How The New York Knicks Should Handle OG Anunoby’s Free Agency + RJ And IQ Updates With Sean Woodley

How The New York Knicks Should Handle OG Anunoby’s Free Agency + RJ And IQ Updates With Sean Woodley

Welcome in to the lockon Nicks podcast today I’m joined by the host of lockon raptors Shawn Woodley to tell you why OG and anobi will be worth every penny despite his injuries you are locked on Nicks your daily New York Nicks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every

Day you are locked on Nicks your daily New York Knicks podcast I want to thank you for making lockon Nicks your first Liston today and every single day is that would make you an every day or if you want to join those Elite ranks uh you can subscribe on YouTube and hit

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Five days a week I’m Gavin sh your favorite play-by-play broadcaster’s favorite play-by-play broadcaster um and a great run covering the Phoenix Suns back in the day as a credential media reporter now five years doing this podcast covering your New York Nicks and today talking about one of the most

Important Knicks uh currently uh on the injury list OG an anobi what his free agency is going to look like why the Knicks should ultimately pay up for him and then we’re g to catch up on our old buddies in in in the great North Beyond the Wall Emanuel quickley and RJ Barrett

So all that next on lock on Knicks as promised lucky enough to be joined by Shawn Woodley if you’re listening the locked on Raptor side I’m Gavin Shaw thank you so much for tuning in locked on Nicks locked on Raptors crossover if you if you hadn’t got enough of the two

Of us talking Hoops we’re gonna keep doing it uh checking in on the trade that was Sean uh I think I think we’re both still feeling pretty good about the deal uh a few months later yeah man it’s like it continues to be a really nice win-win where everyone’s happy I mean no

One in Toronto is happy right now because the the team is all out of the lineup and oai abaji is starting playing 35 minutes a game which hey no shade to oai but you know maybe 18 minutes is were his sweet spot but yeah man it’s

Still a trade that I think has set the Raptors up in a much better way than they were set up before and as far as you know how it’s going for the Knicks I think the results speak for themselves when they’ve been healthy for sure um OG in particular he’s been ridiculous and

Hey it’s happy to like nice to see like pre zoua doing some stuff as well dude he’s been he was the shock of the trade for me because when when they got him I was like all right this is kind of the ultimate Insurance move Maybe by 10

Minutes here or there until Mitchell Robinson’s back and lo and behold after a pretty non-descript start he’s been one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA super fun pick and roll partner for Jaylen Brunson um I don’t know if the Knicks the Knicks might have priced themselves out of resigning him now

Unless they trade Mr Robinson but that is a problem for another day um the free agent I wanted to focus on uh is ogan noi um clearly the the Knicks need to keep the guy because they play like maybe maybe this side of of the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets the best team

In basketball when he’s healthy um statistically there’s an argument that they’re even ahead of those teams I think it was it was tracking for the first five games maybe been through his first 10 games had like the best net rating in NBA history for any new player

And and as much as I was like jealous watching Emanuel quickly rack up 14 assist games and RJ Barrett all of a sudden figur out how to shoot threes and have an efficient 24 and six um I was I was feeling pretty good about things and then uh what’s always what’s always kind

Of been the the catch with OG uh happened and and that elbow injury got the surgery uh we thought he was all good uh two games later he’s screaming in pain that that was the universal description of it and uh we we don’t know when we’re getting him back so Sean

I I present all that to you as someone who has has far more of a relationship and a history with him than I do um what are the Knicks to do this summer and and in in more pressing fashion how are they to handle this injury for someone who is

Very much adjacent to Jaylen Brunson the future of this franchise and also someone who will make her break their playoff hopes in the present yeah it’s a tough spot right like I think for this season it’s a bummer like it just would be lovely if OG could be out there and helping this

Team do very fun things like he was helping them do right like they looked like I don’t know if I totally bought the whole oh they can actually you know give the Celtics a run thing because I don’t think anyone’s given the Celtics a

