be the number one guy but when nobody was getting anything below the break and R.J

Was like all right let me get a quick seal I’m going to try and get to the r on a post up a bully drive all right take your shots when you get them I guess it’s all about application for RJ and then the slow the slow work and

Grind of adding stuff to your skill set over the course of the contract yeah the thing about RJ is we’ve never well we have and it was his second season and it was pretty easily his best year yeah um when he scales down and he kind of just

Becomes more you know the only threes I’m taking are catch and shoot and they’ll be straight spot spot UPS I won’t come off movement and then when his drives are are a lot more attacking Closeouts in transition and they’re not him initiating you you get cleaner looks

From him I think the reads are a lot easier for him so you will see that decision making pop a lot more in a good way um I I do think that he was very overtasked in New York um I was I was I’ve been hoping his usage would drop

Over the past like two seasons or so um because it’s been clear that like he’s not a 27% usage guy and that’s okay not a lot of people are um it’s a very difficult thing to do in the NBA it’s not a shot at him it’s kind of funny

Between Toronto and New York we’re talking about crazy offensive environments over the past few years like both these teams it is also funny that like that’s the lawsuit by the way too is like Play Type data they’re both looking at it like this is the worst

I ever seen you know exactly and they’re like I want some of that too but it’s it’s there the similarities are like a little too a little too on point um but yeah like like RJ another thing that that really lacks and hurts his game is he doesn’t really have an in

Between game um like there there’s his pullup in the mid-range you can like it never feels like it’s going in um the numbers are ugly um but the one thing I I will say he has improved on this year is he his floaters are a lot more under

Control um he’s coming off two feet yeah yeah when he’s coming off his two feet with his floater his touch looks immensely better um but when he’s coming off the floaters and he’s doing it one foot you can kind of bank that it’s not

Going to be a good look um and and again he’s a good lob thrower in the in between when he wants to throw the lob um but again it’s just like the like from possession to possession like you can see a freaking great read where you’re like whoa he whipped that skip

Corner to the skip pass to the corner found the shooter and the next possession he’s like barreling into three guys and it’s like oh what happened like you just you the flashes are loud and um I kind of got to a point when he was in New York where I was like

I think the flashes are just flashes at this point you know um I I I kind of lost hope that he would ever find his rhythm consistently in New York I think that the environment was just the way that they were asking their creators to just like figure everything out and then

Have the shooters and the off ball guys play off them I didn’t like that for RJ um but I think watching Toronto’s offense yesterday you mentioned the motion offense and the continuousness of that I think that’ll be healthy for him getting him on the Move getting him off

Dribble handoffs um getting him downhill where it doesn’t have to be him calling for a pick and roll doesn’t have anything he resets come set another screen yakob like that kind of thing was something that really bogged down possessions in New York um but I think

Could be less of an issue in Toronto and I think his usage will drop I don’t think he’ll have an insane number um and if he does then it’ll probably be not a good look for Toronto for a while yeah when RJ’s clearly has a bunch of things

He can do on the floor but has never been able to find his way to like efficiency and so what that typically says to me is that you need like a little bit more role definition and the team needs to make some things like easier for him so you just like look at

His his splits he’s never finished above 60% at The Rim in his career he like he can you look at him and you say this guy can why is it why is it so low over the course of’s no reason he should be that low why is it so low because he’s taking

Like some really difficult shots simplify have players like create easier looks for you pick your spots a little bit better in the short mid-range has never been above 40% again not efficient not good okay simplify choose your spots a little bit better long mid-range he’s shooting 33% this year is like 32% on

His career not something that he’s should be doing a lot of and then the threes like Corner three 38% this year 44% in his big shooting year right and it’s about toggling expectation of what you expect of yourself within the context of the team he clearly has NBA

Skills he clearly when put in positions to succeed can give you that and on a blue moon when you need his usage in some of these lineups that don’t have very aggressive offensive decision makers he’ll pinch in and score for you every once in a while it might not be

Efficiency but it’s usage that you need I think there’s room for him to find like a really nice spot with the Raptors and of course his jump shot has been you know like a question for a long long time but we’ll see what happens with it I hope it develops meaningfully um

Another listener question from Jonathan Chen who for my money is the best Canada basketball writer he basically breaks down the Playbook every year it’s awesome says thoughts on why R.J has always been a low stocks guy is there a defensive role he was playing that was

