Pascal Siakam Returns to Toronto! | Raptors Show Full Episode

Pascal Siakam Returns to Toronto! | Raptors Show Full Episode

Hello and welcome to the Raptor show on the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup it’s time to get fired up make sure you find the Raptor show we listen to podcast And subscribe and please R toview the program I’m your host Lou I’m joined by

Co-host Blake Murphy uh this is actually programing know our last at least weekly or daily Raptor show um until next week where the show will return post All-Star break next Thursday but uh yeah if you’re going to be tuning in tomorrow or Friday in the expecting me to talk about

Chunky’s new spicy soup it’s probably uh it’s probably not going to happen well you got uh you got postgame react pod tonight still right well you’ll hear a lot about the soup then for sure absolutely well more just mean about the Raptors also like people yes yeah yeah I

Mean everyone’s going to be cracking open the the Chunky Soup during the slam dunk contest and things like that absolutely uh I would personally jump dunk into a bowl of soup um that that would be my move like you know the Stephen A Smith meme of of guy dunked

The pumpkin and he’s like it’s over it’s over he dunked a pumpkin uh that’d be me but like dunking the ball in a in a big bowl of soup yeah I can’t wait to put the the cracker in in the soup anyway I I mostly I just it’s Dunk Contest weekend and so

All I can think about is that Stephen A Smith meme of he dunked a pumpkin it’s over I got to I got to see that I don’t know why I hav never seen that uh it’s very dumb um the way you’re describing it it’s it’s certainly selling like that

It would be over if someone dunked a pumpkin and smashed it absolutely honestly if someone did that instead of dunking a basketball I’d be pretty impressed um so we have a we have we have three guests for you today we got Jason Capo he’s going to call in

Sometime in the first segment here which for a lot of old Raptor fans um will be a bit of a throwback moment obviously a three-point Champion we’ll talk to him about the Three-Point Contest and just get his General thoughts around um you know his time back with the Raptors and

Uh maybe some advice for gry dick but potentially I feel like gry doesn’t need anymore Ready’s just okay he’s at 13 good games I I still think he could stand to uh hear what a guy has to say who led the league in three-point percentage twice yeah Jason Kono

Famously led the league in three-point shooting percentage two years in a row 51% and then 48 I believe although the 48% which was his first year with the raaps he did not shoot enough to qualify which I remember even young Blake would lose his mind you’re like just take a

Step back it’s one more Point why are you running a double pin down to get him into a long to when the three-point line is right there maddening that’s that’s a good question I think um it was only more recently when the NBA collectively decided realiz three was worth more than

Two yes 50% more um then segment two we’re going to check in with kayin Cooper uh check in on Pascal sakam and how he’s fit with the Pacers obviously Pascal comes back to town today for the first time since getting moved uh about a month back now so we will welcome

Pascal back and just just check in on how um you know the Pacers are doing in general obviously we own their picks too so there’s there’s an extra added incentive there um then we got Mark Stein in segment three we’re going to talk about well not so much trade rumors

But maybe even look ahead to what might happen in the offseason because he dropped an interesting nugget which was that Trey young um could be on San Antonio’s wish list for the summer which would be kind of incredible to see Trey young throw lobs to Victor for like half

A decade at least so we’ll see how realistic that is and then finally we’ll Circle back on Pascal and just talk about uh his return to Toronto but first as promised we have Jason compono former Raptor three-point two-time three-point uh shootout Champion Jason Capon uh how

You doing Jason’s up guys how you doing man I’m doing great we are we’re very we’re very happy to have you um you know this being a raptor show obviously we’re going to reflect on your time uh with the Raptors and maybe we’ll start there we were just talking about just now but

Yeah you still have the Raptor’s three-point percentage uh in terms of highest percentage in the season 48.3 is that correct Blake yeah it is correct minimum nine attempts there are the Nigel Hayes of the world who went two for two so we got to filter them out but

Yeah Jason your 48.3% stance it’s a minimum nine shots yeah toal for the whole season Y that’s that’s just I to to make it look even more impressive you know like I think you got up like 130 or something that year um but yeah I had to

Filter out the guys who were like two for two or three for four that’s all so I’m thinking that you should probably filter out me filter out me here at some point because if you guys now like Klay Thomson and Steph Curry I think they make like 120 per

Month so therefore I think you guys need to raise the bar we we can do that and like officially I think your three-point record with the Raptors isn’t official because of the the three-point volume that they use now but still you shot 48.3 over over an entire season uh

Coming off a year in which you shot 51 four um man I guess my biggest question to you looking back on on that and and hearing those numbers is if you came along today how many threes do you think teams would have you getting up instead of you know one two three a

Game probably based on what I see you know all the Specialists now like the uh you know like the mcdermit for San Antonio uh you know like Clay Thompson other guys who uh you know don’t play like a whole lot of minutes you know if

It roll is in come shoot threes and now with like all the analytics and the data supporting that it’s better to shoot uh more threes than it is to shoot long twos I would hope that I could play my you know normal 10 12 15 minutes a game

And get up at least 10 threes nice I mean Doug mcder takes four threes a game in 14 minutes so it’s not that unrealistic that you could come in and fire off you know not a three a minute but a three every two minutes it’s it’s not six seven threes yeah yeah

Easily I think that’s fair oh because it’s funny because I think uh in preparation for this interview I was I was going back and watching some some tape from 2008 on YouTube which is like really grainy and it’s like 480p not to make me feel old J feel old

I do appreciate that yeah I was watching the tap 43 but yeah yeah I was watching the tape and I was like you know a lot of these and you guys running floppy or you guys coming off of like single doubles everything like that and it’s

Just like you know you’re always in the mid-range and I’m just thinking like was was there not that emphasis like even like you know like 10 15 years ago now when you played where it was like just take the extra step back for the extra

Point yeah no it wasn’t I mean uh so what was that was year what was that 07 or 08 0708 yeah yeah so that was like 15 16 years ago and I can’t even think teams that would average I mean I don’t think there was any team in the league

That would average 23s a game so I think most teams kind of fell in like the 14 to 18 threes per per game so uh back then it was more of a half court game it was more about you know trying to get the ball to the rim trying

To shoot you know uh closer to the uh uh you know hoop so I don’t think anyone and then as soon as gold St start to win then that Trend uh severely shifted in favor of taking away those long twos and shooting threes and then as you can tell

Even Greg papovich who was the king of ping the post give it to David Robinson and then Tim Duncan uh you know and then just spotting up Bruce bone and Brent Barry Steve Kerr and those guys but you know he would win championships probably averaging 94

Points a game and now you know the spers have probably average like 118 points a game so uh as soon as the Suns I mean I’m sorry yeah well Suns yeah Suns first with uh dantony and ker was the GM then it uh morphed into uh the warriors with

Steve cry and then now it’s all 32 teams yeah there was a little bit of uh St your year with the Raptors for example Stan Van with the four out around Dwight was a big one as well like Rashard Lewis is going to be a power forward now and

He’s going to bomb threes and jir Nelson’s going to be you know the first point guard who really has free R to pull up uh even though he’s not like a star level scorer yeah well I think it’s interesting too because there’s that connection with um with with Phoenix

Through Brian Colangelo who who brought you to Toronto as well you talked to me about what you remember from a signing with the Raptors and also sort of Brian’s vision for you coming to to Toronto yeah it was a great time for me just because I was kind of bouncing

Around the league so it was first time that I got a long-term contract and you know it was funny that every time I visited there and played there on the road as a visitor I always thought it was a great City and a great Sports town

Uh even though I got you know I’m a California boy and I played my first year in Cleveland and I got to experience snow there uh the only downside that I was somewhat scared to sign in was like oh my gosh I’m going to freeze my butt off but uh thank God I

Figured out how to stay inside and I also got to learn how to buy thicker coats so it was a great time uh you know obviously the city you know is a great Sports town it’s a hockey town but it started to change to a basketball town

Because I got there I think the year before that was when s Mitchell won the year and then they beat the Nets I’m pretty sure in the playoffs well they lost to the Nets they played the Nets in the playoffs got yeah Vince Vince had to do with the

Uh first time in the playoffs probably since Vince in them right yeah exactly and it was against Vince yes oh yeah correct so yeah it was an exciting time all of us are young uh you know it was a great forign flare to have on the team with we had uh barani garbajosa

Calderon was there uh I think Rashia was there movich trying to think who else was there yeah yeah Carlos was there you’re right and the fer was like roko ukic and so it was a great mix of players you know a bunch of hungry young guys who came to practice every

Day oh we might have lost them we can still see oh here we go okay I think the connectivity was was just cutting out just a little bit but he’s reminiscing and yeah we really did have a lot of Europeans on the team at that time yeah it was kind of ahead of

The curve right like like the Calderon signing the Anthony even Anthony Parker not European but bringing Anthony Parker um back from Europe after he’d gone there after after not uh you know clicking in the NBA uh initially um yeah it was kind of ahead of the curve so we

Have uh we have Jason back um so Jason before you came to the Raptors you had a pretty eventful first couple Seasons like you Dave you came in at the same time LeBron was a rookie uh with the Cavs and then you won a ring with Shaq

And dwade um I guess let start with the LeBron one do you have any you know memories of what it was like obviously you guys were in very different situations but coming in at the same time as LeBron and what the vibe was around the Cavs at that

Point so the best part of my career was the players who I played with not what I played or or or how I played throughout my career that’s what I tell my kids um and LeBron you know he was just like unbelievable talent and just all the

Fanfare and all the uh you know all the hoopla that surrounded the Cavs you know that year like in 03 04 was crazy every time we traveled it was hordes of people waiting outside waiting for the team bus to get there I mean it was you know it

Was Madness of chaos anytime we you know went out to dinner as a team so it was pretty cool to see that and witness that but then also see how he was able to you know block that stuff out and focus on his game continually work hard he show

Up early stay late and you know I can’t imagine playing with that type of pressure as a 18-year-old kid yeah all right what about going to Miami and you got a young Dwayne Wade you guys win the championship that was awesome but of course everyone talks about Shaq and

Everyone has who’s played with Shaq has like a lot of Shaq stories so what was it like having Shaq in your locker room Shaq is the funniest guy alive he’s the most caring uh childish grown man that I’ve ever you know spent time with um there’s probably more stories that we

Can’t share on the talk show but uh some of the stor you can share was how he swore that he was a policeman right he was whatever he got the key or you know the police chief granted him he was U you know he was honorary Captain but uh Shaq didn’t know

Anything about police department rules um he you know like he had no type of you know understanding or grasp of what the policemen do so we thought it was funny that he he was out there and he was a Civic policeman but he didn’t really know what he was supposed to do

Yeah Shaq always had a lot of like side quests a lot of side quests yeah rapper actor policeman I think the police thing in retrospect he was just trying to like like police are cousins of the referees he was just trying to get more free

Throws and just be like hey see I’m with you you know I’m a cop off the court you’re a cop on the court you know I don’t think that he I don’t think that he team had issue getting free throws no worry definitely not um I mean shage

