Speaker 1: Well, well, well you thought you could get rid of me,
Speaker 1: but I'm back and.
Speaker 2: I'm stronger than ever. Oh my goodness. This is episode
Speaker 2: just so you know.
Speaker 1: But look, sometimes you gotta pop out and show the league.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers are in the midst of doing just
Speaker 1: that to my pleasure and delight. And we've got the
Speaker 1: rest of the trade deadline to recap NBA All Star
Speaker 1: weekend to get into and discuss the state.
Speaker 2: Of your Toronto Raptors. Okay, my good youth.
Speaker 1: To them with NBA analysts Espandi Arbert Haini on today's episode.
Speaker 2: I'm Miles Gray and I'm Jabari Davis Infrajet.
Speaker 1: And this is my wo sometimes yeah, I got Madory
Speaker 1: got it.
Speaker 2: Look kitch, Okay, there you go driving spinning fat number eighteen.
Speaker 3: That's goods the Suffolk or NBA champions.
Speaker 1: O the TA.
Speaker 4: Be honest.
Speaker 5: Look at.
Speaker 1: Bara Haney straight from the Great White North. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us NBA Daily at the athletic video host
Speaker 1: for Raptors. Republic and bach its in areno work for
Speaker 1: Raptors nine oh five you living breath.
Speaker 2: Toronto to talk about it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So it's great to have you it's good to see
Speaker 1: you man.
Speaker 4: Good to see you too. Bro. I kind of like
Speaker 4: I want to lean into the Toronto bit since we
Speaker 4: were talking about it off ericas now just gotta like
Speaker 4: every five seconds just throw something at.
Speaker 1: You A good I'm telling you you're not one of
Speaker 1: these waste youths, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeh.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's funny though too, because like I'm I'm familiar enough
Speaker 1: with like London like roadman talk, so it's just like
Speaker 1: it's wild how it's mostly the same, just with a
Speaker 1: little bit of flavor, you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: You know what it is?
Speaker 4: Both both London roadman Talk and Toronto Man Talks are
Speaker 4: influenced by Caribbean culture.
Speaker 2: Yeah it's West Indies. Yeah that's all we know. We
Speaker 2: sees you. You know what you're doing. You know where
Speaker 2: do you think Mondem came from? Okay?
Speaker 1: Anyway, this is an a linguistics podcast. It is, however,
Speaker 1: an NBA podcast. So first of all, we got All
Speaker 1: Star Weekend on the Horizon. I this is this is
Speaker 1: my favorite time. I love the I love All Star Weekend.
Speaker 1: I love I love looking at different jerseys.
Speaker 4: I like all the competition.
Speaker 2: I like to see you know, the Dunk Contest.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that, but first our schedule looks like
Speaker 1: this Friday, for those of you who rightly should be
Speaker 1: celebrating the holiday, that is All Star Weekend, the Ruffles
Speaker 1: NBA All Star celeb Game and the Castro Rising Stars Games.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's Friday. Then Saturday, NBA HBCU.
Speaker 1: Classic okay, yes, presented by a dent between Morehouse and
Speaker 1: Tuskegee College.
Speaker 2: Love to see that.
Speaker 1: State Farm Saturday Night, which includes okay, the key Ist
Speaker 1: Skills Challenge, the Starry Three Point Contest, and the AD
Speaker 1: and T Dunk Contest. Then Sunday the G League Next
Speaker 1: Up Game. We've got the All Star Game, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. But Saturday the Dunk Contest. Who do we
Speaker 1: have in the dunk Contest? And I'm not throwing shade,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying, what do we have? So for
Speaker 1: listeners who don't realize, I was gone for about a
Speaker 1: month due to some unforeseen circumstances that occurred in the
Speaker 1: city of Los Angeles having to do.
Speaker 2: With a wildfire.
Speaker 1: I am back now and on my feet and U
Speaker 1: and thank you to everybody who were wishing well and
Speaker 1: sending your thoughts and all of that because it was
Speaker 1: a very difficult month. But I am on solid ground
Speaker 1: now and I am back podcasting. But in that I missed,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, so who do I got in the
Speaker 1: dunk contest?
Speaker 2: Jabari? Who do we have in the dunk contest? Just
Speaker 2: so we can go through this.
Speaker 6: I got some great news. It's job No, I'm sorry, No,
Speaker 6: it's no disrespect, of course, no disrespect. It's mazeless. Okay,
Speaker 6: we got we got Stefancastle from the Spurs. We got
Speaker 6: Andre Jackson Junior from the Bucks. Yeah, okay, mister Jackson,
Speaker 6: if you ask him. And then Matt McClung is making
Speaker 6: his back third. He's back, baby, he's from the G League. Yeah,
Speaker 6: you're just gonna like let like like suspend him from
Speaker 6: the rafters, right and just and that's how that's gonna
Speaker 6: be his first dunk. But no, ya, as we were
Speaker 6: talking about this before the show, what do we have
Speaker 6: to do to get like the big dogs in this eventually?
Speaker 6: Is this? Is it ever gonna happen? Or are we
Speaker 6: just don't going to be the case?
Speaker 4: Just like stop doing the dunk contest, like, don't do
Speaker 4: it for a year. You know, make it like punishment,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Because I remember someone brought
Speaker 4: this up before. I can't remember who it was, but
Speaker 4: I saw that like in the late nineties, and this
Speaker 4: was right before the Vince Carter Dunk Contest. They didn't
Speaker 4: do the Dunk Contest for like a year or two, right,
Speaker 4: it might have been a reset. Yeah, like we said,
Speaker 4: just reset, don't do it. Do something else. Try a
Speaker 4: one on one competition if you want, whatever you want
Speaker 4: to do, I would love I know, we probably all
Speaker 4: agree that like a one on one competition is great.
Speaker 4: We see unrival does right now with the women's game
Speaker 4: and the one on one stuff that they have going on.