Holding him back or is he not super active and I’ll just let you handle that one it’s more that he’s not Super Active on defense um the instincts aren’t really there for him um he’s played a bunch of different not a bunch of different roles but he’s been the point

Of attack guy and every time he’s been the point of attack guy for New York their defense has been really bad um there was the season which season was that last year actually um and to start the year they were starting forier with him and he was the point of attack guy

With Brunson and Rando you know he was the only option physically that could probably try and the Knicks defense was was was really really bad and then once they swapped Grimes into the starting line of for fornier the defense was was great and it was magnificent and it

Really helped lead them to where they got at the end of the season um I think off the ball he’ll be in the right spots like you know nine times out of 10 like for the most part he’ll be in the right spots but he will not he will not use

His physicality like he does offensively um you can kind of see him get bodied up sometimes he’s fine in isolation um he does really good in matchups against like Jimmy Butler or like Jason Tatum he’s always done really well um he’s fine in isolation but it’s like when you

Get him on the move and you force him to turn his hips you see the like the lack of speed and like lateral quickness doesn’t really have that the foot speed really lacks um but he’s always been a low stocks guy because he’s just doesn’t have that like instinct and that feel on

On that end U but again you mentioned this point and I think it’s important to note that like being able to be a part of an elite defense for multiple Seasons yeah that says a lot about you as a player right you may not be the one

Driving that but if you can be a cog in that then that means that you can contribute in a positive way yeah the Raptors are currently 17th per NBA’s metrics in defensive rating 17th in offensive rating and I think 23rd net rating there’s room for this team to

Improve this season at the very least there’s room for role definition for the guys incoming and whereas quickly I think you hope it’s that it’s role definition that allows him to thrive and like spread his wings a little bit more and for RJ you hope it’s role definition

That allows him to be a little bit more precise in his decision-making and you he’s still going to have opportunities to freelance when it’s like bench plus guys he’s going to have opportunities to like on a whim like little pinch post or something like that he’ll be able to go

To some of his strength creation but role definition you hope helps both of these guys and a new context you hope and you know a buring superstar to play next to and still like an All-Star level player in Pascal sakam quietly making everything a lot easier offensively

There’s a lot of room to find success yeah do players always find it not necessarily should the Hope be ex post trade right after that players will find success of course um if you want to say anything else about RJ go nuts but I kind of want to talk about precious for

A little bit of time and then Malai as a footnote probably just to finish your point I guess with with RJ it’s like you’d rather see him scale down and then if necessary scale up as opposed to vice versa and I’m just finishing your point right there essentially yeah okay

Precious auua do you have any questions for me the newest Big in New York man I’m G just say it’s been one game and Nick’s fans kind of hate him already it was a it was an experience um but in his defense I’ll give him in his defense

Against the was it was a really rough match up because like all his minutes came against Rudy gobear and like the size was just it was seemed like it was too much for him I think um there was like a play where you could see Jaylen Brunson like literally like no you have

To stand here like on inbalance play like I think it was just you got to give him like a little bit of time but um I can I’ve I’ve seen some clips of precious in the past where like he does something you’re like wait whoa what is

That like in a good way he’s one of the best athletes in the NBA I think that yeah yeah um but he’s just like it seems like it’s a roller coaster of like insanely High highs and like insanely low lows and like um I think it’ll be

Funny in a sense to see like how tibs handles that because like that’s like the anti- tips kind of player right there so I don’t know it’s uh there are two memes that I remember from uh precious’s time in Toronto I had this I can’t remember what anime it was from

But it’s like a guy driving you know a fighter jet and he says I am a genius and then the next frame is oh no and that was like a ton of precious’s offensive decision making is you’re just like what the hell are you trying to do

Here man that is nuts and then also one from my friend leis Atman was like the Raptors playing basketball and then it says precious atua playing basketball and it’s a dash on playing the piano and you’re just like I don’t know what’s happening here he is his best stretch

With the Raptors was an incredibly high high he played more like a wing and a pick and pop big who got to attack Closeouts and that ended with him his finishing turned around he was getting a poster like every three games like he’s an incredible athlete and it was fueled

Mostly by I think it was was a 24 game stretch where he took I think it was like 3.6 threes per game he shot like 45% he was incredible and then we saw him in a playoff series against Joel embiid when he had Joel embiid in space reliably and efficiently scored on him