Yeah yeah um sh get hacked all the time and then he wouldn’t get any Lu yeah well I you know I don’t know if you ever came to you for any tips or pointers while shooting the free throws I mean he can’t shoot free throws

Dude because his hands are so big so it would it would be like us three trying to shoot a golf ball I mean it’s yeah it’s physically you know challenging to shoot such a small ball when you have such huge hands right because it sits in

Your in the palm of your hand right you can’t really get your fingertips on it so free those all touch and unfortunately Shaq was born with hug J so I think he did all right though I think it did all right man what yeah I

Think it paned out for him so so what you’re telling us though is this weekend in the Three-Point Contest because we want to ask you about your two Three-Point Contest victories don’t bet on the bigs Carl Anthony towns you know the hands are too big that that’s what

We’re uh that’s where we’re looking for the little advantages here I mean I would say so I don’t think yeah I I just think it’s harder to shoot as a big guy you know like the bigger your hands are then you know there’s less fingertips on

The ball and I mean I think C had a what a 52-point game couple weeks ago or 62-point game but I think I sick with the tried and true formula of a shorter guard type who is more of a set shooter I think that’s tried and true all right

So take us through those two years or the two times you won I know you you w the third time as well to try to defend it for the three repeat um but the two years that you won it just take me through maybe your emotions going into

It and also um yeah what was like because I I think for you you know you won those two pretty definitively yeah I don’t really remember that well I do remember the first one was in Las Vegas which it was the first time there I think ever so

Like that scene in that crowd was crazy and then I think I was the most nervous because we followed the uh Charles Barkley dick uh dick beteta race kiss so that was extremely extremely right because you know like people paid just to watch that

And then it was a huge drop off and it was like oh and now we got the three-point confence they’re like oh I’m about to leave dietta just beat Charles barkle in a full court race so uh yeah that was the best part of of the first

One and then the best part of the second one that was in New Orleans um man there was a lot of good ones in there that was like when ped to yakovich was shooting in Steve Nash Rip Hamilton uh but the best part that about that one was uh I was the defending

Champion we were going into the locker room to go get chain I was walking right before Dirk to get in and then the uh The Locker Room Security Guard stopped me and said uh excuse me sir where are you going I was like oh uh I’m going

Inside a change and he’s like for what I said uh I’m changing because I’m shooting in the three-point High des and then he smirks at me like dead is like so am I please move wow so so I had to stand outside and then wait for dur to

Come back and dur like gu was like no man shooting in it well if you fast forward like whatever an hour and 20 minutes later I me I come back with the trophy and the guy’s like dude I’m so sorry I’m so sorry I didn’t mean that I

Was like I get that all the time oh don’t wor that’s so how that’s hilarious um how much did you prep for these like how how how many times did you have like a a staff or an assistant coach set the racks up for you and run through it or

Did you just go in kind of hey I’m a shooter I’m going to warm up but I’m not going to practi like how much obviously it’s different than than in a game or your normal shooter round how much did you work on the craft specifically of winning the Three-Point Contest I’d

Maybe do it like a week before and my man there in Toronto Kevin D Petro is the equipment guy I think he’s still there go around shout out to Kev uh yeah Kev just get some racks ready and then I’ll see after practice so maybe for I don’t know anytime after

Practice couple days prior to it just try to get the timing down really it’s just trying to get off 25 shots in 60 seconds it’s a lot quicker Pace than what people think you don’t really have time to like kind of shoot follow through kind of see if you’re missing

Long short right or left is kind of just shoot and then go back to the ball um and also too you have a bunch of Lights coming on you got uh you know all the referees cords cameras drones nowadays and stuff so it’s not the same but um

Yeah it definitely helps the practice okay so you win the too and in the second one at what point if at all did you realize you were closing in on what at that point was the Three-Point Contest record I had no clue I was just trying

To get up well yeah Focus want just get all 25 shots up like you don’t you definitely don’t want to leave any unused points you know out there just because you’re taking your time which if you kind of watch it a lot of good Shooters if they start out slow then

They start to slow themselves down and then take their time and then as soon as they catch get back on track then then they have to rush that last rack and especially now right it changed to where all the U all the bonus balls now or like there’s five of

Them and you can put the whole rack at the very end so you’re leaving possibly what is that 10 points like on the board if you have to rush through those so do you so there are extra points that you can get now you got 25 points out of a

Possible 30 your record has technically been broken Steph broke it and I think Carl Anthony towns actually has the highest now but those guys had extra money balls that you didn’t have how how do you feel about that like do you do you still feel like you hold the record for the Three-Point

Contest yes so they should host like a 40 and over Three-Point Contest I would love to see that so go like Dad bod 40 years and older versus all of like the Young Dudes but I think now right isn’t it four racks with uh it’s four onepoint balls

And a Money Ball and then a full R and and the mall n so that’s nine time two is 18 and then you got 161 so that’s what 34 points total and then there’s also like a special there’s the special um the yeah the mountain de or whatever

The sponsor is this year it’s like from you shoot from 30 essentially oh star is what it is the that brand of soda yeah yeah yeah I think I made what 21 out of 25 shots and then I think I read didn’t Sabrina um yeah didn’t she make like 20

27 out of 30 or something it was something yeah yeah so so now we’ll see her her and Steph head-to-head this weekend yeah it’s a lot of pressure on Steph right yeah it certainly she’s coming off yeah like she’s coming off her commanding win last year set the

Record there and then I guess she kind of called him out kind of challenged him and then that’s what kind of created this thing so I think I might have to go Sabrina all right good good think it’ll be really exciting I remember watching it

Last year I think she made like 26 in a row ridiculous AB she was on fire that girl and look like a shorter guard who is a set shooter there you go right an efficient just smooth stroke she doesn’t really jump that much so try in true

Formula there you go well it’ll be a good contest um I guess last thing we want to get you out on um well maybe actually two things I I think one at least for your era of of the Raptors do you got a Sam Mitchell story for us do

You got something from what was like to get coached by Sam because we we know Sam is a very colorful personality for sure oh he’s a dream funny yeah he would uh he would he would he would love to just trash talk you nonstop right compare his era versus our era right and

We all would always tease him and tell him like the only the only reason why he had a role or he played was because he was best friends with kg so he was the celling he had he was the celling starter or player or performer of the t-w wells because he coiled a

Superstar that’s pretty good I’m sure he gave it back to you guys though that’s because I feel like in this era you definitely don’t have coaches yeah these this era coaches definitely don’t Trash Talk the players you know it’s it’s not like that you can out right because they

All make $60 million a year so it’s like oh man well I think solary cap is what 140 or 150 and most coaches are kind of you know outside of spoler and pic yeah I think they’re all single digit earners yeah and then last question yeah I got a

Weird one for you oh okay you got I hope this is all right there so over time there has been a quote that is attributed to you that has made the the rounds and I think Bill Simmons had it first and there are other people that

That have brought it up but I have never actually been able to find a source where you said it and the quote is if you had like come through Croatia instead of UCLA and your last name was kovich you would have been a first round

Pick so I got to ask did you actually say that or is this one of those like telephone things where it just got attributed to you over time uh yes I did say that and I never caught the most until I played or signed in Toronto because guess who

Played in Toronto there was guys from Croatia and Slovenia and so all the Europeans so I got what I asked for so had myself I was like no hey I was mad I was angry I wanted to be a you know first round pick and I don’t know I just said

It yeah it’s look you went 31st overall anyway it’s like it’s not like you were that far off but this is one like it’s been on message boards it’s been like I think Bill Simmons had it at one point but I have never been able to find a

Clip or a quote of you actually saying it so I wanted to know because like it is a very funny quote well it’s a th% true and I think I said it to a guy uh maybe kind of during like the draft process or post-draft or at summer

League but that was a year you all remember it was like back toback years I forget who the draft I think there was a kid that went to Denver but there was a few guys who you know they were touted who didn’t really play at the club team

Back home and then all a sudden they go to a workout but they don’t want to take part in the one-on ones and two on tws and three on threes they just go on there you know like in an individual by themselves and you know they make shots

And they dunk and then teams taking top five and I’m like well that’s kind of you know you don’t really play basketball five on five and how does a guy in college who’s proven that he can play against top talent and succeed and do well and then you go to a workout and

You play against those same players or you know guys who want to play you one-onone two on Two And you prove yourself there so I was just in yeah I was just an angry frustrated college kid who’s 22 well you lasted uh much longer in the league than Zoran plich so who

Who went in the 20s that year so I don’t know if that’s the guy who was front of mine for you but he went in the 20s and you you got a pretty good career so I think it was SK is SK Dey was the guy he wasn’t from

Croatia but yeah he was like at the number now he was like the fifth pick I think fourth or fifth pick to Denver yeah yeah yeah yeah well yeah it’s okay they they got it right years later with yic so but in the second round not even in the first round they they

Overcorrected with that guy right man they absolutely dominated that there you go Jason we appreciate you calling in man this is a it’s a great to catch up and and just talk about uh you know you know your time with the Raptors and yeah we’re looking forward to the Three-Point

Contest as well but uh appreciate you taking the time man thank you man appreciate have a good one enjoy the Three-Point Contest absolutely Jason Capo BL from the p man so okay I gotta I gotta immediately go into because obviously I I clocked this right away

And I didn’t want to do it with him necessarily but um the 40 and over Three-Point Contest that he’s talk yeah yeah I’m 100% down Adam Silver buddy let’s let’s let’s catch that check immediately so Jason capon obviously has incredible career three-point shooting numbers but okay Del Curry can he still

Shoot or is he too old at this point for um I would love to see like Steve Kerr be in this too okay you know for we’ve seen clips of Steve Kerr doing that at practice right like pre pre-b back injury stuff okay so the thing I would

Say for this is we got to give the 40 and overcrowd an extra like 20 seconds you got to change the time for sure yeah yeah you can’t give them 60 seconds to get the shots up like their life give them 60 seconds but between racks like

They got those uh the like waistbands to heat the lower back going and stuff but like Dell’s so Dell’s 59 so that’s maybe a little on the older end for this event now but he’s a 40% career three-point shooter and he still looks like he’s in

Good shape all right so Capon Jason came up with the idea so let’s put Jason in this okay oh he’s in there regardless he’s a two time champ Del Curry’s got to go in there yeah I want to see Steve Curry go in there just because I want

Something to represent the coaches you know what I mean like it’s it would be kind of fun to see NBA players compete against their coaches um who else you want to put in this honestly LeBron by the time next year he will be the only active player uh I mean this is this

Feels like cheating because he’s just over 40 and was in the league not that long ago but Kyle Corb is may be winning this thing Kyle cor would be pretty good too um yeah you know who he won’t do it and he’ll be mad that I threw it out

There but I want to see Alvin Williams in it I know he didn’t shoot a ton of Threes in his career but he’s the type of guy that I bet if he came around now he would be a guy who had free reign to extend that range out and he always had