Run I hate it it makes me sad to think about but it’s just like the horrible reality we live in in this hell world uh but I do think the Knicks had a real like claim to being the second best team in the East you know know a playoff

Series with the Bucks I was hoping we might get that two3 it seems like maybe that’s not super likely considering how the standings are shaking out um but that would be a really fun one you know the sort of super duper Star of Giannis versus the like depth and team vision

And defense of the Knicks would have been an absolute blast to sort of dig into as far as the X’s and O’s go um but I I’m with you in that like the Knick’s got to pay OG um you know I don’t know what it’s going to take I think the

Raptors moving on him suggest that it’s going to take a lot because I think if it was going to be something like 30 million bucks a year or even 35 a year I think they would have said you know what we should probably just keep this sort of generational Wing Defender that just

There’s not many guys who do what he does to affect the game on the defensive end while also being a positive player on offense it’s just a really hard combination of skills to find and so I think you just got to pay him and hope that the injury stuff doesn’t derail

Future seasons and hope he comes back this year obviously I think the hard thing to parse with OG’s injuries which like there have been a lot of them right he’s never played more than what 69 games in a season I guess 74 as a rookie

As his high water mark I should say um that was coming off of knee surgery which caused him to drop in the draft to the point where the Raptors could take him at 23 it’s weird because it’s like it’s all like fluky weird stuff with with OG it’s

Oh a weird elbow spur thing oh it’s like a weird uh you know he had an appendectomy in the year the Raptors won the championship like it’s never been one thing that keeps on popping up for o he gets like poked in the eye all the time

And missed some time for that when he was with the Raptors like it’s just like a a strange and unfortunate series of non-chronic injuries that you hope don’t compile and sort of slow him down before he should be slowing down he’s only 26 years old you would hope that he’s got

Plenty of good Runway before him but the injuries are weird and I think it probably played into the Raptors thinking when they decided to move on from him um you know lots of other factors at play with that team and it wasn’t the only thing I’m sure but you

Just you can’t not pay a player who does what OG does so I I don’t know what you do it’s a tough spot to be in um and you might just have to pay him and and hope for the best because letting that dude walk you know the Raptors are feeling

This right now the one thing the Raptors badly need on this roster is like a 68 Wing who can defend everybody the second you move one of those guys or don’t Ain one of those guys you spend many many years searching for one of those guys

And so if you got one of them in regardless of the injury history I think you just got a pay him which is it’s a tough place to be for OG no doubt yeah I mean look he let’s be honest he he has the Nicks by the basketballs right like

Like any number he says at the end of the day like the Knicks just have to acques to after what they gave up and and presumably like I I think within five to 10 million maybe 10 10 is a big number within $5 million like this contract’s probably been hammered out

It’s probably hammered out between uh Leon Rose and uh Sam Rose and um like over the uh Christmas break right before this trade um got done and that’s probably why the Knicks felt comfortable making the deal but it it is a disaster of Epic Proportions if he’s not back

With this team um and then I mean to add to that Leverage is is just to that point like how exceptionally good they’ve been on the court I’m with you that it’s a long shot that they could beat the Celtics but I mean the regular season numbers they put up with them in

The lineup were kind is similar to what Boston’s doing this year and it wasn’t all against cupcs I mean they they killed they beat the Sixers by 30 plus points what Jolan beat they beat Minnesota at full strength they beat Denver fully healthy by like 35 or 40

Like he just made the the fact that he allowed the Knicks to go four out which they’ve never been able to do with Jaylen Brunson I mean heck as long as I’ve been covering the team they never put four Shooters on the floor while overwhelmingly being the best defense in

The NBA I I think what’s what’s interesting and I think you might appreciate this the numbers and and it’s still a small sample size and we thought we were going to get more of it until this latest setback with the elbow they’ve been quite a bit better with OG

And Brunson on the floor than OG Brunson and Randall on the floor and again just because it hasn’t been a large sample size you don’t know what to make of that but the net rating is is plus 45 I mean going into the two games that OG played