In isolation so much so that the 76ers started playing Zone and he did this out of the short roll and he did this in isolation and it’s just like very intriguing to see a big the same way that like Noz is definitely better than precious but the same way that NS Reed

Can kind of be like a knuckle ball into how other teams want to defend with their bigs that’s the precious atua optimistic take right playing as a big man for his guards has not been able to plant screens reliably I have like no expectation that he’ll find the pacing

To play next to Jaylen Bronson because you have to be really talented to figure out the Herky jerkiness of Jaylen Brunson and to kind of match and preserve passing Lanes when he’s on ball because he he doesn’t even really know what he’s going to do he’s just looking

CAD yeah there’s a Cadence he’s looking for his space play off of my space I score 27 points per game I’m the dog here make it work precious probably won’t be able to do that he’s best on offense when he gets to kind of play

Like as a wing and I don’t know if there’s much room for him there so I’m not expecting good things there what I’m expecting good things is if the Knicks have good offensive lineups or lineups that really know what they want to do offensively where precious can has a

Pretty good sense as an a wing style cutter not like shadowing guards or anything like that but as a guy who can make a cut from the 45 or the Baseline great timing I think he was 93d in points per chance last season on cuts the the whole NBA powerful finisher can

Finish with both hands uh that kind of stuff is good I don’t know but the best thing he’ll be able to do is if if you guys want to play a switch heavy defense in a pinch he is a guy who has primaried Luca Giannis Jimmy Butler Joel embiid

And has been like incredible doing so his balance speed and strength all of those things they meet in a very rare spot that is where most of his value comes from and I don’t know how often he’ll get to do that in New York but that’s the pitch okay question then cuz

Tibs is mostly a drop guy right like the Knicks kind of have their own switch big in a sense with Jericho Sims and um we haven’t seen Sims this this third season now even when he’s played it’s been dropped but when the chances that Sims

Has had to switch he’s been like a freak and there was even some experimentation with him last he’s in playing the four so do you think precious’s limitations like in a drop are that does that have more to do with his positioning on the drop is he just like always out of like

Is he pushing up too far pushing down too low or is it more of limitations like with the size or like what do you think leans more so he had a really really strong stretch as a drop big um there was even a game I referenced it

Every once in a while where the Hawks stopped running pick and roll for Trey young because precious was involved as the dropper and so they just started having Trey ISO and they won the game it was a really good decision precious is has games where he’s really really

Impressive as the dropping big high drop up to touch and he can man the middle because of his explosiveness to stick with guards but I think that’s mostly a result of him being able to play at the speed of the guard in space interesting these are stretches though and this is

Where precious is kind of how you know you mentioned you were seeing RJ’s flashes and you wonder to yourself at some point like these are probably just flashes precious is right on he’s on the knife’s edge right like it’s like it’s between you start to be a productive Defender who consistently does thing

Things or you’re a guy who has like incredible flashes every once in a while precious is right there if he can stick in the Knicks rotation as a guy who finds the way to do those things consistently because I think contextually it was a better fit for him

On the Raptors than it was for the Knicks I agree if he can make it work in New York I think that’s a very strong indicator if he can’t tough um kind of what we mentioned with RJ it’s a good thing and it’s meaningful if you can fit into the context

Defensively of a strong defense like for all of the woses about RJ’s offense he played like 30 plus minutes for years and years in a really good defense if precious can’t give them spot minutes and do so effectively when they have so many holes in their front Court

Currently that’s a really bad indicator he’s going to get a shot and it didn’t look good in the the first game I think the defensive stuff he should be able to he should be able to fit in if he can’t bad news I think I think his offensive

Flashes aren’t going to pop in New York just because knowing how like it’s taken like a year and a half of like har and star playing like the very best version of himself to like just start now getting like high so he’s a great like can’t say

Enough good things about the way he’s playing and has played in New York but like very upset when I saw the Knicks got him I was surprised I didn’t see that coming I was even doing a podcast with Blake Murphy when he signed his like deal out of the draft with the

Nuggets and I was like oh would have liked to get him and I’ve just been sitting here waiting on hartenstein to be like a raptor because he’s just such an underrated big for like ever and probably will be until he retires yeah yeah yeah and Ian Begley kind of