A nice mid-range jumper I wonder how he doing it all right I just want a Toronto I want a Toronto presence in there and I don’t think Del Curry is gonna rep Toronto in I mean we got we got we got Jason as well he’s probably repping

Miami he want a ring there ah yeah you’re right well that’s a good idea though I actually would love to see that actually cuz that’s what we used to have with like the the higher shooting challenge right they used to bring on like a former gray an old head yeah yeah

Actually I’m changing my Raptor pick sorry Alvin Alvin would say no anyway and be like like what are you talking about analytics I’m not shooting threes all right Jose Calderon if you if you change the time like if you give him the extra one though he never did and he had

A slower release so that was part but he shot 46% one year on threes yeah yeah yeah yeah in addition to like never missing a free throw for his entire career I think cangel actually did have an idea of like we want to play differently like that was his version of

Vision 6 they wanted to be this year’s Pacers they were like passport like they were I was going to say totally something totally different but oh you were going with the international style I was going with the everyone’s really good at offense well Yeah well yeah I

Mean those those teams were really good at offense but they were also like the worst team in the league in defense yeah so except for the one the one year that Sam Mitchell W coach of the year they were like uh top they were 10th in

Offense and 12th in defense and then uh even the next year they finished 500 and they were ninth in offense and 13th in defense well we kind of had the formula to a certain degree because we had stretch bigs yeah right like Chris Bosch was a stretch big um obv and you still

Had rashal inside so you could do the kind of stretch big next to a traditional guy for like 20 minutes of those games but again they were the worst defensive team especially under Jano they were like literally the worst defenses in the league yeah they had

Four they had five guys in the rotation shooting better than 38% on threes yeah and I really do think it was because of the success they had in Phoenix like they wanted to bring some of that all here so but uh it didn’t work I don’t

Know fun fun years though and like uh very interesting to look back on now yeah for sure I mean expectations are really low so like when they won 47 games in 607 a47 games is like probably the least amount of games you can win in

Win coach of the year yeah and but it was like Chris Bosman the All-Star team I think for the second year in a row um they’ won the division which honestly at that time even was like okay this is really cool the Raptors got to the point

Where they won the Atlantic many times and now we literally don’t have a single win against Atlantic opponents this season so maybe we did take it for granted yes um but yeah those was really fun man all right uh let for Jose c yeah so those team were trying to be more

International but we’re trying to be uh offense first and offense second and who cares about defense uh a natural pivot to this match up with the Indiana Pacers very good very good so we’re going to take this break I’ve been your host Willow you’ve been listening to the

Raptor show in the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy suit when we come back let’s talk about Pascal sakam and the Pacers welcome back to the Raptor show on the sports radio network I’m your host wil I’m joined by co-host Blake

Murphy Blake you got a cool shirt there I do this is a uh haot girl basketball t-shirt I also got the pretty girls can guard too so Caitlin Cooper our next guest uh creator of basketball she wrote took the Rick Carlile quote of you know

Yeah you get tired of a pretty girl if she can’t guard well pretty girls can guard too Caitlyn what’s up hey guys thanks for having me on again yeah of course thanks for uh thanks for joining us thanks for the uh the wonderful shirt um I’m wearing the other one too there

You go I’m glad I’m glad I chose the one that I did then that would have been not awkward cuz we would have had to go like this for any want to know we matched but uh a little awkward um look Allstars in your hood this weekend how you feeling

I’m excited I mean it’s it’s always good for Allstar Weekend because it actually falls over my birthday so and my sister’s birthday so it’s kind of something that I always did as a kid growing up so for it to be in Indiana is going to be really special for me to

Share that with her and I’m looking forward to seeing everything going on so especially with tyes Salton as a starter so all works out happy early birthday to you and your sister oh thank you are you going to the actual weekend itself like the festivities and everything like that

Yeah I’m going to Saturday night um that was a different thing because they’re going to be doing that at Lucas Oil so they actually opened that up to Indiana residence so nice that a lot of locals are going to be able to go to that one

But I’m I’m not going to the actual All-Star game that one was a little bit out of my price range um yeah that part’s off but if you want to bring your sister you can’t do the the media pass thing um I I have to I want to run one

Thing by you and I think you would be you’re too nice to actually do it but I feel like in spirit you would dig it so there’s this court set up at the airport when you arrive right now I feel like a part there should be and i’ I’ve

Maintained that there should be like Allstar Saturday night events that are not specifically related to your basketball skill what I want to see is I want like fans to be able to hoop on that CT but there’s like a player haters ball going on of like players players

Commentating as fans play on that giant uh spacious airport court I think that could be well not fun it would be really mean but it’ be funny yeah I mean that when they saw that they had erected that at the airport I was like are we cool now like

There there’s an actual basketball court indan airport which I mean we do have a great airport but now it’s just all the much better yeah now we just need the reasons to get to the airport which is All-Star weekend also you know potentially in the playoffs to see the

Indiana Pacers let’s pivot to the Pacers actual basketball team last time we had you on we were talking about hey the Pacers acquired Pascal cakam that’s cool what is that going to look like um Tyrese halberton missed a bunch of the first games he has looked less than 100%

In the last handful here since he’s been back um but those Cav aside how is this working out so far how does the the Pascal SE yakum fit look yeah I think that the one thing that stood out the most and I won’t go into the actual like

Nitty-gritty X’s and O’s machinations of it but when they played it would have been I think his second or third game when they were in Phoenix they were running a sideline out of bounds play and he was the inbound passer and you could tell that he didn’t know what the

Play was like Andrew neard was having to communicate to him like Hey you’re going to run across then we’re going to do this I I don’t even I think that Obi toppen ended up scoring on that play I don’t exactly remember but Pascal had 31 points in that game and he didn’t know

The place like you could tell that they hadn’t even had a practice with him they hadn’t input all of their offense and that’s just how organically he’s able to find his spots within what the Pacers are doing so I think offensively it’s been better than I expected because even

With Tyrese being out he was seeing a lot of extra coverage in a couple games especially against Denver you know maybe one or two other teams that were really showing him some double coverage because they didn’t have as much shooting out on the floor but he’s able to come to his

Points like I said just really organically where can come up and set a touchcreen if they get a mismatch he’s going to go into a bully drive he fits right into what they want to do in transition because he puts in so much early work I made a joke and said you

Know like the early bully gets the ball that he’s going to get down there set a seal and they’re going to be able to give it to him so a lot of what they’re hoping to do on that end of the floor I think it’s been pretty seamless and

There’s probably one or two moments every game where I’m like wow I get to watch this guy play basketball especially because like the pairing with he and Miles Turner I don’t think Miles has ever had somebody with Pascal’s skill set in terms of it’s been pretty easy over his career that whoever’s out

There in the front court with him typically they’ll crossmatch the five onto that player and guard miles with the smaller player miles is grown as a postup threat but that’s still what a lot of teams will do and when the Pacers played the Sixers with Pascal they did

That they put in beat on Pascal and Pascal’s like oh you know what I can snatch back and I can get around the edge of the defense and finish at the rim with my left and by halftime they had flipped that matchup around so now in beads on Miles and Pascal’s like oh

I’ll just drive it and bead you’re going to help on my drive and now miles is shooting a three so in terms of Miles being somebody who actually gets to be a five who’s defended by fives same thing with christops porzingis you could see a lot of times where pascals you know

Start stop start stop making um porzingis have to chop his feet in space and then they didn’t want to have that matchup anymore either so a lot of things like that where he can be very versatile offensively and plugged into plays in a lot of different ways

Defensively I think it’s a little bit more of a mixed bag okay we’ll talk about the defense in the second but yeah offensively I mean that’s for pascow he’s always wanted to play with you know uh a stretch five and I think that you know he asked for Miles Turner in

Particular you know if if miles would come to Toronto well he got his wish he at least he got Miles Turner it’s just now in Indiana but um yeah I mean I’m looking at the numbers right now he’s shooting 62% from two Pascal is uh since going to the Pacers he’s shooting 42%

From three which is always a nice sign for him you know free throws a little bit more inconsistent for him I’m wondering I guess you haven’t seen it as much because you know we haven’t seen like the best of tyes alurn on the court just yet since the injury but how are

The is there like a sign of a two-man game forming between him and and Pascal like how are their two ecosystems like overlapping yeah to this point they’ve still played I think less than 200 minutes together okay and in part like even in one of the games they did play

And I would compare it to like a Mr Potato Head with like the arm and the eye socket and the eye stuck to the foot because the Pacers were trying to rearrange what Tyrese’s minutes restriction was going to be so Tyrese actually came off to the bench so that

They could play him in the fourth quarter and the lineups were just all over the place so there’s been a lot of you know rotational stuff that has made it so that they haven’t played a ton yet together but that being said it’s interesting because they kind of just

Exist in separate spheres to separate spheres to a degree because there’s not been a lot of seaka in verse pick and roll like I think Tyrese is only set four screens for him so far and in part that’s because Tyrese isn’t a super physical screener and then on the flip

Side of that Pascal’s set I think around 40 45 picks for Tyrese but they don’t go to it a ton because like even the other night in Charlotte like Pascal’s being guarded by miles Bridges if if he goes and sets a screen for Tyrese that’s just

Getting him a screen against you know a tougher Wing Defender rather than if you have miles set it then maybe he gets a switch against a big or you know you’re going to hunt the weakest Defender somewhere else Pascal is usually being guarded by one of the toughest people so

It’s a little bit harder to run just specific Twan game actions for them unless like I said it’s like a quick touch screen coming out of the corner so that Pascal can get Tyrese’s guy and maybe go into a post up and I think that’s that’s probably where you see

Their chemistry a little bit more like if Pascal’s in the post and then you can have Tyrese run a split action above that that’s great because Tyrese’s Defender is not going to Sag off of Tyrese and go double Pascal like typically that Defender like if you set

A flare for Tyrese off of a post entry pass that Defender is going to go with Tyrese and now it’s just an easy isolation for Pascal or sometimes they’ll do like a quick slot to slot flip at the top of the key and then a screen isn’t being involved and that

Lets a pascal get downhill with his strong hand but that’s kind of it’s going to be interesting to watch because buddy heeld could have acted as a bridge between the two of them I think because Buddy’s a better screener than Tyrese buddy can set inverse screens be a stack

Screener potentially for Pascal and Buddy can also screen for Tyrese and be a ghost screener so in terms of that connective tissue between them I think they’re going to miss that a little bit so I want to come back to the Buddy heeld trade in a minute because uh I

Have some thoughts on it and I I wonder if your thoughts line up with that um but on the Pascal front uh on the defensive side so I watched the first couple games as much as I could when he got there and and it looked like he was

Being given you know this was when halberton was out and Buddy heill was still there he was being being given the main assignment you guarding KD sum in the Suns game and at least oneon-one he looked like we saw in Toronto which was it wasn’t the level that had been a

Couple years ago but he wasn’t bad and then you sent me a couple Clips yesterday and then I started watching some more recent Pacers defensive tape uh last night because most of the interesting games ended up being blowouts around the NBA and um it looks less good at least in like screen