Speaker 4: That would be dope in the NBA. But just don't
Speaker 4: do it, like take it away from them, and also
Speaker 4: maybe try to incentivize it so that stars actually want
Speaker 4: to do it. Like there's no reason that we had
Speaker 4: Vince Carter come out of Dunk Contest, Kobe come out
Speaker 4: of Dunk Contest. You know, Trace McGrady, who name there's
Speaker 4: talking on the Jordan obviously, Dominique right and nowadays it's
Speaker 4: like like no offense to any of these names, obviously,
Speaker 4: but let's be real. You know what I mean, Yeah, right,
Speaker 4: I feel like we should be able to get Edwards,
Speaker 4: John Morant, Zion Williamson, the even even to a lesser
Speaker 4: degree like shade On Sharp from the Portland Trailblazers or
Speaker 4: the Thompson Twins the Rockets guys to just compete because
Speaker 4: they would be sick and their names. Now, so I
Speaker 4: don't know, Yeah, I think it's Jabari you were saying
Speaker 4: this earlier. It definitely is a combination of social media
Speaker 4: commentary that makes it a little bit less appealing. And
Speaker 4: I think also a lot of these guys grew up
Speaker 4: watching like the Vince Carter, like the bar is sort
Speaker 4: of like at this level, Okay, I have to bring
Speaker 4: like I have to basically change the paradigm with the
Speaker 4: dunks that I do in the contest, And I get
Speaker 4: that pressure, but I think, yeah, it is something to
Speaker 4: just sort of like give it a break for a second.
Speaker 2: Let's create a new culture around a.
Speaker 1: New excitement around it, because yeah, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, like these are these are the best dunkers
Speaker 1: in the league, and we want nothing more than to
Speaker 1: see them.
Speaker 2: Which I think is Possible's just got to give it
Speaker 2: some time, give it some time.
Speaker 6: I've thrown this crazy idea out there before. Usually people
Speaker 6: roll their eyes. I'm gonna throw it at you as
Speaker 6: I want to. I want to dunk on contest whoever.
Speaker 6: The reigning Defensive Player League love that. Put in the
Speaker 6: middle of the key, you get the ball to three
Speaker 6: point at the you know what, in just inside the
Speaker 6: half court line, let's go. Yeah, I agree that you
Speaker 6: get three attempts.
Speaker 4: And you know what, people love to dunk and go
Speaker 4: at Rudy Gobert, so they would sign out on the list. Yes,
Speaker 4: no problem, I'm down. So yeah, I'd love that. And like,
Speaker 4: can you imagine, because I think Wemby's gonna win DEFENSI
Speaker 4: Player of the Year, can you imagine next year everybody
Speaker 4: man stepping up to try to dunk on that one.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would love that.
Speaker 2: That's unbelievable.
Speaker 4: Also, I used to do that as a kid. We
Speaker 4: used to do that, like, yeah, run from.
Speaker 1: Behind, yes, yes, put to drop the rim to eight feet.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, yo, okay, start up at the driveway.
Speaker 2: Let's see you.
Speaker 4: Get to see exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: And it was usually called light injury City.
Speaker 1: Always happened if someone went way too hard and then
Speaker 1: you would get your hand like jammed up on the
Speaker 1: rivers anyway.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm forty and I don't do that anymore,
Speaker 2: or do I? Three point contests? Who do you have
Speaker 2: in the three point contest?
Speaker 6: This is a more noteworthy feel You got Jalen Brinson,
Speaker 6: you got Ca cun and him, you got Darius Garland, Tyler,
Speaker 6: Hero Buddy Heal, Splash Buddy, Okay, Cam Johnson, Damian Lillard
Speaker 6: and Norman Powell. I think that's gonna be a great
Speaker 6: I actually a great.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great fields which one of those guys
Speaker 4: jumps least on their jumper mmm mmmm like because I
Speaker 4: feel like that that's the type that ends up winning.
Speaker 6: With the most most energy at the end.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because you don't get tired, if you know, like.
Speaker 6: D like when he's when he's in the contest, it's
Speaker 6: kind of just like a flick.
Speaker 4: Flick, Yeah, a little bit. I could see Dame. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that makes sense. Jalen Brunson, maybe Brounson doesn't get too
Speaker 4: much lyft on his jumper, one of those guys. I
Speaker 4: think that makes sense.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we'll put it. That's a bet laid down.
Speaker 4: We'll come back to it.
Speaker 2: And see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is this is all going to be
Speaker 1: very very exciting, like s for you, what's what events
Speaker 1: event are you looking the most forward to and do
Speaker 1: you like the sort of like four team competition format.
Speaker 4: I was actually just gonna bring that up. I think
Speaker 4: this will be a cool way to do it. I
Speaker 4: think the Rising Stars getting a chance to play in
Speaker 4: the All Star Game will be added attention for the
Speaker 4: Rising Stars game, so now there's more stakes to that.
Speaker 4: There's more stakes to the All Star Game because nobody
Speaker 4: wants to lose to the right in Stars team, and
Speaker 4: so that it adds a little bit more to what
Speaker 4: you would expect from from this whole like All Star
Speaker 4: competition wise. Also, I like the fact that it's four
Speaker 4: separate teams and like eight man rotation, so you get
Speaker 4: to see most of the guys more often. That part
Speaker 4: of it is cool to me. I think actually that
Speaker 4: this this will be a good All Star game. They
Speaker 4: just they gotta try, man, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: that's the main thing they gotta try.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this definitely what I mean, that's what you
Speaker 1: want to see is like the younger guys with something
Speaker 1: to prove, and then people who've been in.
Speaker 2: They're like, Bro, we're not gonna we can't.
Speaker 4: Let We're not losing to TOUMANI Kamara man exactly.
