Darko Discusses Raptors Rebuild Window + WNBA News

Darko Discusses Raptors Rebuild Window + WNBA News

hello hello everyone it is kenon here basketball rewind and we are here to go through another week of just basketball so we’re going to start this off with Darko there was a Darko article that was brought to my attention that I kind of loely translated through a combination of of Google translate and chat GPT think it did an okay job of it I would say kind of read through his responses the the questions I’m not going to go through the whole thing I’m going to actually leave that in the description down below uh I’m sure it will be eventually posted by other people online but it was very interesting I did host a little small space but I think people weren’t sure how to how to feel about this so there’s a couple interesting things that I found I think the the other two people who are joining me as usual beyond the locker room and Coach roach have also uh you know read the the the translation since none of us are uh you know able to accurately say that they can speak fluent Serbian so I’m shocked you really for janich you know that’s the best I can get for you man yeah exactly I’m not even going to try to you know do a spin on my name so um it certainly stick out like a sore thumb there um but uh what I will say is this so uh first of all you know obviously he talked talked about his overall experience in Toronto um the call it trials and tribulations that he had to kind of you know overcome this year if you will um as outlined by the interviewee or interviewer I should say and essentially Darko did mention that they did have you know to start to begin to establish a completely different culture on the team and that started in the middle of the year to me he did mention a few things that are of interest to Raptors fans specifically the first thing is is that he kind of outlined that they are really waiting for you know as he outlined there’s several ways to build a team that’s draft free agency and signing players and that it this takes several years and it’s a process we’ve heard that from the Philly uh days of course he said we’re waiting for a big one to work but the process is some is one that will certainly last several years and to me I found that very telling I know a lot of people are trying to suggest how we’re going to be next year and what I keep saying and what I keep giving push back is that if you listen to the breadcrumbs if you follow the breadcrumbs that are being left by Bobby Messi and Darko in mult across multiple interviews they are not trying to be good and that’s not a bad thing if you are freaking out because we’re we’re actually trying to get Talent on this team long term and build a winner long term then I don’t know if you’re really a raptor fan or you’re you just want to you know you can’t handle the es and flows of NBA basketball but you know this is the reality that we live in the other thing is that he went on after that and he basically outlined of course you know those the you know or the coaching staff is very professional everyone’s great all that everything’s awesome and everything’s cool when you’re part of a team you know but he went on and outlined that you have to have the patience to develop and the willingness to stay together everyone’s favorite term and United throughout this process of team building he finally after that went on and again I this is a loose translation I will not post my translation but I’ll post the full document again down below for people to check out uh for themselves uh they did outline that they are building around Scotty however it does seem like he made emphasis that it should take three years realistically they’re not trying to take five six years but you’re looking at a 2 to threee timeline probably closer to the edge of the threee cuz he kept preaching patience patience patience and to me patience patience patience is code code word for uh yeah folks it’s time to finally understand that we are rebuilding um so I want to first off thank NC for change for giving me all this information there’s other things but we’re going to get into that in a second I want your guys’s thoughts on what I’ve said so far because the other things have to do with the draft well first thing um you guys ever watch Key and Peele yes okay you guys know the skit in this case here where like you whatever Obama is upset in this case here had Luther the angry transl angry trans yes I think this Cas here the Serbian press is pretty much the know his angry translator because I find it interesting he’s done what two maybe three interviews with Serbian press oneon-one has he done one yet for the tra press yet maybe one like the open gem thing or whatever well that’s a Raptor’s thing I even count I’m talking about someone here Doug Smith from an independent Source say hey I would like to do a interview with you Darko find out more how you think no no I didn’t think so so I find it interesting that when he wants to get things off his chest he goes back home and then talks over there to get off in his native tongue yeah tongue and it obviously probably wouldn’t get as much pressive this case he did it with the toron star or the glow mail and then it might seat through it filter out and maybe a few Raptor fans might catch it in this case hey Darko did interview if you have the time to translate great but gets diffused in this case here but he gets to go like exhale ah he gets it off his chest it it was so rough for me such a tough season so many things that change you know so many things like I was just try to learn for the first time ah you ta right so that is his angry translator bunch in this case here because you know he’s he it’d be like 60 minutes out there he’s always got interview it seems like over there but he seems ever one this case for the gold male TR star William Lou you know Pi he did he actually did have one with Will Lou I’ll say that oh yes he did have one will in this case earlier in the season right I think yeah so he did one there but the hardcore print and those guys that go there to ask him questions I don’t think he’s ever done one any of them but I find it interesting go over there and do these interviews so that’s just from that standpoint what he said to your point like this ain’t nothing new I mean maybe so there’s some hard ear Raptor fans that don’t see there are hard ears people are uh B you know like hey you know you to ring your ears when you’re young in this case here you for the for some of our more West indan contingent know I’m getting out here out hey wake up guys this is where it’s been some of y’all wanted this last time I check that’s all I got to say about it this is the full experience you’re getting folks enjoy the ride and look there’s nothing wrong with being a rebuilding team I just my the reason why I bring it up is cuz people get all up in arms when you say well we’re rebuilding we’re we’re trying to uh essentially get a good pick next year when we actually can control our pick it’s not when you it’s two things how you rebuild and when you rebuild and you’re G to rebuild with a a potentially seminal draft class that’s coming out next year and even the one after it if there’s ever a time to rebuild this is the time to rebuild and and from what I hear even 2027 is also good too right so this is the window here to rebuild we’ll get into