Reported this kind of related to the to the quickly trade um that part of the reason the motivation of like wanting to like trade quickly and RJ and get rid of those like potential money because we don’t know what Quickly’s deal is going to be and then RJ’s deal is that they

Want to be able to pay of some of their own guys and the only guy that’s really a free agent coming up for the Knicks right now besides OG now is hartenstein and I think they wanted to to pay him a little bit um but yeah just the awesome

Big um but my my like original point was with precious I don’t think he’s going to get that opportunity to like attack Closeouts because like that’s not like something that tibs wants from his FES right his fives are just screen run to the rim grab offensive rebounds which

Prous is actually kind of good at pretty good offensive rebound yeah so maybe he’ll bring value there offensively um so like it’s really important for him and and his context to like really be good on defense and to hit it out of the par because if not Tibido does not have

Patience for like a poor defending center right like Sims Jericho Sims had a chance to start for the Knicks he had like two or three rough games and they immediately signed to Gibson he went straight back to his safety net so I think TI got frustrated last night as

Well because at the end of the first half there was one possession where they was like 17 seconds left and they subed in Todd Gibson and not precious so I don’t think that rope is going to be very long um so I think he will get a

Chance though they did trade for him and I’m sure like he’s he’s a very intriguing player though like he’s probably one of the most intriguing players in the league right now just in terms of like guys who can’t be like a star just like if he pops though like

He’s a lot of fun um but yeah precious game is like the best roller coaster you’ve ever been on yeah like I’m sure he has one like if his next game he pops like they’re going to be Nicks fans saying like oh my God we might have

Gotten a Ste he’s a star like I’m sure it will come um but he’s gonna need to to to be a little bit more consistent on that end or he won’t get the shot I believe I think his his best context was when the Raptors didn’t have a center

And he was playing like a small five and they were playing a very aggressive scheme defensively and he had a really great run of doing so but you know not enough things happened for him consistently he had a couple injuries that and the Raptors underperformed that

They no longer looked at that as viable and it went from messiri in the wake of saying you know in the wake of his trade to the Raptor saying you’re mine now which seems to indicate quite a heavy Buy in to he’s thrown thrown into this

Trade I would say because I don’t think it was of much consequence for either team which for the precious Believers and the the precious propagandists like myself is a little bit disappointing Maybe um if he can’t figure out New York that’s tough because he will be in two

Uh wildly different contexts and yeah if you can’t make it work defensively in New York is a big because you should be you should be able to that’s kind of that’s where I’m at with precious I like I like the idea of of trying to get him to win with like

His activity level right because that’s what kind of when Jericho Sims was good with the Knicks it was with activity right you can win maybe not for like long stretches but you can survive a four-minute stretch a game just like that ass man you know yeah exactly so um we’ll see

We’ll see yeah that’s kind of we’ll see what happens I hope for very good things for precious and as you said like a good precious stretch can include some of the craziest things you’ve seen and like his highlight reel if you cut it I’ve seen it yeah it looks nuts you’re like this

Guy does these things um but you know NS Reed is a really easy comp NS has figured out his more consistent impact act NS does things more consistently NS does things that you can do every possession instead of like cuz like the thing about Precious too is that you’re

Watching it and you’re like oh this is like Star Pop but it’s like where’s the role player pop yeah you know because you have to be able to do both and being a guy who only provides like the star pop every once in a while puts coaches

In a really tough position as far as like okay well I want you to help the good players on the team right now and I want impact currently how do we make that happen and you’re like I will dunk a guy into the rim every sixth game and

You will and I’ll like Slither to the rim and finish left-handed and you won’t be able to believe I did it and I’ll have like six isolation defensive possessions on the best guards in the league and you’ll be so happy it’s like but what about the rest I don’t know

About the rest that’s kind of like Precious has to figure out the rest yeah Malai Flynn any preconceived notions about Malachi when he got I don’t know if you remember but we spoke on here a couple months ago and I was like every time I see Maliki Flynn like he does

Some good things like what’s up with him and you kind of told me you gave me the little rundown and then he got thrown into this trade and I kind of laughed in my head a little bit I was like oh that’s funny um but I’m be honest I

Don’t think he’s gonna get a lot of burn here um I think the the Nick signing Duce to that that deal that extension kind of signaled that like deuce is gonna get the chance and unless like Duce really like plays really poorly and the Knicks don’t bring in another option