Speaker 6: My guy Desmond Palell shout out to him. He actually
Speaker 6: said it best. You can't manufacture competition, but what you
Speaker 6: can do is stack the deck. And I actually love
Speaker 6: this idea. I'm right there with you as i'm and
Speaker 6: I agree with you. Miles. Uh. Nobody wants to go.
Speaker 6: No one is going to want to lose them. The best,
Speaker 6: the best possible outcome is them winning their first game.
Speaker 6: We doesn't know whomever they're match up against, and then
Speaker 6: we get the championship game between them and you know,
Speaker 6: any other team. Please let that happen. Yeah, yeah, that
Speaker 6: would be dope.
Speaker 4: That would be I mean that team they beat will
Speaker 4: get clowned on all the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but I get yeah, Like, like you said,
Speaker 1: you can't manufacture competition, but you can activate the human ego.
Speaker 1: What a powerful force that could be, especially in a
Speaker 1: competitive sport. Yes, yes, yes, yes, so I wasn't here
Speaker 1: when y'all picked the game of the week, But what
Speaker 1: what was it? What was the game of week that
Speaker 1: you and Jack said, Hey, keep your eye out for
Speaker 1: this coming week.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, if I was in the mix up,
Speaker 6: it was going to be Patients and Lakers. So we
Speaker 6: went was going to play, and I did. I was hopeful.
Speaker 2: I a friend I had who got a ticket and
Speaker 2: was like, hey.
Speaker 4: You walked Dustin Reeves dropped forty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was great.
Speaker 6: That was not bad. Yeah, forty seven and seven. Look, okay,
Speaker 6: so this is gonna sound weird. But even though they
Speaker 6: are you know, on paper, have been on sized s
Speaker 6: in miles. Now that you're back, what do you guys think?
Speaker 6: This is starting to feel more and more like the
Speaker 6: twenty twenty team in terms of they've got all types
Speaker 6: of scrappy guys. They've got a third guy in Austin Reeves.
Speaker 6: Now that you're gonna put up forty five to seven
Speaker 6: to seven with those guys in the mix noe, But
Speaker 6: he's a guy that has that type of game and
Speaker 6: that type of potential. I'm not in all, I'm not
Speaker 6: at all, you know, guaranteeing a finals run, but I
Speaker 6: feel look, going into three weeks ago, there's I didn't
Speaker 6: feel any of this. All of a sudden, I'm like, no,
Speaker 6: we are back in title contention. Moving forward.
Speaker 4: Yeah, anytime you get it, like in a playoff series,
Speaker 4: you don't want to face Lebron James and look at
Speaker 4: Don James, like that's just the simple nature of the fact.
Speaker 4: And like they go out, they start mismatch hunting. Those
Speaker 4: are two guys that can get an advantage basically against anybody.
Speaker 4: And yeah, sure in the West they're gonna have to
Speaker 4: deal with like Yokic and Hart and Stein and Chat
Speaker 4: and maybe zoobots, and if Anthony Davis stays healthy for
Speaker 4: the Mavericks, then Anthony Davis and but ultimately, like when
Speaker 4: you have those two, you just have a chance. And
Speaker 4: then you add Austin Reeves. I like what you say
Speaker 4: about them being able to play a little bit smaller
Speaker 4: like with Van Doh and Dodo, like Dorian Finnish Smith.
Speaker 4: They just can play smaller but more versatile defensively, so
Speaker 4: they can lock up a little bit and switch one
Speaker 4: through five and do the whole thing that they want
Speaker 4: to do to win on the defensive end. So I
Speaker 4: kind of agree, although I feel like this is sort
Speaker 4: of the preamble to what will be a great season
Speaker 4: next year, where you can load up during the summer
Speaker 4: and just figure out what you want to do around
Speaker 4: Luca and move from there. But it should be a
Speaker 4: good team.
Speaker 2: I would love nothing more for this to be twenty
Speaker 2: twenty just for me. I've had a rough year.
Speaker 1: So I would love's great. And I might put all
Speaker 1: my eggs in that basket. And some might say, including
Speaker 1: my therapist, that might be dangerous, but you know what
Speaker 1: it's all about, hope. But yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: just even seeing it was funny because at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the.
Speaker 2: Year I was watching.
Speaker 1: Then there's like a three week break where I was
Speaker 1: just like dribs and drabs looking and then when I
Speaker 1: really sat back down and said, what did we what
Speaker 1: is going on?
Speaker 2: Everybody is starting to play at their potential. We have
Speaker 2: people coming back.
Speaker 1: I remember first I was like Jabari Dorian Phinney Smith
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, okay, no, no,
Speaker 1: I need to apologize my good man. But it feels
Speaker 1: definitely like there is certainly an evolution happening.
Speaker 2: Can we go?
Speaker 1: You know, where do we think this tops out at?
Speaker 1: I feel like I don't. I don't think I mean
Speaker 1: the best. I think we could hope for us to get.
Speaker 6: To the conference finals.
Speaker 2: That I think that's the absolute best. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I think we're going to probably be a second round
Speaker 1: exit at best dish. I don't know, but that's me
Speaker 1: trying to be trying to hold my horses. But the
Speaker 1: run we're on, I mean, like by the time we
Speaker 1: come to play the Nuggets soon, we could be in
Speaker 1: third place and that's a and that's going to be
Speaker 1: a huge test too that I'm very much looking forward to.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's your feeling, Jabari, Like, what's your ceiling
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 6: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna, you know, go board
Speaker 6: with it. I do not anticipate a title. I would
Speaker 6: not be shocked by a deep run. But from your
Speaker 6: guys is you know, from your guys response, I think
Speaker 6: I think I'm in agreement. It feels more like two
Speaker 6: thousand and eight when they got pal on February first,
Speaker 6: two thousand and eight, much like they got Luca on
Speaker 6: February first, twenty twenty five, where they made a deep
Speaker 6: run but ultimately you know, fell short, but like to us' point,
Speaker 6: came back ready to go, and then you know, we
Speaker 6: obviously saw you know, second and third trip to the
Speaker 6: finals in which they were successful. Yeah, it's exciting, and
Speaker 6: at the very least as a Lakers fan, we can
Speaker 6: say it's it's actually exciting the future.