Navigation and help principles and stuff like that and I guess given what we’ve seen from Bruce Brown in here in Toronto so far like is the theory here that just Indiana is where defense goes to die I’ll be interested to find out I want to see more of Bruce tonight and

See what he’s looking like for the Toronto Raptors because yeah what you brought up there against Phoenix I think that’s a good way to put it because you could tell earli on that they’re really experimenting with exactly how they wanted to use Pascal so in that game

They had him start out against Devin Booker I wasn’t super fond about that matchup and I don’t think they were either so they they flipped it around he was doing some on Grace Allen they were kind of seeing if he could be a backline sweeper until they eventually were just

Like you know let’s not overthink this let’s go ahead and put him on Kevin Durant and I I was impressed in those few games especially a few where they put they didn’t play with Miles because they needed to go smaller and had Pascal at to five and there were some

Possessions that I clipped from that I’m like wow this guy’s rotating like really quickly the small ball lineup was effective for them and then like you said over these last few um it’s tough to exactly pinpoint what’s going on there because against Houston they had

Him playing off ball he was kind of in a no man’s land where he wasn’t really helping and he wasn’t he wasn’t really covering the shooter either and then in Charlotte there was a there was a lot of slippage there that that’s a bad loss for the Pacers to give the Charlotte

Hornets their 12th win of the Season regardless of the fact that the Hornets added some shooting um just a lot of screen navigation issues where he’s not getting over the top or he’s just running into contact on flare screens and pin Downs then also like closing really hard to Miles Bridges his left

Hand and not being able to recover when Bridges would attack with his right which I mean Bridges is a left-handed player but still not being able to get back in front when the Hornets went five out and played small to close that game over the last 6 and a half minutes they

Couldn’t stay in front also like a lot of four five actions between he in Miles where like the switch or stay communication wasn’t there rollers were getting loose so the Pacers are going to need him to step it up defensively I think they probably need to make some

Adjustments too because like if you look at guys like Giannis if you look at Evan Moy they’re not great screen Navigators either there’s a reason why Giannis gets played off ball and gets used more as a RoR and that’s where he excels because it’s very easy to screen bigger guys out

Of action so I think that the Pacers probably need to be a little bit more active with him just being used as a switch Defender don’t be putting him on movement Shooters like Davis brons where he’s going to have to navigate those types of screening situations either and

Probably they just need to keep tinkering it and hopefully after the allar break and I’m also hopeful tonight that maybe being back in Toronto will spark some more of what we saw in like the first you know five or six games of what Pascal was showing defensively

Because they they need him to turn it up on that end of the floor just just being honest on that front yeah well I mean we we did see a little bit of that in Toronto as well like I think to start this season um you know I thought he was

Okay but as the season went on it was like his defense was dropping off more and more and I think that I don’t know there were there were lots of moments where Pascal like stands out defensively like the Raptors used to always put them on quicker point guards for example this

Is like way back in 2018 now but like Raptors are playing Washington in the first round they’re like okay we need someone to guard John Wall for a while how about you do a Pas SC pass got the quick feet and the length but I think the the reputation I think um has

Started to come off and off a little bit more and I think that yeah I do wonder how much of it is age related how much of it is like contractor related like but ultimately yeah I mean I think Indiana was looking for a two-way player and I think offensively getting

Everything you would ever really want but defensively I think there there needs to be more of a step there but I I I mean I don’t know P’s not the kind of guy to like be a stopper or Carrier no not a stopper but like better than he is

Right now I AG yeah some of the team levels and honestly I actually I think and again Kaitlin would would have a better read on this but like the actual one-on-one stuff has been better than the like oh I got to float through a couple screens here or I’m stuck between

You know helping and staying on my my weak side guy um okay so the Buddy heel trade that that we can Circle back to here um Caitlyn we didn’t talk to you about it after the trade deadline for anyone who missed it the Pacers sent out buddy heel to uh the Philadelphia 76ers

For three seconds and Marcus Morris they then attached one of those seconds to Marcus Morris to get Doug McDermot from San Antonio so basically buddy healed for Doug mcder in a couple seconds um why did they do this because the pass trade is a win now trade and yes with

The option to to resign him in the offseason and Buddy heal’s also a free agent but you know right now this trade makes them worse at a time that they just made a win now move yeah I mean it does feel a little bit in congruent I

Think it goes back to the business of basketball I know that Jake fiser reported it and it’s similar to what I’ve heard I think that the Pacers gave him a pretty fair contract extension number to start the season and it got reported at the time that buddy wanted

To test that and see if he could potentially um get a better deal and I think that the Pacers felt like it was pretty likely that they weren’t going to retain him so at the risk of you know not losing him for nothing that was the

Deal that they made and they I think they realized they still needed a movement shooter hence why they went and got Doug McDermot but buddy and Doug mcder are very different movement Shooters I have quite a big experience of watching Doug the last time that he

Was here and Doug is more of the movement shooter who’s going to play very well in two-man game with a guy like sabonis because he rise and fires out of handoffs he comes off of screens butd he’s more a movement shooter of I’m going to Sprint to the line and

Transition I’m going to screen for Tyrese HTT and be a ghost screener andp out into space and be very Savvy with whether I’m going to actually hit and hold content contact or I’m G to leak out and then also just sliding up and down the three-point line and he and

Tyresa Tyrese has played with Buddy’s whole career they know each other like the back of their hands so it’s a loss like I mean like I said the connective tissue that would have potentially been there and I guess it should have been an early sign I made a joke about this on a

Nicks podcast last week that the the fact that buddy had only set eight screens for Pascal probably should have been my first clue that this partnership wasn’t going to be super long because buddy was being guarded by Jaylen Brunson at the end of that Knicks game

That they lost in the fourth quarter and they didn’t even look at that they didn’t even look at inverted pick and roll to get Pascal downhill against Jaylen they were doing the reverse and having Pascal set screens for Andrew neard which was just putting you guys are familiar with precious suchu is

Switchy defense on the ball against Andrew neard so um that’s out there and like I I do think it’ll be an adjustment Doug hasn’t shot the ball super well yet he’s capable of making some of the shots that they’re getting him but I think it is like you said it’s in the immediate

It’s going to be a downgrade and Buddy already helping the Philadelphia 76ers in their head of the Pacers in the standings right now so definitely going to be something to watch will uh you expecting Doug McMan to uh do Doug mcder against the Raptor things say Doug mcder

Has has been a certified Raptor killer um as as a member of the Bulls as a member of the Pacers a member of the Spurs yeah yeah um let’s hope that would be good for the Pacers they need to go into the All-Star break with a win you

Don’t understand the rappers also need this win all right because uh I I think narratively for the franchise it’d be really good if Scotty took over and just like won this matchup and it was like this is why you know the Raptors pivoted to this new Direction but I mean putting

That aside um I i’ I’ve watch a lot of Pacers games as well and the guy who keeps catching my eyes is Aaron E Smith I just I don’t know I guess I haven’t like mentally adjusted to the fact that he’s like a scorer now and in addition

To the the the energy he puts out on defense but yeah talk talk to me about his role in all this because he’s kind of stepping up almost to me as like a number three Behind These the top two obviously yeah I mean the one person

Where for a lot of the Season it wasn’t clear who would be in the closing lineup for the Pacers you knew for the most part it would be Tyresa miles but who are the other three people going to be and in some regards that was a good

Thing because it’s like they have a lot of adaptability a lot of Versatility in terms of who they could put out there but also like who else were you going to count on definitively in those situations now they have Pascal he’s going to be out there and Aaron I think

Had solidified himself and kind of separated that like this is somebody we want out there for the reasons you just said he’s going to play it 100% no matter what if it’s a Monday night and Charlotte ahead of the all break Aaron nth is still going to play really

Freaking hard because that’s just who he is as a player and obviously he shot the ball a lot better this season as well I think that they’ve adjusted with him a little bit as what he does as a hop step shooter and that’s helped him and he’s

Shown that he can do a little bit more off of movement he’s leaked out as a screener and hit some shots he’s he’s slid along the three-point line into passing windows and made some shots as well so he’s somebody that’s definitely Tak some steps forward for them I think

That in part not completely but I think his insertion into the starting lineup because they they had put Jaylen Smith at the four they were playing bigger before acquired Pascal that Aaron being out there is also partially why Andrew nard is starting because there was a two game stretch where Aaron was guarding

Jaylen Brunson at the point of attack and he fou out and then in the next game he F out trying to guard the opposing point guard again so he’s somebody defensively that like he can be a foul machine like he wants to play with contact he’s going to pressure full

Court so he picks up fouls by putting Andrew nart out there now they can put Andrew neard who’s who’s pretty sticky at the point of attack and take on some of those assignments so maybe Aaron isn’t getting into quite as much foul trouble yeah well nard was one of the

Pieces I would have loved seen come back to dra in that Pascal trade especially because the Raptors could have needed more depth there I don’t know I guess they have quickly as the future uh starting point guard I think yeah Andrew probably wants to be a starting point

Guard in this league too yeah but he starting now next to uh nice next to Tyrese Alberton and yeah you could you could make that work um yeah just real quickly I mean and Andrew did say I think today uh and speaking to local reporters here that you know he would

Want to play for Team Canada if possible so if he were to play for Team Canada um hey I guess what kind of role do you think Andrew would play yeah I really wanted Andrew to play for Team Canada last year and get to see him out there

Next to Shay or potentially Jamal Murray it’s interesting because I don’t really like player comps but but Andrew does move somewhat similarly to Jamal Murray especially when he’s manipulating the pick and roll because both of them like to use like a hop St skip hesitation and a float dribble to square themselves to

The basket and he he has kind of that same methodical approach as Jamal does Andrew’s pretty sticky at the point of attack I mean it’s a low bar for the Pacers but he’s their best point of attack Defender he’s somebody that they’ve thrown out there at the end of

Games against like Kate Cunningham Kate had like 20 points at halftime and Andrew really put the clamps on him in the fourth quarter of that game they’ve done that with some other matchups this year and also he’s a pretty intuitive off ball Defender as well he’s somebody

That he can come and tag a roller and still get out and intercept a skip pass because he has a good read he’s has a good read for jump switching peel switching next thing and knowing the spots that he can do that without compromising the defense and then offensively he hasn’t been necessarily

Somebody who’s going to create his own three-pointer off the dribble he’s only had three I think unassisted threes this year his shots kind of come and gone a little bit and then also his handle he just dealt with so many injuries this year between the kidney stone the hyperextended knee the back soreness

Where there were some times where he had some stiffness and I think that affected his handle to a little bit but he’s he’s a very Savvy passer and if he was able to hit some more of those pull-up shots I think people would see it even more

Because the fact that he can get the degree of potential assist that he has what their numbers are when he’s passing out of the pick and roll just imagine what that would be if like he was hitting a few more of those shots so I I think he would definitely help Team