Which I think is what’s going to happen um I don’t think Flynn is gonna get a lot of a lot of playing time um much to the dismay of his father I believe from what I saw on Twitter um but um in terms of him I think he’s like a very like hot

And cold player but the cold runs a little bit more consistently than the hot from what I’ve seen um I do think that like maybe he gets a shot just because he probably brings a little more like creation on the ball than dece does but again that’s like a very like small

Margin that like it’s like if you’re competing between Flynn or Deuce you probably like have an issue in terms of like who your creators are um so yeah I don’t have High Hopes um of course he could shock me he could shock a lot of people but um shock the world yeah

Exactly could shock the world but again if you’re getting shocked it’s because your expectations are low and my expectations are low yeah the expectations for Malai have been really low and so much so that there was like Malai positivity this season I’m sure if you go poke around and look at the

Numbers you’ll be like really he had like a bunch of positivity it was just like so his impact was so low he’s small on defense despite winning Defensive Player of the Year in his conference before he got drafted despite being you know college basketball’s best pick and

Roll guard before he got drafted and despite being a guy who I think a lot of people were expecting the jump shot to translate and develop none of it hit when none of it hits and like you don’t have a strength to work off of it

Becomes really hard to like walk into a game and understand where your impact is coming from especially as an on-ball player mhm he hasn’t been able to figure out the in between stuff he hasn’t become like a dynamite catch and shoot guy that you just like you know if he was that

Guard despite not being able to create much if you put him on the floor you’re like if it’s swing swing it ends up in his hands you feel pretty good he’s not necessarily that guy either and you know you’re gonna start missing something defensively if he has to figure out like

On ballcraft and he really has to like bang triples to find his way to impact and he he did put on like I think like maybe like seven or eight pounds of muscle this past off season well done to him to make like when you’re trudging through the middle of the defense you

Provide more resistance other players feel that but he still is a guy who competes defensively you know Sharon Baxter says he hustles but hustles to Nowhere is kind of like apt it’s just it’s hard to implement yourself on the NBA court at the NBA level when you

Don’t know what you’re supposed to be implementing like what strength you’re supposed to be working on off of and he’s like what 24 like now maybe maybe 25 it’s tough he he maybe ends up yeah go ahead I was just gonna say you need a foundation um in the NBA like you need

Something that like when everything else is going wrong what do I fall back on is it is it my pull-up shooting is it my spot up shooting is it getting to the rim and when you don’t have that and like you can get lost in the shuffle

Pretty easily and again kind of to tie it back to the whole Deuce little backup point guard a battle they probably have going on um is that with dece you know you’re going to get like elite point of attack defense so even if his shot is

Struggling you know at least on one end of the floor you’re going to get some type of value and Flynn doesn’t have that right now um and again like you mentioned his age and kind of a situation in general like the clock is ticking for him so like if he wants to

Stick in the NBA this is probably like if he does get a shot he’s gonna have to really like take off with it or and and coaches especially with guards they’re probably not going to they’re not going to go for the guy who just came in who

Has like a murky impact or whatever they’re probably gonna see the guy they’ve watched in practice for a long time seen reps in game he’s up against it I would say but he’s he’s probably G to be you know a second draft guy I don’t know if I don’t know who takes a

Flyer on him in the summer I don’t know if he’s headed overseas I don’t know what’s going on but it’s it’s an interesting rest of career for Malachi from this point on um anything else you want to say about this trade I feel like we talked almost everything yeah yeah I

Think I think an interesting and I think I guess this is I’ve been thinking about this a lot this is less like diving into the players and just more so like from a fan perspective I think it’s like interesting from both fans for both fans like the Raptors and the Knicks seeing

These players that we’ve like kind of all seen grow up like OG’s been a raptor his entire life right um even Malachi even though it hasn’t been like this great stretch run um quickly and RJ just watching these guys watching them grow I think the trade

Like it was like very interesting to see from that perspective like homegrown players getting traded and then like having to adjust to this brand new thing but in a way both fan bases are kind of happy because like I think Raptor fans feel like OG’s gonna get his proper

Praise and with the New York media now and like people will really see his defense pop and they’ll see the impact he brings and Nick fans are kind of like oh AR is going to get this fresh new chance and quickly is going to have this chance to really pop and like show