Speaker 1: You guys.
Speaker 4: This is something I'd love to ask you guys. You
Speaker 4: guys think like Lebron is looking at himself like, man,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to play four more years now, because
Speaker 4: he probably was like next year, I'm done right right right?
Speaker 4: That was gonna be my farewell tour. Do you think
Speaker 4: this has changed the equation for him, like he's gonna
Speaker 4: he's gonna play longer now.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I hope so.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 4: This is so is It's a tough one, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like part of me is like, yes, maybe, but
Speaker 2: also part of me is like we really need to
Speaker 2: be thinking about the future.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And as.
Speaker 1: Much as I want him to do what he needs
Speaker 1: to do to be happy, I'm also thinking about like, well, no,
Speaker 1: this is like we're looking squarely at the future right now,
Speaker 1: and how does that play? But I totally understand the
Speaker 1: excitement like that one, Like, you know, Luca just had
Speaker 1: his first game, that one full court pass he hit
Speaker 1: Lebron with.
Speaker 2: I was like, this is usually Lebron throwing those to somebody.
Speaker 1: Else and now he gets to be the recipient of that.
Speaker 1: So for that, from that perspective, I'm like, of course
Speaker 1: he'd want to keep playing, for sure.
Speaker 6: I think Lebron plays as long as his body I'll
Speaker 6: physically allows him to straight up. And to your point, yes,
Speaker 6: the answer is yes. I think he looks at that
Speaker 6: and says, oh, yeah.
Speaker 4: He has another chance right to win that fifth one.
Speaker 4: I feel like that's so so important to him and
Speaker 4: the like legacy and all that stuff finish off with
Speaker 4: a bang, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1: For sure for sure, Well, I guess we should just
Speaker 1: look at a couple.
Speaker 2: Of trades that took place the deadline.
Speaker 1: I mean, look just to we keep talking about the Lakers,
Speaker 1: but look I am back, so this is part of
Speaker 1: my recovery. We traded Dalton connect. I was like, oh
Speaker 1: and Mark Williams. I was like, oh, okay, maybe only
Speaker 1: for that trade to be after Williams failed Their physical
Speaker 1: was like, where are we at now with this? Because
Speaker 1: I know there's some pushback on this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, apparently the Hornets are launching an investigation to like
Speaker 4: fight back to see if they could get the trade
Speaker 4: re rescinded, re un whatever, Yeah, reinated, that's the word.
Speaker 4: But no, look, I don't I don't think that's going
Speaker 4: to happen. I would be very surprised if that's the case. Also,
Speaker 4: like if the Lakers desperately need a center. I mean,
Speaker 4: they just signed Alex lenn So the fact that they
Speaker 4: balked at this and they're like nah, man, like you
Speaker 4: got to go back to Charlotte that, Yeah, that shows
Speaker 4: you just how bad the situation was. And I feel
Speaker 4: for Mark because that's now out in the public and
Speaker 4: he's gonna have to do with that when it comes
Speaker 4: to contract extensions and all that type of stuff. But
Speaker 4: it is what it is, man. Yeahs Lakers Dodgs a
Speaker 4: bullet though in that's.
Speaker 6: No for sure, for sure, That's exactly how it felt
Speaker 6: in and and obviously I, you know, like you, I
Speaker 6: feel for Mark as well. I don't wish anything negative
Speaker 6: upon on my hope. He sure, he hope. We want
Speaker 6: to get you know, paid, be on paid, and you know,
Speaker 6: play creditly well, but if you're the Lakers, you have
Speaker 6: to be like yeah, nobody, yeah, you know, like if
Speaker 6: they're not any question whatsoever you Like, While I was
Speaker 6: completely fine with the overpay, especially given the Saturday night
Speaker 6: special that we got, you know, the week before. If
Speaker 6: there's any question whatsoever that you know that overpay is
Speaker 6: is you know you just can't afford it.
Speaker 5: So yeah, yeah, yeah, Well let's go to your backyard
Speaker 5: and you know, a bit of a crossover, because this
Speaker 5: is a player we love too, is Laker fans and
Speaker 5: basketball fans brandon Ingram?
Speaker 2: Uh he has landed in Toronto U three year, one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty million dollar extent.
Speaker 1: Okay, brand yes, yes, lord, please please, I guess overall,
Speaker 1: I like, I'm not joking like I think yesterday I was.
Speaker 2: Like, wait, brandon Ingrams.
Speaker 1: Truly, I came out of a literal cave of darkness. Okay,
Speaker 1: so please apologize for me being like fully being in
Speaker 1: the dark. But as tell me, walk me through your experience.
Speaker 1: Now what what how are you feeling? And does this
Speaker 1: animate you? Is this animating the city?
Speaker 4: So first of all, I'll just say, do you guys
Speaker 4: know the nickname raptors fans have come up with for
Speaker 4: b I. He's he's where he's wearing number three? Okay,
Speaker 4: the Raptors. So they're calling the notorious b I three.
Speaker 6: It's not good Canadians.
Speaker 2: They're clever, clever has Canadian.
Speaker 4: You know, it doesn't have the Toronto essence to it
Speaker 4: yet they haven't. Yeah, you know, but whatever. I like
Speaker 4: the nickname either way. Look, I was kind of skeptical
Speaker 4: initially when they traded for Bi because this team is
Speaker 4: not very good. They're sixteen and thirty seven, like their
Speaker 4: bottom of the barrel in the Eastern Conference, and trading
Speaker 4: for a guy who is trying to get a contract
Speaker 4: extension just got that contract extension, is trying to be
Speaker 4: in a competitive environment. You also are like super expensive
Speaker 4: now for a team that isn't necessarily that competitive right now.