Canada I hope that he plays with them this Summer that’s going to be a team that I’ll keep an eye on I enjoyed watching him last summer especially you know I don’t know what Benedict mn’s plans are I think I think Canada wanted Andrew to play last year and Andrew was

Somebody who I think wanted to take the year off to prepare for the season but he’s been outspoken that he wants to do it for the Olympics so we’ll see there you go okay well Caitlyn we appreciate you joining us and uh we’ll call you again the next time for the Pacers so

Anytime that later this month there you go okay we’re going to take another break I’ve been your host will you’ve been listening to the Raptor show on the sports on radio brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy suit when we come back Mark Stein welcome back to the Raptor show on

The sports radio network it’s your host Wu Blake Murphy we have joining us once again Mark Stein who needs no introduction really especially the people have be listening to the show all season Mark Stein what’s going on man den I’m good how you guys doing we’re good we’re we’re we’re we’re

Finally going to stop asking about Bruce brown maybe I don’t know we might ask you one last question about Bruce brown but um there’s first off I mean is it a relief to you after the trade down line is over like are you are you like oh

Finally I can like relax maybe just like watch basketball for a while and not like constantly take phone calls and all that kind of stuff like imagine it’s a very busy time I suppose uh last week look it is super busy but you know I think you could look at

It two ways I mean when it first ends are you relieved yeah because it is you know it is exhausting and it’s not just deadline day it’s literally I think from December 15th on you’re just constantly chasing but yes a you get to now just actually laser in on some basketball

Which is really hard to do for a lot of the season but also it’s nice to I just think conversationally when you talk to people around the league like December 15th till the deadline you’re just you’re constantly on the hunt for info info info info info and you know

That you know even after I’ve been doing it all these years like it’s still not super comfortable to just kind constantly be besieging people to try to get info so conversations everybody I think is just a little bit Yeah more relaxed and it just you just naturally

Talk about League stuff in in a less I don’t Know full court pressy tone I guess is what I’m trying to say here so mark this is a bit inside basketball reporting I guess but it was back in the 2017 2018 season when the NBA first changed the timing of the trade deadline

To be before the All-Star break because there was I mean it had always been a thing where the All-Star break was like an unofficial GMS meetings and like reporter Bonanza and there was the DeMarcus Cousins moment where if I’m remembering correctly he got told he got traded during an All-Star scrum or

Something like that um how has that changed Allstar for you like do you get to just enjoy Allstar Weekend now yes well I would say this I mean if you really want to go inside our jobs and I you know part of it is I mean it

Comes at you know anytime We complain about anything it sounds so whiny because we have the greatest jobs in the world but you know I do love all-star weekend and I love Indianapolis so like I’m really looking forward to going and I just Indianapolis to me is you know

It’s an ABA City it’s a a market that’s been around forever so I’m I’m super excited to go but like if I’m GNA be ultra Ultra candid here you know the media just we we are pushed farther and farther away so it is Allstar Weekend is

Not what it was I mean and now I’m gonna sound like the old guy who you know get off my lawn and everything but Allstar Weekend really used to be a time where you know on the Friday it would just be a ballroom setting and the stars of The

League would come and really give you like it was almost like a state of the union when Kevin Garnett would be at a table or Kobe Bryant would be at a table and you know look you know I think LeBron early in his career as well and

You know to the League’s credit they have tried to restore because some of it is lost Friday has just become absolute chaos at Allstar Weekend there’s too much going on and the players don’t have time for it they have restored press conferences they now on Saturday either

Before or after practice but it’s to me just not quite the same like you would like Kevin Garnett especially you would really look forward to the Friday of all-star weekend and Kevin Garnett’s gonna sit at a table and hundreds of reporters are gonna you know squeeze

Into this tiny little space to hang on every word he says and just it was always always very newsy and I really looked at them as like State of the Union addresses from the biggest stars in the league and we just you know we don’t we we don’t have

As much you know and again maybe I’m I I think LeBron on Salt Lake City I think LeBron actually did do that last year on the Sunday on game day he actually came in late they let him come in later and he came in Sunday but he did have a

Press conference so it’s not all gone but I it isn’t it isn’t what it once was if I’m being totally honest with you guys yeah think about the old days Mark the old days and and you know now they got podcast like that you know like it’s

Very easy for players to get their message out in a way that you know in the past I think it they we you know they had to go through Us in the media as a conduit now games changed man they make their own media Draymond you know

Goes out there and uh plays Phoenix and and gets a clinch you know game clinching stop and then boom he’s on his own podcast calling out Katie calling out youf ner and he’s his podcast is awesome and some of the podcasts are great Paul George’s podcast is ex just

Had you know JJ reick just had Luca donic on and they had a conversation that you know Luca was you know their former teammates Luca was you know open and and and light and you know the interaction with JJ reck is not going to be the same as it is just with reporters

But I would also say that I think when reporters are going to ask different questions than in a player-to-player podcast and dare I say as much as maybe the media is not always beloved dare I say on occasion we do ask some pretty good questions that lead to

Answers that the public wants to hear there you go I love it yeah we do okay so let’s stay on Draymond because there was a little bit of news this morning and it’s not unrelated to your latest uh report which uh your latest uh substack newsletter which you know went into kind

Of the Cloudy future of the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James holding a player option that you know it it seems reasonable he would pick up but until he picks it up you don’t really know and then the Lakers having decided to not put Assets in uh at the deadline in a

Move that you called absolutely the the right call holding those assets for the summer now I pivot to the Lakers via Draymond Green because there was reporting this morning uh from ESPN that uh the Warriors had made a pitch to trade for LeBron James and then Kevin

Durant at the trade deadline before we get into the LeBron Lakers future um your your read on that one and how how quickly do phone calls like like I guess not even how quickly do they end but how how often are teams calling and like you know this is Fantasy League trade stuff

Like Hey man can I have LeBron can I have KD how how often does this stuff come up and and it just doesn’t come out Mark I think yeah I think it comes up I think it happens I think it happens a lot more than we realize and in this case you

Know the story got out to some degree um but yeah I mean I think teams especially darl Mory are going to be ambitious all the time do people call the Raptors and ask for Scotty Barnes even though they know Toronto’s not going to entertain it I’m sure it happens more often than we

Realize but honestly with the Warriors I’m I’m more interested that it sounds like they made a pretty serious run at Alex Caruso which would have been very interesting Chicago ultimately decided to do what Chicago often does which is nothing so there was no Caruso trade but

Look we were we were we were told that all season long that unless someone paid a very very significant trade price that the Bulls would not be parting with Alex Caruso but the Bulls in the end didn’t even trade on Ray Drummond but look golden state was aggressive I think they

Really did explore all the their trade options but the reality is you know a lot of that discussion was with Andrew Wiggins at the center of it and I I just don’t think they were able to create any kind of market for Andrew Wiggins because his past season and a half it

Just doesn’t line up with the contract he holds at this time but I think what you can take away from it all is the Warriors are clearly being aggressive and I wouldn’t say that they’re necessarily done they’re it’s a franchise it’s it’s a transitional period and they’re trying to figure out

A lot of stuff while Stephen Curry who turns 36 a month from today is still playing at a ridiculously high level yeah and the wor is you know since Draymond came back from suspension and you never know when the next suspension will be if there is one um not not I’m

Not trying to get caught up in the podcast past but like yeah I mean you just never know man um but no he he they they won seven of eight um will Dr back in the lineup now and they’ve had some narrow losses before that as well they

Really could be on an even hotter streak than they are right now but they seem to be figuring things out a little bit more um which is good for the Warriors on the Lakers side I mean okay the the the LeBron bronny kind of situation you wrote about

It just a little bit you know teams could be looking to pick up bronny for example and and maybe that come brings LeBron as well I mean besides the reporting St does that make you feel a little bit like weird like that that to me just feels like it feels uncomfortable for me

Like if the Raptors were used one of their you know extra picks which they do have a lot of extra ones if they use one of the extra ones to get bronny so that they can get LeBron it just personally I’m like this that feels a little

Strange as an as a combo deal but yeah what are your what’s the reporting around that and also what’s your feeling on it time out time out time out you’re telling me that on June 27th yeah in the new NBA draft which will now be a

Two-day Affair day two day two and this is I haven’t even just a hypothetically speaking the Raptors with the 49th pick select bronny James you would not be saying oh my God maybe LeBron would actually come here I don’t I I think you would be more into that than you’re

Suggesting okay here’s the thing I just think that it’s not entirely fair to Brony like it’s an uncomfortable situation like you know I he’s 6’4 he’s a freshman like a lot of freshmen don’t put up like huge stats but he’s averaging 4.7 points per game right now

In like less than 20 minutes per game he’s shooting like 32% from the field like unless his name was LE like if it wasn’t LeBron Sun like he wouldn’t be drafted in this specific moment they’d probably wait another year and that’s not to say underline the fact that we don’t know

Yet if he’s even going to declare for this draft I am not I I have never met Ronny James I do not cover the college game I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that I have a great handle on the second round of the 2024 draft because I know

All I’m saying is if he decides to enter this draft and I don’t think that decision has been made yet my instinct is he is going to get drafted and I’ve heard enough NBA people say that no matter what the stats are they do think he projects to be an NBA role player

Would it behoove him to play a second year of college ball I imagine that’s a decision that yeah he’s gonna win but what I reported the other day was just to be clear I know of two teams in the league I’m not going to name them if I

Would would have been able to name them I would have in that report maybe at some point I will be able to name them but as of now I’m not going to name them but I’m just going to say I know of at least two teams that believe those teams

Believe I want to underline that exact wording but those teams believe that were they to draft bronny James that LeBron would consider coming there and obviously he would have to be willing to take less money because you know they’re most likely not going to be capace teams

I think we can say that much sure so it just it’s just the re I do think it was AB absolutely the right call for the Lakers to keep their pick now because I just don’t think any trade they could have made now was going to really change

Their ceiling for this season and they do have to keep they have to be ready for the possibilities that LeBron would want to change teams in the off season I’m not saying that’s the likely scenario I think if you if you pulled 30 front offices or if you pulled the 29

Other front offices would say the expectation is that LeBron is going back to the Lakers he’s got a $ 51.4 million player option for next season he’s not getting that kind of money anywhere else you know does he pick up the option does he opt out and sign a new deal I think

Those are the likelier scenarios but the Lakers do have to protect themselves that what if team X drafts Ronnie on June 26th or June 27th and what if LeBron wants to go there for whatever money that team would have in free agency the Lakers would have to replace

LeBron James and that’s a much easier task with three first round picks in their cache as opposed to two that opens a whole can of worms by the way yeah yeah 0 staying and all that and could the logic just as easily be like like let’s say LeBron does stick around but

You you know you get the read from LeBron that hey he’s giving it one more kick at the can here and then he’s going to go play with bronny or whatever you is part of that thinking also to then maximize what could be you know every year with LeBron because of his contract

Structure could be his last year with you but to you know now you’re armed with three first which gets you much more in the the summer trade market than one first would have got you at this deadline could even get you Trey young maybe yeah I I think no matter what