the w a second good time to have a that also lines up with two to three years yeah well that that’s the interesting part right because now we’re playing we’re now playing a bit of um we’re now playing a bit of um a game Race Against Time that’s what we’re dealing with now and that is g be really what was gonna be fascinating and as far as from a Raptor’s perspective I’ve watched this story play out many times and believe me A lot of times it hasn’t ended well for the r tough it’s it’s really tough to get it all right now you might have a guy in Barnes who is uh vibing with the team enough for it it to give them enough time to make it work because he’s happy once he gets his money so that might be one way to look at it um it gives you pause for Thought um you know because I know if it was like ant or something like that I don’t know if I’d be saying the same thing I would say I would assume nothing if I’m a raptor fan true I assume nothing coach your thoughts yeah I assume nothing what Darko said I don’t see anything really wrong with it it takes two to three years at minimum but like I think beond has said before we live in a world now where you don’t have five or six years anymore the college coaches that I’ve been around and spoken with say basically when you get hired you have three to five years build program that five years you want to have some a little bit of success of that third or fourth year going in we G to get the five years so if it was me I think certainly it’s important to have a a big time pick in next year’s draft I would be looking to next summer that’s when I’m okay now it’s time to start making some uh more competitive moves per se because like beond had just said you’re working against the clock too a lot of guys contracts will be coming up a lot of guys will be entering their Prime and you want to certainly maximize the time that you do have you know with a Scotty with an RJ with a quickly and I really like Darko did have quite a year this year as a first year head coach my always thing is what have you learned what have you learned about this year and what can you learn about this season just went by and take it into next season what can you improve on I know I’ve been told like I can be a little hard on on Darko at times yeah but at the same time there’s always room for improvement and I think he’s more than capable of doing that he’s been in the NBA long enough he’s been around some good coaches and Monty Williams and Billy Donovan and pop to understand that all these guys have all made improvements throughout their career there’s no reason why he can’t either but next year and the year after going to be some big years for his own development as a coach right and I don’t think you have to necessar like we’re not judging him based on the win- loss column no um you know it’s more of the it’s more the locker room it’s more the the the relationships that he has when it comes management too yeah when it comes out like yeah he’s a little could be bit too buddy buddy with with the team and I’m just like I’m not sure how Buddy Buddy Joe moula is I’m not sure how buddy buddy Jason kid is I don’t know how buddy buddy Eric spoler is or Pat Riley know he he wasn’t Phil wasn’t so I’m not trying to so much say he’s G to be like them but they have this there’s a pattern here of they’re not that buddy buddy it’s a tough job you got to be a bit cold sometimes with the players you have to tell as it is like and I’ll say what people usually counter that with they’ll say well but we don’t have the team that Joe moula has that’s right which is why we’re saying we’re not going to be good Bingo but in all the seriousness though like that’s really what it comes down to um you know what’s further is the stuff to do with the draft um so he talked about the 31st um the 19th and 31st overall picks and uh you know highlighted it in my notes where he basically outlined that uh it’s not really easy to develop three or four rookies so people who are suggesting that we acquire another pick in this year’s specific draft rather than looking at Future drafts I don’t think that you know because if you can see it this way Darko in in essence right now is an extension of your front office you couldn’t always say this but you could say that now is that he e and MSI are are very well aligned and so when he’s saying the same things that they’re saying at some point people can now accept they’re not planning on trading Bruce Brown for a drafted pick in this year we saw that cuz it came out that they were they had offers from New York for picks from this year and they declined those offers and now it’s it again for those who weren’t sure now it should be very clear that it isn’t and he said that everything is relative we satisfied with the two picks that we kept and have a good plan for them so it does sound I you know we’ll see what happens on draft night but it does sound like they are planning on uh effectively trying to they’re they’re they’re okay with not moving up he they did say again this is all process again nothing happens overnight again right A lot of these buzzword terms are coming up again and again and again you know this is not something that suddenly you put our franchise in the role of a title Contender it will take a lot of work a lot of patience a lot of wisdom to you know basically bring this uh franchise from where it is to where they want to be and you know it it’s it’s it’s going to take a little bit of time and that was what he essentially was uh responding to when he was asked about us losing the the the pick um you know that we we had traded away before and so and I’m only mentioning that for the for the the people because that is what the pick was so he also outlined something very interesting right before that where he outlined how he feels about the draft so we’re almost done with the darkos uh segment he basically said that you see this uh he said yeah you know this draft is considered one of the weaker ones in the last 10 years he didn’t sugarcoat and say you know but hey you know Nicola came in this one right no he said this is this is that but he said the next two drafts are extremely high quality with a lot of good players who can contribute a lot and change the franchise we’ve talked to Tyler Rucker about that and again I find that you know very interesting because it again it tells you especially for the next draft because mid’s contract is coming up within the next two years especially that next contract or that next uh draft that’s very crucial to nail because if you don’t nail not only in terms of positioning but also getting you know the quality of player to come out of that the pressure starts to come he went on to basically said I’m not saying that there’s no good players in this draft but I’m saying that there are not big differences between those who are in the top five sl6 and those who you can draft at 15 to 20th Place so I could see them moving up with the 31st pick and getting two first rounders in that range that he’s talking about and then we might have an opportunity to do that we’ll see you know he said the and then he went on and said essentially what I’ve been saying I say the the draft is weak or sorry not weak I said it’s flat his terms according to this translation is the draft is quite quite he said weak uh uh sorry even quite even uh players with similar quality are a positive