Speaker 4: So there's questions of like what is the direction this
Speaker 4: team is trying to go through. But I walked myself
Speaker 4: back from that ledge just by reminding myself how good
Speaker 4: Brandon Ingram can be at his full potential. He's double
Speaker 4: with some injuries here and there, ankle injuries and whatnot
Speaker 4: that have kind of limited his potential In New Orleans.
Speaker 4: I think the fit with him and Zion was kind
Speaker 4: of wonky too, and there's there's, you know, potential for
Speaker 4: that to be the case in Toronto as well. With
Speaker 4: Scotty Barnes. We'll see, but ultimately I like the fit.
Speaker 4: I like it a lot because the Raptors really need
Speaker 4: a shot creator, a guy who can just go out
Speaker 4: and get a bucket. And maybe this means they end
Speaker 4: up trying to move guys later on, whether it be r. J.
Speaker 4: Barrett or Manuel quickly, and we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 4: But if they are locked into this core over the
Speaker 4: next couple of years, I think it makes a lot
Speaker 4: of sense to like ease the pressure off of Scotty,
Speaker 4: to give him that space to figure out stuff himself,
Speaker 4: while Bi can go out and kind of help the
Speaker 4: team get to that next stage of their developmental cycle
Speaker 4: whatever you want to call it, right right right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think this could be like yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just looking.
Speaker 1: Also, how's the I mean, Ryan Hollins was in the
Speaker 1: news talking about Grady Dick recently, But how has year
Speaker 1: two Grady Dick been?
Speaker 4: Hey, He's he's been good. He started out this season
Speaker 4: really well, like he was. He showed off like a
Speaker 4: crazy creation off the bounce, he was making highlight plays.
Speaker 4: He's finally knocking down his threes more consistently, kind of
Speaker 4: slowed down. I think he hit that like set sophomore wall.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't even know if you call
Speaker 4: it a sophomore wall, to be honest with you, But
Speaker 4: like he he hit a wall because he had played
Speaker 4: more minutes than he had played in his rookie season,
Speaker 4: I believe, like forty games into this year. So it
Speaker 4: was an adjustment, and he had bulked up throughout the
Speaker 4: summer and so like all that weight was gone just
Speaker 4: because he had played so much, right, and so I
Speaker 4: think he's dealing with some of the physical limitations again,
Speaker 4: but he's still a really good player, and I think
Speaker 4: he's going to end up being like a very very
Speaker 4: important part of this piece for the Raptors. Most strong, strong.
Speaker 6: Neck on that guy, strong suppress.
Speaker 4: You know, it's funny the Pelicans broadcast refuses to call
Speaker 4: him Grady Dick. They call him Grady.
Speaker 6: Richard's that's his proper name. Yeah's proper name. So so,
Speaker 6: you know, kind of wrapping it up with your Raptors
Speaker 6: before before we get this break beyond you know obviously
Speaker 6: you know, continued grouped individually and as a young unit.
Speaker 6: What do these Raptors need most in this.
Speaker 4: Offseason to pray to the lottery gods to just and
Speaker 4: I say that because I think like it could really
Speaker 4: change the trajectory of this team. Like if they end
Speaker 4: up with the number one overall pick, you're now looking
Speaker 4: at this team is really interesting because they get Cooper Flag,
Speaker 4: they got Scottie, they got these guys who can kind
Speaker 4: of help facilitate around them. That becomes interesting overall, even
Speaker 4: if they get the second or third overall pick and
Speaker 4: you're looking at like Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey or
Speaker 4: someone else that you might be interested in, like that
Speaker 4: changes the tone of what people believe this team could
Speaker 4: be moving forward. So praying for lottery odds, to be
Speaker 4: honest with you, I think that's that's the goal for
Speaker 4: this Raptors team is whatever happens in the lottery will
Speaker 4: probably dictate what they do for the rest of the
Speaker 4: like two three years of this group.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like the Raptors are in the gas
Speaker 1: station parking lot and they are praying to the lot.
Speaker 2: If you're about that, okay, let's take a quick break
Speaker 2: and we'll.
Speaker 6: Beat right back.
Speaker 2: And we're back. And so one side of.
Speaker 1: The trade of this Luca deal is obviously Luca comes
Speaker 1: to the lake, there's the other side, which really hurts
Speaker 1: my heart, I must say. And I'm sure you know, Jabbari,
Speaker 1: I know you feel the exact same way as our Anthony.
Speaker 2: Davis local goes to Dallas and.
Speaker 1: That first game I caught, it seemed it gosh, it
Speaker 1: was so tragic to watch the the like highs that
Speaker 1: like you were like he was writing Dallas, was writing
Speaker 1: and he's like it felt like he's like, come here,
Speaker 1: you know this, you know, nothing changed about me, just
Speaker 1: a jersey and I was like, here.
Speaker 2: Goes my baby is so cool. That's my yeah.
Speaker 1: And then he injured his abductor muscle yet again and
Speaker 1: went down and as he wrote in the doc, Jabari,
Speaker 1: they got the full Anthony Davis experience in Dallas. That
Speaker 1: was really really really really difficult to watch. But I mean, look,
Speaker 1: we're watching being like, oh our baby from over here.
Speaker 1: But for MAVs fans, I am very I feel very,
Speaker 1: very bad. I don't even know why I'm apologizing. I
Speaker 1: feel like already just because I can't believe the nature
Speaker 1: of the trade.
Speaker 2: I will continue to apologie.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I don't know how, but thank you
Speaker 1: for us.
Speaker 4: You know that you know that meme of Drake when
Speaker 4: he has that gift and he's like, oh man, you know,
Speaker 4: he's like, I don't know what it exactly was. He
Speaker 4: was reacting to Kevin Durant getting hurt right in the finals,
Speaker 4: and and he's like he's face mad, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean. It's O no, man, probably how Lakers fans
Speaker 4: feel right now, that fake.