Whether LeBron stays with the Lakers or goes as you just said he’s a lot closer to the Finish Line than he is to the beginning so one way or another the Lakers are going to have to replace him in the near future whatever near means and the way Anthony Davis has played

This year and more importantly how durable Anthony Davis has been if you’re the Lakers you have to start thinking about who is going to be the new sidekick for Anthony Davis and that’s why you hear the name Trey young Donovan Mitchell will there be will there be another Superstar level player

Who is theoretically available in the off seon we don’t know that yet and to be honest I think we need to make clear Donovan Mitchell has not been available the Cavs have resolutely swatted away any inquiry for Donovan Mitchell to this point but let’s see what happens let’s

See where the Cavs are after the playoffs and let’s see where the Cavs are if Donovan Mitchell is not willing to sign a contract extension it will be really interesting well I me the other possibility mentioned for trayon that you brought up was the San Antonio Spurs and they definitely need

To we just saw W in Toronto okay weni was in Toronto on Monday we talked about it at nauseum on the show uh because he had 10 BLS did you guys oh we were there we were there we made sure to get Courtside uh pre side for warm-ups yeah

Not Courtside Courtside I mean come on we’re media we never said Courtside this is not back in the day anymore but like yeah we were there and it’s obviously so impressed with the c wmi and it’s like he’s going to be ready way faster than

The rest of the rest of the Spurs roster is and so you got to start thinking about who is the next piece that you pair him up with there’s maybe a couple pieces on the Spurs you could still use by the time he’s ready to make the playoffs which could honestly even be

Next two three years but he’s going to need that playmaker besid him and Trey would be just an incredible dream option so well look we constantly talk about the defensive deficiencies whenever Trey Young’s name is mentioned we don’t give him enough credit for what an offensive

Mow he is he’s averaging 27 and 11 he’s a walking offense unto himself and if any team to me any if there are any two teams out there that would be able to bring in Trey young and mitigate whatever defensive concerns there are it’s San Antonio with wemy who as you

Guys have now just seen with your own eyes and who I will see tonight in Dallas yeah I mean the man he is a oneman defense he can cover the court and cover you know space unlike any other big man in the league and Anthony Davis

Is best defender in the world right now around him so you know both of those places make a lot of sense just from a basketball perspective if you’re going to try to bring in Trey young and you know again mitigate whatever concerns would be I mean those are two natural

Spots and I look with San Antonio when you talk to people around the league there is a belief in certain corners of the league that Trey young would be interested in landing with the Spurs if he were to leave the Hawks I don’t think the Hawks have firmly made that decision

Yet but enough teams around the league believe it’s going to be a serious conversation come off seon is it going to be awkward when the Spurs offer the dejonte Murray package they return it but they get Trey young I think it’ll cost him probably a little more than that all right well I

Mean I think he’s worth more than that I think the Spurs they should really look into it because again watching W be up close it’s like he’s going to be ready in like a year like in in that level once once the the training wheels come

Off which right now is he only plays like 20 some odd minutes once he’s able to play 30es still kind of think that’s not training wheels it’s let’s make sure we don’t win too many games that’s tanking Wheels yeah well the ankle weights instead of training wheels I

Guess is the better term for it you want to ask him about Bruce Brown did his pregame warmup live up to billing Dallas the first time the first time he was here this season was the trip over the ball boy incident so right well I I I

Was not prepared to see how good of a shooter he was already yeah yeah the one-footed like like taking floaters from three-point range is uh is ridiculous like the evolution of the Dirk fade it’s just like no I’m going to do this from the the top of the

Three-point Arc that was crazy the fact that like he’s stationary shooting from the elbow and is like level with the basket um it’s I don’t know it it was a lot it was it was a ton of fun even in like the layup line when we’re back the

Media Gondola uh at that point um you know like some of the self Al oops he tried to throw like he’s not doing the dunk contest but there is there are things we we were kicking around the idea of like could he do the javil McGee

Two Nets at once dunk but like do something with both arms like a double windmill or something like that seems possible based on his pregame warm-ups it’s it’s amazing Mark I hope you have a blast tonight yeah it’s never a bad show to get to watch him although man he ever

Going to do a Dunk Contest I’m not sure that that is in the future but who knows who knows yeah all right well we got to get you out on a question about Bruce Brown I guess the Raptors couldn’t get that first for Bruce brown but the

Raptors will have another chance at the trade deadline uh which I think Bobby described to us almost like the second trade deadline in a way at the draft so we’ll see if uh if we can get that first be honest when Rumble came out before the deadline that the Raptors have a

First on the table for Bruce Brown I know my suspicion was that they did not and apparently they did not yeah well you know that’s fine we can ask you about something else in the future but uh Mark we appreciate you taking the time as always you only have to wait till May

You’ll only have to wait till May and then we can talk about Bruce Brown every Wednesday again I can’t wait man just everyone loves talking about Bruce Brown It’s the number one topic yeah the only thing I could talk about right now is like okay other than Luke Colmes what do

You got in this country playlist cuz that’s all I’ve heard out of the locker room after after the one win and then they went back to the the losing side so so I don’t know what else he’s got in his country bag Mark have fun tonight

Man thanks for joining us all right guys be good okay so um coming out of that speaking of Bruce Brown the Raptor’s Play We Bruce Brown return I guess like playing against his former team against indana years of animosity after uh you know the eight seconds he spent as a

Pacer look the Pacers did right by him he looked around the league and saw that he could get fouryear full mid-level deals and they were like what if we give you all that money over two years but we get a team option so we’re super fible

We get to the salary floor and you’re this funky trade asset pretty good now Bruce Brown has probably not played to the level of a two-year $45 million guy since then but uh you know they gave him that contract and good for him yeah but that is not where we’re going next uh

Bruce Brown specific okay we’re going to the other side of this trade we’re going to Indiana it’s time now for the spicy stat of the day brought to you by new chunky spicy soup are you ready to get fired up are the Pacers ready to fire up

The halberton seak duo yet we talked to Caitlyn about I’m going to talk about on the pregame broadcast tonight the returns aren’t that bad the Pacers have played fine Pascal’s individual off been good when they share the floor together and it’s only 198 minutes but the Pacers

Win those minutes the offense is good individually Tyrese and Pascal both see their true shooting percentage go up they’re both good Halburn has only assisted Pascal in nine games that they’ve played together though 14 times wow now wow they don’t play a a they don’t play all the minutes together so

If you as low as that sounds if you extended it out over the entire season so far they would be 16th as a Duo halberton to se yakum that feels a little bit low and certainly the number 14 seems very low Pascal’s also only assisted halberton seven times so far so

They’ve connected on 21 baskets in nine games and like Caitlyn explained they’re not doing a lot of the tyres Pascal or Pascal tyres pick and roll whether one4 or 41 with some reasons but they’re going to need to learn to mind that eventually and I really do think that

What the Pacers saw here yes the halberton Turner two-man Dynamic is their most fruitful and Pascal is more about you know forcing difficult decisions on the defense and taking advantage of mismatches that halberton and Turner create elsewhere and things like that but I really do think they’re going to

Have to get that number out 14 times in nine games even acknowledging they don’t play a ton of minutes together that is going to have to come up and that’s probably the stat that I’m I’m watching tonight so they’re just spicy of day it’s pretty spicy it’s probably medium

Spicy just like the soup can I’m yeah three out of five on the the old SP met on the side well I think you know it’s it’s it’s kind of funny because we have a similar thing in Toronto where it’s like okay um we we immediately thought

Emanel cly and Scotty Barnes It’s that’s like it makes perfect sense they’re gonna run two man action they’re GNA do this and this their games overlap because of X Y and Z and then you come here and you’re like actually there isn’t that many interactive elements

Right away and it’s going to take them more of a process and that’s where I think that it’s good for both of these teams to get to the all-star break get in some extra practice time settle in and then sort of learn how to play off

Of each other I I think to the point about Pascal in particular having watched him a lot in Toronto especially because of the way that the roster was built with the Raptors and also under Nick nurse like there was so much like isolation individual elements that those

Were the parts of his game that he really grew and blossomed in and so I’ve always wondered if you went to a different situation how would that fit in with other pieces because Indiana also had their own system as well now of course offensively it’s going to work

Fine because guess what having two of a good thing is actually just more of a good thing but think defensively that’s where they got to figure out as well because again the Pacers just need to get to like even League average defensively to be a really good team and

Right now you know their defense is still not great and offensively yeah you haven’t seen like this like huge two-man combination where it’s like immediately they combine all the time and I think some of that it requires growth on both parts you know Tyrese has to get better

And also Pascal has to get out of that individual game and get more into that team game that he’s probably going to need to pair with another guy yeah um so to give you a context a quickly RJ or a quickly Barnes context um it’s felt like they haven’t

Assisted on each other a ton it’s been about once every 11 minutes that they share the court and this is both ways uh quickly to to Barnes or Barnes to quickly once about every 11 minutes or so with Pascal and halberton it’s about one every once every nine and a half

Minutes on the floor together so they’re not that far off so if we’re if we’re looking at quickly in Barnes and being like I wish that was a little bit more you know even though I said like I said if that if you extrapolated that over

The whole season they’d be a top 20 top 25 combination whatever number I said um yeah it’s not that far off it’s it’s not that far ahead of the quickly Barnes Duo where we’ve been watching and being like we need to see more we need to see more

Well I think it’s always tricky because both guys want to score yeah in in in both pick and roll combinations right so like Tyrese wants to score um off of those picking rolls Pascal wants to score in an advantageous Situation off of those screens and same thing with

Quickly and Scotty and so I think it’s not as simple as like okay for example Tyrese is going to run action with Miles Turner like Turner knows he’s going to get fed so he’s going to play off of the other person like I think that requires

A bit of a concession to be like I’m going to play off of the other guy I’m going to get the other guy a better look and of course if they double then I’m going to get a better look off of those passes you got to trust it’s a whole

Process but um yeah I it’ll be fun to watch thought the Pacers grow with that of course if they continue to to be under 500 with the two of them in the lineup together then yeah it’s also good for the Raptor pick so yeah unless unless the Pacers win the lottery cuz

That thing’s top three protected so um yeah anyway that’s that’s certainly something watch Miami and Orlando only half a game back of Indiana to avoid the play in uh so that’s going to be a pretty tight race there um assuming Philly doesn’t so this is a must for ra

Tonight we got to get this one yeah I mean I guess it for our pick man we need you know this is what we’re rooting for our picks yeah but I guess the the argument could be from someone who really doesn’t want the pick to convey

To San Antonio this year that it’s more important to improve the it’s more important to hurt your your own pick than to hurt Indy’s pick if if you are of the mind that you really want to do it’s it’s silly it is silly but it does sound like a win-win

In a weird way that’s what I was going to say either either way that’s uh you got both sides at plus 110 or something like that in this one you’re not making much but you’re good either way yeah we’re leaving here with something just it’s just not a win okay uh we’re going