thing and that’s one where we can kind of you know draft where we draft right now and it it translated to be preserve our position in other words stay where we’re at and get someone decent um so yeah any final thoughts I he did mention wemi and all that kind of stuff and you know the the time it took it took a few seasons obviously San Antonio won but then he talked about how they had to come down for a couple years again these are all things of a of a of a guy who’s talking about a rebuilding situation I don’t know if you guys have any um you know final thoughts I don’t want to really highlight anything more because there’s other stuff that we want to get to but yeah I mean the fact that he admitted that we don’t have it yet right now I mean I thought that was interesting like yeah we don’t in this case here we don’t have W in this case here second thing on side note um didn’t seem so warm and fuzzy but your boy topish boy you seemed pretty very very corporate on that response he was pretty corporate even on dusich which everyone is I we haven’t really talked about dusich I’m kind of I’m not upset if we get him but like I’m not really get buying all the the hype and Buzz that some others are but um there boy but he was he he’s he talked more about dusich than he did about topage he did I they’re going like damn what the topage family do you all man like you see very it was just like bright future yep and uh he’ll have to adapt like who’s that next question that was that was that was a little you because usually you kind of BS up them dudes a lot I was a little surprised like oh okay oh yeah there’s like a two paragraph thing about you know yic Y is like his child or something but like yeah I’m just like really surprised like oh okay yeah so were you guys shocked about the the not it because a lot of people read that as oh Scotty’s not it like what what did you guys think of that see I didn’t even highlight that like I highlighted it but I didn’t really like the way that I look at it is again for those who are confused I believe in building in a core and I think that’s just the way of the NBA so even if even if in take away Scotty put in Michael Jordan okay I know a lot of people think this is crazy but with today’s NBA with the rest of the league being better and even back then Michael couldn’t do it on his own no you do need a core I think what ends up happening is what we’re not discussing is actually who’s in the it let me put this way right at least what comes specific Scotty is not discussing about if Scotty’s part of the core at the moment it’s discussing on what what Peg is he the part of the core is the first Peg second Peg the third party if some people most people think of a trio usually as the core some people have this four a quad whichever one it is is either fourth guy the third guy the second guy the first guy that is the discussion right a lot of folks out there in in these streets these social media streets think he’s numeral Uno now he might only be numeral Uno right now because that is how the ball has bounced that’s fine what I think is interesting what Darko saying is and by hey also Messi said so his end of year press conference he says what what what paraphrase what he said basically that um find out yeah yeah yeah it was it was I think I I don’t want to credit the wrong the wrong person to ask him the question but but was essentially is Scotty the guy I believe it was actually will L but is Scotty the guy and he said I don’t know basically we about to find out out like you know we’re gonna put him in the best position that we can which is a good answer good answer answer one of the most truthful answers he had that day and and people will read that as you know us being as no it’s just that’s what he said he said that and that is what it is cuz again it’s like he’s not there yet I mean if he was a finished product I mean I mean people would be saying you know concerned you’d be concerned a finished product William L would not be asking that question yep right no no one’s asking Minnesota um you think Anthony Edwards in this case here you know could be the guy no simply put they didn’t ask it about about um they didn’t ask it about RJ RJ’s fairly young he’s not that much older than Scotty but part of the reasons why they didn’t ask it is because RJ’s closer to a finished product right right right like no one’s asking that in Orlando about Paulo that that question’s been answered there is nothing to ask or from that perspective as well right so this is the part we GNA try to find out where he fits in these slots he might end up being the dude it’s the most interesting thing for this upcoming year Beyond Grady and how uh and and his development and also the development of of some of the other uh young players that are going to be drafted as well but really like the most interesting question for Raptors fans are what is Scotty Barns and I keep saying this it’s not in a bad way but it is and I’m not going to keep you know prefacing it that that way it’s just that is the question exactly yeah and he made enough internal development improvement from last year you’re willing to find out more when you take the jump that he made last year you have to find out more it’s different if he didn’t If he if his numbers were stagnant from the second year it’s a little different but there was a big jump in in his play so so have another year to find D full year to find D I should say with this group what what will it take in your mind what two things does he need to add for him to become an all NBA player well first thing that dribble gotta get better the handle has to be better and um you like no to be a consistent All-Star level player that dribble has to be better right cuz people you know like he got him by the skin his teeth in this case for the allstar game so it’s not like you know it’s not like he was like oh he’s locked in as an Allstar so he needs to do that second thing is comes back the other point I say this all the time I’m consistent with this the type of players I look for in the draft is guys that could create their own shot and until he could do that which goes back to the first point you can’t create your own shot when you can’t dribble you gotta be able to dribble first and to create your own shot and until he does those two things then he can’t be you can’t expect him to be at that level because the only guys can get away with that if you’re a hardcore post player which means a center you don’t have to dribble much and you want the shot create that much dump the ball in the post you which he does not want to be which is fine there’s nothing wrong with that um and I don’t think he has to be a center right but based on his skill set you could see a route where he could just be a really dominant post player if he worked on that and we said okay you know what you can be a marginal dribbler off the ball with the ball we G eat the post but we he don’t want to be that and quite honestly the Raptors don’t want him to be that so so I’m not fighting that battle anymore no he thought that was a a possibility for him and he could use his passing ability for the post but I’m done fighting that bound yeah they don’t want it and he don’t want it so why am I sitting here at my at my yard saying hey man that would be really helpful for him you know he to be fair to him though the last few games before