Through injury with those two and it it if you’re a Knicks fan if you’re a member of the Knicks front office it like kind of opens your mind to this future where like all right what if we were replace Randall with like a really high level like creative like three and

D wing and like doubled and tripled down on that and kind of got to the model that the Raptors had when they won their title which was like just a horde of great Wing Defenders around maybe not a Jaylen Brunson but an excellent point guard in Kyle Lowry and Fred Van vet um

I’m I’m rambling a little bit but I say all that to say like there’s not a world I think where the Knicks could go away with OG and he’s just such a skeleton key to so many different lineups and I’m I’m so interested in his future but I’m

Also just a little worried about his future is this going to be the reality that they’re always dealing with where another injury is just around the corner and and you just have these fits and spurts of Brilliance in between yeah I mean it’s tough right again there’s not really anything predictive about his

Injury history you know you think back even to like 2020 2021 like he missed time for Co and like what are you gonna do like like not sign a guy because the global pandemic might knock him out for 20 games it’s really tough it’s I don’t

Know like if you’re a front office you might feel a little bit queasy but I UL imately think like don’t overthink it he’s really good he is driving positive play when he’s on the floor guys like him are exceedingly hard to find you just got to do it and like his entire

Career he has driven positive play significantly when he know when he’s on the floor and I think you like you like to your point you put an even more sort of space heavy you know roster around him where maybe he’s you know I think there’s probably a little bit of overlap

Probably some of the same stuff that you saw with Barrett and Julius Randall you know the OG Randall you know are those guys able to coexist offensively they seem to have done just fine but long term that’s a question for sure um you know depending on how much they want to

Ratchet up OG’s usage I you know his shooting points and you know usage are all down with the Knicks but it doesn’t seem to affect anything because he just drives such winning basketball when he’s out there you just got to do it man like 40 million bucks 45 like I don’t know

What I don’t think it’ll be a full Max that feels pretty unreasonable considering the way the landscape is going in the league and so if it’s less than a full Max I think you just got to say you know what injuries might be part of the deal here but this guy like to

Your point he’s the skeleton key who unlocks so much who makes so many different kinds of lineups viable who can guard all of the best players that you’re going to need need to guard when things matter most injuries are part of every team right every team has to deal

With it every team is susceptible to an injury derailing their playoff hopes I don’t think you can build your team around the fear of injury especially for a guy who again it’s not like he has the same recurring thigh injury or whatever that keeps on keeping him out of the

Lineup like say kawh Leonard and even then like kawh Leonard keep that dude around too because he’s yes he’s injured a lot but he’s also incredible when he plays OG not kawhai but a similar idea I think you just got to not overthink it pay him what it’s going to take and uh

That’s kind of how it’s got to be Gavin there’s a guy the Raptors have to pay uh that they acquired in the ogj and adobi trade Emanuel quickley he and RJ Barrett have played extremely well we’re going to talk about them coming up in just one second but first you got some

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On Nicks locked on Raptors I just I just want to put a bow on the OG and anobi conversation I think I think you got to the core of it like at the end of the day this would be a conversation and difficult one if there was any ambiguity

About his fit with Jaylen Brunson was Jaylen Brunson top five scorer in the NBA right now Bonafide uh Darkhorse uh get some token MVP votes all NBA type Talent like the the first question you ask is does this guy fit with Jaylen Brunton and OG an anobi is out of anyone

In this league who hasn’t made an All-Star team maybe anyone in this league hasn’t made it all onba team like the possible best fit with this guy like hands down like covers from him defensively lets the Knicks a team that even against your Raptors at times was just getting bullied in the early

Portions of the season and looked small when they played the Celtics look small when they played the Pelicans and that like after the trade it just no one was doing that to New York and that’s before they get back the best offensive rebounder in league in basketball the