Speaker 2: Man I feel, I know.
Speaker 4: But it's Look, it sucks because like this is probably
Speaker 4: the worst week to ever be a MAVs fan. You
Speaker 4: you have, you have the trade that goes down. That's
Speaker 4: probably one of the biggest trades in sports history. Yeah,
Speaker 4: definitely the biggest trade in NBA history. Most shock talking,
Speaker 4: for sure. And you're on the bad end of that.
Speaker 4: Like everybody in the world, in the barbershops, in the whatever,
Speaker 4: everybody agrees that y'all lost this trade.
Speaker 6: Okay.
Speaker 4: On top of that, your GM comes up and says, hey, man, like,
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna be here a couple of years. I'm
Speaker 4: not gonna be here in a couple of years. So
Speaker 4: that's all right, it's all good. And then there's protests,
Speaker 4: there's caskets at the arena, there's booing, there's fans getting
Speaker 4: kicked out. Mark Cuban is telling people to shut up.
Speaker 4: It's just it's a lot, okay. And then on top
Speaker 4: of that, Ad gets hurt, Daniel Gafford gets hurt. Eric
Speaker 4: Lively's hurt that you can't even see this team. Kyrie
Speaker 4: has a bulging disc. You know, there's just so much
Speaker 4: going on and there's not a lot of hope. There's
Speaker 4: not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 4: And you feel for them because this a lot of
Speaker 4: it wasn't self inflicted, like they didn't the MAVs didn't
Speaker 4: cause this other than the front office doing this. MAVs
Speaker 4: fans didn't do this themselves. It wasn't Luca getting hurt.
Speaker 4: It wasn't you know, Luca requesting a trade or whatnot.
Speaker 4: It was the MAVs engaging in this to just get
Speaker 4: themselves in this situation. It's such a bizarre, bizarre way
Speaker 4: to take an l.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Daniel Gafford go down injured too, Yes, he
Speaker 1: got hurt. That's what I'm just I'm like, yo, I
Speaker 1: my heart goes out to you. It really does it
Speaker 1: on a fan level, like, yeah, you know what it's
Speaker 1: like to kind of be.
Speaker 4: Like it makes you become a conspiracy theorist because it
Speaker 4: doesn't make sense right, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Well, that's the conspiracy theories that when we are in
Speaker 1: a state of powerlessness and confused over it like.
Speaker 2: We have, you got to get cocked. It can't just
Speaker 2: be this.
Speaker 1: And I do feel bad because I've treated every MAVs
Speaker 1: fan like they were Nico Harrison when I when I
Speaker 1: talked to him.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what were y'all doing? What I'm thinking?
Speaker 1: And explain the way you see even like, please don't
Speaker 1: ask me I have I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I had to lay my jersey at Dirk Nowitzky's statue.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, but hey, it looks bit things
Speaker 2: do look right.
Speaker 1: In Hollywood Land.
Speaker 6: I will say that.
Speaker 1: And then also, what's going on? I like, we're calling Sacramento,
Speaker 1: Chicago West Now.
Speaker 6: I don't know what they're doing, but I'm happy to
Speaker 6: see it.
Speaker 4: I guess they got a friendship working on. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, hey, I mean there was so much
Speaker 1: evidence that this is clearly the way to go. This
Speaker 1: is a this is an interesting time for front office decisions.
Speaker 1: But Zach Lavine and DeMar de Rosen together again, together again,
Speaker 1: and then also this is another huge one that I
Speaker 1: just remember seeing Poppy my phone said Jimmy Butler to
Speaker 1: the Golden State war Wow.
Speaker 2: Wow wow wow because what because they first came to
Speaker 2: KD and he was like.
Speaker 1: No, I'm good, I'm the merry ground was activated. But
Speaker 1: I mean, what's what are the expectations around this? I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is I know, Steph has been up and down,
Speaker 1: up and down? Is this is this stabilizing? Do we
Speaker 1: feel good about this? Or do we have conspiracy? How
Speaker 1: explained to me? How should I feel about this as
Speaker 1: somebody who just saw it on a phone update and went,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I like the car. I like the combination
Speaker 1: of those names.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, the combination is good. You know, they've been
Speaker 4: good over the first couple of games that Jimmy has
Speaker 4: played there. It's kind of wait and see because they've
Speaker 4: played easy competition, and so you want to see it
Speaker 4: develop over the next month or so. How how legitimate
Speaker 4: they are To start the year, they were really good,
Speaker 4: like the Warriors were first in the Western Conference. They
Speaker 4: had a great defense, and then it kind of all
Speaker 4: just fell apart once the Anthony Melton got hurt, they
Speaker 4: traded for Schroeder, and then Kaminga and Draymond got hurt too,
Speaker 4: and so they just kind of it all spiral. But
Speaker 4: adding Jimmy makes a lot of sense to what Steph needs,
Speaker 4: just a release valve, another guy who can go out
Speaker 4: and get a bucket and take the pressure off. Even
Speaker 4: steps at it, he was like, man, I just needed
Speaker 4: someone else to do something else, except you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, Like he just needed that help when he
Speaker 4: was off the floor to keep the game at a distance,
Speaker 4: to try to be competitive when Steph was off the floor.
Speaker 4: I think they're like minus seven when he's off the floor.
Speaker 4: So adding Jimmy clearly helps in that category. They're able
Speaker 4: to be more competitive, and who knows, who knows if
Speaker 4: they'll make a run.
Speaker 6: I'm not sure that's exactly where I was going to
Speaker 6: follow up, like what is a you know, like, if
Speaker 6: for recent expectations, what's a realistic good run for them
Speaker 6: this year?