he got hurt he had shown some in yeah there was something there so size is low and that’s all all you’re saying so I’m curious to see where that plays out if he continues to go down that road I have a sneak of suspicion that was on him that wasn’t the coaching staff telling do I I agree I think he he went rogue and finally I think he had a talking to after that San Antonio game and I think he started to figure some stuff out I think though that figuring of stuff out might take a little bit longer but I I think it was on the right track for sure um coach um I want to hear your uh or sorry I heard from both no coach yeah what do you think the two things that he needs to work and the reason why I asked is because coach Thorp what uh spoke to will Lou and he gave his thoughts on what the Raptors need to kind of get there one of the answers had to do with Scotty Barnes taking that all NBA leap and he had some thoughts about the type of player that Scotty should kind of model his game around so yeah I’m curious your thoughts beyon said the ball handling number one has has has got to get better and I think there I think there’s room that it can for sure and the other one and some people might think that I’m trying to knock him I’m not trying to knock him when I say this but I think if you want to be a superstar in this league it’s a mindset you got to change how you approach things you gotta you got to go in with that little bit of a killer mindset if you’re going to be an all-nba player and I’m saying this because when you come into the league unless you’re like a you know an Anthony Edwards or something like that or Lebron James where there’s so much expectations on you it’s different you kind of get used to them Pascal’s gone Fred’s gone the Old Guard basically is Beyonce it’s kind of gone this is now Scotty’s team there’s nothing in your way not to say that there was before but sometimes players will show respect to like a guy like Pascal say you know what you’ve been here the long as you’re the best player you know there’ll be times that I might take a slight step back in how I approach things that’s gone now I think it’s the next the next mind or next challenge of I gotta get that killer mindset I can go and be the best player on the court every single night whether he is or not that’s not the point got to have the mindset that they’re going to be and got to find that motivation because everybody was laughing at him in the US when Darko said about the face of the league of stuff like I was just saying how use it as motivation when people are laughing at you in the US all the analysts and I I think it was Michael Irvin and stuff like that and couple others that’s what the great players they found throughout their careers agree find what what what is it that’s going to really push me to that next level so the ball handling and just his approach Pascal’s gone Fred’s gone OG’s gone this is your team now in in a sense so what is it that I’m going to do to approach this differently from maybe how I did not do before when I was coming into the week yeah I think for sorry not forp Thorp said that he should play a little bit more like Giannis and that was really interesting because he he has better uh playmaking upside and vision than Giannis for sure if you compare them at similar ages or whatever um however the way in which he gets into the post and the screen setting needs to become more um consistent the question then becomes do you want him who is currently he is your best ball handler in the pick and roll or or even dho action um do you want to essentially not take the ball out of his hands but shift where he’s getting the ball and that is more of a Darko question and we will see that that play out on the court but yeah I find it really interesting can I just list one more Point what I’m trying to say in all of this is the maturity aspect I’m not saying he’s immature I’m saying he’s Young And as you get older you see the game differently you process the game differently your habits change and they do for all the great players as well the only wor only person I’ve ever seen come into the league to have that kind of uh maturity and he’s the guy and it’s LeBron basically like he was great when he was 20 he was great when he was 30 25 and so on 40 now’s he’s still great but with Scotty as he gets older as with most players you see it different you got to approach it different absolutely okay so next uh you know uh next topic that we have on our hands are the WNBA really quickly so uh Caitlyn Clark is you know always in the news recently and one of the reasons that she’s in the news is because she got left off the US Olympic team team and people are up in arms about it um I am not going to put the whole squad on on on the screen or anything like that but what do you guys think I think this is once again another story non story again sadly in this case for the young lady I don’t think really is anything to do with her nope I think she’s the only one seems to figure out what’s going on around here and like she’s just you know playing her game I don’t think anyone all these folks are these joing come lately as if all a sudden like the Olympics just showed up last week this was always going to be the case the US Olympic team has kind of like how Canada has kind of like um especially more in the women side and the men’s side the men’s side kind of plays a little more Russian roulette with it mind the pun where they pretty much you know it’s like it depends on if we’ve lost the gold or not then we just rev up the the engines again you know where it’s like oh who gives a damn what we have no pipeline up that point but the women pretty much play very similar to Canada where it’s like you got go through the the the pipeline of us basketball and you you work your way through it almost everybody on that team I think with the exception of two were part of the pipeline of teams that played on for feba and some of the stuff previously as well as other Olympic teams um if you want to go on Meritt as who’s the best 12 players the game you can make an argument to razi’s maybe not her prime anymore there’s always been that kind of like okay well have one for the Gipper type of thing and you can come and play in this case here they always had a spot for that type of player not saying she’s over the hill but she’s not PE performance but the other 11 players that’s probably close to top 11 the best WNBA players are American right there and so so one I’m looking around I like who are you really taking off and okay say we gonna play the argument and say we take terasi off the team so we’re gonna take guard for guard Caitlyn Clark something that’s best American Guard folks there a little young lady this case here AR gum plays for Dallas Wings just in case you know for you guys are just Johnny come lately he’s Aver 27 a game right now folks she’s a three-time Allstar she’s won the MVP at the All-Star Game she’s like first team and stuff like that she would who has not played the Olympics by the way in her prime she would be the next logical choice so this idea and to be fair the rationale behind why arque is not on the team is probably a similar rationale in this case to why probably Clark wouldn’t be on the team their style of play right now is a very hard style to fit in what they want to do arque has very ball dominant what is Clark very ball