Knicks have built their identity around just about everything that oan know is about he is he is a picture perfect fit for Brunson a picture perfect fit for Tom thibo this front office this organizational ethos injuries be damned they’re they’re going to pay him a very

Healthy amount and I think the way the cap is going it’ll it’ll end up aging extremely well unless uh God forbid these injuries basketball Gods forbid uh this injury situation gets worse uh someone Toronto has to pay as as you so beautifully segue uh Emanuel quickly uh

My my basketball son uh maybe maybe still like favorite player in the league in the mix um I want I feel like I sent my kid away to summer camp and I’m getting a letter home how’s how’s my guy been doing Sean I’ve been I’ve been box score watching every single night seems

To be having a great time up in Toronto I mean I’m having a great time watching him man it’s a ton of fun uh he is like my dude I I you know you know this I telegraphed hoping the Raptors would go and find Emanuel quickly on their roster

Some way somehow back in the summer and for the deal to come to fruition the way it did was like a real like oh I nailed that one kind of day it was fantastic and so yeah I’ve like totally gravitated towards Quickly’s my dude and I cannot

Get enough of watching him play he’s been out for a little bit uh for some personal reasons he’s ramping back up should be back for the last eight or nine games it seems as uh same as with RJ Barrett who tragically lost his brother who also is in the midst of

Ramping back up um but yeah quickly has been a total delight and I think the shocking thing to me and I’m curious if you have sort of thoughts on you know did you see this coming is he had like adapted to the lead guard point guard

Role so quickly like it just you know it it took a little bit his first little stretch with the team was you know he wasn’t being super aggressive he wasn’t shooting enough darkar rakovich the Raptor’s head coach was just on him to keep on shooting play with joy keep on

Shooting and as his three-point volume has ratcheted up he’s also Blended in this really really nice pick and roll playmaking sort of diving and kicking all this nice stuff that you want to have from your lead guard it’s been a treat and I I’m curious like did you see

Lead guard Emanuel quickly coming did you see a guy who was gonna you know flirt with a 20 assist game in his first couple months with the Raptors which he recently did you know the stretch where post Scotty Barnes injury early March Emanuel quickley was kind of the guy on

This team and he was doing a lot with that opportunity I’m excited to see what he does in the last few games once he comes back but yeah did you have any inkling that you know more than just like a sort of microwave scorer Off the Bench dude was sitting in there and

Quickly so I have a lot of thoughts on this it it brings both uh joy and stress to my heart when you asked that question the stress comes from I want I want to zoom back to the 2122 season where Tom Fido uh in all in all his Brilliance uh

And I I say that uh mostly genuinely some but somewhat sarcastically in this context um thought Alec Burks was was the Nicks point guard um for the second half of that season after after the kembell Walker experiment did not work out that that just that feels like a

Hundred years ago as I say that I feel a million years old Sean um but anyways um and and then uh something uh sad for Alec Burks good for Nicks fans happened like I think he suffered like a minor injury for the last five or six games of

The year the Knicks were were totally out of the playoff race and Tom th have said all right I’m I’m gonna I’m gonna do the responsible thing here maybe with with a little bit of nudging from the front office um I’m I’m gonna let the

Young guys cook and it was it was the Obi top and and Emanuel quickly show and Emanuel quickley having not gotten a real opportunity to be a starting point guard in his whole career came out and and just looked the part like was making the right reads was balancing mixing and

Scoring but had an innate sense of like all right this guy hasn’t shot in in 10 minutes I I need to get him a shot um Obie like he’s he’s gonna be open rolling to the rim if I if I stunt this way and fake a pass to the quter first

And and just making like like un an innate understanding of how to manipulate a defense at an NBA level and then over the next year plus like that would be there in fits and spurts but I think the issue for Emanuel New York is that his role was was rarely Ultra

Consistent because he was obviously asked to come in and be a starter sometimes he was asked to come in and be a scorer sometimes he in certain lineups he need to lean a little bit more into that facilitation and then like the start of the year after that like he was