Speaker 4: I would say getting into the playoffs is a good
Speaker 4: scenario for them right now. They're like right out of
Speaker 4: the play in If they end up getting into the
Speaker 4: playoffs and then facing up against Memphis or Houston and
Speaker 4: you're looking at a team that doesn't have as much
Speaker 4: experience as they do, so they might have the advantage
Speaker 4: in that category, and maybe they steal the first round,
Speaker 4: you know, playoff series, and then you're looking at the
Speaker 4: second round and they're competitive and they kind of fight
Speaker 4: things off and they're like, Okay, we got a we
Speaker 4: got an idea of what we can be next season.
Speaker 4: That kind of makes sense for me for Golden State.
Speaker 4: But that's also like the ceiling. I would imagine what
Speaker 4: this team could be. I don't think they can make
Speaker 4: a deep playoff or finals round.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't wait to see that game where
Speaker 1: someone pokes both of these bears because the combination made
Speaker 1: my eyes bleed. I feel like, is what that would
Speaker 1: look like with an activated Jimmy.
Speaker 4: Butler and stuff and Ramon?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Also, Dennis, my guy, this is what
Speaker 2: his eleventh team now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Shack Rainbow.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's official, done it, He's done it. I was like,
Speaker 1: who's played for the most teams? It's team their team?
Speaker 4: Yeah, because Party was like, is he getting I'm like, well,
Speaker 4: this is me, Luke Gridden, how or record?
Speaker 6: I think I think so? I think you're right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he was, he was number one, and then
Speaker 4: a Smith took his spot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, took his spot.
Speaker 1: And then also another former Laker, Kyle Kuzma, to the Bucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I mean, look, he's
Speaker 2: how's he looked, Jabari?
Speaker 6: I mean, he's getting going that. The the unfortunate thing
Speaker 6: is that, you know, Giannis is missed the last four games,
Speaker 6: so it's kind of difficult to really gauge. But you know,
Speaker 6: you know, he basically scored twelve thirteen to twenty one
Speaker 6: respectively over the over his first three games with the team.
Speaker 6: I think, look, people will clown them. I get it.
Speaker 6: The pink, fuzzy sweater, the hair, all of that, you know,
Speaker 6: all the social media commentaries.
Speaker 2: I think I have nothing to do with his ability
Speaker 2: to play basketball.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is right there. We have the two of
Speaker 6: us personally. Nobody else saw this, but two of us
Speaker 6: personally witnessed him as a strong contributor to a title team.
Speaker 6: I'm not saying I'm not saying he makes him a
Speaker 6: title team, but I'm saying we there is evidence, just
Speaker 6: recent evidence. Yeah, he can do it. So I like
Speaker 6: the move, you know, in terms of what he could be.
Speaker 6: But I mean none of it matters if Jiannis is
Speaker 6: not gonna be there.
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you think?
Speaker 1: What do you think the Bucks can expect to go
Speaker 1: twenty nine games left?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean they're kind of on the outside looking in.
Speaker 4: I still think it's Cleveland and Boston in the East.
Speaker 4: And then if Giannis just has like an incredible playoff run,
Speaker 4: they can try to make some noise. But they're just
Speaker 4: really flawed and they're old, you know, like Brooklyn. That's
Speaker 4: why the Kuzma trade kind of makes sense because it
Speaker 4: made them younger. Middleton was a little bit older. It
Speaker 4: kind of makes them a little bit younger than what
Speaker 4: they are right now. But it's it's a lot of
Speaker 4: relying on old guys to do things, and outside of
Speaker 4: their like five or six, they don't have that many pieces.
Speaker 4: So it's a question of how that looks in a
Speaker 4: playoff series against a team that's probably more versatile, like
Speaker 4: if they play the Knicks, or they play the Celtics,
Speaker 4: or they play the Caves, it probably is not going
Speaker 4: to be a good series for them. Again, unless Giannis
Speaker 4: plays and plays at an MVP level, because when he does,
Speaker 4: he's the second or third best player in the world.
Speaker 6: Could they get the Pacers?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think they could get it. Yeah, because Giannis
Speaker 4: always cooks the Pacers. Like if you go and look
Speaker 4: at his numbers against Indiana, I think he dropped fifty
Speaker 4: last year on them one time.
Speaker 2: I think, so, yeah, wow, what's going on?
Speaker 4: Yeah, he just he has his way against Indiana.
Speaker 2: If DoD someone make a joke to you what happened?
Speaker 6: I mean, I think it was.
Speaker 4: The Was it the basketball game, the one where they
Speaker 4: took his ball? Was that the that was that? The Pacers? Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was the Pacers. It was the Pacers where they
Speaker 4: where they took the basketball because because some rookie scored
Speaker 4: first once, yes exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man was yes, and he's like and I took
Speaker 1: that personally, look, and that's usually the fuel of dreams.
Speaker 2: But anyway, we will wait and see.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take another break, and then when we
Speaker 1: come back, it's time to grill a miski and you,
Speaker 1: you know, in the form of Vesper Haney in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, rapid fire round of questions, bomb right back.
Speaker 2: And we're back two tools down, you know, uh, we're back.
Speaker 1: As my goodness, man, Look, we love having you on
Speaker 1: We love keeping it friendly, we love keeping it you know,
Speaker 1: light and stuff.
Speaker 6: But it is the fourth quarter rapid fire.
Speaker 2: Round questioning, and I have been out of action for
Speaker 2: about a.
Speaker 1: Month, so guess what it's adult to get a hostile
Speaker 1: you know, it's the fourth quarter fire right question? We
Speaker 1: gonna ask you a question you just fired to answer
Speaker 1: right back, like a chest pass in a three man
Speaker 1: weave exercise.
Speaker 4: You get me, okay, don't put the ball down, keep it.
Speaker 2: Moving, keep it moving okay? If not, we run in
Speaker 2: lines after now.
Speaker 1: You answer, We're going to hit you with a few questions.
Speaker 1: And I think you know how this goes. If you
Speaker 1: take you long, we will be so rude to you.
Speaker 2: We will be Americans to you.
Speaker 6: Don't get me to you.
Speaker 2: You get me, You get me.