dominant this team is not about that it’s a lot more movement movement off the ball which most Olympic teams have to be you have that me to much talent this is not something that we’re Tau about so strange it’s for the men or the women doesn’t matter what country especially when you have very talented players like if you’re from a country in this case that has like you know may two really really good guys you know no disrespect to my boy there Luca and his team but the ball’s gonna be luukas hands every second because luuka much better than everybody else that’s not the case for the American team in some ways the Canadian team to some extent we be quite like that as well too from the men’s side and same thing goes with the women’s teams for the US and probably the Canadian team there’ll be a lot more movement because you have more Talent so this idea that you can just think you just insert someone like arque or Clark into office that that dominate the ball so much with so much screens and pick and rolls and say we all just sit here just wait and watch you do your thing that’s not that’s not the way they want to play the game for this team so like I just find it just laughable to see that how so many professionals are in this game that literally 20 30y year journalists like Christine Brenan embarrassing themselves out here all right FL embarrassing themselves I literally asked her on Twitter I said like are your are you Caitlyn Clark’s press agent because like what is going on here and she even she’s still go she’s 10 toes down it even this morning she say she’s going on CNN to discuss it even more about the quote controversial you know non- selection a try exactly so she’s like Twitter pretty much Twitter have at it I replied to her straightly he like there’s no controversy what’s the controversy no controversy like okay they picked essentially almost the 12 best players they can find in America and probably they gave one for honorable mention like they did for sub bird last Olympics like hey you done a lot for our our organization if you you know it’s like we see that play of times like for example Larry Bird was no near the best 12 players in America when they had the Dream Team okay and they say you know what hey man Larry come on board you had a bad back man right we could pick that I don’t really remember him having like huge Olympic moments on the Dream Team he barely played five 10 minutes at most that was Larry Bird idea that it has to be that or it’s like okay for Ratings I’ll leave that to you guys yeah I I’ll talk the rating thing but I’ll let I’ll let Coach go first because for a week of nonsense that Sally’s surrounding the poor women’s name like this is like this is this like the Sunday with the cherry on top with the nonsense coach go ahead man well I mean if you want to listen to Twitter pick an NBA team um you won’t last very long in being an executive right uh if she was to win two WNBA titles backto back and wasn’t selected to the team then then give me call because Isaiah Thomas literally felt that with the Dream Team and everybody knows he probably should have been on there but uh I think one Mr Jordan did want him on there my point being is that we’ve seen this happen before where guys who should have been on the team or left off the team uh my my point with Caitlyn Clark mainly is uh I don’t think this is much of this I know it’s going to be a story but I’m looking at this team Asia Wilson Brianna store Kelsey Plum Sabrina anesu Britney Griner uh like you said Diana terasi what she’s done in her WNBA career this is a pretty damn good team it’s probably going to win the gold medal and I think that these players the ones that been here who’ve been in the league I’m guessing a few years um should be honored with this opportunity Caitlyn Clark in 2028 is gonna be on the team Caitlyn Clark in 2032 is gonna be on the team and pro maybe even so in 2036 at that time so once again I I don’t really see how this is going to this should be story um but it because it’s Caitlyn Clark yeah it’s going to be a story that’s just the way I look at it yeah I so first of all I mean the last uh FBA national team that the which is last year that the US team sent actually had Angel ree on it didn’t have Caitlyn Clark on it um well I I I can see why in some ways I know why in this case because one of the reasons why is they need size right size international basketball is pretty physical right so my point is is that I heard people I asked people straight up who are you taking off that roster maybe you could possibly argue Kelsey Plum I wouldn’t make that argument but I’m I’m saying maybe because of size because she’s 5’8 versus 6 foot fine but I Caitlyn Clark is still getting used to the physical ity of her own League let alone a harder much more physical League where they’re going to take your head off for sure cuz those teams are trying to win a gold medal uh the second thing is that I heard you know and oh actually to just finish that off someone suggested they take off Britney grer who’s 69 why would you go nine inches shorter that’s like the Canadians taking off Zack Edy to put in to put in I don’t know Andrew nard not a good idea I I mean you can say what you want about Ed probably at some level we might need Edie we need as much size as we can get so can’t cheat size and also you know sorry but yeah grer is probably one of the the best post players in that league potentially ever in terms of overall skill Talent athleticism etc etc today she’ll be in the Hall of Fame yes 100% so I mean yeah I I think the other thing is I heard people mention well they she should be on because of the ratings because she’d have the Michael Jordan effect Michael Jordan was the best damn player on his on the Dream Team what are we doing folks he went in and came out of out out of a room with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and they said sir you are now crowned the king Jordan had also been in the league eight years before that had won two titles and a couple of MVPs Let There bit of a difference there’s a bit of a difference and as I said to people she hasn’t even won at the last level Jordan did Jordan did also too I would say this this is the part I mentioned somewhere online go ahead with the I just wanted to mention finally about the ratings Factor because they were said well oh well I mean that she’s comparative speaking to Jordan and the ratings it’s the Olympics the Olympics does not need Caitlyn Clark’s boost okay it it does not if you don’t understand that then maybe you should watch more Sports in general and get outside more outside of your sphere of influence anyone who’s saying that probably does not watch basketball at all men or women’s basketball and they just want to comment on this story you were G to say something yeah just gonna say like you know like quite honestly don’t get me wrong basketball is always one of the most arguably the most popular team sport in the Olympics so that’s always a draw so it doesn’t necessarily need any more of a draw you know from that standpoint yes will they get you know first thing from a dominant standpoint US Olympic teams women’s ones probably more dominant than men’s it’s like 173 or something type of crazy number like that okay they want like seven straight gold medals or something like that that said though to your point with the ratings if you you understand