Asked to like go back to playing next to Derrick Rose again and figure out how to be an off ball guy again and I think that really affected him and even in in the playoffs like last year where he really struggled that affected him you

Knew it was in there I mean his stats like we went over it when we’re talking about the initial trade were were exceptional last year like he he played like a borderline Allstar was like 225 and five um in 20 or so games maybe not quite that many but close to that many

As a starter um and you could you could certainly see the makings of it and even early this year just some of the reads he were making were just better and quicker and I think a little bit more intentional than in the past the only question for me was all right like would

This guy be able to do it night in and night out against other starting defenses and if if I had a seed of doubt in my mind I I think sometimes when we highlight these guys off the bench and say I mean Obi toppin is a good example

Of it and say they need a bigger role this guy’s so amazing and and sometimes you see it against starters and it just doesn’t quite look the same because we just underestimate I think the the physical rigors and just the challenge it is to I mean like on the other end of

The four to be chasing around I mean how many point guards in this league average 20 points per game right now like 14 15 like it is just a challenge and um I mean no one puts in more work than Emanuel and he he’s clearly been up for

It so I’m I’m really happy to see it um and and so there were there were signs there but he’s he’s kind of even surpassed my expectations with how consistent he’s been in Toronto yeah I mean he like I said he’s kind of surpassed my expectations as

Well the one thing that’s been kind of strange and I think part of the sort of growing Pain’s process of getting acclimated to being the dude you know especially with Scotty Barnes out where he has been like fullon Capital th the capital T capital D the dude is he’s

Kind of had some trouble with the floater game which was always this sort of uh incredible little feature of his game that you’d see when he was playing with the Knicks and you know I figured hey it’s just going to translate over he’s goingon to hit every floater it’s

Going to be incredible but like scoring inside two-point range has been tough that said March February March are really good for him kind of figuring that out a little bit I think he’s just kind of getting used to the physicality to the lack of space when he’s driving

The fact that teams are you know key it in on him as well um so I think it’s been a bit of a a growing pains thing but that’s what this Raptor season is about at this point is growing pains and figuring things out to kind of get them

Sorted ahead of next season where I think they want to try to be pretty competitive again and so yeah I’m uh I’m super happy with how things have come the this the stuff where he struggled I think has been um totally workable stuff that I think he has to struggle through

In order to get better and then the three-point shooting I mean it’s just like an absolute Whirlwind watching this team play with the above the break three-point shooting threat that quickly is they just have not had that even Fred Van vet you know a very good pull-up three-point shooter himself but didn’t

Quite terrify defenses the way it seems like Emanuel quickly does and I think quickly in particular working off of yaka purle and working off of Kelly oin a little bit there too like his connection with those bigs the way they spring him open for looks has been really fantastic the one thing they

Haven’t really figured out is the connection between him and Scotty Barnes I think that’s kind of the biggest question from the the time they spent playing together it’s been a bit of a tricky combination I think they’re you know figuring out their timing figuring out how they want to connect and pick

And roll pick and pop that type of stuff and that hasn’t been perfect but overall I think the connection with his teammates has been fantastic and he’s really kind of living the lead guard lifestyle in a really really uh exciting way I’ve had a ton of fun with it um RJ

Barrett let’s talk about him quickly here uh he has been just like like I’ve watched a lot of RJ Barrett watching for Team Canada uh you know I was a kind of a little Nick sicko before this trade even cuz I liked those teams a lot and

You know RJ Barrett was always someone who kind of left me feeling like yeah okay and we know the sort of discourse around the trade was oh he’s just a throw in oh he’s a toxic asset you know says unnamed coward Scout X or whatever um like clearly not a toxic asset

Clearly looking like a building block for this Raptor’s team still just 23 years old and like the way he’s like trimmed the fat out of his game the way it seems like um the sort of lack of overlap with Julius Randall and Jaylen Brunson is like pretty remarkable Samson folk does