People that like oh Nick fans weren’t crazy for thinking that like he could scale up and be something else so I think just like Point like viewing it just from that lens um it’s it’s like I kind of like how it all kind of turned out and I think there’s a chance that

Like this is a very like like a true win-win deal you know I don’t like picking winners and losers after like a day after a trade but like just in terms of like I think both teams are kind of getting exactly what they want and need

And just watching One game of each team so far it’s like the rosters feel like they make a little bit more sense now yeah like the balance the roster balances for both teams are kind of a little bit wonky and now they’re a lot more like they’re clearer and like we’ll

See where it goes for both teams going forward but like I think for the most part most people are happy here like the players I think are kind of happy um I think the fan bases are kind of happy and both are excited to kind of go in

Their new Direction so just a little little point there I think uh I also I still feel even as tyres how Burton is like putting on putting up ungodly very Gody statistics I still look at that kings’s Pacers trade as a win-win I think that it allowed the

Kings to play a style of basketball they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise I think that it emboldened a lot of their current players you know dearen Fox most importantly I think it keeps fox in that area I just it allows them to be competitive to build on things to have a

Structure and the Pacers get a shot at one of the best offenses of all time they work from that as their Foundation they have a bunch of interesting players they try and work on their defense I think that like that was a win-win I think that this is a win-win like

Immediately and you can see the Avenue and like going into the future how it works better as time goes on for each team I it’s a freak show that it was the two teams that are engaged in a legal battle that have come together on such a harmonious trade but I mean that’s

That’s the way it shakes out and I think the next thing now is just like both teams are kind of now like what’s the next step with like the Raptors have the whole SE yakum thing and now the Knicks have like who’s the next star thing and I think both these

Deals like provided Clarity to both fan bases in that sense um because I think both fan bases were kind of getting intient do you think the Knicks were looking at every star player how their team was rumored trying to go after OG an anobi that like stars clearly wanted

OG as a point of attack guy and a guy to hit triples they’re like let’s just bring him to New York and see if we can get a guy to come play you know yeah yeah I think they kind of like I think most most teams they go for like you

Know the the the immediate number one guy first and then they bring in the ancillary guys I think they brought in OG first and now they’re looking for like their number one or or two to Brunson or whatever but and they’ll have yeah yeah yeah like this is the first

Step into like opening their Championship window I think like I don’t think their title contend they as constructed right now but with the right deal with the right swing you know they’re knocking on the door you know the doors’s open for them y to the letter I agree with that um for the

Listeners before we get out of here make sure to like the video it’ll help uh suggest this conversation to other people it’s free it helps us and you’re you’ve been watching us for a while you must like us guys but Ariel do you want to say anything to the listeners before

We get out of here yeah um take care quickly take care of RJ first of all um make sure you drop a like y subscribe um Sam does a lot of great work um for the Raptors Republic and um you guys want to follow me on Twitter it’s at Apo MBA um

Do a lot of like film stuff starting to write a little bit more um and if you guys ever have questions you can guys can DM me I’ll answer anything so yeah just feel free to reach out with anything appreciate you by the way yeah yeah of course man my favorite Nicks

Fall of course um always dropping like great insights and I’m very like I people know because I talk about but I’m very very picky about like what I read and what I listen to and all that kind of stuff so I’m there with you yeah yeah

So you you’ve made it and I I a very hearty suggestion for everyone else to indulge in their nycks content nycks written work and all that kind of stuff via you um yeah as for myself uh like the video subscribe to the channel if you want to support Raptors republic.com

You can do so via our subscription model which pays writers a diverse set of them so that we don’t have to do internships with the duopoly of uh the big Canadian media companies that I consider predatory from an economic standpoint and so we can pay people without them

Having to do all that kind of stuff all that junk I’ll be on the Strickland to talk probably mostly about OG and and precious and all that kind of stuff for Nicks fans who are listening and want a little bit more there Raptors fans I hope you really enjoyed this uh to

Anybody listening from myself and Ariel we love you thanks for tuning in and whether you got into this in the morning or at night have a blessed day and goodbye we

Samson Folk is joined by Ariel Pacheco to discuss the Raptors & Knicks latest trade.

Follow Ariel here: https://twitter.com/APachecoNBA