how Reigns get for Olympic rings how they fluctuate could clayon clar Clark be a draw yeah there’s no two ways about that but the at the think that there’s not enough of a draw believe me Simone B is gonna be a draw okay Shakari Richardson’s gonna be a draw okay the 100 meter finals if they have two turtles running it it’s going to be a draw because it’s the 100 meter finals for the men okay that’s G to be a draw right there’s different things that going to be draws whoever they’re going to build up some swimmer that I’m not even aware of yet that’s going to be some Phenom for America that’s like all sorts of things that in the next month you’re G to find out like oh damn he or she’s real damn good that’s G to be a draw they’ll it’s the Olympics Z before they know what they’re doing the Olympics get rings no matter what the case may be so this idea like oh my gosh well the Rings just gonna go in the tank like no dudes it gonna be all right they’re gonna have draws for all sorts of sports tennis Coco’s gonna be they want to sell that for the Americans there’s there’s all sorts of draws like like like it’s it’s gonna be all right like this idea like the point I think jamala M Hill made this point there’s this mindset in this case and I think maybe it’s coming from a good place for some folks or maybe it’s coming from a bad F argument for other folks but this idea that the opportunity is only now if we don’t do it now no one will ever watch the WNBA ever again like folks no it’s it will grow this is very short sighted with that with that kind of yeah uh Outlook and look this is the first Summer Olympics we’ve had since Co I know they had one in 2020 or 2021 whenever it was there was a ton of restrictions I think there were some countries that couldn’t even go this will definitely be watched by a lot of people this Olympics you got no worries about ratings I don’t think and trust me I mean we we do not have the time to get into this but there is a lot of interesting storylines from an international standpoint that are going to happen at the Olympics um as it does every single year that’s because they have the eyes and ears of a lot of different nations yeah and you know for the let me do my ban in this case don’t worry folks for the people they’ll have the stuff for you too don’t worry about you’ll be able to watch what you want to watch absolutely guess what her first Olympics from a rating standpoint if you want to he’ll guess what the next one in 2028 guess where it’s gonna be Los Angeles California folks Los Angeles California last time I checked this that’s the Olympics that you want all right right in your nice sweet spot time zone you’re going to be all right absolutely so uh we were going to get into the Adam Silver stuff but I feel like we’re probably running a little bit long a quick thing a quick that cuz I was gonna say we could get into it more in depth around the draft that time but sure okay quick okay quick thing Adam Silver had press conference right before State of the Union as always um before the end before the beginning of the finals couple major topics came out it one is expansion actually let me go backwards talked about the media rights deal he came on with a rationale kind of giv his rationale out saying it about why TNT may not be long for this this contract talk about the cord cutting issues talk about talked about streaming where it’s going you know you can’t even mention this plenty of times about the information you can get from it you kind of hinted at that also talked about being back on broadcast I think he’s finally realized hey you have an a-level product treat it like a a-level product get back on rabbit ears that’s where it’s at NFL never moved from rabbit ears and they now as you see now they’re in enjoying the spoils of it second point he made expansion he said hey the moment we’re done he had three parts of his plan one was you know CBA got that sorted out last year part two media rights deal probably be sorted out in a couple weeks third part expansion says the moment this media rights deal is done he said expansion committee will begin I think we all know which of the two teams are likely going to be picked first but the way he spoke about it it seems like he’s got bigger and brighter ideas as he men would like to have an expansion team outside of Canada US sorry Vancouver fans you might have to wait around for a little while longer but that smells like Mexico City than me we talked offline about Kenyon that has some positive that has some negative to it I understand the race for Supremacy to get into Mexico between the NFL and the NBA but I don’t know about that one I’ll leave your thoughts about that well I I’ll I’ll say this before uh coach chimes in just to kind of give some further insights he did say that the new TV deals are certainly you know a bet on partners that we align with and who possess the ability to adjust with the times and I think that’s very telling I’ll just I’ll just leave it at that if you haven’t seen our our other shows Joe check them out about the media Right Stuff where we’ve talked about things like TNT you know and and and the changing tides um and I mean you see it even with how the WNBA is being talked about in sometimes embarrassing Ways by people who are supposedly professionals who could do a heck of a lot uh better job of either getting people who know better than them and admitting I don’t know much like look you know it’s like what I say to people look I’m not like some expert on the WNBA but I started to check out a few games so that I can learn more right and that’s what I encourage everyone else if you have Amazon Prime it’s on Amazon right you know if if if you don’t it’s there’s other ways to watch it as well with your your standard cable package this is why they did the media deals the way that they did so you know check it out check out a game see what you think if you don’t if it’s not for you it’s not for you but you like these are the types of things and and um there’s a reason why there’s uh umbrage that is being taken um from the League’s standpoint in terms of how they’re talking about uh the different you know leagues and and teams whether it’s the NBA or the WNBA and especially right now the WNBA um the other thing that I’ll say and then I’ll let Coach go is that yeah the the he did uh speak on that uh which was very interesting but it sounds like he’s definitely going to um he’s holding off more information about that until after the finals cuz right now you got a finals to kind of focus on and unlike certain people’s tunnel walks he’s trying to make keep the focus on the product well played sir well played he too also had to speak about Kate and Clark because that’s mandatory now it seems like in any basketball conversation so um I’ll just make kind of clean up on that he said hey man you know he wants her he wants everything for her to be fair like everyone else but he says pretty much he kind of gave a hint that you know like hey man like it’d be different when you get in the Bros yes Al also Warner Brothers um is uh currently quote unquote in talks for a fourth smaller smaller smaller package rap Wizards coming to you Raptor Wizards presented by you know bu carat you know on on on Sunday night at 3:00 a.m. um so hey that’s how Alex Jones started out uh hasn’t ended well um coach your thoughts well certainly the the