Speaker 4: I got like gerbird Ryan, throw a tariff on me.
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 1: Anyway, Brian half started the clock here?
Speaker 2: Wait are you ready?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Start right now? Time to play this or that? Time
Speaker 2: to play this or that?
Speaker 1: Which player or duo would you choose for the next
Speaker 1: three years?
Speaker 2: It's this or that. In the this column we have
Speaker 2: Luca with.
Speaker 1: Prime Lebron's athleticism, and in the that column or Joker
Speaker 1: with prime Hakeem's defensive presence.
Speaker 4: Wow, that's a good one. But I'm definitely going to
Speaker 4: Luca Lebron for sure.
Speaker 2: That is the right answer. That is the right answer,
Speaker 2: That is the right answer. That's that's what I don't
Speaker 2: want to see. I don't want to see it.
Speaker 6: I don'tant to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the one would be crazy, but yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: want to see that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, first as a Lakers fan, I don't want to
Speaker 1: see that effort. As a prime joker with prime No, no, all.
Speaker 6: Right, keep it going. Prime Vince would step jumper or
Speaker 6: prime Kobe in Giannis's.
Speaker 4: Body, Prime Kobe in Giannis's body.
Speaker 2: That would be crazy.
Speaker 6: That's it's good nuts.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Can you imagine if if Jana or if Kobe
Speaker 4: could do the step through euro and like what and
Speaker 4: then also hit you with the fatal what are we
Speaker 4: talking about? That'd be crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is these are like creative players. Now I
Speaker 1: got to get two k maybe you know, put these
Speaker 1: sort of things together.
Speaker 2: Okay, last one, Luca Lebron Combo or.
Speaker 1: Stephan Jimmy for the next three years, the next three years, three.
Speaker 4: Next three years, give me give me Lebron, Luca, give
Speaker 4: me Lebron.
Speaker 6: That's the right answer.
Speaker 2: That is the right answers.
Speaker 4: You guys are Lakers guys. I'm gonna sit here in defense.
Speaker 2: That's actually wrong. That's actually wrong.
Speaker 1: Actually no step and Jimmy a whole sense of security,
Speaker 1: and you messed it up all right.
Speaker 6: You could make any finals matchup utilizing finals teams from
Speaker 6: throughout history. What is the matchup that you would like
Speaker 6: to see more than any other?
Speaker 3: Cool?
Speaker 4: You know what. I only say this because I've again
Speaker 4: covered the Toronto Raptors, so I would like to see it.
Speaker 4: I would like to see the twenty twenty Toronto Raptors
Speaker 4: versus the twenty twenty Los Angeles Lakers. Whoa, oh, let
Speaker 4: I thought that was going to be the Bubble Finals.
Speaker 4: I really thought that was going to end up being
Speaker 4: the NBA Finals. Obviously ended up being heat Lakers. Celtics
Speaker 4: beat the Raptors in the Semis of the East.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 6: If the Bubble.
Speaker 4: Didn't happen, my bet is that the Raptors would have
Speaker 4: made it back to the NBA Finals and it would
Speaker 4: have been Raptors Lakers, and I would have enjoyed watching
Speaker 4: that series because it would have been Lebron facing up
Speaker 4: against the Lakers or sorry, facing up against the Raptors,
Speaker 4: the whole Lebronto of it all, and yeah, that would
Speaker 4: have been very cool to see.
Speaker 6: I never would have thought about that matchup, but I
Speaker 6: absolutely love it and we would have dog walked y'all
Speaker 6: like Hendreck.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I knew that's what I would have never thought
Speaker 1: about it because we won that and we didn't even
Speaker 1: see y'all at the final.
Speaker 2: But interesting, the.
Speaker 4: Raptors beat y'all three out of four times in that season.
Speaker 4: You're saying you're right, You're right, Pascal over, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean?
Speaker 1: Sorry, didn't the Sorry did the light get messed up
Speaker 1: in my studio because the banners.
Speaker 2: Kind of just came down in the wave.
Speaker 6: No, no, no, what happened was the lights just got
Speaker 6: really bright and Toronto just went to sleep. Oh okay, time.
Speaker 2: Time man, as Barry Haney. Always a pleasure having.
Speaker 6: You, man.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us on my Jabari
Speaker 1: Got Mad Boosti's uh, where do the people find you?
Speaker 1: Follow you, support you and see all of your fantastic work.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man. Listen to The Athletic NBA Daily. We're a
Speaker 4: daily NBA podcast with David Before and Zen Akeda and myself. Yeah,
Speaker 4: basically covering the NBA every single day, which is a
Speaker 4: lot of fun to do. And uh yeah elsewhere just
Speaker 4: on X or Twitter. I'm still calling the Twitter Mama
Speaker 4: call yeah. Yeah, that's it man. I appreciate you guys
Speaker 4: as always. Oh, it's always good having you.
Speaker 6: Make sure you.
Speaker 2: Follow us on Twitter at Miles of Gray. I'm also
Speaker 2: at Miles of Gray on Blue Sky as well.
Speaker 6: I'm at A Davis on Twitter and at Jebory Davis
Speaker 6: NBA on Blues Guy, and Jack of course is at
Speaker 6: Jack on the Score of Brian on Twitter and at
Speaker 6: Jack ob one one.
Speaker 1: Guy the number one the number what I mean exactly,
Speaker 1: and follow the hashtag mad Boosties.
Speaker 2: That's where you find the.
Speaker 1: Show links, updates, and be sure to join the conversations
Speaker 1: on our discord, which you can also find the link
Speaker 1: for when you search the hashtag at Boosty's.
Speaker 2: Well, that's going to do it for us. That's one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty two episodes. Yes, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: two episodes in the bag. We will come back with.
Speaker 1: Guess what episode one fifty three.
Speaker 2: That's right, you math genius. We'll see you then. Bye.
Speaker 6: Perfect RSS only as