Great work covering the Raptors for Raptors of public um and he’s kind of theorized that simply not being on a team with a bunch of lefties has helped RJ Barrett because he’s not competing for the same space and teams are not you know geared up to oh we know everyone’s

Going left on this team like it’s a bit of a zigging while the other Raptors zag now where he comes flying off these screens out of the right corner catch puts it on the deck and you just can’t stop him he’s been unbelievable at The

Rim how much did you think this was in RJ Barrett you know I think his sort of transformation has been probably more surprising than quickley where I think everyone knew okay they’re bringing quickle into to be the lead guard here to be the sort of pillar next to Scotty

Barnes for the long term we’ll see about Barrett he’s completely transformed himself as a player and it’s been an absolute treat you know the defense we’re not going to talk about today because we’re staying positive right now um but on the offensive end totally trims the fat the efficiencies off the

Charts um was there anything that sort of had you feeling like okay this type of players here with RJ or is this like a complete out of left field surprise for you you hear you hear the alarms going off outside my house that is the

Uh I’m I am stunned by by this RJ Barrett development maybe maybe that’s overstating it a little but the level of efficiency he’s hit sha I I did not see coming some of the reasons you highlight why I did see coming as reasons he could

Get better I want to talk about that in just a sec on both locked on Nicks and locked on Raptors before we get to that though Today’s Show is brought to you by Amazon Fire TV I love Fire TV I don’t have one myself but my parents do cuz I bought

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All right time to talk uh some RJ Barrett uh yeah I I I didn’t I I’ve both been a little jealous and a little Blown Away Way by by what he’s done in Toronto from an efficiency perspective particularly from a three-point shooting perspective the one thing I’ve always

Been Ultra confident about in RJ Barrett and and the one thing we’ve seen from him his entire Nick’s career is that he is absurdly good at at getting to the rim and and that is like if if there’s a quality you zoom in on you say all right

Like why was this guy the third pick in the draft why was he the number one Prospect coming out of high school um why is he still garded so much interest in the NBA despite years of inefficiency into your point uh mostly poor defense was SPS of of pretty good defense mixed

In um it was it was that ability in in an environment that was not at all conducive um for him to be able to do that with Mitchell Robinson for almost that entire time parked right at The Rim 247 and say hey RJ congratulations you beat your man here’s a center to block

Your shot but don’t worry I’m great at getting offensive rebound so it’s gonna look bad for you it’s going to look really good for me and I wonder this is almost underr I wonder if Mitchell Robinson becomes like more of a mediocre offensive rebound now that RJ Barrett

Isn’t on this team to to miss layup but also take the big man out of the that that’s something to watch going forward for your Nicks fans listening um but point being like there was that and he was never playing with or or I shouldn’t say never but he was rarely playing with

Three other Shooters on the floor and Tom thibo got better as time went on about giving him a lot of run with the bench unit making him and quickly um Cole fols on that so any any chemistry those two have you can thank tibs for that and mean what he’s done over the

Last year with with those two guys but I I I didn’t really see this like just because because like there have been moments where like the context has been pretty decent for him in like games and and it just seems like every time he figures it out like he would lose it and

It’ be 10 games of of everything clicking and us doing a podcast saying RJ Barrett is turning the corner suck at haters including us sometimes and then we would regress and we were riding that roller coaster the whole time which is why I was ultimately like I I think the

Feeling was maybe even like relief for myself but also for RJ because like w he did well to your point like there were two guys in New York who just did it better at least at least at this point at least in this situation and he was

Never going to get an opportunity to overtake those guys like the best case scenario was he was a second to Jaylen Brunson and as we just talked about anobi he was never going to be the fit around Brunson that anobi is so cleanly on both ends of the floor um but that

Being said I I’m amazed and like I’m wondering like can you pinpoint like outside of the superior spacing in Toronto and to your point the lack of lefties like is it playing with skill bigs is it playing with a coach who’s empowering him more like where has the