expansion talk outside of the US and Canada was interesting but at the same time it makes a ton of sense from a revenue perspective because Mexico City is the largest city in North America I think it’s about 25 close to 25 million people give or take I’m just looking at some of the statistics bigger than New York bigger than La bigger than Toronto Chicago so boy there I can understand the Intrigue of some of these professional sports Leakes that say let’s bring that market into our market right now and and see what what what that would look like I would love if that happens you know great you know it’s just more growth of the sport um other the brand I should say that is the NBA I would love to see Team Montreal Montreal has been quietly building uh the the profile from all the NBA players that are currently in the league right now but you hear a lot of guys talk they love going to Montreal and Montreal he brought he brought up last year yeah twice once on William L program and then once in a discussion in a press conference so like the the Montreal idea my wife’s from that neck of the woods and she was a little surprised at Montreal and so for various reasons she’s like I ain’t sure Montreal is gonna work but the Montreal Point your point coach like it’s it’s it’s in the it’s in The Ether let’s put it that way it’s not as crazy as a thought maybe as people think as a possibility if you’re thinking that way yeah I think they might shift Focus towards something like that when all a said and done when they really do their SWAT analysis of of an I was uh when I was a a teenager I had the this guy was running a camp and he coached University like at St ofx stuff like that he was on some of their CIS national championship teams and he said at the time you know if you think you’re good in Nova Scotia go play in Montreal if you’re you’re good in Montreal go play in Toronto population go we used to call the gold mine recruiting here in Ontario population size right but Montreal now with Benedict mathan Chris bue luk Dort we had Joel Anthony I believe he was from Montreal if I remember correctly too I believe omx is from o there hey B even y there’s there’s a sample size of successful NBA players that have come from Montreal into the NBA I really hope it’s a it’s a market that they’ll explore someday because it’s only six hours from Toronto right so let me ask you two a question okay if if you’re if you’re Adam Silver and now it’s coming down you want expand say that say somehow you do do diligence in Mexico is not really ready for that yet so you’re going to go back to Canada which Market will you go back into first Vancouver or Montreal um okay well I’ve thought but okay I just want to make sure I just want to make sure you guys have the time to get into this I’m I’m good coach I’ll let you go first okay there’s part of me I’d want to try the Vancouver experiment again because the game is a lot lot different now I think I know that the Canadian dollar played a factor at the time how low it was with the exchange rate I would love to see a West Coast team and Van and certainly Vancouver having the Olympics and Whistler and it was quite a few years ago now but I think that kind of brought a little bit more exposure to the province of British Columbia on a world stage as well but I would love to see I if I could if I had my choice I’d probably go with a team in Vancouver first but i’ would love to have one in Montreal certainly I just worry about Toronto is like I guess in the sense a hub of the markets for basketball right now and Montreal is only six hours away so there’s an argument where okay we can work with Montreal because it’s so close to Toronto and maybe I’m wrong on that but with Vancouver Vancouver they they’ve tried it there so there’s some sample size on what it could look like and way basketball how much bigger it is now in Canada versus 25 years ago why not I would love to see it again there so I don’t I don’t know if it’s a touchy subject for me to get into but as I keep hinting at the demographics in Vancouver specifically are very friendly to basketball there’s a Asian and South Asian population that is quite prominent and you know I it’s probably a little bit different for the South Asian Community versus the Asian Community versus you know in terms of what they like because I know Cricket is dominant and and and stuff like that but for the Asian Community specifically they love basketball like a lot of those countries basketball is bigger than soccer basketball is the dominant Force well I mean this where goes back to media rights right right if you go and tie back now that Pacific Rim and you now we know Houston used to have a real big deal because of Yao for China just using that as example you got vancou team back in there if it’s China or further south in this case here dealing with parts of the of that part of the world in this case here I’m not saying obviously but the even Japan which seem to be opening up to be much more interested in basketball because they literally the Raptors started did exhibition games up I mean I think that’s part of the reason why they they chose Victoria for you know just to see you know does the West Coast have an appetite so I mean at some point I think that’s where it is I think all has some challenges and just in terms of the J sea how the language that you speak is that’s that’s the that’s the concern the way that you look sometimes even you know it’s it’s obviously they they may not have a choice in the matter because it’s basketball and basketball is a very diverse sport uh as opposed to hockey but there there’s definitely Montreal has been funny that way and I think that that might end up uh there there might be a bit more friction even if they have the population that could definitely support it so that that’s kind of where I’m at uh we should probably mention the the Mexico thing but yeah sorry yeah yeah just one thing about for the W in this case here because that has also been discussed in this case here is there any markets outside Toronto you could see getting a team say in the next five six years Vancouver Edmonton I was wondering if someone gonna bring Edmonton okay yeah so Edmonton is one and they’ve tried when I say tried they’ve gone there a couple times and and most recently I think held games I can’t remember if there’s a historical significance to Edmonton the the Women’s National training facilities I was there in 2019 just before the just before the pandemic I actually met Clinton grenald kind of cool but there there I know but there seemed to be there there was a great turnout for for the games now Canada was playing like China and the Dominican Republic and some of the other countries but I think I I think a WNBA team in Evon would certainly work if it was out outside outside of a Toronto Market if that’s the question I let me ask you from a standpoint I obviously none of us are albertans in this case here but you know I mean you’ve lived closest to that province in this case can you but like I’m just curious it’s interesting how the dynamic is it seems like Edmonton is open to more like say soccer or basketball more so than Calgary it seems like I’m always you know even though Calgary I think is the bigger population Center I think you know so is we it’s interesting like you know usually you would find since Cal is kind of closer to the Border per se