To take a break our last one uh I’ve been your host will you’ve been listening to the Raptor show on the sports radi Network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup welcome back to the Raptor show on the sportset radio network I’m your host

Lou see me joined by co-host Blake mury yeah again probably me know we will be off The Daily Show until next week next Thursday uh so enjoy your all-star weekend enjoy your time off Blake Murphy I will do the same and then get back at it uh soon enough but of course another

Programming note this is from the Raptors make sure you are in your seats before tip off okay please be in your seats before tip off 7:30 sharp I know we’re all we’re all accustomed to a 7:30 start time meeting 7:37 or 7:41 or whatever 7:30 7:30 yeah I got the TV

Tonight so I get the email where it actually reveals the tip time and I always want to like tweet it be like hey the actual tip time is this but then people aren’t on their seats anyway uh so yeah get to your seats for 7:30 because I believe there’s a pascal thing

And a Scotty Barnes thing yeah yeah yeah yeah so um I don’t know this is not entirely like people dottling or whatever like it’s it’s it’s hectic if you ever come to the game like right for tip off like there long lineup if you bring a bag all that kind of stuff you

Know you might want to use the washroom and it’s a long line all that kind of stuff you want to get some food just if at all possible please be in your seats because yeah I mean you know you just want you just want to show out for

Pascal who is come back to Toronto after getting dealt uh last month and Pascal was able to catch up with local reporters here at shootaround this morning so we have a couple of clips for you from Pascal this the first one is just how it’s going to feel playing a

Against the Raptors for the first time in his career yeah it’s weird I mean I think I was coming in and I have to go to the little stairs on the other side I mean I never even been to that part of the building um I think like maybe doing the

Playoffs I went to that side like cuz I think the interviews was like over there or something the podium so like I there’s places where I’ve probably never been so it’s it’s just just kind of weird to be honest um but just you know seeing the building obviously like a lot

Of memories here like um you definitely like you feel comfortable you know like I mean I know I have a different Jersey on but um just coming into this building is again it just brings back a lot of a lot of good things have you thought about what tonight might be like with

The tribute and the fans and familiar faces I try not to think about it I just want to like go out there and just like um like kind of like deal with it as as it comes um and and not not trying to anticipate you know so much but

Obviously like you go to a place where you’re going to see a lot of familiar faces like people that I’ve seen for past eight years in my life like I mean like these these people are kind of like being part of my life you know so um I

Think just seeing everyone um just going to be exciting I’m sure like um seeing some of the fans like you I mean there’s there’s certain faces that I’ve seen every game you know what I mean so like I seeing those faces even like I think it just gives you like that that little

Um kind of like peace feeling of just like yeah like I I know what this feels like you know so yeah yeah so my question to you Blake is uh have you also gotten lost in scer Arena no no I I think I’m I many times it’s been a long

I mean maybe back in the day but I’ve been it’s been like a decade of going there now and like uh like I first started having I mean part-time credentials even before this but full-time credential I think 2015 was the first year that 2015 16 was the

First time that I had like I don’t know I think I was credential for like 12 or 15 games that year or something like that and then the whole playoff run right um so that’s a long time to be going to 40 plus games a year and like

In the 2016 playoff run I would be so anxious before some of those games that like between shoot around in the game I wouldn’t know what to do so I just like hang out with the arena working post up the whole time not the whole time cuz

Like media relations are not going to be thrilled with uh you know when I’m on my seventh cup of the giant vat of coffee um and also like they need a break in the middle of the day so they don’t want media there but like yeah I spent enough

Time there like got I’m going to go sit in this area and and chill or or I’m going to write over here or I’m going to just put the headphones I honestly I was talking to someone about this the other day I sent someone a photo cuz I was I

Was at the arena early there was no walk through so I went right from our show and the Arena’s empty right like like the game Ops and stuff they start replay they start like um rehearsing and everything and the game Ops are blaring from like

5:00 on but if you beat 5:00 there’s a period there where the the whole thing is empty and you might get a shoe squeak or an odd dribble from like one of the one of the um the like Arena support crew just like like getting a couple

Shots up or dribbling or whatever but it is quiet and it is so empty in there where like man if I was Pascal and I came back like I feel like I would want to come do my warm-up first in that empty environment and like and maybe

Even like like if I was Kelly and I came back I feel like I would want to do that and like hey I’m playing for my home team now I I want to play in this Empty Arena and feel that so I haven’t gotten lost there but I’ve gotten lost there if

You know what I’m saying okay all right let’s move on to the next yakum clip wait have you gotten lost there plenty of times man yeah all the time honestly Alex telling you to go get aloette or whatever you’re like where I can’t find it it’s not on theour I don’t I know

Where it is but I know where anyway shout out to Alex by the way great uh great peace on Pascal’s content creators yeah shouts to shouts to D and Lindsay at uh or shouts to do and Charlie at tier zero just um they they’ consistently made really good content

For Pascal and I’m sure I’ll see them tonight give him a couple deps but also yeah I I missed the Pascal content man he really had a really good content creation team behind them and uh yeah credit tier zero for that but anyway we are going to go to the second Pascal see

Club this one talking about um just the relationship with Messiah and if if things could have been handled better on the way out I mean to be like yeah like I I don’t look back to be honest like at the end of the day like it is what it is man

Like um it like obviously I think and I expressed it like a thousand times you know it’s just like you know this is like this is home for me so um I’ve always wanted to be here and you know be a part of this but at the end of the day

Like like I I also understand like what it is like I’m not and and one of the things I always say it’s like you know I’m I’m I grew up here as a kid you know I came in as a young guy I was just like

Man like I’m I’m so I’m so excited like you know everything was great amazing and and I learning and and and obviously like besides being always a mentor or someone that I look to but it’s like at at a certain point it’s like you know

I’m growing like I’m I’m a I’m a man at the end of the day like and and to me it’s just like that communication and just like hey man like I’m I understand it like I I mean to be honest I don’t like I get it I understand the business

You know I’ve been around so like I’ve seen things happen so um it’s moving on from it man like I’m in a situation like I said where like it just feels amazing and and and and and I think that at this point it’s just like yeah like I kind of

Like moved on from it like so I’m just not I’m not really like reflecting on that to be honest like that’s the first time I thought about that question so um so yeah it is what it is like and and I wish obviously like well like I talk to

Scotty like like I mean I wish everyone well like I want I want him to succeed and and and for me just I just want to continue my journey also yeah yeah I think the the communication piece was something we talked about a lot and you know of course we had

Pascal’s agents on uh both Todd and jaar after the tread deadline and I think I asked the same question to both of them about communication now of course they they boast that it was fine um but I think I think truthfully at at certain moments it wasn’t fine you know what I

Mean and I think for Pascal one of the most informative experiences um coming up was again dear was one of his vets K dear and he saw he was there in Vegas in that year and of course you know there was the rumors at that time where the

Raptors trade dear for for kawhai and of course communication could have been a lot better there I think that led to a lot of the disappointment that uh P dear had of course dear also wanted to stay in Toronto he was kind of like the Pascal before Pascal if we really think

About it but um yeah he went to that situation he saw sort of what happened with dear and he just didn’t want to repeat of that and of course you factor the Summer League last year and you know kind of the same conversation okay the Raptors might trade Pascal well it’s

Like if that’s if if you want to do that fine there just got to be open lines of communication to be clear about what’s going to happen and I just don’t think that that communication that I think was guaranteed to be there was actually followed through to be there but a lot

Of that is water on the bridge now at this point he ended up a situation in Indiana where seems like he’s happy he’s going to get paid he’s gonna you know he’s in a good situation he on a good team he’s like he got traded to San

Antonio or something um and even then I mean him and Wy would be a cool pair wellow yeah I mean San Antonio now seems really popping but you know still um yeah it’s this is water under the bridge I mean it’s part of the business I mean

I’m sure those are the things where when msai looks back at it he’s going to be like I I really enjoyed so many parts of this job but the parts that you you won’t enjoy is the fact that sometimes you have to really keep people in the

Dark yeah when you comes to these big transactions yeah and I don’t know I mean the answer is communicate better and if it leaks and you have to deal with that then it leaks and you have to deal with that but um generally how to handle you know you’re considering

Trading a player but you’re not sure about it like that was the dear thing is like at the time allegedly at the time that they told dear were not trading you they thought the chances of a kawhai trade were like 5% so why stress the relationship why stress him out about a

Potential trade if you thought it was so unlikely and then it became likely yeah so I don’t know how you balance that but I think as a default yeah communicate better and if there are consequences to communicating better and treating people it’s also it’s been interesting to

Listen to M talk about it after because like at other points like with Kyle with Fred and things like that they’ve really hammered home what we wanted to do right by the player we wanted to make and for whatever reason it wasn’t there this time so there’s a yeah an inconsistency

There but M obviously felt a certain way but I don’t know it’s nice to hear that Pascal’s in a in a good place with it and uh I’m sure some of the good place that he’s in with it has to do with what his next contract would probably look

Like in Indiana Soh that’s good too get yours fair enough okay and then the last clip you want to share from Pascal at uh shoot around just Pascal’s asked about Scotty Barnes who is now making a similar transition to becoming the guy I mean this this happened with Pascal

After kawhai left it wasn’t like okay the Raptors wanted to make Pascal the guy but kawhai left and you had to make somebody the guy you know in that in that sense sometimes when you are made the guy it’s not necessarily at your entire choice and your entire timeline

Of disposable um but as the guy who most recently went through a similar experience pasc had a lot of really warmhearted things to say to Scotty on that front it is it is tough as a young man coming in like you know um it’s it’s

Going to be a lot of ups and downs it’s going to be you know like there’s going to be things that’s going to look so good and and there’s going to be days where it’s going to be amazing it’s going to be great like I think that you

Know he’s just got to be like able to kind of like take those kind of waves you know like and and and as he’s he continues to just like you know learn from it he’s going to grow like he’s going to get better at it and and as

Long as his head is in the right place like I think he’s going to be fine but it comes with that you know like it’s going to be a lot of yeah just got to be ready like well that’s the conversation you have with him it’s just like just

Know that it’s coming so um just brace yourself um have keep the main thing the main thing and and just keep moving forward like if you do the right things like um things going to turn around so um I think I think he’s in a good play

He’s going to be all right yeah what do you think of that yeah nice to hear that Pascal reached out and talked to him I I wonder you know what those convers ation will be like today if there are those conversations um you know it’s always

Then on the the young player to to hear those conversations as well and take that to heart but I think you know within that Pascal’s confidence level in Scotty that Scotty’s going to be okay having got to know him over two and a half years having gone through his own

Growth in the leadership role with some of the same bumps I think that’s that’s helpful to remember that yeah Pascal went through this and Pascal’s vets went through this as well yeah and I think what the nice thing with Pascal is that like he had a lot of that Journey with

Kar there was a lot of transition with him right because even the year after kawhai left he still had a lot of the guys around him Serge Mark Kyle older guys you know guys he came up with Fred you know what I mean like he didn’t feel