Like night to night consistency on the offensive End come from I think it’s a little bit of everything right like I think yes playing with skilled bigs who they use their bigs a lot at the elbows like I think that creates a lot of stuff for guys going to the basket which is

Where RJ Barrett is headed most of the time right as a raptor 43% of his shots are coming inside three feet per basketball reference that is by far a career-high he’s shooting 73% on those shots all also by far a career high it’s insane the numbers at The Rim were not

Good like we have to say before he went to Toronto for his whole care for sure it’s it’s baffling frankly the the jump he’s taken but it doesn’t feel unsustainable because of the way the Raptors play where a lot of their sets like they run a pretty intricate offense

The one thing you can say about this Raptor team this year they’ve been a nightmare they’ve had like four different versions of the team throughout the year but they’ve played Darko rakovic is offense and stuck to it all season long and so even when it’s like oh baji and Grady dick running the

Actions the actions are still the same and they’re doing a lot to get guys into space to finish and I think just Barett is really benefiting from that this is not an offense that is going to allow guys to hold the ball over dribble take

Their time to size up an ISO that’s just not what’s in the DNA of this offense anymore it was very much the case like Barrett would have not fit in in a Nick nurse offense or not succeeded he would have fit in perfectly the exact type of

Player uh you know that they loved at that you know at one point but I think this version Barrett where the decisions are quick he’s being forced to get the ball out of his hands quickly if there’s not an easy Lane to the bucket the threes he’s getting are just wide openen

Looks from the flow of the offense from the you know the double teams that Scotty Barnes you know generates things like that like really really in flow no pull-ups like barely any pull-up threes for him at all I can think of maybe five off the top of my head since he became a

Raptor and so it’s just like smart shots within the flow of an offense that hunts smart shots and and I I think another guy that’s I mentioned yaka purle his screening is so good and I think it’s been like the RJ Barrett slingshot like it really that’s kind of how you can

Like call yaka purle he just will size up whoever is guarding RJ again flying out of the corner smack a dude with a screen and then RJ’s just got all day to grab it catch go downhill um that’s been like a real staple of their offense he’s also been fantastic in transition as

Well which I think makes sense like this is a team that lives in transition they’re the highest transition frequency team in basketball and you know Scotty Barnes when healthy is one of maybe the three or four best transition orchestrators in all of basketball RJ’s fit in beautifully with that as a as a

Lane filler as a play finisher and he’s actually made some nice reads on the break as well kind of kicking out to Shooters and whatnot another thing that’s been shocking with him is his playmaking has been not like top of the league he’s not going to average eight

Assists or anything like that but he’s at four he’s like barely turning it over um you know he’s just been really really rock solid as uh a sort of connective piece who finishes a lot of plays for this team um and again I I’ve used the phrase trimming the fat it really is

What it is he’s just doing stuff he knows he’s good at that the team knows he’s good at and they do it over and over again and no one can stop them and it’s a pretty exciting thing for the long-term Outlook the defense is going

To be the big thing for him he’s been pretty bad on the defensive end this Raptor team is pretty bad on the defensive end in general um and I do think at some point the Raptors have to find themselves like a big three and D wi I don’t know maybe they could use

Their cap space to sign OG and and noi this summer or something like that wouldn’t that be cool uh you know if they could push you know RJ to the two I think that’s probably where he’s best suited defensively right now um but it’s weird because he’s like so physical he’s so

Bullying as an offensive player you would think he could translate some of that physicality to defense hasn’t quite worked out that way we’ll see how that goes that’s going to be the limiting factor for just how good a team that features RJ Barrett as like their third

Best player can really be but um everything from the offensive end has been just an absolute delight and I don’t think it feels unsustainable really in any way it feels like it’s something he can carry forward within the system and I think he feels empowered I think you know there’s the

Comfort level of playing at home I think he’s very proud to be playing at home it’s been awesome and uh you know obviously a really tough time for him of late really eager to see him get back in the lineup here and start doing the RJ Barrett thing again because it’s been