that there might be more influence for those those things but yet Edmonton further north seems to be the one that carries because when you say the Border you mean the southern border Southern border of course yeah yeah so it’s just an interesting Dynamic I’m curious to know like more about that because like yeah I I think there’s several things that play number one I think Edmonton is isolated in a way that they appreciate anything that’s there it’s not like the smallest population Center per se but like it’s just like when there’s nothing else to do it’s it’s like you know um is it Regina has a yeah so yeah so it’s just there’s just this is the thing and you appreciate that thing uh I think the other factor for that reason is yes they’re close to the Border but the type of states that are right below them are not the type of states that are super big basketball communities like I think it’s what like uh Montana is and stuff like that so it’s those aren’t really hubs of basketball from what I remember you know I think Washington State but that Washington state is is below BC and so you know and that has a more uh you know quote unquote richer basketball history and and and and sort of infrastructure there so you know I think from that standpoint there’s a lot to play there’s I think there’s other factors that I won’t get into today um about how Edmonton versus you know Calgary are as markets and just how people interact with one another at times uh or even with their BC neighbors but uh you know provinal beef there has honestly there’s been there is almost a practical like trade War over like wine and stuff you know between the two provinces so um interesed right it’s yeah it’s there’s there’s there’s there’s real animosity there so at times but um City yeah it’s it’s it’s I’ll just say it’s interesting so um yeah could could Edmonton handle a WNBA team I definitely think so um I think what might end up happening depending on the timeline is it might be Vancouver if Vancouver Advocates hey we’ll get both that’s obviously a plus so that’s where I go because I don’t think Edmonton could handle an NBA team um no no that’s why I said W for edmon yeah so I’m like if if you can handle both that’s even that’s it’s a bigger investment and they might see it as that investment but you never know we’ll we’ll we we’ll see um and I’d be down for both the reason why Mexico is one that we have concerns about and one that I think Adam Silver may end up rethinking is comes back down to the Raptors of course jonte Porter the betting Scandal uh when you get get that type of money and this is why I I I’m still shocked that they are putting more teams in Las Vegas I think it’s a very really bad idea but when you do that and it’s in a market that maybe is a little bit more volatile politically at times and you don’t have the infrastructure to build that security to protect your players you’re you might run into some problems and you might be setting yourself up for more trouble than it’s worth and that’s kind of where I stand cuz you know especially the way that Mexico is not to get into the whole like geography of Mexico but the way that Mexico in some ways is almost like three or four distinct regions that are all really separated because it’s quite mountainous and for that reason there’s like some you know they all get along and stuff but it’s kind of it’s a weird interesting Dynamic that occurs in Mexico so I I I think for that reason it it I don’t know I I I don’t know if it’s a good idea I think I a bet man mind the P My Mind ironic that you taking the porter or you taking the over I think if I tell me if you tell me which league is GNA get in there is gonna be the NFL and I think the NFL like they’re apex predators their owners are apex predators to the highest level also don’t mind taking that gamble yeah they will yeah exactly they just look the money and they don’t give a damn and they’ll figure the rest out later because that’s the NFL yeah there’s a there’s certain social pressures whether people say that they’re good or bad that I think exist in the NBA and I think that for that reason it it might be too big for their Bridges which may end up being a good thing coach you have any final thoughts on that yeah I don’t I wouldn’t I don’t really know much about like some of the the ins and outs of going into Mexico City or not but when I’m just look at the population numbers and I can understand why you’d want to invest and put a team in there largest city in North America I can see like why a lot of the leagues would want to be interested in doing that yeah I I mean I’ll just say they just had an election uh I is it the first female president of me yeah so she just got elected but uh the story of how she got elected where a lot of the different opponents uh suddenly dropped off literally the face the Earth um you you know that gives you pause for concern that’s all I’m going to say Adam Silver if you ever listened to this podcast just just think about it and just be wary because once you have you know the the Dark Side of sports betting or whatever you hear about jonte Porter worrying about getting beat up or whatever you add that into a market that you don’t really have the same level of security in uh and thing it might things might you know you don’t want your players dropping off to face the Earth right before a Finals game or something like that so yeah I would just say you know uh there there’s there’s plenty of other markets to expand to financially um and we’ll see we’ll just see yeah any any any final thoughts any final words from anyone else what a week what a week and game two coming boy I I plan to equalize things by the time this weekend’s out absolutely well just that Luca’s questionable tonight so I hope that’s wrong hey man all we know is uh the Celtics best player is Jaylen love that by Jason kid that really good that was really good by the way Missoula is a strange fella I just leave but every time I see him more I I asked the other day someone posted I think it was Orin and he posted and I I was like is this AI generated and they’re like no like oh okay yeah yeah he yeah I mean coach you know disect coach we know in this case here as I said before his occupational hazard a little bit with coaches different the they’re they’re an interesting bunch at times yeah but baz was like pretty much like the stream end of that yes um but yeah I mean it’s you know so if folks when this comes out games is going to be over for sure but hopefully you guys enjoy the games that are upcoming and like I said by the time you know we get through all the draft talk and all that I think we’re you know we’re we’re in for for you know really uh you know looking at uh the future of uh what’s going to happen for the NBA moving forward and the Olympics so stay tuned basketball rewind a bunch of stuff to talk about not just the Raptors but if you’re into the Raptors keep coming back um and funny enough all for all those who uh you know keep giving us grief we covering the Raptors anyways take care like comment subscribe and peace

Today Beyond, Coach, and Hopeful join forces once again. We go over several topics including Darko, what it will take to make the Raptors “great again”

Coach Roache – https://twitter.com/CoachroacheT
BeyondTheLockerRoom – https://twitter.com/BeyondLockerRm

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