So much alone even that year when he was the guy a lot of games there was like Kyle was the guy that game or like Serge let the team in scor a lot of times of course Pascal was the leading score but then of course I think he also went

Through something so unique the bubble Co his particular situation with that which is it’s I mean it was so ugly how it all played out and it was really really disappointing um and then the year after they had to go to Tampa so it was it was very unique in a lot of

Different circumstances but ultimately like you know there is a really big burden that comes with you know being the guy like heavy is the the head that wears the crown kind of thing and you know I think he can relate probably better than anyone to Scotty in this

Current situation and you know I think pascow got through that and pascow grew as a person through that he grew and matured so much as a person through that too and I think you know for Scotty it’s going to be a similar thing where you know if you like pascot said keep asked

For the main thing and by all accounts that is exactly what Scotty has done then you will get through this period but there will not come without a lot of growth the thing with that’s difficult for me is like he doesn’t have the same like guys he came up with you know what

I mean there’s not a Fred beside him not OG beside him there’s not like nobody you have to hope Emanuel and RJ become those guys but those were imported I know but but they’re here now and I’m saying you hope that they become that cuz no no nobody came in with them and

Even if they did they didn’t come in with them as a number four pick whereas Pascal and Fred were kind of the same part of that you know grind and go down to the 905 and things like that um okay so I saw people with the Fred tribute feel like

It was I I thought it was well enough done you’re you’re working yeah you’re working within time constraints there um you you’re not going to do the kawhai level do dot dot across the thing you you probably only got a minute there um given the constraints of a minute what

Do you want to make the Pascal tribute video what are the what are the big moments for you wow honestly um the moments from the finals game one against I mean 14 of 32 points I think against the the Warriors to win game one was incredible you got to put in the final

Basket to clinch uh for the title run right game six they come out of the timeout the rappers are up by one they got like 30 some OD seconds Kyle L Pascal seak can pick and roll Kyle feeds Pascal slipping to the basket and Pascal with the little tuck Euro Step and then

Floater over top of Draymond that’s the last bucket of that entire title run and it’s such a clinching moment I know we don’t think about it in the same way that you think about like the kawhai shot but dude we’re talking about the very last Basket in a one-point game

That made it a three-point game and a very very key moment um that’s got to be in it um him getting named to Allstar the 52 in the garden has to be in it um him in the D-League you know winning that Championship has to be in him

Telling Bruno to to shape up in in nice no that’s an off air story that’s a off air story that’s that’s that’s that’s different um that’s all right not not don’t worry it’s fine um and then yeah you know there’s all sorts of stuff man his his charitable foundations has to be

In it um all the work that he’s done with the PS Foundation 43 Foundation which continues to operate out of Toronto and they’re going to have more initiatives here all right so tip offs at like 9:15 p.m. cuz you got a you got a long video here fully watch a

50-minute like passg documentary before the game man absolutely I mean he put like a 9 minute he put like a 9 Minute one on his Vlog the other day about getting traded that’s a two zero man they made great content I think uh yeah you mentioned it but the one part of

That that I would like to put more emphasis on is like and this is probably just cuz I was there but the the allstar announcement at the NBA Store in New York City where his brother surprises him and everything and he’s there when he gets announced as a starter and like

Obviously other people knew but you know he didn’t he maybe didn’t know or whatever and if he did know he he acted very well um it was cool and then the game winner against Mel Bridges and the Suns that should be in there yeah the one that kind of sparked the

Conversation um I actually I was I was going back over old uh old articles today as I know you were as well and you tweeted one out and there was one that I talked to him about in January 2019 um and it was kind of trying to get

Into you know how he thinks his story and his his emergence and stuff and this is pre-all-star is about more than just him and it’s about like hey well what Messi wants to do for Africa I can do as a player and being a leading example and

Stuff like that and I built the whole starting of it around that shot and Pascal kind of being and getting into this idea that we’ve talked about about like the Player Development philosophy at a certain point with pasc be well why not yeah exactly why not that why not

More why put a limitation on this player type or or a player from this region or someone who came through this college system or whatever like why not why can’t he have the the ball in his hands for the final possession of a game um so

Yeah it’s uh that’s that’s a cool one to look back on bringing the the Larry O’Brien to to Cameroon was also really cool yeah that’s a huge one um I mean he this is a weird one but a Hu a really big Pascal and I guess like good games

Are good quars are harder to fit into things like this but he set the franchise r with 25 points in a quarter in San Antonio like when the circumstances was really yeah like Kobe had passed away and like guys are crying on the court and pass stop making the

Video man come on too much of a bummer yeah it’s just like nobody would know the context necessarily they might just hear like 25 in a court but like Fred Fred’s video had like all his records sure Pascal’s got a lot of like top fives and stuff I think that’s the only

Like record record he holds yeah I I think I think 14 of 17 and also the game-winning game clinching Basket in the finals you think you think that’s a better clip Marcus’s crying on the court and Pascal scoring something’s wrong with me that that stands out to me well

Because like it is a Raptor’s record the and it like it stood out to me because like obviously you can respond to those things in different ways and some guys didn’t want to play some guys you know I don’t know there were just different responses and I I thought it was cool

That Pascal’s was like like I’m a cook yeah yeah um anyway yeah well I mean I think the last thing too is just like real quickly just about you know I I think there is still that lingering question for some people of like you know could this have gone on

Right because you see the perspective he was able to offer for Scotty there and it’s like well pascot didn’t actually want to leave you you could have potentially chosen to keep him now whatever the trade package is what it is and what again it’s really going to determine it’s going be determined based

On what they can get for Bruce Brown eventually and also what those picks turn into and if the Raptors wanted to Pivot it was a good time to Pivot or or not a good time but it was the last opportunity to Pivot before you ultimately were at you know going into

Fre agency but I think there was that idea of like maybe you extend him and you keep them I think honestly having looked into this thing it’s like it was a matter of years really it wasn’t about necessarily matter how much money yeah and I think that ultimately you know the

Raptors kind of held firm on just like something shorter than what Pascal wanted and you know eventually also the way the season went out because it started slowly I I don’t even know if that specific offer was always on the table but in any case you could talk to

Different people about this it’ll come back and forth It’s all W in the bridge now and yeah he’s in Indiana and you know the Raptors move on with Bruce Brown and some picks time now for between the lines brought to you by bet Rivers take a chance so we’ll see how

Pascal sakam does tonight the Raptors are three and a half Point underdogs the over under is 245 because it’s a Pacers Raptors game um but notable tyres halberton with his hamstring is questionable Miles Turner and Benedict Maan are both sick so they are questionable and then Jaylen Smith

And old friend James Johnson are both out on the Raptor side RJ is questionable due to a personal matter and jont Porter sprained his ankle pretty badly last night he’s listed as doubtful not out but it did not look very nice last night um so I would not anticipate having jonte Porter uh

Tonight so how you feeling wow I mean if some of those guys aren’t playing then I I kind of you know I kind of like the Raptors man I always like the Raptors if three Raptors if three Pacers starters aren’t playing you you like the Raptors

Cool or not two starters and a key bench guy I swear if it was just between the lines the Raptor record would be like they’d be like a 72 win Warriors or the 73 win Warriors um look the main match up is gonna be Scotty versus pascow yeah and I think

That’s gonna be really fun I want to see those two guys guard each other I think for for Scotty there might be even a not even a Redemption game just like a bounceback game like Redemption is way too dramatic a bounce back gameer because the last game against you know

Indiana we or against San Antonio we covered it was a little disappointing um but yeah I mean you know you got a chance to play against them you know I think for the Raptors obviously you got to watch out for Pascal spin move you got to make sure you protect the basket

I think Scotty knows that you know and I think that uh that’ll be a fascinating matchup as for what the rest of the lineup’s going to look like matchup wise I mean Indiana is still going to push the pace even if Halburn ultimately doesn’t play I think Halburn probably

Will play though because like isn’t All-Star Game around the corner so yeah but the argument could be like to rest him to make sure he plays in the All-Star Game and doesn’t tweak it I don’t know he’s resting a regular season game to play G that’s yeah well what

What is what happened to the game I love yeah um God the other the other interesting thing is like like obviously Halle Burton’s got to guard someone are they like where are they hiding him is nard guarding quickly even though Quickly’s probably on halberton um it’ll be interesting to see that was between

The lines brought to you by B Rivers uh take a chance will uh we don’t have time to do a full Allstar Weekend preview but who is winning the dunk contest or the Three-Point Contest you can have your pick I am going to pick MC ml to win the DK contest again

All right yeah what about you um unfortunately I think Jaylen Brown is going to win it because it’s the most annoying outcome what do you think he’s going to do I don’t do you remember that J uh’s is he going to dip the arm into the rim kind of thing I don’t know

That’d be kind of cool that’s why that’s my favorite D that when you dip the arm into the rim anyway uh that does it for us today I’ve been your host will you’ve been listening to the Raptor show on the sports radio network brought to you by Campbell’s new chunky spicy soup it’s

Time to get fired up make sure you find the rap the show whereever listen to podcast And subscribe and please R interview the show big thanks to Our Guest today Caitlyn Cooper Jason Pono Mark Stein and uh yeah we will see you next week

William Lou and Blake Murphy are joined by former Raptor Jason Kapono to discuss his time in Toronto and the hilarious moments behind his two Three-Point Contest victories at All-Star Weekend. Caitlin Cooper stops by to chat about Pascal Siakam’s fit with the Pacers. Marc Stein gives the latest rumours including Bronny James’ projected draft value.

———————————————-

0:00 – Intro
3:41 – Three-Point Contest Victories with Jason Kapono
29:48 – Caitlin Cooper on Pascal Siakam’s Fit in Indiana
49:35 – Marc Stein on Bronny James
1:16:20 – Siakam Memories Ahead of His Return Tonight

———————————————-

Subscribe to Sportsnet on YouTube – http://sprtsnt.ca/2paAT2L

Watch Sportsnet on Sportsnet+ – http://sportsnetplus.ca

Visit Sportsnet.ca for more sports news and highlights – http://www.sportsnet.ca
Follow Sportsnet on Facebook – http://sprtsnt.ca/YTFB
Follow Sportsnet on Twitter – http://sprtsnt.ca/YTTWTR
Follow Sportsnet on Instagram – http://sprtsnt.ca/YTINST
Follow Sportsnet on TikTok – http://sprtsnt.ca/YTTIKTOK
Follow Sportsnet on Snapchat – http://tinyurl.com/SNsnap

———————————————-

Sportsnet is Canada’s #1 Sports Network. Your home for the latest highlights, breaking sports news, in-depth athlete interviews, cutting edge podcasts, live streams and much more. Don’t miss a single highlight reel goal, huge home run, exceptional dunk or mind blowing touchdown. Get inside scoops and industry leading insights with unparalleled access. Get to know a different side of your favourite sports superstars in one of a kind, offbeat comedic interviews. Sportsnet is the one stop shop for the fan inside all of us.

———————————————-

#NBA #Basketball #Raptors