One of the best parts of this season for sure in a season full of a lot of not very good stuff the sort of groundwork of what this team can be next year through quickly through Barrett through Scotty Barnes has been pretty encouraging stuff to watch yeah it’s

Like and this like I’ve been joking around a lot this pod this isn’t a joke like it’s genuinely like heartwarming to hear that because I think New York loved RJ the human being and someone who came in as a number three pick and just like embraced everything about New York from

The gecko and and and and wanted to be the face of of that like turn this team around and we’ve seen so many guys come in here and like I mean Chris Taps poring is fresh on our mind obviously when we got RJ Barrett and like just not

Take that responsibility in R.J like even though it wasn’t always perfect like he never shied away from that and I both him and quickley were just just such culture Setters on that um 2021 team that set the Knicks on the path they’re on now so I I think Nicks fans

Have nothing but positive things to to say and like think and feel about those guys and it’s just cool to hear because I he was just never going to be prioritized in New York once Jaylen Brunson came to this team and it’s funny everyone talked about Brunson knocking

Quickly out of town and maybe you could say Randall was was the start of it for RJ but Brunson was sort of the the death nail of RJ just being featured in a way to do his best and Toronto it sounds like it’s been the exact opposite where

They’ve totally set him up for success and he he’s embraced every single part of that um Sean we can keep this to to literally 30 seconds uh do you expect those two to play tomorrow and if not what should the Knicks expect from the Raptors coming off a game where we we

Just saw the Pistons uh C team and and you don’t like even even if you win by 20 you don’t want to watch a game with the Pistons C team so can the Knicks hope for a little bit better than that even with Toronto on on a long skit of

Their own uh probably not right now because the uh Raptors are Fielding what I think is the worst roster in basketball at the moment uh doesn’t sound like IQ or RJ is going to be available they’re ramping up they are getting their conditioning in order they’ve both been out for a bit RJ

Longer than quickly and so we’re not going to see them against the Knicks it’s a bit of a shame uh but yeah like you want to see Kobe Simmons he’s there Jordan wara he’s there oay abaji taking 20 shots a game that’s happened a lot of

Grady dick a lot of Kelly oin running stuff at the elbows um you know Javon Freeman Liberty he’s pretty cool like yeah this is not a raptor team you will recognize this is not a raptor team I will recognize in six months when I forgotten this last part of the Season

Even happened because I repressed the memory um this is not going to be a competitive game I would assume if it is something’s gone horribly wrong for the Knicks and I will laugh hysterically if that horrible thing does happen to the Knicks because you know made a nice

Trade we’re all buddy buddy but they’re still division Rivals baby you want to see that blood so yeah uh this is going to be rough stuff for the Raptors unless it’s not in which case uh it will be truly hysterical and Nick’s fans will

Have a meltdown I’m sure I I will um but you know what as our buddy Josh Floyd would put it we’ll be getting 30 minutes of dick and we’ll we’ll make the most of it uh for for Shawn Woodley I’m Gavin Shaw hopefully we can do another one of

These over the summer I kind of wanted to get into the Raptors two TRS I’m just from a team building perspective you guys were confusing to me before um you’re confusing to me now still and I want I want to know a little bit about what the big picture is the dicks

Certainly have an interesting future in that capacity if any Raptors fans are interesting I I just like talking to you Sean so we’ll make sure that happens this offseason but until then he’s Shawn Woodley check him out everywhere you can find podcast you can find lockdown Raptors same for Raptors fans wanted to

Keep track of everything OG over on lockon Nicks um but until then we’ll each have Recaps for you on our respective pod we’ll talk to you soon on lock on Knicks and lock on Raptors

OG Anunoby is an extraordinary talent who’s also quite injury prone. How will the Knicks handle that dynamic when negotiating his next contract?

Gavin Schall and Locked On Raptors Sean Woodley answer that question plus a look at how RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley have improved since moving on to Toronto and a preview of tonight’s game!

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